Chapter 155
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 155
Chapter Title: Ah, Cruel
"When are they saying he'll arrive?"
Zhongnan Sect Leader Joo Jae-seung asked his second-generation disciple who attended him.
"We haven't received word that he's set out yet, Sect Leader."
The second-generation disciple answered politely.
Joo Jae-seung's face twisted at those words.
"Not yet? It's been days since I ordered him to return. Tsk. Find out what's going on."
"Yes."
The second-generation disciple bowed and hurried off at his master's irritated command.
It might not be possible to learn what had happened at the distant Dragon Training Pavilion from here.
But they regularly exchanged messages with those dispatched there as instructors, so they had to check the news from that side.
Just then, news directly delivered from Baek Ri-pyeong to Zhongnan had arrived the day before.
The second-generation disciple returned, panting as he grasped the contents.
"What did they say?"
Joo Jae-seung asked in his usual irritated tone.
"It seems the withdrawal procedures haven't been completed at the Dragon Training Pavilion, so he can't return."
"What? What kind of nonsense is that?"
It was language unbecoming of the sect leader of Zhongnan Sect, one of the Nine Great Righteous Sects representing the righteous martial world.
"According to the rules, mid-term withdrawal requires approval from the assigned instructor, but... his instructor, Baek Ri-pyeong's, is absent, so approval can't be given."
"Hah. Zhongnan's sect leader's orders go unheeded because some mere instructor hasn't approved? He's lost his mind."
"Th-that's because the Dragon Training Pavilion Lord said he needs the instructor's approval to release him... That's the pavilion rule."
The innocent second-generation disciple, guilty of nothing, stammered nervously under the sect leader's blazing fury.
"What right does some pavilion lord have!"
"It's Pavilion Lord Pang Do-yul of the Pang Clan."
The naive and kind second-generation disciple answered right away.
At those words, Joo Jae-seung whipped his head around and glared at the disciple.
"You."
"...Yes."
"What's your name?"
"Gok Pung."
"Fine. Get out. Tell your master to send someone else."
The second-generation disciple Gok Pung fled the scene with a face on the verge of tears at the sight of his master's growling, fearsome rage.
"Damn bastard. What right does the Pang Clan have? A foolish family clinging to the extermination campaign. And that man from such a place is the pavilion lord? Using pavilion rules as an excuse."
Was it directed at Baek Ri-pyeong? Or at Gok Pung who had just left?
Joo Jae-seung vented his fury, his face flushed red and purple.
"This won't do. If he won't come on his own, we'll drag him back. Hey! Anyone there!"
Joo Jae-seung bellowed loudly.
But with Gok Pung gone and no replacement disciple arrived yet.
"Damn it."
Spitting out another curse, Joo Jae-seung moved himself.
His destination was Zhongnan Sect's Discipline Hall.
"Jung-san! Where are you!"
The moment he passed through the main gate of the Discipline Hall pavilion, Joo Jae-seung shouted loudly.
There was not a shred of dignity befitting a sect leader.
"What is it, Sect Leader Brother?"
Discipline Hall Lord So Jung-san, who had been handling his duties on the top floor, the fifth story, rushed down.
"Bring the criminal here at once. This is the sect leader's command."
Confirming Joo Jae-seung's flushed face, So Jung-san grabbed his arm and pulled him along.
There were many ears here.
Taking him to his own office, So Jung-san served tea and asked.
"What on earth is the matter, Sect Leader Brother?"
"Pyeong. That bastard hasn't returned yet."
"And how is that a problem?"
"I clearly ordered him to return. He's defied the sect leader's command. It's blatant guilt. Arrest him immediately."
Joo Jae-seung's eyes poured out rage.
"Hoo."
So Jung-san let out a deep sigh at the sight.
Why was his third brother acting like this?
The eldest brother had never been like that...
"I've already heard about that issue. His letter arrived yesterday. He said the return is delayed because he can't complete the withdrawal procedures due to the pavilion rules."
"I said return at once. What do some Dragon Training Pavilion rules matter!"
At Joo Jae-seung's irritation, So Jung-san furrowed his brow.
That reckless attitude.
Was it truly befitting Zhongnan's sect leader?
But there had been no choice at the time.
With the sect leader and eldest brother fallen in battle, they needed a new one quickly for Zhongnan's stability, and the highest in line was his third brother Joo Jae-seung right there.
Moreover, he had rallied his faction and pressured those around.
Situation, justification, and power all aligned perfectly.
"Sect Leader Brother. Are you serious?"
So Jung-san asked in a heavy voice.
"What if I'm not?"
"The Dragon Training Pavilion is the Righteous Heaven Alliance's training hall. Thus, its pavilion rules fall under the alliance's regulations. Are you saying our Zhongnan Sect, a member of the Righteous Heaven Alliance, should ignore the pavilion rules? That would mean ignoring the alliance regulations. Do you realize that?"
So Jung-san's lengthy words.
Joo Jae-seung flinched. He hadn't realized it could be interpreted so broadly.
The Dragon Training Pavilion might be laughable, but not the Righteous Heaven Alliance.
"St-still, defying the sect leader's command is a clear fact. Bring him here at once."
The demand to arrest had softened to bring.
Joo Jae-seung had yielded a step.
"Hoo. Understood. I'll urge them."
Hearing So Jung-san's reply, Joo Jae-seung left the Discipline Hall.
So Jung-san, watching from the window, shook his head.
"Where is Zhongnan headed..."
It was frustrating.
"Don't."
Ha Mu-baek's chilling voice rang out once more.
But Yeo Cho-a ignored his warning and tried to charge again.
"Did you send your daughter outside Chang'an City, and that's why you're acting so desperately?"
She froze.
Ha Mu-baek's follow-up words halted Yeo Cho-a's movement.
"Yeong So-hye is the second young lady, right? Then there must be an eldest. Are you pinning your hopes on the daughter you smuggled out during that game of hide-and-seek today?"
Yeo Cho-a glared at Ha Mu-baek.
How did he know that?
This guy moving alone.
Unlike last time at the Pang Clan, Ha Mu-baek was solo.
No beggar pups trailing him.
Yet how did he know Chang'an so intimately?
Doubts arose.
She had no inkling of Ha Mu-baek's superhuman senses that transcended imagination.
No wonder.
It was beyond human capability, so she couldn't even fathom it.
Human imagination was poorer than one thought.
For expansion of thought was based on what one had seen, heard, and experienced.
"This time, no mercy like last. Since you hid your daughter, I must check her too. Whether she possesses the Extermination Art, or has cultivated it."
Ha Mu-baek gazed at Yeo Cho-a with cold eyes.
At those words, Left Protector Yi Ho-beop squeezed his eyes shut.
Ha Mu-baek had come to Hao Gate truly intending to end it this time.
"Wh-what do you want?"
Yeo Cho-a's voice trembled faintly.
Her one remaining daughter.
She couldn't lose that child too.
"Kill everyone who's seen the Extermination Art's manual. You included, of course. That way, the Extermination Art can be erased. Recover all copies, naturally."
Ha Mu-baek's icy voice.
"Ah, cruel..."
Her teeth chattered.
Yeo Cho-a looked at Ha Mu-baek with eyes mixed of rage and despair.
"Of course, that was if you ignored my final warning."
At that, Left Protector Yi Ho-beop opened his eyes.
There was room in those words.
Yi Ho-beop replayed the recent events.
Ha Mu-baek had given a final warning, said don't.
And the gate leader...
Stopped.
Didn't do it.
Hadn't defied Ha Mu-baek's warning.
Yi Ho-beop's gaze turned to Ha Mu-baek upon reaching that thought.
"Of course, that doesn't mean I'm backing off. I didn't come here for fun. I'll recover the copy. And search the entire Hao Gate. In case something's hidden."
Yeo Cho-a ground her teeth.
Humiliating. Hao Gate surrendering to a single individual.
But that monster was beyond handling.
Whatever method he used, he'd come to Chang'an alone and seen everything like an open palm.
Assassination was impossible against such a one.
Not even Hao Gate's top assassins would evade detection long.
"And since you've already cultivated it, no choice."
Ha Mu-baek stared steadily at Yeo Cho-a.
"Wh-what?"
"Shall I do it? Or you?"
Ha Mu-baek asked.
Yeo Cho-a grasped the meaning of the question. Yet she asked again.
"What are you talking about?"
"Dantian."
Short reply.
"Why would you!"
In that instant, Ha Mu-baek's form flashed like lightning, his right hand plunging into Yeo Cho-a's abdomen.
"Kuhk. Aak."
Yeo Cho-a screamed.
Ha Mu-baek withdrew again.
"You said you didn't want to, so I did it for you."
"Y-you... damn bastard..."
Her voice brimmed with venom.
More resentment and malice than ever before.
As her dantian shattered and internal energy vanished.
Wrinkle after wrinkle appeared on Yeo Cho-a's face.
The middle-aged beauty's visage was gone.
The Youth Preservation Art that had maintained her looks shattered with the loss of internal energy.
No more the youthful Yeo Cho-a defying her age.
Just an ordinary middle-aged woman with crow's feet around her eyes.
Despairing and hollow.
This was the fruit of her desperate efforts?
She had gathered the Extermination Art fragments scattered across the jianghu, researched them, tested bits on her own body.
Yet couldn't remove the curse.
So she sought the complete Extermination Art.
Lost her youngest daughter in the process.
With the obtained manual, repeated research barely yielded small achievements.
Still couldn't lift the curse.
But a path seemed visible.
Then that monster's threat arrived.
To survive, she halted research and cultivated the Extermination Art immediately.
Research could wait until after survival.
But what was this?
Dantian destroyed.
Internal energy gone.
Extermination Art seized.
Tears of bitter anguish flowed from Yeo Cho-a's eyes.
Ha Mu-baek's gaze shifted to Left Protector Yi Ho-beop.
"The copy?"
"Here."
Yi Ho-beop, face resigned to all, pulled the copy from his bosom and handed it over.
He had opposed the Extermination Art research from the start. Merely swept along by the gate's decisions and flow.
He even seemed relieved.
Ha Mu-baek opened and checked the contents.
Nodded, then incinerated it with Samadhi True Fire.
"Anything else?"
"That was the last. We disposed of those used in research."
Ha Mu-baek eyed Yi Ho-beop steadily.
Cooperative. Unlike Hao Gate Leader Yeo Cho-a baring her teeth at him.
His expression showed complete surrender.
Still, better to tap even a stone bridge.
"The water is blue and the sky is blue too. The water is deep and the sky is high. Same blueness, yet directions opposed."
Ha Mu-baek's sudden murmur.
Yi Ho-beop looked at him with a baffled face.
"What do you mean? That?"
Ha Mu-baek nodded at the sight.
"You truly haven't seen the Extermination Art manual."
Yi Ho-beop tilted his head. But Yeo Cho-a's reaction differed.
Her tears stopped instantly. Instead, eyes wide, she pointed at Ha Mu-baek.
"Y-you, you bastard! You've cultivated it too! Right! You damn scum! Cultivate it yourself and torment us just for having the manual! May lightning strike you dead, you wretch of the world!"
A torrent of curses poured from Yeo Cho-a's mouth.
Inevitable.
The words Ha Mu-baek had just muttered to Yi Ho-beop were part of the Extermination Art's incantation.
Ha Mu-baek looked at Yeo Cho-a with pitiful eyes.
"Think I'd cultivate it? With dantian shattered, the energy would be gone too. Can't you reason?"
Ha Mu-baek asked coldly.
"Then how do you know the incantation!!"
"Just bits, very select bits memorized. To identify those who've read or cultivated it. Even fragments trigger reactions like yours in cultivators."
At Ha Mu-baek's words, Yi Ho-beop's eyes widened round.
Words fit for a Taoist scripture were part of the Extermination Art?
"What now?"
Yi Ho-beop asked.
Hao Gate had lost to Ha Mu-baek, effectively.
"I still need to check your eldest young lady. Handling the Extermination Art aftermath alone is burdensome, honestly. Though thanks to you lot, it's not impossible."
"What?"
Yi Ho-beop echoed, uncomprehending.
"How about coming down now?"
Ha Mu-baek said toward the spot he'd pierced.
"Heh heh. Long time no see."
As Ha Mu-baek finished, hearty laughter flowed from above.