Chapter 166
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 166
Chapter Title: A Justification?
"How about we do it this way?"
"And who the hell are you?"
Ha Mu-baek stared at the man who had suddenly stepped forward, one of the three swordsmen.
"Ahem. I'm the Third Sword Banjeokpung of the Zhongnan Eight Swords. What if we make it so that if the instructor loses the match, we approve Baek Ri-pyeong's expulsion from the pavilion?"
Ha Mu-baek's eyes widened round.
It was the look of someone wondering what the hell this guy was on about.
Han Seol-bing and the other Fierce Dragon Corps cadets reacted the same way.
They all knew just how monstrously strong Ha Mu-baek was.
"And if I win?"
"Then Zhongnan won't force any decision on Baek Ri-pyeong's status."
"Do you even have the authority to make that call?"
Ha Mu-baek said dismissively.
"I'll vouch for it."
Ju Si-un answered suddenly, the atmosphere shifting in an instant.
His eyes gleamed with eerie light. He licked his lips lightly with his tongue.
Nam Hwa-ryong wore a look of dismay as he watched the proceedings.
Before he could find an opening to intervene, things had snowballed irreversibly.
"But since you've been flapping your gums needlessly, there needs to be a price for that, right?"
"A price?"
"One arm and one eye. That seems fair."
Cruel words, fitting his vicious nature.
"An eye and an arm... whose?"
Ha Mu-baek asked.
"Yours, obviously. If you can't even recognize the esteemed guest right in front of you, you won't miss one eye anyway."
Ju Si-un gazed at Ha Mu-baek with eyes brimming with ruthless malice.
"The scales aren't balanced... Hm. If I win, you'll offer up one arm and one eye too, right?"
"Heh. So confident. Fine."
Ju Si-un accepted Ha Mu-baek's proposal.
"That's settled, then. Pavilion Lord, will you bear witness to a match with these stakes?"
Ha Mu-baek's gaze turned to one side.
When had he arrived?
There stood Dragon Training Pavilion Lord Pang Do-yul.
Nam Hwa-ryong was stunned.
No matter how chaotic things were, how had he missed someone's approach?
And Ha Mu-baek had known all along.
He'd sensed it on the battlefield too—this man was strong.
"No reason I can't. I'll serve as witness. But... maybe we skip the eyes and arms?"
Pang Do-yul agreed readily, while trying to negotiate down the excessive terms.
"Heh. No need! Ridiculous. This no-name instructor's insulting mighty Zhongnan. If you were Pavilion Lord of the Pang Clan, could you stomach such humiliation?"
"......"
"I'm no saint. Only gouging out his eye and taking his arm will quench my rage even a little."
He said it with a face that brooked no argument.
"Tch. No wonder you're just lord of a place like this, so soft."
Ju Si-un's added remark crossed the line. Yet Pang Do-yul showed no reaction.
No point getting angry when the fool was marching to his death.
Challenging Ha Mu-baek like that? Pitiful, really.
"Hm. Well, if you're that set on it, no helping it. Very well."
Nam Hwa-ryong paled as he watched.
This was the Pavilion Lord's brother.
The Pang Clan had declined after the recent crisis, but it still held its place among the Five Great Clans.
To slight the clan head's brother like this...
And with the Pavilion Lord as witness to the match, things would spiral out of control.
His senior brother couldn't possibly beat this instructor. Which meant he'd lose an arm and an eye for sure.
They'd fallen completely into the instructor's trap.
Maybe the provocations toward his senior had all been calculated for this.
"Well, then let me add a proposal. One that favors you. No matter how I look at it, I can't see you beating our Baek Ri-pyeong. So, one person designated by Zhongnan, and one by me. Beat both, and Zhongnan stays out of Baek Ri-pyeong's affairs. How's that? Oh, and of course, you still forfeit an eye and an arm."
Things were escalating.
"W-Wait a moment..."
He tried to intervene to halt the runaway situation.
But fury blazed in Ju Si-un's eyes. To be so thoroughly mocked...
Heat rushed to his head.
"A cur that doesn't know fear of the tiger, just barks. Hahaha. How will that arrogance bite you back? Fine. I accept."
No one in Zhongnan dared provoke him like this. Nor should they.
Stepping out of Zhongnan was proving a novel experience.
Killing intent poured from his body as he added,
"Just watch your neck during the match. No guarantee it won't be the first thing to go. I'm merciful—if it does, I'll send it nicely to your family."
Ha Seol-ran flinched at the bloodthirsty words. Cutting off her brother's head and sending it to her...
For a girl with a tender heart, it was shocking.
"That hole in your face isn't a mouth—it's a sewer. Spewing nothing but garbage."
Ha Mu-baek glared at Ju Si-un, grinding his teeth.
He barely restrained the killing intent surging through him at Ha Seol-ran's reaction. Not yet.
Nam Hwa-ryong roughly rubbed his face.
He couldn't comprehend what was happening.
"Then let's draw up the document first."
Ha Mu-baek said, suppressing his anger. All for Ha Seol-ran's sake.
But Ju Si-un misinterpreted it.
He thought Ha Mu-baek was scared—like a cowardly dog barking loud.
And so they headed to the Pavilion Lord's office.
The training ground, now empty after Ha Mu-baek and the Zhongnan group departed.
The remaining cadets stared in bewilderment.
It felt like a sudden storm had swept away the instructor and Baek Ri-pyeong.
"Instructor Ha... You think he'll be okay?"
Yeon Ha-min asked, grasping the trembling Ha Seol-ran's hand.
Han Seol-bing, who had silently watched it all.
"Huh? What?"
"Instructor Ha and Pyeong."
Han Seol-bing paused, considering her words, then spoke.
"Zhongnan Sect? They're fucked."
Pavilion Lord's office.
Ki Yu-chan had drafted the document at Pavilion Lord Pang Do-yul's order.
"Neat work."
Ju Si-un nodded after checking the contents.
But Ha Mu-baek shook his head.
"Wrong."
"Where, sir?"
Ki Yu-chan, the drafter, asked.
"Ju Si-un. You left out his match with Baek Ri-pyeong. He has to beat Pyeong first to face me."
"Then the win conditions here would be..."
"If he beats Baek Ri-pyeong, count it as his win—and he forfeits his arm and eye."
Baek Ri-pyeong jumped at Ha Mu-baek's words.
He'd thought he could win, but staking the instructor's eye and arm on his match?
Baek Ri-pyeong trembled faintly.
"I-Instructor..."
"Heh, hahaha. Madman. Just ask to have your eye gouged and arm chopped off, why don't you?"
Ju Si-un sneered.
But Ha Mu-baek remained calm.
"Make it so."
At Pang Do-yul's word, Ki Yu-chan redrafted per Ha Mu-baek's instructions.
The two copies, verified again, bore Pang Do-yul's clear seal.
Ju Si-un and Ha Mu-baek's seals as well, of course.
They split the documents and parted ways.
"Senior Brother. What were you thinking, agreeing to that?"
Nam Hwa-ryong said to Ju Si-un in the inn's annex.
"I'm Zhongnan's top disciple. Where I stand is Zhongnan. You want me to stand there like an idiot after that mongrel insults me? Are you really Zhongnan's disciple?"
Nam Hwa-ryong fell silent at the question thrown back at him.
"I'll make him pay dearly. Crush him utterly."
Ju Si-un growled in a voice thick with killing intent.
Nam Hwa-ryong couldn't fathom how to handle this senior brother.
He was always seething with rage.
"Still, the order on Baek Ri-pyeong's status came from the Sect Leader himself. He even used the Sect Leader's writ."
Nam Hwa-ryong hadn't liked the Sect Leader's command, but the writ's authority was absolute.
"I'll handle Father."
Ju Si-un stood tall.
Mid-forties, yet acting like that.
Nam Hwa-ryong felt stifled, chest tight.
Ju Si-un was brutal and cruel, blind to both his foes' strength and his own.
"Instructor, why did you...?"
Baek Ri-pyeong followed Ha Mu-baek from the Pavilion Lord's hall to the dorms. He couldn't grasp the intent.
Staking his eye and arm on me? His legs still shook.
"I did some digging."
Ha Mu-baek said casually.
"Yes."
"Your sect leader's a real piece of work."
Baek Ri-pyeong paused at that.
But he didn't argue. It was true.
Sending him here, calling him back—it all showed.
Ha Mu-baek had suspected the Zhongnan Sect Leader was scum.
But certainty was better.
He'd gathered intel via the Beggars' Sect lately.
That was his conclusion.
This wasn't someone who'd back off if denied.
"Not just poor quality—he's petty, narrow-minded trash. Brutal and cruel too. His son takes after him."
Ha Mu-baek had info on Ju Si-un as well.
The Sect Leader bashing continued.
"That..."
Baek Ri-pyeong started to speak, then shut his mouth.
As a Zhongnan disciple, he should defend, but he didn't.
It wasn't wrong.
Somehow, it felt refreshing hearing it.
"Trash like that keeps buzzing unless you smash them proper."
Ha Mu-baek said as he walked.
"So I needed a justification."
"A justification?"
Ha Mu-baek nodded at Baek Ri-pyeong's question.
"Could smash without one, but it's a hassle."
What hassle?
Confusion crossed Baek Ri-pyeong's face.
"Might have to wipe out half of Zhongnan. Then the Righteous Heaven Alliance gets nosy."
Ha Mu-baek answered, and Baek Ri-pyeong stopped dead.
Half of Zhongnan? By one man?
Possible?
He knew the instructor was insanely strong from Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest.
But against Zhongnan, one of the Nine Great Sects?
Delusional.
Baek Ri-pyeong's expression shifted wildly. Ha Mu-baek smirked, amused.
"Anyway, was pondering how to build that justification, and they hand it to me. Grateful, really."
Baek Ri-pyeong recalled his senior brother's proposal.
The bet on his status.
"But why specifically Zhongnan..."
Nam Hwa-ryong had brought up the rules. Ha Mu-baek exploited it.
"Don't wanna go?"
Ha Mu-baek asked.
Baek Ri-pyeong clamped his mouth shut.
"Scared you won't come back."
Baek Ri-pyeong nodded faintly.
Zhongnan was massive.
Just him and the instructor—if caught, he might never return.
"Won't happen. You'll come back. I take you, I bring you back."
Ha Mu-baek said it like it was obvious.
"And that's where you show Zhongnan how much you've grown."
"I don't see what that accomplishes."
Baek Ri-pyeong said, puzzled.
"Zhongnan's united in name only. Might unify later, but not now."
Baek Ri-pyeong couldn't follow.
"So I'll go unite them."
"Pardon? How?"
Baek Ri-pyeong startled. The instructor was unpredictable.
"Cut out the unqualified."
A murderous smile curled Ha Mu-baek's lips. Baek Ri-pyeong shivered seeing it.
"Sect Leader and top disciple—gotta carve 'em out."
How? A mere Fierce Dragon Corps instructor against Zhongnan Sect Leader?
"Wasn't for nothing I specified match opponents."
Baek Ri-pyeong realized who Ha Mu-baek meant.
"Whether my neck or his rolls in the match—we'll see that day."
Subtle killing intent rose from his body.
"Ah, even so..."
Baek Ri-pyeong's voice quavered.
"Pfft. Won't actually cut his head off, so relax."
Ha Mu-baek chuckled lowly.
"But he pays for running his mouth."
Recalling Ha Seol-ran's trembling, killing intent seeped from Ha Mu-baek.
This side of the instructor...
If he dueled in Zhongnan, something huge was bound to happen.