Chapter 187
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 187
Chapter Title: Take Care
Mu-chang City's bizarre incident was immediately reported to Wall Thunder Beggar.
However, Wall Thunder Beggar had no mind to receive the news right now.
He was simply trembling from head to toe as he stared at the three portraits his subordinate had brought.
"This is Gwang Hoe-cheon. And this is Hyung Ui-cheon."
He placed the two portraits side by side.
Side by side like this, the two looked like completely unrelated, utterly different people.
Yet he positioned the two portraits a bit apart and placed a third portrait between them.
The painters had applied every possible alteration to Hyung Ui-cheon's face. Small annotations were attached in fine print.
They explained how various modifications would result in this appearance.
"An eyepatch over one eye? No, that bastard Hyung Ui-cheon truly has a blind eye. It's not just covered with a patch..."
He had already investigated Hyung Ui-cheon thoroughly.
He had confirmed multiple times that the man had genuinely lost sight in one eye.
"Gain weight. Scar the throat to alter the voice."
Wall Thunder Beggar read the annotations carefully, one by one.
Indeed, the changes to the eyes' size and shape from the weight gain clearly made Gwang Hoe-cheon and Hyung Ui-cheon resemble each other.
But the most crucial point.
Hyung Ui-cheon did not practice martial arts.
His subordinates' opinion on that matter was:
"His dantian was crippled, or his internal energy sealed..."
Blind one eye himself, scar the throat to change his voice, and eliminate his internal energy.
Gain so much blubbery fat that he could barely walk and sweat poured from him even standing still.
It was madness.
Every single one was utter madness.
Most people couldn't accomplish even one of them.
Yet that bastard had done them all.
So.
"No wonder we couldn't find him. Even after seeing him multiple times, we never imagined..."
It was a self-mocking mutter.
"Hyung Ui-cheon. No, Gwang Hoe-cheon! You son of a bitch."
Wall Thunder Beggar's eyes flashed fiercely.
"Everyone! We're raiding Moon Dragon Manor! Prepare! And inform Instructor Ha as well!"
Wall Thunder Beggar bellowed in rage-filled fury. But his command couldn't be carried out right away.
Because of the subordinate who had come to report Mu-chang's bizarre slaughter.
"Elder. Something huge has happened in Mu-chang right now."
The beggar who had rushed over belatedly hurriedly recounted the horrific events from moments ago.
After hearing the full report, Wall Thunder Beggar's eyes blazed even fiercer.
"Those Blood Cult bastards deserve to be torn apart and fed to the dogs. As expected, they've been plotting their vicious schemes in Mu-chang. In the end, it all traces back to Gwang Hoe-cheon! That bastard's handiwork. We're raiding Moon Dragon Manor right now! Gather all forces there!"
It was a repetition of the previous order.
Ha Mu-baek had taken the monster away, so contacting him immediately would be difficult.
Still, since he had appeared right away, he must know something was wrong at Moon Dragon Manor too.
In any case, he would strike first.
Gwang Hoe-cheon, who had sealed or crippled his own martial arts to stay out of the Beggar Clan's sight.
That had let him hide for all these long years, but now that he had been exposed to Wall Thunder Beggar, it would prove a fatal mistake.
Wall Thunder Beggar gripped his green bamboo staff, forged from qinggang bamboo, for the first time in ages.
His signature weapon, always set aside nearby.
How much Blood Cult and Demonic Cult blood had stained this?
Today, it would be stained with a traitor's blood.
Hyung Ui-cheon received an urgent report from a subordinate merchant during breakfast.
A bizarre incident had occurred in Mu-chang.
Hyung Ui-cheon nodded upon hearing the details.
'I expected one to pop up eventually, but it's a few days earlier than thought.'
He recalled Han Jang-han's face as he did.
A constitution especially susceptible to Latent Soul Poison? The East Overseer had reported particularly severe poisoning symptoms.
That was why Hyung Ui-cheon himself hadn't bothered to check the face in person.
The subordinate merchant reporting now knew nothing about Latent Soul Poison—he was a pure merchant.
That was why he delivered the news with such a terrified face and asked if they should wrap up business in Mu-chang.
Watching the man's grave expression, Hyung Ui-cheon nodded quietly.
Hyung Ui-cheon felt the need to tidy up too.
But for different reasons.
'With things turning out like this, both the Beggar Clan and Ha Mu-baek will target this place. Well, Ha Mu-baek must have fallen to the Latent Soul Poison by now.'
The reporting merchant didn't know Ha Mu-baek's face. In fact, he had been so shocked when that man tried to devour his comrade that he fled straight here without knowing of Ha Mu-baek's arrival.
'Wall Thunder Beggar will come charging soon.'
Hyung Ui-cheon knew Wall Thunder Beggar's temperament well enough.
Then it was time to prepare.
"Understood. First, discuss with the other managers how long it would take to liquidate the businesses."
"Ah, yes sir."
The merchant answered hurriedly and withdrew from the room.
Hyung Ui-cheon dismissed all the maids. Then he took out a black-tinged bell from among those hanging on his robe and rang it.
Ding-a-lang. Ding-a-lang.
The ringing trembled finely, producing an eerie sound.
Moments later, a white-haired elder entered.
"Corps Leader, you summoned me?"
"The Beggar Clan will come soon."
At Hyung Ui-cheon's words, the elder's eyes gleamed.
"Gather your men and handle them, Jin Overseer."
Joy lit the eyes of the elder called Jin Overseer at Hyung Ui-cheon's words.
A Blood Cultist who had not learned Blood Arts.
A subordinate Il-lo had secretly placed in the Single Eye Merchant Group for him.
"Understood. I'll slaughter every last one of those stinking beggar bastards without mercy."
"And call East Overseer for me."
Jin Overseer withdrew, exuding thick killing intent.
He and his men were far from weak.
In the Blood Cult, they had selected and learned relatively strong martial arts from all the righteous and unorthodox sects from the last war.
Of course, Blood Cultists were required to learn Blood Arts by default.
But due to the nature of their mission, they had inevitably abandoned Blood Arts for other sects' techniques.
Was that why?
Their hostility toward the righteous-unorthodox martial world was fiercer than other Blood Cultists', their killing intent thicker.
They blamed those sects for stripping them of their Blood Arts.
Moments later, East Overseer entered.
"I've heard the news."
East Overseer bowed at the waist.
"Yes. Far too soon, contrary to expectations. Especially with Wall Thunder Beggar already sniffing around."
East Overseer simply kept his head bowed at Hyung Ui-cheon's words.
"Gather all remaining stock. Send half to headquarters, scatter the other half in Mu-chang."
At those words, East Overseer snapped his head up.
"It's still incomplete."
Hyung Ui-cheon shook his head.
"It's finished. That poison from the records... Impossible to fully recreate without the Golden Command Devouring Blood Arts. We made something similar combining Blood Arts and poison techniques, tweaking the formula for maximum similarity... But this is the limit."
East Overseer said nothing.
In truth, he had half-expected it. The experiments at Moon Dragon Inn had mostly concerned dosage.
"Doing that will turn Mu-chang into true hell on earth."
Hyung Ui-cheon smiled faintly and nodded at East Overseer's words.
"Exactly. The cult and I have an agreement. To uphold it, that level of chaos is necessary."
"What about the targets?"
"Five hundred commoners—the remaining half should cover that many. We need to plunge Mu-chang into total anarchy. I'd love to use it all... but it seems my ties to the cult end today."
East Overseer bowed deeply at Hyung Ui-cheon's words.
The years they had served him to recreate Latent Soul Poison were long, and affection had built up.
"You've worked hard all this time. Send the Latent Soul Poison and its formula to headquarters immediately. After scattering the poison, everyone evacuate Mu-chang. Some of you must return to headquarters to make future production easier. Especially you, East Overseer. I want you to reach headquarters safely."
East Overseer remained bowed.
"The Beggar Clan beggars will swarm soon. Be careful. You may go."
"Take care."
East Overseer left those words and departed the room.
Now completely alone, Hyung Ui-cheon wheeled his chair himself.
Moving to the center of the room, Hyung Ui-cheon bellowed toward the outside in a lion's roar of a voice.
The room was thoroughly soundproofed, so it had to be this loud for his subordinates outside to hear.
"No matter what happens from now on, let no one enter this room. Even if Moon Dragon Manor crumbles!"
"Yes sir!"
The guards outside the door replied.
Hyung Ui-cheon nodded and pressed hard on the ends of both armrests.
Click.
With a small mechanical sound, the armrest ends snapped open, revealing two compartments filled with pills.
Hyung Ui-cheon opened the two compartments.
Each contained a white pill and a black pill.
"Finally time to take these."
A smile curled on Hyung Ui-cheon's lips.
"Now it's time to return as Gwang Hoe-cheon."
With those words, Hyung Ui-cheon tossed both pills into his mouth at once.
The moment they touched saliva, they melted into liquid and slid down his throat, mixing together.
At the same time, a hot energy surged through his meridians.
'Two hours. Two hours.'
That was how long until the seal on his dantian fully unraveled.
A man whose eyes had rolled back white, body shuddering uncontrollably.
He couldn't endure the pain of burning away the poison energy.
About fifteen minutes passed like that.
Ha Mu-baek's hand lifted from his pulse point.
Thud. The man collapsed to the ground.
Soon, a foul stench began rising from his body.
The smell of the incinerated poison remnants.
A stench that wrinkled the nose involuntarily.
Ha Mu-baek remained unfazed, having experienced it once before.
The man's state was wretched.
Not only were poison remnants oozing from every pore, he had also soiled himself.
"H-heek."
The remaining eight of Dongjeong Gugeol flinched in shock at the sight.
As Ha Mu-baek's gaze turned to them, they shrank back hesitantly.
"Yours isn't that bad. Hurry up and come here since you're next."
Thus, he detoxified them one by one.
At the same time, Ha Mu-baek's expression darkened.
The number of Mu-chang people who had eaten at Moon Dragon Inn and Moon Dragon Pavilion was enormous.
They all likely harbored latent poison energy in their bodies.
He couldn't personally purge them all one by one.
"Looks like we need an antidote..."
Ha Mu-baek muttered.
"We'll have to make one."
That was when Dang Ji-yeon, whom Han Seol-bing had brought back in, spoke up.
"Is that possible?"
"Not sure. Just in case, I sent an express letter to Grandfather on the way here."
With that, Dang Ji-yeon unpacked various tools from her baggage.
"Jin-san."
Her voice was cold.
"Y-yeah."
"Help. It's tough alone."
He was the only one here who had learned even a little about handling poisons.
"Oh, and the Beggar Clan's movements are unusual."
Dang Ji-yeon relayed the information she had gathered rushing back from Mu-chang.
Ha Mu-baek nodded slightly.
He had already spread his senses to monitor Mu-chang's activity.
Then, something pinged on Ha Mu-baek's senses.
A flock of countless birds taking flight from Moon Dragon Manor.
Messenger pigeons and falcons.
Hundreds mixed together soared up.
How did they have that many birds?
Ha Mu-baek hurriedly scanned the surroundings.
But no one had a bow.
"Brother. They're flying out from Moon Dragon Manor in twelve directions beyond Mu-chang."
Ha Seol-ran said urgently.
She too had been monitoring Moon Dragon Manor with her senses.
At Ha Seol-ran's words, everyone's faces stiffened.
What else were they plotting at Moon Dragon Manor, already shrouding Mu-chang in fear and chaos with that bizarre poison?
What was the purpose of releasing all those birds?
Were they planning to scatter that strange poison across the entire martial world?
If so, what were the destinations?
Would the Tang Clan, Wudang, Zhongnan be safe?
And what consequences would it bring?
All sorts of thoughts swirled and faded in their minds.
No matter how they thought, there was no way to catch the birds in the sky.
Anxiety settled on the disciples' faces.
Ha Mu-baek also looked up at the sky with a complicated gaze.
He too didn't know what was tied to the legs of those messenger birds and falcons.
He needed to catch at least one, but there was no bow or arrows.
"No choice."
Ha Mu-baek muttered, hand moving to his sword hilt.