Chapter 382
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 382
Chapter Title: Predetermined Uses
Ha Mu-baek's departure left an empty spot.
The remaining group glanced at one another.
"You said you'd help, right? Definitely?"
A faint smile lit up Pung Geon's face.
Everyone nodded.
"Still, you should steel yourselves a bit."
Pyeong Deok-jo cut in.
"What do you mean by that, Instructor Pyeong?"
Pung Geon asked, his expression tinged with doubt.
He had stayed behind with Ha Mu-baek, after all.
"He definitely said he'd help... but, well. He mentioned you'd have to roll for it, and I mean really roll."
Pyeong Deok-jo himself had been rolling hard without any prior heads-up.
Of course,
he was rolling with joy.
It was a stroke of fateful luck for him.
"What does it matter? As long as we make it back alive."
Yu Gwi-gwang shrugged it off like it was nothing.
Pung Geon turned to Gwan Ha-kyeong and the first-year Fierce Dragon Corps member.
"What kind of man is Instructor Ha?"
He had felt the man's strength firsthand.
But that was all he knew, so he asked these two who had spent a year in the Dragon Training Pavilion with him.
"He comes off as cold, detached, and intimidating, but deep down, he's a man of profound loyalty."
Gwan Ha-kyeong's response came without hesitation.
That day,
she had teetered on the edge of abandoning the Dancheon Sword.
She hadn't even realized it herself.
Yet,
Ha Mu-baek had appeared out of nowhere with words of comfort, praise, and encouragement.
Thanks to him, Gwan Ha-kyeong had pressed on with her Dancheon Sword training, reaching the point where she had even been taught the Heaven-Severing Demon-Slaying Blade.
Just look at now.
He had heard Yu Gwi-gwang's tale and offered to help.
Sighing that he didn't want to, that it shouldn't come to this,
but in the end, he agreed.
"Hmm. He's a bit cantankerous and lazy... but when he sets his mind to training you, he'll have you wailing in agony..."
The first-year Fierce Dragon Corps member recounted the rumors he'd heard about Ha Mu-baek during his own second year at the pavilion.
"And every cadet under Instructor Ha's guidance posted stellar results at the Summer Combat Festival. In fact, both the champion and runner-up were his students."
Gwan Ha-kyeong nodded vigorously from the side.
Pung Geon and Yu Gwi-gwang were stunned.
"The Summer Combat Festival?"
"Yes."
"Aren't you an instructor for the Fierce Dragon Corps?"
"That's right."
Gwan Ha-kyeong replied to Pung Geon's question.
"But his cadets took first and second at the Summer Combat Festival? The Fierce Dragon Corps competed there?"
The first-year Fierce Dragon Corps member, Hwa Ryang, and Gwan Ha-kyeong both nodded in unison.
"They turned in impressive scores at the Ha-tu Festival too. They even took down Team 1 from the Hidden Dragon Corps."
Pung Geon looked utterly incredulous.
He was an alumnus of the Hidden Dragon Corps.
It was a mid-tier sect at best, but it aligned with the faction backed by the Nine Great Sects and Five Great Families.
That's why he knew just how formidable the Hidden Dragon Corps' junior disciples were.
He also knew what sort of people ended up in the Fierce Dragon Corps.
And yet,
they had pulled off results like that.
Pung Geon and Yu Gwi-gwang wore expressions of pure disbelief.
"Embarrassing as it is to admit, until just a few days ago, I was barely scraping by at the second-rate level."
Pyeong Deok-jo chimed in.
Pung Geon tilted his head.
He hadn't quite reached the peak himself, but he figured he was solidly upper first-rate.
In his eyes, the aura emanating from Pyeong Deok-jo was no joke at all—so how could the man have been second-rate until recently?
It didn't add up.
He wouldn't have sensed it that way if the man had truly been second-rate.
"But after just a few days with Instructor Ha, my realm shot up like this."
The words were delivered flatly.
But their impact was enormous.
He had elevated a second-rate fighter to first-rate in a matter of days?
Was that even possible?
No matter how elite the instructor?
They knew it sounded absurd, but they had to ask.
"Did he maybe use something like Forced Energy Transfer or the like...?"
Forced Energy Transfer.
A technique where a superior expert channels their own inner power into another to forcibly raise their realm.
It required at least the transcendent realm to attempt.
And since it consumed the giver's own power, it was typically reserved for direct disciples or heirs.
Pyeong Deok-jo shook his head as if it were preposterous.
"No. He just pointed me in the right direction for training and offered some advice. Oh... and some live combat with the zombies..."
His face darkened slightly, perhaps recalling his first sight of the four zombies.
"Unbelievable..."
Disbelief washed over Pung Geon's features.
At the same time,
hope took root in the hearts of everyone present.
If a man that incredible lent his aid, maybe—just maybe—they could wrap up this mission unscathed.
"You lot should hit the sack soon. Tomorrow's going to be rough."
Ha Mu-baek returned, carrying the cleaned and dried pot and utensils.
With that, they set about preparing to bed down for the night.
"Corps Leader. No, Senior Brother. What in the world are you thinking?"
Yang Bi-chang, vice leader of the Demon-Sealing Corps, set down his cup and addressed Do Sim-geuk—his senior brother, predecessor, and current corps leader.
"It's Master's orders."
Do Sim-geuk replied indifferently.
"Even so, this feels excessive. The Demon-Sealing Corps members might actually die."
Do Sim-geuk frowned at Yang Bi-chang's words.
"Toss the Fierce Dragon Corps at them, and we can pull back just fine."
It was logical, sure.
But Yang Bi-chang still felt uneasy.
"Even so..."
"Even so what? If it's a meat shield, use it like one."
His voice was ice-cold.
Yang Bi-chang could assent intellectually but not emotionally.
Perhaps after numerous missions alongside the Fierce Dragon Corps members, some affection had grown.
"They've survived intact for five years. Why not just let them limp home alive?"
"Tch. Next year, you'll be taking over as corps leader, Junior Brother Yang. Can't afford to be that soft... What do you think is the Demon-Sealing Corps' most vital duty?"
He had specified their "original duty,"
meaning the collection of Hundred Flower Pollen Bloom was off the table.
"Suppressing the zombie population, right? Ideally, culling them as much as possible."
Do Sim-geuk shook his head.
"That's the pretext. The reality is securing their inner cores. You know that full well."
Yang Bi-chang fell silent at the blunt statement.
"Why the long face? You've benefited plenty from those cores yourself. How else did you reach your current realm?"
Under Do Sim-geuk's pointed remark,
Yang Bi-chang had no retort.
It was the truth.
He too
had steadily bolstered his inner power through pills refined from zombie cores.
Thanks to that, he had broken into the peak realm
and earned his spot as vice corps leader.
Many from the Kunlun Sect had been assigned to the Demon-Sealing Corps, but few reached the peak.
That was why Yang Bi-chang had been tapped as the next leader.
"Don't act all high and mighty. You're no different from me in the end."
Do Sim-geuk disliked his junior brother's attitude.
His temperament was too soft for this place.
To lead the Demon-Sealing Corps, you needed ruthlessness.
Only then could you grow strong and reap the rewards.
The corps would thrive, and the Kunlun Sect would profit handsomely.
But of all people,
his junior brother Yang Bi-chang had climbed the highest and become vice leader.
He didn't like it, but there was nothing for it.
It was the sect elders' decision.
Follow orders.
That's how he himself had become corps leader.
"Anyway, to stockpile enough zombie cores, we need a stable population."
True enough.
"But get this: survival rates hovered around fifty percent until last year. This year? It's hit eighty. What do you make of that?"
Yang Bi-chang read between the lines.
His face drained of color.
"The zombie numbers are dropping. Can't have that. That's why we're feeding the Fierce Dragon Corps to them as bait—teams heavy on mid- and small-sect trash."
"......"
"Hey, if the meat shields fail at being meat shields and croak alongside us, that's a fine outcome too."
Do Sim-geuk chuckled.
The smile was chilling to behold.
To Yang Bi-chang's eyes, it was a grin no human should wear.
How could he be like this?
'I'm no different, though...'
His senior brother's words echoed as
Yang Bi-chang sank into bitter self-loathing.
He knew it was wrong, yet he trudged on, intoxicated by the power those pills granted.
"Here's hoping they all stick to their duties."
Do Sim-geuk muttered, lifting his cup.
The current measures were ultimately at the command of Sect Leader Cheon Gi-buk.
Thus, he never dreamed
that Yeon Ja-kyeong's secret pact with the Blood Cult lay behind it all.
He simply assumed it was to maintain zombie numbers for core harvesting.
Yeon Baek-jin was lost in deep thought.
A short while ago,
he had wandered the Dragon Training Pavilion grounds for a change of pace and unwittingly passed near the main training grounds.
The Fierce Dragon Corps was training with ferocious intensity.
Yeon Ha-min was among them.
Perhaps he had subconsciously headed there to see her.
Last time,
after delivering his sister-in-law's letter to Yeon Ha-min, he hadn't seen her.
It was unavoidable.
Ki Yu-chan had caught him with her.
Yeon Baek-jin distrusted the man.
Not just because he dumped mountains of work on him.
The guy was a scholar, plain and simple.
Yet Yeon Baek-jin had once glimpsed him using martial arts.
Yeon Clan martial arts, no less.
Arts no outsider should know.
If he were a plant secretly placed by Yeon Baek-jin's father in the pavilion,
Ha-min's whereabouts would have been exposed ages ago.
Since that hadn't happened, Ki Yu-chan had no direct ties to his father.
Yet he wielded Yeon Clan techniques.
Not just any—stealth and footwork arts.
Skills for moving undetected and scouting from the shadows.
Why learn those?
'He's playing spy.'
Yeon Baek-jin couldn't say how he'd acquired the Yeon Clan's stealth and footwork, but the man was untrustworthy, plain and simple.
From some point on, he had started avoiding him.
Even so,
he sometimes ran into Ki Yu-chan near the main training grounds.
Coincidence or intent? No telling.
He only watched the Fierce Dragon Corps' drills briefly before leaving.
Even that short glimpse had shaken Yeon Baek-jin deeply,
and sparked worry too.
'Ju Woo-myeong. Baek Ri-pyeong. Dang Jin-san. Dan Mok Un-roe. Ha Seol-ran.'
All cadets training alongside Yeon Ha-min.
Soon, they'd head to the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest together.
As they unleashed named techniques in training,
traces of other martial arts lingered on their swords.
But
Yeon Ha-min wielded only the Three Talents Arts and named techniques.
That nagged at him.
Yeon Baek-jin
was the son of the Hubei Yeon Clan head.
He had reached well beyond the peak realm himself,
so he could spot it.
'Not much time left.'
Hence his dilemma.
Should he pass on Yeon Clan martial arts?
No, would the girl even accept them?
And if she did learn them,
wouldn't it be too late?
With the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest looming, might unfamiliar arts hinder her instead?
All sorts of worries filled his mind.
Even so,
Yeon Baek-jin made his choice.
He would teach her the Yeon Clan's arts.
'That particular art—she'll have no choice but to accept it.'
He knew one technique she absolutely wouldn't refuse.
Only one lingering concern:
what if the new, unfamiliar art backfired?
That was the issue.
'For that, I should ask Instructor Ha...'
But Ha Mu-baek was away from the pavilion now.
'Pass it on first.'
Yeon Baek-jin rose from his desk and headed to the bookshelf behind.
A plain book with a plain title.
He pulled it out.
Ever since learning Yeon Ha-min was at the Dragon Training Pavilion, he'd prepared this manual just in case such a day came.
Now was the time to hand it over.
The problem was
'Ki Yu-chan.'
That bastard.
He couldn't let him see the handover.
Not knowing the man's true identity or motives,
Yeon Ha-min's secrets couldn't be exposed to him.
"Is Deputy Pavilion Lord in?"
Just then,
Ki Yu-chan came looking for Yeon Baek-jin.
"What is it?"
"Why else would I come?"
"Ugh."
What else?
Probably to dump a massive workload.
Sure enough, he arrived with a stack of documents.
"Something urgent came up. I'll need to step out of the pavilion for a bit... so I've brought everything I can handle right away."
In other words: he wouldn't be around to offload work for a while, so here was an enormous batch to tide things over.
Yeon Baek-jin inwardly cheered.
Leaving the pavilion right when he needed him gone.
Separate from that, the sheer volume was staggering.
Yeon Baek-jin's face went pale.
"They want field training for the Hidden Dragon and Wa Dragon Corps cadets. Never been done before, so we're starting from scratch—tons of work. Anyway, I'm off."
Ki Yu-chan departed, acting every bit the man swamped with duties.
In that instant, Yeon Baek-jin's eyes gleamed.