Chapter 408
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 408
Chapter Title: Lending a Hand
"Geez, really. People these days."
Heavenly Eye Pavilion, top floor.
Pavilion Lord's office.
Gong Son Dan-gyeong was watching the commotion at the main gate from here.
He couldn't not know.
Suddenly, the roar of the gate guards erupted in this usually quiet place.
He approached the open window and looked down. A familiar figure stood there.
Someone with no reason to visit here suddenly.
Ha Mu-baek.
Even though he could have just quietly entered the Pavilion Lord's office, he had deliberately caused a ruckus right at the main gate.
"Ho, Hocheon Corps Leader... no, former Hocheon Corps Leader and Fierce Dragon Corps Chief Instructor Ha Mu-baek has arrived!"
Just then, the shout of the attendant guard rang out.
His voice was filled with fear.
It was only natural.
He was the attendant guard who had greeted Ha Mu-baek every time he visited back when he was Hocheon Corps Leader.
Having witnessed every side of Ha Mu-baek, fear was inevitable.
"Bring him inside."
Gong Son Dan-gyeong turned and headed toward the center of the office.
A massive table used for meetings sat there.
Bang.
The door flew open as Ha Mu-baek entered.
Behind him, a wooden coffin floated lightly, following along.
"Long time no see. But what's that?"
Gong Son Dan-gyeong pointed at the coffin and asked.
"That's why I came."
Ha Mu-baek said as he took a seat.
Gong Son Dan-gyeong sat across from him. The attendant guard swiftly prepared tea before slipping out of the office.
"Man, really. You could've come quietly—why make such a fuss?"
Ha Mu-baek smiled faintly.
"Are you asking because you know? Or because you don't?"
Gong Son Dan-gyeong chuckled.
"If you do that, the snake won't just startle and slither out—it might flee altogether."
Beating the grass to startle the snake.
Ha Mu-baek had done it to rattle someone in the Righteous Heaven Alliance.
To see what moves they might make.
"Looks like you were right. I startled it, but no movement. Tsk."
Ha Mu-baek clicked his tongue.
"So, what's got the Righteous Heaven Alliance in such an uproar?"
"A jiangshi."
A short answer.
As he replied, Ha Mu-baek watched Gong Son Dan-gyeong's reaction intently.
"A jiangshi?"
The response dripped with doubt.
A thick, murderous smile crept across Ha Mu-baek's lips.
Gong Son Dan-gyeong, seated across from him, flinched.
"Why... why the killing intent? What the hell's in that coffin?"
"You don't know?"
"I don't."
"Hmm. If even Elder Gong Son doesn't know..."
Ha Mu-baek crossed his arms and muttered.
The coffin lid opened. The jiangshi inside, perfectly subdued by Ha Mu-baek, slowly rose into the air.
Gong Son Dan-gyeong frowned as he watched.
Jiangshi always turned his stomach, no matter how many times he saw them.
"This looks like a poison jiangshi?"
Gong Son Dan-gyeong, discerning the type from its appearance alone.
"Right... but wrong."
At Ha Mu-baek's contradictory reply, Gong Son Dan-gyeong scowled and examined the jiangshi once more, inch by inch.
Still, his conclusion was poison jiangshi.
Its features were too distinct.
Ha Mu-baek circulated his inner energy, withdrawing the force blocking the jiangshi's mouth and nose.
Gong Son Dan-gyeong watched quietly to see what Ha Mu-baek was up to.
How much time passed?
Ha Mu-baek resealed the mouth and nose.
"See anything strange?"
"Strange how?"
Gong Son Dan-gyeong asked back.
"Look inside carefully."
A strategist he might be, but Gong Son Dan-gyeong had trained in martial arts.
At Ha Mu-baek's urging, he peered inward—but still drew a blank.
"Here, let me help."
Ha Mu-baek grabbed Gong Son Dan-gyeong's wrist and channeled his inner energy.
Now, Gong Son Dan-gyeong could sense the alien qi invading his body.
"Wh-what is this?"
"Soul-Melting Poison."
Gong Son Dan-gyeong's eyes bulged at Ha Mu-baek's answer.
"H-how... in my body..."
"This one's rigged to spew Soul-Melting Poison from its mouth and nose. I dropped the seal with my energy for a moment, and you got dosed."
Gong Son Dan-gyeong reeled at the explanation.
He'd never heard of jiangshi like this.
No—Soul-Melting Poison had only surfaced in the martial world a few months back.
And now jiangshi spraying it?
"Detox first."
Ha Mu-baek effortlessly neutralized the Soul-Melting Poison in Gong Son Dan-gyeong's system.
"Th-this... what the..."
Gong Son Dan-gyeong stared blankly at the Soul-Melting Poison jiangshi.
"Ran into it on business in Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest. Spared one to bring back. Demon-Sealing Corps were with me, so a report should've hit the Corps Leader. You really had no clue?"
Ha Mu-baek pressed Gong Son Dan-gyeong again.
He gritted his teeth.
No report had come his way.
"Is that true?"
A voice from the window.
In a flash, So Hwi-woong slipped inside through it.
His eyes blazed with fury.
Hocheon Corps members poured in behind him.
Spotting Ha Mu-baek, they all froze in shock.
Faces that never dreamed he'd be here.
Dam Mu-hyeon's expression was especially peculiar.
Surprise? Gladness? A mix.
"Why would I lie?"
Mindful of the setting, Ha Mu-baek kept his tone polite toward So Hwi-woong.
The Righteous Heaven Alliance had eyes everywhere.
Even Ha Mu-baek couldn't mouth off to the Alliance Leader here.
"Fair point."
So Hwi-woong said, claiming the head seat at the table.
Hocheon Corps members, Dam Mu-hyeon included, arrayed themselves around him.
'What the? Why show up here outta nowhere?'
Dam Mu-hyeon shot the question with a glance.
He itched to transmit, but not with the Alliance Leader right there.
Ha Mu-baek read the look perfectly.
[Mind your own business.]
Ha Mu-baek's Wise Light Mind Transmission rang in Dam Mu-hyeon's skull.
He'd been scanning the perimeter to guard So Hwi-woong, yet no one caught the transmission.
'Monster through and through.'
Mid-conversation with So Hwi-woong and Gong Son Dan-gyeong, Ha Mu-baek casually fired off an advanced transmission technique like Wise Light Mind Transmission.
Dam Mu-hyeon could only shake his head in admiration.
"A jiangshi belching Soul-Melting Poison like a yawn... Report reached Demon-Sealing Corps Leader, but never made it to Heavenly Eye Pavilion?"
So Hwi-woong's eyes burned fierce.
"All reports from Demon-Sealing Corps were business as usual."
Gong Son Dan-gyeong said, dredging his memory.
Every ten days' routine check-in: no anomalies.
"When'd you find this thing?"
Ha Mu-baek answered So Hwi-woong's question in detail—when he'd hit Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest, what went down there.
Gong Son Dan-gyeong's face turned to stone as he listened.
"That report already reached Heavenly Eye Pavilion. Said no issues."
Key details omitted.
False report, plain and simple.
So Hwi-woong nodded at Dam Mu-hyeon.
Dam Mu-hyeon fired off a transmission somewhere.
"So you hauled your heavy ass here to see what became of it?"
So Hwi-woong asked Ha Mu-baek.
"Not that heavy. Went to Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest myself—found this new breed and dragged it back."
So Hwi-woong snorted at Ha Mu-baek's retort.
"I know you dash around the world nonstop. But first time back since ditching the Alliance, right?"
"Why bother with a place that rolls out no welcome wagons?"
So Hwi-woong eyed Ha Mu-baek with clear displeasure.
Courteous words.
But underneath? Not one inch yielded.
As the two traded words, Gong Son Dan-gyeong poured tea from the unattended pot and set it before So Hwi-woong.
"Came to spook the snake."
So Hwi-woong nodded at Gong Son Dan-gyeong's remark.
"A thousand-year python—that snake doesn't scare easy. Wasted trip."
"You really think so?"
Ha Mu-baek met So Hwi-woong's gaze.
Then.
Dam Mu-hyeon sidled up to So Hwi-woong, cupped his mouth, and transmitted something.
So Hwi-woong stared hard at Ha Mu-baek.
"Hiding this jiangshi intel? That python's tangled up in it too, I'd wager."
So Hwi-woong nodded.
"Demon-Sealing Corps Leader's Zhongnan Sect disciple. Zhongnan Sect Head Elder Cheon Gi-buk's Yeon Family Head's right-hand man. And Alliance Leader—you beat the grass just like me?"
Ha Mu-baek's eyes flicked somewhere as he spoke.
Snagged by Ha Mu-baek's senses.
A practitioner of Hubei Yeon Clan arts.
Stealth arts.
Ha Mu-baek's gaze swept an empty spot—but the air rippled like heat haze for an instant.
So Hwi-woong looked too.
Conversations here were inaudible anyway.
Unless a lip-reader extraordinaire. They'd minimized mouth movements.
Probably going mad with curiosity.
He let it be—to signal the snake they were still rustling grass.
Left the window open for the same reason.
Catch one, another'd slink in. Easier to exploit than chase.
"Exactly. Right around that last report skipping jiangshi details, Elder Cheon Gi-buk got a pigeon and headed straight to Yeon Family Head."
As So Hwi-woong spoke.
"Pavilion Lord. Got what you ordered."
Gong Son Dan-gyeong's attendant called from outside.
"Bring it."
Door cracked. Attendant handed over a single sheet of paper, then vanished.
Gong Son Dan-gyeong scanned it closely, nodded, and incinerated it with Samadhi True Flame.
"That Samadhi True Flame's always a sight, Strategist."
Ha Mu-baek chuckled.
"Too many papers need burning."
Gong Son Dan-gyeong quipped back.
"As the Alliance Leader said. Record shows a messenger pigeon from Demon-Sealing Corps to Elder Cheon Gi-buk around then."
Ha Mu-baek shook his head.
"Hah. How'd I last in this suffocating hellhole?"
Every move monitored, logged.
Subjects might or might not know.
"Doesn't apply to you, Mu-baek."
So Hwi-woong cocked his head.
Ha Mu-baek's cultivation pierced most surveillance—so they'd skipped it.
Most trusted man.
"This is a demon den where everyone spies on everyone."
But that was So Hwi-woong's take.
Someone sent watchers anyway, damn the risk of detection.
Ha Mu-baek glanced outside again.
Then up at the ceiling.
'Two of 'em.'
Energy barrier cloaked the room—no eavesdropping possible.
So Hwi-woong had pierced via window, catching the jiangshi talk.
Ha Mu-baek had sensed the Alliance Leader coming and cracked that barrier on purpose.
"So Yeon Family Head got the report but buried it at Heavenly Eye Pavilion. What's the angle?"
Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest deadlier now.
Demon-Sealing Corps battling jiangshi there.
Yeon Ja-kyeong, their overseer, sitting on it.
Upping the danger.
So Hwi-woong shot Gong Son Dan-gyeong a baffled look.
"Probably for the cadets' field training."
"Field training?"
Ha Mu-baek blinked like it'd never crossed his mind.
"You were in the dark?"
Gong Son Dan-gyeong asked, puzzled.
Dragon Training Pavilion swamped with it—he'd assumed Ha Mu-baek knew.
Gong Son Dan-gyeong sketched the basics: Yeon Ja-kyeong's push for Hidden Dragon Corps and Wa Dragon Corps cadets' field training.
"Deadlier forest means casualties for those trainees. Why?"
Crucial intel gap in their briefings.
That's why Yeon Ja-kyeong's scheme eluded them.
Despite the watchdogs.
Yeon Ja-kyeong slipped messages right past 'em.
They couldn't touch her real play.
Ha Mu-baek eyed the pair closely.
Mountains of blind spots.
Especially.
Alliance Leader and Heavenly Eye Pavilion Lord clueless on White Flower Pollen Grass.
Demon-Sealing Corps harvesting it.
Yield: mountain-scattering poison of nightmare potency.
'Yeon Ja-kyeong's brewing something big in Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest...'
Ha Mu-baek held his tongue.
No rash moves from them spooking the snake.
Startling it—getting it to writhe—had to play out on his terms.