Chapter 495
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 495
Chapter Title: My Head's Cooled Down Too
Thud.
The Four Great Corpse split in half and collapsed.
The seven squads of the Fierce Dragon Corps surrounded him.
"This guy's the last one, right?"
Dang Jin-san asked, and Ha Seol-ran nodded.
"He's the last."
"So, there are no more jiangshi in the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest now?"
Yeon Ha-min asked Ha Seol-ran.
"Yeah. None left."
Ha Seol-ran's senses no longer detected a single jiangshi anywhere.
"Then this place isn't the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest anymore."
Baek Ri-pyeong said, looking around.
It was land called a demonic forest because of the Blood Cult and the jiangshi.
Now that they were all gone...
"Right. So what should we call it now?"
Dang Jin-san tilted his head.
"Mountain-Crossing Woods. That's what they called it back in the day, before the Blood Cult settled here."
Dan Mok Un-roe shared the name he'd heard from a herb gatherer while wiping out the remaining Four Great Corpses.
"Yeah, that sounds right."
Dang Jin-san nodded firmly.
"So, what happens to us now?"
Nak Woo-jin asked curiously.
"The Corps Leader and Vice Corps Leader will know. A messenger bird arrived yesterday, I think."
At Baek Ri-pyeong's words, Dang Jin-san looked up at the sky.
"Yeah. Where's our Corps Leader off to now, I wonder?"
With that exchange, they returned to what had been the Demon-Sealing Corps' main base.
It was now the Fierce Dragon Corps' temporary headquarters.
With the seven squads returning, the entire Fierce Dragon Corps had come back.
Confirming this, Han Seol-bing stepped forward.
"The Alliance has issued orders regarding our future deployment."
Short words, but they reverberated hugely.
Every member instantly focused on Han Seol-bing.
"As you all know, every jiangshi in the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest has been eliminated as of today. Our mission here is over."
A few nodded.
"Orders from the Heavenly Eye Pavilion regarding our next assignment arrived yesterday. Since the Fierce Dragon Corps belongs to the Heavenly Eye Pavilion, we follow the Pavilion Lord's commands."
Han Seol-bing continued methodically.
During this, some members fidgeted restlessly.
They couldn't contain their curiosity about their own futures.
"First, regarding service terms."
As if to relieve their tension, Han Seol-bing spoke up.
The most crucial part.
The members' eyes sparkled like stars.
"With the jiangshi in the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest gone and new missions ahead, adjustments have been made to existing service periods. Using first-year members as the baseline, it's three years."
At Han Seol-bing's words, the Fierce Dragon Corps members exchanged glances.
They didn't grasp the meaning.
Or rather, they understood but couldn't believe it.
If first-years serve three years, and this applies retroactively to the whole corps...
"That means fourth- and fifth-year members are done with their Fierce Dragon Corps service starting now. You're all free to return home."
"Huh?"
"What?"
Heads tilted here and there, small gasps escaping.
Then...
"Wooooaaahhh!!!"
Cheers erupted.
"You'll receive half the monthly stipend for the remaining service period. Take that and head home safely."
"Wooooaaahhhh!!!"
The cheers grew louder.
"It'll be paid via scrip from the Universal Battlefield. Don't lose it."
The Universal Battlefield under the Universal Merchant Group, the world's top trading house.
Scrip was as good as cash.
Transporting gold and silver here would take too long, so scrip it was.
Of course, stamping and issuing the scrip was Han Seol-bing's job.
She'd sent her seal via white hawk to the Heavenly Eye Pavilion, and it would reach every Universal Battlefield branch.
Only then would the scrip hold value.
Scrip stamped just with the Righteous Heaven Alliance seal was worthless.
Several messenger birds had flown for that process.
"The remaining members' new posting is the border between Jiangxi Province and Hunan Province."
The Fierce Dragon Corps exchanged looks again.
They couldn't fathom what that meant.
From the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest to the Jiangxi-Hunan border all of a sudden.
"Where exactly?"
Yeon Ha-min asked.
"Around Mount Heng."
At Han Seol-bing's answer, some members' faces hardened.
They knew what Mount Heng implied.
"The Four Petals Alliance..."
Someone murmured blankly.
Han Seol-bing nodded faintly.
"Rest today, move to the new posting tomorrow. Dismissed."
Having delivered everything, Han Seol-bing turned and headed to her tent.
'Blood Cult next, now the Four Petals Alliance. Tsk.'
Still better than the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest, though.
"Mount Yingzhong... The Jegal Clan?"
Heavenly Eye Pavilion Lord Gong Son Dan-gyeong murmured.
Hocheon Corps Leader Ha Mu-baek nodded.
"Hmm."
Gong Son Dan-gyeong let out a low hum.
"The Jegal Clan teams up with the Demonic Cult for this... and they botch it so sloppily? What do you think?"
At Gong Son Dan-gyeong's question, Ha Mu-baek shrugged.
"Isn't that your job, old man? I'm not the brains type."
Gong Son Dan-gyeong chuckled at Ha Mu-baek's retort.
It reminded him of their recent push-and-pull over the Fierce Dragon Corps' reassignment.
"Even so, you've got a good head on you."
"Not the whole mountain's Jegal territory, so maybe related, maybe not."
A textbook answer.
"So we should have the Heavenly Eye Pavilion look into it?"
Ha Mu-baek grinned.
"Thanks to you, even my head's cooled down."
When he'd arrived here...
Ha Mu-baek had been seventy percent set on dumping these guys and heading to Mount Yingzhong himself.
The Demonic Cult.
He figured they were scheming there.
Hand in hand with Jegal traitors, no less.
But then.
One question from Gong Son Dan-gyeong cooled Ha Mu-baek's head.
"It's too obvious, isn't it?"
That single question.
Finding Shi Yuan-chu's face on the wanted poster had ignited his hatred for the Demonic Cult, but it washed it all away.
Suspicious points piled up.
Why would the Demonic Cult, secretly building power, recruit commoners?
Why put Shi Yuan-chu's face on the poster if secrecy was key?
Why no demonic qi traces on those seemingly hexed?
Doubts chained endlessly.
His conclusion: the Jegal Clan.
"White Path Society, New Eight Gates—whatever power struggle, no reason for me to get involved."
At Ha Mu-baek's words, Gong Son Dan-gyeong leaned back in his chair.
He pressed his eyes, then looked at Ha Mu-baek.
"That's a quick conclusion for someone who claims he's no thinker. Why not just join the Heavenly Eye Pavilion instead of the Fierce Dragon Corps?"
Gong Son Dan-gyeong had reached a similar verdict.
A Jegal ploy to pit sides, fishing for profit.
"You seem to have aimed for the Demonic Cult disguise yourself."
Gong Son Dan-gyeong prodded lightly.
He knew Ha Mu-baek wouldn't tolerate such games.
"Aren't you gunning for me right now, old man?"
Ha Mu-baek shot back, and Gong Son Dan-gyeong shrugged.
"Doesn't work, huh."
"Don't drag me into your mess. I might miss the real Demonic Cult bastards over some nonsense."
Ha Mu-baek remembered clearly.
That day.
The Demonic Cult mongrel speaking through Gwang Hoe-cheon's body while spreading the Dream Soul Poison.
'Shi Mu-won, was it?'
Those scum were still gathering strength somewhere.
Remembering irked him.
The Jegal Clan playing pranks using such scum—even if just some members.
"So you're heading out like this?"
"Thought it was Demonic Cult, but it's probably your affair, so back to my duties. Let me know if Demonic Cult's involved."
With that, Ha Mu-baek leaped away.
The Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest should be wrapped up by now, so he set course for the Jiangxi-Hunan border.
The Fierce Dragon Corps' new posting.
"Urgh... K-Kill me..."
The middle-aged man, drenched in blood, glared at his torturer and spat the words.
But.
The black-haired man in black robes gazed at him impassively.
"Say the word if you want to die."
"Hmph. No matter what you do, it's useless."
The middle-aged man was stubborn.
The black-haired man smiled faintly.
A smile of approval, of amusement.
"Don't ever lose that spirit."
The man stepped forward.
The two torturing the middle-aged man quickly backed away.
The black-haired man raised his hand.
"Aaaargh!!!"
The middle-aged man's screams grew more agonized.
How much time passed?
Reduced to a lump of meat, the man groaned incessantly.
"Ugh... P-Please... kill me... mercy..."
"Talk."
The Black Wind Division Leader's voice remained ice-cold.
"Y-Y-Yingzhong Mountain..."
"And?"
"D-Don't know... Kill me... P-Please..."
The Black Wind Division Leader looked down indifferently at the lump.
"Dispose of it."
He left those words and exited the room.
His face showed no expression.
'Five spots, five captures. Two knew nothing, three named Yingzhong Mountain...'
The Black Wind Division Leader went straight to Shi Mu-won.
"Young Cult Leader. Black Wind reporting."
"Come in."
Shi Mu-won lounged lazily in his chair.
Not truly relaxed inside, but he always projected this nonchalance to his subordinates.
To show he was always at ease.
"It's Mount Yingzhong."
The Black Wind Division Leader reported curtly what he'd learned.
"The Jegal Clan..."
He habitually tapped the chair's armrest.
"Empty City Stratagem, huh?"
Demonic Cult versus Righteous Heaven Alliance.
Forcing a fight between them.
Using the Alliance to hit the Cult, or the Cult to hit the Alliance?
"Sloppy for the great Jegal Clan. That's why Heavenly Eye Pavilion Lord Gong Son Dan-gyeong snatched it from them. Tsk."
The Black Wind Division Leader stayed silent.
It had been grueling to extract even Yingzhong Mountain from them.
Even after the worst tortures, they'd held out until they burned.
If outside Jegal calculations, then the ones spilling it were the cult envoys they'd raised.
"What now?"
Shi Mu-won pondered briefly.
First thought in his mind: the Ten Thousand Demons Soul Devouring Transformation Great Law.
The backlash pain was no joke, but devouring one Jegal figure could serve well here.
Still, he held back.
A nagging unease.
Its source:
'Too easy. A Jegal scheme, and it unravels this smoothly?'
Distrust of the Jegal Clan.
He'd mocked them for losing Heavenly Eye Pavilion to Gong Son Dan-gyeong, but they weren't pushovers.
New Mountain Jegal.
They lived up to the name.
"They're luring us to Yingzhong Mountain."
Shi Mu-won concluded.
All they'd gotten from the captives: three words, Yingzhong Mountain.
No mention of "Jegal."
Yingzhong naturally evoked the Clan.
It was their turf.
Not the whole vast mountain, but still, Yingzhong meant Jegal.
Yet deliberately leaking this...
'What are they plotting there?'
He could only assume they'd set a stage to draw those who learned of Yingzhong there.
One choice.
Go to Yingzhong to check the Jegal board—and follow their lure.
Or avoid it, fearing their scheme.