Chapter 564
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 564
Chapter Title: You're Brave
It really didn't take long at all.
One gak.
Ha Mu-baek had only infused internal energy for about that long.
Of course, from Kwanpo's perspective—who was enduring hellish agony—one gak felt as long as a thousand miles.
But that was none of Ha Mu-baek's concern.
Ha Mu-baek withdrew his hand from Kwanpo's Mingmen acupoint.
"It'll keep hurting for a bit. The energy I injected is burning away the aphrodisiac's qi. Once it's all gone, the pain will stop. Oh, and feel free to scream if you want."
No sooner had Ha Mu-baek's words left his mouth than...
"Gaaahhh!!!"
The superhuman endurance Kwanpo had shown until now shattered, and a scream burst from his lips.
Even Ha Mu-baek was slightly startled by the sudden outburst, his eye twitching.
"Tch."
Clicking his tongue once, Ha Mu-baek erected a qi barrier around Kwanpo.
The sound was cut off. Kwanpo wailed like a pig being slaughtered, but nothing reached Ha Mu-baek.
To him, it just looked like his mouth was flapping open and shut.
"Ah, you can move now."
The moment Ha Mu-baek's internal-energy-laced voice reached his ears...
Kwanpo broke his cross-legged position and rolled on the ground.
Ha Mu-baek's energy, which had surged through Kwanpo's meridians like a flood, had now settled in place and was burning away the aphrodisiac qi.
As the aphrodisiac burned and vanished, the energy Ha Mu-baek had planted dwindled accordingly.
"Arrrgh!! M-Mother... aphro... aphrodisiac!!!"
Kwanpo was half out of his mind.
So all he could think of was escaping the pain.
The most obvious solution that came to mind was, naturally, the aphrodisiac.
It had erased his suffering up until now, after all.
But right now, he was enduring this torment precisely to purge that aphrodisiac's energy.
"Burning the aphrodisiac, yet craving more? Should I just stop?"
Ha Mu-baek's low, heavy voice drilled into Kwanpo's ears.
In that instant, Kwanpo snapped back to his senses.
"Ugh... uwaaaah!"
Screams still tore from him, but he no longer begged for the aphrodisiac.
However.
He started wondering if he might actually die like this.
This agony felt like his meridians throughout his body were burning away.
Not from demonic qi, but sheer pain—would his dantian burst from it?
Another four gaks passed like that.
Exactly half a sichen.
After that much time, the pain began to fade bit by bit.
All the energy Ha Mu-baek had planted in Kwanpo's body had vanished.
Kwanpo's eyes were bloodshot red.
The blood vessels in his eyes had burst from enduring the immense suffering.
"Hah... hah... hah..."
Drained of all energy and sprawled out, Kwanpo gasped raggedly for breath.
Ha Mu-baek gazed silently at him.
"Hm. Roughly one-tenth burned off."
At his mutter, Kwanpo flinched.
He'd endured this excruciating pain for half a sichen, and that was only a tenth?
That meant over four and a half sichen still remained.
Kwanpo's face drained of color.
This was beyond anything he'd imagined.
"Did you think purging years' worth of accumulated aphrodisiac qi would be easy and painless?"
Ha Mu-baek's words left Kwanpo with no retort.
"Want to keep going now?"
Despair settled on Kwanpo's face at the question.
Ha Mu-baek smirked, noting the change.
"We'll do it tomorrow."
With that, he headed back to the Little Traveler's Inn.
It was about mealtime, after all.
His face lit up with anticipation: What liquor to pair with what dish today?
Gong Yeop-myeong was an exceptional chef. Incredibly so.
He even had a great selection of fine liquors.
It hadn't been long since he'd left Luoyang to set up in Sangnam, yet somehow he'd acquired those drinks—it was a mystery.
And his skill in pairing them with perfectly complementary dishes was at a transcendent level, like a grandmaster beyond peak.
Even Ha Mu-baek, who rarely drank, now enjoyed a tipple with every meal.
It made the food taste even better.
And perhaps because of that...
The inn's patrons drank more than usual.
Yet there were hardly any drunks.
By the time Ha Mu-baek neared the Little Traveler's Inn...
Inside, chaos reigned.
"Hey! Pour me a drink while sitting here, yeah?!"
A burly ruffian was yanking Eun Cheong-seon's wrist.
Gong Hae-bin and Gong Hae-jun cowered in terror at his menacing aura.
The other patrons just whispered among themselves, none daring to intervene.
"S-Sir... this isn't a brothel; it's an inn."
"I know! I get it! Did I say get a whore? Just sit here, pour me one drink, and go! It'll taste better that way. Don't you know how to do business?!"
The ruffian bellowed even louder at Eun Cheong-seon's words.
Finally, one fed-up patron stood up.
"This is an inn. Cut the nonsense and drink quietly before you leave."
He was a fairly sturdy young man.
As he rose out of a sense of justice, another ruffian—who'd been cackling from the same table—blocked his path.
"You little shit. Don't you know who we are?"
He knew.
Black Face Branch ruffians.
How had these Flower Red Tower street thugs ended up at a southern street inn?
The only place they had in the southern district was the aphrodisiac den.
"Being from the Black Face Branch something to brag about?"
The young man shouted defiantly.
Thwack!
"You little—"
The rage-filled fist smashed into the young man's face.
"Urk."
He staggered back.
Silence fell over the inn.
"L-Let go of my mom's hand!"
Just then.
Gong Hae-jun stepped forward, grabbed the ruffian's arm gripping Eun Cheong-seon's wrist, and bit down hard.
"Ow! You brat!"
The bitten ruffian's furious palm.
Slap!
Struck Gong Hae-jun's face.
That's when Gong Yeop-myeong emerged from the kitchen.
Focused on cooking amid the kitchen noise, he'd been late to notice the commotion.
He gasped at the scene before him.
"Wh-What the hell is this?!"
An outraged shout.
The two ruffians ignored him.
The young man, clutching his slapped face, rose again and yelled.
"Causing a ruckus in broad daylight! Aren't you afraid of heaven's wrath?!"
Blood trickled from his split lip as he bellowed.
"You still at it?"
The ruffian swung another fist—but.
Chin.
This time, the young man blocked it.
"Oh ho?"
But a kick to the gut doubled him over again.
By then.
Ha Mu-baek passed through the inn's door and entered.
"What is this?"
A dumbfounded mutter.
By chance, Plum Blossom Sword Sage and Wi Su-yeon weren't there.
They'd stepped out to find a quiet spot for training.
"This is so clichéd I don't even know what to say. Even pulp novels would get flak for a scene like this. And you're still going?"
Ha Mu-baek muttered in disbelief.
His gaze locked on the two ruffians.
They trembled violently under it.
Unable to even lift their heads.
They didn't know his face.
But they felt the aura radiating from him.
Third-rate as they were, they knew martial arts enough to sense it.
They knew how strong someone emitting that presence must be.
Deputy Branch Head Kwanpo occasionally showed glimpses of it.
"You lot from the Black Face Branch?"
The two ruffians couldn't answer Ha Mu-baek's question.
"This is why black path scum are... tch."
Ha Mu-baek strode toward them step by step.
"S-Sir!"
"Great hero!"
They instantly dropped to their knees.
Strong against the weak, groveling to the strong.
True black path ruffian form.
"Your branch head left, and even Kwanpo's gone, right?"
They had no response to Ha Mu-baek's question.
In truth, Sangnam was a headache because of the Black Face Branch remnants.
Plum Fragrance Gate had sealed itself tight after the recent battle, lying low like a closed sect.
Other minor sects and schools were watching warily too, spooked by the upheaval.
On top of that, Sa Hoon and Seon-gyu—who'd kept these thugs in check—had left Sangnam.
Kwanpo, thrust into branch head by accident, had ditched the Black Face Branch too, uninterested.
Left with just these ruffians, they rampaged like they owned the place.
Only a day since Kwanpo left the Black Face Branch.
And in that day, their misdeeds in Sangnam were legion.
These two were just causing trouble at the Little Traveler's Inn.
Ha Mu-baek could guess the situation just by looking down at the pair prostrated before him.
His expanded senses picked up two more black path thugs stirring up trouble elsewhere.
"Hoo..."
A deep sigh escaped Ha Mu-baek's lips to calm himself.
And understandably so.
There were children here, after all.
Ha Mu-baek first approached Gong Hae-jun.
"You're brave. Impressive. Well done. But from now on, gauging your opponent and finding another way—that's brave too."
He stroked Gong Hae-jun's head as he spoke.
His eyes were warm.
With his other hand, he wiped the blood from the boy's split lip.
Then infused a bit of internal energy to staunch the bleeding and ease the pain.
To the dazed young man from the sudden turn...
"You were cool too."
One word.
Then,
"You two, follow me."
With that, he left the inn.
The two ruffians remained flat on the floor.
"I said follow."
Ha Mu-baek had exited, but his internal-energy-laced voice carried back.
Sensing the fury in it, the two bolted after him.
Ha Mu-baek walked slowly through Sangnam's streets.
Yet with each step, the number of black path ruffians trailing him grew.
After weaving through the city...
Nearly forty black path ruffians knelt before Ha Mu-baek, heads bowed low.
All the remnants who'd stayed in Sangnam after the Black Face Branch's collapse.
This was a small forest on Sangnam's outskirts.
Ha Mu-baek sat cross-legged on a stump, looking down at them as he spoke.
"Having fun?"
"..."
No answer.
"I asked if you're having fun."
At the repeated question.
"""No, sir!!!"""
The black path ruffians bellowed in unison.
"Why not? You looked like you were to me, you gutter trash."
His voice carried subtle fury.
Ha Mu-baek hadn't laid a hand on them once.
Just radiating his presence and staring them down had brought them here.
"N-No, sir! We'll live right! Spare us just once!"
"Forgive us once! We won't do it again!"
Desperate pleas.
But,
"And what did you do? Stop when told? When the kid said let go of his mom, did you? You even slapped the brat, didn't you?"
Not just at the inn.
Their antics elsewhere were much the same.
They hadn't touched Flower Red Tower or other brothels because minor sects backed them.
Even lying low, they'd react if thugs caused trouble there.
Flower Red Tower had swiftly allied with other sects after splitting from Black Face Branch.
So they'd targeted inns without strong backing.
Harassing easy marks like female owners or servers.
Ha Mu-baek rose from the stump.
They flattened themselves instantly.
Step. Step.
He approached the prostrated ruffians.
And then.
Stare. Crush.
"Gaaahhh!"
The frontmost one screamed as the pain of his right hand—propping him up—shattering into pieces hit.
"Gasp!"
"Urk!"
Others jerked their heads up in shock.
Some at the back hastily stood to flee.
"Get caught running, and it's both hands plus an ankle."
Ha Mu-baek's quiet words pierced the ears of the fleeing ones.