Chapter 581
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 581
Chapter Title: Because of That Bastard
Gyu Hwi was utterly shocked.
'Th-this!!!'
He was so stunned that his soul nearly fled his body, nearly crying out without realizing it.
Barely suppressing his gasp of alarm, Gyu Hwi stared wide-eyed at the dark cave.
'D-demonic qi...'
There was no mistaking it.
It was definitely demonic qi.
The only person inside that dark cave was Ha Mu-baek.
Yet demonic qi was leaking out.
Which meant Ha Mu-baek was emanating it.
It was utterly absurd.
Gyu Hwi knew better than anyone how much Ha Mu-baek despised and loathed demonic qi.
There was no way such a man would ever cultivate demonic arts.
'Th-then how in the world...'
But there was nothing inside the cave that could emit demonic qi.
Gyu Hwi fell into confusion.
Still, he didn't reveal his presence or rush into the cave.
Ha Mu-baek hadn't made a move yet.
p>He suppressed his presence as much as possible, keeping his senses razor-sharp.
It was something he could only do because he trusted Ha Mu-baek completely.
If it had been any other energy, Gyu Hwi wouldn't have held back.
Precisely because he knew the hatred Ha Mu-baek harbored for the Demonic Cult and Blood Cult, he could stay hidden like this and observe a bit longer.
Some time passed in this manner.
The demonic qi kept leaking out steadily.
'Hm?'
Gyu Hwi had been focusing solely on the cave, but his senses were honed like a sharpened blade.
That's why he could detect someone climbing toward the training cave.
Gyu Hwi suppressed his presence even further.
As if no one was there at all.
Blending seamlessly with nature itself.
It was still before dawn, shrouded in darkness, and from the direction the person was coming, Gyu Hwi's hiding spot was invisible.
As long as he hid his presence well, there was no way he'd be discovered.
He had no inkling that Ha Mu-baek already knew he was there.
Much less that Ha Mu-baek had deliberately lured him to this spot.
"Hmmm."
The arrival at the training cave let out a small groan.
Just from that sound, Gyu Hwi knew exactly who it was.
'The sect leader.'
It was the voice of No Hu-myeong.
Doubt flickered in Gyu Hwi's eyes.
Why had No Hu-myeong come up here?
Though Ha Mu-baek was emitting demonic qi, it wasn't strong enough for the Huashan Sect to detect from afar.
Unless someone was extremely sensitive to it, there was no way to sense that amount.
Yet here was No Hu-myeong, stealthily appearing at the training cave.
Had he sensed the demonic qi and come? Or did he have some private business to attend to secretly here?
As these questions swirled in his mind...
"I thought I'd been entrusted to handle Huashan fully on my own, so what? Planning to butt in now?"
A cold voice emanated from No Hu-myeong's mouth.
Gyu Hwi nearly revealed his presence in shock.
And for good reason—it sounded like No Hu-myeong's voice, but it wasn't his.
It was familiar, as if he'd heard it somewhere before, yet strangely unfamiliar too.
"Who is it? Gwang-myeol? Geo-sal? Which one of you bastards?"
There was a subtle undercurrent of anger.
But no response came from the cave.
A murderous aura began to ripple from No Hu-myeong's body.
However, it wasn't demonic qi.
It was Huashan's internal energy.
Pure orthodox faction qi.
Gyu Hwi was shocked once more.
That energy was unmistakably the sect leader No Hu-myeong's.
What in the world was going on?
"Hmmm. So that's how it is."
And then.
Ha Mu-baek's voice emerged from the cave.
"Wh-what?"
No Hu-myeong startled in surprise.
He had clearly been drawn here by the demonic qi, only to find Ha Mu-baek inside.
A voice he could never forget.
And sure enough, the one who appeared was Ha Mu-baek.
"Y-you bastard, h-how do you have demonic qi...? Or is that it? Tracking demonic qi was just an excuse, and you're trying to devote yourself to the Great Cult?"
He was so flustered he was spouting nonsense.
Ha Mu-baek chuckled.
"Do you think that's something the Huashan Sect Leader would say?"
No Hu-myeong flinched.
"Isn't that right, old timer?"
At Ha Mu-baek's question.
Gyu Hwi flinched.
It was clearly referring to him.
"Hah."
Gyu Hwi let out a hollow laugh as he revealed himself.
"I see. So it wasn't that I sensed your movements—it was you who lured me here. Hah. Something felt off."
Gyu Hwi sighed in disbelief.
No Hu-myeong's gaze turned to Gyu Hwi.
"Wh-when?"
No Hu-myeong was startled.
"You were too focused on the demonic qi I mimicked to notice my presence. Plus, you were desperately hiding yours, old timer."
No Hu-myeong ground his teeth at Ha Mu-baek's words.
"You heard it too, right, old timer? This guy babbling about the Great Cult."
Gyu Hwi nodded gravely, his face heavy.
There was doubt in his eyes, but he'd heard it himself, so he had no choice but to believe.
After all, here they were face-to-face with Sect Leader No Hu-myeong.
Gyu Hwi's eyes held many questions.
At that moment.
Someone else was rapidly climbing toward the training cave.
As No Hu-myeong and Gyu Hwi's gazes turned there upon sensing the presence...
"Hm. Good timing."
Ha Mu-baek muttered, drawing their eyes back to him.
Whoosh. Whoosh.
Two women appeared at the peak of Yeonhwa Peak.
It was Yu Chu-eun and Wi Su-yeon.
"Instructor Ha, why did you summon me here at this hour?"
Yu Chu-eun, slightly surprised upon seeing No Hu-myeong and Gyu Hwi, asked Ha Mu-baek.
When he'd released his presence to lure Gyu Hwi toward the training cave, Ha Mu-baek had also used Benevolent Light Heart Language and Thousand-Li Sound Transmission to leave a message for Yu Chu-eun.
She had acted exactly as instructed in the transmission.
Though he hadn't expected her to bring Wi Su-yeon along.
"Because of that bastard."
Ha Mu-baek jerked his chin toward No Hu-myeong.
Anger flashed across Yu Chu-eun's face at his words.
"This is our sect's leader. Show some respect, Instructor Ha."
Her voice was like icicles.
"Is that so? Should I call you Hyeong-myeong then? No, Akcho will do."
No Hu-myeong flinched at Ha Mu-baek's words.
"H-how...?"
No Hu-myeong's voice was filled with shock.
Yu Chu-eun's expression turned to surprise at that voice.
It wasn't the No Hu-myeong she knew.
A completely different person's voice was coming from No Hu-myeong's mouth.
The presence was definitely his.
Before he was sect leader, they were senior brothers who'd spent decades together in Huashan.
There was no way she wouldn't recognize his presence.
"What in the world...?"
Yu Chu-eun fell into confusion.
It was clearly her senior brother the sect leader, yet Ha Mu-baek called him Hyeong-myeong, and his voice belonged to someone else entirely.
"You think I'd forget your voice, bastard? And I just recently crossed paths with one of your little spawn. Brought back that old pain nice and fresh."
Ha Mu-baek said, placing a hand on his dantian.
Akcho, Grim Nether King, one of the Demonic Cult's Three Protectors.
His Ledger Ghost Killer Palm was among the top life-or-death crises Ha Mu-baek had faced in the jianghu.
"Kek. The brat's grown a lot. Should've finished you off back then."
No Hu-myeong's aura shifted.
Not the righteous, brilliant demeanor of an orthodox sect leader, but something gloomy and dangerous.
Yet the energy flowing from his body was still Huashan's.
An utterly bewildering situation.
"You, on the other hand—scurried off like a rat, so why crawl out and act like a dog?"
Killing intent laced Ha Mu-baek's voice.
"You spotted it well. How long ago?"
No Hu-myeong—no, Grim Nether King Akcho—asked Ha Mu-baek in disbelief at being exposed.
"The moment you showed up."
Akcho flinched at that.
"Only demonic cultists are drawn to demonic qi."
Only then did Akcho realize he'd fallen for Ha Mu-baek's lure.
"H-how did you... That energy..."
Akcho muttered in disbelief.
And for good reason—it wasn't just any demonic art energy.
The demonic qi Ha Mu-baek emitted carried the feel only achievable by mastering one of the Eight Great Demonic Arts derived from the Divine Arts of the Heavenly Demon.
That's why Akcho had rushed here.
He hadn't called for Gwang-myeol and Geo-sal for nothing.
That energy was too similar to theirs.
The reason was obvious.
The Demonic Cult's Eight Great Demonic Arts, stemming from the Divine Arts of the Heavenly Demon, all carried a trace of the energy of nothingness.
"What, was my imitation too perfect?"
A sneer curled Ha Mu-baek's lips.
"D-damn you bastard!"
Akcho spat curses filled with frustration.
Ha Mu-baek glanced at Yu Chu-eun.
"The one who passed demonic arts to Huashan Sword Fragrance Un Se-hyuk is this bastard right here. No Hu-myeong—no, Grim Nether King Akcho."
Even at Ha Mu-baek's words, Yu Chu-eun stared at No Hu-myeong in disbelief.
He looked exactly like No Hu-myeong—how could he be Grim Nether King?
"H-how...?"
Yu Chu-eun muttered in disbelief.
"He met Un Se-hyuk in secret, then used some sorcery or sweet-talked him after that. If nothing leaked from Huashan in the first place, it had to be an inside job."
Ha Mu-baek's cold gaze fixed on Akcho.
"Hoo. Just one question. Why suspect someone from Huashan? You would've known no one there cultivated demonic arts."
Akcho was puzzled by the current situation where he'd fallen into Ha Mu-baek's trap and been exposed.
The ploy of luring a demon with demonic qi.
It required certainty that someone in Huashan had cultivated demonic qi.
But there was no such person in Huashan.
Except Un Se-hyuk, who had vanished.
That's why Akcho had climbed up without suspicion and barked at the intruder in his territory.
Unlike the Blood Cult, all Eight Protectors of the Demonic Cult had survived the last war.
Scattered across the land, hiding in deep places, biding their time.
"Soul Devouring Great Law. Or should I say Ten Thousand Demons Soul Devouring Incarnation Great Law?"
The very great law the Demonic Cult's young lord Seok Mu-won had used to control Gwang Hoe-cheon during the Soul Scattering Poison incident at Mu-chang.
Ha Mu-baek had that experience, so he'd suspected and set this trap just in case.
Not cultivating demonic arts, but becoming a demon.
Gwang Hoe-cheon had no demonic qi back then either.
"H-how do you know about that...?!?"
Akcho's eyes bulged as if they might tear.
He couldn't believe Ha Mu-baek knew that fact.
"How many times can you use it? Three, wasn't it?"
At Ha Mu-baek's question, Akcho's expression cleared as the puzzle pieces fell into place.
"So the brat got caught by you."
Ha Mu-baek sensed something off in those words.
The "brat" Akcho mentioned was surely Seok Mu-won.
Yet he'd pinpointed him immediately from the mention of three uses.
Gong Son Dan-gyeong had said the Soul Devouring Great Law could be used three times.
Then.
A fact flashed through Ha Mu-baek's mind.
When he'd captured Mu-pung, whom Seok Mu-won had sent.
He'd asked about the Soul Devouring Great Law.
Mu-pung didn't know it, but he did know what was required to perform it.
One of them.
"Looks like us Protectors only have three demon souls, huh?"
"Gasp!"
Akcho was so shocked he couldn't speak.
He just sucked in a breath and stared at Ha Mu-baek with trembling eyes.
He never dreamed the words "demon soul" would come from that bastard's mouth.
It was one of the Demonic Cult's deepest secrets.
"D-did that brat blab even that?!"
Akcho trembled with rage toward Seok Mu-won.
There was no trace of respect for the young lord in his demeanor, even if you searched with wide-open eyes.