Chapter 583
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 583
Chapter Title: Are You Leaving?
“Gah.”
A hidden cave deep beneath the sheer cliffs of Mount Hua.
A pained gasp erupted from within.
“Huff. Huff. Huff.”
Ragged breaths followed.
The face of the middle-aged man collapsed on the ground was twisted in agony.
“Damn that Ha Mu-baek bastard. He's gotten ridiculously strong. Shit.”
Akcho, the Infamy King, had maintained an air of leisure throughout his clash with Ha Mu-baek.
But reality had been different.
His face, flailing in the shock of his supreme technique shattering, was filled with clear astonishment at Ha Mu-baek's power.
“Hoo. Hoo. Hoo.”
Regulating his breathing with deep sighs, he gradually shook off the shock.
He struggled to his feet.
Akcho had collapsed the moment his supreme technique broke.
Now, staggering to his feet, he made his way out of the cramped cave.
“Haa. Haa. Even so, all my preparations on Mount Hua are complete.”
The demonic qi he had suddenly sensed at the peak of Lianhua Peak—that was why he had reacted so hypersensitively and irritably.
He had finished all his planned schemes on Mount Hua and was on the verge of execution when he suspected another of the Eight Guardians trying to muscle in.
He had accomplished everything with his own power, so naturally, he bristled at the thought of someone else trying to take credit at the last moment.
“Hmph. You might think the Mount Hua affair is over, but it's only just beginning. Let's see how well you handle it, you smug bastard.”
A sinister smile curled his lips as Akcho shuffled onward.
Though it was Mount Hua, this spot was far from Lianhua Peak.
“That night will be something to look forward to. Heh heh.”
Having recovered somewhat from the shock, he let out a low chuckle as he walked, and his figure vanished in an instant.
Chaos.
Turmoil.
Panic.
The current state of the Huashan Sect could be summed up in those words.
Ha Mu-baek, the one who had caused all this uproar, was leisurely savoring tea in his assigned room on the upper floor of Mansugak Pavilion.
The utterly exhausted Kyu Hwi came looking for him.
It had been three hours since the sect leader vanished like that.
“You look beat, old timer.”
With just the two of them, Ha Mu-baek's speech had returned to its usual casual tone.
“Thanks to you, the entire Huashan Sect is in a frenzy.”
Kyu Hwi grumbled as he sat across from Ha Mu-baek.
He picked up a teacup from the side and poured himself some tea from the pot.
“Regretting it?”
At Ha Mu-baek's question, Kyu Hwi shook his head.
Then he stood, clasped his hands in a formal salute toward Ha Mu-baek, and sat back down.
“Thank you truly for uncovering the Demonic Cult's scheme hanging over Huashan.”
Those were Kyu Hwi's honest feelings.
Who could have imagined that one of the Demonic Cult's Eight Guardians had been dominating the sect leader's mind?
It was utterly unthinkable.
Ha Mu-baek grinned and brought his teacup to his lips.
“Still, things will be pretty chaotic around here for a while. It all happened so suddenly.”
He was right.
It had only been a few days since the news spread that Huashan Sword Fragrance Un Se-hyeok had practiced demonic arts and met his end.
Now the sect leader had been mentally subjugated by a Demonic Cult guardian, used demonic arts, and died.
It was a situation bound to cause confusion.
No, some had even cast suspicious glances at Ha Mu-baek.
He was the one who killed Un Se-hyeok and clashed with the sect leader in the end.
Suspicions even arose that he himself might be a Demonic Cult spy.
But since those who had witnessed the entire process—the Plum Blossom Sword Sage Kyu Hwi and Discipline Hall Lord Yu Chu-eun—vouched for him, the doubts quickly faded.
“Lord Yu seems awfully busy.”
“Thanks to you.”
He was the one responsible for executing Huashan Sect's regulations.
With the sect leader's sudden absence, there must have been countless matters requiring his attention.
“So, when do you plan to leave?”
That was the purpose of Kyu Hwi's visit.
It was true that Ha Mu-baek had provided immense help, but it was also true that his presence made things uncomfortable.
Two of Huashan's great elders had lost their lives at Ha Mu-baek's hands, after all.
Of course, in Sect Leader No Hu-myeong's case, his body was already disintegrating due to demonic arts.
Ha Mu-baek had simply granted him a clean end.
Kyu Hwi still couldn't forget that final sword strike Ha Mu-baek unleashed at the peak of Lianhua Peak.
The spectacle of that single stroke from the Peerless Sword descending—it had been magnificent.
In truth, if not for Ha Mu-baek then, many Huashan disciples would have suffered heavy casualties.
Who would have thought that even as he was disintegrating, he would unleash such demonic qi at his own sect's disciples?
“Leaving?”
Ha Mu-baek echoed the word as if puzzled.
“Isn't all the business here on Mount Hua finished now?”
Kyu Hwi chuckled wryly and shook his head at the response.
“You think I've just been sitting around idly sipping tea this whole time?”
'Isn't that the case?'
Kyu Hwi barely swallowed the thought before it slipped out.
“The Infamy King. The bastard who devoured the sect leader's soul and took his place. Third in rank among the Demonic Cult's eight guardians. We have no idea how long that monster was lurking in the Huashan Sect.”
Kyu Hwi listened silently to Ha Mu-baek's words.
“You think the schemes that monster cooked up here were limited to just one old Sword Fragrance freak?”
“Hm...”
Kyu Hwi let out a low hum.
“He definitely pulled off some major plot. I need to find it.”
“His true identity was exposed because of you, so he fled midway. Isn't that the end of it? Even if something's left, we can track it down and handle it now...”
“People who didn't even notice their own sect leader had been devoured by the Infamy King?”
Ha Mu-baek cut in, interrupting Kyu Hwi.
“Ahem. Hm. Hm.”
Caught off guard by the pointed remark, Kyu Hwi cleared his throat awkwardly.
Then he spoke up again.
“But you didn't find anything either, did you? That's why you even released that qi mimicking demonic energy to draw him out.”
Among Huashan Sect members, Kyu Hwi was the only one who had sensed the qi Ha Mu-baek mentioned.
Even Yu Chu-eun had arrived later than No Hu-myeong and hadn't properly felt it.
“That's why my head's killing me. Ever since I got back, I've been racking my brain nonstop, but I can't figure it out. Tsk.”
Irritation laced his voice.
Frustration at being unable to uncover the Infamy King Akcho's scheme.
He had already spread out his senses, scouring not just Lianhua Peak but the surrounding peaks as well, yet found nothing.
“There has to be something... Are you sure you can manage without me?”
Kyu Hwi couldn't bring himself to ask Ha Mu-baek again when he would leave.
His question had carried the implication to get going soon, but as Ha Mu-baek said, they might need his strength again if something arose.
Especially since it was the Infamy King—no one else.
His scheme, no less.
“The Demonic Cult's remnants have finally revealed themselves.”
A messenger bird from Mount Hua.
It was a report on recent events, penned by Ha Mu-baek himself.
Having gone to Huashan in his capacity as Fierce Dragon Corps Leader of the Righteous Heaven Alliance, he was duty-bound to submit a report.
The report that had just arrived passed through Heavenly Eye Pavilion Lord Gong Son Dan-gyeong's hands and was now in Righteous Heaven Alliance Leader So Hwi-woong's grasp.
“The problem is that the remnant is the Infamy King. And Soul Devouring Supreme Law, no less...”
Gong Son Dan-gyeong muttered gravely.
The Huashan Sect Leader had fallen to a Demonic Cult guardian.
This was no small matter.
So Hwi-woong's face was equally serious.
“Does that mean there's no one in the Righteous Heaven Alliance we can trust?”
“If a guardian can use the Soul Devouring Supreme Law, that leaves seven more. At minimum, seven renowned elders on the level of the Nine Great Sects and Eight Great Clans' leaders could have fallen to the Demonic Cult's Soul Devouring Supreme Law.”
“What a headache.”
So Hwi-woong muttered in frustration.
Even Ha Mu-baek hadn't detected him until he revealed himself.
If word of this spread and the one who unleashed the Soul Devouring Supreme Law went into hiding, there would be no way to find him.
“We need to find a way somehow. I'll request cooperation from Senyu Valley.”
To counter sorcery, sorcery experts were needed.
In the Righteous Heaven Alliance, that meant Senyu Valley.
“I keep owing the elder one favor after another.”
So Hwi-woong murmured, recalling the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest incident.
“And there are still issues left at Huashan.”
So Hwi-woong snapped out of his thoughts at Gong Son Dan-gyeong's remark.
“Right. The Infamy King had the Huashan Sect Leader's body in his grasp. He's not the type to leave without any schemes.”
So Hwi-woong nodded.
“Any guesses?”
“Planting demonic arts in Huashan... But if it were that, Corps Leader Ha would have found it immediately.”
So Hwi-woong made a face of agreement.
No one had a keener sense for demonic arts and blood arts than Ha Mu-baek.
Yet according to the report, even he had found nothing.
“Hm. What could it be...”
So Hwi-woong tapped the armrest of his throne thoughtfully.
He had no clue whatsoever.
“Have the Strategist look into it carefully.”
That was all he could say in the end.
“Understood.”
Bowing his head, Gong Son Dan-gyeong had no choice but to return to Heavenly Eye Pavilion and scour the old records.
Not just from the last Martial World Great War, but records of the Demonic Cult's countless atrocities from even before.
Perhaps there was a clue hidden among them.
Deep underground in the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest.
The darkness and shadowy energy emanating from there spread far and wide across the land of the world.
It was an extremely faint power, slowing more and more the farther it traveled from its origin, but it never stopped.
Those energies that eventually exhausted their lifespan simply dissipated.
But their lifespans varied.
Some energies persisted without dissipating, pushing toward the ends of the world.
A portion of those passed through Anhui, skirted Western Hu, and entered the territory of Sahaeryeon.
The longer the journey, the more they dwindled one by one.
One energy that endured to the end reached the eastern fringe of Hengshan, where Sahaeryeon was located.
A deep gorge on the eastern side of Hengshan.
In a small cave in that profoundly isolated depths, a woman sat cross-legged, letting out groans.
“Ugh. Uuugh.”
Her eyes kept changing.
They reddened, darkened. Reason flickered in and out.
Veins bulged across her entire body, and the endlessly groaning woman instinctively grabbed a Peaked Valley Pill from the large jar beside her and swallowed it.
It seemed like pure instinct.
The single energy that entered Hengshan passed beneath where the woman sat cross-legged, sensed her presence,
and moved straight toward her.
Swoosh.
The energy melted away like snow and was absorbed into the woman.
“Kuh.”
The groan from her lips cut off abruptly.
Her whole body shuddered.
A moment later.
Full reason returned to her eyes.
“What in the world?”
The woman was startled by the sudden change.
She had endured for years, but for something like this to happen out of nowhere?
She could hardly believe it.
“What happened?”
Unable to grasp the principle behind the abrupt shift, she frowned.
She ought to simply rejoice at the improvement in her condition.
But she couldn't.
Her nature made her view this inexplicable change as poison.
“What's going on in my body?”
She closed her eyes and looked inward, examining the changes within.
The ferocious cursed energy swirling in her dantian had suddenly gone still.
But it hadn't vanished.
It had merely paused.
In that gap, she had regained her senses.
Regaining her senses happened once or twice a day.
Those times, she hurriedly handled necessities or other tasks.
But this was different.
Even then, the cursed energy never fully halted like now.
Though not in her right mind from battling the curse, she strained to recall the state of her body just before the cursed energy stopped.
She opened her eyes, gaze dropping to the floor.
Definitely.
A faint, small energy from the ground seemed to enter her body.
She hadn't been in her right mind, and the energy was faint, so she couldn't be certain, but it had felt that way.
“What on earth...”
Her face hardened gravely.
Then.
“Krrk.”
She groaned.
The curse had paused, but a slimy energy was now seeping into her head.
And.
A mad killing intent began to rise from her chest.
“No... I can't.”
She gritted her teeth, closed her eyes,
and began circulating her inner energy to resist the killing intent.