Chapter 595
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 595
Chapter Title: Enviable
Ju-ruk.
Tears streamed from his eyes.
It was something neither Gwan Po nor Ha Mu-baek could have imagined.
A blac path rogue.
Gwan Po, who had even served as vice sect leader of a black path faction, shedding such tears.
"Tch."
Ha Mu-baek clicked his tongue lightly.
Gwan Po hurriedly wiped his tears with his sleeve, but they wouldn't stop easily.
Gwan Po himself couldn't understand why he was like this.
"A grown man bawling like a baby."
At Ha Mu-baek's words, Gwan Po bowed his head deeply.
Even he thought it was a truly pathetic sight.
"Might as well cry it out properly. Wail your heart out or whatever—just spew it all out."
He lifted his bowed head.
It was for a reason entirely different from what he expected, words he never could have imagined.
But.
Were those words the trigger?
"Huaaaang!!!!"
Gwan Po collapsed to the floor and burst into sobs.
A full-throated wail.
Ha Mu-baek turned and sat down.
Then refilled his glass.
It was a thunderous, booming cry.
A wail fitting his massive frame erupted endlessly.
Yet no one came out.
Even with guests in the upstairs rooms and the inn family's quarters behind the kitchen— a cry loud enough to reach them—no one peeked out.
It had to be that way.
They heard nothing.
Ha Mu-baek's qi veiled Gwan Po's cries.
It was a sob audible only to Ha Mu-baek's ears.
A bitter smile tugged at Ha Mu-baek's lips.
"When will I ever get to unleash it all so freely like that?"
It was a self-mocking mutter.
No one heard it.
Not even Gwan Po in the same room, drowned out by his own cries.
Ha Mu-baek was stuck in that day too.
Part of him lingered in his ten-year-old self.
The day his parents died screaming.
That's why he couldn't pour it all out freely like Gwan Po now.
Not even when he shattered the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest and wiped out the Blood Cult.
Even then, he'd only released a portion.
That's why Gwan Po's cries ringing in his ears now...
'Enviable.'
Such a thought flickered briefly.
Morning broke.
Both boys' eyes were puffy.
Last night, it hadn't just been Gwan Po who cried.
Gong Yeo-myeong and Eun Cheong-seon's eyes were slightly swollen too.
Seeing Gwan Po's puffed eyes, they tilted their heads.
Thanks to Ha Mu-baek's qi, they hadn't heard the cries, so they didn't know he'd wept.
Who could imagine a man like Gwan Po bawling until his eyes swelled shut?
The only one who knew everything was Ha Mu-baek.
Gwan Po, ashamed of his swollen eyes, kept his head down, avoiding people's gazes.
Yet his face was clear.
All the worries, anguish, and shackles that had clouded it were gone.
Thus, in the early dawn, the two boys bid farewell to their parents and left Shangnam with Ha Mu-baek.
Having settled in Luoyang not long ago, leaving Shangnam held no special meaning.
But they couldn't help glancing back at their watching parents.
Ha Mu-baek didn't rush them.
He simply matched their pace when they started walking.
Thirteen and eleven years old.
He knew well how young that was.
He'd been thirteen when he met his master and began learning martial arts.
Ha Mu-baek had lost his parents younger, but he hoped these boys would stay happy with theirs.
And that the couple left in Shangnam would live trouble-free.
Gwan Po would help with that.
Having emptied himself thoroughly yesterday, he'd decided to keep working as a waiter here while pondering his future.
With Gwan Po around, the Small Traveler's Inn would be fine.
If not, there was Yuun Martial Hall.
Early that morning, Ha Mu-baek had stopped by Yuun Martial Hall for goodbyes and asked them to look after the inn too.
And so, Gong Hae-bin and Gong Hae-jun left Shangnam with Ha Mu-baek, heading west.
Not alone, but with two young boys, it would be a long journey.
"Heh, what in the world..."
Heavenly Eye Pavilion Lord Gong Son Dan-gyeong let out a deep sigh after checking the urgent dispatch from the Beggars' Sect.
Bad luck never came singly.
It hadn't been long since they'd learned of the Demonic Cult's schemes through the Huashan Sect incident.
Now it was the Beggars' Sect.
And not related to the Demonic Cult—a completely different calamity.
Gong Son Dan-gyeong rose and headed to Righteous Heaven Alliance Leader So Hwi-woong.
Something impossible had happened.
"Damn Blood Cult bastards. What the hell did they do to the martial world?"
The Blood Cult was now destroyed and gone.
Ha Mu-baek had finished off those holed up in the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest just recently.
Yet suddenly, Bang Sa-uk had appeared.
Gong Son Dan-gyeong knew him well.
A former vice leader of the Beggars' Sect.
As Heavenly Eye Pavilion Lord, how could he not?
He'd reappeared.
Exuding murderous intent and bloodlust.
The man who, unknowingly cultivating the Annihilation Merit to avoid becoming a Dark Blood Stiff Corpse, had thrown himself into Falling Dragon Gorge.
How could he be alive?
Or if a Dark Blood Stiff Corpse, maybe survival was possible.
Though whether to call it living was another question.
But if he'd survived that way, he should have emerged then, drenched in slaughter.
Years later, now a Dark Blood Stiff Corpse—or rational Bang Sa-uk—had appeared.
But reports said it wasn't Bang Sa-uk's appearance, with the killing intent and bloodlust.
"You don't know either?"
So Hwi-woong asked after hearing all the reports.
Gong Son Dan-gyeong shook his head.
"I truly don't. This is something unprecedented, not even recorded anywhere."
"Whether it's unprecedented isn't the point. He's on a killing spree now—that's what matters."
Gong Son Dan-gyeong nodded at So Hwi-woong's words.
"The Beggars' Sect is sending the Black Tile Squad."
"Hmm."
So Hwi-woong stroked his chin.
"Can they stop him?"
Gong Son Dan-gyeong shook his head.
"His impossible survival must stem from the Annihilation Merit. Even if not a full Dark Blood Stiff Corpse, we must treat him as such. Twenty Black Tile members won't suffice."
"What of the Blue Bamboo Divine Dog?"
"No word."
The Beggars' Sect leader who vanished abruptly after discovering some trace.
His whereabouts were mysterious even to his own sect and the Righteous Heaven Alliance.
"Kaifeng..."
So Hwi-woong muttered.
Kaifeng.
A city in Henan Province, like Luoyang.
They had to prevent the bloodbath there.
Blood incidents were already occurring across Henan, but limited to Beggars' Sect branches, so it remained quiet.
But if he reached their main headquarters, who knew what would happen.
"We need to send the Hocheon Corps."
"Understood."
Gong Son Dan-gyeong agreed instantly, sharing the sentiment.
Thus, the alliance leader and pavilion lord's decision was made, and orders dispatched to the Hocheon Corps.
"Shit."
Dam Mu-heun muttered a curse under his breath at the orders in his hand.
With Namgung Hwa-woo becoming Namgung Clan head, the Hocheon Corps leader position had been vacant.
And remained so.
The corps members rejected outsiders.
Having endured Namgung Hwa-woo, they decided against it.
They refused externally appointed leaders.
A fierce will: they couldn't serve an outsider as leader.
Even vice leader Han Seol-bing had left during Namgung Hwa-woo's tenure.
So Hwi-woong told them to choose their own leader.
But they couldn't.
No one would step up.
Dam Mu-heun, the sole vice leader, should have naturally taken it.
But he vehemently refused.
He hated outsiders.
And didn't want to decide internally either.
One might rage at the Hocheon Corps' willfulness, but So Hwi-woong didn't.
He knew what they wanted.
Ha Mu-baek.
They hoped he'd return as leader.
But Ha Mu-baek was no longer someone So Hwi-woong could command freely.
In their recent meeting, he'd shown his intent to walk his own path.
Thus, the leader position stayed vacant.
The group lacked a leader.
Instead, they filled the vice leader spot left by Han Seol-bing.
Sama Gon.
The strongest warrior in the Hocheon Corps.
Excluding Ha Mu-baek, of course.
He'd refused vice leadership due to the hassles.
Preferring missions and training.
But.
Dam Mu-heun alone couldn't manage as vice leader anymore; limits hit, so they appointed another.
Sama Gon got the members' support.
The strongest should be vice leader.
Thus, with no leader, two vice leaders ran the Hocheon Corps.
And So Hwi-woong's orders went to Dam Mu-heun of the two.
Simple reason.
Dam Mu-heun had more experience.
"Hoo. They straight-up order me to go myself... tch."
Dam Mu-heun grumbled.
He eyed Sama Gon's empty seat.
If he picked men and left for the external mission, all remaining work fell to Sama Gon.
"Yeah, better rolling outside than this."
Dam Mu-heun kept muttering that to himself.
Because of the orders' content.
'Bang Sa-uk... that bastard's alive, and on par with a Dark Blood Stiff Corpse? Damn...'
It looked brutally tough, so staying in the alliance would be more miserable, he repeated to himself.
Thus, Dam Mu-heun selected ten subordinates to go with him.
"How long do we keep handling external jobs too, Vice Leader?"
At a member's complaint.
"Dunno."
Dam Mu-heun replied curtly.
"No, aren't we the alliance leader's guards? Sending us out like this all the time..."
Another grumbled.
Dam Mu-heun smirked.
"We all know that's just an excuse. Without it, how else could the leader keep a force like this directly under him?"
True enough.
The Hocheon Corps was the pretext to create an alliance leader's direct strike force, bypassing the elders.
They guarded So Hwi-woong but deployed outside more.
That's why they shone in so many battles during the Martial World Great War.
So Hwi-woong prioritized hot zones over his own protection.
Sending Ha Mu-baek across battlefields everywhere.
Dam Mu-heun and the Hocheon Corps members left the Righteous Heaven Alliance, departing Luoyang.
The moment they unleashed lightness skills toward the predicted path.
"But honestly, you all prefer heading out, right?"
Dam Mu-heun chuckled, and smiles spread across the ten members' faces.
"Nah, gotta watch the ones left behind."
"If we jump at it too eagerly, those guys later..."
Battle-hardened veterans.
How stifling for them to guard the alliance leader and stay cooped up.
Especially as direct subordinates to the alliance's top brass, So Hwi-woong.
Frustrating and tough.
External missions were their breathing hole.
"You checked the orders? Steel yourselves."
At Dam Mu-heun's words, the Hocheon Corps members' eyes hardened fiercely.
An unknown entity expected to rival a Dark Blood Stiff Corpse but not one.
Heading to face an enemy with no solid intel.