Chapter 604
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 604
Chapter Title: Already?
"Welcome. Truth be told, I've been feeling a bit uneasy."
Dam Muhyun set down his glass and spoke frankly from the heart.
"You're more than capable of handling it, aren't you? You've made some real progress in the meantime."
Dam Muhyun shrugged at Ha Mu-baek's words.
"As expected from the Corps Leader. You see right through it. It's all thanks to you—from that time in the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest."
Ha Mu-baek's battle back then had inspired countless martial artists.
That inspiration had led to breakthroughs and advancements, elevating many to new realms.
Dam Muhyun was one of them.
"You've been diligently building your foundation all this time, so that's why. Someone without any preparation wouldn't even recognize an opportunity when it came. So, what's got you so uneasy?"
"I was just agonizing over whether to request reinforcements from the Alliance Leader, and if I did, who to ask for. Would they even send you if I specifically requested the Corps Leader? If I'd known Elder Iron Cane Beggar had come looking for you, I wouldn't have been fretting like this. Damn that old fox. Tch."
Was it to cool his nerves?
He refilled his glass and drained it in one go.
"What's got you so worried?"
At Ha Mu-baek's question, Dam Muhyun gazed up at the ceiling for a moment, as if rummaging through his memories.
"It must've been when you were off on another mission. There was an operation where I accompanied the Alliance Leader..."
Dam Muhyun recalled that time as he spoke.
After Bang Sa-uk fled, they'd been too busy cleaning up the aftermath to think deeply.
There had been something nagging at him, though.
No, truth be told, it was the first time he'd encountered someone who thought and acted with such clear intent, so it hadn't occurred to him right away.
On the road to Kaifeng with the survivors of the Black Resolution Squad.
Reviewing the Dark Blood Jiangshi—not a new entity, but that case—a single detail came to mind.
'That monster...'
The Dark Blood Jiangshi he'd seen in the battle alongside the Alliance Leader.
It had been there.
"The Burning Blood Battle?"
Ha Mu-baek asked, and Dam Muhyun nodded in surprise.
"Exactly. I remember mentioning it to you back then, but you actually remembered."
Ha Mu-baek chuckled.
"No way. Elder Gong Son must've sent someone to inform me."
"As expected of Pavilion Lord Gong Son."
Dam Muhyun let out an admiring sigh at Ha Mu-baek's words.
"So what happened back then that's got the great Dam Muhyun so uneasy?"
"It was a monster. A real monster. Not on your level, of course... but even the Alliance Leader had a tough time with it. In my memory, it's one of the top five hardest fights he's ever had."
"Hmm."
Ha Mu-baek crossed his arms.
So Hwi-woong had been strong back then.
He was strong now, too, but he had been then as well.
Not quite on Ha Mu-baek's level, of course, but So Hwi-woong was known to the world as the foremost of the righteous sects.
It was around the time his moniker, Heavenly Sword Divine Hero, was shaking the world.
For such a man to suffer a setback.
And Dam Muhyun ranked it in his top five.
Ha Mu-baek could easily guess a few of those.
Battles like the one against Blood Cult Leader Gae Hong-cheon or Demonic Cult Leader Seok Won-cho would surely be included.
"That serious, huh?"
Ha Mu-baek was slightly taken aback by Dam Muhyun's explanation.
When he'd heard from Heavenly Eye Pavilion agents and read Gong Son Dan-gyeong's letter, he'd just thought it was a rough fight.
But if Dam Muhyun was saying this much...
"Come to think of it, when Bang Sa-uk suddenly powered up, it reminded me of that Burning Blood Battle's Dark Blood Jiangshi going berserk."
Dam Muhyun's face grew grave.
"Berserk, you say..."
"The crazy part is, that berserk state didn't happen just once—it kept ramping up, stacking power each time. That's why the Alliance Leader struggled, and the rest of us nearly died."
Recalling the memory, Dam Muhyun's expression turned a bit pale.
"And since Bang Sa-uk showed similar signs before fleeing, how could I not be worried?"
He brought the glass to his lips after finishing.
Dam Muhyun's throat seemed parched.
"What's even scarier is that Bang Sa-uk still had his wits about him, just like before. With that sharp mind intact, he won't come to Kaifeng carelessly anymore. He'll strike when he's confident... and I can't handle that."
Dam Muhyun spoke rapidly.
Ha Mu-baek nodded.
Just like before.
Thinking, planning, and acting the same way.
That was the headache.
But one thing had changed: the massacre at the current Beggars' Sect branch.
"I'll go look for him at first light."
Dam Muhyun nodded at Ha Mu-baek's words, as if he'd expected as much.
"Then I'll stay at headquarters for now. He might avoid you and head there instead."
The two drained their final glasses and left the tavern.
Time had already passed midnight.
"Hm?"
Gae Se-aak tilted his head.
One of the lingering traces of darkness he'd sent out had reacted strangely to his dark energy.
[Already?]
The Abyss of Darkness spoke.
"What do you mean?"
[It touched a blood nexus. Must've been nearby. To reach it this quickly—pure luck.]
"A nexus?"
[The place where you met me. That's the origin. To summon the children of darkness from the origin, I kept releasing dark energy, and some of it congealed there. That's the nexus.]
Gae Se-aak nodded.
That explained the reaction.
Even a portion congealed was immense power.
Wasn't he currently suppressing the full extent of the darkness's power?
He still felt it wasn't enough, hunkering down.
Over eons from the dawn of time.
The darkness had been accumulating power in its shadowy depths all that while.
Its magnitude was beyond human comprehension.
"It'd be good if the others found nexuses too."
Then the world would descend into even greater chaos.
"Hoo..."
Bang Sa-uk came to his senses.
Explosions of large and small energies still raged within his body, but he'd adapted now.
The voice echoing in his head had vanished.
"Darkness."
What the hell was it?
How was he even able to exist like this?
He now knew the source of the endless energy surging forth.
From deep underground beneath where he sat, the energy welled up.
Endlessly.
Without cease.
What was this power?
From the phrase "The children of darkness return to darkness," he'd realized the root was darkness itself.
And the Annihilation Art.
He'd also grasped that the energy of the Chaos Blood Annihilation Art was akin to that dark power.
The energy filling Bang Sa-uk's body now was not the Beggars' Sect's White Lotus Burning Flower Art, but the Chaos Blood Annihilation Art.
"Ridiculous. For that old fox to have planted the Chaos Blood Annihilation Art."
A self-mocking murmur escaped his lips.
Though devoured by the Annihilation Art and turned into a killer, a sliver of his rationality as the old fox remained.
"Annihilation Art... grr."
Bang Sa-uk ground his teeth.
Vivid memories related to the Annihilation Art flooded back.
There'd been no reason for Bang Sa-uk—master of the Beggars' Sect's divine art, White Lotus Burning Flower, secure in his position as Elder Beggar—to touch the Annihilation Art.
He'd been content with his lot, tirelessly refining his skills through rigorous training.
Until he witnessed that one man.
'Hocheon Corps Leader.'
It had been during some battle.
When the Beggars' Sect was in dire straits, a warrior had appeared out of nowhere to save them.
The Hocheon Corps Leader.
Watching his fight then, Bang Sa-uk learned for the first time.
That a strong man's sword could be so beautiful.
That image became Bang Sa-uk's goal, driving him to even greater training.
Even in the heat of fierce combat, he never let go of his sword.
The sight the Hocheon Corps Leader showed gave Bang Sa-uk conviction in his choice.
His decision to wield a sword instead of a staff.
Yet the wall was thick and immense.
Still, Bang Sa-uk pressed straight ahead on his path.
Clinging to the hope that he'd one day reach that realm.
Then.
One day.
A strange manual lay in his quarters.
Burning Flower Unbound Art.
The next stage after White Lotus Burning Flower Art.
So he harbored no suspicions.
He assumed the Clan Leader, Blue Bamboo Divine Beggar, had left it.
The Clan Leader was that kind of breezy soul.
He'd learned White Lotus Burning Flower Art the same way after becoming Elder Beggar.
So he trained in the Burning Flower Unbound Art manual, believing the Clan Leader would come when the time was right to guide him.
But.
No matter how long he waited, he never came.
Not even after a hundred days.
Blue Bamboo Divine Beggar was roaming battlefields across the land like the wind, bolstering the Righteous Heaven Alliance.
And when the hundred days passed.
That's when he realized.
Something was wrong.
Burning Flower Unbound Art wasn't Burning Flower Unbound Art.
On the hundredth day, his internal energy changed.
It was no longer the energy of White Lotus Burning Flower or Burning Flower Unbound.
A bizarre energy had seeped in.
Realizing this, he secretly investigated who had placed the Burning Flower Unbound manual in his quarters.
It was over a hundred days old, making it difficult, but he eventually found out.
'Wonderful Hand Beggar.'
One of the Beggars' Sect elders and Bang Sa-uk's martial uncle.
And the master of Red-Faced Beggar Yi Woong, who had competed with Bang Sa-uk for the Elder position.
Bang Sa-uk clearly remembered how disappointed Wonderful Hand Beggar had been when he discarded his moniker to become Elder Beggar.
Suspicion turned to certainty.
Wonderful Hand Beggar had tampered with the Burning Flower Unbound manual somehow.
He couldn't figure out what the tampering was.
A urgent crisis erupted, sending him to Nakryong Gorge, where in the ensuing fierce battle, he naturally uncovered it.
'Chaos Blood Annihilation Art...'
It was the Annihilation Art.
The Burning Flower Unbound Art's rapid advancement reached its peak before Bang Sa-uk could notice, and the Annihilation Art's curse began.
Only then did he realize it was the Annihilation Art.
The moment he did, he hurled himself into Nakryong Gorge.
His body had already begun transforming under the curse, so those around him realized he'd cultivated the Annihilation Art.
As he plummeted into the gorge, resentment boiled within.
He'd been tricked into the Annihilation Art by some plot, yet had no time to even voice his injustice.
And the final question that arose.
'How did Wonderful Hand Beggar...?'
Burning Flower Unbound wasn't fake.
If the title was Burning Flower Unbound but the content was Chaos Blood Annihilation, he'd have noticed immediately.
He'd practiced it without doubt because the content matched Burning Flower Unbound.
So Wonderful Hand Beggar must have hidden the Chaos Blood Annihilation incantations within it—but he lacked the skill for that.
'Who the hell...'
His thoughts reached that point.
Then, with a thud, excruciating pain wracked his body, and his memory cut off.
His next clear memory was waking at the bottom of Nakryong Gorge.
Even then, Bang Sa-uk retained some of his original reason.
The darkness's voice ceaselessly tried to dominate his mind, but he didn't yield easily.
A cycle of brief lucidity and blackouts.
Still, Bang Sa-uk struggled to preserve his pride as the Beggars' Sect Elder Beggar.
But enduring the darkness's persistent whispers was no easy feat, even for him.
In the midst, the dark power probed his weaknesses, digging in.
That weakness was Wonderful Hand Beggar.
Bang Sa-uk had unwittingly cultivated the Annihilation Art.
He only learned of the hidden Annihilation Art after the curse began.
The culprit, no doubt, was Wonderful Hand Beggar.
He'd driven the proud Elder Beggar into the cursed trap of the Annihilation Art, forcing him to forsake future glory and throw himself into Nakryong Gorge.
Kill him. Avenge yourself. The dark power whispered endlessly.
And Bang Sa-uk gradually succumbed to the temptation.
The injustice was too much.
That injustice ignited into vengeance.
Vengeance against Wonderful Hand Beggar.
In the end, Bang Sa-uk fell for it, allowing a fragment of the dark power to take root in his consciousness.
After that, it was smooth sailing.
Reasons to resent Wonderful Hand Beggar.
Pride in the Beggars' Sect.
Was throwing away his life to protect it truly worth more than his own life?
Bang Sa-uk had devoted himself and sacrificed so much until now—yet the sect demanded he end his own life for its honor. Was that fair?
Would vengeance end with Wonderful Hand Beggar? Hadn't he done it all for the Elder position?
Wasn't it the Beggars' Sect that ruined you, that took your life?
Absurd sophistry, temptation, incitement.
Full of holes that Bang Sa-uk would've dismissed outright.
But with the darkness already lodged in his mind...
He fell for the nonsense, and the darkness fully eroded and controlled his consciousness.
His vengeance against Wonderful Hand Beggar twisted into bitter hatred for the Beggars' Sect.
Thus, Bang Sa-uk became a child of darkness.
A monster born as a child of darkness, retaining his original intellect.
And with that, he completely forgot the fierce battle against the darkness.
Those memories, submerged by the influx of immense dark power, now resurfaced.
"Heh heh. That crap doesn't matter now. They're all gonna die anyway."
As Bang Sa-uk muttered, a vicious killing intent emanated from his body.
Born from the root of vengeance, it was chillingly thick.
The dark power reacted to the killing intent, surging even greater flows into his body.
"Wonder what happened to that bastard Yi Woong. Did he snag the Elder spot?"
It was a murmur laced with murderous intent.