Chapter 613
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 613
Chapter Title: Where Do You Think You're Going?
When their master had left and they entered Luoyang alongside the old man they'd just met, the siblings felt a surge of joy.
It was the place where they'd spent the longest time, after all, giving Gong Hae-bin and Gong Hae-jun a sense of home.
But as their path continued, a touch of fear crept in.
It was because of where the old man was pulling the cart toward.
The Righteous Heaven Alliance.
Luoyang's greatest landmark, practically synonymous with the city itself.
They were heading straight for its main gate.
Even while living in Luoyang, they'd only ever glimpsed it from afar.
The thought of drawing near had never even crossed their minds.
Luoyang locals passed freely along the grand avenue before the Alliance headquarters, of course.
Was it because they were still young?
Not only the siblings, but even their playmates had steered clear of the area near the Alliance.
It was probably due to the adults' warnings.
"The Righteous Heaven Alliance is crawling with terrifying martial artists," they'd say, scaring the children away from even approaching.
Of course, the siblings were different now.
They'd faced a truly frightening martial artist up close and witnessed what a truly powerful one looked like through their master.
They now knew those tales were nothing but adult exaggerations.
And yet, standing right before the main gate of the Righteous Heaven Alliance headquarters, they couldn't help shrinking back a little, feeling intimidated.
Iron Cane Dog chuckled at the sight of the siblings' unease.
"Heh heh. No need to be so scared. No one in there will harm you. Your master is the scariest one there by far."
With that, he urged the cart forward through the gate.
The guards exchanged a few words and waved them through immediately.
The siblings couldn't even recall what was said.
They were too tense.
And so passed the few days at the Heavenly Eye Pavilion of the Righteous Heaven Alliance.
The siblings adapted completely.
Everyone was kind, for one thing.
They received all sorts of conveniences and considerations, settling into daily life in no time.
Daily life consisted of nothing special.
Circulating energy, training, meditation—repeat.
No one approached while the siblings practiced at the small training ground near the Heavenly Eye Pavilion.
At most, one or two Pavilion agents kept watch from nearby, just in case.
"Ha, at that age, and they're already like this?"
One of the two agents assigned to protect the siblings today muttered in disbelief.
They'd heard the kids were thirteen and eleven.
Yet their proficiency was already bordering on mastery.
"That's why they're disciples of that monster."
His fellow agent scanned the surroundings as he replied.
"Tch. My boy just slouches around like it's a joke when it comes to the Three Talents Sword Arts, but these kids..."
"I heard they're from that place."
"Which place?"
"You know Small Travel Inn?"
The agent racked his brain at his colleague's words.
"Yeah. The one the Hocheon Corps guys went crazy over, frequenting it like mad before it suddenly shut down one day."
"Those are the kids from there?"
"That's right."
"How'd you find out?"
"One of the Hocheon Corps members who came by the Pavilion recognized them."
The agent nodded at his colleague's explanation.
It had been quite the rumor among Righteous Heaven Alliance folk back when those guys raved about Small Travel Inn as their go-to spot for gatherings.
"Not even from a martial clan, just inn kids, and they've got that kind of talent and work ethic."
He saw them in a new light.
And inwardly resolved to have a serious, in-depth talk with his own son when he got home.
His fifteen-year-old seemed downright rotten in his attitude toward martial arts by comparison.
Unaware of the two Alliance warriors watching over them in admiration,
the two children were deeply immersed in the Three Talents Arts.
In one corner of the training ground, Iron Cane Dog lay sprawled at an angle.
Amazed by the children's talent, he also reflected on yesterday's events.
The urgent dispatch from the Beggars' Sect.
And even the summons from Alliance Leader So Hwi-woong.
'The martial world seems at peace, yet it doesn't feel that way. What bloody winds are coming next... Tch. Where does the Sect Leader vanish to at times like this?'
Heavenly Eye Pavilion Lord Gong Son Dan-gyeong set down his documents and rose from his chair.
He stretched his sturdy frame and approached the window, gazing out at the small training ground below.
There, the two children were training diligently.
"Ha Mu-baek's disciples, huh..."
Even at a glance, their talent was overflowing.
Who would've thought Ha Mu-baek would take disciples.
A smile tugged at his lips watching the young ones train so earnestly.
Then he shook his head, a headache returning.
It was due to the story Iron Cane Dog had shared the day before.
"A rational Dark Blood Jiangshi with no physical form, impossible to attack... and it killed Myo Su-gae with some bizarre sorcery."
Iron Cane Dog had revealed everything about the Beggars' Sect total division incident, save for Myo Su-gae's crimes.
That was internal Sect business, a blemish now resolved.
No need to expose a potential weakness to the Righteous Heaven Alliance.
"I need to look into what happened."
Gong Son Dan-gyeong left his office and headed underground.
To reexamine the Pavilion's classified documents.
What sorcery did the Blood Cult possess like that?
Were there countermeasures?
In the basement of the Alliance Leader's Hall.
The Alliance Leader's private meditation chamber.
So Hwi-woong stood rigidly, eyes closed, spine straight as a rod in silent meditation.
Opposite him stood Ha Mu-baek, sword in hand.
An opponent conjured by So Hwi-woong's mind image.
Ha Mu-baek.
How long had they stood like that?
So Hwi-woong lowered his blade, sweat pouring down his face.
"Hoo. Can't even block a single sword strike."
He gave a wry smile.
So Hwi-woong, Alliance Leader of the Righteous Heaven Alliance, hailed as the foremost orthodox master of the current era.
Yet he lacked confidence in blocking even one strike from Ha Mu-baek.
The true world's greatest, unknown to the masses.
That was Ha Mu-baek.
They'd exchanged countless bouts in his mind image.
Sometimes he'd lasted hundreds of exchanges.
But recalling that single strike Ha Mu-baek unleashed in the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest...
No matter how deeply he pondered or trained, he still couldn't block it.
A truly unfathomable gap.
"And now a demonic thing like a bodiless evil spirit has appeared..."
Yesterday's tale from Iron Cane Dog.
An enemy that was illusion yet real.
Invulnerable to any attack, impossible to capture—yet Ha Mu-baek had casually confronted and repelled it.
"A real form that can sever illusions."
So Hwi-woong sat in lotus position and sank into deep meditation.
Shuuuung.
Ha Mu-baek's lightness skill was swift.
Having lost unexpected time, he pushed even harder.
Yet he was still human.
How long had he gone without food or sleep thanks to Fang Sa-uk?
Right after, he'd made a grueling forced march to the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest to tail Gae Sa-ak.
Even for Ha Mu-baek, fatigue accumulated.
He slept a full day at the nearest inn.
No matter his peerless inner energy, he couldn't overcome the exhaustion from sleeplessness.
He could endure a few days with energy circulation, but now wasn't the time to push himself.
After resting, his speed felt even greater.
'Blood Cult, Dark Blood Jiangshi, Dark Oblivion, Emptiness, Soul Devouring Great Law...'
A flurry of events in such a short span.
Ha Mu-baek sorted through his thoughts one by one.
When facing the Soul Devouring Great Law at Huashan Sect, he'd honestly felt stymied.
Knowing enemies lurked yet unable to identify them was maddening.
But he'd found an unexpected clue.
While confronting the Blood Cult's Dark Blood Jiangshi variant wielding Dark Oblivion energy.
Now, Ha Mu-baek continuously trained expanding his energy sense.
The Infinite Bright Wheel Eye as well.
He hadn't managed it en route to the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest, focused on speed.
Practicing energy sense and Infinite Bright Wheel Eye while employing lightness skill.
His condition hadn't allowed it then.
Not anymore.
Dark Oblivion and Emptiness, of course; Infinity, Freedom, Radiance, Chaos; even the fire energy of the fire demon weapon, the ice energy of the ice crystal, the poison energy of the poison crystal.
All the energies Ha Mu-baek had gathered and fused in his dantian.
Fused yet not fully unified, allowing separate manipulation—he channeled them one by one through his energy sense and Infinite Bright Wheel Eye.
The Infinity-Freedom energy was fundamentally his inner art, yet not quite.
Based on Infinity-Freedom power, yet not purely primordial energy.
Infusing it into his energy sense brought realization.
The pure Infinity-Freedom energy permeating his inner art.
He sensed and extracted the Primordial Six Divine Arts energy itself, weaving it into his sense.
Countless mind images flashed and vanished in Ha Mu-baek's head during the process.
No, they didn't vanish.
Ha Mu-baek grasped the tails, stacking them meticulously in memory.
He couldn't unpack them yet, but that was fine.
The unplanned detour to the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest—nay, Mountain-Crossing Woods—had delayed him too much.
Worried the children might fret or feel anxious.
Ha Mu-baek now focused on racing to the Righteous Heaven Alliance in Luoyang.
Not as frantic as before, allowing concurrent training.
In truth, these applications of energy sense and Infinite Bright Wheel Eye yielded profound insights for Ha Mu-baek—he couldn't stop.
Maintaining speed, he concentrated on training.
He infused Dark Oblivion energy most frequently.
He was most accustomed to it thanks to Fang Sa-uk, and hoped he might catch Gae Sa-ak's trail along the way.
Mount Heng East.
A small cave deep in a profound valley.
There, at its deepest recess, sat Mi Bu in lotus position.
Urgency etched her face.
"Ah, no!"
A shrill cry escaped as she reached with her right hand to yank the cord dangling before her.
"Kekeke. Won't work."
A grotesque voice issued from her mouth as her left hand seized the right.
Her body split in twain.
Right half stained red, left half dyed black.
Two voices emanated from her—one pulling the cord, the other blocking.
A battle between her own right and left arms.
Desperation and urgency filled her right eye, murderous frenzy the left.
Then.
"Time to report, but no word, so I came to check. Are you all right?"
A low voice from the cave entrance.
Black pupils flashed.
"I'm fine. I can't come out, so enter for a moment."
The red right eye widened in shock.
She hadn't spoken those words.
The black left eye had mimicked her voice.
"Then, pardon the intrusion."
The subordinate dispatched by Moon In Baek-song cautiously entered the cave.
The black eye's judgment was simple.
With a subordinate inside, she couldn't pull the cord.
Doing so would collapse the cave, killing them all.
However.
The red eye burned with resolve.
She regretted luring the Black Mist Corps member in with the black eye's cunning, but she couldn't mourn one life now.
Sparing one sacrifice might unleash bloody winds upon Sa Hae-ryeon—no, the entire martial world.
She already sensed it.
Her impending defeat.
Before then, she had to pull that cord and end it all here.
The trap mechanism installed for such an eventuality.
Triggering it would bury the cave.
That's why it was small yet deep.
To crush them beneath the mountain.
Even Hocheon Corps Leader Ha Mu-baek couldn't survive a cave-in here.
The black eye knew this and desperately restrained her.
In that instant.
The right red body's energy waned.
The left black surged, instantly blackening the right's abdomen, chest, and legs.
In that moment.
The right side flushed deeper red and moved with swift, fierce power.
The final gambit.
Concentrating all strength to yank the cord.
As the right hand grasped it.
"Where do you think you're going."
Srash.
The left hand spewed black qi, severing the right.
The cord-grasping hand went limp.
Thud.
It fell to the ground.
"Ahh..."
A sigh escaped the red eye.
Soon.
Her entire body turned black.