Chapter 615
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 615
Chapter Title: Now It Seems Time to Collect It
Mun In-baeksong arrived at his office in the Black Mist Unit headquarters and immediately summoned a subordinate.
"What is it?"
"Ha Mu-baek. Do you have his location pinned down?"
"Yes."
The response was curt.
That was the subordinate's mission: to continuously monitor Ha Mu-baek's position and movements, compile reports, and deliver them.
"And his current location?"
"He's heading toward Luoyang from the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest at high speed. According to the report from two days ago, he passed Dongneung in Anhui Province, so he may have already reached or passed Hefei by now."
Mun In-baeksong nodded.
Gangseo Province's Western Overseer.
When he was with the Fierce Dragon Corps, it felt like a monster was right under his nose—not exactly pleasant.
Now that he was far away, though, there was a twinge of regret.
It would take that much time for the message to reach him and for him to arrive.
Mun In-baeksong hurriedly scribbled a dispatch and sealed it tightly.
A wax seal stamped with the top-secret mark.
[Deliver this to Ha Mu-baek as quickly and discreetly as possible. Even the League must not know.]
The subordinate flinched at Mun In-baeksong's transmitted order.
There had never been such a command regarding Ha Mu-baek before.
A flicker of curiosity about the dispatch's contents tried to rise in the corner of his mind.
But he suppressed it with superhuman restraint.
He trusted Mun In-baeksong.
He had to follow his orders.
"Understood."
With that short reply, he took the sealed dispatch and vanished.
Now, the dispatch would reach Ha Mu-baek within a day or two via the Black Mist Unit's exclusive secret channels.
'Come quickly. As fast as you can.'
Mun In-baeksong's gaze turned eastward.
Toward the east of Mount Heng.
A nameless deep valley.
The direction of what was now called the Forbidden Step Valley.
'He's taken the bait.'
It was a near-certainty.
All those sent to the Forbidden Step Valley were elite Black Mist Unit members.
Trained to infiltrate the Righteous Heaven Alliance in Luoyang without issue, steal intelligence from the Heavenly Eye Pavilion, and return safely.
No word from them meant they had been defeated.
It had been well past the time when a status check order should have elicited a response.
"I want to buy as much time as possible."
Mun In-baeksong muttered softly, glancing toward the League Leader's quarters.
He had been ordered to prepare to head to the Forbidden Step Valley, but he planned to move swiftly and discreetly with only a handful of trusted subordinates.
Dragging his feet on preparations would be obvious to Gongya Jangcheon.
No, he might even probe into the delay, so finishing preparations quickly was best.
Mun In-baeksong fully utilized his abilities.
And by dawn the next day...
All preparations were complete.
Mun In-baeksong silently saw off League Leader Gongya Jangcheon and five members of his personal guard, the Blood Thunder Corps, as they departed the Saha League discreetly for the Forbidden Step Valley. Inwardly, he hoped.
He hoped the monster Gong Son Dan-gyeong had warned about was even more formidable than described.
So that until he could send Ha Mu-baek there, the League Leader wouldn't find it.
'Even if that bastard devoured the young lady, it seems he needs time to stabilize...'
Bang Sa-uk had said it wasn't that strong at first.
No, it was strong, but within the realm of imagination—until it suddenly rampaged, vanished somewhere, returned, and became that monster.
Gong Son Dan-gyeong had learned this from Dam Mu-hyeon and included it in his dispatch.
Mun In-baeksong had calculated accordingly.
He could only hope the monster had left the Forbidden Step Valley to build its power further.
Hefei, Anhui Province.
A familiar place.
It was the provincial capital, bustling and vast, but more than that, it was home to a major martial sect.
The Namgung Clan.
Ha Mu-baek had dipped his foot into the chaos when their clan head changed.
But now was no time for a leisurely visit to the Namgung Clan.
Ha Mu-baek secured a room at a suitable inn and lay down on the bed.
His first bed in three days.
He needed to rest deeply tonight and resume the grueling march at dawn tomorrow.
He had filled his belly with decent food from the first-floor dining hall and bathed.
Lying on the bed, he closed his eyes.
A smile tugged at his lips at the prospect of long-overdue rest and sleep.
Then his face hardened instantly.
"Damn it."
A quiet curse escaped him.
A presence had snagged on his senses.
And that presence was calling out to Ha Mu-baek.
Ten unorthodox warriors had surrounded the inn where he was staying.
"These bastards."
They surrounded him without attacking, exuding only their auras—as if they knew he was here.
Nine had remarkably uniform auras, while one was noticeably stronger.
Ha Mu-baek's form vanished in an instant.
"Kuh... Guh...!"
He reappeared in an eastern alley of the inn, seizing a passerby's throat and hoisting him high.
"What is it? I was just about to rest, and you come bothering me?"
Ha Mu-baek's eyes flashed menacingly.
"I-In my... b-breast pocket... the dispatch..."
The man, throat gripped, hurriedly delivered his message.
His hands were free, but he didn't dare reach into his pocket.
He knew the moment he did, the hand on his throat would crush his windpipe, ending his life.
Ha Mu-baek rummaged through the man's breast pocket with his other hand.
Nothing but a thin dispatch—he found it quickly.
The seal on the dispatch bore the Saha League's top-secret mark.
Of course, it was in code, but Ha Mu-baek knew the code.
He had guessed it was from the Saha League when an unorthodox warrior showed up.
It was the Black Mist Unit's distinctive presence.
In Hefei, Namgung Clan territory, revealing themselves so boldly meant something was up.
Seeing the top-secret seal soured his mood further.
Wasn't he rushing to Luoyang right now?
Fling.
Ha Mu-baek casually tossed the Black Mist Unit member aside into the street and tore open the dispatch.
The scribbled message was brutally concise.
-The thing I told you to keep on hold—now it seems time to collect it. Would be good if we met at the League.
Short, but it twisted Ha Mu-baek's face.
"Damn it all."
Another curse slipped out.
The Evil Sea Prodigy, Mun In-baeksong.
The only rival acknowledged by the Myriad Books Scholar Gong Son Dan-gyeong, though the gap between them was clear.
While Gong Son Dan-gyeong focused solely on strategy from the rear, Mun In-baeksong was a frontline warrior.
His own cultivation was far from lacking.
During the great battles with the Blood Cult and Demonic Cult,
When the Saha League was short-handed, Mun In-baeksong had even plunged into the fray himself—something he absolutely shouldn't have done.
And in that chaotic war, the Hocheon Corps had once owed the Black Mist Unit a debt.
Ha Mu-baek had told Mun In-baeksong back then:
One day, he would repay it without fail, so keep it on hold.
In the heat of back-to-back brutal fights, all he could do was offer thanks via transmission and hurry on.
Mun In-baeksong was now calling in that debt.
"Hoo."
Ha Mu-baek let out a deep sigh.
Over the years, Mun In-baeksong had never mentioned that debt.
It had been a private transmission, so perhaps even the Saha League didn't know.
A debt only Mun In-baeksong and Ha Mu-baek knew of.
He had expected as much from him.
That was why he had sent the message via transmission.
For him to bring up the debt now meant something gravely serious had happened in the Saha League.
And Ha Mu-baek always honored his words and promises.
The top-secret seal wasn't for his subordinates to see.
It wasn't the kind of message warranting such a mark otherwise.
'He stamped it for me to see.'
To emphasize how critical and urgent it was.
Ha Mu-baek was moving at top speed, so Mun In-baeksong must have guessed he might have his own urgent matters.
Repaying a debt was important, but it could be pushed back.
"You."
The Black Mist Unit member, standing respectfully in the alley corner, slightly raised his head.
Whoosh.
The dispatch in Ha Mu-baek's hand burned away in the Threefold True Fire.
"Follow me."
Ha Mu-baek spoke to the innkeeper, gathered writing supplies, and returned to his room.
The Black Mist Unit member entered tensely and stood by the door.
Ha Mu-baek scribbled furiously on paper.
Three dispatches were completed in moments.
"This one to Hocheon Corps Leader Dam Mu-hyeon. This to Iron Gate Dog at Heavenly Eye Pavilion. This to Fierce Dragon Corps Vice Leader Han Seol-bing in Anbok."
He sorted the three dispatches; two were thick, suggesting more than one or two sheets.
"Deliver them within two days. You can do it, right?"
With those words, Ha Mu-baek vanished like the wind.
He seemed in a hurry, so he needed to go quickly.
The Black Mist Unit's aid back then had been substantial.
Thanks to them, he had prevented his subordinates' sacrifices.
At least five lived because of Mun In-baeksong.
Their lives were Ha Mu-baek's debt.
He had downplayed it lightly, but it was a massive, heavy debt.
Left alone after Ha Mu-baek departed, the Black Mist Unit member stared at the three dispatches and sighed deeply.
"Damn it, we're not a courier service..."
Muttering that, he gathered them up.
The order to deliver the dispatch to Ha Mu-baek had come with instructions: grant whatever he requested.
So he had no choice but to move.
As he collected them, seeing the last dispatch drew another sigh.
He could guess why Ha Mu-baek had left so abruptly and urgently.
Probably heading to the main league.
The Saha League was quiet now, with no apparent issues.
Yet the urgency suggested Corps Leader Mun In-baeksong wanted to meet Ha Mu-baek in secret.
Of course, the member cleared all such speculations from his mind.
He wasn't supposed to think.
Still, the sigh escaped because...
"Hoo. Anbok's on the way..."
That was the reason.
He shook his head vigorously.
The top-secret seal meant it was that urgent, but detouring to Anbok would waste time.
They had to deliver these themselves.
With that, he vanished from the inn.
Boom! Rumble!
A deafening roar tore through the air.
Ha Mu-baek ignored it and sprinted at full speed.
His course had bent at a right angle.
From Hefei to Luoyang, now redirected to Mount Heng in Hunan Province.
Farther than Luoyang.
And the situation seemed even more pressing.
Ha Mu-baek piled forced march upon forced march.
Like when he sought the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest, forgetting sleep once more.
The report of delivering the secret dispatch to Ha Mu-baek would likely have left Hefei by now.
He aimed to arrive around the same time as that report.
The secret network of transmission hawks and couriers.
Ha Mu-baek was racing against it.
Truly at full throttle.
This wasn't just anything—it was settling a life debt from the past.
The sender seemed desperate, so Ha Mu-baek gave his absolute best.
And after running and running, a massive mountain loomed ahead.
The southern sacred peak of the Central Plains Five Great Mountains.
Mount Heng.
A familiar landscape.
It had to be.
The Saha League wasn't the only power on Mount Heng.
Seonyu Valley was there too.
Seonyu Valley to the north, Saha League headquarters to the south.
With its main base at the forefront of its territory, the Saha League bordered Seonyu Valley, one of the Righteous New Eight Sects.
Had it been any other of the New Eight Sects, the Saha League might have claimed the northern slopes.
But because it was Seonyu Valley, they settled for seven-tenths of Mount Heng.
They yielded the northern three-tenths to Seonyu Valley.
It was Seonyu Valley's nature.
Possessing the world's—no, the realm's—foremost medical arts, they treated illness without discriminating between righteous and unorthodox.
They healed unorthodox figures willingly.
Seeing the disease, not the patient, as physicians should.
From the Saha League's perspective, having Seonyu Valley nearby was a boon.
The world's greatest healers were at hand, ready to aid in medical crises.
Of course, Seonyu Valley's martial prowess was the weakest among the New Eight Sects, and the Saha League was confident it could crush them anytime.
Thus, Ha Mu-baek arrived at the Saha League's southern headquarters on Mount Heng.