Chapter 617
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 617
Chapter Title: Look Around
For a brief moment, Mun Inbaeksong was flustered by Ha Mu-baek's unexpected reaction.
But he quickly recalled the information he had on Ha Mu-baek.
'Right. He has a younger sister.'
The existence of his younger sister, who had once entered the Fierce Dragon Corps as a trainee.
The Blood Net Alliance had known about her, yet he hadn't thought of it until now.
That was the impression they had of Ha Mu-baek.
A cold-blooded man who showed no mercy or tears to his enemies.
He took good care of his subordinates, but no one imagined that would extend to his younger sister...
'No, no. I've gotten old. A guy who looks after his own like that—it's obvious how he'd feel about his sister.'
Wasn't that the very reason Mun Inbaeksong had been able to make Ha Mu-baek owe him a debt?
Because he'd helped the Hocheon Corps when they were on the brink of crisis, saving the lives of his innocent subordinates.
They called it a crisis at the time, but in truth, it was the Hocheon Corps in peril.
No matter what happened, Ha Mu-baek himself would have survived unscathed somehow.
Yet Ha Mu-baek had acknowledged the debt because his subordinates lived.
"What're you thinking about for so long?"
While Mun Inbaeksong organized his thoughts for a moment, Ha Mu-baek asked.
"Ahem, ahem. Just reflecting that I'm not what I used to be."
"Yeah, you are looking a bit off."
Ha Mu-baek nodded in agreement.
Mun Inbaeksong's face flushed slightly.
He hadn't expected Ha Mu-baek to say it right to his face.
"You had quite a few eyes on me, but you still made that mistake."
Ha Mu-baek chuckled.
Mun Inbaeksong understood immediately.
The reason Ha Mu-baek understood the corps leader's tender feelings for his sister.
It was a jab at Mun Inbaeksong for overlooking that reason.
"Well, nothing to say to that."
He had to admit what was true.
Besides, there were more important matters at hand.
'He holds grudges. Unexpected.'
Still.
Mun Inbaeksong was a little surprised to confirm another side of Ha Mu-baek.
He hadn't thought that man would be one to hold a grudge like that.
'Because it's about his sister? Maybe his feelings for her are even more terrifying than I imagined.'
He firmly imprinted this newly acquired, crucial information about Ha Mu-baek into his mind.
This might truly be important intel.
It was like discovering the reverse scale of that monster.
"So, what do you want from me? That old man Gongya? You want me to kill him for you?"
Mun Inbaeksong nodded.
"That's right."
He admitted it readily.
"If you say you can erase him, he won't be an easy opponent even for the corps leader. And even if you could handle him..."
"It'd tear your heart out. You might not be in your right mind for a while."
Ha Mu-baek replied calmly.
It wasn't hard to imagine his feelings.
Just think of Ha Mu-baek's own situation.
What if something like that happened to him?
He'd devote his life to utterly eradicating even the tiniest trace of the Demonic Cult or Blood Cult.
Mun Inbaeksong nodded.
"Then the old man Gongya's a problem, and the Blood Net Alliance is a problem. Hmm. So that's why you called me using that precious contingency you'd been saving."
"Exactly. I like how quickly we're getting to the point."
Mun Inbaeksong brought his teacup to his lips and admitted it plainly.
"Better to use it now than let it go to waste. Got it."
Ha Mu-baek stood up.
"I thought letting it go to waste might be better. Not using it would mean nothing that serious happened."
Mun Inbaeksong rose with him, a bitterness crossing his face.
Ha Mu-baek chuckled.
Judging by his current attitude, as long as Gongya Jangcheon and Mun Inbaeksong were safe, there was no need to worry about an all-out righteous-evil war.
'Another reason to help Gongya Jangcheon.'
With that.
Ha Mu-baek lightly stomped his foot.
His figure vanished in an instant.
"W-Wait a..."
Mun Inbaeksong was startled by his actions.
He hadn't told him the exact location of Geumbo Valley yet.
He'd only said it was on the eastern side of Hyeong Mountain, and now he was rushing off like that.
[Don't worry about whether I'll find it.]
Ha Mu-baek's transmission voice pierced his ears.
Gongya Jangcheon stared down at the valley below with cold eyes, leaving the five Blood Thunder Corps warriors behind him.
Geumbo Valley.
He had just arrived.
It was quiet.
'Gone.'
Gongya Jangcheon's senses already extended into the cave within Geumbo Valley.
The cave was empty.
Gongya Harang had left.
'Damn it.'
Gongya Jangcheon's face twisted.
It was the worst possible scenario.
If she were in her right mind, she wouldn't have vanished like this.
If she'd overcome the Extermination Technique's curse, she'd have sent word to the alliance. If she was still fighting it, her presence would be felt inside the cave.
But there was no presence at all?
It meant she'd succumbed to the curse.
"Look around."
After the curt order, Gongya Jangcheon leaped down to the valley floor.
Turning his gaze to the cave entrance, the first thing he saw was...
The corpse of a Black Mist Squad member sprawled face-down.
His eyes were still open, as if in utter resentment.
Frozen in a pose reaching forward to grab something.
From that alone, Gongya Jangcheon could roughly piece together what had happened.
At the spot where he'd fallen, the only thing worth grabbing was the cord to trigger the cave's collapse mechanism.
"Hoo."
A deep sigh escaped Gongya Jangcheon's lips.
No need to go inside.
Gongya Jangcheon closed the Black Mist member's eyes for him.
"Sorry."
After murmuring briefly, he entered the cave.
At the end, he found the spot where Gongya Harang had fought desperately against the Extermination Technique.
"Harang..."
Gongya Jangcheon murmured softly.
He examined the traces around him, trying to deduce what had happened as best he could.
Again, the cord for the mechanism.
And below it, splattered bloodstains.
Tracing the bloodstains back, Gongya Jangcheon envisioned one scenario.
Her right hand reaching for the cord, and her left hand severing her own right arm with a sword.
Yet the severed arm was nowhere to be seen.
The blood indicated it had definitely been cut off.
The only explanation was...
'She just reattached the severed arm...'
Nothing else made sense.
Gongya Jangcheon sat cross-legged where Gongya Harang had been and surveyed the surroundings.
The situation from back then played out in his mind.
He didn't know the exact reason.
But before succumbing to the curse, Gongya Harang had been in her right mind and tried to end her life by pulling the cord.
However, part of her body was already lost to it, so she'd cut off her own right arm with her left hand.
What must Gongya Harang have felt trying to pull that cord?
What despair when her own hand failed her?
"Urgh."
A small groan escaped Gongya Jangcheon's lips, and his eyes turned red.
Gongya Jangcheon had come here before.
To this very spot, even.
Though it was said he hadn't left the Blood Net Alliance in years, he had secretly visited—truly, truly in utmost secrecy.
How could he stay only at the alliance when his sister, like a daughter to him, suffered excruciating torment here?
And when he came...
The sight of his sister fighting the Extermination Technique's curse—regaining her senses for brief moments, losing them for long stretches...
It was unbearable to witness.
Yet the eyes full of resolve she showed when her sanity briefly returned...
"O-Oppa. S-Sorry. But don't worry. I'll definitely overcome this. I'm G-Gongya Harang, your sister. Believe in me. Huff. Huff."
That had been his last conversation with Gongya Harang.
And now, returning to this empty place...
Gongya Jangcheon sat where she had endured all that pain and suffering.
'Harang. Harang. Harang... I'm sorry. Sorry that this brother is so worthless...'
It was utterly heartbreaking.
Gongya Jangcheon remained there for about a quarter of an hour.
He couldn't let his subordinates see him like this.
He was the lord of the unorthodox world, the Blood Net Alliance leader.
Moments later, as Gongya Jangcheon emerged from the cave, his eyes had sunk into icy calm.
Within them smoldered rage and killing intent toward the Blood Cult, creators of that damned Extermination Technique.
As Gongya Jangcheon appeared, the five Blood Thunder Corps members bowed deeply.
They had descended into the valley as well.
The Black Mist member's body at the cave entrance had already been taken care of.
"Tracks?"
"They lead that way."
One subordinate skilled in tracking replied.
Gongya Jangcheon nodded.
Truth be told, tracking skills might not even be necessary.
In the direction his subordinate pointed, traces were still clear enough for Gongya Jangcheon to spot instantly.
'She wasn't even thinking about moving without leaving tracks.'
From the traces at the cave entrance and inside, Gongya Jangcheon had to admit it.
The demonic beast that Heavenly Eye Pavilion Lord Gong Son Dan-gyeong of the Righteous Heaven Alliance had warned about—a rational dark blood jiangshi.
His own sister had become that very monster.
"Let's go. We eliminate her completely before she grows any stronger."
His voice was ice cold.
The five Blood Thunder Corps members flinched.
They knew who the target was.
And so, they left Geumbo Valley.
Deep, deep underground.
A small peak at the southern end of Hyeong Mountain.
Somewhere in the depths beneath that mountain.
Here, an evil vein had gathered dark energy.
It was land with no deathly qi flowing in from surroundings, yet the formation of this dark blood vein meant it had accumulated over vast ages.
Gongya Harang knew none of that.
She had simply sensed the energy she needed, found it, burrowed into the earth, and plunged straight into the vein.
The arm she'd roughly reattached after severing it had now perfectly healed.
Not even a scar remained.
And she voraciously devoured the energy pooled in the vein.
The reason Gongya Harang could resist the Extermination Technique's curse.
The internal energy from her cultivated martial art shared similarities with the curse.
Opposites in nature, but similar in another way—almost identical, one could say.
That allowed her to resist.
While researching the Chaos Blood River Extermination Technique, Gongya Harang had realized this.
Then, couldn't she eliminate the curse and maximize only its strengths?
The Blood Cult's disguised name for the Chaos Blood River Extermination Technique—Mixed Origin Flowing River—might become truth, not lie.
With that thought, Gongya Harang passionately studied the Extermination Technique and, convinced, cultivated it herself to prove it.
The opposing yet similar energies.
It let her resist at first, but once consumed by it, her internal energy became delicious fodder for the Extermination Technique.
On top of that, the vein's gathered energy.
Gongya Harang absorbed an immense amount in an instant, growing ever stronger.
At a speed surpassing Mun Inbaeksong's expectations.
Ha Mu-baek's senses spread wide.
Not enough to cover all of Hyeong Mountain.
It was simply too vast.
Thus, Ha Mu-baek directed his senses toward the Blood Net Alliance's eastern side.
Infusing them with detection for dark energy.
If Gongya Harang had fallen to the curse, she wouldn't be there now, but traces would remain.
Racing eastward like that, he pinpointed one location.
And sensed another presence moving away from it.
Six in total.
One massive energy, five strong ones.
'Old man Gongya.'
He knew instantly upon sensing it.
To confirm what had happened there, Ha Mu-baek headed first to the eastern valley.