Chapter 642
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 642
Chapter Title: What to Do...?
Quite some time had passed.
The night had deepened into the hour of the hare.
Those who had even drawn their swords to dig into the earth finally uncovered a small box.
Fortunately, the soil was soft since it was a spot they had periodically dug up and buried things in.
Had it not been, it would have taken even longer.
They pulled out the box and opened the lid.
Piles of gold ingots gleamed with a dull yellow light.
“Hah...”
Those who saw it let out astonished breaths.
How on earth had he amassed such a fortune?
Discipline Hall Lord Un Hak-ja had become the Nanchang branch chief less than two years ago.
He seemed to have exceptional talent—at least for shady dealings.
What was even more astonishing was that no complaints had reached the Righteous Heaven Alliance despite his embezzlement.
After confirming the contents of the box, the subordinate signaled to the lodge master.
Seeing the signal, murderous intent flickered in the lodge master's eyes.
As his hand reached for his sword hilt...
Yu Dal moved faster.
“Well then.”
Yu Dal had discovered the box and knew they had checked its contents.
He slashed a hole in the boat's hull and dove straight into the water.
Then he swam away with all his might, escaping the area.
“What?”
Clang.
The lodge master hastily drew his sword and leaped after him, but...
Yu Dal was already far away.
His swimming skills were astonishingly superb, making him incredibly fast.
“Tch, damn it.”
The lodge master glared bitterly at the ripples fading on the water's surface.
To think he'd let him slip away like this.
The boat sank soon after.
In the end, the lodge master, drenched to the bone, had no choice but to climb back onto the island.
“Lodge master! This is bad!”
At that moment, the subordinate who had been examining the box came running, his face pale as a ghost.
“What is it?”
“The top layer was just gold ingots... the bottom is full of copper lumps.”
It was a dark night, and they were in a makeshift shelter, so they hadn't distinguished it properly.
The lodge master's head snapped around.
The water's ripples were no longer visible.
“He planned this from the start... that bastard...”
He wanted to chase him down and tear him limb from limb right then, but he couldn't.
It was too dark, he didn't know the terrain, and there was no boat.
In the end, they had no choice but to wait until dawn.
“That damned bastard...”
The lodge master's eyes blazed with killing intent.
'So it really was the Fifth Month Cave Lord.'
Ha Mu-baek had watched the entire scene.
The lodge master trying to kill Yu Dal, and Yu Dal isolating them on the island to make his escape.
Each had their own schemes, and for now, Yu Dal had come out on top.
Just one question lingered.
'Why go through all this trouble?'
Yu Dal could have simply vanished on his own.
Yet he had waited for them, led them to the hidden stash, sunk the boat, and swum away alone.
Was such a convoluted process really necessary?
Slipping away from the start would have been easiest and fastest.
Harboring that doubt, Ha Mu-baek's senses tracked Yu Dal.
He headed to an island some distance away.
After lingering there briefly, he moved again—this time at a different speed.
'He must have hidden a boat.'
What on earth was that guy thinking?
Curiosity gnawed at him.
There was plenty of time here.
They couldn't move until dawn.
No—even after daybreak, they'd wander this place for hours.
It was a true labyrinth of tangled rivers.
Who would have thought such terrain existed in the Gan River?
Without hesitation, Ha Mu-baek shadowed Yu Dal stealthily.
Yu Dal maneuvered the boat skillfully and swiftly.
He docked at the riverbank and hurried off.
It was a common small village on the outskirts of Nanchang.
Yu Dal entered one of the houses.
“Mother. Wake up. Hurry.”
He whispered softly, rousing the old woman.
“Mm... Dal? Aren't you due back in a few days?”
“Something came up. We need to get away now.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“Vicious thugs are after me. We have to go.”
Yu Dal didn't explain the details.
His only thought was to escape as quickly as possible.
“No, aren't you a warrior of the Righteous Heaven Alliance? Can't you just report it to the branch?”
His mother asked her son, unable to comprehend.
She was still groggy with sleep.
But her trust in her son was unshakable.
It was frustrating for Yu Dal.
Right now, the Righteous Heaven Alliance itself was death for him.
“They're beyond what the branch can handle. We have to flee.”
His mother's eyes still held disbelief.
“We don't have time for this, Mother. Trust me.”
At those final words, she had no choice but to nod.
In about fifteen minutes.
They packed their belongings in that short time and slipped out of the village quietly.
Yu Dal clutched three gold ingots hidden in his bosom.
More gold ingots were hidden on that Gan River island, but right now, they were just a burden to Yu Dal.
No one could find that spot, so he could retrieve them anytime.
Even Discipline Hall Lord Un Hak-ja didn't know about it.
So he took only three—just enough money that wouldn't hinder their flight.
Yu Dal carried his mother on his back and dashed through the night with lightness skill.
After daybreak, they arrived at a village and bought a carriage.
He loaded his mother in and whipped the horses westward.
Ha Mu-baek watched them impassively.
“What to do...?”
It was a murmur laced with contemplation.
When Yu Dal fetched his mother, Ha Mu-baek finally understood the reason for all the complexity.
The secret network probably knew her location from the rice deal.
In other words, if he had simply fled without showing at the meeting spot, that lodge master would surely track down Yu Dal's mother.
No matter how fast Yu Dal escaped, her fate would be uncertain, so he trapped them on the island.
To buy time for his getaway.
On top of that, greed for Un Hak-ja's stashed wealth must have played a part.
Now that Un Hak-ja was done for, Yu Dal was the only one who knew about all the money.
He should chase and capture him immediately.
But Ha Mu-baek hesitated.
Not for any other reason.
Because he was traveling with his elderly mother.
“Tricky.”
Ha Mu-baek muttered softly in a voice unlike his usual self.
The destination was easy to guess.
Fleeing from the Righteous Heaven Alliance, heading west.
Aiming for Hunan Province, into Sa-hyeol Alliance territory.
Their secret network's reach likely wouldn't extend there.
“Tch. Your mother saved you. Live a filial life.”
Ha Mu-baek murmured words Yu Dal couldn't hear, then turned away.
He had learned everything he needed, so he returned to the Gan River without regret.
Yu Dal's isolated island could wait; instead, Ha Mu-baek headed to the one where the lodge master and his men were trapped.
They were scanning all around, searching for an escape route and deep in thought.
“Hmm. I have no idea where we are.”
With daylight, as they surveyed their surroundings, they were at a loss.
All they could see were dense thickets and small islands scattered far apart.
They had no clue how to get out of here.
“It'll take at least a day of wandering.”
The lodge master nodded at his subordinate's words.
Above all, they had to carry all the gold ingots.
He had no confidence in finding this place again after escaping.
“Yu Dal, you bastard who deserves to be devoured.”
The lodge master didn't hide his rage toward Yu Dal.
“Lodge master, escaping this place comes first.”
Nodding at his subordinate's words, the lodge master pulled a compass from his bosom.
A magnetized needle that always pointed south, used to determine direction.
“That way is west.”
He pointed in one direction.
“Ignore everything else and head straight west. Once we reach land, then we'll figure out the path.”
At the lodge master's order, they prepared to dive into the water.
They had just swum to a western island and taken their first steps toward the next westward leg when...
They stopped.
A single man blocked their path.
Recognizing the man's face, the lodge master jolted in shock.
“Ha Mu-baek?!”
The man who was supposed to be at the Nanchang branch stood before them.
“Ho. You know my face? Who are you, and from where?”
Ha Mu-baek murmured with interest.
“H-how...”
The lodge master's voice trembled with disbelief.
“Lodge master, was it? What kind of lodge? Heavenly Secret Network? Right?”
The lodge master shuddered at Ha Mu-baek's rapid-fire questions.
How did this guy know all that?
Of course, Ha Mu-baek had eavesdropped stealthily on their conversation.
The lodge master had no way of knowing that.
“D-does Heavenly Eye Pavilion Lord Gong Son Dan-gyeong know?”
He mistook the source of Ha Mu-baek's information for Gong Son Dan-gyeong.
[Everyone scatter and escape. Somehow inform the Network of this.]
The moment he issued the telepathic order, the lodge master leaped away.
Not west, where Ha Mu-baek blocked, but south.
The others flew north and east.
Splitting into three directions.
They didn't consider getting lost or not knowing the way.
As long as they escaped Ha Mu-baek's grasp, they could find their path somehow.
Ha Mu-baek watched them flee in three directions and lightly flicked his hand.
Five bursts of finger wind shot from his fingertips.
Not a single one missed, all striking acupoints precisely.
Thus acupoint-sealed, their bodies froze in place.
“Tch.”
Ha Mu-baek flew toward one of them.
One who had already jumped into the water was sinking.
Ha Mu-baek swiftly fished him out.
“Kuh! Cough! Cough! Heok, heok, heok.”
After roughly tossing aside the coughing, gasping man...
Ha Mu-baek approached the lodge master.
“We just met, and you're already running off? That's no way to part.”
He grinned, removing the lodge master's black hat.
But it was an unfamiliar face.
The man knew him, but Ha Mu-baek didn't know the man.
Still, he could tell the origin.
Qingcheng Sect.
The internal energy the lodge master used in his lightness skill was distinctly Qingcheng's.
“Does Sect Leader Qingjin know you're doing this?”
The lodge master flinched at Ha Mu-baek's question.
Qingjin was the current Qingcheng Sect Leader.
“Your jaw's fine, so spit it out. What are you lot?”
Ha Mu-baek looked down at the lodge master and said.
The lodge master squeezed his eyes shut and clamped his mouth tight.
With his movement acupoints sealed, that was all he could do.
“Guess you haven't heard of my specialty. I'm pretty good at bone-dislocating techniques.”
“...”
The lodge master said nothing, maintaining his silence.
Ha Mu-baek waited briefly.
“Tch.”
Tsking his tongue, he sealed the lodge master's jaw acupoint as well.
“Don't say a word, no matter what.”
With a chilling voice.
He struck various points on the lodge master's body, initiating the bone-dislocation torture.
“Mmph! Mmmph! Mmmph!!!”
With his jaw sealed, no screams escaped.
Only ceaseless groans of agony poured out.
Even with movement acupoints sealed, his body convulsed violently.
Ha Mu-baek watched the lodge master with impassive eyes.
He asked nothing.
He just let time pass like that.
His squeezed-shut eyes had opened at some point.
Unable to speak, all he could do was gaze desperately at Ha Mu-baek.
Of course, Ha Mu-baek showed no reaction.
The black-hatted warriors, watching sidelong from afar, went pale.
About half an incense stick's worth of time later.
Ha Mu-baek stepped forward.
The lodge master was still writhing in bone-dislocation agony.
Ha Mu-baek approached the warrior he had pulled from the water.
“What are you lot?”
He tossed out the curt question.
“W-well...”
The warrior stammered, trembling violently.