Chapter 668
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 668
Chapter Title: Does It Hurt?
Yeon Baek-woo fled.
The clan lord's residence collapsed.
He had obliterated it all with Ye-ui, but in the process, he had wasted more time than expected.
When he soared into the air.
The sight that met Ha Mu-baek's eyes.
Ha Seol-ran's sword had pierced through Yeon Baek-woo's armored heart protector.
He immediately launched himself toward Yeon Baek-woo.
At that moment, Yeon Baek-woo somehow avoided a stab to the chest and took one more step forward.
Then he reached out.
And grabbed Gong Hae-jun by the scruff of the neck.
Right at that instant.
Ha Mu-baek arrived.
He first twisted and shattered the bastard's wrist with Flight Seizure Technique, snatched him by the scruff, and soared back into the sky.
It was just like an eagle snatching its prey and taking flight.
And then he dashed straight west.
Ha Mu-baek's rage had reached its peak right now.
He couldn't let the children see this.
Not even he knew what he might do to Yeon Baek-woo.
"Guh... Khek. Khek."
His throat constricted, Yeon Baek-woo struggled desperately.
Ha Mu-baek glanced at him.
The bastard wasn't even thinking of suicide right now.
He was just flailing, desperately trying to survive.
Without even knowing what fate awaited him.
If Ha Mu-baek were a remnant of the Demonic Cult, he would have attempted suicide the moment he was caught.
Because he would know that was the most peaceful path.
Of course, Ha Mu-baek wouldn't have let him.
Even now, the moment he snatched him, he had infused internal energy to block the flow of Yeon Baek-woo's qi.
And the fool didn't even realize it, still thrashing about.
After leaving Ui-chang and arriving deep in some nameless mountain.
Ha Mu-baek slammed Yeon Baek-woo, still gripped by the throat, straight into the ground.
Kwaaaang!!!
With a deafening explosion, Yeon Baek-woo was embedded into the earth.
"Keurghhhh. Cough."
He screamed in agony and vomited blood.
Only when he was smashed into the ground did he realize his internal energy wouldn't move, and he tried to do something, but it was useless.
His face was a mangled wreck.
Bones shattered and cracked all over, so even making an expression sent waves of excruciating pain crashing through him.
"Grrrr... Kraaa..."
Screaming only triggered more pain from the muscle movements, so in the end, Yeon Baek-woo could only tremble violently without making a sound.
Overwhelmed by pain beyond human limits, he rolled back his eyes, trying to pass out, but Ha Mu-baek wouldn't allow it.
"Where do you think you're going."
With a casual flick of his hand.
Yeon Baek-woo came to again.
At the same time, Ha Mu-baek lightly sealed the acupoints that controlled pain sensation, easing it somewhat.
There was plenty of time, and he could inflict far worse pain anytime.
"Since you're begging me to kill you, I'll make sure it's as painful as possible."
At Ha Mu-baek's words, dripping with killing intent, Yeon Baek-woo's eyes trembled.
It hadn't even really started yet.
He'd just been slammed into the ground and had a few facial bones jostled.
Yet Yeon Baek-woo was already drowning in terror.
And rightly so—his internal energy was completely suppressed, and this level of pain was something he'd never experienced in his life.
Seeing his state, Ha Mu-baek looked incredulous.
"You pathetic fuck, losing your mind over this much? Do you have any idea how many people suffered because of the shit you've done over the years?"
This included everything from the war against the Demonic Cult.
And on top of that.
The horrors inflicted on Jin Na-yeon and Yeon Ha-min today.
How much terror must that mother and daughter have endured under Yeon Baek-pung's clutches?
Ha Mu-baek grabbed Yeon Baek-woo by the collar and yanked him out of the ground, hurling him away.
"Kraaaak!"
Another scream erupted.
He hadn't touched anywhere else.
Just the impact of rolling on the ground and the pain from his face was enough to make him wail like that.
It was beyond ridiculous.
Ha Mu-baek approached Yeon Baek-woo.
"Does it hurt?"
A short question.
"Kh, krrgh. Is... is that even a question..."
The moment he answered.
Ha Mu-baek's hand clamped onto Yeon Baek-woo's face.
"Wha-what are you... trying to do..."
Just that action terrified him.
Squeeze.
He applied light pressure.
"Kraaaaaaaa!!!!"
Even though Ha Mu-baek had sealed points to reduce the pain, it hadn't vanished.
And now with his face gripped like that.
Yeon Baek-woo let out a deathly scream.
"Does it hurt?"
Ha Mu-baek asked again.
"Grr... grr... grrrrrr."
Yeon Baek-woo could only groan, unable to answer.
"Fucking bastard."
Ha Mu-baek spat irritably.
The thought that he'd been toyed with by trash like this made his annoyance boil over repeatedly.
Finishing this quickly and dealing with him might be the best way to shake off this foul mood.
"What was that thing?"
"Wha-what thing..."
"The firearm."
It had looked like the Myriad Heavens Golden Chain Thunderbolt, but it wasn't.
Which meant the Demonic Cult had created something comparable, so he needed to confirm.
Whether it was something they'd coincidentally acquired elsewhere or made themselves.
"Hea... Heavenly Demon Annihilation Thunderbolt..."
Ha Mu-baek's face hardened the instant he heard the name.
He knew it right away.
'The Demonic Cult made it?'
The title "Heavenly Demon" wasn't slapped on just anything.
Considering its power, it was worthy of being called that.
And the "Annihilation Thunderbolt" at the end.
That caught his attention.
Myriad Heavens Golden Chain Thunderbolt.
It seemed derived from that.
Thinking of Manwon-ryeon and the Demonic Cult naturally brought one man to mind.
"What's your connection to the Three Spirit Lords?"
The man who had briefly put Ha Mu-baek in mortal danger.
Thanks to the Myriad Heavens Golden Chain Thunderbolt, of course.
"I... am the Four Spirit Lord..."
Half out of his mind, Yeon Baek-woo spilled it all.
At those words, the killing intent in Ha Mu-baek's eyes deepened.
Demonic Cult Spirit Lords.
Even Ha Mu-baek didn't know how many there were.
What he did know was that since the last war.
They were the ones scurrying through the martial world, plotting and executing all sorts of schemes.
Just look at the Three Spirit Lords' conspiracy in Manwon-ryeon.
Kwajik.
"Kraaaaaak!!!!"
Unable to hold back his killing intent, Ha Mu-baek crushed Yeon Baek-woo's ankle underfoot.
"And?"
"The Th-Three Spirit Lords se-secretly ac-acquired two co-copies of the blueprints... and analyzed them to make it..."
Ha Mu-baek couldn't help but be shocked at those words.
Rage was rage.
Killing intent was killing intent.
Still, he had to marvel at the talent of the man beneath his feet.
He'd heard something from Gong Mu-hyeok, after all.
The blueprints had been divided into five parts.
And written in code, no less.
Even Manwon-ryeon's Gong Do-hyeok had failed to decipher them.
Yet Yeon Baek-woo had not only cracked the code but used just four parts of the total blueprint to create a firearm with eighty percent of the Myriad Heavens Golden Chain Thunderbolt's power.
Terrifying talent.
Not just improving the Black Demon Latent Blood Curse, but manufacturing firearms too.
For such an exceptional man to be the Demonic Cult's Four Spirit Lord.
"Why did you join the Demonic Cult?"
A genuine question.
Having witnessed his talent, Ha Mu-baek wondered why someone so brilliant had twisted into this.
"Be-because I'm the best... The Yeon Clan should be mine..."
But the reason was nothing special.
It was the same story he'd heard before.
The only addition was his pride in being the greatest.
"If it were Yeon Ja-gyeong, wouldn't he have given the clan to the most talented?"
So he asked again.
Ha Mu-baek knew Yeon Ja-gyeong.
He wasn't the type to hand over the clan just because someone was the firstborn.
"The talent Yeon Ja-gyeong saw was nothing but martial prowess... Ngh."
Yeon Baek-woo's face twisted with resentment toward his father as he groaned through the pain.
"Gong Do-hyeok or you."
Ha Mu-baek muttered coldly.
Power.
What was it that drove people to defy the natural order?
Compared to Manwon-ryeon, the Yeon Clan's children were even more worthless trash.
Ha Mu-baek stomped on Yeon Baek-woo's knee.
"Kraaaaak!!!"
There was still more to learn.
"How many Heavenly Demon Annihilation Thunderbolts are there?"
"I... don't know... Grgh."
Ha Mu-baek pressed harder with his foot.
"Ghek... I just finished the blueprints and handed them over... Ngh. And got one finished product..."
"What about your subordinates?"
A Spirit Lord wouldn't be alone.
He surely had men under him, but no demonic qi had been felt in Ui-chang.
"Scattered... throughout Ui-chang..."
"Why couldn't I sense their demonic qi?"
He stomped the other knee while asking.
"Grroooooh!!!"
That was the puzzle.
From his experience at Huashan, he'd even sensed the demonic qi hidden in the Upper Battle Hall.
Yet he hadn't detected ordinary demonic cultists' qi. That was strange.
If he'd sensed Yeon Baek-woo's demonic qi sooner, he could have caught him before Yeon Baek-pung shattered the Black Demon Blood Curse egg.
"La... Latent Demon Orthodox Merit..."
Yeon Baek-woo answered laboriously.
"Latent Demon Orthodox Merit? What's that?"
p>"It... disguises demonic qi with orthodox sect martial arts... to hide it..."
Ha Mu-baek had never heard of it.
The Demonic Cult had such a technique?
That meant any orthodox sect members who defected to the Demonic Cult could hide their demonic qi freely.
He knew the Demonic Cult had long researched ways to conceal demonic qi.
He'd even pierced through it with the Infinite Bright Wheel Eye.
But if they wrapped demonic qi in orthodox internal energy, he'd have to pierce that too.
That explained why he'd faintly sensed demonic qi when Yeon Baek-woo circulated his energy.
The internal energy movement thinned the concealing veil around the demonic qi or dragged some of it along.
So they couldn't hide perfectly from Ha Mu-baek.
Moving internal energy would always reveal some demonic qi.
Unless that Latent Demon Orthodox Merit reached even higher levels, who knew.
Still, it was a headache.
If they didn't circulate energy, even Ha Mu-baek couldn't detect it.
The Demonic Cult.
Clearly different from the Blood Cult.
After their great hall's defeat, they grew stronger in the shadows, more cunningly plotting.
"Where are your subordinates...?"
At Ha Mu-baek's question, Yeon Baek-woo spilled everything.
"The Demonic Cult's base?"
"I... don't know..."
"How do you contact them?"
"There... isn't any..."
Ha Mu-baek frowned at the answers.
Hadn't he just said he'd exchanged blueprints and the firearm?
"Ngh... It's one-way... The Division Leader just... comes to me..."
From the explanation that followed, Ha Mu-baek eased the pressure on his foot.
No way to backtrack contacts to their base.
It was one-directional communication.
Ha Mu-baek kept asking questions.
Gleaning every answer he could.
Once he'd learned all there was to know.
"Pl-please... kill me..."
Finally, from the battered Yeon Baek-woo's lips came a plea for death.
He finally realized.
That dying would be more peaceful.
That he should have chosen death the moment he was caught.
Ha Mu-baek had no intention of letting him live.
He only wanted to maximize the suffering.
So.
He begged desperately, earnestly.
To be killed.
"Who the hell asked you?"
Ha Mu-baek said that as he stripped off the bastard's armored heart protector.
A pouch inside came into view.
The spot where the Heavenly Demon Annihilation Thunderbolt had been slotted, and a small pouch too.
"Is this the egg of the Black Demon Latent Blood Curse?"
Something he'd pried out of Yeon Baek-woo.
Whoosh.
With Threefold True Flames, he cleanly incinerated the armored heart protector and the egg.
Then Ha Mu-baek stomped all over Yeon Baek-woo's body.
"Kraaak! Kek!"
Yeon Baek-woo screamed nonstop.
Barely clinging to life.
He didn't even want to breathe anymore.
Just breathing and sustaining life was torture.
He wanted to black out from the pain and die like that, but he couldn't.
Ha Mu-baek had blocked it with his internal energy.
"Suffer like that and die slowly."
"P-please...! Kahak!"
Pain surged the moment he spoke.
Having heard all he needed, Ha Mu-baek withdrew the internal energy easing his facial pain.
Letting him feel the full agony, but preventing him from passing out or dying from the shock.
The perfect use of Ye-ui internal energy.
"You'll last about three days. If a mountain beast finds you and tears you apart before then, you'll die quicker."
Ha Mu-baek kindly explained what awaited.
Because knowing was scarier than not.
And so Ha Mu-baek left.
Only Yeon Baek-woo remained, trembling in excruciating pain.
One thing Ha Mu-baek hadn't mentioned.
If Yeon Baek-woo somehow survived three days, the internal energy Ha Mu-baek had planted would explode, killing him in the end.
To ensure there was no chance of survival, no matter what.