Chapter 85
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 85
Chapter Title: Uncle....
Blood ghouls.
Staggering along, Yeon Baek-ryang paid them no mind and pressed forward.
His body was now too weak to handle even a single blood ghoul, yet he showed no sign of fear.
"Grrr."
The blood ghoul charged straight at him.
He swung one arm with an irritated look, but it was nothing more than a feeble flail devoid of any strength.
The blood ghoul's fangs sank directly into Yeon Baek-ryang's neck.
"Kuhk...."
A feeble groan escaped Yeon Baek-ryang's lips.
Ha Mu-baek watched impassively.
Cause and effect.
He even thought that for someone who had betrayed Cheonryun out of selfish desire, this end was almost too merciful.
"Grrrrrr."
The blood ghoul sucked its fill of blood and released Yeon Baek-ryang's neck with satisfaction. A savage growl leaked from Yeon Baek-ryang's mouth as well.
The focus vanished from his eyes.
Yeon Baek-ryang.
He had become a blood ghoul.
A blood ghoul with a gaping hole punched through its dantian.
"Tch."
Clicking his tongue, Ha Mu-baek crushed the Black Demonic Dormant Blood Pill he held in his grip and shot forward.
With this matter settled, it was time to return to the disciples.
Ha Mu-baek vanished, leaving only Yeon Baek-ryang—no, the blood ghoul—behind.
"Grrrrrr."
Letting out a savage howl, it shuffled toward one spot.
Its steps, which had staggered when it was still human, now carried strength as a blood ghoul.
And so, the blood ghoul headed straight for that one place.
"You're late?"
Han Seol-bing remarked with a surprised look as Ha Mu-baek appeared.
"Some unexpected business came up."
Ha Mu-baek replied curtly.
"So, what happened? All of them?"
Ha Mu-baek smirked at Han Seol-bing's question.
"Do I look like some blood-crazed demonic butcher to you?"
She shook her head at that.
But hadn't he been the one to lure them here in the first place?
He might not be a demon, but he was certainly a frightening figure.
"Not a single one."
Han Seol-bing's eyes widened round at his follow-up.
It was unbelievable.
At the very least, Yeon Baek-ryang.
She had assumed Ha Mu-baek would deal with him.
"Not a single one, really."
Ha Mu-baek repeated.
And it was the truth.
Not a single one had died by Ha Mu-baek's hand.
"A frightening drawing-out-the-weeds-without-uprooting tactic."
"They shouldn't have come in here to begin with."
Ha Mu-baek said calmly.
"But even so... with the Yeon Clan's forces, shouldn't they have handled at least one? How did you manage without lifting a finger...."
Han Seol-bing muttered in confusion.
"I didn't exactly sit idle."
Utterly baffling words.
"Hoo."
A deep sigh echoed then.
The disciples, having felled all the ghouls, had returned to Ha Mu-baek and Han Seol-bing's side.
"Not bad."
Ha Mu-baek said evenly.
Their expressions didn't change at his words.
Just thick exhaustion.
"How much longer do we have to keep this up?"
Dang Jin-san asked in a voice thick with fatigue.
"Today."
Ha Mu-baek answered shortly.
The purpose of entering this place had been achieved.
The Yeon Clan's issue was handled, and the disciples had gained solid combat experience.
This was enough.
"R-Really?"
Dang Jin-san asked, stunned. The training's end was announced so abruptly.
"Yeah. One last round."
As Dang Jin-san's face twisted oddly at the reply,
"Should we do it until tomorrow?"
Ha Mu-baek asked.
"N-No! Let's wrap it up with one more right now!"
Dang Jin-san shouted loudly, as if he'd suddenly recovered his energy.
"Good attitude."
Han Seol-bing smiled brightly at the shout and stepped forward.
She headed to the formation's edge to lure more ghouls.
This was the last one.
So she'd bring just a suitable one.
Thinking that, Han Seol-bing emerged at the formation's periphery.
She halted abruptly.
She had no choice.
A single blood ghoul prowling the formation's barrier.
That was the reason.
"Grrrrrrrr."
Fierce and savage howl.
"Yeon... Baek-ryang...."
Han Seol-bing recognized his face.
A blood ghoul with a hole through its dantian, wandering the formation's edge—Yeon Baek-ryang.
What on earth had happened?
The dantian hole was unmistakably Ha Mu-baek's handiwork.
He hadn't killed him, but destroying the dantian like that...
In some ways, it was crueler than death.
No— even with his dantian ruined, how had the Yeon Clan's young master become a ghoul here?
Where were the other Yeon Clan warriors?
Many questions swirled.
But she shook her head soon enough.
"Fine. Might as well finish it perfectly."
The Yeon Clan's young master, Yeon Baek-ryang, was gone from the world.
Just another blood ghoul remained.
This one would be the final training opponent here.
Han Seol-bing led the ghoul back to the disciples.
Ha Mu-baek's eyebrow twitched.
Even as a ghoul, its presence gave it away.
The blood ghoul that had been Yeon Baek-ryang.
It had reached the formation's vicinity before they knew it, and now Han Seol-bing was leading it back.
The ghoul's howl echoed from afar.
"A blood ghoul."
"Indeed."
Baek Ri-pyeong nodded at Dan Mok Un-roe's mutter.
They had gained enough experience to distinguish blood ghouls from corpse ghouls by their howls alone.
"But just one?"
Nak Woo-jin tilted his head.
Unbelievable.
The last one, and only a single ghoul?
Instructor Ha Mu-baek and Instructor Han Seol-bing wouldn't make it that easy.
As such doubts filled their heads,
Han Seol-bing appeared.
And the blood ghoul pursuing her.
"Ah...."
A cry—half-scream, half-sigh—slipped from someone's lips upon seeing the ghoul.
Yeon Ha-min.
It was only natural.
She was the only one here who knew that ghoul's face.
Dang Jin-san and Baek Ri-pyeong were from famed clans but not of high enough standing to meet the Yeon Clan's young master, and Joo Woo-myeong had lived in near-seclusion with his master.
Only Yeon Ha-min knew his face.
Having faced him amid the clan's vicious treatment.
"Uncle...."
Yeon Ha-min whispered softly.
The small voice reached everyone's ears, heads snapping toward her.
For that ghoul to be her uncle was shocking enough.
The blood ghoul's eyes met Yeon Ha-min's.
"Grrrr. Grrrrrr."
The ghoul howled.
It sounded laced with emotion.
Almost like ecstasy.
But Yeon Ha-min sensed something else within.
"Even as a ghoul, you're the same."
Words steeped in icy, profound resentment.
Ching!
She drew her sword and advanced on the ghoul.
"Dangerous!"
Joo Woo-myeong shouted, but Yeon Ha-min ignored him.
No one could stop her.
Her momentum forbade it.
"Instructor!"
Dang Jin-san cried urgently to Ha Mu-baek.
"They can handle one-on-one by now."
Ha Mu-baek replied gruffly to Dang Jin-san's shout.
"B-But still...."
As Dang Jin-san trailed off with reluctance, Han Seol-bing, who had approached, patted his shoulder.
"Kraaaang!"
Then the blood ghoul unleashed a savage roar and lunged at Yeon Ha-min.
Its sharp fangs aimed for her throat.
Its unfocused eyes gleamed with what seemed like insatiable desire—was it an illusion?
Yeon Ha-min saw it clearly.
The lingering lust in those eyes that had lost all focus.
That vile desire it couldn't abandon even as a ghoul.
"Filthy."
Yeon Ha-min's sword surged from below upward.
Srck.
Slicing off one of the blood ghoul's ears, she passed it by.
Yeon Ha-min turned back.
The blood ghoul turned to her as well.
Her sword flew again.
It plunged into one of the ghoul's eyes.
"With those eyes."
The sword moved once more.
"Where do you think you're looking?"
It stabbed into the remaining eye.
Blood ghouls possess power based on their original abilities upon turning.
Yeon Baek-ryang had become one with his dantian destroyed and his innate energy depleted by the Black Demonic Dormant Blood Pill.
Thus, weak beyond measure despite being a blood ghoul.
Against Yeon Ha-min's sword, it merely flailed, thrusting its desire-filled fangs.
Now eyeless, it couldn't even find direction, just thrashing blindly.
Yeon Ha-min's sword didn't rest.
Each strike laden with layers of built-up resentment.
The ghoul's arm fell, then its leg was severed.
Finally, its head flew into the air.
"Kueeeeh...."
The head on the ground let out one last wail.
Thud.
A foot infused with inner energy crushed even that.
"Hoo...."
Yeon Ha-min exhaled deeply.
Tears streamed from her eyes.
The disciples looked away.
Only one stared straight at her.
Ha Mu-baek.
"Feel better?"
A calm question.
Yeon Ha-min nodded faintly.
As she began facing reality squarely,
Her eyes trembled finely.
"You only slew one ghoul."
Ha Mu-baek's words pierced her ears.
The trembling eyes steadied.
Yeon Ha-min nodded again.
"Thank you."
A quiet expression of gratitude.
Ha Mu-baek smirked.
The long nightmare was finally over.
It felt like the deep night had passed, and brilliant dawn was breaking.
Han Seol-bing sent a transmission laced with disbelief.
Ha Mu-baek shook his head ever so slightly.
Indeed.
Who would have thought Yeon Baek-ryang carried a Black Demonic Dormant Blood Pill in his dantian?
That was why it was destroyed, allowing him a moment of clarity.
Yet he couldn't abandon his lust, wandered into the forest alone, and became a ghoul—who could he blame?
Ha Mu-baek had intended to let him go if he retreated.
With his dantian ruined, he could do nothing.
He couldn't remain young master without it.
Han Seol-bing worried about the aftermath.
The Yeon Clan patriarch's rage at losing his eldest son.
Ha Mu-baek's question.
Yeon Ja-kyeong.
He was one of the few who knew Ha Mu-baek's true power.
He couldn't hold Ha Mu-baek accountable for his son's disappearance in the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest.
He'd hear reports of the dantian loss.
But also that the Black Demonic Dormant Blood Pill came from his body.
Yeon Ja-kyeong lacked cause to act.
True enough.
His second son died in the last war, and now the eldest was missing.
Three sons remained.
Two were utter wastrels.
Choosing an heir would be a headache.
Make the youngest young master? Or skip to a grandson?
The Yeon Clan was no longer their concern.
"Alright, we're heading back to the Mountain-Crossing Great Wall. Prepare."
At Ha Mu-baek's command, the disciples moved briskly. Finally escaping this hellish place.
Leaving Yeon Ha-min standing dazed, the other six focused on packing.
"It seems they failed."
Ye Cho-a frowned at her subordinate's report.
She had expected it, but the result still irked her.
"We couldn't learn what happened inside the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest, but East Lord Mountain emerged outside the wall with only about 150 warriors."
Ye Cho-a tilted her head. Given what she knew of Ha Mu-baek's nature, not one should have survived.
"Yeon Baek-ryang?"
"Gone...."
"Did he fall?"
"Unknown."
Ye Cho-a nodded at the reply.
Right, the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest was that kind of place.
No traces, no evidence.
Ha Mu-baek had lured the Yeon Clan warriors there.
No good outcome possible.
She had hoped otherwise, but it was as expected.
Ha Mu-baek—that monster.
Her daughter's vengeance slipped further away.
Another joined those who had lost children to him.
"Leak the info to Yeon Ja-kyeong."
The Hubei Yeon Clan patriarch, Yeon Ja-kyeong.
How would he react to this news, one wondered....