Chapter 31

Chapter 31. Encountering Hwancheonma

“Is this the place?”

“Yes, my lord.”

A middle-aged man dressed in black, whose left sleeve hung loosely, replied.

“We obtained the information after interrogating the beggars of the Beggars’ Sect. There is no doubt.”

The moment he stepped through the entrance, the elderly man in white frowned at the corpses scattered across the courtyard.

His sharp facial features alone were enough to send a chill down anyone’s spine.

His half-white hair matched his white robes well, but what stood out the most was the iron ruler in his hand.

When Song Rim saw the elderly man in white, he muttered almost like a groan.

“It’s Hwancheonma Shin Jeok.”

Ja Ha remembered his encounter with Hwancheonma.

He could never erase the memory of Hwancheonma smiling brightly as he drove a black iron ruler into Ja Ha’s thigh while Ja Ha stood dangerously close to the edge of a cliff.

Nor could he forget the look in his eyes when he told Ja Ha to be grateful that he had generously chosen not to drive it into his heart.

The moment that scene resurfaced in his mind, rage and a thirst for revenge took over his entire body.

Then Byeok Ho’s Baekryeong activated and calmed Ja Ha’s emotions.

The Seven Heavenly Demons of the Demonic Cult usually traveled through the martial world in secret. They rarely revealed themselves so openly.

But if they could obtain the demons of the Nineteen Forbidden Demon Regions, it would practically be the same as obtaining the entire world.

That was why one of the Seven Heavenly Demons had personally come here.

The fact that even the leader of Seo Hyeop-bang had personally taken action showed just how valuable Deung Hwa-hong was.

Hwancheonma Shin Jeok stepped into the middle of the residence and slowly looked around.

He was searching for traces.

His subordinates spread out around him and began searching the area.

The one searching most desperately, however, was not one of Hwancheonma’s ordinary subordinates.

It was Hwancheonma Shin Jeok’s son, Shin Bi.

After failing to retrieve Deung Hwa-hong, Shin Bi had received a severe scolding from his father.

He had lost Deung Hwa-hong and gotten his subordinates killed in the process, so Shin Jeok had been furious.

If a child of another one of the Seven Heavenly Demons had made such a mistake, they would have been reprimanded and pushed into an insignificant position.

Unfortunately for Hwancheonma, his eldest child Shin Dok was already dead.

Shin Bi was his only remaining successor.

Because of that, he could not throw him aside as easily as he wished.

While searching the surroundings, Shin Bi suddenly shouted.

“There are traces here! It looks like they escaped this way!”

Shin Bi had discovered the exact same clue that Dang Jong had found earlier, and he looked quite proud of himself.

Dang Jong lowered his head in embarrassment.

Thinking that he himself must have looked exactly like that earlier made him ashamed.

Shin Bi’s smug expression was so irritating that he could hardly bear to watch.

Hwancheonma saw it and gave a faint nod.

Soon after, the one-armed middle-aged man in black approached Hwancheonma and reported.

“There are no unusual traces inside the house.”

“Is that so?”

Hwancheonma reacted more strongly to his subordinate’s report than to Shin Bi’s words.

It was obvious which one he trusted more.

“Then we will pursue them.”

“Understood. I will make preparations.”

At that moment, someone approached the wall where the formation had been installed.

One of Hwancheonma’s subordinates stared at the wall for quite a while.

Then, all of a sudden, he started loosening his clothes around his waist.

“Ah!”

Jegal Yu-yeon and Deung Hwa-hong, who had been nervously watching because they thought he had discovered the Soul Spirit Formation, were startled.

The subordinate pulled out a dark object and began urinating.

The two women were seeing a man’s private part from the front for the first time in their lives.

They turned their heads away in shock.

Even the bold Deung Hwa-hong could not bring herself to look directly at it.

Ja Ha, however, stared without blinking.

He was not interested in watching the warrior shake that ugly object around while urinating.

He was watching what happened to the formation when urine touched it.

There was a reason.

The greatest weakness of the Soul Spirit Formation was moisture.

The formation was especially vulnerable to the energy of water.

The moment water touched it, a hole would form in that section.

Deung Hwa-hong remembered this as well and turned her head back.

But even she could not bring herself to watch the man shaking the remaining drops from his dark private part.

“Everyone, gather!”

A command suddenly came from behind him.

The man hurriedly stuffed himself back into his pants.

Without even looking at the wall he had urinated on, he rushed away.

“Phew.”

Deung Hwa-hong placed a hand against her chest in relief.

Part of the Soul Spirit Formation that had been soaked by the urine was becoming transparent, and a hole had begun to form.

If the warrior had stayed even a little longer, he might have realized that a formation had been set up there.

Ja Ha slipped the dagger he had been holding back into his clothes.

If that warrior had noticed anything, Ja Ha had been prepared to kill him immediately.

Namgung Cheol spoke.

“Wouldn’t it be better to attack their rear and ambush them? If we do that, I think we might actually have a chance.”

Everyone turned to look at Namgung Cheol at the same time.

Ja Ha could not help sighing.

“I thought you simply didn't know much about the world. Turns out that wasn't it. You were just stupid.”

“What did you say?”

Namgung Cheol immediately became angry at the words Ja Ha had muttered without thinking.

“Everyone, be quiet.”

The Eccentric Doctor finally spoke in a low voice.

A voice came from outside.

“I heard something from this direction.”

Perhaps because a hole had formed in the Soul Spirit Formation, the voices from inside had leaked out.

Because of that, one warrior approached the wall.

“Forget it. I already searched that place. We were ordered to gather, so get over here.”

At those words, the warrior turned back.

Watching everything from inside, Song Rim felt his heart pounding.

Song Rim had taken advantage of the fierce battle between the experts of Seo Hyeop-bang and Hwancheonma to pull Deung Hwa-hong away and escape.

Otherwise, how could he possibly have taken Deung Hwa-hong from supreme experts such as Ma Gi and Shin Jeok?

If Seo Hyeop-bang and Hwancheonma had not been keeping each other in check, it would have been impossible.

At first, Song Rim had only gone there to observe.

Then the situation unexpectedly developed this way.

He had thought heaven itself had given him the opportunity to become the leader of the Inspection Squad.

If he reported this achievement to his superiors, it would be more than enough to earn him a promotion to squad leader.

That was how important this matter was.

However, Song Rim had absolutely no desire to fight those two people directly.

If circumstances forced him to fight, he would do so while prepared to die.

But if he could avoid them, he wanted to avoid them.

And yet these young fools were acting recklessly without understanding how terrifying a tiger truly was.

It made him extremely nervous.

Because of that, he shot an unhappy look at Magae, the one who had brought them here.

After about fifteen minutes, all signs of people inside the residence disappeared.

Not only the experts of Seo Hyeop-bang, but even Hwancheonma had supposedly been fooled and headed up the mountain trail.

Dang Jong jumped to his feet.

“Seo Hyeop-bang and Hwancheonma have both gone up the mountain. We should hurry and leave this place.”

Namgung Cheol and Paeng U-myeong stood up as well.

“Thanks to Miss Deung, we managed to shake off our enemies. Once we leave this place, we can head for the Martial Alliance.”

As they prepared to leave the formation, Ja Ha spoke.

“Don't move. Stay where you are.”

“What?”

Dang Jong glared at Ja Ha, who had been disagreeing with him again and again.

Earlier, he had wanted to teach Ja Ha a lesson, but Hwancheonma’s sudden appearance had robbed him of the opportunity.

Now, however, there was enough time for him to properly put Ja Ha in his place.

“Why should we?”

Dang Jong’s tone was openly confrontational.

“Hwancheonma hasn't left yet. He is probably watching this place from somewhere.”

Dang Jong sneered.

“Looks like you've heard a few stories somewhere. Do you really think a great demon like Hwancheonma would do something so petty?”

Ja Ha almost answered yes.

Hwancheonma was an extremely suspicious man.

That was why he never allowed anyone except his personal guards to remain close to him.

It was also why he had brought only his guards for this mission.

He had entrusted the important task of retrieving Deung Hwa-hong to his son Shin Bi instead of a more capable subordinate for the exact same reason.

He simply did not trust other people.

Ja Ha knew Hwancheonma very well.

He was not the kind of person who would retreat so easily.

But Ja Ha could not reveal any of that.

So he approached it from another direction.

“Even I noticed something strange about this place after arriving here. Do you think Hwancheonma wouldn't notice it?”

“Then why didn't the experts of Seo Hyeop-bang notice?”

Ja Ha quietly stared at Dang Jong before speaking.

“By the way, why have you been speaking casually to me this whole time?”

“Do you think you and I have the same status?”

Running out of things to say, Dang Jong gave an excuse.

“So you're saying that if someone's status is lower than yours, you're allowed to speak down to them? My master taught me that regardless of status, I should protect the weak and never tolerate injustice. I suppose you weren't taught the same thing.”

“I was taught the same.”

Dang Jong answered.

Ja Ha immediately replied.

“Then I suppose you simply weren't taught manners.”

“You bastard—!”

The words you little bastard rose all the way to Dang Jong’s throat.

However, there were too many people watching, so he could not bring himself to say them.

“If you want me to speak politely to you, then you should speak politely to me too.”

Ja Ha showed no sign of being intimidated by Dang Jong’s killing intent.

Dang Jong released enough bloodlust to make it seem as though he wanted to kill Ja Ha on the spot.

But this level of killing intent was nothing unusual in the Demonic Cult.

While watching their argument, Jegal Yu-yeon realized something else.

The moment Dang Jong tried to leave the formation, he deliberately provoked him to keep him here.

When he couldn't stop him with ordinary words, he attacked his pride and dragged him into an argument.

Jegal Yu-yeon was the only one who understood Ja Ha’s intention.

Everyone else simply thought the two men were arguing over pointless pride.

Then the fairly clever Namgung Cheol muttered,

“Hmm. He's forcing us to stay here because he doesn't want us leaving too quickly. And he's even making up ridiculous excuses to do it.”

At Namgung Cheol’s words, Dang Jong suddenly realized that he had been dragged into Ja Ha’s pace.

Before anyone could stop him, he walked straight out of the formation.

Once outside, he looked around the residence and spoke.

“There's no one here. It looks like they all went up the mountain.”

Then he continued.

“And yet you keep saying ridiculous things just to make us stay here. I'm curious about your real intention. You're not some spy from the Demonic Cult, are you? It certainly makes me wonder why you're trying so hard to keep us here.”

Dang Jong deliberately provoked Ja Ha, planning to teach him a lesson before they left.

Judging from this alone, Dang Jong still had a long way to go when it came to mental discipline.

This was one of the differences between the heirs of great clans and the successors of the Nine Great Sects.

The great clans belonged to the secular world.

Most of the Nine Great Sects, on the other hand, distanced themselves from worldly matters and pursued the Dao.

Because of that, the depth of their mental training was different.

Ja Ha knew that the heirs of the great clans could be somewhat childish.

He had not expected them to be this foolish.

If the righteous martial world is filled with people like this, forcing them to submit wouldn't be difficult at all.

That was when it happened.

A figure stepped out from the forest.

“The rats have finally crawled out of their hole.”

It was Hwancheonma Shin Jeok.

Just as Ja Ha had said, Hwancheonma Shin Jeok had sensed something strange about the residence.

But because he could not detect anyone’s presence, he had pretended to leave before concealing himself and watching the house.

“I was planning to watch for another fifteen minutes before leaving. Thank you for coming out at just the right time.”

Hwancheonma showed no sign of hurry whatsoever.

Dang Jong was flustered.

“W-Why are you alone?”

Ja Ha let out a disbelieving laugh.

Hwancheonma’s subordinates had already surrounded the entire residence.

Dang Jong simply had not realized that Hwancheonma had stepped forward alone while his men remained hidden around them.

Ja Ha suddenly found himself worrying about how someone like that was supposed to lead the mighty Tang Clan one day.

It was none of his business, yet he still felt concerned.

After that strange thought passed through his mind, Ja Ha looked around.

Song Rim and the warriors of the Inspection Squad had completely different looks in their eyes.

It seemed they had already prepared themselves for death.

Seeing them like that made Ja Ha realize that the Martial Alliance’s elites truly were different.

Meanwhile, Deung Hwa-hong was smiling despite how badly the smile fit the situation.

Every time her eyes met Ja Ha’s, she smiled brightly at him.

The young masters of the great clans looked tense, but none of them seemed frightened.

Perhaps they were confident that no matter what happened, they would not die.

The Eccentric Doctor, meanwhile, did not look nervous at all.

Ja Ha asked him,

“Senior, Hwancheonma has appeared. Aren't you scared?”

The Eccentric Doctor showed his yellow teeth as he smiled.

“Me? Hwancheonma is certainly impressive. But I don't think he's greater than Ja Gang.”

Then he continued.

“And this old man trusts you. I believe you'll find a way through this crisis.”

Ja Ha looked at him in disbelief.

“I haven't even fully mastered your martial arts yet. Where does that confidence come from?”

The Eccentric Doctor finally understood why Wang Gyeong had trusted Ja Ha so much in the past.

Strangely enough, even in a situation this terrible, he somehow felt that Ja Ha would come up with something.

From what he had seen of Ja Ha at Inui Manor, Ja Ha was not the kind of person who trembled in fear even when faced with a deadly crisis.

Magae, on the other hand, was pacing around restlessly like a puppy desperately needing to relieve itself.

Normally, when one had to face Hwancheonma, Magae’s reaction was the proper one.

Deung Hwa-hong tied her hair firmly behind her head and asked,

“Oppa, what should we do now?”

No one answered.

That was because no one present knew exactly who Deung Hwa-hong was calling Oppa.

Then she continued.

“I think Byeok Oppa would've already thought of a way for us to survive this. Isn't that right, Byeok Oppa?”

When Deung Hwa-hong specifically pointed him out, Ja Ha turned toward her.

What a bold girl.

Despite his thoughts, his eyes were smiling.

Ja Ha did not dislike it either.

There was no reason for him to dislike Deung Hwa-hong acting sweet only toward him.

“Of course there's a way.”

Everyone immediately turned toward Ja Ha.

Hwancheonma responded as well.

“Oh? There is a method even this old man doesn't know about?”

A cold smile appeared on his face.

“I don't believe there's any way out of this except for all of you dying here.”

Ja Ha looked at Hwancheonma and sneered.

“Seriously. Father and son are exactly alike when it comes to jumping to conclusions.”

At Ja Ha’s words, Shin Bi’s face, who stood beside Hwancheonma, twisted in anger.