Chapter 177 :

The Black Flame Dragon Who Swallows the Sea of Blood (7)

The Martial Alliance's Intelligence Department.

"Raise your hands properly!"

At Jegal Somyeong's stern command, Maeng Juwon's trembling hands shot back up.

Seeing a man nearly thirty sweating as if his life depended on it while serving the childish punishment of holding his hands up made him look even more irritating.

He'd lost his mind completely. How dare he issue an order from the Intelligence Department?

Of course, procedurally, there was nothing wrong with it.

In his absence, the next person in charge was naturally the Intelligence Department's department head, Maeng Juwon.

The problem was that the order told the elders to return—and that Shenghu Hall had been assigned to carry it out.

Shenghu Hall, of all groups...

Politically, this could be interpreted as the Intelligence Department treating the elders as a heretical faction.

It was serious enough that people could use it as an excuse to attack the Intelligence Department, not just now but at any point in the future.

No matter how obsessed with Jin Sowoon the man was, he'd crossed the line by a long way.

"You must have known that. Have you truly lost your mind?"

At Jegal Somyeong's question, Maeng Juwon moved his lips but couldn't answer.

"If you've got a mouth, use it! Say something! Did you do something so indefensible that you can't even offer an excuse?"

"No... it's just..."

"No? It's just what? Do you think you have any excuse for this?"

Maeng Juwon had started to explain after being told to give an excuse, but now he clamped his mouth shut.

"You brat! What's with that look of resentment? Do you think you did the right thing? Speak up!"

"I... the truth is..."

"You still have something to say? You should have no excuse even if you had ten mouths, and yet you dare open the one you have?"

"..."

For an hour now, the same scolding had been repeated over and over. Maeng Juwon was at his wits' end.

"Do you want me to speak or not?"

He might have felt better if he'd simply been disciplined.

Instead, Somyeong kept picking at every little thing and scolding him in an endless loop.

At this rate, he'd soon be scolded for breathing.

"Then let me say just one thing."

"You dare—"

"This isn't an excuse. I only wanted Jin Sowoon to feel the power of the Intelligence Department. That's all. I admit I was wrong. But please understand that I sincerely wanted to bring in a talented person."

Maeng Juwon blurted everything out in one breath, so Jegal Somyeong couldn't interrupt.

He gasped for breath as if he'd said all he had to say.

At his shameless attitude, Jegal Somyeong was dumbfounded.

"Fine. But how did you get Shenghu Hall to move? They wouldn't have acted on an order from the Intelligence Department alone."

"Oh... that? It was nothing. I went over, got on my knees, and begged. I groveled."

"..."

Maeng Juwon spoke proudly, rubbing his hands together as if telling a heroic tale.

Good grief. Did this man have no sense of dignity at all?

It was irritating enough that the Elders' Council would now keep the Intelligence Department in check.

He'd also dragged the department's reputation through the mud.

"You really are—"

As Jegal Somyeong fumed, Maeng Juwon, who'd been cringing in fear, suddenly wiggled his fingers.

Then he pulled a small pouch from his sleeve.

"This is it!"

"Hmm?"

"This is what I mean, Chief Strategist."

Caught off guard by the abrupt change of subject, Jegal Somyeong found himself following along.

"What is it?"

"The pouch that saved me from a crisis."

Had this bastard's mind finally escaped his body?

"Jin Sowoon asked me to deliver it to you, Chief Strategist."

At the three syllables of Jin Sowoon's name, Jegal Somyeong's expression immediately sobered.

There was no way that clever man had failed to anticipate the fallout this situation could cause.

Even so, Somyeong wanted to know why he had accepted both the Intelligence Department's order and Shenghu Hall instead of turning them away.

He opened the pouch with a reluctant expression.

Inside were two folded letters and a piece of wood.

Jegal Somyeong opened the first letter and frowned at its unfamiliar format.

Like the Martial Alliance, information organizations used their own set formats. They had to pack as much information as possible into short messages.

The Intelligence Department usually saw messages from its own information network and the Beggar Gang.

This unfamiliar format meant the letter came from neither the Beggar Gang nor an organization connected to the Martial Alliance.

"Did this brat have another source of information?"

As he turned the letter over, he began to feel he'd seen the format before.

That was...

"...Haomun?"

A new intelligence organization that had recently grown rapidly, hot on the Beggar Gang's heels.

Haomun had grown so powerful that people said the Beggar Gang could no longer involve itself in the Martial Alliance's affairs because of it.

Had Jin Sowoon made connections with Haomun too?

Unable to tell how close the connection was, Somyeong unfolded the letter.

Those who appeared in Sichuan are believed to belong to a different group from those who appeared on the Fuyang Plains during the same period.

However, their martial arts have a common effect: they disturb the mind and cause people to lose their reason.

They'd already investigated this much?

Jegal Somyeong couldn't hide his surprise that they had compared the enemies in the Fuyang Plains, whom neither the Beggar Gang nor the Martial Alliance had properly identified, with the enemies in Sichuan.

He quickly opened the second letter.

For the past ten years, people who had lost their reason have been found in Sichuan.

They all suffered recurring, debilitating symptoms, such as seeing nightmare-like illusions and coughing up bloody foam while asleep.

Physicians, including those from the Tang Clan, examined each patient separately and failed to find what the patients had in common.

Losing one's reason and seeing illusions despite having been perfectly healthy were among the most common aftereffects of sorcery.

Since these symptoms weren't markedly different from ordinary mental illness, physicians couldn't diagnose them by outward signs alone.

The only difference was that the patients sometimes suffered internal injuries while asleep, as if their insides had been violently shaken.

But this, too, happened intermittently, making it difficult to detect.

They'd collected details about each individual case?

Good heavens...

As Jegal Somyeong sensed just how formidable Haomun's rise was, he began to feel that the current situation was unfolding differently from what he'd expected.

"Surely not..."

An uneasy feeling tickled the back of his mind.

He tried to reassure himself that it couldn't be true.

The Martial Alliance's system was already straining under the effort of investigating the people who had appeared on the Fuyang Plains.

If another group had appeared too...

"Are you not going to look at the last one?"

"..."

When he looked up, Maeng Juwon had already lowered his hands and moved close enough to read the letters with him.

"When did you get up?"

"I'll check the contents of the letters, then raise my hands again."

"..."

"From what I can tell, something major has happened, hasn't it?"

At a time like this, he should have been accepting Jin Sowoon's report as true. Instead, he was trying to evade responsibility for his mistake.

Was this really the man in charge of the Intelligence Department?

Jegal Somyeong infused the wooden piece with internal energy and hurled it at Maeng Juwon.

"Die!"

"Gyaaaah!"

Jegal Somyeong had been fiddling with the wooden piece in his pocket, but finally took it out.

Like a gambler checking a game tile, he examined it slowly.

The Blood Cult has emerged. Jin Sowoon.

Jegal Somyeong's hand trembled as he read the message.

Beside him, Maeng Juwon kept talking, oblivious to how Somyeong felt.

"Wow! The Blood Cult? I'm so glad I got down on my knees and begged Shenghu Hall to come. Otherwise, our academy students might all have been in danger!"

Gu Jeongryong was dumbfounded by the scene before him.

"What is going on...?"

Dust swirled everywhere as people fought fiercely.

"What are you people doing?! Your opponent is only the Taeul Sect! The Taeul Sect! Aren't you ashamed of the name Kunlun?"

The problem was that everyone fighting belonged to the righteous faction.

"What in the world are they doing?"

Nearly twenty Kunlun disciples and disciples of its affiliated sects were sprawled on the ground, while another twenty were performing the Kunlun Sect's Thirty-Six Plum-Striking Sword Formation.

Absurdly, the three men standing against the formation looked not even twenty years old.

"Stop!"

Unable to watch any longer, Gu Jeongryong launched himself between the two sword formations.

It was an extremely dangerous move, but he was confident enough to pull it off.

"Ah! Hall Master!"

"The Hall Master is here!"

"Thank goodness!"

As soon as Gu Jeongryong intervened, the Geum, Eun, and Dong brothers sheathed their swords and hurriedly stepped back, as if they'd been waiting for him.

The Kunlun disciples, however, failed to withdraw their swords in time and had no choice but to cross blades with Gu Jeongryong.

Clang-clang-clang!

Gu Jeongryong blocked the swords sweeping toward him from all four directions and felt their tremendous weight.

"So the Thirty-Six Plum-Striking Sword Formation really is one of Kunlun's supreme techniques."

He could have been badly humiliated or seriously injured if he made a mistake.

He hurriedly raised his internal energy and sent sword energy along the ground toward the Kunlun disciples' feet.

Fwoosh!

The sword energy gouged the ground and sent dirt flying in every direction.

While the Kunlun disciples hesitated, Gam Cheonak and the other members of Shenghu Hall surrounded the academy students from Kunlun and its affiliated sects.

"Who are you?"

Elder Sangwon of the Kunlun Sect, his face flushed red, shouted furiously.

"I am Gu Jeongryong, master of Shenghu Hall, Elder."

Sangwon's expression shifted slightly at the introduction.

He quickly composed himself and spoke in a solemn voice.

"This is no place for Shenghu Hall. Get out of the way."

Gu Jeongryong looked at the academy students from the Kunlun Sect and its affiliated sects who were lying on the ground.

Then he glanced behind him at the Geum, Eun, and Dong brothers. They looked a little tired, but were otherwise unharmed.

The situation was clear enough.

"So they got beaten, and their pride was hurt."

Kunlun and its affiliated sects had failed to overcome disciples of the Taeul Sect.

That was why Sangwon couldn't back down, even when faced with Shenghu Hall.

"I'm sorry, but I can't do that."

"...What did you say?"

Sangwon's robes swelled as if they might burst.

Gu Jeongryong continued as calmly as he could.

"This isn't the time for us to fight among ourselves."

"...Do you think this is a fight?"

Sangwon didn't seem capable of thinking clearly.

Gu Jeongryong got straight to the point.

"The groups ahead of us were attacked and suffered casualties."

"...What?"

The moment Gu Jeongryong finished speaking, the tension in the area abruptly vanished.

"According to the report, Elder So Chunghyeon and Elder Jeong Saik were also killed by the enemy."

"...That's ridiculous—"

"Elder Sangwon."

Elder Suheo, who had arrived late, called out to him.

Sangwon turned.

"Is what he just said true?"

"We don't know yet. We're on our way to find out."

Sangwon frowned.

"You followed them without knowing?"

"I heard the news came from Jin Sowoon and Cheol Sunjik."

"Cheol Sunjik? That man from the Twelve Peaks Fortress?"

"That's right."

Cheol Sunjik and Jin Sowoon both belonged to the Hundred and Eight Peaks, but Jin Sowoon's rise had put them at odds, leaving no chance of the two working together.

The fact that both men had provided the same information, separately, made it hard to believe—but also made the report more credible.

"I thought that if the news turned out to be false, we could hold them accountable."

At Suheo's words, Sangwon nodded despite himself.

"Very well."

Sangwon looked at the Geum, Eun, and Dong brothers.

"Don't think this is all Kunlun has to offer."

"..."

"..."

Sangwon turned away and shouted at the Kunlun disciples and the students from its affiliated sects.

"What are you still lying around for? What did you do to deserve this? Get up!"

At Sangwon's thunderous command, the academy students groaned as they got to their feet.

Gu Jeongryong let out a long sigh and looked at the three brothers of the Taeul Sect.

"Good work."

"...We almost died. Thank you, Hall Master."

"Still, I can't just praise you."

"Pardon?"

Gu Jeongryong scolded them with an incredulous expression.

"Why did you think you could stop them with force? You're lucky you barely held them off. If they'd used the Thirty-Six Plum-Striking Sword Formation from the beginning, you wouldn't have survived! Do you understand?"

Gu Jeongryong shouted, but the three brothers looked oddly uncomfortable.

"...Ahem."

They exchanged glances, pursed their lips in frustration, and some shook their heads as if to say, Don't tell him.

A suspicion came to Gu Jeongryong.

"Don't tell me they used the Thirty-Six Plum-Striking Sword Formation from the beginning?"

Geumpyo gave an awkward smile and scratched the back of his head.

"They were pretty serious. Yes, so we're very grateful you arrived, Hall Master."

Eunho, who had been listening quietly, glared at Geumpyo.

"I told you we should've just withdrawn halfway through! I nearly died several times!"

"Hey! You didn't die, so what are you complaining about now? You should've left when I suggested it!"

"Ah! Brothers, stop fighting!"

The Geum, Eun, and Dong brothers suddenly began bickering among themselves.

Watching them, Gu Jeongryong couldn't help but feel shocked.

"Those three held off the Thirty-Six Plum-Striking Sword Formation?"

Just then, Gam Cheonak came over to him.

"Everything's ready. We can leave again."

"Hall Master?"

Gu Jeongryong turned to Gam Cheonak, who was looking at him strangely, and asked,

"Cheonak, could you and I, with one member of Shenghu Hall, hold off the Thirty-Six Plum-Striking Sword Formation?"

"...What is that? A new form of suicide? If you want to die, do it alone."

Gam Cheonak shook his head as if he thought Gu Jeongryong had finally lost his mind.

That was the normal reaction.

"Right. It's only natural that we couldn't hold them off... But how did they...?"

"What?"

But judging by Elder Sangwon's reaction, it didn't look as if the Geum, Eun, and Dong brothers were lying.

What was he supposed to believe?

"No... That doesn't matter right now."

There was no time to get distracted by curiosity. The situation was too urgent.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Strange movements.

Bloodless skin.

Blackened fingernails and fangs as sharp as a beast's.

No matter how many times he rubbed his eyes and looked again, it was undoubtedly a jiangshi.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it."

Nam Hwaseong swore repeatedly in front of the monk.

Even the upright Ilgak couldn't help nodding along at the absurdity of the situation.

"Could the Corpse Spirit-Summoning Art really have returned...?"

"I never imagined I'd see a real jiangshi in my life..."

Like the Great Energy-Absorbing Art, this heaven-defying art had been listed among the Four Great Demonic Arts.

They had never imagined anyone would dare use it.

Eun Seollan snapped the two men out of their daze.

"...D-don't you think this is the wrong time to admire it? It's coming this way!"

After fixing its gaze on Moyong Jaehwa, the jiangshi moved toward them quickly, its movements comical and jerky.

"Benefactors, all of you, stand back!"

Ilgak pressed his palms together and ran forward.

Vajra power poured from his hands as he pummeled the jiangshi.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

The jiangshi, which hadn't even flinched at the Thunderbolt Arrow, jerked and was pushed backward.

Those watching gasped in admiration, saying, "As expected of Shaolin!"

But their voices soon faded.

The golden light around Ilgak's hands was gradually growing dimmer.

"...Venerable Ilgak looks exhausted."

At Eun Seollan's words, Moyong Jaehwa nodded.

It was only natural.

Ilgak had been using Vajra power, a higher form of energy rather than ordinary internal energy.

No matter how strong a Shaolin disciple was, he couldn't withstand that much energy loss.

Still, Ilgak did not retreat an inch.

"Benefactor Jaehwa! Take the others and evacuate!"

"But, Venerable..."

"I know! That's why I'm telling you to evacuate. Until Benefactor Jin arrives...!"

Ilgak surprised even himself with what he'd said.

He pressed his sincerity into his next words.

"...Until Benefactor Jin arrives, someone needs to protect the survivors, doesn't he?"

As he shouted and threw his fists forward, the golden energy around them grew fainter.

Meanwhile, the jiangshi kept pressing Ilgak back, slowly approaching Moyong Jaehwa and the others.

They were at a loss.

Even so, Ilgak held on and kept holding on.

Nam Hwaseong watched him, biting down hard on his lip.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn you, Jin Sowoon... You didn't say there'd be a jiangshi..."

Nam Hwaseong suddenly shuddered and cursed Jin Sowoon.

Moyong Jaehwa was about to speak when Nam Hwaseong snapped his head up and looked at him and Eun Seollan.

"I'll buy you exactly five moves! Use that time to get everyone out of here!"

The two stared at Nam Hwaseong, bewildered by his sudden offer.

"What's with those faces? I can't hold it off any longer than that!"

"No, that's not it. Why would you—?"

Moyong Jaehwa and Eun Seollan had no real connection with Nam Hwaseong.

If anything, they were practically enemies.

It was only natural that they couldn't understand why he would suddenly say this.

Nam Hwaseong looked at them seriously.

"Jin Sowoon promised me five Demon-Subduing Talismans."

Moyong Jaehwa didn't understand, but Nam Hwaseong simply shoved the two of them from behind.

"Just move! If even the jiangshi are active, we could all really die here."

As if trying to forget his fear, Nam Hwaseong slammed his fists together.

"Damn you, using jiangshi to defile the murim world!"

He shouted angrily and hurled himself down the hill.

If he didn't, fear would swallow him before the fight even began.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

It was the first time in his life he'd seen such a ridiculous gait, yet Nam Hwaseong swallowed nervously.

A catastrophic being said to bathe the world in blood whenever it appeared.

A weapon of slaughter created for the sole purpose of killing humans.

A horrific creature he had never wanted to encounter.

"Damn you, Jin Sowoon!"

He didn't know why he had said he'd take a turn at this.

It wasn't as if Nam Hwaseong were an idiot who would risk his life for just five Demon-Subduing Talismans.

"Don't you dare tell me later you used them all up! I won't let you get away with it!"

What moved him now wasn't a matter of petty gain or loss.

It was a feeling even Nam Hwaseong himself didn't understand.

Perhaps he had stepped forward to discover what that unknown feeling he had for Jin Sowoon really was.

"Benefactor Hwaseong! Be careful!"

Ilgak had briefly fallen back, unable to withstand the jiangshi's strength, and shouted.

"Yaaaaaah!"

The Deer-Horn Iron-Cloud Fist was a martial art that had raised the Samwon Sect to the head of the Hundred and Eight Peaks through a single technique.

Through the opening between Ilgak and the jiangshi, the fist art shot forward.

Green fist energy blazed around Nam Hwaseong's fist as it surged forward with enough force to crush the jiangshi.

The jiangshi, which had been moving comically, shifted its target from Ilgak to Nam Hwaseong.

It thrust out a clumsy fist, apparently unaware of the dangerous attack coming its way.

"You fool! How dare you face the Deer-Horn Iron-Cloud Fist...!"

Boom!

A heavy shock wave spread in every direction.

The moment fist met fist, Nam Hwaseong swallowed the boastful words he'd been about to shout.

"Five moves, my ass... I won't last even three."

Just how many moves had Ilgak managed to last against this monster?

Crack.

Nam Hwaseong's right hand felt as though it might break at any moment.

He shifted his internal energy to his left hand and unleashed the Deer-Horn Iron-Cloud Palm.

Thud-thud-thud-thud!

With a rough scraping sound, the technique swept over the jiangshi's entire head.

But just as when it had been hit by the Thunderbolt Arrow, the creature didn't even blink.

"Damn it..."

Nam Hwaseong had just withdrawn his fist and palm and was about to unleash his final technique when the jiangshi stretched out its leg.

It was an utterly ordinary kick.

Yet Nam Hwaseong couldn't resist at all. As if struck by a huge club, he flew three jang and crashed into a tree.

"Benefactor Hwaseong!"

"Grrk! Ugh!"

He vomited a mouthful of blood along with the nausea rising in his throat.

A clear sign of internal injuries.

"...Damn it... You said you'd come soon..."

Nam Hwaseong muttered a curse at no one in particular and got to his feet.

The jiangshi, which had seemed mindless, ignored Ilgak and approached Nam Hwaseong.

"I have to last the promised five moves."

Nam Hwaseong forced internal energy into his wildly surging blood channels.

His channels swelled to twice their normal size, and he willingly risked the danger that they might burst at any moment.

Meanwhile, the damned jiangshi bounced toward him—tap, tap—as if mocking him, reaching his immediate vicinity in an instant.

"Benefactor Hwaseong! Get out of the way!"

Nam Hwaseong desperately unleashed the Deer-Horn Iron-Cloud Fist again and again.

"Yaaaaaah!"

He poured out the technique until green radiance clung to the jiangshi's entire body.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

The jiangshi couldn't keep up with Nam Hwaseong's speed and failed to defend properly—

A hollow laugh escaped Nam Hwaseong.

"...Ha ha."

The jiangshi reappeared, still unharmed, after being swept away by the green radiance.

"Even for a jiangshi, isn't this cheating?"

It wasn't that the creature had failed to defend itself.

It hadn't needed to defend itself at all.

The jiangshi raised its blackened fingernails, sharp as blades.

"Gah!"

And unlike its slow movements until now, it moved with sudden speed and thrust its claws toward Nam Hwaseong's heart.

"Huh?"

No—at least, it tried to.

The golden thread wrapped around its neck and hand stopped it.

"..."

Following the thread with his gaze, Nam Hwaseong spoke.

"...Damn it, why did you take so long?"

For the first time, a look of surprise appeared on the jiangshi's otherwise corpse-like face.

It frantically raked at the thread with its nails, trying to cut it, but the thread only tightened around its neck.

At the other end of the thread stood a man holding the jiangshi in place.

He stared in disbelief and replied,

"I can't believe someone could be stupid enough to ram into an iron jiangshi."

It was Jin Sowoon, the man who had made Nam Hwaseong behave so strangely all this time.