#1
7
7.
“You’re not holding your hand up properly!”
At Jegal Somyeong’s stern command, Meng Juwon’s hands, which had been trembling, suddenly spread wide open again.
Seeing a guy nearing thirty sweating profusely, barely surviving the ‘hands-raising’ punishment meant for kids, makes him look even more detestable.
He must have lost his mind completely. How dare he issue an order from the Ministry of Communications?
Of course, there is no problem with the procedure.
It is only natural that Meng Ju-won, the head of the Mantong Department, would take charge in his absence.
However, the problem, if there was one, was that the order was to reinstate the Council of Elders, and furthermore, that Seunghodang was assigned to carry it out.
Good heavens… Seunghodang…
From a political standpoint, this also leaves room for interpretation that the Mantongbu regards the Elder Council as a dark faction.
Not only right now, but at any time in the future, this is an incident significant enough to be used as a pretext to shake up the Ministry of Public Works.
Even if Jin So-woon is a crazy guy, he has crossed the line by a long way.
“You couldn’t have been unaware of that. Have you truly lost your mind?”
Meng Zhuyuan mumbles, unable to answer Zhuge Xiaoming’s question.
“If you have a mouth, speak! Speak! Have you committed an act for which you cannot even offer a single excuse?”
“……
No, that is… … .”
“No? You say it’s not? Are you saying there is any room for you to make excuses for this?”
At the remark telling him to make an excuse, Maeng Ju-won, who was about to explain, clamps his mouth shut.
“You bastard! What’s with that look of dissatisfaction?! Are you saying you did a good job?!”
“Um…… actually…….”
“Do you still have something to say! You should have nothing to say even if you had ten mouths, yet you dare open the single mouth you have?!”
“…….”
It had already been an hour, and the same harassment was repeating itself, making Maeng Ju-won feel like he was dying. ‘Are you telling me to speak or not?’ He would at least feel at ease if he were disciplined, but that wasn’t the case; instead, they were nitpicking at every little thing and just repeatedly harassing him.
At this rate, I’ll be harassed and picked on even for breathing.
Then, I will say just one thing.
“You bastard!”
“This is not an excuse. I simply wanted Jin So-woon to feel the power of the Mantong Bureau. That is all. I admit my mistake. However, please understand my sincerity in wanting to bring in a talented person.”
Meng Zhuyuan spat out all his words in one breath so that Zhuge Xiaoming could not interrupt him.
Maeng Ju-won gasps for breath as if he has said everything he needed to say.
Jegal So-myeong was dumbfounded by his brazen attitude.
“Fine. But how did Seunghodang get involved? There is no way those guys would have acted solely on orders from the Mantongbu.”
“Ah… that? It’s no big deal. I went and knelt down and begged. Bibbling profusely—.”
Maeng Ju-won, speaking confidently as if recounting a heroic tale while rubbing his hands together.
Huh, does this guy really have no sense of dignity?
It’s infuriating enough that we’ll have to face checks from the Council of Elders in the future, but it’s also like they’ve completely ruined the prestige of the Ministry of Unification.
“You bastard, calm down—”
Meng Zhuyuan, who had been afraid of the enraged look on Zhuge Xiaoming’s face, suddenly snaps his fingers. Then he takes a pouch out of his sleeve.
This is it!
“huh?”
“This is it, Commander-in-Chief.”
Jegal So-myeong was unwittingly drawn into the sudden change of topic.
What is that?
A pocket that will save me from danger.
Did this bastard lose his mind?
“This is the item Jin So-un asked me to deliver to the Commander-in-Chief.” At the three letters “Jin So-un,” the excitement cools down.
That clever guy couldn’t possibly have failed to foresee the fallout from the current situation.
Nevertheless, I wondered about the intention behind taking the Mantongbu’s order and even Seunghodang without refusing them.
I opened the pocket with a sour expression.
Inside the pouch were two sheets of paper that appeared to be seal script and a piece of wood.
Zhuge Xiaoming, who opened the seal script first, frowned at the unfamiliar style of the script.
Just like the Murim Alliance, intelligence organizations use specific formats because they must contain condensed information within small scrolls.
Mantongbu primarily interacts with internal information organizations and the open-ended script style.
It also meant that the new format I was looking at was not a manual from a place associated with the Beggar’s Sect or the Martial Arts Alliance. ‘Did this guy have a separate place where he receives information?’ However, as I flipped the manual back and forth, I remembered seeing it somewhere before.
So, that is… … .’… …
Haomen? A new intelligence organization that has recently been growing rapidly, closely following in the footsteps of the Beggar’s Creed.
The Hao Sect’s growth was so tremendous that there was even talk that the Beggar’s Sect could not interfere with the Murim Alliance these days because of them.
But does that mean Jin So-un had connections to the Hao Sect as well?
Since I did not know the details, I opened the scroll for now.
– Those who appeared in Sichuan are presumed to belong to a different affiliation than those who appeared in the Fuyang Plain during the same period.
However, there is a commonality in the process where the aftermath of their martial arts shakes a person’s mind and causes them to lose their reason.
You’ve already investigated this far?
I could not help but be surprised by the fact that they compared the villains of Fuyang Plain with the villains of Sichuan, whom even the Beggar’s Sect and the Murim Alliance had not yet fully grasped.
Zhuge Xiaoming quickly opened the second scroll. – People who have lost their reason have been discovered in Sichuan for the past 10 years.
They commonly experience nightmare-like hallucinations and repeatedly exhibit debilitating phenomena, such as foaming at the mouth while sleeping.
Doctors, including Dangga, examined only their own patients, so they could not find any commonalities among them.
The symptom of a healthy person losing their reason and seeing hallucinations is one of the typical aftereffects of sorcery.
Since the differences from general mental illness are not very pronounced, even doctors cannot diagnose the condition outwardly.
The only difference is that the inside is shaken even while sleeping, causing internal injuries.
This, too, was an intermittent phenomenon, so it was not easily grasped. ‘They collected detailed records of individual illnesses? Good heavens…’ Zhuge Xiaoming, who was realizing anew just how formidable the Hao Sect’s growth was in threatening the Beggar’s Sect, sensed that the current situation was somehow unfolding differently than he had expected. ‘Nah, surely not…’ An uneasy feeling tickled his head.
I tell myself it can’t be true, but I try to reassure myself that it isn’t.
The Murim Alliance’s system is on the verge of screaming just to investigate the personnel who have appeared in the Fuyang Plains right now.
If others show up here as well… … .
“Aren’t you going to look at the remaining one?”
When I looked up, Maeng Ju-won had already lowered his hand and was standing close by, reading the seal together with me.
When did you wake up?
I will just check the contents of the seal and raise my hand again.
“From my perspective, hasn’t something pretty big happened?”
Jegal So-myeong, who had been fiddling with a piece of wood in his pocket, finally took his hand out.
And I slowly examined the wooden piece with the mindset of a gambler checking their dominoes.
– Blood Sect Manifestation. Jin So-un.
Jegal So-myeong’s hand trembled as he checked the contents.
Next to him, Meng Zhuyuan ran his mouth, failing to understand even Jegal Xiaoming’s feelings.
“Hmph! The Blood Cult, to think I went so far as to kneel to send Seunghodang away. Otherwise, wouldn’t all of us academy students have been in danger?”
To think that I am trying to evade responsibility for my own mistakes when I should be escaping reality by believing the news Jin So-woon delivered isn’t true.
Is it really true that such a person is the head of the Ministry of Communications?
Zhuge Xiaoming infused a large amount of energy into a piece of wood and threw it at Meng Zhuyuan.
“asleep!!!”
“Queeeeeek!” Gu Jeong-ryong was dumbfounded by the sight unfolding before his eyes.
“What is this…….”
Dust was flying all around, and people were fighting fiercely.
“What on earth are you doing! Your opponent is merely the Taeeul Sect! Taeeul Sect! Aren’t you ashamed of the name of Kunlun!”
The problem was that everyone fighting belonged to the White Path. ‘What on earth are they doing!’ Nearly twenty disciples of the Kunlun Sect and the Seokga Sect were rolling on the ground, and twenty more were executing the Kunlun Sword Formation, the Thirty-Six Strikes of Cold Plum Blossoms.
Absurdly, the opponents facing Kunlun’s Thirty-Six Strikes of the Plum Blossom Sword Formation are three men who do not even look twenty.
“Stop!”
Unable to stand it any longer, Gu Jeong-ryong flew his new form and jumped between the two swordsmen.
It was an extremely dangerous act, but it was possible because I was that confident.
“Oh! Master!”
The clan leader has arrived!
“thank god!”
As Gu Jeong-ryong intervened, the Geum, Eun, and Dong brothers quickly sheathed their swords and stepped back as if they had been waiting for this moment.
On the other hand, the disciples of Kunlun who failed to sheathe their swords in time eventually had to face off against the Nine Dragons.
Chaechachechachang.
Gu Jeong-ryong, who stood blocking the swords slashing at him simultaneously from four people, shook his head at the heavy weight he felt. ‘I thought the Thirty-Six Strikes of Cold Plum Blossoms Formation was one of Kunlun’s ultimate techniques.’ Filled with tension that a wrong move could result in not only utter humiliation but also serious injury, he quickly drew up his internal energy and unleashed a sword energy blast at the feet of the Kunlun Sect disciples.
Papapapapapat!
Sword energy struck the ground and scattered mounds of earth in all directions, and while the disciples of Kunlun hesitated, the members of Seunghodang, including Gamcheonak, surrounded the students of the Kunlun Sect and Sokgamumun.
“Who is it!”
Shangyuan, an elder of Kunlun, shouted angrily, his face turning bright red.
“I am Gu Jeong-ryong, the head of Seunghodang. Elder.”
Sangwon’s expression changes to a sullen look as his identity is revealed.
Senator, having quickly regained his composure, spoke in a solemn voice.
“This is not the place for Seunghodang to be butting in. Get out of the way.”
Gu Jeong-ryong’s gaze turned toward the fallen students of the Kunlun Sect and the Seokga Sect.
Then, he moves on to the Gold, Silver, and Bronze brothers standing behind him, looking a little tired but perfectly fine.
Circumstances that make the situation obvious at a glance. ‘So, they took a hit and their pride was hurt.’ Kunlun and the Seokga Sects ultimately failed to defeat the disciple of Taeeulmun.
This was the reason why the Upper Chamber of Kunlun could not back down even at the mention of ‘Seunghodang’.
I’m sorry, but I won’t be able to do that.
What?
The Senate’s uniform swells up as if it is about to burst.
Gu Jeong-ryong continued speaking as calmly as possible.
Now is not the time for us to fight amongst ourselves.
Do you think this is a fight?
The Senate appears to have absolutely no capacity to maintain its reason.
Gu Jeong-ryong spoke frankly.
The preceding groups were ambushed and suffered damage.
“……?”
No sooner had Gu Jeong-ryong finished speaking than the excitement in the hall cooled down.
“It is said that Elder So Chung-hyeon and Elder Jeong Sa-ik were also attacked by the perpetrators.”
What kind of nonsense is that…
Senate Elder.
Elder Sangwon turns his head at the call of Elder Suheo, who arrived late.
Is what that guy just said true?
“You don’t know yet. I’m on my way to check that right now.”
The Senate elder frowned.
“Do you mean you followed along without knowing?”
“I heard that this news was sent by Jin So-un and Cheol Sun-jik.”
“Cheol-sun-jik? You mean that guy from the 12 Peaks?”
That’s true.
Although Cheol Sun-jik and Jin So-un are both members of the Baekpalbong, Jin So-un’s dominance has made it impossible for them to be together.
The fact that those two people each provided the same information was hard to believe, but it was tantamount to increasing the credibility of the information.
“This news can’t possibly be true, but if it is, I thought we should make an issue of it.”
Sangwon also naturally nods at Suheo’s words.
“It can’t be helped.”
Sangwon looked at the three brothers, Gold, Silver, and Bronze.
“Do not think that this is all there is to Kunlun.”
Sangwon turns around and shouts angrily at the students of the Kunlun and Seokga sects.
“What did you do so well that you’re still lying there! Get up right now!”
At the Senate’s thunderous shout, the students in the academy groaned and rose from their seats.
Gu Jeong-ryong let out a long sigh and looked at the three brothers of Taeeulmun.
Good job everyone.
“I almost died. Thank you, Master.”
Even so, I just can’t bring myself to praise you.
“yes?”
Gu Jeong-ryong spat out a bitter remark with a look of disbelief.
“How could you even think of stopping them by force! It is a relief that we barely managed to stop them. If they had used the Thirty-Six Strikes of the Sword Formation from the start, you really wouldn’t have survived! Do you realize that!”
Gu Jeong-ryong let out a loud shout, but the three brothers’ expressions were strange.
Ahem.
They glance at each other, mumbling in frustration, while some shake their heads as if telling them not to speak.
Gu Jeong-ryong opened his mouth, just in case.
“Surely not… did you mean to say that you used the Thirty-Six Strikes Sword Formation from the very beginning?”
Then Geumpyo smiles awkwardly and scratches the back of his head.
“He was quite sincere. Yes, that is why I am so glad that the Master came.”
Eunho, who had been listening silently from the side, raises his eyes and glares at Geumpyo.
“I told you we should just drop out halfway!! Seriously, I almost died several times!”
“Ah! As long as he didn’t die, that’s all that matters! Why are you making such a fuss now! You should have dropped out back then!”
“Ah!!! Don’t fight, guys!!!”
The Gold, Silver, and Bronze brothers suddenly start bickering and fighting amongst themselves.
Gu Jeong-ryong could not help but be astonished inwardly as he looked at the three. ‘Three people blocked the Thirty-Six Strikes of the Plum Blossom Formation?’ Just then, Gam Cheon-ak approached Gu Jeong-ryong.
Everything is ready. We just need to set off again.
“Master?”
Gu Jeong-ryong asked Gam Cheon-ak, who was looking at him strangely.
“Cheon-ak, do you and I, with just one Seungho Party member, think we can stop the Thirty-Six Strikes Hanmae Sword Formation?”
What is that? Is this a new type of suicide? If you want to die, die alone.
Gam Cheon-ak shakes his head as if to say, “Have you finally lost your mind?”
That’s right. This is a natural reaction.
“Right. It’s only natural that it couldn’t be blocked……. But how…….”
“What do you mean?”
However, judging by the Senate Elder’s reaction, the Gold, Silver, and Bronze brothers did not appear to be lying.
What on earth should I believe?
“No… that’s not important right now.”
The situation was too urgent to let my mind wander out of curiosity. #Thump. Thump. Thump.
Strange movement.
pale skin.
Blackened fingernails and fangs as sharp as those of a beast.
No matter how many times I rub my eyes, it is clearly a Jiangshi.
“Damn it, damn it, damn it.”
Nam Hwa-seong dared to spew a string of curses with the monk right beside him, but the current situation was so absurd that even that upright man instinctively nodded in agreement to Nam Hwa-seong’s insults.
“I never imagined Shima Necromancy would reappear…….”
“I never imagined I’d see a real Jiangshi in my lifetime…….”
I never even imagined that there would be people who would dare to use the technique of defying heaven, which, just like the Absorption Technique, is firmly listed among the Four Great Demonic Arts.
Eun Seol-ran woke the two people who looked dazed.
“Uh, uh, I don’t think this is the time to just be marveling! Hey, he’s coming this way!”
After staring at Moyong Jaehwa, the zombie moved quickly with comical movements and was approaching this side.
“All benefactors, step back!”
Ilgak clasped his hands together and ran forward.
Golden power poured out from his hand and struck the zombie.
Puff puff puff!
The zombie, which had been unfazed even by the thunderbolt, flinches and is pushed back.
At the sight, the onlookers each let out exclamations of admiration, exclaiming that it was indeed Shaolin, but soon their voices grew quieter.
The young golden radiance in both of Ilgak’s hands was gradually fading.
Venerable Ilgak looks very tired.
Moyong Jaehwa nodded at Eun Seol-ran’s words.
There is no other choice.
It is a time when he has continuously used not just ordinary internal energy, but the superior energy known as Geumgang-ryeok.
Even a disciple of Shaolin could not withstand this level of internal energy depletion.
However, some did not back down at all.
“Give us your wealth! Take the people and evacuate!”
“But, Monk…….”
“I know! That is why I am telling you to evacuate. Until Master Jin arrives…!”
Some were surprised by what they had said themselves.
He continued speaking, holding back his sincerity.
Wouldn’t we need someone to protect the remaining people until Lord Jin arrives!
The golden aura gradually fades from the fist extended while screaming.
Furthermore, the Jiangshi pressures the group and begins to slowly approach Moyong Jaehwa and the others.
A situation where you can’t do anything.
Nevertheless, some held on and held on.
Nam Hwa-seong bit his lip as he watched the scene.
“Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it, Jin So-un, you damn bastard……. You didn’t tell me there were zombies…….”
Just as Moyong Jaehwa was about to speak to Nam Hwaseong, who was suddenly trembling and cursing Jin So-un from the side.
He suddenly lifted his head and looked at Moyong Jaehwa and Eun Seol-ran.
“Just five moves! I’ll buy you that time, so lead the people and escape!”
At Nam Hwa-seong’s sudden remark, the two people looked dumbfounded.
“What’s with that look? I can’t hold out any longer than that, either!”
“No, that’s not it. Why would you specifically…..”
Moyong Jaehwa, Eun Seol-ran, and Nam Hwa-seong are practically unrelated.
To put it another way, they were practically enemies.
It was only natural that one couldn’t understand why Nam Hwa-seong would suddenly say something like this.
Nam Hwa-seong looked at the two people and spoke seriously.
Jin So-un said he would give five copies of the Demon Subduing Talisman.
Moyong Jaehwa questioned the incomprehensible words, but Nam Hwaseong merely pushed the two of them away.
“Anyway, hurry up and move! If even the zombies move, we might all really die here.”
Nam Hwa-seong deliberately struck his fist hard, as if trying to forget his fear.
“Damn it, how dare you try to defile the Jianghu with a zombie?”
Nam Hwa-seong threw himself down the hill while screaming in anger.
Because if I didn’t do that, I felt like I would be consumed by fear before I could even fight.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
It was a ridiculous behavior he had never seen before, but Nam Hwa-seong swallowed hard out of nervousness.
A catastrophic being that stains the world with blood whenever it appears.
A killing machine created solely for the purpose of killing humans.
A terrible being I never wanted to meet.
“Damn it, Jin So-un!”
I don’t know why he said he would step forward.
After all, Nam Hwa-seong himself wasn’t a fool who would stake his life on just five Demon Subduing Talismans.
“Just try saying later that you used it all up! I won’t let you get away with it!”
What motivated him at this moment was not a matter of shallow gains and losses.
That is an emotion that even Nam Hwa-seong himself does not fully understand.
Perhaps he had set out to find out those unknown feelings for Jin So-un.
“Hwaseong Siju! Be careful!”
Perhaps unable to withstand the power of the Jiangshi, Gak briefly falls back and shouts.
“Ughhhhh!”
The Deer Horn Iron Cloud Fist, which elevated the Samwon Sect to the position of head of the Hundred and Eight Peaks with a single martial art.
The Deer Antler Iron Fist rushes in through the gap between the corners and the open space.
A young green fist extends tyrannically, as if to crush the zombie.
The comical Jiangshi changes its target from a corner to Namhwaseong, and merely awkwardly extends its fist, not knowing what kind of dangerous punch it might be attacked by.
“You fool! How dare you use the Deer Antler Iron Cloud Fist….”
bang.
A heavy resonance spreads in all directions.
Confrontation of rights
The moment this happened, Nam Hwa-seong swallowed the words he had been shouting with such confidence. ‘Five seconds my ass… I won’t even last three.’ Just how many seconds had that Il-gak managed to hold out against a monster like this?
Crunch.
My right hand felt like it was about to break.
Transfer the internal energy to the left hand and fire the Deer Antler Iron Cloud Palm.
Pa-ba-ba-ba-bak.
With the sound of rough rocks scraping, the Deer Antler Iron Cloud Palm swept across the entire head of the zombie, but the creature did not even blink an eye, just as it did when it was struck by the Thunderbolt Arrow.
“Damn it…….”
Just as Nam Hwa-seong, having recovered his fist and staff, was about to unleash his final ultimate technique once again, the zombie stretched out his leg.
puck.
It was clearly an incredibly ordinary kick, but as if struck by the ball of a temple bell, he was sent flying three jang without any resistance and crashed into a tree.
“Hwaseong Siju!”
“Cough, gag!”
At the same time as the nausea rising in my throat, I spit out a gush of blood.
Clear evidence of internal injury.
Damn it… … He said he’d be right back… … .”
Nam Hwa-seong stood up from his seat after spitting out a curse directed at no one.
The zombie, who appeared to have no intelligence, was approaching Nam Hwa-seong without a moment’s notice.
You have to keep your promise of five seconds.
Nam Hwa-seong began to forcibly infuse internal energy into the rampaging pressure points.
It swells to twice its normal size, and willingly accepts the risk of bursting at any moment.
Meanwhile, the zombie, as if to taunt it with a damn thump, thump, and scurried to within striking distance of Namhwaseong in an instant.
“Hwaseong Siju! Avoid him!”
Nam Hwa-seong unleashes a barrage of Nokgaksoeuncheol-gwon as if in a desperate struggle.
“Aaaaaaaah!”
He unleashes the Deer Antler Iron Fist with enough force to leave a green glow all over the Jiangshi’s body.
Puff puff puff puff puff puff!
Unable to keep up with Nam Hwa-seong’s speed, the Jiangshi could not even put up a proper defense… … .
A hollow laugh escapes from Nam Hwa-seong’s lips.
haha.”
The Jiangshi, swept away by a green glow, reappears.
“Even if it’s a zombie, isn’t this cheating?”
It is not that they failed to defend themselves in the first place.
There was no need to defend.
The Jiangshi sharpens its black-painted claws.
“Gasp!”
And unlike the slow movements shown so far, it swiftly pierces Namhwaseong’s heart.
No, I tried to pierce through.
If it weren’t for the golden threads wrapped around my neck and hands.
Nam Hwa-seong, who had been looking up along the thread, said.
Damn it, why did you only come now!
The zombie’s face, which had been as emotionless as a corpse, showed a look of bewilderment for the first time.
The zombie frantically scratches its fingernails to cut the string, but the string tightens even more around the zombie’s neck.
And the man holding the zombie at the starting point of the thread answers with a bewildered expression.
“I never thought there would actually be someone stupid enough to body-slam a ‘Steel Gangster’.”
It was Jin So-woon who had been making Nam Hwa-seong behave strangely until now.
