Chapter 164: Chapter 164

Thud!

“Argh!”

Ak Cheon-jin, the branch leader of the Hao Clan’s Yueyang branch, rolled on the floor clutching his stomach.

Panting and letting out painful groans, his appearance even looked pitiful.

He desperately wished for someone to step in and resolve this situation, but his subordinates were all collapsed and did not budge. The surroundings were in such a mess that it was hard to believe it was the work of just one person.

“Urrghh…”

“I knew you bastards bought and sold information… but you should have known that there are some things you must not sell recklessly.”

Ak Cheon-jin slowly caught his breath and racked his brains.

He tried hard to recall whose information he had sold recently.

Because it was a place where so many people came and went, nothing in particular came to mind.

It was merely the act of buying and selling information, and since that was an extremely natural thing for the Hao Clan, he had not expected at all that it would return as a backlash like this.

In the first place, they did not sell information that seemed likely to go wrong like this.

“Cough, cough! Wh… Who on earth are you…”

Coughing harshly, he looked up at Dan Woo-hyun.

He did not even know that such a master was in Yueyang.

“Seeing how you sold the information but do not even know the party involved… you are not a very capable fellow.”

“Ugh…!”

At Dan Woo-hyun’s mockery, Ak Cheon-jin swallowed his groan and hung his head. Gathering information was the job of his subordinates and the courtesans.

He did sell it, but since his subordinates brought the information on their own once he gave the command, he did not remember them unless they were important people he absolutely had to know.

Since working half-heartedly had returned as poison, Ak Cheon-jin’s face flushed red.

“The Chyuwen Family.”

“!?”

Ak Cheon-jin only then realized who the opponent was.

A year ago, a large manor had suddenly established itself near Yueyang.

From a certain day, they carved ‘Hunan Dan Family’ on the nameplate, and he had speculated whether they were the ones who resolved the various incidents that occurred in Yueyang.

Because he could not gather detailed information at all, Ak Cheon-jin had also half given up, and they had only handed over the rough details they knew to the Chyuwen Family.

‘Did that become the root of this trouble?’

But he also felt it was unfair.

“W… We did sell it, but it was not that grand of information. Please believe me!”

“I suppose so.”

Dan Woo-hyun nodded.

Whether it was grand information or not did not matter.

He simply did not like the fact that their information had gone elsewhere.

It meant someone was looking into his front yard, so how unpleasant was that?

“There is only one way you can live.”

For Ak Cheon-jin, who faced death right before his eyes, it was a sentence no different from a ray of hope.

For a moment, vitality returned to his pale, half-dead face.

At the hope that he could live, he nodded his head frantically.

“I will do anything! If, if you want information, I will give it to you, and if you need a woman, I will offer you a courtesan.”

“I have no need for such things.”

Dan Woo-hyun locked eyes with Ak Cheon-jin.

For a moment, Ak Cheon-jin felt as if he were being sucked into the darkness.

As his mind went blank, the dizzying sensation gave him goosebumps, and fear strongly stimulated his brain.

He wanted to turn his head away, but the strength had drained from his body, making even that impossible.

“Where is the Hao Clan Leader?”

“Hieeeek!”

Ak Cheon-jin’s face turned pale blue.

The Dan Woo-hyun before his eyes was someone beyond the heavens, a man more terrifying than death itself.

However, the Hao Clan Leader was a benefactor who had bestowed grace upon Ak Cheon-jin, and in some sense, he was even more terrifying than Dan Woo-hyun.

There was no place under the heavens of the Central Plains that the eyes of the Hao Clan did not reach.

If it became known that he had betrayed such an organization, he would not truly be living even if he survived.

“I… I do not know! I really do not know!”

“They say the Leader of the Hao Clan hides his presence very well. Still, I thought you would know…”

The sound of dry saliva being swallowed could be heard.

Ak Cheon-jin rolled his eyes around and held his breath.

The money the Hao Clan earned in a year was truly astronomical, and because their ability to gather information was great enough to rank within the top three in the Central Plains, many forces targeted the Hao Clan Leader.

Consequently, the Leader was always in hiding, and unless one was a high-ranking official even within the Hao Clan, it was impossible to even contact him.

“I really… do not…”

“This Yueyang is one of the most famous resort areas in the Central Plains. Many people come to see Lake Dongting every year, and it is a place that brings in that much money.”

“Ugh…!”

“Naturally, there are many things to manage, and since a substantial amount of money has to be handled, from the Hao Clan Leader’s perspective, he must have placed someone he could trust.”

Ak Cheon-jin trembled violently.

This was not a problem that could be resolved simply by saying he did not know.

It was as if Dan Woo-hyun had come knowing all of their circumstances from the very beginning.

Before he knew it, Dan Woo-hyun’s outstretched hand grabbed Ak Cheon-jin’s face.

The moment the hand touched his face, his entire body felt a massive shock, as if struck by a bolt of lightning.

“Aaaaargh!”

“I will ask again. Where is he? The Hao Clan Leader.”

Dan Woo-hyun’s cold words struck his ears like thunder.

* * *

“Aaaargh!”

“Aaaakh!”

“Sp… Spare me…!”

The Beggars’ Sect branch at the entrance of Yueyang.

Hearing the bizarre screams coming from there, the beggars held their breath and hid. They did not even dare to go and check what was happening.

Because just from the screams they heard, that place was like hell.

“Haha, this is truly…”

Namgung Cheon, wearing the mask of the Gentleman’s Sword, clicked his tongue and looked around.

The number of beggars here was about two hundred. It seemed that not only those from Yueyang but also those from the neighboring counties had all gathered.

Well, since he had raided them on purpose during their meeting time, it was only natural that everyone was present.

Looking at the fallen men, he felt a bitter yet somehow inexplicable sense of pleasure.

Namgung Cheon muttered internally several times, ‘I need to exercise restraint…’ but the boiling blood of a martial artist did not die down easily.

“Pant, pant, pant…”

Just then, the man who appeared to be the branch leader panted and raised his staff.

Even though he felt Namgung Cheon’s power, which had decimated about a hundred men, the fact that he did not show even a hint of giving up in his eyes must have been due to his conviction.

“Who on earth are you to commit such wickedness! Do you know where this place is to act like this!”

“I came knowing already that it is the Beggars’ Sect.”

“Kugh…!”

Coming despite knowing that meant he was that confident in his skills.

Indeed, he had beaten down more than half of the two hundred disciples, and for a man who did not even take a breath after doing so, it was fully plausible.

“But for a mere third-knot disciple to be a branch leader… Is the Beggars’ Sect now only a name?”

“You bastard! How dare you insult the Beggars’ Sect!”

Watching the branch leader shout loudly in fury, Namgung Cheon smiled.

“The Dog Beating Formation…!”

The moment he tried to unfold the Dog Beating Formation, which was said to rival the Hundred and Eight Arhats Formation of Shaolin, Namgung Cheon’s figure vanished with a slip and appeared right before his eyes before he knew it.

Grab!

“Guh-huck!”

Without time to think, his throat was gripped by the outstretched hand.

“This old man advises you to be grateful that I came here. Otherwise, you all would have died.”

He whispered into the ear of the branch leader, who was gasping for air.

“I warn you… if you sell information on the Hunan Dan Family even one more time, it will not end at this level.”

Only then did the branch leader understand.

For merely… merely such a reason, he had demolished a branch of the Beggars’ Sect?

He wanted to scream that he could not believe it, but looking at the mask worn by the man standing before him, he could realize it was a painful reality.

* * *

An old man wearing a black mask was leisurely walking down the street.

The moment he entered a quiet alley where it seemed no one would visit, he felt gazes locking onto him from here and there.

The old man, or rather Sa Do-hak, ignored those gazes and stepped into a small tavern in the alley.

Inside, there was a waiter and a man who appeared to be the owner, and their eyes sparkled as they looked at Sa Do-hak, who had walked inside.

“Welc…!”

The moment a waiter quickly approached and was about to bow. A flash of light like a ray of light glinted, and something sliced past.

Slash!

The waiter’s head was cut in half and flew off.

Because it happened in such an instant, no one was able to perceive it properly.

The moment blood bloomed thickly, the owner, realizing the situation, jumped up from his seat and drew the sword he had hidden under the floor.

Slash!

But even before he could fully draw it, his head rolled off.

“Tsk, tsk… Your killing intent is thick. You should hide it when you smile, you foolish thing.”

Sa Do-hak clicked his tongue and looked at the waiter.

A dagger was held in his fallen hand.

He must have intended to induce carelessness until he drew close, and then swing the poison-coated dagger in an instant.

Rustle!

“Who is it!”

Sensing the commotion, assassins revealed themselves and shouted.

Anyone who knew what this place was would not dare to act like this.

They would rather run amok in the Martial Alliance, but no one ran amok in the Killing Pavilion.

Because the Killing Pavilion was famous for pursuing enemies even more tenaciously than the Sichuan Tang Family and paying them back several times over.

Sa Do-hak scanned them.

He counted, ‘one, two, three,’ and stopped his actions when he reached twenty.

“There are fewer than I thought. It would have been a bit more fun if even that fellow the Killing Emperor were here.”

“You bastard! You must be crazy to die!”

“Stop saying things that are not even funny because it is noisy, and come at me. It has been a while since I saw blood, and my body is itching.”

Sa Do-hak’s face, hidden by the mask, was twisted to the limit.

The opponent was none other than the Killing Pavilion.

Touching this place meant one thing.

War with the Killing Pavilion.

Dan Woo-hyun must have sent him knowing that.

“You bastards were the ones in the wrong in the first place. You broke into someone else’s house recklessly and tried to kill people.”

In truth, there was no need to go this far, but Dan Woo-hyun was planning to root out all risk factors on this occasion.

Those who seemed likely to harm them, or to be more precise, Dan So-mi.

As of today, the Yueyang branch of the Killing Pavilion disappears.

Dan Woo-hyun said so, and Sa Do-hak moved.

No one would be able to escape that fate.

Sa Do-hak slung the sword over his shoulder and turned his head.

Demonic energy boiled up from his body.

“Let’s have some fun together. Hahaha!”

Along with a bizarre laughter, the demonic energy spread wildly to the surroundings.

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