Chapter 390: Chapter 390

A man bit his fingernails nervously, unable to hide his anxiety. Everything was not flowing according to his plan.

If the things drawn in his head had been completed one by one, the entire Central Plains would have fallen into the hands of this Man Hu-ryang.

However, figures of the Nine Great Sects and One Association such as Wudang and Shaolin had hidden in the shadows, and those full of pride as orthodox members were still flocking to Chongqing and Hunan, blocking the advance of the Blood Heaven.

It must not be like this.

The Blood Heaven, which possessed greater power than anyone.

Not only its power, but its financial resource was also remarkable.

Even under the situation of possessing both, the fact that he could not take everything into his hands was no different from a disgrace to him.

Blood burst from the fingernail he was biting heavily.

Although he would suffer from extreme pain, even so, there was no change in his expression at all.

He stared quietly down.

In front of him, a man was kneeling.

Man Jo-gang.

The current Merchant Group Leader of the Myriad Gold Merchant Group.

The one who held and shook all the money under heaven.

In him who bowed his head, only fear was felt.

“You are late. It is not amusing.”

“We are handling it flawlessly, but… we lost half of the Hubei forces due to the interference of the Hunan Dan Family. Although we are filling them back in now…”

“Hunan Dan Family… Hunan Dan Family… Wearisome.”

Man Hu-ryang frowned.

Could he not just accept his destiny without doing anything? Why did he poke around here and there, playing with people?

Man Hu-ryang recalled Dan Woo-hyun, whom he had never seen even once.

His lord’s enemy.

The enemy who must be killed.

Since he knew that past well, he thought he would put him into misery just like the past, and proceeded with all plans one by one.

But it was too late.

Nor was it amusing.

Like this, it was unknown when he could take that man’s throat, when he could hear that man’s pain-filled voice. Man Hu-ryang stood up abruptly.

“We shall settle it in Sichuan. Bring funds and provisions to wage war against them. We shall push them all out and march to Hunan.”

“…Understood.”

In this situation, what Man Jo-gang could do was merely nod his head. His father’s words could be called an absolute, disobedience-defying command, and even if he disobeyed, he had no talent to bear the consequences.

‘Is his intention to strike Sichuan first due to considering the fear of suffering a joint attack?’

Man Jo-gang read Man Hu-ryang’s thoughts.

The Dan Family, which could be called his opponent, was in Hunan. The reason he did not lead everyone to Hunan, though it was natural to do so, was because of the remnants of the orthodox faction striking in from Sichuan.

Perhaps it was a situation where even the Demonic Cult might join, so he was trampling Sichuan first to be slightly more perfect.

Having understood that meaning, he bowed his head and stood up from his seat.

Since he said they would settle it, the Myriad Gold Merchant Group could not stay still either. Although war meant a lot of money flowing in, it was also a situation that brought about that much larger profit.

Man Jo-gang’s head spun quickly.

* * *

Flap, flap!

A carrier pigeon flew in.

Gu Mu-ak slowly received and read it, wearing a frown. Even without that, the result of the fight unfolding in Chongqing was not good.

It was a situation where the Blood Heaven pushed the orthodox people with overwhelming momentum.

Although they were blocking it well, they did not know how long it would be maintained.

Since talk was circulating that they were slowly retreating toward Sichuan, it was obvious that the boundary between Chongqing and Sichuan would soon be breached.

‘Is the last bastion Hunan?’

No, it would not be so.

It was clear that Hunan was also in a situation where martial artists wishing to block the advance of the Blood Heaven were flocking in one after another.

However, because those who knelt before the Blood Heaven were way too many, and even outer-realm forces were joining, the moment Sichuan collapsed, it was certain that Hunan would also be shattered.

This could by no means be called a good result.

“If so, it means we must block them in Sichuan in the end.”

Gu Mu-ak pulled out another carrier pigeon and attached a letter.

This was a letter heading to the Hunan Dan Family.

“Depending on whether these people move or do not move, the result will change.”

They had to overturn the board once.

Otherwise, reclaiming the orthodox martial world could not exist. Therefore, how the Hunan Dan Family moved could be said to dictate the fate of the orthodox martial world.

Gu Mu-ak shook his head and sent the letter.

* * *

Dangle, dangle-

Jang Sam-tae, who was hanging tied tightly with a rope, could not snap out of it because a strong wind blew here and there. Due to dizziness, he felt like vomiting right away, but things more terrifying than that were in front of his eyes.

“Ah! I really don’t know!”

“No way! Do you know how much of my treasure your master took? Since he even plundered the imperial court, it won’t be a small amount!”

“I really do not know!”

Jang Sam-tae felt like dying.

Even if he was his master, his remaining feelings were not that good.

In the first place, he took a young kid and made him steal, and also wore fine clothes and ate fine food with that money.

Except for learning lightfoot technique properly, he was a human who wouldn’t be enough even if beaten to death.

Furthermore, since that lightfoot technique was also a disgusting one that used innate energy, Jang Sam-tae did something that sold his body to feed his master and even ate away at his own life.

Thinking of it now, he gritted his teeth.

“Then just tell me where that human is!”

Mu Cheon-pung shouted without hesitation, holding a club. Although he hadn’t beaten him until now, if an answer did not come, he looked ready to do anything.

However, Jang Sam-tae was indifferent.

Since it was not as if he was experiencing this kind of thing for the first or second time in the first place.

“Ah, this old man is seriously annoying. If I knew, would I be doing this? I also have a lot built up, seriously!”

“Aren’t you his disciple!”

“If I could undo it, I would want to, why?!”

From Jang Sam-tae’s perspective, it was an unfair situation.

It was something that damn old man committed. He knew nothing. He had never lived luxuriously with the treasure stacked up by him, nor did he have memories of benefiting in any way.

Rather, if anything, he received more persecution, being called Geum Wang-su’s disciple and whatnot.

Look at last time too.

After doing what Geum Wang-su told him to leave behind without thinking, an unprecedented situation happened where Dan Woo-hyun was screwed over. If anyone asked Jang Sam-tae when he was most afraid until now, he would reply that it was that time, not a life-and-death fight.

“The method of questioning was wrong. Then, where was the last place you were together with your master?”

At that moment, Dan Woo-hyun, who was quietly watching the entire situation, spoke. He must have been inwardly frustrated with Mu Cheon-pung, who failed to draw out even a proper question for four hours already.

Even without that, most of those who were watching had gone inside one by one to seek sleep, tired of waiting.

Those remaining were at most Namgung Cheon, Jeok Mu-seong, and Sa Do-hak.

“Right! That’s what I want to ask!”

“You human! Speak quickly, quickly!”

“Where does a kid in age call someone this human and that human!”

Mu Cheon-pung shouted while huffing and puffing.

Looking at that appearance, Jang Sam-tae felt like talking to a young child.

Letting out a long sigh, he strongly pulled his waist and bent his neck like a shrimp, then soon pulled out a dagger from his waistband and cut the rope.

The moment he cut it with a thud, twisting his body and landing, the entire situation was a movement like looking at a nimble cat, so small exclamations burst out here and there.

“The place I was with that old man is Sichuan. Oof, I’m dying.”

Jang Sam-tae thumped his waist and frowned. Because he was upside down for a while, the blood rushed backward and his face was blue-black. If it were an ordinary person, they would have died already.

“Sichuan?”

“Yes yes, it is Sichuan, Sichuan.”

Jang Sam-tae sat down and thumped his body here and there.

Considerably much leisure was seen in each and every one of his actions.

“His liver is large indeed. If it is Sichuan, it is where the Tang Family is, yet Geum Wang-su was in such a place?”

“Hahaha, I had that thought too, you see. The place we hid was precisely a small mountain owned by the Sichuan Tang Family. It is commonly called Venom Mountain, probably a place where the Tang Family people occasionally visit to cultivate poison herbs and raise venomous snakes.”

“He… was in such a place?”

“Sigh…”

If it was Venom Mountain, Namgung Cheon or Sa Do-hak also knew of it. Although called a small mountain, it was not so in fact. Besides being close as it was attached to Sichuan’s Chengdu, its stem extended to Qingcheng.

From some boundary it was the Tang Family’s land and from some boundary it was Qingcheng’s territory, and disputes between the Sichuan Tang Family and Qingcheng over this did not cease.

Also, entry of people was forbidden to Venom Mountain, because as Jang Sam-tae said, all sorts of poison herbs and venomous creatures inhabited it.

“Yes, our boys entered there wondering if there was something, only to become corpses.”

“…There was much talk in Qingcheng. That they suffered damage because venomous creatures crossed over to Qingcheng and ran rampant.”

Sa Do-hak and Namgung Cheon let out long sighs.

Since the Sichuan Tang Family’s power was too great, this kind of thing and that kind of thing were bound to happen.

Furthermore, as expected of a family dealing with poison, even their personalities were so poisonous that there were many times he wanted to beat them to death occasionally.

“Anyway, we hid there. We dug a tunnel and blocked the entrance with a rock, hahaha! The fun of eating venomous snakes that occasionally entered was also…”

Namgung Cheon nodded, convinced.

Geum Wang-su was practically the public enemy of the entire martial world. Since he was in a situation where he was even targeted by the imperial court, places to hide would not have been that plentiful.

Under such circumstances, if it was the Sichuan Tang Family’s Venom Mountain, no one could easily enter, and the Sichuan Tang Family also would not think there was a person there, so was it not truly the darkness under the lamp?

“A smarter person than I thought, that Geum Wang-su fellow, that is.”

“Smart, my foot… that human’s hobby is teasing other people, and while teasing the Sichuan Tang Family bastards, he got trapped in Sichuan and had nowhere to go, so it ended up like that. Rotten thing… just thinking of it makes my teeth grit.”

Jang Sam-tae let out a sigh and shook his head.

Thinking of that time, he was so afraid his knees trembled. What could be scarier than the Tang Family’s humans chasing with gritted teeth and fleeing to avoid them?

When he tried to shake off his weary face while having such thoughts.

Flap, flap!

A carrier pigeon flew toward Dan Woo-hyun.

Its appearance landing softly on his shoulder was extremely natural.

Dan Woo-hyun casually pulled out and read the letter attached to the carrier pigeon.

Whether it was a considerably long content, he did not take his eyes off it for a long time.

Woosh!

Soon, the letter held in his hand became a pile of ashes instantly.

“What is the content?”

Namgung Cheon could not hold back his curiosity.

With only Dan Woo-hyun’s expressionless face, he could not guess at all what kind of matter this was.

“The Blood Heaven intends to launch an all-out offensive toward Sichuan.”

“…!”

“Umm… are they finally stepping forward?”

“I don’t know why it has to be that side of all places?”

Namgung Cheon, Sa Do-hak, and Jeok Mu-seong spoke while sharing opinions.

Even without that, to those who occasionally overheard the situation unfolding in Chongqing, this problem now was by no means something that could be thought of easily.

If Sichuan was breached, the Demonic Cult would be threatened and they would soon come to Hunan as well.

However, unlike them, there was also a person who had no thoughts at all.

Mu Cheon-pung asked while picking his ear with an expression as if he could not understand the seriousness.

“What is the Blood Heaven?”

A period of twenty years is indeed a long time.

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