Chapter 109: Chapter 109
Hao Sect!
This sect, whose name meant ‘the lowest and the dirtiest,’ was a sect that had only been known to Jianghu for barely two hundred years, but its influence was immense.
An information network that stood shoulder to shoulder with the Beggars’ Sect.
And exactly one method of transaction.
And that method of transaction was the most heterogeneous and unique method.
Which was.
‘As long as money is given, they would sell any information without asking who the other party was.’
Whether they were the Orthodox Faction or the Unorthodox Faction.
Or even if they were a public enemy of the Murim, they did not pry into the buyer’s information.
If money was given, they simply sold.
How astonishing was this?
To have the audacity to do business targeting the Orthodox Faction, the Unorthodox Faction, and the public enemies of the Murim.
If one of the sects found out that information had been sold to a hostile sect, it would be justifiable for them to be exterminated, but…
The Hao Sect remained robust to this day.
There might be many reasons, but if one were to point them out, they could be summarized into a total of four.
First, they only engaged in transactions.
Second, they built trust by treating everyone equally, regardless of whether they were orthodox or unorthodox.
Third, it was because everything about the Hao Sect was kept a secret.
Who the Sect Leader was.
How many members there were.
Where their main base was located.
And finally, the decisive reason was an incident that had occurred in the past.
In the past, a few sects who harbored a grudge because their information was sold to hostile forces had conspired and attempted to attack them.
However, the Hao Sect, having obtained information from somewhere, had already fled, and they retreated after swallowing their regret.
And the next day, the corruption, evil deeds, and hidden shameful secrets of the sects that had attacked the Hao Sect became known to Jianghu.
When the ugly aspects of those known as gentlemen were revealed, they fell into ruin.
Was that all?
In order to completely finish them off, the Hao Sect handed over all of their weaknesses and information to those who had been vigilantly watching for an opportunity.
Like that, all the sects that had attacked the Hao Sect were completely exterminated within half a month.
Without the Hao Sect even lifting a finger.
After that incident, let alone the Nine Provinces Three Supreme Powers, no sect truly touched the Hao Sect, and they turned a blind eye.
On the surface, it was for reasons such as being neutral or what not, but their inner thoughts were completely different.
Because they did not know the exact true nature of the Hao Sect, it was out of fear that if they rashly attacked, they might ‘suffer the same fate as those guys’.
It was understandable, as no sect could be completely clean, could they?
Because of this, all sects, including the Nine Provinces Three Supreme Powers, had no choice but to acknowledge and tolerate the existence of the Hao Sect.
As the only neutral sect in Jianghu.
“Here is the mark of the Hao Sect…”
The man quickly took out a cloth symbolizing the mark of a Hao Sect disciple from his sleeve and unfurled it.
“Now, please look.”
Upon seeing the silk engraved with the phrase written as ‘Hao’, Cheon-hwi opened his mouth.
“And so?”
Cheon-hwi looked at the man rummaging through his sleeve with a gaze that seemed to say, ‘What are you talking about?’.
Hao Sect? Where was that?
Perhaps it was a matter of course.
It was about two hundred years ago that the Hao Sect truly began to reveal its presence in Jianghu.
It was an event that occurred during the gap of about three hundred years between Cheon-hwi’s past life and his rebirth into his current life.
Because of that, he had absolutely no idea what kind of sect the Hao Sect was, or what its position was.
However, the man, unaware of such reasons, stammered with a flustered face.
“Y-Yes?”
“What does you being a Hao Sect disciple have to do with this matter being unrelated to you?”
In an instant, the man lost his words.
Experiencing such a case of fault-finding for the first time, the man was in a difficult position.
Meanwhile, Cheon-hwi met his eyes.
Two pupils glistening like a snake.
Seeing his gaze that was like that of a predator, the focus of the man’s pupils blurred, and soon his facial muscles relaxed.
‘It’s been a while, but it works well.’
Cheon-hwi, who had utilized the Soul-Snatching Demonic Command Art, asked in a low voice.
“The Hao Sect orchestrated this, right?”
“Hic! N-No, it is not!”
As if his fear towards Cheon-hwi had deeply taken root, the man flinched and shrank his neck every time he moved his fingers.
‘I need to blabber anything.’
Feeling a momentary threat to his life, the man urgently moved his mouth.
“G-Great man! Do you perhaps not know about the Hao Sect?”
“It’s my first time hearing… Ah!”
As Cheon-hwi let out a short exclamation as if he had remembered something, the man smiled.
“Phew, thankfully you know…”
“It’s the place that the Iron Sword Qi Hero previously told me to visit when I wanted to find him.”
However, at Cheon-hwi’s words that immediately followed, the young man’s smile completely washed away.
Instead, he opened his eyes wide.
“Oh my! So you were a guest of the Great Hero.”
The young man’s expression smoothly relaxed.
No, rather, he held a bright smile on his lips as if he was welcoming Cheon-hwi.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I am Sang Yeo, a Hao Sect disciple of the Shaanxi Branch.”
What is this?
Cheon-hwi looked at Sang Yeo, who was suddenly acting close, with a dumbfounded gaze.
At that time, Sang Yeo spoke as if he was excited.
“To tell you the inside story of why I came here, I came to confirm after receiving an order that the movements of the people who recently bought this inn were strange. So upon checking, most of them were experts…”
Sang Yeo smoothly spilled the information.
He seems to know a lot of information?
Cheon-hwi quietly watched Sang Yeo chattering incessantly, and then brought over an intact chair placed next to him and sat down comfortably.
“You suffered by yourself.”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying! The Branch Leader also needs to know that I’m wandering around until my feet are on fire! Actually, to give you detailed information, the people who bought this inn last night suddenly appeared out of nowhere and chased everyone out…”
The information that Sang Yeo spoke of was quite useful.
It was quite detailed, as if he had investigated for a fairly long time rather than just a day or two.
“They were all considerable experts. I prided myself that the Lightness Arts I learned were also quite outstanding, but it seemed like most of them caught on, so I had to stay in hiding… Ah! Of course, compared to you, Great Hero, it is nothing but a drop in the bucket!”
Sang Yeo continued to answer, and Cheon-hwi asked questions he was curious about in between.
Through several rounds of questions and answers like that, Cheon-hwi obtained a lot of information.
“Do you know where they came from?”
“I don’t know about that. They suddenly appeared abruptly as if they sprang up from the ground.”
The speaking Sang Yeo shook his head.
“The only thing I do know is roughly that they belong to the Unorthodox Faction, not the Orthodox Faction.”
They are indeed guys from the Unorthodox Faction.
Cheon-hwi also internally agreed with those words.
The martial arts of the figures who attacked this time possessed the killing intent and vigor unique to the Unorthodox Faction.
“Then is there anywhere you suspect?”
“Actually, there are a few places where the identities of these people are suspected…”
At that moment, Sang Yeo spoke cautiously.
Lest someone might be listening, he checked his surroundings and quietly whispered.
“Actually, how many places would have the financial power to secretly send this level of experts and immediately buy an inn with urgent funds? If there are any, it would only be a few places.”
The speaking Sang Yeo read the room.
“It would have to be around the level of the Nine Great Sects and One Gang, the Eight Great Clans, and the Five Imperial Sects, which are the main pillars of the Nine Provinces Three Supreme Powers. However, there is no way they would have moved, and if so, there are not many places left in the world…”
Sang Yeo briefly paused his words.
“Where is it?”
At Cheon-hwi’s question, Sang Yeo flinched.
Then, after rolling his eyes back and forth, he cautiously whispered into Cheon-hwi’s ear.
“…It is the Outer Realms or the Imperial Family.”
Cheon-hwi’s eyes narrowed.
It was exactly what he had been expecting.
Was it not none other than Princess So-hui that the attackers primarily targeted?
“Where did you think it was?”
“That is…”
Sang Yeo, who was about to answer, flinched.
At the same time, his face stiffened, and his complexion turned completely pale.
‘Why did I so earnestly speak of information?’
No matter how much he felt a threat to his life, spilling information so smoothly did not make sense.
Because to a Hao Sect disciple, information was more expensive and heavier than their life.
Even more so, wasn’t this important information?
He naturally should have consistently feigned ignorance or found another method, but to smoothly spill information like this…
‘It’s a nonsensical thing… Could it be!’
The moment the startled Sang Yeo came to his senses.
‘Did he already come to his senses?’
Cheon-hwi looked at Sang Yeo, who had lost his reason, and stroked his chin once.
‘As expected, does performing it without demonic qi reduce its efficacy?’
It was the Soul-Snatching Demonic Command Art that dug into the gap when the opponent’s mental strength was chipped away, making them only answer questions.
However, perhaps it was because it wasn’t demonic qi.
The Soul-Snatching Demonic Command Art wore off faster than he had thought.
‘Even so, if I were to infuse more energy than this, his mind would collapse.’
Cheon-hwi looked at Sang Yeo.
His face was already a mess.
His unfocused pupils were staring into the void, and the drool flowing from his mouth trickled down, soaking his lapels.
‘Well, it doesn’t matter if he dies. Since it’s an information sect anyway… Ah!’
At that time, a single thought flashed across Cheon-hwi’s mind like lightning.
Smirk…
Cheon-hwi, who had somehow formed an insidious smile on his lips, undid the Soul-Snatching Demonic Command Art.
After a short while, focus began to form in Sang Yeo’s blurred pupils.
“Sss, ugh!”
Coming to his senses, he hurriedly wiped the drool flowing down his mouth and then clutched his head.
Cheon-hwi looked at Sang Yeo, who was complaining of a headache, and spat out words.
“If the information you spoke of just now is correct, then the identity of the attackers would be the Imperial Family. No, to be precise, they would be the mastermind.”
“…!”
Sang Yeo attained a mysterious experience of his headache disappearing in an instant.
At the same time, his brain spun extraordinarily.
‘Being so certain like that?’
The pupils of the thinking Sang Yeo shook greatly, and then he glared his eyes wide.
‘Could it be…!’
Not only the young man in front of him, but the group he had come with were people he had never seen before in his life.
And they were experts who were hard to find.
‘There are not many places in the world that can foster such experts. If there are any, they would be the Nine Great Sects and One Gang, the Eight Great Clans, the Five Imperial Sects, and…’
Cold sweat formed on Sang Yeo’s forehead.
“…Were you people from the Imperial Family?”
Cheon-hwi raised the corners of his mouth.
He had been waiting for exactly this question.
“Do you know of Princess So-hui?”
“…!”
Sang Yeo was shocked out of his wits.
Who was Princess So-hui?
She was a direct blood relative of the Emperor, and a woman known as the treasured daughter of the Qinghai Province Lord.
And the one who recently visited the Mount Hua Sect…
Whip!
Sang Yeo whipped his head around.
“Could it be that Princess So-hui…”
Sang Yeo’s lips trembled violently.
‘Damn it! Branch Leader! T-This, we provoked the wrong people!’
He had thought that these people who suddenly appeared were not ordinary, but it was no small matter.
For it to be a matter intertwined with the Imperial Family!
Gulp…
Dry saliva slid down his throat.
“I, I did not see anything…”
The moment Sang Yeo was about to take a step back.
“It’s already too late.”
Cheon-hwi stood up from his chair.
“What do you think will happen if the Imperial Family finds out about this matter? A Hao Sect disciple who simply left when Princess So-hui was in danger, the Imperial Family will surely be very pleased.”
Sang Yeo’s complexion turned blue.
It was completely a self-inflicted bad move.
The words that he had done nothing did not mean that he had stayed still even when Princess So-hui was attacked, did it!
Cheon-hwi smiled at the situation flowing according to his will and opened his mouth.
“Do you want to become enemies with the Imperial Family like this?”
Sang Yeo shook his head as if his neck would fall off. Enemies with the Imperial Family!
Unless they were crazy, who would do it?
“Or do you want to hold hands?”
“…!”
Sang Yeo’s eyes shook.
If he became close to the Imperial Family, his life would now be no different from a smooth, wide road.
He immediately struck his forehead on the floor.
“I, I will do anything.”
“You know the way to Qinghai Province, right?”
“I know at least that much, but…”
“Not just any path, what about a hidden path?”
“If it’s a hidden path…”
“A path that only the Hao Sect knows.”
Cheon-hwi gently stared at Sang Yeo.
If it was an information sect that stood shoulder to shoulder with the Beggars’ Sect, it was certain that they possessed their own independent paths.
Only then would they be able to transmit information as quickly as possible and run away at any time.
And that thought.
“…Do I just need to guide you?”
Was spot on.
“That is fine.”
Cheon-hwi continued to add his words.
“And one more thing. Please deliver my words separately to my group right now.”
“If it is words…”
“You just need to deliver it like this.”
Cheon-hwi grinned with his words.
* * *
“Phew, we have now taken care of everyone.”
“We took care of everyone!”
Princess So-hui smiled, stroking the head of So-ryeong, who had blood smeared around her mouth.
“You did well. So-ryeong.”
“Yeah!”
“How about over the…”
Sim Wi Jin, who had been looking at the two, turned his gaze toward Jeok-geom and Seol Ran, and then paused.
‘So they are indeed Plum Blossom Swordsmen.’
Jeok-geom and Seol Ran were standing atop the corpses with neat appearances.
If they did not have bloodstained swords in their hands, they were so clean that one would not think they had been engaged in a bloody battle until a little while ago.
Meanwhile, Jeok-geom and Seol Ran also found it difficult to swallow their shock internally.
‘Were the martial arts of the Imperial Family that outstanding?’
‘The sword art was also amazing, but the martial art that freely handled silver threads was…’
The throats of the two bobbed.
At that time, feeling a presence right behind their backs, the two whipped their bodies around.
At the reaction of the two people, Sang Yeo threw both of his hands up and shouted.
“I, I am not an enemy!”
Shouting urgently, he looked at Princess So-hui and immediately knelt down.
“This lowly one greets Princess So-hui.”
Princess So-hui’s eyes frowned.
“How did you know that I am Princess So-hui?”
“The Great Hero informed me.”
“Great Hero…?”
Great Hero, who was that?
Just as Princess So-hui was falling into doubt.
“And there are words that the Great Hero conveyed separately to the Princess and to you all.”
Sang Yeo jerked his head up and moved his lips before they could even react.
“He said that he would go take care of the mastermind forces, so to go ahead and wait in Qinghai Province.”
At that moment, everyone in the group could figure out who the Great Hero that Sang Yeo was speaking of was.
“This brat!”
“Ah, Martial Uncle.”
“Young Hero?”
Meanwhile, Cheon-hwi, who was separated from the group, hummed while enjoying his freedom after a long time.
“I have good luck.”
A smile hung on Cheon-hwi’s lips.
Although he had inevitably gone on the journey, he had actually not wanted to go to Qinghai Province.
To be precise, he did not want to be entangled with the Imperial Family.
‘Even just the Divine Cult alone…’
Recalling it, he felt disgusted.
The acts of trying to interfere with the transactions, and the spies and assassins they occasionally sent over.
The Imperial Family were guys who, if they took a liking to something, whether it be a person or an object, would try to get their hands on it by any means, and if they couldn’t possess it, they would try to break it.
‘There would have been absolutely nothing good about being entangled with the Imperial Family bastards, so this worked out well.’
The laughing him put the cloth that Sang Yeo had earnestly requested him to take before leaving into his sleeve.
“Still, I must keep the words I spat out, right?”
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