Chapter 31: Chapter 31
The next day, the start of the day for the Flying Wind Merchant Guild was much earlier than usual.
This was because, to recover from the disaster that had occurred just yesterday, the servants were processing the corpses within the Flying Wind Merchant Guild and repairing the broken buildings.
“Everyone, let’s cheer up!”
“Then I will take charge of repairing the pavilion, so you please handle the corpses.”
Jeok-geom exchanged greetings with the servants walking around the Flying Wind Merchant Guild and muttered.
“Phew, the situation has become complicated.”
Originally, the mission given by the Mount Hua Sect was to protect the Flying Wind Merchant Guild from the pressure of the Supreme King Sect.
However, the situation had become strange.
They had found out that the White Ghost Castle was behind the Supreme King Sect, and in the end, it had become impossible to resolve with their own strength alone.
‘Although I sent a letter to the main sect, I wonder if we can hold out until then.’
A sigh naturally came out of him.
Since the opponent was the White Ghost Castle, it was incredibly difficult to hold out with their strength.
In the end, the power of the elders was needed.
And during that time, the only person who would protect the Flying Wind Merchant Guild and themselves was Cheon-hwi.
“We have no choice but to trust the Martial Uncle.”
As he walked while continuously thinking, he suddenly arrived in front of the room where Cheon-hwi was staying.
Following that, he knocked on the room door.
Knock, knock.
“Martial Uncle, have you woken up?”
Waiting for a moment, a rustling sound was heard from inside.
And a moment later, the door slid open.
Cheon-hwi, who appeared with an exceptionally messy appearance, scratched his head and opened his mouth.
“Yawn, what is it? Is the food ready already?”
Jeok-geom smiled awkwardly.
“Yes. Everything is ready.”
“Really? Understood.”
Cheon-hwi immediately slammed the door shut.
Jeok-geom, who stared bewilderingly at the firmly closed door, whispered reluctantly.
“…It should be fine, right?”
A quarter of an hour later, inside the pavilion of the Flying Wind Merchant Guild.
Munch, munch…
Cheon-hwi was rapidly eating the food neatly placed in front of him.
In particular, he was mainly using his chopsticks on the pork dish, Red Braised Pork, and the duck meat dish, Soy Sauce Duck.
‘The seasoning has seeped in well.’
He was in a good mood.
The food, which had become even more luxurious than the meal that had arrived last night, satisfied him.
“As expected, meat is best in the morning.”
The Plum Blossom Swordsmen smiled awkwardly.
There was no meat in front of them, and instead, it was full of vegetables.
No, this was originally the correct thing.
Unless they were registered disciples, most of the main mountain’s disciples ate like this.
At that time, Jeok-bi, who had been studying the reactions of his martial juniors, stealthily used his chopsticks.
Jeok-jae, who saw Jeok-bi secretly trying to pick up the Red Braised Pork, glared fiercely.
“Martial Senior.”
“Since Martial Uncle is also eating, just one…”
“I will tell our Master.”
Jeok-bi immediately withdrew his chopsticks.
“Hahaha, Martial Junior, really. It was just a joke. A joke.”
Jeok-bi spoke while laughing, but on the inside, he was shedding tears of blood.
‘That inflexible bastard.’
Around the time Jeok-bi was inwardly cursing Jeok-jae.
“I sent a letter to the Mount Hua Sect. The reply will arrive in about ten days…”
Right when Go Gye-yeong, who had finished his meal first, brought up the topic while looking at Cheon-hwi.
Murmur, murmur…
The outside suddenly became noisy.
Following that, the sound of running from afar was heard, and then the closed door slid open as a man urgently entered.
“G-Guild Leader!”
Go Gye-yeong’s brow furrowed.
He had told them not to disturb since he was serving a banquet to the benefactors who had helped the guild, yet this action of suddenly opening the door.
His gentle atmosphere completely changed, and he soon shouted at the man.
“What is the matter during the meal!”
Normally it would have been a situation to apologize and step back, but the man urgently opened his mouth.
“T-The Supreme King Sect…”
As the word ‘Supreme King Sect’ was heard, Go Gye-yeong’s expression momentarily became fierce.
“Did the Supreme King Sect invade?”
At those words, the Plum Blossom Swordsmen and Yeon Su-ran, who had been eating, sprang up from their seats.
“N-No. The Supreme King Sect…!”
Go Gye-yeong, who was looking at the man panting while speaking as if out of breath, could not hold back and shouted while grabbing his shoulders.
“Just what happened to the Supreme King Sect!”
The man’s face turned pale blue at Go Gye-yeong’s intimidation, and he began to tremble as if the aura was too much to handle.
Yeon Su-ran and Jeok-geom, who saw the appearance of the man losing consciousness, stopped Go Gye-yeong.
“H-Husband.”
“Father! He will die at this rate!”
Go Gye-yeong, whose eyes had rolled back, seemed to have regained his senses, letting go of his hand and calling the man.
“A-Are you alright?”
“H-Heuk! I am fine.”
The man, who had been in a daze and regained his senses, opened his eyes wide at Go Gye-yeong’s words.
In the slightly calmer atmosphere, Go Gye-yeong faced the man and asked carefully, unlike how he had cornered him earlier.
“What happened to the Supreme King Sect?”
The man momentarily widened his eyes.
“T-The Supreme King Sect has been annihilated!”
“…!”
The inside of the room was in an uproar.
“What?”
“A-Annihilation?”
“What does that…”
Starting with Go Gye-yeong, the Plum Blossom Swordsmen and Yeon Su-ran were extremely shocked.
Soon, Go Gye-yeong asked to confirm.
“I-Is that true?”
“It is. Even I, who heard the rumor, found it hard to believe and went to see, but people were gathered there. It seemed to have been annihilated overnight.”
Go Gye-yeong’s mind went blank.
The Supreme King Sect was a giant sect that ranked within the top five in Shaanxi Province, and the number of its disciples alone reached five hundred.
But to be annihilated overnight.
Then, suddenly, Go Gye-yeong thought of one man.
“W-What happened to the Supreme King Sect Leader?”
“He is presumed dead.”
For a moment, silence flowed in the room.
Who was the Supreme King Sect Leader.
He was an outstanding master to the point that it was difficult to find a match for him within Shaanxi Province, and on top of that, he possessed excellent skills, having grown the Supreme King Sect to its current position.
But he died?
Just what kind of master…
They, who were having the exact same thought, simultaneously thought of one person and flinched.
Swish…
Following that, the gazes of everyone except the man naturally gathered in one place.
Munch, munch…
Cheon-hwi frowned at their gazes looking at him and opened his mouth.
“What are you looking at? Is it your first time seeing a person eat?”
* * *
A person wearing a blue-and-white Daoist robe was walking around the Supreme King Sect as if it were his own home.
“To think the rumor was true…”
Ha Woo-jin’s face stiffened.
He had urgently visited upon hearing the news that the Supreme King Sect was annihilated, but the situation was more serious.
Corpses were piled up like mountains everywhere, and the blood they shed had dried on the dirt ground, circulating a red hue.
“…How terrible.”
While speaking, he wrinkled his nose.
He merely moved his lips, but the stench of rotting corpses tormented his sense of smell.
Soon, he looked around while covering his nose.
The state of the corpses was gruesome.
Their heads had exploded, or their neck bones were broken.
And the other side not only had holes all over their bodies, but they had also died with sharp iron pieces embedded in their bodies.
‘Is it a hidden weapon?’
Ha Woo-jin picked up a fallen iron piece and scanned it.
Around the time he frowned while looking at the iron piece that was too crude to be called a hidden weapon.
“Why has the Flying Swallow Sword Lord traveled all the way to a place like this?”
At the familiar voice, he snapped his head back.
Beyond a distance of four zhang, a middle-aged man with a sly smile was standing.
“…Silver-Hand Beheader.”
Ha Woo-jin put down the iron piece and stood up.
“What about you, what business do you have coming all the way here?”
“Hahaha, I had some business recently, and while passing through this place, I heard the rumor.”
“You had business nearby?”
Ha Woo-jin’s face stiffened slightly.
The Silver-Hand Beheader was one of the Four Directional Lords that the White Ghost Castle boasted.
If it was a matter that required someone like him to move personally, it was clearly not an ordinary matter.
‘Could it be…’
Ha Woo-jin glared at him and spoke.
“Is this your doing?”
“You ask if it’s my doing? Kehahaha!”
The Silver-Hand Beheader burst into loud laughter.
Meanwhile, Ha Woo-jin added his words.
“Didn’t the White Ghost Castle step forward because it felt pressured by the Supreme King Sect expanding its power?”
In an instant, the laughter stopped abruptly.
“The joke has gone too far.”
“Do you think it’s a joke?”
The Silver-Hand Beheader’s face turned cold.
“Are you looking down on the White Ghost Castle right now?”
“…It’s a one in ten thousand assumption.”
The two engaged in a strange battle of nerves.
However, even so, they neither dug deeper nor pressured further.
This was because the moment they crossed this line, it would immediately mean an all-out war.
After staring at each other for a while like that, surprisingly, the Silver-Hand Beheader stepped back first.
“If you had examined this place, wouldn’t you know that it wasn’t my doing?”
“…”
Ha Woo-jin kept his mouth shut.
He already knew that the Silver-Hand Beheader was not the culprit behind this disaster.
Since there was no way he would leave traces like this.
Ha Woo-jin sharply turned his body.
Since he was not the culprit, there was no need to deal with him, and he did not even want to make eye contact with a person related to the White Ghost Castle.
‘I must find the culprit before the Silver-Hand Beheader does.’
Around the time Ha Woo-jin, whose mind had become impatient at the appearance of the Silver-Hand Beheader, searched the surrounding corpses looking for remaining traces of martial arts.
Whoosh…
The Silver-Hand Beheader shifted his gaze.
What he was looking at was a corpse with the most gruesome appearance among the corpses piled up like a mountain.
Its skin was torn to shreds, and its eyeballs and internal organs were popping out.
The Silver-Hand Beheader looked at the corpse that had once been called the Wheel-Turning Blade and had made a name for itself.
‘Just what in the world is happening? As if it wasn’t enough that the Cold-Faced Blade Ghost died at the Flying Wind Merchant Guild, for the Supreme King Sect to be annihilated.’
Unlike the words he spoke while tossing jokes at Ha Woo-jin, his mind was dizzy.
The reason he had left the White Ghost Castle and come all the way here was to continue to the next stage after the Supreme King Sect’s mission, but…
‘To be massacred.’
In a situation where a mission that was bound to succeed had failed, he felt his throat burning.
Furthermore, the price of failure was high.
Although it did not matter that the Cold-Faced Blade Ghost was a discarded pawn from the White Ghost Castle, the Supreme King Sect was a place they had put a lot of effort into nurturing.
The Silver-Hand Beheader, who had been observing the surroundings for a short while like that, was able to find out some information.
‘The culprit is one person…’
The Silver-Hand Beheader’s brow narrowed.
Looking at the traces nearby, he knew that a single person had committed this disaster, but…
There were more than one or two strange points.
‘To think there is not a single trace of having used martial arts among the traces.’
His head was spinning.
The Supreme King Sect was not a small sect.
To massacre an amount of personnel of this level of combat power in just one night, even he would have no choice but to leave traces.
‘Just who would do such a thing…’
While the Silver-Hand Beheader absolutely could not grasp the identity of the culprit, Ha Woo-jin was also in a state of being completely in the dark.
There were no traces of martial arts, but the traces left on the surrounding corpses were horrific.
“Such cruel methods.”
His impression naturally furrowed.
Methods were methods, but the traces of the remaining corpses were simply horrific. The traces of toying with hundreds of people meant that a one-sided massacre had occurred.
‘This is not a figure of the Righteous Faction.’
He concluded.
However, anyone who saw the state of the Supreme King Sect would think similarly.
Having finished his thoughts like that, he turned his body to leave the Supreme King Sect.
At the same time, the Silver-Hand Beheader also moved.
‘I must inform the Castle Lord.’
There was no longer any use in staying here.
Rather than that, he had to make up for the losses suffered due to the collapse of the Supreme King Sect.
A moment later, after leaving the Supreme King Sect, the two departed on their respective paths in opposite directions.
While having the exact same thought that this culprit would be a figure of the Unorthodox Faction or a demonic practitioner.
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