Chapter 181: Demonic Cult Plots

With outsiders coming and going and the number of people settling down increasing, the quiet Samyang County was filled with vitality every day.

Naturally, disturbances occurred and accidents and incidents increased, but since it was proof of the town’s prosperity, the opposition to it was not large.

Most of those who settled down were martial artists, and not long ago, a band of bandits (?) had flocked in, which could have made the public sentiment grim, but as Baek Jin-seong, the chief of the Baek Family Escort, actively stepped forward, the dispute was easily resolved.

Samyang County’s trust in the Baek Family Escort was extremely firm.

However, one characteristic of the existing small town had clearly disappeared.

People with a foreign presence who would have stood out immediately in the past; even though outsiders were walking around the town, no one paid attention to them.

Three men, clearly martial artists judging by their sturdy builds, scanned their surroundings sharply.

“This is the place, right?”

“We investigated it together. According to the investigation, this must be it.”

“What a small and cluttered place. What’s so good about a place like this? Tsk!”

They were not of gentle temperaments by nature. Moreover, a sort of hostility toward Samyang County was subtly mixed in their demeanor.

Perhaps reading that vibe, the one with the most calm impression among the three warned them sternly.

“Don’t even think about causing trouble. Nothing good comes from drawing attention.”

“Tsk!”

In that way, the three men exuding a strange atmosphere lingered around Samyang County.

***

“Everyone is busy.”

As the population grew and the town became lively, everyone became frantically busy.

As a result, the time spent socializing with others decreased.

For example, Lady Tang Sa-yeon.

‘I did go a bit too far.’

Although various circumstances had gotten tangled, there was no denying that I had left her neglected for too long.

Perhaps because she had accumulated a lot of grievances, I had to watch a young lady throw a drunken fit.

I knew that handling medicine was not easy, but I did not know it would be this difficult.

Somehow, the sight of her being completely wasted felt a bit unnatural, though.

‘The Baek Family Escort is beyond busy; it’s a crucible of chaos.’

Right now, the Baek Family Escort was literally a demon’s den.

It was to the point where Baek Mu-ho complained that it was rather easier when the escort agencies of Hubei had gathered.

It was a daily routine for him to drop by occasionally and grab me by the collar, telling me to help out with some work.

If Beom-gak had been around, Baek Mu-ho would have put him to good use, but that guy had smartly run off to the Bright Fate Escort Agency.

Above all, it was hard to see Sister Seol-ah’s face lately, as if she had something going on.

The same went for Yi Hwa.

‘Is it unavoidable for Yi Hwa?’

Among the bandits who followed Yi Gyeong-cheon, some were demonic practitioners rooted in the Demonic Cult, but the majority were those who had encountered demonic arts in the Central Plains and fled to the mountains to become bandits.

In other words, they were demonic practitioners, yet not truly demonic practitioners.

It meant they were fellows in need of mental discipline.

I thought Old Man Jong or the Heavenly Demon’s Personal Guard would step forward, but like practitioners working on the front lines, they were inexperienced in such matters.

Consequently, Yi Hwa had no choice but to suffer.

Senior Jang Mun-gyeong and Lady Jang So-wol seemed to have settled down at the Bright Fate Escort Agency, but their outings were frequent.

That was also why the fellow Beom-gak had run off to the Bright Fate Escort Agency.

According to Beom-gak, it felt like they were chasing information related to the Blood Cult.

I wondered if there was some sort of grudge, but since it was not something to ask carelessly, I restrained myself.

Thanks to that, I could also focus on my personal training and restoring the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.

“Master Zhang Sanfeng.”

[Why?]

“Is something going on with Master Bodhidharma?”

Being able to comfortably converse with my masters like this was a bonus.

Master Zhang Sanfeng chuckled.

[Why? Is he pestering you to go to Kunlun?]

“Yes.”

[Well, that’s just how the life of a debtor is.]

“……I feel like I’ve heard something terrifying.”

Is there a Yeomwangchae in heaven as well?

The place called heaven is truly a terrifying place the more one knows about it.

‘It sounds like Master Bodhidharma owes a debt to someone…’

Somehow, it felt like Master Zhang Sanfeng knew exactly who that person was.

And considering Master Bodhidharma’s words and actions, as well as the structure of heaven, it did not seem to be a simple relationship between a creditor and a debtor.

“What do you think? Shall we take a trip to Kunlun as Master Bodhidharma suggested?”

[It is not bad. It is a place that can be considered the domain of the Queen Mother of the West. Since she likes to look after you in various ways, she might hand you a few treasures.]

“Aha……”

It did not seem like he just knew about it.

‘At this rate, Master Zhang Sanfeng must be involved as well, right?’

I wondered how heaven handled allegations of bribery among officials, but I quickly brushed the thought aside.

Because looking into it now would be meaningless.

Unless, of course, I could use it later as leverage for vacation negotiations when I ascend to heaven and work with my masters.

For now, let’s set it aside.

‘Still, he is better than Master Bodhidharma. At least he peddles his medicine while presenting a benefit I could actually gain. Though even that is only at a second-rate level…’

[Kunlun, being called a spiritual mountain, is also a treasury of spiritual herbs. You can find spiritual herbs of almost any property there. Naturally, there will be plenty of ingredients needed to turn the flat peaches into spiritual elixirs.]

‘……Correction. He is a top-rate medicine peddler indeed.’

He had accurately pierced my vital spot.

Perhaps he had noticed my intention of testing him from the very beginning.

But thanks to that, my mind leaned heavily toward the idea that I should visit at least once.

“Kunlun……”

I knew that Mount Kunlun was located in Qinghai, beyond Sichuan. Moreover, it was situated near the very edge of Qinghai.

The journey to Sichuan was already long and arduous, which meant that Mount Kunlun would be an even rougher and more distant journey.

That was why I could not make an immediate decision despite leaning so far.

As I was walking along the outskirts of the town to organize my thoughts, unfamiliar people caught my eye.

“……I haven’t seen those faces before.”

Although unfamiliar people had increased recently as the town’s population grew, they were clearly distinct existences.

‘Demonic practitioners.’

After learning the Heavenly Demon Kalpaless Hand, I could clearly distinguish demonic practitioners who had learned demonic arts.

No matter how hard they tried to conceal the unique temperament of demonic arts, it was clearly felt.

With the demonic practitioners who had settled down with Old Man Jong and those under Yi Gyeong-cheon, there were already many demonic practitioners in Samyang County.

It was probably the place where the largest number of demonic practitioners gathered, excluding the Demonic Cult’s headquarters.

The problem was that these demonic practitioners were faces I had never seen before.

‘Suspicious……’

Thinking that I should check them out first, I approached them.

Their gazes grew sharp enough for even someone without any intuition to notice.

‘Intimidation?’

An expert’s gaze carried weight. It could make an ordinary person collapse on the spot and wet their pants.

Although they did not openly unleash a killing strike, it was an action that could well be considered a hostile act.

Their reaction was as rough as their outward suspiciousness.

‘They are not Yi Gyeong-cheon’s subordinates.’

While I might not recognize Yi Gyeong-cheon’s subordinates, it was impossible for the demonic practitioners under him not to recognize me.

Furthermore, Yi Gyeong-cheon’s subordinates were currently undergoing mental discipline under Yi Hwa, and their highest priority training was not causing trouble to the local community.

“Are you from out of town?”

The brow of the one who was projecting his momentum at me twitched. It was like the reaction of someone who had been ignored.

It felt like looking at someone from a wild land where the law did not apply.

“And if we are?”

The reply was laced with a foreign dialect.

Although my knowledge was too narrow to pinpoint the region, they were definitely not from Hubei or Hunan.

[It is a dialect of the western kids. If I had to classify it, somewhere near Tibet?]

‘Thank you for the kind explanation.’

Unlike me, Master Zhang Sanfeng, who had broad knowledge, recognized it immediately.

‘Wait? Near Tibet? Demonic practitioners who learned demonic arts? Could it be?’

Hearing about their origin, something clicked in my mind.

“Why? Are you curious about where we came from as well?”

Rather than that, I became curious about why they had come here.

Did my thoughts show on my face?

“Die!!”

Suddenly, the face of the man with the murderous expression appeared large.

This was not a simple descriptive expression. His face literally appeared large.

It meant he had approached that closely.

Thud!

He rammed his body forward at close range without warning.

His shoulder aimed for my heart, and his head, thrust forward along with it, aimed for my philtrum.

It was a killing blow that could have killed me on the spot if it had connected properly.

However, since I had already grasped his movements through the Taiji Line, I deflected the shoulder attack and met the headbutt aimed at my philtrum with a headbutt of my own, drawing my body back to dissipate the impact.

Having stepped back a good five paces, I rubbed my throbbing forehead and spoke.

“Seeing how I end up using my head quite often, maybe I should have undergone training in the Iron Head Art.”

[I shall pass that along to that fellow Bodhidharma.]

Did they say that smashing about a thousand stones was just the entry level?

Surely the reason Shaolin monks shaved their hair completely clean wasn’t to facilitate their Iron Head Art training?

While I was worrying about hair health, the voices of the demonic practitioners rose.

“What do you think you’re doing!”

“That guy, he noticed! I can tell just by looking at him! He had a face that noticed!!”

Perhaps because they were excited, they spoke in short bursts. The lack of people around also seemed to influence their decision, as they held nothing back.

“If he noticed, we must kill him!”

Leaping like a beast targeting its prey, he extended an attack.

However, the attack was somewhat unfamiliar.

‘Elbow?’

In close-quarter combat where one’s forehead almost touches the opponent’s, elbows and knees are effective.

However, if it was an attack unleashed while narrowing a distance of more than five paces, martial arts that fully extended the arm were usually effective.

‘It is like an axe chop.’

That was the impression I got while evading the attacks pouring down in an instant.

It exuded a determination to smash and split anything head-on.

True to martial arts from ‘that side,’ their dynamic and domineering forms had a different feel from the martial arts of the Nine Great Sects.

Yet, seeing how stable their physical balance was, it was clear that their martial art had also been refined over a long period to reach its current state.

‘So you want to play rough?’

Not that orthodox martial arts were inferior, though.

Fierce and dynamic techniques existed within the Nine Great Sects’ martial arts as well.

Thump! Thwack!

I also raised my elbow and clashed head-on.

However, I was not clashing in a simple, brainless manner.

‘Have you ever heard of the Soft Vajra?’

The moment we clashed, the technique of the Soft Vajra absorbed the impact.

When clashing again, it released the absorbed impact and struck back even harder.

While I dissipated and redirected the received impact, the opponent was enduring it with his body.

As the exchange grew longer, the one who would gain the upper hand was bound to be me—

‘……Uh?’

Just like my elbow area dyeing in a clayish-yellow color, the opponent’s skin also began to blacken all over, as if black ink had been sprinkled on it.

Crack! Thud!

Perhaps this was also a unique body-hardening technique, as the sound of the clashing exchanges took on a different quality.

‘Look at this?’

He was not a guy who just went wild brainlessly.

The opponent also realized it.

Thwack!!

The demonic practitioner, pushed back by the recoil of the clash, glared at me with wide eyes.

“A Shaolin disciple, I see.”

“If you knew, you’d be shocked.”

I smirked at the demonic practitioner’s comment, which sounded as if he had fully figured out my identity.

‘Let’s do this properly from now on.’

The playing around ends here.

I drew up a power that would shock them.