Chapter 169: v7c19 - Where Sin Pools
Volume 7 Chapter 19 – Where Sin Pools
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“If there is anyone who wants to speak with this Eldest Young Master, step forward.”
After Yeon So-hyeon blew apart Red-Armored Pig of the Three-Five Union, there was no one who rashly stepped forward right away. ….
Those of the forward base were likewise astonished by the martial prowess Yeon So-hyeon displayed.
[The Eldest Young Master possessed such martial prowess? Did you know?]
When the fake monk sent a transmission, the donkey-nose shook his head with a pale face.
[I did not know either.]
The fake monk took off the Buddhist prayer beads hanging around his neck and chanted a prayer.
[…Amitabha. As the shamanesses said, is the Eldest Young Master truly ‘that person’ referred to in the ‘Rock-Leaf Clay-Shard Text’?]
[…That might indeed be the case.]
The fake monk and the donkey-nose, senior executives of the House of Benevolence and Love and those in charge of the House of Benevolence and Love in the Valley of Sin, swallowed dry saliva as they recalled the words the shamanesses had spoken.
“Great Priest. Great Taoist.”
At that time, those who escaped from the shock of the martial prowess shown by the Eldest Young Master gathered around the two.
“Please explain the situation to us as well.”
“What did that mean earlier when they said they are the agents of the Sword Family?”
The donkey-nose, who was usually called by the title of Great Taoist, sighed.
Since Yeon So-hyeon, the leader and pillar of the House of Benevolence and Love, had acknowledged it first, they also had no reason to keep their mouths shut anymore.
“…Everyone probably knows to the extent that slums teem in Luoyang, and the underworld inevitably has no choice but to accompany the slums.”
The fake monk, the one called Great Priest, chimed in.
“And among those slums, the five worst slums called the Five Evils each have a reason why the poor cannot help but constantly gather.”
“In such Five Evils, the underworld organizations also cannot help but teem even more.”
It was the same for this place, which was one of the Five Evils.
“You all probably know by now the reason why the poor keep increasing in this Valley of Sin and the underworld organizations are causing this uproar.”
Those who had worked for a few weeks after the base was built nodded.
Narcotics.
The Valley of Sin was not only the origin where the raw material of ‘Poppy’, a narcotic famous throughout Henan Province, was produced, but also its processing region.
Its processing was a dangerous and low-paying job where people frequently lost their lives.
It was the same for the distribution side and the sales side.
Yet, from processing to distribution and sales, the poor constantly gathered because it was still a job.
“After the Northern War, as the poor overflowed unprecedentedly, the problems caused by the underworld also reached an extreme.”
Donkey-nose spoke in a gloomy tone.
“…Then one day, someone in the Sword Family had this thought.”
If it is an underworld that cannot be eliminated, would it not be better to take the lead in controlling and utilizing them? …!
Amitabha, chanting the Buddhist prayer bitterly, the fake monk closed his eyes and said.
“That is how the underworld came to run wild in this Luoyang under the tacit approval of the Sword Family.”
* * *
The underworld organizations had been exchanging transmissions or whispering among themselves for a while.
“Uh, humph!”
Whether they had reached a conclusion in the end, the Vice Chief of the Black River Gang cleared his throat loudly instead of the Three-Five Union which had lost its Vice Leader.
“I dare to say a word!”
Whether he was terrified after seeing Red-Armored Pig of the Three-Five Union explode, he was not only far away from Yeon So-hyeon but also shouted from behind his subordinates.
“I permit it.”
When Yeon So-hyeon replied from atop the flag, he wiped his cold sweat and shouted cautiously.
“If by any chance you want a separate tribute, our Black River Gang is prepared to offer no matter how much it is!”
Was it not a statement that he would establish a separate line to Yeon So-hyeon?
At those words, executives from the other two organizations also hurriedly raised their hands and shouted.
“O-our Three-Five Union too…!”
“The White Bone Gang is the same!”
Yeon So-hyeon burst into a loud laugh, and then snorted.
“Tribute?”
The heads of the executives of both organizations who had shouted afterward exploded just like that.
“…Hieek?!”
The Vice Chief of the Black River Gang, who had been the first to shout about the tribute, hid behind a subordinate in fright.
However, did Yeon So-hyeon not appear visible right through the body of the subordinate he had hidden behind?
“Huh?”
For a hole exactly the size of an adult’s fist was pierced through the subordinate’s body.
And the Vice Chief of the Black River Gang could confirm that an exactly identical hole was pierced through his own chest as well.
Did he feel relieved because the distance was a bit far?
“Huu….”
Yeon So-hyeon withdrew the single punch he had extended, regulating his breathing deeply.
It was Shaolin’s ultimate art, the Hundred-Step Divine Fist.
“U-ugh?!”
The sight of the organization members near the fallen dead executives flinching and retreating entered Yeon So-hyeon’s downward-looking vision.
“Tribute, you displease me!”
Yeon So-hyeon’s voice rang resonantly across the plaza.
“Did you look upon this Eldest Young Master as a person so corrupt as to receive the gold coins of back-alley thugs like you?!”
When the Daoist Lion’s Roar crossed the plaza and struck the distant cliffs on both sides, echoing back, those with weak guts slumped to the ground on the spot.
“It seems there is no one who possesses the level to converse in the first place.”
Yeon So-hyeon spoke, sneering at them.
“Previously, a person called the Dark Venerable swept through this valley, and this valley became an ownerless land.”
Yeon So-hyeon continued.
“And you bastards must be aiming to take over that place.”
Yeon So-hyeon looked around the gatherers, wearing a meaningful smile.
It was time to probe the gap.
“In the end, what you want is this Young Master’s ‘Sword Family Bronze Plaque’, is it not?” …!
No answer returned.
However, the stiffening of the faces of those who were clearly executives among the people filling the plaza was enough of an answer.
‘As expected, it was so.’
Yeon So-hyeon never referred to the Second Young Master by his name or as his younger brother.
To him, the Second Young Master was merely the Second Young Master; he did not acknowledge him as a younger brother in the family, nor did he regard him as the second, and he had absolutely no intention of calling him by name for no reason.
“I have absolutely no idea what the Eldest Young Master is talking about!”
When no one answered, someone, feeling guilty, gave a delayed response.
Yeon So-hyeon cast the fishing line once again.
“I know that the Second Young Master promised the Sword Family Bronze Plaque to the last organization surviving in this valley in exchange for loyalty.” …. ….
At those words, the gazes of several executives stealthily grew fierce.
They were clearly senior executives who knew the inside story.
And having watched all of their reactions, Yeon So-hyeon gained certainty.
In the past, Geum-ju of the Black Bone Gang, who had held the Sword Family Bronze Plaque out of nowhere.
No matter how rotten the Luoyang Sword Family was, when he saw a huge underworld organization dealing in human flesh possessing the Sword Family Bronze Plaque, even Yeon So-hyeon, who had doubted it, inwardly groaned.
And Yeon So-hyeon had been collecting information from the Crescent Moon Pavilion to verify the hypothesis he had established in the meantime.
And with today’s questions and answers, the full story was now visible to him.
‘…A method of operating the underworld like this would surely not have come from anyone other than ‘that woman’.’
Behind the establishment of the doctrine of controlling and utilizing the underworld of the Luoyang Sword Family after the Northern War, it was clear that she was there.
“…If you know that fact, I do not know why the Eldest Young Master persecutes us so much!”
It was a shout carrying internal energy, heard from the rooftop of a building at the end of the plaza far away.
“Is the Eldest Young Master not afraid of the Second Young Master’s wrath?!”
“The Sword Family will remember this!”
From the rooftops of the buildings at the ends of the plaza in different directions, shouts containing internal energy were also heard.
‘They are the field commanders of this conflict.’
The location tracking was finished.
Yeon So-hyeon’s fingers flicked three times instantly.
The field commanders, who had been shouting with internal energy while taking cover behind the thick stone walls of the building rooftops.
Holes were pierced all at once in the heads of the field commanders of the three organizations, who were each in a safe position.
As their bodies went limp against the walls they had taken cover behind, the blood flowing from their punctured skulls drew a long line.
In each of the walls, holes exactly the size of a fingernail had formed in the identical shape.
Along with the Hundred-Step Divine Fist, one of Shaolin’s seventy-two ultimate arts, the Finger-Flicking Divine Art.
“T-the commander has been struck!”
A commotion arose on the rooftops of the buildings used as field command posts by each organization. ….
The organization members filling the plaza now had nothing to do but swallow dry saliva and break into cold sweat.
Yeon So-hyeon atop the flag laughed heartily.
“Is there anyone else who wants to bark?” ….
At that moment, one senior executive suddenly realized.
“…T-that man did not want a conversation!”
He shouted like a scream.
“What he was targeting from the beginning was the organization’s executives—!”
His head exploded.
A murderous smile drew long on the corners of Yeon So-hyeon’s mouth.
“Did you only realize that now?”
When he raised his hand, Tang Baek’s limbs, who had melted into the plaza through stealth and concealment, revealed themselves all at once.
Daggers were held in their raised hands.
At the tip of those sharply curved blades, a stream of blood shooting up from the victim’s carotid artery was stretching long.
There were executives who barely avoided fatal injuries due to their substantial personal cultivation, but extreme poison harboring death was already running through their blood vessels.
“R-retreat!”
An executive of a surviving organization shouted as if screaming in agony.
“Retreat!”
He had issued the command to his own organization, but the response erupted from the entirety of those filling the plaza.
“R-run away!”
“It’s a retreat! Retreat!”
Some fell over, and others rolled.
Some even threw away their weapons and fled.
Regardless of organization, the members began to run toward the upper stream like a swarm of ants.
And there was someone who was targeting that moment.
Above the heads of those crowding onto the road leading to the upper stream for retreat, a grim reaper appeared.
It was the cold-faced middle-aged man, Tang Baek.
Sichuan Tang Family Ultimate Secret,
Rain of Flowers Filling the Sky.
A rain of death fell from the sky.
Hundreds, perhaps more than a thousand cow-hair needles poured down.
Whether a cow-hair needle brushed a fingertip, lodged in a thigh, or tore a forehead, it did not matter.
For the poison running through their blood vessels paralyzed their muscles, choked their breath, and stopped their hearts.
The lives of numerous enemies who had entered or were about to enter the road from the plaza vanished at once.
And from his hands walking into the plaza over the corpses, the chain-scythe began to spin.
[We shall charge in!]
With the transmission of the Maid Captain, Hyang, the ironclad fortress rushed into the plaza.
It was the Eldest Young Master’s procession that had found a detour under the search guidance of Il-ryeong.
——!!
What could possibly block the ironclad fortress?
The blood-drenched spiritual beasts howled, creating a long river of blood in the plaza.
“Fight back! I said fight back!”
“Do not show your backs!”
Only then did a few executives who snapped out of it try babbling, but the plaza, which had already lost too much command strength, was chaos itself.
The procession of armored carriages following the ironclad fortress parked around the forward base and poured down iron arrows.
The maids of the Maid Division who popped out of the procession relentlessly slashed down the backs of the retreating enemies in confusion.
Even so, the enemies were far too numerous, and countless alleys were pierced in the Valley of Sin.
They began to hide in every alley, in every nook and cranny like cockroaches.
They fled as if permeating into underground passages, underground waterways, and back alleys like mazes.
[Pursuit beyond the plaza is prohibited!]
At Yeon So-hyeon’s instruction, everyone concentrated on slaughtering those who had not yet escaped the plaza.
Listening to the screams of the enemies fallen into Avici Hell, Yeon So-hyeon cast his gaze far away toward the upper stream of the Valley of Sin. ….
Crossing the middle stream and entering the upper stream, the slope rose sharply.
The scenery of the street was not merely a slum but bore the shape of a fortress at a glance.
Beyond it was a giant rocky cliff of Mount Eunhyeong, and below the rocky cliff were countless rocky caves like anthills.
Those rocky caves, protected by the fortress-like terrain, were precisely the stronghold of the underworld.
‘Today’s victory is clearly a splendid feat, but….’
Yet, tomorrow, as if it were a lie, their forces will begin to swell again.
For there were tens of thousands of poor people here, and there was no end to the poor gathering here.
Standing atop the flag, his gaze narrowed.
‘The Dark Venerable cannot resolve everything.’
In the territory where the Black Bone Gang disappeared, the White Bone Gang grew, and sin pooled once again in the Valley of Sin swept through by the Dark Venerable.
The Dark Venerable could pass judgment, but he could not change the world, its system.
‘Now that this Yeon So-hyeon has come here, there is no next time for the underworld in this Valley of Sin.’
At that point, the Dark Venerable’s cleanup of the Valley of Sin was indispensable in the plan, and as always, his plan was in progress even now.
‘But for today, this is it.’
Stepping down from the flag, he turned around without regret.