Chapter 12: Chapter 12
The Western Sky Society Leader was crushed beyond all recognition.
Beside him, Cheon Woo-jin stood aloof, holding his dark Crescent Moon Staff.
Watching this, the Shura Demon Lord swallowed hard.
‘…That son of a bitch Black Elder created a monster right up until the moment he died.’
Or had he taken in a monster and raised him from the very beginning?
Without innate talent, even Black Elder could never have created such a monster.
Gauging the aura emanating from Cheon Woo-jin, the Shura Demon Lord swept a hand over his chest.
‘How could someone at that age possess such a…’
Truly, he was worthy of being called the Celestial Martial Physique.
Of all things, such a bastard had become Black Elder’s disciple, and of all people, the Western Sky Society that aided him had blocked that fellow’s path.
Reason after reason piled on top of another, and as a result, that monster created by Black Elder was standing before him.
“…I do not know how Senior Brother’s disciple ended up taking the Martial Alliance’s examination, but in any case, I am your master’s junior brother. Senior Brother Black Elder truly cherished me.”
“Were you not happier than anyone else about Master’s death?”
“…”
The Shura Demon Lord closed his mouth for a moment.
Had he been in his prime, it might have been different, but now that he suffered from Severed Meridians Disorder, he could not guarantee victory against Cheon Woo-jin.
After rolling his thoughts around for a moment, the Shura Demon Lord opened his mouth.
“…Memories of how harshly Senior Brother treated me when he was alive just came to mind first, making my emotions complicated for a moment. But it is an undeniable fact that your master cherished me.”
It sounded like an excuse, but it was the truth.
The Shura Demon Lord’s memories of Black Elder were still vivid before his eyes.
– “Shura, the Dark Emperor took truly many disciples, but you are the most satisfying to beat.”
For that reason, the Shura Demon Lord had always received Black Elder’s attention.
Even as he cursed inwardly, the Shura Demon Lord wore a nostalgic expression on his face.
“Still, I am no different from your martial uncle, so what could be more ridiculous than trying to kill each other in front of so many people?”
His tone was polite, but somehow he looked servile.
Seeing this, Zhuge Rin and the Western Sky Society martial artists could not conceal their astonishment.
The Shura Demon Lord was a disciple of the Dark Emperor, a leader among evil men, and a second-grade public enemy of the martial world.
‘To think such a man would show such a servile side.’
It was then.
“Kughhh…”
The Western Sky Society Leader, who was practically reduced to pulp, let out a groan.
Everyone’s attention was drawn to him.
His limbs were broken, blood flowed steadily from his shattered head, and his ribs had caved in, yet he was still alive.
It was truly a tenacious vitality.
Seeing this, the quick-witted Shura Demon Lord spoke.
“You kept him alive on purpose. Why? To find out the client who ordered your death?”
“…”
Cheon Woo-jin remained silent.
Observing that reaction, the Shura Demon Lord continued.
In that atmosphere, the quick-witted Shura Demon Lord spoke.
“Let us do this. The Western Sky Society does not originally leave behind information on assassination clients. However, when it comes to dealings between people, it is impossible for no traces to remain at all.”
“And so?”
“I, who have done this kind of work my whole life, will be far more adept than you, who just entered the martial world. I will take responsibility, find the client, and kill him for you. No, if you wish, I will chop off only his limbs and bring him before you. I can do at least that much for my dear martial nephew. So let us call it a day today. What do you say?”
Having spoken, the Shura Demon Lord slowly approached Cheon Woo-jin. He did not release any particular aura, and truly no fighting spirit could be felt from him.
Soon, having approached, the Shura Demon Lord spoke.
“What is your name?”
“Cheon Woo-jin.”
Hearing the name, the Shura Demon Lord wore a somewhat sorrowful expression.
“Right, Woo-jin. Senior Brother’s disciple! Tell me where Senior Brother Black Elder’s tombstone is. He was someone who tormented me greatly, but he was still my senior brother. Now that I have heard unexpected news, I ought to stay up all night before his tombstone and share drinks with Senior Brother today. Come, so…”
Swish!
Sharp energy like a blade surged toward Cheon Woo-jin’s face.
Cheon Woo-jin tilted his head back as if it were nothing.
The sharp energy narrowly grazed Cheon Woo-jin’s eyelashes.
A deep sense of frustration settled on the Shura Demon Lord’s face.
“Ha, you dodged this? Do not tell me you have surpassed Black Elder?”
“Hardly.”
Cheon Woo-jin shrugged his shoulders as he thought of his two masters.
Regardless, the Shura Demon Lord’s surprise attack was quite impressive.
No matter how skilled an expert was, there was bound to be a sign of gathering internal energy, but the Shura Demon Lord had shown no such thing.
In other words, it meant he was extraordinarily adept at gathering and releasing internal energy.
Soon, Cheon Woo-jin firmly gripped his Crescent Moon Staff.
At that sight, the Shura Demon Lord let out a long sigh.
‘Even after struggling desperately to live despite suffering from Severed Meridians Disorder, I meet a truly unexpected death.’
The Shura Demon Lord’s hands were dyed black.
Dead Blood Claw Technique.
It was one of the countless martial arts created by the Dark Emperor.
If the Dark Sky Full Moon that Black Elder had passed down to Cheon Woo-jin was the Dark Emperor’s pride, then the Dead Blood Claw Technique was his shame.
Of course, even such a martial art was powerful enough to let the Shura Demon Lord grow into a great villain.
The fight was one-sided.
Every time the Crescent Moon Staff was swung, the Shura Demon Lord groaned. Even tracking the speed of the Crescent Moon Staff with his eyes was overwhelming for him.
Crack!
The Crescent Moon Staff surged forward, crushing the Shura Demon Lord’s claw technique.
His fingernails were already shattered to pieces.
The Shura Demon Lord was among the weakest of the Dark Emperor’s disciples. Though he was shrewd and skilled at politics, he had instead earned Black Elder’s hatred for being a weakling who only schemed petty tricks.
What was more, he had even contracted Severed Meridians Disorder…
The Shura Demon Lord retreated endlessly in a precarious posture.
Cheon Woo-jin merely swung the Crescent Moon Staff with an indifferent attitude.
Soon, the retreating steps of the Shura Demon Lord came to an abrupt halt.
His back had hit the wall.
The Crescent Moon Staff soared high into the sky.
It carried the momentum to smash the Shura Demon Lord’s head at any moment.
Looking up at the Crescent Moon Staff with detached eyes, the Shura Demon Lord asked one last time.
“Do you intend to kill all of the Dark Emperor’s disciples?”
“Who knows. If they enter my sight.”
“Haha, when I meet Senior Brother Black Elder in the underworld, I must interrogate him. I will ask why he hated us so much.”
“…”
Cheon Woo-jin did not bother to respond. He thought there was no need to argue over his master’s affairs.
The Shura Demon Lord’s words continued.
“Who knows? If you beat a few more senior brothers to death, I will wait in the underworld, gather strength with them, and strike Senior Brother Black Elder. Perhaps we might be able to win in the underworld.”
“That might be a bit difficult.”
Cheon Woo-jin let out a chuckle.
Beside Master Black Elder now, Master White Elder was also present.
If anything, he was stronger than Master Black Elder and was by no means an inferior martial artist.
Soon, the Crescent Moon Staff fell helplessly upon him.
Thud.
Shura Demon Lord.
Compared to his reputation as a disciple of the Dark Emperor, it was far too pathetic a death.
A suffocating silence fell over the area.
Amid that silence, Cheon Woo-jin spoke toward Zhuge Rin.
“Are you all right?”
“Yes, well…”
What was there not to be all right about?
Since Cheon Woo-jin had done everything on his own.
Zhuge Rin suddenly asked.
“By the way, do you not need to look for them?”
“Look for what?”
“The culprit who requested your assassination, Young Hero Cheon. The Shura Demon Lord is dead, and the Western Sky Society Leader has ended up like this, so…”
Zhuge Rin’s gaze turned toward the Western Sky Society Leader.
He merely groaned intermittently and was in a state where it was dubious to even call him fully alive.
Stepping forward, Cheon Woo-jin drove the Crescent Moon Staff down onto his head.
Crack.
His head burst, staining the ground red.
Cheon Woo-jin said.
“There is a way. Because I know someone who specializes in this kind of work.”
If it was something the Shura Demon Lord could do, she would certainly be capable of it as well. She was a woman Master Black Elder had told him about during his lifetime, saying there was no information under heaven she could not uncover.
Zhuge Rin’s gaze shifted behind Cheon Woo-jin.
“Then, what about the remaining ones…”
Cheon Woo-jin suddenly turned around and released his aura.
The remaining Western Sky Society martial artists flinched and shuddered.
The Red Serpent Squad Leader, who was the superior of the Tiger Hunt Unit and the Slaughter Unit and had been forced by the Western Sky Society Leader to clean up this matter, spoke urgently.
“I… I have an infant. If I die, my wife and child will be thrown out onto the streets and starve to death. Please, please spare my life.”
When the Red Serpent Squad Leader knelt down and begged, everyone else began speaking up one by one, taking that as their cue.
“Great Hero! I have nothing to do with this matter at all.”
“I was going to flee from the Western Sky Society tomorrow. I had no choice but to join the Unorthodox Path to care for my sick, aged mother, but I could no longer endure it…”
Endless other sob stories poured forth besides those.
Cheon Woo-jin did not know whether their words were completely true or false.
He had neither the ability nor the need to distinguish.
“And so?”
“…”
“Are you not affiliated with the Western Sky Society right now?”
At words that were no different from a death sentence, silence fell once more.
At that moment, a man raised his hand high.
“To be honest, I am actually a spy dispatched from the Shiquan underworld to kill the Western Sky Society Leader.”
“…”
Everyone looked at that man.
A rather awkward atmosphere lingered in the room.
Soon, Cheon Woo-jin took a step forward while firmly gripping the Crescent Moon Staff.
* * *
When Song Yi-yeon returned with the rising stars, the Martial Alliance was completely turned upside down.
An examiner and a rising star had disappeared during the examination.
As even their survival was unknown, the examination was immediately halted.
Tracking units and investigators from the Martial Alliance dispersed to various regions.
Even though several days had passed in that manner, there were still no notable results.
It was because the speed at which Cheon Woo-jin moved while annihilating organizations under the Western Sky Society went far beyond ordinary common sense.
Naturally, investigations were conducted within the Martial Alliance as well.
The martial artists who had received Grade A alongside Cheon Woo-jin in the grading evaluation were investigated on the pretext of being competitors.
In particular, Gu Jin-seok, who had experienced friction with Cheon Woo-jin, had to undergo an even more rigorous investigation.
However, because there was no tangible evidence, it was still merely at a formal level.
Dragging his exhausted mind and body back to his quarters, Gu Jin-seok spoke.
“There must never be any chance of being discovered.”
“…Yes, the very reason those bastards could grow so large in the first place was thanks to their method of taking requests without leaving any traces behind.”
The middle-aged man who had placed the assassination request with the Western Sky Society at Gu Jin-seok’s instigation, Muk-gaek, nodded his head.
Narrowing his eyes, Gu Jin-seok spoke.
“Where?”
“Pardon?”
“I asked where you placed the request.”
Muk-gaek lowered his head.
“I apologize, but I cannot tell you. The Martial Alliance’s investigation will not be easy to deal with. If even a sliver of truth shows through a lie, the Martial Alliance’s investigators will never miss it. It would be better for you not to know at all when undergoing investigation.”
“Hmph…”
Feeling stifled in his chest, Gu Jin-seok let out a sigh. He was curious and anxious, but Muk-gaek’s words also made sense.
It was then.
A commotion suddenly arose in the quarters where the applicants were staying.
A resounding voice could be heard.
“What! Is that true?”
It was Song Yi-yeon’s voice.
Gu Jin-seok furrowed his brow.
A fellow who called himself a martial artist, unnecessarily good-looking with nothing but a loud voice. He had found that bastard unpleasant for a while now.
Above all, whether they were applicants or Martial Alliance members, all the women looked only at him, which strangely enraged him.
However, the words that followed made issues like that feel completely insignificant.
“Young Hero Cheon has returned?”
In an instant, it felt as though he had been struck on the head by something.
Gu Jin-seok looked at Muk-gaek.
Muk-gaek’s complexion had also turned pale.
“D-Do not worry. Even if he returned alive, he will never be able to identify the culprit.”
Gu Jin-seok’s face flushed with rage.
“If this matter comes to light, you are a dead man at Father’s hands.”
Even his tone of voice had turned coercive.
Muk-gaek hastily bowed his head.
“…That will never happen.”
Of course, when it was an affair between people, it was impossible for no trace to remain at all. Muk-gaek knew this as well.
However, it was because they were so secretive that no one could easily trace them that the Western Sky Society had been able to grow so large.
Even if the Hao Sect, where he had briefly spent time in his youth, stepped forward, they would never be able to find any traces.
‘Unless Wild Flower stepped forward in person…’
Wild Flower was the alias of the Hao Sect Leader.
Soon, Gu Jin-seok and Muk-gaek stepped out of the room.
The long corridor was already packed with rising stars who had come out to catch a glimpse of the returned Cheon Woo-jin.
At the far end, a man was striding forward with steady steps.
Gu Jin-seok cursed inwardly.
Cheon Woo-jin had truly returned. What was more, he was completely unharmed.
Furthermore, a woman was walking alongside him, and even at a single glance, she was exceedingly beautiful.
She had long, flowing black hair and a small beauty mark beneath her eye.
She was quite tall, draped in a black robe with small red flowers embroidered along the hem, which made people curious rather than suspicious of her.
Looking closely now, the rising stars who had come out to see Cheon Woo-jin were also staring blankly at the woman, completely captivated.
Gu Jin-seok grew irritated for no reason and glared at Muk-gaek.
But something was strange.
Muk-gaek’s face was as pale as that of someone who had seen a ghost.
Following his dazed gaze, it led to the woman walking beside Cheon Woo-jin with a soft smile.
‘This pathetic fellow, looking at a woman even in this situation…!’
Just as Gu Jin-seok was about to let out a curse.
The conversation between Cheon Woo-jin and the woman, who had drawn quite close before long, began to be heard.
“Your master was an extremely precious guest, Young Hero. Had I known he had such a fine disciple, I would have visited earlier to pay my respects.”
“I suspect you already knew.”
At Cheon Woo-jin’s calm reply, the woman’s eyes widened for a split second before she smiled again as if nothing had happened.
“Hoho, I meant in the case of finding out ‘officially.’ Just like right now.”
As the two arrived right before them in the blink of an eye, Gu Jin-seok felt as if his insides were burning away. Cheon Woo-jin gazed silently at such a Gu Jin-seok. Meeting that calm gaze in an instant, Gu Jin-seok almost collapsed onto the ground.
It was then.
Glancing at Gu Jin-seok from beside Cheon Woo-jin, the woman’s gaze turned toward Muk-gaek.
“Oh?”
Soon, the alluring woman’s eyes curved into crescents, like someone who had spotted something entertaining.