Chapter 124: Chapter 124
“If you speak of your relationship with Qingcheng, I might spare your life.”
When the Qingcheng Sect was mentioned, Gu Yong-baek snapped to his senses.
Only then did he realize. That fellow came knowing everything. He had come to turn his suspicion into certainty from the very start.
Naturally, Gu Yong-baek had no intention of opening his mouth. He had seen the Seven Great Protectors die earlier without even leaving a trace behind. It was self-evident that after giving this fellow everything he wanted, he too would end up the same way.
Unlike his son, Gu Yong-baek was a man of keen intellect.
He did not commit the foolish deed of succumbing to the terror of death and truly inviting death upon himself.
“Right, I operated the Pinghai Merchant Guild to conduct smuggling ventures and killed the guild head to seize all profits. But what is this about the Qingcheng Sect?”
“The officials and the alliance ignored requests to search for the people who disappeared in Dujiangyan. Surely the Gu Clan could not exert such influence over the officials and alliance in the region where the Qingcheng Sect is situated.”
“Hahaha! Look. Aren’t my words correct? The current Martial Alliance is utterly rotten to the core… Kuaaak!”
Crack-crunch!
Even more strength entered Cheon Woo-jin’s hand.
Gu Yong-baek’s right shoulder shattered completely.
Even so, he did not utter the words Cheon Woo-jin desired. It would likely be the same even if his limbs were severed.
To a man who had preserved his present standing while traversing between the Unorthodox and Righteous Paths, immediate pain was something he could endure as much as needed.
Of course, Cheon Woo-jin thought differently.
The more Gu Yong-baek refused to open his mouth, the more certain he became that this affair was connected to the Qingcheng Sect.
The method to draw out what he wanted from someone’s mouth was easy. This was something his master Black Elder was better at than his master White Elder.
There was no need to gouge out eyes or teeth, break bones, or scorch with fire.
Still holding Gu Yong-baek tightly with his right hand, Cheon Woo-jin wrapped Dark Heavens Qi around his left hand.
His master Black Elder’s voice came clearly to mind.
– The order is kidneys, liver, lungs, dantian, brain, and heart. Thus far, I have never seen an admirable fellow who endured all of that.
Utilizing the destructive properties of Dark Heavens Qi, it directly damaged the inside of the body rather than the exterior. No matter what master one was, internal organs could not be tempered.
An utterly unbearable agony, greater than death itself, would arrive.
Cheon Woo-jin gently placed his palm slightly above Gu Yong-baek’s dantian, toward the left. Soon, dark, murky Dark Heavens Qi helplessly poured into his body.
“K-Kuaaaak! Aaaaack!”
A truly harrowing scream resonated throughout the Gu Clan.
The martial artists of the Gu Clan flinched. Among them, martial artists with considerable fortitude adopted an attitude that they would rather die fighting than endure the humiliation of seeing their clan head disgraced while alive.
Without any need for Cheon Woo-jin to give orders, the Hidden Dragon Squad members drew their blades. They were also more grave than ever. If anyone approached even a single step, they intended to cut them down on the spot.
“I don’t know! You son of a bitch!!”
Gu Yong-baek’s shrieks continued at length.
Even so, Cheon Woo-jin’s expression did not change in the slightest.
He merely shifted the position of his palm slightly to the right.
At that, Gu Yong-baek could not even scream anymore. Because no strength could be mustered in his abdomen, he merely held his mouth wide open while vomiting gastric juices frantically.
“I-I will… sp-speak.”
Cheon Woo-jin pulled his hand away.
He looked quietly at Gu Yong-baek with a face telling him to speak.
In an instant, he saw Gu Yong-baek’s pupils tremble slightly from side to side. It was a minute movement lasting only a fraction of a second, but it could not deceive Cheon Woo-jin’s eyes at this distance.
The eyes were the most honest part of the human body. The movements differed depending on whether one spoke truth or falsehood.
In the midst of this, Gu Yong-baek was trying to tell another lie.
As if there was no need to listen, Cheon Woo-jin moved the position of his hand once more.
It was then.
“That’s enough. As if that fellow Gu Yong-baek would ever open his mouth.”
A woman’s crisp voice rang out.
Cheon Woo-jin turned his head.
A woman lightly draped in black silk garments was approaching, curling the corners of her distinctive red lips upward.
Recognizing her, Gu Yong-baek was startled.
“W-Wild Flower!”
Having grown seasoned in the Unorthodox Path, Gu Yong-baek knew the face of the Hao Sect Leader. At her sudden appearance, Gu Yong-baek’s heart grew uneasy.
‘Since he had ties even with the Lord of the Black Overlord Castle, I should have considered his relationship with Hao Sect as well!’
Regret always came too late.
Gu Yong-baek desperately wished that Hao Sect had failed to discover the connection between the Gu Clan and the Qingcheng Sect. If evidence came from her mouth, his life would truly be forfeit.
Rendering Gu Yong-baek’s earnest wishes meaningless, the Hao Sect Leader looked at him as though finding it delightful and continued speaking.
“I found out what the Gu Clan, or more precisely, Gu Yong-baek did. Of course, I secured all the evidence as well.”
“Is that true?”
Cheon Woo-jin uncharacteristically asked back. He had heard about Hao Sect’s capabilities from his masters, but he had not expected them to handle the matter this swiftly.
Furthermore, it was not something he had separately requested.
When Wild Flower replied with a smile, Gu Yong-baek abruptly dropped to his knees upon seeing it.
“S-Spare me. I will tell you everything, so please.”
“…!”
Shock spread across the faces of the Gu Clan martial artists. The clan head they knew was formidable. It was not merely a matter of martial prowess; with his vicious and venomous nature, he was a man who yielded to no one.
Such a patriarch was kneeling before a youthful man, begging for his life.
Even before the martial artists’ shock could subside, Gu Yong-baek hurriedly continued.
“Upon hearing news that the Qingcheng Sect urgently needed large sums of money lately, I approached them first.”
Since he would unconditionally die anyway if revealed through Wild Flower’s mouth, Gu Yong-baek confessed everything he had done. It was merely a desperate struggle to survive.
His explanation was lengthy, but to summarize, it was as follows.
The Qingcheng Sect needed spirit medicines to seize the initiative after establishing the Righteous Heavenly Alliance. Among martial factions, there was no power other than strength.
However, immense sums of money were required to acquire that many spirit medicines.
Knowing this, Gu Yong-baek had approached them. Saying there was a lucrative business. Promising that he would ensure they obtained as much money as needed.
Putting forward the Pinghai Merchant Guild, the Gu Clan and the Qingcheng Sect hired the people of Dujiangyan to mine salt mines in the Southern Barbarian lands, omitting the taxes that had to be paid when crossing back into the Central Plains.
It was a form of smuggling.
It was something that the officials and the alliance should have rightfully inspected, but the Qingcheng Sect’s influence was exerted. They were Daoists respected even by officials, and additionally a martial faction exerting influence over the Martial Alliance as a member of the Nine Sects.
Having explained everything, Gu Yong-baek even disclosed the location of the ledger that served as proof. It was a ledger detailing the profits earned from the salt mines, the sums divided with the Qingcheng Sect, and even the bribes fed to officials and alliance administrators.
Looking at that Gu Yong-baek, Wild Flower feigned shock and spoke.
“My, you even committed deeds like that?”
“…?”
Gu Yong-baek’s pupils trembled for an instant. Soon, a faint aura even began rising above his shoulders.
“Could it be this bitch of a wench toyed with me!”
Crack!
Cheon Woo-jin struck Gu Yong-baek’s shoulder down with the Crescent Moon Staff.
Clutching his shoulder in agony, Gu Yong-baek collapsed.
“Do not speak carelessly.”
How could someone like Gu Yong-baek insult his master Black Elder’s acquaintance with foul words?
At that sight, Wild Flower sketched an even deeper smile.
“What I found out was something else. Wondering why young and beautiful women frequently disappeared in Lanzhou recently, it turned out Clan Head Gu forced unpayable debts onto them and dragged them away. I heard he locked all the women in a villa and visited them every night. Truly an evil bastard.”
Of course, all the women were rescued by Hao Sect. Because Hao Sect was fundamentally an unorthodox faction, they had no obligation to do so, but Wild Flower, as a fellow woman, could not bear to feign ignorance and let it slide.
Gu Yong-baek trembled all over at the realization that he had been tricked.
He wore an expression that looked ready to tear the Hao Sect Leader to shreds this very second.
Meanwhile, Song Yi-yeon and Jin Un went to the location indicated by Gu Yong-baek and retrieved the ledgers. Examining them, Wild Flower confirmed that they were undeniably genuine ledgers.
In that way, the misdeeds of the Gu Clan and the Qingcheng Sect were exposed in their entirety.
Of course, there was still one unrevealed fact, perhaps the most important one.
“What did you do with the people hired from Dujiangyan?”
At Cheon Woo-jin’s inquiry, the area fell silent.
Tension was evident on everyone’s faces.
Soon, words that should never have been uttered came from Gu Yong-baek’s mouth.
“I killed them all.”
“You villain worthy of divine wrath…!”
Jin Un bloomed a plum blossom from his sword. As a Daoist, he could not bear standing before such a person.
This was the same for Song Yi-yeon and even Namgung Jin.
The martial artists of the Gu Clan could not even look at their clan head any longer.
Cheon Woo-jin’s expression was the same as usual.
However, his voice sank ever so slightly lower.
“The corpses.”
“Half were buried here in the Gu Clan, and half in the Qingcheng Sect.”
“Why didn’t you burn them?”
“Because smoke cannot be hidden.”
It meant that with land so vast, there was no need to cause trouble by burning a large number of corpses.
Cheon Woo-jin looked at Gu Yong-baek with dry eyes. He no longer had anything he was curious about from Gu Yong-baek.
From that gaze, Gu Yong-baek also realized the youth intended to kill him and drew his sword. If he was going to die anyway, he intended to take at least one of the bastard’s arms with him.
He had certainly made up his mind so.
Shing…
Before the sword was even half-drawn.
BOOOOM!
Gu Yong-baek’s entire body detonated like a thunderbolt bomb. Thanks to that, blood, flesh, and all manner of gory fragments scattered in all directions like fireworks.
Cheon Woo-jin did not move in the slightest. He had merely detonated the Dark Heavens Qi he had planted earlier while torturing Gu Yong-baek.
In the eyes of those who did not know that fact, it appeared as though Cheon Woo-jin had blown Gu Yong-baek to death with some formless energy.
Cheon Woo-jin looked at Gu Yong-baek’s scattered remains with dry eyes before turning his head.
The martial artists of the Gu Clan flinched violently.
“Does anyone wish to avenge your clan head?”
Naturally, no one stepped forward.
Having witnessed the scene Cheon Woo-jin just displayed, how could anyone step forward? Furthermore, when listening to Gu Yong-baek’s confession at the final moment, even they felt ashamed to have had such a man as clan head.
“If not, so be it.”
Cheon Woo-jin told the Hidden Dragon Squad members to return. With his eyes, of course. Having come to understand that gaze to some degree by now, the three sheathed their blades.
Suddenly, Wild Flower blocked Cheon Woo-jin’s path.
“By the way, what about the information fee?”
“…”
Hao Sect was originally an organization that bought and sold information. In fact, Hao Sect’s role in this incident was by no means small.
Cheon Woo-jin and Wild Flower engaged in a staring contest for a moment.
Wild Flower felt wronged.
‘No, I only asked for the money due to me, so why stare at me like this?’
Soon, Cheon Woo-jin nodded his head. Because if he received help, paying the price was indeed the right thing to do.
He rummaged through his coin pouch.
A few iron coins came out.
Seeing this, Wild Flower’s slender brows twitched.
“That isn’t all, is it?”
“It is.”
“…”
A moment of silence.
Narrowing her eyes, Wild Flower looked at Cheon Woo-jin as if finding him exasperating, before speaking.
“Then pay with your body.”
At that, Song Yi-yeon beside him was startled and said.
“Wait, how could you say something so scandalous…!”
“That’s not what I meant!”
Wild Flower glared at Song Yi-yeon once. She had felt it since before, but this handsome fellow beside Black Elder’s disciple strangely gave her the urge to beat him up.
“I mean that if we ever need the Young Hero’s help in the future, help us once.”
“Is it like a Token of Gratitude and Grudge?”
Cheon Woo-jin recalled the Token of Gratitude and Grudge he had received from First Wolf at the Black Overlord Castle. Wild Flower nodded her head as if communication was finally working.
“It’s similar. Only, rather than an obligatory feel like a Token of Gratitude and Grudge, think of it more as building bonds and helping each other out.”
Wild Flower genuinely hoped it would be so.
Exactly like Black Elder and Hao Sect had done.
“Well, understood.”
Cheon Woo-jin nodded.
In any case, Hao Sect had never disappointed him whenever needed.
“By the way, what will you do now? Now that you know the relationship between the Gu Clan and the Qingcheng Sect… surely not, right?”
“Who knows. First, it seems I must have a conversation with the Sect Leader.”
Wild Flower’s face turned pale.
She knew better than anyone in the world what kind of meaning the ‘conversation’ spoken of by Black Elder held.
“No, does the Martial Alliance lack people that badly? Tell Alliance Leader Bukli Cheon to do it personally. Isn’t this hardly a task for someone who just joined the alliance?”
It was none other than the Qingcheng Sect of the Nine Sects.
It could not even be compared to the mere Gu Clan.
Cheon Woo-jin merely shrugged his shoulders and walked away.
At that sight, Wild Flower felt stifled inside. Was it because she had known Black Elder for so long and received so much help? His disciple felt almost like a nephew. Naturally, she worried.
“You aren’t even listening to a word I say! The Nine Sects are truly different. Would they maintain their power for hundreds of years for nothing? The officials and eminent masters related to them alone are immense…”
Suddenly, Wild Flower trailed off.
Because it suddenly came into view.
Carrying the Crescent Moon Staff on his back, in that retreating figure walking nonchalantly as though it was no big deal, she saw the silhouette of Black Elder.
That back which had been the calmest and most reassuring in the world.