Chapter 369

“Search every inch of the place. If you half-ass it like you do your martial arts practice, you’ll catch hell.”

“Oh, come on, Senior Brother. Anyone listening would think that was actually true. You really say anything in front of the kids.”

“You’re always wandering around pleasure houses… Do I need to beat you senseless right here before you come to your senses?”

“Fine, fine. I get it.”

Even after his Senior Brother’s scolding, the young man’s frown did not lift.

His name was Hwangso, a first-generation disciple of the Gongdao Sect, a martial sect in Sichuan. He had been called out for this mission along with around thirty second- and third-generation disciples.

Damn it. What the hell have I been putting up with for five days?

Hwangso grumbled inwardly.

Born to a fairly prosperous merchant family, he had grown up wanting for nothing.

He was already irritated enough that his father had forced him onto the path of a martial artist—a path that had never been part of his plans—simply because he wanted to establish ties with the Murim. But five days of sleeping rough in the wind and dust had been more than enough to grind away the last scrap of patience he had left.

Whew. They say the new courtesan at Tengwang Pavilion is an absolute beauty…

Just as Hwangso’s thoughts began racing toward his favorite pleasure house—

“You brat! After I said all that, you’re still letting your mind wander?”

“Ah, yes, I understand. I said I understand!”

Startled by his Senior Brother’s sudden, tiger-like roar, Hwangso trudged away.

His Senior Brother clicked his tongue at the sight, as if he found him hopeless.

“If you don’t want to die a senseless death, keep your wits about you. You do understand what kind of situation we’re in.”

“I understand perfectly. Aren’t we going through all this trouble to catch some fiend who isn’t even here?”

“What do you mean, he isn’t here?”

“You know what I mean. That Third Fiend or whatever. The bastard ran off ages ago, and we’re searching for him in all the wrong places.”

At Hwangso’s sullen reply, his Senior Brother’s face stiffened.

“Watch your words. Since the Great Faction War, the martial world of Sichuan has never united like this to form a net over heaven and earth. There is a reason for everything.”

“Who said there wasn’t a reason? I’m not deaf. I’ve heard it all already.”

Hwangso had heard the reason for the net over heaven and earth so many times that his ears were practically bleeding.

Dark Heaven or whatever they were called had invaded and turned the Tang Clan, Qingcheng, and Emei into ruins.

At the head of the attack had been a peerless fiend who had slain the Poison King and the Heaven-Shaking Venerable Nun single-handedly. The Qilian Three Fiends, old monsters from two generations ago, and hundreds of Fiends had split into three groups and stained the three sects representing Sichuan in blood.

And everyone in Sichuan, Hwangso included, knew how that day—soon being called the Three-Gate Bloodbath—had ended.

“In the end, they were defeated right in front of everyone, weren’t they? Every fiend who could be called a leader was killed except for one, and the rest of the foot soldiers scattered and ran away. Isn’t it over?”

“……Whew.”

His Senior Brother moved his lips as if he were about to say something, then answered with a sigh instead.

Whatever he said would go in one ear and out the other. His Junior Brother had no interest in learning how much luck and sacrifice had gone into their victory.

The unknown master who suddenly appeared and saved Qingcheng Sect. The countless Beggars’ Sect disciples and nearby martial sects who rushed to Emei’s aid when it was in danger. And…

If not for them, who had saved the Sichuan Tang Clan from annihilation, the three illustrious sects with their long histories would have vanished from the Murim five days ago.

The Three-Gate Bloodbath had been a large-scale assault carried out with such thoroughness and suddenness that it had sent a tremendous shock through the entire orthodox martial world.

But for a martial artist’s thoughts to be this shallow… Even if he only joined because circumstances forced him to…

At the sight of his Senior Brother shaking his head, Hwangso bristled.

“What?”

“Enough. Pick around ten men and search beyond that hill.”

“Again? We’ve already searched that place several times over the past five days…”

“The area assigned to our sect must be searched a hundred times, a thousand times if necessary. I’ll search the nearby grass myself, so do as you’re told without another word.”

His Senior Brother cut him off decisively. Hwangso clamped his mouth shut.

I’ll have to talk to Father and get back home as soon as possible. No, seriously, why would the fiend who fled Emei show up here?

The net over heaven and earth, in which thousands of people had been deployed, had lived up to its name.

Most of Dark Heaven’s remnants who had fled after the Three-Gate Bloodbath had already been hunted down or captured.

Only the Third Fiend, the youngest of the Qilian Three Fiends who had attacked Emei, remained. The area assigned to the Gongdao Sect was near Chengdu, practically the center of Sichuan.

I hear the fiend isn’t in good shape, either. Why would he walk straight into the tiger’s den instead of choosing somewhere sensible like Tibet or Yunnan?

Hwangso’s complaint was not entirely unreasonable.

No matter how true it was that it was darkest beneath the lamp, there was no reason for a fiend branded as an enemy of the Murim to break through such a dense net over heaven and earth and head for Chengdu.

If there were even the slightest chance of that, why would I be here? The Qingcheng Daoists would have been guarding the place.

This was all because his Senior Brother was so rigid that he was practically suffocating.

Muttering a quiet curse under his breath, Hwangso crooked a finger at the third-generation disciples standing around blankly.

“You there, the big-nosed one. Yes, you, all the way to the big-eared one over there. Ten of you. Follow me.”

What else could he do? When they told him to dig, he had to dig.

But as Hwangso left to search, with his Senior Brother’s contemptuous gaze boring into his back, his head was filled with nothing but idle thoughts.

Just wait. The second this is over, I’m going straight to Tengwang Pavilion and having myself one hell of a time.

With his mind somewhere else, there was no chance of the search being carried out properly.

The third-generation disciples glanced at Hwangso for cues as they lazily looked over their surroundings. Not one of them noticed the faint traces of blood clinging to the leaves during their sloppy search.

Good thing they’re all idiots. At this rate, I don’t need to worry at all.

The Third Fiend let out a sigh of relief and extended one foot.

Sssshk.

His body shot forward, skimming over the leaves.

A master of considerable skill might have noticed him if one had been nearby, but judging by the level of everyone he had seen so far, there was no chance of that.

They never imagined I would double back toward Chengdu.

The thrill of having fooled the orthodox faction so completely lasted only a moment before anger and killing intent surged from somewhere deep in the Third Fiend’s chest.

If it weren’t for those bastards…!

Five days ago, everything had gone smoothly when he led his subordinates in the attack.

The death of the Sect Leader, the Heaven-Shaking Venerable Nun, and the Elders had left a tremendous gap in Emei’s forces, and the Dark Heaven martial artists under the Third Fiend’s command had driven straight into it like a massive harpoon.

Then, just as the brutal battle overflowing with blood and death was underway, they appeared.

You worthless pieces of trash, lower than dogs!

A single filthy beggar.

Hyuk Mujin, Vice Squad Leader of the Jin Dragon Squad of the great Jin Family of Taiyuan, the right arm and little toe of the Sleeping Dragon of Shanxi, Jin Taekyung, has arrived!

A young man whose name seemed to be either Right Arm or Little Toe—it was hard to tell.

Senior Sister! I’m here!

And a middle-aged nun who appeared to be a disciple of Emei Sect.

Even the Third Fiend had been dumbfounded by such a fearless entrance at first.

What? Worthless pieces of trash, lower than dogs? This filthy beggar wants to die? Just wait. This old man will tear your limbs off and—

The Third Fiend had approached with a contemptuous snort, but he was forced to swallow the rest of his words.

Behind the fearless young beggar, countless more filthy beggars were rushing forward.

It was a wave of beggars!

B-Beggars’ Sect?

That response had come far too quickly for the Third Fiend.

Not even half a day had passed, yet more than a thousand Beggars’ Sect disciples—not dozens or a hundred—had gathered and come to Emei’s aid.

The Successor Beggar commands you! Beat those bastards lower than dogs to death like dogs!

Armor! They’re wearing armor!

Hit the exposed parts! Crush their balls!

An Emei nun charged them from the front without regard for her life, while countless Beggars’ Sect disciples surged in without end from behind.

The Third Fiend and the black-clad men under his command fought like mad, cutting down enemy after enemy, but the tide of battle had already begun to turn against them.

Brothers of the Beggars’ Sect! Never retreat!

Waaah!

Avenge Gaeddongi!

It was a human-wave assault terrifying enough to make the mind go blank.

If one beggar was cut down, two did not rush forward in his place. Five or ten did.

And if he dredged up every last ounce of strength and cut them down too? There was no need to worry about what came next. A club flying in from somewhere would smash his balls while an iron staff cracked the back of his skull.

The dead had no future.

Guh…!

Like a body slowly soaked through by drizzle, the black-clad men collapsed one after another as cold corpses.

Even the Third Fiend, who should have turned the tide of battle, had no time to look after his subordinates.

Form the Demon-Subduing Dragon-Taming Formation!

The Seven Fairies, Emei Sect’s finest masters, used a combined formation to bind the Third Fiend’s feet.

Even when seriously wounded, they never retreated. They attacked as if their lives meant nothing, and the Third Fiend gradually grew exhausted from the mounting fatigue and anxiety.

The Third Fiend’s face twisted violently as he recalled what had happened five days earlier.

And then Extinction Divine Nun appeared. That damned old monster brought it all to an end.

The arrival of Extinction Divine Nun had shocked not only the Third Fiend but also the disciples of Emei.

Thirty years ago, at the age of one hundred, she had withdrawn from worldly affairs. She was the Heaven-Shaking Venerable Nun’s only Senior Aunt, and everyone believed she had since died.

With another Supreme Peak master suddenly appearing, the Third Fiend chose to flee without a moment’s hesitation. The black-clad men under his command scattered and ran after their superior.

It had been a clear defeat.

And yet, the Third Fiend had survived to the very end.

He disguised himself with a mask made of human skin and a disguise technique, then found the weakest point in the net over heaven and earth and made his way here.

To this nameless cliff, untouched by anyone’s feet.

“At last… Guh!”

As the cliff rapidly drew closer, the Third Fiend suppressed the emotions welling up inside him.

Only now had the grief and anger of losing his only blood relatives reached him all at once.

“Do not feel too aggrieved. Though I must retreat for now, this youngest brother will surely avenge you, my elder brothers.”

The Third Fiend had just made a firm vow of revenge and reached a hand toward the cliff when—

Slice!

The Third Fiend’s eyes flew wide.

Along with a sensation as hot as a burn, his wrist dropped away.

It was agony he had not felt in a very long time. A beat later, a scream burst from his cracked lips.

“Kyaaaaargh!”

At the same time, a chill ran down his spine.

He pressed his acupoints like lightning to stop the bleeding, then jerked his head up.

Where there had been nothing but a solid cliff moments ago stood a painfully familiar face.

“B-Big Brother?”

The Third Fiend’s cry held both delight and shock.

But First Fiend’s response was calm.

“So it seems. Your disguise technique was so poor that I suspected as much.”

“……!”

Crack. Crackle.

At that moment, First Fiend’s hideous face rippled like a wave. His hunched back straightened, while his arms and legs grew long and slender.

In the place of the ugly old man now stood a handsome boy.

“Who the hell are you?”

At the Third Fiend’s shout, a faint smile passed across the boy’s impassive face—the face of the Slaughter Saint.

“Mungyeong.”

A faint smile passed across the boy’s impassive face—the face of the Slaughter Saint.

“Your enemy.”