Chapter 212
Chapter 212. Don’t even adjust your shoes in someone else’s melon field.
With an indifferent expression, the Black Sky Demon retrieved the hidden weapon embedded in the pillar.
"It does neither you nor me any good to raise a commotion, so let's settle this quietly."
With the tip of his flying dagger, the Black Sky Demon alternately pointed at the Deputy Hall Lord of Blue Blood Hall and the first floor.
“I will only take you and Namgung Jin, so have the remaining bastards surrender themselves to the Murim Alliance. If you do that, I won't kill any more of you.”
"You've come all this way, yet you're handing over the merit to the Murim Alliance?"
The Black Sky Demon answered readily.
"Merit, my foot. There's nothing good to gain from being entangled with the Blood Sect anymore, so I'm planning to let the Murim Alliance deal with it from here on."
The Deputy Hall Lord spoke mockingly.
"Ah, so that's why you moved differently than usual."
The Deputy Hall Lord had already felt that the Black Sky Demon's fighting strength did not match the rumors.
Without needing to deal with them one by one, the Black Sky Demon could have slaughtered everyone the moment he stepped into the pavilion—if his Rain of Ten Thousand Heavenly Blossoms was as vicious as the rumors claimed, enough to dye the heavens red with blood.
Yet he had moved cautiously.
One might think this chaos hardly looked like the result of cautious movement, but each time the Black Sky Demon dealt with the Blood Sect members on the second and third floors, he used a different hidden-weapon technique.
Some Blood Sect member were killed with multiple weapons embedded in their bodies, and he mixed long-range and short-range techniques.
It was staged to look as though countless people had fought a bloody battle and fled.
It was a battlefield where it was hard to believe the Black Sky Demon had passed through.
It seemed the Tang Clan was burdened by repeatedly being entangled with the Blood Sect.
The Deputy Hall Lord swallowed a hollow laugh inwardly.
The Black Sky Demon was overestimating his own position. He was not in a situation where he could afford to show mercy.
With a serious expression, the Deputy Hall Lord said,
"In the Central Plains, isn't there a saying, silencing through murder? A dead man tells no tales, a truly dreadful meaning."
A Blood Sect member wearing Namgung Jin's face spoke in his original voice. The light, goat-like tone split the silence.
"Silencing through murder is my second favorite expression from the Central Plains."
Tang Min intended to hear what the Blood Sect bastard had to say. He was curious about their objective.
In truth, there was someone close at hand whom he could question about the Blood Sect, but he did not want to ask So-hwa.
Seeing the subtly twisted expression on the Black Sky Demon's face, the Deputy Hall Lord sensed doubt taking root in his mind.
"’Don’t even adjust your shoes in someone else’s melon field,’ They say that if you fix your shoes in a melon field, you shouldn't complain when people mistake you for a thief. Regardless, it is the fault of the one who adjusted their shoes.”
The Black Sky Demon replied coldly.
“You know full well that I did not commit any theft.”
"Just because you didn't steal, can you swear you have nothing to do with thieves? You were in the same place as them, after all."
The Black Sky Demon straightened his upper body.
It wasn't a reaction to the Deputy Hall Lord's words.
Tang Min's eyes shifted to the side.
A Blood Sect member who had been sprawled on the floor was getting up and taking a stance. He sensed the same movement from behind.
Tang Min's gaze returned to the Deputy Hall Lord.
As if he had been waiting for it, the Deputy Hall Lord rolled his eyes and explained the situation.
"Silencing through murder is a method you use only when you can kill your opponent."
At that moment, a flying dagger flew in from behind. When the Black Sky Demon twisted his shoulder to evade it, the hidden weapon meant for him embedded itself in the wall.
Kwang.
While the Deputy Hall Lord stalled for time, the elites of the Blue Blood Hall, who had recovered their bodies, all stood up, gripping flying daggers in their hands.
With a teasing, amused voice, he said,
"On the day the Tang Clan Head's eldest daughter returns to Hubei, it would be quite a sight if the corpse of the Black Sky Demon were left behind in Wuhan after a chaotic battle."
Tang Min clicked his tongue.
“I’ve heard many times lately that I’ve grown soft, but I suppose those weren't meant to be compliments.”
He brazenly spouted words he had never once heard before.
“This is why a person shouldn't rest. Now I’m being subjected to pathetic threats from nobodies.”
Without even turning around, the Black Sky Demon moved his hand behind him.
Swish.
"Kugh!"
A flying dagger embedded itself in the forehead of a Blood Sect member who was about to throw a hidden weapon.
As he slipped his hand back into his sleeve, the Black Sky Demon muttered,
"So, you lot have bodies that don't die easily, is that it?"
The hand that had dropped toward the floor rose again.
"About three years ago, I saw fellows like you in the mountains. I thought they were dead, but they recovered and stood back up in no time."
A flying dagger was slotted between the fingers that emerged from his sleeve.
"Hidden weapons only damage a small area, so your recovery must be quick."
As if he had figured it out, the Black Sky Demon flicked his fingers. The number of flying daggers between them doubled.
Tang Min tilted the corner of his mouth.
"Let's see whether your recovery is faster, or whether I can carve you up faster."
The instant the words left his mouth, the Black Sky Demon's figure vanished.
Ta-at.
The Deputy Hall Lord snatched the hidden weapon flying toward him and leapt up to the fourth floor.
Landing by the railing, he flinched at the sight of the corpses. Dozens of holes riddled the bodies.
He had come up the moment the Black Sky Demon moved upward. Yet in that brief instant, the monstrous old man had destroyed dozens of vital points.
The Deputy Hall Lord twisted his body.
The Black Sky Demon had already gone halfway around the pavilion and was standing in the corridor opposite him.
Thud. Thwack. Thud.
With a face untainted by a single drop of blood, Tang Min moved his hands swiftly. A flying dagger pierced through the arm of a charging Blood Sect member and then bored straight through the chest of the one standing behind him.
"Ughk!"
As the flying dagger lost its momentum and dropped to the floor, Tang Min flipped his palm. The dagger obediently changed direction and fell to the left.
A flying dagger hurled from afar by a Blood Sect bastard struck Tang Min's flying dagger hard.
Kwang.
The flying dagger, having suddenly gained momentum, pierced through the side of the Blood Sect bastard standing in front.
"Kuhhk!"
The bloodstained flying dagger returned to its master's hand.
With an expressionless face, the Black Sky Demon slaughtered the Blood Sect members stationed on the fourth floor in the blink of an eye.
He abruptly turned his gaze to the side, having noticed the Deputy Hall Lord staring at him.
Maintaining eye contact, the Black Sky Demon retreated backward.
Kwang.
A flying dagger infused with internal energy pierced through the wooden floor and surged up toward Tang Min. Rising violently as if to split the Black Sky Demon in two, it embedded itself in the ceiling of the fourth floor.
From below, Blood Sect members consecutively hurled the hidden weapons they held in their hands.
Bang. Clang. Bang.
Yet the Black Sky Demon did not descend to the lower floor, nor did he counterattack. He merely slipped his body aside slightly, guiding the Blood Sect member's flying daggers so that they embedded themselves in the ceiling.
The four flying daggers lodged in the ceiling kept a wide spacing between them.
Watching that scene, the Hall Lord frowned deeply.
It was because he could not understand what the man was trying to do.
A Blood Sect bastard who thought the Black Sky Demon had been dealt with stepped on the railing and leapt up to the fourth floor.
Ta-at.
The Blood Sect member who faced the Black Sky Demon was startled, but instead of fleeing, he came inside.
Yet Tang Min's reaction was strange.
Judging by the Black Sky Demon's speed, the moment the Blood Sect member revealed himself, he could have thrown hidden weapons.
Yet he stood there empty-handed, allowing the enemy to land right in front of him.
Tap.
It was the moment the Blood Sect member's feet touched the ground.
Whiz.
The four flying daggers that had been embedded in the ceiling flew toward a single target.
“Ack!”
The flying daggers that rushed in from all sides, maintaining the wide spacing between them, embedded themselves in the Blood Sect member's neck.
The Black Sky Demon looked not at the Blood Sect member before him, but at the Deputy Hall Lord.
As if to show him something.
The Black Sky Demon moved his hand. The moment he twisted his palm, the flying daggers embedded in the Blood Sect member's neck rotated.
Snap.
The Blood Sect member's head fell to the floor.
The Deputy Hall Lord froze in place.
The Black Sky Demon was showing him.
That he was in the process of finding their weakness.
He was testing the limits of the Blood Sect members, searching for a realm they could not recover from.
A Blood Sect member on the third floor threw hidden weapons.
Whiz. Swish. Whiz.
However, instead of boldly climbing up to the fourth floor, he attacked while staying in place.
Tang Min scoffed at that cowardly attack and threw a single flying dagger.
The flying dagger spun as it approached, disrupting the trajectory of the incoming flying daggers.
Bang. Clang. Bang.
Even so, the Blood Sect member did not come up.
Tap.
Tang Min himself jumped down from the railing to the third floor.
He immediately threw the flying dagger he had just retrieved toward the opposite railing.
Clang. Bang.
While the flying dagger blocked the hidden weapons flying toward him, he hurled flying daggers at the enemy standing before him.
Six flying daggers shot out at once, piercing through the Blood Sect member's waist.
Slash.
After dealing with the Blood Sect member in an instant, Tang Min retrieved the returning flying dagger.
Grabbing the flying dagger, he was about to throw it at the Blood Sect member ahead of him when he abruptly twisted his hand and hurled the hidden weapon outside the railing.
Crash.
Right beside him, a bottle the size of a finger shattered into pieces. With that, the transparent droplets inside splashed in all directions.
Retrieving the flying dagger once more, Tang Min paid it no mind and tried to throw the hidden weapons forward again.
Yet his hand did not move.
Thud
A flying dagger he failed to block embedded itself in his arm.
Thud. Thwack. Thud.
In the blink of an eye, the hidden weapons that flew toward him lodged themselves into his body.
Even so, Tang Min could not move.
Thump.
Collapsing onto the floor, he strained his fingers as if struggling in desperation. He poured all his strength into them, but his stiffened fingers refused to obey.
A shadow fell over Tang Min's upper body.
The Deputy Hall Lord, who had landed on the railing, spoke.
"It seems you wish for the name of the Tang Clan to no longer be entangled with the Blood Sect, so I understand why you bravely entered alone."
Mimicking Tang Min, the Deputy Hall Lord pointed with the hidden weapon in his hand toward him and the floor.
"I, too, have no intention of letting the Black Sky Demon die here. There is someone who would be pleased if I were to deliver that body."
There was a smile woven into his voice.
"They say the Tang Clan estate has a Nine Turns Pavilion. I hear the ninth floor is not yet filled, so the Eight Great Poisons stationed on the eighth floor are the most dangerous."
As he removed a leather glove that he must have put on at some point, he ordered the Blood Sect members standing nearby.
"Don't be afraid. Come and bind his hands and feet properly."