The Regressed Sword Demon Changes the Future

"I can't follow you, but I can solve that much of your worries."

Saying so, Gang Mujeong raised his hand high into the sky before Jang Baekseo's party could say anything.

Gooooo.

Then, a small mass of fire formed in his hand.

No, it certainly looked like just a ball of fire, but in fact, it was…

'Sword force! It's a sword force made of extreme yang qi!'

The sword force of flame, which had left Gang Mujeong's hand and was gradually rising into the sky, gradually increased in size and brightness, and soon, it brightly illuminated the deck of the boat and the area of the river as if it were broad daylight.

"First, let's get rid of the annoying flies…"

The moment Gang Mujeong said that, streaks of flame stretched out from the huge mass of the sword force of flame that was illuminating the river and struck the river.

Kwaaaaaang!

At that impact, dozens of ripples formed on the river, and in the place where the ripples had disappeared…

"Ah!"

"…Don't tell me he dealt with the water ghosts that were still hiding in the water with that attack just now?"

"…"

'Tsk! Whether it's before or after my regression, his techniques are ridiculously crude…'

A dozen corpses floated up from the river, and looking at their attire, they were clearly the comrades of the water ghosts who had attacked Jang Baekseo's party.

"With this, I've dealt with all twelve of the flies that were hiding in this area."

"Ah! Thank you. Now, if we can just get to land somehow."

Jang Yuran, who had said that, straightened her clothes and was about to tie herself to Madam Ma.

"No, I can't let the beautiful young ladies get wet in this dirty river water!"

"Y-yes? Then…"

"Hmm, let's see. This is perfect. The river is narrow and shallow here…"

As Gang Mujeong said, the place where the boat was currently passing was a place where the river was particularly narrow and shallow.

It was a matter of course, but no matter how good the water ghosts were at swimming, since they were human, they had avoided the section that required a lot of effort to approach.

"When I give the signal, jump then."

"Yes?"

"Great Hero Gang, what do you mean by that…"

"…"

'Don't tell me this crude guy is…'

Jang Baekseo was dumbfounded, roughly guessing what Gang Mujeong was about to do.

And Gang Mujeong really did the action that Jang Baekseo had thought of.

"Haaaaaaaaa!"

With a shout, the sword force of flame floating in the sky swelled even more.

And soon, that huge ball of fire fell in the middle of the boat and the land.

"Fire Explosion Heaven's Decree!!"

And soon, the mass of extreme yang qi that had fallen into the river caused a huge explosion.

At the enormous explosion, the water in the area where the Fire Explosion Heaven's Decree had fallen evaporated and was blown away by the explosive force.

In other words,

"Th-the ground is revealed…"

"This can't be…!"

"…Tsk!"

"Now! Go!"

The admiration was brief. Gang Mujeong's signal fell on the party, who were somehow maintaining their balance and standing on the boat, which was shaking wildly in the waves created by the aftermath of the explosion.

Jang Baekseo's party hurriedly jumped into the riverbank where the ground was revealed, and the water that had been pushed back by the huge explosion writhed like a living creature and poured in to fill the empty space.

As a result of running desperately through it, Jang Baekseo's party was able to reach the land just before the water filled up again.

Leaving behind the sailors and guests who had run out in surprise at the explosion, Gang Mujeong looked at Jang Baekseo's party running in the darkness of the night.

'The Hundred Rivers Association…'

It was no coincidence that Gang Mujeong, the Sect Leader of the Flame Soul Sect and the guardian of peace in Guangxi, had encountered Jang Baekseo's party.

As he was active as the guardian of Guangxi, the Flame Soul Sect Leader had various information procurement channels.

And according to the information from those information procurement channels, there was a high possibility that the demonic head, who was notorious in Guizhou and Hunan, was currently fleeing to Guangxi.

Gang Mujeong had heard that story and had been lurking on the ship heading to Nanning, which was considered the most likely escape route for the demonic head.

But after hearing the story of the Hundred Rivers Association from Jang Baekseo's party, Gang Mujeong was able to guess the truth.

Just like Jang Baekseo, Gang Mujeong had also been focusing on the trends of the Righteous Heaven Alliance.

Of course, if Jang Baekseo had been interested in their trends to know the trends of the Hundred Rivers Association, Gang Mujeong had been focusing on their trends only to grasp the location of the demonic head they were chasing.

But listening to the story of Jang Baekseo's party, the trends of the Righteous Heaven Alliance, which he had been focusing on to track the whereabouts of the demonic head, were actually for chasing Jang Baekseo's party.

"I've been completely had…"

It was common to divide the martial world into east and west, and then divide the eastern martial world into south and north. But the southern martial world, which was divided in that way, was not just one southern martial world.

The Righteous Heaven Alliance, represented by Wudang and the Namgung family. However, the influence of the Righteous Heaven Alliance properly reached only Guizhou, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, and Fujian.

And Yunnan, Guangxi, and Guangdong, which existed below that, were strictly treated as a separate world from the southern martial world.

Since there were so many ethnic minorities and other races, the name of the Righteous Heaven Alliance did not exert much power, and that's why Gang Mujeong, the current Sect Leader of the Flame Soul Sect, had been looking at the Righteous Heaven Alliance as if it were a cow or a chicken until now.

But due to this incident, the evaluation of the Righteous Heaven Alliance in his heart had definitely tilted to the worse side by one grade.

Of course, it was not to the extent that Gang Mujeong would raid the Righteous Heaven Alliance right now and say, 'Hey! Are you guys that good at fighting? Follow me to Guangxi!' and cause a commotion, but it was certain that it would bring about some change in the not-too-distant future.

***

"Don't you think our Righteous Sword Squad is a bit strange these days?"

Crunch, crunch.

"What are you talking about again, Jang Pangyo?"

"No, it's strange, isn't it? Take this mission, for example. Before, they were hush-hush about it, saying it was a matter between the Unorthodox Faction sects… but to suddenly dispatch the Righteous Sword Squad and the Strong Sword Squad, the elite units of the alliance, saying that they could not tolerate a demonic head running rampant in the territory of the Righteous Heaven Alliance…"

On a late night, Jang Pangyo, a member of the seventh team of the Righteous Sword Squad, who had finished preparing for camping on a low mountain in Guizhou, said this to his enlistment comrade, Han Chuyeong, who was crunching on dry food.

"And in the midst of the importance of close connection and communication as we have to search a wide area to catch the demonic head, the Strong Sword Squad is ignoring the Righteous Sword Squad, and while they are taking our information, they are moving on their own without sharing any information."

Unlike the Righteous Sword Squad, which selected its members based on skill alone, the Strong Sword Squad was a group formed by giving priority to the children and disciples of the influential sects belonging to the Righteous Heaven Alliance.

"Well, I didn't like the Strong Sword Squad guys from before. It was especially annoying how they acted as if they were our superiors…"

As if he liked Han Chuyeong's reaction, who had excitedly jumped on the bandwagon of criticizing the Strong Sword Squad, Jang Pangyo continued.

"And the so-called experts who are good at tracking, who were brought along as support, are also like that…"

"Ah, those guys?"

The Righteous Sword Squad was a group formed by selecting the elite of the elite from the Righteous Heaven Alliance.

As such, although they were capable of carrying out various special missions such as tracking, combat, and infiltration on their own, in this mission, the leader of the Righteous Sword Squad, Namgung Jeongmin, had brought along some unidentified people, saying they were tracking experts, from who knows where… so it was natural for the members to have complaints.

"Well, those guys were a bit creepy. They always wear black clothes and even cover their faces… don't you think they're guys brought from some Unorthodox Faction?"

At those words, Jang Pangyo neither affirmed nor denied and was lost in thought.

Jang Pangyo had grown up under the great influence of his father, who had worked as a law officer in the government since he was young.

His father had always said.

'Don't give up on chasing the truth. The moment you stop thinking, you may be played in someone's hands without even knowing it.'

His father had always said this. Whether it was because of his father's influence, or because he had simply inherited that blood, Jang Pangyo also had a tendency to dig into things that he could not accept until the end.

'Something is happening inside the Righteous Heaven Alliance…'

This was not the only thing he had noticed that was strange.

The reason for the somewhat suspicious dispatch, the dispatch and patrol of high-ranking officials to the mission area for an unknown reason, the large-scale purchase of medicinal herbs for an unknown purpose, etc…

Although he could not know in detail due to his position, and the matters were being carried out very secretly, there were definitely, and certainly, strange signs appearing in the Righteous Heaven Alliance.

"Conspiracy theories are fun, but let's not go too far. If the leader hears about it, he probably won't let you go."

"…Certainly, that person wouldn't just let it go…"

Jang Pangyo recalled Namgung Jeongmin, a man who was completely unsuited to be the leader of the Righteous Heaven Alliance's elite, the Righteous Sword Squad, and who had clearly sat in that position thanks to his family's backing.

"Let's just sleep. We'll have to work our asses off tomorrow too…"

"Yeah…"

Thus, Jang Pangyo went to an uncomfortable sleep with an unresolved question.

***

"What do you mean, go to Guangxi all of a sudden!?"

Jang Pangyo and the members of the seventh team of the Righteous Sword Squad, who had woken up in the morning, questioned the leader of the seventh team at the sudden order.

"What's the use of saying that to me?"

Saying so, the team leader shook the order in his hand.

"This is an order directly from the leader via carrier pigeon this morning. What do you want me to do?"

As a result of their gathering information and tracking the demonic head while losing sleep at night, it was clear that the demonic head had crossed from Guizhou to Hunan.

But Guangxi all of a sudden?

"Don't argue. The Strong Sword Squad has already arrived in Guangxi!"

"The Strong Sword Squad…? No, what on earth does that mean? Didn't you say that the Strong Sword Squad had definitely gone to Hunan!?"

The demonic head, which was the reason for their dispatch in the first place, was a person who was active in the Guizhou and Hunan areas. Wasn't it that two elite units had been dispatched to surely subdue him because his range of activity was so wide?

Since the investigation result said that the demonic head had headed for Hunan, all they had to do now was for the Strong Sword Squad and the Righteous Sword Squad to join forces, surround him, and kill him…

'No, something is strange! Did the Strong Sword Squad even go to Hunan in the first place?'

If the Strong Sword Squad had been dispatched to Hunan, they would not have just sent a single messenger and said, 'The Strong Sword Squad is already in Guangxi, so come quickly'.

If the mission had been proceeding normally, the Strong Sword Squad would have contacted them before leaving Hunan, and at the same time, they would have had to go south to prevent the demonic head's escape in advance as much as possible.

'But they didn't…'

Jang Pangyo recalled a piece of news he had heard while investigating Guizhou.

The incident where Signboard, the eldest son of the Signer Family, the local bully of Guizhou, had been crushed by some unidentified martial artists!

The people of Guizhou had rejoiced at the disgrace of Signboard, who had been rumored to be cruel since before, but of course, the master of the Signer Family had been enraged at the incident that had damaged not only the eldest son but also the face of the Signer Family.

The Signer Family and all the Unorthodox Factions in Guizhou that were under their influence had been turning Guiyang upside down to find the culprit, and as a result, their activities had been considerably restricted.

'It was a rather worrying incident, but after hearing the information about the people who were presumed to be the culprits from the master of the Signer Family, I thought it had nothing to do with the demonic head and didn't investigate…'

But the leader's reaction to this report was completely different from his thoughts.

He had sent several carrier pigeons overnight, demanding detailed information about the people who were presumed to be the culprits. Thanks to that, the seventh team of the Righteous Sword Squad had had to get information about the people who were presumed to be the culprits without even resting and send it.

But the strange thing here was that he had requested that they send not only a carrier pigeon to the leader of the Righteous Sword Squad but also another carrier pigeon to an unknown recipient.

'And not long after that, Signboard died…'

For a moment, Jang Pangyo felt goosebumps all over his body.

'At that time, the carrier pigeon definitely flew west.'

West… if it were to send a report to the Righteous Heaven Alliance, it should have headed north, where Hubei was. If not, if it were to send it to the Strong Sword Squad, it should have naturally gone east, where Hunan was. But the carrier pigeon they had sent had flown west…

If it were not for those two, it would mean that the carrier pigeon, and this information, had been sent to a third party that Jang Pangyo could not even guess. If not, or…

'…The Strong Sword Squad was not in Hunan from the beginning…'

(End of Chapter)