Chapter 64
Agong, who was left alone, spent the first few days cleaning the tavern and practicing martial arts, living a normal life as usual.
Although it was a bit cumbersome to have to cook for himself since Cook Li was away, he could prepare a decent meal, even if it wasn't great, using the cooking skills he had learned over his shoulder.
And in that brief peace, that morning dawned.
Jingle, jingle.
Early in the morning, no, from the crack of dawn, Sheng Wang, one of the three elders of the Non-Duality Gate, had visited the tavern.
"You've come early this time, haven't you?"
He was a man with a personality so opposite to Daji's that it was hard to believe he was her father.
Sheng Wang, who would sometimes just see to his business and disappear, was, unlike Miss Mu and Sorin, a person who was a little uncomfortable for Agong to get close to.
In front of Agong, who had prepared food and wine, Sheng Wang turned his head, looked around, and then slowly opened his mouth.
"The Old Ancestor isn't here."
At the question of the man with a gentle smile, Agong scratched his head.
"He went out for a while."
Agong handed the bundle of food to Sheng Wang.
But Sheng Wang, without even taking the bundle, was smiling a desolate smile.
"I don't think I saw him ten days ago either. Didn't he go out for a while then too?"
"It seems his business has gotten longer."
Agong, who felt an inexplicable pang of guilt, could not let his guard down at the words of Sheng Wang, who was persistently questioning him, unlike on a normal basis.
"Please avoid the crack of dawn next time. You usually only come at night, what's with the sudden change?"
"You said the Old Ancestor was away ten days ago too, right?"
"He went out for a while then too. If you have urgent business, I'll leave a message for him."
Agong, to hide his tension, placed the food on the table and returned to his seat.
"Should I leave my business?"
"You're strange today. Since he hasn't come back yet, I'm saying I'll leave a message for him."
The white teeth of Sheng Wang, who had been testing Agong, were revealed.
It was the first time Agong had seen him smile so broadly.
And in his grotesque smile, a thick killing intent was overflowing.
"There's no need for that... I've never seen the Old Ancestor leave the tavern for ten days."
Agong, in response to the killing intent, reflexively protected his whole body with his divine art.
It was the first time since he had been practicing under the pretext of training and Tongtian had requested a duel with Agong that he had received such a powerful killing intent head-on.
"Hongjun, that man is not in the tavern."
Bang!
Sheng Wang soared into the sky in one go and shattered the roof of the tavern.
Agong, unable to contain his astonishment at the disaster that was happening to the tavern, shouted with a pained voice.
"Damn it! If you break that, who's going to repair it?!"
Although he had belatedly used the Nine Palaces Divine Steps to chase after Sheng Wang, Sheng Wang had already soared high into the sky, to the point that he looked like a big dot, far beyond the roof.
"Hongjun is gone!"
As the fog of the Hermit's Valley was shaken, a powerful lion's roar spread out.
"Mister! Don't misunderstand and come down! And why is your voice so loud from the crack of dawn!"
Although Agong had hurriedly tried to fly his body again to grab the tip of Sheng Wang's foot, the tiles of the tavern roof around Agong floated up into the air, and at the same time, a powerful force began to press down on Agong.
Swoosh!
The words that Agong heard fragmentarily in his ear were the runic language of the Non-Duality Gate that he had learned from Master Gongsun.
And the runic language that was flowing from Sheng Wang's mouth was causing a change that would surprise the heavens and the earth.
If a rain of fire were to fall from the sky...
No, it was a storm made of fire.
Agong had the illusion that the moisture in his whole body had been drained in an instant and that he had become a shriveled mummy.
The atmosphere burned, and the ground cracked.
Agong's skin, unable to withstand the heat, was emitting smoke and was turning red.
"Stop it!"
Was it because his cracked voice was not heard well?
The huge fireball that was falling from the sky gradually covered Agong's eyes.
"Damn it, I told you it's not!"
As if dancing to the strange sound that had flowed from his mouth, a red flame raged like a storm and soared.
Crash!
A waterspout mixed with heat and flame soared.
A hellfire that could be called a natural disaster without any exaggeration was unfolding on the ground.
"Hahaha! Hahaha!"
Sheng Wang, looking at the fiercely soaring flames, burst out in a satisfied laugh.
Hongjun was gone.
The reason he, who had originally been a conqueror, had been tied to this place was solely because of that old man whose identity was unknown.
Now, the time had come to lead his followers and to conquer a new world.
Although Sheng Wang disappeared with a laugh, the momentum of the flames showed no signs of subsiding.
Swoosh!
A moment after Sheng Wang disappeared, the flames that had been swaying up to the sky began to dance.
And as if following someone's lead, the flames were all sucked into the Hanon Lake, a lake not far from the tavern.
Sizzle!
With the sound of the fire burning the lake, the terrible flames turned into steam and screamed.
And from the flames that had been sucked in without a trace, the battered Agong appeared, walking with a tired expression.
Thump!
"I'm dead."
Not only his hair but also his eyebrows were burned. Perhaps because he had burns all over his body, his whole body was sore in the cold air.
But seeing the charred tavern and the evaporated Hanon Lake, worry came before the pain of his body.
"I should have run away with the determination to die then."
He should have left the Hermit's Valley when he had the chance. No, he shouldn't have come here in the first place.
If Old Ancestor Hongjun were to see this situation now, he would surely be furious.
To make matters worse.
He had also broken Hongjun's words that he should never reveal his absence.
Seeing Sheng Wang's attitude, it was clear that something big had happened due to Hongjun's absence.
"What should I do about this..."
* * *
At that time, when a commotion was taking place in the Hermit's Valley, a big incident was also taking place in the Black Contemplation Fortress, which was said to be one of the two centers of the Sichuan martial world.
This was because after the Sichuan Great Turmoil, the order of Mo Guangdi had finally fallen on the Black Contemplation Fortress, which had been suffering from internal strife over the succession issue until now.
Bang!
A heavy echo flowed from the inner court of the Black Contemplation Fortress.
"In the end... brother...!"
A young man screaming as if spewing out his resentment.
The second young master of the Black Contemplation Fortress and a genius called the Little Light Emperor in the martial world.
Next to the Little Light Emperor, Jeshin, King Wucheng, Huang Feihu, and Shiyue were standing with firm expressions.
The decisive battle between Wenzhong and the Taoist Lingbao to end the first decisive battle with the Sichuan Alliance, which was called the Sichuan Great Turmoil, had ended in Wenzhong's victory, overturning the expectations of many.
But the Sichuan Alliance had prepared a cowardly ambush in preparation for a possible defeat, and Wenzhong, who had been tired and had suffered internal injuries, had been seriously injured and had barely managed to retreat to the Black Contemplation Fortress.
Although Jeshin was sure that the Sword Immortal, who had disappeared, was dead, Mo Guangdi, Jeul, had greeted his son with a cynical smile.
Not only had a master who was like a symbol of the Black Contemplation Fortress returned in a serious condition where he could not even support his body properly, but he had also been angered for the reason that he had retreated after conquering only Baidao Wumen after attacking with all his might.
What was even more desperate was that after that, Wenzhong had fallen into a state of unconsciousness.
The Black Qilin was known to the public to be in seclusion training. After a fight where he had put everything on the line, he had been in a state where his original true qi was damaged because he had used his hands to protect himself from the ambush of the Sichuan Alliance.
Although he had avoided the worst-case scenario of qi deviation, Wenzhong had been sleeping in the Black Contemplation Fortress as if dead for more than two years, without eating or drinking.
If he had been an ordinary human, he would have died, but although Wenzhong's body had become thin and emaciated, his last breath had not been extinguished.
"If only my uncle were here..."
If Wenzhong had been here, Jeul would not have declared Jejeong as the successor of the Black Contemplation Fortress today.
Jeshin once again blamed his own foolishness for not having predicted the cowardice of the Sichuan Alliance in the past.
Crunch...
The Sword Immortal and the girl.
The famous Sword Immortal and the young girl of the Qingcheng Sect had planned everything and had greeted Jeshin and Wenzhong without even blinking an eye.
Although all the sect leaders of the Sichuan Alliance were hateful, especially the Sword Immortal and Xi Xichang, the more he thought about them, the more his anger welled up, to the point that it would not be relieved even if he were to chew them up.
For the young Jeshin, Wenzhong was the only pillar of support he could rely on in this lonely Black Contemplation Fortress.
But that pillar of support had fallen.
"Is there still no change in my uncle's condition...?"
As a last hope, he checked Wenzhong's condition again, but Shiyue quietly shook his head.
Crunch!
A situation where he had to lose everything to his brother, who had been comfortably waiting for his turn in the Black Contemplation Fortress.
Although he had put everything on the line and had harbored a great ambition, in the end, a sense of frustration that he could do nothing enveloped Jeshin.
"My lord."
Shiyue, who had been watching Jeshin, who was swallowing his tears while suppressing his anger for a long time, quietly approached Jeshin's side as if he had decided something.
Although he had made a promise with Wenzhong in the past, Wenzhong could not help now, and the situation was an emergency.
"In the past, the supreme one had the thought of passing on the succession to the great young master rather than to you, my lord."
"I also know that."
"But if the great young master is the moon, you are the sun, my lord. No matter who looks at it, the supreme one's feelings did not make sense."
"What are you trying to say?"
"If the supreme one had been in a normal state... I wonder if he would have really appointed the great young master as his successor."
Jeshin tried to understand Shiyue's words for a moment.
A story that could never be had flowed from Shiyue's mouth.
"Shut that mouth."
"The supreme one... has been sick for a long time..."
Bang!
Shiyue could not finish his words and was thrown a distance of two zhang by Jeshin's attack.
Seeing the writhing Shiyue, who was vomiting blood, flames arose in Jeshin's two pupils.
"No matter how much you are my strategist, how dare you insult my father like that...!"
He was the supreme one of the Black Contemplation Fortress and the number one of the evil path, Mo Guangdi.
To say that the Twelve Honored Ones, who were said to have seen the end of martial arts, were sick.
To insult his father and the living legend of the evil path was a completely different matter from him not becoming the successor.
"The Grand Preceptor also... cough, knew."
Although Jeshin had shown some mercy in his hand, Shiyue's words did not stop even in a state of great injury.
"My uncle..."
He had known from the beginning that Shiyue would not lie to him.
He just couldn't believe it and had tried not to believe it.
If even Wenzhong had known, it was not something that could be called a secret.
"Who else knows?"
"It was only me and the Grand Preceptor."
The fact that the supreme one of the Black Contemplation Fortress was sick was not a good thing.
Especially at this time when they were competing with the Sichuan Alliance.
But for Jeshin, who was about to be pushed out of the succession, this was also his only hope.
'If only my uncle were here...'
Even if Jeul had appointed Jejeong as his successor, in the worst-case scenario, it would have been possible to forcibly seize the entire power of the Black Contemplation Fortress with Wenzhong, who had defeated the Sword Immortal, on his back.
But it had already been two years. He could not wait for Wenzhong to wake up without a promise.
But no matter how abnormal he was, Mo Guangdi was the number one of the evil path and the supreme one of the Black Contemplation Fortress.
Jeshin, who had witnessed the martial prowess of the Twelve Honored Ones directly, was not confident of subduing Mo Guangdi and seizing the entire power of the Black Contemplation Fortress.
'I need help.'
But where in the world could he meet a master who would help him and compete with Mo Guangdi?
Even if he were to meet such a person by a stroke of luck, could he commit the evil act of subduing his father and sitting on the throne?
That would eventually be an act of selling his soul to the devil.
(End of Chapter)