Chapter 137 : The Mission Voluntarily(?) Undertaken
Chapter 137: The Mission Voluntarily(?) Undertaken
“Have you reconciled?”
At Yul Han’s sudden question, the Human-Faced Spider and Freakish Hammer asked at the same time.
“What?”
“I heard that you reconciled. Is that not so?”
At the part where he said ‘Is that not so,’ Yul Han’s voice sank so coldly that even those listening beside him turned their heads.
Not only that, killing intent streamed from his eyes in thick strands.
It was the kind of killing intent that made it seem as though, if one answered that it was not so, he would immediately lunge forward and tear out their throat.
No matter how tactless someone might be, there was no one who would answer ‘No, we did not’ in such a situation.
And that was equally true for Freakish Hammer and the Human-Faced Spider.
“T-That’s right.”
“You decided to have him serve as one of the Four Calamity Emperors as Supreme Elder?”
At Yul Han’s continued question as he stared at him, the Human-Faced Spider could not answer.
As though understanding the Human-Faced Spider’s thoughts, Yul Han’s gaze shifted to Freakish Hammer.
“Is that not so?”
Freakish Hammer clearly saw it. As Yul Han asked, ‘Is that not so?’ his hand slowly rose onto the sword hilt.
“Ahahaha. O-Of course it is. Y-Yes. My sworn elder brother agreed to become one of the Four Calamity Emperors.”
“That’s a relief. I was worried I might have to kill someone to make the numbers fit. Since it’s come to this, you’ll work hard, won’t you?”
This time, Yul Han’s gaze turned to the Human-Faced Spider.
That gaze was speaking, just as the Iron Demon had felt some time ago.
‘If you run away again, I’ll kill you.’
“O-Of course. I-I’ll work hard.”
“That’s good to hear. I’m only grateful that you’re working so diligently and even volunteering like this.”
“V-Volunteering? What do you mean…?”
Ignoring the flustered Human-Faced Spider’s question cleanly, Yul Han turned his gaze to Freakish Hammer.
“I understand that when one of the Four Calamity Emperors acts, the entire Four Calamity Emperors’ Stronghold acts. Is that not so?”
Yul Han’s eyes, fixed squarely on Freakish Hammer, still glistened with killing intent.
Under such a gaze, there was only one thing Freakish Hammer could say.
“O-Of course. The Four Calamity Emperors are the Four Calamity Emperors’ Stronghold itself.”
“Good. It’s a very good thing that the Stronghold Lord thinks of the Supreme Elder that way. I hope that does not change.”
As he heard those words, Freakish Hammer felt that Yul Han’s eyes could speak as well.
‘If it changes, I’ll kill you.’
So he had no choice but to answer.
“O-Of course. I-It won’t change.”
At Freakish Hammer’s reply, Yul Han gave a crooked smile and turned his gaze to the Human-Faced Spider.
“Please continue the surveillance you volunteered for.”
Only now realizing what the answer to his earlier question had been, the Human-Faced Spider spoke.
“If it’s the Pleasure Quarters District, the fire just now…”
The ghostly aura he had been monitoring had been felt in the Pleasure Quarters District.
At his question, Yul Han replied.
“Not the Pleasure Quarters District. You will watch the Zhuge Clan.”
There had been no prior explanation, yet the Human-Faced Spider immediately understood. The unsettling ghostly aura he had sensed was connected to the Zhuge Clan.
Though he did not know the deeper details, Freakish Hammer, who had been listening beside them, also realized that something was wrong with the Zhuge Clan.
He casually added a suggestion.
“Then why not just strike them? Since we’ve already brought the men out, wouldn’t it be better to settle it completely…?”
Surveillance had no fixed end. But if they fought fiercely and resolved it in blood, that would be the end of it.
In other words, Freakish Hammer subtly revealed that he had no intention of being dragged around for a long time by Yul Han—no, by the Bright Cult.
At that moment, the Cult Leader’s irritable voice rang out.
“The Vice Cult Leader said ‘surveillance.’ Are your ears not working? Should I clear them out for you? Straight through from this ear to that one, so you can hear very clearly.”
Seeing the Cult Leader’s hand make a motion as though piercing something through, Freakish Hammer hurriedly covered his ears and shook his head.
Blue Force Energy shimmered around the Cult Leader’s finger, as if it could pierce straight through the air.
The Cult Leader spoke to him.
“Then listen carefully. If you’re told to conduct surveillance, you conduct surveillance.”
As Freakish Hammer nodded hurriedly, the Cult Leader suddenly twisted his face in irritation.
“You bastard, answer properly. What? Should I pierce your throat too?”
“N-No. We’ll only conduct surveillance. Surveillance only. We won’t do anything else.”
“You should’ve said that from the start. I really hate going on business trips. If I have to come out because I need to pierce someone’s ear holes, I might end up ripping off a head in a fit of anger. You know my temper.”
“O-Of course. I’ll make sure there’s absolutely no reason for you to come out.”
Watching Freakish Hammer nod frantically, the Cult Leader grumbled.
“Honestly, what strange bastards. That one there is scared out of his wits, yet he still stabbed his sworn elder brother in the back while knowing full well he has ties to me.”
At the Cult Leader’s words, Freakish Hammer said nothing.
After all, he could hardly say in front of the man himself that sometimes the thing that overcomes fear was the desire for power.
Perhaps he noticed the peculiar look in Freakish Hammer’s eyes, because Yul Han called out.
“Pageuk.”
“Yes, Vice Cult Leader.”
“You’ll have to take on a temporary assignment.”
“A temporary assignment?”
“All you need to do is watch whether the two from the Four Calamity Emperors’ Stronghold faithfully carry out the task they volunteered for. It won’t take long.”
“I understand. But what if they try something funny?”
“Just do as you were doing.”
“Then I can cut off their heads and drain their blood?”
At Pageuk’s question, Freakish Hammer and the Human-Faced Spider’s eyes widened to the size of saucers.
Looking at the two of them, Yul Han grinned.
“You don’t need to ask about the obvious.”
At Yul Han’s answer, and at Pageuk’s gaze sweeping over them as if he were about to devour them, Freakish Hammer and the Human-Faced Spider stiffened.
They had just witnessed the Bright Cult martial artists using Force Bullets while putting out the fire.
Force Bullets had occasionally been launched to deflect collapsing debris away from the people extinguishing the flames.
And according to the memories of Freakish Hammer and the Human-Faced Spider, all four of the Bright Cult martial artists had used Force Bullets in that way.
Considering that Force Bullets were the exclusive domain of those in the Manifestation Realm, the fact that Pageuk was glaring at them as if to devour them meant that he too was in the Manifestation Realm.
From the standpoint of the Four Calamity Emperors’ Stronghold, which did not even possess a Transcendent Realm master, a Manifestation Realm expert was nothing short of a nightmare.
That was why Freakish Hammer and the Human-Faced Spider forced smiles, doing their utmost to prove that they would never disobey the Vice Cult Leader’s command.
After withdrawing his gaze from the two of them, Pageuk bowed respectfully toward Yul Han.
“I obey my master’s command.”
Unlike Yul Han, who smiled bitterly at the title ‘master,’ Freakish Hammer and the Human-Faced Spider could not conceal their eyes widening in shock.
A Manifestation Realm master calling someone ‘master.’
They could not even begin to imagine how high a realm one would have to reach for such a thing to be possible.
Yul Han spoke to the two of them.
“I trust you’ll handle it well.”
With those words, and leaving Pageuk behind, Yul Han departed.
The Iron Demon, who kept looking back with a regretful smack of his lips, and the Profound Demon and the Ghost Demon, who consoled him, followed behind.
The Cult Leader, who remained until the very end, swept his gaze over them once before launching his body to follow the already vanished Vice Cult Leader and Iron Demon.
Only then did Freakish Hammer let out a sigh of relief—
—but it stopped midway.
His exhaled breath was cut short.
He had locked eyes with Pageuk, who stood staring at him with yellow eyes gleaming like those of a beast of prey.
“D-Do you have something to say…?”
“Why are you not beginning the task my master ordered?”
The Vice Cult Leader’s group had just left.
That meant there had been no time to issue instructions to their subordinates.
But judging by Pageuk’s eyes—eyes that clearly promised no pleasant end—Freakish Hammer forced a smile.
“Ahaha. I-I was about to. I’ll give the order right away.”
“An order?”
“Well, we’ll send the men…”
“My master, the Vice Cult Leader, gave the command to you two. Not to your subordinates.”
Surely not.
Just because the Vice Cult Leader had spoken to them did not mean they were to conduct the surveillance personally.
But if they tried to make that man called Pageuk understand such reasoning, it felt as though their heads would fall off first.
In the end, as Freakish Hammer and the Human-Faced Spider looked at one another, the Human-Faced Spider stepped forward first.
“I’ll keep watch for now.”
“Good. Make sure you do it properly.”
Those words meant he would not accompany him to the surveillance site.
Relief settled over the Human-Faced Spider’s expression, while Freakish Hammer’s face twisted as though he had chewed through an entire sack of salt.
After all, it was obvious where Pageuk would stay if he did not go to the surveillance site.
Pageuk spoke to Freakish Hammer.
“Let’s go.”
“What? Ah! Yes.”
Turning his gaze away from Freakish Hammer, Pageuk looked at the Human-Faced Spider.
“Endure for fifteen days. I’ll send a replacement after that.”
Freakish Hammer, who clearly understood that he would be that replacement, could only watch as the Human-Faced Spider nodded.
Thus, leaving the Human-Faced Spider behind, Freakish Hammer and the Four Calamity Emperors’ Stronghold masters departed—dragging along the uninvited guest, Pageuk.
From a distance, after confirming that Freakish Hammer and the other Four Calamity Emperors’ Stronghold masters had left Suzhou, the people of Room 32 began searching the direction where the Cult Leader and Vice Cult Leader had disappeared.
They had seen them running off in one direction while they were still in the middle of extinguishing the fire.
After all, no matter how occupied they had been with the flames, it was not a situation where they would fail to notice the movements of the Cult Leader and Vice Cult Leader.
Even so, at the time they had not been able to divide their forces and pursue them.
Beside them had been no fewer than four Bright Cult masters who were casually firing Force Bullets.
It was obvious those masters would not allow them to chase after the Cult Leader and Vice Cult Leader.
So at that time, all they could do was remember the direction in which the Cult Leader and Vice Cult Leader had vanished.
Hurrying in that direction, the people of Room 32 did not go far before discovering the corpses of Goman and Zhuge Wuliang lying dead.
Among the people of Room 32, there was no one who did not know who Goman was.
Zhuge Wuliang had never formally introduced him, and the people of Room 32 had never acknowledged him openly—but that did not mean they were unaware.
Even the people of Room 32 acknowledged that someone was needed to act as the hands and feet of Zhuge Wuliang, who had never learned martial arts at all.
Otherwise, Room 32 would have had to assign someone for such tasks. In a situation where they were already short-handed, the fact that he had brought someone himself was reason enough to pretend not to know.
In any case, Goman and Zhuge Wuliang were now dead.
“This is a blatant provocation!”
The protest that burst out at once was restrained by Great Master Jeongbeop.
The Vice Cult Leader he had seen was not someone who would stir up trouble without reason.
The Cult Leader, who would care nothing for such matters, did trouble him—but no matter how he looked at it, the Cult Leader did not seem like someone who would do something the Vice Cult Leader did not wish for.
Therefore…
“There must be a reason. We find that reason first.”
“One of the Orthodox has been killed. And not just anyone—one of our own from Room 32. What reason could possibly be needed?”
As the protest intensified, Great Master Jeongbeop said,
“The fact that we are still alive is proof that we must search for the reason. If they intended to kill simply because he was of the Orthodox, then you and I would not still be standing here.”
Perhaps those words struck home, because the opposition subsided.
There was a saying—‘having already taken the first step.’ If Zhuge Wuliang had been killed simply for being of the Orthodox, then there would have been no reason to spare them when they encountered each other again in the Pleasure Quarters District.
Once the internal dissent quieted, Great Master Jeongbeop turned to Daoist Chamyeong.
“It seems you will have to step forward.”
At Great Master Jeongbeop’s words, Daoist Chamyeong nodded and approached the corpse of Goman, who lay sprawled on the ground.
After that, talismans were affixed, and at some unknown moment while an incomprehensible incantation flowed long from Daoist Chamyeong’s lips—
Flash.
Goman’s closed eyes snapped open.