Chapter 163 : Seogak’s Unwelcome Guest
Chapter 163: Seogak’s Unwelcome Guest
The Cult Leader, who had stopped his training midway and come out of his residence, walked toward the forest near the Vice Cult Leader’s residence.
The moment he stepped into the forest, the moist and refreshing scent of the woods wrapped around his body.
Natural, you ask?
No.
The forests of the Heavenly Mountains were anything but moist—they were cool and cold.
The temperature was low, and because of the trees, sunlight rarely penetrated.
Thus, the forests of the Heavenly Mountains held more desolation than freshness.
And yet, the reason it felt refreshing was…….
“Long time no see.”
At the soft voice, the Cult Leader lowered his gaze.
“You left as if we would never see each other again. What brings you here?”
“I missed my first love.”
“Just like back then—you still tell impossible lies with that innocent face.”
“That hurts. To think you remember me that way.”
At the words of the woman—wearing a dazzling red martial robe that revealed every curve of her body, with bright crimson lips yet a face pure and innocent—the Cult Leader replied coldly.
“Stop the nonsense and get to the point. You didn’t come after thirty years just to chatter.”
“Help your Junior Brother.”
“Junior Brother… you mean our Han?”
“That’s right. Go to the guesthouse in Qinghai where the Poison Demon is. He’s in danger.”
For a moment the Cult Leader’s expression hardened at the woman’s words, but it gradually relaxed until a faint chuckle escaped him.
Seeing that, the woman said,
“You still don’t believe me—just like back then. How about trying to trust me for once?”
“I did trust you once. And I still regret the result of believing your words.”
“If I hadn’t stopped you with a lie back then, not only your Master—you would have died as well.”
“If that had happened, at least I wouldn’t have any regrets.”
“If you had died then, what do you think would’ve happened to the Junior Brother you cherish so much?”
The Cult Leader could not answer.
To him, the woman said,
“Then believe me now. If you don’t help him, you’ll lose him.”
At those words, the Cult Leader gave a bitter smile.
“You talk as if you know everything in the world, but this time you’ve failed to see properly.”
“What?”
“If they dared to point a blade at my Junior Brother… you people picked the wrong target.”
“If you’re trusting in the level he reached beyond the extreme of the Manifestation Realm, that’s a misjudgment. If you knew who went there, you wouldn’t say that.”
“Whoever it is… it sounds like one of the Three Dukes went.”
“That’s right. The Sword Duke went. So hurry—”
“First-Flowing Sword. That old man has lived long enough. Since I can’t attend the funeral, light some incense for him instead.”
“What…?”
“Instead of asking me questions here, go see for yourself. Ah! Even if you go, never clash with him. Once that child draws his sword, he never sheaths it before cutting.”
With those words left behind, the Cult Leader walked away casually.
Not even the slightest trace of past attachment remained in his back.
At that, the woman bit her lip tightly.
Her figure scattered like morning mist dissolving beneath sunlight.
The swords clashed—
Whoosh.
For a brief moment, First-Flowing Sword was startled that his blade had lost its target. Then his eyes widened.
“W-when?”
His question received no answer.
The moment Yul Han’s figure cut past his neck, he had already moved on, descending upon those attacking the patients lying in the medical hall.
Even the famous First-Flowing Sword of the world had been completely ignored.
Within First-Flowing Sword’s vision—
Splurt.
The notion that attacking from behind was cowardly shattered.
The Righteous Will Heroes who were rushing toward the medical hall where the patients and their guardians stayed—Yul Han’s sword mercilessly split their backs.
The moment blood sprayed into the air from their bodies, a rainbow formed.
For some reason, he thought it was beautiful.
That thought was the last thing First-Flowing Sword knew before his consciousness faded and collapsed.
Thud, roll.
His head, separated from his body, rolled across the ground and stopped—facing the Righteous Will Heroes being massacred.
Lightning speed.
The phrase unfolded exactly as it meant.
Not a single person had yet crossed the threshold of the medical hall.
Even though they had started much earlier, Yul Han’s sword and the Lightning Cloud Blade had swept across them before they could even arrive.
The movement that produced it defied common sense.
If somewhere more urgent appeared, he abandoned the enemy before him and sent a sword shot flying.
If necessary, he even threw both the Lightning Cloud Blade and his beloved sword without hesitation.
After stopping distant enemies by hurling his weapons, Yul Han’s two hands wrapped in blazing Force Energy crushed the foes before him.
The Ten Thousand Calamity Hands, bearing destructive power comparable to the Half-Moon Asura Slash, smashed the Righteous Will Heroes before him like a giant iron hammer.
Ashamed of the title “Righteous Will Heroes,” those who had tried to slaughter innocent patients were themselves slaughtered by Yul Han.
Only then did the Poison Demon come to his senses and begin moving—showing just how fast Yul Han’s actions had been.
In an instant, the guesthouse was filled with corpses and blood.
Even though they knew he had saved them, the patients trembled in fear.
Yul Han’s movements were that shocking.
Yul Han, who had turned the guesthouse into a sea of blood, slowly raised his gaze toward a tree planted before the guesthouse.
With widened eyes, the Reception Envoy standing atop the tree and the Daoist with a gentle appearance heard Yul Han’s Mental Voice Transmission.
—You carry the scent of the dead. You must have come from the same place. Wherever it is, go back and tell them. Do not make me come find them.
Leaving those words behind, Yul Han turned away.
The woman who had introduced herself as the Reception Envoy and the gentle-faced Daoist could only stare blankly at him.
At that moment, another woman appeared beside them—just as the one who met the Cult Leader had dispersed earlier.
She could not hide her shock at the scene.
“H-how did this happen?”
“We greet the one Behind the Curtain.”
At the greeting of the woman called Reception Envoy, the woman in the red martial robe known as Behind the Curtain spoke.
“Good heavens! The Sword Duke… he’s fallen.”
“It was… one sword.”
At the words of the Daoist beside her, Behind the Curtain’s eyes widened as if they might tear apart.
“T-that’s impossible!”
In response to her denial, the gentle-faced Daoist said,
“It’s hard to believe even after seeing it with my own eyes… but it’s true. He simply cut him—and he was cut.”
“Simply cut him?”
“Yes. It truly was a single sword. My gaze was briefly drawn to the Lightning Cloud Blade releasing lightning energy, but in that short moment…”
The Three Dukes’ power was absolute within the Assembly of the Beyond-Heavens.
Only those recognized as the strongest in their respective fields were qualified to join that organization.
And among even those elites, the Three Dukes were the heavens.
Yet one of them now lay on the ground as a headless corpse.
At that sight, the words the Cult Leader had spoken resurfaced in her mind.
<You people picked the wrong target.>
At that moment, Yul Han, who had been hurriedly sought, happened to turn his head and meet Behind the Curtain’s eyes directly.
“Gasp!”
Her breath caught instantly.
It felt as though a blade had pierced through her eyes and stabbed deep into her lungs.
From dozens of zhang away, merely his killing intent could inflict this level of impact.
Beyond shock, she felt bewildered.
The Reception Envoy spoke to her.
“I told you. He’s far beyond what Behind-the-Curtain predicted.”
At that, Behind the Curtain looked down at the Reception Envoy.
The woman continued.
“It’s not too late yet. The Assembly of the Beyond-Heavens’ plan must be revised. Otherwise…”
“Otherwise?”
“His blade will come flying toward us.”
At that answer, Behind the Curtain’s gaze sank deeply.
Shocking news spread through the Martial World.
The Namgung Clan and the Righteous Will Heroes had attacked the Bright Cult—only to be utterly destroyed.
In the process, First-Flowing Sword had died.
His head had been severed by a single strike from Emperor Salyejin.
This was the story voluntarily spread by those who had stayed in the medical hall that day.
The rumor spread across the entire Martial World in an instant.
Considering the vast size of the Central Plains, it was a speed difficult to comprehend.
Even if one rode with urgent military dispatches, it would take fifteen days to cross the land.
Yet the rumor spread across the Central Plains in only three days.
Naturally, the Namgung Clan heard it as well.
Their clan fell into chaos as if a hornet’s nest had been struck.
Merchants who once lined up to form ties with them turned their backs overnight.
The number of Righteous Will Heroes who had sworn to dedicate their bodies and hearts to Namgung dwindled with every passing night.
They fled under cover of darkness.
The death of First-Flowing Sword was fatal.
He had radiated a presence strong enough to suppress all the Righteous Will Heroes participating in the attack.
Yet he had fallen in a single stroke.
That shattered the fighting spirit and morale of those who remained.
It was the side effect of someone too strong falling too easily.
After all, if even First-Flowing Sword could not withstand a single move, who could stand against Emperor Salyejin?
Helplessness and despair once again swept across the Hundred Paths, beyond just the Namgung Clan.
Ironically, in this situation that should have been pitied, quite a few people mocked the disaster that had befallen Namgung.
Most of those voices came from the Nine Sects and the Six Great Clans—groups that had been criticized during the hostage exchange incident.
Even so, those words never fully became public discourse.
After all, it was difficult for people claiming to be the Hundred Paths to say such things openly.
But the fact that no one extended a hand to Namgung revealed their true feelings well enough.
From Namgung’s perspective, they could not criticize that either.
They themselves knew very well how they had exploited the hostage trade incident.
Thus they could only remain silent.
Then another piece of bad news arrived.
Among the dozen younger generation talents of the Namgung Clan who had followed the Righteous Will Heroes, eight had survived.
A letter from the Bright Cult arrived telling them to come retrieve them.
What should have been joyful news became bad news.
Because of the name written at the end of the letter.
It was not Emperor Salyejin—the Vice Cult Leader who had overseen the matter.
It bore the name of the Cult Leader, ruler of the Bright Cult.
That was the problem.
Unlike the Vice Cult Leader, the Cult Leader was far more likely to use the matter politically.
In short, no one knew what unbearable conditions might be attached when they came to retrieve the hostages.
Yet they could not abandon their captured younger generation talents either.
Doing so would cause Namgung’s identity as part of the Hundred Paths to be questioned.
In the end, the Namgung Clan sent out the Azure Dragon Sword King once again.
Among Namgung’s masters, he was the only one who could face the Cult Leader’s presence without shrinking and still hold a conversation.
And so the Azure Dragon Sword King departed with slumped shoulders.
After all, he was going to beg someone he could not possibly defeat to spare the captured youths.
The Bright Cult was in turmoil.
It was not because of the younger generation talents of the Namgung Clan captured in Qinghai.
Those fellows were little more than war trophies.
Besides, they were staying in a shabby warehouse little different from a prison.
Yet the commotion was caused by another Namgung who had come along—despite not being a prisoner.
That’s right.
Namgung Chang-yeon was openly staying in Seogak.
He had managed to come to the Bright Cult because he refused to return alone.
Knowing exactly who he was, Yul Han could not simply abandon him when Namgung Chang-yeon threatened to hang himself if he was not taken along.
Thus he had no choice but to bring him.
And when Namgung Hee-yeon ran barefoot to embrace him, Yul Han had no choice but to let him stay in Seogak.
Together with the one who caused all this—Ga Hwa-yeong.
As for what it meant that Hwa-yeong had caused everything…….