Heavenly Demon of Mount Hua

Chapter 38

—–CROW—– 

“…Sir! Together…”

“Where…”

Cheon-hwi frowned, interrupting his cultivation at the commotion coming from outside.

“What’s all that noise?”

He was about to get up, his face clearly irritated, when,

“Senior Disciple!”

Jeok-geom’s voice called out.

“Elder Hyeon-do has arrived…”

Burst!

Before Jeok-geom could finish, the door flew open, and a large shadow fell across the room.

Speak of the devil, as they say.

Hyeon-do’s and Cheon-hwi’s eyes met.

“Cheon-hwi!”

He shouted at the top of his lungs and started running.

“Martial Uncle?”

As Cheon-hwi was about to get out of bed at the sound of his approaching footsteps,

Grab!

Hyeon-do, reaching him, grabbed his shoulders and quickly scanned him from head to toe.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

Cheon-hwi frowned at the sudden concern.

“I’m fine.”

“Phew, that’s a relief.”

Hyeon-do sighed in relief and smiled.

But his expression quickly changed, and he asked cautiously in a low voice,

“Is what you wrote in the letter to the sect true?”

“Letter?”

Cheon-hwi tilted his head at the mention of a “letter.”

Then he suddenly remembered something he had forgotten.

“Ah! That?”

He recalled Go Gye-yeong mentioning sending a letter to the Mount Hua Sect.

“It’s probably true.”

The moment he said that,

“The Hundred Ghosts Castle…! Grit, those bastards dare to bare their fangs again!”

Hyeon-do shouted, his eyes wide with fury.

He stomped his feet in anger, his face growing even fiercer.

As his already fierce face contorted, radiating an even more frightening aura,

‘Huh?’

Someone caught Cheon-hwi’s eye, standing awkwardly at the doorway behind Hyeon-do.

A middle-aged man in neat blue and white robes, wearing a Taoist headpiece.

He looked every bit the Taoist priest, and as Hyeon-do saw him, his anger subsided, replaced by a calmer expression.

Hyeon-do, noticing Cheon-hwi looking behind him instead of at him, asked,

“What is it?”

“Who is that?”

Hyeon-do, realizing his oversight, hurriedly introduced the middle-aged man.

“Ah, my apologies. This is Ha Woo-jin, known in the martial world as the Flying Sword Gentleman.”

“Flying Sword Gentleman?”

Cheon-hwi tilted his head, and Hyeon-do quickly added,

“He’s a Taoist priest from the Mount Zhongnan Sect, a renowned swordsman.”

Hyeon-do’s gaze softened.

He shifted his gaze from Ha Woo-jin to Cheon-hwi and spoke,

“And he was your master’s closest friend.”

Hyeon-do stared at Cheon-hwi.

Very few people in the martial world knew that Ha Woo-jin and Hyeon-gang were close friends.

Happiness? Surprise? Or perhaps curiosity?

He waited to see what his reaction would be.

“Oh, really?”

A completely different response came.

What did it matter to him whether he was his master’s friend or not?

He had never even met his master.

‘So what?’

Cheon-hwi looked at him as if asking if there was anything else, and Hyeon-do was taken aback.

“Did you know they were friends?”

“No.”

“Then aren’t you even curious…?”

“Senior Disciple Hyeon-do.”

Ha Woo-jin interrupted their conversation.

He shook his head at Hyeon-do and spoke softly,

“Why don’t we sit down and talk calmly?”

A moment later, Cheon-hwi, Hyeon-do, and Ha Woo-jin were seated around the table in the center of the room.

“I am Ha Woo-jin of the Mount Zhongnan Sect.”

Cheon-hwi looked at Ha Woo-jin, who was once again introducing himself and his sect.

He immediately understood his hidden intention.

‘Why is he beating around the bush?’

From observing the behavior of Taoist priests during his stay at Mount Hua, he interpreted this greeting as a prompt for him to introduce himself as well.

Slightly annoyed, he said,

“I’m Cheon-hwi.”

Ha Woo-jin’s expression softened.

He looked at Cheon-hwi with warm eyes and spoke,

“So, you’re Hyeon-gang’s disciple.”

His voice was laced with complex emotions.

Although not widely known in the martial world, he and Hyeon-gang had been longtime friends, transcending the boundaries of their respective sects, Mount Hua and Mount Zhongnan.

Friendly rivals and close confidants.

But on the day Hyeon-gang died, Ha Woo-jin couldn’t avenge his friend.

The elders of the Mount Zhongnan Sect, who had raised and nurtured him, stopped him from seeking revenge against the Hundred Ghosts Castle.

His friend was important, but so was his family.

So, he gave up on revenge and returned to the Mount Zhongnan Sect, but the burden of that decision still weighed heavily on his heart.

He couldn’t bring himself to visit Mount Hua again and had been actively avoiding it.

‘I never thought I’d see the child you took in like this.’

His eyes grew misty as he was overcome with emotion.

Hyeon-gang had once told him about taking in an orphan from a certain village.

‘I heard he was six years old when he became your disciple, and yet he’s already grown this much.’

Time truly flew by.

The six-year-old child he had heard about was gone, replaced by a fine young man standing before him.

‘I should have visited sooner…’

As he reminisced,

‘He’s looking at me strangely.’

Cheon-hwi was uncomfortable with his gaze.

Then,

Clink.

Hyeon-do, finishing his tea in one gulp, spoke with a serious expression,

“Is it true that the Hundred Ghosts Castle is behind the Hegemon Clan?”

“Yes.”

Ha Woo-jin’s eyes widened.

“The Hundred Ghosts Castle is behind the Hegemon Clan…?”

But Hyeon-do, ignoring him, continued the conversation.

“I want to hear more about it.”

“More?”

Hyeon-do nodded.

“Sigh, this is troublesome… Fine.”

He sighed, giving in to Hyeon-do’s earnest expression, and recounted the attack he experienced upon arriving at the Swift Wind Trading Company.

“The day I arrived at the Swift Wind Trading Company…”

Hyeon-do and Ha Woo-jin listened intently, absorbing every word of Cheon-hwi’s story.

About an hour passed.

The story was nearing its end.

“…That’s what happened.”

He concluded with the admission that he had killed them.

“How dare they touch our sect again.”

Hyeon-do’s fists trembled.

“Those bastards are asking for death!”

He snarled, uttering words unbefitting of a Taoist priest.

Ha Woo-jin, who had been listening to the story, also frowned.

“So, the Hegemon Clan was a pawn established by the Hundred Ghosts Castle for their scheme.”

His face hardened slightly.

The Hundred Ghosts Castle had been quiet lately, so both he and the Mount Zhongnan Sect had let their guard down.

It was all a smokescreen.

‘They were hiding such a despicable plan right under our noses.’

He was disgusted by their cunning.

For thirteen years, they had been biding their time, and the Hegemon Clan had pretended to be unrelated.

They had been so thorough that no one, not even himself, would have suspected a connection between the Hegemon Clan and the Hundred Ghosts Castle.

The proof was in recent events.

Eun-su-chamsal, whom he had met a few days ago, had acted as if he and the Hegemon Clan were completely unrelated.

“They were still acting even then…!”

Ha Woo-jin’s eyes suddenly widened.

A question that had been bothering him for days was finally answered.

“So that’s why Eun-su-chamsal came right after the Hegemon Clan was destroyed!”

“Eun-su-chamsal?”

Hyeon-do frowned at the name.

Eun-su-chamsal was one of the Four Guardians of the Hundred Ghosts Castle, notorious for leaving a trail of blood wherever he went.

Hyeon-do asked Ha Woo-jin,

“You’re saying he came here?”

Ha Woo-jin nodded.

“I met him when I went to investigate the culprit behind the Hegemon Clan’s annihilation.”

“They even sent Eun-su-chamsal! They’re determined to fight us to the death!”

Hyeon-do gritted his teeth.

“Senior Disciple Hyeon-do.”

Ha Woo-jin spoke with a grim expression.

“The Swift Wind Trading Company is in danger.”

“What do you mean, in danger?”

“If the Hundred Ghosts Castle Lord, who even sent Eun-su-chamsal, found out that his plan failed and the Hegemon Clan was destroyed…”

He gulped.

“He’ll send someone stronger.”

“Someone stronger…?”

“The Three Squads of the White Ghost might come to the Swift Wind Trading Company.”

“The Three Squads of the White Ghost…”

Hyeon-do groaned.

The Three Squads of the White Ghost were a different story.

His youngest disciple and the Plum Blossom Swordsmen had all perished alongside the Extinction Squad, one of the former Three Great Squads.

“Squads…?”

Cheon-hwi suddenly spoke.

“Some guys who called themselves a squad did come the other day.”

“What?”

“I-Is that true?”

Hyeon-do and Ha Woo-jin, instinctively reacting, leaned closer to Cheon-hwi.

“Do you know who they are?”

“Do you know anything about them?”

“It was something like… Soul, something… What was it?”

Cheon-hwi frowned, trying to remember.

As he stalled, Hyeon-do and Ha Woo-jin grew increasingly anxious.

“Think carefully.”

“Try to remember.”

“Can you wait a moment?”

Cheon-hwi snapped, and they pulled back slightly.

“Ah!”

Cheon-hwi exclaimed, as if he had remembered something, and they immediately perked up their ears.

“Was it the Soul Slaughter Squad?  Or the Soul Killing Squad? I don’t remember exactly, but it was something similar.”

As soon as he finished speaking, they both jumped to their feet.

“S-Soul Slaughter Squad!”

“The Soul Slaughter Squad came?!”

Cheon-hwi frowned at their loud exclamations.

“I’ve heard that even though the Soul Slaughter Squad isn’t widely known, wherever they go, a clan is annihilated…”

Ha Woo-jin muttered blankly.

Even the Mount Zhongnan Sect couldn’t easily dismiss the Soul Slaughter Squad.

‘But they came to the Swift Wind Trading Company?’

A sudden question arose.

The Swift Wind Trading Company seemed far too unscathed for a visit from the annihilation-inducing Soul Slaughter Squad.

“Fortunately, they only came to scout…”

He paused mid-sentence, sensing a discrepancy.

There was a contradiction in his words.

‘No, that’s impossible.  There has never been a survivor among those who encountered the Soul Slaughter Squad…’

His gaze returned to Cheon-hwi.

Judging by his indifferent expression, he didn’t seem to be lying.

‘Then what happened?’

He pondered deeply.

But instead of finding answers, his mind became even more confused.

Finally giving up, he asked Cheon-hwi directly,

“…Did you meet the Soul Slaughter Squad?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Then they…”

“I took care of them.”

“Took care of them?”

Ha Woo-jin looked puzzled, so Cheon-hwi clarified,

“I killed them.”

—–CROW—– 

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