Murim Troubleshooter Dan Mujin

Chapter 58: Hao Sect of Kaifeng

An alias was a title encapsulating a martial artist’s exploits, and another face revealing one’s status in the murim.

That’s why, upon hearing someone’s alias, unless it was infamous, the customary etiquette in the Central Plains was to exclaim, “Oh, So-and-so, Master!” in agreement.

Even if it sounded unfamiliar, the rule of thumb was to pretend you’d heard it somewhere before.

So if you went, “Un-gu-il-hyeop? That alias sounds like dogshit, hehe,” you had no right to complain if you got beaten to death.

“You all agree, don’t you? You human traffickers.”

While I’d been busy fighting, I somehow ended up beating down every last one of the enemies whose numbers had doubled.

The first group had charged in without a word while chasing Jo Harang, so we didn’t even have time for introductions. But the second wave, upon seeing our strength, asked for our aliases first.

“Y-You’re absolutely right!”

“We truly acted rashly!”

The human traffickers whimpered like beaten dogs, crawling on the ground under the onslaught of my fierce clubbing.

I glanced over at the kids who’d nearly been sold off. Far too young to understand the malice of this world.

The children clung tightly to Ilhong’s robe, clearly still terrified of their captors.

Seeing that reignited the fury that had started to subside.

“You knew what you were doing, huh?”

If they knew, they deserved a worse beating. This was what you called an aggravated punishment.

I rained down strikes with the Dog-Beating Staff. Each dull thud was followed by the whimpering of beasts, or something close to them.

“Guh.”

“S-Stop!”

Even in my previous life, there were scumbags who kidnapped the gullible and worked them like slaves. I’d handled a few cases like that, too.

And here? This wasn’t just some barbaric era where martial artists got away with murder—it was far worse.

“Nice! Hit them harder! Trash like them deserve to have their bones shattered!”

Jo Harang clapped beside me, cheering me on as I beat the human traffickers into the ground.

She was happy-go-lucky, even after dragging me into this mess. Watching her made something churn in my gut.

“You’re no saint either. Why bring trouble here and get me involved?”

“But I knew you’d help, Mujin… And look, you did fight with us until the end, didn’t you?”

It wasn’t that I helped her fight—it was that I got caught up in it till the end, woman.

Let’s be clear.

“So, these bastards who came with you—who are they? Some Black Path thugs?”

Wherever people gathered, there were always parasites thriving off crime.

Even in Beijing, where the Emperor resided, it was no different. Kaifeng would be no exception.

“These trash? They’re from the Hao Sect.”

Jo Harang replied while nudging one of the fallen traffickers with her foot.

At her ominous remark, Ilhong, who had been comforting the children, froze on the spot.

“…The Hao Sect is involved in trafficking? Weren’t they an information group?”

“You don’t know ‘Shop-Leg-Tooth-Cart-Boat’? They’ve always been bottom-feeders. Nothing new.”

Among the five characters Jo Harang mentioned, ‘Tooth’ (牙) meant human trafficker.

Just because someone was weak didn’t mean they were virtuous. The Hao Sect had originally been no different from the Black Path. But once a new First Sect Leader took charge and reorganized them into an intelligence organization, they had supposedly cut out all the filth.

“So I thought they’d been operating as a murky information group straddling the orthodox and unorthodox...”

Jo Harang trailed off, fingering the hilt of her broadsword as if lamenting how it had come to this.

I silently turned to look at Ilhong.

She stood stiffly, fingers trembling, her expression stone-cold.

“So now that there’s no Sect Leader to stop them, they’re going back to kidnapping for profit?”

Had they lost their pride and devolved into a Black Path-like group again? Ilhong bit her lip, muttering bitterly.

“…Um.”

Just then, one of the children clutching her sleeve spoke up.

Both women turned to look, wondering what it was.

“There were others… not just us.”

“What do you mean?”

“More kids who got kidnapped.”

They said they’d heard crying in a hidden warehouse. Apparently, the number was significant.

“Oh, right. There were other signs of life.”

“Then why’d you only come out with these two?”

“Sorry. I only have two hands, couldn’t do more.”

Apparently, there were more enemies than expected. Even one First Rate Martial Artist had been mixed in.

“Boss, we need to wipe them all out.”

Ilhong spoke with an unusually serious expression.

If she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes, she might’ve ignored it. But now that she had witnessed the rot festering in her own organization, she couldn’t let it slide.

“Oh, good idea! Let’s go in and clean them out!”

Jo Harang seemed thrilled at the prospect of punishing evildoers, oblivious to the deeper implications.

She swung her broadsword enthusiastically, declaring she couldn’t possibly sit this one out.

“I know everything—their hidden hideout, the entry password, the emergency passage, and escape routes. All of it.”

Come to think of it, we had Hong Geumi here—lawful successor of the Hao Sect, with knowledge of nearly everything about it.

She whispered quietly that since she knew even the backdoor routes, we could clean them out without letting a single one escape.

“Hey, Jo Harang. You think you can take on that First Rate Martial Artist?”

“Of course! I’ve never lost a one-on-one at that level!”

She confidently asserted that her only weakness was being overwhelmed by numbers. One-on-one, she had no fear.

“What about you, Mujin? There’s over twenty of them, combining Second Rate and Third Rate Martial Artists.”

“I’m fine. Don’t know what bad karma’s trailing me, but I’ve always fought outnumbered.”

Whether it was about martial levels or sheer numbers, I’d never had an easy fight.

That’s why hearing the alias ‘Un-gu-il-hyeop’ always made my insides twist.

“You sure? They’re all armed. A few cuts here and there add up…”

“It’s not like I’m gonna die. Don’t worry.”

This body of mine regenerated minor injuries in no time and didn’t tire easily.

Truly, the more I thought about it, the more I realized—this physique was optimized for large-scale slaughter...

“Ahem, I’m building good karma here, so I might as well work the body a bit.”

I quietly activated the Starfall Heart Cultivation Method, purging unnecessary thoughts from my mind.

“See? You really are Un-gu-il-hyeop! I told you, you’re a real chivalrous hero!”

“Don’t you have a better-sounding alias?”

And seriously, what did she even see in me to accept I’m a hero this fast?

Usually, people got confused hearing my blunt tone and attitude being called ‘heroic.’

The more I looked at her, the more unknowable she seemed.

“Well then, let’s strike while the iron’s hot and head out right away!”

She gripped the hilt of her broadsword, poised as if ready to dash off at any moment.

To be honest, this wasn’t a profitable venture in any way, but once it was labeled as injustice, her zeal became remarkable.

“Hold on. Let’s stop by the Beijing Wanderers’ Guild first.”

“Why there?”

“We’ll accept a kidnapping or missing persons request before heading out. Some of those victims should be in that warehouse, so we can get paid for doing the same job.”

Request brokers never compensate for jobs that bypass them.

It was like a turf war over rice bowls. If the client and wanderer handled everything without them, they couldn’t take their brokerage fee.

“Oh, right. Mujin, you really are practical.”

“Well, I do have a knack for sniffing out money.”

Usually, I couldn’t go full-blown profit-seeker because of the Heaven-Slaying Star, but in situations where I could secure both justification and profit, the story changed.

“Boss, let’s go.”

Our eager guide lit up with motivation.

Once we hit the road, it would be the usual boredom and wasted days with no chance to build up righteous energy, so stacking it now wasn’t a bad idea.

“Let’s move.”

Since ancient times, it was said that villains should be treated like pigs and beasts.

I slung the Dog-Beating Staff over my shoulder and began walking.

“What the hell? Who are you? Why are you coming in through the back— Guh!”

A Hao Sect member gasped in horror at the uninvited guests bursting in through the backdoor.

The Dog-Beating Staff came crashing down hard, caving in the top of his skull with a “thunk!”

“…Who are you bastards?! How did you find this hideout?!”

Well, we had an insider whistleblower driven by righteous anger.

“No talking!”

Jo Harang leapt forward and swung her massive broadsword with fierce bravado.

The blade scraped the corridor walls as it bore down on the Hao Sect members. The broadsword shredded through their shoddy weapons, drinking in blood and screams.

Swoosh! Slash!

The heavy blade’s sharp wind pressure resembled the roar of a tiger.

“Shit!”

“Where did these bastards come from?!”

“Doesn’t matter—kill them all!”

As the enemy numbers surged, my Dog-Beating Staff Technique began spewing fire.

Reading the killing intent’s trajectory, I ghosted through with Whirlwind Steps. The elongated tip of my staff curved and twisted at strange angles, battering the Hao Sect members.

Meanwhile, Ilhong sealed the other exits to prevent any escapes.

For a while, an intense battle raged to clear out the hideout. By the time a meal’s worth of time had passed, the only ones left standing were us and the rescued victims.

“W-Wait! This is a misunderstanding. We’re not some random Black Path thugs. You’re attacking the renowned Hao Sect right now—”

Thunk!

The staff struck the back of his head, turning his half-assed faint into a full-blown knockout. I stylishly retrieved the Dog-Beating Staff.

That bastard would probably wake up to the sight of a noose or a guillotine.

I planned to turn them all over to the Magistrate Office, so once he opened his eyes, it would be the gallows for him.

“Do we really need to keep them alive? They’re villains. Why not just kill them all?”

Jo Harang, drenched in blood from head to toe with her broadsword, asked in confusion.

The evil ones she had sliced through left trails of blood behind us. Sometimes, I felt like she was the real Heaven-Slaying Star.

“It’s because of that mindset—thinking anything goes if someone’s bad—that sisters end up stabbing their brothers.”

“…What are you talking about?”

Oops. That just slipped out without me realizing.

Anyway, unless my life was in danger, I planned to leave the unnecessary killing karma to others.

Thanks to us, the Kaifeng Magistrate Office was going to be very busy with executions for a while.

“My name is Dan Mujin. When you return to your mom and dad, tell them a cool big brother saved you, okay?”

I addressed the rescued children while spinning the staff stylishly.

Sometimes, doing the work wasn’t enough—you had to show off if you wanted recognition.

“Soho Blade Heroine! You were amazing!”

“Thank you for saving us!”

But the children were more impressed by Jo Harang, the famous wanderer who had cleaved through villains with a massive broadsword like a windmill.

Well, yeah. Compared to her, the guy poking around with a staff and not even splashing blood lacked impact.

“Man, life’s rough.”

Even in the final battle with the Soul-Stealing Demon Lord, Murong Cheonghye stole the spotlight. Every time, I ended up playing second fiddle.

“T-Thank you.”

Then, one of the kids whispered a shy thank you and disappeared into the group.

That one sentence hit me right in the chest. A wave of righteous energy surged within.

Well, I made money and built righteous energy—what more could I ask for?

“Boss.”

After absorbing all the intel from the Hao Sect’s Kaifeng branch and burning the critical documents, Ilhong approached me.

“The Hao Sect was rotting far deeper than I thought.”

Her expression mixed disappointment and fury—deeply bitter.

It looked like she was shocked to see the Hao Sect devolving into criminals hiding among civilians.

“Don’t worry. Whether it’s the Upper Spirit or Lower Spirit, I’ll find the mysterious experts and take back the Sect Leader’s seat.”

“…It’s Upper Spirit and Lower Spirit, Boss.”

“Oh, right. Of course.”

I scratched my cheek awkwardly.

Anyway, if I kept traveling the Central Plains acting as a troubleshooter, I’d eventually find a way.

And if things came down to it, I now had a reliable backer for finding information.

“…They are reliable, right?”

From the start, Hwang Geolgae was like a pseudo-master, so I wasn’t entirely sure.

But hey, if it works out, it works out.

I decided to think positively.

The Seventh Elder of the Beggars’ Union, Ilhogae, couldn’t concentrate on anything lately because of a certain young man.

“So, what’s that Dan Mujin fellow up to now?”

At the elder’s question, a Beggars’ Union member opened a crumpled document and began reading the contents.

“Apparently, he raided the hideout of those Hao Sect human traffickers who’ve been a growing problem. Turned the lot of them over to the Magistrate Office. Everyone’s talking about it.”

Ilhogae slapped his knee in admiration of the young man’s remarkable actions.

“Whoa, the two of them took down that den all by themselves?”

“Yes, Elder.”

“Power, justice—he lacks nothing. Ha ha.”

He thought Dan Mujin had cut ties with the Beggars’ Union for good.

Yet now, the Dragon Head Sect Leader who’d vanished had sent back such a promising successor in his final days.

“But why did the letter describe him as a thunderstruck naked savage?”

That part, Elder Ilhogae still couldn’t make sense of.