Abolition of the Wicked - Chapter 132

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#132

Whoosh!
As the chair swung through the air, Baek Yeon-gwang startled and raised his blade to block it.
Crack!
The chair didn’t slice cleanly—it shattered like something struck by a club. Go Seo-bang had channeled his martial force the instant their weapons met, deliberately fragmenting it.
All that remained was a club-shaped piece, perfect for swinging.
Dropping his stance low, Go Seo-bang drove the makeshift club at Baek Yeon-gwang’s shins.
Baek Yeon-gwang yelped and leaped, but he hadn’t anticipated the sudden foot rising before his eyes—too late to block.
He’d twisted his body back to absorb the impact, yet blood still burst crimson from his nose.
Retreating, Baek Yeon-gwang finally steadied himself against the wall.
Boom!
The thunderous crash from the side was Gal Ma-pyeong’s and Dok-gwe’s staffs colliding.
“Fool! You dare swing your staff knowing who I am!”
Dok-gwe laughed with a sinister rasp, and Gal Ma-pyeong met it with a laugh of his own.
“Poison? You don’t know what kind of life we’ve lived these past seven years?”
The medicine Jang Man-dok had tossed them to apply to their wounds was far more potent than anything Dok-gwe could conjure.
And though Hang Ju-sa-byeon couldn’t match what Geom U-bin consumed, he’d ingested every manner of spirit medicine courtesy of Geom U-bin himself.
Even if All Poisons Immunity remained beyond reach, the toxins of the Poison Pair were nothing—he could down them by the bowlful and walk away unscathed. Dok-gwe, for all his poison technique, had never been a true match.
Gal Ma-pyeong channeled his martial force into the staff they held locked together.
A sharp crack—and Dok-gwe shrieked, stumbling backward in disarray.
His wrist bent backward at the point of contact, hanging limp and useless.
“You—surely you don’t have All Poisons Immunity?”
“All Poisons Immunity, my foot. Your toxin is just weak!”
Gal Ma-pyeong hurtled toward Dok-gwe, and from the left came a sharp cry from Jeong-gwe.
Jeong-gwe had taken the blow full in the chest and crashed through the wall into the street beyond. Blood poured from his mouth in great heaves—a killing wound; he’d be crossing the river to the underworld soon.
O Tong-su had finished him in a single strike, so Gal Ma-pyeong saw no reason to show restraint.
With both wrists already shattered, Dok-gwe spun to flee. Gal Ma-pyeong’s staff force rammed into his back.
“Gaah!”
Dok-gwe too burst through the inn’s wall and flew into the street.
The Poison Pair—certain to be ranked among Fukien Province’s top twenty masters—had fallen so easily.
From the settling dust, O Tong-su straightened and called to Se-hwa.
“What are you doing? Should we finish those two as well?”
Se-hwa had done nothing but watch while the two men fought.
“I wanted to see how Murim martial artists really fight, but there’s not much to it.”
Having spoken, Se-hwa flicked both hands.
Nearly at the same moment, all nine Hao Wen disciples who’d followed Baek Yeon-gwang and the Poison Pair collapsed.
Each had a hair-thin needle lodged between their brows. Seeing this, Gal Ma-pyeong nodded emphatically.
“Se-hwa, you have the nature of a true Murim martial artist, don’t you?”
“A Murim martial artist? That’s nothing. Being a courtesan is far harder. But isn’t Go… taking rather long?”
Go Seo-bang wasn’t slow—they were simply too fast.
Whoosh!
Go Seo-bang slipped the slashing blade past his head, and his club finally found Baek Yeon-gwang’s shin.
“Ugh!”
Baek Yeon-gwang’s shinbone split the flesh and protruded.
Even so, he’d tried to slash, but the club connected with his wrist and sent the blade clattering across the inn floor.
Go Seo-bang’s foot swung sideways and caught the fallen Baek Yeon-gwang’s chin. Baek Yeon-gwang tumbled and skidded until the wall stopped him.
“Aren’t you being awfully slow?”
Se-hwa’s remark drew a rebuttal from Go Seo-bang.
“Capturing someone alive is far harder than killing them. You know that already.”
“I don’t.”
“If I wanted him dead, I’d have crushed his skull and been finished long ago!”
“Have it your way.”
O Tong-su cut short their brewing argument.
“Enough. Now find out where Hao Wen’s main temple is.”
Everyone knew that the Sect’s headquarters was located in Kaifeng, but few in Murim knew where Hao Wen’s main temple truly stood.
“Push into the main headquarters?”
“Since we’ve come this far, we might as well sweep them clean.”
The situation had grown larger than when they’d left Oseong Jang-won, but watching how Hao Wen was operating, it didn’t seem like it would end at this point.
Go Seo-bang turned to Baek Yeon-gwang, who was groaning.
“Where is the main headquarters of Hao Wen?”
“How did you all become so strong in just a few years?”
“Because we served our master well.”
“Your master?”
“It’s possible. Now, where is the main headquarters of Hao Wen?”
“I don’t know.”
The moment those words left his mouth, the club cut through the air. Crack! The sound shattered the shinbone of what had been a perfectly sound leg.
Go Seo-bang’s cold voice cut through Baek Yeon-gwang’s screams.
“Where is the main headquarters?”
“I don’t know! I don’t know, I tell you! I only joined six months ago because they said the pay was good!”
True enough—there was no way Baek Yeon-gwang would have entered a place like Hao Wen for any reason but money.
“Then surely you can tell us where to find someone who does know the location?”

***

Bandits struck by Noh Dae-sul’s strike club tumbled from their horses one after another.
They were headed toward Sichuan after hearing that Ma Gun-ja’s successor had appeared, and a bandit gang had conveniently crossed their path.
Once they’d seen them, there was no way they could simply pass by.
Forty bandits fell from their mounts without mounting a single meaningful resistance.
“You worthless scum! Gather to one side!”
On the flatland with mountains bordering the right side, the bandits knelt and bowed their heads.
To them, it was as though an old traveler had beaten them senseless for no reason at all.
“Even the Supreme Martial Masters sweat for the money they earn to live on, yet you lot with perfectly sound limbs can’t find anything better to do than thievery! Thievery!”
A lengthy sermon was prepared, but Noh Dae-sul didn’t even finish the first part.
It was because of a messenger from Bang Yeong-dae, who shadowed Bang Ju like a phantom.
The sealed letter, its face stamped with wax so that only Bang Ju could see it, left deep furrows across Noh Dae-sul’s brow.
“The Murim Alliance dispatched the Cheongyeongdan along with both the Cheongryong Hall and the Baekho Hall to pursue someone presumed to be Ma Gun-ja’s successor?”
The name of Ma Gun-ja’s successor had sent no small shockwave through Murim. Yet for the Murim Alliance to dispatch its elite in such numbers over an unconfirmed fact was no ordinary matter.
“Do they truly believe this Miao tribesman is Ma Gun-ja’s successor?”
It was possible the Murim Alliance had learned information that the Sect had not yet uncovered.
“Whatever happens, we must find him first. From this moment on, mobilize all of the Sect’s intelligence resources and locate the man who carries the Murong Blade!”
Noh Dae-sul did not believe the Miao tribesman was Ma Gun-ja’s successor.
A successor to Ma Gun-ja whom neither Geom U-bin nor Hyeolpung Saja knew of—no matter how he thought about it, something didn’t sit right.
“If this matter spins out of control, a bloodwind could sweep across Murim.”

***

Pyeongri County in Shaanxi Province was one of countless ordinary counties in Zhongyuan where agriculture was the mainstay. The mountain of Gocheongsan, situated in this ordinary county, was likewise an utterly unremarkable peak.
And yet, partway up this unremarkable mountain in this ordinary county, three very extraordinary people had gathered.
The sect masters of the Huashan Faction and Jongnam Sect, both based in Shaanxi, and the leader of the Cheongseong Faction, which held power in Sichuan, were there without a single attendant.
Do Seon-ja, sect master of the Huashan Faction, placed the letter he’d received from the Cheongyeongdan on the table.
“Word has come that they still haven’t located the man’s whereabouts. Since the stranger moves alone, it seems even the Cheongyeongdan is finding him difficult to track.”
“Of all times, Ma Gun-ja’s successor suddenly appears. Is this mere coincidence?”
Sa Do-bang’s concern was natural—he was the sect master of the Jongnam Sect.
Maeng Seo-pil picked up where Sa Do-bang left off.
“I think it premature to conclude that this Miao tribesman is Ma Gun-ja’s successor. All we’ve confirmed is the presence of the Murong Blade.”
Maeng Seo-pil, sect master of the Jongnam Sect, had earned a reputation for caution in all matters.
If Maeng Seo-pil was cautious, then Sa Do-bang was a man who believed that erring on the side of excess was better than erring on the side of caution.
“Even if the odds are only one in ten, we cannot simply let that man go.”
“Does the Cheongseong sect master have something in mind?”
“Since we’ve already mobilized the Cheongyeongdan, why not make this Miao tribesman a Martial Arts Criminal of Murim?”
“How can we manage that when he hasn’t done anything?”
“We make it possible. Even by leveling false accusations against him.”
Do Seon-ja nodded slowly.
“It is indeed better to eliminate any possibility, however slight, while we can.”
“If that man is truly Ma Gun-ja’s successor and learned something from Ma Gun-ja, everything we’ve done could be exposed to the entire world.”
Maeng Seo-pil spoke.
“It’s been thirty years already, and Ma Gun-ja is almost certainly dead. Even if he were alive, he’d be nothing but a shell—who would believe anything that man said?”
“Even if the whole world refuses to believe him, if only four people do, then the Bloodwind will blow across the land.”
Baek Jong-dan let out the name like a groan.
“The Bloodwind Four Lions.”
Though they were said to serve under Ma Gun-ja, the Bloodwind Four Lions was perhaps a more fearsome name than Ma Gun-ja himself.
Ma Gun-ja, even toward his enemies, had shown mercy within reason—but no one marked as an enemy by the Bloodwind Four Lions had ever lived.
The Murim Alliance and the Bloodwind Four Lions had not become enemies precisely because the Alliance had been scrupulously careful.
There was no reason to deliberately make the Bloodwind Four Lions into enemies and stake their very survival on such a battle.
“Let us make that mysterious figure a martial arts criminal. We’ll start with the Cheongyeongdan, those who move to our will, excluding the Cheongryong Hall and the Baekho Hall.”

***

The waft of blood made the wrinkles on Noh Dae-sul’s face deepen further.
Six corpses lay scattered across the grounds of Seo Un Estate, and another two had collapsed in the Main Hall.
Noh Dae-sul ventured deep into the estate searching for any survivors who might remain, but when he saw the body of a child who appeared to be around six years old, he turned his head away.
Noh Dae-sul had counted thirteen corpses within Seo Un Estate, and if he went further inside, he would find even more.
He had followed the mysterious figure with the Murong Blade to this place, but all Noh Dae-sul had discovered were corpses—women and children among them.
“Could this truly be his doing?”
He found it hard to believe.
Ma Gun-ja’s martial arts were tyrannical in character, and in his youth he had shown a ruthlessness that spared none within his grasp—yet he could not be called a villain. After he was recognized as the Supreme Martial Master, he had earned respect from many for his fair and righteous handling of affairs, more so than any of the Orthodox Faction.
Among those who had admired Ma Gun-ja was Noh Dae-sul himself, so it was difficult to believe that someone suspected of being his successor would commit such atrocities.
“If the culprit is that mysterious figure, then he cannot be Ma Gun-ja’s successor.”
As he stepped out into the courtyard with conviction, Geom U-bin and the Bloodwind Four Lions appeared over the wall.
After discovering the mysterious figure’s trail, Noh Dae-sul had contacted Geom U-bin and the Bloodwind Four Lions first.
If anyone had the right to know the identity of that mysterious man, it was these five who stood closest to that right.
“You came quickly.”
Seo Seok-san spoke.
“We ran as fast as we could. But…….”
Seo Seok-san’s face, as he surveyed the surroundings, had become lined like Noh Dae-sul’s.
“This is rather horrific. Could this really be the work of the one with the Murong Blade?”
“I’m not certain, but it’s plausible. I came straight here after hearing he’d been spotted in this area.”
“Straight though it was, it wasn’t fast enough. By the state of the bodies, it looks like six hours have passed.”
A gap of that length would make it too late to track him down by following the trail.
Yeon Geum-hong asked.
“Why would he commit a massacre here?”
“The master of this estate being someone called Na Mok-hyang—that’s no coincidence.”
At Noh Dae-sul’s words, the face of the Bloodwind Four Lions hardened.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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