Abolition of the Wicked - Chapter 208

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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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#Chapter 208

Do Pyeong-su’s momentum evaporated in an instant.
“Did you say my brother came? Where?”
“That is…”
Just then, a voice rang out from beyond the Dragon Phoenix Chamber.
“A guest from Oseong Jang-won has arrived!”
It was news that would save Gal Ma-pyeong’s life. Do Pyeong-su and Jang Man-dok bolted to the Main Gate of the Northern Ice Palace in a single breath.
There stood Geom U-bin and Yeon Geum-hong, with Seo Seok-san shouldering a large bundle.
“Brother!”
“Hah!”
Do Pyeong-su and Jang Man-dok rushed forward and embraced Geom U-bin from both sides.
Yeon Geum-hong struck both their backs.
“You idiots! You’ll crush your brother!”
After the joyful commotion subsided, they moved to the Dragon Phoenix Chamber. Along the way, Yeon Geum-hong recounted everything that had happened to Do Pyeong-su and Jang Man-dok.
“The Mo Yong Clan dared to rush at your brother? Tsk, tsk, tsk… they deserved to die. Should’ve wiped out the whole bloodline.”
“We wanted to, but your brother showed them mercy. He said Oseong Jang-won shouldn’t fear the likes of the Mo Yong Clan.”
Do Pyeong-su nodded.
“That’s true. A rich man worrying about his next meal—that’s what happens when you get old, I suppose.”
Yeon Geum-hong and Seo Seok-san stopped walking and looked at him.
“Did you climb up to our level, or did we fall down to yours?”
“What nonsense is that?”
Geom U-bin hurried them into the Dragon Phoenix Chamber.
“Let’s deal with Sam Gongja first.”
Seo Seok-san, having entered the Dragon Phoenix Chamber, shook out the bundle. Sam Gongja tumbled out like a sack of grain.
Sam Gongja, unable to use his martial force at all, trembled uncontrollably as he bore the full weight of the freezing weather.
Yeon Geum-hong looked at him and spoke.
“This bastard will freeze to death at this rate. And his clothes are so flimsy, too.”
“People don’t die so easily.”
Do Pyeong-su nudged Sam Gongja with his toes as he continued.
“But why does he just stare blankly ahead?”
“We sealed off all his other pressure points. Since he had a poison pill in his mouth, we didn’t want him attempting suicide on impulse.”
Seo Seok-san turned to Jang Man-dok.
“Don’t you have some kind of medicine to make this bastard talk without letting him kill himself?”
The muscles in Jang Man-dok’s face twitched subtly as he considered. Do Pyeong-su spoke up.
“The Marrow-Breaking Crimson Pellet? There’s a drug by that name, but it’s supposedly too dangerous to use except as a last resort?”
“The Marrow-Breaking Crimson Pellet?”
“We’ll need to gather materials, so it’ll take some time.”
“Then we’ll have to start with the Fen Gen Zhao Gu technique.”
Yeon Geum-hong asked.
“How many days left until the sparring?”
“Five days.”
Eun Yi-seol’s face shone with confidence as she answered. Given those five days to sharpen her skills, she was certain she could defeat Baek Gang.
Geom U-bin, looking at Jang Man-dok, spoke.
“Since you say you can prepare the medicine within three days, we should be able to finish everything in five days and return to Oseong Jang-won.”
A smile bloomed on the face of Hyeolpung Saja. He had long forgotten any longing for a fixed place.
But Oseong Jang-won had somehow become a longing like home.
‘I want to return home quickly.’

***

“Ugh!”
Sam Gongja writhed as the Fen Gen Zhao Gu technique was inflicted upon him. Blood vessels bulged across his entire body, and there came a stretch of time when he was too wracked with pain even to cry out.
Hyeolpung Saja considered the Fen Gen Zhao Gu technique the most agonizing form of torture in the world.
Tearing out fingernails or salting wounds was mere lullaby compared to the Fen Gen Zhao Gu technique.
When Jang Man-dok struck several pressure points, Sam Gongja, who had been thrashing in agony, went limp.
Seo Seok-san crouched down before Samgongja.
“You’ll talk eventually anyway. Speak now and die easy. What’s the name of your organization?”
“Zo… kka…”
Do Pyeong-su tilted his head.
“Zok? Is it a martial family with the surname Zok?”
Seo Seok-san, glancing at him with a pitying expression, asked again.
“You know Ma Gun-ja?”
“Zo…”
Without giving him a chance to utter the next syllable, the Pressure Point Technique began again.

***

Geom U-bin and the Hyeolpung Saja gathered in one place. They thought they’d achieved their objective by capturing Samgongja, but all they’d actually learned was that he was an extraordinarily stubborn creature without equal in the world.
All he’d said to them was “zo kka”—two syllables—and Do Pyeong-su, realizing belatedly that it wasn’t the Zok family but “zo kka,” had nearly given himself away trying to stop the man from tearing out his own tongue.
Observing Jang Man-dok’s expression, Do Pyeong-su spoke.
“It seems we’ll have to resort to the final method.”
“You mean the Muryeok Hongdan?”
Jang Man-dok nodded. Yeon Geum-hong asked.
“Why didn’t you use it from the start?”
“It’s a truth serum with incredibly potent effects. Use it, and he’ll certainly die within a quarter hour. So we have to extract everything we want to know within that time.”
The lack of a second chance was unfortunate, but if the man wouldn’t open his mouth even under the Pressure Point Technique, they had no choice but to rely on the poison’s power.
With everyone’s eyes upon him, Geom U-bin made his decision.
“Prepare the Muryeok Hongdan.”
Jang Man-dok, who’d apparently been ready for this, completed the Muryeok Hongdan in a single day.
The red pill, no larger than a thumbnail, smelled so vile that you had to cover your nose just stepping within a pace of it.
Do Pyeong-su grabbed his nose and shouted.
“I’ll answer every question—just get that thing away!”
“The effect seems promising.”
“Quick, shove it down his belly.”
Everyone spoke through pinched noses at Jang Man-dok. Jang Man-dok turned his face toward Geom U-bin. Seeing that expression, Geom U-bin gave a silent nod and left the Dragon Phoenix Chamber.
“What did you tell your senior?”
The answer, of course, came from Do Pyeong-su.
“I told him the sight might be gruesome, so he should step out.”
Seo Seok-san nodded in approval and offered praise.
“Well done. Now hurry and get that poison into his belly. Otherwise, I’m leaving too.”
Exiting the Dragon Phoenix Chamber, Geom U-bin passed through the corridor and encountered Eun Bi-yeon.
“Aren’t you supposed to have gone to the Ice Lake Valley with the other two?”
With the sparring now just a day away, Gal Ma-pyeong and Eun Yi-seol had departed for the Ice Lake Valley, where the Northern Ice Palace’s Palace Master used her meditation retreat.
Eun Bi-yeon was meant to accompany them and aid in their preparations, yet here she stood.
“There was an urgent matter to resolve.”
Geom U-bin did not miss the single drop of blood clinging to Eun Bi-yeon’s skirt hem.
“What sort of matter?”
With no need to conceal it, Eun Bi-yeon spoke freely.
“I found who poisoned Yi-seol.”
She had conducted her investigation discreetly this whole time and had finally tracked down the culprit.
“It was the maidservant Yi-seol had kept for ten years. It seems she’s also connected to Yi-seol’s sister’s death.”
Eun Bi-yeon had come here because of the Muryeok Hongdan Jang Man-dok had made.
“If you’re heading to the Dragon Phoenix Chamber, wait a moment. We’re in the middle of administering the Muryeok Hongdan to Samgongja.”
“Then we’ll know soon enough whether it works.”
The results didn’t take long to surface. Before a quarter hour had passed, the Hyeolpung Saja emerged from the Dragon Phoenix Chamber and sought out Geom U-bin.
“How did it go?”
Yeon Geum-hong answered.
“I’d call it half a success. The time was simply too short.”
“The most important thing is how Samgongja connects to my master. Did you learn that?”
“This one was not the Samgongja your master pursued. ‘Samgongja’ isn’t a designation for any single person—it’s a title used within the organization. This one is the Third Samgongja of the third generation. So the Samgongja your master was after was likely the First Samgongja of the first generation.”
“What organization does Samgongja belong to?”
“The Sado Ryeon.”
“The Sado Ryeon?”
While the name suggested something straightforward enough, she’d never heard of a sect called the Sado Ryeon, which ostensibly meant an alliance of evil factions.
“They haven’t formally established themselves yet; they’re currently in the process of consolidating power. Samgongja’s role was to draw the scattered factions together.”
“The organization calls itself Sado Ryeon, but it seems a considerable number of Orthodox Faction members have been brought into the fold as well. The Mo Yong Clan, and even the Huashan Faction’s sect leader appear to be in Samgongja’s grasp.”
“Those Orthodox Faction members who’ve been recruited will work as spies, wearing the mask of righteousness, even after Sado Ryeon officially emerges.”
Unlike the Orthodox Faction, which had unified under the banner of the Murim League, the Evil Faction had yet to truly combine its strength.
If Sado Ryeon properly consolidated the Evil Faction and had powerful moles within the Murim League, the balance of power in Murim could shift in an instant.
What was remarkable was that the shadowy force orchestrating such a vast conspiracy had yet to reveal itself.
“Could it be connected to the Demonic Cult?”
She would have asked that question too, certainly.
“I did ask about that, and Samgongja denied it. But we can’t entirely rule it out—since Samgongja is only a subordinate, he might not know the real picture behind it all.”
“Did you learn anything about my master?”
Given only a quarter hour, she hadn’t held high hopes, yet there had been some progress.
“Do you remember the operation to suppress the Blood Cult in Yunnan?”
“The dead Huashan Faction leader had gone to Plum Blossom Valley.”
“The person who informed that Miao tribe that they were the Blood Cult was Samgongja, according to what he said.”
“Samgongja fabricated that false accusation against the tribe? Why?”
Yeon Geum-hong exhaled a weary sigh.
“It appears my master had passed on some of her martial arts to that tribe. The exact reason, even Samgongja didn’t know. In any case, Samgongja at that time demanded your master’s martial arts from the tribe, and they refused him.”
“He fabricated that false accusation as the Blood Cult to eliminate them because of that?”
“He didn’t want his tracks discovered, so your master must have found out somehow and pursued Samgongja.”
Geom U-bin suddenly remembered something and asked.
“If the dead man is Samgongja, then could there also be a First Agent and a Second Agent?”
“We thought the same thing and asked. There were indeed First and Second Agents. Samgongja’s role was to gather forces, but the First Agent handles wealth and the Second Agent handles power, he said.”
These were three things absolutely necessary for establishing a sect.
“Who are the First and Second Agents?”
“That’s where it ended. There was enough time for him to answer, but even under the influence of drugs, he took that answer to his grave.”
It was regrettable, but still, in that brief quarter hour, they’d managed to uncover quite a bit of truth.
“And we learned that the carrier pigeon caught by the eagle was headed for Beijing. Whether this information will be useful, I’m not sure.”
Even if someone from Sado Ryeon was in Beijing, there was currently no way to find them.
Geom U-bin, who had been thinking hard, spoke.
“This shadowy plot didn’t arise overnight. If we consider it back to when my master disappeared, it goes back at least twenty-five years.”
Eun Bi-yeon offered a practical counterargument.
“You’re saying they’ve been scheming in the shadows for twenty-five years? Would there really be someone who could crouch in darkness for that long, doing nothing but plotting?”
“You’re right. It’s absurdly long a time for mere scheming. But the Samgongja my master pursued and the dead Samgongja belonged to the same organization. If they weren’t merely scheming in darkness all this time, but were actively operating, it’s possible we’re simply unaware of it.”
Since the Huashan Faction’s sect leader was a subordinate, one of the great sects might be behind this conspiracy.
“The real problem is Sado Ryeon. Why, after hiding in the shadows for over twenty years, would they suddenly emerge under the name Sado Ryeon?”
Yeon Geum-hong spoke.
“If their goal is dominion over Murim, they may have finally gained confidence.”
Geom U-bin turned to Jang Man-dok.
“I currently have poison in my body. It’s a trace of the poison arts that the Mo Yong Clan’s patriarch mastered. Would you take a look?”
Geom U-bin gathered the poison from his left arm and released it through his palm. Jang Man-dok’s face twitched oddly, then crumpled in distress.
“What? You’re saying it’s one of the Demonic Cult’s poison arts? The Mahuseol Poison Technique?”
Jang Man-dok nodded heavily, and Geom U-bin’s complexion grew even darker.
“The Huashan Faction’s sect leader was poisoned by Demonic Cult toxins, and the Mo Yong Clan’s patriarch learned Demonic Cult martial arts.”
Seo Seok-san asked.
“Do you think the Demonic Cult has been revived?”
“It’s certainly something we must suspect. At minimum, someone has obtained the Demonic Cult’s legacy. Regardless of which, we need to be wary of the Demonic Cult.”
The name “Demonic Cult” settled over everyone’s heart like a heavy stone.
Though none of them had experienced it, everyone knew the devastation the Demonic Cult had wrought was extreme.
Parents abandoned their children, children murdered their parents, brothers drove blades into brothers’ backs—such horrors were commonplace in the world when the Demonic Cult ran rampant.
Do Pyeong-su spoke as if trying to cast off the burden.
“What does it matter if it’s the Demonic Cult or Sado Ryeon? As long as they don’t touch us, and if they do, we simply destroy them.”
“Still, we should prepare.”
“What kind of preparation?”
“We’ll think about that later. For now, let’s focus on tomorrow’s sparring match.”

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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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