Abolition of the Wicked - Chapter 247

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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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#247

“If you truly have no need for the Palgak-gyeong, you might as well hand it over to me. Keeping it will only be a bother for a young lord like yourself.”
“You ought to stay true to your nature.”
“My nature?”
“If you’re a thief, then act like one—steal it. Don’t grovel like a beggar from some two-bit faction.”
“Then I have your permission to take it by force?”
“If you have the skill, by all means.”
“And you’ll hold no grudge against me afterward?”
Geom U-bin replied only with a cryptic smile.
‘There is one. Of course there is.’
But he had no intention of backing down. His name—Shintu—hadn’t been earned by theft alone.
Whatever he set his mind to stealing, he took. That’s how he’d earned his prideful(?) name.
“But where are we headed?”
Geom U-bin didn’t bother concealing their destination.
“Taiyuan, in Shanxi Province.”
“We’ll have to cross through Hubei and Haenam. That’s quite a journey.”
“Why waste effort? Wouldn’t it be better to part ways here?”
“I’ve nothing pressing to attend to. Besides, fascinating things are bound to unfold ahead—I’d hate to miss the spectacle.”
Word that Geom U-bin possessed the Palgak-gyeong would spread through Murim in a heartbeat.
At first, only small-time drifters would swarm him, but the Palgak-gyeong’s name carried enough weight to make even the Murim League itself stir.
‘Can Jang Seo-yeon protect it?’
He occasionally deployed his Lightness Skill, but never pushed for speed. He had no wish to rush through this solitary journey through the Gangho, and while the matter concerning Ma Gun-ja was important, it wasn’t urgent.
Despite the unhurried pace, they covered ground far faster than traveling on foot—four days brought them into Hubei Province.
They were crossing Gongsong Pass, the border between Hunan and Hubei, when it happened.
“Your assurances seem to have come to nothing, Ma. No one’s appeared.”
“Don’t grow careless yet, Jang.”
Over the past four days of travel, he couldn’t keep calling her “you,” so they’d settled on “Ma” and “Jang” as their names for each other.
“Hunan has no major sects to speak of, but Hubei holds both the Mudang Faction and the Jegal Family.”
“Would renowned Orthodox Factions really covet the Palgak-gyeong?”
“These days, one must fear the Orthodox more than the Evil Faction. You’re still young—you don’t yet understand how the world works……”
Geom U-bin cut him off.
“It seems your concerns were warranted after all.”
“What do you mean? That the Orthodox are more dangerous?”
Geom U-bin stopped walking and fixed her gaze ahead.
“The small fry are beginning to gather.”
But Ma-o-ryang detected nothing.
“I hear nothing.”
“That’s the difference between you and me.”
‘Arrogant brat.’
Though he grumbled, Ma-o-ryang soon found himself forced to acknowledge the gap she’d described.
The rapid pounding of feet against earth was unmistakable—Geom U-bin had sensed them long before he did. The difference in their hearing was night and day.
‘More impressive every moment.’
Before his admiration could fully fade, a group rounded the bend ahead.
Roughly thirty of them blocked the narrow mountain path, all dressed in black martial robes bearing the character “Cho” emblazoned across their chests.
One figure stepped forward from their ranks—a lean-eyed man in his late fifties, bearing the weathered look of someone caught between youth and age.
As his gaze swept across both travelers, it fixed upon Geom U-bin.
“So you’re the one they call the Young Lord Jang.”
The casual dismissal in his tone—calling her a “thing”—made his intent clear. Courtesy was not forthcoming.
“And you are?”
“I am Bang-ju of the Jowak Faction, Baek Do-bong.”
He announced himself as though he were the most famous man alive, but Geom U-bin had never heard of either the faction or its leader.
At her blank expression, Ma-o-ryang leaned in and whispered.
“An Evil Faction operating on Hubei’s periphery. Originally part of a sect called Cheon Gil Moon, but internal strife split them in two. The Jowak Faction is one of the fragments.”
“Your companion seems well-informed about our Jowak Faction.”
“Gathering information is one of my principal occupations.”
“But are the two of you traveling together?”
From Baek Do-bong’s perspective, it was crucial to know exactly who his enemies were. Looking at them, the middle-aged man seemed far more troublesome than the younger one.
Ma-o-ryang hastily waved both hands and stepped back.
“I have no intention of getting involved in this fight. Whether I’m here or not won’t change the outcome, so do as you please.”
As an Evil Faction lackey who made his living sucking the blood of the common folk, getting rebuked by Geom U-bin was oddly satisfying.
Though Ma-o-ryang was indeed a thief, he had never once laid hands on the possessions of the poor.
Of course, this was partly because the poor had nothing worth coveting, but in any case, Ma-o-ryang harbored warmth in some corner of his heart.
“It’s good that innocent people won’t be harmed.”
Geom U-bin spoke.
“Then I must be guilty?”
“Hand over the Palgak-gyeong, and that guilt will vanish entirely.”
‘Having treasure is a crime’—a tired epiphany by now.
“It seems you’re not the sort to be dissuaded by words……”
Just as Geom U-bin was about to move, he straightened from his forward bow. They say fortune doesn’t come in pairs but misfortune comes alone, yet it seems enemies don’t come alone either.
As Geom U-bin began to shift, Baek Do-bong, who had been tensely prepared, asked with a bewildered expression.
“Why are you stopping? Changed your mind? If you have, hand over the Palgak-gyeong at once.”
“More guests seem to be arriving.”
“Guests?”
“Guests like you.”
Shortly after Geom U-bin finished speaking, new figures appeared. The moment Baek Do-bong saw them emerge behind Geom U-bin, anger flashed across his face.
“Seong Cha-man!”
“Huh? Baek Do-bong—what are you doing here?”
Ma-o-ryang offered an explanation about the newly arrived figures.
“I mentioned earlier that Cheon Gil Moon had split into two, didn’t I? One became the Jowak Faction, and the other is the Gimeng Faction that just appeared. The one there with the large mole on his cheek is the Sect Master, Seong Cha-man.”
While Ma-o-ryang was explaining, Baek Do-bong and Seong Cha-man began their verbal sparring.
“What business brings you here?”
“And what about you?”
“I owe you no explanation for why I came! Since I arrived first, get out of here at once!”
“Who do you think you are, telling me to come and go! You paper-eyed fool!”
“What? Paper-eyed fool? You spotty bastard, are you so eager to die?”
“I’ve been waiting for a chance to settle this anyway, and now’s perfect! You spineless wretch!”
The two men looked ready to attack at any moment but only spewed insults at each other for a long while. This was nothing more than a war of words.
“If you want to fight each other, then fight. If you want to come at me……”
Geom U-bin spoke, but his voice was immediately swallowed by the shouting of the two. However urgent the journey ahead, he had no desire to waste time trapped in an unpleasant din in the mountains.
His feet lightly rose from the ground.
Boom!
The Jinjak that Geom U-bin unleashed ripped up the earth’s surface, felled trees, and knocked down a good number of those standing before and behind him.
Ma-o-ryang, who nearly fell ungracefully, pressed a startled hand to his chest and stared at Geom U-bin.
‘The Jinjak……!’
The Jinjak—reverberating the earth by stomping—could be considered a true measure of one’s martial prowess.
Fundamentally, it was impossible without exceptionally deep Internal Energy, and transmitting that power through the feet to unleash it required masterful control of one’s Internal Energy.
In Murim, there were countless people called First-Rate Masters, as numerous as grains of sand, but among them, only a handful could deploy the Jinjak.
Even then, one had to reach the highest tier—Elite Masters—to truly experience the depths of the Jinjak.
Yet the Jinjak that Geom U-bin had just deployed was no mere taste of it but a genuine, formidable Jinjak powered by majestic Internal Force.
Naturally, the quarrelsome verbal exchange between Baek Do-bong and Seong Cha-man ceased at once.
Geom U-bin, standing with an expressionless face, addressed those around him.
“It seems you two have old grievances. I’m leaving, so do as you wish—fight or don’t.”
As Geom U-bin began to walk, those who had been lying on the ground, unable even to rise properly, rolled aside to avoid him.
“Sect Master!”
One of them called out desperately to Baek Do-bong, and immediately all the disciples of the Jowak Faction turned their eyes toward him.
It was now abundantly clear that Geom U-bin was a master. Yet when Baek Do-bong had decided to seize the Palgak-gyeong, he had sworn to stake his very life on this endeavor.
With nothing less than the martial arts of the Sword Saint Hwa-ryong Seonin within reach, his insignificant Evil Faction in Hebei Province could ascend in a single leap to become a great power in Murim.
This was an opportunity that might not come again in a lifetime. Not only Baek Do-bong but all his subordinates who dreamed of wealth and glory beneath him had no choice but to be desperate.
Pressed by the yearning gazes of his men, Baek Do-bong stepped forward to block Geom U-bin’s path.
“If y-you wish to leave, then l-leave the Palgak-gyeong behind……please.”
He wasn’t worth the effort. Geom U-bin seized Baek Do-bong by the collar and hurled him backward.
He had no intention of killing in such circumstances. In the future, moths would swarm toward the Palgak-gyeong, and if he stained his hands with blood each time, Geom U-bin would quickly accumulate the karmic burden he so feared.
Wanting to avoid taking lives as much as possible, Geom U-bin threw Baek Do-bong toward Seong Cha-man, fully expecting him to catch him.
“Argh!”
Baek Do-bong flew through the air with a cry, but his head struck the ground first, and his neck snapped. Seong Cha-man, whom he had trusted to catch him, had simply stepped aside.
The hand wielding the blade belonged to Geom U-bin, yet he chose not to save Baek Do-bong when salvation was possible. The greater share of blame fell squarely on Seong Cha-man.
The fury of the Jowak Faction disciples turned toward him as well.
“You heartless wretch! We shared the same pot not so long ago—how could you be so cruel?”
“Why should I have saved your sect master?”
Seong Cha-man’s shamelessness finally ignited the wrath of the Jowak disciples.
“Kill them all!”
The Jowak Faction and Gimeng Faction, who had come this far to seize the Palgak-gyeong from Geom U-bin, had transformed into a battlefield where they fought for their own salvation instead.
“Watching lesser martial artists brawl like that has its own entertainment value, doesn’t it? Jang, won’t you stay and watch instead of leaving?”
A clash where flesh split and blood sprayed was never pleasant, no matter the circumstances.
When they had nearly descended the mountain, the sound of rushing water grew notably harsh. Beyond a bend in the path, a valley roughly ten paces wide appeared before them.
For them it posed no obstacle at all, but for the old woman stamping her feet before the chasm, it was another matter entirely.
“Oh dear, what am I to do!”
The old woman stood before a wooden bridge with its center section rotted through, muttering over and over, “My daughter’s ill and I need to get there quickly.”
In such situations, the prudent traveler in the mountains knows not to acknowledge a stranger. Ma-o-ryang, seasoned in experience, understood this—but Geom U-bin did not simply pass by.
“Grandmother, do you need to cross here?”
“Yes, the bridge was perfectly sound yesterday, and now look at it. What am I to do? My daughter’s ill and I haven’t much time.”
“I’ll help you across.”
“Can you manage? The water runs deep and swift.”
“Climb on my back. But I’ll need you to carry my bundle for me.”
“If you can get me across, I can manage anything.”
The old woman broke into a grin, yellowed teeth bared, and took his bundle from him.
When Geom U-bin knelt on one knee, the old woman settled onto his back with a theatrical whimper about her back.
Ma-o-ryang, thinking ‘Something’s not right about this,’ studied the old woman carefully. Then, suddenly, Geom U-bin launched himself upward and cleared the entire valley in one bound.
Without carrying anything, a span of ten paces would have been manageable—but with a person on his back, he traversed it with unsettling ease. Startled, Ma-o-ryang quickly propelled himself across.
“That must have frightened you. I apologize—I should have warned you beforehand.”
The old woman, her hand pressed to her chest, waved her arms dismissively.
“No, no. I can’t thank you enough. If my granddaughter were just five years older, I’d have introduced her to you myself.”
Geom U-bin took back his bundle and slung it over his shoulder.
“Then travel carefully, grandmother.”
“Bless you, young man. Good fortune will find you.”
Geom U-bin turned and continued on his way. As Ma-o-ryang followed, something seemed to occur to him, and he let out a sigh.
“Ah! I just remembered—I forgot about the commission I’m supposed to fulfill the day after tomorrow!”

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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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