Abolition of the Wicked - Chapter 27

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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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#027

“What? Black marks appeared on my brother’s back?”
Do Pyeong-su glanced at Jang Man-dok as he spoke.
“In the shape of a dragon.”
Everyone’s faces hardened, for the change in Geom U-bin could be a harbinger of something grave.
Each time the Iron Blood Technique advanced a stage, it brought excruciating pain. Yet sometimes, one could bypass an intermediate stage entirely.
It wasn’t something one could control—it manifested according to one’s constitution.
“Has anyone among us experienced the Seung-ryong-tong before?”
At Do Pyeong-su’s question, Seo Seok-san replied.
“I never had the chance to go through it.”
Jang Man-dok, now under everyone’s gaze, shook his head.
“Don’t you remember what our master said when she first taught us the Iron Blood Technique? If the Seung-ryong-tong comes, we must enter closed meditation for at least five years, sometimes ten or more. If we’re exposed to the world’s turbid energies, we could fall into demonic possession.”
Yeon Geum-hong took up Seo Seok-san’s explanation.
“Underground would be best. There’s spare space in the back garden—let’s build it quickly. If we hurry, we can finish the meditation chamber in three days.”
“Once my brother overcomes the Seung-ryong-tong, his Iron Blood Technique will reach the Eighth Rank. That’s twice as fast as Man-dok.”
“He doesn’t need to endure such pain. He’s already fast enough.”
“The Seung-ryong-tong doesn’t come on anyone’s schedule. It arrives naturally during cultivation practice.”
“Let’s prepare everything. Is my brother still out making alcohol deliveries?”

***

“Are you saying you would prioritize Geom U-bin over this master and your sect?”
At Noh Dae-sul’s icy voice, So Gi-cheon’s shoulders shrank involuntarily. Yet he had enough spine not to swallow the words that needed saying.
“When you took me as your disciple, Master, you said: ‘Before anything else, you are a disciple of the Sect. Before you are a disciple of the Sect, you are a person. And the foremost thing a person must uphold is trust. Whoever betrays trust is fit to be neither a disciple of the Sect nor a person.’ That’s why I wish to be a person.”
“So you want to uphold your trust with Geom U-bin?”
“Geom U-bin is not a bad person.”
“They say bad people walk around with ‘bad person’ written on their foreheads?”
“That’s not how it works, but from all my dealings with him so far, Geom U-bin is a good person.”
“If Geom U-bin is a good person, then this master is a bad one?”
“Is Geom U-bin your enemy, Master?”
“That remains to be seen. That’s why I ordered you to watch him.”
“Then my mission is complete. Hehe!”
“The judgment is mine to make, not yours. And is your trust only owed to Geom U-bin? What of the trust you owe to your sect and your master?”
So Gi-cheon, who had been hemming and hawing, finally answered.
“I believe I have upheld my trust by never lying to you, Master.”
“Your trust is to follow my commands. If you will not obey my orders, you have no right to be my disciple!”
Noh Dae-sul’s voice was so cold it felt like being drenched in ice water. So Gi-cheon wanted nothing more than to prostrate himself and beg forgiveness that very instant, yet he kept his spine straight with stubborn resolve.
“If the price of betraying trust is remaining your disciple, then I… I….”
So Gi-cheon spat out the words lodged in his throat like a dumpling.
“I will not be your disciple!”
So Gi-cheon squeezed his eyes shut.
Looking at Noh Dae-sul’s cold expression, the man might well crush his skull with a single fist.
Noh Dae-sul said nothing for a long moment, as though deliberating how best to kill him.
Thump!
At the sound of something falling before his knees, he opened his eyes. It was a thin booklet with no title marked on it.
“Once you’ve memorized it all, don’t forget to burn it.”
“Master, what is this…?”
“Master it all, and you’ll reach about Sixth Rank Disciple level. How long it takes depends on your aptitude. You know the Small Jade Bookshop on Main Street?”
“Yes.”
“Go there, and I’ll give you a few pills. They aid in developing Internal Power—take them without fail.”
“Master… aren’t you expelling me?”
“Expel you after you’ve completed your assigned task? And if I expelled someone like you, the Sect would be left with nothing but chaff. Sigh! There’s already too much chaff swelling the ranks.”
Noh Dae-sul pushed aside the hut’s woven mat as he muttered, ‘I need to thin out those useless ones soon.’
So Gi-cheon quickly followed after Noh Dae-sul.
“Master!”
“Why?”
“Then what should I do about Geom U-bin?”
“Should I meddle in every relationship you have? But don’t pursue same-sex relations. The rumors will make begging considerably more difficult.”
It was permission to see Geom U-bin without ulterior motives.
“Thank you, Master!”
Noh Dae-sul, muttering to himself, ‘The disciples of those wretches couldn’t possibly be decent—it’s strange,’ vanished.
So Gi-cheon bolted toward the city without hesitation.
He missed Geom U-bin terribly, though they hadn’t seen each other in some time.
Unable to meet, he nonetheless remembered with meticulous precision every date when Geom U-bin came to deliver alcohol.
Running to the Wolha Pavilion as if his feet were on fire, So Gi-cheon greeted the manager and caught sight of Geom U-bin turning to leave.
“Hey!”
So Gi-cheon dashed toward Geom U-bin.
Seeing So Gi-cheon approach, a smile curved across Geom U-bin’s lips.
“Want a copper coin?”
“Yes!”
Brilliant sunlight scattered across the begging bowl So Gi-cheon held out.

***

Four puppies bolted from somewhere the moment Geom U-bin returned, their tails wagging as they circled him eagerly.
It was a display of familiarity and obedience that never appeared before Hang Ju-sa-byeon. Indeed, beasts—those creatures of pure instinct—knew full well who commanded the Estate.
“Hehe! Master! You must be exhausted from your deliveries. Here, drink this honey water straight down. This is the honey only the queen bee eats.”
Geom U-bin smiled and accepted the bowl Go Seo-bang offered.
“Thanks, Go.”
“Oh! Master! You’re back! You must be tired?”
Se-hwa came padding over and began kneading Geom U-bin’s shoulders.
“I’m fine. It’s what I do every day. Are the disciples still in the back garden?”
“Yes. Even when we told them to let the workers do it, they insisted on building it with their own hands—they’re drenched in sweat.”
“Then I should lend a hand too.”
As Geom U-bin disappeared, O Tong-su and Gal Ma-pyeong clicked their tongues disapprovingly.
“So keen. So eager. As if all that flattery will earn him fortune and glory.”
“Aren’t you ashamed, fawning over a ten-year-old child?”
Go Seo-bang bellowed suddenly.
“You beasts! Without Master, we’d be corpses already! Have you forgotten why our teachers saved us?”
“That’s right. And Master is so kind and generous. How can you not respect someone like that? What does age matter?”
“Oh, respect away. Spend a thousand years respecting each other in this godforsaken place. While you’re hanging upside down from the eaves.”
O Tong-su was mocking Go Seo-bang, who had once been hung from the eaves.
“Even my life—the one who saved it was Master. No matter how wretched I am, I’ve been granted the kindness of a second life. How could I not respect him? You ungrateful bastards. This is exactly why you shouldn’t take in hairy beasts.”
While they bickered back and forth, Geom U-bin went to the back garden and finished work on the closed meditation chamber.
“When is the Seung-ryong-tong supposed to arrive?”
“I’m not sure. We haven’t experienced it ourselves. Whether it will even come at all—no one knows. We only know what our teachers told us.”
At Seo Seok-san’s answer, Geom U-bin grew anxious—like someone heading to an exam they hadn’t studied for.
But the anxiety did not last long.
On the fifth day after the closed meditation chamber was completed, Geom U-bin was seized by an agony beyond all comparison to before, and the barrel his body rested in shattered to splinters.
Because they had made every preparation, the Bloodwind Four Lions responded swiftly.
After sealing the meditation chamber properly, they brought a new barrel and placed Geom U-bin inside.
Looking at the unconscious Geom U-bin, Yeon Geum-hong spoke with a pained expression.
“For your brother, five years of cruelty have begun.”
“It could be ten years.”

***

With Geom U-bin in closed meditation, a subtle change came upon Hang Ju-sa-byeon: they now took turns doing the alcohol deliveries he used to handle.
At first it felt awkward, but after about a year they had grown as comfortable with it as if they’d done nothing but deliver alcohol their whole lives.
Go Seo-bang, carrying the alcohol delivery bag, asked Seo Seok-san as he emerged into the main hall.
“Master Seo, do you need anything for the delivery run?”
“The Black Hair Powder has run out.”
“What? We bought fifty pounds last time—it’s all gone already?”
“It’s disappearing faster than expected.”
“What’s disappearing faster than expected is your hair, Master…”
“What is it?”
“It’s not working, I’m telling you. He’s been taking it for six months already…”
“You insolent bastard! When I tell you to buy something, you buy it. What’s all this complaining?”
“It’s heavy, that’s why. If it actually worked, at least the effort would be worth something, but this is like pouring water into a bottomless pit.”
“And now that fool is—!”
When Seo Seok-san made a move as if to chase after him, Go Seo-bang called out “I’m on it!” and vanished in a flurry.
Yeon Geum-hong, watching the scene unfold, clicked her tongue.
“Tsk, tsk! Stop making the boy suffer so much. What if he runs away?”
“If he runs, I’ll break his legs.”
“You’re not saying you’ll kill him?”
“I’ll make him wish he were dead.”
After spending so long cooped up in the dreary estate, making a trip into town only once or twice a month, Go Seo-bang’s steps were light.
“Looks like the gentleman is making a delivery today?”
“Stop by on your way back! The pickled cucumbers have ripened beautifully—I’ll give you some!”
“You’ll be buying fish again today, yes? I’ve saved the freshest ones for you!”
The shopkeepers lining both sides of the street called out familiarly, and Go Seo-bang answered each greeting in kind.
Simply by being a disciple of Hang Ju-sa-ung, he had earned the title “gentleman”—a name the Gangseо Samak would have never bestowed. And he found he didn’t mind it.
‘A gentleman is better than a villain, anyway.’
This thought would never have crossed his mind in the old days. Now it came unbidden.
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
As he turned from the main street into an alley, the thundering sound of hoofbeats filled the air. He glanced back and saw three horses, black as pitch, galloping hard down the street.
Pedestrians shrieked and scrambled out of the way; some stumbled, clutching their vendor’s stalls.
“Manners mean nothing to those reckless bastards.”
Just as he was about to slip into the alley, he caught sight of a ball rolling toward him—garish and round, tumbling forward. A colorful ball like that could only mean one thing: a child would soon appear.
The problem was that the ball was rolling directly into the path of the charging horses.
An instant later, the child came chasing after it.
If left alone, the child would be trampled.
“Stop!”
In all his years, he’d pushed men in front of horses, but he’d never pulled anyone back from their hooves. Yet in that instant, Go Seo-bang did something he’d never done before.
He hurled himself forward, snatched the child, and threw them both against the side of the street as the three horses thundered past.
Had he been even a moment slower, the child would have been torn to pieces.
“Watch where you’re going, you damned bastards!”
He wanted nothing more than to chase after them and smash their skulls in, but the warning from Hyeolpung Saja—cause trouble and you die—kept him from doing anything but shouting.
Then the three horses stopped.
Their riders turned around and fixed their gaze directly on Go Seo-bang.
“No matter how urgent your business, a man doesn’t let himself be called a bastard and just ride on.”
The rider in the center spoke in a voice like grinding stone.
Now Go Seo-bang could see them clearly.
Black silk caps, black leather breastplates, cloaks of matching color. From their dress alone, one name came rushing back to him.
The Black Snake Sect.
The Black Snake Sect, headquartered in Anhui Province, was a dark sect that maintained only a hundred members—and only the strongest survived. Whenever a powerful disciple joined, the weakest was removed to make room. This ensured that every single member of the Black Snake Sect was a master.
Not one of them was anything less than a true expert.
That didn’t mean Go Seo-bang feared them, though.
“What brings you Black Snake vipers all the way from Anhui? Come to show off in Hangju?”
“So you know us.”
“In the old days, I’d have brewed snake poison the moment I saw your faces. Count yourselves lucky I’ve reformed.”
“Waaah!”
The child he’d left behind suddenly cried out in belated terror. Go Seo-bang spun around quickly to soothe the child.
“Ah, poor little one… did we scare you so badly?”
A chill descended—the killing intent and qi of skilled fighters converging at once.
Go Seo-bang twisted his body and tried to slip away. But his frame, rusty from years without combat, betrayed him with sluggish reflexes.
Thwack!

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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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