Abolition of the Wicked - Chapter 94

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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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#Episode 94

Gwak Bong, who had gone to Oseong Jang-won, summoned Gang Seo Samak and Sang Nam-jae and relayed the story that Jo Ja-myeong had told her.
They all nodded in agreement, and Go Seo-bang even offered praise: “That bastard’s sharp, isn’t he?”
“So we should go after Go Dae-bang, right?”
Gang Seo Samak’s hesitation wasn’t born of fear they’d lose the fight. The five of them were easily a match for the Cheolhyeol Faction.
If one of them subdued Go Dae-bang while the others handled the faction members, they’d have the advantage in raw strength.
The problem was that they had to force Go Dae-bang to yield without crushing the Cheolhyeol Faction itself.
They were putting their heads together when Do Pyeong-su arrived.
“What are you up to?”
“Sir? Ah, it’s nothing.”
“Nothing, my ass. Something’s written all over your five faces.”
“You already have the estate to worry about, sir. We can handle these small matters ourselves.”
“These small matters—what are they? Do I have to lose my temper before you’ll tell me?”
There was no one who could stand up to Do Pyeong-su when he spoke like that. So they told him the story tangled up with the Cheolhyeol Faction, the Jowhang Sega, and the Dong Si Doga.
“Hmm. Is that so? And you five were planning to go alone?”
“We’d just need to break a few bones, wouldn’t we?”
“I’ll break those bones myself.”
“Sir?”
In fact, almost everything concerning Geom U-bin had already been resolved by Geom U-bin himself and Jang Man-dok.
All that Do Pyeong-su, Yeon Geum-hong, and Seo Seok-san had been doing was gazing at Geom U-bin—who still showed no sign of improvement—with pitying eyes.
That time had been agonizing, but the Cheolhyeol Faction business was the perfect distraction.
‘I should go and come back before the others get involved.’
It was a proper chance to feel out a real opponent, and he had no intention of letting the others hog any of it.
But as always, the other Bloodwind Four Lions weren’t about to move the way Do Pyeong-su wanted.
“What’s the matter?”
Yeon Geum-hong and Seo Seok-san approached like jackals catching the scent of blood.
“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
Of course, they weren’t the type to back down so easily.
“If it’s good, we should share it.”
“There’s nothing good about it—leave it alone!”
Yeon Geum-hong smiled knowingly.
“The way you’re acting means it’s something good. What is it?”
Do Pyeong-su glared at the five of them hard enough to seal their mouths, but the pressure from two people working together was worse than facing him alone.
After hearing Gwak Bong ramble through the whole story, a satisfied smile played across both Yeon Geum-hong’s and Seo Seok-san’s lips.
“That sounds like quite the difficult task.”
“What’s difficult about it? I can handle it alone, so the rest of you back off!”
“How could we send you alone to such a dangerous place? That’s not loyalty.”
“Don’t talk nonsense.”
“Since the subject’s come up, let’s leave now. We can arrive by sunset.”
Seo Seok-san shifted to rise, but Gwak Bong hurriedly stopped him.
“Jeong Pyeon-ho isn’t dead yet! We need to wait until after Jeong Pyeon-ho is dead!”
Yeon Geum-hong, Seo Seok-san, and Do Pyeong-su exchanged glances before speaking in unison.
“We can kill him.”
“Well…… of course that would be an option, but if Jeong Pyeon-ho dies suddenly, the Jowhang Sega will grow suspicious. So please, just wait a little longer.”
“Does it have to be this complicated? Just taking care of it would be simpler.”
“The Master ordered us to avoid killing whenever possible.”
Only Geom U-bin could hold back the Bloodwind Four Lions.
“How long do we have to wait?”
To Do Pyeong-su’s question—his fingers twitching with restless energy—Gwak Bong answered: two days.
“Jo Ja-myeong said something will happen within that time.”
“How am I supposed to wait two days?”
“By breathing.”

***

The dispatcher Seo Il-pyo, who had brought the letter by carrier pigeon, held his expression rigid as stone. Since it was his duty to read and sort all incoming correspondence, he knew the contents of the letter.
“Jeong Pyeon-ho is dead?”
“Yes, sir. I cannot be certain without seeing the body myself, but it appears he was attacked by assassins.”
“Assassins? In the current situation, the only force that would send assassins to kill Jeong Pyeon-ho is the Jowhang Sega.”
If the Dong Si Doga had made a move, they would not have resorted to assassins.
“That is my assessment as well. The situation appears to be growing quite tangled.”
Establishing a Cheolhyeol Faction branch in Hangju, where the Dong Si Doga coils like a serpent, had been a preposterous plan from the beginning.
They had been forced into it by Oseong Jang-won’s backing, and the Jowhang Sega had shielded them from the Dong Si Doga, which was the only reason they had managed to avoid major trouble until recently.
But Jeong Pyeon-ho’s death was like hurling a stone into a still pond.
If the Cheolhyeol Faction took no action after their branch leader’s death, the entire Murim would find it suspicious.
They had already fled to Zhejiang Province to escape Shaolin, and if they remained silent now, they would be branded as cowards.
“We have no choice but to go to Hangju.”
He wanted to expose the Jowhang Sega as the culprits and sweep them away, but it would never be that simple.
The Dong Si Doga would certainly intervene. To go to Hangju, they would have to steel themselves for a major collision.
‘Is it worth it?’
Since the Cheolhyeol Faction and the Dong Si Doga were evenly matched in strength, a fight would result in mutual defeat.
‘Should I endure this once to live long and peacefully?’
As these thoughts crossed his mind, the voice of Baek Ho-sik, the master of the Oeildang who oversaw the Cheolhyeol Faction’s security, rang out from beyond the door.
“Faction Master! Enemy! We are under attack!”
In the current situation, the first name that came to mind could only be the Dong Si Doga.
Go Dae-bang yanked the door open and asked.
“Is it the Dong Si Doga?”
“No, sir! They say they came from Oseong Jang-won!”
“Why would Oseong Jang-won attack us?”
It was neither a true battle nor a one-sided massacre. It was merely the Hyeolpung Saja at play.
Those dying in their amusement were the faction members, Gangseо Samak, and Gwak Bong.
“Aaugh! Master! You’ll kill us if you throw that hard!”
Yeon Geum-hong, Seo Seok-san, and Do Pyeong-su were flinging the incoming faction members across the Training Grounds, the Cheolhyeol Faction’s courtyard.
With their martial force so overwhelming, even those with superior lightness skills could not regain their footing after being hurled.
It was a situation where at least some would have broken bones or cracked skulls. Since a peaceful resolution was the best solution, Gangseо Samak and Gwak Bong had their hands full catching the faction members flying about in all directions.
“Nam-jae! Come out as well!”
At Go Seo-bang’s call, Sang Nam-jae, who had been hiding in the eaves’ shadow, emerged as well.
Catching people the Hyeolpung Saja was flinging about like jacks was no simple task.
One needed exceptional lightness skills and mastery of the Gold Breaking Technique and the flow of martial force.
Watching the five of them running about in such frantic chaos, a smile crept unbidden to his face.
“These fellows are quite accomplished.”
“They are. They’ve improved considerably.”
“It’s all thanks to our excellent teaching. But that building looks like it says Hyeolpung…… something.”
Seo Seok-san, after checking the plaque on the building Do Pyeong-su was pointing at, spoke.
“Oh, not bad for you, Pyeong-su! You read two characters. It’s the Hyeolpung Pavilion.”
“Every dog and beggar uses the name ‘Hyeolpung’ and carries on like fools!”
Do Pyeong-su was not one to overlook a building over a mere coincidence of names—he had once wiped out an entire bandit gang for the same reason.
Gathering his martial force, Do Pyeong-su unleashed a palm strike toward the Hyeolpung Pavilion.
Crack-crack-crack-crack!
As the palm force swept past, marble tiles flew upward, followed by a thunderous boom.
The columns of the Hyeolpung Pavilion, which seemed to span two hundred square meters, shattered into fragments, and the entire structure collapsed inward.
Among the debris flying in all directions, Gal Ma-pyeong’s cry rang out.
“Master! Why are you destroying random buildings?”
Do Pyeong-su was simply full of pride.
“Did you see the power of my palm strike?”
Seo Seok-san let out a derisive snort.
“That’s nothing to boast about.”
Though he had achieved mastery of Eumgong, that was merely his strongest art; his other martial techniques were hardly weak.
Seo Seok-san’s palm force struck a pavilion bearing the name Hae-ryong Pavilion. A structure of similar size to the Hyeolpung Pavilion crumbled completely under a single blow from Seo Seok-san.
Yeon Geum-hong clicked her tongue watching the two men arguing over whose destroyed building was larger.
“Tsk, tsk…… You’d think you were children. Is there no larger building around?”
A figure came racing into Yeon Geum-hong’s line of sight. From the way those nearby bowed deeply, this had to be the faction master himself, Go Dae-bang.
“This…… what in the world…… !”
Go Dae-bang stared at the two collapsed buildings in utter bewilderment.
“How could you mobilize people to destroy our pavilions? What crime did these buildings commit?”
A subordinate whispered something in his ear, and Go Dae-bang’s face drained of color.
“What? One Palm Force strike brought down the whole building? That enormous structure?”
Go Dae-bang’s gaze drifted slowly from right to left. His subordinates, keeping their distance from those who had come from Oseong Jang-won, made no move to engage in combat.
The Cheolhyeol Faction was cautious in matters of conflict, but once bloodshed began, they fought with a savagery that put wild dogs to shame.
Yet these seasoned fighters now trembled like curs before a tiger.
“Oh! There’s an even larger hall over there!”
As Yeon Geum-hong turned to move toward it, she murmured to herself, “We can demolish that one later,” before drawing closer to Go Dae-bang.
With each step Yeon Geum-hong took toward him, Go Dae-bang felt the weight of her presence—a master completely beyond his capacity to challenge.
Her aura bore down on his chest with such force that even the Gudaemun Faction’s own faction leader could not stand against her.
“Are you the faction leader?”
“Y-yes, I am.”
“You’ve heard of the Hangju Oseong, I assume? Today two of us were occupied elsewhere, so only three could come.”
She couldn’t have been more than her mid-twenties, yet she spoke to him as one speaks to a lesser, and somehow it felt entirely natural.
“Why are you being so polite about it? You need to break a leg or an arm to teach people what real fear is.”
As Do Pyeong-su stepped forward, Go Dae-bang spoke in a panic.
“I-I’m already sufficiently terrified!”
In front of his subordinates, dignity mattered less than keeping all his limbs intact.
Gal Ma-pyeong, whom he recognized and felt some relief to see, hurried over.
“Masters, perhaps we should hear what the faction leader has to say first. Though he follows the dark path, he is someone worth having a conversation with.”
“This one’s really telling us what to do now, isn’t he?”
Gal Ma-pyeong bowed deeply with an ingratiating smile.
“Hehehehe… I only suggest it because it would be a shame to see all my efforts come to nothing if you were to annihilate the Cheolhyeol Faction here.”
By Go Dae-bang’s assessment, Gal Ma-pyeong was a master easily his equal.
If such a master couldn’t reach even their heels, then these instructors he faced were the real thing—and the dread crushing his chest was justified.
‘If I offend those three today, the sect could truly be wiped out!’
He had fled Shaolin Temple to find peace in Zhejiang Province, only to stumble from the frying pan into the fire.
The thought ‘How could masters of this caliber be unknown in the world?’ dissolved the moment Seo Seok-san spoke.
“Then suppose we talk, and you can count it as a gain rather than a loss?”
The tone carried an implicit threat: comply, or be crushed where you stand.
This was no situation where he could offer polite demurrals like ‘We would be honored to hear what you have to say.’
“If there is anything you require, please speak freely.”
Seo Il-pyo, the steward with sharp instincts, ventured carefully forward.
“We cannot possibly leave honored guests standing about outside. Please, come indoors where we might offer you tea and speak more comfortably.”
His face was already lost; there was no benefit in showing his subordinates how thoroughly he could grovel.
But Do Pyeong-su spoke.

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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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