Abolition of the Wicked - Chapter 96

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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 96

Do Pyeong-su fixed his gaze on Jang Man-dok’s face as he spoke.
“It’s an acupuncture, but one made from the venomous stingers of bees cultivated in Biwhagok using secret methods. They stimulate the human meridians to release vital force, then condense it into internal power. When needles are placed along the Twelve Primary Meridians, the twelve secondary meridians, the Eight Extraordinary Meridians, the fifteen connecting vessels, the twelve muscle meridians, and the twelve skin regions, and we perform Chugung-gwahyeol, the essence of the Yeongyak will be absorbed by him in a single breath.”
When no particular displeasure crossed Jang Man-dok’s face, Do Pyeong-su raised his thumb proudly.
“Aren’t I remarkable?”
“Then you should have found it sooner.”
Do Pyeong-su read Jang Man-dok’s expression again.
“There was no need until now. The essence of the Yeongyak doesn’t convert to internal power immediately, but it doesn’t vanish either. It’ll remain in his body and be absorbed gradually, and if he accepted such a powerful infusion all at once, his body might not be able to withstand it.”
“So this Hwagokcim could be medicine or poison?”
Yeon Geum-hong refilled a fresh cup with liquor as she replied.
“We can’t just wait for him to overcome the barrier he faces now. That barrier might be something he can leap over in a single bound, or it might be something that keeps him from advancing for the rest of his life.”
Most of the martial artists in Murim fell into the latter category. The barrier standing before Geom U-bin was that formidable.
“Then we should go to Biwhagok and ask for the Hwagokcim.”
Do Pyeong-su spoke and studied Jang Man-dok’s face.
“You don’t know where Biwhagok is either? How can we proceed if we don’t know that? Would it be a mysterious sect if the location were easy to find? That’s true enough.”
Do Pyeong-su asked and answered himself, then turned to Yeon Geum-hong.
“Is there any way to find it?”
“We can’t find it ourselves, but there’s someone who knows how to find it.”
“Ah! The dung fly!”
“If it’s him, he’ll find it one way or another. If he can’t, we’ll make him.”
“Should we leave right away?”
It was late in the night, but time meant nothing to the Bloodwind Four Lions.
“Of course. But someone needs to stay and look after him. Who’ll remain?”
In truth, no one wanted to leave Geom U-bin’s side. During the month and more they’d spent wandering away from Oseong Jang-won, how much had they missed this place?
“Why you, Man-dok? You should stay! I’ll keep watch by his side! What? If something suddenly goes wrong with his body, can I fix it? That won’t do. Blast it! I should just learn medicine if it disgusts me so much.”
In the end, Jang Man-dok was the one who stayed. The Bloodwind Four Lions cautiously descended into the Underground Cultivation Chamber.
Geom U-bin, who walked the line between life and death through cultivation every day, lay in a sound sleep.
Yeon Geum-hong reached out to touch his head, which had been shaved to bristle-short length, then withdrew her hand.
“Brother, we’ll be back soon. When we return, we’ll definitely cure you of these side effects.”
The thought that they might not see him for some time made her feet reluctant to move.
“Let’s go. The longer we delay, the worse it is for him.”
Seo Seok-san was right, so Yeon Geum-hong forced her feet forward despite their reluctance.
‘Even if I have to overturn the whole world, I’ll find Biwhagok!’

***

“The Jowhang Five-Guest Inn has closed too. Wasn’t this one run by the Jowhang Family? Why does the Jowhang Family keep shutting down all their inns these days? It was clean and good.”
Two merchants turned away from an inn with a paper notice reading “Closed” plastered on the door as conversation continued.
“My friend, with ears as dull as yours, how do you manage to do business? All eight inns the Jowhang Family operates in Hangju have shut down. Not a day passes without customers making trouble, and every few days a mob of beggars swarms in demanding alms. Who’d want an inn like that?”
“Doesn’t the Oseong Association protect merchants well?”
“Strange—they never show their faces at any Jowhang Family business. So all the ruffians looking to cause trouble head straight to Jowhang establishments. It’s remarkable how the great Jowhang Family has come to this.”
“The Jowhang Family is wealthy enough to buy their way out of it, and the magistrate should actively help them too.”
“The magistrate’s out of reach. Turns out the highest official in Hangju is a cousin of the Jegal Family patriarch. And the Oseong Jang-won has a special relationship with the Jegal Family, doesn’t it? The Jowhang Family are enemies of the Oseong Jang-won. So what magistrate with any backbone would side with them?”
“I heard the Longjing Tea they send to the emperor as tribute was a complete disaster too. They ended up being flogged because moldy tea was delivered—if that had reached the Imperial Palace, the fine would’ve been far more than a few thousand taels. In any case, you can see the Jowhang Family’s fortunes declining lately. Their wealth is draining away. Just draining away.”
What was draining away wasn’t only wealth. Over the past several months, Hwang Jo-gil’s body weight had also dropped by twenty pounds.
“How did it come to this?”
His plan had been flawless, and he had sufficient capital to execute it.
Yet for some reason, things went awry. At first they seemed to proceed smoothly, but then they got hung up partway through and kept veering down wrong paths.
“We need to handle the Cheolhyeol Faction first.”
Yeo Dong-sul’s voice met with a hollow reply from Hwang Jo-gil.
“I know that too. But what method is there?”
Things had gone wrong from the moment he brought in the Cheolhyeol Faction. So the logical course was to untangle from that very knot. Yet no matter what conditions he offered, the Cheolhyeol Faction refused to leave Hangju.
He’d offered a substantial sum of two thousand taels, but they flatly rejected it—they wouldn’t leave until they caught the criminal who killed Jeong Pyeon-ho.
“What if you paid another visit to Dongssi Doga?”
“I’ve already been refused twice. Try again?”
The sensible expectation that Dongssi Doga would not tolerate the Cheolhyeol Faction proved as off the mark as a fortune-teller’s clumsy reading.
Far from driving them out, the two powers saw each other so often that absurd rumors circulated of camaraderie sprouting between them.
“The salt sales monopoly expires in six months, yet the Administrative Bureau still hasn’t sent word. These days, the salt merchants are buzzing with talk that the monopoly will pass to the Jeolgang Jeoljang.”
He’d already heard those rumors. He’d tried every avenue to meet with the bureau officials, but those men—who lived for money, women, and wine—refused to see him at all.
The Longjing Tea, which once brought the greatest profits, had collapsed, and if the salt slipped from the Jowhang Family’s hands, all that remained was tens of thousands of acres of land.
They say a rich man can last three years even in ruin, but at this rate, with his fortune evaporating, he might be begging on the streets in half that time.
“That old fool probably would’ve built himself a Murim faction with all that wealth.”
He found himself resenting his dead father for no good reason, when Yeo Dong-sul spoke.
“Even now, it’s possible. In a world where money makes anything happen, isn’t it?”
“You think gathering up street rabble makes a Murim faction?”
“Would I really speak of such men to you?”
“Then what?”
“There’s a branch school founded by exiles from the Gudaemun Faction and the Odae Sega.”
“What? A place like that exists?”
“Yes. These Orthodox faction people aren’t all knight-errants—some were driven from their sects for crimes they committed. It’s not just the rank and file either; a few elders from the Mudang Faction and Huashan Faction have slipped in. At first they gathered here and there, but now their numbers have reached five hundred, they say. The problem is finding a foothold—since they were all expelled from orthodox sects, it’s no easy matter to establish themselves in Murim.”
“I’m hearing this for the first time.”
“They can’t trumpet it openly or the Murim League would move against them. For now, they’ve quietly formed something called the Gohyeomun. The sect leader is a former elder of the Mudang Faction.”
“That sounds like they’d be a match for the Cheolhyeol Faction.”
“Not just a match—the Cheolhyeol Faction wouldn’t even be an opponent. The question is whether you can bring them over. It won’t come cheap.”
“How much?”
Yeo Dong-sul spread all five fingers of his hand.
“Fifty thousand taels?”
“Master.”
“Five hundred thousand taels?”
“That’s the minimum they’ll need to move against the Cheolhyeol Faction.”
“Damn it. Looks like I’ll have to sell off the land too.”

***

He was no longer surprised when the Bloodwind Four Lions appeared at his door. Human adaptability, after all, never ceased to astound.
“Fortunate timing. I have a suitable commission for you—”
Seo Seok-san cut off Baek Dong-pal’s words.
“We’ve come with a commission of our own today.”
“I see.”
Unease slipped quietly into Baek Dong-pal’s chest.
“What sort of commission brings all three of you together?”
Do Pyeong-su laid a banknote on the table—the remainder of what they’d paid Ma-o-ryang for his last commission.
“You know Biwhagok?”
“I do.”
“Find it.”
Baek Dong-pal sighed as if the ground had split beneath him.
“Since I founded the Mantonghoe, I’ve received that commission three times. The first time I paid the forfeit and gave up; the other two times I refused to take it. Know why? These bastards can’t be found. Unless they choose to reveal themselves, no one can track them down. I’m telling you—there’s not a single person in all of Murim who can find Biwhagok!”
Seo Seok-san spoke.
“There is one.”
“Who could that possibly be?”
“You.”
Baek Dong-pal, who had been staring at Seo Seok-san, his face crumpled.
“I’m telling you, I can’t find it.”
“Find it. Unless you want to die.”
Given his line of work, threats were so commonplace that he’d long since developed the ability to let them slide through one ear and out the other with practiced indifference.
But these threats came from the Bloodwind Four Lions. When they made a threat, it didn’t just enter one ear—it seeped into the brain itself and liquefied it like honey, slow and sticky.
“Would you really kill me?”
“Have you ever heard of us saying we’d kill someone and then not killing them, or failing to kill them? Master of the Mantonghoe?”
He’d never heard of such a thing. They were the Bloodwind Four Lions, after all. Baek Dong-pal quietly summoned his aide, Wang Jik.
“Jik.”
“Yes, Master?”
“Close the Mantonghoe.”
“Close it…… you mean shut it down?”
“Stop accepting commissions. Cancel any we’re holding—pay the forfeits.”
“Then what are we to do?”
“From now on, we mobilize every resource the Mantonghoe has to find Biwhagok.”
“Biwhagok? That Biwhagok you speak of? Good heavens, how are we to locate such a thing?”
“If we don’t find it, I die. And before I do, I’ll kill you too.”
“Master, what crime have I committed?”
Baek Dong-pal’s voice suddenly rose to a shout.
“You bastard! Then what crime have I committed that I should die? If you don’t want to die, find those damnable wretches!”
Baek Dong-pal’s expression shifted abruptly to a smile as he bowed deeply toward the Bloodwind Four Lions.
“Honored guests, might we propose a timeframe of three years?”
“Installments? Two months.”
Seo Seok-san’s cold voice left no room for negotiation whatsoever.
“You heard him? Two months. Find Biwhagok within that time, or you’re dead. Actually, we’ll need time to kill you, so make it one month and twenty-nine days.”
Wang Jik, who had been counting on his fingers, spoke up.
“Next month has thirty-one days, though?”
“Then find it by the thirtieth!”

***

A month had passed since the three departed Oseong Jang-won. Geom U-bin could not afford idleness—not when repaying the sincere devotion of those who labored to restore her health.
―Senior, you must take at least minimal rest.
―I’m well enough. It’s the disciples who’ve left home that trouble me. Sleeping rough under the stars somewhere, for all I know.
―Word is they’re living high off the Mantonghoe’s coffers, gorging themselves without a care. So don’t trouble yourself over them—look after yourself instead.
Despite Jang Man-dok’s earnest expression, Geom U-bin pursued her cultivation practice with ruthless discipline.
She endured the biting chill of the Bingjeong and the fierce heat of the medicinal tonics, passing through hours of agony, while simultaneously training herself in the martial arts of the Bloodwind Four Lions, pushing her body to its absolute limits.
Whether Geom U-bin was sleeping or merely losing consciousness was impossible to discern.
Then one day, she felt a peculiar energy stirring within her body—even as she clenched her teeth against the familiar pain of ice and fire.
The pain was excruciating, yet her dantian churned with internal power like a wild colt, leaving no room for any other thought.
But then, her rampaging internal power began to find its way. No—new pathways opened toward the Eight Extraordinary Meridians, and her power flowed along these new routes.
What had been eight threads of pathway multiplied into sixteen, then spread to thirty-two.
The ache of cold and heat persisted, yet her internal power no longer raged wildly; instead, it circulated gently through every corner of her body.
Both Geom U-bin, who was channeling her circulation, and Jang Man-dok, who watched from the side, sensed that something had shifted.
Jang Man-dok stopped preparing medicinal pills and observed Geom U-bin intently.
The energy that had dispersed across a hundred and twenty-eight strands now began to return, reducing its number by exactly half with each cycle.
As it finally reached her dantian, four streams of energy converged in equal measure, suffusing her entire body with fullness.
Geom U-bin opened her eyes with a long breath and placed the Bingjeong that had sat before her dantian into a box.
―Senior, something seems different today.
―Yes. My internal power seems to be finding its proper course.
―And there’s no longer that sense of it thrashing about or threatening to explode?
Geom U-bin shook her head.
―I felt the sensation of it seeping purely into my dantian.
This resembled the very effect Jang Man-dok had been hoping to achieve through the Hwagokcim.
‘If fortune favors us, senior might actually break through without needing the Hwagokcim at all!’
Ultimate enlightenment never arrived through gradual accumulation alone; it came like a tidal wave.
―Could this be a sign of breaking through a stage?
―It’s possible.
―In that case, there’s no need to put the disciples through such hardship, is there?
―No. It’s still uncertain, so we must continue searching for Biwhagok.
―I will break through this stage no matter what!
It was not a phenomenon that came only once. At first, Geom U-bin had thought it mere chance, but in the end, it was the fruit of her relentless effort.
The martial arts of four masters that Geom U-bin had learned could never be of the same nature. At first, she had been content that her power grew stronger, but as her mastery deepened, the intensity of their clashes intensified as well.
When they collided, they could only scatter apart; consequently, the four streams of energy within her body became starkly divided.
Once divided in this way, the side effects that had appeared in the Bloodwind Four Lions fell entirely upon Geom U-bin’s shoulders.
Though she did not know the method, Geom U-bin’s conclusion proved correct—once her martial arts reached the level of Hwajeoksan’s power, the side effects would vanish.
Her vast internal power became the force that drew the four streams of energy, which had scattered through collision, toward the dantian as their center.
At first by chance, then with the passage of time, Geom U-bin learned to balance the four types of energy at will.
The end of the long cavern had come into view.

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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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