Heavenly Demon of the Huashan Sect - Chapter 110

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Episode 110
“Ah, this is delicious.”
Upon arriving in Seo An, Cheon Hui savored a drink he hadn’t tasted in ages while surveying his surroundings.
Perhaps it was because Shenxi’s most vibrant city.
From this floor of the inn, the streets below teemed with people, their faces and gait alive with energy.
How long had he been watching them like this?
“Would you mind if I joined you for a moment?”
A middle-aged man approached and requested to share the table.
It was an unexpected request.
Cheon Hui glanced at the man, twisted his mouth into a smile, and nodded.
“Of course.”
“Thank you.”
The middle-aged man grinned and took a seat.
So he had come, just as promised.
Sang Yeo had given him a cloth and said that the process was quite complicated, making a first transaction with the Hao Wen difficult.
So what Sang Yeo had given him was now the cloth placed on the table.
‘He said to just leave it visible at any inn, but he came faster than I expected.’
Barely a moment after sitting down in the inn.
Having placed only the cloth, the fact that he came so quickly meant there were definitely members of the Hao Wen in this area.
And as if to prove that point.
“May I take your order, sir?”
The inn attendant approached as if he had been waiting, and the middle-aged man adeptly placed his order.
Shortly after the inn attendant left, the middle-aged man looked at the cloth on the table and asked.
“……May I verify it?”
At that response, Cheon Hui let out a soft laugh.
“By all means.”
The middle-aged man immediately picked up the cloth.
He then examined it meticulously from every angle before quietly tucking it into his garments.
“It’s confirmed.”
“Then now…….”
“Wouldn’t it be better to finish your meal first?”
The middle-aged man glanced subtly around.
Though it was between lunch and dinner and customers were sparse in the inn, he remained cautious of them.
‘It would look suspicious to rush off right away.’
Cheon Hui nodded.
“Agreed.”
“I appreciate your understanding.”
Shortly after, the inn attendant brought the food, and an unspoken mealtime unfolded.
Clink—
The middle-aged man, having hurried through his meal, drained the tea before him in one gulp and stood.
“Please follow me.”
Leaving the inn, the middle-aged man turned toward an alley rather than the main street.
The moment they entered the alley.
Whoosh—
The air, no—the atmosphere itself had changed.
Where the street they had just walked was bright and vibrant, this alley was decrepit and gloomy.
The narrow passage between tall buildings received no sunlight, and the occasional people they passed were far from ordinary.
Men scarred and bearing blades.
Those muttering to themselves with vacant faces turned skyward.
And the elaborately adorned women who preyed upon them.
He felt the presence of those who dwelled in shadow gathering in this place.
It was then that Cheon Hui felt the weight of stares.
‘Just as expected, they were part of the same organization.’
As Cheon Hui met the eyes of those watching him and smiled faintly.
“We’ve arrived.”
Just then, the middle-aged man came to a halt.
The destination was a quiet building.
“This way.”
The middle-aged man pushed open the aged door and entered; Cheon Hui followed after him.
As they stepped inside, darkness greeted them.
For some reason, the window was nowhere to be seen, and there wasn’t even a lamp to light the passage.
They’d been walking for about a quarter of an hour.
Cheon Hui, who had been following all the while, let out a yawn and opened his mouth.
“How much longer are you going to circle around?”
The Middle-aged Man’s pace faltered slightly.
“I’m sorry, what do you mean?”
“You’ve been trying to hide the room, haven’t you?”
Cheon Hui tilted his head to the side.
The sound of breathing and movement he felt from alongside the passage came through to his ears with perfect clarity.
“Since I already know, why don’t you stop wasting effort and just let me in?”
……
“You’re only wasting time.”
Just as the flustered Middle-aged Man closed his mouth—
“Hahaha.”
Laughter echoed from beyond the wall.
“Well, that was pointless, wasn’t it?”
“Exactly.”
……
At Cheon Hui’s agreeable response, the laughter died away.
And in its place, a voice thick with amusement pierced through the wall.
“Show our guest inside.”
“Very well.”
The Middle-aged Man, who had been silent, turned around.
Then, taking a place beside Cheon Hui, he moved his hands busily and touched something.
Click-click—
A moment later, an unsettling sound rang out.
At the same time, the darkness split clean in two, and light seeped through the gap.
Creak—
Moments after, a strange room appeared.
‘This place is odd?’
Cheon Hui swept his gaze across the room quickly.
There was nothing in the room.
In the space illuminated by the red lantern, there were only a table and two chairs sitting bare.
‘A temporary quarters, perhaps?’
Then a Handsome Youth sitting alone on one of the chairs caught his eye.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I am the Branch Master of the Hao Wen Shenxi Branch.”
The Youth who identified himself as Branch Master was unremarkable.
His appearance, his bearing, everything about him.
“Branch Master.”
At that moment, the Middle-aged Man approached the Branch Master and withdrew a piece of cloth from his sleeve, handing it over.
“He was carrying this.”
The Branch Master’s eyebrows twitched as he looked at the cloth. Soon he let out a quiet voice.
“Leave us.”
At the Branch Master’s dismissal, the Middle-aged Man backed out of the room.
Thud!
And shortly after, the wall that had split open joined together again, leaving only the Branch Master and Cheon Hui standing alone in the room.
The reddish glow of the lantern light fell upon the two of them, and the Branch Master opened his mouth.
“What brings you here?”
He liked this.
A smile formed on Cheon Hui’s lips.
There was no needless pestering about where the cloth came from.
He preferred this straightforward manner—cutting through pleasantries and going directly to the heart of the matter.
Cheon Hui sat in a chair and answered.
“The identity of those who have seized the inn.”
The Branch Master nodded.
“The inn that Sang Yeo oversees, then.”
Cheon Hui’s lips curled upward.
So this was what it meant to be called an intelligence faction.
He spoke as though he already knew what request would be made.
“We have yet to gather information on them, so I will accept only an advance payment. Should we obtain information about them later, I will set a separate fee and report back to you. If we fail to obtain such information, I will return the advance payment in full.”
Cheon Hui was pleased with the systematic approach and asked with satisfaction.
“I see. How much is the advance payment?”
“The advance payment is one Silver Tael.”
“One Silver Tael seems quite expensive, doesn’t it?”
One Silver Tael was the cost of a family of four to live for a month.
Yet for advance payment on information he hadn’t even learned yet, it felt steep.
“According to this branch’s regulations, all information we have yet to ascertain is priced at one Silver Tael.”
“I see. Then I’ll accept it.”
Cheon Hui spoke and reached into his sleeve.
‘Good thing I kept what I received last time.’
Just in case, he withdrew the Silver Tael he’d obtained from the Ilsim Trading Company on his previous visit and handed it over.
The Branch Master examined the Silver Tael very carefully, then nodded slowly.
“Confirmed.”
After that, he placed the Silver Tael in his robes and asked.
“Is there anything else you require?”
“Nothing in particular.”
“Understood. Then if we obtain the information later, we will contact you separately.”
“When should I return?”
“Hao Wen exists everywhere under Heaven and nowhere at all. Whether you remain in Shenxi or depart, we will contact you whenever and wherever necessary.”
Can they be trusted?
It was a promise no ordinary person could make with such confidence, yet Cheon Hui laughed, watching the Branch Master.
“Good.”
Satisfied, Cheon Hui rose from his chair.
Tap. Tap.
The Branch Master knocked twice on the wall.
Was that some kind of signal?
The closed wall began to open.
“Depart safely.”
Leaving the Branch Master’s farewell behind, Cheon Hui stepped outside to find a Middle-aged Man waiting before him.
“This time, don’t take the roundabout way. Just go straight.”
“…Understood.”
Cheon Hui’s time outside barely lasted a moment, a truly fleeting span.
Just as he was leaving through the door moments later.
“Huh?”
“Oh?”
He had encountered an unexpected face.
“What are you doing here?”
“Why are you in this place?”
A person he had parted from in Baek Gwi Seong.
Here, he had an unforeseen reunion with Ha U Jin of the Bi Yeon Sword Army.
* * *
A while later, sitting in the inn and sipping tea, Ha U Jin rushed over and sat down.
“Phew, sorry to keep you waiting.”
Ha U Jin caught his breath and began to speak.
“But what brings you to visit Hao Wen?”
“To obtain information.”
“Information? If it’s information, why not request it from Gae Bang instead of Hao Wen…?”
“Isn’t it the same either way?”
Ha U Jin, listening to him, shook his head.
“Your situation and mine are different.”
“Different how?”
“Haven’t there been recent incidents at the Murim Alliance involving this sect and Gae Bang?”
“Was there such an incident?”
Cheon Hui tilted his head.
“I heard from Baek that you were involved in that incident too…”
“Me as well? What incident…ah!”
Cheon Hui realized as he was speaking.
What Ha U Jin was referring to was the incident where the Huashan Sect and Gae Bang had joined hands to drive out the Jongnam Faction at the Murim Alliance.
‘Tsk, I’d forgotten about that for a moment.’
Cheon Hui, at the center of that incident, scratched his head and smacked his lips.
“That’s right.”
Cheon Hui nodded and continued.
“I had some business to attend to, so I requested information from Hao Wen rather than Gae Bang.”
Cheon Hui spoke with deliberate vagueness.
Explaining the situation properly would have been tedious and complicated.
“It seems to have something to do with you leaving Huashan.”
“It does, yes.”
“What business?”
“That’s difficult to discuss.”
Cheon Hui replied firmly.
Ha U Jin studied him with curious eyes, wondering what could have brought Cheon Hui down the mountain, then shook his head.
‘Ha, U Jin. And here you are asking questions when you yourself came to Hao Wen for reasons you can’t speak of.’
Ha U Jin composed himself.
After all, wasn’t he the one who hadn’t visited Hao Wen precisely because of his own hidden reasons—secrets he couldn’t bring himself to share with Cheon Hui?
“I suppose I was prying where I shouldn’t.”
Then Ha U Jin’s eyes opened halfway.
He hadn’t kept Cheon Hui waiting just to fish for petty details like these.
Presently he met Cheon Hui’s gaze squarely and spoke with measured deliberation.
“Do you have somewhere to be next, or any appointments lined up?”
“No, nothing in particular.”
“Then would you visit the Jongnam Sect now?”
“The Jongnam Sect? Why?”
To Cheon Hui’s puzzled question, Ha U Jin answered in earnest tones.
“There’s someone at the Jongnam Sect I’d like for you to meet.”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————