The Battle for the Heavenly Sword - Chapter 115

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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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115
The Sword’s Contest for Supremacy
“Belch!”
Dokgui burped and shook the liquor bottle.
The bottle, which had been full just a moment ago, was now empty and made no sound.
“Damn it! Already empty. If I knew this would happen, I would’ve bought another bottle. Tsk!”
“Should I quickly go run and buy another one?”
The subordinate standing beside him asked cautiously.
“Forget it. By the time you go and come back, who knows when it’ll be. As disappointing as it is, I should call it a night. More importantly, did you guide Hongguimo and her group well?”
“I personally escorted them all the way to the safehouse. Boss, who is that woman that you treat her so extraordinarily well? And what’s with that martial title, Hongguimo?”
“My life’s savior, and a crazy bitch!”
“A crazy bitch?”
“Yeah! When she loses her mind, she’s a bitch more terrifying than a ghost. So you better be exceptionally careful too.”
“On the outside, she didn’t really look like much though?”
At the subordinate’s response, Dokgui snorted.
“If you had seen her fight in person, you would’ve pissed your pants.”
“Is she really that much?”
“Why else would her martial title be Hongguimo? If you encounter her in the future, be careful not to give her any reason to find fault with you.”
“Understood.”
It was just as the subordinate replied with an incredulous expression.
“Hey! Dokgui.”
Suddenly, someone’s gruff voice echoed from outside the thatched cottage.
Dokgui’s expression twisted.
“There sure are a lot of people looking for me today.”
Stepping outside with an annoyed look, Dokgui flinched upon seeing the men gathered there.
More than dozens of men were surrounding the thatched cottage.
At the very front stood someone he knew.
“Geum Ak-cheol?”
“Long time no see, Dokgui!”
The man at the front grinned, baring his yellow teeth.
“You’re supposed to be at the Yayue Market, so why the hell are you here?”
“Why do you think? I came because I received a request.”
Dokgui furrowed his brow.
“A request? Is there still anyone stupid enough to give you a request?”
“I’m the top vagrant of the Yayue Market in name and deed, so why wouldn’t there be someone making a request?”
“Bullshit! Employing a bastard like you. I can already guess what kind of fellow the client is.”
Even in Yingcheng’s Yayue Market, Geum Ak-cheol was a man notorious for his foul reputation.
Not only did he backstab his clients, but he even had a track record of murdering them, so nobody trusted him.
Of all places, the spot where he had murdered a client was Maseong, and the secret passage he utilized back then was precisely the one managed by Dokgui.
Because of that incident, Dokgui had also taken quite a heavy blow.
He had lost his credibility by getting entangled with Geum Ak-cheol.
In the aftermath, the number of people utilizing this passage dwindled significantly, causing his source of income to dry up for quite some time.
Dokgui glared with chilly eyes at the men standing behind Geum Ak-cheol.
Every single one of them was filthy and reeked of a fishy stench.
The distinct, heavy odor characteristic of bottom-tier rogue warriors clung to them.
“The absolute scum of the Yayue Market have all swarmed here.”
“Cut the crap, let me just ask you one thing. Give me the names of the bastards who used the dog hole today.”
“What?”
“We’re looking for certain guys, you see.”
“Don’t make me laugh, you bastard! You think I’d tell you that?”
“I know very well that Dokgui keeps a tight lip. But if you don’t open your mouth today, you die.”
Geum Ak-cheol smirked, exposing his yellow teeth.
Dokgui’s eyes narrowed.
“What’s going on?”
“You don’t need to know the reason, just spit out the names of those who passed through.”
“I need to know the reason before deciding whether to open my mouth or not, don’t I?”
“Fuck! Do I really have to explain things to a guy like you? Just tell me the names if you don’t want to croak……”
Geum Ak-cheol’s bloodshot eyes rolled wildly.
Sensing the murderous intent in that gaze, Dokgui felt a surge of anger welling up from deep within his chest.
However, he desperately suppressed his rage and held back.
If he threw a tantrum here, both his life and his subordinates’ lives would be forfeit.
Not to mention Geum Ak-cheol, none of the rogue warriors who followed him were easy targets.
They were all bastards who shook the Yayue Market with their notorious reputations.
Furthermore, they vastly outnumbered his own men.
If a fight broke out like this, the gang he led would be completely annihilated in an instant.
After rolling his brain for a brief moment, he opened his mouth with great difficulty.
“One shijin ago, I let in three men, one woman, and two kids.”
“Six in total?”
“Yeah!”
“Their names?”
“I didn’t bother asking for names. I just took the money and let them pass.”
“Fine! Where is their lodging?”
“I don’t know that much. They said they would find one on their own.”
“Fuck! You’re not lying, right?”
“There’s no reason for me to lie.”
As if trying to read Dokgui’s mind, Geum Ak-cheol stared intently into his eyes. Dokgui did not avoid his gaze and met it directly.
The one who shifted his gaze first was Geum Ak-cheol.
“Good! I’ll believe you. Four adults and two brats. The head count matches perfectly with the ones they are searching for. Hey, deliver the word to the client. Tell them we found the targets.”
Geum Ak-cheol spoke to a vagrant standing nearby.
The vagrant nodded and dashed off somewhere.
Dokgui spoke to Geum Ak-cheol.
“What on earth is happening in Maseong?”
“How should I know?”
“What?”
“I only know one thing. Someone is fucking pissed off and is hunting for the people you let through the dog hole. You think we’re the only vagrants mobilized? They hired every single bastard in the Yayue Market to thoroughly comb through a radius of hundreds of li.”
It was a search so meticulous, it felt like sweeping the seabed with a net. Despite that, they hadn’t managed to catch even a shadow of their targets for several days.
This was because most people obsessively focused only on the physical descriptions of the targets, attempting to find matching lookalikes.
On the other hand, Geum Ak-cheol placed himself in the targets’ shoes to think.
The client had definitely mentioned that there were a few rogue warriors among those they were hunting.
Although his reputation was atrocious, Geum Ak-cheol was also a veteran who had grown old as a vagrant.
He knew the mindset and movements of rogue warriors all too well. Thus, he reversed their positions and pondered what he would do if he were them.
Once he did that, the answer came easily.
“Where else nearby is as easy to hide in as Maseong? There are no great sects, everyone is a mediocre bastard bragging about how great they are, so cooperation is impossible anyway. And you crossed my mind right away. If there was a vagabond among them, they would definitely seek you out. As expected, my deduction was right. Hehe!”
Geum Ak-cheol wore a victor’s smirk.
Though his smile was repulsive, one had no choice but to acknowledge his brain.
Geum Ak-cheol spoke as if granting a generous favor.
“We will take charge of this place, so you better run far away.”
“What?”
“Maseong is going to turn into hell today. Big shots who can’t even be compared to the likes of us are about to gather.”
Geum Ak-cheol smiled.
A fishy stench of blood seemed to waft from his laughter.
Dokgui stared toward Maseong with grim eyes.
‘Damn it! I need to deliver this news to Hongguimo.’
As of right now, no method came to his mind.
The only consolation was that he hadn’t revealed that they were hiding in a safehouse.
＊＊＊
Yun Jin-myeong and Nam Seung-pyo gazed toward Maseong with deeply sunken eyes.
Behind them, numerous martial artists stood in neat formations.
They were the elites of the Tianjin Escort Agency and the Yunyo Bang. Yet, there were individuals who stood out much more than them.
It was none other than the three old men standing alongside Zhong Tianyi.
Every single one of them grew a snow-white beard and wore a crimson Taoist robe. Thus, at a glance, they almost felt like triplets.
They stood there with an air of leisure, as if they had merely come out for a casual stroll, but the other martial artists were actually walking on eggshells around them.
Those three old men were all experts of the previous generation.
The Three Immortals of Tianmen.
It was a martial title they had obtained because Tianmen was their primary stage of activity.
However, those in the know were well aware.
Of the ferocity hidden behind that appearance of an immortal.
Therefore, the people of the region did not call them the Three Immortals of Tianmen, but instead dubbed them the Three Fiends of Tianmen.
During their youth, they roamed Hubei Province as if it were their own front courtyard, committing all sorts of atrocious acts.
They would completely annihilate a perfectly fine clan overnight, or slaughter every single martial artist of a small-to-mid-sized sect just because they didn’t like them.
Back then, the number of people who died at the hands of the Three Fiends of Tianmen exceeded five hundred.
For this reason, all the sects in Hubei Province, including the Wudang Sect, designated them as public enemies of the Jianghu and set out to execute them.
An enforcement squad consisting of well over a thousand experts was mobilized.
No matter how strong they were, they couldn’t contend against more than a thousand experts.
The choice made by the Three Fiends of Tianmen was flight.
They cast aside their pride and fled to evade the pursuit. However, that didn’t mean they fled in a completely helpless state.
Even while fleeing, they launched counterattacks and slaughtered the martial artists pursuing them.
The number of individuals who died that way exceeded dozens.
They were all experts highly skilled in tracking.
Having slaughtered every single person capable of tracking them, the Three Fiends of Tianmen completely ceased their activities and went into hiding in the shadows.
Experts, including those from the Wudang Sect, searched high and low, but they could not be found anywhere.
The search, which lasted for nearly a year, ultimately concluded without any harvest whatsoever.
The execution squad led by the Wudang Sect eventually disbanded, and the Three Fiends of Tianmen completely halted their movements within the Jianghu.
Dozens of years had passed since then. Yet, the Three Fiends of Tianmen had never once shown their faces before the public.
People assumed that the Three Fiends of Tianmen had grown old and died.
However, fifteen years ago, as soon as the Wudang Sect sealed its gates, they re-emerged into the Jianghu as if they had been waiting for that exact moment.
People anticipated that a bloody wind would sweep through once again, but perhaps having cultivated themselves during those decades, they no longer harmed people.
Even so, the public did not lower their guard.
Because it was impossible to predict when their minds would suddenly snap, causing them to butcher anyone in sight.
The appearance of the Three Fiends of Tianmen here was by no means a coincidence.
They too, like Zhong Tianyi, were receiving treatment as guests within the Yunyo Bang.
Even while sitting still, they were served all kinds of delicacies from land and sea, along with women, so there was no reason for them to step outside and live a complicated life.
Yun Jin-myeong had summoned the Three Fiends of Tianmen here in order to kill Woo Geom-san.
The reason the Three Fiends of Tianmen complied with the summons was precisely because of Zhong Tianyi.
In their hearts, they viewed Zhong Tianyi as a rival.
This was because the Chief of Yunyo Bang seemed to evaluate Zhong Tianyi more highly than them.
They figured that if such a Zhong Tianyi were to kill a martial artist who chose flight, his status within the Yunyo Bang would rise even higher.
That was the reason the Three Fiends of Tianmen had traveled all the way to this place, far from the Yunyo Bang.
Yun Jin-myeong offered a cupped hand salute to the Three Fiends of Tianmen as he spoke.
“Thank you very much for coming all this way, Seniors.”
“It is the summons of none other than Young Master Yi, so how could we possibly refuse?”
“I will make absolutely sure to repay this favor.”
“Hehe! There is no need for a reward. If Young Master Yi’s father hadn’t saved and hidden us when we were being hunted, we wouldn’t even be alive today.”
The eldest among the Three Fiends of Tianmen, Daehyong, laughed as he replied.
Ihyong agreed with his sentiment.
“We are already old and possess no particular desires. Just passing the days as we do now is enough.”
Though his words claimed so, his eyes were still brimming with greed.
This time, Samhyong asked.
“Is it certain that those bastards are inside there?”
“The rogue warriors have confirmed it.”
“Is that so? Then it won’t be anything difficult.”
Samhyong smirked.
A thick murderous intent was already swirling upon his face.
Yun Jin-myeong spoke to him cautiously.
“You must be careful. He is no ordinary fellow.”
“Surely you don’t think we will lose to a bastard like that?”
“Of course I don’t think so. Even so, you must exercise caution.”
“Understood. We will be careful.”
Though he replied in that manner, his expression showed that he didn’t care in the slightest.
It was the same for Ihyong as well.
Although hundreds of martial artists were gathered here, not a single one could compare to the Three Fiends of Tianmen.
Daehyong spoke to Yun Jin-myeong.
“Young Master Yi, just construct a tight perimeter so that those rats cannot slip away. We will handle the execution.”
“I leave it in your hands.”
“Hehe! It’s been a while since I’ve seen blood.”
At that moment, Zhong Tianyi, who had remained quiet until now, opened his mouth.
“The seniors will handle it well on their own, but absolutely do not underestimate that man.”
“Oh ho! Are you worrying about us? This is touchingly appreciated.”
“It is not worry, but a warning just in case. The kid is strong.”
“Keke! Even the great Zhong Tianyi is completely past his prime. Whining like a child just because you couldn’t handle a single young fellow.”
“At any rate, I have given my advice.”
Zhong Tianyi frowned and stepped back.
Even though they were all staying under the same roof as guests of the Yunyo Bang, he really did not mix well with these types.
Suddenly, Zhong Tianyi surveyed his surroundings.
The Three Fiends of Tianmen, the martial artists of the Yunyo Bang, the escort warriors of the Tianjin Escort Agency, and even the high-spirited vagrants had all gathered in one place.
With this level of combat power, it was a force capable of erasing an ordinary great sect.
Naturally, Yun Jin-myeong and Nam Seung-pyo had paid an astronomical price to gather them.
If they failed to kill Woo Geom-san even after bleeding resources like this, one couldn’t even begin to fathom how massive the ensuing backlash would be.
‘I can only pray that things go well……’
Zhong Tianyi desperately suppressed his anxious heart.

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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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