The Heavenly Demon Cult’s Strongest Maid - Chapter 86
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 86
Cheonma and I immediately went to find my mother. The person who guided us was someone named Cheon-yeong who came from the Tak Mansion.
“It’s been a long time.”
“…I shall serve you.”
Unlike Cheonma who greeted him warmly, the attitude of the man called Cheon-yeong was somehow blunt and dry.
Of course, it wasn’t impolite at all. Even so, I strangely felt antipathy toward Cheonma from him.
Is he someone who has a friendship with my mother?
I could only vaguely speculate that.
After that, the three of us ran through the forest without much conversation.
‘Four? No, five?’
I could intermittently sense the movements of those following us, or more precisely, escorting Cheonma.
To keep up at this speed while even concealing themselves, they were truly worthy of being those who protect Cheonma.
Thud!
A clearing appeared before us who had been running while seeing only trees and grass for a while.
Cheon-yeong stopped first, followed by Cheonma and then me.
“Seon-hwa…”
Cheonma muttered and walked forward unsteadily. In front of him was a small grave.
‘So that’s what they meant by newly made.’
Grandmother, who didn’t even know my mother’s name, was said to have been sorry about not being able to erect a tombstone.
So instead she filled the surroundings with flowers, and indeed the entire area was a flower garden.
In the middle of that flower garden stood an unfamiliar tombstone.
Tak Seon-hwa, daughter of Tak Joong-hak.
Wandered like the wind, bloomed like a flower.
It was my mother’s gravestone that Grandfather Tak had belatedly added.
He had initially tried to relocate the grave.
When he was almost finished preparing to move the body to the pavilion where my mother had stayed during her lifetime, he changed his mind because somehow he didn’t feel inclined to do so.
Coming to this place, I think I understood why grandfather did that.
It was a space that had been tended with grandmother’s devotion for 17 years.
The gloomy or desolate energy that commonly flows around gravesites couldn’t be felt here at all.
Rather, should I say that warm and affectionate energy was rising?
He probably didn’t want to disturb my mother who was resting peacefully in this place.
Thump.
Cheonma collapsed in front of the grave.
A man whom many martial artists don’t hesitate to call the greatest master under heaven.
The absolute ruler of the Demonic Sect who could dare say he had the world under his feet.
He began to cry out loud like a child.
That back view was so sad and wistful that I couldn’t bear to watch and turned my eyes away.
It wasn’t crying that would stop in a brief moment.
What Cheonma needed would be time.
“I’ll go first. Please take care of my master.”
I left words for those who were invisible and quickly left that place.
I decided to postpone my greeting with Tak Seon-hwa, no, my mother, for later.
“What? Did our grandmother reopen the shop already?”
Returning to the headquarters, I visited Grandmother’s Noodle Shop first instead of Yeong-eun Hall. It was to put into practice what I had only been planning in my heart.
But I could hear the brightly lit lights and the noisy chatter all the way outside.
She definitely promised me she wouldn’t do business for a while.
This is cheating.
I walked forward fuming and threw open the shop door with a bang.
“Grandmother! Really, how could you… Huh?”
My loud voice suddenly became much quieter.
At the same time, I thought.
Don’t tell me I’ve regressed to the past on top of being possessed?
Because a scene exactly like what I had seen a few days ago was unfolding before my eyes.
Grandmother busily cooking in the kitchen.
Eok I-geon and his escort Cheon-gang, and my escort Seo-ryeon diligently bringing noodles and dumplings to their mouths.
Empty noodle bowls were stacked layer upon layer in front of Pyo Jin-yang of the Demonic Sect, and Uncle Gong Pae-cheon was elegantly sipping tea alone.
A very similar situation with only me serving missing.
“My child, are you just coming now?”
Grandmother, holding steaming dumplings in both hands, came running out busily from the kitchen.
“Miss Seolha, welcome back.”
“Have you had your meal?”
“Come sit here and eat together.”
“The dumplings are incredibly delicious today too!”
“The noodle broth is out of this world.”
“I’m glad it suits your taste.”
“I should have come much earlier, I really regret it.”
“You can come often from now on.”
What is this harmonious scene?
A feast of delicious food and endless chatter.
I entered inside feeling somewhat deflated.
“Seolha, you’ll have noodles, right?”
“…Yes.”
My stomach felt empty somehow and I felt like I needed to eat something. It was when I replied weakly and pulled out a chair to sit.
“Gakju-nim, so what happened to those bastards? Were they all dealt with by Tang Popo’s hands?”
Seo-ryeon asked Gong Pae-cheon about grandmother.
Considering appearance and age, grandmother should rightfully be called senior or sister rather than popo (grandma).
But just as I was accustomed to the title grandmother, the word popo had stuck to Seo-ryeon’s tongue.
Instead, if it was Shin Popo before, now it had become Tang Popo.
“Seo-ryeon, what do you mean by that? Those bastards?”
“Ah, Miss Seolha. I’m sorry. I got too immersed in the story.”
“Story?”
“Yes. Gwihon Gakju-nim was telling us about the day he first met Tang Popo.”
Oh ho, really?
You told a story I don’t know when I happened to be away?
That won’t do.
“Gakju-nim.”
“Yes, First Miss.”
“Please tell the story from the beginning again.”
“…Pardon?”
“Shouldn’t I, as her granddaughter, know too?”
Their relationship is already suspicious enough to death, so I can’t be the only one who doesn’t know!
“Yes, well… so…”
Uncle Gong Pae-cheon was flustered by my intense gaze and glanced toward grandmother.
Shin Geum seemed not to have heard my words as she was busy preparing noodles to give me.
“Well, where it started was…”
And so I heard from him about grandmother’s days as the Heavenly Poison Flower, which I had never heard anywhere before.
In the martial arts world, there existed those who belonged neither to the righteous nor the demonic path.
A group that had cleverly infiltrated and established itself in the gap between the two great powers of the world: the righteous Martial Arts Alliance and the demonic Cheonma Sect.
The bandits’ Nokrim Sibpalchae (Green Forest Eighteen Strongholds).
The water bandits’ Janggang Surochai (Yangtze River Waterway Stronghold).
The assassins’ Salmak (Killing Curtain).
The underworld dwellers’ Haomun (Gate of the Lowly).
The Yunnan Dokgok (Yunnan Poison Valley) that dealt with strange insect poisons.
These five sects, rejected by both sides, formed an alliance called ‘Sado-ryeon (Evil Path Alliance)’ and raised their banner.
In front of an inn in Chongqing, a neutral territory of the martial arts world.
Gong Pae-cheon, Deputy Commander of the Military Department of the Demonic Sect’s Gwihongak, was lost in thought as he looked up at the Sado-ryeon’s banner.
“Moving separately?”
At that moment, Mae Ga-rim, the new leader of the Sura-dan, approached and spoke to him.
“Yes, Leader.”
Having successfully completed the agreement with Sado-ryeon, his expression was much more refreshed than yesterday.
“I heard you’re departing on a journey across the world.”
Mae Ga-rim’s sharp gaze penetrated into Gong Pae-cheon’s inner thoughts.
“You knew?”
In truth, Gong Pae-cheon had received a secret order from the Gak-ju to inspect the secret branches and return on this trip.
“Will you be alright alone?”
“It’s less conspicuous and more convenient that way.”
Gong Pae-cheon smiled and nodded at Mae Ga-rim’s concern.
Nevertheless, Mae Ga-rim’s worry did not diminish.
That was natural, as the Demonic Sect’s secret branches were all secretly located deep within righteous sect territories. The danger level would naturally be high.
“I can take care of myself, so please don’t worry.”
“If you say so, then I understand.”
Mae Ga-rim eventually accepted Gong Pae-cheon’s intention.
“You’ll need to hide your demonic energy well.”
“Like this?”
As soon as Mae Ga-rim finished speaking, the demonic energy that had been subtly emanating from Gong Pae-cheon’s body instantly disappeared.
“Ho!”
“It’s just a trivial skill.”
Gong Pae-cheon smiled innocently at Mae Ga-rim’s admiration.
“Smiling like that, you look exactly like a scholar.”
Wearing scholar’s robes made him appear even more so.
“I wish you good fortune in martial arts.”
“Please take care of yourself as well, Leader.”
Mae Ga-rim casually patted Gong Pae-cheon’s shoulder and then ordered his members to depart.
“Gong Pae-cheon, that man separated and left alone?”
Haomun’s leader, the Two-Faced Gentleman Sang-gwan-su, asked lightly while lifting his teacup.
“What’s the reason?”
“There are two possibilities I can think of. First, as the next Gwihon Gak-ju, he wants to personally assess the martial arts world’s situation, and second, it’s likely he’s inspecting the Demonic Sect’s secret branches.”
“That makes sense.”
The Two-Faced Gentleman narrowed his eyes and spun the teacup in his hand round and round.
“The next Gwihon Gak-ju of the Demonic Sect traveling the martial arts world alone…”
A strange tension emanated from his fingertips as he spun the teacup.
Crack— Pop!
The teacup that had been toyed with in the Two-Faced Gentleman’s grasp for a while developed fine cracks like a spider web, then finally shattered into pieces.
“Then he must die. How dare he humiliate me with that pathetic three-inch tongue of his.”
The Two-Faced Gentleman Sang-gwan-su ground his teeth and glared at the agreement document with the Demonic Sect placed on the table.
Every single character written in the document was humiliation itself to him.
“How about leaving that to me?”
The master of Salmak, the Soul-Seizing Killing King Mak-gon, revealed himself from the gloomy shadows. His eyes were chillingly cold.
“We chase.”
The Two-Faced Gentleman brushed off the teacup fragments from his hands.
“We finish.”
The Soul-Pursuing Killing King’s voice was filled with murderous intent.
Their intentions were already aligned.
They desperately needed to vent their humiliation from the negotiation process and the massive financial losses.
The weak scholar who looked like he had never held a sword in his life.
They could picture that fellow’s pale face, so unlike a demon, covered in blood.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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