The Introverted Heavenly Demon - Chapter 107

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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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The Introverted Heavenly Demon Episode 107
Black Path 3
“There you are.”
Lost in thought, I hadn’t noticed someone approaching.
She recognized Wi Seung Gak, the master of the Sword Gate Gang, one of the Black Path factions under the Pal Cheon Am Bang, by his distinctive scarred eye.
His subordinates flanked him from behind, their breathing ragged from a long journey.
“What happened?”
Wi Seung Gak answered Baek So Cheong’s urgent question.
“The representative of the group that came looking and your younger brother settled the matter through a martial duel.”
“A martial duel?”
Baek So Cheong felt her heart sink.
A leisurely duel in such circumstances made no sense.
Wi Seung Gak was speaking carefully, aware that many ears in Da Won were listening, but his words clearly meant a one-on-one life-and-death confrontation had taken place.
“Is my brother unharmed?”
“Ah, of course. Your brother emerged victorious, and ‘that group’ has all departed.”
“No one was injured?”
“Not a soul.”
A breath of relief.
Only then did Baek So Cheong exhale, her anxiety finally releasing.
She had been so tense that hearing no one was hurt caused all the strength to drain from her body at once.
But that relief was short-lived.
“You said there would be no fighting, that it would be resolved through conversation.”
Baek So Cheong’s expression darkened as she began to seethe with anger.
“Who initiated the… duel?”
“Ah, naturally, that group did….”
“And my brother simply accepted it?”
“Yes. He faced them with the courage befitting a martial artist.”
“Who was his opponent?”
“The first disciple of ‘that faction,’ or so I heard.”
“Goodness, I’m going mad!”
I had warned him to be so careful.
I had told him countless times that if fighting broke out, he should not move an inch from behind his subordinates!
Yet the Minor Sect Leader had gone ahead and fought a life-and-death duel one-on-one with the first disciple of the Qingcheng Sect.
While it was welcome news that he was uninjured and had won, she could not simply let this pass as his sister.
She resolved to meet with the Minor Sect Leader and firmly remind him once more of how crucial his position truly was.
“Ah, thank you for bringing me this news.”
Wi Seung Gak, unable to guess Baek So Cheong’s true feelings, simply stood there staring blankly before speaking.
“Hmm. The Minor Sect Leader—rather, your brother—has asked you to come to him.”
“Where?”
“Just follow me, and I shall take you there.”
Through the window, she could see roughly a dozen Black Sword Bandits gathering around Da Won.
Only then did she sense that something was amiss.
“But how did you find me, Master Wi?”
No one except the Minor Sect Leader knew she was at Da Won.
So it was natural that this man wouldn’t know her location.
His words upon discovering her—”So you were here”—were not suspicious either.
Unless the Minor Sect Leader hadn’t sent him to her at all.
“I sent my subordinates to search through the various inns and taverns. It was quite the ordeal.”
The Minor Sect Leader knew she was here.
So if he had truly sent this man to her, there would be no need for such words as “So you were here.”
And there would be even less reason to send subordinates to search for her location.
“Did my younger brother truly send you to me?”
“…That is what I told you.”
Baek So Cheong did not miss the way Wi Seung Gak’s brow furrowed in that instant.
Her hand quietly moved toward the hilt of the Three Swords at her waist.
“Sigh…”
Wi Seung Gak shook his head left and right with a long exhale.
His tone was entirely different from how he had addressed her moments before—now it made no effort to conceal hostility and killing intent.
“Young lady…, I suggest you reconsider.”
At Wi Seung Gak’s quiet murmur, the Sword Gate Gang bandits who had been waiting on all sides slowly turned toward her.
Wi Seung Gak, the one-eyed Master of the Sword Gate Gang, asked with an anxious expression.
“Master, are you truly certain about this?”
Ha Mun Sung, Master of the Shu Road Gang, furrowed his brow sharply as he replied.
“What are you saying at this point?”
“Did you not witness the Minor Sect Leader’s martial prowess?”
“So what?”
Wi Seung Gak could not shake the unease that this matter had unfolded somewhat hastily.
And for good reason—had not all four faction masters present here witnessed the Minor Sect Leader’s duel with the first disciple of the Qingcheng Sect?
Gathered here now were the leaders of four of the eight factions that comprised the Pal Cheon Am Bang, excluding the four livelihood-oriented factions.
Wi Seung Gak and Ha Mun Sung, along with the Blood Path Master and the Naksan Master.
They all knew that none of them could guarantee victory in a fight against the Minor Sect Leader.
“We are four. What can he do alone?”
After confining Baek So Cheong to a separate chamber, they had sent word to the Minor Sect Leader.
They held his sister—if he wished to keep her alive, he was to come alone.
By now he should have received the message and be on his way here.
Even if he was a heartless little demon, he would surely value his sister’s life.
“What if he brings all the Divine Sect’s forces and attacks this place?”
“Then we fight until death. But that won’t happen.”
Ha Mun Sung’s plan was simple.
Since a direct confrontation with the Sun and Moon Divine Sect offered no chance of victory, they had to seize the Minor Sect Leader’s weakness and create a ‘negotiation table’ once more.
From all my observations, the Minor Sect Leader’s only weakness had been his elder sister, Baek So Cheong.
Of course, in this process, neither Baek So Cheong nor the Minor Sect Leader himself could suffer even a scratch.
If any harm came to these children of the current Sect Leader, it was as clear as day that the entire Pal Cheon Am Bang would be annihilated by the Sun and Moon Divine Sect in a single night.
“Why worry so much? It’s not like we haven’t done this sort of thing once or twice before.”
No matter how exceptional his martial prowess, he was merely a boy of fifteen.
Ha Mun Sung appeared confident that by taking Baek So Cheong hostage, he could force the Minor Sect Leader to comply with their demands.
‘Is this really going to be alright?’
Yet Wi Seung Gak could not shake the feeling that they were making a grave mistake.
He retraced the steps that had led them to this point.
When the Minor Sect Leader of the Sun and Moon Divine Sect suddenly appeared and declared that all the Black Path factions in Chengdu would be incorporated under the Sun and Moon Divine Sect.
Naturally, the masters of Pal Cheon Am Bang had all resisted vehemently.
They had been willing to wage war against the Sun and Moon Divine Sect to protect their positions.
The reason they had not done so was because of a promise the Minor Sect Leader had made.
‘I will protect you from the Martial Alliance, including the Cheong Sung Sect.’
‘From our perspective, isn’t it the same whether we fall under the Martial Alliance or the Sun and Moon Divine Sect?’
‘There is a significant difference. I promise the safety of Pal Cheon Am Bang in the name of the Minor Sect Leader, and I will also guarantee your profitable enterprises, including the taverns and pleasure houses.’
‘Is that truly so?’
Protecting and managing the taverns and pleasure houses while collecting protection fees from them had been the primary source of income for the Black Path factions of Chengdu.
If the Sun and Moon Divine Sect guaranteed these operations, it would be far better than being forcibly suppressed by the Righteous sects and either dying or scattering to the winds.
‘Indeed. Such work is what the Righteous Martial sects do as well, so there is no reason you cannot do the same. However….’
In return, the Minor Sect Leader had demanded only one thing.
‘I cannot tolerate those who have tormented innocent commoners, especially those who have murdered common folk without cause. Once matters are settled, root out such individuals and expel them from your factions. Naturally, the Main Sect will oversee that such incidents do not occur again.’
The masters of the eight factions, after much deliberation, accepted the Minor Sect Leader’s demands.
However, not all of them had genuinely accepted this arrangement.
In particular, Ha Mun Sung, the leader of Pal Cheon Am Bang, had never intended to honor his promise to the Minor Sect Leader.
This was inevitable, for among all eight factions and sub-groups of Pal Cheon Am Bang, Ha Mun Sung was the one who had harmed innocent commoners the most.
It was also Ha Mun Sung who had proposed and pushed for a plan to move quickly after the Minor Sect Leader defeated the Cheong Sung Sect as promised, kidnap Baek So Cheong, and negotiate with the Minor Sect Leader once more.
Though Wi Seung Gak himself had brought Baek So Cheong here, the more he thought about it, the more it seemed like a grave error.
‘We’re gambling with such danger just to save this one man?’
Wi Seung Gak cast a displeased glance at Ha Mun Sung.
From the atmosphere, it seemed the other faction masters gathered here—the Blood Path Master and the Naksan Master—shared similar thoughts.
That was when it happened.
CRASH!!!
The chamber door exploded outward with a deafening sound.
He walked slowly into the chamber where the leaders of four factions had gathered.
The Minor Sect Leader of the Sun and Moon Divine Sect—Baek Yeon.
‘No! How did he arrive so quickly?’
Not even a report had come from the subordinates guarding the Main Gate, let alone from anyone else.
Seeing the unconscious face of a Black Sword Bandit being dragged along in the Minor Sect Leader’s hand, he could deduce the reason.
The Minor Sect Leader must have knocked out every single person in sight and made his way here without obstruction.
Without a word, the Minor Sect Leader hurled the unconscious escort warrior at Ha Mun Sung’s feet, then slowly advanced toward the four Masters.
He was merely walking, yet a crimson vortex of killing intent swirled around his body.
It was truly a terrifying aura of death.
When Wi Seung Gak lifted his head to meet the Minor Sect Leader’s gaze….
‘!!?’
Wi Seung Gak found himself gasping involuntarily, frozen in place.
Like a predator with prey within sight, his face emanated an intangible presence—quiet yet piercing, ready to strike.
Most of all, those eyes of the Minor Sect Leader….
‘Ah… what a fool I am! What have I done!’
The moment his gaze met those eyes blazing with crimson blood-light, his legs began to tremble uncontrollably.
The Minor Sect Leader before him now seemed like a completely different person from the one who had always maintained composure even when facing the Qingcheng Sect in battle.
Even Ha Mun Sung, who had orchestrated this scheme, even he who had been speaking with such confidence mere moments ago, now trembled with fear, his shoulders shaking as he swallowed hard.
In the suffocating tension as if the very air had frozen, the Minor Sect Leader’s lips slowly parted.

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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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