The World’s Greatest Martial Arts Instructor - Chapter 173

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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 173. I Won’t Die

 

 

Ju Si-un, with half his face wrapped tightly in bandages, quietly gazed at his father.

How did it come to this?

They said Jong Pae-jin had hurriedly returned to the Elder Council after confirming his father’s condition.

The reason was obvious.

The Sect Leader was in this state.

“Kugh.”

A self-deprecating laugh escaped him.

“You should go now, senior brother.”

Nam Hwa-ryong beside him.

He was both a criminal and a watcher of criminals.

Since he had been present when negotiating the conditions for the martial duel, he too was scheduled to be held accountable by the Enforcement Department.

Ju Si-un grimaced at the pain he felt from his left arm, wrapped and immobilized in bandages.

How did it come to this?

“Understood.”

He answered briefly and turned around. Under Nam Hwa-ryong’s supervision, he headed back to Thunder Prison.

 

***

 

Zhongnan moved busily.

Without even time to recover from the shock of the Sect Leader’s devastating defeat, the Sect Leader had developed madness.

The Sect Leader could no longer be the Sect Leader.

Less than a day after Jong Pae-jin returned to the Elder Council, the elders arrived at Zhongnan.

The Elder Council located deep within Zhongnan Mountain.

The elders who lived scattered in even deeper places from there.

Ten people had gathered after receiving such urgent contact.

There were fifteen elders currently surviving in Zhongnan.

Two-thirds of them had assembled.

So Jung-san became busy.

It was because he was the head of the Enforcement Department.

Just when he had been seeking those with similar thoughts to prevent the Sect Leader’s rampage.

The Sect Leader ended up being replaced.

And all because of one man from outside.

Just how badly must you beat someone for them to develop madness?

‘It was horrific though.’

He suddenly recalled the scene of Ha Mu-baek beating Ju Jae-seung during the martial duel.

His body trembled slightly.

He felt like he too would develop madness if beaten like that.

‘The new Sect Leader, please…’

They couldn’t make the same mistake twice.

This time, they had to thoroughly verify and produce a Sect Leader worthy of being Zhongnan’s Sect Leader.

 

***

 

Baek Ri-pyeong was gazing at the mighty waves of the Yangtze River.

Two days since leaving Zhongnan.

He had come to the Yangtze Three Gorges again and boarded a boat.

The boat moving with the water’s flow was indeed quite fast, unlike when they came.

“Did you plan all of this?”

Baek Ri-pyeong asked Ha Mu-baek, who was leaning against the railing and endlessly looking up at the sky.

“What?”

“The Sect Leader’s madness.”

On the day Ha Mu-baek and Baek Ri-pyeong left Zhongnan.

Jong Pae-jin had informed them about Ju Jae-seung’s madness.

He said he had just confirmed it a moment ago.

Madness that causes seizures when seeing fists.

“When was it… There was one guy I beat to death when I really lost my mind. When I came to my senses afterward, he had gone crazy.”

Ha Mu-baek turned his body to face the river water and spoke calmly.

“That’s when I first learned it. If you beat someone to death, they can go insane.”

“…”

Baek Ri-pyeong couldn’t say anything.

As expected, he had intentionally made the Sect Leader that way.

“The martial duel with the Grand Master…”

“You experienced it once too. Controlling qi aura.”

“Is such a thing possible?”

“I can do it. Seol-bing can too. It’s not that difficult.”

The more they talked, the more complicated Baek Ri-pyeong’s mind became.

“More importantly. Are you really okay? It seems like you could just withdraw and return to Zhongnan? That Enforcement Department head said so too.”

Before leaving Zhongnan.

So Jung-san had made a proposal to Baek Ri-pyeong.

While apologizing for what happened because of Ju Jae-seung, he asked how about returning to Zhongnan.

It was completely different from Ju Jae-seung’s order to return.

Ju Jae-seung had ordered him to come to destroy Baek Ri-pyeong, while So Jung-san was asking him to return to nurture Baek Ri-pyeong even greater.

“I like the Maengryong Corps.”

“What about Sanwol Demon Forest?”

“I won’t die.”

A resolute statement.

Ha Mu-baek said nothing more.

 

***

 

The Maengryong Corps 7th Unit and 20th Unit were devoted to training every day without fail.

The term “break period” seemed meaningless.

The six cadets gathered in the training ground each trained earnestly, and Han Seol-bing watched over them.

“Instructor.”

Then Dang Jin-san approached Han Seol-bing with a subtle expression.

“What?”

Dang Jin-san, soaked in sweat, came to find her during a brief rest between training sessions.

“About Instructor Ha.”

“Yeah?”

“How strong is he?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Well, last time he said Zhongnan was… fucked…”

Even so, Zhongnan was one of the Nine Great Sects and One League.

Such an expression.

How flustered I was when I first heard those words.

Didn’t even Yeon Ha-min, who had asked the question, stand there with a blank face for a while?

“I’m also curious about just how strong that man is….”

Han Seol-bing muttered as she looked up at the sky.

She didn’t know either.

Last time, after being hit by Ten Thousand Heaven Golden Chain Explosive Thunder, he became even stronger, so just how strong could he really be?

Such a question suddenly arose.

“Still, against an entire sect….”

Dang Jin-san muttered with a face that still couldn’t accept it.

Han Seol-bing just chuckled.

“Well, that’s natural before you experience it. One thing. That man once completely lost it….”

“Ah, we saw that too.”

Dang Jin-san said.

“Huh?”

“When that bastard Peng Gun-ho harassed Seol-ran….”

Dang Jin-san trembled as he recalled Peng Gun-ho’s miserable state at that time.

“Ah, that time?”

Han Seol-bing spoke as if she remembered.

She had arrived at the scene a bit late while Ha Mu-baek was busy beating up Peng Gun-ho.

“Instructor Ha held back a lot that time. Seol-ran was there.”

At those words, the six cadets’ eyes widened. They looked truly shocked.

That was holding back a lot?

Then if he didn’t hold back?

“That was the first time I learned that a person could beat another person so mercilessly. The opponent who got beaten up by Instructor Ha….”

As Han Seol-bing trailed off, the cadets’ gazes focused on her.

She glanced at Ha Seol-ran.

She seemed to be contemplating whether she should tell this story or not.

The six cadets’ bright eyes were urging her to continue.

“Went insane.”

“Pardon?”

Dang Jin-san asked on behalf of the group.

“Literally, the bastard who got beaten up went crazy.”

Killing intent flowed from Han Seol-bing’s body as she said this.

Just thinking of that bastard made her feel this way.

The cadets flinched at the sudden killing intent.

“Ah, sorry. Thinking of that damn bastard made me unconsciously….”

Just what kind of guy was he?

Ha Mu-baek beat someone to the point of insanity, and Han Seol-bing released killing intent just from thinking about him.

Dang Jin-san was curious but couldn’t ask more.

The energy flowing from Han Seol-bing was telling him not to ask further.

Dang Jin-san had at least that much sense.

“Then continue your cultivation.”

Leaving those words, Han Seol-bing walked out of the training ground.

That fucking piece of shit who sold out his comrades to the Blood Cult for just a few coins and one martial art.

Half of their comrades died because of that bastard.

It was understandable that Ha Mu-baek would lose his mind.

The reason he didn’t kill him was simple.

Death would have been too lenient a punishment for that bastard.

Though he didn’t expect the guy to go insane from the beating.

Even so, Ha Mu-baek didn’t just leave that bastard alone.

He beat him for days.

Against someone who was trembling in madness, spouting nonsense, and soiling himself.

He beat him and beat him again.

That bastard died in agony, beaten to death by Ha Mu-baek.

No, beaten to death by Hocheon Unit.

Ha Mu-baek wasn’t the only one who beat that bastard.

Han Seol-bing clenched and unclenched her fist.

Suddenly, the sensation of beating that bastard came back to her.

‘Dirty and disgusting. I need to wash up.’

Though it was still daytime, Han Seol-bing headed to the bath house in the instructor quarters.

To wash away this filthy feeling.

 

***

 

Gongsun Dan-gyeong examined the report that came from Cheonmok Pavilion’s informant.

“So it ended up like this?”

The Zhongnan Sect’s matter seemed to have concluded.

With the sect leader falling into madness.

“He didn’t kill him. Should I consider this fortunate….”

It was fortunate.

The Zhongnan sect leader changed without bloodshed.

For Ha Mu-baek’s rampage, things really ended without much trouble.

“I did well not going to Zhongnan.”

He had deliberated until the last moment.

Whether he should go to Zhongnan in preparation for Ha Mu-baek’s rampage.

If that man had decided to go on a real rampage, Zhongnan wouldn’t have survived.

However, that child Baek Ri-pyeong.

He expected that Ha Mu-baek wouldn’t cross the line because that child was with him.

So he waited at the Jeongcheon Alliance.

It was the right judgment.

Since Zhongnan’s Elder Council stepped forward, there was no need for Gongsun Dan-gyeong to interfere.

“As long as the new sect leader isn’t an idiot who’ll cause trouble seeking revenge.”

Gongsun Dan-gyeong pushed aside Zhongnan’s matter like that.

 

***

 

“Will this do?”

Jong Pae-jin asked, looking around at the nine elders.

Everyone nodded.

The ten elders’ opinions were unanimous.

Unlike last time, this was a sect leader they had directly chosen.

Back then, it was an emergency situation, so the Elder Council made the next person in line after Baek Ri-dan the sect leader.

At that time, among the elders, only Ju Jae-seung had stepped forward to become sect leader.

Among the nine remaining elders, including Ju Jae-seung, five had agreed.

Though opinions were divided, the majority sided with Ju Jae-seung.

But Ju Jae-seung caused trouble.

He even fell into madness and became a cripple.

They couldn’t entrust the selection of a sect leader to the elders again.

So the elders of the Elder Council stepped forward.

And the sect leader they selected was.

“What? Are you saying that I am to be the sect leader?”

So Jung-san, who had come rushing over after postponing urgent business at Jong Pae-jin’s summons, was shocked.

As the head of the Enforcement Department, he had been preparing the proper procedures for selecting a new sect leader and the subsequent processes.

But for him to become the sect leader.

“I am a sinner who failed to stop my senior brother. Once this matter is fully resolved, I intended to step down from my position as head of the Enforcement Department and accept punishment.”

So Jung-san declined.

Ha Mu-baek’s reproach.

Most of it had been facts that pierced his heart.

It was a decision he had made after long deliberation.

But now they were asking him to take on the role of sect leader.

“We are not fools. Jung-san. When that bastard Jae-seung went on his rampage, you were the only one who tried to stop him.”

Ju Jae-seung had already been stripped of his position as sect leader.

The reason was his inability to perform his duties due to his madness. So currently, the position of Zhongnan’s sect leader was vacant.

This was also why Jong Pae-jin was addressing both Ju Jae-seung and So Jung-san informally.

“It was my duty as head of the Enforcement Department.”

“Was that duty only for the head of the Enforcement Department? All the other bastards kept their mouths shut. They turned their eyes away. That’s why that child Ri-pyeong is staying with the Maengryong Corps. Tsk.”

Jong Pae-jin clicked his tongue as if in regret.

So Jung-san lowered his head at those words.

Going to the Maengryong Corps was a path to death.

It was because of his guilt as head of the Enforcement Department for failing to prevent it.

“But now I hear that child Ri-pyeong has refused to return?”

So Jung-san nodded at Jong Pae-jin’s question.

Before Baek Ri-pyeong left, he had urged him to return to Zhongnan.

But he had said with resolute eyes that he would stay with the Maengryong Corps.

In fact, this whole incident had occurred while trying to forcibly bring that child back to Zhongnan when he said he would stay with the Maengryong Corps.

Ju Jae-seung’s vain greed had led to his downfall.

“Anyway, the opinion of us ten is that you are the only person in Zhongnan we can trust right now.”

Jong Pae-jin spoke decisively.

And he placed an ancient-looking sword in front of So Jung-san.

The Golden Crane Blue Sword.

It was a sword with a golden crane inlaid on its blue blade.

Because gold had been inlaid into the sword blade using the inlay technique, it was weak for actual combat use.

Nevertheless, it was the most supreme sword in Zhongnan.

Because it was the Zhongnan Sect’s command seal.

The command seal with supreme authority that had twice overruled So Jung-san, the head of the Enforcement Department.

That was now before So Jung-san’s eyes.

“We have done what we needed to do. So we’re thinking of returning now.”

Was that the signal?

All ten elders rose from their seats simultaneously.

“S-Senior uncles.”

So Jung-san stood up in confusion as well.

However, the elders shook their heads and left through the door one by one.

The last to leave was Jong Pae-jin.

He stopped his steps at the front door.

“Ah, if there happens to be any fool who insists we should take revenge on Ha Mu-baek, dismiss that bastard, Sect Leader. He is not someone we can dare to handle.”

A final word of advice.

Jong Pae-jin was already treating So Jung-san as the sect leader.

Jong Pae-jin bowed his waist and left through the door, leaving only So Jung-san in this place.

So Jung-san agonized for a long while.

He slowly reached out and grasped the Golden Crane Blue Sword.

He had finally made up his mind.

When he grasped the Golden Crane Blue Sword and left through the door, the Zhongnan disciples who had gathered at Jong Pae-jin’s hint shouted in celebration.

Cheers celebrating the birth of a new sect leader.

It was the moment when Zhongnan was reborn anew.

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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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