The World’s Greatest Martial Arts Instructor - Chapter 196
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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 196. Did I Really Bother You That Much?
“Il-ro. What’s the matter?”
Still a languid voice.
Gae Se-ak looked at Il-ro who had come to find him and asked.
“I’m sorry to say this, but… it seems you’ll need to relocate.”
At those words, Gae Se-ak frowned.
Seeing that expression, it seemed they needed to move to somewhere even deeper than here.
This place was already suffocatingly cramped, making him want to burst out immediately.
But now they had to go even deeper from here? Why?
“That bastard Gwang Hoe-cheon made the mistake of Other Second Light Death. That monster found out that we’ve been researching and experimenting with Jamhon Poison…”
Il-ro trailed off his words.
Yesterday, a report came in that someone called Manager Dong had arrived from Muchang.
The messenger bird had arrived even earlier than that.
As well as enough Jamhon Poison to intoxicate five hundred people.
“He’ll definitely come rushing here to attack. Ha Mu-baek. That bastard knows about this Sanwol Demon Forest.”
At Il-ro’s words, Gae Se-ak frowned.
He knows about it?
But we’ve been staying here?
While shouting about the Blood Cult’s revival?
Are we insane?
Such thoughts arose in Gae Se-ak’s mind.
“But he doesn’t know about this place.”
What on earth was he talking about.
Didn’t he just say that he knew about this place?
“That bastard already turned the Surface Fortress upside down once… but he doesn’t know about the underground. Actually, even we haven’t fully mapped out this entire labyrinth yet.”
Gae Se-ak nodded as if convinced by the continued explanation.
“Then…”
“We don’t know when that crazed bastard might find this place. So we should temporarily hide in the deepest place we’ve discovered so far.”
At those words, Gae Se-ak’s face filled with annoyance.
“Even that ghost-like bastard can’t properly find his way in this place.”
Il-ro spoke with a confident expression.
It was experience.
Back then, when he turned the surface upside down.
Ha Mu-baek couldn’t properly locate the underground.
That bastard who could find anyone anywhere like a ghost.
He didn’t know why.
But since that was the result, this place became the Blood Cult’s stronghold.
“Huu. Fine.”
Gae Se-ak answered with a deep sigh.
He prepared to hide in an even deeper place to avoid the monster.
***
The tremendous chaos that occurred in Muchang.
It wasn’t something that would end at the level of the Jeongcheon Alliance Muchang Branch.
Naturally, reports went up to the Main Alliance, and the Jeongcheon Alliance was turned upside down.
Wasn’t this an incident where Blood Cult remnants spread poison that turned people into Jiangshi in Muchang?
The Elder Council was in an uproar.
Even talk of Sanwol Demon Forest came up.
After all, that was the only place where Blood Cult remnants could be hiding.
Its deep center.
No one in the Jeongcheon Alliance had been there to see what was inside.
They built the Sanwol Great Wall to avoid the cost and sacrifice needed to subjugate that far.
Of course, there were other reasons too.
Gongsun Dan-gyeong watched this meaningless debate, then shook his head and rose from his seat.
What could he expect from these people.
Those here were just people gathered for profit.
‘I’ll have to go see for myself in the end.’
The thing called Jamhon Poison.
It wasn’t an ordinary item.
Moreover, the manufacturing method remained with the Blood Cult, and a considerable amount of Jamhon Poison had also been transferred to the Blood Cult’s Main Branch.
‘I’ll be meeting him after a long time.’
When the incident in Zhongnan occurred, he considered moving but didn’t.
Because it could be seen as the Jeongcheon Alliance’s interference in Zhongnan’s internal affairs.
But now the situation was different.
It was Muchang’s affair, involving Gyoryong Hall and the Jeongcheon Alliance Muchang Branch.
Gongsun Dan-gyeong immediately finished preparations and departed for Muchang.
The journey was swift.
Thanks to traveling with a small party and hurrying as much as possible.
Thus Gongsun Dan-gyeong was able to arrive just as the chaos in Muchang was settling down.
While cleaning up the Great Training Ground of Gyoryong Hall, a smile appeared on Ha Mu-baek’s lips.
“What’s wrong?”
Han Seol-bing saw this and asked.
“The old man I was waiting for has come. He’s quite a bothersome old man, but this time I’m glad to see him.”
At Ha Mu-baek’s answer, Han Seol-bing had a person in mind.
There was someone he always called a bothersome old man.
“It seems the General Manager has come to Muchang. Well… with such chaos happening.”
Han Seol-bing’s eyes lit up as she nodded.
A sudden change.
Ha Mu-baek sensed something strange and tried to back away.
But Han Seol-bing was faster.
Before he knew it, pure white frost mist was spreading around him.
Ice Soul Illusion Maze Formation.
It was a formation technique that trapped targets in a maze.
Since its purpose was purely containment, it was a formation without killing power.
“What are you doing?”
Ha Mu-baek frowned and asked.
Inside the frost mist, only Ha Mu-baek and Han Seol-bing were present.
“I made a deal with that bothersome old man.”
Han Seol-bing said slyly while avoiding his gaze.
“A deal?”
“In exchange for getting me assigned to Gyoryong Hall… if that old man ever came to where Dan-ju was, I should hold Dan-ju back at least once.”
Han Seol-bing spoke slowly with an embarrassed expression.
“This is a favor. A favor. Tsk tsk.”
Ha Mu-baek clicked his tongue at Han Seol-bing’s words.
“Should I report this to the Enforcement Department? That you issued a transfer based on a favor.”
Han Seol-bing pouted at Ha Mu-baek’s small threat.
“This transfer is practically a demotion, so how could this be a favor? There’s no benefit gained.”
“It’s not that you asked for a favor, but that old man did. In exchange, he got you out of the difficult Hocheon Unit and transferred you to the cushy Gyoryong Hall.”
It was unreasonable nonsense.
Han Seol-bing looked at Ha Mu-baek with disbelief.
“Do you think that makes sense?”
“It depends on who’s saying it.”
Ha Mu-baek said with a snicker.
He was right.
Though it was absurd nonsense, he was someone who had the power to make it reality.
“By the way, what troublesome task is that annoying old man trying to make me do by using you to tie my hands… This time it’s not even necessary.”
“Have I been that troublesome?”
Then a voice came through the frost mist.
Han Seol-bing was startled.
The Maze Formation had been broken through from outside.
But Ha Mu-baek remained calm as if he had expected it.
Gongsun Dan-gyeong revealed himself.
Nothing Unknown.
Ten Thousand Knowledge.
True to his reputation, he had easily broken through Han Seol-bing’s Formation Technique and appeared.
“Sending her here was already troublesome enough.”
“Well, that couldn’t be helped since you hit your superior.”
Gongsun Dan-gyeong said with a bright smile.
The one who had been present at that scene was now acting so brazenly.
“If I hit that superior one more time, can I finally be kicked out of this tiresome Jeongcheon Alliance?”
“My, my. Why do you get so serious over a little joke?”
“I was joking too though?”
At Ha Mu-baek’s response, Gongsun Dan-gyeong shook his head.
As expected, he was someone impossible to deal with.
Ha Mu-baek was.
“So what exactly happened?”
He had come directly thinking that Ha Mu-baek would know much more than what was reported to the Jeongcheon Alliance.
Since Han Seol-bing had even set up a Formation Technique, it seemed perfect for a quiet conversation.
Ha Mu-baek carefully explained what had happened.
Thanks to this, Han Seol-bing was able to hear stories she hadn’t heard before.
“Hmm…”
Gongsun Dan-gyeong let out a low sigh after hearing about the strange phenomenon that had occurred to Gwang Hoe-cheon at the end.
“Do you happen to know anything about that strange Mystical Arts?”
Ha Mu-baek’s expression was utterly serious. Seeing this, Gongsun Dan-gyeong nodded.
“This is why I told Deputy Dan-ju it wasn’t necessary. You had something to ask of me. Hehe.”
Normally Ha Mu-baek would have argued back and snapped, but he remained quiet.
As Gongsun Dan-gyeong said, he was the one who needed something.
That moment when it was Gwang Hoe-cheon but also Seok Mu-won.
It was clearly demonic arts, but it was something Ha Mu-baek had never seen before.
He had asked thinking that Gongsun Dan-gyeong, with his Ten Thousand Knowledge and Nothing Unknown, might know.
“Ten Thousand Demons Soul Devouring Transformation Great Method.”
The answer flowed out immediately.
What could this old man possibly not know?
“It’s one of the highest-level Mystical Arts of the demonic cult. It’s exactly as the name suggests. It devours the souls of those weaker than the caster and makes them into hosts. It’s a Great Method that eats souls and goes against the natural order… A person can use it about three times at most.”
Ha Mu-baek crossed his arms and quietly listened to the explanation.
“While devouring souls, it absorbs all the memories of those souls. And it can make them into the caster’s avatar and control them like puppets. It’s a troublesome technique in many ways.”
“Can it also make the host stronger?”
“It’s possible if you make the Demonic Energy planted in the host’s body run wild all at once. If you use the host’s life force as fuel as well. You could make them several times stronger for about an hour.”
“Though they’d die afterwards.”
Gongsun Dan-gyeong nodded at Ha Mu-baek’s words.
“Blood cult and even demonic cult mixed in…”
“I’m more curious about why that grandson of Seok Won-cho specifically devoured the soul of Gwang Hoe-cheon, that traitor.”
It was Gongsun Dan-gyeong’s perspective from a different angle than Ha Mu-baek’s.
“Jamhon Poison is a fearsome poison, but it’s not something the demonic cult needs.”
It could be, or it might not be.
The fallen demonic cult members were different from the last war.
Just looking at how they had used that tremendous weapon on him.
Those bastards were now using any means necessary.
They had before, but now they were doing it much more.
“Well, I’ve said everything I needed to say, so clean up here properly before you leave.”
Ha Mu-baek waved his hand and started walking.
The frost mist enveloped his body, but Ha Mu-baek simply unleashed intense Qi Energy and broke through the formation.
“Ugh. That brutish human.”
***
Dan Mok Un-rae put the difficult days of the past dozen or so days behind him and came home to rest for once.
Deep in the night.
Yeo Hwa came looking for Dan Mok Un-rae.
“Mother.”
His mother’s sudden visit.
Mother and son sat facing each other at the tea table.
“…Do you remember the Dan Mok Family Estate?”
Yeo Hwa asked with a voice filled with complex emotions.
Dan Mok Un-rae couldn’t bring himself to answer and nodded slightly.
Though he was young, he wasn’t too young to remember.
It had been a great Noble Family Estate.
Back then, it enjoyed prosperity no less than the Five Great Families.
Didn’t some even call it the Six Great Families, including the Dan Mok Family Estate?
Though it fell overnight due to the blood cult.
“Then do you think there was truly nothing left in the family estate?”
“…”
Dan Mok Un-rae couldn’t say anything.
Because he had thought about it countless times.
The desperate wish that ‘if only one of the family’s Martial Arts had remained.’
Yeo Hwa took off an old bracelet and held it out to Dan Mok Un-rae.
“What’s this?”
“A key. The key to the Danmok Family Secret Vault.”
Dan Mok Un-rae’s eyes widened.
What he had imagined might exist.
His mother was saying it actually existed.
“It’s located in the Muchang Outskirts. Elder Bang would know the exact location.”
Grandfather Bang.
Now I know. That he was a master of the Beggar Sect.
He was even someone who had connections with our family.
“Then the fact that we lived in Muchang was also….”
At Dan Mok Un-rae’s words, Yeo Hwa nodded.
“It was because of the thought that someday you might search for that place. Gwang Hoe-cheon. Now that he’s dead and gone, it should be fine to open the Secret Vault.”
Gwang Hoe-cheon.
It was a name I had heard in passing.
The traitor who brought our family to ruin.
But to think that he was dead.
No, how does Mother know about this?
“As soon as day breaks, go to the Secret Vault. I’ve already spoken to Elder Bang about it. There, search for the martial arts you so desperately desire.”
“Mother….”
Dan Mok Un-rae could say nothing more.
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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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