The World’s Greatest Martial Arts Instructor - Chapter 383
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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 383. Want to Take a Look?
Gi Yu-chan seemed truly busy.
He left Gyoryong Hall the very next day.
After dumping an enormous amount of work on Academy Director Peng Do-yul and Vice Director Yeon Baek-jin.
Yeon Baek-jin was preoccupied with handling the workload.
But at the same time, he pondered when to visit Yeon Ha-min and how to deliver the secret manual.
It would be best to meet secretly without catching anyone’s attention.
But no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t find a way.
He could summon Yeon Ha-min under the pretext of counseling a cadet.
But he had already done that before.
He couldn’t call only her again.
And if he tried to cover that up by conducting counseling sessions with many cadets.
The amount of work Gi Yu-chan had left behind was too much.
‘Sigh. It would be nice if there was someone who could help me…’
There was only one person who could do that—Ha Mu-baek.
He couldn’t reveal Yeon Ha-min’s true identity to anyone else.
But that Ha Mu-baek was currently absent.
In the end, it meant he had to do it alone.
It was truly frustrating.
He didn’t even know when Gi Yu-chan would return to Gyoryong Hall.
So Yeon Baek-jin walked around the Great Training Ground again today, using a stroll as an excuse.
By coincidence, the Maengryong Corps was conducting group training.
As he looked around searching for Yeon Ha-min.
Startled.
His eyes met with Instructor Han Seol-bing.
‘Ah!’
At that moment, Yeon Baek-jin recalled a fact he had completely forgotten.
Han Seol-bing, the instructor of Maengryong Corps 20th Unit.
She also knew Yeon Ha-min’s true identity, didn’t she?
Why had he forgotten such an important fact?
He could just ask her for help.
As he continued to stare without avoiding Han Seol-bing’s gaze after their eyes met.
Rather, Han Seol-bing tilted her head in puzzlement.
Yeon Baek-jin looked around the Great Training Ground a bit more, taking in the sight of Yeon Ha-min, then left.
“Vice Director.”
How far had he walked?
When he arrived at a place with few people.
A voice calling him came from behind.
It was Han Seol-bing.
A strange light flickered in Yeon Baek-jin’s eyes.
He knew she was strong, but he hadn’t expected her to be skilled enough to approach while completely deceiving his attention.
At this level, she must have certainly reached the Super Peak realm.
For such a master to be merely an instructor of the Maengryong Corps…
When he thought that far, Yeon Baek-jin shook his head.
‘Ha Mu-baek, that monster, is also a Maengryong Corps instructor, so…’
An even greater monster came to mind.
“What brings you here, Instructor Han?”
Yeon Baek-jin asked, trying to hide his surprise.
“You’ve been taking frequent walks lately.”
Han Seol-bing said, looking at Yeon Baek-jin.
“Hmm. Since my workload has been heavy lately, I often need to clear my head.”
“You seem to frequently go toward the Great Training Ground in particular?”
“Did I? I thought I was just walking wherever my feet took me, but I wasn’t aware of that.”
Yeon Baek-jin answered with a smile.
Han Seol-bing stared at Yeon Baek-jin intently. A face that said she knew everything.
“Why do you look at me like that, Instructor Han?”
“You’re worried, aren’t you? About Ha-min.”
At that question, Yeon Baek-jin nodded.
Since she already knew, there was no reason to hide it.
“Was it that obvious?”
“I know because I’m aware of the situation. Other people would never know.”
At Han Seol-bing’s answer, Yeon Baek-jin nodded as if relieved.
“It’s natural that you’d be worried since Ha-min will soon have to go to Sanwol Demon Forest.”
Han Seol-bing spoke as if she understood.
Sanwol Demon Forest—was that an ordinary place?
“Even so, you’ve been taking particularly frequent walks these past couple of days.”
Han Seol-bing’s observation.
‘That’s because Gi Yu-chan. That guy isn’t here.’
He could come to watch over Yeon Ha-min with a bit more peace of mind.
“Ha-min is steadily growing stronger. Instructor Ha is also paying special attention to her. So you don’t need to worry too much.”
Han Seol-bing wanted to say this to Yeon Baek-jin, who seemed to have many worries.
“I apologize for the intrusion. Then…”
She took a cupped fist salute and turned around.
She couldn’t leave the training ground empty for too long.
But Yeon Baek-jin couldn’t let Han Seol-bing go like that.
Hadn’t he just decided to ask for her help?
“Um, Instructor Han.”
Han Seol-bing stopped walking and turned her head.
“There’s something I’d like to ask of you regarding Ha-min…”
“It’s training time now, so I can’t be away from my post for long. I’ll come visit you when I have a quiet moment.”
Saying that, she continued walking.
Yeon Baek-jin stared blankly at her retreating figure.
Wait, she didn’t say anything about when, where, or how they would meet?
“Ah…!”
Then he realized something.
Han Seol-bing was an instructor.
Couldn’t she directly request a meeting with him, the Vice Director?
He had been so focused on thinking everything had to be secretive that he forgot such a simple fact.
“Sigh. How can I be so foolish…”
He shook his head in self-reproach.
And headed toward the Deputy Administrator’s Office.
“I wasn’t like this before, this is strange.”
Muttering what seemed like an excuse directed at himself, though he wasn’t sure to whom.
***
“Hmm.”
Ha Mu-baek, who had been walking, stopped in his tracks.
And tilted his head as if pondering something.
The Bongma Corps, Maengryong Corps, and Pyeong Deok-jo quietly watched Ha Mu-baek.
There must be a reason for him acting like this.
Their experiences so far had made them trust Ha Mu-baek completely.
“Well, this is…”
Ha Mu-baek tilted his head and then turned around.
“Let’s rest here for a moment.”
“Why is that, sir?”
Pyeong Deok-jo asked.
It had only been about two hours since they resumed moving after their rest.
It wasn’t time to rest yet.
“I sense a troublesome fellow.”
Everyone blinked their eyes.
They couldn’t believe Ha Mu-baek was calling something troublesome.
Ha Mu-baek’s gaze turned toward Pung Geon.
“How much do you know about the jiangshi territories?”
“Death Jiangshi, Blood Jiangshi, and Poison Jiangshi form groups and have territories, and among the stronger individuals, Silent Iron Jiangshi has a considerably wide territory, while we haven’t been able to accurately confirm the size of Dark Blood Jiangshi’s territory yet.”
A satisfactory answer.
Well, there were also strange entities they hadn’t identified.
Like those Decapitating Blood Demons.
“Dark Blood Jiangshi. It’s more accurate to say he has no territory. Because his range covers the entire Sanwol Great Wall.”
“!”
The Bongma Corps was shocked.
This was still a fact they hadn’t grasped, yet Ha Mu-baek spoke with such definitive confidence.
“But there was one fellow who had established a territory and was staying in this area…”
The Bongma Corps and Maengryong Members focused on Ha Mu-baek’s story.
“He’s disappeared from that territory.”
They tilted their heads in confusion.
If it was originally a being whose territory was the entire Sanwol Great Wall, wouldn’t that be possible? That was their question.
Rather, it seemed strange that he had established a territory in the first place.
“And now he’s circling around us.”
Everyone was alarmed by the following words.
Because he had saved the most important information for last.
A Dark Blood Jiangshi was circling around them.
“Then…”
Pyeong Deok-jo asked cautiously.
“Whether to deal with this guy before moving on, or just observe him. That’s what I’m pondering. It’s troublesome.”
Ha Mu-baek’s nonchalant answer.
So.
The reason it was troublesome was because he was pondering what to do.
Not that dealing with it would be troublesome.
He was describing a Dark Blood Jiangshi like that?
Just how strong was this human?
Even Pung Geon had never seen a Dark Blood Jiangshi.
The very first education received upon joining the Bongma Corps was about the appearance of Dark Blood Jiangshi.
And when encountering one, the response was unconditionally to flee.
Along with the words that if you were really, truly lucky, you might possibly survive.
“Hmm.”
Ha Mu-baek crossed his arms and fell into thought.
Dealing with the Dark Blood Jiangshi wasn’t difficult.
But if doing so caused other creatures’ territories to change, that would become bothersome.
“What to do.”
Ha Mu-baek pondered while tapping his forearm with his finger.
“Gulp.”
Pung Geon, Yu Gwi-gwang, and the others swallowed dryly.
They had no choice.
They had nearly died just from encountering a Silent Iron Jiangshi last time.
And now Ha Mu-baek was talking about a Dark Blood Jiangshi.
“You guys.”
Ha Mu-baek made eye contact with the nine people looking at him and spoke.
“Dark Blood Jiangshi. Want to see one?”
His expression was like asking if they wanted to see a caged beast.
While everyone wore blank expressions at the unexpected question.
Someone.
Unconsciously nodded and.
“Yes? Yes!”
Answered.
Where the eight people’s gazes turned in unison.
There was Gwan Ha-gyeong, covering his mouth with both hands, surprised by his own answer.
Grin.
Ha Mu-baek smiled as if satisfied.
“Good. That’s how it should be. You need to see strong opponents to become stronger. Then let’s go that way.”
Ha Mu-baek turned and began walking.
Pung Geon and the rest of the group, not fully comprehending what had just happened, mechanically followed behind him.
***
So.
He had wanted to become strong.
When he learned the secret manual he had obtained by chance, he became really, truly strong with ease.
He had been intoxicated by that power.
He wanted to become even stronger and develop Pungryeong Valley into a sect representing Hubei Province.
While dedicating all his effort to learning the new secret manual.
That manual.
He learned it was an evil technique of the wicked Blood Cult.
Because of news from the Jeongcheon Alliance.
Chaotic Blood River Destruction Art.
Destruction Art for short.
It was a cursed martial art where the moment one achieved the twelve stages of mastery, the practitioner would transform into a jiangshi, specifically a terrible entity called Dark Blood Jiangshi.
The moment he learned this fact.
Pungryeong Valley Master Pung Gi-hyu immediately burned that secret manual.
Others must not discover and learn it.
Though he had learned it.
And though he had become stronger.
He wanted to become even stronger.
‘Wouldn’t it be fine as long as I don’t learn it to ultimate mastery?’
If he didn’t learn up to the Twelfth Level and stopped at the Eleventh Level.
Then it seemed he could become as strong as possible while avoiding becoming a jiangshi.
Pung Gi-hyu continued his cultivation.
Finally, he reached the Eleventh Level.
‘This is as far as I go.’
He tried to stop his cultivation with superhuman willpower.
He himself didn’t want to become a jiangshi either.
If he hadn’t known that learning this martial art would turn him into a jiangshi, it was such an addictive martial art that he would have continued cultivating with momentum.
However.
Since he knew he would become a jiangshi.
He stored his internal energy in his dantian, stopped his energy circulation, and tried never to cultivate again.
But.
The internal energy that had gathered in his dantian began moving on its own again, rushing through his blood meridians.
‘Wh, what the hell is…’
Contrary to Pung Gi-hyu’s intentions.
The internal energy ran through his blood meridians on its own, raising the level of the Annihilation Technique.
In an instant, it reached the Twelfth Level.
‘N, no, no!!! Kheuheuheuheuheok.’
The moment that level reached the Eleventh Level, the internal energy moved on its own to instantly complete even the Twelfth Level – such was the Annihilation Technique.
This was why victims of the Annihilation Technique never ceased, even though the Jeongcheon Alliance had warned about it.
The cunning desire that if one becomes a jiangshi upon reaching the Twelfth Level, wouldn’t it be fine to only learn up to the Eleventh Level?
The Blood Cult had exploited even such human desires.
Pung Gi-hyu’s memories cut off there.
Perhaps it was fortunate that he couldn’t remember destroying Pungryeong Valley with his own hands.
Pung Gi-hyu’s memories returned.
Along with excruciating pain.
He couldn’t move even a single finger.
The headless body visible before his eyes.
He instinctively knew that it was his own body.
And.
The group that seemed to have killed him.
Among them was a familiar face.
The Young Family Head of the Yeon Family, Yeon Baek-ryang.
He tried to thank him for killing him, but his lips wouldn’t move.
And countless memories came flooding in.
They were the deeds he had committed after being consumed by the Annihilation Technique and becoming a Dark Blood Jiangshi.
‘Ugh, ughhhhh.’
He tried to writhe in agony and let out intense groans, but they only echoed in his head.
‘Such is karma…’
He could see Yeon Baek-ryang confronting someone, but such things weren’t important to Pung Gi-hyu.
As he died like this due to his own karma.
He only felt sorry and guilty toward the sect members of the valley who had died by his hands.
Like that.
Surely like that.
He should have closed his eyes while meeting death.
Surely that’s what happened.
But.
Blink. Blink.
Pung Gi-hyu was blinking his eyes.
The twinkling stars of the night sky entered his vision.
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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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