The World’s Greatest Martial Arts Instructor - Chapter 481

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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 481. I Am Ashamed

 

 

“Do you think it’s merely such a trivial matter?”

“Trivial?”

So Hwi-ung’s eyebrows twitched once again.

A senior member of a prestigious orthodox sect who should walk the righteous path had walked the path of evil, consuming jiangshi inner cores.

And that was trivial?

“The evil path of an incompetent fool is nothing but trivial. A worthless wretch who turned away from the path of gradual refinement and ascetic practice to seek an easy way.”

Ha Mu-baek was resolute.

“Hmm….”

So Hwi-ung could not refute.

A disciple of an orthodox sect abandoning the righteous path to walk the evil way.

It was a serious matter if considered serious.

But the fact was that the one who committed this act was indeed a worthless wretch.

“Then what is it?”

So Hwi-ung asked.

“The insane acts committed in this place.”

“Insane acts?”

Ha Mu-baek recounted the facts he had heard from Yang Bi-chang two nights ago.

After hearing all the facts from him, Ha Mu-baek had not lifted a finger.

He had displayed superhuman patience.

The moment he moved his hand, he felt he would kill that bastard who deserved to be torn apart instantly.

That damned bastard who couldn’t even endure the first stage of the bone-breaking torture method and spilled everything.

“Do you know why the survival rate of the Maengryong Corps is in such a state?”

“Isn’t it because their martial arts are weak?”

“After Zhuge Ming taught shield techniques to the Maengryong Corps cadets, the survival rate increased significantly. But the return rate showed little difference.”

So Hwi-ung tilted his head.

Return rate, survival rate.

He understood the meaning of both terms.

“Survival rate refers to the proportion of Maengryong members who stayed alive, and return rate would be the proportion who returned alive. If the number of survivors increased each year, the number returning should have increased too, right?”

It was a natural question.

If the survival rate had increased but the return rate remained similar, it was contradictory.

“Because there was someone playing tricks.”

At Ha Mu-baek’s answer.

“Do Sim-geuk. Are you saying that bastard played tricks?”

Ha Mu-baek shook his head.

“It was Gongdong.”

Thump.

At the shock that felt like his heart dropping, So Hwi-ung’s eyes widened.

That shock was contradictory.

Devastation and sorrow for the victims of the scheming.

Elation at having caught an opportunity to eliminate a political rival.

Both emotions surged up simultaneously.

“Gongdong?”

So Hwi-ung asked again for confirmation.

“That’s right.”

“How did he manipulate the survival and return rates?”

“Are you truly asking because you don’t know?”

Ha Mu-baek answered the question with a question.

“Hmm.”

So Hwi-ung swallowed his groan.

The method wasn’t difficult, so So Hwi-ung could easily figure it out.

But.

Even so.

There was a vague belief that they wouldn’t have used that method.

A thought that no matter how corrupt those bastards were, they wouldn’t go that far.

Perhaps that thought showed on his expression, as Ha Mu-baek looked at So Hwi-ung’s face and chuckled once more.

“Don’t have pointless expectations of those bastards who deserve to be torn apart.”

From those words.

So Hwi-ung.

Could tell that the Gongdong Sect had used the very method he had thought of.

“Even so. Surely Gongdong wouldn’t have done such a thing. Couldn’t it have been an independent decision by a working-level official?”

“The position of Dan-ju of the Bongma Corps. Where was that position allocated?”

The Gongdong Sect.

So while the vice Dan-ju might be unknown, the Dan-ju position had traditionally been held by someone from the Gongdong Sect.

“If the same acts were carried out before Do Sim-geuk became Dan-ju? Would you call it the independent decision of just the former and current Dan-ju?”

“….”

It was possible.

But the probability was extremely slim.

Ha Mu-baek’s anger was growing increasingly intense.

“Cheon Gi-buk. It was that bastard’s instruction. He told them to maintain the jiangshi population in Sanwol Demon Forest as consistently as possible to match inner core production.”

So Hwi-ung frowned.

“Though he didn’t directly instruct the specific method. He guided them that way. And Do Sim-geuk used that method quite gleefully. Do you know that just one or two months ago, the number of fifth-year Maengryong Corps survivors was twenty percent of the initially deployed personnel?”

At Ha Mu-baek’s anger-filled question that followed.

So Hwi-ung was shocked.

Twenty percent had survived until just recently?

As far as he knew, only one person had safely completed their service and returned this time.

A result that didn’t even reach the usual five percent.

But twenty percent had survived just one or two months ago.

Those who had survived nearly five years had died in just one or two months?

It was absurd.

Unless someone’s intention had intervened.

So Hwi-ung closed his eyes.

“Cheon Gi-buk….”

And he muttered the three-character name in a low voice.

“He probably didn’t even know that inner cores could be consumed.”

At Ha Mu-baek’s words, So Hwi-ung nodded.

Jiangshi inner cores had been collected to verify the performance of Bongma Corps members.

But people had been eating them.

“From the beginning, those things weren’t human. They ate jiangshi inner cores and drove perfectly fine people to their deaths for a stable supply of those cores.”

“….”

So Hwi-ung said nothing.

However.

Anger began to slowly well up in his eyes as well.

Anger slowly began to rise in his eyes as well.

“The Bongma Corps Members went to the battlefield and abandoned the Maengryong Corps to escape and save their lives. In the process, some Bongma Members died too. The Bongma Corps Members who had close relationships with the Maengryong Corps also lost their lives together with them.”

Ha Mu-baek’s voice grew increasingly agitated.

“Alliance Leader. Is this the great cause, justice, and righteous path you spoke of?”

The last part was a question that sounded like a shout directed at So Hwi-ung.

“It was something the Nine Sects and One Alliance did. Those damn privileged bastards with their corrupt practices.”

Ha Mu-baek looked at So Hwi-ung with emotionless eyes.

“They are also righteous sects in the end.”

So Hwi-ung blamed the Nine Sects and One Alliance.

But Ha Mu-baek treated it as a pathetic excuse.

“Huu. Mu-baek. How did you find out about this?”

So Hwi-ung’s thoughts turned to the source of the information.

Even Cheonmok Pavilion didn’t know about this.

To think Ha Mu-baek knew about such things.

“Yang Bi-chang. That bastard you caught confessed.”

So Hwi-ung was startled.

“I only heard his testimony. Well, if we go to the Alliance Main Corps anyway, Gongsun Elder would have found out about it.”

“Hmm.”

This was also an excuse, but he had been busy.

It was a series of hectic events.

So he had no choice but to rely only on Yang Bi-chang’s testimony.

He didn’t even have time to examine the documents in Do Sim-geuk’s barracks.

Only Ha Mu-baek could have examined them.

Because he had entrusted his duties to Han Seol-bing.

He had relatively more leisure time.

And there was no one who could say anything to such Ha Mu-baek.

Everyone knew how great a feat he had accomplished and how severely he had been injured.

However.

So Hwi-ung.

Even though he also had nothing particular to do.

The fact that he didn’t move to investigate.

That alone was inexcusable.

“I have become too accustomed to this position.”

So Hwi-ung muttered quietly.

Alliance Leader.

Someone who should lead from the front, yet whose subordinates handle countless matters on his behalf.

Because he had become too accustomed to that.

He failed to think and act on his own first.

“What do you intend to do?”

So Hwi-ung asked.

Hadn’t Ha Mu-baek said he was still pondering what to do next?

Whether to strike them down.

Or give up and leave.

“Huu.”

Ha Mu-baek let out a deep sigh.

“I’m contemplating. If I decide to take action…”

Ha Mu-baek trailed off.

‘The demon within me that I barely managed to put to sleep might awaken.’

An answer that only crossed his mind.

“For now, let’s go to the Alliance together. The entire Maengryong Corps as well. Let’s discuss it there. For this matter, I think we must hear Strategist Gongsun’s opinion.”

Ha Mu-baek stood up from his seat.

“I’ll think about that too.”

Ha Mu-baek left So Hwi-ung’s barracks and headed to his own.

When he entered the barracks.

Wi Ji-gun was sitting at the tea table.

“The conversation seems to have gone long.”

Ha Mu-baek wasn’t particularly surprised.

He already knew through his ki sense.

“Is there something you wish to ask?”

Wi Ji-gun had quietly followed behind the Maengryong Corps until yesterday.

Even though the danger was said to be gone, it was to protect Ha Seol-ran in case of any unforeseen circumstances.

One of the reasons Ha Mu-baek could entrust everything to Han Seol-bing was because of his Master’s such actions.

But today he was waiting for him in the barracks.

“What are you troubled about?”

Ha Mu-baek wore a bitter smile as he brewed tea and told him about the conversation he had with So Hwi-ung.

“Damn bastards.”

That was Wi Ji-gun’s assessment.

“You’re troubled?”

Ha Mu-baek nodded at Wi Ji-gun’s question.

“I’m a bit afraid now of awakening the demon within me that I barely managed to put to sleep.”

It was an honest confession.

“Demon?”

When Wi Ji-gun asked again.

Ha Mu-baek answered.

“This time. I faced it this time.”

His voice carried bitterness.

“I didn’t realize it when I was massacring those Blood Cult bastards hiding underground. But after everything was over. I faced the demon.”

“So that’s why you rested.”

Ha Mu-baek nodded at Wi Ji-gun’s words.

“I’m ashamed.”

Wi Ji-gun looked intently at Ha Mu-baek.

“You seem to be overthinking it. It seems to be because you suffered trying to wash away the smell of blood. With your current level of mastery, there’s no way you’d be affected by such things. Trust yourself.”

At his Master’s words full of faith.

“It was slaughter.”

Ha Mu-baek answered with somewhat complicated feelings.

“It was merely revenge.”

Wi Ji-gun defended Ha Mu-baek’s actions.

“They weren’t the ones who killed my parents.”

Ha Mu-baek spoke as if confessing.

“It was something done by the Blood Cult, that organization. If you hadn’t done so, they might have created victims like you somewhere else.”

“The future is unknowable.”

Wi Ji-gun looked at Ha Mu-baek with a calm face.

“You’re tired.”

A brief assessment.

“Rest. Sometimes not thinking about anything and just resting can be the answer.”

Wi Ji-gun stood up from his chair, patted Ha Mu-baek’s shoulder, and left the barracks.

And he gazed quietly at Ha Mu-baek’s barracks.

“Because he escaped from it, did he come to know fear?”

Ha Mu-baek had entered the martial world at the young age of twenty.

And immediately threw himself into the Jeongcheon Alliance, jumping into wars against the Blood Cult and Demon Cult.

He stained his sword with countless blood of the Blood Cult and Demon Cult.

He killed and killed and killed again.

Ha Mu-baek was truly a blood-crazed demon whose only purpose was revenge.

That’s exactly what he was.

After that bloody war ended.

Ha Mu-baek had no occasion to stain his sword with blood.

After that.

Life at Gyoryong Hall.

Reunion with Ha Seol-ran.

The efforts and success to drain the blood that followed.

After going through all those processes.

For the first time in a while, he had once again stained his sword with countless human blood.

And he faced it.

The image of himself as a demon crazed with slaughter.

Ha Mu-baek said he faced a demon, that he feared awakening the demon.

But it was neither a demon nor anything else.

It was his past self.

Ha Mu-baek was now finally able to properly face what his past self had looked like.

For the first time.

After visiting the Archive Hall, Ha Mu-baek had unconsciously become aware of the weight of killing.

That’s why.

This time he didn’t take the Maengryong Corps and Ha Seol-ran to the Blood Cult extermination.

Only he and Han Seol-bing had gone.

“Hmm. If it’s a heart demon, I suppose I should call it a heart demon.”

Wi Ji-gun, who had been watching for a long time, muttered.

His past self.

What his past self had done.

Ha Mu-baek faced that essence despite his changed present.

If he came to deny his past self.

That would soon become a heart demon.

“He entered the Blood Sea too quickly. It’s my fault, Mu-baek.”

Wi Ji-gun muttered bitterly as he turned around.

A disciple who devoted himself to cultivation with only revenge as his purpose.

Wi Ji-gun had led such a disciple down the right path.

Even so.

He shouldn’t have let his disciple leave the mountain when his desire for revenge had reached its peak.

At the very least, he should have sent him out with the condition of a restriction technique against killing.

Now.

He regretted it.

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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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