The World’s Greatest Martial Arts Instructor - Chapter 496

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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 496. Just a Passerby

 

 

A plain near the deep valleys of Yungjoong Mountain.

Since it was quite far from the Zhuge Family estate, it was ambiguous land that could neither be called part of the Zhuge Family’s sphere of influence nor completely outside it.

Here, the current head of the Zhuge Family had come out and was surveying the surroundings with profound eyes.

Zhuge Family Head Zhuge Nam-cheon.

With both his hair and beard completely white, he missed nothing of the scene spread out beneath his feet.

“Go-pung.”

“Yes, Uncle.”

The middle-aged man who had once discussed his son and the sect messenger.

Zhuge Go-pung.

He was the Zhuge Family Head’s nephew and held a considerable position among the direct lineage.

“You’ve completed the formation?”

“That’s correct.”

The place spread out below their eyes.

This was where that completed formation was deployed.

It was also a place where sect messengers were being raised.

“It’s a nine-layered formation in total. If all nine formations are activated, no one under heaven will be able to come out alive.”

It was an answer full of confidence.

At Zhuge Go-pung’s response, Zhuge Nam-cheon nodded.

Even with his eyes, he couldn’t fully grasp all nine formations.

No one under heaven would notice that nine formations were layered here.

It was truly a formation created and installed with painstaking effort.

The last war.

The Zhuge Family had failed to properly stop the Blood Cult.

This was a contrasting result to Seonyu Valley, which had blocked the jiangshi with their own techniques.

Ha Mu-baek, that outstanding martial artist.

The fact that he alone had defeated two hundred Blood Cult warriors here was because the Zhuge Family had failed to stop them.

It was the Zhuge Family’s disgrace.

It was from that time.

They had analyzed and studied all their existing formations from the beginning and struggled desperately to create stronger formations.

Having achieved those results, now was the time to use them.

“How was the funding procured?”

The nine-layered absolute formation.

The materials needed to deploy this required not only vast quantities but also many precious items.

No matter how wealthy the Zhuge Family was, their finances couldn’t cover it all.

“It came from the sect’s believers.”

At Zhuge Go-pung’s words, Zhuge Nam-cheon nodded.

The Sesegwaneum Sect.

A sect that spoke of the world’s destruction.

That was one of the purposes for creating it.

The believers’ wealth.

In a world destined for ruin anyway, wealth and such things weren’t important.

What mattered was salvation in a world heading toward destruction.

Things were proceeding as intended.

“The Five Great Noble Families under heaven.”

Zhuge Nam-cheon muttered calmly.

Though people called them that, the Zhuge Family was always last among them.

Namgung.

Yeon Family.

Tang Family.

Peng Family.

Zhuge.

That was the order.

After the Great Murim War ended, the order changed, but the Zhuge Family’s position remained the same.

Only the positions of the Yeon Family and Namgung had switched.

Recently, the positions of the Peng Family and Zhuge had changed.

Due to the Peng Family Head’s foolish judgment, they had sealed themselves away.

“How did our Zhuge Family come to this?”

At Zhuge Nam-cheon’s murmur, Zhuge Go-pung couldn’t say anything.

“How did that fool Ming make such a stupid choice?”

Zhuge Nam-cheon’s gaze turned toward Luoyang, where the Jeongcheon Alliance Headquarters was located.

Cheonmok Pavilion.

He himself had been the previous leader of that place called the Eye of Heaven.

He had devoted all his passion and sincerity to expanding the Zhuge Family’s influence based on that position, but the Great Murim War had erupted.

The one who became Cheonmokgak Leader in his place was Gongsun Dan-gyeong.

He had no idea where this man had come from or what he had been doing.

The new Alliance Leader So Hwi-ung had simply placed him there.

The new leader had weeded out all the foundations he had planted in Cheonmok Pavilion.

The Zhuge Family had become merely one of the Five Great Families.

After that, he had forcibly pushed Zhuge Ming into Cheonmok Pavilion, but that fool had run off to Gyoryong Hall.

“Though they say Gangho is a world of martial artists, was our martial arts weak?”

At the second question, Zhuge Go-pung couldn’t give any answer.

There was no way it could be weak.

Through all kinds of research and analysis, they had continuously created stronger martial arts.

Through endless improvements, they even took pride in having created the world’s greatest martial arts.

The problem was that, as a result, it wasn’t martial arts that humans could learn.

Because it was martial arts that didn’t consider human limitations.

Thus, those martial arts were sealed away in the Zhuge Family’s deepest forbidden vault.

The martial arts derived from that research were by no means weak either, but it was true that they were insufficient to discuss conquering the world.

“Before the last two Great Murim Wars broke out, how much did we Zhuge contribute to the peace of this Gangho, this Murim… Yet now we’re in this state.”

A lament full of dissatisfaction flowed from Zhuge Nam-cheon’s mouth.

“The Eight Rising Sects.”

Eight sects that had gradually risen even before the Great Murim War erupted.

After the war, as those bastards established their positions, the Zhuge Family had become like this.

So there was no way he could view them favorably.

The formation spread out below was the result of years of patient endurance, determined to return to their original position someday.

“How dare those bastards without any foundation manipulate this Murim as they please.”

Zhuge Nam-cheon’s voice was filled with rage.

“Enough. Let’s return. It’s about time for those who took the bait to start appearing one by one.”

Zhuge Nam-cheon turned around.

The Sesegwaneum Sect.

As their influence had expanded as far as it could, people would start taking interest.

And they would learn of the demonic sect’s existence, and if they had suspicions, they would learn of Yungjoong Mountain, which he had deliberately let information about leak.

And they would come looking for this place.

Whether it’s Cheonmok Pavilion, the demonic cult, or Ha Mu-baek.

And all would disappear from this world together harmoniously.

That was the picture Zhuge Nam-cheon had drawn.

 

***

 

Ha Mu-baek left Luoyang.

Since all his business here was finished.

Since they said something was being plotted at Yungjoong Mountain, his judgment was strong that it couldn’t be the demonic cult.

Since Gongsun Dan-gyeong said he had sent orders to the Maengryong Corps, Ha Mu-baek just needed to head straight to Jiangxi Province.

Han Seol-bing would naturally lead the Maengryong Corps and come there.

Thanks to this, Ha Mu-baek’s journey was slow.

The inner evil spirit.

He was paying more attention to resolving that.

After leaving Luoyang, it had lowered its head again.

Was it because he had parted from the family that made him recall his past?

There was no reaction at all.

It might be because the being he thought was from the demonic cult wasn’t from the demonic cult.

Ha Mu-baek constantly meditated and trained.

He trained Sim Yeon of course, and tried to somehow resolve the inner evil spirit.

But there was no progress at all.

It could have been frustrating.

But Ha Mu-baek showed no particular impatience or frustration.

On his face was the belief that if there was an opportunity and the time came, he would naturally be able to achieve it.

Such a journey continued.

He passed by Muchang where Gyoryong Hall was located and entered Jiangxi Province as is.

He stopped at a small village to rest.

Ha Mu-baek frowned.

In his habitually extended ki sense, he felt a familiar presence.

‘Even to a place like this…’

That bastard who was called a sect messenger that he had caught in Luoyang.

It was a presence similar to that bastard.

The presence of someone who had learned the same martial arts was felt in this small village.

They had entered this village a little while ago.

‘What the hell are they scheming?’

To call it internal strife within the Jeongcheon Alliance, the scale of what they were doing was too enormous.

They were secretly expanding their influence to all the common people of Gangho.

Deep in the night.

Ha Mu-baek had no choice but to move.

He had tried to turn away thinking it was a matter for the Righteous Path Alliance and the Eight New Gates.

But all the people of this small village were gathered there.

Eventually he left the only inn in the village and headed to where they were gathered.

It was the old Gwanje Temple on the village outskirts.

A place that no one managed anymore and had been abandoned.

However, things like spider webs were not visible.

It was because many people frequently went in and out.

Nevertheless, the extremely worn state remained as it was.

The scene unfolding inside was the same as what he had seen in Luoyang.

The statue of Gwanje Temple.

Everyone placed a small wooden statue in front of it and bowed while muttering.

Ha Mu-baek couldn’t help but frown at that sight.

At the fact that there were so many people who wished for the world to perish.

‘This isn’t normal.’

With normal missionary methods, it was impossible to expand influence this rapidly.

It was something even the Blood Cult and demonic cult couldn’t achieve.

They must have used sorcery, but as far as Ha Mu-baek knew, the Zhuge family had no connection to sorcery.

Among the righteous sects, when it came to sorcery, it was rather Seonyu Valley.

‘What the hell are they doing…’

He frowned and left Gwanje Temple.

Since it wasn’t much different from Luoyang, there was no reason to step forward.

The village was even quieter.

It was also because numerous people were all gathered at Gwanje Temple.

As he walked toward the inn like that.

“Sister… I’m hungry…”

A boy’s small voice reached Ha Mu-baek’s ears.

A presence as if sleeping.

“Just bear with it a little. It’ll be okay if you fall asleep.”

The child called sister also answered with a powerless voice.

“I’m too hungry to sleep…”

The boy’s whining voice had no energy at all.

It wasn’t just missing one or two meals.

It was a conversation he couldn’t ignore.

Since it was a conversation the two children had weakly like whispering, no one in this village could hear it.

Only Ha Mu-baek, who had greatly expanded his ki sense, heard it.

Eventually Ha Mu-baek had no choice but to head there.

He might not have known, but since he found out.

It was the outskirts in the completely opposite direction from Gwanje Temple.

The slums of this village where several hut-like houses were gathered together.

Ha Mu-baek entered one of them.

A skinny boy and girl were lying covered with a straw mat.

Children who clearly hadn’t eaten anything for at least three days.

But.

There were only the children in this hut.

“Why are there only you two?”

The two children were startled by the heavy voice that suddenly rang out.

They tried to embrace each other and back away, but they didn’t seem to have the strength for that either.

“Wh, who are you?”

The girl who squeezed out what little strength she had and pulled her younger brother behind her looked at Ha Mu-baek and asked.

“Someone passing by.”

Suspicion appeared in the girl’s eyes.

Since this was the slums even within the village, there would be no one passing by on such a night.

Come to think of it, he was a stranger.

A traveler who wasn’t from this village.

“I have no intention of harming you. There wouldn’t be anything to take from this house either.”

At the words that accurately hit the truth, the girl moved her lips.

“I, I heard people are bought and sold too.”

That was right.

He might be a bad person trying to take her and her brother to sell them.

Ha Mu-baek chuckled.

“You two?”

The girl bit her lips tightly at the question that came back.

That was right.

Starving and emaciated with no strength at all, they had no value even if someone tried to take them to sell.

“Why are you two alone?”

Ha Mu-baek asked again.

Though she would look younger than her actual age from not eating and growing properly, even accounting for that, the girl appeared to be around eleven or twelve.

The boy was about nine? Around that age.

But there were definitely traces of adults in this hut.

“They said there’s a place that will save the world, that we too would be saved if they prayed there, so they went there.”

A place immediately came to mind.

The problem was that the people gathered at that place had already been assembled there when Ha Mu-baek arrived at this village.

It was only after he sensed the presence of that bastard called the messenger much later that he realized people from Sesegwaneum Cult had gathered there.

“Since when?”

“Three days ago…”

Ha Mu-baek’s face contorted with rage.

Those things called parents.

They had abandoned their children for three whole days.

“Have you been starving for three days?”

At Ha Mu-baek’s words, the girl nodded slightly.

“How could…”

He was at a loss for words.

To leave these young ones and be away from home for three days.

Without even properly preparing food for them.

They were insane bastards.

Completely insane bastards.

The water contained in the small container in the corner of the room.

That alone would be all these siblings had consumed during the past three days.

“Wait here.”

Ha Mu-baek said this and left the hut, heading toward the inn.

Fortunately, the head cook was still there.

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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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