Extra 7 |
Kwak Pyung, the leader of the Black Tooth Gate, was quite satisfied with his current life.
He had founded the gate here about five years ago.
He used the name of the Cult of the Heavenly Demon and collected taxes from the nearby merchants, amassing good profits.
Stupid bastards.
The merchants paid high taxes just because he mentioned the Demonic Cult, without even looking into whether his claims were legitimate.
Naturally, Kwak Pyung did not belong to the Cult of the Heavenly Demon. He was not a disciple of a Demonic Master either.
There was a saying that the bottom of a lamp was the darkest.
The Black Tooth Gate was not a very large sect — they didn’t even have the power to take over this small town.
Naturally, rumors in a small town from a minor sect would not reach the Cult of the Heavenly Demon.
Hehehe. If I raise a little more money like this…
He would soon be able to leave this small town and start a new life. By then, ten years would have passed and the pursuers on his tail would have disappeared.
Let’s save money and buy a manor. It won’t be big, but large enough to live with three or four women…
If he bought three prostitutes, he would be able to enjoy the rest of his life.
It was at the moment Kwak Pyung showed a longing expression on his face as he thought about it.
Kwang!
With a loud noise, the whole front door of the Black Tooth Gate blasted off its hinges and a beggar rolled into the room.
“Ouch!”
This guy is…
Kwak Pyung’s eyes widened marginally.
He recognized this beggar. Although they never directly interacted, the beggar was an amicable guy who had occasionally hung out with his subordinates.
The beggar wasn’t the problem.
It was the guy who had thrown the beggar.
So Kwak Pyung shouted, “Who has the guts?”
The perpetrator had dared to smash the front door of the sect he created.
Judging by how the man was able to throw an adult, he must be quite strong, but Kwak Pyung was able to throw someone himself.
What kind of guy is he? Is he a gang member? If not, which sect?
Kwak Pyung’s eyes darted here and there as he thought.
The factions that came to mind were small and medium-sized groups comparable to the Black Tooth Gate in the vicinity of the town’s inns.
But Kwak Pyung immediately shook his head.
But they don’t have the guts to move.
Although it was a lie, his sect was said to have a relationship with the Cult of the Heavenly Demon.
In addition, the rumors stated that although he was not an official disciple of a Demonic Master, the Demonic Master had taught him a few techniques.
There was no way the nearby factions had the guts to hit his men.
Who then?
With that thought in mind, Kwak Pyung glared over the smashed door, and soon a nobleman crossed over the threshold of the Black Tooth Gate with leisurely steps.
The noble seemed to be in his mid-twenties.
“A brat?”
Mid-twenties was by no means young, but in the eyes of the forty-year-old Kwak Pyung, that was nothing more than a child.
However, it was not the man in his mid-twenties who responded to those words, but the young woman next to him.
“Father, that man called me a brat!”
The girl squealed as if angry, huffing at the man in his mid-twenties.
Woon-seong reached out his hand and gently stroked Yu-seol’s head. “Wait a moment. If it’s not true, he will pay with his soul.”
Yu-seol nodded at this answer.
Kwak Pyung, who had been eyeing them, opened his mouth: “I don’t know if there was anything offensive about the main door and I don’t know what happened, but even if you are a disciple of Sir Go In, isn’t this too much?”
“Hmn?”
At that, Woon-seong tilted his head and nodded.
Since Woon-seong had barely aged, Kwak Pyung mistook him for a younger martial artist named Gi Ji-soo, who was a disciple of the relatively famed Go In.
I think that’s it…
It was completely wrong, of course.
“Are you here under the orders of Go In? If you came here under orders, you should be more polite!”
“There is one thing I want to ask you.”
“There is…?”
Kwak Pyung respected this young man as a disciple of Go In, but the young man didn’t seem to know what he was talking about.
Kwak Pyung’s eyebrows twitched.
Whether he cared or not, Woon-seong continued to speak in a calm tone.
“You received the guidance of a Demonic Master, right?”
“That, yes.”
His voice wavered slightly. Kwak Pyung felt a ray of insecurity, but he did not deny the rumors he had spread and continued to bluff.
Woon-seong smiled and swept an eye over Kwak Pyung.
There was no trace of demonic energy anywhere on the man’s body.
Of course.
He had assumed, but of course it was a lie.
“Who was it?”
“What…?”
“I asked, which of the Demonic Masters did you study under?”
Kwak Pyung hesitated at Woon-seong’s question and bit his lips lightly.
Until now, he had told many people that he studied under a Demonic Master, but had never told anyone which one.
Even so, this was the realm of the Cult of the Heavenly Demon. Without needing to pinpoint anyone, just mentioning a Demonic Master made other martial artists avoid him.
But today, a guy appeared and directly asked him who he had studied under.
What the hell is he doing?
Kwak Pyung couldn’t help but be flustered.
Nevertheless, Kwak Pyung calmed his fluttering heart and racked his head to continue the lie.
He was Kwak Pyung, who boldly pretended to be a disciple of a Demonic Master even while knowing this was the realm of the Cult of the Heavenly Demon.
It must be said that his daring bravado could not be compared to his martial prowess.
“This… the Demonic Teacher. I was taught martial arts by the Demonic Teacher of Sun and Moon.”
“Hmm.”
Woon-seong, who had been silent for a moment, spoke:
“The Demonic Teacher of Sun and Moon’s martial arts manifests in black and white qi, which is why he uses his Black and White Heavenly Wheels. But the weapon you have at your waist is a sword, is it not?”
“Perhaps you don’t know it because you are young, but martial artists may reach a state where they are one with their weapons. When you reach that state, the difference between using a sword and using a wheel disappears. The same is true of the martial arts I studied under the Demonic Teacher!”
At the endless bravado, Woon-seong shook his head. He then clenched a fist lightly and said, “Then, I’ll try it for myself. Let me see if the sword technique you are using is mixed with the martial arts of the Demonic Teacher of Sun and Moon.”
“What?”
That was the beginning.
With a tap of his foot, Woon-seong had already reappeared in front of Kwak Pyung.
A subsequent strike.
Bang.
It was a light strike, but it was a strike issued by a martial artist in the Divine Realm.
It wasn’t something that a trash martial artist like Kwak Pyung could block.
“Keokhyuk!”
Wak-ak-ak, kwang!
Like a broken kite, Kwak Pyung’s body collided with a wall and slumped to the floor.
He did not die immediately, but the shock was powerful enough to cause him to vomit blood.
“Weeek!”
Thus, Kwak Pyung was unable to draw his sword and lay there like a dead dog, drowning in his own blood.
Woo!
Woon-seong then kicked Kwak Pyung in the chest, stomping on him.
Crack.
“Uagh! Stop!”
Even like that, several of his ribs were broken.
Meanwhile, as Woon-seong stood on his chest, the pain Kwak Pyung experienced was more than he could ever have imagined.
But Woon-seong did not care at all.
Rather, he did not hide the growl in his voice as he said: “To falsely claim to be under the protection of the Cult of the Heavenly Demon in the realm of the Demonic Cult, I don’t know if you are bold or stupid.”
Did Kwak Pyung suddenly understand the situation?
Damn it, you must be a person from the Cult of the Heavenly Demon. Kwak Pyung’s face nearly turned blue. Why the hell…?
While the Black Tooth Gate could barely be considered as the owner of the village, it was still just one small village in the Cult of the Heavenly Demon’s domain.
Within the Heavenly Demon’s domain, sect-gates of this size were as numerous as stars in the sky.
How did rumors about the Black Tooth Gate even reach the Cult of the Heavenly Demon?
Of course, it was pure coincidence that Woon-seong heard the story of the Black Tooth Gate.
But for Kwak Pyung, who was ignorant of this fact, it was like he’d slammed headfirst into a brick wall.
This… First of all, I should save my own life.
With that in mind, he clutched his arms closer together, forgetting that his ribs had been broken.
“Sir, please spare me!”
Clasping his hands together, he pleaded:
“I was trying to make a living, so I ended up using the name of the Demonic Cult in my desperation. Haha, if you can forgive me just this once, it won’t happen again…”
At Kwak Pyung’s sudden change in attitude, Woon-seong burst out laughing at the man’s stupidity.
Wasn’t he quite the bold one?
He had used the name of the Demonic Cult on the pretext of making a living.
Even if he turned into a handful of blood right away, there was nothing more to say.
Well, there was…
“You’ll find out soon if that’s really all there is to it.”
“Yes…?”
Unable to understand what Woon-seong was trying to say, Kwak Pyung tilted his head and—
Scree!
Right then, a large black eagle cried out.
The Thousand Li Black Eagle; it was the very eagle Woon-seong had received news from at the top of Mount Heaven.
A bird closer to a spirit beast than an eagle.
The only difference was that unlike back then, a small bamboo container was tied to its leg.
Scree!
When the eagle found Woon-seong, it cried out once more and came to land on Woon-seong’s forearm.
Woon-seong handed the eagle some jerky, then untied the bamboo container from its leg and pulled out a small roll of paper.
“Hmm.”
Woon-seong’s eyebrows twitched as he read the letter.
Huaak-
Immediately, a terrifying force came pouring out like a tidal wave.
“Hiek!”
The wall of qi did not spread out in all directions, but precisely pressed down on only Kwak Pyung.
Faced with a force he could not resist, Kwak Pyung trembled.
“Father, this man… It smells, ugh!”
The man seemed to have soiled his pants from fear.
Was it because of Yu-seol’s reaction?
With a light wave of Woon-seong’s hand, the wind picked up and the foul smell dissipated.
Hiek.
But to Kwak Pyung, it made Woon-seong look even more like a monster.
A master who could create wind with a simple gesture…
Woon-seong tossed the letter in his hand in front of Kwak Pyung.
The letter fluttered and landed precisely in front of Kwak Pyung’s face.
It was followed by Woon-seong’s cold voice:
“Read it.”
“…Yes?”
Suddenly told to read the letter…
From Kwak Pyung’s position, he suddenly wondered what was going on.
But that hesitance only lasted a moment.
Soon, Kwak Pyung picked up the letter in front of him.
“The man’s name is Kwak Pyung. His age is…”
Kwak Pyung glanced alternately between Woon-seong and the letter as he began to read the words aloud.
“This man has kidnapped and raped women. He is involved in child trafficking…”
The man’s face turned pale as he slowly began to read the letter written about himself, and it seemed that the contents of the letter were linked to his past history.
“Hey, how do you…”
How was it that the sins he had committed before he fled were listed so plainly?
Kwak Pyung looked up at Woon-seong with a pale face, and Woon-seong raised the White Night Spear.
“Is there any reason why I should keep you alive? If there is, I may spare you.”
Woon-seong’s voice contained anger which could not be hidden.
Not surprisingly, the other sins were intolerable.
There was no need for Woon-seong to come forward and inquire about the sin of using the name of the Cult of the Heavenly Demon.
It was just a matter of sending a combat unit from a nearby branch to punish them.
Nevertheless, Woon-seong still acted.
It was because of child trafficking.
The children sold were similar in age to Yu-seol.
He knew.
He knew that the world was cruel. And that Murim was far crueler.
Even so, as the father of a young woman, he could not forgive this.
That was why he acted on his own.
“Sir, if you spare me, I will do my best to prove my loyalty—”
Before Kwak Pyung could even finish speaking, his head flew off.
His severed head spun round and round in the air and tumbled to the floor—
“Huh?”
Woon-seong’s hoarse voice echoed in Kwak Pyung’s ears, who was not even aware of his own death:
“That is no reason for me to spare you.”
That was Kwak Pyung’s last moment.
