Chapter 178: Jaseung, Dies

A thick medicinal scent pricked his nose, and Lee Jaseung opened his eyes.

He lay on a bed with bandages wrapped over his whole body.

The ceiling was familiar, it was his room in the Murim Alliance.

Light filtered in through the drape that covered the window.

Lee Jaseung raised his hand.

Whirr.

The drape slid open at the tip of his fingers.

There was nothing wrong inside his body.

Sunlight that streamed in at the window shone on Lee Jaseung’s face.

It felt pleasant.

He stared up at the sky like that for a long while.

His memory had a break in it.

Yet the memory of the last moment stayed vivid.

Her gaze.

Her tears.

Her words.

Remembering them swelled his chest.

He could not put that rush into words.

He felt that his martial cultivation had risen again because of what happened yesterday.

Yet it was a gain within the second sublevel of the Transcendent Peak Realm.

The requirement each stage demanded grew exponentially the higher one climbed.

To rise from the second sublevel to the first demanded more than all the experience, effort, or enlightenment combined that it took to enter martial cultivation and reach the third sublevel of the Transcendent Peak.

He worried that his killing intent might have been exhausted and vanished.

Yet it had not.

If anything, the killing intent within him had grown larger.

As if his Dantian had expanded, the measure of his killing intent had swelled as well.

At that moment the door opened and Baek Seolyoung came in.

She had meant to greet him plainly, to say something like “Oh, you are awake.” But the instant she saw him awake, her chest clenched.

For a moment they looked at one another in silence.

There was a bandage wrapped around her neck.

Feeling his gaze, she spoke.

“This is a badge of honor.”

She flashed a grin and the tears that had gathered at the corners of her eyes slipped down.

When Lee Jaseung tried to rise, Baek Seolyoung hurried over.

“Do not move yet.”

As she moved to press him back down, Lee Jaseung pulled her in. She fell into his chest.

She worried she might press on his wounds.

“Don’t do this!”

“It is fine. Let’s stay like this for a moment.”

Holding her, Lee Jaseung stayed still. He truly seemed fine, and she rested her face on his chest. The medicinal scent should have been harsh, yet since it proved he lived, it felt sweet.

“The Alliance Leader got beaten up and wandered around. I am disappointed.”

At her joke, Lee Jaseung answered half in earnest.

“Indeed. This happened because my training fell short.”

Baek Seolyoung let out a soft laugh.

“If that were true, this whole Jianghu should be filled only with murderers. In my eyes your training went too far. Too much is as bad as too little. You know that, right? Rest, you can rest now.”

“I only know that the more the better.”

They smiled at the same time.

In truth this was not a matter of training.

He felt it had been a fever that he had to suffer through once. If not that, then it had been an ordeal he had to face to move up to the next stage.

“Just who did you fight?”

At her question, Lee Jaseung answered calmly.

“Call everyone in for me.”

What had happened yesterday was something they all needed to hear.

She straightened and spoke.

“Before that, you need to eat first.”

* * *

An hour later, after Lee Jaseung ate Baek Seolyoung’s carefully prepared special porridge, he told her and his subordinates what had happened the day before.

When his story ended, no one spoke.

Judging from his injuries, they had expected the opponent to be formidable.

They had not imagined that their opponent would be the Vice Leader of the Demonic Cult.

Mujin reacted first. He laughed with relish and spoke.

“Hahaha. So you are basically saying this right now, right? You went out for some air yesterday and killed the Vice Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult.”

At that, everyone let out a short snort of laughter.

With a serious face, Mujin spoke again.

“You did well. It was something you had to do anyway, yes?”

What had been done was done.

If it could not be undone, then they had to plan for what lay ahead.

“While we are at it, let’s take the Cult Leader too.”

At Mujin’s words, Ma Young-gi focused his eyes and spoke in earnest.

“Leave the vanguard to me.”

Mujin had joked, and Ma Young-gi was serious.

Mujin glanced at Dan Woobin. It was about the moment when he should say something.

But Dan Woobin said nothing, his expression was deeply grave.

Jokes or vows, neither came easily to him. He was thinking through how to handle this.

Lee Jaseung asked him.

“How will the Demonic Cult react?”

“We have extremely limited intelligence on the Cult Leader, so we cannot even make a prediction. Yet under the circumstances the Demonic Cult will not be able to let this pass even if they wish to. If the Vice Cult Leader dies and the Cult Leader does nothing, the cult’s morale will plunge. In the end they will have to act in some way.”

“So you’re saying a war could break out?”

“If we answer poorly, that is entirely possible.”

The current situation was like standing on thin ice. One misstep and the ground below would collapse.

“We have not fully seized the Murim Alliance yet, so fighting the Demonic Cult now would not be wise. All the more so when the hidden faction still remains.”

Even if they had killed a dozen core experts and thirty peak experts this time, the hidden faction’s power would still be immense.

Moreover, they had now joined hands with the Demonic Cult.

“Of course it will be a burden to them as well. If they start a war, they now understand they will face both our main alliance and the Murim Alliance.”

Lee Jaseung nodded. He thought Dan Woobin’s analysis was right.

Dan Woobin continued.

“The fortunate part is that the Great Demon, who had been the Vice Cult Leader’s long time rival, was not a hardliner against the Orthodox and he has gained much with the death of the Elder Demon Lord. To secure his own interests, he will try to dissuade the Cult Leader from war. But there is one problem.”

“What is it?”

“As I said earlier, even if the Demonic Cult avoids war, they must avenge the Vice Cult Leader.”

“So they will try to kill me?”

“Yes. Yet since they now know you have the skill to kill the Vice Cult Leader, they will likely avoid force. They will try to expose that you are the Black Way Alliance Leader and have the Orthodox Faction kill you.”

Lee Jaseung stroked his chin for a moment, then spoke abruptly.

“The Black Way Alliance Leader, we’ll just remove him first.”

At that, Baek Seolyoung’s eyes rounded. She could not understand what he meant.

But Dan Woobin grasped it at once.

He smiled and spoke.

“Understood. We will remove the Black Way Alliance Leader immediately.”

* * *

The next day, the Murim Alliance announced a fact.

They revealed that Jang Wonso’s death had been the work of the Demonic Cult. Dan Woobin had already prepared everything related to that.

The Jianghu turned upside down. Public opinion blazed that they must attack the Demonic Cult at once.

But the blaze soon died down and the claim that they must avoid war entirely gained strength.

Jang Wonso’s death lay in the past, and any war that might come lay in the future.

Among Orthodox martial artists, fear of the Demonic Cult was as strong as their hatred.

No one even mentioned the death of the Elder Demon Lord.

It was not because the Demonic Cult did not know.

The mood in the Demonic Cult had sunk to the bottom.

To be honest, when he first heard that the Elder Demon Lord had died, the Great Demon felt true joy. It felt like a rotten tooth and a thorn stuck in his throat had been pulled at the same time.

But soon after, he had to endure an obscure displeasure. An opponent he had failed to finish for so long had died so vainly that it angered him instead. He felt helplessness that he had not slain such an enemy until now.

Yao Hong lowered his eyes halfway and asked quietly.

“Was it the bastard’s doing?”

“It seemed so.”

“Seemed?”

“It is hard to believe he acted alone.”

Yao Hong could have exploded in fury that they still did not know for sure, yet he was calm.

If anything, he looked gentler than usual.

“Right. We cannot conclude anything.”

‘A subordinate who had served him long had died, and all he shows is this? Should he not flare in rage?’Should he not at least pretend to?’

The Great Demon felt a strange emptiness. He wondered if it would be the same if he died.

Though of course, the Great Demon did not show any of that feeling.

“The Four Demon Lords who went with him were cut down as well. He could not have done it alone. I am certain that man right there betrayed us.”

Mountain knelt before them.

“My subordinates all died as well.”

The Great Demon sneered at his protest.

“I bet that was to throw off suspicion.”

“Why would I do such a thing?”

“If you had no foul scheme, why has Cheon Myeongin not returned then?”

As soon as the incident happened, Cheon Myeongin vanished.

The corners of Mountain’s mouth tugged up slightly. Of course he would not return. He himself would not have returned.

‘Truly, Lee Jaseung, you are remarkable.’

Even if he was the Great Demon himself, he wouldn’t have believed this news. The fact that Lee Jaseung had killed so many alone.

But he had to make them believe it. If not, he would die here.

“I told you, did I not? The only one who can face him is you, Cult Leader.”

“Silence!”

The Great Demon barked, yet Mountain did not shrink in the least. Ignoring the Great Demon’s attempt to stop him, he pressed Yao Hong to accept his words as true.

“He gained a fortuitous encounter from the Seven-Color Hidden Land. I am certain he gained a fearsome power there.”

“Do not be deceived by his slippery tongue. After assassinating the Vice Cult Leader himself, he means to turn the eyes toward Lee Jaseung.”

The Great Demon wanted to eliminate Mountain.

Mountain and Cheon Myeongin had both been tied to the Elder Demon Lord. Erasing them all would be best to avoid any aftermath.

“Eliminate this man, and announce at once that Lee Jaseung is the Black Way Alliance Leader.

Once that is revealed, the Orthodox will kill him with their own hands. Then you can scheme against the Orthodox.”

Mountain spoke after hearing the Great Demon.

“It will do no good. He would already have foreseen that far.”

It was then.

A subordinate ran in and reported in haste.

“The Black Way Alliance Leader Lee Jaseung has been assassinated, and a new Lord has taken that seat.”

“What?”

The Great Demon was shocked.

“Is that truly so?”

“Yes, the message came from our spy embedded in the Black Way Alliance. They say he was poisoned last night. They also announced that our cult stood behind it.”

“What did you say!”

The Great Demon scowled.

Everything had been Dan Woobin’s plan under Lee Jaseung’s orders.

This announcement produced two effects.

First, by announcing that Lee Jaseung had died, no one would take Seop Mu-pyeong for the Black Way Alliance Leader. If someone made that claim, it would look like a ploy that used Lee Jaseung’s death.

Second, it nailed down that Jang Wonso’s death had been the Demonic Cult’s work. There was only one place in Jianghu that could kill the Murim Alliance Leader and the Black Way Alliance Leader.

Why would the Demonic Cult assassinate the Murim Alliance Leader and the Black Way Alliance Leader at the same time? Everyone would think the Demonic Cult meant to swallow the Jianghu.

Mountain looked up at Yao Hong and spoke evenly.

“This is the kind of man he is. If I could have faced him alone, why would I have come here of my own accord?”

The Great Demon stepped forward.

“Even if that is true, this man is utterly useless. Do not leave trouble behind. You must eliminate him now.”

At least the warning not to leave future trouble was sound advice.

He might be kneeling and begging for his life, yet that was not all there was to him.

If as the Great Demon judged he had been merely useless, he would not have come here in the first place. He was a man who could gamble his life even with great power in hand.

Right then, a young man walked in.

“At times even trash could have some use.”

He was a very handsome youth. A tattoo with a unique pattern graced his face, giving off a strange air. His measured stride told them he possessed formidable skill.

The moment he appeared, Yao Hong’s face brightened, and the Great Demon’s face turned stiff.

The youth looked up at Yao Hong and spoke with ease.

“While I was away, it seems many amusing things happened.”

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