Chapter 239: United Front (5)

The old man called Ninth Heavenly Lord was a head taller than the others, an imposing figure.

Just a glance was enough to see that he had cultivated his body and external martial arts to a high level.

What stood out was that, despite his sturdy physique, his attire was barely a step above that of a beggar.

‘No, he is a beggar!’

Sa Biyeon was certain.

“Beggars’ Sect!”

“Oh?”

The moment Ninth Heavenly Lord smirked and nodded—

Sa Biyeon was able to deduce his alias and name.

“The Strange Lord of Martial Limits, Human Division?! You’re Ninth Heavenly Lord of the Heaven-Defying Society?!”

“Hehehe, you’ve got sharp eyes for someone so young.”

One of the three pillars supporting the Beggars’ Sect.

Heaven Division, Earth Division, Human Division.

If Heaven Division represented the Head Sect Leader and Earth Division the Vice-Sect Leader, then Human Division was a symbol of the Beggars’ Sect’s actual top master.

“You… you’re the Elder Council Lord of the Beggars’ Sect! How could you…”

“Does it really matter? Regardless of the truth, you’ll die here.”

Now that his identity had been exposed, he had to kill her here.

“She would have made a good card to pressure the Demonic Cult. What a shame.”

Ninth Heavenly Lord swiftly turned his body.

“I’ll take this girl with me. I’m leaving the rest to you.”

“Of course.”

“Leave it to us, Ninth Heavenly Lord.”

Even when it was three against two, the odds were grim—now, Sa Biyeon’s chances of survival plummeted into despair.

Once Ninth Heavenly Lord disappeared—

The three elders began to put real pressure on Sa Biyeon.

“Achieving Master Level at your age… that’s quite the feat.”

“But you’ve got too many gaps. You clearly forced your way through the wall.”

“Must’ve stumbled on some great opportunity, huh?”

The three elders from the Namgung Clan began hunting Sa Biyeon down like they were toying with a cornered rat.

No matter what technique she used, no matter how fierce her attacks—

Everything she tried was nullified.

As her stamina and internal energy gradually drained—

“Guaaah!”

A bluish streak of sword qi pierced straight through her shoulder.

It was the work of the elder who wielded the Thundercrash Sword Art.

Jjaeng!

The moment her sword dropped from her hand—

Several finishing slashes came flying toward her.

Chwaaaak!

Even in agony, she managed to mitigate the shock of the sword qi with her Heavenly Demonic Lightning Protection Qi.

However—

Thud!

She barely escaped with her life, but her upper body had been shredded and she collapsed to her knees.

“You’re tough. Real tough.”

“Give it twenty years, and a new Demonic Empress would’ve risen in the Central Plains.”

“Cutting down a sprout like this early on—this is a blessing for the righteous factions of Murim.”

The elders encircled her, closing in completely.

Sa Biyeon trembled at their ruthless determination not to allow even the slightest resistance.

“Cough! Cough!”

She coughed up blood from internal injuries.

It felt like if she closed her eyes now, she would never open them again.

‘Is this… the end?’

Cheon Yujeong’s sudden betrayal had been shocking, but Sa Biyeon understood her actions.

It was typical of someone raised in the Cult—doing anything for revenge and survival.

‘I wanted to follow you to the end… I’m sorry, Young Cult Leader.’

She slowly bowed her head.

‘And Young Master Jin… I don’t know why your face is the last thing that comes to mind… but please… don’t hurt her gentle heart… please…’

No, she tried to lower her head.

“…Ah.”

Sa Biyeon stared blankly at the entrance.

Someone who shouldn’t possibly be here was standing there, blood vessels bulging in his eyes, looking straight at her.

Was this the hallucination shown by the reaper at the moment of death?

She mumbled toward the illusion.

“You’re too late…”

But then, the illusion replied.

“My apologies, Lady.”

“…!”

“…!!”

At those words, the elders’ heads snapped toward the entrance.

And then—

The head of the elder wielding the Thundercrash Sword Art flew into the air.

The moment I saw Sa Biyeon dying, her body slashed to pieces—

I nearly lost my mind.

Even the power of the Second Heavenly Demon, which had so far obeyed my control, reacted on its own.

“My apologies, Lady.”

I responded to Sa Biyeon’s scolding voice and immediately moved at full force.

“Th-This bastard?!”

“Demonic Heaven Dragon? How the hell are you here?!”

Perhaps because they’d seen my face during the martial tournament, the elders of the Namgung Clan recognized me.

“Shut up.”

I instantly went for the one in the center and beheaded him with a surprise attack.

The opponent had reached the peak of Master Level.

But thanks to my training with the Heavenly Demon Patriarch, I could partially accelerate time—and he was no real obstacle to me.

“Th-This bastard?!”

“You took down Sunhu in one blow?!”

Was the one I just decapitated named Namgung Sunhu?

Whatever he was called didn’t matter.

He was already dead.

“You were hiding your true level!”

The elder on the left sent his sword flying like a mountain crashing down.

A heavy yet sharp sword strike—clearly, it was the Royal Sword Form.

But rather than respond to the Royal Sword Form—

I dashed toward the elder on the opposite side.

“You bastard! Are you ignoring me?!”

The elder who had mastered the Royal Sword Form roared in fury and tried to charge in.

But he never finished his sentence.

Chwaak!

From the crown of his head to the bottom of his groin—

A deep crimson blade of sword qi, flying in from somewhere, cleanly split his entire body in two.

“Ah…!”

Sa Biyeon, who hadn’t yet grasped reality, had her eyes slowly fill with joy.

“Biyeon, get a hold of yourself, Biyeon!”

“So, Young Cult Leader…?”

Sa Biyeon, lifting her dazed head, saw Cheon Yura approaching.

“Ah…”

“Don’t talk!”

Cheon Yura quickly covered her mouth and examined her closely, cursing under her breath.

“Damn it, those bastards toyed with you!”

She was somehow still alive, but the bleeding was far too severe.

Cheon Yura urgently pressed several acupuncture points and began transferring internal energy into Sa Biyeon’s Dantian.

Sa Biyeon’s qi was nearly depleted, but the fact that she still had stamina left was a small stroke of luck amid the disaster.

After completing first aid, she hit a sleep acupoint to put Sa Biyeon under.

And almost at the same time—

The last remaining elder’s head was severed.

“How is Lady Sa’s condition?”

“It’s close. We’d best return immediately. I’ll have to ask Sword King or someone to help.”

“…Understood.”

I carefully lifted Sa Biyeon, doing my best not to jostle her.

“But… I don’t see Lady Cheon Yujeong anywhere.”

“I can’t sense her presence either. Still, right now, Biyeon’s safety takes precedence over that traitor.”

Nod.

“Let’s go.”

Fortunately, the Namgung elders hadn’t summoned reinforcements, probably to avoid revealing the location.

I carried Sa Biyeon out of the pavilion, with Cheon Yura following closely.

Far off in the distance, I saw Baek Cheon-ho locked in a deadly battle with another Namgung elder, while Dao Zun watched with interest.

‘Well, that’s not my problem.’

We’d already taken out three elders.

That alone was enough to consider our end of the contract fulfilled.

Cheon Yura and I gave a small nod to Dao Zun and slipped away from the Namgung Clan’s grounds.

“Wh-What happened?!”

Baek Sang-ah was horrified at the sight of Sa Biyeon, who had been carried in, covered in blood.

“Please summon the Sword King immediately. We need to move her to the Medical Hall.”

Since Sa Biyeon wasn’t part of the Righteous Factions, nor an official envoy, they needed someone with real authority in Namcheon to authorize her treatment.

Baek Sang-ah stammered in response.

“Grandfather is out meeting with Grandpa Saber King right now…”

“Damn it!”

Cheon Yura grit her teeth at the timing.

Why did everything have to go wrong at once?

“Damn it, no choice then.”

Baek Sang-ah hastily deactivated her bone compression technique and removed her mask.

She tied her loose hair into two roughly parted pigtails like before and shouted,

“Follow me!”

“…Will you be alright?”

“What choice do I have? Someone’s dying—we have to save her.”

Cheon Yura and I followed Baek Sang-ah to the Medical Hall.

The physician on night duty widened his eyes at her sudden entrance.

“H-Huh? Miss Sang-ah? When did you return—”

“Forget that! Look at this person, now!”

Pressed by Baek Sang-ah’s sheer intensity, the physician nodded and began his examination.

He sent his qi into Sa Biyeon to check her condition, and his brows furrowed.

“D-Demonic qi? Don’t tell me, this woman is…”

His expression began to change subtly, but Baek Sang-ah cut him off coldly.

“Just save her. I’ll take full responsibility.”

“A-Alright!”

The killing aura she gave off made the physician’s face crumple, and he frantically began preparing medicine.

Only when he started applying proper treatment and stopping the bleeding could Cheon Yura and I finally breathe a sigh of relief.

The assassination of Namgung Clan’s elders in the middle of the night caused an enormous uproar, as expected.

The second day of the martial tournament was even canceled because of it.

Unless you were on the scale of the Namcheon Baek Clan, any faction with even a small martial hall in Nanchang would be stormed by Namgung’s warriors.

Naturally, we—one of the most likely suspects—were interrogated.

“This is insulting. What would we possibly gain by stirring up trouble in the Namgung Clan?”

Cheon Yura’s cold killing intent made the investigators flinch.

“Y-Yes, but… eyewitnesses and bodyguards reported that the Young Cult Leader and your group were nowhere to be seen last night!”

“It’s true we stepped out briefly. But it was only to reward our subordinates and unwind at a nearby tavern.”

“T-That may be…”

“This is tiresome. Ask that man called Fourth Order about our movements. He’ll verify everything.”

“….”

When she mentioned Fourth Order, the investigators had no choice but to back off.

“How’s Biyeon’s condition?”

“Fortunately, I heard the crisis has passed. But she’ll need at least two months of complete rest.”

“I see.”

Cheon Yura let out a deep sigh.

Though she still hadn’t regained consciousness, it was a relief that her life had been spared.

“With Wang Cheongeol assigned to guard her, there shouldn’t be any assassination attempts.”

Now that Sa Biyeon’s safety was secured, it was time to shift to the next matter.

“The situation is turning quite interesting.”

“How so?”

I gave a small laugh at her question.

“One of the Namgung Clan’s prime suspects… is Baek Cheon-ho.”

“Hm?”

“It was because the fight was too loud. Thanks to Dao Zun’s help, we managed to take that elder’s head in the end, but the plan itself was reckless from the start.”

He used a spear, was young, and had skill.

Even in a large place like Nanchang, finding someone like that again wouldn’t be easy.

“Could this be an internal conflict…?”

“Still, we can’t let our guard down.”

More importantly, the disaster that the Venerable Buddha had warned about hadn’t struck yet.

There was no telling when or where the butterfly effect might trigger and sweep us away.

‘Because Baek Cheon-ho carelessly revealed his identity, Baek Mun-jeol won’t be able to focus on us for a while. In the meantime, we finish the matter in Namcheon quickly.’

The only remaining concerns were the whereabouts of Cheon Yujeong, who was assumed to have been with them.

And the existence of Ninth Heavenly Lord, who managed the traitors in the vicinity—and the one said to be his rival, Sa Cheon-gun.

I kept repeating their names to myself as I returned to the lodging.

And then—

“You’re late, Youngest Brother.”

The moment I entered my personal room, a strange masked figure greeted my return.

Flash!

Without a word, I struck out, aiming for the masked figure’s vital blood points.

Papapapat!

A flurry of piercing strikes, like lightning bolts, stabbed through the figure’s entire body.

However, my sword qi passed through him as though slicing through water and embedded into the wall behind him.

‘An illusion?!’

It wasn’t a projection illusion technique.

Yet it didn’t seem like a simple hallucination either!

‘I can’t tell whether this thing has substance or not. What is this? Has such a spellcaster ever existed in the world?’

Until now, the strongest spellcaster I had seen was Hwan Yul, the Great Sorcerer of the Heavenly Illusion Clan.

But this masked man might be beyond even that!

“You’re quite impatient, Youngest Brother.”

I could feel a light chuckle that didn’t match the dignity of the figure’s aura seeping from behind the mask.

“Who are you?”

“You’ll find out who I am soon enough.”

Tap.

The masked figure sat down casually on the chair in front of him.

“I came to make you an offer.”

“An offer?”

“Join the Heaven-Defying Society.”

“……”

Another one of these offers.

With that single sentence, I could make a rough guess as to the figure’s identity.

Slowly, carefully so he wouldn’t notice, I began to draw up my internal energy. Whether it was illusion or not, if I channeled the Heavenly Demon’s power, I could definitely land a hit.

But then—

“I won’t interfere with the Heavenly Demon Cult. I’ll even let you live out a long life with the Young Cult Leader. If you want, I can make the Demonic Heaven’s Jin Clan the top household in the cult.”

“…What?”

Siiik.

“So, what do you think? Will you hear me out?”

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