Chapter 250: Ninth Heavenly Lord (2)

It was a blow akin to a cannon blast.

The overwhelming mass born from muscle and bulk collided with internal energy to produce explosive force.

Clicking my tongue, I muttered as I watched Baek Cheon-ho’s body flying off into the distance.

‘That guy’s alias shouldn’t be Human Division. It should be the Fist King.’

While Ninth Heavenly Lord was distracted with Baek Cheon-ho, the hundreds of beggars nearby began to slowly tighten their encirclement.

Among them were many Master Level martial artists, and a few even seemed to be Peak Master Level…

But in a serious evaluation, none of them were strong enough to hold me down.

“Sorry, Baek Cheon-ho. I’d appreciate it if you stalled them for a while. We’ll consider that the fulfillment of your contract.”

I heard the sound of grinding teeth from the collapsed Baek Cheon-ho.

“You son of a…”

I felt sorry for him, but…

Even rushing back to Cheon Yura’s side felt like I’d be late—there was no time to waste on these beggars.

Just as I was about to abandon Baek Cheon-ho and make my move—

“Hold iiiit!”

Suddenly, Ninth Heavenly Lord roared at me like a lion.

“Where do you think you’re going, trying to just slip away like that?! You may be quite skilled, but do you really think you can?!”

Regardless of his current status, Ninth Heavenly Lord was an old veteran of the murim. He had more or less grasped my capabilities.

Then, Ninth Heavenly Lord said something unexpected.

“You think you’ll be able to just walk away after hearing what I have to say?”

“…?”

Now what the hell is he talking about?

Curious enough to listen, I paused for a moment.

As if he had been waiting for this, Ninth Heavenly Lord shouted confidently.

“Have you forgotten? I have another hostage in my possession!”

“…Hostage?”

I frowned and tilted my head.

A hostage? Who was he talking about?

“One of the two hostages you tried to take from the Namgung Clan is in my hands… Hey, you brat! Where do you think you’re going?!”

Ninth Heavenly Lord was clearly flustered as I ignored him and ran forward.

“Aren’t you curious where the hostage is?!”

“Not really.”

“…?!”

Cheon Yura was in danger—like hell I cared about Cheon Yujeong’s safety.

Realizing that I wasn’t bluffing, Ninth Heavenly Lord immediately burst into rage.

“You insolent bastard! Stop right there!”

“And you think I’ll stop just because you said so—hm?!”

At that moment—

Countless afterimages of cudgels filled my vision, completely obstructing the front.

When I realized it wasn’t just individual force but the power of a formation, a wave of irritation surged in my head.

‘Damn it, this is getting troublesome.’

The middle-aged beggar swinging a cudgel at the front shouted.

“You’ll never escape from the Dog Formation of Heavenly Destruction! You demonic bastard!”

A pretty badass name—aside from the fact that they just called themselves dogs.

Still, the way those cudgels rushed toward my entire body really did feel like a pack of rabid dogs.

Because of that, I failed to escape and ended up getting caught by Ninth Heavenly Lord.

“Hehehe… Where do you think you’re running off to?”

Ninth Heavenly Lord stood in my path, grinning insidiously.

“…Tsk!”

Surprisingly, the beggars who followed Ninth Heavenly Lord were quite competent.

‘If I want to shake them off, it’s not impossible—but I’ll have to go pretty hard on them.’

I’d already seen too many times at Cheonilgwan how devastating a properly executed formation could be.

‘Now’s the time to stay calm.’

The more agitated you got, the deeper you sank—wasn’t that a truth I’d learned countless times in my previous life?

I calmed my mind and began pondering how to exploit a gap in their formation.

And just then, a useful idea came to me.

“Ninth Heavenly Lord of the Heaven-Defying Society. Human Division.”

“Add ‘sir’ when addressing your elders, you brat.”

He snapped, full of irritation, but I ignored him and continued.

“Do you happen to know the name Gyeon Myeonggae?”

Flinch.

The moment I said that, not only Ninth Heavenly Lord, but the expressions of the beggars around him completely changed.

Ninth Heavenly Lord’s tone hardened at once.

“How do you know that name?”

‘…As I thought.’

I had suspected it when I saw the Beggars’ Sect appear here…

Grinning as nastily as possible, I taunted the beggars.

“Because I’m the one who killed him. After torturing him miserably.”

“Hehehe…”

“You bastard not even worth feeding to dogs…”

A surge of bloodlust erupted from behind Ninth Heavenly Lord.

“He was a man who abandoned his duty as a beggar and chased empty dreams. So you were the traitors of the Beggars’ Sect.”

Gyeon Myeonggae—an undercover agent for the Righteous Alliance who had used assassins to try and kill Cheon Yura, while also acting as a double agent at the bottom of the Heaven-Defying Society.

It had been some time, but there was no way I’d forget the bastard who targeted Cheon Yura.

“That Sichuan bastard told me,”

Ninth Heavenly Lord began speaking.

“That since you were already poisoned with Heaven-Destroying Poison, you’d most likely die horribly with only a nine percent chance of survival.”

Ah, so that’s why they didn’t bother sending more assassins after me?

They were just counting on the poison?

“But he also said that since you’d interfered in our affairs up to now, there was a miraculous one-percent chance you might survive it. At first, I thought that Sichuan bastard was just trying to push me aside—but now I see that wasn’t the case.”

“So? What do you want me to do about it?”

Ninth Heavenly Lord released a murderous aura and stared directly at me.

“For the sake of this society and our future, we’ve realized—we have to kill you.”

“……”

The sun was beginning to set slowly in the background.

‘Dragging this out won’t be good.’

Once night fell, Ninth Heavenly Lord would become an even more troublesome opponent.

And among those beggars—at least a few were likely awakened beings.

Just then—

“Phew, Grandpa. Aren’t you underestimating me a bit too much?”

Baek Cheon-ho, who had been sent flying by Ninth Heavenly Lord’s punch, wiped the blood from his lips and approached my side.

At that sight, Ninth Heavenly Lord clicked his tongue slightly.

“As expected of the Heavenly Martial Physique. You’re not going to die that easily.”

“……”

“The more I look at you, the more of a waste it seems. That talent of yours, reaching toward the heavens…”

“Spare me the nonsense.”

Baek Cheon-ho glared fiercely at Ninth Heavenly Lord.

“If you really thought of me as your successor, you would’ve spoken of me as the next ‘Ten Heavenly Lord,’ not just the Dragon Head Gang.”

Ninth Heavenly Lord’s expression subtly stiffened.

Seeing that, Baek Cheon-ho became all the more certain.

“So it’s clear now. I wasn’t truly one of you—just a disposable pawn.”

Crack.

Ninth Heavenly Lord silently endured Baek Cheon-ho’s hateful glare for a while, then let out a deep sigh.

“If only you’d pretended not to know… you might have had a chance to live.”

“…Grandpa!”

“Unless you acquire the Essence of Myth, you can never ascend to the position of Heavenly Lord. And the Grand Heavenly Lord has already declared—there will be no more artificial appointments to the Ten Heavenly Lords.”

No more additions to the Ten Heavenly Lords?

I immediately sensed that statement contained some crucial clue.

I didn’t yet know what it meant exactly, but forgetting it felt like it would lead to disaster.

‘Better engrave it into memory.’

It was a gut instinct with no solid basis.

But I trusted my instincts.

“I valued your talent, so I at least intended to raise you to the position of Dragon Head Gang… but it seems that won’t be possible now.”

Despite the threat, Baek Cheon-ho only sneered.

“Hehehe… You shameless bastard, boasting about how you stole someone else’s ‘Essence’ or whatever.”

“……”

Something about those words seemed to strike a nerve. Ninth Heavenly Lord’s face suddenly froze over.

“Kill them.”

He didn’t even move himself—he gave the order to his subordinates.

The beggars who received Ninth Heavenly Lord’s command raised their cudgels in both hands and began surrounding us.

Baek Cheon-ho urgently turned to me.

“Hey, if this keeps up, we’ll be annihilated.”

“Hm…”

“We have to end this before night falls. That’s the only way we survive.”

So we had to go all out from the start?

These beggars definitely weren’t pushovers.

‘I have no choice. I’ll have to accept some loss.’

The decision came swiftly.

“Baek Cheon-ho, fall back for a moment.”

To end this in a single blow, I gathered my energy.

‘I’ll finish this with Heaven-Cleaving Destruction.’

No matter how brutish Ninth Heavenly Lord’s body looked, could it really be stronger than Jin Gun-ak’s Asura God form?

If I used even the power of the Second Heavenly Demon, I could surely strike a fatal blow.

Ten Heavenly Record Demonic Sword.

Final Record.

Heaven-Cleaving Destruc—

Just as I was about to draw my sword in a surprise attack—

“You’re already thinking of using your strength, benefactor?”

“…?!”

That voice!

Not just me—even Ninth Heavenly Lord was startled and looked around.

And then—

Flash!

A massive golden divine palm suddenly appeared out of nowhere and struck Ninth Heavenly Lord’s entire body directly.

KWA-GWA-GWANG!

A blow containing immeasurable divine power.

Stronger even than when Ninth Heavenly Lord had sent Baek Cheon-ho flying—it launched Ninth Heavenly Lord far into the distance.

“Gahhhk!”

Blood trickled from the corner of Ninth Heavenly Lord’s mouth.

“L-Leader!”

“Old King Beggar!”

The beggars of the Beggars’ Sect widened their eyes in shock.

But even they had no time to care about the fallen Ninth Heavenly Lord.

Just before sunset.

With the glow of the setting sun as its backdrop, a radiant halo descended upon the sky, as if the Buddha himself had arrived.

There was only one being in this world who could emit such divine majesty.

“T-The Venerable Buddha?!”

Venerable Buddha, Master Myeongjeong.

The very man who had risked his life in battle just a few months ago—had suddenly appeared here!

“…This humble monk is truly fortunate.”

The Venerable Buddha gently landed on the earth, his hands clasped in a respectful half-bow.

“To be granted the chance to avenge a loved one with my own hands, in this place near my homeland…”

Hearing that, Ninth Heavenly Lord, who had recovered himself in the distance, shouted back.

“A loved one? Revenge? I have no memory of any grudge against the great Venerable Buddha of the world.”

“Hahaha… It was long ago. But I’m sure you’ll remember when you hear it.”

“……”

The Venerable Buddha gazed wistfully at the scenery surrounding Junsujin and spoke.

“It was near here, I believe. Back when countless beggars and martial artists had camped in this area. A young man who was smuggled out at the cost of the former Ninth Heavenly Lord’s life… do you not remember?”

“…What?”

Only then did something seem to dawn on Ninth Heavenly Lord, his eyes widening slowly.

As if the past was nothing more than a faint memory, the old monk’s voice remained calm.

“That young man survived and entered Shaolin. Thirty years later, now an old man, he finally gained the power to take his revenge… and became the Abbot of Shaolin. Yet by then, the target of his vengeance had retired and vanished from the world.”

However—

That once calm voice now gradually trembled with rage.

Was it just my imagination?

“You… don’t tell me…”

Ignoring Ninth Heavenly Lord’s words, the Venerable Buddha continued.

“The young man was filled with wrath. If he could, he would have erased the entire force his enemy belonged to from the world. But he couldn’t. The repercussions would have been too great.”

Shaolin and the Beggars’ Sect.

Regardless of whether it was possible or not—

If the two pillars supporting the righteous path waged war, it would undoubtedly shake the entire martial world.

“In the end, that young man left Shaolin, where he had spent his life. He delved into forbidden techniques, committed sins unforgivable for a monk, and hunted down his enemies.”

“……”

“I came, thinking I might lend a hand. But truly, this humble monk is blessed.”

The Venerable Buddha—now more like a wrathful deity than a monk—

Unleashed murderous intent as he locked his gaze onto Ninth Heavenly Lord, Human Division.

“Today, I will offer up your head on an altar to comfort the soul of Jang Mae, you goddamned bastard.”

It was the moment the Venerable Buddha’s decades of ascetic cultivation had shattered.

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