Chapter 174: Beast King Sect (4)

Haetae.

Also called Haechi, a mythical beast said to discern good from evil and right from wrong.

Jang Woo-hyun had heard about it many times before—it was even the symbol of the city he once lived in.

But this was his first time actually seeing one. He hadn’t even known it looked like this.

“Yes, this is my first time seeing one.”

“Oh… really? That’s true. Now that I think about it, of course. Our tribe’s numbers are small, so this must be your first time.”

The man chuckled to himself awkwardly and looked down at Jang Woo-hyun.

Clear turquoise eyes.

They were filled with curiosity and mischief, like the gaze of a child just before starting a fun game.

But apart from the playful look, those eyes saw straight through everything.

It was a different feeling from Taecheong Divine Sovereign’s gaze.

If Taecheong Divine Sovereign had assessed Jang Woo-hyun with his experience and abilities, the Haetae before him seemed to be appraising him through some special power contained in those turquoise eyes.

“What are you? Truly fascinating. From the smell of your blood alone, I’d believe it if someone told me you were from the White Martial Society or the Demon Gathering Hall. You also have the Qi of the Five Elements, but I don’t think you’re from the Five Elements Cult. And… is this Taecheong Divine Sovereign’s? A member of the Samcheong Tai Chi Sect?”

The beastkin sniffed the air, then narrowed his eyes slightly.

“Oh? That’s a monkey’s scent. You connected to a monkey too? What on earth are you? Did the Central Heavens Martial Realm raise you as some kind of secret weapon while I was gone? Are you the kind of kid who was raised through the combined efforts of several sects?”

Just by looking and sniffing once, the Haetae beastkin had grasped much about Jang Woo-hyun.

‘Strong.’

While the man assessed him, Jang Woo-hyun tried to learn as much as he could about him in return.

Behind those childlike eyes was a strength beyond measure.

Even without revealing his presence, Jang Woo-hyun could tell this being was stronger than Beast King Sect Leader Baek Kang.

Tensing, Jang Woo-hyun tightened his grip on Mukya. At that, a smile appeared on the Haetae beastkin’s face.

While the two were sizing each other up, a small shadow approached from the side.

“Sir Haeryang, it’s been a while.”

It was the short fox beastkin, Dan Hong.

“Oh, Hong. Long time no see. Have you been well?”

The beastkin named Haeryang pressed down on Dan Hong’s head in greeting.

Only then did the surrounding people come to their senses.

From the moment Haeryang had appeared and sent the Beast King Sect Leader flying, all the Beast King Sect members present had been in a daze.

“W-we greet the Former Sect Leader!”

As the Beast King Sect’s Vice Leader Yeom Jong-myung shouted first, the other sect members all bowed their heads in unison to pay their respects.

So many beastkin tried to speak louder than the others that the surrounding pavilions seemed to shake from the noise.

“Enough!”

Haeryang barked at the increasingly noisy beastkin.

“There is no such position as Former Sect Leader in the Beast King Sect. I’m just the previous Sect Leader, nothing more.”

Haeryang tilted his head slightly toward Jang Woo-hyun.

“You, wait a moment.”

Straightening his body again, his gaze fixed on the Beast King Sect’s Vice Leader Yeom Jong-myung.

“Yeom Jong-myung.”

“Yes, please speak.”

“What on earth are you doing?”

“I… don’t understand what you mean…”

“I entrusted the Sect Leader position to Kang without worry because you were by his side. I believed you’d pull him back if he went astray. But what is it you’re doing now?”

Haeryang tossed down the masked man he had been holding.

Then, with a gesture, he summoned a small yellow-tinged cloud.

He reached into it and pulled something out, then threw it.

Thud. Thud.

They were people dressed similarly to the masked man from earlier.

Repeating the motion, Haeryang produced four more, making a total of five besides the first.

“You didn’t even detect the enemies who infiltrated the sect. You didn’t think to protect the beastkin. All you’re thinking about is waging war. What exactly are you doing?”

The broken bodies strewn across the ground were assassins from the Flying Shadow Silver Sword Sect, which was currently at war with the Beast King Sect. Haeryang had watched them sneak into the sect and eliminated them in one stroke.

Five assassins. A small number compared to the size of the Beast King Sect’s main compound.

But the important point was that they had entered the Beast King Sect’s inner grounds without issue.

Moments earlier, no one besides Jang Woo-hyun had even noticed.

“…”

At Haeryang’s criticism, not a single beastkin there could open their mouth—not the sect’s leadership, not the young disciples, not even the warriors who symbolized the sect’s martial might.

Under Haeryang’s disdainful gaze, they all lowered their heads, unable to meet his eyes. They had no excuse.

While the beastkin were being scolded, Jin Ha-un and Cho-su approached Jang Woo-hyun.

“Hyung-nim.”

Jin Ha-un glanced at Haeryang and tried to send a telepathic message.

“I know who that is. Anyone would remember someone like him.”

One of the Ten Thrones who stood above the Seventeen Lords in the Central Heavens Martial Realm.

Haeryang was one of them.

The previous Beast King Sect Leader.

Divine Beast Haetae. Wind-and-Cloud Divine Sovereign Haeryang.

Jang Woo-hyun had only been slow to react because he was surprised to see a creature from legend in the flesh. As soon as he heard the name, he realized who this unique being was.

Watching the back of such a great figure of the Central Heavens Martial Realm, Jang Woo-hyun tried to gauge his strength.

Just then, Cho-su tapped him.

“Woo-hyun, I don’t think the fact that the assassins are dead is the important part.”

“What do you mean?”

Cho-su pointed at the corpses of the assassins lying on the ground.

“Did you forget what they had inside their bodies?”

Looking at the assassins, Jang Woo-hyun remembered and let out a small exclamation.

—They used an artifact implanted in their bodies to borrow someone else’s power.

The first time they encountered assassins in the Giant Tree Grove, Cho-su had searched their bodies and found the artifacts. Later, while wandering the Storm Archipelago, they met assassins again and figured out how the artifacts worked.

Once they knew, Cho-su had twisted the power they drew upon, making it easier for Jin Ha-un to deal with them.

‘They said the Beast King Sect Leader ripped the Flying Shadow Silver Sword Sect Leader apart.’

Yet assassins of this caliber had appeared again?

That meant killing their leader hadn’t dealt them a decisive blow. Someone—or something—that supplied power to the assassins was still intact.

‘There’s someone more dangerous than the sect leader. Or maybe the sect leader wasn’t all that important.’

After sorting his thoughts, Jang Woo-hyun approached the man who still had his back to him.

“And you think acting like this after taking down just some unheard-of group’s leader makes sense?”

Just as Haeryang was talking about the Flying Shadow Silver Sword Sect Leader’s death, Jang Woo-hyun stepped in to correct the misconception.

“Sir Haeryang.”

In the space where only Haeryang’s voice had been echoing, Jang Woo-hyun’s voice now overlapped.

The Beast King Sect members who had been bowing their heads all turned their gaze toward Jang Woo-hyun.

It was as if an outsider had suddenly interrupted while the highest elder of the sect was speaking, so sharp gazes naturally gathered on him.

Even Yeom Jong-myung, who had a favorable view of Jang Woo-hyun, furrowed his brow, so there was no need to mention the other sect members’ expressions.

“They use the artifact inside their bodies to conceal themselves. The fact that they can still hide means we haven’t caught the truly important one.”

“What do you mean?”

“Sir Cho-su.”

When Jang Woo-hyun stepped slightly aside, Cho-su took a step forward.

“Machinist?”

Haeryang tilted his head as he looked at Cho-su.

“Your name is Cho-su? What’s your relation to Cho-yul?”

“You know my father?”

At the question, Haeryang nodded.

“Cho-yul may not be well known, but he’s on par with the three great master craftsmen of the Nation of Mechanical Marvels. His son wouldn’t spout nonsense. Speak.”

Hearing Cho-yul’s true status in such an unexpected place, both Jang Woo-hyun and Jin Ha-un widened their eyes. They had guessed he was a fine craftsman, but they hadn’t expected him to be someone acknowledged by Haeryang himself.

While Jin Ha-un quietly whispered, ‘Hyung-nim, I’ve been given a weapon far too great for me,’ Cho-su began to speak.

“I came into contact with the Beast King Sect through Ha-un here, and I shared what I knew with them. These people have artifacts inside their bodies. Through them, they receive power and hide in another dimension.”

“They have something inside their bodies?”

Haeryang turned his head toward the corpses and flicked his finger.

Pop! Crack!

Small artifacts rose from inside the assassins’ bodies.

“This?”

“Yes. I even made the Beast King Sect an item that can nullify the assassins’ artifacts. If they use what I made, the assassins can’t hide themselves. But seeing how they managed to get in here, it seems they’ve either nullified my artifact’s power or made something even better. And it also means the one—or whatever—it is that supplies them with power is still alive. At first, I thought they were receiving power from their leader, but…”

“He’s dead.”

Haeryang picked up from Cho-su’s words, letting out a small sigh.

As if displeased, he scratched at his mane roughly.

It was a gesture that didn’t match his mystical appearance at all. He seemed truly angry.

“So in other words—”

With that single phrase, his energy spread out in ripples around them. Just his anger alone caused the air to surge violently.

In the suddenly tense atmosphere, Jang Woo-hyun stepped in front of Cho-su.

But contrary to his concern, Haeryang paid no mind to Jang Woo-hyun or Cho-su and turned his body away.

“You didn’t even catch the real one, yet you went around showing off, only to get smacked around by a snake and end up groaning on the ground?”

Haeryang swung his fist like a hammer.

Kwoooong—

With a deafening boom, the massive spherical boulder imprisoning Baek Kang crashed into the ground.

“And after this, you say you want to launch a full-scale attack? You idiot!”

Haeryang’s anger came from the unworthy conduct of his lacking disciple.

Apparently still unsatisfied after just one blow, he swung his fist a few more times, pounding the massive sphere deep into the ground.

Once his frustration had somewhat subsided, Haeryang’s gaze shifted to Jang Woo-hyun, lingered briefly on Cho-su, then moved to Jin Ha-un.

“You’re not from the Chest-Hollow Country, so why do you have a hole in your chest?”

The people of the Chest-Hollow Country in the Central Heavens were born with a hole in their chest.

Haeryang had first thought Jin Ha-un was one of them when he noticed the hole in his chest.

But upon closer inspection, he wasn’t. Jin Ha-un had suffered a fatal wound that pierced his chest, and someone’s power was sealing the injured area.

“This energy… is it Cheon Heo-jin’s?”

If one was the Sect Leader of the Samcheong Tai Chi Sect, they had more than enough reason for Haeryang to remember them. There was no way he could mistake such energy.

Haeryang’s gaze swept over Jang Woo-hyun’s group again.

The one in front, Jang Woo-hyun, bore traces of the White Martial Society, Demon Gathering Hall, the Five Elements Cult, the Tai Chi Sect, and the Wind-Passing Great Sage. Behind him, the machinist was unknown but clearly the son of one of the top craftsmen in the Nation of Mechanical Marvels, so he surely carried on that legacy.

And the one in the very back had a hole in his chest forcibly sealed by Cheon Heo-jin.

‘What kind of people are these?’

Cho-su, the one from the Nation of Mechanical Marvels, was the most normal of them.

Every one of them was strange.

“What exactly are you people?”

Even for Haeryang, who had lived a long life, this was his first time seeing people like them.

Haeryang’s question wasn’t easily answered.

While he was taking an interest in Jang Woo-hyun’s group—

Crash!

The air shattered with a sound like breaking glass, and someone jumped out.

The first to appear were a black-furred wolf beastkin and a middle-aged man holding a sword.

And moments later—

A bull beastkin wielding an axe in each hand and a small rabbit beastkin wearing a crown leaped out.

“These crazy bastards suddenly came and attacked… Huh? What’s this? Why is everyone gathered here?”

The black-furred wolf beastkin stopped mid-sentence in surprise upon seeing the gathered Beast King Sect members.

He looked around and then spotted Haeryang.

“Sect Leader? Why are you here?”

“Who’s a Sect Leader? It’s been ages since I stepped down.”

Leaving the flustered wolf beastkin behind, the rabbit beastkin hopped toward Haeryang.

“Boss, we failed. Stronger than expected. We tried to handle it quietly, but even our sorcery got broken. Guess they haven’t just been lazing around.”

It was an innocent, childlike voice.

While speaking to Haeryang, the rabbit beastkin noticed Jang Woo-hyun nearby and widened his eyes.

“Wow! What are you?”

He hopped right in front of Jang Woo-hyun, and the two locked eyes.

To Jang Woo-hyun, the rabbit beastkin looked strange. More precisely, it felt less like a beastkin and more like a giant rabbit walking around.

‘What is this? Did it just make rice cakes with a mortar?’

In the rabbit’s hands was a pestle as tall as itself, and upon closer inspection, its surface was engraved with mysterious patterns and letters.

‘Is that a Dharma Treasure?’

The rabbit flared its nose, sniffing.

“This is the scent of a yokai! A big yokai! Boss, there’s a yokai smell here!”

At the rabbit’s shout, the other three turned their gazes toward Jang Woo-hyun.

Sharp eyes. And Qi perception unfolding to examine him.

These were not easy opponents. Among the many beastkin present, the four—including the rabbit—radiated undeniable presence.

They reminded him of the two old men from the Tai Chi Sect he had met not long ago.

“What’s that? Strange, isn’t it?”

“Right? Sect Leader—no, Former Sect Leader—did you perhaps take on a new disciple?”

The wolf beastkin and the middle-aged man holding a sword began to slowly walk toward Jang Woo-hyun.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep