Chapter 144

“Are you saying you have a mole?”
“More like a scarecrow than a spy.”
“Isn’t that what you’re saying?”
“Not exactly.”
It was Hapyo, the master of Salmak, who shook his head. The one who listened was Zhutaihua.
He was the owner of the Hongjian Temple.
His frown deepened. I don’t expect kindness, but there should at least be an explanation.
Seeing Zhu Tiehua’s expression slowly hardening, Shi Fai’s Galpai opened his mouth to speak to Hai Piao.
“Speak so I can understand.”
“Should I listen to you?”
Hae-pyo bared his teeth in displeasure. Galpyeong’s face crumpled, showing anger instead of coolness.
“You’re not a cub. You can’t even read the situation and show such emotion.”
A dark, black shroud-like aura emanated from Galpyeong’s entire body. Zhu Tiehua’s expression let out a short exclamation at the enveloping aura of blackness.
I see.
At the same time, the dagger at his waist clinks.
“If you lift a finger, you will die.”
The Cancer King.
Hae-pyo, also known as King Sal. The words of the Zhongyuan martial artist that he would die if he set his mind to it gripped the air around him.
Galpyeong’s eyebrows twitched.
Who is he?
Galpai Tian Galpai, the master of the Four Evils, and the one who united the four factions that are currently opposing the mainstream Martial Sect.
He was also known as the First Sword of the Sect, and for anyone to behave like this in front of him was no different from screaming for his death.
Iron Kuck.
At the same time, the two newcomers disappeared,
“Enough.”
The words echoed around them.
Zhu Tiehua’s curious gaze caught a glimpse of the white mane that had flashed past, and the two newcomers were suddenly separated.
Pow!
With an eardrum-splitting sound, the two of them flew away, much faster than the speed at which they had gotten closer.
Galpyeong twisted the corners of his mouth at the tingling sensation that ran through his sword’s surface. He’d known it was powerful, but he hadn’t expected the tension from a simple swing to be enough to send him and Haepyo flying.
Happo must have sensed it too, for his expression stiffened.
The three of them had reached the peak of their powers, but this confirmed it.
Jurrrrr.
Galpyeong centered himself on the ground.
The two men stood facing each other.
“Yue Tian Huaiju?”
Zhu Tiehua’s words drew everyone’s attention to one place.
There stood Bai Guang, the man who was once known as the Green Forest King, and who was now the master of the Reverse Heavenly Assembly.
The realization came naturally.
Galpyeong looked up, and Hai Pyo nodded, though he too looked displeased.
“Greeting the Lord of the Great Sky.”
“Greetings to the Heavenly Master.”
The two of them naturally exchanged pleasantries toward Bai Guang. The current powerhouses of the Sect had recognized someone and accepted that they were beneath them.
“Give your life, fight, and risk everything you have, or I will not allow conflict.”
They say that position makes the man.
The moment Baekwang ascended to the position of Yeokcheonhoeju, he began to express his presence as if he had been waiting for it.
Galpyeong and Hapyo nodded and took a step back. Joo Tae-hwa’s face fell at the sight, but it was enough to show his admiration for the way he’d managed to clean up what seemed to be nothing more than a permanent mess.
“Let’s finish what we were talking about.”
There was one thing that brought the conversation back into focus. Baekwang’s words drew Hae-pyo’s attention to him.
Haepyo nodded, and then opened his mouth to speak.
“Once one enters the world of killing, one can never be free. This has been an unwritten law since the founding of the mighty Martial Sect.”
This is a qualitative difference from ordinary martial artists. While the strongest martial artists usually go on to the silver circle, the salsu lives for the sake of the silver circle.
In other words, he accepts someone’s request to kill and lives it as his own karma, independent of Eunwon.
This is the unwritten law of killing.
Once one has entered the world of killing, one cannot leave it until death.
“Dismal.”
Galpyeong’s eyebrows twitched as he spoke, but Haepyo pressed on with superhuman patience.
“There was only one time when the rule was broken.”
There had been a disturbance in Salmak’s absence, he said, a disturbance in which a number of karmic retainers had fled in remorse for their karma.
“The majority were exterminated.”
Zhu Tiehua’s eyes light up at the mention of the word “exterminated”.
“On the contrary, you mean a few survived.”
“That’s right.”
Hae-pyo nodded.
“We gave chase until the end, but we lost quite a few of them to death.”
“He must have been a good fighter.”
“He broke through the encirclement of thirty first-class killers.”
Hae-pyo’s words elicit a brief exclamation from everyone but Zhu Tae-hwa.
I don’t know anything about the world of killing, but I do know the grades of killing.
If we’re talking about first-class killing, then yes.
Desperate if you’re aiming for a peak master,
If ten people gather to attack a Super Peak Master, they are also deadly.
Thirty people and what they’ll do.
“That’s a lot of killing.”
“Yes.”
Express killing.
It literally means killing, and it refers to an individual who has exceptional skill in dealing with a super-peaked master.
Moreover, it was said that if an express killer decided to make a surprise attack, he would be able to take on a higher ranked master.
Was there such a Salsu?
“You have a way with words. You said he fled, but what are you talking about, a spy or a scarecrow?”
“She ran away.”
Zhu Tae-hwa’s brow furrowed.
“What are you talking about? So I can understand.”
“The unwritten law of life. It is to entrust to the living what you value most. It could be family, it could be a lover, it could be a favorite non-seasonal, it could be a treasure.”
“……!”
Hae-pyo’s words startled Zhu Tae-hwa. She knew that the world of Salsoo was unusual, but was it that unusual?
“How can I know where he went after he broke through the siege, giving up everything he cared about?”
“I can see that, because watering uses a different energy than normal.”
It was a common knowledge, but it was not uncommon to be ambushed by a Salsu in one’s lifetime. At the same time, it was common for people to die before they could come face-to-face with the different auras of the flesh-eaters, so many people did not know.
“Listen.”
Haepyo nodded at Bai Guang’s words.
“That’s right. We use guiqi.”
Gui Qi is literally called ghost energy, or ghost energy and death energy. As one accumulates killing sprees and kills, the gui becomes thicker and more intense.
“Gui Qi has a specialty.”
“Specialty?”
“Only killing machines can recognize the aura of Gui Qi, though some humans with good senses can.”
Echidnas are the exclusive domain of the Salsu. And since they are the kings of the salamanders, they can only recognize it when it manifests.
It was a fact that if the ears of any of the Salsu spread out all over the world, whenever and wherever they manifested, the truth would inevitably reach Hapyo’s ears.
“……Namgung.”
“……!”
“I’m at the South Palace.”
And the express killer was at the South Palace. The white eyes glowed with killing intent.
“Are you sure.”
“It’s true, I’ve seen it many times.”
The moment he realized that, he was about to move to perform the Oche Bunshi.
“But what’s the point of that, when he’s already abandoned what I hold most dear, do I really believe he’ll return to the living world?”
Galpyeong clicked his tongue. When he sneered at him for being a male king and a female king, Hae-pyo laughed under his breath and then spoke up.
“He thinks you killed his favorite.”
“…….”
“But it’s not dead.”
Hae-pyo’s eyes flashed with a ghostly fire. In his absence, he’s made a mess of Salgye. How much time he’s spent putting it back together, how many children he’s raised.
The fact that one man had turned the world upside down was a source of eternal shame for Hapyeo.
“Are you suggesting we take hostages?”
Baekwang’s words brought a glass bottle out of Hapyo’s arms. Inside the two small vials were two bugs.
“They are called worms of solitude. They are a pair. If you swallow them, they will immediately take up residence in your body, burrow into your brain, and trap you in a web that not even a superhuman can escape.”
Waving the two crawling bugs, Hapyo’s mouth opens, showing his teeth for the first time. Zhu Tiehua’s eyes twitched at the sight of the creepy smile.
“I will feed this to the daughter he desires and use her as a scarecrow.”
The corners of his mouth twitched at that.
“And when he has outlived his usefulness.”
Before Hae-pyo could finish his sentence, a sound exploded around him.
Tsk, tsk, tsk!
The sound came from Zhu Tae-hwa, who burst into thunderous applause and laughed.
“This is what a martial artist looks like! This is what I expected! Hahaha!”
He couldn’t stop laughing because he was so satisfied.
Looking at Bai Guang, Galping, and the others, Zhu Taihua stood up and tapped Hai Piao on the shoulder.
“Yeokcheonhoeju.”
“Say it.”
“I said I would turn the heavens upside down.”
“And?”
Bai Guang’s eyes narrowed at Zhu Taihua’s behavior.
“Then it’s not right to do it by any means necessary, for the heavens are already theirs, and there’s no point in using conventional methods to pierce them. But now I’ve found a method I like.”
Zhu Taihua looks directly into Bai Guang’s eyes and scans his surroundings.
“Like his words, like his actions. You have to use everything you’ve got to get what you want.”
“We can’t impress them that way.”
“One knows, two don’t.”
Bai Guang’s expression turns cold at the words of Zhu Tiehua, the leader of the Red Army.
“The heavens are not fair to everyone. Only those who are given a chance can take it. This is a chance.”
Turning to face Hae-pyo, Zhu Tae-hwa asks.
“What do you want, you.”
“I am about to open his flesh and leave him in a cage of agony for eternity, so I ask you, when you roll him like a dog and kill him, let me finish him off with my own hands.”
Malice.
And spite, and spite, and spite.
The long-overdue things were now in order, and the first official move of the Unified Reunion was set.