CH 208

Chapter 208 – Conclusion (2)

***

The two men dragged Hong Bin to an alleyway leading up to the village. 

“Rrrgghhh!”

Terrified, Hong Bin flailed with his hands, but his opponents had no intention of letting him go. 

How far along did they drag him? 

At last, a small manor with an eerie atmosphere appeared, located in an area infrequently traveled. 

It was a manor that Hong Bin recognized. 

It was the same manor he had visited when he first went to borrow money from the Salt Palace. Even then, it had been a creepy place. 

But now, he was even more scared. 

The entrance to the manor seemed like the entrance to the Underworld.  

“Ugh. You bastards!”

Hence, not wanting to be dragged inside, Hong Bin struggled even more violently than before. However, on top of not knowing martial arts, he had never even worked out before. 

With such a weak body, he could not escape the hands locking him in place. 

He was dragged inside and thrown into the creepy atmosphere. 

“Ow!”

Kwa-dung!

Hong Bin rolled over. He then lifted his head up and looked around. 

Inside the building, there were a lot of men who looked just like those that had brought him here. 

This was the headquarters of a Black Way sect known as Black Scorpion Gate, which now ran the Salt Palace.

Thrown amidst them, Hong Bin clammed up, shaking and trembling.

Hong Bin was a man who had once ascended to royalty. When would he have ever experienced such an atmosphere?

Having never been in such a situation before, Hong Bin stopped screaming and instead curled up, eyes darting back and forth.

At that time, the man who was sitting at the top opened his mouth.

“Hey!”

He was the sect leader of the Black Scorpions, the head of these martial artists, and the owner of the Salt Palace. 

At the call of the sect leader, Hong Bin trembled and raised his head. 

“Ugh, huh?”

At the same time!

Bang!

Hong Bin saw stars spinning before his eyes. 

A guard from the Black Way, who had been standing next to him, smashed a fist into Hong Bin’s head. 

“Uagh!”

Before he could go on screaming, the man slammed his mouth shut and grabbed Hong Bin by the collar. 

“How can you say ‘huh’ to the leader? You need to be more polite.”

Hong Bin was terrified by the yelling. 

“O-Oh, I understand.”

Hong Bin quickly nodded his head and the man dropped him.

Then the sect leader sat down with a satisfied smile and said, “Hey.”

“Yes, sir. Hello.”

Perhaps it was because he had been beaten once, but Hong Bin replied in a polite voice. You would never know that he had once been royalty. 

Of course, the reason he had risen so high up was not because he was talented. 

Hong Bin was only good at planning an escape route; without the support of the Cult of the Inverted Sky, Hong Bin wouldn’t have been able to even hold an imperial office. 

And of course, the Inverted Sky was also aware of this, so they set him up as an useless official. 

Anyway, that was all in the past. What was important to Hong Bin right now was the fact that he had been placed at a crossroads of life and death. 

“If you borrow money, you have to pay it back. You haven’t paid back a penny and now the interest is greater than the principal, and we have to do this and stare uncomfortably at each other’s faces.”

Hong Bin trembled, replying, “Yes, I’ll pay you back.”

The man tilted his head and smiled, “How?”

The question caused Hong Bin to go silent. 

How? 

He hadn’t thought of a way to pay them back. He merely said that so he could get out of this place alive. 

However, when asked, Hong Bin looked flustered. 

The sect leader did not miss that look.

“Look at this. These days, customers are all like this. They just borrow money without thinking and they keep pushing back the deadline and saying they’ll pay it back… But that sounds like something anyone with a hole in their head can do.”

As he spoke, the man pulled a blade from his waist.  

“I guess you are the same as them. Someone who says he’ll pay it back without actually being able to, and then walks away.”

“Hiek!”

Hong Bin sucked in a breath as the blade was turned towards him. 

The sect leader slowly rose from his seat and walked towards Hong Bin. He tapped Hong Bin on the cheek with the blade. 

“Tell me the truth. You can’t pay me back, can you?”

“No, I can pay you back.”

“How then?”

“……”

The sect leader sighed. He then titled his head down and said, “Let’s not bother each other because we’re busy men. I am busy getting other people’s money. And you, you’ll have to do everything in your power to pay me back. Even if it takes a lifetime.”

Hong Bin seemed to have turned stupid. His body trembled as if had epilepsy. 

It was then…

“Black Way scum who dares to expand their power into the realm of the Heavenly Demon. You’re up to no good, I see.”

Someone’s voice rang through the building. 

The Black Way men, including the sect leader, raised their heads in surprise!

Roar-!

A rock flew into the air and smashed into a guard’s head. The man’s eyes rolled back and he collapsed. 

“What the hell?!”

In the commotion, the men drew their swords. They looked around and saw two shadows on the wall. 

The sect leader turned towards the shadows and ground his teeth. 

“You children dare to stone our Black Scorpion Gate. You’ve got a lot of nerve.”

One of the men standing on the wall laughed. With a smile, a black stream of energy flowed into the air. 

Energy which symbolized the Cult of the Heavenly Demon. 

It was demonic qi. 

“Since you’ve expanded your power into the realm of our Cult, I think you’ve got more guts than I do.”

“What?”

One of the two shadows, a slightly taller young man, leapt down. Then, falling down among the Black Way, he wielded his sword. 

Sgarak –

Two men of the Black Way were sliced to bits. 

“Pu-ha, attacking while speaking. Such dirty bastards! You dogs of the Demonic Cult!”

At that point, another shadow joined the fray. 

“A dog of the Demonic Cult… I can’t believe you’re about to die to a dog then.”

The sword flashed in the dark.

Every time that happened, the throats of the Black Way men would be slit. 

It was quite savage. These two shadows swept through the men like wolves. 

There was not a single Black Way man or other warrior who could take their attacks. 

At the very least, the only one who could resist was the sect leader. 

“Aahhhh, Black and White Storm!”

The skill, which the sect leader had named the ‘Black and White Storm’, split the air. To onlookers, it seemed like a small storm had gathered as sharp qi rained down. 

But…

Caang-

The storm dissipated with a swing. At the same time, a tremendous shock wave sliced the sect leader in half. 

Shua, shua. 

The two halves of the sect leader’s body were slammed together. 

Shua, shua. 

The body was cut in half once again. 

Shua!

As the pieces were pulled together once more, the sect leader’s neck went flying. 

Blood sprayed like a fountain from the wound. 

Seeing how their sect leader could not stand even three moves, the other men tried to run away. 

That was how powerful the two shadows were. 

In this sudden situation, Hong Bin watched the scene with his mouth wide, not knowing what to do. 

How much time passed?

The strong and ferocious looking men were not opponents for the two young men. 

It took less than half an hour for the fifty or so men of the Black Way to be slaughtered. 

And so after half an hour, the only ones left were the two young men and Hong Bin. 

The rest were blood and corpses. 

In that situation, Hong Bin said with a trembling voice, “Sirs, thank you.”

To Hong Bin, these two masters had appeared and saved his life. 

Hong Bin thus thanked his saviors; in the dark, the two warriors slowly walked towards him. 

At that moment, the clouds covering the clouds disappeared. The moonlight poured down, revealing the faces of two warriors. 

One warrior walked over, smiling brightly at Hong Bin. 

“Do you really appreciate it?”

The two men who showed up…

The two were Kang So-san and Sa Ryong-hui, who were pursuing Hong Bin under the orders of Woon-seong. 

Subsequently, Kang So-san’s spear pierced the man’s chest. 

Puchi-

Woosh!

Kang So-san swung his spear, flicking off the blood on the blade. 

As the man cleaned his blade, Sa Ryong-hui asked, “What about the wealth the Black Scorpions accumulated?”

“Since it is originally from the nearby villagers, isn’t it right to give it back?”

Sa Ryong-hui lowered his head, “I will do as the Young Master says.” 

Kang So-san asked, “Why? Are you still worried about your justice?”

Sa Ryong-hui paused. “I am not sure yet, actually.”

But he lifted his head. 

His gaze turned to Kang So-san. He said he did not know, but he seemed to have found some answers. 

He smiled at Kang So-san. 

“But seeing the Young Master, I don’t think my answer is too far off.”

Kang So-san returned the smile. 

Underneath the moonlight, it was a beautiful smile. 

***

Although the man belonged to the Demonic Cult, the orthodox factions did not hesitate to call the Cult Leader, who had reached divinity in martial arts, a deity. 

The members of the Demonic Cult naturally continued to refer to the Heavenly Demon as their god, since the Cult Leader’s power had reached the end of mortal understanding…

And future generations would not hesitate to call Hyuk Woon-seong the ‘Divine Heavenly Demon’, for he was both heavenly divine and a demon [1]. 

[1]: The raws state that Woon-seong is known as Shinma (神魔), which translates to ‘Divine Demon’ or ‘Heavenly Demon’. However, we have already been using ‘Heavenly Demon’ to denote the position of the Cult Leader, which is Cheonma (天魔) or ‘Sky Demon’, so I’m translating Shinma as ‘Divine Heavenly Demon’.