Chapter 358

Like a thirsty man drinking salt water, his craving for blood only grew worse.

It had begun after he tasted blood at the guesthouse in Shiquan County.

This disciple had already irritated him, and now he was suspicious as well. Hyeongong wanted nothing more than to cut the brat down on the spot and finally quench that murderous thirst.

But not yet.

Taoist Hyeongong barely managed to suppress the killing intent surging within him.

Cheongsu still had a use.

When Hyeongong returned to Mount Wudang, he would need at least one survivor who could testify that he had done everything in his power.

That would certainly be better than having to claim myself that I only escaped disaster because I went to Mount Zhongnan to request reinforcements.

It would also spare him some of the suspicious looks he would receive if he returned as the sole survivor.

Yes. Once that’s done, I can dispose of this dim-witted disciple whenever I please.

A satisfied smile crept across Hyeongong’s face as he pushed his movement art even harder.

He wanted to see those detestable people sprawled dead on the ground as soon as possible.

He would have to squeeze out a few dry tears in front of the Zhongnan Sect, but what was such a trivial inconvenience compared to the bright future awaiting him?

At last, he saw flames rising in the distance.

Hyeongong immediately stared in bewilderment.

“...?”

The wagons that should have been smashed apart and burning were sitting perfectly intact on the official road.

Worse yet, horses had even been hitched to them.

What in the world...?

As he drew closer, he saw the Zhongnan martial artists who had gone ahead.

And beyond them, he caught glimpses of Wudang disciples—alive and apparently well.

Why the hell are those bastards still alive?

Thick black smoke billowed from an open patch of ground beside the road.

Soon, Hyeongong caught the acrid stench that assaulted his nose.

Burning corpses.

If the Wudang disciples were alive, then the bodies being burned had to belong to the demonic practitioners of the Gathering Demons Division.

Damn it. What happened?

Hyeongong simply could not believe what he was seeing.

He had been told that the Gathering Demons Division would deploy its elites.

They should also have ambushed Wudang without warning. The expedition force ought to have been annihilated in moments.

Yet the result was the exact opposite of what he had expected.

Hyeongong felt as though some ghost had bewitched him.

He could hardly stop running now, however, so he continued forward.

“Ah! Taoist Hyeongong, there you are.”

Zhongnan elder Jong Unseong greeted him with a delighted expression.

“Welcome, Taoist Hyeongong! And you as well, Cheongsu! Fortunately, despite everything, most of the Wudang disciples are safe. Disciples of Zhongnan, clear a path for the two Taoists.”

At Elder Jong Unseong’s command, the Zhongnan disciples moved aside to the left and right.

The crowd parted like water, fully revealing the Wudang disciples beyond them.

Hyeongong could feel the chill in the eyes of the Wudang disciples as they looked at him, but he thought little of it.

The Zhongnan reinforcements they had desperately awaited had arrived far too late. Naturally, he expected them to look upon him with displeasure.

Even so, anger welled up inside him.

Whatever else may be true, I am still the eldest senior brother and Martial Uncle here. And they dare... Insolent bastards!

Hyeongong met the gaze of each Wudang disciple in turn, swearing to repay today’s humiliation several times over.

I will never forget the way you bastards looked at me today.

He continued forward, returning each gaze one after another, until his eyes met the indifferent stare of a young man standing beside Taoist Hyeonam.

Hyeongong’s eyes widened.

What...?

He blinked twice and looked again.

There was no mistake.

Why is that Cave Hermit Taoist bastard here...?

Hyeongong had heard that Kwak Yeon was in the Gobi Desert along the northern frontier.

Yet here he was, thousands of li away.

The question arose—and with it, Hyeongong finally understood what must have happened.

With Kwak Yeon, an expert who had reached the upper extreme of the Flower Realm, accompanying Wudang, the Gathering Demons Division’s ambush had failed.

But even with someone at the upper extreme of the Flower Realm present, could the Gathering Demons Division’s elites really have been defeated this badly?

Hyeongong felt a brief flicker of doubt, but dismissed it.

Perhaps the demonic practitioners sent by the Gathering Demons Division had been weaker than expected, or perhaps some stroke of bad luck had befallen them.

On a battlefield, victory and defeat were often decided by variables no one could predict.

The next question, however, could not be dismissed so easily.

He could not endure not knowing the answer.

How did that Cave Hermit Taoist bastard find the Wudang expedition force?

The expedition had been traveling along a route kept under the strictest secrecy.

Hyeongong finally tore his gaze from Kwak and looked at Hyeonam.

“Junior Brother Hyeonam, is that truly Junior Brother Kwak standing beside you?”

Hyeonam gave a slight nod.

“As you can see with your own eyes, that is indeed Junior Brother Kwak Yeon, first-generation disciple of Samryeong Palace.”

“Hah... His appearance was so sudden °• N ?? v ?? l i g h t •° that I found myself doubting my own eyes.”

At Hyeongong’s somewhat exaggerated response, Hyeonam spoke coldly.

“Senior Brother Hyeongong, Junior Brother Kwak’s presence may indeed be unexpected. Even so, surely there is something else you ought to ask about first.”

Only then did Hyeongong realize his mistake.

Before anything else, he should have expressed shock over the battle with the Gathering Demons Division and asked what had happened.

He had been too fixated on the sudden appearance of the Cave Hermit Taoist, a man with whom he shared the bitterest of grudges.

“Ah! Of course.”

Hyeongong immediately darkened his expression.

“Junior Brother Hyeonam, what happened here? Judging by the scene, it appears you fought a battle with the demonic practitioners of the Gathering Demons Division.”

Hyeonam regarded him with icy eyes.

“We were waiting for Senior Brother Hyeongong precisely because we wanted to learn what happened.”

The barbs in those words sent a chill through Hyeongong, but he forced himself to look puzzled.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Surely Senior Brother Hyeongong knows better than anyone what happened here today.”

This time, it was no barb.

It was an openly drawn dagger.

Hyeongong realized that Hyeonam, true to his reputation as the Lion Judge of the Precepts Hall, had reasoned his way to suspecting him.

Hmph. In the end, it’s nothing more than your own conjecture.

In fact, Hyeongong was pleased that Hyeonam was making his suspicions so obvious.

He could turn the accusation around and demand to know how Hyeonam dared slander his own senior brother without a shred of evidence.

Feeling triumphant inside, Hyeongong stared at him in disbelief.

“I have no idea what Junior Brother Hyeonam is talking about.”

He tilted his head once before continuing.

“I suppose you are blaming me because I brought our fellow martial artists from Zhongnan too late. If so, even ten mouths would not be enough for me to excuse myself. But I had my reasons as well. It was the middle of the night, and I took the wrong mountain path on the way to the Zhongnan Sect. I did not reach them until near dawn.”

Hyeongong silently thanked heaven that he had not killed Cheongsu earlier.

“If you cannot believe my word, then ask my disciple Cheongsu, who accompanied me.”

As though he had been waiting for those exact words, Hyeonam nodded.

“Of course Senior Brother Hyeongong took the wrong road. You had to.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“If our fellow martial artists of Zhongnan had arrived too soon, wouldn’t the Gathering Demons Division’s ambush have failed?”

“Junior Brother Hyeonam!”

Hyeongong roared.

“I have held my tongue and listened, but this has gone far enough. I understand that as commander you may wish to shift responsibility for the deaths of our fellow disciples onto me, but that does not give you the right to behave so recklessly.”

Hyeongong glanced at the Zhongnan martial artists standing on either side before continuing.

“And with our fellow martial artists of Zhongnan watching, no less. You brand your own senior brother a traitor and humiliate him in public. I cannot imagine how you intend to answer for this later.”

Hyeongong ended with a deeply troubled expression, while inwardly he was cheering.

The moment he returned to Mount Wudang, he could report everything that had happened here to the council of elders.

With so many people from the Zhongnan Sect having witnessed it, Hyeonam would have no way to deny his conduct.

“Whew...”

Hyeonam released a heavy sigh.

“Senior Brother Hyeongong, out of the affection between fellow disciples, I gave you a chance to admit your wrongdoing. Yet you insist on denying everything to the very end. There is nothing more I can do.”

He turned to Kwak Yeon beside him.

“Junior Brother Kwak, it seems I expected too much of a man.”

“You did everything you could as his fellow disciple, Senior Brother Hyeonam. There is nothing for you to blame yourself for.”

Hyeonam gave a bitter smile.

“Then handle this as you intended, Junior Brother Kwak.”

“I will.”

Hyeongong frowned as he watched Kwak respectfully salute Hyeonam before stepping forward.

The closeness between those two, dating all the way back to the training ground, had always been an eyesore to him.

Their exchange just now made it obvious they had arranged something, but he was not particularly concerned.

It seems you two bastards have cooked up some scheme, but you have no evidence. What exactly do you think you can do to me?

Hyeongong stiffened his neck and rebuked Kwak.

“You meet your senior brother for the first time in so long, yet you show no courtesy?”

Kwak brought his hands together and saluted.

“Kwak Yeon, first-generation disciple of Samryeong Palace, pays his respects to Senior Brother Hyeongong of Jaso Palace.”

Kwak’s impeccable courtesy only displeased Hyeongong more.

What is this bastard plotting?

Unable to discern Kwak’s intention at all, Hyeongong merely dipped his chin in acknowledgment.

“What does Junior Brother Kwak wish to say to this senior brother?”

Kwak answered calmly.

“I stepped forward to answer Senior Brother Hyeongong’s question.”

“...?”

“You seemed extremely curious a moment ago about how I was able to appear here so suddenly.”

Hyeongong felt slightly uneasy that Kwak himself had raised the subject, but he truly did want to know, so he nodded.

“...That is true.”

“Not long ago, I received a dispatch from one of the disciples in the expedition force. It said that the Gathering Demons Division had learned the expedition force’s route through an informant within our sect. Since an ambush by the Gathering Demons Division was certain to occur somewhere along that route, the sender urged me to come as quickly as possible.”

“...!”

A chill pierced Hyeongong’s chest, and his body stiffened.

Kwak had described exactly what he had done.

Someone was watching me that day in Shiquan County!

There was no other way anyone could possibly know.

Kwak continued, addressing the now-pale Hyeongong.

“Senior Brother Hyeongong now knows why I came here. And of course, you must also know who that informant was. But there is probably one question you have not yet answered.”

“...!”

Hyeongong felt as though his breath had been cut off.

Only one person knew that he had gone out that day from the guesthouse in Shiquan County.

“Judging by how pale you’ve become, Senior Brother Hyeongong, it seems you have answered that question as well. Though I suppose that was inevitable when there was only ever one possible answer.”

Kwak nodded once.

“Then would Senior Brother Hyeongong care to call that person forward yourself? If you would rather not, I can call him out for you.”

Hyeongong’s eyes flashed.

SHING!

With a sharp ring of steel, a streak of light burst from Hyeongong’s scabbard.

BANG!

The streak shot straight toward Cheongsu’s neck from only a few steps away.

THUD!

With a heavy impact, both the flash and the cutting rush of air vanished.

Then a deep voice thundered across the road.

“Caught you, you traitorous bastard!”