The next day, the Bifeng Trading Company's day started much earlier than usual.
In order to restore the disaster that occurred yesterday, the servants were handling the corpses within the Bifeng Trading Company and repairing the broken buildings.
"Let's all do our best!"
"Then I'll take charge of repairing the pavilion, so you handle the corpses."
Jeokgeom exchanged greetings with the servants roaming around the Bifeng Trading Company and muttered.
"Huu, the situation has become complicated."
Originally, the mission given by the Huashan Sect was to protect the Bifeng Trading Company from the Paewang Gate's pressure.
But the situation had turned strange.
They discovered that Baekgwi Castle was behind the Paewang Gate, and ultimately it became impossible to resolve with just their own power.
'I've sent a letter to the main sect, but I wonder if we can hold out until then.'
A sigh escaped him involuntarily.
Since the opponent was Baekgwi Castle, it was difficult to hold out with just their own strength.
Ultimately, they needed the power of the elders.
And the only person who could protect the Bifeng Trading Company and themselves during that time was Cheonhwi.
"I have no choice but to rely on you, Martial Uncle."
As he continued walking while thinking, he arrived in front of the room where Cheonhwi was staying.
Then he knocked on the door.
Knock, knock.
"Martial Uncle, are you awake?"
After waiting briefly, rustling sounds came from inside.
And a moment later, the door creaked open.
Appearing with a rather disheveled appearance, Cheonhwi scratched his head and spoke.
"Yaaawn, what? Is the food ready already?"
Jeokgeom smiled awkwardly.
"Yes. Everything is prepared."
"Really? Got it."
Cheonhwi immediately slammed the door shut.
Jeokgeom, looking bewildered at the firmly closed door, muttered hesitantly.
"……Will he be alright?"
One hour later, inside the pavilion of the Bifeng Trading Company.
Munch munch—
Cheonhwi was quickly eating the neatly arranged food in front of him.
In particular, he was mainly using his chopsticks on the pork dish Hong Shao Rou and the duck dish Jiang Ban Ya.
'The seasoning is well applied.'
He was in a good mood.
The food, which had become even more lavish than the meal served last night, satisfied him.
"Meat is definitely the way to go for breakfast."
The Plum Blossom Sword Guards smiled awkwardly.
There was no meat at all in front of them; instead, it was full of vegetables.
No, this was actually the correct way.
Leaving aside the registered disciples, most of the disciples at the main mountain usually ate like this.
At that moment, Jeokbi, who had been watching his martial brothers, discreetly used his chopsticks.
Seeing Jeokbi trying to secretly pick up the Hong Shao Rou, Jeokjae glared.
"Martial Brother."
"Martial Uncle is eating too, so just one piece……."
"I'll report this to Master."
Jeokbi immediately withdrew his chopsticks.
"Hahaha, come now, Junior Brother. It was just a joke. A joke."
Jeokbi spoke with a smile, but inside he was shedding tears of blood.
'That inflexible bastard.'
Around the time Jeokbi was cursing Jeokjae inwardly.
"I've sent a letter to the Huashan Sect. The reply should come in about ten days……."
Just as Go Gye-yeong, who had finished his meal first, looked at Cheonhwi and began to speak.
Uproar—
The outside suddenly became noisy.
Following that, the sound of someone running from afar was heard, and the closed door creaked open as a man hurriedly entered.
"C-Chief!"
Go Gye-yeong's brow furrowed.
He had told them not to disturb while he was hosting a meal for the benefactors who helped the trading company, yet someone was opening the door.
His once gentle atmosphere changed completely, and he shouted at the man.
"What is the meaning of this during a meal!"
Normally, it would have been a situation to apologize and retreat, but the man urgently spoke.
"Th-the Paewang Gate……."
At the mention of 'Paewang Gate,' Go Gye-yeong's expression instantly turned fierce.
"Did the Paewang Gate attack?"
At those words, the Plum Blossom Sword Guards and Yeon Su-ran who were eating jumped up from their seats.
"N-no. The Paewang Gate……!"
Seeing the man gasping for breath as he spoke, Go Gye-yeong couldn't hold back and grabbed his shoulder, shouting.
"What in the world happened to the Paewang Gate!"
The man's face turned pale at Go Gye-yeong's scolding, and he began to tremble as if overwhelmed.
Seeing the man about to lose consciousness, Yeon Su-ran and Jeokgeom stopped Go Gye-yeong.
"F-Father."
"Father! He'll die at this rate!"
Go Gye-yeong, whose eyes had rolled back, seemed to come to his senses as he let go and called out to the man.
"A-are you alright?"
"H-hah! I'm fine."
The man, who had been dazed before coming to his senses, opened his eyes wide at Go Gye-yeong's words.
In a slightly calmer atmosphere, Go Gye-yeong faced the man and asked carefully, unlike his earlier pressing manner.
"What happened to the Paewang Gate?"
The man's eyes suddenly widened.
"Th-the Paewang Gate has been annihilated!"
"……!"
The room stirred.
"What?"
"A-annihilated?"
"What do you mean……."
Go Gye-yeong, the Plum Blossom Sword Guards, and Yeon Su-ran were horrified.
Soon after, Go Gye-yeong asked to confirm.
"Is that, is that true?"
"Yes. Even I couldn't believe the rumor, so I went to check, and people were crowded there. It seemed they were annihilated overnight."
Go Gye-yeong's mind went blank.
The Paewang Gate was one of the top five large sects within Shaanxi Province, and its disciples numbered up to five hundred.
Yet they were annihilated overnight.
Then suddenly, Go Gye-yeong thought of a man.
"Wh-what happened to the Paewang Gate Master?"
"It is believed he is dead."
In an instant, silence filled the room.
Who was the Paewang Gate Master?
He was an outstanding master whose rival was hard to find within Shaanxi Province, and with excellent managerial skills, he was the one who grew the Paewang Gate to its current position.
And yet he was dead?
What kind of master could have…….
Thinking the same thing, they simultaneously thought of one person and flinched.
Swish—
Following that, everyone's gaze except the man naturally focused on one place.
Munch munch—
Cheonhwi frowned at their gazes and opened his mouth.
"What are you looking at? Never seen someone eat before?"
* * *
A man wearing a blue-white daoist robe was wandering around the Paewang Gate as if it were his own home.
"So the rumors are true……."
Ha Woo-jin hardened his face.
He had rushed here upon hearing the news of the Paewang Gate's annihilation, but the situation was more serious than expected.
Corpses were piled up like mountains all around, and the blood they shed had dried on the dirt floor, giving off a reddish aura.
"……How vicious."
As he spoke, he wrinkled his nose.
He had only slightly opened his mouth, but the stench of rotting corpses assaulted his sense of smell.
Soon he covered his nose and examined the area.
The state of the corpses was horrific.
Heads were burst, or neck bones were broken.
And on the other side, not only were their bodies riddled with holes, but they had died with sharp iron pieces embedded in them.
'Hidden weapons?'
Ha Woo-jin picked up a fallen iron piece and examined it.
As he frowned at the iron piece that was too crude to be called a hidden weapon.
"What brings the Flying Swallow Sword Lord to such a place?"
At the familiar voice, he turned his head.
About four meters away, a middle-aged man stood with a sly smile.
"……Hidden Cultivation Slayer."
Ha Woo-jin put down the iron piece and stood up.
"What about you? What brings you here?"
"Hahaha, I had some business nearby and was passing through when I heard the rumors."
"You had business nearby?"
Ha Woo-jin's face slightly hardened.
The Hidden Cultivation Slayer was one of the Four Direction Lords that Baekgwi Castle prided itself on.
If such a person moved personally, it was definitely not an ordinary matter.
'Could it be…….'
Ha Woo-jin glared at him and said.
"Did you do this?"
"Me? Hahahaha!"
The Hidden Cultivation Slayer burst into laughter.
During which Ha Woo-jin added.
"Didn't Baekgwi Castle step in because they felt pressured by the Paewang Gate's growing power?"
In an instant, the laughter stopped abruptly.
"That's going too far with the jokes."
"Do you think it's a joke?"
The Hidden Cultivation Slayer's face turned cold.
"Are you looking down on Baekgwi Castle right now?"
"……It's just a one-in-ten-thousand possibility."
The two engaged in a subtle war of nerves.
But neither pressed further nor applied pressure.
The moment they crossed this line, it would be an all-out war.
As they glared at each other for a moment, surprisingly, the Hidden Cultivation Slayer backed down first.
"If you've examined this place, don't you know it wasn't my doing?"
"……."
Ha Woo-jin kept his mouth shut.
He already knew that the Hidden Cultivation Slayer wasn't the culprit of this tragedy.
He wouldn't leave such traces.
Ha Woo-jin turned his body around.
Since he wasn't the culprit, there was no need to confront him, and he didn't even want to make eye contact with someone related to Baekgwi Castle.
'I need to find the culprit before the Hidden Cultivation Slayer does.'
With his mind becoming urgent at the Hidden Cultivation Slayer's appearance, Ha Woo-jin was about to search the surrounding corpses for traces of martial arts that might remain.
Swoosh—
The Hidden Cultivation Slayer shifted his gaze.
What he was looking at was the most gruesomely disfigured corpse among the mountain of bodies.
The skin was torn to shreds, with eyeballs and internal organs protruding outward.
The Hidden Cultivation Slayer looked at the corpse of the man once called the Wheel-Turning Blade who had made a name for himself.
'What in the world is going on? Not only did the Cold-Faced Demon Ghost die at the Bifeng Trading Company, but the Paewang Gate has been annihilated as well.'
Unlike the words he threw at Ha Woo-jin, his mind was in turmoil.
The reason he left Baekgwi Castle and came here was to continue to the next stage after the Paewang Gate's mission……
'To be annihilated.'
In a situation where an absolutely successful mission had failed, he felt his throat burning.
Moreover, the price of failure was great.
While the Cold-Faced Demon Ghost was a piece Baekgwi Castle could discard without concern, the Paewang Gate was a place they had put considerable effort into cultivating.
As he examined the surroundings for a moment, the Hidden Cultivation Slayer could gather some information.
'The culprit is one person…….'
The Hidden Cultivation Slayer's brow narrowed.
Looking at the nearby traces, he knew that a single person had committed this massacre, but……
There was more than one strange point.
'Among the traces, there's not a single trace of martial arts being used.'
His head spun.
The Paewang Gate was not a small sect.
To annihilate personnel of this level of combat power in just one night, even he would have to leave traces.
'Who in the world could do such a thing…….'
While the Hidden Cultivation Slayer couldn't grasp the culprit's identity at all, Ha Woo-jin was also completely in the dark.
There were no traces of martial arts, but the marks left on the surrounding corpses were brutal.
"Such cruel methods."
His expression furrowed involuntarily.
The methods were one thing, but the marks left on the corpses were simply brutal. The traces of toying with hundreds of opponents meant a one-sided massacre had occurred.
'This is not someone from the righteous sects.'
He concluded.
But anyone who saw the state of the Paewang Gate would think the same.
Having finished that thought, he turned to leave the Paewang Gate.
At the same time, the Hidden Cultivation Slayer also moved.
'I need to inform the Castle Lord.'
There was no point in staying here any longer.
Rather than that, he needed to make up for the losses incurred by the fall of the Paewang Gate.
A short while later, after leaving the Paewang Gate, the two departed in opposite directions.
Thinking the same thought that this culprit must be from the demonic sects or a demonic practitioner.