Chapter 174. There Was Still No Answer.

I ran with a calm heart.

At first, I couldn’t catch up easily, but the longer I ran, the faster I became. It felt as though my tangled organs, startled by my lightness skill, were returning to their proper places. Like that, I chased the White-Faced Young Master without rest for half a shichen.

Even as I ran, laughter slipped out of me.

My enemy’s pain is my joy. If my own suffering lets me make my enemy suffer even more, then I can laugh even while running all night. And if that enemy happens to be a bastard of the Demonic Dao, then I can run from the Central Plains to Tibet without eating or sleeping.

After a while, the White-Faced Young Master turned around, held out a hand, and bent at the waist.

“Wait, wait a moment.”

“Tired?”

I steadied my breathing and said to the White-Faced Young Master,

“Fine. Rest as much as you need.”

The White-Faced Young Master, who had been preparing a surprise attack while bent over, straightened with a cold expression and glared at me.

I said in an indifferent tone,

“What? Rest more.”

“Come at me.”

The distance between me and the White-Faced Young Master was about five zhang (roughly fifteen meters). I slowly gripped my wooden sword and prepared to draw.

“I’m coming?”

The White-Faced Young Master, having caught his breath for a moment, suddenly started fleeing again. I also deployed my lightness skill without drawing my sword.

As I ran fiercely, even my dantian settled down. Since I was getting faster and faster, before long I was running shoulder to shoulder with the White-Faced Young Master, speaking with ease.

“Aren’t you going to run faster? Faster, faster!”

In any case, my goal wasn’t to kill the White-Faced Young Master here.

If he was this skilled within the Demonic Dao, there was a high chance he was a stubborn bastard, the kind who might pass on false information even at the moment of death. Beating the shit out of him was important, but subduing his mind was just as important.

This time too, the White-Faced Young Master stopped and exhaled deeply.

“……”

I looked at the White-Faced Young Master with my arms crossed.

“Good. Rest, then set off.”

Only then did the White-Faced Young Master ask, as if he had seen through my intention.

“So the reason you’re pulling this shit right now is to find my base?”

I replied without much thought.

“Well, you could think of it that way.”

“You’re a lunatic. If I guide you, will you follow?”

“Yeah, that’d be great for me. Lead the way. But don’t do something stupid like guiding me to the Demonic Cult. I know the way there.”

The White-Faced Young Master gestured with his chin and said,

“Follow me. If I guide you there, I won’t get out unscathed either. I don’t know where the head of some sect I’ve never even heard of gets his confidence, but fine. I’ll take you.”

With an indifferent expression, I followed the White-Faced Young Master.

I wanted to find out how to relieve the withdrawal symptoms from the antidote, and I also needed to know exactly where this Demonic Dao force was located. The problem was my temper. I had been holding it in well so far, but a person’s heart is, by nature, unknowable.

Walking naturally, as though I had been part of the White-Faced Young Master’s group from the start, I said,

“White Face, I can hear the gears turning in your head from here. It’s hard to shake me off, taking me to your base feels unsettling, and fighting me doesn’t look like you’ll win. Something like that, right?”

“Sect Leader, what exactly do you want?”

“What do I want? You people are the ones who sent assassins to kill me. You must’ve thought I looked easy and ordered one squad leader and a bunch of tagalongs to deal with me. It’s true that the Hao Sect has a lot of idiots, so I can see how you might look down on it, but you mustn’t look down on its sect leader. I’ll make that very clear today.”

“And that’s why you’re pulling this shit?”

“If I kill you here, no one will know to be afraid of me, so I can’t do that. That wouldn’t be the right way to handle things.”

Suddenly, the White-Faced Young Master stopped walking, looked at me, and let out a long sigh. Because the air around him changed, I began a brief staring contest with him.

“What are you doing? Changed your mind?”

In that instant, the White-Faced Young Master glared at me, then moved to the side. When the White-Faced Young Master separated from his body and took position, the identical-looking bastard had increased to two. Then the two increased again to four.

I watched the White-Faced Young Master with my arms crossed.

“Well, well. So you were from a Phantom Demon line.”

That didn’t mean the White-Faced Young Master himself was the Phantom Demon. The one who offered his daughter to the Cult Leader was probably the Phantom Demon. If that bastard had been wearing his original white mask, this Phantom Illusion Demonic Art would likely have been a bit more effective. Before I knew it, the number of clones had increased quite a bit.

It looked as though the White-Faced Young Master had only used this demonic art after much deliberation.

I peeled at my dry, cracked lips bit by bit and watched the Phantom Illusion Demonic Art with a lukewarm heart. Now I wouldn’t be able to easily determine the White-Faced Young Master’s location.

“……You’ve finally forced me to use it.”

As expected, the White-Faced Young Master’s voice rang out strangely, as if floating in midair.

I said to the White-Faced Young Master,

“White Face, stop doing useless things and let’s get going.”

In that instant, the illusions drew their swords simultaneously and charged at me. I stood still and took the swords they thrust out with my body.

There was little chance a bastard using Phantom Illusion Demonic Art would reveal his real body in the first attack.

Four swords pierced through my body from east, west, south, and north, but as expected, they were illusions.

I looked around and said,

“Too bad, right? You didn’t think I’d just stand still, did you? Dumb bastard.”

In truth, the swords thrust out by the illusionary clones carried no sound of wind at all. There wasn’t even the sound of fluttering clothes.

As expected, even demonic arts always have weaknesses.

To use the Phantom Illusion Demonic Art properly, one must also learn an assassin’s martial arts. Only by combining the Phantom Illusion Demonic Art with an assassin’s martial arts could he make me run around like a village dog.

But this bastard wasn’t at that level.

I moved like someone quietly out for a stroll, taking the swords thrust out by several illusions with my body.

Still, the White-Faced Young Master had chosen the battlefield fairly well.

There was no wind, the ground was flat in every direction, and perhaps because there was a stream nearby, the sound of flowing water continued at a steady rhythm.

I strolled around, slapping the cheeks of the charging illusions. The illusions struck on the cheek scattered emptily like mist.

Of course, if someone didn’t have as much experience as I did, they would swing their sword earnestly at these illusions and then be taken down easily the moment an opening appeared.

Clatter-clatter-clatter-clack!

The moment I heard the sound of beads colliding overhead, I swiftly drew my wooden sword. It seemed he had noticed that I was seeing through him by sound. The steady sound of tiny iron beads repeatedly colliding in a narrow space rang out.

I swung my wooden sword at the charging illusions and said,

“You put beads in your sword hilt? Childish bastard. You’re doing well.”

With my mouth, I added little exclamations like “Ho-it, haap, iya!” and lightly swung my wooden sword as if dancing, the way I did when cutting plum blossoms.

Trying to dance with a sword in hand had its own sort of charm. Thinking of the charging illusions as plum blossoms, I engaged in training for a while.

“Not bad. Training too—how nice.”

As I swept my wooden sword around any which way, I muttered under my breath like an inn waiter humming while sweeping the floor—meaningless, off-key nonsense.

“By the way, the weather’s gotten muggy again.”

I performed the Three Powers Sword Art, then tried thrusting my sword in bizarre motions that belonged to no sect under heaven.

“Rain comes and goes, stops and starts, raising hell all damn day.”

I stamped my feet frivolously and swung my hips left and right as I thrust out my sword.

“Goddamn it, ugh, I’m so sick of this. What a miserable lot I have. I ate, but I’m still hungry. Got a beggar in my belly—what bastard spat on the floor, son of a bitch, oh, it was phlegm. Fucking bastard……”

After muttering for quite some time, I suddenly came to my senses. For a moment, I’d felt as if I’d returned to being an inn waiter, and it sent a chill down my spine.

“The Illusory Demon Art is frightening. For a second, I thought I was an inn waiter.”

“……”

Suddenly, the illusions began to fade, and the White-Faced Young Master, left alone some distance away, stared steadily at me.

“Leader of Haomun.”

“What?”

“I can certainly feel the gap between us. I’ll guide you properly now.”

I nodded.

“Good. Wise choice. Lead the way. Don’t try any nonsense. And since my mind is calm right now, don’t provoke me any further. Behave yourself before I send you to Yeop Yahong’s side. Bear in mind that your life is safe only while I’m sane. Understood?”

The White-Faced Young Master nodded, then turned and began walking.

In an instant, I closed the distance and stood beside him. The startled White-Faced Young Master flinched, then let out a long breath.

“Damn it.”

Only then did I put away my wooden sword and speak in an ordinary tone.

“White-Face, talk a little while we’re on the way. Is the Third Young Master’s maternal grandfather perhaps the Phantom Demon? Among the families that once offered their daughters to the Cult Leader, I mean. That……”

While I was still speaking, I reached out at the fastest speed I could muster, seized the White-Faced Young Master’s left arm, and immediately injected the Dark Moon Ice Art.

“……!”

In the instant the White-Faced Young Master’s left arm froze over,

he struck out with all his might using his unharmed right arm, unleashing palm force. I met it with the palm force of the Fighting Cock, then pulled out my left hand and smashed it into the White-Faced Young Master’s face.

Thud!

For a moment, the White-Faced Young Master tried to defend with his left hand as well, but one arm was already frozen by the ice art.

The moment his internal energy scattered, I switched my right hand to the Absorbing Star Great Art and held on, while my left fist drove into the White-Faced Young Master’s face, struck his chest, and stabbed into his abdomen.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

“Keugh!”

As I sucked away his internal energy with the Absorbing Star Great Art, I glared into the blood-soaked eyes of the White-Faced Young Master.

“……Did I look easy to you?”

Only then realizing that his internal energy was being drained, the White-Faced Young Master let out a terrible scream.

“Kkyaaaaaaaa!”

I clamped my left hand over his mouth.

“Be quiet. It’ll be over soon. Stay still.”

I grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up, then slammed him down onto the ground. Blood burst from the White-Faced Young Master’s mouth. I quickly jerked my head aside to avoid the filthy blood, then continued using the Absorbing Star Great Art.

“Keep it down, will you?”

I covered his mouth again. Since it was best to stop the Absorbing Star Great Art before the White-Faced Young Master died, I had no choice but to concentrate as well.

Perhaps some change had occurred in Cheonok, because I could clearly see the White-Faced Young Master’s internal energy flowing in. It was like watching a thin waterfall pour into a vast lake.

Suddenly, I met the White-Faced Young Master’s eyes and spoke as if worried for him.

“White-Face, you mustn’t die. If you feel like you’re going to die, hurry up and beg me to spare you. That’s the only way you’ll live.”

When I removed my hand, the White-Faced Young Master’s pitiful voice leaked out.

“Spare…… me.”

I tilted my head, then absorbed more of the White-Faced Young Master’s internal energy.

“Wait a moment. People don’t die that easily. Not yet.”

As soon as I saw the White-Faced Young Master’s skin cracking like a dry desert, I released him. He had fainted, blood frothing at his mouth.

I put a hand to his neck and checked his pulse.

“Wow, I nearly killed him.”

I slapped the White-Faced Young Master across the cheek to wake him up. In an indifferent tone, I said,

“If you don’t open your eyes this time, I’ll send you to Yeop Yahong’s side.”

The moment I finished speaking, the White-Faced Young Master opened his eyes.

I crouched there for a moment and glared at him.

“Why are you opening your eyes like that? This bastard still hasn’t come to his senses. Looks like you’ve got enough strength left to take more of a beating. Fine.”

I readied a forehead flick and blew on my finger.

The White-Faced Young Master’s voice came.

“Sect Leader, spare me.”

I lightly flicked the White-Faced Young Master’s forehead, then said,

“Spare you?”

“Spare me. I lost.”

I lowered my head slightly, then whispered to the White-Faced Young Master.

“Mm, first there’s something I’m curious about, so answer very carefully. If your answer pisses me off, I’m going to beat you to death right away. Think hard before you answer.”

“……”

I cleared my throat, then asked the White-Faced Young Master.

“……How does it feel to become the weak one?”

Perhaps he had thought I would ask about his base, because the White-Faced Young Master’s gaze wavered.

“I asked how it feels. You’ve probably never been weak before, have you? Isn’t this your first time experiencing it too? I’m seriously curious right now. Answer quickly. For now, your internal energy is almost bottomed out. In other words, you’ve become a cripple. That means you couldn’t even beat the most pathetic bastard in Haomun. Have you ever imagined that you yourself might become the weak one, Young Master?”

The White-Faced Young Master’s complexion had turned so pale that it wouldn’t have been strange if he stopped breathing at any moment.

I grabbed the White-Faced Young Master by the collar and spoke in an icy tone.

“Hey, you son of a bitch. Who told you to pass out? Answer me. I’m saying I’m more curious about this than your base.”

In that instant, the White-Faced Young Master rolled his eyes back and fainted.

“What? This bastard, instead of answering……”

I sat down close beside his head and looked down at the White-Faced Young Master.

Until he recovered from his faint.

I intended to wait and glare at him. Because the moment this bastard came to, I had to ask him right away. Whenever I got bored, I gave the White-Faced Young Master a slight shake.

“Hey, how does it feel to become the weak one?”

There was still no answer.