Chapter 419. Prophecy Teacher Yi Jaha.

The proper thing would have been for the carriage to move a reasonable distance away and stop, but it kept going until it left our sight.

“Huh?”

Thinking about it, putting that much distance between us would help the Cult Leader as much as possible. In other words, the coachman was moving as far away as he could to wear down the strength of those who would challenge the Cult Leader.

The Blood Cult Leader, who had been watching, spoke in an icy tone.

“……Enough. How far are you going?”

Just when it seemed the carriage would stop at a fairly distant spot, the Blood Cult Leader’s foul remark made it widen the distance again. It meant the coachman was quite a stubborn man himself.

While everyone was looking at one another in bewilderment, the Cult Leader said.

“That will do.”

Only then did the coachman’s voice come from afar.

“Yes, Cult Leader.”

So whether the Blood Cult Leader lost his temper or not, it had no effect on the coachman whatsoever. The two people who now had to compete in qinggong rose at the same time, then split off to the left and right as if displeased.

In my opinion.

For a long distance, the White-Clad Scholar had the advantage; for a short distance, the Blood Cult Leader had the advantage.

Given his temperament, the Blood Cult Leader was sure to use his internal energy explosively at the start and shoot through the air. Because the coachman had touched a nerve. Human psychology is fluid like that.

On the other hand, the White-Clad Scholar was the type to move steadily with Jeyunjong and overturn things at the very end.

So the match came down to the distance to the carriage.

Was this a long distance or a short distance?

If one had to say, it was a short distance, but since they had to stop once along the way, touch the carriage, then change direction, the White-Clad Scholar was actually at an advantage. The White-Clad Scholar’s slyness had depth.

Of course, whether my prediction would be right was something even I could not know.

I looked around at the others, then spoke as if proposing a wager.

“One vote for the White-Clad Scholar.”

The Blood Cult Leader frowned and looked at me.

“What will you do if I win?”

I pointed at the Mukga Dagger on the table.

“I’ll give you the dagger as a gift.”

The Blood Cult Leader laughed, then stared ahead.

“Sect Leader, give the signal.”

I raised a finger to show them, then made a “snap” sound and said.

“……Go.”

The Blood Cult Leader shot into the air, trailing crimson blood energy to either side, and beneath him, the White-Clad Scholar leaned forward and unleashed Jeyunjong.

The two shot forward like a gale.

In the place where the two had been, only the moonlight and the lights of the manor remained.

Before long, almost no sound could be heard.

Soon, a dull sound like a palm striking something faintly reached us, and then a wondrous sight appeared. The Blood Cult Leader, who had shot through the air, was returning while running along the ground, while conversely, in the air, the White-Clad Scholar descended at tremendous speed and, as soon as he arrived before the Blood Cult Leader, pulled the Mukga Dagger from the table.

In terms of breathing, one could say their speeds were so close there was not even the difference of a single breath.

The White-Clad Scholar smiled with an obnoxious expression and threw the Mukga Dagger to me.

I tucked the Mukga Dagger into my clothes and looked at the Blood Cult Leader.

“As I predicted, the White-Clad Scholar was a little faster. A pity. A match is a match.”

In truth, this conclusion had come about because the White-Clad Scholar had been craftier.

All of a sudden, the Blood Cult Leader stood stock-still, let out a long, madman-like laugh, then swept his gaze over us once.

Perhaps because he had used his blood energy, the Blood Cult Leader’s face was truly flushed bright red.

For some reason, the Blood Cult Leader kept laughing excessively, still like a man who had lost his mind.

If no one else is laughing and you alone laugh for a long time, there is a high chance you are a madman. As an expert on madmen, I know this well.

A thought suddenly occurred to me.

Could the Blood Cult Leader be a man with an unexpectedly deep inferiority complex underlying his mind? In other words, while he had already decided that others must be laughing at him, the backlash against that was spreading into laughter.

There is an attitude I quietly dislike, and that is deciding a situation solely by one’s own standard.

Few things are as repulsive as certainty without insight.

‘Tsk…….’

The Blood Cult Leader looked around at us and asked.

“Is this funny?”

It was somewhat obvious how things would flow from here, but I answered in a calm tone.

“No one laughed. Don’t misunderstand.”

“Weren’t you all laughing?”

“Are you saying people can’t laugh a little while watching a sparring match? But in the end, no one laughed openly. You must have been the one laughing at yourself. That is usually how madness begins, so don’t blame others. There is no one here who will humor your nonsense. This isn’t the Tongcheon Gang.”

A scarlet energy shimmered in the Blood Cult Leader’s eyes.

“Is that so?”

The Blood Cult Leader grinned and looked at the Cult Leader.

“In any case, I know I cannot be a match for the Cult Leader right now.”

The Cult Leader answered.

“And?”

“What good would it do if the White-Clad Scholar and I drained the Cult Leader’s strength? I hope the Cult Leader will face the Sect Leader fair and square. As for me, I will continue my contest with the White-Clad Scholar.”

As if he had become someone who spoke only his own thoughts, the Blood Cult Leader abruptly said this to the White-Clad Scholar.

“……Qinggong isn’t everything.”

I knew it would turn out like this.

The White-Clad Scholar answered while fluttering the white folding fan he had taken from his clothes.

“I knew you would come out like that. Should I have just let you win?”

When the White-Clad Scholar chuckled, the Blood Cult Leader glared at him with all laughter gone from his face. In truth, the only people who could stop this mad Blood Cult Leader were Cheonak and the Cult Leader.

Once the Blood Cult Leader became fixated on something…….

He had not become a person who thought of things in a good, better light, but a man who thought of things in a bad, even worse light.

There are many types of madness, and this kind of madness was similar to what a rabid dog had. Who could possibly change this flow? He would likely have to be beaten half to death for it to change.

Cheonak, who had been watching, said with a smile.

“Blood Demon, do you want your limbs torn off here? It seems you’ve developed selective rage, but if you have the heart to challenge me, I will acknowledge you.”

The Blood Cult Leader was a man whose attitude changed so drastically it was truly astonishing, and in the end, he could not say a word to Cheonak.

But this situation seemed instead to provoke the White-Clad Scholar even more.

“Blood Cult Leader, Cheonak frightens you, and I look like a cripple to you? I’ll face you as you wish. Whether it’s a sparring match or a life-and-death duel, do as you please.”

As the situation turned this way, everyone except the Cult Leader looked at me.

“Mm.”

I deliberately looked at the Cult Leader.

The Cult Leader spoke as if for the two to hear.

“You both flare up so absurdly easily over something truly trivial. Even I cannot determine which of you is superior by prediction alone, so do as you will. If you want to fight, then you should fight.”

The White-Clad Scholar said.

“It is not over a few words. It is because, from the beginning, he was a man who had once killed one of the Scholar’s people.”

The Blood Cult Leader spoke in a tone of disbelief.

“When did I?”

“Were there only one or two masters you killed? You were simply the only one who did not know.”

“Tell me whom I killed.”

The White-Clad Scholar said,

“You once killed the previous sect leader of the Unhyang Sect……”

“Ah, was the Unhyang Sect one of the Scholar’s forces? You fool, to tell me something like that.”

The White-Clad Scholar laughed.

“Do you think I would care about such a thing?”

At that moment, Cheonak rose from where he had been sitting.

“……”

The moment I saw Cheonak’s expression, I knew the Blood Cult Leader was about to get beaten. Of course, I was likely not the only one who realized it. If he had only watched his mouth, he could have fought the White-Clad Scholar, but in the end, a mad dog like that always brings the beating upon himself.

If this had been the Tongcheon Gang, there would have been an uproar, but this was Mount Hua.

The moment he saw Cheonak’s expression, the White-Clad Scholar also closed his mouth.

Because he was not the sort of man to ask permission or seek understanding, Cheonak walked straight toward the Blood Cult Leader.

The Blood Cult Leader asked,

“Cheonak, is this a challenge?”

“You’ve lost your mind.”

As soon as Cheonak finished speaking, the two clashed.

Was the White-Clad Scholar clever?

Or was the Blood Cult Leader a lunatic reckless to the point of madness?

Or was it because Cheonak was a man who never forgot?

Even after putting all of that together, it still felt strange. After all, it meant the White-Clad Scholar had not shared this information with Cheonak all this time.

In any case, the fight, which had plenty worth watching, unfolded as expected. Beneath the moonlit night, the Blood Cult Leader’s movements were like watching a crimson spider spraying blood in every direction.

He was facing Cheonak with attacks that were dazzling, violent, rough, sinister, and ghastly……

But before this overwhelmingly powerful man, most of those varied attacks scattered in vain. Still, the Blood Cult Leader was also a man of high caliber, so the fight was entertaining to watch.

When Cheonak’s hand seemed to seize the Blood Cult Leader’s shoulder, the Blood Cult Leader, scattering as though he had sent out an incarnation, suddenly launched a counterattack. In other words, he was using demonic arts that could not be understood by common sense.

To sum it up……

While he had been dealing with the Samjae earlier, there had been none of these movements whatsoever.

It was also the moment that revealed just how sly a human being he truly was. That did not mean the Blood Cult Leader’s surprise attack worked. Cheonak’s explosive movements evaded, swept aside, and extinguished the Blood Cult Leader’s bizarre ambush as if it were nothing.

Then, whenever Cheonak’s attacks landed……

The Blood Cult Leader’s body also rippled and dispersed like small waves, and I thought that if he got caught even once in the midst of that, he would suffer serious injuries. He had already endured more than thirty exchanges against Cheonak, but as the fight dragged on, Cheonak’s expression instead became even calmer.

Who knew a calm expression could be this frightening?

Seeing him like this, Cheonak was not normal either.

He had risen in anger, then fought in a state that soon became calm, and each time he raised his internal energy little by little, he was smiling as though he found it enjoyable.

Where had so many madmen swarmed in from?

Perhaps the Blood Cult Leader gradually began to think he might be beaten to death, because the blood energy enveloping his entire body spread out in every direction in a truly damnable fashion.

Moyong Baek and the Plum Blossom Manor Lord retreated as though fleeing.

We, who had been watching nearby, also stood up and swatted away the hot blasts that flew toward us from time to time.

The only person who remained in place and continued watching was the Cult Leader.

In the midst of it, Cheonak’s voice flowed out.

“……Is this the end? Struggle harder. You look far better than when you were flapping that mouth of yours.”

Perhaps the provocation worked properly, because something like a wave made of blood surged massively from the Blood Cult Leader’s back, then split into dozens of whips and covered Cheonak. At the same time, from the Blood Cult Leader’s longsword, which he had only now drawn, scarlet sword aura poured down like a thunderbolt.

How could one call this a martial contest?

It looked like he was struggling desperately to avoid getting beaten.

But the Blood Cult Leader’s frantic attacks vanished each time Cheonak swept the back of his hand once, as though a great brush had erased space itself. When he fought, he did not look merely brute-like either.

Cheonak avoided some with footwork, advanced, and closed the distance tightly with striking motions. Then, showing his palm for the first time, he unleashed palm force. Seeing it now, the direction of that palm force was not aimed toward us. It seemed he had been waiting for an opportunity to unleash it while changing the distance several times. The Blood Cult Leader, who had been blocking by swinging his sword, was flung away, then dropped straight down from midair.

A supreme technique presumed to be sword threads (劍絲) gathered on the Blood Cult Leader’s sword. It was a higher art than sword qi, and some sects called it a variation of sword aura.

While the Blood Cult Leader was preparing his supreme technique……

Cheonak simply walked toward him.

Was he like that because he had so much experience? Or did he intend to ignore the supreme technique as though crushing it outright?

Cheonak said,

“……Try it.”

When the Blood Cult Leader swung his sword with fierce momentum, scarlet threads fell in a shape that looked as though several whips had been bound together. Seeing it this way, it also looked like an enormous whip was falling. It was clearly an attack with follow-up changes.

In that instant, even I could see Cheonak using a supreme technique.

It was a complex response.

An advance close to an explosion, deflecting some of the sword threads outright with palm force and protective qi, then, while the Blood Cult Leader had not expected it at all, approaching as if erasing the gap between them, seizing the Blood Cult Leader’s arm, and almost simultaneously grabbing him by the collar with his other hand.

The Blood Cult Leader’s body rose slightly into the air……

Kwaaaaaaaang!

When he was smashed into the ground, the Blood Cult Leader’s body was buried as well. The earth caved in from the impact. The problem was that Cheonak was still holding the Blood Cult Leader by the collar. Cheonak dragged the Blood Cult Leader up again, changed direction, and slammed him into the ground once more.

Kwaaaaaaaang!

There was no one in particular to stop him.

Was he getting paid back like this for the trouble he had caused in the Tongcheon Gang?

Naturally, the Blood Cult Leader was also a master, so he must have been enduring with protective qi, but if it continued a few more times, it looked as though his breath would soon be cut off. The Blood Cult Leader’s counterattacks while being held were closer to flailing. After being slammed here again, then slammed there, he was lifted up completely limp.

Unexpectedly, Moyong Baek spoke first.

“Senior, it was a martial contest. Please calm your anger a little.”

The Plum Blossom Manor Lord also mustered his courage and added,

“Senior, even though the Blood Cult Leader knew he was weaker than you, he did not run away and bravely stood and fought. Did you not say that you would acknowledge him if he challenged you?”

Only then did the White-Clad Scholar step in as well.

“Stop. The fight itself was fair. If he is suffering from madness, as the Sect Leader said, is it not something that can be understood?”

Only then did Cheonak answer.

“Ah, madness……”

Still holding him by the collar, Cheonak met his eyes, then glared at the Blood Cult Leader and said,

“Is that so? That madness of yours manifests in quite the opportunistic fashion. At least that Sect Master bastard threatened to blow himself up and die with me even when he was standing right in front of me. I’d think it would take at least that much to be called madness.”

The Blood Cult Leader, seized by the collar, gazed at Cheonak through half-lidded eyes.

“……Is that so? I never learned the Sun-Moon Radiant Heaven, so that is rather regrettable.”

Only then did Cheonak snort once, release his collar, and the Blood Cult Leader immediately collapsed to the floor.

To put the situation simply, it was this.

The Blood Cult Leader was in a state where only his mouth was still alive.

Murong Bai trotted over and first sought Cheonak’s permission.

“Senior, I will examine him for a moment.”

After checking the Blood Cult Leader’s condition, Murong Bai hoisted him onto his back and headed toward the manor. All the while, the blood dripping from the Blood Cult Leader’s mouth soaked the ground.

Unexpectedly, the White-Clad Scholar let out a sigh.

“Haa.”

Was he perhaps anticipating that, since the Blood Demon, who had once been the Demon Cult Leader’s subordinate, had been beaten by Cheonak, he himself would now be beaten by the Demon Cult Leader?

Such is the way of the world, going round and round.

The atmosphere seemed to have grown far too heavy, so I tried running my mouth a bit.

“Did you see that?”

First Brother and the Lust Demon looked at me.

“See what?”

I pointed at the bloody trail the Blood Cult Leader had left behind as he leaked all over the place.

“Look at that. I’m only saying this because the Blood Cult Leader isn’t here, but did I or did I not call him a blood-shitter? After losing to White Robe, all he had to do was say one thing—‘I lost’…… but no, he had to laugh like an idiot, pick a fight, and have his past deeds exposed. Then he got beaten, and now he’s shitting blood. Honestly, that man……. It’s a relief he’s still breathing, but after coming all the way to Mount Hua, what are we supposed to do about these traces of him shitting blood? Should we tell him to clean it up tomorrow? Since he’s the one who made the mess.”

The Lust Demon cut me off with a calm expression.

“Stop. For some strange reason, it feels like I’m listening to a Buddhist scripture, so stop.”

A man who can even criticize another man after he has been beaten so badly he shit blood—that is me.

“As expected, the only one worried about a blood-shitter is a shit-shitter.”

“Fine. I’m a shit-shitter. Fine. I get it. Let’s go with that. You win.”

I nodded.

Judging from the Lust Demon’s expression, I could tell that I had won.