Chapter 237

Alliance Leader Taoist Haewol withdrew his laughter and slowly raised his killing intent as he spoke.

“Now, shall I ask one question? Why do you think I’ve kept you alive until now when I know everything?”

Mang Ryo stared at Alliance Leader Taoist Haewol for a while, then laughed “Hehe!” and leaned his body against the broken table beside him as if giving up.

“My body is a bit uncomfortable…”

His prosthetic feet were completely broken, so he couldn’t stand anyway. Mang Ryo, having made himself comfortable, showed his hands with a twisted smile as if asking what he could do.

“Shall I listen respectfully?”

But Alliance Leader Taoist Haewol didn’t explain.

He simply raised his blood-dripping hand and pointed outside.

“Get out.”

Mang Ryo’s face, which had been laughing, hardened.

“Hmm?”

“Go out and rampage to your heart’s content, then die miserably on the road. Meet the death befitting a monster.”

The corners of Alliance Leader Taoist Haewol’s mouth turned up.

“That’s the place I’ve determined for you.”

Mang Ryo’s face became distorted like a demon. However, he couldn’t make excuses, act tough, or do anything. Alliance Leader Taoist Haewol’s killing intent kept rising.

Screech, creak.

Suddenly, ear-grating sounds began coming from somewhere in the room.

Wind arose.

From Alliance Leader Taoist Haewol toward Mang Ryo.

Crash!

The vase placed on the side table was pushed and fell over, breaking. The side table was pressed down, its legs broke, and it collapsed.

Screeeech.

A folding screen standing against one side of the wall crumpled like paper, caught up in the wind and flew toward Mang Ryo. Mang Ryo couldn’t even raise his hands and had to catch the crumpled screen with his head.

Crack!

The screen hit Mang Ryo, broke, and bounced away.

Even the ceiling beams bent downward as if they would break, pouring down old dust.

Crack, crack, crack!

Everything in the walls, pillars, and ceiling shook.

Everything was being pushed away.

From Alliance Leader Taoist Haewol.

Mang Ryo tried to hold onto the table to resist, but the table, no, the entire floor was slowly pushed backward together.

Screech, screech!

The building of the estate itself was collapsing and pushing Mang Ryo away.

Rumble rumble rumble.

Everything in the room was collapsing and falling.

Mang Ryo realized Alliance Leader Taoist Haewol’s intention.

Profanity burst from Mang Ryo’s mouth.

“Damn!”

Alliance Leader Taoist Haewol made a smile full of arrogance on his blood-covered face.

Mang Ryo shouted.

“Let me ask just one thing!”

“I’ll show mercy. Speak.”

“How did you know I was plotting assassination?”

“You wrote letters to the Evil Sect and spread false rumors about the Qingcheng sect, right? And you came out of the Tang family to find Baek Li-jung. You must have also heard that Baek Li-jung was dissatisfied with me. Of course. I made it look that way. Baek Li-jung is quick-witted, so he already guessed my intention. That’s what it meant when he entered closed-door training.”

Mang Ryo laughed with irritation.

“Damn, I don’t understand a word of this nonsense.”

“The arm you sent, I already received it here together with Baek Li-jung.”

But he had deliberately salted and sent back the arm he had already seen to Baek Li-jung?

Only then did Mang Ryo understand.

“Bait?”

“I knew there would be at least one fellow who would try to come between Baek Li-jung and me.”

Whether Mang Ryo intended assassination or not didn’t matter. Alliance Leader Taoist Haewol had planned from the beginning to frame Mang Ryo as an assassin.

If King of Hell Tang Qing was a deceiver, then Alliance Leader Taoist Haewol was an oppressor.

Using superior martial force, he does whatever he wants, however he wants. He doesn’t even ask who ordered it. It means he already has people in mind in his head.

In the world he’s creating, there’s no place for pawns like Mang Ryo to interfere. If one recklessly challenges him, they’ll just be consumed.

His breath was choked.

As his body was pushed backward, his prosthetic feet dragged.

Clatter clatter, clatter clatter!

Half the room was pushed back together with Mang Ryo.

Before such unbelievably massive violence, Mang Ryo could do nothing.

“Hihi hihi. Farewell. We probably won’t meet again. If we do meet again, it would be somewhere in hell.”

Grind.

Mang Ryo didn’t hide his killing intent and glared at Alliance Leader Taoist Haewol while grinding his teeth.

Alliance Leader Taoist Haewol took a deep breath.

Whooooooop.

Without stopping his breath even once, he inhaled until his belly swelled like a tadpole.

Then he uttered a single highly refined sound, exhaling all the breath he had inhaled until then to pronounce it.

“Huum!”

BOOM!

The ceiling above where Alliance Leader Taoist Haewol stood completely collapsed, and the other half of the house was flung outside together with Mang Ryo.

Crash crash crash!

Mang Ryo was wrapped like a ball in wood and stone debris and flew tumbling more than ten zhang away. The wreckage of the house was scattered all around.

Even in the midst of this, Alliance Leader Taoist Haewol’s transmitted voice, laughing as he threw it, reached Mang Ryo’s ears clearly.

“I’ll enjoy the Qingcheng sect well.”

Rumble rumble rumble rumble.

The estate collapsed in an instant. Alliance Leader Taoist Haewol was buried as is.

There was nothing Mang Ryo could do.

Protest that Alliance Leader Taoist Haewol was framing him as an assassin?

That wouldn’t work at all.

However, Mang Ryo hadn’t just been flung away. A small box had fallen on Mang Ryo’s chest, thrown at some point. When he opened the box, a lustrous small pill was visible.

“The calculation is thorough. Telling me not to die quickly?”

Mang Ryo put the pill directly in his mouth and chewed it. Instantly, the internal injuries in his body were relieved and his dantian became warm – it was no ordinary spiritual pill.

Then he saw several figures in black masks dash out like arrows from the collapsed site.

“Well well, black masks in broad daylight, really.”

Mang Ryo chuckled, but there was nothing more obvious in effect for others to see.

Warriors rushed in from all directions shouting.

“Assassins!”

“The Alliance Leader has been attacked!”

Those with advanced lightness techniques and martial artists chased after the masked figures.

“Ugh.”

Mang Ryo removed his completely burst prosthetic feet and stood up using a broken pillar as a staff.

He could see Yi Suk nearby, covered in blood and writhing.

Several warriors stood unable to approach near the melting Yi Suk.

Mang Ryo approached the dying Yi Suk, lowered his body, and spoke in his ear.

“You should have left me alone when I said I wanted to use the toilet. Then someone else would have died instead.”

…The blood-soaked body writhed as the pupils looked at Mang Ryo. Mang Ryo gave Yi Suk a grin and left the spot.

A very ordinary-looking martial artist opened a side gate leading to the back of the estate.

Was this also prepared in advance?

No one blocked Mang Ryo’s way there. No, there were hardly any people to be seen who would block him.

But Mang Ryo knew.

The moment he left the main base of the Martial Alliance, from that moment Mang Ryo would become the primary target for elimination.

Mang Ryo imitated Alliance Leader Taoist Haewol’s laughter.

“Hihi hihi… What you wanted wasn’t to keep the Golden Sword in check, was it?”

At first, he thought he was being recruited to keep Baek Li-jung in check.

But that wasn’t it.

Baek Li-jung had tried to involve the Evil Sect several times but failed. Because of that, he had indeed fallen out of Alliance Leader Taoist Haewol’s favor.

So Baek Li-jung had quickly and wisely entered closed-door training. He knew that when Alliance Leader Taoist Haewol stepped forward directly, one opportunity would come to him. He had trained himself not to miss that opportunity.

The fact that Baek Li-jung was lowering himself and preparing to run from the front meant that Alliance Leader Taoist Haewol wanted to further solidify his own position.

“Greedy old man. How long are you planning to hold the Alliance Leader position? Giggle giggle.”

Mang Ryo could clearly see the thorny path that would unfold before him. It already seemed as if a bleak fog of death was spreading.

However, the result was essentially no different from what Mang Ryo had intended.

Mang Ryo was satisfied with just that.

* * *

Looking at the history of the martial world, it was a common occurrence that had happened several times, but generally it was an almost unimaginable event that occurred.

In the main base of the Martial Alliance, at its very heart, there was an assassination attempt on Alliance Leader Taoist Haewol.

Alliance Leader Taoist Haewol’s condition wasn’t revealed, but rumors spread that he had suffered tremendous injuries.

Moreover, the attack on the martial world’s supreme being, who symbolized the Orthodox martial world itself, was tantamount to an attack on the Orthodox martial world.

The martial world, the rivers and lakes, all of the Central Plains stirred.

The Evil Sect? Was there Evil Sect instigation?

Stories of unknown origin and truth began circulating.

Now the martial world would be swept into the whirlpool of upheaval where not even one step ahead could be predicted.

* * *

“Branch, Branch Leader! Branch Leader!”

Sim Hak rushed into the room frantically with his official hat crumpled and disheveled.

In the room, Baek Li-jung was sitting in meditation posture with his eyes closed.

Sim Hak shouted while sweating.

“The Alliance Leader… the Alliance Leader!”

At that moment, Baek Li-jung opened his eyes.

Flash!

Fire leaked from his tiger eyes. Angry energies poured out from Baek Li-jung’s body.

Slash slash slash! Slash slash slash slash!

The energy extending from Baek Li-jung’s body slashed through the entire room. Walls, ceiling, everything was scratched as if cut by blades.

Screech!

Whether made of wood or stone, hundreds of sword marks were carved without discrimination.

That was the true identity of the scratch marks that had been carved throughout the room.

Sim Hak’s legs gave out and he collapsed.

Then the angry energy that had filled the room was instantly gathered back into Baek Li-jung.

Wood chips from the finely chopped walls and ceiling fluttered and floated in the room.

Baek Li-jung, who had taken a light breath, said.

“Speak.”

Sim Hak muttered in shock with his soul departed.

“They say the Alliance Leader was attacked…”

Baek Li-jung nodded. The corner of Baek Li-jung’s mouth twisted.

“Now it’s time to go kill an old friend.”

* * *

Tang Qing received urgent news.

“Ehihit!”

Tang Qing jumped up and shouted. All the scholars working in the room looked at Tang Qing.

“That crazy bastard finally caused an incident! A really tremendous incident!”

Tang Qing’s round face with his torn mouth reached his ears.

“This crazy bastard! I told him to throw stones I could handle, but he uprooted and threw a whole house. Ehihihit!”

Even the family head Lady Plum Blossoms Tang Gui-ok came to find Tang Qing.

Tang Qing looked at Tang Gui-ok and said.

“The Martial Alliance is a beast of prey. Beasts of prey starve to death without food. But the Martial Alliance has had too few opponents lately. Therefore, the Alliance Leader was looking for a pretext to revive the stagnant Martial Alliance.”

“Chaos would be essential for expanding power, wouldn’t it?”

“Right. But this fellow got completely used? Ehihit!”

“But for us, there’s nothing to lose at all, is there?”

“Right. We have nothing to lose. Rather, it’s an opportunity.”

Tang Qing’s eyes lit up as he laughed.

“That Mang Ryo fellow! He bragged loudly about giving me the world, but it wasn’t just empty words!”

If chaos gave the Martial Alliance opportunities to be active, then the poison spreading in the midst would become even more secretive, hidden in the chaos.