Chapter 78 – The Master of Hao Sect

Chapter 78 – The Master of Hao Sect

A situation where a courtesan's face had a large scar.

The eyes of the Master of Hao Sect trembled for an instant.

Tae Ju-ha, who did not spare him even a single glance, stared intently at Gong-ri sitting next to him and spoke.

“Scholar of a Thousand Faces. The owner of a moniker that uses the character for scholar is a woman, so it is indeed an identity difficult to guess.”

“·········.”

The sharp tip of the chopstick passed Gong-ri’s cheek, but for some reason, not a single drop of blood flowed. Gong-ri, who straightened her back without even a single flinch, met Tae Ju-ha’s gaze.

Before long, red lips like flower petals gently opened.

An elegant sound like the tone of a pipa flowed out from between them.

“Since when did you know?”

At Gong-ri’s calm question, Tae Ju-ha pointed to her perfume-case norigae with the tip of his chin.

“What courtesan in the world carries Dream Smoke Incense in her perfume pouch?”

Dream Smoke Incense was not only expensive, but it was also toxic, so those without internal energy could not approach it. Unless one wanted to get drunk on the scent first and lose their mind, it was common sense to avoid it.

Therefore, carrying Dream Smoke Incense meant that she was a person with decent internal energy.

Gong-ri covered her mouth and smiled faintly.

“Oh dear, I thought men were dull to the scent of a perfume pouch because they were busy chasing a woman’s scent. Just as I was feeling disappointed that no one recognized the expensive scent, the Fist Demon recognized it, so my heart is delighted regardless of the occasion.”

Moreover, if it was Dream Smoke Incense of this quality, it was as difficult to obtain as picking a star from the sky, which meant she was a person with information power and wealth that ordinary people could not even dream of.

In other words, Gong-ri, who was pretending to be a courtesan serving alcohol, was—

“You are the real Master of Hao Sect, the Scholar of a Thousand Faces.”

The real owner of Hao Sect.

Gong-ri, who stared silently at Tae Ju-ha, cast her gaze down and bowed her head.

“Yes, I am the Scholar of a Thousand Faces, Gong-ri. It was not a wicked intention to dare mock or test you, Elder, so please do not be angry.”

“Then, does that mean you have a proper reason?”

“Before I answer, let me ask just one thing first. Ruler of the Yangtze River, how did you find out that the Manyeong Tower is the main headquarters where the Master of Hao Sect resides?”

Gong-ri asked with as much politeness as possible.

“Are you curious about that?”

“Did you harm my children?”

“I willingly spared the children who listened well.”

“·········.”

Gong-ri’s eyelashes, which were pointed downward, trembled.

“It was indeed not easy to find you. Everyone’s mouth was so tight. But what could be done? They are also human beings who feel fear.”

“Elder…!!”

“You asked why I came all the way here. Since the other branch leaders could not answer the question, I willingly came looking for the Master. So do not disappoint me.”

Hao Sect’s information was detailed and trivial. It was the role of the Master of Hao Sect to piece together those small bits of gathered information in various ways to draw a big picture.

Tae Ju-ha found the main headquarters of Hao Sect because he knew that fact.

To find out the location of the main headquarters, which was kept strictly secret… how much blood must have been shed? Gong-ri, who bit her lip, barely managed to compose her voice.

“Hao Sect is a sect created by people of the bottom of life, so we cannot dare compare to your power, Elder, but we will not be a very easy opponent to turn into an enemy. Does the Ruler of the Yangtze River truly intend to build a feud with Hao Sect?”

“Hahahat! Does it look that way to you?”

“······.”

“Then you guessed wrong. I am giving you an opportunity right now.”

“Did you say an opportunity?”

“Yes. The opportunity to preserve your life.”

Tae Ju-ha suddenly released an overwhelming momentum and growled. At that fierce sense of coercion, Gong-ri clutched her neck and gasped for breath.

“······!!”

“Hao Sect is not the only information organization in the Central Plains… Neither the Beggars' Sect nor Bunchukwon knew the mastermind behind what happened in Sichuan. What does this mean? Doesn't it mean that Hao Sect is involved?”

“Keo-heuk…!!”

“Speak the truth before I rip that mouth open. Do not dare to test my patience any further.”

“······I do not know!”

To offer the same answer when her windpipe was blocked.

Tae Ju-ha let out a hollow laugh.

“You do not know?”

“Yes, it is truly something I do not know. It is true that Hao Sect holds much of the Jianghu's information, but isn't it impossible to know everything?!”

At those words, Tae Ju-ha, who softened his momentum a bit, murmured lowly.

“Yes, yes… you do not know, is that what you are saying.”

Gong-ri, whose complexion gradually returned due to the loosened air, bent her waist flatly and spoke.

“Since I caused the Ruler of the Yangtze River to make a pointless trip, I will send the most beautiful flowers of the brothel to the inner room. It is a foolish sincerity, but please look upon it favorably.”

“·········.”

The chopsticks held between Tae Ju-ha’s long fingers spun round and round.

“I want to believe those words, but I cannot. According to your words, it means that Hao Sect has not even grasped the faction of the culprit who set fire to the Tang Clan and harmed the Young Master…”

“······.”

“If I came to buy information from such useless people, wouldn't my face be extremely embarrassed?”

A careless voice from which it was difficult to guess any change in state of mind.

Tae Ju-ha, who wore a languid smile, continued speaking.

“Therefore, it might be better if I add a backstory that I slaughtered all of you because I was in a bad mood.”

“······!!!”

Using telekinesis, Tae Ju-ha sent the chopsticks that were spinning on his hand straight toward the middle-aged man.

He was the one who had previously introduced himself as the Master of Hao Sect.

Pi-yuk!

The thin sound cutting through the air was fierce.

The chopsticks that left his hand rushed straight toward the man’s forehead.

The man, who instinctively raised his hand to diminish the flying momentum, fell forward with both his palm and forehead pierced at the same time. The strange sound of flesh being torn and bone being punctured was heard along with it.

“Kkeu-euk…”

The scream he could not let out was cut short along with his life, and in an instant, a dizzying silence filled the inner room.

Gong-ri’s hand clutching the hem of her skirt trembled.

“It seems you did not understand the situation.”

For a voice that was still careless to be this terrifying.

The Fist Demon of the Ten Venerables of the Martial World.

One of the ten martial artists with the strongest martial arts in the Jianghu.

What that meant was clear.

If she did not give the desired answer, the life disappearing today would not be hers alone.

As for the martial artists of the orthodox factions, even if they feigned ignorance, they would only throw a bit of a temper and could not directly harm them. However, the Chief Stronghold Leader of the Waterway Forts was different. He was a person who could slaughter everyone in this tavern without a single moment of hesitation.

“My mood is not good. So next time, the right answer must come from that mouth. Do you understand?”

Dry saliva went down Gong-ri’s throat.

A dizzying fear rushed in at the absurd situation.

“·········.”

The reason why the martial artists of the Jianghu did not want to turn Hao Sect into an enemy was because they did not know where they were.

An ordinary tavern might be a branch of Hao Sect, and a waiter working there might be a member of Hao Sect. Among those who existed in the world but were not eye-catching, such as merchants, courtesans, servants, or carriage drivers, there were members of Hao Sect.

They were everywhere, and at the same time, nowhere.

That was why they were not made into enemies. Because while eating at a tavern, enjoying alcohol at a brothel, or buying goods at a shop, one’s life might be in danger at an unexpected moment.

However, to put it the other way around, if one knew the reality of Hao Sect, it meant they were no longer fearful.

A sect of underworld lives.

Naturally, since they were not those equipped with strong martial power.

Gong-ri, who weighed the danger of passing this information against the danger looming right before her eyes, slowly opened her mouth.

“Elder.”

Gong-ri, the Master of Hao Sect. The one who reigned as the summit of the back alleys, called the Scholar of a Thousand Faces. She was a fairly strong martial artist, but naturally, she was no match for the Fist Demon of the Ten Venerables of the Martial World.

“……I made a mistake.”

“Really? Do you remember now?”

Gong-ri, who nodded slightly, gathered her hands neatly and opened her mouth.

“The ones who attacked the Tang Clan are the assassins of Bidocheon.”

“Bidocheon?”

“Yes, their headquarters is in Yuqing of Guizhou.”

“Is it a fact without a single shred of falsehood?”

“In whose presence would I dare to tell a lie? Since you gave me an opportunity to save my life, I must treasure my life.”

Tae Ju-ha, who drained the last remaining Hundred Flowers Dew in one gulp, spoke.

“Sparing you is because you still have utility value. You must not leave this tavern in the future. If you are not here and make me search for you again…”

His gaze was extremely cold and dry.

“At that time, the blood of all courtesans in the Central Plains will flow into the Yangtze River. Do you understand?”

“·········.”

Gong-ri closed her eyes tightly.

If she did not listen to these words now, it would surely become so.

Gong-ri, who bit her lip, expressed a question she could not hold back.

“Why do you take their side, Elder?”

“Taking their side?”

“I know that the Tang Clan and the Waterway Forts are connected by the escort agency business, but I am curious about the reason why you are looking for the mastermind to this extent, Elder.”

“Hmm…”

Tae Ju-ha, who narrowed his brows at Gong-ri’s words, spoke.

“Spread the news to all black path forces in the Central Plains. That the Ruler of the Yangtze River protects the Young Master of the Sichuan Tang Clan.”

“······!!!”

“Because he is my friend, touching the Tang Clan is the same as turning the Waterway Forts into an enemy.”

To Gong-ri, who stood unable to reply for a moment, he added a word.

“You will have to choose a side well. This is the last time I am letting you off.”

Gong-ri’s heart fell dizzyingly.

***

After Tae Ju-ha left, Gong-ri urgently picked up a brush.

Gong-ri, who wrote two letters of simple content, hung one letter each to the legs of a carrier pigeon and a carrier hawk.

In the carrier pigeon heading toward the nearby branch, the content was: "The Chief Stronghold Leader of the Yangtze River Waterway Forts protects the Young Master of the Sichuan Tang Clan." On the leg of the carrier hawk, which was several times faster than the carrier pigeon, the content was: "The Fist Demon is heading to Yuqing."

Because her mind was noisy, she closed her eyes and let out a low breath.

The Master of the Yangtze knew that she was weighing things in the middle.

Now she had to make her position clear.

Together with Tae Ju-ha’s declaration, the pieces of information that had been fragmented began to gather together. Uncertain and doubtful information turned into facts and filled in.

Centered around the Sichuan Tang Clan, from the Meteor Merchant Guild and the Yangtze River Waterway Forts to the only tavern untouched by Hao Sect, Drunken Lotus Pavilion. As they gathered all the fragments of information without exception and pieced them together, a single completed picture slowly took shape.

“……Oh my god.”

It was the birth of an entirely new faction.

***

At the center of that faction, San-ho was currently lost and wandering in his distant memories.

He could not wake up from the terrible illusion.

Where did these memories come from? He could not even know that.

A mire-like despair dragged him down.

He was merely being shown.

It was already the several-th time the same scene was repeated.

San-ho, who experienced anger, despair, sadness, and a sense of loss in turn, let out a tired breath.

“Haa…”

The memory where only the same scene played like a broken movie projector. San-ho’s gaze turned to Tae Ju-ha, who was publicly displaying Tang Hae-soo’s severed head. His body trembled on its own at the sight that was unbelievable no matter how many times he looked.

This time, he shifted his gaze to the left of Tae Ju-ha.

There, another shock was waiting for him.

“·········.”

Atop the pavilion untouched by the flames, a child stood.

It was Mua.

Mua, with a contemplative and transient expression, whispered something to Tae-oh who stood next to him. Having heard those words, Tae-oh delivered orders to the people below, and whenever he did so, desperate screams and groans would burst out from unexpected places.

'What… on earth is this memory?'

The injured people screamed.

The same went for those who were not.

San-ho, who mashed his already ruined lips again, closed his eyes.

If the purpose was to give him pain, it was already successful, to the point that he wanted to scream to please get him out of this terrible memory.

He could not even know how much time had passed.

The howling hell that was just repeated and repeated… seemed to force him not to miss a single thing, to watch carefully, and to remember everything.

Thus, San-ho took in without exception how humans died, who was here, who was the one in front, and who stabbed whom in the back. Among them, those he knew and those he did not know were mixed.

'Until when do I have to do this…'

His upset stomach did not settle down at all.

The feeling of his mind being distracted and his heart being eaten away.

It was then.

An unfamiliar voice spoke to him.

“How is it since you got a family?”

San-ho’s eyes, realizing the owner of the voice, were filled with astonishment.

The hair on his entire body stood on end as if he had seen something he should not have.

This was the first time.