Chapter 276

With the appearance of Mang Ryo and Demonic Nun Myowol, the scene entered a temporary lull.

Mang Ryo was in an irreconcilable blood feud with Jin Ja-gang.

He had secretly exchanged information with Dan Ryeong-gyeong, but recently had tried to kill her. Yet recently, he had helped the Evil Sect members kill Thunder Brand Sword Ye Jin-gyeong and the White Tiger Earth Emperor Pavilion warriors.

He had been with Baek Li-jung for over eight years. However, he bore responsibility for causing Baek Li-gwon’s death by dragging his son and chief disciple into this situation.

Strange relationships where he had long associations with both sides while simultaneously building resentment with all.

Against this background, Mang Ryo appeared, and with Demonic Nun who was an undeniable master, the situation couldn’t help but become complicated. It was impossible to know what actions he might take.

Mang Ryo seemed quite pleased that the scene had entered a lull because of him.

“Hehe.”

Wobble wobble.

Stepping on his broken prosthetic legs, Mang Ryo entered the confrontation point of the battle. Then looking at the dead Zhuge Son-gi, he said.

“Since the cousin brothers went on the same day, they won’t be lonely.”

The Zhuge family warriors looked puzzled. One of them asked.

“What do you mean by that now!”

“What I mean is… all the Zhuge family members down below are already dead.”

“Hero Zhuge was defeated?”

“Why, does it sound like a lie?”

“Stop talking nonsense! Who would dare attack Hero Zhuge!”

“Who else but me.”

Mang Ryo showed the eight command flags of the Nine Palace Eight Trigrams Formation. They were definitely the flags that Zhuge Ming had been carrying.

The Zhuge family warriors were shaken.

They realized why the formation’s command had been in chaos.

Because Zhuge Ming was dead!

On the other hand, the Evil Sect members were relieved. They no longer needed to worry about the Nine Palace Eight Trigrams Formation.

Especially if Demonic Nun and Mang Ryo had attacked Zhuge Ming, it could be seen as siding against the Martial Alliance like before.

Human Demon Gam Chung placed his hand on his bulging belly and laughed.

“Kekeke. Then all that’s left is Indestructible Heavenly Sword? The world’s Indestructible Heavenly Sword is about to bury his bones in this place.”

Baek Li-jung raised the corner of his mouth dismissively. It was an arrogant attitude as if he didn’t care about anyone around him.

“What’s a minnow saying? Not even worth a meal.”

Gam Chung’s eyes widened.

“Hey now, aren’t you looking down on me too much? If I put my mind to it, let me show you just how much I can annoy someone.”

Mang Ryo nodded.

“Right. The most annoying thing in the world is doing troublesome work. In that sense…”

Mang Ryo looked at Baek Li-jung and asked.

“How about I take on some troublesome work for you?”

At Mang Ryo’s tone that was hard to find any respect in, Baek Li-jung’s brow slightly furrowed. However, what mattered wasn’t the tone but the content.

Gam Chung felt something strange and asked.

“Look here. I said I’d be troublesome, but if you say you’ll take on troublesome work instead, doesn’t that make the story strange?”

Mang Ryo scratched his nose bridge and said.

“There seems to be some misunderstanding, but just because I attacked the Zhuge family doesn’t mean I intend to attack Indestructible Heavenly Sword.”

“What? The Zhuge family and Baek Li-jung are on the same side, but separately? That sounds strange.”

“Well, depending on who’s listening, you might think that.”

Myowol suddenly interrupted and shouted sharply.

“Amitabha! It’s difficult to suppress my killing intent any longer! How long must I wait!”

Mang Ryo soothed Myowol like calming a child.

“It’s almost done, so wait just a little longer. Originally, the leisurely side has the advantage in negotiations.”

Surprisingly, at Mang Ryo’s words, though Myowol’s single eye blazed with fire, she didn’t move. Instead, she just glared at Jin Ja-gang as if to kill him while touching the left eye she’d lost because of Jin Ja-gang.

When Myowol calmed down, Mang Ryo nodded and asked Gam Chung.

“Now we can continue the conversation. Sorry, but what did you ask before?”

“You said you came after killing the Zhuge family members below, so why are you helping Indestructible Heavenly Sword?”

“Ah, right. Do you happen to know about multilateral debt?”

“Suddenly what multilateral debt? What’s multilateral debt?”

Mang Ryo raised his finger like teaching a child and said.

“When three or four people are entangled in debt relationships like chains, it’s called multilateral debt.”

Mang Ryo pointed at himself with his finger, then pointed at Dan Ryeong-gyeong and Baek Li-jung, then at Demonic Nun Myowol, and finally at Jin Ja-gang.

“This kind of relationship right now is called multilateral debt.”

“It’s hard to understand. So what happens how?”

“That depends on Indestructible Heavenly Sword.”

Baek Li-jung cut off Mang Ryo’s words as if there was no room for consideration.

“Get lost.”

Mang Ryo asked back as if he had nothing to lose.

“Is that really okay?”

Baek Li-jung’s eyes became cold.

“Right. Now that I think about it, you still owe a blood debt for my son.”

Only then did Gam Chung understand multilateral debt and clapped in admiration.

“Oh! This is multilateral debt! Indeed, blood debts are entangled everywhere.”

However, Gam Chung’s laughter soon disappeared. Thinking about it, if blood debts were entangled everywhere, Mang Ryo’s appearance wasn’t necessarily good for them.

Mang Ryo said.

“My proposal is simple. Let’s make a small deal appropriate to the current situation.”

Baek Li-jung asked.

“Current situation?”

“Actually, I’ve been up here for a while. I was waiting for a situation like this.”

It meant a proposal that would be difficult to refuse.

Baek Li-jung’s brow narrowed. He understood Mang Ryo’s meaning.

At that moment, Elder Bok-cheon shouted and suddenly rushed at Baek Li-jung.

“How dare you let your guard down!”

Slash, slice!

With an ear-splitting sharp air-cutting sound, sword energy shot out. Elder Bok-cheon instantly poured sword energy like torrential rain into the air.

Jin Ja-gang recognized Elder Bok-cheon’s movements as familiar. It was the Seventy-Two Wave Sword that Elder Bok-cheon had used bare-handed when facing him. He was unleashing it with a sword in one breath.

Sword strikes fiercely covered Baek Li-jung. Baek Li-jung drew sword energy from his Heavenly Vermillion Blade and met them equally.

Clatter clatter clatter!

As the sword energies collided, sharp waves rang through the air as if thorns were flying.

The entire Seventy-Two Wave Sword was unleashed in an instant. Most people could barely see the two wielding their swords. The ground around them was completely overturned by the flying sword energy. Dust clouds rose.

Elder Bok-cheon’s sword couldn’t even touch Baek Li-jung and remained stopped in mid-air, meeting the Heavenly Vermillion Blade. Elder Bok-cheon’s face turned red as he ran out of breath. His sword energy had visibly diminished.

But Baek Li-jung’s sword energy hadn’t diminished at all.

Baek Li-jung raised his sword and struck down with all his might.

Clang!

Elder Bok-cheon’s sword, depleted of energy, was mercilessly cut through. Elder Bok-cheon was knocked backward and barely maintained his posture by planting his broken sword in the ground.

“Master!”

Woon-jeong shouted. It was a mistake to say something that would reveal his identity, but Elder Bok-cheon was too distracted to stop him.

Even unleashing beyond the limit of Seventy-Two Waves to Seventy-Five Waves, he was pushed back by Baek Li-jung.

Elder Bok-cheon showed disbelieving eyes while baring his blood-beaded teeth.

Mang Ryo looked at Elder Bok-cheon and clicked his tongue.

“You should think logically before attacking. He killed a first-rate master, so would he be weaker than a first-rate?”

Baek Li-jung, having knocked down Elder Bok-cheon, asked Mang Ryo.

“What if I don’t agree to your words?”

“If you don’t agree, I’ll attack Qingcheng Sect.”

“If I agree?”

“I’ll take on the troublesome work.”

It was incomprehensibly confusing. Whether he agreed or not, didn’t it mean he would help Baek Li-jung attack the Evil Sect members?

Elder Bok-cheon, unable to bear it, shouted.

“What the hell are you scheming!”

However, Baek Li-jung’s expression was much more distorted than before. He was developing strong anger toward Mang Ryo.

Baek Li-jung spat out words as if chewing them.

“That rat bastard dares… create troublesome work himself, then act like he’s doing a favor by handling it?”

“Kekeke. I should receive compensation for my prosthetic legs, shouldn’t I?”

It was an extremely uncomfortable and bizarre sight.

Baek Li-jung was actually angry at Mang Ryo even though Mang Ryo was offering to help.

However, Mang Ryo didn’t care and laughed while saying.

“Taking easy profit by timing opportunities well is a characteristic of petty people, isn’t it? Actually, in that regard, you and I aren’t much different.”

The atmosphere in the scene became very strange due to Mang Ryo and Baek Li-jung’s cryptic dialogue.

Then Bian Bu muttered next to Jin Ja-gang.

“Threatening Indestructible Heavenly Sword with just a few words. He’s really mastered seizing opportunities.”

Jin Ja-gang looked at Bian Bu as if asking what he meant.

Bian Bu lowered his voice and said.

“That Mang Ryo fellow confessed to killing Zhuge Ming as soon as he appeared in the scene, right? And he said he’d help Indestructible Heavenly Sword attack us. What would happen if that fact became known to the outside?”

The Zhuge family and Baek Li-jung had been in a cooperative relationship until now. But if Mang Ryo, who killed Zhuge Ming, helps Baek Li-jung, the situation becomes very strange.

The Zhuge family would have to hold Baek Li-jung somewhat responsible to collect the blood debt. And Baek Li-jung would have to explain if he didn’t want to take all the responsibility alone.

And that detailed explanation about his entanglement with Mang Ryo, who was involved in the ‘Alliance Leader assassination’!

How good an opportunity this would be for Baek Li-jung’s political enemies was obvious without saying.

The complex circumstances brought by ‘multilateral debt’ would ultimately entangle Baek Li-jung in a snare.

Jin Ja-gang suddenly realized from Bian Bu’s words.

The most important thing in the current situation was witnesses.

The Evil Sect’s testimony lacked credibility. Even if Baek Li-jung claimed he could make bean paste from red beans, the orthodox sects wouldn’t believe it.

But the testimony of Zhuge family warriors was different.

In the end…

The troublesome work Mang Ryo mentioned was killing all the Zhuge family warriors to silence them!

That’s also why Mang Ryo said he’d attack Qingcheng Sect.

Due to Qingcheng Sect’s intervention, the Zhuge family warriors were being helplessly pushed back. Since Jin Ja-gang had also dealt with Zhuge Son-gi, if Jin Ja-gang joined in, the Zhuge family warriors couldn’t hold out any longer. In at most a moment, they would all be subdued or killed.

In other words, attacking Qingcheng Sect to let the Zhuge family warriors live would put Baek Li-jung in a difficult position.

To deal with those who think politically, you must know and understand their thinking!

Mang Ryo was fully utilizing this point to pressure Baek Li-jung.

Jin Ja-gang gritted his teeth tightly.

He realized why the martial world was called the Demon Subjugation Hall.

He felt with his skin that schemes and machinations ruled in a martial world where chivalry and righteousness had disappeared.

Endlessly entangled relationships of gratitude and resentment, and the struggles to survive within them.

It was chilling.

The bloodshed between the Medicine Sect and Poison Sect must surely have originated from this point.

‘Find principles and establish justification in such a martial world?’

He newly realized how difficult and perilous In Divine Nun’s demands were.

However, on the other hand, Jin Ja-gang became even more curious. What circumstances were entangled between the Medicine Sect and Poison Sect to cause such bloodshed?

To do that…

He had to survive here.

Though he faced his mortal enemies Mang Ryo and Baek Li-jung, he now knew that killing them wouldn’t end his revenge, so he had to retreat.

Jin Ja-gang looked at the Zhuge family warriors.

After a very brief consideration, Jin Ja-gang, having made up his mind, said.

“If you don’t want to die, run away.”

Because the scene was very quiet, everyone clearly heard Jin Ja-gang’s words. Baek Li-jung did too. Baek Li-jung’s expression hardened.

At that moment, Mang Ryo laughed.

“How decisive.”