NOTICE: Many of the novels have been removed because they might cause violations, which we were not aware of earlier.
Episode 217. The Secret
Magic masters usually do not hide the energy that naturally flows from their achievements. This is probably because they have lived in an order where the strong are revered.
Since entering Goiteuk, Yu Myeong-myeong has been imitating the magic masters and has been releasing heavy ki wa (spiritual energy) but anyway, there were only commoners who had hardly learned martial arts around him. Even if his words and actions were imitating those of the left and right masters of the magic cult, there was no need to do that with his ki wa (spirit energy)━ If he raised his ki wa to that level, the criminal would be so stressed that he wouldn’t even be able to breathe properly.
I thought it was enough to just act as the young index of the magician. That must be why the person who seemed to be the leader of a group of bandits was talking about the fortune teller.
‘Are you looking down on me?’
The name was laughable. It was funny, regardless of the annoying situation. Although he has been called by nicknames like Jeongcheon Maengju and Amdokgeomryong recently, he is the head of the Sacheondang family and the one who single-handedly destroyed most of the apostle forces, including Black Lotus Master Yu Giljun. It is no exaggeration to say that he is one of the strongest in the current martial arts world. In front of such a person, how could he be so happy, calling him a captive and a hostage? Not even dreaming that his own fate would soon be over.
‘I guess I’ll have to tie up his feet first.’
It was easy to take their lives right away. Sword Island (殲) – With a single horizontal slash, the fifty-seven bandits would be separated into upper and lower classes and face death.
However, he was currently acting as the second-ranking member of the Madokyang family. So he was not going to take out his sword. There wouldn’t be a big problem if he showed off his swordsmanship, but that was his nature. He always kept in mind the possibility of a thousand thoughts falling through his fingers (even a wise person can make mistakes in many thoughts), and tried to move cautiously.
Since there was no suspicious circumstance, killing him right away was reserved.
Saaaaaaaa━
It was at that moment that the surrounding air became chilly.
In the darkness – A deep green light blooms from the eyes of the swordsman. It looks like a natural flower is swaying, and the bandits who face it feel as if their hearts have been stabbed. It was only natural that the bandit leader’s expression changed suddenly. He had already raised his magic and was ready for battle, but he was shocked by this.
The area of murderous intent spread by the swordsman – the area visible only to Dang-myeong was long and fan-shaped. The thirty or so chapters in front were all filled with dense murderous intent, and fifty-seven pairs of horses were inside.
“… … !”
The first to react were the horses the bandits were riding. They had been running quite a distance, and they were barely able to hide their excited breathing. They gurgled and spat out foam, and their eyes rolled back in an instant. If they were a human, they would have fainted in an instant. This was also something that could be considered natural. Aren’t animals more capable of detecting danger than humans? They can’t help but react more sensitively to the threat of death.
If it was a moderate threat, he would have run away for his life, but what Dang-myung was doing right now was not to that extent. It was a highly refined killing intent – it was like the obsession of a peerless swordsman who would definitely kill was directly engraved in his mind. Those who had not strengthened their mind and body through ignorance were in a state where they were immediately faced with death. There was no way to maintain their sanity.
The horses were barely able to stand, shivering, but that was only due to a kind of stiffness, and they would soon lose strength in their legs and fall over.
Meanwhile.
Even though they were thieves with considerable magical achievements, they were not in much better condition than the horses they were riding. They were barely able to hold on to their senses and breathe thinly while resisting the suffocating murderous intent. They were having difficulty moving their limbs at will, let alone attacking. The expression that their bodies were as heavy as a thousand pounds really hit home.
“It was only a few hours ago that the master arrived here.”
Two green-colored swaying dragons floated through the darkness as they spoke. Dang-myeong opened his mouth as he approached the thieves.
“… … .”
Completely defenseless━ The thieves, who were so caught up in the unimaginable murderous intent that they couldn’t even move a single finger, just looked at Deungmyung with anxious, shaking eyes. For them, this situation that had unfolded in an instant was neither understandable nor realistic.
The leader of the Zhengtian clan, who had work to do and things to protect, had no intention of wasting much time. He had to achieve the purpose of his visit to Xinjiang as quickly as possible and return.
“There’s no need for many mouths to answer.”
Between the two groups of bandits, who were split into two groups, Yuan Ming turned his body to the left, muttering as if to make everyone hear him. Before he knew it, he was holding several needles pulled from the poison pouch in his hand.
Sigh.
“… … !”
Sigh.
“… … !!”
The bandits were on horseback, so Dang-yi-myeong roughly stabbed them in the thighs, backs of their hands, and sides with needles. As always, the poison in the pouch was the intestinal-rupturing paper poison that Dang-yi-jeon had personally prepared. It was a deadly poison that could cause a person without a tolerance to poison to die from the pain of having their intestines torn apart with just three drops.
Even the name of the poison was mixed with the most vicious of the ten poisons, the poison of hearing, in the poison bag. In order to kill efficiently, even a very small amount of poison applied to the tip of a needle was enough to kill a person.
So I stabbed three or four thieves with just one spear, knowing that it was close to a lethal dose.
Kkeuk ━
The thieves who were stabbed with the needles would let out a gasp before they could even take a few breaths. Some died immediately, perhaps because they were stabbed with the needles that had just been pulled out of their poison pouches. Others, perhaps because the poison was not enough, trembled in excruciating pain for a long time before finally dying. It was only five or six more breaths, but for those who were feeling the pain, the expression “a long time” might not be appropriate.
Sigh.
Sigh.
“… … .”
In the suffocating silence, Dang-myeong said nothing and stabbed the bandits on the left branch. In fact, killing them could have been done in an instant by throwing a spear at them using Yeon-ki-ryun, the uneducated person who had retrieved the secret weapon, but he deliberately chose to stab them one by one. That way, it would be easier to instill fear.
Xinjiang is a barren land. It is said that even in the Central Plains, there are leeches that live off the blood of the common people, but here, the common people who are plundered or kidnapped by bandits can really die.
As a member of the Sacheondang family before becoming the leader of the Jeongcheon clan, Dang-Myeong was always mindful of his family rules.
━Favor doubled, resentment tenfold.
It’s a saying I personally like, but I think it has another meaning. If you make a favor with someone, you should be prepared to receive it back several times over!
Aside from learning the art of magic, there were plenty of reasons for the thieves to die. The evil deeds they had committed against the common people, and even the fact that they had dared to touch the small family of Sacheondangga, even if they did not know it.
‘Accept the punishment for your past mistakes.’
Sigh.
Sigh.
Of the fifty-seven thieves, twenty-eight on the left side were all killed in a matter of seconds. The twenty-eighth man to be stabbed had his expression obscured by a mask, but his eyes alone showed that he was on the verge of going crazy. After all, how could he remain sane when he was watching death approach him from right in front of him? Yu Myeong-myeong stabbed the last man with a needle without thinking, then withdrew it and looked around the other side.
Now only the twenty-nine on the right fork remain.
Swish.
In the blink of an eye, the thief leader returned to his senses. He had deployed his secret technique, Shadow. It was originally a secret technique that was difficult to track, but when deployed in the darkness, his gait was truly ghostly.
‘… … Where did such a monstrous author come from?’
The leader of the bandits, Hyun Yong-gil, looked at the young man who was from the Madokyangga with eyes filled with shock and resignation. In fact, Hyun Yong-gil had a secret line with Goiteuk. That was why he quickly received news that a person from the Madokyangga had visited the village alone and was able to make a surprise attack as soon as the sun had set. Recently, the value of shindan in Xinjiang had been gradually increasing. It was only natural. Those who had consumed it even once would continue to seek shindan, as the amount of shindan distributed by the Madokyangga was almost constant. Even in this barren land, there were those who had accumulated wealth, and they did not hesitate to pay a high price to consume shindan. Now, shindan had become as precious as gold of the same size.
The easiest way to obtain the altar was to become a member of the Cheonmasin religion. In other words, to become a member of the religion. That is why it was popular among thieves to raid remote villages. They were not after money, but to kidnap people. They would gather those they kidnapped and form a decent village, and make all of them become members of the Cheonmasin religion. There were no particular restrictions on becoming a member, but it was an unwritten rule that you had to show some sincerity in order to receive the altar. A kind of tribute had to be made first before the altar was given.
The first tribute was provided by the bandits, and the villagers who were forced to convert had their altars taken away by them. That was the end of it. The bandits made huge profits through this method, and the villagers who were left behind did not last long, either starving to death or being captured by other bandits and enslaved until they died.
If it were a village where proper tribute could be paid, the Cheonmasin Church would have sent guard troops with considerable care, but a village hastily formed to conquer the shrine would not be able to prepare tribute on its own. Since follow-up tributes did not arrive, the Cheonmasin Church did not send troops, and even though they knew about the bandits’ scheme, the Cheonmasin Church did not step forward. In any case, as the church grew, tributes came in, and the value of the shrine increased, it must have been because of this.
However, securing the shrine in this way reached its limit after a few years.
This is because the common people, who realized the value of the altar, joined the Cheonmasin Church without exception. Among them, there were those who had many children and converted their entire family to the altar and changed their fate.
For thieves like Hyun Yong-gil, the situation is not as good as before, but at this time, information comes from the secret agent. The latter index of the Madokyang family has visited ‘alone’.
There is no Xinjiang person who does not know that the value of a shindan is equivalent to that of gold of the same size.
The Madokyang family was also well aware of this situation, and perhaps that is why the people from the Madokyang family did not carry around money. Food, clothing, a place to sleep, a carriage, even alcohol and women – everything could be solved with just one altar. Carrying plenty of altars also proved that one was from the Madokyang family.
Goiteuk is a village where no master of the Cheonmasingyo sect resides. This is because they do not offer tribute.
Hyun Yong-gil couldn’t help but drool at the thought of a person from the Madokyang family living alone in such a place.
After taking all the altars he had, he planned to take them hostage and bargain with the Madokyang family to get more altars. Of course, since he had done that to the Madokyang family, he could not afford to stay in Xinjiang any longer, so he planned to take a big chunk and go over to the West.
So I thought I had good luck, but what the heck? This situation is…!