novelraw Chapter 64
Chapter 64
Chapter 64
Paeng Ga-jong continued speaking, as if he knew what Cheon Ha-seong was thinking.
“There are those who have turned traitor for their own benefit, and those who have spoken after being unable to endure torture. Are there any eternal secrets in this world? Do you still wish to go to them?”
Cheon Ha-seong nodded his head.
Paeng Ga-jong, as if he didn't know why he was doing this, told him the location.
“Manager, the Azure Sea Sect is truly not a place to be taken lightly. The masters of the Azure Sea Sect are truly terrifying men. Although they claim to be of the Orthodox Sect, if you look at their deeds, they are truly vicious. Saying that they must make people shudder at the thought of the Divine Cult's followers, they brutally kill passersby, and you cannot imagine how severe it is. They do things without hesitation that one could never do while wearing a human mask.”
“Thank you for telling me. If by any chance I do not return, please do not speak of our meeting to anyone.”
“Manager, what should I do with these dumplings?”
“You need not worry. It seems there will be people to eat these dumplings in my wife's stead. It seems anyone who eats these dumplings will feel good, so I will take them.”
Cheon Ha-seong carefully took the packed dumplings, bowed to Paeng Ga-jong, and then disappeared. The moment he vanished, his figure disappeared as if it were a lie.
“…!”
Paeng Ga-jong was startled and looked around.
‘Could it be that he is also a master?’
In the meantime, another person's figure also vanished from that spot. It was Danmok Yeon, who had been following them while hiding his form until then.
Danmok Yeon was dumbfounded as he watched Cheon Ha-seong perform his lightness skill. His following of Cheon Ha-seong this time had been a complete coincidence. He had followed him by chance, without ever thinking that Cheon Ha-seong might be the very person he was looking for.
But could it really be so?
Even if a cow had stepped on a mouse while walking backward, it would not have been as strange as the current situation.
‘How is that man performing the lightness skill of the Heaven-Shattering Will Art? And at its pinnacle, no less?’
Danmok Yeon rarely used his full power. Until now, there had been almost no one who had made him use his full power. But if he didn't want to lose Cheon Ha-seong, he had no other choice.
That was a truly fortunate thing for Paeng Ga-jong. If he had lost Cheon Ha-seong, Danmok Yeon would have gone to find Paeng Ga-jong to find out where he had gone. And Danmok Yeon's methods would have been, as always, extremely rough.
Cheon Ha-seong, unaware that someone was following him, went to the place Paeng Ga-jong had told him about. According to what Paeng Ga-jong had said, the incident should have been completely over, but still, he couldn't not go.
He had held onto the hope that if he went and asked people, he would be able to find out where the followers of the Divine Cult were now.
With that thought, when he arrived, the place Paeng Ga-jong had spoken of was already a wasteland. Smoke was rising as if the fire had been extinguished not long ago, and the houses had collapsed and turned to ash.
People were collapsed here and there, and around them, those who appeared to be their families were sitting and weeping, stifling their sobs.
Cheon Ha-seong felt his heart sink. According to Paeng Ga-jong, it had seemed the incident was over, but he wondered if that wasn't the case.
“What happened here?”
When Cheon Ha-seong ran up and asked, a woman who was clutching a collapsed man and crying looked at him with swollen eyes.
Cheon Ha-seong thought that it was more urgent to examine the collapsed person's wounds than to hear an answer.
The collapsed person had been beaten so badly that there wasn't a single unharmed spot on his body.
While he was an instructor at the Martial Arts Academy, Cheon Ha-seong had also personally taught how to treat external injuries. So in most cases, he could be even better than a physician.
“Please step aside for a moment.”
Cheon Ha-seong said, then pressed the man's acupoints to stop the bleeding and took out medicine for blade wounds from his clothes and applied it. As he did so, he asked the woman next to him.
“Are you by any chance a follower of the Divine Cult?”
Then, thinking he should first reveal who he was, he showed her the hand sign.
Perhaps because they had already been through a major ordeal for being followers of the Divine Cult, the woman nodded her head, as if thinking there was no need to hide it now.
“Was this the doing of the martial artists from the place called the Azure Sea Sect?”
“That's right. They said they would come once every three days and do this to five people each time. They said that after three days, the people who were injured today will die. They said they would absolutely not let them die easily and would make them know for certain what the fate of a Divine Cult follower is. Please, help us.”
The more she spoke, the more her emotions seemed to intensify, and the woman spoke with sorrow.
“You have endured well. Do not worry anymore. I will help you all return safely to the Divine Cult. For now, it would be best to move you inside. If you stay here like this, you will all be unable to withstand the cold. It will get colder when night comes, so please muster your strength, even if just a little. Right now, you must be strong.”
At first, he spoke to the woman in front of him, but later, he spoke in a loud voice so that the others could hear as well.
“And you, Senior over there. I do not know why you are following me, but you won't be able to learn anything about me by just watching from so far away, will you? I don't know what you want to find out, but how about you come here and help me?”
There was almost no change in Cheon Ha-seong's voice. So the people who were there also thought Cheon Ha-seong was speaking to them, but then found the content strange. Then they looked around, but seeing no one else, they wondered who Cheon Ha-seong had spoken to.
He didn't seem strange, but a sense of caution arose, wondering if he wasn't perhaps a bit odd.
Danmok Yeon was startled, wondering if Cheon Ha-seong could possibly have been speaking to him. So at first, thinking that couldn't be, he continued to hold out.
However, Cheon Ha-seong looked precisely in his direction and spoke again.
“I can feel demonic energy, so you seem to be a follower of the Divine Cult. Even if your intentions do not align with mine, shouldn't we first help these people right now? I will properly face you later, so how about we join forces for now?”
Seeing him speak like that, it was clear he was speaking to him.
Danmok Yeon didn't think he had to follow Cheon Ha-seong's words, but he also couldn't just stand by and watch the followers of the Divine Cult suffer and die at the hands of the Orthodox Sect bastards.
It wasn't because he felt sorry for the followers, but because he couldn't forgive the deeds of the arrogant Orthodox Sect bastards. Even if the followers were to be killed, he should be the one to do it; he couldn't let the impudent Orthodox Sect bastards do it.
When he appeared, everyone there was startled and looked at Cheon Ha-seong. Danmok Yeon had appeared from quite a distance, and they were wondering how he had noticed a person so far away.
Danmok Yeon was awkward and embarrassed and didn't know what to say. His pride was hurt because it was as if he had been called out, and he wanted to make it seem like he had come out on his own volition. So he was just about to open his mouth, but Cheon Ha-seong, as if there were no need for any words, took out his money pouch, gave him a bank note, and spoke.
“These people need a room to stay in. And they won't be let into an inn like this, so go and buy them clothes first. Once you've secured the rooms, you must return and move them one by one. In the meantime, I will be treating those who can be treated, so please hurry. On your way back, stop by an apothecary and buy some medicine.”
Saying that, he told him the symptoms he had observed and assessed.
“Ask them to prepare medicine that matches those symptoms and return as quickly as possible. Don't forget to order food in advance when you leave the inn after getting the rooms. So that they can eat right away when they get there, as they must have starved for a long time. Rough or stimulating food will be a burden on their bodies, so please order food that is easy to digest.”
Then, without even looking at Danmok Yeon, he went to another patient.
Danmok Yeon stood blankly for a moment, then got to his feet.
He felt bad, wondering how he had ended up taking orders from a fresh-faced greenhorn like this, but there was nothing he could do.
“You don't seem to be injured, so follow me. You, and you too, follow me.”
Danmok Yeon said, pointing to a few people.
They looked at the others, as if asking if it was really okay to follow him. They must not have been sure if it was alright to believe the words of strangers who had suddenly appeared.
It was the same for the others, so no one gave a definite answer. Just then, Cheon Ha-seong spoke.
“No matter how well their injuries are treated, if they greet the night outside, their condition could worsen and they could end up dying. I know it may be difficult to trust us, but you all have no other alternative anyway. So please go, thinking you have nothing to lose.”
In the meantime, Cheon Ha-seong finished treating another person and went to someone else. As he did so, he did not forget to hand out the blade wound medicine he had in his clothes to the people and instruct them to apply it to the patients' wounds.
The people, who at first hadn't known what to do and had been able to do nothing but cry their hearts out, now found something to do. The fact that they had an immediate task seemed to calm their hearts.
“You can also look around and pack up any household goods that are still usable. You can think of it as going to the inn to recover a little, and then going straight to the Divine Cult from there.”
Listening to Cheon Ha-seong's words, the people still had faces of half-belief, half-doubt.
It was the dream of all Divine Cult followers to go and live in the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains. Here, one never knew when their identity as a follower would be exposed and they would be attacked and killed by people. But they believed that if they went to the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains, where fellow followers who believed in the Demonic God lived, there would be no such danger.
If they could be surrounded by such people and live without any worries, what more could they ask for?
Cheon Ha-seong knew that they wouldn't be able to trust him, so he spoke to reassure them, even if just a little.
“You can trust me. I am the Young Supreme One's personal bodyguard. I came here on the orders of the Cult Leader and the Young Supreme One. Therefore, if you go with me, you will all be welcomed in the Divine Cult.”
At the words 'Cult Leader' and 'Young Supreme One', an unusual light appeared in the people's eyes. Was there anyone who could have dared to even imagine that they would be able to see the Cult Leader and the Young Supreme One while they were alive?
“Is that really true?”
A young boy among them asked. Looking at the child, Cheon Ha-seong smiled and nodded his head.