Little Demon Reversion to Youth

Chapter 60

Mo Dahou had fled from Bai Renguang, but there was no place that would take them in.

As the news of what had happened at the White Mountain Sect slowly spread, he was branded a traitor, and no place treated him properly.

There were thirty men who followed him. Most sects would not even let them in, fearing that they would be devoured if they took them in.

Since they had fled in the middle of the night, their funds had also quickly run out.

Mo Dahou had even thought of going up to the mountains and pretending to be a mountain man, but his pride would not allow it.

Then, he heard the news that the White Mountain Sect had changed to the Yang-Bai Merchant Sect and was recruiting new warriors, so he came.

Seeing the beggar-like Mo Dahou, Baekji said, "The saying 'if you leave home, you'll suffer' must be true. You look a mess, my heart aches."

"If you accept us, we will serve you with all our loyalty."

Mo Dahou said with a resolute expression.

"Pity and official judgment are separate. Unfortunately, there are many applicants besides Brigade Leader Mo."

"I am no longer a brigade leader. Please call me Dahou."

"Hey. Still, you're old, but Dahou. How can that be?"

"No. I have heard that the martial world is a world of the strong, where the strong take everything. Please call me by my name."

"Of course, I am strong. But I don't treat people carelessly like Bai Renguang. I always treat them with respect. Of course, they have to be human beings worthy of it. There's no need to respect brats who are worse than beasts and who betray others, right? Don't you think so too, Brigade Leader Mo? Oh, right, what were we talking about?"

Mo Dahou, enduring Baekji's words that were digging into his heart, said, "Please select us. There is a saying that the old official is the best official. There is no one who knows the White Mountain Sect as well as we do."

"The White Mountain Sect is no more. There is no need to know. Do you know anything about the Yang-Bai Merchant Sect?"

"...I will learn quickly."

"This is not a martial sect. It's a merchant guild."

"What?"

"Do you know anything about the business of a merchant guild? Brigade Leader Mo is only good at fighting, right? Even that is questionable... come to think of it, how did you manage to become a brigade leader with those skills?"

"..."

Mo Dahou's self-esteem was in tatters.

'Rather...'

The thought of just going up to the mountains and becoming a bandit flashed through his mind.

But.

He could not tell the thirty men who followed him to become bandits.

"I will try my best."

"Martial arts can be improved with effort. But character does not change easily. I will not be able to endure being betrayed. I will be ashamed of myself and fall into self-pity. I don't want to have that experience. Have you ever used a traitor, Brigade Leader Mo?"

"I have never betrayed the Honored One. Isn't it a natural desire for a martial artist to want the position of the White Mountain Sect Master? I wanted to become the White Mountain Sect Master and create a better sect than Bai Renguang."

Mo Dahou took out a document from his bosom and offered it.

"What is this?"

"If we betray you, you can do as this document says."

The document contained the names and addresses of Mo Dahou's old mother and the families of the thirty warriors who followed him.

"It is a promise that if we betray you, you can sell those whose names are on this list as slaves. We have all signed it."

Baekji looked at the document and then tilted his head.

"What is the reason for doing this? If it were me, I would have gone up to the mountains and collected tolls. Are you saying that even though you kill people as if eating, you are still a righteous sect?"

"We are from the martial families of Sichuan. If we become bandits, we will have no face to see our relatives."

"It is not a flaw to become a bandit in a time of chaos. Look at the heroes of Liangshan."

"This is not a time of chaos where farmers abandon their plows and become bandits. It is a time when wicked people with the faces of humans and the hearts of beasts have nowhere to go and become bandits."

"The Green Forest would be sad to hear that."

"We have burned down several mountain fortresses while unifying northern Sichuan. Those brats all killed commoners, used them as slaves, or kidnapped women and did all sorts of things. To tell us to become like those brats is the same as telling us to die in this place."

"As expected, Brigade Leader Mo is smart and has a smooth tongue."

Baekji was genuinely impressed.

"I am sincere."

Mo Dahou's forehead hit the floor with a thud.

Baekji said, "Go and tell everyone to come."

'It worked!'

Mo Dahou hurriedly went out and called his subordinates who were waiting outside the estate.

In the spacious training ground in front of the Yang-Bai Hall, the applicants were sitting on both sides.

In the middle, those who had been selected by Baekji's orders were watching the martial arts contest.

So, it was no exaggeration to say that almost everyone in the Yang-Bai Merchant Sect was gathered.

When Mo Dahou and his subordinates crossed the threshold of the Yang-Bai Hall, everyone looked at them.

"Don't be intimidated!"

Mo Dahou said to his subordinates.

They knew that the Yang-Bai Merchant Sect was holding a martial arts contest to select warriors.

To seize the initiative, they raised their momentum to the fullest.

The sharp, keen energy poured out by the thirty martial artists swept through the training ground.

"What, who are those brats?"

Although the Martial Alliance members and the Demonic Cult members who were preparing for the martial arts contest were dressed in ordinary clothes, they were all first-rate warriors.

A first-rate warrior knows how to hide their aura.

Since Quan Bai and Tie Yantai had warned them, they had been holding back their auras, but when thirty brats came and flew their keen energy, one or two of them unknowingly let their auras slip.

A martial artist is sensitive to ki.

When keen energy rose from here and there, they all raised their auras.

The training ground of the Yang-Bai Sect was instantly covered in sharp, keen energy.

Mo Dahou and his subordinates stood in front of the Yang-Bai Hall, emitting a storm-like momentum.

A moment later.

Baekji came out.

He was holding a bamboo staff in his hand.

It was a new bamboo staff that he had prepared after throwing away the one that had been beaten by the Blood Corpse Brigade.

Seeing the keen energy that filled the training ground of the Yang-Bai Hall, the corners of his eyes shot up.

"These brats?"

Baekji struck the bamboo staff down.

Thump!

A huge wave of ki exploded and spread out like a storm in concentric circles.

"Ugh!"

"Keuk!"

Everyone in the Yang-Bai Hall staggered.

The only ones who were fine were the masters, Tie Yantai, Quan Bai, and Nangong Zhao, and Baekji's disciples.

Unable to withstand the fierce wave of ki that Baekji had unleashed, some even suffered internal injuries.

"Where did you learn the habit of letting out such a paltry keen energy?"

When Baekji glared at them, they all tucked their tails in.

The energy that had covered the training ground disappeared completely.

"Mo Dahou."

"Yes."

"I don't need this."

Baekji held the document that Mo Dahou had handed him.

Thwack! Hwararak!

Even though no one had lit it, the document burst into flames.

"...!"

Mo Dahou had a bad feeling.

"You guys still haven't come to your senses. To try to enter the Yang-Bai Merchant Sect with that kind of spirit. I was going to just send you back, but I don't think I can. For the sake of your families, you need to receive some mental education."

"What do you mean..."

"Even if you're in a hurry. For men to sell their families? You're saying it's okay to sell your families as slaves if you betray me? Are you telling me to engage in human trafficking?"

"That is a token of our resolute will and loyalty."

"Why should your old mother risk her life to prove your loyalty?"

"..."

"What sin did your mother commit to have given birth to you, raised you, and now even have to guarantee your loyalty?"

"Th-that's not it... it's my oath that I will never betray you..."

"Shut up! The very act of mixing words with a brat like you is unpleasant. First, let's get beaten."

Baekji's figure disappeared.

Baekji's bamboo staff danced in the empty air.

Thwack, thwack!

Papapak!

"Keo-eok!"

"Keok!"

Everyone in the training ground just watched the sudden turn of events.

Baekji was not seen, and only the bamboo staff raged in all directions.

Surprisingly, the bamboo staff beat the thirty or so people evenly.

There was no time to block or anything. The ones who were being hit couldn't even tell where the bamboo staff was flying from to beat their heads.

They were hit by the bamboo staff, flew through the air, rolled on the ground, and collapsed while standing.

They couldn't even faint or collapse at will.

The bamboo staff only hit them enough so that they wouldn't lose consciousness, and before they could collapse, it hit them again.

"Keo-ak!"

"Keo-eok!"

The training ground was filled with the screams of thirty people.

The onlookers were horrified.

'To not die even after being beaten like that!'

'There is no hell other than this!'

A punishment where one is beaten endlessly, in their right mind, without being able to faint or collapse.

What else could it be but hell?

The beating continued for a full half an hour. The people in the training ground were so engrossed that they couldn't even breathe properly, as if they were the ones being beaten.

The expressions of Tie Yantai and Quan Bai were serious.

They felt like they should intervene, but they didn't dare to. If they did, they felt like they would be dragged into that maelstrom of chaos and be beaten too.

Tie Yantai felt his head throb for no reason.

"Baekji!"

Yang Soryeong and Zhongmei were seen running from the side of the Yang-Bai Hall.

When the beating dragged on, the worried Ajok had sent Zhongmei to call Yang Soryeong.

"Huh?"

Baekji, who had been realizing his mental education in a state of self-absorption, stopped the beating when Yang Soryeong called.

Then, the thirty people, including Mo Dahou, collapsed like rotten straw.

It was clear that he had been hitting them while keeping them standing so that they couldn't collapse.

A shiver ran down everyone's spine.

"What's wrong? Isn't this person Brigade Leader Mo?"

Although his face was swollen from the beating and his eyes, nose, and mouth were gone, the sharp-eyed Yang Soryeong recognized him.

"Come on, Master. These brats are trying to get a job by selling their families."

"Selling their families?"

When Baekji explained what had happened, Yang Soryeong nodded.

"They deserved to be beaten."

Yang Soryeong just turned and left.

The people in the training ground also knew what had happened.

Some understood, and some did not.

When a martial sect accepted a warrior, confirming their background also contained the implicit warning that their family could be harmed if they betrayed them.

Of course, if they sacrificed themselves for the sect, their family would be given a large sum of money.

That was why many warriors willingly jumped into the jaws of death.

Even the Nine Great Sects, which were formed by master-disciple relationships, and the great families, which were bound by blood, despised and exiled the families of traitors, although they did not go as far as retaliation.

Even though it was so clear, betrayal was rampant in the martial world.

That was why there were also evil sects that controlled their subordinates by feeding them poison.

The fact that Mo Dahou and his subordinates had entrusted the disposition of their families meant that they had shown their will to be loyal, but some could not agree with Baekji's anger.

Baekji said to the fallen Mo Dahou and his subordinates, "Stop faking it and get up."

No one moved.

"You think I can't beat you if you lie down? Don't you know it hurts more? Should I show you?"

Then, one or two began to groan and struggle to get up.

Baekji said, "Hey, the moment you were born as a man and risked your life on a single sword, everything is your responsibility. Risk your own life."

"..."

"If you want to betray me, you can. I'll kill you."

"..."

"But to drag your family into it in a dirty way? Because you have that kind of spirit, you betray others."

"..."

"Get lost."

Mo Dahou and his subordinates staggered out of the training ground.

Baekji, as if nothing had happened, swung his bamboo staff and said to Ajok, "Shouldn't we start the martial arts contest?"

(End of Chapter)