novelraw Chapter 185 : An Informant Only Wanted to Be Freed
Chapter 185 : An Informant Only Wanted to Be Freed
Chapter 185: An Informant Only Wanted to Be Freed
Heaven-Piercing Gang’s main headquarters.
The grand conference hall.
The room, surrounded by dark crimson curtains, was steeped in such taut tension that even breathing had to be done with care.
With only the central seat left empty, all of Heaven-Piercing Gang’s key executives were already seated.
“Sichuan Tang Clan devoured all Six Pillars…….”
“So that’s how it is. Backed by the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace, they became the hegemon of Guizhou.”
“Their next target is clearly us! We need to strengthen our defenses!”
“Hm, but for now, there hasn’t been any other large-scale movement in Guizhou…….”
“Hey, don’t make it so obvious you’re a rookie. Even if they charged in, do you think they could break through the triple-layered spell formation?”
“No, still, their momentum is—.”
The executives gathered for the meeting all spoke over one another, laying bare the anxiety in their hearts.
And then, at that moment.
“Kgh!”
“……!!”
From a corner of the conference hall, someone suddenly let out a groan and doubled over.
Instantly, everyone’s gaze turned toward him, and their eyes widened as if about to burst.
“V-Vice Leader!”
“A-Are you all right?!”
“……I-I’m fine. Everyone, calm yourselves.”
As the others rose in alarm, one man was clutching one side of his chest, as if suppressing his breathing.
He was Gongsun Beon, the Vice Leader of Heaven-Piercing Gang, known as the Nine-Fox Illusionist.
A flash of pain crossed his face for an instant, but he soon steadied his breathing and forcibly composed his expression.
“……It seems I overdid my sorcery training. Repeating it without proper rest for three days and nights, my true qi must have flowed in reverse.”
“Yes? But just yesterday, you clearly told me you finally slept soundly for over six shijin—?”
“Silence! The Leader will arrive shortly. Everyone, restrain yourselves.”
“Y-Yes! Understood!”
The executive tilted his head in confusion, but soon shook off his doubts and returned to his seat.
However, in that fleeting moment that no one noticed—
From within the folds of Gongsun Beon’s jade-colored silk robes, a mirage-like aura briefly rose before vanishing.
‘……Tang Sewoon, that damned bastard again!!’
Gongsun Beon’s eyes twisted with a dark, distorted gleam.
What boiled up inside him was not merely excruciating pain, but a far greater fury toward Sewoon.
Though no one knew it—
At this very moment, what was constricting his heart was the ‘Gu Poison’ that Sewoon had planted within him.
Mindful of the eyes around him, Gongsun Beon cursed inwardly.
‘I’m doing everything you tell me to! I’m hauling information around like a carrier pigeon!’
The Gu Poison embedded in his heart was paired with another; if harm came to its counterpart, it delivered unbearable agony to him as well.
To avoid that horrific pain, Gongsun Beon poured out all manner of information to Sewoon every single day.
The locations of Heaven-Piercing Gang’s spell formations, the types of high-level curses under preparation, troop movement routes, even the movements of the Leader himself.
Even as he suffered nightmares of being discovered as a spy and having his soul burned away, he shed tears of blood while sending the information out.
‘Now you’re even pressing on the Gu like it’s a joke, you cursed bastard!!’
In that instant, tears welled up in his eyes.
How had his position fallen so low—he, once called the Nine-Fox Illusionist, the second-in-command of Heaven-Piercing Gang?
Just as he struggled to hide his reddening eyes—
Thud.
Creeeak.
“!!”
“……!”
With heavy footsteps, the thick and ponderous doors of the conference hall opened.
And with a chilling gaze, the master of ten thousand curses revealed himself.
“So everyone has gathered.”
“We pay our respects to the Leader!!”
Though his voice was low, it sliced through the space and seized the center in a single breath.
It was the moment Heaven-Piercing Gang’s Leader, the Ghostly Arcane Underworld King, An Cheongmyeong, appeared.
Swish.
As the Leader in his crimson robe strode forward unhurriedly, everyone in the hall rose at once and paid their respects.
‘……Please, don’t look at me.’
Amid suffocating tension, Gongsun Beon subtly lowered his head.
An Cheongmyeong’s gaze was sharp enough to pierce truth and falsehood at a glance.
Just as Gongsun Beon swallowed hard—
Seated in the central seat, An Cheongmyeong slowly swept his eyes across the executives.
That gaze moved leisurely, until it stopped before Gongsun Beon.
[Vice Leader Gongsun.]
“……!”
The Leader’s telepathic voice echoed in his ears.
Why was it that ominous premonitions always came true?
Letting out a short breath, Gongsun Beon replied as if nothing were wrong.
[Yes, Leader!!]
[Before we begin the meeting, there is something I wish to say to you alone.]
[……Pardon?]
The Leader’s eyes sank heavily, like a lake at night.
Neither that gaze nor his tone was something to be taken lightly.
[Lately, it feels as though internal information has been leaking.]
[……!!]
In that instant, Gongsun Beon’s heart dropped with a heavy thud.
Yet without letting it show, he sent back a low telepathic reply.
[A-Are you saying there is an informant?]
[That is correct.]
[May I ask where within the sect you sensed such a flow?]
[I cannot say. But it seems a hole has formed in a place no one even suspected.]
[……!!]
Had he been exposed?
For a moment, Gongsun Beon felt his vision go blank.
But he quickly clamped down on his scattering thoughts.
‘No. If I had been found out, he would have secretly summoned me to my quarters and fed me to the demonic beasts.’
Gongsun Beon was the one who had observed the Heaven-Piercing Gang Leader the longest and closest.
Though his heart had dropped at first, he now met the other’s gaze head-on without avoiding it.
Yes, this was a test.
Cold sweat streamed down his back, but on the surface he put on a mask of calm.
[Leader. I will take charge of that matter.]
[……Vice Leader Gongsun?]
[Yes.]
Gongsun Beon continued speaking with a face so thoroughly refined that not even a flicker in his eyes or the corner of his lips betrayed emotion.
[You are aware, are you not, that this lowly one had been at the Lord’s side all these years, observing every movement within the sect. Though he realized the problem belatedly, he will use the power of the Nine Tails (九尾) to capture every piece of trash in which the traces of spies had been detected, and bring them before you.]
Gongsun Beon sent the transmission perfectly, without the slightest tremor or hesitation in his words.
The gaze of the Sect Leader, who had been staring at him, slowly lost its edge.
[……Yes, you were the one who had been with me the longest.]
[Yes. Please, only trust me.]
[Very well. I will entrust the identification of the spies to you.]
I lived!
At that reply, Gongsun Beon finally felt as though blood had begun circulating through his body again.
Yet without showing even that joy, he slowly bowed his head.
[Thank you for trusting me. I will surely sever them at the root.]
Then An Cheongmyeong turned his gaze toward the other executives.
At a moment when everyone’s tension was plainly visible, An Cheongmyeong spoke again.
“Let us begin the meeting.”
At those words, the executives who had been holding their breath in the conference hall began raising their voices.
Naturally, the topic of the meeting revolved around Tang Sewoon and the Sichuan Tang Clan.
One of the executives reported the information he had uncovered.
“What was detected by the sensing sorcery was a single carriage, led by two white tigers.”
“……Only one carriage?”
“Yes. It is presumed that only Tang Sewoon and the elite martial artists of the Tang Clan are aboard.”
A bluish ghostly aura flickered in An Cheongmyeong’s eyes.
Twisting the corner of his mouth, he spoke.
“They seized Guizhou swiftly to buy time, hid Guizhou’s forces in silence, and secretly dispatched an assassination squad toward the main sect, is that it?”
“……!!”
He judged that Sewoon’s objective was infiltration into Nanning.
And the assassination of himself, the Sect Leader.
“The route of movement?”
“Yes. He is heading straight for Nanning! It seems he has not uncovered anything regarding the sorcerous formations spread across the other three counties.”
So the spy had not managed to uncover even that.
Thinking so inwardly, An Cheongmyeong continued.
“If they pass Donglan County (東蘭) and Du’an County (都安) without stopping, we will encounter them at Pingguo County (平果). We will strike them first there.”
“……!!”
At An Cheongmyeong’s declaration, silence briefly settled over the conference hall.
His statement of taking the initiative instead ran counter to the current situation of the Heaven-Piercing Gang, which made it seem contradictory (矛盾).
“……Sect Leader.”
“What is it.”
“Y-Your strategy has no flaws. H-However, to ensure absolute victory, if the first barrage of sorcery were to fail… when preparing the second strike, we would need a martial artist possessing the might to stand against the Blood-Thread Tyrant—”
“You certainly go on at length just to say that you are afraid of him charging in.”
“S-Sincere apologies.”
An Cheongmyeong looked at the executive who had spoken with the eyes one might use to regard an insect.
Though the executive’s words had been long, their essence could be summarized briefly.
At its core, a battle between sorcerers and martial artists could be called a contest of blades.
Whose blade reached the opponent’s throat first—that alone decided victory or defeat.
They would lie in ambush at Pingguo County and launch a surprise attack with sorcery.
But judging from what Tang Sewoon had accomplished so far, there was no certainty that the first strike would kill him.
If that happened, they could suffer immense losses despite striking first.
To prevent that, they needed someone who could buy time until the second sorcery was completed.
And then, at that moment—
“For that very reason. Someone has come from ‘that place’ to lend us aid.”
As though he had anticipated this all along, An Cheongmyeong spoke calmly.
A strange light rose in Gongsun Beon’s eyes.
He had realized that the ‘that place’ spoken by the Sect Leader referred to the Blood Cult.
Just who had come?!
His gaze turned toward the closed doors of the conference hall.
Saaaa—
Chwaaaa!
“W-What?!”
“……!”
Suddenly, a horrific presence that could not be thought of as human erupted violently.
Along with a dreadful poisonous miasma that writhed with dark light, the stench of decay spread through the room in an instant.
“Kh-cough!”
“Keugh!! Kgh!”
As the Heaven-Piercing Gang executives turned pale and covered their mouths and noses—
Creeeak.
At last, the doors of the conference hall were flung wide open.
“Heh heh, how pitiful. These fools cannot even savor this body’s fragrance.”
“……To think I had to come all the way here just to help such vermin. Tsk, that Blood Demon is such a nuisance.”
Clearly one person, yet sounding like two, the bizarre voice echoed through the hall.
Srrrk!
As the doors opened, footsteps advanced without the slightest presence.
With the opening of the doors, the poisonous aura grew even more horrific.
Thud.
Boom.
Following those steps, the executives collapsed one after another, rolling their eyes back as they lost consciousness.
“H-hng!”
Gongsun Beon’s breathing stopped for a brief instant.
An elderly man appeared, draped in a long, loosened crimson robe.
Yet he was nothing like an ordinary village elder (村老).
At the ends of his long, outstretched fingers, black nails twisted and curved grotesquely, and his eyes—blended with killing intent and madness—were indescribably bizarre.
It was the moment when the fifth elder of the Blood Cult, the Poison Demon Yelü Seung (耶律昇), revealed himself within the Heaven-Piercing Gang.
Before that ferocious and utterly dreadful power—something he had never felt in his life—Gongsun Beon bowed his head deeply without a word.
Instinctively, he understood.
‘I have to inform him.’
That this opponent would become the greatest obstacle standing in Sewoon’s path.
Cold sweat streamed down his back, soaking his entire spine.