novelraw Chapter 96 : Chapter 96
Chapter 96 : Chapter 96
Chapter 96 - I have some business there too
Kwareureureung!
A series of deafening roars echoed throughout the entire mountain.
The vibrations could be felt even at the entrance of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, so the power of the explosion was palpable.
“Wow…….”
Solbo’s large eyes turned towards the middle of the mountain.
The accumulated snow had scattered out into the atmosphere due to the aftermath of the explosion.
The snow fog created by the pure white snow sparkled dazzlingly in the light, and on one side, even a rainbow made its appearance.
However, Solbo’s admiration did not last long.
“I don’t think this is the time to be impressed.”
“Ah. I’m sorry, Senior Sister.”
Under normal circumstances, she might have enjoyed the white snow fog with Solbo.
But Jeong-i’s gentle eyes had already turned sharp.
The middle of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain.
She had not forgotten who lived there.
“Senior Brother Solbo.”
Following Jeong-i, Biyoung called out to Solbo.
Was he going to be scolded again?
Solbo glanced at Biyoung with frightened eyes.
But the story that came from Biyoung’s mouth was completely different.
“From now on, you can use your original footwork.”
“……!”
To be allowed to use his original footwork.
In other words, it meant that this was not the time for training.
First Jeong-i, and now Biyoung.
Solbo could reconfirm the seriousness of the situation.
“I understand……!!”
Solbo nodded with a determined face.
“The situation is urgent, so let’s move at full speed from now on. See you at the top.”
Biyoung launched himself forward without even waiting for his comrades’ reply.
Pababak!
Solbo almost let out another exclamation of “Wow.”
In the blink of an eye, his figure had shrunk to the size of an ant.
‘I thought I had narrowed the gap in our movement techniques even a little, but that was a ridiculous thought.’
Solbo swallowed a bitter laugh instead of an exclamation of admiration.
He had increased his internal energy by taking the Six-Flower Pill and had mastered the proper Flying Eagle Steps.
Compared to when he was in Simao, he had made progress that could be called remarkable.
But when Biyoung displayed his full abilities, Solbo could not help but realize it anew.
Narrowing the gap, my ass.
There was still an insurmountable four-dimensional wall between them.
“Hehehe. It’s good that it’s not boring.”
Gwangyo launched himself forward with a low laugh.
Jeong-i and Solbo also followed Gwangyo without another word.
Pababak!
Solbo’s movement technique, freed from its shackles, was truly phenomenal.
As time passed, Jeong-i began to fall behind.
However, the gap with the one in front was widening for Solbo as well.
‘Fast……!’
“Hahahahaha!”
Gwangyo.
Gwangyo’s movement technique, as he sped through the mountain path like a fish in water, was enough to make even Solbo click his tongue.
The reason Jeong-i had taken the lead at the start was simply because she was more familiar with Diancang Mountain, not because Gwangyo was slow.
Gwangyo’s full-speed movement technique seemed unmatched by anyone except Biyoung.
‘Come to think of it, before the Mad and Aberrant Man, he was called the Mad Laughing Shoulder Steps.’
It was just a movement technique, but he could realize anew how many masters there were in Jianghu.
Solbo gritted his teeth and sped up with all his might.
***
“Think about it.”
An old man draped in a silk robe redder than blood stood before a man.
“What do you think will happen if a person who hates repeating the same words twice does the same thing three times?”
“Fo…… Forgive me! Lord……!!”
The eyes of the man apologizing to the old man were filled with terror and despair.
He had a thin brown headband on his forehead, and the other men standing around him wore the same thing.
“Forgiveness. Yes. That’s good too.”
The old man’s grinning face looked quite grotesque.
Hidden under a large robe, the old man had a frame so thin that all his bones were visible.
A body so skinny that even the lowest-ranking beggar of the Beggars' Union would have to bow down to him.
His name was Dokta, so called because the only fleshy parts of his body were his blunt earlobes.
He put his skinny hand into his bosom.
“L-Lord! Please!”
The man, having confirmed Dokta’s movement, knelt and began to beg.
He knew all too well what that action meant.
“Gehgeh. I said I’d forgive you.”
With a strange laugh, Dokta pulled something out from his bosom.
It was a small cube, similar to a die.
“!”
His subordinates, who confirmed the object, took a step back in terror.
“Th-that is……!”
Dokta looked down at the kneeling man and gave a benevolent smile.
He slowly cupped the man’s cheeks with his empty hand.
The man by no means wanted to open his mouth, but the skinny hand held a grip that was unbelievable for an old man.
“What if there was a bug in the world that only caused harm? Perhaps doing this is a good thing for the world and for yourself.”
“!”
No.
I am not a pest, and I do not want this.
But the man’s thoughts only swirled in his head and could not come out of his mouth.
From the mouth controlled by the old man, only a groan of ‘Eueu…….’ could be heard.
“That is the forgiveness I can give you.”
Like a kind grandfather personally feeding candy to his grandson, Dokta put something into the man’s mouth.
It was the small cube he had taken out from his bosom a moment ago.
“Keu…… keureuk…….”
As the black cube went down his throat, the man’s body trembled as if he had malaria.
The old man gave a satisfied smile and then turned his back.
And a moment later.
Peobeobeok!
With a terrible sound, the man’s upper body exploded like a firecracker.
The object Dokta had put in the man’s mouth a moment ago was none other than a bomb.
Flesh scattered from the bomb that exploded from inside his body, and a fountain of blood shot up where his upper body had been.
It was a scene so horrific and tragic that it was hard to describe.
Clatter clatter clatter.
“Eueu…….”
Several of the subordinates watching this scene had their teeth chattering.
Their jaws and entire bodies were trembling from extreme fear.
Dokta.
He was the leader of the ‘Brown Kerchief Gang’, a heretical group specializing in bombs.
His notoriety was widespread not only in Tibet but also in the western regions of the Jianghu Murim.
His cruelty in unhesitatingly using bombs on human bodies.
That cruel hand did not make an exception for his subordinates.
“Gehgeh. Do you know that the one hexagonal bomb I just used is more expensive than your bodies?”
“…………!”
“I don’t want to waste any more money, so let’s not make any mistakes next time.”
“Yes, sir!”
The men wearing headbands all bowed their heads in unison.
The brown headband on their foreheads was a mark of being a member of the Brown Kerchief Gang.
‘You can be at odds with Shaolin, but do not fight with the Brown Kerchief Gang.’
It was a saying that had been circulating in the western Murim for a long time.
It was better to face a prestigious orthodox sect head-on than to deal with the Brown Kerchief Gang, which was an extremely tricky matter.
Whether buying something at a store, walking down a normal street, or even sleeping, you never knew when and how a bomb would go off.
Incurring Dokta’s grudge was no different from living in anxiety until death.
This was precisely the reason why the so-called prestigious orthodox sects had not subjugated the Brown Kerchief Gang.
The act of planting and detonating a bomb was something unrelated to skill.
“Tsk tsk. To think we have to make such a fuss because we can’t break through a single formation of a ruined sect.”
Dokta frowned once and then moved his feet.
“Hohoho.”
A middle-aged woman quickly moved to stick close to Dokta’s side.
She was wearing a silk dress that clung to her body, and her full, curved lines were so exposed that it was difficult for men to know where to look.
Standing next to the skinny Dokta, her voluptuous figure seemed even more prominent.
“My Lord. How can you handle things this way?”
“Jadan. Are you saying I did something wrong?”
A cold gaze wrapped around her entire body.
Normally, one would be terrified like a frog before a snake.
But the woman called Jadan calmly retorted his words.
“You said it yourself, My Lord, didn’t you? How expensive the hexagonal bombs are. From now on, don’t use expensive explosives and just slit their throats.”
“Gehgehgeh. That’s a good point.”
Dokta finally let out a strange laugh as if he was pleased.
But that was also brief.
Dokta’s gaze moved from her curved upper body to her neck.
“But don’t think you’ll be any different. If the information you gave me is wrong……”
“Oh my? Are you still doubting me? It’s me, Jadan.”
Jadan, before being Dokta’s favorite concubine, was the second-in-command of the Brown Kerchief Gang.
Although not as much as Dokta, she was skilled with bombs and hidden weapons, and above all, she had a knack for gathering information.
“I recently captured a situation where an old man and a young girl entered this place. I also found traces of a stone gate moving on the other side of the formation. What this means is……”
Jadan trailed off her words and smiled alluringly.
She was catering to Dokta’s preference for having the conclusion stated directly.
“Hyeokri Chong. That old man is still alive.”
Dokta, recalling a stubborn face, quickly turned his head.
“Don’t make any mistakes when opening the stone gate. If you can’t break it in one go, I’ll blow up your bodies along with the stone gate.”
“Yes, sir!”
In front of them was a large hole, as if a meteorite had fallen.
The formation that Hyeokri Chong and the Diancang Sect had put their heads together to create in the past.
Instead of breaking through the formation, Dokta chose to blow it up entirely.
The method was brutish, but it was not a wrong decision.
If one were to recklessly set off a bomb on such a snowy mountain, there was a high probability of a landslide.
In order to blow up a limited area, the location and range of the bombs had to be calculated precisely, which was why he had specifically ordered his subordinates to handle the job.
“Gehgeh. It’s so refreshing to see it wide open.”
Beyond the deep pit, a large stone gate was visible.
It looked like a fairly sturdy gate, but for Dokta, who had blown up the entire formation, it was not much of a problem.
“Beyond that, that crazy old man is there, isn’t he……”
Within his narrow eyes, which were like his body shape, Dokta’s greed flickered.
People had thought he was dead until now, but if Hyeokri Chong’s survival was revealed, people from all over the world would rush to meet him.
The spirit pills he created were sold for more than their weight in gold.
“Is it all done?”
“Yes!”
The subordinates of the Brown Kerchief Gang moved busily, setting up explosives all over the stone gate.
Having seen the person in charge’s body being blown to smithereens earlier, there was no time to delay.
“They only come to their senses after seeing blood……”
Dokta confirmed the explosives installed on the stone gate and gave a satisfied smile.
In his hand was a small detonation device.
Now, if he just pressed this, he could get his hands on the goose that lays golden eggs.
“I’ll squeeze you dry until the blood in your body runs out.”
Dokta said that and was just about to press the detonation device.
Hwiik!
Click.
“…………?”
But.
What on earth happened?
Everyone in the Brown Kerchief Gang covered their ears and prepared, but the explosion did not happen.
“?”
Dokta was just as bewildered.
The feel of the detonation device that should have been there had completely disappeared.
In vain, what he had pressed was his own palm.
“Wh-what was that?”
Dokta had been through thick and thin, but at this moment, he could not help but be surprised.
He was not some scholar visiting the marketplace for the first time, so how could he have something snatched from him like a pickpocket?
“I have some business there too……”
Just then.
A young and clear voice came from behind Dokta.
“You don’t have to be so brutish about it.”
“!”
Dokta turned around reflexively, and a handsome man, as if drawn from a painting, came into his view.
Grind.
Dokta, having confirmed the man, ground his teeth as if to break them.
The detonation device that he had been holding just moments ago was now in the man’s hand.