The Mad Dog Inspector of the Martial Alliance

Chapter 111 : Dropping the Sun (4)

The Explosion Demon, Byeokryeokja, was famous for his sublime martial arts and eccentric temperament, but if you were to ask what first made him famous, everyone would point to the incident of the Songshan Sect's extermination.

Byeokryeokja appeared in the martial world like a comet while fighting with the Songshan Sect. No one knew which sect's lineage he had inherited, or what kind of grudge he had with the Songshan Sect. It was only known that the Songshan Sect had been exterminated overnight.

On the day the Songshan Sect was exterminated.

A farmer who had accidentally witnessed the scene from near Mount Song said this.

[The sun rose upside down.]

That scene unfolded at the manor of the Seomun Clan.

The head of the Seomun Clan, Seomun Songwon, had not reached the level of a peak master, but he had reached a high realm that could be called the upper-middle-upper among first-rate masters.

As soon as he saw the red meteor falling towards the manor of the Seomun Clan, he let out a loud shout and raised his internal energy to its maximum.

"Enemy attack-!"

For the manor of the Seomun Clan to be attacked, it was an absurd thing.

But no one in the Seomun Clan questioned the head of the family or panicked. Without a single word, all of them assumed a state of full readiness and waited.

"Shield!"

Thanks to having learned a martial art that focused on defense, even though it was internal energy that had been hastily raised, there was no disorder in the Firm Wall Formation of the Seomun Clan. The martial artists who had sensed the anomaly formed a defensive formation with their shield swords at the forefront, and belatedly, Seomun Jung-u also raised his protective qi.

In the fleeting moment of blinking twice.

The red meteor fell into the center of the manor.

And then, the sun rose.

Dust spread outwards in a concentric circle.

The walls were broken, and the earth was overturned.

The pavilions collapsed, and the ceilings disappeared.

People fluttered and flew like paper dolls.

Heaven-shaking, earth-moving.

The sky trembled and the earth moved.

Heaven and earth opening.

The sky and the earth opened.

The Byeokryeoktan that had exterminated the Songshan Sect had shown its form here again.

The sound disappeared, and only the light remained, covering the martial artists.

They made a wall with their swords, and with a will like a stone, they raised their protective qi. Unity and cooperation were the best weapons.

The martial artists of the Seomun Clan, who had been victorious until now in this way, crumpled their faces in bewilderment.

'The wall-?!'

'The, the protective qi is breaking-!'

The specialty of the Songshan Sect was the protective qi that came from their outstanding internal energy. Since Byeokryeokja had made the Byeokryeoktan to exterminate the Songshan Sect, the part he had put the most effort into was precisely the destruction of the protective qi.

The obsession of the Seomun Clan with defense was great, but it was not comparable to the Songshan Sect. And Byeokryeokja's obsession was even stronger than the obsession of the Songshan Sect.

The martial artists of the Songshan Sect could not block the Byeokryeoktan.

The Seomun Clan met the same result.

What made a martial artist a martial artist was precisely internal energy. A first-rate martial artist who had polished their internal energy could wrap their body in a kind of defensive barrier made of qi called protective qi.

Protective qi that could easily block an ordinary arrow. Byeokryeokja had created a special bomb, the Byeokryeoktan, that agitated that protective qi and directly damaged the dantian.

A person who received the Byeokryeoktan with their protective qi would have their dantian destroyed and would never be able to accumulate internal energy again.

The extermination of the Songshan Sect was not an extermination that killed all the people.

It was an extermination because all the martial artists who had to continue the lineage of Songshan had lost their martial arts.

Compared to the Songshan Sect, the situation of the Seomun Clan was a little better.

Since they were a noble family, even if they had no martial arts, their power remained.

The connections they had built up, the assets they had stockpiled. If they utilized everything, it was not impossible to recover their power.

But in front of the completely destroyed manor, there was not a single person who thought so.

The collapsed, broken, and burning manor, and the martial artists hanging like laundry on the partially collapsed walls.

The tragedy brought about by a single Byeokryeoktan.

Seomun Songwon, who had become dumbfounded, muttered.

"Lord Buddha..."

The man who had pushed dozens of people to their deaths for the sake of his family's face was looking for Buddha.

There was no answer from Buddha. Only the sound of wood burning with a 'tadak, tadak' sound could be heard.

The Seomun Clan was ruined.

By one Byeokryeoktan and one scoundrel.

A prestigious noble family with a 400-year tradition was ruined overnight.

* * *

Two rumors spread throughout the martial world.

The first rumor was the story of the Martial Alliance inspector.

The Four Black Alliance had put out an extermination order, aiming for the neck of the arrogant fellow who was strutting around the martial world.

The amount of the bounty was a whopping twenty thousand taels. And even at this moment, the bounty was still rising.

A windfall. A chance to change one's life with a single success.

Even if one became a public enemy of the Martial Alliance, if it was that much money, one could escape as much as one wanted.

In fact, there were even few people who thought about the front and back like that. The number 'twenty thousand taels' stole reason and judgment from people's heads. If it was a ronin unit that had caught the inspector, they would line up to take them in from here and there, so they could gain not only money but also fame, and there were many who were rather enthusiastic.

Thus, the ronin scrambled to join the search for the inspector or joined the encirclement of the pursuit team.

The second rumor was the story of Byeokryeokja.

The rumor that Byeokryeokja, who had been quiet after destroying a manor in Kaifeng, had attacked the Seomun Clan and led them to extermination spread throughout the world. As a result, the eldest son of the Seomun Clan, the Firm Dragon, Seomun Jung-u, had lost his martial arts, so a vacancy had been created in the Ten Dragons.

Strangely enough, this incident became an opportunity for many orthodox martial artists to set out on a journey through the martial world, saying they would challenge the inspector to a duel. As an excuse, they said they were curious about the martial prowess of the inspector who had beaten the Firm Dragon like a dog, but in reality, it was a calculation that if they won against such an inspector, they could occupy the vacant seat of the Firm Dragon.

As the days went by, the fever for a windfall and honor became overheated.

Since things had come to this, the Martial Alliance had no choice but to react.

The reason why the Martial Alliance had been a bystander to the situation until now was because they had trusted that Jang So-gil could overcome this level of hardship. It was also because the Thousand Li Young Master Sima Hui was in the middle of closed-door training for the improvement of the Zixia Divine Art, so he could not move easily.

But with the whole martial world in an uproar, the Martial Alliance could not do nothing.

Gumen Long called for the Thousand Hands Young Master, Zhuge Xian.

Although Zhuge Xian was not very pleased, he personally took up his fan and gave instructions.

"If possible, I'd like to let him die, but since it's the Alliance Leader's order, it can't be helped."

"Where are we going?"

"We're going south. That fellow is in the south."

The reason Zhuge Xian had come to know that Jang So-gil was in the south was because of the second rumor.

The manor of the Seomun Clan in Xuchang had been destroyed by a Byeokryeoktan. That was a clear fact. There was no other weapon in the world with the power of a Byeokryeoktan.

When you said Byeokryeoktan, it was Byeokryeokja, so the world very naturally thought that Byeokryeokja had blown up the Seomun Clan.

But there was no grudge between the Seomun Clan and Byeokryeokja. Although it was Byeokryeokja who committed crazy acts even without a reason, there was no probability in this matter.

Probability was important. Because Byeokryeokja basically enjoyed dramatic events and situations where cause and effect were intertwined.

Revenge, the secret of birth, a love affair. The intertwined relationships between characters.

There were cases where the product of chance and luck brought about an interesting result, but a story with no probability at all would not attract interest.

So Byeokryeokja would not create a story of having destroyed the Seomun Clan out of the blue while just passing by.

His actions seemed disorderly, but since he was faithful to his original purpose of 'fun', there was a predictable corner.

And Zhuge Xian knew that Jang So-gil had met Byeokryeokja and had received a Byeokryeoktan.

Although Yang Gwan, Ye-er, Sima Hui, and Gumen Long thought that only they knew that fact, Zhuge Xian also had his own means of obtaining information.

Jang So-gil had a Byeokryeoktan. Jang So-gil had enough reason to harbor a grudge against the Seomun Clan.

Therefore, it had to be Jang So-gil who had thrown the Byeokryeoktan at the Seomun Clan.

Then the answer came out right away. Since the matter in Xuchang was over, that fellow would be heading north to Luoyang.

"Damn old man. To think he gave him a 'Plum Blossom' grade Byeokryeoktan."

Byeokryeokja divided the Byeokryeoktan into four stages: plum, orchid, chrysanthemum, and bamboo.

The 'bamboo' grade could subdue ten first-rate martial artists at once. Since it could be made relatively easily, it was the Byeokryeoktan that Byeokryeokja usually scattered around.

Generally, when one said Byeokryeoktan, it referred to this bamboo grade. But in fact, the four stages of the Byeokryeoktan were all slightly different in their effects and appearance.

With the 'chrysanthemum' grade, one could subdue even a peak master if the opponent was one. It was an item that Byeokryeokja would gift to a master who annoyed him, and since its efficiency compared to its manufacturing time was outstanding, it was also the Byeokryeoktan that the imperial family coveted the most.

The 'orchid' grade could blow up a village. Since it was only used when Byeokryeokja was extremely angry, and since there was almost no one who had seen it and survived, no one knew the details.

Finally, the 'plum blossom' grade. This was the first Byeokryeoktan ever made and a very special Byeokryeoktan. It was because it was a demonic object that would destroy the dantian of any martial artist, no matter how skilled, and turn them into a cripple.

It was said that it took five years to produce one plum blossom grade Byeokryeoktan. That was why Byeokryeokja had come to produce mass-produced Byeokryeoktan like the bamboo grade, and in the world, Byeokryeoktan had come to mean the bamboo grade.

As far as Zhuge Xian knew, the plum blossom grade had not been used since it was used at the time of the Songshan Sect's extermination.

But Jang So-gil had set off that plum blossom grade. It was certain, since the dantian of all the survivors of the Seomun Clan had been destroyed.

Zhuge Xian, who had been chasing Byeokryeokja for a long time and had been investigating the Byeokryeoktan, had approached the truth just by hearing the rumors.

"Damn old man, what on earth are you thinking!"

To think he had readily given away the plum blossom that Zhuge Xian had not been given even when he had begged for it so much. It seemed that Byeokryeokja had really taken a liking to Jang So-gil.

So Jang So-gil's action was not a childish act committed without thinking about the front and back, but a thoroughly calculated action based on the result of grasping Byeokryeokja's character.

Even Zhuge Xian himself could not have come up with the idea of framing him, fearing how that eccentric old man would react. And what about the bold confidence that Jang So-gil himself would not be harmed by Byeokryeokja even after doing so?

Perhaps Byeokryeokja was now laughing, finding it amusing that he had been framed?

To be framed, a word that he would never have imagined being associated with in his life, for that Byeokryeokja, whose notoriety had been piling up on top of notoriety due to his past actions even if he had stayed still.

Frustration and annoyance welled up in Zhuge Xian's heart, who had failed to obtain the demonic object from Byeokryeokja and to grasp his eccentric inner thoughts in advance.

A weapon that could be used to seize the world depending on how it was used, but Byeokryeokja, who used it solely for his own amusement, and Jang So-gil, who used it to vent his anger, he disliked them both.

If the Byeokryeoktan were in his hands, in the hands of the Zhuge Clan, he could have aimed for the world!

"Damn it. To think I have to rescue the fellow who will become my worst enemy with my own hands."

Just as Jang So-gil was conscious of Zhuge Xian and Namgung Yeohwa, Zhuge Xian was also conscious of Jang So-gil.

Jang So-gil would become the biggest obstacle to the ambition of the Zhuge Clan in the future.

This was not a prophecy or a premonition. It was a logical deduction.

To have to go and rescue that source of trouble with his own hands. The whole world was full of things he didn't like, things that were not rational.

But no matter how much he disliked it, public was public, and private was private. As a military advisor of the Martial Alliance, he could not disobey the Alliance Leader's instructions.

Zhuge Xian, crumpling his face in all sorts of ways, left Luoyang.

Around the time three days had passed since he had left on his journey. Zhuge Xian met Jang So-gil, who had come out to greet him nonchalantly, as if he had known he would come.

That fellow said, with a good-natured air.

"You're a day later than expected. I heard you're one step above Brother Hui, but in fact, aren't you worse than that?"

"..."

He was truly a complete scoundrel with no cute corner.

(End of Chapter)