The Mad Dog Inspector of the Martial Alliance

Chapter 79 : Go to Heaven (2)

Jang So-gil's sword, which he swung as he soared like a hawk, cut off the head of the one who was aiming for his legs. And in the moment he spun around in the air, the head of the one who was aiming for his head fell.

In the blink of an eye, two people had died. The throat of the surviving man bobbed greatly.

"It's a frighteningly fast sword, but it's not enough to deal with three at once. Not being able to kill me was your mistake."

The man smiled triumphantly and gripped his dagger firmly.

Then Jang So-gil clicked his tongue and shook his head.

"My, my, a dead man is talking."

"What did you say?"

"This is what I mean."

Jang So-gil flicked his finger. Then the man's body shattered into pieces. It was because the Soul-Stealing Ice Art had hit him squarely.

At the first leap, the light of the Soul-Stealing Flash had already pierced him, and his body had frozen.

Only his head and fingertips were not completely frozen. He was a person who was already dead long ago.

"Anyway, it's settled."

In an instant, three assassins had died. Judging by the belts on their waists, all three were Three-Knot Beggars. If they were knots obtained through martial arts and not hereditary positions, all three would have been worthy of being called first-rate masters.

But Jang So-gil had killed those three people in an instant. Jang So-gil's martial arts level had already reached the end of a first-rate master. If one of the Ten Dragons, Hwaryong Yang Gwan, had been in this place, he would not have been able to do this.

'Leaving aside the matter of skill, that fellow wouldn't be able to do this because of his disposition.'

He now had the skill to unilaterally slaughter a master who would have killed him just by looking at him in the past. Jang So-gil stared at his own hand and slowly raised the corners of his mouth.

It was the right choice to throw himself into the Martial Alliance for revenge.

Jang So-gil sheathed the White Azure Divine Sword and closed his eyes.

Revenge seemed to be within his grasp, making him even more anxious.

"Heut."

It had been less than a year since he had started learning martial arts, and yet it was like this. It was a level obtained by overlapping several opportunities, so it was only natural that he was strong.

How many more opportunities would he have to create to be able to compete with a peak master like Man Bakja?

'A journey of a thousand li begins with a single step. Since I have taken that one step splendidly, now I must walk this path silently.'

* * *

A martial artist dies the most on their first journey into the martial world.

Then when is the second time they die the most?

'When else? It's the second journey into the martial world.'

The half-baked conceit of having survived the first debut in the martial world calls for death. Jang So-gil was currently enduring the most dangerous period as a martial artist.

He had learned a divine art, accumulated one sixty-year cycle of internal energy. He was getting stronger at an amazing speed by embodying it, but his heart was also getting flabby and he was becoming careless. It was even more so because he was dealing with enemies who were clearly weaker than him.

If he were to just die with a 'pik' like this, he wouldn't have learned martial arts in the first place.

But could one's mindset be straightened out just by thinking, 'Let's pull myself together'? A self-help measure for the 'just in case' was needed.

And as for a self-help measure, it was of course Byeokryeokja's thunderclap bombs and heaven-shaking thunder. If he had a few thunderclap bombs in his bundle and a few heaven-shaking thunders loaded in his bosom, what in the world would he be afraid of?

Sima Hui had tried to prevent Jang So-gil and Byeokryeokja from meeting with all his might, but Jang So-gil had been thinking of meeting Byeokryeokja someday.

Byeokryeokja, who enjoyed noisy and splendid things, things that broke reason and shattered common sense. To find him, who roamed the wide central plains in search of interesting things, one would have to hire a professional informant and track him for a long time.

But the opponent was the opponent. If he were to hear the rumor of this incident, he would surely take an interest and appear near him on his own.

Jang So-gil had thought so, and it was indeed so. It was not that difficult to make contact with Byeokryeokja.

Jang So-gil meeting Byeokryeokja itself was not a problem. The problem was that he had never sold his thunderclap bombs and heaven-shaking thunders for money. While he wouldn't sell them even if a powerful person offered a thousand gold, he would also readily give them to a poor slave boy for free.

The slave boy had thrown a thunderclap bomb at the house of a powerful man who had forced his older sister to serve him. The boy, who did not know how to handle the bomb, was caught in the explosion, and when asked by Byeokryeokja if he was satisfied, he had said thank you and died. It was said that Byeokryeokja had laughed heartily with satisfaction, using the magnificent view of the grand mansion burning as a side dish for his drink.

The Explosion Demon did not run wild indiscriminately like the Killing Demon. He had also never committed a direct massacre like the Poison Demon.

But despite that, the Explosion Demon caused more people to die than the other two demons.

The thunderclap bombs and heaven-shaking thunders were not things to be sold. Byeokryeokja only gave them to people who would use them in a place that he would find interesting.

What if he made contact with Byeokryeokja but failed to stimulate his interest and wasted his time with a boring matter? He could be killed by the hand of a peerless master whose fun had been spoiled.

Byeokryeokja was that kind of person. Then what could Jang So-gil give him?

If you thought about it calmly, there was nothing to offer. So he just spoke frankly and sold his medicine with his three-inch tongue.

[Byeokryeokja-nim, you must have done all the interesting things in the world.]

[That's right. At this age, it's a big problem that there are no interesting things, hehehe.]

[As it happens, I know one thing that Byeokryeok True Lord-nim has probably never done. I don't know if it will be interesting or not, but how about you experience it once?]

There had never been a combination like this before. The Martial Alliance's inspector who executed justice, and the apostle of justice, Byeokryeok True Lord, who had come to help him!

Although Byeokryeokja was a person who appeared in noisy places and made things bigger, regardless of whether it was the orthodox or the unorthodox, if it became a conflict between the orthodox and the unorthodox, he would in fact always fight the orthodox sect on the side of the unorthodox sect. It was because a proper person of the orthodox sect would never be able to tolerate Byeokryeokja.

Who, other than a complete scoundrel like Jang So-gil, would ask a crazy bastard like the Explosion Demon, who pursued only his own amusement without caring about the orthodox or the unorthodox, good or evil, or the damage to the common people, to help with the work of the orthodox sect?

In other words, Byeokryeokja had never caused an incident with a just cause.

[The stage is all set. Wouldn't it be interesting to play the role of an apostle of justice for once?]

[Pfft, puhahaha! You're the first one to say that to me. It's interesting, really interesting!]

Jang So-gil, while getting his hands on the thunderclap bombs and heaven-shaking thunders, had intended to directly attack Po Chungryang, who was obviously going to do something soon. It was because it was not Jang So-gil's taste to take a long detour when there was a clear target.

With that in mind, he had met with Byeokryeokja, and what was this?

[You're a really interesting fellow. Won't you be my disciple?]

Jang So-gil had fit Byeokryeokja's taste too perfectly. Since he had received such an offer from a peerless master, it was a task to refuse without hurting the opponent's feelings.

Anyway, Byeokryeokja had become Jang So-gil's reliable supporter. And thanks to that, he had been able to avoid the disaster named Man Bakja.

Now it was time to finish the job.

Jang So-gil at this moment, what was the culprit of all things, Po Chungryang, doing?

"Ugh, ughhhh..."

He was buried in the rubble of the broken garden, waiting only for rescue.

This splendid and wide garden where Po Chungryang lived. In fact, this garden was no ordinary garden.

Po Chungryang was a coward and a perfectionist. But while he was doing so many bad things and accumulating resentment, his own martial arts were not at the level of a peerless master, so how scared of the world must he have been?

He was afraid the sky would fall, he was afraid an assassin would come, he was afraid a crazy beggar would rush at him to kill him. The person who was scared of everything in the world was Po Chungry-ang.

So a large number of mechanisms and traps had been installed in this garden. Since it had been built by pouring in hundreds of gold, it was worthy of being called a trap fortress.

Although Jang So-gil's martial arts level had risen and Yang Gwan was also with him, both of them knew little about mechanisms. Since they were not some absolute masters, if they were to enter head-on, the chances of dying were high. But if they were to take a detour or use a stratagem, it seemed that Po Chungryang would escape through the numerous side paths and secret passages installed in this garden.

Then what would he do?

[Let's just blow it all up?]

[That wide garden of the powerful Po family, in the middle of Kaifeng?]

[Yes. All of it. The whole thing!]

Byeokryeokja had laughed as if he were genuinely happy to hear Jang So-gil's words. Moreover, like a temporary apostle of justice, he had made it so that the power of the explosion was concentrated only inside the garden so that no one would be caught in the explosion and die. He had done a better job than Jang So-gil had expected.

That was the identity of the explosion that had been heard before fighting Man Bakja.

Walking through the rubble of the broken garden, Jang So-gil said leisurely.

"The number one in the world in handling explosives. As expected, his skill is worthy of his fame."

"Kkeueu. Damn it, how did you get here..."

"Anyway, it's nice to meet you, Po Chungryang. You think so too, don't you?"

"You damn brat..."

If his body had been intact, he would have poured out a stream of curses. But every time he said a word, it felt as if his broken ribs were poking him here and there, so it was hard to even open his mouth. The few curses he had managed to spit out were probably his own expression of will.

Since he had no interest in the likes of Po Chungryang, Jang So-gil lightly stepped on him and searched through the collapsed rubble. It seemed he was looking for something. Then, when what he was looking for did not appear, he tilted his head for a moment, and then he approached Po Chungryang and searched his bosom.

"What..."

"What am I doing? I'm trying to tie up the loose ends of this incident."

"..."

"For the sake of Mr. Po Chungryang, who can't even reply because he's in pain, I'll have to explain one by one. First, you're going to die here by my hand. Even if you get out alive, you'll die by Man Bakja's hand, but if I leave you like that, that huge filth of yours will be smeared on him."

To Jang So-gil, Man Bakja was an annoying person who didn't make sense. Although he had babbled on with all sorts of words, true and false, to buy time, he was an unsightly fellow who had ended up ramming into him, who was talking about a great cause, as he pleased.

But he didn't have that much of a grudge. If he was an elder who had lived to that age while sticking to his own way of life, he needed to show some respect.

"No matter how much of a crazy old man he is who raised his fist at me, he's still a symbol of the Beggars' Sect. It wouldn't do for a filth like you to be smeared on him. And you won't just obediently die by Man Bakja's hand. You'll run straight to the Beggars' Sect leader, grab his trouser leg, and beg him to save you, crying and wailing."

"..."

"The sect leader might save you for the sake of face. But if you survive, the meaning of me cleaning up the Beggars' Sect will be lost. The biggest filth is left right there, so what's the point of washing and what's the point of purifying? Everything up to now will be in vain. So that's the first reason why you have to die here. And the second is..."

Jang So-gil, who had been fumbling in Po Chungryang's bosom, smiled. His hand had found the book that Po Chungryang had hidden away.

A yellowed book with a yellow cover and no title. Jang So-gil put it in his bosom as if it were a treasure and laughed.

"It's because of this book."

Po Chungryang's eyes shot open. Don't tell me he was after the dog meat book!

It was a book that recorded the weaknesses of the people of the Beggars' Sect. It was a mysterious book whose existence was so unclear that there was even a debate in the Beggars' Sect about whether it really existed or not. How could an outsider know of the existence of that book?

"H-how..."

"Are you curious about that on your deathbed? Alright, I'll tell you a little story as a gift for your journey to the underworld. In the first place, you are not the first person to make this dog meat book. Do you know anything about the original source of this book? You probably don't, do you?"

Po Chungryang looked at Jang So-gil with frightened eyes. He was right. Po Chungryang had once, while dealing with a Two-Knot Beggar who had borrowed money and not repaid it, accidentally found a book while organizing his remaining property.

It was a book he had opened without any thought. But since the contents inside were so terrifying, Po Chungryang had realized the power he could gain by getting a hold of people's weaknesses and had secretly taken the book.

Jang So-gil, after a pause, slowly continued.

"Originally, you see. I made this book."

(End of Chapter)