Chapter 173 : Mountain and Heaven, Join Hands

Chapter 173: Mountain and Heaven, Join Hands

At the hour Baek Seolyoung finished her training, Lee Jaseung was in the guest hall, harvesting the seeds he had sown.

“From the Jo Clan, ten thousand silver coins, from the Gwangyang Blade Sect, paintings worth fourteen thousand silver coins. Not only that, I collected from more than a dozen regional Captains, as little as three thousand silver coins and as much as eight thousand.”

The speaker was Sa Jo-pyeong, Head of the Vermillion Bird Hall.

Standing before him with a hardened face was Yeo Beom.

Lee Jaseung had deliberately set the two at odds. When the two most troublesome men opposed each other, they became easier to control.

Emboldened by the Alliance Leader’s visit, Sa Jo-pyeong went straight for Yeo Beom’s greatest weakness.

He pressed the issue of bribes.

When Lee Jaseung looked his way, a flustered Yeo Beom spoke quickly.

“It isn’t true.”

Yet there was no confidence in his voice.

Sa Jo-pyeong spoke as if he had been waiting for that line.

“So I intend to report this to the Blue Pine Order.”

At the words Blue Pine Order, Yeo Beom’s face went pale.

The Blue Pine Order was a body newly created by Lee Jaseung with a special mandate, an internal audit force for the Alliance. It focused on rooting out corruption, and when wrongdoing was proven, punishment fell without mercy.

Yeo Beom looked to Lee Jaseung, silently begging for help.

‘If I am taken down, you won’t be safe either.’

He tried to pack that meaning into his eyes.

It was unnecessary. Lee Jaseung had no intention of cutting him down now.

“Captain Sa.”

“Yes, Alliance Leader.”

“Elder Yeo was the one who helped me most in this election. If a man like that were to be dragged into a sordid scandal, the Alliance’s authority would suffer a heavy blow.”

“That is true, but your top priority this term is eradicating corruption. If you overlook this, I fear people will speak ill of you.”

Inside, Yeo Beom fumed.

‘That damned bastard! He’s really trying to kill me!’

In contrast, Sa Jo-pyeong understood that Lee Jaseung did not intend to remove him completely. He merely meant to nail things down so that Yeo Beom would never again take him lightly.

Lee Jaseung soothed him in a gentle tone.

“I understand your intent well. Leave this matter to me and trust this person for now.”

“Understood. I will do so.”

Sa Jo-pyeong bowed courteously and withdrew.

Once he had gone, Yeo Beom raised his voice.

“This is slander. The truth of this matter is that I—”

“Silence!”

Startled by the thunder in his voice, Yeo Beom snapped his mouth shut.

When Lee Jaseung fixed him with a cold stare, Yeo Beom lowered his gaze.

“How can you be taking money at a time like this!”

Lee Jaseung’s force was so overwhelming that Yeo Beom could only bow his head without offering a single excuse. Say one wrong word and lightning would fall.

The air of the room turned cold under his edge.

After a moment, Lee Jaseung drew back his aura and spoke in a calmer voice.

“Elder Yeo.”

“Yes, Alliance Leader.”

“As you know, I urgently need your help. This is not the time to commit the folly of small greed that loses the greater.”

“I’m sorry.”

“First, I will need to placate Sa Jo-pyeong, so present yourself as reflecting in the Council of Elders.”

Yeo Beom sighed. By rights, the one who should have withdrawn was Sa Jo-pyeong. He should have smashed him from the start. Carelessness had led to this, born of the conceit that Lee Jaseung stood firmly behind him.

“Understood, my Lord.”

“When this settles down, I will call you back. Until then, take firm control of the Council.”

Yeo Beom left.

A smile touched Lee Jaseung’s lips. With Yeo Beom’s temperament, he would not simply lie low. He would plot in various ways to remove Sa Jo-pyeong.

The more the two exhausted themselves checking each other, the better it was for him. They were puppets for display to the outside anyway.

If the two who had served the former Leader stood with him together, they would offset the unease that a young Alliance Leader aroused.

He walked to the window and threw it wide.

This was not a fight that would drag on.

Given time, his true identity would inevitably be exposed.

He had to settle it before then.

* * *

There were others who had cast their winning move.

They were Mountain and Cheon Myeongin. Even they had not expected to find themselves in the same boat of fate, sailing toward the most dangerous place in the world.

“I never thought I would come here of my own accord.”

Cheon Myeongin agreed with Mountain.

“I feel the same.”

They stood before the Cult Leader’s Hall of the Asura Demon Sect.

“This truly is madness...”

“At worst, we die, right?”

Cheon Myeongin did not trust Mountain. He thought Mountain had come because he was cornered and scheming to survive.

Yet if the man had the courage to go meet the Demonic Cult Leader together, that much he could believe. To his surprise, Mountain accepted the proposal.

He had two reasons for agreeing.

First, because under the pressure from Cheon Myeongin and the Demonic Cult, Lee Jaseung had discovered his true identity. He could no longer endure. Especially once Lee Jaseung showed his true face, he had ceased to be an ordinary opponent.

At this rate, the organization would collapse and his life would end. Even if he could handle Lee Jaseung and the Black Way Alliance, he would have to pour in everything he had built. The price was too great for the result.

The other reason was curiosity and faith in the presence dwelling in Cheon Myeongin’s body. As long as it existed, he had a vague conviction that at least within the Demonic Cult they would not die. At least this time, they would live.

Did the Demonic Cult Leader know of that presence?

Cheon Myeongin chose to gamble for his own reasons. As he said, he had only a year of life left.

If something had truly been planted in his body, that year could become ten or twenty. He prayed that this visit would confirm it.

Their guide was the Elder Demon Lord.

“Let us go.”

Mountain and Cheon Myeongin walked behind him.

The Elder Demon Lord wore a satisfied smile. He had been tasked with uncovering the mastermind and bringing him before the Cult Leader.

Yet the head of the opposing force had appeared before him of his own will. His single condition was an audience with the leader of the Asura Demon Sect.

The Elder Demon Lord honored that promise.

They had come on their own feet, but at the same time, he had brought them too.

Yao Hong sat upon the splendid grand seat at the center of the hall. His mere presence froze the heart.

The moment Cheon Myeongin looked up at him on the steps, he regretted the plan. Plans were made for dealing with people.

Yao Hong was not a person. He felt like a being shaped from enormous Demonic Qi, more terrifying than the evil idol towering behind him.

Mountain, on the other hand, could withstand Yao Hong’s aura. Compared to the demonic might he had witnessed before, this was bearable.

Yao Hong looked down at them with a scornful glint.

“Are these the ones?”

“Yes.”

Without another word, Yao Hong tossed out an order.

“Kill them.”

“As you command.”

At that single phrase, the Great Demon stepped forward, ready to cut them down in an instant. The Elder Demon Lord did not move to stop him.

Cheon Myeongin spoke quickly.

“We are not the ones who broke your sect’s Eternal Life Buddha.”

At those words, Yao Hong stayed the Great Demon.

“Wait!”

His gaze shot like arrows.

“Then who was it?”

“It was Lee Jaseung, the Leader of the Black Way Alliance.”

At the title, a strange light flashed in Yao Hong’s eyes.

“You mean that greenhorn who supposedly seized the Black Way Alliance?”

Cheon Myeongin answered proudly.

“Yes, it’s that man.”

“Nonsense! You expect me to believe that brat destroyed the Eternal Life Buddha?”

“Then surely you cannot accept that he also became Leader of the Murim Alliance.”

At that, not only Yao Hong but also the Elder Demon Lord and the Great Demon were taken aback.

The Elder Demon Lord shouted at Cheon Myeongin.

“Why do you say such critical words only now?”

He had not told him that before coming here.

That had been wise. If the Elder Demon Lord had known earlier, instead of bringing them here willingly, he would have plotted to capture Lee Jaseung and claim merit.

“We learned it only recently.”

Then, Yao Hong burst into laughter.

“Hahahahahahaha!”

At his laughter, Cheon Myeongin coughed up blood. Living on borrowed time thanks to a sustaining pill, he could not endure the demonic pressure Yao Hong released.

“Those Orthodox fools! They handed the Alliance to Unorthodox trash. Hahahahaha!”

As Yao Hong laughed, the Elder Demon Lord and the Great Demon laughed with him.

In that instant, Cheon Myeongin felt it.

A resonance from deep within his body.

It responded to the Cult Leader’s aura.

‘It’s real! As Mountain said, something is inside me.’

Outwardly it looked like his internal injury had flared up, but the blood he spat had expelled malignant energy from his body.

Moreover, neither Yao Hong nor the Elder Demon Lord sensed that resonance at all.

That meant the force within him was no ordinary thing.

A smile stole across Cheon Myeongin’s lips as he bowed his head.

‘I can live!’

Watching him, Mountain became certain. Even the Demonic Cult Leader, Yao Hong, did not know about the presence in Cheon Myeongin’s body. They had not spared him a glance.

‘At the very least, that presence was not planted by this Cult Leader. Then just what is it?’

He trembled at being the only one who knew, and he feared it too. That day still felt like a dream.

Now Mountain spoke in Cheon Myeongin’s stead.

“The bastard named Lee Jaseung had the impudence to try to use your sect to eliminate us. We have come to tell you this and ask you to remove him.”

“So you mean to use me as a butcher’s knife?”

“How could I dare to? We have simply come to find the only blade in this world that can cut him down.”

“The only one?”

“Yes. His martial skill is beyond imagination. I am certain he cannot be killed unless you, the Cult Leader, act personally.”

The Great Demon roared at those words.

“Insolence!”

Killing intent surged from him. Those words had insulted him, the Elder Demon Lord, and countless masters within the sect.

Cheon Myeongin wiped the blood from his lips and added his voice.

“I too believe the same. The only one capable of defeating him is you, Cult Leader.”

“How dare you not shut your mouth?”

After the outburst, the Elder Demon Lord looked to Yao Hong and spoke.

“I will bring you the bastard’s head.”

The Great Demon stepped in at once.

“Do you mean to start a Demonic War?”

He was not actually worried about war. He was worried the Elder Demon Lord would take the credit.

“Even so, we cannot just stand by and watch the Black Way Alliance swallow the Orthodox Faction, right?”

Yao Hong waved his hand.

Whir.

In the next instant, Mountain flew through the air and Yao Hong seized him by the collar. With a mere gesture, Mountain had been dragged in as if sucked forward.

Up close, Mountain trembled head to toe. He could not withstand Yao Hong’s innate Demonic Qi.

“You dare try to use me to get rid of that young brat? How dare you try such a cheap trick!”

Mountain forced the words out.

“You misunderstand. It’s because he is too strong. I will lend you my strength as well.”

He had prepared himself for this from the beginning. He would commit more than half his organization’s power to this. If it meant killing Lee Jaseung, it would not be a losing bargain.

Yao Hong’s Demonic Qi deepened. He looked ready to kill Mountain on the spot.

Cheon Myeongin cried out from where he lay prone.

“Please, trust us just this once!”

Yao Hong flung Mountain away without mercy.

He spun helplessly through the air and crashed to the floor.

Mountain spat blood. Unlike Cheon Myeongin, he had truly been injured.

Yao Hong looked to the Elder Demon Lord and spoke.

“Take these vermin. Go and bring me the Black Way Alliance Leader’s head at once.”