Chapter 80

Danwooseong returned to Taeho Trading Company after agreeing to meet again at the secluded retreat of Gwangshin, as revealed by Baekryong Gate Master Ju Yeonwol.

Amidst this, the funeral for Master Eunpil, who had looked after the Taeho Trading Company, proceeded in a solemn atmosphere.

Dan Woo-seong deliberately introduced himself as the stepson of the Taeho Trading Guild’s leader while assisting with the funeral. This allowed him to meet most of the key figures associated with the Taeho Trading Guild in person.

Dan Woo-seong memorized the faces of those flocking to the funeral.

He knew some would enter the funeral while hiding their identities, since the Left General and the Twelve Swords had died.

Among the mourners, word spread like wildfire that the stepson of Taeho Trading Company’s owner was an incredibly powerful figure.

Dan Woo-seong had deliberately taken upon himself the risks that could befall Taeho Trading Company. Though he had secretly waited throughout the funeral period for the man in the purple robe, the funeral concluded quietly, as if he harbored no lingering regret over the failed operation.

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Dan Wooseong departed the Taeho Trading Company only after ten days had passed, heading for Gwangshin’s secluded retreat. For resolving this matter, Dan Wooseong received only an excessive amount of travel money and a single judge’s brush once used by Master Eunpil. One brush had melted, but the other had been retrieved from where it had been stuck in Lee Geon-chang’s neck. Dan Woo-seong deliberately carried this magistrate’s brush with him whenever he stopped at inns or secured lodging.

He was deliberately leaving a trail.

Dan Wooseong believed matters among martial artists should be settled among martial artists.

From the third day onward, Dan Wooseong found his sleeping arrangements uncomfortable.

I felt like someone was following me. I stopped occasionally to look around, but there were no traces of pursuers. It was just my senses telling me.

That something felt off.

As he neared Cheongyak Mountain, where Gwangshin resided, Danwooseong deliberately slowed his pace.

If enemies too numerous for him to handle gathered, he planned to lure Gwangshin out.

It was a rather devious scheme.

But Dan Wooseong knew that Gwangshin’s nickname, ‘Mad Gwang’, was earned while confronting the demonic path. In that era, no man hated the demonic path more than this man.

Throughout his life, he earned the nickname “Fanatic” by tearing apart and killing demons.

If Danwooseong were to lead the demons who had been quiet for a while and seek out the Fanatic, that itself would be the perfect gift.

Therefore, Danwooseong lingered around Cheongyak Mountain, observing the lives of ordinary people, drinking alone in solitude, living like someone with nothing to do.

Even then, his senses remained sharp.

A pursuer kept appearing and disappearing.

At a place called Pyeongho Guesthouse, while emptying a bottle of liquor with tangchori chop as a snack, a middle-aged man with a long goatee entered with his hands behind his back and sat down in front of Dan Wooseong without permission.

Dan Woo-sung poured him a drink and asked.

“Care for a drink?”

The middle-aged man replied to Dan Woosung.

“Drink your fill. This will be your last drink.”

“That remains to be seen.”

Dan Woosung drank a cup of liquor, then picked up a piece of tangchori with his chopsticks and ate it.

While eating the tangchori chop, Dan Woosung asked.

“How many came?”

The middle-aged man replied.

“You’ve come well-prepared. Did you kill the eighth, eleventh, and left-hand guards?”

Dan Woo-sung rinsed his mouth with alcohol before replying.

“We never exchanged names, but I suppose I did. Ah, and besides those three you mentioned, I killed more. Their martial arts were the same. The kind that make a metallic clang when struck. Did their leaders come too?”

The middle-aged man merely smiled.

“This doesn’t seem like the time for bravado.”

Dan Woosung pointed a finger as he spoke.

“I remember. You came to the funeral. You managed to keep quiet there, didn’t you? Didn’t you know I was the culprit? Guess some of them were too busy dealing with the aftermath to figure things out.”

The middle-aged man said in a deep, settled tone.

“Taehosangdan is innocent. You and Eunhasangdan will pay the price for their crimes.”

Dan Woo-sung smirked.

“Ah, Eunha Trading Company. Did you send troops there too?”

“No. There’s an order to things. I plan to visit you with your head in hand. I’ll go and cut the throats of your brothers, your father, your family, your servants, even the animals you keep.”

Dan Woo-sung retorted.

“There are quite a few experts over there, you know.”

“Do you think the Eight Dragon Gate can block them all? If you escape from here, you’d better head straight to the Galaxy Trading Guild. Otherwise, our forces will get there first.”

The Galaxy Guild has masters Danwoo-seong can’t handle right now. It’s the same as Danwoo-seong being at the Galaxy Guild. Moreover, Baekyak’s subordinates were also strong, so Danwoo-seong knew better than anyone that nothing unusual would happen.

Danwooseong downed the last of his drink, set the cup down, and said.

“Scary. You bastard.”

“Come out.”

The middle-aged man rose and stepped outside the inn. Leading the elite of the Golden-Silver Murder Society and the elite of the Heavenly Sword Sect, this middle-aged man was none other than Gongsun Fu, the long-shadowed leader of the Golden-Silver Murder Society.

With the Left Minister dead, he had no choice but to step forward personally to resolve the matter.

When Dan Wuxing failed to follow him out, Gongsun Fu frowned and turned back.

Dan Wuxing was paying the innkeeper, who was trembling with fear, for the drinks.

Gongsun Fu wore a look of utter disappointment.

“That damn fool…”

Dan Wooseong finally emerged outside and retorted to Gongsun Fu’s rant.

“Pay up and get out. You crazy bastard.”

The madmen’s god dwells nearby, where the insane now vie for supremacy.

Danwooseong stepped outside the inn and froze, startled.

Gold-masked and silver-masked figures were thickly intermingled. Their numbers were truly vast. It couldn’t be otherwise. They had essentially all gathered here. Here and there, unmasked black-clad swordsmen of the Heavenly Sword Sect also glared at Danwooseong.

Dan Wooseong, wearing an air of supreme confidence, slipped on his gauntlets, gripped the Pan-gwan-pil in his right hand, and opened his mouth to address the great army.

“Hey, you son of a bitch…”

Danwooseong fled immediately, cutting off his words.

His speed was incredible. He was surrounded on all sides. Dan Wooseong’s figure shot into the air, collided with a tree, then leaped onto a branch on the opposite side, executing a Wood-Climbing Flight technique as he fled. A roaring sound echoed as assassins and swordsmen swarmed in.

Then, thud, thud, thud! Hidden weapons shot up from below.

Dan Wooseong leapt off the tree, stretched out, landed directly in the forest, and then dashed off.

His destination was, of course, Cheongyak Mountain.

He intended to lure out Gwangshin.

Dan Wooseong burst into laughter. Due to the speed of his lightness technique, his voice stretched out long and drawn, like a piece of taffy.

The very sight of those pursuing Danwooseong was a spectacle.

Because each possessed different levels of lightness skill, the front of the formation soon took on the shape of a mountain. At the very forefront, the Golden Mask Men and the swordsmen of the Heavenly Sword Sect were intermingled.

Dan Woosung deliberately whistled, infusing his breath with internal energy.

“Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

Gongsun Fu, who had been pursuing with his subordinates, shouted with his inner energy.

“Watch out for ambushes!”

The sheer weight of the Golden-Silver Assassin Society’s troops running caused the ground to tremble.

Small daggers continuously embedded themselves beneath Dan Woo-sung’s feet.

Pababababababap…

Each time Dan Woosung abruptly changed direction with his lightness skill, the darts sliced through the air.

Despite being pursued by so many masters, they couldn’t catch up to Dan Woo-sung.

Dan Wooseong’s lightness skill combined internal and external power, making it noisy and clumsy—a glaring flaw—but its speed was unmatched. What’s more, this time Dan Wooseong was deliberately fleeing with such a racket it sounded like he was shattering the ground.

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Cheongyak Mountain, Gwangshin’s hideout.

A dwelling for Gwangshin had been prepared, built by Chief Yoo Jeong-hong mobilizing his followers. Not a speck of dust was found in the dwelling. This was because Gwangshin personally scrubbed the floors.

He was also the embodiment of a clean freak.

Gwangshin was shaving his beard while looking into a mirror.

He was shaving his beard with a small pocket knife, then examining his own cheeks from all angles. His hair had recently begun growing back black.

Judging by his appearance, he was a man in his fifties with a desolate expression.

His expression was thick with a peculiar unease, as if he himself had suppressed his own violent temper.

Kwangshin had confined himself to his quarters.

He lacked the confidence to venture out into the world and live an ordinary life.

He was a man who had survived countless instances of demonic possession while training martial arts, yet somehow remained alive.

Kwang-shin’s hand, which had been shaving, trembled uncharacteristically. Kwang-shin took a deep breath before continuing to shave.

Scrape, scrape, scrape…

He also trimmed his hair.

His hearing was beyond that of an ordinary person, making his nerves even sharper.

He grasped the ends of the loosened hair with his fingers, trimming them to a suitable length. Then he tied the hair back again.

This made him look not like an old man, but a middle-aged man.

Finally, he trimmed his eyebrows with a pocket knife. A moment later, he took a deep breath and murmured in a calm tone.

“Why come here to fight? It’s noisy.”

It couldn’t help but be noisy.

Dan Woosung had started the fight down below the mountain. Moreover, Dan Woosung’s martial arts were like thunder and lightning exploding. Thunder, lightning, screams, shouts, and even the sound of throwing daggers were all clearly audible to Gwangshin’s ears.

Kwang-shin dropped his head, his fists clenched, his hands trembling slightly for a moment.

It was an absurd action more fitting of a foul-tempered child than an old man.

Gwang-shin turned his head and forced out a voice charged with inner energy toward Cheongyak Mountain.

“Shut up············!”

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“……………….Shut up!”

Not only Danwooseong, but even those who had been attacking him felt a dagger pierce their ears.

It was a truly chilling sensation.

Gongsun Fu flinched in shock, whirling his head to look around frantically. Yet the Golden Silver Murder Society and Dan Wuseong did not cease their attacks on each other. Dan Wuseong unleashed a torrent of sword energy while his enemies hesitated, then leapt up, using his sword’s momentum to trample the assassins beneath him.

Two black-clad figures leapt from the Heavenly Sword Formation, unleashing sword energy toward Dan Woo-seong.

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

The moment Dan Wooseong countered the sword energy with his Thunder Wall, he deliberately shouted with all his might, channeling his inner energy.

“Twelve Demon King!”

Among the ranks of the Heavenly Sword Legion, two men of the Sword Immortals were mingled. They were the Seven Swords and the Nine Swords respectively, though Dan Woosung cared little for their ranks. These two had merely waited for Dan Woosung to tire before launching a single attack.

Dan Woosung, fending off assassins charging from all directions, shouted again.

“Where is the Sword Demon?!”

Dan Woosung stomped his foot down on the solid ground.

Kwaaaaaaaaaaaang!

The silver-masked figures charging at him were swept up by the shockwave radiating from his thunderous roar, sent flying in a wide arc.

Dan Wooseong glared around him. With this level of chaos, fanatics should have appeared by now, yet there was still no sign of them. Already, thirty silver-masked men had been killed with their heads smashed in, and over ten gold-masked men had been stabbed to death by Dan Wooseong’s Pan-gwan-pil.

The leaders of the Gold-Silver Murder Society and the two swordsmen belonging to the Twelve Demon Swords were the problem.

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Something suddenly shot out from the middle section of Cheongyak Mountain, flying in a curve before landing quietly outside the battlefield.

It was a fanatic clad in gray robes.

Countless martial artists were chasing and fighting one man. Corpses already littered the area.

Kwang-shin approached Gong-son-bok, who stood watching the situation alone, and asked.

“Where is the Sword Demon?”

Only then did Gongsun Fu draw his sword, aiming it at Gwangshin. He couldn’t speak. Of course, he didn’t know his opponent was Gwangshin. He only felt an overwhelming sense of pressure. Though they hadn’t exchanged words, the man was so bizarre that one glance was enough to know he was a madman.

Kwangshin clicked his tongue.

“Tsk.”

Kwangshin, about to kill Gongsonbok immediately, instead stared blankly at Danwooseong, who was fighting alone like a madman.

“So it’s you. Making all that noise…”

The source of the commotion was fighting over there. It was the guy who had interrupted his shaving. For a moment, Kwang-shin watched Dan-woo-sung fight, then pursed his lips into a circle.

“Oh.”

He fought well. Gwang-shin nodded.

‘The young guy fights well.’ As this thought crossed his mind, he instantly forgave the noise.

Then suddenly, Gwangshin looked at Gongsonbok.

He had asked where the Sword Demon was, but the man hadn’t answered.

He thought it would be proper to at least say he didn’t know.

Gwangshin approached Gongsonbok and said.

“The elder asks, why no reply? Whose disciple are you? Answer quickly.”

Even while Dan Wooseong was locked in a fierce battle with two Twelve Demon Swordsmen far away, he quickly answered.

“Senior, that man is the leader of the assassins. They’re all demonic cultivators.”

Kwangshin stared at Gongsun Bok before vanishing.

Gongsun Fu clenched his teeth and drew the sword in his right hand back. He froze in the stance of swinging his sword. Gwangshin’s hands touched both his shoulders. The moment terror washed over Gongsun Fu’s face, his body was torn apart left and right.

Splatter!

Gwangshin, his head tilted skyward, stared blankly at the blood trickling down his face for the first time in ages. Moments later, a splattering sound echoed as blood splashed onto his face.

Gwangshin wiped the blood from his face with both hands and muttered.

“Ah… So the demon has appeared.”

The madman had appeared alongside it.

ⓒ Yoo Jin-seong