Chapter 184: The Way (2)

Seeing Il-mok’s negative reaction, the listening Jin Hayeon beside him voiced her question.

"Is there some problem with Young Master Baek Cheon?"

"There's a serious problem."

Il-mok added with a deep sigh.

"The guy's completely insane."

"......"

The scathing words coming out of Il-mok made Dam Bin and Jin Hayeon look at him with strange expressions.

'Even the Lord of Ten Thousand Demons admired Young Master Baek Cheon's ambition, so what's this about...'

'I heard that the head of the Baek Family was delighted because of the advice our young master gave to Young Master Baek Cheon.'

The rumors they'd heard and Il-mok's reaction didn't match up at all.

But somehow, Dam Bin and Jin Hayeon felt like Il-mok's words rang true.

And with good reason. The Branch Leader of Gulang County was enthusiastically nodding his head at Il-mok’s scathing criticism.

As if that wasn’t enough, Jeong Hyeon also smiled awkwardly and gave a look of affirmation.

Il-mok turned to the Branch Leader and asked, "So what kind of trouble has that lunatic caused now?"

"He's been nothing but trouble from start to finish. It's been about a month since Young Master Baek Cheon arrived here, but I haven't seen him act normal even once, Eighth Young Master."

The Branch Leader's answer gave Il-mok a strange sense of unease, and he frowned, "A month? What do you mean by that? It's been about a year since Senior Baek Cheon left for the Central Plains."

“It’s because he was kicked out of the other branches.”

"......"

Even as Il-mok was momentarily at a loss for words, the Branch Leader’s complaints continued. "He kept pulling the same attention-grabbing stunts at every county he visited, so he got kicked out of all of them before lasting even three months. Especially in Chengdu, I heard the entire branch nearly got wiped out because of Young Master Baek Cheon."

"What the hell did he do to cause such a disaster?"

"Apparently, he was running around saying he had to put on a play. And in Chengdu, he was making a fuss about learning face-changing opera, which caught the Sichuan Tang Family's attention. As if that wasn’t enough, he then supposedly picked a fight with them, calling the Tang Family’s hidden weapon techniques fake…”

Il-mok squeezed his eyes shut again.

'I did tell him to study theater in the Central Plains, but this madman actually went and…’

The Central Plains is basically an enemy territory for everyone from the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.

The cult members in Central Plains branches were essentially spies, and naturally had to keep their identities hidden.

But Baek Cheon, being the attention-whore he was, hadn't done that.

True to his Demonic Art’s nature, he'd completely abandoned his duties as a spy.

Now, even Dam Bin seemed to understand what kind of person Baek Cheon was and wore an expression of disbelief.

Jin Hayeon, on the other hand, still maintained her flat face thanks to her White Hand Demonic Art. She just frowned for a bit and asked, "Why didn't you try to stop him?"

“He doesn’t listen to a single word I say. It was the same at the other branches. That's how he ended up getting kicked out all the way here."

While Gansu Province wasn't as remote as Xinjiang, it was still pretty much the backwater of the Central Plains.

Thanks to his family background, Baek Cheon was initially assigned to a more central location in the Central Plains.

But after causing trouble each time, he'd eventually been pushed out to this backwater among backwaters. While Il-mok was thinking this, Jin Hayeon asked another question:

"Then why don't you kick him out somewhere else like the other branches did?"

“As it happens, I have already sent a message to the main headquarters just like the other Branch Leaders did."

At that answer, Il-mok felt an ominous premonition.

"When exactly did you send that message?"

"It was about the third day after Young Master Baek Cheon arrived."

"Then that message would have reached headquarters roughly two weeks ago."

"That's correct."

Only then did Il-mok realize.

Why had he been specifically sent to this backwater place called Gulang County.

And why his master had suddenly arranged his schedule to send him out quickly.

'It was because of this crazy attention-seeker!!'

His master must have sent him here to deal with Baek Cheon.

And Baek Cheon's ridiculous attempts at making plays were one way or another because of him.

Realizing that all of this was his karma, Il-mok let out a deep sigh.

"So where is that lunatic right now?"

***

Il-mok and his group followed the Branch Leader out onto the streets of Gulang County.

After walking along the main road for a while, they soon reached Gulang County's marketplace.

Even without the Branch Leader saying anything, Il-mok and his companions had no trouble finding Baek Cheon.

Gansu Province was close to the backwater of the Central Plains, and Gulang County wasn't the capital or a major county within Gansu.

Since it wasn't a big county, there weren't that many people coming and going in the marketplace, so finding Baek Cheon wasn't difficult.

Actually, even if the place had been crawling with people, it would have been easy to find him.

It was to the point that even Dam Bin and Jin Hayeon, who'd never met Baek Cheon before, and Hyeokryeon Seon-ah and Ouyang Mun, spotted him easily.

"Today I shall show you all a play about a truly great person!"

There was the lunatic, yelling at the top of his lungs while channeling his internal energy.

n just one month since being assigned to the Gulang County branch, he'd apparently become something of a local attraction, with quite a crowd gathered around him.

Watching Baek Cheon wave his fan around dramatically while speaking exaggeratedly, Il-mok let out a deep sigh, "Miss Jeong."

"Y-yes, Young Master."

The moment Jeong Hyeon’s stutter reached his ears, Il-mok pointed at Baek Cheon and said, "Please shoot that bastard with your bow."

“D-do you mean I should hit his acupoints to subdue him?”

Il-mok shook his head at Jeong Hyeon’s reply.

"Just stick it right in his forehead."

“B-but he’ll die if I do that, Y-Young Master.”

“And wouldn’t that be more helpful for the Branch Leader here, our Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, and my own peace and well-being?”

"......"

Jeong Hyeon couldn't bring herself to say anything in reply, all the more so because his argument is valid.

Sensing the gazes of everyone except Jeong Hyeon and the Branch Leader were getting strange, Il-mok cleared his throat once.

"Ahem. That was a joke."

While Il-mok was regretting missing the chance to assassinate Baek Cheon:

"Young Master Il-mok!!"

Baek Cheon finally spotted Il-mok through the crowd and shouted.

"That crazy bastard really..."

Finding himself now also attracting the eyes of the crowd, Il-mok muttered a curse to himself and stepped forward.

"Hahaha. Long time no see!"

As Il-mok approached the lunatic with a smile, the crowd that had been watching Gulang County's local attraction spread out wide to make way.

While an attention-seeker makes for a fine spectacle, it seemed they had no desire to associate with one, nor with his acquaintances.

Thanks to that, Il-mok easily approached Baek Cheon's side and sent a telepathic message along with his greeting:

“So this is where you were.”

—I have an important matter we must discuss in private. Please come with me for a moment to a place where there are no people.

But Baek Cheon was as clueless as ever.

"Hahaha! I was just about to start my play. Since this is also thanks to Young Master Il-mok's advice, how about we have our conversation after you see the results of this past year!"

Il-mok kept his fake smile plastered on his face while gritting his teeth and sending another telepathic message.

—It’s an important story related to that play. How about you do the play after hearing what I have to say?

The mention of it being about the play seemed to work as Baek Cheon nodded with a smile.

"Then let's go together! Hahaha!"

Baek Cheon strode off with a hearty laugh, and the people who didn't want to catch his attention-seeking disease made way widely.

Thanks to that, they easily reached a deserted alley.

Baek Cheon looked at Il-mok with a face full of anticipation. "What's this about the play, Young Master Il-mok! If it's advice from you, I'll listen with all my attention anytime!"

The response to that thrust was Il-mok’s sweet smile.

"First, let's start with you getting your ass kicked."

"???"

Il-mok instantly lunged toward Baek Cheon.

Following the principles of the Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword that had now become completely ingrained in his body, Il-mok's sword flashed toward Baek Cheon.

Of course, Baek Cheon was also a talent who had completed the Hall of the Demonic Way and was a direct lineage from one of the Five Great Families, so even while flustered, he reacted to the surprise attack by stepping back with footwork while swinging his sleeve to shoot hidden weapons.

However.

Clang!

Il-mok casually deflected the hidden weapons Baek Cheon had shot like he was swatting away flies.

His speed in charging toward Baek Cheon didn't decrease at all, and his sword had closed the distance in an instant, piercing Baek Cheon's pressure points.

"Ugh."

Il-mok's demonic energy flowed through the Sword Qi that had reached the pressure points and suppressed Baek Cheon's blood flow.

With his body completely stiffened, Baek Cheon could only watch as Il-mok smiled refreshingly and swung his left fist.

Thwack!!

On a bright day, in a quiet alley in Gulang County, the sound of something getting pounded echoed repeatedly.

***

After refreshingly venting his anger, Il-mok returned to the branch carrying Baek Cheon over his shoulder.

Looking at Baek Cheon, whose face had turned all sorts of colors, Il-mok asked.

"Have you forgotten what you're supposed to do at a Central Plains branch?"

"I know what it is. Collect information from the Central Plains, right?"

Baek Cheon's confident answer was met with an incredulous look from Il-mok.

"Then why the hell did you act so conspicuously?"

“Gathering intelligence on the Central Plains is important, but recruiting new cult members in the Central Plains is also important! To do that, we spread the greatness of our cult far and wide!"

Baek Cheon felt wronged and argued.

"And wasn't this what Young Master Il-mok taught me! You told me to create plays about the greatness of past Heavenly Demons and spread our cult's grand intentions!"

The content of Baek Cheon's argument shifted everyone's attention to Il-mok.

The Branch Leader's eyes were full of resentment. His expression seemed to say, "So you were the root cause of all this?"

But not everyone reacted that way.

“So there was such a profound meaning behind it!! As expected of Young Master Il-mok!”

For some reason, Ouyang Mun had a moved expression on his face.

"While Young Master Baek Cheon's actions were excessive, his intentions seem truly admirable."

Dam Bin and Jin Hayeon also showed a somewhat peculiar reaction.

At those bizarre responses, Il-mok sighed and said:

"I agree that spreading the faith is important. But since this is the Central Plains, shouldn't we at least hide the cult's name while proselytizing?"

"How would we do that?"

When Baek Cheon asked that, most people looked at Il-mok with eyes full of trust and interest.

It was because of the things they had either heard through rumors or experienced for themselves.

Their gazes seemed to expect that if anyone could find a solution to any difficult problem, it would be the Eighth Young Master.

Of course, Il-mok had just said whatever came to mind.

‘Did these nutjobs really just entrust the solution to me?’

Il-mok was about to let out a hollow laugh at the absurdity when something suddenly occurred to him.

'Wait a minute. The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult is a cult anyway, right?'

***

That evening.

Under a sky being painted with the light of the setting sun, a few outsiders approached the residents of Gulang County, who were busily moving about to wrap up their day.

A man who was relatively normal except for when he was in front of Jin Hayeon smiled cheerfully and struck up a conversation.

"Miss, you have such a benevolent aura flowing from your face. You seem to have been born with good fortune."

"M-me?"

As the woman hesitated and asked back at the sudden praise from a stranger, Ju Seo-yeon who was beside Ouyang Mun made her clear eyes sparkle as she said, "That's right. By any chance, have you heard about the Way (道)?"