Chapter 201: Investigation (1)

The first gathering of the Maitreya Luminous Cult was quite a success.

The Branch Leader kept his mask on while he preached, and whenever the atmosphere started getting a bit rowdy again—

"Give me peace~ like a river~!"

"Give me peace~ like a river~!"

Without fail, Baek Cheon would step forward and lead the hymns to get everyone fired up and engaged.

Plus, the sermon didn't drag on forever. They wrapped it up in about half an hour.

"Everyone must be getting hungry by now, so please take some of the late-night snacks we have prepared.”

The moment the Branch Leader finished speaking, several people appeared pulling carts loaded with dumplings and pancakes.

Some were errand boys from the brothels that Il-mok had ordered around as manual laborers, while others were the honey trap operatives who'd been out proselytizing.

Since there were so many people at the gathering, it would've been impossible for just the cult members to prepare this much food on their own.

Naturally, they’d outsourced the cooking to the cooks at the brothels.

But Il-mok didn't feel the slightest burden about ordering all these snacks. After all, he was using part of the massive fortune seized from the Heavenly Orchid Society to pay for labor costs.

The cooks who prepared the snacks and the errand boys distributing them from the carts were all so pleased with their generous wages that they were practically grinning.

Those who'd attended the gathering found the person who'd brought them here and headed toward their cart to receive snacks.

"Miss! There you are!"

"I was away for a moment preparing snacks for all of you."

The three women who’d been captured by the Heavenly Orchid Society Leader before unexpectedly becoming honey trap agents handed out the snacks with surprising competence.

“Here.”

Jin Hayeon just passed out the food with her usual ice-queen vibe.

“My, isn't she the very picture of aloofness?”

“With a face like that, doesn’t she have the right to be? You could call her the most beautiful woman in Lanzhou and it wouldn't be an exaggeration."

Countless men found themselves utterly mesmerized by that very aloofness.

"Um... Young warrior?"

"Ahem. I'd like some snacks too, if you don't mind?"

The problem was that both Ouyang Mun and Ju Seo-yeon were so busy staring at her that they’d completely forgotten to give food to the people standing right in front of them.

"Hahaha! Everyone, please eat comfortably! This is prepared by our Maitreya Luminous Cult. Oh, and if you'd like, I could sing another song for you! Or would you prefer to see a play?"

Meanwhile, Baek Cheon had also moved in front of a cart and was running his mouth while distributing snacks.

"......"

Only one guy was handing out snacks in total silence.

But whether he talked or not didn't matter, because the people getting food from him were buzzing with excitement.

"That pale face and those melancholy eyes... He looked even more dazzling up close under the moonlight."

"And he's so dignified."

The man silently distributing snacks was none other than Jeong Hyeon.

She was using every last ounce of her willpower to fight off the side effects of her Demonic Art while working.

"I almost hugged him without thinking."

When a woman who’d just gotten a snack whispered that to her friend, Jeong Hyeon nearly jumped out of her skin.

Maybe it was the free food, or maybe it was because the gorgeous people who'd led them here had appeared, an energetic buzz started to fill the air.

“Huh? Where’s that younger sister of yours I saw the other day?”

In the midst of all this, a man who'd received snacks from Jin Hayeon asked with curiosity.

"She's not feeling well today, so she's resting at home."

Jin Hayeon answered in her indifferent tone, but this was a lie.

Since Hyeokryeon Seon-ah had also gone out proselytizing, she was supposed to be handing out snacks here as well.

The plan had been changed at the last minute because Il-mok gave a new order.

—Beggar Gang’s members are here. Just in case, Seon-ah will sit out the snack distribution.

From his perch in a nearby tree, Il-mok had quickly sent out the order to his people.

It was because the cultivation level of the oldest-looking beggar among them was comparable to Baek Cheon's.

Once Il-mok sized up the middle-aged beggar, Il-mok quickly organized his thoughts.

'That attention-whore Baek Cheon can't be hidden anyway. Might as well use him as a decoy and make sure they only pay attention to him.’

The growth of Demonic Arts practitioners was absurdly fast. On top of that, the people he'd brought with him generally had higher achievements for their age even by the cult’s standards.

Especially Hyeokryeon Seon-ah.

She was only fifteen this year, but her martial realm is already at the early stage of Peak Realm by Centrail Plains’ standards. To make matters worse, she had the telltale red hair and eyes.

That problem was exactly why Seon-ah had to dye her hair black every time they left the branch office.

‘If people notice how strong she is for her age, they'll start looking closer, and sooner or later, they’ll spot the hair or eyes.’

For that reason, Il-mok ordered Hyeokryeon Seon-ah to sit this one out.

And right now, she had climbed up into the tree where Il-mok was hiding and was sitting on a branch next to him with a beaming smile.

She just watched him as he stared down at the rally with a serious look.

The reason Il-mok specifically excluded only Seon-ah was simple.

The Beggar Gang’s top expert could only notice Baek Cheon, Ju Seo-yeon, and Jeong Hyeon since his realm was similar to theirs, and by extension, Seon-ah.

As for Ouyang Mun and Jin Hayeon, they are several levels above that middle-aged beggar, so it would be difficult for him to notice them.

On top of that, with the three women serving as honey trap operatives and the errand boys pulling carts mixed in, it would be even harder for him to get a clear picture.

But Il-mok still hadn't fully kicked his obsessive habits, so just in case, he kept a close eye on the beggars' every move.

Realizing that Il-mok's gaze was fixed on the beggars, Hyeokryeon Seon-ah asked with a smile.

"Should I kill them, big brother?"

"...There's no need to go that far."

When Il-mok answered half-heartedly, Hyeokryeon Seon-ah asked again.

"Then should I cripple their legs so they can't come to the gatherings anymore?"

"Ahem. It’ll be troublesome if we poke them and the whole Beggar Gang comes after us. Let's just watch them for now.”

Half of it was just excuses, but the other half was genuine.

He genuinely didn't want to poke the hornet's nest that was the Beggar Gang when nothing had even happened yet.

‘She’s only fifteen, and yet…'

The other half of it was trying to tone down her killing intent.

‘This is what a bad childhood upbringing does to you. Man, those crazy cultists are the worst.’

Il-mok looked at the girl who'd received twisted teachings since childhood with pity and patted her head.

That gentle touch made Hyeokryeon Seon-ah grin from ear to ear as she made a promise to herself.

‘I’m going to kill anyone who ever bothers him.’

Yeah, it probably had less to do with her upbringing and more to do with Il-mok.

z

Meanwhile.

Unaware that an unhinged assassin was eyeing their necks, the Beggar Gang members had gathered together and were murmuring among themselves.

“You damn morons. What got into you, singing your lungs out like that?”

Chewed out by Hong Gae, the Three-Knot beggar shot back without missing a beat.

“It’s called blending in. Begging is all about reading the room. Can’t you use your brain, boss?”

“...Oh, you were reading the room so well that you sang loud enough to shake the walls? How much food did you stuff in your face to get that much energy?"

As Hong Gae kept chewing on them, the beggars subtly turned their heads to avoid his gaze.

All except a certain Three-Knot beggar.

"We're already starving anyway, so shouldn't we go get some of that free food?”

He pointed over to the carts where they were giving out late-night snacks.

"Hah. Fine, let's go, you rats. It'd look strange if beggars turned down charity."

Hearing that, all the beggars who’d been avoiding his eyes started grinning.

They may have entered the Beggar Gang and learned martial arts, but they were still beggars in the end. The sight of free, delicious-smelling food was enough to make them lose their minds.

As the beggars approached the carts with drool practically running down their chins, those gathered at the meeting frowned and moved aside.

It was a scene befitting the saying about avoiding people because they're dirty.

But through it all, Hong Gai was the only one who managed to stay focused and steadily survey his surroundings with his qi perception.

'Hoh. That handsome young man over there and that airhead of a woman are also quite formidable.'

The taciturn, handsome young man by the cart where women were squealing and making a fuss, and a certain airhead of a woman at another spot.

Both of them were weaker than him, but they were definitely Peak Realm experts.

As he was scanning the area, he naturally fell behind the main group. By the time he caught up to a cart, he found himself at the one run by a certain ice queen.

‘I’ve never seen a woman this beautiful in my entire life! Is this what they mean when they talk about the legendary Five Flowers of the martial arts world?’

He couldn't help but think of the five most beautiful young martial artists of the current era.

And just like that, Hong Gae knew exactly why he'd ended up at this cart.

‘Damn horny bastards!’

His young beggars had obviously lost their minds over this woman and made a beeline right for her.

Just because they were beggars didn't mean they’re blind.

And the ice queen didn't even flinch. She just kept her poker face on and handed out the food without a hint of being grossed out or annoyed.

"Hehehehe."

The sight of the pathetic beggars drooling and receiving food with dazed expressions made Hong Gae sigh inwardly.

‘Whatever. What’s the big deal if beggars look pathetic?’

He decided to just pass it off as excellent acting. Otherwise, he felt he might fall ill from stress.

When his turn finally came, Hong Gae decided to show them what real acting looked like.

"Ahem. Could you spare a few more for me?"

He'd started begging like a proper beggar.

"There's a set number per person, so I'm afraid I can't give you more."

“Please, it’s for my little brothers who couldn’t make it today. They’re so pitiful, begged all day and still haven’t had a bite to eat.”

He even managed to squeeze out a few tears. He looked so pathetic that anyone would have taken pity on him. But...

"That's not possible."

It didn't work at all on the ice queen.

"If you really need them, there's another gathering in nine days, so please come with your brothers then.”

Her tone was so final that Hong Gae instinctively realized she wasn't someone who'd be swayed by more begging.

In the end, Hong Gae had no choice but to turn away with a disappointed expression.

After leading his ogling beggars away from the cart, Hong Gae’s expression suddenly turned dead serious.

‘That woman doesn’t seem to have learned martial arts.’

While pretending to beg, Hong Gae had subtly flared his qi to see if she’d react. But the woman hadn’t even blinked.

'It seems those three I found earlier are all the experts here.'

He had fallen for Il-mok's scheme, but he still hadn't dispelled his suspicions.

“The real boss must be hiding somewhere.”

Hearing Hong Gae's words, the Three-Knot beggar who'd been stuffing snacks into his mouth like a hungry ghost asked, “Whaddaya meeb by dat?”

“Swallow your food before you talk, you slob.”

The Three-Knot disciple quickly chewed what was in his mouth and said, “How is calling a beggar a beggar an insult?”

“It’s an insult when you’re not supposed to be a beggar, you’re just acting like one, you idiot.”

The Three-Knot beggar knew Hong Gae's temperament and just accepted it. “Right. Anyway, boss, what’s this about a hidden leader?”

“Think about it. These are the people who destroyed the Heavenly Orchid Society overnight. But I don’t see anyone here strong enough to kill their leader, or even their second-in-command.”

The other beggars nodded as if they’d just had a great epiphany.

"Ah."

All while continuing to shove food in their faces, of course.