Chapter 1171 — Book 2: Chapter 368: Strongest Under the Heavens (6)
13 min read ·
“Wow.”
Cale was truly amazed as he ate the noodles.
The Lan Kingdom.
This place looked as if wuxia was its background, but the food tasted like the food he had back in Korea.
The noodles came with a lot of garnish and meat; the way the soup was clear yet spicy was exactly to Kim Rok Soo's liking.
“Pfft.”
Cale didn't care that the Heavenly Demon was laughing at him and enjoyed feeling full for the first time in a long while.
While that was going on…
As if death was right behind them…
The Assistant Commander of the Dark Pulse’s Shadow Murderers urged her teacher to hurry.
“Okay. Let’s go.”
The Commander of the Shadow Murderers, the old man, supported his disciple and quickly left the room.
He took one last look at Cale and the Heavenly Demon in the distance through the open window before he left.
Click.
The door closed and the two of them were no longer in the room.
Tatap! Tatap!
They hid their bodies in the shadows and sometimes moved through roofs to quickly return to the Dark Pulse’s Alliance leader, Pao Seo Tae.
Shaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-
But it wasn’t that nobody was in the room.
As a single strand of wind entered the room…
Flutter.
There was a gentle breeze after that.
Right next to the open window…
The one who had stuck to the wall and been very quiet…
Ssss–
Raon entered the room and stopped being invisible.
“Hoooo!”
Raon’s eyes sparkled.
“I truly am great and mighty!”
He fluttered his wings.
“I heard everything without getting caught!”
Honestly speaking, Raon had discovered these people but had thought about watching from a distance.
But once the woman started crying tears of blood and fell forward, it made the old man's vigilance lessen as he supported her.
Raon used this time to stealthily approach and heard everything that needed to be heard.
Flap flap.
Raon turned invisible again and flew up outside the room.
Tap, tap!
He then returned to the running Hong and Rosalyn’s side.
Hong was stealthily following the old man and the woman.
"We need to maintain at least this much distance, nya!”
Rosalyn followed Hong’s orders very well.
With On not being here…
Hong was the one most talented in tracking and stealth, so Rosalyn and Raon followed his advice without any issues.
– Kind Rosalyn! I heard everything!
Of course, Raon was busy reporting everything, not through his mouth but through magic.
Smile.
The corners of Rosalyn’s lips slowly curled up.
She wasn’t a member of the royal family or anything like that here.
However, she now knew as much about the different major forces on the continent as Alberu knew.
‘Things are turning interesting.’
The Dark Pulse.
Rosalyn couldn't help but smile after hearing those words.
* * *
Tap. Tap.
The hand tapping on the table seemed quite agitated.
“You said the greatest of all evils?”
Tap!
The index finger stopped tapping on the table.
“Rules over hell? Receives the worship of the evil ones?”
His cold gaze headed toward the head of the Shadow Murderers.
To be more specific, he was looking past the kneeling old man’s shoulder to the similarly kneeling woman.
“Cheon Ryeo. Do you know the meaning of the hell you are talking about?”
Cheon Ryeo.
That was the woman's name.
“Yes I do, Alliance leader-nim.”
“If that is the truth-”
A smile appeared on Pao Seo Tae's face.
He continued to speak as he smiled.
"We are done for.”
“…….”
Cheon Ryeo clenched her eyes closed.
"The Eight Evils. Would there be any other hell than that place? If so, it would be the Devil’s Boundary. But rather than hell, that place is just a collection of trash and trashy people.”
Pao Seo Tae spoke as if he was in disbelief but continued to smile.
“It must be one of the Eight Evils. You said that he is receiving the worship of the evil ones.”
But the emotion visible in the smile was not nice.
It was rough.
“We've run into hell because we got mixed in with some crazy bitch.”
The old man opened his mouth at that moment.
“I'm certain that this Strongest Under the Heavens Competition has a large hidden scheme that we do not know about.”
He asked a question.
"The Eight Evils all did not wish to reveal themselves. But for one of those Eight Evils to appear in the Lan Kingdom… I'm certain that this is not a coincidence.”
“So what?”
The old man flinched at Pao Seo Tae's calm response.
He then lowered his head.
“…I guess it is meaningless.”
Pao Seo Tae nodded his head at the old man’s weak response.
“Correct. It is meaningless.”
If there was a meaning…
“The Dark Pulse is nothing more than a xiangqi piece. That is the only thing we need to contemplate right now.”
He ordered the two Shadow Murderers to get out.
“You may leave.”
“Yes, Alliance leader-nim.”
“… Alliance leader-nim-”
However, Cheon Ryeo raised her head and looked at him.
“I am not sure if it is one of the Eight Evils.”
“…What?”
Pao Seo Tae scowled after hearing her say something completely different from what she had been saying until now. However, Pao Seo Tae flinched after seeing the look on Cheon Ryeo's face.
“I cannot clearly see an individual's true nature. I simply recite the image form in my head, the words that fill my mind.”
Cheon Ryeo looked scared.
She was looking at Pao Seo Tae as well, but her eyes seemed to be looking not at him but an illusion beyond him.
“…A truly terrible, hell, that evil-”
She could not finish her sentence.
However, Pao Seo Tae felt as if he knew what she wanted to say.
“Could be even greater than the Eight Evils?”
“…This little one has never met any of the leaders of the Eight Hells. However-”
The attendant.
The handsome man giving off an odd vibe.
The one acting frivolous and bright…
Different from his appearance-
“I,”
She ended up saying the thoughts that filled her mind.
“I, have never met a god either.”
The mood sank down.
Nobody in the room could say anything.
What was Cheon Ryeo saying right now?
She was saying that she could not tell whether the person she saw was one of the heads of the Eight Evils or a god.
“Ho-”
Pao Seo Tae scoffed.
“You may leave.”
He ordered them to leave once again.
The old man and the woman showed their respect and left.
They did not look at each other's pale faces.
Tap.
But once the door closed, Pao Seo Tae asked the other person still in the room with him.
“Do you believe what she said?”
“Alliance leader-nim, you know that Cheon Ryeo-nim’s visions have never been wrong.”
The Chief Advisor of the Dark Pulse. Ho Tan.
Pao Seo Tae chose to remain silent at her comment.
He finally managed to speak again after a while.
“…Guess we should expect a visit.”
Neither of them mentioned who would be coming.
Ho Tan calmly commented.
“I will immediately have all of the guards withdraw.”
“Okay. Put as few people as possible in the inner residence.”
Ho Tan bowed and accepted his order before continuing to speak.
“But they may also not show up.”
“Then I will have to go.”
Ho Tan smiled at Pao Seo Tae's response before leaving the room. She said one last thing.
“Alliance leader-nim. I will escort you there.”
“Pfft.”
A relaxed smile appeared on Pao Seo Tae's face.
“I don’t plan on going anywhere without you.”
“That is to be expected, alliance leader-nim.”
Pao Seo Tae closed his eyes once he was left alone.
He reached out his hand.
He could feel the warmth of his weapon, the axe.
The cold weapon was slowly getting hotter.
It was probably because his heart was boiling as well.
“Huuuuuu.”
He let out a breath and waited in the silent room.
For the approaching evil…
Or perhaps for the god of all evils.
* * *
Swoooooooosh-
He then heard the wind.
Chhh.
The beautifully decorated traditional Korean-style window opened to the side and a breeze entered the room.
“…….”
Pao Seo Tae opened his eyes.
Three people were standing in front of him.
He slowly got up and welcomed them.
“Welcome.”
Cale’s eyes clouded over after seeing his polite demeanor.
– This bastard seems useful.
He ignored the Heavenly Demon's sound transmission.
‘T, the threats from the wanderers is not the issue!’
He recalled the information Raon gave him.
‘Wanderers-
Wanderers that may be threats-’
“Alliance leader-nim.”
Cale warmly asked.
“Has there been a wanderer who visited you?”
“…….”
There were no changes to Pao Seo Tae’s expression.
However, he was thinking about what the little girl who came to see him last time said to him.
‘My name is So Hee.’
‘I am just a roaming wanderer.”
Smile.
Cale smiled.
Cale stood at the center of the group, in between the people the Alliance leader recalled being Kim Hae-Yi, the mysterious strong individual, and his guard, as if he was the boss and quietly observed Pao Seo Tae.
“Us, what do you plan to do with us?”
Pao Seo Tae spoke up after a long period of time.
He was not interested in anything.
Just the Dark Pulse. The only thing that mattered to him was protecting the Dark Pulse, the organization that he had given his life to protecting.
“Nothing.”
Cale shook his head.
"We don’t plan on doing anything.
Mm.”
Cale looked as if he was debating something for a moment before looking at Pao Seo Tae and starting to speak again.
“Information about the wanderers and what the wanderers ordered the Dark Pulse to do… I think we would need to hear a bit about that. But we can slowly figure that out.”
Cale continued to speak to him.
“Over here.”
Choi Han slowly took a step forward.
“We will leave our guard martial artist-nim by your side for a while.”
‘What?’
Pao Seo Tae's eyes opened wide.
He could not hide his emotions this time. Discomfort unconsciously revealed itself.
However, he stiffened up after hearing what Cale said next.
"We need to save you.”
Cale quietly observed Pao Seo Tae before speaking again.
“Wanderers are people who had the qualifications to become gods but rejected it. As such, they are quite strong. They can be threats even to gods.”
‘Gods?’
Pao Seo Tae could not fully understand this conversation as it was leaving the realm of the humans.
However, he was certain about one thing.
“If our guard martial artist-nim is by your side, you should at least be able to escape without dying.”
This attendant in front of him…
The fact that he could not figure this mysterious guy out…
He was sure about that.
Chhh.
The half closed door opened and the person who had been the only one in the hallway, Chief Advisor Ho Tan, bowed and asked.
“May I hear some more details?”
She knew nothing about martial arts but her intellect was noticed by the Alliance leader, which led to her becoming his right hand person.
“…….”
Ho Tan smiled as Cale silently looked at her.
“The night is cold so I will prepare some hot tea.”
Cale smiled and answered.
"As long as it is not bitter tea.”
“Yes sir, I will keep that in mind.”
She gently smiled at Cale before looking at Pao Seo Tae.
She then spoke to him with Cale’s group right in front of her.
“Alliance leader-nim. The wanderer who came to see us was worse than an animal when it came to respect. The people who have come this time know how to be respectful, so shouldn't we treat them in a fitting manner?”
“Ha.”
Pao Seo Tae let out a sigh-like short laugh.
He nodded his head.
“That is correct. Just because we train in martial arts doesn’t mean that we know nothing about respect.”
The Heavenly Demon answered as if agreeing with them.
“If anything, we need to know even more about respect.”
The Heavenly Demon and the Alliance leader made eye contact.
The Heavenly Demon calmly commented.
“If you know the meaning of life and death.”
Life and death.
You needed to be more respectful the more you knew about the meaning of life and death.
“I like those words very much, sir.”
Pao Seo Tae nodded his head and asked the Chief Advisor for some refreshments.
“It looks like we have a lot to discuss.”
Cale smiled to respond to the Alliance leader.
Cale received a sound transmission from the Heavenly Demon at that moment.
– It looks like Choi Han is going to cause an incident?
Cale did his best to ignore it.
He was not looking at Choi Han right now.
Choi Han’s uncle, Choi Jung Gun.
Choi Jung Gun was currently unconscious and dying because he was polluted by the pollution of chaos.
A wanderer from the Five Colors Bloods was involved in making him like that.
The bastards who turned Choi Jung Gun, also a wanderer, like that…
Choi Han’s hostility toward the Five Colors Bloods must be immense.
‘He doesn’t let it show on the outside, so I'm sure it is even more intense.’
Choi Han did not get angry or grumble.
He just quietly observed Cale and waited.
But they were now in a situation where he might come into contact with one of the Five Colors Bloods.
The Wanderers.
They were most likely very strong, but…
Choi Han had created his own path and developed an aura domain similar to an ancient power.
He should be able to fight against them.
‘Mm.’
But-
Cale thought about someone.
‘Our highness needs to receive this sword from Choi Han.’
The Sun Sword.
He needed to hand that over to Alberu, the hero.
‘Cale, let’s talk tomorrow morning.’
He was planning on chatting with Alberu in the morning.
‘Mm. I guess we can just hand it over to him.’
* * *
However, things did not all go according to plan.
“Hooo! There are around 300 people who made it through to the preliminaries?”
“Wow. This is no joke! I think we need to go see the preliminaries too!”
As the preliminary participants for the Strongest Under the Heavens Competition were announced…
"The Dark Pulse is quiet.”
“I heard that Pao Seo Tae has not been coming out these days.”
The Cooperative Alliance, as one of the five major factions, was well-aware of their bitter enemies, the Dark Pulse.
“Keep our attention on them.”
“Yes sir.”
Slam!
“Chief Advisor-nim!”
“What is it?”
The Chief Advisor of the Cooperative Alliance looked at the subordinate who rushed in. The subordinate caught his breath and urgently reported.
“Apparently there are loud explosions coming from the inner residence of the Dark Pulse! Something seems to be happening there!”
As per his report…
Something was happening in the inner residence Pao Seo Tae was residing in.
“Ho.”
Pao Seo Tae could not say anything because he was in disbelief.
“Hooooo. That person uses the spear quite well too.”
The Heavenly Demon spoke tiredly as he leaned back on his chair with interest.
As for Cale…
“Mm.”
His face looked unsettled.
In front of him was a wide training ground.
“As expected, my teacher’s test is not easy.”
Alberu Crossman.
User Disrespectful Emperor was smiling as he spoke, but the tip of the spear in his hand was slightly shaking.
And across from him…
“Mm. I cannot do this carelessly.”
Choi Han had his sword down with an awkward smile on his face.
Alberu and Choi Han were currently fighting right now.
—
Translator's Comments
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