Chapter 76

Chapter 76

Tick!

The sound of a teacup shattering tore through the silence. Maeryeong narrowed her delicate brows and spoke.

“Everything was handled properly, right?”

She did not know whom the Demonic Cult would send to kill Youngho. However, if they had at least heard the information she had sent, then surely one of the Guardians would have stepped forward.

Maeryeong bit down on her trembling lips, unable to steady her shaking hands. The memory of that moment was still vivid in her mind.

—Stay still as if you were a dead mouse.

It was not an aura someone who had only just reached Coming-of-Age Age should possess. But she had to face reality.

The gaze that looked down on her as though she were insignificant, and the Martial Presence that carried the majesty of a King.

Youngho was an existence far stronger than she was. If she had not followed his words, he would have killed her that very day.

At first, she had felt wronged. She could not understand why she had to obey such an order and had firmly refused.

But Youngho had ultimately forced his will through, and she had been left with no resistance to offer, forced to answer in the affirmative.

It had been unbearably humiliating. That she, the Hao Sect Master, had been frightened by a mere disciple who was not even the Lord of the Unorthodox Alliance.

A hollow laugh had escaped her, and she had even despised herself. But above all, the greatest emotion she felt was humiliation.

The humiliation of not even being treated as a Martial Artist.

That was why she had handed over to the Demonic Cult—the ones whose hands she had already joined—the suspicious circumstances suggesting that Youngho had killed the Poison Demon, along with information regarding his movements and estimated martial prowess.

‘He’s dead, right?’

If he was not, then the matter would grow enormously. No—not merely grow. It could overturn the entire world.

It would mean that the taut thread binding Orthodox, Unorthodox, and Demonic factions could snap at any moment.

If Youngho survived and informed Cheonung that he had been attacked by the Demonic Cult? In that very instant, her head would be severed.

‘No. If they just cut off my head and kill me, that would be fortunate.’

For several days already, she had been unable to hide her anxiety, trembling in fear. This would likely continue until she heard news of Youngho’s death.

If the other Absolute Beings saw the Hao Sect Master of the world behaving so disgracefully, they would click their tongues in disdain.

At that time, Maeryeong would have confidently said this: The moment you felt that Martial Presence, you would become just like me. You would be no different from me.

At that moment, a sudden chill ran down her spine and she shuddered. An inexplicable sense of unease crept over her, and she turned her head to look around.

“Why are you trembling like that?”

The voice she least wished to hear sounded directly behind her.

Bang—!

She kicked off the ground from her seated position, but Youngho’s sword moved faster than she did.

Slash!

“Craaaagh!”

Her left arm was severed. It had been cut so cleanly that only after hearing something hit the ground did Maeryeong realize she had lost her arm.

“How!”

It was a question laden with many meanings.

Maeryeong had envisioned two worst-case scenarios. Either Youngho survived the Demonic Cult’s attack and reported to Cheonung, or he defeated the Demonic Cult, recovered, and came to find her personally.

The current situation was clearly the latter—but she had considered that possibility extremely unlikely.

Even if, by some remote chance, it had been the latter, the injuries he sustained from a decisive battle with the Demonic Cult would not have been light.

Yet the Youngho before her looked no different from when he had left the Hao Sect.

How could he look so perfectly fine? As if sensing her confusion, Youngho let out a faint smirk.

“What do you mean how? Think simply.”

A chilling Killing Intent surfaced on Youngho’s face.

“It just means I was far more of a monster than you thought.”

Just as the Hao Sect Master was about to shout, Youngho arrived before her and spoke.

“For now, this is my share.”

Bang!

Crack!

The gruesome sound of ribs and the Five Viscera and Six Bowels twisting rang out vividly.

It had been a light punch infused with Fist Energy, yet the result was devastating.

“Bleeegh!”

Maeryeong spat out a large amount of clotted blood. Seeing her vomit blood mixed with pieces of organs, Youngho frowned.

“Even if you want to vomit, hold it in. You’ll be doing plenty of that from now on.”

It was such a miserable defeat that it was hard to believe she was the Hao Sect Master. Of course, it had occurred because Youngho had launched a surprise attack.

Though he appeared fine on the outside, his Internal Injury had not yet fully healed. If it had been a normal battle, he would not have subdued Maeryeong so easily.

“I do want to kill you, but I’m still part of the Unorthodox Alliance for now.”

Looking at Maeryeong’s pale face, he added,

“I won’t kill you.”

Thud—!

As if unwilling to waste any more time, Youngho swung his foot and destroyed her Dantian.

The shock of her Dantian shattering caused Maeryeong to faint. Youngho clicked his tongue.

“To faint from just your Dantian breaking. Why are you so fragile?”

Having finished what he needed to do, Youngho snapped his fingers. The moment he did, Horyeung opened the door and stepped out, staring at him with a baffled expression.

“Why did you snap your fingers?”

“To call you.”

“How was I supposed to know that meant you were calling me?”

“I felt like you were about to come anyway, so I just did it.”

“…….”

As Horyeung let out a hollow chuckle in disbelief, Youngho plopped down on the spot and said,

“Let’s roughly clean this up and head back to the Unorthodox Alliance for real.”

“Understood.”

Horyeung pressed several of Maeryeong’s acupoints, binding her so she could not move, and simultaneously struck additional acupoints to ensure she would not awaken for the time being.

“Still, that was quite the trouble. I knew she constantly changed hideouts, but there was no pattern to it.”

“You weren’t the one who found her personally, Young Master.”

“Waiting to catch the bastard who tried to kill me was work in itself.”

“……Indeed.”

Though he had many things he wanted to say, Horyeung merely carried out his duties in silence.

“So what will happen to the Hao Sect now?”

“Master said he’ll handle that. We just need to think about returning to the Unorthodox Alliance.”

“Is that why you prepared a carriage?”

“With my Internal Injury this severe, do you think this wench could even ride a horse properly? We’ll tie her up in the carriage and transport her comfortably. She can’t use Internal Energy anymore, so she won’t be able to escape anyway.”

“Understood.”

Horyeung chuckled again at Youngho’s still-annoying tone.

Youngho’s group rode a carriage toward the Unorthodox Alliance. Since a carriage was relatively slower than riding horses directly, all sorts of incidents occurred along the way.

For example, the Hao Sect Master suddenly going on a rampage—and Youngho beating her down. Or her waking up again and getting beaten before she could even speak…

“Ah, so I was just beating her.”

“Do you understand now?”

In any case, after beating the Hao Sect Master along the way, they eventually arrived at the Unorthodox Alliance.

Youngho stepped down from the carriage and said,

“We’re finally here. It’s been a while since Sopyung will get to eat properly.”

“You mean the Maid who’s good at cooking?”

Hyeon-gang, his shoulders tightly hunched, was already standing beside Youngho.

“Yeah, that’s right. Why are you so tense?”

“If you were in my place, do you think you wouldn’t be tense?”

“I wasn’t tense.”

“…….”

When Hyeon-gang shot him a look that clearly said, What kind of bastard are you?, Youngho snickered.

“I’m joking, joking. So, what do you think of the Unorthodox Alliance?”

“It’s much larger than the Sichuan Tang Family.”

“That’s only natural.”

“And the people look fierce.”

“The Tang Clan is like that too.”

“They’re even emitting Killing Intent.”

“The Tang Clan has never emitted Killing Intent before?”

“…….”

It was true, which left him speechless. They already used poison and Hidden Weapons as their primary means and were often called Unorthodox because of it. On top of that, they had the distinctive temperament of Sichuan. In truth, the Tang Clan was not much different from these people.

The only difference between the Tang Clan and the Unorthodox Alliance was whether they drew a line at means and methods… or not.

‘I’m not even sure about that anymore….’

He did not know if all members of the Unorthodox Faction were like this, but Youngho’s conduct was a hundred, a thousand times better than the Junior Disciples of most Orthodox Sects.

To be honest, the ones far better than the people of the Tang Clan were Youngho’s group.

The mere absence of that ridiculous sense of superiority already spoke volumes.

At times, they showed the fierceness befitting members of the Unorthodox Faction, but being merciless with their hands was no different from the Orthodox Sect either.

Hyeon-gang groaned softly as if a headache had struck him. Ignoring him, Youngho said,

“I’ll go see Master for a bit. You all head in first.”

“Understood.”

After sending his group ahead, Youngho spoke to the Asura Squad Unit Leader who had come out to greet them.

“I’ll take this wench with me. You should get some rest too.”

“I appreciate the consideration, but I cannot do that.”

At Jang Dan’s firm reply, Youngho nodded.

“Alright. As expected of the Asura Squad Unit Leader—you really handle your work well.”

“Thank you for the praise.”

“There’s no need to be so stiff. Why?”

Youngho grinned.

“Surprised that someone like the Fifth Young Master turned out this strong?”

Jang Dan’s body flinched for a brief moment. Her pupils were already trembling faintly.

‘Of course she’d be flustered. Just a few years ago, I was far below her. And now I can subdue the Hao Sect Master.’

If this rumor spread, there would be no one who wasn’t shocked.

But there was nothing to gain from revealing it now. If word leaked outside that the position of Hao Sect Master had become vacant, the Unorthodox Alliance’s information network would also suffer major disruption.

Youngho lightly patted Jang Dan’s shoulder twice and walked ahead with a lazy gait. Jang Dan followed behind him, her expression still stiff.

However, though her face was dark, her heart was brighter than ever.

‘Good! It wasn’t a rotten rope!’

No, it was brighter than bright. Her heart shone more brilliantly than the sun—so dazzling that she could see nothing else.

In truth, when she first heard that the Asura Squad she had raised would become the Fifth Young Master’s direct guard, she had felt some dissatisfaction.

After all, it was the Fifth Young Master. The very one burdened with negative labels such as coward and weakling.

And yet, for Youngho to have grown to this extent…

Even if twenty years had passed and he had reached the Transformation Realm, she would have rejoiced that it was not a rotten rope but a golden rope. But he had already reached the Transformation Realm! Youngho had splendidly shattered her expectations.

‘It hasn’t even been four years!’

Though it was an instinctive guess, Jang Dan did not doubt that Youngho would become the next Lord of the Unorthodox Alliance.

‘Twenty years from now? No—perhaps the Lord will step down within ten years.’

If Youngho steadily built his standing and expanded his influence from now on, he would become the Lord of the Unorthodox Alliance within ten years.

Elder Hyeok must have recognized Youngho’s potential long ago. And she finally understood why he had never spoken to her about Youngho before.

‘How could I have believed in growth like this?’

He must have thought she would not believe it. Though she found it vexing that he had said nothing, Jang Dan nevertheless felt immense fondness for Elder Hyeok.

‘There was a reason you tried so hard to assist the Fifth Young Master! Elder Hyeok, thank you!’

As someone who knew how tirelessly Elder Hyeok had worked to support the Fifth Young Master, it was only natural for her to feel this way.

‘Fifth Young Master, thank you! I will serve you even better from now on!’

Seeing Jang Dan’s lips twitch repeatedly from the corner of his eye, Youngho unconsciously smirked.

‘What a ridiculous fuss.’

He could roughly guess what she was thinking.

‘Just don’t overdo it. Then I’ll look after you in moderation.’

From now on, everyone in the Unorthodox Alliance would come to know—even if they did not wish to—that Youngho was no ordinary figure.

Jang Dan had merely realized it a little sooner than the others. As long as she did not run around flaunting his name, Youngho intended to take care of her to an appropriate degree.

‘I’ll be busy from here on.’

With that thought, Youngho headed toward Cheonung’s Training Ground.