****
Cheon Mu-ryang entered the office and looked around here and there, as if it were his own house.
“There are many expensive items. It seems the Gang Leader gathered them all personally.”
“Ah, th-that is correct. Please have a seat first. I will at least serve you some tea.”
“Ah, shall we do that?”
Cheon Mu-ryang deliberately sat in the seat of honor among the prepared seats.
“…….”
Seeing this, the So-eung Gang Leader's expression stiffened for a moment, but Cheon Mu-ryang acted as if he had not noticed it at all.
And so, the So-eung Gang Leader's insides were boiling, but he suppressed it and welcomed Cheon Mu-ryang.
“I do not know if you are uncomfortable because I came to visit so suddenly.”
“If you had contacted me in advance, I would have formally prepared a place for you. I was merely surprised because you came visiting so suddenly like this.”
The servant girl, who had tried to block Cheon Mu-ryang just before, brought out the prepared tea.
“And so, what is the reason you came visiting the So-eung Gang?”
“Ah ah, it is nothing special. I just happened to accidentally witness something while passing by.”
Cheon Mu-ryang smiled as if he had deliberately become a scoundrel and continued his words.
“It seems you are making another collection in addition to the tribute money you pay to the Cheon Family?”
“Pardon? Wh-what do you mean by that? H-how could we do such a thing?”
The So-eung Gang Leader strongly denied it.
However, Cheon Mu-ryang's smile only became deeper.
“I came knowing everything, the Gang Leader-nim is truly something. I am dying of busyness, so what do you think is the reason I came all the way here?”
Cheon Mu-ryang whispered.
“I heard it from the Inspection Squad Leader.”
“Ah!”
The So-eung Gang Leader's expression changed into one that looked like he had chewed on shit.
‘This Inspection Squad Leader bastard! He blabbed to the scoundrel. And after doing that, he told me to conceal the evidence?’
The So-eung Gang Leader was busy fiercely cursing the Inspection Squad Leader inwardly, but he had no choice but to respond to Cheon Mu-ryang with a smile.
“If you had told me earlier, I would have taken care of it and prepared the Grand Young Lord-nim's share.”
“That is what I am saying. As I was playing around in Hangzhou, I needed urgent money, so I stopped by wondering if there was anything to be had.”
“Ah, so that was it.”
It was as if his inner thoughts could be heard.
‘That scoundrel bastard. To think he came all the way here after smelling money.’
Cheon Mu-ryang smiled and subtly pressured the So-eung Gang Leader.
“May I expect the So-eung Gang Leader-nim's sincerity? As the Gang Leader-nim also knows, since this is an issue involving money, it is a very sensitive matter even within the family.”
Cheon Mu-ryang made a gesture of slitting his throat with the blade of his hand.
Since he was not ignorant of the fact that it was a threat directed at him, the So-eung Gang Leader chuckled and prepared something.
“T-today, could I ask you to be satisfied with just this much?”
It was a heavy pouch.
A considerable amount of silver must have been inside it.
“Eheo, I did not know the So-eung Gang Leader-nim was so small-minded. This is a great disappointment.”
“Pardon?”
Cheon Mu-ryang spoke with a cold expression that was quite different from before.
At this, the So-eung Gang Leader could not understand.
‘H-how much is in there……!’
Was it not an amount that would not leave one feeling disappointed.
However, Cheon Mu-ryang's expression was only cold.
“W-well, how much do you want?”
Smirk.
Finally, the desired words came out.
Cheon Mu-ryang slyly raised the corners of his mouth and spoke.
“Everything that the So-eung Gang has illicitly eaten up all this time, all of it.”
“……!”
The scoundrel-like smile was the same as before, but the aura emanating from his entire body was quite different.
“Wh-what do you mean by that?”
“It seemed like you illicitly ate up quite a lot. If you ate like that, you should spit it out.”
Cheon Mu-ryang kicked his chair and stood up.
Crack!
Only the innocent chair, unable to overcome the aura, was shattered.
“Wouldn't the laws of the Cheon Family stand righteously only if you do so?”
Hwoong!
“Heok!”
Since some unknown moment, Cheon Mu-ryang was already holding his sword.
“So-eung Gang Leader.”
“……!”
Cheo-eok!
The sword soared into the sky.
At that moment, the So-eung Gang Leader had the illusion that the sky was splitting apart.
Paaat!
A solid white line was drawn.
That solid line materialized and slashed past the So-eung Gang Leader's shoulder.
Kwaaang!
Even so, the sword wind did not stop and flew on to strike the wall of the office.
Wind blew fiercely through the hole that was created large enough for a person to come and go.
“As of this hour.”
“……!”
Hwi-ing!
The wind scattered Cheon Mu-ryang's hair.
Nowhere was the scoundrel Grand Young Lord to be found.
Only a single sharp sword existed.
That sword resolutely declared.
“The So-eung Gang is not an ally of the Cheon Family.”
“G-Grand Young Lord…….”
“Therefore, I intend to thoroughly dig into the corruption committed by the So-eung Gang and make you pay the price for it.”
Beolkeok!
The door opened.
Following that, the martial artists of the So-eung Gang stormed in.
“Gang Leader-nim!”
They turned pale with fright.
It was a natural reaction, as the So-eung Gang Leader was standing there bleeding from his shoulder.
The aura of those who surrounded Cheon Mu-ryang in an instant was incredibly bloodthirsty.
However, Cheon Mu-ryang spoke calmly.
“From this moment on, I will cut down any bastard who moves, regardless of the reason. Therefore, do not move.”
He did not want to hold them accountable for the sins.
Because he wanted to believe that it was the So-eung Gang Leader who was rotten.
Flinch.
At that bloodthirsty aura, even though a large number of them were clearly surrounding him, they could not move.
It was at that moment.
“Grand Young Lord, what are you doing here?”
A new person appeared.
He was none other than the Inspection Squad Leader of the Cheon Family, Cheon Ah-haeng.
“Inspection Squad Leader, have you only arrived now?”
Cheon Ah-haeng was a personnel of the Council of Elders.
And so, although they were blood relatives with the same blood flowing through them, it did not matter anyway.
Because there was no such thing as familial affection between blood relatives.
“I asked what you are doing.”
The aura of the Inspection Squad Leader was unusual.
At this, Cheon Mu-ryang let out a smirk and laughed.
“Can you not tell by looking? I am in the middle of uncovering the corruption of the So-eung Gang.”
“C-corruption?”
“Originally, it would be a task that the Inspection Squad Leader should have done earlier. Is that not what you came here for?”
“…….”
The Inspection Squad Leader became mute like a person who had eaten honey.
Whether he was trying to grasp this situation, the sound of him racking his brain could be clearly heard.
‘It is obvious what you bastards are thinking.’
These people were not the core, but mere side branches.
There was no way that loyalty could exist in those who only thought of their own profits.
Sure enough.
The Inspection Squad Leader, having finished grasping the situation, abruptly drew his sword.
“Th-the Grand Young Lord's words are correct! Everyone put down your weapons!”
The aura of the shouting Inspection Squad Leader was truly enough to receive the evaluation that even a rotten herring is still a herring.
Although he did not possess a character befitting the Inspection Squad Leader, his martial arts at least were worthy of acknowledgment.
‘Not yet…….’
He would not be able to win by fighting head-on yet.
However, he was nothing more than a small hill.
Such a hill that he would eventually cross over as he walked.
‘Sooner or later, your leash will also be fastened.’
Watching the Inspection Squad Leader screaming and pressing the So-eung Gang Leader, Cheon Mu-ryang felt as if he were watching a play.
“Tsk.”
Whatever the So-eung Gang Leader was thinking, he did not put up any resistance.
Slightly.
However, Cheon Mu-ryang did not miss the So-eung Gang Leader's gaze heading somewhere.
‘On top of the desk?’
Documents were messily scattered there.
Presently, as if he had decided on something, the So-eung Gang Leader broke the silence and stepped forward.
“Did you think I would just quietly suffer like this? It is a rule that even a mouse will bite a cat when driven into a corner.”
The So-eung Gang Leader gritted his teeth.
He could not back down like this.
“Kill both of these men.”
“Gang Leader-nim?”
“You foolish bastards, it does not end with just spitting out the bribes you bastards received. Rather, killing these two and running away is the only path to preserve your lives.”
“……!”
The two eyes of those who had lowered their swords at the Inspection Squad Leader's shouting opened wide.
It was because they finally realized that this matter was not a simple one.
“Kill them. We can only live if we kill these two.”
The So-eung Gang Leader's words became a motivation.
The reason why they absolutely had to kill Cheon Mu-ryang and the Inspection Squad Leader.
A fierce murderous intent arose.
“Uh, wh-why, why are they like this?”
Cheon Ah-haeng was instead flustered.
Although he had learned martial arts since he was young and had become sufficiently strong, he had actually never engaged in a life-or-death battle.
To him, who had grown up like a greenhouse plant, such a fierce murderous intent was only unfamiliar.
“Inspection Squad Leader, I will give you one last chance. Will you die here? Or, will you kill the Grand Young Lord to silence him?”
“……!”
The Inspection Squad Leader racked his brain once again.
Smirk.
Just how funny was this.
Looking at the Inspection Squad Leader who did not have a single backbone, a laugh burst out for no reason.
He put an end to the worries of Cheon Ah-haeng, who was desperately racking his brain.
“Act without needing to read the room.”
“Eheo! Grand Young Lord, what are those manners of speech! To someone who is like your elder!”
“Ah. I remembered.”
He remembered.
The Inspection Squad Leader was a condescending elder among condescending elders.
“I, I will have to fix your bad manners!”
“Your bullshit is truly having a bountiful harvest, just absolutely.”
“Y-you……!”
Why was it.
Even though Cheon Ah-haeng, who was stronger than himself, had turned against him, Cheon Mu-ryang was not afraid in the slightest.
‘Was I this much of an iron heart?’
He wondered if his soul had perhaps become a little firmer as he experienced death.
The fact that he could maintain his composure in any given situation was an incredible advantage.
“If you are going to come, come and try.”
Cheon Ah-haeng's sword strike flew in.
‘Sword ki.’
A bluish light was lingering on it.
He would be no match if they clashed head-on, but Cheon Mu-ryang had a lethal move that Cheon Ah-haeng did not know about.
“I will teach you what the dragon's wrath is.”
Reverse Scale Slash.
Cheon Ah-haeng's sword lost its flow.
“Uh?”
At a certain moment, the sword escaped Cheon Ah-haeng's will.
Riding Cheon Ah-haeng's sword, which moved along the flow of the Cheon-gwang that drew a circle, an aura like a storm raged.
Pu-wook!
The Cheon-gwang pierced through Cheon Ah-haeng's shoulder.
“Uwaaaaargh!”
It must have been a severe pain he was feeling for the first time.
And so, Cheon Ah-haeng let go of his sword just like that.
“Tsk.”
The hill called Cheon Ah-haeng was even more insignificant than he had thought.
“There was not even anything to cross over.”
Cheon Mu-ryang, who withdrew the Cheon-gwang, stared at the remaining martial artists of the So-eung Gang.
“It seems I had been mistaken.”
It was not only the So-eung Gang Leader who was rotten.
“Well, since the upper waters are rotten, how could the lower waters be clear.”
These people were also in on it together.
They were nothing more than parasites exploiting the people of Shaoxing.
“You said you will kill me and run away?”
Faced with absolute disadvantage, Cheon Mu-ryang himself did not know why he could not hold back his laughter like this.
A scoundrel-like smile naturally formed.
“If you can do it, try it.”
Swi-i-ik!
The Cheon-gwang tore the air.
The Cheon-gwang, which flew in like that, slashed through them and advanced on behalf of the sky.
It cleaved everything that blocked its way.
Just like the sky.
Paaat!
The soaring red blood soaked the ceiling and the floor.
“……!”
Cheon Mu-ryang's appearance, covered in blood, was exactly like the appearance of an evil, murderous demon.
The blood flowing on the blade of the Cheon-gwang.
Drip.
Drip, drip.
“Next.”
Cheon Mu-ryang's dreary voice uprooted even their will to fight.
Flinch!
And so, even though the martial artists of the So-eung Gang knew they had to kill Cheon Mu-ryang, they could not rashly move.
Seeing them wavering, the So-eung Gang Leader had no choice but to step forward himself.
“I will not just suffer like I did just before.”
His shoulder had been slashed, but he thought it was due to carelessness.
“Do as you please.”
Having already seen the sight of the Inspection Squad Leader being defeated, the So-eung Gang Leader could not rashly rush in.
‘Why…… are there no openings?’
Even though he sought to pierce through that arrogant posture, he could not see any openings at all.
“Are you not coming?”
Swi-i-ik.
The Cheon-gwang moved first.
Although the surging single sword strike was ordinary, it felt as if a lightning bolt was striking down.
‘I cannot dodge it.’
It was because he felt that the sword would follow him the moment he dodged.
And so, he forced himself to raise his sword.
Kaaang!
Along with a sharp sound.
Thud.
The So-eung Gang Leader's sword fell to the floor, snapped in half.
Trickle.
That was not the end.
The So-eung Gang Leader's chest was split long vertically.
“……It seems that everyone had been deceived about the Grand Young Lord all this time.”
The So-eung Gang Leader had no choice but to admit it.
That the rumors surrounding the Grand Young Lord had all been false.
“Should I say thank you for finally realizing it?”
“However, in this place today, the Grand Young Lord will certainly die.”
Along with those meaningful words, the So-eung Gang Leader took out an unknown pill from his bosom and put it into his mouth.
“Because I will not leave you alive.”