****
The aura of the So-eung Gang Leader changed suddenly.
It felt as if he had become a different person.
“…….”
When everyone was flustered.
Cheon Mu-ryang's face stiffened rigidly.
‘This energy is…….’
It was because he could recognize what the heterogeneous energy emanating from the So-eung Gang Leader was.
‘It is certain……. It is demonic energy.’
Its true identity was demonic energy.
However, even though the So-eung Gang Leader committed acts no different from the unorthodox faction, it was not as if he had learned demonic martial arts.
“Tsk.”
The fact that such a So-eung Gang Leader possessed demonic energy meant one thing.
‘Had the Demonic Cult already intended to infiltrate the Cheon Family from this time on?’
In the past, he had thought that it was Cheon Mu-ryang who had brought in the Demonic Cult.
However, it meant that the Demonic Cult had already been eating away at the Cheon Family from much earlier than that.
‘Behind that is…….’
It was obvious.
Because right behind the Inspection Squad Leader, the elders would be present.
“Haa……. Just what in the world…….”
It was a continuous sequence of confusion.
The memories he had believed in were riddled with lies.
‘Even so, why do I feel as if it would be like this for some reason?’
Even though he had awakened to a truth he had not known, Cheon Mu-ryang was not flustered at all.
Rather, it was to the point where he considered it natural, as if he had even been guessing it.
‘Well, I should think of it as a relief. Since a good thing is a good thing.’
However, the So-eung Gang Leader formed a fishy smile.
He seemingly thought of Cheon Mu-ryang's momentarily flustered appearance as fear.
“The one who hastened your death is you.”
Swi-i-ik!
The So-eung Gang Leader swung his sword.
Although the sword was broken in half, it was a single strike that radiated a speed and destructive power to the extent that it could not be felt at all.
The murderous intent to absolutely kill Cheon Mu-ryang was explicitly felt.
“Well, I wonder.”
Cheon Mu-ryang felt disgust.
Looking at the smile of the So-eung Gang Leader who was intoxicated by demonic energy, nausea naturally arose.
“It is not even a strength you built up yourself, yet your bullshit is having a bountiful harvest.”
It was contemptible.
Who was it that fought with the people of the Demonic Cult until the moment of death.
It was none other than Mu-myeong.
Grit.
Although he met his end when Cheon Mu-ryang, who was stricken with fear, stabbed a knife into his back, Mu-myeong did not hide his hostility toward the Demonic Cult.
Because the downfall of the Cheon Family was ultimately caused by the Demonic Cult.
“Right. They were like that too.”
Cheon Mu-ryang remembered clearly.
On the day Mu-myeong died, the ones who had attacked the Cheon Family were ruffians situated in nearby Zhejiang.
‘They possessed an absurd strength.’
They were nothing but unorthodox faction scraps.
And so, originally, they were a bunch that he would not have needed to pay any attention to at all.
‘However, every single one of them possessed a martial prowess that rivaled the Cheonryong Sword Squad.’
At that time, he was out of his mind and had no time to analyze the reason for it, but.
Looking at the So-eung Gang Leader, he felt as if he knew.
“It is definitely…… the same as back then.”
The quality was different.
Because the demonic energy Mu-myeong had faced in the past was much thicker and gloomier than that of the So-eung Gang Leader.
However, what was certain was the fact that all of this was connected to the Demonic Cult.
‘Thoughts for later.’
The So-eung Gang Leader came first.
“Die!”
Watching the So-eung Gang Leader's sword that had already surged to a close distance, Cheon Mu-ryang shook his head from side to side.
“Anyway, you are only alive at the mouth.”
Cheon Mu-ryang moved belatedly.
However, it was enough.
‘I can see it.’
The So-eung Gang Leader's sword was definitely overwhelmingly strong, but that was all.
It had merely boiled up temporarily due to the demonic energy, and since it failed to achieve harmony with his original energy, the sword path was not complete.
‘Countless grains.’
Perhaps because he was not accustomed to the demonic energy, discordant grains were visible.
Following those grains, the Cheon-gwang moved.
“……!”
The energies lingering on the two swords differed to an incomparable degree.
And so, the So-eung Gang Leader thought he would shatter Cheon Mu-ryang's sword just like that.
Hwooong!
The two swords brushed past each other without even clashing in the empty air.
However, starting from this point, one sword lost its power and dropped to the floor.
“Uh, why……?”
Drip.
Drip, drip.
Red blood flowed from the tip of the Cheon-gwang's blade that had pierced through the So-eung Gang Leader's heart.
His face was full of questions, but regrettably, he could not hear the answer to them.
Thud!
His figure collapsed forward.
His death was a matter of course, but its form was terrible.
“U-u-ugh!”
The demonic energy situated inside the So-eung Gang Leader's body began to twist wildly.
The backflowing demonic energy began to suck up even his remaining life force.
Following that, the So-eung Gang Leader's physical body slowly began to dry up.
“U-u-u-ugh!”
Crunch!
Cru-crunch!
His physical body twisted.
The dried-up physical body, without a single trace of moisture, crumbled down like sand.
Watching this, Cheon Mu-ryang clicked his tongue.
“Since you crossed a line that must not be crossed, you must pay a corresponding price.”
“S-save me……!”
“It is already too late.”
Even if Hua Tuo were to come, he would not be able to save him.
Due to the backflowing demonic energy, the So-eung Gang Leader met the worst kind of death without even leaving behind a corpse.
“Tsk.”
Cheon Mu-ryang was reminded once again that the price of demonic energy was this cruel.
‘How about you, bastard?’
Glance.
Cheon Mu-ryang stared at Cheon Ah-haeng who was nearby.
“H-how……!”
As expected, Cheon Ah-haeng was also flustered.
Watching his appearance that seemed to have not expected this at all, Cheon Mu-ryang shook his head.
“Are you shocked?”
Smirk.
Cheon Mu-ryang ridiculed.
“It is a rule that the conclusion of unpermitted power is obvious.”
“…….”
Cheon Ah-haeng was still in the middle of being astonished with his mouth gaping wide open.
The martial artists of the So-eung Gang were likewise unable to move with their entire bodies frozen stiff.
They seemed to have completely lost their will to fight.
“Everyone, discard your weapons. Of course, if you want to die by yourselves, I will not stop you. Shall I at least give you some time?”
“…….”
Silence flowed.
A few people even stared blankly at their own weapons.
However, Cheon Mu-ryang was certain.
That people like this valued their own lives terribly much.
“There is no one, right?”
It was as expected.
No one committed suicide.
Watching this, Cheon Mu-ryang approached Cheon Ah-haeng, who was still out of his wits.
“I will make you pay the price for your sins as well.”
Twitch!
Cheon Ah-haeng tried to answer something, but without even waiting for that.
Cheon Mu-ryang swung the Cheon-gwang in all directions just like that.
“Heok!”
Along with Cheon Ah-haeng's astonishment.
Kwagagagang!
The office of the So-eung Gang Leader was literally smashed to pieces.
Scattering documents.
Through them, something that the So-eung Gang Leader had clearly given his gaze to could be seen.
“Eut-cha.”
To Cheon Mu-ryang, who snatched it and put it straight into his bosom, the residents of Shaoxing could be seen outside the collapsed wall.
Everyone could be seen looking at this place with their two eyes widened.
“Hey, over there. Everyone go outside.”
“……!”
Those who had lost their will to fight had no choice but to follow Cheon Mu-ryang's instructions.
“Guide me to the storehouse of the So-eung Gang.”
It was a place not that far away.
Cheon Mu-ryang spoke to the flustered storehouse keeper.
“Go to the main gate right now and bring the gathered residents of Shaoxing here.”
“Y-ye-yes!”
Several people were startled in surprise and ran toward the main gate.
“I am going to thoroughly uncover everything you bastards have illicitly eaten up all this time, though.”
Smirk.
Cheon Mu-ryang looked at the residents of Shaoxing coming to this place.
“Still, I decided to properly show them what a scoundrel truly is.”
Hwoong!
Before long, something bluish faintly lingered on the blade of the Cheon-gwang, which had become clean with even the So-eung Gang Leader's blood scattered away.
Kwaaaang!
Along with a deafening roar.
The door to the So-eung Gang's storehouse was smashed to pieces.
Cheon Mu-ryang went inside it.
“Whew.”
In that place, countless offerings that the So-eung Gang must have exploited all this time were piled up.
“You have illicitly eaten up quite a fair amount.”
Just how long had they been illicitly eating it up.
Cheon Mu-ryang could not even imagine it.
Clicking his tongue, Cheon Mu-ryang looked around the inside of the storehouse.
“Uh?”
Something could be seen.
It was a small glass bottle.
However, the pure white liquid contained in it made even Cheon Mu-ryang astonished.
“Gongcheong Seogyu (Hollow Cyan Rock Oil)?”
Gongcheong Seogyu was a rare elixir of the age.
Is it not a rule that the energy of nature is divided into yin energy and yang energy.
And so, it was the natural order to be concentrated on one side, whether it be yin or yang.
‘Even the Great Restitution Pill, the Purple Firmament Pill, or the Supreme Clarity Pill cannot be seen as having achieved perfect harmony…….’
Things like the Great Restitution Pill and the Purple Firmament Pill were, in the end, nothing more than mixing nature's elixirs and changing them into an energy befitting one's own sect.
However, Gongcheong Seogyu alone was a natural elixir that had achieved perfect harmony without leaning towards any side.
“If it is this amount of volume…….”
It would be able to melt all the energies of the elixirs that were still heavily situated inside Cheon Mu-ryang.
Seu-euk.
Without realizing it himself, Cheon Mu-ryang put the glass bottle containing the Gongcheong Seogyu into his bosom.
“Keu-heum-heum.”
And then, he spoke to the martial artists of the So-eung Gang who were standing blankly behind him.
It was a needlessly blunt tone.
“What are you doing?”
Flinch!
The martial artists of the So-eung Gang, who could not even dare to think of opposing Cheon Mu-ryang, flinched.
“Are you not carrying out the loads that are in here?”
“Pardon?”
“I said carry them, everything that is in here.”
“……!”
At Cheon Mu-ryang's menacing gaze, they wordlessly began to move the offerings outside and pile them up.
“Eheo, pile them up neatly step by step!”
Along with the shouts of Cheon Mu-ryang, who seemed to have become a supervisor, the offerings of the So-eung Gang piled up like a mountain.
“You, bring paper and a brush.”
“Ah, yes!”
Presently, to the person who brought the paper and brush, Cheon Mu-ryang spoke.
“From now on, record accurately.”
“Pardon? Wh-what should I……?”
Without responding to the question of the one holding the brush, Cheon Mu-ryang spoke to everyone gathered here.
“Now, please step forward one by one. Tell this person how much you have been exploited by the So-eung Gang until now, and take that amount from here.”
“……!”
Just what did those words mean.
Without distinction between you and me, everyone was astonished.
“Of course, it does not mean I will just call it even with this. The Cheon Family plans to provide additional compensation through a thorough investigation, but let us just do this much for now.”
“Waaaaaah!”
They let out cheers of joy.
A few people shed tears.
That scoundrel of the Cheon Family declared that the long years of exploitation had ended.
“…….”
“Thank you! Thank you!”
The person who was pointed out first repeatedly expressed his gratitude and took the items in the So-eung Gang's storehouse.
Since these people had been exploited for a long time, it might be absurd to compensate them with merely the things piled up in this storehouse.
“Tsk.”
However, looking at the residents who liked it this much, a laugh came out of Cheon Mu-ryang for no reason.
‘It is not only because of the Gongcheong Seogyu.’
To Cheon Mu-ryang, who held a smile like that, the child who had guided him all the way here could be seen.
“Would you like to come over here?”
“Hehehe. Yes!”
“Where is Gaeddong's family?”
“Over there!”
In the place the child pointed to with his finger, Gaeddong's family could be seen forming a bright smile.
“They are smiling, are they not?”
“Yes! It is thanks to you, Hyung!”
Cheon Mu-ryang stroked the child's head.
“That is a relief.”
“Hyung is strong, right?”
“Right.”
“How can I become strong like you too, Hyung?”
Holding a smile, Cheon Mu-ryang spoke to the child whose eyes were shining.
“If you want to know the answer, come to the Cheon Family. I will give you strength. If I do, finding the answer will be your share, right.”
“Really?”
“Right. However, it would be best not to challenge it with a half-hearted mindset. Because it will be terribly difficult.”
“It is alright. Because I also want to become strong like you without fail, Hyung.”
Cheon Mu-ryang laughed.
He thought of a gift to give to this little kid whose name he did not know.
“Good. I am in a good mood. Watch closely, for I will show you only exactly once.”
“Yes!”
Cheon Mu-ryang grasped the Cheon-gwang.
Following that, he soared toward the sky and then dropped straight down with the momentum to sever the earth just like that.
Hwaaaak!
Dancheon (Severing Heaven).
He severed the sky.
The two eyes of the child widened perfectly round.
“Let us see each other later.”
Leaving such a child behind, Cheon Mu-ryang left, taking all the martial artists of the So-eung Gang with him.
“G-Grand Young Lord, i-it seems there is some sort of misunderstanding here……. I-I would like to resolve it through conversation…….”
Among them, the Inspection Squad Leader, Cheon Ah-haeng, was also included.
“What misunderstanding.”
“G-Grand Young Lord?”
“You are already finished.”