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Episode 42: Mount Hua’s Fiery Wave (1)

Commander of Shadow Demon Squad, Neung Byeok-mun was in a very tired state. It wasn’t a very difficult mission, but there were just too many things to worry about.

It was not easy to get the young, unruly disciples to move, especially.

“Or did you think that just because your great master ignored us, you guys could ignore me too?”

As he was moving to check on the work assigned to his subordinates, an irritated voice came to his ear.

‘Why is this person suddenly….’ C0ommander Neung could easily tell that the owner of that voice was Jin Myeong.

‘Wasn’t it Jin Myeong who had no complaints until now? Well, just because he listens well doesn’t mean he has a quiet personality.’

A memory of Jin Myeong mocking Mok Ja-gyeong come to his mind.

‘Besides, even though he lost his memory, wasn’t his personality really bad before that?’

‘If he hadn’t been a disciple of the Heavenly Demon, he would have already died. Instead of simply dying, there was no one left by his side.’

“Your Excellency. What are you doing now?”

Commander Neung saw Jin Myeong looking annoyed while holding the treasure in his hand.

“I was just curious as to why the Master asked me to bring these things.”

“We don’t need to wonder about the reason. Since it is what the Lord wants, we should do it without thinking.”

Jin Myeong smiled and shook his head.

“Commander Neung alone isn’t enough to ease my thoughts.”

“…….”

And unlike Jin Myeong who was smiling, Commander Neung’s face hardened even faster.

“Your Excellency, I think that’s a bit harsh.”

“It is up to Commander Neung to decide how to follow the Master’s orders, but don’t force it on me,” Jin Myeong looked at Commander Neung, still smiling.

“You only force that on the Shadow Demons, who are the Lord’s subordinate. I am not the Lord’s subordinate, am I?”

Jin Myeong slowly approached Commander Neung, “or does the Lord really think of me, or more precisely, of us disciples, as his subordinates?”

The atmosphere between the two suddenly became tense.

The Shadow Demons members who were watching couldn’t help but look tense at the sight of them almost pulling out their swords and swinging them at each other at any moment.

“…no.”

“That’s right. The Shadow Demons and I have different positions.”

This is a remark that hurts Shadow Demons’s pride. But it is something they had to admit.

Although Commander Neung ultimately only has to carry out the leader’s orders, one of the Heavenly Demon’s disciples becomes the leader and rules the Heavenly Demon Sect.

If they just follow orders without thinking, they’re no different from Shadow Demons.

“I’m not trying to steal this treasure, I’m just curious as to why…….”

Jin Myeong spoke while looking at the object he was holding.

“I don’t feel so good because everyone is accusing me of being a thief.”

“…That’s not it.”

Jin Myeong chuckled, knowing that it was too much of a leap.

“It’s a joke. Here it is. I was just looking to see if there was anything special about it.”

Jin Myeong handed over the treasure he was holding to Commander Neung. Then he started walking away as if he had nothing to do.

“…….”

Commander Neung quietly watched Jin Myeong’s back, sighed, and he handed the item he was holding to Shadow Demons.

“Let’s continue. So that we can get going quickly.”

“Yes.”

Shadow Demons turned his head in the direction where Jin Myeong had disappeared after seeing the Shadow Demons members moving busily again.

“Phew.”

Even though Jin Myeong felt Shadow Demons’s gaze, he calmly moved towards the pavilion in front of him.

***

Jin Myeong, who returned to the back of the pavilion, immediately picked up the object that had fallen on the floor.

‘I didn’t know it would come out so suddenly.’

‘Just when I was about to move the glass with the internal energy using Heavenly Demon Sword Control Art, Commander Neung appeared. But thanks to that, I was able to attract other people’s attention.’

That’s why Jin Myeong argued with Shadow Demons for nothing.

The atmosphere was such that it seemed like the two might fight at any moment, and all the members of the Shadow Demon unit were unable to do anything but just watch the two.

If the two people were fighting, they had to stop it somehow, so they couldn’t let their guard down.

And Jin Myeong was able to take advantage of the gap and move the treasure he was aiming for to the back of the pavilion.

‘I thought I’d get this here.’

Jin Myeong, who was quietly looking at the glass, flinched.

This is because the energy of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art that had been dormant in his dantian reacted.

Woosh!

Then, the flaming flame-shaped piece inside the glass began to glow.

‘What is this?’

The surprise was short-lived.

As Jin Myeong gathered his inner strength again, the light quickly faded.

‘Still, seeing this makes me think that it really is a treasure.’

Although there was no such scene in the novel, this confirmed that this glass was no ordinary object.

‘I finally got it. The key I needed most.’

The reason Jin Myeong tried to get his hands on this treasure by any means necessary. That was because this treasure was the key to obtaining the strongest swordsmanship in the novel.

‘It’s not a place I can go right away even if I have this key.’

Since it was a place that only the sect leader could enter, it was nearly impossible for Jin Myeong to go there right away. But without the key, going to that place was useless.

‘I was lucky.’

It was unknown how Shin Ye-hyang obtained this key, but it eventually ended up in Jin Myeong’s hands.

Jin Myeong hurried back to his room and hid the key deep inside his luggage. Although he was trying his best not to express it, the smile never disappeared from his lips.

A few days later, Jin Myeong obtained the treasure that will become the key.

‘We’re finally ready to leave the Cloud Escort Agency.’

In the meantime, in order to avoid conflict with the Mount Hua Sect, everyone stayed in seclusion in Cloud Escort Agency and prepared to leave.

“We’re leaving now.”

The treasures that the Shadow Demons had worked hard to collect were in each of the disciples’ luggage.

Because of this, the load they were carrying became bigger and heavier, but no one seemed to have a hard time with it.

‘Moving at night again.’

The moon rising in the dark night sky was illuminating the world.

It seems that they chose an early hour to avoid running into the Mount Hua Sect when leaving Shaanxi.

The demons of the Heavenly Demon Sect took advantage of the darkness to move out of Seomseo.

“Where are you going in such a hurry at this hour of the night?”

But they couldn’t get out of Shaanxi. Because there were people blocking the road to Gansu.

“Mount Hua Sect…….”

****

The Mount Hua Sect was a sect famous for their swords among the Nine Sects.

However, they were a Taoist faction in the Orthodox Alliance, and there was a Namgung family among Five Noble Family Clan of Orthodox Alliance.

Although the Mount Hua was certainly renowned for its swordsmanship, they were always pushed back by the Wudang and Namgung Noble Family.

‘They abandoned their Tao, and survived through sect and alliances.’

In the end, the Mount Hua chose the Orthodox Alliance. They returned to the secular world, threw away their Taoist robe, and devoted themselves solely to sharpening their swords.

Their black swords became increasingly stronger and sharper, to the point where they could no longer be called the swords of the Taoist sect.

However, the Mount Hua Sect failed to surpass the Wudang Sect and take the position of the highest swordsman among the Nine Sects of Orthodox Alliance.

“We’ve never had anything to do with Mount Hua Sect, so why are you stopping us?”

“Do you really think there’s nothing entangled? a middle-aged man with a sharp expression appeared from the darkness.

The face of Nueng Byeok-mun, Commander of Shadow Demon, who was looking at him, began to harden.

“Purple Cloud Sword God!”

Purple Cloud Sword God, Mae Jin-pung. He was the Sect Leader of the Mount Hua Sect.

Although he was not included in the Three Saints and Ten Kings, he was a master swordsman who was ranked in the top ten in the world.

“Why did the Sect Leader have to come here?” asked Neung Byeok-mun, while looking at Purple Cloud Sword God, who was wearing a pure white uniform embroidered with purple thread.

It wasn’t like the two of them had to come together like a co-equal to fight against the Ten Kings.

Purple Cloud Sword God was not only not among the ten kings, but he was strong enough to compete with them.

“Why did the leader of the Mount Hua Sect come all the way here?”

“Haha. I guess I heard that the people of the Heavenly Demon Sect did interesting things.”

“What fun is that?”

While talking to Purple Cloud Sword God, Neung Byeok-mun quickly looked around to compare each other’s strengths.

‘There aren’t many.’

Unlike the Kunlun or the Gongdong Sect, the Mount Hua Sect moved with only a small number of people.

“Since your numbers are small, we also moved with a small number of people.”

Purple Cloud Sword God, who noticed Neung Byeok-mun’s thoughts, said.

‘Are they elite disciple of Mount Hua Sect? Although, the number is small, it is not at a level where they could be ordered to break through like the Gongdong and Kunlun Sect.’

‘Although they are the elite of the Mount Hua faction, the biggest problem was the Purple Cloud Sword God. It probably won’t be easy to get through him and escape.’

‘Should I fight with the determination to die?’

‘If it was Purple Cloud Sword God, the elders of Heavenly Demon Sect should have come. If we fight to death, wouldn’t a few people be able to survive?’

‘Of course, the shadow demons aren’t enough.’

‘No way. Since they have the Purple Cloud Sword God, we’ll all die.’

‘Still, I think that if everyone rushed in, they might be able to cut off Purple Cloud Sword God’s right arm.’

“Don’t be so cautious.”

The Purple Cloud Sword God did not move. He just stuck his sword into the ground and stood there with an arrogant look on his face.

“You don’t plan on fighting?”

“I’m still thinking about it.”

Purple Cloud Sword God didn’t seem to have any intention of fighting right away.

“Then, can’t you let us pass by for a bit?”

“But even though it was fate that we met like this, wouldn’t it be sad if we broke up right away?”

However, it seemed that they were planning to block the Heavenly Demon Sect’s group from passing through here and heading to Gansu.

“An escort agency with a deep connection to a Mount Hua was attacked during a mission.”

“Did something like that happen?”

Purple Cloud Sword God thought that it was the work of the Heavenly Demon Sect. But Neung Byeok-mun pretended not to know.

‘Isn’t there no clear evidence?’

“There were also disciples of the Mount Hua in that procession, but they all died.”

“Oh. That’s really too bad. But why are you telling us that?”

Even though it was something he had done himself, Neung Byeok-mun spoke as if he really didn’t know.

‘Did that feel terribly pretentious?’

The disciples of the Mount Hua next to Purple Cloud Sword God were shaking their bodies with distorted faces.

‘He must be holding back from asking if it was definitely the work of the Heavenly Demon Sect.’

“That’s right. In fact, there are rumours that you guys are the ones who did that.”

“No, that’s not the case. Weren’t we always in Shaanxi?”

“That’s right. I think so too. Surely you wouldn’t believe in the Heavenly Demon Sect. But there are people who don’t believe in it, unlike you.”

Purple Cloud Sword God nodded and looked around at the demons of the Heavenly Demon Sect.

“There are also those who say that they witnessed you sneaking out of the island and then returning.”

“Who said that?”

“Well, I don’t quite remember who it was. Oh, don’t worry. I told you sharply that it was nonsense.”

“Then how about letting us go?”

At Shadow Demons’s words, Purple Cloud Sword God shook his head.

“That can’t be. No matter how much I tell them, they don’t believe me.”

Purple Cloud Sword God was making excuses for others while not believing in himself. Commander Neung’s head hurt from the actions of the absolute powerhouse known as Purple Cloud Sword God.

‘I actually thought it would have been much easier if the Gongdong and Kunlun sect surrounded us.’

“So, I guess I should check your luggage. Would you cooperate? If there’s nothing, I’ll just leave.”

And then Purple Cloud Sword God made an offer that was difficult to refuse. Of course, no one took that as a suggestion.