Everyone was shocked by my use of the word spy. Their reaction was natural as I said that the second disciple of the second elder, Seo Kalma, was a spy.
And Seo Kalma was one of the Four Venerable Dignitaries. He looked at me with eyes filled with anger.
âDo you even know what you are saying? A spy?â
The feeling of intimidation wasnât normal. My heart was beating fast making me anxious but I didnât lose my composure.
âWhy is the bell ringing now?â
It was Baek Ryeon-ha who answered those words.
âHundreds of people appeared near the mountains, possibly warriors. And those who looked like scouts had entered the mountain region. They arenât far from the sect.â
This was expected. The role of the scouts was to check around. Since Go Eunjae was a spy the scent that he threw around needed to be tracked. These scouts would surely find this location eventually.
If they are near the mountain then the people will come here in less than 2 to 4 hours and report back too.
âWe donât have time. Tell me why he is a spyâŚâ
Srng!
Tatatak!
Five people surrounded me. They were the five leaders of the Six Blood Valley and Gu Sang-woong.
They already took the weapons out and aimed them. They were suspicious of me too.
Hae Ok-seonâs leader was ready to swing her sword at any time.
âDonât move from the place and explain. Young master, where have you been?â
Bang!
At that time, Hae Ack-chun slammed the ground below and shouted.
âAre you doubting my disciple right now?â
Shocked by his rage, the five leaders werenât sure what to do. In the meantime, it looked like he trusted his disciple.
-I see the old man in a new light.
âRight.â
However, there were people who could ignore him.
âHae hyung. Your disciple also went off when the bells rang. And going wasnât enough. He did this to my disciple. This is a situation where anyone will be suspicious of your disciple.â
âWhat?â
âWe arenât clear if Hae hyungâs disciple had made my disciple like this to blame him for this all.â
Like Hae Ack-chun, this man trusted his disciple too.
âAre you accusing me? Ha! As I thought, talks donâtâŚâ
At that time, Han Baek-ha stopped him.
âBoth of you. We donât have time for this. We need to fix this quickly. So, Young Master, give us a proper explanation if you want to avoid suspicion. Otherwise, the Young Master will also be detained.â
With her declaration, I pointed at Go Eunjae.
âTake the sole from the shoe of the second elderâs disciple.â
âSole?â
Gu Sang-woong, the commander of this valley, looked cautiously at Seo Kalma. He was asking for permission.
Seo Kalma nodded with an uncomfortable expression. Gu Sang-woong personally took off the shoe from this guy, and when he tore the sole off, a leather pouch of white power was exposed.
ââŚ!â
Seo Kalma, who saw this, was shocked. And Gu Sang-woong brought it closer to his mouth and smelled it. Then, looking at it, Baek Ryeon-ha and Han Baek-ha had stiff faces as they said,
âThousand Miles Chasing Strength.â
âThousand Miles Chasing Strength!â
Among them, there were those who didnât seem to know about it.
-They donât seem to know.
As Short Sword had said, the twins were only looking bewildered at this but there was no time to explain.
âHehe, didnât I tell you?â
When evidence came out, Hae Ack-chun was alive. Without stopping here, I took out the poison pill in my hand.
âWhat is that?â
Han Baek-ha asked.
âIt was inside tied to his back molar. It has been tied up for a long time, so there have to be other traces.â
At those words, Gu Sang-woong opened his mouth and confirmed it. With a sad expression, he nodded as he touched the molars with his finger.
Seo Kalma was shocked,
âIt cannot be. How can my discipleâŚâ
âElder⌠I am sorry, but Young Master So is right. If the pill is tied up for a long time it digs into a shape near the gum.â
âHow can you know that?â
âFor half a year I had infiltrated the Murim Alliance as a spy.â
I didnât know Gu Sang-woong worked as a spy. But thanks to his words the credibility of my words increased.
âHow can thisâŚâ
Seo Kalma looked at his disciple with confused eyes. There was anger, disappointment, and despair.
It wouldnât be a shock if this was someone else, but this guy was his disciple.
âIs there a need for more clarification?â
â⌠leaders, pull back your weapons.â
At Han Baek-haâs words, the leaders who surrounded me all pulled back their weapons and bowed to apologize to me.
And Gu Sang-woong asked me,
âBut⌠how did you know this?â
Now again they all looked curious at me. And their eyes were all narrowed but I had prepared my answer.
âI woke up late and tried to head back to my place. Then I saw Go Eunjae leaving his room to go somewhere. Moving away from the main hall felt suspicious to me so he pursued him. He then suddenly stopped and sprayed this powder around.
âYou didnât use internal qi?â
âIf I did, he would have run or I would have been killed.â
âAhâŚâ
Gu Sang-woong realized that his question was wrong.
âI couldnât think of anything else as it was such a situation. If it hadnât been for a surprise attack, I would have been killed.â
Go Eunjae crossed the wall of a first-rate warrior. I explained it like this because it doesnât make sense for me to defeat such a high level warrior in a head-on battle. I pointed to my right hand.
I deliberately stabbed myself in the right side with a dagger to avoid suspicion.
-Well, you are one huge deal man.
Short Sword clicked her tongue.
How long was I a spy? How could I make such a mistake? It wasnât uncommon to be prepared like this.
âI could have lost my life.â
âYou did something dangerous.â
As he said, Gu Sang-woongâs expression softened. Any doubts were now gone.
âHehe, you should know this guyâs guts!â
Hae Ack-chun praised me. It was to praise the fact that I had managed to catch the spy alone. Thanks to this, the expression of the others changed toward me
And Baek Ryeon-ha came as she said,
âIf it wasnât for the young master we would have never known who the spy was and we would have been caught off guard. Thank you very much.â
Chak!
Everyone around her bowed and showed their gratitude to me.
It wasnât intended but I was being given merit for what I did. If I didnât find Go Eunjae by chance, I would have never been able to figure out what happened.
Pak!
At that time, Seo Kalma fell on his knees and pleaded to Baek Ryeon-ha.
âThese things happened because I didnât have an eye to select peopleâŚâ
âNo. We donât have time to talk about Uncle Seoâs sins. It is time to make an escape route. We will talk about this later.â
Seo Kalma bitterly responded to her words,
âI understand.â
The influence he had on the future was great, so she could not simply throw the guy out because of one mistake. And his guilt could be used.
However, Seo Kalma seemed unable to let this go. He approached his fallen disciple and struck his former discipleâs dantian with his palm.
Crash!
The body shook violently, causing convulsions.
-What is he doing?
â⌠destroying his dantian.â
I didnât expect this extreme step to be taken right away. This action would be to show that this guy was no longer his disciple. That wasnât the end of Go Eunjaeâs misfortune,
âCut his limbs off too.â
Baek Ryeon-ha issued this cruel command. As expected of the Blood Demonâs descendant. Last time, she let Han Baek-ha cut off her fingers without mercy.
-That is good. You and Baek Ryeon-ha end up doing the same thing.
It was true. I said it, but she ended up doing it.
In any case, not just the dantian but the limbs would also be rendered useless. So even walking would be difficult. Since we had to find out who was behind this, one of the leaders brought by Han Baek-ha would handle him.
Since it was shameful to have a spy with him, Seo Kalma just let everything happen. The issue of the spy got sorted and Baek Ryeon-ha changed the topic,
âLetâs wrap up the story about it and go for the escape route.â
It seems they were discussing this before I came here. And it seemed that they were trying to move by dividing three escape routes rather than going from one place.
The reason was because of Baek Ryeon-haâs identity. Although her identity wasnât known to the enemies, they were aiming to distract the attention of theirs.
-Isnât it better to be together than to go separately?
âBut we donât know the force of the enemies.â
If there were more warriors who were stronger than the elders on the enemy side it would be tough. For example, the Eight Great Warriors of the central plainsâŚ
Perhaps, they came with such a strategy in mind.
âAs I said before, the people of the Great Doctor will get escorted firstâ
âI understand.â
âWe will leave soon.â
Second leader Seo Kalma, who had five commanders, decided to let them take charge.
Great Doctorâs people didnât belong to this place, despite being a small number they couldnât get involved in such dangerous things. And the next problem was Baek Ryeon-ha.
âFourth Elder, please escort our lady.â
âYou want me to?â
Han Baek-ha asked Hae Ack-chun,
âThey might be after the lady. It could be dangerous for us to divide, soâŚâ
âHmm⌠okay.â
Hae Ack-chun, who thought her words were true, accepted it. If Han Baek-ha decides to pretend to be the escort of the fake one, then the enemies would be confused.
âIt is decided. Then the commander of the Six Blood Valley will have to divide the people.â
âI will do as directed.â
And so the forces in the Six Blood Valley were divided into two.
Half to escort the fake one, and the other half for the real Baek Ryeon-ha. Even though it was fake, they could not let the enemy know.
âThere is so much burden. Tch tch.â
Hae Ack-chun clicked his tongue.
He was saying this because there were lower and middle rank warriors being put with them.
âFourth Elder will have it tough, but please. Now set the flame!â
And the order fell. One of the leaders with other warriors set fire to the oil-soaked buildings around.
Wheik!
The flames blazed and spread around. At this rate, in less than half an hour, everything would be turned to ashes.
And Hae Ok-seon tried to throw something into the fire, it was the shoe of Go Eunjae.