Chapter 74

In my past life, the Heaven Rebelling Society had been a headache for the Demon Cult’s warriors.

It was because of their fighting style, where they did not hesitate to die together with their enemies.

They all wore pouches at their waists, and inside those pouches was a powder with tremendous explosive power.

A special substance that formed only when a tree called the Gold-Sand Tree was struck by lightning.

That was Falling Thunder Powder.

When things went south, they would set off the Falling Thunder Powder without hesitation and drag both themselves and their enemies to death together.

That very scene was about to play out against Im Yeon.

‘How could I have forgotten this.’

Moving toward Im Yeon, I berated myself inwardly.

How could I have forgotten something this important?

It was probably because I had never directly clashed with the Heaven Rebelling Society in this life. Because of that, I had put a comrade’s life in danger.

Tik!

A Heaven Rebelling adherent snapped his fingers near his pouch.

At the same time, a flash burst out from his waist.

Im Yeon noticed nothing and was still swinging her sword.

I clenched my teeth, sprinted, and grabbed Im Yeon by the arm.

Kwaaang!

Right after that, an ear-splitting roar blasted out behind my back.

Beside me, Im Yeon stared with rabbit-like eyes and stammered.

“W-what in the world…?”

At that moment, another roar went off.

Kwaaang!

Had he been caught in the blast.

Hwang Seung-jong staggered.

‘Damn it!’

I let go of Im Yeon and yanked Hwang Seung-jong by the scruff of his neck just as a blood claw was about to come crashing down on him.

“Seventh Young Lord!”

“You alright?”

“No. I was about to become hundreds of little pieces of a demonic illusion prodigy.”

“You’re fine, then.”

I helped Hwang Seung-jong back to his feet.

His clothes were singed, but fortunately he wasn’t badly injured.

It seemed he had almost been struck by the blood claw because the explosion had rattled him.

I asked him.

“What’s the range of the Four-Quarters Confusion Formation?”

“About three meters around the carriage. Why?”

“Will we get caught up in it too?”

“As long as we’re on the carriage, we’re fine. Inside or on top.”

Hearing his answer, I quickly ran the numbers in my head.

In the span of a moment, a plan came to mind that would use the elements here to completely wipe out the Heaven Rebelling adherents.

“Everyone, get onto the carriage!”

I shouted loudly.

Ak Mu-jin and Hwang Seung-jong quickly headed for the carriage, while Im Yeon went back to the guards and scattered sword Qi, opening a path of retreat.

Some piled into the carriage, while the rest climbed onto the roof.

“Activate it!”

Before we knew it, the Heaven Rebelling adherents had swarmed around the carriage like a cloud of insects.

Some of them were fidgeting at their waists. They were about to detonate their Falling Thunder Powder.

If they set it off in this crowded space, wouldn’t we all die together? I really couldn’t understand these people.

‘I’ll give you exactly what you want soon enough.’

At that moment, Hwang Seung-jong began chanting an incomprehensible incantation.

Dozens of talismans pasted on the carriage’s outer walls lit up at once. The light spread in all directions and swallowed every Heaven Rebelling adherent within range.

Those who had been radiating killing intent froze stiff.

Hwang Seung-jong spoke proudly.

“They’re seeing illusions now. They’ll think they’ve fallen into the sea or a volcano.”

Without responding, I spoke to the coachman.

“Let’s go.”

“No, Seventh Young Lord. Without a power source, the Four-Quarters Confusion Formation will end quickly. At most seven minutes before they snap out of it. We’re slow. They’ll catch up fast.”

“That won’t happen, so don’t worry.”

I nodded to the coachman to signal him to move.

But the coachman also looked troubled.

“They’re blocking the front, so the horses won’t move. And they’re scared half to death.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Ak Mu-jin snatched up the horsewhip stuck into the driver’s board.

Hwirik!

Standing on the roof of the carriage, he swung the long horsewhip around the neck of a Heaven Rebelling adherent blocking the way and flung him backward.

After he repeated the motion a few times, the front cleared completely.

“Good work, Captain Ak. Can we move now?”

“I will manage somehow.”

The coachman let out a long whistle, patted the horses’ backs, then took something like medicinal herbs from his breast, crushed it between his palms, and scattered it toward the horses’ heads.

Whether those methods worked or not, the carriage soon started moving.

The horses seemed to be struggling under the weight of all the passengers, but it didn’t matter.

I had no intention of going far anyway.

“Do you have any talismans that can cause an explosion over a wide area?”

Hwang Seung-jong shook his head.

“I do have Explosive Talismans, but their range is small.”

“How many?”

“Eight.”

“Any talismans that amplify effects?”

“I don’t have any.”

I fell into brief thought.

Would this be enough?

I was not certain, but it was more than worth trying.

“What are you trying to do?”

“A big explosion.”

Hwang Seung-jong’s mouth fell open.

“…You’re trying to blow them all up? Sorry, but that’s impossible. Eight Explosive Talismans don’t have that kind of power.”

“What if we stack the explosions?”

“What do you mean?”

“Throw all eight, but make them go off with tiny time gaps between them.”

I had the coachman stop the carriage and continued.

Explosions had the tendency to swallow other explosions and grow larger. Setting them off with small delays was much more powerful than making them all explode at once.

I didn’t know the theory, but I had confirmed it through direct and indirect experience.

“That’s easy to say, but not easy to do. I’d have to throw the talismans practically at the same time and infuse different amounts of spell power into each one. And on top of that—”

“You sure talk a lot. Is this all a demonic illusion prodigy can do?”

I gave a short laugh and provoked him, and Hwang Seung-jong’s face turned serious.

“Who said I can’t do it? I was just telling you it isn’t easy. If it fails, don’t blame me.”

He took all of the Explosive Talismans out from his robe.

“Throw them at the one in front. Before the Four-Quarters Confusion Formation’s effect ends.”

Hwang Seung-jong nodded with a stiff face.

Shuwek. The lined-up Explosive Talismans flew from his hand toward the front-most Heaven Rebelling adherent.

As if tied to invisible strings, they stuck precisely to the one standing at the very front without deviation.

Peoeong. The first talisman exploded with a small bang.

Before the aftershock dispersed, the second and third talismans went off in succession.

The explosion, now larger than at first, was enough to detonate the Falling Thunder Powder pouch.

Kwaang!

The Falling Thunder Powder exploded.

The fourth, then the fifth.

As more talismans went off, the explosions grew larger and larger, feeding on the Heaven Rebelling adherents’ Falling Thunder Powder and swelling in size.

Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwang!

Soon a blinding light flared bright enough to dig out one’s pupils, and massive flames and smoke billowed up.

That was the end.

Nothing remained where the explosions had swept through.

It was the complete annihilation of the Heaven Rebelling adherents.

“…”

Silence fell inside the carriage.

It seemed they couldn’t believe what they had just witnessed.

The first to speak was Hwang Seung-jong, who had carried out my plan.

His face was pale, perhaps from the drain on his spell power, as he spoke.

“Seventh Young Lord, what are you, really? The plan was one thing, but…”

Hwang Seung-jong trembled.

It was not hard to guess what he was going to say next.

He meant, how could I wipe out that many people without so much as batting an eye.

Judging by the look in her eyes as she watched me, Im Yeon was thinking the same thing.

‘Well, it can’t be helped.’

A bitter smile tugged at my lips.

I could have argued that they were the ones who tried to kill us first, but I didn’t.

Honestly, even to me, it had been cruel.

However.

“That was nice and explosive!”

“…Hm?”

What came from Hwang Seung-jong was very different from what I had expected.

The same went for Im Yeon.

“As expected of you, Young Lord! Guard Manual, Article Three, Clause Eight. ‘If enemy pursuit is anticipated and a safe withdrawal is deemed impossible, all means must be employed to eliminate the threat.’ You eradicated the threat down to its roots. And if it were not for you, we would have left our bones here today. As expected, Young Lord, you—!”

Im Yeon’s words poured out without pause.

The look in her eyes had gone beyond respect and was nearing worship.

It seemed I had underestimated them.

“…Let’s get going.”

“Yes, Young Lord.”

Amid the awkward atmosphere of them praising me, I was secretly relieved.

Right now, information about the Heaven Rebelling Society had not yet been made public.

No one knew about the Falling Thunder Powder, so we had almost been dragged into mutual destruction.

If I had not regressed, and if I had not recalled the information I heard in my past life, it would surely have been us who were wiped out.

“Don’t let your guard down. There will be more ambushes.”

I said to the group.

Knowing Heuk Jin-pung’s temperament, there was no way he would be satisfied with just one attack.

Something else would definitely pop up.

“Young Lord, there is an old man ahead of us.”

It was not long after we continued forward at a slow pace.

One of the guards on the roof shouted.

“An old man?”

I furrowed my brow.

Because there was a sense of foreboding clinging to the word “old man.”

“The Four-Quarters Confusion Formation is still running, right?”

“Yeah. But it’s almost over.”

“You’re sure you said it can hold off even transcended masters, right?”

“Of course. Do you know what kind of formation this is?”

“Good.”

I shouted to the coachman.

“Don’t stop. Just plow straight through at this speed!”

“Sorry? But…”

“We have the formation. It’ll be fine.”

The coachman was a demonic cultist in his own right.

He could at least feel that the old man was no ordinary person.

So he was understandably reluctant to ram him head-on.

But as if my words settled it for him, he cracked the horsewhip with a shout of, “Hyah!”

The horses charged ahead without slowing.

Unless he was a monster outside all standards like the Heavenly Demon or the Demon Valley Lord, that old man would not be able to overcome the Four-Quarters Confusion Formation.

So once he entered the formation’s range, he would fall into hallucinations, and the carriage could simply run him over.

He would be completely defenseless and suffer a serious blow.

“Heheh, what impudent little brats. You don’t even greet your great senior and try to run him down with a carriage instead.”

His voice carried the weariness of years, yet still held power.

Soon, the old man reached the formation’s domain.

In that instant, something unbelievable happened.

As if seized by an invisible force, the carriage could not move forward any further.

The energy of the formation had collided with the old man’s energy.

“Heheh, you’ve done something amusing to this carriage.”

The old man spoke as if nothing was wrong.

I turned to look at Hwang Seung-jong.

“What’s going on here?”

“Well, I… I don’t know either.”

“If you don’t know, who will?”

“This has never happened before.”

If we were being stopped here, there were only two possibilities.

Either that old man had martial skill beyond the transcendent realm, or Hwang Seung-jong had been bragging.

“Hrragh!”

The old man let out a shout.

At the same time, a loud, vibrating hum rang out as the carriage was engulfed in a powerful force.

The whole carriage jolted and creaked as if it would shatter at any moment.

The horses began to thrash around wildly.

The horses the guards had ridden had all fled during the first ambush, and now even the horses hitched to the carriage looked ready to bolt.

Kwaddeuk!

Then, with a nasty ripping sound, the carriage roof tore away like paper.

Ak Mu-jin and the guards sitting on top screamed as they went flying.

They might be alright.

“T-the Four-Quarters Confusion Formation is broken. That old man is above the transcendent realm!”

Even without Hwang Seung-jong’s explanation, the situation was clear.

The old man had shattered the Four-Quarters Confusion Formation, and because of that, we were pinned in place.

“…Let’s get off for now.”

It was no longer a situation where we could stay inside the carriage.

We opened the door, its upper part smashed, and stepped outside.

Looking behind us first, I was relieved to see that Ak Mu-jin and the guards who had been blown away seemed unhurt.

Then I turned my head forward.

In front of the carriage stood an old man in silk clothes.

The silk looked worn as if it had weathered several decades, and shackles with broken iron chains were fastened around both his wrists and ankles.

His thick white beard was stained with blood that had flowed from his nose, likely internal injuries he had suffered while destroying the Four-Quarters Confusion Formation.

“Heheh, so you finally feel like greeting me.”

The old man broke into a beaming smile.

Seeing him laugh in that state felt deeply eerie.

‘Who is this?’

I searched my memory, but no one came to mind.

I had never seen or heard of an old man who looked like this.

I opened my mouth with a bit of a joking tone.

“Ah, I should have greeted my senior first, but I was in a hurry and failed to do so. Your complexion looks terrible and you’re bleeding from the nose. Are you feeling unwell somewhere?”

“Heheh, you had something quite unfamiliar set up on that carriage.”

“Ah, did you suffer internal injuries because of that?”

“Heh, you’re a sly one. Trying to sound out this old man, are you?”

The old man stroked his blood-stained beard as if amused.

Seeing him neither affirm nor deny it, I was certain. He had taken internal damage.

It seemed the Four-Quarters Confusion Formation had done its job to the very end.

“What business do you have with this junior?”

I asked cautiously.

It was obvious Heuk Jin-pung had sent him, but if possible, I did not want to fight this old man.

There was no guarantee I could win.

However, the old man thought differently.

“I have been waiting to deliver unfortunate news to a junior I am meeting for the first time.”

“And what would that be?”

“It is death.”

“I’d like to decline.”

“Death cannot be avoided, no matter how much you wish to.”

“Would it not be more fitting for a senior of advanced years to go before someone young like me?”

“Death is fair to all. You do not get to decide the order in which you go.”

Tsk. I clicked my tongue.

That was as far as the gentle conversation would go.

“Do you know who I am?”

“I do. You are the Heavenly Demon’s newly taken youngest disciple, are you not?”

“Then you know this well. If you kill me, my great master, the Greatest Under Heaven who cherishes me dearly, will not sit still.”

“After I deliver death, I will leave for the Western Regions and never return, so do not worry.”

“In your condition, that might be difficult.”

I said this while pointing, one by one, at his hands and feet.

“In exchange for this killing, I was promised release from prison.”

In other words, he was determined to kill me.

I forced myself to think calmly.

I had two advantages right now.

The internal injuries he had suffered, and the shackles on his wrists and ankles that hindered his movements.

Yet even with these in my favor, I could not be certain I could defeat him.

“Young Lord!”

From afar, the Longevity Ten came running.

Without taking my eyes off the old man, I asked by voice alone.

“What about the outer patrol squad?”

“They are gathering their full strength and coming.”

My advantages had increased.

The Longevity Ten had joined us, and the patrol squad would be here soon.

I gave a short laugh toward the old man.

“Hear that? Why not just leave while it can still be done with words?”

“Heheh. If numbers alone could solve things, the Beggars’ Union would have to be the greatest sect under heaven.”

What he meant was that he would see this through to the end.

“If you really insist, I have no choice, but is there anyone who will bring you offerings at your grave next year? I doubt the Patriarch of the Hundred-Succession Clan will even raise a tombstone for you.”

“You are the sort whose mouth would keep floating even after drowning.”

“That won’t happen. I can swim.”

As I finished speaking, I began giving hand signals to my companions.

It was time to teach this ill-natured senior exactly how important headcount can be.