Chapter 386

Beol-yeol just couldn’t make sense of it all.

The situation looked grim; every warrior around was wearing a serious expression, diligently tending to their weapons.

What a shocking sight that was.

Why were these guys suddenly acting like warriors?

For the Sapa fighters, weapons were just heavy chunks of metal that needed rust to be pried off before you could even think about using them.

So when every single one of them was busy with their weapons, it was only natural to raise suspicions.

Beol-yeol pointed at one of them.

“Hey you! What’s going on?”

“We’re preparing for war.”

Beol-yeol was flabbergasted.

“War? What war? Are you planning to invade Namnyeong Sword Sect? You wanna die together with the Prince?”

“Not the Namnyeong Sword Sect, but the Jangsan Warriors! I heard they’re just small Zhengpai guys,” he responded.

At that, Beol-yeol’s expression twisted with disbelief.

Why did a high-ranking warrior like himself need to hear about a war from some lowly fighter?

With a furious stomp, Beol-yeol marched into the high-class Guest Hall of Yeonbang.

Crash!

He flung the door open so roughly it could have been reduced to splinters, revealing just how displeased he was.

You might say it’s childish, but as people age, they do tend to revert to childishness.

“Is the Master here?”

In the tea room, the Deputy Leader and several strategists were already gathered, looking like they were in the middle of a strategy meeting, leaving Beol-yeol out in the cold.

“What’s the deal? Planning to attack the Jangsan Warriors? Why on earth wasn’t I informed?”

Moon Jeong-yeok replied nonchalantly, “Well, the elder was busy with something else, right? I didn’t want to interrupt and risk being a distraction.”

“Does that even make sense? How can you plan a war without the strongest member of the expedition?”

“Hmm, I see now. My bad. Sorry about that,” Moon Jeong-yeok bowed his head.

“Hmph.”

Beol-yeol scoffed, but his anger was noticeably simmering down.

“Alright, let’s hear your plan. How were you planning to win without me?”

“Please, sit over here. What are you doing? Why aren’t you making space for the elder?”

Jo Kwang-ang turned, looking displeased, while the Deputy Leader glanced over, then the strategists, eventually prompting the youngest one to stand and move to the back.

After some lazy shuffling, a seat finally opened up at the head of the table.

With a click of his tongue at their lack of urgency, Beol-yeol boldly claimed the chair.

But then, Jo Kwang-ang’s underlings started to slide their tea cups aside.

Beol-yeol’s lips puckered in irritation.

“What, is it just your mouths that matter?”

“It’s not tea, it’s Gamecock Wine. Is that okay?”

“Why Gamecock Wine? Why on earth are you sitting here drinking that barbarian liquor?”

Gamecock Wine was a specialty from Guangxi Province, made by boiling and finely chopping chicken entrails, liver, and heart, then pouring in alcohol. The drink was a bizarre blend of liquor and snacks that came from a foreign culture.

“The only way to make it drinkable is to mix it with a yawn. Or how about you sip on some old liquor instead?”

Old liquor was made by replacing chicken entrails with pig liver.

“I’d take Gamecock Wine any day. Pour me a cup.”

“Do you know how to drink it?”

“Do you think I’ve lived this long without knowing how?”

Some people just can’t keep their mouths clean.

The way to drink this wine was to down the entire cup, swallowing the liquor and chewing on the contents as a snack.

Moon Jeong-yeok quickly filled a cup that already had the chicken entrails prepared.

Accepting the cup, the murky brew didn’t look too inviting, but surprisingly, it tasted decent enough.

Especially for drunkards, the combination of the wine’s flavor and the texture of the entrails was considered exquisite.

Beol-yeol downed a hearty gulp and began chewing the entrails left in his mouth.

This drink wasn’t much, but the entrails were delightfully savory.

Moon Jeong-yeok, watching with keen interest, casually dropped a comment.

“By the way, elder, I heard an interesting story. They say you’ve been seen with Cheonhwa-geom at night?”

“Cough.”

Beol-yeol spat out the entrails he was chewing, horrified.

“You know the rules of the Sado Sect, right? Betrayal is absolutely unforgivable.”

In that moment, the heads of the three combat units jumped to attention, pulling out their weapons as if they had been waiting for this precise moment.

“Hmph, what do you knuckleheads think you know—”

Bold Beol-yeol was caught off guard, suddenly realizing he was in a tight spot, and shouted, “Hey! You’re putting poison in the wine!”

“You think someone who handles Poison Arts would be careless? Why on Earth would we want to drink barbarian wine?”

Beol-yeol’s face turned pale.

He thought it was just the cheap drink made of chicken entrails, but unbeknownst to him, the poison coursed through him, scattering the Qi in his Dantian.

It was the Mountain Fragrance poison.

He chugged that glass without a second thought.

“Wait, no. You’re misunderstanding. Betrayal? What glory would there be for an old man like me to betray?”

“So how did you meet Cheonhwa-geom?”

“I said I had some fun news! Cheonhwa-geom is actually the poisonous snake I planted among the Guilin folks.”

Moon Jeong-yeok burst into laughter.

The room filled with mocking giggles as everyone else followed suit.

“Is that a justification? What would Cheonhwa-geom want with the words of an old man? What? Could she be your hidden daughter or something?”

That was a claim no one would fall for, especially in a predicament like this.

When someone is backed into a corner, they could say any nonsense.

Look at him now, spouting out nonsense, right?

“No! She just threatened me using Cheonhwa-geom’s weakness—”

“But I heard it was quite a cheerful atmosphere. Nowadays, they even book the finest guest rooms and offer the best tea to those who threaten them, right?”

Beol-yeol’s heart sank.

So these guys had been tailing him!

To those who had no clue, it might have looked like they were simply enjoying themselves.

In reality, he had a reason to maintain the good atmosphere, so he had played along.

“Let me explain myself. It wasn’t a threat, more of a cooperation. It wasn’t all one-sided and terrible.”

“Cooperation? Does that mean both parties benefit? What benefit would Cheonhwa-geom get from cooperating to drive out Zhengpai guys in Namnyeong?”

His Dantian was getting worse as the Mountain Fragrance poison circulated. Just how much had they mixed in?

Why hadn’t he noticed it immediately? Regret flooded over him, and he suddenly yelled, “Blood Sect!”

Those two words carried a weight that silenced the room.

Moon Jeong-yeok dropped his smug expression and asked, “Blood Sect? What do you mean by that?”

Those Blood Sect guys were no good either, even to the Sapa.

They were the sort of folks who’d want the world to burn down.

Even the Sapa jumped onto the bandwagon without wishing for the world’s destruction.

“Cheonhwa-geom is the witch of the Blood Sect! So if the Zhengpai falls in Namnyeong, that’s just a delightful thing for her.”

That was shocking news!

Cheonhwa-geom was a witch in the Blood Sect!

Like an explosive proclamation, silence engulfed the room before—

Pfft.

Jo Kwang-ang couldn’t hold back his laughter, and soon everyone burst into uncontrollable laughter.

“No way, elder, you’ve got to be kidding! Just, come on, make sense!”

Moon Jeong-yeok was nearly crying with laughter.

“No! It’s true!”

Frustrated, Beol-yeol yelled.

Jo Kwang-ang, unable to resist, taunted, “Did the old man lose his mind? A truly earth-shattering revelation, isn’t it? I’m amazed!”

“It’s real! She really is the Supreme Demoness!”

Moon Jeong-yeok added mockingly, “So the inheritor of the Buddha’s Physical Body is the Supreme Demoness. That means she might as well be the Supreme Buddha, huh? Quite a concept!”

“No! Just! Really! I’m telling you!”

Beol-yeol pounded his chest.

He was hitting his aged chest so hard it thumped!

“It’s true! It really is, why can’t you believe me? It’s true! So true! She is indeed the Supreme Demoness! It is the truth!”

“Why not say you’ve mastered all the over-the-top martial arts too? One hand white, one hand black, and your eyes spinning like a wheel?”

Had Qing been present, they would have suggested opening a fortune-telling shop, given the incredulous precision.

“It’s real! And that Master of Dark Demon Arts along with the Master of Thunder Arts are part of the Demonic Arts! They have nothing to do with the Blood Sect!”

“But isn’t the Blood Sect a part of the Zhengpai? It could very well be a double agent, don’t you think?”

“It’s real! There’s evidence!”

“Evidence? Did Cheonhwa-geom confess or something? You naïve old fool.”

“There’s that third guy!”

Beol-yeol shouted desperately. “He got slapped by the Master of Thunder Arts! He has a black bruise on his cheek from the Supreme Demoness’s poison! Take him to the expert of the academy! They’ll confirm the cruel scars of the Supreme Demoness!”

“That guy’s recovered ages ago. Bruises, really? If he was hit by the Supreme Demoness’s poison, he should have rotted away!”

Beol-yeol was stunned.

“Huh? Why? Why is he healed? Why?”

Of course, the True Energy used from the Supreme Demoness wasn’t that cruel.

“Why are you asking me? Shouldn’t you explain?”

Beol-yeol regretted it.

If he had known it would turn out like this, he should have fled the moment he sensed the Mountain Fragrance poison.

Now having stayed behind trying to persuade them, he could not even make a run for it.

“The judgment will be up to the lord, but for now, you’ll have to spend some time in confinement. If you dare to misbehave, we’ll burn the Mountain Fragrance.”

“Isn’t burning the Mountain Fragrance risky? Don’t you think it would be easier to just break my Dantian? Can’t we just take me alive?”

Beol-yeol’s face turned pale.

But Moon Jeong-yeok shook his head.

“Stop reading those loss-causing strategies every time, and learn some common sense. Breaking the Dantian of someone who mastered the Poison Arts? They wouldn’t survive.”

As Moon Jeong-yeok tapped his own head, Jo Kwang-ang’s face flushed bright red.

Moon Jeong-yeok, with a smug grin, turned back to Beol-yeol.

“The lord will decide on betrayal, but if you try to run, it could lead to immediate punishment, you know?”

Beol-yeol plopped down on the ground.

“This is outrageous! How could it be like this? Why? Isn’t it the case that blood sects aren’t new to the Zhengpai? Even the daughters of Ten Great Houses are in the Blood Sect’s pocket.”

“You should speak that to the lord as well. The judgment is the lord’s, after all.”

Beol-yeol’s eyes seethed with rage.

“Sure, I’ll tell the lord how foolish you were to let this opportunity slip by!”

Moon Jeong-yeok shrugged casually, “Even if you say that, what difference does it make?”

“What do you mean?”

“If that’s the case, you’d practically be colluding with the Blood Sect. I’d advise you to say you were in league with the Zhengpai.”

Denial washed over Beol-yeol’s face as he paled even further.

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