Wudang Sacred Scriptures

Chwi Dugae wiped his hands, slick with meat fat, on his clothes and asked,

“Which of you is the Black Moon Society’s Society Leader, Poyang Thousand-Moon Saber?”

However black-path they might be, he was still the clear head of a faction, so Chwi Dugae spoke half-formally.

As a Hu Gae of the Beggar Clan, he could not ignore the position of the beggars who lived by alms here in Nanchang.

Not that he had wiped his hands to shake the Society Leader’s hand. He had only prepared in case he had to lift the Tagu Staff and it might slip.

“Hu Gae.”

A middle-aged man with a ruddy face offered a clasped-fist salute.

“I am Poyang Thousand-Moon Saber, Bae Ho-cheol, Society Leader of the Black Moon Society.”

Having introduced himself politely, Poyang Thousand-Moon Saber Bae Ho-cheol continued with a troubled expression.

“I ask that you know our society has not the least intent to oppose the Beggar Clan. We were unavoidably discourteous at the request of this hero here. The hero who has come is...”

A man standing behind the Black Moon Society Leader suddenly stepped forward and said,

“Society Leader, enough with the introductions.”

The man, who looked about fifty, had blazing eyes and a dark face.

“So you’re the so-called pup of the Beggar Clan’s Sub-Branch Master.”

“Your mouth is as pitch-black as your face.”

Chwi Dugae knit his brows and then asked,

“Since you’re calling a Beggar Clan Hu Gae a ‘pup’ and a ‘punk,’ you must be someone of some standing. How about declaring your identity properly?”

On the man’s dark face, gray brows arched sharply.

“......”

When the dark-faced man held his tongue, Chwi Dugae looked to Poyang Thousand-Moon Saber Bae Ho-cheol and said,

“Sir Society Leader, step outside at once and see if you’ve dropped anything.”

“Hu Gae, what do you...?”

“You said you brought some great hero, but all I see here is a mouse too scared to give his own three-character name.”

—GRRRIND!

The dark-faced man gnashed his teeth and barked,

“Kang Su! This seat is Kang Su, the Black-Yin Demon God!”

Chwi Dugae’s roguish face went stiff.

“Kang Su of the Twin-Yin Death Gods of Ghost Night Castle...?”

“That’s right. This seat is Kang Su, the Black Death God among Ghost Night Castle’s Twin-Yin Death Gods.”

Seeing Chwi Dugae’s open astonishment, Kwak Yeon asked,

“Brother, what sort of man is he?”

He was curious what manner of figure could make Chwi Dugae start like that.

“Ghost Night Castle is one of the Demonic Eight Divisions. I’ve heard that he’s one of the top hands in Ghost Night Castle—the Chief Protector. Huh...?”

Chwi Dugae cocked his head, then asked the Black-Yin Demon God Kang Su,

“Are you really Kang Su, the Black-Yin Demon God? You didn’t just smear black on your face?”

The Black Moon Society Leader, Poyang Thousand-Moon Saber Bae Ho-cheol, hastily replied,

“Hu Gae, he is indeed the Black Death God, the Black-Yin Demon God of Ghost Night Castle.”

It was the only way to explain why he, the Society Leader of the Black Moon Society, was so at a loss.

“That’s what’s strange. In times like these, the brain of the Demonic Eight Divisions striding openly through the rivers and lakes? And am I to believe that a man who’s even the Chief Protector of Ghost Night Castle has not a single subordinate at his side?”

The Black-Yin Demon God Kang Su’s face twisted.

“That I am the Black-Yin Demon God is certain.”

“Let’s grant that... What business does Ghost Night Castle’s Chief Protector have with my Brother Kwak?”

“No particular business. I only need the Dark Cavern Taoist’s head.”

At that blunt statement that he needed his head, Kwak Yeon asked,

“And why is my head needed? If it were the Gathering Demons Division, I might understand, but as far as I know, I’ve no feud with Ghost Night Castle yet.”

He was probing whether they had come over the matter of Huayang Temple.

Ghost Night Castle was one of the Demonic Eight Divisions as well; if it had been a joint operation, it would not be strange for the Black-Yin Demon God to have come.

But—

“This seat has no special grudge against you, Dark Cavern Taoist.”

Kwak Yeon was puzzled by the Black-Yin Demon God Kang Su’s unhesitating answer.

“Then why cut off my head—especially going to such trouble?”

“Just know it’s needed, and stand up quick and draw your sword.”

Kwak Yeon shook his head.

“I will not stand without an answer. I can’t give up a precious head not knowing the reason, can I?”

When Kwak Yeon stayed seated and held firm, the Black-Yin Demon God Kang Su’s dark face contorted.

“Society Leader.”

“Yes.”

“You say it instead.”

The Black Moon Society Leader, Poyang Thousand-Moon Saber, spoke toward Kwak Yeon and Chwi Dugae with his eyes thoroughly cowed.

“This demon-path hero has come on account of a Public Contract that the Alliance of the Demonic Path proclaimed on the Dark Cavern Taoist.”

Chwi Dugae’s eyes flickered wide.

“A Public Contract by the Alliance of the Demonic Path?”

At his repetition, the Black Moon Society Leader Bae Ho-cheol, too, started.

“Surely the Beggar Clan’s Hu Gae didn’t come here without knowing that?”

It was a natural rejoinder. The Beggar Clan, said to be the world’s best at intelligence, could hardly not know.

Chwi Dugae’s brow furrowed.

Having finished at Huayang Temple and hurried on the road toward the Martial Alliance, he had neglected Beggar Clan business and hadn’t learned of it.

When Kwak Yeon looked blankly at him, Chwi Dugae explained briefly,

“Kwak, a Public Contract means whoever accomplishes the contract gets the pledged payment.”

“So the Alliance of the Demonic Path has put a bounty on my head.”

Kwak Yeon recalled what he had heard from Escort Captain Hong Sucheon when he first set foot in the rivers and lakes.

Back then, Hong Sucheon had drawn the distinction that the white path paid back grievances in person, while the black path settled them for the long haul by contracting them out.

‘So the Alliance of the Demonic Path intends to take revenge on me by proclaiming a Public Contract.’

Rather than risk sending out another execution unit and facing annihilation, they had decided to take revenge befitting a black-path overlord by contracting it out.

“Kwak, if the Martial Alliance has the Martial Merits Register, the Alliance of the Demonic Path has Public Contracts. It’s rare for them to proclaim one, but...”

Knowing that Kwak Yeon had annihilated the Alliance’s execution squad, Chwi Dugae let his words trail off.

And because he knew how great a calamity it was in the martial world to become the target of a Public Contract, he couldn’t speak lightly.

In a Public Contract, the danger was determined above all by the contract sum; he could not help but ask.

Chwi Dugae asked the Black Moon Society Leader bluntly,

“Society Leader, how much did the Alliance of the Demonic Path set for the Public Contract?”

Perhaps because the subject himself was present, the Black Moon Society Leader Bae Ho-cheol answered with a pained face.

“......One million gold taels.”

Chwi Dugae started violently.

“One million gold taels?”

There’s a saying of a man worth a million in gold. It was the benchmark of a great magnate—an astronomical sum.

‘Huh. A million in gold. The Alliance is truly enraged.’

Chwi Dugae was astonished by the sum of a million, but what worried him were the moths that would throw themselves at that million.

It was certain that the famed assassin squads of the martial world would have their eyes blazing.

And not only the assassin squads.

A million in gold was enough to command even ghosts.

Besides, since the Alliance had declared an open Public Contract with no separate qualification conditions, some among the white-path martial artists would also grow greedy.

‘Unless the Alliance withdraws it, he can forget sleeping with his feet stretched out for life.’

Ill at ease, Chwi Dugae slit his eyes at the Black-Yin Demon God Kang Su.

“Frankly, a million in gold is a lot of money. But even so, I can’t make sense of a Chief Protector of Ghost Night Castle, one of the Demonic Eight Divisions, going bounty-hunting.”

“......”

“Moreover, the demon path has its face to keep—how can you take on a contract posted by a black-path rabble?”

It was a question that struck the Black-Yin Demon God’s sore spot.

“......”

When the Black-Yin Demon God Kang Su only twitched his gray brows and gave no answer, Chwi Dugae went on, mocking,

“It’s truly strange. All the more that the Black-Yin Demon God, Chief Protector of Ghost Night Castle, is acting alone.”

That he was alone could be seen from the fact that he had bullied the Black Moon Society Leader into finding Kwak Yeon.

If Ghost Night Castle subordinates had been with him, there would have been no need to use the Black Moon Society.

“What on earth is going on here?”

At Chwi Dugae’s continued sneers, the Black-Yin Demon God Kang Su’s face twisted in a rush.

“Pup of the Beggar Clan’s Sub-Branch Master, quiet now. It has nothing to do with the likes of you.”

“Damn it! Just because your mouth’s open you’re spouting ‘pup’ and ‘the likes of you’ again. I ought to cane you like a dog with this club...”

“Brother.”

As Chwi Dugae grabbed the Tagu Staff and started to rise, Kwak Yeon gently stayed him.

“Please remain seated.”

“Hm?”

“The food is getting cold. Didn’t you say Sesame-Oil Chicken turns fishy and inedible once it’s cold?”

“Well, that’s true, but...”

Kwak Yeon picked up the Cheonggang Sword he had set on the chair beside him and said,

“I’d been thinking there wasn’t a proper partner for a friendly bout. Since he’s come in person, I can’t refuse.”

Chwi Dugae nodded as if spellbound.

“Go on, then.”

These past several nights, Chwi Dugae had been trading friendly matches with Kwak Yeon.

It was because Kwak had asked him to help with training the new sword method he had obtained, but Chwi Dugae knew that wasn’t the only reason he had asked.

If he could cross hands with a Fire Realm expert, Chwi Dugae could gain a hundredfold more than from solitary practice.

The problem was that those friendly bouts were punishingly harsh for Chwi Dugae.

The sword method Kwak Yeon was learning was truly abstruse and its changes vast, so every night Chwi Dugae collapsed, spent.

Knowing that Kwak wished to unfold the fruits of his training thus far in real combat, he nodded readily.

Even so, he was not without unease.

He remembered hearing that the Black-Yin Demon God of Ghost Night Castle had ascended to the extreme-demonic realm.

‘Well, no matter what, he can’t match Brother Kwak, who has reached Mid-Subjugation of the Fire Realm.’

Leaning back at ease against the chair’s back, Chwi Dugae watched Kwak Yeon walk forward toward the Black-Yin Demon God.

Kwak Yeon halted about a single zhang short of the Black-Yin Demon God and spoke softly.

“Whatever circumstances have led the Chief Protector of Ghost Night Castle to take up a Public Contract, since you have sought me out to cross forms, I will not decline.”

The Black-Yin Demon God Kang Su nodded.

“As rumor had it, your character is forthright.”

On the two hands he spread and raised, a black aura welled thickly.

“So I will do you the ‘special honor’ of meeting you with this seat’s signature technique, the Ink-Slaughter Palm. You will already be sensing it by your qi sense, but this seat has achieved Hand-Force—do not take it lightly.”

Watching, Chwi Dugae hastily lifted himself off the chair back.

The black energy sheathing Kang Su’s palms was no ordinary thing—Hand-Force, indeed.

‘So it was true he’d reached the extreme-demonic state.’

Of course, Hand-Force wrapped gang-qi around one’s own hands, a step below sword-gang or saber-gang, which raised gang-qi on objects outside the body.

But for an expert adept in fist-and-palm arts, such Hand-Force was all the more effective—

Using one’s hands was freer and more convenient than handling objects.

—Kwak! The Black-Yin Demon God is a master of fist-and-palm arts. Do not, under any circumstances, give him distance.

On a just-in-case impulse, Chwi Dugae warned Kwak Yeon by Sound Transmission.

Though Kwak Yeon had reached Mid-Subjugation of the Fire Realm, his experience in the rivers and lakes was still shallow.

Realizing he was fretting over Kwak like a child let loose by the water, Chwi Dugae’s face burned.

‘A firefly worrying over a full moon.’

After seeing Kwak Yeon’s divine might time and again, what useless worry was this?

—SHING!

The sound of Kwak Yeon drawing the Cheonggang Sword shook the air of the dining room.