A few days later.
Heavenly Pavilion, Lanzhou, Gansu Province.
Elder Tian was on the roof, which had been made into a garden.
It was the place where the deceased Heavenly Pavilion Master had spent most of her day.
"Hmph! To think that the head of a sect would be so pathetic as to be unable to forget a dead man! Get rid of it all!"
"Yes, sir."
At Elder Tian's command, his confidants began to clear the garden. Elder Tian, who was watching the scene, snorted once more.
"Hmph!"
Towards the deceased Heavenly Pavilion Master.
And towards the lingering, uncomfortable concern in a corner of his mind that the one who had inherited the Immortal Demonic Aura might co back alive.
'The Pavilion Master and the brat are dead! There's no way a brat who wasn't even half of the Immortal Divine Demon could have survived in a place where a canyon collapsed!'
Elder Tian was convinced.
He had clashed with the brat who had inherited the Immortal Demonic Aura here, and he had also watched him fight the Pavilion Master.
The Immortal Demonic Aura was certainly great. To think that it could make the Heavenly Pavilion Master exert the Heavenly Phoenix Vermilion Bird Art at such a young age.
But that was as far as it went.
As the young brat himself had admitted, he was far from being the Immortal Divine Demon. So he could never have survived in a place where such a huge canyon had collapsed.
Elder Tian, who had once again convinced himself and shaken off his anxiety.
He soon looked down at the distant Lanzhou street and asked his most trusted confidant.
"What about the Mo Family's network?"
"We haven't found it yet."
"You must find it. If you can't find that brat, the Heavenly Pavilion will only be half-complete."
When Elder Tian gestured with his hand as he spoke, his subordinate bowed deeply and withdrew.
The Mo Family's network was the master of the Mo Family's liquor business.
The Mo Family's liquor business was a liquor store that supplied alcohol to the Heavenly Pavilion.
On the surface, that was the case.
The Heavenly Pavilion had nurous brothels and inns in the land of the Demonic Path. Through them, it gathered money and information.
On the other hand, it had the martial power to occupy a place among the nine great sects of the Demonic Path. That power was not in the Heavenly Pavilion but in the underground.
If the Heavenly Pavilion of wealth was the public face, then the underground of martial power was the hidden power of the Heavenly Pavilion that operated in the darkness. And Mo Gongwang of the Mo Family's liquor business was the vice leader of the underground.
Elder Tian, who knew such a fact, had gone to find the Mo Family's liquor business as soon as he returned to Lanzhou after collapsing the canyon. But there was not even a dog in the Mo Family's liquor business. Knowing that the Heavenly Pavilion Master had died, he had disappeared.
"Should I retrieve the Pavilion Master's sacred object?"
It would take several months to dig up the collapsed canyon even if he hired hundreds of workers. So he had given up, but to call back the disappeared underground and place it under his feet, he needed the Pavilion Master's sacred object.
Elder Tian fell into thought.
"Just in case, I should send so workers."
Elder Tian, who had made such a decision, ordered his confidants, who were moving busily, once more and then headed to the stairs.
"Clean it up cleanly, leaving not a single stone."
"Yes, sir."
Elder Tian's subordinates moved even more busily.
Elder Tian headed to the lower floor through the stairs. But it was the mont he had just set foot on the lower floor.
Thud!
The building suddenly shook as if it would collapse.
Elder Tian turned around and looked up at the stairs.
It was clearly a roar that had co from the roof.
"Did the pavilion collapse?"
Elder Tian tilted his head and went up to the roof again.
When he headed to the roof through the stairs he had just co down, he saw his confidants, who were frozen like stone statues. And the two people standing in the middle of where the confidants were looking.
"You, how did you...!"
Elder Tian's face hardened like a stone.
Because Banjeok Myeong and Xue Fuyong, who he was sure could never have survived, had appeared in front of him.
"You despicable old man! I have co with the order of heaven to punish you!"
Xue Fuyong shouted viciously.
Only then did Elder Tian co to his senses.
"Hmph! I don't know how you survived, but you will regret coming here."
"Regret is the old man's share! The law of the main pavilion for traitors is harsh!"
"You foolish woman. You should have expected that I had been hiding my strength to deceive the Pavilion Master!"
Xue Fuyong was no match for him at all.
Elder Tian's eyes turned to Banjeok Myeong.
He had clashed with him here. Although he had been pushed back in two exchanges, that was because he had been hiding his true strength.
"Any divine art or ultimate technique is only a divine art or ultimate technique if you know how to exert it properly."
A cold sneer on Elder Tian's lips.
He soon began to approach, raising a black, ink-colored energy in his two hands.
"It's the Great Flow of the Dark Abyss. It's comparable to the Pavilion Master's Heavenly Phoenix Vermilion Bird Art."
Elder Tian was confident.
Unless the Heavenly Pavilion Master and the Immortal Divine Demon ca back alive, they could never be his opponent!
The brats who had inherited their ultimate techniques.
They had to mature a lot more to be his opponent.
"Offer your head! I will kill you in one blow without pain!"
Elder Tian, who was approaching Banjeok Myeong and Xue Fuyong.
The mont Banjeok Myeong, who was watching, moved, he stretched out his right palm, which was full of the Great Flow of the Dark Abyss.
Thwack!
The surrounding atmosphere shook like a storm.
And a person was sent flying, covered in blood.
It was Elder Tian.
He, who was lying on his back, could not co to his senses, wondering what had happened.
"Wh-what...!"
A shock as if his whole body was being crushed by a force of a thousand pounds.
It was a shock as if all the bones in his body were being crushed and his flesh and muscles were being mashed like fish paste.
"Old man, you still don't get it?"
In the eyes of Elder Tian, who was looking up at the sky, Xue Fuyong was visible.
She looked down at Elder Tian with eyes that were pouring out a cold that was like a frost, and before Elder Tian could react, she lifted her foot and then stomped on Elder Tian's lower abdon, where his lower dantian was, with all her might.
Thwack!
"Ugh?"
Elder Tian, who stretched out his limbs like a squashed frog and trembled.
He despaired at the fear that his life as a martial artist was over and the fear that his life as a person was also over.
"Don't worry. I won't kill you easily!"
Xue Fuyong kicked Elder Tian's head.
Elder Tian was sent sprawling and just let out a groan as if he were about to die.
"Hmph!"
Xue Fuyong, who had snorted, turned to Elder Tian's confidants.
"If you don't want to die, all of you, kneel!"
***
Grand Secret Pavilion, Tianlian.
The master of the Maoshan Sect, Gongye Zhong, the head of the Grand Secret Pavilion, received a secret letter that had flown from the Demonic Path. It was written that the one who had obtained the Immortal Demonic Aura had taken over the Heavenly Pavilion and had participated in the Hidden Demon's Grand Festival, rising to the position of the strongest in the Demonic Path.
"Was that brat really that child!"
Gongye Zhong was quite surprised.
It had been about four years ago. At that ti, he was just a five-year-old child, but it was truly unbelievable that he had grown to look like he was seventeen or eighteen.
'I was worried because I thought he was hiding well... well, it's stranger to hide with that much power.'
Gongye Zhong, who had nodded his head, burned the secret letter in the lamp and turned his gaze to the vice leader of the pavilion.
"If it's the closest place to Gansu, it would be the Huashan Sect, right? Is the Sword Saint of Huashan in Huashan now?"
"Yes. But I know that he is in seclusion. He said that since there was nothing more to teach the Divine Martial Stage and the Four Divine Stars, he would return to Huashan and train his sword."
"Hmm, the Shaolin's Jueyuan, the Putuo Sect's Qingyin, and the Wudang's Yunjing cannot be moved carelessly, and where are the Iron Bone and the Sword Saint of the Blue Sky?"
"The Iron Bone Divine Beggar is with the Four Divine Stars, and the Sword Saint of the Blue Sky has gone to Guizhou Province."
"Ah, that's right. Thanks to him going, the matter of Guizhou Province was neatly resolved."
Gongye Zhong chuckled.
He knew the reason why the Sword Saint of the Blue Sky, Namgung Hwang, had been traveling all over the world, not just Guizhou Province. It was to show off to the world that he was still healthy, even though one of his arms had been cut off. He wanted to show that since he was healthy, the Namgung Sword Family was strong.
"If I throw the bait, he'll rush in."
"What?"
"Send a person to the Sword Saint of the Blue Sky. That the brat who is presud to have inherited the Immortal Demonic Aura has taken over the Heavenly Pavilion. Also add that he is a strong brat who can kill even the Cold-Blooded God."
"If the Sword Saint goes to Lanzhou and wields his sword, won't it violate the non-aggression pact with the Demonic Path?"
"So what? What more can they do than complain?"
"......!"
When the confidant, who had shown a surprised reaction for a mont, disappeared outside, Gongye Zhong rested his chin on his hand and smiled.
"Four years... how much stronger has he beco?"
It was a voice that made the air cold.
***
Xue Fuyong had dealt with all the traitors who had followed Elder Tian with the help of Banjeok Myeong.
Not only that, but she had also cleanly swept away the nearby forces that had been loitering around, aiming for the Heavenly Pavilion, which had been left unattended for a long ti by the deceased Heavenly Pavilion Master, and had regained its forr glory, at least in Lanzhou.
After that, Mo Gongwang ca to find her.
Mo Gongwang, the vice leader of the underground, the hidden power of the Heavenly Pavilion, confird the Vermilion Bird's Flying Ring from Xue Fuyong and then recognized her as the new master of the Heavenly Pavilion.
Mo Gongwang inford all the lower organizations of the Heavenly Pavilion of the passing of the forr Pavilion Master and then called the leaders of each organization. And in that spot, he publicly executed the faction of Elder Tian, who had been captured, and then enthroned Xue Fuyong as the new Pavilion Master.
In that spot, there were those who looked down on Xue Fuyong and thought it was an opportunity and tried to refuse, but Banjeok Myeong sent them flying with one punch.
When the affairs of the Heavenly Pavilion were proceeding smoothly like that, about two months passed and winter ca.
"Are you really going? Can't you just live here?"
Xue Fuyong asked.
She wanted to hold on to the departing Banjeok Myeong sohow.
"I told you. My ho is the Hua Family Clinic, and I will live there and die there."
"What's so good about a small clinic? If you just put your mind to it, you can reign as the supre of the Demonic Path."
"I'm not interested in being the supre or anything like that."
"Hey! If a man has that much power, he should try to command the world."
"The Immortal Divine Demon died doing that."
"That's because he was too confident and didn't manage his underlings properly."
"No matter what you say, my mind won't change. So don't say strange things and just do what I asked you to do, to investigate the Demonic Path Alliance and Tianlian. Investigate their lower organizations thoroughly and send it to the Hua Family Clinic."
"That's right. You said you were going to sweep them away anyway. If that's the case, wouldn't it be better to set up a base here?"
"I have no intention of fighting a full-scale war. I'm going to smash them one by one."
"If you smash them one by one, it will be discovered that you are in the Hua Family Clinic soday. Do you think they will leave the Hua Family Clinic alone then?"
"Even if they know, they can't touch it."
"What, you're also confident in the end! What if they take the people of the clinic hostage?"
"The mont they do, I will run to their sect, so let them try if they want."
Those who have much to protect cannot carelessly engage in a hostage situation. Since the opponent was the sa as the Immortal Divine Demon of his ti, they would also have to lose. Whether it was people or sothing else.
Xue Fuyong realized that she could not hold on to Banjeok Myeong no matter what she said.
"Sister, if I live in a place other than the clinic, it's aningless even if I have the world at my feet. What I want is only in the clinic, and living with those people is what I want."
He really had no interest in commanding the world.
From a young age until now, what he had wished for even in his dreams was only one thing.
To live happily in the clinic.
"Okay, go. What can I do if you say so? I have to let you go. But we won't end like this."
"......!"
"It ans we will definitely see each other again."
Xue Fuyong said as if she had made up her mind and smiled brightly.
Banjeok Myeong smiled back and then turned around.
"Okay, live well until we et again."
Banjeok Myeong was leaving.
Xue Fuyong felt as if a part of her chest was being torn away.
"Hey! But you're my sister, so why are you speaking informally until the end!"
"Because you're also a bad person."
"Why am I?"
"You were going to poke my eye with a chopstick!"
"I said no! I said I was just saying that!"
"A good person wouldn't even say such a thing!"
Banjeok Myeong did not look back.
The last thing he did was to raise his hand once.
Xue Fuyong stood there until Banjeok Myeong was out of sight. And when Banjeok Myeong finally disappeared, she said to the vice leader of the underground.
"Find out what's around the Hua Family Clinic and investigate thoroughly what forces are in the entire land of Sichuan."
"Yes, sir."
The vice leader of the underground withdrew.
Then two people approached.
They were Tie Paigang and Sima Long.
"It's not you, Xue Fuyong, that we bowed our heads to."
Tie Paigang said.
It was a determined voice.
Xue Fuyong turned to him. And she chuckled.
"I know."
"We're leaving."
"Where to?"
"We have to follow him."
"Are you going to be a burden?"
"......!"
"Ban Gaga will have a big fight. He is destined to fight with the Six Orthodox Heavens."
At the words 'Six Orthodox Heavens', the eyes of Tie Paigang and Sima Long widened in surprise.
The Six Orthodox Heavens were beings that even the masters of the nine great sects of the Demonic Path found burdenso.
"If you have truly submitted, don't try to follow him recklessly, but wait. While you build up your strength so that you can be of help."
"Will he call for us?"
"No, he won't. He has completely left this place."
"......!"
"When the ti cos, we have to go and find him. I'm not a woman who waits for a man."
Xue Fuyong looked in the direction Banjeok Myeong had disappeared and smiled like a fully blood flower.
***
To operate the eight-horse carriage, which was called the symbol of the Heavenly Pavilion, the Heavenly Pavilion had opened a wide road that crossed Gansu Province from Tangchang at the southern end of Gansu Province, through Lanzhou where the headquarters was, to the sacred ground of the Demonic Path, the Qilian Mountains.
Thanks to that, it was a great help to the rchants who ca and went through these areas by shortening their ti, and since the brothels and inns of the Heavenly Pavilion were located in every city that this road passed through, it was a considerable help to the inco of the Heavenly Pavilion.
Banjeok Myeong used that road to return to Sichuan and was on the verge of Tangchang.
The snow that had started to fall in the morning was falling heavily by noon.
The whole world was covered in white snow, so much so that even the road could not be distinguished, so Banjeok Myeong was moving alone on that big road.
Crunch, crunch.
The feeling and sound of stepping on the snow that was transmitted through the soles of his feet every ti he took a step was good. The thought of returning to An, the land of Sichuan, and eting the people at the clinic was added, so he was in such a good mood that a smile was full on his face.
But that feeling did not last for a mont.
"......!"
Banjeok Myeong, who was making a slightly hardened face towards the front.
A being that stimulated his senses was detected in the front.
'He's great...'
A being approaching from over the snow-covered hill.
Although he was not yet visible, he could clearly feel it. He was above the masters of the nine great sects of the Demonic Path, if not below.
"It doesn't seem to be a demon...!"
Banjeok Myeong, who was muttering, frowned and stopped his steps.
As the distance got a little closer, he could feel it clearly. It was a person he had t before. And a person he could not forget.
"The Sword Saint of the Blue Sky!"
The mont Banjeok Myeong's eyes widened, he began to see him coming over the hill.
An old man with one arm and a pure white beard that reached his chest.
Namgung Hwang, who was revered as the Sword Saint of the Blue Sky, was slowly coming over the hill on a horse. Behind him, a hundred horsen with the flag of the blue sky in front were visible.
(End of Chapter)
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