The Heavenly Demon Wants a Quiet Life

Chapter 115:

"Uh… Young Master, surely you’re not planning to enter that manor alone, are you?"

The Hao Clan scout cautiously asked in a reserved tone.

Byeok Taesan, who had been examining the tracks leading to the main gate of the manor, turned his gaze to the Hao Clan scout.

"Is there a problem?"

"Judging by the circumstances, it’s highly likely that this place is the base of those behind this incident. Wouldn’t it be risky to go in alone?"

At the scout’s concerned expression and tone, Byeok Taesan let out a chuckle.

"Risky? Are you worried about me being in danger?"

"A-ah… I-I apologize. I didn’t mean to offend you, Young Master. I was just being cautious…"

Byeok Taesan raised a hand, stopping his words.

"It’s fine. I’m not offended. Besides, what you should worry about isn’t my safety."

"Then… what should I be concerned about?"

"You should focus on the possibility of someone trying to escape from that manor."

The scout gulped, feeling a sudden shift in Byeok Taesan’s aura. It was as though an invisible pressure bore down on him, weighing on his shoulders.

"This is Dangyang, right?"

"Yes, that’s correct."

"How many Hao Clan scouts are in Dangyang?"

"There are around sixty who can be considered skilled enough to bear the Hao Clan name. However, each one commands a group of five to ten individuals."

Of course, those subordinates didn’t know they were connected to the Hao Clan. They were merely individuals swayed by money or personal desires.

"Mobilize all of them. If anyone tries to flee from that manor, track them down."

Since the strength of anyone escaping from the manor was unknown, it wasn’t feasible to order the scouts to apprehend them. Their job was only to follow and identify the destination. Byeok Taesan would handle the rest personally.

"Understood. I will carry out your orders."

The scout bowed and then sent hand signals to his colleagues waiting at a distance. Soon, the presence of Hao Clan scouts moving in all directions became evident.

"When should I enter the manor?" Byeok Taesan asked.

"We will move as quickly as possible. Please allow us some time to establish a tracking net around the area."

"Very well. I’ll wait for a moment."

With that, Byeok Taesan swept his gaze around the vicinity. Not far away, he spotted a small but charming tea house. Entering the establishment, he chose a seat by the second-floor window and leisurely enjoyed a cup of tea.

Through the window, he had a clear view of the manor’s main gate.

Go Jun-kwang was finalizing his preparations to leave the area. He had destroyed everything that needed to be disposed of.

All documents and records he had used were burned to ashes. Now, he was gathering what needed to be taken with him, and it was quite a bit.

First, he packed all the documents that detailed the operations he had carried out so far. He also collected the items left by Seo Daegun.

Finally, he made sure to secure the remaining Blood Pills and their modified versions.

"Now, the only things left are… the Jiangshi over there?"

Go Jun-kwang’s gaze drifted outside the window, where the garden was filled with half-Jiangshi. However, his eyes widened in shock as he saw them collapsing one after another.

Even though he was witnessing this phenomenon for the first time, he immediately knew who was responsible.

"Byeok Taesan!"

Beyond the falling Jiangshi, Byeok Taesan walked purposefully, stepping over the collapsed bodies as though he were toppling poorly-constructed straw figures. Over five hundred Jiangshi filled the garden, but it took only a few blinks of an eye for all of them to fall.

Every single one had collapsed.

At the center of the silent battlefield stood Byeok Taesan.

Go Jun-kwang hastily stuffed his belongings into a bag and slung it over his back before darting out of the room. There was no time to hesitate; he had to escape immediately.

If he couldn’t find a solution, he’d end his life. While suicide was forbidden, he believed his master would understand, given the circumstances.

‘Damn it!’

Go Jun-kwang smashed through the opposite window of the pavilion.

Crash!

The window shattered into pieces as he leaped through, landing lightly on the ground before vaulting over the wall in one fluid motion.

He briefly recalled that he hadn’t issued any orders to his remaining subordinates, but it couldn’t be helped. There was no turning back into the manor now.

Go Jun-kwang sprinted toward a safe house he had prepared for emergencies. He planned to stay hidden until the situation calmed down and then slip out of Dangyang unnoticed.

Doing his best to leave no trace behind, he darted away with all his might.

Byeok Taesan absorbed the dissipating energy before it scattered completely.

The quality of the defeated foes wasn’t particularly high, so the efficiency was slightly lower than usual.

Over five hundred enemies had gathered, an overwhelming number that rendered efficiency meaningless.

One of them was detected escaping, but Byeok Taesan chose to let it go for now. At this moment, consuming the energy was more important than chasing that individual.

He could catch them later, but the scattered energy—or more precisely, the spiritual energy—would not return once lost.

Byeok Taesan absorbed the spiritual energy steadily into his body before stepping into the hall.

Inside, rather than fleeing, the occupants courageously ambushed him.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

One man threw a vial containing poison onto the floor, and a thick poisonous mist enveloped the surroundings.

Byeok Taesan moved without concern. Poison had no effect on the master of the Soul Augmenting Demonic Art.

Any toxins entering his body were instantly incinerated and evaporated.

Several men clinging to the ceiling, armed with swords, leaped down the moment the poisonous mist erupted, aiming their blades at him.

With just a single step forward, Byeok Taesan evaded their descending swords.

A single step from him was no ordinary movement. The immense pressure he exerted crushed the heads of the sword-wielding men.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Simultaneously, other men who had been hiding near the entrance lunged with their swords.

Byeok Taesan waved his hand once.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The swords moved erratically, entangling with one another.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The heads of the attackers exploded.

In this manner, nine people died with their heads blown apart.

Now, only three remained. Byeok Taesan walked toward them with firm strides.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The three men rolled their eyes back and collapsed on the spot.

Byeok Taesan had subdued their pressure points.

He gathered the incapacitated men and threw them into a pile.

Later, he would instruct the Hao Clan to deal with them. Judging by their appearances, they seemed to hold some rank, so he planned to have them interrogated.

Not that they would know much, but since it wasn’t his task but the Hao Clan’s, he wasn’t concerned.

Byeok Taesan ventured further inside and discovered a staircase leading underground.

From below, he sensed the presence of a single individual.

He descended the stairs without hesitation.

Seung Doheung was confined in an underground cell.

He hadn’t been tortured, but he had been severely beaten during his capture, leaving his entire body aching.

“Haah… Looks like this might be the end for me.”

He had arranged for someone to find him, but there was a time limit to that plan.

Before the Scent of Pursuit dissipated, they needed to locate him.

The scent was now faint.

The fragrance he had scattered near his residence was likely too diluted for anyone to detect anymore.

“Could they have been caught by these bastards while looking for me?”

Seung Doheung muttered to himself and shook his head.

If that were the case, Go Jun-kwang would not have remained idle. He would have begun torturing him to uncover his associates.

While staying at the Heavenly Medicine Pavilion, Seung Doheung had managed to send out a few signals during brief lapses in vigilance.

If those signals were correctly received, there should have been some response by now.

“Perhaps the signal failed… or they’re in a situation where they can’t act.”

Still, they would move eventually.

When they did, they would likely track him down. If he was lucky, they might find him later.

“Damn it… To think I got involved with such scum.”

No matter how he thought about it, his luck was abysmal.

As he wallowed in self-pity, footsteps echoed down the stairs leading to the cell.

Step. Step. Step.

The deliberate steps descended the stairs slowly.

It wasn’t Go Jun-kwang. That man always moved in a hurry. If it had been him, the sound would have been rapid and urgent.

Seung Doheung looked toward the stairs.

A lone figure emerged, descending the steps.

‘Not one of them… Could it be…!’

A glimmer of hope appeared in Seung Doheung’s eyes, quickly transforming into joy as the scent of the Pursuit filled his nostrils.

It was unmistakably the same fragrance he had left behind.

Soon, Byeok Taesan stood before the cell, gazing at Seung Doheung through the iron bars.

“Seung Doheung?”

“Yes, that’s me. Are you from the Cult?”

“No.”

At Byeok Taesan’s response, Seung Doheung’s eyes sparkled.

“Then you must be from the Society!”

Byeok Taesan stared at Seung Doheung calmly.

While his expression remained indifferent, his mind was far from tranquil.

‘A Society? What’s this supposed to mean now?’

Byeok Taesan had tracked the Heavenly Demon Cult’s traces to this place. However, this talk of a "Society," and the assertion that it wasn’t related to the Cult, left him puzzled.

He had always denied being part of the Cult whenever it came up. After all, he wasn’t truly one of its members.

The Cult belonged to him; he didn’t belong to the Cult.

"Judging by your age, it hasn’t been long since you joined the meeting. Anyway, come in here and help me with this."

Seung Doheung gestured toward his ankle.

A heavy iron chain connected to a shackle was bound around his ankle.

"My internal energy is sealed, so I can’t do anything. Remove this and go fetch someone else upstairs. Did you bring a physician with you, by any chance?"

Byeok Taesan silently listened to Seung Doheung’s rambling.

"What are you doing? Move already. You’ve caught everyone upstairs, right? Don’t let that Go Jun-kwang escape. He’s the brains behind everything."

"It seems... you’ll need to stay here a while longer."

Leaving those words behind, Byeok Taesan turned and walked away, heading back upstairs.

Seung Doheung called out in confusion, his voice filled with desperation.

"Hey! Wait! You’re just going to leave me here? You need to unchain me! My internal energy is sealed, and my ankle hurts! Hey!"

When Byeok Taesan reached upstairs, he saw Hao Clan scouts diligently cleaning up the manor.

Spotting the one who had accompanied him earlier, he approached.

"Ah, Young Master."

The scout bowed respectfully.

"We’ve almost finished cleaning the exterior. Now, we need to handle the inner quarters. What are your orders?"

"Clean it thoroughly. Three of them are alive, so secure them separately. Also, keep a close watch on the one locked in the underground dungeon."

"Understood."

"What about the one who escaped?"

"One person fled, but he hasn't left Dangyang."

"It seems he wasn't detected."

"He was slower than we anticipated."

The scout had prepared for an opponent of the same caliber as the Hubei Martial Alliance leader. They had tracked carefully from a distance, assuming a level of skill similar to that of the leader.

In doing so, they mobilized nearly seventy percent of the Hao Clan’s scouts stationed in Dangyang.

"Let’s go."

At Byeok Taesan’s command, the scout nodded and quickly led the way.

The safe house where Go Jun-kwang was hiding wasn’t far from the original manor.

"There it is."

The scout pointed toward a modest pavilion.

It was an unremarkable structure, surrounded by similar ones.

Everywhere, there were courtesan houses, taverns, and guesthouses teeming with people.

This area likely remained just as lively at night, or even busier. The safe house seemed designed to blend in with the crowd.

Inside the pavilion were numerous people, including caretakers, cooks, and guards.

Of course, the guards’ skills were mediocre at best—plain and unimpressive.

This applied to the other pavilions in the area as well.

"Did you confirm his face?"

"Yes, I verified it personally."

"Good. Follow me for now. Wait outside, and come in when I signal."

"Understood."

Byeok Taesan strode toward the pavilion and entered.

Once inside, he systematically subdued everyone within range of his senses.

His speed was astonishing.

Wind energy shot from his ten fingers, striking pressure points and qi meridians with precision. One after another, they crumpled to the ground.

The pavilion had three floors, but Byeok Taesan barely spent any time on each level.

Reaching the third floor, he fixed his gaze on the last remaining individual.

From the moment he entered, Byeok Taesan had been certain that this man was Go Jun-kwang.

The others were far too ordinary, making Go Jun-kwang’s presence stand out like a sore thumb.

"I have a lot of questions to ask you."

Byeok Taesan spoke as he approached Go Jun-kwang. In an instant, he closed the distance and lightly struck the top of Go Jun-kwang’s head just as the latter was about to speak.

Crack.

Go Jun-kwang’s eyes rolled back, and he collapsed to the floor.

"Did I use too much force?"

Byeok Taesan signaled out the window. Shortly after, the Hao Clan scout hurriedly climbed to the third floor.

"Is this the one?"

"Yes, it’s definitely him."

Byeok Taesan grinned.

"Good. Let’s head back."

Carrying Go Jun-kwang, Byeok Taesan descended the stairs. The scout carefully surveyed the area and spotted a bag left in one corner.

Upon inspecting its contents, he nodded and brought the bag with him.

The scout instructed the newly arrived Hao Clan members to thoroughly search the pavilion and quickly followed after Byeok Taesan.