Read Novel Full Chapter 1222: Is This Even Allowed? (2)
Chapter 1222: Is This Even Allowed? (2)
Seop Pyeong plunged his face into the ground and convulsed strangely. The warriors of the Four Sects Alliance were momentarily stunned and stared blankly at his back.
There are moments like that in life.
They saw it with their own eyes, but it takes time for the mind to accept it, when the change is so sudden that your head can’t process it.
Of course, for them it was only natural.
In this sparsely populated mountain valley, someone had suddenly burst in and unceremoniously kicked Seop Pyeong away; it would be stranger if they weren’t shell-shocked.
So normally the Heavenly Friends Alliance side should say something, but the problem was that even they weren’t in a state to open their mouths.
There was only one thought dominating their minds right now.
Of course they knew.
No matter what, the moment someone couldn’t hold back and kicked the ground, at least Jo Gul, Yoon Jong, and Baek Cheon had no right to say such a thing.
Still, Baek Cheon opened his mouth for a moment.
“Uh... um...”
He glanced between the convulsing Seop Pyeong and the growling Chung Myung, and finally uttered the words.
“Is this... allowed?”
“...... “
A brief silence passed.
After a moment, the person who shouldn’t answer did answer.
“What?”
Chung Myung’s nonchalant reply made Baek Cheon worry for a moment that he had missed or misunderstood something.
“Ah, no. I know I’m not entitled to say that... but still... this is Southern Island.”
“What’s the problem? Those bastards explained everything.”
“Huh?”
Chung Myung pointed to the fallen man.
“This place is a remote mountain backwater.”
“Yeah.”
“It’ll take at least a few days for the news to spread.”
“...... “
“We’ll reach Southern Island within at least three days.”
Chung Myung answered indifferently.
“And what will the Evil Sect bastards do if they find out by then?”
...Now that he heard it, it kind of made sense...
“But what if they come after us...”
“Oh dear, sasuk.”
Chung Myung clicked his tongue.
“What great sense of honor would the Evil Sect have to chase after these puny brats all the way to Southern Island for vengeance? If they had such honor, they wouldn’t be Evil Sect bastards.”
“...... “
“And if they do come, let them. We’ll toss them all into the sea and drown them!”
Ah... so that’s your true intention. Understood.
At that moment Jo Gul grinned and stepped forward.
“Well, now that things have come to this, what can we do, sasuk?”
And Yoon Jong also wore a strange expression as he quietly drew his sword.
“Since it’s already happened, we might as well handle the cleanup properly.”
Baek Cheon stared blankly at the two who had stepped forward. They conversed as if they’d forgotten Baek Cheon existed.
“What should we do to clean this up properly, sahyung?”
“A foolish question. Think about it. If any of them go back and start talking about us, the situation will become very troublesome.”
“Ho. That certainly can’t be allowed.”
“So there’s no choice. We must tidy things up neatly so no one can speak.”
“That sounds a bit cruel, doesn’t it?”
“If you fear judging evil, more people will suffer. Compromise doesn’t exist to satisfy my small conscience.”
“Truly, wise words.”
Jo Gul grinned and raised his sword.
At that moment Namgung Do-Wei, who had been watching the situation a few paces behind them, stealthily moved to the rear of the Four Sects Alliance’s remnants.
“...If possible, it would be good to hide the fact that they even arrived here.”
A grim expression crossed his face, one unbefitting the status of the young master of the Namgung Family.
“If they vanished without a trace, people might think they deserted together for the grain. Isn’t that so, Tang hyung?”
Tang Pae, from the opposite side of Namgung Do-Wei, began to move in to encircle the Evil Sect members.
“...True words. Don’t worry. Erasing traces of people is our family’s specialty. We can clean it up without leaving a single hair.”
Tang Pae took a small vial from his sleeve and smiled faintly. At first glance he looked like a perfectly kind man, but to those who could guess what he held, he would look far from that.
Ah — even those who didn’t know the vial’s contents didn’t necessarily view him kindly. The faces of the surrounded ones were turning ashen.
“So we should handle it as cleanly as possible and erase all traces.”
“As quietly as possible.”
“If possible, so the villagers aren’t harmed, it’s better to treat it as a disappearance rather than death, right?”
“That’s not so difficult.”
The wicked Justice faction men ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) wore gloomy expressions as they began to press the fragile Evil Sect members. The latter, cowed by the ruthless momentum, looked around in confusion and alarm.
“Y-you! Who are you!”
“Us?”
“H-how dare you disrupt a Four Sects Alliance event and expect to get away with it...”
“Is that bastard for real? They’ve already disrupted it; saying that will only make us interrogate them more thoroughly. Can’t he read the situation?”
“Tsk tsk. Spare me. Who in their right mind would be part of the Evil Sect?”
“Then what about the Green Forest King?”
“...Let’s make an exception for him.”
Threatening in the name of the Four Sects Alliance was certainly a method that would work almost anywhere.
The unfortunate part was that they happened to meet some of the few people in the world for whom threats invoking the Four Sects Alliance meant nothing.
“So... I think the conclusion is obvious, isn’t it?”
Everyone’s gaze turned to one place. Receiving that look, Baek Cheon sighed deeply.
“Well...”
Eventually shaking his head as if unsure, Baek Cheon roughly nodded toward Ak Bung.
“Take care of them.”
“Yes!”
No sooner had he spoken than the bandits surrounding the cart lunged at the frail ones like a pack of wild dogs.
Baek Cheon shook his head.
There was no need to stand watch. Hesitation had only made them slightly late; from the start, those present here were overwhelmingly too powerful to be matched by such petty Four Sects Alliance men.
One person stepping forward would be more than enough to sweep them all away, so what more needed to be said when there were ten such people?
Baek Cheon tore his eyes away from the cart and turned to the fallen elder. Tang Soso was already tending his wounds. With his expression tightening slightly, Baek Cheon approached her and asked,
“How is he?”
“...The wounds aren’t as deep as we feared, so his life shouldn’t be in danger. It’s just that he’s extremely old...”
“Father! Please save my father! Please!”
The woman who hadn’t left the elder’s side for a moment almost convulsed at those words. As Baek Cheon sighed and moved to comfort her, it happened.
“Excuse me...”
Baek Cheon glanced back at the voice behind him.
The middle-aged man who had been obsequious to the Four Sects Alliance men earlier was now groveling toward Baek Cheon.
Baek Cheon frowned unconsciously; even amid the chaos earlier he’d clearly heard what the man said.
‘Didn’t he say the old man’s life wasn’t worth much?’
Of course he could be understood — it’s hard to speak rightly when a robber has a knife to your throat.
But how could Baek Cheon look kindly upon someone who belittled a fellow villager to save his own skin?
“M-my lord. If it’s not a breach of etiquette, may I dare ask who you fine people are...?”
“We’re treating him right now...”
“M-my lord. Someone like me is unworthy of such precious hands... this isn’t something for you to bother with.”
...Is that something to say with a wounded neighbor lying there? Irritated by his groveling, Baek Cheon curtly replied without meaning to.
“Are you afraid we’ll be like those bastards?”
“Ah, my lord! That’s an outrageous remark! I’m just uneducated and ignorant... I don’t know how to address such noble people...”
Baek Cheon, about to snap at the pitiful man who looked ready to bow down and smack his forehead, instead let out a low sigh.
Thinking about it, what fault did the villagers have? It was the martial men who carried swords in broad daylight and brandished them at people who were at fault.
“We cannot reveal our identities, but we did not come with ill intent, so you need not worry.”
“Th-then perhaps...”
The man rolled his eyes nervously, then cautiously uttered what seemed like a frightening question.
“Um... perhaps from the Northern lands...?”
When Baek Cheon gave no answer, the middle-aged man’s face went pale.
“Th-then right now...”
Baek Cheon bit his lip slightly.
‘What is he trying to do?’
The Heavenly Friends Alliance party had clearly helped them. They might not realize it, but that decision carried immense risk.
Yet instead of expressing gratitude, they worried first about possible retaliation from the Four Sects Alliance. Without them, these people would already be cold spirits.
No matter how worried they were, shouldn’t courtesy and decency demand at least a ‘thank you’ first? Or at least check on the wounded neighbor bleeding on the ground?
A hard-to-express disgust welled up in him. He felt like bursting out in a shout.
But Baek Cheon chose to explain as politely as possible instead of getting angry.
“...We’ll take care of the aftermath as best we can so the village suffers no harm.”
“What?”
“If we move the cart down the mountain and remove only the traces of people, the Four Sects Alliance will think these men stole the goods and fled, not that someone attacked them. So don’t worry too much.”
“Y-you would do that for us? I feel like we’re causing too much trouble...”
“Of course we will.”
“Oh my lord! Thank you so much. T-then what should we give you in return...”
“...We didn’t do it expecting payment.”
“Pardon?”
Baek Cheon bit his lip for a moment. The words ‘Isn’t it your duty to check the bleeding elder rather than waste time with such talk?’ rose to his throat but he swallowed them down.
“We won’t accept any payment, so don’t worry. Feel free to take the grain over there, but be careful — the Four Sects Alliance might check later.”
“Th-thank... thank you so much, my lord!”
“Is that all?”
The man, upon hearing that, turned instead to check on the situation at the cart.
Only after seeing the Five Swords and the sect leaders pummel the Evil Sect members like rats did he turn his head back to the fallen elder.
Just as Baek Cheon was about to snap, ‘Isn’t the man cut by a blade right there?’,
“Ah...”
The man’s mouth fell open and his face contorted in an indescribable way. He then howled like a beast and lunged at the elder.
“Father! Waaah! Fatherrrrrr!”
Baek Cheon’s eyes snapped wide open.