WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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Episode 23: Escape (2)
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Everyone was startled at the word “spy.”
Go EunJae was the second disciple of Seo GalMa, the Second Venerable One and Chaotic Blade Demon Emperor, one of the Four Venerable Ones. Such a reaction was only natural.
Seo GalMa glared at me, fury in his eyes.
“Do you realize what you are saying? Who are you calling a spy?”
His gaze alone carried tremendous pressure.
My heart began to race, but I kept my composure.
“Why do you think the alarm bell is ringing?”
Baek Ryeon Ha answered.
“Several hundred armed people have appeared near the mountain range. People who appear to be scouts have entered different parts of it. They are not from the main cult.”
Just as expected.
Scouts were sent ahead to reconnoiter.
The spy Go EunJae had scattered Thousand-Li Scent Chaser nearby, so the scouts would soon discover the location of Blood-Nurturing Valley.
If they were already near the mountain range, then considering the time it would take the sentries to spot and report the scouts, the armed force would reach this place in less than four hours.
“We do not have time. As for why this man is a spy...”
Clang! Clang!
Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap!
Five people surrounded me.
They were the five Squad leaders under Gu SangWoong, the Tyrannical Blood Brigade Leader and head of Blood-Nurturing Valley.
They had already drawn their weapons and assumed ready stances.
They suspected me as well.
Squad Leader Hae OkSeon spoke, poised to swing her sword at any moment.
“Do not move from there, young master. Explain yourself. Where exactly were you, after evading even the sentries?”
Boom!
Evil Heaven stomped the stone floor and shouted.
“Are you questioning this lord's disciple now?”
The five Squad leaders, startled by his ferocious presence, did not know what to do.
The fact that he protected me even amid all this showed that he trusted me as his disciple.
- The old man is looking better and better.
‘He really is.’
Still, even Evil Heaven's protection could be disregarded by someone.
“Brother Hae. Your disciple was also absent when the alarm sounded. Worse, he reduced my disciple to this state.
This is not a situation where only my disciple should be suspected.”
“What?”
“How do we know Brother Hae's disciple is not framing my disciple after leaving him like this?”
Like Evil Heaven, Seo GalMa trusted his own disciple.
“Framing him? Ha! As expected, talking to you is...”
Then Han BaekHa, the Blood-Hand Witch, stepped forward to stop them.
“Both of you, there is no time for this. We must resolve this matter quickly. If Young Master So wishes to clear himself of suspicion, he must provide a proper explanation. Otherwise, we will have no choice but to detain him as well.”
I pointed at Go EunJae with my eyes.
“Please tear open the sole of the Second Venerable One's disciple's left leather shoe.”
“The sole?”
Gu SangWoong cautiously looked toward Seo GalMa.
He was seeking permission.
Seo GalMa nodded with an unhappy expression.
Gu SangWoong personally removed Go EunJae's shoe. When he tore away the sole, a gap in the leather was exposed, along with white powder.
‘!!!’
Seo GalMa, standing directly before us, had a visibly shaken look in his eyes.
Gu SangWoong brought his nose close and smelled it.
Then, with a hardened expression, he looked at Baek Ryeon Ha and Han BaekHa.
“...It is Thousand-Li Scent Chaser.”
“Thousand-Li Scent Chaser!”
No one there failed to recognize it.
- Those two do not seem to know what it is.
As SoDam Sword said, the Song brothers, Song JwaBaek and Song WooHyun, looked utterly confused because they did not know what Thousand-Li Scent Chaser was.
There seemed to be no need to explain it to them.
“Hehehe, did this lord not tell you?”
With the evidence revealed, Evil Heaven was in high spirits.
I did not stop there. I took out a poison pellet tied to a thin thread from inside my robes.
“What is that?”
Han BaekHa asked me.
“It appears to be a poison pellet. This was tied to Go EunJae's lower-left molar. Since it was tied there for a long time, there should still be marks.”
At that, Gu SangWoong personally opened Go EunJae's mouth and examined his teeth.
He stuck in a finger and felt the molar. Then, wearing a regretful expression, he nodded.
Seo GalMa cried out in dismay.
“That cannot be. How could my disciple...?”
“Sir... I am sorry, but it seems Young Master So is right. If a poison pellet has been tied in place for a long time, the gum beneath the molar becomes indented in that shape.”
“How do you know that?”
“I once infiltrated the martial artists' alliance as a spy for half a year.”
I had not known Gu SangWoong had experience as a spy.
It made his testimony all the more credible.
“How could this be...?”
Seo GalMa looked at Go EunJae with complicated eyes.
There was anger, disappointment, and emptiness within them.
Discovering that his own disciple was a spy must have been a tremendous shock.
“Is any further explanation needed?”
“...Squad leaders, put away your weapons.”
At Han BaekHa's order, the Squad leaders surrounding me sheathed their weapons.
Then they bowed to me as though apologizing.
Gu SangWoong asked me a question.
“However... how did you know all this?”
The others looked at me with questioning eyes as well.
It was a sharp question.
Fortunately, I had already prepared an answer.
“I woke before dawn and was returning to the Guest House. At that time, I saw Go EunJae leave the Guest House and head somewhere. They moved while avoiding the sentries, which seemed suspicious, so I followed them. At a spot about half a gak away, they scattered that Thousand-Li Scent Chaser.”
“Why did you not shout while projecting your voice with internal energy?”
“If I had, Go EunJae would have fled, or might have killed me.”
“Ah...”
Gu SangWoong fell silent, realizing he had not thought it through.
“I could not think of another method in that urgent situation. If I had not ambushed him by throwing a Short Sword as he put on his shoe, I would have been the one caught instead.”
Go EunJae had surpassed Advanced mastery and entered the Expert rank.
It would have made no sense for me to have subdued a master a step above me head-on, so that was how I explained it.
I pointed to Go EunJae's right arm.
Before coming here, I had deliberately stabbed Go EunJae with the Short Sword to leave an injury as evidence that I had ambushed them.
It was to avoid suspicion.
- Honestly, you really are something.
SoDam Sword clicked its tongue.
With all my experience as a spy, how could I make a mistake that would invite suspicion?
Unless events unfolded completely without warning, preparing this much was effortless.
“You could have lost your life.”
“...At the time, all I could think about was capturing the spy.”
“You did something dangerous out of a desire for recognition.”
Though he said that, Gu SangWoong's expression softened.
If he had held even the slightest suspicion moments ago, he now looked impressed.
“Hehehe, I must give him credit for his nerve.”
Evil Heaven openly praised me.
He was commending me for catching a spy alone.
Thanks to that, the Squad leaders' expressions toward me changed.
Baek Ryeon Ha then came over and spoke.
“If not for you, young master, we would not even have known who the spy was, and our escape route could have been exposed. Thank you sincerely.”
Swish!
At her fist-and-palm salute, everyone around us offered me the same salute and expressed their gratitude.
I had not intended it, but it became an achievement.
It could be called good fortune.
If I had not happened upon Go EunJae, the enemy could have discovered our location if Go EunJae played some trick while we escaped. I had indeed performed a great service.
Thud!
Seo GalMa prostrated himself before Baek Ryeon Ha, asking forgiveness.
“I failed to judge character properly and caused this disaster. For this sin...”
“No. This is not the time to hold Uncle Seo accountable. We must hurry to secure an escape route. It will not be too late to discuss that afterward.”
At her firm words, Seo GalMa answered bitterly.
“Understood.”
The consequences of driving out a Venerable One over the actions of a disciple would be considerable.
They likely would not hold him severely accountable afterward.
However, Seo GalMa did not seem willing to let this pass.
He approached the unconscious Go EunJae and struck the area around his dantian with his palm.
Crunch!
Go EunJae's body jolted violently and convulsed.
- What did he do?
‘...He destroyed his dantian.’
Even I had not expected him to destroy Go EunJae's dantian on the spot.
He likely did it to show everyone that he was expelling his disciple from his school.
Go EunJae's misfortune did not end there.
“Sever the tendons in his limbs as well.”
Baek Ryeon Ha gave the cruel order.
She truly carried the Blood Demon's blood.
Last time, she had ordered the Blood-Hand Witch, Han BaekHa, who was effectively her right hand, to cut off her own fingers. She showed even less mercy to a spy.
- Serves him right. He acted so smug in front of you and Baek Ryeon Ha.
It was quite ironic.
If I had started it, she had finished it.
In any case, Go EunJae had not only lost his dantian. Every tendon in his arms and legs had been severed.
He could no longer even walk by himself.
Since they would need to learn who stood behind Go EunJae later, one of the Squad leaders Han BaekHa had brought would take Go EunJae into custody.
Ashamed that a spy had emerged from among his disciples, Seo GalMa accepted it without objection.
Once the matter of the spy was swiftly settled, Baek Ryeon Ha changed the subject.
“Then, let us finish discussing the escape routes.”
It seemed they had been discussing escape routes before I arrived.
However, judging from their conversation, they were not planning to flee to a single location. They intended to divide into three groups and take separate routes.
The reason was Baek Ryeon Ha's safety.
They did not yet know who the enemy was, but they appeared to be trying to divide the enemy's attention in case the enemy was targeting her as a prospective Blood Cult lord.
“As you commanded earlier, I will personally escort the Omnipotent Godly Doctor.”
“Please, Uncle Seo.”
“Leave it to me.”
Seo GalMa, the Second Venerable One, who had come with five Brigade leaders, would take charge of the Omnipotent Godly Doctor.
The Omnipotent Godly Doctor did not belong to either the force of justice or the force of evil, but he could be in danger if a battle broke out. That was why Seo GalMa's smaller group would escort him.
The problem was Baek Ryeon Ha herself.
“Venerable One, please take charge of the young lady's protection.”
“This lord?”
Han BaekHa, the Blood-Hand Witch, requested that Evil Heaven protect her.
“They may be targeting the young lady. It may be more dangerous if we are the ones escorting her.”
“Hmm... Very well.”
Evil Heaven accepted, finding her words reasonable.
It was the best choice.
If Han BaekHa pretended to escort a false Baek Ryeon Ha, the enemy would be thrown into confusion as well.
“It is decided, then. Tyrannical Blood Brigade Leader, please divide the people of Blood-Nurturing Valley.”
“As you command.”
The fighting force of Blood-Nurturing Valley would be split in half.
One half would escort the false Baek Ryeon Ha, while the other half escorted the real Baek Ryeon Ha.
Though she was a decoy, the former group was still strength they could not afford to lose.
“There is a great deal of deadweight. Tsk, tsk.”
Evil Heaven clicked his tongue.
He said this because their group included low-rank warriors and trainees who had yet to qualify as mid- or high-rank warriors.
They were still barely capable of being counted as fighting strength.
“Venerable One will have to work the hardest. Now, set the fires.”
Baek Ryeon Ha gave the order.
When one of the Squad leaders gestured, the Blood-Nurturing Valley warriors who had been waiting with torches set fire to the oil-soaked straw bundles and buildings.
Whoosh!
The flames blazed and spread across the buildings.
At this rate, everything would burn down in less than an hour, leaving behind nothing but black ash.
Then Squad Leader Hae OkSeon tried to throw something into the blazing fire.
It was Go EunJae's leather shoe, which contained the Thousand-Li Scent Chaser.
“Wait!”
Gu SangWoong, the Tyrannical Blood Brigade Leader, stopped her.
When Hae OkSeon halted, Gu SangWoong told Baek Ryeon Ha that he had thought of a good idea.
“Young lady, how about this?”
“...?”
< Episode 23: Escape (2) > End
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