WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Dionysus
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Cultivating Underground ◈
Chapter 92
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‘Society Leader Badger will inspect it personally?’
When had he ever made such a promise?
Of course, he hadn’t.
Yi Hyeon picked up the jade slip from the table again. At the end was a line he had never seen before.
「Guaranteed by the Northern Hyeon Kingdom Council of Elders.」
“Does this... society leader come here often?”
Mountain Goat nodded.
“The leader presides over a gathering once a year.”
“Since when?”
“For about thirty years now. The elders usually handle things, but this item is so rare that the leader said he would inspect it personally.”
‘Thirty years...’
Was this a result of the time he had spent shut away in his tunnels?
Still, around then, he had begun recovering his spirits and had occasionally visited contact points wearing his badger mask. They simply hadn’t been gatherings connected to this Northern Hyeon Kingdom Council of Elders that Mountain Goat mentioned.
“I’m an inspector who reports directly to the society leader, but that person isn’t the leader...”
“Really?”
Mountain Goat sounded confused.
“I heard you’d held your position since the previous leader’s time, Inspector, so I assumed you knew.”
Yi Hyeon’s hand stopped.
“The previous leader?”
“Yes. I was told the current leader is the successor.”
‘Ah.’
Rather than imitating his face and presence, someone had turned him into a dead “previous society leader” while he was out of sight!
‘But I’m still alive...’
“You should have been told not to trust masks or titles. What made you believe that person was the society leader’s successor?”
“I had my doubts at first. But the Golden Core elders who have mediated disputes between contact points for the past few decades vouched for the succession through separate channels. They said the previous leader had passed on the position.”
“Did you personally check any proof of succession or a message from the previous leader?”
“There was nothing wrong with the elders’ jade tokens or letters of introduction. But the message about the succession only reached us through them. Since the same news came from different contact points...”
Mountain Goat hurried to add,
“How could a Foundation Establishment member like me question the guarantees of Golden Core elders above me?”
“So in the end, all you have is their word that this was the previous leader’s wish. And when did this system of elders appear?”
“I don’t know that much...”
Yi Hyeon scratched his head.
Thinking about it, this wasn’t all that unusual.
No matter how an organization divided itself into cells, strength was ultimately what mattered most in the cultivation world.
The Two Heavens Society operated as a network of cells, with each member limited to a few contacts.
That also meant that if a Golden Core member did something wrong, the Foundation Establishment cultivators who had to stand against them would have few people to ask for help.
What if several Golden Core cultivators in the middle of the network joined forces, called themselves elders, and vouched for one another?
If they used their Golden Core strength to invent a new society leader, who could stop them?
An intact restriction on a jade token did not mean that everything its owner said was true. Separate contact channels meant little if they ultimately led to the same people.
From the days of the Heaven-Drawing Society through to the Two Heavens Society, there had been so few Golden Core members that Yi Hyeon had never seriously considered this weakness.
‘Should I have made a rule banning Golden Core cultivators from joining in the first place? But having them around does have its advantages and makes things convenient... I can sell third-rank spirit plants to them...’
On reflection, a member who joined at Foundation Establishment could later form a core. He couldn’t very well congratulate someone on succeeding and then ask them to leave.
‘Ultimately, the problem was letting a few people control the contacts and guarantees.’
When Yi Hyeon asked a little more about the council’s members and trading methods, Mountain Goat answered in detail, as far as they knew.
Some contact points in northern Hyeon Kingdom, northwestern Hyeong Kingdom, and even northern Jeong Kingdom were trading through the Council of Elders.
At first, the council had earned trust by mediating trading disputes, covering losses when small merchant groups fled without paying, and providing escorts for long journeys.
As more members began following them, they had started scrutinizing their trading partners’ affiliations. Gradually, they had begun demanding unreasonable shares for their own profit.
Yi Hyeon leaned back in his chair.
‘I see.’
“You’ll still receive payment for the goods. You don’t need to worry about that.”
“I’m simply checking the terms before selling. Is this place called Cheongseok Ridge where the successor wants to meet me?”
“Yes. It’s an abandoned mining area in northwestern Hyeong Kingdom.”
After parting with Mountain Goat, Yi Hyeon decided to investigate further before meeting the elders.
...
Three days later, at a contact point in western Hyeon Kingdom.
Two jade slips lay before Yi Hyeon, who was wearing his cicada mask.
One was a progress report on his request to purchase medicinal ingredients. The other contained the accounts for recently completed trades.
They had yet to obtain all the Spirit-Storing Ginseng needed for the Origin-Nurturing Pills, but the other ingredients were coming in faster than expected.
“Things are going well.”
“I think we can have everything ready by the next gathering.”
The member across from him answered.
While reading the second jade slip, Yi Hyeon pointed to one entry.
“The brokerage fee for this trade is unusually high.”
“That’s because it passed through the Hyeong and Jeong Kingdoms. The Council of Elders takes a separate share in return for guaranteeing the trade.”
“By guaranteeing it, do you mean they cover the payment if the buyer fails to pay?”
“That was how it worked at first... These days, though, they charge it on every trade that passes through the council. It’s practically a toll for using their contact network.”
The other member looked a little uncomfortable.
Yi Hyeon was dumbfounded. Even he had shown consideration for the members by requiring them to agree on their shares in advance, yet someone was using force to squeeze spirit stones out of them?
‘If anyone should be taking a cut first, it’s me, the society leader...!’
“Can’t you trade through somewhere else?”
“We can. But sometimes we need the goods they offer... Since we’re connected in cells, losing access to a particular route makes things difficult. And the elders have taken control of key contact points right in the center of the Nine Kingdoms of Unju...”
The member across from him must have built up quite a few grievances. They quietly reported the council’s abuses to Yi Hyeon in his capacity as inspector.
Yi Hyeon nodded.
The Council of Elders was definitely a problem!
If a toll was added on top of the agreed shares, sellers received less and buyers paid more. If trade declined and members lost trust in one another, they would eventually have no reason to use the Two Heavens Society.
As society leader, he couldn’t let that happen.
“Have you reported this problem anywhere else?”
“There wasn’t really anyone to tell...”
...
After that, Yi Hyeon visited two more contact points.
Fortunately, of the many contact points he knew as society leader, only some had been drawn into the council’s affairs. There were still members who didn’t even know it existed.
Reactions varied even in places under the elders’ influence, but most people simply accepted it as a change in trading practices.
Yi Hyeon spread out the ledgers he had received from the various contact points, comparing the original requests and final payments for the same trades.
As far as he could verify, most trades had followed the agreed division. But every trade that passed through the Council of Elders had acquired charges that hadn’t been there at the start.
‘They must have made quite a fortune.’
The alchemical pills Yi Hyeon supplied accounted for only part of the society’s total trade.
Descendants of the alchemists who had split from the Danso Sect long ago still remained in various places. The network also included clans that grew spirit herbs and merchant groups that handled spirit materials. Skimming even a little from all those trades would add up to a considerable number of spirit stones.
...
Several days later, at Cheongseok Ridge.
Several collapsed mine tunnels remained on the mountainside. Since the mines had all but stopped producing spirit materials, no one came here anymore.
When Yi Hyeon reached the designated contact point inside a tunnel, he sensed an unnatural break in the flow of earth qi in the rock beside the door.
A light probe revealed thick iron plates behind the stone and beneath the floor.
‘A precaution against the Earth Escape Spell?’
While the cultivator on guard checked his jade token, he examined the qi beneath his feet a little more closely.
The iron plates were thick, but their composition was simple. Beyond them lay ordinary soil and bedrock. A short distance away was an abandoned tunnel he had passed on his way in.
‘Once I get through the iron plates with the Metal Escape Spell, I’ll have somewhere to escape.’
He also sensed a formation within the walls. Fortunately, it was a kind he knew. The iron plates themselves bore no restrictions that blocked escape spells.
It was suspicious, but he had no intention of turning back yet. He needed to see who the false leader was and how far the elders were involved.
The door opened to reveal a wide cavern.
It contained several halls and storehouses, with even a small pond in the center. Illumination stones set into the ceiling gave off a gentle glow.
They had built an estate inside a mine!
Wasn’t this a luxury that even he, the leader of the Two Heavens Society and an expert on tunnels, had never enjoyed?
Yi Hyeon was walking past the pond with a dazed expression when he slowed a little.
A stone badger statue stood before the inner hall.
‘Huh?’
Beneath it stood a stone tablet.
「Work with the resolve to lay the foundations of an empire where even your descendants will belong to the Two Heavens Society, and many clans will live for generations. Last instructions of the founding society leader.」
‘...’
Yi Hyeon entered the inner hall.
From outside, it had looked like an ordinary wooden building, but it extended deep into the rock wall at the back of the cavern. A thick stone door guarded the entrance, and the walls and ceiling inside were smoothly finished bedrock.
It was spacious enough for dozens of people to sit in a gathering. Thick pillars stood in rows, supporting the rock ceiling.
Yi Hyeon examined the qi beneath his feet. The same iron plates he had sensed at the estate’s entrance had been fitted beneath the floor and behind the walls here too.
At the seat of honor sat a man in a brown robe embroidered with gold thread, wearing a badger mask.
Heavy magical power, deliberately left unconcealed, pressed down on the hall. A presence no weaker than his could be felt behind a folding screen.
An early Golden Core cultivator!
And there was more than one!
Even then, an irrelevant thought crossed Yi Hyeon’s mind.
‘The snout’s longer than my real mask’s, and it looks much more expensive!’
When Yi Hyeon sat down, three people emerged from behind the screen.
One wore a crane mask and possessed early Golden Core magical power. Another wore a white weasel mask and had reached Great Perfection of Foundation Establishment. The last wore a toad mask and was at mid-Foundation Establishment.
The false Badger spoke quietly from the seat of honor.
“So you’re Cicada, the inspector who served the previous society leader. I’ve heard of your reputation, but only now do we meet face-to-face.”
“I’ve never seen any record of the Council of Elders appointing a new society leader.”
With their hands tucked into their sleeves, White Weasel gave Crane a slight nod.
At Yi Hyeon’s calm remark, Elder Crane snorted.
“You’re too young to know, but our investigations show that this society’s history stretches back beyond even a Golden Core cultivator’s lifespan! What does a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator know, to speak so carelessly? Why keep bringing up some ghost of a previous leader from who knows when? Instead of a leader who exists only in name and never shows their face, isn’t it only natural for those with strength to step forward and take control?”
Then White Weasel pushed a new jade token and a piece of red jade onto the table. Faint waves of a sinister restriction flowed from the jade piece, one that bound a cultivator’s primordial spirit.
“There’s no need for a long discussion. Leave your primordial spirit imprint on this piece of jade to show that you’ll obey the Council of Elders. If you, who served directly under the previous leader, leave your mark, the other branches that know you will find it easier to accept the council’s wishes. In return, we’ll allow you to keep your position as inspector.”
White Weasel gestured, and the lid of a small chest in the corner opened.
A dozen or so old jade tokens with broken restrictions lay carelessly jumbled inside. Some even bore dried bloodstains.
“These belonged to people who insisted on keeping their old tokens to the end. I trust you’ll make a wise decision, Inspector.”
‘These bastards... So this is how they’ve been putting leashes on the existing members.’
Yi Hyeon was quite angry.
Had he been an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator, trusting the Two Heavens Society would have landed him in disaster.
How could anyone build a firm Dao heart while entrusting their primordial spirit to someone else?
Yi Hyeon coldly pushed the jade piece away.
“Surrender my primordial spirit? Since when did the Two Heavens Society start playing at being an evil cult? More importantly, I came to sell Yin Soul Grass. Let’s hear the terms.”
He wanted to punish the people before him immediately, but they might still have means he hadn’t seen. Being able to escape with the Metal Escape Spell was no reason to fight on ground they had prepared.
For now, he intended to keep discussing the trade, learn more, and try to lure them outside the mine under the pretext of appraising the spirit herb.
Yi Hyeon took a jade case from his storage pouch and opened it. At once, the air inside the hall grew cold and eerie.
The Yin Soul Grass gave off a soft spiritual glow and had a medicinal age of at least nine hundred years. At the sight of the intact, undamaged Tier 3 spirit herb, the looks in the false Badger’s and Crane’s eyes changed noticeably.
The false Badger tried to draw the jade case toward him with the Object Manipulation Spell, but Yi Hyeon stopped it.
“Payment first. High-grade spirit stones are also acceptable.”
“An excellent specimen! However, privately attempting to distribute an item of this quality without prior permission from the Council of Elders is a clear violation of society rules.”
“A violation of society rules?”
“Indeed. Therefore, the council will confiscate all of this Yin Soul Grass as a special contribution. However, if you place your primordial spirit imprint on that jade piece and enter our service, we will make a special grant of one hundred mid-grade spirit stones.”
“...”
When Yi Hyeon returned the jade case to his storage pouch, Crane stood as though to block his retreat, revealing his killing intent.
“They call you an inspector, but how can you be this slow? Now that you’ve entered this room, you have two choices: leave your imprint, or leave as a corpse.”
White Weasel was already gripping a formation disk inside their sleeve. Yi Hyeon slowly rose.
“Is everyone who planned this gathered here?”
The false Badger shook his head.
“Give up. These are instructions from the grand elder in northern Jeong Kingdom. This isn’t the only place with Golden Core elders. Nothing will change, no matter who you complain to, so kneel and submit at once. There’s a limit to how long we’ll hold back for fear of damaging the Tier 3 spirit herb!”
‘The so-called society leader follows the grand elder’s instructions?’
Apparently, that expensive badger mask was nothing more than a front.
White Weasel poured spiritual power into the formation disk.
Rrrrumble!
The heavy stone door closed, and blue formation inscriptions rose and shone across every wall. The formation sealed off the places not covered by iron plates.
The inscriptions intertwined along the bedrock walls and ceiling, and a barrier descended over the entrance.
Thick iron plates were not particularly difficult for cultivators to break through. In the middle of a battle, however, things were different.
A Foundation Establishment member would have no time to break through the plates and escape with the Earth Escape Spell right in front of Golden Core elders.
“You walked into the net yourself! Blame your own stupidity!”
The dust raised by the stone door striking the floor had yet to settle.
Moving together like seasoned bandit cultivators, the two Golden Core cultivators sent their magical treasures flying at the same time.
Rrrrumble!
The Azure Lightning Mother-and-Child Rings shot from Crane’s sleeve and instantly split into nine lightning rings in midair. The narrow hall became a prison of blue lightning as the rings closed in from every direction.
At the same time, the Golden Light Pagoda thrown by the false Badger swelled overhead until it almost touched the ceiling. Dozens of golden beams poured down toward the crown of Yi Hyeon’s head like a rainstorm.
The two magical treasures’ combined attack was far faster than he had expected. Before he could hide beneath the floor, the lightning rings had already reached his feet.
Their power was also greater than the claws of the Tier 3 demonic beast, the Silver-Eyed Sea Eagle, he had fought not long ago.
Clatter!
Just before the attacks struck, the Six-Leaf Shield shot up. Its six shield plates interlocked and formed a defensive barrier.
Boooom! Skrrraack!
A deafening explosion rang out as shock waves swept through the hall, instantly reducing nearby tables and pillars to dust.
Nine streams of azure lightning struck from all sides while golden beams hammered down from above. Under their relentless assault, even a supreme-grade magical implement listed in the Unju Implement Appraisal struggled to hold.
Crack!
Cracks spread across the surfaces of the two front shield plates as they shared the impact, and their edges broke away. Seizing that opening, the charging mother ring slammed into them head-on, sending even the remaining four plates flying in every direction.
As the Six-Leaf Shield’s defensive arrangement collapsed, Yi Hyeon gathered the damaged plates and threw himself backward.
The violent winds shredded the hem of his robe, but the body protected by the Three-Molt Silkworm Robe remained without a scratch.
“So you were acting up because you trusted a supreme-grade magical implement? Your shield’s broken. It’s over!”
Pressing his advantage, Crane tightened all nine lightning rings around him at once. The false Badger’s Golden Light Pagoda descended as though to crush Yi Hyeon whole against the wall.
Just as the attacks reached him, Yi Hyeon’s body slipped smoothly into the floor.
“The Earth Escape Spell? You fool! Those are black iron plates!”
The false Badger burst out laughing.
But the next moment, the dark iron plate exposed beneath the displaced soil rippled like water and swallowed Yi Hyeon without a trace.
“Th-the Metal Escape Spell?!”
The Metal Escape Spell was far harder than the Earth Escape Spell or Water Escape Spell. Even among Golden Core cultivators, few had learned it.
Crane hurriedly extended his spiritual sense beneath the floor, but the moment it touched the formation inscriptions sealing the iron plates’ joints, his perception scattered in confusion. It was difficult to track his opponent into the soil and bedrock beyond the formation.
“Weasel! Beneath the floor...!”
Just then, the floor right beside Crane rippled, and the cicada mask sprang out like a ghost.
He emerged twice as fast as he had entered!
As the cicada mask shot into the air, a golden sun rose from his left hand, dazzling enough to hurt the eyes.
Terrified, Crane hurriedly brought out a defensive magical treasure shaped like a stone stele and set it before him. At the very instant it covered his whole body, the golden sun spread into an enormous palm, tore through the air, and struck both the stele and Crane!
Boooom!
With a deafening roar, the entire underground estate shook as though struck by an earthquake.
‘Grrgh?!’
Behind the stele, Crane’s eyes widened at the pain twisting his insides.
He was clearly a Golden Core cultivator, and his opponent was at Foundation Establishment... How could a mere spell, not even a magical implement, give him the overwhelming sense that a mountain was about to collapse on him?
Crunch! Crack!
As a tidal wave of force surged through the stele, Crane’s knees sank into the floor, buckling even the iron plate beneath it.
Enormous golden fingers closed around both the stele and Crane’s entire body, crushing them.
“Help!”
At Crane’s desperate cry, the false Badger unleashed a barrage of beams from his Golden Light Pagoda at Yi Hyeon. At the same time, the lightning rings of Crane’s Azure Lightning Mother-and-Child Rings drove fiercely toward both his flanks.
Even amid the combined attacks from every direction, Yi Hyeon kept the Mount Sumeru Mountain-Suppressing Seal in place and swung his right arm like lightning.
Clang-clang-clang!
The Cheonggang Sword appeared in Yi Hyeon’s right hand, then cut through the air faster than the eye could follow, releasing stream after stream of savage sword qi!
As an enormous amount of primordial unity true qi poured into it at once, the top-grade Cheonggang Sword failed to withstand the pressure. Its blade burst apart with an explosive roar.
But the fierce storm of Supreme Unity Heavenly Dipper Sword Qi released as the sword shattered instantly tore through the false Badger’s golden beams. It then struck the incoming lightning rings and sent them flying in all directions.
One broke a remaining pillar so thick it would take outstretched arms to encircle it, then slammed into the wall.
‘Impossible! He knocked aside my magical treasure with something that wasn’t even a supreme-grade magical implement, let alone a magical treasure, while holding Crane down with one hand?!’
A chill ran down the false Badger’s spine. This Inspector Cicada was a monster disguised as a Foundation Establishment cultivator!
Judging by the monster’s fighting strength, this narrow hall was not favorable ground for them. If they let their guard down for even a moment, both he and Crane would be slaughtered.
“Weasel! Release the formation and open the door! Now!”
The false Badger shouted desperately, forgetting all dignity.
White Weasel, who had been cowering in a corner, snapped back to their senses. Just as they placed both hands on the formation disk to release the entrance’s seal, Yi Hyeon fixed them with a piercing gaze from behind his cicada mask.
Light flashed!
Sensing the killing intent coming straight at them, White Weasel hurried to prepare. But the invisible needle of spiritual sense, imbued with vow power, silently split into two in midair. One headed straight for the space between their eyebrows, while the other curved around behind their head and entered their blind spot!
Crack!
The protective Soul-Nourishing Jade hanging at White Weasel’s waist burst with a pale glow. It blocked the needle from the front, but failed to fully stop the second needle entering the back of their head.
“Aaagh!”
Blood burst from White Weasel’s eyes and nose as the impact gouged into their primordial spirit.
As they staggered, unable to steady themselves, Yi Hyeon kicked a fragment of the Cheonggang Sword lying on the floor, all while keeping Crane pinned beneath the Mount Sumeru Mountain-Suppressing Seal.
Bang!
Packed with condensed primordial unity true qi, the sword fragment shot like a meteor. It smashed straight through White Weasel’s Protective Spiritlight and split the formation disk in their hands in two. Then it pierced the right side of their chest and drove them into the rock wall behind.
“Guh...!”
White Weasel coughed up blood and slid limply down the wall.
The barrier over the stone door, which had just begun to fade, grew dense again.
The formation itself was buried separately, deep within the bedrock. What had broken was the disk that opened and closed the entrance’s seal. With the release hand seals interrupted midway, the stone door had become locked shut.
‘The door’s locked!’
The false Badger’s hair stood on end. Breaking through the stone door, which was covered in intertwined formation inscriptions, would require several full-power attacks. That monster would never stand by and watch while he did it.
To survive, he took another magical treasure, a red mirror, from his storage pouch.
“Die!”
The false Badger poured all his magical power into the Golden Light Pagoda above his head and the mirror before his chest. The hall filled with spiritual pressure so intense that an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator would have struggled even to breathe. The golden image of the pagoda and blood-red radiance formed an enormous rampart that swept toward Yi Hyeon as though to swallow him whole.
At that moment, the Moon-Sinking Sword appeared in Yi Hyeon’s right hand, a supreme-grade magical implement once ranked eighth in the Nammyeong Catalogue of a Hundred Implements.
Shick.
Yi Hyeon’s gaze settled calmly on the slender blade and its soft glow.
A single line, one he had retraced countless times while painting ten thousand pictures, extended through the storm of light from the magical treasures.
There was only one path: past the outer edge of the rotating Golden Light Pagoda, through the center of the blood-red mirror shielding the false Badger, and on to his neck.
- Let intent precede the sword tip, but do not let the sword tip stray from that intent.
Spiritual sense and vow power, honed through the principles of the Vajra Wisdom Sword Scripture, gathered around the extremely compressed Supreme Unity Heavenly Dipper Sword Qi.
Some failed to merge with the sword qi and drifted around its surface. Yi Hyeon suppressed even that with immense force and drove it all into the single point he had chosen.
Unable to bear the crude force its owner had stuffed into it, even the supreme-grade Moon-Sinking Sword screamed.
Supreme Unity Wisdom Sword, First Form: Heavenly Dipper Single Point.
The instant Yi Hyeon made a short thrust with the Moon-Sinking Sword, a streak of sword light erupted!
Skrrraack! Baaang!
The sword qi shot out, grazing the Golden Light Pagoda’s outer edge at an angle and scattering sparks. After forcibly pushing the solid pagoda aside, it continued without dispersing in the slightest and pierced straight through the center of the mirror blocking its path!
Cracks spread like a spiderweb across the blood-red bronze mirror. With a sharp report, it shattered.
At that very instant, fierce sword intent struck the false Badger’s mind!
‘Aaargh!’
His primordial spirit froze for a moment, delaying his attempt to dodge by a fraction.
Seizing that opening, the tip of the sword qi shot onward without hesitation and pierced straight through his neck.
Thuck!
The false Badger felt something hot gush from his neck. He hurriedly raised his hands, but fresh blood spurted between his fingers. Soon, he collapsed helplessly before the firmly closed stone door.
Thud.
Fragments of the blood-red bronze mirror scattered across the floor. Having lost its owner, the Golden Light Pagoda shrank, rolled uselessly a few times, and lost its glow.
In the corner, Toad stood with their back against the wall and a talisman in hand, unable even to breathe.
Yi Hyeon looked down at the Moon-Sinking Sword. Hairline cracks ran along its blade, and its tip had crumbled slightly. He clicked his tongue.
‘Ahem... Is it because I’m still bad at Sword Condensation...? The sword can’t take it.’
Until he reached Major Mastery in the Vajra Wisdom Sword Scripture’s Sword Condensation section, this was not a technique he could use carelessly.
Then Crane, still pinned beneath the Mount Sumeru Mountain-Suppressing Seal, cried out urgently.
“F-fellow cultivator...! Please withdraw your hand! There’s been a misunderstanding!”
“Weren’t you planning to kill me if I didn’t leave my imprint on that jade piece?”
“Th-that was merely a rule made by that Badger and the elders in northern Jeong Kingdom! You mustn’t kill this old man! The trading networks throughout northern Hyeon Kingdom and the Hyeong Kingdom all pass through me! If I die, all the payments and medicinal ingredient trades tied up in them will be cut off. The Two Heavens Society will suffer a great blow!”
Yi Hyeon turned toward Toad in the corner.
“What if only one of you and Crane could live? Could you take over Crane’s work?”
“O-of course! Everything is stored in the storehouse! There are ledgers listing the owners of the consigned goods and the payments, along with records of which contact points sent and received the goods! I was the one who contacted them and settled the accounts! Crane just gave me orders and took his share!”
Yi Hyeon looked down at Crane.
“You heard that, didn’t you? Besides, you have to die even if it harms the Two Heavens Society.”
Crane’s eyes changed abruptly. He sent his golden core into a frenzy and tried to detonate the Azure Lightning Mother-and-Child Rings lying on the floor, but...
Boooom!
The golden light of the Mount Sumeru Mountain-Suppressing Seal erupted, crushing Crane’s chest and arms. Before the Azure Lightning Mother-and-Child Rings could rise, sword light flashed and ended his life.
The cicada mask turned.
“Toad, will you be loyal to the Two Heavens Society?”
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