WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME NOVELS

Translator/Editor: Chen

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◈ The Former Supreme ◈

Chapter 76: Sortie (3)

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Jeong Pung was startled when Yeom Hwasin was mentioned and it was revealed that their opponents were Yeom Sawon's subordinates.

"I didn't know."

"Of course you didn't."

"I..."

Baek Socheon raised a hand to stop him.

"That's enough. There's no need to say any more in front of these things. I'll hear you out later."

Yet Jeong Pung was already fixated on the names Yeom Hwasin and Yeom Sawon. He spoke in a trembling voice.

"You shouldn't have come here. Now it looks like you'll die because of me too."

"Are you worried about me?"

"That man is a demon!"

There was no telling how much that hairy brute had threatened and humiliated Jeong Pung. Why else would he have withdrawn every last nyang he had saved over his lifetime and handed it over?

And the leader was the son of the Black Heaven Alliance Leader? Jeong Pung's vision went dark. Just when he had fallen to the ground, there was a well waiting beneath him.

Baek Socheon, on the other hand, remained relaxed.

"Did you forget? Everyone once called a demon died by my hand."

"But... you lost your internal energy."

"I have my subordinates instead."

As if that had been a signal, fierce impacts sounded from behind them.

Thud!

The two men guarding the entrance flew through the air and rolled across the ground.

More than twenty members of the Sage Heaven Corps appeared behind them. They all wore the Sage Heaven Corps uniform. The only marking on their chests was the words Sage Heaven, with no other insignia.

That made an even stronger impression.

The hairy man shouted at his subordinates.

"They're experts!"

His subordinates were elite martial artists as well. They did not need to be warned to recognize, from their opponents' eyes and bearing alone, that they were no ordinary fighters.

The Sage Heaven Corps held a slight edge in martial arts, while the Black Heaven Alliance had the advantage in numbers.

Baek Socheon thought it was the perfect situation for them to gain real combat experience.

The hairy man bellowed.

"Do you know who we are? The man leading us is the heir to the Black Heaven Alliance Leader!"

Having confirmed that his opponents were formidable, he was trying to crush their spirits before the fighting began. Not one Sage Heaven Corps martial artist was shaken.

He had announced his own identity, but knew nothing about his opponents.

Instead, he had given Baek Socheon an opening.

Baek Socheon turned to the Sage Heaven Corps.

"I met that heir once. He's complete trash. We'll take that bastard's head later."

"Yes!"

The Sage Heaven Corps answered thunderously.

Beon Saeng was among those shouting at the top of his lungs. His first real battle would be against the Black Heaven Alliance's elite. Baek Socheon had said they would hold his welcoming ceremony in real combat.

'Isn't this a rather brutal welcome party?'

At the same time, Beon Saeng felt both tense and exhilarated. Just standing face-to-face with the Black Heaven Alliance's elite sent a thrill through him.

The hairy man released killing intent.

"Do you truly want to die here?"

From Baek Socheon's perspective, the man's skill was a notch above Wang Ho's.

"Wang Ho."

"Yes, Unit Commander."

The Sage Heaven Corps Unit Commander's first battle order was given.

"Kill every last one of them!"

Their opponents were too skilled. Trying to capture them would only lead to greater casualties on their side. In a situation like this, ordering them all killed was the wiser choice.

"Kill!"

At Wang Ho's kill order, the Sage Heaven Corps martial artists sprang forward at once.

Their opponents rushed out to meet them.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

Battle erupted all around them.

Baek Socheon stood where he was, staring at the hairy man. The man drew his sword and walked toward him.

"Can you truly handle the consequences of this?"

"You'll be dead soon, so you don't need to worry about what comes after."

"You bastard!"

"Today's not a day for me to be the main character, so understand why I'm ending this quickly."

"What?"

The man did not understand that Baek Socheon meant his subordinates mattered more today.

The hairy man charged with killing intent blazing around him, and Baek Socheon charged as well.

Flash.

Shhk!

The two crossed paths.

The hairy man continued several steps past Baek Socheon. Then blood sprayed from his neck. He spun in place and collapsed.

Everyone was too occupied with their own fights to notice. Even if someone had seen it from nearby, Baek Socheon's sword had been too fast for them to tell how he had cut the man down.

He had only been one step stronger than Wang Ho, whom Baek Socheon had subdued so easily. His death here was not such an unexpected outcome.

"Gasp!"

When the man died in a single strike, Seok Gyeon's face drained of color.

Baek Socheon flew over and kicked him in the face. Seok Gyeon was the weakest enemy here, so he was promptly knocked unconscious by that one blow.

Baek Socheon's gaze swept quickly over the battlefield. As he focused, the movements around him seemed to slow.

It was the effect of the Thousand-Hand Tathagata Asura Divine Sword, which pursued swordsmanship of ultimate speed.

Whoosh.

A dagger flew from Baek Socheon's hand.

The attacker trying to kill a Sage Heaven Corps martial artist from behind twisted and fell.

Other than that, there were no dangerous situations.

Their training had clearly borne fruit. The opponents were formidable and more numerous, but they could not handle the Sage Heaven Corps martial artists tempered by grueling training and Baek Socheon's teachings.

Beon Saeng was fighting well too. He had already cut down one opponent and was fighting a second. So focused on the battle, he did not even realize how tense he had been.

Jeong Pung was also fighting hard, but perhaps because he was older, had not been in real combat for a long time, and had too much on his mind, he could not easily cut down his opponent.

Shhk!

Baek Socheon cut down the enemy Jeong Pung was facing.

"Come here."

"Thank you."

Jeong Pung looked around.

To his astonishment, nearly all the enemies had fallen, while not a single Sage Heaven Corps martial artist was down.

He could not believe the sight before him. He had heard that Baek Socheon had gone to headquarters to lead a small organization under the Sage Heaven Pavilion. He had assumed the Grand Strategist had arranged it to preserve Baek Socheon's dignity.

'This is no ordinary organization!'

Then Jeong Pung noticed a corpse.

That demon-like hairy man was already dead, his neck severed.

"Gasp! When did you kill him?"

"A moment ago."

"How did you?"

"I was once the strongest in the world. This much is easy even without internal energy."

The battlefield was soon cleared.

Wang Ho came over and reported.

"All thirty-two enemies have been eliminated. Three corps martial artists suffered minor injuries. There are no other casualties."

Baek Socheon looked at his subordinates standing proudly before him.

"You all worked hard."

"Yes!"

Having fought this battle, the Sage Heaven Corps martial artists could clearly tell how much stronger they had become.

For martial artists, especially elite fighters on the level of the Iron Sword Corps and above, becoming stronger was usually their foremost goal.

They conveyed their gratitude to Baek Socheon through their eyes.

He nodded once, accepting their thanks.

"Wake that one up."

Wang Ho went over and woke Seok Gyeon, who had been unconscious.

When Seok Gyeon opened his eyes and saw the scene around him, he screamed.

"Aaah!"

The Sage Heaven Corps martial artists stood in a circle around him, their swords dripping blood.

Baek Socheon asked Seok Gyeon, "What are you? You don't seem to belong to the Black Heaven Alliance."

There was no sign that Seok Gyeon had practiced wicked arts.

"That's right. I'm from the orthodox faction."

"Then why are you associating with the Black Heaven Alliance?"

"I..."

Baek Socheon spoke to Wang Ho.

"He says he has nothing to tell us. Send him to join his friends who went ahead."

"Yes."

As Wang Ho swung his sword to cut off his head, Seok Gyeon frantically waved his hands.

"Please spare me! I'm a broker!"

"A broker?"

"I arrange for Murim Alliance martial artists to join the Black Heaven Alliance."

That was putting it nicely. In truth, he lured Murim Alliance martial artists into traps, blackmailed them until they were cornered, then made them betray the Murim Alliance, just as he had tried to do with Jeong Pung.

It was practically a new profession. With war close at hand, every kind of person was emerging.

"Then how much do you get paid?"

"It depends on their rank. If I hand over someone at Corps Commander rank or above, I receive three thousand nyang."

"You demanded money earlier."

"That money isn't mine."

Seok Gyeon looked at the hairy man's corpse as though all the money had gone to him.

"So you became their lackey for a mere three thousand nyang?"

"..."

Baek Socheon spoke to Wang Ho.

"Find out everyone he targeted."

"Yes."

Wang Ho dragged him away.

Baek Socheon went to Jeong Pung.

Jeong Pung stood there with a blank expression, watching it all unfold.

He had not known the Black Heaven Alliance was behind it.

"What happened?"

Jeong Pung sighed and explained.

"That man, Seok Gyeon, came to introduce himself. He said he had opened a new lumberyard here in Zhejiang. We met once or twice after that... The third time, he brought a woman with him."

Baek Socheon sighed softly.

It was an incredibly common trap, yet one that worked incredibly well.

"I was drunk, and... When I woke up in the morning, the woman was dead beside me in bed, naked. I couldn't remember anything."

"That was when he came and saw it."

"Several people saw it besides him."

They had come to create witnesses. They had not been ordinary people, but people from the Black Heaven Alliance.

"You didn't do it."

"I know."

Still, Jeong Pung's face was full of despair.

"Why?"

"I can't forgive myself."

"Don't blame yourself. They must have slipped you an aphrodisiac and tempted you."

Jeong Pung remained silent for a moment before speaking quietly.

"It wasn't because of the drug."

"What do you mean?"

"I gave in to temptation while I was drunk. She was so young and beautiful that I couldn't resist the impulse."

Baek Socheon now understood why Jeong Pung had been so devastated, and why he had sighed so deeply in his office.

It was not only because he had fallen into a trap.

Until the moment he slept with that woman, it had been his own choice. He had lived faithfully with his family and never been with another woman his entire life, which only made his regret and despair all the greater.

"That man specialized in trapping people. He probably found a woman suited to your tastes."

When swindlers, or people trying to trap someone, set their minds to it, they could be difficult to withstand.

Jeong Pung's actions had certainly been wrong. Still, Baek Socheon did not want to condemn him. Jeong Pung was already suffering enough.

The thing men had to watch out for most was women. For an older man, a young and beautiful woman could be the deadliest poison.

"I'll handle this unofficially."

Jeong Pung looked at him as if asking whether that was possible.

"You didn't expose Alliance secrets, and the money was your own, so I think it can be done. You may still face censure for your conduct... but I'll arrange for that to be handled unofficially as well."

"...Thank you."

A short while later, Wang Ho brought a list of the other martial artists Seok Gyeon had trapped, along with detailed statements explaining how he had trapped them. Terrified, Seok Gyeon had confessed every name without leaving out a single one.

"Send the list to the Shadow Pavilion as soon as we return."

"Yes, Unit Commander. What should we do with him?"

Baek Socheon strode toward Seok Gyeon.

"I've told you everything, so please spare me!"

Baek Socheon cut off his head with a single stroke.

He was worse than the Black Heaven Alliance bastards. It was a waste of food to keep him locked in a martial prison.

After thoroughly clearing away even the Black Heaven Alliance martial artists' corpses, Baek Socheon bid Jeong Pung farewell.

"Let's meet again."

"Thank you. I won't forget what happened today."

"This went well because of you too."

"What do you mean?"

"It wasn't fate that called us. It was your attendant martial artist."

"Kang Jungmyeong?"

"That's right."

"If you had treated him poorly, he wouldn't have called us, and this outcome would not have happened. You saved yourself."

At last, tears streamed down Jeong Pung's face.

He had a family, and so many good people around him... He was furious with himself and deeply regretful that he had yielded to such temptation.

"I'll come drink with you next time. Don't turn me away then."

As Baek Socheon turned and walked away, Jeong Pung's voice came from behind him.

"Then I'll properly treat you to a drink."

There was no way to know what Jeong Pung would be like when they next met. This could turn him into a broken man, or even tear his family apart.

Baek Socheon could only hope that Jeong Pung would see this as the steep tuition his previously smooth life had suddenly demanded, and preserve the life he had built.

He also sincerely hoped that a life awaited him where, one day, he could share a drink with Jeong Pung and remember what had happened today.

Footnotes:

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