Black Sand Gang (2)
“Yes, that’s correct.”
Seo Yeonwoo, turning to look at the middle-aged man, spoke.
His tone was resolute, as if refusing to entertain any further questions.
There was unwavering conviction in his eyes regarding what he said.
He was different from his son, who would rush recklessly at impossible goals like a moth to a flame.
Those who had such eyes always managed to achieve something.
“Are you really saying you’ll take on the Black Sand Gang by yourself?”
Zhang Il asked again.
The Black Sand Gang was the most dangerous force in the area.
The Black Sand Gang leader alone had once belonged to a reputable, sizable group within the Black Path.
In other words, he was a genuine martial artist. What’s more, he had his own followers under his command.
“Think it over again. Even with my limited knowledge, I can tell you’re no ordinary man. But the Black Sand Gang, the Black Sand Gang! If you gathered a bit more strength and acted with caution, surely a path would open for you…”
“I understand your concern well. However, I’m only determined because I know it’s possible.”
Yet Seo Yeonwoo’s answer didn’t change.
His expression as he spoke of the Black Sand Gang’s destruction was exceedingly calm.
As if he was simply going for a walk on the hill behind his house, rather than about to risk his life in a deadly battle.
Unlike Zhang Il, who had been trembling non-stop.
Seo Yeonwoo strode up to Zhang Il and placed a hand on his shoulder.
“It’s fine.”
He looked Zhang Il straight in the eyes and spoke.
“I can do it.”
“You can… is that true?”
Zhang Il asked in a trembling voice. Without even realizing it himself, he was being swayed by the force and attitude Seo Yeonwoo showed.
Seo Yeonwoo quietly nodded by way of reply.
A faint sense of hope rose amid the anxiety darkening Zhang Il’s face.
Seeing that, Seo Yeonwoo suddenly recalled an old memory.
There had once been a White Path martial artist who had spoken to him about heroes.
At the time, he dismissed him as a nosy old man.
But now, seeing that glimmer of expectation on Zhang Il’s face, Seo Yeonwoo thought being a hero might not be so bad.
Above all, there were the weak, those who didn’t even dare think of revenge after losing a precious son.
And then there were the heroes who punished their enemies in their stead. Wasn’t that quite White Path-like, in its own way?
‘Maybe in this life I’ll become famous as a great hero and get scouted by the Murim Alliance.’
Thinking such idle thoughts, Seo Yeonwoo walked over to the bald man.
“Th-the Black Sand Gang!”
The bald man tried to open his mouth to add something—
But Seo Yeonwoo neatly ignored him, sealing his pressure points: both mute and immobilization points.
It was done with practiced skill. His mouth was sealed and limbs tied.
“Let’s hear your words after I get back from outside.”
Having dealt with the bald man, Seo Yeonwoo went to a corner of the inn and sat down cross-legged.
He needed to tidy up his internal condition before attacking the Black Sand Gang.
Sitting cross-legged, Seo Yeonwoo slowly began to close his eyes.
The location wasn’t ideal, but he was a martial artist who, before his regression, had risen to the highest peak.
Even if something unexpected happened while circulating ki, he could more than manage it.
‘What I learned around this time was the Six Harmonies Mind Method, right?’
While observing himself internally, Seo Yeonwoo thought to himself.
The Six Harmonies Mind Method was one of the basic cultivation methods of a famous Daoist sect.
So common that even laymen would learn it to preserve their health.
It was a foundational technique that solidified the basis for advancing to higher-level martial arts, but its accumulation speed was so slow that martial artists with poor foundations rarely rose above mere mediocrity after learning it.
Most wandering swordsmen, of humble birth and possessing only insignificant martial arts, died early.
‘Of course, I was different.’
Seo Yeonwoo thought shamelessly.
First, he had a fair amount of talent for martial arts.
Even now, looking inside his body confirmed that.
Though the amount of internal energy he had was poor, his dantian and energy channels had been properly developed according to the breathing methods defined by the Six Harmonies Mind Method.
A truly excellent foundation for a wandering swordsman who had picked up secret manuals here and there with no proper master.
It proved that Seo Yeonwoo’s aptitudes were above average.
But now, that level of talent alone wasn’t enough.
He was a regressor who had once risen nearly to the top and returned. There was no need to cling to the Six Harmonies Mind Method.
Unbreakable Heaven-Gazing Ki Art (不壞望天氣功).
Commonly called the Heaven-Gazing Art, this was a cultivation method Seo Yeonwoo had mastered in his previous life.
He had learned it directly from his master, a swordsman who competed for supremacy in the world.
Concentrating on the changes inside his body, he began to recite the mnemonic formula of the Heaven-Gazing Art.
Instantly, the minuscule amount of internal energy gathered in his dantian, just below his navel, thrummed in resonance.
Seo Yeonwoo used the trembling of his internal energy to spread it throughout his entire body.
Responding to his will, the internal energy flowed from the dantian through the body’s energy channels.
Gradually.
How long had he focused on circulating ki like that?
At last, the internal energy had circled his whole body and gathered back in the dantian once more.
Since it had returned to its origin after making a round-trip, this was called a Minor Heavenly Cycle.
Having finished the circulation, Seo Yeonwoo once more sensed the internal power in his dantian.
With the Six Harmonies Mind Method, the internal energy gathered before had been orderly, but that was all— without any special effects. But the Heaven-Gazing Art was different.
Seo Yeonwoo gradually expanded his internal consciousness outward. His senses sharpened. Even with his eyes closed, he felt as if he could clearly perceive the state inside the inn.
He could tell, without opening his eyes, exactly where the proprietor and the bald man were, and how many tables and chairs there were.
‘Ki sense has awakened.’
With even a portion of the Heaven-Gazing Art’s true ki filling his dantian, some of the ki sense from before he regressed had returned.
This was an ability impossible to achieve merely through internal circulation of higher martial arts.
However, Seo Yeonwoo had once been called Sword Sovereign—he was someone who could wring more use than anyone else out of even a tiny pinch of true ki.
‘Compared to before regression, it’s pitiful, but in a many-against-one battle where blind strikes are possible, it’ll be more than useful.’
He continued circulating ki with a satisfied smile.
Some time later.
Seo Yeonwoo, finished with his breathing, stood up.
The innkeeper, who’d been staring wide-eyed at the entrance and the bald man, finally relaxed as if relieved at last.
“Thank you for your trouble.”
Seo Yeonwoo, already aware of this fact through his ki sense, nodded lightly at Zhang Il.
“You’ll likely hear the news, even as a rumor, so there’s no need to wait for me.”
Zhang Il swallowed the words hovering on his tongue, daunted by Seo Yeonwoo’s calm confidence.
“I’ll trust you.”
That was all he managed to say.
Seo Yeonwoo responded with a faint smile in place of words.
Turning away, he picked up the unconscious bald man and left the inn.
Having moved some distance from the inn, Seo Yeonwoo flicked his fingers to release the pressure points.
But it seemed the bald man still hadn’t quite regained his senses, perhaps from being unconscious for so long.
“You asleep?”
Remembering how he’d suffered at the hands of a Black Sand Gang member right after returning, Seo Yeonwoo smirked and slapped the bald man’s cheek.
Of course, that incident wasn’t the bald man’s doing, but that wasn’t an important detail.
No one was watching now.
SMAACK―! echoed loudly.
“Ugh…”
At last, the bald man regained consciousness, sitting up.
“Finally awake?”
Seo Yeonwoo asked the rising bald man, but he didn’t answer. He still wasn’t fully awake.
So Seo Yeonwoo’s hand struck him again. This time, it thudded onto his shiny, gleaming scalp.
It made much the same satisfying sound as when he’d slapped him earlier.
“Still not with it, huh.”
Muttering that, Seo Yeonwoo idly fiddled with his sword.
“No! N-no, I’m awake, great hero. I—I’m sorry!”
Terrified to the core, the bald man stammered out excuses.
“I’m no great hero, you bastard.”
Seo Yeonwoo replied flatly.
Even before his regression, he’d been a prominent figure on the Black Path and far from a great hero; now, too, he was much too young to be called one.
But.
He had come back to before the Heaven Piercing Cult revealed its true colors, and in order to stand against them, the White Path and Black Path would have to be united.
As for the Black Path—most of its figures were absorbed in their own power, so they could be subdued by overwhelming force, but the White Path’s people were as stubborn as iron—without the reputation of a great hero, they wouldn’t listen.
So he needed to manage his reputation and build up fame as a hero. To enter the Murim Alliance easily, after all.
They were so rigid that acting outside the rules was virtually impossible, at least until the Heaven Piercing Cult drove them to the bitter end.
‘Well, it’s not a problem to worry about right now.’
Thinking thus, Seo Yeonwoo regarded the bald man before him and spoke again.
“Lead me to the Black Sand Gang.”
“Y-yes, sir.”
Crushed by Seo Yeonwoo’s aura, the bald man hurriedly took the lead.
After walking for some time, the bald man suddenly spoke up…
“Um, sir, C-could I ask why you want me to guide you to the headquarters?”
In truth, his question was not strange.
The Black Sand Gang was a well-known Black Path sect in this area; everyone knew where it was.
Especially Seo Yeonwoo, who had once worked for the Black Sand Gang.
So naturally, the bald man assumed there must be some ulterior motive behind Seo Yeonwoo’s request.
Yet, daring to probe into his intention was quite brazen.
“The headquarters? What, you think the Black Sand Gang still sees you as one of them?”
Thus, Seo Yeonwoo replied, mixing mockery into the answer the bald man wanted.
“…”
The bald man couldn’t respond, and Seo Yeonwoo continued.
“That’s why.”
He replied calmly.
“You have no choice. If I fail to defeat the Black Sand Gang, you will certainly die.”
At Seo Yeonwoo’s words, the bald man’s expression stiffened. At last, he seemed to understand the reality of his situation.
“That’s why you have to guide me. To the Black Sand Gang—not just the gang, but to its end.”
Seo Yeonwoo still spoke with a flat, emotionless voice. The implication of his words was simple.
A traitor already branded, the bald man had nowhere left to run.
As Seo Yeonwoo spoke, the bald man hung his head low.
Only then did he fully grasp his own predicament.
From the moment Seo Yeonwoo subdued him, the power of life and death was out of his hands.
Even if Seo Yeonwoo died attacking the Black Sand Gang, the bald man could not survive.
The Black Sand Gang wasn’t so merciful as to let a bat that had once sided with the enemy live.
“If I tell you everything, w-will you let me live?”
“If it’s helpful, I’ll consider it.”
Seo Yeonwoo answered coldly. In truth, he had no intention of letting the bald man live.
Even among the Black Path sects, the Black Sand Gang were the foulest.
Even before getting involved with the Heaven Piercing Cult, they had dabbled in human trafficking.
That bald bastard, that whole Black Sand Gang.
Whether or not they were directly involved in the affairs with the Heaven Piercing Cult, they were villains deserving of death.
Even from the perspective of Seo Yeonwoo, who had once been a major figure in the Black Path before his regression.
“As you say, if I head back to the headquarters I’ll die anyway…”
The bald man hung his head and began to speak.
There was deep resignation and a flicker of faint hope in his eyes.
Seo Yeonwoo slowly nodded.
“To be honest, I don’t have much useful information. I’m just a low-ranking member.”
“I’ll be the judge of that. Just tell me what you know.”
Seo Yeonwoo cut him off.
“Yes, I’ll tell you.”
So the bald man started babbling whatever information he had about the Black Sand Gang.
How many people stayed at the headquarters on average, what their martial arts skills were like, how the gang leader used to be such an impressive figure—a string of flattery.
It was, as he said, the usual information. Nothing particularly helpful to Seo Yeonwoo. But Seo Yeonwoo listened patiently.
It seemed the bald man sensed Seo Yeonwoo’s attitude.
“T-this isn’t certain, but…”
Vague, hesitant. Seo Yeonwoo prompted the bald man to continue with a nod.
“Recently, there’s been rumors that the gang leader is rarely seen, and often stays somewhere inside the headquarters where no one knows—maybe he’s in seclusion to increase his cultivated power…”
The bald man’s words trailed off.
But at that moment, with a faint tearing sound, a throwing knife came flying and pierced the bald man’s throat.
“Ggk—”
His vocal cords were torn so that he couldn’t even scream. Immediately, blood spurted like a fountain from his punctured neck.
Sign up to join the discussion...
Already have an account? Log in
No comments yet. Be the first to discuss this chapter.