Tales Of The Nine Dragons [EN]: Chapter 194

After entering the cabin, Hwa-rin lay down on the floor, her serious demeanor from moments ago completely gone, replaced by a faint smile on her lips.

“If I act this much, Guen-seong will be fooled.”

In truth, Hwa-rin had other intentions.

Hwa-rin was planning to deal with the monks of Sonaeeumsa herself once they arrived at Daeri Sega.

Baek Guen-seong and the young masters of the Twelve Great Families claimed they would handle those at the center of the incident, but with no information about the brutal beasts, she thought it would be too difficult for them.

“Baek Mu-gi can’t be stupid enough to send only them. If he really sent only them, he must think I’ll protect them.”

To take the initiative in handling the Sonaeeumsa matter, she needed to be more proactive. She aimed to slightly sway Baek Guen-seong’s heart, making him trust her more than before, thereby removing restrictions on her actions.

“Act nonchalantly, show some of my usual clumsiness, and when the opportunity arises, give a sharp word or two… Mixing strength and weakness, mentally disorienting them with words will cloud their judgment.”

Hwa-rin smiled contentedly and closed her eyes.

“By the time I meet Baek Mu-gi again, I need to have mastered enough martial arts to at least run away from him, so I can take the initiative.”

For now, she had no choice but to obediently follow the Sabeolmaeng’s [Martial Arts Alliance’s] wishes, but the moment the gap between her and Baek Mu-gi narrowed, Hwa-rin planned to escape the Sabeolmaeng’s control.

“I need to achieve it by the time the Assassin Alliance starts its full-scale activities at the latest.”

Hwa-rin closed her eyes.

‘Focus on the heretical arts rather than martial arts.’

In her current situation, breaking through the wall of enlightenment was impossible, or rather, she couldn’t even approach it. So, she decided to learn the true secret arts of the Baegyo [White Lotus Sect] that her mother had implanted in her memory to narrow the gap with Baek Mu-gi.

‘I can do it.’

Hwa-rin entered her own mental world.

* * *

Even the number of river pirates encountered on the Yangtze River route from Hobeok Province to Sacheon Province was seven.

It was said that eighteen pirate groups were active on the Yangtze River, and seven of them were located on the route from Hobeok to Sacheon.

When they encountered these pirates, Baek Guen-seong stepped forward to deal with them, showing a ruthlessness that was nowhere to be seen before.

Thanks to this, the people on the passenger ship were able to reach Hoju in Sacheon Province without much harm.

“A whopping seven places. If it’s five silver coins per place, that’s thirty-five silver coins stolen.”

Hwa-rin grumbled as he got off the ship, and Baek Guen-seong chuckled at Hwa-rin’s reaction.

“Alright, alright. Stop it now. How long are you going to keep repeating the same story?”

“So, listen carefully to this *hyung* [older brother/male friend] and follow me. It will all be invaluable lessons that will become your blood and flesh.”

“Okay, okay. Let’s go. We’re supposed to meet at the Hoeyang Inn.”

Baek Guen-seong took the group to the Hoeyang Inn. Located in Hoju, Sacheon Province, the Hoeyang Inn was not far from the Hoju port and catered to merchants using the Yangtze River route.

Perhaps because of the large floating population coming and going through trade, the inn was crowded with people, but the detached building at the back of the inn was under control.

The place where Baek Guen-seong took Hwa-rin and his party was the detached building of the Hoeyang Inn.

The Sabeolmaeng had rented the entire detached building, and on one side, several embalmed corpses were lying down.

“Welcome. You must have had a hard time coming.”

“Hard time, my foot.”

Lee Seo-won, who had been waiting for the group at the Hoeyang Inn, greeted them.

“You must have had a harder time dealing with things before we arrived. Are these them?”

Baek Guen-seong said, looking at the corpses lying on one side.

“Yes. The Demonic Sect will come tomorrow to take over the bodies.”

“From the Demonic Sect?”

“Yes. I don’t know who will come, but it seems like a fairly high-ranking person.”

“Isn’t Geom-an Ma-yeong directly under Ilcheon Gung-ma? Then wouldn’t Ilcheon Gung-ma come?”

While Baek Guen-seong and Lee Seo-won were talking, Hwa-rin examined the corpses.

“Hmm…….”

Hwa-rin examined the corpse and called Danri Hyeok-jin.

“Yes, *Hyung-nim* [respected older brother/male friend]!”

“This hand is a sword. I’m going to attack you. So, try to avoid it.”

“Understood.”

As Hwa-rin moved his hand, Danri Hyeok-jin tried to move to avoid it, but Hwa-rin’s hand touched his chest.

“Now, stay still.”

Hwa-rin moved his hand towards the still Danri Hyeok-jin, and soon it touched his chest.

“Why are you doing this?”

“A master of martial arts couldn’t react and was hit. Rather than not being able to react, he stood still and got hit. Seo-won-ah!”

Hwa-rin called Lee Seo-won.

“Why?”

“Where were these people found?”

“They were found in a shabby warehouse under the port.”

Hwa-rin’s figure blurred and faded away.

“Uh, uh……!”

Danri Hyeok-jin was surprised to see Hwa-rin disappearing before his eyes, and Baek Guen-seong slightly distorted his expression at Hwa-rin’s arbitrary movement.

“Shouldn’t we stop him? He’s not supposed to interfere in the affairs of the Murim [martial arts world].”

“It’s okay. I’m the inspector, so I’m at the scene with him. And after being with him, I realized he’s not the kind of friend who will listen if someone tries to stop him.”

Lee Seo-won thought of Hwa-rin. He had only seen him briefly at the Hwasan Branch and talked to him, so he didn’t know much about him.

“Still, you’re responsible if something goes wrong, so it would be good to keep an eye on him.”

“He’s not someone we can handle. If Hwa-rin is determined to act, there’s nothing we can do. So, we should let him do what he wants and try to appease him so that no conflict arises.”

“Well, he tried to fight the Maeng [Alliance] as the owner of a single manor, so he’s not someone who will listen to reason.”

Baek Guen-seong nodded.

“Since Hwa-rin has gone, he’ll find out something.”

“When we investigated, nothing really came out. The strange thing is that there are no signs of resistance in the sword wounds on the corpses.”

“So, not sword wounds imbued with internal energy, but ordinary sword wounds?”

“Yes. If there were sword wounds imbued with internal energy or traces of afterimages, we could deduce what kind of martial arts were used, but it’s like they just stabbed someone standing still with a knife.”

Baek Guen-seong remembered what Hwa-rin had said before coming here.

‘If the Ma-yeong [Demonic Shadow] of the Demonic Sect is a considerable master, and if it’s a technique that such a master cannot resist, then has the Baegyo’s technique, which was destroyed thirty years ago, reappeared?’

“When Hwa-rin came, he said that the monks of Sonaeeumsa used sorcery. Could they have been hit by sorcery?”

“That’s possible, but the Ma-yeong of the Demonic Sect is a skilled martial artist. He’s a master above us. There’s no way such a person would be hit by sorcery.”

“What about the Baegyo’s sorcery? Thirty years ago, the Orthodox and Demonic factions joined forces to destroy the Baegyo. Doesn’t that mean their sorcery is that dangerous?”

“Hmm…….”

“Isn’t it a bit strange that the Maeng entrusted such a dangerous task to us?”

Jong-yoon, the young master of the Lee-yeong Family, said.

“That’s right. Isn’t *Hyung-nim* [respected older brother/male friend] getting a little ahead of himself? We may face difficulties or crises, but the Maeng must have judged that we could solve them sufficiently if we joined forces, so they entrusted this task to us.”

Nam Cheol-yeong, the young master of the Gong-myeong Family, expressed his thoughts.

“At first, I thought like Cheol-yeong. I thought we could solve difficult problems if we joined forces. But after spending a few days with Hwa-rin, I realized that wasn’t the case.”

“Then?”

“It seems the Maeng sent us to learn from Hwa-rin. And it would be even better if we became close to Hwa-rin.”

“Why do we have to do that? How many Demonic Sects have been destroyed because of him?”

“I don’t know what the Maeng is thinking, but I know one thing for sure.”

Everyone was interested in what Baek Guen-seong was about to say.

“What’s clear is that if Hwa-rin takes the side of the Orthodox faction, we will face great difficulties. So, we must become close to Hwa-rin and prevent him from going to the Orthodox faction at all costs.”

Meanwhile, Hwa-rin was standing in the shabby warehouse at the port that Lee Seo-won had mentioned. The warehouse was dark with the lights off.

Hwa-rin stood in the dark warehouse, turned his head to look left and right, and then moved his steps as if he had found something.

Looking at the wall of the warehouse, the incantation used when casting a spell flowed from Hwa-rin’s mouth.

The energy scattered within his body flowed out through all his pores and stuck to the wall Hwa-rin was looking at, as if adhering to it.

Then, like a living creature, it wriggled and moved along the wall, creating a strange sentence.

“As expected.”

Hwa-rin seemed to know the strange sentence that his energy was creating.

As the strange sentence emitted a faint light, it became clearer, appearing like a component needed to form a single formation.

After that, Hwa-rin moved to each wall of the warehouse, and each time, components with similar yet slightly different patterns appeared. Finally, when he looked up at the ceiling, traces of one component appeared there as well.

When all the components revealed themselves, they emitted a powerful light as if connecting to each other, and that light influenced Hwa-rin inside the warehouse.

“It’s the Baegyo’s Sahon Swelryeong [Soul Shackling Spell].”

Hwa-rin recognized the formation emitting light inside the warehouse.

“According to the memories my mother left in my head, Sahon Swelryeong is a technique that ordinary Baegyo followers cannot learn, but only executives above the heads of each organization can learn.”

Hwa-rin thought that the ones who killed the Demonic Sect members were not the monks of Sonaeeumsa, but the remnants of the Baegyo or their disciples.

“Are they trying to start revenge from thirty years ago?”

As Hwa-rin withdrew his energy, the components that had been emitting light lost their energy and disappeared back into the darkness.

“Well, I’ve grown this much, so there’s no reason why those who ran away back then wouldn’t have raised disciples or children.”

He learned that if the Binggung [Ice Palace] and Haenam Sword Sects had entered the Central Plains to recover martial arts and settle past affairs, then Sonaeeumsa and Busan Palace had entered the Central Plains with different purposes.

“Then shall we find out where these guys are hiding?”

Hwa-rin put his hand into the air and took something out.

It was an amulet drawn with strange patterns in blue letters on red paper.

As Hwa-rin infused his energy into the amulet, the amulet caught fire and burned, and smoke rose.

The rising smoke transformed into the shape of a bird, flapped its wings, flew around the warehouse for a moment, and then soared into the ceiling and disappeared.

Hwa-rin also kicked off the floor and jumped to the ceiling, disappearing from the warehouse like the bird of smoke.