The Divine And Demonic Doctor [EN]: Chapter 245

Sinma’s Lineage (246)

The Taihang Mountains, a massive mountain range that divides Shanxi and Hebei provinces.

The west side of the mountain range was called Shanxi, and the east side was called Shandong.

The Shandong region originally had many wetlands, teeming with numerous bandit groups.

Liangshan Marsh, mentioned in the *Water Margin* [a classic Chinese novel featuring a band of outlaws], was a prime example.

Although the wetlands have decreased now, the long-standing history of bandit gangs still continues.

They have only changed from water bandits to mountain bandits.

In particular, Shandong’s vast plains and the sea to the east boasted abundant resources, and the Yellow River, which runs east-west to the north, became the driving force behind the economy.

As such, it was a good place for bandits to thrive.

Large and small riverside ports were located along the river.

The village called Hajeong Port was once the base of the Gangryong Stronghold, one of the bandit camps.

Originally, it was in the territory of the Jiangnan Eighteen Water Bandits, but taking advantage of their weakened power, the bandits pushed them out and claimed to be the new owners.

But now, it was just an empty ghost town.

The bandits had all withdrawn.

Two people were entering the mouth of Hajeong Port.

A well-built middle-aged man with piercing eyes and a young man with outstanding spirit.

At a glance, it was clear that they were father and son, as the two looked very much alike.

It was Hwangbo-eon, the head of the Hwangbo Clan, and his only heir, Hwangbo-gyeong.

Hwangbo-eon suddenly stopped walking and turned to his son.

“Stop here and go back.”

“Father!”

“Don’t forget what I said on the way here.”

Hwangbo-gyeong, facing his father’s stern gaze, stubbornly shook his head.

“I can’t do that.”

Hwangbo-eon’s eyebrows twitched.

“If something happens to me, who will lead the clan?”

Hwangbo-gyeong’s eyes wavered at Hwangbo-eon’s rebuke.

“Those words you told me not to forget… Could they have been your last words?”

Hwangbo-gyeong pressed, seeing his father’s silence.

“Wouldn’t it be better to refuse their offer and mobilize the main family’s forces to confront them? Moreover, if the Murim Alliance [a coalition of martial arts clans] joins us…”

Hwangbo-eon sighed and cut off his son’s words.

“It’s not that simple.”

“Father, what are you hiding? What is that letter?”

Hwangbo-eon’s eyes darkened.

“If something happens to me, you must never know the contents of the letter. So don’t try to find out now, or try to find out later.”

“Father…”

“Go. That’s an order as the head of the family.”

Hwangbo-gyeong, biting his lip, eventually forced himself to turn around.

As soon as his son disappeared completely, Hwangbo-eon began to move again.

Soon he arrived at the abandoned mountain stronghold.

A wooden fence built by erecting thick wooden pillars and adding reinforced soil to create retaining walls.

As he entered the central entrance, a small figure leisurely drinking tea on an old bench caught his eye.

“Oh! You’re here?”

Tanakseon, sensing his presence, put down his tea and welcomed him.

Hwangbo-eon, on the other hand, frowned as he looked around.

“Is this recklessness? Or are you ignoring me?”

Hwangbo-eon thought things might be easier than he expected, seeing Tanakseon tilting his head with a puzzled look.

‘I thought at least one of the Shinma Three Venerables [powerful figures in the Sinma lineage] would have come as a bodyguard…’

He had been so nervous about facing more than just a child.

For him, it was somewhat anticlimactic.

Hwangbo-eon stared at Tanakseon for a while in silence, then sat down on one side of the bench.

Tanakseon poured tea into a teacup and handed it to him.

“I’m late to greet you. I’m Tanakseon. We met at the funeral that day, right?”

Hwangbo-eon paused as Tanakseon mentioned Lee Rip’s funeral.

Only for a moment.

“You have that letter?”

Tanakseon smiled.

“The martial arts *g訣* [secret manual] that Hwangbo-wian had? The one delivered to the Seven Severed Fiends?”

“…!”

“Later, he even tried to burn it to destroy the evidence.”

Hwangbo-eon’s face crumpled as he tried to gauge how much the other party knew about the letter.

If they had already identified the contact using a wanted notice, there was no point in hiding it anymore.

“Are you currently detaining that child?”

Tanakseon simply wore an ambiguous expression in response to Hwangbo-eon’s question.

“If you don’t want to answer, I’ll ask something else. Do you have that letter now?”

“What if I do?”

“Give it to me. It’s something that shouldn’t exist in this world.”

“For whom?”

“For my family. And for you too.”

“What if I refuse?”

Hwangbo-eon’s eyes flashed coldly for a moment.

Still, he was the head of a prestigious orthodox family.

No matter how great the reputation of Shinma’s Lineage was in the current Jianghu [the martial arts world], it was not comparable to their long history.

That’s why he was even more offended by the current situation.

Even if the subject of negotiation was Blood Demon or Mangsang Choja, or Bingok Seonja, he wouldn’t be as angry as he was now.

Suppressing his anger, Hwangbo-eon opened his mouth.

“There must be a reason you called me out here. Tell me what you want.”

“That’s unexpected.”

“…?”

“I thought you would try to appease or threaten me to hand over the letter.”

Hwangbo-eon’s eyebrows twitched.

“What do you think of me…”

Hwangbo-eon, who was speechless and dumbfounded for a moment, let out a hollow laugh.

“Well, you never know what someone will do when they’re cornered.”

There was a reason for the saying, ‘A cornered beast will bite.’

Whether it was a beast or a person, they would do anything to survive when in trouble.

Tanakseon, staring at Hwangbo-eon, opened his mouth.

“No Dan-yang. We’re looking for that person.”

“We?”

Koo-oong.

Hwangbo-eon turned around in surprise at the sudden sound.

The entrance to the mountain stronghold he had entered was tightly closed.

And the person standing in front of it was…

“Mangsang Choja!”

It was Beom Gye-wi.

“At least he wasn’t a rotten nobleman to the core.”

“…!”

Hwangbo-eon turned his head again at the voice coming from the opposite side.

Hwangbo-eon, who discovered Cho Ak-ryang leaning against the retaining wall supporting the wooden fence about five feet away, unknowingly let out a groan.

‘Even Blood Demon…’

He hadn’t noticed their presence at all, even though they were so close!

Only then did he realize why Tanakseon was so confident in front of him.

“Tsk. What a pity. I was going to stretch my body properly for once.”

Beom Gye-wi smacked his lips as if he was very disappointed.

It was then that Tanakseon took out a half-burnt letter from his pocket.

“The reason I asked you to see me is to prevent many people from dying. If you miss this opportunity, you will definitely regret it.”

“Regret?”

Hwangbo-eon glared at Tanakseon.

“Does that mean that Muwi is officially declaring war on our family… No, the Murim Alliance?”

“No.”

“…?”

“Not Muwi, but the entire Murim. And the target will be limited to the Hwangbo Clan, not the Murim Alliance.”

“What? What does that mean…”

“If the contents of this letter are announced through the Beggars’ Sect, do you think the Murim Alliance will share its fate with the Hwangbo Clan?”

“…!”

Hwangbo-eon’s eyes, unable to speak, shook violently.

That was true.

If it was Je Gal-yeon, he was definitely the kind of person who would do that.

He would draw a line with them for the sake of the Murim Alliance’s survival.

It would be fortunate if he didn’t brand them as traitors.

“The Mo Yong Family was first.”

“What?”

Tanakseon calmly continued in response to Hwangbo-eon’s question.

“The contact who went back and forth between Je Gal-yeon and No Dan-yang before your family’s people.”

“….”

“That person is already dead. The next role has been given to the Hwangbo Clan in his place. Do you know what that means?”

Tanakseon spoke instead of Hwangbo-eon, who couldn’t answer.

“What Je Gal-yeon wants is an accomplice.”

“…!”

“If that wasn’t his intention, he would have ordered his trusted confidant to do it.”

Hwangbo-eon bit his lip.

He had already expected it to some extent, but the truth he heard through another person’s mouth was truly painful.

“Once you’re involved with the Seven Severed Fiends, you’ll never be able to escape Je Gal-yeon’s grasp. Now that Hwangbo-wian has disappeared, someone from another family will take on that role next. Perhaps another family was in charge of that role before the Mo Yong Family.”

“….”

“Je Gal-yeon will not hesitate to let go of the hand he held with the Hwangbo Clan the moment the Seven Severed Fiends are mentioned. Even if this letter is in the Murim Alliance Leader’s handwriting, it’s not direct evidence. He’ll claim it’s a *g訣* of demonic arts left for research. He’s meticulous, so he must not have left any evidence. He must have given the instructions about the Seven Severed Fiends verbally.”

Hwangbo-eon flinched.

That was definitely true.

Tanakseon drove a wedge further.

“If the Murim Alliance lets go of the Hwangbo Clan’s hand, who will be the happiest?”

“Could it be?”

“That’s right. There’s someone in Muwi who’s waiting for the right time and grinding his teeth. I’m barely holding him back, but that’s reaching its limit now.”

“Ak Ho-goon…”

In fact, the bandits had suffered almost no damage.

In the current situation, for the Hwangbo Clan to fight a decisive battle with the bandits alone without the support of the Murim Alliance was no different from jumping into a fire with firewood on their backs.

“Whether the bandits who left Muwi will scatter into mountain strongholds or gather in Shandong right away depends solely on your decision.”

Tanakseon smiled and stared at Hwangbo-eon.

“Now do you know why I said it was an opportunity?”

Hwangbo-eon realized that he was cornered.

In a miserable and painful state, he felt like he was about to get sick and fall into demonic possession.

But at that moment.

A mumbling voice pierced his ears.

“Refuse. Please refuse…”

Turning his head towards the source of the voice, he saw Beom Gye-wi eagerly anticipating something with desperate eyes.

Beom Gye-wi, belatedly realizing Hwangbo-eon’s gaze, was startled and shut his mouth.

Beom Gye-wi gave an awkward smile at Cho Ak-ryang’s stinging gaze.

“Did I say that out loud just now?”

“Why don’t you bring out a bowl of water and offer a prayer too?”

Hwangbo-eon suddenly felt a chill down his spine at Cho Ak-ryang’s taunt.

Come to think of it, the enemy he had to be wary of was not just the bandits.

At Lee Rip’s funeral, Cho Ak-ryang and Beom Gye-wi had already declared a bloody revenge on not only No Dan-yang, the heinous criminal, but also everyone related to him.

Not to mention Han Seol-hwa, who shared their intentions.

‘Moreover…’

The masters of the Demonic Sect gathered in Muwi.

He could not overlook their existence, who would throw themselves without hesitation at Tanakseon’s words.

Hwangbo-eon felt dizzy.

He belatedly realized that the entire Hwangbo Clan, including himself, was in an extremely dangerous situation.

A serious crisis that could not be expressed in words such as ‘the few cannot defeat the many’ or ‘throwing an egg against a rock.’

Cold sweat streamed down Hwangbo-eon’s face.

Tanakseon opened his mouth towards him.

“Let me tell you in advance, Hwangbo-wian is dead.”

“What?”

Hwangbo-eon’s eyes wavered for a moment at the death of Hwangbo-wian, who was the son of his older brother and his great-nephew.

But soon he couldn’t hide his doubts.

If Tanakseon had hidden the truth and said that he was detaining Hwangbo-wian, he would have had no other choice.

But he realized the reason at Tanakseon’s next words.

“Since the Murim Alliance Leader will never reveal the truth himself, if I keep my mouth shut, no one will know that the Hwangbo Clan is related to the Seven Severed Fiends.”

“…!”

“With this much, you can believe that I gave you a chance, right?”

Tanakseon frowned at Hwangbo-eon, who was still hesitant and unable to open his mouth.

“Shall I ease your worries?”

“…?”

“I’m not afraid of a war with the Murim Alliance. I just don’t like unnecessary sacrifices.”

Hwangbo-eon’s heart sank at those words.

Not to mention Beom Gye-wi, who was muttering and expecting something even at this moment, and Cho Ak-ryang, who was emitting a chilling gaze, was gradually raising a dense murderous aura.

Finally, Hwangbo-eon realized one thing.

‘This child was stopping them!’

If Tanakseon said one word, those monsters who were released as they were would bring a truly terrible blood storm.

“As for the heinous criminals and collaborators who killed the Clan Lord, I will also share my intentions with these people.”

Hwangbo-eon flinched as he met Tanakseon’s eyes.

The eyes of the child, who had been smiling kindly until just now, had already turned cold.

“So decide now.”