Chapter 146: It’s Going to Be Noisy for a While
Jin Sahong of the Murim Alliance and Jeong Gyeol Gyeong of the Black Lotus were quietly drinking together in a shabby tavern.
It had already been an hour since they met, but neither had spoken, sipping their drinks in silence.
The stir-fried meat served as a side dish remained untouched. Empty jars of alcohol piled up one after another.
After a while, Jin Sahong broke the silence.
“Seems like the alcohol is finally kicking in.”
A slight smile formed at the corner of Jeong Gyeol Gyeong’s lips.
“I’m far from that point.”
Jin Sahong shook his head.
“You’re not a kid anymore…”
After a brief pause, Jin Sahong subtly asked,
“Have you learned anything?”
Jeong Gyeol Gyeong’s expression hardened.
“Well… a couple of things.”
Jin Sahong’s eyebrows twitched, but he quickly composed his face.
“Seems similar to us.”
Jeong Gyeol Gyeong stared at Jin Sahong. Jin Sahong didn’t avoid his gaze and stared back at him.
Eventually, both men sighed and shook their heads simultaneously.
“Hah. Instead of dancing around the issue, how about we just lay it all out? We’re already exhausted and overwhelmed; I’d rather not waste energy on trivial games like this.”
“I agree.”
Finally, the two began to reveal their hands.
“It’s clear that they came to the Golden Wall Merchants to find something. We interrogated the three we captured, and all of them said the same thing.”
Jeong Gyeol Gyeong nodded at Jin Sahong’s words.
“The ones we caught said the same. The problem is…”
“They don’t know what it is.”
“How about probing Byeok Taesoo about it?”
“I already tried. Unlike the Black Lotus, we have a somewhat direct connection with the Golden Wall Merchants, albeit a weak one, so we had a reason to ask.”
“What did he say?”
“He claimed he didn’t know. He even said he wasn’t aware of such an organization, which is just a polite way of saying he doesn’t want to tell us.”
“Could it be something like demonic arts or Jiangshi?”
Jin Sahong chuckled at Jeong Gyeol Gyeong’s suggestion.
“Do you want to push for that? If you’re going to spout nonsense, you might as well leave.”
“It’s just a figure of speech. No need to get worked up over it.”
The two men fell into silence once again.
It was Jin Sahong who broke the silence this time as well.
“The ones we didn’t catch must have escaped Wuhan by now.”
“They’ve probably returned to the Golden Moon Merchants.”
“And they likely took the treasure with them?”
“Most likely.”
Jin Sahong’s lips twisted into a scowl.
“That’s infuriating.”
“And a little painful.”
Jin Sahong glared at Jeong Gyeol Gyeong. Jeong Gyeol Gyeong, of course, met his gaze without flinching.
“I feel like you’re thinking the same thing as me. Am I wrong?”
“Probably not.”
Jin Sahong grinned.
“I want to at least poke them and see what spills out, even if I can’t have the treasure.”
“Is that so? I’m different. I’d rather tear them apart entirely.”
“If the Murim Alliance and the Black Lotus join forces, we can make that happen. Who’s good at spreading rumors again?”
“That would be the Hao Clan.”
“Great. I’ll commission them for that. Oh, and why not involve the Hubei Martial Alliance, the Namgoong Clan, and the Zhuge Clan? It’ll be even better.”
“I’ll take care of contacting them.”
The two men exchanged knowing smiles.
“Isn’t it customary to widely publicize who owns treasures like this so everyone can join the celebration?”
“Exactly.”
They downed the remaining alcohol in one gulp.
As expected, there was little valuable information to be gained from the Azure Martial Hall warriors.
The Hao Clan handled their interrogation, utilizing their unique methods. However, since their techniques didn’t work, they resorted to psychological probing.
Although they managed to extract more information than the Murim Alliance or Black Lotus could, the Azure Martial Hall warriors didn’t know much to begin with, making their intel largely unhelpful.
After the Hao Clan’s interrogation, the captives were handed over to Byeok Taesan.
Byeok Taesan took them one by one, extracting their spirits and burning them.
This process allowed him to read the emotional imprints left behind.
Sometimes, unexpected information could be uncovered this way, but this time, the results were minimal.
The captives truly knew nothing more than the fact that they needed to retrieve an incredibly important treasure from the Golden Wall Merchants.
The information extracted by the Hao Clan and Byeok Taesan pertained more to the Golden Moon Merchants and the Azure Martial Hall than anything else.
And the same held true for the martial artists of the Supreme Heavenly Sect.
The information they had gathered was mostly related to the Golden Moon Merchants and the Supreme Heavenly Sect, with occasional mentions of the Nine Dragon Gate.
The interrogation of Jang Joong-san, Gwan Hooseung, and Jang Deuk-chul had also been conducted first by the Hao Clan.
However, their methods had proved ineffective. None of the techniques employed by the Hao Clan had worked.
Even torture had been used, but it was equally fruitless.
In the end, the trio was simply handed over to Byeok Taesan.
Byeok Taesan merely looked at the three of them in silence.
The three men were sitting comfortably in chairs, entirely unrestrained—even their pressure points remained untouched.
Yet, they sat utterly still, unable to move, as if paralyzed.
They themselves couldn’t understand why they were in this state.
The thought of escaping didn’t even cross their minds.
Jang Joong-san was the first to realize why.
"Could it be that we’ve been crushed by fear?"
At first, he dismissed the idea. He didn’t feel afraid, not consciously.
But as the thought lingered and he examined it further, he began to grasp the truth.
This was fear. But it was so overwhelming, so colossal, that the victims didn’t even realize it.
It was a primal fear, something that operated on an instinctual level, leaving them unaware of what was affecting them until it became undeniable.
After coming to this realization, Jang Joong-san stared blankly at Byeok Taesan.
What kind of being could do something so terrifying so effortlessly?
Though Jang Joong-san was the first to sense the situation, it was Jang Deuk-chul who broke the silence.
"I will keep my mouth shut for the rest of my life. Furthermore, I will offer full support for anything related to the Golden Wall Merchants. If necessary, I can provide substantial compensation. So, won’t you let us go?"
Jang Joong-san was impressed. Honestly, he couldn’t have spoken even if he’d wanted to.
Yet Jang Deuk-chul, crushed by immense fear, had managed to speak up.
"His personality might be trash, but his potential is remarkable,"
In terms of martial arts, Jang Deuk-chul was slightly weaker than Gwan Hooseung.
Although the Azure Martial Hall was superior to the Supreme Heavenly Sect, Gwan Hooseung was still the sect leader of the Supreme Heavenly Sect.
Jang Joong-san glanced at Gwan Hooseung. Though his face was expressionless, his eyes betrayed his alarm.
Clearly, he wanted to speak but couldn’t.
Just as Jang Joong-san had suspected, Byeok Taesan regarded Jang Deuk-chul with a hint of interest in his gaze.
Jang Deuk-chul hurriedly continued when he noticed Byeok Taesan’s expression.
"If you’re curious about anything, ask. As long as you let me go, I’ll answer everything within my knowledge."
"I don’t need it."
Jang Deuk-chul’s eyes quivered at Byeok Taesan’s response, sensing the resoluteness in his tone.
But it didn’t add up. If Byeok Taesan truly didn’t need information, why had he captured and interrogated them in the first place?
Jang Deuk-chul recalled the questions the Hao Clan had repeatedly asked during their interrogation.
"Are you really not curious why we were searching for the Golden Wall?"
Byeok Taesan remained silent, simply looking at Jang Deuk-chul.
Jang Deuk-chul took this as a sign that Byeok Taesan’s interest had been piqued and quickly spoke up.
"The Golden Wall contains secrets about the Heavenly Demon’s martial arts."
Byeok Taesan tilted his head slightly.
"That’s what I know."
His words froze the three men in place.
Their eyes filled with shock as they stared at Byeok Taesan.
"You… know about the Golden Wall?" Jang Deuk-chul muttered with a trembling voice.
When Byeok Taesan smirked, Jang Deuk-chul quickly asked, "Who… who are you? How do you know such things?"
Byeok Taesan grinned and replied, "I am the Heavenly Demon."
"That’s absurd! The Heavenly Demon is dead!" Jang Deuk-chul shouted in desperation.
Byeok Taesan nodded. "Indeed, he died."
Jang Deuk-chul fell silent, staring at Byeok Taesan, who continued with a sinister smile.
"And now, he has returned."
Terror filled the three men’s eyes. It was no longer the subconscious, crushing fear, it was raw, genuine fear that now consumed them.
"H-how… how…!"
The three men realized their fate. Having heard those words, how could they possibly survive?
Byeok Taesan raised his arm slightly, revealing a golden bracelet on his wrist.
"This was made after studying the Golden Wall. It’s… decent, I suppose."
He then looked at them and asked, "But what I’m curious about is how you know about the Golden Wall. Honestly, even I, as the Heavenly Demon, didn’t know about it."
The three men clamped their mouths shut and stared at Byeok Taesan, their gazes heavy with determination.
They believed the information they held was valuable and intended to use it to negotiate for their survival.
Seeing their resolve, Byeok Taesan chuckled.
"Foolish. Did you really think I asked to hear it from your lips?"
With that, Byeok Taesan strode toward them with deliberate steps.
And so, he placed his hand on Gwan Hooseung’s crown and pulled out his spirit with a sharp motion.
"Work hard to use that brain of yours. The more fragmented thoughts I can hear, the better."
Gwan Hooseung’s spirit erupted in flames.
Of course, the remaining two couldn’t see the scene; they could only hear the sound.
“Arrrghhh!”
A heart-wrenching scream, filled with agony as if his lungs had been ripped apart, echoed through the air.
The fear in the eyes of the remaining two deepened further.
••••••
A rumor, its origin unknown, was circulating.
It was about the Golden Moon Merchants.
The rumor claimed that two of their affiliated martial factions had made a move to steal a treasure from the Golden Wall Merchants.
What the treasure was remained a mystery. However, it was said to be worth far more than hundreds of luminous pearls combined with a hundred golden crowns.
The rumor spread primarily among the martial arts sects and large merchant groups.
And soon, many curious individuals emerged, eager to verify the truth of this rumor.
Some with considerable power or influence even visited the Golden Wall Merchants directly to uncover the facts.
While they didn’t reveal their conclusions publicly after visiting, word quickly turned into another rumor:
It was true.
The Golden Wall Merchants largely refrained from making public statements. However, they officially acknowledged that the Golden Moon Merchants had visited, and that Azure Martial Hall had attacked their guards before fleeing.
Since five separate groups had witnessed the event, not even the Golden Moon Merchants could distort or cover up the truth.
As the truth mingled with rumors, it spread like wildfire.
As a result, the Golden Moon Merchants found themselves in unprecedented trouble.
No one openly exerted force against them, but countless parties covertly restrained them and sought to expose the truth in various ways.
The Golden Moon Merchants had to thwart these attempts meticulously, as they held numerous secrets that couldn’t be revealed at any cost.
Because of this, the atmosphere at the Golden Moon Merchants headquarters felt as tense as walking on thin ice every single day.
Deep within the headquarters, in a hall where the core members of the merchant group had gathered, serious expressions were etched onto their faces.
“It’s been five days since I ordered you to assess the situation, yet no one has reported back to me. My disappointment is immeasurable.”
At the Merchant Lord’s remark, the gathered individuals bowed their heads in shame.
It wasn’t that they had no excuses.
In normal circumstances, three days would have sufficed to assess and resolve a situation of this magnitude.
In some cases, they could have handled it in as little as two days.
Such was the power of the Golden Moon Merchants.
But this time, things were different.
For one, there were simply too many forces trying to hinder them.
Even low-level opportunists swarmed in droves, causing even the Golden Moon Merchants to feel overwhelmed.
Of course, once the situation stabilized, those pests would be thoroughly dealt with. But that was a matter for later.
“Not a single one of them has returned. Not one.”
The Merchant Lord glanced around at those present.
“Have their lives been confirmed?”
A subordinate quickly stepped forward as if waiting for the question.
“We managed to retrieve Azure Martial Hall members by seeking assistance from the Murim Alliance, Black Lotus, Hubei Martial Alliance, Namgoong Clan, and Zhuge Clan.”
The subordinate didn’t bother mentioning the significant sum of money spent in the process.
“What about the others?”
“They’ve vanished without a trace.”
The Merchant Lord stared intently at the reporting subordinate.
“It doesn’t make sense. Didn’t Soma Ruk also get involved?”
“Yes. He insisted on following them.”
“And he hasn’t returned either?”
“No.”
“Not even a trace of him?”
“No.”
The subordinate’s voice grew fainter.
“How many people in the current Murim could face Soma Ruk and win?”
“To my knowledge, fewer than twenty.”
“If Soma Ruk were determined to escape, could anyone kill him without leaving a trace?”
“The Nine Dragons Gate could do it.”
The Merchant Lord nodded.
“Indeed. Which means that the Supreme Heavenly Sect and Azure Martial Hall are incapable of pulling it off. And so are most sects and organizations.”
Everyone nodded, agreeing with the Merchant Lord’s reasoning.
“What are the chances that the Golden Wall Merchants orchestrated all this?”
At the Merchant Lord’s question, most showed skeptical expressions.
“Almost impossible.”
The Merchant Lord tilted his head, still puzzled.
“Strange. Something feels very strange.”
By all logic, the Golden Wall Merchants were victims in this situation.
Yet, for some reason, the Merchant Lord felt otherwise.
It wasn’t based on any evidence or reasoning, just a gut feeling.
It felt as though critical pieces of information were missing entirely.
“In any case… it’s going to be noisy for a while.”
Murmuring to himself, the Merchant Lord thought of the Nameless Sect.
Perhaps it was time to contact them.