Chapter 677
Clang. Gugugung.
Along with the suddenly opened Stone Gate, light poured out.
As Heukung and Yohee, accustomed to the darkness, instinctively cowered and groaned, someone’s voice pierced their ears.
“Oh, quite a sight to behold.”
“……”
“Indeed. That’s how the barbarians of the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace should be.”
At the drunken, swaying voice, the two trembled.
Was it because they felt humiliated by the mockery and ridicule in the words?
No. It was because of fear and terror.
‘This voice is…’
Yohee, recognizing the other party’s identity, felt as if all the blood in her body was turning cold.
How could she forget? The voice of the Evil Spirit who appeared like a ghost, massacred his subordinates, and turned Heukung into a one-armed man with a single move.
As Yohee’s hair turned white, Heukung’s suppressed whisper reached her.
“Remember. Never open your eyes…”
Thud!
“Keuhuk!,”
A scream echoed along with a tearing sound.
Although Yohee, following the advice, had tightly closed her eyes, it was not difficult to imagine Heukung spitting out dark red blood due to internal injuries.
“Stop! Please stop!”
“Ku, kulleok. Yohee, stay still…”
Thud! Thump.
At the sound of another tearing sound, Yohee couldn’t help but open her eyes.
Heukung, tied up and collapsed. And the Evil Spirit stood tall in front of him, who had spat out a bowlful of blood.
“Y-you.”
“I heard you were a clever girl, but it was just a rumor.”
At Yohee’s trembling voice, the Evil Spirit grinned, revealing his yellow teeth.
White hair, disheveled, and narrow, slit eyes. Although he had covered his face with a mask, the old man before her was definitely that Evil Spirit.
“Why didn’t you listen to that guy? If you hadn’t looked at this old man’s face, you could have lived a little longer.”
“……”
“Well, there’s nothing I can do now. I have no choice but to send both of you lovebirds to the afterlife together.”
The old man, shrugging his shoulders, stretched out his abnormally long arms compared to his small frame.
As the palm of his hand, covered with inexplicable spots, approached, the smell of death grew stronger. It was at that moment, when Yohee, sensing her end, was about to struggle.
“That’s enough, Black Hand.”
At a word that leaked out from the half-opened Stone Gate, the old man called Black Hand withdrew his hand and sighed.
“Geez, I can’t even joke around anymore because I’m being watched.”
An unseen someone answered.
“Are you talking to me right now?”
At the voice as cold as eternal snow, Black Hand clicked his tongue.
“Of course not. I’m just talking to myself, talking to myself.”
“Stop acting like a thunderbolt. Surely you haven’t forgotten the Demon Queen’s command.”
Black Hand’s face contorted.
“A thunderbolt, you say. I never thought I’d hear such words at my age.”
“Then you should act your age. If you act rashly with the grand plan right in front of us, I won’t forgive you.”
“I’ll take that as an answer.”
Although she couldn’t feel any presence, Yohee realized that someone outside the Stone Gate had disappeared. It was because of Black Hand’s muttering that followed soon after.
“Damn old hag.”
It might have been just a minor complaint to Black Hand, but Yohee had to struggle to hide her shock and fear.
‘It wasn’t just this guy…’
She didn’t know who the owner of the suddenly intervening cold voice was. But she could tell just from the conversation between the two.
He was someone whose age and martial prowess made even the Evil Spirit before her obedient. And in addition to that…
‘Demon Queen. He definitely said Demon Queen.’
Two letters that appeared during the short conversation. Demon Queen.
And Yohee already knew who that word referred to.
‘Southern Demon Empress.’
A key figure in Dark Heaven, known to be strangely beautiful and more dangerous than beautiful.
Everything about the Southern Demon Empress was treated as top secret information, but Yohee, one of only four tribal chiefs in the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace, was an exception.
Above all, she had Baek Sang, a great tree she could trust and rely on.
‘If you stand by my side, I will give you what you want.’
That was what Baek Sang had said at their first meeting, right after she had risen to the position of tribal chief as a woman. To that, Yohee had asked.
‘What do you intend to give me?’
‘Vast wealth and influence. And the revival of the Yo tribe.’
‘Interesting. But I’ll refuse.’
‘Why?’
‘Even if I accept Baek Sang’s offer, I won’t get as much as I want. I have bigger ambitions than you think. I’m not naive enough to turn Palace Lord Yal Cheok into an enemy because of a promise that won’t be kept.’
‘You inherited the Western Wilderness when you became the tribal chief this time. Do you have trustworthy confidants there?’
‘Of course. But why suddenly…’
‘I was thinking of sending a gift to celebrate, though belatedly. First of all, five carts of gold should be enough.’
…
‘Go back for today. If you intend to accept the offer, let’s meet again at this time tomorrow.’
Five carts of gold.
Yohee, who had initially been skeptical of the enormous amount she couldn’t even imagine, had no choice but to be convinced after directly confirming the piles of yellow, gleaming gold waiting for her.
Baek Sang always keeps his promises.
If she stood by his side, she would be able to get more than what she wanted.
So the next day, Yohee, who had spent the night awake, went straight to Baek Sang and realized that her judgment was correct.
No, she believed it was correct.
Until the Evil Spirit before her came.
“Hoo, look at this little bitch.”
As if he had never been upset, Black Hand smiled vaguely like a drunkard.
“Looking at her eyes wide open, it seems like she’s got a grasp of what’s going on. Huh?”
“I, I…”
“Well, this old man has heard the general story. Thanks to you, the work we’re preparing has been easily resolved. In that respect, Baek Sang, that guy, did a pretty good job for a barbarian.”
Yohee’s pupils shook violently.
She couldn’t believe the current situation, where she was not only acting as a puppet for Dark Heaven but also in danger of death.
“That can’t be. That can’t be. I didn’t know…”
“Didn’t know? Or were you pretending not to know?”
“……”
“I don’t even need to ask. Well, since you’ve been following Baek Sang for over ten years, a tribal chief like you would have had doubts.”
Yohee could only stare blankly at Black Hand, who was chuckling.
Because everything the Evil Spirit before her was saying was true.
The first start was insignificant. She sided with Baek Sang’s opinion at the annual conference, and gold and influence rolled in like vines just by following a few minor instructions he gave.
However, as time passed, her doubts grew stronger, and she began to feel uneasy about the two letters, Dark Heaven, which she had started hearing frequently just a few months ago.
But that was it. She tried to ignore and suppress the doubts and anxieties that had taken root in her heart.
Because there was too much to reveal and fix everything now. The tribesmen of the Yo tribe were looking up to Yohee, who had revived the slowly weakening tribe, and the tribal chiefs who had treated her like a young girl bowed their heads first.
Even the strong Beast Miao King and Baek Sang would eventually return to a handful of soil. When that time came, she could aim for the vacant throne.
To rise to the position of palace lord as a woman and rewrite the history of the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace.
However, the grand ambition that Yohee had been repeating every night was now collapsing completely.
“Still, you should be grateful to this old man. If the previous tribal chief of the Yo tribe hadn’t died suddenly, how could a fool like you have lived in luxury until now?”
“Th, that means…”
“He was a tricky old man in many ways. His martial arts were terrible, but he was quick-witted instead. Fortunately, a plague broke out in the Yo tribe, so it was easy to deal with.”
Black Hand smiled and continued.
“Isn’t it strange? Even if the old tribal chief is old, the three sons who should have succeeded him died, and the turn came to the tribal chief’s illegitimate daughter, whom he had late in life.”
“Ugh!”
“At that time, Baek Sang’s expression was quite a sight to see. He kept trying to persuade that old man and dragged out the time until the end… Still, he didn’t rush in, probably because he had a tough life. It’s a shame.”
Yohee stared at Black Hand with empty eyes. She thought she no longer had anything to be surprised about or any energy left.
But this, too, was just her own delusion.
“Still, she was pretty good for a girl. Tracking Incense even in the midst of a life-threatening situation, did she inherit that caution from her old father?”
Tracking Incense. At the three letters that flowed out from Black Hand’s dark lips, her slender figure froze.
And Black Hand, who had shattered even Yohee’s last hope, couldn’t contain his joy.
“Why, did you think this old man wouldn’t know?”
Black Hand read the despair in her trembling eyes and chuckled.
He had faced these emotions countless times so far, but the joy that surged at each of these moments had not dulled in the slightest.
“Oh my. You naive girl. You foolish child.”
Like the name Black Hand, a palm covered in black spots caresses her white cheek.
“You are truly beautiful. No wonder the Demon Queen coveted you.”
The old man opened his mouth like a beast in front of its prey. A terrible stench emanated from his teeth, which were all rotten or grotesquely twisted.
“I’d like to kill you all with one blow, but… I’ll put up with it this time. Because there’s something I have to do before that.”
Leaving Yohee, who had frozen like a bug caught in a spider web, Black Hand got up from his seat.
And at that moment when he glanced at Heukung, who had already lost consciousness and collapsed, and approached the Stone Gate.
Gugugugung!
Black Hand could hear it.
Along with the roar that echoed all around, someone’s shout seemed to be coming from afar.
– Come out! You bastards!
Kuaaaang!
Now, it was time to go and greet the guests who had come a long way.
My way of calling out the enemies was simple.
Break, destroy, and smash.
Poison Mist? Poisonous things? Enemies hiding somewhere, watching for an opportunity?
I didn’t care. I started rampaging like an 8-ton truck with a broken steering wheel, smashing everything in the Poison Blood Ground.
So that the enemies couldn’t help but come out.
And this effort of mine soon bore fruit.
“A vigorous young man.”
“I thought it would be Beast Miao King who came… Are you that Jin Taekyung?”
Following the voice, I slowly turned around and could see.
A short, stocky old man swaying as if he had taken drugs, and a tall old man exuding a chill as if his hometown was the Antarctic Sejong Station.
Although these two people were so contrasting, they also had something in common.
First. They were transcendent masters.
Second. They exuded a murderous aura that showed their will to never let me leave alive.
And after briefly contemplating while looking at the two old men, I sternly opened my mouth.
“One of you stay out. I’ll deal with you one by one according to the laws of the Jianghu.”
The answer came quickly.
Swoosh, Kwang!
Yeah, damn it. I knew it wouldn’t work.