Chapter 590
“Something that needs to be resolved?”
“Yes.”
Wei Yan-ho shrugged his shoulders.
Shin Gi-sua’s brow furrowed slightly. Right now their allies were being pursued, yet there was something more urgent than supporting them?
Though he felt suspicious, he decided to hear Wei Yan-ho out first. That bastard often spouted nonsense, but he wasn’t someone who said meaningless things.
It was a subtle difference, but there was a difference nonetheless.
“What do you mean needs to be resolved?”
“The seizures.”
“…Ah!”
Shin Gi-sua let out an exclamation.
“If we don’t figure out exactly how those seizures occur, the same thing will just repeat itself. What happens if the people going to rescue them have seizures too?”
“Certainly.”
Shin Gi-sua admitted he had been hasty.
‘Stay calm.’
A strategist’s true abilities are displayed not in peacetime but in wartime. No matter how shocking events were occurring consecutively, losing composure like this wasn’t like him.
Anxiety.
What was making Shin Gi-sua rush right now was precisely this anxiety.
The great battle of Anhui was a war they absolutely had to win. That’s why they mobilized everything they could. They went all out to the point of completely emptying their main base.
Yet they still lost.
They needed to block Anhui to be able to face the approaching Demon Cult. At this rate, they’d have to simultaneously face the pincer attack of the Hundred Sword Castle and the Demon Cult pressing in from left and right.
Even the Righteous Martial Alliance couldn’t withstand that.
That’s why they had to save at least those who remained. They needed to at least match numbers and preserve comparable strength to plan for the future. Every single person they lost at this moment was painfully precious.
So it was impossible to make normal judgments.
‘Yet he’s maintaining his composure in the midst of all this?’
Shin Gi-sua had been surprised by Wei Yan-ho several times today.
‘There are people like that.’
The type who doesn’t particularly do anything or help in peacetime, but shines brighter than anyone when crisis strikes.
“…Actually, no.”
“Yes?”
“No, it’s nothing.”
Shin Gi-sua cleared his throat.
His thoughts had gotten a bit carried away. Wei Yan-ho was just Wei Yan-ho. Having expectations only led to suffering.
Wei Yan-ho, not particularly caring, asked Chilji Shingae.
“By the way.”
“Mm?”
“You said everyone there had seizures simultaneously.”
“I didn’t see the exact timing of the seizures myself, but from the circumstances, it seemed that way.”
“Then that’s…”
Wei Yan-ho looked around at the Wei Family members.
“That’s right.”
“Exactly that.”
It was identical to what they experienced at the Sichuan Dang Family. Though the scale had grown much larger.
“Hmm, you’re talking about the contents of the report.”
Shin Gi-sua also seemed to recall the report he’d received from Wei Jeong-han, his face becoming serious.
“Seeing as there was no poison, we can’t say it’s completely identical, but judging by how people who had never learned demonic arts were spewing demonic energy, it seems like the same symptoms. That means…”
Wei Jeong-han drew the conclusion instead of Wei Yan-ho.
“No one knows who will have seizures. It means the Dang Family, Shaolin, Wudang, and even Namgung all showed the same symptoms.”
Shin Gi-sua anxiously tapped his thigh.
‘Is such a thing possible?’
No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t figure out how such a thing could have happened. Despite all those people and all those masters being there, no one could respond.
Only the results were visible. He couldn’t guess at the cause and process at all, so how was he supposed to deal with it? Even if he could eliminate the results themselves, there was no way to prevent such things from happening again.
“But a countermeasure…”
Wei Yan-ho scratched his head.
“Let’s think about it simply, simply.”
“Mm?”
“Beggar Grandpa!”
“Mmm…”
Chilji Shingae nodded reluctantly. Though Wei Yan-ho was meeting him for the first time, Chilji Shingae knew Wei Yan-ho all too well. Through Jang-il’s daily reports, he had already finished analyzing what kind of person Wei Yan-ho was.
‘Get involved with him and you’ll suffer.’
The best approach was to avoid getting entangled with such a guy as much as possible. But now is wartime. It wasn’t a situation where he could avoid things just because he wanted to.
“Everyone had seizures, you said.”
“That’s right.”
“Wasn’t there anything strange?”
“Huh? Something strange?”
“Yes.”
Wei Yan-ho elaborated briefly.
“It’s a bit strange that so many people would show madness simultaneously. Even if they arranged something, there’s no way they could have synchronized the timing. They must have pulled some trick.”
“A trick…”
None of the people gathered here were stupid. They weren’t people who couldn’t understand Wei Yan-ho’s words.
‘There must have been a trigger.’
If they had caused poisoning, there must have been something that triggered that poison to cause seizures. Even if it wasn’t poisoning, there was definitely something.
“Now that I think about it…”
“Yes.”
“I had a vague feeling about it, but I passed it off as a mistake because I wasn’t sure…”
Chilji Shingae, who had been tilting his head slightly, cautiously opened his mouth. His tone suggested he wasn’t confident about it himself.
“I felt demonic energy.”
“…What obvious nonsense. You already said that earlier.”
“That’s not it – I felt demonic energy from the Hundred Sword Castle side too.”
“Eh? Really?”
The crowd looked at Chilji Shingae with surprised faces.
“I definitely felt something like demonic energy. That’s why I thought the same thing was happening at the Hundred Sword Castle too. But those bastards were fine. So I thought it was strange…”
He swallowed his dry saliva several times as if his throat was parched. Chilji Shingae’s voice became increasingly clearer.
“When I thought about it again, those bastards had joined hands with the Demon Cult anyway, so learning a few demonic arts wouldn’t be strange, so I just let it pass.”
“That’s strange.”
“Extremely strange.”
“Definitely strange indeed!”
Wei Jeong-han frowned.
“Would those bastards with pride as members of the Hundred Sword families learn demonic arts?”
“Does it make sense for people with pride to join hands with the Demon Cult? They’re guys who made an alliance with the Demon Cult – what wouldn’t they do?”
That was also a valid point.
But Wei Jeong-han had no choice but to shake his head.
“If demonic arts were helpful, that would be one thing. But demonic arts and the swords of the hundred families don’t mix. If the Sword Sage learned demonic arts, would he become stronger than he is now? Rather, it would only ruin his martial learning.”
“That’s true too.”
“Yet demonic energy was flowing out…”
“There’s something.”
It might have been important information. But right now, that information didn’t particularly matter. There were limits to what they could deduce from here.
“So there’s no countermeasure.”
Wei Yan-ho reached a simple conclusion.
“…Not at this stage.”
Shin Gi-sua kept hesitating.
He seemed to want to say something but couldn’t bring himself to do it.
“Then well, there’s no choice.”
Wei Yan-ho stood up from his seat.
“I’ll have to go.”
“Yan-ho!”
Wei Jeong-han jumped up in surprise.
“There’s no choice. Other people might have seizures if they go, and we need to send someone who’s been verified not to have seizures, but I’m the only suitable person.”
“It’s too dangerous! You alone…”
“Who said I’m going alone?”
“Huh?”
Wei Yan-ho grinned and pointed his finger at Wei Jeong-han.
At that gesture, Wei Jeong-han’s face turned white.
“We have to go together.”
“Me?”
“Yes. People who are confirmed not to have seizures are going. So Father and…”
Wei Yan-ho’s hand pointed to the next victim.
“Beggar.”
“…”
Jang-il’s cheeks trembled.
“And Scholar, Sword Ghost, Monk. Everyone has to go, everyone.”
“Damn it, you unfilial bastard! If you want to die, die alone – why are you trying to drag your father to death with you!”
“You were pretending to worry just a moment ago!”
“Of course I worry, I worry! But I have to save my own life too!”
A hellish scene was unfolding in the middle of the Righteous Martial Alliance – father and son bickering that neither would die alone. Those watching the scene all turned their heads and let out deep sighs.
‘Those crazy Guangdong Wei bastards.’
‘Do they want to act like this in this situation?’
‘How did such creatures appear?’
A person should consider the situation and the place to be human, shouldn’t they? If you just cause trouble anywhere you want, can that be called human?
“Enough!”
Wei Yan-ho pushed away the arguing Wei Jeong-han and turned his head sharply toward Shin Gi-sua.
“Military Strategist Grandpa!”
“…What now, you bastard.”
“Try contacting the Sichuan Dang Family.”
“Huh?”
“They’ll be making an antidote. I don’t know how far they’ve progressed, but it’ll definitely help. The symptoms are similar enough.”
Shin Gi-sua nodded.
The Poison King might have created countermeasures by now.
“Are you really going?”
“We have to go.”
“…Just you guys?”
“Well, having more people isn’t necessarily better. We’re people who escaped from that Demon Cult’s lair.”
“You almost died!”
“Half of us died!”
Ignoring the shouts of his protesting companions, Wei Yan-ho shrugged his shoulders.
“Well, anyway.”
Shin Gi-sua couldn’t understand Wei Yan-ho.
‘Why?’
Why was this bastard taking on such a role? If Wei Yan-ho were someone prepared to sacrifice his life for the safety and justice of the martial world, he could at least try to understand. But Wei Yan-ho wasn’t that kind of person.
Yet he was volunteering to walk into a death trap?
This wasn’t the Wei Yan-ho method he had known until now.
“Why go to such lengths?”
“There are various reasons.”
Wei Yan-ho answered calmly.
“First, if we don’t stop that, everyone dies in the end. I don’t want to die.”
“Mm…”
“And… I have to earn my keep.”
“Earn your keep?”
Wei Yan-ho scratched the back of his head.
“The Alliance Leader Grandpa bought me a meal before. I ate it well. So I have to pay for it.”
Wei Yan-ho paused briefly before saying.
“That way Alliance Leader Grandpa can close his eyes peacefully too. If casualties keep increasing like this, with that grandpa’s personality, he won’t be able to close his eyes.”
Shin Gi-sua closed his eyes.
‘I don’t understand.’
He couldn’t figure him out.
Sometimes he seemed like the world’s greatest scoundrel, yet sometimes he seemed to overflow with chivalry just like his father. He was rude and arrogant, but his inner feelings ran deep.
Wei Yan-ho was a guy who couldn’t be defined in a single word.
“And this is the biggest reason…”
“Mm?”
“I don’t want to get beaten to death.”
“…Huh?”
Wei Yan-ho scratched his head vigorously.
“This seems to be something I caused, so I have to resolve it somehow. Otherwise, I’m not really living even if I’m alive. I’ll get beaten to death later.”
When Shin Gi-sua made a face that showed he didn’t understand at all, Wei Yan-ho whispered, his voice transmission reaching only Shin Gi-sua’s ears. Shin Gi-sua’s face gradually changed as he heard the transmission.
At first he seemed flustered, then his face hardened, and finally turned bright red.
“Th-this… this is absurd!”
When Shin Gi-sua’s anger exploded, Wei Yan-ho instantly crossed the meeting room and burst out through the door.
“And try contacting the Wuhan Sacred Hand Hall. If you mention my name, they’ll contribute military funds. Well, I don’t know how much I’ve saved up.”
“Y-you bastard! Can’t you stop there!”
Shin Gi-sua jumped up and chased after Wei Yan-ho.
Those who didn’t understand what was happening could only look at each other and shrug.
“What’s going on?”
“Well, this is…”
One thing was certain.
The atmosphere had brightened.
Whether that was a good thing or not was unclear.
