Chapter 62: Successor Beggar, Jang Sopyeong (1)

Though Jang Sopyeong usually refrained from such vulgar expressions, he dared to say “Tang Clan, that kind of trash” as if he was scorning his own sect.

‘……What?’

The anger he had felt at Sewoon’s earlier reply quickly evaporated, replaced by utter bewilderment.

Staring blankly at Sewoon’s smile, Jang Sopyeong soon regained his senses and asked again.

“Hu, what on earth do you mean by that?”

“What else? Just what I said.”

When Sewoon shrugged and answered calmly, veins bulged on Jang Sopyeong’s forehead in the shape of a cross.

“……Even now you jest, as if you don’t know why my alias used to be Battle Dragon.”

“But haven’t the demonic practitioners Beggars’ Sect has been pursuing lately all been slipping through the net far too easily?”

“-!”

Sewoon suddenly cut him off.

For a fleeting moment, astonishment flashed in Jang Sopyeong’s eyes before vanishing.

‘……How could this brat know?’

Outwardly, he pretended to remain calm, but inside he was more shaken than ever.

That Sewoon might know the secret code, that he might even have uncovered Jang Sopyeong’s identity—those were unlikely, but not impossible.

But what Sewoon had just said was different.

This was a matter treated as the highest of secrets within Beggars’ Sect itself.

Yet Sewoon did not stop there.

“Especially the demonic practitioners above the Completion stage of the Transformation Realm. It would have been as though they suddenly evaporated into thin air, wouldn’t it?”

“!!”

“You must have tried relying on the Beggar Main Base Leader’s Spirit Hound, but it would have been useless.”

“Huh.”

Unwittingly, Jang Sopyeong let out a dry laugh.

He abandoned the pretense of calm.

No, he had no choice but to abandon it.

Everything Sewoon had said was entirely accurate.

The reason he had been appointed as Main Base Leader of Kaifeng earlier than planned was precisely to replace his predecessor, Law Beggar Poongsan, and resolve this mysterious situation.

‘What in the hell is going on……!’

Groaning with a sudden headache, Jang Sopyeong massaged his temples.

“Damn it, is there really a traitor leaking information from inside?”

“That’s not the case, so no need to worry.”

“Don’t jest with me……!”

Tak.

Suddenly, Sewoon pulled something from his robes and placed it on the mat.

It was a small glass vial, no bigger than a fingertip.

Inside the transparent bottle was a strange green liquid.

“……And that is?”

“That’s the item I said I’d wager as payment.”

“……!”

“And also the solution to Beggars’ Sect’s current problem.”

That?

Jang Sopyeong’s eyes widened in disbelief as he looked at the vial.

“It’s a tracking poison that can trace the Fragrance-Dissolving Water the demonic practitioners have been using.”

“……What??”

“When I pursued the Poison Demon, I managed to obtain a sample. I began researching it immediately, and recently achieved results.”

“No, no. Wait. Are you saying our pursuit failed because of the Divine Thief’s Fragrance-Dissolving Water? And that you created a poison that can track it?”

“That’s right.”

“!?”

The shocking words struck Jang Sopyeong like a hammer to the head.

The Fragrance-Dissolving Water.

A divine artifact that erased every trace of scent one carried in life—what had made the Divine Thief worthy of his name.

Recently, he had read a Murim Alliance report that raised suspicions the Poison Demon had used Fragrance-Dissolving Water in Sichuan to evade pursuit.

But he had dismissed it outright as an exaggerated, false report.

The report even claimed that Tang Clan’s direct descendant, Tang Sewoon, had tracked the unscented substance using nothing but his sense of smell.

‘Tracking Fragrance-Dissolving Water with a human nose? What nonsense.’

Everyone who read that report had concluded it was just the Tang Clan’s desperate attempt to restore their long-fallen honor.

Even Jang Sopyeong had thought Tang Sewoon had stumbled upon a trail purely by luck.

Yet now Sewoon was standing before him, claiming that the report was true—and that he had even created a tracking poison to counter it.

‘……Something even the Grand Strategist and Divine Physician failed to accomplish, he did alone? How could that be?’

In the past, when the Divine Thief had caused great havoc across the Central Plains, Murim Alliance’s Grand Strategist and Clan Head of Jaegal Clan, Jaegal Hun—known as Ten-Thousand Scholars—had worked together with the Divine Physician, Boyeon Divine Nun, to develop a tracking poison against Fragrance-Dissolving Water.

They had failed.

Two of the brightest talents in the orthodox sects had failed where this supposed young successor of a fallen clan now claimed success.

‘……But if the demonic practitioners really did use Fragrance-Dissolving Water, that would explain why even Malbok failed to track them.’

Unconsciously letting out a groaning sigh, Jang Sopyeong’s thoughts tangled further.

At last, he cautiously asked Sewoon.

“……Can you prove it?”

“That’s not difficult.”

Tak.

Sewoon once again took out another vial.

This time, the liquid inside was clear like water.

Even without explanation, Jang Sopyeong immediately knew what it was.

“You… you had Fragrance-Dissolving Water?”

“What foolish question is that? If I was going to make a tracking poison, of course I needed the original.”

“……True enough.”

Seeing Jang Sopyeong’s dumbfounded face, Sewoon clicked his tongue.

He then picked up a small stone from the floor.

Tok.

Opening the vial of Fragrance-Dissolving Water, he dripped a single drop onto the stone, then casually tossed it to Jang Sopyeong.

Sniff. Sniff.

The moment Jang Sopyeong brought it to his nose, his expression turned grim.

‘……Truly no smell at all.’

He could no longer deny that the vial contained real Fragrance-Dissolving Water.

Everything inside the hut reeked with staleness, yet that stone carried not the slightest trace of scent.

While Jang Sopyeong sat dumbfounded, Sewoon ignored him and lifted the green vial.

And then—

“Now, watch carefully.”

The moment Sewoon finally opened the glass vial—

Srrrk!

Saaa!

“!!”

A strange phenomenon occurred in the air between Sewoon and Jang Sopyeong.

Along the path the stone sprinkled with Fragrance-Dissolving Water had traveled through the air into Jang Sopyeong’s palm, a green smoke had formed, trailing like a long tail from Sewoon’s vial.

It was real……

Jang Sopyeong was so shocked he gaped with his mouth wide open, completely forgetting his dignity.

“Once dispersed, the poison spreads through the air in a chain reaction. Then, it automatically tracks the path marked by the Fragrance-Dissolving Water, its color shifting like this.”

“……”

“I named it the Ten-Thousand Mile Pursuit Fragrance.”

To so casually describe the creation of such an unbelievable poison—it left Jang Sopyeong speechless.

But soon, a strange light rose in his eyes.

‘With this……!’

With this poison, they could resume the pursuit of demonic practitioners that Beggars’ Sect had long been forced to abandon.

It was the perfect breakthrough in a hopeless situation.

‘……Wait.’

A chill ran through him. His eyes trembled as though struck by an earthquake.

If what Sewoon said was true—then another, far more terrifying suspicion arose.

Slowly, he locked eyes with Sewoon.

‘He already knew this……!’

And Jang Sopyeong realized that his opponent already understood the very conclusion he had just reached.

He spoke heavily.

“……Looking back at the unresolved cases…….”

“……”

“……The number of demonic practitioners who vanished by using Fragrance-Dissolving Water is far too many. Not just recently. If we include those since the Poison Demon’s disappearance, the number would be beyond imagination……”

“……”

“It isn’t a matter of a few acquaintances of the Poison Demon being handed bottles, or the Poison Demon selling them off for profit. This is, this is……”

Unable to voice his fear, Jang Sopyeong trailed off.

Sewoon finished the words for him.

“Yes. Someone who desires chaos in the Murim is deliberately supplying Fragrance-Dissolving Water to the demonic practitioners.”

“……!”

“To mass-produce and distribute Fragrance-Dissolving Water like this—it must be a faction, not an individual.”

“!!”

Sewoon laid bare the horrifying truth.

Jang Sopyeong’s suspicion had been right.

The Poison Demon had originally obtained the Divine Thief’s divine artifact under Blood Demon’s command.

For revealing the Divine Thief’s hideout and taking his head, the Blood Demon had rewarded the Poison Demon with the Divine Thief’s Flowing Shadow Steps.

Blood Cult had secured the Fragrance-Dissolving Water, mobilized sorcerers and demonic physicians, and finally succeeded in mass production.

For the first time since his return, Sewoon revealed to another that a hidden power was secretly moving behind the scenes.

“Have you found any leads?”

Sewoon shook his head.

“None at all.”

“……Yes, of course.”

But he withheld Blood Cult’s identity and further details.

‘If Beggars’ Sect learns too much too soon, they could be destroyed first.’

Even now, Blood Cult’s power alone could erase Beggars’ Sect from the entire Central Plains.

He had to prevent such a catastrophe.

To prepare for the coming war against Blood Cult, he needed Jang Sopyeong and Beggars’ Sect’s strength.

A heavy silence descended inside the hut.

At last, Jang Sopyeong forced his lips to move.

“……But why come to us instead of reporting this to the Murim Alliance?”

Sewoon countered with disdain, as if the question was absurd.

“Do you really think those Murim Alliance bastards would investigate this properly if they knew?”

“!!”

Unfiltered anger seeped into Sewoon’s voice.

“In the current Murim, how many factions are truly pursuing demonic practitioners for the sake of the common people, cutting them down to the very end?”

The truth: Beggars’ Sect’s pursuit had never been an order from the Murim Alliance.

The Alliance was consumed by internal struggles over power and profit.

Tracking down missed demonic practitioners, or chasing traces of demonic arts, was always a low priority.

The reason was simple.

“Most of those so-called orthodox sects dismiss it as work that doesn’t pay.”

In the Murim Alliance, every action was measured in money.

Sending out Captains or martial troops to hunt old demonic practitioners only wasted resources.

It brought no profit, no fame worth their effort.

Better to invest in missions with tangible rewards.

Such corrupt thinking had become widespread.

The Murim Alliance Leader, the Sword Emperor, was working tirelessly to change it, but the reality was that the Elder Faction held most of the power.

Especially with matters as grave as this—

Matters that could plunge the Murim into chaos, even shake their privileges—

“They would more likely bury it quietly, or downplay it as nothing of importance.”

“……”

Jang Sopyeong said nothing.

For he knew Sewoon was right. That was exactly how the Alliance’s leaders would act.

Bitter silence stretched, until Sewoon spoke again.

“That is why, the moment I learned Fragrance-Dissolving Water was being distributed among demonic practitioners, I came straight to Beggars’ Sect.”

Then he punctuated his words—

“Because here, at least, righteousness still lives.”

“……!!”

Jang Sopyeong’s heart began to race.

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