Star Instructor, Master Baek

Chapter 150: The Bloody Ripper (3)

TL: FoodieMonster007

“Ahahaha! Look at me, getting all excited at my age! It’s probably because I haven’t had guests for ages!” Laughing boisterously, the Bloody Ripper downed several shots of strong liquor in quick succession, humming along with the tunes played by the servants.

Offering another drink to Baek Suryong and the Zhejiang Five Devils seated beside him, he said, “Have another drink, Nephew. You all should drink freely, too!”

“Thank you.” Baek Suryong accepted the liquor and drained it in one gulp. Glancing around, he remarked, “Senior Uncle, your home is truly magnificent.”

“Hoho, you have a keen eye,” the Bloody Ripper replied with a satisfied grin. “It took me five whole years to build this place. There are plenty of empty rooms, so feel free to stay as long as you like.”

In truth, the mansion was so palatial, it was hard to believe it was built inside a canyon. The main hall alone, where the banquet was held, was spacious enough to seat dozens. Shackled at the hands and feet, servants moved about, carrying food and drinks.

Aren’t all these servants martial artists? Have they been enslaved? Baek Suryong wondered. The servants wore scant clothing that barely maintained their modesty, and numbers were branded onto their backs. The Bloody Ripper even called them by numbers rather than names, stirring some of Baek Suryong’s most unpleasant memories.

“Number Seven, go fetch more rice wine.”

“…Yes, Elder.”

Naturally, Baek Suryong, having seen worse in the Blood Cult, wasn’t particularly ruffled. His pampered young students, on the other hand, were visibly disturbed and unsettled.

Noticing the Zhejiang Five Devils glancing at the servants, the Bloody Ripper chuckled. “These guys broke the rules of the Valley of Evil and disrupted order. As punishment, they’re doing hard labor at my house for ten years.”

“Ten years…” Baek Suryong muttered.

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Given the state of the servants, it wouldn’t be surprising if they all died within two or three years. Still, he did not pity them. These servants were scum who had killed innocent people outside, committed all sorts of crimes, and then ran away to hide in the Valley of Evil.

It’s karmic retribution. These criminals aren’t worthy of anyone’s pity.

Of course, that didn’t mean he sided with the Bloody Ripper who punished them.

This old monster just made other villains into slaves for his own convenience.

A place where greater evil rules over lesser evil—that was the essence of the Valley of Evil.

Suddenly curious, Baek Suryong asked, “Senior Uncle, may I ask you something?”

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“Ask anything you like.”

“You mentioned that there are rules in the Valley of Evil. Who sets those rules?”

“Me, of course,” the Bloody Ripper replied with a broad smile. Without a hint of hesitation or shame, he explained, “I settled here thirty years ago with some guys I used to hang out with. After that, notorious villains heard the rumors and began to arrive one by one. I gave them food and shelter, and that was the beginning of the history of the Valley of Evil.”

“……”

The Bloody Ripper had founded the Valley of Evil, slowly gathering villains through his reputation until he had built a veritable army and an impregnable fortress. The reason he was the King here wasn’t just because he was strong—it was because the villains acknowledged him as their ruler.

“The Valley of Evil is my territory and this mansion my castle. Here, my word is the law. Am I wrong? Eh, boys?”

“Not at all! Everything you say is correct!” the other villains invited to the banquet hall shouted in unison, drumming the tables with their palms.

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Baek Suryong scrunched up his nose. The banquet hall was filled with the smell of alcohol, the sweat of the villains, and the stench of blood ingrained in their bodies.

“Hahaha! This is great!” the Bloody Ripper laughed heartily, downing more liquor.

When he finally set his cup down again, he wiped the corners of his mouth with the back of his hand and stared at Baek Suryong with a red face and bloodshot eyes. “Well, sometimes there are those who don’t listen, like the Nine Yin Witch, but that bitch rarely leaves her house, so you can just ignore her,” he said drunkenly.

“The Nine Yin Witch…”

A master of ice arts and one of the Ten Great Villains along with the Bloody Ripper. With two of the Ten Great Villains residing here, the Valley of Evil was a well-known force even among the most powerful unorthodox sects.

“Seriously, don’t worry about her, she’s just a cowardly recluse who rarely does anything. Let’s just drink,” the Bloody Ripper clicked his tongue dismissively.

He refilled the glasses with strong liquor and passed them to the Zhejiang Five Devils—minus Wiji Cheon, who was resting in his room, claiming he wasn’t feeling well. Due to the continuous heavy drinking, even Hyonwon Kang and Ya Suhyeok, who could usually hold their liquor, were getting tipsy. Still, they gritted their teeth and kept drinking, pretending they weren’t struggling.

We have to stay sober no matter what. If we slip up and say something wrong, it’s over.

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This is a tiger’s den. We can’t show any weakness.

Fortunately, thanks to such efforts and the fact that the Bloody Ripper had zero interest in them, none of them had gotten too drunk or made any mistakes so far.

The Bloody Ripper stared at Baek Suryong. “Hey, Nephew,” he said in a serious tone.

“Yes, Senior Uncle.”

“I’d like to hear about the evil deeds you committed before coming here.”

In an instant, all of the villains in the banquet hall turned their eyes to Baek Suryong, their eyes shining as bright as those of children. For fear of becoming the Bloody Ripper’s slaves, they had to constantly restrain themselves from committing crimes, so they needed ways to relieve their stress. Drinking themselves into oblivion while listening to tales of others’ evil deeds was one such outlet.

“Haha, yeah, newbie! Tell us some interesting stories.”

“Tell us about your first kill! And your most recent one too!”

“They say you’re the Handsome Playboy? Looking at your face, you must have seduced at least hundreds of women, if not thousands. Got any tips?”

The villains grinned savagely, like a pack of wolves hungry for blood. The gazes pouring in from all sides were so fierce they would make even men who prided themselves on their courage wet their pants.

Mr. Baek… The three Azure Dragon Academy students looked at Baek Suryong anxiously. The teacher they knew was rough-spoken like an unorthodox sect thug, but he was anything but evil. No matter how good he was at lying, could he act like a bad guy in front of such terrifying villains?

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Their worries were almost immediately dispelled.

“I was nine years old,” Baek Suryong began indifferently. “That was when I killed a person for the first time. It was a friend who always slept next to me.”

He took a sip of wine, lightly wetting his lips. Recalling his past life as a kidnapped orphan raised under the Blood Cult’s indoctrination, his sculpted face, even more beautiful than a woman’s, appeared much colder and harsher than usual.

Of course, he needed to alter the story to avoid any association with the Blood Cult.

“When I was ten, I officially started learning martial arts. For my first lesson, my instructor made me stab someone with a knife to teach me how to kill. At thirteen, I killed that instructor as my final lesson. When I was fifteen, I skinned a person alive, but since it was my first time, it took me quite a while. By the time I was seventeen, I stopped counting the number of people I killed. There were ones I stabbed to death, cut down, drowned—even burned.

“Oh, there was also a time when I couldn’t use inner arts because my qi center was damaged… but it’s okay. I eventually killed all those who looked down on me.”

With dazed eyes, Baek Suryong coolly recited the evil deeds he had committed like he was reading out a list of facts. His tone was deadpan—neither boastful nor remorseful. Occasionally, he would sip his drink or absentmindedly pick at the side dishes, as if trying to distance himself from the pain of the past.

“……” This indifferent attitude gave the audience goosebumps, and the villains who had been joking around shut their mouths. No one continued drinking, and even the music that had lifted the mood died down at some point.

Everyone’s eyes were fixed on Baek Suryong’s face, which was so hauntingly beautiful that it was almost demonic.

GULP.

The sound of someone swallowing their saliva echoed like thunder. For a moment, Baek Suryong’s long, pale fingers gently fingering his wine cup gave the illusion they were drenched in blood.

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This guy is… the real deal.

Most in the banquet hall were villains who had killed dozens. As such, there was no one there who didn’t believe Baek Suryong’s story; just the restrained killing intent the young man occasionally exuded was enough to make even the worst villains shudder.

The Bloody Ripper’s eyes gleamed strangely. This youngster… even among the villains of the Valley of Evil, his presence is overwhelming.

To ease the frozen atmosphere, he laughed raucously, “Hoho, it seems you’ve been through quite the battlefields. I brought up this subject to liven things up, but instead the atmosphere has cooled down. Look, even I’ve got goosebumps on my arms.”

“I’m sorry. It wasn’t a very interesting story,” Baek Suryong said with an awkward smile.

The Bloody Ripper grinned back. “No need to apologize, Nephew. You know what? I’m liking you more and more. Though… the younger brothers you brought along seem to have guts the size of beans.”

Baek Suryong glanced back at his students, who quickly turned away, their faces as white as sheets. Smirking, he replied, “My apologies, they are still very lacking.”

Eventually, the banquet came to an end. Drunken villains staggered and left the hall one by one, and the servants began cleaning up the mess.

“Everyone, leave. I want to have continue drinking with only my Nephew,” the Bloody Ripper commanded, seeming to have taken a great liking to Baek Suryong.

[Mr. Baek…] Hyonwon Kang looked at Baek Suryong with pleading eyes.

Baek Suryong shook his head, indicating he would be okay. [Go to your rooms and rest. We don’t know what might happen though, so don’t let your guard down.]

[…Okay.]

After the Zhejiang Five Devils headed to their rooms under the guidance of a servant, Baek Suryong was left alone with the Bloody Ripper. For a while, the two of them did nothing but exchange drinks.

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“Here, take it.”

“Thank you, Senior Uncle.”

Having drunk an enormous amount of alcohol, the Bloody Ripper’s face was flushed, and his eyes were half-glazed. Smiling slyly at Baek Suryong, he suddenly remarked, “Nephew, aren’t you quite the good drinker?”

“I’m just too nervous to get drunk.”

“You’re too good for that foolish Junior Brother of mine. I almost want to make you my own disciple.”

“You flatter me.”

The Bloody Ripper stared at him peculiarly, then suddenly held out his hand. “Hey, want to hear an interesting story?”

WOOOONG!

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The Bloody Ripper’s entire arm turned crimson as he unleashed his signature technique, the Blood Jade Claws.

“Before I mastered the Blood Jade Claws, I was a mediocre, run-of-the-mill martial artist. Although I had outstanding talent, I never had a chance to learn advanced martial arts because I was born into poverty.”

The Bloody Ripper spoke of his past. In his youth, he had been a freelancer who had learned second-rate martial arts at a small village academy, wandering from place to place just to make a living. It was then that he met the White-Haired Demon, with whom he immediately hit it off and became sworn brothers, committing all sorts of evil deeds together.

Later, when he mastered the Blood Jade Claws, he even passed on his martial arts to the White-Haired Demon, so close was their relationship.

“Coming to the Valley of Evil changed my life. I didn’t mention it earlier… but this is where I obtained the secret manual of the Blood Jade Claws.”

“No way! Was it what they call a miraculous encounter?”

“Hoho, yes, a miraculous encounter. But that’s not all.” The Bloody Ripper lowered his voice and said, “The legacy of the Blood Cult is hidden in the Valley of Evil.”

“The Blood Cult… you say?”

Baek Suryong’s eyes narrowed imperceptibly at the unexpected revelation.