Chapter 105: Master (3)
༺ Master (3) ༻
The moon in the sky was a shade of violet.
The stars around it looked normal, but the oddly looking moon looked like it devour the sky whole.
– Trickle-
Only the sound of trickling water could be heard amid the endless darkness.
– Tap-!
Along with a teacup being placed, a voice could be heard.
「You are late.」
No Qi was used to enhance the voice, but my heart shook just from a simple statement.
The purple eyes that shone still gave me chills even after a long time had passed.
「…I greet the Cult Leader.」
I walked toward the voice and fell to one knee. There was no hesitation or pause in my movements.
I couldn’t dare to raise my head to the existence that stood in front of me.
The Heavenly Demon. The ruler of the Heavens was in front of me.
They looked down at me and whispered.
「I heard the news. The Demonic Sword died.」
My back flinched after hearing the name.
「Do you feel resentment?」
I fell into thought after hearing the Heavenly Demon’s question.
Who a, I supposed to resent? What did the Heavenly Demon mean? Myself? Or was it Zhuge Hyuk?
Or if that were not the case, did the Heavenly Demon ask if I resent them?
In the end, I didn’t respond to the Heavenly Demon’s question.
– Chuckle.
Whatever the Cult Leader felt from my reaction, it made them giggle.
「You are not denying anything.」
– Roll.
A small cup rolled toward me, and I carefully stopped it.
「Pick it up.」
I followed the order and picked up the cup. I only heard a trickling sound, and the cup was completely filled with alcohol.
I raised my head. I noticed the uniform the Heavenly Demon was wearing was black.
The Heavenly Demon’s uniform was clean.
It was almost intense because how the uniform had not even a single speck of dust on it.
It was the same for the Heavenly Demon’s body. There was no blemish, wound, or scar on it.
The Lord of Heaven died, and the Dishonored Venerable was killed by the Heavenly Demon.
‘I heard the Murim Alliance would be joined by Sword Emperor in their fight. Still, the Heavenly Demon didn’t even have a single scar on their body.’
Just by looking at the result, I knew.
The Dishonored Venerable died by getting their heart ripped out off from their body, and the Sword Emperor may have survived, but he couldn’t be in good shape.
Two of the Heavenly Venerables that looked over the sky joined forces, but they weren’t able to even scratch the Heavenly Demon’s uniform.
Would the result have been different if the Lord of Heaven wasn’t dead and all three of them had joined forces?
I wasn’t sure.
「I kept my promise. The Sword Emperor, I let that old man live twice. This much should be enough.」
「…」
「This is my generosity toward you.」
「…Thank you.」
Is the Heavenly Demon trying to tell me I shouldn’t obsess over the Demonic Sword’s death now because of this?
I drank all of the alcohol the Heavenly Demon poured me.
My body had become senseless long ago. No matter how bitter the drink was, I couldn’t feel it.
「The Man of Heaven, that man was telling me that I should assign you to the Celestial Sword, what’s your opinion on this?」
「…」
「Even though I can’t see your face, I can tell.」
The Heavenly Demon had just mentioned Wi Seol-Ah’s title. I felt like a sigh was being forced out of me because of the ominous feeling I felt from my back.
– Trickle.
The Heavenly Demon once again filled up the empty cup with alcohol. Like before, I drank all of it.
「I shall say no more. I didn’t forget our promise.」
Along with the Heavenly Demon’s words, many cracks formed behind them.
– Czhhhhh-! Kghhhh-!
The sounds those cracks let out gave me the chills. The purple light then gradually expanded in size.
The cracks that formed then devoured each other and turned into a single big hole in the end.
I knew that all of those horrible things happened by the hands of the Heavenly Demon.
– Grrrrr… Crr..!
From the hole, I heard a growling of beasts. The beasts showed fear toward the Heavenly Demon, but they didn’t hide the resentment they felt toward the world.
The Heavenly Demon ignored their overflowing indignation and spoke.
「You know that I have high hopes for you.」
「Yes.」
「I let the girl live since you asked, and I gave you power since you wanted it.」
– Grrr!
Then, the huge beasts started to appear from the other side of the portal.
The nasty, horrendous aura they exuded spread throughout the atmosphere.
「This is why I didn’t say anything about the volatility of Sichuan. Why do you think I let it happen?」
No more alcohol was poured.
The cup the Heavenly Demon was holding perished in an instant, whatever left of it drifting along with the wind.
「Like I said, I didn’t do anything to the Celestial Sword due to our promise. However,」
The Heavenly Demon’s purple gaze fell on me.
「Know that that will soon end as well.」
「Thank you for your generosity.」Điscover new chapters on n0ve(l)bin(.)com
The Heavenly Demon got up after our conversation ended. I could see the black uniform flutter due to the sheer amount of demonic Qi.
While walking toward the Abyss, the Heavenly Demon pulled out a ring off its own finger and tossed it over to me.
I picked up the accessory. As soon as I touched it, I felt a very dense demonic Qi that was enough to give me a headache.
「This is an order. Bring me the Alliance leader’s head.」
I didn’t respond to the Heavenly Demon’s order, and only put on the ring that was given to me.
That was my response.
Seeing that, the Heavenly Demon walked closer to the portal.
「You have four days. That should be enough.」
The demons followed the Heavenly Demon toward the portal and when they all had entered, the purple hole disappeared.
The Heavenly Demon was gone, but I still couldn’t raise my head.
I didn’t know what kind of emotion I was feeling.
I didn’t know if it was anger I felt against myself, or if it was resentment I had for someone.
While I knew I felt miserable, I knew I couldn’t blame anyone else.
Everything was the result of my own actions.
I quickly washed away the pointless thoughts.
I didn’t have the right to feel self-reproach, and I didn’t have any time to waste.
I got up and strutted toward the black fog.
* * * *
Elder Shin asked me what the Heavenly Demon was. The question made me ponder.
He wasn’t asking me who it was…
…but ‘what’ it was.
I didn’t know how much of my memories Elder Shin had seen, but it was quite bothersome for me.
He was done with just one question about the Heavenly Demon.
‘Is this it?’
I was honestly more curious as to why he wasn’t asking me more questions.
It would soon be noon soon, and I had plans to see the Celestial Plum Blossom in a bit.
I had to talk about the reward he would give me, and the Taoist Qi that was inside my body.
While I was going back to the lodge, Elder Shin was lost in thoughts of his own.
The existence called the Heavenly Demon came out of a portal.
The mysterious power of the creature felt familiar for some reason.
「That shouldn’t be the case…」
As his thoughts developed, Elder Shin felt more uneasy and doubtful.
The history he knew clearly said…
…that it died.
That the heroes put a stop to it, and that they were able to finally stop the world-ending calamity with their own hands.
「But then how…」
Elder Shin wondered why he felt the Blood Fiend from the existence called the Heavenly Demon.
He couldn’t erase the nasty anxiousness he felt.
* * * *
Not long after Gu Yangcheon had left…
A man wearing a uniform of the Murim Alliance was deep in the hideout’s cave.
The man was looking around the place in between the corpses that were strewn around him.
“Hmm…”
He observed the wall and the floor, his head tilting in confusion.
He found almost no traces of any fight happening here.
It seemed like the corpses around him didn’t put up much of a fight.
– Tap-!
The man flipped over one of the corpses on the floor by kicking it with his foot.
The corpse was wearing a black uniform and a black mask—a choice that basically screamed “I’m an assassin.”
That corpse was Nachal, who had died after his heart was stabbed.
‘One of his arms is cut off and all the tendons in his arms and legs have been severed.’
Was it because the attacker didn’t want him to run away? The man wondered if it was even possible to make such precise and deep cuts in the heat of a battle.
It was honestly more believable that these wounds had been inflicted after the assassin’s death.
Judging by the fact that almost no traces of the fight could be found, the fight must have been one-sided, and looking at the cut-off arm and severed tendons, it was clear that the killer was a skilled swordsman.
‘A swordsman, huh…? Did Mount Hua notice something?’
But this thought brought with it only more questions.
There was the question of how the person entered when they weren’t able to activate the device.
‘They shouldn’t be able to open it without the Heavenly Qi.’
The man thought that a martial artist like Nachal wouldn’t be stupid enough to just leave with the entrance open.
He then wondered if there was a traitor within the main palace. Because if that wasn’t it…
“Tsk…”
The man briefly put aside Nachal’s corpse and walked toward the blood pool.
The flower that was supposed to be growing there wasn’t present. It seemed like it had already been pulled out and taken away.
‘This is a problem.’
No one expected Nachal to fail, including the main palace’s leader.
The man thought to himself that unless the Celestial Plum Blossom noticed himself and took action, everything would have gone well and without any complications.
‘…For us to fail in retrieving the liquid from Mount Hua.’
Although there wasn’t that much of it, the man heard that it wasn’t a small amount either.
Moreover, it seemed like the one responsible for doing this had cleaned up, leaving almost no traces behind.
“The interference of the Gu Clan as well… How do I tell this to the leader?”
The man in the cave heard a few days earlier about a heir from the Gu Clan who killed Ya Hyeoljeok.
He couldn’t help but wonder if those two events were somehow connected.
He remembered that the intel provided stated that the Gu Clan child specialized in bare-fisted close combat, augmented by the use of flames.
Looking at the corpses around him, there was no trace of flames being used.
Who was the one who interfered, then?
The man had also heard that the Black Palace had been lurking around recently, so it was possible that they were the ones responsible for this.
Either way, now there’s even more work to do…
– Tsk-!
The man wrapped a piece of cloth around his aching head.
Every time things didn’t go according to plan, they would also become more complicated.
Another person appeared from outside the room and addressed the man.
“Sir.”
The man immediately fixed his expression and turned around.
“Did you find anything?”
“I think we need to get a professional to take a look at the secret device.”
“Write that down and bring it.”
“Understood. What should we do about this right here?”
“What do you mean?”
“Shouldn’t we inform Mount Hua of this?”
The person looked at the corpses that had had their blood sucked out and frowned.
Judging by their expressions and the blood pool in the middle, it seemed they died quickly. Despite only a few days having passed, their corpses looked like they had been starving for weeks.
The subordinate held in the impulse to vomit and continued.
“What do you think they were trying to do?”
“You think we know what the guys from Unorthodox Faction are thinking? Don’t try to even understand their actions.”
“You have a point.”
The man smiled after hearing the person’s response. The role was tiring for him at this point.
‘I can’t believe I have to put on this act for at least another year.’
Even Ya Hyeoljeok that died to some kid had a place of his own, but here he was, doing work behind the scenes, wasting his time.
Holding in his rage, the man spoke.
“I’ll contact Mount Hua and others myself, so don’t worry about it.”
“Huh…? U-Understood.”
“All information would go through me anyway, so if you find anything that seems important, let me know first.”
“Yes, sir!”
“Good. You can go.”
After sending one of his faction’s members away, the man started to inspect Nachal’s corpse. He had to erase any traces that could be connected to him.
“What the-?”
The man noticed something strange while observing the assassin’s corpse.
Nachal still had some Qi in his corpse since it hadn’t been too long since he had died.
Although it may be spread out everywhere, the man was certain there was some Qi left…
‘Why is there not even a hint of Heavenly Qi here?’
The most important Qi wasn’t there.
The ‘Heavenly Qi’ could only be obtained after being approved by the leader.
The man also had the Heavenly Qi just like Nachal, so if there was any, he would have been able to feel it.
Much to his shock, however, he couldn’t feel anything. There was no way that it had all faded away since it hadn’t been that long since the assassin’s death.
Moreover, his abdomen wasn’t cleaved either, so there should be still some remaining.
The man couldn’t understand why he couldn’t feel anything.
It was impossible, and it felt as if someone had purposely sucked it out.
‘I should write this down too.’
Another point was added to the list of information that would be relayed to the main palace.
The man was certain that this detail was the most important part of it all.
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