Chapter 46: The One Who Bewitches People Is...
Chapter 46: The One Who Bewitches People Is...
I stood in the center of the training ground, eyes closed.
Through my duel with the Sword Venerable, my Flying Heaven Sword Technique had finally broken through the barrier of the Ten-Star Great Achievement, ascending into a new realm.
Previously, the Flying Heaven Sword Technique felt like a rigid construct—perfectly executed from start to finish without a hair’s breadth of error. Now, that rigidness had loosened. Doubts began to surface regarding the forms I once considered flawless, and my absolute certainty had vanished.
I slowly drew the Black Demonic Sword and began to execute the forms. This didn't mean my existing skills had diminished; rather, they were evolving.
Brilliant sword light flooded the training ground. I found myself wondering what this flamboyant martial art would look like once it reached the Twelve-Star Great Achievement.
Ultimately, my true goal remained the Twelve-Star Great Achievement of the Nine Calamities Demonic Art. I hoped that reaching the pinnacle of the Flying Heaven Sword Technique would serve as a vital stepping stone for mastering the demonic art later on.
As I finished my session, Seo Dae-ryong rushed over to report.
“An incident has occurred, Pavilion Master.”
“What kind of incident?”
“I believe you should see it for yourself.”
Seo Dae-ryong led me to a nearby mountain. Enforcement martial artists were already on-site, cordoning off the area. Special Investigator Gok Myeong, who had arrived first, greeted me with a grim expression.
“We have discovered over a dozen corpses buried recently,” he reported.
The problem wasn't just the number of dead, but the state they were in.
“The hearts of all the victims are missing.”
The moment I heard those words, a specific technique flashed through my mind: the Heart-Soul Great Law.
It was an atrocious technique known for absorbing life energy directly from a person's heart. The process was truly demonic—it involved ripping the heart out of a living victim.
In the entire Cult, there was only one person likely to use such a technique: the Soul-Seizing Demon Lord.
In my past life, when I returned to the Main Cult to save the Secret Demon Soul, there had been whispers that the Soul-Seizing Demon Lord was using the Heart-Soul Great Law to gather ghostly Qi. However, it had remained a rumor, never proven. At the time, I was so focused on reaching the Secret Demon Soul that I had no time to investigate.
Was that rumor actually true?
Imagining a heart being torn from a living chest made me frown instinctively. However, the real source of my anger lay elsewhere.
Seo Dae-ryong continued cautiously, “Upon examining the bodies, it appears they were not martial artists.”
“They were civilians?”
“Yes. Men and women... and...” Seo Dae-ryong sighed heavily. “Among the corpses... there are children as well.”
In an instant, my blood turned cold. This was the one thing I loathed above all else.
A martial artist laying hands on those who cannot defend themselves—especially children—was nothing more than irrational, one-sided violence. Whether martial artists ambushed each other or fought in groups, it was all part of the chaotic mess of the Jianghu they had chosen to enter.
I wasn't exactly a righteous man, but I couldn't stomach this.
If these were truly victims of the Heart-Soul Great Law, and if the Soul-Seizing Demon Lord had been practicing this since my past life, it meant he had been committing these atrocities for decades. The victims would number in the thousands.
The face of the old man who had sent me back through time flashed through my mind. Revenge was my priority, and my own life was paramount, but...
I understand. If nothing else, I will stop this first.
Just then, another investigator approached. “Please look at this.”
He held out a fan. When unfolded, it revealed unrecognizable script and grotesque, unsettling drawings.
“It is a Ghost Fan used by ghost practitioners.”
It was a tool for evil sorcery, used exclusively by the disciples of the Soul-Seizing Demon Lord.
“Where was it found?”
“Right alongside the corpses.”
This made the culprit seem certain, yet a flicker of doubt crossed my mind. Would someone tasked with disposing of bodies really be so careless as to drop their own fan?
“Where is the herb gatherer who discovered the bodies?”
“We have him waiting over there.”
“Let’s go.”
However, by the time we arrived, the herb gatherer had vanished.
“It seems he fled out of fear, Pavilion Master. I will search for him immediately.”
I had a feeling they wouldn't find him. Something about this felt staged.
Even within the Cult, one couldn't openly carve hearts out of people. The Soul-Seizing Demon Lord would have handled the disposal with extreme secrecy. Yet, the bodies were conveniently discovered by a random herb gatherer, and a fan was left as a calling card? Impossible. Someone had discovered the burial site and ensured it would be found by me.
“Now that evidence has been found, we should head to the Seohwan Formation to investigate the owner of this fan, shouldn't we?”
Seo Dae-ryong looked utterly terrified.
“Are you afraid?” I asked.
“Yes. In the Main Cult, the Soul-Seizing Demon Lord is the one I fear most.”
“Why?”
“If you fall prey to ghost practitioners, your soul is snatched away. I’d rather die cleanly by a blade than be controlled like a jiangshi and suffer a miserable death.”
“That’s unfortunate. You’ll have to come with me to the Seohwan Formation tomorrow.”
“I’m quitting the Huangquan Pavilion as of today! Ah, I really don't want to go...”
“Don't worry. I’ll bring the enforcement martial artists along. Pick a few with strong cultivation.”
Seo Dae-ryong cried out, “I’m telling you, those people will go mad and kill me!”
Someone had gone to great lengths to inform me of the Soul-Seizing Demon Lord’s atrocities. I had to verify the truth, but I already had a prime suspect for the mastermind behind this manipulation: Sa U-jong.
Sa U-jong was the right-hand man of the One Flower Sword Venerable.
There was a decisive reason I suspected him. I remembered his end from my past life. He had died while attempting to assassinate the One Flower Sword Venerable while under the influence of a Soul-Seizing Technique. It was a famous tragedy—the most loyal subordinate trying to kill his master after being ensnared by soul-seizing arts.
After his death, it was revealed he had secretly loved the Sword Venerable as a woman. The identity of the one who cast the spell was never discovered, and the incident was dismissed as a tragedy born of unrequited passion.
There was another reason: I had recently spent three days sparring with the One Flower Sword Venerable. That must have provoked his jealousy.
He wants me to either die fighting the Soul-Seizing Demon Lord or be so occupied that I can't pay attention to the Sword Venerable.
I didn't know how he found the disposal site or how he stole the fan, but he had successfully pushed me toward the Soul-Seizing Demon Lord. As the Huangquan Pavilion Master, this was an incident I couldn't ignore.
But Sa U-jong didn't realize one thing. By pushing the Soul-Seizing Demon Lord into the light, he had stepped onto the stage himself.
*
The next day, I headed to the Seohwan Formation with Seo Dae-ryong and the enforcement martial artists. Since I had sent word in advance, a ghost practitioner was waiting to guide us.
“I am Yeo Cham. Please follow me.”
We followed him deep into the formation. After walking for a while, I stopped as we entered a lush flower garden.
“Wait. I feel ghostly Qi.”
I signaled my subordinates to halt and surveyed the surroundings. The energy was emanating from the Ghost Flowers planted in the garden.
“It’s the scent those flowers are emitting,” I noted.
Yeo Cham looked startled. The ghostly Qi of the Ghost Flowers was nearly impossible to detect unless one was a master with exceptionally sharp senses.
“If someone who isn't a ghost practitioner is exposed to that scent, their internal energy circulation will be disrupted, making them vulnerable to Soul-Seizing Techniques. They might see illusions or, if they're unlucky, fall into a Heart Demon. I have no intention of letting my subordinates suffer such a fate.”
As I gripped the hilt of the Black Demonic Sword, ready to unleash sword Qi, Yeo Cham shouted in a panic.
“Please wait! I can suppress the scent for a short time!”
He pulled a small cylinder from his robes and placed it in the center of the garden. Smoke rose from the device, and the surrounding ghostly Qi began to swirl toward it.
“Quickly, pass through now!”
I hurried through the area with my men.
“If I hadn't spoken up, we would have entered while exposed to that Qi,” I said coldly.
“I apologize.” Yeo Cham bowed his head. Knowing he was merely following orders, I didn't press him further.
Seo Dae-ryong spoke softly from behind me. “Thank you for looking out for us, Pavilion Master.”
I glanced back. Not just Seo Dae-ryong, but the enforcement martial artists were looking at me with genuine gratitude. Without my intervention, they would have been defenseless against the flowers.
“Everyone, stay alert.”
“Yes, sir!”
Stone statues and pagodas scattered throughout the area emitted more ghostly Qi. Each time, Yeo Cham took it upon himself to suppress the energy. I could see why Seo Dae-ryong feared this place; a man could die just trying to reach the front door.
Eventually, we reached the heart of the Seohwan Formation.
The houses here were bizarre—shaped like snail shells with overlapping circular structures, unlike anything seen in the Central Plains. Seo Dae-ryong was initially impressed by the exotic sight, but he soon complained of nausea. Just looking at the buildings made one's head spin.
I ordered my men to walk with their eyes closed. They followed behind me in a line, each with a hand on the shoulder of the person in front.
Among the bizarre buildings stood a tall, cone-shaped structure. This was the residence of the Soul-Seizing Demon Lord.
The interior was the pinnacle of disorientation. The walls, floor, and ceiling were covered in swirling, hypnotic patterns. Simply standing in the room was an exercise in agony.
In the center of that room sat the Soul-Seizing Demon Lord, Ya So.
As I had felt in the past, he looked remarkably ordinary. He had the kind of face you could find ten times over in any common village. To find such plainness amidst this dizzying environment was jarring.
He was the living embodiment of the fact that those who bewitch others are always the most ordinary-looking.
“I greet the Demon Lord.” I offered a formal greeting.
I hadn't had much of a relationship with him before my regression. Even when I returned to the Main Cult in my previous life, we had little contact. However, one thing was certain: among the Eight Demon Lords, he was the one who had survived the longest.
“Welcome, Second Young Master.”
His voice seemed to scatter, drifting from all directions at once. It felt like it was coming from the left, then the right.
“What brings you to this corner of the world?”
This time, the voice sounded like a whisper right against my ear. By confusing the senses like this, the Soul-Seizing Technique had already begun.
“I am here to investigate an incident.”
The Soul-Seizing Demon Lord stared at me intensely. Suddenly, his pupils expanded. Looking into those pitch-black voids made me feel lightheaded. My subordinates were likely already losing their grip on reality.
“You are quite something, aren't you?”
His voice echoed in my mind like a sound in a deep cave.
“I am often told I have a strong will,” I replied.
While true, the real factor was the Heavenly Demon Body Protection Art. It had activated instinctively, preventing the ghostly Qi from invading my spirit. Of course, since my mastery wasn't yet absolute, the situation would change if the Demon Lord exerted his full power.
Before it could escalate into a battle of wills, I stated my purpose.
“Over a dozen unusual corpses were discovered, and an item belonging to a ghost practitioner was found at the scene.”
“What kind of item?”
I showed him the fan.
It seemed each Ghost Fan had a specific owner. As soon as he saw it, the Soul-Seizing Demon Lord called for an attendant.
“Call Neung Hyu.”
He didn't ask the question I expected. Even though I had emphasized that the corpses were "unusual," the Soul-Seizing Demon Lord didn't ask for details.
Which meant he already knew exactly what state those bodies were in.