Chapter 61: The Vanished Main Headquarters (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 61: The Vanished Main Headquarters (1)
Late at night, an office was lit by the flickering glow of a lamp.
A woman sat at a desk, her face pale and the left sleeve of her black martial robes hanging empty. She was meticulously reviewing a mountain of documents.
She was the Blood Hand Witch, Han Baek-ha.
As she focused on her work, a knock sounded at the door.
Knock, knock!
"Master. It is Dam Ye-hwa."
The person at the door was Dam Ye-hwa, the youngest disciple she had taken in at the Six Blood Valley.
"Enter."
"Yes."
The door opened, and a woman with a cute face and delicate features, dressed in white light-armor, stepped inside.
As she bowed to show her respect, Han Baek-ha shook her head, signaling that it wasn't necessary.
Han Baek-ha asked her, "How is the Fourth Venerable faring?"
"During the day, he trains with his disciples, the Song twins, and at night, he drinks himself into a stupor before falling asleep. It seems he has truly given up."
The Fourth Venerable, Bizarre Hae Ak-cheon.
He had fallen into despair after losing his disciple and the successor to the Blood Demon Sword.
For a while, he had mobilized his subordinates and personally searched for him, but there was no trace to be found.
In his grief, Hae Ak-cheon had spent some time wallowing in drink. It wasn't just because he had lost a disciple, but because of the guilt of failing to protect the Blood Demon twice.
However, after being persuaded by the Fourth Blood Star Do Jang-ho and the Second Venerable Raging Demon Lord Seo Gal-ma—who asked if he intended to lose Baek Ryeonha as well—he had begun dedicating his days to martial arts training.
Han Baek-ha glanced down at her empty left sleeve.
Moon Evil Sword...
She had lost her left arm because of him.
She wanted to heal it, but the arm hadn't just been severed; it had been torn off, leaving no way to reattach it. Even the Divine Healer of Ten Thousand Ailments wouldn't be able to do anything about it, so she had given up.
In the end, it worked out for the best.
Though she had lost an arm, she considered it a blessing in disguise. Everything was now centered around Baek Ryeonha.
It was a pity they had lost the Blood Demon Sword, but Baek Hye-hyang didn't know about it anyway. And even if she did, there was no way for her to claim it.
"Is the Young Lady still training with the Third Venerable today?"
"Yes. The Third Venerable is assisting her with her training all day long."
"Hmm..."
The Third Venerable, Blood King Gu Je-yang.
He had joined them not long ago after they successfully persuaded him.
In truth, his arrival had caused quite a stir.
Han Baek-ha and the other high-ranking officials had agreed not to tell Gu Je-yang about the Blood Demon Sword or So Woon-hwi. This was because the condition for the Third Venerable's joining was that he would support the successor of the Blood Demon Sword.
However, Hae Ak-cheon had let the secret slip—or rather, he had blurted it out.
As a result, Gu Je-yang had learned the truth.
And yet... he decided to support the Young Lady.
It was a relief, but also quite puzzling. Given how much he valued the Sect Laws, she had expected him to help Hae Ak-cheon find the Blood Demon Sword and its successor.
Instead, Gu Je-yang was now supporting Baek Ryeonha with everything he had. He even stayed by her side all day to oversee her martial arts.
The Second Venerable Seo Gal-ma, who was close to him, had supposedly managed to persuade him, but it still meant he had gone back on his word.
Driven by suspicion, Han Baek-ha had asked him point-blank why he was helping Baek Ryeonha.
His answer was this:
[I, too, have no desire to see a descendant of the Flying Moon Hero Sect become the Cult Leader instead of a descendant of the previous Cult Leader. But has it not worked out well? Since that boy is gone, there is no longer any need to break the laws.]
Furthermore, his thoughts aligned with hers.
Am I just being paranoid?
She couldn't fathom Gu Je-yang's true intentions.
As she pondered, she noticed Dam Ye-hwa fidgeting, looking as if she wanted to say something.
"What is it?" Han Baek-ha asked.
Dam Ye-hwa replied, "Um... Master. Is it really necessary to withdraw the cult members we left at the manor in Ganggu County, the old headquarters?"
Following her master's orders, Dam Ye-hwa had already sent the message to withdraw. However, if they withdrew, the successor of the Blood Demon Sword—should he still be alive—would have no way of finding the new headquarters.
"Master, at least a few cult members should—"
"Enough."
Han Baek-ha cut her off, her voice turning cold. She spoke as if giving a warning.
"This is not for you to concern yourself with."
"Master..."
"The one you serve is the Young Lady. Do not forget your place. Now, leave without another word."
"...Yes. I understand."
Dejected by the command, Dam Ye-hwa bowed and left the office.
Han Baek-ha watched her retreating back and thought to herself.
Since he was captured by the Moon Evil Sword, the probability of him being alive is extremely low. Even if he is alive, we just need to hold out a little longer. Soon, at the Blood Cult General Assembly, the Young Lady will ascend as the Blood Demon.
Clip-clop! Clip-clop!
After more than fifteen days of traveling without rest, using lightness skills and switching horses, we finally reached Guizhou Province.
Our destination was the manor in Ganggu County, where the main headquarters was located. We were close to arriving.
"Chomp."
"Young Lady... that hurts."
Since she was so exhausted, we were riding the same horse. I didn't know when she had woken up, but she suddenly bit down hard on my shoulder.
Lately, she had developed a habit of biting me whenever she woke up—my arm, my ear, whatever was in sight. I had no idea why. At first, I thought it was cute, so I let her be.
"Chomp."
This time, she bit my other shoulder.
"...Young Lady, I am not food."
"I know."
"Then why are you so eager to eat me?"
At my question, Sama Yeong gave a mischievous grin.
"I'm marking you as mine."
"...Is that the reason?"
"Yes. Hehe."
She smiled brightly and moved to bite me again. I was tempted to tell her to just take a chunk of flesh if she wanted to mark me that badly, but I held back, fearing she might actually do it.
The Lesser Conversation Sword chuckled.
It wasn't being wrapped around her finger; it was respect for my future wife.
The Blood Demon Sword clicked its tongue in a pathetic voice. Its grumbling was no less than the Lesser Conversation Sword's. At first, the two of them had bickered, but lately, they had teamed up to nag me.
Then, Sama Yeong, who had been biting my shoulder, spoke to me.
"But Young Master, will the headquarters be alright?"
I had actually heard some news on our way here. The Martial Alliance had announced a large-scale subjugation, claiming that remnants of the Blood Cult were running rampant.
Because of that, the movements of the Orthodox factions were unusual. Everything was moving much faster than I remembered from before my regression.
However, since there were still many spies within the Martial Alliance, the headquarters wouldn't fall so easily.
"We have to hope it's alright."
"I miss everyone—the Fourth Venerable, your twin junior brothers, and even Great Leader Jo Seong-won."
I chuckled at her words. Aside from the others, she was probably the only one who could say she missed my master, Bizarre Hae Ak-cheon.
It had been nearly two months since I disappeared. Knowing my master's personality, he must have caused quite a stir after that incident. I was curious to know what had happened in the meantime.
"Let's hurry. Hyah!"
I shook the reins, urging the horse to go faster.
Half a day later, we finally arrived at Ganggu County, where the manor was located. But when Sama Yeong and I reached the gates, we were struck with bewilderment.
"...It looks like someone is moving in."
A long line of wagons was entering the manor. It wasn't just supplies; there were wardrobes and beds loaded onto the carts. It looked like someone was taking up residence.
"I'll go ask."
Sama Yeong dismounted and approached the laborers moving the luggage.
"Excuse me. May I ask you something?"
"What is it?"
"Are you moving into this manor?"
"Can't you tell by looking? We're moving the luggage right now."
It was exactly as it seemed. I had thought they would stay here until the main headquarters was fully established, but this was unexpected. Had their location been exposed to the Martial Alliance or Baek Hye-hyang's faction? If not, there was no reason to move the headquarters within two months.
"Do you happen to know when this manor was put on the market?"
"About a month ago. It was put up for a bargain price in a hurry, so our Family Head really hit the jackpot."
If the manor had been sold, the relocation of the headquarters was certain. After finishing her conversation with the laborer, Sama Yeong came back to me.
"Young Master, what should we do?"
This was a truly difficult situation. To think they had moved the headquarters in the meantime.
Give me a moment to think.
This was the first time, both before and after my regression, that I had been out of contact with the Blood Cult for so long. The Blood Cult operated as a cell-based network, constantly changing ciphers and moving locations.
Hmm.
If the headquarters had even slightly anticipated my survival, they might have left a clue. Since they might have left something using the standard Blood Cult cipher methods, I needed to go inside the manor.
"Wait here for a moment. I'll be right back."
Leaving her behind, I circled around and leaped over the manor wall.
There were quite a few laborers moving about inside, but I skillfully evaded their gaze and headed toward the main hall.
When moving a branch or an organization's location, they often carved a cipher under the rafters on the right side of the main hall.
Swish!
I leaped up lightly and hung from the rafters. If my guess was right, there should be something left here...
!?
Just as the Lesser Conversation Sword said, the area where the cipher should have been was completely gouged out. It looked like it had been scraped away.
...The cipher was erased.
Someone had intentionally removed it. Who would do such a thing?
Only members of the Blood Cult knew the method of leaving ciphers under the rafters. Even then, they were written in symbols rather than characters, so no one could decode them accurately without proper knowledge.
It could be a coincidence, so I decided to check the second location.
Besides the main hall, the area under the wooden porch of the building furthest to the southwest was also a common place for leaving ciphers.
I crawled under the porch and inspected the spot.
As expected, there were scratch marks here as well.
"Whew..."
There were two possible conclusions.
First, an outside force had discovered the ciphers. But that seemed unlikely.
If it were an outside force, they wouldn't have erased the ciphers; they would have taken the whole piece of wood to decode it. These scratch marks were an intentional act to erase the message.
That left only one conclusion.
...Someone doesn't want me to return.
It seemed the sword and I were thinking the same thing.
One person came to mind. There was someone who wanted Baek Ryeonha to become the next Blood Demon more than anyone else. That woman would never want me to return to the cult, even if I were alive.
If this was the case, all other methods would have been blocked as well. I had to find another way to make contact.
I told you before. Most of the safe houses and hideouts aren't used for more than fifteen days. They constantly change locations. If they didn't, they would have been discovered by the Martial Alliance long ago.
Wait.
A thought suddenly occurred to me.
I had spent most of my previous life as a spy for the Martial Alliance, but there was one place where I had served on active duty.
The Blood Wolf Unit!
Suning County, in the southwest of Hunan Province.
I had heard that if you traveled a bit north from there, into the deep valleys of a mountain called Gimang, there was a mountain village where hunters and gatherers lived.
I had only heard about it; this was my first time visiting.
"Will they really be here?" Sama Yeong asked, sounding skeptical.
To be honest, I was half-doubting it myself. This mountain village was the hometown of No Seong-gu, the leader of the Blood Wolf Unit.
He had mentioned it once to me and the deputy leader while he was heavily intoxicated. I still remembered it because it was a story from the only man who had treated me like a human being after I was kidnapped by the Blood Cult in my previous life.
I was betting on a slim possibility. At the Six Blood Valley, I had told him that his younger sister was at the Hwayue Merchant Group's branch in Jinhai County, Zhejiang Province. After that, I heard he had resigned from his position as the Blood Wolf Great Leader and disappeared.
He's not that reckless.
Even if he heard that the culprit who killed his father was related to the First Blood Star, he would know he couldn't do anything with his strength alone. Given his character, I believed he would have returned to his hometown, but if not, I would have to resort to the most difficult method.
The Martial Alliance.
I would have to contact the spies from Baek Ryeonha's side within the Alliance. But that method carried too much risk, and I would have to trace back through their communication network multiple times, so even if I succeeded, it would take a long time.
"I see smoke over there."
Sama Yeong pointed toward a plume of smoke rising in the distance. We had entered the mountain valley blindly, but we had finally found something.
We descended the mountain toward the smoke and soon found a small clearing hidden by thickets near the middle reaches of a stream. There were about thirteen or fourteen log cabins there. It was indeed a small village.
Faint ringing sounds echoed in my ears. Among the hunters and gatherers, I could hear the voices of several swords.
I had a good feeling about this.
Sodam. Do you remember the sound of Great Leader No Seong-gu's saber?
Tell me as soon as you hear it.
Sama Yeong and I followed the slope and entered the village entrance. To show we weren't enemies, we made ourselves clearly visible, but the men dressed in furs at the edge of the village suddenly shouted.
"Outsiders! Outsiders have appeared!"
At the shout, people came pouring out of the cabins. Each of them carried axes or other bladed tools, and about six of them were holding swords and sabers.
"Doesn't feel like a warm welcome, does it?"
"No, it doesn't."
There were about thirty able-bodied men. Among them, a bearded middle-aged man stepped forward. He was holding a saber, and if my energy sense was correct, he had the skill of a first-rate master. In Blood Cult terms, he was an advanced warrior.
"What business do outsiders have in this deep mountain valley?" the middle-aged man asked, his voice full of suspicion.
There was no need to beat around the bush.
"I've come to find an acquaintance."
"An acquaintance?"
I gave him the name. "A man named No Seong-gu."
As soon as I said the name, the middle-aged man's expression stiffened. As expected, he seemed to know something.
Just then, I noticed a man with a scar on his face slipping toward the back of the group. The moment I saw him, a memory from long ago surfaced.
"Deputy Leader Gi Jo-yang!"
He was Gi Jo-yang, the deputy leader of the Blood Wolf Unit. It had been so long, and he was dressed like a hunter, so I only just recognized him.
At my shout, the scarred man, who was trying to slip away, cried out in surprise.
"It's a cultist!"
At that cry, the men moved to block the village entrance as if to guard it. Sama Yeong moved to draw her sword from her waist.
I shook my head and spoke to the tense men holding their weapons.
"I am not an enemy."
The men shouted back, "Don't make me laugh! If that's true, put down your weapons immediately!"
"We'll believe you once you're tied up!"
They seemed incredibly wary. I smiled thinly and pointed a finger at my eyes.
"Look here."
"What are you—"
At my words, the men instinctively looked into my eyes.
Thud! Thud!
In that instant, the thirty or so men who had formed a human wall at the village entrance all went blank-eyed and collapsed to the ground.
It seemed the power of my Illusion Eye had increased after absorbing the spirit fragment left in the spirit treasure.
"W-what on earth..."
Deputy Leader Gi Jo-yang, seeing the men suddenly collapse, couldn't hide his bewilderment. But it was only for a moment. He quickly regained his senses and tried to flee.
I reached out with my left hand.
Swish!
The Silver Smoke Thread shot out and coiled around the ankle of the fleeing man.
"Huh?"
I gave it a light tug. As the thread retracted, his body was forcibly pulled toward me.
Rattle!
"D-damn it!"
A deputy leader was quite skilled even among first-rate masters, but he was no match for my internal power. Forced toward me, he desperately swung his saber.
I caught it between my index and middle fingers.
Snap!
When his strike, backed by internal power, was blocked so easily, Gi Jo-yang was at a loss for what to do.
I asked him, "Where is Great Leader No Seong-gu?"
"W-who the hell are you?"
At his question, Sama Yeong grinned.
"For a former deputy leader, you certainly have a mouth on you when speaking to a high-ranking member of the Cult."
"A high-ranking member?"
At those words, Deputy Leader Gi Jo-yang's eyes went wide.