The Heavenly Serpent's Shadow
"Care for a drink?"
Cheon Un-gi held out the gourd flask to Ouyang Qiangang with easy grace. Taking it, Ouyang Qiangang settled onto a boulder across from him, and the two sat facing one another like old friends pausing to rest on a mountain trail. The scene looked peaceful enough, but the tension flowing between them was sharp as a blade.
Ouyang Qiangang raised the gourd to his lips and took a swallow, then lifted his head. The liquor burned like fire going down his throat, yet the warmth that spread through his body afterward was fragrant enough to make him forget the bleak night wind.
"The wine is quite good. Now, what is this about?"
His voice was calm, but his eyes were as deep and cold as the bottom of a lake.
Cheon Un-gi shrugged. "If I said I wanted to see how far you could follow, would you believe me?"
Ouyang Qiangang lowered the gourd slowly. "Should I?"
"I'd be quite content if you did." Cheon Un-gi's voice was utterly indifferent.
"You really do have a face of cast iron." Ouyang Qiangang snorted a laugh.
"As if that's anything new. You knew perfectly well what I was like." Cheon Un-gi laughed right back.
"...That much is true." The answer came out more like a sigh.
Silence settled between them. Clouds slid across the moon, and the darkness gnawing at the edges of the night deepened. Far away, an eagle circled with its wings spread wide.
Ouyang Qiangang studied Cheon Un-gi's expression, searching for the true intent hidden beneath that languid, untroubled face. It was no easy task. The man was a riddle incarnate. Their first meeting had been the same—after the battle with the lords of the Blood Sea he had appeared out of nowhere and proclaimed himself a protector, and the nanobots had not even been able to penetrate his body. Everything he knew of the Blood Sea, too, had sounded as though he could see straight through to their innermost affairs.
I can't even begin to guess what he is... He could not be certain whether Cheon Un-gi was enemy or ally, but one thing at least was clear: the man bore him no hostility.
"You sought me out like this because you have something to say, Elder Brother Cheon?"
"Of course." Cheon Un-gi nodded and went on. "The iron tablet that was clutched in the Ghost Valley Village chief's hand, and the bone fragments you've gathered so far. I know a thing or two about them."
A cold aura began to seep from Ouyang Qiangang's body. The Transcendent Formless Divine Art had activated without his willing it.
"You came all this way to tell me that?"
"Is that so wrong?" The voice remained as leisurely as ever.
"You expect me to believe that?" Ouyang Qiangang's expression turned frosty. "I'm merely curious about your reason."
Cheon Un-gi chuckled. "Young Lord Hahu trusts people even less than I thought."
At that, Ouyang Qiangang's face hardened with cold. "The people who held the items you speak of were, well..." He stopped, searching for a more careful word than scum of the earth.
"They were a wicked lot. The Blood Spirit Human Demon, the Empress, even the Death Spirit Blood Cult... For me to simply trust you, Elder Brother Cheon, when you seem to see through exactly what such creatures are—"
"A gamble? Hmm... fair enough." Cheon Un-gi nodded as though the point were entirely reasonable, then went on. "But Young Lord Hahu—no, Ouyang Qiangang." His voice dropped lower. "You have done nothing more than pick up a single leaf at the entrance of a vast forest. You cannot begin to imagine how deep and dark that forest is."
"I don't imagine those things are the whole substance of whoever is hiding in the dark, either."
"Sharp as ever." Cheon Un-gi took the gourd back unhurriedly, drank a swallow, and continued. "Have you heard of the God-Sealing Blood Bone Fragment?"
"I haven't. What is it?"
"The things you drew out of the Blood Spirit Human Demon and the Crown Prince, and took from the altar of the Death Spirit Blood God Ritual. God-Sealing Blood Bone Fragment is their name."
"Hmm..."
A fierce wind swept up and whipped the hems of their robes. Cheon Un-gi went on. "To those whom the martial world brands as demons and heretics, the God-Sealing Blood Bone Fragment is a priceless divine treasure beyond all comparison."
"It is saturated with sinister energy, certainly, but I wouldn't go so far as to call it priceless." Skepticism colored Ouyang Qiangang's voice. It was plainly no ordinary object, but it hardly seemed momentous enough to shake the world.
Cheon Un-gi's eyes deepened as he answered. "That is because you do not yet know the fragment's true worth."
"Will you tell me?"
"The God-Sealing Blood Bone Fragment is an ancient relic harboring a malice far more potent than you can imagine. But its value lies elsewhere."
"Which is?"
"That it devours death qi and demonic qi without end." Cheon Un-gi continued in an offhand tone. "The carnage at Ghost Valley Village, the great slaughter on Bloodlord Isle—all of it was meant to feed the fragment. Kill hundreds, thousands at a single stroke, and their lingering souls and agony are drawn into it."
"The Crown Prince's case was different, wasn't it?"
"After the Crown Prince died and the Second Prince took the throne, with the Empress ruling as regent—what do you suppose she would have done?"
Grasping what he implied, Ouyang Qiangang went pale. The entire empire might have been transformed into hell itself.
Every horror I've lived through was for that monstrous purpose... They're truly insane. Shaking off the thought, he asked, "What do they intend to do with all that gathered death qi and demonic qi? What exactly is this ritual?"
An unreadable smile crossed Cheon Un-gi's face. "It isn't healthy to want to know too much. You do not yet have the standing to bear that truth."
"Standing?" Ouyang Qiangang's pride stung, and his brows twitched upward. But Cheon Un-gi shook his head, perfectly composed. "Exactly what I said. You don't have it yet."
"And who grants this qualification? You, Elder Brother Cheon?"
"Not me."
"Then who?"
"Hmm... that's rather difficult to say. You'll find out someday."
"This feels like a riddle game."
"Hahaha. Perhaps it is." Cheon Un-gi laughed heartily enough to show his Adam's apple.
Ouyang Qiangang could tell that no answer would come no matter what he asked. He had no choice but to change the subject.
"The Blood Spirit Human Demon is a strange case."
"Strange how?"
"Compared to the Crown Prince or the Death Spirit Demon General of the Valley of Lost Souls, doesn't his caliber seem far too low?" Ouyang Qiangang frowned, recalling Bloodlord Isle. The Blood Spirit Human Demon had certainly been strong, but he was no match for the Empress, who had driven the Crown Prince to death's very door, or for the Death Spirit Demon General of the Death Spirit Blood Cult.
"He is nothing more than a lackey who does as he's told." A sneer touched Cheon Un-gi's lips. "The rite you witnessed on Bloodlord Isle was merely preparation for the true purpose—a demon-gathering ritual to amass death qi and demonic qi."
There was that word again—ritual. And now demon-gathering added to it. He was curious, but asking would get him nothing. So Ouyang Qiangang instead seized on the words that had lodged in his ear, his gaze sharpening.
"What do you mean, lackey?"
"Asking because you don't know the word?"
"You know perfectly well that's not it." He had obviously not asked for a definition. He asked because he could not believe that a monster like the Blood Spirit Human Demon had been someone's errand-runner.
"You're telling me someone gave him his orders?"
"Of course there is. That's why I called him a lackey." Cheon Un-gi nodded and went on. "The Valley of Lost Souls differed somewhat in scale from Bloodlord Isle, but it was the same kind of demon-gathering ritual."
Ouyang Qiangang's eyes widened. "You're saying the one behind the Blood Spirit Human Demon caused the Valley of Lost Souls incident as well?"
"That's right." The answer was firm.
Ouyang Qiangang fell silent for a moment. Everything he had endured flashed past his mind's eye like images on a spinning lantern—the carnage on Bloodlord Isle, the Crown Prince's curse, the tragedy of the Valley of Lost Souls...
"Who is it?" His voice dropped low, and his gaze hardened. If someone truly had orchestrated all of this from behind the scenes, that someone would pay the price.
"The Heavenly Serpent Hall."
Ouyang Qiangang's pupils dilated. The Heavenly Serpent Hall. One of the Five Hegemons of the world—a colossal power that ruled the Demonic Path of Murim from the shadows. Every martial artist knew the name, yet it was a taboo none dared speak aloud.
"Don't tell me... they were behind all of this...?" The mere name pressed down on him with staggering weight.
"The Heavenly Serpent Hall is not the whole of what stands behind it all. But for now, knowing that much is enough."
"Because of that qualification again?"
"Sharp as ever." Cheon Un-gi grinned and continued. "You have not yet drawn their serious attention. But keep collecting the God-Sealing Blood Bone Fragments, and one day you will stand face to face with them."
"I never set out to collect them."
"Of course I know that. It changes little, though. You are the one who ended up holding them."
Ouyang Qiangang drew a deep breath. The cold air filled his lungs, but the heaviness in his chest would not lift. "And the tattoo of the tail-biting serpent?"
"A mark proving that its bearer handles matters concerning the God-Sealing Blood Bone Fragment within the Heavenly Serpent Hall."
"Judging by your phrasing, Elder Brother Cheon, there is a separate, hidden group within the Hall that deals with the fragments. Am I right?"
"Hahahaha, sharp indeed. Even within the Hall, the fragment business is a closely guarded secret. Only a handful of the leadership know of it."
"Is the Death Spirit Demon General one of them?"
"Naturally. A master of his caliber would hardly be a simple lackey like the Blood Spirit Human Demon."
After a brief silence, Ouyang Qiangang asked, "Why are you telling me all this, Elder Brother Cheon? Why entrust me with something so important?"
"Because the moment you must choose will arrive, sooner or later." Cheon Un-gi's unreadable eyes fixed squarely on him. "Whether to close your eyes and pretend not to see the Heavenly Serpent Hall's designs—or to stand against them in earnest."
Ouyang Qiangang looked at him. The choice this enigmatic man had laid before him was simple, and it was heavy. Why does everything keep getting more tangled...
[It is not a feeling, Doctor. It is fact.]
Akasha, you really are a capital-T Thinker.
[......]
Ouyang Qiangang spoke. "Standing against the Heavenly Serpent Hall means... preparing to die, I take it?"
"You may need to prepare for something worse than death." Cheon Un-gi's voice remained indifferent, and that tone—as if it were all someone else's problem—made Ouyang Qiangang find him irritating for no good reason.
He looked up at the sky. Across the night, the stars glittered like scattered silver dust.
With a wry smile, Ouyang Qiangang asked, "I suppose asking for more time is out of the question?"
"Who would you even ask? Well, I doubt they'll wait long, so a little urgency wouldn't hurt." Cheon Un-gi rose to his feet as he spoke. "Think it over. The choice is yours in the end, of course."
His expression stayed placid as he added, "Weigh it carefully. Your choice will decide more than your own fate alone."
With those words, Cheon Un-gi melted into the darkness—as though he had never existed at all, without a trace.
Left alone, Ouyang Qiangang gazed up at the night sky. Damn it all... All I want is to live out a long, healthy life as an idle vagrant, and there are far too many things getting in the way...
The wind began to blow again, and the insects resumed their chorus. But within his heart, a vast shadow called the Heavenly Serpent Hall had already settled.