I've Got a Scheme of My Own

The Undying Demon looked upon the Black-Eyed Leopard Blade and wore a grotesque smile, savoring the sweet satisfaction of a plan clicking into place exactly as he had envisioned.

"Heh heh heh heh!"

He cut the laugh short, and his face went cold.

"Bring it to This Lord."

The Black-Eyed Leopard Blade started forward — and the Undying Demon's gaze slid to Seo Joo-cheon.

"No. Wait. You bring it."

Seo Joo-cheon let dismay settle over his features, but inwardly he was cheering.

I was wondering how I'd get close enough with the elixir. And here you are, solving that problem for me.

The Undying Demon had no intention of forgiving the man who had killed a subordinate he had painstakingly raised and then heaped humiliation on top of it. He was sending Seo Joo-cheon forward with the elixir so he could kill him the moment it changed hands.

The Black-Eyed Leopard Blade caught the intent at once and went pale. He knew perfectly well that if Seo Joo-cheon approached with that bottle, there would be no escaping the Undying Demon's killing strike.

"I'll bring it."

Seo Joo-cheon stepped in before the words had settled.

"Give it to me."

"Hero Po."

"I'm fine. Hand it over."

The Black-Eyed Leopard Blade passed his bottle to Seo Joo-cheon.

"Big Brother, I'll go."

"Big Brother. I'll go with you."

Ham Cheon-yeong and Kang Chu-mi started forward, but Seo Joo-cheon shook his head.

"I'm fine. Trust me."

The two of them looked into his eyes and clenched their jaws. It was obvious Big Brother had something prepared — but their opponent was the Undying Demon, and that was enough to leave them uneasy.

"Heh heh heh heh. That's fine too. All of you, come."

The Undying Demon murmured it as he watched them.

Seo Joo-cheon walked toward him with the fake elixir in his hand. Ham Cheon-yeong and Kang Chu-mi followed at his back, and none of the Undying Demon's subordinates moved to stop them.

He was utterly composed. Even closing the distance to a Demon Lord, Seo Joo-cheon showed not the faintest trace of intimidation. Kang Chu-mi held herself ready to fling her daggers at a breath's notice, and Ham Cheon-yeong poured qi into his lower body until it was packed tight. If Big Brother fell into danger, they meant to throw themselves in with their bare flesh if they had to.

"Hero Po! Do not hand that elixir to that devil! We do not care if we die! Better we perish than give that demon even more power!"

Jang Hyeon-nam shouted as if the injustice of it were tearing him apart.

Of course you'd say that.

Seo Joo-cheon gave a bitter smile.

I made him far too upright a character.

Go Jin was already contradicting him.

"What nonsense! How could some elixir possibly outweigh our lives! Don't listen to him — bring the elixir here!"

The words were not wrong. To martial artists who held honor heavier than life, they were simply not beautiful.

"Hold your tongue! How can a Daoist even think of compromising with a devil like that! Have you not considered how many people will die if that elixir falls into that villain's hands!"

Jang Hyeon-nam's roar made Daoist Gojin flinch. But he was a man more fiercely attached to his own skin than anyone alive, and the scolding only made him explode.

"Do you mean to throw away even the Tang Clan's precious jewel because of your stubbornness?"

Daoist Gojin finally dragged Dang Seol-yong into it — meaning that if someone of the Tang Clan came to harm on account of the Wudang Sect, who would be left to bear what followed.

It was a statement that invited nothing but a snort of contempt.

"Kill that Wudang Daoist and his useless mouth!"

The moment Jang Hyeon-nam started stirring discord, the Undying Demon gave the order to Mak Goeng. Mak Goeng's sword came up — and Seo Joo-cheon spoke.

"If you want this elixir to shatter and vanish in my hand, then kill him."

The Undying Demon's brow twitched.

"Stop, Commander Mak. Hmph! Fine. I won't kill him. Bring it here."

The coaxing had crept back into his voice. Seo Joo-cheon shook his head.

"No. Send everyone here outside. I'll stay behind in their place."

"Just you?"

"That's right."

Seo Joo-cheon was dragging the situation onto ground the Undying Demon would never have chosen, trying to seize the initiative. The Undying Demon did not take the bait.

"And why should This Lord do that? You don't seem to realize that This Lord is the one holding the blade."

He looked at Mak Goeng.

"Start by killing those Qingcheng Sect disciples."

The words had barely left his mouth before Mak Goeng slashed the throat of a Qingcheng disciple who still had not even come to his senses.

"Krk!"

"Gahk!"

Foaming blood at the mouth, the Qingcheng disciples crumpled to the floor like meat on a butcher's stall.

"Y-you! You bastards!"

Daoist Gojin lurched to his feet at his disciples' deaths — and Mak Goeng's kick put him straight back down.

"Stay down. Or I'll snap your remaining leg as well."

At Mak Goeng's murderous words, Daoist Gojin could not even answer. He only clenched his teeth. Selfish as he was, he was not so far gone that he could simply look away from the deaths of disciples he had spent decades beside.

"Now do you understand who holds the blade?"

The Undying Demon said it with a sneer. No one answered.

Then a sound transmission slipped into Seo Joo-cheon's ear. It belonged to a Plum Blossom Sword Guard — Sim Gong, the real one, the man the Black-Eyed Leopard Blade had been impersonating.

In other words, the Plum Blossom Sword Guards were confident they had the means to escape the inn. The only ones who could truly stand against them were the Undying Demon and Mak Goeng, so it was not entirely wrong.

But even if the words were realistic, they were infuriatingly shameless. Weren't they saying they would take the elixir and leave everyone else here as a sacrifice?

Seo Joo-cheon let out a disbelieving chuckle. He understood — and their selfishness still felt like a betrayal. Mount Hua was the sect he loved most, the one he had put the greatest care into building. It was destined to become the most influential force in the martial world, and it left a bitter taste that the Plum Blossom Sword Guards were thinking of escape rather than a way to break the deadlock.

"You don't seem particularly moved. Kill the old Daoist too!"

The order came while Seo Joo-cheon was still thinking.

"Wait!"

But Mak Goeng's sword had already opened Daoist Gojin's throat.

"Ghk!"

Daoist Gojin blinked with the eyes of a man who had never imagined he would die so meaninglessly, then slumped to the floor.

"Still have more thinking to do? In that case—"

Seo Joo-cheon cut in before the Undying Demon could move again.

"Stop! I'll give you the elixir!"

"Ah—"

A sigh escaped the Plum Blossom Sword Guards.

Seo Joo-cheon stood thirty feet from the Undying Demon and threw the bottle. There was no room to play games with a fake elixir along the way. The slightest offense would cost Jang Hyeon-nam his life.

Tak!

The Undying Demon snatched the bottle out of the air and opened the lid.

"Hmph."

The moment it came off, he flared his nostrils at the rising fragrance.

"Yes. This is it. This is the one."

It gave off the exact scent of Gongcheong Seokyu, the Stalactite Milk, and the Undying Demon had no way of telling it was false. He had never taken it himself — he had only read of it in texts and heard of it secondhand.

Then he dipped a finger into the mouth of the bottle, and Seo Joo-cheon flinched. He had expected the man to smell it. He had not expected him to taste it.

Seo Joo-cheon let out a long, quiet breath.

I nearly made a huge mistake. Thankfully the Black-Eyed Leopard Blade thought of every detail. Then again — that's how a man steals an elixir and stays hidden this long without being exposed.

He spoke to the Undying Demon, who was turning the bottle in his hands with a satisfied smile.

"You've received the elixir. Let them go."

The Undying Demon nodded.

"Quite right. A promise must be kept. Commander Mak."

"Yes!"

Mak Goeng answered with crisp discipline.

Mak Goeng paused over the wording, then grinned.

"Understood. I'll leave only the bodies."

Meaning he would take the heads.

The instant the words left his mouth, Seo Joo-cheon charged the Undying Demon.

"This is why you don't make deals with scum."

To the Undying Demon, Seo Joo-cheon looked like a moth flying into a flame.

"Commander Mak, wait a moment. I'd like to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠enjoy a little entertainment first."

"Yes!"

Mak Goeng withdrew the sword he had been about to bring down on Jang Hyeon-nam's neck.

At the same time Kang Chu-mi's daggers cut the air, and Ham Cheon-yeong's massive frame lifted lightly off the floor. The Undying Demon swatted the four incoming blades aside with his bare hands, casual as brushing away flies.

Ting-ting-ting-ting!

Stripped of their force, the daggers ricocheted wildly upward — and Kang Chu-mi cracked her whip.

Pik-pik-pik-pik!

She struck the drifting, directionless blades, and they shot toward the Undying Demon faster than before. In that same instant Ham Cheon-yeong's saber came down to split the crown of his head.

"Not bad!"

The attacks were sharper than he had expected, and a spark of genuine interest kindled in him. They were skilled enough to play with for a few exchanges. He would amuse himself, then kill them wretchedly.

Both hands stirred through the empty air, and the four daggers slammed into the inn floor.

Thud-thud-thud-thud!

Ham Cheon-yeong's saber struck the Undying Demon's forearm and bounced into the air as if it had hit an iron plate. He had turned the blow with Rebound Hard Qi.

"Khuh!"

The gap in internal energy was so vast that Ham Cheon-yeong's qi churned violently, and something surged up from his gut. He swallowed it down, refusing to show weakness.

In that same heartbeat Seo Joo-cheon drove for the Undying Demon's throat.

The Undying Demon's mouth rounded.

"Hoh!"

From swift to still swifter — Seo Joo-cheon attacked with nothing but the exquisite principles of the swift sword.

He chained together the four forms that were the very essence of swiftness in the White Snake Sword Art and pressed the Undying Demon without a pause. Even if the Undying Demon stood at the Peak and Seo Joo-cheon had yet to reach First-Rate, a White Snake Sword Art whose hidden meaning had been fully realized was not something that could be taken lightly.

Thinking he need only weather a passing squall, the Undying Demon refused to be swept up in that swift sword and edged backward, evading. But before he knew it Ham Cheon-yeong had circled behind him and swept his great saber in a blinding arc, as if to cleave the spine. Kang Chu-mi's whip scythed across his lower body.

Seo Joo-cheon seized the opening, closed in tight, and thrust.

The three-person combination was so clean, so relentless, it left not a single breath of room. Even the Plum Blossom Sword Guards felt that this coordinated assault was more powerful than the Plum Blossom Sword Formation. A combination art honed over more than a decade had no gaps. Ham Cheon-yeong hunted the blind spots. Kang Chu-mi launched unexpected attacks from spaces she herself occupied. Seo Joo-cheon stole the enemy's eyes so the other two could land with full force.

"Hah... who would dare call them third-rate after seeing that!"

As someone exclaimed in admiration, the three of them shone.

But their opponent was Hyeok Chung, the Undying Demon, one of the Twelve ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Demon Lords of Macheonchong. A master who had already surpassed Peak and was drawing near the Peak Realm.

With a single spin of his body he nullified Kang Chu-mi and Ham Cheon-yeong's attacks and reached a hand toward Seo Joo-cheon. It looked languid — yet the explosive force packed into that palm strike could have pulverized a boulder.

That was when Seo Joo-cheon unfolded it.

He twisted his body just enough to slip the palm art and drove his sword in toward the heart.

Whoosh!

The palm force he had evaded slammed into the table behind him, and the table shattered into splinters.

Paaang!

When it came apart there was a sound like bursting leather.

"Hm?"

He had slipped the right-hand palm force with Time Dilation Authority — but before he knew it the Undying Demon's left hand was closing on the area around his right ribs. The right hand had been bait.

I really can't take even a single exchange lightly. Every move is a killing technique. All right. Let's see if the Queen Jangdokhwe-go works.

He had experimented enough. There was still no guaranteeing the Queen Jangdokhwe-go would do its job in actual combat.

If it doesn't work on the Undying Demon, every one ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of my ribs will snap and my lungs will burst.

The thought flashed through him, cold and fast.

The Undying Demon had not the slightest doubt. No matter how brilliant ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a third-rate unorthodox swordsman's techniques might be, a body would explode under this palm force.

"Huh?"

The instant his palm was about to touch those ribs, his hand suddenly began to tremble in fine spasms — and stopped.

It was an action that ran precisely contrary to his own will, and the Undying Demon flinched in shock.