Chapter 703: Heavenly Dragon Martial Arts Tournament (12)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 703: Heavenly Dragon Martial Arts Tournament (12)
The Emei Sect.
One of the pillars of the Nine Sects One Alliance, the representative body of the Orthodox Faction, rooted deep in Sichuan.
Unlike other sects, it was unique in that it was composed entirely of female monks.
What was the reason for that again? I wasn't entirely sure.
To be more accurate, I didn't care.
What little I did know was that it hadn't always been that way. It was only after the Great War of the Blood Demon that they expelled their male disciples and transitioned into an all-female order.
Because of this, people often questioned how they could maintain their position within the Nine Sects One Alliance with only women.
To me, it was a meaningless debate.
Once you have Qi circulating through your veins, what does gender even matter?
From a martial perspective, a practitioner has already transcended the limits of ordinary people. They should be judged solely by their level of mastery. The moment you bring gender into the conversation, the point is lost.
The bastards who go easy on someone just because she’s a woman are the real problem.
That kind of sentimentality is for civilians; it’s a death sentence for a martial artist. That’s how idiots fall for honey traps or get their heads sliced off while they’re busy hesitating.
In fact, when the Demonic Humans were conquering Sichuan in my past life, the Emei Sect was the most troublesome opponent. It wasn't because their martial prowess was overwhelmingly superior or their strategies were brilliant. It was simply because problems arose when my men lusted after them, seeing them as women rather than enemies.
The nuns of the Emei Sect grew their hair out, despite being monks. It wasn't long, usually kept in a short bob. Perhaps because of that, those beast-like bastards would try to pull some pathetic shit.
I kept the Black Flame Army in line, but…
If I caught even a hint of that behavior, I burned the offenders alive. There were no such issues within the Black Flame Army. However, the Ghostly Sword Army and the Green Aerial Army were a different story.
Things only quieted down after I eventually stomped on the Sword Demon and disemboweled a member of the Green Aerial Army, but the lack of discipline nearly derailed our conquest of Sichuan.
Anyway.
Pushing those memories aside, I focused on the woman in front of me.
She had bobbed hair that reached her shoulders and a deep scar running across her cheek. She looked to be in her early thirties.
I don't recognize her.
She wasn't a famous martial artist—at least, not one I knew by sight.
I met the scarred woman's gaze—or more accurately, the Emei disciple's.
"What is it?"
"...Ghk."
As I tightened my grip on her throat, the woman let out a strangled groan. I had already severed her flow of Qi and sealed her movements. Her level was, at best, the Peak Realm.
With my free hand, I searched her body.
"...!!"
Her face contorted in humiliation, but I ignored it.
Judging by her muscle structure, she's an assassin.
Based on her physical development, she was definitely trained in stealth and killing. However, the calluses on her hands suggested she was a practitioner of palm arts. An assassin who specialized in fist techniques... a rather unusual combination.
"It's quite a mystery. Why would a nun from Sichuan be doing something like this?" I asked, slightly loosening my grip.
"Wh-what... are you talking about... W-why are you doing this!"
As expected, she played dumb. I calmly looked into her eyes.
Her pupils were trembling uncontrollably. Her breathing was ragged, and her heart was hammering against her ribs. Was it fear or panic? There was a subtle difference, but I couldn't quite discern it yet.
However, one thing was certain.
She recognized me.
She had clearly seen me and called me the Lesser King of Hell.
Ordinary people rarely recognized me. This was partly because the Alliance had made an agreement with the Beggar’s Sect to keep me out of the public eye, and partly because I lived my life without drawing unnecessary attention.
Yet, she had recognized me instantly.
It's not that strange.
Even if rumors hadn't spread widely, I was known to some extent. It was possible for someone who had taken an interest in me to recognize my face.
But.
That's not the feeling I'm getting.
The woman's reaction wasn't just simple surprise.
This encounter itself is the problem.
Let's figure out why we're entangled like this.
"Does a nun of the Emei Sect have business with our Young Lady Pi Yeonyeon?"
"...Pi... Yeonyeon?"
Pi Yeonyeon. A member of a collateral branch of the Pi Clan of Xi'an. It was the alias Bongsun was currently using.
And she was also the bait I had cast.
Yes, bait.
The Sword Queen was a figure the Alliance kept under a heavy veil of secrecy, while simultaneously being a person of interest to several other factions.
It was truly strange. Decades had passed since her death, and the title of Sword Queen had already been claimed by another in Mount Hua. Was there any reason to watch over her legacy and suppress it so aggressively?
The Alliance certainly had their reasons, but the interest from others was questionable. The Sword Queen was known to have been unaffiliated with any faction—though it was revealed at the end that she did belong to one.
That was nothing more than the Alliance's manipulation anyway.
I didn't believe a word of it. And even if it were true, it didn't matter.
If it's real, I just have to make it look fake.
Evidence can be fabricated. To me, the existence of the Sword Queen was nothing but a dagger pointed at my back.
And yet.
Who could it be?
Besides the Alliance and myself, who were these people trying to dig this up? It was something I had always been curious about. Who were they? Who was making these moves, and for what purpose?
Is this someone who could be of help to me?
To be precise, were they an entity that could be useful to my plans? Or were they just a useless obstacle?
I was curious, and to find out, I had to cast some bait. Bait so valuable that someone would bite the moment they saw it, yet so precious that it wouldn't be easily recognized by the masses.
I cast it into the sea, and surprisingly, someone took the bait immediately.
The Emei Sect.
The nuns of Sichuan, the guardians of the west. A sect that, in my past life, never truly distinguished itself even when on the brink of annihilation, yet was the subject of an unusual number of rumors.
They were the ones who bit.
"...Let... let me go. Lesser King of Hell, why are you doing this!"
"First things first."
I ignored her cry and pressed my question.
"Why were you watching that child?"
Outside the preliminary tournament grounds—that was where the woman had been watching Bongsun. To be precise, she was reported to have been watching her.
The report came from the Dark King's subordinates I had stationed everywhere. My order was simple: report anyone watching Bongsun or acting suspiciously.
"What are you talking about? Who was I supposedly watching..."
As she spoke, her breathing gradually calmed. Her pulse was still rapid, but it had steadied.
She's well-trained.
At this rate, it would be difficult to tell if she was lying or acting. Fortunately, there were other ways to find out.
"Was it not the child?" I tilted my head slightly. "Then, were you looking at the Gwiyeongmok?"
"...!"
Thump.
There it is.
Feeling the shift in her pulse, the corner of my mouth curled upward. The woman's eyes widened, and the breathing she had just managed to control shattered.
"...What... what are you..."
She tried desperately to catch her breath, but it was too late.
"I'm talking about the thing Young Lady Pi was holding. I thought maybe you were surprised to see it."
"..."
"That's the weapon the Sword Queen used to carry, isn't it? Am I right?"
The more I smiled and questioned her, the more her cheek trembled. Her composure had completely crumbled. Her eyes were filled with pure astonishment, as if asking how I could possibly know.
Her reaction was truly delicious.
I wanted you to know. Of course, you should react this way.
Gwiyeongmok. The name might make one wonder what kind of tree it is, but this was unequivocally a Treasure—a weapon crafted from a Treasure. It had the appearance of a staff carved from wood.
But it can become a wooden sword or a spear if desired.
It changed its form according to the user's will, much like the effects of the Ghost Essence. The Sword Queen was known to have used a wooden sword, so she likely used the Gwiyeongmok in that form.
"H-how did you know that?" the woman stammered, her voice thick with bewilderment.
"How I know isn't important. What's important is why you're reacting like this. Isn't that right?"
"..."
The staff Bongsun carried had a flower pattern embroidered in black thread. This was one of the Gwiyeongmok's characteristic features. The Sword Queen must have covered it by making it the handle. The Ghost Spear in my past life also covered the embroidered part. This was something I learned from the Ghost Spear much later.
And there was a major reason I used the Gwiyeongmok as bait.
The Gwiyeongmok is passed down by bloodline succession.
The Treasure's unique trait was that it was inherited by blood. No one but a blood relative could use it. This was the same characteristic as the Namgung Clan's Thunder Sword.
However, while the Thunder Sword could be used by any member of the Namgung Clan acknowledged by the Treasure...
The Gwiyeongmok requires a direct blood relative.
This was a detail the Ghost Spear had mentioned; in reality, no one except the Ghost Spear could even touch the Gwiyeongmok.
So I figured it out.
That faction has been searching for the Sword Queen's bloodline for a long time.
I knew they were trying to ascertain not only information about the Sword Queen but also whether she had any children. The information I had gathered pointed to that.
If so, how were they trying to identify them? They wouldn't be simply looking for someone who resembled her. There had to be a method.
I believed that method was the Gwiyeongmok. That's why I ordered Bongsun to carry it openly without covering the emblem.
And the Alliance, which should have been searching for it more diligently, seemed to be unaware of this.
That means the Murim Alliance doesn't know about the Gwiyeongmok's characteristics, let alone the Sword Queen's child.
Seeing this, the Emei Sect martial artist who seemed to have recognized something about Bongsun and fled... this nameless woman...
She knows about the Gwiyeongmok. And she knows its secrets.
That seemed to be the correct assessment.
"I'll ask again. Is your target Young Lady Pi, or is it the Gwiyeongmok?"
"..."
No answer. It seemed she had already realized there was no way to escape, and that she had failed to control her expression.
I grabbed her cheeks and forced her mouth open.
"Gack!?"
The woman panicked. I sent a sliver of Qi into her mouth to scan it.
No poison.
She hadn't hidden a poison pill in her molars or under her tongue. Immediately after confirming, I maintained my grip in case she tried to commit suicide by biting her tongue.
"Whatever it is, it's true that the Emei Sect is involved..."
"Grk... ghk."
"It's a mystery. Why did it suddenly come to this?"
The Sword Queen was known to be unaffiliated. She didn't belong to any particular clan or sect and was known to have risen to her position solely through her own strength.
What is it?
Why was the Emei Sect looking for Bongsun?
No, perhaps they're not looking for Bongsun, but for the Gwiyeongmok.
Could the Gwiyeongmok have been the Emei Sect's representative Treasure?
That's possible.
Rather than having some intention of finding the Sword Queen's bloodline, it was possible the Sword Queen had run off with the Emei Sect's Treasure. That would explain why they've been searching for it for so long. A sect's representative Treasure was certainly valuable enough for that.
This is pure speculation, though.
I should keep it in mind, just in case.
For now, it's enough to know that the Emei Sect is involved.
It was a decent harvest. I was just grateful that they got entangled so easily after I cast a little bait.
Now for the last piece of business.
"Ghk..."
The woman, unable to even close her mouth, twitched. Unfortunately for her, my business wasn't over yet.
"Actually, I don't care about Pi Yeonyeon or the Gwiyeongmok. The question I'm about to ask is the most important."
As for finding things out, I could just turn her into a Demonic Human and make her spill everything. I was just reluctant because I didn't want to corrupt someone without understanding their circumstances if I could help it.
So I asked.
"I had a bit of poison with my breakfast this morning."
"..."
"Was that your doing?"
Flinch.
The woman's movement changed. I didn't miss it.
"So I was right?"
"N-no... nooo..."
Was she saying no? Her pronunciation was slurred because I was holding her cheeks. Looking at her, I clicked my tongue briefly.
"Ah, I feel a bit bad for the Dao King. I was so sure it was him."
Unfortunately for him, it seemed my second guess was correct. As I spoke with conviction, the woman expressed her denial, her eyes screaming the question: How did you know? How could you pinpoint it so precisely?
It was understandable that she was surprised. There was likely no evidence or motive to suggest the Emei Sect had poisoned me.
However.
"I heard a rumor."
Unfortunately for her, I've heard quite a bit of information from my past life.
"That the Emei Sect, the so-called nuns of Sichuan... have been playing tricks on male martial artists who have recently been making a name for themselves out of jealousy."
"...!"
"Am I right?"
It was a lie. This was a story I heard in my past life. In reality, the rumor hadn't spread yet. It was a story that had started to creep up around the time the Young Sword Saint was gaining prominence—that the Emei Sect was pulling dirty tricks on men behind the scenes.
I was asking based on that rumor. The problem was...
"I looked into it, and it seems there's some circumstantial evidence involving a few others besides me."
It seemed that rumor was true after all.
"...Ghhh... uhp..."
Servants, inn waiters, even courtesans. From last night until this morning, there were confirmed reports of attempts to poison food or tea in various places throughout Henan. This was information I had obtained by deploying my assassination squad.
The perpetrators were different, but the poison used was the same, and all attempts failed. It was the pathetic end result of paying large sums of money to untrained individuals to pursue such a crude method. From my perspective, it was obvious they had failed on purpose.
The common thread here was clear.
The perpetrators were different, but all the victims were participating in the martial arts tournament.
And they were all men who were beginning to distinguish themselves. Young, rising male martial artists. The fact was that assassination attempts had been made on them.
And all of them failed.
There were fewer than ten victims. And since they were entangled in an unknown threat in a foreign land, they weren't speaking up about it easily. The funny thing was that no one was requesting protection from the Alliance.
Why was that? The most trustworthy entity in Henan was surely the Murim Alliance.
...This is probably not just a matter of a martial artist's pride.
It meant that even they, members of the Orthodox Faction, didn't actually trust the Alliance. What a mess.
"N-no... it's not..."
"I am curious, though. Why go to such lengths?"
I don't believe in denials. It was funny enough that the rumor from my past life turned out to be true, but I was simply curious as to why they would do such a thing.
I suppose I've secured enough justification. Should I just turn her into a Demonic Human? Should I ask her then?
The thought sprouted on its own. It was too good of a situation not to.
Because I can obtain information about more than just the Sword Queen.
I hadn't planned on adding any more Demonic Humans for the time being, but for the sake of convenience, it was a tolerable situation.
Should I corrupt her?
Just as I was contemplating it, a better idea came to mind.
This was a point where more than one or two factions were involved. The Emei Sect and the Murim Alliance. And other clans were also getting on my nerves. What I needed to know here was:
Are the Alliance and the Emei Sect working together?
Or are they hostile factions?
Well, since they both operate under the banner of the Orthodox Faction, I doubt they're hostile.
But that didn't mean they were in a complete cooperative relationship either. If they were cooperating, it would be strange for the Alliance to be unaware of information regarding the Sword Queen. I didn't know what their relationship was, but...
At the very least, they are both hostile factions to me.
And it was better to use a much more convenient method than to get caught between them and struggle.
"Good."
I finished my thought and smiled. Seeing my smile, the woman trembled.
Looking at her, I tightened my grip.
Crack-!
* * *
A large residence in the northern part of Henan Palace.
This was one of the areas managed by the Murim Alliance, currently being used by the disciples of the Emei Sect.
Inside the third-largest residence in the jurisdiction, a sharp scream echoed.
"Kyaaaaaaah!"
"S-Senior Sister!"
"Senior Sister Yeonyeong is...!!"
The women in white outfits all turned pale as they took in the scene. At their center lay a woman, already dead and breathless. It was Yeonyeong, a second-generation disciple of the Emei Sect who had been sent on a mission.
"Wh-what is this...!"
A corpse suddenly discovered in the courtyard. As the women faced the situation, their expressions contorted.
"...Move aside."
A voice from behind made them all flinch. The women immediately cleared a path. An old woman walked with dignified steps toward Yeonyeong's body.
"..."
A cold corpse. Judging by the mark on her neck, she seemed to have been killed in a single blow. Seeing this, the old woman asked those around her with sharp eyes.
"...What is the meaning of this?"
"W-well, she... she suddenly appeared while we were on guard duty..."
"...What did you say?"
The old woman's expression crumpled. This was a space managed by the Alliance, and even if it weren't, disciples were standing guard. Yet, a human corpse suddenly appeared in such an open space without any obstacles?
And it was the child she had sent on a mission. One of the five she had entrusted with a top-secret mission last night. It was incomprehensible.
Sensing something strange, the old woman examined the corpse again.
"Hmm...?"
She noticed something clutched in the corpse's hand. The old woman immediately tried to pull out what the corpse was holding. The body was gradually stiffening, and the hand wouldn't open easily. She used force, and a cracking sound echoed from the fist.
Crack-!!!
Only after completely crushing the corpse's hand was she able to retrieve an unidentifiable letter. Paying no mind to the mangled hand, the old woman examined it and frowned.
On the letter was the crest of the Murim Alliance, along with a single line of text.
[Do not approach the secret any further.]
"..."
The moment she read the words on the letter...
Fwoosh!
"Sect Leader!"
"It's dangerous!"
The letter she was holding suddenly burst into flames and vanished into ash.
"...Ha."
The old woman—the Sect Leader of the Emei Sect, one of the Seven Steel and Three Fists, the Pink Moon Fist Immortal—contorted her face in absolute rage.