Chapter 48
Chapter 48
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 48
Chapter Title: The Night Sky of Doseonghyeon
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A middle-aged man hurriedly stepped forward in front of Cho Doyang and clasped his hands in a formal salute.
“You must be an expert from the Tang Clan! I apologize for not recognizing you sooner! On behalf of Lion Gate, allow me to offer my regrets!”
He appeared to be the leader of the escorts.
He had only just realized the identity of a Tang clansman from the dark technique I had displayed.
No matter that Lion Gate ruled the martial world of Gyeongju, or that Blue Flower Manor was the sect of the Sword Emperor, or that Emei Sect boasted of its Buddhist sanctity and long history—in the end, they all paled under the name of the Sichuan Tang Clan.
Cho Doyang belatedly came to his senses and bowed his head.
“Please forgive—”
“Answer my questions. Are you still planning to block my path?”
“H-How could I ever commit such rudeness!?”
Cho Doyang’s head sank even deeper.
“If you would only grace us with your esteemed name—”
Cho Doyang’s words did not continue for long.
Whoosh!
By then, I had already vanished without a trace.
“Wh-What—”
Cho Doyang muttered in a daze.
A heavy silence flowed.
It felt as if they had been bewitched by a ghost.
The corpses strewn about in gruesome death told the tale of the hellish scene that had just unfolded.
* * *
“This way!!”
The moment I stepped into the marketplace, I quickened my pace.
I had wasted time needlessly on those Lion Gate bastards.
I needed to move faster.
First, using sorcery, I cleansed the tainted flesh and blood from my body and suppressed my presence to the utmost, slipping from people’s awareness.
I began sensing the presences of those I presumed to be my followers, one by one.
But rushing straight to them would be too tight on time.
It seemed I’d have to eliminate the pursuers one by one, tracing my way back upstream.
Like a salmon swimming against the current.
Slowly.
But surely.
“How much is this?”
“Five nyang, young master.”
Along the way, I bought a mask from a nearby stall.
A fairly large red lion mask.
Its mane hung thickly enough to cover my shoulders.
This should suffice to hide my face.
Swish!
I activated Shadow Phantom Step, melting into the bustling crowds and the night’s silence, slipping into an alley devoid of people.
I donned the lion mask, tying it securely from behind so it wouldn’t slip, and draped the Demonic Ghost Cloak over my body.
With purple ghostly flames trickling even from the edges of my eyes, I looked for all the world like a lion spirit.
Kiiiiiaaa!
At the same time, a eerie wind carrying ghostly wails poured forth.
“Black mask and Demonic Ghost Cloak…!”
“It’s as if the former Little Sect Leader has returned.”
The spirits that had gathered around me were uniformly stricken with terror.
To their eyes, it must have seemed that Yeon Un-hwi—the shadow of death that once blanketed the Divine Cult—had been reborn.
Boom boom boom boom boom!
As the Demonic Ghost Cloak resonated with my dantian, my internal energy and sorcery slowly swelled my frame.
Flash!
I lightly kicked off the ground, leaping dozens of paces—some thirty meters—into the air with Eagle Ascent Technique.
Yet not the slightest presence or sound emanated from me.
It was thanks to layering Invisibility Spell, one of the Shadow Phantom God’s sorceries.
The marketplace, now fully cloaked in darkness, spread out beneath my feet.
The purple ghostly flames within the lion mask fixed on one spot.
“Here! Over here!”
The nearest cluster of spirits.
There, atop a rooftop, an evil sword inspector darted about at high speed.
The look in his eyes as he hunted my followers—the Fierce Demon Divine Transformation followers—like prey did not sit well with me.
—Right now, in this moment, the prey is not my people down there, but you traitors. And yet you dare make eyes like that?
Swish!
I arced swiftly through the air, dropping behind him.
The man, rising to pursue my followers once more, rolled dead to the ground before he could even sense my approach.
Slash—
Splat!
I crushed his skull underfoot, then incinerated his entire body with True Fire Spell before moving on to the next spirit’s location.
And so, today.
The night sky here would belong solely to me.
* * *
“Heh heh heh! With this, I can finally become a Shadow Sword Inspector!!”
Evil Sword Inspector Gwi Jun smirked as he watched the apostate’s flight slow.
It had been five days since the order to capture the Fierce Demon Divine Transformation followers who had appeared in Doseonghyeon—traitors expelled from the Divine Cult alongside the rebels.
The bastards were persistently tenacious.
As if to prove how they had survived the Divine Cult’s relentless pursuit, they had evaded capture thus far, always seeming on the verge yet never quite caught.
The same held now.
The three apostates had scattered in different directions to shake their pursuers.
And they kept vanishing, wasting the entire day chasing through this narrow marketplace.
But that was over now.
Exhausted from the long chase, their tails had finally been stepped on.
『Target has scaled the right wall. Nightingale, take the second alley left. Owl, head to the roof of the third thatched house. We strike all at once there.』
The moment he confirmed the target apostate had reached the desired spot, he sent out the transmission.
Followers of the Fierce Demon Divine Transformation were renowned for their absolute loyalty to the Divine Sword Heavenly Demon and the fallen Little Heavenly Demon.
That was why even captured ones had proven difficult to interrogate, but with the newly developed Solitary Curse Technique, he could pry their mouths open easily enough.
Then he could uncover the long-missing whereabouts of the Divine Sword Heavenly Demon…!
‘Then with that merit, I’ll be free of this wretched slave life! I’ll become a Black Ghost!’
It was then, with his heart swelling in anticipation.
『What? Why isn’t anyone answering?』
Gwi Jun frowned at the lack of response from the other two evil sword inspectors.
Sure, there was no camaraderie among them—they spent their time ignoring each other—but on a critical mission like this, they should at least reply properly.
『If you get it, say you get it! You damned bastards! How else am I supposed to know if the plan will work?!』
The crowds were thinning, and it was time to close in on the apostate.
『Nightingale, respond! Owl, what are you doing?』
The target was already veering slightly from the spot.
『Hey!!』
In the end, Gwi Jun couldn’t hold back and bellowed.
But.
『…….』
『…….』
Still nothing but silence in return.
Drip!
By now, even Gwi Jun felt an ominous chill.
He halted his pursuit.
『What? Did you all drop dead?』
No reply, as expected.
Shing!
Gwi Jun swiftly drew the greatsword from his back and scanned his surroundings.
He spread out his spirit waves.
If his comrades were nearby, their spirit waves would register.
But there was nothing.
As if they had evaporated into thin air.
Trickle!
Cold sweat slid down Gwi Jun’s cheek.
‘When did this happen?’
His comrades—Nightingale and Owl—were veteran evil sword inspectors of at least several decades, just like him.
Their skills placed them at super-first-rate.
No matter how skilled the attacker, dispatching them so easily was impossible.
No, even if possible, he should have sensed it.
For the evil sword inspectors of Black Bone Ghost Valley were bound by the Evil Spirit Wave Bond.
They could not defy orders from superior zombies or sorcerers, and their souls were linked, allowing real-time grasp of each other’s minds and states.
Any ambush on one would naturally transmit to the others.
And yet he had been oblivious?
‘Unless the attacker is a superior sorcerer beyond Master… impossible—’
『Why? Surprised that your comrades suddenly went silent?』
‘!!’
Gwi Jun stiffened.
He scanned the surroundings rapidly.
But only darkness and silence flowed.
『What are you even looking at? You came here on your own two feet to an empty spot—what are you searching for?』
A voice laced with mockery.
‘They’re… watching me.’
Gwi Jun swallowed dryly.
No matter how widely he spread his senses and spirit waves, nothing registered.
Yet the enemy was clearly observing his every move from somewhere.
Moreover, the transmission reaching him was no ordinary one.
Evil Spirit Wave Bond.
Someone was speaking directly into the spiritual bond linking the evil sword inspectors’ minds!
‘They’ve infiltrated the Evil Spirit Wave Bond! How…?’
His mouth went dry.
A superior sorcerer beyond the White Bone Net Witch? Ridiculous.
Did the Fierce Demon Divine Transformation even have such a figure? No one came to mind.
Unless… the backer of that Nine Dragons Branch Family second young master who had been troubling the White Bone Net Witch lately?
But what connection could that man have to the Fierce Demon Divine Transformation—
‘Wait, could it be?’
Suddenly, Gwi Jun wondered if the Fierce Demon Divine Transformation had latched onto the Nine Dragons Branch Family second young master to thwart the Divine Cult’s plans.
『Quite the intriguing deduction. You could think that way, sure. Might be useful if played right.』
The laughter in the voice grew thicker.
『Well, it’s not far off, in the end.』
Then Gwi Jun’s thoughts cut short.
‘They’re even… reading my mind.’
『Took you long enough? Too slow. I nagged you to reinforce the spells ages ago.』
‘Reinforce the spells?’
Few dared meddle in Black Bone Ghost Valley’s sorcery like that.
Only one in the past decade.
Which meant—
“L-L-L-Little Sect Leader—”
“Too slow on the uptake. Your other friends caught on quick.”
This time, the voice came not from his mind, but from behind his head.
Gwi Jun whipped around.
On the roof of an empty thatched hut.
Two purple will-o’-wisps flickered to life, slowly revealing their form.
A man sat perched on the roof, backlit by the full moon, gazing down.
A red lion mask concealing his face.
A black cloak shrouding his body entirely.
Purple eyes glowing faintly, gray ghostly aura spreading eerily around him.
Kiiiiiaaa!
The ghostly wail rang out wide, as if proclaiming his arrival.
Even the moonlight from the full moon behind him seemed especially sinister tonight.
“!!!”
The return of the Little Sect Leader, whom all thought dead.
Gwi Jun’s body went rigid.
Reflexively, he tried to prostrate himself.
But strangely, no strength entered his limbs.
As if invisible threads bound them.
‘D-Don’t tell me they’ve used the Evil Spirit Wave Bond to control my very body—’
“Missed me so much you were going mad?”
Laughter still tinged the voice from beyond the lion mask.
“Making all this so I could crawl back from hell.”
But oddly.
The ghostly wail mingled in that voice kept sending chills up his spine.
Kiiiiiaaa!