Chaotic Melee (2)
Two days earlier.
“Cough!”
So Bang staggered into a small cave hidden deep in the mountains and spat out a mouthful of blood.
The dark fluid that spilled down her chin was unnaturally turbid. She had already suffered devastating internal injuries after being swarmed and struck several times, yet the reckless circulation of energy during her desperate flight had flooded her entire body with stagnant qi.
The world liked to divide martial arts into orthodox and demonic, but that was ultimately just a broad categorization of their natures. Even demonic arts became lethal if turbid energy ran rampant inside the body.
So Bang immediately began circulating her energy. Fortunately, the Blood Yin Demonic Arts were built around both static and dynamic techniques. Few arts were better suited for purging impurities while remaining alert to one’s surroundings.
Hiss—!
Gray smoke rose from every pore across her body.
She had only circulated her energy for a moment, yet the amount of visible turbid qi being expelled was staggering. It spoke both to her considerable skill and to just how badly her meridians had been contaminated. The situation was more serious than she wanted to admit.
Damn it all.
Clenching her teeth, So Bang pulled a small pill from her robes.
Do I really have to use this here?
Though she had never been officially recognized as the sect leader’s daughter, she still carried divine blood. Her treatment had always been fundamentally different from that of ordinary cult members.
The pill in her hand was proof of that privilege.
If I use it now, I’ll only have one left.
The Yin Crystal Pill was one of the Saeum Sect’s most prized rare elixirs.
Like most spiritual medicines, it excelled at both amplifying and restoring internal energy. Its effects were especially potent when the user’s evil qi was dense, which was why high-ranking officers favored it.
The problem was the astronomical cost of its creation. The sect only distributed it to those who had rendered truly exceptional service, and never to ordinary members—only to the upper echelon.
One pill, but it is my lifeline. I will need it for the final battle. Which means…
So Bang’s eyelids trembled.
This is the last one.
She hesitated.
She had never imagined that so soon after arriving in the Central Plains she would sustain such critical wounds from the combined assault of opponents weaker than herself.
Suddenly her eyes turned vicious.
That damned bastard.
She recalled Yeon Hojeong’s words.
He was right. He said that if I became flustered, my thoughts would grow chaotic and it would be easier to deal with me.
“You won’t escape from here.”
Had he been right?
The moment those words left his mouth, So Bang had completely lost focus in a fight she was already struggling to concentrate on.
That bastard? Who was he talking about?
Surely not…
So Bang gazed far into the eastern sky.
“……”
“Yayul Jeok, you son of a bitch?”
She muttered the words in fury, but soon shook her head.
No. There’s no way that man would betray the sect.
Their relationship had never been good, but she knew his loyalty ran as deep as her own. She provoked him every time they met not merely because their personalities clashed, but because she refused to believe he was the type who would turn traitor.
If she had truly suspected him of betrayal, she would never have provoked him so openly. She would have watched him quietly and slit his throat the moment an opening appeared.
…No.
So Bang’s gaze deepened.
He was exiled to this continent. They called it a dispatch, but a man of his caliber was forced to become the disciple of a mere assassin. There’s no way he wouldn’t hold a grudge.
Yayul Jeok’s pride was every bit as fierce as his loyalty. He simply refused to acknowledge it.
But would he really betray the sect? Truly?
Suddenly she remembered the terrifying martial arts Yeon Hojeong had displayed—the ones that had dismantled her Blood Yin Palm so perfectly.
His own ability was exceptional, but what shocked her most was how completely he had seen through and countered every movement of her sect’s signature technique.
How did he know? He clearly understood the Blood Yin Palm!
So Bang had never even conceived that a counter to the Blood Yin Palm existed. She had lived her entire life without once considering that her sect’s core art could be broken.
Yet it had been dismantled piece by piece right before her eyes. Had she not experienced it herself, she would never have believed it possible.
That was no coincidence. He knew the Blood Yin Palm completely—down to its very roots!
Even if one knew the counter, responding to it against a superior opponent was no easy task. Yet Yeon Hojeong had dismantled the techniques of someone clearly stronger than himself with effortless familiarity.
There were many geniuses and monsters in the world, but complete mastery of the Blood Yin Palm was required for such a feat. Even with mastery, executing it so cleanly in real combat was nearly impossible.
Just how did he learn it? Could the Blood Yin Palm have been leaked to the outside world?
That was even more absurd. No—simply impossible.
Then…
“……Someone on the inside leaked both the Blood Yin Palm and the Blood Yin Demonic Energy.”
That was the only conclusion.
But who would have done it? And why had the leaked techniques ended up in the hands of the Martial Alliance?
“Yayul Jeok.”
So Bang’s body began to shake violently.
“Was it really you?!”
Blood trickled from her nose.
Her internal injuries were already severe; the surge of emotion had completely disrupted her energy circulation. So Bang forced herself to calm down and focused everything on expelling the turbid qi from her body.
She quickly regained control, but her mind continued to race.
Now that I think about it, that prideful bastard didn’t even try to stop me when I insisted on going.
She recalled their conversation.
“Well, you have a point. Even if we fail, we’ll at least learn the enemy’s strength.”
“Fine. I’ll leave one of them to you.”
So Bang’s cheeks trembled.
After a long, tense standoff, the man who had been burning with rage suddenly calmed down and agreed with her suggestion. He hated her as much as she hated him, yet he had changed his mind far too easily.
It made no sense. Such a thing had never happened while he was still in the Saeum Sect.
Moreover…
So Bang had always been confident she could defeat him in a life-or-death duel. That was why she had dared to kill his subordinate right in front of him. She had believed she could suppress him even if the situation escalated into open combat.
Separately, the moment his subordinate died by her hand, Yayul Jeok should have attacked her immediately. That was the nature of their relationship, and his temper was anything but ordinary.
Yet he had simply let her leave. He had shown genuine killing intent, but stopped at a warning.
Why? Because he lacked the confidence to win? But he was the kind of man who threw caution to the wind when enraged.
Was it really you?
Hiss—
A cloud of gray energy rose around her body before dissipating.
Crack!
The section of stone wall that had absorbed the largest amount of turbid qi crumbled like a hollow shell. The poison within it had been that potent.
Did he plan to use me as a tool to kill his enemy? Did he truly intend to have me killed? Did he have the confidence to pull it off?
Hiss—!
A crimson aura began to surge across her body.
Having expelled most of the turbid energy that had clogged her meridians, the Blood Yin Demonic Energy finally began to circulate properly. Only now could she truly breathe again.
So Bang chewed her lip in deep thought, then let out a long sigh.
“Damn it… It looks like I’ve really been played for a fool.”
She wanted to dismiss her suspicions of Yayul Jeok, but they refused to fade.
Yes, when you think about it, it really is ridiculous.
Even for him, obtaining the secret manual of the Blood Yin Palm would have been extremely difficult. Not impossible, but there was no reason for him to take such a risk.
Besides, Yayul Jeok could not have known she would be dispatched. The sudden appearance of Yeon Hojeong—who just so happened to be perfectly versed in countering the Blood Yin Palm—and the decision to send her straight to him was far too convenient.
It must be a coincidence.
It was clear the Blood Yin Palm had fallen into the Martial Alliance’s hands. But it probably hadn’t come through Yayul Jeok. For now, she would believe that.
After staring at the Yin Crystal Pill for a long moment, So Bang tucked it back into her robes.
“I need to meet him and talk.”
One hour later.
Once her body had recovered enough to wield her martial arts again, she carefully employed her movement technique and headed east.
It was then that—
…?
So Bang’s eyes sharpened as she glanced at the sky.
What is that?
More than a dozen birds were flying northwest. Their silhouettes looked strangely familiar.
Are those the messenger hawks Yayul Jeok controls?
They were the size of pigeons but were clearly hawks—precious creatures three times faster than ordinary messenger pigeons and capable of slaughtering most flying beasts in an instant.
They belonged to the Dark Bird Corps, the intelligence unit under Yayul Jeok. She had seen such birds entering and leaving his window countless times.
He must be sending information somewhere.
It was standard practice to attach identical messages to multiple birds. After all, one or two occasionally failed to reach their destination.
So Bang had been ignoring them and continuing on her way when a thought suddenly stopped her in her tracks.
“……”
Her eyes narrowed to slits.
“……It wouldn’t hurt to check. Just in case.”
Whoosh!
Pouring every ounce of her strength into the chase, she pursued the messenger hawks. Roughly two minutes later, she saw one of them beginning to lag behind the rest.
She had seized the perfect distance and timing. So Bang snatched up a pebble and infused it with dense Blood Yin Demonic Energy.
Swoooosh—! Thud!
Her body was far from normal, but striking a single bird at twenty jang was child’s play.
The messenger hawk’s head exploded. It twitched once before plummeting to the ground.
So Bang sprinted to the corpse and untied the message tube from its still-twitching leg. She unfolded the paper inside.
To the Martial Alliance,
I will assist you in capturing your primary target. Let us temporarily join hands and eliminate our common enemy first. As this side has its own circumstances as well, I hope for a swift reply.
— Dark Bird Corps Leader, First Disciple under the Shadow God
So Bang’s eyes turned bloodshot.
“How interesting.”
The corners of her mouth curled upward. Her face—twisted with disbelief, rage, and murderous intent—resembled nothing so much as a vengeful ghost.
“How very interesting, Yayul Jeok.”
The Dark Bird Corps was the Shadow God’s premier intelligence organization, led personally by Yayul Jeok. Its leader was none other than his first disciple.
Yayul Jeok and Sama Hyeon.
They were one and the same. Moreover, Yayul Jeok had claimed he had placed Sama Hyeon under his mind control technique. So Bang knew this fact as well.
Therefore, even if the letter had been sent in Sama Hyeon’s name, it could only represent Yayul Jeok’s will.
“Yayul Jeok.”
For a moment her mind went blank from the sheer fury boiling up inside her.
Even then, a sliver of doubt remained. Not doubt that Yayul Jeok had betrayed them, but doubt that Sama Hyeon might have betrayed him.
But no matter how she examined it, that possibility made even less sense.
Sama Hyeon was bound by Yayul Jeok’s mind control. The Saeum Sect’s version of the technique was fundamentally different from the Central Plains’ demonic hypnosis; without knowing the exact method, breaking free was nearly impossible.
Therefore, this letter could reasonably be viewed as Yayul Jeok’s own intention. Sending it under his first disciple’s name as a precaution against unforeseen complications was, at this point, not an overinterpretation at all.
“You… you truly betrayed the sect?!”
Rustle.
She took out the Yin Crystal Pill once more and swallowed it without the slightest hesitation.
One hour later.
Rumble!
The mountain near Yayul Jeok’s residence groaned violently as several supreme experts collided in a cataclysmic clash.