No Need to Look Behind
I spoke in a low voice.
“Were you waiting for me?”
“Waiting, you say….”
She rose to her feet.
“I arrived here one shichen ago. There was no need to force my way through a formation vanishing by the moment, so I simply watched.”
She walked straight toward me.
“When one has lived long years, one occasionally encounters otherworldly beings who try to intervene in this world. Rare, but not unheard of. They vanish again with time anyway, so there’s no need to poke a sleeping tiger.”
Clang.
Whenever she took a step, a strange cry of steel rang in my ears.
“In the end, I suppose I was waiting for you.”
“Why would you…?”
“I should be the one asking you, ordinary man.”
Her silver eyes were cold and intelligent. They reminded me of a white fox’s gaze peering at me through a snowdrift. Between her silver hair, elegant brows as if painted with a brush were visible.
“Who are you?”
“…What?”
The wind stirred my black martial robes. Wondering if I might be wearing a mask, I touched my lower face. Nothing was there.
“Outwardly, you resemble a man I know.”
Eun Seollyeong narrowed her eyes.
“But the man I know could never possess this kind of aura or martial prowess.”
Only then did I understand what she meant. She stared at me with an unreadable look.
“Above all, the one I know has a hasty temper and immature sensibilities. Similar, yet….”
Eun Seollyeong was the Guardian of the Mount Hua Sect. As she had said before, she was a being who had lived nearly a hundred years. She possessed the eye to grasp countless things from a single word and the faintest aura that slipped free.
“Can the same person change their atmosphere this much?”
“A great many things happened.”
I whispered once more.
“Truly a great many things. Things that would have killed an ordinary person several times over….”
“Well, that’s not what’s important.”
She uncrossed her arms and gestured into the air as she continued.
“Whether you just met some otherworldly being, or whether you’re the Moyong man I know—none of that matters to me. There’s something far more important right now.”
Her silver hair, falling to her shoulders, swayed. Moving her small lips, she raised two fingers.
“Answer two questions. You have no right of refusal.”
“….”
“From what I’ve heard, is it true that you are of the Blood Cult?”
“No.”
I answered without the slightest hesitation. Eun Seollyeong’s eyes blinked. I recalled our first encounter. When I had been slashed across the belly with a kitchen knife by a peddler and was bleeding, I first met her at the main gate of Cheonsubaekryeonsa. On a field covered in pure white snow.
“Then, the next question.”
With the collapsed temple wall beside us, her silver sleeves and my black martial robes fluttered.
“Then the Demonic Sect?”
She asked in a subdued voice.
“Could you be connected to the Demonic Sect?”
Her gaze changed completely from when she mentioned the Blood Cult. This had to be her real business. It was the same look as when she had snatched the silver bell from my hand. This confirmed it. She had some deep grudge with the Demonic Sect.
“….”
The power of the Heavenly Demon. I did not know how she would react if she learned of that fact. But facing her, I could feel a faint sensation. It was clearly that incomplete and precarious emotion that had made up most of me before I met Asura of the Eight Legions and received training.
“No. I am Moyong Bi of the Moyong Family. How could I be related?”
“….”
I decided to try at least to avoid a direct confrontation with her, the Guardian of Mount Hua. Even if she did not believe it.
“No connection?”
“Yes.”
Eun Seollyeong narrowed her eyes slightly.
“There are certainly suspicious points.”
She nodded.
“But the Demonic Sect bastards have that unique demonic art stench that reeks from even the farthest distances. There’s no way I would have missed it…. Yes.”
For me, who had just learned Patcheon-hyeol-ma-mu-geuk-gong and was about to train with it, those words were quite concerning.
“Did you perhaps come looking for me on a commission from the Ju Family?”
“I followed the trail here. I did not know you would be here, but from the circumstances, it seems the target of that commission has chosen you.”
I stammered in surprise.
“Did I leave that many traces while traveling?”
“To be precise, not your traces.”
She shook her head.
“I followed the traces of the one who was pursuing you.”
Her finger pointed to the ground.
“….”
Thousands of grooves densely filled the floor. They stretched unwaveringly from a distant place all the way to the temple’s main gate. The grooves that had come from afar spun thousands of times right in front of the temple entrance, as if suddenly having lost what they were chasing. Then they continued in one direction before cutting off as if evaporating. On either side of the grooves were frozen dead maggots. Flies trembled as they died.
Ugh, when… did I fall asleep.
Mumyeong spoke in a hazy voice.
What is this flood of martial art memories. What happened in the meantime. Host….
Mumyeong’s words cut off.
This is….
Mumyeong seemed to have witnessed the marks on the ground as well.
“What kind of traces are these?”
“The Guardian of the Diancang Sect.”
Eun Seollyeong answered shortly.
“The worst and most vicious existence. Judging by the traces, he seems to be desperately seeking you.”
“And so are we.”
I raised my head. The mist cleared. From one side of the forest, a group of people was approaching.
“We got lucky. When I heard the rumor that the Diancang Sect’s Guardian had started moving, I thought it would be a wild goose chase.”
They wore brown clothes with silver cloth wrapped around their arms like armbands.
“A Blood Cultist who single-handedly overturned the Ju Family…. Honestly, the Blood Cultist part seems like the client was so blinded by rage they spat out whatever. But we don’t care about the truth. As long as the money is good.”
From the side, another five of the group walked out. In total, well over ten people in brown outfits with faces covered. Looking at them, I said,
“An assassination squad sent by the Ju Family?”
“Ah, so you already know your situation well?”
The martial artists sneered from behind their masks.
“And you’ve got a beauty to die for right next to you?”
“Lucky guy.”
Eun Seollyeong sighed and crossed her arms, leaning against the wall. That posture was a silent sign that she would not interfere and they should settle it among themselves. The assassination squad’s swords were drawn.
“Don’t hold it against us. This is just how this world works, right?”
“….”
My two hands hung down beneath the dog-skin cloak.
Flutter.
The hem of the old cloak fluttered. Sensing my aura, the assassination squad whistled.
“Whoa, looks like he’s going to fight back?”
“It’s been a while since we’ve had a target who doesn’t despair even at these numbers and tries to fight.”
The one who seemed to be the captain of the assassination squad stepped forward.
“Sorry, but to give some advice about the cold Jianghu to our young friend who still seems to need more of his mother’s milk and is utterly clumsy—”
“…?”
The captain aimed his sword and said,
“This isn’t a sparring stage.”
“What?”
The captain’s eyes sneered as he spoke mockingly.
“You shouldn’t only look ahead.”
Whoosh!
From the bushes behind, a brown figure shot up like lightning and loosed an arrow.
Paht.
Without looking back, I snatched the arrow.
“What!”
The captain of the assassination squad was shocked.
“Sorry, but.”
Crack.
In my hand wearing the Chiljong-heukjusa-gap, the arrow was crushed as if squeezed and scattered to the ground.
“I don’t need to look behind.”
“…!”
Eun Seollyeong’s eyes widened.
“Th-that….”
The atmosphere of the assassination squad changed completely.
“He just caught a flying arrow without even looking?”
Creak creak.
The arrowhead was pinched between my index and thumb. By grip strength, the arrowhead was crumpled vertically. The flattened arrowhead rolled to their feet.
“…!”
The expressions of the assassination squad rapidly hardened. There was no longer any smile on their faces. At that moment,
“Pathetic. The Ju Family isn’t stupid enough to put such a huge sum on eliminating an ordinary martial artist. You can tell the level of the Ju Family that hired these guys as their direct hands.”
A giant of a man, a head taller than most adult men, wearing pitch-black clothes, walked out from the darkness.
“Small fries, stay out of it. That guy was mine from the start.”
The man had gray skin. He flicked his red tongue as he spoke.
“You, you’ve been roaming around quite flashily. Blood Cult or whatever aside. You’re Moyong Bi of the Moyong Family, right?”
“….”
I looked at the man.
“Seems you’ve been using a fake identity that doesn’t even work. You wandered so much it was a pain to find you.”
He had black hair braided up into a ponytail. He mentioned my name without the slightest hesitation. There was only one possibility I could think of.
“The client is the eldest of the Moyong Family? Or the second?”
I shook my head and said quietly.
“Yeah, I thought those bastards were too quiet. As expected.”
The man chuckled and shook his head.
“I don’t know the details, but thanks to you thrashing around so hard, I made a profit. You even put on the false name of some Blood Cult trash yourself. To think I’d receive huge sums from both the Moyong Family and the Ju Family just for taking care of you.”
In his hands, he held two swords with naked women carved in relief.
“Th-those swords!”
The assassination squad was greatly shocked.
“Is that Baek Cheongjin of the Shadowless Seven Demons?!”
“There were rumors that he was a member of the Demonic Sect’s Asura Flame Wolf Unit, then after defecting, he avoided the kill order and lived on all sorts of evil deeds and commissions in the shadows, but to think it was true…!”
Baek Cheongjin of the Shadowless Seven Demons adjusted his grip on the swords and scanned the assassination squad.
“Seems you recognize me and my Ghost Swords. Then our noble and frail juniors won’t interfere with my hunt, right?”
“E-even so! We have our pride!”
The assassination squad gritted their teeth and protested. Baek Cheongjin clicked his tongue.
“Tsk tsk tsk, these idiots. Is it because you’re only first-rate or early second-rate at best that you can’t even properly gauge the opponent’s skill?”
Baek Cheongjin pointed at me standing in silence.
“If that guy felt like it, he would have slit all your throats before a cup of tea cooled.”
“What?!”
Baek Cheongjin smacked his lips with his red tongue and readjusted his twin swords.
“I’ve seen eyes burning with suppressed rage like that countless times in the past. Like a wild tiger hiding its fangs in the darkness, even holding its breath…. Yes, ordinary martial artists wouldn’t even be opponents. But I’m different.”
Baek Cheongjin began to crouch as if about to explode.
“A guy like you is nothing more than a snack to me, who went through all sorts of hellish training in the Asura Flame Wolf Unit, past apprentice to full unit member—”
Baek Cheongjin’s body shot out like a flash of light.
“Can’t become!”
His twin swords in both hands swung toward my neck.
Flutter.
My clothes fluttered. My left hand wearing the Chiljong-heukjusa-gap shot out.
Clang clang clang clang!!!
Seven consecutive strikes swung at super speed were all deflected.
Paaht!
At that edge, a clump of snow-melted mud on the ground floated into the air.
Gulp.
My form, with the red afterimages of Baekryeon-pal-ya-jong, instantly burrowed into his embrace.
“C-crazy, how can there be such movement!”
As Baek Cheongjin was shocked and tried to recover his twin swords—
Kwaang!
I stomped down with my heel and shattered Baek Cheongjin’s left instep.
“Gyaaah!”
Baek Cheongjin screamed and bent over. After that, everything was instantaneous. Baek Cheongjin’s right knee burst outward. Both shoulders were dislocated. Collarbones broken. Elbows bent the wrong way. I snatched the two twin swords that slipped from his powerless grip and drove them into his thighs like stakes. As his mouth opened in pain, I thrust my fingers in and yanked them out.
All of that in a single moment.
With a splat, the floating clump of snow-melted mud fell back to the ground.
“…Uwaaaaah!”
With a desperate scream, Baek Cheongjin collapsed and writhed like a worm.
Kwaak!!!
“Keok!”
I stomped down on his writhing head with my foot.
Crackle… crackle….
Faint lightning qi flowed from my body.
“Come.”
Twitch.
The dozen or so of the assassination squad flinched. From behind my black pupils, with a faintly burning red glow, I whispered,
“I’ll yield the first move.”