17. WAAAAIT!
"I believe it's this way, Great Lord."
"Understood."
Ok Ji-hwan answered Gwak Man-seo's respectful report with languid indifference, then unfurled his lightness technique to match the Shadow Squad's pace.
Gwak Man-seo, Captain of the Third Unit of the Heavenly Demon Cult's Shadow Squad, had received his orders from the venerable Great Lord and was now hunting down the two people who had dared slaughter the cult's loyal hounds. A warrior of the True Pine Sect and a single courtesan — and the laughable part was that their martial prowess was nearly identical. What was decidedly not laughable was that both had reached the early Peak realm.
The Shadow Squad specialized in espionage, assassination, and manipulation, which naturally meant that Gwak Man-seo himself was only around early Peak — weaker than the captains of the cult's other combat divisions. Judging the Third Unit insufficient to pursue a party that had already butchered two Peak masters, the commander of the Shadow Squad had requested aid from the Asura Heaven-Slaying Squad, one of the five combat divisions that formed the true martial might of the Heavenly Demon Cult.
That request had brought out Ok Ji-hwan — the True-Soul Demon Sword, Second Captain of the Asura Heaven-Slaying Squad and a master of the early Grand Peak realm. With no real fighting underway, the Asura Squad, like most cultists in such idle times, was bored out of its skull, and half of them had volunteered for the mission. Of those, Ok Ji-hwan had been chosen.
"Two Peak masters, hm? It's been an age since I've had this much fun."
Ok Ji-hwan murmured to himself, delighted at the prospect of tasting blood.
But as they raced onward through the deep midnight forest, someone leaning against a tree caught his eye.
"Hm?"
"That man...?"
Ok Ji-hwan and the Shadow Squad's Third Unit spotted the figure at the same instant and gradually slowed.
"Who goes there?"
At Gwak Man-seo's question, the figure leaning against the tree stirred slowly, and a face half-hidden in shadow came into view.
"Are you not the ones chasing me?"
When Cho Ja-un revealed himself before the demonic pursuit squad and tossed the question right back, Gwak Man-seo's eyebrows twitched.
So that's the True Pine Sect warrior. Did he sense our pursuit and wait here for us? No — a mere early Peak could never have noticed us tailing him. Then the information leaked? From where?
A dozen suspicions flashed through his mind in the space of a breath, and not one of them fit. When Gwak Man-seo kept his mouth clamped shut, Ok Ji-hwan glanced sidelong at him and stepped forward.
"So you're the True Pine Sect warrior? The one who butchered our cult's dogs? No — wait. Where is that courtesan? She was the one who killed our dogs, and she will pay the price."
"This old man is indeed a warrior of the True Pine Sect. And, as it happens, the guardian of the very woman you're chasing."
That a brat barely out of boyhood would not only stand before the Heavenly Demon Cult's masters without a flicker of tension, but refer to himself as this old man, was more than Ok Ji-hwan's face could take; it twisted in disgust.
"So you've gone mad, have you? I'll smash you to paste first, then find that woman and tear her apart."
Even faced with Ok Ji-hwan bristling with menace, Cho Ja-un offered no reaction worth the name. Instead, he posed a question of his own.
"Before we fight, we ought to trade names at the very least. Might I ask what they call you, hot-blooded warrior of the demonic path?"
Killing intent already stirring, Ok Ji-hwan ground his teeth at that unshakable composure and answered.
"When King Yama himself asks, you answer. Tell them that the True-Soul Demon Sword, Ok Ji-hwan of the Heavenly Demon Cult's Asura Heaven-Slaying Squad, sent you."
"Ah. Quite the grand introduction. This old man is called Cho Yeong-bin."
"I've no need for the name of a dead man!"
With that snarl Ok Ji-hwan drew his sword like a bolt of lightning, and the awe-inspiring aura of a Grand Peak master erupted from every inch of him. Just as the drawn blade rose to take the insolent pup's head—
"Now die already—"
"WAAAAAAIT—!!"
Someone's desperate shriek rang out in every direction. So loud, so piteous was it that even Ok Ji-hwan flinched and froze mid-motion — and he had no choice but to seek out its source.
"Captain of the Third Unit. What is wrong with you?"
Ok Ji-hwan spoke up upon discovering that Gwak Man-seo was, at some point, trembling from head to toe, but his words seemed not to reach the man at all. Without a word of reply, Gwak Man-seo shuffled forward on unsteady legs, approached Cho Yeong-bin slowly, and offered a formal fist-palm salute.
Ok Ji-hwan could scarcely believe his eyes: the man had ignored him to go salute the enemy. He was opening his mouth to bellow something — anything — when what followed shut it for him.
"...True Pine Sword Emperor, Great Hero. Is that... truly you?"
At this display of courtesy unlike anything a demonic cultist should possess, Cho Ja-un — no, Cho Yeong-bin — smiled genially.
"Heh heh. To think there was one among the demonic path who knew this old man's empty name. Why, I'm honored."
"N-not at all. Your illustrious name is known far and wide, even within our cult."
Ok Ji-hwan knew the epithet True Pine Sword Emperor, but not the face or name behind it — whereas Gwak Man-seo, one of the Shadow Squad captains who commanded all of the cult's intelligence, could hardly not know it. Cold sweat had already slicked its way down the captain's spine.
Goddamn it all... today may well be the day I die. I should have suspected from the very start.
None of it had ever added up. How could a single woman of the early Peak realm butcher dozens of first-rate masters, Peak and mid-Peak experts among them? The True Pine Sword Emperor must have been quietly watching her back the whole time. The moment word arrived of a young warrior risen in the True Pine Sect, he should have considered that the Emperor might have been reborn in a new body — and he had overlooked it entirely.
Not that the lapse could fairly be laid at Gwak Man-seo's feet. Barely ten or so masters of the Flower Realm were active in the whole of the murim — who would ever imagine one of them materializing in the middle of nowhere with nothing better to do?
Just as Gwak Man-seo was rattled, Ok Ji-hwan was equally thrown. His plan had been to toy with a couple of Peak masters, savor that courtesan in particular before finishing her off, and then return home to the cult — and out of nowhere stood a Flower Realm master. Fortunately, Gwak Man-seo had stepped forward in his place, allowing Ok Ji-hwan to hold his half-spent stance where he stood.
Cho Yeong-bin surveyed the pair wound tight as bowstrings, and the Shadow Squad operatives standing frozen behind them, and smiled with grandfatherly warmth.
"Now, now. There's no need for everyone to be so tense. I didn't come here today to spill blood."
Those words kindled a fragile hope of leaving with their lives, and Gwak Man-seo ventured a careful question.
"Then...?"
"Then, what? You come chasing me down in force — surely I must ask your reason. I feared something dire had happened, but mercifully it's nothing of the sort. A few of your pet dogs died. Hardly worth all this fuss, wouldn't you say?"
Ok Ji-hwan and Cho Yeong-bin alike had dismissed the Black-Brown Faction's warriors as mutts off the street, but in the present circumstance that mattered very little. Gwak Man-seo weighed his options frantically.
Fight, and we lose for certain. But tucking tail and fleeing would look wretched. It came down to this: surrender his life to guard his pride, or keep his life and swallow his pride. A sly glance at Ok Ji-hwan suggested the man felt the same — he showed no great eagerness to die here either. Then again, who ever truly wishes to die?
Watching Gwak Man-seo dither between pride and survival, Cho Yeong-bin read his anguish and graciously threw him a line.
"Ah — but as for roughing up your dogs, later, when time permits, I shall pay a visit to your honored cult and offer a formal apology. Would that serve?"
"Ah... you would do that for us, Great Hero?"
"Well, that way neither side need feel shamed, no? Heh heh."
Gwak Man-seo could have wept with gratitude toward Cho Yeong-bin, who seemed to be sparing even his dignity. Here and now the cultists held their tongues — half in reverence for a martial artist who had transcended righteous and unrighteous alike to reach the supreme realm, and half behind the convenient excuse that no one present could face him. But the cult's headquarters boasted no fewer than three masters capable of opposing Cho Yeong-bin, with Grand Peak experts beneath them beyond counting. And Cho Yeong-bin would have to be out of his mind to come knocking at the Heavenly Demon Cult's gate announcing, "Ah, I killed a few dozen of your errand-running grunts the other day, so I've come to apologize."
Which meant those words were a concession and a face-saving courtesy — the rope by which the cultists could withdraw with honor intact. Truth be told, Cho Yeong-bin had little choice in the matter either. He could certainly have cut them all down where they stood, but then the demonic cult would inevitably launch a campaign of wholesale vengeance, exposing not only his own True Pine Sect but So-yul as well to a threat vaster and more terrible than any before. Their interests thus neatly aligned, the cultists and Cho Yeong-bin were able to part without a drop of blood spilled, each satisfied with the terms.
"Yes. I shall convey your words."
"Ahem."
As Gwak Man-seo bowed with elaborate courtesy and withdrew, promising to deliver a promise that would never be kept, Ok Ji-hwan — evidently embarrassed in his own right — cleared his throat and took a step back. It was his signal of assent to the captain's words.
"Ah, but one more thing."
"Yes...?"
The matter had seemed settled, and the Sword Emperor's voice snagging them again filled Gwak Man-seo with fresh dread; his answer came out thin. And in the next instant, an aura unlike the last rolled off the True Pine Sword Emperor like surging thunder.
"Ghk...!"
Under the crushing pressure exuded by a Flower Realm martial artist, the blood of the Shadow Squad operatives churned in their veins; one by one they clutched their chests and dropped to their knees, until only Gwak Man-seo and Ok Ji-hwan remained upright, faces bloodless, barely holding on their own two legs. Amid that pressure which hammered their bodies like tide upon tide, Gwak Man-seo forced his mouth open.
"G-Great Hero. Is there... is there something else you require?"
"Nothing much. That courtesan you spoke of. She is one of my party."
"Y-yes..."
"She is a disciple of Mount Hua — and my friend."
"Yes, Mount Hua... I beg your pardon — your friend?"
Still addled by the crushing pressure, Gwak Man-seo had barely squeezed out his reply when the unexpected word made him jerk his head up.
"That's right. She is my friend, so you will not so much as touch a hair on her head. Of course — if you can manage that much, then I in turn shall swear to leave the Heavenly Demon Cult's people be, so far as I am able."
The moment the words Heavenly Demon Cult — not "the demonic path," but the cult's very name — left the Sword Emperor's lips, Gwak Man-seo could do nothing but salute once more. He hardly dared defy a request from a Flower Realm master who had folded away even the pride of the orthodox faction to make it.
"Yes. It shall be as you say."
And with that, the billowing pressure snuffed out in an instant. Watching it happen, Ok Ji-hwan felt his stomach drop clean away.
He's a monster. A complete monster.
With qi aura, drawing it back in is far harder than letting it out — and at full strength, it cannot be retracted so quickly. Which meant that the pressure the True Pine Sword Emperor had just displayed was not his full power.
Having thus forestalled any unforeseen threat with an unambiguous show of force, Cho Yeong-bin dipped his head.
"Well then, I'll be on my way. Let us hope we do not meet again."
The next moment he was simply gone, and the only sound left in the quiet was the soft thud of the cultists — drained hollow by an encounter with a powerhouse they hadn't even dared meet eye to eye — collapsing where they stood.
Old Master Cho Yeong-bin — or rather, Cho Ja-un — had gone out to buy snacks, caught the faint whiff of demonic energy, and wrapped the affair up rather tidily. He sauntered back into the inn in excellent spirits, where So-yul looked up at him with questioning eyes.
"What took you so long?"
"Ah, some business came up rather suddenly, you see. Sorry to keep you waiting."
"Well, these things happen. So what did you buy?"
"Hm?"
The moment she confirmed that Cho Ja-un's hands were empty, So-yul's brow creased.
"Nothing? Honestly, are you really an old man? Did you forget? You said you were going out to buy food, so why are your hands empty? You took so long I assumed you were hunting down something spectacular."
"Ah... well, there were... certain circumstances..."
"Forget it. I'll just go buy something myself."
As So-yul moved to rise, her voice thick with disappointment, Cho Ja-un hastily stopped her.
"No, no — I'll be back before you know it. Lady Kang, you wait here. My sincere apologies."
And before So-yul could get so much as a word out, he kicked open the inn door and hurried out. A master of the Flower Realm, running food errands. Had the cultists witnessed this mere moments ago, they would have doubted their own eyes — but poor Cho Ja-un had, alas, long since sunk past the point where he could even register the absurdity himself.