Chapter 54
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 54
Chapter Title: The Mastermind (1)
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Namgung Seo-hui had become the bait, and the Thousand-Faced Lustful Demon had taken it.
The gazes of the three intertwined.
“They say all under heaven are brothers. Meeting like this is a precious fate, so how could I simply pass by?”
The Lustful Demon's innocent smile, mimicking a cultured gentleman who knew his etiquette, felt utterly detestable.
But he masked that detestability with a smile of his own.
*This is an act.*
Just an imitation of a cheap play.
A play where one simply had to hide all emotions and perform their given role.
“Hahahaha! That sounds wonderful. Do you happen to know a good place?”
The corners of the Lustful Demon's mouth curled up.
“It's a humble place, but I happen to own a manor nearby. If it's not too much of an imposition, I'd like to invite you both. Would that be alright?”
“A manor…”
“Fine.”
Namgung Seo-hui nodded.
Her eyes held a mixture of fatigue and contempt.
“I was just getting tired anyway.”
It seemed she, too, was thoroughly playing her assigned part.
“Hahaha, then this one, Cheon, shall escort you both.”
*Flinch.*
Cheon Muryang's index finger twitched.
*Cheon?*
A thought crossed his mind. *Surely not.*
*He wouldn't dare bring up the Cheon Family now, would he?*
Now was the time for patience.
Not wanting to commit the folly of startling the snake by beating the grass, Cheon Muryang suppressed the urge to draw his sword.
“Hahaha! We'll follow you.”
“I happen to have a carriage prepared. Please, join me.”
“Excellent.”
Namgung Seo-hui showed signs of fatigue from standing for so long.
“This way, please.”
Following the Lustful Demon, they found a carriage just as he had said.
It was larger than expected.
“If you two would get in, I will drive the horse.”
“Are you sure you'll be alright?”
“Don't worry about me. I will ensure your journey is as comfortable as possible.”
Cheon Muryang boarded the carriage with an apologetic expression.
“Thank you.”
Namgung Seo-hui followed him into the carriage.
“It is I who should be grateful for the chance to serve you both.”
The Lustful Demon maintained his friendly smile, never revealing his true colors.
*How many people has he lured this way?*
Countless, surely.
One doesn't become a public enemy of the entire martial world simply for mastering lustful arts.
The reason the Lustful Demon became a public enemy wasn't because he enjoyed killing.
It was because the minds of his victims invariably shattered.
*Their end was always suicide.*
Namgung Seo-hui.
Even that vibrant woman had been broken to the point of seeking her own death.
That vile cunning was the very essence of the Lustful Demon's malice.
*I let you escape in my past life, but in this one, you will smile no more.*
The carriage set off.
Cheon Muryang had to pretend to attract Namgung Seo-hui's attention by spouting ridiculous nonsense.
*What a chore.*
How long had they been talking?
The Lustful Demon finally made his move.
They must have left Hangzhou.
“I've prepared some wine and food so you won't be bored on the way. I hope it suits your tastes.”
As if on cue, wine and food were presented.
The appetizing aroma stimulated their appetites.
*This is it.*
It was most likely poisoned.
He had to pretend to fall for it, even knowing the truth.
The moment the demon revealed his true intentions would be his chance to cut him down in a single blow.
“Thank you for your hospitality.”
Namgung Seo-hui shouldn't have had much to worry about.
*She should have an antidote jewel.*
It would neutralize any poison automatically.
And so, Cheon Muryang drank the wine and ate the food the Lustful Demon had prepared.
*As long as I know it's poison…*
…neutralizing it wasn't a problem.
The key was to pretend to be surprised and collapse when the poison took effect.
“Hm?”
But something was wrong.
*Thud!*
Because Namgung Seo-hui, who should have possessed an antidote jewel, had collapsed.
*Her acting is top-notch.*
He thought it was an act.
“Kheheheheheh.”
At least, until he heard the Lustful Demon's chilling laughter.
Cheon Muryang instinctively realized something had gone wrong.
“Did you really think I wouldn't know that the precious daughter of the Namgung Family carries an antidote jewel?”
*Shhhk!*
The Lustful Demon's hand-blade shot forward.
It overflowed with killing intent, aimed at ending Cheon Muryang's life without a hint of hesitation.
“You're full of shit.”
In fact, this was better.
All he had to do was cut the Lustful Demon down before he could even think of escaping.
*Shing.*
The smoothly drawn Heavenly Light Sword deflected the demon's hand-blade and simultaneously aimed to sever his leg.
*Whoosh!*
Nothing stood in the Heavenly Light Sword's path.
But for some reason, Cheon Muryang sensed danger.
*Step!*
So, he retreated.
“Kheheheheh! Your senses are sharp.”
“Are you with the Demonic Cult too?”
“What's it to you?”
The Lustful Demon then laughed maniacally with a bizarre smile.
The energy emanating from his entire body was unmistakably demonic.
“Seriously, you bastards stick your noses everywhere. So it was the Demonic Cult, not the Tang Clan?”
“……!”
When he mentioned the Tang Clan, the Lustful Demon's eyes flickered for an instant.
Not missing this, Cheon Muryang had a thought.
“Ah! So the Tang Clan is involved after all?”
“Shut up!”
“I see. So they are involved.”
“……!”
“Hmm. The Demonic Cult and the Tang Clan wouldn't be on the same side… or would they? Maybe they could be.”
The Tang Clan and the Demonic Cult.
The two wanted vastly different things.
The Demonic Cult wanted to reduce the Central Plains to ashes, while the Tang Clan was a family that wanted to stand tall as the greatest in the martial world.
“I think I get the gist of it.”
But it was always possible for them to join hands out of necessity.
Even if I don't change, if my competitors collapse on their own, my own standing rises, doesn't it?
“That sounds just like the Tang Clan.”
From the Tang Clan's perspective, the Namgung and Cheon families were nothing more than rivals.
Thus, sometimes, that was reason enough to join hands with the Demonic Cult.
“Tsk.”
But they should have realized.
This very Tang-like way of thinking had naturally crossed a line with Cheon Muryang.
*The Tang Clan… I will make you pay the price for this one day.*
The Tang Clan would pay their due.
But not now.
“Hey, Thousand-Faced Lustful Demon.”
*Flinch!*
He was surprised.
“You knew who I was?”
“Of course. I was targeting you from the very beginning.”
*Glance.*
Cheon Muryang glanced at the still-unmoving Namgung Seo-hui and clicked his tongue.
“Though it seems information about Namgung Seo-hui was leaked.”
Information about the antidote jewel had been leaked.
This meant that in addition to the Demonic Cult and the Tang Clan, the Namgung Family itself was involved.
“Was it a Tang Clan poison?”
“It's quite effective. A poison that can even bypass an antidote jewel. Kheheheheh.”
The Lustful Demon laughed bizarrely.
Then, his face slowly distorted and broke apart.
It was a human-skin mask.
“More hideous than I imagined.”
The face revealed beneath the mask was grotesque, as if horribly burned.
Furthermore, one eye was sunken in, and the nearby bloodstains made it clear the injury was recent.
“And where did you sell off that other eye?”
“……”
It was an insult worthy of a scoundrel.
Cheon Muryang was surprised himself at the stream of taunts flowing from his mouth.
*Did my mouth remember?*
The effect was excellent.
The manic laughter stopped, and a vicious killing intent enveloped the Lustful Demon.
“You truly wish to die.”
“What, were you planning on letting me live?”
“You bastard!”
The Lustful Demon charged.
The dense demonic energy fused with his inherent lustful energy, making it even more sinister.
*Shhhk!*
The Lustful Demon's strike tore through the night sky.
It was certainly powerful, but less than he'd expected.
*He was said to have scoffed at and broken through the joint dragnet of the Namgung and Cheon families… with just this much power?*
Not even close.
*Whoosh!*
So, Cheon Muryang didn't dodge.
It wasn't worth the effort.
“Looks like there was a misunderstanding.”
“What?”
*Slice!*
The Heavenly Light Sword swept through his shoulder.
*Thud!*
“I think I overestimated you.”
Black blood spurted out.
Blood that was anything but red.
The blood of a parasite that grew strong on the energy of others could hardly contain life.
“Kuaaaargh!”
The Lustful Demon screamed, clutching his severed arm.
*Clank!*
The Heavenly Light Sword touched his neck.
“Who is it? The one behind you?”
“W-What kind of bullshit is that!”
“Your eye.”
Cheon Muryang stared at the scar left on the Lustful Demon's eye.
It wasn't the Demonic Cult or the Tang Clan.
“I'm asking who owns the sword that did that to you.”
“……”
The trace of that sword.
It was the same as the Namgung Family's swordsmanship that Namgung Seo-hui had shown him.
*Glance.*
The Lustful Demon's gaze briefly fell upon the collapsed Namgung Seo-hui.
“Was it the Namgung Family?”
“……!”
The Lustful Demon's acting was more amateurish than he'd thought.
“Th-That's…!”
It was then.
A white thread was drawn in the air.
A line that passed through the Lustful Demon's neck and continued toward Cheon Muryang's heart.
“……!”
Cheon Muryang hurriedly raised his sword to block.
*Kaaaang!*
Along with a powerful impact.
Black blood soaked the Heavenly Light Sword.
*Thump!*
The Lustful Demon's body crumpled.
Then, someone walked forward.
“This is why trash isn't even worth keeping alive.”
At a glance, Cheon Muryang recognized who the Lustful Demon had been impersonating all this time.
“So it was you.”
“You should have stayed out of it.”
*Pfft.*
Cheon Muryang laughed.
His appearance was somewhat similar to Namgung Seo-hui's.
“Well, well, it seems the Namgung Family isn't exactly a harmonious household, is it?”
*Shhhk!*
An even finer white thread was drawn in the air.
“You'd be wise to shut that mouth.”
“What business is it of yours what I say with my own mouth?”
*Kaaaang!*
Two swords met in mid-air.
Cheon Muryang finally felt all the pieces of the puzzle falling into place.
*It wasn't that the Lustful Demon was strong. He had an accomplice in the Namgung Family from the start.*
That's how he was able to escape the dragnet cast jointly by the Namgung and Cheon families.
“To think you'd stoop to such tricks, unbecoming of an imperial family's dignity. I'm disappointed.”
“The scoundrel of the Cheon Family, Cheon Muryang.”
“What an honor. To think you even know my name.”
“Today, you will die for colluding with the Thousand-Faced Lustful Demon to rape the precious daughter of the Namgung Family.”
Cheon Muryang laughed.
How could someone be so arrogant?
“Then again, you've probably gotten everything you've ever wanted, so I can see why…”
He intended to show him that the world wasn't so easy.
“You're the one who should be careful.”
The Heavenly Light Sword revealed its hostility.
The sword held by this unknown direct descendant of the Namgung was apparently a famed blade, enough to stir the Heavenly Light Sword's greed.
“Because I'm a little angry now.”
“……!”
*Fwhoooosh!*
The Heavenly Light Sword shot toward the sky, as it always did.
*To sever the heavens.*
He brought it down, imbued with that will.
The sword and the motion were the same as what Namgung Seo-hui had faced just a few hours ago, but the will contained within was completely different.
*Shhhhhhhk!*
The air tore apart.
When the heavens themselves split, where could one possibly flee?
It was a provocation, daring him to face it head-on.
*Grit.*
“How dare you!”
And for one who wielded the sword of the Namgung Family, one who walked the path of a king, it was an unforgivable provocation.
A king signified the heavens.
Thus, Severing Heaven was no different from vowing to cut down a king.
“Defying the heavens!”
The heavens were not meant to be severed.
And so, the sword of the Namgung Family, which sought to walk the path of an emperor beyond that of a king, did not retreat.
The Namgung sword, seeking to close the splitting heavens once more, also embroidered the air.
*Wooooong!*
Along with the cry of the Heavenly Light Sword.
Sword and sword, will and will, clashed at a single point in the air.
“Brother…”
Namgung Seo-hui, who had recovered at some point, was lost in sorrow.