Chapter 30
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 30
Chapter Title: Investigation (2)
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A village thick with the stench of blood.
In this eerie place, it seemed only Snow Python and I sensed something off.
'No one's here.'
Not a soul in sight.
The village was spotlessly clean, unnaturally so.
If bandits had raided, everything should be smashed and filthy—but it didn't look like that at all.
"...Not even a crawling insect in sight."
I spread my Iron Fan to cover my face, pulled my bamboo hat low, and took a step forward.
[It's a spell formation.]
Snow Python sent me a telepathic message, reading the energy where I'd stepped.
I could feel the energy, but not knowing its name made this incredibly helpful.
'So this unnatural vibe is sorcery energy.'
I nodded, infused my qi into the spell area, and walked slowly forward.
"Ji-yeon."
"Yes, Master."
"Step back three paces. Tang So-so, you too."
The group nodded and retreated.
I'd thought Ji-yeon could read the disrupted spell energy, so I pointed my Iron Fan at her and asked,
"Does this still feel like an ordinary village to you?"
"......"
No sooner had I finished than Ji-yeon closed her eyes.
She drew in the surrounding qi, then slowly opened them.
Her Insight Eyes gleamed brightly.
"...No, it doesn't."
"Then what does it look like through your eyes?"
"......"
She closed her eyes again, bowed low, and touched the ground.
A moment later, frowning, she spoke.
"A graveyard."
"......"
"One where blood flows like a river and countless resentful spirits scream, Master."
"Open your eyes."
I nodded and told Ji-yeon to look.
Tang So-so and the Tang warriors looked flustered.
They needed to see this landscape too.
The true nature of this horrific thing, cleverly disguised by sorcery.
-Shhhhraaak!!!
I snapped open my Iron Fan and recalled sparring Hyun-deok, channeling the Zhuge clan's pure, clear qi.
"...Reveal your true form, you wretched thing not even fit for a beast."
-Fwooooosh!!!!
The fan whipped up wind, spreading the qi that controlled energy, washing away the evil formation laid by those scoundrels.
Exposing its true face.
In that instant, a toxic mist carrying the stench of rotting corpses, blood, poison, and more assaulted us.
[Take a deep breath, Mistress. Your dantian will automatically expel the poison.]
Snow Python messaged me right away.
I nodded and raised one question.
My entire body used nature as my dantian, so poison barely affected me.
But my disciple and So-so would suffer.
I asked Snow Python about it.
[Can't you purify it entirely?]
[I can, but you might get poisoned, Mistress.]
[Doesn't matter. I've got a disciple behind me.]
[...Understood. It won't hurt much.]
It might make me dizzy and pass, but
Ji-yeon wouldn't survive.
She'd die outright.
I decided to take the poison into my body, cover it with inner power, and isolate it within.
Just like the Tang family did.
"Ugh......"
"Master...!"
Ji-yeon rushed to me.
"You okay?"
"...Yes, I'm fine."
"Haa... Good."
I flashed a grin, broke out in cold sweat, then gazed ahead.
A mountain of corpses came into view.
More precisely, withered, twisted bodies.
Men, women, children, elders—none spared, all shriveled and scattered haphazardly.
"Behind the formation... I saw poison mist. Are you alright, hero?"
Tang So-so hurried over and asked.
To her, I mixed a trace of my qi into the isolated poison, gathered a tiny bit on my palm, and showed it.
"Do you know this poison, Miss Tang?"
"...Thousand Beasts Poison."
"......"
"It's Thousand Beasts Poison, hero."
Ssss— it hissed and vanished.
I nodded, inhaled deeply, and exhaled.
'...So someone in the Tang family betrayed them and allied with the Blood Cult. That's fact now.'
Complicated thoughts ended there.
First, investigate.
"Tang family, handle the investigation here. This lady and her disciple need to discuss the sorcery."
"Understood. Be careful, hero."
Tang So-so's eyes sharpened, her demeanor curt as she swiftly commanded her warriors.
"Five with me to check the well with the strongest poison vibe. The other five, examine the withered corpses. Not lethal amounts, but watch for Thousand Beasts Poison and Qi-Dispersing Poison."
Then the Tang warriors popped something into their mouths in unison.
So-so dashed to us and handed us pills too.
"Tang family's Thousand Seas Antidote Pills. They're sweet and easy to take, but please keep one in your mouth."
"...These are?"
"Antidotes that neutralize Tang poisons... Can't fully counter Thousand Beasts Poison, but blocks Qi-Dispersing Poison."
"My thanks."
"Then."
She bowed briefly and headed for the largest well.
Seeing her like this reminded me she was the direct daughter of a great family, the prized genius of the righteous sects: Hidden Fragrance Poison Phoenix.
'Not as lame as I thought.'
Aside from loving sweets and hating spice, she wasn't half bad.
"Let's go."
I told Ji-yeon that and followed the traces of the unfolded sorcery.
At the same time.
'Ahhh...'
'At this rate, I can't go to the afterlife.'
'What did I do wrong, milord...'
'Save... me...'
'Those bastards deserve to be hacked to pieces...!!!!! '
'Mom... Mommy...'
'So unjust... So unjust...'
'How can those fiends still walk the living world, milord!!!'
A cacophony of voices flooded my ears.
[Quiet down! How dare you rage before this one's mistress!! Begone!!!]
Snow Python blasted her energy to drive them off, of course.
Ji-yeon seemed oblivious.
"Ji-yeon."
"Yes, Master."
"Hear any voices?"
"...W-why do you say it so scary...?"
She clung to my arm.
'Such a scaredy-cat.'
I sighed, said it was fine, and smiled.
By the time Tang So-so and the others arrived at the belatedly discovered massacre village,
the Yinblood Abbot scowled and rapped his desk with a finger.
"...Zhuge?"
The spell he'd laid was overwritten and erased by someone's qi.
It had been perfect.
Even the Zhuge patriarch couldn't have broken it.
But an overwhelmingly superior qi had swept through.
"The Heavenly Mechanism Strategist couldn't have been this powerful. Branch Chief."
"Yes, Yinblood Abbot."
"...Report everything you've heard and seen."
To those gathering blood and flesh by raiding homes again,
the Yinblood Abbot ordered the branch chief to report what the villagers had said and seen.
The branch chief knelt on one knee and continued.
"Recently, word spread of peach blossoms blooming nearby."
Peach blossoms.
'...Damn beggars got involved.'
The Beggars' Sect's signal.
'Long-Eared Clan scum judging bloodlines like beggars... What luck.'
No vital leaks, so he nodded—
"...N-nothing else unusual."
"......"
"My apologies."
The branch chief apologized.
The Yinblood Abbot rose instantly, snatched a green forest bandit's sword beside him, and beheaded the chief.
-Spluuuurt!!!!!
Blood sprayed forward.
The Yinblood Abbot collected it.
"Haa... Insolent fool."
Drenched in blood, he wiped his face and grinned.
"This one decides what's needed or not...!!!"
Squatting, he locked eyes with the severed head and spat.
Having drained all the blood ghost qi from it, he tossed the now mere human head away like trash.
"You there."
"Yes!"
"You're branch chief now. Understand?"
"...Yes!!"
The Yinblood Abbot nodded and heard the report from the new chief.
After a while, he raised a hand.
Signal to stop.
The chief halted; the abbot stood and muttered,
"...On to the next village. We'll get intel there."
His voice regained its dignity.
'Supernova.'
An ominous supernova.
Why it lingered in his mind, the Yinblood Abbot didn't know.
The Tang family manor, main hall.
The elders' chamber felt like a blizzard of cold steel.
"...Elders."
The Tang patriarch's heavy bass echoed.
The elders trembled.
"......"
The patriarch fixed them with icy eyes, wordless, then spoke.
"...Vermin seem to be hiding here."
Vermin.
Vermin infesting this place.
Worse than beasts gnawing at the Tang family.
"No long speeches. Whoever among you contacted the Blood Cult and joined the Blood Demon's Asura, step forward."
The air grew leaden.