Chapter 31 Puppet Flute
Murim Return was an ultra-long serialized novel. With over 1,000 chapters, it featured a massive cast of characters.
The Lesser Demon Witch Baek So Hyang was a villain.
Someone in the community once tallied up the kill counts from Murim Return, and Baek So Hyang boldly claimed tenth place. And that was despite her mostly exiting the story midway through.
'Number one was, of course, Sword Saint Meng Wi-hak.'
Anyway, what made the Lesser Demon Witch so dangerous was that she killed without any motive. If someone was in front of her, she just killed them.
The corpses of her victims all shared one trait: they were frozen solid.
It was the power of the Lesser Demon Ice Art. This martial art turned the fingertips translucent like ice, freezing anyone it touched—a terrifying ice-based technique.
Even though she wasn't from the Divine Cult, her art had "demon" in the name, marking it as viciously evil. Freezing people alive would do that.
Naturally, the Lesser Demon Witch became a public enemy of the martial world. When she returned to the central plains, some even turned their ire on the Divine Cult, claiming they'd been hiding her all along. Which led to...
'Her actually converting to the Divine Cult.'
The Divine Cult valued strength above all. As long as you had power befitting the name, they didn't care what you'd done in the martial world. So they accepted her without hesitation.
'Even into the Sado Family.'
Sado Hwan's clan, the Sado Family, desperately needed every expert they could get.
Inevitably, this put her at odds with Mu Jin, the protagonist of Murim Return.
'And she even had bad blood with the Heavenly Demon.'
The Heavenly Demon was currently injured. The Lesser Demon Witch caught wind of it and tried to pick a fight, only to get her head smashed in by the awakened Heavenly Demon.
'But this Baek So Hyang... died and came back to life?'
In Murim Return, it was just described as "the Lesser Demon Witch, thought dead, was actually alive." So I'd assumed this Baek So Hyang was just a namesake, a different person.
'Is resurrection even possible in the first place?'
No matter how full of bizarre phenomena the world of Murim Return was, there were no cases of the dead coming back. Ghosts appearing in dreams, sure, but nothing more.
"Heh heh heh..."
Cho Yang let out a sneer laced with ecstasy.
"Paeng So So, do you know why I followed you around?"
"What are you talking about?"
"To get revenge on your grandfather, the Dao King."
Cho Yang continued.
"What nonsense—"
"Hold on."
I grabbed Paeng So So as she bristled with anger.
"What the hell?"
"Wait. Let's hear what this guy has to say."
Murim cliché.
Villains always spill their backstory before their evil deeds. My gut screamed that I needed to hear this one. It might hold clues about how the Murim Return world I knew had changed.
"My love, So Hyang, was killed by the Dao King. But fortune in misfortune, her power turned into a jade, and her soul was sealed within it."
Cho Yang pointed to the altar in the ruins.
"With a soul intact, all I needed was a body. So I seeded candidates with spells, waiting for their flesh to ripen so I could offer it to So Hyang. Decades passed, and finally... success."
So this whole scheme was decades in the making by Cho Yang, and I'd stumbled into it while hunting for the treasure artifact.
But one fundamental question nagged at me.
Cho Yang didn't appear anywhere in Murim Return.
Which meant...
'He dies here?'
"Grrr..."
Baek So Hyang growled like a beast. Then she bit down on Cho Yang's hand—the one cradling her. Blood sprayed from it. Seeing that, Cho Yang's face fell into sorrow.
"Yes, you're still not settled. It's fine. More souls will stabilize you. First, eat these ones, then the ones coming behind them."
As he soothed Baek So Hyang, Cho Yang pulled something from his bosom. A small black flute, no longer than his index finger. When he played it, the snarling Baek So Hyang released his hand and calmed. Or rather, she just froze in place.
'That's...!'
The treasure artifact I wanted. The Puppet Flute. Literally "puppet-controlling flute." It could manipulate listeners like marionettes.
Of course, it wasn't some legendary powerhouse item. To use the Puppet Flute, you had to pre-apply a special Puppet Spell, and the problem was that experts resisted it easily.
In the end, it was for tormenting weak commoners or lowlifes. But I wasn't planning to use it that way. I wanted its side effect, not the main function.
Even without the Puppet Spell, anyone who heard the flute once could hear the owner's voice from afar. Even if he just thought it in his head, without playing.
In other words, telepathic transmission.
'So the original owner was Cho Yang?'
The sense of wrongness kept building.
In Murim Return, Paeng So So had the Puppet Flute. And it was explicitly "easily obtained from ruins near Taeryeong County."
This was easy?
Sure, Paeng So So was strong for a late-peak expert, but still just peak realm.
With all those traps, not to mention the stone guardians and now the Lesser Demon Witch protecting the Blinking Jade? How could a mere peak expert "easily obtain" it?
Cho Yang's words only deepened the dissonance.
"Now I get it... what Cheon Gi-ja meant by 'dramatic'."
"Cheon Gi-ja?"
"I've said too much."
Cho Yang played the flute again. Baek So Hyang turned toward us.
"Now, die."
Baek So Hyang staggered up from his arms. Her head hung low like a drunkard, but the aura pouring off her was anything but ordinary.
Foosh—
White energy roiled visibly around her. Moisture in the air froze in an instant, ice crystals forming. Especially around her sharp nails, ice kept regenerating endlessly.
"Kyaaak!"
She lifted her head, her face twisted like a wrathful demon. Yet Cho Yang gazed at her fondly, as if she were precious. Madness gleamed in his eyes.
"Go on, kill them! Kill and devour their souls to heal!"
"Kyaaaak!"
Instead of words, she shrieked—a beastly cry—and charged us.
In the blink of an eye, she was upon us. Paeng So So swiftly intercepted.
"Hah!"
Paeng So So slashed horizontally with her saber. As the massive blade whipped forward with wind pressure, Baek So Hyang thrust her slender hand—the one turned translucent like ice.
Clang—!
Metal met flesh, but instead of a wet tear, it rang out cold and metallic.
"Kuh!"
Paeng So So was pushed back, taking the worse of it.
"It's freezing! What the hell!"
"The Lesser Demon Ice Art fundamentally infiltrates cold qi into the victim's internals. It blocks external true qi!"
"Then I can't use my saber qi either!"
"Ah."
My meridians were sealed, so I couldn't sense it, but for an expert projecting qi externally, having those channels blocked was like fighting with bound arms.
"Maximize the Heaven-Earth-Falling Blade's power instead. Lightning is yang energy—it'll repel the cold qi."
"That's a good idea!"
Bzzzzt!
Red lightning flickered along Paeng So So's saber. The Heaven-Earth-Falling Blade aura surged. She lunged forward like a tiger pouncing to snap a deer's neck.
But...
Baek So Hyang's response was simple, light. She just swung her right arm left to right.
"Ugh!"
Paeng So So flew back like a skipped stone, tumbling across the floor. Baek So Hyang hadn't budged an inch.
The gap was enormous.
"She's insanely strong. And not even using gang qi."
Paeng So So muttered as she rose, a hint of despair on her face.
"Grandpa told me about the Lesser Demon Witch. Said she did so much evil he tried to execute her, barely won, and needed half a year to recover after. How am I supposed to beat that? She's not even using gang qi."
The Lesser Demon Witch was a legend even Pa Cheon remembered.
Unlike my fake super-peak act, true super-peak was this overwhelming. Even if it was a half-broken shell without full consciousness.
"Sa Wol."
"Yes."
"Block her."
Sa Wol stepped forward. Sensing her killing intent, perhaps, the Lesser Demon Witch's gaze shifted to her.
"Kieek!"
The Lesser Demon Witch thrust her hand. Cold qi from her nails stretched like an awl, flying at Sa Wol.
Swoosh—
Sa Wol moved. In the echoing cave, her footsteps were silent—peak footwork mastery.
Pop!
She reappeared behind Baek So Hyang, reverse-gripping her dagger and stabbing at the nape.
But Baek So Hyang had already turned, batting the dagger away with her hand.
Sa Wol's brow furrowed slightly, but she used the rebound to spin, thrusting at the heart.
Baek So Hyang blocked again. In that instant, Sa Wol released the dagger. It spun a full rotation over her hand's back before returning to her grip. She slashed. Acrobatic!
Slash—!
The dagger carved a long gash across Baek So Hyang's left shoulder.
"Kieeeek!"
Baek So Hyang screeched shrilly. She crossed her arms in an X and swung. Terrifying force blasted Sa Wol back. Midair, Sa Wol flipped, kicked off a stalactite, and landed.
'Weak.'
[That's weak?]
'Yeah. Weak.'
[Nonsense. If she uses gang qi, it's over.]
Sword qi alone could shatter boulders. Gang qi, the superior technique, was transcendent. In Murim Return, one super-peak could easily handle twenty peaks, depending on the individual.
But that's why it was weird. The Baek So Hyang in Murim Return was on another level. Even as a top peak like Sa Wol, she shouldn't have wounded her in a few exchanges. The original was strong enough to challenge the Heavenly Demon.
"Kieeeek!"
Baek So Hyang kept shrieking—more beast than human.
"There, there. Too much struggling makes you hungry, right?"
Cho Yang soothed her like a fussy child. His smile never faded. Annoying enough to punch.
Then it hit me.
"...I see."
Cho Yang's smile cracked at my words.
"The Lesser Demon Witch can't use gang qi right now."
I saw the path forward.
Pretend to be the Heavenly Demon