Chapter 12: Surely That's Not All?
Murim Alliance Sichuan Branch, Underground Prison.
"I'll ask you one more time."
Enforcement Chief Gwok Byeok. Given the gravity of the case, he was personally interrogating the prisoner.
"What the hell happened at that spot thirty li outside Oga-hyeon?"
Gwok Byeok's face as he asked the question was a mask of shock and bewilderment. He had spent decades in the Enforcement Department, from his twenties right up to forty now, digging into and investigating all kinds of incidents and accidents...
"But I have never in my life seen a sight so gruesome and twisted!"
He was right. It was a sight so terrible you couldn't bear to look at it. The disciples of the Cheongsong Sect, a prestigious martial sect in Sichuan belonging to the Nine Great Schools, had been horribly butchered. All that was left at the scene were unidentifiable chunks of flesh. They could only assume they were Cheongseong disciples from the scraps of clothing torn to shreds on the floor.
The only one whose form could be identified was the second disciple, Jin Hun. But his condition was even more bizarre. He had died standing upright, his Seven Orifices burst open purely from internal injuries.
'What kind of monster trampled Cheongseong's swordsmen so completely and brutally?'
As if that wasn't enough, the dark path bastards they had been escorting were even more finely minced than the meat hanging in a butcher's shop.
There was only one sole survivor from that cruel, brutal slaughter. The prisoner right in front of him.
"You're the one who lived! You must know the truth of that hell!" Gwok Byeok shouted, his eyes bloodshot. He had to find out who committed such a twisted, terrible act!
"Who are the bastards who did this insane thing! Answer me!!!"
But the prisoner's state was critical.
"Ee-heh..." A dazed sound leaked from the prisoner's mouth. "Ee-hehehe..."
Unfocused pupils. A body trembling like a marionette with its strings cut. Anyone could see he was completely insane.
Then, out of nowhere, he threw a question at Gwok Byeok.
"Hey, what sound does a Wudang bastard make when he falls down? Ehehehe..."
"Y-you bastard! What kind of dogshit nonsense are you spouting! How dare a dark path scum like you speak of the noble Wudang Taoists!"
The prisoner didn't stop, even under Gwok Byeok's furious roar.
"A whump-dang! Ehehehe!"
"Y-you...! Have you truly lost your mind?!"
"What about a Huashan bastard when he burns to death?"
"Can't you just shut up and tell us the truth of that day!"
"Hu-ashes!"
The prisoner scraped at the floor like a madman and laughed insanely. "Ehehehe!"
"A m-madman... He's completely lost his marbles." It was clear interrogation was impossible. His mind was utterly and thoroughly broken. Having survived that terrible massacre alone, it was only natural he would end up this way.
Gwok Byeok was about to give up and turn away.
"The Tang family people..." The bastard started muttering again.
"Huh? The Tang family? Yes! What about the Tang family!"
"Ee-heh..." The prisoner, drooling and grinning widely, suddenly seemed to remember something. "KYYYAAAAAAAHK!!!!!"
His eyes rolled back in his head and he began to convulse! And then, even further. Dribble—
"SAVE ME!!!!!!" Yellow piss streamed from his trousers like a waterfall.
And then, even further! FFFFFFFFFFRRRRRRRT—!
He let loose a torrent of shit, reeking of a terrible stench!
"Uwaaah!!! Wh-what is this foul, disgusting smell! Get this madman out of here right now! Get him out!!!"
In the end, Gwok Byeok had no choice but to cover his nose and flee the prison.
"Haaah... Haaah..." Gwok Byeok panted heavily, holding back a wave of nausea.
"In all my years living..." To think he would live to see a disaster like this! A gruesome hellscape of blood and flesh. A filthy living hell of piss and shit. He had seen every kind of terrible, filthy sight!
Just then.
Footsteps. The dignified, measured sound of footsteps struck Gwok Byeok's ears.
"So, did you get any information, Enforcement Chief?"
Branch Leader Moyong Jin approached with his hands clasped behind his back.
"...Branch Leader."
"Go on, tell me. Was it the Blood Religion bastards after all?"
"Haa..."
"Don't just sigh. Tell me exactly what the bastard said, without leaving out a single word!"
Moyong Jin pressed Gwok Byeok with a stern expression. Gwok Byeok opened his mouth with a complicated look on his face.
"Do you know what sound the Wudang Taoists make when they fall down?"
"Huh...? What does that have to do with..."
"It's a whump-dang."
"Wh-what...!" Moyong Jin flinched.
Ignoring his superior's small reaction, Gwok Byeok continued with a serious expression.
"Do you know what happens if the Huashan Taoists ever meet a fiery mishap?"
"C-Cough... Ahem! What are you playing at, Enforcement Chief!"
"They become Hu-ashes."
Flinch! The corner of Moyong Jin's mouth began to twitch.
"Are you playing games with me right now?!" Moyong Jin shouted. But this time, Gwok Byeok simply bowed his head and calmly continued his report.
"The Tang family people..."
"Stop! Stop! Are you trying to make a fool out of me right now?!"
"...That's the end of it."
"What...?" Moyong Jin's eyes went wide.
The end of it? 'I told him to stop, so he just... stops? What's the next question! And what's the answer!'
'No, no! That's not what's important right now!'
"Listen here, Chief, are you playing games with me?!" Moyong Jin shouted again to cover his embarrassment.
Gwok Byeok replied, sounding aggrieved.
"Not at all. You told me to tell you exactly what he said without leaving out a single word."
"Uh...?"
"He said that much and then lost control of his bowels before passing out."
"What does that..."
"Anyway, that's the end of the report."
Gwok Byeok shook his head, a troubled look on his face.
"Heh heh..." Moyong Jin let out a hollow, disbelieving laugh.
"So, you're saying you couldn't get even a single small clue out of him."
Just how terrifying and horrible was it to make a man go so mad!
"What in the world is this baffling incident?" Moyong Jin closed his eyes tightly and sighed. "Who the hell massacred the Cheongseong sect!"
It was a massive incident that would shake the entire Sichuan martial world.
Gwok Byeok added in a heavy voice. "...Reports of missing persons have also come in from the Tang family and the Emei Sect."
"Yes, I know. The elders went missing, correct?"
"Yes, it's just speculation, but considering the timing of the incidents..."
"You think it's the work of the same bastards."
"That is correct."
"Hmph... If that's the case, it really can only be the Blood Religion bastards..."
In truth, there were other candidates. The Nokrim bandits. The Heukryongchae river pirates. But dark path scum who only seek wealth would never dare to openly attack the Cheongsong Sect, one of the Nine Great Schools. And while they are brutal, they don't pulverize people into chunks of flesh like that.
"Branch Leader, isn't it possible it's that person?"
"That person... you mean the Mad Demon?"
"Yes, exactly. There are too many strange aspects for this to be the work of the Blood Religion."
The Blood Religion. A massive demonic force that threatened the Central Plains alongside the Heavenly Mountain Demon Cult. They were so ruthless and merciless that the Murim Alliance had established a separate branch in Sichuan just to deal with them. However, they usually operated in the shadows, brainwashing people and moving secretly, making their tails hard to catch. Would those bastards suddenly launch such a huge, overt incident? It didn't make sense. This was...
"This was a blatant act of chaos, meant to be seen. Anyone can tell." Gwok Byeok raised his voice with deep conviction. "The Mad Demon. That crazy bastard definitely did this."
"Hmph..." Moyong Jin stroked his long beard, deep in thought. "The Mad Demon..."
Was that crazy bastard in Sichuan now?
"But isn't that too fast? I heard he just had a run-in with Shaolin not long ago..."
The incident where he clashed with Shaolin happened around Henan. "Can he really be in Sichuan just a few days later?"
At Moyong Jin's question, Gwok Byeok answered calmly. "He is the Mad Demon, isn't he?"
"I suppose..." Moyong Jin could only nod in agreement. It was that crazy bastard who made a scene in an inn just because he happened to see a Shaolin monk's bald head and claimed it was too bright. It wasn't out of the question for him to suddenly show up in Sichuan and go on a rampage.
But...
"He's a madman who smashes and massacres everything, but can he really butcher people this precisely and cleanly?"
Furthermore, "The Mad Demon doesn't use a sword or a blade."
That bastard is a madman who punches and tears people apart with his bare hands. Not that it mattered for the Cheongseong disciples, but the bandits' bodies were filled with cuts from sharp sword energy. At first, he thought the Cheongseong disciples might have done it. But there was no way righteous Taoists would brutally slaughter the prisoners they were supposed to hand over to the Oga-hyeon authorities, especially when they were already tied up.
"But it's not like he doesn't know how to use one." Gwok Byeok countered without backing down.
According to the investigation into the forms left on the corpses at the scene, it was the basic Cheongseong sword art, the 19 Forms of the Cheongpung Technique.
"My guess is that the only madman who would deliberately mimic Cheongseong's sword art, showing off to mock and deceive them, is him."
"Hmph..." Moyong Jin let out a bitter laugh and sighed. "Fine. Your reasoning has some merit."
He stroked his beard again, his eyes sharp. The two main suspects were the Blood Religion and the Mad Demon. But was this the result of his instincts, honed from weathering the storms of the martial world for so many years?
'...I get the feeling it's neither of them.'
For some reason, Moyong Jin had a foreboding feeling that a real disaster, beyond imagination, was descending. 'I pray my intuition is wrong...'
Thinking this, he slowly opened his mouth. "Listen, Gwok Byeok. Enforcement Chief."
"Yes, Branch Leader." Gwok Byeok answered, standing at attention.
Was the order coming to put out a wanted notice for the Mad Demon? Or to prepare for an all-out war with the Blood Religion? Whatever the command, he would follow it with his life!
Contrary to his firm resolve, Moyong Jin couldn't resist his pure curiosity and opened his mouth again.
"Are you sure it really ended with just 'The Tang family people...'?"
"...Huh?"
"Ahem! Nothing."
"......"
Gwok Byeok could only look up at the sky and think. Is the Sichuan martial world really going to be okay like this?
Around the time a serious and utterly bizarre conversation was happening at the Murim Alliance Sichuan Branch. In the middle of Seongdo.
"Kyahahaha~~" A cheerful girl's laughter rang out.
"Uwaaaaaa!!!!"
"This accursed little brat!!!" Enraged shouts from men followed.
"Kyahahaha~~" The girl let out another cheerful laugh, as if she found it truly amusing, and ducked behind a young man's back. Then, with a tiny hand, she pointed at the men—the spoiled young masters of Seongdo's prestigious families—and shouted, "Dad! The water buffaloes are angry!"
Seongdo, the capital of Sichuan. That great city was on the verge of complete chaos.