The Truth Behind the Massacre
It was enough to make even me embarrassed on their behalf.
Think of it broadly: when people drink at a pleasure house, it's true they might bring in a courtesan or two and dabble in this and that. If they paid a larger sum on top of what they already owed, who was anyone to complain? Everyone had their own affairs, and how one chose to amuse oneself over drinks was entirely a matter of personal freedom. It wasn't respect, exactly — it was simply not caring.
But this.
Anything done under the name of the Asura Sword Sect had to observe a certain line, at the very least.
Why does a branch exist in the first place?
To hold influence over a region means to protect the people there. In exchange for that protection, the branch collects a set portion of their earnings as tribute. That is all it is.
Naturally, those under protection might voluntarily offer something more, in which case one simply chooses whether to accept it or not.
But this was different. Failing to provide even proper protection while leeching off the sect's name — extorting and fleecing the very people you were meant to shield — was another matter entirely.
Drinking themselves stupid, fine, as long as they paid with their own money. But these bastards had no coin even for that, and they were stretching their hands out to the surrounding clans to beg for it? This was no joke.
I looked down at the handle of the staff in my hand. There was a groove set into it. When I pressed it, spine-shaped blades sprang out from all along the shaft.
I liked it.
I swung it down again at Jin Geon, who sat crumpled on the floor with his face buried in his hands.
Crack—!
Once more.
Crack—!
Again. And again.
Crack, crack, crack.
Flesh split open, blood burst forth, bones crumpled.
I brought the staff down again and again as if to beat him to death outright. His protective qi had long since stopped functioning. His body lay sprawled across the floor, twitching. I stared down at him for a moment, then turned my head — toward Wang Mu-tan, who had bolted for the exit.
His realm of martial attainment was the Five Dragons Soaring stage.
Clutching his face, he drew a sword from his waist.
"Who the hell are you! Do you think you'll survive touching the Asura Sword Sect—"
His words were cut short. He had seen the crest embroidered on the robes I wore.
A white chariot wreathed in crimson flame.
There was no way he could fail to understand what it meant.
"B-Branch Master...?"
"Who said I was your Branch Master?"
"...Pardon?"
"I have never taken trash like you into the branch."
His face said he didn't understand. It didn't matter. I hadn't asked him to.
I walked toward him in silence and brought the staff crashing down.
He raised his arms to block. Fitting for a warrior of the Five Dragons Soaring stage, his internal energy held the blades at bay. A smile crept onto his lips.
"Blocked it, did you?"
I drove my foot into him. Struck square in the solar plexus, he toppled backward. I brought the staff down again. He threw up his arm, energy coiling around it just as before — but it meant nothing. I had drawn my own power up as well.
CRACK—!!
His right wrist shattered outright. From the way the limb flopped uselessly, the bone had plainly been crushed to splinters. I swung once more — this time at his shoulder.
Crack. He writhed across the floor in agony. I brought the staff down on his waist. Crack. Next his thigh, then the other thigh, then the shoulder again, the arm, the hand, the abdomen.
I did not stop swinging.
At some point, the noise around us had died away entirely. There wasn't even screaming anymore.
Only the sound of flesh tearing and bones crumbling rang through the hall.
Whew.
Catching my breath, I extended the staff sideways. Un Seok-mun, patriarch of the Un Manor standing behind me, hurried forward and received it.
"Well used, but the edge has dulled somewhat, and blood has soaked deep into the wood."
"It's... it's fine, my lord."
"I am not fine. That staff — how much did you pay for it?"
"...One hundred nyang in silver, my lord."
"One hundred nyang in silver. Good. By tomorrow I will send someone to the Sambong Branch. You will be compensated."
Leaving the dazed Un Seok-mun behind, I beckoned this time to the young master, Un Do-hyeon. He had been wearing the same stunned expression as his father, and now approached me on unsteady legs.
"I will ask you once more. Will you enter the branch as one of its members?"
"...If I come... what will you do for me?"
I turned my head and looked down at him.
"I will give you vengeance."
"...Vengeance... my lord?"
"Your sister's death — the death of Un Mi-rang, former Branch Master of the Sambong Branch — will be investigated to its very roots, and every soul entangled in it will be killed. Not one will be spared."
Un Do-hyeon swallowed hard.
"Well? What will it be?"
No further words were necessary.
Un Do-hyeon sank to his knees where he stood.
"Take me into the branch. I will serve you with my life."
"Good."
I told the Asura Hall Master that I would select the branch's members myself.
One chosen already.
"Your first order."
"I await your command."
"We return to the Sambong Branch. Bring those two along."
"As you command!"
I was on my way out of the pleasure house when I stopped for a moment.
"Patriarch Un."
"...Yes. Branch Master."
"Drowning yourself in drink is your own affair, and I have no wish to lecture you. But I do want to ask this: do you intend to live out the rest of your life that way?"
"..."
"The death of your eldest daughter, Un Mi-rang — I will take responsibility for it and see it resolved. This concerns the honor of the Asura Sword Sect as well, so every person involved in it will die by my hand."
"...Branch Master..."
"I hear the Un Clan is a house overflowing with righteousness. It would be a shame to let it collapse like this, wouldn't it?"
"..."
"Reopen the business. Take on new people, and rebuild what your family has lost. Do you understand?"
Tears spilled from Un Seok-mun's eyes.
That much was enough. And then—
My gaze shifted to the two men standing frozen in place.
They seemed to have nothing whatsoever to do with this pleasure house. The blue martial robes they wore had a distinctive cut, but I had never seen the style before. I could hardly be expected to know every family under this vast firmament of the martial world. It couldn't be helped.
"You two. Where are you from?"
"The... the Cheonggang Sword Sect, my lord."
The Cheonggang Sword Sect.
Certainly a first for me.
"Did those two borrow drinking money from you as well?"
"...Yes."
"Good. Then you will go and deliver a message to your Sect Master."
What the message was needed no explaining.
"Compile the full ledger of everything those two have borrowed from you and send it to the Sambong Branch by tomorrow."
"...Pardon?"
"Don't make me say it twice. And it is not only you — carry the same message to every clan those two ever borrowed from. But should any of you inflate the figures, I will take one head from that clan's household for every single silver coin of the difference. Do I make myself clear?"
"Y-yes, my lord!"
"Good. Go."
The underground of the Sambong Branch.
I gazed silently at the scene spread before me.
Wang Mu-tan and Jin Geon lay sprawled on the floor, blood pouring from every part of their bodies. I had seen to the staunching of the worst wounds, but nothing more. Their blood soaked into the stone beneath them.
I sat down in a chair and crossed my legs.
"Un Do-hyeon."
"Yes. Branch Master."
"Tell me about those two."
"Shall I speak of where they hail from as well?"
"No. I have no interest in that."
"...Understood. I will tell you what I know. First — the reputation of these two is very poor indeed."
"Because of the display earlier?"
"...Something like that. To put it precisely, the two of them have been oppressing the clans of Sambong County for quite some time."
"For quite some time?"
"Yes. Even while the previous Branch Master lived, those two went about bullying the other clans. They once lounged about with three women and reported late to a mission, costing them a cut in pay, and after every mission they went straight out drinking. Never once — and I stress this — did either of them spend a single coin of their own money."
"What a sight they are."
"...A sight indeed. The previous Branch Master could not control them either. Punishments, docked wages — that was the extent of it. You said you had no interest in their origins, my lord, but I believe there is one thing you must know regardless."
Having been told this much, my curiosity was pricked despite myself.
"Go on."
"The reason the previous Branch Master could not control those two is that Elder Neungdon of the Asura Sword Sect stands behind them."
"Neungdon?"
"Yes. Elder Neungdon hails from the Southern Barbarian lands far to the south, and so do those two men. You need look no further than Sambong County itself — apart from those two, there is not a single soul of Southern Barbarian birth here. And if that is true of Sambong County, the Asura Sword Sect will be little different. People of that region are just that rare."
How very curious.
"A great calamity befalls the branch, and the only two survivors happen to be from the same homeland — and on top of that, they have an elder from that very same homeland backing them?"
It might have been overreaction, but something stank.
"...Surely it would be right to keep those two alive for now?"
"Why do you think so?"
"...With Elder Neungdon behind them, if those two die, he will hardly sit still and do nothing."
I burst out laughing.
"That is not for you to worry about."
"...Understood."
"Come to think of it — on the way here, I noticed a few stray dogs wandering about outside."
Un Do-hyeon blinked. Why on earth is he talking about stray dogs now? his face seemed to say.
"A place as dust-choked and abandoned as the Sambong Branch, and to see them prowling even there for want of anything to eat — it pained my heart, truly."
"...Branch Master?"
"Go and bring me five of them."
Un Do-hyeon did not trouble himself to ask again. He went outside and returned dragging five of the most vicious-looking strays he could find.
I watched the dogs in silence.
They turned docile in an instant. I spoke to Un Do-hyeon.
"Wake them up."
"Yes."
Un Do-hyeon walked over and kicked each of the fallen men once. The two of them groggily came to, and the moment they laid eyes on me they began to wail.
"B-Branch Master! This is all a misunderstanding!"
I had deliberately left their throats untouched so they could still speak, and their faces had suffered nothing but bruises. It was a mercy that conversation remained possible.
"A misunderstanding?"
"Yes! A misunderstanding!"
Both of them winced, every inch of their bodies no doubt screaming, but I paid it no mind.
"Misunderstanding or not, everything was decided back there in that hall. The only reason the two of you are still breathing is that I have questions."
"A-anything at all! We will answer everything!"
"Good. Whether you live or die will be decided by your answers. The massacre that befell the branch one month ago — is there anything you would like to tell me about it?"
At the two men's reaction, I let out a hollow laugh.
Un Do-hyeon beside me, by contrast, clenched his teeth.
Opposite reactions — but cut from the same cloth.
They had no other choice.
At my question, Branch members Wang Mu-tan and Jin Geon had both clamped their mouths shut like hired mutes.
Their eyes were darting about like madmen's.
When a man stands before the fear of death, his judgment clouds. His thinking coarsens, the depth of his thought plummets to nothing. If there is something guilty buried in him, such a reaction is inevitable.
Under any other circumstance, they would have played it cool to the last.
So.
Those two bastards were hiding something about the Sambong Branch massacre.
My work had just gotten easier. I spoke, quiet and even.
"From this moment, I will put questions to you one at a time. For each question you fail to answer, I will take a limb. Limbs and head together, that gives you five chances in total. The first question: give me the names of everyone involved in the Sambong Branch massacre."
I counted to five in my head.
The two men answered with silence.
"Un Do-hyeon."
"Yes. Branch Master."
"Go and cut off one of each man's legs."
"As you command!"
Un Do-hyeon drew his sword, his face alive with bloodlust, and without the slightest mercy severed a leg from each of them.
Shk. Shk.
"AAAAARGH—!"
"STOP—!!"
Why else would I have brought the dogs?
I flicked my eyes toward Un Do-hyeon. He smiled brightly. He had understood my meaning perfectly.
He carried the two severed legs straight over and tossed them to the strays. The starving animals glanced my way, then began gnawing and tearing at the limbs.
"Now. The second question. The content remains the same — the names of everyone involved in the Sambong Branch massacre."
Apparently it was the man of the lesser realm who could not master his terror.
Jin Geon blurted it out at once.
"The thirteen sects of Jangan Commandery!"
Wang Mu-tan shot Jin Geon a murderous glare. I ignored it. At my casual gesture, Un Do-hyeon cut away Wang Mu-tan's remaining leg.
Shk.
The same procedure as before.
Not one sect, not two — thirteen. I wondered for a moment if I had misheard.
"Thirteen sects of Jangan Commandery?"
"Yes... yes... To be precise, it was a handful of individuals, led by Pung Bi-chang, Branch Master of the Jangan Branch, who laid the scheme."
"And all of these 'handful of individuals' belong to those thirteen sects?"
"Yes... clan heads, young clan heads, young sect masters — all manner of them. If you require a list of their names, I can write it this very moment."
As Jin Geon rambled on in desperation, I committed it all to memory.
The Myeong Family Manor, the Pung Clan, the Han Clan, the Jang Family Manor, the Jinak Sword Sect, the Noeryeok Sword Faction, the Nakseong Sword Family... and so on.
And at the center of them all — Pung Bi-chang, Branch Master of the Pacheon Fist Sect's Jangan Branch.
I took it all in.
Jin Geon screamed out through bloodshot eyes, half plea, half excuse.
"The previous Branch Master, Un Mi-rang — she was a woman who treated us like dirt!"
Un Do-hyeon flared up in fury, but the wretch, at least, still knew which way the wind blew. His eyes, fixed on me, trembled violently. That trembling was unmistakably rage.
I shook my head. Leave him. Un Do-hyeon nodded and simply gripped the hilt of his pointless sword all the harder.
"I'll... I'll tell you everything. So please, spare my life."
"Good. Tell me all of it."
And so Jin Geon's account began.
The opening was grand; the substance, hardly worth the telling.
To summarize: from the moment those two had entered the branch, they had lived soaked in wine. Their womanizing went without saying.
Whenever missions arrived from the Asura Hall, those two were almost never present for them. Of the twenty-one branch members including the Branch Master, the same nineteen always carried out the work, and the two of them would join midway, or drift in when everything was already finished.
On the rare occasions they were present from the start, their performance was so unsatisfactory that they drew constant glares from the other members.
And so the pair began to plot.
Their scheme was to make secret contact with the powers of Jangan Commandery and flush out the Sambong Branch entirely, and by sheer luck, it had aligned perfectly with someone else's design.
"What happened to the Thousand-Li Divine Courier?"
"...It was not the courier, my lord. It was the young clan head of the Pung Clan of Jangan Commandery. We entrusted thirty Asura Pills to him, and he carried them back to Jangan. It was he whom we pursued."
"We?"
When a man is panicked or ruled by terror, his tongue betrays him. By my information, these two had been dead drunk in a corner of a Sambong pleasure house even when the massacre took place.
And yet — we?
"...Myself, and Wang Mu-tan here... we were both at that place."
"You were there?"
"..."
"I am told the previous Branch Master and three women were ambushed. You were there for that?"
"...Yes..."
"You took part?"
"....Yes."
"I see."
Every last truth of it was laid bare.
Any sensible man would keep at least one of these two alive, keep the courier alive as well, and carry the testimony back to the Asura Sword Sect.
And yet.
What would change if I did?
The only reason these two had dared such a thing was that they had backing.
An elder — Neungdon, or Donneung, whatever his name was — had been shielding them all along.
There must have been holes enough in the reports to drive a cart through, and every one of them had been winked at. Even the Asura Hall Master, the only one who ever pressed the matter, had been steamrolled by the elders' faction.
The great regional powers of Jangan Commandery.
And not one or two of them — thirteen, no less. With the Pacheon Fist Sect itself directly entangled.
The elders, who craved nothing more than stability, must have been desperate.
Judging by the outcome alone, the elders had succeeded.
The timing had worked out rather conveniently, hadn't it.
Dokgo Dan-ya had gone into secluded cultivation and only emerged two days ago — so yes, fortune had plainly favored them. And Myo Man-li, by all accounts, had raised a fuss about leaving the sect and been wandering about outside. Whether he approved or not hardly mattered; viewed from any angle, the situation as it stood made a certain sense.
If I reported this to the main sect, a proper investigation would begin, and Dokgo Dan-ya would move. But that is not my way.
I intend to wield absolute influence here.
I have no need of another man's strength. My heart is not yet bound to the Asura Sword Sect, and I intend to do things my own way.
Thirteen sects. The Jangan Branch of the Pacheon Fist Sect.
I will smash every last one of them.
"Un Do-hyeon."
"..."
"Un Do-hyeon."
Only at the second call did he come back to himself. He turned his head toward me. Rage poured from his eyes along with his tears — rage that would gladly have ended those two bastards on the spot.
I keep the promises I make.
My gaze stayed fixed on Un Do-hyeon as I spoke.
"I will give you two choices. First: your limbs are severed and your dantian destroyed. Afterward, you are dragged to the Asura Sword Sect to face a formal tribunal — and die. That is the first choice."
"Y-you said you would spare us!"
"I said I would spare you. I never said the Asura Sword Sect would."
"W-what kind of..."
"The second choice: you die here, by my hand."
"..."
"No answer? Then I will decide for you."
I looked Un Do-hyeon dead in the eyes.
"Leave them the heads. Take the limbs."
"...Thank you, my lord!"
"And—"
At my next words, Un Do-hyeon's face broke into a radiant smile — and the two of them plunged into despair.
One hour later.
From the great tree at the gates of Sambong County, the severed heads of two limbless men swung in the wind.
They thrashed and twitched for a long while before finally going slack.