A Master's Resolve
When it came to the Heavenly Demon of this era, it was said that his Chukgol-gong and Juan-sul had reached such extremes that he could freely rearrange his bones at will. Searching for him by outward appearance—man or woman, young or old—was therefore a futile endeavor. The only reliable marker was an Absolute Master's martial prowess that defied his apparent age. If someone looked too young to be an elder yet possessed the strength of an Absolute Master, and moreover claimed affiliation with the Demonic Cult, then he must be the Heavenly Demon. But what was one to think when there were two such individuals?
Jegal Ji closed her eyes and pressed her fingers firmly against her forehead. "Then we abandon the original plan?"
It was Heo Yeom who spoke. Still with her eyes shut, Jegal Ji nodded. "It could spiral out of control. Regrettable as it is, we'll settle for suppressing Muhwang. Contact the Sword Immortal as well."
"Understood." Heo Yeom answered and left the cabin. Only Jegal Ji remained.
The original plan had been to pit the three Absolute Masters against one another, exhaust their strength or eliminate them, and have the Sword Immortal appear to settle the matter. Now, however, the Demonic Cult side alone fielded two Absolute Masters. Though the Sword Immortal and Muhwang were unlikely to join forces, even if they did, the presence of two Heavenly Demons made the situation far too volatile to contain. Still, a clever rabbit digs three burrows. Precautions for the unexpected had already been prepared.
Muhwang had not been an invited guest; he was an uninvited intruder who had come after stealing information from the Seven Great Clans. It was impossible to know how much force he would bring, but even if Wugeuk Castle deployed all of its Top 100 Masters—the Three Extremes and the Newly Ascended Twin Warriors—that would amount to only five. Five Top 100 Masters could never hold back three Absolute Masters. A single Absolute Master with any strength to spare rendered the numbers of those below the Peak realm meaningless. To those who had not entered the realm of the transcendent, an Absolute Master was no different from an unstoppable reaper.
Of course, Muhwang was no fool. The moment he grasped the situation, he would attempt to withdraw. Yet the loss of his forces and the rumor that he had fled in disgrace would, for a time, diminish the influence Wugeuk Castle could exert over Hunan and Jiangxi. The gains would be smaller than the original plan, but they would suffice.
"Just where did such a master suddenly appear from…"
It was not that she felt no regret. With a stroke of luck, this could have been an opportunity to remove either Muhwang or the Heavenly Demon—two of the greatest sama—without lifting a finger. The wager would have been the Sword Immortal's life. It was a truly blasphemous notion when weighed against one of the Orthodox faction's great pillars, yet the Sword Immortal had long been in seclusion and had little time left. If that life could claim either Muhwang, who had only just passed sixty, or the Heavenly Demon, whose remaining years were unknown, it would have been an immensely profitable exchange.
But the sudden appearance of a second Heavenly Demon had shattered the optimal plan. There could not have been two Heavenly Demons all along; one Absolute Master must have been hidden until now. Yet there was not a single clue to his identity. The one thing Jegal Ji could surmise was that Cheon Mo was likely the Heavenly Demon from eighty years ago, and that Yuyu was the new Absolute Master.
Looking back, Yuyu had claimed to be a member of the Demonic Cult, yet she had often seemed awkward when dealing with its affairs—quite unlike Cheon Mo, who embodied the typical Demonic Cultist with his love of drink, drugs, and licentious congress. She might have joined only recently, or perhaps she merely had ties to the Cult through the Western Regions and was not actually a member. If Yuyu was not of the Demonic Cult, then where had she come from?
The only clue was a single name Cheon Mo had mentioned in passing.
"…Guyeongmun."
It would do no harm to keep it in mind. With that thought, Jegal Ji took out paper and a fine brush and wrote a short note. When she finished, she noticed the inkstone had dried. She was about to call a servant to deliver the note and refill the ink when hurried footsteps sounded outside. The moment she turned toward the door, it burst open with a loud crash.
It was Heo Yeom. Jegal Ji frowned. It was not the rudeness of flinging the door open that troubled her. Rather, whatever matter could make him run until he was breathless and sweating could hardly be auspicious.
"Has something happened, Secretary Heo?"
"My lady, this… this…" Heo Yeom held out a sheet of paper with trembling hands. As Jegal Ji read it, her own eyes trembled violently.
* * *
"They say Sir Yu Baek is not currently in Yueyang."
Yuyu sighed. Cheon Mo laughed. Before she could decide how to continue, Yuyu asked first, "Where has he gone this time?"
Where indeed. Directionally southeast, in terms of province it was Fujian, and the sect in question was Wugeuk Castle.
"He appears to be at Wugeuk Castle in Fujian…"
"Did you not say you would bring him to Wuhan?"
"If he were coming because he was told to, then the one who left home would be because you told him to leave, wouldn't it?" Cheon Mo retorted with a sneer. Yuyu sighed again. "…You're right. Thank you for your trouble. Then we'll disembark and head for Fuzhou this time."
"About that…"
"Why? Do you have a carriage to recommend?"
"He did not go of his own will."
Yuyu's eyebrows twitched slightly, as though she did not understand. "Then he went even though he did not want to?"
"He was kidnapped."
A brief, uneasy silence followed. I bowed my head deeply. "I'm sorry. It was my negligence."
The moment the words left my mouth, a burst of laughter shook the room. It was Cheon Mo. "Bwahaha—ha—kgh—keuk. Hehehehe… Oh dear, what do we do now? Hey, Yu, say something."
"…"
"There's no bigger idiot or fool than this. If you hadn't taken the boat and come by land a few days earlier, or if you'd gotten off at the nearest station and run without sleep, none of this would have happened, right?"
They had anticipated an ambush on the road from Yueyang to Wuhan and had assigned the Sword Immortal, who was arriving from Wudang, as an escort. But Muhwang had already been in Yueyang a day before the Sword Immortal's arrival. There had been the Sword Guard dispatched by the Nangong Clan for the rendezvous, the renowned sects of Yueyang—the Paeggeommun and the Paphungdomun—and the local government office with its soldiers. Yet Wugeuk Castle, as a single sect, rivaled the Seven Great Clans and the Four Great Evil Sects while contending for leadership among the Thirty-Six Unorthodox Factions. Muhwang had not brought many masters. Before the full might of Wugeuk Castle, Yueyang had, quite literally, fallen. They had made enemies of the Nangong Clan among the Seven Great Clans, the Paeggeommun among the Seven Secular Sects, and the Paphungdomun among the Four Great Evil Sects all at once. Though they had not assaulted the officials, they had subdued the soldiers and seized control of the city gates. How they would clean up afterward was beyond imagination, but they had succeeded nonetheless.
Yu Baek was likely somewhere on the road to Fujian Province by now—or already inside Wugeuk Castle itself.
"I wonder what state he was in when they dragged him away. Did he go quietly? Or did he take a few blows and lose a tooth or two? Or maybe they beat him until he was flat as dough and hauled him off. What do you think?"
"…They say his life or death is unknown."
"Puhahaha—ah, this is truly absurd. Did you hear that, Yu? Your disciple got himself properly thrashed by that Muhwang fellow and now we don't even know if he's alive or dead!"
Cheon Mo clapped and laughed, then leaned toward Yuyu and shouted. No answer came. The room grew quieter and quieter. Like oil spreading over a frozen river down to its depths, only Cheon Mo's low laughter thinly flowed across the suffocating silence.
Cheon Mo rose from his seat and walked leisurely across the room until he stood behind Yuyu. Placing his hands on her shoulders, he murmured into her ear. "Hey, Yu. Really not angry? Even like this? If that know-it-all from the Jegal Clan hadn't suggested taking the boat, this wouldn't have happened, would it? Or how about me, standing here needling you while you're seething inside?"
Yuyu's eyelids slowly lowered. Into the ear of the one whose eyes were closed, Cheon Mo whispered, "How long are you going to keep weighing responsibility like this? Get angry. Go on."
There was no sound, no movement—as though everything had stopped. The air felt heavy and stifling, like being underwater. It was as if her lungs were being pressed, yet she could not bring herself to draw a deep breath. She simply breathed quietly. After exhaling about five times, Yuyu finally spoke.
"I cannot do that."
Cheon Mo's smooth face crumpled like paper in an instant. Just as something was about to leave his mouth, Yuyu opened her eyes and continued. "Even if that were right, I still could not. I would rather bury myself in the mountains and never come out again than do that. It is not because someone told me to. It is simply who I am. If you wish to be angry, then be angry. Consider this suffocating feeling of mine to be the same."
Then Cheon Mo's mouth closed again. Yuyu turned to Jegal Ji and asked, "Miss Jegal, could you point out on the map where we are and where Wugeuk Castle is?"
"Pardon? Ah, yes." For a moment she did not understand, but when Yuyu's gaze moved to the wall, she realized. A large map depicting the Yellow River, the Yangtze, and the Grand Canal hung on the wall like decoration. Walking over to it, Jegal Ji pressed her index finger roughly half a joint east of Wuhan and another joint southwest of Fuzhou. Yuyu nodded, then stood up.
"My temperament dislikes complications and endless back-and-forth. Now that I want to settle this without making things any bigger, I would appreciate it if you did not follow or search for me."
By the time the words ended, Yuyu was no longer there.