Chapter 47
Chapter 47
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 47
Chapter Title: Red Lotus Division Leader
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A woman gazed down at Dongting Lake, bathed in the moonlight.
This was the top floor of a brothel called the Red Shadow Tower. To some, it was merely a vulgar den swarming with drunken revelers, but those who knew its true nature found it profoundly chilling.
The crimson outfit she wore, exposing her skin brazenly, did nothing to hide her voluptuous figure. Instead, it was adorned with flashy jewelry that celebrated her flesh.
There were so many pieces that they seemed cumbersome, yet they were proof of the reputation she had built over the years.
Even if she had no reason to be proud of it before others, hiding that fame didn't suit her temperament.
"Who are you?"
A stranger had come to see her—a man who didn't fit the scene at all. He wasn't a drunkard or a bodyguard; he exuded an aloof aura, as if he existed alone in the world.
Perhaps irritated at her rare moment of solitude being interrupted, the glamorous woman spoke to him without even turning from the lake.
"I told them not to let anyone in. If you've come to the wrong place, I'd appreciate it if you left politely."
Her words were courteous, but the chill in her tone and expression betrayed her feelings.
"I've come to the right place. I sought you out and made my way here."
Only then did she turn to face him upon hearing that he had come specifically for her.
But something was off. Everyone who sought her out was someone she knew—yet this man's face stirred no memory at all.
"I'll ask again. Who are you?"
She, who had always prized caution as her greatest virtue and the key to surviving in the jianghu, calmly posed the question once more.
She could have shown her displeasure again, but she chose not to.
In the jianghu, where a single word could cost a life, she had endured for years as a woman, and the arts of survival were ingrained in her very being.
"Don't you think it's proper to give your name before asking another's? Thousand-Faced Ghost Woman."
Paeng!
No sooner had the man finished speaking than the woman produced a hairpin from who-knows-where and thrust it toward him.
Though they were more than three zhang apart, the hairpin reached his eyes in the blink of an eye—only for him to seize her wrist even faster.
"How do you know me?"
Her reddish-brown hair, now undone, fluttered in the wind. Likely because the hairpin she wielded had lost its original purpose.
"Didn't the sect leader tell you?"
Ignoring the attempt on his life, the man asked calmly in return, as if such attacks were beneath notice.
At the mention of "sect leader," she realized he was from the Lower Five Gates. She scanned him up and down.
Pale skin, eyes gleaming with a reddish glow, a sturdy build mismatched with his youthful features.
She had no memory of him, but few in the Lower Five Gates could stand before her with such confidence.
Her thoughts reached that point, and she finally pieced together his identity.
"Is it you? The newly appointed Guard Division Leader, Sword Dragon."
The nickname meaning "one who has yet to grow a beard" clashed so oddly with the position that she'd been quite taken aback when she first heard the news.
But now it made sense. This youthful-looking monster hiding monstrous skill was the Lower Five Gates' new Guard Division Leader.
"That's right. Since we're both division leaders, why not get along?"
His words sounded polite, but waiting for her reply with her wrist still gripped felt like a threat to her.
"......Could you let go of my hand first?"
"Ah, my apologies."
Contrary to her assumption, Yi Sowol had merely reacted out of habit, wary of hidden weapons—nothing more.
Well, it had softened her attitude considerably, so perhaps it was a blessing.
"Then allow me a proper introduction. I am So Yeonhwa, the Thousand-Faced Ghost Woman, leader of the Lower Five Gates' Red Lotus Division."
"Pleased to meet you. I am Yi Sowol, Sword Dragon and Guard Division Leader of the Lower Five Gates."
So Yeonhwa, proprietor of the Red Shadow Tower and leader of the Red Lotus Division—a courtesan hailed as the greatest in the Central Plains, the Thousand-Faced Ghost Woman.
This was the moment she first encountered a man she couldn't handle.
The Red Lotus Division was an unusual outfit even among the shadowy organizations of the Lower Five Gates.
Information gathering, assassination contracts, ambushes, murders, and fund-raising—they handled every dirty task. Uniquely, more than half its members were courtesans.
Though called courtesans, most actually worked as prostitutes.
They were the darkest shadow within the Lower Five Gates' shadows.
"So, what brings you to see me?"
So Yeonhwa, who led them, appeared at first glance like a mere flashy courtesan—but her reality was far different.
A elusive prostitute who had slain countless jianghu folk using seduction as her weapon.
The Thousand-Faced Ghost Woman, a master of disguise who had crafted countless human-skin masks for Baek Eunhwa.
The face before me now surely wasn't her true one. No one in the jianghu knew her real appearance.
"At the alliance leader's request, I've come to root out the Demonic Cult's hidden forces in the Central Plains. I heard there are already some operating here ahead of me. Any information?"
"We of the Red Lotus Division are flowers blooming in the shadows. We know everything about the jianghu's darkness."
She beckoned a subordinate and whispered in her ear.
She clearly knew something.
"If you're referring to those three beardless youths carrying out a mission, they're in Yiyang. They don't realize it themselves, but they're making quite a racket."
"A racket? Their mission was to secretly track down Demonic Cultists."
"What do greenhorns fresh to the jianghu know? They probably think stirring up back alleys will flush them out."
So much for expecting much help.
"By the way, do you know who they are?"
"One from the Namgung family and the Murim Alliance, one sword expert from the Huashan Sect, and some odd warrior with no gift for words."
Namgung Cheon, Unhak, and Yuseongil. Sigh. What was the alliance leader thinking, sending those three together?
Or maybe that's exactly why he rushed me here.
"What about traces of the Demonic Cultists?"
"Please wait a moment. The witness has just arrived."
Following her gaze, I saw a young girl clutching her trembling body.
She looked terrified, but not by anyone here—likely from some recent ordeal.
"P-Pleased to meet you. I'm Soyeon, serving at the Red Shadow Tower."
"Tell us what happened to you."
"Well, I went to attend a courtesan sister as usual while she was with a guest. But by then, she was already... horribly..."
Murdered, no doubt.
"What state was she in?"
"H-Her whole body was covered in a grape-like purple, her eyes rolled back, and it felt like she was staring right at me..."
The girl's lips quivered as she spoke. Even without more details, I could guess the rest.
Her qi and blood twisted throughout her body, limbs contorted grotesquely beyond recognition.
That's how it ends for those struck by demonic arts.
"That's enough."
I cut the girl off mid-sentence. Forcing her to relive it felt like rubbing salt in her wounds.
She glanced at me cautiously, then bowed deeply—perhaps too deeply—before leaving the room.
"What do you make of it?"
"Demonic arts."
"Exactly. It happened in a shady place, so it hasn't spread, but there have been similar cases."
"Any leads on the culprit?"
"No. Witnesses described different faces—probably using a human-skin mask. But one saw a fleeing figure with lop ears."
Lop ears. Not common, but not enough to pinpoint anyone. Missing one or two ears isn't rare in the jianghu.
"Other clues?"
"The killer's too cunning. No other traits... oh, all the murdered courtesans had skin white as jade."
"Then it's likely plucking yin to supplement yang."
"That's our guess too."
Plucking yin to supplement yang involves absorbing a woman's yin essence to bolster one's yang. But for demonic arts users, it's never that simple.
Absorbing souls to fuel demonic qi, draining vitality to halt aging—their methods are as varied as they are vile.
I'll need to think flexibly.
"Understood. I'll link up with the dispatched team, then. Send word the moment you have new info."
"Yes. May the blade of the Lower Five Gates bring vengeance on those rot-infested scum."
Her eyes gleamed with vengeful fire, her voice laced with deep-seated grudge.
Yiyang, home to the famed Dongting Lake, was a hotbed of brothels like nowhere else.
As the pinnacle among all courtesans, she no doubt felt responsible for those who died.
Women scraping by at the very bottom, their lives brutally crushed by a Demonic Cultist's selfish lust.
Even in that filthy reality, they had fought to survive—and their final moments were beyond horrific.
"I'll do my utmost to let them rest in peace."
Even now, having resolved to walk my chosen path after shedding my bloodthirsty past, one conviction remains unchanged.
Scum who prey on the weak deserve no right to live.
Martial artists live and die by the sword—that's their way, not my concern.
But harming the downtrodden, who breathe the foulest air their whole lives? That's different.
They had hopes too. Families, dreams.
I couldn't bear to see that light snuffed out for the sake of some bastard's power, not even in death.
"Glory eternal to the Lower Five Gates' blade."
I accepted her bow and set out.