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"Do you know about the Six Phoenixes?"
Jang Sam, a beggar of the Beggar Sect, nearly spat out his noodles when the man across from him set down a silver coin.
"Right now, the Six Phoenixes?"
"...Ah, I'm sorry. I meant the six most beautiful peaks of the martial world."
Jang Sam looked him over. In a worn, coarse black robe, with disheveled hair he had not even tied back, the man looked every inch the wandering swordsman.
"Why do you want to know about the Six Phoenixes?"
"What do you think is the reason for climbing to the summit of a famous mountain?"
Is he a Taoist?
Faced with that Taoist-like habit of answering a question with another question, Jang Sam straightened. The man's inner energy ran so deep that even Jang Sam, a Beggar Sect disciple who considered himself fairly skilled, could not gauge it.
"...Well, wouldn't it be to reach the summit and behold the world with one's own eyes?"
"That's right. To take in the beauty of nature at a glance and attain enlightenment. Then how is that any different from beholding the most beautiful of nature's creations among women?"
Maybe he's not a Taoist but simply a lecher. Or perhaps an outcast expelled from a Taoist sect because of it.
"...One more silver coin."
Either way, as a disciple of the Beggar Sect, he couldn't refuse to sell information to someone who came to buy. Even a three-year-old on the street knows about the Six Phoenixes—getting paid silver just to wag your tongue about them is a profitable business.
"The Murim Alliance Leader's daughter, the Divine Maiden Dokgo Yeon! The Sword Pavilion's Moyong Ran, a woman recognized as the next head of the family! The Emei Sect Leader's head disciple and the foremost of the Six Phoenixes, the Controlled Sword Yoo Seol-ra! The Demonic Cult's Little Princess, whose martial arts and name are kept secret! The Blood Cult's noble lady, Hyeol So-ye! The six most beautiful rising stars of the Central Plains—people call them the Six Phoenixes!"
"That's five names."
"Ahem. Actually, well...."
Jang Sam fiddled with the silver on the table. The man drew more coins from his chest and placed them over Jang Sam's.
"Don't spread the information you bought from a beggar elsewhere. Otherwise all beggars will become your enemies."
"I have no intention of spreading it. I only wish to know."
"Ahem. Among the Six Phoenixes, wasn't there a daughter of the Jegal Clan? Well, they say that the Jegal Clan was visited by a Lust Demon."
"Hooh."
Interest crept into the man's voice.
"Lust Demon? Does that mean...?"
"...How can a woman whose flower has been plucked be a phoenix? The Jegal Clan is keeping quiet about it, but if even a beggar like me knows, who in the world doesn't? Heh heh heh."
"So the Six Phoenixes have been reduced to Five Phoenixes? Interesting."
"...The Six Phoenixes are an established tradition. If a seat is vacant, it's natural for the next seat to be filled. Whether it will be the Sword Saint's granddaughter, the daughter of the Green Forest, or a woman from another sect, no one knows yet."
"Can I also buy information about them?"
"......Hmm?"
Jang Sam caught a subtle undercurrent in the man's voice. Based on his long experience dealing with all sorts of people, the man's reactions whenever women's names came up—
'Revenge?'
A resolution of grudges. Behind the disheveled fringe, the man's sharp eyes held an indescribable fury.
With the gut feeling that giving more information would put himself in danger, Jang Sam put down his chopsticks with a sullen face.
"Nothing. I have no information. The Six... Ugh, it hasn't been long since one of the Six Phoenixes had her flower plucked—do you think a successor has already been settled?"
"Is that so... Then it will naturally be filled in time."
"Right, if a seat is vacant, it's human nature to fill it. Anything else you're curious about?"
Jang Sam felt like leaving soon. Continuing to talk with the man made him feel his energy draining.
"Let me ask one last thing. Do you happen to have any information about the Lust Demon who reportedly visited the Jegal Clan?"
"......."
The man's aura turned menacing. Only then did Jang Sam realize why the man had been asking about the Six Phoenixes.
"Are you going to claim those women are yours too?"
"Not exactly, but it's not a bad idea. What's wrong with a hero having three wives and four concubines?"
"I see. That Lust Demon must have broken into the Jegal Clan with the same thought. Unfortunately, I have no information. Only that his lightness skill is extremely outstanding."
"Heh heh. Understood. That's good information."
The man grinned and rose from his seat. Jang Sam's pockets were bulging with the silver he had brought, and the waiter and innkeeper looked as though they wanted him to order more, but Jang Sam threw on his old cloak.
"You don't look much like a hero, and the women's backgrounds are far too formidable for you to take them as wives... but well, fine. I'll cheer you on."
"...Well, if I'm to live up to expectations, I'll have to work harder in the future. But brother, let me ask one final question. Who is the most beautiful woman around here?"
"......The Tang Clan's successor?"
"Kwahaha! Sichuan Tang Clan? Heh heh, good. Very good. Thank you."
The man flicked one last silver coin behind him as he left the inn. Having pocketed a thick wad of silver in less than the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, Jang Sam was seized by an inexplicable unease.
"I'd better call it a day."
Just as he thought to stash today's earnings at the branch and head home with a drink.
BANG!!
The door burst open and young men with white headbands entered the inn and formed a formation. Jang Sam instantly recognized it as a formation deployed by first-rate warriors of the Jegal Clan and raised his hands.
"Wh-what's going on?!"
Step, step.
A handsome man in white robes stepped through the warriors. Jang Sam recognized him at once—none other than the head of the Jegal Clan.
"Wasn't there a man like this here just now?"
The clan head thrust out a portrait of a man. The man with snake-like slit eyes looked like a scholar one might see at a government office.
"No such man has come in here..."
"Or did someone ask about the women?! I mean someone who bought information about the Six Phoenixes!"
"That would be—"
Jang Sam pointed past the warriors to the main road, straight at the disheveled man who had walked out only moments before.
"That man bought the information..."
"After him!"
At the clan head's order, the warriors drew their swords and rushed at the man. But the man, as if already aware of their presence, kicked off the ground with nimble movements and leaped into the air.
"Void Step?!"
Towards the sky. Jang Sam recalled the intelligence about the Lust Demon that he had deliberately withheld: they said the lecher had mastered the Body Transformation Art and possessed a movement technique no one could pursue.
"Fuck... I'm screwed...."
Blinded by silver, he had sold information about women to the Lust Demon who was stirring up the entire Central Plains. Jang Sam retched from self-loathing.
* * *
"Oh my, yes. Young man! Miss Dang Ye-jin is such a kind person!"
"Oh ho, is that so? She must be a very amiable person."
The innocent-looking young man took a big bite of the skewer he'd bought from the woman. The snake meat, grilled with a generous coating of spices, would normally be rich in poison, but as expected of a snack sold near the Tang Clan, the poison had been cleanly removed beforehand.
"But why are you looking for the young lady? You seem like a son of a prestigious family...."
"Ha ha. Nothing like that. I'm just traveling the world, and I heard rumors of a beautiful lady."
The young man bowed respectfully with his hands clasped. It might have seemed excessive to bow to a simple street vendor, but the woman, receiving the greeting of a good-looking young man, blushed and handed him another skewer.
"Young man, I'm giving this to you because you're like a son to me."
"No, you don't have to."
"Don't refuse something like this. Here, quickly take—"
"So you were here, you villain!"
Warriors in white robes surrounded him on all sides, drawing their swords and forming a formation. At their abrupt appearance, the market vendors scattered in alarm, but the young man at the center of the encirclement calmly finished eating his snake skewer.
"They say even a dog is left alone while it eats."
"Shut up! Your identity is already known, Lust Demon!"
"Se...?!"
The woman almost fainted, goosebumps rising on her back. The young man who seemed like the heir of a prestigious family was in fact a Lust Demon? And she had been happily chattering about a Tang Clan woman to such a being?
"Ah, young lady...!"
"It was Dang Ye-jin, wasn't it?"
The young man held up the wooden skewer dripping with snake meat oil and aimed it at the warriors. The bluish aura extending from the skewer made the warriors gulp nervously.
"Sword Qi!"
"I'm on my way to meet Miss Dang Ye-jin now. Would you mind stepping aside?"
"Silence, Public Enemy of the Martial World!"
Hidden weapons began to rain down from the sky. The projectiles, coated thickly with poison, blanketed the sky and descended upon the young man. The warriors cheered at the old man who appeared, scattering the Tang Clan's lethal hidden weapons.
"Poison King!"
"Tang Clan warriors, come forth! Combine attack with the Jegal warriors!"
Warriors in green robes burst out and formed another formation. Suddenly surrounded by dozens of first-rate warriors, the young man shrugged and pointed his skewer around.
"Where did you learn to bully a single person like this? And you call yourselves members of the Orthodox Faction?"
"Your smooth tongue won't work any longer!"
"Elder Poison King! Don't listen to his words! He's as sly as a snake!"
Poison King and the Jegal Clan head pressured the young man from both sides and took their stances. The young man yawned loudly and raised both hands.
"Two of the world's top hundred masters and warriors from two families threatening an ordinary youth. The martial world's code has fallen to the ground!"
"What's fallen to the ground is your conscience! Did you think you'd be safe after what you did to my daughter?!"
"Hahaha! Oh, come on. Look here, Jegal Clan head. Did I do something to the Jegal family's daughter?"
As the young man's smile turned thin and sinister, a menacing aura began to pour from him.
"I just plucked a pretty flower I saw."
The Jegal Clan head and Poison King shuddered at the profound and twisted inner energy whose depth they couldn't fathom. Within the youth's inner energy, there was clearly a subtle internal power obtained through the Jegal Clan's internal energy art.
"Absorption of Yin to Nourish Yang! This trashy Lust Demon! Being a public enemy of the martial world isn't enough for you!"
"That's a misunderstanding. Honestly... there's no way to resolve this through dialogue. Then I have no choice."
Weeeng.
The bluish aura on the wooden skewer changed shape like a brush. The youth's stance, spreading his robes wide and adopting a starting posture, was a secret technique of the Jegal Clan passed down only to its direct line.
"You bastard!! How far do you intend to humiliate my daughter!"
"What did I do? Take it up with the one who taught me this."
The young man cackled and took a big bite of the snake meat from the other skewer he held. Chewing the freshly grilled, piping hot meat, he threw the remaining skewer to the ground.
"You son of a bitch!!"
"Why are you so upset? I just ate it and threw it away."
At the youth's nonchalant words, the clan head's insides churned. The discarded snake meat on the ground, torn by rough bite marks, reminded him of a certain someone, and his internal qi churned violently.
"Clan head! Get a grip! Don't be played by his sly tongue—"
"Dang Ye-jin. Poison King's granddaughter, was it?"
The young man aimed the tip of his skewer at Poison King's throat and smirked.
"I've come to claim the flower."
"Diiieeee!!!!"
The warriors of both families simultaneously rushed at the youth. He cackled and swept his hair back with his hand.
"No, shall I say I came to pluck the flower?"
A ferocious aura rose from the youth, the Lust Demon.
* * *
"Hic, sob!"
Dang Ye-jin covered her mouth with her hand and hid in the wardrobe. Outside, the screams of warriors echoed, and the coppery scent of blood grew thicker, beginning to sting her nose.
Creeeak.
The wardrobe door opened, and a man covered head to toe in blood crouched before Dang Ye-jin with a distant expression.
"Ha, I came all this way for nothing. They said you were all grown up..."
"Hic, sob, d-don't come any closer, you villain!"
"......Ugh, the flower's already been picked."
The young man kicked the old man who was clutching his ankle, sending him into the wall.
"Grandfather!!"
"Don't worry. I left him alive. Damn. But after all this trouble... Ah!"
Wooong.
The young man placed his hand on Dang Ye-jin's head and infused her with qi. As the unknown energy penetrated through her Baihui acupoint, her whole body trembled.
"I've infused you with internal qi. Now you can never escape me. On the night of the full moon... I will appear again."
"S-shut up! Do you think you'll still be alive by then?! The whole world is trying to kill you!"
"Heh heh. You only live once, so live however the fuck you want. Since I'm going to live like a bastard anyway, I'll do it my way. Forget it, go bring your mother."
The youth, the man called Lust Demon, cackled and turned away.
"Just... why... why do you commit such atrocities...?"
"Why, you ask?"
Lust Demon twisted the corner of his mouth into a leering smile. His sunken, murky eyes were warped like the abyss.
"Revenge. In the murim, what motive is stronger than grudges and debts of gratitude?"
"Raping women for revenge... How can such a thing exist...."
"Right here."
The Lust Demon thumped his chest with a heroic air and declared, "I will pluck all the flowers of the martial world."