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126
I turned and left the Dokgo Clan, left the Murim Alliance. Outside, countless people were searching for Physician Mubung, but I slipped away unnoticed.
"Physician, this way."
"Thank you."
A detachment of Murim Alliance warriors escorted me along a secluded route, and I escaped Xuchang safely, well clear of prying eyes. The warriors regarded me with respect.
"We can guide you no further than this."
The captain leading them—the vice-commander—brought me to the edge of a forest.
"I am grateful, Vice-Commander."
"Not at all. My gratitude is the greater."
He looked at me with a warm, deeply respectful gaze. He felt oddly familiar. More than a distant relative of the Dokgo Clan...
He looks a bit like Namgung Yurin, maybe?
Since he wasn't using martial arts I couldn't judge by that alone, but his handsome face made it easy to guess.
Namgung Clan.
"It is not the Dokgo Clan alone that will remember the life-saving grace you showed my nephew. The Namgung Clan, too, will not forget. Not only for healing him from that vicious Little Princess, but for that... other matter as well."
"...Well. The injuries inflicted by the Little Princess were naturally mine to treat, but I am not sure what other deed you might be referring to."
At my words, the vice-commander smiled bitterly and inclined his head. The Namgung Clan owing Physician Mubung a debt carried many implications, but there was no need to pick at old wounds by raising unpleasant matters.
"I sincerely thank you for your consideration. Yet... I will not forget."
Bowing deeply at the waist, the vice-commander saw me off and then turned back. Left alone in the empty mountains, I hurried along the mountain path.
They should be showing up about now.
No matter how discreetly the Murim Alliance warriors moved, they were still bound to their sects. I had not expected anything close to Demonic Cult stealth, so I slipped deep into the brush and held my breath.
"Damn it! Where did he go?!"
"They definitely came this way—"
"They say he's elusive... he really does know martial arts! He used movement arts to vanish!"
A swarm of warriors appeared near where I had disappeared.
"Physician!! Where are you! Please come to our Hon Clan Estate!"
There is no such clan.
"Physician! My son is dying of a fatal illness! Please, I beg you, please!!"
Even if it were your daughter, I might hesitate—and you lie that it's your son? Impotent bastard.
None of them caught my interest, and none were important enough to turn my steps.
"Heavenly Demon's Great Eight Forms."
I evaded their eyes and ran swiftly to the southwest. I deliberately took rugged, untraveled mountain paths, circling Xuchang City to reach the road that led southwest toward Hubei.
I needed an abandoned house where people could stay for several days. Fortunately, I knew of a place suited for hiding someone long-term.
It should be around here.
Soon, a suitable house appeared not far off. The abandoned home, seemingly unvisited for at least ten years, could be made livable for a week or two with just a little work.
"Perfect."
The owner was already dead. I am the owner now.
"Heavenly Demon's Nine Palaces Formation, Open Formation!"
I set up the Confusion Mark Nine Palaces Formation there.
"A single day is enough to turn this into a place fit for living."
Using my internal energy to its fullest, I spent a full day repairing the abandoned house, cleaning it, and succeeded in renovating it into a fairly decent thatched cottage.
Plenty for two women to stay a while.
Dokgo Yeon and Lee Si-a—those two women would stay here for a while.
Lee Si-a would slip out of Xuchang without any suspicion.
Dokgo Yeon would be taken by the Ice-Colored Demon as a hostage.
And I, as the Ice-Colored Demon, would run to Hebei, the exact opposite direction from their hiding place, to throw the Murim Alliance off the trail.
They'll get along, won't they? I've set everything up; they'll manage on their own.
Dokgo Yeon would likely take care of Lee Si-a single-handedly, but since I had already set out a table of food before leaving, there shouldn't be too much trouble. Neither Lee Si-a nor Dokgo Yeon was the type to recklessly leave the formation.
Still, just in case, I should leave a warning.
I found a wooden plank and carved words into it with Qi Aura. Once they saw this, they would be unable to leave even if they wanted to.
- If you go out, you go bald.
No matter how beautiful and lovely a woman is, how can you keep holding one close if her actions aren't lovely?
After all the effort I had put into preparing a safe place and telling them not to leave, if they couldn't endure a few days and broke the promise...
"...I'll be back soon, so just wait a little."
A day passed, and the appointed time arrived. Before I left the Confusion Mark Nine Palaces Formation, I used the Body Transformation Art to transform into the promised appearance.
Crack, cra-ack.
I looked at my reflection in the water and felt complete satisfaction. The appearance, mixed with Lee Si-a's specifications, was my ideal version of middle-aged Mubung—the face I had imagined myself having in my thirties or forties.
With deep, profound inner energy, it gave off a distinguished middle-aged aura, yet if clean-shaven, it had a freshness that could pass for early thirties—no, even late twenties. Lee Si-a had specifically chosen a middle-aged Mubung as the 'Guardian Protector' who would protect her.
"Lee Si-a is so transparent. Heheh, this really does suit me well."
Clank.
I strapped two swords I had stolen from a nearby house to my waist, left the formation, and flew into the sky on Grass-top Flying. In an instant, using the Heavenly Demon's Great Eight Forms, I arrived at the main road, already crowded with people.
Just as expected.
Near Xuchang City, in the middle of the road leading out through the north gate.
"Hahaha! Little Princess of the Demonic Cult, your reign ends today!!"
Lee Si-a, who had boldly walked out of Xuchang alone, was surrounded by a swarm of thugs.
* * *
The White Path is full of all kinds of people.
Among them, some hold grudges against the Demonic Cult.
Some have lost family, friends, or martial siblings to a handful of demons who descended from the Heavenly Mountain.
That is why it is nearly impossible to quell the hatred the Central Plains' white-path murim warriors bear toward the Demonic Cult. Even the current Heavenly Demon, during her active years, went on rampages that sowed bitter enmity, and the unforgotten resentments only deepened with time.
"We've caught her—the Little Princess!"
Starting with a warrior of the Zhongnan Sect whose master had been killed by the Ten Demons, all manner of martial artists encircled the Little Princess.
Some among them harbored lustful desires toward her. Mixed among the warriors burning with vengeful rage, they drooled as they ogled her alluring figure.
"I don't recall having any personal grudge against you."
"Shut your mouth, you witch!"
"Ah, are you a warrior of the Namgung Clan? In that case, I admit it."
At the last Dragon-Phoenix Gathering, the Little Princess had crushed her opponents into barely recognizable pulp. Though Physician Mubung had later healed all of them, it remained true that many had suffered damage.
"I'm sorry. I'm just a bit too strong. But still, trying to do something about me with just that... pfft."
A red gleam flickered in the Little Princess's eyes. At the same time, she stomped lightly on the ground.
Boom—!!
With a single Quake Step, half the encirclement collapsed. After crushing the ground in an instant, the Little Princess tidied her shoulder-length hair with one hand and taunted them.
"Heavenly Demon's Thousand Catty Hammer."
"This—this bitch!"
"Who dares call me a bitch? Do you want to die?"
"Hik...!"
Cru-unch. The Little Princess twisted the foot she had stomped with, grinding it left and right. At that gesture, like squashing an insect, all the martial artists swallowed dryly.
"A Peak Expert...!"
"Heh heh, but we have a Peak Expert too!"
"Hmph!"
Wearing a mask and black clothes to thoroughly conceal his identity, the man stepped forward, haughtily tilted up his chin, and shouted.
"Little Princess of the Demonic Cult! I have come to avenge my older brother!"
"......?"
The Little Princess sensed something off. The gruff voice somehow didn't sound like a man's.
"Haha, you all seem so desperate to tear me apart...."
The Little Princess raised her hand high—
Snap.
She flicked her fingers. Instantly, every warrior was disarmed.
"Kuaaak!!"
Swords snapped, hands holding swords were struck, and fighters collapsed ingloriously onto the ground. In the blink of an eye, more than thirty martial artists fell at once, and the encirclement shattered completely.
"Shall I kill them, Young Heavenly Demon?"
A middle-aged man in black who had suddenly intruded stood beside the Young Heavenly Demon as if guarding her. The Little Princess's eyes sparkled with boundless trust in him, but she shook her head.
"No. Don't. We didn't come here to fight."
"Wh-who are you?!"
"Me? I've no reason to tell you."
Clank.
The middle-aged man swung his sword loosely. Yet none of the charging martial artists could get within his reach.
"Absolute Peak!"
"What level of martial prowess is this... Could it be the Sichuan Geomdam we've only heard of...?!"
"Shut—up!!"
The middle-aged man bellowed, radiating killing intent.
"I am not Geomdam, not Geomdam! I am Geombung, the Demonic Cult's Number One Sword who protects the Young Heavenly Demon!"
"Geom... bung!"
"He's not Geomdam?"
"Four-word formation attack!"
Geomdam—no, Geombung unleashed a Lion's Roar and overwhelmed the warriors. At that blade-sharp, seasoned voice, all of the martial artists instinctively stepped backward. Geombung contorted his face as though he might swing a killing sword at any moment.
"This body is the Demonic Cult's Number One Sword! How dare you compare me to a mere Geomdam?!"
"Geombung."
Geombung, who had been glaring fiercely while raising the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, immediately suppressed his energy at the Little Princess's words. Seeing the mad dog turn into a grinning, tail-wagging mutt at a single word from his master, the color drained from the warriors' faces.
"Just knock them unconscious. Don't kill them, and don't even hurt them."
"Young Heavenly Demon, but—!"
"It's an order."
Why was it that the Little Princess seemed to be holding back laughter as she gave her order? Pulling himself together at her command, Geombung raised one sword and aimed it at the warriors.
"I follow the Young Heavenly Demon's command."
Ominous energy began to rise again. Each of the martial artists swallowed hard and raised their swords.
"Be careful! The opponent is the Little Princess's Guardian Protector! Whether he is Geombung or Geomdam, he is certain to be strong—"
Slaaash—!!
"Not Geomdam!"
No sooner had Geombung's body vanished than the martial artists began dropping one by one: thud, thud.
A short while later.
The warriors who had rushed to chase the Demonic Cult's Little Princess found the martial artists scattered on the ground, their foreheads swollen bright red. The collapsed men, laid out in a single line like strokes of a Chinese character, spelled out words with their unconscious bodies that made the warriors shudder.
追—Chase. 殺—Kill.
"If you chase us... you die?"
It was an ultimatum. Long, thin scratches of blood, as if drawn with a tree branch, stretched across the fallen warriors' necks.
"A heaven-sent opportunity wasted so vainly...!"
The Little Princess of the Demonic Cult had departed Xuchang in leisurely ease.
* * *
"The Little Princess of the Demonic Cult has left, escorted by one Geombung... a figure presumed to be the next Sword Demon."
The Murim Alliance sighed that mingled relief with unease.
They were relieved because they had confirmed that the Little Princess had truly come without ulterior motive, merely to grace the Two Phoenixes Decisive Battle out of pride.
"As expected of the Young Heavenly Demon. She still cannot bend her pride due to youthful impetuousness. Haha."
"Hmm...."
Dokgo Ja-yeong knew another reason but did not voice it. For one thing, no one would believe it, and if he said it with his own mouth, the Heavenly Demon on the Heavenly Mountain would come raging to kill him for spreading false rumors.
- My daughter is in love with a woman?! You bastard! Dokgo Ja-yeong, you've finally gone mad!!
All too often, the truth is buried simply because a louder voice drowns it out.
"Then what is the relationship with the Ice Demon?"
"No, didn't they call the Ice Demon 'Flying Female'? Ice Demon is a woman."
"We have to be able to believe the Little Princess's words. So then, are we supposed to call the other Ten Demons Flying Female Blade Demon, Flying Female Bandit Demon, Flying Female Illusion Demon?"
"No, those bastards are men, so of course they wouldn't be Flying Female! If a demon truly were a woman, we would just call her Flying Female Flame Demon or Flying Female Sword Demon as we please!"
"......"
Dokgo Ja-yeong silently closed his eyes. The rambling, chaotic meeting showed no sign of reaching any clear answers.
Suddenly—
"Alliance Leader! Emergency!!"
The vice-commander, who had taken a day's leave to see off Physician Mubung and escort the clan's people, rushed back in.
"This was posted in the marketplace!!"
"!"
The alliance members shuddered at the sight of the paper in the vice-commander's hand, stiff as a sheet of ice. Dokgo Ja-yeong snatched it urgently.
[I shall steal what is most precious to you.]
"Wh-what is this...?!"
Dokgo Ja-yeong felt as though all the blood were draining from his body.
"The thing most precious to me...?"
Crackle!!
An alarm wave signaling an intruder in the Dokgo Clan's estate rang out. Dokgo Ja-yeong smashed through a window, leaped onto the roof of the main hall, and ran toward the estate with movements akin to Void Step.
But—
"Yeon-a!!"
Wuling Island Garden was empty.
The Alliance Leader's most precious thing, his most precious being, was nowhere to be seen.
"Yeon-a, Yeon-a!!"
After running madly through the villa, he followed a trail of dried blood droplets—and the moment he caught up—
"What...."
[Dokgo Ja-yeong. Sir, from now on, you shall be unable to see the child. —Doctor Baek.]
On the frozen flowerbed, only a few strands of pure white hair remained.