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Word had spread that the Ice-Colored Demon had departed for Hebei, but after those initial reports of his northward heading, not a single update about the Sex Demon followed.
—Well, it's only been about five days. Is it even normal for him to show up already? If it were me, I'd erase my presence and hole up in some cave for a month.
—That's because Dokgo Yeon, that girl, has been....
—Ah.
The whereabouts of the Sex Demon who had abducted Dokgo Yeon remained unknown. No matter how many people went searching for him, the Ice-Colored Demon's trail had vanished like a ghost.
—Did he really come to Hebei?
People sinking into anxiety grew suspicious of the Sex Demon's movements. Just because he fled north of Xuchang, he crossed into Hebei?
After heading north, he could have turned east, west, or south. More importantly, the Murim Alliance's cordon spread across Hebei hadn't flushed out any Sex Demon. They'd inspected every single man, to no avail.
Right when unease began to set in.
—We will change our strategy.
The Murim Alliance abandoned chasing the Sex Demon. More precisely, they resolved to preemptively respond before the Sex Demon could violate another woman.
—We will dispatch escorts to every martial household in Beijing.
One by one, chivalrous warriors began gathering in Hebei, in Beijing, to track the Sex Demon.
* * *
"Hahaha! The Hebei Paeng Clan can set aside its worries! I, Thorn Dragon (刺龍), Jo Cheong-hong! As a member of the Nine Dragons, I will absolutely capture the Sex Demon!"
An impressively handsome youth, Jo Cheong-hong offered a martial salute with a confident smile.
"The Jo Family's eldest son has already become a member of the Nine Dragons, I see. Congratulations. ...And my sincerest condolences, Fan Dragon."
"It's fine, Clan Head."
Paeng Yuwol, together with Clan Head Paeng Iwang, welcomed two young men from the Murim Alliance: Fan Dragon Eul Ji-sang and Thorn Dragon Jo Cheong-hong.
"We will definitely find the Sex Demon so that no victim like your mother ever appears again."
Not kill him? Paeng Yuwol was intimidated by the Fan Dragon's murderous glare. The memory of once holding such hatred toward someone surfaced, making her stomach churn.
"The Hebei Paeng Clan welcomes you."
"Thank you. And now, I'll take my leave."
Eul Ji-sang bowed his head briefly, then straightened up and left. A startled Jo Cheong-hong hastily rose and followed.
"Good heavens, Jisang! ...I apologize. That friend hasn't been right since the incident."
"I understand. It's only natural. Young hero, you've also endured much traveling from the Alliance. Now, let me show you the way. Over there...."
There was no one there. Paeng Iwang trembled with his fists clenched beneath the desk, and Paeng Yuwol quietly rose.
"I'll guide him."
"Yes, please do."
"Follow me, young hero."
As Paeng Yuwol guided him, Jo Cheong-hong glanced left and right, gauging the atmosphere. Paeng Yuwol turned around at the gaze she felt on her back.
"If you're curious about something, please speak."
"Hmm, may I ask?"
"Before you ask if you may, just ask."
"Haha! You're quite firm. Yes, understood. ...The Paeng Clan seems rather desolate."
Jo Cheong-hong gestured with his eyes at their surroundings. The large Paeng Clan estate was nearly empty. So much so that without even a maidservant to escort an outsider, Paeng Yuwol had to guide him herself.
"About a year ago, a branch of the Hebei Paeng Clan was established in Sangsan, wasn't it?"
"Yes. I know. And aren't I none other than the legitimate son of the Sangsan Jo Family?"
"Yes. The current clan head and Evil Slash Sword elder's younger brother, the <Faux Slash Saber (僞斬刀)> Paeng I-seon, moved his household to the Sangsan branch."
"...Excuse me? Is it not just a branch family?"
Paeng Yuwol shook her head.
"This place bears the name of the main house, but the Paeng Clan's elders have departed for Sangsan. Those who remain here are not very many."
"Huh...."
Jo Cheong-hong placed his hand on the railing. The paint was peeling, revealing aged wood beneath, and Jo Cheong-hong flinched in surprise.
"Here it is. Please ring the bell if anything happens."
"And not a maidservant?"
"......."
When Paeng Yuwol remained silent, Jo Cheong-hong hurriedly bowed his waist.
"How could the Hebei Paeng Clan...."
At Jo Cheong-hong's muttered words, Paeng Yuwol clenched her teeth. Thanks to the promissory note that woman gave, they'd secured a large amount of cash, but it was still woefully insufficient to hire people to work for the family.
"Understood. If anything happens, I'll settle it myself. I go this way, correct?"
"...No. There's another guest this way. This is the room of someone leaving today."
"Haha! Then I'll use it. There's no need to clean it separately, is there? I'll do it myself!"
"She's a woman."
Jo Cheong-hong's arms, which he was about to roll up, froze. This was because the door opened from inside to the commotion, and a woman holding a child appeared.
"Oh my, hello?"
"Ah, yes, yes!"
Jo Cheong-hong flushed red. The woman, well-proportioned despite her rather tall height, gently bounced the child sleeping soundly in her arms.
"I-I was rude!"
"Rude? You're so kind. Hello, my name is Yeon Bung. Ah, right, Yuwol. Wol-a kept fussing, so I came out."
"Yes? Ah...."
Paeng Yuwol flusteredly took the child into her arms. There was absolutely no sign the child had been fussing, but Yeon Bung winked and pointed inside the room.
"I just finished packing everything. Please come in. My room, I still tidied it up decently myself?"
"You've finished packing already?"
Jo Cheong-hong looked around the room.
"Is your husband not here?"
"I'm unmarried, actually."
"Pardon? But the child...."
"She's my child."
At the words coming from both sides, Jo Cheong-hong felt momentarily dazed. The woman named Yeon Bung was the same, but Paeng Yuwol had an appearance that made it hard to imagine she had a child.
"...By the way, Lady Yeon Bung. Where are you heading?"
"I'll roam along the mountains, along the rivers, wherever my heart takes me. I've imposed on the Paeng Clan for a long time, so I intend to leave now."
Yeon Bung pointed at the pipa she had slightly removed from her bundle. Jo Cheong-hong's eyes swept over Yeon Bung with unease.
"Hebei is dangerous right now. The Sex Demon is roaming about. Alone, you...."
"If it comes to that, then it is destiny. Don't worry. That fellow doesn't kill people, does he?"
At Yeon Bung's words, Jo Cheong-hong wanted to raise some objection, but his lips wouldn't part. She had already turned her body, ready to leave.
"Ah, right. Paeng Yuwol. Here."
"What's this now?"
"It's a promissory note. I am leaving after a pleasant stay."
"The Pa-Paeng Clan is not an inn!"
Yeon Bung touched a finger to her lips and pulled it away, winking.
"The child is so pretty. Use it toward buying her clothes."
Step, step. Yeon Bung left the Paeng Clan at a fairly rapid pace. Jo Cheong-hong stared at her departing figure, feeling he might become entranced for some reason.
"Like a Celestial Maiden."
"...Look here."
"Ah, a-ahem. My apologies. But...."
Jo Cheong-hong pointed inside the room. It was already neatly arranged, without a single thing out of place.
"Who exactly is she?"
"Yeon Bung. Aside from that... I don't really know."
At Paeng Yuwol's ambiguous answer, Jo Cheong-hong nodded.
"They say a woman is charming when she holds many secrets. Truly. If you are heading to the battlefield, I will escort you. Ah, um, is that perhaps rude of me?"
"......It is rude, but I do thank you for your consideration right now."
Paeng Yuwol silently held Wol-a and gestured outside.
"Thank you, for your care in many ways."
"Haha! Not at all. We're in the same position, so we should help each other live."
"...Pardon?"
Jo Cheong-hong smiled, rubbing his chin with his hand.
"I also have two children myself. One three-year-old and one that just passed its first birthday. Hahaha!"
"...May I ask your age this year?"
"My age? Ahem. I am twenty this year."
"......."
* * *
"Where are you trying to go?"
"Liaodong."
"...It would be dangerous for a woman to go alone."
"I'm a martial person."
"Tsk. Understood. You may pass."
Having passed even the final guardsman, I slipped completely out of Beijing Fortress and ran into a nearby forest. I was satisfied that I'd left the Paeng Clan at an appropriate time—without needing to rush out hastily and invite unnecessary misunderstanding.
'I never imagined the Nine Dragons would be dispatched as pursuers.'
How arrogant. Yet, at the same time, I could understand their chivalrous spirit. There's nothing that raises one's own fame as much as capturing the Sex Demon who kidnapped one of the Six Phoenixes.
'But of all people, it had to be Jo Ja-ryong.'
The renowned martial artist of the Sangsan Jo Family, Jo Cheong-hong. A descendant of the Jo Family founded by Jo Ja-ryong's progeny, a martial artist who would later boast spear skills second only to the Divine Spear.
'Second of the Three Great Spearmasters of the World who greatly distinguished himself under Dokgo Yeon. A man whose loyalty and chivalry none can match.'
In short, he's a good guy. How good? To the point that when I was a Demonic Cult lackey, I once received a life-saving favor from him.
—This is all I can give you. If life grows too hard and wearing, and you can endure it no longer, come to the Jo Family of Sangsan.
Back when I was starving on a mission because I couldn't eat, he bestowed me a single silver nyang out of compassion. With that silver, I barely managed to cling to my life.
The reason it was one silver nyang was because the beggars around me had their eyes on me—it was an amount just appropriate enough that others wouldn't covet it and I could use it myself.
'But a past life is a past life. Now is now.'
Even if he was my lifesaver in a previous life, there's absolutely no reason I must swear loyalty to Jo Cheong-hong or anything of the sort. If she were a woman who took my sympathy like the Young Heavenly Demon, that'd be different, but Jo Cheong-hong is merely one of countless connections from a past life.
'Instead, I won't violate your wife in this life.'
Jo Cheong-hong's wife was also a considerable beauty. The Blood Jiangshi defiled her. It was an utterly ungrateful act of repaying life-saving grace in the worst possible way.
"I'm truly going out of my way to cut you some slack this once."
So in this life, I won't even set foot near the Jo Family. That was the value of the one silver nyang I received from him.
"Of course, if you get in the Sex Demon's way, you'll get nothing."
Crrack, craaack.
I could let him off with just knocking him out, but if he charges in too fiercely, I have no choice but to beat him back. Inside the forest, I transformed my physical form completely.
"Ice-Colored Demon, descends upon Hebei."
A white-haired middle-aged giant. A peak Harmony Realm expert using the Ice White Divine Art and Heavenly Demon Divine Art. One who attacks women through absorption of yin to nourish yang.
Boom!
I smashed the pipa, bundle and all, into pieces. I broke it down so finely that not a trace remained, then burned it all without residue using the Zhongli Divine Flame Art.
"Yeon Bung, farewell."
Now, Yeon Bung has departed for Liaodong. I spent time practicing energy circulation breathing, after having arranged her trail for future eventualities.
Caw, caw.
Evening, when the crows cry and the sun begins to set.
The moment night spreads its veil, it's time for the Sex Demon to move in earnest.
* * *
"Look here, Jisang. Have you found anything?"
"I haven't. But if it's the Lust Demon, he'll definitely target the Hebei Paeng Clan."
"On what grounds?"
"Because the two most beautiful women in Hebei are here."
At Eul Ji-sang's words, Jo Cheong-hong nodded. He hadn't seen one of them because there was no news of her, but he could at least boast that the beauty of the other was the finest in Hebei.
"The rumor that the Paeng Clan's two beauties are the most beautiful in Hebei was true, then. But would he really come? One of them is a widow, you know?"
"Your problem is you're too simple-minded. The Sex Demon's favorite targets are widows, bereaved wives, and married women."
Jo Cheong-hong felt goosebumps creep up his back.
"And for that reason, he'd come to the Hebei Paeng Clan, right in the center of Beijing?"
"It's just a possibility, but. Even if a scream were to suddenly ring out from somewhere—"
Kyaaaaak—!!!
Did their words become seed for reality? At the scream that sounded from the distance, the two hurriedly threw themselves into motion.
"W-What is this...!"
"Heavens above!"
The place they arrived at was a famous pleasure house in Hebei. Beneath the red lanterns, one courtesan was impaled on an ice pillar shaped like a member from her lower body down.
Clang, clang!
The merchants who rushed over with hammers and such tried desperately to break the ice pillar, but it was no use.
"Ice White Divine Art!"
The owner of these ice chunks, unbreakable with ordinary martial power, was clearly the Ice-Colored Demon. The pillar, formed from two massive testicles supporting it and an erect member thrusting straight up, was unthinkable to have been erected by anyone but the Sex Demon.
"Jisang! There are letters there!"
"Look! ...What the hell?!"
A rough phrase, seemingly carved with a blade, was written long down the pillar.
Paeng彭
Sin信
Hye慧
Mi味
O五★
Bun分★
Ji之★
Sam三☆
Jeok的☆
Seong星
"W-What in the world does this mean...?"
"Uwaaaaak!!"
The moment he saw the phrase, Eul Ji-sang let out a guttural scream and vomited blood.
"Thorn Dragon, quickly—we have to return to the Paeng Clan, to the Paeng Clan!"
"What? W-What do you mean?!"
"......That bastard, the Ice-Colored Demon, rates women with star marks!!"
"!!"