034
034
The news about the Six Phoenixes Assembly was unexpected, but that was no reason to rescind what I'd demanded from Taoist Hyeongi. Taoist Hyeongi instructed Taoist Hyeonta to bring four swords, and I drove the four blades into the floor of the secret vault, deploying a formation.
"Have the man outside come in as well."
"Pardon? You mean to say... you will also demonstrate this for Hyeon-ta?"
"He carried four such fine swords here. It would be discourteous not to show him."
They weren't quite divine weapons, but these were superb swords that would last at least five years of practicing the Taiji Wisdom Sword without breaking.
Besides, he was dying of curiosity to see what was happening inside. If I refused, the resentment might drive him to the dark side.
"I also owe him an apology. Showing him the Taiji Wisdom Sword will correct my past mistake. And there is no harm in showing him. Isn't that right, Taoist Hyeonta?"
"...I greet the Grandmaster."
The man who had brought the swords, Taoist Hyeonta, cupped his fist in a martial salute toward me from the vault's entrance. The reason he did not kneel was that he still hadn't let go of his suspicions about me.
"Do your eyes still see me as a demon who uses Demonic Arts?"
"...No, they do not. The Taiji Wisdom Sword on the ceiling is proof. However, the fact that you once used Demonic Arts..."
"Yes. I used them."
I admitted it without hesitation. Taoist Hyeongi flinched in surprise and studied my reaction.
"Taiji fundamentally deals with the principle of yin and yang. Where there is light, there must be darkness. If the sun hangs in the sky, a shadow is cast on the ground. I once thought: is it really enough to practice only the martial arts of the Orthodox Faction? If one practices the orthodox martial arts of light, wouldn't true Taiji be reached when one also practices the Demonic Arts of darkness?"
A complete and utter load of crap. I infused my qi into the four swords.
As the four blades slowly rose into the air, the two Taoists gaped, staring blankly at the sword path of the Taiji Wisdom Sword.
"Taiji, Duality, Five Elements, Nine Palaces. I learned and mastered all manner of swordsmanship, but that alone could not lead me to authentic Taiji. So I took darkness into my body. And as a result...."
Saaa. The four swords began to dance with one another. The Taiji Wisdom Sword, which contained the essence of Wudang's entire array of sword arts, could execute Wudang sword techniques on its own without me consciously directing it.
'The Taiji Wisdom Sword blends all sword arts of Wudang into one.'
You could practically call it chaos, yet order existed within that chaos. I simultaneously unfolded the Taiji Sword and the Duality Sword to cut down an imaginary enemy, while using two other swords to form the Five Elements Sword Formation and deflect attacks.
Just as the Taiji Sword Empress once did, I stood still and flaunted the comprehensive culmination of Wudang Sect martial arts before them. The insight wasn't my own, but I displayed every essence the Taiji Sword Empress had accumulated while mastering the Taiji Wisdom Sword.
Clang!
The four swords clashed against each other and embedded themselves back into their original spots. Without shedding a single drop of sweat, I pointed at my sword before Taoist Hyeonta.
"Did you see?"
"Please forgive my rudeness until now, Grandmaster Mubung!"
Thud! Taoist Hyeonta prostrated himself and began pressing his forehead against the floor. It happened to be the exact spot where Taoist Hyeongi had once smashed his head, which made me chuckle slightly, and Taoist Hyeongi turned his head away in embarrassment.
"Fine. A man can make mistakes in life. You had sufficient reason to be suspicious. A grandmaster of Wudang practicing Demonic Arts."
"Gr-Grandmaster. Then should we also practice Demonic Arts...?"
"Huh? No, there's no need for that. It turned out to be unnecessary! Haha."
Their expressions twisted oddly.
"I thought that mastering Demonic Arts might lead me to Taiji, but what's impossible is simply impossible. Demonic Arts do not ride the flow of nature and could not be contained within Taiji. But the endeavor was effective. By realizing how difficult it is to mix the demonic with Taiji, I was instead able to hone my path to an even purer, more orthodox state."
"Ah...!"
"Water and oil do not mix. No matter what you add to filter muddy water, it just ends up not being pure water."
Was this a Martial Principle I had comprehended? No. Was it a Martial Principle comprehended by the Taiji Sword Empress? No. I was just spouting whatever nonsense I could think of to get out of the situation.
"Aah... As expected...!"
"The Grandmaster's teaching...!"
But thanks to these clever idiots who reached enlightenment on their own, my bullshit became truth and theory.
- A shift in perspective. Those old-fashioned stick-in-the-mud Orthodox types are inflexible in their thinking. They could improve their martial achievements day by day if they just shifted their mindset a little, but they dig deeper and deeper into their own path as if it's absolute truth. If you just give them a bit of advice, they all fall for it. Without ever imagining that advice would be the very thing that makes them mistake you for a spy.
The words of the Blood Cult Leader contained nothing false when it came to deceiving people. The Blood Cult Leader had moved her tongue to destroy them, but I wagged my tongue to use them.
"Good. Hyeongi and Hyeonta, listen carefully."
I pulled out the four swords.
"It is crucial that Wudang's martial arts do not mix the orthodox and the demonic, but Wudang is not the entire Central Plains. To embrace this whole wide world, you need the tolerance to accept even the demonic path. That is exactly what the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering is."
"I understand what you mean. Even though one distinguishes between orthodox and demonic when learning Wudang martial arts, that does not mean you should unconditionally reject those who practice Demonic Arts...."
"They are also members of the Central Plains.... You are instructing us that as the host of the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering's venue, the Wudang Sect must observe from the middle path without leaning toward either side."
"Indeed."
A person who bluffs gets flustered and says things like 'In-indeed.' But a seasoned con artist never lets their voice waver for a single moment.
"This concludes my teaching. I shall take my leave now."
"Grandmaster, just one more thing... Ahem, what do you think about presenting your disciple at this Dragon-Phoenix Gathering?"
"My disciple?"
"Yes. She will participate in the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering as if she were a disciple secretly raised by Hyeon-ta here. How does that sound?"
Formally presenting Sagong Hee before the eyes of the world?
'That's not a bad choice.'
Building up her alias and reputation is more important than suddenly popping up out of nowhere.
The appearance of a beautiful new young female expert could draw horny bastards sniffing around, but Sagong Hee was already so captivated by me she'd never even look at another man.
'I can't be dragging only Sagong Hee around with me forever.'
It wasn't that I was tired of Sagong Hee, but a person can't survive on vegetables and fruit alone every day. I needed some nice, tender meat.
'Shall I raise one more?'
If Sagong Hee gained a friendly rival, her skills would improve by leaps and bounds.
As it happens, the servant-girl candidates were supposedly gathering right here in Hubei Province, so this might be a good opportunity. And if something ever happened to me, I might have to leave Sagong Hee in Wudang's care.
"Fine. I will ask for her own opinion."
"Pardon?"
"Why are you shocked? If she says no, we won't do it."
"How could one disobey the command of the Grandmaster, who is like the sky—"
"Halt!! Would you die just because I told you to die?! How can a master force something upon a disciple, even if he is their teacher?!"
I snatched up the four swords. Then I turned and headed toward the hidden passage deeper inside the vault.
"I am disappointed, Hyeongi Man Sa-yong! I will not visit this place for a while, so know that!"
"Grandmaster! Grandmaster Mubung----!!"
I hid myself. Then, I dashed from the vault to my quarters in a single bound and shoved the four swords into the warehouse.
"Oh, my lord. You've returned?"
A pair of kitchen knives were floating in the air beside Sagong Hee.
She said she'd do self-study, but she was training so damn diligently. She was using the knives to peel peaches beautifully. The sweat dripping from her entire body in concentration had soaked her plain clothes damp.
"Gyeon-hui."
"Yes, my lord."
"Let's do it."
"What? But I haven't even washed yet—"
"Halt! When your master says do it, you do it without so much backtalk!"
A servant-girl's opinion is not required. I pushed Sagong Hee down onto the wooden bed and stripped off her robe.
"M-My lord! ...I smell because of the sweat—"
"Snnnf."
I buried my face in Sagong Hee's slick, glistening chest.
"That's why it's better."
Lick.
* * *
The Dragon-Phoenix Gathering, Wudang.
The information distributed by the Murim Alliance spread to every corner of the Central Plains. Though it was an event run by the Orthodox Faction, as participation was not restricted for the Unorthodox Faction or even the Demonic Cult, the news carried by merchants even reached Tianshan.
"Hubei...."
"What are you thinking, Princess?"
The black-haired woman addressed as Princess slowly lifted her eyelids. Her eyes flashed red. It wasn't the appearance of a Colored-Eye Person; her crimson pupils were practically proof that she had cultivated the Heavenly Demon Sacred Art.
The Little Princess of the Demonic Cult.
Bearing the alias of the princess residing in the western palace of Tianshan, the Little Princess fell into deep thought over the letter placed before her. Her aides could only watch each other's reactions in the face of their princess's worries.
"Why, of all places, does it have to be Hubei Province?"
"Indeed. The place where that man went missing had to be the same location... Ahem."
The old man who had spoken checked the others' glances and swallowed his breath. The Little Princess's eyebrows furrowed slightly, and the old man shut his eyes tight, regretting his slip of the tongue.
"Is there any unusual movement from 'that bastard's' side?"
"Little Princess, no matter what, using such a title for the Eldest Prince is..."
"He is a bastard, my own blood brother. What else am I supposed to call him? He started the fight first. He handed over the Heavenly Rejuvenation Pill I'd saved up to save the Sword Demon to some weird scumbag and lost it. Am I supposed to just sit still and take that?"
"...It has not yet been proven to be the Eldest Prince's doing."
"The circumstances say it all! It was that bastard's doing!"
The Little Princess flared her demonic energy as if about to shatter her teacup. At the menacing aura unique to the Heavenly Demon Sacred Art, the demons hurriedly bowed their heads.
"Proof, do we have the proof yet?!"
"No. We regret to say, but Hubei is the territory of Wudang. Taoist Hyeoncheol, who has stepped up as the acting Sect Leader of Wudang, is thoroughly rooting out all remnants of the Demonic Cult."
"Damn it. When the guy was colluding with our side to get himself appointed Sect Leader, he was all for it.... Now he's one step away from becoming the Sect Leader, he's screwing us over, huh? Dog-like old bastard."
Taoist Hyeoncheol had originally schemed to kill the current Sect Leader through ties with the Demonic Cult's puppets and take the position himself. But the Sect Leader did not die, and effectively handed over the role under the pretext of closed-door training.
"What happened with Taoist Hyeongi? Didn't he say he'd absolutely never hand the Sect Leader's seat to Taoist Hyeoncheol until the day he died?"
"It seems he had an... enlightenment in his martial arts."
"Damn, so he's going to ascend to immortality? That's why that bastard Hyeon-cheol is going nuts trying to erase all traces of having taken our hand."
Having received the Sect Leader's seat at an unexpectedly early time, Taoist Hyeoncheol was wiping out evidence that he'd tried to collude with the Demonic Cult, hunting down Demonic Cult remnants like lice.
It was utterly ridiculous that the man had once tried to collude with us, yet his abilities as a Sect Leader outshone even Taoist Hyeongi.
"...To find proof that the Sword Demon attacked the Wudang Sect under the Eldest Prince's instigation, there really is only one person left to ask, isn't there?"
"Yes. The one who was attacked, Taoist Hyeongi, is the only one we can ask."
"I'm going crazy."
We were surrounded on all sides.
Of course, the Sword Demon defying the Little Princess's orders, escaping the infirmary, and attacking Wudang Mountain was the Sword Demon's own fault. But the true culprit was the one who provoked him—who roused the Sword Demon, a man who would keel over and die at the Little Princess's command, to rise from a body afflicted by smallpox and go on a rampage.
Someone who could whisper into the Sword Demon's ear about past grudges entangled with the Wudang Sect Leader.
Someone who couldn't let a man infected with a plague die quietly in his room, and instead made him rampage to spread that plague.
Someone who, in the end, forced the Wudang sect to seal itself for a month and received great praise from the Heavenly Demon. There was only one man.
"There is no one but that bastard, the Eldest Prince. So we have to find the proof."
Thunk.
A dagger pierced into the letter. As malevolent black demonic energy seethed around the blade, the demons pressed their heads even lower.
"I will go myself."
"What?! My princess, it's too dangerous!"
"It could become a gathering place for the Sect Leaders of the Nine Sects and One Gang, and the Family Heads of the Eight Great Families. If word spreads that the Little Princess of the Demonic Cult is making a move there, those people will certainly...!"
"Hmph, they're all people we'll have to deal with eventually anyway. No harm in seeing their faces ahead of time. And it's the perfect chance, isn't it? I can enter openly, but that bastard no longer has any justification to set foot in Hubei Province."
"...The Eldest Prince is thirty years of age this year."
"Heh heh, compared to him, I've just become an adult. Good. I'll go show Father my ambition. I'm off to get his permission!"
The Little Princess rose confidently from her seat and shouted.
"At the Six Phoenixes Assembly, I will become the supreme one among the Six Phoenixes and claim the title of Demon Phoenix! And I'll meet the Wudang Sect Leader and secure that proof. The proof that will expose the identity of the madman who tried to spread a plague...!!"
Crunch.
Her dagger stabbed into a straw doll carved with the words 'Eldest Prince.'