067
067
There was a simple reason I turned my back on an enemy standing right in front of me.
"You finished?"
The Little Princess had unlatched the door and climbed up from below. The moment the Tang Clan Head joined the fray and the situation threatened to get genuinely tiresome, she came looking for me. I slipped under the iron door with just the right touch of theater.
"The password? What did I say I wanted to do with you, Little Princess?"
"Shut up."
"It really is her."
I went inside with her and barred the door again. The vault was still dim, barely navigable, lit by a single small candle.
"I can't see well."
"Don't pretend that's an excuse to grope my backside."
"Then may I openly grope it as we walk?"
"...Haah. Do whatever you want."
Both the Little Princess and I had ways to see clearly even in total darkness, of course. I played dumb, kneading her rear with one hand as she guided me onward.
"I understand what you spoke of."
"Your conclusion?"
"Flame Demon learned of Bandit Demon's arrangement. The Eldest Prince used it to stir up chaos."
"Correct."
A few links still hung loose in the chain, but she had grasped the core thread accurately. We only needed to ruin the outcome, so there was no need to confirm every intermediate detail along the way.
"Then you also know what sort of chaos the Eldest Prince and Flame Demon are plotting."
"The three factions fighting each other over Emperor Shaolie's swords."
"Correct. If the situation escalates into something even the Alliance's envoy cannot mediate, the whole Sichuan region will erupt."
"A problem even the Murim Alliance's strategist cannot mediate... it's highly likely someone will die."
I answered by squeezing her backside. The Little Princess, who had led me deeper into the vault in the meantime, pointed at the evidence she had discovered.
"Would you take a look at this?"
"No need. I already know what it is."
Changcheonhwadu. The formula for the disease that had tipped me off—the smallpox spreading through Hubei Province was the work of the Demonic Cult and the Eldest Prince—was preserved here as a bound manual. I pulled the book out, and a mechanism clicked open beside me at the same time.
"The Sichuan Tang Clan is famous for researching all manner of poisons. Under the name of the Orthodox Faction, they frequently conduct forbidden research in secret. Creating artificial plagues by studying infectious diseases is no different."
"Research conducted in secret within the clan would naturally remain hidden. Truly... utterly vile."
"Most are extreme poisons, so vile is exactly right. This is also why I went to Hubei."
A lie.
"No matter how I looked at it, that smallpox outbreak was not natural. So when I investigated, what did I find but this very disease spreading? That's when I learned the truth. That the Sword Demon had faced the Sect Leader in a life-and-death duel while already infected. And that in the aftermath, smallpox had scattered in all directions."
"......This makes no sense. If you trace the cause back—"
"The Sword Demon was infected with Changcheonhwadu, created by the Sichuan Tang Clan. Is that what you want to say?"
A nod. Murderous intent glinted in the Little Princess's eyes. I pulled my hand from her backside, wrapped my arm around her shoulders, and patted her back.
"Be as angry as you like. But think carefully about who the true culprit is—the one you should direct that fury at. Who unleashed Changcheonhwadu on the Sword Demon?"
"......I have no way of knowing. The Sword Demon simply showed up at the Heavenly Mountain one day, already sick, begging to be saved."
Three suspects.
The Sichuan Tang Clan, who created Changcheonhwadu. Bandit Demon, who set up the arrangement here. And Flame Demon, who seems to have no direct connection yet has a foot in every step of this affair.
If the Tang Clan was the culprit, we simply sweep them away to settle the grudge. If it was Bandit Demon, we execute the traitor. And if it was Flame Demon, then we kill Flame Demon and smash every last one of the Eldest Prince's schemes.
"Little Princess, you already know who the culprit is, don't you?"
"Flame Demon learned of Bandit Demon's arrangement. Bandit Demon's arrangement is discovered by picking up the Changcheonhwadu manual. Flame Demon exploited Bandit Demon's arrangement."
The Little Princess bit her lip, her crimson eyes blazing.
"...Then Flame Demon has also seen Changcheonhwadu at least once."
"That's right. Correct."
The culprit was Flame Demon. The motive was remarkably simple.
"The Sword Demon was the only one who sparred with you. If that person died, you would have no practice partner, and your daily martial progress would stall."
"These sons of bitches...!"
The Little Princess's pure fury was aimed at the Eldest Prince and the Earth Qilin Three Demons. But she was still weaker than the Eldest Prince. No matter how great her talent, time could not be reversed.
"I will help you, Little Princess. Let's deal with Flame Demon first."
"Let's go. Right now. To kill Flame Demon."
The Little Princess pushed her Heavenly Demon Divine Art to its absolute peak. She was practically chomping at the bit to tear this place down, ready to slam her fist into the Tang Clan's vault.
"Sky-Soaring Lust Demon, you told me to find the faction where Flame Demon is hiding before the operation date. Is Flame Demon... the Tang Clan?"
"Calm yourself, Little Princess. Nothing is certain yet."
"You know everything, don't you!"
"I don't know everything. I only know what I know. Even if I know ten thousand martial arts, I don't know the fifty-thousand-and-first. So let's find it out together, starting now. Exactly who Flame Demon is."
I pointed at the treasure maps containing Bandit Demon's arrangement. The Little Princess didn't seem to have noticed them, so I pressed my hand against the ceiling of the compartment where the maps were stored.
"As expected, it's gone. Have you examined this spot?"
"Why there...?"
"Touch it for yourself."
I laid my hand over the back of hers and guided her fingers across the spot I had pressed. The Little Princess flinched, turning her gaze toward me.
"Traces of something that was attached...?"
"A very “Heaven and Earth, I Alone Am the Poison Dragon” way of thinking. By his standards, the treasure maps piled up below are first-rate. But what he considered truly unique—he hid it here, out of sight."
So that only someone with the composure to examine the space a second time with a cool head, rather than being dazzled by the treasure maps below, could discover it.
"Let's go, Little Princess. Our inspection here is finished. Only one thing remains."
I pointed deeper into the vault. The barred door we had entered through began to shake and rattle.
"The Tang Clan bastards already...!"
"Flame Demon is not here. So let's go confirm it now. The Emei Sect, the Qingcheng Sect, or yet another faction. Exactly which person there uses the Zhongli Divine Fire Well—the martial art Flame Demon calls the Hellfire Great Law."
"...You. Don't tell me."
I took the Little Princess's hand and winked.
"I'll expose Flame Demon's true identity. You kill Flame Demon. I'm on your side, so I'll do exactly as you wish."
"...Pfft. And you plan to snatch Emperor Shaolie's swords along the way, don't you?"
"Of course. If neither Emei nor Qingcheng has such a person..."
The Little Princess and I looked at each other, the corners of our mouths curling up.
"Wouldn't Flame Demon, with his plan falling apart, come to ambush the sword's owner to steal Emperor Shaolie's swords?"
* * *
An hour later.
Dok-gwi Dang Sa-rim, having regained his strength after losing consciousness, spoke privately with the Clan Head, Dang O-dok. They had sent all the warriors outside the Fire Bone Mountain Rain Formation and now sat before the vault entrance, a table of liquor between them, emptying their cups.
"It's certain that Lee Jeong obtained Emperor Shaolie's martial arts."
"......The circumstances say so. With Lee Jeong's skill, coming and going through the Fire Bone Mountain Rain Formation would be easy."
The Poison Dragon, Dang I-jeong. A branch family member erased from the family register—no, the greatest rising star the Tang Clan ever produced, surpassing the Clan Head in the Five Stars rank at the very least. Even at a young age, he would certainly have possessed the ability to break through the Fire Bone Mountain Rain Formation on his own.
"Then are you saying that Jeong hid a treasure map in the Tang Clan's vault? Why?"
"......"
The two men swallowed their breaths in somber silence. Blood was thicker than water, and they could not bring themselves to speak of the heart of a youth who, though he had left the Tang Clan, had never turned his back on the family.
"Brother. Lee Jeong... restoring him to the family register...?"
"That cannot be. That boy... has already become a demon. If he meant to disgrace the family, he would have openly announced that a member of the Tang Clan had joined the Demonic Cult."
"Then..."
"He hid it himself. Have you ever heard a single rumor that Bandit Demon uses Tang Clan martial arts? That child erased himself completely. If we go against his wishes, we trample on his heart."
The two brothers raised their cups.
"To the Sichuan Tang Clan. Cheers."
"Though our paths differ... to that child who will follow in Emperor Shaolie's footsteps and become a Sword Demon. Cheers."
On the round table sat a single orphaned cup with no owner, and the two emptied their cups in one gulp.
"When Lee Jeong... no, when Bandit Demon emerges, how should we receive him?"
"If he has found what he sought, he will surely come out. We need only confirm it, just as he did."
Was he here as Dang I-jeong, to resolve the matter of Emperor Shaolie's martial arts—or as Bandit Demon, to steal the Sichuan Tang Clan's martial arts? If the former, they would send him off as one who shared their blood. If the latter, they would send him off spilling blood.
"...He's rather late, though."
"Indeed. At this rate, it's as if—"
"Father!"
"...! Geon-myeon, have you lost your mind?!"
At the voice from above the iron door, Dang O-dok scrambled to his feet and yanked the door open.
"We may have stopped the formation, but the traces of Fire Bone Mountain are everywhere! Unless you've gone mad, how could you—huh?"
Dang Geon-myeon stood before the iron door, his body perfectly unblemished. Even with the formation halted, the scattered poison residue blanketing the ground should have made it impossible to reach the center of the formation unharmed. It was not easily understood.
"How did you...?"
"Father, forgive me! But I must speak!"
"Silence! I ordered that no one was to enter the formation—"
"Clan Head. Let us hear him out."
Dang Sa-rim shook his head, his expression forlorn.
"Very well. Geon-myeon, what matter made you stake your life to come here?"
"I-I will accept my punishment later. But there is something I absolutely must tell you..."
Dang Geon-myeon grimaced and barely managed to open his mouth.
"There is a secret passage inside the vault that leads outside!"
"......What? That's impossible! How could there be something even I, the Clan Head, don't know—"
"Th-that's because...!"
Dang Geon-myeon shouted, his face on the verge of tears.
"...It's a tunnel that Brother Lee Jeong dug...!"
* * *
"Hoo-ah! We're alive."
I crawled out of the long earthen tunnel and stretched. The tunnel extended beyond the Chengdu city wall. I took the hand of the Little Princess behind me and pulled her out.
"Cough. ...I never imagined the Tang Clan would have a vault like this."
"Any place with an entrance has an exit. Especially a clan like the Tang Clan, with so many enemies—they always prepare escape routes."
In fact, on the day the Blood Jiangshi attacked the Sichuan Tang Clan, the family's key members had used this very secret passage to slip out of Chengdu and escape.
"And an exit can also serve as an entrance. Look at this, Little Princess."
I pointed at a stone monument near where we had emerged. The Little Princess saw the finely carved marker, covered her mouth with her hand, and began to stifle laughter.
"Heaven and Earth, I Alone Am the Poison Dragon! Died here. The next time I meet Bandit Demon, I'll have to bring him to this very spot."
"P-please stop. At this rate, Bandit Demon will die of sheer demonic rage—ahaha!"
Ultimately, the Little Princess couldn't hold back her laughter. Where else could you find something as ridiculous as watching someone else's stormy, turbulent adolescence unfold?
"Phew, really... Bandit Demon still makes me laugh, even after leaving my side."
"You can hide your identity, but you can't hide your true nature. But Little Princess, there's something we need to do first."
Whoosh. I conjured the Samadhi True Fire. Having just discussed Flame Demon, the sudden flame made the Little Princess flinch and tense up.
"With the residue of the Fire Bone Mountain poison lingering on our clothes, returning as we are would invite suspicion. So we have to burn all our clothes."
"......Excuse me?"
Whoosh. I stripped off my clothes in one motion and burned them with the Samadhi True Fire. Outer robe, pants—all of it.
Swinging free.
"Hik?!"
The Little Princess covered her face with both hands—but her crimson eyes flashed between her fingers. It was obvious where they were aimed.
"Strip, Little Princess. Didn't you already see us both naked just a little while ago?"
"W-wait just a moment! Unless we ambush someone along the way to get clothes, we'll have to go back completely naked, won't we!"
"That's right. But is there really a need to ambush anyone? It's only a fifteen-minute sprint to the inn."
I pointed past the city wall. No need to attack anyone—just climb the wall, and our inn was right there.
"D-don't tell me you chose the inn on purpose?!"
"How could that be? Do I look like such a calculating man to you?"
Whoosh! I burned all of the Little Princess's clothes with the Samadhi True Fire. Left without a single thread on her body, she glared at me with tears welling up, her crimson eyes blazing.
"D-do I have to kill you before I kill Flame Demon...!"
I turned my back toward the Little Princess.
"Climb on. Trust me. Would I really let anyone else see your lovely body? A woman who might become the mother of my child? Hahaha!"
I wagged my index finger left and right toward the Little Princess. Something else wagged along with it.
"Only I get to see! Bwahahaha!"
"Y-you... lust demon! To dare humiliate the Demonic Cult's Little Princess like this!"
"What can you do? The sun's about to rise."
"You...!"
She had no choice. The Little Princess approached me, her hands trembling.
"If you tell anyone else, I'll kill you!"
"Don't worry. Such a—"
The Little Princess stood in front of me, covering her chest and her womanhood.
"Instead of riding on my back, why...?"
"...Because we'd be touching!"
The Little Princess's lips quivered as she spoke in a voice so small an ant might have crawled past.
"...I-if you carry me facing forward, at least it'll be a little less..."
"Let us depart, Princess."
I scooped the Little Princess into my arms in one motion. She didn't even wrap her arms around my neck, focused entirely on covering her vital areas with her hands. For her sake, I detonated the last of my internal qi.
"To the sky! Void Step! Savor the dawn sky to your heart's content!"
"Eh? Kyaaaaah!"
And thus—the Sky-Soaring Lust Demon.