Chapter 42
Chapter 42
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 42
Chapter Title: Why Is That Here?
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"...How dare you..."
-Crunch
It had been truly ages since I'd felt this level of rage.
My head cooled to ice, and my vision sharpened coldly.
"How dare you use that child to mock me...?"
This had crossed the line—thoroughly so.
No group, no matter who they were, could be forgiven for such an act.
And for the Blood Cult—the ones I loathed most in this world—to commit it...
To exploit the greatest sin of my life in this way...
-Rumble
"You'd best not think you'll get an easy death."
"H-Hee, heeek...!"
Master. You always said that even villains should show kindness.
But I don't consider Blood Cult scum to be human.
The moment I raised my sword to swing it down...
-Flinch
"..."
A gaze pierced from beyond the empty wall.
I shifted direction and slashed toward it.
-Scatter
The wall cleaved cleanly apart, fragments raining to the floor.
And in that split second, I caught a glimpse.
Something fleeing out of the house.
"There you are!"
I knocked the impostor unconscious with a sword swing and gave chase outside.
'A Heavenly Rat?'
A black Heavenly Rat—one that should dwell in caves—was fleeing from me at an astonishing speed, as if desperate to escape.
'Now that I think about it, back in Anhui too...'
I'd seen one then.
It had been flying along the lakeside in broad daylight. I'd found it suspicious and hurled my sword at it, but assuming it was some unknown habit of theirs, I'd let it go.
Yet here it appeared again in this situation. It was too much to call a coincidence.
I didn't know the exact method, but it was surely connected to the Blood Cult.
-Tap tap!
I unleashed my lightness skill, bounding across rooftops as I pursued the Heavenly Rat.
Unnaturally swift for one of its kind, but it was still just a beast.
Wings or no, it couldn't outpace a human.
-Flap flap!
As if aware I was closing in, it beat its wings frantically. Once the distance had narrowed somewhat...
"Hup!"
-Fwing!
I swung my arm wide, channeling my will into the sword before hurling it forth.
The blade moved like a living thing, slicing through the air at blinding speed...
-Pierce!
"Kiiik!"
It speared straight through one of the Heavenly Rat's wings.
Deprived of flight, the creature spun wildly as it plummeted.
-Grab!
I snatched it from the air just before it hit the ground.
"Kiiik..."
"Now... what to do with this little beast..."
There had to be a reason it had been there.
It wouldn't exist in that spot without purpose.
'But what for?'
No signs of anything tied to its feet, like it was a messenger pigeon.
I frowned, racking my brain for its purpose, but nothing in my knowledge fit.
'Maybe this Heavenly Rat's a spirit beast that can understand human speech...'
Considering its freakish speed while fleeing, it wasn't impossible.
"Well... Anhui's near the Nangong family anyway. A word with them, and we'll figure it out quick."
"Piiik..."
As I gripped the now-limp, struggling creature and turned back to the impostor's house...
-Poof!
"...?!"
The Heavenly Rat dissolved into black mist and vanished in an instant.
I wasn't seeing things.
It had really dispersed.
"What in the..."
'Shifting Form Substitution?'
Was it truly a spirit beast?
No—even spirit beasts couldn't pull that off.
To vanish without me sensing it, and while clutched in my hand? That was beyond any spirit beast.
'Did a fox spirit bewitch me or something...?'
I even considered it might be a gumiho shapeshifted into an animal.
But if so, something should've appeared here—at least a bug.
Right now, it had genuinely 'scattered into mist' and was gone.
"Ha..."
Unable to make sense of it, I decided to use what clues I had and returned to the breached house.
"..."
-Crunch
The impostor I'd subdued earlier lay as a cold corpse, blood pooling from his body.
I'd only been gone a short while chasing the rat.
No signs of anyone else approaching.
'That's how you bastards always were...'
In the past, the Blood Cult had disposed of failed underlings in inexplicable ways.
You'd subdue them, take them alive for interrogation, and yet—no poison in their mouths—they'd drop dead in seconds, or worse, explode.
'At any rate, they're definitely in Anhui. I'll tear the place apart if I have to...'
As my fury toward the Blood Cult burned...
A fact hit me.
"...Where's the Faceless Golden Ghost?!"
I'd forgotten.
When we arrived at the house, I'd told him to wait outside. Then things got so mentally overwhelming that his presence slipped my mind.
I rushed back out, but of course, he was nowhere in sight.
-Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!
"No... no way..."
My heart pounded faster than ever.
An ominous thought surfaced.
The Blood Cult wouldn't leave alone the one who'd come with me.
"Gotta find him quick..."
I hurriedly searched for traces of him.
I prayed he'd grown tired of waiting and returned to the inn alone, but the marks on the ground shattered that hope.
"Ah..."
Distinct drag marks scarred the earth.
They'd faded quickly, suggesting they'd picked him up midway and carried him off.
In their haste, they hadn't erased them perfectly—but they were still hard to follow.
High realm or not, he was a pure sword cultivator.
No way he'd learned tracking skills.
'...Still, I have to find him.'
I knew what the Blood Cult did to captives. Not a moment to waste.
With the man who'd come to Anhui with me exposed as a fake Dan Yuseong, the real one was...
'...Blood Cult scum...'
-Grind
If even a single scratch marred him, I'd never forgive them.
Never.
"Ugh..."
My head throbbed.
I'd followed the man into the house, leaned against a wall for a bit of shut-eye, and then—bam—a heavy blow to the back of my head. After that, nothing.
"What the hell..."
I instinctively reached to rub the spot, but my arms wouldn't budge.
-Clank
"...What is this?"
Chains bound me tight to a pillar.
It didn't take long to piece it together.
Knocked out, come to on the floor, tied up?
Kidnapping. Textbook stuff.
'What the actual fu—'
What fresh hell was this?
Finally thought I'd had a day to cut loose yesterday, and bam—back to chaos not even twenty-four hours later.
What kind of cursed fate is this?
"Ah, you're awake."
As I lamented my luck, a woman's voice cut in.
Looking toward it, I saw a frail-looking woman. Pale skin, like she was sick or something.
"Answer my questions quietly, and there'll be no blood."
First time experiencing it myself, but I'd seen this scene plenty in movies and novels.
Usually, the hero spits back, "Like hell I'll answer!"—cue torture montage after the bad guy's "If you insist on blood, so be it."
"Sure. I'll answer everything. Ask away."
Why the hell would I resist?
"..."
She looked thrown off by my compliance, confusion flickering across her face.
"No resistance?"
"Hate pain."
"...Hmph. Fine. Whatever works."
She stepped forward and started questioning.
"What's your relation to the Sword Empress?"
Bam. Stumped right out the gate.
"Who's the Sword Empress?"
"...The woman you were with. You seriously don't know her?"
"Lived in the mountains my whole life..."
"Guess we'll have to torture it out of you..."
"No, for real, mountains! I'll tell you everything—no torture needed!"
Why fight or lie when I know it'll end badly? Pain sucks.
"...Fine, whatever. First, clear up our master's doubt. Where'd you get that Bloodstained Cloak?"
Hermit cloak, she meant.
"Heaven, Earth, and the Gods bestowed it."
"...Pardon?"
"I'm a bit of a diviner—handle heavenly records and such. Probably related. One day, it descended right into my hands from them."
Her expression grew more dubious with every word.
Heavenly gods or me buying it—same diff.
"You a Taoist?"
"Nah, diviner."
"Then unorthodox?"
"Nicely put: Following Heaven. Bluntly: Defying Heaven. Sorcerer handling sorcery."
"...No clue what you're on about."
She scowled coldly, scratching her head.
But I was telling the straight truth.
"Then let's start here. What do you know about the Hermit? Or Hermit? Our master called you that."
'...Huh?'
Hermit? Hermit?
Names from the shop window when I bought this cloak.
War hero or whatever.
'Why does that name pop up here? And wasn't Hermit English to begin with?'
Speechless at the curveball.
Looked like this world had secrets I didn't know.