Chapter 319: Heonwon (14)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 319: Heonwon (14)
Sects with long histories almost always had powerful elder councils, and the Killing Gate was no exception.
Unless the sect's direct interests were at stake, the Lord's authority carried little weight.
—Since life is miserable for both of us, shouldn't we at least behave cheerfully?
The teaching of the Slaying Hero.
Those words had resonated deeply with the young Geum Seon-hwi. They had helped him endure the brutal training inflicted by his brother, Geum Jon-hwi, and his father, the Lord of the Killing Gate.
It was also for his mother, whom he was only allowed to see on the rarest of occasions.
Geum Seon-hwi's mother was of low birth, a commoner whom the elders of the Killing Gate refused to recognize.
Her background was humble and her martial skill nonexistent. She scraped by as a street vendor in the marketplace.
—We cannot let the bloodline of the Lord of the Killing Gate rot in the marketplace.
The elders of the Killing Gate had taken her son away.
From the moment Geum Seon-hwi took his first steps, she was permitted to see her child only once a month. Her sole joy in life was clapping and laughing as her son recited verses from the Classic of Poetry.
‘I must memorize all of the Four Books and Three Classics.’
The young Geum Seon-hwi had thought back then. Mother loves the cheerful antics of an educated child.
The boy used his cheerfulness to protect his mother.
Even on the day he found his mother collapsed amidst a crowd and frantically scooped her into his arms, he smiled through his tears.
His honed senses told him exactly what was happening to his mother. Perhaps because he was a born assassin, he accepted death for what it was, wanting only for her final moments to be peaceful.
He felt that the last face his mother saw shouldn't be a miserable, weeping mess.
It was a warm, sunny day.
—Live a worthy life. You were born noble.
His mother, who had held onto consciousness until Geum Seon-hwi arrived, spoke her last words.
He could not tell whether she meant his status was noble or if she simply cherished him that dearly.
He couldn't ask, either. She passed away the moment the words left her lips.
The investigation concluded it was an accident.
Some thug from the Black Way had kicked his mother's stall while demanding protection money, and a stray ornament had flown up and pierced her eye.
It was a hairpin that the young Geum Seon-hwi had personally ground and polished using the techniques of the Killing Gate.
"This would be it."
A span-long hairpin spun across the knuckles of Heonwon Chang's hand. Its copper-colored tip was unadorned.
At a glance, it looked more like a large needle a physician might use.
Whoosh—
Suddenly, a wind like a ghostly wail swept through the room.
It was practically a secret chamber. The bed, the chairs—everything was made of worn stone.
"An accident?"
Lazy Flame Dragon asked blankly, lying down with his feet propped up on a table. On one of the stone beds, Shin So-bin's slender body lay face down, as still as a corpse.
The surrounding air pulsed in sync with the girl's long, slow breaths.
"A common Black Way thug's kick carried a shockwave? Does that make any sense?"
"It was the work of an elder named Geum Yeon-sang. She arranged for it to happen on the very day I was visiting my mother. She wanted to see if the Lord's bastard son possessed the qualities of an assassin they'd spent so much to teach me. A ‘promising sprout’ would have remained cold and composed."
"What did you do?"
"First, I tracked down that Black Way bastard and gouged his eyes out with my fingers until he died. The squelching sensation wasn't particularly pleasant. Once I learned the truth, I realized my frustration came from not being able to torture the real culprit. So…"
Heonwon Chang, lightly gripping the hairpin, continued slowly.
The two men conversed calmly, without looking at each other.
"...I shoved my middle finger into Geum Yeon-sang's eye as well."
"Your middle finger?"
"It's an insult where you shape your hand like the character for 'mountain' (山). In the far southeast, they call it 'squid-flicking.' I hear they use a similar gesture in the Western Regions, so it has a long history. But you wouldn't know the ways of the street, being a high-and-mighty noble."
"And yet they say the Great Tongue Sword was also raised in nobility. In any case, an elder of the Killing Gate fell for a brat's finger-pointing?"
"It was after I'd consumed a few drops of diluted Stalactite Fluid. My cultivation wasn't sealed back then, so a single surprise attack was more than enough. Even at that age, my talent for a perfect first strike was well-known. Besides, that old crone never expected an obedient brat like me to suddenly snap. I just seized the opening."
"So the brat Geum Seon-hwi was stronger than the Great Tongue Sword Heonwon Chang."
"In a single-strike clash, perhaps. My body was left in ruins because it couldn't handle the sudden eruption of internal energy, but I definitely took one of that crazy crone's eyes. In exchange for three months of recovery, that is."
"Hmm? I seem to recall a one-eyed person among your elders."
"That is indeed her," Heonwon Chang replied.
Lazy Flame Dragon tilted his head. "Why is she still alive? Didn't she murder the mother of a direct descendant?"
"Our clan started as the gatekeepers of the Tomb of the Heavenly Demon. Common sense doesn't apply here. If anything, I was the one severely punished—for harming a noble figure within the sect. Along with Brother Jon-hwi."
"Geum Jon-hwi? Why your brother?"
"He was furious even before I struck Geum Yeon-sang. He even threw himself in front of me to block her counterattack. Because of that, both of us were sentenced to half a year of solitary confinement."
"What an absurd farce. What did your esteemed father do?"
"You don't need to speak of him so respectfully. My father is, first and foremost, the Lord of the Killing Gate. He abandoned my mother long ago—she was never recognized as part of the family. To him, Geum Seon-hwi and Geum Yeon-sang were valuable assets. The woman he'd shared a brief passion with was just an outsider."
"What an absolute bastard."
"I agree."
"Why do you even care about a sect like this?"
"...I never loved it. It's just that Brother Jon-hwi was incredibly good to me. And that man, my father, did show some affection to his son."
"No wonder you've looked like you were attending a funeral ever since you heard our mission was in Shanxi."
Lazy Flame Dragon wiggled his feet a few times and slowly shook his head.
"Oh, Great Tongue Sword, Great Tongue Sword. Now I see why all the cheerfulness vanished from your words and actions the moment you set foot in Shanxi. That was the one virtue you had to offer our young Unit Commander, however clumsy it was. What role do you have left in the Demonlight Wing now?"
His archaic tone carried a clear provocation. He continued in a lazy drawl.
"I've been watching that pretty boy, the Slaying Hero. It seems he wants to keep you here. At first, you reacted as if it were out of the question, but your attitude grew strange after we ran into the Moyong Clan's Net of Heaven and Earth. And that Slaying Hero, that pretty boy, remains consistently gentle."
"Nonsense. My presence would only disrupt the succession of the Killing Gate."
Heonwon Chang glared, but Lazy Flame Dragon paid him no mind.
"This young master once had two men he could call friends. If you mixed the one who played king with his sword and you, you'd get that pretty boy Geum Jon-hwi. He's got a heart far too big for his own good. There's no way a man who cares so much for his younger brother would let himself be bound by succession rights."
"..."
"I don't know how many memories you have tied to this wretched land."
The shadows beneath Lazy Flame Dragon's listless eyes deepened as he narrowed them.
"But you must know that our young Unit Commander relies on you quite a bit. It would be a shame if someone who is already useless in martial arts were to lose his wit and loyalty as well. Think carefully."
"Your worries are entirely unnecessary."
"Is that so? Personally, I find that Slaying Hero fellow far more threatening than those idiotic elders. Especially since the Hero of the Desolate Fortress, Heonwon Chang, is so soft-hearted. From what this young master has seen of the Jianghu, those hailed as ‘Great Heroes’ by the world usually get swept up in things and die a dog's death in some ditch…"
"You had better hope my seventy-percent seal takes its time unraveling. Otherwise, you won't find it so easy to run your mouth like that."
Lazy Flame Dragon didn't reply. He merely chuckled and clasped his hands behind his neck.
After staring at him for a moment, Heonwon Chang spoke quietly.
"How much of your strength have you recovered compared to your peak?"
"About thirty percent, I'd say. The Net of Heaven and Earth laid by those Moyong bastards was no joke," Lazy Flame Dragon replied with feigned indifference.
They had run into major trouble the moment they entered Taiyuan.
First, they'd spotted over a hundred martial artists roaming the city, their faces hidden behind human-skin and wooden masks. With the local Branch Head and the military nowhere to be found, these mysterious experts had ambushed Lazy Flame Dragon's group.
Lazy Flame Dragon had deduced their identities instantly.
Having treated the Orthodox Faction's Dragon-Phoenix Gathering as mere entertainment since he was a child, his knowledge was vast. He immediately recognized the Moyong Clan's signature, the ever-changing Illusion Sword. Despite their attempts to conceal their techniques, they couldn't fool the keen eyes of his Solar Divine Pulse.
But the enemy didn't seem to care. They pressed the attack, acting as if nothing mattered so long as their identities weren't publicly exposed.
They were elite swordsmen, rare even in the wider world. Naturally, the Demonlight Wing and the Killing Gate groups were forced to split up. The three members of the Demonlight Wing were isolated from the rest. It was clearly the enemy's plan.
However, Lazy Flame Dragon had single-handedly slain nearly twenty of them, keeping his group together.
In the process, he had clashed with Moyong Gi-hwang, the Great Ritual Sword, who was said to be the strongest in the Moyong Clan after the Clan Head.
It had been a brush with death.
He had nearly been killed when facing the sword move known as Meteors Filling the Sky.
The Great Ritual Sword was always counted among the top enforcers of the Eight Great Families, and the swordplay of the Moyong Clan, hailing from the extreme borderlands, was an art renowned for being as beautiful as it was lethal.
Had he not luckily countered it with the Flame River of the Vast Art Formula, his entire body would have been shattered to pieces.
"Fortunately, that arrogant old man suddenly got distracted by some messenger pigeon. Otherwise, I would have died young."
The terminally ill noble youth joked before turning his gaze toward Shin So-bin, who was fast asleep after pushing her internal energy to its absolute limit.
"How long do you think she'll sleep?"
"How could an amateur's eye be sharper than an expert's? Don't ask me things even the Hwangbo Poppy Addict doesn't know."
"Undo your seal before you talk back to me. We don't know when those Moyong bastards will find this place. No matter how well hidden the depths of the Killing Gate are… didn't it already get thoroughly exposed and trashed during the rebellion at the Tomb of the Heavenly Demon?"
"Actually, I must head out now. It is my final trial. Once I receive the elders' recognition, the mnemonics I've gathered so far will finally come together as a single key."
"Good luck," Lazy Flame Dragon muttered indifferently and closed his eyes.
Heonwon Chang rose slowly without a word.
After looking back and forth between Shin So-bin and Lazy Flame Dragon, he quietly turned and left the room.
* * *
The great city was shrouded in silence.
While the government offices remained quiet, the streets were overrun by sword-wielding superhumans. Few commoners could carry on with their livelihoods in such a bizarre atmosphere. They could only pray for the military and the swordsmen of the Desolate Fortress to make their move.
The city gates dividing the inside and outside of Taiyuan Prefecture were equally desolate.
There were few people coming and going. Only a handful of horses, carriages, merchants, and escort warriors trickled through.
From the top of the pavilion overlooking them, the streets appeared even more deserted.
"You look remarkably well. It seems the dogs of the Imperial Court treated you kindly."
The voice was incredibly soft, almost gentle.
"I am still curious. Since all the secret lines were cut, you must have forced the scroll open… Did you summon some rare, high-realm sorcerer?"
A one-eyed old woman wrapped in a black cloak spoke.
Bamboo Sword Geum Yeon-sang. She was an elder of the sect tasked with administering Heonwon Chang's final trial.
"Administer the trial," Heonwon Chang said, sensing the presence of the Killing Gate elders positioned all around them.
At this very moment, experts of the Killing Gate who had surpassed a certain realm were scattered about, hidden from the Moyong Clan. Due to the unfavorable circumstances, there had been talk of postponing the trial, but it had proceeded anyway at the strong insistence of the Slaying Hero, Geum Jon-hwi.
"Very well, then."
The wrinkles around Geum Yeon-sang's eyes curved into a soft, gentle arc. The Killing Gate elder, Bamboo Sword, was someone who rarely revealed her true thoughts.
Whether it was when the young Geum Seon-hwi demanded answers about his mother's death, or when she lost an eye to the boy, she had responded and struck back with absolute composure.
It was no different now.
"You only need to replicate my assassination exactly. Your movements must not differ by even a hair's breadth," she spoke in a tone that felt almost warm.
"Are you saying you will demonstrate?"
"Yes, wait. Since this is a unique event for our sect, even our Young Lord will not be able to argue about heroism or righteousness."
She was telling him to watch how she killed a victim and copy it. For a brief moment, Heonwon Chang's hand twitched near the Desolate Fortress Sword at his waist.
Is this old crone truly…
As if guessing his inner conflict, Geum Yeon-sang curled her lips into a smirk and remained still for a long while.
Was she trying to assert her authority as an elder of the Killing Gate?
She seemed to be searching for a suitable target. She spent the entire day standing perfectly still, as if employing the Turtle Breathing Technique, doing nothing but gaze down at the Taiyuan city gates until the moon waned and the sun slowly rose.
A long time passed.
Heonwon Chang stayed by her side, determined to see what she would do. He fully intended to ruin the trial the instant she targeted someone who wasn't a notorious member of the Heterodox Sects.
And so, two days later, as the sun rose and the scops owl that had arrived at sunset took flight…
"His bearing is quite remarkable. I shall choose him."
The old woman's wrinkled finger pointed into the distance.
It was one of the people just passing through the city gates. Among a group of three, one person was drawing attention on the deserted street.
A boy whose every stride was the exact same length.
The sunlight caught the strands of his pitch-black hair, which fell to his shoulder blades. Clad in a plain black robe, he exuded a strangely overwhelming aura. Yet, because he possessed no distinct energy, he merely looked like someone born of noble blood.
Flash!
In an instant, Geum Yeon-sang vanished.
"Just watch quietly."
Her voice lingered in the air like invisible smoke.
And Heonwon Chang did indeed stand there, watching quietly.