Chapter 106
Chapter 106
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 106
Chapter Title: Jade-Masked Yin Witch
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“Who is that lady…?”
“I’ll explain later. Got an empty room by any chance?”
“Ah, yes. This way.”
Following Xiu’s guidance, I entered an empty room and carefully laid the female musician down on the unoccupied bed.
She had fallen asleep on the way to the branch, her eyes closed as she let out steady breaths.
As I watched over her condition for a moment, Branch Head Jo arrived right on time, bringing along an elderly physician.
At my mention that she seemed to have been drugged with some kind of knockout potion, the physician examined her body from all angles.
After inspecting her thoroughly for a while, he nodded and stood up.
“Hmm, fortunately, it doesn’t look like they used anything too potent. No need for any special antidote. She’ll probably wake up good as new after a solid sleep.”
I let out a small sigh of relief and nodded at the physician’s assessment.
No one who’d been targeted by the lust demon had ever fallen ill or died afterward, so I figured it’d be fine.
Still, having a physician confirm it put my mind even more at ease.
We quietly left the room where the female musician slept and gathered back in the office.
Lamps now lit the room in place of the daytime sun, and Hwa-ryun, seated at the head, looked at me and asked,
“Well then, shall we hear it? What exactly happened?”
“First, take a look at these.”
I unwrapped the cloth bundle at my side and showed them the items I’d taken from the lust demon’s hideout.
“What’s this? Wait, is that blood?”
“This… a talisman?”
Seol and Hwa-ryun tilted their heads, having no real guesses about the items I’d brought.
But my master and Branch Head Jo were different.
“This…!”
“Where on earth did you find these?”
It seemed the two of them had a good idea what they were.
I explained the items’ origins and their connection to the Jade-Masked Yin Witch.
“Heavens…! So you’re saying the Jade-Masked Yin Witch was a sorcerer?”
“To think a sorcerer of all people would stoop to being a lust demon…”
At that, both of them uttered the common word “sorcerer.”
The hot-tempered Seol asked my master,
“What’s a sorcerer?”
“…It refers to those who handle talismans, incantations, curses, sorcery, and the like. The Mosan Sect in Jiangsu Province is famous as a sect of such sorcerers.”
The Mosan Sect in Jiangsu…
So someone from there came all the way here to play lust demon?
At my question, Branch Head Jo shook his head.
“Not all sorcerers come from the Mosan Sect. In fact, they’re an extremely insular sect, so it’s rare for one of their sorcerers to venture out into the world.”
“Then the Jade-Masked Yin Witch…?”
“Learned it on her own after getting her hands on some manual, maybe…?”
“No, that’s not it.”
My master refuted Branch Head Jo’s words.
All eyes turned to my master at the oddly confident tone.
“Why are you so sure?”
“…Decades ago, during the war with the Demonic Cult, I had dealings with sorcerers from the Mosan Sect. I heard all sorts of stories about their illusion arts and such back then.”
When you compared it to the stories he’d heard from that sorcerer, my master argued, the Jade-Masked Yin Witch had clearly been properly trained by a real one.
“Of course, she probably didn’t learn it deeply. Sorcery places even greater emphasis on mental cultivation than martial arts do. Someone lustful and instinct-driven enough to become a lust demon couldn’t have reached a high level. She’s likely just using basic illusions.”
My master declared as much, then reviewed what I’d told him and analyzed it.
“You said she chanted some strange incantation and vanished like a phantom, right? It’s not some advanced technique like shrinking the ground. She probably just cloaked herself with an illusion.”
“Illusion to hide…? You mean she just cloaked herself and ran off, and that’s it?”
If so, that meant I’d just stood there watching the bastard stroll away?
A wave of futility hit me, and I clutched my forehead.
If only I’d pretended to go berserk and unleashed sword qi everywhere… No, I’d have died for sure.
That would’ve been pointless anyway.
Or was there some other way…? Nothing?
My head throbbed as my thoughts tangled into a mess.
Even amid that, I forced myself to listen to my master’s continuing explanation.
“But to pull off an illusion with just an incantation, no talisman… That means she at least mastered the basic cultivation methods properly. No self-taught amateur could do that.”
My master’s explanation didn’t end there.
Next came details about the items I’d brought.
“This is blood, as Seol said—specifically, horse blood. It’s used for drawing talismans. And this is…”
The explanations flowed on without end.
Before I knew it, I’d forgotten my headache and stared blankly at my master.
Wait, why does this guy know so damn much?
He’s explaining it all without a hitch.
I wasn’t the only one thinking that—soon, everyone else was giving my master strange looks too.
“And this one… Why are you all staring like that?”
My master, rattling off explanations smoothly, belatedly noticed the odd atmosphere in the room and looked around at us.
“…You sure know a lot, huh? Someone might think you’re a sorcerer yourself.”
“Ahem! I just picked up a few stories, that’s all.”
When I narrowed my eyes and asked, he finally realized, coughing awkwardly.
No way it was just “a few stories”?
Was that sorcerer he exchanged with a bigmouth or something?
I wanted to press him further, but he’d just snap and refuse to answer, as always.
Knowing that outcome as surely as the sun rises, I decided to change the subject for later.
“Anyway, these are all things sorcerers use, right?”
“Mm, yes.”
If my master was right, these were crucial proof that the Jade-Masked Yin Witch was a sorcerer.
Good thing I swept up everything without knowing what it was.
Of course, catching the lust demon himself would’ve been better.
My master’s oddly deep knowledge of sorcery brought back the worry I’d momentarily forgotten.
Damn it, that wretched illusion.
I had no idea how it worked, but the Jade-Masked Yin Witch’s illusion had rendered even my qi sense useless.
It was absurd, but here I was tangled up with yet another foe who could fool my senses.
With things like this, even I couldn’t help feeling a sense of crisis.
This was already the third time my qi sense had failed me.
If it’d happened three times, it could happen four, five…
And next time, it might be something far more dangerous.
Even now, if that lust demon came sneaking up in hiding, full of grudge, I had no way to detect it.
Realizing that far, I understood what I needed to do.
Simply expanding and sharpening my qi sense wouldn’t cut it anymore.
Something new.
A new technique to detect even enemies who deceived my senses.
*
The next morning.
I headed straight to the room where the female musician named Ye-ryeong had slept as soon as I heard she’d woken up.
She’d come to in an unfamiliar room after being kidnapped.
She was probably pretty shaken.
But contrary to my expectations, the female musician’s reaction was surprisingly calm.
“Thank you for saving me, benefactor.”
She even knew I was the one who’d rescued her?
“You remember everything from last night?”
At my question, she shook her head.
“…No. My mind was hazy, so my memories are fragmented.”
“Then how…?”
“The physical sensations stuck with me vividly, somehow. Especially the difference between that pervert’s shameless groping and your careful touch…”
Physical sensations…
So her sense of touch had been clear?
That meant if I hadn’t stopped the lust demon, Ye-ryeong would have felt every bit of the violation crystal clear through her body.
Was it too much to assume that was the bastard’s intent?
I grimaced at the repulsive thought that bubbled up unbidden, when a cold voice came from beside me.
“Oh? Touch, you say…?”
The air in the room suddenly felt chillier with that icy tone.
No need to guess who—it was Hwa-ryun.
Her face was colder than usual as she’d insisted on coming along, and her gaze on Ye-ryeong was downright menacing.
“Hwa-ryun.”
I could guess why, which nearly made me chuckle inwardly, but outwardly I cautioned her.
It wasn’t the right way to treat a victim who’d nearly been assaulted last night.
“…….”
Fortunately, she hadn’t lost her reason completely—she quickly composed herself.
Then, with a somewhat softer still blank-faced, though), she asked,
“May I ask how you were kidnapped?”
“…Yes.”
Ye-ryeong nodded, her face a touch stiffer than before, and explained what had happened last night.
“It was on my way home after finishing my performance at the Heavenly Flower Pavilion yesterday evening.”
Her usual route home.
Walking through the narrow alley that was her shortcut, as always, Ye-ryeong suddenly heard someone call from behind and turned around.
What she saw was the smile of a peerlessly handsome man she’d never laid eyes on before.
But instead of ecstasy or joy, all she felt was a sense of crisis and terror.
“I sensed what he was right away and ran for it.”
She fled until she could no longer sense the presence of the lust demon disguised as a peerless beauty.
But the moment she stopped, gasping for breath, she felt a presence behind her—and then something clamped over her mouth.
“After that, my consciousness faded, and I was dragged away without resisting.”
After hearing her out, Hwa-ryun and I exchanged glances.
The sudden appearance from behind—wasn’t it the illusion my master mentioned last night?
“Anything else stand out? Something strange, maybe?”
At Hwa-ryun’s follow-up, Ye-ryeong furrowed her brow in thought for a moment before her eyes widened.
“Come to think of it, there was one odd thing.”
“What?”
“While being dragged away, it felt like we passed through a busy main street full of people. But no one paid any attention to me being hauled off.”
Just like when she escaped me—he’d cloaked himself with an illusion.
It was starting to seem like this lust demon loved using illusions.