Chapter 48
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 48
Chapter Title: Fox Spirit (3)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
'Trust me one more time?'
I could hand over my entire fortune and pass on every martial art I knew if he just chased away the demon for me.
If he just chased away the demon.
But the words "a Taoist with deep cultivation" stuck in my mind.
"You're not from the Wudang Sect, by any chance?"
Puhehehe...
"How did you know? I am indeed from the Wudang Sect."
"This bastard..."
Wudang was one of the twin pillars of the jianghu alongside Shaolin.
I clenched my fist tight, then let it go.
What did it matter if it was Shaolin or Wudang?
If he chased away the demon, I could prostrate myself three thousand times not just to Buddha but to the monk sitting right in front of me.
"Ordinary Taoist arts won't cut it..."
"Just trust me once, benefactor. This Taoist has been interested in such matters since childhood and knows far more than I do."
He was vouching for him this strongly, so the Taoist must be exceptionally skilled.
I wasn't in a position to be picky about hot or cold rice right now.
"Call him."
"To send a messenger bird to Wudang Mountain, I'd have to go all the way to Yangyang."
"Go, then. Hurry."
Myeong-gak glanced at me cautiously.
"To go to Yangyang and back from here... even running with lightness skill, it'd take at least two days, and this monk has no travel money... not a single coin."
So that was what this guy really wanted—silver for travel expenses.
I pulled out my money pouch and offered him one nyang of silver.
One nyang could buy a whole seok of rice, more than enough for a round trip to Yangyang.
But Myeong-gak apparently thought differently.
"Huh? How am I supposed to go to Yangyang and back with just one nyang of silver? This monk refuses."
Thinking he had the upper hand, he was even getting cocky.
I really hated guys like this.
I was already seething from the demon's threats, my chest about to burst, and now this monk was threatening me too.
"Then get out of my house right now."
Puhehehehe...
"I was joking, benefactor."
Dodging the situation with his usual frivolous laugh, Myeong-gak snatched the silver from my hand.
I followed Myeong-gak as he rose and headed outside.
"May this monk's steps be of great aid to you, benefactor. Namu Amitabha, Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva."
Bowing with palms together, Myeong-gak turned and started walking away.
I watched his back, then shifted my gaze beyond him.
Something like a human shadow flickered amid the yellowed leaves.
Myeong-gak spotted the flickering shadow too and stopped in his tracks.
The shadow drew steadily closer to where we stood.
"Amitabha."
As dawn's blue light approached, lights flickered on in homes, smoke rising from chimneys.
The diligent ones were already out on the streets, starting their daily toil.
An old man with a sack at his waist, heading to the mountains to gather herbs, spotted a white figure fluttering in the dim twilight.
Gazing absently at it, the old man jolted in shock, eyes widening.
The white figure fluttering before him had vanished like dispersing smoke.
Rubbing his eyes, he peered into the gloom, but the white figure was nowhere to be seen.
'I must have seen a ghost.'
Judging it a ghost, the old man resumed his steps as his gut urged him.
"Could I ask you something?"
He gasped!
But a voice from right behind made him collapse on the spot.
The old man, now on the ground, barely turned his head back.
Ahh...
A sigh of admiration escaped him unwittingly.
A woman in flowing white silk garments smiled like a celestial fairy.
The old man doubted his eyes again.
In his sixty-odd years, he'd seen many beauties, but none as stunning as this.
She was so beautiful, she truly seemed a fairy descended from heaven.
Her thick yet fine eyebrows were like brush strokes, and beneath long lashes, her clear, shining eyes resembled a pristine mountain lake.
Her straight nose, small and luscious red lips, and slender face that seemed dusted with powder were enough to stir even a sixty-year-old's heart.
Moreover, her smile held a strange allure that captivated not just the eyes but the soul entirely.
The old man swallowed hard without realizing.
"Wh-what do you want?"
Her transparent eyes filled his vision, the black-and-white earrings on her ears swaying.
The black-and-white eyes veiled in translucence and the dangling earrings pierced his mind.
His dark pupils lost their light instantly, like a dead fish's eyes.
"Tell me everything you know about the Seok Family."
Entranced like in a dream, the old man spilled all he knew about the Seok Family.
"The head of the Seok Family is Seok Yang-ho..."
The woman listening turned her head suddenly.
Two men approached through the hazy darkness in the distance.
Both wore dark blue martial robes with swords at their waists.
"That's enough."
The woman placed her hand on the wrinkled old man's head.
Ugh...
A groan escaped him as his dazed eyes rolled back white.
The red flush drained from his cheeks, his face withering like a dried-up throat.
Thud.
His body slumped lifelessly to the ground.
The woman flicked out her red tongue to lick her red lips.
She turned and approached the oncoming jianghu men.
Spotting her, they halted in surprise.
Ahh...
It was as if a heavenly fairy from paradise had lost her way and descended to the mortal world.
They stared, entranced.
Her clear, transparent eyes filled their gazes, her black-and-white earrings swaying as if caught in the wind.
"Are you from the Seok Family?"
"...Yes. That's right. We're patrolling the village."
The Seok clansmen answered her question without a hint of doubt, as if their souls were stolen.
"What happened when the Zhao Family attacked?"
"Our Seok Family couldn't properly fend off the enemy assault... In the end, we retreated to the hunters' homes by the riverbank, and there we witnessed something astonishing..."
The clansmen recounted every detail without omission.
"Where are the hunters' homes?"
"Head straight that way, and you'll reach the river. The hunters' houses are on the hillside by the riverbank."
The clansmen pointed toward the flowing river.
"Good work."
The woman raised both hands to their heads.
Ughhh...
Their dark pupils rolled upward, bodies trembling like aspen leaves.
Thud! Thud!
Like the old man, they collapsed pale and lifeless.
Flashing a radiant smile, the woman walked in the direction they indicated.
Hohoho...
"Men are always so predictable. Did you hear? The true culprit isn't the Zhuge or Namgung Family—it's the hunters by the riverbank. I'll bring their heads. You go ahead and report this to the Red Moon Great Demon."
"Understood."
After she vanished, merchants with packs approached.
Spotting the sprawled clansmen, they rushed over in alarm.
"Hey! Hey!"
But no matter how they shook them, the cold bodies of the clansmen wouldn't open their eyes.
The sudden corpses hauled in on the merchants' backs threw the Seok Family into chaos from early morning.
Head Seok Yang-ho's first act was to strip the bodies and search for the cause of death.
Yet he found no direct cause anywhere.
Examining their excessively pale faces, drained of blood, he spoke in a grim tone.
"This might not be the work of man."
The clansmen inspecting the bodies with him nodded gravely, sharing his thoughts.
An old man's sudden death was plausible enough, but young clansmen dying simultaneously was impossible.
"Send out clansmen to search the village. Report anything suspicious."
"Understood."
The clansmen departed at his command.
Seok Yang-ho asked Gwang-u, who watched quietly from the side.
"What do you think, Brother Gwang-u? How did our clansmen die?"
Gwang-u had no real thoughts.
No, the head's words that it might not be human work filled him with subtle fear.
"I... agree with you, Head."
"As I thought. Could you assist with this matter, Brother? Whether it's a yokai or ghost, I must catch the culprit."
With the head insisting like this, Gwang-u—little more than a guest despite being a senior brother—couldn't just sit idle.
"I'll... go out and look for anything suspicious."
His senior brother would handle it somehow.
Gwang-u trusted only him.
Seok Yang-ho watched anxiously as Gwang-u left the compound.
It wasn't human work—that was just a heartfelt wish.
There was an old tale whispered in the world.
Under the Demonic Cult when the Great Heavenly Demon was its leader, there were not only experts but also monstrous figures.
Among them, a female expert so beautiful she ensnared the souls of young orthodox masters.
The young experts who encountered her all died like the clansmen, and only later was her demonic art revealed.
'Yin Absorption Demonic Art. Could that cursed technique have returned?'
It was the most beautiful woman he'd seen since leaving the mountains.
No, there was no woman in the world more beautiful than her.
Even Zhuge Zhi of the Zhuge Family and Namgung Hye of the Namgung Family were beauties, but beside this woman, they wouldn't even register as such.
Myeong-gak, too, seemed smitten, endlessly chanting sutras.
"Namu Amitabha... Namu Amitabha..."
The beautiful woman approaching us flashed a subtle smile, then turned toward the river.
Hmm...
Even that smile was so alluring, a groan escaped me unwittingly.
Mine and Myeong-gak's gazes followed her path.
"Namu Amitabha... Benefactor, the omens aren't good today. I should leave tomorrow."
I snapped out of staring at the mysterious woman's back.
"Can a Shaolin disciple chase skirts like that?"
Puhe...
Myeong-gak's frivolous smile turned gravely somber.
"I was joking, benefactor. I'll head out right away."
His clouded eyes cleared.
Shaking off lingering attachment, Myeong-gak quickened his steps and departed.
Only after the monk fully vanished from sight did I return inside.
Creak... creak...
Grinding spices with the iron mortar, my mind was filled with the woman's beautiful face.
'Thinking of a woman when I might lose my body to the demon any moment...'
Foolish.
A wry, self-mocking smile crossed my lips as I ground the spices, sensing someone crossing my front gate.
"Anyone home?"
A voice like jade beads rolling on a silver tray rang out.
"Who is it?"
I stopped and stepped out of the kitchen.
A beautiful woman in pure white silk smiled at me.
A smile enchanting enough to steal one's soul.
"The scenery here is so lovely; I'd like to rest a few days. Do you have a spare room?"
My already racing heart pounded uncontrollably.
My house had two empty rooms.
"I have... rooms, but..."
"May I stay?"
She approached with a radiant smile.
My eyes met her crystal-clear ones, her black-and-white earrings swaying on her ears.