The Chase (7)
The Chase (7)
None of the many rumors about the Phoenix Blade Sect ever held up.
The rumor that the master was timid, that the sect's power was weak, that they hated stirring up trouble—each and every one of them was dead wrong once you saw it from the inside.
The Sect Leader of the Phoenix Blade Sect was not a large man. Yet his thin, long arms, pallid face, and utterly expressionless features—as if he had peeled someone's face inside out and stretched it over his own—created a bizarre pressure. He sat in the lotus position, resembling the taxidermied corpse of an eminent monk who had died mid-meditation.
On either side of him, his closest subordinates glared down at me with bulging eyes, like guardian statues. They were clearly aiming to intimidate, but mere second-rate martial artists flexing their muscles didn't make me tense in the slightest.
The Sect Leader spoke.
"You've come a long way. You must be tired. So — what business brings you to see me?"
Despite his emaciated frame and menacing appearance, his voice was a beautiful tenor. So mismatched with his face that I half-suspected someone else was speaking for him, and his tone was so gentle it was jarringly awkward. Was this some kind of psychological warfare, too?
I nodded and said,
"I just came to see your face, really. You're quite famous, aren't you?"
The Sect Leader's lips curled upward at my words. The awkward way they rose looked as though someone had hooked his mouth with a gaff and pulled. Was someone controlling him like a puppet? I cast my gaze around briefly, but saw nothing of the sort—the man was simply peculiar.
"Famous? Say I'm famous in Shaanxi — would I be more famous than the Sect Leader of the Crimson Ring Sect?"
"Being famous in Shaanxi is one thing. Would you be more famous than the Hao Sect Leader?"
Silence followed my words. There'd been no need to probe. The Hao Sect Leader must have realized who I'd come to see the moment I walked straight through the front gate. His closest subordinates exchanged glances, and I felt a presence stir at the door behind me.
Beyond that, there was one in the ceiling and two more outside.
"Enough. Trying to seal my mouth now would be pointless. As I thought — all this theater is utterly unnecessary."
His voice shifted. Just moments ago, he'd been speaking in the voice of an aristocratic young master. Now the rough voice of a man in his thirties burst out. His expressionless face remained the same, but his gaunt, pale body began to change.
Udeudeuk!
Ddu-duk!
A sound like snapping bones rang out as his body swelled like a balloon, his arms thickening. His elongated limbs flailed in the air like rubber before filling with muscle and snapping back into their proper shape; his frail frame puffed up hard and taut, straining his clothes as though packed with flesh.
The pale scarecrow was nowhere to be seen. In his place sat a man solidly forged by martial training.
"The Bone Shrinking Art. The Hao Sect Leader is said to be a master of disguise — but this goes beyond anything I imagined."
"You'll understand if I keep the human skin mask on. You don't seem to have come out of curiosity about my face."
"Now that we're talking, I'd prefer to speak one-on-one. What do you say?"
"Let's do that."
Once we faced each other properly, the Hao Sect Leader proved refreshingly decisive. At his command, the members of the Hao Sect all concealed themselves, and the hard-eyed men who'd been glaring behind him filed out with dubious expressions.
I genuinely admired how smoothly his people moved at the snap of his fingers. Showing sincere emotion helps put the other party at ease.
"I like a man who talks fast. As expected, a martial artist sitting at the core of the unorthodox factions has exceptional decisiveness."
The Hao Sect Leader didn't react much to the flattery. He was more interested in my movements than in my words.
"A man backed by the Zhuge Clan — I can't fathom why he's been traveling with Gwak Ryong of Mount Hua. You do know what the Zhuge Clan is up to right now, don't you?"
The human skin mask made his expression unreadable, but I needed to answer his question carefully.
"I have no connection whatsoever to Mount Hua."
I spread both palms as I said it. The Hao Sect Leader snorted at that. He tapped his temple a couple of times, then retorted:
"Of course you would. Actually, I'm not the Hao Sect Leader either, truth be told. I'm just a lunatic lost in the delusion that I'm the Hao Sect Leader."
I laughed at his joke. I couldn't tell what expression the Hao Sect Leader wore, but his cautiously rolling eyeballs were plainly visible.
"Well, that's not the real issue. The real issue is... the hand pursuing you is right at your doorstep now, isn't it? Mount Hua and the Zhuge Clan have you right under their noses, and all they can do is flail around."
"I appreciate your concern. But running away solves everything. I am the Hao Sect Leader. There's no one in the Central Plains who can track me through intelligence, and once I hide, no one can find me."
"But that way, you'd never complete your mission. The mission to find the Heavenly Demon's secret treasure, was it? What happens if you fail that?"
The Hao Sect Leader didn't answer. He just stared at me, rolling his eyes, nothing more. But that reaction alone told me enough. If the Hao Sect Leader failed this mission, nothing good would happen to him personally.
"Something bad happens, doesn't it?"
"What exactly are you trying to say?"
The Hao Sect Leader countered. I'd thought I'd rattled him somewhat, but with his expression hidden and no change in his voice, it was hard to tell what he was thinking. I spoke.
"That we ought to help each other out. The world's this chaotic — shouldn't people like us stick together?"
"Help?"
The Hao Sect Leader tilted his head. With no expression, he almost looked like a broken doll.
"I mean I'll help you with your work."
He latched sharply onto my casually offered proposition.
"Ahh. So you mean to stab the Zhuge Clan and Mount Hua in the back and profit from it."
"That depends on how you think about it."
"Your side would be delighted to know. Every last one of your movements is recorded with us. Easy to prove, difficult to refute. Isn't that so?"
A charming bit of blackmail. Just what I'd expected. A man confident he can flee — of course he'd seize on a cooperation offer as leverage and use it to threaten. I answered with a smile.
"How amusing. Go ahead and try. I'll even sign my name to it."
"There's no need for a signature. I can send as many men as I please with a snap of my fingers."
When he raised his hand, someone's presence indeed slipped out into the corridor and began sprinting away. Quick movements. The Hao Sect Leader tilted his shoulders and said, looking at me:
"Then shall we talk again? As in, just what you intend to help with and how. You'd best answer quickly. My subordinates are rather fleet-footed, you see. Tell me what you can do for me."
"Are you threatening me right now?"
A classic tactic. Send someone through the communication network, threaten that rumors will spread, force the opponent to lose rational judgment, and coerce concessions.
"Do you have time to be asking? Once word starts spreading through the network, it'll be hard to handle, won't it? I can just run — but can a man with a household do the same? Shall we weigh who has more to lose?"
He stared at me fixedly while hammering out his words. If I hadn't had something solid to rely on, I might well have been thrown into a panic.
But.
I had a stalwart ally.
"Since they're fleet-footed, the reply ought to be quick too."
Deol-keong!
No sooner had I finished speaking than the sound of something striking the door panel rang out. The Hao Sect Leader furrowed his brow, and I rapped the table and said:
"Looks like the reply's here. Why don't you check it?"
The Hao Sect Leader snorted at those words and flung the door wide open.
Degureureu.
A young man's head rolled into the room. His eyes were wide open, as if he hadn't even realized he'd died, and the cross-section of his neck was as clean as if it had been sliced with a ruler.
Sannyeo's handiwork.
I said,
"I told you I came to talk. So talk. Why are you making this tiresome?"
Sannyeo had declared she wouldn't lay a hand on the Hao Sect Leader himself, but dealing with the small fry running out — that was something she could do anytime. And besides, wasn't gathering the cooperation we needed for her revenge just as important as my own growth?
Cutting off a threat that would only drag the conversation out — that was something she could do without hesitation.
"...You didn't come alone, did you?"
Her flawless, unadorned skill seemed to have deeply impressed even the Hao Sect Leader. For the first time, a hint of agitation showed. Of course, Sannyeo had no intention of killing the Hao Sect Leader. Neither did I.
But to the Hao Sect Leader, it would look different.
Because the opponent who'd been testing his nerve just moments ago had now transformed into a man who couldn't afford to test it anymore.
The Hao Sect Leader was still a martial artist who had reached at least the first-rate realm. He could tell from the cross-section alone that his opponent was stronger than him.
A man who prioritizes survival above all else knows very well what he must do in a situation like this.
"...What do you want?"
"Haven't I already said it? I'll help you with your work. I want this to be mutually beneficial. You want to carry out the mission the Heavenly Demon gave you, and I want you to do a job for me once this is all over."
"...What is it?"
I spoke.
"To bring down the Beggars' Sect."