The Chase (9)
The Chase (9)
"Do you know something about it?"
The Hao Sect Leader pounced on the opening. An unexpected topic had blindsided me, and my expression crumbled before I could help it. I couldn't let on that I knew anything here. A Heavenly Demon whose martial prowess I couldn't even begin to gauge was searching for the sex demon's secret manual for some unknown reason—and someone had already gobbled it all up?
"I know what I know."
If this got out, would I survive? I had to hide it for now. I still knew far too little to reveal anything. My face had been caught, but bewilderment was an emotion you could show in any situation. I let it openly display itself as I spoke.
"Is there anyone who doesn't know the name of the Sex Demon Cheonpung? Wasn't he just a lecher who went around messing with women some forty years ago, got caught, and was killed? Could a man like that possibly have left behind a secret manual? Even if he did, could it really matter to someone as lofty as the Heavenly Demon?"
The Hao Sect Leader responded with indifference. He'd briefly gotten his hopes up, but a predictable answer came back, and he seemed deflated.
"If the person in question considers it important, then it must be important. Someone from the Demonic Cult appeared and ordered us to find it—what choice did I have? If I'd asked why it was so important, I wouldn't even be here right now. In any case, what matters is that the Heavenly Demon wants it, and that secret manual is somewhere in Shaanxi, near Mount Hua."
Even if the martial art I'd learned wasn't the same one, the location matched too perfectly. But I couldn't just let it slide. I tried voicing a negative opinion again.
"I heard the Sex Demon Cheonpung was executed by the Murim Alliance in Hubei. His main base was Hubei, so hiding his manual in Shaanxi makes no sense. He wouldn't have had the leisure, either."
"He did."
The Hao Sect Leader stated it with certainty. For the first time in a while, his stoic, skin-like mask seemed to strain against the true feelings beneath.
"The Sex Demon Cheonpung was originally a young man training at Shaolin, but during his training he fell into the pleasures of lust, broke his precepts, and fled Mount Song. Fearing the consequences of his secret escape, however, he left Henan and fled to Shaanxi."
"He needn't have run that far; there wouldn't have been a kill order. He was a cowardly one."
In a large sect, one or two disciples running away was nothing unusual. The Central Plains were so vast that searching for them was a hassle, and those who fled without the will to persevere usually ended up scraping by as third-rate fighters before dying, so sects didn't bother looking unless the runaways had caused an incident or slandered the sect.
"That may be the case now, but at the time there was a pervasive belief that the martial world had to unite to save the common people mired in suffering. Even those who fled their sects were regarded with hostility as traitors. Fleeing to Shaanxi may well have been the right call."
"So, what did Cheonpung do in Shaanxi? If we know what he did and where, wouldn't finding the manual be easy?"
I had gotten my hopes up at the mention of a secret manual, but seeing the timing of his arrival in Shaanxi, that hope deflated. If his martial arts were only good enough to flee from his sect, he was, at best, second-rate—more likely third-rate. How amazing could a manual written by such a bastard possibly be?
I'd wondered if it needed some kind of decryption method I didn't know about to reveal a hidden manual, but his level was too low to have employed something like that.
"It's impossible to know. All we can ascertain is that he stayed near Mount Hua in Shaanxi; his whereabouts after that are unclear. However, while investigating this, I did come across some interesting information."
"What is it?"
"The current leader of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, Im Ha-ryeong, was training at Wudang Sect at the time. There was a period when Wudang exchanged disciples with Mount Hua Sect for the sake of cooperation and unity in the martial world, living and training together for several months. This period roughly coincides with the time the Sex Demon Cheonpung fled to Mount Hua. Perhaps it was then that Cheonpung and the Heavenly Demon formed a bond."
The Heavenly Demon was a Central Plains person? And one who trained in Hubei, no less?
But this seemed like common knowledge in these circles. The Hao Sect Leader didn't have the air of someone divulging a secret, either. Maybe I'd heard it before and just let it pass. I strained to keep my face composed and sorted through what the man had said.
Mount Hua was vast, but a few months was plenty of time to become well-acquainted. Moreover, Im Ha-ryeong's location was also Hubei. The place where Cheonpung later operated as his main base was Hubei as well. There had clearly been a bond between the two.
But Im Ha-ryeong?
Im?
Im, as in the Im clan?
There was definitely someone I knew—a person of the Im clan from Hubei.
I looked at the Hao Sect Leader and asked.
"Do you know of Im Seo-ryeon of the Hengshan Sect?"
The Hao Sect Leader seemed to grasp what I was asking from that question alone. He nodded and answered.
"I've had some contact with Im Seo-ryeon of the Hengshan Sect, but she apparently never mentioned anything about that. You're right. Im Seo-ryeon is the granddaughter of Im Ha-ryeong. She originally wanted to enter Wudang Sect, but couldn't because Im Ha-ryeong defected from Wudang and rose all the way to become the leader of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult. Not that the family should be held accountable, but from Wudang Sect's perspective, wouldn't accepting her be a bit awkward?"
"A truly fearsome talent. Wudang Sect must be kicking themselves for letting such talent slip away."
The Hao Sect Leader agreed with my words.
"Beyond regret—they must be utterly dumbfounded. Wudang Sect never gave Im Ha-ryeong any cause to defect. She literally, for no reason at all, suddenly bolted from Wudang and crossed the Tianshan mountain range. Then she rallied and commanded the unorthodox sects seething in that region and ascended to the throne of the unorthodox faction's king."
In my mind rose an image of Im Ha-ryeong ascending a jade throne coated in blood, amidst mountains of corpses. That was forty years ago, so she would be a thoroughly withered old woman by now. But the Hao Sect Leader's phrase "for no reason at all" nagged at me far too much.
She bolted for no reason at all? Her actions seemed to have such clear purpose, yet her motivation was nothing? No. Rallying the unorthodox sects, enduring bone-grinding pain to train in martial arts—these were not things a human could do unless they were burning their life away toward some goal.
Im Ha-ryeong had a goal.
And that goal had been swinging slowly before us from the very beginning, like a pendulum.
It was simply too close for us to see it properly.
Let me think.
The Sex Demon Cheonpung had been hanged in the marketplace in that very Hubei Province. They said he died a wretched death, wailing for three days.
"Truly, for no reason at all? The Sex Demon Cheonpung was hanged in the marketplace and horrifically executed—wasn't the location Hubei as well? Could it really have had no impact on Im Ha-ryeong, who trained in Hubei and had a bond with Cheonpung?"
The Hao Sect Leader nodded.
"I think the same. The reason the Heavenly Demon wants Cheonpung's manual isn't because the manual holds any martial value. Nor is it for a single line of writing brimming with dazzling genius. It has value because Cheonpung wrote it."
"...Were the charges against Cheonpung truly solid?"
The Hao Sect Leader said this.
"The current Murim Alliance Leader said so. How could I possibly have the means to probe further?"
And then he stroked his chin and continued.
"Anyway, it's such an old object that I wonder if it hasn't already been damaged. Who knows? It might have already fallen into the hands of some clueless merchant and be selling as cheap erotic fiction."
And in that moment.
I recalled the moment just before I left that cave.
*******
"Ah, fuuuck.... That was fun."
The old book fluttered in the air. The air was clear, and my body was brimming with energy. My practice of the Dark Moon Step was perfect; I no longer needed to look at the book. The contents of the secret manual were all in my head, and the stances were so perfect that I myself could be called the textbook.
And in my hand, the now utterly useless paper book flapped about.
No matter how I thought about it, keeping it or leaving it here were both bad ideas.
If I carried it around and someone saw that first sentence, I could get unjustly beaten to a pulp.
But leaving it here meant someone might find this book later, and things could get tangled up.
It was truly a [chicken rib] situation.
I chose the most rational method. I snapped off a branch, rubbed it like mad to generate heat, then brought the ember to the book and shouted.
"Let us never meet again!"
The book emitted pretty flames and burned up in the air.
The embers crumbling to ash, flickering before my eyes, felt like celebratory fireworks blessing my future.
********
"....Shit."
So in other words, I had burned the only memento.
A keepsake from someone the Heavenly Demon still couldn't forget?
Fucked.
If the Heavenly Demon caught me for this, my limbs wouldn't stay attached to my body.
All the famous torture masters of the unorthodox sects would gather around and run experiments to see just how long they could keep me alive.
"...So, is there a way?"
There was exactly one way out of this.
"...There is one."
Pin it on some other bastard.