The Chase (11)
The Chase (11)
The Zhongnan Sect was a thing of the past. Now it was the era of the Mount Hua Sect.
A rumor that chilled the hearts of the Zhongnan Sect was circulating in Shaanxi. They had utterly lost face over the incident involving Venerable Geumbok, leaving them no way to refute it.
"The Zhongnan Sect. Isn't that where their direct disciple was conned by a merchant's silver tongue, coughed up blood, and died? Ha ha ha!"
"Still, dying over an empty lunchbox... Come on, imagine getting an empty lunchbox from your own father. You'd be so shocked you'd lose your mind. Ha ha ha!"
"Anyway, wasn't that Zhongnan Sect's Jong Yuseop the bastard who served that merchant like his own father? What kind of father was his real one to just stand by while he ended up like that? As expected, the king of Shaanxi is the Mount Hua Sect, not the Zhongnan Sect."
Whenever I entered an inn, I often saw people drunk and spouting blood-curdling words. They wore swords at their waists, faces flushed with excitement, and kept casting sidelong glances to gauge the reactions of passing young martial artists as they laughed openly.
"Hey, you there."
"What?"
"Take that back. Those words."
Hot-blooded Zhongnan disciples, seeing someone picking such a fight, would immediately draw their swords.
"Aaargh!"
"Ghk...! You... you cowardly bastards...!"
"Ha ha ha! They're nothing but merchant's bootlickers, so of course their martial arts are laughable!"
"Grrrgh...! You... you son of a bitch...!"
But the young disciples were far too ignorant of the ways of the world. They didn't realize that when a major sect's prestige had fallen, unorthodox masters preyed on young martial artists, running wild in the most cunning and cowardly ways.
Those who held a grudge against the Zhongnan Sect, or sought fame by killing a Zhongnan master, would spout outrageous mockery of the sect whenever the whim took them. It was common for Zhongnan martial artists just entering the martial world to lose their tempers, draw their swords, and end up getting thrashed instead.
Rumors bred more rumors, stripping away even more of their reputation. The vicious cycle continued: news spread endlessly of a Zhongnan martial artist beaten by an unorthodox master who had insulted the sect.
In this situation, the Zhongnan Sect's leadership could only grow more anxious. They desperately needed a chance to reverse public opinion, but saw no way to do so.
*******
"The Zhongnan Sect is in the worst situation right now. Their direct disciple died after receiving an empty lunchbox from Venerable Geumbok, and recently, disciples newly out in the martial world drew swords against unorthodox masters and were killed instead. Such incidents won't necessarily destroy the sect, but if they can't turn the tide, they may well be pushed aside by the Mount Hua Sect and fall to a minor faction — they must be terrified of that."
"So you mean to exploit that weakness. So, how do you plan to hand over the secret manual?"
"If we hand it over, they'll be suspicious. We have to make them think they found it themselves."
******
"I heard that recently, suspicious people were seen moving around the village right below Zhongnan Mountain. Locals had never seen them before — they all had huge builds and fierce eyes, so they left a strong impression. They were gathered together at an inn, then disappeared when night fell, and their whereabouts are unknown."
"Even if the Zhongnan Sect's prestige has fallen to the ground, now lowlifes dare to pull tricks near us. Gather men at once and find those bastards!"
*******
"If they hear that suspicious figures have appeared near Zhongnan Mountain, they'll react sensitively. They'll surely gather their strongest fighters and come searching. Because if those bastards cause a major incident on Zhongnan Mountain, their prestige will truly hit rock bottom."
"But sending people into Zhongnan Mountain itself is far too reckless. Last time, I sent a search party into Mount Hua and they triggered a battle formation, killing three of my men. Zhongnan Mountain might have such a formation too, so how can I send my own men?"
"No need to enter Zhongnan Mountain. Just rent a room at the inn in the village below, hide a single document there, and make it look like they fled. Use an encryption simple enough for the Zhongnan Sect bastards to decipher, and place it where they'll find it with a decent search."
******
"We searched the inn, but found no one. From the scattered luggage, it seemed they fled in a hurry."
"Was there nothing else? We must find out what those bastards were doing, where they were, and what they were up to."
"Well, we found this document under the bed. It just talks about the weather and recent events where they live... Could it be code?"
"It's definitely coded. Gather the disciples and decipher it at once!"
*******
"The code should say something like: 'We've found the secret manual requested by the Heavenly Demon. The meeting point is such-and-such.' Something like that should work. Just cook up a decent story that'll make their eyes pop when they read it."
"But what if the Zhongnan Sect sees that document and decides to cooperate with the Mount Hua Sect? Wouldn't that be a disaster?"
I snorted and asked back.
"Do you think they would?"
******
"Elder! We've deciphered the code! It's the Hao Sect! Those Hao Sect bastards rumored to be searching for the Heavenly Demon's treasure or something — they were camped right below our Zhongnan Mountain!"
"Is that so? What did the message say?"
"Well, it says they've found the secret manual the Heavenly Demon ordered them to find, and to meet at Shanyang."
"What? Then that rumor was true?"
"What should we do, Elder? Should we share this document with the Mount Hua Sect and request cooperation...?"
"Don't spout nonsense! This is our chance to push back the Mount Hua Sect's momentum and restore our prestige! It's the chance to show once again which sect is the strongest in Shaanxi, so why would we share the credit with Mount Hua?! Assemble the disciples at once and send men to Shanyang!"
*******
"I'm doubtful whether the Demonic Cult's Yeonrakchaek will fall for it. Tricking the Zhongnan Sect and tricking him are different matters."
"In any case, the original secret manual will never reach him. Even if it does, we've done nothing wrong. We were simply transporting a bogus manual rumored to have been written by Sex Demon Cheonpung. He never gave us any information to verify its authenticity, so it's not our fault if we mistook a fake for the real thing and brought it. After this is over, the only information that will reach him is this: while transferring the secret manual written by Sex Demon Cheonpung, we were ambushed by the Zhongnan Sect, and the manual disappeared."
"Clean."
"And we simply wash our hands of this affair and forget about it. The Zhongnan Sect will deal with the aftermath."
*******
The elder of the Zhongnan Sect who arrived at Shanyang stroked his long beard and breathed heavily. In all his years as a martial artist, there had never been such a tense moment. Not when he first attended the Dragon Phoenix Gathering, not when the sects shouted for unity under the name of the Murim Alliance — none had been as tense as this.
The Zhongnan Sect disciples, too, had bloodshot eyes and hands trembling as they gripped their swords. The weight of the sect's future — the saying that it hung in the balance — bore down more heavily on the new recruits who had just entered the sect than on the elder who was living on borrowed time.
Their target was a small hut.
Several large men were gathering at the small hut. Seemingly unaware of the Zhongnan Sect's ambush, they chatted among themselves or yawned with folded arms. The elder, eyes wide, scanned busily for the contact they were to meet.
In the distance, a man pulling a cart appeared. He had concealed a small box inside the cart, but the uncovered part plainly revealed its shape.
"That's it."
The elder's eyes lit up. He was certain the secret manual was inside that box. He saw the eyes of the men gathered at the hut change as they stood up, and he also saw the man pulling the cart take off his hat.
The elder raised his hand and shouted.
"Secure the secret manual!"
The Zhongnan disciples, as if waiting for that moment, burst out of the forest and swung their swords. The Hao Sect men, startled, scattered in all directions using their movement techniques without a moment's hesitation. The cart was left behind, and so was the box.
It was a far more empty victory than expected. They said the Hao Sect valued lives over honor, and that seemed to be true.
Their weakness was nothing the elder needed to comment on. After all, this was far better than bloodshed.
What mattered was the box.
The box containing the secret manual.
The elder steadied his breathing and took hold of the box.
He carefully opened the lid and took out the old book inside.
An old cover with no writing at all.
Just inhaling brought the smell of earth, and the paper seemed so aged that it would crumble at the slightest wrong touch.
The elder steadied his breath and said,
"Just in case, everyone step back from me."
He had heard rumors that demonic martial arts could inflict internal injuries just by reading the text. The elder calmly composed his mind and turned the page.
[I am the right hand of the Heavenly Demon. I am Sex Demon Cheonpung.]
"Huh?"
The elder's face twisted. He knew the name Sex Demon Cheonpung.
He began flipping through the pages recklessly.
[Bedroom Arts
The fundamentals of the Bedroom Arts lie in the training of the fingers and lower body. Lower body training is an essential element in the practice of lightness skills and must not be omitted; by skillfully and flexibly working the fingers and mastering a woman's body, one can take a great step closer to the secret traditions of the lecherous demon.
Furthermore, the movement of the waist....]
"Uhhhm??"
[Those who learn the cultivation methods of the demonic path can easily accumulate inner power, but it is common for demonic energy to leak out and repel women. Therefore, in order to avoid being guarded against, I learned Shaolin's basic cultivation method; I set it down here.]
"Uhhhhm???"
"Why, why is he acting like that?"
"Has, has he fallen to the demonic path?"
[To prevent the opponent's resistance, mastery of the Golden Capturing Hand is essential. By using a body trained in the Golden Capturing Hand and Bedroom Arts, one can easily subdue scoundrels, the husbands, fathers, or brothers of women, and escape. If the opponent sees the Golden Capturing Hand and mocks it, it is recommended to never fight and flee.
Here I describe the basic training methods and advanced processes of the Golden Capturing Hand, so you must learn this technique and use it profitably.
For a sex demon, survival is victory.]
The secret manual ended there.
The elder, who had been staring at the book for a moment, snapped as well.
"Aaaaargh!"
The thread of reason snapped.
From the elder's hands, the secret manual that Docheol had carelessly scribbled was torn into a thousand pieces and scattered.