Chapter 37
Chapter 37
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 37
Chapter Title: Netherworld Demonic Path (4)
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Geumju slipped out through the secret passage and unleashed her lightness skill in a frantic blur.
She dashed through the slums where not even a flicker of light could be found.
Soon, she plunged into the labyrinthine back alleys of Luoyang's bustling commercial district.
Due to rampant, unchecked development from explosive growth, every back alley in Luoyang was an utter tangle.
Towering buildings at least four or five stories high crammed together without the slightest gap, forming a colossal maze.
After passing several alleys and rounding a few more corners, she finally came to a stop.
She wanted to keep moving, but her breathing was far too ragged.
With her internal energy restored only to its original level, maintaining lightness technique was impossible.
The filthy alley walls—ones she would normally curse at just for looking at—now propped up her weary body.
“Huff, huff.”
She clutched at her chest.
In that moment when her heart was ripped out, the 'contingency' had undoubtedly activated.
The effect of the Grand Curse surpassed even Geumju's own expectations.
'Under that monstrous master of mine, how much I suffered to learn that...'
A headache pounded through her skull.
Her memories grew jumbled.
'How did I even learn it? The curse? Did I learn curses?'
Suddenly, long-forgotten scenes flashed through her mind.
The old man's hand, playfully rummaging through her own entrails.
A withered hand covered in liver spots.
That eerie laughter.
Herself, screaming until her throat tore.
Unbearable agony.
She frantically shook her head.
She denied the memories.
'Right now, escaping is what matters.'
She forced her feet to move again.
At any rate, the Grand Curse had activated successfully.
It had temporarily elevated her cultivation.
The barrier triggered the instant her life ended.
And even her lost heart had returned.
An effect worth hundreds of lives and decades of lifespan.
But she had no more life-saving measures left.
'If they catch me this time, I'm truly dead...!'
The white mask flashed in her mind, sending shivers down her spine.
Having clashed hands with it, she felt it in her bones.
It was a real monster.
It was of the same breed as her master.
Defying common sense, ignoring reason, overturning laws.
Even if it had merely pretended to surpass walls, the monster toyed with her effortlessly.
Yes.
Toyed with her.
No matter how she attacked, she couldn't land a single blow.
Of the techniques it displayed, not one was comprehensible to her.
Incomprehensible.
It took every attack head-on, then methodically severed her fingers one by one, in order.
Her regrown fingers throbbed with pain.
Her reclaimed heart pulsed with agony.
The pain from her heart grew worse with time.
It still felt as if that monster's maw was chewing her up.
'I have to escape, I have to escape.'
Consumed by fear, she raced through the back alleys.
The convoluted paths twisted and turned endlessly.
Climbing to a rooftop might offer a view, but it would expose her as well.
If she kept the right direction, the alleys would eventually end.
'As someone from Luoyang's back alleys, there's no way I'd get lost here.'
For a moment, she faltered.
'No, I'm not from Luoyang—clearly from some rural mountain village...?'
Another headache surged.
The hook-like hand that had stirred her mind resurfaced.
Her heart ached unbearably.
It felt like the creature's teeth were shredding it.
'I have to move...'
She ran blindly.
At some point, she lost her shoes, and after tumbling several times, her clothes were in tatters.
Then she realized she had lost her sense of direction.
Peering up between the alleys revealed only a sky thick with dark clouds.
No landmarks to gauge direction.
To find her bearings, she decided to climb to a rooftop, if only briefly.
Spotting an easy wall to scale, she rounded another corner into a small clearing where several alleys converged.
“...A monk attained in the true dharma devours pine tree bark,
An official devoted to governance tears and eats book pages,
A poet enlightened by sound consumes the moon's glow...”
It was a clear, delicate boy's voice.
“And yet my twisted legs, accomplishing nothing, bend so greatly to suck the marrow from the people's backs.”
In the center of the clearing stood the boy's back as he recited poetry, entering her view.
Clad in neat plain white robes, he looked like nothing more than a scholar.
“Hey.”
Locals knew the streets best, so she decided to ask the boy for directions.
“Hey, can't you hear me?!”
Seeing him with head bowed, lost in thought, she strode up and seized his shoulder.
“Hm?”
Her brows shot up.
The boy turning to her was a face she knew well.
“Isn't this someone? Didn't we just meet not long ago?”
“Eldest Young Master...??"
Recognizing her and acting familiar was Yeon So-hyeon, the Swordless One of the Luoyang Sword Clan.
It hadn't been a friendly encounter by any means, but seeing a familiar face eased her mind a little.
“What are you doing here at this hour...? No, that's none of my business.”
No guards from that day accompanied him.
She swept back her disheveled hair.
“Just tell me the way to the main road.”
Yeon So-hyeon shrugged.
“We've crossed paths like this by fate—why not share how you ended up in these alleys?”
“What?”
Her face twisted in irritation.
The reality of fleeing after that unidentified monster stripped away all her achievements crashed back.
The rage she'd suppressed until now boiled over.
“What could a useless punk like you do even if you knew about me?!”
At her words, the Eldest Young Master tilted his head with an innocent expression.
“No, it's just...”
His actions seemed natural at first glance, but a sense of wrongness crawled up Geumju's nape.
“It's a bit off, you see.”
His movements lacked emotion somewhere.
Like a puppet from a street puppet show.
Unnatural.
A sense of dissonance.
Something inhuman mimicking a human.
Acting.
“After running so desperately, this is as far as you got?”
“......!”
Color drained rapidly from her face.
She felt her fingers tingling, the pain swelling from her heart.
“Who are you?!”
A deep shadow fell over the Eldest Young Master's face—no, the thing's face.
“You know full well, Seyu-hwa.”
A voice like boiling molten iron.
Blue ghostfire rising from its eyes.
As it smiled, saw-like teeth densely packed filled her vision.
“Twelve now, is it?”
Endless terror shook her body.
“Or should I count from one again?”
* * *
Jeong-a and Se-ah walked a passage within a vast natural cavern.
The cave sprawled like a spider's web, yet Jeong-a advanced without hesitation, utterly unfazed.
“What an enormous scale, sister.”
“Tell me about it.”
Another fork appeared, but Jeong-a chose a direction without a second thought.
“Now that the Black Bone Gang is gone, what happens to all these buildings and lands?”
“Geumju will claim them. Since she was her adopted daughter, she'll assert ownership.”
A bitter smile crossed Se-ah's face.
“That's how that bastard operates, using his 'adopted daughters.' Swallow the sweet, spit out the bitter.”
If the Black Bone Gang had clashed with some powerful faction, how would Geumju have responded?
She'd claim it was just talk of her being an adopted daughter, nothing more.
But against an unidentified master?
She'd claim all ownership.
“...Ridiculous.”
The torch in Se-ah's hand flickered, casting dancing shadows on the cave walls.
Come to think of it, her sister led the way without even a torch.
Even Se-ah, with her torch, had nearly slipped several times.
Yet Jeong-a moved as if strolling a polished corridor.
It surely related to those golden-glowing eyes of hers.
But asking yielded only that she didn't know herself.
After a moment, Se-ah voiced what she'd long wanted to ask.
“You know, don't you? The true identity of the master you serve.”
“Yes, of course.”
The answer came instantly.
Se-ah, momentarily at a loss for words, asked her sister again.
“...Aren't you afraid?”
The question carried layers of meaning.
For a moment, only their footsteps echoed in the cave.
“...The day I left the reception hall, I packed my things.”
It was just before she met the Eldest Young Master.
“I meticulously gathered every possession of mine. Once done, it amounted to a single small bundle.”
Jeong-a chuckled softly.
“Filled with nothing but trinkets holding memories.”
As she walked, Jeong-a naturally turned halfway.
The fine silk garments Yeon So-hyeon had gifted her rose and settled gracefully.
“After entering the Sword Clan, I lived every day like a battle.”
The jeweled hairpin in her hair sparkled in the torchlight.
“And yet, in the end, I was nothing.”
Se-ah had no words.
“I was nameless grass, fluttering whichever way the wind blew.”
Jeong-a halted.
Se-ah gazed at her slender back.
“Afraid?”
Jeong-a set down her bundle beside her.
“Of course I'm afraid.”
Her tone was calm.
“He is like a late-summer typhoon, poised to shatter everything in its path. A being us mere folk can't even fathom.”
She stood still, staring into the passage's depths.
“Grasp one truth, and two more hide; uncover those, and four emerge.”
A deep golden glow emanated from her eyes.
“I don't serve him as master to rely on his protection or shelter.”
“...Then why?”
Just then, an echo of footsteps reached Se-ah's ears.
From the exact direction Jeong-a had been staring since earlier.
“Huff, huff.”
Ragged breaths mingled with irregular, hurried footsteps.
'Something's chasing it...'
Before she could judge, the figure that appeared was one they knew well.
“You two...?!”
Se-ah swallowed hard at the sight of the woman bracing against the cave wall, gasping, staring their way.
Her hair a wild mess, her body caked in blood, she recognized Jeong-a and Se-ah.
Murderous intent filled her gaze.
“You bitches...!”
She cried out like a wounded beast.
Jeong-a, unperturbed, turned back to her sister.
“To become like him.”
Se-ah reflexively shot back.
“What?”
Jeong-a smiled reassuringly at her.
“The reason I serve my master.”
Golden light flashed intensely in her eyes.
“So I can become like him too.”