Night Flying Birds (3)

"Tch!"

Bi Geom's face twisted into a scowl.

An hour had passed since they'd said they were coming—then two full si more on top of that—and still there wasn't so much as a whisker of them in sight. At this rate, he thought, they might be stuck here until dawn.

"Go and see to the ambush squads."

"Yes."

At the reply, a faint shape melted into the darkness.

Before long, dozens of Demonic Shadows were combing the ground where Jin Yigang's party had vanished.

"Ugh!"

"Kgh!"

"Th-they've been cut down, Commander!"

The Demonic Shadows sweeping the area cried out. Hwa Mu sprinted to the rear.

"Nnngh!"

Hwa Mu let out a low groan as she took in the scene. All fifty were dead.

"I'll kill every last one of those bastards."

A cold voice slid from Hwa Mu's lips—and it was a woman's voice.

Soon Bi Geom and Dok Ji arrived. The two men turned their gaze on the corpses laid out in rows.

"Half fell to a weapon thin as thread. The other half died to fists."

Hwa Mu reported.

"So you're telling me fifty Demonic Shadows were slain by two men?"

"Yes."

"We held Cloud Ridge. There was no way out for them."

"There is a path. Over there."

Hwa Mu pointed to the cliff face up which Jin Yigang's party had climbed.

"Godsdamned vermin!"

Bi Geom spat a curse.

"If we chase them ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠now, we can still catch them."

Hwa Mu said.

"Then chase them!"

"Yes, Commander!"

Hwa Mu launched herself forward.

"Hwa Mu!"

Bi Geom called after her.

"Yes?"

Hwa Mu stopped mid-stride and looked back at him.

"...No. Go."

"Yes."

Hwa Mu held his gaze a moment longer, then flew.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Soon two hundred and fifty Demonic Shadows were tearing through the darkness in her wake.

A four-hour lead, and I close the gap in two. Six hours, and three will do it.

Murmuring the arithmetic to herself, Hwa Mu shot across the night.

"Think they'll come after us?"

Mid-stride, Jin Yigang asked Mu Daebo.

"Of course they will."

The one who answered was Na Hu-jeok.

"So what kind of sect is this Demonic Cult, anyway?"

"Name the single strongest sect the murim has ever produced, and the Demonic Cult is what comes to mind."

"And when was it founded?"

"The cult first appeared fifteen hundred years ago. In the beginning it was nothing more than a gathering of those who practiced the demonic arts. Then the so-called orthodox sects began to persecute them. Claiming that the demonic arts—which cultivate and magnify the darkness of the human heart—corrupted human nature itself, they branded every last demonic art forbidden, and then they hunted down everyone who practiced them. Those practitioners had no choice but to band together against the orthodox persecution, and that band grew into what we now call the Demonic Cult."

"So it all started as a fight over power and privilege?"

"Exactly. Power in hand, the cult dug itself into the Myriad Mountains and invaded the Central Plains murim every time it showed weakness."

"If they only ever invaded when it was weak, then more than once, I take it?"

"Five invasions in all. And the funny part is that the martial arts of the Central Plains advanced by leaps and bounds precisely through repelling them."

"Well, they do say civilization advances through war. So the Demonic Shadows are the cult's elite, then?"

"They are. In scouting and search-and-destroy especially, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠nothing else comes close."

"And that thing up there—is that a Demonic Shadow too?"

Jin Yigang pointed at the sky. The party looked up. A bird with enormous wings was flying east.

"You're telling me that thing is a person?"

"Far as I know, there's no bird that big anywhere in the Funiu Mountains. And there wasn't just one or two of them, either."

"A Night Flying Bird," Mu Daebo answered.

"What's that?"

"What they call those who fly the heavens using martial arts and a contraption called the Flying Wing. In the old days, the disciples of a sect called the Flying Bird Sect were known as Night Flying Birds."

"How far can they fly?"

"Up to two hundred zhang or so. Though they say the Flying Bird Sect was destroyed, so..."

"A fine contraption. I'd love to get my hands on one."

Jin Yigang smirked.

"You'd have to master a peculiar martial art first. Anyone else who straps on the wings drops out of the sky and dies on the spot."

"Then I'll just have to master it. Anyway, those birds up there are looking for us, aren't they?"

"They will be."

"Urgent or not, we rest tonight. If we don't, you'll all drop dead before we ever get where we're going."

"Only a man presses on through this much and—"

When dozens of eyes glared at him, Mu Daebo shut his mouth at once.

"You're the only one doing just fine, aren't you, Daebo?"

"They're already on our tail—where exactly am I supposed to rest?"

"You just keep up with me. Have the rest follow, and tell them to keep an eye on the birds overhead while they're at it."

Jin Yigang picked up the pace, and the Jecheon Medical Manor party fell in behind him.

"We've cut the distance to within two hours," a Demonic Shadow examining the trail reported.

"Faster!"

Hwa Mu barked. The Demonic Shadows tore along the trail at a full sprint.

"Any word from the Night Flying Birds?"

"Nothing in sight yet."

"Figures. The Night Flying Birds can't be trusted. We'll find them ourselves. Move!"

The scout answered low, then passed the order down the line.

Sssaaaak!

A wind rose without warning, and the Demonic Shadows used its sound to mask their launch.

"Kek!" "Ugh!" "Kluk!" "Gah!"

A hundred-odd lives were snuffed out in the space of a breath. Each Shadow had marked a target and hurled themselves as one—a single strike apiece, a severed windpipe. The dead all wore masks; who they were, no one could say.

"We move on."

Hwa Mu said it briefly and was gone.

Not long after they left, another masked company appeared.

"Hm?"

A man without a mask walked to the corpses, his face slack with shock. He was the group's leader.

Every one of the dead had been killed by a weapon driven in from behind the neck.

"The work of men trained as assassins. Counting their numbers conservatively—at least two hundred."

One of his subordinates reported.

"How long ago?"

"The blood hasn't dried."

"Which means it's been less than half a shike. Pursue them. Now."

The man's voice cracked like ice.

"Yes!"

The masked men leapt as one.

"Who goes there?"

The man, mid-leap, whipped his head to the right and shouted.

"I know the identity of those who struck down the Jeongcheonbu."

Stepping out of the darkness was Jang Cheon-ik, Sect Leader of the Hao Secret Sect.

"You would be..."

"Our first meeting, Commander Sama. I am Jang Cheon-ik, Sect Leader of the Hao Secret Sect."

"So you know of me."

"Word has it you took third rank—Tanhua—in the last civil examination. I knew you for a clever man, but I never imagined your martial arts would be this fine as well."

The man was Sama Yucheon, who had placed third in the civil examinations. His face was unknown to the murim because he never showed it in public.

"However fine you find me, I doubt I measure up to a Sect Leader."

"You're not the least bit curious?"

"Curiosity costs money, doesn't it?"

"A premium of two thousand nyang."

"Don't you think that's a bit steep?"

"This is very important information. Pay another thousand on top, and I can throw in something truly precious."

"Three thousand nyang in all, then."

"Once you've heard it, you won't regret a single coin."

"And if I hear it first, then decide—"

"Absolutely not. As a courtesy, I'll say just this much: the Zhuangyuan, the Bangan, and the Tanhua are all mixed up in it."

Sama Yucheon's eyes went wide.

In the last examination, the Zhuangyuan had been Jin Yigang, the Bangan Danmok Cheon-ri, and the third rank himself. And Jang Cheon-ik had just named all three of them.

"I'll pay. But I don't have three thousand nyang on me at the moment. Come to Cheondo, and you'll have every coin without fail."

"They say collateral makes a man's credit that much better."

"...Here."

Sama Yucheon pulled a ring from his finger and tossed it over.

"Much obliged."

Jang Cheon-ik caught the ring and grinned ear to ear.

"I'm a busy man."

"The ones who wiped out the Jeongcheonbu warriors are the Demonic Cult's Demonic Shadows."

"The Demonic Cult has begun to move?"

Sama Yucheon's voice rose.

"And here's the amusing part: their commander is Danmok Cheon-ri—the man who took the Bangan in the civil examination."

"Is that so?"

"It is. And among the Jecheon Medical Manor warriors Danmok Cheon-ri is chasing is one Jin Yigang—the Zhuangyuan of every examination he ever sat, first place even in the final metropolitan examination."

"...Pfft! Hahahahaha!"

Sama Yucheon burst out laughing.

His laughter cut off—sharp, abrupt.

"What condition is Jin Yigang in?"

"By all accounts he has spent the past while serving as a Geomseonin for the Jecheon Medical Manor. Then this time, escorting the treasure map, he came here with the sisters Je Hayeong and Je Chuyeong."

"A Geomseonin... kekekeke!"

Sama Yucheon snickered—a laugh thick with scorn.

That is why we never followed the remnants of the fallen empire. Because those lowly Danmok curs followed them first.

Sama Yucheon clenched his fist, slow and hard.

"So now I'm to compete with a country nobody, am I, Danmok Cheon-ri. Last time, I may have lost. From this day forward, that will never happen again. Never."

Sama Yucheon raised his eyes to Jang Cheon-ik. A killing light kindled in them—then died away just as quickly. He seemed to weigh murder for a moment, then think better of it.

"Until we meet again."

Taking a fist-palm salute, Sama Yucheon departed.

"Did I just save a life, I wonder?"

Jang Cheon-ik stroked his own throat.

"Whose life, though, I couldn't rightly say."

He shrugged. "Shall we go meet the Zhuangyuan, then?"

He kicked off the ground, and his body climbed steadily into the sky. At ten zhang, he flung both arms wide.

Clack-clack-clack!

Rods shot out from beneath either arm, each half a zhang long. From beneath the rods, canvas unfurled and swept down to fasten along the sides of his legs.

What he had spread was the Flying Wing flown by the Night Flying Birds.

"It's been a while since I spread these."

He smirked, then beat his arms down hard. His body surged upward. At twenty zhang he leaned forward, and the wings caught the wind and began to glide.

"Now that's nice."

Jang Cheon-ik beamed.

The beauty of the Flying Wing lay in its straight-line flight—it slashed travel distance to a fraction of what it should be. It shone brightest in country like this, where peaks great and small crowded the land.

Pwang! Pwang! Pwang!

Flares burst open ahead of him without warning.

"They've found him?"

Jang Cheon-ik's flying speed kicked up a notch. He flapped hard, threading the air with his Void-Step movement art.

It was exactly as Jang Cheon-ik had expected. The Night Flying Birds had sent up their flare signals because they had spotted Jin Yigang's party.

The place was a cliff face.

In deep forest, with the trees growing thick, spotting men was no easy task—but a cliff path lay exposed to the open sky, with nowhere at all to hide. All Jin Yigang's party could do was climb faster.

Piiieeek!

A whistle shrilled from the plain below. Jin Yigang turned his head. Enemies were boiling up out of the dark, black as spilled ink—hundreds of beasts running down their prey.

Their garb closely resembled that of the Demonic Shadows he'd wiped out at Cloud Ridge.

"Chase them down!"

A cry thick ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠with killing intent rang out—a woman's voice. Moments later, the dozens running at the head of the pack reached the foot of the cliff.

"Daebo!"

Jin Yigang called.

"What?"

"Better to take out the path."

"Got it."

Mu Daebo leapt away to the very rear of the column, scanning left and right for a suitable spot.

"This one will do nicely."

He grinned at a stretch of ground where boulders stood stacked like the mouth of a cave.

Whiiiish! Whiiiish!

The whistle of a movement art cut through the night air, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠closing fast.

"Pleasure to meet you, little friends."

A bright smile bloomed on Mu Daebo's lips.