The Underground Chamber
In the underground depths of Seoho, torches mounted on the stone walls flickered wildly.
“Hehe, hehe! What a fool! Still boasting after all this time?!”
Talismans affixed to the foreheads of the Jiangshi scattered across the floor began to vibrate, and one by one their hands rose.
Slap, slap!
When the woman gripping a knife, who had been sent to wake the Jiangshi, instead pressed the blade to Yeo Baek-rang’s neck.
“Wait! If you move, I’ll kill this little brat—!”
“Quiet.”
Gwak Yeon muttered as he searched for Yeo Baek-rang.
Soon, a short whistle pierced the air twice.
Whiiiish.
Whiiiish.
It was all over in an instant.
The men and women who had heard the whistles froze in momentary confusion, then stiffened as if sensing something terrible.
A jolt.
At the same moment, Gwak Yeon launched himself forward.
With a powerful kick against the stone floor, he appeared beside the unconscious Yeo Baek-rang in the blink of an eye.
He slung the boy over his shoulder and swept past the woman holding the knife.
Almost immediately, he leaped onto the stairs.
By then the two had come to their senses.
“……Shit! What the—?!”
“……T-that bastard!”
Having been frightened for a moment, they could not believe what they had seen and, angry, turned their heads.
Thud.
Gwak Yeon descended the stairs again.
He had closed the door leading to the surface.
He had safely evacuated the unconscious Yeo Baek-rang to the upper floor and returned.
“?!”
“?!”
Looking at the pair still in shock, Gwak Yeon muttered dryly.
“If the child wakes, you two die immediately.”
“This ba—”
“Just one question.”
A high-pitched whistle rang out near the man who had been about to move the Jiangshi.
Whiiiiiish━━!
Gwak Yeon’s red eyes flared as he asked the startled man.
“What did you feel just now?”
“I-I’ll k-kill you—!”
The man’s forehead furrowed deeply.
His expression carried the sting of wounded pride.
That instant’s unpleasant yet dangerous intuition had paralyzed him, though he could not place the source of that feeling.
Yet among all the Jianghu experiences he had recounted in his mind, few matched this sensation.
Did I… feel fear?
Still, as a Jianghu veteran who prided himself on being ordinary, when he first encountered a recognized expert from the region, he had felt an odd sense of incongruity.
Whether it stemmed from the expert’s relaxed demeanor or from the opponent’s killing intent, the man had surely felt something indescribable.
That meant——
“……Perfect. I can use this without worry.”
“Y-You arrogant bastard! Do you have any idea where this is?!”
Gwak Yeon’s confused words only sharpened the man’s glare, but he quickly shook his head to dispel the discomfort and shouted again.
“I’ll cut off your arms and make you into Jiangshi alive!”
“You didn’t sense any sorcery, it seems.”
“Hiiiiiaaaa!”
Once more the talismans scattered across the room began to vibrate, and the Jiangshi that had been frozen suddenly moved.
“If you climb to the floor above, you will die.”
“Hiiik!”
“Khhhhaaaaa!”
The woman who had been sneaking toward the stairs with the knife clutched tightly in her trembling hand.
Slap, slap, slap━━!
In an instant the talismans resonated, and the Jiangshi that had detached from the surrounding walls now extended their arms wide.
A cold, eerie moan slipped from between their split lips.
Yet despite more Jiangshi than he could handle awakening around him, Gwak Yeon remained completely unfazed.
“Hehe, hehe! This is nothing like before!”
“Umm.”
“Why don’t you try boasting again like you did earlier?!”
Right now, what mattered most to him was——
……Confirmed.
The whistle technique he had finally tested on a human here, for the very last time, without holding back.
And the complete power of this body that could be unleashed without caring about anyone’s gaze.
“Die!”
Alone in the underground chamber, he confronted dozens of Jiangshi.
Flash━━!
Thus, the true vampire revealed himself.
.
.
How long had passed?
……Clank!
The two men and women collapsed to the ground, legs giving out.
Both hands desperately scrabbling at the floor, bodies trembling violently as they tried to flee, their backs finally slammed against the wall.
“A, uuuu……”
“Hiiiiiaaaa!”
The groans and screams they vomited forth.
The expressions of horror on their faces suggested they still believed what they had witnessed was a nightmare too vivid to be real.
There was no other explanation.
Of course, at first they had mistaken it for an illusion.
No, rather, they had believed they could easily capture him.
Between the Jiangshi leaping with tiger-like ferocity, the man who had maneuvered with precarious grace.
Only after seeing the red line carved across his cheek did he think——
Obviously, no one in this chamber could handle so many Jiangshi.
Until the moment the crimson eyes blazed and black veins shot from his body, he still believed that.
Even when the vein brushed the forehead of the foremost Jiangshi, he had thought it no more than a quick-witted Jianghu expert.
Only when the talisman stuck to the Jiangshi’s forehead was torn away did he half-convinced himself it was sheer luck.
But——
Three streams, five streams, ten streams——
The veins that burst from the man who had been darting through the nearly thirty Jiangshi rushing toward him now erupted in every direction.
And——
Even as the claws of the Jiangshi attacking from behind slashed toward his neck, they were blocked by the red blood storm that bloomed behind him.
Finally, they understood.
……A monster!
……Sorcery!
This man was not human.
“Huuuuura━!”
It was closer to a raging gale.
Even while swinging the sword and scabbard in his hands like a madman, the countless veins shot from his body attached to the talismans on the Jiangshi’s foreheads as if they were guided by sight.
How many severed limbs and necks of the frozen Jiangshi had he torn apart with savage force at each grinding sound?
The end came sooner than expected.
Thud, thud, thud.
Among the corpses piled where the Jiangshi lay stiffly, Gwak Yeon let out a long sigh.
“Huuu.”
The peculiar odor of Jiangshi and the blood that had soaked his own body was so grotesque it made one’s heart stop.
“……H, could it be?!”
The man’s face had gone deathly pale as he dropped to his knees.
“I-I beg your pardon! If you have come to rebuke us for insufficient tribute, I have nothing to say! H, but! This time you are merciful and will overlook it, as you said last time━”
“What?”
“I, I, the blood I spread…… is, is it not the one sent by Strange Candle?! N, no, not that it was sent, but rather that I am working together toward a great undertaking!”
What nonsense was this?
Staring fixedly at the man who had spoken those cryptic words, Gwak Yeon nodded.
“Y, you, you really came to test us! Y-yes! Just as the masters told you last time, these are all trash! They don’t listen properly! They’re lazy! H, if you give us one more chance! We’ll organize a proper team and——”
“M, mad, what the hell are you— guh!”
Instantly the man stabbed the woman with his knife.
Gibbering to himself like a lunatic, only after the woman’s life ended did he turn to Gwak Yeon.
His face was etched with raw terror.
Gwak Yeon felt something strange as he watched the blood-covered hands tremble while the man crawled back to the floor and bowed his head.
……Strange Candle, the master?
The tale of the technique he had unleashed as a vampire.
Then——
“I will ask several questions.”
“W, wrong I did…… y-yes?!”
“Raise your head.”
After the man, still trembling, lifted his head and met his gaze, Gwak Yeon flashed.
His eyes blazing red, he used the technique once more.
One, two, three, four, five.
Counting five at once, the man’s eyes grew hazy with dizziness.
Again, Gwak Yeon intended to extract information through pain.
“Answer everything you know to my questions. Understood?”
“I, I…… will……”
“Who is Strange Candle?”
“I, I don’t know his name…… the person we trade with……”
“Trade?”
“When we offer blood and corpses…… they give us Jiangshi……”
“Does he use sorcery?”
“I have never seen it personally……”
“Then what was that talk of spreading blood?”
“There are rumors among the people Strange Candle associates with that some of them use sorcery……”
Thump.
Suddenly Gwak Yeon’s eyes shone.
That meant——
If he captured this Strange Candle, he could find those who wield sorcery.
Could he be connected to the Blood Cult?
He might be linked to the evil he had been hunting.
Still driven by urgency, Gwak Yeon pressed on with his questions.
“Where is this Strange Candle master located?”
“I don’t know where he resides……”
“Then how do you make the tribute?”
“Only…… at the fixed time Strange Candle orders…… we prepare blood and corpses…… then he comes here to take them……”
“So when is the next tribute?”
“Two months from now…… you must go to collect……”
“Speak simply.”
“Strange Candle will inform you in advance where and when you will be…… after receiving the tribute. Then go to that date and place…… and receive the next tribute amount……”
“Hmm.”
Strange Candle who received the blood and corpses they collected.
He seemed to have a perverse hobby of coming to the designated place each time to collect the tribute date.
“Where was it usually?”
“Every time…… different…… last time it was in Sichuan…… a gambling house……”
Madmen.
Sichuan was quite far from here.
Whether it was these people who traveled all the way to Sichuan just to collect the tribute date, or the Strange Candle who had made them do so while visiting this place, they were clearly not of sound mind.
“Then, to receive the next tribute date, I’ll have to track him down again anyway?”
“Y-yes……”
“You said you didn’t know where he was earlier.”
“The master will tell you the approximate time and place for the next time……”
“So, when and where exactly?”
“Two months from now…… the secret auction house in Hangzhou……”
“!!!”
Gwak Yeon’s eyes widened.
The secret auction house in Hangzhou!
The place where this man had gone to Strange Candle to hear the tribute date——
it was right in Hangzhou.
Moreover, a secret auction house with nothing but rumors surrounding it.
He had received some information from the black road expert he killed just before the main journey, but he still did not know the precise method of entry.
Gwak Yeon’s words quickened, a sudden urgency rising in him.
“T, then how do I enter that place?”
“We don’t know either…… but he said to wait at the inn and a signal would come……”
“So, where?!”
“Myeongwol Inn……”
“How do I enter the secret auction house from there?”
“I don’t know…… if I stay there…… it will naturally be revealed……”
“Damn it.”
Still, this was not bad at all.
The Myeongwol Inn where these people had been visiting in preparation for two months’ later attendance at the secret auction house in Hangzhou.
Myeongwol Inn…… Myeongwol Inn……
Gwak Yeon murmured the name several times in a low voice.
Then, suddenly, he opened his mouth again.
“Ah. Which sect or group does this Strange Candle belong to?”
“If you mean his affiliation……”
“There must be some faction or organization, right?!”
“A……”
It had been a casual question.
There were so many strange figures in the Jianghu, drifting like sand, and even the righteous path feared such types; their movements were impossible to trace.
Yet——
“There is……”
“What?!”
The man’s answer, unexpected, made Gwak Yeon ask urgently.
“Their names are……”
The moment the man’s mouth twitched.
The air throughout the entire chamber began to surge.
Crack!
The man’s head exploded.
Quite literally, it shattered into pieces.
“Kuk!”
Gwak Yeon had quickly retreated, but the corpse of the man was already drenched in blood and lay sprawled across the floor.
Before he could even understand what had happened——
……A prohibition array!
Someone had cast a prohibition upon the formation that had been raised throughout this entire chamber.
He had heard the term only in passing in his previous life.
It was sorcery that prevented a specific word from being spoken, revealing the hidden truth of something concealed.
That meant——
They must have assumed this place would eventually be discovered.
Not only to hide this location’s formation, but to activate in such a way as to “collapse” if an intruder tried to extract the secret!
At that moment, as thought and action coincided, Gwak Yeon leaped onto the stairs.
Tap, tap!
Almost simultaneously, the air in every corner of the chamber burst, and the surrounding walls began to crumble.
Gwak Yeon moved faster than that, without hesitation.
Crunch!
He smashed through the door leading to the chamber and shot upward, carrying the unconscious Yeo Baek-rang on his shoulder, and the moment he emerged into the open——
Rumble!
The chamber behind him collapsed.
After running a long way and looking back, the area around it was already a swirling mass of dust, and the very ground where the chamber stood had sunk several feet.
“Huuu.”
Still carrying Yeo Baek-rang, Gwak Yeon let out a dry chuckle.
……Strange Candle, the master.
Thinking of the true culprit of all that had happened, he was organizing the new information he had gained from the underground.
Cough.
The back he carried on his shoulder trembled.
He seemed to have finally regained consciousness.
When he tried to gently lower the boy to the ground, Yeo Baek-rang’s small hands clutched tightly at Gwak Yeon’s blood-soaked back.
“H, huuaa━! S, save me-”
“Young Master.”
“……Eh.”
After letting out a wail of struggle, when he turned his head to face Yeo Baek-rang.
Blub, blub.
For a moment his eyes opened and closed in panic.
Then the boy’s face flushed bright red as he flung himself onto the ground.
“Gwa, Gwa-ga-gwa-ga-gwak-jusang!”
“Are you conscious?”
“C, c-cough!”
“I am relieved to see you appear well.”
Gwak Yeon ground his teeth at the twitching cheeks.
He straightened up and surveyed his surroundings.
By now the fog that had been swirling around the chamber and disturbing the entire bamboo grove had long since dissipated.
At that moment, a presence was felt from beyond the bamboo grove.
Carrying torches, the approaching figures.
In the dim light at the front, Gwak Yeon recognized a face.
“It seems the other side has been cleaned up as well.”
“……”
“Let’s go.”
Just as he moved to follow them.
Gwak Yeon’s arm was pulled back.
Yeo Baek-rang had grabbed the blood-stained sleeve of his clothes.
“Khehehe! B, b, b, just now——”
“I saw nothing. I was too distracted searching for the way.”
“R, really?!”
“Yes.”
Only then did Yeo Baek-rang relax, a relieved expression on his face.
It seemed he was asking whether he should tell anyone about his own survival… but Gwak Yeon could not bring himself to tell him to wipe away the tears on those young cheeks.
Thus.
Under the moonlight.
Yeo Baek-rang and Gwak Yeon walked through the bamboo grove that rose high enough to pierce the sky.
Thud, thud, thud.
At the moment they waved their hands to the people approaching from beyond the bamboo grove, who were lighting the night with torches.
“Here, Young Master is safe!”
“I, I, I am safe!”
“You suffered greatly, Gwak-jusang!”
“Young Master-nim!”
“Gwak-jusang!”
“You’re alive! You’re alive!”
“Thank goodness!”
Behind the Cheonhae Merchant Group and Seoho Gwak Family members who had been racing through the densely growing bamboo.
A force of warriors that had been conversing with them moments earlier was now approaching slowly.
Flashing flags and Jianghu experts wielding large blades.
The man at the very front turned his head toward Gwak Yeon and spoke to someone beside him.
“……Is that him? The Gwak Yeon that Jegal-ah mentioned.”