Chapter 42
At the Ak Sword Clan (2)
Iron Sword Corps Commander Chung Yang led the warriors of the Iron Sword Corps into the Ak Sword Clan estate.
The grounds were filled with Ak Sword Clan warriors, but the atmosphere was exceedingly grim.
The person who came to greet Chung Yang was Ak Do-gwang, the eldest son of Murim Alliance Leader Ak So-gun. The second son, Ak Seo-pyeong, worked at the Murim Alliance assisting their father, while the eldest remained behind to oversee the clan.
“Welcome.”
“It has been a long time.”
The two exchanged formal fist-and-palm salutes. Neither man was in a position to treat the other casually.
“I heard there was an intruder.”
“Yes, that is correct.”
It was an astonishingly bold intrusion.
This was the ancestral estate of the Murim Alliance Leader. There was no need to explain how impenetrable its defenses must be. Even if someone possessed the skill to infiltrate the place, committing an offense here would bring the full force of both the Ak Sword Clan and the Murim Alliance down upon them.
The intruder had to know they would be hunted at any cost, yet had still dared to enter.
“Did you catch them?”
“No. We could not find any trace of the intruder. We found no evidence of how they entered, either.”
“Was anyone in the clan killed or injured?”
“Fortunately, no.”
“Was anything stolen?”
“No.”
Chung Yang was puzzled.
No one had been killed or injured, and nothing had been stolen?
Then why did they call us?
The Ak Sword Clan had a considerable number of experts. Ak Do-gwang alone was a Peak Realm master. Even if an intruder had entered, the clan was not the sort to request help from the Murim Alliance unless something truly serious had occurred.
“Come with me. There is something you must see.”
Ak Do-gwang led only Chung Yang and Hwang Il-bi deeper into the estate.
The farther they walked, the stronger the stench of blood became.
He said no one was killed or injured.
Chung Yang and Hwang Il-bi exchanged wary glances.
Preparing for the possibility of an ambush, both secretly circulated their internal energy and carefully watched their surroundings.
At last, they reached the innermost rear garden of the Ak Sword Clan estate.
Both men stopped in shock.
“What is this?”
Blood had been splattered across the courtyard, the building walls, and practically every surface in sight.
“You said no one had died.”
“That is correct. This is not the blood of anyone from our clan.”
“What? Then whose blood is it?”
“We do not know. The intruder scattered it here before leaving.”
“What did you say?”
Chung Yang surveyed the area once more.
This was not the amount of blood spilled by one or two people.
It had to have come from at least a dozen bodies.
Only then did Chung Yang understand why they had summoned him.
A bizarre incident of the sort one might never witness even once in an entire lifetime had occurred.
“Please give us a moment alone.”
“Very well.”
After Ak Do-gwang withdrew, leaving only Chung Yang and Hwang Il-bi behind, Chung Yang spoke in disbelief.
“This bastard is completely insane.”
“Certainly. But this madman is no ordinary expert. He carried this much blood all the way into the innermost garden of the Ak Sword Clan.”
“Could he have brought living people here, killed them, and buried the bodies somewhere?”
“Would that not be even more difficult?”
“Maybe. Then how did he transport this much blood? In barrels?”
“I cannot even begin to guess.”
A voice suddenly came from behind them.
“I think I know.”
The two men whirled around in surprise.
A man was approaching.
It was Baek So-cheon.
“How did you get in here?”
“Didn’t you hear? I have greater authority to handle classified matters than you do.”
Chung Yang was well aware of that.
Baek So-cheon had also been granted independent operational authority and immunity from prosecution.
In other words, Chung Yang had no power to prevent him from coming here.
Chung Yang had even been considering using those privileges as an issue with which to pressure Zhuge Hyeon.
In any case, to Chung Yang, Baek So-cheon was the very embodiment of the saying, Those who come do not come with good intentions.
He was an uninvited guest, so Chung Yang’s tone naturally became confrontational.
“Why are you here?”
“Do you think I came sightseeing? I came to help you.”
“I don’t need your help.”
“Then so be it.”
Without the slightest hesitation, Baek So-cheon turned around and began walking away.
After he had taken only a few steps, Chung Yang called out.
“Wait!”
“What is it?”
“Just now, you said you knew what happened here.”
“I did.”
“What exactly do you know?”
“I meant that I know who did this.”
“What?”
Not only Chung Yang but Hwang Il-bi beside him was startled.
What could Baek So-cheon possibly have discovered in this place covered entirely in blood?
He had only just arrived.
“Who did it?”
“Didn’t you just say you didn’t need my help? A man shouldn’t speak out of both sides of his mouth.”
Chung Yang pressed his lips together.
Endure it. Endure it.
His temper urged him to tell Baek So-cheon to get lost, but this incident had occurred inside the Murim Alliance Leader’s own family estate.
Since Chung Yang had personally come to investigate, he had to produce results somehow.
Hwang Il-bi subtly stepped forward.
“Our commander misspoke for a moment. Please calm your anger and enlighten us.”
Chung Yang did not like what he was hearing.
He disliked the word misspoke, and he disliked Hwang Il-bi asking Baek So-cheon for enlightenment even more.
Under any other circumstances, he would have shouted at Hwang Il-bi and demanded to know what nonsense he was spouting.
This time, however, he forced himself to pretend he had not heard.
Baek So-cheon looked at Chung Yang.
“Come to think of it, your commander has always had a habit of misspeaking.”
He had poured oil straight onto the fire, but Chung Yang endured it once again.
That was how badly he wanted to impress the Alliance Leader.
Baek So-cheon stared at him.
“You’ve become quite good at holding back.”
“I have always been a patient man.”
“Then why couldn’t you hold back back then?”
“That was—!”
At the time, Chung Yang had wanted to seize the authority that had belonged to Baek So-cheon.
Even if he had to trample Baek So-cheon beneath his feet to do it.
Of course, things had not gone according to plan.
“Stop provoking me.”
“Isn’t your position one where you’re supposed to endure a little provocation?”
“What?”
“So endure it. If you develop a little more patience, you might not be such a bad person.”
It was neither an insult he could openly become angry over nor praise he could feel pleased about.
Chung Yang could only remain silent.
Baek So-cheon lightly sprang upward, caught the edge of the roof, and pulled himself onto it.
“Come up.”
The two men used their movement arts and landed on the roof.
The instant they looked down from above, Chung Yang and Hwang Il-bi were stunned.
From the ground, the blood had appeared to have been randomly splattered everywhere.
Seen from above, however, it formed two enormous characters.
Because they were written in a flowing script and stretched across both the courtyard and the walls, they had been impossible to recognize from below.
殺天.
Kill Heaven.
“Kill Heaven?”
They did not know why those words had been written, but it was clear that they were a message directed at the Murim Alliance Leader.
“It may be a warning that someone intends to kill the Alliance Leader.”
Chung Yang nodded at Hwang Il-bi’s words.
The Murim Alliance Leader was the heaven of the orthodox martial world.
The word Heaven undoubtedly referred to Ak So-gun.
Moreover, the message had been written inside the Alliance Leader’s own family estate.
“You said you knew who did this.”
Baek So-cheon nodded.
“That blood is no ordinary blood.”
“What do you mean?”
“That blood was produced by the signature martial art of Meol saeng, the leader of the Blood Cult beyond the Central Plains—the Blood Heaven Art.”
Chung Yang and Hwang Il-bi were shocked by the mention of the Blood Cult.
The greatest genius the Blood Cult had produced in the last three hundred years was its current leader, Meol saeng.
The Blood Heaven Art was his unique martial art, an exceedingly vicious demonic technique that manipulated blood.
It allowed him to spray blood from his own body to attack an enemy or even extract the blood directly from another person’s body.
Imagine simply standing there while your opponent pulled every drop of blood from your body through every available opening.
It was also said that if blood from Meol saeng’s body splashed onto someone, their flesh would melt.
“How do you know this was the Blood Cult Leader’s martial art?”
“Smell the blood carefully.”
Chung Yang and Hwang Il-bi sniffed the air.
“It seems to smell like cinnamon.”
Chung Yang nodded at Hwang Il-bi’s observation.
“You’re right.”
There was another distinguishing feature.
“Blood produced by the Blood Heaven Art appears red when viewed up close, but it is said to take on a deep blue hue when seen from a distance.”
Just as Baek So-cheon had said, a faint blue sheen shimmered across the blood.
“How do you know something like that?”
“I read it in a book. There is a volume called the Compendium of Martial Arts Beyond the Central Plains in the Myriad Books Archive. It is kept in an area even you are allowed to enter. Instead of spending all your free time drinking, you should study occasionally.”
Chung Yang had no response to Baek So-cheon’s rebuke.
It was true that he drank excessively, and it was equally true that he avoided books.
What an irritating bastard. He knows far too much.
Although Baek So-cheon was his enemy, Chung Yang could not help but find him impressive.
And Baek So-cheon’s knowledge did not end there.
“Since the blood of the Blood Heaven Art left these characters without damaging the walls or the ground, it appears Meol saeng has achieved full mastery of the art.”
“Good heavens!”
Chung Yang and Hwang Il-bi were both horrified.
A legend had long been passed down within the Blood Cult beyond the Central Plains that anyone who fully mastered the Blood Heaven Art would become an invincible expert.
The Blood Cult had not actively participated in the previous war.
At the time, rumors claimed that Blood Cult Leader Meol saeng had entered secluded cultivation to achieve full mastery of the Blood Heaven Art, but no one knew whether that was true.
There was also intelligence suggesting that the Cheokcheon Alliance was currently attempting to form an alliance with the Blood Cult.
If the Blood Cult Leader truly had achieved full mastery of the Blood Heaven Art under these circumstances, then an even greater danger had emerged in an already precarious war.
“But why would the Blood Cult Leader leave a message like this?”
“I don’t know either. This incident falls under your jurisdiction, so handle it and report it yourself. You can pretend I was never here.”
Baek So-cheon lightly jumped down from the roof.
Chung Yang called to him from above.
“I hate you.”
“I know.”
“If I get the opportunity, I’ll drive you out again.”
“I know that too.”
“Then why are you helping me? What scheme are you plotting?”
Baek So-cheon stopped walking and looked up at the roof.
“The Blood Cult Leader and the Cheokcheon Alliance Leader have joined forces. Do you think they did so because they’re friends? They joined hands because they intend to swallow the Central Plains whole. If even they can cooperate, what makes us so special that we cannot? If it means protecting the martial world, I can tolerate someone like you. So you should tolerate me as well.”
“...!”
This was the first time Chung Yang had ever had such a conversation with Baek So-cheon.
He had never imagined that Baek So-cheon thought this way.
Watching Baek So-cheon’s retreating back, Chung Yang spoke to Hwang Il-bi.
“I know you’re on that bastard’s side.”
“As I always tell you, Commander, that is a misunderstanding.”
Chung Yang accused him of this every time.
One would think that if he distrusted Hwang Il-bi so much, he would keep him at a distance.
Yet Chung Yang wanted Hwang Il-bi to serve as his right-hand man.
Hwang Il-bi could not understand the reasoning behind it.
It could not simply be because Chung Yang valued his abilities, since the Iron Sword Corps had many talented warriors.
Nor could it merely be jealousy toward Baek So-cheon, because Chung Yang treated Hwang Il-bi far too well for that.
“Report to the higher-ups that this was the Blood Cult Leader’s doing. Say that I discovered it.”
“Understood.”
“Listen, Unit Leader Hwang. I will never take Baek So-cheon’s side. In fact, I will make certain he is driven out of the Alliance. Remember that.”
“I understand you, Commander.”
“Why do you only say you understand? Why don’t you say you’ll help?”
“I will help you with all my strength.”
“I knew it. You’re on his side.”
Chung Yang leaped down first.
“You misunderstand!”
Hwang Il-bi jumped after him.
A short while after even they had departed, another figure descended onto the roof.
The stranger wore a black cloak that covered their entire body, a mask over their face, and a bamboo hat pulled low over their head.
It was impossible to tell whether the person was male or female, young or old.
Only the movement art they had used to land on the roof revealed that they had reached an extraordinary realm.
For a long time, the figure silently stared down at the characters written across the courtyard.
救天.
Save Heaven.