The Trap (1)

Neung Je-gang, who was making many people worry, fortunately or unfortunately did not run into the caravan that had taught him the wrong road again. And before long, he had already slipped into the foothills of Kunlun.

At night, he began to act. On Mount Kunlun, there were more than eighty scattered Taoist temples alone, and as many as seventy-two villages where civilians lived. Among them, he had no idea where Dam Yeo-yeong and Dam Ja-cheon were living.

After several days and nights of peeking around other people’s houses, Neung Je-gang finally saw Dam Yeo-yeong in a modest house located on the outskirts of one village. Though she had changed with the flow of time, he could recognize her at a glance.

“Heh heh! There is no need to grant the Investigation Unit Chief’s request.”

Dam Yeo-yeong’s belly was swollen. It was clear to anyone that she was pregnant. So there was no need to ask what Go Won-gi had asked him to ask. It was because one could not conceive a child without sharing a bed.

Neung Je-gang withdrew after merely noting the house.

When day broke the next day, Neung Je-gang went to Dam Yeo-yeong’s house.

“Is anyone here?”

He looked around. It was strange. Shingae and Go Won-gi had said that Dam Yeo-yeong was under the protection of the Kunlun Sect, but he could find no sign of anyone hiding, protecting her, or watching her.

‘Did they misunderstand something?’

It seemed that Shingae and Go Won-gi might have misunderstood something. He also could not understand why she was living outside like this when she had married the Kunlun Record Keeper.

If she had married someone of that level, he had thought she would live not lavishly, perhaps, but at least wealthily. But Dam Yeo-yeong, with her swollen belly, was personally pulling weeds from the vegetable garden.

“Who is it?”

Dam Yeo-yeong answered with dirt on her hands and came outside without any suspicion. There was no suspicious sign about her anywhere.

“Who are you?”

Dam Yeo-yeong saw the sword hanging at Neung Je-gang’s waist and hesitated, stepping back.

“I am sorry, but I came looking for someone, and I wanted to ask whether you might know him.”

“Ah, yes, is that so? Who…?”

“Do you perhaps know a man named Dam Ja-cheon, who used to live near Seon-yeong?”

“Gasp!”

Dam Yeo-yeong’s complexion changed completely. She looked around, then hurriedly shook her head.

“I do not know.”

Then she slammed the door shut and went inside.

Neung Je-gang was left standing there alone.

“Somehow, it feels as if I have become the bad guy.”

It had turned into him tormenting a pregnant woman. That had not been his intention, but it was not as though he could wait until she gave birth.

“Since I have already become the bad guy, should I just barge in?”

Neung Je-gang had that thought as well, but he decided to endure it one more time.

“Let me come again in the evening.”

He withdrew again. He had no intention of causing a commotion. In any case, this place was under Kunlun’s shadow. Nothing good would come from causing trouble.

Night came again.

Neung Je-gang went to Dam Yeo-yeong’s house. He secretly climbed over the wall and entered, and when he observed Dam Yeo-yeong, she still could not hide her unease and was biting her nails.

〔I am not trying to harm you, so do not be alarmed.〕

“Gasp!”

Dam Yeo-yeong was startled by the sudden sound transmission and looked around. But there was no one in the room except her.

Neung Je-gang continued sending her sound transmissions. It was something she would have to go through at least once anyway.

〔I know that your name is Dam Yeo-yeong.〕

Dam Yeo-yeong raised her hands and covered her ears.

“No. My name is Ban Ga-ryeong.”

She covered her ears and shouted that she was Ban Ga-ryeong.

〔Do you remember the name Neung Je-gwon? Can you say that you are Ban Ga-ryeong before his family and the villagers of that village as well?〕

“Huuuh!”

Dam Yeo-yeong completely froze. It was the name and the incident from that day that she had not remembered—no, that she had deliberately tried not to remember, and that she had struggled to forget.

“Huheuk, huheuk!”

〔Are you really Dam Yeo-yeong?〕

“Huheuk! Yes. I am Dam Yeo-yeong. No, I am not. I am Ban Ga-ryeong. I am Ban Ga-ryeong.”

She now lost her senses, going back and forth.

〔I did not come here to harm you. I merely came because I have something to ask.〕

“Huheuheuk!”

〔It is enough for me to know who the murderer was that day. I will not inflict any harm on you.〕

“I do not know. I have not seen them since that day either.”

〔Do not lie. You and your father knew them. That was why you hurriedly tried to marry Neung Je-gwon, was it not?〕

“No. I really do not know. I knew nothing. Everything was my father’s doing. I only did as Father told me. Huheuheuk!”

Dam Yeo-yeong sobbed loudly and continued to insist to the end that she did not know.

Neung Je-gang became troubled. If Dam Yeo-yeong truly did not know, that would put him in a difficult position.

〔Where is your father?〕

“My father? Father is…? Ah, I do not know. Where is Father? Have you seen my father? Father, where are you? Ah…!”

Thud.

Dam Yeo-yeong suffered in anguish and then collapsed limply.

Neung Je-gang quickly rushed inside and probed through her mind. There was one method that caused symptoms similar to hers, was there not? The secret art of the Necromancer Cult, the Spirit-Command Mind-Seal Technique.

“It is there.”

As expected, he could feel the rough sensation of a foreign object inside her mind. An extremely tiny golden needle had been embedded in her head.

It was clear that it had been made so that if she tried to recall anything about her father, she would lose consciousness.

“I really cannot understand this. Why is the Necromancer Cult’s Spirit-Command Mind-Seal Technique appearing in this woman? What connection is there…? And just where is Dam Ja-cheon that they made her unable to remember him? Even after finding Dam Yeo-yeong, there is nothing I can learn. Damn it!”

He stood up. He concluded that Dam Yeo-yeong truly did not know. If so, he had to find Dam Ja-cheon, but he had no clue.

Neung Je-gang left Dam Yeo-yeong’s house and hid himself in the darkness.

“Wait. Shingae clearly said he had seen Dam Yeo-yeong and her father together. Then he may also be somewhere here in Kunlun. Where is a place beyond Dam Yeo-yeong’s sight? Another village? Or the Kunlun Temple?”

Thought followed thought, one after another. But there was a limit to what he could learn by guessing alone.

“First, let me find out what can be confirmed. Starting with why Dam Yeo-yeong, who is said to have married Kunlun Record Keeper, is living alone in a village like this. In any case, it seems there is some secret here in Kunlun.”

Neung Je-gang looked at the faintly visible lights far away on the mountain. There stood Kunlun, a sacred site of Taoism and one of the Nine Great Sects of the martial world.

People often think of the Nine Great Sects as fortresses with walls of iron and bronze. But that is a mistaken thought. Aside from two or three of the Nine Great Sects, most of them were almost entirely Buddhist temples or Taoist temples.

In places related to faith like that, unless it was an extremely deep inner area, all people were free to enter and leave. Only if people visited could they receive offerings and donations, could they not?

When one looked into it, monks and Taoists were all doing it to make a living, so if they could not see people, they were likely to starve to death.

Neung Je-gang first entered the Kunlun Temple in broad daylight in order to roughly examine the geography. The Taoists seemed wary of his sword, but when he offered incense and made a donation, they quickly lowered their guard. As expected, Taoists did not dislike money either.

When Neung Je-gang roughly inspected the basic structure with his eyes and left Kunlun, there were eyes watching him.

They were none other than Kunlun Record Keeper and Kunlun’s Sect Leader, Jeong Hoe-ja.

“He visited her?”

“Yes.”

“How is her condition?”

“She lost consciousness, but fortunately, they say there is nothing wrong with her.”

“He is a lucky fellow. Of all times, he visited when I was not there.”

“What will you do? It seems he asked about Dam Ja-cheon. Are you planning to send him back like this?”

“There is no way we can. Starting tonight, release the guard. It seems Secret Shadow will come walking in on his own.”

“Understood.”

“Dam Ja-cheon is still alive, yes?”

“Yes.”

“Make him regain his senses. Let us hear what he says when he meets Secret Shadow. Prepare the mechanisms of the Heart-Cleansing Cave and the Bottomless Prison so they can be activated at any time, and make preparations so that the moment Secret Shadow enters the Heart-Cleansing Cave, Jieun Territory will guard its entrance.”

“Yes, understood. If Jieun Territory blocks the entrance, he will absolutely be unable to escape.”

“Do not let your guard down until the moment Secret Shadow enters the Bottomless Prison. And have the followers begun moving?”

Because Neung Je-gang’s figure had completely disappeared from view, the two continued their conversation as they entered the hall.

“Yes, in order to show the people of the Central Plains the sight of them moving all at once, the followers from Jiangsu Province and Zhejiang Province have begun moving first. As they pass through each province, they will join with the followers of that province.”

“How many will there be?”

“I do not know the exact number, but it seems there will be roughly two million.”

“Haha, two million? You are saying two million people of the Ming Empire will become our slaves?”

“That is correct.”

“What about the food?”

“Some of the food has arrived, and it will continue to arrive from now on as well. But there is a problem…”

“What problem?”

“It seems there will not be enough places for the followers to arrive and stay.”

“Followers, you say. Since everything has been revealed anyway, call them slaves from now on. And are there not villages prepared to house the slaves?”

“Those villages cannot accommodate all two million slaves.”

Jeong Hoe-ja changed the word followers to slaves.

“Hmm…! Then what should we do?”

“I think we should send some of them elsewhere.”

“Elsewhere?”

“I think it would be good to send some to Seon-yeong. In any case, to come from the Central Plains, they must pass through that place, so will that not become the first battlefield later?”

“You mean we should leave some there since they will have to move again later anyway?”

“Yes.”

“Do that. Seon-yeong is also our land that we must protect. Then let us leave there those who can be raised as warriors and train them.”

“There will be friction with Seon-yeong’s government troops.”

“They are people who must be driven out anyway. Those who can be spirit-commanded, spirit-command them, and if not, kill them all or drive them out. There is no longer any need to avoid or hide.”

They were words that revealed a cruelty impossible to call that of a Taoist figure.

“Understood.”

“Sect Leader!”

“Yes?”

“This is where it begins. Do not worry too much. Ah, and did you make contact with the north?”

“We did. They said that the moment Ming turns its military forces this way, they will strike down from above.”

“Although they are your kin, Sect Leader, remember that we must discard them for the sake of our goal. We are different from them. Later, we may have to fight them as well.”

“I know.”

“Then I will go down to her, so contact me when Secret Shadow enters the Heart-Cleansing Cave.”

“Understood.”

Kunlun Record Keeper slowly walked down while listening to Jeong Hoe-ja’s answer.