The Terrifying Cheon-geum Domain (4)

“To think you really survived the Bottomless Prison……. I did hold some hope, thinking perhaps it might be possible, but I never thought you would truly survive.”

A moment later, Sohee regained her composure, but her eyes were still full of astonishment.

“I did not show myself to hear such words. If what you are spouting is nonsense, then I will have no choice but to kill you.”

Neung Je-gang’s expression and words were cold.

Sohee stood up. Then she continued speaking without even looking at Neung Je-gang. Because Neung Je-gang had acted so coldly, her feelings had turned crooked.

“Follow me. Ah, put this back properly.”

Sohee pointed at the stone altar. She meant for him to move it back to its original position.

“Why?”

“Do you want them to find out that you escaped the Bottomless Prison?”

Since she went so far as to say that, it truly did not seem to be a trap.

But he did not trust her. People could change at any time and in any way.

Ggggrrr

In the end, Neung Je-gang used his internal energy to push the stone altar. Unlike how it had seemed from below, the rock was unexpectedly light. It was a phenomenon caused by the increase in his internal energy.

‘If I had known this would happen, I should have just pushed it up instead of worrying.’

The fact that he had agonized over it made him feel foolish.

Sohee calmly led him to the Kunlun Taoist Temple. The Kunlun Taoists they occasionally encountered hurriedly greeted her and passed by, but none regarded Neung Je-gang as suspicious. There was no one who knew his face.

Sohee entered a room and sat in a large chair. Neung Je-gang also sat facing her. Now it was time to hear whatever she had to say.

“I am a person of the Central Plains.”

‘Who said you weren’t?’

Neung Je-gang did not open his mouth. But in his heart, he was preparing a crooked reply.

“That is why, even here, I have been ostracized in ways both visible and invisible. It was something I did not realize before.”

‘Considering what you do, it is only right that you be ostracized.’

“The Mountain Lord…… Ah, by Mountain Lord, I mean my master.”

“Deung Gak?”

Only then did Neung Je-gang open his mouth.

“So you knew. That’s right. He also has the name Deung Gak. But the world calls him by the name Kunlun Record Keeper. In any case, the Mountain Lord’s goal is to found a new nation. The construction of a new empire made up of Tibetans and Mongols.”

Only then did Neung Je-gang show a little interest. Her story matched the facts he had heard from Dam Ja-cheon. That meant it was not a lie yet.

“The Mountain Lord gathered believers under the name Taepyeong Church in order to use the people of the Central Plains as slaves. And I stood at the vanguard of that.”

“So?”

“How strange. Are you not surprised by what I am saying?”

“It is all something I already know.”

Neung Je-gang spoke apathetically. So far, there has been no gain from listening to her story.

As he listened to her, Neung Je-gang also observed the movements outside. So far, there was no sign that Sohee was plotting or setting a trap. Perhaps she really was being ostracized, because no one approached this area.

“Is that so? Then this will be easier to explain. In the two months after you fell into the Bottomless Prison, the Central Plains and Kunlun began a war.”

“……Wa, wait!”

“What is it? Just when I was about to say something important.”

Sohee snapped in irritation. But Neung Je-gang ignored Sohee’s reaction and said what he wanted to say.

“Two months? What do you mean?”

He could not help it. The time of two months did not exist in his memory.

“What? Are you…… insane? You do not even know that two months have passed since you entered the Bottomless Prison? Wait, now that I think about it, that is strange. How did you survive inside there for two months? Was there food in the Bottomless Prison?”

Now Sohee tilted her head as if she found it even stranger.

But her words did not enter Neung Je-gang’s ears. He was now forming one hypothesis about his missing two months.

‘Surely it did not take me two months to climb the wall……. Then does that mean I was absorbed in Breathing Cultivation for two months?’

That was the only time when he could have forgotten the flow of time. No matter how much he thought about it, he could find no other reason. Unless the bottom of the Bottomless Prison was a space where time flowed slowly.

“Hey!”

Startled

Because Sohee shouted, Neung Je-gang returned to reality. Sohee’s face was full of irritation.

“Ah, please speak.”

At Neung Je-gang’s reaction, Sohee gave off an atmosphere as if she might hit him. But she endured it and continued speaking.

“Anyway, the Central Plains martial world and Kunlun are now at war. But this war will not end so easily.”

“How do you know? The difference in strength between Kunlun and the Central Plains martial world should be severe.”

“Hohoho! Did I not already tell you? He intends to use the people of the Central Plains as slaves. As many as two million believers of Taepyeong Church have entered Cheonghae. They are the ones fighting the Central Plains martial world. Kunlun has suffered no damage at all.”

“You mean he made people who are not even martial artists into sword fodder?”

Neung Je-gang was shocked. To think they would use such a method.

“It seems you finally understand what I am saying. But that is not the real issue. The Mountain Lord had already expected that such a war would occur.”

“Anyone with that kind of ambition could have expected it.”

“That is right. So the Mountain Lord created something called the Cheon-geum Domain.”

“Cheon-geum Domain? Is that perhaps the same kind of thing as the Bronze Command or Hyeonok Territory?”

“It is not the same. Cheon-geum Domain was created first, and the others came later. But Cheon-geum Domain is not a military force.”

“Then what is it?”

“The Taepyeong Pavilion I operated was part of the Cheon-geum Domain. My junior sister, whom you made disappear in Jiangxi Province, was also part of the Cheon-geum Domain.”

“Ah, you mean that Fox?”

“The Cheon-geum Domain can be called a kind of intelligence organization and a special assassination organization.”

“Assassination organization?”

Neung Je-gang suddenly recalled those who had died by his hand at U-gak Hobong. They had used typical assassin martial arts. Naturally, when assassination was mentioned, they were the ones who came to mind.

But Sohee’s next words revealed that his thought was wrong.

“The Cheon-geum Domain is made up entirely of women.”

“Women?”

Neung Je-gang expressed doubt. He wondered what form an assassination organization composed only of women would have taken.

But there was no need to think about it. Sohee answered that question as well.

“They are disguised as the concubines, wives, daughters, or maidservants of important figures in the Central Plains martial world and government offices. No, that is not right. It would be more accurate to say that only women with such identities were accepted into the Cheon-geum Domain. Do you understand what this means?”

“Spirit-Command Mind-Seal Technique!”

Neung Je-gang suddenly shouted. If they had harbored ambition for such a long time, it was not at all impossible.

“It is not the Spirit-Command Mind-Seal Technique. As you have seen, that turns people into something like lost-soul beings. If one is just a little cautious, it can be noticed. But the women of the Cheon-geum Domain show no sign of that at all. That is because what was used on them is the Spirit-Command Soul-Washing Great Art.”

“Spirit-Command Soul-Washing Great Art?”

Neung Je-gang’s complexion twisted. Just hearing it, washing the soul sounded more dangerous than a mind-seal engraved on the heart.

“Women caught by the Spirit-Command Soul-Washing Great Art show no change at all in ordinary times. They are still loving wives, concubines, and daughters. But once they receive the Mountain Lord’s order, they turn into terrifying assassins. To the point that they can kill even their husbands or fathers without the slightest hesitation.”

“How could that be……!”

“The number of women that my junior sister and I made into assets of the Cheon-geum Domain exceeds five hundred. Before long, the Mountain Lord will use them. The Central Plains martial world is certain to fall into chaos. Even if the assassinations fail, the fact that it will fall into chaos does not change. There is no one who would not be stunned before the reality that his wife, daughter, or mother tried to kill him. Moreover, there will be absolutely no trace that they were instigated by someone else…….”

“……!”

There was nothing he could say. If Sohee’s words were true, then no martial artist in the Central Plains could guarantee his own safety.

“Why are you telling me this? Why do you want to inform the Central Plains of such a fact? You are also a disciple of Kunlun and a person of Taepyeong Church.”

Neung Je-gang had now returned to the fundamental question.

The information Sohee had given him was tremendous. If they learned of that fact, they could reduce the damage somehow. There were not many ways to kill experts who were prepared in advance.

It was impossible for there to be no conditions attached to revealing such important information. Whatever Sohee wanted, it would certainly not be light.

Grit

Suddenly, Sohee ground her teeth. Two streams of hot tears flowed down her face.

“The reason I am telling you this is to kill the fake Mountain Lord. I cannot forgive that bastard.”

If it was the fake Mountain Lord, that meant Deung Gak’s incarnation.

“Do you mean Deung Myeong?”

Neung Je-gang asked.

“Deung Myeong?”

Sohee looked at Neung Je-gang while crying, as if wondering what he meant.

Looking at her expression, Neung Je-gang thought it might not be a lie. This woman truly did not know. As she had said earlier, she might really have been ostracized.

“Deung Myeong is Deung Gak’s grandson. Right now, he has transformed into Deung Gak, who supposedly underwent Reverse Aging.”

Neung Je-gang explained simply. A strange scene unfolded in which Neung Je-gang was informing Sohee about the internal affairs of the Necromancer Cult.

“……He is not simply a fake, but the Mountain Lord’s grandson?”

Sohee seemed even more shocked.

“The Mountain Lord has a grandson? He is a Taoist.”

“You did not know? The current Deung Gak is Deung Myeong, the grandson. As for Deung Gak, I do not know whether he is hiding somewhere or dead……. Anyway, what is your reason for asking me to kill him?”

At Neung Je-gang’s question, Sohee’s crying, which had stopped in surprise, broke out again.

Drip

Tears flowed down once more.

“I do not know if you will believe me, but I was a body that did not know men. I mean I was a virgin. I thought that the only person who could have me was Senior Brother Hwangbo.”

It was not an easy story to believe, but since she said that was the case, there was no reason to deny it.

“I lived thinking that someday I would marry Senior Brother Hwangbo. Come to think of it, the one who broke that dream was you.”

Neung Je-gang’s heart stung. He had always felt sorry because he had won against Hwangbo Chu through luck.

“After he died, I lost my dream. At first, I dreamed of revenge against you, but now I do not even have that. That bastard, that bastard did…… to me…….”

There was no need to hear the rest. It must mean that Deung Myeong had not simply passed by after seeing Sohee’s seductive figure.

“How do I look to you now?”

“What……?”

It was an abrupt question. Did she not know perfectly well how she looked? She was nothing more and nothing less than a wicked woman.

“I am in a state of having been caught by the Spirit-Command Soul-Washing Great Art. I had been caught by it since childhood, when I entered Kunlun as the Mountain Lord’s disciple. I have lived as a puppet like that. Without even knowing it, I lived for the Mountain Lord and Kunlun.”

“Ah……!”

It was a shocking statement. To think he would do such a thing even to his disciple.

Sohee continued her story.

“When I received Deung Myeong’s summons, I could not resist at all. There was no restraint placed on me, yet I could not use martial arts, and I had to do as he ordered. Even though something in my head was screaming that something was wrong, I had to entrust my body to his hands. Only later did I realize it. That my state was exactly the same as being caught by the Spirit-Command Soul-Washing Great Art…… Hngh!”

Neung Je-gang could not comfort her. He simply watched silently.

After crying for a long while, Sohee suddenly raised her head and shouted.

“Kill Deung Myeong. If you promise to kill that bastard, I will tell you another secret.”

“I will kill him.”

Neung Je-gang promised.

“Soon, the Martial Alliance Leader will die. When that incident happens, the Cheon-geum Domain will be activated. The death of the Martial Alliance Leader will be the signal that activates the Cheon-geum Domain.”

Boom

Perhaps even the heavens had not known that, because thunder rumbled in a clear sky. It was an extremely bold plan, and also a plan that one could only fall victim to if one did not know about it.

Even if the Necromancer Cult did not kill the Martial Alliance Leader, the problem would remain. People die someday. The Martial Alliance Leader, too, was bound to die as time passed. And the moment the news of his death became known in the Central Plains, the latent Cheon-geum Domain would activate.

Neung Je-gang stiffened for a while after hearing something too tremendous.