Guanyin Hall (3)

Once the top masters were down, the rest had no choice but to collapse in disorder.

With Elder Gyeoljin of Emei joining in—and Bi Sayoung, Jeong-yeon, and Lady Jeong-an as well—some thirty Blood Cultists were soon either killed or forced to surrender.

But even though the battle had ended in victory, the mood was grim.

Three of the ten Emei disciples had already died.

The Emei disciples, faces clouded, had to gather their fallen sisters’ bodies.

And Elder Gyeoljin’s attitude as the one in charge was… deeply off.

She suddenly turned on Lady Jeong-hye.

Jeong-hye was Jeong-an’s direct fellow disciple—and the very lady Bi Sayoung had first saved.

“Jeong-hye! All of this happened because of your rashness! Three died because of you!”

Gritting her teeth as if wronged, Jeong-hye finally bowed her head and said,

“…I am sorry.”

“Do you think ‘sorry’ makes it end?! How are you going to take responsibility for all of this?! Once we return to the mountain, I will report to the Sect Leader and ensure your crime is punished to the fullest!”

At that, Jeong-an stepped forward after hearing from the others and said,

“Elder! How is any of this Senior Sister Jeong-hye’s fault?! The point of this investigation team was to reveal whether they were Blood Cultists, and it was thanks to Senior Sister Jeong-hye that we exposed them! If not for her, we would have had no idea—”

But Elder Gyeoljin cut her off and snapped,

“Silence! Jeong-an! And you too, Jeong-yeon! You left with Jeong-in without the sect’s permission and caused this mess! When we return, expect heavy punishment!”

Elder Gyeoljin lashed out like a wildcat, but Lady Jeong-an didn’t wilt in the slightest.

She raised her voice even more.

“We’ll accept the punishment for leaving without permission! But didn’t that happen because the Sect Leader refused to properly investigate despite repeated kidnappings of women?! Even while women are being abducted by Blood Cultists in Emei’s territory—”

Elder Gyeoljin finally exploded, screaming like a banshee.

“Shut your mouth, you wretch! How dare you bring up internal affairs in front of outsiders! Are you mad?!”

While she raged, I traded secret voice transmissions with Jeong-yeon and got a sense of things.

It looked like she wanted to pin her own responsibility on Jeong-hye.

That such a person was a confidante of Emei’s Sect Leader was… something.

When I’d only heard Jeong-yeon’s account, I’d wondered if Emei could really have fallen that far—but seeing this with my own eyes made it feel painfully real.

Unable to watch any longer, Hwa Yeong-bin sighed and stepped in.

“What’s most important now is rescuing Lady Jeong-in before anything else happens. Let’s find her first.”

Elder Gyeoljin answered with a face full of anger.

“Disciple Hwa, even if you are the Qingcheng Eccentric Immortal’s disciple, it is discourteous to meddle in Emei’s internal matters, is it not?”

At her barbed reply, Hwa Yeong-bin forced a calm smile and soothed her.

“I would never presume to interfere in Emei’s internal affairs. I was merely concerned for Lady Jeong-in’s safety as an Emei disciple.”

But Elder Gyeoljin clearly wasn’t about to let it go.

After glaring sharply at him, she suddenly smirked and asked,

“Why are you so concerned about Jeong-in, Disciple Hwa? Trying to forget Jeong Seon and start a new romance, are you? You pretend to be a pure-hearted hero, but perhaps you’re quite the gallant rake, ohoho!”

She must have thought herself witty, but the words stepped over a line Hwa Yeong-bin could not abide.

His face went glacial as he slowly released his pressure and asked again,

“…What did you just say, Elder?”

Elder Gyeoljin’s smirk froze rigid under the towering aura rising right before her eyes.

A fallen junior elder of Emei had no way to bear the force of a man on the verge of super-pinnacle.

She swallowed hard and said,

“D-Disciple Hwa, how dare you, toward our Emei—”

At that moment, Bi Sayoung and I walked up to the Blood Cult leader whose arms we’d severed and asked,

“Hey. Where did you stash the women?”

Judging the situation, we figured grilling him would be more productive than trying to stop that argument.

As expected, not only Hwa Yeong-bin and Elder Gyeoljin but everyone else turned their eyes to us.

At our question, the fiend bared his teeth in a poisoned grin.

“Heh-heheheh, what a stupid question. You sent a visitation notice from Emei—did you think we’d just keep the women here? We moved them all yesterday. Heh-heh.”

“…What? A visitation notice?”

We stared at the Emei party in disbelief.

Jeong-hye was looking at Elder Gyeoljin with eyes full of reproach.

Elder Gyeoljin, face flushing red, coughed twice and averted her eyes. We could guess the rest.

Then blunt-as-ever Bi Sayoung spoke up.

“Oh-ho? This demon’s lying through his rotten teeth. You expect us to believe anyone would send a visitation notice before investigating Blood Cultists? Who’d do that unless their brain had fallen out? Want to try answering properly?!”

Elder Gyeoljin’s face turned the color of a burst pomegranate.

I barely held in a laugh and tapped his arm to calm him.

“Hey, Sayoung.”

He snapped back, indignant.

“What? He’s spouting nonsense! Who sends a visitation card before an investigation? That’s just openly tipping them off—unless you’re a Blood Cult mole, why would you?! Isn’t that right?”

Then—astonishingly—he turned and looked Elder Gyeoljin dead in the eye.

“Isn’t that right, Elder Gyeoljin?! Spreading a ridiculous lie that stains Emei’s honor—I’m the one getting angry here!”

For a beat, Elder Gyeoljin just opened and closed her mouth, unable to answer.

Finally, wringing out her voice, she asked,

“W-who exactly are you? From what sect do you two disciples come that you—”

Asking that now—affiliations and banners?

I could guess her aim.

To press us under Emei’s authority.

So I gave her a thin smile and answered first.

“Us? We’re just passing knights-errant. We were chasing Blood Cultists, crossed paths by chance, and rescued Ladies Jeong-yeon and Jeong-an. We have reasons not to reveal our identities; we ask your understanding.”

With no identity to grasp, there was nothing to crush with “prestige.” Her face twisted.

She looked ready to burst—and wheeled to vent it at Jeong-an and Jeong-yeon.

“How dare you be rescued by unknown outsiders! You have brought shame on Emei—”

Bi Sayoung quickly cut her off.

“Ah, and just now we also saved your life from those Blood fiends, Elder. You didn’t offer thanks, so I worried you’d forgotten. No need to thank us if it’s difficult.”

“Y-you…”

Her words stuck again.

Since we had saved her too, she could hardly cry “sect honor.”

Jeong-yeon and Jeong-hye kept their faces steady with effort.

Jeong-an alone burst into a bright laugh.

“Ahahaha!”

She was as fearless as Bi Sayoung; the two were oddly well-matched.

Elder Gyeoljin, stung, rounded on Jeong-an with dagger eyes—but Hwa Yeong-bin cut in first.

“If the purpose wasn’t to obstruct a real investigation, then perhaps we should start finding the women now?”

“W-what did you say?!”

She glared at him again, but after what had just happened, he clearly wasn’t inclined to treat her gently.

His cold stare and menacing pressure made her flinch and fall silent.

After that, we ransacked Guanyin Hall.

But, as the fiend had said, we found nothing inside.

They had likely moved everyone to the Righteous Chivalry Guild.

Hwa Yeong-bin asked me,

“If they moved them only recently, we might be able to strike the Guild right away. What do you think?”

“Hm…”

If we only considered Lady Jeong-in’s safety, that was the right call.

But with our numbers, assaulting the Guild’s main base was likelier folly.

So I asked him in return,

“What size and timing do you expect from Qingcheng’s reinforcements?”

His face dimmed slightly.

“Numbers are no worry—at least twenty lower-pinnacle masters. But the timing… even rushing, not today or tomorrow. And if the Sect Head dislikes my master’s ‘event,’ it could be much later. Qingcheng’s inner politics are noisy—not as bad as Emei, but still. So… you ask because you think we can’t do this alone.”

I sighed and nodded at his on-the-mark read.

“Yes. Frankly I do. If they moved the captives due to Emei’s advance notice, they’ll have tightened security far beyond normal.”

He exhaled a heavy breath.

“True. But we can’t drag this out, can we? A tiny delay could decide Lady Jeong-in’s life—”

Just then, we sensed a group approaching and turned to look.

Soon, a company came into view.

About thirty women—Emei disciples.

Recognizing them, Elder Gyeoljin cried out in delight,

“Sect Leader, Senior Sister!”

They were the Emei Sect Leader, Elder Gyeolhan, and her close attendants.

An arrival we had not expected.

Running up, Elder Gyeoljin reported to Sect Leader Gyeolhan—who asked what had happened—that Guanyin Hall had been Blood Cult, and the women had likely already been moved to the Righteous Chivalry Guild.

She’d been blaming Jeong-hye for the deaths a moment ago—yet, at least for now, she didn’t bring that up.

Probably because mentioning it would bring up the fact she’d sent a visitation card and given them time to move the captives.

Plain as day.

We didn’t bring it up either.

This was not the time.

After hearing Elder Gyeoljin’s account, Sect Leader Gyeolhan nodded and said,

“So, the Guild was a Blood Cult den. Just as I expected. Good work, Junior Sister Gyeoljin. I hurried here in case of mishap; I am glad you are safe.”

Elder Gyeoljin’s face turned a touch awkward; she bowed.

“Thank you for your concern, Sect Leader, Senior Sister. Your insight is truly beyond compare.”

Odd words.

If you only heard that exchange, you’d think Sect Leader Gyeolhan had suspected the Guild from the start.

Completely different from what we’d heard before—and from what Jeong-hye had told us moments ago.

I sent Jeong-yeon a secret transmission.

— Lady, who are the people with the Sect Leader? Are your masters here?

— No. All of them are the Sect Leader’s confidantes.

Mm. I see.

I could guess the situation.

After a brief word with Elder Gyeoljin, Sect Leader Gyeolhan flicked a glance at Hwa Yeong-bin and us, then turned a fearsome look on Jeong-an and Jeong-yeon.

“You dared leave the sect without permission and cause this uproar—I will not overlook it! Steel yourselves! If we find Jeong-in, she too will receive severe punishment!”

I sent Jeong-yeon another whisper, laying out my guess.

She gave the faintest smile, then spoke politely.

“We deserve punishment for leaving without permission. But wasn’t it because we exposed the Blood Cult’s presence and the Guild’s identity that the Martial Alliance has moved? I believe that merit offsets our fault.”

“…What?”

“The Martial Alliance, Sect Leader. Did you not also move upon receiving the Alliance’s message?”

Sect Leader Gyeolhan didn’t answer right away.

Since she’d long been pro-Guild—even reportedly taking tribute from them—her sudden change had one obvious cause.

She must have been contacted by the Alliance—likely because Elder Sag reported in.

Having been told by the Alliance she prized most that the Guild she’d cozied up to was a Blood Cult den, she’d have panicked.

If it came to light that she’d taken their tribute, the damage to her would be fatal.

So she had rushed with only her loyalists, planning to strike the Guild first—

To show the world she had no ties to them, and to silence the Guild’s mouth.

Thus the need to keep anyone but her followers away.

Jeong-yeon pressed further.

“Did the message not reach you? We asked the Alliance operative to notify Emei as well. Strange. We should inquire with him again…”

Sect Leader Gyeolhan blurted out, flustered,

“No! The Alliance did contact me! But… you say you made separate contact with them?”

“Yes. Not us, but we met an Alliance operative on covert duty. He said we’d rendered great service.”

“I… I see. And where is this operative?”

As she asked, her gaze slid to us—testing whether we were that man.

Following my cue, Jeong-yeon shook her head.

“He is investigating the Guild. He said he would also look into whether its fiends had ties with other sects.”

“D-did he?”

At the words ties with other sects, the color drained from Sect Leader Gyeolhan’s face.

She had imagined something… unkind.

Good. We’d planted urgency. Now to make her act.

I sent Hwa Yeong-bin a whisper.

He glanced at me, smiled faintly, and addressed the Sect Leader.

“We were debating whether to rush the Guild to rescue Lady Jeong-in. We must be swift—but with our strength, it might be reckless. What will you do, Elder Sister Sect Leader?”

As if waiting for it, Sect Leader Gyeolhan answered at once.

“How could we hesitate to save a disciple of our own sect?! We go to the Guild now! And as this is Emei’s affair, we will no longer accept aid from outsiders!”

In short: Don’t follow us.

Hwa Yeong-bin asked, regretful,

“I see. Still, since it involves Blood Cult fiends, would it not be better to take even our small help?”

A reasonable point—but the Sect Leader’s expression hardened.

“Are you looking down on Emei’s strength—saying it is no longer what it was? That we cannot chastise the Guild ourselves?”

“N-not at all. I would never.”

“Then say no more.”

She hammered it in, then turned to the disciples behind her.

“We will now go to the Guild, defeat the Blood fiends, and rescue Jeong-in! Time is life—move at your utmost!”

“Yes, Sect Leader!”

Then she addressed the earlier investigation party.

“Junior Sister Gyeoljin, you will come with me. The other disciples will be led back to the mountain by Jeong-hye. Jeong-yeon and Jeong-an, you two will also go back with them. If you defy orders again, expect severe discipline!”

“Yes, Sect Leader.”

With that, Sect Leader Gyeolhan led the company away from Guanyin Hall.

She seemed very pressed for time.

After they left, Hwa Yeong-bin came to me and asked,

“Just as you planned. What now?”

I gathered my thoughts and said,

“First, we get ourselves some information.”