Things Going Awry (2)

At those words, the top experts of the Righteous Chivalry Guild replied with startled faces.

“The Hangsan Sect in Shanxi Province?!”

The Hangsan Sect, along with Emei in Sichuan and Sword Pavilion in Zhejiang, was one of only three nun-led sects in the martial world.

It was also famous for having martial arts that were the direct antithesis of the Blood Cult’s techniques.

Heo Gyeong answered.

“Yes. As you all know, the Hangsan Sect’s martial arts are the natural counter to the Blood Cult’s arts. Therefore, I propose here and now that you allow Lady Yeon-hae to confirm that you are not Blood Cultists.”

At that sudden proposal, the Righteous Chivalry Guild experts were so taken aback that they could not answer for a moment.

They too had heard that one could distinguish Blood Cultists by using the Hangsan Sect’s internal energy.

But for someone claiming to have inherited the Hangsan Sect’s true legacy to appear out of nowhere and offer to test them—it was far too sudden.

Of course, the claim that Hae Cheong-yeon had inherited Hangsan’s full legacy was a lie.

However, because she was a woman and possessed such a mysterious appearance, even to the Righteous Chivalry Guild warriors the story sounded oddly convincing.

Then one of the Guild’s experts asked in a suspicious tone.

“How are we to trust you, Sect Leader Heo?! For all we know, this could be a ploy to brand us as demonic warlords of the Blood Cult!”

But Heo Gyeong merely answered with a relaxed smile.

This too was a line from the script Hae Cheong-yeon had written for him.

“Accuse you? And why, pray tell, would I go to such trouble?”

At his incredulous counterquestion, the Righteous Chivalry Guild warriors were the ones left flustered.

“You seem to be mistaken still. The Righteous Chivalry Guild we once fought no longer exists. The Guild’s main hall has already been taken by Qingcheng and the Tang Clan, and as for you—you are now known throughout the martial world simply as henchmen of the Blood Cult.”

At that, one of the Guild’s experts shouted in fury.

“We are not henchmen of the Blood Cult!”

Heo Gyeong replied calmly.

“I wish to believe that as well. Do you not understand? I have come here to give you a chance to prove that. I, who fought you to the death, am offering to prove that you are not Blood Cultists.”

For a moment, silence filled the conference hall.

The Righteous Chivalry Guild experts could now all see it clearly.

There was no surer way to prove their innocence than to have their former enemy, Heo Gyeong, personally confirm it.

His proposal held no loss for them whatsoever.

Then another asked Heo Gyeong.

“Could this not be simple revenge? What if you pretend to examine us and suddenly attack?”

Heo Gyeong gave a short, derisive laugh.

“Can you not count how many people we have brought? Six. Just six. Surely you are not afraid that these six might somehow harm you?”

He was right.

Even inside the conference room, the Guild held the advantage in top-tier experts, and more importantly, with over a thousand warriors waiting outside, trying such a trick would be nothing short of suicide.

The Righteous Chivalry experts had nothing left to question.

Just as Heo Gyeong had said, there was simply no downside for them.

Then someone asked in a weary voice.

“Why give us such a chance, Sect Leader Heo? Regardless of whether it was a Blood Cult scheme, it is still true that you lost your own younger brother.”

Heo Gyeong answered through gritted teeth, his voice thick with hatred.

“Indeed. I lost my brother. And because of that, I came here. Because I will never forgive the Blood Cult bastards who took him from me!”

Then he swept the Guild’s experts with a fearsome gaze and spoke.

“I swear this: if any Blood Cult scum is found among you present here today, I will tear that wretch limb from limb.”

Though he was following Hae Cheong-yeon’s script, the sincerity in his voice was more than enough to convince the Righteous Chivalry Guild warriors.

The Guild’s experts nodded.

They felt they could fully understand his words.

And from their perspective, it was more than enough that his hatred was being directed solely at the Blood Cult.

With no further objections raised, Heo Gyeong opened his mouth again.

“Very well. Then let Lady Yeon-hae here examine each of you in turn—”

That was when it happened.

Two of the Guild’s experts, who had been subtly exchanging glances, suddenly leaped into motion like lightning.

Fwip!

“Uh?!”

“Brother Jang?!”

“What are you—?!”

Everyone stared at them in shock at the sudden movement. But it was all so abrupt that no one could stop them.

At least, none of the Righteous Chivalry Guild experts could.

Swoosh!

Thud!

“Graaagh!”

Like a bolt of light, a spear flew and pierced the back of one of the fleeing experts, driving him deep into the wall.

It was the throw of Chang Hyuk—Seol Pung—the Second Eagle Sibling, Reborn Zhao Yun, who had been standing silently behind Heo Gyeong.

He had been waiting from the very start for someone to make such a move.

The moment he released the spear, Seol Pung did not even check where it landed before he sprang forward like a beast.

Moving with astonishing speed, he seized the ankle of the other expert just as the man crashed through a window and tried to escape outside.

Crunch!

“Arghhh!”

It was just as the man screamed in agony from his shattered ankle.

Dragged back into the conference hall before he even knew what was happening, he found his acupoints sealed and his body flung onto the floor.

Thud!

“Ghk?!”

The Guild experts were struck speechless.

The attempted flight of comrades they had lived alongside was shocking enough, but the movement Seol Pung had displayed in that brief instant was simply beyond their comprehension.

Only Heo Gyeong, who had already seen Seol Pung’s true skill, gave a fierce grin as he looked down at the captured Blood Cultists.

“Thank you for your efforts, Great Hero Chang. So, you’ve finally shown your true colors, you mongrel curs of the Blood Cult!”

That day, Heo Gyeong succeeded in wiping out all the Blood Cult elements that had remained within the Righteous Chivalry Guild.

Thereafter, the surviving remnants of the Guild thanked Heo Gyeong and disbanded.

Heo Gyeong was satisfied.

Just as Hae Cheong-yeon had promised, the remaining Guild forces would not be allowed to regroup into a new power that could threaten the Mountain Sword Sect.

Back at the Mountain Sword Sect, in a secluded room, Hae Cheong-yeon read the letter Sag Muhun had sent and frowned slightly, sinking into thought.

The matter of the women who had been held captive by the Giant Demon was something even she could not do anything about.

It would be nice if Seonu Jin had already prepared some countermeasures, but even for him, she doubted he would have anything special up his sleeve.

What was more, leaving that aside, the fame of the Eagle Five Siblings had grown far larger than she had initially expected.

Once Zhuge Jigang began properly investigating this incident, there was no way he would simply let them go.

It probably would not take him long to discover that the Eagle Five Siblings, said to be from Zhejiang, in fact had no connection to Zhejiang at all.

Letting out a small sigh, she murmured.

“I need to get back to Father as soon as possible…”

While they had been out in the field, her father, Sword Saint Hae Unbaek, had apparently taken control of almost the entire front line.

So, if she wanted to slip out of Zhuge Jigang’s line of sight, the best choice was to hurry back to the front.

The front line, once a land of death, had now become the safest place for them.

But there was one problem.

Namely, Seonu Jin and Bi Sayoung.

The rumors had not spread much, but it went without saying that they had played a big role in the fall of the Righteous Chivalry Guild.

And yet, even though several days had passed since the Guild’s collapse, they still had not returned.

Even Hae Cheong-yeon, who had come to firmly believe that a man like Seonu Jin would not go down easily, now found herself worrying.

‘I should have made sure we had some way of contacting each other…’

Biting her lip in belated regret, she blamed herself.

It had been a mistake not to foresee that they might be separated and acting apart for so long.

At the very least, if she had been able to tell him that the Guild Master was actually Masked Demon Lord Sa Won-yang…

Hae Cheong-yeon, who normally could not understand why people tormented themselves with pointless, ominous imaginings, now found herself sighing at the dark possibilities crowding her own mind.

What if, not knowing that the Guild Master was Sa Won-yang, he had charged in recklessly?

What if, through some misfortune, he had been gravely injured and left unable to move?

What if he… had already gone somewhere he could never return from?

Unable to control her racing thoughts, Hae Cheong-yeon pressed a hand to her forehead.

“What ridiculous nonsense…”

She could not have felt more pathetic.

To be caught in such irrational, time-wasting thoughts.

She forced herself to judge the situation as coolly as she could.

‘The odds that Young Master Seonu or Young Master Bi ran into trouble are… fine, not that low. It’s entirely possible.’

Her heart seemed to plummet at that conclusion, but she somehow steadied herself.

Then she clenched her teeth and pushed her thinking further.

‘Even if something has happened to them, we can’t stay here for long. With the possibility that a Martial Alliance investigation team might come down, we have to leave at the latest by tomorrow.’

Having reached that conclusion, Hae Cheong-yeon suddenly clutched at her chest as pain stabbed through her.

Her heart simply could not accept the cold decision her head had reached.

Her chest ached and tightened so badly it was hard even to breathe.

“Haa… haa… huu…”

After steadying herself with a few deep breaths, Hae Cheong-yeon let out a helpless little laugh.

‘Am I really… this bad?’

It was absurd.

She had thought it was no more than a slightly heightened curiosity.

Hae Cheong-yeon decided to leave the room.

She could no longer remain inside.

She wanted to breathe fresh air.

When she stepped into the Mountain Sword Sect’s training yard, the squad members who had gathered there saw her and called out.

“Big Sis! Over here!”

“Come on over, my lady! We were just betting on what those two idiots are doing that makes them so late!”

From the looks of their bright faces, they had indeed been gambling on the reason for the pair’s tardiness.

Hae Cheong-yeon felt oddly exasperated.

‘I don’t even know who’s more pathetic—these squad members who don’t seem to think at all, or me, who trusts him less than they do…!’

While she was thinking that, she suddenly started and cried out.

“Young Master Seonu?!”

Her startled shout made the other squad members jump as well.

They all turned their heads at once—and there they saw Seonu Jin and Bi Sayoung vaulting over the wall.

The squad members’ faces lit up as they shouted.

“Jin! Sayoung!”

“Lord Bi! Young Master Seonu!”

“You bastards! Why’re you so late?! We’ve been waiting, you know!”

“We were really worried!”

Everyone rushed over, surrounding the two men and shouting.

Seonu Jin and Bi Sayoung answered their overflowing joy with bright smiles of their own.

“Sorry we’re late, Captain, everyone. We had a few things to check. Nothing happened to anyone, right?”

“I wanted to come back quickly. But Jin here kept dragging things out.”

Hae Cheong-yeon, too, ran toward them wearing a radiant expression she had never shown before.

But just before she reached them, something she saw made her stop in her tracks.

The brightness on her face slowly faded.

“Hm? What’s this about? Young Master Seonu, don’t tell me you were charming the ladies over there too?”

“What? Seriously? You kept us waiting like this because you were flirting with girls?”

“Heh heh, why wouldn’t he? The looks that the Emei ladies were sending Jin were so longing, I felt sorry just watching from the side.”

“Whaaat! Is that true?! That’s awful! Enemy of all women!”

“Oh ho? So that’s how you’re going to play it, Sayoung? In that case, I’ve got plenty I could say too.”

“Uh! N-no, I didn’t mean it like that—!”

Hae Cheong-yeon had stopped a short distance away and merely watched them.

Watched Seonu Jin talking and laughing with the squad members as happily as ever, even without her.

And watched how his gaze, every so often, slipped carefully toward Na Seoyu.

Hae Cheong-yeon could see it.

How the look that had once been directed toward Captain Seol Pung now turned toward Na Seoyu instead.

He did glance briefly at the other squad members and at her as well—yet in the end, the place where his eyes lingered the longest was always on Na Seoyu.

Watching that careful and gentle gaze, Hae Cheong-yeon felt, for some reason, as if she might burst into tears.