Chapter 150

After Flying Swallow left.
We faced off against the martial artists sent by the Sun Wheel Unit Commander behind Twin Phoenix Inn.

“What is the meaning of this!”

One of the martial artists raised his voice sternly.

“I am Bang Chil-seong, a Vice Commander of the Sun Wheel Unit. You dare obstruct the Sun Wheel Unit in the legitimate execution of its duties? Do you think you’ll get away with this?”

Apparently, he was one of the Sun Wheel Unit’s two Vice Commanders.
I chuckled.

“Legitimate duties? You were having a secret conversation with the person who just ran away.”
“Nonsense! The person you just allowed to escape is a traitor of the highest order. The Sun Wheel Unit secretly obtained information on their whereabouts and was attempting to arrest them, but your interference ruined everything. I don’t know who you are, but you’ll answer for this.”
“You’re the one talking nonsense.”

He was trying to establish that the culprit was a heinous traitor first, then use that to make themselves look innocent.
Did he think I wouldn’t see through it?
He must take everyone else for idiots.

“Guard Im, Unit Leader Ak.”
“Yes, Young Lord.”
“Say the word, Young Lord.”
“Subdue them all.”

No need for a long discussion.
The Sun Wheel Unit was hardly weak, but three of them were already down.
One to me, and two to Im Yeon and Ak Mu-jin.
Even if that weren’t the case, those two could neutralize this lot without much trouble.

“Everyone, draw your blades! Cut down anyone who stands in our way! Remember, anyone who shields a traitor is a traitor as well!”

Bang Chil-seong shouted.
The sophistry was so pathetic I couldn’t even laugh.
Not to be outdone, I shouted loudly.

“Strategist Yang!”
“We’re ready.”

Suddenly, martial artists from the Strategist Department appeared behind the Sun Wheel Unit.
I was inwardly impressed.
They were originally supposed to be behind me.
I had told them to lie in wait throughout the alleys.
Yet they had appeared behind the Sun Wheel Unit.
When had they moved over there?
Yang Woo-yeon, was it?
That was some good situational judgment.

“The Strategist Department has taken direct charge of this case. Know what that means? You’re finished.”

The Sun Wheel Unit members flinched.
That was natural.
Anyone with a head on their shoulders should have realized by now that something was wrong.
They couldn’t all belong to the Heaven Rebelling Society.
They may have been acting under orders from their Commander and Vice Commander, but they probably didn’t know the full circumstances.

The Vice Commander’s lips trembled.

“I don’t know who you are to have mobilized even the Strategist Department! I, Bang Chil-seong, will report you to the Demon Inquisition Court in the names of the Sun Wheel Unit and the Divine Cult!”
“Curious who I am? I’m this guy.”

I wiped the pigment from my face with my sleeve.
My bare face was revealed.
Bang Chil-seong’s mouth fell open.
He was the Vice Commander of an entire organization. There was no way he wouldn’t recognize my face.

“S-Seventh Young Lord?”

The Vice Commander’s face went pale.

“You said you’d report me to the Demon Inquisition Court, right? Go ahead. I was there a few months ago, actually. They gave me quite the welcome.”
“E-even Seventh Young Lord has no right to act like this!”

The Vice Commander stood his ground.
I ignored him and addressed the remaining Sun Wheel Unit members.

“Even if you don’t know the details, you can tell something serious is going on, right? If you don’t want to be treated like members of the Heaven Rebelling Society, choose. Want to fight, get beaten, and then get arrested? Or get arrested without the beating?”

Whether they belonged to the Heaven Rebelling Society or not, I needed all of them detained for now.
Every one of them could become a witness tying the Sun Wheel Unit Commander to the Heaven Rebelling Society.

“H-Heaven Rebelling Society? Us?”
“Vice Commander, what does Seventh Young Lord mean?”
“…….”

Bang Chil-seong clamped his mouth shut.
I was in front of them, and the Strategist Department was behind them.
He had realized there was no way out.

Clang, clang.
Sabers fell to the ground one after another.
I said to Strategist Yang,

“Take them all into custody.”
“Understood.”

The Strategist Department martial artists began binding the Sun Wheel Unit members one by one.

‘The Sun Wheel Unit is finished.’

Judging by the circumstances, the Vice Commander was almost certainly a Heaven Rebelling Society member.
The organization would undoubtedly be dissolved, and a bloodbath awaited its members.

Im Yeon approached.

“Young Lord, we let the person who posted the proclamations escape.”
“It’s fine. Since I’ve arranged a meeting.”
“A meeting?”

I quietly nodded.
Now I needed to prepare to meet the Flying Swallow.

Dragon-Severing Falls.
I had returned to the place haunted by the awful memories of climbing against the waterfall.
I had deliberately chosen this place to meet the Flying Swallow because of the terrain.
Standing beneath the falls, I surveyed the surroundings.

‘There are two ways in.’

The Flying Swallow would appear from one of them.
The same would apply if she fled.
I would naturally be blocking one route, so she would have no choice but to take the other as her escape route.
And Im Yeon, Ak Mu-jin, and several members of the Longevity Ten were hiding along that one.

I had prepared for contingencies as well.
What if she tried climbing against the waterfall like I had?
Simple. I had already stationed people above it too.

‘You’re not the only meticulous one.’

The Flying Swallow was a descendant of Shadowless Thousand-Hand.
The thief who had brazenly tried to rob the Demon Cult, only to be caught by the Heavenly Demon of that era.
Thousand-Li Roaming Body and the various other martial arts and skills that had been wrung out of him.
Several generations later, his descendant had come to the Demon Cult again in search of them.
Meticulous though she was, she was already retracing the same path I remembered from my previous life, the one where greed had ruined everything for her.

‘She’s here.’

While I was lost in thought, I sensed someone approaching from one of the two paths.
It was a slender man dressed in silk.

‘The Flying Swallow.’

I recognized her at a glance.
She no longer looked like the hulking man I had seen at Twin Phoenix Inn, but I already knew the Flying Swallow was skilled at disguises.
Complexion, facial structure, physique, voice.
She was a thief through and through, someone who had mastered every sort of trick for the sake of stealing.
That thief calmly addressed me while pretending to know nothing.

“Ahem, good sir. May I ask the way? Which road leads to the main base from here?”
“Why ask for directions? You found the right place already.”
“……Is it obvious?”

The Flying Swallow touched her face and hair.

“Didn’t you tell me to come alone?”

The Flying Swallow wasn’t alone.
She had three martial artists trailing behind her.
She snorted.

“I told you to come alone. I never said I would.”

Right. That was more like the Flying Swallow.
I had expected as much, which was why I had made preparations of my own.

The Flying Swallow spoke from a distance.

“Open your robe.”
“Interested in a man’s chest?”
“Open it so I can see what you’re hiding.”

She was worried I might be carrying weapons or hidden weapons.
Unless I proved otherwise, she probably wouldn’t come within a certain distance.

‘But this should change things.’

“Can’t do that. I’ve got something valuable in here.”

I tapped the front of my robe with a finger.
Without realizing it, the Flying Swallow craned her neck forward.

“Don’t tell me that’s the Thousand-Li Roaming Body manual?”
“Good guess.”
“Show me. I can’t have a serious discussion without seeing it first.”

I took out the Thousand-Li Roaming Body manual.
Desire flashed across the Flying Swallow’s face.

“Is that really Thousand-Li Roaming Body? You didn’t just slap the name on some random book, did you?”

The Flying Swallow narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
Desire was one thing, but she still intended to verify what needed verifying.
Without answering, I opened the manual and casually read out a random passage.

“The form follows the shadow, yet the shadow forgets the wind. Though one treads upon the earth, no trace remains. It is as though walking through empty air.”
“……!”
“Want me to read more?”
“Yeah! Read me about ten pages first, and I think I’ll be able to tell whether it’s genuine.”
“Dream on.”

I slipped the manual back into my robe.
The Flying Swallow stared after it longingly, her mouth hanging open.
Judging by that reaction, she was now convinced it was genuine.

“Seems like we have plenty to talk about now. Why don’t you come a little closer?”

The Flying Swallow nodded and approached to within about three meters.

“Where did you get that? My father, my grandfather, and generations before them searched everywhere for it, and none of us ever caught so much as a glimpse.”
“You don’t need to know. You wouldn’t know the place even if I told you.”
“Right. I don’t need to know. It’s right in front of me now, and that’s all that matters.”

The Flying Swallow nodded several times as though convincing herself.
Then her eyes suddenly narrowed.

“I looked into you before coming. You’re the Seventh Little Demon, right?”
“Yeah. That’s me.”
“What do you want?”
“Who wrote the proclamations, and where they are.”
“Aha. So the proclamations made you angry? I guess being the youngest disciple means you want your master to dote on you?”
“Dote on me?”

I nearly found myself speechless.
What would I even do with that from the Heavenly Demon?
Even if I did want it, my daily life wouldn’t change.
If anything, it might become even harder.
The more he cared, the more lovingly he would work me to the bone.

“I gave you one answer, so I get one in return. What are you doing with the Heaven Rebelling Society?”

I asked despite already knowing.
I wanted the Flying Swallow to realize the position she was in.

“I made a deal with the Heaven Rebelling Society Leader. If I did them a…… favor, they would give me what I wanted in return.”
“Not a favor. An errand. What, did they promise to find your ancestor’s legacy after you ran about ten errands for them?”
“……You know a lot. That’s right.”
“How many have you done by now? Three? Four?”
“…….”

Judging by her silence, I had guessed correctly.
I raised the corner of my mouth.

“You’ve still got a long way to go, then. You probably have to complete around ten in total.”
“How do you know so much?”

She sounded somewhat surprised.

“If you want to clean up filth, you first need to see where it is and how much of it there is. That’s how I learned a few things.”

It was a lie.

In my previous life, when the Heaven Rebelling Society began making serious moves,
Falling Thunder Powder exploded all over the place, causing massive casualties.
The Demon Cult mobilized a massive force to wipe out the Heaven Rebelling Society, and during that operation, a female thief was captured.
That thief was the Flying Swallow.

Several things about her came to light then.
That she was a descendant of Shadowless Thousand-Hand.
That the Heaven Rebelling Society had promised to find her ancestor’s legacy if she accumulated enough merit for them.

Gal So-ye persuaded her.
If she cooperated in bringing down the Heaven Rebelling Society, Gal So-ye promised that she would return the manuals left by Shadowless Thousand-Hand that were kept in the library.
From that day onward, the Flying Swallow became a parrot that said only what Gal So-ye wanted to hear.
One day that parrot named the Hundred-Succession Heuk Family. Another day, the Radiant Moon Jin Family.
The names of other organizations with formidable forces followed one after another.

To survive and obtain the manual, the Flying Swallow testified exactly as she was told.
As a result, countless people were executed, while the faction loyal to the Heavenly Demon, led by Gal So-ye, grew immensely powerful.

And what happened to the Flying Swallow?

‘Used up and thrown away, of course.’

Gal So-ye had never intended to let the Flying Swallow live.
Like a flower stripped of its nectar and tossed aside, she was drained of everything useful and locked away in the underground prison.

The Flying Swallow was certainly meticulous and cautious.
But in the end, all she did was get used by the Heaven Rebelling Society and Gal So-ye.
Because greed had blinded her.

“You actually believe the Heaven Rebelling Society will keep its promise?”

I asked the Flying Swallow.

Her expression wavered slightly.
I thought she must have been worried deep down, but that wasn’t it.

“You’ve never met the Heaven Rebelling Society Leader, have you?”

I tilted my head.
Why was she suddenly asking whether I had met the Society Leader?

“Never.”
“That’s why you can ask something like that. That man, no, the Leader is…… not human.”
“What do you mean?”
“That…… I can’t tell you. Either way, the Leader won’t break a promise.”

Fear. Awe. Terror.
The emotions usually directed toward the Heavenly Demon seemed to saturate her entire body.

‘The Heaven Rebelling Society Leader.’

Even in my previous life, the Leader’s identity had never been revealed.
There had been one rumor that the Leader suddenly vanished one day, but that was all.
If even the Flying Swallow, who had boldly scaled the Demon Cult’s walls, feared the Leader this much, then this was no ordinary person.

‘Well, that doesn’t matter right now.’

“There are two things I want to know. Where the Heaven Rebelling Society’s base is, and where the person who wrote the proclamations is. You know both, right?”

The Flying Swallow’s eyes gleamed.
The fear vanished from her face, replaced by a smile.

“Of course I do. I can tell you that much easily. But you knooow……”
“What?”
“I’m still not suuuure that Thousand-Li Roaming Body is genuuine.”

What was this?
Was she actually trying to act cute?

“…….”

Instinctive revulsion welled up inside me.
A sugary voice and coy, swaying gestures.
She was acting cute.
That kind of cuteness from someone with the face and build of a rough-looking man, of all things.

“……Didn’t you already confirm that it was genuine?”
“You wouldn’t read me ten more pages, so I’m still confuuused. I think I’d be sure if you read a little mooore.”
“Keep dreaming.”
“I like how determined you are to make a proper deal too, Seventh Young Lord. Sooo, to sum it up, I confirm for myself that Thousand-Li Roaming Body is genuine, and then I give you the Heaven Rebelling Society information. Riiight?”
“You get it if your information is accurate. You could just make up whatever you want, after all.”
“No waaay. I know who wrote the proclamations, you knooow.”

I froze without meaning to.
She knew the very thing I wanted to know most.

“……Who?”
“I can’t say it out loud. The one who wrote them iiis……”

The Flying Swallow approached as though she intended to whisper in my ear.
Paang!
In the next instant, she kicked hard off the ground, her hand shooting toward the front of my robe with incredible speed.

“Haa.”

A sigh escaped me.
I had suspected she might do something like this, and sure enough, she did.

‘So the thief wants to settle this by stealing it?’

Tak.
I slapped the Flying Swallow’s hand aside.
Her eyebrow twitched, apparently from the pain.

Her other hand came next.
This one was faster and more cunning, nearly slipping inside my robe.
I knocked it away again.

The Flying Swallow didn’t stop.
Her hands poured down like rain.
Block one, and two more came. Block two, and three followed.

Tatatatatak!
I knocked them aside one after another, inwardly impressed.
So this was what the hands of a thief descended from the Divine Thief could do.
There wasn’t much power behind them, but the skill itself was extraordinary.

“What the hell are you?! Did you learn how to steal too? Why are your hands so fast?”
“I’ve lived as a beggar, but I’ve never been a thief. But you know……”

Pak!
I slapped the Flying Swallow’s hand away harder than before.

“Something just occurred to me.”
“What?”
“You should still be able to talk with one or two limbs missing.”
“……You’re joking, right?”

Suddenly, I became curious.
How effective would the Six Extremes Demon King Step be against a master of movement arts?

“I’m serious.”

I settled into a proper stance.