Geom Mugeuk examined the cross-section of the severed stone lantern.
Up close, the cut was not as smooth as he had expected. And yet, a smile formed on Geom Mugeuk’s lips.
‘The Bicheon Sword Art is trying to go beyond nine-tenths mastery.’
It was like the final period of confusion that came just before reaching Great Completion. It was a natural phenomenon that usually occurred in those who had advanced their martial arts too quickly; if they failed to reach Great Completion in this state, most ended up regressing below their original level. In this way, martial arts tested warriors through all sorts of methods.
Geom Mugeuk believed in Ian. He knew well how much blood, sweat, and effort she had poured in for this result. Ian’s efforts would never betray her.
Next, he examined the bloodstains on the floor.
‘Ian was angry.’
She had cut down those who attacked her without mercy. With Ian’s personality, she would never commit unnecessary slaughter, so they must have been people who deserved to die.
As Geom Mugeuk looked around, studying the traces left behind and the bloodstains, he pictured that day’s battle in his mind. It was possible because his martial realm was so high, and because he knew Ian’s swordsmanship better than anyone.
He imagined them rushing at her from every direction to kill her, and Ian drawing her sword and cutting them down. The imagined blood sprayed by the falling enemies landed precisely upon the bloodstains left in reality, merging with them.
Geom Mugeuk moved, following Ian’s movements exactly.
“She cut down two here, then stabbed the one charging from this side. Turned back, blocked an attack, then stabbed the heart.”
When Ian turned her head, she saw those who were about to throw hidden weapons.
As she unleashed sword energy, the ones about to throw the hidden weapons fell, and even the tree and stone lantern behind them were cut through. The stone lantern in Geom Mugeuk’s imagination merged with the stone lantern now lying on the ground.
The Drunken Demon was amazed by Geom Mugeuk’s explanation. He too could roughly guess what had happened, but to reconstruct the scene so precisely?
Geom Mugeuk slowly entered the building.
The interior was empty. There were traces of fighting there as well. Bloodstains remained here and there along the corridor floor.
When they finally arrived at the main hall, Geom Mugeuk said,
“The last fight happened here. She cut down the two who blocked her path. She deflected the hidden weapon that flew from behind that pillar and eliminated the person standing here.”
Geom Mugeuk walked slowly inward.
“She faced the leader here.”
Geom Mugeuk quietly examined the area around the chair.
“She didn’t kill him. The fact that she didn’t kill him means she was trying to find something out from him. In other words, the man here wasn’t her final target. There’s probably trouble at one of the major sects around the North Sea. We’ll have to find that place.”
Though he was implying that the problem had grown even larger, Geom Mugeuk did not seem particularly worried.
“Aren’t you worried?”
“About whom? Ian? Or her opponent?”
After joking like that, Geom Mugeuk revealed his true thoughts.
“I would’ve been worried if she’d gotten caught up in something vague. If there hadn’t been any particular traces here, I’d have been more worried instead. But right now, I can feel a clear objective. Ian is moving according to a plan.”
The Drunken Demon shook his head with an expression that said, I admit defeat. Geom Mugeuk was certainly different.
And was it only today? He had experienced this uniqueness many times on the journey here, which was why the time he spent with Geom Mugeuk was so interesting and enjoyable. Was that why? He even felt a strange sense of stability.
He used to feel this stability when they drank together at Chimong Pavilion, but now that they had left the cult, he understood exactly what that feeling was.
Normally, he should have been a Demon Sovereign on high alert, responsible for the Young Cult Leader’s safety, but instead, he felt as though he were the one being protected. It felt like traveling comfortably with a close younger brother. Yes, Geom Mugeuk turned this perilous journey through the jianghu into a trip.
Following Geom Mugeuk as he strode out, the Drunken Demon shouted,
“You were there that day too, weren’t you? You saw everything, didn’t you? And now you’re acting all impressive about it, right?”
* * *
When the Black Fan Gang Leader, Zhou Kui, came to his senses, he was in a place like a dark warehouse. His immobilizing acupoint had been sealed, so he could not move at all. Fortunately, his mute acupoint had not been sealed, so he could still speak.
‘Why am I...?’
Then he suddenly remembered.
‘Ah! I was kidnapped, wasn’t I?’
He could not believe he had been kidnapped. A woman wearing a bamboo hat had stormed into the manor, cut down his subordinates in an instant, and subdued him.
Because she had been wearing even a veil with the bamboo hat, he had not been able to confirm her face. No, even if she had not worn the veil, her movements had been so fast that he likely would not have seen her face anyway.
If killing him had not been her purpose, she should have at least asked him something. But the woman had asked nothing, merely subdued him and thrown him here.
‘What is this about?’
He had committed so many evil deeds in his life that he could not guess which grudge this was about. What mattered now was that, in any case, he had survived.
‘You shouldn’t have left me alive. I’ll make you understand just who you dared to touch.’
He had reliable backing. In particular, he was currently carrying out an important matter with one party. Once they learned that his manor had been attacked, they would release experts to find him.
The Northern Blood Sect.
The Northern Blood Sect was one of the Three Great Powers of the North Sea. Among them, the North Sea Ice Palace boasted by far the most overwhelming strength, while the remaining two, the Northern Blood Sect and the Ice Sword Sect, stood as rivals on equal footing.
The three factions were both friends and enemies; internally, they fought for supremacy, but when pressure came from the Central Plains, they joined hands and became friends.
In particular, the Northern Blood Sect was a gathering place for warriors of cruel and ferocious temperament, a place even the North Sea Ice Palace did not touch recklessly.
The person Zhou Kui had joined hands with was Yang Zhong, the second son of the Northern Blood Sect Master.
‘Before you even try to touch Yang Zhong, your own head will fall first, wench.’
He believed Yang Zhong would soon come to save him. To Yang Zhong, he was a business partner who absolutely had to be rescued. For Yang Zhong, the second son, to become the successor of the Northern Blood Sect, he had to make this venture succeed.
It was right then.
“Uuugh.”
A groan came from beside him. Startled, he turned his head and saw someone sitting in a chair a short distance away. It had been dark, he could not use his internal energy, and on top of that, he had been focused on the fact that he had been captured, so he had not realized someone else was there with him.
Zhou Kui carefully examined the other person. The outline of the person’s face emerged.
“Hrk!”
After confirming who it was, Zhou Kui let out a short scream.
“Young Master Yang!”
Astonishingly, it was Yang Zhong. It would have been wonderful if he had come to rescue him, but he too had been captured and brought here.
How can you, the one who’s supposed to save me, be captured here?
“Come to your senses! Young Master Yang!”
Only after he shouted several times did Yang Zhong wake from sleep.
“Zhou Kui! How dare you!”
He misunderstood, thinking Zhou Kui had captured him. He had just come to his senses, and the surroundings were dark, so he had only recognized Zhou Kui’s voice.
“You misunderstand! I was captured too.”
To avoid an unnecessary misunderstanding, Zhou Kui shouted.
In response to the silence of distrust, Zhou Kui spoke quickly.
“The person who kidnapped Young Master Yang was a woman wearing a bamboo hat, wasn’t she?”
At the words “a woman wearing a bamboo hat,” Yang Zhong recalled the one who had kidnapped him.
That was right. It had been a woman wearing a bamboo hat. The woman had subdued his escort warriors in an instant, and her movements had been so fast that he had not been able to tell what method she used. He had not even properly seen her face.
“Then you too?”
“My manor was wiped out.”
Yang Zhong did not guess who was behind this. He was certain.
“It was my elder brother. This is definitely his doing.”
There was no one here in the North Sea who would dare touch him. If he had to name exceptions, they would be the North Sea Ice Palace and the Ice Sword Sect.
If it were the North Sea Ice Palace, they would not need to kidnap him in this manner to achieve what they wanted. A single sentence telling him to come to the North Sea Ice Palace by a certain date would have been enough for him to obey. Above all, kidnapping was not their way.
The possibility of the Ice Sword Sect was also slim. They were the ones who had joined hands with them to keep the North Sea Ice Palace in check. Their relationship was like teeth and lips. Both sides knew well that without the lips, the teeth would be cold.
But Zhou Kui seemed doubtful that the one who had done this was the eldest young master of the Northern Blood Sect.
“He would know very well that if Young Master Yang were kidnapped, he himself would be suspected immediately. I don’t think he would do something like this. Besides, I’ve never heard of a female expert like that under the eldest young master.”
“Then who on earth do you think did this?”
After pondering for a moment, Zhou Kui lowered his voice and spoke in secret.
“There is the matter you and I are carrying out, young master, is there not?”
Yang Zhong’s expression hardened. There was indeed a matter he had been carrying out in partnership with Zhou Kui. If they had been captured together, it occurred to him that it might be because of that matter.
“No matter who did this, we’ll be released soon. The sect will know that I’ve been kidnapped and will have begun searching. And we also have Huang Chu.”
Zhou Kui knew well of Huang Chu. He was Yang Zhong’s right hand and an expert in tracking arts. Not only was he skilled in tracking, but his martial ability was also outstanding, so when something like this happened, Huang Chu would step forward and resolve it.
“We can trust Hero Huang.”
“So do not worry. They’ll soon learn that leaving us alive was a grave mistake. Once I get out of here later, I’ll flay every bone from that wench while she’s still alive.”
It was right then that a groan came from behind them, as if someone had awakened from sleep.
Startled by the fact that there was yet another person there, the two turned around. It felt as though someone were hiding in the darkness, waking them one by one at perfectly timed moments.
As anxiety surged in, Zhou Kui pleaded inwardly.
‘Surely not? It can’t be, right? Please!’
By now, the two had grown accustomed to the darkness. Their shock immediately turned into a sigh.
The person leaning against the wall in the rear corner, his immobilizing acupoint sealed, was none other than Huang Chu.
Seeing that he had been captured here, it seemed he had been searching for them. Though that was precisely the problem.
Then who’s supposed to find you?
* * *
Geom Mugeuk and the Drunken Demon were sitting in a tavern in a village of the North Sea where many people came and went. The two had moved here from the first village where the manor had been. It was because they predicted that the next incident would surely happen in this region where the major sects were located.
Sure enough, they were able to hear the news they wanted here. Many people were talking about it.
“They say the second young master of the Northern Blood Sect has gone missing.”
“I heard too. Apparently, the Northern Blood Sect has been turned upside down because of it.”
Geom Mugeuk and the Drunken Demon listened to their conversation from a short distance away.
Pouring wine into Geom Mugeuk’s cup, the Drunken Demon said,
“To take on the Northern Blood Sect alone. She really has guts, doesn’t she?”
Both Geom Mugeuk and the Drunken Demon knew of the Northern Blood Sect. It was one of the three representative powers of the North Sea, after all.
“Ian takes after me, so she’s fearless.”
“What on earth is going on for her to even kidnap the bloodline of the Northern Blood Sect?”
“Maybe she wanted to make her first journey through the jianghu a proper one.”
The Drunken Demon sipped his wine and asked with interest,
“So? Are you just going to watch like this?”
Now that she had touched the bloodline of the Northern Blood Sect Master, they would not simply let this matter pass. In terms of the number of experts and their overall scale, they were absolutely not an opponent to be taken lightly.
“For now.”
Even so, he intended to watch how she handled it. He knew better than anyone just how important this experience was.
Ian, how will you resolve this?
Just then, the people on the street began to stir.
“They’re experts from the Ice Palace!”
Looking outside, they saw warriors dressed in white walking toward them from afar.
The North Sea Ice Palace.
They were said to be the foremost among the mysterious forces of the murim. They belonged neither to the orthodox, unorthodox, nor demonic factions, and had walked their own independent path. The fact that they had not fallen throughout that long history proved their strength.
The aura emitted by the Ice Palace warriors was clear and cold.
In particular, the young woman at the very front showed what cold beauty truly was. Geom Mugeuk knew who she was.
Han Xue, the only daughter of the North Sea Ice Palace Lord.
She was said to have inherited the merciless temperament of the current Ice Palace Lord. It was said that she had never opened her heart to anyone in her life. Rumor had it that she trusted no one in the world, not even her own parents. All rumors related to her were this fierce and cold.
Behind her followed more than ten experts. Every one of them was an Ice Palace expert who exuded an extraordinary presence.
As they walked, drawing everyone’s gaze, they stopped in front of the tavern.
They had been walking toward the tavern from the very beginning. After leaving her subordinates waiting outside, Han Xue entered the tavern alone.
When she entered, the guests lowered their heads and did not even make a sound as they breathed. With each step she took, a chill settled over the room.
Han Xue stopped before Geom Mugeuk. Whether her nature was as the rumors said, he could not know, but at least one thing was certain. If the phrase “cold charm” existed, it was surely meant for her.
Gazing at Geom Mugeuk with clear, cold eyes, Han Xue spoke instead of offering a greeting.
“Young Cult Leader, how about a cup of ice wine with me?”