The carriage kept racing onward.
There was no leisure to admire the scenery. Trees and flowers whose names she did not know flashed past, and the smell of dust pricked at the tip of her nose.
They said the tail was still on them, but even so, Chohui’s heart was more at ease than at first.
Because she could feel that when he had said he would take her to the Master of Cheonhwaru even if the entire Murim tried to stop him, he had meant it. After all, she was better than anyone at seeing through a man’s lies.
Her gaze flicked toward Geom Mugeuk, who was driving the carriage.
The more she looked at him, the more extraordinary he seemed.
‘Just what sort of story does he have with the Tower Master?’
She was curious about the relationship between this man and her master.
Just then, Geom Mugeuk abruptly spoke.
“They must be getting impatient.”
“Pardon?”
At that instant, Chohui’s body flew into the air. Geom Mugeuk had wrapped an arm around her waist and leapt upward.
Suddenly carried into the air by Geom Mugeuk, Chohui could not gather her wits. The sound of hidden weapons slicing past rang by her ears.
Swish, swish, swish, swish, swish!
Sounds of something embedding itself.
Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud!
Masked men, sky, trees, and earth flashed through her vision.
Shwaaaaaak!
It was her first time hearing the sound of sword qi being released from a blade. And from this close, no less.
Thump.
When she came to her senses, she was sitting in the carriage, which had somehow come to a stop.
Turning her head, she saw masked men collapsed all around them. She had not seen how they died. Everything had simply happened and ended in an instant.
Geom Mugeuk was crouched down, examining their corpses.
As she was about to get down from the carriage, Geom Mugeuk spoke without looking back.
“Be careful when you get off. They’re coated in poison.”
As if to prove that what had just happened had not been a dream, several hidden weapons with blue-gleaming edges were stuck into the side of the carriage.
When she thought that dozens of such terrifying things had flown through the air, and that she and the Young Cult Leader had flown between them, her heart sank belatedly.
Afraid for no reason that her foot might slip as she climbed down and she might cut herself on a hidden weapon, she sat back down.
“This time, they hired assassins.”
Geom Mugeuk had already recognized them as assassins from the movements they used to attack him. Even so, he examined the corpses to find out where they were from. But he could not find a single trace.
“The one trying to kill you is thoroughly concealing his identity.”
First they had hired wandering blades, and now assassins. The Chillo Pursuit Killers had been the same, but these assassins were also highly skilled.
If they had the wealth to hire people of this caliber, they should have reliable experts of their own. Yet they were trying to settle matters by borrowing blades from outside. And by using people who were almost impossible to trace.
After he had finished examining all the corpses, Geom Mugeuk returned to the carriage.
Chohui could understand that the reason Geom Mugeuk was leaving the tail alive was to draw out information about the other side.
‘Wouldn’t it be better to kill the one following us, avoid the attacks, and arrive even a little sooner?’
The thought came to her, but she did not ask. Since she had entrusted everything to Geom Mugeuk, she had to believe in him. Even if she did not know what it was that he believed in.
Before getting into the carriage, Geom Mugeuk extended his hand, and the hidden weapons embedded in the carriage pulled themselves free. Geom Mugeuk buried the poison-coated weapons deep in the ground.
It was another moment in which Chohui discovered something extraordinary about him. An ordinary martial artist would have simply pulled them out and tossed them aside. But he was worried that if he left them on a road like this, someone who picked them up unknowingly might die.
The feeling that this was not hypocrisy confused her. After all, the other party was the Young Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult.
“Thank you for saving me.”
Chohui bowed her head and expressed her gratitude politely.
“Think nothing of it. Then we’ll be off.”
He could have easily made some half-joking show of taking credit, but Geom Mugeuk simply began driving the carriage again.
Chohui quietly stared at Geom Mugeuk, then took a deep breath and steadied herself. She never knew when she might suddenly fly into the sky again.
The second ambush took place two nights later.
Chohui was sleeping beside the campfire.
How long had she slept?
Without knowing why she had woken, she opened her eyes. And she was startled.
Blood was dripping down onto her body. Before her eyes was a masked man. His dagger was aimed at her throat.
And Geom Mugeuk’s sword had reached first, buried in his heart.
Geom Mugeuk pushed the man’s body aside, making it collapse next to her.
“He was an assassin with remarkable concealment and infiltration skills.”
Geom Mugeuk examined the corpse. He tried to find out which organization had sent him, but the assassin had not a single tattoo or scar on his body.
She bowed her head politely.
“You’ve saved me again.”
What had saved her was the Heavenly Demon Body-Protecting Art. No matter how faint the presence, it could not deceive the Heavenly Demon Body-Protecting Art that had reached great completion.
“You must be awake now, but sleep some more.”
Geom Mugeuk buried the assassin’s corpse.
Chohui could tell. Geom Mugeuk had not buried the bodies of their enemies before, and the reason he was burying this one today was for her sake. He could not have her sleep beside a corpse.
After sitting for a while and staring at the campfire, she brought up something she had never spoken of before.
“The Tower Master created an intelligence organization within Cheonhwaru. It is a pleasure house and, at the same time, an intelligence organization.”
When people became drunk, all sorts of words spilled out. In that respect, there was no place better than a pleasure house for drawing out information about the Murim.
“Of course, not all courtesans handle information. The courtesans who deal with intelligence are called Secret Flowers. I am also a Secret Flower.”
It was a secret she revealed as a sign that she now trusted him, the Young Cult Leader. She had resolved herself greatly before disclosing it, but Geom Mugeuk’s reaction was unexpectedly calm.
“Did you perhaps already know?”
At her question, Geom Mugeuk nodded. He had already known. He knew that the Master of Cheonhwaru had been gathering information about the Murim for Geukak Soma. He had simply not known the specific detail that they were called Secret Flowers.
Now she could be certain. This Young Cult Leader truly had a deep connection to Cheonhwaru.
“Go to sleep. We’ll leave early tomorrow.”
“Yes.”
A short while later, lying with her back turned, she asked,
“The Tower Master will be all right, won’t she?”
Since they were so persistently trying to kill her, she suddenly worried for the Master of Cheonhwaru’s safety. Of course, there were experts protecting the Tower Master, but what if an assassin as skilled as the one from earlier went after her?
She had expected him to say she would be fine, but Geom Mugeuk’s answer came like a bolt from the blue.
“They will probably try to kill the Tower Master as well. They may already have tried.”
Chohui shot upright in surprise.
“Do you truly think so?”
Geom Mugeuk nodded.
“If they cannot kill the person trying to deliver the information, would they not simply kill the person meant to receive it?”
“!”
For a moment, Chohui turned pale and could not say a word.
Then she cried out loudly.
“Please go quickly and save the Tower Master!”
She was usually calm by nature, but when her master’s safety was at stake, she became agitated. As Geom Mugeuk guessed it, she valued the Tower Master more than her own life.
“Please! Please go and save the Tower Master! You said you were close enough to take me to her even if the entire Murim tried to stop you!”
Compared to her, Geom Mugeuk remained calm.
“That’s right. I did.”
“Then please go at once! If it’s because of me, don’t worry. I’ll hide somewhere and wait. Please go quickly and save her.”
Only then did Geom Mugeuk reveal why he had been so calm.
“You do not need to worry. I have already made preparations.”
“Preparations?”
Her startled eyes trembled.
“She is that precious to me. Do you think I would have simply left her be? I am not such an optimistic person.”
If he had not prepared a countermeasure, he would have carried her on his back and run with swift footwork.
“The day I heard that you were trying to meet the Master of Cheonhwaru, I immediately sent an urgent message. So we need only focus on our own task.”
“To whom?”
Geom Mugeuk looked at her and smiled meaningfully.
“There is someone. Someone I always miss, no matter where they are or what they are doing.”
* * *
A group of martial artists arrived at the main headquarters of Cheonhwaru in Guizhou.
Their movements were nimble. Just as one could tell from their lightness skill alone that their martial ability was far from ordinary, their cold eyes revealed their cruel dispositions.
They were the ones known to be the most merciless among wandering blades.
They were the commissioned mercenary group made up of former assassins, the Gwisaldae.
True to their origins as assassins, they had not a shred of hesitation when killing people. They were cold-blooded men who would cut down a child if a child stood in their way, and cut down parents if parents stood in their way. They were called Gwisal, Ghost Killers, because it was said that if you paid them, they would even kill a ghost for you.
If the Chillo Pursuit Killers occupied the dark side among wandering blades who chased people down, then among wandering blades who killed people for hire, the Gwisaldae held that place.
The man standing before them was the commander who led the Ghost Killers. Said to have succeeded in all fifty assassinations he carried out during his days as an assassin, he was a man at the very top in both skill and cruelty.
“Kill them all, courtesans and guests alike! Do not let a single one leave alive!”
Even at their commander’s order, the Ghost Killers did not emit the slightest trace of killing intent. Nor did they look as though they were looking forward to the slaughter that was about to unfold.
To them, who were thoroughly accustomed to killing people, what was about to take place was simply work. It was no different from ordinary people carrying loads or selling goods.
One of the Ghost Killers looked at the building lit with brilliant lights and said,
“It’s perfect music for the road to the underworld!”
Whether Cheonhwaru knew of the invasion of these cruel men or not, lively music drifted out from the building.
The Ghost Killers vaulted over the wall all at once.
One might have expected at least a courtesan greeting guests or an old servant to be there, but the courtyard happened to be empty.
Because of that, they ran swiftly without being noticed by anyone and entered the building.
The first floor of Cheonhwaru had rooms for guests on all sides, centered around a space like a plaza.
“We sweep from the first floor upward!”
At the Ghost Killer commander’s order, the Ghost Killers flung open the first door.
Just as they were about to rush in and butcher everyone inside, the Ghost Killer who had opened the door flinched in surprise.
The instant the door opened, a bizarre sight entered his eyes.
Inside sat men wearing white masks.
‘What the hell? Who are these crazy bastards?’
The white masks had only eyeholes cut into them. They bore smiling expressions like crescent moons laid on their sides. Each crescent differed slightly in shape.
The reason the Ghost Killer was startled was that the eyes behind those smiling eyeholes were not smiling. The eeriness born of that dissonance.
“What are they? Those things?”
At the words of another Ghost Killer behind him, the one at the front said,
“Those are the masks worn by the Faceless Guests.”
At the words Faceless Guests, everyone’s expressions stiffened.
But soon, someone laughed.
“Insane.”
The most famous masks in the Murim were the masks of the Faceless Guests. Masks sold in marketplaces, masks that inevitably appeared whenever children played sword fights, were Faceless Guest masks.
“Is today some kind of Faceless Guest company dinner?”
The laughter spread to everyone. Naturally, they assumed they were not the real Faceless Guests.
The Faceless Guests were famous for never taking off their masks in front of others. There was no way Faceless Guests would come to a pleasure house like this.
“If they wanted to come here, they should’ve cut mouth holes, not eyeholes!”
“Courtesans won’t even take you lot, will they?”
Just then, the Ghost Killer commander coldly stopped them from behind.
“Enough!”
At that one word, the laughter vanished from the Ghost Killers’ faces. They were just about to rush in and hack them to pieces when—
Srrrk.
The door right beside them opened.
Normally, a drunken guest should have come out supported by a courtesan.
The Ghost Killers were startled again.
Men wearing white masks sat there as well.
This time, no careless words came out.
Even seeing them standing there with swords drawn, not one of those men was shaken.
Instead, the other side sat silently, displaying a presence that overwhelmed them. The eyes within the hollow eyeholes were all smiling.
‘What the hell are these freaks?’
It was chilling and unpleasant, but even then, they had still thought, surely not.
Srrk, srrk, srrrk.
Doors began to open one after another. As the doors around them opened in succession, an astonishing sight unfolded.
In every room sat masked figures.
The music that had been resounding suddenly ceased.
In the silence, the masked Faceless Guests all looked at the Ghost Killers at once. Because the expressionless masks had only eyeholes cut into them, the mere sight of them staring was indescribably bizarre and eerie.
The Ghost Killers gathered in the center. Overwhelmed by the other side’s presence, they had unknowingly retreated. Since they had begun operating under the name Gwisaldae, this was the first time they had ever felt such fear.
The Ghost Killer commander drew his sword. A fight, in the end, was all about momentum.
“There is no way they are the real Faceless Guests. Kill every bastard pretending to be demons!”
At that very instant—
Whoosh!
A cool rush of wind brushed past their ears.
At the same time, a dull thud followed.
The Ghost Killers looked toward the source of the sound.
In that instant, their eyes widened in shock.
Their gazes had gathered on the Ghost Killer commander.
The Ghost Killer commander looked back at them with an expression that seemed to ask why they were looking at him.
Drip.
Hot liquid ran down from his forehead over his face.
The Ghost Killer commander touched his forehead. There was a hole in it.
“Shiiit!”
Leaving behind only that one word, the Ghost Killer commander toppled backward and died.
The Ghost Killers were aghast. An attack had flown in that the Ghost Killer commander, with his skill, had not even had time to attempt to dodge? They could not believe it even after seeing it.
Who on earth? The horrified Ghost Killers looked around. The white masks facing them were all smiling.
Then one of the Ghost Killers pointed somewhere with a trembling voice.
“……There!”
Far in the distance, there was one room whose door alone had not opened.
In that closed door, a single hole had been punched.