A single word slipped from one of the Gwisal.
“……The Extreme Evil Young Demon!”
The Gwisal understood.
These were the real Faceless Guests, and the person in that room was the Extreme Evil Young Demon.
At such a distance, with the door shut besides, the only person who could kill the leader of the Gwisal Squad in a single move was the Extreme Evil Young Demon.
The martial world feared the Demon Venerables, but the ones they feared especially were the Poison King, the Soul-Capturing Demon Venerable, and the Extreme Evil Young Demon.
The reason for fearing each was different.
The Poison King, because no matter how many people charged at him, they could be massacred without even getting the chance to lift a hand. The Soul-Capturing Demon Venerable, because one might die while cutting down one’s own comrades in a state that was not one’s own will.
These two Demon Venerables were feared more by the righteous faction than by the evil faction. It was not death itself they feared, but the helplessness of the process.
The Extreme Evil Young Demon, on the other hand, was feared more by the villains of the evil faction. They knew better than anyone what terrifying deeds they themselves could commit. And the Extreme Evil Young Demon stood at the very pinnacle of that evil, a being bearing the name of extreme wickedness.
As if by agreement, three of the Gwisal hurled themselves toward the entrance at the same time. They tried to flee without even looking back.
Whoosh!
Another finger wind came flying.
A single streak of finger wind followed them. Since there were three fleeing, it seemed as if it meant to kill only one of them.
Slaaaash!
At the final instant, the finger wind split into three strands.
Thud! Thump! Thud!
With their neck, head, and heart pierced through, the three Gwisal rolled across the floor.
One of the Gwisal pointed at the door again.
“……There!”
Everyone’s gaze turned toward the door, still closed. It was astonishing enough that he had struck without seeing, and astonishing too that a single streak of finger wind had split at the last moment.
But the most astonishing fact was this.
There was still only one hole.
He had fired the finger wind again through the hole that had killed the leader of the Gwisal Squad, killing the three of them. In other words, it had curved through the air as it chased them down.
They felt helplessness and terror at the same time. That one move made the stubborn desire to clench their teeth and survive gutter out in an instant.
Originally, those were emotions their opponents should have felt toward them. It was the fear the courtesans and guests who were meant to die here should have felt.
Sssrk.
Then, all at once, the Faceless Guests in the rooms rose from their seats.
The terrified Gwisal were forced to feel a new fear. The Faceless Guests who had risen were all pointing their fingers at them.
“Shit!”
As someone’s despairing curse gave the signal.
Shukshukshukshukshukshukshukshukshukshukshukshuk!
Finger winds poured toward them from every direction.
Lines wove together like a spiderweb.
The finger wind that rained down was the Evil Shadow Finger (惡影指), the technique practiced by the Faceless Guests. Once they formally became successors, they would learn the Extreme Evil Young Demon’s Blood Calamity Finger.
The Faceless Guests who had come here today were among the most skilled even in the Valley of Villains. That was why the Gwisal, having lost all will to fight, could not block their attacks pouring in from every direction.
Thudthudthudthudthudthudthudthud!
All the remaining Gwisal collapsed, their bodies riddled with holes like hedgehogs.
It was the moment the infamous hired ronin band of former assassins, the Gwisal Squad, vanished from the world.
Only then did the last closed door begin to open slowly.
There sat the mistress of Cheonhwaru, who had been the Gwisal’s target today.
She still exuded that strange atmosphere that could only be felt from her. A mysterious insight, as if she could see through a person’s fate, flowed in her calm eyes.
Beside her sat someone who contrasted with her, and yet suited her well all the same.
The Extreme Evil Young Demon, smiling in white.
There were many masks in this space, but the man beside the mistress of Cheonhwaru revealed an overwhelming presence.
His gaze had grown even deeper than before, and his martial realm had risen another level.
The Blood Calamity Finger he had shown just now was no longer the same Blood Calamity Finger as before.
Originally, it had been a single streak of finger wind, but now he could divide it into several branches.
The ten-thousand-year snow ginseng Geom Mugeuk had given him had greatly increased his internal energy, and an even greater reason was that there had recently been a change in his state of mind.
In his room, where there had been nothing but white walls, a bed had been placed, and a desk and chair as well.
Only when life changes does martial arts change.
He, too, was in the midst of being subject to that great principle of martial learning.
Not only the Blood Calamity Finger, but his other exclusive martial art, the Demonic Extreme Berserk Palm, was also showing a different form from before.
The mistress of Cheonhwaru poured wine into the Extreme Evil Young Demon’s cup. He would not remove his mask to drink in a place like this, but because of that, the gesture held even more meaning.
For she was the only woman who poured wine for the Extreme Evil Young Demon.
“The smell of blood will seep in.”
At the Extreme Evil Young Demon’s words, the mistress of Cheonhwaru smiled and said,
“The scent of rouge from women erases the smell of blood quickly enough.”
How could the Extreme Evil Young Demon not know?
In the martial world, the more dangerous scent was not the smell of blood, but the scent of women’s rouge.
The mistress of Cheonhwaru had everyone upstairs come down.
The courtesans and everyone working in the brothel came down to the lower floor.
Before the bodies were cleared away, the mistress of Cheonhwaru expressed her gratitude first.
She rose from her seat and stepped forward. Standing before the Extreme Evil Young Demon, she bowed with utmost courtesy. Since very few people knew the relationship between the two of them, this was now a very public situation.
“I will not forget the grace of the Demon Venerable in saving my life.”
The courtesans who had come down stood in a circle and bowed to the Extreme Evil Young Demon and the Faceless Guests all around.
“Thank you for saving us.”
If the Extreme Evil Young Demon had not come, everyone here would have died.
The Extreme Evil Young Demon merely gave a single nod.
“Clear away the bodies.”
At the mistress of Cheonhwaru’s command, the men who worked in the brothel began to remove the corpses. The courtesans brought buckets and rags and began wiping away the blood. They had every right to be frightened, yet the courtesans of the main branch, who had been through all manner of hardship, were stouthearted.
The Extreme Evil Young Demon poured her a cup of wine.
After drinking, the mistress of Cheonhwaru spoke softly enough that only the Extreme Evil Young Demon could hear.
“Thank you, Orabeoni.”
“I was able to come because the Young Cult Master sent word. Offer your thanks when the Young Cult Master arrives.”
The mistress of Cheonhwaru smiled and said,
“Even so, the one who came running and saved me was not the Young Cult Master, but you, Orabeoni.”
The two eyes inside the eyeholes smiled.
Of course she was grateful to Geom Mugeuk as well. It was a message that had saved her life, so how could she not be grateful? She had only said that to convey a greater gratitude to the Extreme Evil Young Demon.
And how could that be the only reason she was grateful to Geom Mugeuk?
The look in the Extreme Evil Young Demon’s eyes as he gazed at her had changed. It did not mean that his gaze had become more affectionate toward her. She could tell from his eyes that the person called the Extreme Evil Young Demon himself had changed.
She felt that this change was altering the Extreme Evil Young Demon’s fate. And that change did not feel bad at all.
“If they went so far as to mobilize the Gwisal Squad, it means you touched some very wealthy bastards.”
At the Extreme Evil Young Demon’s words, the mistress of Cheonhwaru quietly nodded.
Recently, she had continued expanding Cheonhwaru throughout the Central Plains. At the same time, she had been training quick-witted and clever courtesans into Secret Flowers.
She did not yet know whether this incident had arisen because of Cheonhwaru’s expansion or because of information the Secret Flowers had obtained. She would know only after Chohui arrived.
“The Young Cult Master will be all right, won’t he?”
The Extreme Evil Young Demon nodded.
“There is absolutely no need to worry about that side.”
Yeojeong smiled as she spoke. To the end, she took care of her man’s pride and morale.
“It’s this side I’m not worried about at all.”
In the meantime, all the bodies had been cleared away, and all the blood had been wiped clean.
The courtesans and workers all went back upstairs.
Srrk! Srrrk! Srrrk!
The doors to every courtesan’s room began closing one after another.
The Extreme Evil Young Demon’s room, which had opened last, was the last to close.
As if nothing had happened, lively music began to sound there once more.
* * *
Not far from Cheonhwaru, a carriage stood still.
The person inside the carriage was Seo Danmyeong (徐旦明).
He was the architect of this pursuit and ambush.
Then his right-hand man, Jaein (才人), climbed into the carriage and said,
“The Gwisal who entered Cheonhwaru are not coming out.”
Seo Danmyeong’s gaze turned to Jaein, then returned to the distant building of Cheonhwaru.
No matter how Cheonhwaru was the greatest brothel of the age, expanding its branches throughout the Central Plains, he had been certain it could not stop the Gwisal Squad.
“Are we facing invincible courtesans or something?”
Ordinarily, Jaein would have laughed at Seo Danmyeong’s joke even if it were not funny, but today he could not. The situation was extremely bad.
“We have also lost contact with those who went in to investigate.”
Of course, Seo Danmyeong knew very well why this matter was not going smoothly.
“Did the Demonic Cult send support?”
“It seems that way.”
“They shouldn’t have had enough time to prepare.”
“They moved faster than we did.”
Which meant the other side had made the correct judgment.
“When I received the commission to kill a courtesan, I had a bad feeling from the start.”
At Seo Danmyeong’s regret, Jaein wanted to ask.
‘Then why did you accept it? Why on earth are you pushing this matter so recklessly?’
This time, Seo Danmyeong asked about the situation on Chohui’s side.
“In any case, nothing good ever comes from getting tangled up with those Demonic Cult bastards. So? When will she arrive?”
“If fast, tomorrow night. If late, the day after tomorrow.”
“We have no time.”
He had not expected the assassins to fail in their ambushes one after another. He had been told that the person escorting her was one young man.
Of course, he had assumed that person was an expert of the Demonic Cult. He had not suspected for a moment that it would be the Young Cult Master of the Demonic Cult. There was no way the Young Cult Master would escort a courtesan alone.
“What do you think?”
“I think we should withdraw from this matter even now.”
“If we do that, my reputation will hit rock bottom. No one will entrust us with work again.”
He was not an ordinary hired ronin.
Seo Danmyeong called himself a Netweaver.
A person who wove nets.
One who made thorough plans and arranged affairs.
He did not merely kill people. He persuaded people, mediated between two sects in conflict, and resolved and cleaned up incidents and accidents. Of course, as with this mission, he also killed people.
That was why he called his work art.
He did not move personally.
When tracking someone, he hired martial artists who specialized in pursuit and entrusted the work to them; when someone had to be killed, he used assassin organizations and ronin to handle it.
This was what clients who entrusted work to him found convenient.
They did not have to deal directly with rough and brutal assassins or ronin.
Also, once the commission price was set, even if he failed any number of times afterward, he would see the job through to the end. Of course, the price was extremely high from the start.
No matter what happened, he always achieved his objective. The only thing needed was an appropriate amount of money.
Jaein, his right-hand man, knew Seo Danmyeong was not the sort of person to take on a job to track down and kill a mere courtesan. He must have received the job from someone he could not refuse, or he had been paid an enormous sum he could not turn down.
“Who exactly asked this of you?”
Jaein usually worked silently as Seo Danmyeong ordered, but this time he could not help being curious.
As if understanding Jaein’s feelings, Seo Danmyeong did not get angry and answered only with this.
“Someone who absolutely does not want their identity revealed.”
Jaein was curious about the client, but Seo Danmyeong said no more.
“I have invited one person in preparation for the worst. In the end, this job will leave us deeply in the red.”
Which meant he had prepared a martial artist whose fee was truly exorbitant. Who could it be? Fortunately, that curiosity could be answered.
“This time there will be no mistake, so go with him.”
* * *
“By tomorrow, we should arrive at Cheonhwaru.”
At the thought that she would finally be able to see the pavilion mistress, Chohui’s heart pounded.
“It’s all thanks to you, Young Cult Master. I don’t know how I can ever repay this grace.”
Geom Mugeuk answered with a smile.
“You have already repaid it.”
“Pardon?”
Of course, the choice to visit the minor branch had been Dana’s decision, but in any case, because they had come to the main cult, they had been able to meet him, and as a result, he had been able to send word to the Extreme Evil Young Demon.
Just then, far down the road, two people were blocking the way.
Geom Mugeuk slowed the carriage.
They were two men, and the younger one was Jaein.
Jaein looked at Geom Mugeuk, then calmly said to the man beside him,
“You only need to kill the man. I will handle the woman.”
He might be an expert of the Demonic Cult who had dealt with the assassins, but it felt like using a butcher’s knife to kill a rabbit. Jaein had never imagined this man would have been prepared.
“You mean that fellow who looks better with words than with martial arts?”
Jaein was inwardly puzzled.
‘Better with words? Why would he say that?’
Could someone of this level see through even such inner qualities? But this was not a matter of discerning good and evil in a person.
“How did you know he was talkative?”