“They were the ones who approached us first.”
Seoksu, a friend of Guyong—the man who had handled the counterfeit hidden weapon dealings for the Black Water Sect—confessed everything he knew without even needing to be asked.
Seoksu was terrified. He had truly never dreamed that a day would come in his life when he would be dragged into the Demonic Cult and interrogated.
Guyong had been stabbed to death at a pleasure house, and moreover, the man who had tried to launch a hidden weapon earlier had clearly been trying to kill him. He could not forget the sight of that man laughing like a madman even after his arm had been cut off.
“They said they had weapons from the Demonic Cult and asked if we were interested in buying them.”
The man seated in front of Seoksu was Branch Altar Master Ho Myeong. The matter was too important to leave to his subordinates, so he had personally stepped in to conduct the interrogation.
Seoksu, having seen earlier that Ho Myeong held a high position, was even more nervous.
“They even gave Guyong money to make the deal happen.”
Ho Myeong, who had only been listening to him, finally opened his mouth.
“How much?”
“He didn’t say the amount, but from the look of it, he seemed to have received several thousand nyang. The bastard was in such a good mood that he went to Hwayeong Pavilion and bought drinks lavishly.”
Ho Myeong did not believe all of it.
The most important thing right now was discerning whether this bastard before him was making up nonsense in order to survive.
He wouldn’t lie just because he was terrified? Nonsense.
Having lived his entire life as a demonic practitioner, he had seen many people.
Terrified people lied well, too.
He had even seen a man clutching a sword wound with his hand, tears streaming down his face, while lying as brazenly as if it were nothing.
One must never look down on a human’s instinct to survive.
“Tell me about the one who gave him the money.”
“It wasn’t a man.”
“What?”
“He said it was a woman.”
That was unexpected even to Ho Myeong. A woman had approached them?
“Tell me everything you know about that woman.”
“All I know is that she was a woman. That is everything I know.”
In that instant, Ho Myeong’s voice dropped coldly.
“Then why did you say you knew about this matter?”
Seoksu was flustered.
“I thought even that much would count as information.”
“A woman gave him a large sum of money? How are we supposed to find that woman with this information?”
A chill as cold as his voice seeped from Ho Myeong’s eyes.
“You thought you could deceive us by saying something vague and passing it off as enough.”
“No, no!”
Seoksu waved his hands frantically, his innocent-looking face seeming as if he might burst into tears at any moment.
But Ho Myeong knew very well what the bastards of the Black Water Sect were like. They were leeches who sucked the lifeblood from people.
Ho Myeong took out a small bottle from his robes and set it down before him.
“Drink it.”
Seoksu asked in terror.
“What is this?”
“A confession drug.”
Seoksu had heard of it before. A confession drug that, once drunk, clouded the mind and made one answer every question asked.
And he also knew that confession drugs had side effects. If one was unlucky, one might go mad, or sometimes even die.
“Please spare me!”
Seoksu’s face turned pale.
“If I have to force you to drink it, you’ll die even if you confess.”
Seoksu reached toward the medicine bottle with trembling hands.
‘I have to remember. Please.’
Seoksu desperately recalled what Guyong had said that day. They had met and exchanged some crude, pointless lewd jokes. Then they had gone to Hwayeong Pavilion together.
Ah, right. While drinking with the courtesans, Guyong had said a few more words about that matter. What had he said then?
That desperation finally created a miracle. He set down the confession drug he had been about to drink and shouted.
“Ah! That’s right! He said the woman had burn marks on the back of her hand.”
He had remembered Guyong saying that her face was pretty and her figure was good, but it was a shame there were burn marks on her hand. It was something the bastard had said while holding a courtesan’s hand.
“Burn marks?”
“Yes, he definitely said they were burn scars. I’m certain.”
Seoksu watched Ho Myeong’s reaction with eyes full of expectation. Since he had remembered something important, he thought he would not have to take the confession drug.
Ho Myeong softened only his gaze and his words as he spoke to him.
“I understand. Now drink.”
These damned Demonic Cult bastards!
* * *
Half a quarter later, Ho Myeong emerged from the interrogation room.
Behind him, Seoksu could be seen. He was still sitting in the chair in a dazed state.
Ho Myeong headed toward another investigation room a short distance from the one he had just left. There, the investigation of the assassin whose arm had been cut off was in full swing.
The one-armed assassin was truly out of his mind, so a normal interrogation could not be conducted. Torture did not work either, so rather than trying to hear from him who was behind it, they were in the midst of determining by what method he had been brainwashed.
Geom Muyang was watching the scene from behind with his arms crossed.
Ho Myeong approached carefully and reported.
“The intermediary was a woman, and they say she had burn marks on the back of her hand. Since the testimony obtained with the confession drug was the same, it seems to be true. I will relay everything we heard to Tongcheon Pavilion and have them search for that woman.”
With only that, it would be like searching for a needle on a sandy beach, but they had at least found a clue.
Just as he turned to leave, Geom Muyang abruptly spoke.
“That woman may be someone who works at an ironworks.”
Why would he say she worked at an ironworks? Ho Myeong wondered, then belatedly realized something.
“Ah! Because of the burns!”
At Ho Myeong’s words, Geom Muyang nodded. At the main cult, he had mostly worked with the ironworks. Because of that, he had encountered many people who worked there. For those who handled iron and fire, burns were common.
“I will tell them there is a possibility she works at an ironworks.”
Ho Myeong looked at Geom Muyang with a newly impressed expression. Once one heard it, it seemed obviously connected, but connecting the two upon simply hearing it was not an easy thing.
“The number of women working at ironworks is relatively small, and if there is also the characteristic of a scar on the back of her hand? Perhaps Tongcheon Pavilion really might be able to find her. If they do, it will be thanks to you, First Young Master.”
It was not flattery; he was genuinely impressed. Just what kind of person was that young master, to have defeated such a First Young Master and become the Young Cult Leader?
At that moment, the martial artist who had been examining the body of the man with the severed arm finished his investigation and turned back to them. Among the branch altar martial artists mobilized this time, he was someone well versed in such esoteric arts.
“It appears to be an esoteric art that plants commands into the subconscious, allowing the subject to live normally in ordinary times, but once a certain special condition is met, they carry out only the command.”
In other words, the reason this man, who had been kneeling earlier, had suddenly turned into a madman was because a special situation had occurred: Seoksu was about to reveal the secret.
“Moreover, once the esoteric art activates, they immediately lose their reason and are made to commit suicide.”
It meant that if they had not swiftly sealed his ma blood point after his arm was cut off, this man would also have killed himself.
“The one who implanted this esoteric art is no ordinary expert.”
They had made the counterfeit hidden weapons almost indistinguishable from the genuine articles, and even used such an esoteric art. These were not people merely trying to make money by selling fakes.
“To determine exactly what esoteric art was used, we must escort him to the main cult and investigate there.”
Geom Muyang looked at the man laughing in the interrogation room.
“Is there any chance he can return to normal?”
“With an esoteric art of this level, the person who cast it must undo it personally.”
“Then it can never be undone.”
There was no way someone who used an esoteric art to control people like puppets and make them kill themselves would obediently release it.
Shiiing.
A streak of sword light shot from Geom Muyang, and the man who had launched the surprise attack died as his heart was cut apart.
“We’ll be seeing plenty of those under esoteric arts from now on. And…”
Geom Muyang walked out of the place with cold eyes and said,
“I’ll hear what kind of esoteric art it is directly from him.”
* * *
Geom Mugeuk opened the enormous doors and went inside.
A plaza spread out before his eyes.
Ninety-nine enormous bookcases filled the place.
On those shelves were countless peerless secret manuals capable of stirring the hearts of martial artists.
It was none other than the Heavenly Demon Library, where he had once obtained the Four Steps of the Wind God.
“Father! I came in here without your permission! I might make a mess in here. I might sit anywhere I want and even eat food. So hurry up and come out!”
Once he became the acting cult leader, he could now naturally enter places that had previously required the Heavenly Demon’s permission. Among those many places, the first one he entered was this Heavenly Demon Library.
Geom Mugeuk walked between the bookcases, pulling out books here and there.
He was not choosing carefully; he picked books that caught his eye wherever he saw them.
There were books ranging from discussions on the principles of martial studies to the advice of masters for real combat. There were histories of the martial world, and foundations covering martial arts as a whole.
There were manuals explaining qi and blood points, methods for balancing the body, ways for a martial artist to use the body, basic attacks and defenses. Methods for predicting an opponent’s movements and finding openings. Methods for circulating and applying true qi.
He chose some because he liked the title, others because he liked the calligraphy written on the cover, and others simply because he wanted to read them once.
In that way, he chose more than twenty books.
Snap!
Then, when he flicked his finger, his surroundings changed, becoming a green field.
Sssst.
A large desk and chair appeared in the middle of the field.
When he lightly gestured again, a cool breeze blew.
Geom Mugeuk activated the Temporal Heaven Secret Art.
Now, Geom Mugeuk’s Temporal Heaven Secret Art gave him seven times more time than the outside world. When he had faced the Sword King, it had been six times, but he had made progress in the meantime.
Now, one shijin outside was seven shijin here.
‘You’re the only one I can rely on!’
Geom Mugeuk piled the books on the desk and began to read.
They were of many different kinds, but one thing was certain. These were all carefully selected books worthy of being placed in the Heavenly Demon Library.
Geom Mugeuk read them one by one.
The reason for this bout of reading was this.
Geom Mugeuk had told Sama Myeong that he had anxiety, but the cause of an anxiety even greater than his brother’s lay in the Nine Flames Demonic Art.
The Nine Flames Demonic Art had reached the eighth star.
Even his current achievement was faster than that of any cult leader in history, incomparable to them, but Geom Mugeuk was not satisfied with it.
‘The crisis is going from the eighth star to the ninth.’
It felt as if he were standing before a massive wall he could not cross.
If he crossed this wall, there would be an even greater wall beyond it. For now, he had to cross this wall first.
Geom Mugeuk decided to read the books in the Heavenly Demon Library as his method for overcoming this wall.
Until now, he had overcome barriers through brutal training, repeating the Nine Flames Demonic Art again and again. At other moments, he had overcome them through real battles that transcended death. He had also overcome them through his father’s teachings.
And this time, he intended to overcome it by diligently reading martial arts manuals here.
Why this method, of all things?
It was because his instincts had led him to it.
If his father entering closed-door cultivation, and his becoming acting cult leader and thereby gaining free access to this place, could be called fate, then it was fate.
There was also one more reason.
After meeting the Sword King, he had begun thinking a great deal more about the fundamentals of martial arts. The process of creating martial arts by applying the Yellow Dragon Sword Art had probably had a great influence.
Geom Mugeuk trusted his instincts. Just as wanting to eat meat was a signal that the body needed the nutrients contained in meat, if he now wanted to read all sorts of books about martial arts, then this must be the time when he needed them.
Geom Mugeuk read with an easy heart. He did not read with the thought that he absolutely had to gain something. If a book became too boring while he was reading, he simply closed it and read the next one. At Geom Mugeuk’s level, what content could be difficult for him? He read any book smoothly, without getting stuck.
One shijin, two shijin, three shijin… seven shijin.
How long had he been immersed in reading like that? From outside came the voice of his guard captain, Jeok Yeon.
“A message has arrived from Tongcheon Pavilion.”
Then Geom Mugeuk’s surroundings began to change.
Sssssss.
The countless bookcases of the Heavenly Demon Library reappeared around him.
Geom Mugeuk took the books he had brought out of the Space-Time Transposition Art and began to walk.
Whirik. Whiririk, whik.
The secret manuals floated up into the air and flew off in different directions.
The books slipped into their original places. It looked like no great feat, but simultaneously inserting the books with telekinetic force was, in truth, a divine feat found in none of the martial arts manuals in this place.
Geom Mugeuk came out of the Heavenly Demon Library.
Jeok Yeon relayed the news sent from Tongcheon Pavilion.
“They say the First Young Master is gathering the elite martial artists of Hunan.”
It was a report that the situation there was serious, but Geom Mugeuk instead smiled.
“It seems those bastards have thoroughly pissed my brother off.”
The fact that his brother was on high alert was actually reassuring. At the very least, he would not be careless.
“And they say he sent only the words ‘the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult is conducting an operation’ to the Murim Alliance and the Evil Dao Alliance.”
At that report, Geom Mugeuk laughed in good spirits.
“If Father were here, he would have truly liked that.”
Father, your favorite eldest son is turning the martial world upside down.
If he teased his father about this, his father would certainly look at him with that characteristic sneer of his.
And he would have been very pleased to hear news of his older brother.
“My brother is my brother, and I’m so hungry I can’t bear it. Since I came out anyway, I should eat something before going back in.”
Jeok Yeon looked at Geom Mugeuk with a strange expression. It had only been one shijin since Geom Mugeuk had eaten and gone in, yet he was already that hungry again.
Another good thing about becoming acting cult leader.
He could eat meals prepared by the Heavenly Demon Hall’s chef.
“The thing I envy Father most for isn’t the Heavenly Demon Treasury or the Heavenly Demon Library—it’s you, Chef!”
And so, he was able to see the Heavenly Demon Hall chef’s bright smile for the first time in a long while.
Geom Mugeuk ate his fill, even packed up food the chef made for him, and then went back into the Heavenly Demon Library.
Geom Mugeuk chose books from the shelves. This time, too, he did not choose carefully. He chose according to his mood. It did not matter.
After all, he intended to read every book in the Heavenly Demon Library before coming out.
‘Father, I’ll leave this martial world to my brother for a while and enter closed-door training in the Heavenly Demon Library.’