Chapter 207. We Are Not Normal.
When the head of the Gwiryeong Demon Clan and the man in black directed killing intent at me, the Sword Demon opened his mouth.
“Gwiryeong clan head.”
The sinister man from the Gwiryeong Demon Clan looked at the Sword Demon.
“Left Envoy, speak.”
The Sword Demon spoke with a face that showed not the slightest change in expression.
“If you came here with some other intention, say so now.”
“…….”
The head of the Gwiryeong Demon Clan must have been a man with emotions after all, because as he looked at the Sword Demon, the skin beneath his eyes was trembling.
While the Gwiryeong clan head chose his words, the Sword Demon continued.
“If you came to broaden your horizons, I will not kill you. It is true that I gravely wounded the previous head of Gwiryeong, but at the time, we were competing for the position of Left Envoy, so there was no ill will between us. Unfortunately, I experienced all the martial arts of your clan then. Are you saying you have surpassed the previous clan head’s skill?”
As soon as the Sword Demon finished speaking, everyone went as still as if their acupoints had been struck.
The head of the Gwiryeong Demon Clan quietly rose from his seat and said this.
“As the Left Envoy says, I came because I was curious about the fight.”
The Sword Demon said to the head of the Gwiryeong Demon Clan,
“That is fortunate. I bear no grudge against the Gwiryeong Demon Clan. However, I do not want you using spectating as an excuse to watch from here either. If you challenge me needlessly or try some petty trick while observing, I will visit the Gwiryeong Demon Clan, which still has a fair number of people left, and make every living soul the spirit of my Demon Sword. I do not mean to disregard your skill, but it is not yet time for you to challenge me. Go back the way you came.”
This time, true silence settled over them.
The Gwiryeong clan head asked with difficulty.
“You will not even permit me to watch?”
The Sword Demon nodded.
“I cannot gauge how many people will flock here. If that happens, I will be unable to distinguish enemy from ally and will end up killing them. It would be best if you were not caught in the midst of it.”
Even the Gwiryeong clan head, who carried a gloomy air about him, seemed to find it hard to breathe, for he gave a dry cough before speaking.
“Left Envoy, then I will see you another time.”
My eyes widened slightly in disbelief.
‘What, he got scared?’
A devilish bastard like that was backing down after a few words? Once again, I realized that the man called the Sword Demon must have possessed tremendous prestige even within the Demonic Cult.
The Gwiryeong Demon Clan head’s pride could not have been ordinary either, but in any case, this was how it ended.
While the head of the Gwiryeong Demon Clan quietly walked back to his carriage, not a single person opened their mouth. When one side ran away during a neighborhood argument, it was somewhat funny, but the Gwiryeong clan head’s departure was not quite to that extent.
This time, the Sword Demon looked at the man in black.
“And who exactly are you? You are not at the level to challenge for the position of Left Envoy.”
The man in black answered.
“When the Left Envoy defected, I was part of the pursuit squad. I am called Jeolsaeng.”
Jeolsaeng could not be a person’s name. Since it meant one had to sever something in order to live, it suited an assassin’s epithet.
The Sword Demon replied.
“And?”
“The pursuit squad I led was entirely slaughtered by the Left Envoy.”
“So?”
“I have no personal feelings. I came only because I failed to die then.”
As soon as I checked the sword at the assassin Jeolsaeng’s waist, I realized it was the exact same length and width as the wooden sword I was holding. The only difference was that it was not wooden, but painted black.
As soon as I confirmed the assassin’s sword, I said to Jeolsaeng,
“Jeolsaeng, you bastard.”
Jeolsaeng looked at me with a baffled expression. I opened my mouth and let whatever came to mind spill out.
“This is no place for a distant junior assassin whelp to run his mouth. Show proper courtesy to your senior of the Salmun first, then speak.”
Jeolsaeng said to me,
“What kind of bullshit is that?”
“A bastard who is about the disciple of Chief Strategist Heo Gyeom’s disciple dares to speak so carelessly. I am Lee Zaha, the chief strategist’s last direct successor. In terms of seniority, I am the master of your grand-martial uncle.”
“What?”
Jeolsaeng looked at me in surprise, then examined the Sword Demon’s expression. The Sword Demon was a man with no expression to begin with, so there was nothing Jeolsaeng could glean from him.
I gripped the wooden sword with my left hand and raised it, then asked Jeolsaeng,
“What sword is this?”
Jeolsaeng answered with his eyes wide.
“Ilsal?”
“Correct.”
Jeolsaeng rose from his seat and said to me in a respectful tone,
“I challenge you.”
Feeling I had made a mistake, I let a curse pass my lips.
“Ah, fuck…….”
“…….”
Inspired by the way the Sword Demon had soothed the Gwiryeong clan head and sent him away, I had tried to press him down with seniority and chase him off, but a challenge?
This was why these bastards belonged to the demonic path.
In truth, I had used a method that might have worked only on the most rigid fellows of the orthodox path, so it was my mistake. As I was choosing words to appropriately get out of it, the Sword Demon said,
“Third, face him.”
I glared at the Sword Demon for a moment.
“What?”
Even I found it awkward to curse at my eldest brother, so I merely glared. With no other choice, I pointed to the broad space in front of the inn and said to Jeolsaeng,
“Fine. Let’s go. Ah, this duel really doesn’t match our seniority.”
The instant the duel was decided, I headed to the empty lot with Jeolsaeng. The demonic path mainly fought life-and-death matches anyway. There was no need to set the specific terms of the spar. If you won, you lived; if you lost, you died.
But this was not the Demonic Cult. It was in front of an inn.
When I arrived at the empty lot and stood there, Jeolsaeng widened the distance and said,
“Are you ready?”
“Not yet.”
Jeolsaeng, who had been walking with his back to me, stopped, by my estimate, about thirteen or fourteen steps away, then turned around. I had never competed like this with an expert of the demonic path, so out of curiosity, I asked,
“Is this a life-and-death match, by any chance?”
Jeolsaeng answered.
“Are you truly the elder Chief Strategist’s disciple? I am beginning to suspect that Ilsal is a counterfeit. To ask such a thing.”
I scolded Jeolsaeng.
“You foolish wretch. Even the elder Chief Strategist had a change of heart in his later years and did not kill recklessly. It means there is an immeasurable gap between him and the level of you people, who must kill whenever you fight. Only when you understand the value of your own life will you stop treating the lives of others lightly. You stupid assassin bastard, walking around in black clothes when the weather is this hot. You lunatic.”
Honestly, I was hardly one to talk, but in any case, the important thing was scolding him, so the content did not matter much.
Jeolsaeng asked me again.
“Are you ready?”
“Not yet.”
“When will you be ready?”
I roared at Sambok, who was watching.
“Sambok!”
“Yes, Sect Leader.”
“I’m thirsty.”
Sambok snatched up the kettle with nimble movements and came over to me. After drinking some water, I glared at Jiesheng and said,
“Shall we call it a draw?”
“I refuse.”
“Of course you do.”
I wound the Moon Shadow Heartless Art around my left hand, then covered my face with it. When the cold energy touched my face, only then did my mind clear a little. I looked at Jiesheng through my fingers and said,
“I’m ready.”
The moment I finished speaking, the dust beneath Jiesheng’s feet rose in a circle and scattered. Floating low in the air, Jiesheng drew his sword and flew at me in a single breath. I extended the hand that had been covering my face forward and caught the blade that had reached near my throat.
All I had done was move my hand from my face to my neck.
In that span, Jiesheng had compressed a dozen or so steps into a single step, drawn his sword, and thrust it out.
But since it was the hand I had already wrapped in the Moon Shadow Heartless Art, I tried, as an experiment, pouring ice arts into it to the utmost degree. This was the Dark Moon realm born from the mountain trek that had taken me from the Thousand-Li Inn to the plateau of the snowy mountains.
The instant Jiesheng tried to twist the captured sword, he froze together with the blade.
“…….”
I tilted my head slightly to the side and checked Jiesheng’s condition. A very long time ago, there was something I absolutely wanted to try if my martial arts ever became strong enough. It was to catch an expert’s sword between my index and middle fingers.
The very height of empty style, you could say.
If things went wrong, there was a very high chance that rather than catching the sword with my index and middle fingers, my index and middle fingers would be cut off.
Thanks to that, this time I used all five fingers and my palm to catch it. If I had not learned ice arts, I probably would never have attempted it.
Only then did I release the blade and speak to Jiesheng, who had taken a full measure of the Moon Shadow Heartless Art’s cold energy into his body.
“Just how many times would I have had to spare you for you to go on living?”
He was frozen solid, so there was no answer.
“…….”
I grabbed Jiesheng by the collar, infused him with internal energy, and hurled him toward the tent. As Jiesheng’s frozen body flew at tremendous speed toward Chilgyeom, the startled Chilgyeom swung the sickle he drew from his waist.
Jiesheng’s body split apart under the sickle.
I glared at Chilgyeom, who was drenched in blood with a splattering sound. I confirmed his martial ability and checked his expression as well.
When Chilgyeom glared at me with his blood-soaked face, I opened my mouth too.
“Who told you to watch for free over there? Clean up the corpse.”
I thought it over carefully and got goosebumps again. The dead bastard’s name was Jiesheng (截生). I suppose it meant his body would be severed and his life would end. Or not.
After dumping the corpse disposal on Chilgyeom, I finally looked at the carriage. Only now did the coachman crack the whip and set the carriage moving. The head of the Gwiryeong Ma Clan had apparently watched the fight from inside the carriage as well.
I said to the departing Gwiryeong family head,
“Gwiryeong family head, where in the world is anything free? Stop before I chase you down.”
At that moment, something like a hidden weapon flew out from the rear window of the carriage.
Whoosh!
This time, I infused ice arts into the middle and index fingers of my right hand and caught the hidden weapon. When I checked, it was, out of nowhere, a piece of silver. A sort of viewing fee, you could say.
“Confirmed.”
I put the silver into my robe and headed to the front of the Thousand-Li Inn. The Four Great Evildoers were gathered in a little cluster, staring at me as if they were looking at a monkey.
The Sword Demon said in a dry tone,
“Good work.”
The Ghost Demon said in the exact same tone,
“Good work.”
Before the Lust Demon could speak, I said to him first,
“Shut up.”
“…….”
I poured a cup of liquor from the table, drank it, and said,
“One win, no losses. Not bad. Sambok.”
“Yes, Sect Leader.”
By now, whenever Sambok was called out, he was breathing roughly. I said to Sambok,
“This is no ordinary matter.”
“That is true.”
“We don’t know when or what kind of bastards will come. Since we may end up surrounded, go buy plenty of food. Buy things like jerky as emergency rations too. It would be far too annoying for us to break through an encirclement just to go eat, wouldn’t it?”
“That is true.”
“You may be the one assigned the mission of breaking through that encirclement. Why? For what reason? Because we find it annoying.”
Sambok nodded with the expression of someone who had realized something.
“It would be better if I went now.”
“Go and come back.”
Sambok nodded.
“Please give me money.”
“I gave you some before.”
“I spent it all.”
I tried to recall how much I had given Sambok, and roughly how much this bastard had spent buying side dishes, meat, and liquor, but I could not remember a single thing. I am this ignorant when it comes to calculations. Having no choice, I took a bank draft from my money pouch and entrusted it to Sambok, then placed the silver piece the Gwiryeong family head had thrown onto Sambok’s palm as well.
“This is your errand fee. Pocket it.”
Sambok looked at me with a smile.
“Confirmed.”
“What?”
“……I did. I mean, I confirmed it. I’ll be back.”
Sambok suddenly vanished as he used qinggong. Seeing only the Four Great Evildoers in front of the inn, I looked inside the inn. The Third Young Master was asleep where several tables had been pushed together.
“Did that bastard stand night watch?”
The Lust Demon nodded.
“He did.”
I was about to say, “Confirmed,” but because of Sambok, I did not. I sat beside the Four Great Evildoers and, clearing away miscellaneous thoughts, observed the peaceful daily routine. The problem was that in my left field of vision, they were clearing away a corpse, so it was not peaceful at all.
If so, that meant the once ordinary daily life of the Thousand-Li Inn was gradually turning into the jianghu’s asura field.
When I kept my mouth shut, the Sword Demon opened his and began a rambling story.
“……The previous head of the Gwiryeong Ma Clan retired because of me. And the members of that assassin Jiesheng’s unit were killed by me. Truthfully, I had even forgotten that I had killed them. Back then, I killed those who fought against me without any particular feeling, and thought that was the end of it, but people do not forget. I originally thought the Cult Leader had ordered the Radiant Sword retrieved simply because he was bored, but it seems that was not the case. To think I only learned at this age that those who suffer do not forget.”
We quietly listened to the Sword Demon’s reminiscence.
The Sword Demon said,
“They will come to retrieve the sword, but I suspect all those who bear a grudge against me will come as well. The Cult Leader, who is sending them one by one, must be laughing somewhere.”
I asked the Sword Demon,
“What would the Cult Leader be laughing about?”
The Sword Demon answered,
“Did you truly think you could dare to live a peaceful life? It is as if I can hear the Cult Leader’s sneer by my ear. Even though I have left the cult, the Cult Leader still does not permit me an ordinary life.”
I sighed, for the Sword Demon’s reminiscence sounded terribly forlorn. But I soon pulled myself together and analyzed the Sword Demon’s tone and what was going through his head. This bastard was clearly in a mildly depressed state.
In the midst of that, I turned my head and looked over the villains, who were staring ahead like the neighborhood cats and dogs with nothing better to do.
In order, there was depression, obsession, and a sex maniac, while I had madness. I grasped the situation with a sour feeling.
We are not normal.
Suddenly, I briefly considered calling Murong Bai.
.
.
.
Come to think of it, Murong Bai is a little dangerous too. If he were locked up in the extreme environment known as the Cheonli Inn, I felt like Murong Bai would end up manufacturing poison in the kitchen and giggling to himself.
We couldn’t have that.
I pulled myself together.