Episode 265. Why Don't You Know Me?

After threatening Giseonhyang to find out the location of Heukhyang's auction and coming here, my memories came flooding back. Since this was a place where auctions were held for the experts of the dark path anyway, entering wasn't difficult.

The security here was handled jointly by the auction participants.

You could say it was an alliance of those who did wicked things. When the participants fought one another, it was over the bidding price.

Among the participants were experts planted by Heukhyang, and they helped drive up the auction prices.

The reason Heukhyang was such a fucked-up place was because they took commissions to procure items.

Other people's swords, someone's ring, a family heirloom, boys, girls, virgins, foreigners with colored eyes, spiritual medicine, silk, spiritual objects, venomous insects, secret manuals, alcohol, poison, concealed weapons, paintings, books, erotica, the young of ferocious beasts, beautiful women, even Kunlun slaves.

So the participants were different every time.

A low-level dark path member trying to procure poison might participate, or an expert trying to obtain a painting might attend, or perhaps a wealthy man who wasn't even a martial artist but had twisted desires might participate and throw money around like crazy.

I disguised myself as an auction participant who had come through Giseonhyang's introduction, then had the number of promissory notes and silver taels I possessed checked at the entrance of the gambling house that led down to Heukhyang's auction hall. In other words, this was a place you could only enter if you had a lot of money.

Guards were unable to participate, so I had Gwima and Saekma wait in the gambling house.

In the meantime, Saekma said he was excited to gamble for the first time in a while and borrowed money from me.

After having money squeezed out of me by Saekma, I went down alone to the underground auction house beneath the gambling den, reeking of dust.

The dark staircase grew brighter the deeper I descended.

There had been several life-or-death crises while I was active in the martial world, and one of them was when I fought against Heukhyang.

As soon as I came down the stairs, a laugh escaped me.

'How absurd.'

* * *

I heard sounds of a performance from beyond the silver hanging curtain, and various masks that had to be worn before entering the tent were laid out on a table.

Wearing masks in places like this was common.

Perhaps it was the consideration of the organizers that, since you came to buy unsavory items, your face should naturally be covered.

As I chose a mask, this thought crossed my mind.

Since the timing was different from when I had come here before, the auction attendees today would probably be different from back then too. Of course, the organizers were the same bastards, and the master of Heukhyang had been an expert who was extremely difficult for the me of the past to handle.

While fighting that bastard...

My side was pierced, my face cut, I sustained internal injuries.

My pinky was broken, the back of my hand torn open, I had my shoulder bitten by a nameless subordinate, and even my precious front tooth was half-broken.

So, while my face had been decently presentable before coming down these stairs, by the time I climbed back up, it had become that of an ugly man.

Not that it mattered.

I stared blankly at the various masks and thought of Daenachal.

Was he repenting in the afterlife? Or was he floundering in some hell I couldn't know of? Perhaps he was waiting for me, having left a spot open for me in hell.

I put on a red-painted fighting cock mask and entered past the curtain.

'Damn, were there always this many people?'

The order was performance, auction, performance, auction repeating, and right now it was a performance. Unfortunately, everyone was wearing masks, so I couldn't tell who was participating.

I sat in an empty seat and waited for the next auction.

The masks around me moved, stared at me, then turned back toward the stage. Some of them looked at me for a long time, so I couldn't help but turn my head too.

"......"

It was too dark to see their eyes, but since I could see white hair around the edges of the mask, it was an old martial artist. At that moment, I looked at the stage with a startled heart.

"Wow."

So they were performing face-changing on stage. Naturally, Daenachal's words came to mind as if they had happened just yesterday.

"My master's master was someone who performed mask plays. He had to wear those masks to make a living. But he was ultimately unable to master the art of changing masks in an instant, so he was driven out."

In my eyes, those performing the face-changing looked like the ones who had driven out Daenachal's ancestor. They were skilled at face-changing. As I watched the performance, I wondered why Daenachal had let these bastards live.

Had he lacked the skill?

Or had he planned to train disciples and attack them later? Perhaps they were simply unrelated to Daenachal's ancestor.

As soon as the face-changing performance ended, the surroundings fell silent in an instant and the auction began again. While it was still unknown what would come out, someone's voice was heard.

"......Today, especially."

I quietly mouthed those words.

"Today, especially."

Was it a common cliché used by auctioneers? Or was today really special? Anyway, it would be a bit special since I was here.

"We have prepared the One Hundred Yin-Yang Pills from Gussi Yakmun. This will be presented last. You may rest assured, as the quality is guaranteed by Gussi Yakmun itself. Approximately one hundred days ago, the swordsman of Wijisan, who swept away the Green Forest bandits of Hyeongmunsan and rose to fame, was unfortunately defeated by Bigaek. The sword used by the Wijisan swordsman has been prepared."

Up to this point, it seemed like an ordinary dark path auction, but looking at the names that had appeared, I thought this was no trivial matter.

For one, I didn't know Gussi Yakmun.

I didn't know Wijisan either.

Bigaek was a public enemy of the martial world, so I knew the name, but I hadn't expected it to appear here.

The auctioneer's words continued.

"......The first item to be introduced is six years of age. The father was a merchant traveling to and from the Western Regions, but he too was originally of mixed blood, and while the mother is unknown, when asked, she said she was from somewhere in Xizang—some remote backwater you've never heard of. Please see for yourselves. Today, especially...."

I muttered again.

"Today, especially."

"Yes, today especially, as the auction is expected to become heated, the Three Heroes of Celestial Slaughter are accompanying the party of participants. As you have seen, they have already purchased several collector's items. Those of you planning to cause trouble should first have a separate consultation with the Three Heroes of Celestial Slaughter."

While he was speaking, a masked man and a blindfolded child appeared. Until the child appeared, I couldn't tell if it was a boy or a girl, but of all things, it was a girl.

A sigh simply flowed out of me.

If Gwima and Saekma had witnessed this place too.

No matter what kind of people they had been in their previous lives, they would probably have been furious like me. If they weren't at least people of that caliber, they would have already died by my hand.

Were there more children?

Or was this girl the last one?

I calmly settled my suddenly restless heart. In the previous life's timeline, that child had probably been sold to one of the auction attendees here, right?

That was probably the case.

The auctioneer's words began to be hard to hear, and after a moment, voices calling out amounts from here and there intermittently mixed together. After hearing the last amount, I raised my hand without a thought and called out a higher sum.

"......One hundred forty."

Of course, it would be in standard circulating silver taels. The masks turned and stared at me. Shortly after, one hundred forty became one hundred fifty, and again people's voices became hard to hear. Feeling my ears grow muffled, as I stood up feeling as if I had unfolded the Je'unjong, I found myself receiving the spotlight on stage.

Amidst the murmuring, the emcee spoke to me with a composed expression.

“……Drag him out.”

“Wait. Wait…….”

In my panic, I took off my mask first. With my face bared, I asked the attendees.

“Does anyone here know me?”

“…….”

“No one? I’ve become fairly famous by now.”

An old man’s voice rang out from behind the masks.

“Young man, who in the world are you? Since we do not know, introduce yourself. Do not cause a commotion. Your complexion looks as though you have ingested some hallucinogen. If you do not show propriety, it will be difficult for you to leave this place.”

I looked around and answered.

“Why do you not know me? I have been here before.”

Only then did I realize my breathing was difficult, and I looked at the girl trembling beside me. Now that I saw her, she had still not had her blindfold removed this entire time.

I spoke to the child.

“……It will be bright, so be careful.”

I removed the blindfold and covered the area around her eyes with my hand for a moment. When I gently lifted my hand and looked, a cute little one was gazing up at me with round, gleaming eyes.

A laugh escaped me on its own.

“Haha.”

Startled by the shouting around me, I tore my eyes from the child. The attendees had all risen, and I saw something gleaming in their hands. I held the child in one arm, using it as a small seat, and spoke to them.

“I am taking this child. If her parents are alive, I will find them and return her. If not, I will entrust her to Brother Deoksu and Martial Sister Hong. I shall raise her until she grows into a proper adult. In exchange, you will not receive a single penny.”

“What a mad bastard…….”

Now people were mounting the area around the stage as well. Auction staff began emerging from cave-like areas too. Curses rang out from the audience, and the child seated on my forearm was still trembling.

I reached for my sword, but then looked at my hand.

There was a blindfold from who knows where, so I handed it to the child.

“Cover your eyes for a moment.”

While the child covered her own eyes, I drew my sword. As gleaming pupils and blades drew closer, I warned them.

“……I have changed from before. I will spare your lives, so surrender.”

In truth, I had no intention of sparing them, but the child in my left arm was burdensome. I thought that I should have trained my external arts harder.

Holding my sword, I stepped back and surveyed my surroundings.

Those who had been approaching had all halted in their tracks and were staring at me.

“…….”

I turned my head this way and that and asked the attendees.

“What is it? Why are you standing still? Come at me.”

My voice felt distant, as if I were speaking underwater. When someone pulled aside the surrounding drapes, the stage and audience seats brightened simultaneously.

Only then did I realize that every object was dyed in a purple hue.

To think that the Jaha Divine Art, which I could not even unfold against Chumyeong Seosaeng, would manifest against trash like these…….

“Absurd, isn’t it?”

I checked my wooden sword. For an instant, I wondered if I had bloodied the blade. Since I had not yet fought, that could not be.

Unable to help myself even in this situation, I infused my voice with internal energy and spoke.

“The Lust Demon descends.”

“…….”

“Quickly.”

An instant later, a thunderous roar erupted from the ceiling, and tables and chairs from the gambling hall, gambling tools, and miscellaneous iron and copper coins poured down like a blizzard. Then, as the Lust Demon fell vertically through the gap, the masked men all looked up at the gaping hole.

The Lust Demon asked me.

“Didn’t you call me?”

“I did.”

From the hole where the Lust Demon had fallen, the Ghost Demon now dropped down with a thud. The Ghost Demon stared at me as though piercing through me and spoke.

“We need to finish this quickly. It looks like you’re having a seizure.”

I replied haphazardly to the Ghost Demon’s words.

“The Ghost Demon appears.”

Standing rooted in place, enveloped by the Jaha Divine Art, I looked at the Lust Demon and the Ghost Demon. Something kept being severed and soaring into the air, and screams were intermittently mixed in.

“Well done. Good.”

I spoke to the child covering her eyes.

“Cover your ears too.”

Someone tried to approach me, but stopped still when I turned my head. I asked the man.

“The emcee?”

Then, though I simply swung the arm holding my wooden sword once, the emcee who had been about to speak was split diagonally into two pieces, and blood gushed forth.

I moved slightly to the side to avoid the falling blood.

Looking from the stage toward the audience seats, blood was continuously gushing there as well. The two unexpectedly savage men were the Lust Demon and the Ghost Demon.

Since we are public enemies of the martial world, perhaps this is only natural.

At that moment, with a crashing sound, someone was hurrying down the stairs where silver drapes had hung. It was likely someone associated with the auction. But there were no notable problems in the audience seats.

A frigid wind blew, and whenever someone froze stiff, the Ghost Demon cut them down with his sword.

I suddenly looked at the child covering her ears with both hands and assessed the situation aloud.

“……We are stronger. Nothing will happen. Of course, since I too have grown stronger than before, it is only natural that nothing will happen. Today, the Hao Sect will seize this place.”

Holding the child, I walked and broke through the battlefield. Whenever someone got in the way, I cut them down with my wooden sword. Watching them split apart together with their weapons, I felt I had done well to learn martial arts.

Arriving at the bottom of the stairs without difficulty and looking up, a man with a familiar face was looking down at me from about the middle of the staircase.

Was it the owner of Heukhyang?

He was the man who had pierced my side in the past. Behind him, others waiting to join him were on standby.

I swung my wooden sword toward the top of the stairs. A crimson streak of light flew like a whip, and everything it touched burst apart. The stairs were filled with blood and flesh to the point where no person could possibly pass.

I walked back to the center where the Lust Demon and Ghost Demon were fighting, infused a tremendous amount of internal energy, and soared into the air. Escaping through the hole where the Lust Demon had appeared, the gambling hall came into view.

I sheathed my sword, untied the blindfold…….

And stepped outside the gambling hall to catch my breath.

My blocked breath was finally becoming easy. As my breathing eased, the colors of my surroundings were returning to their original hues.

Everything had been blood-red, making it impossible to distinguish what was the true color, but now it was normal.

I set the child down, and then—

We sat side by side in front of the gambling hall, waiting for the Lust Demon and the Ghost Demon. Since the child was looking up at me, I spoke to her.

“……It seems it will take a while. There were quite a few experts.”

“Yes.”

The child seemed to have something to say, so I opened my mouth first.

“I am the Hao Sect Leader.”