Chapter 276 : Chaos (1)
Chapter 276: Chaos (1)
Holding the passed-out Jin Hayeon, Il-mok walked out of the melting ice wall.
"Young Master, are you alright?"
"Senior Hayeon!"
Worried voices came from all directions. The cold demonic energy had surged again during Il-mok's process of suppressing Jin Hayeon's Qi Deviation, so everyone was understandably concerned.
"Both Miss Jin and I are fine, so don't worry," Il-mok replied.
He stretched out his arms as if asking someone to take Jin Hayeon from him, and Ju Seo-yeon practically threw herself into the opportunity.
"I'll take care of her with my life!"
"Uh... yeah, go ahead."
Now that things seemed to have settled down for the moment, Il-mok walked over to the corpse of the Hao Clan Lord.
"Hmm."
He picked up the dagger that the Hao Clan Lord clutched in his right hand and started rummaging through the dead man's clothes. After a moment, he pulled out a cracked wooden token and tossed it carelessly next to the corpse.
It was the Ink Blood Steel Tablet that Ghost Valley Master had once used.
After collecting what he needed and discarding what he didn't, Il-mok turned to the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult warriors.
"Did you scatter the bait?"
"Yes. We dropped them all over the brothel while we were killing off the rats."
Il-mok nodded at the man's answer and led his group out of the building.
"Chamber Master An Jeok-un, begin."
An Jeok-un who had been maintaining the Formation surrounding the pleasure house nodded and pulled out an iron tablet from his sleeve.
It was the tablet Il-mok had brought from Mount Baihe, the one that powered the giant Formation back then.
Chamber Master An held the blood-reeking artifact and began chanting while forming hand seals, and a massive amount of Blood Qi immediately erupted from the tablet.
Whoosh!
When An Jeok-un finished his preparations and threw the token into the air, it floated there and began resonating with the Formation encircling the pleasure house.
The Formation's energy mixed with the token's Blood Qi, creating an ominous aura that grew in intensity before flowing into the building. Then, like a river returning to the sea, the Blood Qi gathered around the pleasure house began to be swallowed into the tablet floating in the air.
Il-mok watched with an indifferent expression as the life force of the dead Hao Clan members was gobbled by the tablet.
This was the trap Il-mok had prepared to frame the Blood Cult for the Hao Clan Lord's death.
By scattering Blood Cult artifacts they'd collected over time and using the iron tablet to turn the Hao Clan’s members’ corpses into mummified husks, he had set up a stage where all the evidence would point to the Blood Cult being responsible for the massacre.
‘Have fun chasing the Blood Cult, Alliance Leader.’
It was revenge against the Hao Clan Lord who had been annoying him, while simultaneously redirecting the Murim Alliance Leader's attention toward the Blood Cult.
***
After finishing the cleanup, Il-mok and his group left Nanning behind while carefully erasing their tracks as they traveled.
About half a day had passed when Jin Hayeon finally woke up.
"You're awake, Senior!"
Ju Seo-yeon, who had been carrying her on her back this whole time, chirped happily the second she felt her move.
She had been acting like carrying Jin Hayeon was a holy mission, refusing to let anyone else touch her.
"..."
Jin Hayeon frowned, looking around from her perch on Ju Seo-yeon’s back.
"How long have I been asleep?"
"Just about half a day."
"Put me down now."
"It's fine, Senior! Your dantian's completely empty right now, so you probably can't even your lightness skill properly!"
The words sounded reasonable, but there was definitely some personal desire mixed in there.
"Hah..."
But since her dantian really was empty, she couldn't exactly argue. She let out a light sigh instead.
That's when Il-mok's voice came from up ahead.
"Stop."
He'd noticed Jin Hayeon had woken up from the sound behind him.
"We've been moving for quite a while now, so let's take a short break. Everyone, find a spot and meditate to recover your stamina."
The moment Il-mok's order came down, Jin Hayeon spoke again.
"Put me down."
"...Alright."
Ju Seo-yeon sounded heartbroken as she let go and set her down.
She looked like a kicked puppy, but Jin Hayeon looked at her with her usual flat tone. "Thank you for carrying me all this way. You must be tired. I really appreciate it."
"Not at all, Senior! It was my pleasure!"
With just one simple compliment from Jin Hayeon, Ju Seo-yeon is back to her usual happy puppy state.
Jin Hayeon watched her for a second, then sat down cross-legged to meditate.
"..."
How much time passed as she repeated those deep breaths with an impassive expression?
By the time Jin Hayeon opened her eyes, she found that everyone else had already prepared to leave. Ju Seo-yeon was standing guard in the distance with Il-mok acting as her protector nearby.
"I'm so sorry. I slowed everyone down again.” Jin Hayeon quickly got to her feet and bowed apologetically, but Il-mok just smiled.
“Don’t be sorry. The reason why we were able to take down the Hao Clan Lord so easily is thanks to you, Miss Jin. More importantly, congratulations. You finally made it past Extremity."
As if agreeing with Il-mok's words, the others around them offered their congratulations as well.
"Congratulations!"
"Hahaha, this is a huge blessing for our Divine Cult."
But even with everyone praising her, Jin Hayeon kept her usual stone-faced look.
"Thank you."
Seeing her answer so stiffly reminded Il-mok of when he was suppressing her Qi Deviation in her mental world. To be precise, the expression she'd worn right before passing out.
"Hahaha, you should smile more often. I saw it earlier, and it looked really good on you."
"...I don't know what you're talking about, Young Master."
"Hahaha. You smiled right before you passed out. I've never seen you smile before, but it was really pretty."
"...I really have no idea what you mean, Young Master."
Her voice and face were so cold they could freeze water, so Il-mok gave an awkward laugh and looked away.
"Oh, well, I must have... must have seen wrong."
He got the feeling she might fall into Qi Deviation again if he teased her again, so he quickly called out to the group.
"Alright, let's get moving!"
And so, they resumed their journey home.
Il-mok was too busy dodging Jin Hayeon’s chilly gaze to notice the tiny, faint blush that colored her cheeks.
***
A few days ago, at the Murim Alliance Headquarters near Dongting Lake.
After returning from his trip, the Murim Alliance Leader was currently in conversation with the Chief Strategist Gongsun Hyeon.
"I have heard about the events in Sichuan, Alliance Leader. As Chief Strategist, I can only apologize for failing to resolve the matter in a timely manner."
"Hahaha, that's enough, Chief Strategist. You were thinking of a similar solution anyway, weren't you? It's just that those arrogant bastards wouldn't have listened unless the Alliance Leader himself stepped in."
The Chief Strategist gave a bitter smile at the Alliance Leader's accurate assessment.
He swallowed down the curses he wanted to hurl at the Nine Sects One Gang and the Seven Great Families.
"By the way, how did your trip to Gansu Province go?" Gongsun Hyeon changed the subject.
"They are a bothersome bunch in many ways."
"Then, do you plan to dispose of them?"
"Now's not the right time." Cheok Pae-myeong shook his head.
"Is it because of the Beggars’ Gang, Wudang, and the Hwangbo Family?"
"Exactly. Our top priority right now is uniting the Orthodox Faction under the Alliance. So, let's just focus on the Blood Cult for now."
They'd already nearly fallen apart once over the Sichuan Tang Family incident. If they stirred up trouble with the Maitreya Luminous Cult on top of that, they risked splitting into multiple factions again.
"Then I'll start preparing justification now for when we attack them later."
Seeing his strategist already plotting, the Alliance Leader smiled.
"Hehehe, let me give you something useful. When I visited the Maitreya Luminous Cult to test them out, I got the distinct impression that they're not practicing any Orthodox martial arts. Especially that leader of theirs, the sword he wielded gave off a sinister energy."
Realizing that the Alliance Leader had brought back quite useful intelligence from just a single day's visit, the Chief Strategist smiled confidently.
"Hahaha, with that much information, we won't even need to bother with elaborate schemes."
With their course of action decided, they continued their discussion about the Blood Cult.
They spent several days searching for traces of the Blood Cult through Orthodox Faction and families across the Central Plains.
Then, strange news reached the Murim Alliance.
"...The Blood Cult attacked the Hao Clan?"
"That is correct. It is said that even the Hao Clan Lord lost his life at the hands of the Blood Cult."
"Huh. That's... completely out of nowhere."
The Alliance Leader sounded like he didn't quite believe the Blood Cult did it, and Gongsun Hyeon sounded a bit skeptical too.
"I also have some doubts about this news, but based on the evidence, it's almost certainly the Blood Cult's doing."
"But looking at the situation, why would the Blood Cult even do that?"
"The evidence at the scene is too clear, Alliance Leader. Just like at Mount Baihe, all the bodies were drained of blood and dried up like mummies. I consulted with several Taoist Masters, and they all said there were traces of sorcery all over the place. On top of that..."
Gongsun Hyeon placed an object he'd prepared onto the table.
"Items like these, which appear to have been used by the Blood Cult, were left scattered throughout the pleasure house. Along with signs of battle."
Cheok Pae-myeong frowned as he stared at the item on the table for a moment, then looked up at the Chief Strategist.
"So, do we have any idea why they attacked the Hao Clan?"
"...I haven't been able to find out if there's any grudge between the Blood Cult and Hao Clan yet. But then again, the Blood Cult doesn't kill people because of grudges, do they?"
They were basically lunatics who killed anyone for their rituals. So, the reason was usually pretty simple. The Chief Strategist knew this too, so he continued his reasoning accordingly.
"According to information from the Beggars’ Gang, the trap at Mount Baihe was apparently a Grand Ritual meant to complete some kind of Jiangshi. The trap at Mount Baihe failed, but the problem is the Jiangshi itself."
"I heard about that too."
It was news that had come from the Beggars’ Gang a few days ago. The Heir of the Beggars’ Gang had reported how the Flying Dragon Pavilion Lord had sacrificed his life to stop the Blood Cult's scheme. Information about the Jiangshi had been included in that report.
"Based on that information, it seems they need martial artists' blood to complete that jiangshi."
"The trap at Mount Baihe also targeted martial artists, so that makes sense. So you're saying they targeted the Hao Clan because of that Jiangshi too?"
"...The Hao Clan isn't part of our Alliance, so I suspect they calculated it would be easier to kill them and obtain martial artists' blood."
The Chief Strategist spoke in an unusually uncertain tone.
It was the most probable reason that could be deduced from the given information. However, the very situation of the Blood Cult attacking the Hao Clan felt unnatural.
He couldn't shake this nagging feeling, but no other explanation came to mind.
***
Deep within a treacherous mountain somewhere in the Central Plains.
"Cult Leader!"
A Blood Cult member dressed in black robes came running with an urgent expression on his face.
"...Did something happen?" The Blood Cult Leader asked coldly. He was already pissed off because the Martial Alliance was chasing them.
The man swallowed hard and spoke nervously.
"The Hao Clan was attacked, and the Hao Clan Lord was killed."
"We're busy running for our lives. Why should I care about some small-fry gang getting attacked?" The Blood Cult Leader spat out that question with killing intent laced in his words.
The subordinate practically spat out his words in desperation. "T-They say our Blood Cult was the one who attacked the Hao Clan!"
"..."
The Blood Cult Leader, who'd been radiating murderous energy just a moment ago, stared at his subordinate with a completely dumbfounded expression.
"..."
Even this cultist who had attended to the Cult Leader for a long time had never seen such an expression on his face before.