Chapter 56
The secret chamber beneath the Sword Guesthouse was filled with the smell of mold and dampness.
A single dim lantern just barely pushed back the darkness, and beads of moisture clung to the stone walls.
Jaseong spoke with a cold smile beneath his human-skin mask.
"I didn't really believe it, but you actually came here to meet Three Souls Hall."
Murong Jin's face turned deathly pale in an instant. His martial robes, made from fine silk, began to grow damp with sweat.
'Th-that man, how... how could he possibly be here?!'
Murong Jin felt as if he were dreaming.
"It's been a while, Murong Jin."
As Jaseong took a step closer, Murong Jin instinctively backed away.
But when his back hit the rusty iron door, he finally realized that he was trapped here.
"It's about time for you to take the gu poison antidote, isn't it? Are you all right?"
"H-hiik!"
Murong Jin's eyes distorted with fear. His pupils had already begun to contract.
It was because he recalled the pain of gu poison he had endured back at Cheongha Pavilion.
That hellish agony, as though his blood vessels were set aflame.
"Tell me everything you know."
"Eh? Wh-what do you mean by that...?"
"Did you forget so soon?"
"Eh...?"
"I mean, I don't like to talk at length."
"...!"
Jaseong drew his sword and held it up to Murong Jin's neck.
In front of him, Murong Jin trembled like an aspen tree and gave a stuttered answer.
"A-all I know is...! I was told to go into hiding at the Wandering Warrior Village where Three Souls Hall is staying, and to stay there with them! R-really!"
Cold sweat ran down Murong Jin's forehead and pooled at the tip of his chin.
Unfortunately, it wasn't the answer Jaseong wanted.
"I-it's true! My father only told me to meet Three Souls Hall and stay as a hostage for a while..."
Murong Jin cried out desperately. Jaseong gave a fleeting smile and looked back at Gu Janghu, who stood silently like a shadow.
[Leave it to me now.]
In Gu Janghu's hand were the torture tools of Killing Valley. A fine silver needle and a thread glinted in the moonlight.
This was the Cruel Sequential Acupoint Technique, one of the tortures of Killing Valley.
Gu Janghu first stabbed the silver needle into Murong Jin's acupuncture point.
"Kkek?!"
As the needle pierced the point, Murong Jin's body trembled violently.
But the true Cruel Sequential Acupoint Technique of Killing Valley was only just beginning.
Twang!
The needle pierced the acupuncture point, and the thread followed through, drawn tight with Gu Janghu's internal power.
As the thread constricted, Murong Jin's blood vessel was also squeezed, bringing excruciating pain.
"Argh! Please, spare me! Please!"
Murong Jin thrashed, banging his head against the stone floor in agony. Who knows how much time passed like that.
After barely enough time for a cup of tea, the exhausted Murong Jin spilled everything.
"I-I really don't know the details! But my father seemed to have made some sort of deal with Three Souls Hall!"
"A deal?"
"I-I think he took bribes from them and agreed to look the other way on the human trafficking..."
With tears and sweat running down his face, Murong Jin cried out. At those words, Jaseong's gaze grew icy.
"Taking bribes from the Dark Path and turning a blind eye to human trafficking... They're worse than the Evil Faction, let alone the Righteous Faction."
"H-hiik!"
"Either way, you've done well. I'll give you a gift."
"A-a gift?"
Jaseong grabbed Murong Jin's chin and lifted it. Then he took a small vial from his inner pocket.
Seeing this, Murong Jin thought it was the antidote for the gu poison. But the moment he swallowed the contents of the vial—
"Ggururrrk!"
Foaming at the mouth and eyes rolling back, Murong Jin writhed in pain. His entire body arched in violent spasms.
Alas, what Murong Jin had just swallowed was not an antidote, but a new gu poison, crafted by the Hao Sect.
"Well then, shall we start over from the very beginning?"
"Hrrrk! Gghh!"
"What exactly did your father do with Three Souls Hall?"
"I-I told you everything! Please, just stop...!"
Even after that, Murong Jin and his disciple had to endure more of Killing Valley's tortures.
When Murong Jin and his disciple finally collapsed from the agony, Jaseong left the secret chamber with Gu Janghu.
He then met with Lee Rin, who was waiting on the first floor of the Sword Guesthouse.
"So the Mocheon Sect has sided with Three Souls Hall... How should we use this information?"
Jaseong spoke, a sly smile at the edge of his lips. He had just acquired an incredible card to play.
Lee Rin, who was munching absent-mindedly on candied fruit, also brightened and spoke up.
"If word spreads in the martial world that the Mocheon Sect teamed up with Three Souls Hall to conduct human trafficking, the Mocheon Sect will be destroyed overnight."
Her eyes sparkled with excitement. It wasn't an exaggeration at all.
Three Souls Hall was on a completely different level from the Dark Path groups, such as the Kaiyang Society, that the Mocheon Sect had previously sided with.
It was a group infamous throughout the martial world and one that had garnered countless grudges.
To have joined hands with such a group—destruction for the Mocheon Sect was inevitable.
"Moreover, Three Souls Hall was selling children to the Demonic Cult. If this comes to light, even the Murim Alliance, which absolutely detests the Demonic Cult, will explode."
This time, Gu Janghu spoke.
"In the end, the Mocheon Sect, in aiding Three Souls Hall's human trafficking, essentially helped the Demonic Cult's cause as well."
"But how do we get this information out? If we go to the Murim Alliance and report it ourselves, the Murong clan is behind the Mocheon Sect. And the Murong clan is a core faction within the Murim Alliance... They might not just ignore our report, but even retaliate against us instead..."
Lee Rin swallowed her candied fruit, tilting her head with concern.
Hearing his companions' words, Jaseong became thoughtful. Then he came to a conclusion.
"In that case, we need to use Three Souls Hall's mortal enemies."
"Mortal enemies?"
Jaseong explained his plan to his two companions. As they listened, Lee Rin and Gu Janghu grinned and nodded.
Afterward, Jaseong returned to the secret chamber where Murong Jin was imprisoned.
By now, Murong Jin and his disciple were paralyzed with a terror beyond words.
"How foolish."
"Huh...?"
"Do you really think your father sent you to Three Souls Hall because he had any great expectations for you?"
"...?"
"You are a hostage to Three Souls Hall. If the Mocheon Sect breaks its word, Three Souls Hall will kill you without a second thought."
"Wh-what does that...?!"
"In other words, your father abandoned you. Is there any reason you should risk your life for such a father?"
Murong Jin's eyes widened in disbelief.
'If you handle this well, I'll love you more dearly than your older brothers,' Murong Dangcheon had told him.
So hearing what Jaseong said now, he was utterly shocked.
Once more, Jaseong whispered like a snake.
"But don't worry too much. If you do exactly as I say, you won't be cut down by Three Souls Hall's blade, and you will walk out of the Wandering Warrior Village alive."
"H-how... What do I have to do?"
"It's simple. Just confess your crime truthfully—toward the heavens."
"... Huh?"
* * *
Murong Jin, his eyes covered in black cloth, was led somewhere.
Judging from the rough stone floor, the damp air, and the sound of water dripping, it seemed to be some sort of cave.
Occasionally, bats flapped their wings overhead.
This went on for nearly half a month. He survived on only two meager meals a day—stale rations and water.
During this time, Murong Jin was thoroughly trained by Jaseong.
Whenever Jaseong gave a subtle signal of his presence, Murong Jin would immediately shout:
"My father, Murong Dangcheon, head of the Mocheon Sect, conspired with Three Souls Hall! He accepted money and turned a blind eye to their human trafficking! And he stood by as children were sold to the Demonic Cult! The people of the Wandering Warrior Village and several experts are my witnesses!"
Dozens of times a day, Murong Jin repeated these words.
He didn't know why, but his tongue moved like a machine.
If he didn't do it properly, he would be subjected to terrible torture again.
Then, one day, as he made his confession as usual—
"... The Mocheon Sect helped Three Souls Hall's human trafficking?"
"And even colluded in selling children to the Demonic Cult?!"
He heard voices—harsh, wind-battered voices that were not Jaseong's.
Sssk!
Someone roughly tore off Murong Jin's blindfold. The hand was calloused and rough.
After half a month in darkness, the light was so blinding that Murong Jin couldn't immediately open his eyes.
When they finally adjusted, he was greeted by a startling scene.
Jaseong and his party were nowhere to be seen.
Instead, there were seven old men with bushy white beards. Their skin was leathered by sea wind, and their eyes were sharp.
'Wh-who are these old men...?'
The wave pattern embroidered on their white martial robes revealed their identity.
They were the seven elders of the Hainan Sect—Three Souls Hall's mortal enemies.
These old experts, known as the Seven Sages of the South Sea, had come to Murong Jin's cave for a simple reason.
If Jaseong and his party were to report the evidence of the Mocheon Sect's collusion with Three Souls Hall directly to the Murim Alliance, the Murong clan might retaliate in ways unknown.
For this reason, Jaseong had sent a carrier pigeon to Hyang-I.
[Contact the Hainan Sect. Tell them their mortal enemies, Three Souls Hall, have been eliminated. And that Three Souls Hall was colluding with the Demonic Cult, and that a so-called righteous sect in Guizhou City's capital, guiyang, was in league with them.]
Jaseong sent three pieces of evidence by carrier pigeon to ensure the Hainan Sect believed him: first, a vial of the Devil Soul Frenzy elixir used by Three Souls Hall's three leaders; second, a badge bearing the '혼 (Soul)' character from Three Souls Hall's martial robes; and third, the location of the grave where Three Souls Hall's bodies were buried in the hills of the Wandering Warrior Village.
Because the evidence Jaseong had prepared was so clear-cut, the Hainan Sect immediately rushed to the Wandering Warrior Village—bringing only their top experts to guard against the possibility of a trap.
The result was now clear before Murong Jin's eyes.
"Disciples, it seems we must go to this Mocheon Sect at once."
So spoke the First Elder, Hae Cheoldo, who wielded a blade among the Seven Sages.
To this, Hae Punggeon, who was equipped with gauntlets, replied,
"I've always said those Murong clan people are too treacherous to be called righteous."
Next, Mu Gangpyeon, the Third Elder, who carried iron rods, spoke up.
"But to think it was the Hao Sect's branch leader who caught Three Souls Hall, whom we've spent so long tracking... I'm extremely curious about him."
"He didn't just catch them. He wiped them out completely. Truly fearsome skill."
"I'd heard rumors the Hao Sect recruited some impressive experts... but their leader wiped out Three Souls Hall himself?"
"Could it be that young leader who won at the recent Dark Path Duel Banquet?"
Listening to these conversations, Murong Jin was left completely dumbfounded.
Jaseong had clearly told him that Three Souls Hall was active here in the Wandering Warrior Village, and that, if he were taken hostage, he would surely die.
That's why he had followed Jaseong's instructions...
But now, hearing this, it turned out Three Souls Hall had been wiped out long ago—by Jaseong, who had imprisoned and tortured him!
'What the hell is going on here...? What did that bastard pull this time...!!'
While Murong Jin blinked in shock, Hae Cheoldo, the First Elder, spoke once more.
"In any case, everything will become clear when we reach the Mocheon Sect. Let us be on our way."
With that, the Seven Sages headed for Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou City, where the Mocheon Sect was.
As befitted elders of the Hainan Sect, one of the Nine Great Sects, their retreating forms radiated tremendous ki.
* * *
At that moment, Jaseong sat atop a tall tree at the edge of the Wandering Warrior Village.
He watched from afar as the Hainan Sect elders set out for the Mocheon Sect, a cold smile on his lips.
'This is only the beginning. I wonder what will happen when they arrive at the Mocheon Sect.'
At that moment:
Sssaaa—
A familiar voice rang out in his mind.
〈Oh, student. You have removed the 'first Middle Evil'... A special restriction of the Celestial Realm has now been lifted.〉
Jaseong's eyes flashed.
'At last, the reward I've been waiting for.'
In truth, this was one of the toughest Heaven's Mandates yet.
He had been assigned to eliminate Three Souls Hall—the greatest human trafficking ring in the Central Plains, one that even the Hainan Sect among the Nine Great Sects couldn't catch.
And they had even been empowered by the Demonic Cult's Devil Soul Frenzy.
Yet, Jaseong had managed to defeat them. It was proof of how far his martial power had come.
But as he listened to the message from Heaven's Mandate, Jaseong grew puzzled.
'... I removed the first Middle Evil? That means there are more left to remove...?'
His fifth Heaven's Mandate was to 'eliminate Middle Evil'. When he arrived at the Wandering Warrior Village, he'd thought destroying Three Souls Hall would be enough to complete this mandate.
But now it seemed that wasn't the case. There were still more Middle Evil left for him to defeat.
Clatter!
While Jaseong was lost in thought, a translucent manual appeared before him—the Heaven Evading Way, manual of the Sword Immortal.
The moment he saw it, Jaseong felt pleased.
'... As a reward for defeating the first Middle Evil, I get to learn one of the Heaven Evading Way's martial arts... If I eliminate the others, I'll get to learn even more.'
Perhaps because the fifth Heaven's Mandate was so difficult, this single mandate offered two rewards.
So it was only natural that a broad grin spread across Jaseong's lips.
Finally, Jaseong checked the section newly unlocked in the Heaven Evading Way. The moment he saw it, his eyes widened involuntarily.
[Chapter Six – Elixir Alchemy]