Chapter 52 : The Cold Demon
"Jang Baekseo!?"
Although Jang Yuran's flustered voice was heard from behind, Jang Baekseo did not look back.
"…You're young."
Jang Baekseo snorted at the words of the peak master who was disguised as a bandit.
"And strong."
No more words were needed.
"Let's finish this quickly. I have a lot to do."
That's why he attacked immediately.
Chang!
"Ugh!?"
Until recently, Jang Baekseo had only been able to use the Gentle Flowing Sword in a place where many eyes were gathered.
But on this occasion, he had learned various high-level sword techniques of the Mysterious Profound Sect, including the Mysterious Heaven Sword Technique, from Cheongmu.
Thanks to that, he was able to fight to his heart's content even in a place with many people.
Jang Baekseo's Mysterious Heaven Sword Technique drew an exquisite trajectory and aimed for the peak master's vital points.
Although the peak master had tried to hurriedly block the unexpectedly high-level secret technique, he did not know that his opponent was also a peak master like himself.
"Keuhak!?"
The peak master, who had hastily tried to defend against the attack without knowing the opponent's level, had his neck cut by the sword that had cleverly climbed up his blade.
And that was the end.
Although he had not used his sword qi and true sword technique to hide his identity.
Nevertheless, it was an unbelievably empty end for the death of a master who had reached the sublime realm of the peak.
"One."
Jang Baekseo, who had defeated the enemy, did not delay in the slightest and immediately headed for another place.
"Ah!? W-wait…"
Although Jang Yuran's voice was heard from behind, Jang Baekseo had already left the place.
Chwaak!
"Keuk!?"
"Two."
Swish!
"Keuk!? You brat!!"
Chaeng!
Swish!
"Keoheok!?"
"Three."
Jang Baekseo ran silently through the chaotic battle and dealt with the masters who were hiding among the bandits one by one.
Although they were all considerable masters who had reached the peak realm, the situation and the opponent were bad.
Above all, in his view, these peak masters, apart from their outstanding martial arts realm, seemed to have almost no experience in chaotic battles.
'What a waste of skill.'
Since they were not even properly observing the basic principle of a chaotic battle, 'keeping your senses on your blind spots,'
No matter how good the qi sense of a peak master was, it was not that difficult for Jang Baekseo to pierce their weak points.
Against such a Jang Baekseo, since they were only focusing on the enemy in front of them, it was no different from sticking out their necks and saying, 'Please cut my neck~'.
Thus, as he went around cutting the necks of the peak masters who were hiding among the bandits one by one, the tide of the battle began to gradually turn towards the escort warriors.
In particular, the performance of Cheong Yeonah, Cheongdo, and Hwa Mokyeon was brilliant.
Seeing them defeat more than one peak master each without difficulty, Jang Baekseo thought that their skills were quite good.
In particular, Hwa Mokyeon's performance among them was amazing.
'The swordsmen of Huashan are still amazing.'
Thinking that the skills of the Huashan swordsmen were the same before and after his regression, Jang Baekseo cut off the neck of the last peak master.
Then suddenly-
He realized that the places where the peak masters he had dealt with so far had been, and their movements, were surrounding a certain point and were slowly narrowing the encirclement.
'They were narrowing the encirclement around the carriage…'
Although he had expected it, as expected, they were aiming for the carriage in which the wife of a noble family was riding.
"…"
Chwaak-!
Jang Baekseo, who had shaken off the blood on his blade, looked at the carriage with coldly sunken eyes.
***
After the fight was over, the injured were treated, and the dead were buried in the ground.
And they did not forget to mark the place where they were buried so that they could dig up the temporarily buried people later and return them to their hometowns.
While the situation was being sorted out, Cheongdo was interrogating Jang Muyeon with a firm face.
"You clearly said it was a safe escort mission, didn't you, Lord Jang?"
"…The threat of bandits always follows an escort mission…"
"Bandits!?"
Cheongdo snorted as if it were ridiculous and then glared at Jang Muyeon and said.
"Where in the world would bandits surround you from all sides and shoot arrows first before even trying to collect a toll? And on such a large main road?"
Even if they were bandits, they were human, and the reason they committed robbery was to earn money and make a living.
What profit would there be in drawing their swords and starting a fight so recklessly like this, and then dying and getting injured?
Of course, it was much more profitable to just threaten them a little, receive a few coins as a toll, and send them on their way.
Moreover, the place where the fight had taken place was a large main road.
And it was not just a main road, but one of the largest main roads in the province, leading to the capital of Sichuan.
Moreover, since there were even peak masters mixed in among the bandits who had attacked, anyone who was not a fool could immediately notice that what had just happened was no ordinary matter.
"Do you take me for a fool, Lord Jang, no, Jang Muyeon?"
As the peak master openly showed his hostility, Jang Muyeon's face turned pale.
"As soon as the party is reorganized, we will return to Gangjeong County, so know that."
"P-please, Great Hero Cheongdo, just that…"
Although Jang Muyeon tried to persuade Cheongdo somehow, Cheongdo's attitude was firm.
If Jang Baekseo had not been involved, Cheongdo would have thought about it to some extent.
But on this escort mission, Jang Baekseo, who was carrying the future of the sect, was with them.
If something happened to him, he would have no face to see not only his senior brother but also the people of the sect.
Just as the escort mission was about to fall apart.
Click.
The pregnant woman in the carriage, who had not shown her face outside even once, opened the carriage door and showed herself.
As she showed herself, the people around her began to murmur.
That was because she had a very peculiar appearance.
Extremely white skin compared to the Han people, and clear features. In addition, blue eyes mixed with green.
At the appearance of the woman who had a completely different appearance from the Han people, except for her black hair, the crowd murmured.
"A person with colored eyes!?"
"Why is a person from outside the Central Plains…"
Although the people were murmuring like that, their voices did not enter Jang Baekseo's ears at all.
'Why are you coming out from there!?'
Jang Baekseo knew that woman.
No, to be precise, he knew her beautiful face.
'What is her relationship with the Cold Demon?'
The Cold Demon, Ma Jeonghu!
One of the four demon palace masters who had been deployed to Sichuan before his regression was the Cold Demon, Ma Jeonghu.
The Cold Demon, one of the Twelve Demon Palace Masters and who used the Yin Cold Qi Art and the Ice Art as her main skills, was an object of fear to the martial artists of the Central Plains for her terrifying ice art that turned people into ice statues while they were still alive.
And she was also the sworn enemy of Gang Mujeong, the current Sect Leader of the Yeomhon Sect and who had the title of the Flame Star as one of the Eighteen Anti-Demon Stars, who had killed Jang Baekseo before his regression.
The Cold Demon's signature secret technique, the Small Hand Demon Art, was recognized as the best hand technique in the world, which even the Ten-Dan Brocade of Wudang and the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms of the Beggars' Sect could not follow. Jang Baekseo, who had seen its transcendent martial prowess since his Sword Fiend days, knew it better than anyone else.
And such a Cold Demon, Ma Jeonghu, was a woman.
Ma Jeonghu, who had already been in the position of the Cold Demon since the time Jang Baekseo had first gone over to the Demonic Cult, was a veteran old Jianghu who had not come down from the position of the Cold Demon until the moment he had become the Sword Demon and had met his death in the sect.
Such a her, even at the age of approaching seventy, had maintained a much younger appearance than her age thanks to her profound internal energy and the characteristics of the ice art.
And the appearance of Ma Jeonghu, who had maintained her youth in that way, was a complete copy of the woman who had just shown herself.
The only difference was that Ma Jeonghu, who had inherited the bloodline of the northern frozen lands, had even her hair color yellow, so she looked completely like a person with colored eyes, but the woman who had just shown herself had the features of a person with colored eyes, but only her hair was black.
As Jang Baekseo was guessing the relationship between Ma Jeonghu and the woman…
"I can't just listen to those words."
As fluent words of the Central Plains came out of the woman's mouth, the people murmured once again.
It was certainly surprising that fluent Han language flowed from the mouth of a woman who was clearly a person with colored eyes.
Whether the people were surprised or not, the woman continued to say what she had to say.
"Lord Jang, I have clearly paid in advance. If you stop the escort mission here, you will have to pay a penalty of ten times the amount for breach of contract!"
"H-huh!? T-ten times… M-madam Ma! Don't worry! The escort mission will not be stopped for such a thing!!"
As Jang Muyeon, who was horrified at the words 'ten times', said that, Cheongdo, who had frowned, interrogated Jang Muyeon.
"A penalty of ten times, what on earth does that mean!!"
"Th-that is…"
The story of Jang Muyeon that began in that way was, in summary, this.
A few days before the escort mission began, a woman called Madam Ma had come to see Jang Muyeon, had paid a large sum of money, and had asked him to 'accompany her on the escort mission to Chongqing'.
Since the amount of money that Madam Ma had proposed was so large, Jang Muyeon had accepted the request without even properly checking the contract conditions.
"A large sum of money, how large was it… and even if you breached the contract, a penalty of ten times!"
"…It seems the situation was not good, and I was too cornered by the failure of the last escort mission… I was not in a situation to be picky about cold rice or hot rice."
Of course, Jang Muyeon was not a fool either.
That's why he had asked her the reason for proposing such a large amount of money, and she had readily told him the circumstances.
In summary, it was this. Her husband was a big-shot trader who traded with the Western Regions, and the two, who had met in the process, had fallen in love and had gotten married.
But unlike the two who loved each other, her husband's family did not look kindly on her, who was a person with colored eyes.
Nevertheless, the two loved each other, and finally, the fruit of their love, a child, was conceived.
But the problem started from this point…
Her parents-in-law and her husband's family, who could not accept a grandchild with mixed blood of a person with colored eyes, had started to use tricks to make her have a miscarriage. And she, after consulting with her husband, had been planning to run away from home and hide in Chongqing until she gave birth to her child.
"In other words, the story that she had a family in Chongqing was a lie…"
"…That's right…"
"And… according to that woman, no, Madam Ma's words, the ones who attacked us were…"
"They were probably people sent by her husband's family…"
Cheongdo, who had heard the whole story, held his head.
Hearing the story, it seemed that they had gotten involved in a family fight of some trading magnate.
Of course,
'It's a lie…'
Jang Baekseo did not believe those words.
Although there were various reasons, the biggest reason was, of course, that she looked too much like the Cold Demon.
So much so that it would be strange if they were not related by blood.
Moreover, although he could not tell when she was in the carriage far away, he could be sure after checking her directly at a close distance.
She had learned the Cold Demon's signature secret technique, the Cold Heaven Ice Yin Art, albeit clumsily, but she had definitely learned it.
'If she has learned the Cold Heaven Ice Yin Art, she must be a blood relative of the Cold Demon, and a direct one at that. Why on earth is such a person here…?'
The position of the demon palace master of the Twelve Demon Palaces of the Demonic Cult was mostly not passed down from blood to blood, but was a position that was won only by skill.
It was not for nothing that the rumor that the first law of the Demonic Cult was the survival of the fittest was circulating in the Central Plains martial world.
But among them, the position of some palace masters was passed down through blood, and the position of the Cold Demon was one of them.
The reason was that the Cold Demon's Cold Heaven Ice Yin Art was a martial art that could not be learned unless one had the innate talent and a constitution suitable for the yin art, and such a talent and constitution had been passed down through the bloodline of the Cold Demon for generations.
That's why learning the Cold Heaven Ice Yin Art was no different from proving that one was a blood relative of the Cold Demon.
'What are you hiding?'