Chapter 59
Ya Socheong continued his words, wondering how much they must have suffered to gather all that information.
"Then he must not be in a position to just play around."
"That's right. The emperor is delaying the investiture of the crown prince and is contemplating who to choose as his successor, so the fight for the succession is fierce in the Imperial City. He might have gone under one of them and is working for them."
It was a very possible story.
If he had made a connection with a prince and had decided to work under him, he would have sought out the one with the highest possibility of becoming the crown prince.
Since the level of his martial prowess was high, it would not have been difficult to find a job.
Since he could have found a place he wanted and gone there, it seemed that finding the prince who was most likely to succeed to the throne would be the priority.
"The first and second princes were caught up in a treason plot, their maternal families were destroyed, and the princes were exiled to the frontier. On the outside, it seems that the third prince is receiving the emperor's favor, but there is a rumor that he is actually considering the fifth prince as the crown prince. Depending on how much information Danli Cheon has obtained, there is a possibility that he has made a connection with either the third prince or the fifth prince."
Ya Socheong, listening to the stories that came out of Pae Maling one after another, was once again amazed at the information power of the Danli family.
"How do you know all this?"
"I am the family head's foster daughter. There are so many things that the direct descendants of the four great families of the Heavenly Demon Sect have to learn and master."
It was not a statement made out of pride, but an answer tinged with fatigue.
"He wouldn't be able to become a prince's guard, and it would be to the extent of receiving work from time to time. If he likes to play around that much."
"That could be the case."
"First, let's go around the brothels and ask. If we tell them his build and facial features and ask, someone might know. Since he's confident in his martial prowess, he might not be wearing a human-skin mask or using a disguise. If he's often drunk, even if he uses a disguise, it might come off in the middle."
"As expected, things are going smoothly because I'm with you, brother."
"We haven't done anything so far. Don't praise me for no reason."
Still, Pae Maling continued to praise Ya Socheong, saying that that was not the case.
* * *
After arriving in the Imperial City and going around a few brothels, they got a result.
Of course, they didn't speak obediently, and in such cases, money didn't seem to work either.
When they wore human-skin masks, exercised a little physical force, and created an atmosphere of fear, in the end, they reluctantly told what they knew.
They were not yet in a state where they could be sure that the person they knew was Danli Cheon, but for now, they set out to find the place that people had told them about with a single thread of hope.
The place where Ya Socheong arrived with Pae Maling had a series of small mansions.
It was not splendid, but it was a substantial place.
Ya Socheong had intended to go alone, but Pae Maling did not bend her will.
"I will be of help, brother. If a situation arises where I hold you back even a little, I will never come near you again."
If she was going to say that much, it seemed that she was really confident.
He had heard that Pae Maling was a martial talent that came once in a hundred years, and since then, she had been continuing her bone-crushing training, so her martial arts skills would certainly be trustworthy.
Since there was no time to hesitate for long anyway, the two of them tried to go inside.
But just as they were about to go inside, a group of men and horses approached the place.
When Ya Socheong gave a signal to Pae Maling, she flew to a nearby place.
She was certainly quick and professional.
When the two of them had both hidden themselves, the mounted guards arrived in front of the mansion.
A little less than ten of them got off their horses at almost the same time and went inside.
For some reason, it seemed that they were in a hostile relationship with the owner of the house, and Ya Socheong, expecting to be able to confirm the owner of the house without facing him directly, sat on a tree branch and looked down at the mansion's courtyard.
"Is Song Doyeong inside!"
It must be Danli Cheon's alias.
When the person at the head shouted in a booming voice, the door opened and a person came out.
He had seen the portrait that Pae Maling had shown him, and although his hair and beard were a little different, his overall facial shape and such were similar.
His tanned face and body were like hard and tough leather, and they also felt like an iron plate.
His age seemed to be believable no matter what you said between forty and sixty.
The muscles that were faintly revealed looked very tough and hard, and the muscles under his clothes were bulging.
His forearms, thighs, and calves were all extraordinary.
Especially his fists seemed to be almost twice the size of an ordinary person's, and his fingers were so trained that they looked deformed.
It seemed that if he put his internal energy into them and grabbed a neck, he could easily break the neck bones.
Even just by looking for a short time, he could immediately tell that he was not an easy opponent.
Thinking that he might suddenly run away if he judged the outside situation to be threatening, he did not let down his guard, but Danli Cheon came out, still not fully sober, and glared at the guards.
"What brings you here?"
"What did you do to the courtesan you were drinking with at the brothel last night?"
"How would I know that?"
Even in front of the guards, he showed no signs of fear.
A smile was on his lips, and without even thinking of straightening his clothes, he stood at an angle and looked down at them.
"Do you know what you are being suspected of right now?"
"What are you going to do if I killed that courtesan? What are you going to do if I kill you sirs just like I killed that courtesan? Ah, you haven't seen the body?"
Danli Cheon was definitely not in his right mind.
No matter what, he hadn't thought that he would even do this to the guards, but he looked as if he were pleased that his prey had come to him on its own.
Looking at Pae Maling, she had her hand on the hilt of her sword.
She was in a state of full readiness to draw her sword at any time.
Steam began to rise from Danli Cheon's head and shoulders.
He was expelling the alcohol.
Seeing him deliberately sober up, he realized that he would soon be targeting the guards.
The guards were also flinching, surprised by the unusual energy they felt from Danli Cheon.
"That courtesan must be a great child. Seeing that you've come looking for her so quickly. She was pretty, but is she a child cherished by a high-ranking official? Did you come looking for her like this because you couldn't see her when you tried to call her quietly?"
Danli Cheon slowly approached them as he spoke slowly.
The guards flinched and tried to block him by holding their spears forward.
That looked endlessly clumsy.
"You are truly foolish. Isn't that why you die? Why do you touch the nose hair of a lion that is sleeping soundly?"
Then he flew like a thunderbolt.
Ugh-!
The guards couldn't even think of trying to do anything and burst out screaming.
Danli Cheon's momentum did not even make them feel like they could face him for a moment.
It was almost at the same time that Ya Socheong came down in front of them.
Danli Cheon seemed to be surprised for a moment because of Ya Socheong who was blocking his way, but that time was extremely short.
And with an almost beast-like instinct, he changed his opponent and began to attack Ya Socheong.
He must have thought that he wouldn't even need to use his hands two or three times against Ya Socheong.
He probably didn't even understand where Ya Socheong had suddenly appeared from, but he thought, 'How much internal energy can such a young person have?'
That worked very favorably for Ya Socheong.
It was a common mistake that not only Danli Cheon but most martial artists easily made.
If he hadn't obtained a fortuitous encounter like eating an elixir, he would have at most accumulated only about ten years' worth of internal energy.
With that thought, Danli Cheon did not use his full strength in the first strike.
Unlike him, Ya Socheong, thinking that that opportunity might not come again, put all his strength into it.
Although Danli Cheon did not put all his strength into it, he aimed for Ya Socheong's neck from the beginning.
And he tried to grab and tear his neck.
Ya Socheong bent his body back to avoid his attack and kicked Danli Cheon's abdomen with all his might, putting his internal energy into his foot.
Then he swung his sword.
Danli Cheon's sixth sense was unbelievable, and he reacted frighteningly and avoided the attack in a state where he couldn't even come to his senses.
His eyes were wide open as if he still didn't understand the situation, but he continued to move his body.
A breathtaking fierce battle continued.
It was a situation where Ya Socheong's one-sided attack was continuing, but after that, no attack succeeded.
Danli Cheon was concentrating on getting out of Ya Socheong's attack with all his strength, and that succeeded effectively every time.
The guards, seeing an opportunity, seemed to think that they should step up.
It was probably more of a thought that they couldn't just stand there and go back when something like this had happened, rather than a thought that they had to help Ya Socheong.
And seeing the young man gain the upper hand against Danli Cheon, there was also the calculation that Danli Cheon might not be that difficult.
A few people held their spears and aimed for Danli Cheon.
But that was rather like offering the spears to Danli Cheon.
Danli Cheon immediately pulled the spears and swung them at Ya Socheong.
"You're just getting in the way, so step back!"
Ya Socheong shouted, but as if that had stimulated them, several guards rushed at Danli Cheon at once.
Danli Cheon grabbed one of them with his sharp fingers and used him as a human shield.
When the guard's body blocked the space between him and Danli Cheon, Ya Socheong could not attack him, and as he hastily withdrew his internal energy, his internal energy exploded, leading to an internal injury.
The guards still did not know what a foolish thing they had done.
Danli Cheon smiled vilely and crushed the heads of two guards in front of Ya Socheong.
And he took the lives of the remaining people one by one.
It was as if he were trying to show the essence of the claw technique he had created, but it had no meaning other than to show off to Ya Socheong.
And that was perhaps the only opportunity.
He was thinking that if it weren't for the internal injury, he wouldn't have missed this opportunity, but Pae Maling flew behind Danli Cheon and swung her sword at his head.
Danli Cheon ducked his head with a crazy instinct and avoided the attack, but his hair was cut off by Pae Maling's sharp sword.
It was a part that showed how close a call it had been.
Pae Maling continued her attack without looking back at her failure, and Ya Socheong soon joined in.
Danli Cheon still seemed to have questions about their sudden appearance, and he especially kept glaring at Pae Maling.
It seemed that he had recognized that Pae Maling's swordsmanship was that of the Danli family.
"Who are you!"
But Pae Maling did not answer him.
It seemed that she was not thinking of anything else other than the thought that she had to defeat him in this place.
Ya Socheong thought that that was probably a habit of Pae Maling's that had been formed since she had first started her mission in the guard.
(End of Chapter)