Chapter 101 - Only My Eyes Can See It

Blue Face had chosen the fastest route to the Hundred Admonitions Merchant Company. As a result, we had no choice but to camp out.

Between hunting for supper and building a campfire, Yi An was bustling about so much that I finally couldn't bear to watch any longer and stepped in.

“To get a good fire going, you need to stand the wood up like this.”

Surprisingly, Yi An had never built a campfire before. This was her first time traveling so far from the Cult.

“Now, let me show you how to prepare the meat.”

I deftly dressed the pheasant and rabbit we had hunted.

“You're really good at this, Young Master. When did you learn all this?”

“Well, I've always been good with my hands, haven't I?”

The Wicked Laughing Demon sat leaning against a carriage wheel, watching us in silence. Blue Face stood a short distance away, guarding him.

I skewered the prepared meat on branches and began roasting it over the campfire.

“Keep a close eye on it so it doesn't burn. You can miss an assassin, but you mustn't burn the meat!”

“Yes!”

Yi An diligently tended the meat, apparently enjoying the task.

I sincerely hoped that even moments like these would become fond memories for her, tense as she must be around the Wicked Laughing Demon and Blue Face. After all, this was her first journey.

Once the meat was cooked, I offered some to the Wicked Laughing Demon.

“Join us.”

“None for me.”

“Aren't you hungry?”

“I'm fine.”

Yi An cut up some meat, added salt and seasonings, then wrapped it in paper and took a portion each to the Wicked Laughing Demon and Blue Face.

“Keep it for later, then.”

She returned after handing them the meat. Though she was terribly afraid of the Wicked Laughing Demon, she still made sure he was provided for.

“We'll eat first, then.”

Yi An and I cut up our meat and ate. I also drank some of the liquor we had bought when we stopped at a village.

“I'm fine, thank you.”

Even when I urged her to have a cup, Yi An adamantly refused. Apparently, she couldn't bear even to imagine making a drunken scene in front of the Wicked Laughing Demon.

Watching us, the Wicked Laughing Demon suddenly spoke.

“No matter how I look at her, she isn't pretty. What exactly do you find pretty about her?”

Yi An flinched. That alone would have told her what sort of conversation the Wicked Laughing Demon and I had had.

It was rude to her, but in a way, it also did me a favor. He had effectively told her that I'd called her pretty.

Instead of answering, I gazed into the distant darkness.

“Do you see the weasel under that rock, thirty jang away?”

Not just the Wicked Laughing Demon, but Yi An and Blue Face as well looked where I pointed. All they could see was pitch-black darkness.

“If you find it hard to believe, go and check.”

The Wicked Laughing Demon signaled Blue Face with his eyes, and Blue Face sprang toward the spot.

A little later, he returned holding a weasel.

The Wicked Laughing Demon was astonished.

“You really could see that?”

“My eyes can see things yours cannot, Laughing Demon.”

Of course, that wasn't really how I'd noticed it. It was because my training in the qi emission Father had taught me had reached a high level.

“Only my eyes can see my bodyguard's beauty.”

Yi An quickly shook her head, telling me not to say such things, then bowed her head deeply in embarrassment.

The Wicked Laughing Demon spoke mockingly.

“For a grown man, you certainly have no trouble saying embarrassing things.”

“What needs saying should be said. People leave things unsaid because they're embarrassed, or because they've already said them once. Because repeating them might feel burdensome. Because they're busy. Because it might make them look shabby.”

That last remark about looking shabby was aimed at the Wicked Laughing Demon. He had used those words to describe eating beneath his mask.

“Isn't a real man someone who says what needs saying?”

As I spoke, I looked at Yi An. Whether from the campfire or embarrassment, her downturned face was blazing red.

Hold your head high, Yi An!

Without you, I couldn't even have begun this life.

* * *

Two days later, our carriage arrived at the Hundred Admonitions Merchant Company.

As we stepped out, the Wicked Laughing Demon asked me,

“Have you finished figuring out how to stop me?”

“The answer wasn't in the carriage, nor was it in my head. I'll have to find it in there.”

I looked up at the company's enormous signboard.

Blue Face and Yi An led the way, with the Wicked Laughing Demon and me following behind.

I wore my mask here as well. Traveling masked alongside the Wicked Laughing Demon had its conveniences. Wearing one alone would draw far too much attention, but with three of us wearing them, people simply assumed we were the sort who normally went around in masks.

When Blue Face knocked, a man who looked like a steward opened the gate.

The sight of us in masks might well have startled him, but he remained calm, as though he had known we were coming.

“The company head is expecting you. Please follow me.”

That made me wonder whether hundreds of martial artists would be waiting in the training yard, but it was empty.

I emitted qi to survey our surroundings. Not a single person lay in ambush. A wise choice. A clumsy attempt to provoke the Wicked Laughing Demon would only have created needless casualties.

The man led us into the main hall, where nine people were waiting.

The head of the company greeted us first.

“I am Seo Jeongtae, head of the Hundred Admonitions Merchant Company.”

“I am Wicked.”

The Wicked Laughing Demon treated Seo Jeongtae with utter coldness. He disliked unorthodox martial artists to begin with; how much more displeasing must the man before him look now?

“It is an honor to meet a Demon Supreme of the Divine Cult.”

Seo Jeongtae, by contrast, was courteous. Calm and composed, he showed no fear of the Wicked Laughing Demon, and I could see why: eight masters stood behind him. Their presence also explained the absence of any other martial artists.

All eight wore bamboo hats pulled low to conceal their faces. Yet, as though to prevent an unnecessary clash from the outset, they wore clothes that identified them. On their chests was the image of a wolf with its jaws gaping wide, baring savage fangs.

The Unorthodox Alliance's ferocious wolves, said to tear even dragons and tigers to death.

These were the Thirteen Wolves of the Unorthodox Path, supreme masters of the Unorthodox Alliance, two of whom were said to be a match for a single Demon Supreme. No fewer than eight of them had come.

Although the Wicked Laughing Demon recognized them, he showed not the slightest fear.

Instead, he released a subtle stream of the Laughing Heart of Evil, taking control of the surrounding space.

When it began to affect Seo Jeongtae, the other side did not stand idle.

As if on cue, all eight masters projected their qi presence at once. Their unorthodox qi instantly pushed back the Laughing Heart of Evil, erecting a wall before Seo Jeongtae. Their qi was wild, yet orderly. Seeming to intertwine without actually tangling, the streams complemented one another, displaying the imposing force of an impregnable fortress.

A contest of qi had begun, with pride at stake.

The Wicked Laughing Demon pressed forward with the Laughing Heart of Evil, but the wall of unorthodox qi advanced instead. Even he could not withstand the internal energy of eight of the Thirteen Wolves.

I didn't want to see the Wicked Laughing Demon pushed back by Unorthodox Alliance martial artists either, so I secretly emitted demonic qi.

With my mighty internal energy added to the Laughing Heart of Evil, the contest settled into an even stalemate.

When the Wicked Laughing Demon refused to yield, they pressed harder with their internal energy. But I raised my own martial power further, pushing them back a step instead.

Just as they bristled and prepared to raise their internal energy further, the Wicked Laughing Demon and I withdrew our demonic qi simultaneously, as though we had agreed beforehand. Any further escalation would have been difficult for us as well.

End it in the brief moment when you have the upper hand. The Wicked Laughing Demon had won a perfect victory in this contest of qi. Sure enough, I could sense the eight masters' irritation.

The Wicked Laughing Demon sent me a sound transmission.

“—I never knew your internal energy was so profound, Second Young Master.”

“—Surely that was thanks to the power of the Laughing Heart of Evil. My demonic qi merely lent a hand.”

“—Lend another hand, and that pack of wolves will be wagging their tails. So you really were the one who killed the Soul-Seizing Demon.”

“—Look ahead, not at me, Laughing Demon. Our enemies aren't over here. There are nine of them right in front of us.”

The Wicked Laughing Demon turned his gaze toward Seo Jeongtae, the company head who had greeted us first.

“You seem to have been expecting me, so you must know why I've come. Choose your words carefully.”

“If you desire my life, Demon Supreme, I must willingly give it to you. But at least hear me out first.”

“I'm listening. Speak.”

“I'll get straight to the point. Our company intends to expand its business in Guizhou for the next eight years. In the eighth year, we will close all our operations and withdraw.”

Two years had already passed. Adding another eight meant that the Unorthodox Alliance intended to hold him accountable for the massacre by doing business and making money in Guizhou for ten years.

“You mean to feed on my flesh and blood for ten whole years?”

“The flesh and blood of those you killed has already rotted away, leaving only bare bones.”

Though clearly displeased, the Wicked Laughing Demon did not act rashly. That was not solely because of the eight members of the Thirteen Wolves.

When it came to handling business, he was not a rash man. That much was clear from how he had gone straight to meet the company heads after leaving the Cult, rather than indulging his desires.

At last, he spoke to Seo Jeongtae.

“Since you, too, belong to an organization, very well. I'll make a concession. Exactly one year from this moment. If you're still prowling around Guizhou doing business a year from now, I'll take that to mean you wish to visit your friends who are now nothing but bones.”

Despite the blatant threat, Seo Jeongtae firmly shook his head.

“One year is a condition we absolutely cannot accept.”

“Then we can settle this with a fight, martial artist against martial artist. If you're scared, you can all come at me together.”

The Wicked Laughing Demon knew that the Thirteen Wolves had their pride, and would not attack him all at once.

Seo Jeongtae appeared lost in thought, but through the New Eye Procedure, I noticed the faint trembling of his lips. He was conversing by sound transmission with one of the eight masters behind him.

Then the Wicked Laughing Demon sent me a sound transmission as well.

“—You must be disappointed. We should have had a good fight.”

“—Disappointed? To see you negotiating with people from the Unorthodox Alliance in person? This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. This is a hundred times more thrilling than watching you trade blows with them. If the world before us now is dull, then the ordinary world must be asleep.”

The Wicked Laughing Demon laughed through sound transmission. It was the first time I'd heard his laughter that way, and it had a different feel to it.

“—What will you do if they refuse?”

“—Kill them all and spend about ten years confined, I suppose. You take three; I'll take four. Let Blue Face and your ugly heart take the remaining one.”

I laughed through sound transmission too. Of course, his suggestion that we fight was a joke, but it wasn't the joke itself that amused me. It was his calling Yi An my ugly heart. He could be surprisingly petty.

Just then, Seo Jeongtae spoke firmly.

“Absolutely not.”

Naturally, I had expected that response. Enough of this pointless clash of tempers. It was time for me to step in.

“I'd like to hear that directly from the person who decided it was impossible.”

As I spoke up after remaining silent all this time, every gaze turned toward me.

“What do you mean? Who are you to intervene in such an important meeting?”

In answer to Seo Jeongtae's question, I turned my gaze toward one of the men standing behind him.

“Stop acting as the leader in the shadows. Step forward, and let's settle this.”

The man I addressed stood in the middle of the eight martial artists.

“You know the Wicked Laughing Demon's temperament well enough. Nothing that happens here should surprise you. Would you be all right with that? With the Unorthodox Alliance's successor getting caught up in a fight and dying in a place like this?”

My words startled not only the Wicked Laughing Demon, but Yi An and Blue Face as well.

SHING!

All seven men except the one I had singled out drew their swords in unison and formed a sword formation to protect him.

As befitted peerless masters, they exuded tremendous force. Their qi was incomparably stronger than when they had erected the wall of unorthodox qi earlier. In the Cult's terms, it was almost as though four Demon Supremes were protecting the man.

The man at the center of the sword formation slowly removed his bamboo hat. He was young, with a face covered in scars. If Jang Ho's scars looked dashing, this man's were hideous.

Slashed, crushed, distorted. His appearance sent a chill through the heart just to look at him, and his bearing and qi were equally dark and heavy. Amid it all shone the cold light of his eyes.

“How did you recognize me?”

His voice sounded like a nail scraping iron, as though his vocal cords had been injured as well.

He was Bi Sain, the officially designated successor to the leader of the Unorthodox Alliance. Since he wore exactly the same clothes as the Thirteen Wolves, my recognizing him was tantamount to a confidential secret having leaked.

“Who are you?”

I answered Bi Sain's cold question.

“Someone whose death would cause just as much trouble as yours.”

Lifting my mask onto the top of my head, I said,

“A pleasure to meet you. I am Geom Mugeuk, the Heavenly Demon's second son.”