Chapter 310 - A Spark of Evil (3)

After the sun went down, I went to Hefei's entertainment district, and a rare sight unfolded before me, one I could never see by day.

There were people doing business by lanternlight at every street stall.

Young men and women in splendid clothes that could not be seen during the day.

Waiters calling out to customers every time I passed through the streets, and high officials bustling off somewhere with their bodies carried in large palanquins.

'Was it always this flashy?'

Most of my nights in my past life were only memories of collapsing from exhaustion to rest, or working overtime.

The only reason I could now spend my time this leisurely was because I was living a life different from my previous one.

["You asshole, if you spend your whole monthly pay today, how are you going to live from now on?"]

["Is there any guarantee we'll be alive tomorrow?"]

["Huh? True."]

["Over here... one more bottle of liquor worth fifteen silver coins!"]

The sight of those bastards spending all their monthly pay as if there were no tomorrow, hoping they would live long enough to receive the next month's pay as well, flashed through my mind.

"..."

For some reason, I felt a bitter mood trying to creep up on me, so I quickly bought a sweet and put it in my mouth.

As I walked like that and reached my destination, for some reason, it was packed with a crowd.

'What's going on?'

I wondered if there was something to see, but that did not seem to be it either, because the people standing in a long line were all dressed splendidly.

"Hey. Are you thinking of going in here?"

A man standing at the very front with three women in tow spoke to me.

But why the hell was this bastard speaking down to me when we'd only just met?

"I'm supposed to meet someone."

"Looking like that?"

He looked me over from head to toe, then let out a snicker.

The women standing beside him also covered their mouths one after another and smiled with eyes full of contempt.

Good grief, he had exactly the kind of face that was begging to be slapped.

"Did you make a reservation?"

"A reservation?"

"You don't even know reservations are standard at Sohwa Pavilion?"

A sneer hung at the corner of the man's mouth.

"... I've never come here like that before."

"Tsk, tsk. Half-baked fools hear that a place is famous and come without knowing a thing."

"..."

"What are you doing? Go stand in line way back there. You won't get in today anyway."

"Really? I was supposed to meet someone here today."

If I had known I needed a reservation, maybe I should have told him to meet somewhere else.

No, but Yang Gunbaek was the one who arranged this in the first place.

While I was at a loss over what to do, the man made me an offer.

"Show me a trick. If I like it, I'll take you in with me."

"A trick?"

"Seeing as you're carrying a sword, you seem to be a martial artist... Don't tell me you don't even have one trick to show."

At the man's words, the women burst out laughing as if they could no longer hold it in.

One of the women was even clutching her stomach as she laughed.

They sure looked like they were having fun.

I looked over them one by one and answered calmly.

"I don't have any tricks besides killing people. Should I show you that?"

"..."

For some reason, the atmosphere suddenly turned cold.

The women who had been laughing went even paler than their already powder-white faces.

The man, who had been about to say something back to me, cleared his throat for no reason, muttered, "Martial artists are all like that," and turned away.

Just then.

CREAK.

Right on time, the doors of Sohwa Pavilion opened, and a manager came out holding something like a register.

"Next is..."

The man and the women quickly readied themselves to go inside and took their eyes off me.

"Huh? Young Master?"

The manager suddenly looked at me and closed the register.

"Why are you standing here? If you came, you should have gone in."

"... No, I was trying to figure out what to do after hearing I needed a reservation."

"Oh my! What are you saying...! Young Master, of course you may visit at any time without a reservation."

"Really?"

"Yes. Please come in at once! A guest is waiting for you inside."

"All right. Ah...!"

I was about to go in under the manager's guidance, then stopped and turned toward the man and his companions.

They had all gone blank-faced before I knew it.

I looked them over from head to toe and asked.

"Do you happen to have any tricks to show?"

"..."

The man clamped his mouth shut at my offer.

Well, what trick could someone have when all he did was guzzle liquor day and night?

I entered inside under the manager's extremely attentive guidance.

* * *

"Huh?"

The Gap-class room where I had met the Hao Sect Leader before.

There, I saw a welcome face for the first time in a long while.

"It has been some time, Young Master."

"Weren't you in Hunan Province?"

"I often move from place to place."

It was none other than Haeryeong, Pavilion Master of Manbin Pavilion.

"Have you been well in the meantime?"

Then Yang Gunbaek, whom I had asked to meet, greeted me.

"Thanks to you."

A feast so lavish it seemed the table legs might break was laid out, and the rich scent of fine liquor filled the air, but there were no musicians or courtesans inside.

After cups of liquor went back and forth a few times and we asked after one another's well-being, the real conversation began at once.

"These are materials on the Jeondeung Sect and Oh Ilsik, the Lightning Saber."

I was in the middle of downing my cup when I flinched at the documents Haeryeong held out.

I had not said anything.

Haeryeong gave a faintly mysterious smile and said.

"We are always watching you, Young Master. Was that not what you wanted?"

I keenly realized how the Hao Sect had been able to become a rival to the Beggars' Sect, which had the Murim Alliance at its back, during the Orthodox-Demonic Great War in my past life.

'So this is why the Beggars' Sect was wary of the Hao Sect as it rose up.'

Once again feeling a strange emotion at a past I had not known, I examined the documents.

But even after looking through the materials on the Jeondeung Sect and Oh Ilsik, there was nothing particularly special.

Other than the fact that the Jeondeung Sect was a sect Oh Ilsik had built on his own without help from the Qingcheng Sect or the Wind Fragrance Sect, and that Oh Ilsik was someone who trained alone and established his own school, there was nothing else to learn.

Then, suddenly, something strange caught my eye.

When my gaze continued to linger on one section, Haeryeong opened her mouth.

"As expected, Young Master, you are too precious a talent to remain merely a warrior."

When I tilted my head and met her eyes, a smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.

"You found something strange among that information, didn't you?"

"For a sect founded by one man's strength alone, its growth is abrupt."

When I had only heard the Dok-a Sword's story, I had expected that it would have taken at least ten years for a martial arts hall to change into a sect.

After all, settling down and expanding one's influence was not something that happened just because one's martial strength was high.

And yet.

It took less than five years for a martial arts hall that had been run for those taking escort agency examinations to change its form into that of a sect.

Moreover, the Jeondeung Sect disciples I had faced did not look like a disorderly mob, but like people who had undergone quite a long period of training and education...

"Three years."

Haeryeong held up three fingers.

"It took exactly three years to become a sect from a martial arts hall."

"Did they perhaps have a patron?"

If there had been enormous support, it would not be entirely impossible.

But.

"There was none. The Jeondeung Sect truly rose to that position by one man's strength alone."

"..."

I could not accept it easily.

Then what about the identical martial robes the disciples wore?

What about their well-maintained swords?

How could one explain their plump cheeks and flesh, without any signs of hunger?

"Hoho, even you cannot predict this far, can you, Young Master?"

"I am not omnipotent."

"Hehe, that is why I cannot tell you how relieved I am. It means I can be of help to you like this, after all."

As she said that, Haeryeong handed me one more document.

I skimmed the document roughly with my eyes, then was startled.

"It seems strange even to you, does it not? Most of those people met Oh Ilsik with the goal of becoming escort warriors. But once they became members of the martial arts hall and then disciples, they somehow forgot their purpose and became people who brought him money."

Not only their own money, but money from their parents, and even money they borrowed from relatives.

Even without any particular other patronage, it was enough money to establish a respectable sect.

"..."

Suddenly, that shitty slogan the members of the Jeondeung Sect had shouted came to mind.

Disciples who had tried to protect Oh Ilsik by burning up their own bodies as if possessed, no different from fanatics.

And as soon as Oh Ilsik died, they came to their senses and busied themselves looking after their own safety.

'... Did he also learn sorcery?'

It was hard to think so, because the Dok-a Sword, who had accompanied me at the time, had been perfectly fine.

"Was there perhaps someone who placed a saber in Oh Ilsik's hands?"

Oh Ilsik changed as a person before and after he took up the saber.

If so, that was around the time he learned the demonic art.

But contrary to my expectations, Haeryeong shook her head.

"After leaving the Wind Fragrance Sect, Oh Ilsik did not take anyone else as a master. He also did not work at one escort agency for a long period, but moved from one place to another from time to time."

While listening to her, Oh Ilsik's final appearance came to mind.

["The Heavenly Demon... descends again, and all demons bow!"]

Even with death before his eyes, that bastard had died shouting for the Demonic Cult, which did not even exist in this world yet, instead of searching for a way to live.

... Just like the demonic practitioners in my past life when they died.

GRIND.

This still pissed me off no matter how many times I thought about it.

"... Young Master?"

"Ah, my apologies. Where were we?"

"We were at the part that no one anywhere had taught Oh Ilsik."

"I see."

"Hmm, may I ask why you are so certain Oh Ilsik had a master?"

At the moment of death, Oh Ilsik had ignited Demonic Fire.

That meant the bastard was a lunatic who had properly fallen into the Demonic Cult.

But if he had no separate master, then how exactly had someone turned Oh Ilsik into a demonic practitioner?

And what method had they used to brainwash those people into obeying Oh Ilsik even at the cost of their lives?

I separately told her only the part where Oh Ilsik had willingly chosen death.

Haeryeong also frowned as if she found it strange.

"That certainly is odd."

"Are there perhaps more people like Oh Ilsik, whose skills suddenly increased or whose influence suddenly expanded?"

Haeryeong thought deeply for a moment, then nodded.

"There is one."

"Who is it?"

If he was a bastard going through the same process as Oh Ilsik, then that son of a... no, that bastard, too, had to be suspected of being a demonic practitioner.

Even if I had to uproot the pillars of that bastard's sect...

"Jin Sowoon of the Taiyi Sect."

Huh? Why was my name suddenly coming up...

Haeryeong smiled brightly.

"By your own words, Young Master, none is more suspicious than Young Master Jin Sowoon himself."

Ah, true.

* * *

That was the shittiest part of this problem.

It was also something I had expected in advance, since from the moment I smashed the Jeondeung Sect, I knew this would not be a damn easy problem to solve.

"I suppose I should be investigated first."

"Of course, there were a few questionable points, but you have sufficiently cleared yourself of suspicion, Young Master, so you need not worry."

Haeryeong smiled lightly.

Wow, this person... she was terrifying.

She had already finished investigating me.

Should I be pleased about this or not?

In any case, the problem was that even if there was another bastard like Oh Ilsik, there was no way to reveal that he was a demonic practitioner.

It was not as though I could force-feed him an Exploding Blood Pill.

"Still, we have begun an investigation for now. We can only begin analyzing once the materials are gathered."

"That will take a long time."

"Is it not important?"

Haeryeong's face was more serious than ever.

"Young Master. We consider the importance of this matter very deeply. So you need not worry."

For a moment, I could say nothing.

Because until just now, the thought that things would only grow more difficult had made me unconsciously begin to feel greatly disheartened.

But solving this matter was not something I had to do alone.

Once that thought occurred to me, my heart felt much lighter.

"Thank you."

When I bowed my head lightly, Haeryeong took out a bundle from one side.

"I brought this just in case. These are records of the Wind Fragrance Sect's publicly known martial arts and the unique martial arts of Oh Ilsik, the Lightning Saber."

Oh, there had been nothing like this when I searched the Jeondeung Sect.

"The people of the Dok-a Sect were very cooperative. Fortunately, we were able to make them before the investigator from the Murim Alliance arrived."

At that moment, Haeryeong's gaze turned solemn.

"I heard Deung Gohyeon's eyes had turned as black as obsidian... Is that true?"

Well, as an information merchant, there was no way she would not be curious about this information.

She must be making inquiries in every direction to secure Deung Gohyeon's corpse.

But it would be difficult.

A corpse in an abnormal condition was connected to sorcery, and that in turn meant it was connected to performance evaluations.

Surely no one would trade their own future prospects for a few private coins.

"Are you curious?"

"We may not be able to perform an autopsy, but it would still be good if we could merely see it. ... Perhaps the Academy's top student could arrange a connection for us?"

"I think that will be difficult."

"..."

Haeryeong and Yang Gunbaek's faces stiffened.

It also felt as though a little disappointment was leaking out.

"... Ah, I made an unreasonable request..."

"Is there any need to bother going back and forth?"

"... Pardon?"

I pushed the bundle I had brought in front of them.

As it moved, a clattering sound came from inside the bundle.

Yang Gunbaek tilted his head and opened the bundle slightly, and his eyes grew as wide as a rabbit's.

"W-What is this?"

Bones that had turned black as if coated in ink.

"They belonged to Oh Ilsik."

What I had brought were Oh Ilsik's bones, left behind after being burned by the Demonic Fire.

Haeryeong also sprang to her feet and carefully examined the bones beside Yang Gunbaek.

"... You have brought something precious."

I saw the corner of Haeryeong's mouth twitch.

I looked at her mouth and gave one nod.

"Then does that mean I do not have to pay for today's liquor?"

Haeryeong, who had been forcing herself to hold back laughter, burst out laughing.

"Of course. And that will not be all. We must treat you to something even more precious."

When Haeryeong clapped twice, a short while later, a woman entered the private room carrying a bottle of liquor.

"I will pour you a cup."

While Yang Gunbaek and Haeryeong examined Oh Ilsik's bones, the young woman of graceful age filled my cup, then sat quietly beside me.

"..."

When I looked at the woman as if I found it strange, Haeryeong said.

"Ah, that girl will remain at your side."

I had never asked for this sort of thing.

I wondered if I had misjudged the Hao Sect.

GLUG GLUG.

But as I watched the liquor being poured into my cup, I realized.

"It's cold..."

Because the liquor falling into the cup was low in temperature, the cup quickly grew damp.

And from the liquor I downed in one gulp...

"Oh!"

A cry of admiration came out on its own.

"It is called Flower Ice Dew."

Cold dew gathered on flowers... The taste and aroma fit the name perfectly.

As I was admiring it, Haeryeong's gentle voice came to me.

"Flower Ice Dew brings out its finest flavor when drunk cold."

Pride was imbued in her words.

Thinking about it, there was a reason Sohwa Pavilion was packed with customers despite there being so many high-class taverns in Hefei.

'They are selling liquor using ice arts...'

After experiencing something this extraordinary, even high officials and the wealthy were bound to lose their minds over it.

Even I, who had learned martial arts, found it this fascinating.

Ice arts had many uses in all sorts of ways.

If there had been someone who had learned ice arts in our party this time, we would not have had to endure the smell of Deung Gohyeon's corpse rotting.

It was also useful on scorching summer days.

Some Hall Leaders in the Murim Alliance even deliberately gave additional points to those who had learned ice arts.

'But it is not something one can achieve through effort alone...'

It was truly unfortunate.

In that respect, even from a martial artist's standpoint, having a staff member who had learned ice arts pour liquor was a rare sight.

I should enjoy it as much as I could while I had the chance.

I brought the Flower Ice Dew to my lips again.

But in the meantime, perhaps because the temperature had risen from the heat of the hand holding the cup, it no longer had its original aroma and taste.

"If you empty the cup, I will pour you a new one."

As if emptying the cup and filling it with new liquor was the proper way to drink Flower Ice Dew, the woman who had learned ice arts held out an empty bowl slightly.

But for some reason, I could not easily empty the cup because the Flower Ice Dew felt too precious to waste.

Tsk, how much did all of this cost?

'Hmm... Was it like this?'

Was it because I was too drunk?

Remembering the way Eun Seollan used ice arts, I circulated my internal energy.

Of course, there was no way I could use ice arts with this.

To begin with, I did not know the formula, and the quality of my internal energy itself could not use ice arts.

So it was nothing more than a drunken prank.

SSSSS.

That was definitely the case...

"Y-Young Master?!"

"D-Don't tell me!"

"... Oh my!"

The three of them looked at my cup with eyes even more startled than when they had seen Oh Ilsik's bones, and Haeryeong's shocked voice rang through the private room.

"Young Master... you were able to use ice arts? There was definitely nothing like that in our investigation...!"

... Huh? I could use ice arts?

I asked Haeryeong with startled eyes.

"What on earth is going on?"

"... Pardon?"

Her expression seemed to ask why I was asking her that.

Just like her expression, the cup in my hand was cold as well.

"Ah, cold!"

"..."

"..."

In the room where silence had settled, only the sweet fragrance of Flower Ice Dew spread through the air.