Into the Scent of the Sword (4)
The old man remained standing on the hill.
“The Black Water Sword is dead.”
Despite hearing the report of his subordinate’s death, the old man didn’t so much as blink.
“This time, the losses are greater. Over sixty are dead, and more than thirty are seriously injured.”
“And the enemy?”
“Their losses are minimal.”
The old man spoke with disbelief.
“Is the Heavenly Bow Sect truly this strong? Perhaps I should have recruited them instead of you lot.”
The man hung his head in shame. No one had anticipated such an outcome. It felt as if they were haunted by ghosts.
And to think even the leader, the Black Water Sword, would fall. He knew better than anyone how formidable he was.
“Did the Black Water Sword die at Jong Cheon-rak’s hands?”
“No.”
“Not him?”
“While facing Jong Cheon-rak, someone else beheaded him.”
“Foolish!”
The old man scowled. He considered asking who the other person was but decided against it. It was likely just another member of the Heavenly Bow Sect.
“Where are they now?”
“They’ve entered the Sword Fragrance Forest. It seems they’re heading towards the Pavilion of Life and Death.”
The old man’s gaze drifted to a distant, unseen place.
“It can’t be helped. Deploy him.”
His tone and expression revealed his reluctance about the decision.
“Understood.”
Once the subordinate left, the old man muttered to himself.
“So it ends in such a disgraceful manner.”
Seeing the Pavilion of Life and Death again after so long stirred old memories.
The Blood Heaven Sect had three sacred sites. To outsiders, they might sound like holy places, but the reality was far from it.
These so-called sacred sites were strategic strongholds.
Each had its own unique characteristics, and the Sword Fragrance Forest was a place of scholarly research on formations and mechanisms.
It was here that I fought the Sword Demon. He was the master of the Pavilion of Life and Death and the guardian of the sacred site.
I defeated him after a grueling 396 seconds. Among masters, a fight lasting over 400 seconds might not seem long.
But during those 400 seconds, I nearly died twice. It was only upon reflection that I understood why the battle was so difficult.
It was my ambition.
Back then, my pride in my swordsmanship was sky-high, and I wanted to defeat the Sword Demon, reputed to be the strongest swordsman after the sect leader, as quickly as possible.
What if I could kill him in under a hundred seconds?
I wanted the reputation that even the Sword Demon of the sect was only worth a hundred seconds to me. That ambition nearly killed me and prolonged the fight.
Had I not been so greedy, I might have defeated him in under 200 seconds. That battle taught me never to rush to defeat an opponent.
The number of seconds it takes to win is irrelevant. Winning is what matters most, and how you win is the next lesson I learned.
It feels like just yesterday that I fought the Sword Demon.
A warrior from the Heavenly Bow Sect approached and cautiously knocked on the door.
But no one answered from inside.
“The door is open.”
The warriors entered and inspected the interior.
A moment later, they returned.
“It’s empty.”
Jong Cheon-rak’s disappointment was palpable. Perhaps he still clung to hope until the very end.
‘The person we were supposed to meet has likely been taken by them.’
He might want to say this.
But his instincts would tell him otherwise.
I understood his confusion. He had dedicated his life to the Martial Alliance and the martial world. How could he accept that the alliance leader wanted him eliminated?
The group entered together.
Judging by the dust accumulated everywhere, it was clear the place had been abandoned for a long time.
Jong Cheon-rak finally made up his mind.
“We’ll rest here for a while before moving on.”
He still hadn’t decided whether to return to the alliance or where else to go if not.
Everyone, except for those on guard, scattered around to rest. They were all exhausted from the continuous battles.
Gal Sa-ryang also looked worn out. Having not trained in martial arts, he was likely the most fatigued.
“Why don’t you rest against this wall for a bit?”
I guided him to a wall, cleared the dust from the floor, and laid out some clothes for him to sit on.
“Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it.”
“You seem more alive in this situation.”
“Do I?”
Gal Sa-ryang nodded.
“The previous alliance leader was like you. When everyone was tired and scared, trembling with fear, the leader seemed invigorated. That gave us great strength.”
Was I really like that?
After years of war, the battlefield had become second nature to me.
In fact, after the war ended, I felt a sense of emptiness. Of course, it was a feeling I couldn’t share with anyone. I feared being labeled a war fanatic.
Now? I might have confessed those feelings to Gwang-doo.
I shook off my thoughts and looked up to find Gal Sa-ryang asleep against the wall.
I quietly stood up, careful not to wake him.
Then I checked the injuries of the wounded once more. Thanks to the excellent medicine, they were healing well. The warriors of the Heavenly Bow Sect, who were tending to their comrades, nodded in gratitude.
I returned the gesture respectfully and headed upstairs.
As I ascended the stairs, memories of climbing them after defeating the Sword Demon came flooding back. While my subordinates searched the place, I had gone up to the top floor.
Entering the top room, I vividly recalled that day. Instead of feeling joy at defeating the Sword Demon, I was consumed by thoughts of why it took 400 seconds, staring out the window endlessly.
Looking back, it was truly a foolish thing. At the time, I was the best in the world, the leader of the Martial Alliance. To others, I seemed nearly perfect. But human folly knows no rank, as I learned from my past.
I glanced out the window briefly before turning my attention to the room. Back then, I was too lost in thought to properly examine it.
The sword stand in the corner appeared ordinary but was crafted by a highly skilled artisan. The bed and tea table were similarly well-made.
I had dismissed it as just an attic, but now I realized it might have been the Sword Demon’s room.
With that thought, the room seemed different. It reflected his neat and orderly personality.
Then something caught my eye.
A small lock hung on the wardrobe handle. It wasn’t locking the wardrobe, just hanging there as a decoration.
The lock had letters on it. Upon closer inspection, it was a combination lock with gears to align the letters.
Click, clack.
I turned it this way and that. It seemed the lock would only open with the correct combination. With so many letters, it seemed impossible to guess.
Since it was just a decoration, there was no need to solve it.
I was about to leave when I turned back.
Two letters on the gears caught my eye.
Ghost (鬼), Eight (八).
Seeing those two letters, a word popped into my mind.
Ghost Demon Eight Forms (鬼魔八式).
It was the name of the Sword Demon’s final technique. As I turned the gears, I found the remaining letters needed to form the word.
The moment I aligned the letters to spell Ghost Demon Eight Forms.
Clunk.
The opposite wall of the wardrobe opened.
I was taken aback. Solving the wardrobe lock opened a wall? I hadn’t imagined such an elaborate mechanism.
Inside was a small room. A small desk sat there, with a thick book resting on top.
The Ghost Gate Escape Manual (鬼門遁書).
Opening it, I found it was a book on the formations studied here.
“So, this was hidden here.”
I hadn’t discovered it in the past.
I realized it was because of me.
That day, I was too on edge about not defeating the Sword Demon quickly. My subordinates were wary of me, and naturally, the search of this seventh floor wasn’t thorough.
Even if it had been, finding this secret room would have been impossible.
The Sword Demon’s final technique, Ghost Demon Eight Forms, was something only I knew from his dying words.
How could the searching warriors have known that technique? Moreover, the wardrobe wasn’t locked, and the lock was just hanging like an ornament, so they would have turned it a few times and moved on.
My gaze wavered as I looked down at the Ghost Gate Escape Manual.
It was a book containing the essence of the Blood Heaven Sect’s knowledge on formations. It would be invaluable for future endeavors.
After carefully tucking the book into my robe, I randomly turned the lock again.
The secret room’s door closed.
I left the room and descended to the first floor.
As I slowly descended, a strange sense of unease enveloped me. A foreboding feeling I couldn’t quite place.
Sure enough, everyone on the first floor was unconscious.
And to the side, a man was trying to strip the pants off an unconscious warrior from the Heavenly Bow Sect.
I frowned instinctively. The man was a degenerate who indulged in unspeakable acts. He was an exceptionally ugly man. Though I rarely judged people by their appearance, the only word that came to mind for him was “repulsive.”
He stopped what he was doing and looked at me.
“Oh? Why are you still standing?”
Something had been dispersed throughout the space on the first floor.
Fortunately, what he had released wasn’t a lethal poison but one that induced unconsciousness. It was a potent toxin, and everyone, exhausted as they were, couldn’t avoid being affected.
“Your internal energy must be profound.”
After finishing his words, he let out a sharp breath, as if something had escaped from his mouth.
It wasn’t because his internal energy was profound. I had become immune to all poisons and drugs, so nothing could affect me.
“Wake them up,” I commanded.
The man chuckled at my words. “Do you know who I am? In the martial world, they call me Dok Mirang.”
Dok Mirang.
The name rang a bell. He was a notorious expert in poison techniques, known for his bizarre habit of using aphrodisiacs to indulge in his twisted pleasures. The name “Mirang” was likely a reflection of his inferiority complex about his appearance.
After unifying the martial world, I had imposed restrictions on the use of poison. The endless assassination attempts during the wars with the unorthodox sects had become tiresome.
Most sects that used poison were aligned with the unorthodox and dark paths. They protested, but I dismissed their complaints. The orthodox sects had unified the martial world, and they would have to accept it.
“Do you know who I am?” I asked.
“Who are you? I’ve never heard of a young one with such profound internal energy.”
Despite his words, he remained confident, convinced that I would soon collapse.
“I’m the one who banned the use of such filthy poisons.”
“What?”
I leaped from the stairs, my body soaring through the air.
Thud!
In an instant, my kick connected with Dok Mirang’s jaw, sending him spinning to the ground.
He quickly scrambled to his feet, furious. “You bastard!”
He attempted to release a deadly poison.
Tap, tap.
But I was faster, sealing his pressure points before he could act.
Dragging him outside, I searched his belongings and found his poison pouch. Inside were over twenty vials of various sizes.
“You’ll never guess which one is the antidote,” he sneered.
I opened each vial, sniffing its contents.
He watched me with a smug smile, expecting me to fall.
But when I didn’t, his eyes widened in shock.
“Could it be… you’re immune to all poisons?”
I held one of the vials under his nose, and he recoiled in terror, holding his breath until his face turned red. It was a lethal poison that even he couldn’t withstand without the antidote.
I could distinguish between poison and non-poison, both by my body’s reaction and his.
In the end, he confessed which vial contained the antidote. Faced with the threat of his own most potent poison, he couldn’t hold out any longer.
I selected a non-poisonous vial and released it on the first floor, confident it was safe. Of course, I made sure to dress him properly before doing so.
Soon, people began to regain consciousness, one by one.
Before they fully came to, I approached Dok Mirang.
“If you’d used poison from the start, everyone would be dead!”
“You kept them alive for your vile purposes. You would have killed them eventually, wouldn’t you?”
He had no defense against my accusation.
“Well, since you revealed the antidote…”
Before he could finish his sentence, I swiftly beheaded him with a single stroke.
When I returned to the room, everyone was awake.
Jong Cheon-rak looked at me in astonishment. “What on earth happened?”
I explained, “I was on the seventh floor when I encountered his poison. I subdued him, forced him to reveal the antidote, and saved us.”
“Once again, you’ve saved us,” he said.
“I was just fortunate to be on the seventh floor at the right time.”
They all looked at me with admiration, fully aware that without me, they would have perished several times over.
“This isn’t the time to linger. We need to move,” I urged.
Jong Cheon-rak turned to Gal Sa-ryang. “What should we do now? Should we return to the alliance?”
Uncertain if they had been betrayed by their leader, they hesitated to make a decision.
Jong Cheon-rak no longer insisted on his own way. Having saved their lives repeatedly, he was now willing to follow my lead.
Gal Sa-ryang, having already considered the situation, answered without hesitation. “We must return to the alliance.”