Episode 257: Return to the Demon Sect
Geum Ja-yeon devoured the jerky like a ravenous beast, tearing into it with a ferocity that suggested she hadn’t eaten in days.
Sabi-gang watched her in silence, his eyes filled with a mix of pity and curiosity.
He had tried asking her about the events in the village, but every time he broached the subject, her eyes would glaze over, and tears would spill down her cheeks. It was impossible to tell if the trauma had erased her memories or if she was instinctively rejecting any mention of it.
Even her name, Geum Ja-yeon, had been coaxed out of her by Chu-ryang after much gentle persuasion.
Once her hunger was sated, Geum Ja-yeon collapsed into a deep sleep, as if the weight of the world had finally lifted from her shoulders.
As dawn broke, Seok Tan-gang and Yu Song-ryeong returned from their survey of the village. But they weren’t alone.
With them was a man who appeared to be in his fifties. The moment he saw Geum Ja-yeon, his eyes widened in shock, and he rushed over.
“Ja-yeon! Is that really you?”
At the sight of him, Geum Ja-yeon’s eyes filled with tears, and she began to sob uncontrollably.
“Oh, you poor child. To think you survived this chaos! You survived!”
The man embraced her tightly, tears streaming down his face.
Sabi-gang approached the man and asked, “Do you know this child?”
“Of course, I do. Thank you so much for saving her! I’m the village chief.”
The revelation that he was the village chief took everyone by surprise.
With a bitter expression, the chief continued, “I was away visiting a neighboring village with my wife when this massacre happened.”
He sighed deeply, gently stroking Geum Ja-yeon’s hair.
Chu-ryang spoke with a look of sympathy. “You must have been gone for three days.”
“How did you know?”
“I could tell from the state of the buildings. They showed signs of having burned for three days.”
“Ah, I see. Impressive. So, those scoundrels attacked our village three days ago.”
“Yes, it likely happened the night you left.”
“So this poor child survived alone in the village for three days? Ja-yeon, you did well. Don’t worry anymore. I’ll take care of you.”
The chief then turned to Sabi-gang and his companions. “Instead of standing here, let me offer you some tea as a token of my gratitude for saving Ja-yeon.”
“There’s no need, given the circumstances…”
Chu-ryang began to decline, but Sabi-gang interjected, “Thank you.”
“Please, follow me.”
The chief led them to his home, which was on the opposite side of the village from where Sabi-gang had been staying. In the yard stood a horse and a cart, suggesting they were preparing to leave the village.
There, they met a sturdy young man and a woman who appeared to be the chief’s wife.
“This is my wife and son.”
The two greeted Sabi-gang’s group with courtesy.
The chief’s son wore a long sword at his waist, his robust build hinting at martial training.
“My son has been training in martial arts at the Blue Dragon Martial Hall in the neighboring village. I intended to bring him back to help guard the village, but…”
“You planned to entrust the entire village’s safety to your son alone?” Chu-ryang asked, puzzled.
“Of course not. We had pooled our money to hire seven bodyguards. I just thought having my son here would be reassuring.”
“But I didn’t see any bodyguards among the bodies,” Chu-ryang pointed out sharply.
The chief nodded, sighing. “That’s the problem.”
“What do you mean by that?” Sabi-gang asked.
“It seems the bodyguards we hired were in league with the attackers. I only realized this too late…”
“How did you find out?”
“When I visited the neighboring village, I heard about a group that attacks villages in this manner. As the chief, I should have been more cautious in hiring them, but I was swayed by their offer to work for less money…”
The chief hung his head, tears falling.
His son approached, comforting him. “Father, it’s not your fault. No one could have known.”
“But my poor decision led to the deaths of our villagers. I can’t bear the guilt.”
The chief sank to the ground, weeping openly.
Even Yu Song-ryeong and Seok Tan-gang, who had been silent, lowered their heads in respect.
Yet Chu-ryang, for some reason, was scrutinizing the surroundings with a keen eye.
After inspecting the chief’s home, he remarked, “At least this house is intact.”
“Yes, it seems they left it alone because it was empty.”
“Strange. How could they know it was empty from the outside? There’s no sign of forced entry.”
Chu-ryang ran his hand along the doorframe, murmuring to himself.
The chief wiped his eyes and replied, “Perhaps it was just luck.”
“Luck… It’s hard to believe those ruthless attackers would overlook a house by chance.”
At this, the chief’s son, looking uncomfortable, spoke up. “What are you implying? That our house should have been ransacked too?”
“Hold your tongue,” the chief warned, but his son was clearly still agitated.
Chu-ryang, instead of responding, continued to examine the house before turning back to the chief.
“When did you return?”
“What?”
“When did you come back to the village?”
“Not long ago. This morning…”
“You arrived at dawn?”
“Yes, I wanted to return as quickly as possible to protect the village.”
“Yet it took you three days?”
“I was petitioning the authorities for help.”
“I see. But you don’t seem very surprised.”
“What do you mean…?”
“If you arrived this morning and saw the village in ruins, wouldn’t you, as the chief, have checked for survivors?”
“I was about to…”
“Yet you’ve already packed so much. It seems as if you knew what had happened before you arrived.”
The chief’s son shouted, “Are you accusing my father?”
“Stay out of this! You’re not exempt either!”
Chu-ryang’s sudden anger was startling, even to Seok Tan-gang and Yu Song-ryeong, who had never seen him so serious.
Chu-ryang’s eyes scanned the surroundings sharply.
“That cart wasn’t originally here, was it?”
“What are you talking about? That cart has always been in our storage.”
“No. The dirt on the wheels and the joints tell a different story. It’s a cart that’s traveled a long distance today, not one that’s been stored for a long time.”
“That’s…”
“I’ve checked the storage. If it had been there for a while, there would be marks on the floor from the wheels or supports. But there aren’t any.”
“We use it often…”
“If it were used often, it wouldn’t be tucked away in a remote storage.”
Indeed, the storage at the chief’s house was not in a convenient location.
The chief’s expression grew increasingly strained.
Chu-ryang walked over and pulled the cover off the cart, revealing various furniture and items.
“What are you doing?”
The chief’s son approached, ready to draw his sword.
Chu-ryang’s sharp gaze fell on a particular box. He moved to open it, but the chief’s son intervened.
“Touch our belongings, and you’ll regret it…”
The chief’s son swallowed his words as Jeok Mu-rin appeared, blocking his path with a cold stare.
Chu-ryang opened the box without hesitation.
Inside were silver ingots, enough to be worth about thirty thousand nyang—a fortune that could sustain a person for life.
Chu-ryang smirked coldly. “That’s quite a sum.”
“That’s… what I’ve saved…”
“Don’t make me laugh!”
Chu-ryang’s shout was so loud that the chief’s family flinched and stepped back.
Chu-ryang continued, his voice icy. “You sold out the villagers for this money, didn’t you?”
“That’s absurd!”
“You knew the bodyguards were in on it. You left the village the night of the massacre, hid in a nearby village, and returned today. You could have fled, but you came back to gather your things, hoping to avoid suspicion. But you ran into us.”
As Chu-ryang spoke, the chief’s face turned pale.
Sabi-gang watched the scene unfold with interest.
Finally, the chief looked at Sabi-gang’s group and said, “I’ll give you ten thousand nyang. Just turn a blind eye to this.”
Chu-ryang’s expression twisted in disbelief. Though much of his accusation was based on conjecture, his instincts were rarely wrong.
Upon seeing the village chief’s reaction, Churyang felt a surge of vindication, confirming all his suspicions.
“No, no! I’ll give you twenty thousand nyang! With that, you can live like a king anywhere! How about it?”
“That’s nonsense. I want all thirty thousand.”
“What?”
At that moment, the village chief’s son charged at Churyang with a battle cry.
“You scoundrel! Die!”
Swish!
Thud!
“Gah!”
Churyang stood there, expressionless, his hand extended.
A mana blade had shot out from his wrist, piercing the village chief’s son’s throat completely.
As the son collapsed to the ground, blood gurgling from his mouth, the chief’s wife, who had been watching in shock, screamed with eyes wide in horror.
“No!”
Just as she lunged forward, her face twisted like a demon’s,
Slash!
Churyang swiftly stepped forward and effortlessly decapitated her.
Thud, roll.
He was angrier than he had ever been.
The blood splattered on his face only intensified his menacing appearance.
As Churyang turned around, the village chief stumbled backward in fear.
“Spare me! I’ll give you all thirty thousand nyang! Just spare my life…!”
“Even after watching your family die, all you care about is saving your own skin. You’re worse than a beast.”
“Ugh…!”
Realizing there was no hope, the chief turned and fled in a panic.
In an instant, Churyang drew a dagger from his cloak and hurled it.
Whizz!
Thud!
The dagger embedded itself in the back of the chief’s head, and he collapsed on the spot.
With the three of them dead in the blink of an eye, silence fell over the scene.
Jeokmurin, Seoktangang, and Yusongryeong could only stare at Churyang with unfamiliar expressions.
Sabigang shrugged his shoulders.
“Well, my disciple does have a bit of a temper.”