CH 174

Inside an office with lanterns at night.

A woman with a pale white face, wearing black robes with a loose sleeve at her left arm, sat at a desk examining a book pile.

She was the Bloody Hand Witch, Han Baek-ha.

She was concentrating on her work when someone knocked on the door.

Knock knock!

“Teacher. It is Dam Yehwa.”

The one who had knocked was Dam Yehwa, her youngest disciple.

“Come in.”

“Yes.”

The door opened, and a cute woman with sharp features and a white robe entered the room. She had bowed her head, but Han Baek-ha shook her head to stop her and said,

“What is the Fourth Elder doing?”

“The Fourth Elder is training the disciples and the twins each day; at night, he drinks heavily and sleeps. It looks like he has given up.”

The Fourth Elder, Ghastly Monster, Hae Ack-chun.

After losing his disciple and the heir to the Blood Demon, the man fell into despair. For a while, he took all his subordinates to directly search for his disciple, but he had found no hints of his whereabouts.

Hae Ack-chun, who had fallen into despair, began to lean into alcohol. Even if it was just a disciple, the guilt of not being able to protect the Blood Demon twice was eating at him.

However, after the Fourth Blood Star, Do Jang-ho, and Seo Kalma persuaded him that doing this would make him lose to even Baek Ryeon-ha, he began to concentrate on martial arts each day.

Han Baek-ha glanced at the empty sleeve on her left arm.

‘Wicked Moon Sword…’

She had lost her arm as a result.

She had wanted to treat her arm, but it hadn’t only been cut. It was torn apart, so there was no way to fix it.

She gave up because even the Great Doctor could do nothing.

‘Saying that the results are overall good.’

She had lost her arm, but she considered it a blessing. Baek Ryeon-ha was now at the center. Unfortunately, they had lost the Blood Demon Sword, but Baek Hye-hyang couldn’t know that. There was no way she would have it even if she did.

“Is the young lady training with the Third Elder?”

“Yes. All day long, the elder is helping the lady in her training.”

“Hmm…”

The Third Elder, Blood Reaper King, Gu Jae-yang, was someone who recently joined them.

It was because they had succeeded in persuading him.

After he had come to join them, there had been an uproar. She and other important people in this faction decided not to inform the Third Elder about the real Blood Demon Sword and So Wonwhi.

This was because the condition of his allegiance was to have ownership of the sword and being the heir. They had tried to ensure that Hae Ack-chun wouldn’t reveal it, but he did anyway.

Thanks to that, the Third Elder found out the story.

’But… he decided to support the young lady.

It was a fortunate but curious incident too.

As much as he had often said he valued the sect’s laws, many had expected him to help Bae Ack-chun find the Blood Demon Sword and its successor.

But then the man had a change of heart and chose to support Baek Ryeon-ha.

He was even sticking around all day to watch her train.

It was said that Seo Kalma had barely managed to persuade the man because they were close, but it didn’t take long for her to doubt that.

In response to these doubts, she had asked him why he was helping them, and the answer was…

‘I also don’t want the successor of the Flying Crane Order to become the successor of the previous sect leader. Didn’t this work out well? Now that he is gone, there is no need to break the law.’

Besides, he also shared her thoughts.

‘Isn’t this just to gain time?’

Gu Jae-yang, she couldn’t understand what he was hiding inside him. While thinking of that, Dam Yehwa pursed her lips as if she wanted to speak.

“What is it?”

Han Baekha asked,

“T-teacher. But, is it really necessary to withdraw the sect members who were left in the last location?”

According to her teacher’s orders, Dan Yehwa had sent the message to evacuate.

However, even if they withdrew now, the place they were leaving behind was where the Blood Demon Sword had been lost.

“Teacher, at least a few of them should…”

“Enough”

Han Baekha cut off her words with a cold voice.

She then added a warning.

“This isn’t something for you to be involved in.”

“Teacher…”

“And the person you must serve is the lady. Do not forget your duty. Do not speak of this anymore and leave.”

“… Yes. I understand.”

At her words, Dam Yehwa bowed and left the office. Han Baekha then thought while looking back.

‘His odds of survival are extremely low since he was captured by the Wicked Moon Sword. He would likely have to endure torture even if he is still alive. The lady would be crowned as the Blood Demon sooner or later. .’

Clack! Cack!

After 15 days of nonstop moving, talking, and more moving, Guizhou City finally came into view.

The place that was their destination now was the Gangu County Mansion.

They would soon arrive.

“Ah.”

“Miss…. It hurts.”

She was tired, so we had been moving together, but then she woke up and started biting into my shoulder.

She had been biting me often, making it a habit to bite my arms and ears and leaving me trying to understand why. I did leave it alone, though, since I thought it was cute.

“Ah.”

She bit the other shoulder this time.

“… Miss, I am not something to eat.”

“I know.”

“Then why are you doing this?”

To my question, she smiled and said,

“I am marking you as mine.”

“… that is all?”

“Yes. Hehe.”

She smiled brightly and bit me again. If she was going to mark me, then she should just bite into the flesh.

I was about to say it, but I knew she would do it for real, so I held back.

-You are being held captive.

Short Sword giggled and then said this. It wasn’t about being a captive. It was simply showing respect to the person who would be my wife.

-I don’t like it. What is good about the daughter of a monster? Tch tch.

Blood Demon Sword clicked his tongue. Talking gossip wasn’t exclusive to humans.

At first, he fought with Short Sword, but now he was saying such things to everyone. At that moment, Sima Young asked me a question.

“But, young lord. Will the sect be alright?”

Even though I wasn’t actively looking for information, I had heard things about the sect. The Murim Alliance had announced that they would carry out a major subjugation as members of the Blood Sect were running wild.

Thanks to that, the movements of the Murim Alliance became unusual.

Everything was happening faster than I could remember. However, it was unlikely for the sect to be defeated as many spies had been planted even within the Murim Alliance.

“I hope they are fine.”

“I want to see the Fourth Elder, the twins, and Cho Sung-won too.”

I smiled, agreeing with her words.

Putting everyone else aside, she was probably the only person who missed Hae Ack-chun. It had also been 2 months since I vanished.

Considering my teacher’s personality, he must have made a mess after what happened, but I still wondered.

“Hurry up!”

I shook the reins of the horse, and it moved faster. We arrived at the manor after half a day.

We hurriedly headed in, but we were both shocked.

“… looks like they moved.”

Multiple wagons were moving inside the manor. It seemed like someone was moving into this place as we saw things like beds and drawers.

“I will ask.”

Sima Young got off her horse and approached the workers.

“Excuse me. I was hoping to ask something.”

“What is it?”

“Are you moving into manor here?”

“Don’t you see it? We’re just moving the luggage.”

It was what it looked like. I thought they would be here until a proper base was set, but this was unexpected.

Was the location exposed already? Otherwise, there was no reason to move the base after just two months.

“Do you know when this manor was put for sale?”

“It has been about a month. The sale happened quickly at a low price, and the family immediately took it.”

If the manor was sold, then the base must have moved. After talking to them, Sima Young came over and said to me,

“Young lord, what do we do?”

This was embarrassing since I couldn’t have imagined them moving after just 2 months.

-It was a complete waste of time. What are you going to do?

Wait a minute, I need to think.

It was my first time being out of contact with the Blood Sect. To make it worse, I was even trying to return.

Blood Sect has enemies everywhere, so its location constantly changes.

‘Hmm.’

They might have left some clues if the base had predicted that I would survive. I think I should go in and see if the sect left anything inside.

“Wait a minute. I will be back soon.”

Leaving Sima Young behind for the moment, I circled around and jumped over the manor walls. Quite a few workers were moving around inside, so I avoided their gaze and headed inside.

When the location of a base was moved, the previous location and the next location were usually written out, sometimes near the back.

Pat!

I jumped lightly and clung to the rafters. If my predictions were right, they should have left something…

‘…?!’

-What is this? It looks like it was dug out?

As Short Sword said, the code words seemed to have been erased. It was as if someone had scraped and dug it out.

‘… they erased it.’

Apparently, someone had erased the password.

Who would do it?

Only the Sect members should have knowledge of it. Even then, the words were written in Chinese characters, so people unfamiliar with them couldn’t decipher them.

It could be a coincidence, so I moved.

In addition to the rear of the building, the bottom of the main hall in the southwest building was also used as a code location.

I went there and inspected it.

-Same here.

As expected, there were the same scratch marks.

“Phew…”

Two possible conclusions could be inferred from this. First, someone from the outside had discovered it, but this didn’t seem likely.

-Why?

If it was someone from outside, they would have tried to decipher it instead of destroying it. However, these ones were intentionally erased.

Then there was only one other possibility.

‘… someone doesn’t want me back.’

-Are you sure it isn’t her?

It looks like we thought of the same person.

More than anyone else, that person wanted Baek Ryeon-ha to be the Blood Demon.

Perhaps that woman didn’t want me to return to the sect even if I was alive.

-Then how? Are we going to give up like this?

If this was the case, all the other ways must also have been blocked. I have to find a way to access them.

-Aside from here, is there any other base for Baek Ryeon-ha?

As I said earlier.

Most of the places around here were temporary safe houses or shelters, and most wouldn’t spend more than 15 days there. Most would keep changing locations.

Otherwise, the Murim Alliance would have discovered them.

-If it’s like this, even your memory before regression is useless. If they move this often, how can you reach the sect members…

‘Wait.’

At that moment, something popped into my head.

Those troops who spent the most time as spies in the Murim Alliance as well as the only place that they were active.

‘Blood Wolf Troops!’

Shui County, which was to the southwest of Hunan province.

I heard there was a mountain village where hunters gathered and lived deep in the valley of a mountain called Gimang, which was a little further north.

I was looking for that place despite hearing about this for the first time.

“Is it really here?”

Sima Young asked, curious.

Actually, I was being stupid at this.

This mountain village was the hometown of Noh Seong-gu, the captain of the Blood Wolf troops.

He had only mentioned this place just once while he was drunk and had told me everything. I still remember it because it was a story from a man who was the only one who treated me like a human after I was kidnapped in my first life.

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-Did he come to this place after rescuing his sister?

There was a chance.

I had informed him of his sister and her location at the Six Blood Valley. After that, I heard that he had resigned from his position and vanished.

-He could have gone into hiding to get revenge.

‘He’s not that thoughtless.’

Even though he had heard that his father was killed by the First Blood Star, he couldn’t do anything with his current power.

Considering his character, he would have gone home. However, finding him was a difficult thing.

-What?

‘Murim Alliance.’

This was a way to get into contact with Baek Ryeon-ha’s spies. However, this method was too risky and could be traced by going back to their contact. Even if successful, this method would take some time.

“I see smoke there.”

As Sima Young pointed out, there was definitely smoke.,

We entered the mountain valley and found it.

As we headed toward the smoke, I saw a small settlement hidden between the bushes not far from the valley center.

There were around 13 to 14 huts.

And it was small.

-…

Small voices of metal could be heard as well. There was the sound of several swords from various places where the hunters were gathered.

And I had a good feeling about this.

‘Short Sword. Do you remember the sound of Noh Song-gu’s blade from before?’

-Ah, him? I remember.

‘Tell me if you hear it right away.’

-I get it.

Sima Young and I climbed the slope toward the entrance.

I went in confidently because I didn’t want people there to think we were hostile, but men wearing furs came to us and shouted.

“Outsider! An outsider appeared!”

This shout filled the air, and people began to rush out. Each of them held an axe or other sharp weapons.

“I don’t feel so welcomed.”

“Yes.”

There were around ten strong-looking men. A middle-aged man with a beard then walked out of the crowd. This one was holding a sword, and it felt right. Clear skills of a first-rate warrior.

In terms of the Blood Sect, he would be equal to a high-ranking warrior.

“What are outsiders doing in this place?”

The middle-aged man asked in a wary tone. There was no need to keep it secret.

“I came because I have an acquaintance here.”

“Acquaintance?”

I told him the name.

“His name is Noh Song-gu.”

As soon as I uttered that name, the man’s expression hardened.

He also seems to know something.

At that moment, I saw one of the young men, one with a scar, moving around. The moment I saw him, old memories swelled up.

“Ki Jo-yang! Vice leader!”

He was the vice leader of the Blood Wolf troops. He was acting like a hunter, but I recognized him right away.

The scarred man, who had been trying to go away, shouted back at my call.

“Blood Sect!”

Hearing his shout, the men began blocking the village entrance as if guarding it. Sima Young tried to pull her own sword out.

But I shook my head and said to the men, who were holding their blades with a nervous faces.

“I am not an enemy.”

At that, the men shouted back.

“Sounds like a joke! If so, put those weapons down.”

“I’ll trust you if you turn yourself in.”

It seems that the security here was strong. I smiled and pointed a finger to my eye.

“Look here.”

“What are you talking…”

Unconsciously, all of the men looked at it.

Thud!

At that moment, the 30 or so men building human barriers that surrounded the village entrance fell to the ground.

After consolidating my recent qi increase, it seemed like the effectiveness of the Illusion Eye had grown.

“T-this…”

Ki Jo-yang couldn’t hide his shock at seeing the men who fell down. However, this only lasted for a second. He quickly came to his senses and tried to run.

But I stretched out my hand in response.

Swish!

At that moment, a string of silver was shot out and wrapped around his ankle.

“Uh?”

I lightly tugged it, and the string was forcibly bringing him to me.

Hhhh!

“D-damn it!”

He should be around a first-rate warrior, yet he couldn’t withstand my strength. In response, he tried to swing his sword at me.

I caught the sword with my fingers.

Pak!

Ki Jo-yang was shocked at how easily I blocked him, and I then asked.

“Where is the captain?”

“Y-You, what are you?”

Sima Young grinned at his words.

“How is a vice leader not able to identify the leader of the sect who is in front of him?”

“What?”

Those words made his eyes go wide.