CH 70

Rumors that the Qingcheng sect and the Emei sect had clashed in Chengdu spread like wildfire throughout Sichuan Province.

The fight between the two sects left a great destruction and many victims behind. So many people have died that it was actually difficult to accurately count the casualties.

Among the dead were not only the martial artists from both sides, but also civilians who were unfairly involved in the fight.

Because of this, many people criticized and denounced the carelessness of the Qingcheng sect and the Emei sect. 

But no one from the public dared to come forward and speak their inner thoughts. Because they were afraid of retaliation from the two sects.

Nevertheless, if it’s just a group of two or more people, they talked about the incident of the two sects. Thus, dissatisfaction about the two sects continues to accumulate.

Now, the sects of Chengdu had to make a choice.

Qingcheng or Emei. One of the two sects.

They can no longer stay neutral.

The sects who have maintained a neutral ground for the longest time began to have deep concerns. 

There was great tension in the residence of the Black Cloud Mercenary Group, who stood on the side of the Emei sect and fought against the Qingcheng sect.

Bang!

When Zhang Mu-ryang struck his fist, the thick table made of rosewood shattered.

Two bodies were laid in front of him.

It was the body of Jo Jeoksan and Seol-pyo.

The place where Jo Jeoksan was discovered was in an alleyway not far from the battlefield, while the body of Seol-pyo was found under a large tree nearby.

“Who killed them?”

Zhang Mu-ryang’s eyes were full of deep anger.

It was the same with others. Everyone was looking at the corpse with eyes mixed with anger.

Go Dosa inspected the body on behalf of the Black Cloud Mercenary Group.

“They’ve all been killed by the same man.”

“Are you sure?”

“Look at the wound on Jeoksan’s neck and the wound on Seol-pyo’s shoulder, it’s the same type of cut. Judging by the shape and size of the cut, it’s highly likely to be a dagger or a knife.”

“A dagger?”

“Although there are sharper cuts on the neck, all common wounds appear to have been caused by short-bladed weapons like daggers.”

At the explanation of Go Dosa, Zhang Mu-ryang’s expression became more and more distorted.

He asked Yang Woo-jeong.

“What about Oh Yuk-pyo? Didn’t you say that Oh Yuk-pyo’s wounds were also caused by a dagger?”

“That’s right.”

“Bring Oh Yuk-pyo quickly. Let’s compare their wounds.”

“Alright.”

After a while, the warriors, who received the orders of Zhang Mu-ryang, came out with Oh Yuk-pyo on a stretcher.

“Why did you call for me, Captain?”

Oh Yuk-pyo who was suddenly called out did not know why he was summoned.

“Let me inspect your wound.”

Zhang Mu-ryang tore off Oh Yuk-pyo’s clothes and examined his wounds.

“Hm!”

“Why?”

“It’s the same.”

“Same what? What do you mean?”

Oh Yuk-pyo raised his voice at Zhang Mu-ryang, who did not explain the reason.

“The wounds you have are exactly the same as those guys.”

“Who?”

Only then did Oh Yuk-pyo realize that Jo Jeoksan and Seol-pyo had returned as corpses with their bodies chilled. He also realized that the wounds on their bodies and his own were surprisingly consistent with each other.

“Oh, so does that mean that the guy who injured me was also the one who killed them?”

Oh Yuk-pyo’s shoulders trembled. Zhang Mu-ryang’s gaze turned to Heo Ran-ju.

“Where is he?”

“He is still in the guest house… Did he really kill them?”

“Can’t you see the wounds? He’s definitely the one who killed these two.”

She had no doubts as she had also seen Pyo-wol use a dagger.

“But why would he?”

“From now on, we will find out why. He must have been keeping an eye on us for a long time, or maybe he approached us intentionally from the beginning.”

If Pyo-wol had not killed Jo Jeoksan, the Black Cloud Mercenary Group would have helped the Emei sect and consequently overwhelmed the Qingcheng sect. But because Pyo-wol interfered, the great disciple of Emei, Jeonghwa, suffered severe injuries, while the rest of the members also suffered enormous damage.

For the Black Cloud Mercenary Group, it was a sudden blow. Zhang Mu-ryang’s gaze turned to Heo Ran-ju.

“Ranju!”

“Yes!”

“Take all of your subordinates and bring him here. It’s okay to injure him, but bring him back with you alive. I’ll interrogate him myself.”

“Okay.”

Heo Ran-ju nodded her head.

Whatever his reason was for doing such things, Pyo-wol caused a lot of damage to the Black Cloud Mercenary Group. For the sake of discipline and the future of the Black Cloud Mercenary Group they had to catch and punish Pyo-wol.

No matter how free-spirited Heo Ran-ju was, and even though she sometimes argues with Zhang Mu-ryang, she took pride in being a member of the Black Cloud Mercenary Group in the depths of her heart.

Heo Ran-ju  looked at Hyeol Seung and Go Dosa.

They nodded and followed Heo Ran-ju. Twenty more Black Cloud mercenaries followed behind them.

* * *

The White Flower Room had a gloomy atmosphere.

This was because they were pushed back in the fight against the Qingcheng sect and Jeonghwa, one of the great disciples of Emei, was seriously injured.

Jeonghwa suffered a deep internal injury and was unable to move.

It was the first time she had suffered such a serious injury ever since she lost her eye seven years ago. It was very unfortunate that she lost her eye, but her life back then was not in danger. 

But her wounds now were different. She was in such a serious condition that she could easily lose her life if her injuries worsened.

For that reason, a well-known physician from Chengdu came into the White Flower Room and took care of Jeonghwa.

The Emei warriors who lost their heads suddenly were in a state of confusion.

Geum Ha-ryeon, the sect leader of the White Flower Room, tried to rectify the situation, but the atmosphere and morale of the disciples remained low.

While Geum Ha-ryeon had the ability to lead the White Flower Room, it was a different matter for her to try and lead the Emei sect.

“How should I…”

Geum Ha-ryun lost her soul at the massive casualties that filled the White Flower Room.

She had no idea how to fix this situation.

It was the same with Seolha. As Jeonghwa’s nephew, she was friendly with the Emei sect’s disciples, but asking her to lead them was an entirely different matter. 

Yong Seol-ran suddenly came out.

“Everyone calm down.”

Yong Seol-ran was the one with the highest position except for Jeonghwa. 

Until now, she had been reluctant to lead and stay at the frontlines because of Jeonghwa, but the sudden change of circumstances pushed her forward.

Yong Seol-ran looked at Geum Ha-ryeon.

“Check the defense of the White Flower Room. The Qingcheng sect might attack again.”

“Their side also suffered a lot of damage, so why will they do that?”

“They might aim for our moment of weakness. Anyway, everyone who can still stand on their own two legs should keep their guard up. We just have to hold on until the support comes from the main sect.”

“Are you going to ask the headquarters for support?”

“Since Senior Sister Jeonghwa has lost, we need to report it to Master and ask for support.”

“That’s good if that’s the case.”

Geum Ha-ryeon breathed a sigh of relief.

Numerous disciples have already died or were injured. If support comes from Emei sect’s headquarters, it will prevent more victims from appearing.

Yong Seol-ran’s gaze turned to one of the great disciples.

“Gongha!”

“Yes, Junior Sister!”

“Send a carrier pigeon to the headquarters right now. Tell them exactly what happened here and ask for their support.”

“Alright.”

Gongha answered and went out. Yong Seol-ran’s gaze was then directed to Seolha.

“How’s your Senior Sister?”

“Not… good.”

Seolha answered weakly. Her biggest supporter was Jeonghwa, not Geum Ha-ryeon, her master. Jeonghwa’s serious injuries took away her confidence.

Yong Seol-ran looked at Seolha for a moment, then opened her mouth.

“We need to clearly understand the situation.”

“What do you mean? The fight with the Qingcheng sect just happened by accident.”

“Of course, if we just looked at the results. But if you look at the process leading up to the results, there are some things that are not quite clear. Junior Sister Gongseon and the Young Master of the Thunder Gates. The death of those two happened around the same time. Because of this, the relationship between our sect and the Qingcheng sect just grew worse.”

“Do you think the two cases are related?”

“For now, we have to be suspicious of everything.”

Yong Seol-ran was adamant.

After leaving Mount Emei and entering Chengdu, she had an ominous premonition but she couldn’t tell why. She shrugged it off at first thinking that she was being too sensitive. 

However, after being away from the Emei sect for the past few days and looking at the overall situation, she felt that the flow of events was not natural.

She couldn’t say anything back then because Jeonghwa was keeping her in check, but now the situation has changed. Now that Jeonghwa was unable to move, only she had the right to lead the Emei sect.

‘We have to figure out the mastermind behind this. Someone is intentionally instigating the fight between the Emei sect and the Qingcheng sect…”

* * *

“Huh! Huh!”

Jeonghwa breathed heavily.

Although she improved a lot with the help of the physician, her condition was still at risk.

To defend the last desperate attack Cheongsan made, she forcefully sent her qi into overdrive which resulted in her bleeding from all points of her body and suffering from a deep internal injury. 

She will need to go back to their main sect and nurture herself for at least a year before she can even begin to recover to a certain extent.

‘Cheong…san… I’ll come and kill you.’

Even with her horrible condition, Jeonghwa was burning with anger towards the Qingcheng sect.

If she could move her body even a little, she would have rushed to the Golden Gates and slaughtered all of the disciples of the Qingcheng sect.

Jurreuk!

Tears flowed from Jeonghwa’s one and only eye. Her heart is still full of fighting spirit, her body cannot keep up.

‘If I stay like this, I will lose my position to Seol-ran.’

For the first time today, she realized why she was so upset that she couldn’t move her body.

Then the physician who was watching her said:

“We must remove the deepening. If the deepening continues, the qi and blood that we worked hard to stabilize will shake again.”

A bewildered expression appeared on the physician’s face.

Jeonghwa’s pale face suddenly turned bright red. The anger in her heart made her blood boil. Jeonghwa turned her head hard and glared at the physician. 

The physician flinched.

Because Jeonghwa’s gaze was so frightening. Her one and only eye was bloodshot, and full of malice. Even when she was beaten up, her eyes did not bend at all.

She struggled to open her mouth.

“Kkeh…”

“Yes?”

When the physician couldn’t hear her words, he brought his ears closer to her mouth.

“Keuk… Go. Before I cut your th–”

“Hiik!”

The physician was startled by Jeonghwa’s venomous words and ran outside. He didn’t go outside because of his own will, but he found the human being called Jeonghwa so scary.

As the physician closed the door and left, Jeonghwa closed her eyes.

She felt like she could rest comfortably now.

She  didn’t want to show anyone her vulnerable appearance like this. She thought that it would be better to commit suicide than to show such a shameful appearance.

That was then.

Srreuk!

The door opened quietly.

Jeonghwa raised her one and only eye. Her eyes were full of anger.

“I told you that I… will definitely cut you off–”

She turned her head and looked at the door. 

Jeonghwa’s eyes trembled.

Because a stranger came in, and not the physician.

This was definitely the first time she saw him. But the stranger oddly didn’t feel unfamiliar.

His eyes had a soft red tint, and his appearance was non-human-like. But nonetheless, he had an aura that seemed to attract people.

The moment she saw him, she felt the hairs all over her body stand straight.

Jeonghwa’s eyes widened at the creepy feeling she felt. It felt like her back was being scraped downwards by the tip of a knife. 

Tak!

He quietly closed the door.

“Who the hell… are you?”

Jeonghwa struggled to open her mouth.

The man looked at Jeonghwa without saying a word. His reddish eyes seemed to stab Jeonghwa like a dagger. Jeonghwa narrowed her eyes and continued.

“Kuh-heuk! I asked who–”

“You can’t seem to remember.”

“Do you know me?”

“Of course. I haven’t forgotten your face for a single day nor a single moment in seven years.”

The man’s words were very quiet. However, the content contained within his words were ambiguous.

“Seven years?”

“Yes. Don’t you remember? Seven years ago.”

“…………”

“Ah, you don’t seem to recall. Do I have to blind your remaining eye for you to remember?”

For a moment, Jeonghwa trembled as if she had been struck by lightning.

“You…! Are you that assassin?”

“It’s been a long time.”

The man, Pyo-wol, laughed.

The moment Jeonghwa saw his white smile in the dark, she felt a terrible pain in her eye that was covered with an eyepatch. 

It was the eye that was stolen from her seven years ago.