Chapter 359: Proof (3)
The mental restrictions had been a lie.
I would be lying if I said I wasn’t curious what in the world that meant—if there really was something they had hidden, then what it was, and why they had hidden it.
“T-this really is not something I can talk about right now!”
“Sister Seo Mun is right! But it’ll probably all be over after the next time, so I’ll tell you after that! Yes! I can promise you that!”
The moment I opened my mouth, Seo Mun-Hwarin and Seol Lihyang both raised their voices and waved their arms.
“In that case.”
It bothered me to no end, but since they said they would tell me everything once this matter was over, I decided to let it pass for now.
“Then you all talk among yourselves. I have something else to do, so I’ll be out for a bit.”
“Understood! Have a safe trip!”
“Mm. Thanks. But what is it?”
“It’s the interrogation of the apostate monk we captured. My father-in-law said he would help, so it shouldn’t take too long. Though I probably won’t be able to have lunch with you…”
“You mean we can have dinner together instead, do you not? I am not disappointed in the slightest, so do not worry and go, Brother Cheon.”
“Thank you for saying that.”
The moment Tang Sowol, who had stayed quiet even after the truth about the mental restrictions had come out, opened her mouth, Seol Lihyang and Seo Mun-Hwarin both flinched at the same time.
They would find out in a few days anyway, and the relationship was built on a certain degree of trust, so it probably would not become a major problem.
Still, Seol Lihyang and Seo Mun-Hwarin, the people involved, would not be able to help but mind it, even knowing that.
I let out a faint laugh and was just about to head outside.
Grab.
Suddenly, I felt a weight on my arm.
When I turned my head, I saw the Illusory Illusion Witch clinging to it.
That was not a figure of speech. She was literally hanging onto my arm, leaning her body back as though she were about to lie flat on the floor, like she absolutely refused to let me go.
“……”
“What is it.”
“Are you really going to leave like this? Leaving me thrown in among those three?”
“Is there some problem?”
“I think the fact that you think there would not be a problem is the problem in itself……”
The Illusory Illusion Witch looked pitiful beyond words, but she was normally the pitiable sort anyway, so I let it slide.
She stared up at my face for a moment, then nodded with a deep sigh.
“Hoo. It’s not like I’m going to die. I came here to work. A business relationship. Relationship? Human relationships…… It’s been a while……”
For some reason, she started muttering to herself, then suddenly smiled foolishly.
I shook my head.
Really, I had never seen a single hidden master who was truly normal.
She had already let go long ago, so I lightly brushed off my sleeve and stepped outside.
The sun was bright, and the sky was completely clear without a single cloud.
“Perfect weather for an interrogation.”
***
After a short walk, I arrived at the Murim Alliance’s special prison.
It was a place built not for ordinary martial artists, but to imprison great masters, or criminals who could not be publicly exposed for one reason or another.
That meant it was extremely sturdy, and prepared against all sorts of escape methods.
For a moment, I thought it might be excessive for someone whose dantian had already been shattered, but if we let the only mouth we had slip away, things would become troublesome, would they not? Being thorough was better.
More than anything, what that bastard—and Potala Palace—had done was a rather serious matter.
Perhaps because everything had already been arranged in advance, the guards let me through after only a simple identity check.
When I went a little farther down, there were already people there ahead of me.
The Murim Alliance Leader, Zhuge Bu, Tang Jincheon, Jeong Hyeon, and among the surviving Kunlun disciples, the one who seemed to have the highest seniority.
Everyone who was supposed to come had come.
“Well now, I’m certain I arrived on time, but it seems I’m the late one.”
“What does it matter? It was amusing enough, us old men talking about life and the world, my son-in-law. You did not keep us waiting long.”
“Well, it is true that talking with the Poison King is enjoyable, but neither I nor Young Hero Haun here are all that old.”
At Tang Jincheon’s words, Zhuge Bu joked lightly. Then he looked my way and smiled in delight.
“It’s been a while, White Moon Sword Lord. I heard from the Alliance Leader that you performed splendidly this time?”
“It just happened that way somehow.”
“My, my. At this rate, after becoming the number one among the unorthodox, won’t you become the number one among the orthodox as well? Then you’d be the number one under heaven… Wow, that’s a title I haven’t heard in decades!”
“The number one under heaven, is it? As long as the Heavenly Demon still lives, I do not think that title could ever become mine.”
“Oh, come on. People say ‘number one under heaven,’ but strictly speaking, it really means number one in the Central Plains, doesn’t it? And since the Demonic Cult is practically part of the martial world beyond the frontier, there probably wouldn’t be anyone opposed to calling the White Moon Sword Lord the number one under heaven.”
“Thank you, even if only for the sentiment.”
It was an empty title that would become meaningless once the war with the Demonic Cult deepened and the Heavenly Demon truly began to reveal his power in the Central Plains.
Before my regression, no matter how vicious the leader of the unorthodox faction was, and no matter how famous a hero was for his chivalry, all of their prestige faded before the absolute name of the Heavenly Demon.
Even I, who had been called the Sword Demon and received both fear and vigilance in equal measure… by the time the Orthodox and Unorthodox Alliance was formed, no one cared about my title anymore.
Of course, I had no intention of suddenly turning cold on someone who was merely expressing friendliness, so I gave a proper smile and let it pass.
After all, the main purpose of today was elsewhere.
A little farther away.
I looked at a young man who was deliberately keeping his distance, as though he felt burdened by the gathered company.
Was he a little older than me?
He wore Kunlun robes, and his build was quite large for a Daoist practitioner.
But his face was gloomy the entire time, and with his shoulders drooping, he looked smaller than his actual size.
I understood.
It was all over now, and the ones who had attacked Kunlun were all dead, with the sole survivor now about to be interrogated.
But that did not erase the memory of extermination.
I lightly patted his shoulder and spoke.
“You are Haun, right? It seems we may have to question you in some detail about what happened during the interrogation. Will that be alright?”
“Yes. It is alright.”
Haun flinched when my hand touched him, then looked my way.
“It is still painful to remember, but… I need to know. Why did my master and my senior and junior brothers have to die? Only then can we reduce the number of people who end up like us in the future, can we not?”
“I see.”
After suffering the extermination of his sect, the first thought he had was not revenge, but that he did not want others like him to be created?
Compared to the past, when it had been counted among the Nine Great Sects, its standing had diminished somewhat, and now it had effectively suffered damage tantamount to extermination, but…
A prestigious Daoist sect really was different after all.
“Do not worry. I have made many preparations until now for that purpose alone.”
“Thank you.”
“Kunlun’s seniors may have fallen asleep, but with the survivors being this admirable, it will rise again one day. It may not be much, but I intend to give personal support, for the day Kunlun’s name once more resounds through the Central Plains. So I ask for your help today.”
“Y-you truly mean that?”
Haun’s eyes widened.
At his reaction, Tang Jincheon crossed his arms, looking displeased.
“My son-in-law, why are you deciding such things on your own?”
“Pardon??”
“What reason is there to do it personally? We can simply do it together in the Tang Clan’s name.”
“Ah. So that was what you meant.”
Well, he had a point. The Tang Clan’s standing as one of the Five Supreme Clans meant they would have to provide a certain amount of support anyway.
Since we were doing it, there was nothing wrong with making a bit more of a display of it.
For some reason, ever since I defeated the Sword Demon, the Murim Alliance Leader had softened toward me, and now he nodded with a faint smile.
“As expected… though the things you usually do are a bit much, at times like this, you really are an orthodox martial artist.”
I had no idea why he was acting like that, but it was too burdensome. Especially the part where he was suddenly going on about the orthodox path now, when I had been an orthodox martial artist from the beginning.
Pretending not to hear, I half-shut my ears and spoke to Haun, whose face was filled with emotion.
“There is also one favor I would ask……”
“What is it? If it is something we can do, we will do anything. Just say the word.”
“I heard the Kunlun Sect is famous for the Eight Forms of Cloud Dragon, but also renowned for its sword arts. I think I might be able to help a little, so I would like to take a look at a few of your moves. Would that be alright?”
“!! T-to think you would do this much for us! If you are willing to bestow your guidance, we could only be grateful!”
Haun kept bowing over and over again, his expression now almost on the verge of tears.
Good.
This way, I would be able to legally steal Kunlun’s martial arts… no, observe them.
Most of them were probably third-generation disciples, with an occasional second-generation disciple mixed in, so I likely would not see any truly profound martial arts, but I should at least be able to understand what Kunlun’s martial arts were aiming for.
Was I not in the middle of establishing a new sword art in place of the Raging Wave Death-Stealing Art? The more reference material I had, the better.
Of course, there was also the option of sneaking a look at Kunlun’s martial arts manuals now that there was no one left to guard them…
But no matter what, that would be crossing the line a little.
I had learned countless martial arts by stealing them up until now, but when I said I had stolen them, strictly speaking, it was closer to saying I had watched and learned them.
I had never actually peeked into secret manuals hidden away like a real thief.
Besides, the truly important parts were often passed down orally as secret transmissions rather than recorded in writing, so manuals were not all-powerful anyway.
As I barely suppressed the corners of my mouth from rising on their own, not only the Murim Alliance Leader, but even Jeong Hyeon pressed his palms together and spoke in admiration.
“Namu Amitabha, it would seem Benefactor Cheon has attained truly great enlightenment this time.”
“Mm. It’s more or less something like that.”
I gave an awkward nod for a moment.
Then Tang Jincheon, the only one still looking at me with suspicion, muttered quietly.
“That expression… I’m certain that’s the face my son-in-law makes whenever he’s plotting something……”
Before Tang Jincheon could reach the truth, I swiftly brought up the main topic and diverted their attention.
“Now then. Since we have all greeted each other, let us go do what we came here to do.”
At those words, the warm atmosphere stiffened slightly.
The cold air of the prison felt more distinct.
That was right. This was a prison, and we had not come here to exchange cheerful words and blessings, but to interrogate a man.
In the end, even if we called it interrogation, what we would really be doing was torture and persuasion.
No one hesitated, since all of them knew it was necessary…
But all the same, they had spent their lives as orthodox martial artists, so their hearts were bound to feel uneasy.
That discomfort had surfaced outwardly as a kind of tension.
There was no helping it.
Here, I had no choice but to step forward.
Before my regression, the Central Plains and the Demonic Cult had fought a ‘war.’
When it came to things like this, I was probably the most accustomed.
As we went farther down, before long a small door came into view.
It was a solitary cell, a room made only of stone and iron.
When the door opened, there was the bald monk, tightly bound and strapped to a chair.
“Hmph. I do not know what method you used, but do not think I will open my mouth. The pain of this life is but vanity. Even if this body dies, I shall one day be reincarnated and return again. Just as water does not cease to be water when it boils, nor when it freezes, so too are life and death fundamentally one. They are not essentially different—”
“Then die.”
He was talking too much, so I decided to begin gently with bone-and-muscle separation, handled in the soft and considerate Demonic Cult style.
For the record, I had seen it firsthand while rescuing allied captives taken by the Demonic Cult, so the reconstruction was flawless.
After about half a shichen had passed, the bald monk, whose face had turned deathly pale, changed his tune.
“If life is something that departs anyway, and something that will one day return, then what value is there in piling on meaningless pain? Enlightenment is ultimately about becoming free from all worldly suffering. To shoulder pain beyond necessity is also evil karma.”
“Say it simply.”
“Spare me.”
“That is impossible.”
“Then at least kill me painlessly.”
“Good. Now it seems you’re finally in the right frame of mind for conversation.”
After a little thought, I decided to keep the first question simple.
“Lift your head and tell me your name and age.”
“My name is… nonexistent. As for my age, I do not know it exactly either, but I was told that this body has not quite reached fifty years since birth.”
“What kind of—”
I had interrogated him properly enough, or so I thought, but what was this answer? It sounded like something had gone seriously wrong with his head.
It did not seem like he was intentionally twisting his words to mess with us, though…
I turned toward the others, silently asking what I should do now.
And then—
“There’s no way around it, he really is an orthodox martial artist…… There’s no way around it, he really is an orthodox martial artist……”
I saw the Murim Alliance Leader muttering something to himself in a low voice.
Had the Murim Alliance Leader become that old already?
Well, I supposed it would not be strange for him to be getting senile at his age.
A regrettable thing indeed.