Chapter 358: Proof (2)
Once the Sword Demon was brought down, the twisted illusion spell unraveled not long after.
The flames that had been devouring the Kunlun Sect vanished, and the Sword Demon’s ominous killing intent could no longer be felt, as though it had never existed in the first place.
But something still remained.
Just as the Illusory Illusion Witch had said, the Potala Palace’s apostate monks who had met death inside the illusion had become actual corpses in reality as well.
Their bodies were clean and unmarked, yet they lay collapsed with faces twisted in pain.
Among them, I looked at the apostate monk who had held out against the Sword Demon until the very end.
If it had been an ordinary evil method, I had seen it a few times in the Black Lotus Sect, and I had even experienced it during the war with the Demonic Cult, so I was familiar with it to some extent.
But because it was a method of esoteric Buddhism, the technique that bastard had used was utterly unfamiliar to me.
That much made me think he probably knew a great many things I had never encountered even before my regression.
“What a pity.”
“What do you mean? Ah, if you are saying that because the enlightenment from earlier faded too quickly, then do not worry. It was not a martial art built atop what you had already accumulated, but one that first broke down everything you had built thus far and then rebuilt it. It may feel different from before, but your body will grow accustomed to it soon enough.”
“What in the world are you talking about all of a sudden, Murim Alliance Leader?”
As I shook my head, the Murim Alliance Leader came over as if he had been waiting and spoke to me in a friendly tone.
He had not exactly been hostile or wary of me before either, but there had still been a sense of distance about him, as though he found me vaguely uncomfortable.
But now… how should I put it? I could feel a thick layer of goodwill from him.
Letting out an awkward laugh at the oddity of it and at the slight itchiness it gave me, I lightly kicked the sprawled corpse of the apostate monk.
“From the look of it, he seemed to be someone of fairly high rank. I was just saying it’s a pity that they all died like this, since now we can’t dig any information out of them.”
“Ah.”
For some reason, the Murim Alliance Leader wore the dazed expression of someone whose infatuation had suddenly fallen away—or someone waking from a dream.
He looked up at the sky and let out a long sigh.
Such a sudden strange act. I wondered whether the effects of the evil method still lingered, so I glanced around at the others, including the Illusory Illusion Witch—
“Hoho. Benefactor Cheon truly is a remarkably consistent person.”
“There is a saying that when a person changes, it means the time of death has come. It seems my son-in-law will live a long life yet.”
Jeong Hyeon smiled with habitual ease as he lightly recited a Buddhist phrase, while Tang Jincheon snickered in a voice tinged with relief.
For some reason, the two of them had reacted quite similarly. The other two were a little different, at least.
“Hmm. A bad man showing a warm side every now and then… hmm.”
“Hoo. Now this is more like the Hwi this lady knows.”
For some reason, the Illusory Illusion Witch nodded with an expression even more serious than when discussing her main field of expertise.
And Seo Mun-Hwarin, of all people, was smiling with something close to delight as she rubbed her flat chest.
No matter how I looked at it, they all seemed a little out of their minds. It was clear the evil method’s effects were still lingering.
For a brief moment, I felt the heavy responsibility of being the only sane one among all these people.
Then, in the distance, the rescue group that had split off earlier finally came into view.
From the looks of it, the atmosphere was good, and there did not seem to be any casualties either.
The Kunlun disciples mixed in among them were staggering with haggard faces here and there, but their eyes were clear, so they would recover after some good food and proper rest.
There had been dangerous moments, and there had also been some regrettable ones, but still, I had just relaxed, thinking things had somehow ended well enough—
“Hmm???”
Suddenly, I spotted one person tied up all alone among the rescue party.
The One-Saber Asura was dragging him over from the front with a triumphant expression on his face—a bald man in badly torn kasaya robes.
It was only after seeing those faintly unfamiliar robes that I realized they belonged to Potala Palace.
The moment I dashed over to the One-Saber Asura, he startled for some reason and immediately pulled out his weapon.
“What now???”
“Ah, no, I just suddenly remembered something rather frightening.”
“My, my. There are few martial artists without frightening memories, but even so, should not someone at the Flowering Stage have overcome such things?”
The One-Saber Asura looked at me with a deeply displeased gaze, but I was in too good a mood to care.
“Put that away while I’m asking nicely.”
“O-of course I was going to.”
That was how good my mood was—that I could let it end with mere words.
The bald monk stood rigid, eyes wide open, as if his acupoints had been sealed by demonic blood art or something.
Judging by the aura I felt from him, he seemed close to Flowering Stage, but… something was off.
If he were truly a Flowering Stage martial artist, he lacked the natural atmosphere and presence that should have seeped out of him.
And yet the energy I sensed did seem to place him, just barely, within the ranks of Flowering Stage martial artists.
For a moment I wondered whether he was a half-baked Flowering Stage master like the Sword Demon had been, his realm raised with the Heavenly Demon’s help—but this was far more stable than that.
After a brief moment of thought, I decided to just ask someone who might know.
“One-Saber Asura. Just what is this bastard?”
“You’re not asking whether he’s one of Potala Palace’s bald monks… are you? I do not know either. He came running over by himself in a panic, and then it looked like he was trying to do something using the hostages, so I rammed straight into him. Still, I can say with certainty that he is not a martial artist.”
“He’s not a martial artist?”
“It isn’t that he knows no martial arts at all, but at most he is around first-rate to Peak Stage. His internal energy is considerable, but instead of using it for martial arts, he used something that seemed more like evil methods.”
“I see. I think I know the type.”
The apostate monks of Potala Palace I had observed from afar had fought the Sword Demon while harmoniously combining martial arts and the methods of esoteric Buddhism.
But this one seemed more deeply immersed in the teachings of esoteric Buddhism than in martial arts, and he had fled not long after encountering the Sword Demon.
He was probably the one behind the trap that had been prepared for me.
Even though he had fled alone, instead of escaping outside, had he not deliberately headed toward the place where the Kunlun disciples were being held?
More accurately, he probably had not fled at all—he had merely intended to use the trap prepared in advance while the other apostate monks bought time for him.
I did not know what kind of trap it was, but considering Potala Palace’s nature… it was probably something rather vicious.
Of course, all of this was only speculation.
But even so, there was one thing I was certain of.
The bastard One-Saber Asura had captured had to be someone who held a significant position even within Potala Palace.
Which meant I had just gained access to high-quality information.
“Well done, One-Saber Asura.”
“Hmph hmph. Rather than just saying that, I would prefer a more tangible reward.”
“Let me see. I’ll send one spirit creature scale over to the Conquering Asura Gate.”
I had more than enough scales from the flood dragon anyway. One should be fine.
Of course, just because I had a lot of them did not mean their value had lessened.
“Just one scale sounds rather stingy.”
“It is the scale of a Flowering Stage spirit creature. Even if struck by sword qi, it could withstand one or two hits if the blow glanced off.”
“And how in the world did you get something like that? Even when I was a child, that sounds like the sort of spirit creature that would only show up in my grandfather’s old tales.”
“I killed it when I went to the North Sea for something.”
“You defeated that too… Well. In that case, I suppose it makes sense.”
The One-Saber Asura nodded cautiously, as if he had plenty to say but had decided not to. He really was quick to catch on.
“By the way, was this bastard really that important? I caught him by surprise, but I subdued him without much trouble, so I thought he was nothing special.”
“Of course he’s important. He’s the only survivor among Potala Palace’s men who attacked the Kunlun Sect.”
“Ah. So that’s how it is. You really should have shown a little restraint.”
The One-Saber Asura simply nodded calmly at the news that all the others were dead, without looking particularly surprised.
He was clearly misunderstanding something major, so I added a little more.
“I didn’t kill them.”
“Hmm? Then was there some other faction involved?”
“My Heart Demon killed them.”
“I understand perfectly. Let us go with that.”
His face made it obvious he understood nothing at all, but I let it pass without pointing it out.
Perhaps it was because I had at least engraved the foundation of my new martial art into my Heartscape, but I felt a little more generous than usual.
Nodding, I lightly punched the paralyzed bald monk in the lower abdomen.
Thoom!
I had done little more than touch him with my fist, but the sound that rang out was as loud as if I had struck a drum.
That was because it was not merely the sound of impact, but also the sound of internal energy scattering from his shattered dantian.
For an instant, I clearly sensed an aura similar to Shaolin martial arts, yet one in which eeriness was stronger than the reverence unique to Buddhism, before it dispersed.
Up to that point, it was fine. The more internal energy one possessed, the stronger the force that spilled out when the dantian shattered. That was only natural.
But in the scene reflected not through ordinary energy sense, but through the Heavenly Insight Eye, there was something deeply incongruous.
The reddish-gold energy that burst forth seemed about to scatter in all directions, but then it vaguely formed the shape of something screaming and flew upward into the sky.
In the end, internal energy was just the natural qi of the world, merely refined by cultivation methods to suit human use.
What came from nature returned to nature. That was the order of things.
Thus, when internal energy was released, it normally dispersed in every direction and vanished as though dissolving into the air.
But that bastard’s energy carried a distinct directionality. It was clearly heading upward.
Since this was internal energy leaking out from a broken dantian, it could not be some martial form or technique. This had to be the nature of the internal energy itself.
“Well, I only need to find out what that means.”
Looking down at the unconscious apostate monk, I nodded in satisfaction.
After rescuing the Kunlun disciples, the place we headed for was the Murim Alliance.
Of course, once everything was over, One-Saber Asura and the people of the Paecheon Hall had returned to the Black Lotus Sect.
“My dear. Is this gloomy thing truly coming all the way to the Tang Clan as well?”
“No matter how one looks at it, there is no expert in evil methods more qualified than the Illusory Illusion Witch. More importantly, she also agreed to help us investigate the Demon Bell. We cannot allow a problem like this to happen again, can we?”
“Mmm. Well, that is true, but still…”
Seo Mun-Hwarin looked the Illusory Illusion Witch up and down as if she was far from pleased.
Perhaps that gaze was burdensome.
The Illusory Illusion Witch shrank her neck and cautiously opened her mouth.
“U-um…”
“Do not hem and haw. If you have something to say, then say it properly.”
“To hear someone who lied about her age, pretended to be one of the younger generation, and tried to participate in the Dragon and Phoenix Gathering call me gloomy is a little upsetting……”
“Urk!”
Struck directly in the past, Seo Mun-Hwarin immediately went quiet, opening and closing her mouth as though she could no longer breathe.
While lightly patting her on the back, Seol Lihyang asked,
“By the way, Cheon Hwi-da. Why did you suddenly gather all of us together? Don’t tell me……”
“It’s about the Demon Bell.”
“Eh???”
Seol Lihyang’s eyes, which had just begun to sharpen, instantly went round instead.
This time, Tang Sowol answered in my place.
“It just so happens that Strategist Zhuge Bu is here, and so is Great Master Jeong Hyeon. They also say the Sect Leader of Zhongnan will be arriving shortly.”
“Oh? Then??”
“That’s right. Once the interrogation of the person we captured from Potala Palace is finished, the suggestion came up that we should use the Demon Bell once more here. This time, the Illusory Illusion Witch will also be assisting us, so he asked us to tell her what happened during the last two times.”
“Ah……”
Seol Lihyang nodded, looking a little embarrassed.
Then she turned to the Illusory Illusion Witch and gave her a light smile.
“If it’s for that, then please take care of us. Where should I begin?”
“F-first, from the beginning…… Ah, but there is one thing I am curious about, would that be alright……?”
“Hm? What is it?”
The moment Seol Lihyang let her guard down at the Illusory Illusion Witch’s more harmless appearance—
“Why did both of you say you were under mental restrictions when neither of you had actually been placed under mental restrictions……??”
“……”
At the Illusory Illusion Witch’s unexpected words, I looked at Seol Lihyang and Seo Mun-Hwarin.
The two of them avoided my gaze in silence, then began darting glances my way with faces turned bright red.
What was that about?