Chapter 533
Immediately after Death God fled from the Sword Emperor’s attack, the atmosphere in the ruined space turned chaotic.
There were people barely dragging themselves back up from the shock, and there were also more than a few who had been swept up in it and died.
The first to react amid all that was Peng Dojun.
I had thought he would be too dazed from the impact that had struck his body, but not only did he get up quickly, he was staring straight at the Sword Emperor.
“...No way... Truly?”
It was not only Peng Dojun. Yu Yeon was the same, and so was Cloud Dragon. Poison Dragon had already lost consciousness and had yet to wake up, however.
Fsssss—
Within the Sword Aura slowly disappearing, the Sword Emperor put away his sword.
Tak.
After sliding the sword into his waist, he looked around.
His gaze was cold. It was the complete opposite of the expression he had worn when he was only a coachman.
Perhaps, to me, this was the more familiar sight.
Seeing that, I asked.
“Did you lose him?”
“Yes.”
He answered calmly.
The Sword Emperor had disappeared, saying he would chase Death God, but he had not returned with any particular result. His face did not look regretful.
“He was fast.”
“...”
Was he so fast that even the Sword Emperor had lost him?
Or had the Sword Emperor, quite literally, taken the bait?
Because he targeted me.
He had fled through that opening.
The Sword Emperor had regretted that.
—Disciple.
The one word he had said while doing so lingered in my ears.
As I deliberately avoided mentioning it—
“Clean this up. I will go ahead.”
The Sword Emperor left again without any further explanation.
Clean up what?
This place?
How was I supposed to clean this place up?
I glanced over the branch.
I could see some dead people, but there were also some trying to sneak away.
Seeing that, I sighed and spoke.
“We should at least catch those.”
No disagreement came in response to my words.
My companions were already moving.
“Cough!”
“Kraakh!”
The ones trying to flee were caught and forced to kneel.
The branch chief was dead, and Death God had fled.
There were no other strong fighters, so subduing them took only an instant.
“Not like there will be much to find out, but...”
The problem was that the branch chief had died, of all people.
I tilted my head.
I could see the head rolling on the ground.
I stared at it, then moved.
Sssrk.
I picked up the head.
I could see that he had died without even closing his eyes.
Hmm.
A head alone was a bit lacking.
Still, would it be possible?
I tilted my head.
I could not exactly leave it untried. It had started bothering me, so I had to test it.
“Just a moment.”
“Mm? Where are you going?”
“I am going to look inside for a bit. Please gather the subdued people in one place.”
Holding the branch chief’s head, I went inside.
The inside of the building was quiet.
The reason I had chosen this place was that it would have the most traces of the branch chief.
After entering, I closed the door and set up an energy membrane.
In the silent space, I placed the branch chief’s head on top of a table.
By this point, all the blood had already drained out.
Looking at it, I tapped his forehead with my hand.
That was when it happened.
Saaaaa—!!!
Black energy rose along his forehead.
It was Sky-Crushing Palace energy.
Since I needed to erase this first, I forced my power into motion.
Fsssss! Fwoosh!
Karmic fire blazed up.
The flames swallowed the Sky-Crushing Palace energy.
Chiiiiik.
The blackness burned and disappeared.
Look at this. So I can erase Sky-Crushing Palace energy like this too?
I stared at it with fascination.
That is good news.
If it could even devour Sky-Crushing Palace energy, that would make things convenient.
After burning it away, I pulled something out of the body.
It was his soul.
—Ghh... ghhhhhh!! Aaaaaaagh!!!!
The soul that popped out screamed.
Its spirit form was relatively distinct.
That was because he had not been dead for long.
—Hah! Haaah...! What...!?
The soul of Branch Chief Seomdo appeared clutching its neck.
I looked at the thing that had appeared.
He was staring at himself with eyes full of shock.
—What is this... How... how?
“Now, I am going to ask you some questions.”
Putting his reaction aside, I reached out and grabbed the soul.
—Kgh!? M-Moon Hero?
“It is annoying to explain, and there is no point anyway. We will do this quickly.”
Pa-d-d-dk!
I grabbed the soul and stirred through its insides.
—Aaaaaagh!!!
A scream rang out.
It did not matter.
Looking at him, I asked.
“I am going to ask you a few questions now. Just answer.”
I did not say anything like I would spare him if he did.
Because I had no intention of sparing him anyway.
*****
Creak. Tak.
I closed the door and came out.
As I stepped outside, lightly brushing off my hands, everything had already been handled.
“What? You came out fast.”
“Yes. There was less than I thought.”
I shook out my hands.
Since I had touched something filthy, I had to brush something off at least.
Not that it would actually wipe anything away.
Tch.
I clicked my tongue shortly.
Everything I had heard was unpleasant.
In any case, I had learned why they were trying to obtain the jade stone and what its existence was.
...And that was absorbed into my body.
The things that had been in the jade stone had entered my body.
That was more than a little irritating.
Still, what could I do?
I had already obtained it.
Leaving that aside, I looked at the subdued people.
“What are you going to do? Torture them?”
“...No. There is no need to go that far.”
I glanced around.
I could see frightened gazes.
I knew they were Sky-Crushing Palace people, but leaving them alone would not change much, and even if I tortured them—
The energy will probably catch on quickly.
As Sky-Crushing Palace energy tended to do, there was a high chance it would burn away the soul itself.
As for me—
It is not as if I cannot clear it away with karmic fire.
But there did not seem to be any need to go that far.
So there was only one choice.
“Leave them. We have to send them to the Alliance martial artists anyway.”
“You are just sending them off?”
“There is nothing for us to torture out of them, is there?”
There was nothing to touch or do.
Handling them one by one would only become annoying, so we could leave them to the Alliance.
I had already obtained information from Seomdo.
“Hmmm... Fine.”
Peng Dojun did not seem convinced by my words, but he did not raise an objection.
This probably was not that important to him either.
What mattered to him right now was something else.
“Bang Seongyeon.”
“Yes.”
“...That old man... no, that person really is the Sword Emperor?”
“Yes.”
The Sword Emperor’s existence.
When I said that, Peng Dojun’s body trembled slightly.
“Truly... Truly, that was him? No wonder... I thought his presence was different.”
“Different, my ass. You did not notice anything, so you treated him like an ordinary coachman.”
What was this about sensing anything?
Even Peng Dojun’s Heavenly Martial Body had failed to grasp the Sword Emperor hiding his presence.
It was only right to say the Sword Emperor’s control was just that good.
“...The Sword Emperor, one of the beings beyond heaven... Someone like that, in such a...”
“You mean, he could look that feeble?”
“I did not go that far.”
Try hiding your eyes before saying that.
This was ridiculous.
It all showed on his face.
“In any case, let us leave them and go.”
“What if they run away?”
“There are other Alliance martial artists, are there not?”
The ones I had not tied up.
The ones I had deliberately left alone.
Other beings who belonged to the Murim Alliance.
“Figure it out. If orders come down from Henan, I will make sure you get decent positions.”
“...! Y-yes, understood!”
At the mention of positions, their eyes flashed as they answered.
Promotion really was the best motivator.
I sealed their points anyway.
I had thoroughly subdued them so they could not move, so this should be enough.
We left the people there and moved.
Normally, I would have put in more effort to investigate further.
Right now, even that is annoying.
Since I had extracted Seomdo’s information, there was nothing more to do.
The existence of the jade stone itself was digging through my entire head.
...Sky-Crushing Palace Lord. No, Heretic Cult Leader.
What was that madman trying to do?
What was he trying to do that made him—
Put souls inside and create a frame?
The jade stone was a soul, and they were also reconstructing a body to contain it.
Which meant—
Is he trying to become a god or something?
He was trying to establish something new.
The jade stone had been the foundation for that.
*****
When we returned to the residence, the Sword Emperor was there.
He looked the same as always as he fussed with the stable.
“...”
“...”
My companions smacked their lips as they watched him.
There was nothing they could say.
Were they supposed to act as if they knew?
Just as they were struggling with that—
“...Ngh...”
Poison Dragon, who had been carried back, opened his eyes belatedly.
“Where... is... this...”
“You are awake. Everything is over. Get a grip.”
“Ugh!”
Poison Dragon staggered as he was set down.
“Is... is it all over?”
“Yes, it is all over.”
“Is this hell...?”
“What kind of insane thing is that to say? I said it is just over. The enemy ran away.”
“Ah...!”
Had he thought he had died?
I stared at him in disbelief. Only then did Poison Dragon sigh in relief.
Then—
“No...! I told you not to do it like that...!”
Before he could even fully come to his senses, he saw the Sword Emperor in the stable and moved.
He had started shouting at the Sword Emperor, who was handling the horse.
“Elder, I told you the horse gets angry if you groom it that way. You have to be a little gentler...”
Poison Dragon, who had been speaking that way, suddenly shut his mouth and looked toward us.
“...Why are you looking at me like that?”
“...”
“...”
Not only Peng Dojun, but even Cloud Dragon had their mouths shut.
I could see cold sweat streaming down them.
Just as no one dared to say anything—
“What is with everyone?”
A day only Poison Dragon did not understand passed that way.
*****
After the matter with Sky-Crushing Palace ended, we had to reorganize the Alliance personnel.
We tied them up and locked them in prison.
Their dantians had been blocked through point-sealing, so there should be no problem.
Let us not move until the main Alliance headquarters sends people.
That was what I judged, and decided to leave it at that.
We had our own urgent road to travel, so there was nothing more we could do.
“Let us go.”
The next day, we set out.
They had said we needed a permit or whatever to go to Xinjiang, but the branch chief had caused an incident and died.
Such things were no longer necessary.
Thanks to that, we left the town and set out, and our route to Xinjiang was decided.
If there was one thing different from before—
“...Why... why would you only tell me something like that now...!”
It was that Poison Dragon had learned the Sword Emperor’s identity.
“But why is he driving the horses...!”
And the Sword Emperor was still driving the horses.
This old man kept driving the horses even after his identity had been exposed.
At this point, he simply seemed to like driving horses.
...Well, that is fine.
If he wanted to do it, then he could do it.
I decided to think of it that way.
I was too annoyed to worry about anything else.
What mattered now was the next part of the schedule.
If we go to Xinjiang like this...
Now we had to find someone.
The being the Young Cult Leader had mentioned to me.
His name was probably—
Pa Muyeon.
Demonic Cultist Pa Muyeon.
A being of the Demonic Cult.
He said he was an elder.
This being called an elder.
It was time to face him.