Chapter 855: The Way of the Sail Swordsman (2)

The Blood Cult’s nature was extremely closed-off.

It was also excessively cautious—put another way, calling them outright cowards wouldn’t be much different.

Because they had been persecuted for a long time.

Of course, when you thought about all the vile, dogshit things Blood Cultists had done while stubbornly surviving for ages, they were bastards who deserved to be persecuted.

For that reason, not only Righteous Sects and the government, but even Unorthodox Sects—no, even the Demonic Cult—would shudder at the name Blood Cult and try to wipe them out.

To keep surviving like cockroaches under that kind of persecution, their organizational culture had no choice but to become closed-off and cautious.

And among the Blood Cult’s many Branch Corps, a few were even worse—especially the ones whose raw combat power was somewhat lacking.

The Blood Guard Brigade was the same.

If you had to put it into words, it wasn’t that the Blood Guard Brigade was strong—it was that the Poison Demon was strong.

And after the Second-Line Blood Cult Unit under the Blood Guard Brigade had been wiped out a few years ago, the Blood Guard Brigade had also lost a huge portion of its (involuntary) “cooperators” within the martial world, and its influence had sharply shrunk.

So even here, Jang Choeryang—Poison Demon’s disciple, and the Great Lord of the Blood Guard Brigade’s First Poison-Squad—moved with extreme caution.

But in Jang Choeryang’s case, the truth was simpler.

He had always been a deeply, intensely frightened person to begin with.

“Great Lord, Ja-haeng and U-wol were hit. Th-those Central Plains bastards— I’ll tear them apart—khk—revenge, Great Lord, just give the order! I’ll make that bitch wish she were dead but unable to die!”

“Uhh....”

“Great Lord? Not ‘uhh’—revenge, right now—”

“I heard already, okay? If Master finds out, will he get furious...? Tch. That’s why I said we shouldn’t send them. Trying to make some pointless local cooperator—and we just lost precious kids instead. You know it’s all the Deputy Great Lord’s fault, right?”

“Great Lord, now isn’t the time to assign blame—”

“Enough. Let’s not touch her. If she’s an old acquaintance of the Five Poison Sect Master, she might be a famous woman even among Central Plains people. What if we poke her for no reason and our sect’s identity gets exposed? Master isn’t even here.”

“Great Lord! Ja-haeng and Chu-wol are dead! Our people—our squad members are dead!”

“I-I’m sad and angry too, okay? Ja-haeng and U-wol played with me so well.”

A childish way of talking that didn’t fit his middle-aged years, and even clumsy, mushy pronunciation.

But because he’d been born with a genius brain for poison, he was the one who had become the Poison Demon’s chief disciple.

“But then what are you going to do? Can you get revenge without using poison? And if you use poison? If she’s an old acquaintance of the Five Poison Sect Master, she’ll be a woman with a name. If she gets poisoned right in front of the Five Poison Sect, even those Central Plains bastards will know who the culprit is. Then do we pull out just for revenge? But Master told us to guard this place properly.”

Whatever his real thoughts were, only he would know.

“Great Lord!”

“Ugh, don’t shout. Master isn’t here, so it’s not like I can just decide things. If we could even contact him, it’d be different, but... where’s the Corpse Zombie friend? I don’t even see him. Did Master take him? He should definitely be around here too, so why did he take him?”

That damn Master! Why don’t you get permission from Master for eating, sleeping, and shitting too—one by one!

The Deputy Great Lord screamed it only in his mind.

He couldn’t say it out loud, because even if he was the deputy of the subordinate unit, wasn’t he still, in the end, someone who served the Poison Demon?

Instead, the Deputy Great Lord changed tactics.

“Great Lord. The Poison Demon is not someone who would ever let a grudge of our brethren simply pass. If anything, he would have been even more enraged and would have ordered revenge.”

“Huh? Huhh. Uh. Yeah. Is that so?”

“What will you do if the Poison Demon is angered?”

“But he said. ‘Hey, Choeryang, don’t try to do anything stupid—just guard this place.’ So we should’ve just not sent them. It’s all because of the Deputy Great Lord.”

“What does the Poison Demon always say?”

“Choeryang, you’re a genius, don’t get discouraged?”

“That’s not what I mean.”

“Choeryang, don’t drink just any poison? You can’t get any dumber than this?”

“Not that either.”

“Ah, hell, I don’t know. What is it?”

“He always says that the responsibility of subordinates is the responsibility of their master.”

“I-I kept saying I wasn’t going to be Great Lord. I really did, I kept saying it...”

“Either way, we can’t let that bitch go like this. And you won’t need to worry about what comes after. They’ll think the Five Poison Sect did what the Five Poison Sect would do—if anything, the Five Poison Sect’s infamy will rise, and they’ll fear us even more.”

“Uh... that makes sense. It makes sense, but... what if that woman is a master? Really strong masters don’t die even if they eat poison, and I—I’m scared, s-scared, it’s scary, I’m telling you.”

“Then I will go personally. Instead, how about we use the Immortal-Slaying Poison?”

“...It’s not Immortal-Slaying Poison. It’s Strongest-in-the-Human-World, Most-Vicious-in-All-Ages, Supreme Poison.”

The Deputy Great Lord’s eyebrow twitched.

Strongest-in-the-Human-World, Most-Vicious-in-All-Ages, Supreme Poison—wasn’t that a name even a ten-year-old brat wouldn’t come up with?

Still, it was easy to remember.

“AHEM. Then how about we take this chance to test the Strongest-in-the-Human-World, Most-Vicious-in-All-Ages, Supreme Poison?”

“But still. Still. Hm... should we? The Deputy Great Lord is going personally, right? It’s still dangerous, so... take the Poison Blood Guard too. If it gets dangerous, you can just throw them away and run.”

The Deputy Great Lord smiled warmly.

His guts were always bursting and his superior was always revolting, but at times like this, he couldn’t help but soften anyway.

He was just a little lacking, that was all.

“Yes. If it’s dangerous, I’ll escape somehow.”

The Deputy Great Lord bowed his head with a crisp motion and walked out of the Five Poison Sect Master’s office.

The warm smile was gone.

This was a Deputy Great Lord who had lost his men—and since he was the one who had been acting as the real Great Lord on behalf of Jang Choeryang, who cared about nothing but poison research—his expression was one of even deeper, more piercing hatred.

And in truth, he also had confidence.

Jang Choeryang, the maker of the Immortal-Slaying Poison—he was untrustworthy as a person, but when it came to talent for poison, wasn’t he someone even the Poison Demon evaluated as having more potential than himself?

And so, the Immortal-Slaying Poison—the Poison Demon had praised it and said, “At last, a poison has been born that truly kills even immortals.”

So set aside that childish, absurdly long name he refused to yield on.

*****

“It’s almost certain.”

That was Qing’s answer to Gilun’s question—whether the Five Poison Sect had become a Blood Cult den.

But Gilun shook his head.

“‘Almost’ won’t do. You need certainty.”

“Hm. Then... it’s certain.”

Even then, Gilun shook his head.

“‘Certain’ won’t do either. Have you ever seen an arrow that already left the string come back?”

“Hm. No?”

“Right. And you’re the one holding the string.”

When you spoke of the Diancang Sect, the most famous martial art was the Sun-Shooting Sword Art—and within the Sun-Shooting Sword Art, the ninth form, the strongest final form, was that famous Houyi Shoots the Sun.

Houyi was a figure from Central Plains myth.

Long ago, there were ten suns, so the whole world was basically a steaming sauna furnace, and it was weather no human could live in.

After enduring that terrifying heat until he finally snapped, Houyi raised his bow and shot the suns—shattering nine and leaving only one.

From the image of Houyi’s arrow piercing the suns, Houyi Shoots the Sun, the Sun-Shooting Sword Art had been created.

Though if that was the case, shouldn’t they have trained archery?

Why raise yourselves as Houyi’s successors and still carry a sword?

Well, if they’d trained archery, the imperial army would’ve swept them away long ago.

Anyway—because of that, the Diancang Sect loved using bows and arrows as metaphors.

Not just the Diancang Sect; it was also a characteristic of the Dali Bai people.

“Our Diancang does things the same way. Just as a loosed arrow does not return, once Diancang draws a blade, it never goes back.”

Gilun raised his aura.

“Our sect intends to erase the Five Poison Sect thoroughly. So for us to draw our blades, it must be a thorough fact that the Five Poison Sect colluded with the Blood Cult. So tell me—are your words that kind of fact?”

“When you put it that way, um...”

It was an incredibly burdensome thing to say.

If the Diancang Sect stepped in, it meant the Five Poison Sect would have no choice but to be wiped off the world entirely—so the decision rested on Qing’s words.

Wasn’t that a little petty?

She’d finally grabbed the Blood Cult by the tail, and this was what he had to say after coming to help?

Gilun burst into laughter.

“HAH! I just tried saying it. Isn’t it cool?”

“...What?”

“That’s why I came first. We can find out from here. Still, I’ve heard the rough story. But from the start, it’s true it’s a bit thin to call it a Blood Cult den—you’re at the level of ‘the Five Poison Sect was involved,’ that’s all.”

“Ah, but... now it’s more certain, I guess...”

“Hm? Did you learn something more in the meantime?”

“It’s less ‘learned’ and more... a confession. The Five Poison Sect Master confessed directly. You know—there was that huge mess in Sichuan before. Because of that, he lost all his first-generation disciples, and to get revenge on the Tang Clan of Sichuan, he joined hands with the Blood Cult.”

Gilun’s expression turned awkward.

“The Five Poison Sect Master admitted it with his own mouth? When? How?”

“You know. When they think they’ve won, even if you didn’t ask, they just start babbling.”

“Ah. HAH! Right! Yeah. There are always bastards like that. I get the feeling, but it’s really stupid—hm?”

Gilun’s eyes went wide.

There really were people like that.

Why?

Because they wanted the one about to die to feel more wronged—killing them wasn’t satisfying enough, so they mocked them by rattling off their crimes and future plans.

The Five Poison Sect Master babbled it out of his own mouth.

Why?

Because he thought he’d won.

Winning wasn’t enough, so he spilled the plot smoothly, hoping it would hurt more.

And now, right in front of Gilun, was the Heavenly Flower Sword.

After kindly telling her he’d joined hands with the Blood Cult—would he suddenly change his mind and go, Hey, keep this secret, and let her live?

“You brought down the Five Poison Sect Master?”

“They said he’d become a half-baked Poison Person, and because of that, he vomited blood and died all on his own.”

“Huh. Ha. Hm. Is it really to this extent? Really?”

“...What?”

Gilun’s expression hardened.

“Heavenly Flower Sword—if so... would you entrust me with your adopted daughter? I’ll take her as my direct disciple and raise her properly.”

“Huh? Jayeo? She’s my daughter, but honestly, Jayeo isn’t exactly overflowing with talent, is she?”

“No—at a glance, that fierce killing aura is towering. The Slaughter Calamity Star is right in front of me, so I thought she might be this era’s Earth Slaughter Star.”

“Ah.”

“Ah—your Matriarch told me you were born with the Slaughter Calamity Star. Since I sometimes spring out like a hasty arrow, it seems she sent a letter in advance.”

“Ah...”

“Now that I see you, it’s certain. The best disciple is the Slaughter Calamity Star—if not, the Earth Slaughter Star. An arrow exists to kill the enemy, and martial arts are the same—killing intent itself was the favored child of talent.”

It sounded like it made sense, but...

“Weren’t you saying it was originally something insanely ominous? Like if the Slaughter Calamity Star appears, you have to kill every child born that year.”

“I also thought it right to avoid a great blood calamity in the world through that degree of sacrifice, but... hm. Seeing you, that isn’t necessarily so. Such an excellent knight-errant came out of it—indeed, aren’t humans originally creatures refined and corrected through learning?”

“Um... it’s a little more serious than you think? Like when I see people I want to kill them, and I want to peel their skin and sprinkle salt on them, stuff like that.”

“I get those thoughts too, sometimes. Like when that prince’s manor nags me and tries to push a marriage on me, or when I see people spouting nonsense about Bai people smallpox these days. The important thing is that you and I didn’t do it. Anyway, you endured it, didn’t you.”

Hm. So you do have those thoughts sometimes.

“And seeing you, now I know for certain. Not rule by virtue, but rule by law—what makes people act like people is overwhelming violence, isn’t it—”

“Huh? Wait. Why are you suddenly landing on that conclusion?”

“Hm? Is that not it? With her temperament, the Matriarch would never teach nicely with words, would she? You must have learned to control that nature while getting beaten half to death, right?”

He said he sometimes sprang out like a hasty arrow...

And then he immediately put it into practice—was this what you called matching words to actions...?

Still, You grew up getting beaten, was a little—

“No, that part is true. It’s true, but...”

Qing felt wronged.

Yes, Master had dropped nuclear bombardments on her at all times and in all places, but that was—um—what you called a rod of love, right?

This made it sound like she’d been beaten to hell.

No, she had been hit, but... how to put it... affection?

...Hm. It was affection, right?

But one thing was certain.

You could never entrust Jayeo to an elder who said things like this.

“First of all, Jayeo isn’t an Earth Slaughter Star. She’s a child the Blood Cult bastards did cruel things to, and that’s why I took her in.”

“Mm. So that’s the story. For an unmarried young woman to decide that... it must have been truly difficult—yet you are a knight-errant among knight-errants. Despite your tender age, your depth is extraordinary. As expected, you are a pillar who will lead the righteous martial world in the future!”

Gilun’s gaze turned even warmer.

But only for a moment.

“In the end, this is all because of the Matriarch’s education—hm. You can’t possibly raise a hand against a child like that. Still... it means the Earth Slaughter Star exists somewhere in this world. Should I look around the world once? Is there no fresh seed of a slaughter star anywhere? I always wanted a disciple people would call the greatest genius under heaven...”

In truth, Qing didn’t know it, but a somewhat painful “trend of study” was spreading among the Nine Great Sects and Five Great Families.

The Heavenly Flower Sword had poisoned the Righteous Sects’ prestigious houses.

It was right then.

A thought flashed bright through Qing’s mind.

“Ah—substituting a chicken for a pheasant... it feels a little rude to say it like that, but what do you think about madness? Like... an illness that leads to slaughter.”