Chapter 134: The Eve (2)

“......Why exactly did you come here?”

Eunsong stared blankly at Soyak.

It was early morning, and despite having originally been told to go to Jeonggang, Soyak had come to Eunsong instead.

“I have something to tell you.”

“Wouldn’t Great Grand Master be waiting?”

“It will only take......a moment.”

She knew how grave what she had to say was.

It would probably take quite some time to devise the necessary measures and find a way forward.

But that was not her task.

That was the task of Eunsong, her master, and Zhuge Yeon, the Society Head of the Reverse Heaven Society.

Soyak had only one duty.

To simply tell the truth, honestly, about everything she had seen.

That really was something that would only take a moment.

“......Very well. Sit.”

She had rushed here without even eating breakfast, before Cheonjeong and her other fellow disciples had arrived.

Clearly, something urgent had happened.

Eating at the proper time was also one of the rules given to third-generation disciples.

And Soyak was not the kind of child who broke rules carelessly.

Eunsong unfolded the low dining tray that had been propped against a corner of the wooden porch and set it in the middle.

Then he brought over the kettle that had been sitting on the brazier, along with a tea bowl and a tea caddy from the corner.

He took a small measure of tea leaves from the caddy, placed them in the tea bowl, and slowly poured in water.

“Seeing that you came all this way, it must be important. If the children arrive, I will send them away, so there is no need to force yourself to keep it short.”

It was his own form of consideration.

Important matters were bound to take time.

And he could hardly leave her standing in the front yard.

“......It really will not be a long story.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Eunsong nodded with a smile, then began stirring the tea leaves and boiled water with the lid of the tea bowl.

After setting the lid slightly askew, he pressed it down with his index finger and poured the tea into the serving pitcher.

Pale brown tea filled the pure white pitcher and swirled within it.

“I believe something in Mount Hua.......”

“You believe something?”

White tea and most °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° other teas were steeped several times, four or five at the least, and six or seven at most.

Among them, the third and fourth infusions were said to have the best flavor.

Naturally, that meant the first infusion was astringent, with the flavor not yet fully drawn out.

The fact that he had prepared tea for Soyak meant he was giving her enough time to drink at least seven cups.

But Soyak did not need all that time.

Soyak began with the conclusion.

“I believe an object of the Demonic Cult had been sealed here. I discovered an underground lightning prison beneath South Peak.”

“......What?”

Eunsong, who had been pouring tea from the serving pitcher into a teacup, nearly spilled it outright.

Then he narrowed his eyes.

“Is that true?”

“Yes. I saw it myself. Some time ago, at dawn, when I came out early to the training ground with Eldest Brother, I heard a strange sound.”

“A strange sound.”

“It was quiet, but it did not sound quiet because no one else could hear it. It sounded as if it was faint because it was coming from very far away...... It was difficult to explain. Because it was difficult to explain, I remembered it. So I guessed where that sound had come from and went to find it.......”

Soyak lifted the tea in silence and took a sip.

It was still thin and astringent, not yet fully steeped, but the soft, faint sweetness unique to white tea tickled the tip of her tongue.

Soyak half-closed her eyes, then set the cup down.

“Beneath South Peak, I found a cave made into an underground lightning prison.”

“......Something like that existed?”

“Yes. It seemed to be a place only the Sect Leader knew of, or perhaps even the Sect Leader did not know about......but the seal inside had been broken. And it seemed to have been broken by a form of the Ninefold Heaven Plum Sword.”

Eunsong’s eyes narrowed.

In other words, someone from Mount Hua had released the seal on something connected to the Demonic Cult.

Whatever the object inside had been.

That was a grave crime.

“The Ninefold Heaven Plum Sword...... Are you certain?”

“Yes. The form and the traces were identical. Of course, I do not know whether that was what tore open the initial seal, or whether there was some other reason......but it is certain that traces of Mount Hua martial arts remained inside.”

“What was inside?”

Soyak recalled that moment for a while.

Then, as if to steady herself, she emptied her teacup again.

Eunsong poured the second infusion from the tea bowl into the serving pitcher, then filled Soyak’s cup again.

“A severed arm, and a shriveled corpse. Along with Demonic Energy that still lingered everywhere.”

“A severed......arm?”

In the end, Eunsong did spill the tea.

Because the hand holding the serving pitcher had trembled.

Eunsong set the pitcher down as it was and rose from his seat.

Then he picked up the well-worn Plum Blossom Sword leaning against the wall and put on his shoes.

He gestured for Soyak to follow him as well.

Soyak, not understanding what was happening, set down the cup she had been drinking from and followed Eunsong.

“What is it, for you to react like this?”

“If it is what I think it is, the situation is more serious than we imagined.”

“Even if you say that, I do not know what that thing is.”

Eunsong glanced back at Soyak for a moment, then spoke briefly.

“It would not have been just an arm.”

“What would not? Are you speaking of the arm in that place?”

“No.”

Soyak narrowed her eyes.

She could not understand what he meant at all.

Of course she could not.

How the Demonic Cult’s Young Cult Leader had been disposed of......

Unless she had heard it from Jeonggang, it was something even Myeonggon and Eunsong likely would not have known.

That was why the two clues of a “severed arm” and “Demonic Energy” had made Eunsong so urgent.

As Soyak followed after him, Eunsong quickened his pace and spoke.

“The arm in that place would have been an ordinary arm.”

“Then why.......”

“But Soyak, think about it. If so, the fact that someone’s arm had been cut off should have become known within Mount Hua.”

That was the same conclusion Soyak had reached.

An arm was a martial artist’s life.

Even if it was the left arm, with one arm gone, it was impossible to maintain balance or perform the motions of complex, delicate, graceful sword forms.

And yet there had been a severed arm there.

But there was no one in Mount Hua whose arm had fallen off.

Which meant......

“In that case, someone in this Mount Hua Sect is walking around with an arm that is not his own.”

“An arm that is not his own......?”

It was absurd.

Even if the Medicine Sage came himself, he could not attach an arm that had been cut off so horrifically—much less replace it with another person’s arm.

Even reattaching one’s own severed arm was impossible.

How could anyone possibly attach another person’s arm?

Even if the arm’s thickness, the shape of the muscles, and the position of the severed surface all matched perfectly, it could not be done.

However......

If it was an evil rite of the Demonic Cult, the range of the impossible became a little narrower.

“That is the kind of people the Demonic Cult are.”

“No, then what kind of arm, whose arm, could it be......? Even if it belonged to someone else, what lunatic among Mount Hua’s disciples would cut off his own arm and attach that?”

“He likely did not attach it himself.”

After saying something Soyak could not understand, Eunsong unfolded his lightness arts.

His toes advanced according to the principles of Lightness Arts, stepping on the tips of the grass as his body lifted.

Soyak followed behind Eunsong as well.

Her high talent for martial arts, including movement arts, and her now-powerful internal energy that had reached the very edge of Transcendent Apex.

Thanks to those things, keeping up with Eunsong was no longer difficult for Soyak.

“If you say he did not attach it himself.......”

“I will explain when we arrive. This is an extremely secret and dangerous matter, Soyak. Great Grand Master Jeonggang will likely tell you.”

“......Understood.”

*****

A short while later.

Soyak and Eunsong arrived at Jeonggang’s residence.

Jeonggang was sitting in the yard, leaning on a roughly carved walking stick made from a branch.

“Eunsong, what brings you here?”

“Something terrible seems to have happened, Great Grand Master.”

“You should have consulted your own master first, even so. Tsk.”

It was a rebuke asking why Eunsong had come to him, the Great Grand Master, before going to his own master, Myeonggon.

A reasonable and normal point.

Eunsong’s behavior at this moment could be seen as the rudeness of someone implying that telling his own master would be useless.

However......

The story Eunsong brought out made all those circumstances understandable.

This truly was not a problem Myeonggon could handle alone.

And with matters like this, it was right to run straight to the highest person one could reach and report it.

“It seems the Young Cult Leader’s left arm has been released.”

“What?”

“What did you just say?”

Jeonggang was shocked.

Even Soyak, who had now learned what it was, was shocked.

Jeonggang furrowed his brow deeply and let out a low groan.

“Tell me in more detail. Every detail.”

“For now, I think it would be better for you to hear the circumstances from Soyak.”

“From Soyak?”

Jeonggang shrugged and looked at Soyak.

His eyes asked what had happened.

“......The thing is, I actually.......”

The story was not very long.

Just as she had only been able to drink two cups of the white tea Eunsong had brewed before rushing out.

The explanation here did not take longer than the time needed to drink two cups of tea.

“So, to draw a conclusion......someone inside Mount Hua has attached the Young Cult Leader’s arm in place of his own.”

“Exactly. The problem is that there is no way for us to verify who it is.”