“May this old woman speak?”
A familiar, gentle voice came from behind.
Wondering who had approached without permission, Ise turned around and saw the old woman from the village of the Rotting Ones.
She walked forward and performed a deep bow before Ise.
“If you permit me, I would like to speak.”
The old woman was still wearing the green shoulder sash.
But…
The Rotting Disease had disappeared without a trace.
Even her vanished spiritual root had reappeared as though deliberately showing itself off.
“You.
The Rotting Disease…”
Jin Yeonhwa answered instead.
“It is merely an illusion.”
Jin Yeonhwa made a small gesture.
The old woman’s body immediately began rotting again, turning black.
Her previously healthy flesh became raw and ulcerated, her clear spiritual root disappeared without a trace, and a foul stench assaulted Ise’s nose.
She gestured once more, and the Rotting Disease healed as cleanly as though it had never existed.
Every phenomenon had been nothing more than an illusion.
“It is a demonic art called the Green Plague Soul-Mesmerizing Illusion Art.
It is primarily used for intimidation and coercion.”
“Explain.”
Ise spoke while casting Mind-Reading Art on the old woman.
The old woman bowed her head deeply before beginning to speak.
“Cultivator Jin does not exploit us.
She takes in ordinary people and the weak who would otherwise become targets for the demon beasts of Area 4 and protects them.”
“Protects… them?”
“Yes.
Ordinary human slaves are precious here.
They are the easiest, and practically the only, means by which demonic cultivators can raise their cultivation realms.
So ordinary children born here, the elderly, and crippled demonic cultivators alike have little chance of surviving to the end of their natural lives.”
Ise’s expression gradually hardened.
“Cultivator Jin disguises these people as though they were suffering from an infectious disease, sets aside a separate area for them to live, and isolates them from the demon beasts.
The suspicion you held, Senior… was a misunderstanding.”
On the surface, it looked like a horrifying den of pestilence.
But within that place, no one could casually be devoured.
Because the demon beasts spat on them in disgust and avoided the area, it had instead become the safest enclosure in all of Area 4.
Ise was confused.
Why was a demonic cultivator, someone who should have been beyond association, showing compassion and protecting others?
The common sense he had built up was being shattered and rewritten, leaving him almost dizzy for a moment.
But the old woman’s explanation did not end there.
“Also, Cultivator Jin was the one who introduced the culture of the Great Distinction Shoulder Sashes to Area 4, greatly reducing unnecessary killing.”
“You created that too?”
Jin Yeonhwa merely smiled faintly.
“…Why go that far?
You have nothing to gain from it.”
“I wonder.”
Jin Yeonhwa paused briefly.
“If I had to give a reason… they simply caught my eye.”
The results of the Mind-Reading Art Ise had cast on the old woman were entirely truthful.
Without that Art, the story would have been impossible to believe.
It almost seemed more plausible that even this was merely an act designed to deceive him.
Ise stood speechless for a long while before speaking to Jin Yeonhwa.
“Did you really have to do it this way?
A life where being alive hardly feels like living.”
Realizing that he sounded as though he was desperately trying to find fault with her, his voice became slightly softer.
“There is no life that isn’t worth living.
There is only life and death.”
“…”
“They simply live their lives with everything they have.
Even if they survive by begging for food in a foul-smelling pit, there is meaning simply in being alive.”
“You could have created a better environment for them.”
“A better environment… Perhaps.
Though as the weakest among the influential figures of Area 4, that is impossible for me right now.
Unless you eliminate the others for me.”
Jin Yeonhwa’s voice remained calm.
But her eyes shone with an almost piercing brilliance.
“I heard ordinary mortals live in Area 3.
Why didn’t you consider sending them there?”
“Even if ordinary people without any connections entered the inner area, they would only become prey for the Essence-Draining Ghost Arts.”
Ise could think of no further rebuttal.
He remained silent for a moment, then carefully chose his words.
“I apologize for misunderstanding and insulting you.”
“No.
Your words were not wrong.”
Jin Yeonhwa shook her head.
“I, too, have tried to use wandering cultivators to eliminate them, and as a result, three people with no grudge against me died.
Ise looked at Jin Yeonhwa with a complicated gaze.
Until now, he had believed that every demonic cultivator was someone deserving of death.
Yet even within that mire, there were people who possessed convictions worthy of being called a true moral path.
He did not think the things he had done until now were wrong.
But he felt ashamed that his own moral path had been lacking.
Jin Yeonhwa respectfully bowed at the waist.
Soyang and the old woman beside her went so far as to kneel and prostrate themselves.
“Please lend us your strength.”
There were demonic cultivators who practiced demonic arts simply because they had been born in this place.
Did those who had never been given another choice truly deserve to be condemned?
It was not a question that could be answered easily.
He had sworn to wipe out the demonic beasts to the very last one for the sake of revenge.
Could the edge of that resolve have been pointed in the wrong direction because of his own stubbornness?
Ise forcibly pushed the thought aside.
It was not a question he could answer right now.
Eventually, he opened his mouth.
“I’ll eliminate the remaining three in exchange for the Heart-Severing Art.”
The Heart-Severing Art manual was already in Jin Yeonhwa’s possession.
If eliminating three people was its price, it wasn’t a losing trade.
Yes.
It was a trade, nothing more.
And when it came to trade, the accounting had to be precise.
“I’ll consider the price for deceiving and using me to be 1,000 spirit stones.
I’m giving you a discount as an apology.”
“Thank you for your generosity.”
Jin Yeonhwa immediately handed over the spirit stones without even hesitating.
Ise put them into his Storage Pouch and asked,
“There won’t be any trouble with Magok if I eliminate them, right?”
“No.
Why would they care about a few Foundation Establishment wandering cultivators?”
“Is it possible they have connections, like you do?”
“Gyeondonwoo has the intelligence of a dog, pig, or ox.
There’s a reason he’s called Ox-Head.
The Blood-Drinking Madman is an arrogant lunatic who cannot bow his head to anyone.
And Cheon Uibaek was expelled from the valley for committing an offense.”
In other words, there would be no trouble even if all three died.
“Is there a way to lure the remaining three into Area 5 at the same time?”
“…Surely you intend to deal with them all at once?”
“That would be cleaner.
If they become frightened and hide, things will only become troublesome.”
“Impossible.
Even if you defeated Wang Gyu, facing all three simultaneously—”
“How I deal with them is my concern.”
“…”
Faced with his firm answer, Jin Yeonhwa finally backed down.
“I’ll find a way to arrange it.
But why specifically Area 5?”
“There is a no-killing rule in Area 4.”
“…You actually intend to follow it?”
“Of course.
Rules exist to be followed.”
Jin Yeonhwa stared at him for a moment before letting out a muffled laugh.
“How unusual.”
She soon added quietly,
“It would be difficult to arrange a place where all three can be gathered in Area 5 at once.
However, I should be able to lure someone like Cheon Uibaek, who hides in Area 5, into Area 4.”
“Is the prohibition against killing merely a hollow rule?”
“No.
But the aftermath can be dealt with.
You simply need to slip an appropriate bribe to Magok.”
“…”
“The demon beasts of Magok City call that common sense.”
Ise found himself reconsidering the word “common sense” once again.
“One last question.”
“Yes.”
“Your strategy of leaving yourself out when giving me the list had more flaws than your other judgments.
Cross-checking the information would expose it immediately.
Why didn’t you account for that?”
“That question means you are underestimating yourself.”
Ise tilted his head.
“First, I never thought you would be able to defeat Wang Gyu.
I would have considered it fortunate if you merely put a hole in his forces.
Then the others would have rushed in like hungry ghosts.”
They intended to leave the wounded Wang Gyu for the others to hunt.
That would create another wounded ruler.
Like a fishing line catching one fish after another.
“Second, I didn’t expect you to come this far based on that single clue.
And finally, I never imagined you would suspect the old woman.
Most demon beasts fall into one of three categories.”
Ignorant and vicious.
Cowardly and cunning.
Upright but innocent.
Jin Yeonhwa counted them off on her fingers.
“I judged you to be the third type.
I never imagined that ‘feeling pity for an old, sick person’ and ‘being suspicious’ could coexist.”
She pursed her lips, then slowly traced her index finger from her temple to her chin.
“I have never seen a demon beast like you before.
How should I put it… You seem almost like an orthodox cultivator.”
Ise fell silent at the sharp observation.
***
After returning to his residence, Ise sat cross-legged and quietly calmed his clouded state of mind through meditation, as though washing away the impurities.
He quietly retraced the path he had walked.
Fortunately, no matter how much of a demonic cultivator his opponent had been, he had never committed a killing that violated his moral path.
He had always killed those who deserved death, and most of those killings had been acts of revenge.
This too must have been an arrangement by his master, who had taught him never to lose his center.
‘It’s been a while.’
Though he was no longer by her side, her teachings remained and continued to guide Ise.
The faces and names of the people with whom he had formed bonds came to mind.
Even though he had deliberately tried not to speak their names after leaving, they had always rested heavily in one corner of his heart.
The Three Kingdoms of the Peninsula under the Great Exorcist Order’s shadow had at least been a world where rules and common sense functioned.
Of course, there had been villains everywhere.
The ruthless culture of the cultivation world applied just as much to the wandering cultivators of the Three Kingdoms of the Peninsula.
But it had not been a place where one had to remain tense even while simply exhaling, as though one’s life might end at any moment.
When one encountered a calamity cultivator, one merely considered oneself unlucky.
People did not automatically suspect every wandering cultivator standing before them of being a calamity cultivator.
Even though he had been branded a demon-beast butcher, there had still been warmth in that place, the warmth of ordinary human life.
The nickname “Land of Eastern Courtesy” had been given by the Zheng Empire as a mocking expression aimed at the Great Exorcist Order and the Three Kingdoms of the Peninsula.
But Ise liked that mocking nickname.
He missed that place.
‘It’s right in front of me, but I can’t reach it.’
Perhaps a life of wandering simply wasn’t suited to him.
They said that when a fox dies, it turns its head toward the hill where its den once stood.
Today, more than any other day, Ise found himself thinking of the Eastern Continent and the Great Exorcist Order.
He hoped the day of his return would not be far away.
Ise quietly wished for it.
***
“Are you serious, Cultivator Ryu Seonghan?”
Baek Gi, the Sect Master of the Tyrant Sword Sect, asked again as he faced Cheongun, the Rising Tyrant Sword he had summoned, and Ryu Seonghan, a cultivator of the Heavenly Ice Palace.
They had said they had something important to report and requested an audience.
What they had come to tell him was nothing short of astonishing.
What had happened to Ryu Seonghan and the Ryu Clan.
The secret rebellion carried out by the Essence-Draining Ghost-Demon Valley behind the Heavenly Ice Palace’s back.
And even a plan for tracing the valley’s trail and stripping away its disguise.
“You intend to entangle the Essence-Draining Ghost-Demon Valley in such a manner?”
“Yes.
I speak in all seriousness, Sect Master.”
“Reconsider.
We have never met, but I offer you this sincere advice as an old Senior.”
“Thank you for your concern.
However, my decision has not changed.”
Baek Gi then turned toward Cheongun.
“Cheongun.”
“Yes, Sect Master.”
“Stop him.
You called him your close friend, didn’t you?”
“I tried hard enough, but I couldn’t persuade him.”
“Even if I refuse, do you intend to participate on your own?”
“We made a promise, so it seems I have no other choice.”
“Hah.
You reckless brats…”
The two already appeared resolute, as though their minds were made up.
A promising cultivator who had reached the Foundation Establishment Realm around the age of fifty was bowing his head this deeply for the sake of a greater cause.
It was difficult for someone who carried a sword to simply pretend not to see it.
Besides, there had never been a case where the stubbornness of the heir one treasured beyond measure—or rather, a good-for-nothing that one sometimes wished could simply bury him in the ground—could be stopped merely by telling him not to do something.
Ryu Seonghan once again pressed his head to the floor.
“Please make the decision to eradicate these insidious people who deceive and mislead the Northern Continent.”
And ultimately, the plan did seem sufficiently feasible.
“Give me some time to think.”
Baek Gi ran a hand through his thick white hair.
Apparently, he was reaching the age when he should start considering retirement.