Chapter 46: Those Who Deceive

TL: FoodieMonster007

I stood in the middle of the training ground with my eyes closed.

My duel with the Sword Supreme had pushed the Soaring Sky Sword Art past the wall of tenth-stage complete mastery. The art had entered a new realm.

I once considered the Soaring Sky Sword Art a flawless, tightly woven sequence. Now, that tension felt loose. Doubts surfaced about the once-perfect technique, and my certainty vanished.

I slowly drew the Black Demon Sword and began performing the Soaring Sky Sword Art. This did not mean my existing skills had disappeared or diminished.

Brilliant sword light filled the training ground.

What would this splendid martial art look like once it reaches twelfth-stage complete mastery?

Crucially, my ultimate goal is the twelfth-stage complete mastery of the Nine Calamities Demonic Art.

I hoped the experience of achieving twelfth-stage mastery in the Soaring Sky Sword Art would be a great help later. It could help when I aim for the same in the Nine Calamities Demonic Art.

Just as I finished a round of training, Seo Daeryong rushed over to report.

"An incident has occurred."

"What kind of incident?"

"I think you need to see it for yourself, Director."

Seo Daeryong led me to a nearby mountain.

Execution martial artists were already there, controlling the area.

The Special Investigator, Gong Myeong, had arrived first. He reported with a grave expression.

"About a dozen recently buried bodies have been discovered."

The problem was that the bodies were anything but ordinary.

"All of the corpses are missing their hearts."

The moment I heard their hearts were gone, a certain grand technique came to mind.

The Great Mind Control Technique.

The grand technique was known for its cruel process of absorbing life energy from a person's heart. It involved tearing the heart out of a living person.

In our Cult, only one person was capable of using such a technique.

The Soul-Stealing Demon Supreme.

When I returned to the Cult for the Secret Demon Soul, a brief rumor circulated. It claimed the Soul-Stealing Demon Supreme was using the Great Mind Control Technique to gather demonic energy.

It was just a rumor, however, and the truth was never revealed. I was solely focused on obtaining the Secret Demon Soul at the time, so I had no time to investigate.

Could that rumor have been true?

I frowned instinctively, imagining a heart torn from a living person. The true source of my anger, however, lay elsewhere.

Seo Daeryong reported cautiously, "But upon examining the bodies, they seem to be people who haven't learned any martial arts."

"Civilians?"

"Yes. They're a mix of men and women…"

Seo Daeryong sighed and added, "Among the bodies… there's also a child."

In that moment, my heart turned to ice. This was what I hated most.

A martial artist harming someone who has not learned martial arts, and even children. This is an utterly unreasonable, one-sided act of violence.

Among martial artists, surprise attacks or group ambushes are just a chaotic mess. Everyone involved has already braced themselves for the ruthless jianghu.

Truth be told, I am not a righteous person, but on this point, I find it strangely unbearable.

What if these bodies are truly victims of the Great Mind Control Technique?

I heard the rumor when I returned to our Cult for the Secret Demon Soul. If it is true, the Soul-Stealing Demon Supreme has been committing this act for decades. There must have been thousands of victims, or even more.

If that was the case… the face of the old man who sent me back suddenly came to mind. Revenge is fine, and my own life is important, but.

I understand. I may not know about other things, but I will stop this first.

Just then, another investigator came and reported, "Look at this."

He brought a fan. When unfolded, it revealed an indecipherable language and bizarre drawings.

"It's a ghost fan used by shamans."

It was a fan used by the Soul-Stealing Demon Supreme's disciples for their evil arts.

"Where was it found?"

"It was with the bodies."

This made it even more certain that the Soul-Stealing Demon Supreme was responsible.

However, a suspicion arose.

The person in charge of disposing of the bodies dropped a fan and left?

"Where is the herb gatherer who found the bodies now?"

"We had him waiting over there."

"Let's go."

But the herb gatherer had vanished.

"He must have gotten scared and run off. We'll find him immediately."

I had a feeling they would not find him.

Something about this incident feels unnatural.

Even in our Cult, a grand technique that carves hearts from living people cannot be performed openly. The Soul-Stealing Demon Supreme must have handled matters related to this technique with extreme thoroughness.

And yet, an herb gatherer discovered the bodies, and a fan was even dropped? Impossible. Someone must have found the burial site and arranged for the discovery.

"Now that we've found evidence, we'll have to go to the Western Illusion Sanctum and investigate the owner of this fan, won't we?"

Seo Daeryong was terrified.

"Are you afraid?"

"Yes. Of everyone in our Cult, the Soul-Stealing Demon Supreme scares me the most."

"……"

"Because if you fall victim to the shamans, they'll steal your soul. I'd rather die cleanly by a sword than be controlled like a jiangshi and die a miserable death."

"What to do? You have to go with me to the Western Illusion Sanctum tomorrow."

"I quit the Sanzu River Hall, effective today. Ahh, I really don't want to go."

"Don't worry. We'll take some execution martial artists with us. Pick a few who are strong in martial arts."

Seo Daeryong shouted, "But those people will go crazy and kill me!"

Someone had deliberately fabricated this situation to inform me that the Soul-Stealing Demon Supreme was using the Great Mind Control Technique. I had to confirm if it was true, but I had one person in mind as the mastermind.

Sa Woojong.

Sa Woojong, the right-hand man of the Flower Sword Supreme.

I had a decisive reason for suspecting him.

It was because of his memorable end, which I recalled even when I first met him.

Surprisingly, he had died under the effects of a soul-stealing art. He attempted to kill the Flower Sword Supreme, only to be killed in return. How could I forget the incident where the most loyal subordinate, caught in a soul-stealing art, tried to kill her master?

After his death, it was revealed that he had loved the Sword Supreme as a woman. No one ever discovered who had cast the soul-stealing art on him. People gossiped that it was a tragedy born of passion, and then it was forgotten.

There was another reason I thought it was Sa Woojong.

Coincidentally, I recently had a three-day duel with the Flower Sword Supreme. That event must have provoked Sa Woojong in some way.

This is a ploy. It's meant to either have me die fighting the Soul-Stealing Demon Supreme, or to keep me so busy dealing with him that I can't pay any attention to the Sword Supreme.

I did not know how he found the body disposal site or how he smuggled out the fan, but he had successfully pushed me toward the Soul-Stealing Demon Supreme. As the Director of the Sanzu Hall, this was an incident I could not simply ignore.

However, Sa Woojong probably did not know.

By pushing the Soul-Stealing Demon Supreme forward, he had stepped onto the stage himself.

The next day, I headed to the Western Illusion Sanctum with Seo Daeryong and the execution martial artists.

We had sent word in advance, so a shaman was waiting at the Western Illusion Sanctum to guide us.

"My name is Yeo Cham. Please follow me."

We followed Yeo Cham.

After walking for a while, we entered a flower garden. I stopped in my tracks.

"Wait. I can feel demonic energy."

I had my subordinates halt and surveyed our surroundings. The demonic energy came from the ghost flowers planted in the garden.

"It's because of the fragrance these flowers are emitting."

Yeo Cham was startled. No one could likely detect the demonic energy of the ghost flowers unless they were a master with truly sensitive senses.

"If someone who isn't a shaman is exposed to the ghost flowers' demonic energy, their inner arts won't circulate smoothly. They'll become more susceptible to soul-stealing arts. They might also see illusions, and if they're unlucky, fall prey to inner demons. I don't want my subordinates to suffer such a fate."

I raised the Black Demon Sword, ready to unleash sword qi at any moment. Yeo Cham shouted.

"Please wait a moment. I can suppress the fragrance of the ghost flowers for a short time."

He took a small cylinder from his robes and placed it in the garden's center. Smoke rose from the cylinder, drawing the surrounding demonic energy into it.

"Hurry and pass through now!"

I quickly passed through the area with my subordinates.

"If I hadn't said anything, we would have entered while exposed to the demonic energy."

"I apologize."

Yeo Cham bowed his head at my rebuke. I knew he was just following orders, so I did not press him further.

Just then, Seo Daeryong spoke softly from behind me. "Thank you for looking out for us, Director."

When I turned, I saw that Seo Daeryong and the execution martial artists were grateful. If it were not for me, they all would have been affected by the demonic energy.

"Everyone, stay on your guard."

"……"

Demonic energy emanated from stone statues and pagodas everywhere.

As soon as I noticed it, Yeo Cham took the initiative and suppressed the demonic energy.

I understood why Seo Daeryong was afraid of the Soul-Stealing Demon Supreme. At this rate, we were liable to die just on the way to meet him.

Like that, we entered the heart of the Western Illusion Sanctum.

The houses there had peculiar shapes. Most were shaped like snail shells, with overlapping circular structures I had never seen anywhere in the Central Plains.

Seo Daeryong was here for the first time and was initially impressed by the exotic sight. Soon, however, he complained of feeling sick. Just looking at the buildings was enough to make one's head spin.

I told Seo Daeryong and the execution martial artists to walk with their eyes closed. They closed their eyes, formed a single line with hands on each other's shoulders, and followed me.

Among the strange buildings was a cone-shaped one. This was the Soul-Stealing Demon Supreme's residence.

His room was the pinnacle of dizziness. Swirling patterns covered the walls, the floor, and even the ceiling. Just being in this room was agonizing.

The Soul-Stealing Demon Supreme sat in the center of that room.

The Soul-Stealing Demon Supreme, Yaso.

I had felt it in the past, but he looked remarkably ordinary. He had a common face. You could go to the Demon Village right now and find ten people who looked similar. Such plainness amidst all this dizziness?

He seemed a living symbol of the idea that those who deceive people are all this ordinary.

"Greetings, Demon Supreme."

I greeted him with formal courtesy.

Before my regression, I had no particular connection with him. Even when I returned to our Cult for grand technique materials, I had no significant contact with him. However, one thing was certain. He was the longest surviving of the Eight Demon Supremes.

"Welcome, Second Young Lord."

His voice seemed to scatter and come from all directions. It felt like it came from the left, and then from the right.

"What brings you to this corner of the world?"

This time, it sounded like a whisper from behind me.

By confusing the mind like this, the soul-stealing art had, in a sense, already begun.

"I've come to investigate an incident."

At that, the Chaos Demon stared at me as if to pierce through me.

Suddenly, the pupils of his eyes dilated. I stared into his completely blackened eyes and felt my mind grow hazy. My subordinates who came with me were likely not in their right minds now.

"Quite impressive, aren't you?"

The voice echoed like a sound in a cave, as if it were a thought in my own mind.

"I'm often told I have a strong will."

That was part of it, but the decisive factor was the Heavenly Demon Defense Art. The Heavenly Demon Defense Art activated on its own, preventing demonic energy from invading my mind and spirit. My proficiency was still shallow, so the situation would change if the Soul-Stealing Demon Supreme used his full power.

Before this devolved into an unnecessary battle of wills, I quickly stated my purpose.

"About a dozen unusual bodies were discovered, and a shaman's item was found at the scene."

"What kind of item?"

I showed him the fan.

It seemed each ghost fan had its own master. As soon as he saw the ghost fan, the Soul-Stealing Demon Supreme called for someone.

"Summon Neung Hyu."

A question that should have been asked was omitted. I had deliberately emphasized that the bodies were 'unusual', but the Chaos Demon did not ask what was unusual about them. Which meant.

He already knows what kind of bodies they are.