“Father, you called for me?”
An Hu-pyeong entered the great hall where the Divine Flower Sect Master conducted his business.
The Divine Flower Sect Master, An Cheong-gwang.
He was a truly legendary figure who had built the Divine Flower Sect from an ordinary local sect into a great power that everyone in the Unorthodox Path knew of.
His martial arts were profound, and his personality was anything but ordinary.
He always took revenge on anyone who caused him loss, and he had the nerve to not even blink an eye when a blade was at his throat.
On top of that, he possessed a stronger desire for success than anyone else.
There were two guests in the great hall, and An Hu-pyeong was startled when he recognized them.
There were two masters who were always mentioned when speaking of his father’s legend.
The two main figures who, along with his father, had made the Divine Flower Sect what it was today.
Flame Serpent Sword and Iron Cold Blade.
If they had not helped his father as if it were their own business, he could not have built the Divine Flower Sect to such heights.
For that reason, his father treated them more precious than family.
And as long as his father's ambitions were in progress, they would not be cast aside after their usefulness had passed.
It was rare to see the two of them, yet here they were in the same place.
“Greetings to the masters.”
An Hu-pyeong bowed to them respectfully.
The two masters gave a single nod, accepting his greeting with their eyes alone.
Of course, An Hu-pyeong was displeased with such an attitude.
‘Even if I am young, I am still the Young Lord.’
Couldn't they at least ask how he'd been, since it had been a while?
It was not them he hated, but his father.
Those two masters were originally men of heartless and wicked dispositions.
But if his father cherished and trusted him, they would not treat him so indifferently, at least out of respect for his father.
How much must his father disapprove of him for them to ignore him like this?
An Cheong-gwang asked abruptly.
“I heard you met the Heavenly Flower Pavilion Mistress?”
“Yes, I am on my way back from meeting her.”
“Why did you meet the person I summoned as a judge?”
“Is the Heavenly Flower Pavilion Mistress not the owner of the most famous courtesan house in the Central Plains? I thought she must be an extraordinary person, so I went to see if there was something I could learn.”
An Hu-pyeong thoroughly concealed his inner thoughts.
Honestly, if he could, he wanted to ask this:
Are you infatuated with that woman? Is that why you summoned the mere owner of a courtesan house to be a judge?
But if he did, knowing his father’s personality, a fiery rebuke would surely follow.
Besides, in the presence of Flame Serpent Sword and Iron Cold Blade, he could be beaten to death.
“I heard that you changed the judge to the Heavenly Flower Pavilion Mistress at the last minute, father.”
It would be nice if he would explain why he had changed his mind.
“This is not a matter for you to interfere in.”
This was why he couldn't help but be suspicious and worried.
‘Not a matter for me to interfere in? The sect’s assets are at stake. Since when were they yours alone, father?’
Just then, a subordinate entered and reported.
“It is said that among the contestants in this tournament, there is someone from the Heavenly Demon Divine Sect.”
An Cheong-gwang’s expression hardened at once.
Flame Serpent Sword and Iron Cold Blade, who were with him, also looked at each other and exchanged glances.
“Are you certain?”
“We are currently checking through the Unorthodox Alliance.”
“Report as soon as you find out.”
“Yes.”
The subordinate rushed outside.
As An Cheong-gwang was about to turn to Flame Serpent Sword and Iron Cold Blade, he also dismissed his son.
“You may leave now.”
An Hu-pyeong bowed respectfully and was about to leave when he glanced back at his father from the doorway.
His father was talking with the two masters with a serious expression.
‘What could be so serious?’
It wasn't a martial arts tournament, but a beauty contest.
What did it matter if a contestant was from the Heavenly Demon Divine Sect or the daughter of a Righteous Sect warrior of justice? It was a tournament held for the entire martial world to enjoy.
When the decision to hold the tournament was first made, his father had said this:
—With this tournament, there will be no one in the Central Plains who does not know the name of our sect.
If even the Demon Sect participated, wouldn't that further serve its purpose?
But the atmosphere was not that of such a festival.
‘Something is definitely happening that I don’t know about.’
When he came out of the great hall, Sa Chu, who was waiting, delivered the news.
“Master Yong has arrived and gone to see the Heavenly Flower Pavilion Mistress.”
An Hu-pyeong was startled by the unexpected news.
“Already? How?”
“The Lord summoned him, so Master Yong was already at the sect.”
Master Yong was usually away.
But his father had even summoned Master Yong to the sect? Now he was even more curious about what was going on.
“And he went without even seeing me?”
“You know Master Yong’s personality, don’t you?”
Of course, he knew it well.
He was an impatient and selfish person.
He was truly uncontrollable, but at least his skills were renowned.
The reason he was called Master was because he himself wished to be called so.
His father, believing he would cause a major incident someday, did not use him for important matters, which was how he himself had been able to join hands with him.
“You knew Master Yong was a difficult person to control, didn't you?”
That was why he had told him not to summon the man.
An Hu-pyeong frowned and glared at Sa Chu.
“If you had done your job properly, there would have been no need to call him.”
Sa Chu did not make excuses and bowed his head.
He knew well what kind of person An Hu-pyeong was.
He was the type to take an opponent's excuse as a challenge.
In times like these, it was best to just keep his mouth shut.
An Hu-pyeong quickened his pace.
This was not the time to be berating Sa Chu.
‘I have to watch that detestable bastard get beaten up myself.’
Especially that guy who was as handsome as a courtesan's favorite! Today's target was him.
An Hu-pyeong strode toward the guest hall where the Heavenly Flower Pavilion Mistress was staying.
*
The words Master Yong had heard most often were these:
Even for the Unorthodox Path, aren't you going too far?
Those words contained his entire life.
He had shamelessly committed acts that would make even the most wicked men of the Unorthodox Path click their tongues.
And today, that Master Yong was angry.
The Lord had summoned him, and he had come flying to the Divine Flower Sect.
He had arrived full of anticipation, wondering why he had been called, but two days had passed and he had yet to see the Lord's face even once.
His anger erupted at the news that the Lord was meeting with Flame Serpent Sword and Iron Cold Blade, who had arrived today, first.
“Leeches living off their old fame!”
Once An Hu-pyeong ascended to the position of Lord, he planned to deal with those two first.
To do that, he had to carry out the task entrusted to him by the future Lord.
Master Yong arrived at the guest hall where the Heavenly Flower Pavilion Mistress was staying.
Sa Chu had told him to rough up the most handsome of the guards.
‘Consider yourself unlucky today.’
Because his standard of ‘roughing up’ was going to be a bit extreme today.
Master Yong slowly pushed open the door to the guest hall.
The scene inside unfolded before him.
The Evil Heart Laughing Demon and the Heavenly Flower Pavilion Mistress were sitting side by side, drinking tea, while the Faceless Ones were scattered around the guest hall, resting.
The gazes of those inside turned toward Master Yong all at once.
Why did he do it? Why on earth did he do it?
Creak, thud.
Master Yong closed the door again.
He closed the door quietly, like someone who had come to the wrong room.
After closing the door, Master Yong stood in front of it and asked himself.
‘Why did I close the door?’
No one had drawn a weapon, and no one had even revealed any killing intent.
They had simply looked at him in a perfectly peaceful atmosphere.
Unable to bear their gazes, his own hand had closed the door on its own.
‘Could it be that I was scared? That’s impossible!’
This was the first time this had ever happened, so he was bewildered.
It was at that moment.
A dagger shot through the door.
The dagger that shot out stopped right in front of his left eye as he stood before the door.
If it had come out just a little further, his eye would have been pierced.
Even while looking at the blade of the dagger protruding before his eyes, Master Yong did not step back.
He sensed instinctively that it was not an attack meant to kill him.
Another dagger pierced through from the side.
Sure enough, this time it stopped precisely in front of his other eye.
Still, Master Yong did not retreat.
Another dagger pierced through and stopped at his throat, but Master Yong did not retreat.
Another dagger shot out and stopped in front of his heart.
All four daggers were aimed at his vital points.
It was not meant to kill him from the start.
It was to show that they could aim precisely at his vital points.
A martial artist piercing a door with a dagger might be considered nothing special, but the technique just displayed was no ordinary skill.
The daggers had emerged without the slightest tilt, accurately calculating the position of his eyes and throat from outside the door.
And what was amazing was the precise distance control, as if they were about to touch him but didn't.
Moreover, the problem was that it wasn't one person who had thrown the daggers.
The daggers were all different.
It was unlikely for one person to carry so many different daggers, meaning that several people had taken turns displaying their skills.
How could that be?
The fact that it looked as if one person had thrown them meant that their skills were not only outstanding but also uniform.
Shh-shk.
The protruding daggers all withdrew inside.
The slowly disappearing daggers seemed to be saying this:
If you want to live, go back.
Normally, he would have shattered the door and charged in immediately.
How dare they do this to him? He would have twisted and broken the wrists of the ones who threw the daggers.
He was only told to rough them up a bit, but he would have destroyed them all.
Because he had always been that kind of person.
But his body would not move.
He didn't feel like it.
But he couldn't just turn back either.
To endure after being humiliated?
He had never done that in his life.
If he just left, what would he say to the Young Lord? What if rumors spread within the sect that he had turned back in fear?
He should have left when his instincts first warned him.
His survival instinct could not overcome the life he had lived out of habit.
He opened the door again, walked inside, and shouted spiritedly.
“Are you men wearing veils like a bunch of girls?”
But at the scene inside, Master Yong was startled and his eyes widened.
Huh?
The people inside were not wearing veils.
Instead of veils, they wore pure white masks.
Creeeak.
The white mask closing the door behind him was smiling.
When An Hu-pyeong arrived at the guest hall, he had expected to hear wails of agony, but it was surprisingly quiet.
“No way. They didn't kill him, did they?”
To An Hu-pyeong's worry, Sa Chu replied.
“Just in case, I told them he was a guest of the Lord.”
An Hu-pyeong was relieved at those words.
Master Yong might be selfish, but he was afraid of his father.
An Hu-pyeong was expectant.
He pictured the guard, his face swollen and his front teeth all broken, collapsed on the floor.
‘You smiled so arrogantly, didn't you? Let's see if you can smile today.’
And he intended to personally rip off that bastard's damn veil and tear it to shreds.
That is, if Master Yong hadn't already torn it off.
With that thought, An Hu-pyeong opened the door to the guest hall and stepped inside.
“If you came, you should have seen me first...”
Suddenly, An Hu-pyeong stopped talking.
Master Yong, who he had expected to be there, was not in the room.
The Heavenly Flower Pavilion Mistress was drinking tea, and the Evil Heart Laughing Demon, who had been looking out the window, turned to look this way.
The other Faceless Ones were scattered around the guest hall.
Some were cleaning their weapons, some were sitting on chairs resting, and some were folding clothes.
Seeing them spending a perfectly peaceful moment, An Hu-pyeong turned to Sa Chu and asked with his eyes.
‘What happened? You said Master Yong came here first.’
Sa Chu made a face that said he didn't know either.
An Hu-pyeong turned his head again and asked the Heavenly Flower Pavilion Mistress.
“Did anyone happen to come here?”
The Heavenly Flower Pavilion Mistress shook her head.
“No, no one has come.”
Right, if someone had come, these guys wouldn't be this unharmed.
An Hu-pyeong's gaze turned to the Evil Heart Laughing Demon.
The man who had been standing by the window was now standing behind the Heavenly Flower Pavilion Mistress, looking at him.
The other Faceless Ones were also looking at him.
No one was smiling.
‘Just a bunch of mere guards!’
It was very unpleasant for them to stare at him, the Young Lord of the Divine Flower Sect, so openly.
Moreover, what their eyes held was not respect or fear.
It was an unpleasant gaze, like looking at an animal in a cage.
‘Where the hell did he go without smashing these guys?’
Meanwhile, Sa Chu was examining the door.
He had noticed a mark on it when he first entered.
So he checked the inside as well, and there was a mark in the same place.
‘It’s the mark of a blade passing through!’
Realizing that the mark hadn't been there when he first came, the hair on his arms stood on end.
‘No way.
He was here?’
He looked around.
Not a single piece of furniture was broken.
A fight had broken out with him, yet the room was this intact?
Crucially, no one in this room was injured.
There wasn't even a scratch.
Master Yong was a renowned master.
But the reason that made his heart uneasy was the same reason.
That ill-tempered and impatient person wouldn't have failed to come after saying he would.
‘What if, by some chance, they killed Master Yong? The body?’
This was the Divine Flower Sect.
It was hard to believe they could kill him without anyone getting hurt, but how did they dispose of the body?
Just then, Sa Chu looked at a Faceless One standing close to him.
The Faceless One was staring at him intently.
The Faceless One standing behind him was looking at him with a similar gaze.
The moment he saw that strange, indescribable gaze, he felt a chill and knew instinctively.
‘These crazy bastards killed Master Yong!’
Just then, An Hu-pyeong walked towards him and said.
“What are you doing? Whenever you enter this room, you seem to lose your wits.”
An Hu-pyeong left the room without even bidding farewell to the Heavenly Flower Pavilion Mistress, and just as Sa Chu was about to follow him out!
The Evil Heart Laughing Demon slowly raised his hand and made a shushing gesture.
At that sight, Sa Chu's heart sank.
‘He realized that I realized.’
The next moment, the other Faceless Ones raised their fingers in a single, unified motion.
Shhh!
They were all looking at him, making a shushing gesture.
It was the most terrifying and bizarre sight he had ever seen in his life.
Just then, An Hu-pyeong shouted angrily from behind.
“If you can't even win, what are you still looking at!”
Sa Chu instinctively turned to look at An Hu-pyeong, then looked back inside the guest hall.
As if nothing had happened, the people inside were drinking tea, folding clothes, yawning, each going about their own business.