IDMV 13

Chapter 13

Baekryeong Valley (白靈谷), in the northern inland region of the Cheonmu Sect.
It was home to Chomundang, the twelfth of the twenty-eight halls that upheld the Cheonmu Sect.
Chomundang was an institution dedicated to the study of geomantic and arcane formations, and most of the protective formations guarding Mount Cheonsan were created here.

A white hawk flew into the main hall at the deepest part of the complex.
It perched quietly on a stand by the window, waiting calmly for its master.

A man with neatly combed hair and a ceremonial headpiece approached.
With clear, composed eyes, he checked the message tube tied to the hawk’s leg.
Inside was a coded letter written in secret script.
The moment he unfolded it, the corner of his lips curved upward.

Eleventh Brother.

It was a message from Jeok Heerin.
It must have been delivered by Okhyang, whom she had dispatched to the Yeomhwa Clan.

Decrypt Document No. 101 of the Secret Records of the Upper Heaven Hall.
Deliver it to the Yeomhwa Clan’s Matriarch, So Unyeong.

“So the Jeok Heerin who’s been kept confined all this time even knows about the Secret Records?”
A faint scoff lingered on Eleventh Brother’s lips.

The Secret Records of Mayeom.
Documents containing the Yeomhwa Clan’s deepest secrets—information that could only be obtained because spies had infiltrated deep into the clan.
And among them, Jeok Heerin had specifically requested Document No. 101.

“Does that mean she even knows what No. 101 contains?”

That alone was surprising enough, but he hadn’t expected her to choose such a method just to avoid marriage.

“What did Cheongrin teach that woman?”

Cheongrin—the woman hailed as the greatest prodigy of the Upper Heaven Hall—had secretly raised her.

In exchange, one of the five clues to the antidote will be provided.

Boldly enough, she had offered the compensation first.

Eleventh Brother had lived his entire life in the Demon Cult in a constant state of tension.
Eighty percent of his life was a lie, and the remaining twenty percent of truth was always crashing into walls.
Then suddenly, Heerin appeared and brought change to his world.
Thanks to the information she had brought him, he obtained an extra dose of antidote, loosening the shackles placed on him by the Upper Heaven Hall.
For him, it was a welcome change.

“If Jeok Heerin is acting exactly as Cheongrin taught her, then what is Cheongrin trying to do through her?”

Questions filled his mind, but he soon shook his head.

“Cheongrin never acted without purpose. If so, then Jeok Heerin must be the same.”

As if making up his mind, he set the letter alight and dropped it onto a silver plate.

“For now, I’ll give her what she wants.”

Having already received the antidote, he would act as she wished.
Eleventh Brother immediately wrote a reply and placed it into the message tube.
Moments later, the messenger hawk silently flew out of Baekryeong Valley.

❖ ❖ ❖

At the same moment Eleventh Brother was reading the coded message from Heerin—

At the northeastern edge of the Cheonmu Sect, above the Binghon Grand Gorge, stood the residence of the Third Young Master, Wi Cheonso: the Azure Moon Palace (靑月宮).

In the deepest dungeon of the Azure Moon Palace, anguished screams echoed without end even today.
Wi Cheonso sat leisurely in a chair, smiling as he faced the Soul-Devouring Butcher, whose body trembled as he lay drenched in blood.
He looked little different from the rumors that said he was mad for blood.

“I only received the goods and transported them. I don’t know where they are now,”
the Soul-Devouring Butcher said with great difficulty, but Wi Cheonso’s expression remained indifferent.

“Where did you transport them?”

For days, the man had repeated the same answer and refused to respond to this question—
but today, before Wi Cheonso, it was different.

He jerked violently, his eyes widening as if he could no longer endure keeping the truth to himself.

“…Jeokmurū (赤霧樓).”

After finishing those words, the Soul-Devouring Butcher vomited blood once more and then let his head fall.
His body had reached its limit.

Wi Cheonso rose and gestured with his hand.

“Dispose of him.”

It meant there was nothing more to learn.
With screams reminiscent of a nightmare, blood splattered even onto Wi Cheonso’s pale face.
As if it were nothing, he ascended to his office through the underground stairs.

A trusted subordinate waiting there handed him a piece of white cotton cloth.

“Did you obtain any information about the Blood-Life Flower?”

The Blood-Life Flower (血命花).
A sacred relic of the Cheonmu Sect that only those authorized by the Sect Leader could obtain—and also the very item Wi Cheonso was searching for.

Three days after the Blood-Life Flower went missing, his men discovered traces of it in a lake near the Yeomhwa Clan, but that was all.
Afterward, Wi Cheonso tracked down the courier—the Soul-Devouring Butcher—and learned the location to which the relic had been transported.

“Yes. The transport destination was Jeokmurū.”

“If it’s that place, there won’t be any list of clients left behind. Still, as you said, this confirms that there is a traitor within the sect.”

“Check whether the Blood-Life Flower has been taken outside Mount Cheonsan. Someone is surely moving behind the scenes.”

“I will carry out your order.”

Wi Cheonso wiped the blood from his face with the cloth.

“Judging by how cleanly this was handled, it won’t be easy to uncover who’s behind it.”

That was why he suspected the Yeomhwa Clan—the only place where traces of the Blood-Life Flower had been found.
The missing relic, Yeom Hopyeong who had been there, and Jeok Heerin who had fallen into the lake.
These fragments, seemingly unrelated, might in fact form a single thread.

“Come to think of it, a servant brought this as well.”

The subordinate held up a letter with no sender written on it.

“There was no poison on it, but please be careful.”

He seemed to have agonized over whether to hand it over at all.
Wi Cheonso took it without hesitation and unfolded it.

Neat, elegant handwriting greeted him.

I have thought about what you said to me.
Though I am confined, I believe I have a way to repay your kindness.

Wi Cheonso was certain the letter had been sent by Jeok Heerin.

“Repay my kindness, huh…”

The moment he read it, he felt a strong conviction that she knew something.

“Cheongbeom (靑凡).”

His trusted aide raised his head.

“Have you looked into why the Heavenly Lord involved himself in the Yeomhwa Clan’s marriage?”

“It seems the Heavenly Lord had long been searching for the Jeok Clan of the Snowy Mountains. During that search, Yeomjo, the head of the Yeomhwa Clan, located them while they were in seclusion and pressured them, ultimately arranging a peace marriage with Jeok Heerin.”

“And the reason he sought the Jeok Clan of the Snowy Mountains?”

“That is unknown.”

“So then—did they possess some extraordinary power?”

“Nothing of that sort is known. The Jeok Clan of the Snowy Mountains chose seclusion, and Jeok Heerin herself has never appeared at any Yeomhwa Clan events.”

Aside from the fact that the Snowy Shadow Immortal, famed for ice arts, hailed from the Jeok Clan of the Snowy Mountains, little was known about the family.
Regardless of the reason, if the Sect Leader wanted blood from that clan, it was not so strange that he would involve himself in the Yeomhwa Clan’s marriage.

“However, it’s said that the wedding was postponed by three years because the Heavenly Lord entered closed-door cultivation.”

Meaning that the ceremony should originally have been held when she turned nineteen.

“Then the wedding was originally scheduled for right after the Heavenly Lord personally sent me to the Azure Moon Palace.”

“That is likely.”

Around the same time, the Sect Leader had seated him as the Third Young Master.
It was a period of major decisions—hardly one in which a wedding would need to be postponed without reason.

“Then it truly wasn’t just because of the closed-door cultivation.”

The position of Sect Leader of the Cheonmu Sect was not one that could be maintained by martial prowess alone.
As the living god of the sect, the leader had to command the elders, the Four Great Protectors, the Twenty-Eight Halls of the Heavenly Command, the Seven Demon Families, and guide even the ordinary disciples.

The Sect Leader never acted carelessly, and it was highly likely that political reasons lay behind the delay of Jeok Heerin’s marriage.

“Who is Jeok Heerin’s intended husband?”

“The young lord of the Yeomhwa Clan, Yeom Hopyeong. You may have encountered him at the Bandit Suppression Pavilion.”

“Hmm. If I don’t remember him, then his martial arts must not have been particularly impressive.”

Hearing that, Cheongbeom quietly shook his head.
He wondered how many young warriors could leave a lasting impression on the Third Young Master through martial skill alone.

“Still, this time the marriage has been approved. It must mean it can no longer be postponed.”

“I see. Has Jeok Heerin had any contact with the outside?”

“No. It seems she’s been confined deep within the main estate. There are no traces of correspondence with the outside.”

“And yet she sent a letter to me under those circumstances?”

Jeok Heerin had come to the Yeomhwa Clan for a peace marriage, but she had been given no freedom.
Why, on the eve of her wedding, would she go out of her way to contact Wi Cheonso?

“A woman with many secrets…”

When he first pulled her from the lake, Wi Cheonso had sensed nothing but helplessness from her.
But their second meeting on the Northern Heavenly Road had been different.
Not only had she used a marvelous movement technique, she had also shown no fear even before the Soul-Devouring Butcher.

“And yet I could barely sense any internal energy.”

Why had a woman who had hidden herself away for so long finally chosen to reveal herself to him?

Wi Cheonso folded the letter and fixed his gaze on Cheongbeom.

“There are eyes we’ve planted in the Yeomhwa Clan, yes? Use them to find out what happens before and after the wedding.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“And prepare the most splendid attire possible. We’ll be receiving an honored guest.”

With a faint, knowing smile, he tossed Jeok Heerin’s letter into the brazier.
As the paper burned away in a sudden flare of flame, his gaze remained fixed on it.