Book 12: Chapter 22: I Was Waiting

“Long live!”

Every house opened its windows, opened its doors, and scattered flower petals toward the outside.

Children gathered in groups, plucked wild flowers, and scattered them into the air.

When the poor scholars of the neighborhood academy climbed a high tower, tore up paper, and scattered it, a great cheer rang out below.

Paper merchants willingly offered paper at low prices to the crowding people.

“Long live the Eldest Young Master!”

The people of Luoyang did not know where the shouts of long live had started.

They did not even know the face of the Eldest Young Master.

They had no relation to the House of Benevolence and Love.

Those who did not even have the faith of the Fairy Cult.

Because the Eldest Young Master had no direct relation to their lives.

There were also many who had no reason to step forward and shout long live for the Eldest Young Master.

“Long live!”

However, for those who had stayed awake all night with anxious and fearful minds amidst the sounds of bombardment last night.

A signal that the fear had ended.

And that they had returned to their usual daily lives was needed.

A celebration was needed.

“Long live!”

Among the people shouting long live.

As he was hit by the pieces of paper and flower petals that people showered from the rooftops.

“…….”

The young clerk, who had been the very first to shout long live for the Eldest Young Master, was looking around with a deeply moved expression.

He was of slum origin.

He was someone who had been able to survive to adulthood with the help of the House of Benevolence and Love.

That he had become able to do his share as a person was all thanks to that Eldest Young Master whose face he did not even know.

Before he knew it, he felt the corners of his eyes turning red and his cheeks becoming wet.

“Long live!”

“Long live!”

With a swelling chest.

He shouted in a voice louder than anyone else on the street.

“…Long live the Eldest Young Master!”

Until just a while ago.

The news that the Eldest Young Master of the Luoyang Sword Family had ended his seclusion and returned was politically very important to the people up there.

But to the general public, who were neither poor nor of the upper class, it was a distant story.

It had been nothing more than a topic of conversation centered on interest and amusement.

However.

“Long live!”

At least right now, at this moment.

The entirety of Luoyang.

Was feeling the return of Eldest Young Master Yeon So-hyeon.

* * *

“Out of the way! Damn it!”

“What's so good that you're shouting long live?!”

As large men pushed aside those who were shouting long live.

An old man who was hurrying his steps between them scolded them.

“I told you not to do anything too eye-catching…!”

Even so, the old man did not stop his steps in the crowd.

Nor did he stop incessantly checking behind him and glancing back.

The reason was simple.

It was because he was one of the leaders of the Six Men Association, which had ruled the underworld with the Second Young Master's side as its backer.

“I mean, we must move quietly and inconspicuously…!”

“Yes, Elder.”

At those words, the large men nodded and silently pushed through the crowd with their bodies to open a path.

When they arrived at their destined alley, avoiding the crowd, the old man and his companions caught their breath.

“Is there no pursuer?”

The martial artist of the unorthodox faction, who was the old man's bodyguard and closest aide, shook his head.

“Particularly, there is no one caught by my qi perception.”

The unorthodox martial artist, who had built a considerable reputation for human hunting in Hebei, added.

“And although I kept watching the faces of the people nearby, no one followed us to this point.”

“Is that so…?”

The old man, who had shown a look of joy for a moment, checked once more.

“…Is there any possibility that they are following while concealed?”

“There is none.”

The unorthodox martial artist shook his head firmly.

“Unless the opponent is a ghost, they cannot escape my eyes.”

“…Good.”

In this crowd that was still pouring onto the street like crazy, secretly tracking someone was terribly difficult.

Although he wanted to tear apart every single person shouting long live while calling for the Eldest Young Master with his bare hands.

Still, at this moment, they were actually of help.

“Let's hurry.”

The old man and his subordinates walked through the complex back alleys.

Frowning, the old man found the scenery of the narrow and dirty back alley exceptionally bothersome today.

“What about the other guys…?”

It was a question about the other bosses of the Six Men Association.

“…Since the situation is what it is, there is no reliable information, but.”

The only executive who had survived with him replied.

“It seems we are the only ones who succeeded in escaping.”

“…I see.”

This is why thorough preparation is important for all matters.

At the time when the warriors of the Luoyang Sword Family's War Department revealed themselves.

The old man had immediately evacuated and hidden himself in a nearby underground space prepared in advance.

And, holding out without even breathing like a dead rat.

When this long live commotion began all over the streets of Luoyang, he was taking advantage of it to flee.

“We have arrived.”

A dead-end alley.

When the bulky subordinates cleared away the haphazardly piled items, a hidden iron door was revealed.

The unorthodox martial artist, formerly a human hunter, thoroughly inspected the door first.

“There are no signs of it having been opened.”

This place.

Was the old man's safe house and shelter, hidden in normal times to prepare for any eventuality.

“Verify it.”

Consistent with his meticulous character, the old man sent his subordinates inside first, and.

“No abnormalities.”

Only after completing the final check of the surroundings did he enter the safe house.

Although a rotten smell of mold wafted as if piercing his mind, the old man was rather glad of that smell.

Because it meant that no one had opened the door since he had completed his last check.

“…From now on. What should we do?”

Having risked their lives to get here, they had no leisure to pay attention to anything else, but.

Once they arrived at the safe house like this.

They all could not hide their hollow expressions.

“…….”

Most of the organization members were dead or dragged away.

Since the Second Young Master's side, who backed them, had fallen, it was as if their foundation in Luoyang was completely destroyed.

It was only a matter of time before the name of the Six Men Association was forgotten and disappeared from Luoyang.

“What do you mean, what should we do?”

The old man smiled.

A smile in such a situation.

Receiving everyone's puzzled gazes, the old man approached the corner and pulled a chain that lay scattered.

Rumble-.

At that, along with a small vibration, a hidden safe was revealed.

“That is…?!”

When the old man opened the safe, the gold, silver, treasures, and bills piled high inside revealed themselves.

“It is the secret funds of the Great Immortal Merchant Group that I was keeping.”

“……!”

It was a portion of Grand Madame Ouyang's hidden assets.

Normally, the old man would have to be faithful only to the role of a safekeeper and would not dare even touch the money, but.

At this very moment, it was possible.

“With an amount like this, building a new organization in some other city is no trouble at all.”

The executive, who was evaluating the value of the assets in the safe with his eyes, nodded frantically.

“If it is this much, it is fully possible! No, it is more than enough!”

“Oh my, indeed. It is a tremendous amount.”

The one who replied 'indeed' was a woman's seductive voice.

“……?!”

Everyone was flustered.

They could not help but be flustered.

Because, to begin with, there was no woman among their party.

“I thought I would die of boredom, but holding it in and following you all the way here was worth it.”

They had been tailed.

What appeared on the face of the old man, who grasped the situation, was anger rather than confusion.

“Did you not say that unless it was a ghost, no one had followed?!”

The old man rebuked the unorthodox martial artist who was formerly a human hunter, but.

What spilled from his mouth instead of an answer was bubbling blood foam.

“Khrk, kek, kek.”

Crack.

Along with an unknown, chilling sound, his eyeballs rolled back white, and.

He died on the spot, collapsing and falling like a puppet with its strings cut.

“……?!”

As the unorthodox martial artist fell like that, the figure of the woman standing behind him was revealed in the oil lamp light.

With her attire of court robes that looked matchlessly expensive and her extremely glamorous makeup, it made one wonder why they had not known she was there.

To the point of raising questions.

“Oh my, surely…!”

She wore a look of surprise and then shrugged her shoulders as if dumbfounded.

“Did you really think that you had succeeded in escaping from the Eldest Young Master's grasp?”

“…….”

It was a blatantly provocative tone, but.

No one on the spot cared about her tone or anything.

Clack, clack.

Because everyone's gaze was looking at the thick bone joints that her pure white hands were rolling.

“…A, a backbone?”

She smiled voluptuously and brightly.

“Yes. It is a spine. Pretty, isn't it?”

She was the Twin Shorea Trees.

Seo Rim-cheong.

She was the Eldest Young Master's assassin.

Having assisted Crescent Moon Pavilion Lord Se-ah for quite a while, she had revealed herself again here.

“U-Uaaah…?!”

Screaming, the first to flee was the executive.

However, what welcomed him as he passed through the entrance of the semi-basement was not the morning sun.

Squash!

From a gap in the narrow alley, an abnormally long hand protruded, grabbed his head, and slammed it into the ground.

Along with the sound of a skull shattering into pieces, the crushed contents spilled from between those ominous fingers.

“Bugs think, with those tiny heads of theirs, that the small view they see is the entirety of the world, and that their judgments are completely correct.”

With a slide.

From a gap between buildings so narrow that humans could never pass through, a spider-like figure revealed itself.

“That is also the reason why bugs breed well anywhere.”

He was a freak possessing a slender torso and abnormally long limbs.

“It is also the reason why someone like this seat, who specializes in pest control, is needed in the world.”

The worst assassin produced by the Sichuan Tang Family and one of the closest aides of the Fourth Young Master Yeon Bi.

The Bizarre and Strange.

He was the Silent One of Sichuan.

“Long live!”

“Long live the Eldest Young Master!”

The faint screams heard from the deep back alleys vanished in vain, buried under the cheers of the street.

* * *

In a certain corner of Luoyang.

A safe house of the Crescent Moon Pavilion.

“A report from Seo Rim-cheong and The Bizarre and Strange that the hunt is finished.”

Receiving the sunlight faintly leaking through the blinds hanging by the window, Crescent Moon Pavilion Lord Se-ah was giving a report.

“News has also arrived from the Sichuan Tang Family's side. They say Vice Patriarch Tang Gwi-ho is personally transporting Abbess Chongmu of the Emei Sect.”

From the one sitting in the seat of honor in the darkness and crossing his legs, a question returned.

“…What is the situation at the Main Family?”

Despite the chill caused by the sticky demonic qi felt in that voice, Crescent Moon Pavilion Lord Se-ah's reply was immediate.

“The elders of the Second Young Master's side have been escorted, and Grand Madame Ouyang is under house arrest at her residence. The Second Young Master is on his way back to the Main Family, following the warriors dispatched by the Sword Family.”

She lowered the document she was looking into and smiled faintly, albeit forcedly.

“It is turning out exactly as the Lord desired, without a single thing lacking.”

In the darkness.

Her Lord, Eldest Young Master Yeon So-hyeon, nodded.

“…Continue to watch the situation and report.”

Even to anyone listening, not just the quick-witted Se-ah, the pain Yeon So-hyeon was experiencing could be felt in that voice.

“Lord. Therefore, how about practicing your breathing to regulate your energy now and resting…”

Even while fighting a desperate battle against the demonic qi on the verge of runaway, Yeon So-hyeon was still closely examining everything until now.

He was tuning the final stage with a delicacy that bordered on madness.

“No.”

In a firm voice that was completely mismatched with his struggling appearance, Yeon So-hyeon shook his head.

The white mask, which could no longer even be taken off, seemed to sway in the air.

“Resting can be done sufficiently after all matters are brought to a conclusion.”

“But—” at the gentle words of her Lord, Se-ah, who could no longer speak, bowed her head deeply and left the room.

“Thank you for worrying.”

“Long live—!”

As she left the room and walked down the hallway, the sound of shouting long live reached her from afar.

Would they know?

That the protagonist of this victory, Eldest Young Master Yeon So-hyeon, their Lord.

Was enduring a pain difficult to even imagine right now.

“…….”

Biting her lip, she moved her steps.

* * *

Clearly, though there was sunlight coming through the blinds just moments ago.

The room was now in pitch-black darkness.

The demonic qi that Yeon So-hyeon had been suppressing for Se-ah's sake had burst out, distorting reality.

“[How foolish, O linked one.]” how long do you think you, nothing more than a trivial mortal, can suppress this runaway?

However.

Even while pouring cold sweat like rain.

Even while his cross-legged body trembled faintly.

Under the white mask, what hung on Yeon So-hyeon's lips was clearly a smile.

“…….”

And that smile seemed to say this.

I was waiting.

It was not the expression of someone who had reached their limit while suppressing a runaway, but.

The expression of a hunter who had succeeded in drawing in his opponent until the very end.