Book 13: Chapter 2: Rebirth

Evil is unspectacular, and always human, and shares our bed and eat at our table.

Evil is ordinary. It sleeps with us, and it eats with us.

Humans are always the evil ones.

– Wystan Hugh Auden [1907.2.21~1973.9.29] a few weeks later.

Luoyang, outside the western city gate.

A long line was stretched out with people waiting for the entry procedures.

The cries of horses and oxen pulling carriages laden with cargo.

“Oh, you! Long time no see.”

“Indeed. I am on my way back from a business trip to Kaifeng this time.”

People who knew each other discovered one another and exchanged greetings.

“Haha, you have come a long way.”

“I heard a sacred ground was finally established for the Cult, and I could not hold myself back. As soon as I heard the news, I rushed here in a single breath.”

To endure the tedious time, even strangers were exchanging conversations.

“Ca-Catch that guy!”

“My wallet!”

Days like this were a peak season for pickpockets as well.

“……”

However, even in the midst of the commotion as the front of the city gate was bursting with the procession of people, there was one exceptionally quiet spot.

“……”

The wandering merchant, who kept his mouth tightly shut, rolled his eyes slightly with an anxious look to watch the culprit of that silence.

“……”

A tall stature.

A face that could not be recognized because it was covered by a large bamboo hat.

A small bundle.

An appearance that was not too shabby.

Yet clothing that was neither clean nor luxurious.

And an antique-looking sword firmly slung and secured on the back.

Although that sword looked somewhat extraordinary in Luoyang, where the Luoyang Sword Family resided, everyone did not maintain such an uncomfortable silence over a mere sword.

“……”

The wandering merchant rolled his eyes a bit more, turning his gaze toward the leather pouches hanging from the swordsman's waist.

'Those pouches…' they were pouches with nothing unusual about them.

Except for the fact that even now, their lower parts were soaked in blood, with bright red blood dripping onto the ground drop by drop.

Although a few were dark and dried up it was certain that those were dried bloodstains.

Gulp.

As the wandering merchant swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbed.

'In terms of shape and size…' are they not just the right size to contain human heads?

“……”

Anyone in the vicinity, not just the wandering merchant, was making that level of deduction.

“……”

They only hoped that the short line ahead would shrink quickly so the government soldiers would discover the swordsman.

“……”

However, no one in the surroundings, was bold enough to ask the swordsman directly if what was inside those pouches were indeed human heads.

“You there!”

That was why, when a government soldier who discovered the swordsman wearing those highly suspicious pouches shouted sharply everyone, including the wandering merchant, was able to quickly dodge out of the way.

“Discard your weapon and prove your identity!”

Thus, in the space that had emptied out into a circle in an instant the government soldiers rushed in all at once, pointing their blue-gleaming spearheads as if they would attack at any moment, but is it a hidden weapon? Or poison?

“……”

The calm-looking swordsman, instead of answering, merely pulled something out of their bosom and threw it to the young squad leader of the government soldiers.

“……?!”

The young squad leader rolled his body on the ground to dodge the moment he saw the object without a shred of hesitation.

It was an excellent reflex and quick judgment that made it hard to believe he was someone without internal energy.

“…Oh?”

The swordsman's gaze flashed with interest from beneath the bamboo hat.

However, the one who was truly surprised was actually the young squad leader.

“……?!”

He had clearly thrown himself to avoid whatever the swordsman had cast,

Thud.

But for some reason, the object had landed precisely on his chest.

“What on earth is this…?”

Could this be the technique of telekinesis that he had only heard of in rumors and stories?

As he was about to say something more, he picked up the object that had fallen on his chest at the swordsman's gesture.

“An identification plaque?”

It was an identification plaque made of precious jade.

The long gold string attached to the plaque glittered, and the decorations crafted in silver shone in the afternoon sunlight.

The young squad leader of the government soldiers read the name clearly engraved on the identification plaque aloud without realizing it.

“…Yeon Seo-rin?”

That name and a single sword.

Everyone in this place knew her moniker.

“Seamless Heavenly Robe…!”

Yeon Seo-rin threw the bloodstained leather pouches onto the ground and spoke.

“These are the heads of the villains who have bounties on them near Luoyang.”

* * *

Once the swordsman's identity was revealed to be the Second Young Lady of the prestigious Luoyang Sword Family, even the gate captain of the city gate rushed out, but Yeon Seo-rin, who disliked empty formalities, quickly entered the city, citing that she had a prior engagement.

“I have heard rumors that the Second Young Lady has recently been traveling around Henan Province, hunting the notoriously wicked ruffians of the unorthodox path!”

However her steps could not help but be slowed down soon by the crowded streets.

“…I knew the streets of Luoyang originally had many pedestrians, but.”

She spoke as she scratched her cheek under the bamboo hat.

It was because the small wound on her face had begun to itch as it was time for it to heal.

“Has it always been this much of a human sea?”

She even wondered if the Dragon and Phoenix Gathering, which was scheduled for autumn, had been brought forward and started without her knowing.

“Furthermore, most of them look like travelers.”

She muttered so as she examined the appearance of the passersby.

Had it been a few weeks ago she would not have even been able to distinguish whether those coming and going were travelers or merchants, but it showed that she had escaped being a complete novice of the Jianghu and had accumulated experience in her own way.

“Indeed, the number of people visiting Luoyang has increased significantly. And most of them are pilgrims.”

The one who answered her question was the squad leader of the government soldiers who had attached himself as a guide for the convenience of the Sword Family's Second Young Lady by the gate captain's order.

“Pilgrims?”

“It is thanks to the sacred ground of the Fairy Cult. They are constantly flocking here from all parts of the State of Zhongyuan.”

“Ah.”

Yeon Seo-rin soon realized.

“You mean the Valley of Sin.”

The Valley of Sin was also the destination she was currently heading toward.

“I heard a rumor that while I was away, His Majesty the Emperor declared the Valley of Sin as a sacred ground.”

The master who had led her down the wrong path.

Because she had severed ties with the Guard Pavilion Lord and left Luoyang immediately on that path she had only heard the news of the sacred ground declaration as a rumor.

“…Now, it is called the 'Sacred Valley'. That name is no longer used.”

“I see.”

The sight of the squad leader habitually fidgeting with the prayer beads of the Fairy Cult draped over his wrist caught Yeon Seo-rin's eye.

Originally before she set out on her journey, she had felt the Fairy faith was unfamiliar.

The Medicine Fairy.

It was because she had actually seen her aunt, Yak So-yu, in person during her lifetime.

However, as this countless crowd of pilgrims proved the Fairy faith was deeply permeated into the lives of the common people that she had seen firsthand upon venturing into the Jianghu.

To clear her head.

Although it was a journey she had set out on blindly to escape the shackles that had bound her life all this time even that had it not been for the secret help of her younger brother Yeon So-hyeon, she would have been caught before even leaving Luoyang by the people of the Sword Family who worried about her safety, but even so, she had gained a lot.

“…Do you also hold the Fairy faith?”

At her question, the young squad leader of the government soldiers calmly nodded.

“Yes, that is correct.”

A short and concise answer.

His calm appearance even while having the Second Young Lady of the Luoyang Sword Family, the Seamless Heavenly Robe Yeon Seo-rin, next to him had something about it that did not suit his young age.

“Were you a veteran?”

Although he was too young to have participated in the Northern War, his composure was that of someone who had crossed the line of death in real combat, so there was no other way to explain it.

Him becoming a squad leader at a young age was also something possible if he had proven his skills on the battlefield.

“No, I am not.”

The young squad leader wore a bitter smile at her question.

Even that bitter smile seemed unsuitable for his age.

“…A while ago, I merely had a similar experience, exceptionally deeply. I obtained my faith back then as well.”

“……”

Despite the mysterious answer, she did not pry any further.

She was not of a personality to pry into matters that others were reluctant to answer out of mere curiosity.

Instead, blending into the crowd, they slowly but diligently moved their steps under the increasingly hot sunlight.

“We have arrived.”

Eventually, the young squad leader of the government soldiers stopped.

It was the joint business headquarters of the Eldest Young Master Yeon So-hyeon and the Fourth Young Master Yeon Bi, located at the entrance of the valley.

“Thank you for guiding me. It is my first time here…” the young squad leader still offered his greetings with his characteristic calm attitude.

“It is nothing.”

“Then, I will withdraw.”

Toward him, Yeon Seo-rin asked one last question.

“What is your name?”

He hesitated for a moment before answering honestly.

“…Jang Sam.”

Jang Sam.

He was a government soldier belonging to the Public Security Bureau who had participated in the battle of the Valley of Sin a few weeks ago.

A person who had undergone countless battles, repeated over and over again, within the barrier caused by the Demonic Cult's sorcery.

Among the people caught in the barrier that day, Jang Sam was an individual who had suffered exceptionally severely.

However, it was a blessing in disguise.

As a result, he had accumulated combat experience that an ordinary government soldier of his age could never possess, and had even been promoted not long ago.

“Jang Sam…” Yeon Seo-rin muttered his name and watched him disappear into the crowd.

How someone without internal energy could move against the crowd so naturally.

That strange sight drew no small curiosity from her, a martial arts fanatic but she turned her gaze away from the departed man and shifted it toward the joint business headquarters of Yeon So-hyeon and Yeon Bi.

“……”

The scars left here and there on the building's outer walls were still vivid, giving a guess of the desperate battle that took place on that day, a few weeks ago.

'How shameful…' no matter how deep her own circumstances might have been and though she had lived every day like a treadmill while bound by a leash with her freedom restricted nevertheless while her younger siblings suffered all kinds of hardships here, this was her first time visiting this place.

“……”

That was why she could not easily step inside from the entrance.

Did she have the face to see her younger siblings who would be waiting for her inside?

'Would my siblings resent me…?'

That was a worry she had held on her way back to Luoyang or rather a concern she had harbored even before then, when she was hunting the black path martial artists with bounties on them while braving the wind and rain, and in the end, it was a question for which she had not found an answer.

“…Do you have some business here?”

As she stood blankly with her bamboo hat pulled down unable to enter or leave, someone spoke to her.

No matter how distracted she was to have lost her mind so much that she did not even notice someone approaching close enough to speak to her.

“Ah, no. I am…” yet, why did that voice sound strangely familiar?

What appeared to her as she turned around in embarrassment was her younger brother, who had grown even more dashing in the few weeks she had not seen him.

It was the figure of Yeon So-hyeon.

“……!”

“If you are back, you should enter promptly. Why are you watching like an uninvited guest?”

His characteristic blunt tone.

As always he spoke as if he knew everything she had been worrying about.

“Hurry and come inside.”

Then, he turned around and spoke in a flat voice.

That was not merely to hide his own embarrassment but to pretend not to notice the tears that had unconsciously welled up in Yeon Seo-rin's eyes.

“…Welcome back.”