Book 9: Chapter 18: Aftermath

Just as the Left and Right Grand Tacticians of the Third Young Master's side had predicted the forces that the Supreme Executive Council had sent out immediately intervened on the grounds of disobedience to orders.

Thus, the encirclement formed by the Third Young Master's side for annihilation was replaced by the boundary line for safety formed by the forces of the Sword Family's War Department sent by the Supreme Executive Council.

But the forces of the Third Young Master's side did not immediately withdraw as the Supreme Executive Council had intended.

No.

They could not.

* * *

The construction site of the Dragon and Phoenix Gathering stadium.

The camp of the Third Young Master's side.

Although the day had clearly brightened the thick clouds hanging in the sky were still pouring down rain, so the sun could not be seen.

And more than that gloomy weather, a heavy and unsettled air was flowing through the camp.

The fifteenth case.

A physician dispatched from the Medical Arts Academy; he stared into empty space, even gesturing as he explained passionately.

“It was rain made of blood.”

“It was undoubtedly sacred blood. The tears of blood of the great merciful Medicine Fairy flowed on the ground.”

What dwelled in his gaze as he recalled the dawn was close to religious zeal.

An investigator, who briefly looked at the Buddhist rosary of the Fairy Cult hanging on his neck, asked him.

“So you are saying that you felt divinity in that blood rain?”

The physician nodded with conviction.

“Why, of course. That was undoubtedly the work of the Medicine Fairy!”

The twenty-third case.

A middle-ranking commander belonging to the government forces; the smoke from the tobacco smoked by the middle-ranking commander who led a force of a hundred soldiers filled the room.

“Did you say divinity?”

“Nonsense.”

He glared at the investigator with bloodshot eyes from not having slept a wink.

“It was a curse.”

“…A curse, you say?”

“That is right. Those poor bastards cast a curse on this land through a bizarre ritual.”

The middle-ranking commander endlessly rolled a expensive-looking rosary held in one hand.

“There must have been a large-scale human sacrifice.”

With his opposite hand, he held the tobacco and puffed out smoke endlessly.

“A human sacrifice, you say? Did you actually see it?”

“Are you doubting my words right now?!”

The middle-ranking commander jumped up from his seat.

“Those bastards were evil spirits!”

A glistening madness could be glimpsed in his eyeballs.

“They were undoubtedly the running dogs of that Demonic Cult!”

He flipped the desk.

“What is that gaze?! What is it?!”

The warriors of the War Department who were waiting immediately rushed in and subdued him.

“You do not know how many of my subordinates died here because of them! You do not know!”

Even as he was being dragged out, he screamed at the top of his lungs.

“I can still hear the screams of the soldiers in my ears! Mother! I want to go back! Please save me! Please help me! I want to live! I want to live! I want to live—” the forty-ninth case.

A guard warrior at the front line observation post; he was trembling violently even while wrapped in a blanket.

“I saw it…”

He looked like a person who had fallen into a river in the middle of winter and had been pulled out.

“What did you see?”

Whether the sound of the rain coming from outside the window was bothersome, the warrior blocked his ears and said.

“Inside the encirclement, there was a monster that had crafted darkness. His height was small like a boy's, but his claws were sharp, and his teeth were even sharper.”

There had been similar testimonies previously.

The investigator rummaged through the documents and asked.

“Was that the person called the Dark Venerable?”

“And on top of the building, dragons spilling blood were flying around.”

The warrior, who blocked his ears and muttered, did not even seem to hear his question.

“Dead giants marched while shaking the ground, a giant bird emitting lightning flew with six pairs of wings, and shapes with hundreds of eyeballs crawled on the ground. The dead sang songs commemorating their own souls, and those I had killed returned and spoke of my end.”

The moment the investigator swallowed his dry saliva his gaze met the focusless eyes of the warrior.

“And they foretold the end of all of us, not just me.” "……."

Lightning struck outside.

* * *

The gathered investigators sat together in a circle.

“…About thirty percent were not in a good state.”

“About five percent are serious.”

It was an unprecedented situation.

Everyone's gaze turned toward the head of the investigation, who was keeping silent.

The head of the investigation.

The Head of the Sixth Department of the Law Enforcement Court scratched his forehead and reluctantly opened his mouth.

“Is there anyone who did not see that rain of blood?”

“There is none. Everyone we met said they saw it.”

Right, everyone saw blood rain falling from the sky?

The Head of the Sixth Department of the Law Enforcement Court sighed and opened his mouth again.

“Right. Putting that aside, are there any overlapping parts in their testimonies?”

“It is ambiguous.”

“Although the name Dark Venerable was frequently mentioned.”

“Should we call it the description of the appearance? Just as what everyone saw was different, the described appearance was also different.”

The Head of the Sixth Department of the Law Enforcement Court pulled out the drawing materials inserted between the reports and scanned them.

They were drawings drawn by experts in sketching appearances according to the testimonies.

“…Certainly, they are all different.”

There was a monster leading hundreds of goblin fires, a monster with eight arms, one that was tall, one that was small, and even one expressed as black darkness whose shape could not be distinguished at all.

“…This is not a sketch of appearance, but it would not be wrong to call it an imaginary painting of monsters or demons.”

The Head of the Sixth Department of the Law Enforcement Court scratched his forehead once more, then completely held his head in his hands and asked the people sitting behind the table.

“What do the physicians think of this situation?”

In the Sword Family, there were numerous forces that participated in actual combat in various forms, and there were professional personnel for their mental health.

The physicians whom the Head of the Sixth Department of the Law Enforcement Court questioned just now were those who did such work.

“Although it is rare…”

One of the physicians, who had been sparing his words, carefully opened his mouth.

“There have been reports of cases where, when extreme tension continues for several days, people see collective hallucinations or suffer from auditory hallucinations.”

Another physician also pondered repeatedly, then nodded in agreement.

“Certainly, they are existing cases.”

Yet another physician shook his head and countered.

“No matter what, there has been no case where so many people saw vivid hallucinations at once, and in such detail.”

“Moreover, did they not say that even those who had not been dispatched for long saw it? How will you explain them?”

“But if so, it cannot be explained…”

“A case that cannot be explained requires new research, not fitting it into existing cases.”

Realizing that their keeping silent was not because they had nothing to say, but because they had too much to say, the Head of the Sixth Department of the Law Enforcement Court waved his hand.

“Stop! Stop!”

The physicians closed their mouths with dissatisfied expressions.

The Head of the Sixth Department of the Law Enforcement Court pointed to one of them and asked.

“So, what is the treatment method for those in serious condition?”

The designated physician shrugged his shoulders.

“There is no particularly special method.”

The physician next to him picked up the words.

“Good food, sufficient rest, a peaceful environment, and meditation to avoid stimulation and stabilize the mind and body.”

“Those in poor condition need to be immediately moved and isolated in a stable environment.”

The Head of the Sixth Department of the Law Enforcement Court sighed.

“…I understand. I will report it to the higher-ups.”

Although he had clearly come to investigate the disobedience to orders that had occurred here for some reason, he was investigating a case whose cause could not be understood, which was not even his lot in life.

'Damn it. Just how on earth should this matter be handled?'

He directed his gaze outside the window where it was still raining, and put a tobacco pipe to his mouth.

'…It is really fortunate that there is a separate general manager.'

One of the physicians asked him.

“By any chance, is the investigation of the leadership…?”

It seemed he wanted to even interview the personnel of the leadership for research.

'What an absurd thought…'

The Head of the Sixth Department of the Law Enforcement Court replied with a bitter smile.

“Since the personnel of the leadership have different statuses, their investigation is being conducted separately by the general manager.”

* * *

The general manager of the scene, appointed by the Supreme Executive Council through the War Department, moved his massive body and corrected his posture.

Watching the legs of the chair spread and shriek under his buttocks, the old man sitting opposite him said.

“Elder Yeom, it seems the chair is about to break?” "……."

Sword Mountain Splitting Peak Yeom Gwak-chu.

Elder Yeom only flipped through the documents that were coming up in real time.

He did not even respond.

“I do not see the warriors of your war advisory council. Where did they go?”

Elder Yeom replied briefly.

“All of them are on vacation.”

The old man shrugged his shoulders.

“The world has gotten better. To think they get a vacation just for beating down a single assassination group.”

Before the words "in my days" could come out, Elder Yeom opened his mouth.

“Sect Leader of the Zhongnan Sect.”

The one sitting in front of Elder Yeom was the Sect Leader of the Zhongnan Sect, which had become a subordinate sect of the Luoyang Sword Family.

He was the person who rose to the position of Sect Leader on behalf of his martial brothers who went missing during the Blood Incident.

“Are you saying you will admit to the disobedience to orders that occurred at the scene at that time?”

Over the documents, Elder Yeom's bulging eyeballs leaked a sense of intimidation.

It was an attitude that did not even care that the opponent was the Sect Leader of the Zhongnan Sect and a fellow elder.

“…It is something I do not know.”

The Sect Leader of the Zhongnan Sect took out a pipe from his chest and lit it.

“Didn't you say some of those who belonged to the execution squad were found? Won't you know if you ask them?”

After briefly organizing his thoughts, Elder Yeom spoke honestly.

“They are all saying the exact same thing.”

* * *

The temporary prison where security was strictly maintained.

A young warrior of the Northern Hengshan Sect, who was found along with other survivors, was looking at the wall in a solitary cell.

Although no one was watching and no one had ordered him he never loosened his posture of sitting straight on his knees.

That appearance was, at a glance, like a high monk performing wall-facing meditation.

Bandages were wrapped tightly around half of his face, where a long vertical laceration had been treated.

“…Are you going to keep saying the exact same thing?”

The investigator outside the iron bars threw a sigh-filled question, and the young warrior of the Northern Hengshan Sect gave the same answer.

“We did what should not be done as humans.”

His voice was terribly cracked.

“So we received heaven's punishment.”

And the other survivors in the solitary cells were also only repeating the same words.

“We received an opportunity to atone.”

* * *

“Heaven's punishment, you say. Ha, that is a laughable word.”

The Sect Leader of the Zhongnan Sect chuckled as he puffed out smoke.

“If one were to receive heaven's punishment just for killing a few people, we would have already fallen into hell and our entire bodies would have been burning.”

The old man's gaze looking at Elder Yeom glistened with killing intent.

It was a killing intent naturally accumulated while killing dozens, hundreds of people.

“Is that not so? Elder Yeom?”

Elder Yeom, who had participated in the Northern War together with the Sect Leader of the Zhongnan Sect and achieved illustrious deeds by cutting down countless enemies, threw another question instead of an answer.

“What happened to the rest of the members of the execution squad? What about the Sect Leader of the Northern Hengshan Sect?”

The Sect Leader of the Zhongnan Sect replied nonchalantly.

“Didn't you say not even a corpse was found? Then they must have all deserted. Since it was a situation where they had to take heavy responsibility.”

Just like his words, not a single corpse of the execution squad was found inside the encirclement.

However, they could not find any trace or testimony of their escape anywhere in the thick encirclement.

There was only the trace of their entry.

“If so…”

Elder Yeom calmly turned the documents and moved on to the next question.

“What about the rain of blood? Did the Sect Leader of the Zhongnan Sect also see it?”

The Sect Leader of the Zhongnan Sect snickered.

“Did you ask if 'I' also saw it? No. I did not see such a thing.”

The old man, letting smoke flow, asked Elder Yeom.

“Among the personnel of the leadership, is there anyone who said they saw it?” "……."

Elder Yeom closed his mouth.

Since none of the leadership interviewed so far said they saw the rain of blood.

“Indeed. It would be so. It has no choice but to be so.”

The Sect Leader of the Zhongnan Sect nodded alone as if it was as he expected, then glanced at Elder Yeom.

“Elder Yeom.”

“I am listening. Please speak.”

The old man tapped the tobacco ash onto the floor, filled it with new tobacco leaves, and said suggestively.

“Elder Yeom, since you are also my comrade-in-arms, I will tell you out of consideration for that relationship.”

Receiving Elder Yeom's gaze, the old man lit the pipe with the Samadhi True Fire and continued speaking.

“Do you think there would be any foolish person in the leadership who would say they saw the sight of blood rain falling from the sky?”

As Elder Yeom groaned shortly, the old man smiled bitterly.

“If one is branded as a madman who sees hallucinations or hears auditory hallucinations, do you think they can survive in the political arena of the Main Family?” "……."

At those words, Elder Yeom closed the documents just like that.

It was the moment he learned why the testimony of the leadership was different from the others below.

“So, rather than that…”

The Sect Leader of the Zhongnan Sect leaned his body forward and asked.

“It is said that there is a connection between the one called the Dark Venerable and the Eldest Young Master, is that true?”

Elder Yeom replied without any change in expression.

“It is a groundless rumor.”

Even at that reply, the Sect Leader of the Zhongnan Sect asked tenaciously.

“Oh. The place where the one called the Dark Venerable has appeared so far and the place where the Eldest Young Master expressed interest coincide to this extent, will you keep feigning ignorance?”

Puffing out smoke, the old man lowered his voice even further.

“There are rampant rumors that the Eldest Young Master is behind the Supreme Executive Council's intervention in this incident, but you, who arrange deals with the Eldest Young Master, claim not to know?”

“I do not know.”

The Sect Leader of the Zhongnan Sect stood up from his seat with a disappointed expression.

“Boring.”

The old man shrugged his shoulders.

“Anyway, if we watch, we will know to whom the merit goes. Let us end the interview here.”

Since the one receiving the merit for resolving the riot is the Eldest Young Master, if it is revealed that the Eldest Young Master intervened this time as well the relationship between the Dark Venerable and the Eldest Young Master will become even clearer.

“…By the way.”

Buckling his sword to his waist again, the old man who was leaving the tent looked back.

“Elder Yeom, what if, just what if.”

What was he trying to say again.

Elder Yeom's gaze turned toward the Sect Leader of the Zhongnan Sect.

“If the one called the Dark Venerable is indeed someone related to the Eldest Young Master, it would be a huge gain for the Eldest Young Master. Is that not so?”

Elder Yeom replied with an attitude of not knowing what he was talking about.

“It would be fortunate if they do not drive him into having colluded with someone who uses dark arts, would it not?”

“You know it all, why speak like that…”

The old man, who was the Sect Leader of the Zhongnan Sect and an elder of the Luoyang Sword Family, showed a meaningful expression.

“If the entity that annihilated the execution squad, which included the Northern Hengshan Sect, without a trace has joined hands with the Eldest Young Master.”

Earlier he said they deserted, and now he says they were annihilated.

Ignoring Elder Yeom's sharp gaze, the smoke let out by the old man covered the ceiling thickly.

“Now, should not everyone who faces the Eldest Young Master consider and worry about that variable called the Dark Venerable?”

Elder Yeom replied flatly.

“Worrying about things that have no connection is merely a waste of time.”

At that reply, the old man laughed softly.

“Yes. You should answer like that.”

As the old man pulled back the entrance of the tent, the landscape of the camp where it was still raining was revealed.

Although that camp was a mess due to the rain that had been continuing from the downpour no trace of the blood rain falling could be found.

Was that blood rain, which everyone said they saw, an illusion, or was it the truth of only that moment? "……."

Elder Yeom watched that landscape silently through the entrance of the tent that the old man had pulled back and left.

'The Lord and the Dark Venerable…'

What interrupted his brief contemplation was an elderly white-haired lady wearing a bamboo hat.

“I came because I saw the Sect Leader of the Zhongnan Sect leaving just now. By any chance, did I interrupt you?”

Revealing her face as she took off her bamboo hat after entering the tent was Elder Yu of the Fourth Young Master's side.

“No, Elder Yu.”

Elder Yeom politely bowed his head to express gratitude to her, who was his senior.

“Thanks to Elder Yu staying and helping, the work is progressing much faster.”

“I am glad to have been of help.”

After those words, Elder Yu closed her mouth.

Fiddling with the bamboo hat she had taken off, she opened her mouth.

“Is there still no news of the Eldest Young Master?”

Elder Yeom shook his head.

“There is none.”

He added shortly.

“The news that his Ironclad Fortress returned to Pavilion of Perfect Enlightenment was the last.”