Chapter 18: Clue in the Flower Garden (3)
One thing I knew for certain.
Right now, Cheon Yura was throwing a tantrum.
“You are not merely a direct descendant of the Cheon Clan, but the Young Cult Leader. For someone like you, self-sacrifice may be a virtue, but survival is a duty.”
Beside me, Sa Biyeon nodded earnestly.
You're neglecting that duty right now—though I didn’t say it aloud, someone like her would understand the implication well enough.
“That’s…”
A faint wrinkle formed on her forehead.
Eventually, she snapped at me—but her eyes had clearly lost their earlier force.
“Aren’t you also the First Young Master of the Demonic Heaven’s Jin Clan, risking danger yourself?”
“It wasn’t to the point of gambling my life. More importantly, while I may be the First Young Master, I am not the Young Clan Head. You know this, don’t you?”
“…”
Her head dropped low, and her expression turned somber.
She looked like a sulky cat—cute, almost… but no, I couldn’t let that distract me.
In any case, if we compared this to a game of chess, Cheon Yura was the king. If she were captured, the game would end instantly.
We couldn’t afford to risk the king just to capture a pawn. That would only expose her to the threat lurking behind—cannons, knights, and other powerful pieces waiting in ambush.
After hesitating for a while, her lips moving silently, she suddenly spoke.
“I want to make up for my mistake.”
Mistake?
“Jin Yeomyung, your plan was disrupted because of me. I want to clean up the mess myself.”
It was true.
The assailant had come because she had recklessly revealed that existence.
Thanks to that, my plan—meant to unfold slowly in the shadows—had gone awry from the very start.
And Cheon Yura was aware of that.
Our gazes locked.
Normally, her face was hard to read, but now, her emotions were plainly visible.
‘Guilt, perhaps?’
No—what stood out more was…
‘Pride.’
The pride of someone who had acknowledged she’d caused trouble and wanted to fix it with her own hands.
Not the arrogance of vanity, but a pride close to responsibility.
With those emotions filling her eyes, she pleaded with me earnestly.
“I know I’m being unreasonable. But still, give me a chance.”
“Hmph.”
I crossed my arms and sank into thought.
Everyone around me held their breath as they watched.
Amid their silent gazes, I chuckled inwardly.
‘Not bad.’
She could’ve tried to handle it forcibly without asking for my permission.
In fact, I had expected her to deny any fault, or even be unaware of her own mistakes.
She was still in her stormy, impulsive years.
In my mind, I had long considered the Cheon Yura of twenty years later to be a different person altogether.
The Heartless Demonic Empress I knew had become a complete individual after enduring twenty years of hardship, polished and crushed by responsibilities.
The one standing before me now hadn’t even experienced sitting in the Cult Leader’s seat. Her thoughts, values—everything was different.
‘Ha!’
And yet, the way she was acting now overlapped with the image of her I saw in my final moments.
‘No wonder I fell for her.’
At last, I made my decision.
***
Back in the day, Eun Goomyeong, the former chief of the Red Root Village, had been a legendary figure in the assassin world.
An assassin’s fate usually fell into one of three categories.
Dying in the middle of a mission.
Climbing to a high rank, overcoming their lowly origins.
Or, failing that, retiring because their body could no longer endure the strain.
Eun Goomyeong belonged to the third type, which made up barely two or three percent.
He had only lost an eye—not even a limb—and yet he’d managed to retire. That alone earned him the title of legend in the field.
When he first established the Red Root Village, many who had known him came to offer congratulations.
Unsurprisingly, most of those “many” were assassins or former assassins.
Still, public interest in the Red Root Village barely lasted half a year.
Which was understandable.
A retired assassin couldn’t be expected to have some grand martial art. And there were hundreds, even thousands, of places with similar manpower as the Red Root Village.
However, the place had been large enough to earn the title of “Hall.”
Its outer wall alone was over a jang in length, and its inner compound could easily accommodate several hundred people.
Even so, the hall had faded from public attention because of its location—Nine Streams City.
A backwater area even within the vast Ten Thousand Mountains.
Plenty of land, but little population—a rural nowhere.
That was how Nine Streams City was viewed, and the Red Root Village was no different.
And so, it was completely forgotten by the world.
Even as ownership passed from Eun Goomyeong to his grandson Eun Cheoljung, and the place began to transform from the inside out.
***
Boom!
A loud crash echoed as something shattered with explosive force.
And through the dust and wreckage emerged a young woman, not yet rid of her youthful air.
“Y-Young Cult Leader?!”
Eun Cheoljung, the current head of the Red Root Village, flinched in shock at the identity of the sudden intruder.
Cheon Yura had stormed through the front gate, practically smashing it to pieces. Sensing the chaotic atmosphere, she let out a faint smile.
“Looks like you’re busy. Planning to move, perhaps?”
All around, one could sense movement—servants, retainers, and more rushing about frantically.
“W-Welcome, Young Cult Leader.”
Eun Cheoljung bowed his head first.
Whatever her intentions, he had no idea—so for now, he could only pretend ignorance and treat her with the utmost courtesy.
“What brings you to our hall?”
“Ah, nothing special.”
Cheon Yura stepped confidently into the courtyard, heading straight for Eun Cheoljung.
As the distance closed, the hands of Eun Cheoljung and his retainers slowly inched toward their waists.
Cheon Yura ignored it and smiled brightly.
“I recently realized that I’ve been far too indifferent to those who’ve served the Cheon Clan with such devotion.”
“Devotion… you say?”
A strange twist appeared on Eun Cheoljung’s face.
“I heard the former head of your household was from the Demonic Emperor’s Ghost-Slaying Unit.”
Flinch!
“Even after decades of service to the Cheon Clan, I hear the best reward he received was barely enough to build a single estate.”
“I-Is that so?”
Just looking around was enough to know how enormous that ‘barely built’ estate actually was.
But Cheon Yura ignored that fact entirely.
“Are you not even going to offer your guest a cup of tea?”
“Ah! My apologies!”
Finally snapping back to his senses, Eun Cheoljung respectfully gestured toward the interior.
“In all of Ten Thousand Mountain, the Young Cult Leader can never be considered a guest. Please, come inside. I shall escort you.”
“Haha, very well.”
Without a trace of suspicion, Cheon Yura followed Eun Cheoljung’s lead.
His eyes turned cold as he walked ahead.
‘What is she planning?’
They had lost contact with the agents dispatched to Eunru Valley.
According to organizational policy, those dispatched were required to check in every two shichen without fail.
The last message they sent stated they were going to capture Cheon Yura, who had appeared in Eunru Valley.
No further reports came after that, and Eun Cheoljung had immediately begun wiping out traces of the Red Root Village.
But before they could finish the cleanup, the very target of the kidnapping had shown up here, completely unharmed.
‘She came here deliberately. That must mean she encountered the Kill Order Unit.’
He didn’t understand why she was talking about tea, but it worked out better this way.
Regardless of her intent, there could be no witnesses left behind.
Eun Cheoljung guided Cheon Yura to the innermost pavilion of the estate.
“Hm, while it’s been altered quite a bit, the upkeep is impressive. Looks like a place that gets plenty of visitors, doesn’t it?”
“Ha… hahaha…”
Her blatant sarcasm made his fists clench.
Still, he had to play along until she was completely inside.
–Kill Master, what are your orders?
A subordinate’s voice reached him via sound transmission.
–Proceed with the Golden Cicada Shedding plan.
Eun Cheoljung gave a swift order.
–Activate the formation the moment ‘he’ arrives. We’ve been given another chance, so this time, we must capture her without fail.
–Understood!
The subordinate’s presence vanished, and shortly after, Eun Cheoljung and Cheon Yura entered the pavilion.
And the moment he felt confident that she could no longer escape, Eun Cheoljung revealed his true colors.
“Well then, Young Cult Leader.”
“Address me properly, you insolent wretch.”
Cheon Yura’s brow twisted instantly.
But having come this far, Eun Cheoljung felt there was no more need to maintain formalities.
In an instant, a dozen masked individuals appeared behind him.
“Keh keh keh… We both knew what this was from the start—what’s the point of pretending? If you submit quietly, I won’t treat you too harshly.”
“Ha.”
Cheon Yura let out a soft chuckle.
“I expected you to exchange at least a few words before showing your fangs…”
This was unexpected for Cheon Yura, who had intended to buy time.
Sring!
She drew her sword.
In response, the masked figures surrounded her in an instant.
With just a quick glance, she assessed their level.
“I see now, your level of skill.”
“What did you say?”
“You’re so pitifully weak, it makes me want to die of boredom.”
Eun Cheoljung and the warriors immediately grimaced.
“You must think yourself untouchable just because you defeated the Kill Order Unit.”
“Naturally. You lot look no different from those who ambushed me before—and even your numbers are only half as many.”
“Don’t think this is all we’ve got!”
Zzzzzt!
Suddenly, the entire space around Cheon Yura began to distort.
The spacious interior began twisting into a maze-like structure, and eerie mechanical devices emerged as if defying space itself.
“…Mechanized Formation?”
“It’s called the Labyrinth Pursuit and Execution Formation. You think I brought you here without a plan?”
Formations were classified as either energy-based or mechanism-based.
Many thought a mechanized formation could be made by just tossing a few rocks and wooden blocks in the right place. But a proper mechanized formation required enormous amounts of manpower and money.
This alone was proof that the Red Root Village had not been established solely on the abilities of a retired assassin.
“There’s much I’d like to ask you.”
“You think I’ll answer so easily?”
“Of course not. At least, not until you’re in my grasp.”
Cheon Yura, staring at the so-called Labyrinth Pursuit and Execution Formation, looked at Eun Cheoljung with completely calmed eyes and spoke.
“Let me ask just one thing before we fight.”
“…?”
“Are you still part of the Cheon Clan?”
For a brief moment, Eun Cheoljung’s eyes flickered.
“Or have you turned traitor and joined hands with an outside force?”
“Kill her.”
With that single command, the directive changed from capture to kill.
The masked men lunged at Cheon Yura without hesitation.
“So that’s your answer.”
A sharp sword qi gathered at the tip of Cheon Yura’s blade.
There was no need to go as far as using Qi Projection. Even for a genius like her, that was still a burdensome technique.
“Keh keh keh… Sword Qi? Impressive, I’ll admit—but we expected as much!”
The masked attackers unleashed their own sword qi all at once.
They were all skilled enough to manifest sword qi—a level that would earn them elite status even in Salmak, the foremost assassination group in the Central Plains.
However—
As they rushed in, Cheon Yura’s sword danced sharply through the air.
She wielded six threads of sword qi at will—this was the Six-Form Mastery of the Heaven-Slaying Demonic Sword Art.
Cheon Yura’s movements, like a sword-wielding dancer, swept through the space in a deadly performance.