Book 13 Chapter 16

Where is the Silver Lily?

Near the entrance to Cheonmubong, a volcano in Hwaeum County, Seomyeo Province, around 2200 hrs.

It was nothing short of a miracle that he descended the steep Tianmu Peak in such a short time, using only the light of the new moon as a torch.

No one would believe me if I wrote it down. Some of them even tripped over the roots of the trees beneath their feet and rolled in a heap. However, even the most exhausted of the group, who had only made it through the mountains in one attempt, had no time to rest. After taking a moment to catch their breath, the rescuers headed straight for the fortune teller's cup where Eunseulan had been kidnapped. No, they were going to, but there was one thing they had to do first.

"Let me go! "

At Bi Ryuyeon's command, he put down the pomegranate he was carrying and let her go.

Seokryuha, who had never been subjected to this kind of behavior before, glared at them coldly.

"Can you explain how this happened? "

His voice was icy cold. She had been treated like a burden. She had never been treated so horribly in her life, and her anger was not unreasonable.

Bi Ryuyeon thought for a moment. Normally, there are two ways to go about this.

Intimidation or appeasement!

Fists are fast for intimidation, persuasion is fast for appeasement. Of course, there are times when a quick fist can be a good thing, but it's not a good thing in this situation.

I didn't think much of it.

If this was a normal guy, I might have used threats, but I don't think I'd be able to do that with such a beautiful woman. It's very effective, but the conclusion was already reached before I even thought about it.

The needle on the scale in Bi Ryuyeon's mind shifted from threats to appeasement.

Now it's just a matter of methodology: how? Bi Ryuyeon raised her gaze and looked at Mo Yonghui.

"I might be able to use this!

That's what she thought.

"Forgive my rudeness, stone Sojae!"

Mo Yonghui apologized politely. His words worked well because he had the dignity and strands to back them up.

He was a brave man, an honorable man, an excellent student, a learned man, and a family man. He was a man of almost unparalleled perfection, a man whose very existence in this world was an offense. His words had weight, and his prayers moved others.

That's why I'm using the parent vocabulary in light of its usefulness. It was a kind of mood setting.

"What I want to hear is a reason, not an apology."

Seokryuha's cold gaze swept across the room.

"That's because you need help."

"Help? "

"Yes, we really need Sojae's help right now."

Yes, yes, yes!

Bi Ryuyeon, who had been listening, nodded.

Cancer, I need you. They desperately need her to keep her mouth shut.

"I guess it's fashionable these days to kidnap your own helpers."

Her tongue seemed to be sharper than her sword.

"I'm sorry for what happened. Please forgive me for the way I reacted to the situation."

"……."

She didn't answer. Again, Mo Yonghui persisted.

"We want Sojae to help us."

"Why am I supposed to help the people of the Heavenly Academy, is there a good reason for that, the same people who got me into this predicament?"

The words were quiet, but they sent a chill down her spine. Of course, it wasn't unreasonable for her to be so stoic; she'd just been beaten to a pulp.

"Because that's not our job, that's the job of the Temple of Heaven."

"What does that mean?"

"In other words, it's not the people of the Temple of Heaven who need Sojae's help, it's the people of the Temple of Heaven."

"What kind of nonsense, are you harassing me?"

Seokryuha retorted, shouting loudly.

"But it's true, he's imprisoned in his home and begging for help. We want to make sure he is rescued from the clutches of evil."

"Who, who, who is that person?"

At Mo Yonghui's serious demeanor, Seokryuha's voice relaxed a lot.

"It's a tetragonalized silver alder soother."

At the sound, Sukryuha's eyes widened in horror.

"Sister Sullan was kidnapped, what the hell does that mean?

Sukryuha's reaction was more intense than he expected.

"Do you know him?"

Mo Yonghui asked.

"Of course I know, she's one of my closest friends, how could I not know her, we used to be called the Black Swan together."

"I see."

Mo Yonghui nodded in understanding.

"But how is Ran's sister here?"

"We don't know the full story. The only thing we know is that someone who was following him risked his life to tell us that he was kidnapped, so we came to help."

He then began to explain himself.

Hashimals (亥時末: about 2300) Fengmai customer's cup Shimchu

"What? Nothing? "

A black shadow nods.

"And you?"

Another shadow, questioned, shakes his head from side to side. Again, no trace was found.

"What's suspicious about this glass?"

Bi Ryuyeon asked again.

"It's kind of the backbone of the place, and I know they have a close relationship with the volcanic waves."

Junho Yoon spills the beans on what he knows.

"Now what?"

Namgungsang asked in as low a voice as he could muster.

In front of the Pungmae Customer's Cup at Hashijeong (around 2200)

As it turns out, the guard at the Fengmae Pavilion was tight. More precisely, they guarded the marks of the Zhongyuan Mark Bureau that were staying there.

"What are those guys, are they carrying a load of gold or something, and why are they lighting up their eyes like that?"

Yeomdo grumbled in displeasure.

Marksmen carrying weapons were stationed around the table in groups of two. Fires roared here and there, chasing away the darkness, but there were surprisingly few fires at the tables.

"I don't know……. But it's definitely suspicious."

Overpaid!

Sometimes people need to be moderate. But don't get me wrong, moderation is not the same as moderation.

"There must be something wrong."

Going too far was enough to draw attention to itself.

"I'll see what I can get away with, so let's break in."

Hashimals (亥時末: about 2300) Fengmai customer's cup Shimchu

There was no trace of the silver alder anywhere on the feng shui cup.

Luckily, she didn't get caught. But even after scouring every nook and cranny, she was nowhere to be found.

What makes us especially confident that Silver Snow isn't here is that there isn't much security inside the cabin. Where there's a hostage, there's a watcher. But as far as we can tell, there are no such places. The lack of a watcher goes hand in hand with the lack of anything to watch.

You have a suspicion, but you have no proof. I was stuck in an ambiguous situation. All the while, the moon was still traveling through the heavens.

"Did we get it wrong?"

A gleam of anxiety appeared on Jang Hong's face.

"Even if they were captured here, there's no law that says we have to keep them here. Besides, as far as I'm concerned, a chair is a good place to sleep, but not a good place to keep a prisoner!"

It was true to form. She didn't hesitate in deciding what to do.

"It's probably not here, but just in case, let's do a final check!"

His finalization was a little rough around the edges.

"Help! Help! Help!"

The captured man cried out in anguish, the sound so loud that it raised a few eyebrows. Of course, Yeomdo had used his chi - he was using it to show off the fact that he could use the technique as well as the ice sword - to create a sound barrier, so the sound wouldn't leak out, but there was the matter of mood.

Bi Ryuyeon quickly covered the man's mouth and whispered into his ear.

"Please be quiet. I might just want to grab you by the scruff of the neck and rip you apart!"

It was a very quiet, soft, bass voice. But it wasn't as soft as what was in it.

For a moment, the man's body shuddered, then his howling ceased. As it turns out, sincerity always gets through to the other person.

"Good, you're a good kid."

Bi Ryuyeon smiled with satisfaction and nodded.

"Before you ask, I should warn you. I have a short fuse, and I can't stand it when people lie to me. I despise deceit. I hate liars with a passion. Do you see why I'm giving you a heads-up?"

He shook his head, shivering at the cold chill of the soda on his cheeks. He was breaking out in a cold sweat. The hand holding the sado continued to speak in a low tone.

"I like you very much. I really don't want to have anything to do with destroying the future of a young man with a bright future ahead of him, that's for sure!"

Eek!

The cold, fleshy blade of the sword grazed the man's cheek. A trickle of hot blood ran down the man's cheek. The man was so frightened he felt like pissing himself.

"Do you understand what I mean?"

The man nodded desperately.

"Come on, stop playing games, that's the sixth person I've killed today, I'm tired of killing, let's just gouge out their eyeballs, destroy their eardrums, cut out their tongues, and then cut the muscles in their limbs to make up for it, they're pathetic!"

What was even more terrifying were the words that Bi Ryuyeon blurted out. Imagine the horror they must have felt, as the hairs on the backs of the people around them stood on end, knowing full well that they were bluffing! It must have been effective, as the man's face turned black, then blue, then white again.

"I ask you. Do you know where Sojae, who was captured here yesterday, is being held?"

Yeomdo started asking questions.

"I don't know, I really don't."

"She's beautiful, so you'll remember her quickly."

Yeomdo seemed to approve.

"A captured scavenger, and a beautiful one at that? I'm out of my depth."

The man cried out.

"Is it true?"

The King of the Southern Palace looked at Yan Dao and asked. The man in front of them now was the mark of the Zhongyuan Clan, who had been captured by them while sleeping, and had traveled from side to side. The man's eyes were covered with a black cloth. Bi Ryuyeon knew that there was no good in selling his face.

"How can you know the heart of man! "

Even if they were spewing lies, there was no way for them to know at this point.

"Maybe you're lying, so let's look at your hands a little more?

The man's face paled at Yidou's words.

"That's a good idea, let's start with the eyeballs, because if we take out your tongue, you won't be able to talk."

Bi Ryuyeon giggled.

Her performance was so realistic that I found myself thinking, "Is she really serious?

"Great idea! "

The man's teeth, which had turned white as a sheet, clicked together with a sweet, shuddering crack.

"Is what this guy is saying true? "

Bi Ryuyeon looked at Na Yerin and asked.

Dragon eyes!

Na Yerin had it.

"Please, please help me. I have two children like rabbits and a wife like a fox. I'll tell you everything I know, so please have mercy!"

The man's voice was eager, eager, eager.

Bi Ryuyeon and Na Yerin's gazes met. Then she shook her head!

It was a lie, not a truth, and there was not much in the world that could deceive her ingenious mind.

Bi Ryuyeon was openly angry. Yeomdo took the place of that anger. An ugly hand clutched at his jaw.

"How dare you lie to me, you're bent on killing me! I have no mercy for a man who sells his soul. Why don't you tell me which part of your body is lying, and I'll see how many eyes you have!"

But in truth, his words were true; he had told them all he knew; he had played the role of traitor and snitch to the hilt. There was just one thing missing.

"Me, really. I want to live. Why would a man who wants to live falsely accuse me of insanity? My salary does not include a loyalty fee, so please believe me!"

The man cried out. For some unknown reason, his truth had been denied. It was unfair. But Bi Ryuyeon shook her head, unrelenting and unflinching.

"No! You just flat-out lied. Would you like me to ask you to repeat the part of your statement that was clearly false?"

"I'm serious. I was just telling the truth."

A man covered in tears and snot cried out.

"Lies! "

Bi Ryuyeon said firmly.

He realized that the man was convinced in some way that he had told a lie. But what was a lie? He didn't even know what he was talking about, so he confessed everything he had…….

No way!

The man looked as if he had suddenly broken the ice of the North Sea and was covered in cold water scooped up from its depths. A chill ran down my spine.

"Uh, how did you know?

There was only one lie in what he had just said. It was clear that the thick flesh exuded by the man who stood like a wall in front of him, enveloping his entire body, would not tolerate lies.

He finally gave up.

"Well, yes, actually…, blackblackblack!"

Tears welled in the man's eyes.

"In fact, besides my fox-like wife, I have one child that I've been hiding from the courtesan Chun Yue. That's why I'm applying for this tableau……. Black, black, black, they're all the ones I'm going to kill. Off!"

He quickly clamped his mouth over his throat, barely restraining himself from crying out. The salty water reached his hands.

Bi Ryuyeon looked back at Na Yerin once more.

She, and everyone else watching, was dumbfounded by this out-of-the-blue, scandalous confession.

Na Yerin nodded slightly. It was true.

In other words, it was information that wouldn't be useful to me, and would only come in handy when some assholes were trying to take advantage of me.

"You wasted your time."

Ryu-yeon said something in passing, and everyone nodded in agreement.

The tedious penance time is over.

The man cascaded tears of penitence onto the floor, but they were very busy wasting their time in vain.

"What do we do now? "

Mo Yonghui asked in an urgent voice.

There was a hint of unease in his voice from earlier. The kidnapping of Eunseulan had managed to agitate Mo Yonghui, the unflappable man of the Seven Seasons Divine Sword, who had always been calm and cool to the point of boredom.

Mo Yonghui thought of her tears as they flowed, enveloped in a veil of moonlight.

'I don't want to see that again!'

His heart ached to think that even now she was somewhere out there, trembling in fear from an unseen threat. He reminded himself to stay calm, but it had little effect.

"Crush?"

At Bi Ryuyeon's lighthearted words, Mo Yonghui's heart skipped a beat.

"What do you mean, a crush? I never thought about that at all…, I'm just worried that we're connected……. So…, I guess what I'm trying to say is……."

Mo Yonghui's face was flushed with emotion.

'At least he had a cute side!'

This upright man was not made of cold iron and ice.

Bi Ryuyeon said with a smirk.

"If you say that with a face like a ripe apple, it's not very convincing! "

Anyway, it was time to figure out what to do next.

Bi Ryuyeon looked at the old man. She would need this beggar from now on.