Book 16 Chapter 21

The Silver Mask

Bi Ryuyeon and the others were able to follow the loose threads and follow the Silver Masks with surprising ease, and when they finally found their hiding place, everyone was surprised.

The three of them were twirling and sizzling a whole boar they'd caught somewhere over the fire. A woman wrapped in a red robe was urging them to move quickly, and a short, stocky old man was diligently turning the whole pig. The smells were so delicious that they stung my nostrils, and by the time I realized it, I'd eaten two meals on the trail.

"Huh? This is a long overdue guest."

The old man, who had been diligently turning the whole pig, said without looking back. Bi Ryuyeon's group was still hiding in the grass.

"What brought you to Yes? Come out of hiding."

A tall old man in a silver mask spoke in a soft voice. Mo Yonghui wasn't sure if it was the same frightening voice he'd heard that night. It had seemed like terror itself then, but now that it was daytime, it felt strangely familiar.

"Stop squatting there and come out."

A tall, graying old man said. Unable to hide any longer, Bi Ryuyeon's group emerged from the bushes on high alert.

"You've come all the way here, haven't you?"

"I'm a dork, but I have a few tricks up my sleeve."

With uncharacteristic humility, Bi Ryuyeon said.

"It's great that you've made it this far, but you've got to be ready for this, right?"

"I'm even willing to share that whole hog roast with you!"

The three of them laughed out loud in amusement at the unexpected answer.

"Hehehe, interesting kid. I like that, so what's your purpose?"

"I have one question."

"Questions?"

"About the death of a person."

"Death?"

The three silver-haired men stared at each other in disbelief. Bi Ryuyeon watched them closely, determined not to miss a beat.

'I can't believe you reacted like that…….'

"What's his name?"

"He said it's Ahn Myung-hoo!"

Finally, Bi Ryuyeon said.

"What? Ahn Myung-hoo is dead!"

The short old man closed the gap in an instant with a mountain-moving roar. To another observer, it would have seemed as if he had teleported. Smoke rose from the ground as if burned by friction. It was dust.

It was clear that the old man was trying to grab Bi Ryuyeon by the scruff of the neck. He was about to grab her by the scruff of the neck and choke her, causing her to struggle to breathe. But his hand stopped just an inch in front of her collar, and he didn't close the distance any further, surprise in his eyes. He realized that he had dodged his golden opportunity with subtlety.

"I doubted my eyes when I saw him before, but this is no ordinary man!"

"I don't know when you saw it, but it's no fun being the same as everyone else, right?"

Bi Ryuyeon replied with a chuckle, not losing her composure. It was a remarkable feat of courage to remain calm in what could have been a life-or-death situation.

"That's great, that's great, that's great, that's great, that's great guts, sweetie!"

The woman let out a gasp, but then returned to her dark face.

"My dear, say it again, did you say that the old man An Ming-hu is dead?"

"I'm not sure if it's eight or nine stars, but I do know that his name is An Myung-hu, and he was killed, to be precise."

I felt the flesh that had been stretched like a net all around me unravel, and I relaxed my boundaries a bit.

"Well, well……."

The tall old man's mouth hardened into a tight line, a hiss escaping through it. All three of them were astonished at such a trivial matter, even though they possessed world-shattering power.

But what's going on and how is it all intertwined?

I got to wondering.

"I can't believe that happened while I was looking away……."

"I was so caught up in the moment. I was so caught up in the fun of playing with the kids that I forgot what was important……."

"It's all of our responsibility."

All three of them had something to say.

"What, you didn't know that either?"

Jang Hong stepped forward and asked.

"Not only did I not know, but if I had known it was happening, I would have turned the world upside down to stop it."

There was an air of gloom in the air. He was dumb with honey and unable to speak.

"I think I've got a case of the stools."

"Now what?"

"Let's figure something out."

The three of us talked it over.

"You guys, who the hell are you……?"

Bi Ryuyeon asked, puzzled. This was indeed a unique gathering. The people who had introduced themselves as 'Fear', 'Despair', and 'Heartbreak' not long ago did not seem to be the same people.

"Oh, you mean us?"

The short, chubby one said. Bi Ryuyeon nodded.

"If you think we're going to say……."

"This is who I am."

Suddenly, their voices changed, and the mood that enveloped them shifted.

In unison, the three men removed their masks.

"No way, those three people are……."

Grand Duke Bi's voice shook violently. His gaze darted to one side, where three of Jianghu's most famous men stood. They nodded in unison.

"If you do this, will you remember?"

At Tosung's words, all three took something from their arms and wrote on their faces.

"Huh!"

There were hiccups here and there. The three men wore cold, shining silver masks on their faces.

"Uh… why did I do this……."

Grand Duke Rain asked, forcing himself to calm down.

"I'll answer that for you!"

It was Hyuk-jung who interrupted the conversation with that statement.

"Is there anything you'd like us to do for you at this volcano meeting?"

Swordsman asked the old man in a respectful tone, "That old man, Xue Zhong, deserved it. Enough to receive the example of the Heavenly Martial Saint.

"Oh, right. What do you think of all those kids out there?"

"I think they're very talented kids, and they must have put in a lot of hard work to get to that point at that age, both in terms of talent and……."

"And how does that compare to him?"

A city stood at the old man's fingertips.

"I don't think that's a fair comparison."

Gongsheng answered honestly. "Comparison is a necessary act for differences that are more or less similar. Comparing whether the sky is higher or the trees are higher is not a comparison.

"These kids have been picked, chosen, and put through dozens of tests. They're gifted. They're the brightest minds in the room… they're the strongest kids in the room. But they've only had a small taste of what's to come. They're just plants in a greenhouse, nothing more. And they don't know that. What we've experienced, what they haven't experienced yet… that's their good fortune or their bad fortune."

"It is……."

Gongsheng's voice lowered a little. Hyuk-jung nodded. The frog in the well must be taught the extent of the sky.

"What I'm asking you to do is to teach them that, that overwhelming fear(恐怖)……."

It's ironic that the current Jianghu is united to this extent, but it's thanks to the Heavenly Blood God Wei Tianmu. Without him, Jianghu would not have been able to reorganize into two major pillars. Of course, there would have been no martial arts research and exchange centers like the Heavenly Martial Academy or the Heavenly Pavilion, nor would there have been such a fanatical focus on martial arts development.

The fear of a resurgence of the Heavenly Frightening Spirits led to a search for a way to counter them, and when people from various factions who felt that their current martial arts were insufficient came together to freely debate and discuss each other's martial arts, improving upon their weaknesses and cultivating their strengths, Kang Ho's martial arts rose to the next level. If it weren't for the Heavenly Blood God, none of this would have happened. He might still be spending his days and nights practicing his old style. Or maybe he would have been destroyed.

Of course, even though the White and Black Islanders ostensibly made promises of reconciliation and increased their interactions with each other, the conflicting interests of the two groups were not completely resolved. Whenever and wherever self-interest intervened, it brought trouble. But there was still restraint, and it never rose to the surface, but was always resolved in the shadows.

It was a place for martial exchanges between the White and Black Islands, and a place to forge swords and shields to deal with future threats, an iron wall to protect the mighty, a foretelling of the Danjing Dangang to defeat threats, and the strongest shields and the strongest swords. But there was another goal, and that was to save the Key Keeper.

"Why did Kang-ho forget the black and white divide a hundred years ago and unite as one?"

Hyukjung asked.

"You can't deny that fear of 'him' played a role."

"It wasn't just fear. Fear, despair, and heartbreak, which we have felt to the bone. They need to unite. After a hundred years of peace, albeit only on the surface, Jianghu has been torn apart again. They're all looking out for their own interests and pride, and they don't want to come together. They need to unite."

"Why don't you teach yourself?"

Gum Hu asked.

"You know well enough. There are things that can be taught, and there are things that cannot be taught. Knowledge that is handed down is not true knowledge. It's not true knowledge, and you can only learn true knowledge when it comes from your own mind, when you recognize, acknowledge, and accept what you've discovered. Don't you think you should really let it sink in?"

He was right, you have to feel it for yourself.

"If those kids don't stick together……?"

"A force not united can only crumble like a sandcastle. Failure to learn the lesson is death. You'll see for yourself how wise choices can benefit your survival. Will you?"

"That sounds like fun."

Tosung replied.

"Interesting."

Gum Hu replied.

"Of course I'll take it, Large!"

Gongsheng replied.

"I didn't think we'd do such a stupid thing for such a simple reason. Alas, it's hot in its own way, this place too!"

She seemed to like it that way.

"Hmm, I wonder if that would hold the grains of sand together? It's only a temporary compromise anyway, they'll split apart again soon enough."

"Unity binded by violence and oppression is also temporary! It seems to me that voluntary participation is the way to go anyway. It lasts longer."

"How did you know who that person was?"

Rain pointed to Wudun Wu, who was still lying unconscious on the ground.

"Oh, that was a fluke."

Bi Ryuyeon said, raising an index finger.

"By the way, I'm completely clueless, what do I do now?"

Tosung spoke in a somber tone. He must have seen something important, and he was going to bring it here, and the size of the group that had followed him was enough to show how important it was. But they had all killed themselves, and now An Minghu was the only one left, and he had died while he was distracted. He had a bitter taste in his mouth.

"I wouldn't jump to conclusions like that."

Bi Ryuyeon's words caused both of their heads to spin at blinding speed.

Doo-doo!

An odd friction sounded in my throat, but I ignored it.

"Do you have something?"

Their eyes were equally sparkling.

"I've heard a few things, and they're sketchy, but it's better than nothing, right?"

"What is it? Don't pause, just say it."

Unable to resist his impatience, Jang Hong urged.

"He's been in a coma the whole time, and you've figured something out? How did you figure it out? Are you a mind reader or something?"

"Never mind the monologue. I haven't mastered that handy thing yet, I just overheard it in passing."

"What?"

"Sleepyhead!"

"That thing you mutter in your sleep?"

People looked at her in disbelief.

"Ah, that's the one. I must have been having a bad dream. He was calling people names, and it turns out they were his men, and they died in the line of duty… well, that's not uncommon for people like him… but he was still traumatized."

"So?"

There was a moment of silence, as if she was reminiscing, and then she spoke.

"I didn't pay much attention at the time, but he said something that I couldn't let go of."

"What is that?"

Yuck!

The people swallowed hard and listened to Bi Ryuyeon's words. Determined not to miss a single word.

"Volcano… above… danger……. He said so."

"This place is dangerous?"

"Couldn't you have been more specific? That kind of bottomless pit doesn't give us a good picture of what's going on. I mean, we've already had people get killed, so it's dangerous enough……."

Jang Hong said.

"Come to think of it, I also said something like this. To… I mean……."

"Hmm?"

"Long Lin… Yin Wu… I don't know what it is, but he breaks out in a cold sweat when he says it, and his expression is as serious as when he calls for his dying men."

'Yonglin… Yin Wu… I think I've heard of him before……. Where have I heard that before?'

Jang Hong wanted to curse his memory for failing him whenever he needed it.

"Yonglin! Yonglin!"

At that moment, Dao Sheng let out a shout in disbelief. Startled by this sudden reaction, Swordsman quickly asked, "What are you doing?

"Why but, you, do you know anything?"

In response to Gongsheng's question, Dao Sheng swept his grave eyes over the people and spoke in a grim voice.

"You guys know I have a wanderlust that takes me all over the place, so I pick up a lot of things. And sometimes I come into contact with information that's not readily available to the public."

"You've been talking too long. Let's get this over with before we go to eat."

"Yin wu is a specially formulated, highly pure oil, which I've heard is extremely volatile and requires great care in handling, and the dragon's claw is a companion to it, and was one of the most specially handled items in the legendary Moon Palace."

"If it's a legendary wallbow……."

I also remembered hearing about the sword.

"Yes, but the reason it's a legend is because it's a sect that no longer exists in this world… a sect that disappeared about a hundred and twenty years ago. It's also said that their gunpowder manufacturing and application techniques were too dangerous, and that some of that technology has since found its way into the military. It hasn't been confirmed whether it's true or false, but it's said that the recipe for the Salt Thunderbolt, which belongs to the Seven Great Lava Flows, also came from them. But how did something from a sect that disappeared a hundred and twenty years ago end up here?"

Meanwhile, Bi Ryuyeon's stream of consciousness, induced by free association, had reached the wrong place. It didn't seem to have much interest in the tales of an already defunct sect.

"Oil? Cooking? Delicious? Big guy? Masked man? Beggar? Gnome?

When I put the bits and pieces together, I realized that in the margins of the unfilled picture, I had overlooked something.

It was the Nohak case. If he could uncover the identities of two of the four people he'd seen-and it was obvious that they had something to do with this-he might be able to put the missing pieces together, and he'd just remembered where one of them might be.

I'm reminded of a testimony from gnosis that I had completely forgotten until now.

'That big bear of a masked man… eh, it's hard to describe, but he looked… delicious.'

Yin Wu called it oil. If you're going to do something with it, you're not going to get by with a normal amount. So where would be the safest and most discreet place to hide such a dangerous item? Why did Luo Hak subconsciously get a mouth-watering feeling of deliciousness when he first saw him? It's not like he had any cannibalistic hobbies.

'Cooking is what tastes good, cooking is what makes your mouth water… What do you need most for cooking? A place where you can have a large amount of oil and not be suspected at all, a place where a lot of things have to go in and out of the kitchen, a place where you use the most oil, a place where you have to cook for hundreds of people……?'

"Kitchen!"

When Bi Ryuyeon suddenly shouted out loud, everyone was stunned.

"What?"

"The kitchen! Where else can you use a lot of oil, where else can you have a lot of oil, where else can you have a lot of oil and not be suspected at all?"

Perhaps you've been a chef for so long that you've developed an odor without realizing it, and it would be easy for you to hide it and use it to your advantage.

As it turns out, it was. Bi Ryuyeon's reasoning seemed very valid and worthy of consideration. Tosheng exclaimed.

"Let's go!"

What happened next was seamless. With a bit of intimidation and cajoling, Bi Ryuyeon made her way to the dining hall, where she recognized him at a glance. He hadn't been able to spot him because he was confined to the isolation of the kitchen. His size was not something that could be hidden by a black cloth. Bi Ryuyeon and company soon got to work, securing the man without much difficulty and then using a method that was highly political, with a little bit of fisticuffs thrown in for good measure. We were also able to find the oil that had been brought in under the guise of edibles from the warehouse. The source of the oil was, surprisingly, the Zhongyuan Repository. But I didn't have time to pay attention to that detail.