Chapter 81
The Jade Snow Wanderer quietly gazed at Liyeon before asking,
“Were you being pursued?”
This time, Liyeon kept his mouth shut. It would be difficult to say no when his current appearance looked so suspicious, yet telling the truth was equally awkward.
Fortunately, the Jade Snow Wanderer did not ask for any further details and answered indifferently.
“There certainly were a few. Men wearing masks.”
“…! They’re the ones. What happened to them…?”
“What do you think happened?”
A cold voice suddenly rang out.
“I killed them all.”
Liyeon flinched.
“I am not a particularly merciful person. I do not kill people on a whim like an ordinary villain, but if someone points a sword at me first, I cannot be satisfied unless they pay the appropriate price.”
“Does that mean…?”
“They blocked my path first, so I merely acted accordingly. I killed those who stood in my way one by one, and eventually, they stopped pursuing me.”
‘She killed them all…’
Liyeon suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.
Every one of the masked men was highly skilled. Even the guards of the Xiao Family, not to mention his father, had struggled to deal with just three of them.
Liyeon did not know how many had appeared before the Jade Snow Wanderer, but it must certainly have been a difficult battle.
‘And yet.’
Why was she speaking in such a calm tone?
More than that, the Jade Snow Wanderer did not even appear to be injured. Her gait, breathing, and outward appearance… everything. She was completely unscathed, without even the slightest wound.
Only then did Liyeon realize.
‘A Peak-Realm master.’
A true master was standing right in front of him.
Just as cold sweat trickled down his back, a toneless voice rang out.
“What? Is there a problem?”
“Ah…”
Liyeon hurriedly came to his senses and shook his head.
“No, not at all… There’s absolutely no problem. It’s just…”
Whether this was a good thing or a bad thing.
Liyeon still did not know this person well. Whether she was good or evil. Whether she was allied with those who had annihilated his family or not.
He knew nothing. Perhaps he could trust her, only to be betrayed in the end. But in the end, there was only one thought that came to mind.
With that level of skill. If she possessed strength that no one could dare approach…
“Benefactor.”
Perhaps he could save him.
Liyeon rose from the bed. The Jade Snow Wanderer simply watched him without a word.
Perhaps because he was so tense, or because he had suddenly moved, a dull pain came over him. But Liyeon endured it and knelt before the Jade Snow Wanderer.
Thud.
Liyeon looked up at the master gazing down at him arrogantly and spoke.
“Please help me one more time.”
The Jade Snow Wanderer’s eyes narrowed.
“There is someone I left behind on the mountain. He is someone like family to me, but while we were being pursued by the masked men, we became separated.”
“…….”
“To be honest, I do not even know for certain whether he is still on that mountain. I do not even know if he is alive… But I still want to find him. I want to find even the slightest trace of what happened to him.”
“…….”
“I know, of course, that this is an unreasonable request. I know it is shameless of me as well. But if you have any pity for me, please…”
Liyeon bowed his head to the ground. Then, with desperation beyond what words could express, he pleaded.
“Please save the life of someone precious to me.”
***
“Haa, haa…”
Liyeon struggled to catch his breath.
Perhaps, just as the Jade Snow Wanderer had said, it was still too soon for him to be moving around. He had barely moved for any length of time, yet sweat was pouring down his entire body like rain.
But he could not stop here simply because it was difficult. This was an opportunity he had barely managed to obtain. Liyeon raised his head and looked at the person directly in front of him.
A white figure swayed in the wind.
‘An opportunity……’
To get straight to the point, the Jade Snow Wanderer had accepted Liyeon’s request.
In truth, Liyeon had not thought the Jade Snow Wanderer would accept his request so easily. That was why he had been calculating in his head what he could offer her in return.
However, the Jade Snow Wanderer remained silent for a moment, as if contemplating, before simply answering.
“Can you go right now?”
Liyeon had been so caught off guard that he had even stammered, unable to understand her words immediately.
In the end, Liyeon returned to Mount Lu with the Jade Snow Wanderer.
As they walked up a mountain path that felt both unfamiliar and familiar, Liyeon repeated the same thought to himself several times already.
‘Did I make the right choice?’
The reason Liyeon had asked the Jade Snow Wanderer for help was simple.
Because there was no time. He had already lost three days after collapsing.
Of course, he did not think the masked men would still be there after three days. Seo Dan might have already fled somewhere else. But Liyeon could not abandon the possibility.
‘What if he is still somewhere in those mountains?’
If he was still being pursued, or if he had been injured while being chased and could no longer move… Either way, Liyeon could not overlook it.
And to save Seo Dan, he would have to bring reinforcements from Jiangxi Province, which would cause even more delay than there already was. He had to move as quickly as possible. He needed to ask someone nearby for help, even if that was all he could do.
‘If it is this person.’
That was why Liyeon had even gone so far as to kneel.
Liyeon had no way of knowing what result this choice would bring. He did not even know what the future held. For now, he had no choice but to trust the Jade Snow Wanderer. And somehow, he had a faint feeling that the person before him was not truly that evil.
Liyeon earnestly hoped that his judgment was correct as he hurriedly followed the Jade Snow Wanderer.
How far had they gone into the depths of the mountain?
“……!”
They soon found traces. There were corpses strewn about in the middle of the grass.
One of the corpses was a masked man, while the other was unmasked, but judging by the fact that they were dressed alike, it was clear they were on the same side.
‘Why is a masked man here…?’
Liyeon unconsciously looked back at the Jade Snow Wanderer, but she was merely examining the corpses. Soon, the Jade Snow Wanderer looked around before beckoning toward Liyeon.
“Follow me.”
Then she began walking toward somewhere. Liyeon hurriedly followed her.
The deeper they went into the mountain, the more rapidly the number of corpses increased.
There had clearly been a major battle. At first, Liyeon wondered whether the Jade Snow Wanderer had done this, but judging by the traces of battle, it did not appear to be something a single person could have done.
‘Did another faction get involved?’
Who could they be? People connected to the masked men? A third party with nothing to do with them? Or perhaps… reinforcements that had arrived too late?
As Liyeon’s heart began beating faster and faster…
Tap.
The Jade Snow Wanderer stopped walking. Liyeon also stopped after her. Then he raised his head, and his eyes widened.
“……!”
There were more corpses here than anywhere else.
It was a dead end with a cliff, and it appeared that a battle had taken place here. The ground was strewn with corpses and stained with blood.
Liyeon looked around, pressing a hand tightly against his chest.
He had an ominous feeling. Somehow, he could not shake the feeling that this carnage had something to do with Seo Dan.
The masked men had definitely pursued Seo Dan. The only reason so many masked men would have gathered here was because of Seo Dan, who had disguised himself as Liyeon.
Then it seemed that some group had discovered the masked men, and eventually, the two sides had fought.
Then what about Seo Dan? Had Seo Dan been here? If he had been caught up in the fight…
‘No.’
Liyeon hurriedly began examining the corpses.
The corpses that had initially repulsed him no longer bothered him. He simply checked each and every corpse’s face, and whenever corpses were piled on top of one another, he even moved them aside to search underneath.
Fortunately, or unfortunately… there was no body of a young child among the corpses. Only then did Liyeon finally release the breath he had been holding.
Rustle.
“…Huh?”
Liyeon stared blankly down at the ground. Something had been stepped on by his foot.
At first, he thought it was merely some dirty piece of cloth. But when he looked closely, that was not the case. A white, opaque cloth large enough to cover a face, threads hanging from both ends of the cloth, and most importantly, flowers embroidered along its edges.
“My veil…”
No… That could not be.
His veil had definitely been taken by Seo Dan. Seo Dan should have had it. Even now, surely. It should have been in Seo Dan’s hands.
Then why was the veil here? And why was it in such a mess, stained with blood…?
“No, no.”
Liyeon’s breathing grew increasingly ragged.
It couldn’t be.
Seo Dan was clever. He was cunning. Even if he had been caught up in the fighting, he would have escaped safely. Somehow, he would have gotten out of the crisis.
Yes, he definitely would have.
He must have accidentally dropped the veil while fleeing…
‘If he dropped the veil… they would have known I wasn’t the one they were looking for?’
If the masked men had seen it.
If they had realized that Seo Dan was not the person they had been searching for?
Then why was there blood on the veil? On the veil…
“No, no, no, no… Hic!”
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