Chapter 86
Nine years later.
Guilin, Guangxi Province. Inside an inn.
Outside, rain was drizzling down.
The inn was relatively quiet. Perhaps because the busiest hours had passed, people were scattered here and there at the tables, and in the quiet interior, there could be heard only a few voices and the sounds of people eating.
Then, with a creak, the door opened. At the same time, a rough, hoarse male voice rang out.
“Aw, it suddenly started raining, and now I’m soaked through. Hey, waiter!”
“Welcome, guests! What can I get for you?”
“Bring us two bowls of noodles and one jug of Dukang wine.”
“Yes! Two bowls of noodles and one jug of Dukang wine coming right up!”
The rough-voiced man and his companion took seats at a table in the corner. The man shook the rainwater from his clothes and grumbled unhappily.
“These days, you can’t even take on dangerous jobs. Things have gotten so damn turbulent because of those Demonic Cult bastards. If you get caught up in something by mistake…”
His companion burst out laughing at his words.
“A man who makes his living by the sword can’t very well be afraid of the Demonic Cult, can he?”
“Is the Demonic Cult some ordinary heretical sect?”
The man frowned and spoke in a serious tone.
“Ever since the Xiao Family Calamity, there’ve been more than one or two small and medium-sized sects that fell victim to the Demonic Cult. They were all attacked by the Demonic Cult one day and disappeared without a sound or trace. They say they kill every last person without leaving even a single ant alive, don’t they?”
“That’s true.”
“They even gather all the corpses they’ve killed together, set them on fire, and hold a ritual. Apparently, they call them offerings to their god or something.”
“That’s more than a little creepy.”
His companion clicked his tongue, then continued as though he had suddenly remembered something.
“Come to think of it, I heard something myself. Last time, Demonic Cultists invaded a certain sect, but strangely, instead of killing everyone, they captured them alive. Then they apparently offered them a deal: ‘We’ll let you go if you kill one of your fellow disciples.’”
“That happened?”
“Yeah. In the end, they actually killed one of their fellow disciples, and the Demonic Cultists, who were enjoying the sight, eventually killed every single disciple.”
“My word… They’ve completely abandoned all human morality.”
The two exchanged horrified looks and shook their heads.
Just then, the waiter brought out the noodles and wine, and the conversation temporarily stopped. The two barely paid any attention to the noodles, passing cups of wine back and forth before speaking again.
“At least things have gotten a little better these days. The orthodox side isn’t just taking it lying down anymore.”
“Why? Ah…”
His companion picked up on it as if he had realized something.
“The Inspection Corps and the Enforcement Hall, was it?”
The man nodded in agreement.
“That’s right. They’re organizations the Alliance Leader personally established because he could no longer stand by and watch the atrocities of those Demonic Cult bastards. Apparently, their purpose is to track down Demonic Cultists hiding within the martial world.”
“I see.”
“And apparently, they’ve been fairly effective. Whenever there’s someone suspected of being a Demonic Cultist, the Inspection Corps goes out to investigate and find evidence. Once it’s confirmed that the person really is a Demonic Cultist, the Enforcement Hall steps in and executes them.”
“Hm, that can’t be easy.”
“That’s why the Alliance Leader personally asked the Nine Great Sects and Five Great Families for assistance, didn’t he? He asked them to send talented people for the sake of the orthodox martial world.”
“Ahh.”
His companion nodded in understanding.
“So the elite members of the great sects were serving in the Enforcement Hall and Inspection Corps, which was why they were able to accomplish so much?”
“No, more precisely, only the Inspection Corps.”
“Only the Inspection Corps?”
The man clicked his tongue and continued.
“They aren’t even the very best of the best. The Inspection Corps consists only of the younger generation of the orthodox factions. No matter how serious the situation may be, the great sects don’t want to give up their primary fighting forces. So, in response to the Alliance Leader’s request, they only sent promising members of the younger generation.”
“Hm…”
“The Alliance Leader needed talented people immediately, so he accepted that. That’s why there’s a saying going around that the Inspection Corps is like the Dragon-Phoenix Corps of the past.”
“I see how it happened.”
His companion nodded, then suddenly asked,
“Then what about the Enforcement Hall? How did they gather their talent? Since they directly deal with Demonic Cultists, ordinary martial prowess probably wouldn’t be enough.”
“That…”
The man thought for a moment before shaking his head.
“I don’t know the details either. But there’s a rumor that the Alliance Leader personally invited some of the most renowned masters in the Central Plains and made them into an elite force. Other than that, everything is classified, so nothing is known.”
“Everything is classified? Why hide it? If they’re heroes fighting the Demonic Cult, everyone would praise them to no end.”
“That’s precisely why! They go around eliminating Demonic Cultists from the shadows. If their identities were revealed, wouldn’t they just become targets of the Demonic Cult?”
“That’s true too…”
The two continued exchanging cups of wine while discussing the state of the martial world. Perhaps he had finally gotten hungry, because the man began eating his noodles.
His companion, who had been drinking alone as though lost in thought, suddenly asked,
“…But, you know.”
“Hmm?”
His companion muttered blankly.
“Are all of the Alliance Leader’s judgments really correct?”
“What?”
When the man looked at his companion in surprise, the latter hurriedly waved his hand.
“It’s not that I don’t trust the Alliance Leader. I know how hard he’s working for the peace of the martial world. It’s just… It bothers me that all the organizations responsible for determining whether someone is a Demonic Cultist are under the Alliance Leader. Doesn’t that give the Alliance Leader too much influence?”
“You…”
“How can those two organizations determine who all the Demonic Cultists are? And will Demonic Cultists really be caught that easily? They’ve been hiding among us for so long, haven’t they?”
“That’s what the Inspection Corps is for… to find the evidence, isn’t it?”
“Evidence isn’t always correct. Someone with bad intentions could fabricate it, or they could make something up after taking a bribe. What if an innocent person were to become a victim because of false evidence…?”
“Hey!”
The man was horrified and cut his companion off.
He hurriedly looked around. Fortunately, there were only a few people inside the inn. At most, there were a few people in shabby clothing and one hunchback.
After scanning the surroundings with sharp eyes, the man hurriedly lowered his voice.
“You mustn’t say things like that where people can hear you. The Martial Alliance is practically the orthodox faction itself. The Martial Alliance Leader was chosen after the leaders of the orthodox factions gathered and endorsed him. Doubting the Alliance Leader is the same as doubting the orthodox faction.”
“……”
“You could actually be branded a Demonic Cultist yourself. You’d better stop drinking. You might cause trouble for yourself.”
Only then did his companion seem to sober up. His face turned pale, and he put down his wine cup. The man looked around for a moment before loudly changing the subject as though nothing had happened.
“Come to think of it, isn’t there someone in the martial world these days who’s just as famous as the Demonic Cult? Have you heard his nickname?”
“Who knows? What kind of person is he?”
“That person is…”
The man shouted,
“The Flower-Glutton!”
***
The inn remained quiet.
However, unlike when they had been whispering among themselves in lowered voices, the man was now speaking at the top of his lungs, causing a slight commotion.
Even the people around them, the hunchback, and the waiter were listening closely to what the man was saying.
“The Flower-Glutton? Who’s that?”
“Are you seriously that out of touch with rumors? How can you not know how famous the Flower-Glutton is these days? They say he’s a lecher obsessed with women!”
“A lecher?”
His companion became unimpressed at the man’s words.
“So what if he’s a lecher? It’s hardly unusual for a hero to have a thing for women.”
The man clicked his tongue and shook his head.
“Even if a man likes women, he should know some restraint. That bastard is completely insane. Whenever he hears a rumor that there’s even a slightly pretty woman somewhere, his eyes roll back, and he immediately rushes over.”
“Is he really that bad?”
“Yeah. Last time, he caused a commotion by entering the Emei Sect, a forbidden territory for men, just to see one of their female disciples who had her face covered with a veil. He even fought the Emei disciples all by himself and made it out alive. That incident was what earned him his nickname.”
“He’s insane. He actually goes that far?”
When his companion spoke in disgust, the man snickered and continued.
“Isn’t that why he got such a nickname? But that’s not the only strange thing about him. Would he have become famous merely for being a lecher?”
“What else is so strange about him?”
The man subtly lowered his voice.
“At first, everyone thought the bastard was just obsessed with women and followed pretty women around wherever they went. But when he actually sees a pretty woman, he only checks her face and then promptly leaves.”
“…He leaves?”
“Yeah. If she’s beautiful enough to count among the rarest of beauties, he might strike up a few words with her, but afterward he leaves without any lingering attachment. Strange, isn’t it?”
“Huh…”
“Only after this happened repeatedly did the Flower-Glutton’s infamy improve a little. Even so, people from the orthodox factions don’t particularly like him. There’s no telling when the bastard might change his mind and violate the chastity of innocent women.”
After hearing all of that, his companion’s assessment was simple.
“He’s completely insane.”
“Quite the eccentric, that one. I wonder just how ugly he must be to go that far just to have a conversation with a pretty woman…”
The two looked at each other and shook their heads. The people around them also snickered or clicked their tongues.
Rumble.
Suddenly, a rumbling sound came from outside.
The man and his companion, along with everyone else inside the inn, looked outside. The rumbling seemed to draw closer and closer, before finally stopping right outside the door.
The man and his companion exchanged uneasy glances, and when the waiter approached the door, thinking a customer had arrived…
Bang!
“Flower-Glutton, you bastard!”
Someone kicked the door open and appeared. More precisely, it was a group of men.
About a dozen men stood beyond the door, each with a burly build, fierce-looking faces, and weapons in hand. Even the waiter, who was supposed to attend to the customers, was so startled that he froze on the spot.
‘Why are they looking for the Flower-Glutton here?’
The man stared at them in bewilderment. He had already looked around the inn before they did, but there was no one who looked like the Flower-Glutton…
…Could it be?
Meanwhile, the men had already swarmed into the inn. They thoroughly searched the surroundings as though looking for someone, then suddenly pointed somewhere and shouted at the top of their lungs.
“We found him!”
What they were pointing at was…
‘The hunchback?’
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