Chapter 21. My Name Is
Jaha felt uneasy about not telling Haseonbaek that Cheongryong, Byeokho’s senior brother, had died.
But if revealing the truth would only make things worse, there was no point. He was worried that if Haseonbaek learned of Cheongryong’s death, he might lose his will to live and fail to recover.
Even if I didn’t tell him, you would have said something if you wanted to. But since you kept quiet too, you must know that telling your master right now wouldn’t do him any good.
Jaha understood how Byeokho felt.
He thought it would be fine to tell Haseonbaek once both his body and mind had fully recovered.
Jaha went to see Goeui and formally expressed his gratitude.
“Elder, thank you.”
Goeui glanced at Jaha and said,
“I treated him because I didn’t want my name disgraced.”
“Even so, thank you.”
Jaha was sincerely grateful to Goeui.
If something had happened to Haseonbaek, he could not even imagine how Byeokho would have reacted.
Even now, he was already being pushed around by Byeokho’s Baekryeong. If Haseonbaek had died as well, Byeokho’s Baekryeong would have truly gone berserk.
And Jaha had no way of stopping it.
That was why he was so grateful that Haseonbaek had survived.
Jaha asked Goeui,
“Elder, do you know who that girl is?”
By now, he thought Goeui might have learned the girl’s identity.
“No.”
There was no lie in Goeui’s eyes as he answered.
“Could she perhaps be the daughter of the Mount Hua Sect Leader?”
Goeui responded indifferently.
“Whether that child is the daughter of that Taoist Okgyun or the daughter of the Martial Alliance Leader makes no difference to me. This old man only needs to keep his promise.”
Judging from that, Goeui was clearly someone who stood between the Orthodox and Unorthodox factions.
In fact, that made Jaha feel more comfortable around him.
After all, Jaha himself was not an Orthodox martial artist.
Then another possibility that had never occurred to him suddenly struck him.
That’s right. Why didn’t I think of that? That girl could be the daughter of the Mount Hua Sect Leader, but she could also be the daughter of Martial Alliance Leader Jo Ryang.
Thinking carefully, there was a high chance she was the daughter of one of those two men.
If she were merely the daughter of an ordinary household, Hwancheonma would have had no reason to abduct her, and the Mount Hua Sect would not have caused such a commotion over her.
She would have to be at least that important for someone to kidnap her with the intention of using her.
Until now, Jaha had deliberately avoided thinking about the girl’s identity.
It had nothing to do with him, and with Byeokho’s current level of strength, getting involved in something dangerous would bring him no benefit.
But now, it seemed worth paying attention to.
While Jaha was lost in thought, one of Seohyeopbang’s Protectors, Gwibita Sangpa, arrived and spoke to Goeui.
“We were told to escort you to the girl’s quarters. She has woken up, and they would like you to examine her condition.”
When Jaha followed behind Goeui, Sangpa stepped in front of him.
“Only Elder Goeui will be going.”
Goeui spoke.
“I may need that child as well in case something happens. Come along.”
Once Goeui said that, Sangpa could no longer stop Jaha.
Instead, he swept his murderous gaze over Jaha from head to toe.
It was a silent warning.
Try anything foolish, and I’ll kill you.
When Goeui and Jaha entered the girl’s quarters, she was already awake and sitting up.
She was slowly drinking water.
Looking at her clear eyes, it seemed she had fully regained consciousness.
“Where is this place?”
It was the first question the girl asked.
Go Deung spoke in a quiet voice filled with more than enough intimidation.
“That is none of your concern. You only need to quietly follow us. If you do, no harm will come to you.”
But after hearing Go Deung’s words, the girl merely snorted.
“How ridiculous. I would rather die than blindly follow people whose identities I don’t even know.”
Her bold tone made Jaha chuckle softly.
Apparently hearing him, the girl turned toward Jaha and asked,
“Are you one of them too?”
Jaha shook his head.
“No.”
“Then can you get me out of here?”
That was quite the audacious question.
“My own situation isn’t exactly good either.”
“So you’re powerless.”
“It isn’t that I’m powerless. I’m merely enduring things for now.”
It looked like the conversation between Jaha and the girl was about to continue, so Bang Baekji interrupted.
“You little brats are saying far too many useless things. Shut your mouths, both of you.”
The girl immediately shot back,
“Why should I listen to you? For what reason?”
Even under Bang Baekji’s threat, the girl was not intimidated in the slightest.
That alone made one thing certain.
She was definitely not some sheltered young lady from an ordinary family.
Go Deung said,
“This man will examine you to see whether you have completely recovered.”
The moment he finished speaking, Goeui grabbed the girl’s wrist and began checking her pulse.
After the examination was over, the girl asked,
“Grandfather, can you help me escape from this place?”
Goeui answered bluntly.
“Why should I?”
“Because you look kind.”
“This old man is not kind.”
“Tch! There are nothing but rotten old men here. And the young one is useless too.”
Hearing that, Jaha inwardly admired her.
She has quite the nerve. She knows perfectly well that she’s a hostage, yet she still speaks that boldly.
The girl rolled her eyes around before opening her mouth again.
“By the way, did you people even know who I was before kidnapping me?”
Go Deung warned her.
“Close your mouth. If you keep talking, I’ll strike your sleep acupoint and put you back to sleep.”
“Do as you please. Then I won’t have to look at your ugly faces anymore, so that might actually be better.”
Go Deung frowned, clearly displeased by the girl’s fearless tongue.
“You impudent brat! You are alive because of us. If Hwancheonma had taken you away as he originally intended, you wouldn’t be treated like this. You would have been handled like a dog or pig.”
The girl replied,
“So the man who first kidnapped me was Hwancheonma. I helped him because he pretended to be pitiful, and he repaid me by using a soul-controlling art to kidnap me. Grandfather was right. He always said that in the martial world, you have to watch out for little brats and old geezers. Now I finally understand what he meant.”
Jaha was startled inwardly by her words.
He had completely forgotten about Hwancheonma until now.
If Hwancheonma learns that his son failed to retrieve the girl, he’ll definitely come here himself. That means we can’t stay here forever.
If Hwancheonma comes personally, I can’t guarantee that even these people will be able to stop him.
No matter how formidable Seohyeopbang’s Bonggongs and Protectors were, Jaha doubted they could deal with Hwancheonma, one of the Seven Heavenly Demons of the Demonic Cult.
Goeui found himself liking the girl’s bold manner of speaking.
Because of that, he became slightly curious about her identity.
She certainly did not seem like a young lady from the Orthodox martial world.
Judging by the way she spoke, she seemed much closer to the Demonic or Black Path.
Goeui asked,
“What is your name?”
The moment he asked, everyone in the room focused on the girl’s mouth.
Seeing that, Jaha almost laughed.
What the hell? Now that I think about it, even these so-called Bonggongs of Seohyeopbang don’t know who this girl is.
The girl burst into laughter at the question.
“Ohohoho! How funny. You really kidnapped me without even knowing who I am?”
She continued with a bright smile.
“There must be someone else who ordered you to do it. That person probably only told you that I was extremely important, but never told you exactly who I was. Am I wrong?”
Her guess was completely correct.
Even the men called Seohyeopbang’s Bonggongs did not actually know the girl’s identity.
Their leader, Ma Gi, had told them almost exactly what the girl had just said before sending them to Inui Manor.
He said the secret couldn’t be carelessly leaked, so he asked the two Bonggongs for their understanding.
He only ordered them to find Goeui, first remove Hwancheonma’s restriction from the girl, and then wait at Inui Manor until he arrived.
Because of that, Go Deung believed their leader would arrive at Inui Manor either today or tomorrow.
He had simply assumed that the girl was either the daughter of the Mount Hua Sect Leader or the daughter of the Martial Alliance Leader.
Since he was convinced his guess was correct, he had never bothered trying to uncover her identity.
However, the longer he listened to her speak, the less she sounded like the daughter of the Mount Hua Sect Leader.
And if she were the daughter of the Martial Alliance Leader, she would surely have behaved in a much more refined and proper manner.
Instead, she spoke like the daughter of some street thug.
That finally made him curious about who she really was.
Despite the situation she was in, the girl seemed to be enjoying herself.
Her face was filled with amusement.
“My name is…”
Everyone stared at her mouth.
Each person waited to see whether the name they had imagined would come from her lips.
Then the girl finally said,
“This young lady’s name is Deung Hwahong.”
After introducing herself, Deung Hwahong slowly looked over the old men in the room, checking whether any of them recognized her.
But when she saw them merely blinking at one another in confusion, she burst into another peal of laughter.
“Hohoho! As expected, none of you know my name.”
She smiled mockingly at them.
“So why did you kidnap me? Hwancheonma, that old man who abducted me, seems to be the only one who actually knows who I am. Don’t you think this situation is ridiculous?”
Deung Hwahong openly mocked everyone in the room.
The experts of Seohyeopbang had nothing to say.
They truly had no idea who the girl was.
After being momentarily flustered, Goeui asked,
“You have no connection to the Mount Hua Sect or the Martial Alliance?”
The girl smiled sweetly.
Although she was still wearing a face veil, her smile seemed to shine through it.
Perhaps feeling uncomfortable, she simply tore off the veil covering her face.
“Hmm.”
The old masters of Seohyeopbang let out low sounds of surprise.
They could have removed her veil earlier if they had wanted, but they had never felt the need.
Now that they saw her face, however, they could not help reacting.
Despite her young age, the girl possessed a strangely seductive beauty.
Deung Hwahong smiled.
“Do you see anything about this face that looks like it belongs among those boring, stiff people?”
This time, Bang Baekji asked,
“Then why are the Taoists of Mount Hua looking for you?”
“Because Hwancheonma kidnapped me while I was together with a Taoist from Mount Hua.”
“Why did Hwancheonma kidnap you?”
Deung Hwahong tilted her head teasingly.
“That’s what I’d like to know. Why did that old demon kidnap me? I’m quite curious myself.”
She clearly had no intention of answering easily and dodged Bang Baekji’s question as though teasing him.
But no matter how curious they were, they could not carelessly lay a hand on her.
They had received strict orders from the leader of Seohyeopbang.
Until then, Jaha had been silently staring at the girl.
For some reason, she seemed familiar.
Back at the inn, the surroundings had been too dark for him to take a proper look at her, so he had not noticed.
I’ve never seen that girl herself before, so that means she resembles someone.
Where have I seen someone who looks like her?
Jaha closed his eyes and searched through his memories.
Then, hearing that the girl’s name was Deung Hwahong reminded him of a story his late father had told him long ago.
Could it be…?
Jaha’s eyes widened as he stared at the girl.
Deung Hwahong laughed softly.
“Hohoho. If you keep staring like that, you’re going to burn a hole through my face.”
She let out a charming laugh when she saw everyone in the room staring at her.
There was something bewitching about the way she spoke and even the way she moved her eyes.
While everyone else was focused on the girl, Jaha secretly raised his fingers toward her.
First, he showed all ten fingers.
Then he showed nine.
Deung Hwahong had been smiling contentedly, but the moment she saw Jaha’s hand gesture, she visibly flinched in surprise.
Seeing that reaction, Jaha became certain.
That reaction confirms it.
The look in Deung Hwahong’s eyes seemed to say,
How does a young man like you know something even these old men don’t?
This time, Jaha smiled at her.
After seeing his smile, Deung Hwahong quickly hid her earlier surprise and smiled even more brightly.
From Jaha’s expression, she realized that there might be something the two of them could accomplish together.
The others in the room were so captivated by Deung Hwahong’s smile that they failed to notice the strange exchange of glances between her and Jaha.
Her beauty possessed a mysterious charm that seemed capable of stealing away a person’s soul.
Now that Jaha had solved the mystery, he stood and quietly left the room.
Now I finally understand why Hwancheonma kidnapped that girl.
Those bastards were doing something far more dangerous than I imagined.
Jaha once again realized that the Seven Heavenly Demons were already making preparations beneath the surface to conquer the martial world.
Otherwise, there would be no reason to kidnap that girl.
Others might not know her origins, but Jaha did.
That was because long ago, he had met her grandfather together with his father.
When Jaha was young, he had once traveled with his father to an unnamed mountain.
There, he had seen the woman who was with the girl’s grandfather.
That woman had been his daughter-in-law.
In other words, she was Deung Hwahong’s mother.
The reason Jaha was able to remember her even now was because the woman had possessed such incredible beauty that even within the Demonic Cult, where beautiful women were hardly rare, she would have stood out.
That man’s name was Deung Pyeong.
If that girl falls into the hands of Hwancheonma or Seohyeopbang Leader Ma Gi, the martial world will be thrown into chaos.
In that case, I have even more reason not to let Hwancheonma have her. It would only make my revenge harder.
Jaha could no longer simply ignore the girl.
Even if she had little to do with him personally, his revenge now gave him a reason to need her.
If I can gain that girl, I’ll obtain tremendous power.
Jaha decided that he needed to become more proactive.
He had to come up with a plan to rescue the girl and escape from this place.
Because she is a descendant of the one who guards the Nineteen Forbidden Demon Domain.
Even thinking about it again sent a chill down his spine.
Now he understood why Hwancheonma of the Demonic Cult, the Mount Hua Sect, and Seohyeopbang were all putting so much effort into taking possession of the girl.
She was a descendant of Samgija, the figure who guarded the little-known Nineteen Forbidden Demon Domain.
The Nineteen Forbidden Demon Domain was a forbidden region where the great demons who had thrown the martial world into chaos two hundred years ago had been imprisoned.
Two hundred years earlier, the elite forces of the Nine Great Sects and Five Great Clans had united to eliminate the great demons who were bringing suffering to the world.
In response, nineteen infamous great demons joined forces as well.
At the time, so many extraordinary geniuses had emerged from the Demonic Path that it would not have been an exaggeration to call it the Age of the Demonic Path.
It was an incredibly chaotic era.
While the Nine Great Sects and Five Great Clans were locked in brutal battles with the nineteen great demons, a genius of formations named Samgija appeared.
In one region, he created an enormous formation from which it was said that not even an immortal could escape.
Then he lured all nineteen great demons into that place.
The supreme masters of the Nine Great Sects and Five Great Clans issued a challenge to the nineteen great demons, inviting them to settle everything in one decisive battle.
And when all nineteen great demons gathered, they were trapped inside Samgija’s formation.
Meanwhile, the renowned masters of the Orthodox factions followed the designated paths of life and safely escaped the formation.
From that day onward, the place became known as the Nineteen Forbidden Demon Domain.
Samgija was chosen to guard it.
As the years passed and Samgija eventually died, his descendants inherited the responsibility of guarding the Nineteen Forbidden Demon Domain.
There could only be one reason Hwancheonma had kidnapped Deung Hwahong.
He must have planned to use Deung Hwahong as a hostage to open the Nineteen Forbidden Demon Domain.
There’s no way those great demons from two hundred years ago are still alive.
But their descendants should still be living inside.
At the time the formation was sealed, it was not only those nineteen great demons who had been trapped inside.
Countless members of the Demonic Path who followed them had also been imprisoned there.
If their descendants escape that ultimate formation, the martial world will turn into a living hell from that moment onward.
That must be what the Seven Heavenly Demons are aiming for.
Now that Jaha knew the girl’s identity, the intentions of the Seven Heavenly Demons became painfully obvious.
They intended to use those people to throw the Nine Great Sects and Five Great Clans into chaos.
Then the Seven Heavenly Demons would strike from behind and seize the advantage.
Their plan was clear.
Those sons of bitches.
Long ago, those bastards once asked Father to open the Nineteen Forbidden Demon Domain.
Father rejected them without a second thought.
Back then, Father had enough power to force Samgija’s descendants to submit without resorting to such a disgraceful method.
But in the end, those bastards really decided to open the gates of hell.
Since they couldn’t open it with their own strength, they planned to kidnap one of Samgija’s descendants and force the method of undoing the formation out of them.
Jaha sank deep into thought.
