A collaboration formed in secret. “Secret” was a stretch, since it was pretty damn obvious, but that part didn’t matter.

With the Plum Blossom Commander at the head, a search party was organized: four Plum Blossom Swordsmen including him, and three second disciples from Mount Hua Sect.

On our side, it was just the Small Moon Unit Leader and me.

We didn’t need any more people. Anyone extra would be dead weight.

Even if you add bodies, it doesn’t mean anything.

This was the right number. Besides, real searching wasn’t even the point.

TAP.

We arrived at the target area as a group.

...Was it here?

It was a place I’d already been. The spot where I’d met the Strange Demon.

“This is somewhere we already searched once.”

The Plum Blossom Commander spoke as soon as we arrived. Of course. They would’ve investigated right after I made it back.

“Did anything turn up back then?”

Maybe something surfaced during the investigation. At my question, the Plum Blossom Commander handed me something as if he’d been waiting for it.

A letter.

“This is the investigation record.”

“Oh. Thank you.”

I accepted it and unfolded it. The contents were neatly summarized.

The summary read:

Confirmed the bodies of eight HEAVEN-BREAKING PALACE spies.

Two were identified as Shaanxi natives. The rest could not be identified.

Inside the investigation site, there were traces of people having lived there, but nothing else of note could be confirmed.

“...Huh.”

That was all.

A painfully ordinary report.

Was I disappointed? Not really.

I don’t even know if this is real or staged.

The letter wasn’t very useful. Just a pointless piece of paper.

“Will you continue the investigation?”

“I’ll still take a look myself.”

“I’ll guide you.”

The Plum Blossom Commander walked ahead. We entered through the same entrance I’d used last time.

The «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» atmosphere was different from before. Everything that had felt alien was gone—what I saw now was just an ordinary forest.

We went a little farther in.

That quarters.

The quarters where the Strange Demon had come out. On the surface, it looked endlessly normal.

“Did you check this place too?”

At my question, the Plum Blossom Commander nodded.

“Yes.”

“And nothing came out of it.”

“Just as it’s written.”

“Mm.”

CREEEEAK—

I grabbed the door and opened it. The moment it swung open, my face twisted hard.

Shit.

They “couldn’t see anything”? I understood why. There really was nothing there—

For an ordinary person’s eyes.

What the hell is this?

It was vicious. How could something this nauseating exist?

This was—

A ruined house soaked in malice.

A place becomes a ruin when all life force drains out of it. No more human presence, no more life force—just something that collapses and disappears in time.

But sometimes, a place goes wrong.

When malice takes root.

If life force drains from a ruin and malice itself settles in—

That’s when this kind of filth is born.

A den of malicious ghosts.

How did so many malicious ghosts pack themselves into a space this small?

It was foul. And then fouler.

Just looking at it was enough to make my stomach bloat and churn.

I didn’t know what the hell someone had done in this tiny quarters—

But it was beyond sick.

And people lived here?

No one could live in an environment like this. No—if a human had lived here, it wouldn’t have become this.

The Strange Demon did come out of here, so why did it look like this?

What were you doing in here?

I wanted to clamp my hand over my nose on instinct.

The stench of malice was unbearable.

“Why are you acting like that?”

The Plum Blossom Commander caught the oddity and questioned me.

The instant I sensed him focusing, I smoothed my expression.

“It’s nothing. I saw a bug.”

“...Mm.”

His face said, A bug? My pride took a hit, but whatever. This was one of those times.

I lowered my gaze again.

This place isn’t a simple ruin.

This much malice doesn’t form naturally.

This is artificial.

I remembered the bastard trash from my past life.

The ones who smashed other people’s sanctuaries, tore down barriers land spirits had raised—

Then made contracts with evil gods and scattered disasters across whole regions.

This felt like the same curse-work those heretic cult freaks used.

Just remembering the pointless struggle to undo that garbage made rage crawl up my spine.

It was hot enough in my chest that I could barely stand it.

And you’re telling me I’d see it here too.

In the Central Plains?

Then...

I scanned the surroundings. Ignoring the malicious ghosts that flickered at the edges of my vision, I searched for something specific.

Where is it?

If this really was artificial, then it had to be here somewhere.

A stake.

A stake that served as the curse’s anchor.

I had to find it.

Where the hell are you?

I turned my eyes, searching, tracing for signs.

“Moon Knight?”

The Plum Blossom Single Sword looked at me like I’d lost my mind.

I ignored him and kept searching. I kept searching until—

Ah.

Found it.

CRUNCH.

I grabbed the dirt through a cracked section of floor.

Something pulsed against my fingers.

CRUNCH CRUNCH—!

I dug into the floor with my bare hand.

People stared, startled by the sudden violence. Their faces said they had no idea what I was doing.

I kept digging anyway. For a long stretch.

With my level, the earth gave way easily.

Then—

TAP.

My fingers struck something.

A cold, clammy touch. Heavy. Hard.

The moment my fingertips made full contact—

TZZT—!

...Tch.

My heart jolted—sharp, ringing.

UUUUUUNG—!!

My bones screamed. Like my soul was resonating, telling me this was the answer I’d been hunting.

GRAB—!!

I seized the metal and yanked with all my strength.

KRRRNNNCH—!!

Something tore up through the earth with a brutal grind. The shape resembled a thick neck.

“Moon Knight... what is that?”

“Ah, it felt like something was inside. It’s just iron... tch.”

I tossed it onto the ground like it was nothing.

The moment it hit—

WHOOOAAAA—!!

KIIIAAAAAAA—!!!

The malicious ghosts inside shrieked. The energy that had been bound to the quarters surged and thrashed.

...You really did a number on this place.

The formation work wasn’t normal. How did someone bury it this deep? My irritation climbed fast.

...What are you trying to do?

Looking at it now, it didn’t feel like they were “just” trying to find the Medical Immortal.

Someone knew curse-work like this?

It was the same back then, too.

That den of malicious ghosts the bastards used in Henan.

I pictured that black aura and frowned.

It felt like there was something I didn’t know—something I hadn’t seen yet.

PAHSSSUK.

I watched the energy begin to fade, then turned my back.

“There’s nothing. Let’s search somewhere else.”

I forced a smile like everything was fine.

...This is fucking disgusting.

My insides were tangled to hell, though.

*****

After that, we searched deeper through the surrounding area.

I moved with most of the group. Nothing felt overtly wrong. I’d expected them to be capable enough to “clean things up,” but it didn’t look like that was happening.

I stayed wary of the Plum Blossom Commander and the people around him, and kept my eyes working.

This forest.

Something about it was off.

My senses kept snagging.

There’s no obvious trace. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

I tried to find what normal humans couldn’t see—

And there were a few places where faint marks showed themselves.

Soul traces.

Traces left behind by souls.

And among those—

Evil traces.

The record of malicious spirits screaming.

Which meant one thing: malicious ghosts had been born nearby, or malicious ghosts had once struggled and thrashed here.

That alone wasn’t strange. If something had gone mad enough to become a malicious ghost, nothing it did would be “normal” anyway...

The surroundings are the problem.

Because of what I’d just seen.

That was why—

“Commander.”

“What is it?”

Mid-search, I called the Plum Blossom Commander over.

“Let’s go up ahead, too.”

“Up ahead? If you mean that direction...”

He flinched.

Just for a split second.

If I hadn’t been watching for it, I would’ve missed it.

“That way is just a cliff. There shouldn’t be anything there.”

“Yes. Maybe that’s true, but...”

As I watched his reaction, I sent a voice transmission.

—According to my information network, there’s something over there.

“...!”

The Plum Blossom Commander’s eyes widened at the voice transmission.

“...Over there?”

“Yes.”

“...I see. Gather up!”

At his shout, the Plum Blossom Swordsmen hurried over.

“We’re adjusting the search direction. We move left.”

“Yes.”

The martial artists advanced at the order. We all pushed forward together.

Past the trees, the cliff the Plum Blossom Commander had mentioned came into view. A stretch of space that looked like it held nothing.

“As I said earlier, this is simply a cliff.”

“Yes. It looks like it.”

It really did look like there was nothing—

But.

...Not sure about that.

I looked at the traces on the ground, not the cliff.

Footprints.

Footprints left behind by souls.

I followed them slowly.

“Moon Knight? Where are you—”

The cliff’s edge. I went all the way there.

And confirmed it.

There’s something here.

The traces led down beneath the cliff. Not to the ground below—

To a space under the cliff.

A space hidden beneath it.

We needed to go there.

“Found it.”

“...Huh?”

“As expected, it’s here.”

I spoke like I’d known all along. The more confident my tone, the more I saw the Plum Blossom Commander’s eyes shake.

“There’s probably a space under the cliff. We should head down.”

I watched his pupils tremble.

“Yeo Hyeok.”

“Yes.”

“Can you check below?”

“Ah—yes.”

Yeo Hyeok didn’t hesitate. He used lightness skill to drop down and check.

Then—

“There is—! I can see a space!”

He gave me exactly the words I wanted.

“Let’s go.”

“...Move out.”

At the Plum Blossom Commander’s command, everyone climbed down.

The Small Moon Unit Leader stood behind me.

Once most of the people were below, leaving just the Plum Blossom Commander and the Small Moon Unit Leader with me—

“We should go too.”

I started to follow them down.

Then—

—Moon Knight.

The Plum Blossom Commander spoke to me.

A voice transmission.

—Yes, Commander.

—Can I ask you one thing?

—Of course.

His face was full of curiosity.

Honestly, I already knew what he wanted to ask.

It was inevitable.

I’d done all of this because I wanted him to ask.

—These are things even Mount Hua’s elites couldn’t identify. Where in the world are you getting information like this...?

So he was curious about my “information network.” Curious about where all those merchant rumors I’d been repeating actually came from.

—Ah...

I hesitated on purpose.

—...The information network, you mean.

—Yes. With this level of intelligence... is this, perhaps, Blue Moon Sect’s influence?

—Mm.

Should I answer? Should I not?

I waited, making it feel like I was weighing it.

Just long enough to make him impatient.

After letting that tension simmer—

I spoke, like I’d finally decided.

—The truth is—

—......

—My information network isn’t Blue Moon Sect.

—Then...?

—To get information this deep, there’s really only one method, isn’t there?

Alright. Here we go.

—The information network is—

From this moment on—

—I’m pulling it out of a double-agent spy inside Mount Hua.

—...What?

I was going to be the crack that split you open.