Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The killing mission went smoothly.

Though this was merely a young body barely at the age of fifteen, and a sickeningly frail one at that —

CRACK—!

"......Six."

The being dwelling within it was, without question, the Soul-Severing Wanderer Annihilation — the foremost assassin in the world, and the most dreaded one at that.

Inhale.

"Haaah."

After yet another Black Net member had his neck snapped and died without ever understanding what happened —

Yul Hwi released the tension from his body thread by thread with the thinnest of exhales, then without delay began infusing yin-cold qi into various parts of the corpse.

Shuck. Scrape.

Naturally, he also left behind elongated wounds disguised as blade marks in multiple places.

This way, the Black Net Unit Captain, upon belatedly discovering the gaps in his ranks, would suspect the Sun and Moon Gate currently occupying the Yul estate.

'It's definitely not easy.'

He had fully expected it, but the absence of physical training proved to be a painfully difficult obstacle.

Even if he could chart a perfect path of death in his mind and possessed the internal power to support it —

The actual physical capacity of this body, which ultimately had to execute it all, was woefully inadequate and underdeveloped compared to the other two.

Having spent a full hour just to cut the throats of a mere six first-rate Black Net members, what more needed to be said?

Sighs threatened to pour out of him in heaps, but —

'Time can solve this.'

It was not as though he had been unaware this would happen, and he believed that a few years of dedicated training at the Mt. Yeo safe house would sort things out on their own. So Yul Hwi strove not to grow impatient.

Just as he was finishing his work on the last two corpses amid those thoughts —

TWEEEET—!

"Hmm."

A shrill signal horn, piercing the air from far away, brought his body upright.

There was only one group in all of Taewon that would make such a commotion.

'Still one of the Eight Great Families, I suppose.'

Sun and Moon Gate disciples scattered across all of Taewon in search of him.

Black Net fist-fighters who had split into pairs to shadow those very disciples.

And he, in turn, had been picking off those Black Net fist-fighters two at a time in secret.

'I figured I could kill at least ten, given how finely the group was split up.'

It seemed the Jinju Eon Family was a somewhat more capable bunch than he had predicted.

They had noticed something was amiss after barely an hour of dispersal.

Given the vast expanse of Taewon — a provincial capital, after all — this was a response that could fairly be called swift.

Not that it mattered, since even this still fell within his projected range of outcomes.

'Shall I go the opposite way this time?'

Slide.

Had killing six Black Net members been enough to limber up his body?

As Yul Hwi seeped into the shadows at the mouth of a tucked-away alley, his movements were already taking on a rather convincing form.

No matter how wretchedly weakened this body had become from its long illness —

The willpower that the greatest assassin could bring to bear and control blossomed into a talent that overwhelmed even that frailty.

And not long after the shadowy mastermind behind all these events vanished without a trace —

"O-over here!"

"Found them! Over here!"

"The horn! Blow the horn, quickly!"

TWEEEET—!

Five Black Net fist-fighters who had belatedly arrived at the scene of the killings erupted into a fierce uproar.

***

"I'll have their heads this instant...!"

"Y-you must not!"

"Captain! You must hold yourself back!"

A large inn not far from the Taewon Yul Family's estate.

Inside that establishment — which had ceased taking guests under the Jinju Eon Family's authority — thunderous shouts brimming with fury were erupting.

"Hold back?! Six! Six of my men were killed by those bastards! And what? You're telling me to hold back?!"

One wrong word and he looked ready to slap whoever spoke it.

The Black Net Unit Captain's rage had climbed to its absolute peak.

Some might dismiss six out of a hundred subordinates as a trifle.

But for members of a great family who all shared the same blood, this was a catastrophe no different from the murder of kin.

That said, not everyone had lost their reason the way the Captain had.

Two Vice Captains had been assigned precisely for the purpose of restraining this fiery temperament.

"But we have no evidence."

"Moreover, if we commit our unit's full strength to a battle now, there is a strong possibility of incurring even greater losses."

"So what — because you're scared, I'm supposed to shut up and sit here like a whipped dog? Huh?! Is that really what comes out of the mouths of men who call themselves Vice Captains?!"

What was meant to calm him had apparently been taken as further provocation.

But the two Vice Captains, well accustomed to such outbursts, continued their dissuasion with expressions unchanged and voices level.

"The enemy is the Sun and Moon Gate."

"Furthermore, an entire squad of the Infernal King Unit is stationed at the Yul estate right now. Not rank-and-file nobodies — the Sun and Moon Gate's genuine demons."

"......Damn it all!"

CRASH—!

Even the Black Net Unit Captain, who had slammed his fist onto the table before him in irritation, could not continue raving in the face of the name Infernal King Unit.

Whereas the combat members of the Eight Great Families were typically at the first-rate level —

Every single rank-and-file soldier in the Sun and Moon Gate's combat units had attained the seasoned heights of the pinnacle realm.

And when one factored in the terrifying power unique to the Sun and Moon Gate's martial arts — overwhelming even among those of the same caliber — a head-on collision would be nothing short of madness.

True, this side's squad leaders were proper pinnacle-level fist-fighters themselves, and the average rank-and-file was presumably superior — so if they actually clashed, victory might somehow be seized.

But then the hundred-strong — no, ninety-four-strong — Black Net Unit would have less than a quarter of its number remaining. That much was self-evident.

On top of that, there was the added bonus of forming an enmity with the Sun and Moon Gate, whose relentlessness and viciousness were infamous.

Yet swallowing this insult meekly after being struck first was a deeply humiliating thing for any martial artist.

As the Captain agonized between the stain on the family's name and the tangible losses that would follow, the two Vice Captains offered a realistic alternative in low voices.

"Shaolin is on its way."

"No matter how bold the Sun and Moon Gate may be, they cannot commit atrocities against Shaolin. You know this as well as anyone, Captain."

"This is not fleeing out of fear."

"Please think of the lives of your subordinates — of the lives of your clansmen, Captain."

Cold counsel that forced him to swallow his fury.

Just as the Captain's teetering reason was beginning to regain its footing —

BOOM—!

"?!"

"What is the meaning of this?! You— you lot are...!"

Without warning, the inn's large front doors exploded outward in their entirety, and a rush of searing heat flooded inside.

The Black Net members sprang from their seats in shock at the sudden upheaval.

And before them, the perpetrator of this disturbance strode forward with brazen, unhurried steps.

A black martial arts uniform with a red sun and a white full moon emblazoned on the right and left breast respectively.

It was the Sun and Moon Garb — said to be permitted only to those of the Sun and Moon Gate who had attained a rank of combat member or above.

Among them, the black garb marked the lowest tier: the rank-and-file combat unit.

"The nerve of this insolent cur!"

Just as the Captain, recognizing this at once, bared his teeth savagely —

The Infernal King Unit member who had come alone and wrought this havoc began speaking in a low, sunken voice.

"Not content with meddling in our sect's affairs without knowing your place, you have gone so far as to harm our sect's disciples. Are you prepared to pay for that crime?"

"Wh-what?! You lunatic! It was your lot who attacked our family's innocent kinsmen first! Where do you get off spewing this horseshit?!"

"Hmph. I expected you would deny it."

"What did you say?!"

"Must I spell it out? The grudge between our sides is clear, so there is no recourse but to settle it the way of the martial world."

"You...!"

"If you are afraid, then kneel and beg forgiveness here and now. In which case, this squad leader may, at his discretion, forgive you — just this once."

"You impudent bastard!"

BOOM—!

At last, the fury he had been pressing down erupted like a volcano, and a fearsome killing intent surged from every inch of the Black Net Unit Captain's body.

"Fine then! I'll slaughter every last one of you on the spot! Starting with you!"

"Cap—!"

"Captain!"

Before the two Vice Captains could even seize his collar —

BOOOM—!

WHOOSH—!

The Captain's ambush-like punch and the answering clash of yang-dominant martial arts collided.

The impact of two pinnacle masters at the height of their powers began to shake the inn to its foundations.

***

BOOOM—!

WHOOSH—!

The inn in the midst of an uproarious brawl.

The Sun and Moon Gate contingent, already vacating the Yul estate and moving in that direction, was also rushing over at full speed — when,

"It's done."

Yul Hwi, who had been hiding not far away with his presence and breathing suppressed to their bare minimum, watched the four-story inn crumble moment by moment, then turned his back without the slightest lingering attachment.

What he had set out to achieve was more than accomplished.

'One Infernal King Unit squad, plus around fifty first-rate fighters who haven't yet manifested elemental martial arts.'

Thanks to this utterly insignificant body, he had been able to assess the Sun and Moon Gate's fighting strength from a safe distance without drawing suspicion. In his mind, he placed the Black Net Unit and the Sun and Moon Gate forces side by side on a scale and began a meticulous comparison.

A single conclusion was swiftly reached.

'The Black Net Unit will win.'

Of course, they would have fewer than twenty survivors.

But that was none of his concern.

The immediate objective of sparking a conflict between the Sun and Moon Gate and the Jinju Eon Family had been achieved.

'They'll know a single family won't suffice, so the nearest force — Shaolin — will have sent troops as well.'

Those troops would then station themselves in Taewon in place of the decimated Black Net Unit, working to fend off the Sun and Moon Gate's covert maneuvers when they inevitably targeted this place again.

Of course, they would have no way of knowing that the Gate's true target was himself — possessor of the Nine Yin Severed Meridians, among the rarest of all severed meridian conditions.

"There! Over there!"

"Move it, you lot!"

Clamor, clamor!

Bustle, bustle!

Just as Yul Hwi was ambling leisurely toward the edge of the main road to avoid suspicion —

A band of people came charging past him in a rush toward the inn.

'The Beggars' Sect.'

Judging by the one or two knots each wore dangling from the waist, they appeared to be beggars belonging to the local Taewon branch.

Since the Beggars' Sect was itself part of the Martial Alliance, it was not particularly odd for them to jump into a sudden battle and lend a hand to the Jinju Eon Family.

Whether a branch hall's handful of beggars — from a sect that prioritized intelligence over combat — could be of any real help, however, was another question entirely.

'Still, it might reduce the Jinju Eon Family's losses a little.'

Not that it was any of his concern either.

Plod. Plod.

With his tangled hair hanging loose over both eyes, Yul Hwi gradually drifted away from the unfamiliar territory of Taewon.

Having laid a solid obstacle in the path of the Sun and Moon Gate's pursuit, it was now time to hurry to the Mt. Yeo safe house and focus on recovering his martial prowess.

'Five years at the most.'

His projected goal was to recover seventy percent of his former martial prowess.

Normally, this would have required a number of high-grade medicinal elixirs.

But Yul Hwi was not the least bit worried about that.

An inexhaustible, bone-chilling cold qi was already overflowing endlessly within his body like a bottomless spring.

And in such crushing excess that a single moment of carelessness could cost him his very life.