Chapter 41

Chapter 41

“Stay close behind me. There are more of them than expected.”

No sooner had Uncheon’s cold warning fallen than black shadows surged in.

They were the assassins of Venom Fang Hall, secretly raised by the Sagal Muk Family.

They were not martial artists who matched momentum head-on from the front.

They were a professional group of assassins who erased their footsteps, hid their breathing, and killed through poison and coordination.

Judging by frontal martial prowess alone, they might not have reached the regular forces of the Twelve Guardian Families, but the story changed the moment they completed an encirclement on a forest path like this.

Moreover, at the tips of the lusterless swords they held, a virulent poison that rotted flesh with the slightest graze had gathered in a vivid blue.

Baek Rihyeon’s face turned white.

“Let’s fall back to the Inner Archive for now! Senior Cheon Gyeon is there!”

Baek Rihyeon shouted, his face ashen, but Uncheon did not retreat a single step.

All four sides were blocked by blades of deadly poison, so there was not even anywhere to withdraw carelessly.

“If you show them your back, you die first.”

Uncheon’s answer was cold.

There was no opening to run.

Then he would reduce their numbers first.

Uncheon’s hand seemed to brush past his waist.

WHIZZ, WHIZZ, WHIZZ—!

Flashes burst.

What shot from Uncheon’s hand were the flying daggers Yajin had gifted him.

The ultimate technique of the Shadowless Killing Sect, Soul-Severing Dagger.

“Dodge!”

A death cry filled with shock tore through the forest’s silence.

“Wh... what!”

SQUELCH! SQUELCH! THUD!

The three assassins charging at the very front toppled over at the same time.

“Keuk!”

“Kheok...!”

The black shadows that had been leaping from all directions with swords of deadly poison raised high buckled and fell like puppets with their strings cut.

Between the brows, the philtrum, and the heart.

Soul-Severing Dagger had pierced only the assassins’ vital points with precision.

Godlike speed that allowed no time to defend and no chance to dodge.

The assassins who crashed into the ground could not rise again.

Instant death.

Strangely, no blood flowed from where the flying daggers were lodged.

The Internal Energy Uncheon had loaded into the flying daggers.

Because the Yin-Cold Qi had frozen their blood.

“Wh-what is this...?”

“J-just now?”

“What... what happened?”

The information had clearly said that he suffered from Severed Meridian Affliction, leaving his body empty of Internal Energy.

It had said he was merely skilled in close-quarters combat and footwork.

Yet he had dispatched three assassins approaching the First Rate level in an instant with only a few flying daggers.

As their comrades collapsed in the blink of an eye, the momentum of the assassins following behind faltered.

“Keugh...!”

The leader of Venom Fang Hall barely managed to raise his sword and knock aside the flying dagger that came at him, but the heavy impact transmitted through the blade forced him to retreat several steps.

His grip tingled as if it were about to tear apart.

“Do not stop! Maintain the encirclement!”

The leader’s pupils shook violently as he gritted his teeth.

“Flying Dagger Art? How can a bastard without Internal Energy...!”

But Uncheon did not miss the split-second opening when the assassins hesitated.

SHING—.

With a cold metallic sound, the saber he had not drawn even once until now finally left its Saber Case.

Uncheon’s form stepped into Shadowless Step and dug into the assassins’ reach.

“Block him!”

The assassins hurriedly tried to raise their swords in defense.

But as though mocking their expectations, Uncheon’s saber dug in along a bizarre trajectory.

SLASH—!

Every time Uncheon’s saber flashed, space was cut away.

Wherever the blade passed, flesh and blood froze while tangled together.

At that strange and terrifying sight, the leader’s eyes widened as if they would split apart.

It was different from the information he had obtained by spending a great sum to recruit someone.

“What! I was told he was a close-combat fighter who used Leg Arts and Iron Weights!”

The bastard was no close-combat fighter.

Uncheon’s saber flashed once more.

SLASH—!

Frost formed wherever the blade passed, and flesh and blood froze solid.

Cold sweat flowed down the leader’s spine.

“What... what kind of saber art is that?”

It was neither tyrannical like the saber arts of the Demonic Cult, nor upright like the saber arts of the Orthodox Faction.

It was excessively savage and excessively cold.

A dreadful swift saber that seemed as though it would sever even the soul.

In the leader’s eyes, it looked only like a blade whose identity he could not discern.

Gonryun’s taboo, Life-Taking Saber.

The Yin-Cold Qi of the Limitless Iceheart Formula had been laid over a saber art that was already dense with killing intent.

As a result, a sharp, cold, swift saber had been completed.

“I chose well after all.”

The burly man watching Uncheon’s performance twisted the corners of his mouth upward beneath his mask.

“The side I should stand in line for is that bastard’s!”

At that moment, the leader glared at the burly man beside him with bloodshot eyes.

“You rat bastard! The information you sold us at such a high price was all fake! You led us into a trap!”

At that, Ma Chung gave a faint snort of derision beneath his mask.

“I did not know either... that the brat would be this much....”

In that voice, along with deep bewilderment, there was even a strange joy mixed in.

At that attitude, the leader’s blood surged backward.

This was Venom Fang Hall, equipped with poison, Hidden Weapons, and coordination.

He had believed they could even take down a Peak Realm master.

Yet everything had gone wrong from the first exchange.

The Hidden Weapons, the saber, and the Internal Energy were all outside the information.

“Y-you...! Do you think answering like that will be the end of it? I will kill you with my own hands...!”

But before he could finish speaking, the battle situation changed abruptly.

“Aaaagh!”

“Hall Master! The formation is collapsing!”

The assassins of Venom Fang Hall were falling like autumn leaves in a gale.

Cold sweat flowed down the leader’s spine.

“This is wrong. At this rate, we will be annihilated.”

One thought flashed through the leader’s mind like lightning.

“I have to survive, even if it is only me.”

It did not matter if the others died.

Assassins were expendables by nature, and they had been trained so that no trace of the Sagal Muk Family would remain.

But he was a direct blood relative of the Sagal Muk Family.

If he were captured, the entire family would inevitably take a blow.

“This is not for my own sake! It is solely for the main family...!”

The leader hardened his heart and shouted.

“Cut him down with the resolve to die with him! A single move is enough!”

The order was absolute.

The assassins, prepared to die, raised their poison-coated swords and charged at Uncheon.

Using the opening created when Uncheon’s gaze turned to them, the leader threw himself away without even looking back.

“I am sorry. Die for the Sagal Muk Family!”

It was the very instant he tried to hide himself in the forest.

CRASH—!

A sudden impact slammed into his side.

“Kheok!”

The leader screamed and rolled across the ground.

When he barely managed to raise his head, the one blocking him was none other than the burly man.

“You... you bastard. As if the information being wrong was not enough, what the hell are you doing?”

At the leader’s shout, the man slowly tore off his mask and threw it away.

The face revealed beneath it was Head Instructor Ma Chung, wearing a fishy sneer.

“Did you think this Ma Chung would fall for that paltry serpent’s tongue?”

Ma Chung growled as he put strength into his thick thighs.

“This Ma Chung, who witnessed that monster of a bastard’s talent closer than anyone?”

Uncheon was far too large and attractive an investment to sell off for a few gold coins.

“You... you betrayed us!”

“Betrayed you? Speak properly. I was never on your side in the first place.”

Ma Chung smiled with a fishy curl of his lips.

“I bet on him from the start.”

“Y-you...! You side with that bastard even after suffering the humiliation of having your identification tag taken by a mere cadet, despite being a Head Instructor?”

“Humiliation?”

Ma Chung lashed out with Blood Wind Leg.

“It did make me angry. But it did not blind me.”

Ma Chung gave a faint laugh and surged toward the leader.

Blood Wind Leg exploded, completely blocking the leader’s retreat.

“Hall Master! Your order...! The encirclement is being pierced!”

Every time the leader’s fist extended, Ma Chung’s shoulder and side burst open.

From the beginning, Ma Chung had no intention of winning.

If he could not block, he took the hit; even after being struck, he hooked an arm around him and blocked the escape route first.

All he had to do was hold him there.

“Y-you! Stop being a nuisance!”

The leader swung his fists in agitation, but Ma Chung received them with his body as though he meant to give flesh and take bone, clinging to him tenaciously.

“Is the fist of the Sagal Muk Family only this much? It seems worse than my Leg Arts.”

He even added provocation.

Ma Chung needled him, dragging out the time.

By contrast, the Venom Fang Hall Master was growing desperate.

From time to time, stifled groans reached his ears.

They were the sounds of the assassins he had personally raised dying.

They had been trained not to scream even before death.

“My Venom Fang Hall...! We are an organization capable of executing a target even if the opponent is a Peak Realm master!”

The Hall Master had no lingering attachment to the assassins’ deaths themselves.

After all, assassins were raised precisely to be used that way.

The only problem was that even though the assassins’ encirclement was collapsing, he still had not been able to withdraw.

Uncheon did not miss that sign.

“Fools. Cast-off hunting dogs are lunging in without even knowing they have been cast aside.”

SLICE.

Uncheon coldly rebuked them while cutting off the arm of an assassin charging at him.

“What do you mean...?!”

“Look at the state of the one who sent you in. If he intended to take responsibility, he would not have come at me wearing a mask in the first place.”

“What...! Th-that cannot be!”

Uncheon’s words planted seeds of doubt in the assassins’ hearts.

When they glanced back, what they saw there was the unsightly figure of their leader, caught by the ankle by Ma Chung while trying to flee.

A commander who had driven them into death and was fleeing to save only himself.

For an instant, the assassins’ movements faltered.

“You still cannot judge after seeing your leader trying to flee? If you voluntarily throw down your weapons now and confess everything, I will spare your lives at least.”

“How can we trust your word!”

One assassin shouted back in desperation.

Uncheon flicked the blood from his saber and shrugged.

“You don’t have to trust me. The one who knows the most would be that fleeing leader over there anyway, not you.”

Those words were sharper than a dagger.

It was a declaration that they were ultimately nothing but expendables.

Uncheon held up two fingers.

“Exactly two.”

“......!”

“That is enough for me. I only need people to cross-check that leader’s words. There would be no reason to keep the rest alive.”

In an instant, a strange rift spread among the assassins.

Some clenched their teeth and gripped their swords more tightly, while others looked back with wavering eyes.

“Do not be deceived! If you fall for that bastard’s words, we all die!”

One assassin screamed and charged.

SLICE.

Uncheon’s saber flashed once, and the bastard’s neck twisted feebly.

SQUELCH.

Almost at the same time, another bastard gritted his teeth and tried to take a poisoned needle from his sleeve and push it under his own tongue.

“Insane...!”

Baek Rihyeon reflexively threw his Judge’s Brush, and the end of the brush shaft pierced the bastard’s hand.

The poisoned needle fell to the ground.

The complexions of the remaining assassins who saw that scene turned deathly pale.

If they fought to the end, they would die.

Suicide was not easy either.

Nor did they have a leader left to follow.

Only then.

CLANG!

One bastard finally threw away his blade.

“I... I would rather confess and live than be thrown away as an expendable...!”

“You stupid—!”

The assassin beside him immediately cursed and lunged, but Uncheon’s flying dagger pierced his throat first.

THUD!

Silence.

Only then did the second blade fall.

CLANG.

CLANG.

Some still gritted their teeth to the end.

Some rolled their eyes, searching for a way to live.

Some finally lowered their heads.

But the rift that had already spread among the assassins could no longer be mended.

The encirclement of Venom Fang Hall collapsed before their blades did.

Uncheon watched that sight impassively, then called Baek Rihyeon, who was standing there in a daze.

“Baek Rihyeon.”

“Uh... huh? No, yes, sir?”

Baek Rihyeon was half out of his senses.

He was overwhelmed by the sight of Uncheon, whom he had thought was only a patient with Severed Meridian Affliction, slaughtering assassins and dominating the situation.

“What are you doing? Seal their acupoints and subdue them completely.”

“O... okay... sir!”

Baek Rihyeon hurriedly pulled out his Judge’s Brush and ran toward the assassins.

Meanwhile, the leader, who had been caught by Ma Chung and forced to watch all of this, had bloodshot eyes.

“Y-you bastards! I ordered you to cut him down with the resolve to die with him, and instead you surrender?!”

His fury and impatience reached their peak, and he aimed for an opening in Ma Chung, who was clinging to him, then unleashed a heavy Palm Strike with all his strength.

BOOM!

“Keugh! Ptui!”

Ma Chung, who had suffered internal injuries, spat out blood.

Using that opening, the leader shook Ma Chung off and threw himself into the forest.

“I have to live! I have to live and inform the family...!”

Just as he was about to slip into the darkness in relief, a hand imbued with cold killing intent suddenly jutted out from the dark.

CLAMP.

Something radiating cold killing intent was pressed against the leader’s throat.

“That is as far as you go.”

A low, dry voice.

Blood ran down from the torn edge of his neck.

Before the leader had any chance to resist, a tremendous Internal Energy struck his carotid artery.

“Kek...!”

Unable even to scream, the leader fainted on the spot and crumpled.

Ma Chung approached while clutching his chest and panting harshly.

“Damn it, one step later and we would have lost him.”

The one who emerged from the darkness was Senior Head Instructor Yajin, dressed in a pitch-black martial arts uniform.

He kicked the fallen leader lightly, as if kicking a piece of luggage, and gave Ma Chung a faint smile.

“Can you not even eat when the table is set for you?”

“Y-you...! Uncheon will recognize my contribution!”

Ma Chung panted in frustration, then immediately changed his expression and shouted toward Uncheon triumphantly.

“Uncheon! Over here!”

Uncheon slowly approached them.

Even though Ma Chung had suffered internal injuries, he paid them no mind and was busy boasting about his own contribution.

“Look here, Uncheon. You do know that my contribution in holding down the leader this time was great, yes?”

Uncheon sheathed his bloodied saber and nodded.

“Of course. Thanks to you holding him back, Head Instructor, things were easier.”

At that moment, the man stepping on the fallen leader cut in with a deliberately solemn expression.

“Heh heh... However, don’t forget that in the end, I was the one who captured the leader. Without the skills of the Shadowless Killing Sect, he would have escaped.”

Uncheon’s gaze turned toward the man.

“Need you even say it, Senior Head Instructor Yajin?”

Standing beside Ma Chung was none other than Senior Head Instructor Yajin.

The two Head Instructors were looking at Uncheon while keeping each other in check.

Uncheon looked at them and smiled bitterly inwardly.

“...I set two traps, and they worked too well. That is the problem.”

The Sagal Muk Family, unaware that they were digging their own grave, had tried to buy off Head Instructor Ma Chung.

Thanks to that, Uncheon had easily planted an inside agent within their ranks and grasped the unfolding situation in advance.

All that remained now was to punish the one behind this incident.

Uncheon’s gaze fixed on the unconscious leader.

“Let us go together to the Demonic Martial Hall Master’s office.”

Ma Chung and Yajin looked at each other as though puzzled, but Uncheon’s expression was filled with certainty.

“We will make him kneel before the Hall Master, then strike the Sagal Muk Family.”

Uncheon’s eyes sank coldly.

“With the blade called the Inspectorate.”