Chapter 152

As befitting the greatest city in Sichuan Province, Chengdu was enormous.

Just as many people lived there, and its streets were as complex as a maze. For that reason, it was common for first-time visitors to Chengdu to get lost and wander.

Furthermore, having suffered several calamities in recent times, many streets had been burned down or had collapsed. Fortunately, they had been restored over time, but their appearance was now completely different from before.

People who returned to Chengdu after a long time often lost their sense of direction and wandered, confused by the completely changed look of the streets.

Tae Yongha was one of them.

He had been to Chengdu once before, over a decade ago.

He thought he had completely memorized the city’s geography back then, but upon actually entering Chengdu, he couldn’t hide his bewilderment at how much it had changed.

Tae Yongha moved his feet, looking around.

“All the information I’ve gathered until now will be useless.”

He had faked his death to enter Chengdu secretly.

After staging a fall into the river, he had held his breath underwater for more than a quarter of a shichen before reaching the riverbank.

He stripped off all the clothes he had been wearing, changed into new ones he had prepared in advance, and then entered Chengdu.

He changed his face and completely altered his aura.

Right now, he was not the naive, youngest porter of the Black Tortoise Merchant Group, but a scholar.

His real name was Baekrok.

Tae Yongha was merely an alias he had used with the Black Tortoise Merchant Group. He had dozens of such aliases.

He never used an alias more than once. So, the name Tae Yongha would never be used again.

Baekrok was an assassin.

He didn’t take on trivial killings that paid a pittance.

The requests he accepted were mostly dangerous missions that paid a fortune. His skills were that outstanding.

Originally, his sphere of activity was the coastal area in the eastern part of the Jianghu.

Regions like Shandong, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang, the complete opposite of Sichuan, were his main stage.

Only once, during his clueless fledgling days, had he undertaken a request in Sichuan Province. He had suffered so much then that he never accepted a request from the Sichuan area again.

The reason he had come to Sichuan was, of course, because he had received a request. Moreover, it was a request from someone he could absolutely not refuse, so he had no choice.

Following the Black Tortoise Merchant Group into Sichuan had been a wise choice. Thanks to them, he had comfortably tagged along with the merchant group and successfully completed his request.

He used poison to fake a Qi Deviation.

No one suspected him. But Baekrok never let his guard down.

He knew that no matter how perfect a plan was, there were bound to be flaws, and that unexpected, sudden variables often occurred in the world.

Sometimes, a small variable he hadn’t even paid attention to would ruin a plan entirely. Baekrok did not want that to happen.

So he faked Tae Yongha’s death and changed his face.

It was to completely eliminate even the slightest potential variable.

Baekrok strolled through the streets of Chengdu, taking in the scenery.

On the surface, it looked like a scholar leisurely enjoying the view, but in reality, he was meticulously memorizing the terrain and features.

Just because he hadn’t been discovered so far didn’t guarantee his movements wouldn’t be discovered in the future.

For that reason, Baekrok always perfectly familiarized himself with the terrain before an assassination. Only then could he secure a safe retreat path.

Especially in a complex city like Chengdu, securing a safe and certain retreat path was crucial.

As Baekrok walked the streets, he mapped out retreat paths in his head and familiarized himself with the atmosphere.

The atmosphere was particularly important.

Because his own aura had to change depending on the atmosphere of the street.

He had to blend into the street.

If he seemed out of place, other people would notice.

It was important to make people not even register his presence.

To do that, he had to blend in completely with the street.

The reason Baekrok was dressed as a scholar was for the same reason.

‘This is a place where people live who, while not extremely wealthy, earn an above-average income. No one will think it strange for a scholar to pass by.’

It was then.

“Post one man over here.”

“Yes!”

A group of men appeared on one side of the street.

The one who appeared to be the leader had a subordinate stand on one side of the street.

Baekrok recognized their identity at a glance.

‘The Hao Clan?’

The members of the Hao Clan had a unique aura about them.

Although their clothes were shabby and their martial prowess was weak, making them not much of a threat, many of them possessed excellent powers of observation.

The Hao Clan member standing on the street he was passing through was no different.

On the surface, he looked ordinary and his clothes were shabby, but his gaze was quite sharp. He stood on one side of the street, secretly observing the passersby.

The problem was the place where he was standing.

It was the best location to observe everyone passing by in the vicinity at a glance.

Anyone who passed through this street was bound to be noticed by the Hao Clan member.

‘What is this?’

Baekrok intuitively sensed that something was wrong.

The Hao Clan members were moving in droves, posting people to watch over key points in Chengdu.

‘Could it be that the branch manager’s death has already been discovered? Even so, this is too fast.’

He had killed the Chengdu branch manager after getting the information he wanted.

He had checked the Chengdu branch manager’s schedule, so he thought he could buy at least two days’ time. Even if the death was discovered sooner than that, it wouldn’t have mattered. He had disguised it as a natural death from overwork.

He had thoroughly erased his traces, so he thought no one would know that the Chengdu branch manager had been murdered.

But seeing the Hao Clan members’ reaction now, it was clear they thought the branch manager had been assassinated.

‘What happened?’

Baekrok furrowed his brow.

He had definitely hidden his tracks thoroughly.

With the abilities of the Hao Clan members, they could never have found out what he had done. For them to be moving like this, it was clear that some external force was at play.

‘Someone has intervened.’

Baekrok felt a strong sense of crisis.

When you work as an assassin for a long time, you develop a unique intuition, but this was the first time he had felt such an intense sense of crisis.

It felt as if the Hao Clan’s movements were not simply of their own will, but were being instigated by someone.

There was definitely the intervention of an unseen hand.

Baekrok struggled to maintain a calm expression.

If he showed any emotional turmoil here, the Hao Clan members would surely find it strange.

He walked on nonchalantly.

Hao Clan members were visible all over the streets.

‘I have to hurry.’

Originally, he had planned to take his time and carry out the assassination with certainty. But the situation had changed.

If the situation changed, the plan had to change as well.

The information he had gathered so far also had to be reviewed from scratch.

Baekrok hurried back to his lodging.

His lodging was an inn in Chengdu.

If he had his way, he would have wanted to secure a much safer safe house, but it wasn’t easy to find one in this distant place without a single helper. In fact, he could expose his tracks while trying to secure a safe house.

For now, using an inn was the best option.

Baekrok holed up in his room and checked his tools.

He mainly used poison, but that didn’t mean his martial arts were weak. He primarily used a thin sword about the length of a child’s forearm.

It was only half the length of a normal sword and so slender it resembled a skewer, but if it pierced a vital point, it caused a massive amount of bleeding, leading to instant death.

However, the traces it left were too obvious, so he usually refrained from using it.

Besides that, he packed hidden weapons, flying daggers, and other items needed for emergencies.

The last thing he packed was poison.

It was a deadly poison that would cause instant death with just a single drop.

It was a special preparation because the client wanted a certain death.

There were many other poisons he had prepared.

From a poison that paralyzed the heart to fake a natural death, to a poison that produced effects similar to Qi Deviation.

He transferred all those poisons into separate containers and put them inside his robes.

Because he wore clothes with ample room in the chest, people wouldn’t know he was carrying so many weapons and poisons.

Breaking the stereotype that assassins usually wore black martial arts uniforms, he was wearing a flamboyant, colorful robe.

On the outside, he just looked like a rich, vulgar upstart.

‘They would never in a million years suspect that a person dressed in such flashy clothes is an assassin.’

People had preconceived notions.

Wrong prejudices, like that a person in fine clothes must have been raised in comfort, and a person in shabby clothes must do hard labor.

Naturally, they would think an assassin would wear a black martial arts uniform and only move through gloomy places out of people’s sight.

Baekrok was exploiting that loophole in people’s psychology.

There were still Hao Clan members on the streets.

Ordinary people didn’t even notice their presence, but to Baekrok’s eyes, they were clearly distinguishable.

After walking for a good while, Baekrok arrived at a shabby street on the outskirts of Chengdu.

It was far from the city center, and as it was late at night, there were almost no people on the street.

‘Perfect!’

Baekrok thought it was a blessing in disguise.

If this place had also been crawling with Hao Clan members, he would have had to reconsider carrying out the assassination tonight.

Baekrok looked at the place where his assassination target was.

Although it was late at night, the target was still working.

Bright light was leaking from beyond the window, and occasionally, people were seen entering and then leaving.

The fact that people’s footsteps didn’t cease even late at night was proof that business was booming. But no matter how well business was doing, they couldn’t stay open forever.

Eventually, the shop would close, and the assassination target would go to bed.

‘Half a shichen to one shichen at most.’

It was already late at night.

No matter how good business was, they couldn’t possibly operate for longer than that.

Baekrok waited patiently.

Indeed, after about half a shichen, the customers stopped coming. And the shop’s lights went out.

Still, Baekrok did not move right away.

He waited patiently until he could no longer feel the presence of anyone moving inside the shop.

‘Now.’

Baekrok once again confirmed that there was no one around and launched his body.

He landed on the roof without a sound, like a cat.

He placed his hand on the roof.

The roof tiles were warm.

They had absorbed so much heat that it was enough to burn his palm. Still, Baekrok didn’t even frown as he removed the tiles to create a space to enter the shop.

Baekrok slid into the shop like a snake.

The inside of the shop was sweltering.

It wasn’t just a figure of speech; the air was genuinely heated.

The cause was the furnace in the middle of the shop.

Business was over, but the fire in the furnace was still burning.

This was no ordinary shop.

The shop was a workshop.

Weapons made by hand hung on the walls, and a half-hammered piece of metal and a hammer lay scattered on a workbench.

Baekrok briefly looked around the inside of the workshop before moving deeper in.

Inside the workshop, there was a small back room. He had determined that the assassination target rarely went out and lived in this back room.

Baekrok opened the door to the back room without a sound.

Someone was lying inside the back room.

Sleeping with an arm covering his eyes, he looked utterly exhausted.

Shing!

Baekrok drew the thin sword from his robes.

The misshapen thin sword touched the workshop owner’s neck.

Startled by the cold sensation on his neck, the workshop owner’s eyes flew open.

At that moment, Baekrok spoke.

“Tang Sochu! That’s you, right?”

“Who are you?”

“The one who has come to take your life.”

“An… assassin, I see.”

The workshop owner slowly sat up.

He was none other than Tang Sochu.

Tang Sochu looked at Baekrok without a single sign of surprise.

“An assassin is after my life. What an honor! It must mean I’m worth that much.”

“Hand over the Tang Clan’s Secret Transmission. Tang Sochu!”

“Secret Transmission?”

“Yes! I know you inherited the Tang Clan’s Secret Transmission. Hand it over, and I’ll give you a painless death.”

“The Secret Transmission…”

Tang Sochu furrowed his brow.

Only then did he understand why the assassin had come for him. Someone who coveted the Tang Clan’s Secret Transmission had put out a request.

The problem was that he didn’t know who coveted the Tang Clan’s Secret Transmission.

The Tang Clan’s Secret Transmission was Not Passed to Outsiders, so it could not be carelessly passed on to others.

Tang Sochu asked.

“Who is the client?”

“You are not permitted to ask questions.”

Baekrok put strength into the thin sword. The sharp tip of the blade dug into Tang Sochu’s neck.

Even as blood trickled down, Tang Sochu did not panic and looked at Baekrok.

At Tang Sochu’s attitude, Baekrok felt that something was strange.

Tang Sochu was too calm.

It was not an attitude someone who had just encountered an assassin could take.

At least among the people whose lives Baekrok had taken until now, not a single one had shown such an attitude.

A sense of foreboding washed over him.

This kind of premonition had never once been wrong.

“Damn it!”

Baekrok thrust the thin sword with all his might.

The Tang Clan’s Secret Transmission was secondary anyway. It would be nice if he could get it, but it didn’t matter if he couldn’t.

The important thing was to take Tang Sochu’s life.

Twang!

“Kuk!”

At that moment, Baekrok’s body was suddenly yanked up toward the ceiling. Because of that, the thin sword missed piercing Tang Sochu’s neck and went astray.

Hanging upside down, Baekrok looked at his feet.

A silver thread, so thin it was hard to distinguish with the naked eye, was wrapped around his ankle.

‘What the?’

Baekrok’s eyes widened.

As he hung upside down, Tang Sochu’s grumbling voice reached his ears.

“You could’ve moved a little faster. I really thought I was going to die.”

Thud.

At that moment, someone emerged from the darkness.