Chapter 100

Sa Hyokyung had ambition.

Like any man, he dreamed of reigning over All Under Heaven. Since he only lived once, he dreamed of reaching the pinnacle of Jianghu.

But contrary to his ambition, reality was harsh.

In Jianghu, the Two Powerhouses (I-gang), Three Clans (Sam-mun), Three Hegemons (Sam-pae), and Three Manors (Sam-jang) had already firmly established their system, and absolute Experts called the Three Venerables (Sam-jon) roamed freely.

There was no place for the Seven Stars Hall to squeeze in.

They had barely managed to establish themselves in Hunan Province and make a name for themselves, but the limits of the Seven Stars Hall were clear.

Each individual member of the Seven Stars Hall was certainly an Expert, but they had not reached a level where they could command the Jianghu.

Sa Hyokyung possessed a martial prowess that overwhelmed the other six, but he was not Unrivaled enough to look down upon All Under Heaven by himself like the Three Venerables.

He didn’t have strong leadership, nor did he have the ability to mobilize massive funds.

Because of these limitations, even while gaining fame, the Seven Stars Hall could not gather forces and had no choice but to aim to be a small, elite group.

Sa Hyokyung was always dissatisfied with that. But reality was cruel, so he had no choice but to endure and wait for an opportunity. And then, like a lie, a great opportunity came.

If he captured Nam Shin-woo and brought him to the client, he could gain enormous financial profit and both tangible and intangible help.

It was the opportunity Sa Hyokyung had so desperately wanted. That was why he had to capture Nam Shin-woo.

“Drive him to the northern slums. If you lose him again, you’ll all die by my hand.”

Sa Hyokyung glared, giving orders to his younger brothers.

“He’s already injured. He won’t get far.”

As Jo Samcheok spoke triumphantly, Sa Hyokyung’s face crumpled like a piece of paper.

“You injured him and still let him get away?”

“Who knew that blacksmith bastard would cling on so tenaciously? Hmph!”

“A blacksmith?”

“Yes! That young punk was hiding in a workshop.”

“Is that so? Why was a young kid hiding in a workshop?”

“It just seemed like a coincidence. Captain, you don’t need to worry about it.”

“You cleaned up properly so no problems would arise, right?”

“Don’t worry, Captain! There won’t be any problems.”

Although Jo Samcheok’s answer was not entirely trustworthy, Sa Hyokyung paid it no more mind.

Now was the time to focus on catching Nam Shin-woo.

Despite being quite deeply wounded, Nam Shin-woo was dodging the Seven Stars Hall’s pursuit like a rat.

‘Tsk! If only I could have gotten help from the Hao Clan, I would have caught him long ago.’

Sa Hyokyung clicked his tongue.

If this were Hunan Province, which could be called the Seven Stars Hall’s own backyard, he would have acted boldly without worrying about this and that. He was confident he could handle any problem that arose there.

But this was Sichuan Province.

He had no connections here, so there was not a single person to help him if a problem occurred.

Sichuan Province was renowned for being the most wary of outsiders in All Under Heaven. In fact, the Sichuan Murim had its own independent system, leaving no room for outsiders to interfere.

Because of that, the Seven Stars Hall felt an immense burden staying here for long.

‘I have to catch him quickly and get out of this place. If I drag this out, who knows what kind of shitflies will catch the scent and swarm in.’

However, contrary to his thoughts, Nam Shin-woo was not easily caught.

Nam Shin-woo evaded the Seven Stars Hall’s pursuit with an almost beast-like instinct. He was giving the Seven Stars Hall a hard time by displaying a sense that was close to precognition and exquisitely using the maze-like structure of the slums.

Yo Seol-yeong brushed back her disheveled hair and muttered.

“Ah! So annoying. What is this? I look a mess…”

Her clothes were dirty here and there from chasing Nam Shin-woo, and beads of sweat had formed on her forehead.

What troubled her the most was the unique stench of the slums.

Killing intent formed in Yo Seol-yeong’s eyes.

“You rat-like bastard! Just you wait until I catch you. This Noona won’t let you off easy.”

She raised her Internal Energy and expanded her Qi Sense.

She was currently in the slums on the outskirts of Chengdu.

Due to the slums’ unique ant-hill-like structure, it was difficult to detect Nam Shin-woo through normal means.

It was also impossible to ask for cooperation from the people living in the slums.

“It’s always the poor ones who are so damn guarded.”

Yo Seol-yeong’s killing intent intensified.

Expanding her Qi Sense had captured too many movements, which only served as a distraction.

“Ah! So annoying.”

It was when Yo Seol-yeong was grumbling and taking a step.

Suddenly, a few men blocked her path.

Their shabby clothes, dirty faces from not washing for days, and even their stench were dreadful.

They were the men who lived in the slums.

“Heh heh!”

“What brings such a pretty Miss to such a humble place?”

“Why else? She must be here to comfort us poor souls, right?”

The men’s eyes, looking at Yo Seol-yeong, were filled with desire.

Yo Seol-yeong knew very well what that gaze meant.

“I must look a mess for all sorts of bugs to be crawling over. This Noona is busy right now, so you’d better get lost.”

“Ooh! How scary.”

“Should a pretty face like yours be saying such vulgar things? It seems these Elders will have to teach you a lesson.”

The men of the slums chattered on, not knowing their place.

Their eyes were persistently scanning Yo Seol-yeong’s voluptuous body.

Seeing a woman of Yo Seol-yeong’s beauty in the slums was next to impossible. Most people didn’t even approach the slums in the first place.

If this had been anywhere other than the slums, the men wouldn’t have dared to even approach Yo Seol-yeong. But this was the slums.

No one would know if a woman went missing.

Yo Seol-yeong’s arrogant attitude was unsettling, but the men, already blinded by desire, had no room to think deeply about this and that.

They were at the bottom of the barrel anyway, so there was nothing to be afraid of.

“Heh heh!”

“Pretty Miss. Please bestow your grace upon us too.”

“My, you look so tender. I could swallow you in one bite and you wouldn’t even smell fishy.”

The men approached Yo Seol-yeong, exchanging lewd jokes.

Yo Seol-yeong wore a dumbfounded expression.

She truly never imagined she would face such a situation in this distant land of Sichuan.

Her face flushed red. Her appearance made the men’s bodies burn even hotter.

“Heh heh! She’s already getting hot.”

“I’m already hard.”

“Let’s burn it up hot.”

The men’s words became the fuse.

“Burn it up, you say? Fine! I’ll burn you all.”

A Frenzied Gleam erupted from Yo Seol-yeong’s eyes.

The men flinched for a moment.

Only then did they realize that Yo Seol-yeong was no ordinary person. A common woman wouldn’t have fearlessly entered the slums alone. But their realization came too late.

Swoosh!

When Yo Seol-yeong waved her hand, a red current of air rose and swept over the men.

The red current turned into crimson flames upon touching the men’s bodies.

Fwoosh!

“Kuaaack!”

“Sa-save me!”

The men rolled frantically on the ground to extinguish the fire on their bodies. But the fire on their bodies was not natural; it was a hellfire created by Yo Seol-yeong.

Once it caught on a body, it would never go out until it had burned everything.

Unaware of this fact, the men thrashed about to put out the fire, and the flames spread to the nearby houses.

The wooden houses were quickly engulfed in flames, and the fire rapidly spread throughout the entire slum.

“Ho ho!”

Yo Seol-yeong let out a bewitching laugh as she watched the scene.

The sight before her was the reason she had been given the terrible Alias of Blood Fire Demoness (Hyeolhwamanyeo).

A Demoness who loved blood and fire, who ruled over the flames—that was Yo Seol-yeong.

The fire she started spread, burning down the entire slum.

“You little rat! If you don’t want to burn to death, you’d better come out now. Ho ho ho!”

Yo Seol-yeong smiled chillingly as she watched the rapidly spreading flames.

“Fire!”

“Uwaaah! Save me.”

“M-my house is on fire…”

The slum dwellers were dumbfounded by the flames that had swallowed the streets in an instant.

The fire was too fierce and spread too quickly for them to even think of putting it out. Tossing a few buckets of water on it wouldn’t even make a dent.

The disaster brought on by the misguided desires of a few men was too immense. They had already turned to ash and disappeared, but the calamity they brought had swallowed the entire slum.

“My god!”

“How are we supposed to live now?”

The slum dwellers despaired, looking at their homes engulfed by the fire demon.

Women and children collapsed on the streets and wailed, while the men stared blankly at the flames.

“Ho ho ho! Hurry up and come out, little boy!”

Yo Seol-yeong thought Nam Shin-woo would pop out any moment. But Nam Shin-woo was nowhere to be seen.

“What? Did he already escape this place? That can’t be right.”

Yo Seol-yeong frowned deeply and looked at the slum engulfed in flames. Many people were out on the streets, but she couldn’t even see a child who looked similar to Nam Shin-woo.

“Tch! Was this not the place?”

Yo Seol-yeong pouted and turned around.

She looked so composed, it was hard to believe she was the person who had driven so many people into disaster.

“Yo Mae!”

Just then, a Martial Artist with a dao at his waist ran toward her, calling her name.

The man, whose lower face and nose protruded, resembling a wolf, was the fourth member of the Seven Stars Hall, the Wandering Wave Guest (Iranggaek), Ja Ung-pyeong.

“Fourth Orabeoni!”

“What are you doing here?”

“Looking for that rat.”

“That bastard already left Chengdu.”

“What?”

“The youngest is chasing him, so we have to join him quickly.”

“Oh my! Have I been wasting my time all this while?”

Yo Seol-yeong wore a look of disbelief.

Ja Ung-pyeong clicked his tongue as he looked at her.

“Tsk tsk! How do you manage to guess wrong every single time? If that’s a talent, it’s a talent.”

“Ho ho ho!”

Ja Ung-pyeong frowned as he looked around the flame-engulfed slum.

“But why on earth did you set fire to Chengdu? What are you going to do if the Sects of Chengdu come running?”

“Ho ho! They won’t come. They’re so intimidated because of ‘him’ that they’re refraining from outside activities.”

“‘Him’?”

“Pyo Wol. They must have had a really rough time, because they tremble at the mere mention of his name. Since they’re all laying low, their reaction will be slow too. By the time they get here, we’ll already be gone. Ho ho ho!”

“Hmph! You believe that? It must be an exaggeration. All the Martial Artists of Chengdu are on edge because of one nameless Martial Artist? I can’t believe it.”

“What will you do if you run into him then?”

“Then I’ll cut off his head in one stroke with this Hyeolrangdo. He won’t even be able to react before he offers his life to me.”

Ja Ung-pyeong said, tapping the Nangado hanging from his waist.

Yo Seol-yeong wrinkled her nose slightly at his arrogant words.

His arrogance was grating, but Ja Ung-pyeong actually had the right to be arrogant.

When it came to sheer destructive power of Martial Arts, Ja Ung-pyeong was one of the top three in the Seven Stars Hall.

His only flaw was that his temperament was arrogant and irrational, leading him to make rash judgments that resulted in many losses. But other than that, he was quite reliable.

“I’ll look forward to you bringing back his head.”

“I promise. When I cut off his head, I’ll bring it to you first.”

“Ho ho ho!”

Yo Seol-yeong let out a bewitching laugh.

Her figure, dyed red by the soaring blaze, looked even more seductive.

Her voluptuous chest, a waist that looked like it could be spanned by a single hand, and her slender legs were enough to completely sway Ja Ung-pyeong’s heart.

Ja Ung-pyeong stared at Yo Seol-yeong’s entire body with eyes full of desire. Yo Seol-yeong was also aware of his gaze.

Not just Ja Ung-pyeong, but all the Martial Artists of the Seven Stars Hall looked at her with eyes full of lust. For an ordinary woman, such gazes would have felt horrifying, but Yo Seol-yeong actually enjoyed people’s stares.

“Let’s go!”

Yo Seol-yeong said as she walked past Ja Ung-pyeong.

Her voluptuous buttocks below her slender waist swayed seductively. Along with them, Ja Ung-pyeong’s pupils swayed from side to side.

Feeling Ja Ung-pyeong’s gaze on her back, Yo Seol-yeong curled the corners of her lips even more seductively.

One step, then another, she walked as lightly as a butterfly.

“……”

Yo Seol-yeong frowned.

Something was strange.

She couldn’t feel Ja Ung-pyeong’s movement, who should have rushed over to her side by now.

“What are you doing? Aren’t you coming?”

“……”

“What are you really doing, dawdling like that? If you don’t come, I’m leaving without you.”

“……”

Still, Ja Ung-pyeong did not answer.

Yo Seol-yeong turned around irritably.

“What’s wrong? How long are you going to—”

Yo Seol-yeong’s eyes widened, and she couldn’t finish her sentence.

Beneath a large, burning tree, Ja Ung-pyeong was suspended in the air, swaying from side to side.

His wide-open eyes were bloodshot, and his tongue, which had slipped out from between his lips, had turned blue.

“Wh-what?”

A chill ran down Yo Seol-yeong’s spine.

A thin Silver Thread, difficult to distinguish with the naked eye, was digging into Ja Ung-pyeong’s neck.

“Fourth Orabeoni!”

Yo Seol-yeong’s desperate voice echoed through the slum, where the blaze soared to the heavens.