Chapter 139

Having his identity revealed by Guian was clearly an unforeseen event.

For the past few days, Pyo Wol had disguised himself as Myeong-ak and accomplished quite a lot.

Since Myeong-ak was one of the Blood Thunder Ten Monks, the monks of the Small Thunder Sound Temple never suspected him. Thanks to this, Pyo Wol was able to proceed with his work in secret without arousing anyone’s suspicion.

He would have prepared more perfectly if his identity hadn’t been revealed by Guian. But nothing changed just because his identity was revealed to the world.

Pyo Wol hadn’t thought he could hide his identity and operate indefinitely.

The Small Thunder Sound Temple was a closed-off place.

If he operated there for long, his identity was bound to be revealed. It was just that the timing was a little earlier than Pyo Wol had expected.

Gazes filled with killing intent became thousands of needles, piercing his entire body. An immense pressure bore down on Pyo Wol. But without a hint of wavering, Pyo Wol looked at the three children before him.

Soma was smiling broadly like a madman.

Every time he smiled, the seven rings around his neck clashed, letting out a clear metallic sound.

Guian was staring intently at Pyo Wol with his unique black eyes, and Eun-yo stood still with her head slightly bowed. Even so, the killing intent emanating from her small frame was beyond ordinary.

Abducted at an age when they couldn’t even distinguish right from wrong, they had lost all their humanity.

Like him, the children had been raised against their will as weapons meant only for killing.

At the center of it all was Soma.

This boy with the bright smile was the center of the three children.

Eun-yo and Guian showed an attitude of following whatever decision Soma made.

Heuk Am might not know, but when he broke the limits placed on the children’s brains, all the brainwashing and mental Restrictions that Mok Won had imposed were released.

Soma was looking up at Pyo Wol with a wide smile.

His innocent eyes were filled with a thick killing intent.

Something wearing the mask of a child was crouching within him.

After being abducted by Mok Won, the children had lived suppressing things like resentment, anger, and the desire for destruction. Then, Heuk Am’s meddling with their brains had caused their suppressed desires to explode.

Pyo Wol saw through this fact at once.

“There is only one thing you need to remember.”

“What is it?”

“You will listen to my words in any situation. If you’re going to defy me, don’t even dream of joining me.”

“I will! I’ll listen to you. I’m good at listening.”

Soma nodded his head without a moment’s hesitation.

“Remember what you just said. The moment you defy me, I’ll make you regret you were ever born.”

“Okay! Don’t worry.”

Soma smiled brightly and stood next to Pyo Wol. Guian and Eun-yo then followed Soma.

Heuk Am’s face contorted at the absurd situation unfolding before his eyes.

“You bastards! You’re supposed to attack him, what is this nonsense?”

Despite Heuk Am’s roar, Soma and the children were indifferent.

Soma looked up at Pyo Wol.

“That bastard! Can I kill him? Let’s kill him now, I want to kill him!”

Soma chirped incessantly like a baby bird. But the content of his words was terrifyingly gruesome.

Pyo Wol stopped Soma.

“Not yet.”

“Why?”

“Are you going to disobey me already?”

“No! I’ll listen well.”

“Then wait. I’ll let you kill him.”

“Okay!”

Soma made a happy expression.

Pyo Wol’s gaze turned to the Blood Buddha, high on the platform.

The Blood Buddha was looking down at Pyo Wol with a gaze full of anger.

“You’ve made a fool of this temple for quite some time. Truly a remarkable ability. To make all the monks of this temple tremble in fear.”

“It wasn’t that difficult.”

“Have you no thought of using that ability for me? I will give you a position second only to one and above all others.”

“I don’t like having someone above me.”

“Do you dare to refuse my offer?”

At the Blood Buddha’s roar, the Great Hall rumbled as if it would collapse at any moment.

The large pillars trembled, and the tiles on the ceiling stirred. Yet, Pyo Wol’s expression did not change in the slightest.

The Blood Buddha’s Martial Arts had reached a level rarely seen in the Jianghu. Just from his shout a moment ago, one could guess his level.

On top of that, there were hundreds of Martial Artists with hostile intent.

No matter how earth-shatteringly skilled Pyo Wol was, it was impossible to face them all.

Yet, the reason Pyo Wol did not show a daunted expression was because he had finished his preparations.

An Assassin is one who prepares thoroughly.

They were beings who would prepare meticulously for days, or even years, for a single act of killing.

Pyo Wol stood at the pinnacle of such Assassins.

He had already finished all his preparations.

The Blood Buddha felt a sense of foreboding. Pyo Wol’s confident attitude was bothering him.

“Capture him!”

At the Blood Buddha’s command, the monks of the Small Thunder Sound Temple surged forward like a tidal wave.

At that moment, Pyo Wol said to Soma and the others.

“From now on, just follow me.”

“Okay!”

Tak!

Pyo Wol flicked his finger. A small ball of fire formed above his fingertip. It was the art of Samadhi True Fire.

Pyo Wol threw the fire straight onto the floor.

The spark was tiny. But the result was truly terrifying.

Flames suddenly erupted with incredible force.

Hwahahak!

The flames instantly shot up to the roof of the Great Hall.

A naturally occurring fire could never flare up at such a terrifying speed.

Thick smoke rose along with the bluish flames.

“Keuk!”

“Heok!”

The monks near the flames screamed.

The moment they inhaled the smoke, their breath caught, and their minds went blank.

“Everyone, be careful of the smoke! He’s pulled some kind of trick.”

The monks shouted as they hastily retreated.

As they suspected, the smoke was not natural.

For the past few days, Pyo Wol had soaked the floor of the Manwoljeon with oil and hidden Saltpeter beneath it. These were all things he had obtained from Do-goeng’s quarters.

The oil-soaked floor spewed hellfire, and the Saltpeter emitted a noxious smoke that made it hard to breathe.

The scene instantly turned into an Asura Field.

Because every door had been blocked to capture Pyo Wol, the flames and smoke could not escape and filled the inside of the Great Hall.

The unprepared monks inhaled the Saltpeter smoke and collapsed to the floor, gasping for breath.

“This bastard!”

As the hall instantly turned into a sea of fire, the Blood Buddha shot up from his seat. But due to the thick smoke, he couldn’t find Pyo Wol anywhere.

“Aaargh!”

“Keok!”

Amidst the crimson flames and smoke, the screams of monks continuously erupted.

He didn’t need to see to know.

The fact that Pyo Wol was using the flames and smoke as cover to assassinate the monks.

He had gone to the trouble of using the Arangdae to draw out the hidden Assassin, but all that effort had come to nothing. For some reason, the Arangdae had switched to Pyo Wol’s side, so the anger and bewilderment felt by the Blood Buddha and Heuk Am were bound to be immense.

“We must escape quickly.”

“We need to get outside and then come up with a plan.”

The Blood Thunder Ten Monks surrounded the Blood Buddha and said. But the Blood Buddha flatly refused their suggestion.

“He must be killed. If we let him escape from here, the consequences will be endless.”

A Frenzied Gleam emanated from the Blood Buddha’s eyes.

A formidable Qi gathered in his hands.

“Haaat!”

The Blood Buddha swung his hand with a kiai.

A storm-like Qi arose and swept through the Great Hall.

It was a Dragon.

A giant red Dragon created with the Heavenly Dragon Layered Supreme Gang.

The Qi in the shape of a red Dragon swallowed the acrid smoke and flames in a single breath and then blew a large hole in the wall.

Kwang!

The smoke and flames that had filled the Great Hall flew out through the hole along with the Dragon.

It was a truly terrifying power.

If the Heavenly Dragon Layered Supreme Gang had hit a human body instead of the wall, it would have been instantly vaporized without a trace.

As the things obstructing their vision and breathing disappeared, the monks barely managed to get up.

“How can this be!”

“My god!”

A gruesome sight that was hard to look at entered the vision of the monks who opened their eyes.

Dozens of monks lay dead on the floor.

In that short moment, Pyo Wol and the children had ambushed and taken down the monks.

The flames and smoke that had limited the monks’ vision and senses were no problem for Pyo Wol.

Pyo Wol possessed the ability to accurately sense the presence of enemies even in places worse than this.

What was surprising were Soma and the children.

With the limits on their brains released, the children came to possess senses far sharper than those of ordinary people. Thanks to that, the children could move freely even within the flames and smoke.

The children’s skills were far superior to what Heuk Am or Mok Won had anticipated. Like natural-born Assassins, the children used the smoke for Stealth and exploited the monks’ openings for an Ambush Attack.

Their bodies were small to begin with, and they were nimble. On top of that, they possessed the cleverness to conceal themselves thoroughly.

Pyo Wol thought Soma and the children were similar to a Snow Leopard hunting in the snow.

The children were very quick-witted.

The moment the incident occurred in the Great Hall, they realized at once that it was Pyo Wol’s doing and, like Pyo Wol, covered their noses and mouths with their sleeves. And they acted while slowing their breathing as much as possible.

This series of actions was not something that could be done just by being taught.

It was innate.

Tatatak!

Pyo Wol burst outside through the wall that the Blood Buddha had pierced with the Heavenly Dragon Layered Supreme Gang. Soma and the children also followed Pyo Wol.

“Chase them.”

The Blood Buddha gave the order.

His face was filled with rage.

The Blood Buddha had intended to settle the score inside the Great Hall no matter what. But Pyo Wol and the children had escaped through the very hole he had made.

It was an act of mocking the Blood Buddha.

“I will catch and kill him myself.”

He was now tired of sitting and waiting for his Disciples to catch the man.

As the Blood Buddha moved, the Blood Thunder Ten Monks naturally followed, and behind them, all the monks, including the Mara Blood Monks, gave chase.

Kwakwang!

In their Pursuit, the centuries-old artifacts within the temple grounds were shattered and trampled.

Shiaaak!

Shik!

The monks threw their Weapons, trying to hit Pyo Wol and the children. But the weapons they threw narrowly missed Pyo Wol or landed at his feet by a hair’s breadth.

This made the monks even more frenzied.

Pyo Wol, running with the Blood Buddha and the monks on his tail, jumped into a huge great hall.

It was the Ten Thousand Dharma Hall.

Heuk Am wore a puzzled expression.

“Why the Ten Thousand Dharma Hall?”

The Ten Thousand Dharma Hall was the space most familiar to him. He couldn’t understand why Pyo Wol would jump into such a place.

The question was soon answered.

Pyo Wol, who had jumped into the Ten Thousand Dharma Hall, soon disappeared into an underground space.

It was the space where Do-goeng and his Disciples researched poisons.

In that moment, Heuk Am realized Pyo Wol’s intention and his face turned pale.

“N-No!”

But his shout was buried in the monks’ charge and quickly disappeared.

The Blood Buddha and the monks rushed into the underground passage without a second thought.

Unless they were monks residing in the Ten Thousand Dharma Hall, they wouldn’t know about the underground passage. This was especially true for the space where Do-goeng conducted his research, as everyone avoided it.

In an instant, hundreds of monks disappeared into Do-goeng’s quarters. But Heuk Am stopped at the entrance and only glared at the dark passage.

“Damn it!”

His face was full of conflict.

Should he go in? Or not?

His decision was the latter.

Heuk Am was a man who valued his own life above all else.

Intangible words that couldn’t be grasped, like ideals or banners, were not important to him.

One had to be alive to enjoy wealth and glory, and to be able to control the minds of others.

Heuk Am had no intention of giving up such things.

But he couldn’t run away either.

He had felt it when he was on the run from Chengdu to here, but once you start running, you have to keep being chased.

He was sick and tired of that kind of situation.

“I’ll wait here and strike him.”

This was the only entrance to Do-goeng’s quarters.

If he waited, Pyo Wol would surely come out.

It was then.

Peo-eok!

Suddenly, the sound of something exploding was heard from inside the passage. And a whitish gas escaped outside.

“This crazy bastard!”