Chapter 176

The whole world looked red.

He couldn’t tell if it was because all the blood vessels in his eyes had burst, or because of the blood that had gotten into them. But none of that mattered.

Because even though everything was red, only one person came into sharp focus.

The man whose face was covered by a scarf.

He knew that behind that scarf was a face so chillingly cold and beautiful.

Sin Mu-geom did not know his identity. But he knew all too well how demonic the little boy who followed him was.

The little demon who had slaughtered the Wanderers in an instant couldn’t move a muscle in front of Pyo Wol.

Furthermore, Lee Yul-san, the Boss of the Wind Thunder Room that ruled Dalju, couldn’t even breathe loudly in front of Pyo Wol, like a mouse before a cat.

Jianghu was a place ruled by power.

The great Lee Yul-san of All Under Heaven didn’t even dare to resist and merely awaited his fate.

It meant that the martial power Pyo Wol possessed overwhelmed Lee Yul-san and the Wind Thunder Room.

The only man Sin Mu-geom could rely on now was Pyo Wol.

He had tried to protect Mok Ga-hye somehow with his own strength.

He fought the martial artists of the Heavenly Eunuch Clan and waged a decisive battle against the martial artists of Juk Hae-jang who had burst in late.

He had managed to hold on until now only because the martial artists of the two manors kept each other in check and attacked one another. If the two forces had joined hands to attack, Sin Mu-geom would never have been able to protect Mok Ga-hye.

But there was a limit to what he could endure on his own.

Sin Mu-geom had to take a gamble.

He let Mok Ga-hye escape and single-handedly blocked the martial artists of the two manors.

He suffered deep sword wounds to his side and shoulder, and an injury on his back so severe that bone was exposed. The minor wounds besides those were too numerous to count.

He had lost so much blood that his mind was fading.

There was only one reason he hadn’t yet lost consciousness despite bearing wounds that would have already killed an ordinary person.

Mok Ga-hye.

Sin Mu-geom endured, gritting his teeth at the thought of her. But now, he too had reached his limit.

Before he lost consciousness.

Before his breath gave out, he had to ask the man before him to take care of her.

“Please… save Ga-hye. Keuk!”

As he opened his mouth, bloody foam rose up his throat.

He could feel Pyo Wol’s gaze.

With an inscrutable look in his eyes, Pyo Wol stared at Sin Mu-geom.

Sin Mu-geom tried to stand, putting strength into his legs.

Splash!

But his legs gave out, and he collapsed into a pool of blood.

As he forced himself to move, blood began to flow from his wounds again.

He felt a pain as if his entire body was being seared with fire. But instead of screaming, Sin Mu-geom put strength into his legs.

Splash!

Sin Mu-geom barely managed to get on his knees. Then he plunged his head into the pool of blood.

“Please, protect Ga-hye. She is a pitiful person. She has only ever sacrificed for her family her entire life. Please help her as she finally tries to live her own life.”

“……”

Pyo Wol gave no answer.

Sin Mu-geom was frantic.

‘Please…!’

If only he could hear Pyo Wol’s answer, he felt he could close his eyes in peace.

Just then, Pyo Wol opened his mouth.

“I’m an assassin.”

“Pardon?”

“I can’t do things like protecting people.”

“But…”

At Pyo Wol’s unexpected answer, Sin Mu-geom’s eyes trembled violently.

He had never dreamed that Pyo Wol would be an assassin.

At that moment, a thought flashed through his mind like lightning.

“I’ll… make a request.”

“A request?”

“It’s… not strange to make a request of an assassin, is it?”

Pyo Wol wore a slightly dumbfounded expression.

To think that in a moment when his life hung by a thread, the words he squeezed out were about a request.

Frankly, Sin Mu-geom’s reaction was beyond his expectations. And so, he became interested.

“So, what is the request?”

“Please kill the enemies who threaten her.”

For a moment, Pyo Wol’s eyebrows twitched.

The request had caught him that much off guard.

Saving Mok Ga-hye or killing the enemies who threatened her were both the same request.

It was just a play on words; the essence was the same. Nevertheless, Pyo Wol had no choice but to accept his request.

Because Sin Mu-geom’s words were plausible.

It was a word game he could only come up with because he was that desperate.

Still, he had to ask what needed to be asked.

“The price?”

“Wouldn’t my life… be enough?”

“The weight doesn’t match. You’re going to die if I just leave you be, so what am I supposed to do with a life like that?”

“I will add the Gongpo Sword to my life. Is it still not enough?”

“Cunning. Quite something.”

A smile touched Pyo Wol’s lips.

He was genuinely impressed.

Sin Mu-geom was showing just how cunning a cornered human could become.

The very reason the Heavenly Eunuch Clan and Juk Hae-jang were fighting in the Forest of the Dead was the Gongpo Sword.

A hard sword that was only symbolic and utterly useless for performing swordsmanship.

It might hold great meaning to some, but to Pyo Wol, it was as worthless as a stone rolling on the roadside.

It was a show of his will to completely eliminate the risk factor by handing over to Pyo Wol the very object that had brought disaster upon Mok Ga-hye.

He felt like applauding Sin Mu-geom for coming up with such a thought in that short moment.

Logically, he shouldn’t accept a request like this.

It would only bring harm, with nothing to gain.

“Fine! I’ll take the request.”

But Pyo Wol accepted Sin Mu-geom’s request.

“Big bro!”

It was because of Soma.

While Pyo Wol and Sin Mu-geom were talking, Soma had only been fidgeting, not saying a word.

In his heart, he wanted to help Mok Ga-hye, but he had endured and waited until now because Pyo Wol hadn’t made a decision.

As soon as Pyo Wol’s answer fell, Sin Mu-geom closed his eyes.

‘It’s done. Now Miss will be safe…’

Sin Mu-geom’s body crumbled like a sandcastle.

His stamina had already reached its limit. He had barely held on with his mental strength to hear Pyo Wol’s answer, and once he heard what he wanted, the thread of tension snapped.

Sin Mu-geom collapsed in the pool of blood, his breathing faint.

If left like this, his breath would cease in less than a quarter of an hour.

“We will look after him.”

Just then, Woo Jang-rak stepped forward.

Woo Jang-rak took out a heart-protecting pill he carried for emergencies and quickly put it in Sin Mu-geom’s mouth. Sin Mu-geom’s breathing became much more stable. Still, his life would be in danger if he didn’t receive proper treatment.

He had only bought a little time.

Soma spoke to Pyo Wol.

“Big bro! What should I do?”

“Do what you do best.”

“Anything I want?”

“Anything you want!”

“Thanks, big bro!”

Soma beamed.

The moment they saw his smile, Woo Jang-rak and his companions felt a chill run down their spines.

The Little King of Hell with that innocent face was finally about to show his true colors. They couldn’t even begin to guess how many people would lose their lives at his hands.

Flutter!

With the sound of his loose black clothes fluttering in the wind, Soma’s figure instantly vanished beyond the bushes.

The gazes of the people, which had for a moment been directed where Soma disappeared, now turned to Pyo Wol. But they could not see him.

Pyo Wol’s figure had vanished without a trace, as if he had soared into the sky.

“Good heavens!”

“When?”

They had only taken their eyes off Pyo Wol for a fleeting moment.

In that brief instant, he had completely hidden his presence without a sound or a sign.

“All hell has broken loose.”

Woo Jang-rak closed his eyes.

The forest was already filled with death and chaos.

Now that Pyo Wol had jumped into it, it was as clear as day what kind of scene would unfold.

“It will become a true forest of the dead.”

＊＊＊

Pung No-san was originally an orphan.

When he had nowhere to go, Hwa Yu-cheon’s father, Hwa Wi-sin, took him in.

He was grateful enough just to be fed and sheltered, but Hwa Wi-sin also taught him martial arts. The reason was that his talent seemed quite promising.

After that, Pung No-san became Hwa Wi-sin’s loyal servant.

After Hwa Wi-sin’s death, he served his son, Hwa Yu-cheon.

The Outer Hall Leader of the Heavenly Eunuch Clan was his current official title.

Others said he was settling for being a mere Outer Hall Leader with his abilities, but Pung No-san himself was very satisfied.

Because just as his father had, Hwa Yu-cheon treated him well. So Pung No-san, too, was completely loyal to Hwa Yu-cheon.

The martial artists of the Heavenly Eunuch Clan’s Outer Hall numbered over two hundred.

Their quality was lower than the Inner Hall, but their numbers were far superior. That wasn’t to say their martial arts were significantly inferior, either.

There was just a slight difference, and the Outer Hall martial artists were also fully qualified to be called Experts.

Pung No-san asked the man beside him.

“Is there no news from the third team?”

“None since the report that they found Sin Mu-geom earlier.”

“Hmm!”

Pung No-san furrowed his brow.

The Outer Hall of the Heavenly Eunuch Clan was composed of ten teams in total.

Each team had twenty martial artists belonging to it.

Each team moved independently under the discretion of its team leader. But that didn’t mean they skipped their reports.

The fact that the third team leader’s reports had stopped meant that something had happened to the third team.

“Did they clash with the Juk Hae-jang martial artists again?”

They were clashing with Juk Hae-jang martial artists all over the Forest of the Dead.

No one had expected Juk Hae-jang to deploy their martial artists into the Forest of the Dead so swiftly and on such a scale.

The Heavenly Eunuch Clan had been caught off guard.

“It’s that wench again, she’s the problem.”

Pung No-san thought of Yeo Hwa-yeong.

It was because of her that Juk Hae-jang could still hold on.

It was fortunate that Yeo Hwa-yeong was a woman and young. If she had been a man and had received full authority over Juk Hae-jang a little earlier, the situation would have been quite different from now.

Yeo Hwa-yeong’s situational judgment and adaptability were that outstanding. To the point that even Pung No-san coveted her skills.

“This is for the better. We must kill Yeo Hwa-yeong this time. That wench is surely in the Forest of the Dead as well. The first through fifth teams will focus on finding Mok Ga-hye, and the rest will search for Yeo Hwa-yeong with me.”

“Yes!”

The leaders of the first through fifth teams replied and disappeared into the forest with their subordinates.

Pung No-san set out to search for Yeo Hwa-yeong with the remaining five teams.

The Forest of the Dead was truly vast, and it was absolutely impossible to traverse its entirety in just a day or two. Entering the depths of the Forest of the Dead without a proper guide was akin to a suicidal act.

Despite that, Pung No-san’s steps were unhesitating.

Because Pung No-san himself was the most skilled guide. Pung No-san had entered the Forest of the Dead early on to learn the paths.

Having settled in Enshi, they couldn’t just ignore the Forest of the Dead. They never knew when they might have to enter it. So he had gradually ventured deeper into the Forest of the Dead, learning the paths.

‘It’s obvious where Yeo Hwa-yeong would be in this place.’

With large trees packed so densely, it was impossible to grasp the terrain of the Forest of the Dead from flat ground. In that case, she would surely seek the highest point to grasp the movements of the Heavenly Eunuch Clan.

If he were in Yeo Hwa-yeong’s shoes, he would have done the same.

“Everyone, be careful. That bitch might have set a trap and be waiting.”

“Yes!”

“Don’t worry.”

The answers of the team leaders were heard. But one voice was missing. It was the leader of the last team, the tenth team.

“Where is Team Leader Yoon?”

Pung No-san looked for the tenth team leader, Yoon Hak-gil. But Yoon Hak-gil’s answer did not come.

Pung No-san’s eyes turned menacing.

When so many teams moved together like this, discipline had to be strictly applied.

If even one person failed to answer or was lazy with their report, the hard-won discipline would crumble.

Pung No-san, if nothing else, had trained the team leaders to maintain the reporting system without fail.

“Team Leader Yoon!”

Pung No-san called for the tenth team leader, Yoon Hak-gil, once more. But again, there was no reply.

Something didn’t feel right.

“Why is it so quiet?”