Chapter 212

“Hup!”

Gu Jin-wang suddenly stopped laughing.

There were no visible signs of anything amiss. Yet, his sixth sense was warning him of danger.

Gu Jin-wang trusted his instincts.

He had survived his life as a Wanderer until now precisely because he had thoroughly trusted his instincts.

His instincts were closer to those of a beast than a human.

He couldn’t explain it in words, but he could smell the scent of danger.

Even now, he smelled that dangerous scent.

“Chyaat!”

Gu Jin-wang acted faithfully on his instinct.

He swung the Gongpo Sword into the empty air where there was nothing.

Shwaaang!

A storm of Sword Qi erupted, cleaving through the space before him.

In that moment, Gu Jin-wang’s eyes caught sight of a silver thread being swept away by the Sword Qi. It was a Silver Thread so fine that he would never have noticed it if it hadn’t been illuminated by the light of the Sword Qi.

The Silver Thread vanished without a trace, like frost exposed to the morning sun. This was a phenomenon that could never happen with an ordinary Silver Thread. Gu Jin-wang frowned and stared ahead.

‘Something is there.’

He possessed an Eye Power that allowed him to see as clearly as day even in the dark. The deep darkness was no obstacle for him. But now, he could see nothing.

His sixth sense was clearly warning him that something was there, yet his eyes, which could pierce the darkness, saw nothing.

“What is it?”

Gu Jin-wang let out an involuntary cry of alarm.

He glared into the darkness with his eyes wide open.

Like a wolf brimming with venom, every one of his nerves was on edge.

Swoosh!

The wind blew, and the grassy field danced.

The blades of grass, cut by Gu Jin-wang’s Sword Qi, all soared into the air, blurring his vision.

At that moment, Gu Jin-wang’s sixth sense activated again.

Gu Jin-wang executed the defensive form of the Heavenly Wolf Blood Fang Sword.

Hwaaang!

A Sword Curtain formed in the space his sword touched.

It was a terrifying result, created by hundreds of slashes in a single breath.

Seogeogeok!

Suddenly, something caught on the tip of his sword and was severed.

It was definitely a Silver Thread.

The severed Silver Thread melted away in the air.

“Qi?”

Only then did Gu Jin-wang realize the true nature of the Silver Thread.

The Silver Thread was not a real object. It was something someone had created out of Qi.

He had seen plenty of Sword Qi or Blade Energy, but this was the first time he had seen someone create a thread out of Qi.

“Who goes there?”

Gu Jin-wang roared, looking in the direction the Silver Thread had flown from.

His senses detected nothing. But something was there.

Beyond this darkness, someone was hiding and aiming for him.

“How amusing!”

Gu Jin-wang laughed, baring his white teeth.

Decades had passed since he began to roam the Jianghu alone.

During that time, he had been exposed to countless dangers and had fought his way through life-or-death situations.

The existence known as the Wolf King, Gu Jin-wang, was the culmination of such experiences.

It meant he was fully prepared to deal with any threat.

There was only one type of person who would launch a sneak attack while so thoroughly concealing their presence.

“An Assassin?”

If he were to gather all the assassins who had aimed for his life so far, they would easily fill a large house. But not a single one had managed to take his life.

He had come to Mount Wudang with no expectations.

He had stopped by because he heard Cheongjin Jin-in’s birthday banquet was being held, but he had been lazy and missed even that.

But unexpectedly, he had obtained a famous sword here, and he had also met a being that threatened his life.

This was why, Gu Jin-wang thought, the affairs of the world were so interesting.

Because completely unexpected things happened.

His gaze suddenly turned to the land he had laid to waste.

It was the spot where Soma had been standing just a moment ago. But there was no sign of a body or body parts that could be presumed to be Soma’s.

Either someone had pulled Soma out just before his attack hit, or Soma had dodged it himself.

Gu Jin-wang thought it was the former.

To not only snatch Soma away, deceiving his eyes and ears so perfectly, but to also aim for his own life.

The guts of this faceless Assassin seemed quite substantial.

“Or perhaps I just look like a pushover.”

Either way, Gu Jin-wang could not forgive the Assassin.

Gu Jin-wang raised the Gongpo Sword and aimed it forward.

For a moment, Sword Qi seemed to shimmer from his blade, then it unraveled like a skein of thread and spread out in all directions.

The way the Sword Qi spread out in thin threads looked just like a spider’s web scattering in the wind.

It was a technique called Spider Sword Thread.

A supreme art that spread Sword Qi like a spider’s web over an area to detect an opponent’s movements.

This was a technique Gu Jin-wang had created himself.

As a Wanderer traveling alone, there was no one to help him even when he was exposed to the threat of assassins. Because of that, in the early days, he had nearly lost his life several times to assassins’ sneak attacks.

That experience had led him to create the Spider Sword Thread.

No matter how perfect an Assassin’s Stealth Skill was, when they moved, they would inevitably create a flow in the air.

The Sword Thread, spread out like a spider’s web, detected such air currents. Not only that, but if they approached his body, it would directly touch the opponent’s body and transmit a vibration to Gu Jin-wang.

As long as he deployed the Spider Sword Thread, he could detect the movements of any great Assassin. The problem was that he had to maintain the Spider Sword Thread until the Assassin moved.

Maintaining it for a short time was no problem, but deploying the Spider Sword Thread for a long time would inevitably consume a huge amount of his Internal Power.

It was a battle against time.

Would the Assassin lose patience and move first, or would his own Internal Power be depleted first?

Either way, the one who moved first was bound to be at a disadvantage in this fight.

It had been a long time since he’d had this kind of fight, so Gu Jin-wang’s tension was at its peak.

Time continued to pass.

Now, even Gu Jin-wang was beginning to feel the limits of his patience.

He still had enough strength to maintain the Spider Sword Thread, but standing still like a stone statue and being patient was making him antsy.

“Fine! Your patience is a cut above mine. I admit it.”

Gu Jin-wang withdrew the Spider Sword Thread.

The thin Sword Thread that had spread across the area vanished without a trace.

But that didn’t mean Gu Jin-wang had given up on catching the Assassin.

“If you won’t move on your own, then I have no choice but to force you to move…”

Shwaaa!

He swung the Gongpo Sword. A cloud-like Qi rose and flew in all directions.

Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwang!

The area exploded as if a volcano had erupted.

The Heavenly Wolf Blood Fang Sword, unleashed with the Gongpo Sword, possessed truly formidable power.

Just as Soma had felt, Gu Jin-wang had also realized the wondrous use of the Gongpo Sword.

That possessing the Gongpo Sword made the circulation of Qi smoother.

It was truly like a sword made for him.

Kwaaang! Kwaaaang!

The area completely collapsed under the bombardment of Sword Qi.

No Expert could endure such an attack while in hiding.

Gu Jin-wang thought the Assassin would jump out soon.

It was like deliberately beating the grass to make a snake come out.

It was a brutish method he could use because his Internal Power supported it. It was also a technique that only he in all of All Under Heaven could perform.

Kwaang! Kwang!

Gu Jin-wang continued to unleash Sword Qi. But the Assassin still had not emerged from his hiding place.

‘Could he have already escaped?’

He thought that might be possible.

Otherwise, it didn’t make sense that he hadn’t come out by now.

No matter how bold an Assassin was, it was impossible to maintain composure amidst such an attack.

Perhaps he had already lost his life in the attack.

“Hmph!”

Gu Jin-wang lowered his sword toward the ground.

His guard had slightly relaxed.

It was in that moment that the incident occurred.

Puk!

Suddenly, he felt an extreme pain in his lower back.

He quickly turned around to see a black shadow rising from the ground and plunging a small Flying Dagger into his waist.

“You?”

Gu Jin-wang swung his sword like a thunderbolt. But by then, the black shadow had already retreated a good distance away.

The black shadow was Pyo Wol.

He had driven the Ghostly Rain into Gu Jin-wang’s waist.

“You were hiding at my feet from the very beginning?”

Gu Jin-wang asked with a look of disbelief.

Pyo Wol did not answer one way or the other.

There was no reason to explain.

It was not Pyo Wol who had saved Soma. Rather, he had used the moment Gu Jin-wang was distracted by Soma to approach stealthily. Then, he had unleashed the Soul Restraining Thread to distract his attention and performed the Breath Concealment Art.

The moment he first saw Gu Jin-wang, Pyo Wol felt a strong sense of crisis.

It was the first time he had felt such a strong sense of crisis since his encounter with Pung-jon.

Gu Jin-wang was not an opponent he could face while also looking after Soma.

Soma might die, but Pyo Wol decided to trust him.

The Soma he knew was not a child who would lose his life so futilely. He would somehow be able to get himself out.

While moving, he had fired the Soul Restraining Thread to draw Gu Jin-wang’s attention. Then he performed the Breath Concealment Art and went into Stealth.

He didn’t just hide in a convenient spot.

He had observed Gu Jin-wang closely while Soma was fighting him, and as a result, he had discovered a strange habit in his movements.

His steps, which resembled a wolf’s gait, were not straight but slightly skewed to the left.

It might have been a characteristic of his Footwork, or perhaps his body’s balance was slightly off.

Pyo Wol predicted the path he would move along and moved there in advance. Then he performed the Breath Concealment Art and went into Stealth.

From then on, it was a battle of waiting.

The one whose patience ran out first was Gu Jin-wang, and in the end, he revealed an opening to Pyo Wol.

As a result, Pyo Wol was able to plunge the Ghostly Rain into his waist.

It wasn’t a fatal wound, nor had he cut off his arms or legs.

All he had done was stick a Flying Dagger in his waist. Still, Pyo Wol was satisfied.

What he had aimed for from the beginning was not a fatal wound.

To inflict a fatal wound on an Expert of Gu Jin-wang’s level with a sneak attack from the start was virtually impossible. If he were a being who could be taken down so futilely, he would not have earned the Alias of Wolf King.

The Ghostly Rain lodged in Gu Jin-wang’s waist was like a thorn stuck under a fingernail.

It wasn’t a fatal wound, but it would cause continuous pain and demand his attention. Above all, it was stuck in a location that was not easy to pull out.

Gu Jin-wang glared at Pyo Wol with terrifying eyes.

He didn’t even think about pulling out the Ghostly Rain. He knew that the moment he pulled it out, a massive amount of bleeding would occur.

Gu Jin-wang looked at Pyo Wol with calm, sunken eyes.

Pyo Wol was the first person to have wounded him in recent years.

Pyo Wol was also the first to dare attempt a sneak attack on him since he had been called by the Alias of Wolf King.

“Are you perhaps an Assassin from the Hundred Wraith Union?”

“…”

Pyo Wol gave no answer.

Nor did he hide.

He just stood there motionlessly, at a precarious distance just out of Gu Jin-wang’s reach.

That appearance angered Gu Jin-wang even more.

“Fine! I’ll find out naturally once I capture and torture you.”

Hwoooong!

The Gongpo Sword in his hand let out a cry.

It was a natural phenomenon that occurred as Gu Jin-wang infused his Internal Power into it.

Now he had a sword that could withstand his Sword Art.

There was no reason to hesitate.

“I will face you with my full strength.”

Kwang!

Gu Jin-wang kicked off the ground hard.

With the repulsive True Power, his body shot out like a cannonball.

Hwhak!

Even before his body arrived, a strong pressure of wind slammed into Pyo Wol.

In an instant, Pyo Wol disappeared from Gu Jin-wang’s sight.

He had moved by unleashing Black Lightning.

“Not a chance.”

But Gu Jin-wang did not panic and pursued Pyo Wol’s trail.

He was not tracking him by rational judgment. He was predicting and reacting to Pyo Wol’s movements with his wolf-like instincts.

Chwahahak!

His attack exploded at the point where Pyo Wol was expected to appear.

Sword Qi like a wolf’s claws tore the area to shreds.

Everything caught in the Sword Qi was severed.

Pyo Wol, too, was almost swept away by the Sword Qi and cut apart.

Fortunately, he had quickly executed the Serpentine Steps to retreat; otherwise, he would have been split in two the moment he revealed himself.

A chill ran down his spine, and his heart felt a shudder.

It had been a long time since he had felt such a sense of crisis.

He once again felt the same bleak feeling as when he was first trapped in the underground cavern.

Kwaaaaaa!

Gu Jin-wang’s sword was truly venomous and relentless.

He was different from the Martial Artists who were all for show.

The Heavenly Wolf Blood Fang Sword, perfected through numerous fierce battles, was the culmination of Combat Sword.

Facing Gu Jin-wang, Pyo Wol revealed the nature of a Hungry Ghost.