Chapter 232

The woman glaring at Pyo Wol, unable to hide her dismayed expression, was unmistakably Hong Ye-seol, whom he had met not long ago.

‘Did she take a request from Snow Blade Sword Manor?’

He had suspected it since meeting her in Runan, but he hadn’t expected her to already be involved with Snow Blade Sword Manor.

What surprised Pyo Wol more than the fact that Hong Ye-seol had accepted Snow Blade Sword Manor’s request was that someone from Snow Blade Sword Manor had managed to hire her.

Hong Ye-seol was a high-ranking Assassin even within the Hundred Wraith Union. To hire someone like her would require an unimaginable sum of money.

It was clear that someone at the end of this small alley had placed the request with Hong Ye-seol. And it was certain that this person had used Jang Gwang-san and Sa Okyeon to try and shake Jin Clan.

This made him even more curious.

Just who was this person, to be so meticulous?

Just then, Hong Ye-seol spoke once more.

“Hmph! So you still won’t reveal your identity?”

She bit her red lips lightly.

It was because she felt ashamed of being injured by Pyo Wol.

Crack!

She twisted her own wrist, popping the dislocated joint back into place.

Despite the considerable pain, she didn’t let out a single scream.

She glared at Pyo Wol with cold eyes.

It was definitely a face she had never seen before. Yet, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she had seen him somewhere.

“You are……”

It was the moment she opened her mouth.

Suddenly, four black shadows rose from atop the wall.

They too smelled of an Assassin.

Hong Ye-seol shouted at them.

“Wait! This is my business. Don’t interfere.”

Shushushu!

They ignored Hong Ye-seol’s cry and attacked Pyo Wol.

The black shadows were all Assassins, just like Hong Ye-seol. They too attacked Pyo Wol in silence.

Shwaaak!

They moved like cogs in a machine, attacking Pyo Wol in rotation.

The Assassins’ martial prowess was no match for Hong Ye-seol’s, but their perfectly synchronized breathing made them feel even more formidable.

If he decided to fight them with all his might, it wouldn’t be impossible to deal with them. But this was enemy territory.

There was no reason to drag out the time and invite danger upon himself.

Pyo Wol fought them off moderately, looking for a chance to retreat.

It was then.

Creeak!

Suddenly, the gate at the opposite end of the alley opened, and someone appeared.

“……”

The person who appeared, accompanied by Jang Gwang-san and Sa Okyeon, was none other than Lee Yul, the Steward of Snow Blade Sword Manor. He had sensed the unusual movements outside and had come out himself.

The moment Pyo Wol saw Lee Yul’s face, he realized that this man was the one at the center of this whole situation.

An expressionless face, as if wearing a mask, deep eyes that seemed to see through everything, and a refined atmosphere.

He was different from ordinary people in many ways.

Even while watching Pyo Wol fight the Assassins, Lee Yul didn’t show a single sign of surprise. He merely watched Pyo Wol’s fighting style intently.

Instead, the ones who were surprised were Jang Gwang-san and Sa Okyeon, who had just returned.

“What’s this?”

“An intruder.”

At their shouts, martial artists from the vicinity came rushing over.

Lee Yul frowned, displeased by the sudden commotion.

A flash of contempt crossed his eyes as he looked at the two.

‘To be so noisy when they’re the ones who were tailed.’

However, he didn’t show his thoughts and looked at Pyo Wol.

Pyo Wol seemed to exchange a few more blows before pulling back and making his escape. The Assassins who were fighting him gave chase, followed by the martial artists of Snow Blade Sword Manor who had arrived late.

“An Assassin has infiltrated.”

“Surround him so he can’t get away.”

At the fussy shouts of the Snow Blade Sword Manor martial artists, Lee Yul slightly shook his head.

The alley was a back road that led to the Steward’s office.

There was no way someone who had infiltrated this far without being detected would be caught by the martial artists of Snow Blade Sword Manor.

Just then, Hong Ye-seol approached Lee Yul.

“It seems there were other Assassins you contracted besides me?”

“I requested a few more from the Hundred Wraith Union, just in case.”

“Was I not enough? That’s a breach of contract.”

“It was merely to be certain.”

Hong Ye-seol frowned at Lee Yul’s answer.

The Assassins who attacked Pyo Wol were low-ranking members even within the Hundred Wraith Union.

They were called the Red Lotus Four Ghosts.

Unusually, they were quadruplets born from the same womb.

Although their individual abilities couldn’t compare to Hong Ye-seol’s, the power they wielded when the four of them were together was by no means inferior to hers.

She hadn’t heard that the Red Lotus Four Ghosts had been dispatched here; it seemed Lee Yul had placed a separate request with the Hundred Wraith Union.

Hong Ye-seol once again shuddered at Lee Yul’s meticulousness.

She had truly not expected him to have placed requests with different Assassins through the Hundred Wraith Union.

Lee Yul asked.

“His identity?”

“I don’t know. Only that he’s a fellow Assassin.”

“Hmm! An Assassin hired by Jin Clan? Was there someone in Jin Clan who could think that far ahead? How unexpected.”

Lee Yul had spent a vast sum of money to hire an Assassin from the Hundred Wraith Union. The Assassins of the Hundred Wraith Union were well worth that price.

Using an Assassin to assassinate the leadership could instill great fear in the enemy camp. An Assassin was essential, even if only to break the opponent’s will to fight. They were that efficient of a tool.

The problem was that Jin Clan had also hired an Assassin. Moreover, judging by the circumstances, he had clearly tracked Jang Gwang-san and Sa Okyeon to infiltrate this place.

If Hong Ye-seol hadn’t discovered and stopped him, he couldn’t predict what might have happened to him.

He ordered Hong Ye-seol.

“Find out his identity.”

“Do you think the Red Lotus Four Ghosts won’t be able to catch him?”

“If he was someone who could be caught that easily, he wouldn’t have made it this far. Do you have anyone in mind? Your world isn’t that large, is it?”

“I’ll look into it.”

“Report to me as soon as you find out his identity.”

“Understood.”

Hong Ye-seol nodded.

＊＊＊

When Hong Ye-seol opened the closet, a splendid garment came into view.

A dress made of lustrous red silk, crafted with the utmost care by the finest artisan.

It was the dress she cherished the most.

It was the dress she mainly wore when she was active as a songstress.

When she wanted to look good in front of a large audience, she wore this dress.

The closet didn’t just contain silk clothes.

There were several leather bands of unknown purpose.

Hong Ye-seol undid her belt. The dress slid down her smooth skin and pooled on the floor.

Now naked, Hong Ye-seol fastened the leather bands to each of her wrists.

Inside the two-inch-thick leather bands, various hidden weapons were packed tightly.

On her white calves, she fastened slightly thicker leather bands. In the bands on her calves, a flying dagger the size of a child’s palm was inserted.

After putting on all the leather bands, she changed into the clothes she had carefully stored in the closet. Her plain appearance blossomed into radiance.

Hidden by the splendid garment, the leather bands on her wrists and ankles were not visible.

Finally, she wrapped a sash with a gorgeous pattern around her waist.

Inside the sash were silver threads and vials containing poison.

Once all her preparations for killing were perfectly complete, Hong Ye-seol went outside Snow Blade Sword Manor.

Despite an Assassin having infiltrated Snow Blade Sword Manor, the atmosphere outside was peaceful.

The people outside had no idea of the situation inside Snow Blade Sword Manor.

Even though the Red Lotus Four Ghosts had chased after the intruding Assassin.

Just as he had left no trace when he entered, he left no trace when he escaped.

There weren’t many Assassins who could escape without leaving a trace. It was a skill possible only for those in the upper echelons of the Hundred Wraith Union.

Hong Ye-seol walked past the people.

In the direction she was heading, she saw four men walking through the crowd.

Even though four men with identical faces were walking, people did not perceive them. That was how thoroughly they had erased their presence.

Hong Ye-seol recognized their identities at a glance.

They were the Red Lotus Four Ghosts who had chased the Assassin.

They gave Hong Ye-seol a slight shake of their heads.

It meant they had lost the Assassin.

Hong Ye-seol passed them without a word.

She hadn’t thought they would be able to catch the Assassin anyway. If he were that kind of person, he would have been subdued by her hands inside Snow Blade Sword Manor.

Hong Ye-seol suddenly took out a small vial from inside her sash.

After shaking the vial slightly, she opened the stopper, and a strong scent wafted out.

Hong Ye-seol put the mouth of the vial to her nose and inhaled the scent.

The moment she inhaled the scent, it was as if lightning struck inside her head, and her sense of smell was suddenly amplified several dozen times.

It was an item called Thunder Flash Blood Hound Incense.

It had the effect of momentarily stimulating the sense of smell, amplifying it by several dozen times or more.

When combined with the special mental art that Hong Ye-seol had mastered, she could briefly possess a sense of smell almost on par with a hunting dog.

The side effects were severe, paralyzing her sense of smell for nearly ten days after one use, so she didn’t want to use it unless absolutely necessary.

All sorts of smells entered her nose.

Hong Ye-seol felt a wave of nausea from her momentarily heightened senses. But she endured it and began to distinguish the smells that entered her nose.

At first, she struggled because she wasn’t used to it, but after some time, she finally found the scent she was looking for.

Thousand-Mile Tracking Incense.

The Thunder Flash Blood Hound Incense she had inhaled momentarily amplified her sense of smell, allowing her to track the Thousand-Mile Tracking Incense.

‘As I thought!’

Hong Ye-seol’s eyes shone sharply.

The Thousand-Mile Tracking Incense was by no means a naturally occurring scent.

It was a special concoction made with a unique formulation, and in the current Jianghu, the only organization that could create the Thousand-Mile Tracking Incense was the Hundred Wraith Union. And the one who used the Thousand-Mile Tracking Incense best in the Hundred Wraith Union was none other than Hong Ye-seol.

She had only used the Thousand-Mile Tracking Incense once recently.

‘Pyo Wol! It’s him.’

Just in case, when she met him in Runan, she had given him the Devil Subduing Energy Art, which she had coated with the Thousand-Mile Tracking Incense.

In Runan, he was the only one who had been marked with the Thousand-Mile Tracking Incense.

The face of the Assassin who infiltrated Snow Blade Sword Manor was different from Pyo Wol’s. But there were countless ways to easily change one’s face.

Of course, methods that could change it as naturally as Pyo Wol’s were extremely rare.

Hong Ye-seol checked her gear one more time and then started walking.

One of the characteristics of the Thousand-Mile Tracking Incense was that it did not dilute, no matter how much time passed.

Unless erased with a special medicine, the Thousand-Mile Tracking Incense would follow you until death.

Hong Ye-seol tracked the Thousand-Mile Tracking Incense at a rapid pace.

As she moved toward the outskirts of Runan, the scent of the Thousand-Mile Tracking Incense grew stronger and stronger.

Hong Ye-seol moved, erasing her presence as much as possible.

At a certain moment, her steps stopped.

In the distance, a large, abandoned house was visible.

It was a ruin with collapsed walls and a caved-in roof, looking as if it couldn’t even provide shelter from the wind and rain.

A bright light was leaking through the collapsed walls of the abandoned house.

Hong Ye-seol frowned deeply and cautiously approached the abandoned house.

Inside the ruin, someone was sitting and tending a bonfire.

It was Pyo Wol.

Pyo Wol was silently watching the bonfire burn.

In the firelight, his face shone even more fantastically.

At his dazzling appearance, Hong Ye-seol let out a sigh.

‘Huu! He just had to be so handsome.’

No matter how much she had erased her human emotions through harsh training, she was still a woman. Seeing her heart flutter at a handsome man’s appearance proved it.

It was then.

“Come on out now!”

Pyo Wol’s voice was heard.

Startled for a moment, Hong Ye-seol soon shook her head slightly.

Pyo Wol was looking directly at where she was hiding. There was no point in hiding any longer.

Hong Ye-seol obediently walked out to where Pyo Wol was.

Suddenly, Hong Ye-seol’s gaze turned to the bonfire. It was because a familiar object was burning in the fire.

The Devil Subduing Energy Art.

It was the secret manual she had coated with the Thousand-Mile Tracking Incense and given to Pyo Wol. The fierce flames were devouring the Devil Subduing Energy Art.

Hong Ye-seol’s pupils trembled.

“You knew?”

“From the very beginning.”

“Ha! I’m the only one who looks ridiculous. To think I was putting on a show in front of someone who knew everything.”

Hong Ye-seol let out a sigh.

She was like a monkey playing in the palm of Buddha’s hand.

She couldn’t remember the last time she had been treated like a monkey by someone.

The blood in her entire body turned cold.

Conversely, her anger grew.

Hong Ye-seol forced down her anger and said.

“So it wasn’t me who tracked you, but you who lured me here.”

“I knew someone like you would follow the Thousand-Mile Tracking Incense.”

“Ha! It’s been a really long time since I’ve been this pissed off. Fine. Why did you call me here?”

“I have something to ask.”

“What is it?”

“That man’s identity.”

“Do you think I’ll answer?”

“You’ll answer, whether you like it or not.”

Pyo Wol stood up.

Beyond the bonfire, Hong Ye-seol’s enraged face was visible.