Chapter 245

The Iron Sword Squad sent by the Jin Clan had thoroughly avenged the patrol team.

They had killed all ten or so of Snow Blade Sword Manor’s martial artists who had attacked the patrol. In the process, the Iron Sword Squad showed off their might by not suffering a single injury.

Snow Blade Sword Manor immediately responded.

He declared vengeance for his dead men.

The bloody wheel of revenge, calling for more revenge, began to turn.

It no longer mattered who had started the fight. It was merely that a battle, destined to happen someday, had finally broken out.

It was a fight that neither Snow Blade Sword Manor nor the Jin Clan could back down from.

With Seong-un of the Shaolin Temple, who had come to mediate their fight, having lost his life to an assassin, there was no longer any need to be cautious.

As the fierce battles between the two sects continued day after day, countless people died, and the public sentiment grew grim.

Runan became a city that had lost its vitality, and people vanished from the streets.

The fight between the two sects became a matter of paramount interest for the sects of Jianghu.

It was the first time in decades that major sects of Jianghu had clashed.

In terms of scale alone, neither Snow Blade Sword Manor nor the Jin Clan could be considered a great sect of Jianghu, but if you added the number of martial artists who joined to support them, it was fair to call it a small-scale Jianghu Great War.

Many sects were on high alert, as it was impossible to know how far the repercussions of this fight would extend in the future.

Thus, Runan became the eye of the storm, drawing the attention of many.

As they clashed with Snow Blade Sword Manor, the atmosphere of the Jin Clan also changed significantly.

The somewhat lax atmosphere that had been felt before could no longer be found.

The martial artists of the Jin Clan had already been through several fierce battles.

The experience of having to face the cold corpses of comrades they had been with just the day before had turned them into martial artists full of Poison Qi.

It was the same for the martial artists who had come to support the Jin Clan.

The fight with Snow Blade Sword Manor was fiercer and more vicious than they had expected. Because of this, they even developed a grudge against Snow Blade Sword Manor that they hadn’t had before.

It was now beyond simply helping the Jin Clan out of friendship. They themselves began to become emotionally invested in the fight against Snow Blade Sword Manor.

It was no longer a fight for the Jin Clan alone.

They fought Snow Blade Sword Manor with all their might, as if it were their own affair.

As the fierce battles continued day after day, good news arrived for the Jin Clan.

The Qiankun Merchant and the Mountain-Exchange Tower Master had joined the Jin Clan. Both were experts of great renown in Jianghu.

The Qiankun Merchant was an expert rumored to be a descendant of the long-extinct Guanyin Temple, and the Mountain-Exchange Tower Master was the current master of a sect passed down to a single successor, the Mountain-Exchange Tower.

Their joining was more than enough to greatly boost the Jin Clan’s morale.

“Waaaah! The Iron Sword Squad has returned.”

“Hurry and clear the obstacles.”

The martial artists of the Jin Clan cheered at the return of the Iron Sword Squad.

The organization that had contributed the most to the fight against Snow Blade Sword Manor was, without a doubt, the Iron Sword Squad.

They always fought at the very front.

As such, they killed many and also suffered many losses.

Through that process, they were reborn as an elite force the Jin Clan could trust.

Even now, they were on their way back from killing several dozen of Snow Blade Sword Manor’s martial artists. Seeing them drenched in blood, the people in the Jin Clan let out a cheer.

They hurriedly cleared the obstacles blocking the path.

The Jin Clan was not structured with high walls like Snow Blade Sword Manor, but was in the form of a village. Since the village was so large, building a wall was impossible, so they couldn’t make a gate either. Because of this, they had set up various obstacles on the road leading to the village entrance to prevent unauthorized people from easily approaching.

Not only that, but the work of fortifying the Jin Clan itself was underway.

Moats were being dug in various places around the village, and it was being plastered with all sorts of traps and Mechanism Formations. This was not only to prepare for an invasion by Snow Blade Sword Manor, but also to prevent an assassin’s infiltration beforehand.

Bo-gyeong still had not left the Jin Clan.

Seong-un’s body was stored in an artifact called an Ice Jade Coffin.

The Ice Jade Coffin was a coffin made of jade that emitted a cold air, and it was the only one of its kind in the Jin Clan.

Since Bo-gyeong wanted to preserve Seong-un’s body as completely as possible, the Jin Clan had no choice but to provide the Ice Jade Coffin.

Bo-gyeong guarded the Ice Jade Coffin containing Seong-un’s body, never leaving its side for a moment.

Although several days had already passed since the war with Snow Blade Sword Manor broke out, Bo-gyeong was literally sustaining his life with only the bare minimum of food. His appearance was so pitiful it brought tears to one’s eyes.

But no one dared to approach him to offer comfort.

A chill as dreadful as the cold air of the Ice Jade Coffin emanated from his entire body.

Only Namgung Wol would occasionally approach to give her a meal and return.

“I wonder if that friend will collapse first at this rate.”

Namgung Wol let out a deep sigh.

Bo-gyeong could not forgive himself.

Himself, for failing to protect Seong-un because she was talking with Namgung Wol on the night he was assassinated.

As the days went by, Bo-gyeong grew thinner, and a hint of killing intent even flickered in his eyes.

Namgung Wol felt a sense of guilt at his friend’s change.

It was because it had happened when Bo-gyeong was with him.

“Huu!”

Namgung Wol let out another deep sigh.

Until he arrived at the Jin Clan, he had not known the problem would become this serious.

He had only come to help the family of his deceased friend, but he truly had not expected the situation to become so complicated.

He was at a complete loss as to where to even begin unraveling the tangled mess.

At times like this, he wanted to talk frankly with someone.

Just then, a person came to mind.

‘Pyo Wol!’

But he had been staying out of sight for several days since Seong-un’s assassination. Most people only recognized him as a man with a beautiful face, but those who knew even a little about his true nature suspected that he might be the assassin who killed Seong-un.

The attitude Bo-gyeong had shown that day had planted a seed of doubt in their hearts as well.

Namgung Wol and Oh Ju-gang thought it couldn’t be true, but a few people were gossiping behind his back that Pyo Wol might be the culprit. Perhaps because of that, Pyo Wol had also disappeared from people’s sight at some point.

＊＊＊

Pyo Wol stood alone at the top of a large tree.

The place where he set his feet was on a thin branch, about the thickness of a child’s finger.

Every time the wind blew, the branch bent pliantly as if it would break. Pyo Wol’s body swayed along with it. But Pyo Wol did not lose his balance and fall.

He entrusted his body to the swaying.

His clothes and hair fluttered in the wind, but it ultimately failed to break his balance.

Ggggeuk!

Just then, a bizarre sound reached Pyo Wol’s ears.

It sounded as if a large tiger were scratching a tree with its claws.

The sound was coming from the tree trunk right below his feet.

Something was climbing up the tree he was standing on.

The moment he saw the figure laboriously climbing up, little by little, Pyo Wol furrowed his brow.

Although Pyo Wol rarely showed any emotional agitation, this time he was honestly quite surprised.

Climbing the tree he was on was a doll the size of a three or four-year-old child.

The doll, made of wood and cloth, was so crude that it looked grotesque. For such a thing to be diligently climbing a tree on its own, even someone like Pyo Wol couldn’t help but be surprised.

The doll, as if it had a life of its own, diligently climbed the tree, then grabbed the branch opposite Pyo Wol and stood up.

The doll tilted its head, looked at Pyo Wol’s face, and then opened its mouth.

“You’re as handsome as they say.”

The doll spoke as if it were a person.

If anyone else had seen this sight, they would have had a fit, thinking the doll was possessed by a ghost. But Pyo Wol looked at the doll without a hint of agitation.

At that, the doll clutched its stomach and laughed.

“Kehehe! You’re not surprised.”

“It was you!”

“What was me?”

“The one who killed Seong-un.”

“Ho! How did you figure it out?”

The doll made a look of admiration.

Pyo Wol looked into the distance instead of answering.

Far beyond the doll. At that, the doll clapped its hands and said.

“Haha! Amazing. Truly amazing.”

“Did you send in a doll because you weren’t confident enough to come inside?”

“Is there a need to show my face just to say hello? You know. Our kind doesn’t show our faces to others.”

The doll touched its own face with both hands.

The gesture looked as if it were mocking Pyo Wol. No, it was actually mocking Pyo Wol.

There was no way the doll was alive.

The doll was merely a tool, or a means, to convey his words.

Even Pyo Wol did not know how such a thing was possible.

It was the first time in his life he had ever seen such a sight.

Nevertheless, the reason he was not surprised was that he knew that evil arts or mystic arts that made such things possible existed in Jianghu.

Those who used such sorcery were treated as practitioners of the Evil Path in Jianghu and were ostracized by those who learned orthodox martial arts. That was why they hid deeper in the shadows and became beings that were not easily seen.

What impressed the doll’s master was that Pyo Wol’s gaze was aimed precisely where his real body was.

He didn’t know how it was possible, but Pyo Wol had roughly grasped where he was hiding outside the Jin Clan.

Pyo Wol asked.

“What is your name?”

“Black Tiger!”

The doll answered obediently.

It was an attitude that said he had nothing to hide.

It was surprising that Pyo Wol was looking exactly where he was hiding, but he himself possessed that level of ability.

Pyo Wol asked.

“Are you from the Hundred Wraith Union?”

“That’s right! Hong Ye-seol gave up the mission, so I came in her place. Look forward to it, I will never disappoint. Oh, and did you receive my gift?”

“You mean killing Seong-un?”

“Hehe! Right. It seems you’ve been put in a difficult situation because of it. If it’s too much, how about surrendering yourself to the Hundred Wraith Union?”

“I refuse.”

“I knew you would. In fact, I was hoping you wouldn’t. If we become allies, I can’t kill you.”

“It seems you don’t consider that you might be the one to die.”

“I’m different from the pathetic bastards you’ve dealt with until now.”

“They all said that. That they were different. But they were all the same.”

“Hehe! Is that so? But I will be different. I guarantee it.”

“I’ll look forward to it.”

“You will absolutely not be disappointed.”

The doll pounded its chest as if to say, ‘believe me.’ In doing so, it lost its balance and almost fell from the tree, but it managed to grab the branch again and hold on.

Pyo Wol was honestly impressed by the sight.

The place where Black Tiger’s real body was hiding was hundreds of zhang away from here. Controlling a doll from such a distance was by no means an easy task.

No matter how great the evil arts or mystic arts were, it was an act that could not be done without sufficient internal energy to back it up.

He couldn’t tell the extent of Black Tiger’s true abilities, but just from the way he wielded the doll as if it were his own limbs, he could tell that he was a possessor of incredible evil arts.

Pyo Wol asked.

“Why did you kill Seong-un?”

“Does an assassin need to know the reason? The client asked me to kill him, so I killed him.”

“The repercussions won’t be easy to handle.”

“The Shaolin Temple?”

“Yes!”

“Kehehe! Right, I’m curious about that too. He must have known the Shaolin Temple would get involved, so why did he ask me to kill him?”

“Aren’t you worried? The Shaolin Temple’s wrath could be directed at the Hundred Wraith Union.”

“Hehe! Why worry about that? If things get unfavorable, we can just hide in the shadows.”

“Are you confident you won’t be found?”

“You don’t know the true power of the Hundred Wraith Union. The Shaolin Temple is a fearsome existence, but if we decide to hide, they can never find us.”

“……”

“To commemorate our meeting like this, I’ll give you a gift. You will absolutely not be disappointed. Hehe!”

In an instant, Pyo Wol’s expression hardened.

The doll hadn’t made any particular move, but he felt an ominous qi.

Pyo Wol did not ignore his instinct’s warning.

He kicked off the thin branch and threw his body backward.

Poof!

At that moment, the doll exploded, and countless fine needles hidden inside its torso were fired.

The fine needles, launched by the explosion, had enough power to pierce through human flesh and muscle in an instant. But the needles did not lodge themselves in Pyo Wol’s body.

Pyo Wol had already escaped the full range of the explosion.

It was an explosion that occurred high up on a tree branch. Not only were there no people under the tree, but those nearby did not know what had happened on top of the tree.

That was how extremely limited the blast radius was.

The fine needles were embedded only in a radius just large enough for Pyo Wol to feel threatened, and the sound of the explosion was faint.

Unless one were to climb the tree and discover the fine needles embedded in the trunk, there was no way to know that an explosion had occurred here.

Although he hadn’t suffered a single wound, Pyo Wol’s face was terrifyingly cold.

‘So this is how you’re going to play?’