Chapter 248

The staff Seong-am held weighed over eighty geun. Made by mixing pig iron with black iron, it was several times heavier than an ordinary staff.

When the Demon-Subduing Divine Staff was wielded with a weight of over eighty geun, its power was magnified.

If it struck a human body, the flesh and bone would be crushed beyond recognition.

Fwoosh!

Seong-am spun the heavy staff as lightly as a pinwheel. But the aftermath was anything but light.

Craaaash!

The spot where the staff struck exploded.

The very surface of the ground had literally burst open.

It was a power so immense it was hard to believe even when seeing it with one’s own eyes.

Every time Seong-am swung the staff, a staff-shaped Qi extended out like Sword Qi.

When the length of the Qi was added to the staff’s original length, it completely dominated a radius of five Zhang.

Crash! Crash! Crash!

The spots struck by the Qi emanating from the staff continuously exploded. But no matter how much he swung the staff, he could not catch Pyo Wol.

Pyo Wol was like a snake.

With just a few movements of his feet and a few sways of his body, he evaded all of Seong-am’s attacks.

“Cowardly by nature, all you do is evade. Just as expected of a filthy assassin.”

Seong-am sneered at Pyo Wol.

Assassins were one of the most despised groups in the Jianghu.

Martial artists belonging to prestigious sects like the Shaolin Temple, in particular, loathed assassins even more. Seong-am was especially one of them.

He was one of those who shuddered at the mere mention of assassins.

He believed that assassins were the most useless beings in the Jianghu, the first that should be eliminated.

As his hatred grew, more strength entered the hands that swung the staff.

Fwoooosh!

The Eighteen Demon-Subduing Strikes, the ultimate technique of the Demon-Subduing Divine Staff, was unleashed.

The staff seemed to tremble before multiplying into eighteen, striking at the vital points all over Pyo Wol’s body.

It was an attack that had completely calculated Pyo Wol’s possible escape routes.

“Got you.”

A look of ecstasy appeared on Seong-am’s face.

He was confident that this one move would inflict a serious wound on Pyo Wol. But his wish did not come true. Once again, Pyo Wol slithered like a snake and evaded all of his attacks.

“How long do you plan to keep cowardly running away?”

Finally losing his patience, Seong-am roared.

It was the moment his anger reached its peak. And it was also the moment Pyo Wol had been so eagerly awaiting.

Shhhhk!

With a chilling sound of something slicing through the air, two Ghostly Rain daggers were launched.

The Ghostly Rain daggers, as if they were living creatures, flew in different trajectories, aiming for Seong-am’s entire body.

“Do you really think such a crude attack would work on me?”

Seong-am swung his staff and deflected all the Ghostly Rain daggers.

Flying daggers like Ghostly Rain were only useful for ambushes; they couldn’t display their power in a direct confrontation like this. It was even harder for them to be effective against an expert like Seong-am.

At that moment, something unbelievable happened.

The deflected daggers changed direction in mid-air and flew back toward Seong-am.

“How dare you use evil arts on a disciple of Buddha. Hah!”

It was a high-level technique of controlling the Ghostly Rain with the Soul Restraining Thread, but Seong-am simply dismissed it as evil arts.

That was how thoroughly he was looking down on Pyo Wol.

Seong-am unleashed the ultimate technique of the Demon-Subduing Divine Staff and attacked Pyo Wol. The Ghostly Rain daggers couldn’t even reach his body, hitting the staff and being deflected again.

Fwoooosh!

A terrifying wind and pressure bore down on Pyo Wol’s entire body. An ordinary person would have felt fear, but Pyo Wol was different.

His composure, forged on the line between life and death, was not so fragile as to be shaken by a few fierce techniques from Seong-am.

Pyo Wol had reached his current state by breaking through paths Seong-am could never even imagine. The quality of his martial arts was different in its very grain from Seong-am’s, which had been built through comfortable training at the Shaolin Temple.

Even while dealing with Seong-am, he observed the movements of the Shaolin Temple disciples.

They had already perfectly established an encirclement around Pyo Wol.

They had deployed the Eighteen Arhat Formation, a scaled-down version of the One Hundred and Eight Arhat Formation, one of the Shaolin Temple’s representative ultimate formations.

Pyo Wol’s opponent was not just Seong-am. The monks who had formed the Eighteen Arhat Formation, as well as Great Monk Woon-hae, Bo-gyeong, and the heroes on the wall, were all watching him with predatory eyes.

Just as Lee Yul intended, Pyo Wol had become a public enemy.

And it was within the Jin Clan, the very place he had come to help.

Without Pyo Wol even noticing, Lee Yul had laid all the groundwork, and in the end, made the people within the Jin Clan feel animosity toward him.

He had used the instinctive revulsion that not only Seong-am but everyone felt towards assassins.

It was truly a meticulous scheme.

But there was something Lee Yul had failed to anticipate.

And that was Pyo Wol’s martial arts.

Shhhhk!

The Ghostly Rain daggers were launched again.

“This kind of…”

Suddenly, Seong-am’s words caught in his throat.

The number of Ghostly Rain daggers cutting through the air had increased to a staggering ten.

If it had been a simple increase in number, he wouldn’t have been so surprised.

All ten Ghostly Rain daggers moved differently, as if they were alive.

A Soul Restraining Thread was connected to each of the Ghostly Rain daggers.

The limit for the Soul Restraining Thread had been four or five.

But his encounter with Ilgeom Jin-in had caused a great change within his body, and this was the result.

Pyo Wol had become able to launch ten strands of the Soul Restraining Thread.

The Soul Restraining Thread carried Pyo Wol’s will and moved the Ghostly Rain daggers.

Cl-cl-cl-clang!

The Ghostly Rain daggers spun like drills and attacked Seong-am.

Seong-am tried to deflect all of Pyo Wol’s attacks by unleashing the Demon-Subduing Divine Staff. But the rotational force contained in the Ghostly Rain daggers was beyond Seong-am’s imagination.

Cracks began to form on the staff that clashed with the Ghostly Rain daggers.

No matter how many times he deflected the Ghostly Rain daggers, they would return and strike again, the ten or so daggers rotating and battering the staff.

Tat-tat-tat-tang!

A sound like popping beans erupted from the staff.

“Keuk!”

Seong-am’s face contorted horribly.

From the shock transmitted through the staff, every sinew in his body bulged.

‘Wh-what?’

The power of each individual strike was not that great, but when ten Ghostly Rain daggers took turns striking hundreds of times in an instant, it was hard for even someone like Seong-am to endure.

Craaaaack!

Just as single drops of water eventually bore a hole in a rock, the staff could not withstand the relentless pecking of the Ghostly Rain daggers and finally shattered.

“How can this be!”

Holding the staff that had broken in two, Seong-am wore a dazed expression.

He had never imagined that the staff, made by mixing in black iron, would break like this.

At that moment, Pyo Wol drove into Seong-am’s chest.

Pyo Wol struck Seong-am’s wide-open chest with Jade Destruction.

Poof!

“Kuaack!”

Seong-am flew backward with a scream.

“Ah! Martial Uncle.”

“Save Martial Uncle.”

Seeing this, the monks of the Shaolin Temple moved. But Pyo Wol’s reaction was much faster.

Fwrarararak!

Ten Ghostly Rain daggers spread out wide and spun like a storm.

“Kuaaack!”

“Keuk!”

A dozen monks collapsed, spraying blood.

The encirclement that had surrounded Pyo Wol crumbled in an instant.

Pyo Wol broke through the encirclement and launched himself into the air.

“Stop him!”

“Everyone, attack.”

The heroes who had been surrounding him from over the wall tried to stop Pyo Wol. But before they could even get close to Pyo Wol, they were blocked by the Ghostly Rain daggers and fell.

Having broken through the encirclement in an instant, Pyo Wol soon turned into a small dot and disappeared from sight.

“How can this be!”

“To be this strong.”

The heroes stared blankly in the direction Pyo Wol had disappeared.

They had thought of Pyo Wol as just an ordinary assassin. That was the extent of the information they had. So they had looked down on Pyo Wol, but the martial prowess of Pyo Wol they had witnessed firsthand was far beyond their imagination.

The courtyard had turned into a sea of blood, and dozens of martial artists were groaning with fatal injuries.

Among them was Seong-am.

He hadn’t suffered a fatal wound like the others, but he had sustained an injury that could not be ignored.

If he hadn’t trained his body to be like steel, he might have even lost his life.

“Keuk!”

Seong-am’s body trembled with shame.

To be wounded by someone he had dismissed as a mere assassin had wounded his pride.

“You bastard! I will never forgive you.”

Seong-am burned with rage toward Pyo Wol.

“Are you alright?”

Great Monk Woon-hae belatedly approached him.

“I’m… alright. Martial Uncle!”

“That man’s martial arts are truly incredible. To think this is the martial arts of an assassin.”

Great Monk Woon-hae couldn’t believe it.

The time it took for Seong-am and the elite of the Shaolin Temple to fall was merely the time of one tea.

In that short moment, Pyo Wol had neutralized everyone and leisurely escaped the Jin Clan.

The only fortunate thing was that, by a stroke of luck, no one had died.

‘Is it really a stroke of luck?’

The thought suddenly occurred to him.

With the martial prowess Pyo Wol had just shown, he could have killed people at will. The fact that there wasn’t a single death could only mean that he had held back.

‘If he really is the one who killed Seong-un, why would he hold back? He could have just killed them and escaped…’

Great Monk Woon-hae felt his thoughts becoming tangled.

Just then, Jin Si-woo approached Great Monk Woon-hae.

Jin Si-woo’s expression was as hard as a rock.

“Great Monk!”

“Patron Jin.”

“Please leave the Jin Clan now.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I mean take Monk Seong-un’s body and leave the Jin Clan.”

Jin Si-woo’s tone was extremely cold.

Just a short while ago, when he had greeted the Shaolin monks, he had shown a very cautious and polite attitude. That was how much he respected the Shaolin Temple.

What changed Jin Si-woo’s attitude was the attitude of the Shaolin Temple.

No matter that they suspected Pyo Wol, starting a fight within the Jin Clan without his permission was a clear act of disrespect toward him and the Jin Clan.

Even if it was the Shaolin Temple, they could not act as they pleased in another sect’s territory.

The fact that Seong-am and the Shaolin monks had attacked Pyo Wol meant they looked down on the Jin Clan.

Only then did Great Monk Woon-hae realize why Jin Si-woo was angry. A troubled expression naturally appeared on his face.

There was a line that should never be crossed, no matter what.

Now, Seong-am and the Shaolin monks had crossed that line.

Even if they suspected Pyo Wol, if they had considered the dignity of the Jin Clan, they should never have caused a scene here. Especially not in front of Jin Si-woo.

Just as the Shaolin Temple was enraged by Seong-un’s death, it was natural for the Jin Clan to be enraged by the Shaolin Temple’s actions.

“Amitabha! There seems to have been some misunderstanding. We did not do this out of disrespect for the Jin Clan, but…”

“How is attacking my guest, in my house, without my permission, not an act of disrespect? No matter how much the Shaolin Temple is the Taishan and Beidou of the Jianghu, you cannot disrespect the Jin Clan like this.”

“Amitabha!”

“There is nothing more to say. Although our Jin Clan lacks the strength due to the fight with Daoist Master Seol, there is no reason for us to endure such disrespect. Please leave.”

“Patron Jin. Please calm down and…”

Great Monk Woon-hae tried to persuade Jin Si-woo until the end. But Seong-am, his pride wounded, was different.

“Does the likes of the mere Jin Clan dare to disrespect Shaolin?”

Seong-am, despite his injured body, emitted a formidable aura.

At that, Jin Si-woo’s complexion hardened even more.

The reason he had been patient until now was by no means because he was a nice person. He had thought it was the way to protect the Jin Clan. But if the other party disregarded their situation and ran rampant, he could no longer tolerate it.

It was then.

“That’s enough.”

Namgung Wol, who had been watching until now, stepped forward and stood in front of Jin Si-woo.

A desolate energy lingered in Namgung Wol’s eyes.

Namgung Wol had come to help the Jin Clan because of his connection with Jin Geum-woo.

Until now, he had to endure it for Jin Si-woo’s sake, but Seong-am’s current attitude was enough to provoke his anger.

Seong-am’s eyes widened.

“What did you say?”

“I said, that’s enough.”

“How dare you!”

“And don’t say ‘how dare you.’ I’m sick of hearing it.”

Killing intent flickered in Namgung Wol’s eyes.

Seong-am was about to explode in anger, but Great Monk Woon-hae stopped him.

“Stop it, Seong-am!”

“But Martial Uncle…”

“Do you dare to ignore my words as well?”

“N-no, sir.”

Even Seong-am could not completely ignore Great Monk Woon-hae.

As Great Monk Woon-hae’s voice turned cold, Seong-am also realized his mistake and hunched his shoulders.

Namgung Wol said to Seong-am.

“If you want to run wild like a mad dog, don’t do it under Shaolin’s name. You’ll be trampling on a thousand years of Shaolin’s honor with your own feet. If you don’t like what I’m saying, come at me anytime. I’ll face you not as Namgung Wol of the Thousand Water Society, but as the martial artist Namgung Wol.”