Chapter 25

Guhwa Satae was the Sect Master of the Emei Sect.

When she became the Sect Master, the Emei Sect was in a period of decline. Due to being closed-off for a long time, the sect’s membership itself was weak.

In the generation above Guhwa Satae, there were formidable martial artists known as the Three Monks of the White Moon, but unfortunately, their political skills and sense of reality were severely lacking.

They focused more on mastering martial arts than on expanding the sect’s external influence. As they did not accept outside disciples, the Emei Sect naturally declined.

By the time the Three Monks of the White Moon realized this fact, the Emei Sect had shriveled into insignificance. With their abilities, they couldn’t have led the revival of the Emei Sect even if they died and came back to life. So, the one they chose was Guhwa Satae.

Guhwa Satae, in addition to her martial arts, had an outstanding sense of reality and leadership. With her overwhelming presence, she received the support of the disciples under her command.

Upon becoming the Sect Master, Guhwa Satae boldly lifted the closed-off status and began accepting disciples from the outside.

Originally, the Emei Sect was a Buddhist sect.

Among them, the proportion of nuns was overwhelming.

More than two-thirds of the prodigies who distinguished themselves in Jianghu were men. This was because men were physically more advantageous in learning martial arts.

This meant they had to accept disciples from the remaining one-third of female prodigies, but most women did not want to become nuns.

Because of this, the Emei Sect always struggled with a shortage of prodigies. That was one of the reasons for the rapid decline of the Emei Sect’s power.

After grasping all these problems, Guhwa Satae boldly opened the gates to everyone.

She selected talented disciples not only from among women but also from among men. She also lifted the restriction that first-generation disciples and above must become nuns.

She had removed the biggest obstacle that blocked the influx of talented prodigies.

Guhwa Satae herself even returned to secular life.

She was certain that if she, the leader, remained a nun, outside prodigies would hold the prejudice that the Emei Sect was a Buddhist sect. After that, the Emei Sect began to rapidly expand its power.

Currently, the Emei Sect was closer to a secular sect than a Buddhist one.

All of this was Guhwa Satae’s achievement.

Guhwa Satae was a pioneer of radical change who had shattered all the elements that had defined the Emei Sect for hundreds of years.

She was also a person of such ruthless heart that she didn’t even blink an eye when Gu Juyang’s blood stained her Bludgeon Palm.

Guhwa Satae looked around the inside of the mansion with a cool gaze.

Screams were echoing from all over.

Most of them were from the assassins.

In the face of the Emei Sect disciples’ formidable martial power, the assassins were helpless. With their leader, Gu Juyang, dead, their strength weakened even further.

“Keuk!”

Il-geom knelt, his chest pierced through.

In front of him stood a dazzlingly beautiful woman. She was the owner of the sword that had pierced Il-geom’s chest.

The woman wore a light blue top embroidered with a peacock feather pattern.

Il-geom thought the peacock pattern suited her splendid appearance well.

“What is your name?”

“Yong… Seol Lan.”

“I heard that among Guhwa Satae’s disciples, there is one whose looks are like a celestial maiden and whose talent pierces the heavens. It must have been you.”

“That’s all just exaggerated rumor.”

Yong Seol Lan slightly shook her head.

Il-geom thought even that gesture was beautiful.

“Heh… heh! A life of several decades as an assassin is useless. To think I can’t even handle a first-generation disciple of the Emei Sect…”

It felt as if his decades of life had been negated.

Il-geom died in despair.

Yong Seol Lan looked at Il-geom with pity for a moment before walking towards Guhwa Satae.

Around Guhwa Satae, all the first-generation disciples of the Emei Sect had gathered.

Jeong Hwa, Cheol Shim, Do Yeon, Dan Shim, Un Mong.

All were Guhwa Satae’s direct disciples and Yong Seol Lan’s senior martial sisters.

As Yong Seol Lan approached, Jeong Hwa spoke.

“You’re late, youngest. What were you talking about with a mere assassin?”

“I’m sorry, Senior Martial Sister!”

Yong Seol Lan answered calmly.

At Yong Seol Lan’s attitude, Jeong Hwa’s eyebrow twitched slightly. But since they were in front of Guhwa Satae, she said nothing more.

Yong Seol Lan was a very important person in the Emei Sect.

In many ways.

She held the largest share in Guhwa Satae’s future plans. One could not treat her carelessly.

It was then.

Two disciples of the Emei Sect dragged someone before Guhwa Satae.

The one being dragged, with the tendons of both his arms and legs severed, was none other than Sa-geom.

The Emei Sect disciples threw Sa-geom before Guhwa Satae as if tossing out trash and said,

“This is the one responsible for leading the newly trained assassins to the vicinity of Mount Qingcheng.”

Guhwa Satae looked down at Sa-geom with eyes full of contempt.

One of the types of people she hated the most were assassins.

Human scum who killed only for money, without any cause or justification.

Of the many types of people in the world, the ones least worthy of living were assassins.

“Exactly how many assassins did you take with you?”

“Keuk! Why… do you ask?”

Sa-geom barely lifted his blood-soaked face to look at Guhwa Satae.

“You don’t need to know the reason. Just answer quickly.”

“Heuu! I don’t know either.”

“Do you dare lie to me?”

“Even if I knew, I couldn’t tell you. You don’t really think I’d tell the truth to… you, who made my home into this state, do you?”

“Hmph! A mere assassin dares to act so tough.”

Guhwa Satae snorted and extended her hand.

Her wrist, so thin it resembled a dead tree, was revealed.

With her fingers as dry as twigs, she grabbed Sa-geom’s wrist.

Soul-Chasing Power Art.

It was one of the Emei Sect’s supreme martial arts.

A type of penetrating energy, it boasted a cruelty and viciousness far worse than any torture method. It was said that once struck by the Soul-Chasing Power Art, one would suffer hellish pain while their entire body was paralyzed.

As if being gnawed by vermin, one’s body and mind would be ground away, suffering extreme pain until death. Such a vicious martial art was the Soul-Chasing Power Art.

“Kuaaaargh!”

Sa-geom screamed.

He had been through all sorts of hardships as an assassin.

The Soul-Chasing Power Art was so painful that he, who wouldn’t even blink at most tortures, let out a desperate scream.

It wasn’t simply the pain of vermin gnawing at his flesh. It was as if hot wax was moving through his blood vessels, melting his entire body, then hardening it again, tormenting Sa-geom.

The pain was so intense that his body twisted bizarrely, even though the tendons in all four limbs were severed.

At the horrifying sight, even Jeong Hwa and the other Emei Sect disciples turned their heads away. But Guhwa Satae paid no mind and continued to torture Sa-geom by operating the Soul-Chasing Power Art.

In the end, Sa-geom couldn’t bear the pain and surrendered.

“Twenty… eight. Now kill… me.”

“Hmph!”

Having heard the answer she wanted, Guhwa Satae removed her hand from Sa-geom’s body and stood up.

Sa-geom was still alive.

He was only breathing, but his state was worse than death.

The Soul-Chasing Power Art had completely destroyed his insides and was continuously inflicting extreme pain.

Sa-geom would have to feel all that pain vividly until his breath naturally ceased.

Guhwa Satae’s gaze turned to Jeong Hwa.

“How many have been killed so far, did you say?”

“Twenty-four.”

“Four remain. Eradicate them to eliminate any future trouble.”

“As you command!”

As Jeong Hwa replied and left, Guhwa Satae looked at Yong Seol Lan.

“From now on, your role is important. You understand, don’t you?”

“Yes! Master.”

“As soon as this matter is settled, I will send someone to the Qingcheng Sect to set a date. In the meantime, you are to purify your body and mind and prepare for the wedding.”

“Yes!”

Yong Seol Lan answered curtly.

Although her attitude was a little grating, Guhwa Satae did not bother to scold her.

Instead, she said, as if to herself.

“Everything is for the sake of our sect.”

The Great Demonic War brought a great change to the power structure of Jianghu. Many sects fell, and new ones rose to prominence, causing a rapid shift in the map of Jianghu.

The sects that participated in the Great Demonic War received the support of the people and experienced explosive growth, but those that did not struggled.

The sects of Sichuan Province belonged to the latter. Due to Sichuan’s characteristically closed-off terrain, it was less affected by external forces. Being less affected by the outside, there was no reason to force themselves to participate in the Great Demonic War.

In an isolated environment, the hierarchy among the sects, once established, did not change easily.

After the fall of the Tang Clan, the Emei Sect and the Qingcheng Sect held the leadership of Sichuan. Among them, the one with a more solid grip on leadership was the Qingcheng Sect.

A big reason was that they had lifted their closed-off status earlier than the Emei Sect, and Muryeong Jin-in, the Sect Master of the Qingcheng Sect, had excellent judgment.

Muryeong Jin-in believed that for the Qingcheng Sect to prosper, they needed people skilled in worldly affairs more than those with strong martial arts. So, he brought U Jin-pyeong, who was from a Lay Disciple background of the Qingcheng Sect, into the main headquarters.

U Jin-pyeong’s clan had fostered a relationship with the Qingcheng Sect for generations by becoming its lay disciples. They used their status as a Lay Family of the Qingcheng Sect to establish a Trading Company, which grew rapidly thanks to a combination of business acumen, martial talent, and the vision to read the bigger picture.

Muryeong Jin-in gave U Jin-pyeong the position of Second-in-Command of the Qingcheng Sect.

It was the first time in hundreds of years of history that a Lay Disciple, not a headquarters disciple, had become an Elder and Second-in-Command of the Qingcheng Sect.

It was proof of how outstanding U Jin-pyeong’s abilities were.

At first, the Elders opposed U Jin-pyeong’s appointment, but after experiencing his formidable abilities, they became his ardent supporters.

U Jin-pyeong took advantage of the time when the Emei Sect had not yet lifted its closed-off status to rapidly expand the Qingcheng Sect’s power.

With the Tang Clan annihilated and even the Emei Sect closed-off, there was no rival to the Qingcheng Sect in Sichuan Province.

As if robbing an empty house, the Qingcheng Sect took all the major interests in Sichuan.

The Qingcheng Sect was enjoying its greatest prosperity in history.

The Qingcheng Sect and the Emei Sect were classified as the Two Sects.

Following them were the Three Clans, the Four Rooms, the Five Halls, and other small and medium-sized sects.

A significant number of them were mobilized for this assassin hunt.

The incident had targeted none other than the Qingcheng Sect, the unrivaled power of Sichuan.

Considering their future relationship with the Qingcheng Sect, they had to find and annihilate the assassins.

For that reason, the sects of Sichuan dispatched numerous disciples to provide support.

It was the first time since the Great Blood War, when the forces of justice and evil clashed over the fate of All Under Heaven long ago, that so many martial artists had been mobilized in Sichuan Province.

Perhaps they had been hoping for something like this to happen.

For the past years, Sichuan had been too peaceful, enjoying a reign of peace without any particular incidents.

Peace was a blessing for ordinary people, but for martial artists who wanted to show off their martial prowess, it was like a curse.

Numerous martial artists appeared in Sichuan, but they were not given the opportunity to display their martial power.

The assassins who appeared while they were spending such tedious time brought great vitality to the daily lives of Sichuan’s martial artists.

The martial artists of Sichuan voluntarily participated in the Celestial Net to hunt the assassins.

It was a long-awaited form of entertainment.

If they missed this opportunity, there was no telling when another moment to freely display their martial power would come again.

The martial artists relentlessly pursued and killed the children.

The surviving children scattered in all directions.

They chose to escape outside of Sichuan.

The martial artists took up positions on the roads leading outside and waited for the children.

While the eyes of all of Sichuan were focused on the children, the Qingcheng Sect, which had been the assassins’ target, was quiet.

As if to show that they were different from other sects, the Qingcheng Sect showed no movement whatsoever.

The Qingcheng Sect’s refusal to follow the crowd was befitting of the great sect that dominated Sichuan.

Even though night had fallen, the Qingcheng Sect was as bright as if it were daytime.

Torches were hung in the numerous Daoist Temples of the Qingcheng Sect, and many martial artists stood guard with iron-clad security.

Although they did not send out troops to catch the assassins, their internal security was made even more thorough, reminiscent of an impregnable fortress.

There was someone holding his breath in the shadow of a large tree that overlooked the brightly lit Qingcheng Sect.

The one watching the Qingcheng Sect, perfectly assimilated with the darkness, was none other than Pyo Wol.

While the other children were struggling to get as far away from the Qingcheng Sect as possible, he had instead secretly infiltrated it.

Those who had spread the Celestial Net were only blocking the roads leading outside; they hadn’t even thought of blocking the road to the Qingcheng Sect.

Pyo Wol took advantage of their oversight and acted in reverse.

Now, with all their forces dispersed to spread the Celestial Net, was the perfect opportunity to carry out an assassination.

Pyo Wol muttered.

“If you wanted us to die as public enemies of Jianghu, then we’ll truly become public enemies of Jianghu.”

The assassination target was U Gun-sang.

Thus, the first Solo Assassination Mission of the assassin Pyo Wol was beginning.