Chapter 36

It was a nightmare.

Watching Pyo Wol, Jeong Hwa and Yong Seol Lan were brutally realizing just how powerful and deadly a single assassin could be.

Pyo Wol attacked the disciples of the Emei Sect, completely shattering the limits of what they thought an assassin could do.

He thoroughly exploited only the weaknesses of the Emei Sect.

Pyo Wol did not reveal himself, moving with darkness and chaos as his shield.

When he set off fireworks he had stolen from someone, the Emei Sect disciples lost their composure even more.

They tried to quickly regain their senses and control the situation, but in Pyo Wol’s eyes, openings were visible everywhere.

Pyo Wol did not miss their openings.

He never stayed in one place for long. He moved constantly, searching for his next target.

He used everything he could.

Sometimes he killed his opponents with his bare hands, and other times he killed them with the weapons he had taken from them. But the disciples of the Emei Sect did not go down helplessly.

“Die!”

“You son of a bitch assassin! Let’s see who dies first, you or me.”

Having lost many of their comrades in an instant, the disciples of the Emei Sect swung their swords, filled with rage.

They swung their swords wildly at the slightest hint of anything unusual.

Pyo Wol was not so dull as to be struck by a blind sword. But as he moved more violently to avoid their swords, his stamina was rapidly depleted.

‘Heok! Heok!’

His heart pounded violently, as if it would burst at any moment.

Pyo Wol suppressed the rough gasps that threatened to escape his lips and glared at Jeong Hwa.

He never thought he could kill all the Emei Sect disciples anyway. From the beginning, his targets were only the leaders of the Emei Sect, including Jeong Hwa.

Throwing the Emei Sect disciples into chaos to disperse them was merely a preliminary step.

Pyo Wol moved his feet calmly.

Like a cat, he completely silenced his footsteps and erased all traces of his presence. Thus, he became one with the darkness and approached Jeong Hwa.

Jeong Hwa had all her nerves on edge, but she did not notice Pyo Wol’s approach.

Pyo Wol did not know what position Jeong Hwa held in the Emei Sect. But seeing her command all the martial artists of the Emei Sect who had come here, he realized she was a very important figure.

If he killed her, Elder Nun Guhwa of the Emei Sect would also suffer a great blow.

It was a pity that Elder Nun Guhwa herself had not come, but for now, he had to be satisfied with this.

‘I must end it in one blow.’

The longer it dragged on, the more disadvantageous it was for Pyo Wol.

For now, he had the upper hand by using the favorable environmental conditions, but if the martial artists of the Qingcheng Sect joined in, he didn’t know how the situation might suddenly change.

He had to kill Jeong Hwa before that.

Pyo Wol focused his qi at the tips of his ten fingers.

He could have used a weapon that had fallen to the ground, but his bare hands were still what he was most accustomed to.

Swish!

Pyo Wol unleashed the ultimate technique of the Seventy-Two Cutting Waves towards Jeong Hwa.

Unconsciously, he had unleashed the martial art most ingrained in his body.

“Not a chance.”

Just before Pyo Wol’s attack struck her body, Jeong Hwa suddenly swung her Buddha’s Duster like a thunderbolt.

A martial artist’s instinct had warned her of the danger.

She was, after all, the great disciple of the Emei Sect.

With the martial arts and senses she had honed for decades, she had faintly detected Pyo Wol’s ambush attack.

Chwahaha!

The Buddha’s Duster, infused with internal energy, was a terrifying weapon in itself.

Jeong Hwa unleashed the Emei Sect’s secret transmission sword art with the Buddha’s Duster. The tremendous power seemed to make even the darkness flicker in fear. But Pyo Wol was different.

He knew that if he charged in like this, he would inevitably be injured himself.

But he was not afraid of getting hurt.

In this hellish place, he had been injured hundreds of times, only to recover again and again.

No matter how many times it was repeated, the pain he felt never dulled, but instead, his heart became harder than steel.

As long as he didn’t die.

No matter how severe the injury, he would endure it again and rise again. That was why Pyo Wol had no fear of being injured.

Pyo Wol was the kind of man who could be satisfied if he could kill his enemy, even if he himself was wounded.

Chwahahak!

Jeong Hwa’s Buddha’s Duster grazed past his left shoulder.

Flesh was torn away, and his muscle was shredded like a rag.

Blood poured out like a waterfall, and a dizzying pain tore through his mind, but it could not stop Pyo Wol.

Pyo Wol exploded everything he had in a single breath.

“Aaargh!”

Jeong Hwa dropped her Buddha’s Duster and let out a desperate scream.

Her body trembled as she covered her right eye with her hand. Dark red blood flowed freely between the fingers pressed against her right eye.

Pyo Wol’s attack had taken Jeong Hwa’s right eye.

Pyo Wol suddenly looked down at his left side.

A long sword was embedded in his side.

It was Yong Seol Lan’s long sword.

The moment Pyo Wol attacked Jeong Hwa, Yong Seol Lan had unleashed the Jade Void Thirteen Tribulations, the Emei Sect’s secret transmission sword art, to save her.

Pyo Wol, whose entire focus was on attacking Jeong Hwa, had been unable to block Yong Seol Lan’s attack in time.

If he hadn’t allowed Yong Seol Lan’s attack to his side, he would have been able to kill Jeong Hwa with that one move.

Yong Seol Lan picked up a nearby torch and stood in front of Jeong Hwa.

Pyo Wol pulled her sword out of his side and opened his mouth.

“You blocked it well.”

“I got lucky.”

“Lucky?”

“I swung it on a hunch.”

“A remarkable hunch.”

“I hear that a lot.”

Anyone who didn’t know them might have mistaken their conversation for one between lovers, so casual was their tone. But the reality was different.

Pyo Wol needed time for hemostasis, and Yong Seol Lan, who had lost her weapon, needed time to compose herself.

Yong Seol Lan looked at Pyo Wol’s wound and said.

“Why don’t you just surrender?”

“Surrender?”

“What more can you do in that state? It would be better for you to just surrender.”

“Will you let me live if I surrender?”

“That is…”

“See? You won’t let me live. If you had intended to let me live in the first place, you wouldn’t have done something like this, would you?”

“Something like this?”

“Kill and Silence.”

“…”

At Pyo Wol’s words, which seemed to know everything, Yong Seol Lan was at a loss for words.

‘To think such a man existed?’

They say a dragon can rise from a stream, but she truly had no idea that a mere assassin group would have a figure of this caliber.

“How much do you know?”

“That Elder Nun Guhwa is behind all of this.”

“Truly amazing. It’s to the point of being absurd. Someone like you should have become Master’s disciple.”

“I decline. Even if I were reborn, I have no intention of joining such a sect. I would rather bite my tongue and die than become a disciple of such a demon.”

“I’m not fond of Master either. I didn’t want things to be this way either.”

“But you still followed her, didn’t you?”

“She saved my life. In any case, I am indebted to her.”

“Is that all? The reason you follow her.”

“The Woo Gongja you killed. We were in talks for marriage.”

“So I killed your fiancé? My apologies.”

“There’s nothing to be sorry about. I didn’t want to marry him either. But since he was nominally supposed to be my husband, I must take revenge.”

“You’re no different from that woman, Elder Nun Guhwa. Shameless!”

“One cannot survive in this harsh Jianghu otherwise.”

Having composed herself to some extent, Yong Seol Lan regained her cold expression. The same was true for Pyo Wol.

He had roughly performed hemostasis on the wound in his side. It would burst open again if he moved violently, but it seemed he could endure it at least once more.

Just then, Jeong Hwa shrieked.

“What is this useless chatter? Subdue that villain at once.”

Having lost an eye to Pyo Wol, Jeong Hwa had no reason left in her.

At Jeong Hwa’s cry, Yong Seol Lan assumed a starting stance.

A powerful aura flowed from Yong Seol Lan’s entire body.

Pyo Wol felt her strength on his skin.

He had held the upper hand until now because he had used the darkness and the familiar terrain as his weapons. If they fought head-on, he couldn’t be confident that he could beat Yong Seol Lan.

Knowing this, Yong Seol Lan deliberately emitted a powerful aura to pressure Pyo Wol.

Pyo Wol quietly took a step back.

Just because an opponent displayed their momentum didn’t mean one had to clash with them head-on.

Pyo Wol was an assassin.

An assassin would not hesitate to commit any cowardly act to kill their enemy.

It was foolish not to use the most efficient means to kill an enemy.

A torch could temporarily illuminate the surroundings, but it could not banish the darkness forever.

Pyo Wol intended to hide his body in the darkness and watch for an opening. But his plan did not come to fruition.

Shwaak!

Suddenly, a sharp Sword Qi tore through the darkness and flew towards him.

“Keuk!”

There was no time to dodge.

In his haste, Pyo Wol focused all his internal power into his still-intact right arm to block the Sword Qi.

Kwang!

With a loud roar, Pyo Wol’s body was thrown backward.

Pyo Wol flew nearly a dozen zhang before crashing into a wall.

His state was truly wretched.

His right arm, which had blocked the Sword Qi, was shredded like a rag, torn to the point where bone was exposed, and he had large wounds on his chest and right side as well.

No matter how tough Pyo Wol was, it was impossible for him to move with such injuries.

“Heuu!”

Pyo Wol gasped for breath.

His eyes were bloodshot, all the capillaries having burst, and fresh blood was pouring from his nose and mouth.

A pain as if his entire body was being crushed under a house-sized rock assailed him.

Pyo Wol couldn’t even scream and endured the pain.

Seuk!

At that moment, someone emerged from the darkness.

The owner of the eyes that shone brilliantly in the light was none other than Daoist Master Mujeong.

In Daoist Master Mujeong’s hand was the sword that had just launched the Sword Qi.

The antique sword, two chi and three chon in length, was a weapon that only the Elders of the Qingcheng Sect could wield.

The person most bewildered by Daoist Master Mujeong’s appearance was Jeong Hwa.

Even in the midst of the pain of losing an eye, Jeong Hwa thought that she could not leave Pyo Wol as he was.

“Die! You villain.”

She picked up a sword and ran towards Pyo Wol.

It was a ploy to kill Pyo Wol at once and silence him. But her path was blocked by Daoist Master Mujeong.

“Step back.”

When Daoist Master Mujeong lightly waved his hand, a powerful wind rose and gently pushed Jeong Hwa back.

Jeong Hwa coughed up blood and shouted.

“True Person, kill him. If you let him live, there’s no telling what evil arts he might use.”

“I will take care of that myself.”

At Daoist Master Mujeong’s cold reply, Jeong Hwa squeezed her one remaining eye shut.

Daoist Master Mujeong approached Pyo Wol, who was sitting slumped against the wall, and knelt on one knee.

He looked into Pyo Wol’s eyes and opened his mouth.

“It was you. The one who killed Gun-sang… Why? Why did you kill him?”

“Because… I’m an assassin.”

“Even an assassin should have the ability to distinguish right from wrong.”

“Heh… eugh! I was captured and brought here at fourteen. I was raised as an assassin before I could even form the thoughts to distinguish right from wrong.”

“Are you saying you had no choice?”

“Heheh! As if someone raised as an assassin would have such a thing…”

“I see no room for rehabilitation in you.”

Daoist Master Mujeong clicked his tongue at Pyo Wol’s eyes, which were filled with poison qi.

He had met countless martial artists and taught many prodigies, but none had eyes as full of poison qi as Pyo Wol.

This kind of gaze could never be acquired through teaching.

One had to be born with it.

‘If only he had been taught well, he would have become a fine talent.’

He suddenly felt it was a waste.

For someone with such talent to be consumed and disappear as an assassin. But he had no desire to take him in.

Pyo Wol had assassinated Woo Gun-sang and, in the process of his escape from the Celestial Net, had injured or killed numerous martial artists.

Even Daoist Master Mujeong could not easily forgive those sins.

Suddenly, Daoist Master Mujeong took a letter from his robes.

Pyo Wol recognized at a glance that the letter in his hand was the request form found at Im Sayeol’s residence.

“You found it well.”

“It seems you knew all along. Then you must also know who the client is.”

“I have my suspicions.”

“Who is it?”

“The person you also suspect.”

Pyo Wol bared his white teeth as he looked at the Emei Sect disciples. Daoist Master Mujeong’s gaze also turned towards the Emei Sect.

The moment she saw Pyo Wol’s smile, Jeong Hwa felt a chill run down her entire body.

‘So this whole situation was orchestrated by that demon.’

It was no coincidence that among the many sects that formed the Celestial Net, only the Qingcheng Sect and the Emei Sect had entered the underground cavern.

Pyo Wol had guided them to do so.

He had instigated discord by gathering the sect that requested the assassination and the sect that was targeted in one place.

“Hahaha!”

Pyo Wol’s crazed laughter echoed through the dark underground.