Chapter 388

The assassin, Hong Ye-seol, felt her mind go momentarily blank.

Her entire body felt as if it were crumbling, as though she had been struck by a giant sledgehammer. The shock was so immense that for a moment, she couldn’t breathe.

She knew without having to check.

She had suffered severe internal and external injuries.

Fresh blood continued to trickle from her lips.

‘How?’

Before the assassination, she had confirmed all potential threats.

This wasn’t something she had prepared for in just a day or two.

The Seven Sages Scholar was by no means an easy opponent.

His martial prowess was among the top in Jianghu. To assassinate such a man, she had to be perfectly prepared.

For that reason, she had received support from Lee Myung-hak’s workshop to create the Ink Thunder Blaze.

The Ink Thunder Blaze was mixed with Qi Dispersing Poison and saltpeter, and inhaling even a single mouthful would scatter one’s internal energy and make it impossible to breathe properly.

That wasn’t all she had prepared.

She had identified the Blood Phantom Organization’s boat and had clung to it since dawn. This, too, was accomplished with the help of a device made in Lee Myung-hak’s workshop.

She had remained attached beneath the bow, as still as a rock.

Even after the boat set sail with the Seven Sages Scholar aboard, she waited and waited. It was to seize the perfect moment.

Fortunately, the boat’s expected route did not deviate from her predictions. The only thing she hadn’t anticipated was the Seven Sages Scholar’s actions.

She never imagined that the Seven Sages Scholar would look under the bow.

Because of that, her stealth was compromised, and she had no choice but to use the Ink Thunder Blaze in a surprise attack.

It wasn’t an ambush under perfect conditions, but thankfully, the Ink Thunder Blaze took effect, and she barely managed to kill him.

All that was left was to escape. But then she was hit by an unexpected attack.

Hong Ye-seol held her breath and looked up toward the water’s surface.

She could see the bottom of the boat the Seven Sages Scholar was on.

Just then, she saw the boat rock.

The martial artist who had launched the blade energy at Hong Ye-seol had leaped onto the boat carrying the Seven Sages Scholar’s disciples.

She felt a gaze sweep through the depths below the surface.

Hong Ye-seol felt a chill run down her spine.

‘What?’

She was deep beneath the surface of Poyang Lake.

No matter how clear the waters of Poyang Lake were, it was impossible for human eye power to find her at this depth. But the martial artist who had thrown the blade energy at her seemed to be defying such common sense, scanning the depths with formidable eye power.

‘Is this even possible?’

It was then.

Shuuuu!

A stream of energy pierced through the water, shooting down toward her location.

Hong Ye-seol hastily performed a hand art to move from her spot.

Kwaang!

An explosion erupted right where she had been.

‘Keuk!’

The aftershock of the explosion slammed into Hong Ye-seol.

Swept away by the fierce current, Hong Ye-seol was pushed more than ten zhang from her original position. But it was too early to feel relieved.

Shuuuu!

Once again, blade energy flew to where she was.

‘Huk!’

Kwaang!

Hong Ye-seol barely managed to dodge the blade energy this time as well. But the situation was not good.

The opponent on the boat was pinpointing her location as if possessed by a ghost.

No matter how skilled she was in hand arts that allowed her to hold her breath for a long time underwater, she couldn’t stay there forever.

Being human, she was bound to reach her limit and would have to raise her head out of the water to breathe.

‘Who in the world is it?’

Normal blade energy would only impact the surface, not penetrate deep into the water. But the blade energy launched by this unknown being pierced the surface and exploded precisely where Hong Ye-seol had been.

It was a display of power and precision that surpassed Hong Ye-seol’s common sense.

As far as she knew, there were no bladesmen in the vicinity who had mastered such a saber technique.

‘Somehow, I had a bad feeling about this.’

Perhaps that was why she had yearned for Pyo Wol’s embrace so much.

It was surely no coincidence that Pyo Wol was the first person to come to mind when she was cornered like this.

‘I have to live.’

She performed her hand art with all her might.

Hong Ye-seol swam at a rapid pace. But the boat the Seven Sages Scholar had been on pursued her at high speed.

It meant they knew her exact movements.

As if herding prey, the person on the boat was driving Hong Ye-seol into a corner.

Finally, Hong Ye-seol’s breath reached its limit.

She could hold it no longer.

In the end, Hong Ye-seol had to make a decision.

She quickly rose to the surface.

The place Hong Ye-seol headed for was a fishing boat operating nearby.

Puhwak!

As a person shot out of the water, the fishermen on the boat were so startled they fell on their backsides.

“Aigoo!”

“What is this?”

Ignoring the fishermen’s stares, Hong Ye-seol caught her breath and looked at the boat the Seven Sages Scholar had been on.

“There you are, assassin!”

At the bow of the boat stood the bladesman who had attacked her.

He was a cheerful-looking man with his hair tied back tightly.

In the hands of this man in his late twenties, who had a refreshing smile and a gallant impression, was a saber that curved in a gentle arc.

It was a long saber, much longer than a typical one.

The moment she saw the man, Hong Ye-seol felt her chest tighten. The man’s gaze pressed down on her, making it hard to breathe.

‘Was there someone like this in Jianghu?’

She didn’t know who he was, but he was not someone in Hong Ye-seol’s information network.

The man looked straight at Hong Ye-seol and asked.

“Who hired you to kill the Seven Sages Scholar? Assassin!”

“……”

“Ho! You choose silence?”

The man smiled, revealing his white teeth.

‘A lion?’

For a moment, Hong Ye-seol felt as if a great lion was baring its teeth and smiling at her.

Shwaaang!

At that moment, a formidable stream of blade energy flew at her.

There was no more time to think.

Hong Ye-seol dove back into the water.

The blade energy of terrifying power passed over her head by a hair’s breadth. Yet, the fishing boat was completely unharmed.

The man had exquisitely controlled the blade energy to avoid damaging the fishing boat.

‘A martial artist of the Orthodox Faction.’

It was a habit mainly found among martial artists of the Orthodox Faction. Apart from that, there were few martial artists who could handle blade energy with such precision. Especially at the man’s age.

Goosebumps rose all over Hong Ye-seol’s body.

She had worked as an assassin for many years, but this was the first time she had faced such an opponent.

Kwaang!

Blade energy struck the spot where she had been.

Hong Ye-seol bit her lip hard.

Her lip burst, and blood flowed out.

‘I can’t go on like this.’

She could never shake off her opponent with ordinary hand arts.

A more extreme measure was needed.

Artificial movements inevitably cause ripples in the water. Her opponent was clearly not missing even such minute changes.

Hong Ye-seol went deeper into the water.

Fortunately, Poyang Lake was extremely deep.

The problem was that the deeper she went, the more intense the pressure on her became.

Under normal circumstances, she wouldn’t be able to last long and would have to return to the surface.

But Hong Ye-seol had an ace up her sleeve.

It was the Breath Concealment Art.

It was a technique that made one’s body state similar to that of a dead person. If Hong Ye-seol decided to use the Breath Concealment Art, no one could detect her presence.

There was just one drawback: while performing the Breath Concealment Art, she couldn’t move her body at will.

Pyo Wol could move freely even while using the Breath Concealment Art, but her training was far inferior to his.

She activated the Breath Concealment Art and entrusted her body to the flow of the current.

＊＊＊

“Look at this. Did she use the Breath Concealment Art? Her presence suddenly vanished completely.”

The man muttered, looking into the lake.

Just a moment ago, he could clearly feel the assassin’s presence. The more she struggled, the more strongly she projected her existence. But now, the assassin’s presence had completely disappeared.

There was only one possibility.

“Quite impressive! To think of escaping by using the Breath Concealment Art.”

The man squatted on the bow and carefully watched the flow of the water.

Although it seemed completely still on the surface, the water in the lake had a constant flow.

The man possessed the eye power and intellect to grasp the flow of the massive lake.

The man ordered Iguyeol.

“Steer the boat that way.”

“Um, but who might you be?”

Iguyeol asked cautiously.

The man had not been on this boat from the beginning.

He was someone who had jumped over from a nearby boat.

From Iguyeol’s perspective, he was nothing more than an intruder who had boarded without permission.

The problem was that the intruder’s martial arts were beyond imagination.

He seemed to just swing his saber lightly, but a crescent-shaped wave of blade energy would cut through the water’s surface and explode in the depths below.

It was the first time Iguyeol had seen a bladesman with such formidable saber technique, so his eyes held a mixture of bewilderment and fear.

It was the same for the disciples of the Seven Sages Scholar, who had lost their master to the assassin.

Without even a moment to grieve their master’s death, they felt a strong sense of wariness toward the man who had suddenly appeared.

These were men who had studied under the distinguished martial artist, the Seven Sages Scholar.

Naturally, they recognized at a glance that the man’s martial prowess was extraordinary.

Such martial prowess was so great that even the Seven Sages Scholar in his lifetime would not have dared to be confident against it.

The Seven Sages Scholar’s head disciple stepped forward and offered the man a fist-palm salute.

“Thank you for your help, Great Hero. I am Gong Ji-pyo, the head disciple of the Seven Sages Scholar. May I ask for your esteemed name, Great Hero? We will surely repay this kindness.”

“Kindness? What kindness? I haven’t even caught the assassin yet. Save your thanks for after the assassin is caught.”

“But…”

“By the way, was the one who fell to the assassin the Seven Sages Scholar? He was a noble figure in Jianghu. What a pity.”

The man wore a genuinely regretful expression.

If only he had noticed the assassin’s movements a little earlier, he could have prevented this unfortunate event.

It was by chance that the man was in this area.

He needed some time alone.

So he had set a boat afloat and was lying down, lost in thought.

The boat, gently rocking on the calm lake, was the perfect environment for contemplation.

While lost in thought, he had drifted off to sleep.

He was in the middle of a sweet dream when a commotion suddenly erupted from a fishing boat passing nearby.

Witnessing the Seven Sages Scholar lose his life to an assassin, he had leaped onto this boat without a moment’s hesitation.

He was well aware of the Seven Sages Scholar’s reputation.

His death was highly likely to cause great chaos in Jianghu. That was why he had to catch the assassin.

He needed to find out who had commissioned the assassin to prevent the chaos.

Gong Ji-pyo asked the man once more.

“Please tell us your esteemed name, Great Hero.”

“Tsk!”

“Although we were powerless and could not prevent our Master’s death, we are not people who do not know gratitude. Please, tell us your esteemed name.”

“I have no choice. My name is Lee Geom-han.”

“Lee Geom-han?”

“Yes!”

“P-Perhaps from the Radiant Martial Gate?”

The Seven Sages Scholar’s disciples’ eyes widened.

The man neither confirmed nor denied it.

From his attitude, the Seven Sages Scholar’s disciples were certain.

Of the man’s identity.

“Then you are the Great Hero Lee Geom-han, the Blade Fiend?”

“Haha! This is quite embarrassing.”

The man, Lee Geom-han, wrinkled his nose and laughed. But the disciples of the Seven Sages Scholar who were looking at him could not laugh.

Lee Geom-han.

They knew the weight those three syllables carried.

The Radiant Martial Gate, a sect called one of the Two Powerhouses of Jianghu, along with the Heavenly Martial Fortress.

A young martial artist who boasted by far the most outstanding martial power even within the Radiant Martial Gate, which was said to be teeming with martial arts fanatics.

The martial artist whom Jang Mu-guk, the young lord of the Heavenly Martial Fortress, considered his only rival was none other than Lee Geom-han.

His alias was Blade Fiend.

It was an alias he earned by living as if mad for the saber.

On the outside, he seemed like a perfectly nice and cheerful man, but the moment he held a saber, he transformed into a madman. That was him.

Lee Geom-han suddenly touched the black stain on the Seven Sages Scholar’s body with his finger. It was the trace of the Ink Thunder Blaze.

Lee Geom-han sniffed the scent of the Ink Thunder Blaze on his hand.

“Is this a mixture of saltpeter and Qi Dispersing Poison?”