Chapter 47

Oh Wonhoo’s pupils wavered.

Pyo Wol’s image was reflected on his retinas.

Pyo Wol had appeared suddenly, without a single trace. Oh Wonhoo was a renowned Expert in Sichuan Province. Yet, such an Expert had failed to detect Pyo Wol’s movements at all.

His opponent was a greater Expert than he had anticipated.

Pyo Wol asked once more.

“Stop what?”

“Isn’t that enough? They must be reflecting on their actions.”

“Who decides that?”

“What?”

“Who decides what is enough?”

“That is…”

“This is a matter between them and me. So who are you to say it’s enough? This matter ends when I feel it’s enough.”

“Well, there’s a line for everything. I was just hoping you would keep to that line.”

“A line?”

“The line of common sense, the line of rules, anyway, there are lines that must be kept.”

“Then why don’t you keep to the line?”

In that moment, Oh Wonhoo’s eyes turned to Gong Jinhyeok.

He had stepped in because of a personal connection, but he truly hadn’t known he would be dealing with someone so unreasonable.

He regretted his rash intervention. But he could not retract his statement now.

Because everyone in the inn was watching them.

In Jianghu, face was more important than anything.

The reason he had been able to operate with respect until now was because his face had never once been damaged.

‘Damn it!’

If he had his way, he would draw his sword and strike Pyo Wol’s neck right now. But his opponent’s martial prowess did not look so easy to handle.

The Escort Chiefs of the Gujin Escort Agency were also Experts who possessed considerable martial arts. Yet such men were groaning in pain, subdued by mere chopsticks thrown by their opponent.

It was true that Oh Wonhoo’s martial arts were superior to those of the Gujin Escort Agency’s Escort Chiefs, but not to the extent that he could subdue all of them in an instant.

Pyo Wol asked once more.

“Why don’t you keep to the line?”

“That is…”

His fate would be decided by how he answered here.

A look of conflict flickered across Oh Wonhoo’s face.

A curve formed on Pyo Wol’s lips.

The moment his pearly white teeth were revealed between his red lips, Oh Wonhoo felt a shiver run down his spine.

He saw an illusion, as if the chopsticks in Pyo Wol’s hand would pierce through his head at any moment.

“Eek! Don’t you dare look down on me.”

Oh Wonhoo convulsively tried to draw and swing his sword.

Thwack!

But before his sword could be drawn, it was blocked by Pyo Wol’s hand.

All parts of the human body were connected as one. Though the hands and feet seemed to act independently, in reality, they could only move organically when coordination was exerted.

With just a subtle tremor of the eye or a twitch of a shoulder muscle, Pyo Wol could predict Oh Wonhoo’s next move.

Above all, Pyo Wol could roughly grasp his opponent’s intentions through their eyes.

Pyo Wol called this ability of his Microscopic Sense.

While living in darkness, his Microscopic Sense had developed frighteningly. Though his two eyes were looking at Oh Wonhoo right in front of him, his other senses were detecting every single breath of the people inside the inn.

“Keuk!”

Oh Wonhoo raised his Internal Energy to draw his sword.

Tap!

At that moment, Pyo Wol’s fingers touched his elbow.

“Keoheok!”

Oh Wonhoo suddenly let out a scream. His arm was bent in the opposite direction.

Pyo Wol’s simple hand movement had destroyed his elbow joint.

The people nearby stared with wide eyes. They could not comprehend the situation unfolding before them.

Oh Wonhoo was an Expert who could protect his body with Internal Energy. They couldn’t believe that such an Expert’s elbow was destroyed by a simple tap from Pyo Wol.

What was happening before their eyes completely defied their common sense.

But it was no accident.

It was the fruit of Pyo Wol’s bloody efforts.

While trapped alone in the darkness, Pyo Wol had thought about how to efficiently neutralize or destroy a human being.

He pondered, thought, and imagined.

He combined the martial arts he already knew and fused the Mind Methods. To that, he added the inspiration he had gained from the snake pit.

The martial art born from this was the Hungry Ghost Path.

The martial art of a Hungry Ghost, starved to the extreme.

Pyo Wol had not forgotten the hunger from when he first entered the underground cavern.

That desperate memory of having to scrape and eat the moss on the walls to survive.

That was why he had named the martial art he created the Hungry Ghost Path.

The technique Pyo Wol used to destroy Oh Wonhoo’s elbow was the Human Body Destruction Art, the foundation of the Hungry Ghost Path.

Pyo Wol thought the human body’s structure was both complex and simple.

If one delved deep, it was endlessly complex, but seen simply, the human body was composed of axes and joints.

He thought that by destroying the joints connecting the axes, he could easily neutralize an opponent.

From then on, Pyo Wol contemplated how to efficiently destroy an opponent’s joints.

What was born from that was a kind of Human Body Destruction Art.

It was to attack and destroy the parts of the human body that could not be trained.

Oh Wonhoo’s elbow was shattered to pieces. To the point where even the most skilled Physician could not heal it completely.

“You bastard!”

Oh Wonhoo, clutching his dangling arm, unleashed a kicking technique.

It was a Special Technique called the Horse Shadow Kick. But this time too, his attack did not reach Pyo Wol.

Because Pyo Wol’s fist shot out like an awl and shattered his knee.

Pukgeok!

“Keok!”

Oh Wonhoo collapsed with a scream.

As Oh Wonhoo fell in just two blows, the inn grew silent.

A significant number of people in the inn were Martial Artists who had learned martial arts. But even with their eyes, they could not tell what kind of technique Pyo Wol had used to bring down Oh Wonhoo.

A viciousness that would take a man’s eyes for a dirty joke, and an unknown martial art that could instantly defeat an Expert of Oh Wonhoo’s caliber.

In their eyes, Pyo Wol no longer looked merely pretty.

The cruel hands and vicious heart hidden behind that beautiful and captivating appearance made them afraid.

‘A Killing Star has appeared.’

‘Where in the world did someone like this come from….’

They had never heard of such a Martial Artist in Jianghu. At least, not within Sichuan Province.

Pyo Wol grabbed the collar of Oh Wonhoo, who was rolling on the floor, and looked into his eyes.

“Euuueuu!”

Oh Wonhoo’s pupils trembled uncontrollably with fear.

The crotch of his pants was already soaked.

In extreme terror, he had wet himself without realizing it.

Pyo Wol asked.

“Do you still want to interfere?”

“N-No. Neber…”

Oh Wonhoo shook his head violently. His words slurred because of it, but he didn’t even feel ashamed.

His mind was filled with only one thought: he never wanted to see Pyo Wol’s eyes again.

Only then did Pyo Wol release his grip.

Thud!

Oh Wonhoo’s body collapsed.

Tears flowed from his eyes. Belatedly, shame and pain washed over him like a tide.

Seeing Oh Wonhoo cry, the atmosphere among the Martial Artists became somber.

Though they said nothing, they were inwardly relieved that they hadn’t stepped forward.

Having been humiliated like this, Oh Wonhoo’s life as a Martial Artist was as good as over.

He had suffered an indelible wound not only to his body but also to his spirit, so a comeback seemed impossible.

Pyo Wol scanned the inside of the inn.

Fearing his gaze might meet theirs, the Martial Artists quickly turned or lowered their heads.

In an instant, several men’s lives as Martial Artists had ended, but no one tried to interfere anymore.

One Oh Wonhoo receiving a death sentence as a Martial Artist for his useless meddling was enough.

Pyo Wol returned to his seat without a word. And he calmly ate the rest of his food.

The sight of Pyo Wol left a strong impression on the people.

‘A truly crazy bastard has appeared.’

‘He’s the kind of person you should never associate with.’

‘The atmosphere in Chengdu is already tense, and now a madman like this shows up.’

Whether he knew what people were thinking or not, Pyo Wol’s chopsticks continued to move.

Clatter! Clatter!

Only the sound of chopsticks hitting the bowl echoed through the quiet inn.

“Whew! The atmosphere is incredibly murderous.”

Daoshi Go muttered as he looked around Chengdu.

Without a single exaggeration, it seemed like half the people walking the streets were armed.

Usually, no matter how large a city, the proportion of Martial Artists is small. Out of a hundred people, there would be only one or two at most. But in Chengdu, that ratio was excessively high.

It was proof that public safety was so unstable that even ordinary citizens carried weapons.

Heo Ranju chuckled and said,

“For us, it’s a golden opportunity.”

“To think that the misfortune of others is our opportunity, what greater tragedy could there be? Amitabha!”

“Hmph! Others can say that, but a bald monk shouldn’t.”

“Why can’t I say it?”

“Who among us is the most obsessed with money?”

“…”

“Why do you hoard money so tenaciously when you don’t even offer it to Buddha?”

“Amitabha! O Shakyamuni. Please forgive this wicked mortal.”

“Cut the crap.”

As Heo Ranju snorted, Daoshi Go said,

“Stop your damn bickering and let’s go to where the Unit Leader is. You know that man has very little patience.”

At his mention of the ‘Unit Leader,’ the expressions of Heo Ranju and Hyeolseung turned serious.

They hurriedly followed Daoshi Go.

The place Daoshi Go led them to was the largest inn in Chengdu.

Although it was still early morning, a few customers were having breakfast inside the inn.

As Heo Ranju looked around the interior of the inn, a pleased light appeared in her eyes.

“Unit Leader!”

She approached a group of men who were eating. The men, who had been eating, all raised their heads at once to look at Heo Ranju.

Among them, a man who appeared to be in his mid-to-late forties opened his mouth.

“Vice Unit Leader! You’ve arrived on time.”

“Wow! How long has it been, Unit Leader Orabeoni.”

Heo Ranju threw her arms around the man.

The man chuckled and patted Heo Ranju on the back.

Daoshi Go and Hyeolseung, who arrived a moment later, greeted the man.

“You seem to have gotten even more dashing, Unit Leader.”

“It’s been a long time, Unit Leader-nim!”

The man gently pushed Heo Ranju away and said,

“It’s been a long time for both of you as well.”

“Hehe! That’s how little work there was, wasn’t there?”

“Thanks to that, didn’t we get a good rest?”

“The problem is we rested too much. We’ve run out of money too.”

“Isn’t that why I called you all here?”

“Are we really getting involved in this?”

“Why, does it feel burdensome? Then you can back out.”

“Hey! Why would you say that again… Who said anything about backing out.”

Daoshi Go shook his head and quickly sat down.

Hyeolseung and Heo Ranju also sat in the empty seats.

The eyes of the three people looking at the man were filled with firm trust.

The man’s name was Jang Muryang, the Unit Leader of the Black Cloud Corps.

The Black Cloud Corps was a type of mercenary group.

They sold their martial prowess for money.

Their main stage was the conflict zones at the borders.

It didn’t matter who the client was. They would pledge themselves to whoever paid even a little more money and fight on their behalf.

People cursed them as a group of money-crazed murderers.

Wanderers who pursued only money, without any justice or great cause.

The reason they had gathered in Chengdu was because Jang Muryang had smelled money.

Daoshi Go rubbed his palms together and said,

“It’s because of the Qingcheng Sect and the Emei Sect, isn’t it?”

“You must have heard the rumors.”

“Isn’t it a well-known fact that the two sects have been at odds for the past seven years?”

“That’s right. From the atmosphere, it seems they will clash in a big way soon.”

Jang Muryang nodded.

For some reason, the Qingcheng Sect and the Emei Sect had been at odds for seven years.

At first, it was just a few Martial Artists clashing, but it soon escalated into an all-out war.

The pattern of clashing violently, suffering many casualties, retreating, and then fighting again had been repeated several times.

The conflict between the two strongest sects in Sichuan Province brought about a division in the Sichuan Jianghu.

There was no sect in Sichuan Province that did not have ties to one of the two sects.

Many sects tried to remain neutral at first, but as the conflict between the two sects dragged on, they were increasingly forced to choose a side.

In the end, the sects of Sichuan Province were split in two.

Heo Ranju asked Jang Muryang,

“Why on earth are those two fighting? They’re both renowned sects in Jianghu.”

“Vice Unit Leader! The reason they are fighting is not important. What’s important is that the opportunity to achieve my dream has come.”

Jang Muryang grinned, revealing his teeth.

The fight between the Qingcheng Sect and the Emei Sect was a great disaster for everyone living in Sichuan Province. But their misfortune was a golden opportunity for the Black Cloud Corps and Jang Muryang.