Chapter 107: For Someone So Ugly
Chapter 107: For Someone So Ugly
The moment I stepped out of the gambling den, the sunlight hit me—and from within that glare, hidden weapons shrieked through the air.
Shhh! Shhh! Shhh! Shhh!
I lightly parried the projectiles with my Black Demonic Sword. Thanks to the New Eye Technique, the direct glare of the sun didn't blind me.
On the opposite roof, the heads of the assassins who had thrown the weapons began to shatter in rapid succession.
The Extreme Evil Smiling Demon had thrust his palm toward them.
He had unleashed his unique martial art: the Demon Extreme Wild Rage Palm.
As his extended palm folded and his index finger pointed, a blast of finger-force erupted like a bolt of light.
Ping! Thud!
Another assassin, attempting to leap from beyond the roof to rush us, was struck mid-air. A hole punched clean through his chest, and he plummeted to the ground.
This was his other signature technique, the Blood Calamity Finger.
He had ascended to the rank of Demon Lord using that palm and that finger.
I believe the influence of these two techniques contributed to his alias, "Extreme Evil." Seeing an enemy’s head explode or their torso riddled with holes was far more visceral than a simple sword wound.
This was the first time I had truly seen his martial arts in action since we left the Cult together. I knew better than anyone how terrifying these two techniques were. Once he began to run wild, hell itself unfolded from his fingertips.
The Smiling Demon’s finger slowly turned toward me. Tension radiated from his fingertip, as if he might unleash the Blood Calamity Finger at any moment. At such close range, dodging it would be no easy feat.
In the next instant—
Ping! Thud!
The Blood Calamity Finger grazed past my face and pierced the forehead of a masked man rushing me from behind.
I hadn't moved an inch.
“Just now, not moving was harder than dodging,” he remarked.
“Is that so?”
“Suppressing the reflex to dodge is more difficult than the act of dodging itself. Especially for a master like you, Second Young Master. It’s clear now—you were the one who killed the Soul-Seizing Demon Lord.”
Flash.
This time, my Black Demonic Sword sliced through the air. A streak of sword qi flew from my blade, grazing the Smiling Demon’s face before cleaving the torso of a masked man charging at his back.
“I didn't kill the Soul-Seizing Demon Lord. How many more times are you going to ask?”
“I won’t ask anymore. I’m certain now.”
I didn't have the leisure to argue further as more assassins rushed in. My sword qi and his Blood Calamity Finger continued to pierce through the bodies of the incoming attackers.
“There are many of them.”
“Let’s go.”
The Smiling Demon and I walked forward together. Internally, I felt a slight thrill. The Smiling Demon wasn't the only one who had been suppressing a desire for a good fight.
With the Wind God Four Steps, the Heavenly Demon Body Protection Art, and the Flying Heaven Sword Technique reached to the eleventh star—I, too, had been stifling the urge to unleash my full strength.
If the opponents were assassins trying to kill me, I could display my martial arts without any hesitation.
As we walked down an alley, four masked men leaped over a wall, attacking the four of us simultaneously.
I cut down the one targeting me with movements three times faster than his own, then glanced back. I wasn't interested in how the Smiling Demon or Blue Face fought. I only watched Lee An.
She was slower than me, but she handled the enemies in the same manner I did. Thanks to her grueling training, no mistakes marred her performance.
She dodged an incoming sword as it grazed her shoulder and cut upward in a single, fluid stroke.
Slash!
The assassin collapsed, his jawbone sliced open.
She didn't look panicked or tense.
You’re doing well, Lee An.
We emerged from the alley onto a main road where carriages were parked.
People were going about their business as if they were entirely unaware of the ambush in the alley.
A shopkeeper was yawning; a clerk was organizing goods in front of him; an old woman was sweeping the street with a broom; a child was running past her; an old man sat by the roadside. Across the way, a middle-aged peddler was hawking his wares from a stand, and a man and woman who looked like a couple were bickering. There was even a woman leaning out of a second-story window, screaming down at a man who stood below with his head bowed.
A mundane moment of daily life unfolded like a painting.
The moment we naturally became part of that picture, an inexplicable sense of dissonance and danger surged within me. My Heavenly Demon Body Protection Art activated instantly.
“Watch out!”
The moment I shouted the warning, the slaughter began.
Every single person we saw was an assassin.
Shhh! Shhh!
The man and woman who had been bickering with the peddler lunged at me, brandishing daggers. They employed a perfect combined attack, the man aiming for my left and the woman for my right. I could see the thick, lethal poison coating the blue-tinted blades.
The Black Demonic Sword cut its targets with surgical precision.
As I sliced from the man’s shoulder through his chest, the woman’s dagger grazed my ear.
Judging by her speed, she was undoubtedly one of the most skilled assassins of the Black Kill, but I could see even the trembling of her eyelashes.
Feeling the Black Demonic Sword flying toward her from a blind spot, her eyelashes fluttered even faster. The moment she realized she needed to react—shink!
As I turned after slashing her waist, the Smiling Demon was dealing with the peddler.
The peddler had thrown poison powder at him from his stand.
With a wave of his hand, the Smiling Demon sent the powder flying back at the man who threw it. Covered in his own poison, the peddler rolled on the ground, screaming in agony.
Simultaneously, the woman firing hidden weapons from the second floor was pierced by a Blood Calamity Finger, and the man unleashing sword qi below her was blown to pieces by the Demon Extreme Wild Rage Palm.
I wasn't just a spectator, either. I parried the hidden weapons the woman had thrown in all directions while neutralizing the man’s sword qi with my own. The Smiling Demon and I had essentially performed a perfect combined attack of our own.
The assassin disguised as a child rushed toward Lee An.
Cut him down, Lee An! That’s no child!
He had the appearance of a child, but he was actually a grown man.
Fortunately, Lee An wasn't as soft-hearted as I feared.
She twisted her body to dodge the "child’s" attack and calmly cut him down. In that instant, the old man who had been sitting by the road rushed in, thrusting a dagger toward her face. It was a blade coated in poison that killed on contact.
Even in that desperate moment, I only watched. Hoping Lee An would block it herself, I didn't fire any sword qi.
Thud!
The old man’s dagger stopped right in front of Lee An’s eyes as she leaned her waist back. Conversely, Lee An’s sword was buried in the old man’s heart. She had finished him by the narrowest of margins. Her flexibility, despite her sturdy build, had saved her.
I was more startled than she was, but in the end, it was right not to help. This single experience would help her grow more than years of training.
While she handled those two, Blue Face took care of the shopkeeper and the clerk. In the process, if the Smiling Demon hadn't killed the sweeping old woman with his Blood Calamity Finger, Blue Face would have likely died at her hands.
In that moment, one could see why Blue Face had remained loyal to the Smiling Demon his entire life.
All of this happened simultaneously, in the space of a single breath.
We only survived because the Smiling Demon and I were exceptionally skilled; the ambush, designed as a perfect combined attack that didn't hinder each other's movements, was truly terrifying.
Lee An, her face flushed, spoke with a heavy sigh.
“Ah, I killed a child and an old man.”
It was a joke, but it helped ease her mind.
“That ‘child’ was older than you, and who knows how many people that ‘old man’ killed to live that long?”
“My heart feels better already.”
After comforting her, I stepped into a nearby shop.
The merchant who originally owned the place was collapsed in a corner, his acupoints sealed. They had set this entire death trap while we were inside the gambling den.
The reason the assassins hadn't killed the merchants was to avoid the scent of blood. Otherwise, they would have all been murdered to silence them.
The moment I turned around after releasing the merchant’s martial and mute acupoints—
Shhh.
An attack came from behind.
Slash!
I spun around like a lightning bolt and cut the throat of the man whose acupoints I had just released. The man collapsed, his eyes wide with shock at my impossibly fast reaction. He was another assassin, a backup in case the slaughter outside failed.
This ambush was truly unexpected and dangerous. Anyone else would have fallen for it.
The real merchant was collapsed in a small back room, his mute and demonic acupoints sealed. I released him and stepped out of the shop.
I went around to the neighboring houses one by one, releasing the acupoints of the original owners who had been held captive.
Knowing that assassins might be mixed among them, any assassin disguised as a captive lost his life to my sword before he could even swing his own.
When I stepped out after freeing the people in the last shop, another assassin was being blown apart by the Smiling Demon’s Demon Extreme Wild Rage Palm.
It was an assassin who had been hiding in a crate in front of a building the Smiling Demon was passing.
Even though the situation outside was settled and the chance of a successful assassination was slim, they attacked regardless once the designated time came.
They were thoroughly trained; even knowing they would die, they revealed themselves and attacked. They weren't humans, but killing tools raised without fear.
“I will bring the carriage.”
Blue Face walked toward the carriage parked across the street.
The Smiling Demon spoke to me.
“If they’re willing to put up a million-tael bounty for assassins, the mastermind behind this is no ordinary fellow.”
“Yes. In terms of the Main Cult, it’s likely someone with the status of a Demon Lord. For now, they’re using outside blades to avoid leaving a trail, but once the body is revealed, masters of a level we might not be able to handle could emerge.”
The Smiling Demon’s eyes gleamed with a competitive fire. Among the Eight Demon Lords, he was second to none when it came to belligerence. He was a man who burned hotter the stronger the enemy was.
It was at that moment.
Screeeech! Slash!
A streak of sword qi sliced through the passenger compartment of the carriage.
The one who fired the sword qi was Lee An. Sensing an assassin hidden behind the carriage aiming for Blue Face as he sat in the driver's seat, Lee An had unleashed her technique.
Inside the diagonally sliced compartment, the assassin lay dead, cut in half.
Blue Face stepped down from the carriage. Even if the assassin had perfectly concealed his presence, failing to notice him was a clear mistake.
Blue Face bowed deeply to Lee An. Lee An bowed back to him.
Well done, Lee An. Making someone like Blue Face owe you his life is a good move.
Seeing Lee An’s excited, flushed face, I spoke playfully.
“You’re probably the first person to ever break Lord Smiling Demon’s carriage.”
Lee An flinched at my words and hurriedly bowed to the Smiling Demon.
“I am so sorry!”
The Smiling Demon played along with my joke.
“That carriage was very expensive.”
Lee An answered quickly.
“I will compensate you!”
“How?”
“I’ll buy an identical carriage with my monthly salary.”
“It would take several years of your salary to afford that.”
After a moment of agonizing thought, Lee An spoke in a desperate voice.
“Please give me a discount!”
The Smiling Demon burst into laughter. I had made him laugh several times, but this was the loudest he had ever laughed.
“For someone so ugly, you certainly have a talent for being funny.”
He had called her ugly to her face, but Lee An didn't seem offended at all.
“If you give me a bigger discount, I’ll be even funnier!”
Then Blue Face stepped forward and spoke quietly.
“I will contribute my salary as well.”
This time, I was the one who laughed. Knowing Blue Face wasn't the type to say such things made it naturally hilarious.
Once the tension had eased, the Smiling Demon gave Blue Face an order.
“Mobilize every available secret information network to find out where the Black Murder Lord is hiding.”
“Yes, sir!”
I then spoke to Blue Face.
“Use the Tongcheon Pavilion’s contact network. Given the gravity of the situation, Strategist Sama will surely understand.”
It was the Tongcheon Pavilion that had sent the information about the Black Kill earlier. Knowing Strategist Sama, he would have already granted permission for us to use their resources.
“Understood.”
“And take Lee An with you.”
“I will.”
Regardless of the life debt, I wanted to give her various experiences through this opportunity.
“You have to earn the money for that carriage you broke, right?”
“Yes! I’ll be back, Young Master.”
Lee An followed Blue Face and departed.
I went around to the merchants, calculated the damages they suffered today, gave them some money, and returned.
“Is this a performative act of kindness?”
“It is kindness, but who am I performing for? For you, Lord Smiling Demon? For someone it would never work on?”
“For those merchants. Or perhaps for yourself.”
I nodded as if conceding and spoke calmly.
“Perhaps. But what does it matter if it’s performative or not? What matters to those people is whether they receive compensation.”
“You are relentlessly persistent in pretending to be good.”
“Even while pretending to be this good, my sword was covered in blood again today.”
The Smiling Demon didn't respond.
I walked slowly and untied the horses that had been hitched to the broken carriage.
“The weather is nice. Why don't we ride to the next town?”
“Fine by me.”
I mounted a horse first, and the Smiling Demon followed suit. Leading one spare horse each, we began to move slowly.
When we didn't break into a gallop even after a while, the Smiling Demon asked me.
“Aren't we being a bit too leisurely?”
I looked up at the clear sky and replied.
“What reason do we have to be in a hurry? It’s always the side that failed that’s in a rush.”