Chapter 702: I Didn't Come to Kill You
Chapter 702: I Didn't Come to Kill You
The women weren't fighting out of simple, pent-up rage. It was a singular energy that had shaken the very foundations of their nature.
The Laughing Evil Heart.
It was the signature demonic energy of the Smiling Demon, specifically designed to awaken the primal violence dormant within a human being.
Exposure to the Laughing Evil Heart makes the heart race and floods the mind with an uncontrollable murderous urge. In fact, those with weak internal energy who are fully exposed to it have been known to turn and stab the person standing right next to them in a fit of madness.
However, assassins are masters of emotional control. Even with the same level of internal energy and skill, they are far less susceptible than ordinary martial artists. Their methods of suppressing and then unleashing anger and violence are subtly different.
Yet, even exposed to the Laughing Evil Heart, they could not escape the sharp eyes of the Smiling Demon—a man who understood the depths of evil better than anyone.
The 3rd Gyo recognized the man as he removed his bamboo hat. Indeed, he was someone who could afford to be leisurely even when surrounded by twenty of them.
"The Smiling Demon."
She already knew that the man guarding the Heavenly Flower Pavilion Master was the Smiling Demon. What she hadn't expected was that he would strike first today, on the very day the seats for the finals were being assigned.
She didn't know the specifics of the Laughing Evil Heart, but she knew one thing for certain: the Smiling Demon had used some special technique to single them out from among the other women.
The Smiling Demon glanced at a chair a short distance away. It was a silent command to sit.
Realizing she needed to hear what he had to say, the 3rd Gyo walked over and took a seat.
The remaining assassins lined up to her left and right, maintaining their distance. They positioned themselves perfectly to launch a coordinated strike the moment a fight broke out. However, the Smiling Demon seemed entirely unconcerned.
Seeing him up close...
She could clearly see his eyes through his veil. She had caught glimpses of him during the main tournament, but this was the first time she had seen him from such a short distance.
Before this encounter, she had harbored a misconception. She had imagined the Smiling Demon would look so wicked it would be hard to meet his gaze, or perhaps that he was hiding hideous scars or burns. She assumed that was why he always wore a mask.
To think he was such a handsome man.
Even seeing only his eyes and forehead, she could tell. He was a truly striking man.
Perhaps his nose or mouth is hideous.
Regardless, her first impression left her curious about his true face.
The Smiling Demon asked her, "Do you have the authority to make decisions right now?"
He was asking whether she was bound strictly by the organization's orders or if she had the autonomy to make her own choices.
"And if I do?"
"Tell your subordinates not to commit suicide."
She had expected his next words to be something like, 'Because I'll kill you cruelly myself!'—the kind of threat meant to crush an opponent's spirit.
But his next words were entirely unexpected.
"I didn't come to kill you."
The 3rd Gyo stared at the Smiling Demon in silence. She was confused because he didn't seem to be lying. He had found them all, yet he wasn't going to kill them? The Smiling Demon, of all people?
The 3rd Gyo replied in a low voice.
"We don't commit suicide."
The Smiling Demon nodded as if that was enough.
The 3rd Gyo slowly rose from her seat. She suspected he was trying to lower their fighting spirit by confusing them with the claim that he hadn't come to kill.
Riiip.
She tore the lower half of her palace dress, revealing her thigh. A dagger was tucked into a leather strap wrapped around it. Drawing the blade, the 3rd Gyo spoke to the other assassins.
"You must kill him. There is no way the Smiling Demon would let us live."
The assassins drew their weapons in unison.
Some, like the 3rd Gyo, pulled out hidden daggers. Others wound sharp fishing lines around their hands and pulled them taut. One woman drew a soft sword that had been disguised as a belt. Another detached a trinket to reveal a small hidden weapon, while one woman drew a hairpin like a needle. Sharp hidden blades even emerged from within bracelets.
Twenty beautiful women had each produced a hidden weapon. It was a sight one wouldn't easily see even in a lifetime as a martial artist.
Rising from his seat, the Smiling Demon reached into his robes. The assassins tensed, not knowing what would emerge.
What came out of his hand was his mask.
The mask covered his face, and the veil he had been wearing slid down like a falling flower petal. Now, it was not a veil but a white mask that concealed the Smiling Demon's face.
The 3rd Gyo and the assassins grew even more tense. This was the first time they had seen the Smiling Demon's legendary white mask in person.
The aura he projected with the mask was different from when he wore the veil. Just a moment ago, they had been struck by his handsome eyes, but once those eyes were behind the mask, the feeling changed completely.
Those strange, cold eyes smiled from within the mask. He smiled as he looked at the twenty assassins who had drawn their unique weapons.
Then, another layer of pressure was added.
The Smiling Demon drew a Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron dagger.
As far as the 3rd Gyo knew...
I thought the Smiling Demon used Finger Wind and palm techniques?
She had planned to fight while being wary of his finger and palm arts. But he was drawing a dagger? The pressure the dagger exerted in the Smiling Demon's hand was worlds apart from when it was held by anyone else.
Normally, the 3rd Gyo would have said this before a fight: No matter how great you are, you can't handle all of us.
But faced with the Smiling Demon's overwhelming presence, a different thought occurred to her.
I should have just grabbed those other women by the hair and left with them earlier.
She could tell her subordinates were feeling the same intimidation. Having superior numbers didn't necessarily mean they had the advantage. Assassins were fundamentally solitary or moved according to a meticulous plan. Right now, they had no plan, and the twenty of them had certainly never practiced a combined attack together.
Still, she held onto one hope.
"If each person inflicts just one wound, the twentieth person will walk out of here."
In a situation where their spirits were crushed, these words were more helpful than a vague promise of victory. If they fought to the death, someone might survive. It could be you.
As the leader, the 3rd Gyo was the first to lunge toward the Smiling Demon.
Swish! Whoosh! Swish!
Her dagger sliced through the air in rapid succession. Every strike aimed for the Smiling Demon's vitals. It was an attack that anticipated many things: how she would react if he blocked or dodged, what her next move would be, and how she would respond if her dagger was knocked away.
However, she hadn't expected the Smiling Demon to be this fast.
She couldn't even tell how he had dodged her attack. In a literal flash, the Smiling Demon brushed past her. He was so fast she didn't even have time to circulate her Body Protection Qi.
She felt something graze her neck.
Slight.
Damn it! I'm cut!
Just as she was despairing, expecting her throat to open and spray blood, she realized she hadn't fallen.
Why?
She checked her neck. There was a faint smear of blood on her hand—just enough to show that blood had beaded on the skin. She quickly used the flat of her dagger to reflect her neck.
A single blood thread was drawn across her throat. He hadn't cut deep; he had merely grazed her.
Was it a mistake?
But it wasn't a mistake.
The 11th Gyo and the 20th Gyo, who were the next to exchange blows with the Smiling Demon, were also touching their necks a short distance away. It was an attack that would have killed them if it had been even a hair deeper, yet they stood there with nothing but faint blood threads.
If he had wanted to kill us, we would be dead.
Only then could the 3rd Gyo objectively observe the Smiling Demon's fighting style. She had thought she was hit simply because he was fast. She was wrong. The Smiling Demon's attacks followed trajectories she could never have imagined. Even if she could have handled his speed, she would never have been able to block those peculiar strikes.
The hidden weapons thrown by the 19th Gyo were all deflected by the Smiling Demon's dagger. As the 16th and 13th Gyo faltered while dodging the deflected projectiles, their necks were sliced in succession.
How can he do that?
The most shocking part was that the location and depth of the wounds were identical, regardless of the skill level of the opponent. It was a realm of mastery far more difficult than simply cutting throats to kill.
If we leave twenty wounds, we can survive?
She realized how ridiculous that must have sounded to the Smiling Demon. They couldn't leave even a single scratch on him.
Yet, not every assassin submitted to this overwhelming difference in skill.
Slash!
The 19th Gyo, whose neck had already been grazed once, lunged again. Even though she knew he had spared her, she launched another surprise attack.
Whoosh.
Of course, it didn't work. Lightly dodging the 19th Gyo's ambush, the Smiling Demon grabbed her by the throat and slammed her into the floor.
Thud!
As the 19th Gyo tried to scramble up again—
"!"
She saw the eyes within the mask looking down at her.
Goosebumps erupted all over her body. She was by no means afraid of death, but this wasn't a matter of life or death. She didn't fear dying, but she feared that gaze. It was the fear that if she crossed this man, she might suffer a pain worse than death. The Smiling Demon's eyes triggered a primal, fundamental terror.
The Smiling Demon left her there and looked at the 3rd Gyo.
"Didn't you say you wouldn't commit suicide?"
His words carried the implication that if they kept acting like this, he would kill them all. The 3rd Gyo couldn't say a word.
In the meantime, the 7th Gyo was launching a surprise attack on the Smiling Demon.
Swish!
But when her dagger sliced through empty air, all she got in return was a blood thread on her neck. When she, too, tried to lunge again, ignoring the Smiling Demon's previous warning—
The 3rd Gyo leaped forward and grabbed her wrist.
The 3rd Gyo shook her head at the 7th Gyo. She knew the 7th Gyo had a fierce personality, but if she didn't stop her, she would surely die a dog's death. If they provoked the Smiling Demon's temper, he might kill them all.
And so, the Smiling Demon passed through the Beauty Cult like a gust of wind. All the wind left behind was a single blood thread.
Silence filled the hall. The women stared at the blood threads on each other's necks with disbelief.
The 3rd Gyo knew. If the Smiling Demon had actually intended to kill them, this wouldn't have been a fight; it would have been a massacre.
He's this strong?
She knew the Demon Lords were terrifying, but she hadn't realized he possessed this level of skill.
If this had been the Smiling Demon from before Geom Mu-geuk's regression, he might not have achieved such an overwhelming result. Several women would have died, and the place would have been a bloodbath.
But the Smiling Demon's internal energy and martial realm had both ascended since then. Furthermore, he had the experience of numerous desperate life-and-death battles where he had teetered on the brink of death. Added to that was his newly mastered Laughing Fragrance Secret Art.
The Smiling Demon walked slowly back to the chair he had been sitting in.
"Now, everyone sit."
The 3rd Gyo let out a sigh and sat down. She signaled her subordinates to do the same.
"Everyone, sit."
The rest of the assassins took their seats. As if they had been waiting, the door opened and Faceless Guests wearing masks entered.
The Faceless Guests went around to each woman and suppressed their Mute and Demonic Acupoints. At that moment, one assassin attempted a surprise attack to take a Faceless Guest hostage. It was the 7th Gyo, who had been restrained by the 3rd Gyo earlier.
In the next instant—
Crack!
Struck squarely in the chest, the 7th Gyo was sent flying. The Faceless Guest had dodged her ambush and struck her with his elbow in one fluid motion. She coughed up blood as she hit the floor, but she wasn't dead.
This Faceless Guest, who had stayed behind to assist the Smiling Demon, was the strongest among the ten who had arrived. Thus, the surprise attack had failed.
The Faceless Guest suppressed her Demonic and Mute Acupoints and sat her back up. With her head slumped in unconsciousness, no one else dared to step forward. In this manner, the twenty assassins had their Mute and Demonic Acupoints perfectly sealed.
Not everyone has been caught yet.
The 3rd Gyo clung to a final sliver of hope that the remaining assassins could help Cha Yi-ran complete the original plan.
Just then, the sound of a carriage arriving was heard from outside. When a Faceless Guest opened the door to the guest hall, the carriage was visible. It was riddled with hidden weapons like a hedgehog, and so full of holes and damage that it was a miracle it was still holding together.
The 3rd Gyo's eyes trembled as she looked at the carriage.
Could it be?
The carriage door opened, and the 17th Gyo, 5th Gyo, and 8th Gyo stepped out. The 3rd Gyo was deeply shocked to see that they, too, had been captured.
How did they find them as well?
On the other hand, as the 17th Gyo entered the guest hall, she saw her comrades. She didn't see the Smiling Demon standing by the window or the Faceless Guests behind the door. Instead, seeing her comrades sitting there seemingly unharmed, she cheered inwardly. The 3rd Gyo was there, and she saw the 7th Gyo as well. There were twenty of them.
I'm saved!
At the same time, a flicker of worry for the Faceless Guest following behind her crossed the 17th Gyo's mind.
You saved me, but...
She wouldn't be able to save him. A mere '17th' didn't have the authority to make such major decisions.
You're going to die.