Becoming Stronger
I never thought it would turn out like this.
After defeating the Slaughter King’s subordinates one by one in just over ten exchanges, the Shaanxi Four Chivalrous Heroes realized their martial prowess had advanced by leaps and bounds.
They had pushed their skills up a notch with the essence of the Doll-Slaying Three and the Phoenix Controlling Dragon Saber, yet they still felt something was missing.
The Doll-Slaying Three’s internal energy kept accumulating, and even if they could reincarnate the Phoenix Controlling Dragon Saber several times, it was a supreme martial art they could never possess.
Still, after consuming excellent martial arts and pills, they felt an odd discomfort, as if they were wearing clothes that didn’t fit their bodies.
That discomfort was undoubtedly the anxiety of having reached the limit of their talent, and it was also a self-deprecating feeling.
At that moment, they closed the emotional gap with the Yin-Yang Collision Cultivation and the Thousand-Jin Weight Art.
These two martial arts were perfectly suited to harmonize with the bodies and skills of the three of them.
It was clearly different.
Few people could properly execute the forms of the Thousand-Jin Weight Art.
They were pushed into defense, their necks sliced open and chests pierced.
The Shaanxi Four Chivalrous Heroes, who had diligently trained for years, never expected the Thousand-Jin Weight Art to unleash such overwhelming power.
The three younger brothers fought, surprised themselves, admired each other, and rejoiced.
“Take this!”
Whoosh!
Kang Chu-mi’s whip tore through the air, snatching the opponent’s arm.
Crack!
Yet the opponent’s arm was yanked upward by the whip’s end.
The assassin trying to pull the whip wrapped around his forearm had his arm torn from the elbow.
“Cluck!”
A chill pain surged through him, and the moment he grabbed his arm, the whip wrapped around his neck.
“Ugh!”
His body was dragged in the direction of the whip, and a sharp dislocation sound rang from his neck.
Crack!
The pain of his neck bone and spine detaching made him want to scream, but with the whip around his neck, he couldn’t even make a sound.
The man felt a strange ecstasy and foam bubbled from his mouth as his head twisted.
“Now, which bastard’s neck shall I pluck for you!”
At Kang Chu-mi’s sharp words, the dark assassins surrounding her shuddered and trembled.
* * *
After meeting the Thousand-Jin Weight Art, Seo Joo-cheon’s White Serpent Sword Technique had grown so powerful that it could almost be called the White Dragon Sword Technique.
He had become a dragon rather than a snake, clawing at the air.
With the White Serpent Spirit, White Serpent Outburst, White Serpent Divine Call, and White Serpent Sealing Peak, he wielded the fast sword, and the opponent’s limbs fell without exception at the spot.
When one limb was severed in an instant, there were no bodies with all limbs intact around him.
Around Ham Cheon-yeong, who swung his enormous sword like a whip, the heads of the enemies stuck to his feet.
He severed the opponent’s weapons and beheaded or split them in two.
Whenever Ham Cheon-yeong swung his sword, the black assassins rolling on the floor were not few.
This sight was one that Hak Yu had never seen before.
The black assassins, whoever they were.
The assassins who had completed the formation to kill the strong were being slaughtered so easily.
Each time Dokgo Ho-in moved, only the sound of slicing remained.
The sound of wood being carved when cutting wood.
He was carving a murder.
‘Scary. I’m scared. If they pass the exam…’
When he imagined himself passing the Shaanxi Four Chivalrous Heroes’ exam, chills ran down his spine.
Thanks to them, the number of black assassins who had intruded into Hwangga Manor had decreased rapidly.
The four people were killing the black assassins at a fast pace.
“Prevent them from escaping the manor!”
The warriors of Hwangga Manor had set up a siege to prevent the black assassins from escaping.
It was different from when they had been massacred by the black assassins at the beginning.
Because of that, the black assassins were driven towards the Shaanxi Four Chivalrous Heroes.
Seo Joo-cheon heard a faint sound coming from the ground at that time.
A sound mixed with screams and shouts.
And the sound of Yu Seong’s voice.
The place where the sound came from was the underground stone chamber.
“You all, exterminate all the enemies here. I’ll go somewhere else.”
“Yes, Daehyeong.”
Wiping the blood on his nose with his sleeve, Ham Cheon-yeong replied.
Seo Joo-cheon’s figure flew toward the underground stone chamber where the sound was coming from.
Hak Yu was startled when he saw Seo Joo-cheon change direction and move.
“Po Daehyeop, over there.”
Before Hak Yu’s words ended, Seo Joo-cheon had already entered the underground stone chamber.
And he heard the sound of weapons flowing out from the stone chamber for the first time.
‘They diverted the elite of the black assassins to the stone chamber?’
Most of the screams were the warriors of Hwangga Manor.
When Hak Yu tried to approach the stone chamber, the black assassins attacked him like mad.
“Get out of the way!”
When the black assassin stuck to him, Hak Yu responded without being careless.
He couldn’t tell if he had become weak or if the Shaanxi Four Chivalrous Heroes were even stronger than he thought, since they were handling such difficult people so easily.
* * *
After the battle, the thing Seo Joo-cheon was most worried about was Yu Seong’s safety.
He was fighting in a state of no-mind while unfolding the White Serpent Sword Technique with the Thousand-Jin Weight Art embedded, but he snapped back to his senses at Yu Seong’s voice.
‘What am I doing right now! I need to find Yu Seong and protect his safety.’
Self-reproaching himself for forgetting the real important thing, he went down to the stone chamber.
There were corpses everywhere in the stone chamber corridor.
Most of them were the warriors of Hwangga Manor.
‘Please, survive.’
The black assassins who noticed Seo Joo-cheon’s entry shouted.
“Block that guy!”
Seo Joo-cheon used the Gwonshijeonggong for the first time toward two of the black assassins blocking his way.
In the slowing time, Seo Joo-cheon jumped in, shook his body to dodge the opponent’s sword and sword, and drew his sword.
Following the trajectory of the drawn sword, the blood line continued.
Puff!
One sound, but two people fell.
“What?”
In the blink of an eye, they fell as if they had deliberately lain on the floor.
“Block!”
The commands became shorter, and the screams became shorter too.
He unfolded the second Gwonshijeonggong and jumped over two more.
“No way.”
After barely repelling the black assassins’ joint attack and entering the stone chamber, Hak Yu witnessed a surprising sight.
When he felt the space where Seo Joo-cheon was hazy, two black assassins who were about to attack fell to the floor.
“What the—”
No matter how he thought, only two martial arts came to mind.
Transposition.
Absolute Fast Sword.
It would look like this when unfolding the Absolute Fast Sword while moving with Transposition.
A realm he himself had not yet reached.
‘Now that I think about it, Po Un thoroughly hid his skills. Maybe he could have killed Bul-sama, but he didn’t, right?’
His martial prowess was something that couldn’t be overlooked.
He thought he was hiding his skills, but he thought it was only up to the level of being able to handle one or two.
But now, he had to think he was hiding more than that.
Seo Joo-cheon, who had quickly dealt with the black assassins guarding the entrance, jumped into the inner part of the stone chamber.
‘The Slaughter King wouldn’t believe even if he heard the report. Who in the world could kill the black assassins so quickly.’
Seo Joo-cheon jumped into the stone chamber and surveyed the situation.
Two bodyguards were fiercely fighting one black assassin.
Yu Seong was holding the sword of the dead bodyguard and fighting with him.
He was holding the sword with both hands, trembling, but holding on bravely.
He had never swung a sword against a person before.
But in front of Yu Seong, there was a boy in a small boy’s clothes lying down.
The boy who had been wounded by the bodyguard’s sword and looked like he was stabbed by Yu Seong’s sword.
Yu Seong, holding a sword covered in blood, was terrified.
Still, it was admirable that he was trying to protect the Jangju’s soldiers who only had women.
Seo Joo-cheon stepped on the truth.
Boom!
Dust rose from the floor of the stone chamber.
“Stop!”
When Seo Joo-cheon shouted, the man in the butcher’s clothes who had been pulling out the sword stuck in one of the bodyguards’ chests turned around.
But he turned away from Seo Joo-cheon and said.
“Run away with that young man. We’ll stop him with the three of us.”
Seo Joo-cheon, knowing he was a strong opponent, immediately modified the strategy.
“Commander, what about this thing?”
The young man in Yu Seong’s clothes looked at the three corpses lying on the stone chamber wall and said.
“There’s no time to worry about that. First, we have to take care of this young man or our faces won’t be saved. Move!”
Seo Joo-cheon used the Gwonshijeonggong in response to the black assassins’ command to move.
He entered the slowing time and approached Yu Seong.
The dark one with excellent shadow technique rushed at Yu Seong, but before he knew it, the dark one was pierced by Seo Joo-cheon’s sword.
“Huh!”
When the Gwonshijeonggong ended, the dark one was in a situation as if he had rushed towards Seo Joo-cheon’s sword.
Seo Joo-cheon had no mercy for the black assassins.
Because he had set the black assassins as ruthless and cold assassins, a moment of carelessness could be death.
The commander was gloomy after seeing Seo Joo-cheon’s one second.
If he had a body technique that could move his figure in an instant, he wouldn’t be able to handle it himself.
Cold judgment.
‘We can’t handle them at all.’
He hadn’t seen the one second that pierced the fastest dark one.
Still, he thought he had confidence in martial arts, but after seeing Seo Joo-cheon’s one second, he felt death.
‘If it’s like this.’
The commander took out a bamboo tube from his bosom and pulled it toward Yu Seong.
He aimed for one stone three birds with that one thing.
The bamboo tube was the Hidden Weapon Cylinder that the Slaughter King cherished, given only to his subordinates.
A thing given only to high-level commanders to use against super strong opponents who couldn’t be dealt with at all.
Dozen of fine needles coated with Hua-gol acid were shot toward Yu Seong, Seo Joo-cheon, and the three corpses.
‘That kid and the monster-like guy, and one of the God-Descended Assassins will melt in the Hua-gol acid. If lucky, kill them all, but at least kill one. If we don’t get it, no one can have it.’
The Hidden Weapon, named Rong Tian Shen Tong (Melt Heaven God Tube) because it could kill even a supreme strong person, was given to high-level commanders.
The commander was confident.
If Rong Tian Shen Tong, which melts the sky, could turn all the living things in the stone chamber into a handful of blood.
Whoosh!
Green needles shot from the bamboo tube embroidered the air.
Seo Joo-cheon pulled out all his internal energy and unfolded the Gwonshijeonggong.
When fighting Mi-u before, it was only for a moment of one breath, but with the internal energy accumulated and higher than the commander’s, he pulled it for about five breaths.
In that time, Seo Joo-cheon kicked the fallen corpses on the floor with his feet.
Tutu tutu tuk!
With the feet filled with true energy, the corpses of the black assassins and Hwangga Manor warriors lying on the floor rose up.
He felt a bit sorry for damaging the corpses for a moment, but it was only a moment.
Now was the time when life was fluctuating, so such etiquette disappeared like a passing breeze.
He precisely lifted the corpses and made a barrier, then lay down on the floor holding the Hwangga Manor soldiers and Yu Seong.
That was what happened in five breaths.
Seo Joo-cheon knew what kind of hidden weapon the commander had fired, so he was careful even with a brush.
Tatatatata!
Along with the sound of the needles sticking into the corpses, the smell of burning flesh and the sound of meat cooking rang out immediately.
The sound of Hua-gol acid burning the corpses.
The commander felt that the time the needles were fired was faster than Seo Joo-cheon’s reaction speed.
After the needles were fired, everything was late.
But in just a few blinks of an eye, five corpses had floated in front of the needles.
No matter how fast, it was a speed that couldn’t be explained in words, and even the cold commander stood there holding the bamboo tube blankly for a moment.
Thud!
Suddenly, the hidden weapon cylinder was cut in half and fell to the floor.
Following that sound, the commander who was lowering his head felt that his gaze was rotating.
The floor and the ceiling of the stone chamber were spinning.
And soon, he realized that his own severed head was rolling on the floor, causing his gaze to rotate.
Thinking he would have a bizarre experience before dying, his consciousness cut off.
The remaining assassins also fell to the floor, with the commander at the head.
Seo Joo-cheon, not knowing whether to use the Rong Tian Shen Tong again, kept unfolding the Gwonshijeonggong to block any possible attacks.
“Phew!”
A severe sense of exhaustion and emptiness came at the same time.
He poured almost all his true energy to deal with the remaining black assassins.
“Yu Seong-ah, are you okay?”
Looking at Yu Seong held in his left bosom, he asked.
Yu Seong nodded with surprised eyes.
Yu Seong held in his bosom trembled pathetically like a wet cat in the rain.
Fortunately, the Hwangga Manor soldiers were safe too.
Lying on the floor had been the main reason.
Chiiiiiik!
The smell of burning flesh filled the stone chamber.
Seeing Hak Yu enter the stone chamber, he instructed.
“How is the outer situation?”
“The Shaanxi Four Chivalrous Heroes have all dealt with them. There are no enemies left.”
“Then take the family and surname and go out.”
“Yes, Daeja.”
The smell of burning flesh was vibrating so much that he couldn’t stand it.
Seo Joo-cheon handed Yu Seong over to Hak Yu.
Hak Yu said.
“Po Daehyeop, let’s go out too. The smell of burning flesh is making it chaotic.”
Seo Joo-cheon carefully looked at the corpses where the Hua-gol acid had melted, revealing some white bones here and there, and it was a prompting word.
‘That’s a God-Descended Assassin.’
The God-Descended Assassin is a being Seo Joo-cheon created by giving a unique setting in the novel.
This was also a being that shouldn’t appear now, like Jeong Geum-sik.
It was supposed to appear after the mid-part, and the Slaughter King could become the strongest among the Twelve Demon Lords by obtaining the God-Descended Assassin with Yu Seong.
Seo Joo-cheon intuitively felt it.
‘The author intervened. Seeing that the God-Descended Assassin didn’t fall into the Slaughter King’s hands, the story was changed to have it fall into someone else’s hands.’
Seo Joo-cheon could feel the author’s sense.