Something Unexpected

The cold was spreading through him, yet his arm felt as if it were melting. He could not understand it.

Only after some thirty exchanges did the Heinous Saber Fiend finally grasp who Jeong Geum-sik truly was.

"Why?! Why is one of the Three Great Eccentrics here?!"

There was only one master he knew whose cold qi rode a blade until the very hilt felt like ice.

If I hadn't taken the Stalactite Milk, I wouldn't even have been able to hold my saber.

The yang energy of the Gongcheong Seokyu — the Stalactite Milk — had held the cold at bay. He had come within a hair's breadth of utter humiliation.

The Heinous Saber Fiend stalled, buying time to drive out the cold that had already seeped into him.

"Why is the Red Snow Ice Demon in a place like this?"

And together with Jang Hyeon-nam, no less.

"We ran into each other on the road. We're traveling together."

At Jeong Geum-sik's answer, the Heinous Saber Fiend turned to Jang Hyeon-nam.

"You knew who the Red Snow Ice Demon was too?"

Jang Hyeon-nam said nothing.

"Judging by that look, you didn't. Well, of course not. If you'd known, would a disciple of the Wudang Sect be traveling with a demonic master?"

Jang Hyeon-nam, who knew little of the jianghu's luminaries, remained unperturbed. Sang Ryo, however, was more stunned than anyone.

I never imagined Hero Jeong was the Red Snow Ice Demon.

Jeong Geum-sik, the Red Snow Ice Demon, was a master counted among the Three Great Eccentrics, and his Ice-Cold True Qi was regarded as peerless even in the martial world. Among the warriors of the Demon Ice Palace who still walked the jianghu, he was perhaps the most famous of all.

And yet, once Sang Ryo knew the truth, relief washed through him.

If it's the Red Snow Ice Demon, then even if the Heinous Saber Fiend grew stronger from the Stalactite Milk, there's no need to worry.

In the jianghu, Jeong Geum-sik was known as a Peak-realm master. The title of the Three Great Evil Ones, by contrast, classified men by the scale of their atrocities rather than their martial prowess, and so it carried somewhat less weight. By all accounts the Three Great Evil Ones were First-Rate in strength; even after consuming Stalactite Milk, the Heinous Saber Fiend would only reach something like the Peak. Not enough to overwhelm the Red Snow Ice Demon.

"Sorry to cut in — but I'm the one who's been stalling."

Jeong Geum-sik spoke as if making a sudden confession. The Heinous Saber Fiend cocked his head.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

It was a mercy he hadn't started cursing.

"My Ice-Cold True Qi isn't ordinary inner energy. Given time, it turns into Needle Qi and settles in the body."

An old rumor flickered through the Heinous Saber Fiend's mind.

"Gout Qi!"

He had heard that those struck by the Demon Ice Palace's Ice-Cold True Qi might suffer gout for the rest of their lives.

Seo Joo-cheon had conceived Ice-Cold True Qi by borrowing the principle of gout itself — uric acid that failed to leave the body, accumulating until it crystallized into needle-like deposits. That was why gout patients lived in constant fear of their uric acid levels. He had designed the martial art Ice-Shattering Snow to inflict Gout Qi through Ice-Cold True Qi.

If Seo Joo-cheon had been standing here now, he would have clapped with delight at the sight of Hong Seok-hun, the Heinous Saber Fiend, writhing under that Gout Qi.

"Hmph! Ice-Cold True Qi? I can burn it out with the yang energy of the Stalactite Milk!"

The Heinous Saber Fiend bellowed.

"That's right. You can. But you'll need a few cycles of the Lesser Heavenly Circulation to do it. Can you circulate your energy right now?"

Jeong Geum-sik sneered, a crooked grin spreading across his face.

It was such a classic street-thug expression that Jang Hyeon-nam found it oddly refreshing. Watching the fight, he was reminded once more that one must always stay on guard when facing Unorthodox martial artists. He had felt the same fighting the Undying Demon — in battles against the demonic and the unorthodox, you never knew what dirty trick or vicious scheme lay waiting.

The Heinous Saber Fiend cycled his inner energy once, drawing up his yang qi, and charged at Jeong Geum-sik. He did not believe a word of it. Gout Qi? That was a trick for small fry. A man who had already surpassed First-Rate and stood at the threshold of Peak would never fall for such a thing.

"Gah!"

He had taken a single step — and pain exploded through him as if he had stomped on dozens of needles.

"Aagh!"

He bit down on his lip, trying to endure it, but the scream tore up through his throat whether he wanted it or not.

"Aagh!"

No one who had never suffered gout could understand that boundless agony. It was not a pain a martial artist could simply grit through. Even among First-Rate masters, more than a few had been forced into early retirement by gout.

Even so, the Heinous Saber Fiend swung his saber, trying to cut Jeong Geum-sik down. Whether from the surge of inner power or not, the force packed into that single stroke was crushing.

Whoosh!

Jeong Geum-sik slipped aside and unleashed a palm strike. The Heinous Saber Fiend, with dozens of needles seemingly driven through both soles, could not dodge. He poured saber-qi into his blade and smashed the palm force aside.

CRASH!

The collision of the two energies sent nearby tables skidding toward the walls.

"AAAAARGH!"

The Heinous Saber Fiend's saber-hand began to tremble violently, and a shriek ripped out of him.

Jeong Geum-sik grinned.

"It hurts, doesn't it? That's not something you can just endure. Might be the worst pain in the world."

"You vicious bastard! To cultivate such a wicked, lawless art!"

"Please. You don't get to say that. A man they call one of the Three Great Evils of the martial world, talking like that? That's just funny."

As Jeong Geum-sik stepped closer, the Heinous Saber Fiend shrieked in a frenzy.

"Stay back! Stay back!"

"Why? Weren't you going to kill us a minute ago?"

"I take it back! I take it back!"

"Too late. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I've already decided to kill you. And I've never once let a man who tried to kill me walk away clean. I'm from the Demon Ice Palace."

Their exchange sounded for all the world like two street toughs bickering.

From that moment, Jeong Geum-sik pressed the Heinous Saber Fiend relentlessly. The Saber Fiend did everything he could to block, but the screams never stopped. It looked as though Jeong Geum-sik was attacking him for the sole purpose of inflicting pain.

"The demonic and Unorthodox truly are nothing like I imagined. Watching them, I see just how exceptional my sworn brother is."

Jang Hyeon-nam murmured, staring blankly at the fight. Sang Ryo smiled.

"If I had never met Young Hero Jang, I would honestly have followed Hero Po. He is more than worthy of my loyalty."

Jang Hyeon-nam glanced at him.

"Even so, I could never give you up, Hero Sang."

"You honor me."

Sang Ryo was looking at Jang Hyeon-nam with warm eyes when a window shattered and the Heinous Saber Fiend's scream tore through the air.

"AAAAAGH! You son of a bitch!"

The sound receded. He was fleeing.

"Hahahaha! Saber Fiend! You forgot this arm! What am I supposed to do with it if you leave it behind?!"

Jeong Geum-sik roared with laughter, shouting after the fleeing man.

"Next time I'll pickle you into jerky!"

"Fine! I'll be waiting! Try not to be late! Come find me before I come find you!"

Jeong Geum-sik cackled, thoroughly pleased with himself. In his hand hung the Heinous Saber Fiend's arm, torn off at the shoulder.

Watching that, Jang Hyeon-nam finally understood, in his bones, that Jeong Geum-sik was a man of the demonic path.

He knew it at a glance.

The God-Descended Assassins were characters Seo Joo-cheon had designed with particular care, and he had packed them with all manner of inventive devices.

First, their skin had a coppery sheen. Whether Hak Yu knew it or not, when the Heretic Cult had raised the God-Descended Assassins, they had inscribed a technique that allowed the skin to shift color to match the surroundings. Seo Joo-cheon had borrowed the idea from a chameleon's camouflage. That was why a God-Descended Assassin stripped naked before a kill. The entire body turned black — nails, teeth, even the pupils. On a pitch-dark night, they were impossible to find.

He had also given them jiangshi-like abilities as a means of erasing every biological sign — to eliminate breath and the heat radiating from the body. They were not true jiangshi, but their physiques had been transformed until they were all but indistinguishable from one.

The Heretic Cult had spent more than a decade investing in that work, pouring every technique they possessed into creating the God-Descended Assassins. They ate little, felt no pain, and never slept — a perfect assassin's body.

But just as the God-Descended Assassins neared completion, the Heretic Cult was destroyed in an assault by the White Magpie Alliance. The Cult's habit of using living people as material for every kind of forbidden art had provoked a full-scale purge. That had been five years ago.

Because the God-Descended Assassins had been raised in secret, they had escaped the Alliance's purge. Hak Yu had spent a long time tracking them down through Hwang Manor. They were a prize the Slaughter King had been eyeing — and Hak Yu had snatched them first.

Seo Joo-cheon asked as if he knew nothing.

"What are those corpses?"

"They are the remains of Hwang Manor's warriors, laid to rest here."

"Why keep them in a stone chamber instead of burying them?"

"Ah. Hwang Manor observes the custom of exposure burial."

The answers came without hesitation. He had clearly anticipated the questions and prepared his replies.

If he puts it that way, I can hardly ask him to hand the bodies over. They say old ginger is the spiciest — he thought this through in no time at all.

Hak Yu had called them Hwang Manor's warriors precisely so Seo Joo-cheon would not request the corpses.

So it's a frontal approach or nothing? They'll assume the bodies are ruined — flesh melted by Bone-Melting Poison, bone showing in too many places — and write them off. That gives me an opening.

As he turned the matter over, a forgotten fact surfaced.

That's right. Could this be the reward for bringing Yu Seong to Hwang Manor? The reward was listed as connections. So the God-Descended Assassins become a connection of mine. It all fits. In that case, there's no reason to hesitate.

Seo Joo-cheon gathered his thoughts and approached the corpses.

"The bodies are so damaged by poison. What will you do with them?"

He laid the groundwork first.

Hak Yu's expression darkened. Just as Seo Joo-cheon had said, the Bone-Melting Poison had reduced the God-Descended Assassins to wrecks.

Their jiangshi-like bodies felt no pain and did not decay — but the skin did not regenerate. The Heretic Cult had tried countless regenerative arts on them and failed every time. Worse, once bone was exposed, the flesh tended to rot, which was why they had been trained in external arts like the Iron Shirt before becoming God-Descended Assassins. With the flesh melted away, there was little chance of regeneration and a high chance of decay.

Years of effort to find them. The money I spent tracking them down alone...

A sigh escaped him of its own accord. He had planned to awaken the God-Descended Assassins and put them at Yu Seong's command.

"I know these corpses."

"What?"

Hak Yu's eyes flickered from puzzlement to killing intent in an instant.

"You know what these are?"

"I do."

"Impossible. Almost no one in the martial world knows of them."

"I happen to be one of those few."

"What are these corpses, then?"

Hak Yu stared him down.

"Elder, these are God-Descended Assassins."

"Hah..."

A long sigh. He truly had not expected Po Un to recognize them.

"How did you know, Hero Po?"

Hak Yu composed himself and asked with grave courtesy — courtesy that still carried a thread of killing intent.

"Years ago, a member of the Heretic Cult defected to my sect. I heard about the God-Descended Assassins from that cult sorcerer. He said the project was so secret even within the Cult that only a handful of sorcerers knew of it."

"And from that alone, you identified these corpses as God-Descended Assassins?"

Hak Yu still found much of it hard to believe.

"There."

Seo Joo-cheon pointed at a corpse's hand.

"I was told a God-Descended Assassin's nails are black — as if painted with ink. That's how I deduced it."

"Hoo... To guess from that one detail. You truly are remarkable, Hero Po."

"Not at all. It was such an interesting story that it stuck with me."

"You are not a man one can afford to take lightly."

Seo Joo-cheon always showed more than the martial prowess people expected of him. And he knew far more than anyone anticipated. This was not the profile of some low-ranking Unorthodox wanderer.

"As you've heard, even these formidable God-Descended Assassins are useless now. And after all it took to obtain them..."

The grief in his voice was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠enough to move a listener to pity.

"If you mean to discard them, give them to me."

"Mm. What would you do with something already ruined?"

"I hesitate to say, but I have something I wish to test."

Hak Yu thought for a moment, then spoke.

"Hero Po saved the manor lord's family and Yu Seong. These God-Descended Assassins are no longer whole — they're wrecks. How could I refuse you? We have tests of our own to run on one of them, so I cannot give you all three. Two. Will that suffice?"

"Thank you."

"I am the one who should thank you. You saved Yu Seong. If anything had happened to that child, my entire life until now would have been for nothing."

Had Seo Joo-cheon failed to save Yu Seong, he would never have received the God-Descended Assassins. Even ruined, they were still potential test subjects. That Hak Yu would part with them so readily was because the Shaanxi Four Chivalrous Heroes had protected Hwang Manor's warriors and saved the lord's family and Yu Seong.

"When you leave, Hero Po, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I will have two God-Descended Assassins placed in coffins. The manor will provide a small carriage. Load the coffins and take them with you."

"I'm grateful for the consideration."

"On the contrary — after all the Shaanxi Four Chivalrous Heroes have done for us, this is shamefully little."

Seo Joo-cheon smiled, looking at Hak Yu's genuine gratitude.