Chapter 42: Shadow Corps-3
Chapter 42: Shadow Corps-3
Sak Mu-heun was dumbfounded.
He wanted to use stealth techniques against him right now?
Against him, who had operated in the shadows for nine whole years?
If there was one good thing about Sak Mu-heun joining the Shadow Unit, it was that the Murim Alliance had generously handed out the greatest martial arts he could never have even glimpsed before.
Internal energy cultivation methods, sword arts, movement techniques, and of course, stealth techniques as well.
The assassin's secret techniques he had mastered were the secret arts of Pyeonbok Hyeolsal Jo Woo-son, an assassin who ranked among the top five of the previous generation.
And yet this bastard dared to oppose him using stealth techniques right in front of him, who had mastered those very arts. He could not help but be dumbfounded.
Sak Mu-heun melted into the shadows, concealing his form.
He intended to teach the bastard who had dared challenge him to a battle of stealth one final lesson on what the real thing looked like.
But as Sak Mu-heun slowly moved through the shadows and attempted to gauge his opponent's position, he found himself slightly flustered by the fact that he could not detect his presence at all.
He could feel the presence of snakes and other creatures, but no human presence could be felt anywhere.
The bastard must have also come from an assassin background.
Sak Mu-heun moved his body even more covertly and thought to himself.
'It seems this fight might drag on a bit. Did I end up losing her after all?'
While Sak Mu-heun was mistaken about Seonwoo Jin's origins, Seonwoo Jin had been standing perfectly still in the very first spot he had occupied, not moving a muscle.
The reason Seonwoo Jin was able to avoid detection by Sak Mu-heun was because the assassin's secret techniques he had mastered were the Heavenly Killing Secret Techniques of Muyeongsal, an assassin counted among the best of a century ago.
It was also because the profound mystery of the Bi Sect's Heavenly Wind Movement Technique, which he had learned from Bi Sa-yeong, was becoming one with the wind.
But even so, his stealth technique could not possibly surpass that of Sak Mu-heun, a peak-level master who had been operating as a professional assassin.
He was no match in experience or realm, after all.
Knowing this full well, Seonwoo Jin, unlike Sak Mu-heun who was searching for him, stayed put in his original spot without moving a muscle, still as death.
Of course, that was by no means a wise course of action.
By staying still like that, he would never be able to locate Sak Mu-heun's position, and the moment Sak Mu-heun discovered him, the fight could be over.
But Seonwoo Jin was not worried at all.
Because he believed that even if he did not find him, others would find him for him.
'I'm counting on you, my pretties.'
Having raised the Three-Colored Death Adders for some time now, Seonwoo Jin knew.
Stealth techniques were useless against certain types of snakes.
Strangely enough, snakes could accurately pinpoint the location of people or animals regardless of whether there was light or not.
He could not know that this was because they sensed the body heat of living creatures, but that was not really important.
What was important was that the Three-Colored Death Adders, which he had gone all the way to the Poison Forest to catch in droves, were now beginning to target the enemy.
Sssssss!
"!"
Sak Mu-heun could not help but be horrified by the sudden assault of snakes flying at him like throwing weapons.
Because sudden movements were difficult while using stealth techniques, he had nearly been bitten by the snakes.
He barely managed to release his stealth and hurl his body away to evade the snakes' attack.
But that was only the beginning.
Snakes, appearing from who knows where, began flinging themselves at him from all directions.
Sssssss! Sssssss!
"Tch!"
Sak Mu-heun swung his sword and sliced the flying snakes in two.
Swaaak!
"Sssssss!"
"Sssssss!"
In the battle of stealth between assassins, he had apparently lost. He had failed to pinpoint his opponent's location, while his opponent had forced him out into the open.
But losing in stealth did not mean he had lost the fight.
Sak Mu-heun sharpened his focus to a razor's edge.
If his enemy truly was an assassin, he would not miss this opportunity.
He was certain to attack at this very moment.
And in that moment, Sak Mu-heun was able to catch the sound of throwing weapons piercing the air, mixed among the flying snakes.
"Got you!"
Sak Mu-heun hurled his body in the direction the projectiles came from.
If his opponent were of equal level, that might be one thing, but he had no fear whatsoever of projectiles thrown by someone who had not even reached peak level yet.
But he failed to realize something.
Earlier, he had been responding to the enemy's throwing weapons by dodging them, but at some point, he had begun cutting down everything that flew at him with his sword.
Shwaaak!
Chaechaeng! Chaechaechaeng!
When he shot forward like a beam of light and sliced through all the throwing weapons the enemy had thrown, Sak Mu-heun suddenly realized that there were strange leather pouches mixed among them.
Sseong!
"!?"
His sword had instinctively cut through a pouch, splitting it in two.
And then, dozens of insects came pouring out from inside it.
Pusseusuk!
"Ugh?!"
It was a move that had completely caught him off guard.
Because he had been flying forward with full force, there was no time to dodge.
The distance had already become far too close. Sak Mu-heun could only squeeze his eyes shut and spin his body to deflect the shower of insects.
Tudududuk!
He felt stinging pains all across his face.
Sak Mu-heun hurriedly had to brush the bugs off his face. The fact that he felt stinging pain in itself was ominous.
Abandoning his attack on the enemy, he landed hastily on the ground and immediately began brushing off his face and body.
But when he opened his eyes and looked down, there were still several bugs with their teeth or tails embedded in him that would not come off.
They were poisonous insects.
Seonwoo Jin had gone to the Poison Forest, caught the poisonous insects there, and fashioned them into throwing weapons.
Sak Mu-heun gulped.
Until now, it had been a question of whether or not he would complete his mission, but without him realizing it, it was becoming a matter of his life being on the line.
A burning pain spread numbly across his entire face moment by moment.
Sssssss!
And on top of that, the snakes kept flying at him.
He could no longer bring himself to cut them and began hurling his body aside to dodge.
Because he could not be sure when something else might be mixed among the snakes and come flying at him again.
But even he already knew.
Moving his body in this way would only make the poison spread faster.
Even if he tried to suppress the poison with his internal energy, too many parts of his body had already been bitten.
If he restricted his blood circulation here to suppress the poison, he would not be able to move at all.
He was besieged on all sides.
Sak Mu-heun gritted his teeth.
There was no time.
He needed to take an antidote as quickly as possible or enter a breathing exercise to circulate his qi...
But to do that, he had to deal with the enemy and the snakes first.
In the end, Sak Mu-heun began slicing through the flying snakes with his sword again.
He had no choice but to kill all the snakes somehow.
And as expected, he again had to cut through several leather pouches flying among the snakes.
Paseususeuk!
"Ughk!"
This time, at least he had been prepared, so he was able to throw himself clear before being covered in bugs.
But he could not attack the direction they had been thrown from.
His vision was growing hazy.
He could not even clearly distinguish whether his vision was growing dim because he was losing his eyesight or because his eyelids were swelling shut over his eyes.
His entire face was numb.
Sak Mu-heun realized that his limit was approaching.
Before his sight completely vanished and before the poison spread throughout his whole body, he had to flee to a safe place.
And so it was just when he was about to hurl his body away.
Suddenly, Seonwoo Jin's voice was heard.
"Did you know?"
He hurriedly went on guard in the direction the voice came from.
Through his dimming vision, he could see the bastard's position.
Up in a tree, the distance was not close.
Even if he shot himself forward right now, with the bastard's movement technique, he would be able to dodge easily enough.
"Who else knows that you came from the Alliance? Is it just me? Or my team members? If not that, then maybe the vice-commander who told you about our duty schedule?"
At his words, the back of Sak Mu-heun's neck went cold.
He even knew that he had met the vice-commander. Could it be that the vice-commander was truly the one behind all this?
Then the incompetent appearance he had put on back then had all been an act?
Sssssss!
He hastily cut down one more snake that flew at him in the meantime.
Shaaak!
That was when Seonwoo Jin's voice suddenly came from a different position.
"I'm really curious. What kind of mindset could possibly allow someone to sacrifice their own life and issue an order to kill a worker who is blocking the Blood Cult on the front lines?"
Chills ran down his spine.
His own senses had become so dull that they could not even detect his opponent's movements.
At this rate, he might not even win a head-on confrontation. He had to end this now, somehow.
"And just how brainless do you have to be to follow those orders without question? Am I wrong? What exactly makes you different from the Blood Cult's demons? The demons only eat people, but you lot eat other things too—is that it?"
The bastard kept shifting positions as he spoke.
Just once—he only needed to catch a single instant.
At that moment, another snake came flying in.
And that snake clamped down hard on Sak Mu-heun's leg.
"Urgh!"
He dropped to one knee with a groan.
As if he could hold out no longer.
Just like that, Sak Mu-heun laid his vulnerabilities completely bare.
But Sak Mu-heun's mind, even as he kneeled, was honed to a razor's edge.
In truth, the leg the snake had bitten was where thick leather had been layered inside his trousers—he had deliberately let the snake bite him in order to expose an opening.
Then he waited for the bastard to approach.
He did not need much.
If only he would come within three jang....
Then the bastard's voice rang out.
"Is it over now?"
And at last, the bastard began to draw near.
He gauged the distance with his ears, the only sense still functioning properly.
Five jang.
Four jang.
Three jang!
Pah-ang!
He hurled his body forward with every ounce of his soul's strength.
Then he drove a desperate thrust into the bastard's chest.
Through his dimming eyes, he could see the blue sword qi extending straight as a spear, piercing through to the inside of the bastard's chest.
Puh-uk!
He thought he heard such a sound.
But that was merely Sak Mu-heun's illusion.
What Sak Mu-heun had stabbed was Seonwoo Jin's afterimage—having deftly slipped past the thrust and shifted to the side, Seonwoo Jin's sword Mukrang was now flying toward his throat.
Shyah-ak!
Seonwoo Jin, having observed his movement technique earlier, had already anticipated that an all-out thrust would come from roughly three jang away.
So he had feigned entering within three jang while deploying the Cheonpung Step Technique, letting the thrust flow past him smoothly like a blossom carried by the wind.
No matter how skilled a peak-level master's attack might be, against an opponent who had perfectly anticipated and prepared for it—and what was more, against a movement technique expert like Seonwoo Jin—there was simply nothing to be done.
Seonwoo Jin brought his sword down toward the man's throat without hesitation.
Peak-level master or not, this was the end.
His opponent's swollen eyes now seemed unable to even see him.
But Seonwoo Jin's sword could not complete its arc.
Chae-aeng!
"Would you wait just a moment?"
A middle-aged man in blue robes had suddenly appeared and blocked Seonwoo Jin's sword with his own.
Seonwoo Jin was aghast at the man's form, which seemed to have materialized out of thin air.
But he clenched his teeth immediately.
He could not afford to stand there stunned.
He tried to raise his sword and strike at the man at once.
"?!"
But it would not move.
The Mukrang sword was stuck fast to the middle-aged man's blade as if glued there.
It appeared to be the Sword-Sticking Technique he had only ever heard about by reputation.
He could not even gauge just how powerful a master this man was.
Then a voice came from behind the middle-aged man.
"Young Master Seonwoo, this is my father."
He looked up, startled, and saw Hae Cheong-yeon standing behind him, smiling as she looked at him.
Seonwoo Jin stared at her blankly and asked,
"...Your father?"
When he turned back to the middle-aged man in blue, the man was also looking at Seonwoo Jin with a satisfied smile.
***
Hae Cheong-yeon had, in fact, already sent a letter to her father during her leave.
And that letter, unlike the one she had entrusted to Jegal Ji-gang, had contained this as well:
She would instruct him to deliver the letter to Jegal Ji-gang, but if he failed to pass it on, then the Murim Alliance would be behind all of this.
In other words, this entire affair had been something Hae Cheong-yeon had orchestrated to feel out Jegal Ji-gang.
Furthermore, Hae Cheong-yeon had even asked her father to come to the frontline.
It was in case she and Jo Won and the others could not resolve matters with their own strength—she would borrow her father's power then.
Her father was a man of such capability that, so long as it did not involve something like confronting the Blood Demon head-on, he could render any dangerous situation perfectly safe.
So she had not told her comrades about her father, and she had only asked her father to watch over them from nearby until things grew dangerous.
And now that everything had ultimately been resolved without borrowing her father's power, Hae Cheong-yeon asked him,
"How did we look?"
He nodded with a satisfied smile.
"Quite splendid. That is more than sufficient."
What was splendid, and what was sufficient—the subject had been left out of the conversation entirely.
***
Ma Yu-gyeom agonized for several days before finally opening the box the Blood Demon had left behind once more.
Inside the box were spirit medicine, poison pills, and a thin secret manual.
He had, in truth, already opened the box on the very first day he had received it.
But he had not been able to bring himself to consume the spirit medicine or to open the secret manual, so he had closed it again—and now, after several days had passed, he was opening it once more.
He held the spirit medicine in his hand and gazed at it for a moment, then soon unfolded the secret manual.
He meant only to skim through it briefly and close it again.
But once he opened the secret manual, he could not close it.
Because he could not tear his eyes away from the contents within.
The secret manual did not contain the martial arts of the Blood Cult.
Everything written there concerned miscellaneous techniques that the Blood Demon had personally selected and recorded.
Relieving some of his guilt at the fact that these were not Blood Cult martial arts, Ma Yu-gyeom continued reading through the contents.
With the thought that surely it would not matter so long as he did not actually learn them.
But the first thing written in the secret manual was a method of using poison pills to avoid qi deviation when one's internal energy was impure—the very same content that Seonwoo Jin's group had heard about from the old man Seok Gyeong-dal.
Ma Yu-gyeom had been curious about this as well.
The reason why Blood Cult practitioners did not suffer qi deviation despite obtaining most of their internal energy through essence absorption.
And so, before he knew it, he found himself reading the secret manual with focused attention.
Then he examined the poison pills enclosed in the box.
The second content concerned the Essence Absorption Technique.
A method of absorbing a person's essence to increase one's internal energy.
It was practically the symbol of the Blood Cult in the eyes of the world.
But the Essence Absorption Technique written there was not, contrary to expectation, as grandiose as the legendary Great Absorption Method.
It did not describe a way to absorb an opponent's internal energy merely by placing one's palm against them—rather, it appeared to be a method that could be used during sexual congress with a woman, or through the act of drinking an opponent's blood.
But precisely because of that, Ma Yu-gyeom could not help but take careful note of those contents. It was because, after the Jeomchang Sect's downfall, he had received no support in the way of spirit medicine and had long agonized over how to build up his internal energy.
The third thing written drew his eye even more.
It was the Suggestion Technique.
Unlike the Soul Captivation Art, it could not control an opponent, but it was a method of leaving a powerful suggestion in the other party, ultimately making them carry out some action according to one's own desire.
This method, unlike the Soul Captivation Art, was in some ways even more useful, in that it made the target believe to the very end that they were acting according to their own will.
Ma Yu-gyeom found himself unwittingly imagining how he might use this.
If he could plant a suggestion in Sa Gun-il with this, then might Sa Gun-il not declare, of his own volition, that he would revive the Jeomchang Sect?
But having thought that far, Ma Yu-gyeom soon let out a hollow laugh and shook his head.
What would be the point of that now?
And even if these were not Blood Cult martial arts, was it even remotely acceptable for him to use such a thing?
Moreover, reading the precautions, it was written that when one's mastery of the technique was still low, it could only succeed if the target's heart was open or if their mind had completely crumbled.
So it would not work on Sa Gun-il in any case.
Then a thought suddenly flashed through his mind.
If he could use this on her....
Then he let out another incredulous laugh.
He could no longer tell where he himself was heading.
Nor what he ought to live for, nor how he ought to live from now on.
What was certain was that returning to his former self—the man who had devoted himself single-mindedly to the Jeomchang Sect's revival—seemed impossible now.
Wearing the hollow laugh that had become a habit of late, Ma Yu-gyeom stared blankly into the empty air with vacant eyes.