Revenant Purge Operation (7)
One of the four black path warriors, So Samnak, moved silently through the darkened streets.
According to Seo Baek's plan, So Samnak was supposed to be guarding the house in the western direction.
But for some reason, he wasn't there.
The direction he was heading now was northeast.
Upon reaching his destination, So Samnak scanned the street to check for any tails. Confirming no issues, he entered the house in the northeast sector.
The interior was shrouded in thick darkness, but So Samnak's sharp eyes were more than sufficient to pick out every object in the corners.
Soon, he discovered unidentified round objects on the floor.
They were severed human heads, round like watermelons.
"Jang Su and Wang Pyo, huh."
The two assassins responsible for the north and east sectors.
Everything was going according to prediction.
A sparrow doesn't pass a mill without stopping. Jang Su and Wang Pyo must have infiltrated the mill in the northeast sector, oblivious to their own limits.
"If you don't know your place, you die."
As So Samnak muttered with a sneer,
"Why aren't you guarding your post?"
So Samnak turned his head, and a figure emerged from the shadows in the corner where no one had been moments before.
It was Seo Baek.
"You should be in the west sector. Can't even find your way, lost child?"
"Cheeky brat."
So Samnak pointed to the heads on the floor.
"Your handiwork?"
"Why ask the obvious."
"You said you'd root out the commander hiding among us, yet you're chopping off the heads of the harmless ones. So, found the commander yet?"
"Yes."
"Ho, not these two, then. Dohwa Gwang?"
"Dohwa Gwang might be a revenant, but not the commander. Judging by his speech and actions, he likely turned midway."
"If he's a revenant, one of your comrades is in danger?"
"Senior Brother Wang Yi Sam? Dohwa Gwang's already been handled by Senior Brother Song Hyeon, so no worries."
"You knew he'd go down that easily?"
"Of course. I arranged the assignments in the eight directions deliberately. All four are moving just as I predicted. Grateful, really."
"……."
Seo Baek's responses were flawless, without a single hitch.
"So the whole thing's a trap."
"Yes."
"Then me coming here is part of your trap too?"
"Correct."
"Why set this trap?"
"You asking because you don't know? To meet the commander here alone."
Only Seo Baek and So Samnak were in the house now.
Who he was pointing to was obvious.
So Samnak, who had been conversing calmly, shrugged and asked,
"Hahaha! Me, a revenant? Got proof?"
"I do."
"Ridiculous……."
"The human skin mask on your face."
"……!"
In an instant, the smile vanished from So Samnak's face, crumpling like paper.
Human skin mask.
A mask made from the flayed face of a dead person.
So Samnak had been hiding his real face with one. A fact no one had noticed since boarding the boat, now exposed by Seo Baek.
"This is a special custom job, tortured out of a craftsman in Zhejiang Province. Sticks like wax, perfect disguise—no one can tell. How'd you know?"
So Samnak's leisurely tone turned shrill.
"Simple."
Seo Baek pointed at So Samnak's face with his index finger.
"No beard growth."
"……!"
"No memory of you when we first boarded, but spotted your face a few times midway. Means you changed it with disguise arts en route."
"……."
"Yet not only no growth, but every time I saw it, the exact same shape."
Whether Seo Baek's words hit home, So Samnak clamped his mouth shut, silent.
"Beards grow longer over time. No way you'd trim it daily to keep it bushy. And the exact same shape every time? Suspicious."
"……."
"Meaning that bushy beard on your jaw is fake. You're wearing a human skin mask."
"……."
So Samnak glared at Seo Baek with serpentine eyes.
His name, So Samnak, was an alias.
He had so many, he barely remembered his real one.
Not just names—his face changed constantly.
He had a habit of flaying the faces of his victims to make human skin masks.
For contract kills, he'd wear the mask of a previous victim, alter his face, and slip away from the scene.
The assassin whose true face no one knew!
Yet a boy not even twenty saw through it at a glance.
No wonder So Samnak was furious.
Seo Baek continued dismantling his identity.
"The day the boat set sail, there was a scholar who boarded in a rush, then vanished sometime after."
"……."
"That was you, the scholar. You turned the boat's guards and black path warriors into revenants, then escaped wearing a human skin mask, tailing our group."
"Sharp eyes, I'll give you that."
Smoothly, So Samnak's hand went to the ring dao at his waist.
"If you knew I was the scholar, you should've avoided being alone with me."
"Why avoid? I planned this operation specifically to meet you one-on-one."
"What?"
"Wanted to lop off the commander's head. Senior Brother Song Hyeon was happy to play along."
"……."
"Don't know how to confirm if you're the commander, but doesn't matter. One slice, and we'll see. Crude method, but hey? Sometimes simple's best."
His eyes bloodshot with rage, glaring at Seo Baek—then suddenly, So Samnak burst into mad laughter.
"Kuhahaha! Quite the silver tongue!"
After laughing at the ceiling, he wiped the smile from his face.
"Fine. I'm the commander, Zhejiang's top assassin. Think a punk like you can withstand my blade?"
"Yes."
Seo Baek nodded as if it were obvious.
"Wearing a human skin mask means you're hiding 'cause you're too weak to show your face and run."
"What?"
"No luck, skill, or talent for orthodox arts, stuck as a black path killer your whole life. Nothing special."
"You little shit……."
"Just another assassin."
"Die, you bastard!"
So Samnak lunged like lightning, whipping his ring dao four times in an instant.
A dao technique targeting both arms and legs.
One hit meant fatal injury, immobilizing the foe—then the final strike to the neck.
Originally, So Samnak favored sword arts, but after switching from scholar to middle-aged swordsman, he ditched the sword for the ring dao.
Thus, improvisation over familiar swordplay.
Sword or dao, didn't matter.
A kid under twenty wouldn't last one exchange…….
Kakakakang.
The ear-splitting clash startled So Samnak. His hand went numb, nearly dropping the dao.
Seo Baek had blocked all four strikes with his greatsword.
With just one motion!
One clash, and So Samnak froze, unable to continue.
He'd crossed blades with Wudang's top expert once.
Sensed defeat in that single exchange, fled fast. Lucky the Wudang master was unusually merciful—any other orthodox peak would have pursued and beheaded him.
Yet this boy's strike rivaled that Wudang expert?
What art had he trained in……!
"What are you…… Wudang? Huashan? No, too ferocious for either…… What the hell are you……."
"Shika Manor of Sichuan."
As Seo Baek's voice rang unusually cold, a fierce gale swept So Samnak's body.
Whiiiiiing.
Four lines of sword light embedded in So Samnak's form.
Papapapak.
One of the most brutal and domineering roads in the Shika Sword Technique.
Tchak.
Seo Baek's sword first sliced So Samnak's neck horizontally, then his chest, then across the dantian.
Finally, a vertical slash from shoulder blade through groin, cleaving him top to bottom.
Eight pieces of So Samnak slowly collapsed.
Upon hitting the floor, the meat chunks shattered into dozens, hundreds of fragments.
Chilpuduk, chilpok, chilpok.
The Fourth Road, among the Shika Sword Technique's cruelest and most overbearing.
The final stroke was meant for the crown, but Seo Baek angled it to preserve the head—for observation.
To check the blood thread worm's heart meridian without severing it yet.
Soon, So Samnak's severed head spewed a blood thread worm from its mouth.
Shwaaaaaak…….
But the worm's spray flew weakly, then drooped limp.
The Fourth Road didn't just neutralize revenants by decapitation—it dismantled them entirely. Expected.
"Kuhk… kkhuk……."
So Samnak rasped from his throat with effort.
"Y-Your m-move…… was p-perfect……."
"Talking in that state? Admirable effort."
Seo Baek went to the window.
Blood ghosts were appearing on the street.
Kieeeek…….
"Go on, control them. Hurry."
"Kkhuk… kuhkuk……."
Whether So Samnak was mentally commanding, the blood ghosts approached the house where Seo Baek was.
But their movements were no different from usual. Lumbering, staggering, slow.
"So this is all a commander amounts to."
"Y-Your m-move……."
"Die."
Seo Baek stabbed the blood thread worm's heart meridian with his sword tip.
Puk. Kyaak.
As the meridian pierced, So Samnak's head bulged its eyes, tongue lolling long like the worm.
The slow-approaching blood ghosts halted. Then they began wandering the streets aimlessly.
The commander's mental control severed.
"Mental control confirmed possible."
But from their movements, individually puppeteering each revenant seemed difficult.
And even controlled, they were just regular blood ghosts—no power boost.
Though if like the waterway gang, blood-sated, they'd be swift and stronger—best to stay cautious.
Plus, waterway gang linked bodies for legs. Needed more intel on commander-controlled revenants' intelligence.
One more thing.
When blood ghost numbers reach thousands, watch for commanders especially. Surrounded by a massive horde, it's over.
The operation to identify the commander and gauge mental control limits—success.
Seo Baek carefully peeled off the human skin mask from So Samnak's face with his sword tip. Might come in handy.
"Wasted more time."
Disembarked before Luoyang, final stop—delayed the Shaolin trip.
But worth it.
Valuable intel on commanders.
"Oh, right—was Dohwa Gwang a revenant, or just a regular guy?"
Seo Baek crossed his arms, tilted his head, then chuckled softly.
"Eh, whatever. I'll go ask."
Seo Baek leaped toward where Song Hyeon and Wang Yi Sam would be.