Chapter 345
Chapter 345
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 345
Chapter Title: The Bait and the Witch
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Dahyang Guesthouse.
It was an inn located in a secluded village a short distance from Pyeongdo, and also a regular haunt of Yu Cheong-rim.
This was because the owner of the inn was a fence who dealt in stolen goods.
When So Ok-rim said she had something to discuss, Yu Cheong-rim had brought the two of them here.
Not only was this guesthouse not frequented by ordinary customers, but it was also equipped with secret rooms where conversations wouldn't leak out.
“So… this person is a ronin?”
After listening to So Ok-rim for a while, Yu Cheong-rim tilted his head.
According to her, the man in gray with his hair in a topknot was named Seol-so.
He was a ronin from Jeok-cheon-mak-ji, hired by So Ok-rim.
But having already witnessed Bu Eun-seol’s lightness skill up close,
Yu Cheong-rim guessed that Bu Eun-seol was merely disguised as a ronin, and that his true identity was something else entirely.
“That’s not important. Let’s get to the point…”
So Ok-rim laid out her plan to catch the Black and White Witch.
In other words, she proposed that Yu Cheong-rim become the fresh bait to replace Seol-so.
No, it was a proposal in name only; in reality, it was a notification.
“…I can’t do it.”
Having heard the whole story, Yu Cheong-rim bowed his head so low it nearly hit the table.
“You might as well kill me!”
When So Ok-rim’s expression didn’t change, he clasped his hands together toward Bu Eun-seol.
“Brother Seol. No, Great Warrior Seol! Please, save me. I don’t want to die yet!”
Then, So Ok-rim spoke in a gentle voice.
“Why would you die? We’ll be right there with you.”
“Even so. Of all people, you want me to be bait to catch the Black and White Witch?”
Yu Cheong-rim said with a mournful look.
“If something goes wrong, won’t I end up dead with all my blood sucked out?”
“Hey, who said bait? We’re just setting a little trap.”
“Didn’t you just say I was the bait a moment ago?”
Yu Cheong-rim shivered.
“Besides, no matter how incredible your martial arts are, you can never defeat that witch.”
“What are you talking about? Have you seen her?”
“I have.”
Yu Cheong-rim nodded, his eyes filled with terror.
“I have seen that witch before.”
“When? How?”
As if recalling a past memory, Yu Cheong-rim trembled and began to speak.
“It was after I had snuck into the Ak Family Manor to steal something and was leaving the village. I was about to take a short rest at the Guan Yu Shrine when I felt a strange presence and turned around. Looking closely, I saw a shadow in black clothes with stark white hair staring at me.”
His eyes wide with terror, he continued.
“Her face was indistinct, a blur that shifted constantly. The moment our eyes met, a wave of dizziness washed over me, and my body went numb.”
Yu Cheong-rim swallowed hard and went on.
“At the same time, my vision began to blacken, and my heart filled with nothing but fear and despair. Then, suddenly, my whole body turned cold.”
He continued his tale.
“When I opened my eyes again, a woman with long fangs was tearing at my throat and sucking my blood.”
Yu Cheong-rim opened his collar to show the wound on his neck.
“This is the mark that the Black and White Witch left.”
“Hmm, this doesn’t really look like a bite mark.”
“I don’t know, but this scar has been on my neck ever since.”
“Then how did you survive?”
So Ok-rim tilted her head, unable to understand.
“To survive after having your blood sucked by the Black and White Witch? Isn’t that strange?”
“Among the pursuers sent from the Ak Family Manor was a rather sharp one. He tracked the traces of my Earth Evasion Technique and finally found the Black and White Witch drinking my blood.”
Yu Cheong-rim lowered his head and said.
“The Black and White Witch reveals her face when she drinks blood. When the pursuer saw her face, she became furious.”
Yu Cheong-rim squeezed his eyes shut.
“With lightning-fast movement, she plunged her hand into the pursuer’s stomach. Then she pulled out his intestines and his head…”
“Ah, that’s enough. Skip that part.”
“I took that opportunity to immediately use my Earth Evasion Technique. I stayed underground for three days so the Black and White Witch couldn’t find me. After I came out, I went into hiding for a long time.”
As the terror of that moment resurfaced, Yu Cheong-rim’s pupils seemed to darken.
He had narrowly escaped death at the hands of the Black and White Witch.
“Hmm.”
So Ok-rim crossed her arms.
It wasn’t out of empathy for Yu Cheong-rim’s suffering.
It was because, from his story, the Black and White Witch’s martial arts seemed quite different from those of the Blood Emperor.
“Being unable to move is one thing, but to think she actually tore at his throat and drank his blood. Something’s off.”
So Ok-rim tilted her head.
“A descendant of the Blood Emperor could absorb blood without using their hands. Why would they need to tear at the throat?”
“You mean she might not be one.”
At Bu Eun-seol’s words, So Ok-rim shook her head.
“I don’t know. This guy is such a coward, he might have been seeing things.”
She then pointed to the scar on Yu Cheong-rim’s neck.
“No matter how I look at this, it doesn’t seem like a mark made by human teeth.”
“In any case, I won’t do it.”
As Yu Cheong-rim spoke firmly, So Ok-rim smirked and said.
“That’s your choice. But do you know?”
“Know what?”
“That the Black and White Witch relentlessly hunts down and kills anyone who has seen her face.”
“Of course. That’s why, since that day, I’ve always used disguises and never showed my true face.”
At that, So Ok-rim clapped her hands.
“Are you going to do that for the rest of your life?”
“Pardon?”
“Are you going to live in fear like that forever? Changing your face with disguises every day?”
When Yu Cheong-rim couldn’t respond, So Ok-rim spoke with exceptional kindness.
“Let’s just get rid of her now. Then you can live in peace, too. Wouldn’t that be nice?”
“How on earth would we get rid of the Black and White Witch?”
“I’m the Galactic Divine Maiden. I can eliminate a crazy woman like that in an instant.”
Yu Cheong-rim hesitated for a moment.
A thought crossed his mind: could So Ok-rim’s martial arts really be enough to defeat her?
But as he recalled the black world he had experienced when he saw the Black and White Witch, Yu Cheong-rim shook his head.
“I absolutely cannot do it. Please find someone else.”
“Don’t be like that.”
“I won’t do it.”
As Yu Cheong-rim spoke firmly, So Ok-rim’s gentle smile vanished.
“Well, fine. It can’t be helped.”
“Thank you…”
“I’ll have to spread a rumor all over town. That the Thousand-Faced Divine Thief who saw the Black and White Witch’s face is alive and well in Shandong.”
“What does that…”
As Yu Cheong-rim blinked, So Ok-rim smiled, revealing her sharp teeth.
“If a rumor like that gets out, won’t the Black and White Witch come hunting for you? We can just wait for that moment and catch her then.”
*Shudder.*
At So Ok-rim’s vicious threat, Yu Cheong-rim’s body trembled.
‘This devil of a woman!’
If the Black and White Witch was a fiend who sucked men’s blood every night…
So Ok-rim was a witch who could bleed a man dry in broad daylight.
What if he refused her proposal?
So Ok-rim would truly spread such a rumor and then linger around him, waiting for the Black and White Witch to appear.
That in itself was a way to torment a man to death.
“I… I’ll do it.”
“Hm? No, it’s fine.”
“No. I’ll do it.”
His expression changing, Yu Cheong-rim clasped his hands with a solemn look.
“The sooner we catch that witch, the sooner the martial world will be stable, and people can sleep peacefully, right?”
“Well… if you say so?”
So Ok-rim nodded with a satisfied expression.
Just like that, she had acquired a delicious and fresh new piece of bait.
* * *
—The Black and White Witch has reappeared!
A rumor spread that the Black and White Witch, who had vanished, had once again appeared in Pyeongdo.
She was said to have attacked and drunk the blood of martial artists passing near Cheong-u Mountain in Pyeongdo.
After that, she continued to roam the famous mountains in the Pyeongdo area, such as Jaha Mountain and Pung-ak Mountain, attacking and drinking the blood of martial artists one after another.
—The Black and White Witch must have gone mad!
Enraged martial artists joined forces and conducted a thorough search of the entire Pyeongdo area.
Then, as if nothing had happened, the Black and White Witch showed no sign of herself.
But as soon as the investigation quieted down, she would reappear like a ghost, drinking blood and mocking the pursuers who were after her.
In an abandoned temple on Pung-ak Mountain, Pyeongdo.
A bonfire was lit, and six men who appeared to be ronin were gathered around it.
Armed with weapons, their eyes were sharp as they constantly scanned the outside.
They were ronin who had accepted a request to hunt down the Black and White Witch.
“Doesn’t seem like she’s here.”
One of the ronin, a middle-aged man with a short spear on his back, said calmly.
“We’ve been wandering this area for five days, and there hasn't been a single sign of her.”
“Tell me about it.”
A man with a short bow on his back, chewing on a blade of grass, chuckled.
“She’s probably moved on to another region after causing too much trouble here.”
The man spat out the grass, patting his money pouch.
“Well, we got paid handsomely for the investigation, so I don’t mind.”
As they were chatting among themselves,
*Swoosh.*
A black shadow suddenly appeared in front of the abandoned temple.
The shadow, dressed in black with disheveled white hair, looked down at the ronin with bloodshot eyes.
“It’s the Black and White Witch!”
The ronin were startled and assumed combat stances. But their eyes had already met the witch’s, and,
“Ugh.”
They suddenly let out groans and froze on the spot.
It was as if their vital points had been struck; they couldn’t even move their bodies.
“Huuuh.”
Letting out a low groan, the Black and White Witch opened her sharp mouth and approached them.
*Thud.*
But before their blood could be sucked, their bodies suddenly went limp and they began to collapse to the floor.
It was as if their slumbering points had been hit.
“Ugh.”
As they fell, the Black and White Witch parted her disheveled hair to the sides.
The face of a pale man with heavy eye makeup was revealed. It was Yu Cheong-rim.
“I’m doing things I was never meant to do.”
Yu Cheong-rim looked at the black metal object hidden in his sleeve with a gloomy expression.
It was an assassination device from the Dang Family called the Hundred-Step Soul Chaser, equipped with a dart tube that could fire invisible, silent needles.
He had coated the darts in a poison made from a mixture of Hwanrak-bun and Mihon-bun to knock out the ronin and pretend to drink their blood.
“First, to create the evidence.”
Yu Cheong-rim took out a pair of sharp, fake teeth from his robes and made marks on the ronin’s necks.
Then he took out a bottle full of chicken blood and sprinkled it on their bodies.
This way, they would think their blood had been sucked, but that they had survived because they were not virgins.
“Let’s call it a day!”
Yu Cheong-rim shouted toward the distant sky.
“It looks like dawn will break soon!”
Under So Ok-rim’s coercion, he had been dressing up as the Black and White Witch and raising hell all over Pyeongdo.
The witch was known to be so persistent and vicious that she would hunt down and kill anyone who saw her face.
Someone like that would surely not leave alone a person who was impersonating her.
“……”
But no matter how long he waited, there was no reply.
It seemed they had seen him subdue the men and had gone to scout the surrounding area once more.
“Sigh. Might as well get it over with.”
He laid the blood-splattered ronin in a corner of the abandoned temple and was about to let out a sigh when,
“……”
Something felt terribly wrong.
It was as if an unknown presence was moving behind him.
Feeling an ominous aura, Yu Cheong-rim slowly turned his body… and saw a shadow with long, white hair, its head bowed.
‘She’s here!’
It was the real Black and White Witch.
“She’s here!”
Yu Cheong-rim shouted loudly.
“The Black and White Witch is here!”
But his voice only echoed in the night sky. There was no response.
“Lady So! Great Warrior Seol!”
Bu Eun-seol and So Ok-rim were truly nowhere to be found.
‘Those crazy bastards! They said they’d protect me!’
Yu Cheong-rim’s eyes widened, the corners twitching.
The only reason he could pull off such an insane act was because he trusted Bu Eun-seol and So Ok-rim.
But now that the real Black and White Witch had appeared, they had vanished without a trace?
“Somebody save me!”
Unable to overcome the surging terror, Yu Cheong-rim used his Earth Evasion Technique without looking back.
If the Black and White Witch revealed her eyes, his body would be paralyzed in an instant, leaving him unable to move.
*Gurgle. Rumble, rumble, rumble.*
Digging through the ground like a madman, Yu Cheong-rim raced away, instantly leaving the vicinity of the abandoned temple.
“……”
But even after putting dozens of yards between them in an instant, he could feel a faint shadow on the surface following him precisely.
The Black and White Witch was tracking the trajectory of his movement through the earth.
‘I can’t shake her off like this!’
*Poof!*
Leaping out from the ground in a single bound, Yu Cheong-rim began to execute a lightning-fast movement technique.
He was known as the Thousand-Faced Divine Thief because of his marvelous disguise skills.
But in truth, his lightness skill was also one of the best in the martial world. Until now, his Great Battle Extreme Shadow had never once allowed a pursuer to get close.
Of course, Bu Eun-seol and So Ok-rim were exceptions.
‘Dammit!’
But it seemed he would have to add another exception to that list today.
The Black and White Witch was now so close behind him that he could feel her nose almost touching his back as he ran.
‘Just a little more!’
He could see lights in the distance.
Once inside the city, there would be hordes of martial arts masters.
Not only that, he could use his Art of a Thousand Transformations to instantly change his appearance and clothes, shaking off his pursuer.
‘Please! Please!’
Yu Cheong-rim ran as if his feet were on fire.
If he could just get into the crowded city, he was certain he could evade the Black and White Witch’s pursuit.
*Swish!*
But that hope was shattered into pieces.
With a sharp sound of something cutting through the air, his neck was wrapped in white hair.
“Kegh!”
Feeling as if his neck was about to break, Yu Cheong-rim quickly drew a dagger and struck at the hair.
But whatever the white hair was made of, even when struck with the superior-grade dagger Wol-geuk, it didn’t even get a scratch.
“Ughhh.”
Having subdued Yu Cheong-rim by extending her long hair, the Black and White Witch slowly approached, her head still bowed.
Then, the long strands of hair parted, revealing her indistinct face.
‘Just like before.’
Visible through the parted hair was a face that was blurry and changed hundreds, thousands of times.
And upon seeing it, the whole world was turning black, and his body was becoming paralyzed.
‘So this is how I die.’
As despair washed over him, his entire body felt as heavy as waterlogged cotton.
His breathing slowed, and even his desire to live began to fade.
Yu Cheong-rim slowly, unconsciously, closed his eyes.
*Swish!*
But with another sharp sound, the world that had been turning black began to regain its light.
When he opened his eyes again, the man in gray with his hair in a topknot was standing there, holding a black sword.
It was Bu Eun-seol.
*Slither.*
But the hair that had been cut by the Muk-geom and had fallen to the ground moved as if it were a living creature, slithering back toward the Black and White Witch and being absorbed into her body.
‘Is it sorcery?’
Bu Eun-seol’s eyes flashed.
Severed hair being absorbed into the body, not even the head, was impossible.
“Great Warrior Seol! Where in the world have you been?”
Yu Cheong-rim, having regained his senses, approached Bu Eun-seol and said tearfully.
“I really thought I was going to die.”
Then, Bu Eun-seol let out a deep sigh.
“There isn’t just one.”
“What?”
As Yu Cheong-rim blinked, Bu Eun-seol said firmly.
“There isn’t just one Black and White Witch.”