Chapter 104
Chapter 104
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 104
Chapter Title: The Martial Art Born of Fused Senses
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When the Beast Sense Technique and Sixfold Perceptive Command merge, it becomes the martial art one feels.
Whoosh!
One man leaped into the spot where Ak Muyoo had collapsed. He was Nan Jang, one of the five Life-Death Society assassins.
"He's gone!"
He scattered hidden weapons toward Ja Ryuha, who lay fallen to the side, and shouted. He yelled to alert his comrades. Nan Jang never dreamed that the woman Ak Muyoo had shoved aside was Ja Ryuha, one of the Central Plains Ten Masters known as Sword Flower.
He did register that she wasn't the target, classifying her as just some poor woman who'd been unlucky enough to get killed. So he tossed the hidden weapons without a second thought.
Swish!
Ja Ryuha's form, sprawled on the ground, shifted like a ghost.
"Huh?"
Nan Jang's eyes widened.
He hadn't seen it, but he felt the fallen woman move. He spun around. In that instant, Ja Ryuha plunged toward his chest. True to one of the Central Plains Ten Masters, her lightness skill was extraordinary.
"Th-the Azure Dragon Illusionary Void Step? Then you must be..."
He finally realized who she was, but it was too late.
Shing!
A burst of white light exploded from Ja Ryuha's waist.
Slash!
Her sword, freed from its sheath, shortened the space in an instant and severed Nan Jang's neck.
Nan Jang couldn't even scream.
Assassins rarely cried out to begin with, but even if conditions allowed it, he clearly wouldn't have been able to open his mouth. Her sword had been that fast.
Thud!
Spurt!
His head fell, and blood sprayed out.
Swish!
Ja Ryuha retreated without a sound.
'Where'd he go?'
She had clearly seen Ak Muyoo get knocked aside moments ago. Yet he had vanished completely.
Ja Ryuha deployed the Thousand-Li Ear Clarifying Technique to scan her surroundings.
'Impressive.'
She inwardly clicked her tongue in admiration. Ak Muyoo was definitely somewhere nearby. Yet she couldn't detect his presence at all. It meant he was perfectly concealed.
Cuckoo!
At that moment, a cuckoo's call echoed from somewhere nearby.
'Assassins.'
Ja Ryuha immediately recognized it as the signal assassins used to call comrades. She slowly sat down right there. Standing would make her a target.
Her guess was spot on.
The one who had just mimicked the bird call was Pal Bi, Nan Jang's comrade. Pal Bi had sent the signal after Nan Jang shouted "He's gone!" and then went silent. To avoid revealing his position while making the cuckoo sound, he had used the Diffraction Resonance Technique.
The Diffraction Resonance Technique made sound echo from all directions, like in a cave, making it hard to pinpoint the source. It was one of the essential assassin skills.
'In the air, maybe. But through the ground, there's only one path.'
Ak Muyoo muttered to himself inwardly, his head pressed to the dirt. He was in a clearing inside a reed bed, five paces from Ja Ryuha.
The hidden weapon that had pierced alongside the palm strike mercifully failed to penetrate his Sun Guard Vest. The impact from the palm had shaken him, but it was nothing serious.
Having shifted positions, he now wore the reed camouflage cloak he'd bought at the clothing shop earlier, flipped inside out. The cloak had two sides: one blended light green and pale brown, the other sandy beige. With the green-brown side out, it blended seamlessly with the surroundings unless scrutinized closely.
'Left side, thirty paces.'
He slowly rose to a crouch, still draped in the cloak. He shifted lazily beside the reeds, becoming one with them.
Staring straight ahead, he drew the Celestial Divine Sun Bow and laid it horizontally. Then he took out a Dark Stream Illusion Arrow and a Dark Stream Arrow, biting down on the latter while nocking the former and drawing the string. The bow curved into a full arc.
Cuckoo!
Another cuckoo call rang out.
Twang!
Shooo!
The Dark Stream Illusion Arrow soared high into the sky.
He flattened himself immediately after shooting. He nocked the Dark Stream Arrow he'd held in his mouth and drew.
'One, two, three!'
Twang!
He counted inwardly and released. The Dark Stream Arrow flew low in a straight line.
Thud! Thud-thud-thud! Thud-thud-thud! Rrrrat!
The sound of reeds slicing continued. Severed reeds dropped with dull thumps.
'Huh?'
Pal Bi's eyes widened.
'It's coming from ahead.'
Pal Bi instantly sensed something incoming.
'Below the knees.'
Pal Bi slapped the ground with his palm and shot into the air. Just then, the Dark Stream Arrow, tracing a vertical circle, flew at him.
Thump!
A dull impact erupted from his back.
"Gah!"
Pal Bi yelped in shock before he knew it. Losing strength, he plummeted.
Splat!
The Dark Stream Arrow burrowed into his falling neck.
"You damn..."
Thud!
Pal Bi face-planted forward.
After firing the Dark Stream Arrow, Ak Muyoo immediately flattened and pressed his ear to the ground.
Cuckoo! Cuckoo! Cuckoo!
Cuckoo calls came from three spots simultaneously. They too used Diffraction Resonance, but to Ak Muyoo, they registered as a single sound.
'Right side fifty paces, left forty paces, front sixty paces.'
Ak Muyoo lifted his head.
Assassins rarely moved from their spots.
They only shifted once they pinpointed the target. They wouldn't budge from their current positions for a while.
'Forty paces this time.'
Ak Muyoo knelt again, nocking a Dark Stream Illusion Arrow and drawing the string. As the bow arced fully, he raised it to the angle for forty paces.
Cuckoo!
Whoosh!
Twang! Twang!
The moment the call sounded, he loosed two in rapid succession. One high into the air, one straight.
Spurt! Spurt!
The Dark Stream Arrows sliced through reeds as they flew.
Ak Muyoo slung the Celestial Divine Sun Bow over his shoulder and dashed with Quick Step. The three assassins immediately detected his movement.
"His position... Ugh!"
In Hon flattened himself on the spot.
Slash!
One Dark Stream Illusion Arrow grazed his head.
"I'll kill you."
He sprang up and charged forward.
Top assassins trained to distinguish arrows, night insects, or the sounds of human movement in the wind.
Amid the miscellaneous noises, the enemy was coming from the right.
'I'll kill you.'
He melted into the air with concealment technique and kicked off the ground. At ten paces up, he spotted Ak Muyoo. Ak Muyoo knelt, gazing upward.
It felt like he was staring right at the hidden him.
'No way he sees me...'
'I don't see. I feel.'
Ak Muyoo's hand moved at terrifying speed.
Thwang!
Thump!
'Gurk!'
In Hon's mouth gaped open.
He couldn't believe it.
He had pushed his concealment to the limit. He'd even tested it in front of a full-body mirror and remained invisible. Yet this guy hit him with an arrow without seeing him.
"Master the Beast Sense Technique and Sixfold Perceptive Command, then blend them, and you'll be like me."
Ak Muyoo murmured softly.
Swoosh!
A sound of cutting air came from the left.
An assassin had closed to within two paces on the left before he knew it.
'I'll give the shoulder. But in exchange...'
Judging evasion too late, Ak Muyoo hurled himself left. He sensed one assassin barreling in at ferocious speed.
Stab!
A pointed weapon pierced his shoulder. Astonishingly, it penetrated the skin fortified by Sun Guard Vest and Heavenly Demon Diamond Body.
"I'll take your head."
Clang!
The moment a sharp ring echoed, Terror Demon sliced the air.
Thump!
Ak Muyoo severed the assassin's neck and dropped flat, sprawling low.
'One left.'
He pressed his ear to the ground.
'The elite.'
The presence he'd detected earlier was gone now. It meant the remaining assassin was going all out. The last one was Gong Yeol.
'What the...'
Gong Yeol couldn't hide his bewilderment.
He'd realized four assassins were down. He hadn't even paid attention to the guy hiding in the reed bed, planning to eliminate him for free.
He'd intended to take him out here not out of concern, but to lure Ara.
Yet that same guy had taken down two first-rate assassins and two second-rates.
'But...'
Gong Yeol glared ahead, muttering inwardly.
'I'll get you.'
Gong Yeol shifted gradually, using gusts of wind for cover. He'd pinpointed Ak Muyoo's position earlier, focusing all his senses there.
Whooo!
Wind blew again.
Gong Yeol moved instantly. Tense as he was, he didn't notice only the wind blew, with no reeds stirring.
'What sound is that?'
Ja Ryuha looked around with a puzzled face.
Whooo!
'Definitely wind...'
She leaped up, standing on a reed tip.
Whooo!
'But it's not blowing...'
Ja Ryuha stared leftward in disbelief. Ak Muyoo stood tall, scanning the area. He'd climbed atop a large rock.
Whooo!
'Heh!'
Ja Ryuha stifled a laugh inwardly. Ak Muyoo was mimicking the wind with his mouth.
'Incredible...'
Then the reeds stirred. Meaning an assassin lurked beneath. Ak Muyoo nocked a Dark Stream Arrow and drew.
Whooo!
He mimicked wind again with his mouth.
But this time, nothing moved.
'He caught on?'
Ak Muyoo sat down right there.
Now it was a battle of endurance. Whoever held out longer won. He released the string and set the Celestial Divine Sun Bow across his knees. He'd only set down the bow, but all his senses probed ahead, missing not a single tiny sound.
Whooo!
This time real wind blew, strong enough to thrash the reeds wildly.
Ak Muyoo shot to his feet. Like a fisherman spotting a school of fish, he scanned meticulously.
'Come on!'
He nocked an arrow.
The wind grew fiercer, reeds dancing madly.
"Where are you?"
Ak Muyoo gripped the Celestial Divine Sun Bow, looking around. He no longer knew where the assassin might emerge.
Thud!
'Damn!'
Ak Muyoo's face stiffened as he turned slowly, kicking a loose pebble on the rock.
'Shit.'
He tensed further.
An assassin's greatest strength was instantaneous speed, hard even for inner force experts to handle. Let alone himself, without any inner force.
He glanced at his left shoulder.
The awl-shaped weapon from earlier was still lodged there.
Whooo! Whooo! Whooo!
Swoosh!
Reeds bent as if about to snap.
'He's here!'
All his senses screamed the enemy was close.
'No.'
Ak Muyoo dropped the Celestial Divine Sun Bow. It clattered loudly on the rock. At that instant, a black shadow surged from behind him.