Chapter 10
Chapter 10
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 10
Chapter Title: Shadow Flight Gate
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Cheongun stared at the fainted woman for a long while.
She lay utterly still, as if she were dead.
"She's not dead, is she?"
"Of course not. It's just the General's Platform Acupoint. She's only unconscious."
"Then when will she wake up?"
"Who knows? Soon, I think."
Since he hadn't infused much internal energy, the acupoint block would release soon enough.
And sure enough, the woman called Elder Sister Baek soon began twitching, drool pooling at the corner of her mouth.
As she barely regained her senses, her eyes met Cheongun's.
Elder Sister Baek glared at him with fierce, axe-like eyes.
Her mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out.
Hong So-yeon had sealed her Mute Acupoint.
At Cheongun's glance toward Hong So-yeon, she immediately released the Mute Acupoint.
"Haa... hu...! You fucking bastard!"
The moment her Mute Acupoint was freed, Elder Sister Baek spat out curses.
"Calm down. Oh, you probably can't. I mean, who expects to get clocked from behind like that?"
"Shut up."
"First question. When I ask, just answer."
"And if I don't?"
"Then you die."
"Kill me. I have no attachment to life."
Cheongun stroked his chin.
Unlike Hong So-yeon, who sold out even her comrades(?) to survive, this woman had no clinging to life.
Demonic cultists were always like this.
Unnecessarily stubborn and blindly loyal.
But was their loyalty truly deep?
Surprisingly, no.
It wasn't deep loyalty—it was submission to fear.
They knew better than anyone the fate of traitors in the Demonic Cult.
But there was a magic word that could make even such demonic cultists flinch.
And that was...
"Shall I destroy your dantian first, then?"
"......"
For a martial artist, the source of power was undoubtedly internal energy.
And that internal energy accumulated layer by layer within the dantian, the body's energy organ.
What kind of people were these demonic cultists?
They were the sort who crawled into the Demonic Cult, enduring all sorts of insane side effects just to gain demonic arts.
To lose that hard-earned internal energy in an instant?
It was no different from a death sentence.
Moreover, the moment the dantian was destroyed, all the side effects from cultivating demonic arts would come crashing down at once.
The body would crumble, the mind shatter, turning them into a vegetable.
In a way, for them, destruction of the dantian was more terrifying than death.
"Did Shadow Flight Gate send you?"
He held up three fingers.
Folded one down, counting.
Then another.
As he moved to fold the last one...
"...Yes."
Cheongun smiled brightly and spoke softly.
"Shadow Flight Gate, huh... No wonder the lightness skill felt unusual. What was that unique Shadow Flight Gate technique called? Shadow Flight Technique, right?"
Cheongun smirked, leaning down to meet her gaze.
"Shadow Flight."
"......"
"How's a lightness skill called Shadow Flight Technique?"
"Stop."
"Shadow Flight Technique. Shadow Flight Step. Shadow Flight Manual. Shadow Flight Sword."
Crunch.
A thick vein bulged at the woman's temple.
"Next question. Your name?"
"...Baek Seol."
"Hmm."
Cheongun nodded.
He already knew all this up to now.
He'd known Shadow Flight Gate sent her from the start, and Hong So-yeon had told him the name beforehand.
The problem was the next question.
Cheongun didn't know much beyond this.
Being a possessor didn't mean he knew everything about the world.
Besides, he hadn't installed the custom mode cheat key limited to demonic cultists called 'Demon Extermination' before possession.
He needed to slowly dissect how much the Heavenly Demon God Cult's influence had grown, and how the world had twisted.
"Why send a spy here?"
"That's..."
"One, two, three."
"Namgung Hwi."
"Namgung Hwi? Why him? Planning to assassinate?"
"Yes."
Cheongun fell into thought for a moment.
Namgung Hwi was the Young Clan Lord of the Namgung Clan and the branch chief here.
But he wasn't just a flashy figurehead.
His martial arts had reached the early peak realm, enough to call him a young expert.
Where could you find a young expert who trained in orthodox martial arts so easily?
Orthodox arts were the epitome of late bloomers.
They started weak, but as time passed and cultivation deepened, they built a solid foundation for absolute mastery.
They spared no good resources, pouring them all in, and only used theoretically proven training methods, so safety was assured—but reaching the goal took ages.
That's why sect elders' eyes rolled back at young talents.
Old folks took forever to reach desired levels with orthodox arts.
To bolster the sect, they desperately needed absolute masters.
And to raise those, they needed young, talented prospects.
Namgung Hwi?
Great background, peak-level skills, and young to boot!
A rising star.
The Demonic Cult sent a nasty spy to assassinate that one sprout.
Cheongun looked at Baek Seol and Hong So-yeon.
"You lot won't do. I don't know about the rest, but daring to target my employer? Wait. Something's off now that I hear it. Namgung Hwi isn't some random dog—would they send such pathetic assassins for such a critical mission?"
"You bastard!"
"Just spill it honestly. More coming?"
"Ha! You think you can handle them if I tell you who?"
"So who is it? Why can't you say? Destroy your dantian? Want me to? I'll really do it."
"W-Wait. I'll talk, I'll talk!"
"Should've said so sooner."
Hong So-yeon, watching quietly, thought to herself.
Good thing I betrayed them.
A dark night.
Swish.
Cheongun, who had been flying through the air with lightness skill, landed in the middle of a forest.
Abandoned ancestral shrines were typically in remote mountains, far from people.
Superstition held that building them in places with chaotic energy disrupted yin-yang balance and invited disaster, so they were left forgotten in deep mountains.
This was one such shrine, brimming with yin energy, abandoned for decades and overgrown with moss and vines.
At the path to the shrine, five masked men sat around a campfire, chatting idly.
Then, one with an unusually bald pate suddenly burst into laughter.
"Kuhahat! Did you see it earlier?"
"Saw it! That little brat, watching his mom's throat get slit, frothing at the mouth about revenge with his tiny hands, thrashing like mad!"
"Such a thing happened? What'd you do?"
"What else? Sent him to join his mom!"
"Hahaha! At least he won't be lonely on the way! Yeah, better to die by your hand than live as an orphan."
The men roared with laughter, boasting of their atrocities.
Then, from the darkness beyond, a black silhouette approached.
"Fuck, did you just curse me?"
The silhouette was Cheongun.
He strode right into their midst.
"Who the hell are you?"
"I asked first. Did you curse me?"
"What're you talking about?"
"You said dying's better than living as an orphan."
"What's that got to do with you?"
"I'm an orphan, you fucking bastard."
The man blinked in stunned silence.
Is he crazy?
But only for a moment. Soon, he slung his saber over his shoulder, baring his teeth.
"Ha, orphan brat dares come here?"
"What? Trash like you talking big."
"...One more word without reading the room, and you'd better prepare yourself."
"You prepare. You're all dying by my hand."
"You little shit!"
Bam—!
Unable to contain his rage, the man slammed his saber into the ground.
"Kill him!"
That 'Kill him!' acted like a trigger.
They scattered in all directions, then charged to surround Cheongun.
The killing intent pouring from their eyes weighed down the air.
Any average martial artist would have quailed at the pressure alone.
Cheongun roughly raked his fingers through his sideburns.
A few strands of hair caught between them.
Infusing them with Heaven-Earth Primordial Unity Qi Art's true energy, each strand gleamed with black qi, hardening like steel.
Hair Sword Art
Dozens of strands launched as hidden weapons
And moments later.
Cheongun whipped his fingers down from above like a slash.
The trapped hairs shot out like darts.
"!!!"
The face of the man using lightness skill twisted.
He tried to slow down, but it was too late.
Papapapak—!
Dozens of hairs arrowed into his crown.
Like seeding parched earth, they embedded densely.
In the name of Hair Sword Art.
The man's body stiffened.
Blood trickled from his vacant eyes.
Moments later.
"Guhk..."
Thud—!
He pitched forward face-first.
The following men recoiled in shock.
"...Who the hell are you?"
"What? Want some hair planted too?"
"Bullshit!"
The four hesitated, then leaped skyward like a flock of pigeons.