The Eyes That See Through All
Jang Hao was not merely strong in raw power.
Strength was the baseline. What truly set him apart was his exceptional talent for gathering intelligence.
That was why he had earned the trust of one of China’s mightiest returnees—Beicheonan—and become one of his most valued subordinates.
The special ability Jang Hao possessed was called Afterimage Reading.
He could read the traces left behind in the earth and air within the past twenty-four hours.
Beyond simple information gathering, the skill proved incredibly useful in combat as well. He could discern an unfamiliar opponent’s abilities in advance, detect traps laid by enemies, and prepare countermeasures. The ways to utilize it were practically endless.
I need to find a way to escape!
The moment Jang Hao locked eyes with Lim Dojun, he abandoned any thought of fighting from the very beginning.
Thanks to Afterimage Reading, his senses were far more open than most people’s. He had immediately sensed the extraordinary power sleeping inside Lim Dojun’s body.
Of course, what actually lay within Lim Dojun was vastly greater than what Jang Hao perceived… but there was no way for him to know that.
“Kh?!”
Jang Hao swiftly retreated, drawing his sword. At the same time, he dropped to one knee and pressed his hand against the ground.
His plan was to read the memories of this land from the past twenty-four hours, analyze his opponent’s abilities, identify any openings, and then flee.
Shhhhhhh—
Countless afterimages brushed past him.
“?!”
Jang Hao flinched in shock.
As he continued reading, the scattered afterimages began to merge, coalescing into the shape of something enormous.
A massive silhouette blending white and blue.
Grrrrr…
The presence was so overwhelming that he couldn’t even make out its exact form. Yet he could clearly feel its eyes staring directly at him.
The instant their gazes met—eyes burning with pure rage—
“Guhhhk…!”
Jang Hao couldn’t withstand the mental shock. His eyes rolled back, and he collapsed unconscious.
“……?”
Lim Dojun stared at the fallen man, utterly bewildered.
…What the hell just happened?
A short while earlier.
Having activated the Dragon’s Eyes to pierce through multiple layers of sorcery, the Cheongryong Clan had entered Wang Chen’s stronghold—Myeongho Pavilion.
What they found was the magnificent eight-story tower of Myeongho Pavilion and the elegant buildings surrounding it.
That was all.
The place was already completely empty.
Wang Chen and his subordinates had long since fled.
How the hell did he know we were coming and bail beforehand?
The one most furious wasn’t Lim Dojun—it was Go Wonjin.
The crushing disappointment of having no target for Dojun’s revenge, the fact that this was the Cheongryong Clan’s monumental first operation, the excitement of finally clashing with proper enemies instead of small fry, the anticipation of testing the Soul-Shattering Heart Heaven Sword, and the satisfaction of having traveled all the way to China… All those layered emotions had been utterly shattered.
Where are you?! Come out right now!!
BOOM!
Go Wonjin rampaged through the buildings and gardens, including Myeongho Pavilion itself, smashing everything in sight.
Lee Sehan was just as frustrated and joined in the destruction beside him.
Lim Dojun lent a hand as well, but it was those two who ultimately split the massive pavilion in half and reduced most of the surrounding structures to rubble.
In any case, Myeongho Pavilion and the nearby buildings had been serving as the core of the sorcery formation. They needed to be destroyed regardless.
After thoroughly venting their anger, Go Wonjin and Lee Sehan returned to Lim Dojun’s side.
Lee Sehan’s eyes sparkled when he spotted the man collapsed near Dojun.
“Did you capture one of the remnants who stayed behind?”
“Mm. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem that way.”
Lim Dojun shrugged.
It would have been nice if that were the case, but the direction the man had come from was outside the sorcery barrier. He had probably been an external returnee who noticed the shattered barrier and entered out of curiosity.
Lee Sehan examined Jang Hao’s condition.
“You subdued him without a single wound. He looks pretty strong.”
“I didn’t really do anything. He just collapsed on his own.”
“……?”
Lim Dojun found it difficult to explain.
He truly hadn’t done anything. The man had simply seen something and fainted on the spot.
“Well. We’ll find out once we wake him up and ask.”
Go Wonjin strode over, grabbed the unconscious Jang Hao by the collar, and slapped him across the face several times. The force was so brutal it seemed more likely to keep him asleep for life than wake him.
“Ughhh…”
“You’re awake. Let’s ask you a few things. Are you one of Ghost Daoist Wang Chen’s subordinates?”
Even in his dazed state, Jang Hao first assessed the situation.
Korean?
His boss had ambitions of eventually defeating Wang Chen of Manchuria and expanding into Korea. Because of that, Jang Hao had already learned Korean in advance.
SMACK!
“Answer.”
“N-no… I’m not…”
While the world spun around him, Jang Hao answered hurriedly. If he wasted any more time, there was no telling how many more blows he would receive.
“Really?”
Go Wonjin glanced at Lim Dojun.
“Doesn’t seem like he’s lying.”
When a person wasn’t in their right mind, it was actually easier to tell if they were lying. Besides, Go Wonjin had handled plenty of interrogations back when he was with the Extreme Martial God Sect.
His gut told him this man was not one of Wang Chen’s subordinates.
“What should we do?”
Go Wonjin looked at Lim Dojun with a clear should I just deal with him? in his eyes, but Lim Dojun shook his head.
Go Wonjin clicked his tongue, yanked Jang Hao up by the collar, and whispered in his ear.
“Consider yourself lucky.”
He then struck the back of Jang Hao’s neck, knocking him out again, and walked back over.
“Clan Leader. Why are you letting him live?”
“He isn’t one of my revenge targets.”
Lim Dojun was not a murderer. If the man had been connected to Wang Chen or the forces behind the Crystal Dragon summoning, that would have been one thing. But he had no intention of killing random people.
“Fair enough. This is the Cheongryong Clan’s first operation. Starting off with bloodshed wouldn’t be a good omen.”
Both Go Wonjin and Lee Sehan nodded in agreement. It was superstition, but there was no reason to invite bad luck by spilling blood unnecessarily.
Meanwhile, at the exact moment Lim Dojun and the Cheongryong Clan were rampaging through his former stronghold—
“……”
A man sat with half his soul having left his body.
It was Ghost Daoist Wang Chen.
After suffering a heavy blow from Lim Dojun, he had immediately fled Myeongho Pavilion and taken refuge in another safe house.
He had realized his location had been compromised, and if Beicheonan or any of the other Ten Venerables discovered him, he would not survive.
“Haha… My Myeongho Pavilion… My Myeongho Pavilion…”
Even from his hideout, he could still observe the pavilion.
It had been his base of operations for so long that it felt like an extension of his own body.
That was how he could watch the Cheongryong Clan members tearing the place apart from the inside.
Nooooooo! Not that! Please, not thaaaaat!!!
Hiding in his safe house, he screamed with tears of blood streaming down his face.
Because he had to appear composed on the outside, he had left behind all the core artifacts required to maintain his sorcery. Some were priceless treasures. Others could not be bought with money and had taken years of effort to obtain.
Yet Lim Dojun, Go Wonjin, and Lee Sehan had destroyed every last one of them.
The internal injuries that had only just begun to ache again now throbbed with renewed agony.
Wang Chen clenched his fists tightly.
He had no idea how he was supposed to recover from such devastating losses.
At least he had kept his life… he supposed he should be grateful for that.
It was then that it happened.
“……!”
Lim Dojun suddenly lifted his head and stared straight into the sky.
A chill ran down Wang Chen’s spine.
It felt as if their eyes had met.
Impossible. There’s no way…!
Having been thoroughly beaten last time, he had been extremely cautious this time while observing.
The connection was incredibly faint, and he had dispersed it through the air. It should have been completely undetectable.
Yet Lim Dojun’s slit, reptilian pupils were clearly scanning the sky, observing something.
The moment he heard Lim Dojun’s murmured words, Wang Chen severed the fragile link.
Snap!
He shot to his feet.
“Move! We’re relocating to another safe house! Hurry!”
What a monstrous bastard!
Jang Hao regained consciousness quite some time later.
“Ugh…”
His face and the back of his neck hurt, and his head was still pounding.
When he opened his eyes, he saw Myeongho Pavilion reduced to ruins.
No matter how many times he looked, he couldn’t believe it.
The terrifying stronghold of Ghost Daoist Wang Chen had been turned into this?
“They… spared me.”
Jang Hao patted himself down, checking his body.
He was sore all over, but his life was definitely intact.
In that case, he had work to do.
He needed to deliver useful information to his boss—one of the Ten Venerables, Beicheonan.
He carefully began reading the afterimages left in the ground.
Focusing his mind, he only examined the faintest traces from moments ago.
If he read too deeply, he might encounter that monster again. His brain might not survive a second encounter, so he exercised extreme caution.
Thanks to that restraint, he managed to catch fragments of conversation.
Where did he run off to…
Should’ve killed him… tsk…
Spared him…
Cheongryong… Clan…
The words came in disjointed pieces.
The earlier ones seemed to refer to Wang Chen.
So Wang Chen didn’t die. He escaped?
Jang Hao was impressed. To think Wang Chen had managed to escape from that monster alive!
Among Beicheonan’s subordinates, Jang Hao held a fairly high rank. He had a rough understanding of his boss’s power and the strength of the Ten Venerables. None of them could subdue someone simply by looking at them.
Wang Chen’s abilities may be even greater than what the boss estimated.
Unfortunately, there was no more information to be gained here.
He left the ruins of Myeongho Pavilion and contacted his boss using a satellite phone.
After a few rings, the other side picked up.
“Boss, this is Jang Hao. I investigated Wang Chen’s Myeongho Pavilion. The results are quite shocking… First of all, the entire pavilion has been reduced to complete ruins. When I arrived, all the external barriers had already been destroyed…”
Jang Hao recounted everything he had experienced in chronological order.
Even as he spoke, he wondered whether his boss would actually believe him.
…I see. Understood. Return at once.
“You believe me?”
Jang Hao asked again, unable to hide his surprise.
I have no choice but to believe you. I saw it through your eyes as well.
Beicheonan, Liu Wei.
One of the Ten Venerables, he specialized in information-based abilities. He could share his subordinates’ vision and see what they saw.
“Were you alright, Boss?”
I cut the connection the instant our eyes met. Even that was enough to cause a shock…
Only then did Jang Hao notice the exhaustion in his boss’s voice.
The Cheongryong Clan of Korea, you said?
“It’s not certain. I’m only guessing based on the fragments I heard.”
Since you heard it while completely suppressed, it could be fake information they deliberately leaked. In any case, keep all possibilities open and do not go anywhere near Korea for the time being.
It seemed an absurdly powerful returnee had arrived on Earth.
At the same moment that Beicheonan Liu Wei was issuing new orders to his forces—
Another organization was equally stunned.
“The Cheongryong Clan? Korean returnees?”
Oracle.
America’s largest information organization dealing with awakeners and returnees.
They monitored the world for powerful ability users and kept them under surveillance.
In a world where the emergence of such individuals could easily lead to powerful monsters seizing control of nations or sparking wars, Oracle worked tirelessly to prevent that outcome.
A significant portion of Oracle’s intelligence network extended into China.
After all, it was often said that if a major incident occurred anywhere in the world, China was likely behind it.
This time, while wiretapping Beicheonan, Oracle had stumbled upon unexpected information.
The stronghold of Ghost Daoist—one of the Ten Venerables—had been completely destroyed, and Beicheonan himself had nearly been dragged into the disaster while investigating!
Elena, the head of Oracle’s Asian branch, looked at her subordinate.
“Did you look into it?”
“Yes. We contacted the Korean government and the Returnee Association, but they say there is no organization called the Cheongryong Clan.”
“…I didn’t think it would be that easy to find them.”
A clan powerful enough to topple one of the Ten Venerables had appeared out of nowhere. They operated with such secrecy that even Oracle had failed to notice them beforehand, yet their combat strength was overwhelming.
“We must investigate them by any means necessary. At the very least, we need to determine whether they are allies or enemies.”
If possible, they had to bring the group into America’s camp by any means necessary.