Settling the Score
Bukjin felt his body recovering at an accelerated pace. The agonizing pain was gradually subsiding into a dull ache. Gathering his strength, he reached out and patted A-kwang on the head. It wasn't an exaggeration to say he had escaped this crisis solely thanks to the little guy.
In truth, Bukjin had been pondering a certain possibility ever since he confirmed A-kwang had gained the ability to hide his presence. When A-kwang had first tried to ambush him, Bukjin noticed that the dagger in the rat's hand had turned transparent along with him. This implied that A-kwang couldn't just hide himself; he could extend that invisibility to any object he was touching.
It had been a mere hypothesis. He hadn't had the luxury of time to test if it was actually possible. But when the crisis reached its peak moments ago, Bukjin had gambled on that theory. He had secretly summoned A-kwang and held his hand.
As he had hoped, the invisibility was a success. While holding A-kwang’s hand, Bukjin used a specific function to create a distraction.
Screen Mirroring
By projecting a false image of himself, he drew the archer's attention. Then, cloaked in invisibility through A-kwang, Bukjin had circled around and plunged his sword into the assassin's back. It was a classic case of a superior intellect turning the tides of battle.
A triumphant smirk spread across Bukjin’s blood-stained face. "Who cares if you're a professional assassin? You still can't keep up with my brain!"
He looked down at the wound on his left shoulder. Although the puncture was knitting back together, a hole remained. It seemed that even with his Circulation technique accelerating the healing, a piercing wound of that magnitude required time to fully close. Nevertheless, he had already recovered about seventy percent of his combat effectiveness.
Bukjin remained seated quietly on the ground, his chest heaving with ragged, heavy breaths. To any observer, he looked incredibly frail—like a man on the verge of death, clinging to his last spark of life after sustaining fatal injuries.
Life was a stage, and performance was everything. Bukjin knew he had to keep the act going. He suspected another assassin might still be lurking in the shadows, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. He intended to play the rabbit to lure out the tiger.
He waited, hoping that if there were more killers, they would take the bait soon.
Time ticked by. The bamboo forest remained eerily silent.
"Ah... so this is... how I die..." Bukjin groaned. His eyes rolled back, and he spat out another mouthful of blood before collapsing onto the dirt with a heavy thud. "Wa... Wang Chung... hurry... save... me..."
His limbs trembled as he let out a series of pathetic whimpers. And then, finally...
Whoosh!
The sound of tearing air cut through the silence. A small, monkey-like figure dropped from the canopy of a lush green bamboo tree. In the figure's hand was a dagger that looked very familiar to Bukjin. As the figure descended, the blade was aimed straight for the space between Bukjin’s eyebrows.
It was the same assassin who had disguised herself as So-ryeong to target him back at Bukhwang Mountain!
Before the dagger could touch his skin, a cold light flashed before his eyes. The assassin’s eyes, visible even as she plummeted through the darkness, glinted with a sharp, predatory light. They were filled with a vicious, feral energy that didn't seem human. In that split second of eye contact, Bukjin confirmed her identity beyond a doubt.
It was her—the one who had nearly killed him at the mountain.
Bukjin slammed his palm against the ground, propelling his body sideways with explosive force. In the blink of an eye, the Virtue Sword he had placed aside was back in his grip. He swung the blade with everything he had.
A sharp, silver arc of sword light erupted from his blade.
"You...!" The assassin gasped in shock. Her reflexes were incredibly fast, however. Clang! She twisted her dagger mid-air to parry the strike. But the sheer force of the impact sent the dagger flying from her hand. A sickening crack echoed through the forest as the bones in her wrist shattered. Her palm was torn open, the wound so deep that white bone peeked through the flowing blood.
Using the recoil from the collision, she performed a graceful mid-air flip and retreated back to the top of a bamboo stalk.
Bukjin didn't let up. He shot upward like an arrow, swinging the Virtue Sword again. He unleashed a technique from the Flowers Before the Moon Sword style: Viewing Flowers Under the Moon.
Illusory petals danced in the air, hiding a lethal, razor-sharp sword light within their graceful movements. The assassin, perched atop the bamboo, clearly had no intention of continuing the fight. She straightened her body and spread her arms wide.
Suddenly, a pair of grotesque, dark wings unfurled from her back—they looked exactly like the wings of a giant bat. With a powerful flap, she took flight, soaring out of the bamboo forest at an incredible speed.
If you fail to kill in one strike, retreat and wait for the next opportunity. That was the creed of a true assassin. She realized that in her current state, she was no match for him. Her arm was already mangled just from trying to block a single blow. Despite it being only one exchange, she could tell that Bukjin was several times stronger than he had been at Bukhwang Mountain.
She was genuinely shocked that her target's strength had grown so rapidly. Moreover, he had clearly been heavily injured and bleeding out just moments ago. She couldn't comprehend how he had suddenly regained such overwhelming momentum.
"Im Bukjin! The next time we meet will be the day of your funeral!" she shrieked, flying low as she fled toward the perimeter of the 3rd Academy.
Bukjin pushed his Rain of Flying Clouds footwork to the limit, chasing after her with everything he had. But no matter how profound a footwork technique was, it couldn't keep pace with someone who had actual wings. Before long, she became nothing more than a tiny speck in the distant sky before vanishing entirely.
Bukjin skidded to a halt outside the forest. Further pursuit was pointless.
"Tsk. What a waste," Bukjin sighed heavily. He had played the part of a dying man perfectly to lure them in, yet he had failed to finish the job in one strike. The thought of a professional killer constantly stalking him from the shadows weighed heavily on his mind. His expression darkened as he stood there, sword in hand.
Tonight's ambush had been incredibly sudden. He had considered the possibility, but the timing was unexpected. This incident confirmed one thing: the mastermind behind the attempt on his life at Bukhwang Mountain wasn't just a simple group of bandits. The bandits had merely been tools.
The leaders of the Evil Adventurer Alliance were strong, but Bukjin had handled them. They weren't the kind of threat that could have pushed Cho Heun or Ban Oe-min to the brink of death. The experts who had threatened his teachers that night were likely the same caliber as the assassins he had just faced—and they were still out there.
Bukjin’s long hair fluttered in the wind. He sheathed his sword and turned back toward the Bamboo Garden.
"So the enemies are still alive... Fine. I'll settle the score with every single one of them. But I need to be more careful from now on. Since they failed tonight, they'll come back with an even more meticulous plan."
He knew they would use every unimaginable means to take him down. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became.
"Those bastards! They don't have a shred of humanity! How could they try to kill an innocent, beautiful youth like me? This won't do. I have to find a way to track them down and wipe them out. I'll scrub them from this world until not a single speck of dust remains!"
Back at the Bamboo Garden, Bukjin first counted the corpses scattered about. Then, he performed his ritualistic habit: the double-tap. One sword thrust to the head, one to the heart. Only after ensuring they were truly dead did he begin the harvest.
What interested him most was the archery skill used by the first assassin. The effective range of his Twin Flying Swallow Daggers was significantly shorter than that of a bow firing large arrows. If he could eliminate enemies from a vast distance, why would he ever risk getting close? Bukjin’s martial philosophy was simple: safety first, energy conservation second.
As he searched the archer's body, he found a pouch, just as expected. Inside were 15 gold taels, 40 silver taels, and a few copper coins. More importantly, he found a manual made of animal hide. The title was written in bold characters: Sun-Eating Dragon Arrow.
It was the cultivation manual for the archery technique the assassin had used. Flipping through it, Bukjin realized that in addition to basic marksmanship, the style contained three powerful killing moves. The Mother-Son Arrow he had faced earlier was only the first of the three. The two following techniques were named Ram's Horn Arrow and Violent Rain Sword.
He wasn't sure if the archer hadn't used the other two because he lacked the opportunity or because he hadn't mastered them yet. Regardless, the Sun-Eating Dragon Arrow was a 3-Star archery manual.
Bukjin beamed with joy. Just obtaining this manual made the injury he took—literally catching an arrow with his mouth—feel worth it.
◈ Type: Long-range Archery
◈ Techniques: Mother-Son Arrow, Ram's Horn Arrow, Violent Rain Sword
He searched the other corpses but had to admit that the archer had been the most elite and well-equipped of the bunch. The archer was talkative and carried loot; the other two were true professionals who carried nothing but their weapons. Bukjin searched them thoroughly for a long time but found absolutely nothing.
He dragged the bodies into the bamboo forest. Only then did a teacher on night patrol finally show up.
Bukjin explained the situation, and the teacher was visibly shaken after assessing the scene.
"This is nothing short of a provocation against our 3rd Academy! This will not be tolerated!" the teacher roared in fury.
The teacher's first suspicion fell on their rivals. He assumed that another group participating in the Academic & Martial Arts Competition had attempted to assassinate the 3rd Academy's geniuses to thin out the competition. To him, such a cowardly act was unforgivable.
"Bukjin, do not worry. The 3rd Academy will not take this lying down."
After offering several words of comfort and ensuring Bukjin felt safe, the teacher gathered the bodies and departed to report the incident.