Radiant Ascension Path
I left the city and arrived at a sparsely populated spot far from prying eyes.
“Are you running away?!”
The boy who had been secretly tailing me finally revealed himself and barked the accusation. I couldn’t let his appearance fool me. His real age had to be at least several decades.
“Running? Is that what it looks like to you?”
“You left Hagashi, didn’t you? Planning to scurry back to the Heavenly Demon Cult and whine to your superiors?”
“You’ve got to be kidding me. Is your brain even working? You’re the one who walked into my trap.”
“…Pfft. That’s the funniest joke I’ve heard in a long time. I’ve already checked the entire area. No comrades of yours lying in ambush. No barrier either. I won’t kill you. Instead, I’ll take one of your arms and one of your legs.”
That struck me as odd.
Assassins kill their targets. They don’t show mercy. Taking an arm and a leg from a martial artist was a humiliation worse than death—yet assassins never cared about that sort of thing. Their kind preferred clean kills. Murder was simply their job.
“So the client doesn’t want me dead.”
“Heh heh. The client was furious.”
The boy raised his right hand. At the signal, twenty assassins appeared. All of them wore black and carried weapons of their own. I wasn’t surprised. I’d known they were there from the start.
“Word on the street is there’s an assassin group called the Plague Assassin Corps. Is that you?”
“That’s right. We are the Plague Assassin Corps. And I am its leader.”
“Good.”
“Hm?”
I released the seal.
The Heavenly Demon Divine Art awakened. Pitch-black demonic qi rose from my body like smoke.
“Means I no longer need to go looking for the Plague Assassin Corps.”
The Plague Assassin Corps leader had been about to snort in disbelief. Instead his eyes flew wide. He stumbled backward in panic and shouted urgently.
“Kill him! Use everything you’ve got and kill him right now!!”
The assassins charged.
Black wind howled outward from my body, spinning into a massive tornado that swallowed the assassins whole. The gale shredded their corpses like a blender. Blood and entrails mixed into the black wind until it glowed a sickly crimson.
I raised my hand. The whirling black wind shot skyward at my command. Then I clenched my fist. The wind compressed into a single point and detonated. A sticky, dark-red rain soaked the ground.
“Hah… hah… hhk!”
The Plague Assassin Corps leader was still alive—barely. His body was a ruin. Skin had been flayed raw; entrails peeked from a gash in his side.
“Samjeong… An absolute master who has reached Samjeong…! You… you were hiding your strength!”
He was mistaken. I still hadn’t broken through the wall of Samjeong. Then again, his misjudgment was understandable. The Heavenly Demon Divine Art I had just unleashed was that overwhelming.
Step by step, I walked toward him. The leader gulped. He shoved the protruding entrails back into his side, then dropped to the ground and pressed his forehead to the dirt in full prostration.
“Spare me! I failed to recognize a great master who has reached Samjeong! I will tell you everything about the client! The client is Seon Hae-do, head of the Seon Family! If the great master commands it, I will kill Seon Hae-do myself!”
“You’ll kill Seon Hae-do? You, who’s only at the eighth stage of Chulji?”
“Seon Hae-do is only at the second stage of Ogi—early Ogi. With careful planning and preparation I can kill him. The great master need not lift a finger. I will kill Seon Hae-do in your place!”
There was no assassin’s creed here about protecting a client’s identity even unto death, or finishing the target no matter the cost. The Plague Assassin Corps leader simply slammed his forehead into the dirt and begged for his life.
I could understand it, in a way.
Eighth stage of Chulji.
At that level you were treated as a master wherever you went. One more step into Ogi and you could found your own sect or claim a high post in a famous one. Either way, absolute power was within reach. When you had so much left to gain, clinging to life was only natural.
“What’s that?”
“Pardon?”
“That thing. The one that let you slip out of my grasp back in the city. Some kind of sorcery?”
“…It is a secret art called the Dark Spirit Body Technique. I will teach it to the great master myself—”
“Forget it. Not interested. I only asked out of curiosity. Die now.”
“Great master! Spare—”
I pointed my index finger at the man who was still shouting. Demonic qi shot from the tip like a cannon shell and punched straight through the Plague Assassin Corps leader’s skull. Lightning followed, reducing his body to ash.
“Hooo…”
I exhaled long and slow, settling the Heavenly Demon Divine Art. Looking around, I saw that a fifty-meter radius had been completely devastated. That would definitely draw attention.
Better get out of here first. Then… have Mi-ryeong reapply the seal.
The next morning, seal restored, I lounged in a decent inn. The other patrons kept glancing my way and quietly went about their business.
Then the door opened and a welcome face appeared.
A long spear strapped to her back, black hair tied in a single high tail, the female warrior Seomun So-ryeo strode straight toward me with confident steps.
“Number 123. I heard about you on the way here. You’re pretty famous now, huh?”
Having reached the realm of Chulji, she sat beside me with newfound swagger. The faint scent of her sweat made me swallow hard. Seomun So-ryeo possessed a charm even the top courtesans of the Pleasure Pavilion couldn’t match.
“Number 290. Alone? Did the mission succeed?”
“No. Still in progress. That man over there is the merchant I’m escorting.”
She pointed to a man talking with the innkeeper.
“Just the two of you wandering around?”
“What, are you jealous? You’ve got a cute side after all.”
Seomun So-ryeo laughed boldly. Under the table her hand casually stroked my thigh. The heat in her eyes said her lust had built up until she was practically in heat.
“Don’t worry, Number 123. Nothing like what you’re thinking happened.”
I dropped my own hand and squeezed her ass. Even through the clothes I could feel how firm and springy it was.
“That’s not what I meant…”
In the original story Seomun So-ryeo was supposed to run into Cheon Yu-un and Jegal Mo-sun midway and travel with them. Yet neither of them was anywhere in sight.
“You’ve got a room, right? Let’s talk there.”
“What about guarding that guy?”
“Already settled. We’re resting at this inn today and leaving the city at dawn tomorrow. Until then I’m free.”
“Pretty relaxed escort duty.”
“I don’t do this in other cities. Hagashi has no other powers besides the Seon Family, so the public order is excellent.”
No reason to refuse. I went up to the third-floor room with Seomun So-ryeo. A few male guests stared. When they saw her face their eyes went round with envy.
Even the men of this world had their fantasies—like fucking a beautiful martial arts master senseless.
I made a show of grabbing one of Seomun So-ryeo’s ass cheeks hard enough for everyone to see.
“Ahn…!”
Flesh bulged between my fingers. Of course she was still clothed, so it wasn’t bare skin. I smirked at the gulping men and stepped into the room.
The moment the door closed Seomun So-ryeo started stripping me. She pressed her lips to my chest while her hand seized my cock and kneaded it.
“It’s been a while. I was hoping we could talk first.”
“Don’t say things you don’t mean. You’ve got this thing standing rock-hard—no one’s going to believe you. Do you have any idea how much I’ve missed this cock?”
“You liked it that much?”
“Being away made me realize. How precious this cock was to me. It even showed up in my dreams.”
She gave my cock a loving suck, then tore her own clothes off in a flurry. This time I pushed her down. I laid her on the bed, buried my face between her breasts, and sucked her stiff nipples while my middle finger thrust into her already dripping pussy.
“Aaahn. Yes. See? You’re just as ready as I am.”
“Seomun So-ryeo. How was the escort mission? Any trouble?”
I asked while I kept caressing her. Every time pleasure hit she spread her legs wider.
“Mmmngh~. Three or four times a day the yokai came at us… and we ran into bandits too. A real pain-in-the-ass group called the Tiger Travel Band… I wiped them out.”
“……You wiped them out alone?”
In the original she struggled against those bandits and was saved by Cheon Yu-un and Jegal Mo-sun, who happened to be passing by.
“Haaahng. Right there… Bandits are nothing… Aaahn! I—I’m cumminggg!”
Fwoosh, spurt spurt!
I had barely brushed her G-spot and her pussy convulsed, squirting like a tide. It had only been two weeks since we last fucked. I never expected Seomun So-ryeo to be this pent-up. Her libido far exceeded my estimates.
“Hnnngh…. Pussy feels so good…. Now shove your cock in. My pussy’s ready.”
I stayed still.
Flushed and desperate, Seomun So-ryeo rolled her hips. Her soft inner lips dragged along the hard shaft of my cock. Slick, wet sounds filled the room as her thick juices coated me.
“Seomun So-ryeo. Did you know? Numbers 88 and 366 are also on missions near here.”
“Hm? Oh, those two. I ran into them a little while ago while passing through. Just said a quick hello and went our separate ways.”
“…I see.”
The original plot had already derailed. In the original, Seomun So-ryeo received Cheon Yu-un’s help at her moment of crisis and developed feelings for him without even realizing it—that was why she later supported him.
Since things have changed, she has no reason to cling to Cheon Yu-un.
“Cock. Cock. Cock. Cock. Cock. Cock.”
Slick, wet, grinding sounds.
Seomun So-ryeo rocked her pussy against me, urging me on.
“Hurry up and fuck my pussy, please…!”
When she begged for my cock that desperately, I decided the teasing had gone far enough. I lined the head up with her soaked entrance and pushed in. Through my cock I felt every fold of her inner flesh. Thud. In one stroke I bottomed out against her cervix.
“Haa, haaaaahng! Cock’s here…!”
Her vaginal walls wriggled and clamped down. It felt like her pussy was greedily sucking me in.
Squelch squelch squelch squelch!
I lost myself in the motion of my hips and kept thrusting until evening.
“Haaaaaaaaaaahng!”