Chapter 27
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 27
Chapter Title: Assassin's Hell (4)
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“Three thousand nyang? In gold?”
The beady-eyed man asked again, as if he couldn’t believe it.
Mya-rang nodded.
“I can’t tell you who the client is, though.”
“Hah, this bitch thinks she can order us around with money? Crazy woman.”
The beady-eyed man, the leader of the Shadow Kill Sect, snorted and slammed his dagger onto the tabletop.
“Hey, you bitch, spit it out. Who’s the target?”
“Jin Je-yong.”
“Who?”
“He’s an instructor at a sword school in Sinnae Village.”
The Shadow Kill Sect leader scratched his head.
No matter how hard he tried, he’d never heard the name before.
To survive in the assassination business, one had to know who the dangerous ones were. The Shadow Kill Sect leader had memorized the names of every prominent master in Sichuan.
“Never heard of him.”
“Of course not. He’s a newcomer to the martial world.”
“And you’re spending three thousand nyang on him? And even asking for our help?”
The beady-eyed man looked to the hulking, dark-skinned man sitting beside him.
He had been silent for a long time—the leader of the Iron Chain Sect.
“...Does he have guards?”
He finally spoke.
At his words, Mya-rang grinned and said.
“The young master of the Tang Clan, Tang Jin-seong. Ha Hyeol-ran of the Aropa. Pyo Il-jeon of the Ichimun. And one unknown swordsman.”
“The Tang Clan… No wonder the Gua-jo were defeated.”
“Oh? You knew?”
In such a small industry, rumors traveled faster than arrows.
It seemed word that the Gua-jo had been annihilated had reached the ears of the Iron Chain Sect leader as well.
“The Gua-jo have a habit of relying on their Yellow Wind Poison. If their opponent is a master with immunity to poison, their success rate plummets.”
“True. Besides, I find Ha Hyeol-ran to be a nuisance.”
“The Ecstasy Troupe is weak against women. Is that why?”
The leaders of the Shadow Kill Sect and the Iron Chain Sect nodded as if they understood.
Mya-rang, not wanting them to forget, dropped another piece of information.
“The target, Jin Je-yong, is a master. A master so skilled we wouldn't dare face him.”
“I’m sure he is. But I’ve never had a target weaker than me. In the end, though, they all died at my hand.”
The Shadow Kill Sect leader bared his yellowed teeth in a confident grin.
No human could remain tense for all twenty-four hours of the day. And in that moment of lowered guard, slipping in a single blade or a sip of poison was the traditional method of the Shadow Kill Sect, an orthodox school of assassins.
“It’s not the strong who win, but the survivors.”
The leader of the Iron Chain Sect nodded in agreement.
They might fear one of the Twenty-Two Masters Under Heaven, whom they couldn’t dare oppose, but no leader of an assassination group would be afraid of some unknown named Jin Je-yong.
“As soon as possible.”
“We need time to set the stage…”
“That’s why it’s three thousand nyang. Each.”
Mya-rang conveniently left out the part where the total commission was ten thousand nyang.
But even three thousand was a sum far beyond what a single assassination sect could normally handle.
The eyes of the two leaders gleamed with greed.
‘No matter how strong Jin Je-yong is, can he possibly face all of us, the rulers of Sichuan’s underworld, at once?’
Gua-jo, Ecstasy Troupe, Iron Chain Sect, Shadow Kill Sect. These were the four organizations that divided the Sichuan assassination world.
And now, all of them were targeting a countryside Sword of Completion.
* * *
“Let’s make camp for the night.”
On the way to the Yangcheng Escort Agency, I stopped walking.
The primary reason was the ominous energy I felt as darkness fell, and the second was…
‘They’re a nuisance.’
Perhaps because I had only ever trained with my disciples at a countryside school, I had never fought while protecting someone, nor had I ever fought in coordination with anyone.
“Sir Jin, the Yangcheng Escort Agency is just a little further. See over there? Mount Qingcheng.”
Where Lee Geum-yeong pointed, an unnamed peak of Mount Qingcheng was taking a bite out of the moon.
I understood their desire to rest in a town, but I wondered if it was safe to let them go on their own.
‘They’re so weak, it’s worrying.’
Whether it was Lee Geum-yeong, Ham Jeong-eun, or the two sect leaders, their skills were pathetic in my eyes.
By my school’s standards, they wouldn’t even graduate.
If they were even an eighth as skilled as Nam Gyeong, I wouldn’t have to worry, but the entire party was not much different from Jeok-sam.
‘None of them train diligently in martial arts.’
I could understand. In the countryside, there was nothing to do, so we naturally gathered at the school and picked up wooden swords.
Practicing the sword was pretty much the only form of entertainment in the countryside.
But this group was different. Ham Jeong-eun was just a medicine peddler, and the two leaders had sects to run. How could they possibly train properly?
‘Even their claims of being the strongest in their sects seem like a lie.’
I knew because I had seen the disciples of the Aropa and Ichimun firsthand.
The difference in skill between the leaders and their disciples was as minuscule as an ant’s eyelash, a gap that could be closed at any time.
“Sir Lee, camping out once in a while isn't so bad. Isn't it atmospheric?”
Pyo Il-jeon stepped up to support me, and Ham Jeong-eun nodded vigorously. Ever since we had spoken through our swords, he never questioned my opinions.
Ha Hyeol-ran frowned at the mention of camping but didn’t object.
“Oh, come on! We’re so close to a bath and a warm bed… But if that’s what everyone wants, I guess it can’t be helped.”
Lee Geum-yeong grumbled but expertly began to prepare the campsite. She took out a tent from her pack and started organizing their belongings.
I scanned our surroundings, searching for the eyes that were watching us.
‘Assassins?’
Master had once told me about his experience facing assassins during the War of Righteousness and Evil.
He said they were the kind to thrust a blade at you day and night, whether you were eating or in the privy, so you could never let your guard down for a moment.
“I’m going for a short walk.”
I said a word to the group and headed toward the bushes.
A moment later, when I was some distance from the party, a dark-skinned, hulking man stood before me.
“The young master of the Tang Clan is gone, as are the leaders of the Aropa and Ichimun.”
“I’m better off alone.”
The giant let out a dry laugh.
Then, unlike a typical assassin, he drew a saw as tall as himself.
“I am the leader of the Iron Chain Sect, Gi—”
“I probably won’t remember your name, so that’s enough.”
There was no need to hear his name, since we wouldn't be seeing each other again.
In an instant, his face crumpled like a piece of waste paper.
The giant raised his hand, and ten assassins with dark skin and yellow eyes emerged from his surroundings.
“I’ll send you to hell, three-thousand-nyang.”
“Seems a bit cheap. It’s not silver, is it?”
I asked, drawing my sword.
“This bastard… No matter how skilled you are, you won’t be able to handle our Iron Chain Formation of ten men. This formation, even the Twin Killers of Sichuan…”
“You talk too much. Sorry. From now on, I’ll let my sword do the talking.”
I approached the giant and swung my sword. His head flew clean off.
“Leader!”
“What? How did he break through the leader’s protective qi!”
“His… his Indestructible Diamond Body…”
For an ‘Indestructible Diamond Body,’ his flesh was far too soft. A bit firmer than tofu, perhaps?
I turned my sword toward the disciples of the Iron Chain Sect.
“I have a lot to cut down, so I’ll make this quick today.”
* * *
The assassination target was in the sights of the Shadow Kill Sect leader.
It wasn't just the distance; the Shadow Kill Sect was holding its breath, suppressing its presence with the Breath Suppression Art.
He slowed his breathing and his heartbeat, restricting the flow of his blood.
His fingertips tingled and his vision began to dim, but years of training allowed him to keep his eyes fixed on the target.
‘The leader of the Iron Chain Sect died that easily?’
The Iron Chain Sect, unlike typical assassins, was a practical group that relied on martial prowess.
Their leader, in particular, had mastered external arts to a high degree, possessing skin so tough that ordinary sword qi couldn't even leave a scratch.
Yet the target had sliced through the Iron Chain Sect leader’s neck as if it were tofu.
‘I think three thousand nyang is way too cheap for this.’
The Iron Chain assassins also fell like bundles of straw before Jin Je-yong’s sword.
Then, Jin Je-yong turned his gaze, and his eyes met the Shadow Kill Sect leader’s. In that moment, the sect leader wanted to gouge his own eyes out.
‘He… spotted me?’
The Shadow Kill Sect leader quickly regulated his breathing.
His heart began to pound, and blood rushed through his limbs. The sudden surge made his head spin, but he gritted his teeth and forced himself to focus.
Jin Je-yong walked on, tapping the ground with his sword as if it were a cane.
And as he did, the Shadow Kill assassins hiding with the Breath Suppression Art died one by one.
‘I have to get up! I have to run!’
The Shadow Kill Sect’s Breath Suppression Art was different from the standard version; it allowed for a rapid return to one's normal state.
This was to enable them to strike the moment an opportunity arose. They even took a special medicine for this purpose, but now, his recovery felt unbearably slow.
“There!”
The moment strength returned to the Shadow Kill Sect leader's legs, he sensed a presence above his head.
“Why are you trying to get up? Why not just stay buried in the ground?”
The voice was completely flat, without any inflection.
He looked like a typical dark-skinned young man one might find in the countryside.
But the chilling killing intent in his eyes was so intense it made the legs of the Shadow Kill Sect leader, a man who had been killing for decades, tremble.
“No, I was just following orders… Gurgle!”
Before he could finish his sentence, a sword plunged through his head from crown to chin and was pulled out.
Jin Je-yong flicked the blood from his sword with an annoyed expression and started walking again.
Meanwhile, Mya-rang led her Ecstasy Troupe not toward Jin Je-yong, but toward his companions.
Having witnessed Jin Je-yong’s martial prowess firsthand, she planned to take hostages while the other two assassin sects bought her time.
“No, what is that…”
The first to notice the Ecstasy Troupe’s assassins was Lee Geum-yeong.
As the most skilled martial artist in the group, she frowned at the sight of ten women who were all but naked.
“It’s the Ecstasy Troupe.”
Belatedly, Ham Jeong-eun and Pyo Il-jeon spotted the assassins and broke into dopey grins.
It was the effect of the Ecstasy Troupe’s ultimate technique, the Art of Ecstasy.
The fragrant oils the assassins applied to their bodies contained an aphrodisiac that stimulated lust, and their swaying dances were infused with an illusionary art that clouded the mind.
Unless one was a master with a strong will, it was an illusion that no healthy adult male could withstand.
“Everyone, snap out of it!”
“Men are all the same!”
Conversely, it had a fatal weakness: it was ineffective against those of the same gender.
Lee Geum-yeong and Ha Hyeol-ran were clear-headed, so they berated their companions.
The fortunate thing was that the strongest member of their group, Jin Je-yong, was absent.
While it was true that Jin Je-yong possessed outstanding martial skill, it was unlikely that a man in his early to mid-twenties had also cultivated the mental fortitude to withstand the Ecstasy Troupe’s attack.
“Sect Leader Ha, we have to keep our wits about us.”
“Is Sir Lee alright? No, um… I won’t ask.”
Ha Hyeol-ran, seeming to have noticed something about Lee Geum-yeong, clamped her mouth shut and drew her sword.
The drug used in the Art of Ecstasy contained not only an aphrodisiac but also a small amount of Qi-Scattering Poison that dispersed internal energy. This was a great danger to all martial artists, regardless of gender.
Pyo Il-jeon and Ham Jeong-eun also covered their ever-widening grins and sat in a cross-legged position. They were likely trying to calm their minds and gather the internal energy being scattered by the poison.
“I’ve never seen such foolish assassins try to attack us with our eyes wide open.”
Lee Geum-yeong ground her teeth and glared at Mya-rang.
As she drew her sword, a golden radiance enveloped the blade.
Ha Hyeol-ran also raised her sword, and Mya-rang looked at the two swordswomen with a contemptuous expression.
The Ecstasy Troupe, though assassins, were not weak. They were, after all, one of the four great assassination groups of Sichuan.
And they outnumbered their opponents by more than five to one. Furthermore, Lee Geum-yeong and Ha Hyeol-ran had Ham Jeong-eun and Pyo Il-jeon to protect.
“We will show you the terror of the Ecstasy Troupe.”
“No, you won’t get the chance.”
“Huh?”
From behind Mya-rang, the absent Jin Je-yong appeared.
When she saw him, Mya-rang’s expression was initially one of confusion, asking why he was there, but as she grasped the situation, her face contorted in horror.
“H-How are you…?”
“You don’t need to know.”
Jin Je-yong’s voice dripped with annoyance.
Mya-rang shrieked and unleashed a palm strike, but before her palm energy could even reach Jin Je-yong, her entire arm was severed.
Jin Je-yong’s sword pierced straight through Mya-rang’s brow.
Mya-rang collapsed without even a chance to react.
“S-Sir Jin!”
“Phew, Sir Jin is here.”
Lee Geum-yeong and Ha Hyeol-ran were relieved to see Jin Je-yong.
However, the Ecstasy Troupe’s Art of Ecstasy was still in effect. Seeing their leader Mya-rang die, the assassins only swayed their hips more vigorously.
“Hmm…”
Jin Je-yong let out a short groan.
Thinking their technique was working, the assassins of the Ecstasy Troupe shook their bodies even more, and Lee Geum-yeong and Ha Hyeol-ran raised their swords again.
“Could you two please cover your ears? And while you’re at it, your eyes too?”
Jin Je-yong requested of Lee Geum-yeong and Ha Hyeol-ran.
Ha Hyeol-ran wondered what he meant, but Lee Geum-yeong closed her eyes and covered her ears without hesitation.
Jin Je-yong raised his sword to the sky.
Wuuuuuung!
The sword began to vibrate, letting out a cry.
‘Sword’s Cry!’
Ha Hyeol-ran couldn’t believe what she was witnessing.
The phenomenon of a sword reacting and crying out when qi was infused into it was called the Sword’s Cry.
The faintly trembling sword came to a sudden halt. Then, a massive wave of energy erupted from the sword, blasting outward in all directions.