Chapter 181. Surrounded on All Sides (1)
A faint smile crept across Hanbin's lips.
Escaping a crisis with a newly acquired technique?
In a way, it felt like the Yongrin Sword Art had prepared a contingency just for him.
Having expended a fair amount of his inner power, Hanbin needed time to recover both mind and body.
He quietly closed his eyes.
The time it took to sip a cup of tea passed.
Once he'd caught his breath, Hanbin laid the dazed Ami Baekseon—who was leaning blankly against a rock—down on the ground.
Having fallen victim to her own scheme, Ami Baekseon stared blankly ahead, awaiting orders from her caster.
Of course, the caster of the Blood Fragrance Bewitching Technique was now Hanbin.
How exactly had it happened?
In his past life as the leader of the Ghost Sword Squad, Hanbin had encountered the Bewitching Technique many times.
He knew better than anyone how to counter it.
For that reason, he was aware that the Blood Fragrance Bewitching Technique relied on two mediums.
To put it simply, the mediums for the Blood Fragrance Bewitching Technique were sound and blood.
It used those two to turn the target into a slave.
But what if those mediums changed?
Just as one might coat food with saliva to mark it as their own, Hanbin had smeared his own blood onto the Blood Fragrance Bewitching Melody.
As the blood seeped in, the caster of the melody Ami Baekseon had played shifted to Hanbin.
True to the rumors swirling through the jianghu, the Blood Fragrance Bewitching Melody recognized blood as its master.
'Blood Fragrance Bewitching Melody, huh... Did it really work?'
Hanbin looked back at Ami Baekseon.
The situation had completely reversed—host and guest swapped places.
Of course, it wasn't permanent.
The effect was limited to the grand technique she'd just unleashed.
For now, Ami Baekseon was ensnared by the Blood Fragrance Bewitching Technique.
To turn her fully into his limb, one more step remained.
Hanbin whistled at Ami Baekseon.
His lips trembled faintly, and a whistle escaped.
Whiiiu—
Hanbin gazed at Ami Baekseon.
"Remember this sound?"
"……."
Ami Baekseon said nothing.
Hanbin whistled again.
Then he asked once more.
He repeated the action more than ten times.
Finally, Hanbin asked again.
"Do you remember this sound, Ami Baekseon?"
"Yes, I remember it."
As Ami Baekseon replied in a dry tone, Hanbin plopped down right there.
Now she was fully under the Blood Fragrance Bewitching Technique.
Subjugated to Hanbin's blood, her responses even conditioned to his whistle.
Exhausted, Hanbin sat down in front of her.
In a relaxed posture, he spoke.
"Sit now."
"……."
She blinked silently, and Hanbin waved his hand.
"Just call me 'master' casually."
"Yes, master."
"Then sit comfortably."
At Hanbin's words, Ami Baekseon sat down.
Hanbin said,
"Take out the antidote."
"Yes, master."
Ami Baekseon rummaged in her bosom and pulled out a gourd bottle.
Hanbin carefully extracted one antidote pill and tested it with a silver needle.
It was right to approach with caution until the very end.
Confirming the antidote was safe, Hanbin swallowed it with a satisfied expression.
He handed the gourd bottle back.
"Put this away."
"Yes, understood."
"I have a few questions."
"Yes."
"Was what you were after in the Gong Son family estate?"
"No."
"Then what were you trying to find?"
"We don't know yet."
"Then tell me everything about this mission."
"Well...……."
After hearing the full explanation, Hanbin let out an involuntary groan.
"Hmm...……."
The situation was peculiar.
The reappearance of the long-vanished Eight Immortals was strange enough, but they weren't even the core of this organization.
Unexpectedly, Ami Baekseon knew nothing about the events unfolding in Jangun-hyeon.
She said her mission with Heuk Seon was to control the flow of people leaving the village.
Of course, that included getting their hands on Gong Son-su and receiving reports from inside.
The rest was handled by someone else.
That was all Hanbin could learn.
Whenever he probed about the group she belonged to, Ami Baekseon would vomit blood in agony.
"Urk... Ah, no."
Just like now.
Ami Baekseon clutched her head.
It seemed she'd hit some kind of restriction.
Clearly, Hanbin's command clashed with her restriction.
Veins bulged on her head like stretched noodles, turning red.
Left like this, her head would surely burst.
Hanbin waved his hand.
"I withdraw that question."
"Hoo...……."
Ami Baekseon took a deep breath, regaining some color.
Hanbin narrowed his eyes at her.
Without knowing the method, there was no way to break it.
Even if he did, lifting her restriction was dangerous.
It would be like pulling weeds and harming the roots.
Hanbin gazed at Ami Baekseon for a moment.
With the Blood Fragrance Bewitching Technique overwriting her, she had no reason to lie.
The group that would turn Jangun-hyeon into a bloodbath was surely about to descend.
Or they might already be here.
As Hanbin rose to leave, something occurred to him, and he looked back at Ami Baekseon.
"Oh, right—one last thing."
"Yes, ask away, master."
"What exactly is your group's goal?"
He figured a question like this might skirt the restriction.
Ami Baekseon opened her mouth immediately.
"Demons must be exterminated, false righteousness must be corrected."
"Demons must perish?"
"Eradicating the rotten demonic cults and correcting the false righteousness is a mission from heaven...……."
Ami Baekseon trailed off, clutching her head again.
Hanbin quickly stopped her.
"That's enough."
"Hoo."
As Ami Baekseon panted for breath again, Hanbin quietly looked up at the sky.
Eradicating rotten demonic cults and correcting hypocritical righteous sects?
Repeating her words in his mind, Hanbin chuckled in disbelief.
"What a joke."
He meant it sincerely.
Sure, it sounded right, but to achieve it by starving countless innocents and ruining innocent families?
If they had power, they could just beat down whoever they disliked first.
Looking back on his past life, both righteous, unorthodox, and demonic all claimed divine justification for their actions.
They acted for their own gain, then wagged their tongues as if it were heaven's will.
To avoid being used by them, there was only one way.
Become stronger than anyone else.
Hanbin quietly stood up.
He brushed off his clothes and pulled a flag from his bosom.
Walking out of the forest, he planted it at the village entrance.
Then he returned to where Ami Baekseon waited.
About half a shichen later, a shadow appeared silently.
"Young master, I brought what you ordered."
"Good work. You found it quick."
"I've always had sharp eyes."
Seolhwa set the bundle down in front of Hanbin.
* * *
Hanbin handled Ami Baekseon with Seolhwa's help.
Of course, he didn't cut off her head.
There was no need to eliminate someone who'd become his limb through the Blood Fragrance Bewitching Technique.
Planting her deep in the enemy's heart was the real profit.
To Hanbin, it was like acquiring a tool that might save his life one day.
He erased Ami Baekseon's memories and healed her wounds.
As if nothing had happened between them.
There was a lot to handle—from her clothes to her injuries—but Hanbin finished perfectly and returned to the inn.
Opening the door to his room quietly, Hanbin narrowed his eyes.
Yi Muming, dressed in the exact same red martial robe as him, was staring blankly out the window.
Hanbin approached and lightly tapped his shoulder.
Tap.
Yi Muming turned, his eyes widening.
"Master, when did you return?"
"Just now. Nothing happen?"
"Not exactly nothing—Yun the ferryman brought food supplies."
"Good timing."
"But are you planning to wage war?"
"War? In a way, yeah."
"Gasp, war?"
"Well, less war and more defending the castle? With shield-bearers, that's not a worry."
"Shield-bearers? You mean the Heuksa Gate guys from before?"
"Who else?"
"They don't look capable. How can they be shields?"
"There's ways."
"Meat shields, maybe?"
Yi Muming's eyes sparkled as he asked, and Hanbin sighed.
"Sigh... Why'd you think that?"
"Well, obviously...……."
Yi Muming glanced at Hanbin and trailed off.
Hanbin said, incredulous,
"I think you're misunderstanding something. I'm not a bad guy deep down, Muming."
"Ah."
Yi Muming let out a low exclamation.
Strangely, Hanbin's words sounded the opposite.
Hanbin was kinder and more righteous than anyone.
But from another angle, few were as wicked as him.
His waving off "I'm not bad" felt like a heads-up: Expect bad things.
Yi Muming quietly eyed the Heuksa Gate group.
No matter how he thought, he couldn't grasp what Hanbin meant by "shields."
Weaklings steeped in evil—where could they be used?
Yi Muming sighed unwittingly.
"Sigh...……."
He quickly covered his mouth.
A slip from forgetting Hanbin was there.
But Hanbin asked nonchalantly,
"By the way, when did Yun say the next shipment arrives?"
"Yun said two days from now."
"Two days... Not too late."
Hanbin nodded quietly.
Then the door opened again.
It was Seolhwa, holding tanghwa candy in both hands.
Seeing her, Hanbin asked,
"I said you could play more."
"No, young master. I ran out of money anyway...……."
Seolhwa trailed off.
Hanbin's eyes widened.
"Don't tell me you spent all the money I gave you on tanghwa?"
"It just happened...……."
Seolhwa turned her head.
Hanbin chuckled.
She seemed far from her old life.
Even after the contract ended, could she return to the assassin's world?
The path back felt ever fainter.
Hanbin alternated glances between Yi Muming and Seolhwa, then smirked faintly.
"Alright, time to learn a new technique."
Clapping to draw their attention, he finished.
Yi Muming craned his neck forward a step.
"Master, what technique are you teaching us?"
"Well, you see...……."
As Hanbin trailed off, Yi Muming stepped closer, urging.
"Tell us quick, master."
"It's a secret."
Hanbin shrugged, and Yi Muming's jaw dropped.
A secret technique he promised to teach?
Unable to contain his curiosity, Yi Muming asked again.
"Is it a sword art?"
"No, closer to fist and palm techniques."
"Ah! So you're teaching us bare-hand fighting?"
Yi Muming looked at his hands, then back at Hanbin with eager eyes.
Ignoring it, Hanbin crossed his arms and pondered.
The Soul Scattering Sword wasn't known in the jianghu, so he could mention it freely.
But Muyeongbo and Muyeongsu were different.
No one in the jianghu didn't know they were Gong Son family's techniques.
Yet no one who'd seen them thought, Ah, Gong Son techniques.
Because few had ever witnessed them.
Thieves didn't reveal their methods unless they failed.
And the Gong Son family rarely failed.
Best to sever ties with them first.
Hanbin decided to rename Muyeongsu.