An Unfinished Vendetta
Jeok-un had claimed that he would let him kill the demon of the Demonic Cult, his mortal enemy.
Yet, Hwang-no had found it hard to believe.
No matter how extraordinary Jeok-un was, how could he possibly locate a demon of the Cult—an entity lurking in the deepest shadows, whom even Hwang-no had barely managed to track down after decades of searching?
Furthermore, Jeok-un did not even know which of the Cult's countless demons was his specific target.
That bastard—!
But the moment Hwang-no laid eyes on the enemy, his eyes widened.
There was no need for a closer look.
Though years had left their mark, the moment he saw that face, the long-buried past flashed before his eyes like a revolving lantern.
Before he was known by the names Hwang-no and the Shadowless Killer, Hyeong Seok-yeong had been the premier assassin of the Killing Gate, the greatest assassin organization in the Central Plains.
It was an achievement he had unlocked before even reaching his twentieth year.
Hailed as the most gifted genius in the history of the Killing Gate, he had never failed a single mission since his very first contract.
Just as the Killing Gate had "made" him, he lived his life eliminating targets as naturally as breathing, devoid of any emotion or guilt.
Life held no value to him. Consequently, he threw his own life away with utter disregard.
Before he knew it, the Jianghu began to call him the Shadowless Killer, but the world's greatest assassin secretly wished for nothing more than a swift death at the end of a target's blade.
However, it was his final mission that changed Hyeong Seok-yeong's destiny.
In that last assignment, the Shadowless Killer succeeded in assassinating the Patriarch of the Namgung Clan, but he was swept away by a river, mortally wounded.
Just when he thought he could finally embrace death, an unexpected hand of salvation reached out to him.
A commoner woman from a nearby slash-and-burn farming village, a woman of the Hwang clan, hurriedly pulled him from the water.
She was a pure soul who knew nothing of the martial world.
To save a stranger with whom she shared no connection, she spent her life savings to buy medicinal herbs. She possessed an incredibly warm heart.
As if guided by fate, he fell in love with her, and they were blessed with a healthy, robust son.
Looking back, that was the happiest period of his life.
But the end was not beautiful.
They say the grudges of the Jianghu are like a spider's web.
The Namgung Clan's pursuit squad, refusing to give up the chase, finally tracked him down. Though he managed to protect his child, he lost his wife, Lady Hwang.
After slaughtering the pursuers, he ultimately returned to the Killing Gate.
He needed their protection to keep his child alive.
However, he never taught his son a single martial art.
He wanted his son, at least, to live a life different from his own.
Another decade and a half passed, and he finally sent his grown son away.
He heard news that his son had married a wise woman, started a family, and blessed him with a granddaughter, but he never once visited them.
He feared that his cursed fate would bring them harm.
Then, one day, horrific news reached his ears.
He ran like a madman to his son's home. Upon witnessing the carnage, he collapsed to his knees.
"Aaaaargh!"
His son, his daughter-in-law, and even his young granddaughter. The entire family had been slaughtered.
Holding his granddaughter's tiny hand—a hand he was seeing for the first time—he wept tears of blood.
As he closed his son's eyes, which had been horribly gouged out and left hollow, he swore an oath of vengeance.
From that day on, he tracked the killer.
There were almost no clues, but he did not care.
He was the world's greatest assassin; tracking targets was his specialty.
He turned the entire Central Plains upside down, digging through every corner.
And finally, he uncovered the abyss that lurked in the shadows, unknown to anyone in the Central Plains: the Demonic Cult.
But when the abyss realized someone was tailing them, they turned their blades back upon him.
"Why... why did you do it?!"
Until then, he had believed his son's death was due to the grudges he himself had accumulated. But it was not.
"Why, you ask? Because it was necessary."
"...What?"
"Hehehe. You should be grateful. Your useless, worthless son became a part of me in death. Is that not a truly glorious honor?"
The enemy had tapped his own eye as he spoke.
Only then did Hyeong Seok-yeong realize.
One of the eyes of his mortal enemy, Geom-ma, was none other than his own son's.
He had little memory of what happened immediately after.
Losing all reason, he had charged straight at Geom-ma and the cultists accompanying him.
After a desperate battle of life and death, he managed to tear his son's eye back from the bastard, but at the cost of his dantian being severely damaged, sending him plunging down a bottomless cliff.
Before he fell, he engraved the faces of his enemies, including Geom-ma, into his mind.
And the cultist he now beheld in this abandoned mine was unmistakably one of them.
The Beast Poison Demon—!
The moment he recognized that face—
*Swish!*
I will kill you!
Hyeong Seok-yeong. No, Hwang-no—who had discarded his own name and taken his wife's surname until he could avenge his son—was already lunging at his foe.
Hwang-no closed the distance with terrifying speed.
It was a footwork worthy of an assassin once considered the greatest under heaven.
What kind of footwork is this...?!
Footwork techniques could generally be categorized into speed and variation, and most martial artists settled for mastering only one.
But Hwang-no's footwork was different.
It unleashed extreme speed and unpredictable variation simultaneously.
In the literal blink of an eye, the Shadowless Killer appeared in front, then suddenly on the flank.
When forms were woven into such footwork, they became deadly techniques.
Hwang-no was already a perfected martial artist who had transcended the "state of form."
Ya Yul-gi was deeply shaken.
What?! A fellow who looks to be in the Transformation Realm has transcended the state of form?!
The moment he saw the movement, he realized it contained an enlightenment that belonged not to the Transformation Realm, but to the Profound Realm.
The Beast Poison Demon's own realm was the peak of the Transformation Realm.
If his opponent was truly a master of the Profound Realm, he would not survive.
Cold sweat trickled down his back, but the Beast Poison Demon barely maintained his composure and began to react calmly.
First, I must get rid of that young brat!
*Flick!*
The Beast Poison Demon flung his hands wide.
His sleeves fluttered as hidden venomous creatures shot out like arrows.
*Croak!*
*Skitter!*
The Blood Poison Toad and the White-Haired Spider let out chilling screeches as they lunged at the young martial artist.
The Blood Poison Toad was a venomous toad characterized by its blood-red hue, while the White-Haired Spider was a toxic arachnid covered in pale bristles.
Each of these creatures possessed enough lethal venom to easily dissolve dozens of martial artists into bloody puddles.
Since the brat was merely at the Peak Realm, he would be too busy dealing with them to interfere.
This should be enough...
The moment the Beast Poison Demon thought this—
*Shriek!*
A terrifyingly sharp attack tore through the air.
Hwang-no's twin throwing daggers flew like living beasts.
"Tsk!"
The Beast Poison Demon clicked his tongue and threw his body backward.
Yet Hwang-no's daggers relentlessly targeted the Poison Demon's eyes like a predator on the hunt.
*Whoosh!*
At the tips of the blades, a crystallized energy blazed like a bright blue flame.
It was sword gang, the hallmark of the Transformation Realm.
Too late to dodge.
The Beast Poison Demon made a split-second decision.
Recognizing that dodging or parrying was impossible, he channeled his own energy.
*Rumble!*
He wrapped his fist in fist gang.
A pitch-black demonic qi, completely contrasting his opponent's energy, flickered to life.
In that instant, the blade gang and fist gang collided at a single point.
*Boom!*
A deafening explosion erupted, a sound unimaginable for a clash between a bare fist and a dagger.
The violent shockwave rippled outward, shaking the entire abandoned mine.
The two combatants backed away to avoid the aftershocks.
After that brief exchange, Ya Yul-gi's expression turned complex.
...Who on earth is this guy?
He was an unidentified old man with white hair and deep wrinkles.
His comprehension had reached the Profound Realm, yet his internal energy fell short of Yul-gi's own.
Judging by his raw power, he was only at the initial stage of the Transformation Realm.
Judging by his martial arts, he seems to be an assassin...
At the thought of an assassin, his heart skipped a beat.
Could he be from the Cult?
Had they discovered that he was hiding the Golden Spirit Fruit and sent someone to tail him?
No, that made no sense.
If the Cult had found out about the Golden Spirit Fruit, they would have sent someone who could easily eliminate him.
That left only one possibility.
He must have followed me out of greed after seeing the Golden Spirit Fruit.
Ya Yul-gi narrowed his eyes.
He had reached a conclusion.
It won't be a problem to kill him.
If the opponent were a fellow cultist, it would be troublesome, but otherwise, there would be no repercussions.
Ya Yul-gi smirked, unleashing his aura.
"A grim reaper, you say?"
*Whoosh!*
As Ya Yul-gi released his suppressed aura, a sudden gale swept through the tunnel.
A suffocating demonic qi boiled over, powerful enough to dominate the surrounding area through sheer internal force alone.
"Insolent bugs who don't even know their place!"
*Swish!*
Ya Yul-gi charged fiercely.
He decided to focus on eliminating the old man first.
It was the logical choice, considering the Peak Realm brat was likely still struggling against the venomous beasts.
*Crack! Snap!*
Then, a strange transformation occurred.
As Ya Yul-gi rushed forward, his muscles swelled visibly, doubling his body size.
It was the effect of his signature martial art, the Battle Qi of a Hundred Beasts.
The Battle Qi of a Hundred Beasts was a demonic art that involved slaughtering countless beasts, spiritual creatures, and demonic beasts, then wrapping their vengeful spirits around oneself.
Though it was an external art that strengthened the physical body, it was filled with the bizarre and ferocious power characteristic of demonic arts.
*Growl!*
A beastly growl rumbled from Ya Yul-gi's throat.
Before long, the Beast Poison Demon's pupils turned a predatory yellow, and thick veins bulged across his entire body, writhing and pulsing grotesquely.
Reaching point-blank range in an instant, Ya Yul-gi unleashed his fists with movements that truly befitted his moniker as a beast.
*Rip! Crash!*
With a deafening roar that tore the air to shreds, his left and right fists, wrapped in fist gang, rained down in a frenzied barrage.
Hwang-no grit his teeth and met the onslaught with his twin daggers.
*Clang! Screech!*
"Ugh...!"
It was clear at a glance that he was being pushed back, unable to withstand his opponent's superior internal energy.
Though Hwang-no's initial strike had been powerful enough to startle Ya Yul-gi, his strength was rapidly waning with every passing second.
Hwang-no desperately swallowed a groan.
However, the source of his intense agony was not the enemy's offensive.
Just a little longer... please, hold out just a little longer.
His damaged dantian had begun to spasm once more.
The reason why a man who had once reached the peak of the Profound Realm could not overwhelm Ya Yul-gi, and could only muster internal energy equivalent to the early stage of the Transformation Realm, was simple.
The scars left by Geom-ma's demonic art still tormented him.
Though he had hidden in Sadocheon for over twenty years to focus on recovery, this was still his limit.
Yet, it could not be helped.
For a martial artist, a damaged dantian was an injury that even a Great Immortal descending from the heavens could not fully heal.
*Crack!*
Ultimately, unable to withstand the relentless onslaught, one of Hwang-no's daggers shattered.
During the brief lull that followed, Ya Yul-gi spoke, a chilling smile spreading across his face.
"Could you be..."
"The Shadowless Killer?"
"..."
"So it is you. Hahaha! What a masterpiece!"
Ya Yul-gi burst into laughter, his arrogance swelling.
"You weren't called the world's greatest assassin for nothing. To think you survived falling from that bottomless cliff and are still clinging to life."
A full twenty years had passed.
The Demonic Cult had not stopped hunting the Shadowless Killer out of mercy.
They had only stopped because Hwang-no had fallen down a thousand-foot abyss from which survival was deemed impossible.
"Hehehe. Our positions have completely reversed. The arrogant bastard who prided himself on being in the Profound Realm has been reduced to a mere insect! Hahaha!"
Ya Yul-gi mocked him.
If Geom-ma had not been present during their first encounter, Ya Yul-gi would have undoubtedly died by Hwang-no's hand and become a wandering ghost.
But in the end, he was the victor.
"Hehehe. Now, let us bring this to an end!"
Ya Yul-gi charged with a mad laugh.
He unleashed a merciless barrage of fists at Hwang-no, who held his single remaining dagger.
*Boom! Boom! Boom!*
Like a predator cornering its prey, he systematically eliminated every avenue of escape.
The space to dodge shrank. Hwang-no was steadily pushed into a corner.
"Ugh...!"
"Hahaha! Die!"
Just as the Beast Poison Demon threw his final punch to finish the task left incomplete for twenty years—
*Pop!*
A strangely refreshing sound, completely out of place in this fierce battlefield, echoed through the cavern.
...Huh?
Ya Yul-gi even pulled back his extended fist.
He, of all people, knew exactly what that sound meant.
After all, the source of the sound was where the Golden Spirit Fruit lay.
He hurriedly whipped his head around.
"Ah, what a fragrance. Yes, this is the stuff."
"..."
Jeok-un was standing there, holding the plucked Golden Spirit Fruit and taking in its sweet aroma.
"W-Wait!"
A panicked Ya Yul-gi shouted reflexively.
A chill ran down his spine.
Why is that brat over there?!
He was supposed to be struggling against the venomous beasts just a moment ago...
He looked over to where the young man had been fighting.
...?!
The Blood Poison Toad and the White-Haired Spider he had sent earlier were both sliced cleanly in half, lying dead on the ground.
How? How is this possible?
Even if he had been focused on his battle with the Shadowless Killer, how could he have failed to notice this?
Questions swirled in his mind, but now was not the time to worry about that.
"Aaargh! Put it down! Put it down right now!"
"Me? Why should I?"
In the youth's hand was the fruit of the Golden Spirit Fruit, which Ya Yul-gi had painstakingly nurtured for fifteen long years.
As the fruit, now completely detached from its vine, radiated an enchanting glow, Ya Yul-gi's heart burned with anxiety.
No, this can't be...!
The moment the Golden Spirit Fruit was plucked, it had to be consumed as quickly as possible.
Any further delay, and its spiritual energy would evaporate into the air.
"If you put it down, I will spare your life! No, even better! I will accept you as a disciple of our Sacred Cult! So hand it over, quickly!"
In his panic, Ya Yul-gi threw out threats and bribes all at once.
Jeok-un smirked.
"I don't want to."
"?!"
Mocking him openly, Jeok-un—
*Gulp!*
Swallowed the Golden Spirit Fruit whole.