The Shadow's Miscalculation
Gossipmongers often say this:
That within the Forest of Blades, there exist three great assassin sects.
The first among them is the Assassin Gate.
The second is the Assassin Bridge.
And the last is the Assassin Pavilion.
Of course, some ranked the Assassin Bridge higher, but most agreed on this order.
Among these three, the Assassin Pavilion was a recently risen faction. True to its status as a newcomer, it was notorious for its ruthless methods and swift execution of contracts.
However, their weakness lay in the fact that, excluding their pavilion lord, none of them had ever successfully assassinated a target at or above the Transformation Realm.
Yet, no martial artist walking the Forest of Blades dared to speak of this lightly.
Not unless they wished to wake up the next morning looking at the King of the Underworld instead of the rising sun.
A few days ago, Black Shadow, a first-class assassin of the Assassin Pavilion known as the Life-Snatcher, had been assigned a covert mission.
...To think I would receive a mission targeting a blood relative of the Jegal Family. At first, I thought it was a joke.
No matter how powerful the three great assassin sects were, touching a member of the Seven Great Families was no simple matter.
If the assassination failed, their trail could be traced back, potentially leading to the complete annihilation of their sect.
When the Assassin Pavilion hesitated to accept the contract for this very reason, the client revealed her identity.
The client was none other than Lady Oh, the second wife of the family head.
If an outsider used an assassin as a blade to harm a family member, the Jegal Family Manor would destroy both the client and the blade.
But if a member of the family itself commissioned the hit, the story changed.
Even in the worst-case scenario where the assassination failed, the Jegal Family would be too ashamed to make the matter public.
In short, it meant they could easily cut ties, and the matter would not escalate too far.
To eliminate any chance of complications from the start, the Assassin Pavilion dispatched Black Shadow, a master who had reached the peak of the first-class realm.
So, there are three conditions to the contract.
First, sever one of the target's limbs and destroy his Dantian.
Second, steal the White Feather Fan.
Third, hand over the stolen White Feather Fan to Jegal Wi-yeon at the designated location.
After reviewing the three conditions, Black Shadow clicked his tongue.
As expected of the mistress of the Jegal Family. Her mind works exceptionally fast.
If the target was killed, it would be difficult to escape the Jegal Family's pursuit.
The trail might lead back to the Assassin Pavilion.
But if the target, Jegal Jeok-un, survived, the pursuit would be redirected toward a mere robbery of the White Feather Fan.
Then, a pursuit party would naturally be formed to retrieve the sacred relic.
Lady Oh clearly intended to paint a picture where her own son, Jegal Wi-yeon, dramatically retrieved the White Feather Fan after a fierce battle.
It seems I have to play along with the hero fantasies of these noble orthodox bastards.
The more dramatically Jegal Wi-yeon retrieved the White Feather Fan, the higher his reputation would soar.
Black Shadow disliked having to play along with this farce, but he had no choice.
It is complicated, but they must have paid a fortune for a request of this scale.
Indeed, the sum Lady Oh had paid the Assassin Pavilion was astronomical.
The target, Jegal Jeok-un, was a mere Second-Class martial artist, yet the amount paid was what one would expect for targeting a peak master.
It was undoubtedly a premium that included hush money and the cost of acting out Jegal Wi-yeon's hero play.
Such a sum would have been impossible without the backing of Lady Oh's maternal family, the Geumhwang Merchant Group, one of the three major merchant groups in the Central Plains.
Thus, Black Shadow, a first-class assassin, had originally planned to quickly deal with the Second-Class target and return to rot in a brothel with his earnings.
"This changes the plan."
Yes, that was his plan—until he witnessed the scene before his eyes.
Whoosh!
Nearly half an hour had passed since the target split the river with the White Feather Fan.
Yet, the river remained parted in two.
How could this possibly be achieved by human strength?
It was a truly overwhelming sight, and it was only natural that greed began to rear its head.
Fine. I will take the White Feather Fan and disappear.
The plan was simple.
Forget Jegal Wi-yeon's hero play. He would kill the target, Jegal Jeok-un.
Then, I will absorb the energy contained within that relic. If I am lucky, I might not reach the level of the Ten Venerables, but I could easily become one of the top one hundred masters.
If he achieved that, he wouldn't have to worry about the consequences of breaking the contract.
And if luck isn't on my side, I can just sell the White Feather Fan on the Black Market for a fortune...
Either way, taking the White Feather Fan was far more profitable than completing the mission. Greed flared in Black Shadow's eyes.
Sring!
Drawing his familiar twin throwing daggers, Black Shadow muttered gleefully.
"Hehe, I never imagined an opportunity to change my life would present itself like this."
With that, Black Shadow stepped into the parted river, following Jeok-un.
An assassin's virtues are agility and stealth.
Swiftly and silently.
Adhering strictly to these two virtues, Black Shadow closed the distance as quickly as possible.
Tsk...
He constantly scanned his surroundings, clicking his tongue each time.
There is nowhere to hide.
The path he had entered was not a dark cave, but the very bottom of the river.
Without a doubt, the best choice for an assassin was a surprise attack.
But with the environment like this, a surprise attack will be difficult.
The only saving grace was the torrential rain still pouring down furiously.
The heavy rain and howling wind masked his movements, ensuring not a single sound of his footsteps could be heard.
But having absolutely nowhere to hide is a major problem.
He needed a place to wait until the perfect moment to strike, but there was no such cover.
Just how far did he go?
Even with a fifteen-minute delay in entry, he should have seen something by now.
Should I close in enough to gauge his movements, then dive into the water walls on the side?
Regretting that he hadn't trained more in water-based martial arts, Black Shadow reflexively turned his head.
The moment his eyes swept over the wall of water beside him.
His eyes widened to the point of tearing.
"..."
Beyond the dark wall of water, a pair of eerie, glowing lights flickered ominously.
Goosebumps erupted along his spine.
A sudden crash echoed as the river water shot out from the wall like a spear.
The energy radiating from the water spear carried a ferocious, unstoppable force.
Black Shadow instinctively thought of dodging it by bending his waist backward in the Iron Plate Bridge technique.
Ugh!
But his instincts screamed that doing so would only result in his heart being pierced by the water spear.
Instead, he threw himself backward and rolled across the muddy ground.
It was the same unsightly posture Jegal Wi-yeon had shown before—like a lazy colt rolling on the ground.
The Lazy Donkey Roll.
He had dodged the attack using the method most shameful to martial artists, who valued their pride as much as their lives.
"Pant, pant!"
Having barely escaped at the cost of his dignity, he was catching his breath when a voice rang out.
"Wow, that was a textbook Lazy Donkey Roll. I guess assassins these days don't know the meaning of shame."
"..."
Someone was emerging from the wall of water where the spear had originated.
Emitting the same chilling glow Black Shadow had mistaken for ghost lights, the figure was none other than Jeok-un.
Unlike the panicked assassin, Jeok-un was completely composed.
Jeok-un's calm demeanor made Black Shadow hesitate.
"...Did you know I was tailing you?"
"Yeah, of course. Who wouldn't?"
"...Since when?"
"Since right after I left the manor?"
"!"
Shockingly, his target had known the exact moment he began his pursuit.
However, Black Shadow forced himself to remain calm and spoke in a level voice.
"Don't talk nonsense. If you knew, why didn't you head back to the manor?"
"Are you seriously asking that? Your client is right there, you idiot."
"!"
Finally, sheer bewilderment washed over Black Shadow's face.
He had never imagined the boy would know the client's identity.
Watching the assassin's dumbfounded expression, Jeok-un clicked his tongue.
"Tsk, tsk. I can hear the gears grinding in your head from all the way over here, you insect."
"How dare you—!"
With a sharp whoosh, Black Shadow gnashed his teeth and lunged, unable to bear the insult any longer.
A mere Second-Class weakling dare mock me!
Although he had been startled by the sudden ambush, Black Shadow remained confident.
The energy in the water spear was only at the level of a seasoned first-class martial artist.
The boy's martial prowess was slightly higher than the initial intelligence suggested, but it didn't matter.
He himself was a master who had reached the peak of the first-class realm.
Though it was only a difference of a single realm, the gap between a first-class martial artist and a peak master was like that between an infant and an adult.
A low hum vibrated through Black Shadow's twin daggers.
It was the sword chime, a resonance produced when a weapon met internal energy—the hallmark of a peak master.
"I'll teach you some manners!"
Shouting, Black Shadow thrust his daggers forward, shrouded in a faint haze of sword qi.
He didn't think for a second that the boy could dodge it.
At a first-class level, everything would be over before one could even blink.
I'll start by taking off one of his arms...!
A sharp clang rang out.
"?!"
The situation unfolded in a completely unexpected direction.
A metallic screech rang out, as if scraping against an iron plate.
This meant his sword qi had clashed with a protective barrier—proof that the opponent's level was by no means inferior to his own.
"..."
"Why so surprised?"
Jeok-un mocked the wide-eyed assassin as he slipped deep into his guard.
Black Shadow took a step back to keep Jeok-un at bay, but the distance between them did not widen.
The boy's footwork was not inferior to his either.
The unexpected depth of his opponent's martial arts shook Black Shadow's composure.
No. This makes no sense!
In his panic, Black Shadow pressed closer, frantically swinging his twin daggers.
One was armed, while the other was bare-handed.
Even a three-year-old child knew who held the advantage in such a matchup, but...
A flurry of slashes erupted.
"?!"
Dozens of attacks were unleashed in less than a second, yet not a single strike landed.
Jeok-un deflected every single blow using the backs of his hands and his palms.
A heavy thwack resounded.
"...Cough!"
Instead, he even managed to land counterattacks in the brief gaps.
Rather than being evenly matched, Jeok-un clearly held the upper hand.
If the members of the Jegal Family had witnessed this, they would have doubted their own eyes.
"Is that... the Blood-Congealing Divine Hand?!"
Black Shadow was no exception. He desperately sought the reason behind Jeok-un's ability to deflect his attacks in the boy's martial arts.
The Blood-Congealing Divine Hand was a secret technique of the Jegal Family, a signature hand technique.
He assumed that even a minor mastery of it would protect the hands with internal energy, allowing him to block the twin daggers.
Jeok-un replied with a look reserved for a squashed bug.
"What kind of nonsense are you spouting? It's just basic footwork and fist forms."
"Y-You lie!"
Jeok-un's answer was the truth.
In fact, it really was.
He had simply overlaid the basic fist and foot techniques learned from the family with the Socheonseong cultivation technique, and topped it off with the Overlord's energy.
That was why he could easily block the twin daggers.
"Believe what you want."
Since there was no reason to explain, Jeok-un merely gave a half-hearted shrug.
"You bastard...!"
Black Shadow was convinced Jeok-un was mocking him.
How could a peak master like himself fail to break through basic family techniques?
"I'll kill you!"
Something snapped inside Black Shadow's mind.
With a sharp whoosh, he charged.
His twin daggers were now enveloped in a fierce, razor-sharp sword qi, incomparable to before.
The fact that Jeok-un's martial arts were stronger than expected was a miscalculation, but it didn't matter.
Such discrepancies were bound to happen, and he had more than enough ability to handle them.
Black Shadow was certain this trump card would end Jeok-un's life.
"Well, then."
But this was a grave miscalculation.
He was about to face a colossal power that defied all calculations.
"Shall we wrap this up?"
A low rumble echoed.
From Jeok-un's clenched fist.
The first of the seven stars, the star of desire.
"?!"
The star began to shine.
The Covetous Wolf Star: The First Star of the Overlord's Power