Chapter 71
Chapter 71
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 71
Chapter Title: Promise with the White Master
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Se Yeong appeared in the village, and those who recognized his face rushed over, bowing their heads low.
"It's an honor to see you, Young Master."
"What brings you to the village, Young Master?"
They were laborers who had worked at the estate, still addressing Se Yeong not as a great hero but as "Young Master."
"I have business with Lord Yi."
"Ah, I see. Well then, until next time."
As the laborers stepped back, Paeng Se Gi, who had been scanning the surroundings, spoke up.
"Brother, is it really okay to wander the village like this? We don't know when an assassin might strike."
"What, you feeling uneasy?"
At Se Yeong's question, he made a miserable face.
"Brother, take a good look at my face. Does this even look human?"
His complexion was rough from lack of sleep, with dark circles under his eyes.
In truth, not just Paeng Se Gi but the entire squad had been suffering from insomnia lately.
The Pavilion Master's ambushes came day and night without distinction, but they were especially fierce at night.
"Still haven't pinpointed the Pavilion Master's hiding spots?"
"Yes. We get a feeling something's there, but we can't nail down the exact locations every time."
"Finding the Pavilion Master's hides won't be easy. Still, you've grown enough to dodge the ambushes."
The Pavilion Master of Black Moon Pavilion was undoubtedly one of the top assassins in the martial world.
Even he must desperately hope the squad couldn't uncover his hiding spots.
"I don't just want to dodge ambushes—I want to find the hidden assassins first and kill them."
"You've got five more days. Do your best."
Paeng Se Gi wore a desperate expression.
"Can't we extend it another month? Please, Brother, I'm begging you."
In truth, Se Yeong had been pondering the same thing.
Yi Cheon Yeong, Dang Ok Yi, and Sa Sa Un hadn't even caught a whiff yet.
Surprisingly, Hahu Yeon had followed in Younggak's footsteps, dodging the Pavilion Master's ambush a day later.
He didn't evade every time, but it was an astonishing talent nonetheless.
"I'll think about it."
"Thank you, Brother."
As Se Yeong and Paeng Se Gi approached the main gate, the Yi family retainers grew visibly tense.
"Wh-what... brings you here, Hero Han?"
They were so on edge they'd even forgotten basic greetings.
"I've come to see Lord Yi."
"Ah, understood. Please, come in."
They flung open the estate's main gate wide.
A retainer dashed ahead to announce them, and Lord Yi hurried out to greet them despite his frail condition.
"Pl-please... come in, Hero Han. Hero Paeng, you too."
Se Yeong treated him with polite decorum.
"It's been a while. I have urgent business, so I came to see you."
The tense Lord Yi quickly ushered the two into a room.
"This way to the room. What are you all doing? Prepare a table with drinks— we have esteemed guests!"
He barked orders at the retainers to ready a proper welcome.
"No need for drinks; I plan to leave soon."
At Se Yeong's words, Lord Yi inwardly sighed in relief.
'He really does have some favor to ask.'
The moment Se Yeong sat across from him, Lord Yi spoke first.
"What is this urgent matter you mentioned?"
At his question, Paeng Se Gi pulled a money pouch from his bosom.
"Three hundred nyang in silver."
"Why... are you giving this to me?"
Lord Yi stared puzzled at the promissory note Paeng Se Gi handed him.
It was the very note he had once offered to Se Yeong.
"Procure five hundred mulberry saplings and fifty jars of fine liquor."
"What... do you plan to use them for?"
Liquor could be stored and enjoyed, but he couldn't immediately guess the purpose of mulberry saplings.
"To plant them. Get them as quickly as possible."
"Ah, understood. I'll check with the merchant groups our family trades with right away."
"Thank you."
Se Yeong rose to leave immediately.
"Al-already leaving? At least let me offer a meal."
Lord Yi uttered words that didn't match his true feelings.
"What if I decided to settle here? Wouldn't you feel better if I left your family estate quickly?"
With that, Se Yeong departed the room with Paeng Se Gi.
Called out on his true thoughts, Lord Yi panicked greatly.
"N-no, how could that be? Please visit again, Hero Han."
"See you next time."
After seeing Se Yeong off to the door and returning, Lord Yi wiped away cold sweat.
Whew...
What a truly difficult man to deal with.
He had already given up on revenge.
Even protecting his family felt burdensome now.
If he desperately wished for anything, it was for the Six Nets Sword Witch to appear soon and kill that man.
Until then, he had to somehow placate him to safeguard the family.
'When will the Six Nets Sword Witch come?'
"I'll place the second commission. The Pavilion Master is to remain at the estate for another month, ambushing the squad members."
At Se Yeong's demand, the Pavilion Master felt dizzy.
Black Moon Pavilion assassins had already been staying in the village for a month.
Without their Pavilion Master, the assassin guild couldn't accept or decline jobs, leaving the assassins idle.
Yet having already promised, he couldn't refuse Se Yeong's commission.
"Understood. But I have one request."
"Speak."
"Because this old man has been stuck at this estate for a month, Black Moon Pavilion can't conduct business. Allow our assassins to come and go freely."
Se Yeong was inclined to accept.
But opposition from the squad was fierce.
"This isn't an assassin guild, Hero Han."
"Exactly. Who knows when those assassins might turn on us."
Yi Cheon Yeong and Dang Ok Yi harbored immense aversion to assassins.
And understandably so—facing their blades multiple times a day had nearly driven them mad.
It wasn't just them.
Sa Sa Un, Yi Hwa, and the Yi siblings sighed deeply with grim faces.
The Pavilion Master felt bitterly disappointed that squad members he'd spent a month with still didn't trust him.
He thought he'd upheld his honor, yet they hadn't accepted him.
Quietly gauging the mood, Instructor Kang turned to Yi Cheon Yeong.
"Do you know how the Mount Hua Sect Leader met his end during the Demonic Cult's great war?"
Yi Cheon Yeong replied with confident conviction.
"He faced the Demonic Cult's masters head-on and fell heroically in battle."
Hmm.
"Half right, half wrong. The Mount Hua Sect Leader was the first to fall to the assassins' poison. He fought a bloody battle against the Demonic Cult masters while poisoned and perished."
At Instructor Kang's words, Yi Cheon Yeong's expression sobered, and he bowed his head.
"I... didn't know."
Glorious Mount Hua had been reduced to ashes in a single night.
Fortunately, a few disciples survived, preserving the sect's lineage.
"The old Demonic Cult didn't have many assassins. And those few were wiped out by the Infinite Sword Immortal."
Instructor Kang glanced briefly at Se Yeong as he spoke.
It wasn't the Infinite Sword Immortal who massacred the assassins—it was his grandfather.
"But like Mount Hua, their lineage likely survived."
Once he finished, Yi Cheon Yeong reconsidered.
"I'll defer to Hero Han's decision."
"Ugh, traitor. Fine, me too—I'll go with Hero Han's call."
With even Dang Ok Yi changing her mind, the powerless Sa Sa Un and siblings had no choice but to stay silent.
"I'll permit the assassins' entry."
In the end, Se Yeong gave approval.
"My thanks, Hero Han."
The Pavilion Master bowed deeply.
Visiting the Alliance Leader, the Strategist hesitantly spoke.
"Something must have gone wrong for the Six Nets Sword Witch. Otherwise, she would have shown herself by now."
The Alliance Leader, sharing the sentiment, nodded gravely.
"Is Han Se Yeong still alive?"
"Yes. From the looks of it, either another of the Five Absolutes of the Martial World steps in, or you handle it personally, Alliance Leader."
The Strategist secretly hoped Se Yeong wouldn't die.
But that was personal sentiment.
"What of the Demon Subduing Squad Leader who fled?"
"His whereabouts are unknown."
The Alliance Leader fell silent.
The Strategist observed a quiet silence as well.
Eventually, the Alliance Leader broke the long quiet.
"The White Master is truly remarkable."
Why suddenly mention the righteous faction's supreme figure?
The Strategist couldn't hide his puzzlement.
The Alliance Leader continued.
"He claimed there was a Demonic Cult spy in the Murim Alliance. I didn't want to believe him."
A Demonic Cult spy in the Murim Alliance? It wounded his pride.
"He made an outrageous demand. He said repaying his debt would be me killing Han Se Yeong with my own hands."
A bet with no downside.
There were no Demonic Cult spies in the Murim Alliance, and even if there were, plenty of experts besides himself could kill Han Se Yeong.
"So that's why you let Han Se Yeong go then, Alliance Leader?"
"Yes. Even without me, the Heaven Dominating Blade King and Six Nets Sword Witch would act."
The Strategist agreed with the Alliance Leader.
The Six Nets Sword Witch would seek to avenge herself by killing Han Se Yeong, and the Heaven Dominating Blade King wouldn't let him off, believing he'd seduced his son.
No, Shaolin's silence was suspicious too.
Shaolin disciple Younggak had been cavorting with him, earning the infamous title of Martial Demon in the martial world.
Yet Han Se Yeong remained unscathed.
"The Heaven Dominating Blade King has likely already met Han Se Yeong. A man of fiery temper like that wouldn't stay quiet this long. And the Six Nets Sword Witch is dead."
The Alliance Leader's judgment was spot on.
But the Strategist refused to believe the Six Nets Sword Witch was dead.
"Impossible, Alliance Leader. She's one of the Five Absolutes of the Martial World."
"The White Master troubles me."
"Are you saying... the White Master killed the Six Nets Sword Witch?"
The Strategist was startled by his own words.
"Doesn't that make the most sense?"
It was a frightening conclusion, but the Alliance Leader's reasoning was plausible and fit the pieces perfectly.
The Strategist's mind raced.
The rumor of Han Se Yeong in Goldcheon had spread like wildfire, as if deliberately planted.
In the end, Han Se Yeong was mere bait.
The White Master had used him to lure one of the Five Absolutes to their death.
As the Alliance Leader said, he was truly remarkable.
"Han Se Yeong wasn't a Demonic Cult spy after all, Alliance Leader."
"Does that matter now? The fact remains that the Iron Wire Fairy and other masters died by his hand."
The Alliance Leader was right again.
"What should we do now, Alliance Leader?"
The best course was for the Alliance Leader to personally behead Han Se Yeong.
But the White Master might be counting on that.
"Raise the bounty to five hundred thousand nyang. Announce it without distinction between righteous or evil: anyone bringing Han Se Yeong's head gets five hundred thousand nyang."
"The martial world will mock the Murim Alliance."
Unexpected words from the prideful Alliance Leader, whose ego soared higher than the heavens.
"Let them mock for now. But I will behead the White Master and raze Sa Baek City."
A declaration worthy of the Alliance Leader.
At this, the Strategist conceived a plan.
"I have a scheme to capture the White Master."
"What is it, Strategist?"
"I'll serve as bait myself to lure him out."
He wasn't one of the Five Absolutes, but as the Murim Alliance Strategist, he was worth targeting.
Se Yeong's gaze shifted from the kitchen to the roof, then to the eaves.
The Pavilion Master moved while maintaining his concealment, but Se Yeong saw his movements clearly.
'I extended it a month for the squad's sake, but I've gained far more.'
It wasn't just reading assassin movements that helped.
With his internal energy control growing finer, the Heavenly Lord's Unity Art began to stir.
Se Yeong welcomed it.
He'd worried about the demonic qi overpowering it before, but now he'd found a clue to balance them.
'Looks like I'll need to train my martial arts alone for a while.'
As Se Yeong pondered this, Paeng Se Gi's shout rang out.
"There you are!"
He swung his iron club at a motionless tree.
Crack...
The tree splintered, and the Pavilion Master popped out from the shadows.
The Pavilion Master glared at him with eyes full of irritation.
"Stop following me around already."