There's No Golden Tightening Fillet on My Head
The assassins came at him without end.
They were far more troublesome than the men in black — deploying every manner of hidden weapon, every kind of trap, every bizarre trick they could devise. Sun Wukong paid them no mind, smashing through the lot of them as he pressed forward.
"Yeah. I should just wipe them all out."
Sun Wukong ground his teeth and drove a massive stomp into the earth.
BOOM!
The assassins' bodies lifted into the air. Before they could even land, the steel staff came crashing down. Four or five of the charging killers had their bones shattered in an instant. Sun Wukong seized one of them by the head and spoke in a low voice.
"Where are you all gathered?"
Even if their headquarters was in Hubei Province, they wouldn't all have been sitting there waiting before launching an attack like this. They were bound to have a safe house of their own in Anhui.
The captured assassin kept his mouth shut tight and refused to open it.
The Butterfly Immortal shook his head with a troubled look.
"Assassins are famous for never talking. Rather than trying to wipe them all out at once, it seems we'll have to move while clearing them one by one, even if it's a bother."
Sun Wukong snorted.
"You're saying he won't talk no matter what we do?"
As if to prove those words, the assassin glared with wide eyes and kept his mouth closed. In that low, emotionless gaze was a steely will that said he would never talk.
"Are you planning to torture him?"
"I am."
"But that will take time as well..."
The Butterfly Immortal was every bit as impatient. They could not simply leave Geumgak in the enemy's hands. Was he not the Wudang Sect's foremost disciple of the Dao — the sect leader's own direct student? These villains had attacked a Wudang envoy without a moment's hesitation. He couldn't help but fear for Geumgak's safety. The longer they delayed, the greater the danger.
Ignoring the assassins and pushing on was no easy matter, either. Their movements had grown even more persistent.
"It'll be quick."
"He doesn't look like the type whose will snaps easily."
"While I handle this, check if anyone else is coming at us."
"...Understood."
Hoping it would not take long, the Butterfly Immortal turned away.
The assassin glared at Sun Wukong with eyes full of killing intent.
Do whatever you want. You think I'll talk?
That was what those eyes seemed to declare. Sun Wukong grinned as if he found it amusing.
"You think you've got a firm will, don't you?"
Well, if he didn't, he never could have become an assassin in the first place.
Assassins do not hunt those weaker than themselves. Their contracts target people who are hard to touch — those stronger than they are, those of high reputation, those of great wealth. The strong need no further explanation; they have martial power. The renowned form connections with other masters. The wealthy surround themselves with expert bodyguards. Assassins live a vicious life, always pointing their blades at predators stronger than themselves. They need guts and a steely will far beyond those of ordinary martial artists. Most of them, even when captured, choose death over talking.
This one had tried to bite down on the poison pill he'd tucked between his teeth the moment he was caught. If Sun Wukong hadn't yanked the tooth out in time, he would have killed himself on the spot.
"Fine. Let's see how well you hold out."
Sun Wukong wore a mischievous smile. The assassin shut his eyes completely and blocked his ears — an attitude that said he would not be shaken no matter what was done to him.
Sun Wukong's hand slid onto the crown of the assassin's head.
"When I was releasing the seal, a pretty brilliant idea occurred to me."
Was he planning to press the acupoints on the skull and inflict extreme pain? The assassin snorted. He had already prepared himself for death and suffering. No matter what Sun Wukong did...
In that instant, the assassin's eyes flew open as if they would tear. The illusion of something groping through his brain — and then the extreme pain that poured down.
"AAAAAAAGH!"
His steely will shattered in an instant. His mouth fell open of its own accord, and a scream condensed from the deepest part of him tore out.
"I wonder if anyone can endure the pain of having their soul ripped out."
A voice that lodged itself clearly in his ear, as if detached from the pain itself. His eyes rolled back, and blood vessels burst across the whites.
"Even if you hold out once or twice, if I keep putting the soul back in and pulling it out again... can a human brain take that?"
The vessels burst, and bloody tears streamed down. Blood poured from his nose as if the bone had been shattered.
"You're going to be the test subject this time."
Sun Wukong grinned as if he found it entertaining. His laughter, unmixed with the screams the assassin was letting out, drifted leisurely into his ears. The assassin's body trembled violently.
"I-I'll tell you everything. P-please spare me — no, p-please just don't do this!"
The steely will had broken. Sun Wukong grinned.
The assassin answered every question without hesitation. He had no choice. Mere pain he could endure. But this was something else entirely — the sensation of his brain being pulled out without even opening his skull. The feeling of his entire mind being shaken while his body sat still. It was grotesqueness itself, something even a vicious assassin could not withstand.
How much time had passed? Sun Wukong rose from his seat with a satisfied look.
"Pretty useful."
The method of applying force to the upper dantian to release a seal. He hadn't originally thought it would connect to torture. It was a solution that had come to him while he was wondering how to make someone talk. The results were a success. The assassin had spilled everything he knew from just a brief shaking of his soul.
When he'd released the Shandong Seven Shadows' seal, Sun Wukong had carefully controlled his yoryeok so they wouldn't be hurt. Since it was the upper dantian, even the slightest damage would be fatal. He had no need for such consideration with an assassin. Whether the upper dantian was damaged and the man lost his reason and went mad was of no concern. There were plenty of assassins attacking them — he could just capture another one.
"Let's go."
The Butterfly Immortal, who had been silently listening to the screams from outside, went wide-eyed.
"...Don't tell me you found out everything?"
He hurriedly looked up at the sky. The sun's position hadn't changed at all. A hollow sound escaped his lips of its own accord.
"It hasn't even been a quarter of an hour."
"There's a way to do everything, I keep telling you."
"Then are you truly going to strike the assassins' safe house and then move on?"
Sun Wukong nodded. His gaze turned toward the western sky, where a red sunset was slowly spreading.
"My night vision's no good, so let's wrap this up before the sun goes down."
His tone was peaceful. As casual as if he were heading out for a stroll.
The assassins' safe house was not a single building. An entire small village served as their dwelling.
Sun Wukong narrowed his brow. His eyes swept sharply over the surroundings.
The village was ordinary. Shabby buildings stood in a row, and fields had been cultivated. The crops weren't withered — they were growing well.
Sun Wukong spoke in a displeased tone.
"Assassins really are pieces of trash."
"That's only natural."
The Butterfly Immortal answered as if he despised them.
Originally, Sun Wukong hadn't had much interest in assassins. Martial artists also picked up swords and fought over territory, and spilling blood at the drop of a hat was just daily life. How was an assassin who killed people for money particularly worse? From the start, they had all just looked like the same humans in Sun Wukong's eyes.
But not now.
Sun Wukong let the dislike show plainly on his face. His clenched fist trembled faintly. A deep, vicious disgust writhed up from somewhere inside him. He spat the words out as if chewing them.
"This wasn't originally a safe house."
The Butterfly Immortal tilted his head. Rather, it was Namgung Seowol who reacted to Sun Wukong's words.
"It's strange. Here."
Namgung Seowol's powers of observation were as remarkable as Namgung Muyoung's. The difference was that unlike Muyoung, her meticulous eye only manifested in specific areas. Seowol knew this was a battlefield where they would have to fight the assassins. In a fight, grasping the surrounding environment was important — where the buildings were placed, where the rocks and trees stood. Especially when the opponents were assassins. They concealed themselves, took cover, and you never knew from where they would send hidden weapons flying. The moment they arrived, Seowol had scanned the surroundings thoroughly. She immediately understood what Sun Wukong was talking about.
"There are no children."
"...!"
The Butterfly Immortal's eyes went round.
"Tsk. It's not just the children. There's no smoke from cooking fires. Not a single able-bodied man coming home from the fields — not even a shadow in sight. No women doing laundry, drawing water, or working. What do you think that means?"
"That's..."
Sun Wukong clicked his tongue and looked around the village. If this were a settlement the assassins had built from scratch, that would be one thing. It wasn't. Faint traces of ordinary life, hard to associate with killers, lingered here. This had been a real village where ordinary people had lived. There was only one answer.
Sun Wukong's voice sank deep.
"They killed every last one of them and took it."
"...Th-these wicked—!"
The Butterfly Immortal's snow-white beard trembled. Sun Wukong, equally displeased, gripped his steel staff tight.
"Ha. Sometimes I really..."
I just don't get it.
"...can't tell who's the monster and who's the human."
Sun Wukong's eyes sank low.
As they entered the village, presence stirred from every direction. Killing intent lurked everywhere. Sun Wukong murmured quietly.
"Seowol."
"Mm."
"Circle around wide from the left."
"Got it."
Seowol didn't question Sun Wukong's words. Her mind was filled only with how to fight.
"Immortal, please go around to the right."
"So Young Lady Namgung and I will encircle them from both sides. Then what about you, Teacher Sun?"
Sun Wukong grinned.
"Obviously I'm going straight through the front."
That's more satisfying, isn't it.
The Butterfly Immortal nodded as if in agreement.
Indeed...
Sun Wukong was the most powerful and fiercest spear. He had to pierce the thickest defensive wall. The Butterfly Immortal acknowledged Sun Wukong's martial prowess — he was a stronger fighter than himself, who had trained in the martial arts for over sixty years.
Still, it wasn't as if he had no worries at all. More precisely, it was the Butterfly Immortal's cautious nature of knocking even on a stone bridge before crossing.
"There are too many of them."
The Butterfly Immortal's sensory perception was well developed as well. The number of assassins was enormous.
"It's as if the entire Yusal Sect has come here."
"The entire Yusal Sect?"
"The Yusal Sect is so cautious they won't even touch people living in Anhui Province when they take contracts."
"Hmm."
"There's even a saying that if you've become a target of the Yusal Sect, you should flee to Anhui. That if you go to Anhui Province, you might not be able to avoid other assassination guilds — but you can at least avoid the Yusal Sect."
"So those cautious bastards have piled into Anhui like this just to catch this Teacher Sun."
"That's right."
Sun Wukong let out a short laugh.
There were two possible answers. Either Geumgak was someone they needed so badly they had to obtain him at all costs — or it meant they had realized how dangerous Sun Wukong was.
In that case, these assassins might just be the minions those bastards are using.
At the very least, they were definitely connected. Sun Wukong clicked his tongue, thinking of the ringleader who would be heading toward Geumgak in earnest around now.
They really prepared thoroughly.
But there was one thing they had failed at.
"You took me too lightly."
Sun Wukong's form shot forward like a thunderbolt. At the same time, Seowol and the Butterfly Immortal moved in wide arcs to either side.
Sun Wukong's body simply collapsed the distance — as if space meant nothing to him at all. When his form suddenly surged up right in front of one assassin, the man panicked and tried to scatter hidden weapons.
No — he tried to.
The instant he moved to pull his arm from his sleeve, the steel staff came crashing down on his wrist.
CRACK.
The wrist didn't just break — it was crushed. The moment he subdued one assassin, a dozen more swarmed around Sun Wukong.
Assassins were those who hid their true forms and carried out killings from the shadows. They thoroughly concealed their killing intent. But these ones revealed themselves, leaking murderous aura as if they had no intention of hiding it — as if they had that much confidence in their own skills.
One of them, who until now had only groaned even in death, glared with eyes thick with a ghastly blue ghost-light and spoke. A terrible voice like scraping metal spilled out.
"We know you're strong."
"But the assassins of our guild are strong as well."
Sun Wukong lifted his chin as if to say, go on, let's hear it.
"The entire Yusal Sect is here."
A warning that since all of them had come, he was bound to die. If the entire Yusal Sect had been mobilized, even an absolute master couldn't rest easy. That was just how assassination guilds were.
But Sun Wukong's reaction was quite different. A genuinely delighted expression rose on his face.
"That's great. Means I don't have to go around beating them all up one by one."
When Sun Wukong sneered lightly, the assassin's eyebrow twitched. A voice mixed with a faint laugh spilled from his lips.
"Do you think you can kill every assassin here?"
"..."
"Do you think you can stain your hands with the blood of every last one of them?"
Sun Wukong let out a short laugh. It was closer to a scoff of sheer disbelief. The instant the assassin furrowed his brow, Sun Wukong's playful voice drifted out.
"You're all going to die."
The smile deepened — a bratty, mischievous laugh, as if he found it so entertaining he couldn't hold it in. Sun Wukong tapped his own forehead.
"Because."
Even if I kill every last one of you.
There's no Sanzang to stop me.