Martial Arts Assassin (4)
Martial Arts Assassin (4)
A shattered carriage and an unconscious coachman.
While I sat on the carriage wreckage catching my breath, Sannyeo walked slowly out from the other side of the forest. Her face was creased with irritation, her fingers twitched, and each fingertip was stained with blood, giving her a chilling appearance. I asked.
"What, are you hurt?"
"No. But it left a pretty nasty taste in my mouth."
Saying that, Sannyeo sat down on the carriage wheel as a seat. She crossed her legs, examined her hands, waving her fingers around, and said.
"Some so-called elder from the Demonic Cult suddenly picked a fight, but instead of fighting properly, he just kept running away. I did land a hit on him, but it was far from easy, fighting with my hands bound the whole time."
Just a moment before, I too had encountered someone from the Demonic Cult. The woman, Deungjang Han, who had stood before me was like a mountain, yet Sannyeo was calmly saying she landed a hit with her hands bound. I let out a hollow laugh and said.
"You're telling me you gained the upper hand against a Demonic Cult elder with your hands bound?"
"It wouldn't be right to say I had the upper hand. My opponent didn't fight me properly. If we had clashed head-on, I'd probably have been in danger. If my hands had been untied, I might have pulled something off."
Saying that, Sannyeo raised her manacles to show me. Then she looked around and spotted Gong Jo's headless corpse. The body was drenched in blood, the ground riddled with holes like a mole's den, and the wide-spreading cracks hinted at a fierce battle.
"Looks like it was a tremendous fight. Your inner power is depleted, and the smell of blood tells me you've suffered internal injuries. Your opponent's skill seems impressive—how did you win?"
I opened my mouth to explain the situation. But as I tried, I felt my face involuntarily crumple.
"...I didn't win. I did everything I could, but that bastard was a cut above me."
Sannyeo was quick-witted. Hearing just that, she completed her analysis of the situation.
"So, a Demonic Cult elder showed up and killed him for you too?"
"It seemed like the Heavenly Demon came in person."
"....."
Sannyeo closed her mouth and stared at me. The look in her red eyes, serious and intense, seemed to say, 'Don't joke around.' But what could I do? Bring up the secret manual of the Sex Demon Cheonpung, and a white-haired woman living near Hengshan whose realm was beyond comprehension—she's not the Heavenly Demon, just some Demonic Cult elder?
It would be easier to commit suicide in this life and aim to be the world's greatest in the next.
"...Really?"
"I'm telling you, it's real. The Heavenly Demon appeared, pointed a finger—tak—and that bastard's head burst."
"...The Heavenly Demon came in person? That's surprising. So, what did you talk about with that Heavenly Demon?"
"She asked me to crush the Sichuan Tang Clan."
"Even the Demonic Cult is giving you a commission—your notoriety is higher than any average assassin group, huh?"
Sannyeo tossed out the joke. I laughed out loud, incredulous, and Sannyeo nodded and said.
"But getting entangled with the Demonic Cult is something you need to be very careful about. Besides, we have no justification to strike the Tang Clan, so getting help from the Zhuge Family this time will be hard. From the perspective of the Zhuge Family or the imperial household, suddenly antagonizing or scheming against a clan that uses poison would be too burdensome."
"I have to prioritize eliminating the Tang Clan, but from the Zhuge Family's perspective, it's a rather incongruous goal. They cooperate with the Murim Alliance, but they tend to play on their own a bit."
The martial foundation of the Nine Sects One Gang and the Murim Alliance lay, no matter what anyone said, in self-cultivation and growth.
What am I? What is the principle of the world? How should we live in this turbulent world? While swinging a sword, find answers, pour your essence into the tip of the blade and swing it to make a name. That was chivalrous conduct, the mission of those who walk the righteous path.
But the Sichuan Tang Clan, although treated as an orthodox sect, was a place utterly disconnected from such mental and physical cultivation. Rumors were rife that everyone from the sect leader on down was obsessed with poison, and their notoriety said they wouldn't hesitate to poison anyone who opposed their interests.
"It's a den of madmen. In the past, I heard nasty rumors that they even make their own children into Poison Humans and use them in experiments."
Experiments on their own children? How could the clan still exist after such experiments? When I looked at her with a puzzled look, Sannyeo tilted her head and said.
"If there's no proof, it's as if it never happened. There are only rumors."
"This time, we actually need to avoid being found out by the Zhuge Family. That's it, huh."
If it were Sect Leader Hao, who pursues the pleasures of life, he'd gladly cooperate with the idea of toppling the Sichuan Tang Clan. But the Zhuge Family would likely be embarrassed. Because it would be nothing but poking a hornet's nest.
"The Tang Clan isn't a family that swears loyalty to the Murim Alliance, nor do they antagonize the imperial court. They show no signs of expanding their power. As long as you let them keep researching poison in Sichuan, they'll swear loyalty to anyone. Would the Zhuge Family really bother to touch them?"
"But for me to grow further, the Sichuan Tang Clan must be eliminated. If I distinguish myself any more, they'll try to take me down without any justification."
"It's the awl in the bag. You've been hidden long enough for your talents. So, what are you going to do?"
I repeatedly clenched and unclenched my hand. Blood no longer flowed from the staunched arm, but the bloodstains remained vivid, giving a grotesque appearance. My inner power had recovered somewhat, making movement easier, and shattered axe handles rolled around on the ground.
"In today's fight, I used a special technique for the first time, you know?"
Sannyeo's eyes shifted. She looked at the ground, hollowed out as if a giant boulder had fallen, nodded, and let out an exclamation of admiration.
"It's faster than I thought. As expected, you're a quick learner."
"But after using it once, my inner energy was completely drained, so I couldn't do anything. If the Heavenly Demon hadn't come, I would have died right there."
Sannyeo nodded and said.
"It's common when the training period is short compared to your realm. And your inner energy cultivation method—wasn't it the basic Shaolin method? You trained for two years on nothing but fasting pills, so up to now you could rampage without issue. But to properly say you've reached the realm of a peak master, your inner power needs to support it."
"It would be nice if someone gave me some spirit medicine or something."
I briefly thought of the Zhuge Family, but shook my head. The Zhuge Family and I were currently maintaining a relationship as equal collaborators, in our own way. If I accepted spirit medicine from them, it could deteriorate into a superior-subordinate relationship, and I didn't know what tricks they might pull.
Even if I obtained spirit medicine, I had to obtain it through my own strength.
"Or there's also the method of learning a slightly better cultivation method. If it has good compatibility with the method I'm currently learning, the speed of drawing in inner energy would increase several times, making training easier and allowing me to practice special techniques freely."
Sannyeo said it lightly, but this too was no simple matter. Strong cultivation methods were that rare. Especially since I had built my foundation with Shaolin's method from the start, I would need to obtain a Shaolin method—but how in the world could I get a Shaolin cultivation method?
It would be easier to break into Shaolin's warehouse and steal their Rejuvenation Pill.
None of this or that would be resolved just by thinking about it now.
The important thing was to clear my mind by thinking about something else for a while.
Nothing got done in a hurry.
As the saying went, 'the more urgent, the more you must take a roundabout route'; the more you had to gain, the more you needed to calmly empty your thoughts about what you must obtain.
So how could I clear my head?
"Sannyeo."
"...Why are you acting like that?"
Even though I only called her name, Sannyeo flinched in surprise and widened the distance. She probably hadn't been this wary even when facing the Demonic Cult elder. The level of her wariness now was similar to when I had encountered the Heavenly Demon.
"Come to think of it, I haven't received my reward for collapsing the Beggars' Sect yet."
"...Uh, strictly speaking...."
"The Beggars' Sect was shattered, and I killed the sect leader's son, didn't I?"
Sannyeo closed her mouth. Strictly speaking, I hadn't completely destroyed the Beggars' Sect, but refusing a reward for this level of results was, even she would think, a shabby excuse. She pursed her lips, rolled her eyes, then clasped her hands and timidly hunched her body.
"S-so, what do you want to do?"
Last time I used your foot, so where should I ask for it next? Getting squeezed between your smooth thighs would be nice, but it was too early for that. We still didn't know each other that well, and didn't Sannyeo still have plenty of targets to take revenge on?
We did the foot; the thigh was too soon; and if I used your hand, my balls and thighs would burst.
Then there was only one area left.
I whispered to Sannyeo.
"I want to rub my cock against your armpit."
"....."
Her reaction was weaker than I expected. Far from blushing, she looked off into the air with a puzzled expression. After blinking for a moment to collect her thoughts, she asked me again.
"...Sorry. I misunderstood. What did you say you want to do?"
"I said let me rub my cock against your armpit."
"....You must be crazy."
Sannyeo recoiled in shock and backed away.