Chapter 82: Chapter 82
The Blood Forest Assassination Bureau claimed dominion over the Xinjiang region. It possessed power formidable enough to warrant that claim, and at least within Xinjiang, there were few who could challenge their stronghold.
The Blood Forest Assassination Bureau possessed a unique atmosphere, rough yet free-spirited. This was largely due to the influence of its master, Sim Su-myeong.
Sim Su-myeong reigned as the absolute ruler of the Blood Forest Assassination Bureau, yet he never coerced his subordinates. Instead, he granted them great freedom, allowing them to follow him of their own volition.
That free-spirited atmosphere had created the Blood Forest Assassination Bureau as it stood today.
Sim Su-myeong, the absolute ruler of the Blood Forest Assassination Bureau, sat in his quarters, gazing at the wall. More precisely, he was staring at a single saber hanging upon it.
“Demonic Saber Jeok-seong.”
It was the last relic left by the Blood Demon, the treasure that Eun Ha-seong, the master of Seocheon Mountain Villa, had so desperately coveted.
Jeok-seong, which had lost its luster after Eun Ha-seong’s death. Sim Su-myeong stared intently at Jeok-seong. In his eyes burned an undeniable greed.
‘I want that saber. I want to wield that saber as I please.’
When he had first brought Jeok-seong here, he had harbored no particular desire for it. He had simply displayed it in his room as a trophy of victory and to prevent others from coveting it.
But as the saying goes, seeing something breeds desire. As he gazed upon Jeok-seong day after day, greed had slowly taken root in his heart.
“Damn it!”
Sim Su-myeong cursed under his breath as he rose from his seat.
“Ugh!”
“An ambush!”
Suddenly, from outside came shouts and the clash of weapons. In that instant, Sim Su-myeong’s expression changed completely.
“Who are they?”
He hastily looked out the window. There, he saw hundreds of warriors who had invaded the Blood Forest Assassination Bureau.
They wore blue-tinted helmets and matching blue armor. Mounted on massive warhorses, they leveled blue-tinted lances.
Thrust! Thrust!
“Kuhuk!”
Every time they thrust their lances, warriors of the Blood Forest Assassination Bureau screamed and fell.
The Bureau’s warriors fought back with all their might, but the disparity in martial strength was too great.
They did not rush. Slowly but surely, they slaughtered the warriors of the Blood Forest Assassination Bureau.
At their head rode a man of colossal build. His massive frame was like a boulder that had been uprooted, and he sat astride an equally enormous warhorse.
Whoooosh!
“Kuhuk!”
Every time he swung his lance, as large as he was, the warriors of the Blood Forest Assassination Bureau were bisected and sent rolling across the ground. He wielded the massive lance as though it were a sword.
Each time he swung, blue lance energy surged forth. The energy rose like a heat haze, resembling the flames of hell itself.
The mere sight of him sent chills through one’s entire body. It was immediately apparent that he was the leader.
Suddenly, the leader’s gaze turned toward where Sim Su-myeong stood. In that moment, Sim Su-myeong realized. With his own strength, he could never hope to defeat this man.
His soul, not his mind, felt fear first and issued its warning.
Clatter!
The leader wheeled his horse toward Sim Su-myeong. Sim Su-myeong seized the Blood Forest Saber and prepared to rush out.
At that moment, the door burst open and Sim Ok and Heuk-no rushed in.
“Father!”
“Master!”
The wounds on their bodies testified to the ferocity of the battle they had endured.
Sim Su-myeong quickly examined Sim Ok’s entire body.
“Are you alright?”
“I’m fine. What about you, Father?”
“There is no time for talk. Leave the Blood Forest Assassination Bureau at once. Go to the study and push the third bookshelf, it will reveal a secret passage. Escape through there.”
“I can’t do that.”
“This is no time for stubbornness.”
“No! I’ll fight alongside you, Father!”
“Haa!”
Sim Su-myeong sighed and looked at Heuk-no.
“Heuk-no!”
“Yes! My Lord.”
“Take care of my daughter.”
“Father! What do you mean, Ah!”
In that instant, Sim Ok lost consciousness. Sim Su-myeong had struck her acupressure point.
“My Lord?”
“Take her and go quickly. I do not know who those people are, but we cannot possibly defeat them. Go. Please protect my daughter.”
“I understand, My Lord!”
“Go now.”
“Then, “
Heuk-no carried the unconscious Sim Ok and fled the room.
Boom!
Immediately after, the entire wall shattered inward. The leader of the invaders appeared through the breach.
“Chaa!”
Sim Su-myeong did not hesitate. He launched a strike at the leader.
Whoooosh!
A crimson saber energy erupted from the Blood Forest Saber and shot toward the leader. But the leader simply flicked his lance lightly, deflecting Sim Su-myeong’s attack.
“Haaa!”
Sim Su-myeong swung the Blood Forest Saber repeatedly. He unleashed every ultimate technique the saber could offer.
“Die, you monster!”
He did not know why they had attacked the Blood Forest Assassination Bureau. He knew he was outmatched, but he could not simply sit and wait for death.
No matter what technique he unleashed, the leader blocked it with ease.
Shhhhick!
The leader’s lance shot forward like a serpent, piercing Sim Su-myeong’s shoulder. The lancehead that emerged from his shoulder bored clean through the wall behind him.
“Kuhuk!”
Sim Su-myeong screamed and vomited blood.
The lips hidden beneath the leader’s helmet parted.
“Not bad. But your resolve is lacking.”
“Who are you, to dare commit such slaughter within the Blood Forest Assassination Bureau?”
The leader did not answer. Instead, he looked at Jeok-seong hanging on the wall.
“I received orders. To retrieve Jeok-seong.”
“You came for the Demonic Saber?”
“An overabundance of treasure invites calamity. Jeok-seong is not a treasure befitting a man of your caliber.”
“You would commit such slaughter for a single saber? Do you not fear heaven?”
“Ha! A man who lives by the sword believes in heaven? How laughable.”
The leader let out a cold laugh.
The killing intent in his voice filled Sim Su-myeong with dread.
The leader extended his hand. Jeok-seong and the Blood Demon’s Manuscript, both hanging on the wall, flew into his grasp.
At the sight, Sim Su-myeong’s face turned ashen.
“V-Void Extraction?”
The leader had casually employed an advanced technique, one that only those whose internal energy surpassed the limits of humanity could execute.
Sim Su-myeong realized then that the man was even more formidable than he had imagined.
“Wh-who are you?”
“Well!”
A cold smile played across the man’s lips.
Crack-crack-crack!
In that instant, a series of small explosions erupted within Sim Su-myeong’s body. The leader had channeled internal energy through the lancehead that had pierced Sim Su-myeong’s body.
First, the minor meridians burst, followed by the major ones. Sim Su-myeong’s body convulsed as though countless fireworks were detonating inside him.
“Kraaah!”
Sim Su-myeong let out a desperate scream.
Blood streamed from his eyes and ears. But it did not stop there. Blood erupted from every orifice in his body like a fountain.
That was the end of Sim Su-myeong, the master of the Blood Forest Assassination Bureau.
Only then did the leader withdraw his lance.
“Disappointing. Still, I had expected slightly more from the overlord of Xinjiang.”
The leader turned away.
The massacre at the Blood Forest Assassination Bureau had already ended.
The only survivors were his subordinates in blue armor. Not a single living creature of the Blood Forest Assassination Bureau remained, not even an ant.
“Casualties?”
“Two hundred Blue Wind Cavalry, all accounted for. However…”
“What is it?”
“It appears someone escaped. A secret passage was discovered near the study.”
“Pursue them. It is not yet time to reveal ourselves.”
“Understood.”
“The rest, return to base.”
“By your command!”
The leader turned and departed the Blood Forest Assassination Bureau.
Where they had vanished, only the aura of death remained.
***
Eun So-cheong gazed at the fifth floor of the Cheonha Jeil Ru, now in ruins, and sighed. It was as though a storm had swept through. Indeed, a storm named Dam Ho had destroyed everything and passed.
In the face of crisis, her uncle Sim Woo-won had displayed remarkable resourcefulness. He had silenced the guests with money and taken double and triple measures to ensure they would never speak of what they had witnessed.
The moment anyone revealed what had happened here, everything they had would crumble.
“Haa!”
Eun So-cheong sighed in a manner unbecoming her age. Jong Ri-su watched her in silence. His own heart was equally tangled.
“Eun-geom.”
“Yes!”
“How do you think you would fare against that man?”
“……”
“Do you think you could win?”
“That is…”
Jong Ri-su hesitated.
At his response, Eun So-cheong nodded, as though she had expected as much.
“Uncle couldn’t move a muscle. The master of the Uiseon Sect, one of the Five Great Sects of Hunan. In other words, the Five Great Sects of Hunan are no match for that man.”
“That is…”
“That man… he is truly terrifying.”
Though he did not answer, Jong Ri-su agreed with Eun So-cheong in his heart.
‘No, he is far more than simply terrifying. The destructive power he possesses is beyond imagination.’
He had killed a warrior before the Uiseon Sect Leader and left no consequences whatsoever. For ordinary martial artists, it was an unimaginable feat.
“He was called Shin Gang-hyeol-seong? Have you heard of him, Eun-geom?”
“I have not. My apologies.”
“Of course. You’ve been away from the martial world traveling with me. Look into him for me, will you?”
“I will.”
“Sigh! Why does everything have to be so complicated? We just met because Jin-bo’s cooking was delicious.”
Eun So-cheong sighed again.
Though she was the only daughter of the Eun Family, the most influential in all of Hunan, she was still just a young girl.
It was then.
“Why such a heavy sigh?”
“Huh?”
A refreshing voice suddenly reached her ears.
Eun So-cheong turned to look toward the stairs.
“Keep sighing like that and the floor might collapse.”
“Sister?”
Eun So-cheong’s face broke into a bright smile, as though she had never been frowning at all.
A woman in distinctive attire was ascending the stairs.
She wore a tiger-leopard vest over her upper body and tight leather trousers on her lower half. Her tanned skin and fresh smile evoked images of a wild horse galloping freely across the grasslands.
“Sister!”
Eun So-cheong threw open her arms to welcome the woman.
The woman’s fresh smile deepened.
“It’s been a while.”
“Sister Hye-ryeong.”
The woman’s name was Hwang Hye-ryeong, one of the people Eun So-cheong trusted most in the world. And she was the very person they had arranged to meet here today.
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