Chapter 301: The Answer is One (1)
Gi Wu-hui’s eyes wavered.
Fwooooosh.
Yeon Ho-jeong’s aura was extremely quiet, like a lake where not a single breath of wind blew.
However, Gi Wu-hui could see it. The terrifying flames burning in his two eyes.
Although it was cold, like the weather of the North Sea in the far land of mystery where the four directions were said to be filled with transparent ice, inside it, lava was seething that would burn the world.
‘Evil God.’
It was evil. The spiritual power of destruction she had felt when she saw Yeon Ho-jeong before was being felt exactly as it was.
‘Even more than then.’
An evil qi that a normal person could not feel. In fact, it was merely captured by the spiritual eye Gi Wu-hui was born with, and it was not actually something like an aura of evil.
However, Gi Wu-hui could tell. She felt Yeon Ho-jeong’s qi not as a warrior, but as a physician.
‘He has had an achievement in his martial arts!’
At that time, Yeon Ho-jeong’s mouth opened.
“It is interesting.”
“W-What?!”
Deep excitement was tinged on Yeon Ho-jeong’s face as he looked down at Hidden Shadow Number One.
“I have seen people from the Divine Fire Cult, but I have never seen a master. Nevertheless, I could feel a characteristic sense of heterogeneity in your internal power temperament.”
Yeon Ho-jeong turned his gaze to Gi Wu-hui.
In an instant, Gi Wu-hui was overwhelmed by the urge to turn her head away. Yeon Ho-jeong’s eyes were scary enough to make her skin crawl.
“That sense of heterogeneity was extremely similar to the sense of heterogeneity of the fellows from the Evil Lust Cult. That was how I was able to deduce that you belong to the Three Cults. But…….”
Yeon Ho-jeong turned his gaze back to Hidden Shadow Number One.
“This fellow is a bit different.”
Twitch! Twitch!
Hidden Shadow Number One’s body was constantly bouncing. Even though both his speech acupoint and paralyzing acupoint were struck, he was resisting.
It was an amazing thing. An acupoint striking done by a master of Yeon Ho-jeong’s level was not something that could be undone with internal power or strength. Rather, if one tried to undo the acupoints forcefully, the meridians might tear, and one could suffer a fatal blow.
Nevertheless, he was resisting. It was something that could not be easily imagined for an internal master who followed the martial lineages of the Central Plains.
A faint smile appeared on Yeon Ho-jeong’s mouth.
“Although you are certainly cultivating the martial arts of the Three Cults…… the primary is the martial arts of the Central Plains. To be precise, it seems to be based on the assassination arts of the Central Plains.”
The ability to grasp even the origin of internal power just by reading the qi.
If one becomes a Great Grandmaster of the Black Path, they come to encounter martial arts that go beyond common sense. Among them, there were martial arts that were so reckless they were absurd, while there were also many martial arts that one could not help but admire even though they were beyond reason.
However, even if there were such peculiarities, once you see and feel thousands of kinds of martial arts, you can divide them into categories.
Even if the aura wave is fierce, if the true qi is clear and pure, it is classified as an orthodox art. The divine arts of the Yeon Clan that Yeon Ho-jeong learned, as well as the martial arts of the Nine Great Sects and One Gang and the Six Great Clans, were like that.
Even if the aura wave is quiet, if the true qi is extreme and the balance is broken, it is classified as an evil art. The martial arts of Pa Sa-reuk, the leader of the Gray Wolf Squad who fought with the combined forces of the Demon Sweeping and Evil Annihilating, were like that.
What could be called the middle between those orthodox and evil arts were the internal energy mind methods of the majority of the current Murim. They were moderately stable, and if learned according to the standard, the qi would become pure; their strengths and weaknesses were clear, but they were not extreme martial arts.
The Great Heaven Qi that Yeon Ho-jeong’s master had told him about was also an internal energy between orthodox and evil. It was inferior to orthodox arts in terms of realization and to evil arts in terms of extreme power, but its accumulation of qi was fast. Other than that, there was nothing particularly advantageous about it, but instead, it had no notable disadvantages. It was a martial art with a great degree of completion in terms of balance.
If so, what was the martial art that Hidden Shadow Number One had learned?
It was exactly the killing methods of the assassination arts.
Moreover, it was not a unique killing method of the outer regions, but it reeked of the extremely secretive killing methods characteristic of the Central Plains Murim.
Yeon Ho-jeong could be certain. That the martial art this fellow had learned was a killing method of the Central Plains.
Furthermore, it was a supreme killing method. There are countless killing methods in the Central Plains, but secretive and wicked killing methods like the one this fellow had learned were few and far between.
And Yeon Ho-jeong could accurately see through the identity of the killing method this fellow had learned.
“You are also cultivating the Yin Fire Red Type, but your main is the Yin Cold White Type. That is why you can be this secretive.”
In an instant, Hidden Shadow Number One’s eyes wavered as if an earthquake had occurred.
Yin Fire, and Yin Cold.
“The Yin God I know is a different person, are you perhaps a disciple?”
Yin God.
A mysterious assassin whose face is said to have been seen by fewer than five people, even among those who live in the shadows and do not reveal themselves in the light.
In the first place, the majority of people do not even know if an assassin called the Yin God exists. Even the Beggar’s Gang, which is said to be the best in terms of intelligence, does not know of the Yin God’s existence.
However, Yeon Ho-jeong had seen him. The existence called the Yin God.
The Greatest Assassin Under Heaven. He had seen the existence of the God of Death, who had cultivated the two great ultimate techniques of Yin Fire and Yin Cold to their peak and took the life of a target with a single light gesture.
Yeon Ho-jeong gave a strange expression.
“What kind of connection is this? After I returned, I saw a third-rate warrior who had inherited the studies of the Yin God at the place where the Conqueror King King of Western Chu died. That fellow was a moron who entered a qi deviation without even realizing thirty percent of the Yin Fire, but you are a bit different.”
Around the time he entered Anhui with Yeon Ji-pyeong to attend the rising star assembly.
At the Tower of the Chu Sound in Hua County, Anhui Province, he had burned alive a madman who had only partially cultivated the Yin Fire Red Type. Was his name Ma Bang?
That was also the place where he first met the Zhuge siblings. Starting with that incident, various connections had begun.
“Gi Wu-hui.”
“W-What?!”
“This fellow, he is not someone who was born and raised in the Divine Fire Cult, is he?”
Gi Wu-hui swallowed her saliva unconsciously.
“That…… I do not know either.”
Shock was tinged in Hidden Shadow Number One’s two eyes.
‘How can this be?!’
This young man, who had struck his paralyzing and speech acupoints, was definitely the master who had escorted the Holy Maiden last time. Was he the greatest rising star under heaven or something?
However, that master and the Holy Maiden were having a natural conversation. Even with him in front of them.
Furthermore, the Divine Fire Cult?!
‘T-This fellow! Does he know about our Cult!’
No, leaving that aside.
‘Holy Maiden!’
Could it be that she had betrayed them? Was it truly so?
At that time, Yeon Ho-jeong said with a smile.
“Then again, whether he was born and raised in the Divine Fire Cult or was recruited by those fellows, it has no meaning now.”
Thud!
“Gaaaah!”
A bone-chilling groan leaked from Hidden Shadow Number One’s mouth.
The speech acupoint was released, but the paralyzing acupoint was struck even more strongly. This time, the internal power that infiltrated through the paralyzing acupoint not only stirred his entire body, but was also blocking his Sea of Qi.
The blockage of the Sea of Qi, the neutralization of the dantian. It was as if he had been put in handcuffs that would never be released so that he could not operate his internal power at all.
“I was curious.”
A light of madness was emitted from Yeon Ho-jeong’s eyes.
“If you can infiltrate even the inner castle of the Murim Alliance, it seems you have absolute confidence in your concealment, regardless of your actual skill. If so, it would be normal for you to have watched over her from an invisible place when we went to escort Gi Wu-hui, but no matter how much I think about it, I have no memory of seeing a gnat around us.”
In fact, that was possible because it was Yeon Ho-jeong.
He recognized at a glance that Gi Wu-hui was a puppet of the Three Cults. No, at first it was definitely a suspicion, but he moved with almost certainty.
Immediately after realizing that, he confirmed every moment by opening his qi sense whether there were any guards around her, or if there were any assassins, or if there were any helpers.
Hidden Shadow Number One’s concealment skill is perfect? Not at all.
It was at a great level, but it was by no means perfect. If his killing method had been perfect, Yeon Ho-jeong would not have been able to launch a surprise attack like this.
In other words, Hidden Shadow Number One was not beside Gi Wu-hui when she was being chased by the assassins sent by the Medical Medical Medical God Society.
What was the reason?
“As I thought.”
The corners of Yeon Ho-jeong’s mouth curled up.
“It was not that you trusted us, nor was it that you did not want to join. It is clear that you could not take charge of the escort due to orders from the superiors, but why on earth would the superiors leave someone called a Holy Maiden in a place of death?”
He had heard that the bloodline issue was complicated. And also that many people in the Divine Fire Cult despised Gi Wu-hui.
However, Gi Wu-hui is the daughter of the Cult Leader. No matter how much she is a being who deserves to be despised, they would not let a precious bloodline die unless there was permission from the Cult Leader.
In other words, the reason this guard fellow could not help while Gi Wu-hui was being chased by assassins was because of pressure from the superiors.
‘But now, again like this, he has come with orders from the superiors to steal information.’
He got a feeling.
In the past, when the Central Plains Murim was devastated by the rebellion of the Evil Lust Cult, the Divine Fire Cult and the Mad-Blood Cult did not properly reveal themselves.
Because the Evil Lust Cult alone was enough? That could not be.
Although the damage was immense with just the Evil Lust Cult, no matter how much confidence they had, the other two groups should have also been deployed.
The aesthetics of war is to seize victory in the shortest time with overwhelming power. In other words, the Divine Fire and the Mad-Blood should have also swept through the Central Plains Murim along with the Evil Lust.
‘It was not that they did not deploy them. It was that they could not.’
Could there have been circumstances within the cults?
‘Not at all. If they were fellows easy enough to go to war without that much preparation, they would not have struggled so much.’
In other words, the Divine Fire and the Blood-Crazed did not fail to help the Evil Lust, but they were unable to.
Why?
Whirrr. Whirrrr.
Yeon Ho-jeong’s brain turned terrifyingly fast.
Amplified thinking power. Contrasting past situations with the current situation, he saw through even the positions and ideologies of the enemies.
“……The government.”
Yeon Ho-jeong’s eyes flashed like lightning.
“The Imperial Palace, you were in charge of the government side.”
“……!!”
He looked at Gi Wu-hui.
“You, do you know how the Divine Fire Cult intends to attack the Central Plains?”
“What?!”
There was no need to hear a separate answer. Yeon Ho-jeong could tell just by Gi Wu-hui’s expression and eyes.
‘She does not know. That is only natural.’
While bringing Gi Wu-hui to the Alliance, he had shared many conversations with her. At least in Yeon Ho-jeong’s eyes, Gi Wu-hui was a person who did not have the talent to deceive someone.
Yeon Ho-jeong laughed and looked down at Hidden Shadow Number One.
“Today is truly a lucky day. Not only have I gained a new realization, but I have come to realize several facts through the existence of you alone.”
Ssssssss.
White steam rose from Hidden Shadow Number One’s body.
It was the Yin Cold Qi of the Yin Cold White Type. He was emitting internal power even though his dantian was neutralized. He could not know by what principle such a thing was possible.
Yeon Ho-jeong’s hand moved.
Thud!
“Ugh!”
Hidden Shadow Number One, who vomited a handful of blood, eventually lost consciousness. Since his dantian was crushed, further operation of internal power would be impossible.
Gi Wu-hui’s face, having seen Yeon Ho-jeong’s bloodthirsty move, turned pale.
“Hey, Physician Gi Wu-hui.”
“……?!”
Yeon Ho-jeong looked at her with a smile.
Gi Wu-hui could guarantee it. That the most terrifying face she had ever seen in her life, more so than any expression or aura, was here.
A gaze more evil than the killing intent emitted by her father, the Leader of the Sacred Flower Cult.
“I heard you refused the qualification of a sponsor for Clan Head Tang?”
“……!”
“If you have entered the Alliance, you should do something other than medicine to earn your keep. Who are you to refuse that? Hmm?”
Gi Wu-hui’s hands trembled. The fear rising bit by bit was dropping her reason into the abyss.
“Act as a sponsor. Do you understand?”
“Y-Yes!”
“Let us go to the Strategist’s office with me right now. Instead of such a thing as being a double spy, you should fly properly as the new wing of the Murim Alliance. Is it not so?”
Yeon Ho-jeong gave a white smile.
“Fly far away. Fly wonderfully, and provide me with my prey, who mistakenly think they are hunters, one by one.”