Chapter 131: Dragons Pool and Tigers Cave (1)
She had told me to shovel, and it was not a joke. Young Lady Jang So-wol really brought a shovel and handed it to me.
Thanks to that, I ended up shoveling, something that was not in my destiny.
‘I think clearing it with my hands would be more efficient…….’
A light complaint lingered in my mouth, but I did not let it out.
I did not know what it was for, but Young Lady Jang So-wol seemed to have some sort of grievance against me right now.
‘Tsk! Let’s think of it as making amends.’
As I shoveled with the thought that nothing good would come from opening my mouth for no reason, something eye-catching appeared.
“Oh!”
An unusual trace was revealed on the floor, which appeared to be the center of the collapsed building.
It was a square iron plate with a handle.
When I opened it, there was a space about the size of a single person to enter, and inside, it was packed with a considerable amount of jewelry, ledgers, contracts, and secret letters.
“It was a good thing we destroyed the building.”
The entrance seemed to have been well hidden so as not to stand out, but it was easily discovered as an aftermath of the building being destroyed.
I wondered if this was the so-called blessing in disguise.
“If it works out well, it is a good thing.”
As I scanned the ledgers here and there while being conscious of Young Lady Jang So-wol, who ended up being closely attached to me due to the narrow space, a bothersome phrase caught my eye.
“The Defeng Yin Clan is gathering young children to raise talents to support the family in the future?”
It was common for sects or martial families to gather and teach young children to make them the pillars of the future.
But perhaps because it was after I learned of the dirty side of the Defeng Yin Clan, it felt extremely disgusting.
“They are dead…… right?”
[As one repeatedly consumes cooked food and becomes stained by the dirt of the world, the blood vessels harden, and the blood becomes dirty. The younger the children are, the more they possess pure blood free of turbid qi…….]
My master’s conclusion was no different. It was because they were exactly the age group wanted by the Blood Sect, which claimed that talent and aptitude could be improved through human blood.
My hands itched with the urge to smash the head of anyone from the Defeng Yin Clan if they were right before my eyes.
“Hmm?”
In the midst of that, I discovered a phrase that could not be ignored.
“The World’s Number One Assassination Gate?”
The heavens of the unorthodox path, referred to as the Great Abyss Heaven or the Six Heavens.
A place that was one of them.
The Black Slaying Squad.
That name was here.
Generally, it was very bizarre for an assassin sect to make a name for itself, but if there was a single exception, it was the Black Slaying Squad.
Since secrecy was essential for assassination, it was normal for its true entity not to be revealed.
However, it was common for the Black Slaying Squad to send an advance notice and launch a frontal attack to turn everything into ruins. They claimed that if there were no witnesses, it was an assassination.
Although there were cases where they stealthily killed their targets like assassins, even in those cases, they never failed to mark their achievement by leaving behind the token of the Black Slaying Squad.
Even though they turned the whole world into their enemy like that, they occupied one of the seats of the Six Heavens and enjoyed great prosperity.
That was the reason they made their reputation known to the world despite being an assassin sect.
“Reservation?”
It had not been accepted yet, but there was a written phrase indicating that it would be executed the moment additional conditions were met.
“N-No way……”
An ominous imagination wrapped around my head.
I hurriedly threw myself and ran toward the main gate.
Beside Yin Ji-seung, who had become a corpse with his limbs evenly severed as if the verification (fight) had ended, Senior Jang Mun-gyeong was sheathing his sword.
And Jong In-geol was laughing insanely like a madman.
I grabbed Jong In-geol by the collar.
“You bastard, what is this?”
When I shook him by the collar and shoved the reservation waiting list of the Black Slaying Squad before his eyes, Jong In-geol burst into laughter and shouted.
“Kuhahaha! It is too late! The execution schedule has already come from the Black Slaying Squad! Samyang County and the Yeon family will be wiped out! That detestable old man Yeon Ja-yeom will only die after seeing his clan exterminated! Kuhahahahaha!! Kuhahahahahahaha!!”
Jong In-geol’s laughter did not stop, as if he had completely gone mad.
“……This goddamn old man!!”
My kick, throwing away any respect for the elderly, struck Jong In-geol in the chest. He must have died after spitting blood and rolling away, but I did not care.
Jong In-geol believed there was another true culprit behind this matter.
A person who could exert influence over Hubei’s Counselor of the Ministry of Personnel, Seo Yun-geon.
An existence that moved me to corner Jong In-geol by stimulating Seo Yun-geon.
Yeon Ja-yeom.
Jong In-geol believed my grandfather was the mastermind behind this.
That was why he made the request to the Black Slaying Squad for revenge.
***
Baek Mu-ho scratched his cheek as he watched Yeon Cheong-un run off like a rabbit with its tail on fire.
Even after hearing that a request had been sent to the Black Slaying Squad, he tilted his head as if it were nothing.
“The Black Slaying Squad is a scary place, but unless the entire group moves, they won’t be able to do anything to our family, right?”
Baek Mu-ho had something he trusted.
“…….”
On the contrary, the expression of Yi Hwa, who had an aspect of a fanatic whose thoughts were entirely centered on the Heavenly Demon Yeon Cheong-un, was different.
She was identical to Baek Mu-ho in having no worries, but with one exception: a rage that felt ready to burn down the place called the Black Slaying Squad this very instant resided within her.
***
One corner of the Six Great Heavens, the Black Slaying Squad, known as the world’s number one assassination gate, consisted of a total of five hundred assassins.
Of course, at the bottom, an army several times larger made up the organization, but the number of members entering the martial world under the name of the Black Slaying Squad was fixed at five hundred.
Assassins were assigned numbers based on their skills. Those closer to number one were stronger and possessed greater authority.
For that reason, Black Slaying Number 486, who was waiting on the outskirts of Samyang County, could not hide his surprise.
Black Slaying Number 8.
He had been deployed in the operation together with a single-digit assassin, who could be called the peak of the Black Slaying Squad.
“Are you nervous?”
“……Since I am with a single-digit member, it seems a bit like that.”
“If you get nervous over such a thing, you won’t live long.”
At the answer devoid of even a speck of affection, Black Slaying Number 486’s face stiffened.
“No, it’s just…… I was surprised. This request is merely a matter of the Jungshin Merchant Group, yet for a single-digit assassin to move……”
He brought up a frantic excuse randomly, but as he felt for himself that it was useless talk, his voice gradually quieted down.
Black Slaying Number 8 smirked.
“It is surprising that you obtained the name of Black Slaying with that mindset. Is your talent extraordinary?”
“Uh……”
“Do not die and hold out well. I want to see what you will be like ten years from now.”
It was praise following harsh criticism. The stiffened face of Black Slaying Number 486 relaxed a bit.
However, even that did not last long.
“Aren’t you giving the kid too much false hope?”
A voice coming from behind. It was a sound heard from up in the trees.
They did not notice it until he approached this close.
Looking back, multiple figures were flashing their eyes.
For that many people to gather?
But it was too early to be surprised.
“Black Slaying Number 9 and Number 24 moved west. Since they took the minor guys in the hundred-digit range, not a single mouse will be able to escape that village as requested.”
Not only Black Slaying Number 8, but another single-digit assassin, Black Slaying Number 9, also set out. Besides them, a considerable number of the Black Slaying Squad surrounded the village.
This level of power was enough to wipe out even a decent major sect overnight.
“Does…… the Jungshin Merchant Group possess that much power?”
“It is not the Jungshin Merchant Group.”
“Yes?”
“It is a duplicate request. It means there are many others besides Jong In-geol who want to kill Yeon Ja-yeom. I thought the central political stage had been quite noisy lately, and the movements have been growing intense. Jong In-geol’s commission was merely a side note.”
It meant that the true mastermind who moved the Black Slaying Squad was someone else.
“Is he not just an old man pushed out to the outskirts?”
“Do you need to know that far?”
As Black Slaying Number 8’s voice dropped coldly, Black Slaying Number 486 immediately shut his mouth.
An unknown alertness swept over Black Slaying Number 486.
Was it because of that?
“Hup!”
Having avoided a suddenly flying hidden weapon by a paper’s breadth, Black Slaying Number 486 glared in shock in the direction the weapon had flown from.
“Fuck, I missed it.”
Grumbling men revealed their annoyed figures.
“I don’t know what kind of bastards you are, but overtime is a fucking drag, you motherfuckers.”
“You sons of bitches, do you know the pain of night shifts with shitty pay?”
Their appearance was that of ordinary villagers, but the things held in their hands were incomparably fierce.
“The Dragon Scale Squad……. It seems my expectation was correct.”
At Black Slaying Number 8’s words, Black Slaying Number 486 recalled the memories he had been trained with before he had even borne the name of Black Slaying.
One of the places to avoid as much as possible if one wished to live long.
Their background was one thing, but the killing methods they employed were evaluated to be on par with the Black Slaying Squad.
Black Slaying Number 486 could understand to some extent why such a force had gathered for this task.
“Anyway, motherfuckers who deliver monologues think they’re so damn cool, what dumbasses. They should think about how much more foolish they’ll look if they drop dead.”
However, unlike Black Slaying Number 486, that martial artist of the Dragon Scale Squad did not stop firing off his mouth.
“Do know who I am?”
“What’s the point of knowing a dumbass who is about to drop dead?”
“……Your arrogance goes too far. Do you think a single-digit assassin of the Black Slaying Squad is a joke?”
Signs of running out of patience were also seen in Black Slaying Number 8.
“Single-digit assassin or whatever, even if the entire Black Slaying Squad comes, this Samyang County is a place where you can’t put on such airs, you idiot.”
Yet the Dragon Scale Squad warrior did not stop his blatant ridicule.
At that excessively confident appearance, alertness arose in Black Slaying Number 8 for the first time.
“It is too late.”
No sooner had the Dragon Scale Squad warrior’s declaration fallen.
Dooooooooong!
An unknown, massive presence swallowed the surroundings.
“Kill them all.”
Along with an old man’s declaration, death fell down toward the Black Slaying Squad.
Kwakwakwakwakwakwakwakwa!!
“Keuak!”
“Eok!!”
However, Black Slaying Number 8 could not look back.
An utterly unbelievable reality lay before his eyes.
“W-When did……”
Black Slaying Number 486 was hanging limply, his neck grabbed like a diseased chicken.
With his tongue sticking out and the vitality gone from his eyes, his breath had already ceased.
The old man holding his neck threw the corpse before Black Slaying Number 8 as if throwing away trash.
“I suppose I have earned my keep with this.”
“Hehe! You did more than enough, Elder.”
The fellow who had been pouring out reckless talk to Black Slaying Number 8 wagged his tail like a puppy to the old man.
What was clear was that this old man was a powerhouse worthy of that.
Above all,
‘What on earth, such monsters……’
Black Slaying Number 8, who could not take his eyes off the old man, realized that he could no longer feel any presence behind his back.
It meant they were all dead.
To think there were existences who could crush the experts of the Black Slaying Squad so lightly.
Cold sweat, which he did not even remember when it started flowing, gathered on Black Slaying Number 8’s chin.
And around the time that cold sweat dripped to the ground,
“I wondered what kind of demonic play this was, but I did not expect to see someone from my memory.”
Another person intervened, appearing out of nowhere.
Black Slaying Number 8 felt like he was going crazy in this situation.
A voice was heard from behind, but no presence could be felt.
Despite making his presence known through his voice, the entity could not be perceived.
It meant he was someone no less of a monster than the one before his eyes.
“Didn’t we clash quite a few times before our past Orthodox-Unorthodox-Demonic Covenant?”
When that question came out, Black Slaying Number 8 could hear through the old man in front of him.
“Gongryo.”
The identity of the person who had appeared behind his back.
***
“Well, I’ll be.”
Tang Jo-yang, who had set out to intercept after sensing an unusual movement, clicked his tongue in embarrassment.
“The Black Slaying Squad, and a single-digit assassin at that……”
“I ended up hunting Tang Clan bugs unintentionally.”
Under the fierce onslaught of Black Slaying Number 9, Number 24, and the other members of the Black Slaying Squad, the experts of the Sichuan Tang Clan fell into a disadvantage. Although no deaths had occurred yet, they had already reached their limit.
It was clear that Tang Jo-yang was one of the top experts in the Tang Clan, but resolving the current situation was not easy.
Furthermore, he was not alone right now.
“We will make good use of the wench with you.”
Tang Sa-yeon, who was gripping hidden weapons tightly in both hands, stuck out her tongue and retched.
“Ugh! A fully grown old man saying such things, aren’t you embarrassed?”
“Hmph! Since you have a strong spirit, it will be taste worthy to crush you……”
However, Black Slaying Number 9 could not finish his words.
Kwaaaaa!!
A white flash swept over Black Slaying Number 9.
Clang!!
A freezing cold qi spreading after the collision.
“Keup! W-What is this!!”
Ice statues were erected on both sides of Black Slaying Number 9, who was retreating with a completely frustrated face.
They were the ice statues of the Black Slaying Squad warriors who had been laughing and chatting together just moments ago.
Crack!
As if a pottery master smashed an unsatisfactory piece with a hammer, the ice statues shattered under a single palm strike.
In the center of it stood a white woman.
From head to toe, a woman whose fluttering silk-like hair and even pupils were pure white.
In that appearance, which looked as if the season of winter had taken form and manifested, no human feeling could be found.
It was a look that someone might say belonged to a ghost or a monster.
Black Slaying Number 9 trembled with fear as he barely suppressed the cold qi surging from both his hands.
“White hand…… Sosu (Pale Hand)? Pale-handed Divine Demon?”
One of the legends of Martial World who had disappeared long ago.
Regrettably, that legend was not a gentle story for the intruders.