Boom!
Without any warning, the Snow Sword Manor martial artists rushed and attacked the Jin family.
“What’s going on?”
“It’s an ambush! Ring the alarm!”
The Jin family warriors were surprised at first, but they did not simply stand by and be caught off guard like fools.
Ding-ding-ding!
The urgent sound of the alarm echoed throughout the Jin manor.
The martial artists who were in deep sleep, woke up and rushed outside.
“A surprise attack?”
“Is the Snow Sword Manor crazy?”
Their faces were filled with confusion.
Even in a battle between two powerful factions, there was a line that needed to be upheld, but given the way the Snow Sword Manor is acting now, they had clearly crossed that line.
The Jin family martial artists quickly realized what that meant.
“Do they not care about the consequences?”
“Those people are insane!”
In this way, even if they managed to subdue the Jin family, the Snow Sword Manor would incur the wrath of Jianghu. There was no denying how terrifying that would be.
“Don’t let them go inside!”
“If they break through the entrance, it’s over! We have to stop them even if it costs us our lives!”
The Jin family martial artists fought fiercely to block the charge of the Snow Sword Manor martial artists.
With Seol Kwang-ho’s death, the Snow Sword Manor’s warriors were driven mad. All of them charged at the Jin warriors as if they were invincible.
“Break through!”
“Ha!”
Those trying to break through and those trying to block them got tangled up together in a fierce battle. It looked like a scene from hell.
The entrance was littered with corpses, and the blood spilled ran down the walls.
When the battle almost reached its climax,
Bang!
A loud sound suddenly erupted.
At the same time, three or four martial artists were sent flying in all directions. Their bodies were crushed like fish meat, twisted and mangled as if they had been swept away by an explosion.
Kwang!
Another explosion reverberated once again.
“Keuk!”
“Heurgh!”
With desperate screams, another six or seven martial artists were thrown out.
Their condition was truly deplorable.
All of their limbs were twisted, and their chests were sunken.
All those who died were martial artists belonging to the Jin family.
“W-What?”
Only then did the Jin warriors realize that they were facing a formidable master who they could not dare to oppose.
Everyone’s gaze turned to the newly arrived master.
He was wearing a dark red robe, but all of his exposed areas such as his face, arms, and legs were covered with a white cloth.
The only body part that was visible were his two black eyes, which made him look even more eerie.
His hands, which were wrapped in white cloth, were stained with fresh blood.
It was the blood of the Jin family martial artists he had just killed.
“Bastard!”
“Reveal your identity!”
Two Jin family masters rushed at him.
They were both high-level masters of considerable standing within the Jin family. With strong martial arts and considerable practical experience in leading the fight against the Snow Sword Manor, they had become even stronger.
Kwah!
The air trembled with their clash, but the mysterious man clad in white cloth didn’t even blink as he struck at the two with a single blow of his fist.
It was a simple punch.
But its power surpassed imagination.
Kwaang!
With a loud noise, the two Jin family’s masters were knocked out.
“Keuuk!”
“Heulk!”
Both men lay on the ground, bleeding.
Although they managed to preserve their lives unlike the others because of their strong martial arts skills, they were still seriously injured that they would need to recuperate for several months.
“What the—?”
The faces of the Jin family martial artists were filled with fear.
It was clear that the mysterious man’s martial arts had reached a higher realm that they could not dare imagine.
They had never heard of such a master like him in the Snow Sword Manor.
The mysterious man glanced around the area, then launched himself again towards the Jin martial artists.
“Stop him!”
“No!”
Several martial artists rushed in an attempt to stop him, but they were easily defeated with a simple wave of the man’s hand.
In an instant, the man broke through the Jin family’s defenses. He then quickly entered the manor. Once he was inside, he closed his jet-black eyes.
After a few moments of examining the interior of the manor with his senses, he ran towards a particular direction.
His destination was the deepest part of the Jin manor.
“Hmmm!”
The mysterious man, who had been running without hesitation, suddenly stopped in his tracks.
It was because a young man stood in his way. The young man with a sword in his hands was Jin Siwoo.
Jin Siwoo glared at the man and said,
“You can’t enter this place.”
“Move aside!”
The monster spoke for the first time. His voice was raspy and hoarse, making it difficult to decipher what he was saying.
“I cannot do that.”
“Hmph! Then I have no choice but to kill you…”
The man snorted.
Swoosh!
The man charged at Jin Siwoo like a bolt of lightning.
In the blink of an eye, he was already in front of Jin Siwoo. His hand, wrapped in a white cloth, aimed for Jin Siwoo’s chest, but Jin Siwoo didn’t panic, and calmly swung his sword to block the man’s hand.
Boom!
A harsh sound erupted as the man’s sword and Jin Siwoo’s palm collided.
“Kugh!”
Jin Siwoo’s face twisted.
The hilt that held the sword had been torn apart.
Jin Siwoo had trained his hands to hold a sword for a lifetime, so his hands weren’t weak enough that they’d be torn apart by just one blow. So, the fact that it was torn apart in an instant meant that the power behind his opponent’s blow was greatly terrifying.
‘Who on earth is he?’
He had no way of knowing the identity of the man in front of him.
At that moment, the man threw another punch.
Bang!
“Ugh!”
With a frustrated groan, Jin Siwoo’s body flew backwards.
His appearance was already a mess.
His neatly tied hair was scattered, and blood was flowing out from his torn clothes.
His entire body ached as if he had been hit with a giant hammer, and his internal organs were shaken.
Still, Jin Siwoo forced himself to stand.
“Argh!”
“Wol-myeong taught his grandson well.”
The man exclaimed in admiration.
He was not being sarcastic, he was genuinely in awe of Jin Siwoo.
Despite having to conceal his identity and join the battle to settle his debts, his martial arts prowess still surpassed that of Jin Siwoo.
Even if Jin Siwoo was known for his superior martial arts skills, Jin Siwoo paled in comparison to him, like a firefly in front of a full moon.
Nevertheless, the fact that Jin Siwoo was able to block his qi-infused attacks twice, meant that Jin Siwoo’s martial arts were exceptional.
Jin Siwoo asked,
“Do you know my grandfather?”
“Is there anyone in the world who doesn’t know him?”
The man immediately denied his relationship with Jin Siwoo’s grandfather, but Jin Siwoo knew otherwise. He could just tell from the way the man’s pupil shook when he asked the question earlier.
“How could an acquaintance of my grandfather attack the Jin family?”
“How noisy!”
The man roared and threw another blow.
Kwang!
“Keuk!”
Jin Siwoo screamed as he was thrown backwards.
Having incapacitated Jin Siwoo in an instant, the man continued moving forward.
Kwak!
He smashed through the door of the hall that Jin Siwoo was guarding.
There were about a dozen warriors guarding the hall, but they were all unable to withstand the man’s attacks. It didn’t take long for all those warriors to be killed.
Now, there was nothing stopping the man.
He opened the door.
There was a strong medicinal scent around the room, and he could see an old man lying on a bed.
The old man looked as if all his flesh and muscle had wasted away, leaving only his skin and bones.
It was clear at first glance that the old man had been suffering from a serious illness for a long time.
The miserable old man was the Sunset Sword God, Jin Wol-myeong, one of the Eight Constellations.
The man looked down at Jin Wol-myeong and murmured,
“He said that you couldn’t move, and he was right. I didn’t expect that you would really be lying here in such a miserable state. Why did you even go against them? If you had abandoned your grandson, then you wouldn’t have ended up like this.”
The man clicked his tongue as he looked at Jin Wol-myeong.
Jin Wol-myeong had suffered a serious injury, leaving him completely defenseless.
Killing him would be easier than plucking a feather from a chicken.
The man decided not to waste anymore time. He would twist Jin Wol-myeong’s neck here and now.
When his hand was about to touched Jin Wol-myeong’s throat,
“Them… Who do you mean by ‘them’?”
He suddenly heard a cold voice coming from behind him.
The man stiffened.
He didn’t sense that there was another person in the room until he heard the voice.
He withdrew his hand from Jin Wol-myeong’s neck and turned around, only to see a middle-aged man holding a sword.
The man recognized him instantly.
“Sword Saint?”
“Ten Thousand Man Slayer. You seem to have a lot of things hiding in your sleeve, judging from the fact that you’re hiding your face with such cheap cloth.”
Just as the man recognized Han Yucheon’s identity, Han Yucheon also recognized the identity of the man covered in white cloth.
Ten Thousand Man Slayer.
One of the Eight Constellations, and an absolute master whose everything was shrouded in darkness.
There was hardly anyone who knew his real face, most of them had lost their lives trying to find out.
Han Yucheon was one of the few who have seen his real face, having already met and fought once.
But the result ended up being a draw.
That was why Han Yucheon could recognize the man’s identity just by looking at his qi.
“Tch!”
The Ten Thousand Man Slayer clicked his tongue as he looked at Han Yucheon.
Han Yucheon was not an easy opponent.
“Didn’t you come here to see the fall of the Jin family?”
“Where did you hear about that?”
“The rumors have already spread. If you’ve come to watch, just sit still and wait. The Jin family will collapse today.”
“That’s not up to you to decide. Let me ask you again, who do you mean by ‘them’?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You definitely said, ‘Why did you go against them?’ I don’t think the ‘they’ you mentioned referred to the Snow Sword Manor.”
Han Yucheon’s voice became cold.
Seeing the determination in Han Yucheon’s eyes, the Ten Thousand Man Slayer realized that he could not persuade him.
“I’ll explain later. You should leave first.”
“No, tell me. Now.”
“You are putting me in a very difficult position. Do you realize what your actions could lead to?”
“I never realized you had such a long tongue.1 What are you hiding?”
Han Yucheon strode toward the Ten Thousand Man Slayer.
Pyo-wol had said that there was another culprit behind his disciple, Won Ga-young’s death, and Han Yucheon had a strong suspicion that the ‘they’ that the Ten Thousand Man Slayer just mentioned was the culprit that Pyo-wol had spoken of.
The Ten Thousand Man Slayer, Han Yucheon knew was not a man who would go through such lengths hiding the identity of another person by beating around the bush. This could only mean that there were many shady aspects to this incident, so much so that he couldn’t reveal their identity.
Han Yucheon drew his sword and said,
Thwack!
“Are you also involved in the death of my disciple?”
“No! That was them—”
The Ten Thousand Man Slayer stopped mid-sentence.
He realized that he had just slipped up. He had just basically admitted that the death of Han Yucheon’s disciple had something to do with ‘them’.
Han Yucheon’s gaze became even colder.
“You won’t get out of here alive until you tell me everything.”
“Since you have pushed me into a corner, you will pay the price for blocking my way—!”
Swoosh!
He tore off the cloth covering his face, revealing an expressionless face like a doll.
His face was marked with countless scars.
The fact that he decided to reveal his face now was proof that he was determined to kill Han Yucheon.
It was The Ten Thousand Man Slayer who moved first.
He struck like lightning.
In response, Han Yucheon countered with his sword.
Boom!
With an explosive sound, a blade-like sharp energy wave swept through the room.
The battle between the two had begun.
Kwarr!
The huge pavilion vibrated as if it would collapse at any moment.
SoundlessWind21’s Notes:
Thank you for reading!
Long tongue. Raws: 혀가 그리. Korean expression that means “long tongue” or “talkative.” It is often used to describe someone who talks too much or speaks too openly, revealing more than they should. 銀 yín – silver; cash, money, wealth 花 huā – flower; blossoms 隊 duì, suì, zhuì – team, group; army unit 主 zhǔ – master, chief owner; host; lord
