“…Hmm!”
The eyes of the Clear and Elegant Sword, Wang Wei, who was examining the dead disciples, shook violently.
‘A fearsome blade!’
The two martial artists who had died in the stable.
The Clear and Elegant Sword, Wang Wei, could not figure out what kind of martial art the two martial artists had been struck by.
His experience in the martial world was not short.
He had mastered the Reef Image Sword Art among the Five Sword Arts of the Living Sword Sect to the extreme and had risen to the Ten Swords of the Living Sword Sect.
He was the second instructor in the public duels held every ten days, and he had never been defeated in over three years of dueling with masters from other sects.
And yet… he could not figure out what kind of blade, what kind of technique, the disciples had been killed with.
The disciples’ hearts had been split in an instant.
There was a bloodstained chopper lying there, so the weapon was a chopper.
That was even more confusing. How could such a wound be made with a blunt chopper?
The heart area was cut as smoothly as if it had been cut with a razor blade.
“Transport them as they are, in this state, without any disturbance. The Sect Master will have to examine them himself.”
“Yes!”
A disciple answered.
“And tell all the disciples. Tell them not to rush in if they encounter the enemy. Tell them to fire a smoke signal as soon as they are discovered. They are ultra masters that you cannot handle.”
“I understand.”
The disciple answered with a firm voice.
* * *
‘They’re going.’
The old man saw the two bodies leaving the stable.
The Clear and Elegant Sword would not be able to find out anything from the bodies. But the Living Sword Sect Master, even if he couldn’t be sure, would probably be able to make a vague guess.
‘The die is cast… Now, shall I do my work?’
He walked with a swagger.
He had sent an unprepared child out into the martial world.
He had pushed a little kid who had not even been weaned into a den of wolves reeking of blood.
He could not hope for him to live. He could absolutely not survive.
But the fight had already begun. A fight that made no sense to anyone had broken out. And he hoped that Ah Geol would break through the bloody battle and survive.
There was no way to help Ah Geol.
The only way to survive a fight with an absolute murderer was to overcome them with strong martial arts.
But if even that martial art could not handle the murderer, what way was there? There was no way. It was needless to say in a battlefield where there was nowhere to escape, where all sides were blocked by bars.
But he could give him a very little, a very small help.
So he had stayed.
He had told Ah Geol that it was his own fight and that he had to get through it alone, and that it would be no help to be by his side… but there was another reason.
He was thinking of helping Ah Geol to grasp the reality coldly.
‘This should be a good place to start.’
On a quiet road on the outskirts of Dongseung, he saw Living Sword Sect swordsmen.
He knew them.
There were over six hundred Living Sword Sect swordsmen, but he knew most of them.
They had no connection to the stable.
The Living Sword Sect also raised its own horses, so there was no reason to rent horses from the stable.
On the other hand, the people of Dongseung knew almost all the Living Sword Sect swordsmen.
This side knew, and that side didn’t.
The old man spoke to a swordsman.
“That sword of yours. You don’t wear a sword like that.”
“What!”
The Living Sword Sect swordsman raised his voice in anger.
“If you wear it like that, you can’t draw it properly. Ah! A novice like you might not be able to distinguish the difference of a hair’s breadth…”
“What! You old man, where do you think you are!”
“Tsk! You’re making a fuss even when I’m teaching you.”
The old man stabbed the swordsman’s neck with the cane he was holding.
“Ah!”
The swordsman realized the surprise attack and jerked his body back.
But the cane was not aiming for his neck. It had already changed its form, and this time, it pierced his chest without giving him a chance to retreat.
Peok!
“Ak!”
The sound of his chest being pierced rang out.
The swordsman who had been hit by the surprise attack fell down with a short scream.
Blood gushed from the swordsman’s chest like a fountain.
“See. I told you that if you wear your sword like that, you’ll be late in drawing it. You couldn’t even draw your sword while your chest was being pierced.”
The old man muttered, looking at the swordsman. At that moment,
Shwaeeek!
A sword came flying from the right rear, aiming for the old man.
Another Living Sword Sect disciple had suddenly thrown his sword. When the old man had mercilessly unleashed a killing move, he had also launched a surprise attack.
Hwiik! Shwaeek!
The old man turned his body around. And while leisurely avoiding the surprise attack, he struck the neck with his cane.
Paak!
The sound of bones breaking rang out.
The old man’s cane had accurately struck the back of the swordsman’s neck. It had broken his neck bone in an instant.
“Tsk! They’re so weak, it’s no fun to fight.”
Shwiiit!
The old man shot his body forward.
In an instant, the old man was already more than ten zhang away.
He was frighteningly fast. His body flowed smoothly like water. And it was very light.
“Chase him!”
The Living Sword Sect swordsmen jumped up like grasshoppers.
“He is a stable servant. Many have recognized him.”
The identity of the old man who had attacked the Living Sword Sect swordsman was revealed.
There was no need to even try to find out his identity. Among the people who had watched the fight, there were many who knew the old servant.
A person who knew nothing about martial arts.
A lowly worker.
An ignorant beggar.
The people who knew the old servant had expressions of disbelief that he had killed a Living Sword Sect swordsman.
“First the stable boy, and now the old servant? Ha…! Was the stable a hiding place for hidden masters? What is his identity?”
“We have not been able to determine it.”
“Hmm!”
The Raging Dragon Sword, Gu Jiyu, let out a groan.
Yesterday, today… a storm was brewing in the quiet Dongseung.
Kang Jo was dead. The assassin had escaped. The martial artists who had gone out to find the assassin had been killed instead. And… the martial artists who had been blocking the road had been attacked in broad daylight.
What was happening?
He had received a message from the Clear and Elegant Sword, Wang Wei. He had said that an ultra master who could not be faced by anyone other than the Ten Swords of the Living Sword Sect had cut down the disciples. So the Ten Swords should be ready to rush out at any time, no matter where the contact came from.
And then this had happened.
“This is…?”
Gu Jiyu’s eyelids trembled.
He didn’t know what the sword form that had broken the neck bone was. But he knew the sword form that had pierced the chest.
It was a sword form called the Tiger Claw Ripping Sword.
It was a very fierce and violent form. It struck hard at a fast speed, and it left a mark as if a chunk of flesh had been torn off by a tiger’s claw.
He had recognized the Tiger Claw Ripping Sword because of the sword mark.
Until the cane had pierced the chest, he had used a very clean sword form. He had killed him with a very fast sword without even giving him a chance to scream. But it was different when he pulled out the cane. He had pulled it out roughly with a very strong force. So the wound was very messy.
It was difficult to distinguish at a glance.
Fortunately, the place where the old servant had stabbed and the place where he had pulled out were slightly different. When he pulled out the cane, he had lifted it slightly upwards. Thanks to that, the bottom hole was very clean, and the top was rough, as if a mouse had gnawed at it.
A wound that was torn open as if scratched by a claw!
It was definitely the lost Death Sword, the sword of assassins, the Tiger Claw Ripping Sword. It was definitely the martial art of the annihilated assassin sect, the Red Wolf Squad.
‘The assassin who killed Kang Jo was said to be a woman. I thought it might be the Drunken Flower Garden… The Red Wolf Squad? No, it’s been twenty years since the Red Wolf Squad was annihilated. What on earth…!’
The Raging Dragon Sword’s heart became heavy.
The one who had used the Tiger Claw Ripping Sword was a considerable master. But he couldn’t not catch him. No, he had to catch him right away.
He said, “Contact the Fifth Hall. The assassin is unknown, the sect is unknown, the martial art used by the assassin is the Tiger Claw Ripping Sword.”
“Yes!”
His direct disciple bowed deeply and then rushed away at a fast speed.
Kururuk! Kurururuk!
Hundreds of pigeons covered the sky at once. A flock of pigeons rose from the ground and scattered in all directions.
The Fifth Hall of the Living Sword Sect was in charge of enforcing the sect’s rules.
Compared to other sects, it performed the same duties as the Law Enforcement Hall or the Punishment Hall.
The one who presided over the Fifth Hall was one of the Ten Swords.
He was called the Ghost Slaughter Sword because he used his sword as viciously as a heretic. He was famous for never showing mercy in his hands, so when he drew his sword, he would surely take a life.
The Fifth Hall had finally begun its pursuit.
* * *
Shwiit! Kak!
A carrier pigeon flying in the sky let out a strange cry and fell.
The old man walked to the place where the carrier pigeon had fallen.
The gray pigeon struggled to flap its wings. A flying needle was deeply embedded in its body, so it could not live… but it still struggled to live.
All animals were like this. They did not give up on life until the moment they breathed their last. The only animal that gave up on life before its breath was gone was a human.
The old man, who was staring blankly at the pigeon, untied the message tube attached to the pigeon’s leg.
Inside the message tube was a small secret message.
“Hmph! They drew it quite well.”
When he unfolded the secret message, the old man’s face appeared.
It was drawn very small with a fine brush, but because it captured the features of his face well, he thought that anyone could easily recognize him.
Now, not only in Dongseung but in the entire Chi You County, there would be no one who did not know the old man.
“Go well.”
The old man killed the pigeon that was still alive and flapping. It couldn’t live anyway because the flying needle had pierced its internal organs.
* * *
The eyes of the people coming and going became sharp.
Perhaps because he thought he was being chased, it seemed like everyone was only looking at him. They were just looking at him without any meaning, but it seemed as if they were asking, ‘You’re that one, aren’t you?’
‘Pfft! It’s been a while since I’ve been chased.’
The old man chuckled and walked away.
The people recognized him immediately.
First, they recognized him from the portrait. A skinny face, with protruding cheekbones, and sharp eyes… it was impossible not to recognize him since he looked like he had quite a temper.
Also, the old man was holding a bloodstained cane.
The blood on the cane had turned a dark brown over time. But anyone could see that it was blood. Even a child would know that what was on the cane was blood.
He immediately became a target of attention.
“Hey… are you the one who killed the Living Sword Sect disciples?”
A sturdy man approached him and spoke.
As he spoke, he made a gesture of slitting his own throat with his hand.
“Kukukut!”
The old man deliberately let out a strange laugh.
“No, no. I’m not reporting you or anything like that. I have something I’m really curious about… the reason why you killed the Living Sword Sect swordsmen… no. It’s nothing. I’m not curious.”
The man quickly stepped back.
A killing intent bloomed in the old man’s eyes. A cruel killing intent was contained in his gaze as he looked at the man.
The man felt a threat to his life.
He backed away hesitantly and then turned around and started to run away. As if he regretted having spoken to him.
‘Huhu!’
The old man frowned slightly and smiled.
The man had approached him and then quickly ran away. That was all. His clothes had not even touched him.
But a fragrance had already begun to emanate from his body.
It was a faint fragrance that would never have been detected by anyone who was not a member of the Killing Gate.
‘As expected of the Fifth Hall.’
The old man was impressed.
He honestly did not know when the man had used his hand. It was more likely that he had used a shallow trick rather than using his hand… he had sprinkled the fragrance right in front of his eyes and ran away.
It was the Vinegar Fragrance that the Fifth Hall boasted of.
It was a tracking fragrance that was difficult for humans to smell, and could only be smelled by animals.
Soon, hunting dogs would rush in. There would also be birds in the sky that had followed the Vinegar Fragrance.
The birds and hunting dogs were another family of the Fifth Hall.
‘It’s going to get busy soon.’
The old man sat down on the side of the road and chewed on a dried persimmon.
Since he had the Vinegar Fragrance on his body… he would soon be busy without a moment’s rest. At that time, he probably wouldn’t even have time to eat. The time to sleep, the time to go to the bathroom, would also disappear.
It was better to eat when he could.
Crunch! Crunch!
The dried persimmon was chewed very sweetly.