Tadak! Tadak!
The bonfire blazed fiercely.
The chicken placed over the fire was also cooking to a golden brown. The oil had been completely drained, so it looked very savory.
Ah Geol turned the chicken this way and that so that it wouldn’t burn. His face, illuminated by the flickering firelight, was tightly shut.
Mongseol felt hungry.
She was not the type to feel hungry easily, but today, her stomach was rumbling constantly.
“…What is your surname?”
Mongseol asked for Ah Geol’s surname.
‘Ah’ was not a surname. It was the most common title used when calling someone close. It was attached before a name or surname, and it seemed that Ah Geol had it attached before his name.
“I don’t know.”
Ah Geol said bluntly.
“You don’t know your surname?”
“I’ve been called Ah Geol since I was young. What’s the use of a guy like me knowing his surname? I just have to live somehow and then go.”
“Huhu, that’s a lie…”
“…”
“I’m an assassin. I can tell what words are lies. What on earth is your identity? And what is that martial art? Ah! You’re not going to tell me, are you? That’s right. That’s why you’re not telling me your surname either.”
Ah Geol pulled out the golden brown roasted chicken and handed it to her.
She did not hesitate. She had been hungry for a while. She took it at once and tore off a leg and put it in her mouth.
The aroma of the meat came alive in her mouth.
“It’s delicious.”
She muttered without realizing it.
It was not the first time she had eaten chicken. And yet, it was a taste she was having for the first time. The meat was so soft and tender. It was cooked to a savory perfection. She ate as if she were possessed.
“You must have roasted and eaten a lot like this, haven’t you?”
“…”
Ah Geol did not answer.
The fact that he had roasted and eaten a lot of meat over a bonfire meant that he had lived a lot outdoors. To put it simply, it meant that he had lived a wandering life a lot. She could get a little glimpse of his past.
“…The Blood Sword Sutra was torn into three pieces.”
Ah Geol suddenly threw out an unexpected remark.
Mongseol froze. She was so surprised that she couldn’t even see the delicious chicken.
“You… saw my sword?”
Mongseol said in a very calm voice.
Now she had become as calm as ice. She listened to the sound of her own heart beating.
One, two, one, two… she listened to the sound of her heart beating.
She gradually slowed down the sound. Very slowly… her heart was not actually beating slowly. But if she thought that her heart was slowing down, her mind would become much calmer. She would become cool headed.
Her emotions died and only cold reason remained.
If Ah Geol were not a master, she would not have done her best like this. But because she had seen a fearsome blow, she also did her best to… calm her mind.
‘I have to finish it in one blow. If it’s not a surprise attack, I have no chance of winning.’
She was thinking of attacking Ah Geol.
She could not let someone who had recognized the martial arts of the Blood Sword Sutra live.
Either die, or kill.
A third path did not exist. Either this side or that side, only the two extremes remained.
When there was even a slight third path, when it was not necessary to decide life and death, she would use the secret techniques of the Drunken Flower Garden. She would never bring out the martial arts of the Blood Sword Sutra.
But at times like these, she had to use the martial arts of the Blood Sword Sutra.
Swoosh!
Her hand secretly reached for her sword.
Ah Geol, as if he did not know what Mongseol was thinking, continued to speak indifferently.
“The upper volume is the Body Sutra, the middle volume is the Sword Sutra, and the lower volume is the Heart Sutra. You’ve obtained the Sword Sutra.”
“You seem to know the Blood Sword Sutra well?”
Swoosh!
She held the sword.
She calmed her mind.
The higher the killing intent, the stronger the thought of killing, the lower the breath had to be.
If the opportunity arose, she would draw her sword at once. She was thinking of unleashing the Blood Sword Sutra’s sword forms and striking down Ah Geol.
Swoosh!
Ah Geol put his hand into his bosom.
Mongseol waited for the next words. She had no way of knowing the reason why he had put his hand into his bosom. She was just curious as to how Ah Geol knew about the Blood Sword Sutra. In that instant,
Shoot!
Suddenly… a cold wind passed by in front of her eyes.
“Ugh!”
She was startled.
Ah Geol had sprinkled something on her. A powder that made it impossible to open her eyes… a white powder… was it poison? No symptoms had appeared yet. Why? What did he sprinkle?
No symptoms of poisoning occurred.
She raised her hand and wiped the powder that had been sprinkled on her face.
White powder… that’s right. It was powder. It was white, and very fine.
“What did you sprinkle!”
Her tone became fierce.
“Rice flour.”
“What…?”
She asked again, wondering if she had misheard.
It seemed like he had just said rice flour…? Why would he sprinkle rice flour? What kind of trick was this?
All sorts of thoughts flashed through her mind in an instant.
Ah Geol put his hand into his bosom again.
This time, she could not be careless. She was startled and awkwardly stepped back.
Ah Geol took out a bundle wrapped in a cloth from his bosom.
He placed the cloth bundle next to the bonfire.
“I can see your killing intent. If you don’t want to reveal the Blood Sword Sutra, don’t hesitate and use your hand. If it’s to the extent that someone like me can detect it, it goes without saying for others.”
Ah Geol said with a sneer.
Do not reveal your killing intent!
Do not think of killing others!
If you are weak, you must endure even if you are treated unfairly. That is how you can preserve your life. Know your place, and endure even if you are treated harshly. Such a person’s killing intent will not be revealed on the outside even if resentment is pent up in their heart. Because there is no killing intent.
It was something she had heard repeatedly in the Drunken Flower Garden.
Ah Geol said, “The rice flour is a warning. A warning for revealing your killing intent. If that had been poison powder instead of rice flour, you would have been dead by now. Although there would be no need to use poison powder.”
“…Should I say thank you?”
Mongseol hardened her heart even more.
Ah Geol had provoked her first. The killing intent she had harbored in her heart had been exposed. But she must not be flustered. At times like these, she had to watch even more calmly, more coolly.
Ah Geol was right. Since she had been the first to emit killing intent, she could not say anything no matter what Ah Geol did.
“There’s nothing to be thankful for. But… for an assassin from the Drunken Flower Garden, you’re too weak. Looking at your skills, you’re not yet at a level to carry out an assassination, so how did you get this job?”
“I was chosen.”
“Chosen?”
“The master chose me herself. And… I’m not that weak of an assassin. You don’t need to know, but.”
‘Why am I saying this?’
She regretted it as soon as she said it. She had said something she didn’t need to say.
“Haha!”
Ah Geol laughed.
Mongseol was by no means weak. She was an assassin strong enough to infiltrate the Living Sword Sect and assassinate Kang Jo.
She had killed a total of seven people, including Kang Jo.
What Ah Geol had said about her being weak was not that she was a weak assassin. It meant that her martial arts were weak.
Her killing ability was outstanding, but her martial arts were weak?
There was a secret here.
The master of the Drunken Flower Garden had not intensively trained her in the secret techniques of the Drunken Flower Garden. The training was harsh, but it was limited to physical training. The ultimate techniques of the Drunken Flower Garden were not passed on.
In fact, the ultimate techniques of the Drunken Flower Garden that she performed were just ordinary martial arts that everyone in the Drunken Flower Garden knew.
It was because she knew that Mongseol had the Blood Sword Sutra.
The martial arts of the Blood Sword Sutra had to be trained in a pure state. If it was mixed with the martial arts of other sects, the true energy would become turbid.
So she had absolutely forbidden the training of the secret techniques of the Drunken Flower Garden.
Of course, Mongseol did not know this. Ah Geol had guessed it and the old servant also knew it, but the person herself thought that she had learned everything she could.
And it wasn’t that the ultimate techniques of the Drunken Flower Garden were absolutely necessary for carrying out an assassination.
She had the sword forms of the Blood Sword Sutra. She had used the sword forms of the Blood Sword Sutra when carrying out the assassination. And the opponent had surely died. No one had been able to withstand the sword forms of the Blood Sword Sutra.
Do not reveal this sword form to anyone. When you use this sword form, you must kill the opponent. Absolutely… do not let them live. If this sword form is revealed to the outside world, even ten lives will not be enough.
Only the master knew that she had the sword forms of the Blood Sword Sutra. Her other masters did not know.
In particular, her other fellow disciples did not know.
Even if it wasn’t for this, assassins kept their secret techniques a secret even from their fellow disciples. Because there were times when they had to kill their fellow disciples.
Ah Geol pointed to the cloth bundle placed next to the bonfire and said, “I was thinking of throwing it away because it was useless to me. But it seems to have an owner. Take a look. If you need it, take it, and if you don’t, burn it.”
Ah Geol stood up.
Mongseol picked up the cloth bundle placed next to the bonfire. And she unrolled the scroll. In that instant!
“Ah!”
She was startled.
When she unrolled the cloth, she felt a familiar texture.
It was a very precious parchment that was hard to find in the central plains. It was said to be so precious in the western regions that only royalty could use it.
There was another reason why she was surprised.
The sword forms of the Blood Sword Sutra that she knew were written on such a parchment.
‘That’s right! That’s it!’
Even though she hadn’t unrolled the parchment, she could guess what was written inside.
The material of the parchment was the same.
The rough texture that was felt in her hand… the texture that was drawn horizontally from top to bottom.
She unrolled the parchment with trembling hands.
The first thing she saw was the figure of a person sitting in a cross legged position.
It was a meridian diagram that could be seen anywhere. A person was drawn, and the countless lines through which the meridians flowed were drawn.
The Ren and Du meridians were drawn. The eight extraordinary meridians were drawn in detail.
There were also words written.
The sky is cloudy. It is raining. The sky on a rainy day is dark. A downpour never falls from a clear sky. A sword form should also be like this. Before executing a sword form, you must create an environment for the sword form to be executed…
She read the words written on the parchment.
The title was not written, but… it was the lower volume of the Blood Sword Sutra, the Heart Sutra.
The middle volume, the Sword Sutra, and the lower volume, the Heart Sutra, fit together perfectly.
As soon as she read the Heart Sutra, the parts she had not understood while training in the Sword Sutra were understood at once.
It was like seeing the sun in the darkness.
‘This, this… this!’
She looked at Ah Geol with surprised eyes.
The lower volume of the Blood Sword Sutra, the Heart Sutra!
It didn’t matter if you didn’t train in the martial arts of the Blood Sword Sutra. To a martial artist who trained in martial arts, it was a secret manual as precious as a thousand pieces of gold. It was a high level study that would cause a bloody storm if even one of the five sheets of parchment were to leak out into the martial world.
Ah Geol had thrown away such a secret manual like trash.
Burn it if you don’t need it? No way! Ah Geol also knew how precious this secret manual was.
‘This… he gave it to me?’
She was confused.
It was a grateful thing that Ah Geol had saved her life. But out of nowhere, he had mentioned the Blood Sword Sutra’s Sword Sutra, which only she knew, and had even given her the Heart Sutra.
Was Ah Geol a celestial being sent by heaven to help her?
‘What on earth is his identity!’
She stared intently at Ah Geol as he walked away.
Ah Geol was walking far away. He was giving her time to look at the secret manual.
She made a decision.
Whoever Ah Geol was, whatever his intentions were… for now, she would train in the Blood Sword Sutra’s Heart Sutra. Because it was a study that was necessary no matter what she did.
She immersed herself in the words of the parchment.