Chapter 38
Four days later,
In a dense forest not far from the estate of Yeon Mok Sword Manor,
A man wearing a bamboo hat and carrying a backpack filled with old books and tools, dressed in a navy blue Taoist robe with the yin-yang symbol, was walking sowhere, holding a sword technique hand seal in one hand and a talisman with the character “追” (chase) written on it in the other.
The man continuously chanted an incantation.
“.追…..追……..追…..追….…”
This was the Harmony Mantra.
It was a type of Summoning Harmony Technique used to et soone whose whereabouts were unknown, and he had been searching the surroundings while employing this technique for two or three days straight.
Normally, he would quickly find soone with this technique.
However,
‘It’s concealed.’
A very strong and ominous energy was obscuring it.
This wasn’t a case of going missing or being killed in an ordinary manner.
The power of evil spirits or techniques was involved.
‘Who could it be?’
Sak was considered the third-ranking diviner within Ghostly Spirit Pavilion.
Moreover, as she controlled the Imaemangnyang entity Guyeo as her spirit servant, she had the ability to single-handedly exorcise ghosts up to the Yellow Spirit level.
Yet, for her to be defeated like this was incomprehensible.
[What? How could that be?]
[This is a letter sent by the chief wife of Yeon Mok Sword Manor. Read it.]
The letter contained a threat-like protest.
It stated that if they didn’t hand over the penalty of three thousand silver coins and Sak, they would annihilate Ghostly Spirit Pavilion.
If the contents of the letter were true, it was understandable for the chief wife to be angry, but it was unlikely for Sak to engage in such an act.
[There must be sothing more to it. Find her and uncover the truth.]
So, he had been doing this day and night without rest.
He had to find her quickly before Yeon Mok Sword Manor made a move.
At that mont, while he was focusing on the technique again,
-Tremble tremble!
The talisman of “追” (chase) held in his left hand shook violently.
‘Nearby.’
With that, the man grasped the talisman with both hands and chanted an incantation.
“…追追!”
As soon as the incantation ended,
The shaking characters on the talisman darkened and floated in the air on their own, flying sowhere.
-Flap flap!
The man followed the flying talisman.
Eventually, the talisman bent downward sowhere.
It was hidden by thick bushes, and when he passed through, a quite steep cliff appeared.
It was a place where one could easily fall to their death if they misstepped.
The man looked around and found a slope to descend.
There, he discovered the talisman lying neatly on the ground.
However,
‘!?’
Sothing else caught his eye before the talisman.
In the surroundings, there were fragnts of flesh and dried bloodstains, making it difficult to recognize the human form.
Upon seeing this, the man couldn’t help but frown.
‘How could this happen…?’
He had never anticipated such an outco.
He had considered the possibility of her being attacked, but this was more serious than he thought.
The man swallowed his dry saliva.
This was definitely not sothing that could happen with a re Yellow Spirit level entity.
‘What is happened happened?’
Nothing could be determined solely based on this horrific scene.
If at least the corpse had been intact, there would have been a way to find out in detail through necromancy, but with this, the chances were slim.
However, there was no other choice.
The man placed his hand on the ground in the center of the catastrophe and closed his eyes.
Then,
-Chak! Chak!
He ford hand seals with his left hand.
‘Gae (皆)! Tu (鬪)! Jeon (前)!’
Oe-bak hand seal, Oe-sa, followed by the Bobyeong.
They were the hand seals of the Nine Character Dharani.
“皆皆皆皆.”
-Tremble tremble!
The bloodstained objects on the ground began to tremble slightly.
Beads of cold sweat ford on the man’s forehead.
When one is killed by an evil spirit, even the soul and the remaining bodily energy are damaged, making it difficult to draw out the traces through incantations.
“Reveal everything. Urgently execute…”
The man’s head was thrown back.
Then, like a flashback, fleeting mories pierced his mind.
-Swish!
[Myo-sin…]
[Cough cough, I deflected the killing technique you sent.]
[Are you a diviner?]
[Whew. It’s quiet now.]
[How can you grasp an Imaemangnyang with your bare hands?]
[You said you’d do anything, right?]
[…Now I’m retreating like this, but before long…]
-Shiver!
At that mont, along with an ominous and spine-chilling energy, the man’s consciousness returned.
The man muttered with trembling eyes.
“Wh-What was that?”
The mory was cut off along with the trendous fear Sak had felt at the end.
It seed like sothing had snipped off that part.
If it were this level of fear and dread, there should have been at least a little bit of the final fragnt visible, but there was none.
‘Strange.’
All beings fall into fear in the face of death.
However, the fear seen before this abruptly cut-off mory wasn’t the fear felt before dying but the emotion experienced while facing so imnse terror.
‘What is happened happened?’
He grew even more curious.
The mories were too short, like fleeting monts, so it was impossible to know exactly what had transpired.
Through the glimpses of so mories, he had only learned one thing.
‘Mok Gyeong-un…’
That person was at the center of Sak’s death and this incident.
Although it was just a fragnt, there was one particularly morable mory.
‘…Grasping an Imaemangnyang with bare hands?’
It was a difficult feat even for diviners unless they t special conditions.
From this, one of two things could be inferred.
Either this young master nad Mok Gyeong-un was possessed by a Yellow Spirit, as they had initially suspected, making this possible.
Or he might have been born with spiritual talent.
If it was the latter, it was a remarkable talent.
‘…He might be a natural-born diviner.’
Such talent was hard to find.
It was said that even the slightest ability to sense spiritual traces through one of the five senses indicated talent.
However, touching an Imaemangnyang, a mass of demonic energy, without any conditions was on a completely different level.
The man shook his head.
‘This isn’t what’s important.’
For now, he had to make contact with this fellow nad Mok Gyeong-un to find out what had happened.
The man glanced at the air and muttered.
“Go-jo. I have a feeling we shouldn’t let our guard down.”
With those words, he gestured for soone to follow.
Then, the shadow of an eagle on the ground flapped its wings in response.
The strange thing was that the head of the eagle in this shadow had a peculiar set of horns.
***
Shining Orchid Pavilion, located at the southern end of the back alley in the low-end market.
It was overflowing with various low-quality ****.
“Hahahaha.”
“Drink up. I’ll pay for everything today.”
“Let’s get wasted today!”
Due to these individuals, other custors couldn’t even muster the courage to enter.
‘Phew.’
Watching them, escort guard Go Chan, who was standing at the entrance, sighed.
‘At least this is the only information organization in this area.’
It was a place of quite low quality.
If categorized into high, middle, and low, it would barely qualify as low-grade.
Just looking at the gathered individuals, the level was significantly inferior.
However, he had an order from Mok Gyeong-un, so he ca to make a request at a nearby place.
[Ask if they know this symbol.]
[Pardon? How do I…]
[You don’t need to know the details. Escort guard Go Chan, just submit the request to that information organization or whatever it is.]
[Understood.]
‘What could this be?’
The symbol Mok Gyeong-un had shown him was quite simple.
However, he had never seen it before.
It might be because he had retired a long ti ago, but if even he, a forr assassin, didn’t know it, it could be sothing trivial.
‘Where is he, anyway?’
The leader of this place should be here.
Since it was a low-quality place, there were no special rules, and they would bring information in exchange for money.
‘Ah, there he is.’
He had t him a few tis after settling here.
Go Chan sighed once and called out to soone.
“Boss Gwak.”
At his call, a man sitting in the middle of the inn, filled with the scent of alcohol, slowly turned his head without getting up.
Then, blinking his eyes, he seed to recognize Go Chan and stood up with a bright expression.
“Oh my. Isn’t it escort guard Go Chan from Yeon Mok Sword Manor?”
Although it had been a long ti since they t, he was still a person imrsed in alcohol and won.
Even now, he had a woman who looked like a courtesan by his side, which was a distasteful sight.
Go Chan shook his head and said, “I have a request to make.”
“A request?”
“I will pay the proper price.”
“I understand. Co up to the second-floor office.”
Although he didn’t like it, he had heard that Boss Gwak was originally from the Hao Sect.
That’s why his information network wasn’t too shabby.
Not long after entering the private room, a thumping sound was heard from the second-floor corridor.
He always made such noise due to his large build.
‘He’s disqualified as an assassin.’
The basics of an assassin lie in secrecy and confidentiality.
Of course, individuals with such qualities were rare.
At that mont, the door to the private room opened, and Boss Gwak entered.
“…What are you doing?”
Go Chan asked, raising an eyebrow.
Boss Gwak had entered with a woman under his arm.
Judging by her upswept hair, heavy makeup, and clothes that showed her cleavage, she seed to be a courtesan.
Her face was so beautiful that it drew the eye, but this wasn’t the occasion for that.
“This is a new girl who recently joined. Isn’t she nice?”
“Didn’t I say I had a request to make?”
“She’s one of our girls, so you don’t need to mind her presence. If you have sothing to say, go ahead. I need to go down soon.”
‘…This pathetic fellow.’
Go Chan inwardly felt murderous intent rising within him.
No matter how low the quality was, this was truly below standard.
If things continued like this, there was no need to make a request.
“Send her out.”
“Oh, escort guard Go. As n, we should enjoy…”
“If she keeps coming out like this, I’ll just leave.”
“…”
Those words had an effect.
Boss Gwak, who had beco like a mute who had eaten honey, irritably said to the courtesan, “Go down and wait for this gentleman obediently. If I find you in the arms of another man, be prepared for the consequences.”
Then, as he tried to slap her buttocks with his palm,
-Tak!
The courtesan caught Boss Gwak’s hand.
“Oh?”
“Phew. How unpleasant.”
The courtesan muttered as if annoyed.
“You wench!”
At her attitude, Boss Gwak was dumbfounded and tried to slap her face.
At that very mont,
-Puk!
The courtesan’s hand had already reached Boss Gwak’s ear.
Then, Boss Gwak staggered like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
“You!”
Startled by this sight, Go Chan hurriedly tried to draw his dagger, but sothing that flew from the courtesan’s hand pierced his acupoint.
-Pu pu pu puk!
It was a very thin needle.
As the needle pierced him, Go Chan couldn’t open his mouth or move.
It was as if his acupoints had been struck.
-Deu reu reu!
The courtesan pulled out a chair from the table and pushed it behind the staggering Boss Gwak.
Then, Boss Gwak naturally sat on the chair.
Of course, from the front, it didn’t look like he was in good condition, with his eyes rolled back, showing only the whites of his eyes.
‘This… This is…’
Go Chan couldn’t hide his bewildernt as he looked at the needle stuck in his chest.
As a forr mber of the Flying Kill Sect, he couldn’t possibly not know what this was.
‘Lustrous Jade Flying Needles[1]?’
It was the unique secret skill of Flying Killing Yama’s Guest[2] technique, the sect leader of the Flying Kill Sect and one of the four great assassins in the Central Plains.
***
It was impossible for a re courtesan to use the Lustrous Jade Flying Needles, which could be considered the symbol of the sect leader of the Flying Kill Sect.
The current sect leader, Flying Killing Yama’s Guest, was a man who had reached the age of sixty.
Although he was older compared to the active mbers, his skills were truly unrivaled, allowing him to firmly maintain his position as one of the four great assassins for over twenty years.
Yet, for his unique secret skill to be in the hands of this courtesan…
‘!!!’
Go Chan couldn’t hide his surprise.
He seed to understand this courtesan’s identity now.
‘C-Could it be?’
Flying Killing Yama’s Guest had a granddaughter.
Her na was Ha Chae-rin.
She was the only surviving blood relative after losing her entire family in an unexpected attack.
Flying Kill sect leader poured everything into this remaining bloodline.
So far, it was good.
It was sothing that everyone could fully understand.
The problem lied elsewhere.
‘…Is the sect leader in his right mind?’
All the assassins of the Flying Kill Sect believed that Flying Killing Yama’s Guest would never pass on his sect leader position to his only granddaughter.
Because she was utterly unsuitable as an assassin.
It was no exaggeration to say that the foundation of an assassin lies in cold rationality.
However, that granddaughter was far from it.
She was the embodint of a personality disorder.
Her foul language that didn’t match her pretty and young age, her extre mysophobia, her anger managent issues…
Nothing was suitable for an assassin.
‘Everyone opposed it.’
The last ti he saw her was four years ago.
It was before he retired, but when the executives and all the assassins of the Flying Kill Sect protested, Flying Killing Yama’s Guest forcibly confined her in the Bisaldong, saying he would set her straight.
‘It’s impossible.’
Everyone was convinced that it was absolutely impossible to set her straight.
How could he possibly control her fiery temper and make her possess the cold rationality of an assassin?
With that, he had forgotten about her.
It had been four years since he retired, so she would have grown into a proper woman at the age of nineteen by now.
‘Proper…’
She had indeed grown up splendidly.
With such an alluring face, anyone would easily fall for her unless they were exceptional.
At that mont, she extended her hand towards the wall of the private room.
-Seuk!
The needles embedded in the wall were pulled out and attached to the bracelet on her wrist.
Seeing this, it was clear that it was indeed Flying Killing Yama’s Guest’s unique secret skill, the Lustrous Jade Flying Needles. Her using this ant she had inherited the sect leader position.
‘…Then does that an she succeeded in the Hundred Days, Hundred Kills?’
To beco the sect leader of the assassin sect of Flying Killing, there was a rite of passage. It involved taking a test called the Hundred Days, Hundred Kills. The Hundred Days, Hundred Kills required completing a hundred designated requests within a hundred days. If one achieved this, they would be called one of the Four Great Assassins.
‘Impossible.’
Given her temperant, it was doubtful she could have accomplished this. Or did the forr sect leader truly succeed in raising her into a proper assassin? Perhaps that could be the case. Co to think of it, it was also surprising that she, with her severe mysophobia, was enduring and serving alcohol among the prostitutes.
‘Was there room for rehabilitation?’
If that were the case, the forr sect leader might beco admirable. After all, he had managed to raise that personality-disordered individual into one of the Four Great Assassins. Then, a small voice reached his ears.
“Oh my. shit.”
‘…!?’
He saw Ha Chae-rin, disguised as a courtesan, wiping a small drop of blood from her cheek. She had a cold gaze, as if displeased. Seeing her like that reminded him of her younger days when she used to swear.
‘…Is she really fixed?’
As he was feeling doubtful, she approached him. Approaching him, she pulled out one of the needles embedded in his chest. Then, a cough escaped from Go Chan’s mouth.
“Cough, cough.”
The fact that his voice ca out seed to indicate she had removed the needle blocking his vocal cords. Ha Chae-rin sat on the table, crossing her exposed smooth legs, and said, “I never expected to see a retired person like this. Uncle Go Chan. Or should I call you Forr Low-Rank Assassin No. 83?”
‘shit.’
It was indeed Ha Chae-rin. He thought she would have forgotten since it had been four years, but she rembered him just from the few encounters they had. Go Chan parted his lips with a tense voice.
“…It’s been a long ti, Young Lady.”
“Sect Leader.”
“Pardon?”
“I’m the sect leader now.”
He had been skeptical, but his conjecture was correct. She had beco the current sect leader of the Flying Killing. As this fact was revealed, Go Chan was overwheld by a sense of unease. The reason was simple. When a retired assassin ets an assassin from their forr assassin group, it usually ans death.
As he was feeling anxious, Ha Chae-rin said, “Is it because you retired that you don’t see as a sect leader?”
“N-No, how could that be? Congratulations on becoming the new sect leader.”
“Hmmph. Kneel and receive my blessings.”
‘…’
At the thick curse that flew out of her mouth, Go Chan was at a loss for words. No matter how he looked at it, she was exactly the sa as he rembered her. Even before, it didn’t suit her pretty face to utter such profanity. Ha Chae-rin covered her lips with her hand and said, “Oh my. Look at . I must have beco too comfortable eting soone I know after a long ti. I should put on so airs and such, but a curse slipped out without realizing it.”
“P-Please feel free to be comfortable.”
“How can I do that? A lady should have manners.”
‘…’
What manners at this point? He thought that inwardly but kept his mouth shut. Of course, he didn’t have the courage to say it out loud. Rather, he beca even more tense. He didn’t know what words would co out of her mouth.
At that mont, Ha Chae-rin parted her red lips. “Soone might think I ca here to kill you. Grandfather also cherished you two, allowing you to retire together with Uncle Gam. So relax.”
“…Is that true?”
Go Chan asked with wide eyes. He had been worried that she might be after his life. But if she said that, it seed there wouldn’t be any significant problems.
‘Phew…’
He felt relieved. But suddenly, he also found it strange. If she wasn’t after him, why did the new sect leader personally appear here and use the Lustrous Jade Flying Needles on him? As he was puzzled, Ha Chae-rin said with a smile, “It’s a good thing.”
“Pardon?”
What was a good thing? “I was planning to enter and leave Yeon Mok Sword Manor through the eldest young master, who I heard enjoys wine and won, but I can go in together with you, Escort Guard Go Chan.”
‘!?’
For a mont, Go Chan furrowed his brow, wondering what she was talking about. Why did she want to enter Yeon Mok Sword Manor with him? “Wh-What do you an by that? Why would you enter Yeon Mok Sword Manor with ?”
At that question, Ha Chae-rin slightly lifted Go Chan’s chin with her fingertip and spoke in a murderous voice, “I’m thinking of taking the head of the third young master of Yeon Mok Sword Manor.”
‘!!!!!!’
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