If that was really true, then nothing would work on this bastard.
In that instant, a chilling thought flashed through the Blood Trace Division leader’s mind.
Even if torture left his body in ruins, this man could heal him and start again from the beginning.
It was an absurd thought, but the fact that he had attached his arm back so perfectly proved it was possible enough.
Fine.
You win.
The Blood Trace Division leader sighed and lowered his head.
“What do you want.......”
At the Blood Trace Division leader’s words, Jeok Wigang spoke in a disappointed voice.
“What? You’re telling me already?”
Why the hell is this madman disappointed?
“No matter what I do, I won’t be able to escape your hands. The fact that you attached my arm back this perfectly means you could torture me as much as you wanted and then heal me back to normal, doesn’t it?”
“Oh! Sharp. That’s my specialty. How did you know?”
As expected.
This bastard was disappointed because he did not get to torture him.
I won’t give you what you want.
I will tell you every answer you want.
Absolutely not because I am afraid of falling into a cycle of torture.
So the Blood Trace Division leader resolved, glaring at Jeok Wigang.
“Hey. Fix those eyes.”
The Blood Trace Division leader immediately changed them into obedient eyes.
“What organization do you belong to?”
“Black Blood Gate.”
“Come on....... I heard you talking about another assassin organization earlier.”
“It is Black Blood Gate.”
Jeok Wigang smirked.
“Then who sent you?”
“Heavenly Flower Merchant Company.”
“Have you been the ones attacking our True Martial Merchant Company all along?”
“Yes.”
“It didn’t seem like you were trying to kill us this time.”
“We were told to send you back alive. That way you would challenge the route again, and as long as the True Martial Merchant Company kept coming, we could keep doing this job and getting paid.”
“So it was for the future?”
“Yes.”
“Where is your headquarters?”
For the first time, the Blood Trace Division leader’s mouth closed.
In the Blood Trace Division leader’s eyes, Jeok Wigang was smiling happily, as if he had finally found an excuse.
Seeing Jeok Wigang look pleased suddenly irritated the Blood Trace Division leader, and he opened his mouth.
“It is on Mount Gongga.”
“Mount Gongga? That treacherous mountain called the King of Sichuan?”
“Yes.”
“Where on that mountain?”
“Inside Ice-Snow Valley on Mount Gongga.”
Jeok Wigang nodded.
“Thanks. You gave me the answers I wanted so smoothly.”
As Jeok Wigang patted his shoulder, the Blood Trace Division leader finally realized he had been thoroughly played.
“Ah.......”
To the despairing Blood Trace Division leader, Jeok Wigang said,
“You’ll die if you go back, so just join me.”
“What?”
“Black Blood Gate is going to become mine anyway. Whether you join me later or now, there’s no real difference, is there?”
“Do you believe Black Blood Gate will fall into your hands that easily?”
The Blood Trace Division leader’s tone changed.
“What wouldn’t work? Ghost Killer Corps and Nameless Hall are already in my hands.”
“Huh?”
For an instant, the Blood Trace Division leader stared at Jeok Wigang with an expression that asked what he had just heard.
“Wh-what are you talking about?”
Jeok Wigang pointed up the cliff and said,
“You met them up there.”
Met them up there?
The Blood Trace Division leader stood there blankly with an incredulous face.
Jeok Wigang smiled and said,
“The escort captain who fought you is from Ghost Killer Corps. And the escort guards behind him are half Ghost Killer Corps and half Nameless Hall.”
So that escort captain really was Ghost Killer Corps?
Then it made sense.
Ghost Killer Corps was indisputably the greatest of all assassin organizations.
If that man had cornered him so easily, then he must be one of their finest assassins, assigned as an escort captain.
No.
That was not what mattered right now.
The bigger problem was that Ghost Killer Corps and Nameless Hall had fallen into one person’s hands.
Had those two groups become part of the True Martial Merchant Company?
Or had the True Martial Merchant Company commissioned those two groups?
The Blood Trace Division leader looked at Jeok Wigang with suspicious eyes.
Was it true?
The man before him was clearly strong, but was he truly powerful enough to unite Ghost Killer Corps and Nameless Hall under him?
As he was wrestling with that question—
Someone descended lightly from the air, then prostrated himself before Jeok Wigang.
Who was that?
“Elder brother, I’ve finally arrived.”
“You’re here?”
It was Jin Muryang.
Jin Muryang looked at the Blood Trace Division leader and said,
“I keep telling you to make the underlings handle this kind of thing. Why are you doing it yourself again?”
“I’m faster. If I leave it to them, what will they do besides torture him?”
Jeok Wigang introduced Jin Muryang to the Blood Trace Division leader.
“This guy is the leader of Ghost Killer Corps.”
The Blood Trace Division leader was horrified.
Was he really supposed to believe that?
The moment he doubted it—
SHIVER—
The tremendous killing intent radiating from Jin Muryang made him feel as if his whole body were shrinking, and terror swept over him as though he might die at any moment.
It was real.
“Hey, hey. Keep that up and you’ll scare him to death.”
“Yes.”
At one word from Jeok Wigang, Jin Muryang immediately withdrew his killing intent.
Now he could believe it.
Jin Muryang was on a completely different level from the escort captain he had fought.
And Jeok Wigang had made someone like Jin Muryang obey with a single word.
That was not a simple superior-subordinate relationship. It was only possible when someone had truly been forced to submit through strength.
“Are you taking over Black Blood Gate too?”
“Yeah. If I leave them alone, they’ll keep doing things like this. Better for me to take them in and use them for something good.”
Jin Muryang asked the Blood Trace Division leader,
“What will you do?”
“I-I will follow you.”
Black Blood Gate was one of the Central Plains’ three great assassin organizations, but it could not match Ghost Killer Corps or Nameless Hall.
That much was certain.
So following Jeok Wigang was the wise choice.
“What will you do? Shall we stop by Black Blood Gate first?”
“That would be best, right? I need to find out about the client too.”
“Understood.”
*****
The frigid wind never ceased in Ice-Snow Valley on Mount Gongga.
This place, where nature itself served as a defensive formation, was Black Blood Gate’s headquarters.
Wi Garyang, Gate Master of Black Blood Gate, stared out the window at the cold wind with a bored expression, then yawned widely and muttered,
“Haah! Why are those bastards so late today?”
Behind him, Blood-Haired Strategist Muk Jin was quietly drinking tea. He smiled and said,
“This time, they are sending everyone back without a wound, so it may take longer.”
“Maybe? But aren’t they still too late? Nothing happened, did it?”
“You seem especially worried today.”
“I know. For some reason, I don’t feel very good.”
At Wi Garyang’s words, Muk Jin set down his teacup with a grave expression.
On days when he said he did not feel good, a major disaster always occurred.
Muk Jin trusted the man’s beastlike instincts.
“Do you truly feel that way?”
When Muk Jin asked with a serious expression, Wi Garyang smirked.
“Why so serious?”
“You know it too, don’t you? When you feel that way, Gate Master, something bad happens.”
“That’s all coincidence.”
“When coincidence repeats itself, it becomes inevitability.”
“Is that so?”
“I should send someone to check.”
“Looks like there’s no need. Look over there.”
When they looked in the direction Wi Garyang pointed, the assassins who had gone out on the mission were returning.
“See? Just a coincidence.”
Even after Wi Garyang said that, Muk Jin watched the returning assassins carefully.
“There is someone among them I have never seen before.”
“Hm?”
Only after hearing Muk Jin did Wi Garyang inspect them more closely.
“Huh? You’re right. Who is that bastard? Judging by his clothes, he looks like some rich family’s son. A hostage?”
“I said we did not need hostages.”
“Hmm. Something must have happened. Let’s go out together.”
“Yes!”
*****
Wi Garyang immediately moved to where the returning assassins were.
When the assassins saw Wi Garyang, they soon lowered their heads.
It was quite different from their usual appearance after completing a mission.
Wi Garyang immediately asked the Blood Trace Division leader, who stood at the front.
“What is this? The mission?”
“That is...... we failed.”
“Failed?”
“I apologize.”
“What happened?”
“That is...... the True Martial Merchant Company got us.”
“Huh.”
Goosebumps rose on his skin.
He really had felt bad, and it had become reality.
Was there truly something different about his instincts?
That thought crossed his mind.
“See? I told you, Gate Master. Your instincts are reliable.”
Muk Jin approached and turned his eyes, not to the assassins, but to the young man standing off to one side with an utterly calm expression.
“And who might this be?”
When he asked the Blood Trace Division leader, the man lowered his head and answered,
“He is the Merchant Master of the True Martial Merchant Company.”
“What?”
“Excuse me?”
Wi Garyang and Muk Jin were startled at the same time.
If they had captured the Merchant Master of the True Martial Merchant Company, then the mission had not failed, had it?
They could use him as a hostage to pressure the True Martial Merchant Company.
“He really is the Merchant Master of the True Martial Merchant Company? Strange. He seems much younger than the information I have.”
Muk Jin nodded as well.
“My information says the same. I clearly heard the Merchant Master of the True Martial Merchant Company was past fifty. This man looks barely over twenty.”
Had they been fooled?
The True Martial Merchant Company might have laid a trap and carried out a fake trading run.
Wi Garyang asked,
“Are you truly the Merchant Master of the True Martial Merchant Company?”
At Wi Garyang’s words, Jeok Wigang grinned and said,
“I’m Jeok Wigang, Merchant Master of the True Martial Merchant Company.”
“I’m?”
“Why?”
“You’re speaking pretty casually.”
“So are you.”
“I’m older, and I’m also your senior in the martial world.”
“So what?”
“You’re not afraid?”
“Nope.”
Where did they drag in this half-wit from?
Wait. Jeok?
“If you use the Jeok family name.... What is your relationship to the Gate Master of the True Martial Sect?”
“He’s my father.”
“The Gate Master of the True Martial Sect has two children, doesn’t he? Wait, I heard the Young Gate Master was Jeok Wiun, and the eldest was definitely....”
Muk Jin supplied from beside him.
“Jeok Wigang, yes.”
“Right? I heard he didn’t know martial arts.”
“They said he went to take the imperial examination.”
“Right?”
Wi Garyang looked at Jeok Wigang.
“Then why are you this fearless, you bookish fool who doesn’t even know martial arts?”
“A newborn puppy doesn’t know to fear a tiger. He must have been coddled at home and never learned how frightening the world is.”
Wi Garyang asked the Blood Trace Division leader,
“Hey. You said the mission failed, so why did you bring him here? Did you bring him to make up for the failed mission?”
“No.”
“Then? Why did you bring him?”
“We did not bring him...... We were captured.”
“You captured him? Isn’t that the same thing?”
“No.... We were... captured.”
“What the hell are you talking about? Who was captured?”
“We were.”
“So...... all these people here were captured by this one man and came all the way here?”
“Yes.”
“Hah....... So you kindly escorted him here to reveal Black Blood Gate’s location?”
“That is correct.”
“You son of a—!”
Wi Garyang threw a punch at the Blood Trace Division leader.
WHACK—
“URK!”
CRASH, THUD, RATTLE—
“This bastard thinks he can joke around because I’m talking nicely.”
Wi Garyang did not believe him.
Anyone could see the situation made no sense.
A man who did not even know martial arts had captured the assassins of Black Blood Gate, one of the Central Plains’ three great assassin organizations, and brought them here?
Wi Garyang asked the other assassins,
“Someone answer me properly. What is going on?”
No one answered.
“Why don’t you believe what people tell you?”
“What?”
At Jeok Wigang’s words, Wi Garyang frowned.
“I’m going to talk to your Gate Master, so step back.”
At that one sentence from Jeok Wigang, the assassins moved backward in perfect order.
Wi Garyang and Muk Jin stared at the sight in disbelief.
“It’s... true?”
Had they truly been subdued and dragged here?
Looking at the current situation, that seemed to be the truth.
Unless those bastards had all taken drugs and decided to tease their Gate Master as a group.
Wi Garyang asked Jeok Wigang,
“If all of this is true, then what purpose brought you here?”
Jeok Wigang grinned and said,
“I came to take over Black Blood Gate. Starting today, Black Blood Gate is a sect under my command.”