Light Novel: Volume 3 Episode 17
Manhwa: N/A
As soon as she heard the voice, Oh San-kyung felt the hairs all over her body stand upright.
‘Who?’
Her palms got wet.
Although it looked shabby on the outside, a strict security network had been established around the Hao clan’s Chengdu branch.
The Hao clan, that lived on information, was more sensitive to external threats than any other sect. Therefore, if a suspicious person appeared, they were immediately reported to Oh San-kyung. This was the reason how Oh San-kyung and the Chengdu branch managed to escape from numerous threats so far.
They were confident that no martial artist could escape the Hao clan’s strict surveillance system. But at this moment, Oh San-kyung’s pride was shattered by the voice from behind her.
Oh San-kyung swallowed dry saliva and carefully opened her mouth.
“Who— are you?”
She secretly raised her qi.
At that moment, a white hand popped out from behind.
The white hand held the booklet Oh San-kyung was holding.
The booklet contains all the information about numerous warriors that the Hao clan’s Chengdu branch has collected so far. To Oh San-kyung, it was more important than her own life.
Oh San-kyung turned around and tried to attack the owner of the voice. But strangely, her body stiffened and she couldn’t move.
It wasn’t a blood lust nor was she forcibly suppressed. Even so, her body could not move. She was overwhelmed by the atmosphere emanating from her unknown opponent.
Oh San-kyung clenched her teeth and tried to move her body, but she remained immobile. Meanwhile, the white hand completely took the booklet from Oh San-kyung’s hand.
Pararak!
She heard the sound of a book flipping behind her back.
That brief moment felt like an eternity to Oh San-kyung.
She heard a voice muttering.
“It’s not too long since I’ve entered Chengdu, yet you already did your research.”
“I, I am the manager of the Hao clan’s Chengdu Branch. The Hao clan will never stand still if you harm me.”
“I know. That’s why I came.”
“You came here knowing that? What the hell?”
“Because I don’t want my information to go around without my permission.”
“Then?”
Oh San-kyung rolled her eyes.
‘So you’re saying that you’re the person who’s name is listed on the Chengdu’s Directory of Martial Artist?’
She traced her memory to see if there was such a radical disposition in the list of martial artists. Quite a lot of people came to mind, but she couldn’t easily think of the name of this secretive and creepy warrior.
Oh San-kyung suddenly remembered that the person mentioned that he had just entered Chengdu. There was only one such warrior in the Chengdu Military Personnel List.
“Oh, so you’re Pyo-wol.”
“Correct.”
The owner of the voice was Pyo-wol.
Pyo-wol revealed his identity without hiding it. At that moment, a cold sweat ran down Oh San-kyung’s back.
There was only one reason why the warrior, who had sneaked in secretly, was now revealing his identity.
‘Assassination?’
He just has to kill the person who knows his identity so that they don’t talk about it. Oh San-kyung has seen such cases countless times. But she never dreamed that she would one day be the target.
“Come on, let’s compromise.”
“Compromise?”
“I will hide the identity of Mister. The name of Mister will never leak out of my mouth.”
“But you already talked well about me to the disciples of the Qingcheng sect.”
“It was a request.”
Oh San-kyung realized that Pyo-wol had been watching from beginning to end.
It was no coincidence that Pyo-wol found the Hao clan’s Chengdu branch.
He was monitoring the movements of the Qingcheng sect.
Before seeing the list of the martial artists, he must be planning to retreat quietly. However, the moment he saw the contents of the Chengdu’s Directory of Martial Artist, he must have changed his mind.
The first page was full of information about himself.
If this information goes up to the Hao clan’s main headquarters, his existence will be revealed to the whole world.
At the moment, only an outline was written, but if the Hao clan made up its mind to trace the complete history of Pyo-wol, the truth about him would soon be revealed.
They will know his name someday, but for now he intends to remain anonymous. At least until the end of his revenge against the Qingcheng sect and Emei sect.
“Who else have read this booklet?”
“No one but me— please, spare me.”
“If I let you live, you’ll talk.”
“Yes. Trust me.”
Squirm!
At that moment, Oh San-kyung’s finger moved. As a result of steadily raising her internal qi over time, the stiffness of her body was gone.
“Die!”
Oh San-kyung turned around like a thunderbolt and swung her arms.
It was Biyeongsu1 , a technique of the Hao clan. It was an attack that could cut down even a large tree at once. Oh San-kyung released the technique with all her might.
Even if this single move didn’t take the opponent’s life, she had no doubts that she would at least make him back down. She planned to run out and escape the moment her opponent backed off.
Suuu!
Her hand cut through the space where Pyo-wol was supposed to be. But there was no sensation on the fingertips. Her hand met an empty space.
Ting!
At that moment, Oh San-kyung heard the sound of a string bouncing.
At first, she didn’t know what that meant.
Jurreuk!
If she didn’t feel the stinging pain on her neck with something flowing out, she wouldn’t have even known what happened to her.
Oh San-kyung inadvertently touched her neck with her hand. She touched a moist liquid.
‘What… what is this?’
Oh San-kyung felt her strength draining out of her body.
“Keuk!”
Suddenly, a gasp rushed out of her throat. Her neck was split like the gills of a fish. Air was leaking from the cracked area. Oh San-kyung desperately tried to stop the bleeding from the open wound.
Fear and doubt were present in both of her eyes.
‘Uh, when and how?’
She had no idea what her opponent did. She hadn’t even seen Pyo-wol yet.
“Ah, like a demon…”
Oh San-kyung could not finish her words and collapsed. That was the end of Oh San-kyung. She didn’t even realize how she died until the moment she stopped breathing.
Only after Oh San-kyung completely stopped breathing did Pyo-wol appear in the dark. Pyo-wol waved his hand and retracted the Soul-Reaping Thread.
Even after killing Oh San-kyung, there was no guilt on Pyo-wol’s face.
Pyo-wol put the list of martial artists in his bosom.
He searched the residence of Oh San-kyung and confirmed that there were no objects associated with him other than the Chengdu’s Directory of Martial Artist.
If the Hao clan’s headquarters sends someone to investigate the truth, his existence will be revealed. But by then everything will all be over.
Pyo-wol quietly came out.
The Hao clan’s warriors outside had no idea what was going on inside. Pyo-wol evaded their line of sights and escaped from the Hao clan’s Chengdu branch.
After a long time after he disappeared, people’s screams echoed in the Hao clan’s Chengdu branch.
“Branch manager!”
“Come on, call the physician!”
* * *
Before a major event that would shock people, there was always something called foreshadowing. The little things that went unnoticed at the time were actually a kind of signal that happened before the big event happened.
In particular, the stronger the number of incidents, the more such omens appeared.
The event that showed the most foreboding within 100 years of Jianghu was the War of the Demons and Heaven.
At that time, many people noticed the signs yet they ignored them. As a result, there was a major incident in which former strong martial artists were involved, and that was the War of the Demons and Heaven.
Fortunately, an outstanding soldier named Lee Gwak appeared and ended the war, but the incident at that time left a big scar on the hearts of the warriors.
Older warriors who remember those days no longer ignore even the smallest incident. They all fear that a small incident may turn into a great battle.
There were such martial artists who had the same beliefs in Sichuan.
Fosanhae, the sect leader of the Fire Dragon Room2 , was such a person.
Contrary to his crude appearance, he is very resourceful and has a wide view of reading the flow of events.
Thanks to this, 15 years after becoming a disciple of the previous sect leader of the Fire Dragon Room, he took over the Fire Dragon Room and established the strongest power among the four rooms.
There was a deep trough in Fosanhae’s forehead.
“The young master of the Thunder Clan was assassinated by an assassin who was presumed to have mastered the martial arts of the Qingcheng sect, and now, the atmosphere inside the Hundred Flower Room is bad?
It was scorching news that Suha brought a while ago.
“I couldn’t figure out what exactly happened inside the Hundred Flower Room. However, the atmosphere inside their sect was really intense. It’s clear that an unusual incident has happened.”
“This is the first time in seven years…”
Seven years ago, there was a major incident that shook the entire Sichuan province.
In order to subdue the assassin group called the Blood Shadow Group, all the sects in Sichuan were mobilized to unfold the inescapable net. The operation was led by the Qingcheng sect and the Emei sect, so Fosanhae also participated and led the other members of the Fire Dragon Room.
It would have been impossible not to participate in the work led by the two leading sects in Sichuan Province. If they hesitated or rejected the invitation to participate with the pursuit, they could become the public enemy of all sects in Sichuan Province.
At the time, he participated with a light heart.
The Blood Shadow Group was a famous assassin group in Sichuan, but it was impossible for them to escape from the inescapable net in which all the sects of Sichuan participated.
The warriors who participated in the inescapable net found and killed assassins as if they were hunting animals. The reason for subjugating the Blood Shadow Group didn’t matter to them.
It was more important to them that they could kill assassins, the evil of Jianghu, at will.
In a way, it was kind of a joke.
After the War of the Demons and Heaven, there was a new order in Jianghu.
Existing powerful sects such as Shaolin Temple, Wudang sect, and Mount Hua were firmly established in the Yi River represented by Gwangmumun and Cheonmujang. (광무문과 천무장으로 대변되는 이강(二强)에 소림사와 무당파, 화산파 같은 기존의 강호 문파가 굳건하게 자리를 잡은 것이다.)
Unfortunately, there was no such sect in Sichuan.
The most likely sects were the Qingcheng sect and Emei sect, but unfortunately, they closed their doors and went into isolation when the War of the Demons and Heaven broke out. Because of this, the newly established sects had no choice but to push them out of their position.
The closed topography of Sichuan also played a part.
Because Sichuan is a basin surrounded by high mountain ranges, a strong ecosystem of its own has been created. While its topography made it possible to survive without interaction with the outside, its topography also made it difficult to advance and explore the outside areas.
After the new order of Sichuan was established, there was little chance for each of them to fight. Probably because they are intertwined with each other in many ways.
The assassin hunting incident that took place after a boring and peaceful time passed, drove the warriors of Sichuan into excitement. It was because they can hunt assassins without caring for others’ opinions.
Although Fosanhae was worried about such an atmosphere, he still participated in the inescapable net.
To fall out of the board made by the Emei and Qingcheng sect was no different from saying that they would be ostracized by the martial artists of the entire Sichuan Province.
The subjugation of the assassins was successful.
The warriors of Sichuan Province found the assassins one by one and brutally killed them.
They were so sure of a perfect victory without any consequences.
But an unexpected incident occurred.
One of the assassins had successfully killed Woo Gunsang, a member of the Qingcheng sect.
Sichuan was turned upside down.
While majority of the assassins chose to escape, a single person defied everyone’s expectations and carried out a solo assassination.
The fuming Qingcheng sect sent their disciples to pursue the assassin together with the Emei sect. They chased the assassin to the end and eventually killed him.
However, he didn’t know what happened, but after that, the relationship between the Emei sect and Qingcheng sect had turned for the worst.
In the end, those two sects that represented Sichuan fought and treated each other as enemies. They collided several times and suffered heavy damage.
In retrospect, there were a lot of foreshadowings even before the incident at that time.
They just didn’t realize it.
And now, seven years have passed.
Due to the confrontation between the two sects, the sects in Sichuan Province were divided into two sides.
The Fire Dragon Room was still neutral, but they couldn’t stay like this forever. Eventually, they had to choose a side. It was a concern.
The young master of the Thunder Clan died, and another trouble occurred in the Hundred Flower Room.
Maybe this is a warning.
A warning that will drive the entire Sichuan Province into a sea of blood.
Foshanhae stroked his beard with his hand.
“This is not good. It seems that these series of events are all intertwined. Could it be that there is a mastermind that no one knows about?”
It was true that the Emei sect and Qingcheng sect had been fighting for seven years, but the recent events were too sudden.
Without giving them time to think, a series of incidents broke out, driving the relationship between the Emei sect and Qingcheng sect to the worst.
It almost made me feel like someone was guiding them.
“If there really is such a person—”
Just thinking about it gave him goosebumps all over his body. When he was about to continue his reasoning,
“Sect, sect leader!”
An urgent voice came from outside.
With an ominous feeling, Foshanhae jumped up from his seat and opened the door. Then a disciple ran in.
Foshanhae asked,
“What’s going on?”
“There was a battle between the Qingcheng and Emei sect in Chengdu!”
“What?”
“Because of that, there is a riot in the center of Chengdu. You should go see it soon.”
“Alright.”
Foshanhae grabbed his weapon.
He completely forgot all the thoughts he had been thinking about a moment ago.
Foshanhae took his disciples and ran to the place where the two sect were fighting.
A sticky wind clung to his face as he ran.
Editor’s Notes
Hoped everyone enjoyed the chapter~ Don’t forget to comment down below what you think of the chapter <3
Biyeongsu. Raws: 비영수(批影手)批 comment, criticize 影 shadow, image, reflection 手 hand Fire Dragon Room. Other Translations: Hwaryongbang, 화룡방(火龍房)