“What is your relation to the Yeon Clan?”
The Dark King’s voice was quiet.
So quiet that, perhaps because it was connected to how softly he moved, it was difficult to hear unless one strained their ears.
Yet unlike that, his words rang all too clearly in my ears.
‘The Yeon Clan?’
To understand what the Dark King had spat out, I tried to recall it.
Yeon Clan. The Dark King had definitely said Yeon Clan to me.
There might be a few great clans with the surname Yeon in this wide land, but if it was a Yeon Clan worth the Dark King mentioning, I thought there could only be one.
“Could you perhaps mean the Geumcheon Yeon Clan?”
The foremost clan said to have been annihilated after the Blood Demon’s Blood Tribulation in the past.
That was precisely the place where Yeon Ilcheon, the Number One Under Heaven and a regressor, had served as patriarch.
If the Yeon Clan the Dark King spoke of was indeed that place….
‘He thinks I have some relation to the Yeon Clan?’
No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t fathom why he would ask me such a thing, whatever it might be.
Meanwhile, the Dark King, having heard my question, said nothing and merely looked at me.
“Sen—”
“Are you planning to play dumb?”
“…!”
*Creak.* I felt strong pressure from the Dark King’s hand gripping my arm.
I tried to shake it off urgently, but it wasn’t easy, given how strong this man was.
How is an assassin this damn strong?
“No, what do you mean play dumb…!”
“Trying to lie about the ‘curse’ before me, of all people.”
“Curse…?”
Setting aside the pressure on my arm, what the Dark King had just said bothered me.
The moment I frowned, the Dark King moved the hand he was holding.
My arm stretched out, and the changed part of my skin became strikingly noticeable.
“And you would still lie, even with this?”
What I could understand from those words was this:
The Dark King had spoken to me about the Yeon Clan because of this skin.
I didn’t know how he knew about this skin, but if that was the case….
‘What connection does this skin have with the Yeon Clan?’
Though it was only about the size of a thumb, no matter how I looked at it, it was flesh that had changed into something like reptile skin.
Did this mean the Dark King knew the reason for it?
‘Even so….’
It was difficult to explain all of this to the Dark King.
“This is something I don’t know well either. This happened at some point….”
*Crack.*
“Ggk…!”
The moment I tried to spout an excuse, the world flipped.
The pressure on my arm released, and at the same time, it was because the Dark King had grabbed my neck and slammed me against the wall.
‘Crazy…!’
The pain in my neck was bad enough.
But what I felt first was shock.
I didn’t know how strong the Dark King was, but I hadn’t expected him to suppress me—who had reached the Transformation Realm, even if imperfectly—so effortlessly.
“Kkeuk….”
“Brat. You may deceive the eyes of others, but you cannot deceive me. Do you truly wish to die?”
My body reacted to the killing intent radiating from the Dark King’s feet.
Sweat began to flow uncontrollably.
Restrained killing intent, yet within it, an absurd density.
*So one could control killing intent to this degree.* Even amidst this, I felt enlightenment.
‘…Enlightenment at a time like this is bullshit.’
Having reached the Transformation Realm, it seemed even my brain was pickled in martial arts. To think I was feeling that in this state.
I could feel his determination to break my neck right away if I didn’t speak truthfully.
Ah, fuck, my head is already complicated enough to kill me. Why is this bastard giving me shit too?
The pressure on my neck grew stronger. If you’re asking whether I couldn’t break free….
‘If I use my Demon Form, I might barely be able to.’
Doing battle was out of the question, but I thought I might be able to wrench his hand away.
Of course, I could see the situation after that would be disastrous, so I just endured it.
The bigger problem was….
‘…Why the hell is this crazy bastard doing this?’
Seeing him say I was playing dumb and that it wouldn’t work, he seemed to be certain of something.
What connection do I have with the Yeon Clan….
‘…Ah?’
Reptile skin like that of snakes or lizards….
And the Yeon Clan….
‘Ah, no way.’
Damn it, my head worked well at times like this.
The World Tree had said it.
That the reason that beast woke up was because of the giant snake’s orb I had received in the Yeon Clan’s secret sanctuary.
Which meant….
“…Th…e secret sanctuary.”
The moment I barely spat that out, the pressure on my neck released.
At the same time, my body that had been suspended in midair landed on the floor.
Fortunately, I didn’t fall flat on my face unseemingly and managed to steady myself.
“Keok… keok….”
As I gasped for breath, I felt an intense gaze from in front of me.
When I slightly raised my head….
‘His eyes….’
The Dark King’s eyes had changed.
The black-tinted eyes, perhaps due to the mask, were gone, and I could see they had changed to bright white eyes, like when we first met.
I wondered if he had removed his mask, but that wasn’t it either.
I didn’t know the principle, but it seemed they could be controlled.
“What did you say?”
“…Huu….”
“Brat, I asked what you just said.”
Damn, his second question was filled with killing intent, as if he was annoyed I had hesitated once because I was out of breath.
This fellow really lives up to his infamous alias, disgustingly well.
The Dark King’s eyes were shining brightly.
But I knew the energy seething within them was absolutely not good.
Whether he knew my grandfather or not, that wasn’t important to him.
‘It’s cold.’
He gave off the most frigid, cold feeling of any person I had ever met.
How can such a person exist?
‘Should I speak?’
I didn’t even know if that was the reason this had risen on my arm.
No matter how much I thought about it, that was my only connection to the Yeon Clan.
‘…Even if that is the reason, it’s strange.’
It had already been several years since I visited the secret sanctuary.
Many things had happened since then. If my body was going to change like this, it should have happened long ago.
I couldn’t understand why it was happening now.
Moreover.
‘He said curse.’
The Dark King had spoken as if he knew everything about this change.
What on earth was this?
As I briefly pondered what the reason and identity of it was….
“Brat.”
The Dark King called me once more.
“That is already the third question.”
As he spoke, I felt something touch the end of my neck.
It was the tip of the Dark King’s finger.
I didn’t bother with useless thoughts about what he was doing.
Because it obviously looked dangerous.
“Normally, I do not ask the same question twice. Nor am I one to enjoy torture.”
“…”
“It means I do not like troublesome things. Because killing ends the matter.”
Him saying that with an expressionless face made it even scarier.
If we’re talking about people who have killed, I shouldn’t be one to take lightly either.
The person before me was on a level difficult to compare with that.
Death.
He felt like death wearing the form of a human.
“Therefore, the fact that I asked you three times means it is truly an unusual occurrence.”
Showing off over such a thing.
I had thought that unconsciously.
Fortunately, I barely held back from saying it out loud.
If I hadn’t held back, I definitely would have lashed out, given my personality.
“So speak.”
Unaware of my thoughts, the Dark King continued.
“Because there should be nothing about that place that I do not know.”
“…”
Force entered the hand touching the end of my neck.
It meant he had no intention of waiting for my deliberation.
Should I just butt heads with him?
I agonized about four times in one second.
If it’s four times, I’ve endured more than three times. I wondered if I could just go for it, but….
‘Useless pride will get you killed.’
He was not an opponent I could beat by charging at him.
So I had to endure.
I was someone who couldn’t swallow his pride even if it killed him.
But I couldn’t lose my life so futilely like that.
Because I had come to have far too many things to protect.
In the end, I had no choice but to open my mouth and bring up the story of having gone to the Geumcheon Yeon Clan’s secret sanctuary.
“…”
After hearing the entire story, the Dark King stroked his own lips with his hand, appearing lost in thought.
“…The secret sanctuary.”
To the question of how I had found out, along with the story of attending the Dangbyeong Assembly….
I said I had ‘coincidentally’ gone up the mountain and found it.
As with all fortuitous encounters, if you say it was a coincidence, most things connect.
What mattered was what state that place had been in, what I had seen there, and what I had obtained.
Whether the Dark King had finished thinking, he glanced once at my arm.
Right after, he looked at where my dantian was.
“For it to be a lie, the energy in your body is unmistakably real.”
Hearing that, I felt a little relieved inside.
Because it seemed I wouldn’t die immediately.
Not that killing someone here would make sense, but the Dark King was someone who could easily do so and escape without repercussions.
“Energy, you say?”
I wondered what energy he was suddenly talking about.
I thought he might mean the energy obtained from the secret sanctuary, but….
‘Didn’t everything obtained there already disappear?’
It was true I had received a fortuitous encounter then, and true my internal energy had increased.
But I hadn’t thought it was an enormous fortuitous encounter.
Because the increase in my internal energy hadn’t been that great either.
Then what energy had the Dark King sensed from me?
On top of that.
‘The Dark King knows about the changes in my skin.’
That must be why he was reacting like that.
“Senior.”
At my call, the Dark King shifted his gaze to me.
“…Is this change of mine related to the Yeon Clan?”
The Dark King’s eyes widened at the question.
It wasn’t such an amazing question, so why that reaction?
“I didn’t know you would pose a question to me in this situation.”
Ah, so he was surprised by that.
“…I am simply curious. Because it is an unexpected change, I am curious, and you, Senior, who seek traces of a clan already annihilated and exterminated long ago….”
“Wrong.”
“Yes?”
Just as I was about to spout excuses, the Dark King firmly cut me off.
What did he mean by wrong? The Dark King spoke frighteningly to my confusion.
“The Yeon Clan was indeed annihilated. It was a very long time ago.”
It was already a matter of centuries past.
That was something everyone questioned.
Though they are now called the Four Great Clans.
At that time, the Geumcheon Yeon Clan was called the foremost clan.
Only one.
A mighty clan that possessed the Number One Under Heaven, with most of the Central Plains’ merchant guilds connected to it.
For some reason, the Geumcheon Yeon Clan disappeared in an instant.
The very fact that such a clan collapsed so quickly was something most could not understand.
It was simply because the records stated so that everyone believed it.
There were no detailed records, and since I wasn’t very interested in history, that was all I knew.
“Then….”
Just as I was about to ask the Dark King what was wrong.
“They were annihilated as a clan, but not exterminated as a bloodline.”
I had to express doubt internally at the Dark King’s words.
Those words meant that although the Geumcheon Yeon Clan was annihilated, their descendants remained without disappearing.
Just as I was thinking it might be possible if I thought of the Jegal Clan….
“Huh?”
With that fleeting thought, I looked at the Dark King with wide eyes.
What he had said was finally ringing in my ears.
*Because there should be nothing about that place that I do not know.*
Those were the words the Dark King had threatened me with.
Furthermore.
*They were not exterminated.*
If he was speaking with such conviction….
“Could it be….”
Hiding my trembling voice, I looked at the Dark King and asked.
“…Are you a descendant of the Yeon Clan, Senior?”
Hearing my words, the Dark King did not say anything.
He merely looked at me with tightly pressed lips.
But for some reason.
I thought this silence was an answer.
Soon, I realized.
‘Ah, this…. I might really die if I’m not careful…?’
No matter how I looked at it, it was a very dangerous situation.
******************
Rustle.
Into a mansion overlooking the Sea of Yoryeong.
A bird with beautiful feathers softly landed on the window sill.
A thin letter was tied to the bird’s leg.
A hand that confirmed this carefully untied the letter from the bird’s leg and took it.
The owner of the hand was the master of this great mansion, the one called the Conqueror of Yoryeong.
Rustle.
The man slowly unfolded and held up the letter.
At the first part, there was a seal stamped.
It was the direct seal of the Moyong Clan.
Among them, it was a special seal made specifically for sending correspondence to the clan head.
“…”
He read the brief passage character by character to the end.
“Hmm.”
A peculiar light filled the man’s eyes having read to the last line.
Soon after, the man frowned as if something displeased him.
Creak.
Whoosh….
As the man rose from his chair, a shallow whirlwind swept through the room.
“I entrusted another family’s precious daughter to them…. To think they would handle matters in such a way.”
His heavy, weighty voice was steeped in anger.
The sharpness possessed by swordmasters who had reached a high realm was also felt mixed within.
As the man walked out the door, those waiting approached and bowed their heads.
“Chief Steward.”
“…Yes! Clan Head.”
“We head to Hanam immediately.”
At the Moyong Patriarch’s words, the Chief Steward’s shoulders trembled slightly.
“But…. A few days from now, there is a schedule with the Baekhwa Merchant Guild….”
“Cancel it.”
“C-Clan Head…!”
“If they desire compensation for that matter, tell them I will give them everything.”
“But that…!”
The Chief Steward tried to add something, but the Moyong Patriarch merely ignored him and kept walking.
Then suddenly, the Moyong Patriarch’s steps halted.
“Ah, it may not matter.”
“Yes…?”
As the Chief Steward who had been urgently following gave a doubtful answer.
“Because they will be the same anyway.”
“Clan Head. What do you mean by that….”
“We don’t need a carriage. Because my feet are faster.”
“Wai—…!”
“If there are those who wish to discuss this, convey this to them.”
The moment the Chief Steward startled and tried to grab the Patriarch.
“That I will retrieve my daughter. And see the face of the bastard who dares to steal my precious daughter.”
Having left those words, the Moyong Patriarch leaped over the window frame.
The Chief Steward, now advanced in years, poked his head out the window with a shocked face.
The Moyong Patriarch had already become a small dot and disappeared into the distance.