The Suryong Chaeju's face twisted.
The appearance of this obvious intruder unsettled his mood.
"Who the hell are you?"
Cheonhui looked at the one who had spoken.
The middle-aged man hadn't bothered to groom his bristly, chestnut-burr-like beard, giving him a face that practically screamed, "I am a water bandit."
"Who am I? Your enemy. Can't you tell just by looking?"
"You bastard..."
Just as veins were about to bulge on the Suryong Chaeju's forehead at Cheonhui's dismissive answer—
"Chaeju. What is the meaning of this?"
A low voice from the Sipya Mundo resonated.
"Did I not just tell you to ignore the situation outside?"
At the implicit reprimand that followed, the corner of the Suryong Chaeju's eye twitched slightly.
Though his face was hidden beneath a bamboo hat, it felt as if his expression was entirely visible.
"Deal with him quickly."
The Suryong Chaeju abruptly stood up and grabbed the heavy dao neatly displayed behind him.
Snatch!
As usual, he took a brief moment to feel the weight of the heavy dao, then pointed its tip at Cheonhui.
"I don't know how you managed to get in here, but..."
His murmuring came to a halt.
This room was the deepest inner sanctum of the Suryong Chae.
To enter, one would have to pass through the area where his subordinates were stationed.
Yet, for an intruder to reach this place meant...
'...!'
His mind snapped into clarity.
He hastily pricked his ears.
It had clearly been noisy just a moment ago, but now, without knowing when it had stopped, not even a single breath could be heard.
If they had dealt with even a single intruder, someone would have come to the room to report.
Yet there were no reports; instead, an unfamiliar young man had blasted the door open and walked in.
'These bastards aren't ordinary!'
The Suryong Chaeju's expression hardened.
"Where did you come from? The Hyopwidae? Or another Surochae?"
"From over there."
Cheonhui jerked his thumb toward the shattered door behind him and sneered.
A blatant act of mockery.
The Suryong Chaeju gnawed at his lip.
"Seems you have no intention of answering."
"You're not entirely stupid."
The moment those words left his mouth.
Hwoooong—
The Suryong Chaeju's dao, already swinging down, cleaved Cheonhui in half.
"I'll have to hear my answers from the other bastards, not y—"
The Suryong Chaeju's body stiffened, expecting Cheonhui to spurt blood and collapse at any second.
It was because Cheonhui's bisected form blurred and vanished.
'Y-Yixing Huanwei?!'
At that very moment.
"...Hup!"
Sensing a chilling presence from behind, the Suryong Chaeju desperately swung his dao backward.
Clang!
A massive shower of sparks erupted.
Unable to completely dissipate the impact, the Suryong Chaeju staggered backward.
'A m-master!'
Cold sweat ran down his back.
The swift strike from a moment ago was not just impossible to track with the eyes—it was entirely invisible.
He had only blocked it by sheer luck.
'If I fight him alone like this, I'm dead meat.'
Having confirmed his opponent's martial prowess, he sent a sound transmission to the Sipya Mundo.
「I need your help.」
「Oho. Your help?」
Even in this dire situation, the Sipya Mundo was still trying to bargain; the Suryong Chaeju replied in a tone thick with urgency.
「If the Suryong Chae falls, it will be troublesome for you as well, won't it?」
A brief silence ensued.
「It can't be helped.」
A stiff sound transmission echoed in his mind.
The Sipya Mundo tossed his bamboo hat aside.
Thud—
Surprisingly gentle-looking, he opened his normally narrow eyes as wide as they could go.
"We will attack together."
At his following words, the Suryong Chaeju's eyebrows twitched, but he soon nodded.
"Are you done talking?"
Cheonhui, who had been keeping his distance from them, raised the sword resting on his shoulder straight up.
'I figured they were sending sound transmissions, and now they're teaming up.'
Having already noticed the two exchanging sound transmissions, Cheonhui remained entirely unfazed.
"...You are quite full of yourself."
The Sipya Mundo's eyes darkened.
The swift strike Cheonhui had displayed a moment ago was undeniably fast and intense, but...
"Chaeju."
The moment he lowly called out to the Suryong Chaeju.
Tap!
The two lunged forward simultaneously.
Seeing the two rushing at him from both sides in the blink of an eye, Cheonhui grinned fiercely.
Infused with qi, his sword moved slowly, tracing a razor-sharp trajectory.
A sword art that had been gathering dust in the corner of the Wanjing Ge.
It was the Shanguang Fenlei Jian (Flash Splitting Thunder Sword).
Witnessing the blindingly fast strike that was impossible to track, the Suryong Chaeju recoiled in terror and twisted his dao.
Shraaack!
The sharply swung blade slashed toward the Suryong Chaeju, who had charged in first.
Claang!
The dao bent severely, threatening to snap.
"Kuhak!"
Simultaneously, dark, clotted blood spilled from the Suryong Chaeju's mouth, soaking his robes.
"Now!"
As the blood-filled shout erupted, the Sipya Mundo appeared from behind Cheonhui.
Having waited for an opening during their clash, he spread his palm wide open.
Aiming straight for Cheonhui's defenseless back!
'He won't be able to dodge this!'
The Sipya Mundo was certain.
The Sipya Mun's ultimate technique, the Luhuang Shou (Verdant Radiance Hand)!
Just as this hand technique, which all assassins yearned to learn, was about to swallow Cheonhui whole—
Swoosh—
Cheonhui tilted his head backward.
"Too late."
Meeting those apathetic eyes, a chill ran down the Sipya Mundo's spine.
But he quickly shook it off and—
"Die."
Crunch!
The sickening sound of crushing flesh rang out.
At the same time, a pitch-black silhouette shot past the Suryong Chaeju and slammed into the wall.
Crash!
"H-How can this be..."
The Suryong Chaeju stared in sheer disbelief at Cheonhui, who had sent the Sipya Mundo flying.
"You're quite hard to kill."
Cheonhui looked perfectly calm, as if nothing had even happened.
The Suryong Chaeju bit his upper lip.
If this kept up, he was going to die a dog's death.
'D-Do I really have to use that...'
Debating whether he had to unleash his hidden ultimate technique, he gritted his teeth.
Recalling the martial art he had fortuitously obtained in the past, he radiated a frigid killing intent.
An ultimate technique stronger than any martial art in the world.
But precisely because of that, he had to keep it hidden; if discovered, it would make him a public enemy.
'When the Sipya Mun found out, they had numbers, so I had to submit, but this time there's only one!'
With his mind made up, the Suryong Chaeju poured his hidden gongli into the dao he was gripping.
The dao let out a bizarre shriek.
Ssshhh—
It slowly became dyed in a dark qi, close to the darkness itself.
"Huh?"
Cheonhui's brow furrowed as he saw the qi blooming from the Suryong Chaeju's dao.
"Demonic qi?"
The qi dyeing the blade, and the starting stance.
Everything was all too familiar.
'Molong Daofa...?'
In an instant, the Suryong Chaeju's eyes turned turbid.
The dao spewed out the demonic qi it harbored, soon radiating an overwhelming presence.
The demonic qi slowly spread out, gradually intertwining into a single entity.
"Since you've seen this, you have to die."
A Black Dragon materialized from the dao.
"Are you crazy? You dare use demonic arts against me?"
Cheonhui looked at the Black Dragon rushing toward him with an expression of sheer disbelief.
He had already stood at the very pinnacle of the Demonic Path.
Yet, they were using the Molong Daofa, a mere technique from the Five Families, against him?
And such a clumsy, lacking version at that?
He couldn't even bring himself to laugh.
"This is the end!"
With a face full of conviction, the Suryong Chaeju swung his dao down.
As the Black Dragon manifested from the dao ripped through the space, threatening to swallow Cheonhui whole—
Slash!
A blinding sword glare bloomed from Cheonhui's hand.
Simultaneously, the Black Dragon was cleaved in half.
"H-How could you cut the Modao..."
The Suryong Chaeju stared at Cheonhui, who had bisected the Black Dragon, with vacant eyes.
Clatter!
His dao snapped into two pieces.
And that was the last sight he ever beheld.
Slish—
A bloodline slowly etched itself from his forehead down to his groin.
And then, his body split in two.
"Why is the Molong Daofa in the Central Plains?"
Cheonhui glanced at the fallen Suryong Chaeju and lightly stroked his chin.
The Molong Daofa was a demonic art belonging to the Zhan Family, one of the Five Families of the Demonic Dragon.
'There's no way that family of vicious fighters would ever reveal their demonic arts to an outsider.'
Just as he recalled the nature of the Zhan Family—
"Kuhak!"
The sound of someone coughing up blood reached his ears.
"Ah! You're still alive, aren't you?"
Cheonhui's figure flickered away.
The Sipya Mundo, who had briefly passed out after crashing into the wall, regained consciousness while clutching his splitting head.
"D-Did I get counterattacked?"
"Aren't you observant."
Along with the answer to his muttered question, a shadow fell over the Sipya Mundo.
The Sipya Mundo raised his head.
There stood the young man, and behind him, the gruesome corpse of the Suryong Chaeju—bisected and collapsed—came into view.
'I'm going to die at this rate.'
He swallowed hard.
'If I can just bring him to our side...'
Desperately racking his brain, he opened his mouth to speak to Cheonhui, who was looking down at him.
"Judging by your handiwork, you seem to be a practitioner of the Demonic Path..."
The Sipya Mundo continued to speak, hoping to sway Cheonhui to his side.
"How about it? If you join hands with us—"
The moment he reached out his hand along with those words.
Slash!
Cheonhui swung his sword, decapitating him.
"I really hate noisy people."
Looking down at the Sipya Mundo's severed head rolling on the floor, Cheonhui swung his blade to flick the blood off the sword.
Whatever the man had babbled about hadn't registered in his ears at all.
Cheonhui had only one goal.
The total destruction of the Suryong Chae.
Sheathing his sword, Cheonhui surveyed his surroundings before turning around with a satisfied expression.
"The job is done. Shall we head back?"