Chapter 124. Who Stands Closer to Death
As I headed for Saryugok in the carriage provided by the Blood Night Palace Lord, I repeatedly read the book the old macho man had delivered.
In my experience.
If you read a book several times, you can even glimpse the emotions of the person who wrote it.
After reading it about ten times, I came to roughly understand what Elder Heo had wanted to say.
When I had read it about twenty times.
I realized that the handwriting in the early part and the latter part were different, and also noticed that the composition of the sentences grew more stable toward the end.
When I had read it about thirty times.
I could glimpse Elder Heo’s state of mind as he wrote it day by day. On some days, his mind had been calm; on others, he seemed anxious. The sections written on days when his body and mind were weary had an especially large number of mistakes in the sentences.
When I had read through it about forty times.
Elder Heo’s thoughts and my own became separated.
As in, I agreed with this part, and that part differed from my own thoughts.
I read it in the carriage, looked at it while eating after getting down from the carriage, and read it again and again even when we stopped to rest briefly beneath a tree while traveling.
Since I was doing nothing but repeatedly reading the book, my companions did not disturb me either.
The number of people who would strike Saryugok had been limited to four according to my opinion.
I had not asked for help so that I could grind the martial artists of Blood Night Palace into Saryugok.
I wanted experts who could safely survive even after killing Saryugok’s assassins.
And so, at present, my companions were only me, the Sword Demon, the Lust Demon, and Yongmyeong, Elder Heo’s disciple.
In other words, we were on our way to strike Saryugok with one coachman and four people. I had refused when the Blood Night Palace Lord and Gyoyeong said they would join us.
For one thing, it was not a matter that required the Palace Lord to step forward personally.
And Gyoyeong lacked the experience to face assassins.
On the other hand, the Sword Demon and the Lust Demon’s abilities were at a level that needed no verification.
As Elder Heo’s disciple, Yongmyeong knew more about assassins than anyone.
Though I had gained only a single reinforcement from Blood Night Palace, I thought this number was sufficient.
Because when it came to smashing an organization, four experts was by no means a small number.
Whenever they grew stifled, my companions would get down from the carriage and follow using lightness arts, but since I had to read the book, I treated the carriage as a prison and stayed confined in it the entire way to Saryugok.
Thanks to that, I slept more than usual as well. I had not known before that taking short naps in a rattling carriage could be so comfortable.
I even thought that later, when I was truly lacking sleep, I should have my subordinates drive a carriage and take short naps inside it.
From the third day onward, I paid no attention to day or night.
When the carriage set off, I read the book.
When it stopped, I ate, washed, and slept.
While I was reading the book for the seventieth time or so, I came out of the carriage, which was rattling especially hard.
Only then did the Sword Demon ask me.
“Sect Leader, have you finished reading?”
“I have read it repeatedly enough.”
“You really read a book viciously.”
“There was much to think about, so I kept meditating and reading by turns. That is how it turned out.”
I handed the book to Yongmyeong.
“I read it well. Please deliver it to the elder later.”
“Yes.”
Yongmyeong, who had kept his mouth shut the entire way here, answered briefly again this time.
Looking around, I saw we were at a stretch of road with a muddy patch, making it difficult for the carriage to travel.
After stretching, I spoke to the coachman.
“Coachman, you have worked hard. It would be better for you to turn back from here.”
The middle-aged coachman the Blood Night Palace Lord had assigned to us replied.
“Understood, Sect Leader.”
I took out some common silver coins, which I normally carried generously, and handed them to the coachman.
The coachman said in confusion.
“Sect Leader, it is all right.”
“Have a drink on the way back. The return journey could be dangerous too, so take the roads with as many people as possible. Understood?”
“Yes, Sect Leader.”
After turning the head of the carriage in the opposite direction from our group, I looked at the mountain shrouded in mist.
In truth, if not for Elder Heo, merely finding Saryugok would have taken a long time. But the coachman, following Elder Heo’s instructions, had brought us as far as Mount Hoemyeong (灰冥山).
Perhaps because of the mist, it was a mountain that gave off a sinister air even when viewed from below.
We naturally looked at Yongmyeong, who had often helped guide the way.
Yongmyeong said.
“They say there is no such thing as a life gate or a death gate; it is merely difficult to enter Saryugok because of the mist.”
I nodded, then drew in a deep breath toward the misty mountain, mixed it with internal energy, and shouted.
“Hey. You assassin bastards……!”
All my companions looked at me with startled expressions.
“…….”
Because it was a shout mixed with a fair amount of internal energy, the final words echoed repeatedly.
The Lust Demon asked me.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“We do not know where Saryugok is, so we should greet them first. They are bastards who want to kill me anyway, so will they not come out?”
“No, even so……”
“An ambush would not work on these bastards anyway.”
I said to my companions.
“We came to kill them all anyway, did we not? There are only four of us too, so it is just right for the assassins to look down on us.”
The Sword Demon nodded with an indifferent expression.
“Correct. Let us go.”
The Lust Demon said in a worried tone.
“Will we be able to catch them all?”
The Sword Demon replied lightly.
“If we cannot find them, let us burn this ominous mountain down first. The whole mountain is ominous.”
This time, I nodded at the Sword Demon’s words.
“Correct.”
As I advanced toward the misty mountain, I said to the Lust Demon.
“Pants-shitter, sing us a song.”
“Crazy bastard.”
“If you do not want to, then forget it.”
At that moment, unexpectedly, Yongmyeong, who had kept his mouth shut the entire way here, spoke.
“I cannot sing, but I have words to convey to Saryugok.”
The three of us stopped walking and looked at Yongmyeong.
“What is it?”
“Wow, that was the longest thing you have said the whole way here. Let us hear it.”
Yongmyeong cleared his throat, then opened his mouth.
I am Yongmyeong, disciple of Heo Gyeom, an instructor of the former Dark Shadow Unit (暗影隊).
I am the disciple of Chief Strategist Heo Gyeom, who once commanded the former Left Envoy and former Right Envoy.
He is the disciple of an assassin who hunted down and killed apostates.
The disciple of Heo Gyeom, who was an instructor of assassins—Yongmyeong.
The disciple of the assassin who was said to have endured half a shichen underwater—Yongmyeong.
The disciple of the man who was said not to have moved a muscle in a reed field for thirteen days—Yongmyeong.
I ask you: who stands at the summit of all assassins?
Once, my master stood in that place.
And that master said…
An assassin and a filthy rat are as different as heaven and earth.
Today, Heo Gyeom’s disciple has come to Saryugok, so let us determine who is the legitimate successor of the Shadow Unit.
The one who dies will bear the disgrace of being a rat who merely imitated an assassin.
“Oh… that was good.”
As soon as Yongmyeong finished speaking, I applauded loudly.
Clap, clap, clap.
“A splendid declaration of war. A splendid introduction, and a splendid impromptu poem.”
“Thank you.”
I looked at Yongmyeong, then asked whatever came to mind.
“How old are you?”
Yongmyeong answered me.
“Twenty.”
“About the same as Shitpants, then.”
The Lust Demon spoke to Yongmyeong as if trying to seize the initiative.
“Yongmyeong, I’m older than you, so call me elder brother from now on.”
Yongmyeong replied.
“I don’t want to.”
“Fine.”
I called to the Lust Demon in a familiar tone.
“Mongrang.”
“What?”
“You pathetic bastard.”
“……”
“You introduce yourself too. Like Yongmyeong.”
After hesitating for a moment over whether to do it or not, the Lust Demon cleared his throat and opened his mouth.
I am Mongrang of Baekeungji.
I am Mongrang of the Pungun Mong Clan.
“……”
The Lust Demon suddenly swallowed. Now that he was actually trying it, it was not an easy thing to do.
I am the man who shall become the pinnacle of ice arts.
Wahahahahahaha!
“……”
We watched the Lust Demon, who had gone speechless while walking. Perhaps his pride had been wounded, for he ground his molars a few times before continuing his self-introduction.
I am the man who can make any woman I set my mind on my own.
I am the man who can love this woman today and love that woman tomorrow!
The moment I saw the Sword Demon’s expression, I rolled my tongue around in my mouth and barely held back my laughter.
‘Crazy bastard.’
The Sword Demon let out a sigh and chimed in.
“Disciple, are you finished?”
His disciple answered in a crawling voice.
“Yes. I couldn’t really think of anything, so… I’m sorry. Yongmyeong was good at it.”
Before we knew it, we had entered the thick fog. Now even the people walking beside us were wrapped in mist.
But since everyone’s martial arts were profound, we continued climbing the mountain while scattering the fog around us with a gesture or two.
As we walked in silence, the Sword Demon said to me.
“Sect Master, you should introduce yourself as well. I’d like to hear it.”
I nodded.
“Let’s do that.”
I stopped walking for a moment, set my hands on my waist, and stared ahead. Then I suddenly warned my companions.
“Watch your ears. Hoo… hup!”
After drawing in a deep breath, I shouted as if unleashing a Lion’s Roar.
The Hao Sect Master!
That is me!
“Ha ha ha!”
After bellowing, I added a burst of laughter.
In an instant, the fog surrounding us scattered into tatters, and the fog ahead that had taken the direct hit of my cry of “me” dispersed completely, opening up our field of vision. In the midst of this, the Lust Demon and Yongmyeong were covering their ears with both hands.
My voice rang thunderously across the foggy mountain.
“Me… me… me… me.”
We ascended the path that had been cleanly opened by my roar and arrived at a fairly spacious area halfway up the mountain. Before long, pure white fog drifted in again, filling every direction.
Before my companions were swallowed by the fog, I looked at the Sword Demon.
“I’m curious about your introduction as well, Senior.”
“……”
As soon as I finished speaking, the Sword Demon, wrapped in fog, drew his Radiant Sword.
Following the shring— sound, once the Radiant Sword had been fully drawn, ghostly wails slowly began to spread through the foggy mountain.
A truly dreadful sword cry.
It was a ghostly wailing in which screams, the clatter of skulls, sobbing, shrieks, indistinct shouts, and furious cries were all jumbled together.
It struck me anew that this man was the Sword Demon who had fled the Demon Cult.
The ghostly wails sweeping over the foggy mountain were crushed down by the low voice that followed.
“I am the Sword Demon.”
In an instant, the clamorous ghostly wails were pressed beneath a chilling silence and vanished without a trace. But the ghostly wails were not the only thing that disappeared. The fog that had surrounded us all this time was also gone cleanly along with them. Even so, in my ears, the phantom sound of those ghostly wails continued to hum for quite some time.
Only then did a calm voice, from no discernible place, reach us.
“Left Envoy, why have you come into a deathtrap of your own accord…?”
The Sword Demon walked toward the center of the clearing and replied.
“You call this place a deathtrap?”
An answer came along with laughter.
“Indeed.”
“Assassins, let us see who death stands closer to.”
Seeing the Sword Demon, who was watching the north, sit down in the lotus position, I took a place in the east and sat in the lotus position as well.
Next, the Lust Demon took the west, and Yongmyeong took the south.
The four of us had each taken one of the cardinal directions.
The fog that had been cleanly dispersed by the ghostly wails began creeping out once more, and before long, it obscured our eyes.
The Sword Demon, the eldest among our party, gave a warning.
“Be careful of one another’s attacks.”
“Yes, Master.”
“Understood.”
Then came the sound of a monotonous bell.
Dang… dang… dang…!
As it repeated several times, hidden weapons that seemed to have concealed themselves within the bell’s toll shot out from every direction.
The Sword Demon deflected them with the Radiant Sword.
As for the Lust Demon, it sounded as though he had poured out a palm blast straight ahead.
Yongmyeong made almost no sound, yet most of the hidden weapons surging toward him lost their force and fell to the ground.
I watched the sky.
While everyone else was knocking away hidden weapons, a massive boulder suddenly appeared before me, tearing through the fog.
‘These bastards are singling me out.’
I drew Black Cat Fang and swung it twice. I split the flying boulder in the shape of a cross and shoved it away with my left palm.
The bell continued to ring.
In that instant, I saw steel needles arrive, hidden within the peal of the bell.
I swung my hand, infused with the Waning Moon Ice Art, and sent all the steel needles that had reached close range flying at once.
I was the only one facing a higher difficulty level.
The corners of my mouth rose on their own.
“Can the assassins see me?”
The voice that had spoken to the Sword Demon answered.
“Master of Haomun, welcome. All we needed was for you alone to die, yet you had to make this into something bigger……”
“That’s right. Good to see you. The man who keeps making things bigger—that’s me.”
With nothing visible ahead of me, I infused Black Cat Fang with the qi of the Fighting Rooster, hoping it would hit and kill someone, anyone, and unleashed One Slash, Two Halves.
Swaaaaaaaaaaang!
The sound of trees splitting, branches being severed in succession…… After the sounds of all sorts of objects and shield-like things shattering, a faint “Puaak!” pierced my ears.
That was definitely the sound of a body being cut apart by blade qi.
I spoke with my eyes wide open.
“Hey, sounds like someone got cut. Wasn’t that an arm getting lopped off?”
“……”
All around, it was silent. Whether it was silent or not, I asked again in a serious tone.
“Who am I talking to?”