Chapter 125. The Crime of Disturbing My Sleep
“…….”
Instead of an answer, the fog thickened.
I kept my mouth shut and looked around at the fog. No matter how I thought about it, this fog would be most dangerous when we attacked one another. I might cut down the Lecherous Demon or Yongmyeong, or the Sword Demon might stab his disciple or Yongmyeong.
There had to be a reason the Sword Demon had sat cross-legged to the north.
“Fine.”
I suppressed my temper, sat down on the spot, and waited for the next attack in a way quite unlike myself.
“The sound of the bell is wonderfully clear and pure. To think there was an expert so skilled at striking a bell. How much effort it took to produce such a beautiful sound is none of my concern.”
“…….”
The Sword Demon, the Lecherous Demon, and Yongmyeong kept their mouths firmly shut as they prepared for an attack, but I was different.
I was slowly becoming too bored to endure it.
“Did these bastards mix hypnosis into the bell? I’m getting drowsy.”
“…….”
“Assassins, from now on, don’t make so much as a rustle. I’ll run straight toward it. You’ve been warned.”
Dang…… dang…… dang…… dang…… dang…….
When I suddenly looked around, I could no longer hear the Sword Demon, the Lecherous Demon, or Yongmyeong, nor could I determine their positions. In every direction, there was only a sea of pure white fog.
The scenery itself was so magnificent it drew admiration on its own.
“Shithead, can you hear me? Guess not.”
What sort of martial art was this?
Was it a combination of sound arts (音功) and demonic arts (魔功)?
It seemed they had seized control of a specific range of sound (音域), making it so that only the bell could be heard right now.
I had no way of knowing how they had done it.
Just then, the sound of wind hidden within the bell rang out from both the front and the rear at the same time. I avoided one with a tilt of my head, twisted my body to dodge the other, then slowly turned once in place.
“…….”
Now I had completely lost my sense of direction as well.
I could not tell where north was, or where south was.
It seemed the assassins of Saryugok had not been lazing around after all.
I searched for a possible retreat route, then fixed my gaze overhead. The moment I sensed an ominous presence, I thrust my left palm upward and poured out the Waning Moon Ice Art.
With a chiik—sound, something half-frozen fell to the ground and shattered.
Whether someone had scattered Bone-Melting Powder or not, even as it froze and broke apart, it seeped into the earth and dissolved the soil.
“Bone-Melting Powder. Nice.”
In the meantime, steel needles flew all around me again. I dodged with the minimum amount of movement, and only when I had no choice did I deflect them with the blade of Black Cat Fang.
I was about to pour out a fierce blade aura in front of me, but barely managed to stop. This time, there was a chance I might cut off an ally’s arm.
“Oh… so this is how it is.”
I put Black Cat Fang back away, then rubbed my hands together. I rubbed them as though tangling tongues.
Skrr, skrr, skrr, skrr…….
I rubbed them this way, rubbed them that way, rubbed the backs of my hands, and rubbed my palms.
There was no particular meaning to it.
I had merely infused ice art into my left hand and the Flame Realm into my right, then tested the texture.
While deflecting the hidden weapons that steadily flew in with the bell’s toll using palm force, I continued changing position. During that time, someone hurried past beside me. I could not tell whether it was the Lecherous Demon, Yongmyeong, or an assassin of Saryugok.
Most likely, my allies were also refraining from actions that would unleash attacks over a wide area, just as I was.
This was why, when striking down assassins of a certain level, having too many troops often became an obstacle. Whenever I had a moment, I rubbed my palms together, combining the energies of extreme yin and extreme yang while checking the texture.
Following Elder Heo Gyeom’s theory, I practiced combining the two energies.
While checking what sort of reaction occurred when ice art and the Flame Realm collided, I slowly clapped my palms once.
Clap!
It was not the feeling I wanted, so I infused both hands evenly with the energy of the Wood Realm, then struck my palms together hard.
Pak!
‘This is better for now.’
The fog scattered around my fiercely clashing palms. Clapping, too, had its own level of mastery, like skipping stones. In any case, it meant one had to strike accurately and well. I cupped my palms to create a small space, then struck them together in succession with precisely infused Wood Realm palm force.
Thud— thud— thud— thud— thud!
I carefully checked how far the fog struck by the wave of my claps was pushed back.
Now it would be a matter of distance and speed.
I listened to the bell for a moment, crouched down, and held my breath. Enveloped in the pure white fog, I too concealed my presence like the assassins.
“…….”
When I strained my ears, faint noises were mixed in between one toll of the bell and the next. That was probably the real sound of my allies fighting.
The moment I heard the bell go dang…… again.
I smashed the ground with a stomping step (震脚).
Kwahahahahahahang!
With me at the center, a circular wave of energy spread outward, and my vision brightened for an instant. In front of me, I saw three assassins dressed entirely in white. They must have done something to their eyeballs too, because their eyes were white (白眼). Though I understood that it was attire meant to make them difficult to distinguish within the fog, there was still something ridiculous about it.
I shot forward as I was and unleashed a sword-drawing form.
With one sword, I sent an arm flying.
Puuk!
As I drew it back, I took off the neck of the white-clad assassin beside him, then dragged in the back of the assassin who was hurriedly fleeing with the Great Art of Absorbing Stars and smashed his head with the hilt of Black Cat Fang.
All of them departed for the next world in a hurry, without even a scream.
I drove Black Cat Fang all the way into a corpse’s shoulder.
When I pulled it out again, Black Cat Fang was soaked in bright red blood.
I used the corpse to block the hidden weapons that flew in several times.
Without any sound of impact, the hidden weapons buried themselves in the corpse. I immediately cut off one of the corpse’s arms and held it in my left hand.
As silence settled over every direction again, blood dripped from the severed arm. When I suddenly looked at the ground, I could not hear the sound of the dripping blood striking it.
It seemed my ears had gone half mad.
Laughter spilled out on its own, and I chuckled as I looked around. I planned to scatter the blood pouring from the severed arm in every direction.
Kwahahahahahahang!
The moment I stomped again, I shot forward as if chasing down the fog being pushed back. As soon as I saw those pale eyes, I charged while tearing through an assassin’s body with Black Cat Fang. In the midst of it, I knocked aside hidden weapons flying in from the side with the corpse’s arm, then drove Black Cat Fang into the masked face of a white-eyed assassin that appeared before me.
Puak!
In that instant, I dodged a sword approaching the right side of my neck and cut off one of the assassin’s arms.
I wrapped Black Cat Fang in the Fragrance of Flame Blossoms and spread the scent of plum blossoms in every direction.
Fwoooosh!
Red petals spread through the paper-white world that was once again turning pale.
The moment I heard a chiik—sound from somewhere, I threw the corpse’s arm.
This time, the flying arm was cut in two in midair, and through the fog scattered by the sword wind, my eyes met the Sword Demon’s for a moment.
“…….”
The moment I exchanged glances with the Sword Demon, I was engulfed in fog once more.
It lasted but an instant, yet the Sword Demon and I had confirmed each other’s positions.
I planted my true footing and then soared high into the air. Piercing through the white fog, I twisted my body at the apex and poured down a tempest of blades formed solely from wind toward the ground.
Whooooooooosh!
As my wind tempest blew away the fog on the ground in an instant…….
A low, deep chuckle from the Sword Demon was heard.
“Heh, heh, heh…….”
Immediately after, sword qi radiating from the Radiant Sword stretched out in consecutive arcs, and long jets of blood spurted up from everywhere.
In the brief instant visibility was secured, the Sword Demon slaughtered over ten assassins.
In the midst of that, I also caught sight of Shitter moving quickly.
The white-clad assassins in his path performed all manner of movements before freezing solid and stopping dead.
It seemed Shitter was conserving his internal energy, dealing with them using nothing but acupoint-striking techniques.
Even amid this, the disciple of Elder Heogyeom was nowhere to be seen.
From somewhere, the Lust Demon’s voice rang out.
“The bell sound has stopped? Master, can you hear me?”
The Sword Demon answered.
“I hear you.”
“Looks like the one ringing the bell is dead.”
“We have not confirmed it ourselves, so be on guard.”
“Yes.”
Only then did I descend to the ground and suddenly looked at the iron ring on my left hand. It was the ring I had obtained from the Gambling King’s dwelling. It had originally been pitch black, but now it was emitting a faint glow like a night-shining pearl.
The moment I confirmed this inexplicable phenomenon, I opened my trap.
“Poison qi. Be careful. Mixed in the fog.”
After speaking briefly, I stopped breathing and popped in the Heukmyoa. Moving toward the front again, I clapped my hands.
Crack!
For some reason, the fog scattered even faster than before.
Seeing that, I spoke to those around me.
“They’re using poison and retreating.”
Several sounds of palm winds bursting erupted around us, and the fog scattered quickly. Since poison had been mixed into the fog, I also waved my hands repeatedly to blow the fog away. Only then did the Sword Demon and Lust Demon reveal themselves nearby.
The Sword Demon flicked the blood off his sword.
The Lust Demon looked around with a deeply furrowed brow and spoke.
“What about Yongmyeong?”
Yongmyeong’s voice was heard from somewhere.
“Here.”
Turning my head toward the sound, Yongmyeong was rising from the ground like a ghost, having stolen and donned the white garments of the assassins.
“…….”
I asked.
“When did you change?”
“I changed earlier. I tried to approach their main base but failed.”
Only then did we check the ground.
Corpses with severed or twisted limbs were lying everywhere. Their number appeared to be roughly over fifty.
I don’t know how he fought, but it seemed the Sword Demon had killed more than me.
When I looked at the Sword Demon, he sheathed his sword and spoke.
“Hold for a moment…… Time for our hearing to return, ascertain the surrounding terrain, and be wary of the poison. Do not touch the corpses. They might explode.”
Come to think of it, even as we heard each other’s conversation, my ears were still slightly muffled.
Yongmyeong, who had been surveying the ground, checked several bloodstains and pointed in one direction.
“They retreated this way. But the possibility that they are luring us is high. The injured likely pulled back and are lying in wait. Since it is definitively their main base, the environment remains continuously disadvantageous.”
I looked at the gradually setting sun and spoke.
“These bastards are probably changing into black clothes. Night will fall soon.”
The Sword Demon asked me.
“Sect Leader, what do you wish to do?”
I looked around Mount Hoemyeong and spoke.
“Continuing to fight while burdened by the terrain’s disadvantage is foolish. For now, let’s burn everything.”
Yongmyeong replied in a somewhat surprised tone.
“You want to start a fire?”
I nodded.
“These bastards have probably seized control of the entirety of Mount Hoemyeong. It’s a place where ordinary people cannot survive. Let’s burn it all. Every last scrap…… I have no intention of dancing to the assassins’ tune.”
The Lust Demon looked at the Sword Demon.
“The Sect Leader and I have mastered Binggong, so it does not matter even if we set everything on fire.”
Meaning we two could secure an escape route.
The Sword Demon nodded.
“Then let’s burn it all to ash.”
At that moment, the voice that had first spoken to the Sword Demon and me was heard again.
“……Show some restraint…….”
I bellowed out.
“Shut the hell up! You fucking retards! I haven’t been able to sleep peacefully at night because of you bastards. Today, for the crime of disturbing the Haomon Sect Leader’s sleep, you all die. I’ll apologize to the Mountain Spirit later, so you rat bastards just keep curled up in your corners squeaking like always. You pathetic fucks who don’t even know how to fight properly. You’re probably somewhere smearing poison around. I thought you Amyeongdae bastards were supposed to be something special, but goddamn…….”
The Lust Demon replied with a hollow laugh.
“Well, damn, you country bumpkin bastard. Quite the temper.”
Yongmyeong said nothing and took out a fire starter, beginning to ignite tree branches.
As the two began setting fires, I transmitted words to Saryugok while grinning broadly with an expression somewhat detached from the fact that I was bellowing furiously.
“The only thing you know how to do is hold your breath in a shithouse. All assassins are like that, right? Yongmyeong, isn’t that so?”
Yongmyeong let out a sigh.
“Patience is indeed an assassin’s virtue.”
“Really? I suppose Saryugok is the same?”
“Yes.”
“Wow, so when they decide assassin rankings, is it based on who can hold it the longest in the latrine—Rank One, Rank Two…… something like that? The stronger the stench of shit, the closer you are to the King of Assassins? But even then, you couldn’t beat Young Master Meng of Baek-eungji when it comes to the smell of shit. Speaking of that guy, he even has a record of smearing shit all over his own body…….”
The conversation went off track.
The Lust Demon butted in with a grimace.
“Hey, if this bastard is trying to provoke the enemy, he should provoke only the enemy. Why is he bitching at me? Pick one.”
“Sometimes in life, words go astray. You incompetent fool.”
“Every time this bastard opens his mouth, it’s exposition, rising action, then shit.”
“That is me.”
Yongmyeong, who had been setting fires here and there, asked as if curious.
“Young Master Meng smeared shit on his body?”
The Lust Demon replied.
“Shut up.”
“Because I was curious.”
The Sword Demon must have been bored too, because he started setting Hoemyeong Mountain ablaze by tossing burning branches here and there.
I watched the flames begin to spread in every direction and said,
“Wow, I suddenly need to piss.”
This was how hard it was to deal with assassins.
But it was fine.
If I wanted to beat the bastards holding out in the latrine, I had to endure at least this much.
I watched the flames burn ever more fiercely, then addressed the assassins of Saryugok in a solemn tone.
“You’ll regret messing with the Hao Clan Leader. Only when death draws near will you think, Ah… those were happy times, waiting in the latrine.”
It was meant as an attack on the assassins, but even the Sword Demon seemed so dumbfounded that he shook his head.
“Clan Leader.”
“What?”
“If it were me, I wouldn’t have been able to endure it. You’re doing well. I’m hearing more talk of shit today than I have in my entire life in the jianghu. This is a first for me, too.”
Seeing the Sword Demon say something human for once, I nodded as though welcoming it.
“Good confession. Today shall be a grand feast of shit and piss. Let’s see who wins.”