Guizhou Province

A snake-like, sinister smile suddenly appeared on Hwa Sayu’s face.

“You young brats have no manners. How dare you carelessly speak my exalted name? This is why one must not be too kindhearted. Young whelps start climbing all over you, don’t they? How insolent!”

The instant he finished speaking, Hwa Sayu’s figure vanished.

Gong Daegak hurriedly shouted and threw himself aside.

“D-Dodge!”

The Three Ghosts of Galsa hurriedly scattered in three different directions. Hwa Sayu was said to stand directly beneath the current absolute masters, so it was obvious that they could never handle him.

But it was useless.

Hwa Sayu had already appeared behind the Second Ghost, Gong Igol, and lightly swept his fingernails through the air.

Five deep gashes split open across Gong Igol’s back.

Puhwaak!

“Aaaaargh!”

It looked as though invisible, elongated claws extended nearly one jang from his fingertips.

He died instantly.

And that was not all.

The youngest, Gong Samnan, had already had his neck severed by the fan Hwa Sayu had apparently thrown at some point.

The violently spinning fan arced through the air and returned to Hwa Sayu.

Whiiiiir!

The eldest of the Three Ghosts of Galsa, Gong Daegak, completely lost his senses.

His two younger brothers, both pinnacle masters with more than eighty years of internal energy who had never once lost their position as predators wherever they went, had both lost their lives in this brief instant.

Enraged, Gong Daegak stopped fleeing and charged at Hwa Sayu.

“You bastard!”

His momentum was as fierce and powerful as a lion’s, befitting the man whose reputation had led them to be called the Three Ghosts of Galsa.

However, Hwa Sayu merely snorted with laughter and extended a finger toward him.

Puk!

“!”

Gong Daegak could not even scream.

His head had been pierced before he could even perceive what had happened.

Something invisible had flown through the air and penetrated his skull.

He could only crash into the ground with his original momentum and tumble like a discarded doll.

Kudangtangtang!

He died instantly.

When the Three Ghosts of Galsa, whose notoriety had spread far and wide since the Great Righteous–Blood War, were all killed in an instant, Gu Yusang smiled from where he had been watching behind them and spoke to Hwa Sayu.

“As expected, Uncle Hwa’s Colorless Weapon Qi is astonishing no matter how many times I see it. Thank you for your hard work.”

Hwa Sayu frivolously shook his head.

“Oh, please. This was nothing. More importantly, Yusang, may this uncle head back upstairs now? I cannot get that pretty little thing out of my mind.”

“Of course. Please go ahead. This unworthy nephew apologizes for taking away your pleasurable time.”

“Yes, yes. Then I shall.”

After finishing those words, Hwa Sayu’s figure vanished.

It seemed he had immediately gone upstairs to embrace the woman.

Only after he disappeared did Gu Yusang shake his head with a pathetic expression and order his subordinates.

“Clean this up quickly. We are returning to the Un Clan.”

“Yes, Young Master!”

The moment his order fell, the other subordinates resumed their massacre.

Screams once again filled the surroundings.

As he watched the scene, Gu Yusang suddenly asked the Blood Monk of Yama, Chuk Hotak, who stood beside him.

“Was the Seonu Clan next on our itinerary?”

Chuk Hotak respectfully bowed his head and answered.

“Yes, Young Master.”

A smile appeared on Gu Yusang’s lips as though he had thought of something.

“Hmm, this time I must steal that adorable young lady’s heart. It seems I had no right to criticize Uncle Hwa. Perhaps I should learn some secrets for stealing a woman’s heart.”

The smile of the man hailed as Sichuan’s Finest Young Master and the White-Jade Earth Dragon was extraordinarily beautiful.

However, rather than the smile of a man thinking about a woman he fancied, it resembled the smile of a gourmet anticipating a delicious meal.

Three days later, I finally arrived in Guiyang, Guizhou Province, where the Seonu Clan was located.

It had been nearly eight months.

I did not know what was happening in the shadows, but Guiyang remained lively in broad daylight.

The streets were packed with people, and the various restaurants I had frequented during my days as the Seonu Clan’s pig were still thriving.

Seeing those signboards again after so long made saliva naturally slide down my throat.

‘There was hardly anything pleasant about those days, yet I still miss the taste of that food.’

I chuckled at the thought and hurried onward.

However, I headed south rather than west, where the Seonu Clan was located.

Jeok Mahyeok’s voice transmission suddenly reached me as he followed while concealed.

-Are we not heading to the Seonu Clan, Young Master?

I smiled.

Although this should have been his first time in Guiyang, it seemed he had already grasped the geography to some degree.

He should not have had time for that, yet his resourcefulness was impressive.

A satisfied smile escaped me at the competence of my first subordinate.

-Before going to the Seonu Clan, there are two places we must visit first.

Jeok Mahyeok asked no further questions and answered as though he understood.

-Yes! Understood, Young Master.

Jeok Mahyeok never asked more than he absolutely needed to know about our future schedule.

It was probably his way of expressing that he would faithfully follow me regardless of my intentions.

Such an attitude was undoubtedly desirable for a loyal servant.

However, it was not what I wanted.

Ultimately, I wanted my subordinates to stand proudly as martial artists of the light.

Not as my faithful limbs, but as outstanding martial artists possessing wills of their own.

Therefore, he needed to ask more questions, make judgments, and offer me his opinions.

He should not simply follow in silence no matter what I did.

Thus, I began explaining things step by step to Jeok Mahyeok and Gyeon Jung, who had been following me without saying a single word regardless of what I did.

The first place we are going is the Guiyang branch of the Hao Clan. The reason we are going there is….

A short while later, I arrived at an ornate tavern bearing a plaque that read Guiyang’s Finest Pavilion.

This three-story establishment offered many varieties of alcohol, each with a deep flavor, so I had frequented it even during my days as the Seonu Clan’s pig.

‘To think this was the Hao Clan branch. I had eyes, yet I failed to see.’

But now, I could see.

I could tell that the burly waiter standing at the entrance and repeatedly shouting, “Welcome!” with a broad smile was a mid-tier first-class martial artist. I could also sense the martial artists lying in ambush throughout the tavern and monitoring the surroundings.

I chuckled, opened my senses to their fullest, and slowly walked around Guiyang’s Finest Pavilion.

Then, the instant I rounded the side and discovered a blind spot in their surveillance, I melted straight into the shadows.

Sssssk!

It was a movement no one nearby noticed.

Every customer who visited Guiyang’s Finest Pavilion believed it was a three-story building.

The higher one climbed, the more expensive and luxurious the treatment became, and the highest floor available was the third.

However, Guiyang’s Finest Pavilion had originally been a four-story building.

It had simply been cleverly constructed so the third floor appeared unusually tall from the outside.

On that fourth floor was the office of No Samryong, the proprietor of Guiyang’s Finest Pavilion and the branch chief of the Hao Clan’s Guiyang branch in Guizhou Province.

“Hmm, in the end….”

As usual, No Samryong sat in his office drinking tea and examining documents with a grave expression.

He normally showed only a frivolously smiling face, earning him the epithet Smiling Guest, but when alone in his office, he sometimes wore such a serious expression.

But then it happened.

A voice sounded inside the office, where he believed no one else was present—and where no one else should have been present.

“You appear to have something troubling you.”

No Samryong felt goosebumps rise across his entire body.

Someone had entered this place, and he had not sensed them at all.

Had the intruder been an assassin, he would already have been as good as dead.

He was deeply flustered and afraid.

However, No Samryong was also a Hao Clan branch chief who had weathered countless hardships.

He barely suppressed the urge to immediately raise his head and look at the other person, then calmly began thinking.

‘Are they from the Blood Cult? An assassin? But they should not have found a reason to target me yet. Besides, the voice is young. A young man, and one who speaks politely. He is not a Blood Cultist. More importantly, if he were an assassin, he would not have bothered speaking to me.’

After reaching that conclusion, No Samryong raised his head with his usual broad smile.

“Oh dear, I must have lost my senses! To think I was so absorbed in these letters that I did not even notice a guest had arrived. My memory has been slipping now and then lately. I suppose this is what people mean when they say the old ought to die.”

As he spoke, he finally saw the handsome young man already seated across from his desk.

Cold sweat ran down his back when he realized he had not even noticed the man sitting opposite him.

The young man’s striking appearance was equally surprising.

Even more surprising was that despite being so handsome, his face was completely unfamiliar.

However, No Samryong did not show it.

“Let me see. Since a guest has arrived, I should at least serve some tea. Where are those fools, and what are they doing? Hey, you bastards! Bring tea at once!”

As he shouted, he tried to rise.

His manner was so natural that it truly seemed he merely intended to serve tea.

However, the man watching him with a smile, Seonu Jin, suddenly spoke.

“It will probably be pointless even if you go.”

No Samryong had no choice but to freeze halfway to his feet.

At the same moment Seonu Jin spoke, the door opened and two men entered.

Neither was one of No Samryong’s subordinates. Both wore black clothes and masks.

Seonu Jin continued.

“Everyone who could serve the tea is asleep.”

No Samryong no longer hid his tense expression and swallowed hard.

His subordinates should originally have been guarding the fourth floor as securely as an iron fortress.

Therefore, the fact that these men had entered through that door could only mean all his subordinates had already been dealt with.

He no longer had any way to respond.

Seonu Jin smiled at him.

“Please sit, Branch Chief.”

No Samryong slowly sat back down.

He had no choice left.

No longer concealing his tension, he asked,

“Where have you come from? What do you want?”

Seonu Jin answered with a radiant smile.

“My name is Seonu Jin. And… I came to take over the Hao Clan’s Guiyang branch.”

No Samryong’s startled eyes widened greatly at Seonu Jin’s blunt declaration.

No Samryong failed to hide his surprise for a moment, but then burst into hearty laughter as though nothing had happened.

“Hahahaha! I do not know who you are, Young Master, but you came without conducting enough investigation. Perhaps you could erase it entirely, but the Hao Clan in Guizhou is not something a single individual can take over. Moreover, those who currently control the Hao Clan in Guizhou Province are….”

I smiled and replied.

“I am well aware that unlike the branches in other provinces, the Hao Clan in Guizhou has a centralized structure. I also know it is currently occupied by the Blood Cult.”

The smile vanished from No Samryong’s face again.

“H-How did you know that?”

“And I also know that you, Branch Chief No Samryong, the Smiling Guest, are reluctantly cooperating with both the former Blood Cultists and the ones who replaced them.”

While staying at the Yibin branch in Sichuan Province, I had examined information about this Guiyang branch chief in particular detail.

Since the Seonu Clan was located here, I believed whether or not I could cooperate with this man would determine the success or failure of my work.

According to the information, he was somewhat of a fence-sitter.

Even when the previous Blood Cultists, who unusually cared for the poor, orphans, and courtesans, took control, he had not cooperated very actively. After the current, more violent Blood Cultists seized control, he continued to cooperate only halfheartedly.

However, the Yibin branch chief had analyzed that his disposition—never enthusiastic about anyone, yet never openly rebellious—was what had saved his life.

Even when the former Hao Clan Leader’s closest followers were swept away, no one paid any attention to him.

No Samryong snorted.

“Hmph! It is true that I reluctantly cooperate with the Blood Cult, but did you think that meant I would cooperate with you? Why do you think I cooperate with the Blood Cult in the first place? It is obvious I would die if I defied them, so why would I risk my life to cooperate with you?”

I smiled.

The Yibin branch chief’s analysis had certainly included such a remark.

That he was a coward blinded by self-preservation.

And that was also why I had chosen him.

I answered with a broad smile.

“Of course. Life is precious. That is why I prepared something as well.”

His expression became puzzled.

“Prepared? What did you prepare?”

I lightly snapped my fingers.

The two masked men standing behind me, Jeok Mahyeok and Gyeon Jung, began moving as smoothly as ghosts.

“Urgh! W-What is this?!”

It did not take long for the two men to subdue No Samryong, place something in his mouth, and return behind me.

Their movements flowed like water and resembled those of genuine ghosts.

After beginning to learn the Thousand Kill Secret, the two now displayed movements incomparable to before.

As expected, their rate of improvement was fundamentally different from mine, who had merely learned assassin techniques as a hobby.

I smiled at the two in acknowledgment of their work, then looked at No Samryong as he clutched his throat and coughed.

“Cough, cough! W-What did you feed me?!”

I answered with a smile.

“A gu.”

His face turned pale.

“…What did you say?”

“It is a gu used by the Assassin Sect. I heard that unless you take the antidote I provide once a month, it will go berserk inside your body and kill its host in horrific agony. Well, I have never personally witnessed it, so I cannot say exactly what it will look like.”

He stared at me in despair and asked,

“W-Why in the world are you doing this to me?”

I grinned.

“You seemed unable to act because you feared losing your life to the Blood Cult. Now things are fair. If you are discovered cooperating with me, the Blood Cultists will kill you. But if you refuse to cooperate with me, you will also die painfully. Since you will die either way, you can choose whichever side appeals to you more, can you not? Now, which side would you prefer to cooperate with?”

His complexion changed several times in a brief span.

His face repeatedly turned bluish, then flushed red, which was extremely entertaining to watch.

After a while, he finally spoke with an expression as though he were about to burst into tears.

“…How am I supposed to choose when I do not even know who you are, Young Master?”

I shook my head.

“I already told you. My name is Seonu Jin.”

He frowned briefly, then his eyes slowly widened.

“Surely… you mean the Seonu Clan’s Third Young Master, who used to be called the Seonu Clan’s pig? The one who was dragged to the front?”

“To be precise, I ran there myself.”

His eyes began rolling rapidly.

“Then… you must also be Seonu Jin, the Flying-Heaven Black Wolf said to have destroyed the Black Manor. I thought it was someone else with the same name…. And the person said to have fought the Masked Demon Lord alongside the Red-Rain Divine Sword, Hwa Yeong-bin, at the Righteous Chivalry Guild was also…?”

“That was me.”

He finally let out a hollow exclamation.

“Good heavens! Was such a thing possible in so short a time? No, even as a child, you were widely known as a prodigy. Did you deliberately conceal your talents?”

Honestly, that was not true.

Back then, I had been exactly the pig everyone saw.

However, I merely smiled.

Whatever meaning he drew from that smile made him exclaim in admiration once again.

“Good heavens! Good heavens! To think you concealed yourself so thoroughly for all those years! Young Master, you were truly a hidden dragon!”

…It was extremely embarrassing, but I decided to endure it resolutely.

No Samryong asked me with a tense gaze,

“Then what is it you want, Young Master? Do you wish to clean up the Seonu Clan? Or could it be the Blood Cultists operating secretly throughout Guizhou Province?”

I answered his serious question with an equally solemn gaze.

“I believe those two matters are not separate.”

No Samryong sighed deeply.

“Good grief, Young Master. The Blood Cult in Guizhou Province is not something you can oppose alone. Moreover, unlike Sichuan Province, this place has neither Qingcheng nor the Tang Clan.”

“I know that well. That is why I must plan more carefully. It is also why your cooperation is so important to me. And… I never said I would oppose them alone. I also have hidden cards of my own.”

He gave me a questioning look.

However, I could not reveal my entire hand to him yet.

I leaned forward and asked,

“So… what will you do now, Branch Chief No?”

He sighed with a bleak expression and eventually nodded.

“Well, what other choice do I have? If the Blood Cultists do not discover me, I might survive. But if I refuse to cooperate with you, you are saying I will certainly die.”

That was exactly right.

I grinned and held out my hand.

“Then I look forward to working with you.”

He laughed hollowly and took my hand.

It was the moment the first button of my plans in Guizhou Province was fastened perfectly.

Two days later, I finally stood before the main gate of the Seonu Clan. Seeing my family home again after eight months filled me with emotion.

As I stood staring blankly at the gate with a moved expression, the gate guards approached me with strange looks and asked,

“Do you have business with the Seonu Clan?”

I grinned and answered.

“Warrior Jeong, Warrior Sang. It is I, Seonu Jin.”

“Pardon?”

The warriors initially frowned and stared as though wondering what nonsense I was speaking, but their eyes gradually widened.

At last, they shouted in shock.

“Th-Th-Th-Third Young Master?!”

“A-Are you truly the Third Young Master?!”

I smiled brightly and nodded.

“That is right. Has Father been well?”