The White Wolf (1)

Jin-hyeon remembered that day. That night, when the rain poured down, that nameless wild mountain.

‘B-brother? What are you doing?!’

‘It’s for our clan. With you around, the order of our clan will collapse.’

‘What kind of nonsense is that?! L-let go of me!’

‘Of course, it’s also for my own selfish desire. It really has been a long time.’

‘Huh?’

‘Truly, truly long. You can’t even imagine how long I’ve waited for this moment.’

‘What are you talking about?! Brother, tell these people to back off first!’

‘…Strutting about with a bit of skill?’

‘?!’

‘You lowborn wretch from God knows where! Daring to stand before me!!’

A cold blade that tore through skin and muscle and shoved its way in.

From that blade, where disgust came stronger than anger, and delight stronger than disgust. He couldn’t even shudder.

‘How is it? Cold? My hand is hot. My hand, stained with your filthy blood, is hot like it’s on fire. And revolting.’

He said a few more things after that. But he couldn’t remember them. The shock of betrayal was too great.

The first thought he had after slipping out of that shock was, absurdly, self-reproach.

I must have done something wrong. I must have done something wrong enough to create a demon in one corner of my brother’s heart, that brother who was mischievous but kind. And I was hammering away without even knowing it.

The guilt and the pain were unbearable.

Amazingly, he truly thought that. That was how much he trusted Gyeong Do-cheon, and liked him as a brother.

But left alone in the pouring rain, dying, his thoughts slowly changed.

This couldn’t be. No matter how hurt he was, he should have said at least one word. If what they shared had been sincere brotherhood, he should not have ended it like this.

Sorry turned into doubt, doubt into hurt, hurt into anger, and anger soon into fear. By the time even the regret that melted over it was thinned by rainwater, Gyeong Se-hwi’s life ended.

And now, standing in this place, was Jin-hyeon.

A man named Jin-hyeon who belonged nowhere, who had thrown away the Gyeong surname, and even the Eight Wastes Alliance Leader’s surname.

“Who the hell are you?”

Intense hostility and undisguisable wariness burned on the unchanged face of the Gyeong Do-cheon that he remembered.

“You dare lay hands on Sichuan’s finest noble house. Do you truly want to die!”

Jin-hyeon smiled.

Even to himself, he’d changed a lot. No, to begin with, there was hardly a bit of ‘Gyeong Se-hwi’ left in him.

When your nature changes, your gaze changes. When your gaze changes, your impression changes. Beyond that, even your hair, your bone structure, and your build all changed.

And from Gyeong Do-cheon’s perspective, Jin-hyeon was already a dead man. He couldn’t recognize him.

But.

“You never really looked at me.”

The same logic applied to Gyeong Hang, Gyeong In-geol, and Ok Jin as well.

But those three recognized him. His build had changed and his impression had changed, but they were people who had clearly watched him back in Gyeong Se-hwi’s days.

Gyeong Hang truly regarded him as a grandson. In the eyes of someone who considers you blood, even if the outer appearance changes, the essence is visible.

Gyeong In-geol took him as an adopted son. His intent wasn’t pure, but he saw the whole process of him growing from childhood into youth. Naturally, he couldn’t help but recognize him.

Ok Jin went without saying. To him, he was the Second Young Master and a disciple, another father who endlessly gave him the affection he never received from his adoptive father. There was no way he couldn’t recognize him just because his bone structure and gaze had changed.

Only Gyeong Do-cheon.

Only Gyeong Do-cheon, filled with burning jealousy and hostility, who from some point stopped looking at Jin-hyeon straight, couldn’t recognize the man who had returned by the miracle of the Yin King.

“I’ll ask one last time.”

Gyeong Do-cheon pointed his sword at Jin-hyeon.

“Who are you? Where did you come from? What’s your name? And what did you do with the assassins!”

Aside from the time he had a blade stuck in his belly, it was the first time Jin-hyeon had seen Gyeong Do-cheon that worked up.

“I’ll ask one thing too.”

“Shut up! I’m the one asking!”

“Where did you learn such filthy martial arts?”

“?!”

“It’s quite a vicious demonic art. But it’s strangely familiar.”

Gyeong Do-cheon’s eyes narrowed.

“Enough of that dogshit……!”

It was then.

“Teacher?”

Shock settled on Ha Suk-heon’s face as he came in behind Gyeong Do-cheon.

“Don’t tell me… is that you, Teacher?!”

Jin-hyeon had already noticed Ha Suk-heon’s presence.

Not only him. He could feel every single presence of the countless masters rushing in beyond the Merchant House.

Woooooong!

Heavenly Wolf Qi naturally flared up.

He hadn’t even activated Moonlit Night Unsealing, yet his true qi roared madly. It was as if it was howling to burst out into the world this instant and destroy everything in sight.

Jin-hyeon smiled coldly.

“I planned to sweep you all away anyway, but since the board has become like this, neither of us has anywhere to retreat now.”

“What kind of bullshit is that!”

In that instant, Jin-hyeon’s pupils were dyed a deep blue.

Flash!

The ignited Heavenly Wolf Qi surged to his forehead in a single breath. Even Soul-Refining Qi couldn’t stop it. No, it had wrapped itself around it and mercilessly detonated the emotions Jin-hyeon had been suppressing thus far.

The emotions that exploded were hot as lava, but Jin-hyeon’s voice was like the cold wind of the North Sea.

“The show begins.”

Paaaaang!

No sooner had he finished speaking than countless assassins burst out from behind the wall leading into the inner court.

Gyeong Do-cheon’s eyes widened as if they would tear.

‘Crimson Blood Hands?!’

He had mistaken them. They were the assassins Seomun Hoe had personally brought.

And mixed among them, Han Cheol-sang flew in faster than the assassins and swung a single slash at Ha Suk-heon.

Ha Suk-heon shouted.

“Attack!”

In an instant, fifty masters of the Cheongyang Association’s Second-Class Ghost Gate surged forward with savage killing intent.

Ha Suk-heon’s twin palms lashed out like lightning.

Jjeo–ng!

Soon Ha Suk-heon’s eyes went wide.

‘Strong!’

Han Cheol-sang’s single slash that came down with the momentum of his flight, carried a monstrous force beyond imagination.

Udeudeuk!

His feet punched into the stone-slab floor.

Ha Suk-heon’s face twisted hard. The force carried on the blade was blunt and heavy. From the very first strike, it was an attack beyond expectation.

But he was a master. And a fist-and-palm master counted among the Cheongyang Association’s top five.

Pabak!

In an instant, he took three steps to soften the impact, then spun and launched the Jade Wave Divine Fist at Han Cheol-sang.

Pueo-eong!

It was on a different level from the Jade Wave Divine Fist Ha-jun used.

The power gap was so severe it could be mistaken for an entirely different martial art. It was a fierce blow that even made Han Cheol-sang’s upper body tilt for an instant.

But.

Chiriring!

Ha Suk-heon’s eyes shook.

Using the spring of his upper body to rotate, Han Cheol-sang had already leapt over him. It was an unbelievable fluidity of movement, even seeing it.

‘This bastard!’

He was clearly Jin-hyeon’s man. It was that saber-wielder who had been at his side the first time he met Jin-hyeon.

‘To be this strong!’

He had thought he was an impressive master. But he had believed he was clearly beneath him.

He was wrong.

Han Cheol-sang never revealed himself at all. He had hidden his martial arts for years before meeting Jin-hyeon. He was skilled enough at controlling his presence that even masters one level, no, two levels above him couldn’t notice his true strength.

In an instant, Han Cheol-sang got behind Ha Suk-heon and charged at a rushing Demon General.

Kwang!

With a powerful stomp, a reddish aura surged from Han Cheol-sang’s body.

It was an aura beyond unsettling. Han Cheol-sang drew up power until that qi was visible to the naked eye. The true martial arts of a blade-wielder once called the greatest genius of the vanished Divine Saber Sect were unfolding.

Chiring! Peoeok!

A Demon General’s body was split clean in two.

A divine art the Divine Saber Sect created over long years, inheriting the martial arts of the Blood-Saber Demon Lord and the Life-Snatching Demon Lord.

All this time, without unleashing fully, he had pressed enemies with only the Life-Snatching and Heaven-Shattering saber arts. Now at last, he drew out the Divine Saber Sect’s strongest divine art, the Red Lotus Divine Fire Art.

The Red Lotus Divine Fire Art was an unprecedented martial art created by combining the Life-Snatching Demon Lord’s Dead Soul Heart Method and the Blood-Saber Demon Lord’s Blood Calamity Ten Arts (血禍十功). Some of the latter mnemonics still weren’t completed, but even in this state it was a peerless divine art that could aim for the peak of Kangho.

Han Cheol-sang’s eyes, drawing out the true power he had sealed to hide himself, had returned to those of the Mad Demon who once shook Sichuan.

Peoeok! Peoeok!

The fast, sharp, and cruel Life-Snatching Chain-Linked Saber.

A killing martial art that had carved up countless masters with that form alone. Combined with the Red Lotus Divine Fire Art, it created a spectacle beyond imagination.

Han Cheol-sang split yet another Demon General-class master and two Ghost General-class masters in only two moves, then swung his blade as he stepped the Lotus Eighteen Steps (蓮花十八步).

Pu-hwaaak! Jjeojeojeong!

He was exactly a tiger leaping into a flock of sheep.

Bloodshot veins rose in Ha Suk-heon’s eyes.

‘This can’t be!’

Han Cheol-sang’s martial arts, revealed at full strength, were so great that even Ha Suk-heon would struggle to handle them.

‘No way! At that level, he rivals Elder Brother…!’

Jjeojeojeojeojeong!

At the hidden weapons scattered by the fifty assassins that covered the sky, the masters who came to help Gyeong Do-cheon swung their weapons in a panic.

Gong Cheong shouted.

“Beat them all to hell!”

Pabababak!

More than forty masters charged at the assassins.

The sudden fight heated the air hot. Yet the dozen masters standing behind Gong Cheong watched the situation with their arms folded.

‘I have to kill him.’

Ha Suk-heon’s eyes were on Han Cheol-sang.

Demon Generals and Ghost Generals were joining forces to block Han Cheol-sang’s martial arts. Seven allies had already died to the ambush-like assault, but they were masters too. If their ability to respond wasn’t exceptional, they wouldn’t have survived long even with their names on public wanted lists.

‘I have to kill that bastard first!’

It seemed they wouldn’t be enough. Ha Suk-heon decided he would attack Han Cheol-sang.

It was then.

Deolkeong!

The gate leading into the inner court opened, and the Iron King Squad appeared.

Baek Gyu, the Iron King Squad Leader, shouted.

“Capture the traitor Gyeong Do-cheon! Cut down any who interfere!”

“By your command!”

Though it had only been half a day, the Iron King Squad warriors who had heard the circumstances from Gyeong Hang and Gyeong In-geol glared at Gyeong Do-cheon with eyes full of betrayal.

Gyeong Do-cheon was completely out of his mind.

He had known the bastards occupying the clan would have considerable strength. But he never thought even the Iron King Squad would come out.

Jin-hyeon was still pointing the iron sword at Gyeong Do-cheon.

A face hardened cold, and from his two eyes holding blazing blue flames, chilling killing intent rose.

Gyeong Do-cheon shouted furiously.

“You fucking bastards! You dare come in to seize the clan’s heir?!”

In that instant, Jin-hyeon kicked off the ground.

Fwoosh!

Gyeong Do-cheon’s eyes widened. In a blink, Jin-hyeon had reached right before his nose.

Gyeong Do-cheon instinctively swung his treasured sword. His sword path was still awkward, but he had internal energy powerful enough to be called shocking.

But the opponent was bad.

Jjeo-eo-eo-eong!

Gyeong Do-cheon felt as if his whole arm was being torn off.

His treasured sword had been knocked away with an ordinary iron sword, and was now trembling dangerously. The iron sword in Jin-hyeon’s hand didn’t even have a nick.

Gyeong Do-cheon’s face went pale.

‘A master!!’

Jin-hyeon’s fist moved like a gale.

Peo–k!

Struck in the abdomen, Gyeong Do-cheon flew back, spitting blood.