Chapter 54

The brothers who had killed the black-clad man and the innkeeper they met at the inn cautiously entered the old shrine.

The other members were already gathered. After the youngest quietly closed the door and sat at the far end, someone asked him.

“Any trouble on the way here?”

The youngest replied calmly.

“No, nothing happened.”

A man brought in a large map and spread it on the floor. The leader said,

“Everyone gather around.”

The squad leader pointed at the map and explained.

“Our short-term objective has changed. We’re heading to the Gully Ravine. Wait there. Once the Dragon Peak Grand Assembly ends and the late-stage cultivators begin returning to their respective factions, kill them.”

“Yes.”

“Since it’s a route frequently used by the Pyo-guk, just let them pass.”

“Yes.”

“At least three sects from the Martial Alliance must pass through Gully Gorge. Similar operations will unfold elsewhere. The Sword King has vanished from his secluded retreat.”

The squad leader said, looking around at his members.

“Therefore, eliminating the late-stage cultivators to throw the Martial Alliance into chaos integrates with the operation to lure out the Sword King who suddenly vanished from his residence. You understand why the operation changed, right? The target remains the Sword King.”

“Understood.”

“Of course, we won’t confront the Sword King ourselves. We lack the strength for that. We just need to faithfully play our role as bait. Wherever he is, the Sword King won’t ignore his junior from the righteous path.”

The strategy of gathering master practitioners of dark arts to surround and annihilate the top-tier masters of the White Path was once again set in motion.

The method was to eliminate only the renowned masters, then vanish again.

They were literally bait.

If successful, they would quietly bide their time for half a year or a year, gathering intelligence and preparing to capture their next prey, repeating this cycle. Since the target was the Sword King, even if they died in a place where the Sword King wasn’t present, there was no reason for the higher-ups to care.

The squad leader started to speak, then glanced outside the old shrine and pressed a finger to his lips.

“······.”

A moment later, the sound of something passing in front of the shrine could be heard.

It was over in an instant.

The team leader gestured toward the youngest member and motioned him outside the shrine. When the youngest picked up the broom by the door and stepped out, the team leader addressed the team member who had come with him.

“You didn’t bring anything extra, did you?”

“No, we didn’t.”

The youngest member stepped outside the old shrine and looked toward the mountain path on the left. Danwooseong, who had passed right by the shrine, was now returning, though he hadn’t caught the youngest member’s eye yet.

While sweeping, the youngest son flicked away a spiderweb that had fallen from the eaves with his hand.

A moment later, rustling sounds came from the dense forest, and Danwooseong suddenly appeared, leaning against a tree and gazing at the youngest.

A young man could be seen clearing cobwebs from an old shrine, and beside it stood a cart that appeared to be transporting offerings.

The youngest, who had been clearing the cobwebs, returned to the old shrine and whispered to the team leader.

“They’re watching us openly. What should we do?”

“Just one?”

“Yes.”

The youngest turned his head back briefly, glanced at Danwooseong approaching, then reported back to the foreman.

“He’s coming this way.”

The team leader sighed.

“Why the hell? Myeong-il and the three of you spread out wide to make sure no one else approaches from outside, and Juhwan and the four of you kill them after…”

At that moment, the youngest spoke, facing inward.

“Squad Leader, they’re saying to come out. This isn’t an ordinary man.”

The squad leader stopped talking and stood up.

“Everyone out.”

As he walked, the squad leader smacked the head of the last squad member to join them.

Thud!

“You son of a bitch. What the hell did you bring?”

He didn’t know the exact story, but he figured the two had caused trouble, so he hit him.

As the squad leader stepped outside, the young man stood with his arms crossed, not even saluting.

The squad leader looked Danwooseong up and down and asked.

“What’s going on?”

Dan Woo-seong glanced at the dozen or so faces and replied.

“Just wondering what you’re doing in that old shrine.”

The squad leader replied.

“We’re messengers and guards from the Response Bureau. We were resting on our way back. We felt bad since it’s someone else’s shrine. If you’re connected to it, we apologize. We could even give you some money.”

Dan Wooseong pointed down the slope with a nod and deliberately replied in a casual tone.

“Money’s not the issue. There are people dead at the inn down that road, so we’re investigating the area.”

The squad leader frowned and retorted.

“The inn people? Hmm, it is strange, but why would we have any reason to kill the inn people?”

Dan Woosung asked.

“Then can we determine their affiliation? They all seem like martial artists.”

The squad leader replied.

“I told you, the Dae-eung Pyo-guk.”

“I’ve never heard of the Dae-eung Pyo-guk.”

“There are more than one or two agencies. Do you know every single one in the Central Plains?”

Dan Woo-sung asked, arms crossed.

“Why are you being so prickly with your answers?”

The one who was actually rude and lacking in manners was Danwooseong. The team leader couldn’t help but feel a vein bulge on his forehead. He let out a long sigh and scratched his head. No matter how you looked at him, he wasn’t an ordinary man. He thought Danwooseong was deliberately picking a fight. The fact that he hadn’t heard anything from his subordinates made him even more furious.

.

Dan Woo-sung looked around at those claiming to be messengers and said.

“Who ate noodles here today? Hands up?”

The man who killed the innkeeper wouldn’t have cleared away his noodle bowl.

Dan Wooseong scanned the men’s expressions and asked again.

“No one?”

The squad leader glared at the rookie as if he might kill him, then said to Danwooseong.

“……No.”

Dan Woosung looked at the squad leader······.

The squad leader, who had been backing away, hid behind another squad member’s back. He pulled a wooden barrel from his coat and tossed it onto the floor with a thud. His entire body then dispersed into black smoke before vanishing.

From where he vanished, the squad leader hurled curses.

“Nothing. You crazy bastard. Kill him.”

In an instant, the squad members surrounded Dan Wooseong. Surveying his encirclers, Dan Wooseong thought.

‘These aren’t the same ones as back then.’

In his past life, all those he had faced were swordsmen. These were practitioners of different martial arts. As smoke rose from the wooden barrel, the surrounding figures also shimmered with black smoke before dispersing.

It was an old demonic art he hadn’t seen in ages.

Old Demon Arts encompass formation techniques, illusionary arts, phantom projections, clone creation, mind reading, soul capture, and stealth.

Dan Woo-sung scanned his surroundings, listening for footsteps.

Perhaps because they were a trained organization, footsteps sounded simultaneously from the north, south, west, and east.

They had established multiple layers of defensive formations.

The squad leader seemed to be widening the distance. Amidst this, various weapons were drawn.

The sounds of swords and daggers being drawn were familiar, but there also seemed to be circular weapons and chain-type weapons. Judging by the situation, this meant hidden weapons were also present.

As someone rolled another wooden barrel toward Danwooseong, the area was instantly filled with black smoke.

Looking around, Danwooseong said, almost pleadingly.

“Can’t see well. Got it, so don’t run away.”

Danwooseong checked the moonlight.

Since the moonlight remained intact, this wasn’t a Magic Battlefield engulfing the entire area in illusions. It was a localized illusion spell.

Even if it was laced with poison, it didn’t matter.

Danwoo-seong, who had personally consumed the century-purified ginseng, knew its effects well.

If his level was low, not seeing the enemy would be a problem, but once he reached a certain level, this wasn’t a major concern.

Footsteps, the rustle of clothing, the clatter of weapons—these would compensate for his vision anyway.

As the black smoke grew thicker and thicker…

Dan Wooseong stamped the ground with his right foot.

Thunder Foot.

Kwaaaaang!

The ground beneath Danwooseong’s feet trembled, sending dust billowing into the air. Black smoke scattered in the shockwave as he charged toward those who appeared to have their skin peeled off in places.

As he unleashed a thunderclap forward…

Three figures flew through the air with a thud, twisting mid-flight, before rolling across the ground, their forms fully exposed.

The flying thunderclap struck the old shrine, erupting in another deafening roar. Immediately after, Danwooseong swept the blade thunder wrapped around his hand in a wide semicircle. The thick, billowing black smoke split cleanly into upper and lower halves. In that instant, the necks of two men were severed and flew away, while someone else…

He blocked with his sword, then rolled across the floor.

Dan Wooseong reached out into the air, and as he pulled, a straight sword appeared as if sucked in. Immediately after, Dan Wooseong’s fist flew toward his opponent’s face.

The opponent’s face caved in like a fist had struck it, sending him flying backward.

Dan Wooseong nodded, then grabbed the wrist of someone who had pushed past his shoulder, twisted it, and injected his brain energy.

“Kyaaaahhhhh…”

A scream erupted as a man revealed himself. Dan Wooseong dragged the wrist along the ground, then stomped on the throat with his right foot.

Thud.

Then Dan Wooseong leapt into the air.

The cluster of daggers whizzed past with a sharp clang! Then, with a thudding sound, they embedded themselves into the bodies of those shrouded in black smoke.

Danwooseong, having landed on the ground, moved while watching the direction the projectiles had come from.

“Don’t run away.”

Then, deploying his lightning-fast movement technique like a bolt of lightning, Dan Woosung heard the footsteps of the fleeing figure. He chased after them for seven or eight strides before kicking a stone lying on the ground.

The stone sliced through the air, and with a thud, a man collapsed.

It was the squad leader.

The squad leader who had fallen scrambled to his feet and drew the dagger at his waist.

As soon as Danwooseong caught the chain flying in from the right, he injected his brain energy and yanked it back. Grabbing the man’s head mid-air, he blocked the dagger thrown by the squad leader with the man’s own back of the head.

Thud!

The squad leader fled again.

Somehow, his appearance closely resembled that of the Black Daoist fleeing.

The moment Dan Woo-sung pulled the dagger from the dead man’s back, he hurled it toward the fleeing squad leader’s chest.

The blade flashed brightly in the lightning, piercing the squad leader’s chest. The dagger flew onward for a while before embedding itself in a thick tree trunk, trembling violently.

Dan Woo-sung turned to look behind him.

The survivors were breathing heavily. Most of them were wounded. They had been cut by the blade’s lightning strike, or had one side of their body paralyzed by the lightning fist.

The black smoke had already dispersed, and they no longer possessed the inner strength to sustain their illusions.

The moonlight still shone down upon them.

Beneath that moonlight, Danwooseong trampled the wounded to death, without mercy.

Thud! Thud! Thud······.

Amidst the finishing blows, a young man discovered by Dan Wooseong writhed in agony and said to him:

“I ate the noodles. I was only going to eat the noodles…”

Dan Wooseong looked at the young man of the Mado clan and replied.

“Got it. What’s your affiliation?”

The young man grinned.

“Us? We’re with the Gangho faction.”

Danwooseong’s foot landed squarely on the youngest’s face.

After the final thud, the surroundings fell silent…

After kneeling, Dan Woo-sung quietly listened to the sounds around him.

He was listening intently for the breaths of survivors and the footsteps of those fleeing.

Dan Wooseong rose, walked among the corpses, then emerged from a broken, old shrine holding a map, examining it under the moonlight.

Nothing was marked on it.

The bodies had only loose change and signal flares. But upon examining each corpse, it turned out they all carried one flare each.

‘They’re decoys in operation.’

Dan Woo-sung collected all the signal flares from the bodies, tucked one into his pocket, and then looked up at the night sky illuminated by the bright moon.

He intended to play with fireworks alone.

He fired the fireworks in various directions, intending to cancel the operation.

One shot toward this sky.

One shot toward that sky.

One behind him, one ahead.

Fireworks bursting in all directions lit up the night sky with booms and pops. Moments later, Danwooseong set off signal flares haphazardly across the sky, then joined the demon watching from somewhere to enjoy the fireworks display together.

The signal flares exploding in such chaotic disarray also served as a signal that all the decoys had been eliminated.

ⓒ Yoo Jin-seong