Chapter 653
“Friends of yours?”
Sama Pyo let out a raspy laugh, exhaustion thick in his voice.
“Hardly.”
“Well, yeah. You don’t exactly look like you’re on friendly terms.”
I scratched my chin, slowly scanning the scene around me.
The old pavilion had completely collapsed, and the clearing was stained red with blood soaking into the tall weeds.
‘Alright. Situation assessed. A complete mess.’
I leave for a short while and come back to find twenty corpses lying around. Even if a cleaning spirit showed up, it wouldn’t be enough to deal with this. And now a night raid, too?
Glancing briefly at the assassins who froze the moment I appeared, I shrugged toward Sama Pyo.
“Oh, but I’ve got to admit, you did better than I expected.”
Sama Pyo, his upper body drenched in blood, exhaled harshly.
“Yeah, I did alright… for a demonic sect scoundrel.”
At this point, calling him a mere “scoundrel” felt undeserved.
He was outnumbered and outmatched, facing opponents of considerable skill, yet he had fought tooth and nail to the end.
‘Impressive,’ I thought, nodding to myself.
“You’ve done this much, so calling you just a scoundrel feels wrong. From now on, I’ll call you a demonic freak instead.”
“A demonic freak, huh? How generous of you.”
“Oh, you’re actually thankful? Didn’t expect that. Thought you’d start swearing.”
“Takes effort to swear, and I don’t have much left. I think I’m about to collapse, so stop talking to me.”
I smirked at his honesty.
“Then collapse.”
“…What?”
“Collapse. Don’t worry about what comes next.”
“Damn it. You could’ve said that earli—”
His words trailed off as his knees buckled.
Srrk. Thud.
In an instant, I closed the three steps between us, catching him just before he hit the ground.
The moment my hand steadied him, I felt the air shift behind me.
Swish!
I didn’t need to turn. I could see it—no, feel it. Every movement, every hostile intent within this space.
The instant I set foot here, it became my domain.
Crack!
Without looking back, I swung my fist. Something shattered. A masked man’s skull burst like a ripe melon, his body crashing into a puddle of blood.
Splash.
Warm droplets sprayed across my back, but I ignored them as I laid Sama Pyo gently on a clean patch of ground.
Then I looked up.
Dozens of masked assassins stood frozen, staring at me like statues.
“What’s wrong? Why just stand there? That was your last chance.”
Their eyes trembled violently behind their masks.
“What, surprised? You think you can just run after trying to kill my men? You bastards.”
The silence was thick enough to choke on—until suddenly,
Papat!
Swish!
A storm of energy exploded around us. The remaining assassins—each a peak-level expert capable of harming with mere aura—rushed in all at once.
Swords, sabers, spears, scythes—each weapon carrying destructive energy aimed straight for my vital points.
But I didn’t flinch. I could see it all—the flow of qi, the trajectory of every strike, and the faint fear hidden behind their wide eyes.
That was all I needed.
The fight was already over.
They’d lost the moment they realized they were wolves lunging at a tiger.
‘Then I’ll make sure they understand—they should’ve run when they could.’
Countless techniques flashed through my mind in an instant. I picked the most brutal and destructive of them all.
Swoosh! Crack!
I twisted my body slightly, letting four weapons narrowly miss me and tangle with each other. My hand, shaped into a blade, sliced down the center.
Slash!
Their weapons shattered under the force of my qi. I snatched a broken saber and slammed my palm into the gut of the nearest enemy.
[Flame God Palm.]
Boom!
An infernal heat surged through him, burning away his very life force. Smoke rose from his body as he collapsed, charred inside and out.
Swaaa! Swish!
A sudden attack from behind.
The scythe aiming for my neck cut through empty air—my elbow, already thrust backward, smashed into the attacker’s chest.
Crunch!
Ribs shattered. The man’s gasp was cut short—by his comrade’s spear.
Thwip!
‘So much for loyalty.’
I clicked my tongue and grabbed the protruding spearhead with my bare hand.
Crack!
The steel snapped like a twig. I hurled the broken tip back at its owner.
Thwip! Splurt!
It buried itself in his forehead. He didn’t even scream before collapsing.
Three gone in the blink of an eye.
‘Seven left.’
I counted calmly and stepped forward.
Whoosh!
The space between us vanished, and suddenly I was right in front of another. Or rather, he found me already there.
His eyes widened, trying to form words, but too late. My hand gripped his throat and squeezed.
‘Six.’
His life drained instantly. I snatched the sword from his limp hand and hurled it at the nearest target.
“Ugh!”
Panicking, the man raised his curved blade to block.
Bang!
The ground split beneath the impact.
When the dust settled, his weapon was shattered, its fragments buried deep in his flesh.
“Grrk… guh…”
Thud.
One large shard was lodged in his throat. He couldn’t even speak before he died.
I pushed his body aside and murmured,
“Five.”
The silence that followed was suffocating.
In mere moments, five peak-level masters had fallen. And I stood there, unscathed, staring at my next prey.
“Who’s next?”
No one answered.
Then, as if possessed, the surviving assassins turned—not toward me, but toward the others.
Papat!
Three rushed at me, two toward Nam Ho and Taesan.
Honestly, it was a smart move—the best they could make. But that didn’t mean it would save them.
“I saw it! Those bastards ate both of your drumsticks!”
“Drumsticks? Not wings? Both of them?!”
At Nam Ho’s cry, Taesan’s eyes widened. He drew his massive cudgel, the Great Staff, from his waist.
“Two drumsticks?! You crossed the line! You’re not even human!”
Hard to say who was less human, but Taesan’s monstrous strength made the question irrelevant.
Wham! Crack!
The sheer power of his swing crushed their defense entirely.
One assassin tried to block, but his wrists snapped instantly, and before he could even scream, his head and his partner’s exploded together.
Crunch!
Two corpses fell, silent.
From behind Taesan, Nam Ho pumped his fist.
“Yes! You infuriating but precious fool!”
“Taesan is precious!”
“Good job, you damn brat! For once, you actually earned your meal!”
Whether it was praise or insult, even I couldn’t tell. I just smirked and turned back to the remaining enemies.
“Three left.”
Their eyes trembled violently.
They had seen their comrades die one after another, yet none dared attack me again.
“Just in case you’re thinking about it—if you run, you’ll die. Much worse than your friends did.”
Gulp.
One of them swallowed hard. They’d all seen what happened to the others. Running now would be begging for a slower death.
“But if you surrender and tell me what I want to know… I’ll find a way to let you live. If you don’t believe me, I’ll swear it on my own life.”
I had no real intention of sparing them. But I needed answers.
“Baeksang. Heukung. Yohee. If any of these names belong to your master, speak. If someone else sent you, say it.”
Who was it? I couldn’t say for sure.
But whoever had orchestrated this attack had the power to mobilize elite warriors inside the Beast Miao Palace and knew of my absence in advance.
Only a few people fit that description.
‘It has to be one of the three Great Chiefs.’
They must have noticed something. But how?
And the timing—it was too perfect.
Even Heukung, who had promised cooperation not long ago, couldn’t escape suspicion.
‘Did he meet me just to set this up? To lure me out, take my people hostage, and use them against me?’
Or perhaps it was Baeksang… or Yohee herself.
But one thing was certain. Whoever they were, the assassins in front of me were pawns of Dark Heaven.
“Who sent you? Speak.”
Swoosh—
I pressed down with my qi, crushing them under its weight.
Their masked foreheads creased in agony. Then, their mouths began to twitch.
Crack.
‘No!’
My eyes widened. I instantly struck their pressure points with finger wind, but it was too late.
They had severed their own heart meridians.
Blood poured from their lips.
“Grrk… guh…”
“Damn it.”