"AAAAAGH!"

Je Geumhak pounded his chest like a madman.

The Formless Hidden Demon Squad members, who stood as if to escort him, also moved violently to extinguish the sacred fires stuck to their heads.

Hair and skin burned, and a foul, scorched scent spread in all directions, but it wasn't overly painful.

Because the blood bursting from my nose was covering up their smell.

Anyway, this internal energy consumption is truly absurd.

I only manifested it once, yet my Dantian is showing its bottom.

An internal energy consumption that doesn't even compare to when I first used the Radiant Heaven Divine Palm.

How on earth did that old man Moyong Gang use such a ridiculous martial art?

Anyway, since the long robes that had been grabbing my hands and feet had loosened, I tried to move my body, but it wouldn't move according to my will.

Fuck, this is a chance to counterattack.

Hah, hah, hah, hah.

Spewing white steam from his face and chest, Je Geumhak looked at me with a sickened expression.

"You bastard..."

He chewed on his blackened, roasted lips, as if judging what to do with me.

"Even to avoid leaving behind future trouble, I cannot let you live."

He said that, but Je Geumhak himself was in a state where it was just as hard for him to move.

While kneeling on the ground, the bastard shouted at the top of his lungs.

"That bastard is the one who will become the greatest obstacle to our cult!"

The Formless Hidden Demon Squad members, who had been desperately struggling to extinguish the sacred fires up until then, began to rise from their spots one by one.

However, none of them moved easily.

Could it be that what I hoped for is about to happen?

"..."

"..."

Je Geumhak forced his trembling legs up and tried to approach me.

"Kill that bastard right now!"

However, the Formless Hidden Demon Squad simply supported the collapsing Je Geumhak and did not budge from their spots.

And from that sight, I felt a strange sense of anomaly.

'Does that bastard not know?'

Je Geumhak was panicking over the fact that the Formless Hidden Demon Squad wasn't moving.

"What are you doing! Didn't I tell you to kill that bastard right now!!"

The Formless Hidden Demon Squad looked at me with the black shadows where their faces should be, exchanged glances among themselves, and then began to raise Je Geumhak up.

The bastard whose body was helplessly grabbed struggled, but...

"Not me! That bastard! I said kill that bastard!"

SWISH.

The Formless Hidden Demon Squad merely stood Je Geumhak up and wrapped around him.

It ended up like this after all.

Having finished assessing the situation, I mocked him to my heart's content.

"Are you planning on just leaving?"

"You stupid puppet bastards! Let go! I will wring that bastard's neck right...!"

The Formless Hidden Demon Squad's top priority is the safety of their escort target.

If that safety is threatened, the Formless Hidden Demon Squad sometimes prioritizes the escort target's safety over his commands.

Having grasped the threat of the Void Destruction Fist, the Formless Hidden Demon Squad probably judged that his protection took priority, fearing that Je Geumhak might die while they were trying to kill me.

Unaware of this situation, Je Geumhak struggled to pry off the squad's hands somehow, but they were not the type to let go.

"Let go! I said let go...! That's an order!"

Watching Je Geumhak being dragged away, I forcefully raised my arm.

My sensation hadn't returned, so I bit the inside of my cheek and moved it by sheer, absolute force.

"..."

"..."

"..."

As I showed suspicious movements, the Formless Hidden Demon Squad raised their swords in vigilance.

And watching that, I poured out all my desperate strength and flipped Je Geumhak the bird.

"I won, you bastard!"

As expected, the reaction was fierce.

"... Kuaaagh! Let go, let go! I said let go, you bastards!"

I fired the Flying Dragon Claw at Je Geumhak as he was dragged away struggling.

TWANG!

The Formless Hidden Demon Squad stepped into the formation array.

This fucking bastard.

... You dare think you can just leave when facing me, the ultimate opportunist?

I mobilized my Dantian once again.

A sensation like a rake fiercely scraping my lower belly arose, but I endured it, clenching my teeth until they nearly broke.

"If you lost the bet... you have to leave the stakes behind!!"

WOONG...

The area of space where the Formless Hidden Demon Squad and Je Geumhak were trying to escape began to distort.

Seeing that sight, the Formless Hidden Demon Squad hurriedly tried to shove their bodies into the formation array, but...

I was one step faster this time too.

SWISH!

Along with a small whistle, the Lesser Heaven Sword Technique manifested and severed Je Geumhak's arm.

Soon, an agony-filled groan erupted from his mouth.

"Kk-ugh!"

"...!"

Confirming that it wasn't his neck that was severed, the Formless Hidden Demon Squad immediately tried to disappear into the formation array with the bleeding Je Geumhak.

I couldn't let Je Geumhak get away.

'That bastard found out about me.'

But if Je Geumhak died, the enraged blades of the Formless Hidden Demon Squad would target my neck.

A chance at survival I had barely obtained. I had to make it out alive no matter what.

'In that case...'

Even if I couldn't kill him, I had to turn him into an idiot.

I waited until the very, very end.

And the moment all the Formless Hidden Demon Squad members stepped into the formation array.

Drawing up my internal energy, I cast the Void Destruction Fist once again.

WOONG.

In the space that began to distort, the robed figures who had stepped into the formation array flinched in shock and spread their long robes.

But the time to do anything had passed.

THUD.

It was only a single move, but the Ten Thousand Transformations Invincible Fist accurately struck Je Geumhak's Baihui acupoint.

"Gah!"

Struggling in agony, Je Geumhak rolled his eyes back, vomited blood, and disappeared into the formation array with his head slumped forward.

"Hah, I did it. Hah, haah, blegh..."

My insides twisted, and I spewed out a mouthful of blood that had risen in my throat, but my insides did not feel refreshed.

Rather, my stomach was churning as if a fire had started in my belly.

I barely lifted my head to check the spot where they had left.

"Damn it... damn it... damn it..."

Je Geumhak's arm was dangling at the end of the Flying Dragon Claw, but I couldn't circulate my internal energy to pull it or move my legs to go get it.

THUMP, THUMP, THUMP.

I tried forcefully striking my thighs, but my legs still wouldn't move.

Instead of using my immobile Dantian and feet, I used both arms to crawl on all fours toward where Je Geumhak's severed arm was.

And after laboriously peeling the Devouring Gauntlet off his arm...

CLACK.

I equipped it on my arm.

At the very least, if I do this, I won't have to engage in a battle of wits over who gets to keep this item.

Having finished this series of actions with a body that felt like dying, I lay spread-eagle on the floor in a massive sense of exhaustion.

"Hah, hah, hah."

It was truly so hard that even breathing was agonizing and painful.

However, a subtle smile formed on my lips.

"Fuck... I won..."

Je Geumhak aside, the Formless Hidden Demon Squad would now lose sleep at night, thinking of me.

Just like our Minor Orthodox Unit did when facing the Demonic Cult in my past life.

They would toss and turn every day in anger, a thirst for revenge, and their own sense of helplessness.

Not knowing what to do with their unresolved emotions, they would spit out curses.

"Hoo-hah."

To think I could interrupt their sweet sleep, the Minor Orthodox Unit bastards would love this immensely.

"I... I won! You bastards!"

Entrusting my body completely to the floor, my eyes slowly closed.

My insides are a mess and I feel like I'm dying, but...

My mind is at ease.

Is it because my wrist feels so solid?

Probably not...

The biggest stakes I won in this bet are...

'... The wishes of those Minor Orthodox Unit bastards, I suppose.'

For some reason, it felt like the smiling faces of those gross bastards were flickering before my eyes.

* * *

"What in the world is..."

Muyeong, who was sneaking in disguised as a porter delivering supplies to the Underworld Alliance, couldn't close his open mouth.

"Ambush! It's an ambush!"

"The culprit is still here!"

"Jin Sowoon! Call Jin Sowoon! He has to use his mind-reading!"

"Don't move! Anyone who moves is the culprit! Check if everyone is wearing a human-skin mask!"

The Underworld Alliance should have been bustling with its founding ceremony, but excitement and chaos were running rampant.

He tried to just ignore it and pass by, but it wasn't happening in just one or two places.

From every pavilion, here and there, the sounds of people dying could be heard.

Furthermore, those who saw the corpses were somehow suspecting everyone around them.

Their own identities, disguised as porters, were also on the verge of being exposed soon.

"Muyeong, what should we do?"

At the question from Mu-il, who had snuck in alongside him, Muyeong coldly suppressed his emotions.

"We're dropping the infiltration. We move with securing the target as our top priority."

"Yes, sir."

As soon as the order fell, they erased the ordinary walk they had been intentionally using and began to unfold their footwork.

They leaped onto the roofs, avoiding the gazes of the people.

It was unprecedented for the shadow guards of the Alliance Leader's Pavilion to step outside the Murim Alliance like this.

After all, when they first received Zhuge Somyeong's order, Muyeong had been the first to object.

However, when even Alliance Leader Hyuk Mugang expressed concern over the Underworld Alliance situation, they had no choice but to come out here.

Because the situation in the Underworld Alliance was also connected to the current situation in Sichuan.

If they couldn't grasp the situation in the Underworld Alliance, they wouldn't know what might happen to the warriors dispatched to Sichuan.

"Hmm..."

And Muyeong thought it was extremely fortunate that they had come here directly.

... Because absolutely nothing had gone according to plan since they entered Shanxi Province.

Even now, hadn't their infiltration to observe the Underworld Alliance's movements been shattered almost immediately?

Regardless, the task at hand was securing the target.

Finding out what happened in the Underworld Alliance was something to figure out afterward.

They began to move for their top priority mission.

At that moment.

SWISH!

"Hup!"

At the sudden, fast-flying wave of qi, the shadow guards simultaneously kicked off the ground.

Soon after.

C-R-A-A-A-S-H!

The spot where the shadow guards had been exploded, as if a hole had been blown into it.

A powerful yet precise manipulation of qi.

This meant the opponent possessed terrifying skill.

Muyeong prepared for combat in this unexpected showdown.

However.

"What, it's an Orthodox faction bastard?"

The voice came from behind his back.

'What in the...'

Turning his head, an iron-clad giant's heavy saber was already right at his forehead.

Muyeong immediately recognized his identity.

'Four Emperors Peak's Giant Blade, Hwang Bushik!'

Such speed unfitting for a massive body.

There was a reason he had made quite a name for himself in the Underworld Murim.

"Hey."

Hwang Bushik looked down at Muyeong's sword, which had reached his own neck at some point, and spoke.

"It doesn't seem like we are each other's targets, so should we put away our weapons? Or am I your target?"

"... We are not assassins."

Only then did Muyeong retract his sword, which had been pressed tightly against Hwang Bushik's neck.

Hwang Bushik also simultaneously retracted his heavy saber and grumbled.

"Why did you go out of your way to sneak in disguised as porters? It's suspicious."

Muyeong shot back without backing down.

"Why did you swing your weapon without even checking? Ignorant fool."

"What? Ignorant??"

"Why, are you going to refute it?"

"Tch."

Thinking he had lost the argument, Hwang Bushik clicked his tongue and gestured downwards with his head.

"Can you still say that even after seeing the Underworld Alliance end up in this state?"

Hwang Bushik's reaction was unfamiliar to Muyeong.

Even though he clearly knew he was a warrior of the Murim Alliance, he wasn't showing much hostility.

Muyeong asked without letting his guard down.

"What happened?"

"What do you mean, what happened? What that guy Jin Sowoon said became a reality."

"What?"

Hwang Bushik replied in a rather friendly tone.

"I don't know either. He told us to prepare because there might be an attack. Can this even be called an attack? It should be called a war."

Muyeong found it entirely difficult to understand what Hwang Bushik was saying.

In the first place, he couldn't understand the situation of the man spilling the current state of affairs entirely to him, a Murim Alliance warrior.

"It seems they are professional assassins. They are going around the pavilions committing massacres. And I came out to catch them."

"... Jin Sowoon said so?"

"Yeah. Anyway, didn't you bastards come looking for them too?"

"..."

Muyeong couldn't gauge how much he should say.

After briefly organizing his thoughts, Muyeong opened his mouth.

"We've lost contact with the Murim Alliance delegation that entered the Underworld Alliance. Do you know anything about this?"

"... Is that so. I guess they really were being blocked."

At the incomprehensible words, Muyeong's brow furrowed.

"What do you mean by that?"

"It's something like that. If it's Murim Alliance personnel... try going to that building over there."

Having finished speaking, Hwang Bushik immediately kicked off the roof and soared up.

Towards Muyeong, who was staring at his back, a comrade asked.

"Muyeong, what should we do?"

"..."

Muyeong watched the place where Hwang Bushik disappeared before eventually nodding.

"Let's go."

Although they couldn't trust an Underworld figure, for some reason, his attitude just now couldn't be seen as that of a complete enemy.

* * *

"Hah, hah, hah."

Through a joint attack with Tang Seo-hee, Ak Byeongbi, who had reduced the last robed figure to a poisoned corpse, breathed heavily.

They were terrifying bastards.

They spewed out something similar to a poison fog like the Tang Clan's poison people, and every time their weapons clashed, his head grew dizzy as if he had been struck by sorcery.

The long robes, which he didn't know what they were made of, absorbed or deflected attacks, so there was simply no way to deal with them.

It was fortunate that experts like Hyeoltu and Yeom Gwibi were there; otherwise, they would have died before they even had time to worry about Jin Sowoon and Ilmyeong.

Turning his head, it seemed that Hyeoltu and Yeom Gwibi were not in much of a different situation.

Seeing the robed figures disappear without a trace the moment they died, as if Bone-Melting Powder had been sprinkled on them, even Underworld figures like them seemed sickened.

"Are you alright?"

At Ak Byeongbi's question, Hyeoltu, whose one foot was reduced to rags, dusted his hands as if he was thoroughly fed up.

"I can't move anymore. If you want to rescue them, go by yourselves."

Well, considering he fought three robed figures alone... actually, the fact that he was even this intact was amazing.

Since Yeom Gwibi fought one, and Tang Seo-hee and Ak Byeongbi fought one together, Hyeoltu had practically resolved far more than his fair share.

"..."

However, the problem was that there was no one left among them who could move either.

At that moment.

THUD, THUD.

Seeing the figure dropping down in front of him, Ak Byeongbi opened his eyes wide.

"... How are you here?"

To think a presence that should be in the Alliance Leader's Pavilion was showing his face at the Underworld Alliance, ten thousand li away.

"Third Hall Leader. Have you been well?"

At the greeting that didn't fit the situation, Ak Byeongbi asked back.

"What is going on?"

"We lost contact with you, so we came urgently."

For a moment, Ak Byeongbi furrowed his brow.

"Lost contact... but we sent reports regularly."

"..."

Seeing Muyeong stay silent, Ak Byeongbi realized that the messages the delegation had sent all this time hadn't reached the Murim Alliance.

Staring at the seriously expressioned Ak Byeongbi, Muyeong shook his head.

"Let's talk later. Where are Jin Sowoon and Ilmyeong?"

At this, Ak Byeongbi looked at the pavilion where a red aura was fluctuating beyond the door.

"They are in there."

"What? Are you saying they are trapped in a formation array?"

Trapped in a formation array laid out by the Underworld Alliance. It was no ordinary crisis.

However, Muyeong was dumbfounded by the following words.

"They aren't trapped. They went in to rescue someone."

"Rescue? Who on earth?"

"The Underworld Alliance's Chief Strategist."

"..."

A situation that was completely incomprehensible.

Why in the world would Jin Sowoon and Ilmyeong walk into a formation array on their own two feet to save the Chief Strategist of the Underworld Alliance, who was practically an enemy?

Come to think of it, the people fighting alongside them were also incredibly suspicious.

An old man who fought only with his feet and a woman who wielded yang energy.

When Muyeong looked around with suspicious eyes, Ak Byeongbi stepped closer to where Hyeoltu and Yeom Gwibi were standing and said.

"Anyway, there were circumstances."

"... Then shouldn't we go inside to check?"

Ak Byeongbi also thought that since Muyeong had just appeared, they could help Jin Sowoon.

"We were just thinking of doing that..."

However, just as Ak Byeongbi was about to speak, Tang Seo-hee pulled mother-of-pearl bottles out from her bosom.

"Someone is coming out."

RIPPLE.

The red wall undulated once and spat out the robed figures who had entered the formation array.

And in the center of them was Gun Yuhyeon, with half his face melted off and blood streaming from his seven orifices.

"Those bastards...!"

As soon as Ak Byeongbi finished speaking, astral qi shot out from the foot of Hyeoltu, who had just been grumbling about not being able to fight anymore.

B-O-O-M!

Following that, Yeom Gwibi's flames soared up, and Tang Seo-hee immediately spread a poison fog to block all directions so the bastards would have nowhere to escape.

"W-What is this...!"

Even while Muyeong, unable to grasp the situation, was panicking, a fierce exchange of blows went back and forth.

SWISH!

The four individuals swinging their long robes deflected those attacks again and again.

"Where is Jin Sowoon?"

Tang Seo-hee glared with her eyes wide open, as if unable to believe it.

At the same time, her hands began to move dazzlingly, as if she had more than ten of them.

However.

SW-O-O-S-H!

The robed figures, whom she expected to block with their long robes just as before, did not hesitate and began to launch their bodies into the air.

BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM!

Hyeoltu's astral qi was fired like artillery shells, targeting the bastards, but even after taking damage from the astral qi, they were solely focused on escaping.

"Damn it, they're too fast."

In the end, the figures of the robed individuals vanished without a trace, and a heavy silence settled over the area.

At that moment.

The wall undulated once again.

Those who had raised their weapons with the sole determination not to miss this time, expecting the robed figures to appear again...

"Ilmyeong?"

...stopped their movements at the sight of a smooth, bald head.

"Heuk, heuk, heuk, p-please take this person. I must go help Benefactor Jin."

"What? Weren't you together?"

Soaked in sweat, causing his head to shine dazzlingly, Ilmyeong gasped for breath.

"Because Benefactor Jin told me to evacuate this person first..."

"Are you saying that guy Jin Sowoon was fighting Gun Yuhyeon?"

At Ak Byeongbi's question, Ilmyeong answered immediately.

"How did you know? I was also quite surprised."

"..."

As a sudden silence fell over the area, Ilmyeong made a puzzled expression.

Soon, Tang Seo-hee's despair-filled voice filled the space.

"This makes no sense... Jin Sowoon is the Black Dragon Stronghold Master and the Vice Leader of the Underworld Alliance. He is not a person who would die like this...!"

Instead of Tang Seo-hee, who had fallen to her knees in despair, Ak Byeongbi calmly asked again.

"Are you certain Jin Sowoon and Gun Yuhyeon were fighting inside?"

"Yes. He definitely threw this person to me and..."

Ak Byeongbi cut Ilmyeong off.

"Gun Yuhyeon just escaped with the help of those who appear to be his accomplices."

"What? Then Benefactor Jin is..."

Everyone in the area looked at the formation array.

Everyone realized what had happened inside, but no one opened their mouths.

"That guy... in the end..."

Ak Byeongbi dropped to one knee and frowned in anguish.

Muyeong, who had been watching the whole situation, felt a bitter taste in his mouth.

For those living in Jianghu, death was something that wouldn't be strange no matter when it approached, but the death of an extraordinary rising star like Jin Sowoon brought an inexplicable sense of despondency.

'It's a shame. I wanted to have another conversation with him someday... To think his sun has set like this.'

For some reason, Muyeong remembered the face of Jin Sowoon, who had seen through his identity and smiled craftily on the day they first met.