"What the hell is that guy doing?" The man who was leading the rogues shouted when he spotted me.
He was the one who had been sent flying after being hit by the old man.
He reeked of drugs, and his eyes were bloodshot as he raised his sword to aim at me.
"Hey. Are you really thinking of taking us on all by yourself?"
"Why? Is that not allowed?"
"You crazy bastard. Can't you see the numbers? If you leave now, I might just pretend I didn't see you."
"I don't want to."
I chuckled lightly and walked towards the rogues with a spring in my step.
Sensing something unsettling from my relaxed demeanor, the drug addict began to sweet-talk me.
"You seem confident in your skills... But do you really think you can handle this many? You might want to back off before you get hurt and miss out on a chance to grab a share."
"..."
"Huh? You came here to get a sword from that old man, right? Instead of begging pathetically, why not just kill him and take it?"
"Wow. It's been a while since I've seen such a bold piece of trash."
The drug addict grinned, revealing his yellowed teeth at my compliment.
"Hehe. We're all just lowlifes here, aren't we? That old man will die here without a single soul to claim his body."
As he spoke, he gestured for the rogues to surround me.
Now, I was completely encircled.
Thinking he had the upper hand, the drug addict grinned.
"You better switch sides quickly before I change my mind. Huh? You still look young; do you really want to waste your life here?"
"Hmm..."
I pretended to ponder as I looked around at the rogues surrounding me.
Soon, I felt disappointed. 'Not a single decent one among them.'
The rogues' complexions, illuminated by the torches, were all red, yellow, or black.
Their swords trembled, and their bodies looked heavy.
I could even see some of them gasping for breath.
They were clearly exhausted.
"Well, it makes sense. No sane person would get involved in something like this."
Even among rogues, there are rules.
According to Bok Man-chun, those who cause trouble in the rogue market are treated as trash by other rogues.
In other words, everyone gathered here was of low quality.
"Tsk tsk. Lifelong trash living off others. I'll send you all to nirvana today."
I lowered the sword given to me by the old man and walked toward the gaps between my enemies.
"Kill that bastard first!" The drug addict spat on the ground and shouted from behind the encirclement.
Before the swords could converge on me, I leaped forward like a tiger, crashing into the rogue in front of me.
Whoosh!
As I charged in an instant, the rogue's eyes widened in fear.
"Ah!" He hurriedly raised his sword to strike at my shoulder, but before he could even begin his attack, my sword had already drawn a red line across his neck.
Splurt!
"Gah...!" The rogue, whose neck was cut about two inches deep, clutched at his wound with both hands.
But there was no way to stop the blood that had already begun to pour out.
The light in his eyes faded.
Thud! I kicked the staggering rogue into another one, creating a gap through which I swiftly struck down the confused enemies.
Slash! Slash!
In the blink of an eye, I had beheaded two more.
Completely severing a human head from the body is a waste of effort.
Just cutting the carotid artery by two inches is enough to kill.
Moreover, the enemies, struggling to survive in fear of death, became obstacles to their own comrades but excellent cover for me.
I used that to toy with the encirclement and took down three more.
"Damn it! Get out of the way, you bastard!"
"If you're going to die, do it alone!"
Rough curses flew from all directions.
The encirclement quickly lost its meaning, and I even saw some of them fighting among themselves.
'There's no need to use my inner strength against such fools.' My body, trained in the Green Forest Eighteen Styles, was full of power.
I dodged the spears and swords flying from both sides and leaped into the air.
Whoosh!
Spinning my body, I kicked the enemies' weapons away with both feet and flipped like a cat, swinging my sword behind me.
Slash!
The shocked face of the rogue who had tried to attack from behind was cleaved in two.
After landing, I drew my sword and pushed the dead rogue away.
My expressionless face reflected in the blade given to me by the old man.
'This is a much better sword than I expected.'
Even though I had added rotational force and sufficient strength, cutting through a human skull without inner strength is not something that can be done with mere skill.
And to feel this lightness...
"Die!"
"You're not even basic in ambush tactics."
Sighing softly, I lowered my body to dodge an attack and swept my leg across the ground like a broom.
Two rogues with weak lower bodies tripped over my leg.
Thud! Thud!
After delivering a stab to each of their hearts, I stood up, and a mace brushed past my face, crushing the face of one of the recently fallen rogues.
Crack!
I inserted my sword into the chain of the mace and pulled the wielder toward me.
"Ahhh!"
As the rogue was dragged in, I struck his neck, breaking it, and pulled my sword free from the chain while turning my body back.
"Hmm? Why aren't you attacking?"
"..."
As the number of dead in my hands quickly exceeded seven, the rogues began to retreat hesitantly.
"He's a monster..."
"You said you were just going to kill an old man!"
"I was just thinking of making some pocket money..."
They were originally gathered to earn a little cash.
There was no sense of camaraderie among them, nor was there a desperate reason to kill me.
"I-I want to leave."
"Me too..."
One by one, they began to back away slowly, and soon they scattered in all directions, fleeing.
The sight was quite a spectacle.
'Should I chase them all down and kill them?' A sudden surge of bloodlust rose within me, but I decided against it, as chasing them through the mountains at night would be tiring.
"Still, you can't just leave."
I threw my sword at the drug addict, the instigator of this whole mess, who was trying to escape first.
Thud!
The sword lodged into his back, and he let out a strange cry as he fell to the ground.
I walked over to him and pulled the sword from his back.
Turning my body, I walked toward the tent where the old man and Bok Man-chun were waiting, and the two stared at me with their mouths agape.
"You might get bugs inside like that."
At my words, Bok Man-chun quickly closed his mouth and muttered.
"Young master... I knew you had learned martial arts, but you were a hidden master..."
"Now you should give up on your plan to sneak up on me in a secluded place, right?"
At my words, Bok Man-chun flinched dramatically.
"No, how did you know? I was planning to carry it out tomorrow, so I'm so glad I found out today."
While exchanging some light-hearted banter with Bok Man-chun, the old man approached me.
I asked with subtle anticipation, "How was it?"
"…I guess my judgment has dulled. I couldn't even recognize such a fine sword."
Knowing that this was the highest praise the old man could give, a bright smile bloomed on my face.
"You're being too kind."
"Not at all."
"Actually, I know. I was just trying to be modest."
"…Hmm. You're an unpredictable person. How could you at your age..."
The old man could not see something that even a master craftsman would struggle to recognize.
That was the experience I had accumulated in my past life.
As a master in my own right, I could understand his bewilderment.
"…In my life, I have seen many masters, and I pride myself on having seen stronger ones than you. But I have never seen anyone move like you. The movements you just showed could easily be called a skill."
"Thanks to having good teachers."
I had learned the world's best external martial arts created by the Green Forest King.
I had also studied the martial arts of four absolute masters for a long time and had repeated the training countless times in my own body to teach it.
'Only now am I able to gradually unfold what I learned back then.'
At that moment, the old man narrowed his eyes and asked, "One question... Did you intentionally not use your inner strength in that fight? Or is it that you cannot use it?"
Though he did not recognize my true self, the old man's insight was indeed sharp.
Bok Man-chun, who had been listening, asked with a look of disbelief.
"Excuse me? Are you saying the young master didn't use his inner strength just now? He was splitting heads left and right..."
"The sword that the young master is holding is a sword I made. If it weren't my creation, it would be difficult to cut through a person's bones without inner strength, but with my sword, one can easily cut a person in half using only skill. In fact, the young master just did that."
"Wow..."
Bok Man-chun's mouth dropped open at the old man's words, which seemed more like self-praise than a compliment.
The old man looked at me with a serious, almost desperate expression and asked, "Please answer me. Young master, is it possible that you cannot use your inner strength?"
"Is this an important question for you?"
"Yes."
"My inner strength is..."
I instinctively realized that this was a question related to the old man's 'request.' And I knew that this was a moment where I had to answer carefully.
My gaze turned toward the box that Bok Man-chun was carrying.
Inside was the Seven-Leafed Herb, a medicinal herb that could elevate the achievement of the Reverse Heaven Technique.
"I'll just say I'm not using it yet."
"..."
After a moment of silence, the old man spoke.
"I apologize for repeating what I said earlier, but... are you interested in my request?"
I smiled broadly and replied, "Of course."
"My request is to kill a certain person."
Inside the old man's tent, various weapons were neatly arranged according to their own rules.
The three of us sat facing each other at a small table in the center.
"A murder contract... Who is the target?" Bok Man-chun's single eye gleamed sharply as he spoke.
It seemed he was trying to gauge how dangerous this task was, as the level of risk could vary greatly depending on who the target was.
The old man opened his mouth with a somewhat strained expression.
"I cannot tell you until we go together to kill him. I am looking for someone who can kill him as soon as possible."
"We have to go together?"
"Yes. I must see him die with my own eyes."
"..."
"If you can kill him, I will use all my strength to create any weapon you desire."
The old man said this and then firmly closed his mouth.
It was clear he had no intention of saying more.
"Hmm..."
Bok Man-chun scratched his chin, looking troubled.
I glanced at the old man's stern face for a moment before turning to Bok Man-chun.
"Director Bok, I need you to step aside for a moment."
"Young master, this is not something to decide easily..."
"I'm not asking."
"…Understood."
Seeing my expression, Bok Man-chun stood up.
Even as he was about to leave the tent, he wore a worried look.
After Bok Man-chun's presence faded, I spoke in a low voice.
"I have a question."
"We just finished talking about everything."
"This isn't a question about the target."
"…Ask. If I can answer, I will."
The moment the old man slightly relaxed his guard, I struck at his moment of inattention like a surprise attack.
"How did you end up in a place like this?"
"…What do you mean?"
I spoke clearly so he could understand.
"I asked how the head of the Weijia family, one of the Eight Great Clans of the Blood Cult, ended up here."
At that moment, the old man shot out his hand like lightning, aiming for my neck.