The Leader of the Unmysterious Forces
The head of the Blade Association, who had come alone without a hint of fear, made me curious about what was going on in his mind.
"Why did you come alone? Were you betrayed? Or did you suddenly gain some fortune at the cliff?"
"Is that even possible?"
"Baldy, in the Black Path, you should always be wary of the second-in-command."
The head of the Blade Association tilted his head.
Though he looked like a person from the Black Path, his manner of speaking didn't match that image.
With a somewhat displeased expression, he continued, "In the martial world, betrayal holds no meaning. After all, the strong take everything."
I uncrossed my arms and drew out my black cat.
"I see. I appreciate your valuable words."
The head of the Blade Association slowly drew his sword and asked, "How much did you receive from the client?"
"Why?"
The head of the Blade Association spoke as if he was looking down on me completely.
"Just tell me."
"Thirty-nine thousand eight hundred nyang, you bastard."
"……."
"Why?"
"You all move for money anyway. I don't mix emotions with business. I have more money than the one who hired you. I will pay you double the commission. You can kill the one who hired you to kill me. I have no feelings for assassins like you."
"……."
Suddenly, I thought that the reason he was talking so much was that he was waiting for his subordinates.
I had a lot to say, but as a person from the Black Path, I kept my mouth shut and swung my sword first.
It was better to talk while fighting than to just argue.
As soon as the head of the Blade Association deflected my black cat with his sword, he shouted, and I immediately countered with my Flame Technique.
With a sudden loud bang, the head of the Blade Association quickly retreated seven steps.
His face was filled with surprise from the exchange of forces, and I couldn't help but open my mouth.
"Baldy, surprised?"
Perhaps because he was hit by the force of the Flame Technique, the head of the Blade Association's face turned bright red from his forehead to his scalp.
It felt like seeing a red squid standing on two feet in the dark of night, and honestly, I was a bit surprised too.
"Damn, that was shocking."
The head of the Blade Association's expression was gradually changing due to his wicked deeds, making it uncomfortable to look at him.
Every time he moved his face, the oil reflected in the moonlight made his expression change constantly.
"An evil person is indeed an evil person. His face changes every time."
People's facial expressions change gradually based on their usual thoughts.
This guy had the appearance of a degenerate, a red squid that was born as a human but was evolving into something foul.
If you cut up a squid, it might taste good, but I felt that even if I killed this guy, it would leave a bad taste in my mouth.
I followed closely behind the head of the Blade Association to prevent him from escaping and swung my black cat infused with the power of the neck.
"Don't think about running away. Red squid, red octopus, octopus head, red egg, bright red adolescence. Blushing bald head."
For some reason, today, even my nonsense made me dizzy.
I had been using a saber for a long time, and recently I had been contemplating sword techniques.
The flow of the sword was not as smooth as I had imagined.
On the other hand, the head of the Blade Association was clearly showing through his movements that he was planning to escape as soon as he exchanged forces.
His face became tense as he fiercely swung his sword in resistance.
However, despite having enough internal energy to counter my Flame Technique, his swordsmanship was not high in level compared to its depth.
If the head of the Blade Association had more practical experience, he would have fought much better than this.
But having been a leader since his youth, the traces of commanding his subordinates with a mere gesture were ingrained in his body and sword.
It meant he hadn't solved many problems himself.
I had seen such leaders often.
If they encountered a master with deeper internal energy, they would inevitably face disaster, but the head of the Blade Association made the mistake of judging me merely as an assassin trying to hit and run.
Since there was a possibility that the head of the Blade Association's subordinates would come, I continued to launch rapid attacks, pressing him hard.
I struck with techniques, poured out my energy, and occasionally mixed in the Absorption Technique to deliberately pull at the head of the Blade Association's wrist, arm, and sword.
This was effective in breaking his physical balance and forcing him into defense.
Although I was not satisfied with the techniques I was using today, by combining various attack methods as a leader, my power actually increased.
As the expression of the head of the Blade Association changed moment by moment, I whispered in a low voice, combining mental attacks as well.
"It's too late. No matter how much you beg, it won't help. I expect the Blade Association to be shocked when they see your corpse, and that Nam Cheon-ryeon will be worn out dealing with you. Your wealth will be scattered, your subordinates will become corpses, and you will be seafood, while I am the fisherman."
The fisherman’s profit.
I remembered that it was said that when two fight by the seaside, the fisherman catches them, but I couldn't recall which two were fighting, so I just expressed it as seafood.
Regardless, what mattered was that I was always the fisherman catching black fish.
As soon as I saw the head of the Blade Association's limbs getting tangled up, I lightly cut his forearm with my black cat.
As soon as I saw blood slightly welling up, I felt my eyes spin and unleashed the Absorption Technique on the wound.
The finger-sized wound opened, and blood gushed out in a long stream.
This was a technique I discovered unexpectedly during the exchange, but I named this linked technique to remember it.
Excessive bleeding.
As I directed the blood drawn from the excessive bleeding back at the head of the Blade Association with my black cat, a sizzling sound erupted due to the energy of the Flame Technique.
I pushed away the droplets of blood scattering in the air with my energy.
With a loud sound, the head of the Blade Association was startled and retreated as he was hit by the hot blood.
His clothing was punctured with holes from the droplets.
I had completely seized the initiative.
Although I was currently holding a sword unsuitable for stabbing, it didn't matter much, so I advanced, targeting the head of the Blade Association's vital points as if I were performing a stabbing technique.
Chae—chae—chaeng!
Even in the midst of this, the head of the Blade Association accurately deflected my seven thrusts.
He was skilled enough to be at the top of the Blade Association.
However, I saw his defensive movements with my swift sword as the flailing of a red squid, which made me feel a twinge of discomfort.
"The squid is blocking well."
Suddenly, this thought crossed my mind.
If I didn't kill this guy here, he would become a huge squid that would greatly impact the martial world later on.
I had a feeling he would grow into a quite powerful black path figure, splattering black ink around.
Of course, in my previous life as a mad demon, he had no reputation.
He must have been killed by Nam Cheon-ryeon or another black path figure, or perhaps he had fallen to an enemy known as the Heavenly Leader.
I wrapped the incense of the Flame Technique around my black cat at close range, then unleashed a gust of wind to obscure the head of the Blade Association's vision.
While doing so, I stretched my leg to pull at the head of the Blade Association's leg.
As he was about to step back, his body lost balance and he kicked the ground with the foot he was standing on, leaping into the air.
At the same time, I grabbed the head of the Blade Association's right ankle and slammed it down to the ground.
Kwah—bang!
Then I twisted his ankle to crush it, slowly suppressing the head of the Blade Association's screams.
I deflected his sword and slammed him down to the ground a few times before trying to grab his hair, realizing my mistake and instead grabbing his neck.
"Cough..."
Suddenly, I felt a lack of sleep, and I tightened my grip on the head of the Blade Association's neck.
My temper flared, and my true feelings, ignoring the schemes and strategies, spilled out.
"Why are you sending assassins and causing a ruckus, you bastard? I almost died from exhaustion."
"……!"
"Let me sleep comfortably."
As I slightly loosened my grip, the head of the Association's strained voice came out.
"Who are you?"
I pressed on the head of the Blade Association's blood points and whispered in his ear.
"It is I, the Master of the Hao Sect."
I held the head of the Association's stiff hand.
A swordsman's hand had very few calluses.
I crushed the head of the Association's hand and drew out my internal energy from my dantian.
After dropping my black cat, I covered the head of the Association's mouth to silence his screams.
Suddenly, I thought that the head of the Association's internal energy was filthy, so I stopped the Absorption Technique and struck his throat, cutting off the breath of the red squid.
He was no different from those I used to beat to death in my previous life, so I felt no excitement.
Only then did the head of the Blade Association's body slump onto the cold ground.
I stared into the surrounding darkness for a moment.
"……."
It seemed that the forces that had been waiting a fair distance away were finally moving.
"Wow, these guys..."
Today, I hadn't come to fight like a madman, so I barely suppressed my temper.
I collected the head of the Blade Association's sword and attempted to converse with the corpse.
"Did you know you were killed by the second-in-command?"
"……."
"Did you not know?"
Only after killing the head of the Blade Association did the calm demeanor of the Heavenly Leader come to mind.
When I threw my spear, the Heavenly Leader had dodged urgently.
The head of the Blade Association didn't know my strength, so after grabbing the spear, he mistook the power of the neck for my full strength.
Normally, it was normal for an assassin to exert their full strength in such moments.
It was too common for them to engage in internal strife and scheme for power, so it wasn't particularly surprising.
No matter how fast the head of the Association's lightness skill was, the fact that his subordinates had yet to arrive spoke volumes about the internal situation of the Blade Association.
The Heavenly Leader, who had appeared to be the second-in-command, must have been controlling the situation.
The Heavenly Leader might be pretending to be a fisherman like me.
But what significance did seizing the visible power hold? The Blade Association would either perish in a fight with Nam Cheon-ryeon or be completely burned away by my hands.
There was nothing more futile than power gained through betrayal and conspiracy.
I untied the sword sheath from the waist of the head of the Blade Association and used my lightness skill to leave the place.
I wasn't sure if the scheming was going well or not.
What mattered was that I had killed the head of the Blade Association, so I didn't place much significance on it.
In the martial world, disputes ended once someone was dead.
"I have come to deliver a token."
I placed the long sword of the head of the Blade Association on the table.
Gong Du-chan, the chief of the Wall-eyed Courier, looked at the long sword with interest and asked me, "Where should I deliver this?"
"This is an urgent gift to be delivered to Nam Cheon-ryeon. As quickly as possible. Please set the cost."
Gong Du-chan replied with a bewildered expression.
"Ah, excuse me, but may I ask whose sword this is?"
I brushed my hair and replied with a calm expression.
"This is the sword of the bald man."
"So, it would be good if you could tell me who that bald man is."
I looked around and yawned.
I was still lacking sleep.
I had come to deliver a token, but the main hall's door kept opening, and the couriers and chiefs were gradually increasing in the main hall.
I struggled to suppress my drowsiness and spoke to the chief.
"I told you, it's the sword used by the bald man."
"I'll just check if it's stolen or not. It's not a common long sword."
"It's not stolen; it's the sword of the head of the Blade Association."
"……."
I confirmed with my eyes that a cold silence enveloped the Wall-eyed Courier, realizing that it was indeed the courier I had expected.
These guys were the couriers attached to the Blade Association.
If it became known that they were openly attached to the Black Path, the number of tokens would decrease, so they were just pretending to have no relations on the surface.
I looked around and asked Gong Du-chan, "Everyone's expressions look rotten. Is the token that strange?"
Gong Du-chan replied with a calm expression.
"Did the head of the Blade Association die?"
"He died."
Gong Du-chan said, "It seems you know that we are the couriers who have been attached to the Blade Association, so what do you want?"
"Chief, first of all, this is a normal token delivery request. Deliver the head of the Blade Association's sword to Nam Cheon-ryeon. If that idiot Sa Do-hae isn't a fool, he will gather troops immediately to attack the Blade Association. I came to the nearest courier because I was too lazy to deliver it myself. Did I come to the wrong place?"
I tapped the table with my hand.
"If you're a courier, then act like one. And give me a guest room. I need to sleep. I don't know how much I tossed and turned because of the assassins sent by the head of the Blade Association. If the Heavenly Leader of the Blade Association comes looking for me, just say you haven't seen such a person. This guy seems to have betrayed the head but will probably try to pin the blame entirely on me, so he must be tracking me."
I mumbled as I struggled against sleep.
"……."
Gong Du-chan was left speechless.
I looked at him with my eyelids growing heavy.
"What is it? Don't ambush me while I'm sleeping. I'm the one who killed the head of the Blade Association because I woke up from my sleep. Chief, got it?"
The chief, unable to answer, looked at the expressions of the couriers gathered in the main hall and replied, "Guide the guest to a guest room. Please get up for now."
I blinked and stood up.
"What about the token?"
"I will appoint someone and start the delivery right away."
As I followed the person guiding me to the guest room, I nodded.
"The fate of the Wall-eyed Courier depends on this delivery, so let's see how it goes."
I lay down on the bed in the fairly spacious guest room and spoke to the young courier who had guided me.
"Hey."
"Yes."
"If you wake me up, you will be exterminated. Just you know."
"Yes, understood."
As the courier left the room, he cautiously asked, "By the way, did the head of the Blade Association really die?"
"Yeah."
"Did you kill him yourself?"
"Of course."
"May I ask your identity or affiliation?"
I replied with my eyes closed.
"I am the man who was always chased, the man who fell from a cliff, the man who gained fortune there, the master of the dark forces, the leader of the unmysterious forces, a clearly identified person from the Black Path, not a bald man but a strong man..."
My eyelids grew heavier.
"……That is me."