I stood at the edge, peering into the shattered interior of the roof.
Perhaps it was due to his wealth, but the spacious area before me was truly impressive. 'This is no house, but a palace.' With his riches, he could send assassins after me, recruit lackeys to fight against Nam Cheon-ryeon, and maintain such a splendid residence.
I hold respect and admiration for merchants who earn their wealth through legitimate means, even if they are not martial artists of the Jianghu.
However, the dark forces like the Blade Association are different.
They must have amassed their wealth by squeezing the lives, money, and souls of countless individuals.
As I pondered this, a sudden surge of sword energy rushed up from beneath my feet.
Crack! As I dodged the rising sword energy and moved to the edge of the roof, someone completely shattered the roof with their sword energy.
In an instant, the debris flew into the air, preventing the Blade Association's subordinates from approaching me.
I stood precariously at the edge, gauging the strength of my opponent below.
In the meantime, a swordsman in red attire suddenly leaped onto the edge of the roof and stared at me. 'Is he the head of the guards?' He appeared to be in his early thirties, with eyebrows that naturally arched upwards, giving him an imposing presence befitting a man of authority.
Yet, he seemed too young to be the leader of the Blade Association.
The red-clad man asked me, "Who sent you?"
Ironically, it was the same question I had posed to the first assassin I encountered.
However, a dark-clad man would hardly feel the need to respond to such inquiries. "……."
At that moment, flames erupted high from the center of the Kang family estate.
Nam Ga-rak was rampaging, setting fires everywhere.
It seemed they had prepared gunpowder, as a series of loud explosions sent flames shooting up in various places, mingling with the sounds of shouting.
I watched the red-clad man with a smirk. "……."
Normally, one would panic when their home was engulfed in flames, but the expression on the red-clad man remained unchanged.
His calm demeanor suggested that he was wealthy enough not to care if such a house burned down.
From beneath the roof, the Blade Association's warriors informed the red-clad man of his identity.
"Lord, are you alright?"
Surprisingly, the man addressed as 'Lord' responded to his subordinates.
"Capture this one alive. We will torture him to find out who sent him."
"Yes."
Swordsmen sprang up from beneath the shattered roof.
I muttered with a slightly altered voice, "Capture me? With that level of skill?"
I glanced at the half-dozen swordsmen before leaping down through the broken roof.
After confirming that the swordsmen and the red-clad man were following me, I soared back up again.
Up and down, it didn't matter; my lightness skill was exceptional.
These foolish men jumped down after me, and when I rose again, they followed suit.
I swung my sword, the Black Cat, at the first one to leap up.
With a loud sound, I tore through one swordsman in mid-air before landing back in the spacious residence.
Looking at the roof, a moment of silence enveloped the area.
One had just died from what was, quite frankly, an absurdly simple psychological tactic.
In truth, it would have been better to set fires and break the house while stirring up trouble to sow discord between them and Nam Cheon-ryeon.
However, the leader of the Blade Association had yet to appear, leaving me feeling somewhat unsatisfied.
From the structure of the building, it seemed the leader was located deep within the first floor.
I was curious to see what he looked like, so I drew a line on the floor with the Black Cat and unleashed a shockwave to collapse the ground beneath me.
Bang! The entire floor shook, creating an entrance that led directly down.
I dodged the swordsmen falling from above, deflecting the incoming debris.
Thud! It seemed the subordinates below had consumed a significant amount of the elixirs purchased with money, as the energy carried by the debris was quite heavy.
I fixed my gaze on the ceiling, retreating as I kicked the door open and slipped out, embedding the Black Cat into the wall.
To prevent damage to the blade, I infused it with the energy of the Flame Technique, wreaking havoc in the Blade Association's residence.
The Black Cat's blade was already sturdy, and with the infused energy, it was easy to destroy a paper-made house.
There was no reason to hesitate in enemy territory.
I smashed through walls, slashing and stabbing as I moved.
When I emerged back into the corridor, I suddenly deflected a sword that had lunged at me with the Black Cat, then pulled it in with the Absorbing Technique, stabbing it into the abdomen of the attacker.
Thud! I grabbed the hair of the dead man and hurled him down the stairs.
As those rushing up collided with the corpse, I unleashed a torrent of debris down the stairs.
The body was torn apart by the debris, and the swordsmen who caught it were also shredded, while those attempting to flee had their limbs torn off.
In an instant, the area around the stairs was soaked in blood and chunks of flesh.
As I descended the blood-soaked stairs, I briefly locked eyes with the red-clad man, who was cautiously following behind, positioning his subordinates in front of him. "……."
The composed and cautious red-clad man commanded in a calm tone infused with internal energy, "Block the entrance from below."
As the sound of footsteps echoed, reinforcements continued to surge from below, and the red-clad man asked me, "Did Sa Do-haeng send you?" Honestly, I felt he wouldn’t believe it if I said Sa Do-haeng had sent me, so I kept my mouth shut.
At that moment, a deep voice resonated from below.
"Get out of the way."
A high-ranking officer who had emerged from the crowd asked the red-clad man, "Lord Cheon, are we going to kill him?" The red-clad man, who was blocking my way, replied, "Capture him alive. It's fine if you have to cut off his limbs."
"Yes."
The officer from the Blade Association, towering as if he could touch the ceiling, raised his spear above his shoulder.
Seeing this, I raised both hands and said, "I surrender. I can't win against a spear."
As I declared my surrender, I dropped the Black Cat in my right hand and kicked the hilt accurately at the officer before it hit the ground.
Thud! The Black Cat flew fiercely into the chest of the officer who was about to throw his spear.
At the same time, I leaped off the stairs, using the momentum from pushing against the walls on either side to cling to the collapsing officer, pulling out the Black Cat and grabbing the spear with my left hand.
I swung both the spear and the Black Cat simultaneously, forcing the enemy to retreat.
The Black Cat unleashed a gust of wind, while I spun around, cutting down the approaching foes with the spear.
As soon as I reached the first floor, I sheathed the Black Cat and, holding the spear in my right hand, surveyed my surroundings.
Outside, shouts of flames spreading were followed by a series of explosions. 'Impressive.
Nam Ga-rak…'
Those like me, who are inherently wicked, tend to excel at playing with fire.
Nam Ga-rak was likely setting fires, fighting, and killing as he fled.
As the leader of the Nam Myeong Association, he was expected to perform at that level.
Gripping the heavy spear after a long time brought back memories of the past, where I had killed many while holding onto my unwavering beliefs.
As I cut down the incoming warriors of the Blade Association with my spear, I contemplated sowing discord and retreating, eventually making my way outside and stopping in the center.
From the sides where my subordinates had split, the red-clad man emerged, still maintaining his calm demeanor.
"You don't seem like an assassin. Who exactly are you?"
Lost in old memories, I gazed into the depths of the first floor.
I saw a shadow emerge, and soon a low voice echoed.
"Lord Cheon, has Sa Do-haeng arrived?" The red-clad man replied, "No. Just a few rats have entered."
"Huh…"
I hurled my spear toward the source of the voice.
Whoosh! The red-clad man reflexively turned to evade, and the spear shot straight ahead.
At that moment, the spear pierced through a translucent figure, stopping mid-air with a thud.
Though it was hard to see, the sudden silence explained the situation.
It seemed the leader of the Blade Association had caught the spear with his bare hands.
I marveled inwardly. 'Impressive.' To catch a spear infused with the energy of the Flame Technique so easily… In truth, the leader of the Blade Association should be capable of such feats.
However, I feigned surprise, staring ahead with wide eyes before turning without hesitation and leaping into the air, as if to express that my expectations had been completely wrong.
At the same time, those pursuing me fiercely followed, leaping into the air as a group.
I spun in mid-air and drew the Black Cat, slashing through the air.
Whoosh! The lower halves of three or four men were severed by the debris, followed by their horrifying screams.
I effortlessly climbed onto a wall, dodging the incoming debris while retreating without hesitation.
Thanks to the energy of the Lightness Technique, I could distinguish the sound of the wind and evade without even looking.
After all, the leader of the Blade Association would have to exert himself fully to catch up to me.
Yet, this wealthy man remained as still as a king on a chessboard.
As I increased my speed, Nam Ga-rak suddenly emerged from the darkness beside me, matching my pace.
We exchanged glances and then activated our lightness skills, racing through the darkness.
The distance between us and our pursuers gradually widened, and soon the warriors of the Blade Association were nowhere to be seen.
Feeling slightly downcast that they seemed to give up too easily, I continued moving through the darkness.
"Surely, the martial artists over there aren't all of them?"
In response to my question, Nam Ga-rak, sitting on the stump of a cut tree, removed his mask and replied, "The Blood Oath Society, the Black Death Corps, the Iron Cage Society, the Merchant Guild, the Post Office, and even the War Corps are all involved, so this isn't everything. If all those forces gather to attack Nam Cheon-ryeon, the casualties on both sides will be immense. Plus, they've likely recruited more lackeys, so their numbers have increased."
"Did they burn a lot?"
"More than twenty houses have been set ablaze. It's going to be a long night. Should we join Nam Cheon-ryeon right away? Or continue to keep an eye on the Blade Association from here?" Before coming here, I had split my forces and temporarily stationed Nam Yeon-pung on the side of Nam Cheon-ryeon.
I listened carefully to my surroundings for a moment before whispering to Nam Ga-rak, "Black Nam, put on your mask."
"……."
Nam Ga-rak hurriedly covered his face with the mask, not understanding why.
We fled into the low mountains, resting in an open area, when I soon heard faint artificial sounds from a distance.
I asked Nam Ga-rak, "Strange. Is the leader of the Blade Association much stronger than you?"
Nam Ga-rak nodded, replying with a bitter tone, "It seems so…"
"It would be odd to wait together, so you should leave first. If I'm late, head back to that inn."
I gestured for him to be quiet, placing a finger to my lips, and he silently vanished back into the darkness.
I gazed at the place we had come from with a puzzled expression.
The branches around me began to sway, and a middle-aged man I had never seen before lightly descended from the air.
He had a rather long goatee.
As he approached with his hands behind his back, he said, "Did you think you could escape?"
What kind of confidence was that? Was it because my acting had worked? Or was the leader of the Blade Association stronger than the Jianghu knew? Or perhaps I simply looked like a fool, like the red-clad man? Listening closely, it seemed only the leader of the Blade Association had used his lightness skill to catch up to me, as the surroundings were eerily quiet.
In the moonlit open area, I found myself in a one-on-one situation that I relished, and it felt strange. 'What a stroke of luck!' A big catch I hadn't even hoped for was flapping before my eyes.
Moreover, he didn't look like an easy opponent, which only heightened my satisfaction.
I stood up, crossing my arms, and spoke to the man I presumed to be the leader of the Blade Association in a serious tone, "Come on. You look pretty strong, bald man."
"……."