Chapter 361: Orthodox Sect Gathering. (2)

“What relation do you have with the Yeon Family?”

The Dark King’s voice is rather quiet.

Quiet enough that you might not hear it well unless you strain your ears, whether it’s related to his subtle presence, but…

In contrast, his words were echoing crystal clear in my ears.

‘The Yeon Family?’

I rack my brain, trying to understand the words the Dark King uttered.

The Yeon Family. The Dark King definitely said the Yeon Family to me.

There might be a few families with the surname Yeon in this vast land, but if it’s the kind of Yeon Family the Dark King would mention, I figured there was only one, at the very least.

“Are you perhaps referring to the Geumcheon Yeon Family?”

The First Great Family, said to have been wiped out after the Blood Demon’s massacre in the past.

That was the very place where Yeon Ilcheon, the Number One Under Heaven and a Regressor, served as the family head.

If the Yeon Family the Dark King is talking about is indeed that place…

‘What connection could I possibly have with the Yeon Family?’

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t figure out the reason why he would ask me something like this.

Meanwhile, the Dark King, having heard my question, simply stared at me without uttering a word.

“Seon…”

“Are you planning to play dumb?”

“…!”

Grind. I felt strong pressure from the Dark King’s hand gripping my arm.

I tried to shake him off quickly, but it wasn’t easy, given how strong this guy was.

This guy’s supposed to be an assassin, so why is he so damn strong?

“No, I’m not playing dumb…!”

“Trying to lie about the ‘curse,’ right here in front of me, of all people.”

“A curse…?”

Putting aside the pressure on my arm, the words the Dark King had just uttered bothered me.

The moment I frowned, the Dark King shifted the hand holding my arm.

As my arm stretched out, the changed part of my skin became starkly visible.

“Are you still going to lie, even with this?”

What I could infer from those words was… that the Dark King brought up the Yeon Family because of this skin.

I don’t know how he knew about this skin, but if that’s the case…

‘What connection could this skin possibly have with the Yeon Family?’

Although the area was only about the size of a thumb, the skin had undeniably changed, looking like reptile skin.

Does this mean the Dark King knows the reason for it?

‘Even so…’

It would be difficult to explain this to the Dark King in detail.

“I don’t really know about it either. It just… appeared one day…”

Squeeze.

“Ngh…!”

The moment I tried to at least offer an excuse, the world flipped upside down. The pressure on my arm released, only for the Dark King to grab my neck and slam me against the wall.

‘Crazy bastard…!’

The pain in my neck was agonizing, but… what hit me first was sheer shock.

I didn’t know how strong the Dark King truly was, but I hadn’t expected him to subdue me so effortlessly, despite my incomplete Transformation Realm.

“Ghk…”

“Kid. You might be able to fool others, but you can’t fool me. Do you really want to die?”

My body reacted involuntarily to the killing intent radiating from the Dark King’s feet. Sweat started pouring down uncontrollably. The restrained killing intent held an unbelievable intensity. ‘So you can control killing intent to this extent.’ Even amidst this, I had a realization.

‘…Realizing that amidst this crap is just bullshit.’

Reaching the Transformation Realm must have steeped my brain in martial arts. To be noticing that while in this state…

I could feel his intent to snap my neck right then and there if I didn’t tell the truth.

Ah, fuck, my head’s already a mess, and now this bastard has to bother me too?

The pressure on my neck is getting stronger. As for whether I could break free…

‘If I activated Demonization, I might barely be able to.’

Fighting him would be out of the question, but I think I could manage to get his hand off me. Of course, I could foresee the disastrous consequences that would follow, so I just endured it.

But the bigger problem was…

‘…Why the hell is this crazy guy acting like this?’

Judging by the way he’s talking about me playing dumb and not being able to fool him, he seems quite certain about something.

What connection do I have with the Yeon Family…

‘…Ah?’

Reptilian skin, like a snake or a lizard…

And the Yeon Family…

‘Ah, no way.’

Damn it, my brain works so well at times like these.

The World Tree had told me. The reason that beast woke up was because of the giant snake’s orb I received from the Yeon Family’s vault.

Which means…

“…The va…ult.”

At those barely uttered words, the pressure on my neck released. Simultaneously, my body, which had been suspended in mid-air, landed on the floor. Fortunately, I managed to regain my balance without falling face-first embarrassingly.

“Gasp… gasp…”

As I caught my breath, I felt an intense gaze fixed on me from the front. I lifted my head slightly.

‘His eyes…’

The Dark King’s eyes had changed. Gone were the black, dyed eyes, perhaps due to the mask; they had changed back to the bright white eyes I saw when we first met. I wondered if he’d taken off the mask, but that wasn’t the case either. I didn’t know the principle behind it, but it seemed controllable.

“What did you say?”

“… Hoo…”

“Kid, I asked what you just said.”

That I’d mumbled it because I was out of breath must have annoyed him; his second question was laced with killing intent. The Dark King’s eyes were shining brightly, but I knew the swirling energy within them was anything but good.

Whether he knew my grandfather or not was irrelevant to him.

‘Chilling.’

Of all the people I’d met so far, he gave off the most chillingly cold vibe.

What kind of person is this?

‘Should I speak?’

I didn’t even know for sure if that was the reason for this thing growing on my arm, but… no matter how I thought about it, that was the only possible connection between me and the Yeon Family.

‘…Even so, it’s strange if that’s the reason.’

Visiting the vault was something that happened years ago. Many things had happened since then. If it was going to cause changes to my body like this, it should have happened much earlier. It doesn’t make sense for something like this to appear now.

Moreover.

‘He called it a curse.’

The Dark King spoke as if he knew everything about this change.

What on earth could this be?

While I was briefly pondering the reason and its true nature…

“Kid.”

The Dark King called me again.

“This is the third time I’m asking.”

As he spoke, I felt something touch the back of my neck. It was the tip of the Dark King’s finger. I didn’t waste time wondering what he was doing. It looked dangerous, plain and simple.

“Usually, I don’t ask others the same question twice. Nor do I particularly enjoy torture.”

“…”

“Meaning, I don’t like dealing with troublesome things. Killing solves the problem.”

Him saying that with a blank expression made it even scarier. If you count the people I’ve killed, I’m no pushover either. But the person before me was on a different level entirely.

Death.

He felt like death itself, personified.

“So, the fact that I’ve asked you three times means this is truly an unusual situation.”

He’s making a big deal out of such a trivial thing. I thought that without realizing it. Fortunately, I managed to hold back from saying it out loud. Knowing my personality, I would have definitely just blurted it out otherwise.

“So, tell me.”

The Dark King, seemingly unaware of my thoughts, continued speaking.

“Because there shouldn’t be anything I don’t know about that place.”

“…”

The hand touching the back of my neck tightened its grip. It meant he had no intention of waiting for me to agonize over it.

Should I just resist?

I considered it about four times per second. That’s more than three times I’ve held back. Maybe it’s okay to just charge in? I thought, but…

‘I have to discard my useless pride.’

Charging at him wouldn’t guarantee victory. So, I had to endure. I’m the type to live and die by my pride, but… I couldn’t afford to lose my life meaninglessly like that. Because I now had too many things I needed to protect.

In the end, I had no choice but to open my mouth and recount my story about visiting the Geumcheon Yeon Family’s vault.

“…”

After hearing my entire story, the Dark King touched his lips with his hand, lost in thought.

“…The vault.”

When asked how I knew, I mentioned attending the Martial Arts Competition… and said I ‘coincidentally’ discovered it while hiking up a mountain. Like all fortunate encounters, coincidences tend to lead to more coincidences. What mattered was what the place was like, what I saw there, and what I obtained.

As if he had finished thinking, the Dark King glanced at my arm once, and then… his gaze shifted to where my dantian was located.

“To say it isn’t true would be difficult, as the energy within your body is undeniably real.”

Hearing that, I felt a slight sense of relief inwardly. Because I figured I wouldn’t be killed immediately. It seemed unlikely anyone would get killed here, but the Dark King was the kind of person who could do just that and escape without repercussions.

“The energy?”

I wondered what energy he was talking about so suddenly. I thought he might mean the energy I gained from the vault, but…

‘Isn’t everything I gained from there already gone?’

I did receive a fortunate boon back then, and my internal energy did increase, but… I didn’t consider it a tremendous boon. The increase in my internal energy wasn’t particularly significant either. So what energy could the Dark King have sensed from me?

And besides.

‘The Dark King knows about the change in my skin.’

That must be why he’s reacting like this.

“Senior.”

At my call, the Dark King shifted his gaze to me.

“…Is my transformation related to the Yeon Family?”

The Dark King’s eyes widened upon hearing my question. It didn’t seem like I’d asked anything particularly surprising, so why the reaction?

“I didn’t expect you to ask me a question in this situation.”

Ah, so that’s what surprised him.

“…I was just curious. It’s an unexpected change, so I was curious, and also, Senior, you who seeks traces of a family wiped out and exterminated long ago…”

“That’s incorrect.”

“What?”

Just as I was about to spew out excuses, the Dark King cut me off firmly. ‘What was incorrect?’ Before I could even voice my question, the Dark King spoke.

“It’s true the Yeon Family was wiped out. It happened a very long time ago.”

Several centuries have passed since then. It was something everyone found mysterious. Nowadays, they are referred to as the Four Great Families, but… back then, the Geumcheon Yeon Family was known as the First Great Family. Only one place. It was a powerful family that possessed the Number One Under Heaven and was connected to most of the merchant guilds in the Central Plains, but… for some reason, the Geumcheon Yeon Family vanished in an instant. The fact that such a great family collapsed so quickly… was something most couldn’t comprehend. Everyone simply believed it because the records said so. There were no detailed records, and since I wasn’t particularly interested in past history, that’s all I knew.

“Then…”

Just as I was about to ask the Dark King what was incorrect about that…

“They were wiped out, but not exterminated.”

The Dark King’s words made me question it inwardly. That means the Geumcheon Yeon Family was wiped out, but their descendants remained. The thought that it might be possible, recalling the Zhuge Family, crossed my mind.

“Huh?”

As the thought occurred to me, I looked at the Dark King with wide eyes. His words were only belatedly echoing in my ears.

• ‘Because there shouldn’t be anything I don’t know about that place.’

Those were the words the Dark King had said while threatening me. And also.

• ‘Not exterminated.’

If he could say that with such certainty…

“Could it be…”

I asked, hiding my trembling voice as I looked at the Dark King.

“…Are you perhaps a descendant of the Yeon Family, Senior?”

Hearing my words, the Dark King didn’t utter a sound. He just stared at me, his lips pressed shut. But for some reason… I felt like this silence was his answer. Then it dawned on me.

‘Ah, this… If I mess this up, I might actually die…?’

It was a highly dangerous situation, no matter how I looked at it.

---

Flap.

To a mansion overlooking the sea of Liaoning.

A bird with beautiful feathers landed gently on the windowsill. A thin letter was tied to the bird’s leg. A hand reached out, carefully untied the letter from the bird’s leg, and took it. The owner of the hand was the master of this vast mansion, a figure known as the Overlord of Liaoning.

Rustle.

The man slowly unfurled the letter. A seal was stamped on the first part. This was the personal seal of the Moyong Family. Specifically, it was a special seal made for sending correspondence to the Family Head.

“…”

He read the few lines of text, letter by letter, to the end.

“Hmm.”

The man’s eyes sparked with a different light after reading the last line. Soon after, the man frowned, as if displeased by something.

Creeaak.

Whoosh….

As the man rose from his chair, a slight gust of wind swept through the room.

“I entrusted someone else’s precious daughter to them… and they handle things like this?”

Anger seeped into his deep, heavy voice. I could feel the sharpness characteristic of swordsmen who had reached a high level mixed within it. As the man walked towards the door, those waiting outside approached and bowed their heads.

“Steward.”

“…Yes! Master.”

“I’m heading to Henan immediately.”

The master of the mansion, the Moyong Family Head, asked, causing the Steward’s shoulders to tremble slightly.

“However… I have an engagement with the Hundred Flowers Merchant Guild in a few days…”

“Cancel it.”

“B-But, Master…!”

“If they desire any compensation for it, tell them we’ll give them everything they want.”

“But that…!”

The Steward tried to add something, but the Moyong Family Head ignored him and continued walking. Then, suddenly, the Moyong Family Head stopped walking.

“Ah, perhaps it won’t matter.”

“What…?”

The Steward, hurrying after him, responded with a questioning tone.

“Because it’ll likely be the same for them anyway.”

“Master, what do you mean by that…”

“I don’t need a carriage. My own feet will be faster.”

“Wait…!”

“If anyone discusses this matter, tell them this.”

Just as the Steward, startled, tried to grab the Family Head…

“‘I’m going to see the face of the bastard who snatched my precious daughter, and bring her back.'”

With those words, the Moyong Family Head vaulted over the windowsill and leaped out. The elderly Steward craned his neck out the window with a look of utter shock. The Moyong Family Head had already become a tiny speck in the distance.