Chapter 190: Trivial Act. (5)

“Grrrruuuuuh…!”

Not just their appearance, but their clothes and the sword Mu-yeon carried, issued by the Gu Family, were identical.

“So this is why they chased me for a week.”

For the past seven days and nights.

I think I understand why those unknown bastards just chased me without any reaction, waiting for the right moment.

Weren’t they trying to figure out the person they needed to copy?

If their goal was observation, I could understand it a little.

Not just their appearance.

They must have needed time to figure out the unique way of speaking or expressions.

They probably felt confident they wouldn’t be discovered.

Judging by the level I saw before, I could tell it was a highly skilled tail.

So skilled that I wouldn’t have noticed unless I concentrated really hard.

Right before leaving Hanam, during my conversation with Peng Woo-jin.

If I hadn’t caught a whiff of these guys back then, I probably wouldn’t have noticed even now.

‘So they decided they were ready enough to start the job, and then they went for it?’

Then, the question here is why they bothered approaching me in this manner.

Was it to ambush and kill me?

From my perspective, that didn’t seem like the reason.

By the time they started tailing me, and especially when they decided to act, they must have had at least some grasp of my martial prowess.

If I could be subdued this easily, there must have been another reason.

I slightly loosened the grip holding the guy’s mouth shut.

“Hah… Hah…!”

“Who are you?”

“Young Master… Why on earth are you doing this to me?”

Crack

“Grrrroooaaak!”

I twisted one of his arms in a bizarre direction, and the guy let out a scream.

Looking at the muscles spasming in pain, and the characteristics shown when he screamed.

“You seem to feel pain, don’t you?”

Unlike the guy I met at Shaolin, this one seemed to feel pain.

‘Can’t they regenerate?’

Back then, that guy showed unbelievable abilities, like twisting his neck back into place.

Can this one not do that?

‘Or it could still be an act.’

Since I don’t know much about these guys, I need to observe what methods they’re using.

“Y-Young Master. Please don’t…!”

“If you’re going to copy someone’s appearance, you should have done it properly.”

“What… do you mean?”

Screeeech.

I drew the sword from the guy’s waist.

It was a sword well-maintained, fitting Mu-yeon’s usual personality, but…

“Hey, didn’t you know I changed my sword? I didn’t think you’d be that unobservant.”

At my words, spoken with a smirk, the guy’s expression instantly hardened.

Seeing that, I chuckled and said,

“I was lying.”

“…!”

“You said the one I gave you was too precious to use, so you kept it hidden.”

I gave him a good sword to use, but he kept it hidden like it was some family heirloom.

I wondered if he thought someone might steal it.

‘It seems Gu-jeol-yeop is eyeing it.’

His gaze hinted at it, but since there’s no way he can do anything about it, he’s probably just drooling over it.

Anyway, it was just something I casually threw out there, but…

Regardless, the guy faltered for a moment at my words, revealing his expression.

Thanks to that, I could be sure it was an act.

“Where are the others?”

“…”

Was it because they truly didn’t expect to be caught?

The guy rolled his eyes back and forth.

Seeing this, it seemed they didn’t know I had annihilated the guy at Shaolin.

Or perhaps, they were a different faction from that guy.

“Seven people.”

“…!”

“That fits perfectly, doesn’t it? Your numbers.”

When I stated the number I’d figured out, the guy flinched in surprise.

‘They don’t seem to be from the Dark King’s faction.’

If they were from that faction, there’s no way I would have sensed them with my ki sense.

And there’d be no reason for them to target me.

‘It seems they really can’t regenerate.’

Unlike the Shaolin guy who couldn’t use martial arts, felt no pain, and regenerated his broken and torn body.

This guy, who seems capable of using martial arts, apparently couldn’t.

‘So, is it a matter of possessing internal energy or not?’

That might be the case, but the situation isn’t suitable for figuring that out right now.

That wasn’t the important thing, either.

I raised my ki sense as high as I could and spread it out in all directions.

It consumed an enormous amount of internal energy, but thanks to breaking through to the lower dantian, it operated smoothly.

‘Looks like they aren’t around here.’

Not only could I not sense where the remaining four guys went,

but I couldn’t sense Mu-yeon’s presence, which was most important.

In such cases, it means they are too far away to be caught by my ki sense.

Or.

‘They’re doing something to avoid my ki sense.’

I considered the possibility that Mu-yeon might have been captured by the guys, but…

Mu-yeon wasn’t that easy a martial artist to capture.

He’s a top-tier martial artist on the verge of reaching the Zenith, not some stray dog.

I looked at the guy and asked,

“Aren’t you going to talk?”

“How did you notice?”

Finally, realizing his act wasn’t working, the guy changed his expression and spoke.

Now that’s more like it.

“I told you. It was obvious.”

“That’s impossible. There’s no way a brat like you could notice this…”

“You have no intention of answering where you came from, do you?”

At my interruption, the guy’s lips twitched slightly upwards.

It looked like he was holding back a smirk.

“Kill me.”

Hearing that, I twisted his jaw without hesitation.

With the sound of bones dislocating, the guy’s body collapsed powerlessly onto the ground.

[…Hm?]

Shin No-ya showed a surprised reaction when I killed the guy so casually.

It seemed he didn’t expect me to actually kill him.

[Weren’t you planning to torture him?]

‘I was.’

As soon as I sensed he felt pain, I thought I could extract information.

However, this wasn’t the situation to be haggling with this guy.

I needed to find out Mu-yeon’s whereabouts first,

and figure out why the remaining personnel, whom I’d identified as seven, had scattered.

Most importantly, something suspicious had arisen.

I placed my hand on the fallen guy’s body.

I cast the Demonic Absorption Technique, absorbing the visible energy.

The guy’s body started twitching.

“Gck… Gck…”

“He’s not dead.”

As expected, the guy wasn’t dead.

That made sense, because the energy emanating from him told me he hadn’t met his end.

That he wasn’t dead yet.

He didn’t seem able to easily twist his neck back into place like that other guy did, though.

Was this another act? He made sounds as if startled by the sensation of his energy being drained.

“Have you decided to talk this time?”

“Nnngh… Rrrnngh….”

His jaw was twisted, so he couldn’t nod, but it seemed like a general affirmation.

Seeing him like that, I said,

“Sorry, I don’t give second chances when it comes to things like this.”

As soon as I finished speaking, all the energy from the guy’s body flowed into me.

As the energy vanished, his body crumbled and disappeared, just like the last time.

This part was no different from the guy I met at Shaolin.

Only after confirming that much did I get up.

What remained were the martial arts uniform Mu-yeon was wearing, indicating his affiliation with the Gu Family,

and the sword, similarly, only given to the Gu Family’s Sword Cadre.

I picked up the clothes left behind.

‘The clothes aren’t fake.’

This deep red martial uniform was something obtainable only by those belonging to the Gu Family,

and it looked no different from the clothes I was wearing, so there was no way I could be mistaken.

Putting those doubts aside, I first leaped to cover the distance.

I traversed the forest with my ki sense heightened to the maximum. My priority was to return to the campsite.

Moving at a slightly faster pace, I detected faint presences a short distance from the campsite.

This was thanks to having expanded my ki sense.

However, it wasn’t Mu-yeon’s presence.

‘It seems like Namgung Bi-ah.’

The subtle brainwaves felt from afar were definitely Namgung Bi-ah’s.

The problem was, she wasn’t alone.

My hurried steps were accompanied by a burst of flame.

Heat began to surge from my body.

Arriving there, enveloped in flames as if breaking through,

the surroundings were a mess, indicating a battle had already taken place.

In the center, Namgung Bi-ah was gripping someone’s neck.

“Ah.”

From the moment I arrived here, or perhaps even before, Namgung Bi-ah had been looking towards me.

As if she knew I would come.

I checked just in case, but thankfully, Namgung Bi-ah wasn’t fake.

Given the state of the surroundings, and unlike me, Namgung Bi-ah hadn’t faced them alone, as others were also lying collapsed in a corner.

“…What happened?”

As I asked cautiously, Namgung Bi-ah calmly cleaned her sword and released the person she was holding.

Even then, the tingling energy I felt suggested that Namgung Bi-ah was not far from reaching the Zenith.

“Ambush.”

Namgung Bi-ah explained the situation in a single word.

That was explanation enough.

“This.”

As I slowly approached, Namgung Bi-ah pointed downwards.

In the direction she pointed was the person Namgung Bi-ah had been holding,

and this one, too, had Mu-yeon’s face.

The moment I saw it, I tried to tell Namgung Bi-ah that this wasn’t Mu-yeon, but…

“That’s not him.”

Namgung Bi-ah explained it to me instead.

Her words, which were quite resolute, made me surprised.

“How did you know…?”

At my question, Namgung Bi-ah tilted her head and met my eyes.

It was as if she was asking with her eyes, ‘Then how did you know?’

I can figure it out with my demonic artifact’s ability, but…

What about her?

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

Putting the question aside, I first asked about her condition.

Namgung Bi-ah nodded at my words.

The guys scattered around numbered four in total.

Even though Namgung Bi-ah must have fought at least four alone,

her condition was the same as when she slept in the carriage.

In other words, it wasn’t particularly difficult for her to handle them.

‘Does that mean they didn’t send particularly strong opponents?’

The purpose behind creating this situation still wasn’t clear to me.

“This person isn’t him.”

Meanwhile, Namgung Bi-ah kept insisting that the person lying on the ground wasn’t Mu-yeon.

Looking at her, I said,

“I know he’s not him, so go back for now.”

“…Alone?”

“Yeah, I have something to check before I leave.”

I had no idea how she could tell it wasn’t Mu-yeon,

but for now, it was more important to send her back to the campsite than to ask.

“Go protect Wi Seol-ah.”

“Ah.”

When I mentioned Wi Seol-ah to Namgung Bi-ah, whose expression turned stubborn as if she didn’t want to go,

Namgung Bi-ah immediately wrapped her body in brainwaves and hurried her steps.

Then she asked me, seeming more urgent than usual,

“…Where… should I go?”

“Straight ahead, in the direction you’re looking now.”

“Okay.”

For a moment, I realized again that she was terribly bad with directions.

I thought she might have improved lately, seeming to find her way better, but…

looking now, it didn’t seem so.

“…I’ll be… back soon.”

Namgung Bi-ah left, saying that as if she was worried about me,

but the moment she left, I immediately started my work.

This was also the reason I deliberately used Wi Seol-ah as an excuse to send Namgung Bi-ah away.

Fortunately, it seemed I wouldn’t need to go back to the campsite.

[What are you trying to do?]

No-ya asked me, but I didn’t answer. Instead, I approached the other guy wearing Mu-yeon’s guise, absorbed his energy like before, and eliminated it.

Then I went towards the other three.

Namgung Bi-ah seemed to have only subdued them, as they were still breathing.

I used my internal energy to forcibly wake up one of the unconscious guys.

“Gck…!”

The guy who suddenly regained consciousness didn’t even have time to look around before I tightly gripped his neck.

“I thought something was strange.”

“Gck…!”

“Never mind the clothes, the sword wouldn’t have been easy to obtain.”

Touching it directly and pouring my internal energy inside to examine it made it clearer.

“Putting aside the fact that they barely seemed human, their energy felt subtly familiar.”

I gradually increased the heat from the hand gripping his neck.

“What faction do you belong to?”

“K-Kill me…! Do you think I’d talk…!”

It must have been painful as his body grew hotter, but the guy only kept saying to kill him.

Unlike those who wouldn’t die unless they switched masks and consumed energy,

this guy I’m holding now was an ordinary human.

Perhaps somewhere between second-rate and first-rate.

Watching the guy thrash and demand death, I explained things a bit more clearly.

“Are you from the Third Sword Cadre or the Second Sword Cadre?”

“…!”

“Or perhaps the Fourth? It wouldn’t be the First, though.”

At my words, the guy’s eyes darted wildly.

The meaning behind my words was simple.

This guy was from the Gu Family.

He tried to hide his energy, but the subtle sense I felt from afar, and…

after touching him and observing his body directly, I was even more certain.

“What nonsense are you spouting…!”

The guy vehemently denied it, unable to hide his trembling eyes.

I expected as much.

“Right. The first guy usually doesn’t talk.”

This was something I learned from torturing countless people in my past life.

There was a relatively simple method for situations like this.

Whoosh.

“W-What…?”

Perhaps sensing an unknown heat around his gripped neck, the guy let out a sound of surprise.

Finally, realizing why I was raising my energy, his eyes widened.

“W-Wait…!”

Fwoosh!

“Kiiiaaaak!”

The flames erupting from my hand engulfed the guy and burned fiercely.

Even wrapping himself in internal energy wouldn’t help; burning while his energy was suppressed must be excruciatingly painful.

Leaving him like that, I addressed the others hiding nearby, holding their breath.

“See that? There are multiple mouths. Think carefully.”

At my words, I sensed significant movement nearby.

It was the remaining two guys who were watching, probably thinking they wouldn’t be discovered.

They seemed about to flee, but…

Whoosh!

Before their feet could escape me, the rapidly spinning Nine Flames Wheel Technique created a massive spherical wall around us.

-Kuaaaak!

Thanks to controlling the flames, I moved away, leaving the guy still burning but not dead.

It wasn’t surprising that they were from the Gu Family.

Perhaps it was because I felt a justification might arise within me.

I even felt at ease.

There was nothing strange about it.

I had expected that sly old fox to make a move soon.

I hadn’t expected him to use such petty methods, though.

“…Gck!”

After subduing the last one who tried to escape, I recalled.

‘First Elder.’

The old man I suspected of orchestrating this.