Chapter 353: Dark King (3)

When I think of white hair, I usually recall the characteristic hair of the Namgung Family.

Bluish-white hair, tinged with a little blue.

It was a representative change resulting from the influence of internal energy cultivation.

‘Pure white.’

However, the figure before me had hair that was even whiter than that.

It wasn’t the white hair that comes with old age.

The man appeared to be somewhere between twenty and forty years old, but…

That white hair held something more.

White eyes, resembling his, turned towards me.

‘What the…’

His gaze was clearly on me, but…

the sensation of meeting his eyes felt blurry.

‘How should I describe this feeling?

He’s clearly right in front of me.

It’s a sensation of not being perceived properly.

It’s different from the feeling you get when there’s an extreme difference in cultivation levels.

Should I call it the peak of incongruity?

Just as an inexplicable discomfort began to gradually well up in my throat…

Swish.

The man, perhaps sensing my gaze, suddenly took an unknown object from his clothes and placed it over his face.

It was a mask.

A mask you might see anywhere.

The only peculiar thing was that it wasn’t a full mask, but one that was only half-finished.

As I wondered why he’d suddenly put on something like that, I understood the reason the moment the man put on the half-mask.

Ssshhh…

“…!”

As he wore the mask, a change occurred.

The moment the man put on the mask, his hair, which had seemed to glow, began to turn black.

The change was instantaneous.

In less than a few seconds.

That wasn’t the only change.

‘…I can see.’

The blurriness, where only his hair and pupils were visible, disappeared.

It meant I was starting to ‘perceive’ him.

The man’s eyes, nose, and overall facial features were finally becoming visible.

What is this?

Is it the mask’s power?

‘A mysterious artifact…?’

An object that could cause such a situation was surely a mysterious artifact.

Moreover, somehow…

‘His appearance is somehow familiar.’

Where did I see it?

Where did I see that half-mask? The feeling it gave me, just looking at it, made me uncomfortable.

Where have I felt that before?

‘Ah…!’

I remembered where I saw that half-mask.

That’s…

‘The one Zhuge Hyuk used!’

Zhuge Hyuk, the Cheonyurang-a, known as the brain of the Demonic Cult.

The mask that guy wore to cover the burn scar on his face looked exactly the same.

‘…How? How does that man have it?’

The possibility that it wasn’t the same item was high, but…

for some reason, the thought that this half-mask was the same one Zhuge Hyuk carried wouldn’t leave me.

Did that mask even have such an effect…?

“Kiddo.”

While I was staring intently at the man’s appearance…

the man spoke to me.

“Do you intend to keep staring?”

“…I’m sorry. I couldn’t help it.”

“It’s fine. It’s just that I’m not used to people staring at me.”

Saying so, the man brought the cup of water he was holding to his lips.

A cup of water.

Was the man holding a cup?

‘I didn’t even notice that.’

If he hadn’t worn the mask, I wouldn’t have been able to see anything at all.

Realizing that sent an involuntary chill down my spine.

For a martial artist, not being able to perceive someone else means exactly that.

It means you’re likely to die without anyone ever knowing.

“…”

Even though I’ve reached the Hwagyeong realm, why should I feel this way?

Who is this man?

“You have an interesting expression.”

“…!”

“It’s a good habit. Keep striving.”

“…”

I was caught assessing him and sensing the danger.

Even knowing that, the man’s reaction was calm, as if the conversation was already over.

“…Who are you?”

Who could this man possibly be?

For someone who could create such intense tension, yet be a face I’d never seen before.

It’s not that I know all the known experts in the Central Plains, but…

I thought I knew most of them reasonably well.

I know nothing about this man.

The man, having heard my question, lifted his head slightly and looked at me.

I hadn’t realized it when they were white eyes.

Now that they were black, I felt I could tell more.

Deep pupils, devoid of any sense of light or shadow.

People who belonged neither to life nor death possessed such eyes.

Most people possess such eyes because they have no lingering attachment to life.

Or perhaps.

‘Because they’ve killed far too many people.’

Those who have taken countless lives often had such eyes.

That’s why I’m even more curious.

About the man’s identity.

“Asking for my identity? Those are words I haven’t heard in a truly long time.”

“…Is that so?”

“Yes, because usually, people are already dead before they can ask me something like that.”

That’s a fucking scary reason, wow.

“An introduction… It’s been a long time since I’ve introduced myself to someone.”

The man’s gaze turned towards my eyes.

They were eyes hard to look at for long.

If I kept looking into them, I felt like my insides would be completely exposed.

“But.”

Then.

the man’s voice struck my ears.

It was different from just before. His tone and pitch were the same, but…

I felt something heavy, viscous. Saliva involuntarily pooled in my mouth, as if urging me to swallow.

“Kiddo, you seem to already know, so why do you want to hear it from me?”

“…”

My eyebrows furrowed at the man’s words.

Yes, the man was right.

I had already suspected his identity.

If you ask when I started guessing…

‘…From the moment I saw his eyes.’

From the moment I met the man’s eyes.

I started piecing things together bit by bit, along with the circumstances.

Eyes like those and such a faint presence are typical traits of assassins.

I’ve met many assassins throughout my past life.

All those I met burned to death by my hand.

Surviving an encounter with an assassin meant just that.

Killing them.

Or dying.

‘This man…’

I dare say, if I were to face the man without the mask in a deadly sense…

I would not be able to win.

It was a conviction born from my survival instinct, regardless of pride or anything else.

‘How on earth did he do that?’

How can someone’s presence be so faint?

The gap in level I felt from the Heavenly Demon, the disparity that made one’s presence impossible to sense.

What this man possessed was different.

He was hiding his presence so effectively.

So intricately and precisely that you couldn’t sense him, even while he was talking to me right in front of my eyes.

‘He can do that?’

Of course, it’s possible.

I could do something like that too if I were facing harmless civilians.

However, I am a martial artist who has reached the Hwagyeong realm.

One who had surpassed the ‘Peak’, known as the grave of martial artists.

Among the countless martial artists of the Central Plains, I’ve reached a level that, even if counted entirely, wouldn’t exceed the thousands.

Ah, thinking about that makes me feel a bit embarrassed…

I feel like my ears might turn red.

Anyway.

‘Against someone like me, that level…’

Is that even possible?

The Central Plains are too vast to assume that.

And.

There were definitely assassins ‘capable of doing so’.

Isn’t it too obvious?

Shedding the assassin’s trait of needing their identity hidden due to how outstanding they were.

The most famous assassin corps known in the Central Plains.

The Iron Night Assassin Corps.

It was said to be the place where the most skilled assassins in the Central Plains gathered.

And its leader was boldly called the king of assassins.

Given the name, the Emperor of the Night.

“…Dark King.”

Perhaps pleased with my answer.

the man’s lips curved upwards ever so slightly.

Why would the Emperor of the Night, whose true identity no one knew, …

…be here, of all places, with the Sword Empress?

---

After the incident occurred, when things were barely being tidied up…

“We’re short on bandages…!”

The busiest ones, as expected, were the medical team.

“Damn it… The bleeding won’t stop.”

“Sunbae…!”

The smell of blood and screams filled the air.

The physicians were moving urgently, but…

the number of patients was overwhelming.

Even worse.

“Where’s that rookie who joined last time…?! We’re swamped!”

“…That kid died earlier today while protecting other academy students.”

“…Fuck… What kind of martial artist is he?! We told him, didn’t we? That we’re healers, not protectors!”

“…”

He yelled, but inwardly, he was rotting.

“Sunbae… I think we need to bring more bandages.”

Materials to wipe the blood were running low.

Even now, several people had already died.

At that level of injury, even my teacher couldn’t save them.

It was no different from hell.

The man, working ceaselessly, bit his lip.

He had run away from the Martial Alliance’s medical corps precisely because he hated seeing this sight.

Promising younger disciples were dying with each passing moment.

The physician continued to move, hiding his trembling hands.

The blood wouldn’t stop flowing.

The sword wounds were deep.

They were wounds inflicted with the intent to kill, so they had to be deep.

He couldn’t make the wounds heal.

It seemed like more than ten people had died because they couldn’t be saved like this.

“Bring another scalpel. And relight the fire before it goes out…”

As he passed by that physician, a pale hand reached out.

The hand touched the blood-soaked body of a martial artist nonchalantly.

Seeing that, the physician cried out in alarm.

“Who are you?! What is this…!”

The physician, about to yell further, suddenly fell silent.

Because he met those sky-blue eyes.

A faint chill could be felt.

She was a cold-looking woman, and the chill she exuded didn’t feel strange at all.

The physician recognized her.

She was a member of the Moyong Clan, one of the Four Great Families.

And a prominent younger disciple holding one of the spots in the Six Dragons, Three Peaks.

Snow Phoenix, Moyong Hi-ah.

Ssshhh…

A chill spread from Moyong Hi-ah’s outstretched hand.

It was clearly internal energy mixed with that chill, and perhaps thanks to it, the gushing blood and screams gradually subsided.

“…What…”

“What are you doing?”

As the physician tried to express his confusion, Moyong Hi-ah’s cold voice cut through.

“You should be doing your job. Are you just going to stand there and watch?”

“…!”

Hearing her words, the physician snapped back to reality and moved his hands urgently.

There was no time to hesitate.

Time passed.

Moyong Hi-ah naturally blended in among them, as if she’d been there all along.

She began helping treat the academy students using her unique chill and internal energy.

As time passed, when a moment to finally catch a breath arrived…

the physician found her.

“…Thank you.”

Moyong Hi-ah gave a slight nod to the physician’s thanks.

Both of them were in pretty bad shape.

Their clothes, obviously expensive, were soaked in blood.

And their neatly combed hair was matted with blood, completely disheveled.

The bloodstains on her pure white cheeks looked somewhat alluring at first glance, but…

“Stop staring.”

At Moyong Hi-ah’s words, the physician had to turn his head away.

“I’m sorry.”

“I’m sort of taken, you see, so being looked at like that makes me a bit uncomfortable.”

“Pardon?”

As the physician asked what she meant…

Moyong Hi-ah said in a calm voice.

“Usually, people who look at me like that end up falling for me.”

“…”

“And I don’t really like dealing with that, so please be careful.”

It was quite an annoying and arrogant thing to say, but…

because it was Snow Phoenix saying it, it carried considerable weight.

The physician himself had actually considered her dangerous.

“Looking at this, I guess I’m not dead yet…”

“Pardon…?”

“Why doesn’t that work on that guy…”

She clearly didn’t like it.

Moyong Hi-ah definitely whispered that.

A woman who knows she’s beautiful naturally possesses charm.

In that regard, Moyong Hi-ah was a woman with overwhelming charm.

Seeing that she could make the physician think that way, even in this state…

‘Did she have a fiancé?’

I didn’t know the details, but ironically, for a moment, I felt envious.

Putting that aside for now.

“Thank you again for your help.”

The physician expressed his thanks to Moyong Hi-ah.

It was unusual for a member of a prestigious clan to help to the point of getting into such a state.

I had heard Snow Phoenix was cold and calculating, like most members of the Moyong Clan, but…

…was she actually warm-hearted?

“No need to thank me. It would have been inconvenient if the merchant families we’d worked so hard to recruit had died. And I figured making them indebted like this was fine too.”

“…”

Hearing that, the physician smiled bitterly.

“Even so, it was a great help.”

“Naturally. Thanks to that, my dantian is completely drained.”

The internal energy mixed with the chill had been considerably helpful in treatment.

Furthermore, Moyong Hi-ah herself seemed to have some knowledge of medical arts, as she wasn’t just using it to stop bleeding.

Whatever the reason, she had saved people who would have otherwise died.

It was satisfying for the physician.

Seeing the physician like that, Moyong Hi-ah suddenly asked.

“It’s you, isn’t it?”

“…Yes?”

“The one they say is the Divine Doctor’s disciple.”

“…”

The physician’s eyes widened at Moyong Hi-ah’s words.

…How did she know?

No one should have known that he was the Divine Doctor’s direct disciple.

“…Well…”

“I trust you’ll consider everything I did as a debt owed.”

The physician watched Moyong Hi-ah leave with a chuckle.

He let out a hollow laugh.

Did that mean even this was a calculated move?

Thinking of it that way was terrifying, yet at the same time, it amplified her charm.

To think that a brief encounter could lead to this.

It felt like it would take a long time to erase the feelings that had begun to sprout.

That’s why the physician couldn’t help but feel envious.

Of the person she mentioned.

Thump.

Moyong Hi-ah, dragging her tired body after sitting and moving around all day…

“Haa.”

She could finally let out a held breath.

‘…It was harder than I thought.’

Her exhausted and tired body was only truly felt now.

‘Is this the price for neglecting my training?’

It must be the consequence of stopping her internal energy training for the sake of treatment.

She had even used the cold energy she tried to hold back, so the fatigue must be greater.

‘What wealth and glory am I even pursuing…’

Moyong Hi-ah had to let out a wry laugh as she walked.

Wondering what she was suffering like this for.

‘How petty, saying you came but not coming to see me?’

Moreover, she grew angry thinking of the man who hadn’t shown his face even once.

While she was going around suffering like this…

…it was infuriating that he’d only glanced at the injured women before leaving.

“If it’s like this, I wish I’d gotten injured too.”

Should she curse her own unharmed body?

Moyong Hi-ah found the words she’d thought of absurd.

They were immature words that didn’t suit her personality.

Then she pursed her lips.

“…He probably wasn’t injured, though.”

She was worried about the man she had just been cursing.

She couldn’t help but know about the incident he had caused, as rumors had already spread widely.

How did this incident even happen?

Moyong Hi-ah felt her head start to ache as she recalled the unfolding situation.

‘…This isn’t good.’

It wasn’t just about the attack itself.

Of course, that was included, but since it had already happened, she set that aside.

The future was the problem.

The Dragon Gate Academy, where descendants of prestigious families and renowned clans had gathered in large numbers.

Dozens of academy students had died due to the attack that occurred there.

Currently, the Martial Arts Alliance wasn’t taking any action, whether they knew about it or not.

‘They probably don’t know. That’s why they’re acting like this.’

If the situation were to become known later…

This would be a crisis.

A crisis for the Martial Arts Alliance.

In the future that involuntarily painted itself in her mind…

Moyong Hi-ah had to repeatedly run her fingers through her hair.

The sensation of dried blood catching between her fingers made her frown.

Amidst this, something came to mind.

If the situation turned out like this, the very first thing that would unfold…

More than her own dirty state.

That was what concerned her more.

It couldn’t be helped.

“If it comes to this, surely…”

Moyong Hi-ah had already envisioned most of what would happen to the Martial Arts Alliance and the future of the Dragon Gate Academy, but…

The most important thing in that situation was something else entirely.

It was…

“My father will come…”

The head of the Moyong Clan, the Baek Cheon Geomju (White Heaven Sword Master).

It had become a situation where he himself would have to act.