Chapter 189 : Su-in, Bigger Than Expected

Chapter 189: Su-in, Bigger Than Expected

One carriage set out from the Black Way Alliance.

A coachman with skilled hands drove the carriage, and three people rode inside.

They were Lee Jaseung, Water, and Rain. Water and Rain had been subdued so they could not use their inner Qi. Since Lee Jaseung had sealed them himself, only he, or someone whose martial arts surpassed his, could release them.

Rain’s injuries had not fully healed, but they did not interfere much with his movements.

On top of that, Water took devoted care of him at his side.

“Are you all right?”

“I am fine.”

“Are you thirsty?”

“I said I am fine.”

There was a faint trace of annoyance in Rain’s voice.

Her fussing over him felt strangely burdensome. No, more than that, he felt he had no face to show her. He had wanted to protect her, yet she had saved his life instead. If she had simply left him behind, he would have died back there.

‘Damn it!’

He should have been the one to save her, but instead he felt like he had become her burden, and it soured his mood.

Rain glanced at Lee Jaseung. One feeling outweighed his anger or hatred.

‘How can someone like this even exist?’

Lee Jaseung had shattered every bit of common sense Rain held about the Black Way Alliance. No, it went beyond the alliance.

Even if he looked over all of Jianghu, it was unbelievable that someone so young possessed that level of martial arts.

‘If this man’s ambition points toward the world itself…’

He could not help but feel that a storm of blood would soon sweep across Jianghu.

While Rain sat tangled in complicated thoughts, Water remained at ease.

“Ah, the view is nice.”

The scenery outside the window she watched looked utterly beautiful.

And so did she as she looked at it.

Rain suddenly found that thought crossing his mind.

Instead of getting caught up in all this and dying, how good would it be if they could live ordinary lives inside that scenery.

He let the words in his heart slip out without thinking.

“Regret always comes late.”

Still looking out the window, Water asked,

“What do you regret, senior?”

“Just a lot of things.”

“You worry too much, senior.”

“Are you fine with all this?”

“What is the worst that can happen? I die.”

As she said that, she shot a quick glance at Lee Jaseung. The look she sent his way did not feel ordinary.

Rain felt a strange twinge of jealousy.

‘I really am pathetic. Feeling jealous in a situation like this.’

Lee Jaseung half listened to the two of them, half ignored them, and simply stared out the opposite window without a word.

“That man will find Mountain and still kill us.”

Rain tried to provoke him.

“We are getting tricked right now.”

His goal was to prod Lee Jaseung’s pride. He wanted a clear promise that their lives would be spared.

At last, Lee Jaseung spoke.

“You like her quite a bit I see.”

“What?”

Rain was startled. He never imagined Lee Jaseung would say something like that.

Water laughed and said,

“You are wrong. He does not ‘quite’ like me, he really likes me.”

Rain’s face flushed bright red. At least when it came to his feelings for her, he could not control himself.

Lee Jaseung spoke bluntly.

“For someone of Jianghu, liking someone is a considerable weakness.”

“Sometimes it is better to carry a weakness than to hide your feelings.”

“Like you, for example?”

Her eyes wavered for an instant. Lee Jaseung had already sensed it. Water liked Rain as well. She might even like him more deeply than Rain liked her.

“You misspoke. I’m sure you meant to say that to him instead. I am a woman with a desert for a heart. That is why I make all the men in the world suffer.”

“Is that so?”

“What about you? Are you not the one carrying the biggest weakness of all?”

As if he did not think it worth answering, Lee Jaseung turned his head back to the window.

Water repeated what she had said to him in the underground prison.

“In Jianghu, there are things you simply cannot avoid.”

Lee Jaseung still gave no reply, and she turned her head away, humming a tune like a victor.

Rain lowered his head with a sigh. His plan to wring a promise from Lee Jaseung to spare at least Water’s life, if not his own, had gone awry.

The carriage raced on without rest, carrying the three of them as they each looked off in different directions.

* * *

News that the Asura Demon Sect had requested a meeting had already spread across all of Jianghu. However, nobody knew who would meet, where they would meet, or when.

Yeo Su-in, disciple of Cult Leader Yao Hong of the Asura Demon Sect, arrived at the Murim Alliance with only ten subordinates. Their movements were so secretive that even the Vermillion Bird Hall of the Murim Alliance failed to detect their arrival.

The dozen or so Demonic Humans who followed him were his elite guards, experts known as the New Ten Demon Kings.

They entered the White Ram Inn. This was the same branch of the Black Way Alliance where Lee Jaseung had first stayed when he came here.

“Welcome.”

The First King, the leader of the New Ten Demon Kings, stepped forward and spoke.

“We need three of your cleanest rooms.”

“Yes, I will show you at once.”

At that moment, Yeo Su-in, who had been standing in the rear, walked over to a window seat and sat down.

“I am hungry. Let us have some liquor first.”

The First King immediately ordered the liquor and side dishes that Yeo Su-in liked.

“Yes, I will bring them right away.”

The innkeeper called a serving boy and told him to prepare rooms for the guests, then headed toward the kitchen.

Only a very small number of the people working here knew this was a branch of the Black Way Alliance. Most simply believed it was an ordinary inn. That was why they had managed to remain undiscovered for so long right under the nose of the Murim Alliance’s main base.

Among the several cooks working in the kitchen, one slipped out through the back door. The innkeeper had sent more than an order to the kitchen. He had sent a voice transmission as well.

The man in the yard behind the inn gathered some cooking ingredients.

A nearby window in the building that shared that back yard opened just a crack, subtle enough not to draw attention.

The cook’s voice transmission reached another man inside that barely opened window.

— New Ten Demon Kings and one more have entered the city.

The innkeeper had not recognized Yeo Su-in, but he had recognized one of the New Ten Demon Kings. Eleven in total. That meant the New Ten Demon Kings had come escorting someone.

And even if someone were watching from afar to track how this information moved, they would never see through the exchange.

The cook gathered ingredients in a natural motion and went back into the kitchen.

But at least for that day, all these steps were nearly wasted. The reason revealed itself in the conversation between Yeo Su-in and the First King.

“Do we really need to expose our movements to the Black Way Alliance like this?”

“We do.”

Yeo Su-in answered with a relaxed smile when the First King’s eyes silently asked why.

“When two sides of similar strength fight, do you know what is the biggest reason the loser loses?”

“What is it?”

“Carelessness. Once they realize they noticed our secret arrival, they will think they have the advantage. Carelessness is not some grand thing. Little things like this are exactly what carelessness is.”

The First King admired him inwardly. Even if Yeo Su-in’s words were true, not just anyone could put them into practice. You needed both the nerve and the wisdom to play freely with the schemes of your enemy.

A short while later, when the liquor and side dishes arrived at Yeo Su-in’s table, the Seventh King came over and whispered something to the First King before withdrawing. The Seventh King usually handled external communication.

Sitting across from Yeo Su-in, the First King spoke with a grave expression.

“They say those men failed.”

Yeo Su-in’s hand, which had been about to raise his first drink, paused for a moment. With a puzzled look he asked,

“They were not forces that should fail though?”

By his assessment, they had more than enough power to smash the Black Way Alliance’s main base.

“They say a masked man intervened and wiped them out.”

“A masked man? Who?”

“The Black Way Alliance’s main base declared full emergency and completely cut contact with the outside. It might take some time to confirm his identity.”

Yeo Su-in emptied his drink in one go and asked,

“Is there any chance that man is Lee Jaseung?”

“That is impossible. When the incident happened, he was here. The distance makes it absolutely impossible.”

“If he ran at an impossible speed, it might be possible. Go at once and confirm that Lee Jaseung is here right now.”

“Understood.”

The First King relayed the order to the Seventh King, and the Seventh King immediately left the inn.

The First King refilled Yeo Su-in’s cup. As Yeo Su-in stared at his own drink, a strange smile curled his lips.

“This really is getting interesting.”

“I do not think this is something we can take so lightly.”

“Why not?”

“As you said, the forces we sent against their main base were considerable. If they got beaten, does that not mean those people had some hidden trump card?”

“Does our sect not have trump cards as well? I have them, and so do you.”

“Of course we do… but this time the sect shared a great deal of information with them. We revealed everything we had held back in preparation for a clash with the Black Way Alliance. This was a plan that simply could not fail.”

Yeo Su-in toyed with his cup for a moment, then emptied it again.

“I am never careless. So you do not need to worry.”

Seeing the unyielding yet keen light in his master’s eyes, the First King lowered his head.

“I spoke out of turn.”

“Heh.”

Yeo Su-in gave a meaningful laugh and looked out the window.

‘This Jianghu is not something you can devour if you make the mistake of carelessness.’

The flames of ambition in his eyes burned even brighter.

By the time he finished two more bottles of liquor, a small stir arose outside the window.

“It is the Alliance Leader!”

“The Alliance Leader is passing by!”

The murmuring lasted only a moment before a party of martial artists passed the inn.

The one on horseback at their head was clearly Lee Jaseung. The ones following behind him were the Virtuous Heroes led by Mujin. Martial artists on the street bowed their heads in greeting as he passed.

As he rode by, Lee Jaseung glanced sideways toward the inn’s window.

For a brief instant, his eyes met Yeo Su-in’s. Yeo Su-in was definitely the one he had seen.

Once Lee Jaseung passed by, the First King spoke.

“You see. The one who attacked the Black Way Alliance’s main base was not Lee Jaseung.”

Since Yeo Su-in said nothing, the First King asked again.

“What did you think of him, seeing him in person?”

“There is nothing to think about seeing a fake, isn’t there?”

“What?”

“They did a good job making the fake look convincing though.”

The First King could not believe it. The presence of the man who had just passed by had been overwhelming. To his eyes there was no way he was a fake.

Yet as Yeo Su-in said, the Lee Jaseung who had just gone past was indeed a fake. After receiving the report that had flown in from the inn, Dan Woobin immediately sent out a fake Lee Jaseung to ride past that road.

He had even ordered the fake to meet the gaze of the man sitting by the inn window. If it had been the real Lee Jaseung, he would have felt that presence.

This move had several effects.

First, it showed that Lee Jaseung had not personally intervened in the Black Way Alliance incident, which could sow confusion. Their enemies would now have to worry about some other powerful figure.

On top of that, by showing them a fake, they could mislead them about Lee Jaseung’s movements. Dan Woobin also intended to lure their enemies into carelessness.

The martial artist who played the role of Lee Jaseung had not only high skill, he had also lived as Lee Jaseung’s shadow for a long time.

Dan Woobin was confident that no one would notice the fake from such a brief passing.

Yet Yeo Su-in saw through it at once.

“So it was Lee Jaseung who saved the Black Way Alliance after all. Haha, so he’s a man who turns the impossible into reality huh?”

Yeo Su-in laughed in genuine delight, an interested expression on his face. Astonishingly, the ink of the tattoo on his face darkened.

“I really am glad I left my seclusion.”

* * *

“That is the place. The meeting spot we agreed on with Mountain.”

In the direction Water pointed, a small hut came into view.

“You had better not pull any tricks.”

Water stared straight at Lee Jaseung and said,

“Then answer me. Exactly what kind of trick would we have to pull to kill you?”

Lee Jaseung did not reply.

Water let out a light sigh.

“I told you not to worry. Even if I wanted to, I cannot think of any trick that fits your level.”

The three of them stepped into the yard in front of the hut.

“If we light a fire inside, Mountain will come here within an hour.”

As she explained, Water walked to the door.

She paused there for a moment, then turned to Lee Jaseung and asked,

“What do we do here?. Do we go in first, or you?”

“You go first.”

Water and Rain opened the door and went inside.

Thud. The door closed. Whether someone had shut it on purpose or the wind had caught it, it was impossible to tell.

Lee Jaseung opened the door and stepped in.

To his surprise, there was no one inside.

The place held only a Formation for escape.

Sssssssssssss.

Another Formation, set to shake off pursuers, activated. Strange energy wrapped itself around Lee Jaseung.