Chapter 59 : Blade Teeth (4)

Sangryang Mountain was in Hubei Province.

It was so far away that it would take a full seven days and nights to get there even if you rode a sturdy horse and galloped along the straight main road.

Should he gallop along the main road? He couldn’t do that. An easy path, a good path, was not even a consideration from the beginning. He had to take a difficult and rough path, but he had to choose a path that the Sacred Sword Sect or the Single-Instant Sect’s reverse blade could not follow.

A fugitive had no choice.

Ah Geol headed for Hubei Province, riding along the mountain ridge.

There were many convenient things about moving using the mountain ridge.

First of all, since he was moving on a high mountain, he hardly met any people. He could move while hiding his tracks.

Secondly, if you walked along the mountain ridge, it was much easier than you thought.

Climbing a mountain was difficult, but the path along the mountain ridge was quite comfortable. There were not many winding paths, and the uphill and downhill slopes were not severe.

When night came, the weather would suddenly get cold, but at that time, he could just go down a little and avoid the wind. Also, if you made a fire in a hollow place, it was almost impossible to find.

When he had wandered the central plains with Grandpa, he had used the mountain ridge path a lot.

“Aren’t you moving too openly?”

Mongseol asked anxiously.

“Why? Are you anxious?”

“I feel like I’m too exposed.”

“Assassins use the eight parts, right?”

“Yes.”

“Using the eight parts and using the ridge are not much different. It seems like you’ll be completely exposed if you use the ridge, but if you look from below, it’s similar in that you can’t be seen.”

“You must have traveled this way a lot?”

“…”

Ah Geol walked, looking only ahead.

Assassins also used the mountains a lot when they infiltrated or retreated. They hardly ever used the mountain ridge, and mostly moved along the eighth part of the mountain. Even though the eighth part of the mountain was a very steep slope, they ran like leopards.

In Mongseol’s eyes, it was true that it looked careless.

“Let’s rest here today. From now on, we have to climb over a cliff, so it will be very difficult.”

Ah Geol said, looking at the cluster of rocks that were sticking out as if a blade had been stuck in them.

* * *

He had lived in the mountains for a long time.

Grandpa had thrown the child in front of a fierce beast. He had said that if he seemed like he would live, he would live, and if it was really difficult, it was fine if he died.

A pack of wolves, a bear, a tiger, even a wild boar… he had avoided all sorts of fierce beasts.

Although Grandpa had given him a blade, it was actually no different from a piece of wood. He didn’t know how to use a blade, and the fierce beasts were too ferocious. So, just hearing the growling from a distance was enough to make his legs tremble.

It was a truly weak time.

Like what Mongseol was doing now, it was a time when the only thing he could do was to run away.

When night came, he had to sleep, but he couldn’t sleep.

Would it be okay if he climbed up a tree and slept? Did she know the feeling of a snake crawling over her body? What if she had dozed off and had opened her eyes to find a monkey staring at her?

All his nerves were on edge.

If such days continued, he would not be able to let down his guard even when there was no danger around. His nerves were always alive. He would look around even while drinking water from a stream.

When you learned to accept this tension, you would finally be able to use a blade. If you couldn’t accept it, you would fall into a state of despair. So you would try to get out of the mountain recklessly.

Living in a mountain where fierce beasts lived and living in a safe mountain were worlds apart.

Ah Geol had accepted it relatively quickly.

He didn’t know with what kind of guts he had done it, but after about three days, he had slept while snoring.

He didn’t feel any tension at all.

But that didn’t mean he had let down his guard. A corner of his mind was always alive and monitoring the surroundings. If a fierce beast approached, he would move immediately. The method of escape would change depending on the type of fierce beast, but whatever fierce beast approached, the method of escape would immediately come to mind.

I must have been a hunter in my past life. Living in the mountains is very comfortable.

It was what he had said to Grandpa.

As he was living in the mountains after a long time, the sense of alertness from that time was reviving. The feeling that a fierce beast was approaching welled up.

The difference from that time was that, at that time, he had been busy running away, but now he was rather going on a hunt.

Swoosh!

Ah Geol moved smoothly as if he were sliding.

* * *

A snake was truly insidious.

A snake’s attitude when it met a strong enemy and its appearance when it hunted its prey were completely different.

When it met a strong enemy, it would first wait. It would never rush in first. If it showed a sign of attacking, it would struggle, but before that, it would show a passive form of attack.

It recognized the superiority of power at once.

The insidious point appeared when it hunted. When its prey appeared, it would leisurely enjoy its leisure. It would crawl to a strange place as if it were not interested in the prey. Then it would suddenly turn around and bite hard.

There were also times when it would bite and then let go.

It was the same at this time. It would let go of the prey it had bitten, but at this time too, its body would be wrapped around the prey. Only its head would move to another direction as if it were not interested. He didn’t know why, but it really looked as if it were not interested in eating.

Of course, it would rush in again. It would bite hard and then let go, bite and let go… and then it would eventually eat.

A snake could do this because it had body muscles that could close a certain space very quickly.

When he couldn’t use a blade well, he had used this tactic very usefully.

He walks. He walks. He walks.

Although the prey was hiding in the forest, he walked, looking only ahead, indifferently, as if he didn’t know at all.

The prey holds its breath.

At this time, the search for superiority and inferiority between them was over. It was after they had instinctively grasped who was strong and who was weak.

If the opponent had been strong, he would have rushed in. Since he was weak, he was holding his breath. On the other hand, if this side had been weak, he would have been thinking of a way to escape. Since he was strong, he walked leisurely.

He walked calmly, as if he were not interested at all.

One step, one step… he moved away from the prey. On the other hand, the prey was relieved. It had not yet let down its tension. It would continue to be tense until it was in a state where it could move.

The slow steps suddenly became fast. It seemed that he was turning his direction, but before he knew it, he had drawn his blade and was rushing in.

By the time the opponent thought, ‘Oops!’, it was already too late.

The blade falls on his head.

Churit!

A heavy blade cut through the darkness. And blood gushed out.

‘One.’

The number he had found was four in total. He had just eliminated one.

‘Death Energy Sinking Flow Art. A senior brother has come. It’s a stroke of luck that they didn’t move with these guys. I have to deal with them quickly and move before they follow. Otherwise, we’ll be annihilated.’

If a senior brother came, the superiority and inferiority would be reversed.

At that time, he and the Drunken Flower Garden assassins would be reduced to the prey of a strong snake. Whether their breath was cut off at once, or they died slowly while being played with, they would eventually be eaten.

Swoooosh!

Ah Geol moved as if he were sliding through the darkness.

He had an ultimate technique that was superior to the Death Energy Sinking Flow Art. Although the Death Energy Sinking Flow Art was a study that enhanced the five senses in exchange for abandoning the body, he erased even four of the five senses. He only maximized one, sight. It was not sight seen with the eyes, but sight seen with the senses.

Eyeless!

He forgets all his senses. He forgets his head. His head disappears. He forgets his ears. The sound disappears. He forgets his nose. The smell disappears. He only raises his sight. The eye opened with the senses sees through the darkness. It finds the part that is different from nature, the person.

Swoosh! Peok!

The blade passed, cutting down a tree.

What the blade had cut was a tree, but the sound of a bone breaking rang out. His neck was cut in one stroke.

Tuk!

A head fell in the forest.

‘Two!’

The Death Energy Sinking Flow Art was not a martial art of the Single-Instant Sect. It was a martial art of an unorthodox sect. And yet, the reason why he had thought of his senior brother after seeing their martial arts was because of the blade stuck in their waists… the blade was stuck in a way that followed the drawing technique of the Three Blades One Kill. It was stuck in a way that it could be drawn at any time, regardless of whether it was the left hand or the right hand.

The only person in this world who carried a blade in this way was his second senior brother, Seori Hyeonggae.

Not only did he know that his senior brother had come, but he also knew who had come.

As he had dealt with two of the prey, the other prey had hidden even more deeply. They had even killed their breath.

Ah Geol also held his breath.

If you raised the Eyeless, you didn’t need to hide your breath. Since all your senses were dormant, your breath would be hidden on its own.

Hidden versus Hidden!

It was a fight of darkness and darkness. It was a confrontation of concealment and concealment. It was a match of the Death Energy Sinking Flow Art versus the Eyeless.

Swish!

Ah Geol moved smoothly.

The third prey did not even know that Ah Geol was moving. At other times, he would have looked around to find Ah Geol, but now he was not even doing that.

He was stopped, with all his functions hidden.

Puuk!

Ah Geol went behind him and stabbed him with his blade.

The prey trembled and then became still.

The fact that he had lost his voice thanks to training in the Death Energy Sinking Flow Art was rather a disadvantage. If he had at least screamed, he would have been able to guess where the trouble had occurred, but they couldn’t even do that.

‘The last one!’

Ah Geol also found the fourth prey.

As if he had foreseen his death, he was stealthily moving his hand and writing on the ground.

* * *

Even though it was late at night, Mongseol was not asleep.

She had put a pot over the bonfire and was boiling water.

Ah Geol glanced at her and was about to pass by.

“Come here and warm yourself by the fire. It’s not the season to make a fire yet, but it’s cold, maybe because we’re in the mountains.”

Mongseol called Ah Geol.

Ah Geol sat opposite her.

Mongseol did not look at Ah Geol. She did not even ask where he had been late at night. She indifferently opened the pot lid and scooped out the boiling rice porridge and held it out.

“Have a bowl.”

“It’s night.”

“So what if it’s night? Have a bowl. You’re hungry, aren’t you?”

Ah Geol reluctantly accepted the porridge.

Although it was hot, a savory smell wafted up. He hadn’t been hungry, but when he smelled the porridge, his appetite was whetted.

He blew on the porridge and ate it as if he were drinking it.

“Give me the blade.”

Mongseol suddenly held out her hand.

Ah Geol stopped eating the porridge and stared intently at Mongseol.

“You probably already wiped it, but you wiped it at night. There will be blood on it. I’ll wipe it for you, give it to me.”

Ah Geol’s eyebrows twitched.

Mongseol had known. From the time he had moved stealthily, she had known that a fight of hidden versus hidden would occur. And she had waited for him while boiling the porridge.

“You have sharp eyes.”

“Have you forgotten? I’m an assassin.”

Mongseol received the blade that Ah Geol held out. And she carefully wiped the blade with a dry cloth she had prepared in advance.

“How many were there?”

“Four.”

“Which side?”

“Senior brother.”

“Ah…!”

Mongseol sighed.

If she had said that her senior brother’s subordinates had come, there was a possibility of escaping. But Ah Geol had not said ‘senior brother’s side’. He had said ‘senior brother’. It meant that his senior brother had come.

“What are you going to do?”

Mongseol asked, wiping the blade.

“I have to run away.”

“Can you do that? You even killed one of the Ten Lesser Swords to find your senior brother.”

‘It’s also my mission to protect you. I have to have something to say to my deceased master.’

Ah Geol did not say the words in his heart.

“Hoo!”

He blew on the porridge that had already cooled down and drank it.

* * *

The Ghost Register Seven Traces had a way of moving.

Whatever enemy they pursued, they divided the front and the back. Half would stand in front, and the other half would follow from behind. Then, when the people who were pursuing in front got tired, they would switch the front and the back.

This movement was very convenient for pursuit.

They had not considered at all the case where the advance party would be ambushed and killed. They had not thought that there was anyone who could find them, except for a martial artist of the Single-Instant Sect level.

But the four who had been pursuing in front had been hit.

The other two did not move. They did not even think of pursuing. If four had been hit, it was only a matter of time before the two of them were hit. So they sat in their places and waited for their master.

They did not touch the bodies of the Ghost Register Seven Traces.

The master had to see how his colleagues had died.

The more death marks the master saw, the wider his eyes would become. He would get to know the person called Ah Geol more deeply.

Chiiiit!

The smell of his colleagues’ blood was smelled in the flowing wind. A very strong smell of blood.

(End of Chapter)