Chapter 30
Mr. Jong
When Mr. Jong opened his eyes, he found himself seated in a chair with his acupoints sealed.
‘Why am I...?’
The events atop the cliff began surfacing through his hazy memories.
‘Those people! Who the hell were they?’
The man who had appeared soundlessly and placed a sword at his neck was impressive enough, but the woman who appeared afterward possessed an overwhelmingly powerful presence.
She had not emitted even the slightest trace of killing intent, yet merely looking at her had made it difficult for him to breathe.
On top of that, she was an unparalleled beauty.
Mr. Jong was well informed about the martial world, but no fitting name came to mind.
‘Baek Socheon’s former subordinates?’
Upon further thought, that could not be right.
A subordinate would never have said that she wanted to stomp on him.
While he pondered, Mr. Jong’s eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness.
‘...!’
Only then did he realize that dozens of people were standing around him.
And directly before him stood a woman.
‘It’s her!’
The darkness prevented him from seeing her clearly, but he knew by instinct.
Even through her vague silhouette, she asserted her presence.
It was not simply because she was a woman, nor because she was releasing any distinctive aura.
She possessed what could only be described as sheer presence.
Mr. Jong tightened his abdomen and spoke.
“Why did you bring me here?”
No one answered.
“I don’t know what you want from me, but you won’t get anything. I’ll warn you now—torture won’t work either.”
Only then did the woman standing before him speak.
“I heard you were a heartless man without blood or tears, but you certainly become talkative once you’re captured.”
Just as Mr. Jong had suspected, she was Cheon Geuk.
“You don’t need to confess.”
“Then why did you capture me?”
“Because there are things we need to hear.”
Mr. Jong could not understand.
‘How can she hear anything from me if I don’t confess?’
Once his eyes adjusted further to the darkness, he noticed a corpse lying near him.
To his astonishment, it was the informant who had sold him information.
‘How did they find him?’
The man had been extremely cautious and highly skilled at concealing his identity.
Naturally, Mr. Jong’s fear of his captors grew even deeper.
Just then, a young girl entered.
“You’re awake?”
She appeared to be only twelve or thirteen years old and was exceptionally adorable.
“I’m Na Sarin.”
Her voice was as clear as a nightingale’s song.
The girl who introduced herself as Na Sarin approached Mr. Jong and stared directly into his eyes.
“Cloudy. It’s difficult for a soul to become this impure.”
The moment their gazes met, a shudder ran through Mr. Jong’s entire body.
Those were not the eyes of an ordinary child.
“You... aren’t a child, are you?”
“Good eye. It would have been wonderful if my growth had stopped when I was around twenty. It’s unfortunate, but I can live with it.”
From her words, he realized that she suffered from a Heavenly Punishment that had halted her growth while she was still young.
Astonishingly, she was an old woman over eighty years of age.
In fact, she was the oldest person among everyone gathered there.
She was a master of soul-subjugation arts, particularly skilled at controlling another person’s mind and extracting confessions.
Her growth had stopped as a side effect of learning forbidden arts too early in life.
Faced with this situation, Mr. Jong felt even greater fear than he would have if a hulking man had appeared carrying instruments of torture.
“What are you going to do to me?”
“What could you possibly have done to end up before me?”
“I...”
There were so many evil deeds that even an entire night would not have been enough to recount them all.
“It’s all right, child. You don’t need to speak. I’ll find out myself.”
The instant Na Sarin finished speaking, crimson light erupted from her eyes.
Swoooooosh!
The red radiance shot into Mr. Jong’s pupils.
From a distance, it appeared as though a crimson line had formed between their eyes.
As Mr. Jong’s eyes turned red, Na Sarin asked,
“Were you the one who commissioned the murder of Yang Chu’s family?”
Na Sarin’s once clear and transparent voice now echoed as though it came from deep within a cavern.
“Yes, it was me.”
The truth poured from Mr. Jong’s mouth without resistance, his voice likewise sounding as if it rose from the depths of a cave.
“Where did you place the commission?”
“With the Seven Swords Society.”
“And the Seven Swords Society accepted it?”
“They did.”
“Did they kill everyone, including those who knew no martial arts and even the children?”
“Yes, they did. That was one of the conditions of the commission.”
“Why?”
“So that it would appear to be an incident caused by a personal grudge.”
“Who ordered you to place the commission?”
“The Shinhwa Sect Leader.”
Na Sarin turned toward Cheon Geuk behind her.
Her gaze asked whether this was sufficient.
Cheon Geuk looked around at the people gathered nearby.
Those present were the leading figures of the Assassins’ Alliance, including the Lord of the Law Enforcement Hall.
They also nodded, indicating that they had heard enough.
Some wore bright expressions, while others looked grim.
Those with bright expressions belonged to the pro-Cheon Geuk faction.
Those with dark expressions were from the anti-Cheon Geuk faction—in other words, the people closely allied with the Seven Swords Society.
Regardless of how they felt, at that very moment it had been proven that the Seven Swords Society had violated the Assassin’s Law.
At Cheon Geuk’s signal that it was enough, Na Sarin sighed and stepped back.
She was a peerless master of soul-subjugation arts, without equal in the present age, but extracting the truth from another person was still no easy task.
Every time she performed the confession art, it consumed a tremendous amount of internal energy and mental strength.
Cheon Geuk bowed respectfully to her.
“Elder, thank you for your hard work.”
The other assassins bowed respectfully as well.
Everyone gathered there possessed unwavering faith in Na Sarin.
She was the most senior among the elders who had served the Assassins’ Alliance for many years.
Even after living through the reigns of several Alliance Leaders, she had devoted herself solely to the alliance and had earned the respect of every assassin.
Na Sarin gave Cheon Geuk a light cupped-fist salute before walking away.
Her disciples came forward to support her.
Once she had left, lights were lit throughout the room, illuminating the space.
Now that the soul-subjugation art had ended, Mr. Jong lay unconscious on the floor.
A short while later, another man entered.
The person who had arrived after being summoned by Cheon Geuk was none other than the Leader of the Seven Swords Society.
His expression darkened as he surveyed the room.
Why were ominous premonitions always so accurate?
Cheon Geuk had sent a carriage, inviting him to share a private drink with her.
Although several things had bothered him, he had no choice but to accompany the messenger.
Refusing an order from the Alliance Leader was equivalent to declaring opposition against the entire Assassins’ Alliance.
At the same time, he could hardly bring his subordinates to a drinking engagement supposedly meant for only the two of them.
Before leaving, he had summoned Second Sword and ordered him to prepare for any possible incident.
Yet if even the Lord of the Law Enforcement Hall was present...
‘This is bad.’
Concealing his anxiety, he asked,
“Alliance Leader, what is the meaning of this?”
No one answered him.
The people with whom he had once been close were looking at him with pity.
The closer they had been to him, the darker their expressions were.
‘This is truly bad.’
At last, Cheon Geuk spoke.
“Society Leader, why did you do it?”
“This old man has no idea what you mean.”
“Do you know who that man is?”
Cheon Geuk pointed toward the unconscious Mr. Jong seated in the chair.
“Who is he?”
“He is a warrior belonging to the Shinhwa Sect and the man who placed a commission with your society.”
“Many people place commissions with our society.”
“I’m sure they do. Then let me ask again. Among all those commissions, how many violated the Assassin’s Law as his did?”
“Violated the Assassin’s Law? Our society has never violated it even once.”
Although he answered in a booming voice, the Leader of the Seven Swords Society was filled with despair.
The fact that everyone had assembled to confront him meant the evidence was already indisputable.
“Elder Na has already completed her soul-subjugation art. Of course, we had already uncovered several suspicious circumstances before bringing him here.”
“I know nothing about this!”
He raised his voice as if grievously wronged.
The Leader of the Seven Swords Society looked around at the surrounding people.
He knew all of them.
Some were so close that they addressed one another as brothers.
Yet not a single person stepped forward to defend him.
“It seems my subordinates mishandled the matter. I will uncover the truth and punish them myself.”
Such shameless scapegoating would never work before this audience.
Everyone present understood perfectly how assassin organizations operated.
It was impossible for the Assassin’s Law to be violated without the leader’s knowledge.
Cheon Geuk spoke calmly.
“I didn’t summon you to hear claims of innocence. I brought you here to give you a chance to say your final words before you die.”
Realizing that everything was already over, the Leader of the Seven Swords Society stopped insisting on his innocence.
Casting everything aside, he shouted proudly,
“I wanted to become the Alliance Leader too!”
“Then you should have challenged me. Why did you violate the Assassin’s Law?”
“Because I needed the damned Shinhwa Sect to make that challenge possible! I would have taken your place eventually! If a little girl like you could lead the alliance, then I could have become the Alliance Leader as well!”
She was a woman.
She was young.
Those were the two reasons from which his rebellion had begun.
“I would have led the alliance far better than you! The Assassin’s Law? Why do we even need such a thing? Every life is equal, so why should we be forbidden from killing those without martial arts or children? Had I become the Alliance Leader, I would have helped everyone earn far more money!”
Cheon Geuk stared at him and spoke coldly.
“That is precisely why you were unworthy. You are a man who cannot even understand the reason. Even if the entire world, rather than merely the Shinhwa Sect, had supported you, you would never have sat in my seat.”
The instant her words ended—
Flash!
Cheon Geuk’s figure vanished from where she stood.
Swish.
Slice.
The sound of wind being cut and flesh splitting occurred almost simultaneously.
The result created by those two sounds was death.
Spurrrrrt!
Blood erupted from the Leader of the Seven Swords Society’s neck as he toppled sideways.
Thud.
Cheon Geuk stood behind him, holding a dagger from which blood dripped steadily.
The blade was so sharp that merely looking at it seemed enough to cut the observer.
Blood from the Society Leader dripped from its edge.
It was the Death King Dagger, her signature weapon.
Through martial arts utilizing only that single dagger, she had become the greatest assassin under heaven and risen to the position of Assassin King.
Not one person present had been able to follow her movements clearly.
Even the Leader of the Seven Swords Society, who had been facing her directly, had failed to perceive her supreme movement technique.
“This is not a position someone like you was ever qualified to covet.”
Cheon Geuk, the reigning Assassin King.
She possessed the greatest skill of them all.
The reason she could lead these ruthless assassins despite being a woman was that her strength stood behind her authority.
She issued an icy command to the Lord of the Law Enforcement Hall.
“Lord of the Law Enforcement Hall, immediately arrest the remaining six leaders of the Seven Swords Society. If they resist, you may eliminate them all.”
“I obey.”
“Furthermore, as of this moment, the Seven Swords Society is dissolved. Every member belonging to the society will be dispersed among other organizations designated by the alliance.”
An overwhelming authority that allowed no refusal radiated from her.
“We obey your command.”
The Lord of the Law Enforcement Hall and the assassins under his command vanished from the room in an instant.
Now that the Leader of the Seven Swords Society was dead, resistance from the remaining six leaders would be meaningless.
With undeniable proof that they had violated the Assassin’s Law, they could not reject the Alliance Leader’s command.
Should they resist, every assassin belonging to the Assassins’ Alliance would move to eliminate them.
Cheon Geuk turned her gaze toward the alliance’s senior leaders.
“Anyone who violates the Assassin’s Law in the future will be executed without exception. I swear it upon my name.”
The remaining assassins all dropped to their knees and prostrated themselves.
“We humbly obey the Alliance Leader’s solemn command.”
Only then did a satisfied smile appear on Cheon Geuk’s lips.
She had successfully eliminated the most powerful opposition faction within the organization through entirely legitimate means.
When Cheon Geuk came to see him, Baek Socheon understood the result merely from her expression.
“You worked hard.”
“How did you know? Was it written all over my face?”
“No.”
“Then how?”
“The presence of the people guarding you has softened.”
In other words, he had read the aura of the Four Heavenly Slayers.
Caught off guard by his answer, Cheon Geuk shook her head.
“Did you hear that? This man sensed your presence and guessed the result.”
Their auras disappeared instantly.
Ordinarily, they concealed themselves completely.
However, they had deliberately allowed Baek Socheon to sense part of their presence.
Ever since he had slapped Cheon Geuk’s cheek, they had done so as a warning that they were always beside her and that he should not act recklessly.
Yet he had even detected the subtle change in their auras.
“You don’t have any internal energy, yet you’re remarkably good at sensing qi.”
“Why would I need internal energy? You sense qi through feeling.”
“I’m saying that because not just anyone can do it.”
She formally expressed her gratitude to Baek Socheon.
“Thank you. This was all possible because of you.”
Baek Socheon held out his hand.
When she moved to clasp it, he lightly slapped the back of her hand.
“I’m asking for the money.”
“My goodness. You truly know how to preserve a person’s good mood.”
She took an envelope from inside her robe and handed it to him.
It contained ten promissory notes, each worth ten thousand nyang.
“It is clean money unrelated to our organization, so you may spend it without concern.”
“Thank you.”
The Leader of the Seven Swords Society and the rest of its leadership were all officially eliminated.
Baek Socheon’s arrival in Munseong had caused a chain reaction that ultimately destroyed the Seven Swords Society, the largest assassin organization in Zhejiang.
“Now then, you need to keep the rest of your promise.”
“You won’t answer even if I ask why you’re looking for Elder Gwangsal, will you?”
Baek Socheon shook his head.
She had not expected an answer in the first place, so she began walking ahead.
“Fine. It isn’t very far, so let’s go immediately.”
As the two walked toward the carriage waiting before the branch headquarters, Cheon Geuk spoke.
“I truly never imagined a day would come when you and I would travel together like this.”
“Neither did I.”
“Let’s live for a long time. We’ll go through all sorts of things together from now on.”
“That’s an odd thing for the Assassin King to say.”
“Oh, please!”
The carriage carrying the two of them rapidly departed Munseong.