At this rate, we’ll be annihilated.
Gwak Cheon, trembling, wiped cold sweat from his brow as he surveyed the battlefield.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, a dwarf assassin from the Blade Tyrant Sect lunged from the crowd, aiming a handaxe at his spine.
“Ugh!” Gwak Cheon snapped to attention, swiftly blocking the axe.
Clang!
Sparks flew as he parried, but his eyes widened. The force behind the axe was unimaginable, and a surge of internal energy rattled his meridians.
“Wae Sal… the leader of the Valley of Hidden Death?” Gwak Cheon recognized the assassin as Wae Sal, the Valley’s leader, at a glance.
“Heh, heh, heh. Your skills are pathetic!” Wae Sal cackled, twirling his handaxe with ease.
“Time to die!”
Whoosh!
In the blink of an eye, Wae Sal closed the distance, swinging his axe at Gwak Cheon’s head.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Gwak Cheon raised his sword to block, but the axe’s overwhelming force pushed him back step by step.
An assassin with such profound martial arts? Despair filled Gwak Cheon’s eyes. Assassins excelled in ambushes, not head-on combat, but Wae Sal’s mastery of both assassination techniques and supreme martial arts was overwhelming.
Slash!
Spotting an opening, Wae Sal’s axe sliced into Gwak Cheon’s shoulder. Blood sprayed as searing pain engulfed him.
“No way!” Gritting his teeth, Gwak Cheon unleashed his sword technique. If he fell to Wae Sal, the battle would collapse irreparably.
“Argh!” Around him, Heavenly Tremor disciples were dropping one by one.
Scanning the surroundings, Gwak Cheon clenched his jaw. They had already lost more than half their courtyard. The Earth Sword Corps was forming a final defensive line to protect their sect leader, Wang Inhwa, who was in seclusion due to old injuries.
We can’t hold out any longer.
With their front line shattered, the best option was to join the Earth Sword Corps for a last stand.
“Retreat!” Gwak Cheon shouted.
The Heavenly Tremor disciples, as if waiting for the command, began to fall back, their faces etched with fear.
“It’s over,” Blade Tyrant Sect Leader Gwan Dokgun muttered from a distance, a sinister smile on his lips.
The Heavenly Tremor Sect’s greatest force, the Heaven Sword Corps, was retreating. Though some skilled masters stepped forward, the tide had already turned.
“What a long fight,” Gwan Dokgun sighed, almost to himself.
For over a decade, the Blade Tyrant Sect had clashed with the Heavenly Tremor Sect for control of Sangyang. Normally, their smuggling-based sect couldn’t hope to defeat the deeply rooted Heavenly Tremor Sect.
Heaven has favored us.
Gwan Dokgun glanced at the masked figure beside him. He didn’t know their identity or name. Months ago, this figure appeared, offering to help him defeat the Heavenly Tremor Sect. Gwan Dokgun had laughed at first. But when the masked figure presented a promissory note for a million tael to hire the entire Valley of Hidden Death, he quickly changed his tune.
What do you want from me? There was no such thing as a free lunch. Knowing this, Gwan Dokgun grew wary despite the million tael.
The masked figure’s response was curt: Do it or don’t.
Gwan Dokgun tilted his head. Do you have a grudge against the Heavenly Tremor Sect?
Instead of answering, the masked figure said something unexpected: Wang Inhwa, the Heavenly Tremor Sect Leader, is in seclusion due to old injuries, isn’t he? Now’s the perfect time to strike.
Gwan Dokgun couldn’t understand. Who was this masked figure? Why did they want the Heavenly Tremor Sect’s downfall? Where did all that money come from?
As questions swirled, he stood there, dazed.
If you don’t want it, I’ll take it back.
As the masked figure reached for the note, Gwan Dokgun snapped out of it. Opportunities had to be seized—his life’s philosophy.
You really want nothing in return?
Nothing.
With that, Gwan Dokgun grabbed the note without hesitation and, with the Valley’s support, launched a full-scale invasion of the Heavenly Tremor Sect.
“Just deal with those rats, and it’s over,” Gwan Dokgun said, smiling at the masked figure. “Thanks to you, my lifelong ambition is coming true.”
As he tried to make small talk—
“Argh!” Screams erupted from the Blade Tyrant Sect’s rear ranks.
“What’s happening?” Gwan Dokgun demanded.
A subordinate answered urgently, “The Human Sword Corps has returned!”
“What?”
Gwan Dokgun hurriedly checked the rear. Warriors in Heavenly Tremor Sect uniforms and mercenaries were attacking his forces—Mun Kwang’s Human Sword Corps and the mercenary group had arrived.
“How did they get here?” Gwan Dokgun blinked in disbelief.
He had seen the formidable formations and traps set at the Blade Family Manor to deal with the Human Sword Corps. Those defenses were far beyond what the Corps or mercenaries could break.
Yet here they were, unscathed?
“Don’t let a single one live!” Mun Kwang commanded, leading the Corps and mercenaries to cut down the Blade Tyrant Sect members.
Fresh from their victory at the Blade Family Manor, their morale was sky-high. The Blade Tyrant Sect, caught off guard after breaking through the Heavenly Tremor Sect’s defenses, was thrown into disarray by the sudden rear assault.
“Corps Leader Mun!” Gwak Cheon, spotting Mun Kwang directing the battle, shouted to his subordinates, “Support the Human Sword Corps!”
“Raaah!” With a thunderous roar, fierce combat resumed.
“Those bastards!” Gwan Dokgun roared, watching the scene.
Just a bit more, and he could have taken Wang Inhwa’s head, crushing the Heavenly Tremor Sect. But the unexpected arrival of the Human Sword Corps and mercenaries had plunged the battle into chaos.
“Clear a retreat!” As the Blade Tyrant Sect’s lines faltered, the assassins began to fight desperately, even sacrificing their own allies to escape.
“Those human butchers!” Mercenaries at the front cursed, seeing the assassins use corpses as shields.
“If you’re human, don’t desecrate the dead!” one shouted.
But the Valley’s assassins ignored him, continuing to exploit the bodies.
“They’re stronger than the ones at the Blade Family Manor,” Black Leopard said, hurling hidden weapons as he navigated the battlefield.
Namgung Un’s eyes gleamed. “These are their real forces!”
Swish! Swish!
The Valley’s assassins shifted tactics, killing not only Heavenly Tremor disciples but also Blade Tyrant Sect members to clear a retreat.
“Both of you, fall back,” Bu Eunseol said, stepping forward and unleashing a punch.
Whoosh.
As the air was sucked toward him, assassins on the battlefield were reduced to bloody heaps, flung away.
“What kind of fist technique is that?” Hidden among the Blade Tyrant Sect, the assassins backed away in terror. Bu Eunseol’s punches covered too wide a range to evade.
“That guy!” As Bu Eunseol decimated the assassins, Wae Sal, the Valley’s leader, leaped forward from the Blade Tyrant Sect’s ranks. “I’ll kill you first to clear our retreat!”
Bu Eunseol turned to Namgung Un behind him. “Face him.”
“Me?” Namgung Un asked.
Bu Eunseol nodded with utmost seriousness. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
A daylight showdown with an assassin skilled in both assassination techniques and advanced martial arts was rare, even for seasoned martial artists. Surviving this fight would bring immeasurable growth.
I see. Namgung Un understood. This battle with Wae Sal was Bu Eunseol’s gift to him.
“Alright!” Charging forward, Namgung Un unleashed the Sky-Soaring Sword at Wae Sal.
His lightning-fast sword techniques enveloped the battlefield, causing Wae Sal’s eyes to widen. “The Namgung family?” Realizing the young man was from the Namgung family, Wae Sal smirked confidently. “Heh, heh, heh. A young master from a noble family, huh?”
Deflecting Namgung Un’s strikes with his handaxe, he grinned smugly. “Martial arts and killing are different things.”
Noble family scions lived pampered lives, their hot-blooded youth fostering arrogance and underestimating the martial world.
“I’ll take your head quickly,” Wae Sal taunted, confident that Namgung Un, despite his skill, couldn’t match his battle-hardened experience.
But after a dozen exchanges, Wae Sal’s eyes filled with disbelief. Assassins often outmatched orthodox masters by using dirty, dishonorable tactics. Yet Namgung Un did the opposite. To dodge hidden weapons, he leaped backward with his hips raised. To avoid killing strikes, he rolled frantically on the ground. When cornered, he threw dirt and even spat in close combat.
Wae Sal’s jaw dropped. This guy… is from the Namgung family?
The Namgung family, famed as a sword lineage, was known for its strict discipline. Yet this direct heir brazenly used tactics that would make even assassins balk.
But his swordsmanship is undeniable.
The techniques raining down were unmistakably the Sky-Soaring Sword, exclusive to Namgung family heirs. As Wae Sal, dazed, barely dodged, Namgung Un suddenly spat phlegm, some of which landed on Wae Sal’s cheek.
“…” Wiping it with his sleeve, veins bulged on Wae Sal’s forehead. “The Namgung family is doomed! To produce a wastrel like you!”
Such insults would enrage any noble scion, but Namgung Un laughed heartily. “For an assassin, you’re pretty slow. Only now figuring out who I am?”
Wae Sal’s eyes flashed as realization hit. “You’re Namgung Un, the Namgung family’s wastrel?”
Namgung Un, deflecting Wae Sal’s attack, grinned leisurely. “Now that you know, bare your neck!”
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