The place was an inn located in a secluded village a short distance from Pyeongdo, a regular haunt for Yu Cheongrim.
This was because the innkeeper was a fence who dealt in stolen goods.
When So Okrim said she had something to discuss, Yu Cheongrim brought the two to this place. Not only was this inn rarely visited by ordinary patrons, but it also had a private room where conversations wouldn’t leak outside.
“So… this guy is a mercenary?” Yu Cheongrim tilted his head after listening to So Okrim for a while.
According to her, the gray-robed man with a topknot was named Seolso. He was a mercenary from Red Sky Veil, hired by So Okrim.
But having witnessed Bu Eunseol’s movement technique up close, Yu Cheongrim suspected that Bu Eunseol was merely posing as a mercenary, with his true identity being something else entirely.
“That’s not important. Let’s get to the point,” So Okrim said, proposing her plan to capture the Black-and-White Witch.
In other words, she suggested that Yu Cheongrim serve as fresh bait in place of Seolso.
No, it wasn’t a suggestion—it was essentially a demand.
“…I can’t do it,” Yu Cheongrim said, bowing his head so low it nearly touched the table after hearing the full explanation.
“Just kill me instead!” Seeing no change in So Okrim’s expression, he clasped his hands toward Bu Eunseol.
“Brother Seol. No, Great Hero Seol! Please, save me! I don’t want to die yet!”
So Okrim spoke in a gentle tone, “Why would you die? We’re right here with you.”
“No, but come on! You’re asking me to be bait for the Black-and-White Witch of all people?” Yu Cheongrim said with a tearful expression, “If something goes wrong, won’t I end up dead with my blood sucked dry?”
“Hey, who said anything about bait? We’re just setting a trap,” So Okrim replied.
“Didn’t you just say I’d be bait?” Yu Cheongrim said, shuddering. “And no matter how skilled you two are, you can’t possibly defeat that witch.”
“What are you talking about? Have you seen her?” So Okrim asked.
“I have,” Yu Cheongrim nodded, his eyes filled with fear. “I’ve seen the Black-and-White Witch.”
“When? How?”
Yu Cheongrim trembled as he recalled the past. “It was when I sneaked into the Yue Family Manor to steal and was leaving the village. I stopped to rest at a temple, but I felt a strange presence and turned around. There, I saw a figure in black clothes with white-dyed hair staring at me.”
His eyes widened in terror as he continued, “Her face wasn’t clear—it kept shifting, blurry. The moment our eyes met, I felt dizzy, and my body went numb.”
Swallowing hard, he went on, “At the same time, my vision started to darken, and my heart was filled with nothing but fear and despair. Then, my whole body suddenly felt cold.” He continued, “When I opened my eyes again, a woman with long fangs was biting into my neck, sucking my blood.”
Yu Cheongrim pulled back his collar to reveal a scar on his neck. “This is the mark the Black-and-White Witch left.”
“Hmm, it doesn’t exactly look like a bite mark,” So Okrim said.
“I don’t know myself, but this scar appeared on my neck afterward.”
“How did you survive?” So Okrim tilted her head, puzzled. “Surviving after being fed on by the Black-and-White Witch? That’s strange.”
“There was a particularly sharp tracker from the Yue Family Manor,” Yu Cheongrim said, lowering his head. “He followed the traces of my earth-escape technique and found the Black-and-White Witch feeding on me.”
He closed his eyes tightly and continued, “She reveals her face when she feeds. But when the tracker saw her face, she became enraged.”
“She thrust her hand into the tracker’s stomach with lightning-fast movement, ripped out his intestines, and smashed his head…”
“Okay, skip that part,” So Okrim interrupted.
“I took that chance to use my earth-escape technique and fled,” Yu Cheongrim said. “I hid underground for three days to avoid her detection, then came out and went into seclusion for a while.” His eyes darkened as the terror of that moment resurfaced.
He had narrowly escaped death at the hands of the Black-and-White Witch.
“Hmm,” So Okrim crossed her arms.
It wasn’t out of sympathy for Yu Cheongrim’s pain.
The story made her feel that the Black-and-White Witch’s martial arts were quite different from those of the Blood Emperor.
“Being unable to move is one thing, but actually biting the neck to suck blood? Something’s off,” So Okrim said, tilting her head. “If she were a descendant of the Blood Emperor, she could draw blood without even touching the body, so why bite the neck?”
“It might not be her,” Bu Eunseol said.
So Okrim shook her head. “I’m not sure. This guy’s so scared he might’ve seen things that weren’t there.”
She pointed at the scar on Yu Cheongrim’s neck. “No matter how I look at it, this doesn’t seem like a mark made by human teeth.”
“Anyway, I’m not doing it,” Yu Cheongrim said firmly.
So Okrim smirked. “That’s your choice. But you know what?”
“What?”
“The Black-and-White Witch always tracks down and kills anyone who’s seen her face.”
“Of course. That’s why, since that day, I’ve never shown my true face and always used disguises,” Yu Cheongrim replied.
So Okrim clapped her hands. “You’re going to live like that forever?”
“What?”
“Live in fear forever? Always disguising yourself, changing your face?” When Yu Cheongrim fell silent, So Okrim said gently, “Why not just get rid of her now? Then you can live peacefully, right?”
“How am I supposed to get rid of the Black-and-White Witch?” Yu Cheongrim asked.
“I’m the Celestial Goddess. I can take down a crazy woman like her in a flash,” So Okrim said.
Yu Cheongrim hesitated.
Could So Okrim’s martial prowess really eliminate her? The thought crossed his mind.
But recalling the black world he felt when he saw the Black-and-White Witch, he shook his head. “I absolutely can’t do it. Find someone else.”
“Come on, don’t be like that.”
“I won’t do it.”
When Yu Cheongrim spoke firmly, So Okrim wiped the gentle smile from her face. “Fine, if that’s how you want it.”
“Thank you—”
“I’ll spread the word far and wide that the Thousand-Faced Divine Thief, who saw the Black-and-White Witch’s face, is alive and well in Shandong.”
“What does that mean?” Yu Cheongrim’s eyes widened.
So Okrim bared her sharp teeth in a grin. “If that rumor spreads, won’t the Black-and-White Witch come after you? We’ll just wait for her to show up and grab her.”
Shudder.
Yu Cheongrim trembled at So Okrim’s vicious threat.
‘This devilish woman!’
If the Black-and-White Witch was a witch who sucked men’s blood at night…
So Okrim was a witch who drained people’s blood in broad daylight.
If he refused her proposal?
She would truly spread such a rumor and lurk around him, waiting for the Black-and-White Witch to appear. That, in itself, was a way to drive someone to death.
“I’ll do it,” Yu Cheongrim said.
“Huh? No, it’s fine.”
“No, I’ll do it.” Adjusting his expression, Yu Cheongrim clasped his hands solemnly. “The sooner we catch that witch, the more stable the martial world will be, and people can sleep peacefully, right?”
“So… we’re good?” So Okrim nodded with a satisfied expression.
Thus, she had acquired a fresh, appetizing new bait.
***
The Black-and-White Witch has reappeared!
Rumors spread that the Black-and-White Witch, who had vanished, had resurfaced in Pyeongdo.
She was said to have attacked martial artists near Cheongwoosan, sucking their blood. Afterward, she roamed the famous mountains around Pyeongdo, such as Jahasan and Pungaksan, repeatedly attacking and feeding on martial artists.
She must have gone mad!
Enraged martial artists banded together to scour the Pyeongdo region.
But as if nothing had happened, the Black-and-White Witch stopped appearing. Yet, whenever the search died down, she would strike again like a ghost, mocking her pursuers.
At an abandoned temple on Pungaksan in Pyeongdo, a bonfire was lit, and six figures, appearing to be mercenaries, gathered.
Armed with weapons, their sharp eyes constantly scanned the surroundings.
They were mercenaries hired to hunt down the Black-and-White Witch.
“She’s not here,” said a middle-aged man with a short spear on his back, speaking calmly. “It’s been five days wandering this area, and we haven’t seen a trace of her.”
“Exactly,” said another man, chewing grass with a short bow on his back, chuckling. “She probably caused too much trouble here and moved to another region.”
Spitting out the grass, he patted his money pouch. “Well, we got paid handsomely for the investigation, so it doesn’t matter.”
As they chatted,
Swish.
A black figure suddenly appeared in front of the abandoned temple.
With white-dyed, disheveled hair and bloodshot eyes, the figure glared down at the mercenaries.
“The Black-and-White Witch!”
The mercenaries, startled, assumed combat stances. But having already locked eyes with her, they—
“Ugh.”
—suddenly groaned and froze in place, as if their pressure points had been sealed, unable to move.
“Hsss.” The Black-and-White Witch let out a low hiss, baring sharp teeth as she approached.
Thud.
But before she could feed, the mercenaries' bodies softened and collapsed to the ground, as if their souls had been struck.
“Urgh.” As they fell, the Black-and-White Witch parted her disheveled hair, revealing the pale face of a man with heavy eye makeup—it was Yu Cheongrim.
“Doing things that aren’t in my fate,” he muttered glumly, looking at the black metal device hidden in his sleeve.
It was a hidden weapon mechanism from the Tang Clan called the Hundred-Pace Soul-Chaser, capable of firing nearly invisible projectiles. He had laced the projectiles with a mix of sedative and paralyzing powder, knocking out the mercenaries and pretending to suck their blood.
“First, create the evidence,” Yu Cheongrim said, pulling out pointed false teeth from his robe and marking the mercenaries’ necks.
He then took out a bottle filled with chicken blood and sprinkled it over their bodies. This would make them think they had been fed on but survived because they weren’t virgins.
“Let’s stop here for today!” Yu Cheongrim shouted to the distant sky. “Dawn’s about to break!”
Under So Okrim’s coercion, he had been roaming Pyeongdo disguised as the Black-and-White Witch.
A witch so obsessive and vicious that she hunted down anyone who saw her face would never let someone impersonating her go unpunished.
“…” But no matter how long he waited, there was no response.
Perhaps they had gone to scout the area again after seeing him subdue the mercenaries.
“Sigh. I’d rather die than keep doing this,” he muttered, placing the blood-soaked mercenaries in a corner of the temple.
Suddenly, something felt deeply wrong.
It was as if an unknown presence was moving behind him.
Sensing an ominous aura, Yu Cheongrim slowly turned around… and saw a figure with long, white-dyed hair, head bowed.
‘She’s here!’
It was the real Black-and-White Witch.
“She’s here!” Yu Cheongrim shouted loudly. “The Black-and-White Witch has appeared!”
But his voice only echoed in the night sky, with no response.
“Heroine So! Great Hero Seol!”
Where had Bu Eunseol and So Okrim gone? They weren’t showing up.
‘Those crazy bastards! They said they’d protect me!’ Yu Cheongrim’s eyes widened, the corners trembling with fear.
He had only undertaken this insane task because he trusted Bu Eunseol and So Okrim. But now that the Black-and-White Witch had appeared, they were nowhere to be found?
“Help!” Unable to contain his overwhelming fear, Yu Cheongrim used his earth-escape technique without looking back.
If the Black-and-White Witch revealed her eyes, his body would be paralyzed instantly.
Burrow. Rumble.
Burrowing frantically through the ground, Yu Cheongrim escaped the temple’s vicinity in an instant.
“…” But even after emerging dozens of yards away, he sensed a faint shadow following him above ground.
The Black-and-White Witch was tracking the path of his burrowing.
‘I can’t shake her like this!’
Boom!
Leaping out of the ground, Yu Cheongrim began using his lightning-fast movement technique.
His title as the Thousand-Faced Divine Thief came from his masterful disguise skills, but his movement technique was also among the best in the martial world. His Great Lightning Flash Shadow had never allowed pursuers to catch up. Of course, Bu Eunseol and So Okrim were exceptions.
‘Damn it!’ But today, it seemed he’d have to add another exception.
The Black-and-White Witch was so close behind him that he could almost feel her breath on his neck.
‘Just a bit more!’
He saw lights in the distance.
If he could reach the city, it was filled with martial artists. Moreover, he could use his Thousand Transformations Technique to change his appearance and attire instantly, shaking off the pursuit.
‘Please! Please!’ Yu Cheongrim ran as if his feet were on fire.
If he could just reach the crowded city, he could surely escape her pursuit.
Whoosh!
But his hope was shattered.
With a sharp sound, his neck was suddenly wrapped in white hair.
“Urk!” Feeling as if his neck would snap, Yu Cheongrim quickly drew his dagger and slashed at the hair.
But the white hair, made of who-knows-what, didn’t even get a scratch despite being struck by his Moonlit Gap, a supreme blade.
“Ughhh.” The Black-and-White Witch, who had restrained him with her long hair, approached slowly, head still bowed.
Her hair parted, revealing her blurry face.
‘As expected.’ Between the parted hair, her face was indistinct, shifting hundreds, thousands of times.
The moment he saw it, the world darkened, and his body began to paralyze.
‘I’m going to die like this.’ As despair overwhelmed him, his body felt heavy, like water-soaked cotton.
His breathing slowed, and even his will to live faded.
Yu Cheongrim closed his eyes involuntarily.
Whoosh!
But with a sharp sound, the darkening world regained its light. Opening his eyes, he saw a gray-robed man with his hair tied up, standing tall with a black sword.
It was Bu Eunseol.
Rustle.
The hair cut by his black sword fell to the ground but moved like a living creature, returning to the Black-and-White Witch and was absorbed into her body.
‘Sorcery?’ Bu Eunseol’s eyes gleamed.
There was no way cut hair could be absorbed back into a body.
“Master Seol! Where the hell were you?” Yu Cheongrim, regaining his senses, ran to Bu Eunseol’s side, nearly crying. “I almost died!”
Bu Eunseol sighed deeply. “There’s more than one.”
“What?”
As Yu Cheongrim blinked, Bu Eunseol said firmly, “The Black-and-White Witch isn’t just one person.”
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