“Good.”
Having resolved himself to something, Wi Cheongyeong took a deep breath.
“Since things have come to this, forgive me, but please die heroically first.”
“Huh?”
Wi Cheongyeong looked down at his injured leg and spoke.
“I must kill that wicked bastard Seomun Kyung no matter what.”
Seomun Kyung, who abducted children and committed horrific acts, could not be forgiven.
Even if it meant dying in the process, Wi Cheongyeong intended to go to where Seomun Kyung was and take his life without fail.
“Understood.”
Having grasped Wi Cheongyeong’s intention, Won Semun and Jo Namcheon began gathering their internal energy.
Tak.
“Haaap!”
Suddenly, Wi Cheongyeong executed Shadowless Mystery, and Won Semun and Jo Namcheon unleashed full-power palm force toward Wi Cheongyeong, who was floating in midair.
Kwaaang!
With an explosive sound, Wi Cheongyeong became a single streak of light.
Using the force of the two men’s palm strikes, he once again activated Shadowless Mystery and pierced straight through the formation.
“Catch him!”
As Wi Cheongyeong vanished toward the inner courtyard where Seomun Kyung resided, Seomun Gwang shouted loudly.
“You must never let him reach Kyung!”
In the meantime, Won Semun and Jo Namcheon began charging at the Seomun family martial artists like rhinos.
“You lot can play with us!”
Won Semun drew a greatsword from his waist, while Jo Namcheon pulled out a wolf-fang staff.
In an effort to somewhat conceal their identities, they had brought beloved weapons that were deliberately mismatched or eccentric.
“Take this!”
When Won Semun swung his greatsword, thirteen sword qi blades poured out, creating a massive storm.
Instead of the sword art taught by Bu Eunseol, he unfolded the righteous faction’s Wind Earl Flying Stream Blade Technique, which he had learned merely for cultural refinement.
Whooong! Whooong! Whooong!
Meanwhile, Jo Namcheon thrust his wolf-fang staff repeatedly, and martial artists collapsed in droves. He was using the Twin Horn Eighteen Staff—one of the techniques frequently employed by black path martial artists.
Neither art was particularly high-level or remarkable.
Yet when the two men unleashed them with death-resolution in their hearts, they produced earth-shaking, ferocious power.
“These mad bastards.”
Though momentarily flustered, Seomun Gwang soon shouted loudly.
“Activate the Absolute Heart Command!”
It was the order to mobilize the entire family force at once and annihilate invaders in a single stroke when the clan faced a major enemy.
“Wipe out those vile demonic seeds who dared invade our house!”
Rumble rumble rumble.
Immediately, yellow-robed experts began pouring out from every corner inside the Seomun family grounds.
“So many.”
“Yeah.”
As endless martial artists surged from all directions of the family compound and gathered thickly, Won Semun and Jo Namcheon swallowed dryly.
If that many people attacked all at once?
They would be trampled so brutally that not even intact corpses would remain.
“Damn it, if it’s like this…”
Won Semun and Jo Namcheon looked at each other at the same moment.
“Since we swore to die together on the same day, at the same time…”
After exchanging glances, the two men unleashed footwork so fast their feet became invisible and began fleeing before the Seomun family martial artists could even deploy formations.
“Let’s go together, Wi Cheongyeong!”
“We said we’d die together, so you have to die with us too!”
Screaming like banshees, they charged madly toward the inner courtyard.
Shwaaaaak!
In the meantime, Wi Cheongyeong, who had become a single meteor, headed straight for the north gate of the inner courtyard where Seomun Kyung, the youngest of the Seomun family who had supposedly shut himself away for years, resided.
Countless martial artists and formations blocked his path midway, but he paid them no mind and passed straight through them.
The Shadowless Mystery that Bu Eunseol had taught him placed the user in the safest possible state while the footwork was active.
No matter what powerful enemy might attack, or even if one needed to flee, a swirling vortex containing the mystery of Grafting Flowers onto Jade formed across the entire body during activation.
Because it moved according to profound positional principles, any attack could be deflected away.
Shwaek!
With a sharp tearing sound through the air, Wi Cheongyeong finally reached the building where Seomun Kyung was.
Kwaang!
With an explosive crash, he smashed through the door of the bedroom where Seomun Kyung resided and burst inside.
There, a man sat neatly at a table in plain clothes, reading a book.
His eyes were sharp, but his complexion was deathly pale, as though he had not seen sunlight for a very long time.
‘Except when abducting children, he never left the house—so it makes sense.’
Gritting his teeth, Wi Cheongyeong spoke with murderous eyes.
“The whole place is in chaos because of an intruder, yet here you are leisurely reading a book.” Wi Cheongyeong, covered in blood, drew his daggers. “You must be prepared.”
Even at the murderous shout, Seomun Kyung continued reading without so much as glancing at Wi Cheongyeong.
Flash!
Wi Cheongyeong executed footwork and slashed at his neck at ultra-high speed.
But something astonishing happened.
Chuk.
Seomun Kyung, still seated, casually blocked the dagger with his index and middle fingers.
“Immortal Thread Finger Art?”
Shockingly, he had mastered the exclusive supreme art of Yang Daeryang—the former Heavenly Passage Captain of the Martial Alliance—who had become an idiot after losing to Bu Eunseol.
Immortal Thread Finger Art.
“In my childhood, the family head thought I had talent with the sword and spent a fortune… inviting famous righteous masters to teach me.”
Tak.
Finishing his words calmly, Seomun Kyung withdrew the Immortal Thread Finger Art.
Though puzzled, Wi Cheongyeong quickly retreated.
Srrk.
Rising from his chair, Seomun Kyung muttered with empty eyes.
“Especially Commander Yang… he praised me endlessly, saying I had outstanding talent. He even imparted his own life art to me.”
He looked down at his own hands with a bitter expression.
“But those words became a curse to me. Being acknowledged for talent by someone like Commander Yang… inevitably raised the family head’s expectations to the limit.”
Seomun Kyung stared straight at the blood-soaked Wi Cheongyeong and continued.
“Until I trained in the family, I truly believed I possessed the greatest talent in the world. But the moment I stepped into the martial world… I realized I was merely a frog in a well.”
He had confidently entered the political martial tournament of Dongpyoseorang but there he was utterly crushed by Bu Eunseol, an unknown rookie at the time.
Only then did he awaken to cold reality; he shut himself inside the family compound and never appeared in the martial world again.
He realized his talent was only enough to become a local overlord at best.
As long as someone with overwhelmingly superior talent existed in the martial world, no amount of effort would allow him to command the martial world.
“So.”
Mad light exploded from Wi Cheongyeong’s eyes.
“You abducted and murdered innocent children?”
“Is that not allowed?”
“What?”
Seomun Kyung spoke indifferently.
“Even if they hadn’t died by my hand, they were destined to die anyway while living as vagrants.”
“Right. And since you’re going to die anyway.”
Flames sparked in Wi Cheongyeong’s eyes.
“It would be better for you to die quickly right now.”
Kwaang!
But at that moment, an explosion rang out from outside the building, followed by thick, guttural groans.
“Cheongyeong! Let’s fight together!”
“I don’t want to die pathetically at the hands of these yellow bastards!”
It was unmistakably the voices of Won Semun and Jo Namcheon.
“It seems your comrades have arrived. Shall we go out together?”
Seomun Kyung leisurely extended his hand.
“I won’t run away, so don’t worry. I’m just curious about your comrades.”
Then he raised both arms.
“If you want, seal my blood points.”
Though Wi Cheongyeong frowned,
Papapak.
He instantly fired finger winds and sealed Seomun Kyung’s demon blood points.
Then, holding a blade to his throat, he stepped outside the building.
There stood Won Semun and Jo Namcheon, battered and torn, while Seomun family martial artists completely surrounded the building.
“You said you’d buy time—why the hell did you crawl all the way here?”
At Wi Cheongyeong’s question, Won Semun and Jo Namcheon stammered.
“We swore to die on the same day, at the same time, didn’t we?”
“Yeah. We didn’t want to die there just the two of us.”
When Wi Cheongyeong subdued Seomun Kyung and took him hostage, color returned to their faces.
“Anyway, we don’t have to die now so that’s good.”
“Yeah, yeah, with the young master as hostage, they can’t do anything.”
Wi Cheongyeong felt rage boiling up, but soon let out a sigh and shook his head.
“Trusting gluttons like you two was my mistake.”
“Why say it so harshly? We just got bored fighting as three every day and came because fighting as two wasn’t fun.”
While they were bickering loudly, Seomun Gwang emerged from among the martial artists and shouted toward Seomun Kyung.
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
“No, Father.”
“Thank goodness.”
As Seomun Gwang let out a relieved sigh, Seomun Kyung said something unexpected.
“Can’t you just let them go?”
“What?”
“Even if you kill people like them, what would it accomplish?”
Seomun Kyung’s eyes were as cold as a corpse that had died long ago.
Noticing this, Wi Cheongyeong felt a sense of dissonance.
Could someone so utterly despairing of life, who had lost interest in everything… really abduct children and brutally murder them?
Shuuk.
But then something astonishing happened.
Suddenly the ground spun, and Seomun Kyung, who had been held captive by Wi Cheongyeong, instantly moved to where Seomun Gwang and the Seomun family martial artists stood.
It was the function of the profound positional formation laid throughout the Seomun family grounds.
“We’re screwed.”
Jo Namcheon’s eyes widened as he watched.
“Our only hostage is gone—we’re really dead now.”
“You idiot!”
Furious, Won Semun grabbed Wi Cheongyeong by the collar and shook him.
“You should’ve held him properly! Because of you we’re all going to die together now!”
Jo Namcheon pulled him back.
“What are you doing fighting in front of the enemy?”
Seeing the three of them tangled up and arguing, the Seomun family martial artists wore momentarily dumbfounded expressions.
The Seomun family studied formations so the internal atmosphere was solemn, and reckless behavior was strictly forbidden.
Yet witnessing the attitude of these ruffians they had never seen in their lives left them speechless.
“Crazy bastards. Strike now!”
At Seomun Gwang’s shout,
Rumble rumble.
Yellow-robed martial artists drew their swords and began encircling Wi Cheongyeong and the others.
It seemed they intended to deploy a profound formation and trap them all at once.
Siiik.
But at that moment, Won Semun and Jo Namcheon looked at Seomun Gwang and grinned wickedly.
“…?”
While Seomun Gwang blinked in confusion,
Paang!
With an explosion, Wi Cheongyeong shot forward like a bullet and charged toward Seomun Kyung.
The surrounding martial artists drew swords to block him,
Shuyuk.
But Wi Cheongyeong passed straight through their defense, and in an instant pressed a dagger to Seomun Kyung’s throat once more.
Won Semun and Jo Namcheon had only pretended to fight while secretly transferring explosive energy to Wi Cheongyeong, allowing him to activate Shadowless Mystery yet again.
“Kyung-ah!”
As Seomun Gwang cried out in shock, Wi Cheongyeong gave a faint smile.
“You’re going to hell together with me.”
He immediately moved to sever his neck.
But Seomun Kyung’s eyes remained calm, tinged with an ashen hue.
As though he had long craved death.
“You…”
Wi Cheongyeong instinctively sensed it.
Seomun Kyung.
This man was not the true criminal.
‘I cannot kill someone who is not the real culprit.’
After hesitating, Wi Cheongyeong finally lowered the dagger he had held to Seomun Kyung’s throat.
“What are you doing! You idiot!”
“You crazy bastard! We barely created an opening for you!”
As Won Semun and Jo Namcheon went berserk, Seomun Gwang did not miss the chance.
“Now! Kill them all without fail!”
Ziiing.
Mysterious light began to rise from the entire floor of the inner courtyard, and light also flowed from the bodies of the Seomun family martial artists. They themselves had become the Heaven-Filling Annihilation Formation, intending to erase Wi Cheongyeong and the others in one stroke.
“I’m sorry.” Wi Cheongyeong said. “This man is not the culprit. It seems I jumped to the wrong conclusion.”
Won Semun and Jo Namcheon narrowed their eyes and glared at Wi Cheongyeong with resentment.
“Damn it, you say it so quickly.”
“That’s just how you always are…”
The two lowered their heads in resignation.
Ziiiiing.
Just as light began pouring from the countless Seomun family martial artists—
“Stoooooop-!”
PaAAAAAA!
With a thunderous roar, the sound of waves began to echo from somewhere, and soon a silver current swirled violently around Wi Cheongyeong.
The light generated by the Heaven-Filling Annihilation Formation slowly began to fade.
“Who is it!”
At Seomun Gwang’s shout,
Huuuuing.
A storm-like wind blew around Wi Cheongyeong, and a short-haired man rose from the ground as though erupting upward.
“Captain Myo.”
Wi Cheongyeong was stunned.
The man who had suddenly appeared was none other than Myo Cheonwoo.
“How did you get here…”
“Seomun Kyung.”
Myo Cheonwoo glanced at Seomun Kyung, then spoke in a grave voice.
“He is not the true culprit who abducted the children.”
“What do you mean?”
When Won Semun and Jo Namcheon asked simultaneously, Myo Cheonwoo continued.
“He may have aided and abetted, but he is not the true culprit who abducted the children.”
Then he turned to Seomun Gwang and said, “Isn’t that right, Family Head Seomun?”
“What nonsense are you spouting?”
“Are you planning to sell out your son to save your own life?”
Myo Cheonwoo took out a booklet from his robes and threw it toward Seomun Gwang.
Tak.
Seomun Gwang, catching the booklet, frowned and opened it.
Chwararak.
After examining it for a long while, the light in Seomun Gwang’s eyes changed.
It detailed every movement of the true culprit who had abducted children and brought them to the Seomun family.
Or more precisely… the actions of Seomun Gwang, the family head of the Seomun family.
“So the family head of the Seomun family is the true culprit who abducted the children?”
When Wi Cheongyeong asked, Myo Cheonwoo nodded.
“Seomun Gwang. That man wore the Left Hand Sword and the Deformed Sword to impersonate his son.”
“Why on earth…”
“At first he probably hated his crippled son. But later, he came to hate the person who had crippled his son even more.”
Myo Cheonwoo spoke fluently, as though he had heard the story somewhere.
“So he tried to kill that person but before long, that person had become a figure like the sun of the demonic path.”
Myo Cheonwoo glared coldly at Seomun Gwang.
“That’s why he eventually wanted to kill anyone who resembled him.”
“…”
“But among adults, handsome men with pale skin are not uncommon. So in the end he realized that quite a few pretty young girls resembled him quite closely…”
“Hahahaha!”
Seomun Gwang burst into loud, incredulous laughter, cutting off Myo Cheonwoo’s words.
“You’re just making up bizarre stories. Why would this family head do such a thing?” Seomun Gwang coldly tossed the booklet aside. “Everything written here is nonsense too. Without any clear evidence, you simply fabricated actions and wrote them down.”
Then, looking at Myo Cheonwoo, he raised the corner of his mouth.
“Isn’t that so… Death Shadow Corps Captain, sir?”
Myo Cheonwoo was not wearing a mask.
He had used his exclusive art, Silver Flame Palm.
Therefore, Seomun Gwang—who was well-versed in martial world information and deeply knowledgeable about demonic martial arts—immediately recognized Myo Cheonwoo’s identity.
“Since you’ve committed such an act, Majeon must already be prepared for the consequences, yes?”
Invading the Seomun family was tantamount to invading all Eight Great Families. Moreover, the Seomun family maintained close ties with the Nine Great Sects and the Martial Alliance… making it something the Death Shadow Corps alone could not handle.
“You thought you had perfectly erased all evidence, didn’t you, Seomun Gwang.”
Myo Cheonwoo said coldly.
“That you never showed your true face when abducting children—so you would never be caught.”
“Enough of your nonsense. I’ll slaughter all of you and personally question the Demon Emperor about this matter.”
“Such grand dreams.”
At that moment, with a whir, a valiant shadow landed beside Myo Cheonwoo.
It was Yoo Unryong.
“Captain Yoo.”
Wi Cheongyeong’s mouth fell open.
Yoo Unryong, so busy with Death Shadow Corps affairs that he barely had time to leave his chair—how had he suddenly appeared here?
‘Could it be…’
A thought flashed through Wi Cheongyeong’s mind.
Only now did he realize who was behind the thorough investigation of this area, the establishment of the mercenary market here, and the creation of training grounds for the newly joined Death Shadow Corps warriors and the Flying Demon Corps.
‘The Command Lord already knew about the Seomun family’s crimes from the moment he decided to build the mercenary market here.’
The only person who could send both Yoo Unryong and Myo Cheonwoo here at the same time was Bu Eunseol.
“You’ve worked hard.”
At that moment, Yoo Unryong looked at Wi Cheongyeong, Won Semun, and the others and nodded.
“Thanks to you three stirring things up so wildly, we were finally able to find the real evidence.”
Rumble rumble.
At that moment, a large number of children poured out from behind Yoo Unryong.
They were precisely the girls who had been imprisoned in the true underground torture prison.
Having endured extreme torture, their appearances were horrific.
The one silver lining was that—intending to torture them for a long time—the perpetrators had taken measures to ensure their lives would not be endangered.
—Th-that…
Watching the sight, most of the Seomun family martial artists’ eyes widened in shock.
Because Seomun Gwang’s abduction of children had been known only to his closest confidants, the vast majority of the family’s martial artists had been completely unaware of his crimes.
Seeing the pitiful state of the children, they trembled as though deeply shaken.
“Seomun Gwang. Proving your evil deeds was difficult. No—practically impossible.”
Yoo Unryong’s eyes flashed as he spoke.
“Even if someone discovered the real prison, by the time a large army arrived to subdue the Seomun family… the evidence would already have been destroyed.”
“…”
“That’s why we, the Death Shadow Corps Captains, risked our lives and stirred up your Seomun family. So that I could find the evidence.”
At Yoo Unryong’s shout, Won Semun and Jo Namcheon’s mouths fell open as well.
Wi Cheongyeong had come to somehow save the pitiful girl, and Won Semun and Jo Namcheon had simply followed to help without thinking.
But since when had they unknowingly become bait in such an elaborate plan?
“That’s right, you gluttons!”
Having finally grasped the situation, Won Semun pointed accusingly at Seomun Gwang.
“Did you think we stupidly charged in without a single thought? Hahaha!”
Jo Namcheon added excitedly, “Now your evil deeds are exposed to the entire world—the Seomun family is finished!”
Seomun Gwang’s fingertips trembled.
Seomun Kyung had been a son with genius-level talent, the one on whom the entire family had pinned all their hopes.
That was why he had poured every last coin of the family fortune into hiring famous masters to educate him.
Yet the moment he stepped into the martial world, he encountered an insurmountable wall, broke his sword, and became a shut-in cripple.
Seomun Gwang could never accept it.
He desperately wanted his son to change his mind, train diligently once more, and make a name for himself.
—No matter how much I train for a hundred years, I will never surpass him.
But Seomun Kyung firmly refused.
Because he could never defeat the young swordsman of similar age he had met at the political martial tournament.
And that was the truth.
Before long, that name shook all eighteen thousand li of the Central Plains.
In the end, with the permission of the Demon Emperor—the sky of the demonic path—he became the successor of Majeon, ruler over a million demonic cultivators.
When Seomun Gwang learned of this, he felt such injustice that his body seemed ready to burst.
—That bastard is the successor of Majeon, yet he deliberately entered the political martial tournament to turn my son into a cripple!
Even though he knew it was impossible, Seomun Gwang could only tell himself that.
Then, by chance, he encountered a young man on the street who slightly resembled Bu Eunseol—the Martial Soul Command Lord who had crippled his son.
—Finally!
In the end, Seomun Gwang could no longer suppress his twisted rage and expressed it in an abnormal form.
He secretly abducted a young man who vaguely resembled his enemy and brutally murdered him.
Surprisingly, his anger subsided, and his mind felt a little lighter.
Above all… he felt an indescribable thrill in restraining freedom, oppressing, and then torturing.
As time passed like that, before he knew it, Seomun Gwang had become a cruel killer who murdered girls of beautiful appearance.
“Do you think I’ll just obediently die?”
Blood vessels bulged in Seomun Gwang’s eyes.
He was a grandmaster who had trained in strange formation studies for decades, and this was inside the Seomun family grounds.
There was no way he would die so easily.
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