Book 16 Chapter 17

Assassination (暗殺)

-Coming shadows

Food Gain!

A falcon flew out of the Archduke Bi's arms, red wings spread wide.

Rain calmly read the small tome left in her hand with heartless eyes.

But his mood was uncomfortable. Today wasn't a regular debriefing day, and yet the sudden arrival of the mines meant it was time to get to work.

The sharp edge of his sword twitched for a moment, and he unconsciously frowned.

The preceding paragraphs were not meant to be read in isolation.

"My lord, if you have any bad news……."

Magical Swordsman Chu Ming, who was standing beside him, sensed his discomfort and asked quietly. Bi silently handed over the survey to him.

"This, this is……."

Chu Myung's eyes widened as he cautiously accepted the inspection.

The letter was stamped with a red seal indicating "top priority urgency," and the following words.

[Express Urgency].

Sending an irregular letter pursuant to Article 2, Section 1 of the Emergency Response Rules

Check the current location of Ahn Myung-hoo in Guchukcheol Shiman

Location Volcano Cheonmubong Samseonggak

Currently unconscious

No sign of information leakage yet

Requires removal as a high priority

Mortal (必滅)

"Lord, if you're a Samsung……."

Without turning around, Rain nodded.

"Yeah, it's about going into the tiger's den and taking away the prey that the tiger doesn't want. Heartless!"

"You called, my lord!"

The long shadow stood up, revealing a figure. He was a thousand and sixty-six years old, and he was heartless. Never showing his face, not even to his own companions, he could turn into a cold-blooded assassin whenever the need arose.

"I have a job to do."

"I accept your command."

He replied, his voice devoid of any trace of emotion.

Samseonggak, the official residence of Cheonmusamseong.

With his face bandaged, he lay dead on a bed covered with a white down comforter. Beside the bed was a basin of water, bandages, and a medicinal bath, as if to care for the patient, and the room smelled faintly of medicines, like a doctor's office. The light from the window created long shadows in the room.

Grrrr!

The uncharacteristic shadow stirred for a moment, and then, as if in rebellion, the darkness, which had always turned its back on the sun, lifted itself toward the light.

The shadow, which had never asserted its own agency, shifting this way and that according to the light's projection, slowly gained thickness and shape against the sun's brilliance. It was now fully human.

The shadowy man cautiously searched his surroundings for any sign of life. Finding no signs of life, he slowly shifted his weight.

Don't believe that attacks only happen at night. It's the lazy, sunny afternoons when people are most likely to relax.

Mu Zheng walked toward the man lying there as if he were dead. He wore a dark, copper-colored robe that clung to his body. He approached as silently as mist. It was a silent and very stealthy movement that didn't seem to tolerate even a tremor in the air. Finally, Mu Zheng stopped at the side of the bed.

His opponent still made no attempt to open his eyes. He silently raised his sword, still unconscious as he had been informed.

"To the completion of the Great Work!

Without a moment's hesitation, Mu Zheng plunged his sword into the man's throat.

Pow!

Blood gushed out like a fountain. This amount of blood loss would have killed any human. But he raised his sword once more for the kill.

Just then, he heard a shout from outside the door. Startled, he quickly slipped back into the shadows.

Lim's hand on the doorknob suddenly stopped.

"Huh?"

"Smell blood?

There was something strongly appealing to his sense of smell and instinct.

"What's wrong, brother?"

They had just finished their meal and were about to enter the room with full bellies.

Lim was sure of it. He could smell the unmistakable scent of blood on the other side of Zhang Zimen. His instincts, honed by countless battles, were warning him. It was dangerous to enter this door now. Something on the other side of these doors was after them. It might only be a vague feeling, but he knew better than anyone that there was no one on this floor who had lived long enough to ignore it.

He gestured to Mo-kyung, who was beside him. Having served him for so long, Mo-kyung quickly realized what Chae-ju was trying to do. They gently let go of the doorknob and slipped to the side.

His method of entry was unimaginably ignorant: He did not enter through the front door, nor did he intend to enter through the window, the obvious route.

"Sum!"

He smashed through the wall with the ferocity of a Spring and Autumn Warring States period "siege pike" (a gate-breaking weapon). The wall shattered as his feet, ankles, waist, and shoulders slammed into it with the force of rotating steel, and the shards flew like catapulted stones at breakneck speed. Even his sister, Mo Jing, was not outdone in her reckless ignorance.

Wow!

He had barged in through the ceiling.

Entering the room with a bang that looked like it was going to cost a fortune in repairs, they stood with their backs to each other, wary of their surroundings.

Mokyung's eyes caught sight of the bloodstained bed.

"How dare you!"

Mo Kung gritted his teeth and roared with rage. As his harsh epithet suggests, this man was furious. Impatient, he broke away from Lim Duk-sung and rushed to his bed.

All the while, Lim Duk-sung's gaze darted around, scanning the room. For a moment, his gaze drifted away from the Book of Mormon, and a loophole was revealed.

The shadow of the Book of Mordecai flickered, and a spirit sprang forth from it. Without delay, the shadow plunged its slender blade into the Book of Mordecai's heart.

"Ouch!"

Mu Zheng quickly scattered memorization with his left hand, even as he turned away in horror. His right hand was dripping with blood from the hilt of his sword.

He spun the Tao like a fan and dropped nine of the ten memorizations, but accidentally took one near his neck. The suddenness of the ambush and the fact that his eyes had been turned upside down by the sight of a sword stabbing into his heart had dulled his dao. If it was poisoned, it was a bad thing. But the good news was that there was usually a limit to the amount of venom that could come from such a small stinger.

Without even bothering to remove the memorization from his neck, he swung the sword with the intent to split the mountain in two, and without hesitation, he drew his sword like a metal skewer to deflect Lin Dingsheng's blow.

"You, you are now… dead……."

Lim Duk-sung could not finish his sentence. The dignified man was uncharacteristically rambling; his tongue was paralyzed, and no words came out.

"What?

He hurriedly plucked the saliva from his neck and threw it at his opponent. But Mu Zheng casually caught it and held it lightly.

The poison in the memorization wasn't life-threatening, but it was powerful enough to bind the tongue into a rope of silence. It seemed to be a 'silent poison'. A favorite poison of the stealthy dark folk, it did what it said on the tin: it sealed the voice.

He would have no way to seek help elsewhere. Of course, it's doubtful that this self-respecting man would have done so even if his mouth had been intact.

"Uhhhhh……."

A groan escaped Mo Jing's mouth as she collapsed in a pool of her own blood. For a moment, hope flashed in Lim's eyes.

"Ooh… ooh… ooh… ooh… ooh… ooh!"

"Are you alive!" it said, but I couldn't pronounce it at all. One of the effects seemed to be a sickeningly good poison.

The color drained from Lim's eyes. There was no way an assassin who smelled like a professional would have been so kind as to move his sword out of the way. As soon as Mo Jing felt himself alive-very stealthy for a professional-he twisted his body, seemingly avoiding the instant win: a fatal stab through the heart and lungs. Any less agile and his heart would have been a skewer in no time.

"I'll be gone for a few days. Until then, I want you two to keep an eye on him. I know it's unlikely, but I can't completely rule out the possibility that he's making unsavory moves. Until then, I want you two to take charge of him and keep him safe. He holds important secrets. He must not be allowed to die, and I trust in your abilities!"

"Yes, hold on to your worries, Elder Sword Sheng, I will surely serve you in the name of King Lim Duk Sheng of the Green Forest."

"I'm sorry, good luck then."

"Leave it to me!"

I definitely remember saying that back then. I was pounding my chest and shouting, but what is this now? What kind of ugliness is this?

"Mmm!"

King Lim Duksung of the Green Forest stared at the assassin as he rattled his cowbell. No voice came, but he was not worried. He hadn't thought to ask for help in the first place. "Why would you borrow another's hand when you have your own? If you did, you would be so ashamed of yourself that you would never return to the mountain. What if word got out? He shuddered at the thought. It would be so shameful, so terrible.

"Okay, man, I'm going to turn you into mincemeat today!

The tip of the greatsword was pointed at the assailant.

A mountain-like aura emanated from his body. Although he was temporarily obscured by the majesty of the three heavens and three earths, he was still the head of the seventy-seven Green Forests, the head of the Green Forest Sect, the ruler of the mountains, and the King of the Green Forests, Lin Duxing. A mere assassin with a few tricks up his sleeve was no match for him, as the terrifying dao emanating from his greatsword enveloped his body and made it impossible for him to dare to be disrespectful.

"Sum!

Cheering inwardly, he unleashed a blade of fearsome power.

Berserker Blade (狂風魔狼刀法)

Third Second

One Strike, One Kill (一擊一殺)

Quack, quack, quack!

The house cracked in two, raising dust. The house shook as if it had been hit by an earthquake, and the tiles were dripping with rainwater.

But Mujung stood there, unmoved. He wasn't even cut in two. Instead, the new masked man in front of him held his sword at an angle, deflecting Lim's blow. Before his defense, Lim Deoksung's attack had come to nothing.

"Who are you, how dare you block my blow!"

This was no ordinary man. He couldn't believe that someone could take his work so easily.

"Let's call it a helper for now!"

A new masked man appeared. He was the same man who had appeared before Wei Zichen.

Lim Duk-sung's furious blow had been deflected, but not all of its power had been lost; it had merely been deflected, and the aftermath had been devastating.

Very little of the room's furnishings remained intact, and that included the bed. The quilt had been torn to shreds by the stormy winds and scattered across the room like flower petals.

"This is bad!

For once, the bold man could not help but break out in a cold sweat. He had hoped his enemy would be a fool, but perhaps that was too much to hope for.

"You stupid!"

The words came out of his mouth in a haphazard fashion. Apparently, he wasn't mute.

"You've been tricked!"

The helper with the sword said.

Mu Zheng and his helper were not surprised, for it was not a human being lying bleeding on the bed, but an elaborate doll. The only part of the body that was elaborate was the face, the rest of the body was crude, as if it had been stuffed into clothes. What a shame that a skilled professional assassin would fall for such a simple trick.

'Phew! That's too bad, your plan has failed.

Encouraged by their bewildered expressions, Im Deoksung wanted to shout out, but the poison was still preventing him from speaking properly.

'This is a device I set up just in case, but I never thought it would actually show up…….'

For all his apparent ignorance, Mo Jing had a knack for this sort of thing, and he had a good subordinate.

'So don't die Mokyung… it's hard to find someone as capable as you again…….'

That's when the assistant said in a cold voice.

"It doesn't matter, you don't have two bodies. Hey, you! He's got to be in here somewhere. I'll stop him, and you go ahead and take care of him!"

Mujung nodded, then shifted.

"You can't do that!

Boom!

Lim Duk-sung swung his saber to keep the helper at bay, then wasted no time in launching himself toward An Myung-hoo's location.

"Chet, you've got a lot of nerve……."

Lim Duk-sung was sweating profusely, and his body was covered in wounds. And he was already out of breath.

The real Ahn Myung-hu lay in a lavishly decorated lady's chamber. It was originally meant to be used by the swordsman, but had been occupied by An Myung-hu for some time. This, too, was a simple but psychological trick, a device to buy time.

'I can't believe I'm this tired after only running about ten li…….'

Ten li in the mountains is the equivalent of fifty li on the plains. A normal person would have called him a monster, but given his status, that was no exaggeration. He was the head of the seventy-seven green forests, the king of the green forests. He was the lord and master of the mountains. The mountains were his home, his workplace, his front yard. They were a part of him.

Normally, I wouldn't have balked at ten or a hundred, but this was different: I had a burden on my back.

"I never realized how hard it is to carry someone, to defend someone, to fight for someone.

He had always been the plunderer, the raider, the attacker, not the protector. The protector had always been the one standing opposite him, pointing a sword at him, and now that the roles were reversed, it seemed like a twist of fate that he was the protector.

He'd been in the business since he was twelve years old. Forty years later, his current role as an escorted warrior wasn't exactly a natural fit. The presence on his back was unnerving, distracting, and he'd almost lost a fight because he'd forgotten who was on his back.

He wished he could just drop it off somewhere and settle the matter once and for all, but it was too dangerous, not knowing what might happen. The only consolation was that he had wounded one of the two pursuers and tied him up. Still, his fighting spirit hadn't waned at all.

He had always lived with danger and was not afraid of blood and wounds. He was brave, tough, and fierce, and his teeth and claws were not dulled by the slightest (?) wound. But his body was growing heavier and heavier with fatigue from the blood loss. At one point, he lost his footing. His body tumbled off-center. It was a small mistake, but it was a golden opportunity for his pursuers to close the distance, and he was competent enough not to miss it.

"That's it!"

The masked man leaped with an instantaneous burst of energy, raising his sword and shouting.

"Die!"

The masked man was confident that Yim Tzu would not escape his blow. Yim Tzu, whose body was too strong, might not die. He had taken ninety-nine blades to the body and not died, so it was possible. But the man on his back would surely be struck dead by this blow. But just as he was about to bring his sword down with a smile of inward conversion, an unwelcome visitor interrupted him.

Sunrise (星光一始)

The unwelcome guest scattered the kon he was holding like stars.

Yay!

The masked man hastily called his sword from offense to defense, blocking Gon's stab at him. He was forced to abandon his attack on Ahn Myung-hoo, but a blow he hadn't dodged grazed his side.

Regaining his composure, he turned his head to thank the benefactor who had saved him from certain death, and the young man who had interrupted him also turned his head, hoping to catch a glimpse of the man who had helped him.

"Oh, thanks……."

"Hey! It's okay……."

Quack!

The moment their eyes met, they both stared at each other, speechless.

"Ah, son!"

"Ah, Father!"

It was his son, Im Seong-jin, who wielded the sword and saved him from certain death. The place where Lim Deoksung fled to was coincidentally the place where the Zhongtoguan examination was being held.

A suddenly organized father-daughter reunion left them both speechless.

"Hey, how do I get to……?"

Then his gaze shifted to the man chained behind his father's back, and as his eyes switched back and forth between his rugged father's face and the dead, unconscious man's, he asked in a questioning tone.

"What's that, you've branched out into human trafficking now?"