Book 4 Chapter 6

Absolute Security Zone The White House Raid

At the urging of senior members of the Association, I pretended not to be beaten.

After making a high-stakes bet, Bi Ryuyeon and her friends head to the

A group of us gathered in the Asosers' office and started to figure out what to do.

The goal is for them to be able to use their nearly thirty years of experience with the

It was a forbidden place for men, a women's paradise, Baekhyanggwan.

If success was guaranteed, it would be worth racing wholeheartedly and spending thousands of dollars. The efforts and challenges the company had put in to capture the White House were enormous.

The most heavily guarded place in the Temple of Heaven is always within the five folded fingers of everyone, and that place is the Baekhyang Hall. A holy place of absolute no-man's land, strictly guarded.

But even the dozens of layers of deep defenses and death-defying cliffs failed to completely erase the intrigue and soaring curiosity of a few peculiar men. The more rigorous the guard, the more difficult the task, the more difficult the challenge, the more the White Pavilion stirred the men's hearts and dazzled their eyes and ears with its strange, mesmerizing scent.

In the meantime, there were still some people who said to themselves, "It's not too early to give up," and looked for a breakthrough that was smaller than dust. He was one of them.

They were the ones who had made capturing Baekhyang Hall their lifelong goal, and they were passionately challenging it with alignment in their hearts. Breaking through to the top of Baekhyangwan was the mortal task given to them.

Of course, there's no denying that there was a good deal of dark lust involved in their heated passion. A month passed in a blur of passion.

Hanging over the dark sky like a curved blade, the new moon exposed everything on earth to its shadowy influence. Were it not for the light of the torches that illuminated the surroundings of the White Pavilion, the heavens and earth would have been buried in near-perfect darkness.

There's a reason we chose New Year's Eve for the big event: it's the last night of the month when the moon is waxing and waning, which is a great time for infiltration, because the nighttime hours can make people more vigilant.

A strange excitement arose in Bi Ryuyeon's heart as he gazed at the Baekhyang Pavilion, hiding in the darkness with the art of stealth. This slight excitement, rather than tensing his body and causing his muscles to stiffen, actually energized him a bit, making him feel good. Moreover, he hadn't felt afraid or nervous of anything since his appearance in the stronghold.

Despite his uncharacteristic braggadocio, Bi Ryuyeon was confident in his ability to perform such stealthy feats. Although he hadn't mastered the stealth techniques that all members of the Assassin's Society were required to learn, he had a phoenix dance that could be called the strongest divine method. Moreover, he had practical experience that no amount of gold could replace. No amount of money could change what had already happened.

He has lost count of the number of times he has tried to sneak out of a meal to avoid the gaze of his old vanishing enemy. But he never gave up, and in the end, he finally succeeded in evading his master's ghostly gaze with his ghostly skill.

He was a man with thousands of practical experience in evading the ghostly eyes of a monstrous master. He was confident that he could hide himself from prying eyes, no matter what. What can you be afraid of when you've done it with your life?

At half past midnight, it was time to open the living gates of the Nanhua White Pavilion, which surrounded the White Pavilion. If you missed it, you'd have to wait another two shijin (four hours) for the gates to open again. There was a risk that day would break before they could do anything. In effect, this was their only chance. After two sijin, it was time to escape.

I'm sure Ilmu-young Chuil-tae is out there, waiting for the right time to break in, watching for opportunities like a wolf watching a flock of sheep. Maybe he's already in there. In any case, now is the time to be true to yourself rather than paying attention to others.

The preliminary infiltration training is complete. The Association, which had a record of more than a hundred infiltrations, had accumulated a large number of materials detailing the infiltration route, time, direction, placement of institutions, and types of techniques, which were the product of its experience and honorable (?) record. In addition, they had not neglected to collect their own information, so their advance information was perfect.

Your target is room 301, located on the third floor. Now all that's left is to get in there.

As Bi Ryuyeon had already experienced firsthand in her current dormitory, the Sword Hall, upon entering the academy, there was a spider's web of myriad offices and agencies within each building of the Heavenly Martial Academy. But even that was just a child's play compared to the traps set by the spy triad in the White Pavilion. It was in the Baekhyang Pavilion that death was cushioned with institutions that were incomparably more rigorous than those in the Gumhong Pavilion.

Why is it that tracheal evacuation in the White House is so much stronger in number and intensity than elsewhere?

Because they had to be on the lookout not only for enemy intrusion, but also for intrusion by the wolves who lived in the same enclosure, the men. Therefore, their ceilings, eaves, roofs, bathrooms, and latrines were lined with traps against male intrusion, many of them more lethal and terrifying than those against enemy intrusion. A man who decided to infiltrate this dormitory as a hobby, to pry into the secrets of the lecherous and perverted women in their baths and latrines, would be risking his life.

Presumably, the founder and architect of Baekhyang Pavilion did not have high hopes and trust in the character and integrity of the men who would come to live there, for how else could he have laid out the triple and quadruple death traps for the wolf packs that would sneak in? Moreover, as if to prove the founder's concern, there have been hundreds of infiltration attempts, the purpose of which is unclear, but you can bet your bottom dollar that they were not good.

With each break-in, each unsuccessful attempt, and each referral to the disciplinary committee, the institutionalization of the White House grew more murderous and rigorous. Suddenly, the place had become a rare and impenetrable frontier.

When the nighttime defense mechanisms were activated after bedtime, even the women in the White House were unable to move around. They were unable to move because they couldn't remember where all the various organs were located. It was a nuisance and an inconvenience, but they were willing to put up with it to defend their chastity. The grumbling minority was silenced.

As such, the institutions of Qin Shui and Luo Fang in the White Pavilion were by all rights (and common sense) terrifying. If we were to estimate the average skill of the presumed invaders, it would be men who could leap over fourteen zhangs in a single step, and whose sword skills were such that they could slice through targets outside of eight zhangs with a spray of sword energy. Anyone below that level of skill would not even be allowed to set foot in the Heavenly Martial Hall. Moreover, the above standards were only an average estimate, and there were some who were even more skilled than others, so how could there be any neglect of training to prepare for them?

It was in the White House that the traps and triggers changed from day to day. If you didn't know how to crack the code, it could become a double-edged sword and even cause damage to the user. But even with that risk, the number of organs in Baekhyangwan did not decrease.

Once the emergency bell rings and Nam Jung-ne's intrusion is confirmed, a network of aunts quickly surrounds the Baek Hyang-gwan to ensure that the intruder is hunted down under tight, watertight security. The aunts were all female high school students from the Jinan school of flying, and their skills were such that they could knock a man under the snow. Moreover, their hatred of men bordered on pathological, and forgiveness and acceptance did not exist beneath the tip of their blades. Men cautiously referred to them with fear and reverence as the poisonous nanxiang shenyi. Some call them poisonous women for short, or poisonous bitches for short.

They guarded the chicken coop because they couldn't leave it wide open to the wolf's den. They were the guardians of the White House, and they were legendary. No one had ever seen them for what they were and come out unscathed. Rats and birds alike would be punished.

Today's infiltration plan excluded contact with them, because contact with them, and contact with them alone, would mean failure.

There was once a sentient being who had attempted to infiltrate the White Pavilion, loudly proclaiming that he would see with his own two eyes how the women relieved themselves, and thus prove that they were human beings like us. After that day, he disappeared from the eyes of the world and was never heard from again. After that, no one dared to cross the White Pavilion. Of course, there were many men who were not willing to give in and had a burning sense of defiance in their hearts. They just didn't have the courage yet.

The information we already had on them was perfect. This was the time of day when the Twelve Sisters were at their most vulnerable. The infiltration route was perfect. We had rehearsed it many times. All that remained was to execute.

Bi Ryuyeon's body moved as if he were melting into the darkness. His movements were so stealthy that he could not be recognized even in the middle of the day.

"Looks like we've passed the first gate.

Normally, the Twelve Maidens would take turns standing guard in groups of three, but none of them spotted him. Even the Nanhua white carriage, which was made of flowers from the flower garden, passed through unharmed. Bi Ryuyeon entered the building with a newness that seemed to permeate her.

If he tried to get to it through the hallway, too many tracheal chokes would stop him. It wasn't quite bedtime yet, so it wouldn't be fully operational, but he needed to avoid attracting the attention of wandering eyes. Ryu-yeon retraced the footsteps of his seniors. First up was the ceiling passageway discovered by the senior member of the Assassination Society who had attempted to enter the White Pavilion for the fifth time. The infiltration route was as she had already memorized. The ceiling was narrow as expected. He didn't let his guard down just because he was up there. The seventh or eighth senior had been caught using it and had been warned that there was an organ installed here as well.

With her senses open to the fullest extent possible, Bi Ryuyeon moved the new form more carefully than a cat, but it was still a silent, intangible movement.

The lights are extinguished in every bedchamber in the palace, the bell rings for bedtime, and all the temples in the palace are activated. Better to be safe than sorry and infiltrate the time when some are asleep and some are awake, when the worlds of reality and dreams intersect. It's much easier to avoid people than it is to avoid the frightening and terrifying tracheal aspirations that can pop up out of nowhere. It was also clear that the perimeter would be much more lax. Who would think to sneak in while he was still blind and open? It was a stab at his consciousness.

He decided to use this time to enter the White Pavilion. Several adepts surrounded him, and as long as their positions were visible, they would never be able to catch him.

"Well, let's go."

Bi Ryuyeon's new model moved as silently as the shadow of the moon: no sound, no form, not even a hint of movement.

"Whoa, what's going on?

I thought I was following the map in my head, but where the hell am I? It was obviously not the way to my destination. And it seemed to be many times worse than anywhere else. Judging by the heaviness of the defenses and the moisture in the air, it had to be the…… bathroom.

"Uhm, should I call this coincidental, or should I call it timely?

The time of Bi Ryuyeon's infiltration coincided with a precious time for the women of the Heavenly Academy to shake off the dust and fatigue of the day and prepare for bed. What better way to shake off the fatigue of the day than with a hot bath, and the bathing facilities at Baekhyang Pavilion were as lavish and well appointed as those of any godfather's house. The sound of water dripping from the steaming bathroom mysteriously rang in Bi Ryuyeon's ears. It was a strain of music that evoked a strange sensation.

"But how did I end up in the bathroom, which is in the exact opposite direction of my goal progression, is that just a coincidence?

It would be an understatement to say that it was almost instinctive for Bi Ryuyeon to go to the bathhouse that she knew in advance, even though it was the exact opposite of where she wanted to go.

"Ahang, this is the place.

The hot, humid air, which irritated her skin, convinced her that she had a bath beneath her feet, and she was on a mission.

At first, she was worried about how sturdy the building was built, whether it was made of inferior materials, and whether it was poorly constructed, hindering her comfortable life. Suddenly, when he looked at the black wall (ceiling) that blocked his eyes, he suddenly had such an impulsive thought. As a macho captain, he thought it was his duty to prevent such injustices from being committed, so he decided to test the material of the bathroom ceiling and its strength.

"Bam, bam, bam.

It was just as I thought. I don't know who built this building, but there's no denying that it was poorly constructed and used bad wood. Otherwise, how could it be so poorly constructed?

"What a stool.

She poked her index finger into the board and it went through without a sound. She lamented that the wood was weak and poorly constructed. The fact that she had activated the divine skill of the Thunder God Jing on the tip of her index finger was something that she tried to ignore. A six-handed Thunder Divine Skill could pierce through an iron shin.

"Dude, it's not about the wood.

Light leaked in from a hole the size of a dime. For a moment, Bi Ryuyeon couldn't make a quick judgment about what she should do.

But she quickly came to a conclusion. Although she was not a voyeur herself, it would be unbecoming of a man to throw away an opportunity like this, which the heavens had so mercifully bestowed upon her, without a second thought, so she cheerfully accepted it. She pressed her face close to the narrow opening to the secret paradise.

It was a waste of time to even think about it. Far from being hypocritical in his pretense of being an adult soldier, Bi Ryuyeon didn't feel much distance from his current behavior. What a shameless bastard.

A voice like a silver bell rings through the poorly soundproofed walls of the building. It was a woman's voice I had never heard before.

"Kahahahaha, you look so beautiful. I'm so jealous."

It was Lee Jin-sul who let out an exclamation of pure admiration. Ryu-yeon took a deep breath and shifted her gaze to agree with Lee Jin-sul.

There she was.

The graceful curves of her body were a living testament to the most beautiful forms of curves. No one would be able to vomit there. Her skin was radiant, smooth, and flawless, her breasts as full as if they had been chiseled from moonstone, and her long, graceful legs stretched out in front of her. Her white jade pearls are colorless and make me bow my head in shame.

Her beauty was so overwhelming that even jealousy couldn't kill the grass. Although more than half the people in the world were men, there was only one man in the world who would not lie and say that he had seen her dazzling naked body. Even if you gave her ten million gold coins, she wouldn't come and beg on her knees. If this were known, her body would be torn to shreds by the envy of the men of the world. How they would envy her.

Strangely enough, the sight of her dazzling naked body, like a sculpture of divine art, did not arouse lust. Rather, I felt a sense of awe, or perhaps holiness……. Skin the color of white jade, curves so perfect it seemed they could not be smoothed any further. The sight of such perfect beauty that could blind a man's eyes actually made him feel calm, and he felt a strange sense of happiness fill his body, a strange sense of happiness that made him smile unintentionally. What was it that made her so happy and joyful? It was a question she couldn't answer, a question she didn't know.

Normally, any other man would have opened his eyes to gaze at her for another minute or two, but Bi Ryuyeon closed them slightly, as if he were trying to engrave her fine features in his mind and his soul. Still, the corners of his mouth were silently curled in a happy smile. For a moment, she couldn't help but be carried away by the euphoria (This guy is a pervert, too.).

I didn't have blood rushing backwards to my head or excessive blood flow to my lower body. My temples weren't pounding and my heart wasn't racing like it was going to explode. My nose didn't run, my eyes didn't glaze over with bloodshot redness and dark desires.

This strange sense of satisfaction, fulfillment, and blissful intoxication was shattered by a girl's envious voice.

"Wow, Dokgo's boobs are really big."

"Oh my God, this kid. Shame on you, you're talking out of your ass."

The sound of Lee Jin-sul's voice suddenly broke her spirits, and she bit her lip in regret, but the carriage had already passed and the ship had sailed.

Lee Jin-sul's exclamatory sentiments were echoed by Bi Ryuyeon. The last time he'd seen her, he hadn't been able to recognize her because of her tight clothes and killer aura, but now he realized that she was indeed the owner of large breasts. They weren't just big, they were also firm and perfectly shaped. It was no wonder why the Heavenly Spirit was always looking at her breasts, even though he thought she was going to die. And why he'd teased her about being a big-breasted demonic grandmother. Now that he saw the real thing, he understood.

"I want to be just like you. How great would that be……."

Regretfully, Lee Jin-sul touched her own chest. No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn't hide the feeling of being too small compared to her two sisters. She tried to support them, but it didn't seem to be working as intended. Her breasts had just left the cliff, and she was envious of the older woman's large breasts.

"Bigger isn't always better, if you want to emulate me, emulate your siblings. If you're too big, you'll just get in the way of the fight."

Apparently, the woman's greatest attraction was just a hindrance to her single-mindedness.

"Sazerac. Don't say that. It's a burden."

Na Yerin chimes in on my rant about dogmatic binaries. She's not used to this kind of conversation.

"But I can't be like you. You're too perfect, your goals are too high to even look at, and I'm not smart enough to look at a tree I can't climb."

The way the droplets bounce like pearls is indescribably beautiful.

"Ho-ho, so I guess I can do it?"

"Hmm, it's a little big, but if you touch it hard enough, it might grow, it's not all grown up yet."

His pouty face was a bit pale. At this point, Dokgo-ryung had no choice but to raise the white flag and read the surrender declaration.

"Okay, okay, I lose."

Dokgoryeong raised the white flag as if he had lost. He was the youngest child who was always difficult to deal with.

"Really?"

The girl asked again, still in disbelief.

"Yeah."

"So, you have a surrender gift?"

"Yo, something nasty."

"Hehe."

Lee Jin-sul's eyes sparkled with an overwhelming sense of anticipation.

"So, what do you want?"

"That is……."

Her next words stung. He sensed a strange energy. I wonder if it's different.

"Then teach me the Sword Technique of the Oxidizing Infinite Cycle."

"What?"

The old man's eyes widened. He was sure his ears weren't wrong.

"Are you serious?"

"Of course, sister."

Dokgo Ling couldn't help but laugh. Lee Jin-sul was staring at her, his eyes shining with anticipation. She was indeed an impetuous child.

"So you're teaching me?"

"No!"

The answer was the opposite of what she expected.

"Why ahoyo. Aiying, big sister."

Suddenly, Lee Jin-sul's naked, wet body, like a small bird, twisted this way and that, dripping all sorts of aromas. The droplets shimmered in the light like crystals in the air. It was truly a sight for sore eyes.

"It's not for you yet. It's too hard. I'm afraid it's too much for you."

The technique of the Oxidizing Infinite Cycle required a tremendous change in sword form and was extremely difficult. It was a pinnacle technique that could not even be imitated by those with moderate sword shaping skills. It was his honest and objective judgment that it was still too difficult for Yi Yun.

"But you said before that you'd teach me if I managed to pull off a Twin Sword Strike, have you forgotten already?"

It was a promise she'd made the other day, much to Yi Yun's chagrin, but a promise was a promise nonetheless. It was a promise I made because I hadn't expected her to master the Twin Sword Strike so quickly.

"Dokgo, if you keep doing that, I'll never speak to you again, and I'll tell the whole school that you're a royal liar."

Oh my God, it looked like she had been tormented. She knew better than anyone that she couldn't go three days without telling him, but she had a promise to make, so she surrendered. I will never make promises again.

"Yo, sneaky one. Okay, okay, okay, I lost, I lost, are we done?"

"Yes, sister!"

Her face broke into a wide smile as if she had just pouted. It was so adorable to see her smile as she scattered water droplets everywhere like jewelry.

The sight of her being manipulated by a girl, with even a hint of laughter in her eyes, made me ashamed to be called a cold-blooded venomous woman or a devilish grandmother. It was a sight that did not fit the aforementioned nicknames at all. Even as Bi Ryuyeon, it was surprising.

In my heart, I wanted to put down roots here, but reality didn't allow it. I felt like I had waited too long. It was time to leave. I decided to avoid the baths, as they were all finished. I decided that it would be a shame to miss them, so I decided to look forward to the next one.

"Squeak!"

A side effect of trying to force a stubborn foot off? Or should I say genius? Either way, that wasn't the issue at hand.

"……!"

For a moment, Na Yerin's and Dokgoryeong's gazes locked on the ceiling. Instinctively covering her chest with her left hand, Na Yerin's right hand stretched skyward, and the water in the bath rose with her motion, slashing through the ceiling like a giant scythe. In the aftermath, the organs hidden within the ceiling whirred to life, and the sound of their continuous operation assaulted her ears.

Hidden beneath the water's surface, the three fairies watched the events unfold, but there was no reaction from above. Not a single drop of blood trickled down the cracks.

"It looks like a rat."

Lee Jin-sul broke the silence by speaking first. In fact, in a building that was more than fifty years old, no matter how well it was maintained, it was common knowledge that dozens of rats would live in a large family. So sometimes, the idea of organ malfunctions caused by rats came up as a problem. Maybe I'm overreacting.

Na Yerin and Dokgo Ling were relieved. First of all, they thought that if it was this close, there was no way her dragon eye could miss it. But for once, she didn't realize she was wrong.

"That's what it looks like."

"I'm going to have to fix the ceiling again, I don't know how many times this year already."

The ceiling had been broken several times this year by mice, and she assumed it would be the same this time. Luckily for her, it wasn't.

"Phew, that's a decade.

The hydroblade grazed his shoulder an inch apart. A wrong move and it could have sliced through his guts. It was a close call.

Bi Ryuyeon ducked under the loud crashing sound of the impact. Once she made up her mind to move, she could move faster than anyone else.

Barely out of the danger zone, Bi Ryuyeon was alert and decided to move more cautiously. Again, his new model moved stealthily toward the target, blending into the darkness. The next stop was Na Yerin's room, the first room on the third floor, and he moved silently, wary of the organs scattered throughout.

It seems that the power of information is a powerful force that cannot be ignored. I also realized the importance of practice. Armed with prior information, she arrived at the target location with such simplicity that the previous infiltration attempts fell apart.

Room 301 of the White Pavilion. It was Bingbai Peak Na Yerin's room, and he only needed to take one item from there. He carefully ripped off the ceiling and landed on the floor without a sound. A perfect score of ten.

So far, so good. It was perfect. But the world is full of unexpected things that make people happy. Maybe the world enjoys surprises. In this case, it was the world putting you on the spot for your hobby.

"Who is it?"

A woman's voice rang out of nowhere as the door opened. But the voice was familiar. The voice belonged to Jinryung.

"Damn, we're screwed.

This was not the time to celebrate the reunion of the priests after nearly half a decade. At the very moment when I was trying to hide myself with ghostly stealth and evade with ghostly theology, the spirit entered Na Yerin's room! This was definitely Na Yerin's room, not the spirit's room. Did I have the wrong number?

"Yerin……? Huh!"

Apparently, the number wasn't wrong. Luckily, she had a mask covering her face, so she didn't have to worry about being recognized. A mask should have been standard equipment for something like this, but Bi Ryuyeon's thoughts were short-lived. Her first priority was to subdue the spirit. First, she had to make sure he didn't recognize her.

True to her word, Qin Lie, Amifa's last disciple and a member of the Seven Peaks of the Heavenly Martial Academy, did not scream like a common woman. Rather, she sprang into action with a split-second reaction. It was her duty as a dormitory cadet to repel intruders. By this time, Bi Ryuyeon had already made her move.

"Oops!"

Her actions were swift, but not in time. Qin Lie's sword was unfortunately not even drawn from its scabbard before it was stuck in Bi Ryuyeon's hand like glue. Bi Ryuyeon's agility was much faster than Qin Lie's. Compressing the space between them in a single, ghostly movement, Bi Ryuyeon grabbed the unsheathed sword with her left hand (which, if drawn, would surely have sent a spray of sword energy at him), and in an instant, she twisted her body into a new shape, grabbed her from behind, and clamped her right hand over her delicate lips. Qin Lie tried to struggle, but her entire body was as immobile as a butterfly caught in a spider's web, and her qi was unable to move smoothly. Her gaze was drawn to Bi Ryuyeon's sword, which was halfway out from behind her back. Bi Ryuyeon whispered softly in Qin Lie's ear.

"You're pretty good at this, getting more than half the sword out."

To some ears, it was an outrageous comment. She thought she was being mocked. But to Bi Ryuyeon, believe it or not, it was a sincere compliment. She had every right to say that to Qin Lie. In the old days, Qin Lie would have been caught half-sheathed by her surprise attack.

He didn't say, "You've gotten a lot better," because he was afraid of being identified. He didn't want to cause misunderstanding or suspicion.

There was another problem. If he left things as they were, Qin Lie might say that he was Qi Han, and that would be very troublesome. He had thought about exposing his Muklong Ring, but that would be like giving evidence to Po Cheng if he did it wrong. It was too risky. If there was one good thing, it was that the spirit hadn't seen his face.

She decided to stun the spirit. As soon as she picked up the needle, Qin Lie fell to the floor. Carefully laying him down in a comfortable position, she began to carefully scan the room, looking for her target. It had to be somewhere in the room. It was then.

"Ding ding ding ding!"

Suddenly, a loud emergency bell echoes throughout the building.

At this point, even Bi Ryuyeon couldn't help but panic. No matter how much she looked around, there was nothing she had touched. She hadn't even pressed it. She hadn't had time to think about it when she was busy training her sword.

"Did he make a mistake?

If so, the bet will end in a win. I need to get out of here safely, if only to collect my wager. Besides, there's a spirit lying on the floor right now, and it wouldn't do us any good to be seen. But the heavens are indifferent, and there was a figure outside in the hallway, rushing toward the room at high speed.

"Oh no, three chapters…… this chapter…… that chapter!

It was lightning fast. He was already at the door.

The door burst open, and behind it stood Na Yerin herself. Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw Bi Ryuyeon. She didn't want her happy reunion with her to be like this.

"Oh no, this is bad…….

As the door opened, Bi Ryuyeon noticed that the item she wanted was hanging on the clothesline. It was obviously a garment designed to cover women's soft, perky breasts. Furthermore, the gold thread embroidered on the end of the silk fabric with the character Lin (璘) confirmed its authenticity. It was the item he was supposed to bring as evidence in the bet.

But the target was still in the distance. He had never seen a distance of less than half a chapter seem so far away. Bi Ryuyeon hurriedly stretched out his left hand toward the fallen spirit.

In the basement of the Baekhyang Hall, Na Yerin had been practicing, meditating, and concentrating, but in the early evening, she found it difficult to calm her anxiety, which made it difficult to concentrate on her practice. The anxiety persisted until midnight, and she couldn't shake it off, even after taking a refreshing bath.

She felt a vague sense of unease, but she couldn't put her finger on what it was. Her foresight and sixth sense, which came from her dragon eyes, were unrivaled in their accuracy. But unless she was omniscient, she couldn't see everything through the palm of her hand.

Suddenly, a loud, echoing alarm sounded throughout the white house. The five chimes signaled that an intruder had entered the manor. It was ominous and dark. The most sacred place at the top of the Baekbong Pavilion was a place where no one was allowed to enter, no matter what.

"Am I late?

She was rarely agitated by anything, but now she was. If there were intruders in the sword chamber, it would be a big deal, for it housed some of the sacred objects and mindfulness of Sword Hu, one of the Three Heavenly Martyrs and the only female. No intruder had ever made it that far in the history of Baekhyang Hall, but today that precedent had been broken.

Her mind was becoming uncharacteristically impatient, but alas, her hand was now empty. She had left her sword in her room when she went to bathe. There was no way she could fend off an intruder without a weapon. She would be late, but her room was on the way to the lair anyway.

Without hesitation, she ran up the stairs, moving her new brother like the wind. It took her ten leaps to arrive in front of her room. She hurriedly opened the door, but the sight inside stunned her.

A strange man who shouldn't be there is in her room. He wore a mask over his face, so she couldn't recognize him. Why was an intruder in her room when he should have been on the other side of the door? For a moment, she couldn't make an accurate judgment. Now was the time to act, not think.

She stretched out her hand, and her flying sword Feng Lu, hanging on the wall, was magically sucked into her hand. It was an excellent lesson in voids. Once it was in her hand, she drew her sword without hesitation. A dazzling white lightning bolt exploded from her sword. Indeed, her sword skills were fearsome, as if she had been trained by two of the four great sword gods.

"This is no joke!

I didn't expect her to unleash her sword qi without acknowledgment. There was no way I was going to escape this place. As she unleashed a terrifying single sword, and as if that wasn't enough, she was about to unleash two swords in quick succession, Bi Ryuyeon raised her left hand to the sky. It was the same hand that she had stretched out towards the fallen Qin Lie a moment ago.

The Flying Sword, the secret art of the puppeteer, the master of the art of the puppet!

Strangely enough, with the movement of Bi Ryuyeon's left hand, the fallen spirit's body rose from the floor. It wasn't that she had come to her senses; she had moved like a puppeteer's puppet, a 'goroku', to stand in Na Yerin's way. When he had withdrawn his hand earlier, he had already wrapped the Thunder Spirit Thread around her body. Now, she was a dancing puppet controlled by his hand.

At the sudden interruption, Na Yerin could no longer use her sword. If she made a mistake, she could injure the spirit. And now, with his body falling defenselessly toward her, she could only open her hands to support him.

"Boom!"

The first sword qi that flew out collided head-on with the lightning bolts that erupted from Bi Ryuyeon's well. The loud crackle of the match swept through the room like a gust of wind. The flying objects were dizzying. My vision was also disturbed.

Even though Bi Ryuyeon was able to dodge her sword qi, she had partially collided with it head-on. She had taken the opportunity of the two auras colliding head-on to pull herself out of the way. Normally, this would have been enough to keep her from the sharp tip of her sword, but now the spirit's body was kindly blocking her hand. As long as Bi Ryuyeon had that much space, she would have no problem escaping. By the time the gusts of wind had subsided and her watch was properly secured, his presence was nowhere to be found.

'Did I miss it…….'

The all-too-familiar scent lingered in the room like an echo. But she wasn't done yet. This was enough for her, this information. She had a dragon's eye.

"Is that him?

No amount of masking could hide her aura. Moreover, she was the owner of the Dragon Eye. There was no mistaking it. Further proof was that she couldn't read the mind of the mysterious man in front of her. It was the same phenomenon as before: at that distance, the other person's mind would normally flow into hers, whether she wanted it to or not. But this time, she felt nothing, to the point of emptiness. This had only happened once before, and that had been in the Yunxiang boat. The only thing was, nothing was certain.

Quickly pulling himself out of the window, Bi Ryuyeon blew himself away like the wind and concealed himself in the thick darkness. The target of the bet, the chest covering, was not yet in his hands. But she was neither discouraged nor panicked, for he still had a trick up his sleeve. By now, she would have slipped out of the room in pursuit of him and the other.

Bi Ryuyeon's fingers moved gracefully in the waning moonlight, as if he were playing a musical instrument, and an object swayed in the dark night sky under his touch. Dancing under the stars in the night breeze, the object was a very thin, soft, and beautifully embroidered silk cloth with peony blossoms.

Before rushing out of the room, Bi Ryuyeon had embedded the target with a brain reaper. As long as she was connected to it, she could retrieve the target from a hundred sheets away. The place where Bi Ryuyeon was currently standing was exactly a hundred sheets away from Baekhyang Pavilion.

The piece of silk fabric fluttered in the wind and landed safely in the palm of her hand. A winner's smile curved her lips.

In a small grove next to the Marriage Hall. A lone man now stood in the woods next to Soro, who had set up countless traps to stop Bi Ryuyeon when he first came to the sword hall. He was burying himself in the woods at a late hour when everyone else was asleep.

But why is Hyo-Ryong in this place at this ambitious time? If so, Hyo-Ryong's resourcefulness is indeed admirable and praiseworthy.

"Sorry. Failed."

A stranger's voice came from the darkness. The suddenness of the voice didn't faze him. Why was the man begging for forgiveness in front of him now?

"You didn't succeed after all, Ilho."

"I have no comment."

A man's voice sounded rueful. He was a man who lived with the darkness, concealing his existence. A being known only as Ilho the Unseen.

"You're hurt, aren't you?"

"Sin…… Sorry. I didn't completely avoid the institution. It's a shame that you gave me so much information and I failed."

"It's not that big of a deal, I'm just glad I got out of there alive."

Hyo-ryong's words were gentle. But the tension in the room didn't seem to slow down. The man Ilho was facing was not one to be taken lightly.

"Ha…… but……."

The man called Ilho was very sorry for himself.

"It's no secret that the White House is a formidable place. It's on the top floor, it's the most guarded, it's the deepest of the deep, it's the one with the most complicated trachea, and it's the one that's never been touched by a man, so this failure is almost a foregone conclusion."

"I'm sorry, but the punishment for this failure will be sweet."

Shrouded in darkness, Ilho could hardly lift his face in shame, for this was the first time he had ever failed to complete a task.

"It's okay. It's only a martial art of a mere mortal, no matter how deeply you feel about it. There's no need to hang on to it, no need to attach more than a modicum of value to it. I think I've accomplished my purpose by causing a bit of a ruckus. If I were to win with a martial art that I cheated and stole from someone else, I'd be the butt of everyone's jokes. That would be a disgraceful thing to do as a student of the Great Heavenly Pavilion, and I've been against Big Brother's plan from the beginning."

Hyo-ryong's words were uncharacteristically calm for someone who had experienced the failure of a subordinate.

"My thoughts were short, Sam Confucius!"

As far as Sun Tzu was concerned, Sam Confucius lacked the coldness and irregularity of a Black Islander, and his temperament was as different from that of his godbrother, Sun Tzu, as heaven and earth.

"Never mind, then, let's hide and get some rest. We don't know when the shadows of the celestials will catch us, so let's keep out of contact for a while. Let's focus on healing and making sure we erase all traces of blood."

"Okay."

Ilho's body blended into the darkness, disappearing into the depths of the night. Only the night wind blew quietly through the pale moonlight.