Chapter 69. Opening the Eyes (3)

Unfortunately, instead of answering my question, the bastards spouted nonsense.

“Your reaction is fast. Did you notice?”

A sneer escaped me at the emotionless voice of the assassin bastard.

“Do you think it makes sense for herb gatherers, who barely make a living day to day, to move around in a group like that?”

It was a situation where it wouldn't be enough even if they spread out in the mountains and gathered herbs individually, yet their leisurely gait was as if they had come out for a stroll.

Even more so, for them to walk so leisurely while a martial artist was rushing towards them at a tremendous speed using a movement technique from the front. Ordinary herb gatherers would never act like that.

“Well. What would human butcher bastards, who are worse than bugs and only know how to kill people for money, know about the sorrows of the common people.”

The assassin bastard at the very front nodded and said.

“I’ve learned one thing. In return, I’ll skip the torture.”

While one assassin replied with an emotionless face, the other four assassins slowly began to move, taking up positions on all sides.

I couldn't just get myself trapped in their encirclement like an idiot.

I stomped the ground in a surprise attack and unleashed my movement technique with all my might.

Thump!

My body advanced towards the assassin bastard on the right at a speed incomparable to before.

The assassin bastard threw his body to the side without a hint of hesitation.

At the same time, I saw several trajectories that would pierce my body.

The hidden weapons thrown by the other four assassins.

I dodged some by stepping on my movement technique and struck down others.

Clang!

Following that, I moved my feet again to chase the one who had just hastily fled.

Thump!

The moment I was about to chase him and swing the Restoring Name Sword, a suddenly created trajectory from the right was drawn towards my heart.

Only then did the dagger thrust by an assassin who had approached without a presence come into view.

With the mindset of cutting down the dagger and all, I wrapped my sword in Sword Qi and swung the Restoring Name Sword to meet it.

Clang!

My brow furrowed slightly.

The assassin bastard’s dagger had withstood my strike. Wrapped in Sword Qi as well.

“An assassin, and not just one, but two peak masters.”

While our Sword Qi-clad dagger and Restoring Name Sword were locked.

The assassin bastard I was chasing stealthily threw a tiny needle.

Also, trajectories that would pierce various parts of my body were drawn in the air.

I hastily retrieved the Restoring Name Sword and threw my body here and there.

As I struck and dodged the hidden weapons and observed the assassins’ movements, a strange sight came into view.

Three of them were slowly moving and hiding among the mountain bushes.

The other two, the assassins who had reached the peak, were not much different.

They didn't hide their forms, but instead of rushing in, they maintained a certain distance and stood their ground.

Soon, the hidden weapons thrown by the one hiding in the bushes flew in.

The moment I concisely swung the Restoring Name Sword to strike down the hidden weapons, the assassin bastard who had been looking for an opening closed in, thrusting his dagger.

I dodged the dagger by twisting my upper body and simultaneously swung the Restoring Name Sword.

Then, the assassin bastard threw his body back as if he had no lingering attachment.

The assassin bastard who retreated without a presence like a ghost.

Unfortunately, it was not easy to chase him.

Swiiiiiiish!

Hidden weapons flew in again, and this time, the one with Sword Qi on his dagger secretly closed in from the opposite side.

In the midst of that, the location from which the hidden weapons flew was also constantly changing.

It seemed they were moving without a presence among the bushes and constantly looking for my opening.

A method of avoiding a direct confrontation and slowly drying out the prey.

It was not the skill of someone who had hunted for just a day or two.

I could tell by looking at their movements.

These bastards may have been sent by the Black Market, but they were not from the Black Market.

Whether it was the Black Market or anywhere else, those who had established some level of power were bound to have assassins to handle their dirty work.

Like that bastard called the Blood Shadow Ghost Spear who had come for me last time.

But the Blood Shadow Ghost Spear had not fought in this manner.

Both the martial arts they used and their way of fighting were undoubtedly those of professionally trained assassins.

The term assassin group brought a certain power to mind.

A power to which one of my targets, just like Hyeok Ilso, belonged.

After clashing with the assassin bastards for a while with that inference in mind.

My brow naturally furrowed.

It wasn't because of their petty methods.

I had never expected assassins to fight fair and square in the first place.

I was not pleased with my own movements.

A very slight error.

I had definitely become faster and stronger, but because of that, my control over my power had become clumsy.

It meant I was not yet able to fully handle the rapidly increased internal energy.

While I was frowning in frustration.

A trajectory suddenly appears near my side.

One of the ones who had been hiding in the bushes.

It was a strike thrust by him as he approached me after hiding and waiting.

Now that I think about it, I wonder if they had been driving me in this direction.

I saw the trajectory with the help of my eyes, but the distance was close.

I twisted my body so sharply that my joints could have broken.

Slice.

I avoided a serious injury, but a faint spray of blood flies out.

I hastily thrust my left hand towards the wounded area and pressed on a meridian.

The assassin bastard's strike. The possibility that it was coated with poison was high.

This really did feel like I was being hunted.

Yes. It was exactly like that.

A strong but stupid beast being hunted by clever hunters.

This pathetic body that can't properly handle the power it's been given.

Humble talent.

It's about time I got used to it. What would change by getting angry at such things?

“Hehehehe.”

And very fortunately, I possessed an ability that could make up for that lacking talent.

“Indeed. A life-and-death battle should be like this.”

As I entered the crossroads of life and death, the flow of time slowly slows down.

The trajectory I must take was clearly visible.

I corrected the shaking sword path in the slowed flow.

“Hehehe. Try to drive me harder.”

The one and only thing that could make up for my lacking talent.

That was the struggle with my life on the line.

“Try to kill me!”

As soon as I shouted like a beast, several trajectories were embroidered, dotting all sides.

The corners of my lips naturally rose.

What was the reason to be angry, and what was the reason to be frustrated?

It was an opportunity of two birds with one stone, where I could not only increase my skills but also kill human butchers who were worse than trash.

It was truly a welcome situation.

After clashing for a while, becoming hunters who treated each other as prey.

When my concentration reached its peak, and even my much faster body felt like a grub.

I began to see something strange that I had never seen before.

An assassin who secretly closes in and thrusts a dagger.

I see something hazy on his forearm.

At first, I thought I was seeing things.

But it wasn't.

Soon, the hazy thing that had gathered on his arm moved to his dagger and formed Sword Qi.

Clang!

Right after hastily swinging the Restoring Name Sword to block the dagger.

The grayish lump clustered around his dantian twitches.

Soon, countless threads of energy spread from that lump throughout his body.

It was a familiar shape.

A drawing of the meridians and acupoints I had seen when learning martial arts.

It was a shape very similar to that.

The threads that raced through his meridians were concentrated in his lower body.

Paat!

Soon, he stepped on his movement technique and retreated a great distance.

Only then did I realize.

What it was that I was seeing.

That trajectory was the flow of qi.

To suddenly be able to see the flow of qi.

How did this happen?

I didn't know the exact cause, but I could infer one thing.

Opening the Ren and Du meridians, the Gate of Life and Death, and reaching the peak.

The only thing that had changed between then and now was that.

Suddenly, a possibility came to mind.

Perhaps these eyes could also develop further. In line with my realm rising.

I hastily threw my body.

Pa-ba-bak.

Hidden weapons were consecutively embedded where I had been standing.

I slapped my own cheek.

Slap!

That's enough of the idle thoughts.

What about my eyes, what about my realm, those were things to think about after I survived.

My mind cleared up as if I had poured cold water on it from the tingling pain rising on my cheek.

At some point, the trajectories of the assassins who had once again taken up positions on all sides came into view.

Even while I was suddenly slapping my own cheek, they were engrossed in their own work.

As expected of assassins, it seemed they only had thoughts of killing people in their heads.

And when it came to only having thoughts of killing trash, this side was no different.

“Let’s try dying!”

Right after dodging the dagger of the assassin bastard who had secretly closed in from the side.

I swing the Restoring Name Sword towards his head.

In the slow world.

The flow of qi, starting from his dantian and flowing to his four limbs and hundred bones, is faintly visible.

Perhaps because it was still blurry.

It was not easy to grasp exactly which meridians it was passing through.

But I could roughly grasp what he was trying to do.

I forcibly twisted the sword path of the Restoring Name Sword that I had been swinging towards his head.

The Restoring Name Sword sharply veered to the right, and funnily enough, the assassin bastard who had swung the dagger also threw his body in that direction.

It was to the point where it looked like he was running towards my sword of his own accord.

The eyes of the assassin bastard, who had seemed emotionless until now, trembled.

Slice!

With a cutting sound, blood spurted out.

But I couldn't kill him in one go.

At the last moment, thanks to him striking the Restoring Name Sword with his blade qi-wrapped dagger, the path was slightly altered.

No. It was because I couldn't swing it perfectly.

Because I still couldn't properly handle the increased internal energy.

It didn't particularly matter.

If I repeated life-and-death battles and training, I would eventually get used to it.

Both the increased internal energy.

And these eyes that had suddenly started seeing new things.

Pa-ba-bak.

I swing the Restoring Name Sword again, chasing the assassin bastard whose temple area was cut.

After chasing him for a while, striking down the flying hidden weapons.

Clang!

A strange sight came into view.

I saw something hazy.

A feast of threads racing through the meridians.

Soon, a trajectory was drawn from the seemingly empty air, and the figure of an assassin who had been using a concealment art is revealed.

His dagger, with Sword Qi on it, flies towards my heart along the trajectory.

But.

“Kugh…”

At some point, my Restoring Name Sword was piercing that assassin’s dantian.

It was the result of seeing the flow of qi that appeared in the air and promptly thrusting the Restoring Name Sword.

I extended my left hand and grabbed the neck of the assassin whose dantian was pierced.

At the same time as pulling him with all my might, I hastily rotated my body.

Pa-ba-ba-bak!

The noise of hidden weapons flying from all directions and embedding themselves in various parts of his body rang out.

After using the assassin bastard as a human shield, only then did I pull out the Restoring Name Sword that had been stuck in his stomach.

Thud.

Leaving the sound of the assassin’s body, now a corpse, collapsing behind me. I charged at the assassin bastard with the cut temple again.

After evading or striking down the hidden weapons flying from between the bushes and clashing with the dagger-wielding assassin for a few exchanges.

Clang!!

Right after his dagger and the Restoring Name Sword clashed, I saw the immense energy emitted from his dantian gathering towards his arm and dagger.

It was clearly a ploy to hold me down so that the other assassin bastards could attack more easily.

In response to this, I thrust my left palm towards the air in a surprise attack.

The internal energy that was powerfully emitted from my left palm struck the air and flew towards him.

Strangely, a sound unfitting for a palm wind rang out faintly.

Thwack.

Something like a tiny needle was stuck in his side.

A moment ago, it was a hidden weapon that had been hidden in the sleeve of the assassin bastard I had used as a human shield.

I had secretly taken it and hidden it in my left hand, then used it in a surprise attack.

By using a palm wind while throwing a hidden weapon, it felt like its speed and power were doubled.

The only slight flaw was that the accuracy was poor because I couldn't perfectly control the energy yet.

It was absurd that what I had thrown aiming for the heart had ended up stuck in his side.

“Kugh.”

The bastard, struck by the poison needle, hastily took a step back and tried to pull out the needle in his side.

Of course, I had no intention of just letting him do that.

Clang!

After evading the hidden weapons that flew in to obstruct me and closing in on him, I swung the Restoring Name Sword several times.

Slice!

The Restoring Name Sword finally cut off his left leg.

This time, it was not the result of a failure in power control.

I had to keep a few of them alive. There were things I needed to ask.

I pulled the poison needle from the leg-severed bastard’s side and pressed his paralysis points to subdue him.

I turned my head and scanned the bushes.

Between the bushes.

“I can see you clearly.”

Something hazy like a heat haze was faintly visible.

Perhaps because the two peak masters who were the leaders were taken down.

They were cautiously retreating, concealing their presence.

Of course, I had no intention of letting a single one of them go.

Crash!!

With an intense noise, my body advanced, striking the space.

I couldn't perfectly control my internal energy, but the speed was certain.

***

Slice.

The sound of the Restoring Name Sword cutting off the last assassin bastard’s right leg rang out.

After subduing the fallen assassin bastard’s meridians, I hoisted him up and started walking.

The place I arrived at was where the assassin bastard with the severed left leg had fallen.

It was the peak master bastard who had wielded the dagger.

Thud.

I threw the other one I had captured alive to the ground and approached him.

Seeing as he was a peak master, it seemed this one had a slightly higher position.

The bastard who was lying on the ground with his leg cut off and meridians subdued looks up at me.

“Kill me.”

I ignored his nonsense and gently stepped on his still intact right toes.

“Where are you bastards from?”

The sound of joints being crushed erupts.

Craaack.

“Guuuugh.”

After repeating the torture several more times after that.

The bastard, with bloodshot eyes, glared at me as if to kill me and said.

“Do you think I’ll reveal the client just because of this?”

“What kind of bullshit is this?”

I had no interest in who the client was.

The possibility of it being the Black Market was over ninety percent anyway.

And it didn't matter even if it wasn't the Black Market.

Because since returning to the past, all the ones I had made enemies with were all trash bastards anyway.

Whether they sent assassins or not, I was going to continue killing trash, so it didn't matter.

What I was trying to ask these bastards was not about the client.

“Is it because you have nothing but killing people in your head that you can't understand human words?”

Crack.

“I asked where you came from, not who the client is.”

Crack.

“Alright. I’ll change the question. Are you bastards from Red Moon Falling Flowers?”

Red Moon Falling Flowers.

The ones who would later be called the worst assassin group in Murim.

And their leader was one of my targets. A member of the Murim's Seven Evils, and the human butcher called the pinnacle of assassins, the Killing Demon.

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