Chapter 70. Bad Friend (1)

The eyes of the assassin bastard being tortured trembled for a moment.

“H-how do you know our name?”

Instead of his completely crushed toes, this time I stomped on his fingers.

Craaack.

“I’m the one asking the questions. Where is your headquarters?”

“Guuuugh. I-I don’t know the headquarters.”

“Then the contact point?”

After that, I took turns torturing the two resisting assassin bastards for a while.

I drew the Restoring Name Sword, cut off both their necks, and lightly clicked my tongue.

“Tsk. So they weren't from the Red Moon Falling Flowers.”

The look that had seemed flustered at first. The one phrase he had let slip as if by mistake.

For a professionally raised assassin bastard, he seemed somewhat clumsy.

The possibility that he was trying to deceive me seemed high.

Nevertheless, there were a few reasons why I just killed the assassin bastards.

First. No matter how much I tortured them, I had no way of determining whether what they were saying was the truth or not. Until I went to the places they mentioned myself.

I couldn't just inconveniently drag these bastards around, visit every place they mentioned, and torture them again every time it was wrong.

No. In the first place, there was no need for that. Since I had killed these bastards, new ones would come anyway.

Whether the Black Market puts in an additional request, or these bastards move to complete the request.

Without me having to go out and search, if I just killed and tortured them as they came, I would get closer to the truth.

This was the second reason I had killed the two without any lingering attachment.

“It would be nice if the Black Market put in a request with Red Moon Falling Flowers too.”

It would be convenient in many ways if they came to find me, saving me the trouble of searching.

After muttering to myself, I plopped down in the bushes and sat cross-legged.

Finally, the third reason. At this rate, I would have to cut out my own intestines.

The wound on my side that had been grazed during the battle a moment ago. I had blocked the poison from spreading by pressing on the meridians, but it was gradually reaching a dangerous stage.

“Sseup. Hoo.”

I took a deep breath in and out and drew up the remaining internal energy in my dantian.

After concentrating my internal energy towards the poison-seeped side, I wrapped the poison qi and guided it along the meridians.

The energy gathered towards my left ring finger, and before long, a black droplet of water flowed out from my left ring finger.

I organized my thoughts as I looked down at the drop of poison that had fallen to the ground.

If I continue to clash with assassin bastards in the future, there will be many times I'll suffer from poison.

No. Even if they weren't assassins, there were more than one or two trash who used poison.

The face of a bad friend I knew from my past life naturally came to mind.

“I suppose I should go visit him soon.”

A bad friend from my past life who had a very deep knowledge of poisons and medicines.

A while ago, I wouldn't have even dared to visit him.

Because if I went to see him, the chance of dying was at least ninety percent.

But not now.

I estimated the location where my bad friend was living at this time, and the locations of Yong'un Mountain, where I was, and Mount Heng, where I had to return.

The place where that bad friend bastard was was to the northwest from here, and Mount Heng was to the east.

Almost opposite directions. If I stopped by Mount Heng and then went to find him, it meant I would have to take a long detour.

“There are still a good forty days left until the promised date, so it would be better to go on this occasion.”

Since I had decided on my destination, I got up with a light heart.

But I had no intention of moving as if I were going out for a leisurely stroll.

There were more than one or two things I had to adapt to.

My internal energy, which had doubled. My eyes, which had suddenly started to see new things.

Furthermore, even a new martial art.

I took out the book I had kept inside my black clothes.

A very old book.

The secret manual of the Sun Moon Divine Sword elder.

On the very first page of that book, these words were written.

[Sun Moon Infinite Sword]

Even though I had read the secret manual to some extent in the secret grotto, the reason I didn't use this martial art in the fight with the assassins was simple.

Because I knew myself well.

Using a martial art that I had never even practiced once in a real battle just because I had read the secret manual once?

Geniuses might be able to do it, but for a guy like me to try it was no different from suicide.

No. Far from practicing it, I had read it but hadn't fully understood the contents.

In the first place, if I had the insight to understand all the contents just by reading a secret manual once, there was no way I would have remained at the first-rate level even after training for thirty-eight years in my past life.

But what did it matter?

If I couldn't understand it in one go, I just had to read and practice it hundreds, thousands of times.

“Come to think of it, I was lucky.”

What if there had been no Gongcheong Seokyu there?

Perhaps I would have died as soon as I left the secret grotto with this secret manual.

I would have ended up just handing over the elder’s secret manual to some random assassin bastards.

When my thoughts reached that point, something I had to do came to mind.

I estimated the direction and placed the secret manual on the ground.

In the direction where the secret grotto of the Sun Moon Divine Sword elder was.

And I bowed to the secret manual and the secret grotto.

In a way, the Sun Moon Divine Sword elder was my benefactor and my teacher.

Thanks to him, I had returned to the past and had even obtained a divine art and a spirit medicine like this.

After bowing respectfully to my benefactor and teacher, I picked up the secret manual again.

“I don’t know why you sent me back to the past, elder. But I remember your words from that time. You told me to try living like I did in my past life.”

Tenaciously honing my martial arts. And punishing the trash who torment the innocent common people.

What I had to do had not changed. Just one more reason had been added.

“As you requested, elder, I will try to clean up all the trash. With your divine art.”

After making a vow that was hard to tell if it was to myself or to the elder, I turned my body as it was and began to descend the mountain again.

As I descended the mountain and opened the secret manual, the same difficult and vague content I had seen before unfolded before my eyes again.

- All things in heaven and earth are transient with the passage of time, but only the sun and moon in that sky are eternal... Thus, one shall contain the sun and moon in the vessel of the body and achieve the infinite.

“Hmm.”

Perhaps because of the experience of opening the Gate of Life and Death, or perhaps because it was the second time I was reading it, it felt like it was entering my head a little more than when I first read it in the secret grotto.

After repeating reading from the first to the last page several times.

At some point, I began to repeatedly read only the content about the first form.

I decided to give up on understanding all of the Sun Moon Infinite Sword at once.

If I could understand the beginning content and perform each form, I would eventually be able to understand the latter half as well.

Still, since I could roughly understand the beginning content, I decided to focus on the beginning.

After repeating reading only the content of the first form for who knows how long.

I closed the secret manual of the Sun Moon Infinite Sword, wrapped it in a cloth, and tied it to my back.

I had memorized all the principles of the first form, and I could also understand the meaning contained within it to some extent.

From now on, I just had to perform it with my own body and master it.

Shwing.

I drew the Restoring Name Sword and drew up the immense energy contained in my dantian.

To get used to the suddenly increased internal energy. And to practice the Sun Moon Infinite Sword.

Swish!

I continuously swung my sword in the air and took a step towards Sichuan, where the Poison Immortal would be.

***

A few months ago.

Hyeok Ilso let out a faint groan from the pain rising from his bandaged side.

“Kugh.”

A wound inflicted by a brat he had considered several levels below himself.

As a genius who had always been ahead of his peers, it was not an easy thing to accept.

Perhaps hearing his groan.

The maid that the Chairman had assigned to assist him asked cautiously.

“Are you alright, Branch Leader?”

“It’s fine. By the way, what happened to that brat and the Mount Heng Sect?”

“...I have not heard any particular news.”

Hyeok Ilso, who had nodded at the maid’s answer, waved his hand. It was a sign to withdraw.

Right after the maid cautiously left the room, Hyeok Ilso muttered with an indifferent expression.

“It seems they were concerned about the other two places.”

There were three major powers in the underworld of the Central Plains.

The Unwol Sect, to which Hyeok Ilso belonged, was also one of those three major powers.

At one time, the three major powers had engaged in secret strife to seize each other's territory and interfere with business, but because the power between the factions was equal, they only accumulated losses on both sides.

In the end, they formed a kind of alliance and even helped each other through fair deals.

But this was only a temporary alliance.

The moment one side's power weakened, it was obvious that the other two would rush in and tear them apart.

Judging by the Chairman's character, there was no way he would just let go of that brat called the Ghost Sword Young Master and the Mount Heng Sect, who had dared to destroy two Black Market branches.

No matter how much the power of the Mount Heng Sect surpassed the Golden Guardian Unit, it wasn't as if the Golden Guardian Unit was the only armed group belonging to the Unwol Sect.

They would suffer damage, but if the Unwol Sect put forth all its strength, they could destroy the Mount Heng Sect at any time.

The problem was that due to that damage, there was a risk of being devoured by the other two powers.

For some reason.

Even though the sect had not taken revenge, a faint smile formed on Hyeok Ilso’s lips.

“Killing that brat with my own hands is also a form of entertainment in its own right.”

He had always believed that all matters of the world could be solved with power. Be it martial power, financial power, or political power.

It didn't matter even if the sect took revenge on his behalf.

This too would be a revenge achieved through the power of the sect he belonged to.

But for some reason, the thought of wanting to kill that one himself came to mind.

However, he had no intention of spouting nonsense like leaving him alone because he would kill him with his own hands.

He just wanted to see with his own eyes and hear with his own ears the face of that one, fallen into despair, and the screams he would let out in pain.

Because he really didn't like that upright face that rushed in without fear, even after experiencing the overwhelming difference in skill and while covered in blood and hovering on the brink of death.

After about a fortnight.

Hyeok Ilso, whose side wound had healed, headed to the training ground.

The genius who had once been lazy in his training began to devote himself to it in earnest.

He reviewed his life-and-death battle with the Ghost Sword Young Master.

The movement of that brat who had been like a kid at first.

And the concise sword path of that one, which had changed at some point.

Furthermore, after reviewing the duel between the Mount Heng Sect Leader and the Golden Guardian Unit Leader for a long time.

Shwing.

Hyeok Ilso, who had drawn his sword, began to perform a sword dance.

He melts the sword paths and insights they had shown into his own martial art, the Shadowless Blood Flash Sword.

After performing the sword dance like that for a long time.

Hyeok Ilso, who was comparing their sword paths with his own, noticed something.

The fact that the tip of his sword was shaking very slightly.

He began to overhaul all his sword paths very slowly, as if he were learning martial arts from the beginning again.

After repeating the slow sword dance every day for who knows how long.

At some point, his sword dance gradually regained its original speed.

And the moment that sword dance surpassed its original speed, Hyeok Ilso realized.

What the feeling of perfectly handling a sword was.

It was the moment he had enlightened to Sword Unification.

After entering Sword Unification, he mainly reviewed the duel between the Golden Guardian Unit Leader and the Mount Heng Sect Leader and honed his swordsmanship.

Then one day.

The maid who had been assisting him handed him a small box.

“It is a spirit medicine bestowed by the Chairman, Branch Leader.”

“From the Chairman?”

“That is correct. He said it is a spirit medicine to congratulate you on your recent rapid growth in achievement.”

At the maid’s words, Hyeok Ilso, who had been staring at her indifferently for a moment, nodded.

“Alright. Go outside and stand guard.”

“I will do so.”

After the maid went outside.

Hyeok Ilso opened the box she had given him.

A red pill was placed there.

Red Heart Pill.

A medium-grade spirit medicine known to contain an amount of energy slightly less than half a Gapja.

Hyeok Ilso just looked at that spirit medicine for a moment.

This was the third time he had received a spirit medicine from the Chairman.

The fact that he had accumulated enough internal energy to surpass the peak at a young age was also thanks to the spirit medicines he had eaten twice before.

That was not all. The Chairman had given him the secret manual of a high-level martial art called Shadowless Blood Flash Sword, and the Life and Death Blood Steps he had learned was practically the Chairman’s signature technique.

The Chairman had taught him such martial arts himself.

The Chairman had raised him as if he were a disciple, or perhaps an adopted son.

Because of this favoritism, the personnel above the rank of branch leader who knew of Hyeok Ilso’s existence were also jealous of him.

Hyeok Ilso, who was looking down at the new source of jealousy, extended his hand.

But he did not immediately pop the spirit medicine into his mouth.

Focusing on the sensation at his fingertips and raising his sense of qi to the extreme, he began to rub and crush the pill.

Condensed energy begins to flow out from the crushed pill.

Hyeok Ilso’s hand movements quicken.

After searching through the crushed small pill for a moment as if looking for something.

A sneer hangs on his lips.

“As expected.”

Something tiny was buried inside the spirit medicine.

It was Gudok.

The moment he ate this, he would become the Chairman’s puppet.

Hyeok Ilso knew.

The truth hidden in the Chairman's favoritism.

The Chairman did not see him as a son or a disciple, but as a useful hunting dog.

A hunting dog to be used in cleaning up the other two powers that shared the underworld with the Unwol Sect.

But if you handle a hunting dog wrong, it sometimes bites its owner.

It was clearly a ploy to put a leash called Gudok on the neck of the hunting dog that had now grown to a certain extent.

He didn't feel any disappointment or regret.

In the first place, Hyeok Ilso did not believe in things like loyalty, affection, or righteousness.

He had expected that a day like this would come.

The reason he had been acting as if he were neglecting his training was also because of this.

Show useful talent, but do not become a threat to the Chairman.

Hyeok Ilso had been treading that fine line.

It seemed that his great improvement in skill this time had come as a threat to the Chairman.

Suddenly, the face of the Ghost Sword Young Master came to mind.

‘In the end, this too is because of that bastard.’

Hyeok Ilso, who had smiled bitterly, tossed the crushed pill into his mouth.

‘Therefore, I will personally kill you with my own hands.’

With that thought in mind, Hyeok Ilso began to absorb the energy of the pill that had passed down his esophagus.

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