Single-Instant Blade

Chapter 87 : Contracted Killing (2)

The Eighth Elder had finally grasped all the matters concerning the Nine-Bend Valley.

There were nine valleys in the Nine-Bend Valley, and the Ghost Gate had placed a valley master in each valley.

The Ghost Gate moved in units of valleys.

In the first, second, third, and fourth valleys, there were worker ants.

The four valley masters, called worker ants, went out to the Central Plains and managed the people who were active.

They systematically and organizationally carried out matters related to recruitment, kidnapping, and threats.

The fifth valley gathered information.

When a contract came in, they had to determine if the contractor’s words were correct. They also had to investigate the target. They took charge of all these matters.

The sixth valley received contracts.

All instructions regarding contracts were gathered and delivered, centered on the Yama Hall, the master’s residence.

The seventh valley managed the finances.

There were a whopping forty large caves in the seventh valley, and each cave was full of wealth.

Naturally, there were also martial artists who guarded the wealth.

The Ghost Gate had made the martial artists of the seventh valley into killing tools that only followed orders to kill people. Because they had become idiots with their minds controlled by drugs, they only followed their master’s orders.

In the Nine-Bend Valley, these people were called Blood-Crazed Swordsmen.

The eighth and ninth valleys were, in a word, the storehouses of the Nine-Bend Valley.

They provided all the necessary goods for eating, drinking, and sleeping. Their main mission was to procure rice and side dishes for each valley.

The Ghost Gate was quite organized.

Although the Drunken Flower Garden also had tasks assigned to each elder, and had an organization, it was not as large as the Ghost Gate’s.

‘There’s something strange about this!’

Mongseol frowned.

The Drunken Flower Garden and the Ghost Gate were said to be the two major killing veins of the martial world. The two sects were mentioned on the same line.

It was wrong. The Ghost Gate was much larger.

Just the people in the Nine-Bend Valley alone surpassed the Drunken Flower Garden.

But there were still people she had not seen. The assassins who appeared when the contract messenger was killed!

The top masters of the Nine-Bend Valley, who were separately managed by the real sect master, the valley masters and the six bodyguards, were missing.

These fifteen people were very strong. When they had fought the Drunken Flower Garden elders, they had not been able to guarantee victory.

‘This is a thin sheet of ice. I don’t know when it will break.’

Mongseol thought that she really knew nothing about the Ghost Gate.

According to what the Eighth Elder had found out, the nine valley masters and the six bodyguards were not on good terms.

The nine valley masters had been selected from among the worker ants.

The six bodyguards were people whom the sect master had personally discovered and had brought from the Central Plains.

Their origins were different, their martial arts were different, and their pride was different. Their positions in the Ghost Gate were also different.

Envy and jealousy were also mixed in.

Mainly, the six bodyguards tended to ignore the nine valley masters, and the nine valley masters responded with non-cooperation.

They did not even visit each other.

The six bodyguards were cooped up in the Yama Hall and did not come out. They did not leave the Yama Hall under any circumstances. On the other hand, the nine valley masters did not set foot in the Yama Hall.

There was no reason for them to meet.

Ah Geol wore a brown martial arts uniform.

It was the clothes that the six bodyguards of the Yama Hall had worn.

He also changed his weapon to a sword and wore it. The six bodyguards all used swords.

Mongseol came up with a bright smile.

“You look cool in this, don’t you? Wear some good clothes now. It would look perfect if it weren’t for this ghost head on your chest. What about the Remnant Soul Demonic Sword?”

“Roughly.”

“It won’t do with just roughly, will it? Won’t the nine valley masters be quick-witted?”

“They won’t recognize it.”

“Can’t you just handle it with the master’s order? I’m worried that if you go for no reason, things will get bigger.”

Ah Geol smirked at Mongseol.

Ah Geol did not want a bundle of paper, but the feeling of the fifth valley. He was thinking of grasping from what position they were dealing with the Sacred Sword Sect, the number one sect of the time, and the Wind Path Valley, where an unknown martial artist existed.

“I really have something to find out.”

“Alright, then go. You’ll be back by evening, right? Let’s have dinner together later.”

Mongseol gently held his hand.

If you were attached to someone, you would grow fond of them. There was also the special connection of being engaged.

Ah Geol also touched Mongseol’s shoulder, meaning that he would be back.

* * *

Ah Geol visited the fifth valley.

“Wait!”

Ah Geol was stopped from the entrance of the valley.

Ah Geol took out a token and threw it at the martial artist who was blocking his way.

Shoot!

The token flew, containing a strong energy.

The martial artist did not think of receiving the token and hurriedly bent his waist and retreated.

It seemed that if he had received the token with his hand, his fingers would have been cut off.

In that instant, Ah Geol, as if he had been waiting, rushed in and kicked the martial artist’s abdomen.

Shwaek! Peok!

“Kuk!”

The martial artist could not hold back the pain and let out a scream with all his might.

The fifth valley was immediately put on alert.

The martial artists of the fifth valley who had been scattered here and there all grabbed their weapons and came running out.

Thud! Thud!

Ah Geol walked to the fallen martial artist and stomped on his head with his foot.

“How dare you… throw away… the master’s token?”

“I-I didn’t throw it away…”

“If you didn’t throw it away, why didn’t you receive it? Are you saying you don’t want to receive something like the master’s token?”

The martial artists of the fifth valley who had gathered around also heard what Ah Geol was saying.

The content of the dispute was not ordinary. If he had dared to throw the master’s token on the ground, he would have to pay the price with his life. Also, since he was not on good terms with the six bodyguards, he could not hope for forgiveness.

At that time, a middle-aged man with a goat’s beard came out from inside the valley and said, “That’s enough. Why are you doing this to a child?”

‘The Fifth Valley Master.’

Ah Geol recognized who the middle-aged man was at a glance.

The tips of both his hands were black. It was proof that he had trained in the Poison Palm. His eyes were ordinary. He had reached a level where he could store the strange light inside, a kind of thawing.

He was a considerable master.

If there was a person with this much martial arts in the fifth valley, it could only be the valley master.

Ah Geol took his foot off the martial artist’s head.

The Fifth Valley Master strode up and picked up the token that Ah Geol had thrown. And after a quick glance, he held it out to Ah Geol.

“How can you throw the master’s token around so carelessly?”

“Pfft!”

Ah Geol smirked.

Poison had seeped into the token that the Fifth Valley Master had held out. He had somehow put poison on the token made of iron.

But he held out his hand and received the token.

Papat! Paat!

The eyes of the two met in the air.

The Fifth Valley Master had just used the Intestine Severing Poison. The moment Ah Geol had received the token, it had been absorbed into his body through his hand. But the poison energy had been pushed back out. It had not been able to enter his body.

“You know quite a lot about poison, don’t you?”

“I came to find some information, how long do I have to fool around?”

The Fifth Valley Master stepped aside and opened his hand, telling him to go inside.

“This isn’t polite. The host first.”

Ah Geol also opened his hand, telling the Fifth Valley Master to go first.

“You, you were thinking of cutting me, weren’t you?”

“…”

“Huhu! I read the killing intent in your eyes. If I had continued to block you, you would have cut me in the name of the master.”

“…”

“What I can’t understand is… when did the six bodyguards become so strong? To be honest, they were about on par with me, but they weren’t strong enough for me to feel threatened.”

“Because the person has changed.”

Ah Geol told the truth on this part.

If you were in charge of information, you were also much quicker to notice things. Your eye for people was also different.

If it had been the old six bodyguards, they would not have opened the way so easily.

That’s right. Ah Geol had just emitted a killing intent. He had sent out a very strong killing intent for the Fifth Valley Master to feel.

In an instant, the Fifth Valley Master had flinched.

If a fight broke out… it would not be an even match. He would be cut down in one sword. He would lose his life.

That was why he had moved out of the way.

“A person? When? Why didn’t I hear anything? The master didn’t give any hint…”

“Let me just say one thing.”

Ah Geol cut him off.

“When I entrusted my sword to the master, I said that I would cut down anyone I didn’t like. I only need to kill one person. I don’t want to kill two, three.”

The Fifth Valley Master’s eyebrows twitched.

This guy had come to the master to kill someone. Instead of entrusting his sword, he was thinking of finding out someone’s information. Through the Ghost Gate. If he did not cooperate with that, anyone would die.

What Ah Geol was saying was clear.

The Fifth Valley Master said, “This is our treasure pavilion. It’s everything we have. I dare to guarantee that all the stories, all the facts that are floating around in the Central Plains are gathered here. Since you’ve come for the first time, let’s make our relationship new. It’s good for both of us to be on good terms.”

The Fifth Valley Master smiled, revealing his white teeth.

He had chosen Ah Geol as a friend, not an enemy.

The master had given Ah Geol the authority to cut down even the nine valley masters. His sword was unimaginably strong.

The Fifth Valley Master had no intention of turning a person much stronger than himself into an enemy.

It seemed that the Yama Hall was surrounded not by six bodyguards, but by seven. This person was someone who would look down on the other six bodyguards.

Perhaps he had already taken care of the six bodyguards.

If it was a guy who hit both sides, it was better to leave him as a friend than to have him as an enemy.

“Take your time and look around. If you need anything, call me. Haha!”

The Fifth Valley Master gave a light bow and retreated.

He had deliberately intimidated the Fifth Valley Master.

He had to use the fifth valley often in the future. He had to see the world through the fifth valley. He had to hear the news of the world.

The Fifth Valley Master could not be fooled by a clumsy act.

If he began to have doubts, even Mongseol, who was in hiding, would be in danger.

The easiest case to think of was that he would have to leave the Ghost Gate, and the worst case was that the Ghost Gate would take the lead in pursuing the Drunken Flower Garden under the orders of the Sacred Sword Sect.

Originally, Ah Geol had been thinking of saying that the six bodyguards had been replaced by other people. Because he had thought that would be enough. But the Fifth Valley Master had mistaken him for a new person.

‘This much is one thing solved…’

Ah Geol began to look around the library that the Fifth Valley Master had called the treasure pavilion.

‘It’s not here!’

Ah Geol frowned.

Although the information about other sects was described in detail, there was nothing about the Sacred Sword Sect or the Wind Path Valley. No matter what paper he unfolded, those words were not visible.

The Ghost Gate did not collect information about the Sacred Sword Sect or the Wind Path Valley at all.

‘What is this?’

Ah Geol pondered over and over.

Any sect had information about them.

Even the Living Sword Sect, which he had first clashed with, collected as much information as possible about the Sacred Sword Sect.

You had to know to flatter and to build friendships.

You had to know to defend and to attack.

But the Ghost Gate had not collected any information.

The Sacred Sword Sect Master was Duke Heo Dogi. There was no one in the Central Plains who did not know this fact.

The Ghost Gate had not even written down this basic fact.

The Ten Lesser Swords of the Sacred Sword Sect had recently experienced a major incident. Two of the ten had died.

It was a big incident that would turn the martial world upside down.

In the information of the Ghost Gate’s treasure pavilion, there was not a single word that recorded that fact.

Could it be that the information about the Sacred Sword Sect was stored elsewhere?

“Is there any information stored elsewhere besides here?”

Ah Geol asked the martial artist who was guarding the treasure pavilion.

“No. This is all. Although the information about sects that have already been destroyed or people who have died is gathered in the back… this is all the information about the people who are currently active in the Central Plains.”

The martial artist answered very politely, as if he had received special instructions from the Fifth Valley Master.

Ah Geol was about to ask about the Sacred Sword Sect, but he stopped.

The fact that there was no information about them at all meant that there was some story behind it, right?

(End of Chapter)