Single-Instant Blade

Chapter 89 : Contracted Killing (4)

Ah Geol entered the Nine-Bend Valley forest without carrying any repellent.

Shwiiit! Shwit!

An unpleasant metallic sound was heard.

It was the sound of a snake sticking out its tongue to smell the objects in the air.

His own smell would also be mixed in that smell. Information about his form, such as his height and weight, was all contained in it. So it could immediately distinguish whether it was an edible prey or not.

Even a snake did not touch an inedible prey.

Even a venomous snake did not bite recklessly. It only bit when it felt threatened, and even at this time, it did not inject venom into a large animal that it could not eat. A venomous snake also disliked wasting its venom.

Ah Geol knew snakes well.

It wasn’t just snakes. He knew wild animals such as wolves, foxes, tigers, and bears well.

The blade he possessed had been made by the animals.

Swoosh!

He raised the half-iron blade.

The snake that had felt the threat immediately raised its head stiffly.

It was a snake with a mottled flower pattern on its body, a garter snake.

The garter snake had a gentle nature, so it did not attack unless it was threatened. Unlike other venomous snakes that had venom in their front teeth, it stored toad venom in its molars and used it.

Usually, it was harmless even if you were bitten, but if you were bitten by the back teeth, it would cause internal bleeding, fainting, headaches, or damage to the internal organs.

Oblivion! He forgot his body and his thoughts. Only his eyes were alive and looked at the snake.

Thawing! He completely killed his energy. He controlled it so that no energy would flow out.

Ah Geol had used thawing together with oblivion.

Originally, it had been included in oblivion without any distinction, but after Mongseol had said the word ‘thawing’, he had unconsciously separated it and had used it.

This was not necessarily a bad thing.

Before, oblivion had been the main focus, but now thawing had also become a focus as much as oblivion.

He would kill the garter snake.

His killing intent was clear. He had a deep killing intent that he would never let it go alive.

His appearance was calm.

The killing intent had disappeared from the half-iron blade he was holding. It had been transformed into an ordinary iron sword, no different from a branch rolling around in the forest.

The half-iron blade was not dangerous.

Sreuk!

The garter snake calmly crawled over.

The snake also climbed onto the half-iron blade. It crawled leisurely without showing any signs of caution. In that instant,

Swoosh!

The half-iron blade moved slightly.

Should I call it a faint vibration? Or a tremor?

It rose and disappeared so faintly that the garter snake could not feel anything strange.

Sreuk! Sreuk! Sreureuk!

The snake left the half-iron blade and crawled into the forest.

But suddenly, its body was separated. The snake, which had been split in half, crawled with its head, and its tail remained and wriggled.

The movement soon stopped.

The snake lay limp and did not move.

He had executed the Single-Instant Blade very slowly.

The slowness was mixed with a moment of speed. The motionless silence had been broken only once.

The Single-Instant Blade he had just executed could not be used in a fight.

The opponent was not a snake. Not only did it not move as slowly as a snake, but it was also sufficiently wary of a quiet blade.

‘I’ve just taken one step.’

Ah Geol placed the half-iron blade on his knee and closed his eyes.

He waited in silence until another snake crawled up.

Tuk!

The sound of a branch breaking was heard.

In fact, no branch had been broken. When he had executed the Nihwan Single Sword, it had been as soft as a cat stepping on the ground. So there was no way that even the sound of dry leaves rustling could be heard.

Just then, Ah Geol had let go of his mind and was listening to the sounds of the world.

If it hadn’t been for this time, he would not have been able to hear the sound of footsteps while concentrating on the Nihwan Palace.

Ah Geol opened his eyes and looked at Mongseol.

“Ha! I tried to approach without being discovered, but I was discovered.”

Mongseol laughed.

“There’s something.”

Ah Geol said, putting away the half-iron blade.

Mongseol sat next to him.

“Is your training going well?”

“It’s just the beginning.”

“I have a favor to ask.”

Ah Geol looked at Mongseol as if to ask what the favor was.

“Please catch the Fourth Valley Master. I thought the Fourth Valley was also a valley where the worker ants lived, along with the other one, two, and three valleys, but it seems that the reality was that they were the master’s direct assassins.”

“Direct?”

“Even if they’re not direct assassins, it’s clear that they receive orders directly. If so, it means that the Fourth Valley Master also knows that the Yama Hall Master is the Straw Sect Master. He also knows about Ma Guyeong.”

“Hmm!”

“The Eighth Elder will take charge of the interrogation. So…”

“Alright. I’ll do it.”

Ah Geol said.

Although he had not heard Mongseol’s words to the end, it was as good as having heard them.

If the Fourth Valley Master was the master’s direct subordinate, there was no law that the other martial artists of the Fourth Valley were not. The entire Fourth Valley might be Ma Guyeong’s direct subordinates. If so, he should not stop at just catching the Fourth Valley Master, but should also put pressure on the entire Fourth Valley so that they could not move.

“You have to move right now, right?”

“I’ll tell the Eighth Elder to go to the Fourth Valley in about half a two-hour period.”

“But didn’t you choose the wrong hiding place? There are too many complicated things here.”

“If there’s a place where the superior-subordinate relationship is completely cut off like the Ghost Gate, I’ll consider it. What kind of sect would that be?”

“Alright, alright.”

Ah Geol stood up with the half-iron blade.

Although Mongseol had asked easily, the work was not easy.

Perhaps he would have to bury the entire Fourth Valley in the ground. He also had to consider the case of annihilating the Fourth Valley.

* * *

“Stop!”

A martial artist of the Fourth Valley blocked Ah Geol’s path.

Ah Geol showed the master’s token. But the martial artist of the Fourth Valley did not move out of the way.

“All orders are through the message tube… keok!”

The martial artist of the Fourth Valley let out a gasp in the middle of speaking.

The half-iron blade had already swept past his chest.

In fact, he had no intention of killing him. But he was trying to set off a firecracker. When he had told Ah Geol to stop, he had already lit the fuse of the firecracker.

Ah Geol extinguished the fuse with his foot.

His ominous feeling was right.

It seemed that the entire Fourth Valley was the master’s direct subordinate. It might not be. The Fourth Valley Master might have ignored the orders of the Yama Hall and had been operating the Fourth Valley on his own.

Anyway, the orders of the Yama Hall did not work in the Fourth Valley.

Shwiiit!

As soon as Ah Geol had cut the martial artist, he had immediately shot his body forward.

The reason Mongseol had sent him instead of the Eighth Elder was to ask him to surely subdue the enemy.

“Wait!”

Two martial artists suddenly popped out and blocked his path.

He had known they were there. He had grasped where and how many were hiding before he had flown his body.

Pat! Peok!

Ah Geol unleashed his killing move without hesitation.

The half-iron blade was so fast that they could not handle it. By the time they had seen the blade light, their bodies had already been cut.

Ah Geol broke through to the Fourth Valley Master’s residence in one go.

The distance from the entrance of the valley to the Fourth Valley Master’s residence was about two hundred zhang. The number of martial artists who had blocked his path was about thirty.

He had cut them all down.

“Who are you?”

“…”

“There’s no one like you in the Ghost Gate. Who are you!”

“Is that why you ignored the master’s token?”

“Huhuhu! The Straw Sect Master is touching our Fourth Valley, is that it? I don’t know where you rolled in from… but think carefully. I don’t know what that guy said…”

Shoot! Peok!

Ah Geol struck with the Single-Instant Blade with his hand blade.

A tremor occurred, as if he had cut a snake. A flash of light exploded at a close distance from the Fourth Valley Master.

The Fourth Valley Master collapsed without even being able to resist.

Ah Geol swept his eyes over the martial artists next to him.

There were two more, including the deputy valley master, and their martial arts were no less than the valley master’s.

The Fourth Valley was definitely hiding something.

“I have no intention of taking you with me. I have no intention of leaving you behind either. So raise your weapons.”

Ah Geol raised the half-iron blade.

The Fourth Valley was completely devastated in half a two-hour period.

But no scream came out. The blade that had attacked them was too fast and strong.

Since they had been ambushed in a defenseless state, they had no choice but to collapse.

The fact that the Fourth Valley had collapsed was not known to the other valleys.

The Drunken Flower Garden assassins had blocked the back.

They had blocked all the paths leading to the Fourth Valley before Ah Geol had even entered the Fourth Valley.

Although they had been cautious when they had not known the Nine-Bend Valley, now they knew it clearly.

They knew at a glance where to block to seal off the valley.

They had cut down the ones who had rushed out of the Fourth Valley without hesitation. They had bloomed like smoke, had swung their killing swords, and had disappeared.

The Fourth Valley Master was tied to a rack.

“Huhuhu!”

He laughed confidently. He raised his eyes ferociously, as if to say, ‘do as you please’.

“As you’ve already guessed, the Straw Sect Master is not here. He’s already been eliminated. I need to know about the Ghost Gate Master, but you have nothing to say, right?”

“Hehehe! You don’t know what you’re doing right now.”

“I’m doing this because I don’t know, would I be doing this if I knew? I don’t know if you’ve heard of it, but this is the Drunken Flower Garden’s Submerged Leakage Fluid.”

The Eighth Elder held up a small bowl.

A clear liquid like water was in the bowl. It had no smell, so it looked just like water.

“Ugh…”

The Fourth Valley Master’s face turned ashen.

He thought of fear at the words ‘Submerged Leakage Fluid’. It meant that he knew what the Submerged Leakage Fluid was.

If you administered the Submerged Leakage Fluid, you would feel the pain of your whole body being stabbed with a blade without rest. It would proceed like that for a whole day. You couldn’t even die during that time. You couldn’t even faint because it was so painful.

The only way was to beg them to kill you quickly.

Swoosh!

The Eighth Elder scooped up the Submerged Leakage Fluid and poured it into the Fourth Valley Master’s mouth.

“Huk! Huk! Huk!”

As soon as the Submerged Leakage Fluid had touched his tongue, the Fourth Valley Master had begun to struggle, unable to bear the pain.

It would feel as if he were holding a red-hot charcoal in his mouth.

The Eighth Elder said with a smile, “Still, since you’re a valley master, I hope you can hold out for a while.”

The Fourth Valley Master had held out really well.

He had not said a single word about the sect master until the moment he had died.

“I didn’t get anything.”

The Eighth Elder said with a grave expression.

Although he had used the Submerged Leakage Fluid, he had not gotten the answer he had wanted.

Either he really knew nothing, or his will not to talk about the sect master was too strong.

The Fourth Valley Master was the latter.

“You’ve worked hard. Go to the Fourth Valley. My dear is searching the Fourth Valley, and there might be something that only we can see. Please find out anything you can about Ma Guyeong.”

“Yes.”

The Eighth Elder answered.

Mongseol’s expression became heavy.

Just who was Ma Guyeong that the Fourth Valley Master had endured the Submerged Leakage Fluid?

The effect of the Submerged Leakage Fluid could be guaranteed. Any person would tell all their secrets.

A person who had been subjected to the Submerged Leakage Fluid would scratch the floor with his fingers to overcome the pain, and he would not feel the pain even if all his fingernails came off. Because it was nothing compared to the pain that the Submerged Leakage Fluid gave.

At first, she had come to just hide her body in the Ghost Gate. But the more she stayed, the more curious she became about the person named Ma Guyeong. Wasn’t he like a demonic dragon hidden in the clouds?

‘The Sacred Sword Sect, the Wind Path Valley, Ma Guyeong. Has another enemy appeared? The Blood Sword is still far from ready. Hoo!’

Mongseol let out a deep sigh.

(End of Chapter)