Sword God Reborn

Chapter 237 : The Final Generosity

"..."

The assassins' heads all turned to face one person.

It was the man in the guise of a monk, the one who had been answering Cheon Mubaeck's questions.

As the most skilled special-grade assassin among them, the monk was the highest-ranking.

"As far as I know, there are less than ten special-grade assassins in the Wolya Faction. It's an old story, so I don't know about now, but there probably isn't a big difference. Then, you damn monk, you're the leader here, right?"

"...That's right."

"Then decide. Whether you will accept my request. Since you're an assassin's sect that is neither of the Orthodox or Demonic Path, nor of the Black Path, but somewhere in between, you can accept my request, can't you?"

It wasn't wrong. A request could certainly be made.

And refusing the request was also the Wolya Faction's right.

Not all requests were accepted, even for an immense sum of money.

For example, weren't there absurd things like assassinating the emperor?

There was nothing special about refusing here.

But a problem definitely existed. The price the opponent said he would pay.

"The fee for the request... is our lives."

"The price of the entire Wolya Faction's lives seems appropriate for the price of taking down the Blood Demon Valley's leader."

It was appropriate.

No, it was more than appropriate; it was excessive.

The undisputed number one assassin sect in the martial world, with seven special-grade assassins and over two hundred elite assassins.

The price of all their lives was more than enough to kill the leader of the Blood Demon Valley.

That was the problem. Not accepting that request meant not paying the price.

In a word, it meant he would take their lives. The monk's face contorted.

"This is a threat."

"It is a threat."

"The Wolya Faction does not carry out assassinations by succumbing to threats."

"Choose well."

"...?"

Cheon Mubaeck grinned.

The monk's face twitched slightly.

He didn't like it. That gaze, as if it were seeing right through his emotions.

And that smile, full of a disdainful air as if he knew everything.

There wasn't a single thing he liked about him.

But he was truly afraid.

"The fate of the sect now depends on your choice."

"...!"

The monk clamped his mouth shut. He turned his head and read the gazes of the assassins looking at him.

It was hard to believe these were the same people who had possessed such a venomous spirit that they threw their lives away to grasp his martial arts while facing Cheon Mubaeck for the first time.

They were buried in fear, to the point of looking pitiful.

The monk let out a sigh.

They were all that terrified by Cheon Mubaeck's overwhelming presence.

Nevertheless, the monk unfortunately could not follow Cheon Mubaeck's intention.

"Impossible."

At the very firm answer, Cheon Mubaeck also tilted his head as if it were unexpected.

"Are you refusing just because it's my request? Or can you not carry it out before completing the original client's request?"

"Neither."

"Then what is it?"

"He is not a target that can be assassinated."

Cheon Mubaeck's eyes widened as if it were unexpected.

For the ever-composed Cheon Mubaeck, it was quite a big reaction.

"You've judged him to be an unassassinatable target?"

Assassins thoroughly check the skills of their assassination target.

If they judge that an assassination cannot be attempted, they place the target on the list of unassassinatable targets.

Cheon Mubaeck's expression became strange.

'I offered their lives as the price, but he says it's impossible...'

It meant that the skill of the highest leader of the Blood Demon Valley was that great.

Interest arose on Cheon Mubaeck's face.

"Was I an assassinate-able target?"

"As a result of an internal meeting, we judged that it would be possible if we had enough time."

"What do you think of that result now?"

"...The information was insufficient."

Cheon Mubaeck's eyes flashed.

His mind spun fiercely.

Even if the information was insufficient, the request was received from the Blood Demon Valley.

'They must also know that I killed the Poison Demon.'

The Poison Demon, a great demon of the previous generation, had died miserably at Cheon Mubaeck's hands.

The Blood Demon Valley had made the request to the Wolya Faction knowing this fact. Information that he was at least on the same level as the Poison Demon or higher must have been obtained by the Wolya Faction.

And yet, the Wolya Faction had judged that the assassination was possible.

That in itself proved how deep the Wolya Faction's power was.

Cheon Mubaeck's thoughts stretched further.

'They put me as an assassination target even with the judgment that I was at least on par with the Poison Demon. But the Blood Demon Valley's leader is impossible?'

In a word, it meant he was a great demon who would even look down on the Poison Demon.

Cheon Mubaeck looked at the assassins with a strange gaze.

Their pale faces and bluish lips. The fierce cold qi rising from the tips of their toes spread throughout their bodies.

Since no pressure points were pressed, the assassins were feeling the terrible pain of their entire bodies slowly freezing from the bottom up.

"The Valley Lord, that is, that guy called the One-Star, how strong is his martial power that he's unassassinatable?"

The monk kept his mouth firmly shut. Not revealing the client's information was also an absolute rule for assassins.

As expected of a special-grade assassin, he steadfastly kept it even while his whole body was slowly freezing.

Cheon Mubaeck watched quietly before approaching and thrusting out his hand.

Jjeojeojeok!

"...!"

The Ice Soul Divine Art was the peerless divine art of the North Sea Ice Palace.

And the supreme yin energy imbued with immortal qi was, literally, destructive.

As the extreme cold qi that could even freeze the blood in their veins was injected, the assassins' faces contorted greatly. Some shed tears, perhaps due to the fear of slowly freezing to death.

The monk squeezed his eyes shut. The voice flowing from his lips trembled on its own.

It was a pitiful voice.

"...Can't you just kill me?"

"You've committed so many killings, isn't it too shameless to wish for a comfortable death?"

Was it thanks to the supreme yin energy of the Ice Soul Divine Art?

At the voice that felt not just chilly but cold, the monk chewed his lips.

In fact, all the assassins here had given up on surviving.

Having grasped Cheon Mubaeck's skill and his current intentions and purpose, it was naturally impossible to judge that they could survive.

They were all prepared for death.

Even so, they did not want this kind of death.

The monk let out a sigh. At that moment, Cheon Mubaeck inwardly smiled.

'He's resigned.'

He had intentionally not pressed their pressure points. Assassins who blend into the darkness have more sensitive senses than ordinary martial artists. In such a state, the terrible fear of the entire body slowly freezing to death is difficult to endure, even for an assassin of iron and blood.

They would rather wish for a comfortable death.

Those who are facing death are bound to become a little more detached.

Seeing the halo of light beyond their faces, Cheon Mubaeck knew that his idea had worked.

The monk suddenly spoke.

"A long time ago, I took on a very big request. I was a rookie who had just started working as an assassin, but it was a big request that mobilized even rookies like me. The Faction Lord's face was also very tense, wondering how powerful a master we had to kill."

A master that the entire Wolya Faction would pounce on?

If it was such a person, they would be at least one of the top few in the world.

"Who was it?"

"It was the Sword Venerable."

"..."

As Cheon Mubaeck's expression hardened slightly, the monk laughed as if he were sobbing.

"During the Righteous-Demonic War, the Wolya Faction thoroughly hid itself and built up its strength, and was full of confidence. After the Azure Sky Sword God ascended to immortality, the shrunken remnants of the Demonic Path had requested the assassination of the Sword Venerable."

"No matter how I think about it, I have doubts about you guys' judgment."

"That's right. The Wolya Faction alone could not kill the Sword Venerable. It was five years. We waited and waited for five years and created an opportunity. We made all the environment and situation advantageous. But the assassins were all annihilated by the Sword Venerable. At that time, as if waiting, a figure of the Demonic Path rushed in. It turned out that he had intended to take advantage of the situation while the Wolya Faction and the Sword Venerable were killing each other. When he came, the atmosphere changed drastically. Even the Sword Venerable seemed flustered."

"Who was it?"

"He's a figure from the previous generation, so I don't know if a young man like you would know. The Blood Buddha."

Cheon Mubaeck smiled bitterly.

"Blood Buddha... so he's the leader of the Blood Demon Valley."

"..."

There was no answer, but it was a silence of affirmation.

The Buddha drenched in blood.

Cheon Mubaeck remembered the man who best suited that moniker very well.

'He was one of the top powerhouses in the Demonic Path.'

A demon lord who appeared at the very end of the Righteous-Demonic War and caused great damage and shock.

Since he was one of the top figures in the Demonic Path at the mere age of 20, it was difficult to guess his realm now, 40 years later.

'He would have surpassed the Divine Realm, and if Yoo Baek-gi, that fellow, was flustered by his fierce attack, he might have reached the World-Severing Realm by now.'

Indeed, if he was at that level, it was understandable that the Wolya Faction would declare that they would not accept the request even if they died and came back to life.

'A monster who devoured the leader of the Blood Sect in his twenties and became the leader himself... So that's it. He was the leader of the Blood Demon Valley.'

It was sufficient information.

Although he had obtained a lot of information about the Blood Demon Valley, he had not been able to grasp the identity of their leader, but this time the result was certain.

Cheon Mubaeck suddenly looked at the monk.

Two or three of the assassins in the crowd had already been unable to withstand the seeping cold and had lowered their heads.

The rest were only a matter of time.

The monk's pitiful gaze met Cheon Mubaeck's.

"Kill me comfortably."

Cheon Mubaeck nodded.

He had no hobby of watching people die in pain.

That being said, Cheon Mubaeck's generosity was not wide enough to let them live.

At the very least, they were the ones who had attacked him, and their intention was also just the dirty assassination of an assassin.

Paak!

Cheon Mubaeck slowly thrust out a palm. One by one, the assassins' heads were shattered.

And when he stood in front of the last remaining monk, the monk said with a complicated face.

"What will you do with the entire Wolya Faction?"

"I have to go collect the price for their lives."

"Are you planning to kill them all?"

"If they tried to kill me once, they can do it twice."

"You thoroughly follow the grudges and favors of the martial world."

"Because I am a person of the martial world. You are also people of the martial world. Since we are all people of the martial world, how can we ignore the nature of the martial world?"

"It's a pity. Is there a way for the Wolya Faction to live?"

"Is it a sect you want to save that much?"

"...My older brother is the Faction Lord."

"Are you blood brothers?"

"That's right."

"Don't worry."

"...?"

"It will be lonely to go to the underworld alone, so I will send your brother soon. Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei could not die at the same time. At least, I will make you two brothers companions on the road to the underworld in the relatively near future. This is my final generosity."

The monk let out a sigh. Then, he let out a low sound that was hard to tell if it was a laugh or a cry and said.

"You've shown generosity once, please show more. Please listen to my last words."

"What is it."

"Don't burn or bury my body, just leave it as food for the beasts."

"..."

"That way, my brother, our Wolya Faction, will realize that we messed with the wrong opponent, and won't he decide to flee somewhere in the Central Plains, wherever it may be?"

"Assassin. Oh, assassin."

Cheon Mubaeck nodded. His hand moved slowly. A powerful internal energy was loaded into his hand.

"No matter where you run. The ones who attacked me."

Tears welled up in the monk's eyes.

The palm was thrust out.

"I will chase them all to the end."

Pow!

Cheon Mubaeck turned his head.

Perhaps thanks to the cold, under the extinguished bonfire, the scent of the cooled tea lingered at the tip of his nose.

Cheon Mubaeck clicked his tongue briefly.

"The tea has all gone cold."

* * *

Cheon Mubaeck and Zhuge Seola slowly rode their horses through the night.

Since they couldn't leisurely eat and spend the day in a place where corpses were scattered, they decided to go to a nearby village even if it was a little later.

Zhuge Seola suddenly asked with a worried look.

"The Wolya Faction. What are you going to do?"

"I can't just leave them alone."

"Won't it be dangerous?"

Zhuge Seola, of course, believed in Cheon Mubaeck's martial power. She trusted his bold decisiveness and his confidence that seemed impossible to break.

'There's nothing to say about the Young Master's skill, it's not even severe. It's amazing.'

Zhuge Seola's eyes shone. As a martial artist, Cheon Mubaeck was the most brilliantly shining person.

But dealing with an assassin sect like the Wolya Faction was a problem on a different level.

"I heard that the Wolya Faction was silent during the Righteous-Demonic War. They didn't accept requests from either side."

"That would be nice, but not now. They have already received a request from the Blood Demon Valley, and that request is still ongoing."

"...A request to target you, Young Master?"

"It's a troublesome situation. They're afraid of the Blood Demon Valley's retaliation if they give up, and if they continue, they have to finish me off to put an end to it. Instead of the Blood Demon Valley, which is a danger they have already witnessed and faced, they will choose to target me."

It would be different if they hadn't accepted the request at all.

Once they have accepted it, they will not give up. A more secretive threat will be aimed at Cheon Mubaeck at any time.

Therefore, Cheon Mubaeck also had no reason to leave the Wolya Faction alone just because it was dangerous.

And since they had already become enemies with Cheon Mubaeck, perhaps the Wolya Faction would choose to cooperate with the Demonic Path on a large scale.

Cheon Mubaeck could handle the Wolya Faction or even the Wolya Faction's grandfather, but the figures of the other Orthodox Path sects could not.

They could die at any time, anywhere.

'The root of the trouble must be removed.'

That being said, there were constraints of time and distance to immediately turn the horse's head and head to the Wolya Faction's headquarters.

Cheon Mubaeck slowly gathered his thoughts.

"I'll have to form an organization at the Righteous Alliance first."

"An organization?"

"Didn't you say that the young martial artists can't control their hot blood and are forming their own private organizations and acting separately?"

"Yes. Ah... then you, Young Master, will you...?"

"I'll have to draw them into the organization that the Righteous Alliance is establishing."

And use them to strike the Wolya Faction.

As a rehearsal before the upcoming large-scale war with the Demonic Path.

"They're the perfect opponent."

(End of Chapter)