Sword God Reborn

Chapter 259 : The Way to Win

"Good grief. To think I'd be attacked by an assassin in my life. Damn it. What grudge did I buy? This is all because of that Cheon Mubaeck guy."

Neung-heo let out a deep sigh at his changed life.

When he was living as a black path person, he had only worried about being backstabbed by other black path people, but good heavens. Who would have thought that he would become the target of an assassination by the Wolya Faction?

His one eye fell on the corpse sprawled on the floor.

"As expected, a few of the most suspicious guys were the problem."

"You have a good eye? Escort Heo?"

Although a few of the corpses were in the guise of escorts of the Azure Star Escort Agency, there was not a hint of pity on Heo Seong's face, but a coldness.

"They were escorts who had joined at least three months ago, and I had personally observed them..."

"It's fine. It's fine as long as we found out their identities, even if it was late. In the end, we took care of it well, right?"

Their true identities were assassins who had infiltrated from the Wolya Faction.

They ranged from escorts to porters. Still, there were overwhelmingly more escorts. Heo Seong, who had been directly involved in the selection of the escorts, felt a chill in his heart. He had almost faced a great disaster.

"...It's not that I did well, but it's thanks to the Young Master's prior instructions."

"Heh. That guy, he's really a ghost. He said there would be Wolya Faction guys who had infiltrated the escort agency, so he told us to find the suspicious ones, focusing on the ones who had recently joined."

"It's sometimes creepy, as if he can foresee things from a thousand li away."

"Foresee, what, he's not a clairvoyant. That guy is a person, a person. His personality isn't like a person, but he's a person."

Neung-heo grumbled and swaggered.

But he, too, like Heo Seong, had inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.

Hadn't his heart gone cold when he had learned that he was also included in the assassins' assassination targets?

For Neung-heo, who had recently had a daughter, it was absolutely impossible.

'I can't go first, leaving my baby behind. Huh?'

Neung-heo let out a sigh of relief anew. Although he had prepared in advance and had blocked it now, what if he hadn't known?

If a sword were to be thrust into his neck while he was sleeping, what could Neung-heo do?

"That's that, but I wondered if it was possible to have no damage. I had even thought about getting a few stabs in my body. But it ended too easily. How could they attack as if by magic as soon as we left for the escort mission?"

"That was also written in the Young Master's letter."

"Damn. Is he really a clairvoyant? Well, the reason that old man suddenly came was also because of the letter that guy sent, right?"

"..."

Heo Seong's mouth was firmly shut.

To be honest, goosebumps had risen on his body.

The old man in his early sixties, who was simply putting his hands together and praying for the repose of the assassins on the floor.

Although he looked like a shabby old man, Heo Seong couldn't dare to think so.

Because, in fact, that old man had slaughtered half of the assassins.

The sight of him praying for the repose of the assassins he had killed, knowing everything, made his body tremble.

The old man finished praying for their repose and approached Neung-heo and Heo Seong.

"It seems to be over now. There are no presences of assassins nearby. This is all of them. All the rats that had been felt near the escort agency have come out. There are no more."

Neung-heo and Heo Seong exchanged glances.

The vicinity that the old man was talking about was surely wider than the qi sense of the two.

Because even Neung-heo, who was full of complaints about everything in the world, was not a person who would dare to talk back.

"Thank you. Elder Yakseon."

Yakseon smiled faintly and chuckled.

"What do you mean, elder? Aren't you the escort leader? I'm a guest escort. Then you're my superior. Yes."

"How could I dare..."

"It's fine. Aigoo. When the Heavenly Dragon Sword Hero returns, tell him to stop working this old man so hard. He hired me as a guest escort to protect the Shaolin Temple, saying I should repay his kindness, and this time he's even making me block assassins... Good grief, when he sent the letter saying that since I'm a guest escort, it's natural for me to protect the escort agency, I was just dumbfounded. I was dumbfounded. To work an old man like this."

Looking at Yakseon, who was patting his back, Neung-heo said in a blunt tone.

"What can you do, old man? You have to do as you're told."

"Ugh. You've also been influenced by being with the Heavenly Dragon Sword Hero? I'm your much senior in the martial world."

"Senior, my ass. We're guest escorts working at the same escort agency."

"Hahaha..."

"And it's not that I've been influenced. That guy has been influenced by me."

"...Are you proud of that?"

"Yes. I'm very proud."

Neung-heo said so and puffed out his chest as if he were very proud.

At that sight, both Yakseon and Heo Seong let out a chuckle.

If it hadn't been for Yakseon, a master of the previous generation, it would have been quite a troublesome fight.

But Yakseon was a master of a different class.

Neung-heo clicked his tongue.

He had entrusted the security of the Shaolin Temple to such a Yakseon under the pretext of being a guest escort, and now he had even made him block assassins.

His body trembled anew at Cheon Mubaeck's skill.

'He's a great guy, I tell you.'

Having been by Cheon Mubaeck's side for quite a long time, Neung-heo now knew as much as he needed to know about Cheon Mubaeck.

Unlike his outward appearance, he cherished his own things terribly.

It would be Cheon Mubaeck's fence.

But not now.

The numerous connections that Cheon Mubaeck had built up one by one had become a single foundation stone.

Yakseon here was one of those foundation stones.

Numerous foundation stones had been laid one by one, turning the fence into a great wall.

Neung-heo was planning to guard this wall well in his own way.

And if need be...

"I think it's about time to go and help."

Like a special force that goes out of the castle and intercepts the enemy.

Shouldn't he help Cheon Mubaeck, who would be fighting outside? Neung-heo also felt his body itching.

"Who's helping whom?"

Of course, Heo Seong from the side had said a word in an absurd tone.

Neung-heo did not doubt that there was something that only he, not Cheon Mubaeck, could do.

* * *

"It would have been nice if Neung-heo were here."

"Neung-heo, you say?"

As Neung-heo was suddenly mentioned, Zhuge Seol-ah tilted her head.

"He was the most typical black path bastard among the black path people I've seen."

"Ah... it would have been nice if he were here."

Zhuge Seol-ah agreed.

Qinghai Province was certainly different from the Central Plains.

Although this place was also a border of the Central Plains, the appearance of the people was subtly different.

Putting aside their appearance, the atmosphere was also the same.

"If scholars who didn't know better had come, they would have clicked their tongues, saying it looked like a world of black path gangsters."

"To put it nicely, they're free-spirited."

Unlike the Central Plains, which was somehow formal in its appearance, atmosphere, and speech, a relatively free-spirited feeling was strongly felt.

It was natural that when Cheon Mubaeck's party arrived in such a place, the attention of the public would be focused on them.

The North Sword Society wielded quite a bit of power here.

Perhaps among the outside gazes on Cheon Mubaeck, there were also those who would run to the North Sword Society and report.

"Neung-heo is perfect for a place like this. He's such a shameless bastard that he mixes in well and brings back the necessary information from here and there."

"Umm. That's a compliment, right?"

"It is a compliment. Even dog poop has its uses in medicine."

"You seem to miss Neung-heo a lot."

Cheon Mubaeck's face contorted as if he had chewed on poop.

Since it was a colorful expression that she wouldn't see even if she stuck to Cheon Mubaeck's side, Zhuge Seol-ah would sometimes tease him like this when Neung-heo's story came up.

It was also because his reaction was so funny every time.

No matter how much of a Cheon Mubaeck he was, it was difficult to hide his expression when he heard such words.

"I don't even want to see that guy's face. Just tell him to play well with the baby."

Having said so, Cheon Mubaeck looked around.

"..."

The people around were staring blankly without saying anything.

It was like this sometimes.

When Cheon Mubaeck and Zhuge Seol-ah were talking, the party would just stare with a strange gaze.

"What are you all looking at?"

"Ahem. It's nothing. Well, aren't you the Squad Leader and the Vice-Squad Leader? We were just being quiet, thinking you were having a strategy meeting."

"Sect Master Gok, you're not in the Demon Repelling Squad, so you don't have to do that."

"Well, now, isn't it the same as following the Heavenly Dragon Sword Hero's words?"

Gok Ji-heum let out a hearty laugh.

At some point, Tang Su-gun and Hwangbo Sung, who had returned from the Sichuan Tang Clan and the Righteous Alliance, were also in the crowd.

Looking at the two idiots, Cheon Mubaeck tilted his head.

"Why did you come back? It would have been more comfortable to stay there."

"If we didn't come back, would you have left us alone?"

"You'd get a few slaps. Are you guys so scared of that that you came running?"

"...Please just think that we came back right away for the mission."

"Yes. You idiots. So you came, making it obvious that you came from the Central Plains?"

"..."

Tang Su-gun and Hwangbo Sung hung their heads.

In fact, Cheon Mubaeck had already known that Qinghai Province was different from the Central Plains in its atmosphere and appearance, and had received Gok Ji-heum's help.

With his unique disguise skills, he had blended in well with the local culture.

But as Tang Su-gun and Hwangbo Sung had returned, they had drawn all sorts of attention, so for Cheon Mubaeck, who had been quietly hiding in the inn and observing the situation, it had all come to nothing.

"Tsk. It can't be helped. It's not like the problem will be solved by just sitting here anyway. We'll strike the North Sword Society tonight."

"Tonight, you say?"

"It's uncertain how many enemies there are, how many of the various sects and merchant groups surrounding the North Sword Society are related to them, and whether they know the true identity of the Wolya Faction."

Gok Ji-heum hurriedly put on the brakes.

The Cheon Mubaeck he knew fought after creating all the conditions.

He didn't fight to win, but created an environment where he couldn't help but win.

He was thorough in everything, and while he seemed bold, he was also extremely meticulous.

If he had met him as an enemy, Gok Ji-heum was so amazed by his strategic insight that he wouldn't even dare to try to face him.

"Judging from the information from various sources, it's possible that the North Sword Society is the current main base of the Wolya Faction. Then the King of Assassins would be there. Would it just be the King of Assassins? There would also be a line of special-grade and elite assassins. But to fight without a proper investigation? This is different from the way you always fight."

"The way I fight?"

"You know exactly how to win, don't you?"

"I'm curious about that. The way to win."

"You create an environment where you can't help but win. You aim for when the enemy is at their weakest, and you aim for when they are at their most fatal."

At that, the members of the Demon Repelling Squad around seemed to think for a moment, and then nodded as if that were the case.

In their eyes, although Cheon Mubaeck seemed to be moving boldly and recklessly, he had created a flow where he couldn't help but win.

But Cheon Mubaeck's expression was strange.

"What kind of novel bullshit is that?"

"...?"

"An environment where I can't help but win. When did I ever create that and fight?"

"...Then no?"

"I just fought and won. Got it?"

"..."

"Well, it's not wrong. Because if I step forward, it's an environment where I can't help but win."

"..."

What kind of "I am the only one in heaven and on earth" kind of statement was that?

Although everyone made a stunned expression, they couldn't refute it.

After all, didn't all the results say so?

Ever-victorious and undefeated.

He had always won, and he did not lose.

That was the achievement that Cheon Mubaeck had built up.

Since his shocking appearance at Shaolin, which had made his fame spread throughout the martial world.

He had not had a single defeat.

Just looking at the faces of the Blood Demon Valley who had died at Cheon Mubaeck's hands was amazing. The fact that he had not had a single defeat in the meantime made them reflect on Cheon Mubaeck's greatness anew.

At that, a single gust of a tickling wind swept through the crowd.

'I was fighting with a person like this...'

No matter what fight, what place, what enemy, he did not lose and won.

And he was fighting with such a person.

Even though the enemy was a place where the King of Assassins might be, a strong power surged from within their hearts.

Cheon Mubaeck looked at them and said.

"At night, let's catch the assassins."

Then, what Cheon Mubaeck took out was a black night-traveling suit.

"...A night-traveling suit?"

"This time, we become the assassins."

"Assassins, you say?"

"How fun is that? To catch assassins in the same way as assassins. They'll be dumbfounded."

Somehow, a faint smile appeared on Cheon Mubaeck's lips as he said so.

"When you catch an assassin, you have to become an assassin. They should also get stabbed with a sword while they're sleeping, get stabbed with a sword while they're in the bathroom, and get poisoned while they're eating. Yes, won't they come to their senses then?"

In an instant, a silence fell.

They were going to die anyway, so what's the point of coming to their senses?

Receiving a gaze that seemed to not understand at a glance, Cheon Mubaeck was still just smiling.

(End of Chapter)