Swordless Demonic Path

Chapter 37 : A Cricket in the Corner of the Room (2)

"That bastard is Jin Sa-wol. There's a five-hundred-nyang bounty on his head."

"Be careful. He's a considerable master."

The masked men looked at each other, exchanged telepathic messages, and then nodded.

At some point, they all flew up at once.

Papapat!

Ten masked men jumped over the roofs and flew towards Jin Sa-wol all at once.

Jin Sa-wol, who had stopped, slowly raised his head.

Whoosh-whoosh!

He saw ten masked men forming a circular defensive formation in the sky and surrounding him.

The group that surrounded and attacked from ten directions in the air clearly looked like well-trained assassins.

Swish.

In that instant, Jin Sa-wol's figure seemed to sway as if it had split left and right, and in an instant, a sharp sword wind went forward like the wind. As a bonus, a sharp silver flash glittered like a star in the wind.

Shwaaaak!

The wind passed the five in front who were floating in the air and spread far away.

Thwack! Thwack! Thump-thump!

The five who had surrounded Jin Sa-wol's front and left and right sides fell to the ground. Immediately after, the swords of the five masked men who were attacking from behind crossed.

"Hmph!"

"Huh?"

Their swords pierced the empty air, and Jin Sa-wol was already standing about a zhang away.

The masked men couldn't properly see how Jin Sa-wol had dodged forward or how he had killed half of their number.

Everyone's eyes widened.

-Dodge.

Swish!

The moment Jin Sa-wol's figure blurred, the five jumped up in all directions at once.

-Scatter.

Papapat!

They flew up in different directions.

Jin Sa-wol did not hesitate and jumped up to the west, which was the closest.

"How annoying."

Whoosh-whoosh! Whoosh!

Jin Sa-wol, who had kicked off the roof and jumped up, threw the five silver coins he had in his bosom.

Ping! Ping-ping!

With a sharp sound that cut through the air, a silver coin was embedded in the back of the head of the masked man who was going over the roof.

"Keuk!"

Thump!

Although he saw the masked man who had fallen to the ground, there was no time to confirm the corpse. There were still four left.

Whoosh!

He jumped up in the northwest direction and chased another masked man.

'I should have brought my hidden weapons.'

When Ha Mae-sang had come to find him, he had left in a hurry and couldn't bring his hidden weapons.

Papapat! Thud!

The masked man who had stepped on the roof and jumped up was looking back, sweating coldly.

'It's definitely the Ghostly Step of the Demonic Cult. I have to report it.'

A footwork that moved like flowing water like a ghost and was even soundless was not common in the martial world. The best among them was the Ghostly Step of the Demonic Cult.

If it wasn't the Ghostly Step, their current situation couldn't be explained.

Thud!

The masked man who was jumping over an alley looked back again to see who was chasing him.

Thwack!

In that instant, a sword protruded from his face.

"Keok!"

Without even having time to feel the pain, the masked man fell to the ground.

Rustle!

A human face half-appeared from the darkness, and then stood next to the corpse like a person coming out of a door.

It was a woman who appeared to be in her early twenties, with long black hair hanging down.

In her hand, a flexible sword soaked in blood swayed in the wind and dropped a drop of blood.

"I can't give my prey to others."

She licked her red lips, took in the dead body with her eyes, and then turned her body.

At that moment, she froze like a stone statue with a stiff face.

'Jin Sa-wol.'

She came face to face with Jin Sa-wol, who was showing half of his body from the darkness.

That appearance was as if she were seeing a ghost.

Although it was a fleeting moment, she couldn't think of anything. She just stood there like a person possessed.

Jin Sa-wol glanced at Son Ae-hwa standing in front of him and then turned his gaze to the masked man who was dead on the ground.

"Did you kill him?"

As she heard Jin Sa-wol's dry voice, Son Ae-hwa came to her senses.

"I killed him. But is it okay to be here? There are still those who ran away, aren't there?"

"I killed three, and one is dead here, so there's only one left now."

"I killed him."

Son Ae-hwa licked her red lips with her tongue as if to say not to worry and smiled with her eyes.

"Well done."

Swish!

As Jin Sa-wol approached with a compliment, Son Ae-hwa quickly retreated a zhang to the right. It was a place where a pitch-black shadow under the wall was sitting.

Son Ae-hwa, who had entered that place, poked out only her face with an expression as if she had found a sanctuary for her heart.

Jin Sa-wol sat next to the dead masked man and searched his bosom.

"Even if you search, there's nothing special. They are Red Spiders."

As Son Ae-hwa spoke, Jin Sa-wol took off the masked man's top. Then he saw a small spider sitting in a corner of his chest. It was the mark of the Red Spider Sect.

The Red Spider Sect was a place famous as an assassin group in the Guangdong region.

"The Blood Curtain has put a bounty on your head. It seems they are very angry because you killed Mak Gu-dong."

At Son Ae-hwa's story, Jin Sa-wol nodded as if he understood and then walked slowly.

Son Ae-hwa's head moved, following Jin Sa-wol as if it were floating in the darkness. It was a phenomenon caused by the Dark Soul Divine Art and the Demonic Spirit Step that she had learned.

If an ignorant person had seen it, they might have died from being scared out of their wits. Son Ae-hwa was smiling with a face that was that strange, eerie, and had a hint of evil.

She showed an eye-smile that she herself thought was cute and asked.

"Why don't you kill me?"

Although she asked, Jin Sa-wol didn't even give Son Ae-hwa a glance.

She was asking why he wasn't killing her.

"When did you know?"

Son Ae-hwa asked again. Seeing Jin Sa-wol's indifferent appearance even after seeing her, it seemed he knew about the surveillance.

But Jin Sa-wol showed no particular reaction.

Son Ae-hwa's face appeared right next to Jin Sa-wol's.

"You've never killed a pretty woman like me, have you?"

Thwack!

Jin Sa-wol's hand grabbed Son Ae-hwa's mouth and nose. Son Ae-hwa frowned at the strong pressure she felt on her face.

"Ugh!"

"I thought you would kill me today. It's about time I got tired of you following me. But unexpectedly, it was the Red Spider Sect. If you had tried to kill me, you would have killed me. That's all."

Jin Sa-wol let go of his hand as if he had finished what he had to say. Son Ae-hwa looked at Jin Sa-wol with a hardened expression.

She could have stabbed him right away, but she didn't. The moment she tried to kill him, he would kill her.

"Since when?"

"From the first time I saw you."

"How?"

Son Ae-hwa recalled the day she had moved in next to Jin Sa-wol's house. The time she had encountered Jin Sa-wol then was extremely short.

Although she had talked with Woo Jeong-bong, she had not had a chance to face Jin Sa-wol since then.

Jin Sa-wol stopped walking and answered.

"Smell."

"Smell? Sniff! Sniff!"

Son Ae-hwa raised her sleeve, sniffed, and frowned. There was no smell.

"I smelled a smell similar to mine. I felt the smell of earth in a cave that was full of moisture and where moss would grow well. A unique smell that comes from people who have lived in such a place for a long time. A smell that crickets like."

"You sensitive bastard."

She raised her arm and sniffed again, but there was no such smell.

"It doesn't disappear just because you wash. Anyway, only those who know can smell it."

"It's a sixth sense."

Son Ae-hwa made a conclusion with an expression of incomprehension.

The story Jin Sa-wol was telling was a similar environment to the place where she had trained when she was young. She had no good memories of that place.

Jin Sa-wol started walking again, and Son Ae-hwa followed. This time, she was in a state where her entire figure was revealed.

In her eyes, she saw Jin Sa-wol's back. The distance was half a zhang, and she could kill him just by extending her hand.

"Aren't you going to kill me?"

When Jin Sa-wol asked, Son Ae-hwa, who was startled, changed her expression and observed the back of Jin Sa-wol's head.

'Does this bastard have eyes on the back of his head?'

If Jin Sa-wol's opening was to induce her attack, she wanted to tell him it was a waste of effort.

"I have no intention of killing you."

"Why?"

This time, Jin Sa-wol asked for the reason.

Son Ae-hwa was an assassin who had come from the Demonic Cult to kill him. She was clearly a Flower Ghost of the Seomun family.

"Shall I say I've become interested? Because it's an incomprehensible matter. The Slaughter Ghost Jin Sawoon joined hands with the Zhongnan Sect and tried to kill Dokgo Hye and Cheon Woo-rin. As a second-rate wanted man who betrayed the Cult, he is to be executed immediately upon discovery."

"But why don't you kill me?"

"Because it's funny. A beginner Slaughter Ghost who just came out of Ghost Spirit Valley betrayed the Cult, joined hands with the Zhongnan Sect, and tried to kill Cheon Woo-rin and Dokgo Hye? On top of that, Ghost Spirit Valley has disappeared and many Slaughter Ghosts have died, but does it make sense that that bastard survived and ran away?"

"Does a Flower Ghost think?"

It was Son Ae-hwa, who was looking at Jin Sa-wol with a look that said, 'What kind of nonsense are you talking about?' Son Ae-hwa asked.

"Since you knew we were Flower Ghosts from the Cult, why didn't you attack first? You must have had a chance to kill us, right?"

"Because I was busy."

Although it was a short answer, it was a statement that was understandable yet unpleasant. In reality, Jin Sa-wol had been spending busy days.

"You were looking down on us."

Son Ae-hwa bit her lip and showed an annoyed expression. The words that he could kill them at any time. It sounded like he was saying they weren't even worth paying attention to.

"I'll kill you."

"If you had, you would have died."

Jin Sa-wol spoke in an indifferent tone and walked. Son Ae-hwa asked again.

"The branch knew too, right?"

"They know."

"Then do they also know that we are gathering to kill you?"

"I'm looking forward to when you'll carry out the great deed."

Jin Sa-wol was still walking forward.

Son Ae-hwa felt a chill and stopped walking for a moment, but after swallowing her dry saliva, she walked again.

Son Ae-hwa, who had stuck to Jin Sa-wol's side, felt a strange feeling, looked around, and realized that it was not the direction to her house.

The place Jin Sa-wol was going to was the east gate side.

"This isn't the way home, is it?"

Son Ae-hwa instinctively stepped back. She thought he might have lured her here to kill her.

Rustle!

Son Ae-hwa, who had briefly turned her head, quickly looked for Jin Sa-wol at the sound of the wind. But in her eyes, Jin Sa-wol's figure was nowhere to be found. In that short time, he had deceived her senses and disappeared.

Son Ae-hwa raised her hand, touched her lips, and smiled.

'He's got big hands.'

Son Ae-hwa's figure also disappeared into the darkness.

* * *

Even when it was almost the hour of the ox, the gambling den of the Black Ox Den was crowded with many people. The two large, well-built stout men who were guarding the main gate were sitting with large broadswords in their arms and dozing.

Although it was noisy inside, a quiet silence continued outside.

From beyond the firmly closed door of the gambling den, the noisy shouts and laughter flowed out like a pigsty, grunting.

Swish!

Jin Sa-wol, who had appeared near the gambling den, looked at the two stout men guarding the front of the door and then went over the roof. The place he was going to was not the gambling den, but the gang leader's bedroom beyond it.

A single bright lamp was glittering in the center of the room.

Jang Woong, who was sleeping under a silk quilt on a wide bed near the window, opened his eyes at the rustling sound.

Since he was thirsty, he stood up from the bed, picked up the water jug at his bedside, and drank water.

"Keum."

As the water entered his body, his mind returned to some extent. Since he had been sleeping in just his pants, his muscular upper body was exposed.

He moved his shoulders a few times, stood up, and opened the window. As the cool night air came in through the window, his mood improved considerably. As his mood improved, lust burned in his chest.

"I should call the girls."

Jang Woong, who was muttering and turning his body, had a hardened expression when he saw the young man sitting next to the lamp.

The young man, wearing plain gray clothes, was Jin Sa-wol.

(End of Chapter)