novelraw Chapter 108 : You Were There from the Beginning
Chapter 108 : You Were There from the Beginning
"Damn it... why do I have to be the bait?"
Ju Giltae, who had been resting comfortably in the guest room just a short while ago, moved his nervously trembling eyes here and there.
He hesitated and cautiously approached the abandoned farmhouse.
"Do I not have to report to the Alliance?"
Nine shadows followed behind the man in the black robe.
"You fool. If you send information about Jin Sohyun to the Alliance, the greedy brats won't stand still. Especially that Nine Dragon Saber brat won't stand still."
"But if things go wrong..."
The man's footsteps stopped abruptly.
His fierce pupils stared at one of the shadows.
The shadow, who felt a chill that seemed to freeze his whole body, flinched.
At the same time, the man's hand grabbed the shadow's neck.
"Keok—!"
"It is not the Alliance you are loyal to, but me. Have you already forgotten?"
At the chill he felt from his neck, the shadow could not make any sound other than a groan.
"Keoheok..."
"Do not forget. The only one you must be loyal to and follow is me."
"Yes."
As the shadows answered in unison, the man let go of the shadow's neck.
"We will take Jin Sohyun's head here today."
The abandoned farmhouse was reflected in the man's two eyes.
‘Then my position in the Alliance will surpass the Nine Dragon Saber… and I will be able to be compared to Ma Seongun.’
Greed flickered in the man's fierce two eyes.
***
Ju Giltae, who had arrived at the farmhouse, reached out his hand to the hut that had been abandoned for a long time, with a trembling heart.
Knock knock knock—!
After knocking on the door several times, Ju Giltae said with a voice that seemed to crawl.
"Young Master Jin. It's me, Ju Giltae."
Although quite some time had passed since he had knocked on the door, there was no answer.
Ju Giltae had no choice but to open the closed door and go inside.
Ju Giltae, who had entered the hut where abandoned furniture was scattered about, looked for traces of Jin Sohyun.
Ju Giltae, like a skilled martial artist, spread his senses wide.
‘I can’t feel any presence. Don't tell me he noticed and has already run away?’
Ju Giltae, who could not find Jin Sohyun, discovered a neatly placed table.
On it was an object that did not fit in with the abandoned space.
It was a letter.
"What is this?"
Ju Giltae, who had gotten his hands on the letter, checked its contents.
[I'm leaving this just in case. If you want to live, get down.]
"What is this..."
Ju Giltae frowned at the letter, whose meaning he could not understand at all.
At that moment, breath came out of Ju Giltae's open mouth.
‘A chill!’
Ju Giltae, who felt a chill that was creeping up on his whole body, looked back and almost had a heart attack.
"M-My lord!"
It was because the man in the black robe with no expression was standing in front of him.
The man extended his hand to Ju Giltae, who was calming his surprised heart.
"Give it to me."
"Y-Yes! Here it is."
The man in the black robe, who had checked the letter, asked.
"What is this?"
"I don't know either. Jin Sohyun is not here, and only this letter was left here."
The man in the black robe, who had been looking at the letter for a very short time, opened his eyes wide.
"Damn it...!"
Along with the rough curse of the man in the black robe, flying swords poured into the abandoned hut.
Kwa-ga-ga-gang—!!!
***
In a forest far from the farmhouse, a blue light sparkled.
Jin Sohyun, who had been watching the hut with his Heavenly Eyes, drew a flying sword and then held it in his right hand.
With his left hand, he aimed at the hut and measured the distance.
"Will this much power be enough?"
At the same time as he extended his right hand and sent the flying sword flying, he opened his palm and strongly hit the hilt of the flying sword.
Flying Heaven Ten Swords, Lightning Flash, Thunder Advance.
The Thunder Advance, which flew with a speed and power that could not be compared to before, pierced through the hut.
Following that, two flying swords were shot at the same time.
This time too, the two flying swords, which contained the power of Thunder Advance, flew at a tremendous speed.
A speed that sound could not follow.
A strong and fast flying sword.
"Hoo—!"
Jin Sohyun, who had finished his short breath, held the remaining flying sword and walked towards the hut.
The realm of no-work.
The power of the final realm of the Flying Heaven Ten Swords, the realm of no-work, had made Jin Sohyun awaken to a new power.
That was the way to use power.
It had made Jin Sohyun, who had not been accustomed to using his full power until now, learn how to control his power properly.
The foolish training method of pouring out all his power had, on the contrary, become an opportunity for Jin Sohyun to freely control his power.
Through this, he had become able to use the power of Wind Flow, Lightning Flash, and Thousand Hands a little more freely.
Jin Sohyun, who had attacked the hut with a total of nine flying swords, opened his mouth.
White breath flowed from between his lips.
As he got closer to the hut, a cold chill seeped into his skin.
Soon, a cold and dry voice flowed from inside the hut.
"I have always been a hunter."
Creak—!
The half-broken door opened, and the man in the black robe, carrying his subordinates on both shoulders, appeared.
The man put down the shadows he was holding.
Flying swords were stuck in their bodies.
The man in the black robe had survived by using the shadows as a shield.
"Were you waiting for me to come?"
"Yes."
"Interesting. I didn't think that brat would have the guts to risk his own life."
Ju Giltae was lying flat on the floor, trembling.
Fortunately, he had not died.
"You saw right. He's that kind of brat."
"Hmm... then you already knew that that trash would betray you."
"There's no way I would entrust such an important task to a brat like that. Ju Giltae has one role. To bring the Heretic's Path Alliance to me."
The man quietly examined the corpses of the shadows who had died.
There was one thing in common in their deaths.
‘One flying sword for one person.’
They had all been killed by a single flying sword, and their number was nine.
In other words, the nine flying swords that Jin Sohyun had thrown had killed the nine shadows as if by promise.
And the remaining one flying sword was held in Jin Sohyun's hand.
"This is ridiculous, ridiculous."
This situation was very ridiculous to the man.
Hadn't he been played in the hands of a man named Jin Sohyun from the beginning to the end?
"I think I know why the Alliance is paying attention to you. It wasn't just because you were the disciple of the Ten-Armed Blood Ghost."
The man slowly lowered his two hands.
A white and cold mist flowed from his palms.
"Did you leave one flying sword to take this body's life?"
"More than that... I had something to ask about the Heretic's Path Alliance."
Jin Sohyun raised his internal energy.
His long, roughly tied hair began to flutter as if in the wind.
The air became heavy, and a powerful pressure pressed down on the man.
"Why is the Heretic's Path Alliance in the Saseong Sect? Do you guys also want the iron ore vein of the Deungho Mountain?"
"Do you really think I would tell you that?"
Jin Sohyun scratched his forehead with his index finger.
"You're not going to tell me, are you?"
"Who knows. If you overwhelm me, I might be able to tell you one thing."
"Really?"
"I have no name. Instead, the world calls me this."
The corners of the man's mouth stretched long, as if he were enjoying it.
"The Cold-Blooded Grim Reaper."
Soon, the figure of the Cold-Blooded Grim Reaper disappeared into the mist.
"Huh? When did the fog get so thick?"
When he came to his senses and looked around, the surroundings were covered in a white fog, as if it were a lake at dawn.
Moreover, a cold chill seeped into his skin, mouth, and nose.
"It's chilly."
In the white mist, Jin Sohyun's blue pupils flashed.
Even in the meantime, the cold voice of the Cold-Blooded Grim Reaper flowed from within the mist.
"In this mist, I am invincible."
Jin Sohyun threw a flying sword in the direction the voice had come from without a moment's hesitation.
But the flying sword pierced through the mist and disappeared.
"Didn't I tell you? I will never be defeated here."
"Ugh!"
Jin Sohyun had to roll his feet to avoid the palm force that had flown from a different direction than where the voice had come from.
Thanks to that, the palm force that had hit the innocent ground scattered a cold chill in all directions.
"The name of the palm technique this body possesses is the Cold-Blooded Palm. If you are hit by my palm force, your blood will freeze."
"You're quite kind."
Jin Sohyun threw his body and tried to get out of the mist.
But at the same time as he took a step, the flying Cold-Blooded Palm pressed down on Jin Sohyun.
‘The directions are all different.’
Jin Sohyun kicked his two feet and moved his body to avoid the Cold-Blooded Palms that had flown from different directions.
Jin Sohyun, who had avoided five Cold-Blooded Palms with a total of three movements, looked around with his two eyes.
‘I can’t see anything.’
He could not see through the white mist even with his Heavenly Eyes.
"There's no end to this."
The moment Jin Sohyun stopped for a moment, a finger popped out from within the mist.
The white-stained finger of the Cold-Blooded Grim Reaper aimed for Jin Sohyun's eyes.
"...Fast!"
The finger of the Cold-Blooded Grim Reaper stabbed at the empty air.
His movement was not slow.
Rather, his finger technique was so short, concise, and fast that only a handful of people could react to it.
The Cold-Blooded Grim Reaper, who had hidden his body in the mist as soon as he had failed in his attack, quietly stared at Jin Sohyun, who was standing, blinking.
‘I can’t catch him with just speed.’
Even if he flew the Cold-Blooded Palm aiming for his blind spot or unfolded the Cold-Twisting Finger, Jin Sohyun would immediately react and avoid it.
That was not all.
‘I was almost in danger.’
As soon as he had failed to attack his eyes with the Cold-Twisting Finger, Jin Sohyun's right hand had aimed for the Cold-Blooded Grim Reaper's wrist.
If he had been caught.
‘I can’t get away.’
The sleeve of the Cold-Blooded Grim Reaper's black robe was torn.
"Tsk."
Jin Sohyun threw away the piece of cloth in his hand and looked around.
"I think I can catch him if I try a little more."
The Cold-Blooded Grim Reaper, as if he had noticed this, flew the Cold-Blooded Palm without getting close.
Jin Sohyun, who was moving here and there, avoiding the Cold-Blooded Palm, gradually became accustomed to the movements of the Cold-Blooded Grim Reaper hidden in the mist.
The adaptability that the Ghost-Faced Revolutionary Sword, Gu Jucheol, had acknowledged.
Jin Sohyun, who had been moving his whole body to avoid the Cold-Blooded Palm at first, was now avoiding the palm force of the Cold-Blooded Grim Reaper just by moving a few steps.
As the frequency increased, Jin Sohyun's movements were becoming more and more concise.
It was the Cold-Blooded Grim Reaper who first felt the change.
‘…Something is strange.’
The Cold-Blooded Palm that flew from an unseen place.
Of course, to avoid this, there would have been a huge consumption of internal energy and mental strength.
But as time passed, it was the Cold-Blooded Grim Reaper who was getting tired.
‘Is that brat’s internal energy stronger than mine?’
To maintain the mist and fly the palm force, a tremendous amount of internal energy was also needed.
And yet, the Cold-Blooded Grim Reaper could not give up the mist.
‘His body will soon reach its limit!’
The chill emitted by the white mist would soon freeze Jin Sohyun's body.
His movements would slow down, and his senses would become dull.
If he carelessly raised his internal energy to block the penetration of the chill, the consumption of internal energy would only increase.
The Cold Mist, which had made him the Cold-Blooded Grim Reaper, was getting thicker and thicker.
"Hoo."
Jin Sohyun's breath became even more hazy.
Now his hair was also frozen and stiff.
"This is different from Cheon Gaseong."
Although they both used a cold yin energy technique, if Cheon Gaseong used a sword technique that contained yin energy in the blade, the Cold-Blooded Grim Reaper was different.
He created a domain with yin energy, trapped the enemy, and then beat them to death with palm force.
Although it was the same yin energy technique, the way it was used was different.
And the Cold Mist was his own secret martial art that had made the man the Cold-Blooded Grim Reaper.
Jin Sohyun, who had been standing in place for a while, smiled brightly.
"I see."
It wasn't that he couldn't feel his presence.
From the beginning.
"He wasn't moving."
The blue light stared straight ahead.
"You were there from the beginning."
(End of Chapter)