“What kind of mess is this?”

The jaw muscles of Yu Shinfeng, the Shadowless Monk, twitched.

In the distance, there was a blaze of fire. The flames were burning terribly as if they were swallowing up the sky, while the acrid smoke was overturning the entirety of Chengdu.

The streets were full of poor people who had fled to escape the fire.

“Aigoo! What do we do with that?”

“Our house is all burned up.”

“Huhu…!”

The streets were full of the screams of the poor.

Lee So-ha frowned and asked,

“How did this happen?”

“There is something unusual going on.”

At that moment, a familiar man reached Yu Shinfeng’s eyes. 

A swordsman who radiates a sharp aura from his skinny body. It was Gam Ilhae, the Bamboo Leaf Swordsman, one of the members of the Seven Stars. Even in the extreme confusion, Gam Ilhae was watching the situation with a cold sharp gaze. 

The appearance of Gam Ilhae, as if looking for someone, drew Yu Shinfeng’s attention.

Yu Shinfeng was an experienced warrior. The moment he saw Gam Ilhae’s behavior that did not match the surrounding environment, he immediately knew that this incident had something to do with him.

Without realizing it, he followed Gam Ilhae. After that, Lee So-ha followed.

Lee So-ha’s eyes were twinkling.

Even this chaos was an object of curiosity to her because she had lived most of her life in a boring manner.

‘What on earth is happening?’

Lee So-ha felt her heart pounding. 

She always dreamed of experiencing Jianghu’s romance. Wandering freely, creating meaningful friendship, sharing experiences and hardships, and dating a cool-looking warrior.

It is the usual form of imagination that most first-timers would dream of.

Yu Shinfeng looked at his niece with a worried expression for a moment.

Jianghu is not as romantic as Lee So-ha thinks it was. However, no matter how much he would tell her, if she can’t experience it for herself, it’s no use.

Yu Shinfeng sighed and followed Gam Ilhae.

Gam Ilhae looked around diligently, not knowing that Yu Shinfeng and Lee So-ha were following behind him.

The sharp gaze that flashed like a hawk was terrifying even from afar.

‘What are you looking for?’

Yu Shinfeng looked at the place Gam Ilhae’s gaze was headed. But he couldn’t find anything unusual.

The Gam Ilhae who Yushing Feng knew was not an easy man.

Although he was the sixth member of the Seven Stars, there were not many warriors who could be said to be much stronger than him in Hunan.

In particular, his bamboo-like sharp sword was rumored to be one of the strongest swords.Even Yu Shinfeng wasn’t confident of his victory if he faced Gam Ilhae in a head on confrontation.

He couldn’t help but wonder what Gam Il-hae was looking for.

Lee So-ha groaned.

“What is Mister Gam looking for?”

“Well. I’m curious too.”

“Whatever it is, it must be quite important. Otherwise, his eyes wouldn’t be full of life.”

“Can you feel his aura?”

“Of course! You’d be an idiot if you don’t notice when he’s already intensely searching like that.”

“Haha! That’s right.”

Yu Shinfeng looked at Lee So-ha and smiled.

He was glad about his  niece’s sharp eyesight. In order to survive in Jianghu, the ability to read the opponent’s mind and eyes were essential.

In that respect, Lee So-ha’s keen eyes were enough to get a passing score.

That was then.

“Oh!”

Lee So-ha suddenly gasped.

“What is it?”

“Mister… I don’t see Mister Gam anymore.”

“What?”

Yu Shinfeng looked around.

Gam Ilhae, who was looking around with vigor until a while ago, was nowhere to be seen. It was only for a moment that he averted his gaze since he was conversing with Lee So-ha. 

In that brief moment, the Gam Ilhae disappeared.

“What? Did he notice that we were chasing him so he ran away?”

Yu Shinfeng immediately shook his head. Gam Ilhae was not the kind of person who was afraid of anyone. He may be uncomfortable with Yu Shinfeng, but he is not the type of person who would be afraid to the point of avoiding them.

He hurriedly ran to the place where Gam Ilhae had disappeared.

“Let’s go together, Uncle!”

Lee So-ha ran following Yu Shinfeng.

The two soon arrived at the place where Gam Ilhae had disappeared. The two people who looked around let out a suppressed moan at the same time.

“What!”

“Keurgh!”

Lee So-ha covered her mouth with her hand as if she was about to vomit, while Yushing Feng couldn’t hide his astonished expression.

He was buried in a corner that could not be seen from where they had just been, like a crumpled piece of furniture. Gam Ilhae’s neck was cut long, and blood was flowing out. The absence of ups and downs in his chest meant that he had already stopped breathing.

“Oh, my! Wh, when?”

Yu Shinfeng muttered as he approached Gam Ilhae’s body.

It was only for a moment when he took his eyes off Gam Ilhae. 

All he did was avert his eyes for a second while talking with Lee So-ha, but in that moment of distraction, Gam Ilhae had already been killed by someone.

Even with the body of Gam Ilhae in front of him like this, he couldn’t believe it.

Yu Shinfeng himself was a well-known expert in the Jianghu. Yet somebody managed to completely go unnoticed with his senses and took the life of Gam Ilhae.

Aside from deceiving his senses, he could not believe that Gam Ilhae had been attacked defenselessly. Judging from the condition of the body, it was clear that Gam Ilhae had lost his life without knowing how he died.

Jjubit!

He got chills down his spine and goosebumps spread all over his body.

“Is this even possible? I can’t believe that an expert of his level was able to be taken out so easily.”

The difference in force between Gam Ilhae and Yu Shinfeng was not that great.

If Gam Ilhae had been killed so easily, it would have been the same for him. Judging from the wounds of Gam Ilhae, it was clear that someone had made a surprise attack.

If so, then it was clearly the work of an assassin.

“How could there be such an assassin in the world?”

“Uncle?”

“It must be him.”

“Who are you talking about?”

“The man who turned Chengdu upside down recently”

“So the rumors about him were true?”

Lee So-ha made an expression of disbelief.

She had heard about the rumors of a man who had dealt with all the great sects in Sichuan on his own but she thought the rumors were exaggerated.

In fact, most of the rumors handed down through word of mouth are often inflated. So she thought it would be the same this time. So she didn’t really pay it any attention.

A deep shadow fell on Yu Shinfeng’s eyes.

“It’s hard to believe, but there’s no way we can’t believe it now that the results are right in front of us.”

“Oh my God! I can’t believe such an assassin really existed”

“To think a great disaster was lurking in Sichuan.”

“How did the Seven Stars even get involved with him? Who are their contractors?”

“Well. I can’t even guess what’s going on with them, but it’s certain that a crisis has come to the Seven Stars.”

At Yu Shinfeng’s words, Lee So-ha trembled without realizing it.

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Sa Hyo-kyung’s eyes resemble those of a wolf.

It wasn’t just his eyes. His tenacity of never letting go of the prey, and even the cruelty of biting it alive, was the same as that of a wolf.

So Sa Hyo-kyung’s younger brothers used to call him the mad wolf, instead of his nickname, the Storm Fire Dragon.

Now Sa Hyo-kyung’s eyes were that of a mad wolf. He was staring at his opponent with wolf-like cruel eyes.

A boy about fifteen or sixteen years old was crawling on the floor where his eyes were directed.

Seureuk!

The boy squirmed and crawled like a bug.

He stretched out his right arm and placed it on the floor, then pulled himself up as hard as he could. Then he stretched out his opposite arm and repeated the same action.

So, little by little, the boy crawled forward.

He was struggling to get away from Sa Hyo-kyung even a little.

The name of the boy, who was covered in blood and crawling like a bug, was Nam Shin-woo.

It was only a few days before Nam Shin-woo was discovered by Sa Hyo-kyung. He tried to escape from Sa Hyo-kyung, but to no avail.

Sa Hyo-kyung was an old wolf.

He was ferocious and skilled.

From the beginning, it was impossible for a young boy without any weapons to escape from him, who had numerous hunting experiences.

“Heuf! Huff!”

Nam Shin-woo breathed roughly as he crawled. Every area he passed by was stained with blood.

Nam Shin-woo was alive even after bleeding to the point where he would have died immediately if he were an ordinary person.

“No, no matter how strong a person is, he cannot survive after losing this much blood. What the hell are you?”

Sa Hyo-kyung approached Nam Shin-woo and asked. 

Nam Shin-woo didn’t answer. 

Sa Hyo-kyung wasn’t expecting an answer either. He just casually said the question that popped into his head.

Puk!

“Argh!”

Sa Hyo-kyung stabbed Nam Shin-woo in the leg with a dagger.

It was like pricking an insect with a needle. Nam Shin-woo’s leg was deeply pierced with the dagger making his leg fixed on the floor. 

Nam Shin-woo struggled, but the dagger that pierced his leg did not fall out.

“This is really amazing. How can a human be like this?”

Sa Hyo-kyung sat down and made eye contact with Nam Shin-woo. Nam Shin-woo’s bloodshot eyes were filled with fear.

“I, I’m sorry. Help me!”

“You haven’t done anything wrong, sweetheart!”

Sa Hyo-kyung looked at Nam Shin-woo and grinned.

Nam Shin-woo’s body trembled as if he had foreseen his fate with Sa Hyo-kyung’s creepy cold smile.

Sa Hyo-kyung pulled out another dagger from his bosom. The black-forged dagger was emitting an eerie light. Sa Hyo-kyung put the dagger on Nam Shin-woo’s back and said,

“But Jianghu is the type of place where a person gets killed even if they did nothing wrong.”

Sueuek!

When Sa Hyo-kyung threw the dagger, Nam Shin-woo’s back was split long.

Blood gushed out as his bare skin was exposed.

“Keueuk! Heuk!”

Instead of screaming, Nam Shin-woo sobbed and whimpered. He didn’t even have the strength to scream anymore.

Sa Hyo-kyung looked at Nam Shin-woo closely.

He found it surprising that Nam Shin-woo still had more blood to shed even after shedding so much blood. What’s even more surprising is that Nam Shin-woo is still alive.

Although Sa Hyo-kyung was an experienced fighter in Jianghu, he had never seen such a sight.

“So that’s why they asked us to get you.”

Sa Hyo-kyung nodded his head with a convinced look. For some reason, Nam Shin-woo wouldn’t die no matter how serious his injuries are.

Whether it was because of an elixir he took when he was young, or an ability he received for an unpredictable reason, if they could find out the secret of Nam Shin-woo, the dream of immortality is not anymore impossible.

There were quite a few people in Jianghu with immense wealth and power. However, no matter how rich and powerful they were, all of them couldn’t avoid death.

Since they were born as a human, growing up and dying of aging were inevitable processes. Most people take the process naturally, but there are those who don’t.

To such people, Nam Shin-woo was like a mouth-watering food.

If they can take him in, they can cut him into pieces, disassemble him, and study his every nerve, blood vessels, and bone marrow.

Sreuuk!

Sa Hyo-kyung once again slashed Nam Shin-woo’s back with a dagger.

Nam Shin-woo sobbed and dropped his head to the floor without crying. It seemed unusual to see his body trembling.

“It seems he is slowly reaching his limits.”

Sa Hyo-kyung retrieved his dagger.

It’s good to satisfy his curiosity, but it’s him who will get in trouble if Nam Shin-woo dies. The request he received was to catch Nam Shin-woo alive.

He had to keep him alive and breathing to receive his reward.

As Sa Hyo-kyung carried Nam Shin-woo, who was struggling to breathe, on his shoulders, 

“Big brother!”

Cho Samcheok, the youngest member of the Seven Stars, called and ran up to him.

The moment Sa Hyo-kung saw Cho Samcheok’s contorted face and bloodshot eyes, he already felt apprehensive. He had a hunch that something had happened.

“What’s going on?”

“Oh, our sixth brother…”

Cho Samcheok couldn’t even finish speaking. 

Sa Hyo-kyung put down Nam Shin-woo, who was on his shoulder, and asked hurriedly,

“What is it?”

“Dead.”

“What?”

“Brother Ilhae is dead.”

“What kind of bullshit is that? How could Ilhae die?”

“It’s true. A while ago, Yu Shinfeng found our brother’s corpse and told me about it.”

Before coming here, he happened to meet Yu Shinfeng.

Yu Shinfeng informed Cho Samcheok that Gam Ilhae had died and told him where the body was located.

“Who the hell? Who killed Ilhae? Was it Yu Shinfeng?”

“No. He just found our brother’s body. He has nothing to do with it.”

“Then who?”

Sa Hyo-kyung’s eyes trembled.

He didn’t know.

That this was just the beginning.