CH 209

“Keuk!”

The warrior who had been pulled up into the air like a fish widened his eyes. He felt something wrapped around his neck. 

It was the Soul-Reaping thread.

It didn’t take long for the sharp Soul-Reaping Thread to kill him. 

As Pyo-wol flicked his hand, the body of the warrior hanging from the Soul-Reaping Thread fell into the middle of the White Tiger Sword Corps.

As the corpse of their colleague fell in the middle one after another, the remaining members of the White Tiger Sword Corps were shaken. 

To make matters worse,  they became disorganized since several warriors left to save their colleagues.

Pyo-wol was perfectly assimilated in the darkness.

The Black Dragon Robe, which boasted a bright color during the day, had changed to a color that is most similar to darkness.

In order to save their comrades, the warriors who broke away from the group climbed up a tree where they presumed Pyo-wol would be. However, by the time they arrived, Pyo-wol had already left.

Trying to conduct a sneak attack against an assassin?

Especially in the forest at night?

Their choices were simply the worst.

Because they had never dealt with an assassin like Pyo-wol, they made a fatal mistake. They would never have made this mistake if they had studied Pyo-wol a little more.

The night limits a person’s senses.

Vision is blocked by the wall of darkness, while hearing is impaired because of the sound of the bushes and the wind.

The White Tiger Sword Corps did not even prepare torches for their ambush.

They were in a situation where they could not respond properly.

Pyo-wol, on the other hand, knew how to make use of the darkness.

The terrible darkness further expanded his senses.

His eyes could vividly capture the expressions of people beyond the curtain of night, while his ears could clearly filter out the sound of their breathing.

Pyo-wol wrinkled his nose.

He could smell the fear felt by the White Tiger Sword Corps in the wind.

They don’t know, but a person in fear exudes a peculiar scent.

Furthermore, Pyo-wol could sense the fear they radiated through their breathing. Even if he couldn’t check it with his eyes, he could read the intensity of the fear they felt.

Pyo-wol’s first target was a warrior who climbed a tree to save his comrades. 

Among the White Tiger Sword Corps warriors, he was a warrior who served as a vanguard because of his light body and excellent senses. However, even with his senses, it was impossible for him to notice Pyo-wol’s presence. 

“You bastard! I will never forgive you!”

It was then.

Flutter!

Suddenly, with the sound of his collar blowing in the wind, a white face popped out in front of him.

“You?”

Puk!

The warrior could not finish his sentence.

A phantom dagger was already stuck in his neck.

After struggling for a moment, the warrior fell to the floor.

Thud!

A dull sound echoed in the darkness.

“This bastard!”

“Jeong Myung has been attacked!”

The flustered voices of the White Tiger Sword Corps rang out in the darkness.

Their battle formation has completely collapsed.

Joo Cheon-hak tried to control them, but seeing their colleagues fall dead from the sky one after another had drained their spirit. 

“You wicked bastard!”

Jang Muyeon trembled.

He was confident that his team was fully prepared, but Pyo-wol skillfully broke through their formation and proceeded to hunt the White Tiger Swords Corps members one by one.

The White Tiger Sword Corps was terrified by the threat of death, and could not fight back. 

The sight of a comrade being silently dragged into the darkness, only to reappear a moment later as a corpse was like a terrible nightmare.

“Come on out!”

“Iyaa!”

They swung their swords wildly into the empty darkness.

Their usual calm and collected appearance was nowhere to be found.

“Argh!”

A frustrated groan escaped Jang Muyeon’s mouth.

Now he knew what had happened to his maternal uncle, Hwa Yu-cheon. Hwa Yu-cheon must have experienced this exact same horror that was happening right in front of his eyes.

He felt like he can now understand, at least a little bit, how Hwa Yu-cheon felt as he had to helplessly watch his subordinates disappear and turn into corpses right in front of his eyes.

But he wasn’t Hwa Yu-cheon.

He was young, and strong. 

And he possessed a savage disposition.

It was not to his nature to just stay still and helplessly be overwhelmed. 

Jang Muyeon called the Joo Cheon-hak,

“Captain Joo!”

“Yes, young master!”

Despite the urgent situation, Joo Cheon-hak still looked at Jang Muyeon.

Jang Muyeon raised four fingers.

In an instant, Joo Cheon-hak’s face contorted with pain.

He knew what that gesture meant.

Joo Cheon-hak would normally not have accepted Jang Muyeon’s order.

But he had no choice now. 

Even right at this moment as he was hesitating, he knows that a dagger is flying in the darkness, piercing the throat of his colleagues, and killing them. 

The dagger, which had done its job, would then slip out the throat of its target as if someone had pulled it and then disappear again into the darkness. 

It was clear that if a little more time passed like this, the White Tiger Sword Corps would be annihilated.

Joo Cheon-hak shouted,

“Danmok, Juwang, Yeokcheol, Jangpyeong, occupy all four sides!”

“Yes, captain!”

The four people who were called went into position. Each of them went into the north, south, east, and west.

Jang Muyeon and Joo Cheon-hak looked at their backs with bated breath.

Their operation was simple.

It is to make these four people as scapegoats.

All four were proficient in swordsmanship, focusing on defense.

If they could withstand the Pyo-wol’s sneak attacks even for a moment, once Pyo-wol shows up, the rest of the members would all work together to attack him.

The four people who came forward were fully aware of their roles as scapegoats.

But since they, too, were human, their faces were full of fear.

Still, the reason why they willingly stepped forward and accepted the order was because there was no other method of catching Pyo-wol other than this method.

They forcibly tried to calm their wavering hearts, thinking that if others could live by dedicating their life, it would be all worth it. 

At that time, Seo Danmok’s eyes, who occupied the east, shook.

It was because a white face suddenly came out through the darkness.

The owner of the devilish white face was Pyo-wol. He used Black Lightning to appear in front of Seo Danmok without a sound.

Swoop!

A white hand went for Seo Danmok’s neck.

“YAAH!”

Seo Danmok screamed and swung his sword.

Shiak!

With a sharp sound, his sword went for Pyo-wol’s hand. The blade of his black-forged sword was covered with sword energy.

It was a powerful sword attack that could cut even a fairly large lump of metal in two with a single slash. However, his sword did not manage to cut off Pyo-wol’s wrist.

Tuong!

It was because Pyo-wol’s left hand deflected his sword.

Seo Danmok’s hand, which was holding the sword, bounced off, creating an opening. His chest and neck were wide open.

Without missing this chance, Pyo-wol’s hand went and grabbed Seo Danmok’s neck again.

“Keugh! No–!”

Seo Danmok threw away his sword and embraced Pyo-wol’s body with both arms.

He was trying to hold Pyo-wol in place even at the expense of his own life.

As he embraced Pyo-wol, the White Tiger Sword Corps attacked him all at once. Despite the swords of his comrades flying towards him, Seo Danmok didn’t blink an eye. He actually even hugged Pyo-wol’s body more tightly.

“Let’s die together!”

Seo Danmok let out a maddening cry.

At that moment, the swords of his colleagues were thrusted into his body.

Pupupuk!

He felt excruciating pain, but Seo Danmok laughed. 

He had no doubt that the swords which had pierced his body would also pierce Pyo-wol.

He thought it wouldn’t be a bad ending at all if he could sacrifice himself while taking down Pyo-wol with him. But the next moment the smile on his face disappeared. 

Srreuk!

Pyo-wol’s body slithered like a snake and then escaped.

“N, no!”

He gathered his last strength and tried to catch the Pyo-wol, but to no avail.

Before he knew it, Pyo-wol escaped from his arms and disappeared into the darkness.

“Keuhyuk!”

In the end, Seo Dan-mok lost his life to the swords of his colleagues in vain.

The White Tiger Sword Corps, who killed their comrade but failed to deal any damage to Pyo-wol, was divided by extreme confusion and fear.

“Ahh! You devil!”

“Come out, you coward!”

They cried out against the darkness.

“Everyone, snap out of it! Don’t let him get to you!”

Joo Cheon-hak tried to stop them, but to no avail. He could no longer control them.

Given the panic stricken White Tiger Sword Corps, Pyo-wol easily hunted them one after the other. 

Joo Cheon-hak tried to chase Pyo-wol as he moved through the darkness, but it was not enough.

Once Joo Cheon-hak thought that Pyo-wol was within his reach, Pyo-wol would suddenly disappear, and then reappear in an unexpected place where he would kill another warrior from the White Tiger Sword Corps.

Joo Cheon-hak felt like their current situation was a nightmare.

The sight of the entire White Tiger Sword Corps being played around and being murdered one by one by a single assassin did not seem real.

Each member of the White Tiger Sword Corps was like a child to him. And no one in the right mind could watch calmly at the death of their own son.

“I’m going to kill you!”

He chased after Pyo-wol, and then executed his strongest swordsmanship. 

Cwaaac!

As if tearing a folding screen, his sword slashed through the darkness and slammed into Pyo-wol. 

With the determination to kill Pyo-wol, he unleashed his swordsmanship with all his might without hesitating. 

The energy contained in his attack right now couldn’t be compared to the sword energy that he had unleashed so far.

Jang Muyeon, who was right behind Joo Cheon-hak, caught a glimpse of something.

A faint white line was stretched out in front of them, buried in the darkness.

The white line was cleverly hidden that Jang Muyeon would not have noticed if Joo Cheon-hak had not released his sword energy.

Jang Muyeon shouted in a hurry,

“Captain, no! Stop—!”

Sugeok!

At that moment, an eerie cutting sound rang out. 

Red blood flowed from Joo Cheon-hak’s neck.

“Huh?”

Joo Cheon-hak also tilted his head as if he felt something strange. 

At that moment, the blood pouring out from his neck grew thicker. 

His head soon fell off his body and rolled on the floor.

“Captain Joo!”

Jang Muyeon cried out.

Only then did Jang Muyeon realize.

That the white line he saw was actually a wire.  

Pyo-wol, abominably, set a wire at the height of a person’s neck and then deliberately lured Joo Cheon-hak there.

If it was the usual Joo Cheon-hak, he wouldn’t have been fooled by such a trap, but he lost his mind in anger. This made it impossible for him to detect the wire, leading to this terrible result.

Jang Muyeon’s eyes were red and bloodshot as he looked at the headless corpse of Joo Cheon-hak. It looked as if blood would drip out at any moment from his red eyes.

All the members of the White Tiger Sword Corps, which he ambitiously brought with him, had lost their lives.

There was still the group dealing with Soma, but Jang Muyeon thought he should not expect them to survive either.

The White Tiger Sword Corps was not his.

They were actually the subordinates of his father, Jang Pyeongsan.

Losing all of them was tantamount to losing his father’s trust. If he goes back to their sect empty-handed, he will lose everything he has left.

Swoop!

At that moment, Pyo-wol appeared.

Since all of the White Tiger Sword Corps were dealt with, the fact that there was no need for Pyo-wol to execute a sneak attack anymore made Jang Muyeon angry.

“N…o!”

Jang Muyeon made a sound as if phlegm was stuck on his throat.

Even though he killed all members of the White Tiger Sword Corps, Pyo-wol’s body did not have even the slightest scratch.

His white skin, contrasted with the darkness, did not have a single drop of blood. 

Pyo-wol did not look tired nor untidy at all. 

It was because he killed the White Tiger Sword Corps in the most efficient way.

Jang Muyeon glared terribly into Pyo-wol’s eyes.

His eyes, which were like a beast, were enough to intimidate many people. Unfortunately, the white-faced man in front of him did not feel scared or intimidated at all.

“I admit that I looked down on you. But you should never have shown up.”

Jang Muyeon raised his sword and pointed it at Pyo-wol.

He thought that Pyo-wol had only won so far because he hid himself while attacking. Now that he openly shows himself like this, Jang Muyeon thought that he would soon have the upper hand. 

The formidable abilities that Pyo-wol had shown so far were all made possible because he had ambushed them. Jang Muyeon was confident that Pyo-wol’s methods and techniques would not work on him once they collided head-on.

Huuung!

His sword shone clearly in the dark.

An extraordinarily clear and dark sword. 

He might not have reached the highest sword realm, but he was not far from it. He only needed the right timing and enlightenment. 

Pyo-wol, who saw this, opened his mouth for the first time,

“I only showed up because you couldn’t make me nervous.”