Chapter 234
When Undang, the leader of the Six Harmonies Sword Sect from the Pasan Assassin Clan, noticed that Seon Woo-jin had disappeared, Sa Ho, a deadly assassin from the Blood Rain Alliance, also realized the same.
While the assassins focused their attacks on the six sword masters, Seon Woo-jin had quietly slipped away to a corner, slaughtering the assassins one by one—and then, like a ghost, he vanished without a trace.
This was utterly incomprehensible to them.
No matter how skilled the opponent’s divine techniques were, unless they used some kind of supernatural invisibility, there was no way to disappear so completely without leaving a trace.
Sa Ho knew this situation couldn’t continue.
They were suffering needless losses, fighting irrelevant enemies while their true target slipped away. Such waste was unforgivable.
Though retreating mid-battle was difficult, the assassins had to pull back and regroup.
So, originally watching from a distance, Sa Ho began to stealthily approach the battlefield, intending to send secret signals to the assassins and pull back key forces first.
Then, suddenly, a voice echoed in his mind.
“Found you!”
“Hm?”
Startled by the precise transmission reaching his hidden position, Sa Ho’s eyes widened as a sword suddenly shot up from the shadows where he was concealed.
Thrust!
“!”
He stared blankly at the blade piercing his chest from the darkness.
He couldn’t make sense of what was happening.
Swoosh!
But as the blade slowly withdrew from his chest and his body collapsed to the ground against his will, his fading consciousness grasped one last thought.
“How did he master invisibility…?”
“Are there any others?”
“Not that I can sense.”
Following Mukrang’s advice—who could sense the presence of others—Seon Woo-jin, having just eliminated the assassin who seemed to be in charge, retreated to a corner and watched the ongoing battle from his hidden vantage point.
He saw the assassins, unaware of the order to retreat, charging at the Six Harmonies Sword Formation of the Hyeongsan Sect as if throwing their very lives into the fray.
Swish!
Swords stabbed from all directions.
Whirr!
Hidden weapons flew from every angle.
Some even scattered poison.
Yet the power of the Hyeongsan Sect’s battle-hardened sword formation—the Demon-Slaying Six Harmonies Sword Formation—was truly astonishing.
Centered around Undang, the Six Harmonies Sword Masters spun in a perfect circle, their defense as impenetrable as iron.
Their movements meshed like interlocking gears, allowing nothing to penetrate their core; everything was shattered—be it hidden weapons or human bodies.
Ting! Titing!
Slash! Puhak!
In mere moments, countless assassins who had charged in were shredded into pieces, scattered across the battlefield.
Even the Blood Rain assassins—who seemed fearless—began to hesitate.
“…”
“…”
Despite their furious attacks, the Hyeongsan swordsmen remained expressionless, blocking every strike like lifeless puppets.
Even after so many comrades had fallen, Sa Ho still hadn’t issued any orders, sowing doubt among the assassins.
They were starting to sense something was wrong.
And Undang, leader of the Pasan Assassin Clan, immediately noticed their wavering morale.
He also realized that among the assassins in this village, there was no one capable of threatening them.
Without hesitation, Undang ordered his men.
“Scatter and execute! Don’t let a single one escape!”
No sooner had he spoken than the Six Harmonies Sword Masters shot off like arrows in five directions.
Fwoosh!
“!”
The assassins were caught off guard by the sudden ambush.
Those with higher ranks, who were trying to retreat slowly, were especially shocked.
“!”
Crack!
The higher-ranked assassins, who had already planned to flee, now did so without hesitation.
The Blood Rain assassins collapsed in an instant.
The lower-ranked assassins, already lacking skill, lost all will to fight upon seeing their superiors flee.
Always obedient to orders, they couldn’t decide whether to keep fighting or run.
What awaited them was nothing but a horrific massacre.
Puhak!
Chaaak!
Puhak!
Blood sprayed from all directions.
A silent wave of death spread everywhere, without a single scream.
“Hmph! Pathetic.”
Undang crossed his arms and watched his men slaughter the assassins.
Seeing his forces overwhelmingly dominate, some of the anger he’d felt at being toyed with by Inparang began to ease.
But then—
Tap!
A chilling sensation prickled his back, followed by a small shock.
Suddenly, his body stiffened.
“?!”
Undang swallowed hard.
Cold sweat broke out all over him.
‘Pressure point technique?’
It was impossible.
How could anyone be behind him when he was just moments ago protected by his men?
It simply couldn’t be.
Yet no matter how much he denied it, his body wouldn’t move.
At that moment, a voice echoed in his mind.
“You know well enough—you have to let your men keep fighting. The moment you show any sign of suspicion, your life will end.”
Undang was horrified.
He recognized the voice instantly.
‘Inparang?! How could he—?!’
It was unbelievable.
How could that guy use stealth techniques like an assassin?
And not just any stealth, but a level far beyond the others.
‘Could it be… his origin?’
But Undang had no time to wonder.
What he needed to worry about was his own future.
Seon Woo-jin swiftly took Undang with him, deploying stealth techniques to enter an empty house.
He then released Undang’s pressure points and said,
“I’m going to ask you some things. The sooner you answer, the easier this will be for you.”
His cold smile was so chilling it felt like staring death itself in the face.
Chaaak!
Puhak!
The Six Harmonies Sword Masters of the Pasan Assassin Clan relentlessly pursued and killed every fleeing assassin.
That was their final order, and they executed it without hesitation.
When no more assassins remained, they returned to where Undang had been.
But he was gone.
In his place stood Seon Woo-jin.
Seon Woo-jin asked Mukrang,
“Is this even possible?”
“Well, if it works, great. If not, there’s nothing we can do.”
Seon Woo-jin’s original plan had been to torture Undang to uncover the weaknesses of the Demon-Slaying Six Harmonies Sword Formation.
He thought that by learning the principles and training methods behind the formation, he could find its flaws.
But as he listened, his thoughts drifted to something else entirely.
When Seon Woo-jin had tortured Undang, the man’s words had been so absurd that he had to ask again.
“You used worms?”
Undang, his mind shredded from the pain of the seventh-stage Bone Piercing Technique, hastily answered.
He had no strong willpower—after all, he had betrayed his sect for personal gain and even abused his own subordinates to satisfy his desires.
“Yes! I took the mother worms, and they took the baby worms! That’s why they instinctively obey me! Simple commands can be sent mentally!”
The types of worms varied greatly depending on how they were raised and their intended use.
In the past, the Sichuan Assassins had used worms to threaten lives, but worms could also be used to track locations, seduce people, or cloud their minds.
The Hyeongsan Sect, however, had used worms to turn their swordsmen into components of their sword formation.
Mukrang said with a bitter tone,
“Those so-called righteous sects… they’re no different from the Blood Cult. Maybe they even stole their secret techniques.”
Seon Woo-jin had already heard from Mukrang that the Blood Cult’s ultimate technique, the Blood Control Art, involved injecting worms to control others.
Yet here was the Hyeongsan Sect, one of the ancient sects, doing the exact same thing.
No matter how much they sought power, this was utterly unforgivable.
Seon Woo-jin sighed deeply and asked Mukrang,
“If we remove the worms, can they regain their senses?”
Mukrang’s answer was negative.
He sighed and said,
“Hoo… it’s probably difficult. From what I heard, the Hyeongsan Sect first destroyed their personalities, then used the worms to control them easily. So even if you suddenly remove the worms, their lost personalities won’t return.”
“I see…”
It was a heartbreaking truth.
If Mukrang was right, they might have no choice but to kill them.
But then Mukrang added,
“However, there might be another way. We could overwrite their memories with new ones, then help them recover.”
Overwrite their memories?
Seon Woo-jin frowned.
He couldn’t imagine how that would be possible.
He asked Mukrang,
“Overwrite their memories?”
“Yeah. Basically…”
Mukrang explained.
While restoring their original personalities was impossible, they could implant new memories, allowing them to live as different people.
Hearing this, Sun Woo-jin had no choice but to make up his mind.
He resolved to swallow the soul-extracting medicine he had taken from Woon-dang—the same medicine used before to extract souls after striking the Four Heavenly Killings Sect.
Feeling the presence of the soul stirring within his body, Sun Woo-jin took a deep breath as he watched the Six Harmonies Sword Masters approaching him.
“Hoo…”
Tension surged through him.
The plan wasn’t a guaranteed success yet.
Even though Muk-rang had swallowed a soul, there was no certainty that the sword masters would recognize Sun Woo-jin as their leader.
So he waited, observing their reactions carefully.
As expected, they approached him with blank expressions, but then suddenly stopped when they caught sight of his face. They stared at him intently, as if trying to pierce through him.
Sun Woo-jin sighed softly and spoke to Muk-rang.
“As the elder said, their personalities have been erased, but it seems their judgment isn’t completely gone.”
The sword masters didn’t come any closer. They stood frozen, unsure of what to do.
It seemed their instincts, drawn by the mother soul, were clashing with their fragmented memories.
But that hesitation didn’t last long.
Suddenly, some of the sword masters’ eyes sharpened.
Probably those with a trace of personality left had decided to mark Sun Woo-jin as an enemy.
Sun Woo-jin looked at them and said to Muk-rang,
“Looks like there’s no other way now.”
Muk-rang sighed deeply and replied,
With a resigned tone, Muk-rang began to pass on a secret hand seal to Sun Woo-jin.
It was the hand seal that allowed the use of the Supreme God’s Eye—a soul submission technique unique to the Heavenly Demon, which Muk-rang had sealed away by modifying the Heavenly Demon Divine Art into the Muk-rang Mind Method.
Upon receiving the hand seal, Sun Woo-jin immediately understood the Supreme God’s Eye.
Since the Muk-rang Mind Method was based on the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, and Muk-rang had once used it through Sun Woo-jin’s body when they fought the Black Blood Demon Du-dang, it made sense.
Sun Woo-jin closed his eyes and began to circulate his energy, feeling the subtle differences between the Heavenly Demon Divine Art and the Muk-rang Mind Method, and how to harmonize the two.
Then—
Two of the Six Harmonies Sword Masters finally drew their swords and charged at Sun Woo-jin.
Clang! Clang!
Smash!
Their fierce momentum screamed that they intended to kill him with a single strike.
Shu-haak!
At that moment, Sun Woo-jin’s eyes suddenly snapped open.
A brilliant golden light burst forth from his gaze.
Fwoooosh!
“!”
“!”
The charging sword masters froze in place.
Sun Woo-jin’s golden gaze pierced straight through their souls.
Looking into their eyes with the Supreme God’s Eye, Sun Woo-jin declared,
“I am now your leader. And your sole commander.”
Moments later, five of the Six Harmonies Sword Masters stood behind Sun Woo-jin, their faces devoid of hostility.
Unintentionally, Sun Woo-jin had just gained an entire squad of the secret elite force of the Hyeongsan Sect—the Six Harmonies Sword Masters.