Chapter 31
Slowly, very slowly.

I breathed almost as if I were holding my breath.

I was perched high among thick leaves in a tree, and below me, four warriors of the Black Shadow Sect were approaching.

Their skill level was at best mid-second rank, maybe low first rank.

I felt confident I could take them head-on and win.

But I decided to wait.

If possible, I wanted to take them out silently.

One step, two steps, three steps.

Now they were passing directly beneath me.

The moment the last warrior passed, I dropped down silently.

Whoosh!

Flipping in midair, my sword sliced past the last man’s carotid artery.

“Ugh!”

A thin stream of blood spurted from his neck as my blade was already swinging toward the two ahead.

“What…!”

“Ugh…!”

Ssshh!

Their eyes locked onto me, but it was too late.

Their throats had already been cut.

Then the lead warrior suddenly turned around, eyes wide with shock, mouth opening to shout.

“Enemy—!”

But at that moment, my sword, Mukrang, plunged deep into his heart.

Peww!

“Arrgh!”

His eyes dimmed as he collapsed, and I smoothly withdrew Mukrang.

Piercing through flesh and pulling out felt as soft as slicing tofu.

Once again, I marveled at the sharpness of my new sword and moved forward.

I still hadn’t found any trace of Saengsa Goeui, and until then, I planned to minimize the Black Shadow Sect’s forces I encountered.

A few hours earlier, after leaving the Guanji Temple, we had split into two groups again.

One group was Baek Jonghwan with Saengsa Goeui’s children, protecting them.

The other was me, the squad leader, and Bi Sa-yeong, heading to rescue Saengsa Goeui.

“Jonggwan, this mission needs to be discreet. The three of us—me, the squad leader, and Sa-yeong—will go. You stay at the inn and protect Saengsa Goeui’s children. Don’t let them get kidnapped again.”

The squad leader nodded and added, “Yeah, since your internal energy has suddenly increased, it’s best to start with energy control. I’ll teach you a Moon Blade technique. Practice it.”

After taking the elixir, Baek Jonggwan had accumulated over forty years’ worth of internal energy.

He was finally ready to step into the first rank.

The three of us dashed like the wind, quickly reaching the border between Guizhou and Guangxi provinces, where the Black Shadow Sect was chasing Baek Jonghwan.

Saengsa Goeui had fled southeast from Xingren in Guizhou toward Guangxi.

The terrain was dense jungle and hills, much like Yunnan Province, making it difficult for the Black Shadow warriors to search.

So, the Black Shadow leader, Gao Zhuyong, spread his many men wide, slowly tightening a large encirclement where Baek Jonghwan might be.

We split into three groups, each following the Black Shadow forces from different directions, trying to find Saengsa Goeui.

“Let’s each search for Saengsa Goeui and, when possible, chip away at the Black Shadow forces to create holes in their encirclement.”

“Got it. Be careful, especially you, Sa-yeong. Don’t overdo it.”

“Heh, I’m a first-rank warrior now, so no need to worry, squad leader.”

That was why I was moving stealthily, ambushing Black Shadow warriors.

The squad leader was probably wreaking havoc on another front.

I was a little worried about Bi Sa-yeong, but since he had also reached first rank and his internal energy was fully charged, I was confident no one could catch the fleeing target—not even a top master.

Moving quietly again, I spotted another group of about a dozen Black Shadow warriors a short distance away.

That was a bit too many.

Lowering myself into the bushes, I began to approach slowly, like a tiger stalking prey.

The pinnacle of the Flying Wind Palm technique was becoming one with the air itself.

Though I hadn’t reached that pinnacle yet, my movements made no rustling sounds.

I roughly gauged the enemies’ skill.

Overall, they were low first rank at best, but the one who seemed to be in charge looked like a mid-first rank warrior.

After assessing their level, I hesitated.

It wasn’t a problem to ambush and defeat them.

But if I attacked recklessly and alerted nearby Black Shadow warriors, it would be a disaster.

While pondering, my eyes caught the leather pouch tied to my waist.

A sly smile spread across my face.

I made up my mind.

I’d take a little risk.

Alone, it might be reckless, but I had some cute friends with me.

Estimating the distance, I aimed the pouch’s opening toward the sky.

Then, I slightly loosened the tie, and two snakes shot out like arrows.

Peep!

Since the day I visited the Poison Forest, I’d been raising these three-colored vipers diligently.

I watched as my little friends soared high, arcing through the air.

My aim seemed good.

They were falling right over the heads of the Black Shadow warriors searching the forest.

---

Jung Mo-su, squad leader of the Black Shadow outer division, was boiling with frustration.

Everything annoyed him.

The days without a trace of Saengsa Goeui, the sect leader who made them wander the jungle chasing him, the sweltering heat, the relentless buzzing mosquitoes.

Nothing was free from irritation.

So he vented by berating his subordinates.

“Can’t you move any faster, you idiots?! We need to catch that bastard and get home, got it?!”

In truth, he was just as sluggish, and he knew his outbursts only made his men’s lives harder.

But he didn’t care.

Then, something fell from the sky right beside his blackened, exhausted men.

One of them glanced up and screamed in shock.

“Ahhh! Snakes!”

“Wha—what is that?!”

The men scattered instantly, backing away from the two coiled snakes flicking their tongues at them.

Jung Mo-su was startled too.

But his first reaction was irritation.

“Hey, you idiots! You’re making a fuss over just two snakes?! Catch them now!”

The men scowled but reluctantly approached the snakes again.

Suddenly, the snakes shot forward like arrows.

Ssshh!

Thunk!

“Ahhh! What the—?!”

“Did it bite me?!”

By the time they realized, the snakes had sunk their fangs into two men.

The startled soldiers retreated again.

But the bitten men couldn’t move.

Their faces blackened as they collapsed, foaming at the mouth.

“Did you see that?! The snakes flew like arrows!”

“What?! They turned like that right after biting?!”

Terrified, the men couldn’t bring themselves to approach the snakes again.

Jung Mo-su was no different.

He stared at the snakes with a fearful expression but shouted at his men.

“Hey, you idiots! Go catch those snakes! You want them to die?!”

“But squad leader!”

No one stepped forward despite his orders.

He glared at them in anger.

“You bastards…!”

Then, like a ghost, a handsome young man appeared behind the men, slashing with his sword.

Shuaak!

His blade spread like a phantom fan.

“Ugh?!”

“Argh?!”

“Gahhh?!”

In an instant, the men were spitting blood and collapsing.

“What… what is this?!”

Jung Mo-su scrambled to draw his sword.

But before he could, the young man’s blade sliced across his throat.

Fshhk!

The man’s face filled Jung Mo-su’s vision as a sharp sting hit his neck, and suddenly, the blue sky appeared before his eyes.

That was the last thing Jung Mo-su saw.

---

I let out a dry laugh, looking at Mukrang after effortlessly severing the enemy leader’s head.

Cutting through a human neck felt as smooth as slicing grass.

I checked the blade again—no blood even stuck to it.

“This is a demon sword.”

I muttered, turning to scan the surroundings.

I had thrown darts at three men a little farther off; I needed to confirm they were dead.

Thankfully, all were dead on the spot.

Two killed by the vipers, six by the sword, three by darts.

Taking out that many without giving them a chance to scream was a pretty good result.

Compared to my last life’s final moments, this was definitely better.

I had finally surpassed my past self.

Well, I hadn’t reached the pinnacle before, so I wasn’t sure how meaningful that was.

But at least in this life, I might reach the peak.

‘As long as I don’t suddenly die first.’

After capturing the Mukrang, I approached the dying ones handed over to the Samchae Sisa and simply grabbed the snakes by their necks, slipping them back into their sacks.

Thanks to their habit of not releasing their fangs until their prey’s breath was completely gone, retrieving them was surprisingly easy.

“Good job, my pretties.”

A satisfied smile spread across my face.

It was amazing how something as deadly as a snake could be so beautiful.

Honestly, they seemed even prettier than Joo Taekyung, the so-called human Penumbra Swordmaster.

Well, Taekyung was useless, but our pretties had actually defeated the bloodthirsty demon general, Ji Gwangok, so that was only natural.

Of course, they had tried to bite me at first, but I chose to forget that.

What did the past matter?

As long as they were beautiful now, that was enough.

With that thought, I resumed moving stealthily.

If possible, I wanted to find the Saengsa Goeui before the Heuksangbangdo did.

I kept advancing like that until about two shi-jin had passed when I sensed something unusual.

A sharp whistle pierced the air!

It came from the direction I was heading—someone must have found the Saengsa Goeui.

I abandoned stealth and broke into a full sprint.

The scenery blurred past me, reminding me just how much I’d grown.

After running for about a quarter of an hour, I spotted a crowd up ahead.

The Heuksangbangdo had cornered someone against the wall of a towering cliff, surrounding them.

I slowed my pace and quickly concealed myself.

There were roughly thirty to forty people, and the one leading them looked formidable.

A man in his forties, dressed in black martial robes, laughed with satisfaction as he spoke.

“Hahaha! Finally caught you, Saengsa Goeui! You made us work so hard, only to be caught like this! I want to kill you right now, but by order of the leader, I’ll just break your legs!”

The leader, huh…

The Heuksangbangdo had four peak masters known as the Four Heavenly Kings, including Go Jooyong. They were sworn brothers.

That was impressive.

To have four peak masters gathered in such a backwater sect was unheard of.

Being on the front lines had dulled my sense of martial prowess, but peak masters were basically absolute rulers in these remote regions.

In Guiyang, where the Sunwoo family was based, the capital of Guizhou Province, there were dozens of peak masters, including my father and other sect leaders. But elsewhere, it was normal for a single peak master to dominate an entire region.

(Of course, places like the Nine Great Sects or the Martial Alliance had dozens of peak masters, and the Heavenly Demon Cult up north had hundreds, but those were exceptions. That’s why the Nine Great Sects and the Martial Alliance were so renowned.)

Anyway, peak masters were rare and precious in the martial world.

That’s why Cheongyeon Sojeo was so surprised to see five peak masters in the Biryong Thirty-Three Generation.

It also explained why the Blood Sect’s martial arts, which allowed one to reach the peak quickly and easily, were so attractive to warriors.

“But why the hell is there a peak master here without a leader, and why am I the only one? And to make matters worse, they found the Saengsa Goeui before I did?”

And they were leading about forty warriors behind them.

I couldn’t help but worry.

“What should I do?”

They were pressing the Saengsa Goeui against the cliff, closing in.

If I left it like this, the creature would be caught for sure, but no matter how I thought about it, I couldn’t come up with a good plan.

Then, from behind—the direction I had come from—I sensed someone running.

Their footsteps were heavy, probably a second-rate warrior. Likely a Heuksangbangdo soldier.

About three of them were rushing this way, urgently.

Warriors running urgently from the direction I came— I had a pretty good idea what was going on.

“Damn it, they must have found the bodies of those I ambushed and killed!”

A bitter taste filled my mouth.

Of all times, my presence was about to be exposed.

I even considered turning back to regroup with Captain Seolpung.

Then, suddenly, an idea struck me.

Hmm, if this goes well…?