Chapter 5

The masked man did not answer and darted his eyes around.

He wondered if others had been brought along, but fortunately, he was alone.

Even so, he could not be taken lightly.

What was it?

It felt as if every cell in his body were warning him never to approach.

The goosebumps rising again and again proved it.

Jeok Wigang stepped closer, and the masked man stepped back.

It was instinct.

The instinct to survive.

Strangely, the eight-year-old child looked like a massive predator.

“I asked you. Did you come from Turtle-Wind Sect?”

“N–no.”

“Then? Swift-Strike Sect?”

“No.”

“Iron-Fist Sect?”

The masked man shook his head.

Jeok Wigang smiled slightly and said:

“I figured you wouldn’t talk that easily anyway.”

Jeok Wigang’s hand curled into a fist.

A tiny fist, small as a pebble.

A fist that made one think, How much could that even hurt if it hit me?

At that moment, Jeok Wigang’s figure disappeared again and reappeared right in front of the masked man’s nose.

“Let’s start by hitting you. If you take enough hits, you’ll remember.”

It was a truth of the world.

Back then, the Four Heavenly Demon Lords had been the same.

At first, they resisted violently, but the more they were hit, the more obedient they became.

Truly, the fist was truth.

He was simply applying that truth now.

Watching the fist fly straight toward him, the masked man thought for a split second:

It probably won’t even hurt if I take that.

The moment he thought that, his body moved on its own to evade.

Feeling a twinge of shame for dodging an eight-year-old’s punch out of fear—

TUKWA-KWA-KWA-BOOM—!

KWARURURURURUR—!

The ground trembled and a tremendous explosion echoed.

Wondering what the sound was, he turned to look behind him.

A straight path had been carved through what had been a dense forest.

At the end of that path, a massive boulder had a perfectly round hole punched through it.

His eyes widened in shock.

Was he dreaming?

Even though he was looking directly at it, he couldn’t believe it.

If he hadn’t dodged that?

Gulp—

He swallowed dryly.

And there had been no trace of Qi at all.

“I knew you’d dodge.”

He knew?

“Wh–what if I hadn’t dodged?”

The masked man, suddenly respectful, asked with a trembling voice.

“Nothing I could do. Too bad, but you’d disappear without me ever learning your identity.”

What kind of madman is this?

Treating a human life this lightly.

More than that—what was this creature?

A master who had reversed age to appear as a child?

But he hadn’t felt any Internal Arts...

No, if he were far above him, it might be natural not to feel it.

“You still don’t plan on talking?”

Gulp—

The masked man hesitated.

Die?

Or confess and keep his life?

But if he confessed, he would be dead once he returned to headquarters anyway.

Perhaps it would be better to die honorably.

Judging from the power he’d just witnessed, he’d be sent to the next world before he even had time to feel pain.

Yes.

He would keep his honor.

With resolute eyes, the masked man declared proudly:

“Nothing—absolutely nothing—will be heard from my mouth!”

“Yeah? Have it your way.”

The moment he heard that, the fist came flying.

No—that was the illusion.

He thought he had seen it, yet a violent impact bloomed in his abdomen before he could register it.

“Guh—!”

He collapsed on the spot.

The shock that began in his abdomen rippled through his entire body like a wave.

He’d been hit in the abdomen, yet his lungs shriveled and his spine rattled.

It wasn’t his skin—it felt like the insides were being shredded apart.

Something surged up his throat, and a thick taste of iron spread across his tongue.

Falling to his knees, he checked to see if his abdomen had disappeared.

Fortunately, it hadn’t been torn off.

But what was this agony?

He didn’t know.

That this pain was only a sample of what was to come.

Puhk—.

This time, the impact struck his right cheekbone.

His head felt as though it had been blown clean off.

A sensation of floating, and the world spun wildly.

Puhk—.

Just as his consciousness was fading, another shock came from the left.

The blow snapped him awake.

Again, the spinning world.

As soon as he was about to faint again, yet another impact struck.

It felt like a giant sledgehammer was pounding his cheekbones over and over.

His sense of balance was long gone.

He no longer knew which way was ground and which was sky.

The reason he felt that way was because his body was being bounced back and forth—

Yet he never flew too far; he kept bouncing back the other way.

Because Jeok Wigang was striking him left and right at a speed beyond sight.

“Tch! Being short is annoying. I have to jump every time I hit you. I need to grow faster.”

Even through the pain, he heard a faint annoyed voice.

His consciousness drifted further away.

Then a fierce blow struck his skull, and his whole body slammed into the ground.

The masked man fainted.

How much time passed?

When he regained consciousness, Jeok Wigang was in view.

He seemed unaware that his captive had woken and was absorbed in something else.

Looking closely, he seemed to be making something.

“Was the order like this? My memory’s a bit fuzzy.”

Jeok Wigang scratched his head and focused again.

The distance was close.

Three-Step Certain Kill Sword. A life-or-death technique that could kill as long as the opponent was within three steps, regardless of stance. Jeok Wigang was sitting well within the range of that technique.

He believed this was the final chance heaven had granted him.

He prepared with utmost caution.

In that instant when Jeok Wigang was completely defenseless, he drew his dagger and thrust it toward the back of Jeok Wigang’s neck.

Puk—.

The dagger sank into Jeok Wigang’s flesh.

But it did not pierce his skin.

“Huh?”

“What are you doing?”

“Th–the Indestructible Body?”

“No. Nothing like that. I was just born with a pretty tough body.”

Pretty?

A pretty tough body, yet a full-force stab with «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» a dagger couldn’t penetrate?

“By the way—did you just attack me?”

“T–that... I... saw an opening... and acted without thinking...”

Jeok Wigang smiled again at those words.

That smile sent chills through him.

Pain still radiated through every inch of his body.

“This is my first time hitting someone with an eight-year-old’s body. My control’s not very good.”

“A–are you... really eight years old?”

“Of course. How old do I look?”

He looked about eight.

“You... you look that age.”

“And?”

“Are you... not a master who reversed age?”

“No. I’m eight, still at the age to learn about the world.”

Yet the way he spoke did not sound like an eight-year-old.

It sounded like someone who had lived through every storm of the world.

“Now, start talking.”

The masked man flicked his tongue across the gap between his teeth.

He was searching for his poison capsule.

Judging from the situation, there was no way out of this alive.

He didn’t want to die, but he had no choice.

His last resort—Three-Step Certain Kill Sword—had failed, and the only thing left was suicide.

But the poison capsule he should have felt wasn’t there.

“Are you looking for this?”

“Huh?”

At that moment, Jeok Wigang held something up and spoke. It was the poison capsule that should have been in his teeth.

“How did you—?”

“My younger brother said assassins usually kill themselves like this.”

Younger brother?

From what he’d learned, Jeok Wigang had a brother two years younger.

So a six-year-old had given him that advice?

His head spun.

The masked man lowered his eyes.

A small, delicate hand came into view.

Why did it look delicate?

The pain he’d felt being struck by that hand was something he never wanted to experience again.

He’d rather jump into fire.

“Give me the answer I want, and I’ll give it back.”

“...What?”

“Give me the answer I want, then go ahead and kill yourself.”

What kind of person is this?

Did he have no blood, no tears?

Realizing he truly had no way out, the masked man bowed his head and said:

“I... came under the orders of the leader of Hao Clan to observe you.”

“Hao Clan leader?”

“Yesterday, you went to the Hao Clan headquarters to investigate enemies of True Martial Sect. The old man you met is the leader of Hao Clan.”

“Oh? Really? Then why spy on me?”

“I do not know. I only follow orders.”

“Hmmm. Then I should meet the Hao Clan leader.”

“...What?”

“Why look so shocked? No... right, I’m still too young. I’ll have to wait until I’m older. Being young gets in the way of moving around.”

Jeok Wigang wanted to be a good son to his parents.

He had to act within boundaries that wouldn’t make them worry, so there were many constraints.

That was why he acted only at night when everyone was asleep.

Taecheon stayed guarding him for a long time even after he slept, making sure everything was safe before leaving.

Simple-minded but loyal.

Jeok Wigang liked that.

Thanks to that, he had to move around at such late hours, but it was fine.

When he grew older, he would show Taecheon his strength.

Then moving would be easier.

It just wasn’t time yet.

Jeok Wigang looked at the masked man.

“Take it off.”

The masked man immediately removed his mask, revealing a face full of injuries.

His eyes were so swollen he could barely open them, and blood dripped from his wounded lips.

“Speak properly.”

“Yes! My name is Milyeong. I am twenty-three years old.”

“Put the mask back on.”

“Thank you.”

“Keep watching me.”

“...What?”

“Keep watching. But in your reports, just make up whatever seems appropriate.”

“A–all right.”

“Hey, that’s not bad.”

“Are... are you letting me live?”

“Why? Do you want to die?”

Jeok Wigang clenched his fist.

Milyeong shook his head.

He did not want to die—not after that pain.

“N–no!”

“Prove your usefulness.”

“Yes!”

“And don’t think about running. I’m good with scents. Even if you run a thousand li, I can find you.”

He isn’t human.

“Wait... you found where I was hiding by scent?”

“Yes. You smelled different from the surroundings, so I checked, and there you were.”

It was true.

He had tracked a person by smell.

Even a bloodhound wouldn’t compare.

Wait—

The distance had been quite far...

“I also have good eyes.”

What kind of human was this?

“If you run and I catch you, I won’t kill you.”

He wouldn’t kill him?

Was he suddenly showing kindness?

“Instead, I’ll make sure you spend the rest of your life lying down, being fed... no, drinking only porridge.”

Just kill me.

Tears welled up.

All he did was follow orders.

And of all people, he had been caught by a demon.

Still... couldn’t he just run far away?

The moment he thought that—

“Eat this.”

“What is it?”

“A Ten-Thousand-Li Tracking Scent you swallow. If you eat it, I can smell your scent from ten thousand li away.”

“T—Ten-Thousand-Li Tracking Scent? There’s an edible version?”

“The applied version can be covered with other scents and gets confusing. So I asked my younger brother to make an edible one.”

Just what kind of younger brother is that?

The second son of True Martial Sect was also a monster.

There was nothing he couldn’t make at that age.

But why would he even make something like that?

Misunderstandings piled up.

“My younger brothers kept running away, you see. Once, I barely caught them. So I told him to develop something so I could catch them no matter where they fled.”

Younger brothers?

Running away?

Not the second son of the sect?

He couldn’t understand any of it.

Eventually, he gave up on trying to think.