Chapter 131

“What should I do with this?”

Having knocked out the man in black in the heat of the moment and secretly dragged him to a warehouse, Jin Sohyun was contemplating how to resolve this situation.

Jin Sohyun’s stealth skills were so subtle that most martial artists wouldn't notice him even if he were right next to them.

Yet, the reason So Soil had detected him was a kind of inexperience.

At a moment when he should have been at his most covert, he was eating rice balls while watching the sparring matches.

Out of laziness, he had neglected to erase his presence.

In the end, the lazybones' indolence had caused a crack in the solid wall of his stealth.

“Ugh…”

Jin Sohyun first tied So Soil’s body with a thick rope he found in the warehouse, then checked his pressure points once more.

“I’m sorry. This wasn’t the plan… I have my reasons, you see.”

After meticulously binding So Soil and subduing his pressure points, Jin Sohyun wiped the sweat from his forehead and let out a sigh of relief.

While doing so, Jin Sohyun discovered a small wooden plaque on his body.

The palm-sized plaque seemed to be made of ebony, its color dark, and the title ‘Hidden Shadow Unit Leader’ was engraved in silver.

‘Hidden Shadow Unit Leader?’

He didn't know exactly what that meant.

What was important now was that this man held the position of Hidden Shadow Unit Leader, and that Jin Sohyun had personally knocked him out.

“This will get pretty tiring if it gets out.”

Moreover, if a person holding the title of leader suddenly disappeared, it would surely arouse suspicion.

Having no choice, Jin Sohyun began to personally strip So Soil of his clothes.

“This is all because of the Heretic Path's Alliance, so please forgive me just this once.”

After struggling to remove So Soil’s clothes, Jin Sohyun put his own clothes on him and then put on a mask.

Fortunately, their builds were similar, so he didn't have to worry about the size of the clothes.

Dressed in So Soil’s clothes and with the short sword he always carried strapped to his waist, it was hard to tell who was So Soil and who was Jin Sohyun.

“Oho. This should be fine for a while, right?”

Jin Sohyun, who had finished his disguise as So Soil in the blink of an eye, stealthily slipped out of the warehouse.

Just in case, he had left the unconscious So Soil tightly bound and placed inside a box.

“I wonder if the sparring matches are over.”

Jin Sohyun, who was walking toward the sparring stage where the disciples' matches were being held, stopped dead in his tracks.

A man with a sturdy physique had suddenly appeared before him.

“Hm!”

The man stared intently at Jin Sohyun with suspicious eyes.

“You are?”

As the man placed his hand on the hilt of his sword, Jin Sohyun showed him the wooden plaque instead of answering.

After confirming it, the man smiled lightly and removed his hand from the hilt.

“I was wondering who it was, but it’s the Hidden Shadow Unit Leader.”

Unable to speak, Jin Sohyun just gave a short nod.

“You must be busy guarding the perimeter, what are you doing here?”

Jin Sohyun hesitated for a moment, then pointed toward the outer wall of the estate.

“Ah, you were patrolling the outskirts? You’re working hard. We don’t know what kind of wicked scheme the Heretic Path's Alliance will cook up next… at times like this, our Zantetsu Guard and your Hidden Shadow Unit must put in more effort. Keep it up!”

The man patted Jin Sohyun’s shoulder a few times.

Having no choice, Jin Sohyun nodded once more and hurriedly left the spot.

Watching Jin Sohyun, the captain of the Zantetsu Guard, Mok Jeong, thought.

“He must have no social skills since he always operates in the shadows.”

He dismissed the silent Hidden Shadow Unit Leader as just having a taciturn personality and moved on.

Meanwhile, Jin Sohyun, who had narrowly escaped a crisis for the second time, leaped about on the rooftops while hiding his presence, befitting an Hidden Shadow Unit Leader.

The place he arrived at was the roof of the building where he had been sitting before meeting the Hidden Shadow Unit Leader.

“Looks like it ended while I was gone.”

The match between Namgung Seoru and Peng Sopyeong had already ended long ago.

Furthermore, the matches of the other disciples seemed to have concluded as well, as the Alliance warriors were cleaning and repairing the sparring stage.

‘If I were the Heretic Path's Alliance.’

Jin Sohyun sat on the edge of the eaves and crossed his arms.

He furrowed his brow deeply and tried to hypnotize himself into thinking he was the Heretic Path's Alliance.

What would I do if I were the Heretic Path's Alliance?

How could I kill all the late-stage prospects of the righteous path?

Countless terrifying imaginations flashed through Jin Sohyun’s mind.

‘They won’t openly start a fight. If they did, a war would break out immediately.’

The Heretic Path's Alliance would also find it burdensome for a war to break out right now.

But they wouldn't just let this moment pass, when the late-stage prospects personally selected by the righteous martial world were gathered in one place.

‘They’ll choose a method that can inflict a lot of damage at once.’

Jin Sohyun’s blue-glowing eyes stared into the air.

Soon, his gaze sparkled brightly.

“Ah!”

Jin Sohyun shot up from his seat.

“I have no idea.”

Jin Sohyun, who had stopped thinking, immediately went to the dining hall, grabbed a few more rice balls, and slipped out secretly.

Meanwhile, inside the unvisited warehouse, So Soil’s eyes shot open.

‘Where am I?’

It was dark and cramped.

Moreover, he couldn't muster any strength in his body, and his arms and legs wouldn't move, as if his limbs were tied with a thick rope.

‘This is bad!’

The Martial Alliance’s security had been breached, and an unidentified person had snuck into the estate.

Who he was.

For what reason he had infiltrated.

There was nothing he could find out right now, but he had to get out of here somehow and report the situation.

So Soil, who had been struggling, finally managed to adjust his posture and crouch down.

‘From the sound of it, it seems like a box… if it’s a wooden box, I can get out.’

So Soil stood up with all his might.

Thwack—!

His back and the back of his head, which had hit the box, throbbed, but he had no time to feel the pain now.

So Soil once again stretched out his two legs with all his might.

“Hyaap!”

Crack!

The box shattered, and So Soil’s head popped out.

“I succeeded…!”

“…?”

So Soil’s jaw dropped, having succeeded in breaking the box.

Before his eyes, an unidentified man appeared, holding a rice ball in one hand and a water canteen in the other.

‘Who is this person?’

“Ah, you’re awake.”

While So Soil was frozen, Jin Sohyun, who had hidden his face with a mask, disguised his voice with clumsy skill.

‘What is this… this clumsy voice modulation?’

At Jin Sohyun’s clumsily modulated voice, So Soil noticed that he was not a professional assassin.

‘Then who is he? Let’s try to start a conversation first.’

Having made up his mind, So Soil licked his lips and opened his mouth.

“Who are you? Do you know that this is the territory of the Martial Alliance?”

“Yes. I know. I can’t tell you my identity due to certain circumstances. Hidden Shadow Unit Leader.”

‘He knows me!?’

Did he lure me here, targeting me from the beginning?

So Soil’s mind was a mess.

While thinking, he realized that the wooden plaque he always carried at his waist was gone.

‘My name plaque is gone! Don’t tell me… he was after my identity from the start!?’

So Soil then realized that this unidentified man had approached him with the intention of stealing his identity as the Hidden Shadow Unit Leader.

Feeling a sense of urgency, So Soil drew upon his barely recovered internal energy and launched himself forward.

His plan was to first induce a physical fight and then escape from this place.

“Whoops!”

However, Jin Sohyun lightly dodged So Soil’s body slam and tripped him by his ankle.

“Ugh!”

So Soil, who had fallen disgracefully to the floor, tried to shout with all his might as a last resort.

If he did, his life might not be spared, but if someone discovered his body, this unidentified man in black would no longer be able to use the identity of the Hidden Shadow Unit Leader.

“There’s an…!”

Just as So Soil was about to shout, ‘There’s an intruder here!’, something was shoved into his mouth.

‘Poison!?’

He tried to spit out the thing filling his mouth, but Jin Sohyun covered his mouth with his palm.

“It tastes pretty good. This is all there is, so chew it all up and swallow.”

‘To tell me to chew and swallow poison without leaving any behind! He’s a terrifying bastard!’

So Soil, who had thought he wasn't a professional assassin, realized his mistake and despaired.

Against his will, the food filling his mouth was crushed into small pieces and went down his throat.

‘Ugh! Still… the taste is quite…’

In the rice ball that filled his mouth, he could taste each of the ingredients' original flavors, and the rice grains that made it up felt chewy.

With the thought of eating and dying anyway, the Hidden Shadow Unit Leader chewed and swallowed the rice ball.

It was because he thought he might suffocate on the rice ball at this rate.

Gulp—!

As he barely swallowed the rice ball, Jin Sohyun giggled.

“Good job. This time.”

This time, cold water was poured into his mouth.

Resistance was futile.

So Soil, thinking he had already swallowed poison, resignedly gulped down the water in the canteen.

At that sight, Jin Sohyun laughed joyfully, and So Soil’s body trembled.

‘This demon-like bastard!’

Leading the Hidden Shadow Unit, he had done many secret and dirty jobs that shouldn't be revealed to the outside world.

In the process, he had used poison on his opponents quite often.

If asked if he was without sin, he couldn't say he was.

Nevertheless, he had never laughed with joy while using poison.

No matter how famous a demon lord of the heretical path the opponent was, he had at least shown a minimum of condolence.

‘But this bastard has no hesitation even while using poison. He is a dangerous and fearsome man. For such a person to be roaming the venue full of late-stage prospects… ah… how foolish I was!’

While the Hidden Shadow Unit Leader was lamenting silently, Jin Sohyun, who had fed him all the food and water, dusted off his hands with a satisfied expression.

“This should fill you up, right?”

“Whatever you do! The righteous martial world will never fall! Do you understand, you demon!!”

Thwack—!

So Soil, who was hit on the back of the neck, collapsed.

“Oh my, I’m sorry. Your voice was so loud that I unconsciously…”

Startled by So Soil’s sudden shout, Jin Sohyun had knocked him out without even explaining the situation.

He scratched his head as he looked at So Soil, who was limp like a corpse.

“Well, it can’t be helped. For the time being, please sleep peacefully.”

Jin Sohyun found a new box, pushed So Soil inside, and then blocked the four sides of the box by dragging nearby boxes so he couldn't get out.

After finishing his work, Jin Sohyun left the warehouse and headed for the guest quarters for the disciples.

There were a total of four guest quarters there, and he secretly entered the northern one, which the Blue Dragon Daoist Temple was using.

“The capacity is a hundred people, so… there should be at least one room for me to rest in, right?”

Jin Sohyun’s thought that the number of rooms in the guest quarters would be the same as the capacity for a hundred Blue Dragon Daoist Temple disciples was correct.

In reality, there were many empty rooms in the quarters that housed the thirty disciples.

Among them, Jin Sohyun secretly entered the room at the very end, where he felt no presence, and collapsed onto the bed.

“This is troublesome and tiring.”

Jin Sohyun stretched and took off the clothes he was wearing.

As he took off the black robe he had been wearing like an outer garment, he felt a sense of comfort, as if he had shed old grime.

“Hoo! I’ll sleep here today and move early tomorrow. How did I become such a diligent person?”

If the people of Shanxi saw him now, they would surely revoke his title of the Lazy Young Master of the Jin Clan.

“That can’t happen.”

Jin Sohyun, who wanted to live as a lazybones forever, rested his head on the pillow and closed his eyes.

It was then.

Creak—!

The closed door opened, and a completely unexpected person appeared.

It was Cheon Yerang.

(End of Chapter)