Chapter 79

Chapter 79

“……Horyeung.”

“Yes, Young Master.”

“It’s really over now, right?”

Youngho spoke while staring at the three king dumplings placed on the table. In his eyes, which seemed ready to bore holes through the dumplings, there lingered an inexplicable sense of accomplishment.

“Yes. That’s the last of it.”

It was finally over. Not knowing that the word “over” could sound so sweet, Youngho let out a sigh of relief and promptly stuffed the three king dumplings into his mouth.

As he chewed them thoroughly, he asked Horyeung,

“Where’s Sopyung?”

“It seems she’s preparing dessert.”

“……Someone go stop her.”

At Youngho’s gaze, heavy with dread as he looked toward the kitchen, Horyeung let out a faint chuckle. Kang Hosan, standing beside them, spoke with a suppressed smile.

“Then why did you eat everything by yourself?”

“You all already ate.”

“That’s true.”

“You’re going to eat more?”

“Of course.”

“I underestimated you all. But if you ate this food, you’d die, so I had no choice but to eat it myself.”

“From eating so much that our stomachs burst?”

“No. Because it’s poisoned.”

“……What?”

For a moment, Kang Hosan failed to comprehend Youngho’s words. Then his pupils began to tremble violently.

Horyeung, too, looked flustered, clearly not expecting such words to come from Youngho’s mouth.

Youngho pushed down the dumplings in his mouth and said,

“It’s all poisoned.”

It was difficult to follow Youngho’s words. Regaining his composure the fastest, Horyeung asked,

“Are you saying there was poison in the food?”

“Yeah. Sopyung wouldn’t have done it. Looks like someone poisoned the ingredients themselves.”

“Who in the world…?”

“Probably that bastard Hanryeong.”

Everyone wore blank expressions. Rising from his seat, Youngho said,

“I can’t just sit around and take this.”

As he headed toward the entrance, Kang Hosan grabbed him and asked in disbelief,

“N-No, Young Master, more importantly than that….”

“What? What is it?”

“Why are you alive?”

“What did you just say, you bastard?”

As Youngho glared, Kang Hosan quickly turned his head to avoid his gaze and said,

“N-No, I mean, how are you alive? You said you consumed poison.”

“How? What kind of stupid question is that? I just purified the poison.”

“……Ah.”

Right. If he purified it, of course he’d be alive.

“That’s not what we’re asking! If you knew the food was poisoned, why did you eat it?”

“If Sopyung found out, she’d be sad.”

“Pardon?”

Even Horyeung pressed his temples with his fingers as if struck by a headache at Youngho’s absurd reasoning.

“People don’t normally eat poison for that kind of reason!”

At some point, Hyeon-gang, who had been listening to everything, shouted furiously. Youngho frowned and said,

“Keep it down. Sopyung will hear. It wasn’t poison strong enough to kill me anyway, so it’s fine.”

When Youngho attempted to brush it off casually, Hyeon-gang glared and snapped,

“You old man, do you have multiple bodies or something? Huh? You’re seriously pissing me off! Hold out your hand. I need to check your pulse.”

“I told you, there’s nothing wrong.”

“Nothing wrong, my ass! Hurry up and give me your hand, you damned old man!”

Under Hyeon-gang’s fierce gaze, Youngho made a reluctant expression.

“I’m your lord—”

“Shut it, you old man!”

“…….”

Lightly clamping a hand over Youngho’s mouth, Hyeon-gang meticulously examined the inside of his body. Soon after, he let out a hollow laugh.

“This crazy old man really did consume poison.”

“What, you can even tell that? I definitely erased it all.”

“Even if the poison has been completely removed, you can’t erase the traces of having been poisoned.”

“Oh really? Thanks for the advice.”

“That’s not advice, you old man!”

“Alright, alright. Sopyung~ I’m stepping out for a bit~.”

By the time Sopyung hurried out from the kitchen upon hearing his voice, Youngho had already disappeared.

“Young Master, there’s still dessert left…….”

As Sopyung looked dejected, Horyeung chuckled and said,

“The Young Master has eaten more than enough. If he eats any more, it might look like his stomach will burst.”

“I see…….”

Sopyung made a tearful face, but soon looked up at Horyeung when she felt a gentle hand patting her head.

“But who are you?”

“Huh?”

Startled, Horyeung turned to look at Hyeokong. Hyeokong, too, tilted his head as if he didn’t understand.

“And you might be…?”

Only then did Horyeung realize that after undergoing Bone-Marrow Reforging, he had become young again.

When Horyeung blankly looked at Kang Hosan and Kang Chowon, the two merely snickered and avoided his gaze.

…So that’s why no one was speaking to me?

Where do I even begin explaining this?

It was Horyeung’s first time experiencing Bone-Marrow Reforging, and he stood there in utter bewilderment.

“It should be around here….”

Youngho had already left the Unorthodox Alliance and was climbing a mountain.

If asked why he was climbing a mountain of all things, he would answer like this.

“One shouldn’t live while being looked down upon.”

At present, Youngho was heading toward the Slaughter Heaven Sect’s assassination outpost.

More precisely, it was the place that accepted assassination requests.

Still, an outpost was an outpost. If he destroyed this place, it would serve as quite a significant warning to the Slaughter Heaven Sect Leader.

If that happened, the Slaughter Heaven Sect would refrain from touching Youngho for the time being.

“The Slaughter Heaven Sect should be nearby….”

After carefully surveying his surroundings, Youngho let out a sigh and said.

“It’s here.”

Anyone could tell—this was the place.

“What kind of person hangs from a cliff like that?”

The place Youngho had found was the Assassination Outpost where assassination requests were submitted to the Slaughter Heaven Sect—the very sect that had been targeting him all this time.

The man currently clinging to the cliff had likely stepped out briefly and was now returning to the outpost.

“They actually dug a hole into a cliff to make a hideout… What a peculiar bunch.”

This mountain, where the Slaughter Heaven Sect’s Assassination Outpost was located, lay hundreds of li away from the Unorthodox Alliance, yet Youngho had arrived in less than a shijin.

It was only possible because he had regained a considerable portion of his former Martial Might.

‘Still, I’ve got a long way to go.’

From the towering cliff, Youngho leapt downward. The further he descended, the faster his fall became, but he did not attempt to slow himself.

Only when he neared what appeared to be the entrance did he fiercely kick off the air.

Whoosh!

His body shot straight toward the opening.

Thud—!

In an instant, Youngho arrived at the entrance of the Assassination Outpost and looked ahead. Several men stared at him as if they could not believe what they were seeing, rubbing their eyes repeatedly.

“Wh-Who are you! N-No, more importantly, how?”

“There wasn’t anyone coming down from above!”

The startled men pointed at Youngho accusingly.

“Oh, I jumped from the cliff. I hate climbing.”

He spoke casually, and soon the men realized his identity. Their gazes sharpened instantly.

“It’s the Flame Dragon! The Alliance Lord’s fifth disciple!”

At the shout, assassins clad in black appeared and surrounded Youngho.

A man with blazing eyes glared at him.

“What brings you here?”

“It’s not like this is a place I’m forbidden from visiting.”

Despite being surrounded, Youngho remained calm, causing the man’s brows to twitch.

“Do you not understand your situation?”

“Really? From where I’m standing, it looks like you’re the ones making a mistake.”

“What shall we do, Strategist?”

When the assassins addressed the man standing at the rear as Strategist, Youngho smiled with interest.

“So you’re the Slaughter Heaven Sect’s Strategist?”

The Strategist, Yeongmong, glared at Youngho with trembling pupils.

Even as the assassins released waves of Killing Intent, Youngho maintained a relaxed smile.

“Is this all the manpower guarding this place?”

Chill—!

Youngho’s cold eyes pierced straight through Yeongmong. Under that murderous gaze, Yeongmong’s body flinched involuntarily.

Youngho stepped forward. One step. Two steps. Soon, he entered the assassins’ domain.

Swoosh!

A blade infused with Internal Energy sliced swiftly and cleanly toward Youngho’s body. But instead of the sound of flesh being cut, only the sound of air being split echoed.

“……!”

The assassin who had swung his blade widened his eyes.

‘Where did he—!’

He had been standing right in front of him. This was a cave—there was nowhere to rise into the sky or sink into the ground.

“Strategist!”

As the assassin frantically looked around for the suddenly vanished Youngho, another shouted toward where Yeongmong stood.

Turning around with a dreadful suspicion, he saw the boy he had just tried to cut now standing directly before Yeongmong.

Just as the assassin was about to charge—

Yeongmong raised a hand and stopped them. With a single gesture, he halted the assassins and spoke in a trembling voice.

“I apologize for failing to recognize a distinguished guest.”

At that reaction, Youngho grinned.

“As expected of a Strategist—you’re sharp. It’s not easy to discern who holds the upper hand in this situation.”

“That is precisely the Strategist’s role.”

Youngho stared at Yeongmong and said,

“Don’t you want freedom?”

Flinch!

Others might not have noticed, but Youngho did. Yeongmong’s hand and pupils had trembled for an instant.

“I’m not sure what you mean….”

“Yeongmong, I know quite a bit about you. Including the fact that you’re a woman.”

“…….”

The assassins did not move. More precisely, they could not move.

Crushed beneath Youngho’s overwhelming Martial Presence, they could not even twitch a finger.

Glancing briefly at them, Youngho continued,

“I am the Unorthodox Alliance Lord’s fifth disciple. Well, since the assassin Baekcheong sent after me belonged to your organization, you already know who I am.”

Yeongmong said nothing. She did not ask how he knew that Baekcheong had submitted a request to the Slaughter Heaven Sect, nor did she question it.

She simply lowered her eyes and listened.

“I’ll put it simply. Have you ever considered working for the Unorthodox Alliance?”

“……!”

At the shockingly bold proposal, Yeongmong’s eyes flew open.

“Are you trying to recruit me right now?”

“Yes. It’s not as if you’re here because you want to be.”

“How do you know that…?”

“I don’t know much about your past. But I do know that this isn’t something you’re doing out of desire.”

That was true. Yeongmong served as Strategist here merely to survive—to avoid being killed by the Slaughter Heaven Sect.

“I can block the Slaughter Heaven Sect’s pursuit.”

Youngho looked at her with eyes that were warm yet cold.

“How about joining the Unorthodox Alliance?”

Merciful—yet infinitely cruel. If Yeongmong accepted, Youngho would likely kill everyone here except her.

And if she refused, he would kill everyone here—including her.

In truth, there was only one answer.

‘Even so, it’s better than here!’

Having finished her calculations in an instant, Yeongmong began to kneel on one knee before Youngho.

Clicking his tongue, he said,

“Don’t start calling me Lord or anything like that. I won’t rule you through fear.”

As her thoughts continued to be read, Yeongmong let out a hollow laugh.

‘Like Sun Wukong rampaging within the palm of the Buddha.’

Straightening her knee again, she bowed her head deeply.

“Other than the ones here, are there more assassins?”

At his question, Yeongmong nodded.

“Yes.”

“Where are they?”

“They should be returning soon.”

“I originally intended to kill them all… but I’ve made a rather pleasant gain. In that case, I’ll deal with these ones first.”

Youngho muttered softly and placed his hand on the sword hilt.

Shhk—!

The moment his hand touched the sword hilt, a slicing sound rang out, and the assassins’ heads fell from their shoulders.

Despite that horrifying sight, Yeongmong’s face remained expressionless.

‘What in the world was that…?’

Her thoughts, however, were anything but calm.

Even if her realm was lacking, she had not seen him swing his sword—had not even seen him move.

She had only realized that in the blink of an eye, Youngho had cut them down.

‘This is different from the intelligence!’

Everyone here was at Master Level. Yet he had slain them in a single exchange…

Yeongmong instinctively understood that she might have just made the least regrettable choice of her life.