The man was deathly pale.
Not merely sickly pale, but pale as a corpse. His complexion was so unnaturally bloodless that anyone who saw it would feel unsettled.
He was tall and lean, with the impression of an old tree standing under winter snow.
Aside from that, however, his face was surprisingly ordinary.
People called the continent the Central Plains, but countless peoples lived within its lands.
Strangely enough, the man possessed a face that could have belonged to any one of them. He did not look like a man of the Western Regions, but he had the sort of appearance one might have seen once or twice while walking down the street.
His upper body was bare, while his lower garments were fashioned from extravagant silk. A golden necklace studded with countless unidentified gemstones hung around his neck, and every one of his ten fingers bore a ring.
Naturally, each ring was also encrusted with gemstones.
His skin was unnaturally pale. His appearance was utterly ordinary. Yet his clothing and ornaments were gaudy enough to burden the eye.
That bizarre combination somehow suited the man’s mysterious aura. It would have been difficult to find another person like him anywhere under heaven.
After staring out the window for some time, the man spoke.
“Have you still not captured the master of the Twin Saber Gate?”
His voice was pleasant to hear.
At his question, a handsome young man who did not appear to be even twenty lowered his head.
“We are tracking him. His location has been identified, so we expect to hunt him down before the day is over.”
“Good. You have all worked hard.”
The man turned around.
Chiriring.
The golden threads hanging from his lower garments and the jewels attached to them struck one another, producing a clear sound.
“Once the Twin Saber Gate has been dealt with, will only the Eun Clan remain?”
“That is correct.”
The man, Hong Gwan, smiled faintly.
His features were utterly ordinary, but perhaps because of his pallid complexion, even that small smile carried something chilling.
“Once they are dealt with, the rest will collapse on their own. You have all worked hard.”
“Not at all. Night Lord has borne the greater burden.”
Night Lord.
It meant the master of the night. In the assassin world, it was the highest praise bestowed upon the greatest killer.
The strongest assassin in the martial world. A death god of the martial world whose name had never been carved into the sunlit pages of martial history, known only to a tiny handful of underworld magnates.
Night Lord was the title passed down to every generation of the Yin God.
Chiriring! Chiriring!
Hong Gwan walked lightly to a chair and sat down, resting his chin on one hand.
“It has only been three months since I last saw you, yet your skill has improved again.”
“Thank you.”
“The balance between the White Kind of Yin Cold and the Red Kind of Yin Fire is being maintained well. Once you merge the two arts and reach the Yin Emperor Realm, even the sect leaders of the Nine Sects will find it difficult to escape your clutches.”
The handsome young man silently lowered his head.
Hong Gwan’s smile deepened.
“Are you dissatisfied?”
“......No.”
“Do you think I would not know what is in your heart? Your accomplishments have come a full ten years faster than mine did. Even I was called an unprecedented genius by the previous Yin God. By that measure, you may possess the greatest talent in the history of the Yin Gods.”
“......”
“So do not rush yourself. Take your time and resolve things one step at a time. The period immediately before reaching the Yin Emperor Realm is when the qi of fire and cold becomes most turbulent. One misstep, and you will lose everything you have gained.”
“I will remember that.”
“Good. That is enough.”
His voice was exceedingly warm. Could even a figure known as the pinnacle of the assassin world still be human after all?
Yet unlike his voice, Hong Gwan’s eyes as he watched the young man were terribly indifferent. They were hard and cold, as though he were looking at an object rather than a person.
“Once you capture the master of the Twin Saber Gate, return and focus on your training. You have worked hard.”
“Yes, Master.”
“You may leave now.”
“Yes.”
The handsome young man bowed and left the room.
“......Hm.”
Hong Gwan leaned back lazily in his chair and looked up at the ceiling.
“So he remembers after all.”
Hong Gwan knew that his eldest disciple had broken the Soul-Seizing Art Hong Gwan had personally placed upon him.
There were many secret techniques within the Soul-Seizing Arts. At the simplest level, they could turn a person into a mindless fool or drive him insane. But the higher forms allowed the practitioner to select and erase only the memories he desired.
The Soul-Seizing Art Hong Gwan had used on his disciple was one of those.
He was such a coveted talent.
Hong Gwan himself had killed his eldest disciple’s family.
Originally, Hong Gwan had intended to kill the disciple as well. But when he realized that the boy’s physique and talent were unlike anything he had ever seen, he abducted him instead, placed him under the Soul-Seizing Art, and took him as a disciple.
He had meant to raise him into a death god of the Central Plains and make him one of the Evil Kings of the Perverse Lust Cult.
“Well, how many things in this world truly go as one wishes? Tch. Perhaps the boy was simply never fated to become entangled with the Perverse Lust Cult.”
Hong Gwan shook his head and smacked his lips.
Then—
“......”
Hong Gwan’s eyes sharpened at once.
“Show yourself.”
“......”
“Are you trying to play ghost in front of me, of all people?”
“......Hm.”
Where had she entered from, and how?
From the deep shadow behind Hong Gwan, a woman emerged.
Unlike Hong Gwan’s pallid skin, she had a strikingly sun-kissed complexion. She was as tall as he was, but her body was curvaceous, and her clothes were extremely plain.
Without turning around, Hong Gwan said,
“You have picked up a bad habit while I was gone.”
“That is what I should be saying.”
FLAP!
The woman swept her clothes aside as she moved to the chair opposite Hong Gwan and crossed her legs.
“Your skill seems unchanged, but you hesitated for just a moment. The waters of the Central Plains must be good. You are not as sharp as you used to be.”
“You crossed several thousand miles just to spout that kind of nonsense?”
“Nonsense? If my words sound like nonsense to you, then you have truly grown dull. You were never like this before.”
The woman smiled as though she found it amusing.
She did not appear to be doing it deliberately, but the way her long fingers idly played with her hair looked exceptionally seductive.
“Have all those vermin calling you the Yin God and Night Lord made you forget where you came from?”
Killing Intent flashed in Hong Gwan’s eyes.
Or rather, in Yayul Jeok’s eyes.
“You should watch your words, Soh Bang.”
“That is fortunate. At least you have not forgotten my name.”
Soh Bang looked around the room.
“Oh? It is incredibly extravagant. I heard you wielded power enough to make even the emperor of this continent jealous, but you have decorated the entire room in gold.”
“......”
“But you know, do you not? Not only the gold in this room, but the jewels you wear, your clothes, and even your life belong to the Perverse Lust Cult.”
The corners of Yayul Jeok’s mouth rose.
“You did not travel all that way merely to test my faith, did you?”
“Of course not. But it is an important matter nonetheless. You cannot allow yourself to be tainted by the riffraff of this continent and forget the Cult. No one has settled in this land longer than you have.”
“It was an order from the leadership. No matter that you are considered one of the next Evil Kings, are you important enough to question an order issued by the Great Cult Hall?”
Soh Bang’s eyes sharpened.
The Great Cult Hall was a place only the highest leaders of the Perverse Lust Cult could enter.
An order issued from there was no different from a command of God.
And the command of God was, in effect, the command of the Cult Leader.
In other words, Yayul Jeok was asking Soh Bang whether she thought herself important enough to interfere with an order from the Cult Leader.
One wrong word could have resulted in immediate execution for treason.
Soh Bang spoke in a low voice.
“I will explain why I came here.”
“You have not answered. I will ask once more. Are you important enough to challenge even an order from the Great Cult Hall?”
“Things are taking an unusual turn.”
“If you do not answer, I will report you to the leadership for treason.”
“The Divine Flame Cult has been hit.”
“......?!”
Yayul Jeok’s face hardened.
“......What did you say?”
“The Divine Flame Cult masters who had seized control of Henan’s military administration were swept away by Martial Alliance masters. The Divine Flame Cult has not made a proper announcement, but it appears that at least five Warrior-Generals were killed. It is believed that at least two of them were higher-ranked Warrior-Generals.”
“......!!”
Yayul Jeok’s face stiffened further.
The Divine Flame Cult’s Eighteen Warrior-Generals were far from weak. To put it plainly, they were warriors who did not fall short even when compared to the Perverse Lust Cult’s own Warrior-Generals. The First Warrior-General, in particular, was a true master on the verge of becoming a half-divine apostle.
“......I heard Beonjak, the First Warrior-General, personally took command of the Henan infiltration.”
“That is correct.”
“That is correct? Did you hear what I said? I said Beonjak. Beonjak—the man whose victory or defeat would be difficult to determine even if he fought you or me—was there personally as their leader.”
“I know.”
“And they were defeated?”
“Beonjak survived. His subordinate Warrior-Generals were the ones who died.”
“Is that not the same thing? Beonjak is strong. His ability to command leaves little to be desired as well. How could he possibly have been defeated by the Martial Alliance, by those riffraff?”
“The Divine Flame Cult has remained silent about that matter, so I do not know. What matters is that Beonjak was the only Warrior-General to survive.”
“......!”
“But there is something strange.”
“Something strange?”
“The Divine Flame Cult did not provide us with all the information, but...... they did not seem to regard it as a particularly serious problem.”
“What?”
“......”
“You said at least five of the Eighteen Warrior-Generals died. And they do not consider that a serious problem?”
“At least outwardly, that is how it seemed. It was not just me. My master felt the same way.”
Yayul Jeok could not understand it at all.
What in the world is going on?
Soh Bang said,
“Forget it. The Divine Flame Cult is not what matters. We are.”
“......”
“Recently, you have been sowing discord among the Orthodox sects and factions in the south, weakening their strength, have you not?”
“It was an order from the leadership.”
“Yes. The problem is how the Martial Alliance, which destroyed the Divine Flame Cult’s Warrior-Generals, will view the situation here.”
“......!!”
“Perhaps it would be different if the Divine Flame Cult had already secured a complete foothold in Henan. But right now, it is dangerous. The Martial Alliance will send informants. In the worst case, they might send a true master.”
“A true master.”
“Ah. The Divine Flame Cult did tell us one thing.”
Tension appeared on Soh Bang’s face.
“None of the people who fought the Warrior-Generals was a master of the Supreme Heavens.”
Yayul Jeok was greatly startled.
With so many Warrior-Generals dead, he had naturally assumed that a Supreme Heavens master had been deployed. It could not have been otherwise. No one weaker could have defeated the Warrior-Generals under Beonjak’s command.
But that was not the case?
“That is why it is even more dangerous. They were defeated by people who were not at the Supreme Heavens level. Which means......”
“They know us well?”
“That is how the leadership sees it.”
“......”
Soh Bang watched Yayul Jeok’s widened eyes in silence, then relaxed her posture.
“I will remain here for around three months. Martial Alliance riffraff may catch wind of us and come looking. And if a master too strong to ignore arrives, you alone may not be enough.”
Yayul Jeok could not deny that outright.
The Eighteen Warrior-Generals had been defeated in exactly that way.
Still, as the Yin God of the Central Plains and its Night Lord, there was one thing he could say.
“Do not worry.”
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
All ten rings shattered around his tightly clenched fist.
“The rats under my command have the entire south under their control.”
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