The young man held a dagger in a strange [N O V E L I G H T] grip, somewhere between grasping it and merely resting it across his fingers. His eyes were darker than night.
It didn’t reach him.
The dagger’s edge was extraordinarily keen.
Its thickness was right. Its length was right. Even the grip was reasonably well made.
It was not something commonly seen, but neither did it appear valuable enough to command a fortune. At least, not at first glance.
I should have buried this one in him too. If I had, he never would have survived.
Twin-Headed Poison Daggers.
It was an assassination method unique to Sima Hyeon, one he had spent the past three years refining for the sole purpose of killing the Yin God after recovering his memories.
Calling it an assassination art was almost too grand. In truth, it was simply a technique Sima Hyeon had devised specifically to kill the Yin God.
Having combined Crimson Yin Fire Qi and Hundred Streams of Yin Cold and brought them to full mastery, the Yin God was immune to nearly every poison in existence, with the possible exception of the Tang Clan of Sichuan’s Formless Poison.
Sima Hyeon had no chance in a frontal confrontation. Assassinating him was even more impossible.
That left only two possibilities: pray that the Yin God died in some natural catastrophe, or hope that someone else killed him.
Naturally, Sima Hyeon could not wait for either.
More than that, he wanted to take revenge with his own hands.
And so, over the course of three years, he had poured everything into creating the Twin-Headed Poison Daggers.
Ordinary lethal poisons would not work. Instead, he combined toxins to amplify their poisonous force, temporarily reducing the target’s vitality to nearly nothing.
Had he perfectly understood the formula for Deathflower Venom, the unique lethal poison passed down through generations of Yin Gods, he would never have needed to devise such an indirect method.
But the Yin God—Sima Hyeon’s master and an agent of the Perverse Lust Cult—had never taught him anything about Deathflower Venom.
To be acknowledged as the Yin God, one had to master several secret arts. Sima Hyeon had unraveled most of them on his own, but he had only managed to reconstruct about seventy percent of the Deathflower Venom formula.
That was why he had made poison daggers designed not to kill in one strike, but in two.
A secret art of death that guaranteed the target would die.
Damn it.
Sima Hyeon clenched his teeth without realizing it.
I should have held back.
He remembered that moment.
Yeon Hojeong’s chain had shot toward Yayul Jeok with terrifying speed.
Sima Hyeon walked a lower realm than either of them, but even so, he had known. He had felt it instinctively.
Yayul Jeok knew how to divert Yeon Hojeong’s attack. Whether the method would truly work or not, he had already prepared for the strike.
More than that, Yayul Jeok had been looking for a chance to flee.
Sima Hyeon knew because, from the beginning of the battle to the end, his eyes had never left Yayul Jeok.
His enemy was about to escape.
Sima Hyeon could not tolerate it.
If he let him go there, he might never catch him again. Worse, once Yayul Jeok recovered, he would come to assassinate Sima Hyeon instead.
And Sima Hyeon knew he could never stop an ambush by the Yin God.
That was why everything had to end there.
Crunch.
Sima Hyeon closed his eyes.
No.
He rebuked himself.
Perhaps all of it was only my imagination.
He knew a great deal about the Yin God. Especially after breaking free of the Soul-Seizing Art, he had watched his every movement and studied his speech, habits, and behavior.
But what if the Yin God had deceived him?
Not necessarily because of Sima Hyeon himself. What if the face he showed the outside world had always been an elaborate act?
Under ordinary circumstances, that would have been impossible.
But the Yin God was no ordinary man.
Setting everything else aside, he was supposedly an agent sent into the Central Plains by some unknown organization beyond the frontier.
That meant he was more skilled than anyone at hiding and concealing himself.
The fact that he had used the Soul-Seizing Art on Sima Hyeon suggested he possessed many abilities Sima Hyeon still knew nothing about.
In the end, the fact remains that I made everything worse.
Thud.
The dagger slipped from his hand and buried itself in the ground.
He had sharpened it every day without rest.
Its edge was so keen that although he had not thrown it and it had merely fallen under its own weight, half the blade sank into the earth.
It showed how ruthlessly Sima Hyeon had lived for the sake of that single opportunity.
“What are you doing?”
Sima Hyeon flinched and turned his head.
Yeon Hojeong stood there.
“I knew from the moment we met that you were gloomy, but I didn’t think you were the sort to sit around wallowing in self-pity.”
Sima Hyeon stared at him without a word.
There was no particular expression on Yeon Hojeong’s face. It was close to blank, yet he did not appear cold or indifferent.
After a moment, Sima Hyeon spoke.
“Has the time come?”
“What time?”
“You lost the target because of me. And now one of your subordinates is hovering between life and death.”
“So?”
“Did you come to kill me?”
Yeon Hojeong thought that this man’s temperament truly did not suit an assassin.
An ordinary assassin would have cared only that the target escaped. He would not have spared a thought for an injured subordinate.
It had little to do with natural disposition. Anyone raised in that environment would inevitably become that way.
Yet Sima Hyeon understood Yeon Hojeong’s anger and guilt over nearly losing one of his people.
Understanding another person began with empathy.
Whatever his words and conduct suggested, Sima Hyeon was also someone capable of caring for his own.
“If you thought I might do that, why did you wait here?”
“Because anywhere else would be dangerous right now.”
The corner of Yeon Hojeong’s mouth rose.
An expression had finally appeared, but it still carried no discernible emotion.
“You thought Yayul Jeok might ambush you?”
“I did.”
It was an honest answer.
Yeon Hojeong shook his head.
“You don’t need to worry about that. At least, not for the time being.”
“Why not?”
“The Martial Alliance is hunting him. We even gave him a thorough beating. Do you honestly think a small fry like you still occupies any space in his mind?”
“......!”
“What is this? An inflated sense of self-importance? Or has failing to take revenge narrowed your vision that badly? Right now, he is desperate to reclaim the stronghold that was stolen from him. You are not even worth thinking about.”
“......”
Sima Hyeon’s expression did not change. He merely watched Yeon Hojeong with faintly trembling eyes.
“And I have no intention of killing you either.”
“Why not?”
“What do you mean, why?”
“Aren’t you furious? You lost him because of me.”
“I am furious. I was very angry with you.”
“Then why?”
“If I killed everyone who made me angry, I would be nothing but a mindless murderer. Though I suppose my enemies might already see me that way.”
“......You could at least slap me.”
“Would that make you feel better?”
“......”
“You are in no condition to have a proper conversation. But I am busy, so I will have to force you back to your senses.”
“What do you mean?”
Yeon Hojeong folded his arms as if making a point of it.
“You asked whether I was angry. Yes, I was furious with you. But the person I am angriest with is myself.”
Sima Hyeon’s gaze deepened.
“Yourself?”
“I’m angry at my own incompetence for failing to stop an ambush from a brat like you. I’m angry at my own stupidity for failing to anticipate the movements of someone as easy to read as you.”
“......!”
“In the end, it was my mistake. I knew you were inexperienced. Even so, I was so intoxicated by my own growth that I failed to account for it. A painful blunder.”
The skin around Sima Hyeon’s eyes trembled faintly.
Yeon Hojeong continued.
“By the same reasoning, one could say my subordinate was hurt because of you. But ultimately, the greater fault lies with me for failing to give him enough information about you.”
“You’re saying it wasn’t because of me?”
“It was because of you. And because of me. What matters is which part I hold myself more responsible for.”
“......”
“If you feel even slightly sorry, apologize to my subordinate later. That will be enough for me.”
“He may not consider himself your subordinate.”
“That is between him and me.”
“......”
“One more thing. Do not underestimate him. He sometimes acts like an idiot, but he is a far greater man than a small fry like you, who could not even wait for the proper moment to take revenge. He may not even understand why you are apologizing.”
Sima Hyeon’s face twisted slightly.
“I do not feel sorry toward your subordinate. We were never comrades. You simply ordered him to protect me as you pleased.”
“So?”
“......”
“Then do not apologize. A false apology dripping with insincerity does nothing but mock the other person.”
“Do you truly not hate me?”
“Would you prefer that I did? Shall I kill you right now?”
“......”
“I do not care what has you so confused. What matters is the present. As long as you bear me no hostility, I do not care whether you follow me around. But I have no use for dead weight.”
Sima Hyeon stared up at Yeon Hojeong for a moment, then pulled the dagger from the earth, wiped it clean, and tucked it into his clothes.
“What do you want to know from me?”
“Everything about the Night Citadel.”
“......”
“Yayul Jeok—your master, your enemy, and the current Yin God—is encamped near the Night Citadel with nine hundred elite assassins.”
Fire blazed in Sima Hyeon’s eyes.
The enemy he had nearly lost forever was encamped near the Night Citadel.
That one fact breathed life back into the spirit that had nearly gone cold.
At the same time, he was puzzled.
Near the Night Citadel... Why?
If they were encamped, that meant the assassins had been arrayed like soldiers and were waiting for the moment to attack.
That was not a strategy an assassin would normally conceive.
Assassins always prepared for the worst. In case their headquarters was compromised, standard practice was to maintain a second and third safe house. Yayul Jeok had naturally hidden countless such places throughout Guangdong.
Yeon Hojeong’s eyes darkened.
“Strange, isn’t it? He has no reason to do that. If anything, he should have buried himself even deeper. Instead, he openly summoned his forces and is now making a show of targeting us—and the Night Citadel.”
“......It is strange.”
“It is because of the Perverse Lust Cult.”
“......?!”
“He is an agent of the Perverse Lust Cult. And he needs to report what has happened here to his superiors. Whether one is an infiltrator or anything else, anyone carrying out an operation in foreign territory has a duty to report sudden changes immediately. That is true for every organization, whether in the Central Plains or beyond the frontier.”
“You are saying he is trying to reclaim his stronghold so he can contact this Perverse Lust Cult?”
“He may not need to reclaim it completely. But he has a reason to enter it at least once. I believe he intends to send information to the Perverse Lust Cult.”
“......No.”
“What?”
Sima Hyeon shook his head.
“That may be one reason. But it cannot be the whole of it. He is not a man who would do something so reckless for that alone.”
Yeon Hojeong’s expression grew serious.
“Then what do you think? Why is he trying to reclaim the stronghold?”
“To contact the Perverse Lust Cult... and at the same time...”
“At the same time?”
Sima Hyeon touched his lips unconsciously.
“Escape... losses... forces disappearing... losing the information war...”
“......”
“It is war.”
“What?”
Sima Hyeon’s eyes flashed.
“He is preparing for war.”
“......You mean war against us?”
“Not the sort of war you are imagining. A war in the shadows that only assassins can wage.”
“......!”
“And if my guess is correct... he has already infiltrated the Night Citadel.”
Yeon Hojeong’s face hardened.
“Explain later. We move now. Hurry.”
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