Chapter 27
Love at first sight?
Yeo-il scrunched up her face at the ridiculous excuse.
Even though Yeo-il's reaction was clearly visible right in front of him, Jin Cheong-ak didn't stop his nonsense. No, in fact, he doubled down on his bluster, trying his damnedest to annoy her.
"Are you surprised because the reason is too obvious? It's understandable. Where would you ever find a woman as gorgeous as Miss Namgung? I, too, have wandered all over the continent for quite some time and met many women, but I have never seen a goddess so divine that I'd lose my mind and want to devote my entire life to her."
"Stop."
"Miss Namgung seems to be shy. Even that is dazzlingly lovely to me, so if this isn't the heart of a man in love at first sight, what is it? If I'm being honest, my ulterior motive in sacrificing myself for Miss Namgung at Cheonjusan was all to get on her good side..."
Luckily, even Namgung Jeok-myeong, as inscrutable as he was, had enough decency to put a stop to the drivel.
"Stop! Stop as Soyo said. I understand enough, so there's no need to explain further what aspect of that child you fell for..."
"Aw, shucks. And I was just about to compose a poem."
"Hold your horses."
"If you doubt my sincerity, please come and test me anytime. I would give my life for Miss Namgung, whom I fell in love with at first sight, starting with a poem..."
"I got it, I got it."
Namgung Jeok-myeong hurried out of the room like he was avoiding a pile of dung.
Keeping a close eye on him as he swaggered away, Yeo-il asked Jin Cheong-ak.
"Did he leave empty-handed?"
"Hmm. I think he did."
It was a perfunctory answer.
It was fortunate that Jin Cheong-ak's intrusion prevented a pointless direct confrontation with Namgung Jeok-myeong, but...
'Namgung Jeok-myeong's steps feel rather lighter.'
Talk about an anticlimactic ending. Considering he even threatened Yeo-il with his sword, could he have pulled some kind of stunt behind her back in that short time?
Even if that were the case, Yeo-il didn't need to rush. The ball was always in their court, so all she had to do was wait, and they'd make their next move.
The real problem was something else.
'The Heavenly Demon Cult... Damn, I've gotten myself mixed up with some serious bad news.'
The Heavenly Demon Cult.
The headquarters of the Demonic Path, which had built a huge, invisible wall in Xinjiang, where hundreds of thousands of followers, centered around their leader, the Heavenly Demon, were coiled like a snake.
Even Salmak wouldn't dare mess with them. After the Righteous-Demonic War eighteen years ago, there had been no clashes with the Martial Arts Alliance, so their existence was often forgotten.
Ah, as Bodhidharma answered Emperor Wu of Liang.
Wandering the Jianghu is nothing but a road of hardship.
That night, Yeo-il practiced Qi circulation to calm her mind and body for the first time in dozens of days.
Was it because she had neglected her internal energy training and faced the remnants of the past—the kill list and the Heavenly Demon Cult?
At the edge of her inner demons... Yeo-il.
Yeo-il, yes, no.
She had to face a face she was not at all happy to see.
[Are you asking if the third kill list exists?]
Black, long hair, submerged in hot spring water, slowly twisted.
The man's pale face turned towards her. His eyes, which had been scrutinizing her as if searching, were withdrawn after quite a long time.
[Unexpected. Yeo-il, for you to have an interest in such things.]
She must maintain composure.
With that single thought, she rested her chin on the table as if unconcerned and looked at the man.
The man, who had been staring into the distant air as if lost in thought, slowly rose, and through the faintly rising white mist, muscles like a Yaksha's writhed.
Women who had approached silently draped a purple robe over his naked body.
One of them gently rubbed camellia oil with a subtle fragrance into his hair, and another poured vile, poisonous liquor into a wine cup and offered it to him.
For a lowly assassin, the man always adorned himself with flamboyant and seductive embroidered robes or palace attire.
No, in fact, he was not just a simple assassin.
He was a blade-for-hire. He was a born killer and a complete psycho with zero moral compass.
[Truly unexpected... To experience a change of heart in a place where my eyes don't reach. I don't like it one bit.]
She admitted it. If it were her just a few days ago, she wouldn't have given it a second thought.
But at least not now.
Now that she knew the meaning and role of the distinction between the first and second kill lists, she couldn't help but suspect the existence of a third kill list.
Even to destroy Salmak.
[If you're going to place such great meaning on such a trivial question, just ignore it.]
[Trivial?]
[… …..]
[Yeo-il. Do you even realize how unlike you that sounds?]
Just when she was about to give up to avoid further suspicion.
[Of course, it exists. The third kill list.]
The wine cup the man was holding floated gently and landed on the table where she was sitting.
[Are you curious about what's written in it? There's no reason I can't tell you. It's a kill list for the Heavenly Demon Cult.]
At those words, even she couldn't hide her hardening expression.
A kill list for the Heavenly Demon Cult meant a kill list with the name of the Heavenly Demon Cult written on it.
She knew he was a batshit crazy lunatic, but to talk about a kill list against the Heavenly Demon Cult...
Could he have possibly written down the Cult Leader's name, too?
How far ahead is this man seeing?
Salmak... what on earth does it exist for?
From the moment she encountered an unexpected truth while carrying out a mission, that question grew uncontrollably and left a huge ripple in her life, which had been following a predictable pattern.
At the center of the question, there was always one person.
[Now that I've answered your question, I'm going to give you a little job. Don't worry, it will be a very simple and interesting job.]
Yes, this man, standing tall like Mount Tai.
Her face was reflected in the man's gleaming eyes.
It was hideous.
A vivid scar, so gruesome there were no words for it, ran from below his left eye, across his round nose and lips, all the way down to his chin.
It was a mug that anyone who encountered it once would never forget, and that's why it was a perfect match for this abyss...
[Yeo-il.]
Whack.
"Ah!"
The purple sleeve shot out and grabbed the attendant's face without mercy.
The face of the woman who had been obediently pouring liquor into the wine cup just a moment ago.
[You know what happens when you step on a bug? It squirms.]
The man's hand was freakishly large, just like his height, and the skull of the weak person suppressed within it looked like nothing more than a toy.
[When a bug squirms... it's all about 'an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth'.]
"Eee... euh."
Red veins popped out on the back of his hand like rivers. Groans of pain began to echo everywhere at the crushing force that could crush her at any moment.
She clenched her fist on her chin, as if waking up from one nightmare only to find herself in another.
His gaze was locked right on her.
[Do you realize they're trying to stab me in the back?]
