Chapter 918

Whoosh!

In the slowed world, the old man plunged down like a flash of light, dagger in hand. The Eastern Heaven Demon Lord knew instinctively.

It’s over.

The ambush was that perfect.

Even the Fire King Jeok Cheongang as he was now could not evade it. No—he was angrier than ever, his composure gone, which made evasion even less likely.

Even if he somehow blocked or dodged the strike and escaped death, the Eastern Heaven Demon Lord judged that he could not escape severe injury.

The limping old man he had called Heaven’s Slaughter was one of the finest assassins in the Central Plains, comparable even to the Slaughter Saint.

I kept that sword hidden for the Emperor.

It was bitter, but there was nothing to be done.

The grand plan was already on the verge of falling apart. Survival came first now.

No matter how long it took or what means he had to use, he had to finish his revenge with his own hands. He could not die until he had watched with his own two eyes as the imperial family, heirs to that cursed bloodline, was wiped out—and offered a memorial rite for his Master and fellow disciples, who had met untimely deaths.

But if he was ever to resume that revenge, he first had to bring down the monster before him.

The Fire King Jeok Cheongang.

That monster rampaging like a fire demon sweeping across a boundless plain.

Die.

The Eastern Heaven Demon Lord was certain Jeok Cheongang would die. At the same time, he desperately hoped he was right.

Just as the old man’s dagger—its blade dulled by a coating of ash and charged with Force—was about to cut Jeok Cheongang in two—

SHWAAAAK! BOOM!

A sound of something piercing the air rang out from somewhere and reached the Eastern Heaven Demon Lord’s ears. It drowned out every other sound as it tore furiously through the air.

His eyes flew wide. A blue-white flash had reached its destination before its sound did, filling his vision.

What is that…?

A spear of a common, unremarkable design—the sort one could find anywhere.

But the light upon it shone as brightly as the sun overhead, and its heat, hotter than the sun itself, burned even the air as it raced onward.

Toward Jeok Cheongang.

No—to be exact, toward the old man falling above his head.

“……!”

“……!”

“……!”

At that moment, everyone’s movements stopped. The world they saw stopped with them.

Jeok Cheongang, who had only just noticed the assassin. The old man plunging down at him like a bolt of lightning. And the Eastern Heaven Demon Lord, watching it all unfold.

Shwoosh!

They all watched the spearhead cut slowly through the air toward them. They felt the power within the blue-white flames coiling around it.

And at the same time, they understood.

Who owned that spear.

Where that horrifyingly intense Scorching Yang Qi came from.

Before the three-syllable name that had suddenly surfaced could even take shape in their minds, the spearhead had raced forward, erasing the space between them, and reached its destination in an instant.

At the last possible moment, the old man frantically turned his dagger to block the spearhead bearing down on him.

Whoom—KABOOOOOM!

Blue-white flames swelled as they met the Force surging from the dagger. A thunderous boom shook heaven and earth, and the shockwave lashed out in every direction.

KRRRACK!

The earth shuddered as if struck by an earthquake. Wind whipped about madly.

In that muffled world filled with nothing but ash, the Eastern Heaven Demon Lord finally pieced together one man’s name and screamed it like a wail.

“Jin Taekyung!”

At that moment—

Fwoooosh.

The hazy world split apart.

A man drenched in blood from head to toe approached, moving more lightly and swiftly than ever. He bared his white teeth in a grin.

“Don’t say my name. I might get attached.”

Then he shrugged toward one man standing dazed and motionless at the feet of the Eastern Heaven Demon Lord, who was sprawled there, stiff as a statue.

“Looks like this bastard still hasn’t come to his senses. Should I pull out his tongue while I’m at it?”

“……”

“Old Master?”

The Fire King Jeok Cheongang, his old Master, didn’t answer.

No—he couldn’t answer.

He gazed in silence at his Disciple, who had come back as he always did. Then he burst out laughing, so delighted that tears ran down his face.

At the same time, he felt all the anger and sorrow that had held his whole body in its grip come crashing down, and he grasped his Disciple’s arm tightly.

“Thank you.”

Grip.

“For coming back. For coming back like this.”

“……!”

The corner of Jin Taekyung’s eye, caked with dried blood, trembled.

Thank you. For coming back.

A few words, but they were enough.

He felt the warmth of his Master’s hand on his arm and the sincerity in every syllable.

That feeling was more than enough.

There was no need for them to say anything more.

This brief reunion between the two men who carried on the Fire Gate Clan’s lineage would soon mean death for their enemies.

That was how the Fire Gate Clan had survived for three hundred years. It was also the way of these two, bound as Master and Disciple by an inexplicable connection.

Smash and burn everything in our way.

Whatever it is.

Without fail. No matter what.

Step.

Master and Disciple moved forward together. Beyond the unsettled dust and ash, sticky killing intent crept toward them and wrapped around them.

Whoooosh!

The limping old man, Heaven’s Slaughter, blended into the darkness and quietly waited for his moment.

Even as he watched his subordinates die less than a dozen jang¹ away, there wasn’t a trace of agitation in his cold, sunken eyes.

Whoosh. Slice!

Before the blade dulled by ash could even reach its target, a head sprang into the air.

Anyone who saw those men crumpling like straw dummies would find it hard to believe that each was an elite assassin he had spent at least thirty years training.

I thought I could take down even the Three Saints with those children.

No—perhaps he really could have.

His ambush moments earlier had been that perfect. He could have erased the giant known as the Fire King Jeok Cheongang from this world himself.

If not for the unwelcome visitor who had appeared out of nowhere.

Blazing Flame Divine Dragon Jin Taekyung.

Heaven’s Slaughter swallowed the groan that threatened to escape him.

It wasn’t only because his broken wrist throbbed. It had snapped when he deflected that spear, so full of power, at the last moment before his ambush succeeded.

So the real monster wasn’t the Master…

He had seen it clearly from the darkness.

Jin Taekyung falling with an injury beyond recovery. Coughing up blood mixed with pieces of his organs, with the shadow of death stirring at the edge of his life.

And yet, how could he possibly…?

Those who roam the martial world with death for a companion are martial artists. And among them, assassins stand closest to death.

Heaven’s Slaughter knew that better than anyone.

Since early childhood, when he had been trained as an assassin, he had killed people with his own hands in every way he could. The weight of those deeds had brought him to death’s threshold, too.

If Dark Heaven hadn’t helped me, this old man would have turned to a handful of dirt long ago.

Heaven’s Slaughter’s survival had been a miracle. But even that seemed insignificant beside what Jin Taekyung had just done.

There was no doubt. Force had pierced straight through Jin Taekyung’s chest.

It had split flesh and bone, destroyed his acupoints, and seeped into his organs, tearing them to shreds from within.

No one could recover from such an injury—not even under the care of a Great Firmament Immortal, or if Yama² himself erased their name from the book of the dead.

And yet Jin Taekyung had come back alive.

Though he looked like a man drenched in blood, his exposed skin was smooth, and his perfectly formed Muscles and Bones—the reason he was known as having a Heavenly Martial Physique—were plain to see.

And that wasn’t all.

His formidable internal energy—several jiazi³’s worth, an impossible amount for someone barely past twenty—had filled back up as if nothing had happened.

As if someone had filled an empty teacup with water.

As if it were only natural.

This is… something I can’t explain.

An ability beyond reason.

Heaven’s Slaughter’s sunken eyes trembled faintly.

Now, his composure—barely held together until this moment—had finally crumbled. He was truly torn between two choices.

Flight and duty.

And he wondered who would kill him: Dark Heaven or Jin Taekyung.

Several decades ago, when he had been gasping at death’s door, Dark Heaven had made him an offer he could not refuse. It had never been out of kindness.

A blade forged by Dark Heaven.

A human butcher who moved only at Dark Heaven’s command.

That was the new identity Heaven’s Slaughter had accepted in exchange for his life. A shackle he could never break, no matter how far he ran.

If he abandoned his mission and fled, punishment was all that awaited him.

Pain and death so terrible that even he, after a lifetime of killing, could not imagine them.

He could not hide. He could not escape.

That was Dark Heaven—or rather, the Lord of Heaven.

Heh. Heheheh.

Heaven’s Slaughter laughed without a sound.

What a fool he was, agonizing over a question whose answer had been decided from the start.

There had never been a choice to make. Only one path lay before him.

Kill or be killed.

Heaven’s Slaughter moved quietly through the darkness.

He silenced his breathing and erased his presence. Watching the elite assassins he had painstakingly raised with Dark Heaven’s help get slaughtered, he slowly approached Jeok Cheongang and Jin Taekyung.

Just one. If I can take down either of them, I can survive—even if I fail the mission and flee.

The grand plan had already gone awry.

But if he brought back something of equal value—if he brought back the Fire King Jeok Cheongang’s head—he might be given another chance.

A chance to pursue his own unfulfilled revenge. A chance to keep this stubborn life going.

And, to his great fortune, even the heavens, usually so indifferent, seemed to be on Heaven’s Slaughter’s side today.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Slice!

Another life vanished with a piercing sound. But unlike Jin Taekyung, who was rampaging as if possessed, Jeok Cheongang looked utterly exhausted to Heaven’s Slaughter.

Patapat. Splurt!

Hidden weapons came flying from every direction, grazing Jeok Cheongang’s body. Then, after killing with a single palm strike the assassin who had dropped down from above, the old dragon exhaled raggedly through his lips.

Huff. Huff.

His lips were dry and tinged pale blue. His body trembled faintly, even as he continued to unleash attacks of terrifying power.

At the sight of Jeok Cheongang, who seemed to have forgotten the fearsome martial prowess he had displayed only moments ago, Heaven’s Slaughter muttered to himself.

He’s reached his limit.

In a way, it was only natural.

Jeok Cheongang had already surpassed his limits against the Eastern Heaven Demon Lord, and even before that, his body had been covered in wounds large and small.

That opening was Heaven’s Slaughter’s only chance.

This strike will end it. No matter what.

Heaven’s Slaughter calmed his mind. He erased even his killing intent—the energy anyone about to kill would carry.

No one harbors killing intent when slaughtering livestock instead of a human being.

He had spent his life as a butcher called an assassin. Now he shot straight forward with all his might.

And at that same moment, he understood.

Though he himself was still cloaked by his concealment technique, he saw Jin Taekyung staring straight at him. He felt that gaze pierce his entire body.

He knew from the beginning…

Puhk.

A blazing flame pierced his chest.