Light Novel: Volume 20 Episode 9
Manhwa: N/A
It was not difficult to find the Tianyuan Temple in the vast mountains.
The size of the temple was enormous, as it had been built with tremendous support from the New Moon Manor. Naturally, a wide path had been carved out from the bottom of the mountain leading to the temple.
The path was wide enough for two carriages to drive side by side, and following it up the mountain, one would come upon Tianyuan Temple.
The size of the Tianyuan Temple was as enormous as seen in paintings.
Although it was currently shrouded in darkness that one couldn’t get a full view, anyone could tell from the first glance that it was huge.
It looked more like a gigantic fortress than a temple.
Even in the depths of the night, warriors could be seen standing guard at the main gate of Tianyuan Temple.
The aura of the warriors was truly extraordinary.
Their eyes shone piercingly bright even from a considerable distance, and they possessed a powerful presence.
It seemed that the news of Pyo-wol turning the New Moon Manor upside down had not yet reached Tianyuan Temple, since the atmosphere in the temple was generally tranquil.
Pyo-wol moved immediately.
If he bided his time and the news reached Tianyuan Temple, their vigilance would be raised many times over.
Time was not on his side.
He had to accomplish his goal as quickly as possible.
Pyo-wol approached Tianyuan Temple using his stealth technique.
There were warriors standing guard here and there, but it was not as strict as the New Moon Manor.
Thanks to this, Pyo-wol was able to infiltrate the Tianyuan Temple easily.
The interior of the Tianyuan Temple was as complex as a maze.
Like the New Moon Manor, each area was separated by high walls. The paths between the walls were so complicated that a newcomer would inevitably lose their sense of direction. However, such a maze was not enough to stop Pyo-wol.
His senses, honed in the deep underground, were so sharp that he could navigate accurately even in the dark.
Pyo-wol sprinted through the grounds of the Tianyuan Temple as if it were a place devoid of warriors.
The monks within Tianyuan Temple were oblivious to Pyo-wol’s infiltration, deeply asleep.
From their presence, and breathing, Pyo-wol could tell what state they were in.
Pyo-wol passed by all the halls where the monks slept.
After a while, he came upon a space that was entirely different from before.
It was surrounded by high walls like the other halls, but the air and atmosphere felt different.
Pyo-wol hid in the shadows and looked ahead.
He saw warriors dressed in white, with their faces covered with white cloth, positioned all around.
Each of them emitted an extraordinary aura.
Despite the late hour, they showed no signs of drowsiness, their eyes wide open.
They were the White-Robed Shadow Ghost Squad, tasked with protecting Go Jang-myung, the lord of the New Moon Manor and the head of the Kowloon Assassin Guild.
Their aura was more ferocious and sharp than any group of warriors Pyo-wol had ever seen.
They resembled white leopards, tensed and crouching, ready to pounce.
There appeared to be more than ten warriors just around the gate.
There was no telling how many more were inside the secretive space beyond the gate. However, one thing was certain.
Where they were guarding, there was a high probability that Pyo-wol’s target was there.
“Hoo!”
Pyo-wol took a deep breath.
It was time to venture out.
Suppressing his presence completely, Pyo-wol secretly approached the area guarded by the White-Robed Shadow Ghost Squad.
As Pyo-wol stifled his breath, killed his energy, and even lowered his body temperature and heartbeat, he became virtually undetectable.
Although the senses of the White-Robed Shadow Ghost Squad were as sharp as a razor’s edge, they failed to sense Pyo-wol.
His stealth technique was just on a different level.
Once Pyo-wol approached close enough, he calmly waited for an opportunity.
No matter how alert one is, it’s impossible to maintain that tension indefinitely. A moment of inattention was bound to come.
And that moment came quickly.
A warrior looking in Pyo-wol’s direction suddenly had to close his eyes as something got in. Pyo-wol seized the chance to silently scale the wall as the warrior was rubbing his eyes.
By the time the warrior managed to remove the foreign object that irritated his eye and raised his head, Pyo-wol was gone.
The warrior frowned, he seemed to sense that something was off, but he didn’t think an outsider would have crossed the wall.
Pyo-wol landed on the ground as silently as a cat.
Inside the walls, there were also members of the White-Robed Shadow Ghost Squad who stood guard, but their vigilance was lax, perhaps relying on the outer guards.
It was a perfect opportunity for Pyo-wol.
He slipped past their watchful eyes and into the building.
Inside the building was a giant Buddha statue.
It was an ordinary one, no different from any other temple.
But Pyo-wol did believe in outward appearances.
He placed his palms on the ground and closed his eyes.
Whoom!
He felt a subtle vibration through his palm.
‘There is a hollow space beneath.’
Pyo-wol crouched down and carefully examined the floor.
It didn’t take him long to discover the secret space in front of the Buddha statue.
He gently lifted the floor, revealing a secret passageway to the underground.
Air was moving in and out of this space.
Pyo-wol carefully entered the underground space and returned the floor to its original state.
To anyone observing, it would be impossible to imagine that someone had infiltrated the temple.
Thus, Pyo-wol descended into the underground of the temple.
After walking down the stairs for a while, he came upon a vast underground space with only two torches lit.
In the center of the large underground space sat a man.
His stature was quite small, but he exuded an unbelievable presence. It was so formidable that it gave the illusion of a larger physique.
He was Go Jang-myung, the ruler of both the New Moon Manor and the Kowloon Assassin Guild.
Go Jang-myung seemed to be in deep meditation or asleep, completely still.
Pyo-wol’s gaze traveled beyond Go Jang-myung to the area where the iron bars were.
The iron bars were as thick as a child’s forearm and were tightly placed, and inside of it was an old woman trapped.
The old woman was muttering incessantly in her sleep, adding to the already dismal atmosphere of the place.
It was then.
“It seems like the White-Robed Shadow Ghost Squad is not doing their job properly. They’ve let a rat sneak in.”
Suddenly, Go Jang-myung spoke up.
He stood up and turned around.
His gaze was fixed on the exact spot where Pyo-wol was hiding.
It was ridiculous to keep hiding when the other person was already aware of his presence.
So Pyo-wol stepped out of the shadows.
A flicker of interest appeared in Go Jang-myung’s eyes.
It was because of Pyo-wol’s pure white face that stood out even in the darkness. The moment Go Jang-myung saw Pyo-wol’s almost ethereal face, he recognized him.
“You must be Pyo-wol.”
“And you must be Go Jang-myung?”
“How did you find this place? Only a few know that I’m here.”
Instead of answering, Pyo-wol looked at the Buddhist scriptures placed on the shelves in the underground space.
They were the scriptures that Yu Gi-cheon, the lord of the Snow Cloud Villa, had been murdered for and taken.
Go Jang-myung muttered to himself.
“Did you track down these scriptures? You are quite remarkable.”
The Buddhist scriptures, which he had obtained to cure his mother’s madness, had brought about the calamity that was Pyo-wol.
Go Jang-myung mused on the curious ways of the world.
Nothing comes for free. Everything must be paid for.
It’s all about maintaining balance.
Pyo-wol walked over to the shelves where the scriptures were kept.
Creak!
He pulled out one of the scriptures and unfolded it.
It was filled with incomprehensible Sanskrit.
Holding the scripture, Pyo-wol asked Go Jang-myung.
“Are these scriptures effective in calming madness?”
“It wasn’t as effective as I had hoped.”
Go Jang-myung read the Buddhist scriptures daily for his mother. But the effect was only present during the recitation. Once he finished chanting, his mother would have fits as if nothing had changed.
“That must have been disappointing.”
“It was, but I did not despair. There must be a way to control my mother’s madness.”
“A filial son!”
Thud!
Pyo-wol replaced the scripture back on the shelf and moved on.
He headed towards the direction where the iron bars with the imprisoned old woman were.
The old woman was still unconscious and mumbling incoherently.
Most of what she said was indecipherable, but a few words stood out.
Words like sorry, regret, and miss you.
As Pyo-wol attempted to move closer, Go Jang-myung warned him.
“That’s far enough. Do not approach my mother any further.”
“So, you built this grand temple for her? A truly filial son.”
“A lowly assassin like you has no right to mock me.”
A sticky murderous aura emanated from Go Jang-myung’s entire body. Yet, Pyo-wol didn’t care and approached the bars to look at the trapped old woman.
The old woman’s name was Gu Moon-hye.
She had once been hailed as a saintess in the Celestial Demon Union.
An unfortunate woman who was exiled to this place because of a momentary lapse in judgment and had to hear through rumors that her beloved had died.
Unable to overcome her guilt, she descended into madness and became what she is today. Nevertheless, she raised the small manor known as the New Moon Manor into a shadowy ruler known as the Kowloon Assassin Guild.
She was truly a remarkable woman.
One who managed to shift the currents of Jianghu.
The old woman hadn’t noticed Pyo-wol’s arrival yet.
Her wrinkled face seemed filled with a certain regret, but Pyo-wol felt no sympathy for her.
He knew the harm the Kowloon Assassin Guild she fostered had inflicted upon the world.
In some ways, the Kowloon Assassin Guild was a greater evil than even the Celestial Martial Sect. At least the Celestial Martial Sect’s existence was known, whereas few were aware of the Kowloon Assassin Guild.
If it weren’t for Pyo-wol, they would still be doing all sorts of bad things under the surface.
Pyo-wol muttered to himself,
“What’s the point of living like this?”
“The meaning of life isn’t for you to determine, assassin!”
“Can a life without self-awareness, lost to madness, truly be considered a human life? Perhaps it would be better for you to kill her to end her suffering.”
“Impudent!”
In an instant, an appalling murderous intent radiated from Go Jang-myung.
Boom!
A loud explosion followed.
Before anyone knew it, Go Jang-myung appeared in front of Pyo-wol and attacked.
It was a movement that defied common sense.
Pyo-wol was sent flying into the distance with his palm covering his face. He instinctively raised his hand to block the attack, but the impact felt like it would shatter his palm.
Go Jang-myung’s movements resembled the legendary divine art of Acala.1
A divine art that resembled the immobile but omnipresent deity.
Go Jang-myung’s technique was just like that.
Capturing his technique with human eyesight was nearly impossible since the distance was narrowed in such a short amount of time.
Even with Pyo-wol’s eyesight, he could only see a blurred image. He was unable to perceive any clear movement.
Ten-Step Flash.2
The name was given because the movement within ten steps was as swift as a flash of lightning.
Boom!
Once again, an explosion sounded, and Pyo-wol was flung backward.
Go Jang-myung had performed an axe kick,3 a technique in which the leg descends sharply through the air, mimicking the motion of an axe’s blade slicing downward.
Despite his small stature, Go Jang-myung possessed terrifying martial arts skills.
None of the martial arts he was performing now could be called a special technique, but they were nonetheless terrifying in terms of power.
When one’s martial arts reaches an extreme, even an ordinary technique transforms into an ultimate skill.
Go Jang-myung had reached such a realm.
Boom! Kwang!
Explosive blows echoed one after another.
With each one, Pyo-wol’s body was thrown back.
Pyo-wol’s face was quickly covered in blood.
No matter how much he tried to block the attacks, he couldn’t fully dissipate the impact.
That was how powerful each of Go Jang-myung’s strikes were.
Pyo-wol used Snake Steps to retreat backward. But then, Go Jang-myung appeared suddenly behind him.
Ripping through the darkness, he aimed a palm strike at the crown of Pyo-wol’s head.
Swoosh!
Pyo-wol moved his head by the narrowest margins to avoid the attack. However, he couldn’t entirely avoid it and sustained a long slash on his shoulder.
Blood sprayed everywhere.
And a tremendous pain washed over him.
What he received was no ordinary wound.
Through the injury inflicted by Go Jang-myung, a foreign energy had penetrated.
The energy was known as Bright Jade Qi.4
It was the core of Go Jang-myung’s martial arts, where once it entered the body, the energy would tear apart the meridians and shatter the heart.
Anyone invaded by the Bright Jade Qi was doomed to die.
As evidence, Pyo-wol was staggering.
Seeing Pyo-wol swaying as if he were drunk, Go Jang-myung spoke in a low voice,
“Die quietly. Do not disturb my mother’s rest.”
“So, that’s your weakness.”
“What?”
At Pyo-wol’s unexpected response, Go Jang-myung frowned.
Pyo-wol’s staggering suddenly stopped.
He lifted his head to look at Go Jang-myung.
His eyes, filled with a subtle red light, stared directly into Go Jang-myung’s jet-black pupils.
There was no sign of Pyo-wol suffering from ruptured meridians or a shattered heart anywhere.
The Bright Jade Qi was certainly a terrifying energy. But Pyo-wol had energies built up from the Starving Demon Secret Arts and the Thunder-Splitting Snake Spirit Cultivation Technique.
The energy inside of him, which resembled a snake, had eaten up the Bright Jade Qi that had infiltrated his body. Thanks to that, he could remain unharmed in the face of the Bright Jade Qi.
“You–!”
“You’re extremely afraid of your mother waking up.”
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