Chapter 3: The Sword Talks (1)

“Blood Cult? What nonsense are you saying?”

“R-right. That’s nonsense.”

“Yah! Shut it and follow me! The Blood Cult was cut off by the Murim Alliance a long time ago!”

This was a known fact to everyone. The Murim Alliance defeated the Blood Cult 20 years ago due to political strife, and the sect lost its leader.

However, thanks to their notoriety, the mention of their name still caused fear in the people of Murim.

“And how do you know the sound outside is from the Blood Cult?”

Of course, I knew. It was something I had already experienced once. Saying that it’s not surprising that they thought I’m speaking nonsense.

“Kuak!”

“Ugh!”

Song Jwa-baek’s face went stiff, perhaps not wanting to believe it. The screams from outside were telling them that something terrible was happening.

Kwang!

The doors on the inn’s first floor opened, and people in their rooms began to run out. They, too, seemed to have heard the screams. People were guessing that something was happening and were rushing down.

There was no time for this.

“Asong. Follow me!”

“Yes... yes! Young master!”

He followed me, but the place I was heading to isn’t the inn’s exit. Song Jwa-baek then shouted.

“Yah! Idiot! What will you do going there?”

They wouldn’t believe me even if I explained it, so I went ahead without answering anything.

“Dummy. You will die.”

Song Jwa-baek laughed before he and his younger twin went and followed the rest of the people from the inn. Anyway, in this situation, no one could take care of another. Everyone had to survive on their own.

“Young master. Aren’t we supposed to run that way?”

I shook my head.

“We are late. They are all around the town. How can we run from them?”

The probability of escaping from the Blood Cult’s hands with my damaged dantian and Asong, who had no knowledge of martial arts, was very low. If only I had regressed just half an hour earlier, I might have had a better chance.

“T-then what do we do?”

“We need to hide.”

“Uh? Where can we? There’s only the bathrooms and stables in the backyard.”

I didn’t answer as he mumbled.

“Ah... that.”

Unfortunately, his guess was correct. The place we were going to hide in is none other than there. In the backyard, there was a bathroom and a stable, and it was full of an assortment of colorful smells.

“Young master is it-.”

“It isn’t fine, but we need to do this.”

The only way of survival was by hiding from the vicious Blood Cult. I was convinced that there aws no other way than to hide.

They were all human and wouldn’t like to touch dirty things.

Kik!

Asong opened the door and looked in with disgust in his eyes. It was like he was seeing hell.

“Y-Young master. The stench of poop down there is tough. Do we have to hide here? What if we stop breathing?”

I looked around at his question. The bamboo around us caught my eye. I took an axe and cut one off before handing it to Asong.

“Bite onto one end and breathe through the mouth. You will survive.”

“Uh? But the bamboo is this thick?”

The bamboo was too thick, and Asong must open his mouth widely. I looked at him and asked.

“Are we in a position to choose between what we want now? Don’t you know that a poop-filled place is better than hell? Asong. You don’t know how cruel they are. All your limbs will be cut off...”

“Eik!’

Asong was frightened at those words. It was dirty and tough, but this was the only way to survive. Asong entered the bathroom’s pit.

“What is with this shit?”

“I will come inside too, don’t worry, the smell will stop after we clean up.”

“Uh? Young master, have you ever entered poop before?”

Enter?

I almost died of the shit smell I had to endure for an hour. But I didn’t have time to answer Asong as I also had to hide.

“Asong. Hold one. That is the only way we can live.’

“Uh? Huk!”

Pak!

I pushed the man inside.

“Young master!”

Plop!

Once all the shit was sorted, I quickly took a step back.

‘Sorry.’

There was no other way to relive this life apart from this. Don’t be sad and curse me. I was coming too.

“Damn it.”

What’s this? I couldn’t just step in. My mind was telling me not to.

‘Should I force myself in?’

He wanted to go in after Asong, but the pit was too narrow for the two of them. He just wanted to save his helper, and now he’s the one in trouble.

‘What do I do now?’

As I looked around, I saw the stable.

Heeing!

A horse in the stable was screaming, and I approached it. I guess it was noticing that something was wrong. The guests in the Inn already ran away on horses, and they left one here.

‘Shit. I made a mistake.’

I should have searched the body and taken another weapon from him, but I was too nervous and didn’t do it. Now I had to use this possessed dagger.

-Again! Again!

‘Shut it!’

It would be better to kill this new one and take his weapon, but I was close to losing focus.

“You. Is there anything there?”

‘No!’

The moment I saw the leg near the opening, I kicked it as hard as I could, and at that moment, something unexpected happened. The leg that I aimed for slipped back.

‘Oh!’

He then kicked my leg in response. A loud cracking sound from the contact made me groan in pain.

“Kuak!”

“I asked why you were hiding, and you came out instead to prove it.”

A masked man came into view as he spoke in a relaxed tone

‘This..’

When I saw him, I was surprised.

I thought this man would be a low-ranked one like before, but...

‘Brown belt.’

He had a brown color band around his waist, which meant he was at a higher level. Unlike the third-rate warriors who could only use techniques, this man could utilize internal qi.

And with a body that had received training in everything, how could he be taken down with a simple surprise attack?

‘What do I do?’

I was confused as he spoke.

“Look at you, you don’t seem to even know about qi, but you are quite confident. You know how to survive.”

None of these compliments were appreciated. Being born a child of a warrior family and not learning their techniques was a disgrace, and because of that, I had to live as a spy.

“I think I can put you in the secondary level.”

‘Secondary?’

The words reminded me of the past. In that past life, when I was taken by the Blood Cult, I was ranked similarly.

They judged me to be of the lowest level then.

“I will give you a chance. Kid, you cannot get out of here. If you want to live, surrender now.”

“You aren’t going to kill me.”

“How do you know that?”

“There is no reason to rate me if you wanted to kill me.”

They were planning to kidnap people from the start.

“You are a smart one. If you use your body as well as your brain, then you could be an upper-level product.”

His eyes turned sharp.

Pat!

The man rushed at me as he didn’t want to talk anymore. There was nothing more to do. If I didn’t want to be kidnapped, I had to either die or run.

Pak!

He aimed a kick at my head. Unable to get up in time, I jumped backward with a bounce.

Pak!

“This suits you.”

He smiled and swung his sword as if he was just playing around. The sarcasm and killing intent dripping from his words and actions were all directed toward me.

‘Damn it.’

Then a voice echoed in my head.

-Turn your upper body slightly to the left and stab him in the arm.

Without even thinking about it, I turned around and avoided his attack. In this state, I aimed the dagger in my right hand toward his exposed arm.

“Uh!”

He tried to avoid it, but the dagger managed to stab him slightly. Since the blade was dull, I couldn’t make a proper stab.

-What are you doing! Get up!

I quickly stood up and took my stance, holding the dagger to stay alert.

“This bastard!”

The masked man was slowly becoming more enraged with me.

-One step left. A wide one.

I spread my left leg wide as told.

Shh!

The masked man barely passed by as I moved, avoiding his attack with minimal movement.

“No!”

-Stab the thigh!

In this position, I stabbed at his thigh and managed to put the right amount of force as the dagger went in.

Puck!

“Kuak!”

-Push with your body!

And then I head butted him, and the man fell back, losing his balance. After that, I didn’t have to do much else. I just used the dagger to cut his throat.

“Kuak!”

The masked man whose throat I slit trembled and died soon after.

I did what I was told, but I was still in shock at how I had come out on top. Then, in my head came the triumphant voice of the dagger.

-You owe me your life now.