CH 99

Geum Dan-Yeop stood alone in a dark room lit only by the faint glow of a luminescent pearl, staring coldly at the “thing” in the opposite corner.

“Wheeze…wheeze…” The “thing” panted,1 slamming its head against the wall over and over again.

“I’m not going to apologize for doing this to you,” Geum Dan-Yeop mumbled to himself.

Suddenly, someone entered the room and kneeled down, saying, “My Liege!”

It was Yoon Moon-Cheon, the leader of the black-market organizers. After being pursued by the Blizzard Squad, he was covered in blood and sweat from head to toe.

“Hello, Administrator Yoon.”

“I have returned, my Liege.”

“You’ve had it hard. Good work.”

“I don’t deserve your praise, my Liege. I only did what I must.” Yoon Moon-Cheon kowtowed, smacking his head against the floor until his forehead was bleeding, but he didn’t mind the pain. Finally, he lifted his head and looked at Geum Dan-Yeop, his eyes brimming with reverence.

“My heart weeps for you and your men. It was cruel of me to send you to your deaths.”

“Please don’t apologize. We willingly chose to do what we did. Your will is our will, my Liege. You are the only one who can wake the sleeping Silent Night. We are plenty satisfied if we could contribute to your cause by sacrificing ourselves.”

“Administrator Yoon…”

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“My Liege, although Squad Leader Nam is currently engaging the Tyrant Fist Sect in battle, there are too many of them. Please leave this place before they arrive.”

Geum Dan-Yeop smiled sadly, then replied, “I will not run away.”

“My Liege!”

“In truth, I have kept something hidden from all of you. Regardless of what we do, the Silent Night will not get involved. They no longer have the motivation to do so.”

The Silent Night had long since lost its drive for domination, and Geum Dan-Yeop understood this fact more clearly than anyone else.

“But, if they knew of my Liege’s plans…”

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“Simply knowing is not enough. What they need is a violent wake up call. Only then will the Four Great Demon Lords, including the Witch of the White Night, take action. And once they do, is the moment when the Silent Night truly reawakens.”

“My Liege!”

“Now you know why I absolutely cannot run away, no matter what anyone says. As the one who came up with this plan, I am also responsible for seeing it through.”

ROAR!

Suddenly, a powerful aura gushed out from Geum Dan-Yeop’s body, causing even the walls to rattle. “Administrator Yoon!” he commanded.

“Yes, my Liege.”

“Prepare to greet our guests.”

“Understood.”

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“And one more thing…”

“Yes?”

“…No, it’s nothing. You can go now.”

“Yes, my Liege,” Yoon Moon-Cheon said, before stepping out of the room.

Geum Dan-Yeop’s gaze turned toward the direction of the groaning sounds.

“Jin Mu-Won…” he whispered to himself.

Although he had only met the man once, Jin Mu-Won had left a very strong impression on him. He was the one and only person who had responded to his Thousand Mile Soul Melody. Geum Dan-Yeop felt that if the two of them had met under different circumstances, they would surely have become the best of friends. Unfortunately, that was not to be.

“My role is to summon an era of chaos.”

Only the devastation created by an era of chaos could wake the Silent Night. However, to start that era, a lot of people needed to die.

“Are you sure this is the place?” Yeop Pyung asked, looking up at a signboard that read “Baek Family Manor (白家莊園)”.

The manor belonged to a retired high-ranking government official who had no ties to the gangho, and had thus escaped the Tyrant Fist Sect’s notice. Until now, that was.

Yul Gyeong-Cheon, the captain of the Blizzard Squad, replied, “Yes, I am. We tracked him to this very location.”

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“To think that this place was the rabbits’ den all along.” Yeop Pyung smiled coldly. They had gone to extreme lengths and even killed hundreds of civilians just to find their enemies’ hiding place, and he knew that they would soon have to pay the price for their deeds, but he couldn’t care less about his own fate. “We have to finish this business before Heaven’s Summit catches on, while making sure that our Liege isn’t troubled by any slip-ups.”

Fortunately, the warriors dispatched by Heaven’s Summit hadn’t arrived in Yunnan yet. If they had, the Tyrant Fist Sect wouldn’t have gotten away with executing such a crazy plan in Yuxi.

Yul Gyeong-Cheon smiled in exactly the same way as his fellow warrior and said, “Of course, Commander.”

“I’m looking forward to seeing what these people have prepared for us.”

“Huhuhu! Regardless of how hard they worked, they won’t be able to stop us.”

“Let’s get started.”

“Yes, Sir!” Yul Gyeong-Cheon nodded in agreement.

As if that was a signal, the waiting Blizzard Squad members leapt over the Baek Family Manor fence.

“YAAAAAH!”

CLANG! KWANG!

Shouts and the clang of metal on metal echoed throughout the manor as a massive fight broke out between the manor’s defenders and the Blizzard Squad invaders.

Just like that, the second phase of the Night of Carnage begun.

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Im Soo-Kwang looked around despondently, but deep down, he wanted to close his eyes to the agonizing scenery of death and destruction all around him. To make things worse, he knew that his own sect was the cause of it all.

“I’m pathetic. I can’t believe I followed such a despicable Sect Leader for so long,” he muttered, wandering around in a daze. His slumped shoulders left him looking utterly wretched, and the silver gauntlets on his hands felt like lead.

Suddenly, he raised his head and looked toward the northern sky. Perhaps the rising sun would end this nightmare of his, but it was nowhere to be seen.

“My Lord…” He recalled the face of the leader he hadn’t seen in a decade; a leader he had almost forgotten.

Jin Kwan-Ho, the Northern Wall. That was a man who was stronger than any other, whether physically or mentally.

“Why didn’t I believe him back then? How on earth could a man like that possibly conspire with the Silent Night? You’re such an idiot, Im Soo-Kwang. No, you’re not just stupid, you’re also deaf and blind.” Im Soo-Kwang wanted to stab the ears that had been swayed by Jo Cheon-Woo’s temptations of glory.

He knew the truth. Despite that, he’d turned a blind eye to it, all because he was tired of his monotonous life in the Northern Army. He took the bait that Jo Cheon-Woo had dangled in front of him.

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That was his sin, a sin that he could never escape from.

“AHHHHHHH!” a girl’s shrill voice rang out in the distance.

Without thinking, Im Soo-Kwang immediately sprinted in the direction of the scream. There, he found a middle-aged warrior pulling a sword out of a teenage girl’s shoulder.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing, Squad Leader Mak?!” he roared.

The middle-aged warrior turned to face Im Soo-Kwang. Due to his distinctive triangular face and squinty eyes like a rat, Im Soo-Kwang had instantly recognized him as Mak Kweng, the captain of the Iron Sprit Squad, one of the three squads that Jo Cheon-Woo had sent to carry out a massacre in Yuxi.

“Why hello, Elder Im.”

“I asked you what you were doing.”

“Please don’t misunderstand me, this girl is a martial artist and a threat to our Tyrant Fist Sect.”

“Then just kill her in one strike. Why do you have to torture her so?”

“Is there a reason why I can’t do that?” Mak Kweng grinned like a depraved creep.

Im Soo-Kwang frowned. There was something very wrong with the way Mak Kweng was acting. “You…” he began.

Before he could finish his line, Mak Kweng interrupted him, saying, “Do you know what your problem is, Elder Im? You’re too independent thinking. The Sect Leader could never trust a man like you.”

“A-Aren’t you being too rude?”

“You lack loyalty to our Liege.” Mak Kweng straightened his back and swung his sword. In a flash, the girl collapsed, bleeding from the neck.

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Im Soo-Kwang shook with rage at the sight.

“Elder Im, do you know why the Sect Leader sent you here?”

“Why are you suddenly talking about this?”

“The truth is, the Sect Leader finds your recent behavior a little troubling.”

“No way, that’s ridiculous…” Im Soo-Kwang denied, but he could tell that Mak Kweng was telling the truth. As an Elder of the Tyrant Fist Sect, it made no sense for him to act as a lowly escort for Tang Gi-Mun, and yet, Jo Cheon-Woo had ordered him to do exactly that.

Mak Kweng closed in on Im Soo-Kwang, still smiling evilly. While they were talking, his subordinates had sneakily surrounded the Tyrant Fist Sect elder.

Im Soo-Kwang sighed, “The Sect Leader has truly gone past the point of no return.”

“See? This is why he finds you problematic. Well, no matter. You know too much already, so…I hope you enjoy your trip to the afterlife.”

SHIIING!

The warriors of the Iron Spirit Squad drew their weapons in sync.

Im Soo-Kwang closed his eyes for a moment, then reopened them and said, “It seems that I am going to die a dog’s death, and I’ll accept it as a natural consequence of my past actions. However, that doesn’t mean that I’ll go down without a fight.”

Mak Kweng clicked his tongue, “Tsk! You could have died a quick and painless death, but no, you want do this the hard way, huh.”

He signaled to his men, who simultaneously pounced on Im Soo-Kwang.

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Jin Mu-Won wordlessly walked down the streets of Yuxi, with Cheong-In and Kwak Moon-Jung following quietly behind him.

I can’t believe that such a swordsman exists, Cheong-In thought, his face as white as a sheet. As horrifying as the massacre in Yuxi was, he found himself much more terrified of the young man right in front of him. He had gone on countless missions as a top agent of the Black Moon and spied on numerous powerful martial artists, but never before had he encountered a warrior such as Jin Mu-Won.

It wasn’t simply a matter of the swordsman’s strength, but the sheer intensity of the aura overflowing from him. It was as if Jin Mu-Won wielded not only a physical sword, but a sword of the soul that would slice his opponents’ wills to shreds before they even started fighting.

Cheong-In nervously hazarded a glance at Jin Mu-Won’s face and shuddered.

Suddenly, Jin Mu-Won stopped in his tracks and stared in a certain direction.

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Cheong-In naturally followed Jin Mu-Won’s gaze, only to find a bloodied body that had been mauled so badly it was barely recognizable as human. To his shock, that person was still breathing.

Jin Mu-Won knelt down in front of the dying man, who mustered his remaining strength to force his eyes open.

“It’s…you…” he groaned.

“Master Im…” Despite the severe mutilation, Jin Mu-Won immediately recognized the man as Im Soo-Kwang.

Before falling in battle, Im Soo-Kwang had defeated over ten of the Iron Sprit Squad members, and they now lay dead at his feet. However, he regretfully failed to kill Mak Kweng, their captain. “Is…your name really Jin Mu-Won?” he whispered.

Jin Mu-Won nodded, but didn’t say anything.

“Are you…the Jin Mu-Won I know?”

Jin Mu-Won’s eyes twitched. The other two might not have understood what Im Soo-Kwang meant, but there was no way he wouldn’t. Moreover, Im Soo-Kwang was on his deathbed, and both of them knew it. Even then, the older man desperately wanted to confirm his hunch. It was his dying wish.

“Please…” Im Soo-Kwang begged. He hoped with all his heart that this “Jin Mu-Won” was the boy from that time.

In a hoarse voice, Jin Mu-Won replied, “Yes, I am. You often instructed me in the basics of martial arts when I was a child.”

Im Soo-Kwang trembled with joy, saying, “Ahh, thank the heavens! I’m glad…you’re alive. And…I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry. I…am a sinner. I have to apologize to Lord Jin when I meet him in the afterlife…” Im Soo-Kwang’s voice trailed off as his consciousness faded.

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To hear his last words, Jin Mu-Won bent over and leaned closer to him.

“Please…I beg you. You must stop the Sect Leader’s rampage. Please put an end to this living nightmare…You are…the only one I can count on…” Im Soo-Kwang fell silent. He was dead. So deep was his grief and remorse, he couldn’t even bring himself to close his eyes and die in peace.

Jin Mu-Won reached out and closed his eyes for him.

Proofreader’s Notes: That last part hit right in the . Everything is not Daijobu.

Wheeze: i.e. Darth Vader breathing sounds. ↩