Woon-seong was returning to the Charred Dragon House in the middle of the night one day after training. His clothes were ragged and he had slight eye-bags. 

He scowled. I am exhausted.

It had only been about two months, but Woon-seong felt like the Leader was rushing things. Why was the man trying to cram everything about the Cult into his mind?

Is he just excited that he has a young leader?

“Get up!”

The Heavenly Demon gave him very little time to rest, always telling him to stand up and begin again. 

Even considering that, the training schedules are pushed too hard… and every time I get pushed to my limits, they heal me back with all the medicine they have in the Cult. I would probably be dead by now if the Cult didn’t force-feed me pills. 

Once again, Woon-seong had been surprised at the affluence of the Demonic Cult. They were very generous with the medicine that they offered him.

Thanks to that though, my body is stronger than ever. 

Yet, even after two months, I have no idea why the Leader is in such a hurry.

There must be a reason. 

Suddenly, Woon-seong felt his skin tingle. 

A killing intent?!

Woon-seong turned on pure instinct.

A knife passed right by his ears.

If it were anyone else, it could have been considered luck. Woon-seong though, had predicted the knife’s aerial course and dodged it by a sliver.

I didn’t notice that knife until it was right next to me. If not for the training of the First Gate, that would have killed me!

Woon-seong sprang into the air, twisting and swinging with his spear. He deflected another round of small knives.

Hmm.

That was not the end, of course. 

The darkness shifted, waiting for Woon-seong to make his move. 

Some thin streaks shot out from the reed fields, coming at Woon-seong from all sides.

Glug-ug!

They were chains with knives on the ends! 

Woon-seong used his spear to vault into the air and pulled his own knives out, causing the chains to miss and become tangled. 

He lightly landed on the twisted chains. 

Five chains… and the wielders must be at the ends.

‘Lightning Stitching Throwing Knives’!

His throwing knives whistled through the air, each headed straight for the end of a given chain.

Kacha—

One of the chains was broken with a loud ‘snap’. 

He stopped the knives with his chain! They’re pretty good… however… 

Just this was not enough to catch Woon-seong. He grabbed the White Night Spear and swung it in an arc, aimed at the ground towards which he was falling. 

Two more of them have secretly laid caltrops… 

There had been a trap of iron spikes sprayed with poison just waiting for Woon-seong to fall on them. His spear strike swept them into the air, allowing him to land safely on his feet. 

Woon-seong carefully surveyed the reed field he was standing in. 

He counted the number of chains in order to determine the number of people he was dealing with.

There’s at least 7 of them… and each one of them is heaps better than the ones that attacked me at the Valley of Thousand Spirits. An attack by assassins…

Woon-seong eyes turned dark, the words from the Banquet of the Heavenly Mountain and Divine Flame echoing in his mind, “Don’t think this is the end of it.” 

This ambush was a continuation of the one before it. 

Woon-seong’s mind whirred.

Who is targeting me? Why do they want me dead?

I can probably find out after suppressing these guys. 

Woon-seong’s mentality suddenly sharpened, becoming like that of a beast. Like this, he did not hesitate to hunt and kill. He was able to rush in, grab a neck, and immediately sever the major artery.

That’s what he was doing now.

Starting with this one!

As Woon-seong’s spear moved, the reed field was split open. A man in black had caught his eye beyond the grass, holding a chain in his hands. It was clear that this man was one of the assassins targeting him. 

Woon-seong rushed over mercilessly, spear pointed straight at the other’s throat. The man would have been instantly killed, if not for a sudden sound.

Fwoo~

The sound of a tungso (bamboo flute)? 

The previously silent night air revealed a simple, yet extraordinary melody. As soon as it was heard, something jumped into the air.

Ssssss-Sssss-Sssss!

And a group of snakes reacting to it. They’re obviously no ordinary vipers… 

The moment he saw the snakes, Woon-seong leapt backwards and swung his spear. It was thanks to this instinctive movement that the snakes fell to the ground in pieces.

How can he control this many snakes? It’s probably more than some unorthodox vile art. 

Woon-seong looked around himself, at the numerous snakes that had gathered due to the flute song. It was quite disgusting to see the snakes advancing over the blood and guts of their dead brethren. 

That’s why Woon-seong was swinging his spear so rapidly. 

However, they’ll have to try better than that to kill me.

Woon-seong activated his Intimidation Qi, allowing him to kill more snakes in a shorter amount of time. 

Flesh and blood splattered in all directions. 

Of course, none of it hit Woon-seong at all. 

The training of the First Gate was far more dangerous than this!!

Thinking about his training with Chun Hwi, this assassination attempt seemed like a child’s prank. 

There were chains, knives, and snakes flying at him, but the situation was still the same. 

Woon-seong flipped in the air and avoided everything, striking and slicing with his spear. With terrifying accuracy, the nearest metal chain was cut into ribbons. 

The person holding the chain was sent flying into the air, pierced by the throwing knives. A fountain of blood rose up in the field of reeds.

Phew!

However, the man with the flute was not yet finished. 

Fwoooooo~!

Woon-seong turned his head towards the source of the sound. 

‘Lightning Stitching Throwing Knives’!

The man with the flute had to pause and use the flute to block the knives, his playing momentarily stopped. 

Woon-seong did not miss this gap. He vaulted into the air and slashed towards the other man, cutting the flute cleanly in two.

“Wha-?”

The man dodged the first strike, but Woon-seong’s White Night Spear was still faster. 

Sching!

As the man was split in half, hot blood pooled on the grass. Since the one controlling them died, the nearby snakes scattered. 

The remaining people…

Woon-seong spread out his senses once more. A circular wave of energy emanated from his body, brought out and extended along the arc of his spear. 

He could see the shadows moving through the field. Even though two of their companions were now dead, the other assassins were circling around Woon-seong like sharks.

Two chains rushed towards Woon-seong, one from above and one from below. 

Woon-seong leapt up and away from the chain coming from the bottom. 

However, the other one was still flying towards his head! 

He moved the White Night Spear, blocking it from above. 

Heave-ho!

To the others, it looked like the second chain had wrapped around the White Night Spear, incapacitating it. 

However, reality was different.

Woon-seong unclasped one of the iron rings. The iron rings he currently used were custom-made by Chun Hwi; they were twice as heavy as before. With one taken off, his strength rose dramatically.

Woon-seong spun the White Night Spear, letting the oncoming chain collide with it. 

“Ugh!” The person who wielded the chain was surprised at Woon-seong’s sudden power-up and was dragged out of hiding. 

The person’s four other colleagues ran over, unable to see the true situation.

Boom!

However, the whole reed field trembled. Once the ones who had been hiding revealed themselves, Woon-seong took the iron bracer off his left arm too. 

Boom!

The iron ring smacked into the face of an approaching assailant, causing the man to go off flying. 

Stitching knives were thrown at the other three.

This was a bluff — Woon-seong knew that just the knives would be unable to stop his attackers. They would, however, buy him some time. 

The slight moment they use to parry the knives, that’s all I need.

Poof!

The skull of one man was crushed by Woon-seong’s fist.

After punching him, Woon-seong disappeared just as quickly, rushing in another direction. 

He reappeared right next to another assassin. 

Assassins were only scary when they hid. The moment they revealed themselves, their defeat was as good as confirmed. 

Woon-seong plummeted down and cut the person clean through, snapping the the man’s spine. 

As the assassin fell, he flailed about and haphazardly swung his chain, accidentally slicing his own comrade’s throat in the process. 

There’s only one left… I only need one to interrogate. And I’m not going to let them kill themselves like last time. 

The last assassin was fleeing, realizing that this attempt failed miserably. 

However, Woon-seong was much faster. Having taken off two iron bracers, he was stronger than ever before. 

“What’s with the hurry?”

Woon-seong had caught up to the assassin in an instant, grabbing the other by the collar. 

First, I’ll take out the poison pill from his mouth. 

Woon-seong slapped the assassin across the cheek. With a cracking sound, the assassin’s jaw broke and a pill fell out of his mouth. 

And before he attempts any other suicide method…! 

Woon-seong threw the other man to the ground, resulting in another crack as the man’s head smacked into the dirt.

A strange scream came from the other’s mouth, “Uaagh!”

“Who ordered you to kill me and why?!” Woon-seong asked ferociously, with his foot now pressed to the other man’s chest. 

The assassin groaned, mumbling out a string of indecipherable words. 

Woon-seong frowned. 

This man… he has no tongue!

What about his fingers?

He doesn’t have fingers either.

An assassin trained and prepared to not give out information no matter what… so they used their chains by winding them around their arms. 

“Damn it!” Woon-seong trembled with anger. 

It looks like I’m not getting any information out of them…

In one smooth motion, Woon-seong swung his spear and slit the throat of the last assassin. He had killed them all, but felt wholly unsatisfied.  

“They all failed?”

A man dressed in black received a report and got up, gnashing his teeth. His voice was venomous as he spat. 

“Damn it. They weren’t even able to take care of a new Demonic King. Why were they so confident…?”

This assassination attempt was my idea. Old man Joo Moon-baek doesn’t even know about it… I attempted it without any support yet it failed like this. This failure will backfire and negatively affect my influence within the group. In order to keep what little influence I have left, I have to succeed. However, the Senior Strategist of the Cult! Right now, it’s impossible to bring in more forces while not being detected by him… 

The man wiggled his fingers and grabbed the sword strapped to his waist. 

If so, I’ll have to do it myself. 

The man’s eyes glowed sharply in the moonlight.

However, the man didn’t know that someone had been watching and listening to him… 

“So an idiot made a premature move. I only tolerate him because of the deal and he decides to act out of place.”

Joo Moon-baek stared into space after hearing the report. 

He called for someone, huffing, “Shadow.”

A man covered by shadows appeared suddenly. 

However, Joo Moon-baek continued on casually, as if he had known the other had been there. “Go. You can take care of this yourself in case it goes south.”

“Yes, sir.” At the words of the Vice Leader, the other man bowed his head. However, his eyes soon glinted and he lifted his head up. “Also, what do I do with the Young Leader?”

“What do you do with the Young Leader? Hmm.” Joo Moon-baek tapped his chin slowly. “If the Young Leader ends up getting killed, let it happen. If not, let him live for now. There’s no reason for me to do it myself and provoke the Leader. Getting rid of the Young Leader can wait until after the Leader becomes disabled.”

At these words, the other man bowed.

“Acknowledged.”