Chapter 51
The Bloodsound Witch.
A master of sound-based martial arts whose origins were unknown.
A villain who killed for personal revenge, and who would show no mercy even to children if it served her purpose.
That was how the world judged the Bloodsound Witch.
An unfair judgment.
I killed only the villains who had been involved in the attack on the Eunri Escort Agency.
Most of them were assassins from underground organizations.
Those who had paid vast sums to commission exterminations, and the killers who had carried them out with their own hands—those were my targets.
At the time, the leader of the Baekcheon Alliance, whose cohesion was weaker than that of the Black Serpent League, branded the unaffiliated Bloodsound Witch as a demon. A threat to the martial world.
Soon, a massive bounty was placed on my head, and those who hunted me never ceased.
When I struck them all down, the Baekcheon Alliance formed a special extermination unit and sent it after me.
They sought the justification of having “protected peace in the martial world” by eliminating the public enemy known as the Bloodsound Witch.
The one who led that extermination unit was none other than Thunderblade Southern Tiger, Ho Hyeondan.
The unit under Ho Hyeondan chased me all the way to Phoenix Mountain in Liaoning Province.
“Bloodsound Witch, who brings chaos to the martial world! I will execute you!”
They spread a net of heaven and earth, threatening me from all sides.
Unfortunately for them, a rocky mountain where sound echoed was terrain perfectly suited to my sound arts.
And I was not the sort to show mercy to those who threatened me.
I played the Black Danjeok, throwing their minds into confusion, then infused my sound arts with killing intent.
Most of them died to that killing intent carried by sound.
Even those lucky enough to survive fell into qi deviation, their minds shattered by the sound arts that burrowed into their consciousness, leaving them ruined.
The one who pointed his sword at me until the very end was Ho Hyeondan himself.
At the time, he was thirty years old.
True to his lineage from the prestigious Ho Hyeon Clan, Ho Hyeondan displayed formidable martial prowess.
Living up to his title, Thunderblade, he unleashed streams of blue sword qi from a blade imbued with the power of lightning.
I stepped back using Shadowless Steps and wrapped his sword with cloth infused with inner energy.
Just as the blue sword qi was about to tear through my cloth, lightning flashed through the dim sky.
He had adapted quickly to the rocky terrain.
Only after exchanging over a hundred moves was the victor decided.
The one pressed flat against the cold ground was Ho Hyeondan.
Had I not used binding sound arts at precisely the right moments, I might have found myself in some difficulty as well.
Ho Hyeondan lay there, unable to move even a finger, his strength completely spent. His lips barely moved.
“Kill me.”
He spoke.
I frowned at how easily he abandoned his life.
“Don’t you want to live?”
“Begging for my life is worse than death. Kill me.”
It seemed he had no intention of breaking the rules he had set for himself—something I couldn’t understand.
“Why did you chase me? It doesn’t seem like you have a personal grudge.”
Ho Hyeondan exhaled slowly.
Perhaps because of his internal injuries, the sound of blood boiling rose from his lungs.
“…I have no personal grudge. I received an order, and countless martial artists fell to your sound arts. I believed you were an enemy who had to be eliminated. So I obeyed.”
“They always attacked me first. Just like you did today.”
At my pointed reply, Ho Hyeondan wavered for the first time.
“I don’t kill without reason… but I’m not foolish enough to spare those who show me lust or killing intent.”
Though Ho Hyeondan had fought me fiercely, what I sensed from him was nothing but fighting spirit and resolve.
That was why he was still alive.
“Don’t you resent the one who ordered you to chase me and sent you into a death trap?”
“I do not. He merely fulfilled his duty as alliance leader.”
“Because I’m a ‘demon,’ so I deserve to die?”
My voice sharpened like an ice pick.
But Ho Hyeondan gave an unexpected answer.
“…I don’t believe you are a ‘demon,’ nor do I think you’re as cruel as people say.”
“Why?”
“I heard a rumor… that the Bloodsound Witch is from Jiangsu Province.”
“…Did you investigate me?”
“More accurately, I investigated the massacre of the Eunri Escort Agency. The Eun Clan that supported it was annihilated, but… I thought perhaps one survivor might still be alive, carrying out revenge.”
“Hoh.”
I hadn’t expected anyone to dig into my past.
“The true Shadowless Steps of Eun Sogyu, founder of the Eunri Escort Agency. When I saw you use it, I was certain.”
“…You’ve encountered Shadowless Steps before?”
“Nine years ago, at the Cheonhwa Inn, I saw the grandson of the Eunri Escort Agency’s master use it.”
Nine years ago—that would have been when my cousin Eun Socheon was the head of the White Tiger Hall.
I hadn’t yet become an escort then, so I had been assigned elsewhere, not the Cheonhwa Inn.
“So you met Eun Socheon, the White Tiger Hall’s leader.”
“Yes. From the way you answer… it seems you truly are from the Eunri Escort Agency.”
As he said that, Ho Hyeondan closed his eyes.
“Now kill me.”
I narrowed my eyes as I looked at him.
If meeting someone who knows of the Eunri Escort Agency is fate, then perhaps this is fate.
He had lost a great deal of blood; his complexion was deathly pale.
His internal injuries were severe. Even if he survived, he would never return to his former self.
There was no need for me to finish him.
And yet, I made a decision.
“Then let’s do this instead.”
When I raised the throwing dagger I wore as a hair ornament, Ho Hyeondan squeezed his eyes shut.
Drip.
A drop of blood fell onto his lips.
What I cut was the tip of my own finger.
None of the extermination squads had ever wondered about the Bloodsound Witch’s origins.
But Ho Hyeondan was different.
Even at a critical moment, he never showed me killing intent, and he tried to see the Bloodsound Witch objectively.
He was frustratingly righteous.
“Even if it feels dishonorable, live. Once you die, nothing remains.”
I spoke as I wiped the blood from his lips with my finger.
Confusion filled Ho Hyeondan’s eyes. He couldn’t understand why I was sparing him.
“Drink. You need to recover your internal injuries.”
As clear energy seeped into his mouth, his eyes widened slightly in shock.
“If you don’t want to fall into qi deviation, circulate your cultivation method.”
Still lying there, Ho Hyeondan took a deep breath and activated his inner cultivation.
Giving him my blood infused with the essence of a life-saving pill was nothing more than a strong person’s whim.
Or perhaps it was a vague hope—that someone who had investigated the Eunri Escort Agency’s massacre might inch closer to the truth.
That was why I let the blood carrying the pill’s energy fall into his mouth.
Before long, the sound of blood boiling in his breath ceased.
Ho Hyeondan looked astonished.
As his internal injuries healed, blood must have begun flowing through his limbs again.
Yet his expression wasn’t bright.
“Will you not regret this?”
He spoke with difficulty.
“…If you spare me, I may come after you again to kill you.”
The words carried the determination of someone loyal to the Baekcheon Alliance—someone who would not defy his leader’s will.
Is this man an idiot?
A hollow laugh escaped me at his excessive honesty.
To say something so inflexible to the person who just saved your life.
And yet, I didn’t dislike that honesty.
“Do as you please.”
“…!”
“But until I finish my revenge, I absolutely cannot die.”
At my words, Ho Hyeondan slowly closed his eyes.
“Revenge…”
As someone who had spent long years in the martial world, he seemed to weigh the gravity of that word.
“Will you not regret sparing me?”
“I don’t do things I’ll regret in the first place.”
I had already grown sick of regret over the years.
“Even if you bring another extermination squad, I’m confident I’ll defeat them all the same. That’s why I’m letting you live.”
At that, warmth finally touched Ho Hyeondan’s rigid lips.
“I understand. When we meet again, I hope you will have completed your revenge.”
That was our final conversation.
After that, I never met Ho Hyeondan again.
Naturally, our connection ended there.
Yet by some twist of fate—
I regressed, and stood face to face with a perfectly healthy Ho Hyeondan once more.
Though our encounter was brief, having crossed blades with him made the memories of my past life vivid.
Hadn’t he said this back then?
“Nine years ago, at the Cheonhwa Inn, I saw the grandson of the Eunri Escort Agency’s master use Shadowless Steps.”
Perhaps today was the very day Ho Hyeondan met Eun Socheon. Before my regression, Eun Socheon had been the White Tiger Hall’s leader.
Lost in thought, I was interrupted as the owner of the Cheonhwa Inn stepped in front of me.
“Oh my—who would have thought Thunderblade Southern Tiger would grace our humble inn? Thank you so much for your help.”
Recognizing the man in the blue robe, the innkeeper quickly displayed his worldly tact.
“With the White Tiger Hall’s leader standing right here, innkeeper, that sounds rather disappointing.”
When I spoke with feigned hurt, the innkeeper flinched and turned to me.
“N-not at all! Thanks to you, Hall Leader, we escaped disaster.”
As expected of someone running an inn in central Nanjing—he immediately shifted his stance the moment he noticed me.
“And thanks to Thunderblade Southern Tiger as well, it seems everything ended cleanly without anyone getting hurt.”
Even so, he didn’t forget to flatter Ho Hyeondan.
I smoothly interjected.
“Thunderblade Southern Tiger, may the White Tiger Hall take custody of this man?”
“……”
Ho Hyeondan nodded instead of answering, handing the man in the black hat over to me.
“Thank you. Since I’ve received your help, please allow me the chance to repay the favor.”
With that, I took custody of the man in black and expressed my gratitude to Ho Hyeondan.
