Chapter 29
First Mission (4)
People dressed in black—the same clothes as those who had been trailing him until now!
They seemed as if they had expected Namgung-hyeok to come this way and had been lying in ambush.
Spababat!
A surprise attack hit Namgung-hyeok from all sides—front, back, left and right.
It looked like Namgung-hyeok, caught off guard, wouldn’t be able to avoid it.
But—
Pajijik!
Lightning erupted from Namgung-hyeok’s whole body toward the attackers.
Taken by the sudden assault, most of the attackers felt a jaw-rattling shock.
Those who dodged the lightning lost their chance to strike, and the ambush ended in failure.
“Could this have been a ruse to lure me in?”
Having swept away the crisis for a moment with his thunder technique, Namgung-hyeok looked over the attackers.
A cold, sharp killing intent hung in the silence.
It soon became clear these were well-trained killers.
‘So it seems that being noticed by me was part of their plan from the start.’
Maybe he should’ve notified Jiwoosung, the squad leader, about the intrusion instead of chasing?
Realizing he’d been led into a trap, Namgung-hyeok’s expression cooled.
“Who are you?”
Those present were certainly not warriors from the Nine-Dragon Gang.
Even after he pointed this out there was no reaction.
Instead, a covert strike flew in from a blind spot.
Kaang!
Namgung-hyeok didn’t even look and parried it with his sword.
Because the thunder aura he had released earlier still lingered and detected the surrounding movement, he could perform that technique.
‘First I’ll knock them all down, then I can ask questions—won’t be too late.’
As Namgung-hyeok prepared to swing his sword properly, the killers formed up and attacked.
They possessed at least top-tier martial skill and moved like one body without speaking.
If necessary, they were willing to sacrifice a comrade to assassinate a target.
Pabat!
The killers surged forward all at once!
They had underestimated Namgung-hyeok.
‘Pa-ryong-se (Dragon-Breaking Stance)!’
Namgung-hyeok’s sword, charged with thunder qi, thrust swiftly through the gap between the killers.
Two of them were down in an instant from that blade strike.
Also—
“Kkeuhk!”
“Uuuh!”
Lightning that followed the sword’s trajectory electrocuted the surrounding killers.
The sword’s path could be predicted, but the dispersed bolts could not.
The Blood Shadow Squad, who planned to surround and crush Namgung-hyeok, found themselves fleeing instead.
‘Our Blood Shadow Squad being swung around like this by one man…’
The man who had lured Namgung-hyeok into the trap was sweating and inwardly horrified.
By order of the famous Elder Hyeol-ong, he had been told to lure one of the Phoenix Brigade members in Yushim and deal with them.
For the Blood Shadow Squad—experts in stealth and ambush—the task should have been as easy as lying down and eating rice cakes.
But the situation that actually unfolded was the exact opposite.
Kurrurung!
As the sword qi dispersed from the thunder technique, thunder rolled.
Immediately, five or six killers trembled and collapsed to the ground.
“Kuk! What on earth is that martial art?”
To the Blood Shadow Squad leader, Namgung-hyeok’s technique was unprecedentedly strange.
Half the killers had already fallen under the thunder-and-lightning technique.
Piiik!
Judging the mission a failure, the leader took a whistle from his chest and blew it a few short notes.
At that signal, the killers’ expressions changed in an instant.
They produced something from their garments—fire bombs, forbidden in the martial world.
Tatt!
One of them lit the fuse and rushed at Namgung-hyeok.
‘What is this?’
Only then did Namgung-hyeok notice the burning firebomb in the killer’s hands.
‘A suicide attack!’
Namgung-hyeok sliced the killer’s waist with his sword.
Boom!
There was an explosion; a plume of smoke rose.
From it, Namgung-hyeok shed his outer clothing.
‘They actually intended to blow themselves up.’
If they’d released a massive burst of inner power at once and not suppressed the explosive force, it would have been dangerous.
Namgung-hyeok wondered who these killers were.
Killers bearing firebombs charged him from all sides.
‘Pok-ryong-se (Exploding-Dragon Stance)!’
Namgung-hyeok executed a sweeping sword technique.
Thunderous sword qi dispersed everywhere and the firebombs detonated in chain explosions along with the killers.
As the area was being devastated, one killer managed to get behind Namgung-hyeok.
It was a desperate ambush using self-destruction as bait.
Thup!
“Did you think I wouldn’t notice?”
Even amid explosions, Namgung-hyeok had used the energy of the thunder device he’d spread to remove blind spots.
A killer, whose wrist had been grabbed, tried to light the fuse of a firebomb concealed in his chest.
Namgung-hyeok snapped the man’s wrist, forced open his mouth, pulled out the detonator pill hidden in his molars, and removed it.
Boom!
An explosion rocked the area and Namgung-hyeok’s hair whipped in the wind.
‘I can’t just leave him to die. I have many things to ask.’
Namgung-hyeok glared coldly at the subdued man.
“Kkeuk.”
The killer tried to commit suicide by swallowing a poison pill hidden in his molars.
But Namgung-hyeok, quicker than the attempt, forced the man’s jaw open and removed the pill.
“I’ll ask bluntly. Which group do you belong to?”
“……”
The killer refused to answer.
Trained to resist torture and never reveal secrets, he was confident he could keep silent.
“Hoho, so you won’t speak easily?”
Namgung-hyeok admired that stance.
But regardless of admiration, he needed the information.
“I’m not used to causing pain to others…”
He murmured and raised his left hand.
Pajijik.
Thunder qi crackled between his fingers.
The killer’s pupils widened when he saw it.
“I’ll let you taste a jolting feeling so you decide to talk.”
Namgung-hyeok said meaningfully.
A bright yellow flash flared intensely between him and the killer.
Electric “torture” was definitely effective.
The killer, who’d stubbornly refused to speak, finally disclosed the organization he belonged to.
‘Not simply a group of assassins hired by the Nine-Dragon Gang, but an assassination unit directly under Paecheon-seong.’
Namgung-hyeok knew at least the name Paecheon-seong.
After all, Paecheon-seong’s lord was Im Woo-baek, the Blood Heaven Blade Emperor—one of the Two Emperors among the Ten Martial Sovereigns.
“Why would Paecheon-seong, all the way down in the south, be helping the Nine-Dragon Gang?”
“……”
When Namgung-hyeok asked, the killer kept his mouth shut.
But as thunder qi strong enough to froth his mouth coursed through his body, he confessed.
“G—The Nine-Dragon Gang is one of the bases our sect prepared to advance into the north.”
“A base?”
What Namgung-hyeok heard was information that even the Martial Alliance’s intelligence network hadn’t obtained.
Before Paecheon-seong publicly began its activities, it had secretly supported many heterodox masters.
They established sects in various regions and expanded their power—effectively becoming Paecheon-seong branches.
The Black Dragon King Jang Mu-ryong also, with Paecheon-seong’s support, gathered heterodox followers who would become part of the Nine-Dragon Gang and formed the Nine-Dragon Gang.
“They didn’t just aim to occupy the Yushim territory. They waited for the Martial Alliance to intervene, arranged for the Nine-Dragon Gang to be attacked first, and with that pretext Paecheon-seong planned to march north into the northlands. Is that true?”
“Y-Yes.”
If true, this was an event that could shake the entire martial world.
Namgung-hyeok’s gaze grew heavy as he took it in.
‘I never imagined I’d be caught up in an unprecedented event that could break decades of peace.’
Could his first mission as a Phoenix Brigade member nearly become the spark that starts a full-scale war?
Namgung-hyeok pondered what to do next.
‘At least squad leader Jiwoosung must have had some suspicion of this possibility.’
He now understood the earlier instruction not to attack the Nine-Dragon Gang first—a guideline he hadn’t understood before.
It was clear the Martial Alliance must have considered this possibility as well.
‘If I go straight to Jiwoosung and tell him, I’d only turn suspicion into certainty.’
The only direct evidence of Paecheon-seong’s involvement was this captured Blood Shadow Squad killer.
But could his testimony alone change the situation?
No, it would be difficult.
‘They could just deny Paecheon-seong’s involvement.’
The Blood Shadow Squad was an intelligence-assassination organization that had thoroughly hidden its ties to Paecheon-seong from the start.
Digging into their identity and getting clues would certainly take a long time.
‘By then it’ll be too late.’
Namgung-hyeok didn’t think the Nine-Dragon Gang or Paecheon-seong would simply give up.
By the time all the pieces came to light, it would likely be irreversible.
‘Now that things have already gone wrong, they’ll act even more violently.’
If the Nine-Dragon Gang escalated, it would be hard for Yushim and the Phoenix Brigade in between to hold out.
So perhaps it would be better to preemptively thwart their intent.
‘If the Phoenix Brigade or Yushim take action, it’s exactly what they want. But if someone with no ties to them does it—?’
A scheme formed in Namgung-hyeok’s mind, and his eyes shone coldly.
“You blustered so loudly and still failed. The name of Paecheon-seong that shakes the world seems to be a bluff.”
“Watch your mouth.”
Jang Mu-ryong jeered, and Famous Elder Hyeol-ong warned him.
Elder Hyeol-ong was Paecheon-seong’s guardian: a powerful master among the many fighters of Paecheon-seong.
His cold palm technique, the Ghost Palm Method, was notorious for rotting the internal organs with a viciously cold yin qi.
Jang Mu-ryong knew provoking him would be unwise and stepped back.
“For now we don’t know if he’s alive or dead. If he’s alive, they’ll realize our plan.”
When the Blood Shadow Squad didn’t return from their mission, they found only the squad’s blown-apart corpses at the scene.
Elder Hyeol-ong said, “A planted informant within Yushim said that the Phoenix Brigade member hasn’t returned yet.”
“You mean his whereabouts are unknown?”
“The Blood Shadow Squad is trained to use any means to kill their target. Perhaps there are no traces but a mutual ruin is also possible; we can’t rule it out completely.”
“That’s only a possibility.”
“……”
As long as they didn’t know Namgung-hyeok’s fate, his existence bothered them.
Jang Mu-ryong said, “In any case, we must find his trail and deal with him decisively.”
“Of course.”
They agreed that the only person who knew the link between the Nine-Dragon Gang and Paecheon-seong had to be eliminated.
Famous Elder Hyeol-ong said, “Even his disappearance can draw Yushim and the Martial Alliance into action, so in that sense our goal is achieved.”
“That’s assuming he doesn’t show up.”
“If he appears, I will personally handle it.”
Elder Hyeol-ong smiled grimly.
His words showed the confidence that even if the Phoenix Brigade defeated the Blood Shadow Squad’s ambush, they were not his match.
But the two did not know one thing: an unexpected person would appear who would properly spoil the plan they’d made.
