Chapter 30. The Skilled One and the Man with a Knack for It (5)
“Divine Art of Painlessness.”
“It temporarily cuts off the body's senses and makes you forget all pain.”
“It was created for situations where you are captured and tortured.”
“It is not meant for battle?”
The day Master taught me the Divine Art of Painlessness, he spoke sharply.
“Pain is the body's warning.”
“Do you want to fight without even knowing how badly your body is being destroyed?”
“How many times must this Master tell you that I nearly died after using the Divine Art of Painlessness when I attacked the Slaughter Dragon Gang alone?”
The awakened state that had erased all pain from my body ended by the time I climbed the cliff.
Such a state could not be deliberately created.
To fight this man, I had no choice but to use the Divine Art of Painlessness and forcibly ignore my body's screams.
Silent Arrow could not hide his shock as Bi Anso fought while ignoring pain and spraying blood.
Is this bastard a monster?
How can he move in that condition?
Every movement should feel like his bones are breaking!
He could not understand.
His opponent was severely injured.
He had a child on his back.
Normally, movement itself should have been impossible because of the pain.
Where had a monster like this come from?
Then the face of another monster flashed through Silent Arrow's mind.
That man had been exactly the same.
Twenty-five years ago, that monster had attacked the Slaughter Dragon Gang alone to save a single child.
“You call yourselves the greatest assassin organization of the Unorthodox Path, yet you oppress powerless people.”
“How pathetic.”
It had only begun because one low-ranking martial artist of the Slaughter Dragon Gang kidnapped the daughter of an unknown farmer.
Yet because of that alone, the madman attacked the entire Slaughter Dragon Gang by himself.
He was clearly insane.
But he was also an asura descended into the human world.
Even after being cut by blades, stabbed by throwing knives, and pierced by arrows, he kept smiling.
As if he could not feel pain.
That monster slaughtered every martial artist of the Slaughter Dragon Gang despite his ruined body.
Then he cut off the head of the Slaughter Dragon Gang Leader, Silent Arrow's father and master.
Silent Arrow had only been fifteen.
He had hidden inside a warehouse, forced to watch the monster slaughter his father and uncles.
The monster who single-handedly destroyed the Slaughter Dragon Gang, the third-ranked organization of the Four Black Alliance.
Thousand-Faced Soul-Stealing Ghost Baekro.
Silent Arrow suddenly saw Baekro overlapping with Bi Anso.
His disciple?
Impossible.
Thousand-Faced Soul-Stealing Ghost Baekro and his disciples all died long ago!
Fourteen years earlier, the Martial Alliance gathered the entire strength of the Orthodox martial world and created the Heavenly Net.
Their goal was simple.
Destroy the Three-No Sect.
All Ten Great Masters of the Orthodox martial world had gathered.
Inside that hell, Sect Master Baekro and every one of his disciples had died.
That was accepted as fact throughout the martial world.
Yet Silent Arrow's instincts screamed.
The man before him had inherited Baekro's martial arts.
“Bastard!”
“What is your relationship with Thousand-Faced Soul-Stealing Ghost Baekro?!”
Bang!
Silent Arrow swung his sword forcefully and knocked away the chain-sickle.
Then he charged toward Bi Anso.
For the first time, he closed the distance.
Seven Star Mysterious Sword!
Clang!
Silent Arrow's deeply thrust sword collided with the chain.
A sharp metallic scream rang through the air.
The Seven Star Mysterious Sword was an illusion sword technique.
The path of one thrust changed seven times.
Someone seeing it for the first time would normally have no chance to respond before being killed.
Yet Bi Anso was not struck.
He accurately read the path and trapped the sword in his chain.
“What?!”
“I admit it.”
“Your archery is two levels above mine.”
“But...”
Bi Anso pulled with everything he had and broke Silent Arrow's balance.
Then he drove a fist into the center of the man's face.
“Everything else, I am better.”
Boom!
The fist struck like a siege ram against a castle gate.
Silent Arrow's body rolled backward several times.
“Kugh!”
I used footwork.
I needed to finish him while he was still stunned.
But the moment I tried to charge forward, strength disappeared from my leg and I collapsed.
Damn.
The Divine Art of Painlessness blocked pain.
But my body had finally reached its limit.
“Kukuk.”
“So that is it.”
“You learned some kind of technique that blocks pain?”
“Thousand-Faced Soul-Stealing Ghost Baekro had the same one!”
Damn bastard.
He took that punch and still immediately stood.
“I cannot believe it.”
“To think someone who inherited that monster's martial arts still survives!”
“I have no idea what nonsense you have been saying from the beginning.”
“Stop pretending!”
“Do you think the only survivor of the Slaughter Dragon Gang would fail to recognize the martial arts of the Three-No Sect?!”
The Slaughter Dragon Gang.
Right.
That was an Unorthodox organization Master destroyed twenty-five years ago.
I never expected a survivor to remain.
“The world truly is both large and small.”
“To think a remnant of the Slaughter Dragon Gang would become a servant of a traitor.”
“And I never imagined a survivor of the Three-No Sect would become a dog of the Military Strategy Department!”
What a joke of fate.
Survivors of two assassin organizations destroyed long ago had met again inside the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
“Kukuk.”
“When the Orthodox martial world slaughtered all of you, I could not sleep properly for several nights.”
“I wanted to kill you with my own hands.”
“They stole that chance from me!”
He charged and swung his sword.
Damn.
My body still refused to move properly.
Slice!
The diagonal sword cut across my upper body.
Blood burst outward.
The cloth binding Won Kang to my back was cut too.
Serpent Bites, Phoenix Falls.
Serpent Bites, Phoenix Falls was a technique that wrapped the chain around an opponent's ankle and pulled them down.
The moment I was cut, I threw the chain-sickle.
It wrapped Silent Arrow's ankle.
I pulled with all my remaining strength.
“Kugh!”
He fell and lost his sword.
I could not waste this chance.
I pulled the chain hard and dragged him closer.
Then I brought the sickle down.
“How dare you!”
This annoyingly persistent bastard.
He managed to grab my wrist in that position.
“You allowed yourself to become this injured just to save a child and concubine.”
“You ignored even the basic rule of assassins.”
“Do you think someone like you can defeat me?!”
Damn.
My arm was being pushed back.
Trying to fight strength against strength in this condition was impossible.
“Baekro may have done many things well, but he failed as a teacher!”
“In my entire life, I have never seen an idiot fight with a child on his back!”
Bang!
He kicked me in the torso.
I flew backward.
The Divine Art blocked the pain.
