Chapter 96: A Bizarre Phenomenon
I quietly stared at Gu Mun with my sword in hand.
He wore a blank expression.
It was the face of someone who desperately wanted to believe that what he'd just seen was only a dream.
Gu Hyeon's body lay sprawled on the floor.
His headless corpse twitched a few times before finally going still.
“H-Haa....”
Gu Mun sucked in a sharp breath.
Then, when reality finally sank in...
he let out something close to a scream.
“Han Mujin...! H-How are you here?!”
I looked at him without expression.
Just as I expected.
After finishing our conversation with Qin Yueshu earlier today, I left the Myeong Family Merchant Group together with the others from Kunlun.
Or rather...
we pretended to leave.
We brought out the carriage.
Loaded our luggage.
Said our farewells to the guards at the merchant group's gate.
We deliberately made a show of leaving so word would spread that the Kunlun group had departed.
I was certain that once Gu Mun saw that...
he would make a move.
He prepared a decoction containing the Soul-Dissolving Pill the moment the Merchant Group Head woke up.
His actions had been far too rushed.
Even with outsiders like us around...
he had tried to force Myeong Chiwon back into an unconscious state.
It was as if he were moving under someone's orders.
I glanced toward Myeong Munhyeok lying unconscious on the floor.
Fortunately, Gu Mun moved exactly as I thought he would.
Gu Mun was infamous as a master of disguise...
but he was even more notorious for his cruelty.
He had a twisted habit of taking pleasure in kidnapping people and cutting off fingers or toes.
And he was especially known for doing such things to the families of those who defied him.
I knew that well.
That was why I'd told Qin Yueshu to deliberately provoke him.
And this was the result.
The Kunlun group was supposedly gone.
Gu Mun's vigilance had dropped.
And true to his nature...
he acted on his impulses.
And I followed that idiot here with Void Night Shadow Step.
I approached Myeong Munhyeok.
He remained unconscious, breathing faintly.
And from his body...
I could smell the same residual scent I'd sensed from Myeong Chiwon.
The scent of the Soul-Dissolving Pill.
“As expected....”
There was no doubt anymore.
The Shadow Corps was definitely behind Gu Mun.
But...
Why are there only these two?
I had followed Gu Mun here while maintaining Void Night Shadow Step.
Even after reaching this place...
I carefully checked the surroundings.
I spread my senses as wide as possible.
Yet I felt no other presence nearby.
There had only been two people.
Gu Mun.
And Gu Hyeon, whose head I'd just cut off.
...That made me even more uneasy.
I looked at Gu Mun again.
He had drawn his sword and was staring at me.
But I felt no real threat from him.
The hand gripping his sword was trembling.
He couldn't bring himself to attack.
Gu Mun instinctively understood it too.
The difference between us.
He was infamous for his cruel schemes and disguise techniques.
Not for overwhelming martial arts.
Gu Mun's martial arts should be second-rate.
At best, barely at the entrance to first-rate.
As for me...
I had trained the Flowing Flower Kunlun Sword left behind by True Immortal Cheongun.
Flow had been engraved into me as well.
And I had mastered Great Void Golden Body Tempering.
Even by my own estimate...
I'd already gone far beyond the ordinary first-rate realm.
At the very least, I've already stepped onto the threshold of the peak realm.
Gu Mun was a filthy coward who harmed people from the shadows.
Did a bastard like that really have the guts to fight me head-on?
Even if he pointed his sword at me right now...
it wouldn't matter.
Subduing him would be child's play.
And there was no way Gu Mun didn't know that.
I had reached the finals of the Dragon-Phoenix Awakening Tournament.
He knew perfectly well that I was stronger than him.
That was why...
even after watching his own younger brother lose his head to my sword...
all he could do was stand frozen with his weapon in hand.
I took one step toward him.
“Face-Stealing Hand Gu Mun.”
The moment I spoke his name...
his expression twisted even further.
“...How... how do you know this old man's identity...?”
I cut him off.
“Enough pointless chatter.”
I lifted my sword slightly.
“What are you going to do?”
“Kneel quietly?”
“Or make one last useless struggle?”
Gu Mun's lips trembled.
“Y-You dare threaten this old man...?”
“Threaten?”
I let out a short laugh.
“A criminal bastard like you is really going to stand there spouting nonsense?”
Gu Mun flinched.
I continued immediately.
“First, I should tear out that filthy tongue of yours.”
Then I paused.
“Actually, no.”
I smiled faintly.
“You'll need your tongue to confess your crimes in front of everyone.”
I pointed my sword toward him.
“So I'll start with your fingers.”
“Maybe then you'll learn how to answer properly.”
"..."
Gu Mun's mouth moved...
but no words came out.
“Nothing else to say?”
I shifted my stance.
“Then I'll come to you.”
The moment I moved...
Gu Mun drove force into his feet.
“Kugh...!”
He activated his movement technique and fled backward.
I called after him.
“You'd be better off letting me catch you.”
Gu Mun shouted through gritted teeth,
“I'll make you pay for this!”
I muttered quietly,
“You're really going to regret that....”
A moment later...
just as Gu Mun's figure was about to disappear into the darkness of the night...
a mountain-like figure appeared directly in front of him.
“Heh.”
The giant under the moonlight grinned at Gu Mun.
“And where exactly do you think you're running, you little rat?”
Jin Gwangung.
“H-Hik!”
Gu Mun recoiled in horror and tried to change direction.
Then Jin Gwangung roared.
“You damned bastard!”
“You dare try to run in front of this old man?!”
His fist flashed.
BANG!
The air exploded.
