Dark Mage - Volume 1 - Chapter 1

Prologue.

We are living on the continent Truvania and every domain was made by the Main God Berhazel’s breath touching the world.
God created the continents then the various races were born.  The forest’s tribe Elfs, the outstanding blacksmith’s Dwarves, the revenge’s reincarnation Orcs.  The rest were completely inferior existences which were the various monsters.
Berhazel-nim made each of these races in order and he made the Dragons to be a guard that would mediate between each races.  He blew the strength of life into them.  Moreover he gave them powerful strength so they can control the conflict between each races. This power was called Magic.
After putting in place the world’s system, Berhazel-nim made the last race that was most similar to the god.  He created us, humans.
Berhazel-nim promised to look after each races including the human eternally. As a token, the god directly made a Tablet of Oath for each races to keep.
The races who had this would always receive Berhazel-nim’s blessing.
Each races stored it in the deepest most secret location to cherish it.
This was the most important treasure that would determine the fortunes of each races.  Afterwards the races spread across the Truvania continent to lead their lives.  They all lived with each other in harmony without any killings between them.
The ancient humans’ faith toward Berahazel was very deep.  According to his will, the humans  lived with the similar races. It has been told they lived long and peacefully with each other.  With the permission of the Elf tribe, the dwarves mined the mountain and in return tools that would be used to cultivate was given back.  The Orcs were natural hunters and they provided each race with meat.  There were no arguments between each races and they lived in harmony.  It’s something that can’t even be imagined now.   The period was very long.  But after a long period of peace had passed, seeds of conflicts were growing in each races.  This was a problem that did not happen when the lands were large.  The problem of territory came to be on the rise.  To deal with the rapid rise of the population, each races had no choice but to invade the other race’s territory.  The races who thirsted the most for the territory expansion were the humans and the orcs.  They were the most prosperous and had the most numerous populations. They slowly dug into the other race’s domain.  The evil fight started with acquiring territories as a goal and finally it started spreading all over the continent.

Belhazel-nim’s intentions were a point-blank miss recently. The one who fanned the embers were none other than the humans.  They started the war of conquest and the fire of war were spread to the ends of the continent.  It spread enough that it couldn’t be controlled.  It went on for 50 years…

The war of conquest caused many lives to fall and in the end, it concluded with the human’s victory.  In the end of the same struggle, the humans were able to defeat the Orcs.  They were successful in driving them out to the other side of the Felucia mountain range.  The humans were able to feel unfiltered joy after stealing the massive lands.

But the price was not a ripe fruit as they expected.  This was the sorrowful punishment given to the humans.  The humans went against the decree to live peacefully and the price was they bought the anger of Belhazel-nim.  For going against his wishes, the humans would never be able to extinguish the embers of conflict and it would circulate within.  For causing the territory wars, it was arranged that the humans will face 3 major catastrophes.
The first was the discord between humans. 2nd would be the rise of a Demon King and a war with his army of darkness. However the last calamity that was approaching was something even human ability would have a hard time dealing with.   ‘The beings born to mediate between races’ Dragons’ full intervention would happen.  Oh Humans, you have to realize.  You are insignificant beings.  Then kneel and bow to worship.  This is the only way to calm Belhazel’s anger.

-100 years ago, from the middle of the Great Bishop of the Brotherhood of Belhazel Firinpaulina’s ‘Warning to all the humans’
The sun is gently setting into the field.
My heart is squeezing with a mysterious feeling of loneliness and I attack it with fear to reconcile it.  The surrounding was quiet and watching every-side of the scenery, it was easy to tell it was not peaceful not too long ago.
Watching the scenery spread on the grassland you can summarize it into one phrase.

시산혈해(屍山血海) (TL note: jeez he use really old phrases, it means the field is full of corpses and drenched with blood.)

There were dead bodies in the field with their heads cut off and intestines falling out.  The easily visible intestines had steam coming off of it and you could tell they were alive not too long ago.  They all died with a broken weapon in their hands.  Until the moment they died, they didn’t let go of their weapons and it wasn’t hard to deduce that they weren’t normal beings from the Murim.(Tl note: that’s what they call the land of the martial artist- commonly used in martial arts novel-like wuxia novels in CN)
It was the end of the Song Dynasty, many masters of martial art established countless sects that claimed that their martial arts is the best.  To verify the claim many secret arts were performed and if that wasn’t enough, there were direct confrontation of strength between sects, which were prevalent at this time. The government weren’t able to do anything and they were only able to spectate the confrontation between the sects.  It was an age where the sect’s strength were at its height in the Mu-rim.  If you compare the events from this period, it wasn’t rare to see bodies strewn about.  There were countless power struggle between sects happening all over the land.  Still there was one thing that was strange about the corpse here.  Most of the bodies had a similar mark on them.  Their uniform were of different color but each body had the mark of Asura etched on their chest. They died with swords within each other and from their figures on can tell they struggled with each other.
In the whole Murim, the sect that uses the Asura character is none other the Bae-sect.
They are a strong sect that is shoulder to shoulder with the leading Ma-gyo(TL note: basically evil sect-usually they use underhanded methods like poison or evil techniques) who uses very odd black arts and strangely severe martial arts.
So who would quarrel against the warriors of the Bae sect? The person who could answer that question was starting to reveal his form in the corner of the cruel scene.

Sss.

His form showed up like he had just formed in that place and his entire body was plastered with blood.  He was in his mid-40s and his whole face was scrunched up as if he had received a serious injury.

“W, wrong.  The Chun-ja-hyul-Ma-Gong[천자혈마공(天子血魔功)](TL note: it’s just the name of his technique-Emperor’s Blood-Evil-Art..something like that) is already starting to break.”

His body was seen to be short and small with a freakishly bent to his figure.  He might be a hunchback.  He had a natural air of danger that could only been seen with an absolute figure in charge of one’s sect.

“Uwwek.”(TL note: he threw up.)

He shook his head after he threw up one handful of blood.  The night’s setting sun illuminated the face of the man.  The revealed man’s face was, in one word, hideous.  He had slim eyes that slanted upward like it was being ripped.  He had a bent hawk nose that was ugly to look at. He had an appearance that didn’t match the energy of an absolute being emanating from the man.
But unusually the man had very clear eyes.  He was drenched in blood and he was facing directly toward the setting sun so his form didn’t look like the appearance of a person.  Only his clear eyes could not be hidden.  In a moment, the man’s gaze was starting to burn red.  His rage filled eyes were directed at someone.

“I don’t have time to be here like this.  I have to escape this place before Chun-ja-hyul-ma-gong breaks completely.”

He was about to hurriedly move his body when his steps suddenly stopped to examine one place.  This place had a tragic corpse that had several swords piercing through him.
The corpse can only be described as a bloody mess.  The man’s gaze suddenly turned affectionate.

“Jong-Li-Yung. Even you..”

The dead corpse was none other than the man’s right-hand man.  When everyone turned their back, his right hand man and his underlings gave unchanging loyalty.  Along the edges of the man’s eyes bloody tears started flowing.

“Jong-Li-Yung, and Su-ho-Ma-Wang-Gun(수호마왕군(守護魔王軍) it’s what he called his underling/army).
This, Dok-Go-Sung, will not forget your sacrifices until I die.”

Right then the silence was broken and a bleak sound rang and spread.

“Huhuhu.  I’m sorry, sect leader.  There won’t be any incidents like that.”

With him several dozens of shadows revealed themselves in this place.  Like the man, they appeared like they formed from their places(Tl note: think like ninjas just popping out of the ground/shadow).  They were all burning as one with hostility and they all had the Asura figure etched on their chest. Seeing the air they were permeating, it was clear that they weren’t ordinary figures.  Among them, the leader who was standing in the forefront had curious red eyes. If you learn a certain type of black arts to the extreme then one would develop red pupils.  One of the enemy who had a stubborn expression coldly spat(TL note:  words, not saliva) at the man who still had his back turned.

“The sect leader has reached unparalleled heights using our sect’s black arts.  So the Juk-Mi-Dang had a hard time hiding.  We already know truth that Sect Leader’s Chun-ja-hyul-ma-gong has been broken.  We knew you weren’t going to travel far so we staked out for couple days at this place. My prediction was right.  Looking at the situation, I’m sure the meritorious deed will raise the Juk-mi-dang.”

After the opponent gave a long speech, he glanced at the man to sense his mood.  But the man didn’t react and he was just standing their staring through the dead corpse.  The enemy breathed in once before speaking again.

“Please don’t be stubborn and obediently surrender.  Sect Leader.  If you are caught by the Jung-Pa(TL note: 정파 – it’s the opposite of people who practice Ma-gong, they are the traditional sect- seen as the good guys ) then your final fate would be worse. Already the whole Mu-rim is chasing  after you, there is nowhere for you to hide.  So don’t think about avoiding us.  The Supreme leader thought until his eyes would fall out to try and rescue Sect Leader’s life.  If you are lucky then you might be able to keep your life.”

When he heard the word Supreme leader, the man’s eyes started to fiercely burn.  The Supreme leader that the enemy was talking about was responsible of making him like this.

Bae-sect Supreme Leader Sah-Jun-Hwan!

He was able to raise the Bae-sect that was like a tiger without teeth in 50 years to one of the best in the entire Murim. He is a genius achiever that made it possible for Bae-sect’s shoulders to be aligned with the Ma-gyo.  He was the Sa Family’s Zhuge Liang.(TL note: he is making comparison)  This was the comparison that was spreading for the Supreme Leader Sah-Jun-Hwan.  However the Dok-Go-Sung now considered him a simple traitor.  In an event that he couldn’t have predicted, he was hit in the back of the head by the cheap traitor.  Dok-Go-Sung never doubted his loyalty to Sa-Jun-Hwan until then.  Moreover, he was like a father for him so Dok-Go-Sung felt all the more betrayed. Of course I didn’t think lightly of the favors he bestowed on myself.  However everything was a carefully calculated move.  From the beginning to the end.  Dok-Go-Sung was shaking and he continuously heard the enemy’s bleak voice in his ear.

“There is no time.  Sect Leader.  It’s time for you to make a decision.”

Dok-Go-Sung’s shaking slowly stopped.  He slowly turned his body.  The gaze that almost burned was unleashed on the enemy.

“He refused.  Get ready.”

The enemies didn’t even hesitate to follow the order even after they saw Dok-Go-Sung’s eyes.
Looking at them, even if Dok-Go-Sung surrendered, there was no doubt he wouldn’t have lived.  After the order was given, the dozens of enemy warriors formed a sword formation to approach Dok-Go-Sung.  They were deserved to be called Bae Sect’s Dae-Wae-Chuk-Sal-Jo-Jig-in(TL note: good lord basically it’s an organization within the Bae Sect that does the dirty work/maybe the assassination branch of the Bae sect) Juk-Mi-Dang, their warriors’ body movement was very intricate.  Abnormal weapons that he had never seen were aimed at Dok-Go-Sung.  If it was a normal warrior, they would have disapproved this kind of attacks.  But Dok-Go-Sung was not a normal warrior.  He had led countless warriors over a long period of time into battle.  He had fierce battles against the factions of the Murim-world and for the most part he won.  He was able to decorate the Bae-sect with victories and wasn’t he the figure that helped the sect reach this position?  Because of those reasons, the warriors that were attacking could feel cold-sweat flowing on their whole body.  Even if it was an order, ultimately they didn’t want to match blade with the sect leader Dok-Go-Sung.  Especially the leader of the Jung-Mi-Dan who gave the order felt extremely tense in this situation.  He checked the opponents reaction while sneakily taking out a flare from inside.  To tell you the truth, if the Sect-Leader had in mind to take him and his warriors on then it would be illogical to think that they would win.  He was tempted by the accolade so he only brought underlings that were directly under him.  He set out on his own to have a direct confrontation but it was pretty obvious who will win.  He only wanted one thing!  He hoped that the Dok-Go-Sung would throw away all his hopes and he would be caught meekly.  Sadly looking at the situation that possibility was almost nil.

“My meritorious deed would decrease a lot but I have no choice, it is said to be prepared for any happenstance…”   (TL note: jeez he finds some obscure idioms to use 만사가 불여튼튼이라)

He hurriedly pulled the flare’s line.  Near this place it was filled with Go-su’s(TL note: master martial aritists 고수) that were already looking for the Sect Leader. After the flare explodes, reinforcement would come over like a swarm of bees.  He and his underlings had the ability to stall for time.  The Leader of Juk-Mi-Dang didn’t hesitate anymore and pulled the flare line.

Pushushushu.

A loud noise like something was ripping was accompanied by the flare’s fireball and it flew high into the sky.  But before the sound could even end, simultaneous screams exploded out.

“Kuuahhhhk”

“Ku-uh-uk.”

The eyes that were watching the flares quickly enlargened. The pupils that were swelling with red was suddenly soaked with fear.

The sun had already set and countless torches were lighting up the surrounding.  The look of corpses spread everywhere was the same but the only difference was that the number of corpses had increased by a lot.  Among them, the Juk-Mi-Dang-Ju was there too. Until recently he had a smile of satisfaction, but now he was a corpse lying on the cold earth.  His chest was caved in and his eyes were wide-open like he couldn’t believe what happened.

“Were we too late?”

In the middle of the torches, suddenly a heartless sound burst forward.  The owner of the sound was a middle-aged man with a very pure appearance.  The school uniform he had over his body was very natural.(TL note: 학창의(鶴?衣)가-it’s what old scholars in korea used to wear)  In one phrase, you could say he had an elegant look that could be called 선풍도골(TL note: has divine poise and sage like figure – Sun-Poong-Do-gol if you sound it out or 仙風道骨).  He looked at the enemies’ corpses with sharp eyes.  Every one of them had bled out a thick lacquer
and the corpse collapsed while drawing a concentric circle.(TL note: if you fell down on dirt straight and if you bring in your leg/arm toward you body you’ll draw a circle.)  Several people from the conference observed the bodies and started reporting.

“Everyone died with one hit.  By seeing the state of how they died from Dok-Go-Sung is using his inner energy.”

After hearing those words, the middle-aged man started shaking his head with a bitter smile on his face.

“He killed one of our sect’s elite troops, Jung-Mi-Dang. He killed them all before we had the time to return and fled…
His will to live is that strong?”

“Don’t we have to hurry and track him?”
From behind his back, he heart a heavy voice.  The middle-aged man shook his head to say no.

“We don’t need to.  That bastard is already like a rat that has been poisoned.  In this place, it’s not only us but the Jung-pa(TL note: normal sects-it’s a general term) people are spread out to perform the Chun-La-Ji-Mang(TL note: some kind of martial technique. if you break it down it means heaven-water-earth-net).  They want to catch the person who has been officially registered as a Ma-Du. (TL note:마두(魔頭)-horse headed demon)  There is no place for him to hide in this world.”
The person who spoke had a lot of beard on his face and he reminded every one of Zhang-Fei(TL note: see Romance of the Three Kingdoms). He was a middle age man with dirt-like face(TL note: I’m guessing his skin color is earthy) and he took in the words as he lowered his head.

“Of course.  However this layman is still a bit confused. How come the Jung-pa(TL note: it’s a general term indicating both Moon-Pa and Sa-Pa, they are polar opposite with moon-pa people require you do things the right way, Sa-Pa is the opposite-you can use any method/cheat/forbidden technique etc.) people who were fighting until blood flies, be united?  Also they are tracking down a person who was a Sect Leader until yesterday.”

The middle-age-man smiled.

“Everyone in the Mu-rim is an enemy, there are no comrades.  Yesterday you might be enemies but today you can be allies. What we need right now is stability.  After driving out the thorn in the side, Dok-Go-Sung, even if they don’t like it they have to hold hands with the Jung-Pa people to keep the Ma-gyo in check.”

From the eyes of the middle-aged man a strange light started flowing out.
To take the supreme seat of the Bae-sect, he had persevered for couple decades. The effort is about to bear fruit this moment.  His name was Sa-Jun-Hwan.  He was known and admitted to be  Murim’s best strategist. He was an influential figure of the Bae-sect and he was the being behind in the darkness conducting every events.  With this act, he had revealed his long hidden ambition.

“No  need to hurry.  If you prematurely act then you can lose your nose in cooked rice…”(TL note: another idiom…basically don’t be careless until the end)

Sa-Jun-Han looked around his surrounding shadows with a careful gaze.  These figures were all important in bringing along the Bae-sect.  They were all going to be like a right-hand man to him.  Therefore Sa-Jun-Han could say everything that was in his bosom. He secretly put up a strong-ki screen so no one could hear his word then he spoke carefully.

“In not too distant future our world will start.  I’ll use Dok-Go-Sung as a trigger to subjugate the Ma-gyo(TL note: kind of like devil sect) and the Gu-dae-moon-pa(TL note: its 9 sects rolled into one).  Bae-sect’s strongest force has already returned to me so there won’t be any problems.  Now until the end of your lives, we will live in wealth and honor.”

The underlings killed the noise and cheered at Sa-ju-hwan’s guarantee.  They had suffered with the Supreme leader.  Now the reward was right in front of their eyes.

“The experts(Go-su) are spread widely and searching so his location should be revealed soon.
But…”

Sa-Jun-Hwan was  speaking when he suddenly had a perplexed expression.

“Did you find anything about the people he disposed?”

The brown-faced middle-age man came forward to give a report.

“Nothing has been known yet.  We just know that he has colored eyes and he is wearing colors that aren’t easily seen.  Among those who found him, 2 died immediately and the last one barely had any breath left.  No words got through to him.  Since the situation was inconclusive, we killed him to silence him.”

Sa-Jun-Han lightly knitted his brows.

“Their Un-shin-Sul(TL note:another technique-used to hide yourself) was not normal. They were able to hide their presence…
If I hadn’t heard their breathing then we would have never found them.
I wonder where they are from?  Saek-mok-in or maybe the head of the Potala palace sent them?

Sa-Jun-hwan had no time to think.  From across, accompanied by a ripping sound, a flare flew into the sky.  It was fairly removed from this place.

“They found him. Let’s go!”

Before Sa-Jun-Hwan’s words finished, the shadows disappeared from their places. Looking at their Advanced Ascending technique, one could tell every one of them were Peak level experts.  Their movement was so fast that the last words of Sa-Jun-Hwan was like a lingering imagery that was left behind.

“We have to kill the Sect Leader before the Jung-Pa people can capture him. Hurry.”

After they left there was again a sense of desolation.  The only thing left were a clutter of dead corpses.

But after they left, more conversations could be heard in the vicinity.  He was speaking carefully with a low voice but the sound that was spread was not in the Joong-one’s language.(TL:Joong-one is the place they are currently in)  It was a new language that no one has ever used.  Surprisingly the sound spread from mid-air.

“Ha! That’s really surprising. Using magic you were able to hide our figures and sense quickly.”

“Looking at the situation, I think being careful is warranted.  Already several magicians have been found and lost their lives.  I believe that they have superhuman ability to sense a person’s trace.  They were able to find magicians who used Invisiblity easily.  If we didn’t spread the Hide Mana Force then we wouldn’t have been safe either.”

“We have no choice. If we want to solve the danger our homeland faces then some sacrifices are necessary.  Thanks to that we were able to find out that the warriors from this place has superior sword-skills then the homeland?  It’s been merely one day since we came here.  However haven’t we seen several people of Master-level? We saw the not easily seen Sword masters.”

The voice ringing in the air started soaking in a certain emotion.

“If we want to protect our continent from the dragon’s evil influence then we have to invite this place’s strongest sword master.  He would have to be equal to Arkadia’s Crossen Archduke, nay he would have to exceed him in skills.”

“It won’t be easy.  The sword masters here are very cruel and hostile.  You can understand this by seeing all the Magicians that were killed when they approached for conversation.  Even a conversation would be hard to initiate.”

“Even if it is impossible, we have to do it.  It is for future of our Homeland..”

After saying those resolute words, several shadows started appearing.  They were wearing unique colors that were not worn here.  They unexpectedly were blue-eyed people.
Their body was wrapped around by a robe with bandanas attached.  They started looking around the surrounding.  They were trying to prevent any ambush that might happen.  The surrounding only held dead bodies and they couldn’t feel any life force.  After they confirmed that there were no danger, a low voice came from a lone mouth.  He had a long white beard and the old man seemed to be the group’s leader.  Strangely he had a priestly robe with a flame etched into it.

“Please hurry.  Please memorize Invisibility and Hide Mana Force again so we won’t be found again.”

At those words, the blue-eyed middle aged man opened his mouth in shock.  From the sound, he was the one who was conversing with the old man.  Looking at his robe, he looked like a magician.

“T..Then perhaps we are going to infiltrate where they are fighting?”

“Yes.  No matter the danger we have to win over a sword master and take him.”

“B..But that is too dangerous.  Already the mana that was stored in the dragon heart has been almost depleted.  It would be suicide to approach these people who have an amazing sensing ability.”

The old man’s face darkened quickly.  Since the early days, it has been established that magicians are inferior to an experienced sword master.  If a magician who takes time to cast is trying to subdue an experienced sword master then several magicians have to work together. They would have to be sufficiently far in distance or it would be impossible.  However if the opponent exceeded the Master level the possibility becomes very bleak.  There was a high probability that their neck would be severed before the magic was realized.  Still they were running out of options.  They used a dragon heart’s mana to come to this place but it was almost depleted.  The had to devise any plan.

“We can’t return like this.  Think about the dire situation each of your homeland is in.  Let’s all use our strength.”

The magicians’ face became extremely gloomy after hearing the old man’s words.  They knew the situation well.  Their countries were at risk.  Eventually they started hurriedly memorizing the magic.  If a little of their life force was revealed then it was instant death.  So they were very careful in their casting.
The middle-aged man finished memorizing the fastest since his skill was the best then he moved next to the old man. The old man also finished memorizing and they were waiting for the others to finish.  He was a priest using holy magic so his memorize was faster than an experienced magician.  Before hesitating a bit, the middle aged man carefully opened his mouth.

“So have you picked the person we are taking?”

The old man nodded with a dark complexion.

“I haven’t thought about how to take him but I did search for a person.  I think he wouldn’t lose to Crosser in terms of skills.”

The middle-aged man had an idea who it was so he shook his head in assent.
As they were conversing, the other magicians started finishing their memorize and started opening their eyes.

“Ooahahahk.”

It was a gruesome scream as if his lung was penetrated. From the back someone threw up their life blood. Ironically the person who spat out the life blood was someone who hadn’t said farewell to this world.

“Kul-luk. We have no time.”

With a heavy groan, Dok-Go-Sung was barely able to stand.  From the conference member’s heart, he plucked out his Ho-jo.(TL note: tiger paw)  It was a glove made out of steel with long nails.  It was an abnormal weapon, Ho-jo.  But Ho-ju was in a rugged bloody fight until now and at the end, one couldn’t even recognize the shape because it was dulled. Looking at the weapon that was forged from Han-chul(TL note: special steel seen these kind of novel) and looking at its state, you can tell how hard of a road he had to break through.
Dok-Go-Sung’s gaze looked over the dead association members’ corpse.  Once they would have jumped into a ball of flame with gunpowder if he so ordered.  But now they didn’t hesitate to point their knives at me.  Watching this he could tell that the Supreme leader’s shadow was deeply stained into the Bae-sect.

“Scary bastard.”

Dok-Go-Sung forcefully pulled his heavy body and started to escape from the place.

“That, the Chun-Ja-Hyul-Ma-Gon was broken then he wouldn’t be able to struggle this much.”

Chun-Ja-Hyul-Ma-Gong.   It was the strongest martial art that put Dok-Go-Sung in the ranks of the peak experts but also it was a cursed devils art that had driven him to this state.  He used all his energy to move his body while grinding his teeth.
“I’m going to tear him to death! He sweet talked me into learning the Chun-Ja-Hyul-Ma-Gong and now he spread that fact I learned it to drive me in this state.”

Letting out my anger to empty air is not going to lessen my anger.  He really trusted the supreme leader with all his heart.  After managing a great war, I entered the Bae-sect boldly with my underlings. In the festival to celebrate the victory, I was attacked by the trusted Supreme leader and I obtained a critical injury.  It was a major injury that was enough to crush my lower abdomen. His wretched escape started from then.  He was able to escape after experiencing indescribable hardship but the Chun-ja-hyul-ma-gon had already started to break after the assassination attempt.  Even his surviving underlings were all killed while they were eating their breakfast.  Thinking about them, blood tear drops started falling from his eyes.  Because they were subordinates, they were always in front of the battle field.  They would look out for each other’s lives since they were great friends and combat-in-arms.

“Sa-Jun-Hwan you bastard.  I will never forgive you.”

Dok-Go-Sung was moving his body through the grass and he was gritting his teeth with enough force that it might break. Then some different kind of feeling went past his spine.  It was a familiar feeling.  It was killing-intent.[살기(殺氣)(TL note: sal-gi)]
Dok-Go-Sung put his hand out while in a running position.

Crunch.

Several hidden weapon were grabbed by Ho-Jo and it was crushed.  Dok-Go-Sung just jumped in and stirred the Ho-Jo.

Puh-puh-puk.

Both virginal blood and pieces of meat dispersed. The blade of Ho-Jo had been dulled so instead of cutting it would just  tear out the flesh.  Several human shadows twisted in place.  They were experts that went through harsh training and they wouldn’t scream out even at the moment of their death.  Since the assassination attempt was blown, the experts that were staking out showed themselves and attacked.  Since they had skull masks on, they were probably experts from Chong-Dan San Ha’s Um-myung-dang.

“Huk.”

The two expert from Um-myung-dan died from their chest being punctured by Dok-Go-Sung’s Hojo. Then from behind a shadow that was hiding revealed himself.  The way he was hiding his body, he was probably getting ready to assassinate me.  He swung a long sickle toward Dok-Go-Sung’s chest.  He saw a bluish energy infused into the sickle and he could tell it was poisonous.  He put his inner strength into the Ho-Jo.  His inner strength had almost bottomed out so he was in a situation where he couldn’t continuously bring up strong energy.  Therefore Dok-Go-Sung would only bring up his strong ki when he had no choice.

Chang.

Dok-Go-Sung growled after blocking the attack.

“I can see you are Um-myung-dang’s leader Gwak-seh-gi.  Even you are Sa-Jun-Hwan’s underling?

The shadow who clashed the sickle with Hojo gave out a dark laugh.

“HuHuHu. That’s right.  Sect Leader.  You were able to escape to this place. No wonder you are called Bae-Sect’s top expert.  However don’t dream about getting out of here alive.  Soon the Supreme leader will head the present masters and run here.”

Dok-Go-Sung didn’t say anything.  He just swung the Hojo around to attack the sickle.
Following that he fought a desperate battle with the Um-myung-dang’s experts.  Even the best of the elite experts of Um-myung-dang fell short of stopping Dok-Go-Sung.  He pushed back the sickle overwhelmingly and he killed the expert of the Un-myung-dang one by one.  Since the whole Mu-rim was united to hunt me down, I had not time to lose.
He used all his strength so the battle didn’t take that long.

“Ku-ah-ah-ak.”

The leader of Um-myung-dang Gwak-seh-gi had half of his face fly off and you could hear his gruesome screams.  No matter how much you train, you can’t resist the pain of healthy flesh being torn out.  He was stumbling back when he fell in place.  In exchange, Dok-Go-Sung had a deep knife wound on his left arm.  It was because his inner strength wasn’t being smoothly connected. The blood was flowing freely but he had no thought to staunch the flow.  He only  contorted his face.

“Pathetic.  You were injured by someone-like Gwak-sae-gi…”

Dok-Go-Sung was shaking his head when suddenly he let his body fly.  Already all the expert from Um-myung-dang had become a cold corpse under the hands of Dok-Go-Sung.  However before they died they were able to light a flare so he had to leave this place as fast as he could.  Then not long after the place was filled with many shadows that showed their figures.

“Did Um-myung-dang get annhiliated?”

Sah Jun Hwan had a bitter smile after watching the Um-myung-dang experts’ corpse littered everywhere.

“They say an old eagle is better than a young crow.  The damage is pretty significant.”

For the secret observance, Sa-Jun-Hwan inserted his trusted underlings before the hunt.  He wasn’t grieving too much over thei loss though.  Despite his assassination attempt to destroy him, the ability of Dok-Go-Sung had exceeded his imagination.  Even if he had the help of Su-ho-ma-wang-gun, at this level you could say he has exceeded human boundaries and you have to see him as a superhuman.  Sa-jun-hwan took deep breaths to calm his heart.

‘No need to be in a hurry.  His lower abdomen is about half destroyed.  When the Chun-ja-hyul-ma-gon collapses, he won’t be able to resist.  Moreover, the Jung-pa and Ma-gyo bastards are tracking Dok-Go-Sung so I don’t really have to lose my underlings.  Especially the person called Young-Ho-myung?’

Sa-jun-hwan thought about the young Jung-pa expert that was part of tracking down Dok-Go-Sung.  He was in charge of the North Mu-rim’s famous Chul-gum-moon and as a young family head he was able to form sword energy.  He was at a stage where he was the best expert among the later generation.
In the suppression operation of trying to cut off the hands and foot of Dok-Go-Sung , he achieved brilliant results in combat.
He especially had a gaze dripping with poisonous heart and he butchered the Dok-Go-Sung’s underlings.  Watching his acromonious figure, it was hard to believe that he was the disciple of the Jung-pa.  Thinking about Young-ho-Myung, Sa-jun-hwan smiled a bloody smile.

‘I guess I don’t blame him.  What kind of expression would he have if he found out all these plans came out of my head?’

Unlike Dok-Go-Sung, Sa-jun-hwan’s reputation from outside is not that bad.  He was seen as a fair and loyal figure even amongst the Jung-pa. Although Sa-jun-hwan is considered to be a prominent disciple.  This was because he devoted himself to maintain his reputation.  It was something arranged ahead of time so it was easier for us Bae-sect to gain control.

“Put a carrier pigeon in the air so we can inform the Jung-pa and Ma-gyo where he ran off to.  No need to needlessly spill blood. ”

“All right, sir.”