People often thought that assassins move alone.
But that was a misconception.
An assassin had to go through a lot of steps in carrying out assassinations.
First of all, there should be a person who receives the request, and another person who can collect the information. There should also be someone who can carve out assassins’ infiltration method and another person to figure out the escape routes.
A minimum of four personnel were required for one assassination.
That was just the case for the minimum.
On average, more than a dozen personnel actually have to move organically and assist in executing a single assassination. Because of that, assassin groups like the Blood Phantom Group have been able to prosper until now.
For nearly two hundred years, Jianghu has been involved in great wars such as the Battle of Blood and the War of the Demons and Heaven. Assassin groups such as the Blood Phantom Group expanded their power by taking advantage of such chaos.
After the two battles, the assassin group became more and more professional and systematic.
If the Blood Phantom Group had been fine, Pyo-wol would have been able to receive systematic support. However, Pyo-wol did not think that the Blood Phantom Group would be okay.
The client was meticulous and cruel. There was no way for them to feel any remorse.
Pyo-wol had to do both assassination and escape by himself.
Even with his injured body.
The escape route Pyo-wol chose was the Min River (岷江 Minjiang).
The Min River was a huge river flowing behind Mt. Qingcheng and passed through the Sichuan Basin. The richness of the Sichuan Basin was due to sediments brought from upstream by four great rivers, including the Min River.
Four rivers, hence the name Sichuan. The four rivers were connected through numerous tributaries and connected the entire Sichuan province like a spider’s web.
That was why Pyo-wol chose Min-gang as his escape route.
Similarly, the martial artists of the Qingcheng sect knew this, so they built a security network on the escape route leading to the Min River.
“There!”
The warriors who discovered Pyo-wol attacked.
Pyo-wol chose to avoid them rather than confront them head-on. Pyo-wol made a big detour and ran towards the Min River.
A field of reeds could be seen in the distance.
Once he hides himself in the reed fields and enters the Min River, the pursuers will not be able to find him easily.
“Okay—.”
But before Pyo-wol could even enter the reed field, a large axe flew.
Bang!
A crater the size of an adult’s torso exploded in the place where Pyo-wol had just been. If Pyo-wol had been a little late to avoid it, he would have been smashed like fish meat.
Blood Dragon Blade Lighting (血龍强夫).
He was a master who had no opponent if he only had an axe.
As soon as he heard that Gunsang was assassinated by an assassin, he ran to this place with his axe.
When he found Pyo-wol, he swung his axe with all his might.
“How dare an assassin dare to kill Qingcheng’s Woo Gunsang! I will punish you by offering your corpse as a sacrifice on the altar of the Qingcheng sect!”
He was genuinely angry.
Although he had no relationship with Woo Gunsang, the fact that the young disciple who carried the future of the sect had his life ended in vain because an assassin, made him angry.
It wasn’t just that.
Most of the warriors who supported the Qingcheng’s call and formed the inescapable net had similar feelings.
Hong Hong!
A huge axe flew with a vicious momentum.
Pyo-wol did not dare to face the axe and fled. Then, this time, something invisible flew aiming for Pyo-wol’s blood.
Pyo-wol almost instinctively bowed his head. Then something invisible ran through his hair and back.
A handful of hair was cut off, and the hem of his clothes was torn, revealing his bare skin.
‘Fishing line?’
It was a fishing line that was so fine that it was indistinguishable by the naked eye that attacked Pyo-wol.
The owner of the fishing line was an old man in his sixties dressed as a fisherman.
The old man’s true identity was So Tae-myung, the Min River’s Fish (眠江漁翁).
So Tae-myung’s weapon was a fishing rod called a Dragon Pole [용간조(龍竿操)]. The fishing rod itself was ordinary, but the fishing rod was made of a material called Cheonjamsa (silk thread).1
The Cheonjamsa was so thin that it was almost invisible to the naked eye, and its sharpness was comparable to that of a famous sword.
Jo Pyeong-gwang and So Tae-myung were old friends.
One attacked from a close range with an axe, and the other attacked from a distance using a fishing rod.
Their collaboration was truly perfect.
Pyo-wol realized that he couldn’t get to the Min River until he defeated them.
Pyo-wol ran towards So Tae-myung.
“Heh! This will be easy. Someone who’s an assassin baboon…”
Whir-lik!
So Tae-myung snorted and recovered the dragon pole. Then the fishing line returned and aimed at Pyo-wol’s back.
The hooks on the fishing line were so sharp that once caught, it was impossible to get out.
Pyo-wol knew that too.
Still, he ran away without blinking an eye.
Both the number of years of learning martial arts and the level of skill was quite different. Still, the reason Pyo-wol rushed to the front was because he had an intuition that the opportunity would not come if he didn’t go for it now.
Pyo-wol’s nerves were at a standstill.
As his sight, smell, and hearing expanded beyond my limits, he felt the trembling of the air.
The movement of the fishing line sharply piercing the air was vividly pictured in my mind.
Pyo-wol stretched out his hand.
The fishing line was caught on his thumb and index finger.
Bang!
“You fool!”
At that moment, So Tae-myung pulled the fishing rod with all his might.
His fishing line was made of silk yarn. By injecting the internal energy, it can become sharper than any other famous swords.
Human skin could also be cut in half like a fish body.
So Tae-myung had no doubts that he could cut off Pyo-wol’s hand. However, the thumb and index finger of Pyo-wol, who grabbed the fishing line, were still intact.
“What?”
So Tae-myung opened his eyes wide in surprise.
The unthinkable happened to him.
Pyo-wol’s internal strength could hardly keep up with the depth of So Tae-myung. Moreover, the piece called Cheonjamsa was added, so his finger should have been cut off.
Nevertheless, his fingers remained intact because he concentrated all of his internal strength on the two fingers holding the Cheonjamsa.
In other words, it was a matter of efficiency.
While the depth and vastness of the action did not need much internal energy, the delicateness needed for the operation was different.
Pyo-wol possessed a more sensitive sense than anyone else.
As he struggled to survive in the dark, his senses expanded. Such expanded senses were so sensitive that the average person could not even imagine.
When So Tae-myung pulled the fishing rod, he came closer, and when he swung it, he followed him like a scarecrow.
Pyo-wol was like a ghost hanging from a fishing line.
He had killed a lot of warriors with the dragon pole so far, but this was the first time this has happened.
“Bastard!”
Jo Pyeong-gwang suddenly attacked Pyo-wol’s waist with an axe. At that moment, Pyo-wol let go of the fishing line he was holding in his hand and jumped forward.
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