Chapter 59
Using It in Secret (2)
Silence descended over the room as every strategist turned to look at Baek So-cheon.
Everyone could tell that the enemy’s true objective was his life.
Surprisingly, Baek So-cheon remained calm.
“I will go.”
“You cannot! There is no chance they summoned you with good intentions!”
“Of course not. But we cannot allow the hostages to be sacrificed, can we?”
“We should send the Secret Pavilion or the Iron Sword Corps to carry out a hostage rescue operation.”
“If they specifically demanded me, they must already have anticipated that much.”
“Captain Baek! These are masters capable of subduing the Sa-yeong Sect Leader.”
Although the Sa-yeong Sect Leader was not among the greatest masters in the world, he was still a Peak-Realm expert.
“Please do not worry too much. Do you truly think I would fall to cowards who take hostages and use them to threaten others?”
Baek So-cheon was not worried in the slightest.
Now that he had recovered his internal energy, there was no situation he needed to fear.
The real problem lay elsewhere.
He had to fight without revealing that his internal energy had returned.
This was a time when finesse and careful tactics were absolutely necessary.
Zhuge Hyeon ultimately had no choice but to let Baek So-cheon go.
With hostages involved, they could not refuse to send him and simply allow the Sa-yeong Sect Leader and his family to die.
“You do not need to comply with every unreasonable demand they make. Judge the situation for yourself.”
“Understood.”
“Be careful. I will support you from behind however I can. Ah, wait a moment.”
Zhuge Hyeon instructed Sa-ma Iljung to retrieve something from his office.
What he brought back was the Dragon Scale Armor, a protective vest thin enough to be worn beneath ordinary clothing.
It was a treasured protective garment that the Alliance Leader had given Zhuge Hyeon during the war. Even blades could not damage it.
Despite being extremely thin, it was flexible and did not hinder movement.
“Wear this.”
“I will be fine without it.”
“If you refuse this as well, I will not allow you to go.”
“Thank you.”
Baek So-cheon put on the Dragon Scale Armor in front of Zhuge Hyeon.
If he ended up eliminating the attackers, the armor would help conceal his true strength.
Everyone would assume that he had survived the crisis thanks to the Dragon Scale Armor.
After leaving the Strategic Command Center, Baek So-cheon immediately mounted a horse and departed from the Alliance headquarters.
***
Baek So-cheon arrived at the Sa-yeong Sect half an hour before midnight.
The Fourth Squad of the Iron Cavalry Corps had arrived ahead of him and was already controlling the area.
The squad commander came forward to greet him.
“I am Ju Deok-yang, commander of the Fourth Squad of the Iron Cavalry Corps.”
He wore the Iron Cavalry Corps’ distinctive armor and carried a long spear.
The horses tethered nearby were armored as well.
The armor was sturdy and durable, yet remarkably lightweight—a unique design used only by the Iron Cavalry Corps.
As masters of horsemanship and spear techniques, the Iron Cavalry Corps displayed its greatest power in open terrain.
That did not mean they were effective only while mounted.
Naturally, they were somewhat less powerful on foot than when charging with spears from horseback, but their dismounted combat abilities were still well above average.
“I am Baek So-cheon, Captain of the Hyeoncheon Unit. What is the situation?”
“We have not confirmed their exact number, but there do not seem to be many. We estimate three or four. They are wearing masks, so we have been unable to identify them.”
“Any casualties?”
“Fortunately, there do not appear to be any yet.”
In other words, Baek So-cheon truly was their target.
They knew that the more hostages they killed, the more likely the Murim Alliance was to launch a forceful rescue operation.
Ultimately, that meant they had not caused this commotion merely because they were bored and wanted to see the face of a fallen hero.
“I will go inside.”
Ju Deok-yang knew that Baek So-cheon had lost his internal energy.
Even if Baek So-cheon could still display considerable skill without it, this was a hostage situation.
“Will you be all right?”
“Yes. Leave it to me.”
Baek So-cheon showed no trace of unease.
Ju Deok-yang nodded.
“Understood. Please be careful. If you sense danger, shout. We will enter immediately.”
“I will.”
Baek So-cheon walked toward the main gate.
The warriors of the Iron Cavalry Corps watched him with concern.
They, too, knew of Baek So-cheon.
Some among them even owed him their lives.
Knock, knock.
After pounding on the gate, Baek So-cheon called out loudly,
“I am Baek So-cheon, the man you demanded.”
A moment later, the gate opened.
Creeeak.
A masked man’s cold eyes appeared through the opening.
“Your weapons?”
“I have none.”
Baek So-cheon had left the Phantom Shadow Sword behind.
In a hostage situation, they would inevitably confiscate his sword anyway.
“I will search you.”
“Go ahead.”
The masked man searched Baek So-cheon’s body.
Baek So-cheon had not even brought a single dagger.
“Come inside.”
Baek So-cheon entered, and the gate closed behind him.
The courtyard was empty.
The masked man led him to a guest hall in a detached building within the Sa-yeong Sect compound.
All the hostages had been gathered there.
The Sa-yeong Sect Leader, Gwak Jin-bong, along with his family and sect warriors, had all been restrained after their acupoints were sealed.
The ordinary warriors had both their paralysis and sleep acupoints sealed and were unconscious.
Only three remained awake.
Gwak Jin-bong, his wife, and their son, who appeared to be around thirteen or fourteen years old.
Unexpectedly, there were very few masked men.
Only three.
One stood beside the hostages with a sword.
Another, the one who had brought Baek So-cheon inside, was now keeping watch outside.
The apparent leader sat in the seat of honor at the rear of the guest hall, reclining in a grand armchair.
“Baek So-cheon.”
His low voice echoed through the hall.
Baek So-cheon had never heard it before.
Judging from his voice and eyes, the man appeared to be in his fifties.
The aura he gave off marked him as a Peak-Realm expert.
All three masked men were Peak-Realm masters.
“So the hero of the murim who once made even the masters of the Cheokcheon Alliance tremble has finally arrived.”
From that single mocking remark, Baek So-cheon could infer one fact.
The man did not belong to the Cheokcheon Alliance.
Had he belonged to them, he would have said “the masters of our Alliance.”
“Do you know me?”
“Of course. Though you do not know me.”
“Who are you?”
“If I told you, I would have to kill every one of those people.”
Baek So-cheon glanced toward the Sa-yeong Sect Leader and his family.
They stared back at him with terrified expressions.
“If only you die, everyone else can live.”
That was unlikely.
They would still need the hostages to escape afterward.
Even once they reached safety, would they truly let the hostages live?
“I do not recall having any grudge against you.”
“Since when did people in the martial world need a grudge before killing each other?”
“True enough.”
“More importantly, are you a fool? Or do you still believe yourself to be some great hero of the murim? You entered even though you knew you would die?”
“It has been too long. I have been almost completely forgotten over the past three years. I was pleased that someone went to all this trouble to summon me.”
Baek So-cheon’s relaxed demeanor caused a vague unease to rise within the masked leader.
But he quickly dismissed it.
Even if his opponent was Baek So-cheon, they were not so weak that they would lose to a man without internal energy.
“Call the third one inside.”
The masked man beside the hostages whistled.
The man keeping watch outside entered.
“Let us finish this.”
“Yes.”
The last masked man drew his sword and approached Baek So-cheon.
The other placed his sword against the child’s neck.
“Resist, and this child dies.”
Gwak Jin-bong and his wife cried out.
“No!”
“Please spare him! Kill me instead!”
Baek So-cheon looked toward the masked leader seated in the grand armchair.
“Before I die, there is one thing I wish to know.”
The masked leader raised a hand, stopping the others.
“What is it?”
He was visibly excited at the thought of killing Baek So-cheon.
He would likely spend the rest of his life fighting the urge to boast about it.
After all, this would be an event remembered by history.
“Who hired you?”
“I do not know. I was promised three hundred thousand nyang to kill you.”
“Why go to all this trouble? Why not simply infiltrate my home and kill me there?”
“I heard that even without internal energy, you defeated an Iron Sword Corps captain in a single strike.”
“Did your employer provide you with that information as well?”
“He told us that you would never allow hostages to die. Especially if women and children were involved. Besides, every warrior in the Murim Alliance knows about this situation. If the hostages die, the whole world will condemn you. They will say that you allowed women and children to be killed merely to save your own life. Could you endure such condemnation?”
“Whoever it was, they gave you accurate information.”
“Farewell.”
The leader signaled the masked man approaching Baek So-cheon to finish him.
The masked man moved behind Baek So-cheon.
Swish.
The moment he swung his sword—
His hand sliced through empty air.
“What?”
The sword that had been in his hand was now in Baek So-cheon’s.
The man guarding the hostages shouted,
“Move and they die!”
At that exact moment—
Slump. Thud. Slump. Thud.
The three conscious hostages collapsed simultaneously.
The masked man holding his sword to the child’s neck stared in shock.
He had been standing right beside them, yet all three had suddenly fallen asleep.
Baek So-cheon had released finger-force and sealed all three of their sleep acupoints at once.
In the brief instant when the masked man froze in confusion—
Shiiing!
Baek So-cheon severed the neck of the man whose sword he had taken.
Spurt!
The blow was so fast that the masked man did not even have time to think about dodging.
Blood erupted from his neck as he toppled backward.
“The hostages—”
The masked leader tried to order the other man to kill them, but his voice failed him.
He saw it.
A sword flying as swiftly as light.
Thud!
The sword in Baek So-cheon’s hand cut through the air and pierced the throat of the masked man beside the hostages.
The blade embedded itself in the wall behind him, and the masked man collapsed face-first.
The leader seated in the grand armchair stared in horror.
In the time it took to draw a single breath, his two younger brothers—both Peak-Realm experts—had died.
“You... had internal energy.”
Baek So-cheon strode toward him.
He was barehanded, yet there was no hesitation in his movements.
“Your employer taught you almost everything correctly, but there was one thing he failed to tell you.”
“P-Please spare me.”
The masked man appeared to bow his head.
Then—
“Die!”
He suddenly thrust his sword forward in a surprise attack.
Shiiing!
But desperate resistance was useless against Baek So-cheon.
Baek So-cheon shifted slightly aside, swiftly sealed the man’s acupoints, and hurled him into the air.
“Ugh!”
Normally, this would have been the moment to unleash Crescent Moon Howls at the Stars, the fourth technique of the Heaven-Shattering Nine Fists, and reduce him to a bloody pulp.
However, if Baek So-cheon wished to erase all traces of internal energy use, he needed to use a sword.
He extended one hand.
The sword embedded in the distant wall tore itself free and flew toward him.
Whoosh!
Suspended in midair, the masked man widened his eyes.
It was shocking enough that he himself was floating in the air.
The sight of the sword pulling itself out of the wall and flying into Baek So-cheon’s hand was even more unbelievable.
He was utterly helpless.
When Baek So-cheon threw him upward, he had also sealed both his paralysis and mute acupoints, leaving him unable to move or speak.
This is the Baek So-cheon of old!
His body slowly tilted forward.
His neck was now stretched out before him.
Ah!
The last thing the terrified man saw was a semicircular arc of sword-light tracing through the air.
Shiiiiing!
There was nothing after that.
The masked man’s head rolled across the floor.
A moment later, his body crashed down beside it.
Baek So-cheon looked at the sword in his hand.
Using internal energy to defeat his enemies felt truly exhilarating.
Controlling his internal energy was now far easier, more precise, and faster than before.
Every hair on his body stood on end as a thrill coursed through him.
He wanted to smash through the roof and soar into the sky that very instant.
But it was not yet time to reveal his strength.
The surging power throughout his body slowly settled and returned to slumber.
“Hoooo.”
Baek So-cheon exhaled deeply and calmed himself.
Then he checked the unconscious hostages.
Fortunately, everyone was unharmed.
Next, he searched the bodies of the dead men.
From the leader’s robe, he found a cloth pouch containing bank drafts.
There were eight drafts worth ten thousand nyang each, along with three or four worth one thousand nyang.
It seemed they had received one hundred thousand nyang as an advance payment for the job.
They had apparently already squandered more than ten thousand nyang on entertainment and luxuries.
Baek So-cheon took the bank drafts.
He intended to determine whether they could be traced.
He searched the other bodies as well, but found nothing noteworthy.
Baek So-cheon opened the door and stepped outside.
Everyone waiting there stared in surprise.
“Go inside.”
At his words, the Fourth Squad of the Iron Cavalry Corps entered the main hall.
They were stunned by the scene inside.
Ju Deok-yang asked in astonishment,
“What happened?”
“I took advantage of their carelessness and killed them all. It was only possible because the Grand Strategist lent me a special protective vest.”
Baek So-cheon opened his collar and revealed the Dragon Scale Armor.
“Ah!”
“Fortunately, all the hostages are safe.”
Cheers and applause erupted from the Iron Cavalry Corps warriors standing around the hall.
Rumors had already spread that Baek So-cheon had passed the mechanism training ground and defeated Wang Ho of the Secret Pavilion despite lacking internal energy.
Because of that, no one found the result suspicious.
Ju Deok-yang was overjoyed.
He had been placed in charge of the operation. Had even one hostage died, he would have faced serious consequences.
“Excellent work. You have truly endured much.”
“It was nothing. I was fortunate.”
Meanwhile, an Iron Cavalry Corps warrior approached and delivered a report.
Ju Deok-yang relayed it to Baek So-cheon.
“Someone recognized their faces. They were known as the Blood Fang Three Wolves, men who accepted payment to commit all manner of wicked deeds. Did you know them?”
“No.”
“It seems someone hired them specifically to take your life.”
Baek So-cheon nodded.
“Then I will leave the aftermath to you.”
“Yes. Do not worry.”
Someone had tried to kill him.
Had his internal energy not returned, this trap would have been extremely difficult to escape.
Even if he had survived, the hostages might have died.
That would have left a deep wound in Baek So-cheon’s heart.
Who could have done this?
Could it truly be...?
It was unbearably painful and sorrowful that this man came to mind before even the Cheokcheon Alliance Leader or the Blood Cult Leader.
Whoever the culprit was, Baek So-cheon would learn the truth soon enough.
By then, the Sa-yeong Sect Leader, Gwak Jin-bong, and his family had awakened.
They repeatedly bowed to Baek So-cheon in gratitude.
The joy of the parents upon confirming that their son was safe was beyond description.
Baek So-cheon returned their thanks with a light fist-and-palm salute, mounted the horse he had ridden there, and disappeared into the darkness.