Chapter 18

The Black Path, Martial Artists

Luoyang by day was busy. Busy beyond measure.

Since ancient times, Luoyang had been an indispensable political, economic, and cultural center of the continent.

The Luoyang of the present was the heart of a massive distribution network that encompassed the entire inland region of the northern continent.

The Grand Canal of the Yellow River was one of the greatest reasons Luoyang had become a super-massive city with a population in the millions. The volume of goods flowing in and out through this place was beyond imagination.

It was to the point that foreign merchants interested in the inland Central Plains could be seen here and there without much difficulty.

Yet even in a place bustling with all sorts of unusual goods and merchants of every kind, there were people who drew the eyes of those around them.

They were none other than Yeon So-hyeon’s party.

“Oh my, what a truly beautiful young lady!”

When one foreign merchant saw Jeong-ah and blurted out an exclamation in clumsy Central Plains speech, the Central Plains merchant beside him hurriedly grabbed and tugged at his sleeve.

“You fool! Where do you think you are, pointing like that?”

“What is the matter?”

When the foreign merchant looked puzzled, the Central Plains merchant subtly gestured with his chin behind Jeong-ah.

“Do you not see that guard over there? He is someone from the Luoyang Sword House.”

The moment the words “Luoyang Sword House” were spoken, the foreign merchant immediately hid his finger.

“...That Luoyang Sword House?”

“Yes, that Luoyang Sword House.”

The foreign merchant could not help but react that way.

From the moment one first set foot in the northern inland region, the countless warnings one heard were all about the Luoyang Sword House.

Even though all that followed them was one man dressed in the uniform of a security guard, that alone was the reason Jeong-ah did not hear even a single common flirtatious remark.

The road naturally opening in the direction the party walked was for the same reason.

“Ahem. I have something separate to attend to, so I will join you later.”

At Yeon So-hyeon’s words, the gatekeeper stepped in front of him.

“What are you talking about? Surely you are not saying you will leave me, your escort, behind?”

Yeon So-hyeon looked at him as though asking what nonsense he was spouting.

“Of course I am leaving you behind. You just guard Jeong-ah properly.”

The gatekeeper placed a hand against his forehead and sighed.

“No, what sort of absurd— Huh? What?!”

In the brief moment he closed his eyes while sighing, Yeon So-hyeon had already vanished.

“Young Master went that way!”

The gatekeeper shot in the direction Jeong-ah pointed.

“Oh my! A martial artist!”

“It’s lightness skill!”

Exclamations burst out from the surroundings, but he paid them no mind and leapt onto the roof of a four-story building.

He hurriedly drew up his eyesight and looked around, but he could not see the eldest young master, not even his shadow.

“What in the world...?”

It was enough to make a ghost wail.

For the sake of guarding him, the gatekeeper had been constantly circulating his internal energy. And yet this so-called eldest young master had disappeared right before his eyes without the slightest trace of his presence.

Doubts about the true identity of the eldest young master known as the Swordless One surged up within him, but now was not the time.

“Should I report this first?”

But where was he supposed to report it?

Even if he did report it, it was obvious there would be problems.

Considering the way the Sword House treated the eldest young master, it was clear that, in the end, all responsibility would first fall on him.

“Damn it...!”

After spitting out a curse, he returned to Jeong-ah’s side in a single breath.

“Attendant maid, I am sorry, but you will have to take care of your errand alone. I must find the eldest young master as soon as—”

Before he could even finish, Jeong-ah nodded.

“I can protect myself, so please do not worry about me and look after the young master.”

At her calm attitude, the gatekeeper clicked his tongue in amazement.

“Are you not worried at all?”

Jeong-ah smiled faintly and shook her head.

“For some reason, I find it difficult to even imagine that anything could happen to him.”

“...That is true, but still.”

In truth, that was something the gatekeeper also agreed with to a certain extent.

Had he judged that the eldest young master might truly be in danger, he would not have been leisurely talking with her like this.

The very moment he judged that he had completely lost the eldest young master, he would have set off the dedicated signal flare in his robe, regardless of responsibility.

“Even so, for now, I will continue searching for the young master.”

“I will see you later.”

Before Jeong-ah’s farewell had even ended, his figure disappeared, and she shrugged before moving on.

***

Some distance away from there, in a secluded street in a corner of Luoyang.

That back alley, where the surrounding buildings cast deep shadows, was a place ordinary commoners would not dare even approach.

The old tattooist who had set up shop in that back alley was a retiree from the Black Path, and he was famous for being fussy and foul-tempered.

But today, he was acting especially cautious.

Sitting comfortably back in a chair was a man who boasted a truly massive physique.

His build itself was extraordinary, and on top of that, he was thick with flesh, making him look less like a person and more like a bull sitting there.

And completing his fierce, menacing impression were the large and small skull tattoos that filled that enormous body.

What the tattooist was working on now was also a new skull tattoo, and the number of black skull tattoos already covering him seemed easily over a hundred.

But what was even more astonishing was the fact that the man was enjoying a nap while receiving the tattoo.

Taking a nap while a needle repeatedly pierced raw flesh?

The old tattooist let out a small dry cough, set down the needle, and lifted a metal mirror to meet the man’s gaze.

“Does it please you?”

The man, who had been warming his face with a hot towel, slightly lifted it and looked into the metal mirror.

The eyes glowing red beneath the towel were like burning coals, and the hand lifting the towel was covered in scars and calluses.

“Good. Next.”

He covered his face with the towel again and leaned deep into the chair.

“Yes, I will continue.”

The tattooist, inwardly letting out a sigh of relief, began preparing to engrave the next skull.

Meanwhile, the man began to enjoy his nap again, savoring the comfortable chair, the warm towel, and the cozy heat of the brazier.

The tattooist clicked his tongue inwardly.

As expected, these so-called martial artists were undoubtedly different from ordinary humans.

And just as the tattooist picked up the needle again—

He reflexively tried to resist somehow, but upon seeing the blade shining blue before his throat, he raised both hands to show that he had no intention of resisting.

Then another man appeared and raised a finger to his lips.

The man was not large. He was thin, but the muscles visible on his exposed body were so sharply defined that they looked grotesque, and his eyes were as fierce as blades.

‘A-Assassins...!’

From their behavior and appearance, the tattooist, a former member of the Black Path who quickly grasped the atmosphere, decided to obediently cooperate with the assassins.

The tattooist slowly nodded and withdrew as guided by the assassin covering his mouth.

Once he stepped back, two more assassins entered through the entrance.

With knives held in their mouths, they paid the tattooist no attention and moved through the cramped tattoo shop without making a sound.

Someone quietly covered his mouth from behind.

In an instant, the number of people inside the cramped shop had more than doubled, yet they made neither breathing sounds nor any other presence.

Their target was clear.

The two assassins positioned themselves precisely to aim at the man with the bull-like massive physique, and the blades each of them raised shone cold blue.

“.....!”

There was not even a battle cry.

The two blades flashed toward his vital points at the exact same moment.

Crunch!

The tattooist, watching the scene unfold, could not believe his eyes.

The man who had clearly been asleep had caught the falling blades from both sides with his bare hands.

“Hrk...!”

Before the tattooist could even finish sucking in a startled breath, the two assassins who had attacked the man were slammed into opposite walls.

The assassin on the left had his rib cage caved in, and the assassin on the right had his jaw crushed.

They died instantly.

And at some point, the man had risen from his seat, so enormous that his head seemed about to touch the ceiling.

In both of his outstretched hands, he was still gripping the blades.

Blood flowed from those tightly clenched fists, ran down his forearms, and dripped onto the floor.

A thick, low laugh, befitting his size, filled the room.

“You can hide your presence and hide your killing intent, but you cannot hide the sharpness of a blade.”

The man looked down at the remaining assassins with eyes overflowing with murderous intent.

“...Kill him!”

The remaining two assassins charged straight at him.

“Heh.”

Letting out a short sneer, the man spun the blades in his hands and adjusted his grip.

It was a gesture that looked like nothing more than showing off. By the time that gesture ended, the assassins’ blades had already flown right before the man’s nose.

However—

The blades in the man’s two hands flashed.

The blade that pierced one assassin’s stomach burst out through his mouth, while the blade that dug into the other assassin’s shoulder emerged from the opposite side of his ribs.

Their blades had clearly reached right before his nose, but the man, who had moved later, remained unharmed, while the assassins fell to the floor in pieces.

He had moved later, yet he was faster.

He had only moved his arms, yet he was stronger.

“This is the difference between martial artists and insects like you. Do you understand?”

The man casually tossed the swords aside, picked up the chair that had fallen backward, and sat down.

Then, to the old tattooist, who had frozen stiff while covered in blood and entrails, he said,

“Hey, old man. Looks like I’ll need four more skull tattoos.”

“Yes! Yes!”

The tattooist sprang to his feet and began preparing the procedure again with trembling hands.

“Well now. Our little brother has gone and done another proper job.”

The man who poked his head into the shop looked almost exactly like the man lying in the chair, both in size and appearance.

The only differences were the positions of their scars and tattoos.

“Oh, Elder Brother. You’re here. I had a bit of fun on my own while you were gone.”

“Well done. That aside...”

He scratched his messy beard.

“In the end, I couldn’t find that ‘masked artisan’ bastard. Nor the bastards who went to catch him.”

The man sitting in the chair snorted.

“That’s what I said. You shouldn’t trust those outsourced bastards.”

The man outside smacked his lips.

“Still, our boys took care of that masked artisan bastard’s family, didn’t they?”

The man sitting in the chair shrugged.

“From what I heard, they were only supposed to rough them up, but they accidentally killed them all.”

“Ha, hot-blooded brats.”

“Our Black Skull Sect boys do tend to be a bit too full of vigor. We’re kind of like that too, aren’t we? Heh heh.”

The man standing outside shook his head and opened his mouth.

“But there’s something that bothers me a little. Just now, I heard something strange from the boys in charge of that street.”

“What is it?”

The man made an expression as if he too found it puzzling.

“They say that masked artisan’s shop is still open and doing business right now.”

At those words, the man lying in the chair sprang upright.

“Huh? Is it that masked artisan bastard?”

“Ah, well, the boys said it wasn’t.”

“Then?”

“That’s apparently...”

The man thought back on what he had heard.

“They said it was some pale-faced scholar-looking fellow.”