༺ Old Dog ༻

Rustle.

Black ashes scattered away.

It was because my purposely uncontrolled flames swept through the surrounding area.

“K…Kill… Me…”

After hearing the bastard beg desperately, I granted his wish.

Crack.

The bastard died as I twisted his neck.

Even if I had left him be, his demise was inevitable.

‘It’s not so easy for me to control my power since it’s been a while.’

If it were the old me, I would have used just enough strength to torment slowly, not kill.

However, that was too difficult for me at this time.

[…You’ve turned this place into a small battlefield.]

Elder Shin spoke, surveying the aftermath.

A battlefield, huh?

‘It does somewhat feel that way.’

Lingering flames, tinged with a peculiar green hue, flickered, casting an eerie glow.

And the stench of the unknown emanated from the corpses claimed by the fire.

One of them had completely disintegrated into dust when I absorbed all its energy and the remaining five guys had their life ended after becoming ashes.

Moreover, since there was another guy that I met earlier which I turned into dust, there were a total of seven of them.

‘…How many guys like these are there?’

I knew that it wasn’t just one, but to think that there were more than two bastards who were able to change their appearances into whoever they wanted.

This was a fact that I did not know of in my past life.

‘Did I get rid of them all, at least for now?’

The fiery demise I bestowed upon them was far from a peaceful end.

Yet, my furrowed brow betrayed my lingering discontent.

It wasn’t because I felt bad that I killed them with my own hands.

Too much time had passed for me to feel any emotion from that.

‘I didn’t get much out of this.’

That was why I was still upset.

There were five mouths that I was able to get information from, but the details that I got out of them were barely anything.

It’s not that they didn’t speak at all, rather, they failed to provide the specifics I sought.

‘Though it’s more likely that they couldn’t speak about it at all.’

That annoying Shackle.

I knew that the ones who had important secrets were basically required to have it on them.

As such, the complexities of the situation made it impossible for me to get any information out of them.

‘The only thing I got is that they are indeed from the Gu Clan.’

I didn’t recognize their faces when I looked at them, but that wasn’t the important part.

Because it wasn’t like I knew the faces of all the martial artists of my clan.

‘However, that unique energy around them definitely belonged to Gu Sunmoon.’

It was the unique Qi of Gu Sunmoon that Gu Jeolyub and the First Elder had.

It differed from the Destructive Flame Qi unique to the direct bloodlines of Gu Clan.

This was the information I got from the third guy after I burnt the second guy alive.

This was also something I expected, so it wasn’t actually that helpful.

‘But, why were they working together with other strange bastards?’

The reason why I wasn’t able to get information on this was because they themselves did not know as well.

They were mere pawns following orders from higher authorities, believing they wore masks to conceal their identities.

‘And there is also the possibility of this being a lie.’

It wasn’t completely impossible, but the prospect held minimal credibility.

My focus wasn’t on deciphering why I, a direct blood relative, was treated as such.

After all, there was no way that I had trust in that man in a world where it was hard for anyone to even trust their own blood relatives.

‘The important thing, in the end, is that I couldn’t get any real information out of them.’

I did get some useful information, but I wasn’t able to get the most important parts of it.

I wasn’t able to confirm that all of this was caused by the First Elder.

‘It would be so much easier if I could get rid of their shackle.’

To break the shackle cast on another person, the one breaking it had to have a higher martial realm than the one that had put it on them.

And one also needed to have an extremely precise use of Qi.

I couldn’t even think of attempting such things at my current level.

And because I had a habit of using an absurd amount of Qi in fights since my past life, I wasn’t good at using it precisely.

‘That bastard is better at this stuff than me.’

The crazy dog of the Wudang Clan who showed interest in the Shackle.

The Water Dragon of Wudang seemed more fitting to break it than me.

“Tsk.”

I got up after clicking my tongue.

At the same time that I got up, I retrieved all the Qi that I had scattered out to the nearby area.

Whoosh!

Along with a light breeze and Qi entering my body, the flames around disappeared.

I wasn’t able to get any excuse I could use from this, but it didn’t matter.

“I could just make up one if I have to.”

The important thing, in the end, was that he had finally started to show his fangs to me.

“Even though I gave him a pretty clear warning.”

I remembered telling the old fox what happens to a pet showing its fangs to its owner, but it seemed like he didn’t get the message.

[Are you thinking of getting rid of him? That old man?]

To answer Elder Shin’s question, I had to think for a bit.

“I wanted to leave him alive until next year… but what can I do if he comes at me like this?”

Even if he did something, I was thinking of letting it slide unless it was a big deal.

‘But he crossed the line with this one, that First Elder,’

I couldn’t let it pass after seeing him try to harm Namgung Bi-ah.

[…So, you’re saying you were okay letting him go until he went after your bride?]

‘I meant I can’t let him pass because he went after people close to me. Why twist my words?’

[You’re not even commenting about the fact that I called her your bride, you rotting piece of shit.]

I knew that he was only going to continue cursing at me if I argued with him about this, so I decided to ignore him for now.

I brushed off the dust on my body and looked around.

‘Not even demons would try to eat this.’

The corpses that turned black after burning were in a state so bad to the point that even demons wouldn’t want a taste of it.

I reduced my sharpened senses just in case, but right as I was about to go back to the camp….

I felt a presence behind me.

“Ah.”

When I turned around to see who it was, it was Namgung Bi-ah, who had gone to the camp first.

She said that she would come back, and she kept her word.

I stared at Namgung Bi-ah and asked.

“Why did you come? I was just about to leave.”

To my words, Namgung Bi-ah only quietly panted, without giving any response.

It seemed like she came in an extreme hurry, because her hair, which was nicely tidied up by a servant, had turned into a mess.

And furthermore, when seeing the leaves that were stuck in her hair, it reminded me of when I first met her.

‘Did she come in a hurry?’

When I started to have that thought, Namgung Bi-ah asked me.

“…Are you… okay?”

I nodded to Namgung Bi-ah’s question.

It’s not like I had any injuries anywhere, so didn’t I look fine?

“I’m a bit past the time of me getting beaten up.”

I said in a joking manner, but Namgung Bi-ah came toward me, poking me in various places, unconvinced.

“Jeez, what’s up with you?”

“…You might be… hurt.”

“I’m fine. And I told you to protect her there.”

And why did you choose to poke me if you were trying to check if I was okay?

When I spoke after slightly backing up, Namgung Bi-ah responded, slightly avoiding eye contact.

“Nothing… happened.”

Well, that’s good.

Though I was already certain that their target wasn’t in the camp to begin with.

‘It seems like it wasn’t an assassination attempt after all.’

Too many things didn’t add up for it to be an assassination.

Firstly, the people they sent were too weak for such a mission.

If they’d been tailing me since Hanam, they would have all the information about me because of the performance I displayed back in the tournament.

This meant that they couldn’t just afford to make a party of only First-Rate martial artists.

Of course, they seemed well-trained in shadowing, but assassinating was a whole different story.

If they wanted to assassinate me rather than shadow me, they’d need much more preparation.

‘Though I doubt that they thought Namgung Bi-ah and I would catch them.’

I was an exception, but I was just shocked that Namgung Bi-ah could also figure it out.

I borrowed power from the treasure, but I couldn’t understand Namgung Bi-ah, who was able to see through their real identity all by herself.

“How did you know that it wasn’t Muyeon?”

“Hmm…?”

“I was just shocked that you were so certain.’

Not only was he wearing the same uniform, but even the appearance and the aura felt the same as Muyeon’s.

The energy inside the body might have been different, but that was impossible to know unless she placed her hand directly on his body or she had reached the Transcendence Realm of martial arts.

Namgung Bi-ah rolled her pearl-like eyes around at my question.

“He smelled different.”

Then she answered with that.

‘Smell…?’

When I looked at Namgung Bi-ah after she gave that very unexpected answer, I saw her gazing around, not at me.

After surveying the blackened land and the corpses that died by my hands, she finally looked at me.

Despite the seemingly emotionless appearance, there was something in her eyes right now.

Although I didn’t know what emotion she had because it was so small for me to discern.

“I’m cold.”

“Hmm?”

All of a sudden?

“Let’s go back now.”

Namgung Bi-ah came toward me, grabbed my hand and started to pull me.

I was shocked by her sudden act, but I didn’t push her back.

“Where are we going?”

To my question, Namgung Bi-ah stopped her feet.

“…Where people are…?”

When I saw Namgung Bi-ah answer as if it were obvious, I let out a sigh.

“…Then we have to go in the other direction, dummy.”

“…Oh!”

As soon as she heard my response, she changed directions.

But the problem was she still got the direction wrong, so in the end, I was the one who led her back to the camp.

********************

“Young Master!”

As soon as we returned, Wi Seol-Ah ran toward me and embraced me.

And because she ran at me at a very fast speed, I had to catch her carefully so she didn’t get hurt.

“Are you okay…?”

“You can see that I am.”

After catching Wi Seol-Ah, I looked around.

It was to see if anything happened here, but thankfully, nothing seemed to have happened here as I expected.

However, everyone seemed more alert than before.

‘It’s most likely because Namgung Bi-ah told them about it.’

The escorts of my clan, and even those from the Tang Clan, seemed to have heightened senses.

Tang Soyeol, noticing me from a distance, approached.

“Young Master Gu. I heard you were ambushed… You are okay, right?”

“It wasn’t really dangerous. Nothing much happened here, right?”

“Yes, we only heard the news, and no problem occurred here. And… the ones that ambushed you…”

“I killed them all. I tried making them speak, but it wasn’t easy because they had shackles on them.”

I stated plainly, causing those around me to flinch in shock.

It seemed like they were taken aback by the fact that I, at my young age, had taken lives.

“…Damn it.”

Then, Tang Soyeol frowned with concern.

“What’s wrong?”

“It would’ve been easier if I was there… so I’m a bit sad about it. If you have the chance to catch them next time, please bring them to me.”

“…What will you do if I bring them?”

“Pardon?”

I asked her because I found her request strange, but she just responded with a smile.

“Jeez… How could you ask such a thing! It’s a secret… secret.”

Her shy smile, combined with that response, made her appear oddly scary.

I couldn’t ask any further because Tang Soyeol insisted it was a secret.

‘…Was it because I’d been close to her for a while? I totally forgot what clan Tang Soyeol was from.’

The Tang Clan of Sichuan, one of the Four Noble Clans, was one of the Orthodox Faction that specialized in poison, steel, assassination arts, and torture.

While it was said that such practices had diminished in the era of peace, martial artists knew otherwise.

After all, even Tang Soyeol’s older brother, who was the Young Lord of the clan, was doing some inhumane things for the sake of ‘peace’.

‘…Is Tang Soyeol also like that?’

I didn’t know much about Tang Soyeol in the past, but now I couldn’t dismiss the possibility that she might share traits with her clan.

I first put aside Tang Soyeol, who was sad that she couldn’t be there to make them talk.

Right as I was about to think of how I should continue this trip,

“Young Master…!”

“Hmm?”

Muyeon hurriedly ran towards me.

It was the real Muyeon this time.

As he appeared in the camp, those around us drew their swords and remained on high alert.

It seemed like Namgung Bi-ah had informed them about the earlier incident.

“…!”

And Muyeon seemed to be shocked at what just happened.

Then I walked toward Muyeon without any concerns.

“Young Master, wait…!”

An escort, who was on guard, tried to stop me, but before the escort could get a hold of me, I went toward Muyeon first.

Thankfully, Muyeon didn’t seem to have been ambushed like Namgung Bi-ah did.

I asked Muyeon.

“Where were you?”

“Huh?”

Muyeon wore a confused expression in response to my question.

Why was he making that face?

As I stared at him for an answer, Muyeon began speaking in a bewildered tone.

“Young Master said that you had something to say to me, so we climbed the mountain together.”

“I did?”

I frowned after hearing Muyeon.

After all, I obviously didn’t ask him such a thing.

“Yes… However, you told me to wait for a bit, then disappeared and never came back… So I was wandering around looking for you.”

“Ha.”

I couldn’t help but burst into laughter upon hearing Muyeon.

Because now I felt like I understood a little why the First Elder did such a pointless thing.

“Wow, this crazy old man.”

“Young Master?”

The fact that someone with my appearance pulled Muyeon away from me….

The fact that they tried to harm me with Muyeon’s appearance…

And the fact that they tried ambushing Namgung Bi-ah when it was guaranteed to fail…

I began to feel more annoyed as I grasped why he resorted to such methods.

It seemed he aimed to sow seeds of mistrust among those around me.

And if my hunch was correct, the First Elder was a far more cunning and devious man than I had thought.

But thanks to that, I felt more relieved.

Because the tiny lingering hesitation disappeared after that.

“I’m going to kill him.”

I had to take the old dog out myself since he dared to show his fangs to his owner without understanding his place.

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