“What is your connection with Yeonga?”

Amwang's voice was quiet. So quiet that if you didn’t pay close attention, you might not even hear it. Yet, his words rang in my ears as clearly as if they had been shouted.

"Yeonga?"

I tried to make sense of what Amwang had just said.

Yeonga... Amwang had indeed mentioned the name Yeonga. There were a few families bearing the Yeon surname in this vast land, but if Amwang was referring to them, it could only mean one place.

“Are you referring to the Geumcheon Yeonga?”

The most prominent family, wiped out after the Blood Demon Massacre, once led by Yeon Ilcheon, the greatest martial artist and a regressor.

If Amwang was indeed speaking of that Yeonga...

"What could my connection to Yeonga be?"

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t fathom why he was asking me such a question. Meanwhile, Amwang remained silent, simply staring at me after hearing my question.

“Se—” “Are you playing dumb?”

“...!”

Crack. I felt an intense pressure from Amwang's hand gripping my arm.

I tried to shake it off urgently, but his strength was overwhelming. How was this assassin so strong?

“Hey, I’m not playing dumb!”

“To think you would dare lie about the ‘curse’ in front of me.”

“A curse...?”

The pressure on my arm was one thing, but the word Amwang had just uttered caught my attention. I frowned as Amwang moved his hand.

My arm stretched out, and the altered skin was clearly visible.

“Are you still going to deny it, even with this?”

It was clear now.

The reason Amwang had mentioned Yeonga to me was because of this skin.

How he knew about it was beyond me, but the fact remained.

“Is this skin related to Yeonga?”

The patch of skin, though only about the size of a thumb, looked unmistakably reptilian. Did Amwang know the reason behind this?

But even so...

It wasn’t something I could easily explain to Amwang.

“I don’t really understand. This just appeared one day—”

Squeeze.

“Guh...!”

Just as I was about to offer an excuse, my world flipped upside down.

The pressure on my arm vanished, only to be replaced by Amwang’s hand around my neck, slamming me into the wall.

“Damn it...!”

The pain in my neck was excruciating, but worse than the pain was the shock.

I knew Amwang was strong, but I hadn’t expected him to overpower me so effortlessly, even though I had reached the Hwa-gyeong level, albeit imperfectly.

“Urgh...”

“Kid. You may fool others, but you cannot fool me. Do you want to die that badly?”

The murderous aura emanating from Amwang’s feet made my body tremble.

Sweat began to pour from me, seemingly of its own accord.

The murderous aura, though controlled, was absurdly thick.

I realized, even in the midst of all this chaos, that someone could control their killing intent to such an extent.

‘...Realizing something in a situation like this? Really?’

My brain must be soaked in martial arts, to be feeling such things at a time like this.

It was clear from the pressure on my neck that if I didn’t speak soon, Amwang would snap it without hesitation.

God, as if my mind wasn’t already overwhelmed, why was this guy coming after me too?

The pressure on my neck grew stronger. It wasn’t unbearable, but...

‘If I demonify, I could probably break free.’

Fighting him was out of the question, but I might be able to remove his hand from my throat. But I knew the aftermath of such an action would be disastrous, so I held back.

More importantly...

‘...Why the hell is this lunatic acting like this?’

From the way he spoke—accusing me of lying and playing dumb—it seemed like he was certain about something.

What could my connection to Yeonga possibly be...?

‘...Oh?’

Reptilian skin, like that of a snake or a lizard...

And Yeonga...

‘Ah, no way.’

My brain, annoyingly enough, worked well in moments like these.

The World Tree had said something, hadn’t it?

The reason the beast awoke was because of the giant snake’s orb I’d obtained from Yeonga’s secret vault.

That means...

“The... vault.”

The moment I managed to get the words out, the pressure on my neck was released.

I dropped to the ground, grateful I didn’t collapse in a heap, and barely managed to steady myself.

“Cough... Cough...”

As I caught my breath, I could feel Amwang’s intense gaze on me.

When I looked up slightly, I saw...

‘His eyes...’

Amwang’s eyes had changed.

The blackened eyes from earlier were gone, replaced by the clear white eyes I had seen when we first met.

Had he removed his mask? No, that wasn’t it. Somehow, he could control it.

“What did you just say?”

“Huff...”

“Kid, I’m asking what you just said.”

There was so much murderous intent in his words just because I’d taken a moment to catch my breath.

This guy certainly lived up to his title.

Amwang’s eyes might be glowing, but the aura swirling within them was anything but benevolent.

It didn’t matter whether he knew my grandfather or not.

‘Chilling.’

Amwang was the coldest, most frightening person I had ever met.

What kind of person was this?

‘Should I speak?’

I wasn’t sure if the cause of my arm’s transformation was what I thought it was, but that was the only connection I could make with Yeonga.

‘Even so, it’s strange.’

I’d visited Yeonga’s vault years ago.

So much had happened since then. If my body was going to change, it should have happened a long time ago.

Why was this happening now?

Moreover...

‘He called it a curse.’

Amwang had spoken as if he knew everything about my transformation.

What exactly was this?

While I was contemplating the reason behind it all, Amwang called out to me again.

“Kid.”

This was the third time he had asked.

As he spoke, I felt something touch the back of my neck.

It was Amwang’s fingertip.

I didn’t bother wasting any time thinking about what he was doing.

It was obvious that it was dangerous.

“I don’t usually ask the same question twice. I also dislike torture.”

“...”

“What I mean is, I hate doing things that are a hassle. It’s easier to just kill someone.”

His expressionless face made those words even scarier.

I’ve killed a lot of people myself, but even I can’t compare to him.

Death.

It felt like death itself was standing in front of me in human form.

“So asking you three times is highly unusual.”

It was strange for him to take pride in such a thing.

Fortunately, I held my tongue.

If I hadn’t, I would have blurted out something reckless.

“Now speak.”

Amwang continued, oblivious to my thoughts.

“There’s nothing about that place I should not know.”

“...”

The pressure on my neck increased.

It was clear that he had no intention of waiting for me to make up my mind.

Should I just charge at him?

I considered it at least four times in that moment.

If I’ve considered it four times, that means I’ve held back more than enough, right? Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to give in.

‘No, I’ve got to kill my pride.’

There was no way I could beat him.

I had to endure.

I’ve always been one to die before giving up my pride.

But this time, I couldn’t afford to throw my life away.

I had too many people relying on me now.

In the end, I had no choice but to tell him about my visit to the vault of Geumcheon Yeonga.

“...”

After hearing everything, Amwang rubbed his lips, deep in thought.

“The vault, huh?”

When he asked how I knew, I mentioned the time I attended the Tang Clan’s banquet and told him I had stumbled upon the vault by chance.

Like most great encounters, it had been an unexpected one. The important thing was how the vault had been left, what I had seen, and what I had taken from there.

When Amwang finished pondering, he glanced at my arm and then at my dantian.

“It’s too real for it to be a lie. The energy in your body doesn’t lie.”

I let out a sigh of relief.

At least I wasn’t going to die immediately.

As absurd as it seemed, Amwang was more than capable of killing me and walking away without any consequences.

“Energy, you say?”

I wasn’t sure what he meant by that. Was he talking about the energy I gained from the vault?

‘But didn’t that energy disappear?’

I had indeed gained a great deal of energy from the vault, but it hadn’t seemed like much.

My Qi had increased, but not by a massive amount.

So what energy was Amwang talking about?

And...

‘Amwang knows about the changes to my skin.’

That’s why he had reacted the way he did.

“Senior.”

Amwang turned his gaze toward me when I called out to him.

“Is this transformation of mine connected to Yeonga?”

Amwang’s eyes widened.

It wasn’t a particularly strange question, so why was he reacting that way?

“I didn’t expect you to ask a question in this situation.”

Ah, so that’s what surprised him.

“I’m just curious. This transformation was unexpected, and you, senior, searching for traces of a family that was wiped out long ago—”

“You’re wrong.”

“What?”

Just as I was about to continue, Amwang cut me off with a sharp retort.

What did I get wrong? As soon as I had the thought, Amwang spoke again.

“Yeonga was wiped out, that much is true. It happened a long time ago.”

It had indeed been centuries since their demise.

Even now, they are considered one of the Four Great Families.

Geumcheon Yeonga was once the greatest family, connected to almost all of the trading factions across the land.

But for some reason, Geumcheon Yeonga had vanished almost overnight.

For such a powerful family to collapse so quickly was something no one could truly comprehend.

The records were vague, and I had never been interested in history, so that was all I knew.

“But...”

Just as I was about to ask Amwang what I had gotten wrong.

“They may have been wiped out, but their lineage did not end.”

Amwang’s words stirred confusion within me.

His statement implied that the Geumcheon Yeonga’s descendants had survived.

I was reminded of the Zhuge Clan and thought perhaps it was possible.

“Huh?”

Suddenly, something clicked in my mind, and I stared at Amwang with wide eyes.

His earlier words echoed in my ears.

—I must know everything there is to know about that place.

And...

—Their lineage did not end.

If he was so certain when speaking about Yeonga’s descendants, then...

“Could it be...”

I asked, trying to suppress the tremor in my voice as I stared at Amwang.

“...Are you a descendant of Yeonga, senior?”

Amwang said nothing in response.

He just stared at me, his lips pressed tightly together.

But somehow, I felt that this silence was an answer in itself.

And then it hit me.

‘Ah, this... I might really die here.’

No matter how I looked at it, this was an incredibly dangerous situation.

   ******************
   

Flap.

A bird with beautiful feathers gently landed on the windowsill of a mansion overlooking the sea of Yoryeong.

A thin letter was tied to the bird's leg.

A hand carefully untied the letter from the bird’s leg, and the hand’s owner was none other than the master of this grand mansion, known as the Dominator of Yoryeong.

Rustle.

The man slowly unfolded the letter. At the top, a seal was embedded.

It was the direct seal of the Moyong family, specifically crafted for sending letters to the head of the household.

“...”

The man silently read the few words written on the letter, going through each one until he reached the end.

“Hmm.”

After finishing the letter, a flicker of emotion passed through his eyes. Soon after, he frowned as if something displeased him.

Creak.

Whoosh...

As the man rose from his chair, a faint gust of wind swept through the room.

"To think they would handle things this way after I entrusted them with someone else's precious daughter..."

His deep, resonant voice carried an undercurrent of anger, mixed with the sharpness typical of a swordmaster who had reached the highest levels of mastery.

As he stepped outside the room, several people who had been waiting immediately approached and bowed their heads.

“Chief Steward.”

“Yes, Master.”

“Prepare for my immediate departure to Hanam.”

The steward’s shoulders trembled slightly at the words of the head of the Moyong family.

“But... we have a scheduled meeting with the Baekhwa Trading Group in a few days...”

“Cancel it.”

“Master...!”

“Tell them that whatever compensation they desire, they shall have.”

“But...!”

The steward tried to protest, but the head of the Moyong family ignored him and continued walking.

Then, suddenly, the family head stopped in his tracks.

“Ah, it might not even matter.”

“Pardon...?”

The bewildered steward hurried after him.

“They will probably think the same.”

“Master, what do you mean...?”

“I don’t need a carriage. I’ll be faster on foot.”

“Wa-wait...!”

“If anyone asks, tell them this.”

Just as the steward, now in shock, tried to reach out to stop him, the head of the Moyong family leaped through the window.

“I’m going to fetch my precious daughter. And I’ll also have a look at the face of the fool who dares to think they can take her from me.”

With that, the Moyong family head jumped out of the window. The elderly steward rushed to the window, his face filled with disbelief.

But by then, the Moyong family head had already become a small dot, disappearing into the distance.