"Bandits?"

Paejon’s comment about them appearing as bandits sparked various thoughts.

After the opening of the Magyeong Gate in the past—

The aquatic thieves who roamed the seas and the bandits who lived in the mountains couldn’t cope with the demons and were forced to descend into the cities, eventually joining the dark faction.

The few who remained had mostly met their end fifteen years ago when the Martial Alliance issued the extermination order on criminals.

Well, “ended” might be an exaggeration—there were still occasional mentions of encountering aquatic thieves at sea or bandits in the mountains.

Of course, upon hearing such news, the Martial Alliance would send sword squads to hunt them down like rats, and now the rumors say they are almost at their end.

And yet, bandits?

"Especially in the area leading into Sichuan?"

This meant—

"It’s his group."

I was sure of it as soon as I heard it.

The bandits Paejon spoke of were exactly the ones I had planned to hunt down upon arriving in Sichuan.

There was no room for doubt. At this point, the only bandits still active in the area would be under his command.

I caught my breath as I recalled the situation.

"But even if that’s the case, it’s strange."

I couldn’t shake the feeling of unease. His rise to prominence hadn’t just begun. In fact, if I thought back, it had been happening for about one or two years.

Until then, he had been holed up in the mountains, gathering strength and forces.

And now to see movement… It was unusual.

"The Green King…"

I thought of the giant who had been called the king of bandits in my previous life.

A demonic being, so specialized in external martial arts, that he had nearly achieved invulnerability.

Even the power Cheonma had granted him had been fittingly named “monstrous strength.”

I had suffered greatly trying to break through his formidable body during our fight.

"Perhaps this is actually fortunate."

While planning this journey to Sichuan, he had been my second priority, right behind the White Demon Stone.

In my past life, he had been both a criminal and a demon, and a strong martial artist who had been one of Cheonma’s direct subordinates.

When I thought of building my own forces, I had intended to corrupt him with demonic energy and make him my ally.

"And now that he’s showing his hand, things have worked out well."

Still, there was one concern.

I glanced at the Tang Clan members nearby.

"And to have this happen when I’m with the head of the Tang Clan…"

That was the problem.

When the Green King first began to make a name for himself, his initial nickname had been—

"The Tang Clan Butcher."

He had earned that title by killing members of the Tang Clan in Sichuan.

In my past life, the Green King had a violent reaction whenever he encountered someone with the Tang surname.

And his dislike for me was also ultimately related to the Tang Clan.

"He hated the fact that I killed Dokbi."

He had expressed how much it bothered him that I had been the one to kill Dokbi, not him.

When I heard that, I thought, What a ridiculous reason.

But then again, reasons like that were not uncommon.

I could somewhat understand why the Green King was so full of rage and had killed so many members of the Tang Clan.

The Green King’s real name was Tang Deok.

As you can guess from his name, the Green King was originally born into the Tang Clan.

I had heard he was a distant half-brother or cousin to the Poison King, but I hadn’t paid much attention to the details.

What mattered was that he was known as the Tang Clan’s failure.

"A bitter title."

The name resonated with me, perhaps because I, too, had been called the Gu family’s failure.

I knew a little about why he was labeled that way.

The Green King lacked the traits that defined members of the Tang Clan.

Aside from his thick green hair, there was nothing about him that could be associated with the Tang Clan.

He had no resistance to poison, and unlike most of the Tang Clan, he had not developed any poison techniques.

And given his massive frame, he was ill-suited to the assassination arts the Tang Clan was known for.

Some speculated that his fury stemmed from being abandoned by the Tang Clan for these reasons, and the Tang Clan never denied those rumors, adding credibility to them.

In short, the Green King was a monster who harbored immense anger toward the Tang Clan.

I didn’t care why he had been expelled from the Tang Clan or how he had become a bandit in the mountains. What mattered to me was whether or not he was on the move.

"I’ll either kill him or turn him into a demon—there’s no third option."

In my previous life, I encountered countless demons, but I had already decided which ones I would corrupt with my own hands in this life.

The Green King was one of them, and so was the Sword Demon of the Heavenly Killing Star, who was likely sharpening his blade as we spoke.

Those who would become a problem in the future would either be killed or absorbed into my forces as pawns.

That was the path I had chosen.

“Elder.”

“Hmm?”

“So, what does the Shadow King plan to do?”

The Shadow King had been the one to discover the bandits, hadn’t he? I had no idea what their goal was, but I doubted they knew how many monsters were in this group.

Of all of us, the Shadow King held an absolute position in matters like this.

"If he decides to wipe them out, that’ll be a problem."

If the Shadow King decided the bandits were an annoyance and slaughtered them all, that would ruin things for me. This was an opportunity I couldn’t afford to waste.

While I was considering this, Paejon chuckled and spoke.

"Why would he bother?"

His tone carried a hint of disbelief, as if the very notion was absurd.

"He’ll just leave them alone."

"The Shadow King will?"

Paejon’s expression shifted slightly at my question.

"What, do you think he should go hunt them all down and kill them?"

I had assumed that’s what he would do.

That was the impression I had of the Shadow King.

“Tsk, judging by your face, I don’t need to hear your answer.”

“...”

“I don’t know what people think of him, but that guy doesn’t particularly enjoy killing.”

“Really…?”

That was surprising. The king of assassins didn’t enjoy killing?

“He only kills when necessary.”

“I see.”

"Oh, but if you piss him off, he’ll kill everyone. But as long as things don’t escalate, there’s nothing to worry about."

“...”

Was I sure about that? As I listened, I found myself glancing around instinctively, worried the Shadow King might overhear.

"...Ugh."

I had always felt a bit uneasy around the Shadow King, but after spending the last month dying repeatedly in training, those feelings had intensified.

Dying dozens of times every day for over a month… It was enough to make anyone feel uneasy just at the sight of him.

"This is hopeless…"

I had tried everything imaginable over the past month, but nothing had worked—I still couldn’t land a single hit on the Shadow King.

By now, even a fool would have realized that I needed a different approach to overcome this training.

The problem was that I didn’t know what that approach was, so I kept dying night after night.

"For now, I need to put this aside… and focus on the bandits."

They were in the area, but I wasn’t entirely certain they were connected to us.

For now, it seemed only the Shadow King was aware of their presence.

Neither I nor the other clan leaders had detected them, which suggested they were still quite a distance away.

Even so, I couldn’t help but feel uneasy after hearing Paejon’s words.

Then Paejon looked at me and asked,

“Young one.”

“Yes?”

“Judging by the look on your face, it seems like you’re up to something.”

“...”

How did he know? He had been sitting there with his eyes closed the entire time, yet he had figured it out.

Paejon really did have a sharp intuition.

I smiled weakly, and Paejon grinned in return.

"Whatever you’re planning, just be subtle about it."

"Understood…"

What did he think I was planning?

Paejon didn’t know that I had returned to this time, yet his sharpness was undeniable.

And even if he had figured it out, he didn’t seem too concerned.

As long as it didn’t interfere with my training, Paejon never really cared what I did.

But if it did interfere with training, that would be a different story...

“Are you planning to do it today?”

“To do what, exactly?”

"Whatever it is you’re thinking about."

"..."

"You seem pretty interested in it. It’s best to take care of it quickly so it doesn’t interfere with your training."

I let out a small sigh when I heard that.

How much had this old man already seen through me?

Then, as if he had guessed my thoughts, Paejon smiled and said,

"Shall I ask the bat where he saw them?"

"..."

This was absurd...

It was starting to feel terrifying.

But of course,

"Yes… Please do that."

I didn’t refuse.

 

As they entered the forest in the Sichuan territory, on the road slightly ahead, the moon was slowly rising, and the moonlight began to seep through the leaves.

In this forest—

Behind a thick patch of shrubs, several men moved silently, their steps hushed.
Around the men, a faint something spread out, almost imperceptible.

This technique was known among martial artists as gimak.

It was a way of moving that not only silenced their steps but also concealed their presence, ideal for moving discreetly.

While employing gimak, the men were heading somewhere when—

“Damn it…”

One of the men cursed quietly.
The leader of the group, who was at the front, turned around, startled.

“You crazy bastard, shut your mouth! Are you out of your mind?”
“Hey, boss, do we really need to go this far…?”
“You son of a bitch, now you’re talking back too? Did I tell you to do this? The captain ordered it!”

As the leader growled at him, the cursing man clamped his mouth shut.

As bandits, he was frustrated that they had to be so cautious.
But once he remembered that it was the captain who gave the order, he had no more complaints.

“Damn it.”

He could only curse inwardly and endure it.

“Boss, how much farther do we have to go?”
“At this pace, probably a day or two more.”

If they used their internal energy to sprint, they could cover the distance in less than an hour.
But since they were practically crawling, it would take that long.

Hearing this, the man sighed and cursed again.

“Damn it.”

This seemed to irritate the leader, who frowned once more.

“Stop complaining and just follow. We’re only observing from a distance, so it’s not like it’s dangerous.”

The captain’s only order had been to monitor the targets and track their route.
They weren’t asked to infiltrate or ambush, so it wasn’t a particularly risky mission.

“What if we get caught? It’s not exactly safe, is it?”

It wasn’t entirely without danger.

“You really want to piss me off? Why do you keep saying annoying things?”

Frustrated, the leader pulled something out from his robe and showed it to the man.

“As long as we have this, there’s no risk of being caught.”

In his hand was a deep green, round orb.
It didn’t seem to have any special features, aside from being about the size of a man’s fist.

That orb, however, was a gwi-mul—a rare treasure.

A treasure that erased the presence of anyone within its vicinity.

The captain had said that as long as they had it, even martial artists of the hwarang level wouldn’t easily detect them. And with gimak layered on top, there was no way they could be caught.

Unless, of course, there happened to be one of the monsters from the outer heavens, commonly referred to as the Cheonwhaecheon, in the Tang Clan’s convoy.

“We’ve been told it’s just the head of the Tang Clan and a few other family leaders. So why are you so nervous?”
“Still…”
“Ha, damn it. If you’re so scared, why don’t you go back to the mountains? But then the captain will kill you. Can you handle that?”
“...”
“Let’s just do what we were told. If you don’t try anything stupid, it’ll be fine. But if you say one more word, I’ll bury you right here, understand?”

The leader turned his head, fuming.
Hearing that, the man said no more. After all, what could he do when threatened with being buried alive?

‘...Something doesn’t feel right.’

The man felt uneasy.
No matter how powerful the treasure was, this wasn’t just anywhere—it was the convoy of the Poison King, one of the most dangerous figures in the martial world.

If something went wrong, they might rot and die.
How could he not be worried?

He hadn’t joined these bandits to die.

As he continued to agonize, the man finally steeled himself and was about to speak to the leader again, even if it meant being scolded.

“Boss… I don’t know, but—”

Fwoosh!

He saw a spark of flame.
They had been careful not to carry torches to avoid detection, so what was that flame?

As the unexpected situation unfolded, the man was caught off guard.

At that moment—

Crack!

The sound of something breaking came from behind.

Startled, he quickly turned around to look.

“…!”

What he saw made his eyes widen.
The others who had been following behind him were already lying on the ground, their necks broken.

One was on his knees, his mouth covered by an unknown figure.

Amidst the chaos, the man caught a clear glimpse of their attacker’s appearance.

The figure hadn’t even bothered to hide their face.
It was impossible to miss them, especially since flames were subtly flickering from their body.

Seeing the face, the man’s brow furrowed.

‘…A kid?’

The attacker looked incredibly young.

The leader noticed it too.

“W-who the hell are you?!”

The leader unsheathed his sword and tried to muster his energy.
But the young man seemed entirely uninterested, merely glancing at them with cold eyes.

Then he spoke.

“Three, huh.”
“…What?”
“Yeah, three will do. Burn two, and the last one will talk.”

The young man said this with an eerie calmness, before—

Crunch!

“Mmmph!!”

He crushed the leg of the man he had been holding, without the slightest hesitation.

“You bastard…!”

Seeing this, the leader charged at the young man.
Yet the young man’s gaze remained fixed on the first man, not even moving.

“Boss…! Wait…!”

Seeing this, the man tried to stop the leader in a panic.

But it was too late.
The leader had already charged at the young man.

In the same calm voice, the young man continued speaking.

“I need to get back before dawn, so I don’t have much time. Let’s finish this quickly.”

And with that, a scream echoed from the leader.

Something had gone terribly wrong, the man realized instantly.

But that wasn’t the only problem.

The man soon understood.

What he should have been afraid of wasn’t the Poison King—
It was someone else entirely.