Jin Cheongha, who had been stunned by Kwak Yeon’s murderous tableau, snapped back to her senses.

‘I have to find that old assassin right now.’

Jin Cheongha rapidly scanned the hellish chaos.

Before long, she spotted someone forcing their way against the massive current of people trying to flee the slaughter site at any cost.

It was the very old assassin who had escaped the alley.

The old assassin had tied off one loose sleeve and was advancing toward Taoist Kwak, pretending to be someone lost and wandering in the confusion.

The assassin had taken off the pack sack she had been carrying on her back and was holding it in her left hand, and Jin Cheongha caught a glimpse of a flame burning quickly down a fuse.

‘I have to tell Taoist Kwak right now!’

It was the moment Jin Cheongha was about to use Sound Transmission toward Kwak Yeon.

—BANG-BANG-BANG!

A crowd surged right up to her and blocked her view.

Because of that, Jin Cheongha couldn’t use Sound Transmission to Kwak Yeon immediately.

*****

Hidden Moon Forest’s First Kill Sa Gwirang, when she barely made it out of the alley, saw what was unfolding before her eyes and couldn’t believe it.

The Dark Cavern Taoist had torn open the barricade of the five-colored flags and revealed himself.

Those five-colored flags were instruments woven from Celestial Silkworm Thread, said to be tougher than wire made from ten-thousand-year cold iron.

And he had torn those Celestial Silkworm Thread flags like bolts of silk.

Even after that, the blue Steel Aura rising from the Dark Cavern Taoist’s Cheonggang Sword didn’t tremble even slightly.

The Dark Cavern Taoist cut down the remaining five-colored flags and the flag bearers in less than the blink of an eye.

Watching that, First Kill Sa Gwirang realized the Dark Cavern Taoist’s realm was at least the Middle Stage of the Transformation Realm.

The chaos the spectators caused—after seeing the Dark Cavern Taoist butcher the flag bearers—was, for First Kill Sa Gwirang, her last remaining hope.

If not for that, there would have been no way to approach the Dark Cavern Taoist at all.

To seize that last chance, First Kill Sa Gwirang loosened the sack pack she had been carrying on her back and gripped it in her left hand.

Then she pursed her lips and let out a sharp signal call.

—FWEEEEET!

It was directed at the surviving musicians—the Hidden Moon Forest Sound Arts Squad—who were still alive because they had been a step away from the flag bearers.

At First Kill’s kill-yourself order, the Hidden Moon Forest Sound Arts members began playing all at once.

—BOOM! CLANG! TWEEDLE-LE-LEE! BOOM! CLANG! TWEEDLE-LE-LEE!

The musicians drew up all their inner power true qi and unfolded Sound Arts as they surrounded the Dark Cavern Taoist.

—BOOM-BOOM! CLANG-CLANG! TWEEDLE-LE-TWEEDLE-LE-LEE!

As the instrument sounds intensified, the musicians’ faces turned bright red.

It meant they were dragging their inner power true qi up to the limit and spewing it out.

—SPIT! SPUURT!

In the end, some of the musicians even began spraying blood from their noses and ears.

Even so, the musicians did not stop their true-qi-laden playing.

Following First Kill’s kill-yourself order to meet their end here, they were unfolding Sound Arts with death already accepted.

—BOOM-BOOM-BOOM! CLANG-CLANG-CLANG! TWEE-LEE-TWEEDLE-LEE-TWEEDLE-LE-LEE!

Perhaps because of that, the Dark Cavern Taoist’s body flinched to a stop.

First Kill Sa Gwirang did not miss the chance.

The Dark Cavern Taoist would soon break the Sound Arts that had reached its peak—so First Kill Sa Gwirang tossed the sack pack full of iron balls between the musicians’ legs.

—HISS-HISS-HISSSS!

A bone-dry fuse was burning down, and smoke was leaking out of the sack pack, but the amount was extremely slight.

For the Dark Cavern Taoist, focused on resisting Sound Arts, it would be hard to notice.

A thick smile rose at the corner of First Kill Sa Gwirang’s lips.

Inside those iron balls was deathly gunpowder she had obtained from the western Parsa Kingdom, paying ten thousand gold.

Azure Phosphor Exhaustive-Flame Demon Fire!

Once it caught, it was a hellfire that could not be extinguished by any method.

Hidden Moon Forest had secretly gathered all of its Azure Phosphor Exhaustive-Flame Demon Fire over decades, and mobilized it all for this Aju “release” operation.

It was questionable why Hidden Moon Forest had to use even that object—kept as a secret reserve as a final measure—just to eliminate a single Dark Cavern Taoist, but First Kill only followed the Forest Lord’s orders.

When the iron balls inside the sack pack detonated all at once, everything within thirty zhang would become a sea of flames of Azure Phosphor Exhaustive-Flame Demon Fire in an instant.

Even the world’s absolute masters had no way to extinguish Azure Phosphor Exhaustive-Flame Demon Fire once it clung to the body, so the Dark Cavern Taoist’s life was already forfeit.

Even First Kill Sa Gwirang doubted whether she herself could escape the blast radius in time.

She had chosen the longest fuse and lit it, but because such a large quantity of gunpowder would explode all at once, she couldn’t be sure.

And since the main road was packed with crowds who had come to watch the acrobat troupe, the chances were even lower.

‘Either way, I can only do my best....’

First Kill Sa Gwirang pulled up her inner power true qi and was about to sprint when she spotted Jin Cheongha standing at the mouth of the alley.

Seeing Jin Cheongha cup both hands to her mouth, it was clear she was sending Sound Transmission to someone.

And without even eavesdropping, First Kill Sa Gwirang knew what it was.

Jin Cheongha had definitely been watching her actions.

First Kill Sa Gwirang’s mouth twisted.

‘You bitch, you’re already far too late.’

First Kill Sa Gwirang was satisfied.

Even if she couldn’t escape the blast radius, she would be able to go to hell together with that pretty enemy bitch who had taken her right arm.

First Kill Sa Gwirang shuddered, feeling again the exhilaration of her first murder—when she had crushed a courtesan’s skull.

*****

Hu Gae threw down the corpse of the Fifth Kill assassin he had been holding the instant Kwak Yeon tore open the five-colored flags and revealed himself.

—FWEEEEET!

The sharp signal call, followed by the musicians’ playing—momentarily halted—growing loud again, was ominous.

He wanted to charge over at once and help Kwak Yeon, but forcing his way through the spectators tangled in panic was no easy thing.

“Damn it! Everyone, calm down. That man won’t hurt anyone!”

It was then, as Hu Gae was tearing into the wall of people—

—Sub-Branch Master, there are Heaven-Shaking Thunders at Taoist Kwak’s feet!

Hu Gae heard Jin Cheongha’s urgent Sound Transmission and his heart dropped.

—Not one or two. There’s a whole sack full.

Hu Gae immediately understood that because Jin Cheongha had been blocked by the crowd, she had sent Sound Transmission to him instead of Kwak Yeon.

Because he was not far from Kwak Yeon.

Even a single Heaven-Shaking Thunder’s killing power was enormous. Otherwise, why would it be designated as one of the Murim’s Ten Forbidden Weapons?

‘And a whole pile of Heaven-Shaking Thunders....’

Hu Gae drew up his inner power true qi and roared like thunder.

“Kwak brother! There are Heaven-Shaking Thunders at your feet!”

It was the Beggar Clan’s lion’s roar called the Mad-Beast Driving Tiger Voice—said to drive off a pack of rabid dogs with a single shout.

That ear-splitting single cry stunned everyone on the main road.

It was because the Beggar Clan Sub-Branch Master’s deep internal-force skill was packed into it, making it feel as if someone had shouted right beside their ears.

Even to Kwak Yeon, who was under a concentrated assault of Sound Arts, Hu Gae’s lion’s roar naturally reached him.

“Get out of there now!”

Only then did Kwak Yeon grasp the identity of the sack pack a couple of steps away.

He had only thought it was something that had rolled in—something dropped by someone among the spectators shocked by the sudden bloodshed.

“Move!”

Hu Gae’s lion’s roar urging him again was rough and hoarse.

It meant Hu Gae was so frantic he couldn’t properly control his energy.

And that also meant the Heaven-Shaking Thunders were about to detonate.

Sure enough, soft smoke began seeping out of the sack pack.

Kwak Yeon had also heard of the terror of Heaven-Shaking Thunders.

A fire weapon that could massacre warriors across a whole area with just one.

Judging by the size of the sack pack, it wasn’t one or two.

‘If those detonate all at once right here...?’

He couldn’t even spare attention for the musicians unfolding Sound Arts. The musicians would soon collapse and die on their own after exhausting their true qi.

The problem was the spectators in panic.

Dozens—no, hundreds—of civilians would lose their lives.

‘I have to stop it. How...? Ah.’

Kwak Yeon reached out toward one flag lying on the ground.

It was the void-grasping he had realized while training Qi-Ridden Sword.

—FLUTTER! THWACK!

The moment Kwak Yeon caught the flagpole, he swung it open. Then, with the opened flag, he covered the sack pack.

Seeing inner power true qi clinging to the assassins’ flags, Kwak Yeon had already known those flags were instruments made from an extremely special fabric.

And as he had torn the flags with sword aura, he had also learned they were tougher than steel.

Now that he was gripping the pole, he felt the pole itself—ice-cold—was forged from a special metal.

‘So that’s why it was easy to load them with inner power true qi.’

If he loaded his own inner power true qi into such an instrument flag, maybe he could block the Heaven-Shaking Thunder’s explosive force.

In truth, it was also because there was no other method.

“Kwak brother, are you out of your mind?!”

Kwak Yeon ignored Hu Gae’s cry that was close to a scream and raised Honwonmusang qi.

FWAAAH!

Honwonmusang qi surged more fiercely than it ever had before.

—ZZZIIING!

With a violent resonant hum, blue Steel Aura flowed along the pole, then seeped into the flag wrapping the sack pack and spread in a rippling sheet.

The instant the entire flag shimmered with a blue radiance, a blast like it split the earth erupted.

—KRAAAANG!

Immediately after, a roar as if the sky were collapsing shook the main road.

—KWAAANG!

*****

Hidden Moon Forest’s First Kill Sa Gwirang clenched her eyes shut at the fierce explosion behind her.

‘It’s over.’

Her feet had slowed because of the spectators, and she hadn’t even escaped half the blast radius.

Now the storm of blue flames would soon swallow her and burn her away.

Huuuh.

First Kill Sa Gwirang drew in a deep breath—her last in this world—and counted in her head.

‘One, two...?’

First Kill Sa Gwirang was dumbfounded.

‘Two?’

Realizing something was wrong, First Kill Sa Gwirang whipped her head around.

“......?”

There was no hellfire swallowing the main road.

—RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE!

The buildings along the road were shaking, roof tiles crashing down in cascades, and people were collapsing to the ground screaming—so it was certain that the Azure Phosphor Exhaustive-Flame Demon Fire had detonated.

But then why was there no hellfire?

First Kill Sa Gwirang could see the Dark Cavern Taoist standing beyond the people slumped on the road.

And in front of him, she saw a Celestial Silkworm Thread flag swollen taut.

“No way...?”

First Kill Sa Gwirang stared, aghast, at the blue radiance surging repeatedly from the Celestial Silkworm Thread flag.

The Dark Cavern Taoist was wrapping and containing the detonation of the Azure Phosphor Exhaustive-Flame Demon Fire inside his own Steel Aura.

Was that even possible?

First Kill Sa Gwirang realized she was asking a truly foolish question.

‘As if I’m not seeing it with my own eyes.’

First Kill Sa Gwirang understood then: Hidden Moon Forest’s Forest Lord had made a catastrophic miscalculation.

Even if Hidden Moon Forest mobilized its entire organization, that Dark Cavern Taoist was a being who could not be assassinated.

First Kill Sa Gwirang threw away all lingering attachment to the Dark Cavern Taoist.

She was an assassin who killed people.

So there was no reason to feel responsibility for failure or any frustration toward something beyond that.

Now, for First Kill Sa Gwirang, only one goal remained—survival.

The reason she was desperate to survive and return was to ask the Hidden Moon Forest’s Forest Lord.

She wanted to know why such a preposterous kill order had been issued.

Of course, whether she could hear the answer before dying by the Forest Lord’s hand was uncertain, but she couldn’t endure not asking.

Because she had realized the one million taels of gold the Alliance of the Demonic Path had posted as a Public Contract was only a nominal reason.

Because of the one she had seen—the one who had opened the city gate so they could enter Aju County City.