“What’s that, then? Who is that guy?”

Kwon glared at Yang Dang and asked.

“An uneliminated ronin.”

“You should have eliminated him! The original plan was to only hand over the woman and child, wasn’t it?”

“I’ll take care of it.”

“Do it right now!”

Yang Dang drew his sword and walked toward me. He was confident that he could defeat me. With my youthful face, how much arrogance and misconception would it inspire? How many Yang Dangs would it summon?

“He’s obviously a useless wanderer who betrayed his master. Do you think he’ll get his money properly? He’ll probably kill everyone and pocket the money meant for you.”

At this, Kwon’s eyes blazed with fury.

“What? A useless wanderer who betrayed his master?”

“I kept it civil since the child is here.”

Kwon chuckled in disbelief.

“This one’s completely insane.”

“You got flustered because I hit the mark, didn’t you? You were going to kill that guy and pocket the money, right? Don’t do it, that guy killed all his comrades and came here.”

Kwon’s face turned red, unable to hide his true feelings.

“You bastard ronin!”

Kwon shouted at his subordinates.

“Kill that bastard first!”

Three masked men stepped forward.

“Look, he said kill that bastard first. Doesn’t that mean you’re next after me?”

Yang Dang couldn’t hide his confusion upon hearing this.

“Even if I run, I’m still going to get paid.”

Yang Dang, taking a step back, was suddenly startled.

“What the hell are you talking about? When have I ever run away?”

He snapped angrily, but that very moment—

Kwon’s surprise attack—a thrown dagger—cut through the air. Yang Dang couldn’t avoid it, and the dagger struck him straight on. He collapsed immediately.

“You fool, handling things like this.”

I spoke as I stared at the dead Yang Dang.

“If you live like that, this is what happens. Your turn will come too.”

This time, I addressed Kwon.

“You’re just like him. You should have kept one of them alive to have me fight him. What’s going to happen if you kill everyone in a fit of rage? Do you really think you can survive long like that, without controlling your anger?”

“When are you going to stop flapping your mouth?”

Kwon shouted, and the three masked men drew their swords, approaching me.

Indeed, these men were skilled enough to not need Yang Dang alive as a shield.

I gestured for the woman to cover the child’s eyes. She quickly shielded the boy’s eyes and ears with her arms.

I didn’t drag out the fight.

Before they could attack, I took the first move.

I activated Wind Sky Sect’s famed Mingwang Step.

Although it was barely at the first step, the effect was enough to turn my opponents into infants in comparison.

They had no chance to even defend themselves. In the blink of an eye, I had closed the distance and, just as they realized I was right in front of them, their throats were slit.

I saw the second masked man’s eyes widen in shock. If I could read his thoughts, I would imagine them to be something like, ‘What’s happening...’ before his neck was also cut.

The third masked man, even though two of his companions had died, couldn’t react properly.

In reality, the time that had passed was almost none—it hadn’t even taken the time to blink.

With my martial arts combined with Wind Sky Sect’s Mingwang Step, their level of skill would be powerless, even if they had been preparing for a hundred years. Just like before, I struck the third masked man, delving into his defenses with Mingwang Step and slicing him down with Radiant Sword Art.

Kwon stared at me with an expression of shock. In his eyes, three sword flashes had simultaneously cut through, and his subordinates likely appeared to fall in unison.

“Fast swordsmanship?”

“I didn’t even use fast swordsmanship, but I guess it appeared that way to your eyes.”

“W-What are you?”

Kwon’s voice trembled with fear.

Instead of answering, I asked the woman.

“Who is this person?”

“He’s Kwon Won, one of the vassals who protected our family. I’m Kim Sa-yeon, the daughter of the Golden Manor’s master.”

“Golden Manor!”

I reacted in surprise, but I already knew who she was.

Her father was Kim Ah-soo, one of the top ten merchants in Central Plains and the richest man in Fujian, the owner of Golden Manor.

That was the reason I had traveled such a long way.

The rebellion of Golden Manor.

The incident Im Choo had told me about was exactly that—where the master of Golden Manor was betrayed by his most trusted vassal and lost his life.

As fate would have it, Kim Sa-yeon had avoided Kwon Won’s grasp due to a change in schedules, and she had hired ronins to escape, but ultimately, they all lost their lives.

“I’d like to hire a swordsman. Please, help us.”

“The situation has changed, so my price has gone up.”

“That’s a relief. No matter how expensive your price is, we can afford it. Please, kill this man and save my father.”

At that moment, Kwon Won begged me.

“Please spare me and join our side. I’ll speak to my lord and have him offer you more money than that woman!”

“You’ll offer more money than the daughter of the Golden Manor? How?”

At that, Kwon Won was momentarily speechless.

I walked toward him and coldly chastised him.

“You were a vassal, right? Then your place should be in front of the woman and child.”

Kwon Won desperately tried to avoid my sword, but the difference in our skills couldn’t be covered by a frantic struggle to survive.

My sword, cutting through Kwon Won’s bones and flesh, pierced his heart.

He fell with a scream, and at his death, Kim Sa-yeon sighed in relief. Of course, the child’s eyes and ears remained firmly covered.

I searched through Kwon Won and the masked men’s belongings, retrieving the dagger that had been used in the attack. There would be plenty of enemies where I was headed.

“Let’s go.”

“We must take Yang-i to a safe place first.”

I climbed onto the driver’s seat and spoke.

“Get in. Right now, the safest place is by my side.”

Kim Sa-yeon hesitated for only a moment. She had seen my skills firsthand, and given that she would have been dead by now without me, her choice was clear.

She took the child and climbed onto the wagon, which quickly turned around and sped back the way we came.

Lyu Xiang.

The head of the Golden Manor’s protective family, and the mastermind behind today’s betrayal.

He had been preparing for this day for ten long years. Over that time, he had coaxed the main warriors of Golden Manor, eliminated some under the guise of accidents, and sent those who were impossible to sway or eliminate far away.

He thought he had succeeded perfectly—until I appeared with Kim Sa-yeon and the child.

When Kim Sa-yeon and the child stepped out of the wagon, Lyu Xiang smiled brightly. He mistook the capture of the two for a success.

“Hahahaha!”

If he had failed to capture them, he would never have been able to sleep peacefully again.

“Where is Kwon Won?”

He thought I was one of Kwon Won’s subordinates.

“He’s dead. Everyone except me is dead.”

He likely sensed the unease in my tone but was more interested in his next question.

“To whom?”

“A young, handsome, mysterious master.”

“What?”

Lyu Xiang yelled in disbelief.

“You pathetic fool! What kind of idiotic praise are you giving the enemy?”

“Because it’s the truth.”

“Fine, I’ll accept that. But how did you survive...”

Lyu Xiang faltered, then quickly realized.

“So it’s you!”

I simply gave him a faint smile in response.

Lyu Xiang shouted and called his subordinates. They quickly surrounded me and the wagon.

“After rescuing the woman and child, you should have fled far away, not come back to the tiger’s den.”

I looked around.

“Where’s the tiger? Only the dogs who bite their masters are here.”

Lyu Xiang and those surrounding us radiated killing intent. They were his subordinates and the traitors from Golden Manor’s warriors. The guilt they felt made their anger colder and their consciences clouded.

Kim Sa-yeon, standing beside the wagon, held her son tightly. Despite the fear-inducing situation, she didn’t show any signs of panic. She understood that only the strong can afford to remain calm and, being a merchant’s daughter, she was quick to sense the situation. She took her son back into the wagon to give me space to fight comfortably.

Lyu Xiang, feeling the difference in our abilities, was now being overly cautious.

“Who are you, swordsman? Let’s go inside and have a drink, shall we? I’ll treat you to the finest liquor.”

“You don’t need to be so polite. Stop pretending to be kind. I won’t spare you, even if you beg. So go ahead, curse me, do whatever you want.”

Lyu Xiang, realizing his attempt to placate me was futile, coldly gave orders.

“Attack together and kill him!”

He emphasized the word “together.”

At his command, they rushed in from all sides.

With the sound of a refreshing wind, daggers flew from my hands. By the time they thought to dodge or deflect, the daggers had already pierced their vitals, and the attacking warriors dropped one by /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ one.

The flying daggers I used were taught to me by the Flying Knife Master, Seo Mun-cheol. I had never encountered a better dagger technique before or after, so it was a martial art I could carry with me for life.

As the last dagger dropped, the surviving men looked thrilled for a brief moment, deluding themselves into thinking I was merely a master of flying knives.

I drew my sword and charged at them. Their skills ranged from intermediate to advanced, but against my Radiant Sword Art, they couldn’t show any true distinction.

As I swept through the area, all of the enemies fell, and Lyu Xiang’s face grew pale.

“Who are you, great swordsman?”

The blood-soaked sword made me the great swordsman.

“A great swordsman? I’m just a wandering swordsman who smells money along the way.”

“How much money do you have?”

“Enough to change a person’s life.”

“Someone with so much money—why are you doing this? If you wanted to change your life, you should’ve spent your money. Why meddle with someone else’s money? The money of the very master you served?”

Lyu Xiang, unable to find a valid answer, clenched his lips in frustration.

At that moment, one of his subordinates appeared, holding a sword to Kim Ah-soo’s neck as he stepped out from the back building.

It seemed his subordinates had tried to stage a hostage situation to force me into submission, but seeing this, Lyu Xiang sighed in despair.

He had tried to hide Kim Ah-soo and negotiate with me, but his fool of a subordinate had brought him out. With the situation already set in motion, Lyu Xiang shouted at me, pressing me further.

“Drop your sword! Or else the Golden Manor’s master dies!”

In an instant, a sharp sword qi tore through the air.

The Flame Heaven Strike of the Radiant Sword Art.

It was a rough and savage sword technique, but with the added power of the Dark Demon Sword, the force of the blow was so overwhelming that it could make even the heavens tremble.

The swirling sword qi cut through the subordinate and struck.

Kim Ah-soo had been using his body to shield, but in an instant, he was gone, leaving only his lifeless form standing.

Lyu Xiang, seeing that he had no more leverage, quickly drew his sword and attacked in a desperate attempt.