Baek Cheonggyeong stared at the puppet.

Geom Mugeuk focused on the change in his expression. Was it caused by the puppet? His previously vacant eyes cleared, showing the moment of clarity before death.

Baek Cheonggyeong’s unexpected reaction was to laugh upon seeing the puppet.

“Why do you laugh?”

His gaze shifted from the puppet to Geom Mugeuk.

“I should have taught you how to carve properly when you asked.”

It meant the puppet was poorly made.

Geom Mugeuk smiled.

“For a first work, isn’t this quite good?”

“Don’t go around claiming I taught you.”

Though he spoke clearly, blood kept flowing from his mouth. He didn’t even realize he was coughing up blood. Geom Mugeuk felt sorry. He didn’t want to kill him.

“I feel dizzy.”

As Baek Cheonggyeong’s body slowly crumbled, the surrounding trees began to retreat underground. The two were freed from the sealed space created by the last secret technique, and sunlight fell on Baek Cheonggyeong’s pale face.

“Just tell me if it’s that person!”

Kneeling, Baek Cheonggyeong looked at the surrounding grass. As his life faded, the nearby plants withered and died.

“You gave me hell… so why should I tell you anything?”

It wasn’t just resentment for being killed. It was hell to die suspecting he might have lived as someone’s puppet for the past ten years.

He lifted his head and looked at the wooden puppets standing around. Those puppets were also losing their vitality. The ones he had carved for ten years were not carved for him?

“...Don’t talk nonsense.”

He denied Geom Mugeuk’s words.

The grass and trees around them swayed violently as if a strong wind had blown. Though his anger fueled it, it looked like they mourned his death.

Geom Mugeuk slowly walked forward and sat facing him. Their eyes met.

“I will take revenge. I will take revenge for you as well. So tell me!”

Geom Mugeuk knew that the more desperate he was, the angrier Baek Cheonggyeong would become. But he had no choice. Whether Baek Cheonggyeong listened was too important.

Baek Cheonggyeong’s eyes began to close.

“No! Don’t die!”

Geom Mugeuk placed his palm on Baek Cheonggyeong’s chest and poured internal energy. When Baek Cheonggyeong coughed, blood splattered on Geom Mugeuk’s face and body, but he did not stop.

Baek Cheonggyeong opened his eyes again.

“Yes... you said you want revenge too, right?”

Geom Mugeuk again held out the puppet before him. Without a word, Baek Cheonggyeong understood—the face carved on the puppet was Geom Mugeuk’s enemy.

Finally, Baek Cheonggyeong spoke the truth.

“Your revenge has nothing to do with me. The one who approached me… wasn’t that person.”

Geom Mugeuk was shocked.

“Not that person?”

“He didn’t look like this.”

In his final moments, he did not seem to be lying.

“Then who? How do I meet that person?”

But Baek Cheonggyeong said nothing more. The last person he thought of before death was Jin Ha Ryeong.

“…I’m sorry to Ha Ryeong.”

His face held deep regret.

“If I don’t return on time, I told her to kill me.”

Geom Mugeuk was startled and shouted urgently.

“Where is she?”

He hadn’t expected that Baek Cheonggyeong might have ordered her death.

“…It’s already too late.”

“Where?”

Using his last strength, Baek Cheonggyeong looked to one side. At the same moment, Geom Mugeuk flashed and flew there with the Quick Step.

“…To that child, I will at least apologize in the afterlife.”

With those words, Baek Cheonggyeong lowered his head.

As he died, all the surrounding trees withered and died with him.

Only the wooden puppets, now completely lifeless, silently witnessed his death.

The moment Jin Ha Ryeong saw Chorim enter the room, her heart sank. Chorim’s gaze was different from usual. If only it had been filled with murderous intent—it wasn’t. Instead, it carried regret.

“You came to kill me.”

Chorim admitted calmly. Since the master’s order was given, he had to kill her.

“I bear you no personal grudge.”

For the first time, Jin Ha Ryeong felt death. Me? I’m going to die? It didn’t feel real.

“I don’t want to die in such a stifling place. Let me see the sky once before I die.”

When Chorim hesitated to answer, she pleaded again.

“Please.”

“All right.”

Just as Chorim turned and opened the door, Jin Ha Ryeong lunged forward.

Shiiik! Pa-at!

She swung what she had in her hand and stabbed Chorim’s neck. What she held was a wooden nail from the bed.

Chorim sensed it narrowly missed as he dodged, then she kicked the door open and threw herself outside.

Rolling on the floor, she jumped up to run but stopped.

From a shack behind, Chorim emerged, touching his neck.

Blood trickled from the wound, but it wasn’t deep. Chorim was a master, and even with the surprise, killing him without internal energy was not easy.

Though he walked out from behind, Jin Ha Ryeong did not run. Or rather, she couldn’t.

Dozens of martial artists waited at the door.

Jin Ha Ryeong turned to Chorim.

“What exactly do you understand? I’m the one dying, not you. You act all polite to ease your conscience? You’re worse than a cowardly thug.”

“I understand everything.”

“All right, if you truly understand me…”

Jin Ha Ryeong raised the wooden nail. Even with her internal energy suppressed, she had no intention of dying while looking at the sky.

“You’re not seriously going to kill me with my internal energy suppressed, right? Let me go; let’s fight properly.”

Even if she released her internal energy, the odds of survival were slim with so many enemies. Still, she tried whatever she could.

“If you release your internal energy, I’ll fight with this. The subordinates are watching; you should act like a leader.”

Trying to provoke his pride to make him release his internal energy, but Chorim had no intention of doing so.

“I’m the strongest Late Stage Earth Spirit in Hubei. How could I recklessly release my internal energy and lose control?”

“So what? Are you going to kill a woman holding a wooden nail while her internal energy is suppressed like a coward?”

Even if she died, she wouldn’t go quietly. She’d scratch his pride and hurt his feelings.

Chorim said with slight irritation,

“That makes me feel a bit better.”

Jin Ha Ryeong charged. Despite her suppressed internal energy, she was skilled enough to reach the finals of the So-Ryong Jeon. The wooden nail stabbed sharply through the air. Naturally, she aimed for vital spots like the eyes or neck, capable of quickly subduing an opponent.

After over ten exchanges, Chorim’s fist landed squarely on Jin Ha Ryeong’s face.

Pow!

Jin Ha Ryeong collapsed.

“Sorry. I just hit the face of Hubei’s Number One Beauty.”

The watching subordinates burst into laughter. Both Chorim and the subordinates enjoyed the moment.

Rubbing her face, Jin Ha Ryeong got up from the ground.

“Live honestly from now on. This is who you are. Kidnapping, hitting, killing, laughing, and mocking.”

Chorim did not deny it. She was not a good person. Neither were any of those present. They were all criminals on the run, harboring deep hatred for the Murim Alliance, people who couldn’t live in the light. Otherwise, they couldn’t have hidden here for the past ten years.

Baek Cheonggyeong promised to pardon everyone’s crimes after killing the Murim Alliance Leader.

Shiiik! Shk!

Jin Ha Ryeong’s attack cut only empty air.

Among the laughter of the watchers, Jin Ha Ryeong aimed for just one move.

A lucky strike.

But Chorim’s skill was not something luck could save.

Pow!

This time, she was hit in the stomach and fell. It hurt too much to stand, but she immediately got up and charged again.

After playing with her a few more times, Chorim tried to finish it. Vines sprouted from the floor, binding her arms and legs tightly, immobilizing her.

Chorim raised his hand, and a leaf flew into it from somewhere.

It had been an ordinary leaf in the air, but in his hand, it emanated a chilling aura.

“Your death will not be in vain. You will become fertilizer for these trees after death.”

Jin Ha Ryeong spat coldly.

“Why? You disgusting scum won’t even be fertilizer.”

At those words, Chorim revealed his true nature. With a wicked look, he said to her,

“If not for the order to treat you politely and never touch you, we all would have died loved.”

Regret flickered across Chorim’s face. Jin Ha Ryeong, understanding its meaning, felt the deepest murderous intent in her life. She truly wanted to kill him. Dying by such a one was an unbearable injustice.

Chorim raised the leaf sword to sever her neck.

Even in her final moment, Jin Ha Ryeong did not close her eyes but stared at him steadily. She tried not to show fear, but despair filled her heart.

‘So this is how I die.’

She hadn’t expected her end to be like this. At least she thought she would die with dignity, unlike this.

She wished for a noble death reflecting on her past life. Thinking of her grandfather and older brother mourning her only made her angrier.

Losing her granddaughter after her child would break her grandfather’s heart beyond words. Her older brother would lose the only person he trusted.

If this was done to her, she was ready to harm those people in return.

That thought led her to remember Geom Mugeuk.

‘You’re the only one I can trust.’

Remembering him at the last moment, she faced death.

Just as the leaf sword flew to sever her neck—

Swaaaaash!

With a wind-shredding sound, a scream burst out.

Pah pah pah pah pah!

A huge great sword swept through the warriors, flying toward them.

Chorim slashed through his subordinates and dodged backward as the great sword flew by.

Bang!

The great sword crashed into the rear stone wall.

Startled, Chorim looked toward the direction from which the sword came. A path had opened among the subordinates, with a dozen or so of them collapsed, covered in blood.

“Raise the Iron Wood Defense Wall!”

Tsrurrururuk!

Wood rose from the ground toward the direction the sword came and began forming a shield.

The wall erected before Chorim was the largest and thickest. The one who built it then approached Jin Ha Ryeong.

“No matter what, I will kill you!”

At that moment, Jin Ha Ryeong saw—

From the opposite side of the great sword embedded behind Chorim, someone lightly flew toward them.

The movement was so light and nimble that not even the sound of wind was heard.

When that person landed just behind Chorim, only then did Chorim sense their presence and turned around.

What he saw was a single line.

Shiiiiiiik!

A swift slash of a sword cut his neck, sending his head flying.

Chorim could not even utter a death scream. His head fell.

The person who appeared before the fallen Chorim was none other than Ian.

The flying great sword was Hyeol Cheondoma’s Myeol Cheondae Great Sword.

Ian had been clinging to the back of the great sword as it flew. Because the sword was larger than a person, she had been missed flying alongside on the opposite side.

It was possible because of Hyeol Cheondoma’s internal energy, and Ian’s skill had reached the Composition Stage of the Bicheon Sword Technique.

Upon Chorim’s death, one of the warriors shouted as if having a seizure.

“Kill those bitches first!”

They charged at Jin Ha Ryeong and Ian. Ian had no time to release Jin Ha Ryeong’s internal energy.

Ian cut down the charging warriors. When she had cut down four in a row, the enemy changed tactics. They exploited her effort to protect Jin Ha Ryeong as a weakness.

“Release sword energy!”

The warriors who could wield sword energy all released it simultaneously.

Ian shouted to Jin Ha Ryeong,

“Behind me!”

They must not get hit. To save Jin Ha Ryeong, Ian had to dispel all incoming sword energy.

Swaaaaash!

More than a dozen sword energies surged toward Ian. She lacked confidence to block them all at once but did not dodge. She could not allow Jin Ha Ryeong to die.

At the critical moment—

Shiiik!

Puuuk!

Something dropped and stuck in front of the two women, blocking the «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» flying sword energies.

Bang! Kwang! Kwa kwa! Kwaaang!

The sword energies struck repeatedly but could not break or pierce it and were all dispelled.

Ian saw a massive great sword standing guard. And the person who drove it in.

Amazingly, it was the Myeol Cheondae Great Sword.

Hyeol Cheondoma, who had flown there, pulled the great sword from the wall and stood firmly before the two.

At the same time, thunder roared and an explosion sounded.

Rurururung! Kwaaang!

The iron wood defense wall behind them shattered, and those nearby were swept away. The person who destroyed the supposedly indestructible iron wood defense wall with a single punch was none other than Gwun Ma.

Blood Cheondoma stood in front, Gwun Ma behind.

Someone among the enemy shouted upon seeing Gwun Ma.

“Kill that monster first!”

At the moment those words ended, Blood Cheondoma said briefly with a pitying expression,

“Tch.”

Blood Cheondoma pulled Ian and Jin Ha Ryeong—who had been outside the Myeol Cheondae Great Sword’s range—behind the great sword and into cover.

Then—

A thunderous sound pierced the ears.

Kururukwaaang!

For Ian and Jin Ha Ryeong, the thunder was the loudest and most terrifying they had ever heard. They wanted to cover their ears.

The next moment—

Huaaaaaaang!

A tremendous force of energy swept past beside the standing Myeol Cheondae Great Sword. Had Blood Cheondoma not held the great sword with both hands and refrained from channeling internal energy, it would have been uprooted and thrown away.

A single thunderclap.

And then silence.

Ian and Jin Ha Ryeong cautiously peeked outside the Myeol Cheondae Great Sword.

They were shocked by the scene outside.

No one had survived. Everyone present had been swept away and turned into corpses by the energy burst from the punch.

Gwun Ma stood alone, his great fist lowered.

Even Ian, on the same side, felt fear. The difference from training was vast. Ian now clearly saw why Cheonma trusted Gwun Ma the most among the Majon.

Blood Cheondoma pulled the Myeol Cheondae Great Sword from the ground and strapped it to his back, while Gwun Ma began walking toward them through the corpses.