I faced off against farmers, fishermen, pack merchants, woodcutters, hunters, Taoists, shirtless men, swordsmen, ugly men, scythe-wielders, scholars who looked like they couldn’t study, narrow-minded individuals, and many others.

I asked.

“Is it your dream to live an ordinary life, assassins?”

The clothes of the ones surrounding me were plain and everyday.

Still, just in case…

They might have come to challenge me to a game of water dumplings, so I asked anyway.

“Anyone here want to play water dumplings? No one?”

One of the Taoists, who was about to check his crossbow from his robes, stopped when he heard my words and put it away.

I locked eyes with the Taoist and nodded.

“It’s me. It’s me.”

They stood there, surrounding me, silently.

Based on the situation, they must have figured out my movements after I left the Black Cat Pavilion and headed to Myo-gae Mountain. Someone must have followed me to the mountain, noticed the presence of the martial arts alliance, and been shocked. Interestingly, they didn’t attack when I was with the Sword Demon, but as soon as I returned alone, they gathered like this.

In any case, these guys seemed to be waiting for someone.

While waiting with them, I tried to start a conversation.

“You can’t even laugh. Useless bastards who don’t even know how to play water dumplings.”

People like these, who lack composure and kindness, are usually like this.

That’s why they’re assassins.

I suddenly pointed at the one closest to me and spoke.

“But you….”

I launched my throat-slicing wind, and the sharp sound of it echoed as a hole appeared in the forehead of the man who had been in front of me. His head snapped back and he fell to the ground.

Thud…

Ilwido River Crossing doesn’t know my abilities.

Even if they did, in the past fifty days, I had focused on mastering the Moonlight Cold Heart Technique, which had increased my internal strength. It wasn’t just a gain, but the yin and yang combination had become more harmonious. The energy I had used in the past was different from now.

Looking at the body with the hole in its forehead, I said.

“Anyway, why is the leader not showing up? Tell him to come quickly.”

Before my words even ended, the encirclement began to shift, and a cane-wielding old man appeared from the rear. The man, whose entire body seemed wrinkled, looked like he was well over eighty, even if you tried to call him young.

I locked eyes with the old man.

“Old man, thank you for coming.”

The old man, in a hoarse voice, spoke.

“Haomun Lord, if you want to survive, prepare your wealth. Today, I’ll only give you medicine and leave. There will be no further negotiations.”

“You old bastard, you don’t even know how to negotiate. Can’t even talk properly. If you fight me here, won’t Ilwido River Crossing fall apart? What kind of confidence do you have with these miscellaneous assassins?”

The old man spoke.

“Hunter.”

“Yes.”

“Kill him.”

The hunter immediately pulled a hidden weapon from his robes and threw it at me. I dodged it with a slight motion of my head, and the hunter, leaping forward, drew his sword and lunged at me.

Originally, the distance between the hunter and me was about three zhang (9 meters).

The hunter closed the gap with a single leap, and when his sword was nearly upon me, I executed a sword strike with the Black Rabbit’s Fang.

Swish!

I slashed diagonally from his left armpit to his right shoulder.

Thwack!

It seemed my sword strike was fast enough that there was no scream, and he died without a sound. I sprinkled the blood on the Black Rabbit’s Fang onto the ground and sheathed the sword again.

“Next.”

The old man arranged the assassins like pieces on a chessboard and began to engage in a battle of wit with me.

Was he trying to wear me down with his subordinates to quickly make a deal?

I didn’t think it was a particularly good strategy.

Still, the strict hierarchy of Ilwido River Crossing left a strong impression on me.

The old man pondered for a moment and then spoke.

“Woodcutter.”

“Yes.”

“You take care of him carefully.”

Unlike the hunter, the woodcutter, whose muscles seemed honed for external strength, was large. He looked as if he could chop down a massive tree with just a few strikes. He dragged a giant axe across the ground as he approached me.

When I saw his gaze, posture, and muscles hardened from external training, I realized he was an assassin who focused on taking a limb and instantly ending the fight.

The woodcutter, having closed the distance, charged with the large axe in hand. Though his attack seemed reckless, his momentum was such that even a casual defense would likely be followed by a devastating strike with the axe.

The problem was that while I was dealing with him, other assassins from Ilwido River Crossing could easily ambush me.

‘Not a bad strategy after all.’

I decided to make my counterattack short and quick.

As the woodcutter approached, I struck with the remnants of my Moonlight Ice Power and precisely targeted his chest.

Thwack…!

The axe that came at me, slowed down by the ice power, was deflected, and I quickly struck the woodcutter’s upper body with the Moonlight Ice Power two more times, using the moon-slicing technique.

Tap!

The woodcutter let out a strange sound.

“Gk….”

He stiffened, staring at me.

I eyed my surroundings, took out the flash dagger, and thrust it into the woodcutter’s neck before pulling it out again.

Thud!

This time, the sound of a pig’s neck being slit echoed momentarily along the lakeshore.

I spoke to the old man.

“Old man, it looks like you’re testing my techniques by killing your subordinates. This kind of wheel combat is futile. Stop and have everyone come at me.”

The old man responded.

“Izaha, you even use Ice Power. Your only weapons are swords and daggers. No hidden weapons. Keep that in mind. You must cut off something, anything. Before you die, Izaha will die first.”

The assassins watching me replied in unison.

“Yes.”

“……”

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

Assassins typically train in stealth, waiting, and ambush techniques, ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) so perhaps they judged the situation unfavorable. Although I didn’t fully understand the old man’s intentions of sending them one by one, the orders continued.

“Fallen Scholar, Cold Scythe.”

“Yes.”

“Attack together.”

The scholar drew his sword, and the scythe-wielding assassin came forward as well. As the two approached slowly, I asked the old man.

“Old man, just have them all come at me.”

The old man grinned.

“Shut up.”

I quickly scanned the assassins in the encirclement. Perhaps the old man wasn’t the true leader of Ilwido River Crossing, and as I considered this, the Fallen Scholar and Cold Scythe’s attacks came at me.

I drew the Black Rabbit’s Fang and deflected their attacks, then, in close range, wrapped the Ice Power around my blade.

Whoosh!

The heat of the Ice Power, moving like plum blossoms scattering, attached to the bodies and weapons of the Fallen Scholar and Cold Scythe, burning them with a sizzling sound.

Seeing them panic, I took out the Flash Dagger again and used it to knock the Fallen Scholar and Cold Scythe back.

Boom!

The momentum of the two assassins’ strikes extended in a straight line.

With the Black Rabbit’s Fang, I infused the energy from the throat-slicing technique and slashed horizontally.

A perfectly straight sword energy flew toward the assassins in the encirclement.

Swishhh!

The response to the sword energy was varied.

At that moment, a farmer who looked unusually ordinary dissipated the sword energy with a single hand’s tension.

Meanwhile, the old man had swung his cane to deflect the sword energy away.

After sending out the sword energy and simultaneously checking, I realized that the farmer, dressed in shabby clothes, had deeper internal power than the old man.

I focused on the farmer and spoke.

“So, you're the one in charge here. You've been watching me like a rat from the start.”

As I chuckled, the assassins all silently closed their mouths.

“......”

This was quite an odd psychological game.

Perhaps the old man had planned to send the farmer out next. Maybe the time was approaching when all of them would come at me at once?

I asked the farmer.

“So, what now that you’ve been caught?”

The old man, who had been giving orders, seemed to be flustered and looked at the farmer in silence.

Finally, the farmer opened his mouth with a faint smile.

“Uh….”

Just as his lips parted, I made a quick leap forward with a single step, closing the distance faster than usual and executing a sword strike with the fastest speed I could muster.

Now, who is the more assassin-like assassin?

It’s me.

The farmer, unable to choose to counterattack, retreated. As I unleashed a swift sword strike, I observed the farmer’s eyes and movements as he narrowly avoided the blow, and then I aimed for his crown with a simple downward slash.

It was clear that Ilwido River Crossing had the numerical advantage.

As the farmer wrapped his hands with tension, he caught the blade of the Black Rabbit’s Fang with a prayer-like posture.

Thwack!

At the same time, the farmer spoke.

“Strike.”

I wrapped the Moonlight Ice Power around my left hand and grabbed the farmer’s wrist. With a spin, I targeted the farmer’s key pressure point using the throat-slicing technique and faced the assassins, who had begun to surround me.

“The Haomun Lord hides his true abilities... it’s me.”

Time to test the power of the Moonlight Cold Heart Technique. I handed the Black Rabbit’s Fang over to the farmer for a moment, then focused the energy of the fighting technique into my footwork, while maintaining the Moonlight Ice Power in my dual-handed technique as I rushed forward.

I then targeted the fisherman, merchant, Taoist, shirtless man, swordsman, ugly man, scythe-wielder, scholar who looked incapable of studying, and the narrow-minded assassin. I struck them all with the Moonlight Ice Power, leaving the old man, who was now flustered, to engage with me in about a dozen exchanges.

But near the lakeshore, I finally caught the old man’s arm with the Absorbing Force technique, pulled him in, and used the Moonlight Ice Power to strike his upper body multiple times.

Now, all the assassins who had interfered with my water dumplings were hit by the Ice Power.

Could it be that the Moonlight Cold Heart Technique is not weaker than the Left Guardian’s Ice Power?

Or was it the combination of the fighting technique’s movement and the Ice Power that made it so powerful?

I took the Black Rabbit’s Fang from the farmer, then infused him with the Cold Moon Strike.

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

Afterward, I approached the stiffening assassins, continuing to land the Cold Moon Strike on them one by one.

The faces of the stiffening assassins gradually turned pale.

Their lips began to turn purple.

I walked around, continuously applying the Cold Moon Strike, observing and studying the changes in their expressions, breathing, and complexion.

Suddenly, the surroundings seemed too quiet, so I spoke to the assassins.

“You are the test subjects for the newly learned Ice Power. It will be a bit painful, but you are assassins, so there’s no need to complain.”

I then walked to the lakeshore, picked up a flat stone, and threw it to play water dumplings.

The flat stone, flying in a curve, skipped across the surface of the lake, traveling further and further.

When I was with Jomsoi, hitting thirty skips was a new record, but now the stone flew until it was out of sight, continuously grazing the water’s surface.

“Wow… so this is why one needs to learn martial arts.”

This time, I infused the Ice Power into the flat stone before throwing it.

It was truly a spectacle.

Every place the cold stone touched, thin ice formed like white stepping stones before slowly dissipating.

I suddenly thought of the stiffened assassins and splashed the water with my hands, sending it toward them.

Splash, splash, splash, with the sound of water hitting the assassins, the lakewater soaked them.

The assassins, drenched in the lake water while still affected by the Ice Power, began to shiver uncontrollably.

Although they had been struck by the technique, it seemed there was nothing I could do about their bodies shaking from the cold.

Since I hadn’t hit any vital points, moans of pain started to leak out from various places.

I asked the assassins.

“Is it cold?”

“......”

Suddenly, I realized that the old man and the farmer seemed even more despicable than these guys. If you’re going to fight, everyone should come at me and finish it, not use your subordinates like pawns on a chessboard...

With a flash dagger, I cut off the throats of the old man and the farmer.

Suddenly, with the bloodstained flash dagger in my hand, I looked around at the assassins. Despite being frozen, their eyes were still fixated on me.

I spoke to them.

“I won’t kill you easily. Today, one of you will end up lighting a bonfire for your main camp. I’ve decided to be harsh because I’m too lazy. Let’s camp by the lake together tonight. I’ll prepare the fire, so you can wait a bit, though it’ll be boring. If you run, I’ll chase after you. And by the way, even if you’re unharmed, you’re slower than me.”

I observed their expressions before carefully dealing with them, landing one more Cold Moon Strike to each of them.

Thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack!

Suddenly, I noticed the merchant’s face. He seemed to be crying. The tear stains had frozen on his face.

I made eye contact with the merchant and asked.

“Crying? Why are you crying, grown man? Oh, look at these poor assassins. Not a single one of you begged for mercy even after your mouths opened. Impressive. Truly impressive. Let’s see who wins today, you or me.”

Next, I planned to launch an attack with hunger.

“I’ll explain the schedule for tonight’s camping. You’ll be struck by the Ice Power all night, occasionally receiving water torture and dunkings. I’ll make a bonfire and catch a goose to eat. Those who are destined to die, go ahead and die.”

I busied myself with torturing the assassins with the cold water.

I had to catch the goose and gather firewood for the bonfire.

I couldn’t help but feel excited for the long-awaited camping.

Then, suddenly, I realized my situation.

“Huh?”

.

.

.

It wasn’t until I sobered up that I realized I had been drunk. I shook my head as I set off to find the goose.

“Wow, I’ve sobered up now.”