Chapter 159. Even If I Have to Paint Myself with Lacquer or Swallow Charcoal (5)
“W-what the hell happened?!”
“The front gate suddenly disappeared!” shouted someone who had been on the wall to witness what had just happened.
Woosh!
“Agh!!”
“Ugh!!!!”
Forty-three Hegemon Clan members rushed out the destroyed main gate, only to see a beautiful woman standing before them. She looked young and innocent, but at the same time, strangely dangerous.
Suddenly, black demonic qi flew out like a whip and strangled them all.
Si-Hyeon smiled.
“Die, dogs of Martial Heaven.”
Squelch!
The sound of their throats bursting and blood gushing out to the ground with a gooey splatter echoed strangely.
“A-aagh!!!!!”
Several servants who saw the terrifying scene from inside the estate screamed and ran away.
“What the hell is going on?”
“Is this an enemy attack?”
Hegemon Clan members poured out from each hall.
“W-what the hell? Just what happened here?”
“There’s an enemy! We’ve been invaded!”
The first thing the Hegemon Clan members saw was the miserable deaths of their comrades.
Filled with rage, they turned to look at Si-Hyeon.
“What, it's some girl?”
“There’s no way... was this your work, bitch?”
“No, it can’t be. She doesn’t even look like she has any cultivation. Oi, girl, you must have seen who did it, right? Hurry up and tell us!”
Si-Hyeon smiled, jumping on top of a lion statue placed near the gate and crossing her legs.
“What the...”
All the Hegemon Clan members let out shocked gasps. Si-Hyeon’s beauty, which had been difficult to see in the midst of the hazy blood in the air, was finally revealed to the fullest.
There were many demonic arts that the Heavenly Demon Cult used to seduce and control men. As the Heavenly Demon, Si-Hyeon naturally knew them all.
“Hehe...”
“I want... I want her.”
Drool dripped from the corners of the roughly two hundred Hegemon Clan members. Some of them giggled hysterically as if they had lost their minds, while others approached Si-Hyeon, eyes flashing with a strange heat.
Si-Hyeon then opened her mouth.
“Do you want to come to my side?”
Even her voice was the epitome of captivating!
“Y-yes, we do!”
Emotions that exceeded one’s limits were akin to poison. Several of them had already collapsed, bleeding from their five orifices.
“Even if you have to die in return?”
“Of course!”
“Then prove it with your death.”
"Understood!”
In a way, it was spectacular.
Nearly two hundred warriors simultaneously drew their blades and stabbed themselves through the heart.
Squelch!
Squelch!!!
Without giving anyone any time to interfere, two hundred warriors committed suicide, cutting through their hearts as fountains of blood burst out everywhere.
“You demoness!”
With a sharp cry, the Huangshan Branch leader flew at Si-Hyeon. He was clearly a master of the sword, and he was in a state of unity with his sword.
Si-Hyeon looked over and stretched out a hand, almost as if she was bored.
Crack, crack, crack!
In a split second, demonic qi flowed around her body, forming wings. Then, some of the strands came together tightly to block the Branch Leader’s attack.
“You all stink. What a disgusting smell... the smell of Martial Heaven!”
Si-Hyeon’s voice was filled with bloodlust. A strand of her demonic qi moved and crushed the head of the branch leader.
“Kill! Kill all the dogs of Martial Heaven!”
As she shouted, the Heavenly Demon cultists, who were fully prepared to lay siege to the Hegemon Clan, responded from all directions.
“OOOORAH!!!!!”
“THE HEAVENLY DEMON CULT HAS RETURNED!”
“The Heavenly Demon Cult will live forever!”
“The Heavenly Demon descends, all under heaven shall bow!”
Along with shouts of loyalty, black waves seemed to appear from all directions and wash over the Huangshan Branch of the Hegemon Clan.
An intense fire of revenge and hatred burned in Si-Hyeon's eyes as she watched as whatever remaining Hegemon Clan members were brutally slaughtered.
Because she hadn’t cultivated her mental discipline like Woo-Moon, she was beginning to become overwhelmed by her desire for revenge.
***
“Do you think she’ll be able to get this far?”
“What an absurd question! She’ll die way before she gets here.”
“Of course she won’t. To think our four assassin halls have joined forces just to deal with this bitch.... Hmpf.”
“What a disgrace. If she was born a bitch, she should have just stayed home and had cubs.”
“Oh, but didn’t you say she was really pretty? Hehe, what if we don’t kill her, and then...”
Assassins, by their nature, didn’t have much desire for women. Their path required more self-control than that of a monk.
In particular, three of these four assassins had cultivated enough to reach beyond the Special Rank and lead their own assassin organization. Obviously, even compared to normal assassins, they had much more self-control.
However, there were “unique” people everywhere—like the last of the assassins to speak, the Hall Leader of the Pure Flower Hall.
He had been able to become a Special Rank assassin and the head of his own organization despite his promiscuous tendencies. In fact, he lived a wholly perverted and promiscuous lifestyle. This only served as a testament to his skill; the fact that he could keep his head on his shoulders proved that he was no ordinary man.
Suddenly, the door of the stone chamber opened and a girl entered.
“Huh?”
“Did you really make it past all of those assassins and traps?”
“H-how are you perfectly fine?”
Through harsh effort, Ma-Ra had absorbed many of the other assassin organizations under the motto of unifying the Assassin Sects! She was the reason why the leaders of the four strongest Assassin Sects had joined together and were waiting in this chamber!
They had been convinced that even if she was an Absolute Master, she would never be able to escape the traps they had laid out for her.
They thought to themselves, no matter how strong she was, she was still an assassin... there was no doubt in their minds that she would die. Even more so as they had ordered the Special Rank assassins among their forces to hide here and there, making each trap even more insidious.
To make matters worse, fearing that wouldn’t have been enough, they had even set up a massive ambush at the end of the hall, mobilizing six hundred assassins.
‘So... with all that... how...’
While three of the hall leaders were in awe of her prowess, the Pure Flower Hall Leader’s eyes narrowed as he stared at Ma-Ra with a greedy gaze.
‘S-she’s so beautiful. It’s breathtaking! I’ve never seen such a beauty in my life!’
Moreover, Ma-Ra was still a young maiden.
They say that a maiden’s purity has its own charm, but even so, it was almost mind-blowing to imagine what Ma-Ra would look like when she matured and her beauty was in full bloom.
“I definitely want to make you mine...”
As he spoke, something suddenly flickered from Ma-Ra’s sleeve.
“Ugh!”
The surprised Pure Flower Hall Leader instinctively swung the dagger in his hand.
Clang! Squelch!
He tried to deflect the Silver Moon Disc to the side, but the strength behind his dagger simply wasn’t enough. It just barely sufficed to keep it from decapitating him, saving his neck at the price of his left arm.
“She’s really a Death God!”
“It’s either us or her!”
The three other assassin leaders quickly melted into the shadows. At the same time, the Pure Flower Hall Leader also realized he didn’t have the luxury to lust after her and tried to hide in the darkness, gritting his teeth and enduring the pain.
Clang, clang, clang, clang!
The sound of hidden weapons hitting each other echoed in the empty stone chamber.
“Ugh!”
One of the assassin leaders appeared with a scream and fell to the ground, bleeding. Although it wasn’t a fatal wound, he couldn’t move anymore, as he had a long needle piercing his acupoint.
Soon after, another assassin leader was pulled to the ground by a thread of Formless Silk wrapped around his neck, and at the same time, another assassin leader appeared with a broken leg.
Finally, Ma-Ra appeared behind the Pure Flower Hall Leader and slammed a fist into his ribs.
“Cough, cough!”
The Pure Flower Hall Leader fell forward, drool dripping from his mouth as he squirmed in pain.
Shing!
A longsword suddenly appeared in Ma-Ra’s hand.
Possibly because he could feel her bloodlust, the Pure Flower Hall Leader, whose thirst for life was as strong as his thirst for sex, kowtowed at Ma-Ra’s feet and slammed his head into the ground.
“I’ll take you as my lord! Please, just spare me!”
‘She-she definitely said that she would spare anyone who surrenders. If I stay by her side and pretend to be a good follower, I’ll get a chance to...!’
Ma-Ra looked down at the Pure Flower Hall Leader with a cold gaze. Her hand slowly descended, and the longsword in her grasp pierced down in turn.
Squelch!
“What dirty trash. I heard everything.”
As an Absolute Master, she had heard every word of the assassin leaders’ conversation with her excellent hearing.
The Pure Flower Hall Leader was unable to make any sound as blood filled his pierced lung, and eventually dropped dead.
Ma-Ra looked at the other assassin leaders with her steely gaze as Black Assassin and her other subordinates streamed in behind her, happy to see the end result.
“As expected of the Death God!”
“How incredible!”
Ma-Ra had dismantled all the traps and defeated all of the assassins on her own. She had ordered all of her subordinates to just follow from behind without taking any action in order to reduce the damage to her forces.
Black Assassin proudly proselytized to the defeated leaders.
“You bastards, wash your ears and listen carefully. Our Lord Death God has single-handedly destroyed all the traps and mechanisms prepared by you cretins!”
"How is that...”
“No way!”
Black Assassin laughed as his voice dropped as low as it could go.
“It’s over. Kneel before the Death God.”
***
“Have you both come because of the Marriage of the Snow Flowers?”
Namgoong Sung and Baekri Yeong-Woon blushed at Woo-Moon's question.
“I happened to meet Young Lady Yeo-Hong while we were both at the Justice Coalition...”
“I also met Young Lady Nak around then, too. Oh, we should introduce you first...”
The two Snow Flowers were the disciples of Ga Seo-Gun, an expert of the highest ranks of the North Sea Ice Palace. They stepped forward and bowed.
“Hello, my name is Seo Yeo-Hong, and I am Young Hero Namgoong’s partner.”
“I’m Yeong Hero Baekri’s betrothed, Nak Eun-Mi.”
“It’s good to meet you, sisters-in-law. Although they may have some shortcomings, they’re good guys in their own ways, so please take good care of them.”
As Woo-Moon teased them with a mischievous smile, the elders of the North Sea Ice Palace followed the Otherworldly Ice Fairy Ah Hee into the hall.
“We greet the Palace Lord.”
“We greet the Palace Lord.”
The Snow Flowers all hurried to bow, while the men next to them also made a display of courtesy.
“...!”
Just like when Yeo-Seol appeared earlier, the eyes of several men in the room widened and gasps littered the hall.
It was well known that Palace Lord Ah Hee was around forty. However, she looked as if she had just barely reached her mid twenties.
Moreover, her beauty wasn’t at all inferior to that of Yeo-Seol.
Sitting at the head of the table, the Palace Lord turned her gaze to Woo-Moon.
‘In the end, you chose the Marriage of the Snow Flowers.’
Her gaze deepened as she continued to look at him.
‘He’s an Absolute Master... No, what is this? I can’t believe it...’
She had been impressed with Woo-Moon the first time she had seen him, recognizing him as an outstanding talent. However, less than two years had passed since then, and Woo-Moon had surpassed every expectation she had of him.
He was no longer simply an outstanding talent.
From Ah Hee’s perspective, Woo-Moon had the aura of a grandmaster who was at least at the same level as herself. [1]
Woo-Moon’s aura was so incredible that Ah Hee couldn’t help but watch him for a while.
‘Who did he choose?’
Her eyes slowly turned to the right.
‘What!’
Her expression, which always seemed as if carved out of ice, finally broke as she let out a surprised gasp.
The person next to Woo-Moon was Yeo-Seol.
“Is everything all right?” asked the old woman who followed Ah Hee like a shadow.
Ah Hee quickly regained her composure and nodded so quickly that her surprise seemed almost as if it had been a dream.
Afterward, Ah Hee stayed silent, and Cha Moon-Yeon, the Vice Palace Lord, announced the commencement of the Marriage of the Snow Flowers.
Then, the most crucial part began—the explanation of how the Snow Flowers would be ranked.
It was simple.
There was an array of flags placed, one in each of the eight cardinal directions and two in the center, spread around the vicinity of North Sea Ice Palace.
The ranking would be determined by who obtained the most flags.
1. The term translated here as “grandmaster” literally means a first-generation master, i.e. the founder of a martial arts school. ☜