Chapter 4: Finally, I’ve arrived at Cheonsalgok.

She regained her confidence and shouted to the remaining warriors,

“Surround them! Surround every single one of them!”

The subordinates hesitated.

It was because the woman’s martial prowess was too intense.

“That b*tch is an assassin. If you block her first strike properly, an assassin’s martial arts are nothing. We have the advantage in numbers!”

It was also a statement to reassure herself.

If one of her subordinates blocked the sword, she could take the opportunity to harm the opponent.

Of course, her subordinates would have to block the sword with their bodies, not with their swords.

She took a moment to catch her breath, then shouted again.

“Nam Pa disciples, join in! Do you think the Nam Pa Clan Leader will leave you alone if he finds out his daughter is dead?”

Two Nam Pa disciples hesitated upon hearing the woman’s words.

“Join me now. If you succeed in this, I will reward you handsomely!”

In the end, even the Nam Pa disciples rushed in, taken by surprise.

But their movements were too slow.

They seemed sluggish and lethargic, as if moving underwater.

In the blink of an eye, before the encirclement could be completed, the woman had already slipped through them.

The shadow of death moved through the warriors like a fish swimming.

The first man’s neck was grazed by the tip of her sword.

Before he could fall, a red dot appeared on the forehead of the second man.

The third’s life was taken by a blade that pierced his heart.

The blade was not deeply embedded, but it was deadly accurate.

She knew from experience that the brain, throat, and heart did not need to be stabbed deeply.

Even a slight touch was fatal.

The fourth and fifth were gone in an instant.

They fell one after another, not even realizing that death had come for them.

“Wh… What is this…”

Ah Se looked around with terrified eyes.

Even to her, who had reached the mid-stage of first-class, everything was too fast.

This was not just a difference in skill. It was an overwhelming difference in level.

Without a moment to spare, she turned and ran.

As she tried to escape, a chilling sensation brushed past her back.

‘Hidden weapon.’

Before the thought could finish, a sharp pain pierced through her back. It was too late when she realized it.

The sound of cold footsteps approached the fallen middle-aged woman.

“Wa… Wait…”

Ah Se’s voice trembled. She didn’t know if it was because of the poison on the hidden weapon or because of fear.

“Just… Let me ask one thing…”

The young woman’s expression remained blank.

But she stopped walking.

Ah Se, anticipating the sword that would come down on her neck, asked her final question.

Cheonsalgok gives assassins numbers according to their skill.

And Cheonsalgok has seventeen supreme assassins.

“Are you… Number… What number of Cheonsalgok…?”

“Seventeen.”

A cold answer returned.

A bitter smile spread across Ah Se’s lips.

And then, she let out a sigh of relief.

‘At least… I wasn’t defeated by some nobody…’

Those were her last thoughts.

Two women.

Five men.

Seeing seven lives vanish in an instant left me speechless.

It was a massacre far more vivid than any game.

‘Is this… the martial art of Cheonsalgok?’

There were no fancy effects or exaggerated movements on the screen. Lives simply vanished in an instant.

Number Seventeen glanced at the corpses, then threw a few coins to the shopkeeper.

“This is for the cost of cleaning up the bodies.”

The two shopkeepers let out heavy sighs.

One of them took out a cloth from the drawer to cover his face and muttered.

“Here we go again.”

With practiced hands, they loaded the bodies onto a wooden cart.

Behind the inn, they were already digging a pit to bury the bodies.

“There are seven this time. We’ll have to dig the pit a little deeper.”

As if performing routine cleaning, the two silently finished their work.

Number Seventeen didn’t even glance at them.

Then, she sat down and began to finish the noodles she had been eating. As if nothing had happened.

“D… Do I learn that kind of swordsmanship if I go to Cheonsalgok?”

The sight of lives being extinguished by the movement of a single blade was awe-inspiring and frightening at the same time.

But strangely, one side of my chest grew hot.

Wasn’t this the true form of martial arts I had dreamed of?

“Yeah, you’ll probably learn it.”

Her voice had a meaningful tone.

“What do you mean?”

“You’ll find out when you get there. More importantly, is there anything else you want to eat?”

“No, I’m full.”

I shook my head.

“Then let’s get a room.”

Number Seventeen got up from her seat.

She called the shopkeeper to pay for the room and led me to the second floor.

This was not just a restaurant, but an inn that also provided lodging.

As we climbed the old wooden stairs to the second floor, I heard creaking sounds.

It was a room at the end of a narrow hallway. The room was small but clean, and the bedding looked neat.

I lay down on the spread-out bedding.

The events of the day flashed through my mind like a revolving lantern.

I finally felt safe, but I still seemed to have the smell of blood lingering in my nose.

What was even stranger was that the fact that ‘I’m really in this world’ made my heart beat faster than the gruesome slaughter I had just witnessed.

Anyway, this must be reality.

The people who just died must be real people.

Nevertheless… it was scary and exciting.

It was a cruel world of martial arts, but at the same time, it was a world of ‘real martial arts’ that I had once dreamed of.

Then I heard the sound of clothes rustling next to me.

“Uncomfortable.”

Number Seventeen got up from her seat and began to untie something.

In the darkness, her silhouette began to change with a rustling sound.

I fluttered my eyelashes and watched the change in the darkness.

The moonlight seeping in through the window faintly outlined her silhouette.

Her breasts, which I thought were about a D cup, had been reduced in size with compression bandages.

As the bandages were removed, her actual figure was revealed in the moonlight.

I squeezed my eyes shut. I felt like chanting a Buddhist scripture.

But as a non-religious person, I didn’t know any Buddhist scriptures.

At best, I only knew ‘Form is emptiness, emptiness is form,’ but I didn’t think I should say it.

A phrase with two ‘form’ characters was like poison in this situation.

The national anthem? No, that’s too weak…

In the end, I tried to distract myself by chanting my own mantra.

“Status window… Status window… Status window… Status window…”

But the status window still didn’t appear.

“Did you sleep well?”

When I opened my eyes, I heard Number Seventeen’s voice.

She was already wearing the compression bandages tightly.

“Yes.”

My voice betrayed my fatigue.

If there was a mirror, I would definitely have dark circles under my eyes.

I couldn’t sleep all night.

I couldn’t tell whether this game world was reality or a dream.

Every time I closed my eyes, the flash of the blade I had witnessed yesterday came to mind, and the moment when blood splattered was revived.

And… the moment Number Seventeen released the compression bandages. That silhouette flickered before my eyes.

All night long, I had to fight against all those things.

“We’ll have to walk for a while. It’s quite a long way to the Gok.”

I nodded at Number Seventeen’s words. ‘Gok’ probably meant Cheonsalgok.

The journey to Cheonsalgok had begun.

A journey alternating between inns and camping.

Every morning, Number Seventeen woke me up and taught me footwork.

I practiced until I was drenched in sweat, but I didn’t get tired.

Because it was learning martial arts.

At night, I listened to stories about meridians and blood points in front of the campfire.

I pricked up my ears to avoid missing a single word.

It was said to be basic, but everything was mysterious to me.

Before going to bed, I would imagine the appearance of Cheonsalgok.

The heretical sects I had seen in the game came to mind.

It was an anticipation that made me unable to sleep at night just by imagining it.

About ten days had passed like that.

“It’s over that mountain.”

At Number Seventeen’s words, I raised my head and saw a huge mountain half-submerged in the clouds.

My gaze naturally turned upward. Steep peaks that seemed to pierce the sky appeared one after another.

I swallowed hard.

The treacherous path leading to the top of the mountain looked more dangerous than any terrain I had seen in ‘Wind and Cloud Martial Arts.’

Above all, it was reality.

In the game, it would have been something that could be done with a few keystrokes.

Number Seventeen studied my expression and smiled.

Perhaps my pale face was telling her everything.

“From here on, it’s not good for you to walk. Come on, get on my back.”

“Ah… yes!”

I hesitated for a moment.

Looking at Number Seventeen’s slender shoulders, I was worried that my weight would be a burden.

But when she gave me a urging look, I finally got on her back.

At that moment, I felt like my body was soaring above the clouds.

The wind brushing past my ears was sharp.

Number Seventeen’s footsteps crossed steep cliffs as if they were flat ground.

‘With this level of lightness skill, the consumption of internal energy must be enormous…’

Suddenly, I remembered her actual figure hidden under the compression bandages on the first night.

In the busty martial arts mode, breast size was said to be proportional to internal energy.

But I quickly erased that thought. Because I was now above a thousand-foot cliff.

“We’re here.”

I carefully got off Number Seventeen’s back.

I paused, holding my breath at the sight before me.

It was completely different from what I had imagined.

A wall made of intricately trimmed white stones came into view.

The buildings beyond it were all typical orthodox-style buildings with elegant roof tiles.

“I, is this it?”

I doubted my eyes. It was too orthodox to be the base of assassins.

If it weren’t for the two letters ‘Cheonsal (殺)’ written on the flag fluttering above the pavilion, anyone would have thought it was an orthodox sect.

Number Seventeen nodded.

“That’s right. This is the best assassin group in Sichuan. Cheonsalgok.”

The moment I entered the main gate of Cheonsalgok, I stopped walking. I felt like my heart was sinking.

The sight before me was too familiar. It was exactly the same layout that I had seen hundreds of times in the game.

The only difference was that this was not the gloomy heretical building I had seen in the game, but a neat orthodox building.

Other than that, everything was perfectly the same.

“What’s wrong?”

I was startled by Number Seventeen’s voice. Her sharp eyes were trying to read my face.

“Ah… it’s nothing. The buildings look a bit…”

My voice trembled. Sweat ran down my back from the tension that I shouldn’t be caught knowing what I knew.

“Orthodox, right?”

I could only nod.

“Well, that’s understandable. It was originally an orthodox sect. It’s because we occupied the site of the Qingcheng Sect, which was once a part of the Nine Great Sects.”

“Is our Cheonsalgok strong enough to destroy the Qingcheng Sect?”

I had heard that they were strong, but strong enough to destroy one of the Nine Great Sects?

It was beyond imagination.

But Number Seventeen shook her head.

“The Qingcheng Sect was already dead. We just cut off the breath of a dying patient.”