Chapter 23 - Summon the Black Shadow Corps
“Yes.”
Saweol didn’t ask why, didn’t question it. Tools weren’t meant to speak. The reason she sometimes came off as dull was because she had been raised and shaped into a combat machine.
Swish—
Her body seemed to vanish, then reappeared in Gwak Jin’s blind spot, diagonally behind him. At some point, her dagger was already aimed at the back of his neck.
“What!?”
Gwak Jin twisted his body around in shock. So, he was a Peak Realm master after all. Even in that split second, he reacted. He tried to strike Saweol’s wrist with Gold Snatch Palm. But she twisted her wrist, altering the dagger’s path. Her movement slithered, like a snake climbing a tree—swish.
“Gal!”
As the dagger again shot toward his throat, Gwak Jin kicked the ground hard while seated. His chair skidded backward across the floor like it was on ice, putting distance between them. Using that momentum, Gwak Jin bounced to his feet, his bulky body moving with surprising agility.
Wooong!
A red glow began to rise from his hand. He was channeling true energy to form palm force.
“A cowardly sneak attack! Typical of the Sado bastards—”
But he couldn’t finish the sentence. Saweol had darted in again, her dagger surging up from below. To him, it must’ve felt like a blade had suddenly erupted from beneath his chin.
Gritting his teeth, he swung his crossed arms outward in an ‘X’ motion to parry the strike.
Kkang!
Though it was flesh against metal, the clash rang out with the sound of hard steel colliding. The surge of power between them caused the teacups on the table to rattle. Gwak Jin had used his palm force to deflect her dagger. But that single exchange was enough to show who was superior.
While Gwak Jin staggered back five steps until his back hit the wall, Saweol spun once in place like an acrobat, dispelling the force with ease.
A difference of five steps.
That gap represented the disparity in strength and skill—a chasm that, among Peak Realm masters, was enormous.
‘As expected, she’s incredible.’
A cult branch head needed to be strong, and Saweol was overwhelming such a person without much effort.
“What’s going on in there?!”
The noise had drawn attention. Guards outside the vault were shouting in concern. Gwak Jin’s face turned pale at the sound.
This branch wasn’t entirely staffed by cultists. In fact, for secrecy’s sake, there were fewer cultists, and most of the staff were regular civilians.
Even if he was the vault’s master, being outed as a cultist would make him a public enemy of the Martial World.
“Nothing at all!”
“Are you really alright, sir?”
“Of course! I just spilled some tea!”
“Then shall we send someone in—”
“No! I’ll handle it myself!”
“Yes, sir.”
The gathered guards outside dispersed.
“Have you lost your mind?! Do you want to die and take us all with you?!”
Gwak Jin raged at me.
I ignored him and spoke softly to Saweol. After all, I was playing a lunatic.
“Did I say stop? Cut him down.”
Saweol moved immediately. Her Ghost Phantom Steps exploded into motion. Like a ghost from an old horror film, her form appeared in sudden, disjointed flashes. Gwak Jin’s face twisted with panic.
“Ugh!”
Unable to scream, Gwak Jin retreated repeatedly. His sleeves had already been shredded into tatters. Then, Saweol’s dagger grazed his right forearm.
“!”
Pain and bleeding distracted him. The end was near.
Between his defensive arms, Saweol’s dagger slipped in, aimed straight at his throat.
Then, at that exact moment—
“Stop.”
Saweol’s arm froze mid-strike. Peak Realm experts could control their bodies with machine-like precision. Saweol was no exception.
The tip of her dagger touched Gwak Jin’s throat. A single line of blood trickled down. If she applied even a fraction more pressure, it wouldn’t be a trickle—it would be a geyser.
Still seated, I continued speaking. I didn’t even look at him. As if to say, You’re not worth my attention.
I was a lunatic right now. A normal person would say something like, “You insolent fool,” but that was only Martial World average. I had to take it further.
I had to act like a truly unhinged madman.
“So you really were a demonic sect dog.”
“Wha—?”
Gwak Jin’s face twisted in disbelief. Saweol flinched slightly too, but since I’d already mentioned “demonic sect” a few times before, she didn’t question it. This is why laying groundwork is important. Because I’d prepped it early, Saweol let it slide.
“A gloomy red palm force… You must be the Crimson Wind Palm of the Gwak Clan, one of the Six Great Demonic Families.”
—What kind of nonsense is this? Do you think you’ll get away with this?!
His voice didn’t come aloud—it was a sound transmission.
I pulled out two tokens from my robe: the Kunlun Token and the Lesser Tang Token, and tossed them onto the table.
When he saw them, Gwak Jin’s eyes widened in disbelief. For a cultist to be in possession of righteous sect tokens—it was unthinkable.
“What do you think will happen if Yun Yeopja and Tang Siyuk hear about this?”
—You…! Have you betrayed the cult?!
“Silver Frog Vault of Qinghai. Taeseong Pavilion of Hubei. Muyon Hall of Henan. Huahua House of Shaanxi.”
I listed several names—every one of them a secret cult branch.
Naturally—
—Y-You… How do you know…?
They were all branches managed by the Gwak Clan.
The cult, as a massive decentralized organization, meant that someone from the Sado Clan like Sado Hwan would never know such internal details. But I wasn’t truly Sado Hwan.
Would a veteran of Return of the Murim not have the entire map memorized?
—If you reveal this, you won’t get away unscathed either. Sado Hwan!
“Who do you think the Martial World will believe—me, the one holding these righteous sect tokens, or you?”
—You’re seriously going to betray us?!
“Betrayal?”
I grinned, lifting the corners of my lips as obnoxiously and crazily as I could.
“What are you talking about? Who exactly did I betray? I’m the Eastern Sword Dragon.”
Gwak Jin’s face flushed, drained, and flushed again in waves.
I stood from my seat, quietly shaking the Black Ox Gourd behind my back. The carefully aimed Decay Poison flowed into Gwak Jin’s breath. Under normal circumstances, he could have controlled his breathing, but with a blade to his neck, there was no way.
I focused my internal energy into my eyes, making them gleam with intense pressure as I approached.
Gwak Jin’s body recoiled at the sight.
“Withdraw your blade.”
Saweol sheathed the dagger that was still pressing against his throat. Though he was now free, Gwak Jin didn’t dare move recklessly.
With my glowing eyes and the poison seeping into his lungs, he likely thought I was radiating overwhelming bloodlust. Cold sweat poured down his face as he kept swallowing nervously.
Even Saweol looked surprised. As well she should—despite being so close, she felt no pressure at all.
That’s how it works. Half of acting is stage direction.
At last, I reached him. Then, as if truly insane, I leaned in and whispered into his ear—slow, sticky, and chilling.
“If I handed you over to Kunlun like this… kuk, wouldn’t that be fun? Don’t you think?”
“Betrayal? According to cult law, eliminating a rival isn’t a crime, is it?”
It was twisted logic—but technically correct.
The cult upheld the law of the strong. The weak were given infinite chances. If a weaker person surpassed the strong, then they deserved it. It was a place where losing meant you were a fool.
“What… What do you want me to do?”
Gwak Jin swallowed hard and asked.
“You’re being a little too casual.”
“…What must I do to be forgiven?”
“What?”
“…What can I do to earn your forgiveness?”
“I’ve recently gotten into collecting tokens.”
I smiled warmly.
“Give me the Silver Frog Vault’s token.”
[That’s something only a thug would say.]
***
What can I say? I need a lot of money.
[What does a monster like you need money for?]
You can’t buy happiness with money, but you can avoid misery. Isn’t that enough?
Skybreaker Sword was born with a silver spoon in its mouth. It couldn’t understand. Naturally, it said something frustrating.
[You could’ve just asked elder brother for help.]
Yeah, no.
No matter how wealthy the Sado Clan was, there were limits to how much personal money could be used. Unlike the Gwak Clan, which was ruled by an absolute head, the Sado Clan was managed by the patriarch and elders keeping each other in check. That meant I couldn’t just dip into the family budget.
And that elder brother is the biggest problem of all.
Sado Gwang.
Just thinking of him made me shudder. He wasn’t absurdly powerful—he wasn’t strong enough to threaten the Heavenly Demon. Honestly, I could probably beat him right now.
But that’s exactly what made him terrifying.
He’s the biggest reason I don’t want to go back to the cult.
He wasn’t someone I could just call “brother.” Facing the Heavenly Demon himself might be less stressful.
Of course, I could prepare properly.
And for that preparation, I needed a lot of money.
“I’ll need to delay my return to the cult a bit longer.”
Trusting only in Skybreaker Sword and the Black Ox Gourd was too risky. The cult was full of real lunatics.
A short while later—
Gwak Jin returned. In his hand was a small token—silver, with a small toad carved in relief on the top.
“This is the Silver Frog Vault’s token. Only one is issued to each branch master.”
“How many are there in total?”
“About thirty, as far as I know.”
In modern terms, I had just received a VVIP bank token. With this, I could access substantial funds. Naturally, the guarantor was Gwak Jin himself. I got the money and bound him as well—a two-for-one deal.
“Still planning to report me to headquarters and push for punishment?”
“Of course not.”
Gwak Jin waved his hands frantically.
“I’ll report to headquarters myself. Make sure the Gwak Clan doesn’t interfere.”
“Yes, understood.”
“Then I’m off.”
As I was leaving the vault, Saweol asked,
“If a carrier pigeon is sent, should we intercept it?”
It was a natural question from her perspective. Cultists don’t just sit quietly because someone puts a leash on them. If you bind their hands, they’ll bite with their teeth.
Gwak Jin was no different. After the humiliation he suffered, there’s no way he’d let it go. In typical cult fashion, he’d probably write up some nasty report and send it to headquarters.
But that was exactly what I wanted.
No matter how much venom he put into it, the more people investigated, the more it would become clear that he’d been utterly crushed by me.
Eventually, that would spread the message: Don’t mess with me.
“No. Let him.”
Half of acting is in the staging.
To set up a dramatic performance, I had to lay the groundwork even outside the cult.
“Summon the Black Shadow Corps. We have a place to be.”