IRNH C48

#48

Sihyeon furrowed his brows briefly, then stopped thinking and sent a telepathic message to Taewoon standing quietly beside him.

{To the left.}

Then the only option was to catch and ignite him directly.

Sihyeon immediately shot to the right, stepped on thin air, and instantly changed direction.

Taewoon’s movements mirrored his exactly, as if holding up a mirror, and he charged from the opposite side.

The strangers seemed momentarily stunned watching Sihyeon and Taewoon stand still, then vanished and appeared beside them, startled and preparing to jump forward.

But it was already too late.

With a firm torso as the pivot, the left arm rapidly struck toward the target. Without giving any opening, the body twisted and the leg slashed down once more.

This was the moment when the martial arts skills he had learned to compensate for a lack of internal energy shone.

Thud!

Crack!

“Ugh!!”

Their specialty seemed to be defense as they dodged attacks extraordinarily well.

One distorted the space and moved quickly to avoid the strike, while the other unfolded something on the spot to block the attack.

Of course, this was just a last desperate effort carried out with mercy not to kill instantly.

{Below.}

At that moment, Sihyeon’s leg gathered qi rapidly like a flame wrapping around his shin.

He twisted his body, swinging his leg toward the air a little distance away from the barrier without striking it directly.

The qi shot out like a laser, extending sideways and hitting both opponents simultaneously.

Taewoon immediately grabbed the man who was weirdly swiping in front of him, pinned him down, and launched into the air.

Bang!!

A louder sound than ever echoed. Both men landed on the dirt, howling in agony, their ankles severely injured and dangling.

The battle was over.

This time, Sihyeon didn’t remove the mask fully to avoid mistakes.

With a ripping sound, parts of the mask were thinly sliced away enough to reveal features.

“Oh? You are… why you?”

However, moments later, Sihyeon stared blankly at the unexpectedly familiar figure who met his confident gaze.

“Kill them.”

Sihyeon was deeply confused. Although they were not close, he clearly remembered recently exchanging words comfortably with this man.

“What the hell are you? And how is Glory Guild involved in this mess here?”

The event in the Divine Mine had created solid bonds even among strangers.

Of course, all the Glory Guild members were gentle and diligent, which earned Sihyeon’s trust.

This man had been a bit introverted but sometimes shared water and food and talked occasionally back then.

“I can never thank Jeong Sihyeon and Yeon Taewoon enough for coming to help us… We had several disappearances, and honestly, it was scary. Thanks to you, we returned safely without a single injury. Thank you again.”

Sihyeon could still recall that conversation word for word.

‘But you don’t recognize me?’

Trying to hide his embarrassment, he twitched his eyebrows and spoke again.

“I’m asking—why did you do this?”

His voice naturally softened, and his grip tightened.

At the same time, he gathered his rising anger and suspicion against those most involved.

“Kill them, false ones.”

At that moment, a red line appeared over the wrist of the one who spoke with unknown rage.

Thud.

“Ugh…”

“You should watch your mouth.”

Taewoon, standing quietly beside him, warned without emotion as if saying it was obvious.

Sihyeon only half-raised his hand, not actively stopping him.

Since he never spared assassins sent to kill him, stopping at severed wrists was within his limits.

Of course, he hoped Taewoon wouldn’t get used to this and tried to stop him as much as possible.

Sihyeon pressed points on the bleeding wrist to stop the blood and resumed questioning.

“Is Lee Kyu-min involved in those hunting you now?”

His first question, as usual, focused on that man who was central to the recent events.

Though not weak enough to tolerate betrayal over mere acquaintanceship, he wanted clarity before being stabbed in the back.

“What nonsense is that? Kill me if you must. Even if I die here, my name will remain in this place forever, haha…”

Sihyeon frowned at the stranger’s strange answer.

No satisfying explanation emerged.

Though he wanted to use Soul Capture Techniques immediately, it required killing the target, so it wasn’t useful in his current state.

The man, smiling crazily with bloodshot eyes, muttered something; Sihyeon tried to stop him.

The other hand, not severed, quickly reached toward Sihyeon.

Still, Sihyeon could easily defend—if only he didn’t freeze for a moment.

‘What the hell!’

Suddenly, he felt pulse vibrations in his ears.

As his organs began slowing unnaturally, cold sweat soaked his back.

Sensing something was wrong, Taewoon moved reflexively.

His shapely, flawless white hand appeared, clutching the assailant’s throat instantly.

The fingertips easily pierced flesh like tofu.

“Krah! Grrr…”

With a clatter—

Taewoon threw the body, whose throat was damaged and struggling for breath, onto the ground.

Five black and red holes marked the neck, blood streaming furiously.

“What the hell did this scum do?”

A disturbing smile tainted with discord adorned Taewoon’s beautiful, refined face.

Sihyeon hadn’t expected the pathetic man, whose limbs were mangled and near death, to have hidden techniques dangerous enough to threaten his master.

He started thinking they should kill everyone and then investigate, as usual.

“Ugh!”

It had been less than 30 seconds, but the sensation of his body and even his organs gradually stopping motion made Sihyeon gasp deeply after escaping restraints.

“Master!”

“I’m fine. Hoo, just surprised, don’t worry.”

“But…”

Then Taewoon’s breath locked his slowly moving body instantly.

Sihyeon patted Taewoon’s shoulder softly but saw a lingering tense expression and scratched his head awkwardly.

He felt a bit embarrassed as a master.

‘Wait, are you embarrassing me in front of my own disciple?’

His initial confusion shifted to heat surging and pounding heart.

Sihyeon clenched his forearm veins tightly, grabbed the throat of the one closing his eyes, and pressed a hand on his dantian (energy center).

“You’re going to die, but I’ll leave your skin intact.”

Even without cultivating his dantian, humans have innate life energy.

Martial artists explode this energy in their final moments for a last stand, but that wasn’t needed now.

Sihyeon’s hand gathered qi, seeping into the man’s body.

“Kruk! Ugh!!”

The nearly closed eyes snapped open, pale skin flushing red.

Veins bulged and twitched as if ready to burst.

“One—Is Lee Kyu-min involved? Two—Did you approach with a purpose? Three—Are you part of that Villain Alliance? Ah, don’t answer, you’re dead.”

A smile curled Sihyeon’s lips, born from familiarity and recent memories.

Someone murmured, sacrificing their body for some unknown attack? He had seen similar scenes recently and had but one question.

“Grrk… Ugh, we… won’t… stop.”

“Stop talking. Still, you’ve got one stubborn life line left.”

Taewoon picked up a familiar stone lying before Sihyeon.

“Kuwk! My, my!”

The man’s blood vessels burst as he convulsed, finally bleeding out in a crimson pool and collapsing dead.

“What?”

“Earlier, he tried to steal this from Master.”

Taewoon replied calmly to Sihyeon’s incredulous voice, then rolled the guarded object on his finger, smiling darker.

Was this not given by Lee Kyu-min?

But Kyu-min wanted to give it, and these guys tried to take it? The situation baffled Sihyeon.

He lifted a murky amber gem Taewoon handed him.

[Condensed Stone (-) – a seed absorbing qi to the limit before suddenly releasing it.]

‘Seed?’

Though it didn’t look like any seed, he turned it over and sighed, finding it a meaningless trifle.

“Well… we’ll catch a lead soon enough.”

Sihyeon relaxed his sore shoulders and sat again by the still-warm body, raising a hand.

It was time to use the ‘corpse technique.’