The Divine And Demonic Doctor [EN]: Chapter 324

‘Just one more step…….’

The moment Dan-ak Seon stepped into his perfect swordsmanship.

Gal Yeom-ui was confident that he could take the life of anyone, unless they were a master of the level of the Five Greats of the World.

Dan-ak Seon was a target that even the Dark Lord, one of the Six Demon Lords, had failed to achieve.

If they succeeded, the status of the Black Night Bees would be firmly established within the Shin-gyo [a religious organization].

He didn’t know how many of them would return alive, but that wasn’t a significant issue.

Although he had been wandering the outer regions under a different name, if this assassination was successful, he could reclaim the name of the Murderer’s Den and return to the Central Plains [the heartland of the martial arts world].

That was the promise with the Shin-gyo, and the preparations were already complete.

The only condition for this was Dan-ak Seon’s death.

And Gal Yeom-ui was on the verge of success.

‘He’s in!’

Gal Yeom-ui, confirming that Dan-ak Seon had perfectly entered his swordsmanship, gripped the dagger in his bosom.

But then.

“You shouldn’t do that.”

Dan-ak Seon suddenly spoke.

“…….”

Gal Yeom-ui slowly raised his head and stared at Dan-ak Seon.

And soon, doubt clouded his eyes.

Dan-ak Seon’s gaze was calm.

Nowhere could he feel any urgency or worry, only an extremely indifferent look.

Gal Yeom-ui immediately realized that his identity had been exposed.

As the leader of the world’s greatest assassin organization, it was an embarrassing and awkward situation.

So he couldn’t help but ask.

“How did you know?”

“How could I not know?”

Dan-ak Seon retorted, looking around.

“Are there thirty of you?”

Gal Yeom-ui paused.

He was confident that their disguise was perfect.

“Don’t be surprised. I can see everything. So you don’t have to put on any more meaningless acts.”

At first, he thought it was a bluff.

He thought that he was trying to find a way out by saying anything after belatedly realizing he had fallen into a trap.

But it wasn’t.

His eyes and atmosphere said otherwise.

He felt the composure that only someone who had completely seized victory could have.

As expected.

Gal Yeom-ui couldn’t hide his bewilderment at Dan-ak Seon’s next words.

“Distinguishing between friend and foe is not difficult for me. I remember the faces of everyone here.”

“……!”

Gal Yeom-ui couldn’t believe it.

The time Dan-ak Seon had spent with the tribes of the grasslands was only about two months.

Was it possible to memorize the faces of everyone, numbering two thousand?

Then, a suspicion arose.

“Did you know we were coming?”

Dan-ak Seon smiled bitterly and nodded.

“Someone warned me about your persistence. And I realized something through the Dark Lord.”

“……?”

“He only targeted me until his last moment. So I could guess that I was the target. You wouldn’t give up, and if so, I thought this would be the last fight, so you wouldn’t miss this opportunity.”

“Ha!”

Gal Yeom-ui was inwardly dumbfounded.

He thought he had planned and led the situation, but now it seemed he had been played in the palm of the little brat’s hand.

But…….

“Still, nothing changes.”

Gal Yeom-ui stared at Dan-ak Seon with a chilling gaze, taking out a dagger from his bosom.

“You will not leave this place alive.”

Dan-ak Seon sighed softly.

“Do you really think so?”

By now, Muk-ryong was in Dan-ak Seon’s hand.

At the sight, Gal Yeom-ui curled up a cold sneer.

“Arrogant…….”

Gal Yeom-ui, who was about to mock Dan-ak Seon, swallowed his words and quickly stepped back.

Suddenly, a fleeting flash of dark light flew towards his chest.

He never expected Dan-ak Seon to suddenly attack first!

Unable to anticipate this, Gal Yeom-ui tried to deflect the persistent Muk-bong [likely a typo, should be Muk-ryong].

It was then that undisguised bewilderment appeared in Gal Yeom-ui’s eyes.

He felt that something was wrong.

Bang!

With an explosion, Gal Yeom-ui was knocked away.

After rolling awkwardly for about three yards, Gal Yeom-ui quickly regained his posture.

His face was full of embarrassment.

Muk-ryong, held in Dan-ak Seon’s hand, seemed to flicker like a ghost, then bypassed his swordsmanship and penetrated.

Moreover, it suddenly emitted a terrifying force near his chest.

Although it ended with a shallow internal injury thanks to his protective energy, the situation was not good.

Even a shallow internal injury can lead to serious injury if it is repeatedly accumulated like this.

“Give up now.”

Dan-ak Seon warned softly towards Gal Yeom-ui, who was dripping poison and readjusting his dagger.

“I don’t know if you could have succeeded by hiding secretly and launching a surprise attack, but if you fight me head-on, you can never beat me.”

“Shut up!”

“Besides, you’ve already wasted a lot of time. And beside me…….”

Gal Yeom-ui’s eyes wavered at Dan-ak Seon’s next words.

“There are always scary people with me.”

At that moment.

Crunch.

Thud.

Gal Yeom-ui’s face turned pale as he turned his head at the gruesome sound coming from nearby.

The sight of his subordinates dying silently without even being able to counterattack came into view.

Gal Yeom-ui, who had discovered the existence of the two masters who had already reached close proximity, finally realized the seriousness of the situation.

Each and every one of them was a carefully selected assassin, the best of the Black Night Bees.

The twenty-nine men he had brought with him were masters who were second to none.

But their opponents were too bad.

Two great masters whose names were as ominous as they were hard to find rivals.

Against Cho Ak-ryang and Han Seol-hwa, who had revealed their true colors, there was no way to fight back.

Not even a single gesture could be blocked, let alone a counterattack.

Growing desperate, Gal Yeom-ui rushed towards Dan-ak Seon.

But his dagger did not reach Dan-ak Seon.

Clang!

Suddenly, a dark blue arc flashed before his eyes, and the dagger in his hand shattered into pieces and scattered in the air.

At the same time, a terrible shock that traveled up his wrist shook his insides.

“Ugh!”

Gal Yeom-ui sat down on the spot and vomited more than a bowl of blood.

By the time Gal Yeom-ui regained his senses, his blood points had already been sealed by Dan-ak Seon, who had closed the distance.

“As expected.”

Dan-ak Seon, grabbing Gal Yeom-ui’s chin and forcibly opening his mouth, took out the poison pill hidden in his molars.

It was then that Cho Ak-ryang and Han Seol-hwa arrived next to Dan-ak Seon.

“This is the last time.”

Cho Ak-ryang cast a stern look at Dan-ak Seon.

“I will not allow you to be bait again.”

“It was unavoidable to capture this guy alive.”

Cho Ak-ryang sighed and nodded.

At the sight, Gal Yeom-ui’s head became dizzy.

‘Damn it!’

He was not afraid of death.

In fact, he had never thought of returning alive since he headed here.

No, he had always lived with the shadow of death on his back since he chose the path of an assassin in the first place.

But even he was afraid of failing his mission.

And what he feared more than that…….

“This guy must know a lot.”

“Don’t worry. He will tell us everything he knows.”

It was that the information he held would fall into the hands of the enemy.

Perhaps realizing that all the fighting was over.

The shouts of the warriors, led by Bayan, echoed through the grasslands.

Dan-ak Seon, who had succeeded in capturing the leader of the Black Night Bees as planned, finally relaxed and cheered with them.

* * *

The news of the Blood Cloud Squad’s annihilation spread throughout the grasslands in an instant.

It was around this time that Bayan’s power began to grow rapidly.

Even the tribes who had hesitated to join until the end belatedly came to Bayan and offered their allegiance.

The vast number of gers [traditional Mongolian tents] filling the vast grasslands.

This alone made it easy to guess how great Bayan’s reputation and power were now.

“Treat the brothers from the Central Plains with the utmost respect. Be careful that other tribesmen do not commit any rudeness.”

At Bayan’s instruction, a middle-aged man, his right-hand man, smiled and pointed to one place.

“That won’t happen. Look over there.”

The central open space between the gers.

The place, heated by the enthusiasm of the many men gathered together, was filled with bursts of boisterous laughter.

“Haha! Is that all you can drink?”

“My eight-year-old drinks more than that.”

“Hey! Bring the liquor. I’ll show you what’s what today!”

The men were betting with liquor jars in front of them.

Their clothes and languages were different, but there was no awkwardness to be found anywhere.

Bayan smiled slightly at the sight of them mingling freely and celebrating their victory.

Suddenly, the past flashed before his eyes.

He, who had escaped from the Blood Cloud Squad with only a small number of tribes, had now merged the tribes in a short period of time and built a force comparable to a great chieftain.

It was truly a world of difference.

So he was feeling the weight of fate more keenly than ever before.

But then.

A group of cavalrymen running from afar came into view.

“……!”

Bayan’s eyes changed rapidly as he discovered the flag fluttering by the cavalryman at the head.

He realized that it was an envoy sent by the Great Khan, the ruler of these grasslands who claimed to be the legitimate successor to Bukwon [Northern Yuan Dynasty].

In its heyday.

The warriors of the grasslands had once conquered the Central Plains and placed them under their feet.

But that reign lasted only about a hundred years.

The Yuan Dynasty was overthrown by Zhu Yuanzhang, who rose up in the midst of the chaos.

The last emperor, Yuan Shun-je (元順帝) Togun Temur, led the royal family and the remaining troops back to the grasslands where their ancestors had first founded the country.

This was possible because Genghis Khan had expanded the territory enormously.

In fact, the Yuan Dynasty was only a part of the empire.

The emperor of the Yuan Dynasty was also the Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, and exercised suzerainty over the villages throughout the empire.

Although the Yuan Dynasty had disappeared, it had only lost the territory of the Central Plains, and the empire itself still existed.

This was also the reason why the armies of the Central Plains constantly attempted northern expeditions.

Even after Yuan Shun-je’s death, the Ming Dynasty continued to carry out northern expeditions, and even Seo Dal (徐達), a great general who was remembered as a nightmare of the grasslands, had pushed into the main base of the grasslands.

Seo Dal was truly a great commander.

There was even a joke that ‘where he stands is the Great Wall’.

It was none other than nature that stopped him.

It was the vast grasslands.

The Ming army could not support the rear because the front line was too long, and eventually gave up its advance in front of the river called Tula.

That was why the current Great Khan had established his base in the northern grasslands.

Even though he had launched several northern expeditions since then, the Ming Dynasty had failed because there was no way to solve the supply problem.

And it was the Black Cloud Squad that occupied the southern territory of the grasslands, which was no different from an ownerless land.

“Welcome.”

Bayan stepped forward and greeted the envoy sent by the Great Khan with courtesy.

The envoy, who got off the horse, looked around and could not hide his surprise.

He seemed quite embarrassed by the scale, which far exceeded expectations.

But that was only for a moment.

He soon regained his expression and approached Bayan, unfolding the Great Khan’s letter.

“We commend the bravery and wisdom of Bayan, the son of Hachiun, an outstanding warrior of the grasslands…….”

The letter, which began in that way, highly praised the subjugation of the Blood Cloud Squad, using all sorts of flowery language.

In addition, it praised Bayan’s achievements by bestowing a considerable amount of horses and sheep.

However…….

As time went on, Bayan’s expression began to harden noticeably.