Baek Yoonjun was walking the village streets.

Due to the recent incident, everyone's eyes were on Baek Yoonjun.

Baek Yoonjun wanted to leave this place immediately, but he couldn't because of one thought, and he was trying to get out of the streets by walking quickly.

'I've never seen a person use the lightness skill to its fullest.'

Baek Yoonjun hadn't met many people, but he had never seen a person who could use the lightness skill to his extent.

So, Baek Yoonjun thought.

'It must be against etiquette to use lightness skill to its fullest when people are watching.'

Of course, this was Baek Yoonjun's personal thought. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Therefore, if people hadn't been watching, it would be a different story, but in a situation where people's gazes were fixed on him, he had long since given up the thought of using his lightness skill to its fullest.

Because Baek Yoonjun didn't have the guts to move while ignoring others' gazes.

'A place with no people! A place with no people! Please.'

Fortunately, Baek Yoonjun's homebody introvert nature instinctively headed towards a place where there would be no people.

And so, Baek Yoonjun, who had barely managed to avoid people's gazes and arrived at a secluded place where normal people would not come.

'Why is there a person in such a secluded place?!'

But there was someone there before him.

Usually, the people who come to a secluded place are either people like Baek Yoonjun with a strong homebody introvert nature or people who have something to hide to the extent that they have to come to such a place.

Baek Yoonjun, feeling that people's gazes were not on him, used his lightness skill to its fullest and hid his body.

Hiding his body, Baek Yoonjun checked the identity of the people who were there before him.

The people were the Namgung family and the ruffians he had seen at the tavern.

'What? Why are those guys here?'

There was no fear of being discovered, but the fact that there were people in the place of stability he had barely found was itself uncomfortable.

'Why are they so friendly?'

Moreover, the people who had been arrested and the people who had arrested them were together, and the atmosphere was strange.

Although Baek Yoonjun's mood was uncomfortable, his curiosity was greater, so he hid his body and listened in.

"Damn it! What the hell is that white-haired guy, daring to ruin the great work of the Namgung family!"

As soon as he listened in, Baek Yoonjun's mood became very uncomfortable at the slander against him.

'Should I just cut them all down?'

He even felt the urge to cut them all down, but.

'No! No! Are you crazy? Baek Yoonjun! That's not enough to be called an evil person!'

Since they didn't meet Baek Yoonjun's subjective criteria for an evil person, he had no choice but to endure.

Baek Yoonjun continued to listen, his hand holding the sword trembling.

"Hey, will the great work be affected by such a small thing?"

"There can't be even a small mistake!"

"Isn't it fine as long as we don't get caught acting as ruffians for money?"

"That's a given!"

Baek Yoonjun clicked his tongue as he listened to the conversation between the ruffians and the Namgung family martial artists.

'It was a setup. Those family guys really have nothing better to do.'

The combination of the pretentious and hypocritical family people and the slouching ruffians was quite a sight.

"So, sir. What about the payment?"

"Here. Take it and get lost."

"Thank you! Sir! Then we will all take our leave!"

It seemed the secret meeting between the family and the ruffians was also over.

Watching them go their separate ways, Baek Yoonjun pondered which one to follow.

Meeting people was burdensome, but secretly watching was fine and also fun, so it was a pity to let them go just like this.

'I'm curious why they're doing this, and to find that out, I think I have to follow the family guys, but then it probably won't be very fun...'

After pondering for about half a shichen, Baek Yoonjun secretly followed the group of ruffians.

The ruffians secretly left the village and headed for the back mountain.

'Since it looked like they were taken away by the Namgung family, people would think it's strange if they were in the village.'

Baek Yoonjun, understanding the ruffians' actions, became curious about what they would do now.

The place the ruffians headed to was a deep part of the village's back mountain.

It was a place that felt like a temporary shelter, with some living tools and a hut.

'Are they changing careers from neighborhood thugs to mountain bandits?'

Although they had just received a bundle of money from the Namgung family, there were quite a few ruffians, and it didn't seem like they would work diligently when the money ran out.

'Wouldn't it be okay to cut them down now?'

And so, as Baek Yoonjun was pondering while looking at the ruffians.

Rip.

Suddenly, the bandits began to tear off their faces.

'Heeik!'

Baek Yoonjun flinched and screamed inwardly, but he soon realized that the torn-off faces were fake and calmed down a little.

'What is that?! Was that the human-skin something or other?'

Baek Yoonjun recalled the disguise tool his friend had told him about in the past.

He couldn't remember the exact name, but he remembered that there was something used to disguise one's face as someone else's.

'What? They're not just mountain bandits?'

The ruffians who had torn off their fake faces had become a very suspicious group that could no longer be called ruffians.

The ruffian-like faces disappeared, and the ruffian-like atmosphere also disappeared.

That suspicious group.

"How long do we have to play along with the Namgung family's childhood games?"

"The time is not yet right."

They were having a very suspicious conversation.

"For the Black Sky."

"For the Black Sky."

They were even shouting a suspicious slogan to their suspicious conversation.

Baek Yoonjun broke out in a cold sweat as he watched them.

Although he was still curious, the feeling of not wanting to get involved grew stronger.

'I should go.'

Therefore, as Baek Yoonjun was about to stealthily turn away.

"Who's there?!"

Baek Yoonjun was startled by the voice coming from the suspicious group.

'What? How on earth did they notice?'

No matter how much he thought about it, he hadn't made any mistakes.

Baek Yoonjun tensed up and revealed himself with his hand on his sword.

"Wh-who are you?!"

"Wh-where did you suddenly appear from?!"

Then the suspicious people were overly surprised.

Baek Yoonjun was dumbfounded at that sight.

"Didn't you ask who I was?"

"Th-that's..."

"No, that was someone else...?"

The suspicious group was suspiciously flustered and was looking at a different place from where Baek Yoonjun was.

And then, from that place.

"Huh? Brother Baek, you were here too?"

The man named Cheon, whom Baek Yoonjun had met at the tavern, appeared, scratching his head with a foolish look.

That was right.

The suspicious group had not noticed Baek Yoonjun, but had noticed Namgung Cheon's presence and had referred to him.

'What? They didn't notice my presence?!'

Baek Yoonjun glared at Namgung Cheon with a dumbfounded look and regretted not having spread his senses beforehand.

In fact, if he had put his mind to it, it was possible to spread his senses at all times, but since the feeling of people's presence was a little burdensome, Baek Yoonjun only spread his senses when necessary.

That's why a situation like this had come about.

'Ha, I really let my guard down.'

Baek Yoonjun, finding the current situation absurd, turned back.

"This has nothing to do with me, so I'll be on my way."

Baek Yoonjun turned to leave, but.

"Where do you think you're going!"

One of the suspicious men shot towards Baek Yoonjun as if launched and swung his sword.

Slice.

But what was cut was the man who had swung his sword at Baek Yoonjun.

All the people there, except for Baek Yoonjun, were shocked.

'I couldn't even see it!'

'Come to think of it, that white-haired guy? I remember! He knocked out a Namgung family martial artist at the tavern without lifting a finger?!'

'Brother Baek's martial prowess pierces the heavens!'

Baek Yoonjun was pleased to see the quieted people.

It seemed he could go back without any problems.

"Are you going to do more?"

At Baek Yoonjun's words, the suspicious men broke out in a cold sweat and flinched.

And so, after the confirmation was over, as Baek Yoonjun was about to go back.

"He is a being who will interfere with the great plan of the Black Sky! Never let him live!!"

Suddenly, the suspicious men moved.

They took out a suspicious lump from their bosoms and lit it.

"Thunderbolt Bomb?!"

Namgung Cheon, who saw that, was shocked and threw himself back, and Baek Yoonjun.

'Ah, damn it, what now?'

He grabbed his sword at the suspicious movements of the men.

And he drew his sword.

The form of lighting a mysterious black lump.

Even to Baek Yoonjun, who lacked common sense in this world, it was clearly an explosive.

Baek Yoonjun's sword headed for the fuse of the bomb-like object.

A single sword strike.

At the same time as that swing, a gentle breeze blew on the fuses of the objects the men were holding.

Slice.

At the same time, the fuses were cut.

"Th-this!!"

The men were shocked.

While being shocked, they skillfully tried to deal with it at the same time.

But they couldn't.

Baek Yoonjun's sword had not only cut the fuses.

Swoosh.

At the same time, the necks of the suspicious men slid off their bodies.

The only ones breathing there were Baek Yoonjun and Namgung Cheon.

Namgung Cheon was greatly shocked.

He had followed Baek Yoonjun from the street and had lost track of him, and as he was looking for him, he had found this place.

It was shocking that the Namgung family and the ruffians were involved with each other, but those ruffians were hiding themselves with human-skin masks.

On top of that, they were having a suspicious conversation, and his hiding had been discovered.

At that moment, Baek Yoonjun appeared.

The martial prowess that Baek Yoonjun showed after that was shocking.

'A late strike to win? Or the legendary Heaven and Earth Reversal?'

Although he had been attacked first, the one who was cut was the one who had attacked.

After that, the suspicious group, as if they were going to self-destruct, took out Thunderbolt Bombs and lit them.

Namgung Cheon foresaw his death at that sudden sight.

But even this was resolved by Baek Yoonjun.

Only then could he vaguely see Baek Yoonjun's sword strike.

Baek Yoonjun's single sword strike.

It was like the wind.

How many things can block nature?

The wind not only neutralized the Thunderbolt Bombs in a general way but also cut down the opponents in one go.

Namgung Cheon, at the incomprehensible martial prowess unfolding before his eyes, lost his mind for a moment, and only then did he come to his senses.

The rolling corpses and the Thunderbolt Bombs, and Baek Yoonjun looking at them seriously.

Namgung Cheon carefully approached Baek Yoonjun.

"Brother Baek, it seems to be over, so what are you looking at so seriously?"

"It's not over yet."

At Baek Yoonjun's words, Namgung Cheon followed his gaze and turned his gaze to the corpses.

They were just corpses.

'What on earth does he mean? Could it be that he's thinking of digging deeper into this matter?'

Namgung Cheon tried to grasp Baek Yoonjun's intention while having various thoughts, but.

Twitch.

That intention could be confirmed not with his head but with his eyes.

The corpse twitched.

Namgung Cheon, wondering if he had seen wrong, brought his head closer to the corpse.

"What on earth... Ugh!!"

And he was startled by the corpse that sprang up like a spring and hurriedly rolled on the floor.

And yet, as befitting a martial artist, he drew his sword and swung it at the corpse that had sprung up.

Clang!

"Keuk!"

The corpse was as hard as steel.

At the sensation felt at his fingertips, a word came to Namgung Cheon's mind, and he immediately spat it out.

"Jiangshi!!"

"Zombie!!"

And Baek Yoonjun also looked at the corpse and spat out a word that Namgung Cheon could not understand.

Namgung Cheon, blocking the attacks of the stiff but fast-swinging corpse with his sword, looked at Baek Yoonjun with a dumbfounded look.

"Zombie? What on earth is that?!"

Hearing those words, Baek Yoonjun thought, 'Oops.'

Although he looked cool and collected on the outside, he had been flustered by the suddenly rising corpse and had blurted out a word he had only used in his past life.

It was already hard to deal with people, and if he looked strange, it would be even harder, so Baek Yoonjun's brain spun rapidly.

'I can just explain it as it is, right?'

And he came up with an answer.

"It's a Jiangshi from the West."

"To think you even know about the Jiangshi of the West, Brother Baek, your knowledge is amazing!"

"It just happened that way."

Although a corpse had risen and suddenly attacked in front of him, Baek Yoonjun, who was more concerned about people's gazes than that, gave a nonchalant answer and now focused on the moving corpse in front of him.

'Is this a Jiangshi? It's moving even without a head. Zombies die if you blow their heads off, so this is worse than a zombie, isn't it?'

Baek Yoonjun leisurely parried the attacks of the headless Jiangshi and examined it in detail.

'Is it a curse? With this, I can probably undo it with the curses in the Three Talents Celestial Records.'

Unlike Namgung Cheon, who was struggling to block the Jiangshi's attacks, Baek Yoonjun was very relaxed.

He already had the method to defeat the Jiangshi in his head, but he wasn't very drawn to it.

Clang!

Baek Yoonjun's sword couldn't pierce the Jiangshi's skin and kept bouncing off.

'This is the first time my sword has been blocked by a person, isn't it? No, it's not a person but a corpse, so is this the first time my sword has been blocked by a corpse?'

The only thing Baek Yoonjun had tried to cut and failed so far was the cool stone he used as a cover for his herb storage at home.

'Even if I'm just third-rate, I have my pride.'

At the corpse that couldn't be cut, Baek Yoonjun felt a competitive spirit for the first time.

The fact that it was not a talking person but a non-talking moving corpse also played a part in arousing the competitive spirit of Baek Yoonjun, the homebody introvert.

'With this, I can probably try using that.'

Until now, Baek Yoonjun had been using the martial arts of the Three Talents Celestial Records.

That alone was enough.

In other words, since there was nothing more to learn from the Three Talents Celestial Records, there was no reason to use the martial arts he had improved and developed in a real battle, and he had never tried it.

But just in time, his sword was blocked.

It was the optimal environment to try out the improved martial arts.

'The first real battle for this martial art is a corpse, not bad.'

Since it was an opponent that couldn't talk and had no intelligence, there was no burden.

Baek Yoonjun didn't particularly take a ready stance.

'Good. Let's go!'

But as he decided to use his improved martial arts, his aura changed completely.

(End of Chapter)