My Father Is the Number One Under Heaven - Chapter 28

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 28. A Death Too Hollow to Bear
“Chase him! He must be somewhere nearby.”
In a dense forest along the riverbank.
Countless silhouettes moved swiftly in the same direction.
Their movements resembled hunters driving prey toward a kill.
Whoosh. Whoosh.
Inside a cave, Peng Sejin stanched a wound that bled freely, gripping his blade once more.
His complexion had drained to a ghastly pallor—a sign that matters had grown dire.
Already a dozen assassins lay dead by his sword.
It was indeed worthy of one called Gwangryong, the Crown Prince of the Hebei Peng Clan—his martial prowess was beyond question.
Yet the number of enemies remaining was staggering.
Worse, from some point onward, they seemed to keep multiplying.
“Curse it all. At this rate…….”
And these devils no longer threw themselves at him recklessly, not since his resistance had grown fierce.
As if they knew of his wounds, they waited like hunters sensing their prey weakening, seeking the perfect moment to dart in and tear at his throat.
It was brutally calculated—yet also a clear sign.
These were men skilled at the art of killing.
Worse still was the lethal poison coating every single blade they wielded.
The blood seeping from his calf and arm had already turned a sickly black.
They had come for Peng Sejin’s life, and they had come prepared.
Perhaps it was only to be expected.
He was holding back the poison’s spread with his Internal Energy, but if this continued, every moment would worsen his plight.
“Whoosh, whoosh.”
He had bitten down so hard against the ghastly pain that his teeth had begun to ache.
Could he possibly escape alive?
The situation was unmistakably dire.
Then it came.
Rustle. Rustle-rustle.
Through his heightened senses, Peng Sejin felt them tightening the noose around him.
In that moment, he faced a choice.
Should he break free from here and relocate?
Or should he hold his ground and fight?
Which was the better path—or was there even a good choice to be found?
With his body in such a state, his mind refused to race as it normally did.
Yet in truth, he was holding on far better than most.
An ordinary man would have shattered long ago under such an ordeal.
Crack.
Peng Sejin bit down hard on his lip until blood came, forcing his consciousness back to clarity.
‘Don’t surrender. Survive. You must.’
He would not meet his end in such a hollow manner.
***
Whoosh-crack.
A silhouette, hurtling downward at tremendous speed, came to rest atop the tallest tree in the forest.
‘How can this be? He should be somewhere in this vicinity, at least.’
He was Peng Mugang, the Patriarch of the Hebei Peng Clan.
He had dispatched his warriors to scour the area around where a Peng clansman’s corpse had been discovered, yet Peng Sejin remained unfound.
So, driven by anxiety and telling no one, he had come out himself.
He had believed that with his own strength, he would locate his son with ease—but he had not.
Where could the boy be hiding that he could not be found?
‘No, that’s not it. Unless…….’
Suddenly, Peng Mugang’s expression hardened.
Then he shook his head sharply.
As if trying to dispel the thought that had just surfaced.
That boy could not have fallen so easily.
“Ha. Whose son is he, after all.”
The words escaped his lips unbidden.
Yet despite his conviction, Peng Mugang’s face remained tightly drawn, refusing to ease.
“I need to search more widely this time.”
Peng Mugang’s form shot into the air once more.
Whoosh-crack. Growl-growl-growl.
His presence seemed to emanate a tremendous pressure, as if a colossal tiger had materialized before them.
Truly, his Lightness Martial Arts lived up to his fearsome reputation.
Yet for some reason, his bearing appeared desperately frantic.
***
“What is the meaning of this? It should have been finished in one stroke.”
The Golden Manor—a resplendent mansion bearing that luxurious name.
Within its most secretive chamber, a corpulent man with a covetous expression was seething with irritation.
The two men seated beside him, dressed similarly, wore expressions equally discomfited.
This was not the situation they had envisioned.
“Why must you complicate the matter so? What if the Crown Prince yet draws breath?”
“Of course it would have been preferable to eliminate him cleanly as originally planned, but the target is the Crown Prince of the Hebei Peng Clan, one of the Five Great Clans. Moreover, the man bears the name Gwangryong. His resistance was formidable.”
Even as the employers vented their obvious frustration, the masked man shrugged without concern.
“Truthfully, we did not anticipate he would endure this long against our ambush. But our Group Leader judges this to be merely a final death throe. Therefore, the matter shall be concluded swiftly—have no fear.”
“Hmph. It had better be. I wish to receive the full sum promised, no shortcuts.”
“Do you truly imagine we would undertake such an operation against one of the Five Great Clans with uncertain resolve?”
At the mention of payment, the masked man’s eyes hardened to a lethal gleam.
The masters of the Golden Manor flinched at that savage gaze.
All save the corpulent man seated at the center.
The masked man continued, his voice dropping to a measured rasp.
“We, too, have staked our organization’s survival on this work. And I warn you beforehand—if you attempt any trickery—”
The masked man’s gaze swept across each of the three men seated at the round table.
“Our Group Leader’s Assassination Technique shall turn its edge upon you. Consider well before plotting anything foolish.”
“Hmph! Had we any intention of gambling with funds on such a grave matter, we would never have hired you in the first place. We are merchants—men who seek profit. We spare no expense when the stakes demand it!”
“Excellent. That gladdens me greatly. Then I shall return with tidings that will satisfy you. Until we meet again.”
With that, a shadow-form slipped away, dissolving into the floor as if consumed by darkness itself.
Silence descended upon the chamber.
Uncertain whether the man had truly departed, they allowed a moment to pass before resuming conversation.
Soon, one of them broke the quiet.
“Is this truly acceptable, elder brother?”
The speaker was the leanest of the three men seated at the round table.
His face bore unmistakable unease.
“What manner of question is that at this juncture?”
The man who had dominated the conversation fixed the anxious Thin Man with an irritated stare.
“It troubles me, if I am to speak plainly. Even the prospect of striking at the Peng Clan’s Crown Prince made me uneasy, but to bungle the initial attempt and drag it out in this manner—I confess, it sits poorly with me.”
“Did you not hear what was said moments ago? It will be resolved imminently.”
The Other Man, who had remained silent until now, offered reassurance.
“Indeed. The man is already torn to pieces. How much longer can he hold out? Besides, I’ve heard he was found far downstream from where the struggle took place. Fortune favors us.”
“But how did you even find him?”
The Thin Man regarded the Fat Merchant with genuine curiosity.
“If he was swept so far downriver, discovery should have been no simple matter.”
His expression suggested doubt that such a feat was possible at all.
The Fat Merchant chuckled at the sight of his face.
“Simple. Foreseeing such a possibility, I had already recruited one of the merchants scheduled to meet the Crown Prince today as an informant.”
“So there is a traitor among them?”
He had seen them once before.
He remembered they all bore honest faces.
And yet—
“Nonsense. Traitor? Why would a merchant use such a foolish word?”
The Fat Merchant clicked his tongue dismissively and continued.
“Men naturally drift toward whatever profits them. He simply found our proposal satisfactory, nothing more.”
“Then what did you do?”
“I had a fragrance applied to him—one that cannot be washed away for three days.”
“Ah!”
“No matter how he hides or flees, it will prove useless. He will not survive the night. Heheheh.”
Already wounded and exhausted as he was, he could expect no aid from others, only to be hunted down by those butchers until they put him to the knife.
“Krahaha.”
The Fat Merchant’s satisfaction erupted into raucous laughter.
As if to ask when he had last been so irritated by the botched initial strike.
The more he contemplated it, the more certain he became that all would conclude favorably.
Moreover, it was no small fortune he had paid to those human butchers, who would do anything for coin, to undertake this work.
‘I understand a merchant’s desire for profit, but it must not become greed. And I have no intention of standing by while that greed taints Hebei. Do you understand?’
That was what he’d said.
A boy far younger than himself, relying solely on the power of the family behind him, daring to speak that way!
So if he could deal with that arrogant young fool who’d obstructed their business and shown such disrespect to him, it wouldn’t matter what it cost.
“The Five Great Clans? Ha.”
The Fat Merchant believed without a doubt that such things could be crushed whenever he had the money to do it.
And once he’d removed that so-called Crown Prince, they could devour all of Hebei’s commercial interests.
Thinking of the wealth they’d gain, the money spent on those cutthroats tonight felt like no loss at all.
At his words, the Thin Man, who had trembled with anxiety, soon began to laugh as well.
Ha ha ha.
Kee hee hee hee.
The room filled with greedy laughter.
“Ha. Fools.”
Shin-hyung, who had just slipped out of the sprawling mansion, paused and glanced back.
“Do you really think our Leader will leave you dogs alive once this business is finished?”
A fact they didn’t know.
Most assassination organizations complete their commission, receive their promised payment, and that is the entirety of the transaction.
But the Blood Poison Group was different.
Once they finished a commission, the moment they confirmed that the client had the wealth to pay them handsomely, they would rip out that client’s throat and devour everything they owned.
That was why other assassination organizations despised them as the vilest of their kind.
But it didn’t matter to him. That was their way.
And he was one of the Blood Poison Group’s officers.
Watching these idiots, unaware of that fact, who had come bringing heavy coin to ask them to kill the Hebei Peng Clan’s Crown Prince, he could barely contain his laughter.
From what he understood, the Leader had already made up his mind.
“So the moment this business ends, those fools are dead men too.”
Their pretense would end here.
They had already determined how much wealth the Golden Manor held.
And they had already laid out the full plan for how to take it.
Even if any trouble arose later from dealing with the Hebei Peng Clan’s Crown Prince, they had prepared a flawless hideaway to disappear into.
“Kee kee.”
The more he thought about it, the more he couldn’t help but smile.
“Well then. I suppose I should be on my way as well.”
His silhouette leaped into the air.
It was quite a distance, but for him—the most skilled in Lightness Martial Arts among all the Blood Poison Group members—it posed no real obstacle.
He had unwavering confidence that no one could match his mastery of Lightness Martial Arts.
But he never dreamed it.
That even he, a master, remained unaware of someone melting into his shadow, following silently in his wake.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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