Chapter 92: Both, Indulges Each Other

Baek Seolyoung was truly moved.

She had not known this side of him.

The simple fact that he had prepared something like this for her made her both nervous and happy.

Lee Jaseung filled her cup.

When he went to fill his own, Baek Seolyoung took the bottle from him and poured for him herself. The hand holding the bottle trembled slightly from needless tension.

The two drank happily together.

Not only the alcohol but the side dishes were truly delicious. Perhaps it was because they were eating here. It felt different from the food served in inns.

He had personally sought out the most skilled chefs and specially requested the dishes.

Of course, it was Mook Young and the subordinates of the Guard Hall who had brought it here on time.

At first, he had worried it might’ve been too much. He had considered simply renting out an entire cozy tavern to drink. But for some reason, he had wanted to drink in a place where there was no one else but her.

That day, Lee Jaseung had given all the warriors of the Guard Hall a special day off. Mook Young had stubbornly insisted on staying, but Lee Jaseung had firmly refused, saying he wanted to be alone with Baek Seolyoung.

Since the married couple wanted to be together alone, Mook Young could not argue. Besides, sharing time with his subordinates would also help with their escort duties, so he had willingly followed the order.

The two drank back and forth, exchanging cups.

When one bottle was emptied, Lee Jaseung spoke calmly.

“I have something to tell you.”

It was the very reason he had prepared this place.

He now intended to tell her the truth.

It was about the identity he had been hiding.

“What is it?”

When he hesitated, Baek Seolyoung felt a twinge of tension. He was someone who usually spoke without hesitation, so this made her even more curious.

He had debated whether to tell her once they became even closer. If this had been something involving anyone else, he would have weighed the benefits before deciding.

But in this matter that concerned her, he had not wanted to do that.

“It’s something very important.”

Just as he was about to speak with difficulty, his mouth closed again. His head turned to the side.

Someone was approaching through the darkness. There was more than one, and their Qi was extraordinary. Each one was a master who had reached either the Peak or the Transcendent Peak Realm.

“Enemies are coming.”

At his words, Baek Seolyoung was startled. She had not sensed them at all.

“Are they strong?”

“Quite. Will you do me a favor?”

She nodded without hesitation.

“All you have to do is sit here with your eyes closed.”

“That’s all?”

“Yes, that’s all.”

She wasn’t able to guess why he was asking this, but she knew one thing for certain. He truly wanted her to do it, and that it would make it easier for him to overcome this danger.

In the past, she would have asked why and insisted on helping. She would not have wanted to sit with her eyes closed while the enemy stood before them.

But now it was different. She herself had changed, and her trust in him had grown far stronger.

So she did not make any pointless refusals. She smiled and replied.  

“That’s easy.”

Lee Jaseung tore a long strip from his clothing and used it to cover her eyes.

“This will make it even easier.”

She stayed still as he wanted.

Lee Jaseung rose to his feet.

By then, the uninvited guests had surrounded them. There were exactly thirty of them.

As he had expected, all were at the Peak Realm or Transcendent Peak Realm. The problem was their Qi.  

Lee Jaseung had faced many kinds of enemies before.

But he had never encountered such a foul and unpleasant Qi like this. It clung like that of a Demonic Human’s, yet was as murderous as that of an assassin. It was violent, and irritating.

It was the kind of feeling that made one think they would not be surprised no matter what atrocities these men committed. And the problem was that they were highly skilled.

Lee Jaseung was able to tell what kinds of deeds they had carried out over the years. Their countless evils had accumulated into this massive aura.

That was why he had covered Baek Seolyoung’s eyes.

It was easier to protect her if she stayed still than if she moved.

And there was another reason.

He wanted to fight without any restraint.

He did not want her to see him truly fighting with killing intent, nor to see the enemies’ bodies being torn apart.

The leader of the enemies looked at Baek Seolyoung with her eyes covered and spoke.

“She’s going to die anyway. No point in cherishing her.”

“So the order was to kill us both huh.”

As Lee Jaseung’s lips curled upward, the leader sneered.

“Who do you think you are, to decide who lives and who dies? You pathetic fool, you’d better listen carefully to this senior. If you kneel down and offer your head, I’ll make it quick. Don’t worry about the woman. We’ll treat her well before we send her off.”

The men behind him chuckled lewdly.

Lee Jaseung laughed too.

“Hahahaha.”

To them, it looked like he had gone mad, but his laughter was aimed at people who were not present.

At Ban Yeo, who commanded such vile and cruel subordinates. At Jang Wonso, who kept such a man under him. This was the moment he would see their true nature with his own eyes.

‘Yes, I’ll make sure to end both of you later.’

Lee Jaseung slowly drew his Asura. As if reading his mind, Asura let out a low cry.

Jing-

It was rare for a weapon to cry like that, and the leader’s eyes sharpened. But he still remained confident.

‘Two hands could not withstand four hands, and certainly not sixty hands. No matter how skilled you are.’

That was his truth, and the reason his organization specialized in nearly perfect joint attacks.

Whether two fought, ten fought, or all thirty fought, together they could double, tenfold, or thirtyfold their strength.

This was why Ban Yeo had sent them without even considering the possibility of failure.

“Kill him!”

At the order, four men closest to him attacked at once. In the past, eight out of ten of their assassination targets had died from this very first combination attack. It was that strong and perfect.

Four blades came at his neck, waist, chest, and back simultaneously.

Swish! Swhish! Swish! Swwwish!

It was an attack so difficult to avoid without proper preparation, and even then it was enough to make one shake their head.

Lee Jaseung’s body moved swiftly. The four blades grazed past him. To the attackers, it looked as if their swords had bent away from his body.

Even those who had seen it from the closest distance could not understand how he had dodged.

They drew back their swords for another attack, but they were given no second chance.

Puk! Puk!

Asura pierced through the necks of the two men attacking from the front and right in quick succession. He moved so fast between them that it felt as though there were two Lee Jaseungs striking them at once.

Kwaaang!

He slammed into the man on the left with his shoulder, then swept Asura through the air.

Slash!

The last man clutched his throat, staggered back, and collapsed. The man who had taken the blow to the chest from Lee Jaseung’s shoulder had already died instantly, with his ribs shattered.

Shhhhk.

Shaking the blood from his blade, Lee Jaseung’s eyes radiated fierce fighting spirit.

The leader’s face turned grim.

‘He dealt with them in just one move?’

His opponent was far stronger than he had known.

But neither he nor his men were the type to back down. He shouted even louder.

“Third unit, attack together!”

Ten men leaped at him.

Baek Seolyoung listened to the sounds. The wind, the tearing of flesh, the screams, and the heavy scent of blood.

Swwwish.

She felt a blade coming toward her. It must have been an attempt to attack her in order to create an opening in Lee Jaseung’s defense.

She wanted to dodge but did not. She had promised to stay still.

Shhhhk!

Right by her ear came the sound of flesh being torn.

She too was fighting now.

Her battle was against fear. The fear that at any moment, a blade could strike her neck or chest.

The only way to overcome that fear was her trust in Lee Jaseung.

Swwwish!

This time the sound came from behind.

In fear that she really might be stabbed, she squeezed her eyes shut even tighter under the blindfold.

Then came the sound of bones breaking.

Crunch.

Followed by a heavy thud as something hit the ground.

She had just begun to breathe a sigh of relief when the sound of a strong gust came from beside her.

Swwwish.

Even from the sound, she could tell it was too fast to dodge.

Clang!

A sharp metallic sound of a sword being blocked rang out, followed by the sound of flesh tearing.

Puk!

In a way, she was gaining more from this than if she had been fighting herself.

In the martial world, such an experience was rare enough to happen only once in a lifetime.

It was also a continuation of the experience from yesterday, when she had endured without moving at all. That was helping her now.

Then she noticed something strange. Enemies were dying right next to her, yet not a drop of blood had touched her.

If it were only one or two, it would’ve been understandable as a coincidence. But with so many dying nearby, there was still no blood on her?

She realized it then.

Lee Jaseung was killing them in a way that prevented any blood from splattering on her.

Was that really possible?

Her heart started to pound. Was he showing that kindness even during a life-or-death crisis?  

‘You don’t have to do that!’

That was her true feeling. A little blood would not kill her.

‘No, please don’t!’

She wanted to tell him, but she could not risk breaking his concentration.

She hoped it was just her imagination.

But it was not.

Lee Jaseung truly was fighting so that no blood would touch her. It was distracting, but it was something he wanted to do for her.

It was not as difficult as it sounded. His martial level had risen the previous day, and this was his first real battle since then. He was handicapping himself against the strongest assassination group while protecting Baek Seolyoung and keeping her clean.

It could be called the worst situation, yet he was turning it into the best opportunity, seeing it as an invaluable combat experience.

Crack!

As one man’s chest burst open, Asura tore through the chest of another who had attacked in tandem.

Puk! Puk! Puk! Puk!

Two men fell at once.

Lee Jaseung was angry, and he poured that fury into his blows without restraint.

Thud!

A man rushing from behind crumpled as his ribs shattered under Lee Jaseung’s elbow.

Lee Jaseung leaped into the air toward a man hesitating in front of him.

The man’s sword sliced empty air. In the blink of an eye, Lee Jaseung’s leg wrapped around his neck.

Whirrrl! Crack!

With a sickening sound, the man spun in the same direction as Lee Jaseung before slamming into the ground, already dead.

Lee Jaseung unleashed both the Yama’s Dagger Art and the martial technique of the Limitless Iron Chest without reservation.

A brief silence fell for a moment.

Everyone stared at him with terrified faces.

Twenty men already lay on the ground. The ten remaining were gripped by fear. No one had expected this outcome.

All eyes turned to the leader. His expression was dark, and in truth, he felt the same as his men. He wanted to run immediately.  

But he couldn’t afford to do such a thing.

“If we go back like this, we’ll die even more miserably.”

His gaze turned fierce.

“If we can’t kill him…”

He did not finish, but everyone understood.

They all looked at Baek Seolyoung.

“Attack her all at once. No matter what, she must die!”

A cold dread washed over her at their words.

Then came Lee Jaseung’s voice.

“Don’t worry. I’ll protect you.”

Her heart warmed at those words.

“I’m not worried. Just watch yourself instead of worrying about me.”

The men charged with killing intent.

Their target was Baek Seolyoung.

Just then, a fierce wind roared.

Whoooosh!

Flash! Flash! Flash! Flash! Flash!

She saw some bright light flicker before her eyes.

‘Ah! This was the final technique I had seen before.’

It was the final form of Yama’s Dagger Art. The Dagger of the Radiant King.

Now at a higher level, it was sharper and stronger than before.

There was a reason he had not used it from the start.

It consumed an enormous amount of inner Qi. Even the slightest failure in fine control could drain almost all his Qi at once.

That was why he never used it carelessly and kept it as a final trump card.

Of course, no one else in the world knew of this move. All his enemies were dead, and he had never shown it to his subordinates either.

The fierce wind ceased.

Silence followed.

Realizing the battle was over, she slowly removed her blindfold.

The men were all lying on the ground, shredded by the Sword Qi. Most were unrecognizable in their own pools of blood.

Only Lee Jaseung remained standing, covered head to toe in blood.

She looked down at herself. Not a single drop of blood stained her. Though blood was everywhere, not one drop had touched her.

It was because Lee Jaseung had taken it all onto himself.

Her heart swelled.

Lee Jaseung too looked at her with deep emotion.

He had been about to reveal his identity to her.

That intention had not changed.

He had not expected to say it in such a gruesome scene.

But he also thought perhaps fate had arranged it this way. For this blood-soaked, sword-in-hand figure was his true self.

“I am…”

Just as he lifted his head to speak-

Baek Seolyoung suddenly kissed him.

Feeling her soft lips, a fierce emotion surged from deep within him.

He dropped Asura and cupped her face with both hands. But realizing his hands were bloody, he stepped back.

Their lips parted.

Seeing her face stained with blood, he frowned. At the very least, he had not wanted to get that blood on her.

But she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around his waist.

‘I don’t care how much blood there is!’

Her feelings reached him.

This time he kissed her first, more fiercely than before. Feeling his heat, her lips parted slightly.

His tongue slipped into that open space, and as it touched her teeth, her body trembled as if struck by lightning.

He held her back and waist gently. Under his touch, her lips parted further.

Lee Jaseung’s tongue touched hers.  

Sweetness and thrill rushed through them together.

Their tongues entwined as they indulged in each other.

They were able to feel it. They both desperately wanted one another.

And there, with blood flowing like a river around them, their passionate kiss continued.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep