Yu Cheongrim gritted his teeth at Baek Unsaeng’s shout.
‘Think I’ll let you catch me?’
Just as he was about to unleash his Great Lightning Flash Shadow without looking back,
“Spread the Heavenly Net Formation!” Baek Unsaeng commanded, directing his warriors to block the escape routes, surrounding the area.
Yu Cheongrim, who had intended to leap into the air to flee, halted his movement technique.
Observing the tightly formed encirclement, he fell into thought.
‘I can’t shake their pursuit like this. With over a hundred warriors watching keenly, I can’t use my Thousand Transformations Technique or Earth Escape Technique.’
Both techniques required the watchers’ attention to be diverted.
Attempting to disguise himself or burrow underground in front of their eyes would make it impossible to evade pursuit.
‘Should I just reveal my identity by removing the disguise?’ Yu Cheongrim clutched his head but quickly shook it.
‘Even if I reveal myself, won’t they just arrest me?’
Even if he explained the situation, they’d likely drag him off for interrogation.
If they discovered he was the Thousand-Faced Divine Thief?
With the crime of stealing the Jade Joyful Buddha statue, he’d end up locked in the Martial Alliance’s prison.
“Just use your movement technique to head to the third floor of the Sky-Embracing Tower, the deluxe room. Now.” At that moment, So Okrim’s Thousand-Mile Voice Transmission reached him from afar.
Yu Cheongrim gaped, staring at the distant pavilion of a pleasure house faintly visible.
‘She sent a voice transmission from there to here?’ His surprise lasted only a moment. A thought sparked, and his eyes gleamed.
‘Of course. She knows why I’m the Thousand-Faced Divine Thief.’
Instead of breaking through the encirclement with his movement technique, what if he took a wide detour and dashed into the massive pleasure house?
The Martial Alliance would eagerly surround the building, searching every courtesan and guest thoroughly. But So Okrim had mentioned the third-floor deluxe room, meaning she’d likely reserved it for three people.
Even if the Alliance warriors investigated, they wouldn’t sense anything amiss.
‘She’s thorough. But… this is an opportunity.’ Confirming So Okrim was far away, Yu Cheongrim nodded, resolute.
He pulled a small cylinder from his robe.
“Hahaha! Hahahaha!” he laughed deliberately in a ghastly voice.
Whoosh!
A red light burst from the cylinder, soaring into the sky.
Boom! Crackle!
The light exploded into vibrant fireworks, illuminating the night.
“Hmph, a signal flare?” Baek Unsaeng scoffed, lowering his gaze.
“…!” He doubted his own eyes.
In that brief moment, the Black-and-White Witch before him had vanished.
“Where did she go?!” he shouted.
“We… lost sight of her for a moment…” his subordinates replied, shaking their heads awkwardly.
Distracted by the dazzling fireworks, the hundred warriors had instinctively looked skyward. Yu Cheongrim had seized that moment of diverted attention, using his Great Lightning Flash Shadow to vanish instantly.
“Chase her!” Baek Unsaeng roared, furious, tracking Yu Cheongrim’s path as he disappeared like a whirlwind.
Yu Cheongrim bolted out of the village, heading toward a secluded forest.
‘This is my chance to leave Shandong entirely.’ Getting further involved in capturing the Black-and-White Witch would cost him a hundred lives.
And with the Martial Alliance on his tail… it was better to flee Shandong and hide.
Whoosh!
Drawing a white streak across the night sky with his Great Lightning Flash Shadow, Yu Cheongrim was soon out of Pyeongdo. After running for about an hour, his intense pace caused his stomach to churn, and his dantian felt like it was tearing apart.
The cotton and rubber stuffed into his clothes left him drenched in sweat, his movements growing sluggish.
“This should be far enough,” he muttered, diving into the deep forest.
He quickly used his Earth Escape Technique, followed by the Great Breath-Holding Method.
The Martial Alliance’s pursuit was daunting, but So Okrim was even more terrifying.
If he stayed hidden underground with the Great Breath-Holding Method for three or four days, even her formidable skills wouldn’t find him, and she’d give up.
Step, step.
But soon, footsteps echoed in the deep forest.
‘They tracked me here already?’ Yu Cheongrim shook his head.
No way.
After the fireworks, he had sprinted southeast with all his might. Even if So Okrim sensed something and pursued, there was a significant gap in time.
How could she have caught up so quickly?
‘No, it’s not her.’ Judging by the vibrations in the ground, the person weighed about sixty pounds.
It wasn’t the heavy footsteps of So Okrim, who seemed to weigh around a hundred eighty pounds.
Swish, swish.
But something was strange.
The footsteps circled around where Yu Cheongrim was hiding.
‘What’s going on?’ He grew anxious.
Why were they circling the exact spot where he was concealed?
‘I’ve been found.’ He instinctively knew his hiding spot had been discovered. Since his underground concealment was exposed, the Great Breath-Holding Method was useless.
‘I need to escape.’ Yu Cheongrim stopped the technique and slowly gathered his energy, preparing to flee using his Earth Escape Technique again.
Crack.
Suddenly, the ground where he hid opened like a living creature’s mouth, revealing the moonlit sky.
‘How is this possible?’ Startled, Yu Cheongrim looked up.
“…”
There, between white hair, a pair of blood-red eyes stared down at him.
The Black-and-White Witch.
The witch, whose face was always indistinct, now had her eyes fixed on him, inches away.
“Ah… ah…” Yu Cheongrim’s mind filled with terror.
Blood began to trickle from his eyes.
Agony, fear.
The most excruciating and terrifying sensations a human could feel flooded through his eyes.
Unable to endure, his eyes bled.
“Ughhh.”
Yu Cheongrim couldn’t understand.
Why did she kill others easily but persistently pursue him to drink his blood? Unable to bear the overwhelming fear and pain, he raised his hand to strike his own Heavenly Spirit Point.
Splatter!
But a strange sound rang in his ears.
Looking down with blurry eyes, he saw sharp fangs embedded in him.
The Black-and-White Witch was piercing his carotid artery to drink his blood.
‘In this wretched world, it doesn’t matter how I die.’ As Yu Cheongrim, giving up everything, began to close his eyes,
“There she is!” Over a hundred shadows landed around him from the distant sky.
It was Baek Unsaeng and the Martial Alliance’s elite warriors.
“Two Black-and-White Witches?” Baek Unsaeng, peering closely, recognized Yu Cheongrim’s face through the wig and gaped. “You…!”
Only now did he realize the person he’d been chasing wasn’t the Black-and-White Witch but the Thousand-Faced Divine Thief, who had been looting the Martial Alliance’s treasures.
“Thousand-Faced Divine Thief! You’ve been impersonating the Black-and-White Witch!”
“Save…” Yu Cheongrim tried to speak.
But the Black-and-White Witch’s energy was making his mind waver, his facial muscles contorting.
Unaware of this, Baek Unsaeng smirked faintly. “Two birds with one stone.”
The Thousand-Faced Divine Thief, who had stolen the Martial Alliance’s treasures, and the Black-and-White Witch, who terrorized the martial world—catching both at once.
“Her martial arts are formidable, so deploy the Evil-Cleaving Sword-Slaying Formation!” Baek Unsaeng shouted.
The hundred warriors moved swiftly.
Not only were they the elite of the Shandong branch, but they were also trained in the Evil-Cleaving Sword-Slaying Formation, designed to deal with demonic practitioners.
This formation could perfectly trap an enemy and combine the warriors’ energies to unleash devastating attacks, blending the strengths of Shaolin’s Heart Bell Formation and Wudang’s Seven Star Sword Formation.
Step, step.
But the Black-and-White Witch walked straight into the center of the forming formation.
Baek Unsaeng’s expression turned peculiar.
The Evil-Cleaving Sword-Slaying Formation was imbued with the Martial Alliance’s refined techniques, exuding such power that even a child could sense it.
It was said to be inescapable once trapped, yet she walked in willingly?
What was her scheme?
“Strike!” Baek Unsaeng’s judgment was swift.
At his command, the hundred warriors activated the formation.
Boom!
Immense force surged toward the Black-and-White Witch at the center.
Trees fell, rocks shattered, as if an enraged sky unleashed a tempest to obliterate the world.
“It’s over,” Baek Unsaeng said, smiling as he gazed at the dust cloud.
Such destructive power could defeat anyone, not just the Black-and-White Witch.
Whoosh.
As the wind cleared the dust, his smile faded.
An unbelievable sight unfolded.
The Black-and-White Witch stood tall.
Thud, thud.
With dull sounds, the hundred warriors, blood streaming from their heads, began collapsing one by one.
“How is this possible?” Baek Unsaeng snapped to attention, looking around.
The surrounding area, which should have been devastated, showed no sign of damage—not a leaf out of place, not a rock broken. Then what were the tempest and destruction caused by the formation?
‘Was I possessed by a ghost?’ Baek Unsaeng rubbed his eyes.
The soaring sword energy and tempest were illusions?
The scene was still vivid, and his cheeks stung from the passing wind.
“A hallucination this vivid?” he muttered, looking at the fallen warriors.
Their Heavenly Spirit Points were shattered, their right hands soaked in blood. Astonishingly, the highly trained warriors had struck their own Heavenly Spirit Points.
“Could it be…” A thought flashed through Baek Unsaeng’s mind.
A grandmaster of the unorthodox path, capable of inducing vivid hallucinations and controlling minds with a mere glance.
The name of that legendary figure came to him.
“You…” he murmured.
The Black-and-White Witch now stood before him.
He wanted to flee, but his body was rigid, unable to move.
“You’re too noisy,” she said in a low voice, slowly extending her finger to his neck.
Thud.
Baek Unsaeng’s head fell to the ground.
As the head of the Shandong branch, a master of the Supreme Realm, he was beheaded with a single finger.
Watching from afar, Yu Cheongrim was overwhelmed with fear and awe.
How had the Black-and-White Witch shattered the Heavenly Spirit Points of a hundred warriors at once?
With such power, she could dominate the martial world, leading a faction with thousands of soldiers if she wished.
Why, then, did she become a public enemy by sucking blood?
Swish.
The Black-and-White Witch turned her head.
She slowly approached the trembling Yu Cheongrim.
‘I need to move.’ But meeting her gaze, his limbs turned to stone, his mind blank.
It wasn’t just fear.
Her eyes held a mystical power, dominating body and mind with a single glance.
“Why… do you obsess over my blood?” Yu Cheongrim asked.
“Human-Shaped Snow Ginseng,” she replied curtly.
In that moment, Yu Cheongrim understood everything.
Three years ago, he had stolen and consumed a Human-Shaped Snow Ginseng, which a wealthy man in Jinan, Hwa Munseong, had bought for ten million gold.
‘What? It’s nothing special.’ He had eaten the legendary elixir, expecting great effects, but felt none.
Yet its spiritual energy lingered in his blood, and the Black-and-White Witch had sensed it, relentlessly pursuing him for it.
‘This is my punishment for thieving.’
As his soul was captivated by the Black-and-White Witch, Yu Cheongrim tilted his neck naturally.
Clang!
A clear sword cry rang out, followed by sharp sword energy.
The Black-and-White Witch, about to feed, swiftly retreated.
Slash!
A massive claw-like sword energy grazed the ground, and a white shadow landed before Yu Cheongrim.
“Are you alright?” A clear but low voice accompanied a warm energy spreading from behind him.
A woman in white was infusing him with true energy.
“Ugh.” The black mist before his eyes dissipated, and his vision gradually cleared.
He saw a woman with a moonlit beauty, wielding a white-sheathed sword.
“Who are you…?” Yu Cheongrim asked.
“I’m from the Sword Pavilion,” she replied.
It was A-Yeon, the heir of the Sword Pavilion.
Hearing rumors of the Black-and-White Witch’s reappearance in Pyeongdo, she had ventured into the martial world. Tracking the witch’s movements, she learned the Shandong branch warriors were pursuing her.
A-Yeon shifted her focus to the branch’s activities and finally found the Black-and-White Witch about to feed on Yu Cheongrim.
‘The Sword Pavilion… Why are they here?’ Yu Cheongrim thought, still dazed despite the energy infusion.
His vision remained blurry, as if drunk, with a lingering dizziness.
“Strange. You’re not internally injured,” A-Yeon said, removing her hand from his Great Vertebra Point and offering a small pill. “This is the Sweet Dew Clarity Pill from our pavilion. It’ll help clear your mind.”
Turning, she said softly, “When you recover, leave quickly.”
Shing.
Drawing her sword, A-Yeon walked toward the Black-and-White Witch and spoke coldly, “Black-and-White Witch, for decades you’ve plagued the martial world, harming the innocent.”
“…”
“I can no longer stand by and watch your evil deeds. On behalf of the heavens, I will punish you.”
“Hmph,” the Black-and-White Witch smirked.
With a flick of her fingers, as if playing a zither, immense forces surged from both sides toward A-Yeon.
Boom!
A-Yeon swiftly leaped into the air, and the colliding forces caused a loud explosion.
“You use strange martial arts,” she said, landing and immediately unleashing the Sword Pavilion’s swordsmanship.
Swish… Whoosh!
Her white sword wove through the air, turning a gentle breeze into a deafening roar.
The Dream-Severing Elegant Sword.
The Sword Pavilion’s swordsmanship aimed for ultimate stillness, using defense as offense.
A-Yeon had immersed herself in the sword path but hadn’t broken through to the Supreme Realm.
While visiting Majeon to gather information on the Five Poisons Sect, she competed with the Death Shadow Corps’s masters through a wager with Bu Eunseol.
Though she didn’t reach the Supreme Realm, facing the experienced and unique Death Shadow Corps leaders gave her great insight, allowing her to perfect the Dream-Severing Elegant Sword.
Clang! Whoosh!
Yet, despite unleashing the technique repeatedly, it didn’t touch the Black-and-White Witch.
‘Her martial arts are formidable,’ A-Yeon thought, realizing the witch’s skills had reached the Heavenly Realm. She pushed her energy to its limit. ‘But with the Dream-Severing Elegant Sword, I can handle her.’
She unleashed the ultimate form of the technique.
Whoosh!
Six strands of sword energy surged toward the Black-and-White Witch.
Clang, clang, clang.
But something strange happened.
The six strands didn’t pierce her but orbited around her body.
This was the ultimate form, Lingering Echoes, of the Dream-Severing Elegant Sword.
Like a beautiful melody lingering in the ears, it positioned sharp sword energy around the enemy, blocking counterattacks and subduing them instantly.
“Hmph,” the Black-and-White Witch scoffed.
Strangely, she passed through A-Yeon’s sword energy as if she were a ghost.
Swish! Swish!
Unfazed, A-Yeon unleashed Lingering Echoes again, sending sword energy around the witch.
But it was futile.
The Black-and-White Witch ignored the energy, approaching leisurely as if on a stroll.
‘How is this possible?’ A-Yeon was mentally shaken.
She had ventured out alone to test her greatly improved swordsmanship. Yet, despite her painstakingly honed skills, she couldn’t even hinder the witch’s steps?
“Snap out of it!” Yu Cheongrim, panting heavily, shouted.
Despite taking A-Yeon’s Sweet Dew Clarity Pill, his mind hadn’t fully cleared. But watching A-Yeon’s fight from the sidelines, he finally grasped the secret of the Black-and-White Witch’s martial arts.
“She’s not there!” he shouted loudly.
The Black-and-White Witch wasn’t in front of A-Yeon but approaching from the side.
Yet A-Yeon, as if hearing nothing, continued wielding her swordsmanship fervently.
Her eyes were losing focus.
Splatter!
Blood sprayed from A-Yeon’s body as she swung her sword with vacant eyes. The Black-and-White Witch had used a sharp finger wind to wound her neck.
Trickle.
Bright blood glimmered in the moonlight, flowing down her neck.
The Black-and-White Witch’s eyes gleamed darkly as she stared at the blood.
“Oh,” she murmured, inhaling deeply as if savoring a fragrant scent. “A woman with True Yang energy.”
But something was odd.
As she smelled A-Yeon’s blood, the Black-and-White Witch, who had been laughing femininely, suddenly spoke in a grotesque male voice.
