Transcendent Peak.

The peak of the realm of the peak and the limit of a human.

And now, there was a person who had surpassed that limit.

In a quiet training ground of Shaolin, a monk was performing a fist and foot art.

His fist and foot, which had been strong, staying in the realm of the transcendent peak before, now had a strange air current flowing, having surpassed the transcendent peak.

'It's different.'

The monk, Shinseung, was lost in appreciation, feeling a strange sensation from his fist and foot art.

There should have been no great change.

The internal energy in his body was also not very different from before.

If there was something that had greatly changed.

'The Buddha in my heart, unlike before, is growing and revealing its presence.'

The Buddhist faith that one naturally holds as one who has become a monk.

However, it should not have been felt so clearly as to have a form like this.

At that feeling, Shinseung, on the contrary, was plunged into confusion, unlike before.

'Is the Buddhist faith in my heart really the Buddhist faith?'

Therefore, his mind-image was more confused than in the previous realm.

In the midst of that, what he could know was.

'Was the sword of the heart that Benefactor Baek had mentioned before something like this?'

He thought of the sword of the heart that Baek Yoonjun had mentioned to him before.

At that time, Shinseung had thought that it was close to a metaphor.

However, now that he had surpassed the transcendent peak and had felt it, he realized that it was not a metaphor.

'If I'm not careful, I'll be swept away in no time.'

Shinseung realized that this was the price for surpassing a human.

He could not easily judge what it was.

And yet, paradoxically, he could express it easily.

'Obsession.'

Shinseung considered it an obsession.

Although he had shaken off his obsession and had surpassed the transcendent peak, what was in front of him was the starting point of an obsession that could not be shaken off.

Shinseung began to perform the fist and foot art again.

To shake off the obsession that was growing along with the Buddhist faith within him.

To shake off his lingering attachment.

Without being able to judge whether it was the same as the Buddhist faith, or whether it was like a demon that had come as the Buddhist faith grew.

'How on earth did Benefactor Baek shake off such an obsession and reach a noble realm?'

Shinseung continued his training with difficulty, thinking of Baek Yoonjun, who had reached a distant realm that could not be compared with his current self.

---

"Why are you fine?"

"What? What do you mean, fine?"

Baek Yoonjun stared blankly at Biyeon's foolish face.

Literally, the very incarnation of foolishness, who looked foolish.

However, as he drew up the energy of the Heart Sword and put it in his eyes, he felt an unknown sense of incongruity from Biyeon's shadow.

As Baek Yoonjun continued to stare blankly at the shadow, Biyeon let out a sigh.

"Phew... I've been caught."

The expression of Biyeon, who had let out a sigh, changed.

The appearance of a shabby, third-rate ruffian that could be anywhere was gone, and he was smiling with a strange eye-smile.

"I am called Gok Piyeong, the leader of the Ghost Pavilion, who works under the black sky."

Biyeon, no, Gok Piyeong bowed his head with a strange, theatrical hand gesture, not a fist-and-palm salute.

Baek Yoonjun, wary of him, quietly opened his mouth.

"What happened to Biyeon?"

"He exists here."

"Nonsense. You're not Biyeon, are you?"

"It is because I have superimposed my shadow on his shadow."

Baek Yoonjun frowned at the incomprehensible words of the being in front of him.

And Gok Piyeong, who was facing Baek Yoonjun.

'Hoh, to not be affected by the shadow and to stand proudly in front of me with a clear mind, from his appearance, he is no ordinary person.'

He was admiring Baek Yoonjun's appearance inside.

And Baek Yoonjun.

'This... he seems like a dangerous guy?'

Starting from the bizarre act of superimposing a shadow, the energy felt from Gok Piyeong also, although it did not reach the second-rate by Baek Yoonjun's standards, seemed to be the most among the people he had met until now, except for a few.

'It's strange. Although his internal energy itself is less than the man who looked like me that I met then, he looks more dangerous?'

Although it did not show on the outside, Baek Yoonjun was scared inside.

And so, the two, who had opposite feelings for each other.

'It's a loss if we fight.'

Surprisingly, they came to the same conclusion.

And so, as a cold silence flowed between the two, the one who moved first was Gok Piyeong.

"It is surprising that there was a strange person in a small village like this."

Gok Piyeong raised his hand as if he had no intention of fighting.

"Please do not misunderstand. I just happened to be passing by and visited because I felt an interesting energy."

There was no tension to be found in Gok Piyeong's tone.

A lightness as if he had accidentally met an acquaintance while taking a walk.

'What is this guy? Why is he so relaxed?'

Baek Yoonjun was anxious at that attitude.

To be that confident meant one of two things.

Either he was bluffing because he had no confidence, or he really had a hidden card.

'It seems like the latter... ah, damn. It's become troublesome.'

Baek Yoonjun sighed inside and observed the situation.

Naturally, due to his nature of being strong against the weak and weak against the strong, he instinctively wanted to avoid a fight.

"Excuse me... if your business is over, how about you just go?"

Forgetting that he had been speaking informally until just before, Baek Yoonjun used honorifics.

Although he had spoken as plainly as possible, naturally, he was begging inside for him to just go.

"Haha, you are so cold."

Gok Piyeong smiled and controlled Biyeon's body to shrug his shoulders lightly.

That movement was bizarrely natural, so it really looked as if Biyeon were moving on his own.

"Alright. I also just stopped by to say hello today."

Gok Piyeong, borrowing Biyeon's body, lightly turned around once.

That movement strangely felt as if he were performing a play on a stage.

'Hello? What nonsense is that?'

Although Baek Yoonjun grumbled inside, he did not say it out loud.

It seemed it would become more troublesome if he touched him for no reason, and the nature of a homebody introvert who had reached the peak was preventing him from saying more.

"I will say one thing and then go."

Gok Piyeong took a step closer and narrowed his eyes.

In an instant, Biyeon's shadow twisted bizarrely and pointed a finger at Baek Yoonjun.

"Soon, an interesting play will unfold in this Central Plains."

"...What?"

"When that time comes, do you have any intention of standing on the stage with me?"

At Gok Piyeong's words, Baek Yoonjun frowned.

And yet, at Gok Piyeong's words, a scene came to his mind.

For some reason, on a stage that would have been in modern Earth, Gok Piyeong and he were performing a duet.

'Crazy!'

Just by thinking of it, Baek Yoonjun shivered inside.

His instinct began to shout that he had to be cooped up in a corner of a room right away.

'A play? A stage? What nonsense is that? I just want to be cooped up in a corner of a room!'

Baek Yoonjun felt a repulsion instinctively.

Leaving aside the nature of a homebody introvert, since what a suspicious person called 'fun' would never be a normal 'fun'.

"No. I'm not interested in that kind of thing. Yes, I'm not. I'm not buying."

Baek Yoonjun awkwardly waved his hands, as if dealing with a person who was recommending the Tao, whom he had often seen in front of a station in his past life.

But even at such a reaction from Baek Yoonjun, Gok Piyeong did not seem to be offended, and the corners of his eyes narrowed like a thread as he smiled.

"I will look forward to it. I think we can make a more interesting story when we meet next time."

With those words, the shadow slowly separated from Biyeon's shadow and began to move.

At that moment, Baek Yoonjun's instinct wriggled.

'It's a chance!'

The ideology of 'biyeol' (despicable), which Baek Yoonjun had learned while studying at the Biyeolmun, moved his body.

Baek Yoonjun's body, which had rushed quickly, rushed towards the shadow that had escaped.

"Despicable Stab!!"

Contemplating his mind-image, he gripped the Heart Sword, and at the same time, he drew the Black Iron Dark Night, and with a tragic shout, he stabbed at the back of the shadow's head.

-Keuaaak!!

At the strike that had even mobilized the Heart Sword, the shadow shivered bizarrely and screamed.

Baek Yoonjun, giving strength to the hand that was holding the Black Iron Dark Night, which had been stabbed into the shadow, muttered quietly.

"Do not dare to show the back of your head in front of the Biyeolmun."

Although it sounded like a very meaningful sound, in the end, it was just the sound of having hit the back of the head.

At the Despicable Stab, which was full of the enlightenment of Baek Yoonjun's Biyeolmun, the shadow was annihilated.

And at the same time, the focus returned to Biyeon's eyes, and he collapsed on the floor like a limp doll.

"...Kik."

Biyeon let out a groan as he fell on his face on the floor.

Baek Yoonjun looked down at the collapsed Biyeon and let out a sigh.

'As expected, stabbing from behind is the best. Because there's no way I'll be at a disadvantage.'

Baek Yoonjun was once again impressed by the martial arts of the Biyeolmun, which he had recreated.

'Good. Anyway, since it seems to have been resolved, it was good.'

Muttering so inside, Baek Yoonjun helped Biyeon up.

But as he moved, Baek Yoonjun was engulfed in a very ominous premonition.

For some reason, a feeling that this would not be the end wrapped around his whole body.

---

A remote alley in the village.

In that place, where the darkness was thick, a man was quietly leaning against a wall.

Swoosh.

A black shadow that had crawled on the floor climbed up the man's feet and seeped into his body.

"Keuk..."

At the same time as the shadow had completely returned, the man, Gok Piyeong, staggered, clutched his chest, and let out a groan.

'The wound is deep.'

Gok Piyeong looked down at his chest, to be precise, the place where the shadow had returned and had been imbued.

Because the essence of the shadow had been torn, he felt a pain as if his soul had been cut into pieces, and at the same time, a wound appeared on his chest, and blood flowed down.

In his mind, the memory of the shadow began to come to him as vividly as if it were his own.

'A Despicable Stab... what a miscellaneous...!'

Gok Piyeong recalled Baek Yoonjun's last strike.

A sword that had stabbed in from behind in a surprise attack.

If it had been just a sword, it would not have reached him, who was a shadow, but the energy on that sword had clearly pierced Gok Piyeong's essence.

'I don't know what it is, but to even cut a shadow. It's as if he's cutting the concept itself.'

Gok Piyeong let out a hollow laugh.

A being he had thought was a fake.

A man he had thought was a clown imitating his own idol had, on the contrary, treated him as a clown and had dragged him off the stage.

"It's fun. Really..."

Even in the pain, a smile hung on Gok Piyeong's lips.

For a being with this much strength to be hiding in such a shabby village and acting foolish.

What a delightful comedy this was.

"But for now... I'll need treatment."

Gok Piyeong, holding onto his fading consciousness, looked around.

He needed a shadow, or vitality, to deal with the immediate injury.

If not that, he would have to have a skilled doctor treat at least the external wound.

It was then.

"It's a patient."

A dry voice broke the silence of the alley.

As Gok Piyeong turned his head, a young girl and a tall man were standing there.

Although their expressions were not very visible because they were standing with the moonlight at their backs, the girl's eyes, in particular, were shining.

"Senior Sister, I told you to just go. He looks like the same kind of human who was beaten by a bad guy, so there's nothing good about getting involved."

The man standing next to her grumbled carefully.

He was a man who looked as handsome as a gigolo.

But in Gok Piyeong's eyes, the incongruity of that man came in at once.

'Cross-dressing... are you?'

Although she was acting as a man, controlling her voice and body shape, in the eyes of Gok Piyeong, who was an expert in plays, it was just a clumsy disguise.

And the girl next to him.

Although at a glance, she looked young, as if she had not even reached the age of learning, her eyes looked calm, not befitting her age.

"A doctor doesn't leave a patient."

"No, I've done enough doctoring during the day. And look at that. He doesn't look like a person. Isn't he actually a ghost?"

As the man had said, Gok Piyeong's current state was closer to a ghost than a person.

Since his shadow was tattered and was giving off a black smoke.

Although it was not visible to a being with a lower martial prowess than Gok Piyeong, the energy could be felt.

But the girl, Tang Yuhwa, did not care and approached Gok Piyeong.

"Since he doesn't look like a person, treatment is more urgent."

"Hah... you're really incorrigible."

Although the cross-dressing woman, Zhuge Hwaryeong, shook her head, she smiled as if Tang Yuhwa's bold actions were just cute and stealthily blocked the way, observing Gok Piyeong sharply.

Gok Piyeong watched the two with interested eyes.

'It's an interesting combination.'

A bold girl who was calm even after feeling the ominous energy flowing out, and a woman who was guarding her, hiding her identity with a clumsy cross-dressing.

Why were there so many strange people in the Central Plains?

"Are you alright?"

Tang Yuhwa squatted in front of Gok Piyeong and asked.

Gok Piyeong, pretending to be in pain, contorted his expression and answered.

"...Are you going to treat me?"

"Because I'm a doctor."

Tang Yuhwa stretched out her hand without hesitation.

Her finger touched the wound that had been created by Gok Piyeong's torn shadow.

Sizzle.

In an instant, with a faint smoke, Gok Piyeong's spine chilled.

'Poison?'

She had said she would treat him, but what was flowing in from the fingertip that had touched the wound was clearly a poisonous energy.

And on top of that, a type of poison that paralyzed the nerves.

"...It stings."

"It's disinfection. Bear with it."

Tang Yuhwa answered shamelessly and took something out from her bosom.

It was a needle with a faint purple light.

"The wound is deep, so it needs to be sutured."

"Excuse me, doctor? This isn't just a needle..."

"Quiet. A patient listens to the doctor."

Stab!

Without even listening to Gok Piyeong's answer, Tang Yuhwa stabbed the needle in as it was.

"Keuk!"

A last gasp burst from Gok Piyeong's mouth.

From the spot where the needle had been stabbed, a hot heat spread, and he felt as if not only the wound but also the form of the shadow inside was being forcibly fixed.

It was not a simple treatment.

A strange medical art that was somehow different from the existing medical arts.

'Hahaha... this little doctor is also no ordinary person.'

Gok Piyeong smiled slightly at the pleasant feeling.

Following the monster named Baek Yoonjun, a little doctor who freely handled poison and nonchalantly treated a person as a test subject.

Of course, Tang Yuhwa had no such intention and had just performed the most optimal treatment now, but there was no way for Gok Piyeong to know that fact.

"Senior Sister? This human keeps laughing."

"Leave him. He must be having a good dream."

"Wow, even his smile looks so sinister..."

At the two's conversation, Gok Piyeong felt a little creepy, but he soon dismissed it as just a feeling.

"The pulse is strange. The qi is flowing backwards. This is..."

Tang Yuhwa's eyes sparkled.

"It's a strange phenomenon."

From the perspective of the one being treated, that gaze seemed to be glistening with madness.

In fact, since Tang Yuhwa was serious about her work as a doctor, she was just worrying about the patient, but it looked like that from the side.

Gok Piyeong, meeting that gaze, smiled mischievously even in the pain.

"Gently... please, doctor."

"I will do my best."

Tang Yuhwa took out more needles and unknown powdered medicines from her bosom.

Zhuge Hwaryeong, who was watching that, let out a deep sigh and was wary of her surroundings.

"Finish it quickly. I don't want to see Senior Sister suffer."

"I'm saving a person. It's a noble medical act."

"No matter how much, treating a very suspicious human is a bit..."

Under the moonlight, a strange combination gathered, and the treatment continued.

Gok Piyeong did not know.

That the women in front of him were the disciples of Baek Yoonjun, who had fed him a Despicable Stab.

Even in his fading consciousness, Gok Piyeong thought. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

'Ah, this stage... there really won't be a moment to be bored.'

In his ears, Tang Yuhwa's dry voice was heard like a lullaby.

"It will sting. A little, a lot."

Stab!

"...!!"

At the slightly, very stinging pain, Gok Piyeong screamed without realizing it.

(End of Chapter)