Something wet touched his forehead.

Woof, woof!

Bark!

Whine! Woof woof!

As he returned from sleep to reality, the sound of something barking continuously echoed in his ears.

Jin Cheonhee realized it was Hwanggu’s barking.

“Ugh… what’s… happening?”

His brain, not fully awake from sleep, barely managed to process a few pieces of information.

First, why Hwanggu, whom he had sent to secretly investigate, had returned.

And that if the returned yellow dog was urgently waking Jin Cheonhee, it must be an emergency.

Swish—

As that thought crossed his mind, he pulled the Ice Clarity Sword using Void Seizing Technique.

Thud—

The urgent matter must be related to the “target” he had sent for reconnaissance.

Without needing to use the Profound Origin Heaven and Earth Divine Technique, a series of thoughts branched out like twigs, inferring the answer.

His hand swept across his tired face once, and the light in his eyes visible between his fingers was deep blue.

“Where do I need to go?”

Woof!

Hwanggu took the lead in response to its master’s question.

Jin Cheonhee reached out again, using Void Seizing Technique to pull on and put on his upper garment.

His long hair rippled once in the moonlight.

Finding it annoying, his forehead instinctively wrinkled, but there wouldn’t be time to tie his hair neatly.

Finally.

The horn bow.

Elder Phantom Archer’s gift. He wasn’t sure if he would need to use it, but it was better to be prepared.

The moment Jin Cheonhee gripped the horn bow, lightning sparked.

Crackle—

It seems I unconsciously applied force.

Thunder energy had leaked out.

Jin Cheonhee withdrew his energy and strapped the horn bow to his back.

Then he followed Hwanggu, immediately stepping into a footwork technique.

“Hwanggu, to the roof.”

In that instant, Hwanggu’s body, as if running on shadows, stepped on a pillar and soared upward in one breath.

Simultaneously, Jin Cheonhee’s hair obscured the moon behind Hwanggu.

One person and one animal rose smoothly like a crescent moon and landed.

Thud—

As soon as they landed on the roof, Jin Cheonhee asked:

“Which direction?”

Woof—

Hwanggu pointed in one direction with its nose like a compass.

Growl—

“Got it.”

Jin Cheonhee said just that and climbed to the top of a spire on the foreign-style building.

True to its foreign architectural style, the roof was round.

A mosque style, they called it.

Unlike those in the Central Plains, it would be easy to slip, yet Jin Cheonhee climbed to the spire in one breath without a single misstep.

As if performing a smooth movement that would normally require hundreds of practice attempts in one go, he focused his internal energy without showing any fear of the high altitude.

The internal energy that began in his danjeon circulated through his thighs and calves, reaching the Yongchun acupoint in the center of his soles.

At that moment, Jin Cheonhee’s thigh muscles swelled for an instant.

Amusingly, the young man’s body harbored the Three-Elements Stride.

He concentrated his energy following the most basic footwork principles, but.

The content of that art was different.

Look at the target and steady your breath.

Deep breathing calms the mind, and you feel the air through your skin.

Bones as the bow, muscles as the string, body as the arrow.

These were very basic archery verses that everyone in the Phantom Archer Corps learned.

Jin Cheonhee’s modification.

Thunder Dragon Bow[1] initial form.

Hundred Jang Single Strike[2]—!

Amazingly, what he shot using the mosque roof as a foothold was his own body.

Tang—!

Jin Cheonhee’s body flew in an arc.

In that fleeting moment, the young man didn’t forget to grab Hwanggu.

Awooooo!

Hwanggu howled excitedly like a wolf.

“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

Woof woof!

Gone was the appearance of a military dog urgently waking its master—it now had the expression of a puppy out for a walk.

“Void Stepping Technique?”

An unnamed martial artist murmured in surprise as he saw Jin Cheonhee.

It was understandable to mistake it as such.

Seeing him cross the sky like a meteor, one might think so.

But what Jin Cheonhee had done was merely use the principles of Five Elements True Qi, Thunder Dragon Bow, and Three-Elements Stride to launch himself far.

Strictly speaking, it was just a process of falling in a straight line toward the target.

However, due to his misty speed and appearance more befitting of flying rather than falling, not only martial artists from the Central Plains but even those from other worlds watched in amazement.

Quite a lot of people are awake at this dawn, aren’t they?

Bang!

Jin Cheonhee stepped onto a mosque that served as a midpoint.

Then, placing the now-smaller yellow dog on his shoulder, he climbed back to the spire and shot his body again.

Tang—!

As he reshot himself, he felt the tip of the spire breaking.

Tsk, seems less sturdy than His Imperial Highness Eun’s mansion. Can’t be helped?

But the range didn’t change much.

Like a technique approaching artistry, the young man continued to fly in a straight line.

Thus, in less than a quarter hour, he reached the edge of Wannong, and the desert appeared beyond the slums.

Hwanggu jumped from Jin Cheonhee’s shoulder and expanded its body.

Growl!

Then it immediately began running across the desert.

At the same time, what entered Jin Cheonhee’s eyes was a blue hawk floating in the sky.

Though it would certainly be invisible to normal people in this darkness.

Only Jin Cheonhee, familiar with the Noe-jin’s appearance, could spot a hawk passing between the constellations.

It seems to be hesitating whether to abandon reconnaissance and intervene, or continue reconnaissance as is.

They were merely Jin Cheonhee’s limbs.

The judgment was solely the master’s responsibility.

Hwanggu began running fearlessly across the desert, and Jin Cheonhee chased after it using the Three-Elements Stride.

Running over sand that pours in all directions. Then…

Tap-tap-tap-tap—

Using the wood (木) principle of the Five-Elemental Divine Technique, his running appearance was no different from running on flat ground.

Wood grips soil to fix it without shaking.

Easy to say, but operating it as lightness skill is exceedingly difficult.

Especially wood (木) is typically used for techniques like Ten Thousand Catties Hammer[3], which firmly fix the legs to the ground—using it for lightness skill is madness.

However, the genius created by the Profound Origin Heaven and Earth Divine Technique thought it was the answer, and there was no hesitation in his movement.

The Three-Elements Stride is perfect for this. Because it’s simple, it’s easy to adapt and can contain many things.

Most consider the Zhuge Clan’s Heavenly Energy Mystifying Stride to be the best footwork.

Combined with the Profound Origin Heaven and Earth Divine Technique, it becomes a divine art that approaches prescience with its ever-changing movements.

However, what Jin Cheonhee actually uses most is this Three-Elements Stride.

It’s just like butchering cattle.

Sometimes a single angled kitchen knife fits the hand better than twelve different deboning tools.

Therefore, Jin Cheonhee’s movements were faster and lighter than even bandit hordes.

Woof—

Hwanggu, as if it had expected its master to be like this, showed no sign of surprise or slowing down, and immediately took the lead.

It was as if the human and animal communicated with a single brain.

What reached the edge of Jin Cheonhee’s vision was.

“Blood?”

The desert sand hadn’t fully absorbed the blood, leaving a long trail like a path.

Blue retinas captured the blood, its direction, and calculated the surrounding footprints.

Following the shape and traces of the long bloodstain, thoughts poured like light, immediately reaching a conclusion.

This is a stab wound. Someone stabbed from behind. Judging by the depression in the sand, the person in front was running. So…

Someone stabbed in the back while fleeing.

Who?

Two factions came to mind.

Both were possibilities.

Since things were already moving in a different direction from the original story.

And in the distant desert.

A single dot was visible.

A woman lay curled up.

And below her, the sand that had swallowed the blood was like a bowl.

The assassin was nowhere to be seen, only the woman half-buried in sand was visible.

What on earth happened here?

Rather than calculating that, saving the person was more urgent.

Jin Cheonhee quickly approached and checked her pulse.

Then he immediately sealed her acupoints to stop the bleeding.

Fortunately… she wasn’t injured long ago. She’s lost consciousness, but it seems she quickly evaded at the moment of stabbing, so it missed vital points.

He had many questions.

First, there were signs that others besides her had fought in the sand, but no bodies were visible.

And… why was she left behind?

At that moment, Jin Cheonhee’s eyes turned blue.

No, that can’t be. The enemy must be nearby. They probably came to see if anyone would help her. In other words, they’re using her as bait.

It took less than 0.1 seconds for this thought to switch, and.

But if I delay here, this person will die.

Whatever the opponent’s intentions, he couldn’t avoid it.

Since the dead cannot return a second time.

“Hwanggu.”

As the now-enlarged yellow dog presented its back, Jin Cheonhee immediately lifted her onto Hwanggu’s back and began securing her with ropes to prevent shaking.

Hwanggu’s back would shake much less than carrying her by hand.

If they could just return like this, she could be saved.

When I read it as a novel, I thought it was sad. But I never expected things to go off course like this in reality.

She was different from others Jin Cheonhee had saved so far.

A future companion of Yeo Ha-ryoon, and a shield who would die protecting him.

But not wanting to end the story that way was a reader’s heart.

Besides, since the background hasn’t changed much from the original, she probably has nowhere to return to now.

Moreover, this one, despite joining an Assassination Order and becoming an assassin, is fundamentally good.

She could have created a place for herself if she had hardened her heart, but she ultimately couldn’t, so she’s a loner.

Don’t die.

Tightly—

He tightened the rope knot, completely securing her to Hwanggu’s back.

“Why don’t you come out now?”

As Jin Cheonhee finished speaking, a figure holding a sword emerged from the darkness.

“Martial artists hide through unknowable methods, yet how did you notice?”

In the center of the sword-wielding figures appeared an old woman wearing a mask.

A strange stillness with no trace of human presence.

To his question, Jin Cheonhee calmly replied:

“Even a monkey would find this situation suspicious.”

“Kekeke, indeed. But despite that, isn’t it your martial world’s priority to sense qi? Don’t you trust your martial arts?”

Well, martial artists do tend to be like that.

People who trust their single martial art more than a hundred words and a thousand thoughts. That’s what martial artists are.

Jin Cheonhee reached out and gripped a weapon.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t the Ice Clarity Sword but the horn bow.

Abandoning a divine weapon to hold an ordinary bow meant quite a lot.