YDHP 03

Chapter – 03

Through the introduction of Geum Ga-hyeok, the eldest son of the Geum family, I met the family head.

His face was filled with rage and hostility toward the Yeon family. He grabbed my hands and desperately pleaded with me to recover the Geum family’s heirloom from those vile people.

The circumstances didn’t really matter to me though.

Ten silver coins was a lot of money.

After hearing the location, structure, and precautions regarding the Yeon estate, I immediately began scouting the area nearby.

‘Not many martial artists here.’

Even the ones that were present were mostly third-rate or below. Calling such low-level fighters martial artists was questionable to begin with, so it was more accurate to say there were none.

I recalled Geum Ga-hyeok’s warning.

“Still, you should be careful. I heard the Yeon family hired a Peak-level master.”

A Peak master.

It sounded impressive at first glance, but that level wasn’t actually that rare. Which made sense.

After all, this was originally a game.

In the early days of the server, even reaching early second-rate made you a ranked player. But now, one year after release, level inflation had gone completely insane.

Naturally.

The whales kept spending money.

The developers got excited and had no choice but to introduce absurd realms like Life-and-Death Realm and Ascension Realm.

Because of this, the Ten Greatest Masters of the martial world were all at the Profound Realm. In fantasy terms, it was like having ten sword masters or archmages capable of slaying dragons in a single strike.

And one of them was my adoptive mother.

For clarity, the power hierarchy here is:

Third-rate: Street thug
Second-rate: Bodyguard level
First-rate: Limit of someone without talent

Peak: Can use sword aura appearing as pale mist. The color varies per person and becomes deeper and clearer through early, mid, and late stages.
(Sword aura color can be changed through paid gacha.)

Transcendent Peak: Can project sword aura outside the blade. Can use techniques like sword barriers to protect the body. At late stage can form semi-solid sword threads.

Transformation Realm (Hwagyeong): Uses Sword Force (Geomgang). Even three Transcendent Peak masters cannot defeat one.

Profound Realm (Hyeongyeong): Uses Sword Rings. Even three Transformation masters cannot win.

Beyond that are Life-and-Death Realm and Ascension Realm, but I’ve never seen any NPC reach those levels.

I heard the number one ranked player in the previous server barely reached early Life-and-Death.

By this world’s standards, that’s practically imaginary.

Anyway.

‘The important thing is that the Peak master isn’t at the Yeon estate right now.’

Even if I met them, I was confident I could win.

This body might only be late Peak, but I carried the title Little Heavenly Demon.

I didn’t just raise combat stats. I built my character carefully with future growth in mind.

Against someone at the same level, victory was guaranteed. Against NPCs whose overall specs were lower than players, I could even challenge Transcendent Peak one-on-one.

And if I really had no choice…

I could always use my adoptive mother’s name.

If the Heavenly Demon was said to be coming for revenge, surely they wouldn’t dare kill me.

With such relaxed thoughts, I jumped onto the roof. The mansion was as magnificent as its reputation, and the security was tight.

But all the guards were ordinary swordsmen or below first-rate.

Nowhere near enough to stop a Peak master.

Thanks to that, I infiltrated the inner residence without being noticed.

Just in case, I covered my face with a black mask.

‘They said the jade ring would be in the innermost building, inside an iron box.’

At first I thought the description was vague.

But once I saw it, I understood immediately.

I twisted the lock open by force. Inside was a jade ring… faintly pulsating.

…Wait.

Pulsating?

A jade ring?

Looking closer, a small sphere embedded in the ring was beating.

Like a living heart.

‘What is this?’

This was extremely suspicious.

It was definitely not a normal heirloom. If anything, it looked like something from the Demonic Cult or Blood Cult.

…But a job is a job.

Whatever happened between the Yeon and Geum families didn’t matter. As long as I got paid.

I grabbed the still-beating jade ring and carefully left the inner residence.

Then I made eye contact with a man.

“Intruder!”

“There’s a thief in the inner residence!”

Damn.

Looks like there was some kind of alarm spell placed at the exit. Following his shout, enemies rushed in from all directions.

‘Can’t be helped.’

Shing.

I drew my sword.

A deep blue sword aura wrapped around the chipped, uneven blade.

“A-a Peak master!”

A martial arts cliché:

When people see something amazing, they feel the need to shout it out loud.

“Just asking, but you’re not planning to let me go peacefully, right?”

“…Even if you’re Peak, you’re only one person! Several first-rate fighters together can beat you!”

As expected.

I slipped the jade ring onto my left ring finger and charged.

The first man’s neck split apart.

Blood sprayed like a fountain.

The brawl began.

“Damn it! Kill him!”

“We cannot lose the ring! Kill him if you want to live!”

I swung my hand toward a man rushing from behind. A shockwave blasted forward with a heavy boom.

He collapsed with a horrific sound. His ribs had caved in and pierced his lungs. He would die soon.

There was no time to rest.

I turned and kicked backward. A first-rate fighter hit in the shin lost his balance.

“Yap.”

“Guh!”

Crack.

I drove my knee into his face as he fell. His nose collapsed, blood smearing my knee.

“Damn it! Damn it!”

Another man leapt over the first corpse and raised his sword.

Second-rate level.

Full of openings.

I flicked a finger.

Compressed energy shot like a bullet, piercing his skull.

Immediately three enemies rushed from three directions.

I turned right and met a blade.

Actually, “met” wasn’t accurate.

The first-rate sword snapped in two the moment it touched my sword aura. I cut the man’s upper body along with it.

Spin once.

I rotated my body and avoided the left and rear attackers. They collided where I had been, stabbed by their own ally’s swords.

I stepped on corpses and jumped.

“Boing.”

Reality has no sound effects, so I added my own.

I stomped down.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Each head I stepped on meant one death. A technique I created by applying Heavenly Demon Movement.

By the time I finished rampaging, I stood alone.

The surroundings were a sea of blood.

By now the Yeon family must be awake, but none appeared before me.

Probably afraid.

I’m actually a pacifist if no one interferes.

It’s unfortunate nobody believes that.

‘All done. Time to go.’

The Yeon family wasn’t impressive anyway.

Return the ring. Get paid. Leave Shanxi.

That was the plan.

I stepped on a pillar and jumped to the roof.

Then suddenly—

A terrifying killing intent.

“Ghk—!”

A gasp escaped me.

A sword pierced my back and came out my stomach. The attacker deliberately twisted it, sending agony through my body.

That wasn’t all.

Being stabbed through the stomach was nothing. I’d survived death matches with worse injuries.

But this killing intent…

This was different.

Just breathing felt like my lungs were burning.

I trembled while clutching my abdomen.

‘Breath… I can’t…’

My mask stuck to my face. I wheezed desperately.

“I step out briefly and a rat dares to ruin my home.”

A cold, beautiful voice.

A woman.

That was all I could tell.

“You seem young, yet already late Peak. Had we not met like this, I might have taken you as my disciple. What a shame.”

She crouched in front of me.

A completely defenseless posture in battle.

But it didn’t matter.

Even if she were asleep, I couldn’t win.

She grabbed my chin.

“A girl.”

“Kh…!”

“I normally do not kill girls your age. But you are involved with the Blood Cult. Tsk… at least let me see your face.”

Did she have a habit of seeing faces before killing?

Blood mixed with my cough.

She slowly removed my soaked mask.

Our eyes met.

Her eyes were light brown.

The same color as mine.

She inhaled sharply.

“…Impossible.”

Suddenly her pressure weakened.

I managed to open my fading eyes.

Still holding my face, she grabbed my right arm and forcibly pulled off my glove.

Four dots appeared on the back of my hand.

Dot-shaped scars across my hand. Permanent cosmetic stickers I bought because they looked cool (9,900 won each).

But they meant something else to her.

She completely withdrew her killing intent and grabbed my shoulders while breathing heavily.

“Child. Your name. What is your name? Your age?”

“My… name… none… age… sixteen…”

I didn’t want to die as “extra #3”, so I at least answered my age.

Even that took effort.

My organs were barely being held in place by sheer muscle strength.

For some reason she had stopped attacking me.

But without treatment, I would still die.

My vision flickered.

“Wait— no— please—!”

My hearing faded.

Her scream was the last thing I heard.

Then my consciousness went dark.