"Great hero."
Finally, Lee Rin approached Jaseong.
Her complexion was pale, and her lips drew a faint red line as they bled.
But more than anything, her gaze, filled with shock, was fixed on Jaseong.
"Great hero. You really defeated Kang Ryong...."
At Lee Rin's stunned voice, Jaseong merely nodded with an expressionless face.
But Lee Rin wasn't the only one to display such shock.
The top-ranking participants who had fallen to the ground after facing Kang Ryong.
They, too, were visibly trembling.
Completely overwhelmed by Jaseong's might, none of them dared think of challenging him.
However, there was only one person who, despite trembling, approached Jaseong.
Number Three, the boy from Killing Valley.
Even as he staggered, he gripped his sword hilt, glaring at Jaseong.
'Just in case someone tried to challenge me again, I forced myself to stand here... and there really is someone after all.'
Watching the approaching Killing Valley boy, Jaseong frowned slightly.
He had pushed the Celestial Gate Opening Art to its limits, so his internal energy was completely depleted.
It was too much to engage in another duel at this point.
Of course, the Killing Valley boy also wasn't in any condition to fight properly.
Having faced Kang Ryong, his entire body was battered and broken.
And above all, Jaseong had a reliable ally beside him.
"That's enough. I'm warning you—if you take even one more step, I'll cut you down."
Lee Rin spoke, pointing the tip of her sword at him.
She, too, was still suffering from internal injuries after taking a strike from Kang Ryong's Inner Power Technique, but among the remaining participants, she was in the best shape.
Seeing the ice-cold chill radiating from the sword in her hand, it was clear she was still ready to fight.
Still, despite Lee Rin's threat, the Killing Valley boy didn't stop and kept walking toward Jaseong.
"... So you really want to see this through to the end."
Lee Rin drew up the cold in her dantian.
White steam drifted from her breath as she prepared herself.
Then, in the next moment, the approaching Killing Valley boy took an entirely unexpected action.
Thud―
The Killing Valley boy knelt down before Jaseong.
And then, abruptly, he spoke.
"Please."
"?"
"Just return my number tag."
"...."
"You're already the winner anyway. Kang Ryong's pouch that you took must be filled with countless number tags... Even if you take just number Three out of all those, there's no one who's collected as many as you."
Looking at the kneeling Killing Valley boy, Jaseong gave a dry chuckle inwardly.
He certainly hadn't expected this turn of events.
But as Jaseong fell into thought, the Killing Valley boy spoke words he'd never anticipated.
"I have a reason why I must place in the Dark Path Duel Banquet. If I fail to place... I'll die."
The Killing Valley boy's voice was resolute.
His dark eyes shone with the desperation of one who walked the border of life and death.
There was a look in his eyes that suggested some inescapable circumstance.
***
Killing Valley, the Central Plains' largest assassin organization.
They make assassins in two ways.
One, as with the enemies Jaseong had once faced—the Black and Red Twin Demons—by recruiting top-tier experts from outside.
The other, by abducting children with martial talent and training them from a young age.
The boy standing opposite Jaseong, Gu Janghu, belonged to the latter.