Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Jin Ja-gang realized that yesterday’s self and today’s self were somehow different.

His body felt lighter, and his mood was refreshed. The damage done to his body by Mang-ryo had almost completely healed, though he hadn’t noticed it because the recovery had been so gradual.

Jin Ja-gang looked at the pool, which had now almost completely dried up. He could only vaguely think that the water that had gathered there must have had some effect on his body.

The water Jin Ja-gang had been drinking was actually Stone Milk of Mount Kunlun, formed over thousands or tens of thousands of years as the essence of sulfur accumulated.

The new skin that had grown was also due to this Stone Milk of Mount Kunlun. Originally, sulfur has properties that help new skin grow, strengthen bones, and make skin smooth.

Jin Ja-gang touched his lower abdomen.

In the span of a month, it felt like a chestnut-sized stone had settled inside his stomach. However, it wasn’t particularly uncomfortable.

“This is the dantian…”

Even Hundred Flower Valley was a martial sect living in the martial world, so Jin Ja-gang wasn’t ignorant about internal energy.

But why would something resembling internal energy appear in his dantian when he hadn’t even practiced any internal energy cultivation method?

He had never properly learned any internal energy technique, and Jin Ja-gang’s energy channels were all blocked except for the ones Mang-ryo had opened.

“Still, just in case…”

Jin Ja-gang tried to move the stone-like energy in his dantian as if it were internal energy.

“Urrgh!”

The energy in the stone was like a tangled ball of thread that wouldn’t move.

He struggled for nearly an hour, but it was of no use.

“So it really doesn’t work?”

Jin Ja-gang tilted his head.

Suddenly, his dantian shook, and he could feel a slight movement of energy, albeit minuscule.

As the energy of the Stone Milk of Mount Kunlun accumulated in his dantian, it had forcibly connected the path between his dantian and stomach, creating a tiny passage in the Stomach Meridian of Foot-Yangming.

“Huh?”

Jin Ja-gang felt hopeful. He knew that carelessly circulating internal energy could lead to qi deviation, but in this situation, he had no master to guide him.

Though he had no idea what the consequences of his actions might be, he thought it would be better than doing nothing at all.

Jin Ja-gang sat cross-legged and assumed a proper posture.

He tried to grab the end of the thread-like energy from his dantian and pull it up toward his stomach. Unlike normal internal energy, it felt as if it was being pulled and then snapped.

That rough-feeling energy rose to his stomach. The amount of energy was so small that he could barely feel it, like the tiniest speck.

Jin Ja-gang concentrated as much as possible to avoid losing the sensation. Believing this energy to be internal energy, he tried to circulate it through his body’s meridians.

But in reality, it wasn’t internal energy, and Jin Ja-gang’s meridians remained blocked. Moreover, Jin Ja-gang didn’t even know which direction to move the energy.

Eventually, the energy traveled along the Stomach Meridian of Foot-Yangming up to his right shoulder, then through the meridians in his arm that Mang-ryo had opened, all the way to his right little finger.

The movement stopped there. No matter what he tried, he couldn’t move the energy any further.

Jin Ja-gang opened his eyes.

“Phew.”

It was unexpectedly tiring.

Suddenly, his right little finger felt stiff.

When Jin Ja-gang looked at his finger, he saw that the area near the base of the fingernail was slightly swollen, as if a blister had formed.

“Hmm?”

It was the area where Mang-ryo had cut to extract the poison. Thanks to the Intelligence Decoction, he couldn’t pass out and remembered everything Mang-ryo had done.

As Jin Ja-gang observed, the stiffness continued, but the swelling showed no signs of subsiding.

‘Maybe…’

Jin Ja-gang peeled off the scab on his finger and bit hard on the swollen part with his teeth.

As soon as he bit into the flesh, a deep fragrance of sulfur wafted out. It was different from the usual acrid smell of sulfur.

Then blood slightly oozed from the wound, followed by a transparent fluid. The energy that had risen from his dantian had dissolved into his body’s fluids and emerged.

Previously, Mang-ryo had collected this fluid as if it were precious.

Jin Ja-gang stared at the transparent fluid for a while, then lightly licked it with his tongue.

It had only a faint bitter sulfur taste, with no other particular flavor.

“What is this?”

He felt like he had spent a long time doing something utterly pointless.

“Tch. So it really doesn’t work after all.”

Jin Ja-gang sighed deeply and sprawled out in the narrow space of the cave.

Since the scabs had formed on his skin, the steam and sulfur smoke that had been fumigating him no longer bothered him. Now they were just slightly irritating rather than painful.

Jin Ja-gang wasn’t uncomfortable with his current state at all.

In fact, this space felt rather cozy to him.

Still, he couldn’t stay here forever. There were still plenty of mushrooms left, but the water had run out, so he might have to leave soon.

The worry was whether the Extreme Poison Sect had given up on looking for him yet.

Although his body had become resistant to poison, Jin Ja-gang was still just a ten-year-old child, an ordinary boy who couldn’t even defeat a normal adult man in terms of strength.

‘It would be good if I could learn martial arts.’

But who would teach martial arts to a descendant of a destroyed sect?

Especially one whose sect had been annihilated by the Martial Arts Alliance and the Extreme Poison Sect.

‘Somehow, I need to gain strength.’

Of course, the “somehow” was the biggest problem.

But then…

As Jin Ja-gang was thinking about revenge, his stomach began to ache.

“Huh? What’s this?”

Had something gone wrong when he’d tried to circulate his energy?

“Oooh?”

It wasn’t just a mild pain—it was quite severe. In Jin Ja-gang’s experience, these were the symptoms that appeared when Mang-ryo had fed him deadly poison.

Jin Ja-gang couldn’t even lie down. He clutched his stomach and lay on his side.

“Ugh.”

Sweat streamed down his forehead from the pain.

“Uuugh!”

Jin Ja-gang’s eyes widened.

“Gak! Gak!”

His throat burned, his intestines twisted, and his stomach felt like it was being torn apart. Jin Ja-gang quickly stuck his finger down his throat.

“Urgh! Urrrgh!”

With nothing to throw up, only stomach acid came out. Along with the stomach acid, bloody foam flowed from his mouth.

“Aaaargh!”

Jin Ja-gang thrashed about, clutching his stomach.

He could tell his body was struggling by how his vision was growing dim. Blood was also flowing from his nose.

What in the world was happening?

Due to the side effects of the special Intelligence Decoction that Mang-ryo had fed him, Jin Ja-gang couldn’t pass out no matter how painful it was. His mind kept questioning what he had done wrong and why this was happening…

‘I didn’t eat anything besides that stagnant water…’

No, that wasn’t true.

The transparent fluid at the tip of his little finger that he had licked.

Jin Ja-gang felt a chill run down his spine.

‘Could it be!’

He remembered something among the substances Mang-ryo had fed him that caused similar symptoms and pain.

It was arsenic.

The very poison used to make execution drugs.

Most of the terrain in the Mixed Spring Ground was composed of sulfur stone, with a high content of realgar.

Naturally, the Stone Milk of Mount Kunlun that Jin Ja-gang had been drinking would have the highest concentration of realgar dissolved in it…

And that realgar is the main ingredient of arsenic.

Originally, sulfur contains both beneficial and harmful energies, and through proper processing, only the beneficial energy is extracted for use. However, since Jin Ja-gang’s meridians were blocked and poison couldn’t flow through them, the beneficial energy was slowly absorbed, but the poisonous energy remained intact, accumulating in his dantian.

In the end, what Jin Ja-gang had drawn up from his dantian wasn’t internal energy but the poisonous energy of realgar. Drawing up that poisonous energy and extracting it through his finger had led to the current result.

Jin Ja-gang was writhing in pain when a strange thought occurred to him.

‘I took something out of my body through my little finger, then ingested it again, which caused this. So couldn’t I extract what I just ingested again?’

If left alone, it would subside after half a day, but the pain until then would be unbearable.

Even in his agony, Jin Ja-gang concentrated.

‘I can do it! I can do it!’

As he focused, he could sense the poisonous energy that had seeped into his stomach. It was like a rough chestnut burr.

Because most of Jin Ja-gang’s meridians were blocked, the chestnut burr-like poisonous energy in his stomach couldn’t find its way and was crashing around in all directions.

Thump, thump, thump—it felt as if a drum were being beaten inside his stomach.

Jin Ja-gang read the energy flow.

At present, there were only two paths leading from his stomach.

Either downward to the dantian or upward to the shoulder.

Jin Ja-gang opened the upward path.

The rampaging poisonous energy surged upward as if it had been waiting for this. It moved to the shoulder, then to the right arm, and finally to the little finger.

Like a lie, the pain subsided.

He hadn’t completely transferred all the poisonous energy—some was lost along the way, and some was still rampaging in his stomach—but it was much better than before.

Jin Ja-gang exhaled deeply.

Only after calming down somewhat could he finally get up.

“Ugh.”

The lingering heat and tingling in his stomach seemed to speak of the recent pain.

Jin Ja-gang raised his right hand.

At the Xiaochi acupoint near the base of his little fingernail, a transparent fluid was slightly congealed with blood.

It seemed the poisonous energy he had just transferred had emerged through the hole he’d bitten.

It was hard to believe that such a small amount of fluid, not even a drop, had caused him so much suffering.

Of course, that tiny amount of fluid was the concentrated essence of poisonous energy, containing far more potent poison than one could imagine.

Jin Ja-gang glared at the fluid as if it were his mortal enemy.

After staring at it for a long time, he wondered if it was indeed the same poison as before, if it was what had just been in his stomach, and if its effects had changed.

The curiosity was hard to resist.

Jin Ja-gang swallowed dryly.

Then he licked his finger.

Slurp.

A moment later.

The same internal shock occurred as before.

His stomach felt like it was being torn apart, and his mind went blank with pain. Jin Ja-gang clutched his stomach and trembled all over.

“Damn it!”

That was truly unnecessary.

Though he gritted his teeth while tears and mucus flowed, foam continuously spilled from his mouth.

“Aaaaargh!”

***

***

Mang-ryo had become very emaciated.

It had been more than a month since he’d lost Jin Ja-gang.

His appearance was already unpleasant with one eye turned and a dark spot around it, and now he had become even more gaunt.

His remaining eye had grown sharper, and it seemed as if one could hear a grinding sound every time he rolled his eyeball.

He was different from his previously neat self. His hair, which had once been neatly tied up, was now completely loose and disheveled.

It wasn’t just his appearance—his personality had become even more violent. No matter how much those around him tried to dissuade him, he wouldn’t listen and only burned with vengeance toward Jin Ja-gang.

Because of this, Mang-ryo, whose interpersonal relationships had deteriorated, had recently withdrawn completely from work. He could no longer involve himself in external activities or important matters of the Extreme Poison Sect.

Mang-ryo had lost almost everything he had built up.

But there was one thing that remained with him.

His desire for revenge against Jin Ja-gang.

Mang-ryo had Gwak-o pull a cart and, along with a few warriors from the Extreme Poison Sect, climbed the mountain path.

“It’s already been a month. There’s no way he could still be alive.”

Despite the warrior’s words, Mang-ryo only sneered.

“That’s why I occasionally threw food for him to eat. Isn’t that right?”

Gwak-o was startled. He was the very person who had been taking the food waste to the Mixed Spring Ground.

“Yes, that’s correct.”

The Extreme Poison Sect warriors hadn’t been sitting idle either. They had searched repeatedly during the day when the ground hardened, under Mang-ryo’s constant urging.

But of course, they found nothing. All they got were patients with acute sulfur poisoning from the search.

“Even so, not emerging for a month means…”

At the warrior’s words, Mang-ryo stared at him. Then he looked at Gwak-o beside him and asked:

“Do you also think that child is dead?”

☕ Support on Ko-Fi

Jin Ja-gang realized that yesterday’s self and today’s self were somehow different.

His body felt lighter, and his mood was refreshed. The damage done to his body by Mang-ryo had almost completely healed, though he hadn’t noticed it because the recovery had been so gradual.

Jin Ja-gang looked at the pool, which had now almost completely dried up. He could only vaguely think that the water that had gathered there must have had some effect on his body.

The water Jin Ja-gang had been drinking was actually Stone Milk of Mount Kunlun, formed over thousands or tens of thousands of years as the essence of sulfur accumulated.

The new skin that had grown was also due to this Stone Milk of Mount Kunlun. Originally, sulfur has properties that help new skin grow, strengthen bones, and make skin smooth.

Jin Ja-gang touched his lower abdomen.

In the span of a month, it felt like a chestnut-sized stone had settled inside his stomach. However, it wasn’t particularly uncomfortable.

“This is the dantian…”

Even Hundred Flower Valley was a martial sect living in the martial world, so Jin Ja-gang wasn’t ignorant about internal energy.

But why would something resembling internal energy appear in his dantian when he hadn’t even practiced any internal energy cultivation method?

He had never properly learned any internal energy technique, and Jin Ja-gang’s energy channels were all blocked except for the ones Mang-ryo had opened.

“Still, just in case…”

Jin Ja-gang tried to move the stone-like energy in his dantian as if it were internal energy.

“Urrgh!”

The energy in the stone was like a tangled ball of thread that wouldn’t move.

He struggled for nearly an hour, but it was of no use.

“So it really doesn’t work?”

Jin Ja-gang tilted his head.

Suddenly, his dantian shook, and he could feel a slight movement of energy, albeit minuscule.

As the energy of the Stone Milk of Mount Kunlun accumulated in his dantian, it had forcibly connected the path between his dantian and stomach, creating a tiny passage in the Stomach Meridian of Foot-Yangming.

“Huh?”

Jin Ja-gang felt hopeful. He knew that carelessly circulating internal energy could lead to qi deviation, but in this situation, he had no master to guide him.

Though he had no idea what the consequences of his actions might be, he thought it would be better than doing nothing at all.

Jin Ja-gang sat cross-legged and assumed a proper posture.

He tried to grab the end of the thread-like energy from his dantian and pull it up toward his stomach. Unlike normal internal energy, it felt as if it was being pulled and then snapped.

That rough-feeling energy rose to his stomach. The amount of energy was so small that he could barely feel it, like the tiniest speck.

Jin Ja-gang concentrated as much as possible to avoid losing the sensation. Believing this energy to be internal energy, he tried to circulate it through his body’s meridians.

But in reality, it wasn’t internal energy, and Jin Ja-gang’s meridians remained blocked. Moreover, Jin Ja-gang didn’t even know which direction to move the energy.

Eventually, the energy traveled along the Stomach Meridian of Foot-Yangming up to his right shoulder, then through the meridians in his arm that Mang-ryo had opened, all the way to his right little finger.

The movement stopped there. No matter what he tried, he couldn’t move the energy any further.

Jin Ja-gang opened his eyes.

“Phew.”

It was unexpectedly tiring.

Suddenly, his right little finger felt stiff.

When Jin Ja-gang looked at his finger, he saw that the area near the base of the fingernail was slightly swollen, as if a blister had formed.

“Hmm?”

It was the area where Mang-ryo had cut to extract the poison. Thanks to the Intelligence Decoction, he couldn’t pass out and remembered everything Mang-ryo had done.

As Jin Ja-gang observed, the stiffness continued, but the swelling showed no signs of subsiding.

‘Maybe…’

Jin Ja-gang peeled off the scab on his finger and bit hard on the swollen part with his teeth.

As soon as he bit into the flesh, a deep fragrance of sulfur wafted out. It was different from the usual acrid smell of sulfur.

Then blood slightly oozed from the wound, followed by a transparent fluid. The energy that had risen from his dantian had dissolved into his body’s fluids and emerged.

Previously, Mang-ryo had collected this fluid as if it were precious.

Jin Ja-gang stared at the transparent fluid for a while, then lightly licked it with his tongue.

It had only a faint bitter sulfur taste, with no other particular flavor.

“What is this?”

He felt like he had spent a long time doing something utterly pointless.

“Tch. So it really doesn’t work after all.”

Jin Ja-gang sighed deeply and sprawled out in the narrow space of the cave.

Since the scabs had formed on his skin, the steam and sulfur smoke that had been fumigating him no longer bothered him. Now they were just slightly irritating rather than painful.

Jin Ja-gang wasn’t uncomfortable with his current state at all.

In fact, this space felt rather cozy to him.

Still, he couldn’t stay here forever. There were still plenty of mushrooms left, but the water had run out, so he might have to leave soon.

The worry was whether the Extreme Poison Sect had given up on looking for him yet.

Although his body had become resistant to poison, Jin Ja-gang was still just a ten-year-old child, an ordinary boy who couldn’t even defeat a normal adult man in terms of strength.

‘It would be good if I could learn martial arts.’

But who would teach martial arts to a descendant of a destroyed sect?

Especially one whose sect had been annihilated by the Martial Arts Alliance and the Extreme Poison Sect.

‘Somehow, I need to gain strength.’

Of course, the “somehow” was the biggest problem.

But then…

As Jin Ja-gang was thinking about revenge, his stomach began to ache.

“Huh? What’s this?”

Had something gone wrong when he’d tried to circulate his energy?

“Oooh?”

It wasn’t just a mild pain—it was quite severe. In Jin Ja-gang’s experience, these were the symptoms that appeared when Mang-ryo had fed him deadly poison.

Jin Ja-gang couldn’t even lie down. He clutched his stomach and lay on his side.

“Ugh.”

Sweat streamed down his forehead from the pain.

“Uuugh!”

Jin Ja-gang’s eyes widened.

“Gak! Gak!”

His throat burned, his intestines twisted, and his stomach felt like it was being torn apart. Jin Ja-gang quickly stuck his finger down his throat.

“Urgh! Urrrgh!”

With nothing to throw up, only stomach acid came out. Along with the stomach acid, bloody foam flowed from his mouth.

“Aaaargh!”

Jin Ja-gang thrashed about, clutching his stomach.

He could tell his body was struggling by how his vision was growing dim. Blood was also flowing from his nose.

What in the world was happening?

Due to the side effects of the special Intelligence Decoction that Mang-ryo had fed him, Jin Ja-gang couldn’t pass out no matter how painful it was. His mind kept questioning what he had done wrong and why this was happening…

‘I didn’t eat anything besides that stagnant water…’

No, that wasn’t true.

The transparent fluid at the tip of his little finger that he had licked.

Jin Ja-gang felt a chill run down his spine.

‘Could it be!’

He remembered something among the substances Mang-ryo had fed him that caused similar symptoms and pain.

It was arsenic.

The very poison used to make execution drugs.

Most of the terrain in the Mixed Spring Ground was composed of sulfur stone, with a high content of realgar.

Naturally, the Stone Milk of Mount Kunlun that Jin Ja-gang had been drinking would have the highest concentration of realgar dissolved in it…

And that realgar is the main ingredient of arsenic.

Originally, sulfur contains both beneficial and harmful energies, and through proper processing, only the beneficial energy is extracted for use. However, since Jin Ja-gang’s meridians were blocked and poison couldn’t flow through them, the beneficial energy was slowly absorbed, but the poisonous energy remained intact, accumulating in his dantian.

In the end, what Jin Ja-gang had drawn up from his dantian wasn’t internal energy but the poisonous energy of realgar. Drawing up that poisonous energy and extracting it through his finger had led to the current result.

Jin Ja-gang was writhing in pain when a strange thought occurred to him.

‘I took something out of my body through my little finger, then ingested it again, which caused this. So couldn’t I extract what I just ingested again?’

If left alone, it would subside after half a day, but the pain until then would be unbearable.

Even in his agony, Jin Ja-gang concentrated.

‘I can do it! I can do it!’

As he focused, he could sense the poisonous energy that had seeped into his stomach. It was like a rough chestnut burr.

Because most of Jin Ja-gang’s meridians were blocked, the chestnut burr-like poisonous energy in his stomach couldn’t find its way and was crashing around in all directions.

Thump, thump, thump—it felt as if a drum were being beaten inside his stomach.

Jin Ja-gang read the energy flow.

At present, there were only two paths leading from his stomach.

Either downward to the dantian or upward to the shoulder.

Jin Ja-gang opened the upward path.

The rampaging poisonous energy surged upward as if it had been waiting for this. It moved to the shoulder, then to the right arm, and finally to the little finger.

Like a lie, the pain subsided.

He hadn’t completely transferred all the poisonous energy—some was lost along the way, and some was still rampaging in his stomach—but it was much better than before.

Jin Ja-gang exhaled deeply.

Only after calming down somewhat could he finally get up.

“Ugh.”

The lingering heat and tingling in his stomach seemed to speak of the recent pain.

Jin Ja-gang raised his right hand.

At the Xiaochi acupoint near the base of his little fingernail, a transparent fluid was slightly congealed with blood.

It seemed the poisonous energy he had just transferred had emerged through the hole he’d bitten.

It was hard to believe that such a small amount of fluid, not even a drop, had caused him so much suffering.

Of course, that tiny amount of fluid was the concentrated essence of poisonous energy, containing far more potent poison than one could imagine.

Jin Ja-gang glared at the fluid as if it were his mortal enemy.

After staring at it for a long time, he wondered if it was indeed the same poison as before, if it was what had just been in his stomach, and if its effects had changed.

The curiosity was hard to resist.

Jin Ja-gang swallowed dryly.

Then he licked his finger.

Slurp.

A moment later.

The same internal shock occurred as before.

His stomach felt like it was being torn apart, and his mind went blank with pain. Jin Ja-gang clutched his stomach and trembled all over.

“Damn it!”

That was truly unnecessary.

Though he gritted his teeth while tears and mucus flowed, foam continuously spilled from his mouth.

“Aaaaargh!”

***

***

Mang-ryo had become very emaciated.

It had been more than a month since he’d lost Jin Ja-gang.

His appearance was already unpleasant with one eye turned and a dark spot around it, and now he had become even more gaunt.

His remaining eye had grown sharper, and it seemed as if one could hear a grinding sound every time he rolled his eyeball.

He was different from his previously neat self. His hair, which had once been neatly tied up, was now completely loose and disheveled.

It wasn’t just his appearance—his personality had become even more violent. No matter how much those around him tried to dissuade him, he wouldn’t listen and only burned with vengeance toward Jin Ja-gang.

Because of this, Mang-ryo, whose interpersonal relationships had deteriorated, had recently withdrawn completely from work. He could no longer involve himself in external activities or important matters of the Extreme Poison Sect.

Mang-ryo had lost almost everything he had built up.

But there was one thing that remained with him.

His desire for revenge against Jin Ja-gang.

Mang-ryo had Gwak-o pull a cart and, along with a few warriors from the Extreme Poison Sect, climbed the mountain path.

“It’s already been a month. There’s no way he could still be alive.”

Despite the warrior’s words, Mang-ryo only sneered.

“That’s why I occasionally threw food for him to eat. Isn’t that right?”

Gwak-o was startled. He was the very person who had been taking the food waste to the Mixed Spring Ground.

“Yes, that’s correct.”

The Extreme Poison Sect warriors hadn’t been sitting idle either. They had searched repeatedly during the day when the ground hardened, under Mang-ryo’s constant urging.

But of course, they found nothing. All they got were patients with acute sulfur poisoning from the search.

“Even so, not emerging for a month means…”

At the warrior’s words, Mang-ryo stared at him. Then he looked at Gwak-o beside him and asked:

“Do you also think that child is dead?”

☕ Support on Ko-Fi

☕ Support on Ko-Fi

☕ Support on Ko-Fi