Chapter 294

Chapter 294

What did the killing intent that Jin Ja-gang was feeling mean?

The fact that it hadn’t followed Yeong-woon and Pyo Sang-guk meant that it had been targeting Jin Ja-gang from the beginning? If so, was the bloody smell earlier meant to lure Yeong-woon and Pyo Sang-guk away?

So-min spoke quietly to Jin Ja-gang.

“There seems to be someone around here too. Judging by the killing intent I can feel, they’re not watching with good intentions. If fighting starts, please stay back, Young Master Jin.”

Perhaps because she was a disciple of the great sect Mount Hua, So-min was no ordinary person either. Though somewhat later than Jin Ja-gang, she had detected the killing intent.

The killing intent gradually grew stronger.

‘It wasn’t just one?’

Killing intent was coming from multiple places. But strangely, all the killing intent felt the same. It was as if one person was simultaneously sending killing intent from multiple locations.

It was a very unusual situation.

Jin Ja-gang detected the positions where the killing intent was emanating from. Since there were enemies in multiple places, it would be advantageous to attack first.

At that moment, So-min suddenly stepped forward and shouted boldly.

“Did you think this young lady would be scared without her brothers? I don’t know who you are, but stop hiding like cowards and come out boldly!”

“…”

Jin Ja-gang realized anew that the world he had lived in was different from theirs.

He didn’t dislike it. It might be foolish, but their upright appearance looked good. In a way, Woon Jeong of Qingcheng Sect had been almost the same as them.

Wasn’t this exactly what disciples of prestigious orthodox sects should be like?

However, Jin Ja-gang realized that the movements of those hiding were unusual.

‘One in front, one each on the left and right.’

Poison was gradually spreading from where they were positioned. If one rushed in without knowing poison was spreading, they would be poisoned and have to fight a difficult battle.

“If you don’t come out, I’ll consider you as having impure intentions and take action!”

So-min drew her sword.

“Young Master Jin, please step back far away. You can follow after my brothers if you want.”

Then she strode forward and entered the bushes.

Swish!

Suddenly a skewer shot out.

So-min twisted her body and deflected the skewer with her sword.

Clang!

The one who launched the surprise attack from the front was a masked figure with a bent back like a frog and small stature, holding a rusty skewer that looked unpleasant to be struck by.

So-min and the masked assassin exchanged several rounds of offense and defense.

Even in that brief moment of action, depth could be seen in So-min’s swordsmanship. She deflected the sword while simultaneously using footwork to preempt advantageous positioning, and her shoulder line didn’t move at all, making it difficult to read her next move.

However, unexpectedly, the masked assassin wasn’t greatly pushed back either. He focused more on attack than defense, forcibly suppressing So-min’s counterattacks.

So-min shouted.

“How dare you ambush a disciple of Mount Hua! You’ve got some nerve!”

At So-min’s words, the masked assassin threw off his mask.

His appearance was shocking enough to surprise anyone. Small bumps protruded from his face, his nose was upturned like a snub nose, and his eyeballs bulged out. Moreover, the tips of his fingers were missing.

Jin Ja-gang narrowed his eyes and looked over the leper assassin.

‘Leprosy?’

So-min exclaimed.

“What kind of person are you!”

“Hehe… I’ll… bite you! Make… your face… the same as… mine!”

So-min flinched and trembled. The leper assassin roughly drove So-min to one side. So-min’s movements became smaller as she was forced into defense. If pushed back a little more, she would be ambushed by the other two hiding on both sides.

Jin Ja-gang raised his voice slightly and said to So-min.

“Leprosy doesn’t spread just from biting.”

“Ah! Really?”

So-min regained her strength. The leper assassin swung his skewer roughly and screamed.

“I’ll… bite… your whole body…! Crunch! Crunch!”

Jin Ja-gang spoke again.

“It’s still fine. Leprosy has such low contagion that you need long-term contact to catch it.”

The leper assassin got angry.

“Stop…!”

So-min seemed to have gained some strength and began properly displaying Mount Hua’s swordsmanship. She used Five Elements Steps to circle to the leper assassin’s side. When the leper assassin’s body center became disturbed while turning his upper body to follow, she immediately drew a circle with her sword blade and pushed away the skewer.

Plum Blossom Sword Technique Swift!

Amazingly, there were five variations in that brief movement. She received the sword while flowing the skewer to the side to make the opponent retrieve it, kicked the leper assassin’s knee with her foot while tapping the skewer with her sword blade.

Clang!

The leper assassin’s grip tore and the skewer bounced away. The leper assassin stretched out his arm to catch the skewer. In the meantime, his chest was fully exposed.

So-min extended her finger to strike the empty chest’s pressure points of the leper assassin. Though she clearly showed reluctance, she had gained courage from hearing it wouldn’t be contagious.

Unable to wait any longer, two more leper assassins jumped out from the left and right. The revealed leprosy symptoms were different for each, but their builds and appearances were similar to each other. At the same time, the leper assassin who had been under attack bit So-min’s finger.

Snap!

So-min pulled out her arm, but her sleeve was caught.

Even if they had coordinated it, it would have been difficult, but the other two attacked So-min with perfect simultaneity. So-min tried to pull out her arm, but the leper assassin wouldn’t let go of the sleeve he was biting.

Jin Ja-gang aimed killing intent toward the two leper assassins.

As his internal energy had greatly deepened, the concentration of his killing intent became even denser. The rough killing intent that only Jin Ja-gang possessed poured out toward the two leper assassins on the left and right.

Goosebumps rose on the necks of the two leper assassins who had just been attacking So-min.

Unlike domineering visual killing intent, this was paradoxical observational killing intent that transcended killing intent. Even the leper assassins, for whom death was routine, stiffened. Fear of death momentarily arose in the leper assassins’ pupils. That brief gap created a flaw in their perfect combined attack.

So-min cut her own sleeve with her sword while leaping up, spread her legs and used mandarin duck kicks to kick the jaws and faces of both leper assassins, and struck the chest of the leper assassin who was biting her sleeve with her bare hand.

Thud!

The leper assassin who was hit in the chest rolled backward on the ground. The leper assassins on both sides were also knocked away, then regained their posture and shook their heads in surprise.

“How’s that! My skills!”

So-min stood on one leg, took the noble posture of plum blossom swordsmanship, and shouted triumphantly. Then she suddenly coughed.

“Cough?”

Blood formed at the corner of her mouth. She seemed to have been poisoned by poison the leper assassins had spread around in advance.

So-min’s eyes widened.

“Huh?”

The leper assassins thought this was their chance and glared alternately at Jin Ja-gang and So-min before immediately fleeing.

“Ah! Stop there!”

So-min tried to follow but stopped when she coughed again and stamped her foot regretfully.

“Hmph. They were nothing special. Cough.”

Jin Ja-gang approached.

“Young lady, you seem to be poisoned.”

“I’m fine. This much is nothing.”

A purple tint appeared in So-min’s eyes, the corners of her eyes darkened, and flame-like fluctuations appeared in her palms.

She seemed to be trying to immediately expel the poison with internal energy on the spot. But it didn’t seem to work well, as she struggled and gave up.

“Ugh, it’s tenacious. What kind of poison clings like this? I’ll need to find my brothers first and then properly circulate my energy.”

At least she had only lightly been poisoned because she hadn’t gone deep into the place where poison had been spread. Of course, So-min didn’t seem to know that much.

So-min looked at Jin Ja-gang and asked.

“Are you alright, Young Master?”

“I’m fine.”

Fortunately, Pyo Sang-guk soon returned. Pyo Sang-guk arrived almost flying over the treetops using light body techniques.

“Was everything alright?”

“There was an ambush. They used poison, so unfortunately I couldn’t pursue them. How was it on your side? What about Brother Yeong-woon?”

Pyo Sang-guk answered.

“A family living in a private home suffered a terrible fate. They spread poison and dug traps, so we had no choice but to cremate them along with their house. They definitely intended to separate us. Brother Yeong-woon is chanting sutras for those who passed away at that site.”

Indeed, smoke could be seen rising in the distance.

“That’s just like Brother Yeong-woon.”

“Sigh.”

Pyo Sang-guk grimaced.

“The poison was terribly vicious. Even though I just briefly entered and left the house, I was poisoned.”

“Perfect! Let’s take turns standing guard. I need to expel some poison too. Brother Yeong-woon will handle himself well.”

“Calling that ‘perfect’ is a bit… isn’t it?”

Pyo Sang-guk looked back at Jin Ja-gang.

“Brother Jin? Are you alright?”

“Yes.”

So-min instructed.

“Young Master Jin was surprisingly calm in that situation! If it hadn’t been for Young Master Jin, it would have been quite difficult.”

“Huh? Brother Jin?”

“No, those bastards kept trying to bite me disgustingly. Saying they’d spread leprosy. But when Young Master Jin said it wouldn’t spread even if they bit, they got all flustered.”

So-min smiled brightly.

“Haha, our Sister Min seems to really like Brother Jin. Cough.”

“This won’t do. Hurry and go first, brother. I’ll stand guard.”

When Pyo Sang-guk sat in lotus position, So-min kept watch beside him.

After a while, Pyo Sang-guk’s face turned red and white steam rose from his head.

“Huff, huff.”

He was burning out the poison with yang energy internal power.

So-min used a hand fan to blow away the white steam so it wouldn’t come close.

Jin Ja-gang didn’t want to interfere, so he sat to one side and waited.

After Pyo Sang-guk, So-min also circulated energy to expel poison, and Yeong-woon returned. Yeong-woon’s expression was quite dark.

So-min welcomed Yeong-woon.

“Weren’t you poisoned, brother? Should I stand guard?”

“I already burned it out on the way here. The poison was quite vicious. It wasn’t ordinary poison, the way it invaded and burrowed into blood vessels.”

Pyo Sang-guk clicked his tongue.

“You say it wasn’t ordinary poison but you’re fine. As expected of Four Tigers Three Phoenixes. Sister Min and I suffered quite a bit.”

Benevolent Tiger, Smiling Tiger, Fierce Tiger, Crouching Tiger.

Among them, the one called Benevolent Tiger, meaning virtuous, was Yeong-woon.

Yeong-woon said.

“For Guizhou’s stability too, the branch needs to be restored quickly. Since there are unexpected people around, we’ll need to be careful going forward. Let’s hurry and move.”

While hastening along the road again, So-min asked Yeong-woon.

“How were the corpses at the private home?”

“A family of five were torn apart and mixed together. They were so mangled it was hard to recognize their forms. It was difficult to tell what methods the fiends used.”

“Could it have been Poison Dragon’s doing?”

“Poison Dragon?”

Yeong-woon said.

“Poison Dragon tends to be brutal, but as far as I know, he’s not the type to carelessly kill civilians. And he always travels alone.”

“But he once massacred civilians at Stone Forest Gang’s manor in the past. When fighting at the Zhuge family and Namga Village, he also set fire to villages and used civilians as shields.”

Jin Ja-gang had a bitter taste in his mouth.

When he only needed to kill targets of revenge, it didn’t matter what rumors spread.

But now he knew this would become justification for the opposing side. Because of such rumors, countless heroes would jump in like moths to a flame to kill Jin Ja-gang and gain fame.

Once rumors spread far enough, correcting them would become just as difficult.

Jin Ja-gang thought quietly and then said.

“I didn’t do it.”

Like suddenly throwing a stone into a calm lake, ripples spread.

“…”

“…”

Jin Ja-gang emphasized once more.

“I didn’t do it.”

The three people stared at Jin Ja-gang with dumbfounded faces and open mouths.

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What did the killing intent that Jin Ja-gang was feeling mean?

The fact that it hadn’t followed Yeong-woon and Pyo Sang-guk meant that it had been targeting Jin Ja-gang from the beginning? If so, was the bloody smell earlier meant to lure Yeong-woon and Pyo Sang-guk away?

So-min spoke quietly to Jin Ja-gang.

“There seems to be someone around here too. Judging by the killing intent I can feel, they’re not watching with good intentions. If fighting starts, please stay back, Young Master Jin.”

Perhaps because she was a disciple of the great sect Mount Hua, So-min was no ordinary person either. Though somewhat later than Jin Ja-gang, she had detected the killing intent.

The killing intent gradually grew stronger.

‘It wasn’t just one?’

Killing intent was coming from multiple places. But strangely, all the killing intent felt the same. It was as if one person was simultaneously sending killing intent from multiple locations.

It was a very unusual situation.

Jin Ja-gang detected the positions where the killing intent was emanating from. Since there were enemies in multiple places, it would be advantageous to attack first.

At that moment, So-min suddenly stepped forward and shouted boldly.

“Did you think this young lady would be scared without her brothers? I don’t know who you are, but stop hiding like cowards and come out boldly!”

“…”

Jin Ja-gang realized anew that the world he had lived in was different from theirs.

He didn’t dislike it. It might be foolish, but their upright appearance looked good. In a way, Woon Jeong of Qingcheng Sect had been almost the same as them.

Wasn’t this exactly what disciples of prestigious orthodox sects should be like?

However, Jin Ja-gang realized that the movements of those hiding were unusual.

‘One in front, one each on the left and right.’

Poison was gradually spreading from where they were positioned. If one rushed in without knowing poison was spreading, they would be poisoned and have to fight a difficult battle.

“If you don’t come out, I’ll consider you as having impure intentions and take action!”

So-min drew her sword.

“Young Master Jin, please step back far away. You can follow after my brothers if you want.”

Then she strode forward and entered the bushes.

Swish!

Suddenly a skewer shot out.

So-min twisted her body and deflected the skewer with her sword.

Clang!

The one who launched the surprise attack from the front was a masked figure with a bent back like a frog and small stature, holding a rusty skewer that looked unpleasant to be struck by.

So-min and the masked assassin exchanged several rounds of offense and defense.

Even in that brief moment of action, depth could be seen in So-min’s swordsmanship. She deflected the sword while simultaneously using footwork to preempt advantageous positioning, and her shoulder line didn’t move at all, making it difficult to read her next move.

However, unexpectedly, the masked assassin wasn’t greatly pushed back either. He focused more on attack than defense, forcibly suppressing So-min’s counterattacks.

So-min shouted.

“How dare you ambush a disciple of Mount Hua! You’ve got some nerve!”

At So-min’s words, the masked assassin threw off his mask.

His appearance was shocking enough to surprise anyone. Small bumps protruded from his face, his nose was upturned like a snub nose, and his eyeballs bulged out. Moreover, the tips of his fingers were missing.

Jin Ja-gang narrowed his eyes and looked over the leper assassin.

‘Leprosy?’

So-min exclaimed.

“What kind of person are you!”

“Hehe… I’ll… bite you! Make… your face… the same as… mine!”

So-min flinched and trembled. The leper assassin roughly drove So-min to one side. So-min’s movements became smaller as she was forced into defense. If pushed back a little more, she would be ambushed by the other two hiding on both sides.

Jin Ja-gang raised his voice slightly and said to So-min.

“Leprosy doesn’t spread just from biting.”

“Ah! Really?”

So-min regained her strength. The leper assassin swung his skewer roughly and screamed.

“I’ll… bite… your whole body…! Crunch! Crunch!”

Jin Ja-gang spoke again.

“It’s still fine. Leprosy has such low contagion that you need long-term contact to catch it.”

The leper assassin got angry.

“Stop…!”

So-min seemed to have gained some strength and began properly displaying Mount Hua’s swordsmanship. She used Five Elements Steps to circle to the leper assassin’s side. When the leper assassin’s body center became disturbed while turning his upper body to follow, she immediately drew a circle with her sword blade and pushed away the skewer.

Plum Blossom Sword Technique Swift!

Amazingly, there were five variations in that brief movement. She received the sword while flowing the skewer to the side to make the opponent retrieve it, kicked the leper assassin’s knee with her foot while tapping the skewer with her sword blade.

Clang!

The leper assassin’s grip tore and the skewer bounced away. The leper assassin stretched out his arm to catch the skewer. In the meantime, his chest was fully exposed.

So-min extended her finger to strike the empty chest’s pressure points of the leper assassin. Though she clearly showed reluctance, she had gained courage from hearing it wouldn’t be contagious.

Unable to wait any longer, two more leper assassins jumped out from the left and right. The revealed leprosy symptoms were different for each, but their builds and appearances were similar to each other. At the same time, the leper assassin who had been under attack bit So-min’s finger.

Snap!

So-min pulled out her arm, but her sleeve was caught.

Even if they had coordinated it, it would have been difficult, but the other two attacked So-min with perfect simultaneity. So-min tried to pull out her arm, but the leper assassin wouldn’t let go of the sleeve he was biting.

Jin Ja-gang aimed killing intent toward the two leper assassins.

As his internal energy had greatly deepened, the concentration of his killing intent became even denser. The rough killing intent that only Jin Ja-gang possessed poured out toward the two leper assassins on the left and right.

Goosebumps rose on the necks of the two leper assassins who had just been attacking So-min.

Unlike domineering visual killing intent, this was paradoxical observational killing intent that transcended killing intent. Even the leper assassins, for whom death was routine, stiffened. Fear of death momentarily arose in the leper assassins’ pupils. That brief gap created a flaw in their perfect combined attack.

So-min cut her own sleeve with her sword while leaping up, spread her legs and used mandarin duck kicks to kick the jaws and faces of both leper assassins, and struck the chest of the leper assassin who was biting her sleeve with her bare hand.

Thud!

The leper assassin who was hit in the chest rolled backward on the ground. The leper assassins on both sides were also knocked away, then regained their posture and shook their heads in surprise.

“How’s that! My skills!”

So-min stood on one leg, took the noble posture of plum blossom swordsmanship, and shouted triumphantly. Then she suddenly coughed.

“Cough?”

Blood formed at the corner of her mouth. She seemed to have been poisoned by poison the leper assassins had spread around in advance.

So-min’s eyes widened.

“Huh?”

The leper assassins thought this was their chance and glared alternately at Jin Ja-gang and So-min before immediately fleeing.

“Ah! Stop there!”

So-min tried to follow but stopped when she coughed again and stamped her foot regretfully.

“Hmph. They were nothing special. Cough.”

Jin Ja-gang approached.

“Young lady, you seem to be poisoned.”

“I’m fine. This much is nothing.”

A purple tint appeared in So-min’s eyes, the corners of her eyes darkened, and flame-like fluctuations appeared in her palms.

She seemed to be trying to immediately expel the poison with internal energy on the spot. But it didn’t seem to work well, as she struggled and gave up.

“Ugh, it’s tenacious. What kind of poison clings like this? I’ll need to find my brothers first and then properly circulate my energy.”

At least she had only lightly been poisoned because she hadn’t gone deep into the place where poison had been spread. Of course, So-min didn’t seem to know that much.

So-min looked at Jin Ja-gang and asked.

“Are you alright, Young Master?”

“I’m fine.”

Fortunately, Pyo Sang-guk soon returned. Pyo Sang-guk arrived almost flying over the treetops using light body techniques.

“Was everything alright?”

“There was an ambush. They used poison, so unfortunately I couldn’t pursue them. How was it on your side? What about Brother Yeong-woon?”

Pyo Sang-guk answered.

“A family living in a private home suffered a terrible fate. They spread poison and dug traps, so we had no choice but to cremate them along with their house. They definitely intended to separate us. Brother Yeong-woon is chanting sutras for those who passed away at that site.”

Indeed, smoke could be seen rising in the distance.

“That’s just like Brother Yeong-woon.”

“Sigh.”

Pyo Sang-guk grimaced.

“The poison was terribly vicious. Even though I just briefly entered and left the house, I was poisoned.”

“Perfect! Let’s take turns standing guard. I need to expel some poison too. Brother Yeong-woon will handle himself well.”

“Calling that ‘perfect’ is a bit… isn’t it?”

Pyo Sang-guk looked back at Jin Ja-gang.

“Brother Jin? Are you alright?”

“Yes.”

So-min instructed.

“Young Master Jin was surprisingly calm in that situation! If it hadn’t been for Young Master Jin, it would have been quite difficult.”

“Huh? Brother Jin?”

“No, those bastards kept trying to bite me disgustingly. Saying they’d spread leprosy. But when Young Master Jin said it wouldn’t spread even if they bit, they got all flustered.”

So-min smiled brightly.

“Haha, our Sister Min seems to really like Brother Jin. Cough.”

“This won’t do. Hurry and go first, brother. I’ll stand guard.”

When Pyo Sang-guk sat in lotus position, So-min kept watch beside him.

After a while, Pyo Sang-guk’s face turned red and white steam rose from his head.

“Huff, huff.”

He was burning out the poison with yang energy internal power.

So-min used a hand fan to blow away the white steam so it wouldn’t come close.

Jin Ja-gang didn’t want to interfere, so he sat to one side and waited.

After Pyo Sang-guk, So-min also circulated energy to expel poison, and Yeong-woon returned. Yeong-woon’s expression was quite dark.

So-min welcomed Yeong-woon.

“Weren’t you poisoned, brother? Should I stand guard?”

“I already burned it out on the way here. The poison was quite vicious. It wasn’t ordinary poison, the way it invaded and burrowed into blood vessels.”

Pyo Sang-guk clicked his tongue.

“You say it wasn’t ordinary poison but you’re fine. As expected of Four Tigers Three Phoenixes. Sister Min and I suffered quite a bit.”

Benevolent Tiger, Smiling Tiger, Fierce Tiger, Crouching Tiger.

Among them, the one called Benevolent Tiger, meaning virtuous, was Yeong-woon.

Yeong-woon said.

“For Guizhou’s stability too, the branch needs to be restored quickly. Since there are unexpected people around, we’ll need to be careful going forward. Let’s hurry and move.”

While hastening along the road again, So-min asked Yeong-woon.

“How were the corpses at the private home?”

“A family of five were torn apart and mixed together. They were so mangled it was hard to recognize their forms. It was difficult to tell what methods the fiends used.”

“Could it have been Poison Dragon’s doing?”

“Poison Dragon?”

Yeong-woon said.

“Poison Dragon tends to be brutal, but as far as I know, he’s not the type to carelessly kill civilians. And he always travels alone.”

“But he once massacred civilians at Stone Forest Gang’s manor in the past. When fighting at the Zhuge family and Namga Village, he also set fire to villages and used civilians as shields.”

Jin Ja-gang had a bitter taste in his mouth.

When he only needed to kill targets of revenge, it didn’t matter what rumors spread.

But now he knew this would become justification for the opposing side. Because of such rumors, countless heroes would jump in like moths to a flame to kill Jin Ja-gang and gain fame.

Once rumors spread far enough, correcting them would become just as difficult.

Jin Ja-gang thought quietly and then said.

“I didn’t do it.”

Like suddenly throwing a stone into a calm lake, ripples spread.

“…”

“…”

Jin Ja-gang emphasized once more.

“I didn’t do it.”

The three people stared at Jin Ja-gang with dumbfounded faces and open mouths.

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