Chapter 543

Chapter 543

The rumor that Jin Ja-gang struck Shanxi, crossed to Henan, and obtained the Jade Buddhist Staff gave jianghu a great shock.

Even Shaolin Temple failed to stop Jin Ja-gang and knelt before him.

Shaolin Temple's reserves are deeper and deeper than what's known in jianghu. The elderly masters of previous generations who secluded themselves for decades and the converted demon heads are Shaolin Temple's hidden forces.

Yet how could they hand over Shaolin Temple's sacred treasure intact to Jin Ja-gang! Unless willingly given, it was something that could never happen.

Not knowing how to accept this unprecedented situation, jianghu's martial artists were confused.

In the hands of Jin Ja-gang, who had already massacred thousands, two sacred objects symbolizing the era came to be held.

Demon and Buddha.

Good and Evil.

Whose side is the blade Jin Ja-gang wields on?

As if to confuse jianghu people even more.

Jin Ja-gang's movements stopped completely after obtaining the Jade Buddhist Staff.

* * *

Tang Qing looked at Jin Ja-gang with absurd eyes.

Jin Ja-gang was brewing tea?

And borrowing tea utensils to do so quite seriously.

Being such a master, matching the tea water temperature, the steeping time was precise, and his hands didn't tremble. After doing it a few times, he was properly capturing the fragrance.

Trickle.

Thinking the fragrance came out to his liking, Jin Ja-gang poured for Tang Qing.

"For me to drink?"

"Please taste it."

Tang Qing asked seriously.

"Have I become useless?"

"...That's not what I mean."

"Could be. Might not be. But think about who brewed the tea."

"I surrender."

"When you're doing something you don't normally do, then who in the world could drink it? I used to be able to endure your poison reasonably well, but not anymore, so I'm scared."

"Have you committed any sins?"

"Many."

Tang Qing stared at the tea placed before him and asked.

"But, it was the Sole Surviving Demon who gave you the Jade Buddhist Staff?"

"You know him?"

"I remembered when I heard the story about Demon-Exterminating Monk Mu-gak emerging. The demonic forces outside Qinghai almost got wiped out by a single Shaolin monk, but there was one who uniquely survived."

"He was at Shaolin Temple."

"Did he die?"

"His internal energy was tremendously deep, so he probably lived."

"You must have spared him. Since you wouldn't have triggered Asura Heavenly Escape."

"But won't you drink the tea? Drink it while it's warm."

"Why do you keep telling me to drink tea? Suspiciously."

Jin Ja-gang didn't press the tea further and raised his head.

"Until now, I thought I didn't lay hands on just anyone. But I realized that it could be different from the receiving end's perspective."

"Of course. Because you're the Poison Dragon. But do you really need to think that deeply?"

Tang Qing tilted his head.

"What's the use of considering even the circumstances of those who should die?"

"That's right."

Jin Ja-gang was lost in thought for a moment before speaking.

"But what if it leaves behind much malice?"

"They'll come rushing for revenge. Didn't you prepare for that much from the start?"

"When I was in the midst of my revenge journey, I didn't care if anyone came to take revenge on me. But now I'm living a remaining life. If I clear away hungry ghosts and malice remains in their place, and if yakshas roam freely instead of hungry ghosts, wouldn't my current actions also be meaningless?"

"What a complicated way to live. What can be done? I won't live pondering such worries anymore."

Tang Qing grinned and took a sip of the tea.

"Damn. Even though you just briefly learned tea ceremony, the fragrance alone is more excellent than any tea I've drunk in my lifetime. There's no rich fragrance, but the unique fragrance the tea leaves possess is far superior..."

"I tried extracting fragrance as if filtering out poison."

Tang Qing flinched.

Jin Ja-gang's method of extracting poison is mainly through consumption. He ingests essence and filters poison within the body, refining it into pure essence.

"..."

Drool. Tang Qing spat it back into the teacup just as he was drinking.

Tang Qing kept spitting to the side.

Ptui, ptui.

Then glaring at Jin Ja-gang, he said.

"So, how long are you going to keep doing this? You went to the trouble of cornering Shaanxi's martial world, you're not thinking of giving up here, are you?"

"I'm just waiting for them to sort out their thoughts."

"The original plan was to strike before they sorted out their thoughts, wasn't it?"

"I'm hoping some among them will start thinking differently."

"Originally, you moved with the purpose of making opponents take responsibility for their actions, and that was the purpose of retribution. You did so to create the world Taoist Haewol desired."

"Since I'm not Taoist Haewol himself, I reflected on what meaning there would be in creating the world he desired. Even if such a world comes to be, since he's no longer here, it's already a different world."

Taoist Haewol said.

Kill yourself and cross over to a new era.

That meant liquidating the old era and was simultaneously a necessary condition to open a new era.

Tang Qing asked.

"If you don't make them pay for their actions, even the world you want won't come, will it?"

"Most of those I killed said this in the moment of their death. That it's unfair. They only did as told, so why must they die?"

Jin Ja-gang remembered the deaths of those he killed since first leaving the mine shaft. The vast majority felt so wronged and couldn't accept death.

"Everyone, they all did it, so they questioned me in return why they alone must die."

"Everyone has their own standards, and when they act according to those standards, they don't recognize that it's evil."

Tang Qing's expression also became serious.

"So? If you spare them like this, the bastards will only get bolder. Human nature is utterly base, so unless you make them pay in some way, they won't know their wrongs."

"I won't spare them. From now on, it's exactly the same as before."

Tang Qing seemed to realize what Jin Ja-gang's words meant and smiled meaningfully. But he asked.

"Then what changes?"

"Rather than making them pay for their actions, I'll make them take responsibility for justification."

Justification is a collective common standard recognized by many people and grants legitimacy to actions.

If until now it was a fight between Murim Alliance versus Jin Ja-gang as an individual, it means he'll elevate it to a confrontation of justifications. Those who die in a fight over justification won't feel wronged even if they're angry, won't they?

Jin Ja-gang grew once again.

Tang Qing quietly looked at Jin Ja-gang, and moisture gathered in those eyes, making them quite soft.

"Emerging into the world with ambition, succeeding and making a name known, finally breaking free from the teacher you followed and beginning to establish your own will. Now it's your era. No one will dare look down on you."

Tang Qing's sincerity flowed out.

"The Persian Ancient Sword and the Jade Buddhist Staff. To someone, they might be symbols of power, but to you, they've become a yoke and reins, and also a proof of awakening."

Jin Ja-gang slowly spoke.

"So I'm telling you."

Jin Ja-gang looked at Tang Qing and said.

"You don't need to seek a place to die."

Tang Qing flinched.

"What what. Suddenly who's dying, causing a fuss?"

"Isn't it to atone that the King of Hell of the world has bent his pride and lived until now?"

"Hmph. You're saying strange things. I don't have such pride."

Jin Ja-gang suddenly stood up. Then he took out a blade of grass from his sleeve and put it in his mouth.

Tang Qing felt a strange atmosphere and tried to stand up as well but swayed.

"Huh?"

Tang Qing's expression was colored with bewilderment.

Thud.

Unable to stand, he knelt.

"What, what. Did you just use poison on me?"

Tang Qing was flustered.

Why?

Jin Ja-gang said.

"You really can't endure anymore."

Tang Qing's face turned menacing.

"If this is a joke, detoxify it right now. What is this!"

"Did you forget I don't carry antidotes? It's a paralyzing poison in an amount that could subdue even a tiger, so you'll have to rest for a while."

Jin Ja-gang rubbed his jaw as if it hurt from chewing so much paralyzing grass. Then looking at Tang Qing, he said.

"As I said, my personal revenge already ended when I killed the Hungry Ghost King. Don't try to add on Grandfather's death to me as well. You'll have to find justification for your own death again going forward."

"You brat! I kept saying you were pretty, and you're climbing up so impudently!"

Tang Qing's consciousness was clear, but unable to move his body, he fell forward.

Tang Qing poured out all kinds of curses.

Jin Ja-gang smiled bitterly.

"That's why, knowing who brewed the tea, why did you drink it?"

Tang Qing continued pouring out curses, then later couldn't even voice them and eventually lost consciousness.

Chewing grass, Jin Ja-gang told Tang Qing's subordinate scholars.

"Please take him to a quiet place."

The scholars moved Tang Qing.

Jin Ja-gang watched Tang Qing being carried away. He still needed Tang Qing. If justification comes to the fore, if it becomes a fight between justifications, the aspect of the fight will become even fiercer. Each and every fight becomes proof of one's own beliefs.

However, knowing Tang Qing was searching for a place to die, he couldn't continue traveling with Tang Qing.

Especially if Tang Qing learned what Jin Ja-gang intended to do going forward, Tang Qing would resolve to die.

That was the reason for excluding Tang Qing ahead of this Shaanxi trip.

Also, if Baek Li-jung came to Shaanxi, Tang Qing would definitely die.

"At least, it's not yet your time to go."

Crunch.

Jin Ja-gang took out new grass and chewed it.

Next, he sent letters to his wife Tang Ha-ran, Mount Qingcheng's Bok-cheon Taoist Leader, and Dan Ryeong-gyeong, seeking permission for what he would do going forward.

* * *

Until now, Jin Ja-gang had never expressed his will to jianghu.

He was merely a god of death bringing death.

But.

That Jin Ja-gang proclaimed to jianghu for the first time.

With a long text totaling four parts, he described his situation and will.

In the first part, he wrote about Jin Ja-gang's origins and meeting with Baek Li-jung. He explained how Baek Li-jung, who had been a court official, colluded with the Poison Sects and backed Yunnan's Poison Sects from behind, and how Jin Ja-gang took revenge on the Extreme Poison Sects.

In the second part, he unfolded the story entangled with Mount Qingcheng's Venerable Woo-am. He wrote why Dan Ryeong-gyeong's family was exterminated for becoming the Demonic Cult's lackeys. Of course, he also described the origins of the Jade Void Nine Lights Five Thunder Toad Art.

In the third part, he calmly described how Baek Li-jung betrayed Master Hae-wol, created the Cherry Blossom Group to manipulate jianghu public opinion, and the salt incident involving Zoroastrian Cult, along with Taoist Haewol's noble sacrifice.

In the fourth part, he finally mentioned the side effects of the Jade Void Nine Lights Five Thunder Toad Art.

When greed deepens, the Calamity Slaying Demon Spirit in the brain comes to dominate body and mind...

And he wrote about witnessing Great Buddha's death.

Jianghu was shaken once again by Jin Ja-gang's proclamation.

Particularly, the content written about Baek Li-jung was so shocking that even reading it several times made people half-believe it.

According to Jin Ja-gang's revelation, wasn't Baek Li-jung not a great hero of the world but a total scumbag of the world!

Even a hungry ghost that eats people!

It was chilling.

It was tantamount to the first public testimony about the bad rumors that had been circulating about Baek Li-jung. Looking at Jin Ja-gang's explanation, all the things that had happened in jianghu but remained unexplained fit together perfectly.

The fact that Jin Ja-gang revealed these facts while simultaneously possessing Zoroastrian Cult's Persian Ancient Sword and Shaolin Temple's Jade Buddhist Staff had even greater implications.

However, even if Jin Ja-gang could be trusted, whether the content Jin Ja-gang revealed could be trusted was another matter.

This time, jianghu was truly engulfed in extreme chaos.