Chapter 89

Chapter 89

No, but it might not be an antidote.

It could be his intention to mock and ridicule him as he watches him eat what he thinks is an antidote!

But judging by his expression, it really seems to be an antidote…

Wang Yisheng became confused.

Jin Ja-gang, seeing Wang Yisheng hesitating, said:

“I thought as much.”

Jin Ja-gang suddenly stepped back.

Wang Yisheng, watching Jin Ja-gang’s reaction, reached out with his stiffening hand and picked up the paper. If he waited any longer, taking the antidote would be useless anyway. It was a desperate situation, so he might as well try taking it.

But his hands were already trembling so badly that he could barely grasp the paper.

‘If it really is an antidote, you’re making a mistake. If the poison is relieved even slightly, even if it costs me my life, I’ll at least take one of your arms with me!’

But Wang Yisheng couldn’t pick up the paper.

Thwack!

It was because an iron needle had pierced the back of his hand. The needle went through his hand and into the ground.

“…Kuh?”

The unexpected turn left Wang Yisheng momentarily stunned.

Wang Yisheng could only stare at Jin Ja-gang.

After telling him to pick up the antidote, why?

But Jin Ja-gang had already picked up another iron needle that had fallen to the ground.

Why?

Wang Yisheng looked back and forth between Jin Ja-gang and the paper on the ground.

The antidote, it really is the antidote!

So he threw a real antidote but intended to prevent him from taking it!

When this thought struck him, Wang Yisheng used all his strength to reach for the paper with his other hand.

But his body was paralyzed, making his movements slow, and Jin Ja-gang easily stopped him.

That hand too was pierced by an iron needle and pinned to the ground.

Death was approaching.

But that, if he could just eat that, he could live!

Unable to use his hands, Wang Yisheng tried to lower his head toward it.

Thwack!

An iron needle stuck into the ground in front of the paper. No matter how he moved his head, the iron needle blocked him from picking up the paper with his mouth.

“Ugh… AAAAAAAH!”

With both hands pinned to the ground, Wang Yisheng howled like a beast. He had been forcibly enduring the pain, but even that had its limits.

He couldn’t eat the antidote that was right in front of him.

Let me eat the antidote!

Wang Yisheng looked at Jin Ja-gang with desperate eyes.

Jin Ja-gang coldly said:

“My sense of morality toward you people extends only this far.”

His tone was cruelly detached.

“Urgh. This is too… isn’t this too cruel! Just kill me instead!”

“Is that so? I heard that Iron Umbrella Sect tore out the tongues of Medicine Sect people who begged to be killed because the pain was too unbearable. What about your Poison Valley?”

“Ugh…”

Wang Yisheng couldn’t say anything.

“It hurts, it hurts so much. Please…”

Wang Yisheng’s body twisted. His face turned pale, and his lips trembled. The extreme pain was unbearable.

Wang Yisheng desperately cried out:

“Kugh, kuk. P-please, have mercy…”

“You treat others’ lives and suffering lightly, yet you can’t bear your own pain? I have no intention of listening to pleas from such people.”

“Kugh…”

Wang Yisheng’s head grew dizzy.

Drip, drip.

Blood flowed from his seven orifices-eyes, nose, mouth, and others.

There was a popping sound from his body, and suddenly he felt refreshed.

The pain disappeared. The terrible pain that had been tormenting Wang Yisheng until just now vanished as if it had been a lie.

That was a far worse sign.

It meant that even the sense that could feel pain had died.

Wang Yisheng looked up at Jin Ja-gang with eyes pooled with blood.

“Am I… dying?”

Despite trying not to, his voice trembled.

“Am I… going to die?”

Only then did Jin Ja-gang approach. Jin Ja-gang, barely suppressing his murderous intent to beat Wang Yisheng to death, asked:

“Where are the other two people?”

“Answer me… am I… am I going to die?”

“Yes.”

“I never thought… I would die like this…”

Wang Yisheng barely managed to keep himself from collapsing as his body lost strength.

“Where are the two people?”

Jin Ja-gang asked again.

Wang Yisheng laughed while vomiting blood. It was a small act of revenge, refusing to answer.

Jin Ja-gang gave up on getting an answer. He hadn’t expected much to begin with.

“Then go. To hell.”

“Y-you vicious bastard. Fine. As you say, I’ll go to hell first… and wait for you.”

Wang Yisheng finally couldn’t hold on any longer and collapsed. His head fell into the pool of blood on the ground.

Splash!

Jin Ja-gang looked down at the fallen Wang Yisheng.

“I might be late, so don’t wait too long.”

But Wang Yisheng could no longer hear those words.

Jin Ja-gang calmed his murderous intent and walked past Wang Yisheng’s corpse.

Two more remained.

* * *

Kang Gyu was sitting cross-legged, circulating his internal energy.

Black sweat mixed with blood continuously flowed out. Still, as the leader of a sect, he had enough skill to expel ordinary poisons with his internal energy. But this poison was so potent that he was struggling to drive it out.

In fact, it had been too long since he was poisoned, so he had missed the window when he could have expelled it.

Still, thanks to his energy circulation, his condition wasn’t getting worse.

But Yang Tae, who was standing guard, was different. Without any treatment, his condition was continuously deteriorating.

“Urgh…”

Yang Tae glanced at Kang Gyu. But there was no sign that he would finish his energy circulation anytime soon. Judging by Kang Gyu’s face turning red and blue, he still had a long way to go.

Yang Tae tried to endure as much as he could, but the pain was becoming unbearable. Yang Tae reluctantly called out to Kang Gyu.

“S-sect…”

But at that moment.

Limp… limp, limp.

Someone drenched in blood as if they had bathed in it was coming down from the mountain, limping.

‘A limping man?’

Yang Tae felt a chill run down his spine as he recalled the words he had just uttered.

‘The limping man!’

He had heard rumors about the limping man within the poison sects.

And now, someone who appeared to be the subject of those rumors was coming down from the mountain.

That direction was the path that thirty Iron Umbrella Sect warriors had taken in the morning, and also the direction Wang Yisheng had gone earlier.

‘Could it be… they’re all dead? Even Brother Wang?’

Yang Tae quickly looked behind the limping man. However, there was no sign of anyone else besides the limping man.

That meant…

‘He did it alone?’

Yang Tae cursed the sect leader who still hadn’t moved and secretly slipped poison needles between his fingers.

Strike first to win! Some might say it goes against martial etiquette, but for Yang Tae, who used hidden weapons, there was no more effective attack method than a surprise attack.

Yang Tae prepared to throw the poison needles at any moment.

‘Just a little, come a little closer.’

Because he wasn’t feeling well, he couldn’t throw as far as usual. He needed to be closer to hit accurately.

But the blood-covered man, Jin Ja-gang, stopped about ten paces away and came no closer.

‘Damn it! Just come a little closer!’

While Yang Tae was feeling frustrated, Jin Ja-gang looked over Yang Tae and Kang Gyu.

“You’re in the middle of energy circulation. Are you standing guard?”

Then he suddenly nodded.

“That’s good.”

“Huh?”

Jin Ja-gang looked around and walked toward the forest. He picked up a fallen branch from the ground and gathered some fruit from a nearby tree.

He lit a fire with the branch to make a campfire, then took out several long chopsticks, skewered the fruit, and began to roast them.

‘What is this? What kind of nerve does he have?’

Yang Tae was very uncomfortable, not understanding Jin Ja-gang’s intentions.

Jin Ja-gang calmly roasted the tree fruit in front of Yang Tae and Kang Gyu.

Soon, a fragrant aroma began to waft over.

It was a familiar scent.

‘Quince?’

Quince is a very common fruit in autumn.

But the quince Jin Ja-gang held was unripe and greenish. It’s hard and astringent, not a fruit that can be eaten.

Is that why he’s roasting it? No, even so, who eats roasted quince?

Yang Tae’s face contorted.

“What are you up to!”

Yang Tae glared at Jin Ja-gang with intensity, but Jin Ja-gang remained calm.

“Ah, don’t mind me.”

Yang Tae was flabbergasted.

“You’re doing strange things right in front of me, and you expect me not to mind?”

“I see.”

Jin Ja-gang said as he continued roasting the quince.

“Someone I met up there told me that one should maintain a sense of morality. I’m not sure if you people are worth that much, but I’m trying.”

Yang Tae was furious.

“That’s… something to be said by someone who comes covered in blood from head to toe?”

“I suppose it could be seen that way.”

“What?”

The way Jin Ja-gang dismissed Yang Tae’s words made him even angrier.

But despite his anger, he couldn’t act rashly. The distance was too great to throw his hidden weapons effectively.

Moreover, Jin Ja-gang seemed so confident that it appeared he had something up his sleeve!

‘This guy…!’

The only thing Yang Tae could rely on was Kang Gyu recovering his strength through energy circulation.

But Kang Gyu still showed no signs of finishing.

Yang Tae was anxious.

He needed to stall for time until Kang Gyu finished his energy circulation, but if it took too long, he himself would be in danger. His legs were already on the verge of giving out.

‘This damn sect leader! Get up! Hurry!’

Contrary to Yang Tae’s wishes, neither Kang Gyu nor Jin Ja-gang made the first move.

When the quince was sufficiently roasted, Jin Ja-gang picked it up and ate it.

Crunch, crunch.

Jin Ja-gang grimaced as if it tasted sour. When he bit into a seed with a crack, he spat it out.

After finishing one, he burned the chopstick in the campfire and started eating another quince skewered on a different chopstick.

His demeanor was so natural that Yang Tae was completely dumbfounded.

“What happened to Brother Wang and the Iron Umbrella Sect disciples?”

Crunch, crunch.

Jin Ja-gang stared at Yang Tae while chewing the quince.

“Who is Brother Wang?”

Yang Tae was about to explain who Wang Yisheng was but felt it would be too pathetic, so he closed his mouth.

He decided to just ask what he was curious about.

“Was it you who poisoned us?”

“Yes.”

“When on earth did you poison us? I’ve never even seen you before.”

“Actually, we’ve met.”

Jin Ja-gang took another bite of the quince and used the quince peel to wipe the blood from his face.

Only then did Yang Tae recognize Jin Ja-gang.

“Ha! You’re the one who caused the chicken commotion at the inn! So you were the limping man!”

Thinking back, he did seem to have trouble with his leg then. He had thought it was because of the chickens, but it was simply because he was limping!

At that moment, a thought flashed through Yang Tae’s mind like lightning.

Chickens!

It was certain that the limping man had poisoned them at the inn. Then the most suspicious moment would be when the limping man released the chickens.

“Last night, you made the chickens run wild by putting poison powder on them…!”

But as he spoke, it didn’t seem right.

It wasn’t the chickens.

☕ Support on Ko-Fi

No, but it might not be an antidote.

It could be his intention to mock and ridicule him as he watches him eat what he thinks is an antidote!

But judging by his expression, it really seems to be an antidote…

Wang Yisheng became confused.

Jin Ja-gang, seeing Wang Yisheng hesitating, said:

“I thought as much.”

Jin Ja-gang suddenly stepped back.

Wang Yisheng, watching Jin Ja-gang’s reaction, reached out with his stiffening hand and picked up the paper. If he waited any longer, taking the antidote would be useless anyway. It was a desperate situation, so he might as well try taking it.

But his hands were already trembling so badly that he could barely grasp the paper.

‘If it really is an antidote, you’re making a mistake. If the poison is relieved even slightly, even if it costs me my life, I’ll at least take one of your arms with me!’

But Wang Yisheng couldn’t pick up the paper.

Thwack!

It was because an iron needle had pierced the back of his hand. The needle went through his hand and into the ground.

“…Kuh?”

The unexpected turn left Wang Yisheng momentarily stunned.

Wang Yisheng could only stare at Jin Ja-gang.

After telling him to pick up the antidote, why?

But Jin Ja-gang had already picked up another iron needle that had fallen to the ground.

Why?

Wang Yisheng looked back and forth between Jin Ja-gang and the paper on the ground.

The antidote, it really is the antidote!

So he threw a real antidote but intended to prevent him from taking it!

When this thought struck him, Wang Yisheng used all his strength to reach for the paper with his other hand.

But his body was paralyzed, making his movements slow, and Jin Ja-gang easily stopped him.

That hand too was pierced by an iron needle and pinned to the ground.

Death was approaching.

But that, if he could just eat that, he could live!

Unable to use his hands, Wang Yisheng tried to lower his head toward it.

Thwack!

An iron needle stuck into the ground in front of the paper. No matter how he moved his head, the iron needle blocked him from picking up the paper with his mouth.

“Ugh… AAAAAAAH!”

With both hands pinned to the ground, Wang Yisheng howled like a beast. He had been forcibly enduring the pain, but even that had its limits.

He couldn’t eat the antidote that was right in front of him.

Let me eat the antidote!

Wang Yisheng looked at Jin Ja-gang with desperate eyes.

Jin Ja-gang coldly said:

“My sense of morality toward you people extends only this far.”

His tone was cruelly detached.

“Urgh. This is too… isn’t this too cruel! Just kill me instead!”

“Is that so? I heard that Iron Umbrella Sect tore out the tongues of Medicine Sect people who begged to be killed because the pain was too unbearable. What about your Poison Valley?”

“Ugh…”

Wang Yisheng couldn’t say anything.

“It hurts, it hurts so much. Please…”

Wang Yisheng’s body twisted. His face turned pale, and his lips trembled. The extreme pain was unbearable.

Wang Yisheng desperately cried out:

“Kugh, kuk. P-please, have mercy…”

“You treat others’ lives and suffering lightly, yet you can’t bear your own pain? I have no intention of listening to pleas from such people.”

“Kugh…”

Wang Yisheng’s head grew dizzy.

Drip, drip.

Blood flowed from his seven orifices-eyes, nose, mouth, and others.

There was a popping sound from his body, and suddenly he felt refreshed.

The pain disappeared. The terrible pain that had been tormenting Wang Yisheng until just now vanished as if it had been a lie.

That was a far worse sign.

It meant that even the sense that could feel pain had died.

Wang Yisheng looked up at Jin Ja-gang with eyes pooled with blood.

“Am I… dying?”

Despite trying not to, his voice trembled.

“Am I… going to die?”

Only then did Jin Ja-gang approach. Jin Ja-gang, barely suppressing his murderous intent to beat Wang Yisheng to death, asked:

“Where are the other two people?”

“Answer me… am I… am I going to die?”

“Yes.”

“I never thought… I would die like this…”

Wang Yisheng barely managed to keep himself from collapsing as his body lost strength.

“Where are the two people?”

Jin Ja-gang asked again.

Wang Yisheng laughed while vomiting blood. It was a small act of revenge, refusing to answer.

Jin Ja-gang gave up on getting an answer. He hadn’t expected much to begin with.

“Then go. To hell.”

“Y-you vicious bastard. Fine. As you say, I’ll go to hell first… and wait for you.”

Wang Yisheng finally couldn’t hold on any longer and collapsed. His head fell into the pool of blood on the ground.

Splash!

Jin Ja-gang looked down at the fallen Wang Yisheng.

“I might be late, so don’t wait too long.”

But Wang Yisheng could no longer hear those words.

Jin Ja-gang calmed his murderous intent and walked past Wang Yisheng’s corpse.

Two more remained.

* * *

Kang Gyu was sitting cross-legged, circulating his internal energy.

Black sweat mixed with blood continuously flowed out. Still, as the leader of a sect, he had enough skill to expel ordinary poisons with his internal energy. But this poison was so potent that he was struggling to drive it out.

In fact, it had been too long since he was poisoned, so he had missed the window when he could have expelled it.

Still, thanks to his energy circulation, his condition wasn’t getting worse.

But Yang Tae, who was standing guard, was different. Without any treatment, his condition was continuously deteriorating.

“Urgh…”

Yang Tae glanced at Kang Gyu. But there was no sign that he would finish his energy circulation anytime soon. Judging by Kang Gyu’s face turning red and blue, he still had a long way to go.

Yang Tae tried to endure as much as he could, but the pain was becoming unbearable. Yang Tae reluctantly called out to Kang Gyu.

“S-sect…”

But at that moment.

Limp… limp, limp.

Someone drenched in blood as if they had bathed in it was coming down from the mountain, limping.

‘A limping man?’

Yang Tae felt a chill run down his spine as he recalled the words he had just uttered.

‘The limping man!’

He had heard rumors about the limping man within the poison sects.

And now, someone who appeared to be the subject of those rumors was coming down from the mountain.

That direction was the path that thirty Iron Umbrella Sect warriors had taken in the morning, and also the direction Wang Yisheng had gone earlier.

‘Could it be… they’re all dead? Even Brother Wang?’

Yang Tae quickly looked behind the limping man. However, there was no sign of anyone else besides the limping man.

That meant…

‘He did it alone?’

Yang Tae cursed the sect leader who still hadn’t moved and secretly slipped poison needles between his fingers.

Strike first to win! Some might say it goes against martial etiquette, but for Yang Tae, who used hidden weapons, there was no more effective attack method than a surprise attack.

Yang Tae prepared to throw the poison needles at any moment.

‘Just a little, come a little closer.’

Because he wasn’t feeling well, he couldn’t throw as far as usual. He needed to be closer to hit accurately.

But the blood-covered man, Jin Ja-gang, stopped about ten paces away and came no closer.

‘Damn it! Just come a little closer!’

While Yang Tae was feeling frustrated, Jin Ja-gang looked over Yang Tae and Kang Gyu.

“You’re in the middle of energy circulation. Are you standing guard?”

Then he suddenly nodded.

“That’s good.”

“Huh?”

Jin Ja-gang looked around and walked toward the forest. He picked up a fallen branch from the ground and gathered some fruit from a nearby tree.

He lit a fire with the branch to make a campfire, then took out several long chopsticks, skewered the fruit, and began to roast them.

‘What is this? What kind of nerve does he have?’

Yang Tae was very uncomfortable, not understanding Jin Ja-gang’s intentions.

Jin Ja-gang calmly roasted the tree fruit in front of Yang Tae and Kang Gyu.

Soon, a fragrant aroma began to waft over.

It was a familiar scent.

‘Quince?’

Quince is a very common fruit in autumn.

But the quince Jin Ja-gang held was unripe and greenish. It’s hard and astringent, not a fruit that can be eaten.

Is that why he’s roasting it? No, even so, who eats roasted quince?

Yang Tae’s face contorted.

“What are you up to!”

Yang Tae glared at Jin Ja-gang with intensity, but Jin Ja-gang remained calm.

“Ah, don’t mind me.”

Yang Tae was flabbergasted.

“You’re doing strange things right in front of me, and you expect me not to mind?”

“I see.”

Jin Ja-gang said as he continued roasting the quince.

“Someone I met up there told me that one should maintain a sense of morality. I’m not sure if you people are worth that much, but I’m trying.”

Yang Tae was furious.

“That’s… something to be said by someone who comes covered in blood from head to toe?”

“I suppose it could be seen that way.”

“What?”

The way Jin Ja-gang dismissed Yang Tae’s words made him even angrier.

But despite his anger, he couldn’t act rashly. The distance was too great to throw his hidden weapons effectively.

Moreover, Jin Ja-gang seemed so confident that it appeared he had something up his sleeve!

‘This guy…!’

The only thing Yang Tae could rely on was Kang Gyu recovering his strength through energy circulation.

But Kang Gyu still showed no signs of finishing.

Yang Tae was anxious.

He needed to stall for time until Kang Gyu finished his energy circulation, but if it took too long, he himself would be in danger. His legs were already on the verge of giving out.

‘This damn sect leader! Get up! Hurry!’

Contrary to Yang Tae’s wishes, neither Kang Gyu nor Jin Ja-gang made the first move.

When the quince was sufficiently roasted, Jin Ja-gang picked it up and ate it.

Crunch, crunch.

Jin Ja-gang grimaced as if it tasted sour. When he bit into a seed with a crack, he spat it out.

After finishing one, he burned the chopstick in the campfire and started eating another quince skewered on a different chopstick.

His demeanor was so natural that Yang Tae was completely dumbfounded.

“What happened to Brother Wang and the Iron Umbrella Sect disciples?”

Crunch, crunch.

Jin Ja-gang stared at Yang Tae while chewing the quince.

“Who is Brother Wang?”

Yang Tae was about to explain who Wang Yisheng was but felt it would be too pathetic, so he closed his mouth.

He decided to just ask what he was curious about.

“Was it you who poisoned us?”

“Yes.”

“When on earth did you poison us? I’ve never even seen you before.”

“Actually, we’ve met.”

Jin Ja-gang took another bite of the quince and used the quince peel to wipe the blood from his face.

Only then did Yang Tae recognize Jin Ja-gang.

“Ha! You’re the one who caused the chicken commotion at the inn! So you were the limping man!”

Thinking back, he did seem to have trouble with his leg then. He had thought it was because of the chickens, but it was simply because he was limping!

At that moment, a thought flashed through Yang Tae’s mind like lightning.

Chickens!

It was certain that the limping man had poisoned them at the inn. Then the most suspicious moment would be when the limping man released the chickens.

“Last night, you made the chickens run wild by putting poison powder on them…!”

But as he spoke, it didn’t seem right.

It wasn’t the chickens.

☕ Support on Ko-Fi

☕ Support on Ko-Fi

☕ Support on Ko-Fi