Chapter 118

It would take more than an hour to walk all the way to Yunhua Village.

Jin Ja-gang did not hurry. Though he walked quickly, he tried his best to maintain peace of mind.

However, Jin Ja-gang’s composure could not last long.

On the mountain path leading toward the village.

When about half the distance to Yunhua Village remained.

He saw a beautiful woman sitting on a flat rock under the shade of a tree beside the road.

Her hair was pinned up with a thick hairpin, and she wore a short vest-like upper garment. She was dressed in a jade-colored pleated skirt called a moon flower skirt that fell gracefully in pleats from her waist.

Even at a glance, she was quite a beauty. However, she wore an ice-cold expression that gave her a chilly impression.

She was not young.

‘Thirty or forty?’

The elegance she exuded suggested the beautiful woman was around middle age, but her face made it difficult to guess her actual age.

The beautiful woman had placed jade teacups and a jade teapot. She looked as if she had come out for an outing, but Jin Ja-gang instinctively knew that the beautiful woman had been waiting for him.

Steam was rising from the teapot, and there were two teacups.

Jin Ja-gang tried to pass by pretending not to notice.

However, the moment he took a step past the middle-aged beautiful woman, her voice reached him.

“It’s also rude to pass by pretending not to notice when someone is waiting, young hero.”

Suddenly his heart beat strongly.

It wasn’t piercing killing intent. Yet his body was sending warnings of danger.

Jin Ja-gang could not move forward.

An invisible line seemed drawn before his eyes, and he felt pressure as if his ankles would be crushed if he crossed it.

He had no choice.

“Hoo.”

Jin Ja-gang took a deep breath to calm his mind, then turned around.

The middle-aged beautiful woman raised her hand with a cold face.

The translucent silk shawl draped over both arms and shoulders flowed down softly. The middle-aged beautiful woman gathered the shawl with one hand and gestured for him to sit with the other.

Jin Ja-gang sat in front of the beautiful woman. She poured tea and handed him a teacup.

In appearance, she looked just like an ordinary high-ranking wealthy lady. However, each movement was restrained and she didn’t tremble her hands at all.

After pouring tea for Jin Ja-gang, the beautiful woman set down the teapot and held out her empty teacup toward Jin Ja-gang. She must be asking him to pour for her as well.

Jin Ja-gang picked up the teapot.

Suddenly the teapot swayed.

It writhed like a captured carp. If he didn’t grip it tightly, it would almost leap from his hands.

Rattle rattle rattle.

The teapot shook violently.

Jin Ja-gang gripped the teapot tightly and opened the lid to look inside.

The tea water inside was swirling in whirlpools on its own.

Jin Ja-gang was speechless at this strange sight.

It didn’t seem to continue like that forever – when he gripped the teapot tightly and waited, the vibrations gradually subsided.

Jin Ja-gang calmly lifted the teapot and poured into the beautiful woman’s teacup.

However, after finishing pouring the tea, he raised his head and glared at the beautiful woman.

The beautiful woman still had a cold expression.

Just now, through that trivial incident, Jin Ja-gang’s martial arts level had been seen through by the beautiful woman.

“You have physical strength but no internal energy and don’t know how to use it. You don’t have the skill to handle delicate weapons. You seem accustomed to using strength, but it’s strange that your hands aren’t rough and are pale like a woman’s hands.”

However, Jin Ja-gang said nothing and just glared.

He should have asked who she was and what her intentions were in approaching him, but he asked nothing.

Even at that heavy silence, the beautiful woman didn’t budge. She received Jin Ja-gang’s cold gaze and tried to drink her tea.

“Don’t drink it.”

But the beautiful woman’s eyes changed immediately.

Hesitation.

The beautiful woman stopped trying to drink and slowly lowered her gaze to look at the teacup.

“The tea has gone bad?”

It was a tone mixed with admiration. It was the first time she had shown emotion.

The beautiful woman seemed to regulate her breathing slightly.

Suddenly steam rose from the teacup.

Bubble bubble.

The tea in the teacup began to boil. The beautiful woman’s white, slender fingers had turned bright red.

Advanced internal energy operation!

She was a master of internal energy that Jin Ja-gang was seeing for the first time.

This level would probably rank among the highest of all the martial artists Jin Ja-gang had encountered so far.

Jin Ja-gang could be certain.

‘The worst.’

Perhaps Jin Ja-gang was facing the worst possible situation.

Jin Ja-gang just watched the beautiful woman’s actions quietly.

The poison Jin Ja-gang had poured into the teapot also evaporated as the tea boiled. The beautiful woman waved her sleeve over the teacup to blow away the poisonous steam, then cooled the tea and took a sip.

“When you boil tea twice, the tea flavor changes.”

Only then did Jin Ja-gang open his mouth.

“Why have you come looking for me?”

“I came to confirm rumors. Actually, I was thinking the rumors might be exaggerated and was about to be disappointed, but unexpectedly you’re not worse than the rumors? Though I still wonder how you killed Hundred Fragrances with this level of skill.”

So Hundred Fragrances Wei Zong was really dead?

Jin Ja-gang asked.

“How did he die?”

The beautiful woman’s eyes narrowed. It was a look as if suspecting Jin Ja-gang.

“His arm was torn off and his head burst.”

Jin Ja-gang answered nonchalantly.

“I see. Then it wasn’t something I did. Have you come for revenge?”

“Revenge?”

A mocking light flashed through the beautiful woman’s eyes.

“To seek revenge for someone like Hundred Fragrances… If there were someone who would shed tears before his portrait, they might speak of revenge. But originally he was someone who deserved to die.”

The beautiful woman paused briefly, then asked again.

“So it wasn’t the young hero’s doing?”

“That’s correct. I don’t know if you’ll believe me or not.”

“Whether I believe or not is for me to judge. Young hero, you just need to speak exactly as things are.”

Tremendous arrogance.

These were words that couldn’t be spoken without confidence in one’s own martial power and insight.

“Very well. I was unable to kill Wei Zong.”

The beautiful woman muttered.

“Complicated. This has become troublesome.”

Jin Ja-gang didn’t bother asking why the beautiful woman said such things. Revenge should be simple. You kill those who deserve to die. That’s sufficient.

He’s someone who will do great things in the future… How many dependents he has at home… What achievements he’s built for the martial world…

None of that is necessary.

If someone did things deserving death, you just kill them.

While you might consider circumstances to use for revenge, if you weigh all these various circumstances, your heart for revenge will only become more distant… Especially to face Baek Li-jung, the pride of the orthodox faction and a hero of the Martial Arts Alliance, even this level of mindset might be insufficient.

That’s why Jin Ja-gang didn’t ask.

Perhaps finding this appearance strange, the beautiful woman looked at Jin Ja-gang with a peculiar gaze.

“Young hero, do you happen to know the nickname Snake Scorpion Poison King?”

“I don’t know.”

He understood the meaning.

The ‘king’ in Poison King wasn’t the king meaning ruler but the character meaning lame. It must surely refer to Jin Ja-gang.

However, Jin Ja-gang had never heard it.

“They say you’re called by that nickname because your methods are particularly cruel and you’re skilled with poison. A young master cultivated by the dark path. Haven’t you heard such talk?”

“No.”

“I see… That’s naturally how it should be. I also have no memory of receiving any reports related to that.”

From the beautiful woman’s tone, Jin Ja-gang realized she was a figure from the dark path – that is, the evil faction. And quite high-ranking at that.

“Then where did you come from?”

Though asked in an ordinary tone, the sound pierced his ears.

This was the first time Jin Ja-gang experienced such pressure. It clearly sounded gentle, yet had an oppressive force no less than spreading killing intent strand by strand.

Jin Ja-gang frowned and closed his mouth.

It was due to a rebellious spirit that suddenly emerged in response to the coercive questioning.

The beautiful woman stared at Jin Ja-gang, then smiled very faintly.

“You… are quite a difficult opponent to handle. If your friends saw you making such an expression in front of me, they would be very surprised.”

“Answering wouldn’t be difficult, but I don’t understand why I should.”

“Because you’re causing us harm.”

“Me?”

“A hundred leaders of Yunnan’s orthodox faction died, and poison sect members including Yunnan’s Five Great Poison Sects became corpses all at once. The forces that had been controlling Yunnan disappeared in an instant. There are no survivors. The only one being pointed to is Snake Scorpion Poison King – that’s you, young hero.”

All the people gathered at Poison Valley had been completely annihilated.

No survivors… That meant there had been intervention by some other force.

Then the changes that had occurred in Jin Ja-gang’s body were also likely caused by them.

Jin Ja-gang didn’t show it but was slowly pondering.

Those who were using him would also have to pay the price someday.

Jin Ja-gang thought for a moment, then said.

“It’s true that I killed half the poison sects. But I don’t know who killed the orthodox faction and Hundred Fragrances Wei Zong.”

“You want me to believe that? And you alone survived from all that?”

“Whether you believe or not is for you to judge, madam.”

Having her own words returned to her, the beautiful woman snorted lightly.

“Fine. Then let me hear the young hero’s thoughts. Current Yunnan is completely masterless territory. This hypothesis is possible – if someone deliberately carried out a massacre at Poison Valley to take over Yunnan, who would that be?”

“I don’t know. If I knew, I would have already killed them.”

The beautiful woman’s eyes narrowed. She seemed either incredulous or to have found something peculiar in Jin Ja-gang’s words.

“You’re being pointed to as the culprit of that incident, and you’re a killing weapon cultivated by the dark path. Then naturally people would suspect we’re behind it, wouldn’t they?”

Jin Ja-gang asked calmly.

“But it’s not true, is it?”

“No. You’re not Snake Scorpion Poison King, and we’ve never cultivated Snake Scorpion Poison King.”

“Then is it still a problem?”

“Yes.”

“It’s a problem even though it’s not true?”

“Yes.”

The beautiful woman twisted her lips particularly coldly as she spoke.

“Originally, people believe what they want to believe. If you present plausible evidence and tell them what they want to hear, they’ll believe it’s the truth.”

This wasn’t simply mocking and ridiculing the world, but words spoken with deep resentment.

“Current Yunnan is perfect masterless territory! People think we orchestrated this incident to take over Yunnan!”

But Jin Ja-gang was even more cynical about the beautiful woman’s words.

“Why do people believe that? You said people believe what they want to believe. Then why do they want to believe those words?”

Jin Ja-gang sharpened his edge toward the beautiful woman who was quietly watching him.

“Your words are wrong, madam. Even if people want to believe something, if it’s not believable, they won’t believe it. Because of what you evil faction people have done, they naturally believe you’d do the same this time.”

The beautiful woman wasn’t shaken.

“Does the young hero have a grudge against the dark path? Why do you hate the dark path? No, do you know about the dark path?”

“Green forest bandits, water bandits, flying bandits, river and lake sects. If you don’t hate those who corrupt the world and disturb the people’s hearts, who would you hate?”

The beautiful woman didn’t bother making excuses and instead asked back.

“Then does the young hero think the current orthodox faction has good intentions and properly upholds the chivalry and righteousness of the martial world?”

“That is…”

Jin Ja-gang was about to answer that of course they would, but then thought of Chu Sajin of Five Birds Sect. Also the dark hearts shown by the Yunnan orthodox faction members who had attacked Poison Valley.

So Jin Ja-gang couldn’t answer.

The beautiful woman said.

“Even Shaolin Temple, called a pillar of the martial world, was once called Eating Vegetables Evil Demons because they were a group of vegetarian demons who only ate grass. I won’t particularly defend us because of that, but there is light and darkness on either side.”

Jin Ja-gang realized this wasn’t different from what he had once said to Chu Sajin of Five Birds Sect and nodded in agreement.

“Your words are correct, madam. I’ll forget my prejudices and engrave your teachings. And if the day comes when I clearly understand the light and darkness of the world, I’ll apologize.”

The beautiful woman sneered.

“Your words flow like clear mountain streams. Let me tell you an old story, young hero.”