Chapter 233

Limp.

Jin Ja-gang stood up and took his first step, then was greatly startled.

Unlike his left side where qi and blood were even more severely blocked and twisted, his right side’s qi and blood had almost completely opened up. The walls of his qi and blood had also become solid. The fatigue and injuries that had accumulated from overexertion while carving Go stones had recovered. Even his three meridians had expanded twofold, making his latent power feel tremendous.

Conversely, his left side’s qi and blood blockage had become even more severe, accelerating his body’s imbalance. Therefore, even if he limped, his right side’s qi and blood had now somewhat escaped the danger of rupture and collapse.

There was a reason Dan Ryeong-gyeong had said that learning the Jade Void Nine Light Five Thunder Toad Technique could escape the side effects of Mad Blood Heaven technique.

Jin Ja-gang returned to the peak following his traces and looked down at the Go board for a while. He memorized the game pattern in his mind. Because he had laboriously placed each move one by one for nearly ten days, most of the game pattern remained in Jin Ja-gang’s mind.

He carefully kept the stone Venerable Woo-am had placed last, the Go stone made of red agate.

Then he cleared away all the remaining Go stones on it. That would probably be proper courtesy toward Venerable Woo-am and his friend.

He still had many things he wanted to ask Venerable Woo-am, and also wanted to ask how Jade Fairy Seonrang had become involved while they were researching the Toad Technique.

However, Venerable Woo-am ultimately didn’t want to speak of it.

Jin Ja-gang finally washed his body at the stream and descended the peak.

* * *

The first to discover Jin Ja-gang were Bian Bu and Woon-jeong who were in the courtyard.

“Huh?”

“Huh?”

The expressions of the two who saw Jin Ja-gang looked dumbfounded.

Soso also came running soon, and her eyes widened when she saw Jin Ja-gang.

Jin Ja-gang wondered why they were acting this way and greeted them first.

“I caused you worry.”

Bian Bu answered blankly.

“That’s not the problem?”

“Pardon?”

“Why have you become so handsome?”

His eyes were clear and his face had luster.

He had really changed a lot.

Woon-jeong came close to Jin Ja-gang and circled around him, looking him over.

“Huh huh huh huh? That’s really true. Strange. Something’s very strange.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Before, I didn’t really think I’d lose if I fought Poison Dragon, but now I think I would lose!”

Bian Bu caught the end of his words.

“That’s why you should practice regularly.”

“No, that’s not the problem. This is…”

Bian Bu asked.

“Where on earth did you go? We heard from the Qingcheng sect that you couldn’t come for a while.”

“I went and played a game of Go.”

Woon-jeong made a surprised face.

But Jin Ja-gang also had something urgent, more so than resolving Woon-jeong’s surprise.

“Where is Miss Ha-ran?”

This time Bian Bu and Soso’s faces became uncomfortable.

Speak of the tiger and it comes – Tang Ha-ran soon appeared. Of course, it wasn’t coincidence but she had definitely been waiting for Jin Ja-gang and came after sensing his energy.

Tang Ha-ran was even wearing an apron with her sleeves rolled up. Seeing her holding laundry in her hands, she seemed to have been in the middle of washing clothes.

When Tang Ha-ran appeared, Soso bowed her head to Jin Ja-gang in greeting and went to the kitchen with quick steps.

“Miss…?”

Tang Ha-ran saw Jin Ja-gang and stopped, unable to continue her words. She was blushing as if they had met after a very long time, and even her eyes were reddened.

Bian Bu and Woon-jeong were incredulous. The two whispered.

“Wow, look at that cold-blood completely transformed.”

“How can a person be like that?”

Tang Ha-ran frowned sharply. In a low, cold voice, Tang Ha-ran said.

“I can hear everything.”

“Hehe…”

Bian Bu and Woon-jeong sneaked away while reading the mood. But both their pants’ backsides were worn out. Their backs were also worn with holes.

“Why are they acting like that?”

When Jin Ja-gang looked at Bian Bu and Woon-jeong, Tang Ha-ran grabbed Jin Ja-gang and prevented him from looking.

“I’m not used to it yet, so that happened. They kept complaining about a little mistake.”

How could Tang Ha-ran, who wasn’t a common household daughter, have ever done laundry?

“You didn’t need to do that.”

“I wanted to… wash your clothes.”

Tang Ha-ran looked at Jin Ja-gang and chuckled.

“But it’s become unnecessary.”

The clothes Jin Ja-gang was wearing had become almost rags. They had been torn and ripped everywhere when he was frantically eating poisonous plants.

“If I had known this would happen, I should have learned sewing instead of laundry.”

“It’s fine. I’ll do it.”

“No. I want to do it for you.”

Tang Ha-ran spoke, then thought briefly and added.

“Of course, later. After practicing more.”

“Just the thought is enough. Thank you.”

“I’ll really do it. Really!”

Jin Ja-gang looked at Tang Ha-ran and smiled pleasantly.

Just as Jin Ja-gang had thought of becoming stronger for his future with Tang Ha-ran, Tang Ha-ran was also preparing for their future by learning household tasks.

Though the path ahead was invisible even one step forward, Jin Ja-gang and Tang Ha-ran were steadily preparing to get through it little by little.

“Then I’ll learn together too.”

“Really? But if you become better than me at it, that would be a bit…”

“It doesn’t matter whoever is better at what.”

“Poison Dragon. Unexpectedly domestic. No, maybe it’s not unexpected?”

Tang Ha-ran looked into Jin Ja-gang’s eyes.

“You’ve become much more handsome than when we first met. You’re really too precious to be stolen by another woman.”

“Didn’t I say that wouldn’t happen?”

“I didn’t think I’d be this jealous either. So don’t be too confident either.”

“I understand.”

Tang Ha-ran’s eyebrows slightly furrowed. Her lips pouted.

“Ugh, this fool.”

Since that wasn’t the answer she wanted to that remark, she was slightly sulky, but Jin Ja-gang smiled as if he found even such Tang Ha-ran pleasant to see.

* * *

Jin Ja-gang went to a quiet clearing with Tang Ha-ran.

Jin Ja-gang took out the Soul Seizing Thread. He put the Soul Seizing Thread on his right wrist and activated Mad Blood Heaven technique. The massive internal energy latent in his three meridians flowed out.

Thump!

Jin Ja-gang’s body vibrated greatly once.

Click.

The Soul Seizing Thread’s ring separated. Jin Ja-gang caught the ring connected by thread with his left hand.

He stepped on a nearby tree and climbed up, wound the Soul Seizing Thread around a branch and jumped down. When Jin Ja-gang infused internal energy into the Soul Seizing Thread, the branch was instantly cut and fell.

Jin Ja-gang stepped on a nearby tree and similarly cut branches while rotating several times as he jumped down. This time, not just the branches but the main tree trunk was cut into three pieces together.

“Here it comes!”

Tang Ha-ran held a needle in her hand and threw it toward Jin Ja-gang.

Jin Ja-gang raised his internal energy to the extreme.

He pulled the Soul Seizing Thread left and right with all his might to make it taut. The thread became stiff and rigid.

Snap.

The needle Tang Ha-ran threw was precisely blocked by the Soul Seizing Thread. Beyond being blocked, the needle was cut in half and bounced away.

Tang Ha-ran threw three needles. Jin Ja-gang deflected all the needles with the Soul Seizing Thread.

“This time it’s Flash Severance! I’ll put five-star internal energy into it, so be careful!”

Tang Ha-ran also raised her internal energy as she threw the needle. The needle disappeared the moment it left Tang Ha-ran’s hand.

Jin Ja-gang’s eyes widened.

Clang!

The needle hit the Soul Seizing Thread’s ring that Jin Ja-gang had extended in front of his eyes and bounced off.

Tang Ha-ran withdrew her hand and praised.

“You’ve definitely gotten stronger. Even though it was from the front, I didn’t know you could block Flash Severance.”

Even if it wasn’t Flash Severance used with full internal energy, it wasn’t at a level the previous Jin Ja-gang could have blocked.

Tang Ha-ran hesitated, then spoke.

“Shall I teach you? Flash Severance.”

Jin Ja-gang assembled the Soul Seizing Thread, pushing the ring back to its original position as he answered.

“Wouldn’t that go against family regulations?”

“I’m not even a family member anymore anyway. Besides…”

Tang Ha-ran threw several needles to Jin Ja-gang.

“Try using your most confident hidden weapon technique with full power. Then you’ll understand what I mean.”

Jin Ja-gang gripped the needles.

After raising his internal energy, he put some internal energy into the needles and explosively activated internal energy in the qi and blood from his waist to shoulder to arm.

Flying Needle Twelve Branches!

The needle that left Jin Ja-gang’s hand flew while making twelve changes. But then it suddenly tried to make a thirteenth change and abruptly shattered in midair. The needle broke into pieces and scattered.

Jin Ja-gang gripped another needle, held his breath, and threw it with less force than before.

The needle fluttered like a butterfly with an unpredictable trajectory, swaying twelve times before flying and embedding in a tree.

“You’ve become much stronger than before. The Medicine Sect’s martial arts can’t contain all your power.”

As Tang Ha-ran said, Jin Ja-gang felt disappointment.

Flying Needle Twelve Branches was a good hidden weapon technique.

However, as Jin Ja-gang became able to use much greater power than twenty years of internal energy cultivation, it quickly reached its limits. Even if Jin Ja-gang tried to use his full power, the martial art couldn’t support it.

This was the limitation of Medicine Sect martial arts.

Just as Yunnan’s martial world was treated somewhat as a backwater countryside in the martial world, Yunnan’s Medicine Sect was also limited in martial arts.

“Learn it. I’ll teach you. And make it completely yours and develop it anew. Then it will belong to the Medicine Sect.”

Jin Ja-gang pondered for a long time but ultimately had to agree.

“I’ll do that.”

* * *

“Kugh! Kughh!”

Mang Ryo clawed at his chest in the dark cave. His clothes were already torn away with almost nothing left to cover him, and his body was all scratched by his nails with skin torn and blood flowing.

On the floor beside him were several clots of blood he had vomited.

“Ugh…”

With disheveled hair and haggard eyes, Mang Ryo let out a groan.

Pain that had continued for days.

Mang Ryo barely moved to take out prepared medicines and chew them. They didn’t cure him. They only reduced the pain slightly.

At least it came periodically so he could prepare without being seen by others. The pain was so terrible that it was fortunate it didn’t come unexpectedly.

This was purely a side effect.

It was the side effect of Mad Blood Heaven technique chosen to become stronger, and another side effect created because he had forcibly suppressed the serious side effects of Mad Blood Heaven technique by borrowing the power of various spiritual medicines that didn’t match his constitution.

Mang Ryo would never be able to enjoy a natural lifespan. Honestly, he didn’t even know how much life he had left. Five years? Ten years? If he consumed spiritual medicines like drinking water, he might be able to endure that much longer.

Was it unfair?

No. Mang Ryo wasn’t bitter.

Since it was his own choice, he had no regrets. Moreover, he was now just before reaching the highest peak of the work he had prepared.

At such an important moment, even this tremendous pain was pleasure. Actually, Mang Ryo even trembled with excitement. He was excited by pain and briefly tasted pleasure.

Things that had seemed to go completely wrong had found their place in an instant.

Jin Ja-gang had fallen for Tang Ha-ran and fled the Tang family, the Tang family and Zhuge family had decided to pursue Jin Ja-gang, and rumors that the relationship between the Evil Sect and Qingcheng sect was strange had taken hold well.

Moreover, he had even found out through Sim Hak that the relationship between Baek Li-jung and Alliance Leader Taoist Haewol was not good.

“Heaven… heaven is helping me. Hehe hehe.”

Mang Ryo scratched the stone floor with his nails and ground his teeth.

“Now finally…”

In the distance outside the cave, the estates and halls that made up the Martial Alliance could be seen.

“Finally…! Kraaaah!”

Mang Ryo screamed and writhed.

Blood flowed from the seven orifices of his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears, and his distorted face strangely seemed to be smiling.