Chapter 120: The Threads of Fate Are Tangled in Ways No One Can Predict (2)

A woman in light traveling clothes entered the inn.

Her face was concealed by a veil, making it impossible to discern her features. But the curves revealed above her light attire were enough to captivate onlookers. Most striking of all was her seductive aura.

People were enchanted by her presence, unable to look away. But the woman appeared entirely accustomed to such attention, casually surveying her surroundings.

A vacant seat remained in the corner. The woman walked over and sat down with graceful composure. The men whispered among themselves as they watched her.

"Look at that figure. She's a real enchantress."

"I know, right. If I could spend one night with a woman like that, I'd have no regrets."

The men's gazes were filled with desire.

Dam Ho, too, looked at the woman.

He could understand the reactions of the men around him—her presence was overwhelming. But Dam Ho's gaze was different from ordinary men's.

His eyes were cold and sharp.

The men, blinded by lust, had failed to notice—but at her waist hung a sword.

It was no decorative sword that women commonly wore as ornament. Even at a glance, it was well-balanced in weight, with the smooth patina of long use on its hilt.

The woman was a swordswoman. Her steady gait and the intense gaze that pierced through her veil confirmed his assessment.

The landlady approached the woman.

"Welcome."

"Do you have an empty room? I'd prefer somewhere quiet, if possible."

The veiled woman's voice was as beautiful as her striking appearance.

"There is a detached cottage out back, but it's a bit shabby…"

"That's fine. I'll take the detached cottage."

"Oh dear, but it's really quite run-down…"

The landlady scratched her head awkwardly. Her reaction suggested the cottage was in quite poor condition. But the veiled woman answered as though it were of no consequence.

"It's fine. As long as it's quiet."

"Well, if you're sure…"

Only then did the landlady nod with a resigned expression.

"Show me the room later. For now, bring me a meal."

"What would you like?"

"If you have noodle soup, bring me a bowl."

"Very well."

The landlady hurried to the kitchen.

Only then did the veiled woman, now alone, look around. The men who had been stealing glances at her quickly looked away, clearing their throats.

The woman shook her head slightly. Then her eyes landed on Dam Ho and Bang Jin-bo.

In that instant, a glint of interest appeared in her eyes. She and Dam Ho had made direct eye contact.

His black eyes, sunk into unfathomable depth. No emotion could be read from them. It had been quite some time since she had encountered such a case, and she could not help but feel intrigued.

'Was there such a master in Tongshan?'

She tilted her head.

In that moment, Dam Ho lowered his head and began eating. The woman felt a slight twinge of disappointment, but quickly turned her attention away from him.

She looked out the window.

Gugu Mountain could be seen in the distance. White clouds wrapped around the mountain's waist, giving it a remarkably atmospheric beauty.

As the woman watched the cloud-shrouded mountain, the men near the window exchanged glances and rose from their seats.

They headed straight for the veiled woman's table.

Among them, a particularly handsome young man addressed the veiled woman.

"Young miss, you seem lonely sitting alone. How about joining our table?"

The woman raised her head and looked at the man. After glancing briefly at the men around her, he flashed a sly smile.

The man's name was Cho Gyeong-yeom. In Tongshan, he was a fairly well-known playboy. His family was wealthy, and his own appearance was attractive, so he had wooed countless women.

Cho Gyeong-yeom's gaze was filled with desire.

'This is the first time I've seen a well like this. If I get this one naked, it would be truly extraordinary.'

It was not merely her figure. The instinct he had honed from having conquered so many women whispered to him that she was a rare beauty.

Cho Gyeong-yeom flashed the most charming smile he could muster. But the woman's response was the opposite of what he expected.

"Get lost."

"What?"

Cho Gyeong-yeom frowned. The woman spoke again.

"I said get lost, you disgust me."

"Well, now. Is that how you speak to me?"

"If there's no one else here but you, then I must be speaking to you."

"I never thought I, Cho Gyeong-yeom, would be dismissed like this. How outrageous. Brothers, what do you make of this?"

Cho Gyeong-yeom looked to the men around him.

The men eagerly stepped forward.

"This wench has no manners. A woman should receive a man's words as though they were heaven."

"Cho-hyeong must be losing his touch. Can't even properly address a woman and gets rejected."

The men were martial artists with ties to Tongshan's underworld. They ran with Cho Gyeong-yeom, committing various atrocities.

No woman who caught their eye ever came away unharmed. They ravaged not only their bodies but their spirits as well.

From the moment the veiled woman entered the inn, their lecherous intentions had been stirred. They were prepared to pay any price to have her.

"Let me see that face, then. Just how pretty are you?"

Cho Gyeong-yeom reached for the woman's veil—

Splat!

Suddenly, a fountain of blood erupted from the back of his hand.

"Huh?"

Cho Gyeong-yeom blinked in confusion. Then, through the extreme pain, he realized what had happened.

"Aaargh!"

Cho Gyeong-yeom clutched his arm and rolled on the floor.

"This wench!"

"Get her!"

The other men, startled, rushed forward—

Splat!

In an instant, their shoulders and the napes of their necks split open, and blood sprayed upward.

"Gah!"

"Aaaagh!"

The men tumbled to the ground.

Only then did they realize just how terrifying the woman was.

The wounds were as clean as though cut by a sword. And yet, none of them had even seen how she had attacked.

She was a master of a level they could not dare imagine. The kind of woman upon whom men like them should never harbor lecherous intentions.

The woman opened her lips.

"Still want to see my face?"

Cho Gyeong-yeom and his men shook their heads desperately.

Their faces had already gone gray. They pressed hard on their wounds to stem the bleeding, but the blood would not stop.

If the bleeding continued, their lives would be in danger.

Cho Gyeong-yeom and his men knelt and begged.

"We were wrong. Please, forgive us."

"Find a physician to stop the bleeding, and you may live."

"A—A physician?"

At the woman's words, Cho Gyeong-yeom and his men scrambled out the door without a second thought.

The woman watched them go with a smile whose meaning was impossible to read. Her smile was ice-cold, but concealed behind her veil, no one could see her true expression.

Only then did the people in the inn understand that the woman was a terrifying master, and they dared not even glance her way.

The veiled woman had shown Cho Gyeong-yeom and his men exactly what happened when one became entangled with a martial artist. She was not someone upon whom they should harbor lecherous desires.

Bang Jin-bo, too, was greatly surprised by the woman's martial prowess.

"Hyung, that lady is really something."

Bang Jin-bo had not seen how the woman had wounded the men.

A glint of interest appeared in Dam Ho's previously impassive eyes.

'Find a physician, and you may live.'

That might be true.

If the physician was a Divine Physician of sufficient caliber to repair meridians.

Others had not seen how the woman had wounded Cho Gyeong-yeom and his men, but Dam Ho was different.

The weapon the woman had used was an iron chopstick from the table. She had moved so swiftly that the others simply had not seen it.

In that instant, Dam Ho had clearly seen it—a sharp sword energy forming momentarily atop the iron chopstick.

The sword energy the woman had generated had not merely cut flesh. It had severed the meridians of Cho Gyeong-yeom and his men.

Only because her manipulation of internal energy was so exquisite were the meridians clinging on by a thread.

The problem was that while the men moved to find a physician, those barely clinging meridians would snap.

From the moment the veiled woman had struck, they were already dead men walking.

Suddenly, the corpses of the Daewun Escort Agency escorts he had seen before arriving here flashed in Dam Ho's mind.

'That was her handiwork, too.'

The veiled woman was a master of the sword. And an exceptionally brilliant one.

After finishing her meal, the veiled woman was led to the detached cottage by the landlady. As the landlady had said, it was quite shabby. But it was neatly arranged, so staying for a time should not be a problem.

"Whew!"

The woman let out a sigh and removed her veil. Her true face was revealed.

Skin so pale it seemed she had not seen the sun for an age, eyebrows as delicate as though painted with a brush, and black eyes like obsidian. Her nose was straight and fine, and her small lips were a deep crimson.

The woman possessed every quality one could call the beauty of the age. More than that, she had a strange allure that drew people's souls.

For this reason, the woman always wore a veil. To avoid, even if only slightly, the attention of others.

"I still haven't found the object, and yet these flies keep buzzing around. How much longer must this go on?"

The woman gazed out the window for a moment, then leaped away.

Atop Gugu Mountain stood the Nine Palace Gate.

The current sect leader of the Nine Palace Gate was Sage Cheol-yang.

He had become sect leader in his early thirties and had led the sect well for twenty years. Rumor held that his martial arts and spiritual power were both formidable, earning the respect of many.

Though it was late at night, Sage Cheol-yang could not sleep. His heart was beating strangely.

"Sigh!"

In the end, Sage Cheol-yang gave up trying to sleep and went outside.

Normally, when the sun set and night fell, a fantastical sea of stars unfolded above Gugu Mountain. But tonight, thick clouds concealed all the stars.

"Why is it so dark? This is not good."

Sage Cheol-yang was a master of sufficient caliber to read the heavens. His accumulated spiritual power was that deep.

But tonight, the heavenly signs he saw were exceedingly turbulent. He had not seen such disturbed heavenly signs in years.

"The Demonic Cult has risen again. Could it be because of that?"

The realm was unsettled by the Demonic Cult's resurgence. The Nine Palace Gate was also preparing to dispatch forces to the Martial Alliance.

"How many more victims will there be this time?"

Decades ago, when the Demonic Cult had risen, Sage Cheol-yang had been a young martial artist in the prime of his life. He had joined the fight against the Demonic Cult alongside his senior brothers.

He had been fortunate enough to survive to the end, and because of that, he had been selected for the final suicide squad.

He had fought with that squad in the most brutal of battles. That was why he knew better than anyone how terrifying the Demonic Cult truly was.

"Still, if the realm unites its strength, surely something can be done?"

As Sage Cheol-yang tried to console himself—

Rustle!

A faint sound reached his ears. The sound of someone's robe brushing against the grass.

Sage Cheol-yang turned. There stood a woman in light traveling clothes. Exuding an air of mystery, she was none other than the veiled woman who had stayed at the Fengqian Inn.

Sage Cheol-yang's brow twitched.

The Nine Palace Gate had many disciples in training. Among them were women. But none among them possessed the mysterious aura of the woman before him.

"Who are you, young miss?"

"Are you Sage Cheol-yang, sect leader of the Nine Palace Gate?"

"I am. But… who might you be?"

"My name is Eum Yu-gyeong."

"I see! Miss Eum. But what business brings you to the Nine Palace Gate at this hour? During the day, you would have been welcomed with open arms."

A note of wariness filled Sage Cheol-yang's voice.

He knew that the woman before him was no ordinary person.

Where he now stood was a restricted area of the Nine Palace Gate. To reach it, one had to pass through three gates, each guarded by disciples in tight formation.

That Eum Yu-gyeong had evaded the disciples' eyes to approach this place meant she was a master of considerable skill.

Eum Yu-gyeong walked toward Sage Cheol-yang and spoke.

"I came to ask a question."

"My, my. How intimidating. What could be so important that you climbed the mountain at this hour?"

"If you know, I would appreciate it if you told me."

"Ask away. If it is something I know, I will gladly tell you."

Sage Cheol-yang covertly gathered his power.

"The sacred relic."

"What?"

"The sacred relic that your people stole from our sect. I am looking for it."

Sage Cheol-yang's eyes wavered.

"C—Could it be the Demonic Cult?"

"Would you tell me? Where you have hidden the sacred relic you stole?"

Eum Yu-gyeong's voice echoed calmly through the night sky.

The air that Dan Ryeong-gyeong had been sucking in created a wall in front of Jin Ja-gang.

“Urgh!”

Jin Ja-gang’s speed, which had met the wall of wind, slowed down markedly. Rather, he was pushed backward. Jin Ja-gang almost rolled down below the rock. Going forward was beyond his wildest dreams.

Jin Ja-gang simply came down from the rock.

Whiiiing!

The trees behind Jin Ja-gang trembled busily in the strong wind.

Surprise attack failed.

Jin Ja-gang didn’t rashly charge in but looked for an opportunity. He prepared internal energy again so he could rush in at any time.

Dan Ryeong-gyeong took a breath and extended her right hand with palm facing up. She gathered the poison energy she had inhaled along with the air into her palm center.

Her hand turned bright red and flames faintly flickered from her palm center.

Samadhi True Fire!

A technique possible only with advanced internal energy!

Hissss!

The poison energy burned away and rose like steam, futilely scattered by the wind.

Then Dan Ryeong-gyeong struck the rock while sitting.

Bang!

The tea water on the wet rock rose in droplets. Dan Ryeong-gyeong extended her arm forward and flicked her middle finger.

Snap!

She struck a water droplet with her fingertip, but it made the sound of hitting a nail with a hammer.

At the same time, the pottery shard Jin Ja-gang held in his hand shattered. From that impact, his right arm was simultaneously bent backward.

“Kuk!”

Jin Ja-gang dropped the pottery shard. His fingers throbbed as if struck on the joints with a club. If Dan Ryeong-gyeong had aimed the water droplet at Jin Ja-gang’s head instead of the pottery shard he was holding, Jin Ja-gang would have had a hole in his head.

Though she hadn’t shown proper martial arts, Dan Ryeong-gyeong demonstrated techniques close to those of an immortal with just her internal energy.

It wasn’t a level Jin Ja-gang could challenge with petty tricks.

Dan Ryeong-gyeong quietly watched Jin Ja-gang glaring at her, then said:

“The reason I don’t kill you is simply because you’re useful. It’s the same reason those who are using you keep you alive. I’m only looking at the single possibility of a tiny crack bringing down a great dike.”

A tiny crack bringing down a great dike refers to how a single ant hole can collapse a massive embankment.

She was treating Jin Ja-gang as nothing more than an ant.

Jin Ja-gang wasn’t discouraged.

“Let’s stop this.”

“What?”

“I don’t care about your people’s possibilities. I take revenge as a member of the Medicine Sect. If you want to interfere with that, do as you please. But whether orthodox or evil faction, if anyone tries to drag me in, I’ll push them too into the hell I came from.”

“Insolent b*st*rd… Good!”

Dan Ryeong-gyeong said decisively.

“I haven’t seen someone as properly insane as you recently! So today I’ll give up. But if an adult retreats like this, the friends of the martial world will look down on me.”

Jin Ja-gang regulated his breathing while listening to Dan Ryeong-gyeong’s words. Dan Ryeong-gyeong spoke curtly in a tone that would absolutely not allow objection.

“I must make you owe me three personal debts today. And you must repay those three debts by promising me one thing. This doesn’t mean keeping loyalty to the dark path, so you cannot refuse, and there’s no choice. If you refuse, I’ll just…”

Dan Ryeong-gyeong bared her teeth.

“Kill you right here.”

Jin Ja-gang didn’t answer.

Dan Ryeong-gyeong took that as acceptance and said:

“By not accepting my proposal earlier, you’ve already suffered equivalent losses. So even if you owe me debts, the losses you’ve already suffered can’t be helped.”

“I’ll bear it.”

“First. I know why you’re going to the village now, but your method is wrong. You bought Purple Gold Pills and stole menstrual cloth in Yunhua Village.”

“How did you know?”

“Countless eyes and ears are spread below there. Did you think they wouldn’t notice when a limping man carelessly scattered killing intent?”

It seemed Jin Ja-gang’s accidental display of killing intent had eventually been caught and exposed.

Well, he had caused quite a commotion at the pharmacy too.

But there had been no other method then. Jin Ja-gang had to acknowledge that his conduct was inappropriate.

Dan Ryeong-gyeong asked:

“What you wanted was a prescription for horse poison sores, right?”

“Correct.”

“If that’s because of Hundred Fragrances’ poison, you guessed wrong. Hundred Fragrances conceals various poisons with all kinds of fragrances and uses horse poison strongly to confuse opponents. But the actual poison isn’t horse poison. It’s a poison that acts on the heart and spleen, making people die from blood depletion. A poison unique to Hundred Fragrances that isn’t even known by name in the martial world.”

Dan Ryeong-gyeong threw a bundle wrapped in paper to Jin Ja-gang.

“It’s Water Drop Powder. Mix it in alcohol and drink it, and the condition will improve.”

Jin Ja-gang received the Water Drop Powder.

“I wondered why it wouldn’t heal even after treating the horse poison, so there was such a reason.”

“You’re from the Medicine Sect but not a physician, right? And you’re not a martial world person either. If you roll around in the martial world for a long time, even low-level martial artists come to have their own secret methods.”

Jin Ja-gang couldn’t refuse the Water Drop Powder. If it were his own matter it might be different, but to save Mr. Jang, it was absolutely necessary.

“Won’t you even say thank you?”

At Dan Ryeong-gyeong’s words, Jin Ja-gang stared directly at her.

“Is gratitude necessary in a personal transaction?”

“Annoying fellow.”

Dan Ryeong-gyeong snorted and continued speaking.

“Second, just as I came looking for you, others have also learned of your existence. Some are already… no, by now they’ll be at the place where you reside.”

So his expectation was correct when he kept finding traces around. Jin Ja-gang tried not to reveal his inner thoughts, but his eyebrows trembled.

Dan Ryeong-gyeong said:

“Unfortunately, there’s one of very poor quality mixed in there right now. No matter how much you’re called a snake and scorpion, even you would find it difficult to handle that woman this time.”

That woman? So it’s a female?

“She treats seducing men as routine, is skilled in petty tricks, and even her martial arts are extraordinary. Perhaps you might collapse here today.”

Jin Ja-gang thought briefly. He had never particularly distinguished between men and women until now, but almost all those he had killed were men.

He wouldn’t fear facing a woman, but the methods of using poison would need to change due to gender differences, which would be somewhat troublesome.

Realizing Jin Ja-gang’s thoughts, Dan Ryeong-gyeong said:

“It’s not because that child is a woman. It’s because she’s one of the Three Dragons and Four Phoenix, counted among the top twenty of the martial world’s twenties. That child would have deeper internal energy than even Shadow Bureau’s Goe Song.”

Deeper internal energy than Shadow Bureau’s Goe Song?

Though he had dealt with Goe Song relatively easily by completely catching him off guard, his martial arts were definitely not at a level to be taken lightly.

But to have even deeper internal energy than Goe Song.

Is that what the internal energy of prestigious orthodox factions is like… However, Jin Ja-gang had spread poison in various places before leaving to prepare for intrusion. It was to buy time to protect Mr. Jang until he returned from the village.

Therefore, he wasn’t particularly anxious.

“Then the third.”

Dan Ryeong-gyeong moved slightly to the side and stood upright.

“Watch carefully. Since you said you dislike my martial arts, I won’t give you my martial arts. But if you want to survive, it would be good to observe this one move.”

Dan Ryeong-gyeong slightly bent her legs and turned diagonally to the side, then lowered her body and made a motion of thrusting her bare hand diagonally from chest level to above the shoulder. It was a strange hand movement that seemed to thrust with the thumb by twisting the wrist, rather than with the index and middle fingers.

“From Yintang to internal energy, through Sanli and Dubi… through Zhongfu and Tianfu to Shaoshang.”

Shaoshang point is the meridian point of the thumb.

What Dan Ryeong-gyeong was reciting were the names of meridian points. Jin Ja-gang realized this was a method of operating internal energy.

“It’s simple, but the order cannot be wrong.”

Dan Ryeong-gyeong showed the movement once more. Looking closely, the movements from the foot where internal energy should go, through the knee, waist, shoulder, elbow, to the wrist were flowing smoothly.

“This technique is called Parting Hand Arrow Shot. You might as well know the name.”

Jin Ja-gang couldn’t understand why Dan Ryeong-gyeong was teaching him a completely unrelated technique, but he memorized it thoroughly in his head.

Perhaps this was a technique for dealing with the female hero of the Three Dragons and Four Phoenix who was said to be here.

“Do you understand?”

Since Jin Ja-gang could only operate half his meridians, even if he memorized it, it was difficult to guarantee he could use it properly.

But there was no need to say such things, so he nodded.

“Now tell me what you want, madam.”

“I…”

Dan Ryeong-gyeong, who had briefly paused, suddenly asked:

“Do you think everything you’ve seen so far is the truth?”

“I don’t understand the intent of the question.”

“Truth is often hidden, and the eight sufferings are not true.”

The eight sufferings refer to the eight kinds of suffering people experience.

In other words, the things Jin Ja-gang had experienced so far.

“Part of the truth is often hidden, and what you’ve experienced isn’t the entirety of truth.”

“Is there something I should know?”

To Jin Ja-gang’s question, Dan Ryeong-gyeong didn’t give a direct answer.

“In the distant future… if you survive until then, even if it’s someone you must kill, if I request it, spare them just once. Can you do that?”

Jin Ja-gang could understand that if he continued his path of revenge as he was, he might someday encounter the person Dan Ryeong-gyeong was targeting.

“Can you do it?”

Dan Ryeong-gyeong pressed again as if demanding.

“Just once?”

“Yes. Just once.”

“I understand.”

“Good that you’re so straightforward.”

Jin Ja-gang thought for a moment and asked:

“May I ask one thing?”

“Are you going to owe me a debt?”

“If you think of it as a debt, you don’t have to answer. It’s just personal curiosity.”

“Uncharming fellow.”

Dan Ryeong-gyeong gave permission.

“Ask.”

“It seems the earlier conversation wasn’t finished. Why did you say it’s a problem for the evil faction to be misunderstood? The evil faction has always lived with such misunderstandings, so is there a special reason you can’t tolerate it this time?”

Dan Ryeong-gyeong slightly frowned.

“The dark path factions have lived holding their breath under the orthodox faction’s dominance for a long time. That means they could explode at any time. There seems to be someone constantly inciting that too.”

“I heard that the Wishful Fairy Maiden is called the matriarch of the evil… dark path. Is this something even the Wishful Fairy Maiden cannot stop?”

“My influence doesn’t reach south of Shanxi. Time flows, and young people always crave novelty. Opinions are emerging that rather than being misunderstood for things they didn’t do, they should confront this opportunity.”

“Then…”

Dan Ryeong-gyeong cut off Jin Ja-gang’s words.

“The dark path also has countless people and various groups with their own thoughts. But I didn’t come to stop their actions, nor did I come to help you.”

Jin Ja-gang could understand the words Dan Ryeong-gyeong omitted afterward.

That she wanted to use Jin Ja-gang to pursue her own long-cherished wish.

That was the only reason Dan Ryeong-gyeong had come.

“Let’s end the conversation here.”

Dan Ryeong-gyeong adjusted her clothing and gestured to Jin Ja-gang with an undisturbed attitude.

“Well then, I was rude, young hero.”

Dan Ryeong-gyeong had become polite with a completely different attitude from just before.

Dan Ryeong-gyeong whistled.

Whiiiiik!

Then without hesitation, she turned around and left. Soon two subordinates emerged from both sides of the forest, cleaned up and packed the broken dishes and utensils, and followed Dan Ryeong-gyeong.

The subordinates didn’t even make eye contact with Jin Ja-gang, but their movements were also extraordinary.

Jin Ja-gang let out a long breath after Dan Ryeong-gyeong disappeared far away.

“Huuuu!”

He was stunned.

He had met a supreme martial artist who was absolutely beyond challenge. Attacking such a martial artist was very reckless.

However, in exchange for that, he had gained much.

Things he could never have obtained if he had meekly submitted to Dan Ryeong-gyeong’s force.

Will. Conviction.

Jin Ja-gang took a long deep breath and looked up at the mountain.

Having obtained Water Drop Powder, there was no longer any need to go looking for a physician. If Dan Ryeong-gyeong hadn’t lied, this would greatly improve Mr. Jang’s condition.

What remained was to go meet those who were said to be at Mr. Jang’s house.

‘Mountain beyond mountain…’

But he couldn’t avoid it.

As always.

This time too, he would survive by pouring out everything he had.