Chapter 127

What would happen if the Zhuge family warriors died?

The Zhuge family would use all their power, mobilize all their connections to capture Jin Ja-gang.

Jin Ja-gang would be pursued under false accusations!

What was even more terrifying was that this wasn’t the first time.

The residents of the village where Stone Forest Gang’s manor was located had been massacred, and the nearby residents of Shadow Bureau had also met mysterious deaths.

Five Birds Sect’s Chu Sajin had also been killed and framed as if Jin Ja-gang had murdered him, and even at Poison Valley, all the orthodox faction warriors had been slaughtered.

And now the Zhuge family too.

The series of incidents that kept occurring seemed as if someone was deliberately pushing Jin Ja-gang into a death trap.

Wasn’t this like a spider’s web that tightened more the more one struggled?

‘Why to this extent!’

He had only thought someone was using him, but it wasn’t simply that. They were setting traps as viciously as if harboring deep resentment.

Jin Ja-gang couldn’t understand it at all.

“You… survived… didn’t you…” The only clue was a faint voice that he couldn’t even tell if it was a hallucination or not.

Then should he let them go like this?

No.

Jin Ja-gang didn’t think so. If he sent them back, nothing would remain.

If his thoughts were correct, even if he let them go, they wouldn’t be able to return alive safely.

After thinking briefly, Jin Ja-gang made his decision.

He took a deep breath and drew up his internal energy. As the internal energy began circulating, his right eye became burning hot and stabbing pain like being gouged with an awl came to his right shoulder, chest, abdomen, and leg.

Thud, thud.

Blood vessels had already burst from forcibly using Parting Hand Arrow Shot and Great Skull Tiger Energy earlier, causing blood to seep out.

Shin Yung’s expression darkened.

Dirt and sand were swirling weakly beneath Jin Ja-gang’s right foot. His clothes fluttered as if blown by wind.

He could tell internal energy was being drawn up.

Shin Yung had been continuously swallowing the blood that kept rising, but the poison had already spread beyond what could be stopped.

“You don’t intend to let us go.”

“The situation has changed.”

“Did I misspeak?”

“In some ways.”

“You plan to fight with that body?”

“It doesn’t seem like I’m the one at a disadvantage.”

Shin Yung couldn’t move to protect Zhuge Yan. If he couldn’t subdue Jin Ja-gang in one stroke, he would have to only block attacks instead.

Shin Yung drew his sword. He already knew that using internal energy would worsen the poison’s effects.

‘I must stake everything on one sword strike.’

However, Jin Ja-gang pointed his finger at Shin Yung.

Parting Hand Arrow Shot!

Shin Yung’s expression hardened. Of all things, finger wind.

This meant he couldn’t charge forward.

However, Jin Ja-gang’s face was equally contorted with pain.

The remaining half drop of pinellia poison was released and circulated through his right side according to Parting Hand Arrow Shot’s internal energy operation method. He stopped his breathing to block the internal energy’s movement, inflated it, then released it all at once.

Swoosh!

Shin Yung’s eyes widened greatly.

Even if he didn’t know the power, the trajectory was simple.

‘To use the same technique again!’

Whether it was because of compatibility with Flying Wing Sword, Shin Yung could clearly see the finger wind’s trajectory.

Shin Yung drew up sword energy and deflected the finger wind with his sword.

At that moment, the finger wind’s angle subtly curved.

Jin Ja-gang had mixed the principles of Flying Thread Twelve Branches into Parting Hand Arrow Shot’s operation method.

‘Oh no!’

Shin Yung’s spine grew cold.

He could have dodged if he wanted to. But Zhuge Yan was behind him.

Shin Yung blocked Jin Ja-gang’s finger wind with his shoulder.

Thwack!

The poison energy carried in the finger wind instantly spread through Shin Yung’s body. Shin Yung pressed acupoints around his shoulder to prevent the poison energy from spreading.

However, there was no way to do more than that. Besides the poison energy carried in the finger wind, the poison already eroding his insides made even standing difficult.

Shin Yung forcefully drove his sword into the ground. Then he used his last strength to put internal energy into his toes and kicked the sword blade.

Clang!

The sword broke and sharp blade fragments flew toward Jin Ja-gang. Jin Ja-gang belatedly twisted his body. The sword fragment scraped past Jin Ja-gang’s thigh.

That was the last move Shin Yung deployed. However, the poisoning was too severe and he couldn’t even produce half the power he had intended.

“Hoo…”

Shin Yung let out a light sigh.

“I’m sorry… Young Lady.”

Retch.

Shin Yung also soon vomited blood and collapsed.

Jin Ja-gang staggered and barely managed to stand properly.

“Urgh, urrgh!”

His entire right side felt like it was being torn off. If Shin Yung hadn’t fallen from this one move, it would have been Jin Ja-gang who died.

Jin Ja-gang gritted his teeth and endured the pain. His whole body was soaked with sweat, and the blood that had seeped out flowed down. His right hand and right foot tingled.

Jin Ja-gang looked around the courtyard with a pained expression.

The warriors with weak martial arts had already become cold corpses.

There was no time to rest until the pain subsided. Jin Ja-gang endured the pain and moved to check Zhuge Yan and Shin Yung’s pulses.

Their breathing was so faint that it seemed they would stop breathing at any moment if he didn’t act quickly. There were almost no external injuries, but blood continuously flowed from their mouths and noses.

It was extreme poison. It wasn’t at a level Jin Ja-gang could detoxify like with Mr. Jang.

‘I must at least keep them breathing.’

Since they weren’t dead yet, there was a possibility of survival.

Jin Ja-gang forced his painful body to move.

He turned their heads so they wouldn’t choke on the blood they were vomiting and gave them yellow earth water.

After some time passed, Zhuge Yan and Shin Yung vomited enormous amounts of blood clots even in their unconscious state.

Then he made them drink water boiled with walnut leaves and dividing heart wood to calm their insides, and fed them Purple Gold Pills. Since they were Purple Gold Pills made with proper medicinal materials, they should be able to delay the worsening of their condition for a while.

After putting out the immediate fire, Jin Ja-gang searched through Zhuge Yan and Shin Yung’s belongings.

He found money pouches and one leather pouch. Opening the leather pouch, he found powdered medicines wrapped in paper and external medicine that looked like ointment.

Since she was the Zhuge family’s young lady, she wouldn’t carry around shoddy medicine.

Jin Ja-gang tasted them one by one. As expected, he could tell they were all made from the finest medicinal materials.

Among them, the elongated pills in a small wooden case had an extraordinary fragrance. It was the pill Shin Yung had fed to Zhuge Yan earlier.

Seeing the red dot marked on the end of the pill, it was definitely the Zhuge family’s spirit medicine, Spirit Capturing Pill.

The renowned sects and families in the martial world had spirit pills passed down as secret traditions. Jin Ja-gang had heard about them too.

Jin Ja-gang fed the remaining Spirit Capturing Pill to Shin Yung.

Then he searched through the warriors’ belongings too. From the warriors, only ointment and dried jerky came out.

“The Poison Avoidance Pills they held in their mouths earlier aren’t here.”

He remembered them being silver-foiled pills, but no matter how much he searched, they weren’t there.

It seemed each person had only carried one.

Jin Ja-gang thought for a moment, then stood up.

Zhuge Yan and Shin Yung were still bleeding, but they looked better than before.

It seemed they had barely passed the immediate crisis.

“You must not die yet.”

Anger appeared in Jin Ja-gang’s eyes.

“I need to find out which b*st*rd wants to use me as bait.”

* * *

Mr. Jang’s wife and Rangrang hadn’t fled far.

They probably couldn’t abandon Mr. Jang and flee by themselves.

Thanks to this, Jin Ja-gang was able to find them nearby.

Not long after, Mr. Jang, who had taken Water Drop Powder, also regained consciousness, so Jin Ja-gang called the three of them inside the house to talk.

Mr. Jang, with a haggard complexion, looked at Jin Ja-gang while being supported by his wife and Rangrang.

“Can’t you come with us?”

“I can’t go.”

“Whatever kind of person you were in the past doesn’t really matter. The you I’ve seen is absolutely not the kind of person who would carelessly kill people and do such bad things.”

“I’m grateful for your words, but…”

Jin Ja-gang couldn’t bring himself to say “That was indeed what I did.”

Mr. Jang tried to persuade him again.

“Come with us. If we hide deep in the mountains and live farming, nothing will happen.”

“I…”

The words that he too wanted to do that rose to Jin Ja-gang’s throat.

Wouldn’t Jin Ja-gang also want to live an ordinary life with them?

But Jin Ja-gang had already entered the path of an Asura. From now on, only paths filled with blood and death would welcome Jin Ja-gang. Warm affection and ordinary life didn’t suit that path.

Jin Ja-gang forced a smile.

“I have things left to do. When it’s finished, I’ll follow you.”

Mr. Jang knew he couldn’t dissuade Jin Ja-gang.

“When I get better, we’ll go live in Guangdong. By the coast where Hainan Island is visible…”

Mr. Jang, who had briefly stopped speaking, looked at Jin Ja-gang and continued with difficulty.

“I really… hope we can meet again.”

“Guangdong. I’ll remember. Someday I hope I can go there too…”

Rangrang wiped Jin Ja-gang’s blood-stained face with a towel. Tears glistened in her large eyes.

Jin Ja-gang smiled slightly at Rangrang.

Then he looked at Mr. Jang and his wife and said.

“When I leave with them, wait half an hour then go in the opposite direction.”

Mr. Jang held Jin Ja-gang’s hand several times, showing his reluctance.

Jin Ja-gang nodded.

The last remaining connection to daily life was being severed at this moment.

* * *

Jin Ja-gang washed his body at the well.

The wounds from Zhuge Yan’s soft sword stung.

When touched by water, blood seeped out again. If it wasn’t cut by sword energy, it would heal within a few days anyway.

The problem was internal injuries.

The damaged blood vessels were throbbing, and the bones pierced by iron needles still hadn’t healed.

A complete mess.

But he still couldn’t rest.

If his expectations were correct, Jin Ja-gang would have to fight once more soon.

Jin Ja-gang searched the storage shed and made a stretcher.

Not for carrying, but for dragging. Since Mr. Jang was a carpenter, there were sufficient materials.

He wove straw ropes like belts around three bamboo poles and laid Zhuge Yan and Shin Yung on them.

He packed necessary items on top, then dragged the stretcher up toward the mountain.

Rattle rattle.

His whole body ached from not resting properly, but Jin Ja-gang slowly climbed step by step, dragging the stretcher.

He climbed for half a day. His body was soaked with sweat and blood flowed from wounds that hadn’t healed.

A natural cave he had spotted while going back and forth on the mountain came into view ahead.

Jin Ja-gang brought the two people inside the cave and laid them down.

Then he took a bag and went outside, climbing up to the ridge overlooking the cave. Only then did he settle down and rest.

By now, the Jang family would have left their house. He could only hope they would be able to escape safely.

Jin Ja-gang looked around and picked a handful of motherwort growing here and there. Motherwort is a plant that has effects of relieving blood stasis and pain.

Any wild plant has its own utility and medicinal effects. Or toxicity too.

The dandelions and pasque flowers growing beside the motherwort were also common plants, but could be used as both medicine and poison.

Depending on how they’re used, anything can become medicine or poison.

Jin Ja-gang chewed the motherwort while looking toward the cave.

He needed to recover his body quickly so he could chew poison again.

What poison should he use this time?

How should he use it to subdue his opponent?

As always.

He had to prepare everything he could do now to survive this time too.