Chapter 166

“They have decided to attack the manor you mentioned.”

Jin Ja-gang could not believe Woon-jeong’s words.

The manor where Soso and Bian Bu were staying was going to be attacked?

“What is the reason?”

“They say it’s a manor where important figures of the evil faction come and go, so they’re going to eliminate it while they have the chance.”

“I heard that in Dayi, Qingcheng, Tang family, and Emei don’t use force against each other.”

Dayi was a kind of neutral zone where all three had relinquished control because none wanted to yield dominance to the others. Yet suddenly they had declared an attack.

“That’s why this time, sects under the Martial Arts Alliance will move. Only one person from Emei Sect will observe, and we won’t intervene…”

Woon-jeong smiled awkwardly while scratching the bottom of his Taoist topknot.

“I suppose this wasn’t pleasant news for you to hear?”

Jin Ja-gang lowered his head briefly in thought, then looked at Woon-jeong.

“I cannot dismiss the matter of people dying with words like pleasant or convenient.”

“Uh, that’s still difficult to get used to hearing. Especially when it’s coming from you, who’s called a murderer.”

Jin Ja-gang felt a sense of déjà vu from Woon-jeong’s tone.

He had once said words with exactly the same meaning to Dan Ryeong-gyeong as Woon-jeong was saying now.

Why would people believe bad rumors about the evil faction for no reason? It must be because of what you’ve done, he had said.

At that time, Dan Ryeong-gyeong had replied:

“I won’t particularly defend us, but there is light and darkness on either side… The light and darkness of the world…”

Bian Bu had also said it. That the circumstances of how the world operates are very complex. That understanding right and wrong within that requires very political calculations.

He felt he could finally understand those words a little. Even attacking a single evil faction safe house involved countless circumstances.

Jin Ja-gang asked Woon-jeong.

“What does Qingcheng Sect gain from this?”

Woon-jeong blinked and answered.

“I don’t know such things. I only do as my master commands.”

“I understand.”

Jin Ja-gang emerged from the cave dwelling he had been digging. Then he warned Woon-jeong, who was standing in front of it.

“It would be best not to move until I leave.”

“What?”

“If you move, I can’t guarantee your life.”

Woon-jeong looked around his surroundings. The dry bushes in front seemed suspicious. When he rubbed them with his finger, barely visible colored powder came off on his finger. Poison powder was scattered everywhere. Even the slightest movement would cause the powder to fly up, making it impossible not to inhale it.

“Hah, when again.”

He had been with him the whole time and only lost track briefly while digging the cave, yet poison had been scattered in that short time.

Having scattered poison in such a brief gap, there was no telling how he might disappear while waiting for him to leave.

He could move while holding his breath, but that would certainly mean having to fight.

“It’s false hellebore poison. You’ve already inhaled a small amount. If you feel nauseous, drool, and sweat, immediately return and take onions and lard oil with tea.”

Woon-jeong indeed felt uncomfortable in his stomach and saliva pooled in his mouth as Jin Ja-gang said. He also broke out in a slight sweat.

Most poisons could be overcome with sufficient internal energy cultivation. Yet for the toxicity to be this strong meant tremendous poison energy was concentrated.

Woon-jeong looked at Jin Ja-gang, who was about to leave, with a complex expression.

“Please don’t do this.”

At Woon-jeong’s plea, Jin Ja-gang replied.

“Can you, Taoist, turn away and abandon the danger to your benefactor?”

Jin Ja-gang opened his chest to show his bandages and wounds. The cross-shaped wound still had scabs attached. At a glance, it was clearly a deep wound cut by sharp sword energy.

“There is a young lady there who cared for me when I was dying.”

“Hah… Still, you cannot. Until you leave Dayi… No, to be precise, my mission is to prevent you from returning to the manor.”

Jin Ja-gang was about to leave but turned around. The atmosphere had changed and his eyes were becoming beast-like.

“Do you mean to stop me?”

Woon-jeong sighed.

“I told you. You are truly a good person. You could have just used poison and left, but you deliberately gave me a warning. However, I cannot let you go.”

Woon-jeong took out a small bell from his robes with his left hand. It was a ceremonial bell about a span and a half in size with three horns attached to the handle. It was a bell used in Taoist rituals, with the three horns symbolizing Jade Clarity, Supreme Clarity, and Great Clarity respectively.

Jin Ja-gang didn’t understand why Woon-jeong had taken out a bell. He wondered if he was trying to call people nearby. Jin Ja-gang prepared to draw needles from his sleeve.

Woon-jeong stared at Jin Ja-gang and nodded. However, this didn’t mean he wouldn’t move, but that he would attack.

Woon-jeong shook the ceremonial bell.

Ding…

At that moment, Jin Ja-gang’s hair stood on end.

A shock he had never experienced before struck his head.

It felt like a thin thread entered his ear, pierced his brain, and multiplied hundreds of times inside his brain before exploding.

His head became dizzy, and when he came to his senses, Jin Ja-gang was already on his knees.

“Huh?”

He couldn’t remember when he had knelt. His vision had gone dark for a moment, then he lost his center and fell!

Jin Ja-gang opened his eyes wide and raised his head. Woon-jeong was just standing in place holding the bell.

Woon-jeong said.

“The one who shouldn’t move is not me, but you.”

Jin Ja-gang got up. Then he backed away and rolled behind a large tree.

“It’s useless.”

Woon-jeong shook the bell again.

Ding…

Ding- Ding-

The bell sounds flew in all directions. Like tangible objects, they flew and bounced off trees like balls to fly in other directions, and when they hit something, they bounced to yet other directions.

Jin Ja-gang couldn’t see the sounds but could feel them.

‘They’re looking for me!’

He didn’t know how this was possible. However, he could feel the bell sounds searching for Jin Ja-gang like hunting dogs released. The bell sounds spread out and rang from dozens of places.

Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding.

Then at one moment.

Tingle!

One stream of bell sound seeped into Jin Ja-gang’s forearm skin.

At that moment, Jin Ja-gang got goosebumps. Instantly all bell sounds disappeared and silence came.

“…”

Then in one moment, all bell sounds shot toward Jin Ja-gang.

“Uaaaah!”

Jin Ja-gang covered his ears and curled up his body. But the bell sounds shooting from all directions penetrated Jin Ja-gang’s seven orifices.

“Kugh! Kuk!”

Blood dripped steadily from his nose while he was prostrate.

Someone seemed to be continuously shaking his brain from inside. His head was dizzy and his eyeballs felt so much pressure they seemed ready to burst. Most of all, an unfamiliar pain tormented Jin Ja-gang terribly, as if thousands of needles were growing inside his head trying to pierce outward.

He thought he had experienced all kinds of pain from being poisoned by various toxins, but that wasn’t the case.

“Demon-Kneeling Beheading Ceremonial Bell Resonance.”

Now the tinkling sound was no longer like small bells but rang in Jin Ja-gang’s head like the sound of massive bell tolling.

Dong- Dong- Dong- Dong…

“It means to ring bells to make demons kneel and behead them. Sound magic is a type of sonic technique that has the advantage of being able to subdue opponents regardless of their martial arts. It’s especially useful against those who use poison techniques like you.”

“Kugh!”

Drip, drop.

The nosebleed from Jin Ja-gang’s nose became more severe. His eyes felt ready to burst so he couldn’t even open them.

Before he knew it, Woon-jeong had come out of the area scattered with poison powder and walked right up to Jin Ja-gang.

Standing in front of Jin Ja-gang, who was crouched in agony, Woon-jeong said.

“That’s why my master sent me.”

Jin Ja-gang tried to throw needles at Woon-jeong, but Woon-jeong simply incapacitated Jin Ja-gang by shaking the ceremonial bell.

Ding, ding.

“Uaaaah!”

Jin Ja-gang held his head and shook his body.

Woon-jeong’s voice was quiet but firm.

“Just say one word and I’ll stop. Give up returning to the manor and say ‘I will leave Dayi.'”

Jin Ja-gang gritted his teeth. He glared at Woon-jeong with eyes that felt ready to burst.

Woon-jeong received Jin Ja-gang’s killing intent without wavering.

A different kind of wall from when facing Silent Dragon Baek Li-gwon.

Once again, there was a wall in front of Jin Ja-gang.

Jin Ja-gang wanted to open his blood-soaked mouth to speak, but the shaking in his head was too severe for his voice to come out.

Woon-jeong said.

“If I let you go, massive slaughter will occur again. So I cannot let you go. Such things happening in Sichuan are unacceptable.”

Jin Ja-gang was furious. He resisted the shock with all his might and forced out his voice.

“Is it… acceptable for evil faction people to die?”

“A few dying is better than many dying.”

“Those few…”

Jin Ja-gang bit down until his teeth might shatter.

“Are more important to me than hundreds of you.”

Jin Ja-gang forcibly breathed to draw up internal energy.

He didn’t know how to counter sonic techniques. But this was all he could do now.

The Mad Blood Heaven technique that Jin Ja-gang neither wanted nor knew how to control arose spontaneously within his body. A small wheel of internal energy began rotating through his right-side blood channels, gradually growing larger and more fierce. Jin Ja-gang unleashed Mad Blood Heaven at maximum speed without restraint.

Instantly, internal energy began rotating at tremendous speed. Much faster and more powerfully than usual, the internal energy swelled.

Pop pop.

Blood vessels bulged and rupturing sounds came from his qi and blood as blood seeped out.

Seeing this, Woon-jeong’s expression slightly frowned. It was also somewhat bitter.

“As expected, when cornered, you too resort to evil faction methods.”

Ding.

Ding- ring!

The way Woon-jeong shook the ceremonial bell changed somewhat. If before it was sharp and pointed, piercing and exploding, this time it was slow and gentle.

“The Tao is like water. Water benefits all things without competing and likes to be in low places. It flows leisurely and even when blocked, it detours without ceasing. The demon-subduing method is the same, so Ceremonial Bell Resonance remains effective in a hundred different ways when meeting a hundred types of demons.”

The bell sound affected Jin Ja-gang’s internal energy. The speed decreased, the flow slowed, and it gradually drained his strength.

Helplessness came. No matter how hard he tried to generate internal energy, it wouldn’t apply force as if wilted. The internal energy gradually subsided and Jin Ja-gang became powerless.

His body felt languid.

Anger remained, but it felt as if the emotion itself was disappearing.

Jin Ja-gang flailed his arms and legs like someone trapped in a swamp. He wanted to get up with strength, but no strength entered. He couldn’t even clench his fists tightly.

“Huk… huk… huk… heok…”

Even breathing became difficult, making him short of breath. Jin Ja-gang collapsed powerlessly on the ground.

Even his eyelids were becoming heavy.

“Empty your mind. Empty your anger, empty your killing intent, empty your will. Nine like this, Azure Dragon skin, peaceful white, tiger skin tiger, Southern Vermillion Bird skin, nine tongue blessing dark, no wave quality illness… eleven ten thousand finger person reverse, direct death person, moon direct death person, sun direct death person, Great Yang Star Lord, Great Yin Star Lord…”

Woon-jeong recited Taoist scriptures while continuing to perform Ceremonial Bell Resonance.

Jin Ja-gang’s eyes gradually closed.

This strange sonic technique, or what should be called Taoist magic or sorcery that he had never heard or seen before, encroached upon Jin Ja-gang’s entire body.

The faces of Soso and Bian Bu flashed through Jin Ja-gang’s mind.