Chapter 167

Jin Ja-gang squeezed out what little strength he had left and crawled toward the opposite side from Woon-jeong.

It was an instinctive movement to get as far away as possible from Woon-jeong, the source of the sound.

“It’s useless.”

Woon-jeong continued to shake the ceremonial bell while reciting Taoist scriptures.

“The True Person’s surname is No (路), his name is Gwang, and he is from Daean. He is from Hwanghyeon in Daeryeong County of Western Shu, and was well-versed in all classics. He is the Primordial Sect Leader No Jin-gun. His courtesy name is Hyoseon and his name is Hyeon, from Danyang. He received the Nine-Stage Golden Liquid Immortal Scripture from Jwaja and was transmitted the Spiritual Treasure Scripture, Penetrating Mystery Scripture, and Great Unity Scripture, passing down to later generations the methods of Supreme Clarity, Spiritual Treasure, Penetrating Spirit, Great Unity, and Taoist Elixir Preparation. The Primordial Sect Leader Gal Jin-gun is Gal Hyeon.”

Ding-a-ling…

Ding-a-ling…

Jin Ja-gang felt as if his body was melting and sticking to the ground. It seemed as though he was sinking into the floor, his body endlessly collapsing.

Woon-jeong’s bell sounds, which had been slow, gradually became heavier, weighing a thousand pounds as they pressed down on Jin Ja-gang. Jin Ja-gang found it difficult to even move a single finger.

But then.

Jin Ja-gang saw something strange before his eyes.

It was a snake. Except for two red lines drawn along the sides of its body, its flesh was so transparent that you could see right through it.

It was only about two spans long, but its flesh was so transparent that you could clearly see its round eyes, teeth and the poison glands attached to the teeth, its yellow and blue internal organs, and the bones that surrounded its body in circles like centipede legs.

Hiss, hiss-hiss.

Since its entire face was transparently visible, you could see its red tongue darting in and out.

‘Am I dreaming… or am I already returning to hell?’

However, as if it wasn’t a dream, the transparent snake crawled over and bit Jin Ja-gang’s finger.

Extreme pain like being burned by fire erupted in his finger. Jin Ja-gang’s mind snapped to attention.

The transparent snake’s poison penetrated Jin Ja-gang’s body, causing pain as if his left arm below the elbow was being torn away. But that was as far as it went. The poison didn’t spread further from there.

The transparent snake, realizing that things weren’t going as it wanted, twisted its body wildly while keeping its teeth embedded. The more it did so, the more severe the extreme pain became, actually making his mind clearer.

Memories of the Five Colors Five Merits from long ago overlapped.

Jin Ja-gang opened his mouth wide and bit the snake’s waist.

Crunch!

The snake’s bones crumbled as Jin Ja-gang’s teeth sank in and its internal organs burst. But the snake also didn’t let go of Jin Ja-gang’s finger. Jin Ja-gang pressed both sides of the snake’s jaw with his right hand to force its mouth open.

With his left hand, which was numb and had no sensation, he pressed and broke the snake’s fangs. Poison liquid flowed out drop by drop from where the broken fangs were. Jin Ja-gang put his mouth to the snake’s open mouth and sucked out the poison.

No, he didn’t eat it but absorbed the poison energy. Using the alchemical method he had created by combining external elixir and internal elixir techniques in his own way, he sent the poison energy directly to his dantian through the Xuanying point under his tongue.

The Ren meridian through which the poison energy traveled became burning hot.

Tremendous poison energy that he hadn’t experienced in a long time.

It had an intensity incomparable to the small amount of false hellebore poison he had been accumulating in his body.

As the snake poison entered his dantian, Jin Ja-gang realized his entire body was becoming hot. His body, which had been bound by Woon-jeong’s Ceremonial Bell Resonance, began to awaken.

Jin Ja-gang sucked out the snake’s poison to the very end and accumulated as much as possible in his dantian. The snake, having its poison stolen, thrashed about wildly. It coiled around Jin Ja-gang’s arm with such force that blood circulation was cut off and his arm nearly broke.

Jin Ja-gang bit hard into the middle of the snake’s body.

Crunch! Crunch!

The snake struggled and released his arm, gradually going limp.

Jin Ja-gang raised his internal energy once more. The energy he had accepted through his Baihui point combined with the snake’s poison and began circulating through his right side.

Instantly, sweat broke out on his forehead and heat rose up.

Tick, tick, tick.

With sounds like chains breaking, strength surged through Jin Ja-gang’s body. Jin Ja-gang raised his Mad Blood Heaven technique to the maximum, inflated his internal energy to the extreme, then raised his body.

“Uaaaah!”

Twisting his body, he shot out the internal energy he had inflated in one moment.

Parting Hand Arrow Shot!

The finger wind Jin Ja-gang shot out instantly struck the ceremonial bell in Woon-jeong’s hand directly.

Clang!

A hole was punched in the ceremonial bell as it dented and warped. Woon-jeong dropped the ceremonial bell. The damaged bell floated in the air before falling to the ground.

A stream of fresh blood flowed from Woon-jeong’s mouth. Because he had been ringing the bell with internal energy, he had suffered damage to his main body as well.

Woon-jeong showed a slightly pained expression as he shook his hand.

Jin Ja-gang was glaring at Woon-jeong with fiery eyes. The beast had been revived. And as a wounded beast at that.

“Hah…”

Woon-jeong sighed, then quietly recited a Taoist greeting. Then he turned his head not toward Jin Ja-gang but to the side.

“Primordial Heavenly Venerable. This poor Taoist is called Woon-jeong of Qingcheng Sect. What kind of master might you be?”

Heh.

A light laugh was heard, then two figures appeared.

One was Tang Li-sim, whom he had met before, and the other was someone who had pulled a bamboo hat low to hide his face.

Tang Li-sim smiled meanly and said.

“Since you were oppressing someone, I wondered who it might be, and it turns out to be a Taoist of Qingcheng Sect? The bell sounds were so noisy that I couldn’t just pass by. Hmm?”

However, Tang Li-sim soon opened his mouth in disbelief when he saw Jin Ja-gang standing behind Woon-jeong.

“Uh, what. Right now… what you have in your mouth is…”

Jin Ja-gang was standing with the transparent snake in his mouth. Tang Li-sim’s face turned pale.

“That, that’s… uh…?”

At that moment, the bamboo hat wearer next to Tang Li-sim laughed loudly.

“Hahaha! Ahahaha!”

Though dressed as a man, the laughter was thin and sharp.

“Ah, who else but Snake Scorpion Poison King would do such a thing.”

The bamboo hat wearer giggled.

“I honestly thought what people said about Snake Scorpion Poison King was making a mountain out of a molehill until I saw it directly. But seeing it today, it wasn’t making a mountain out of a molehill. Snake Scorpion Poison King, no, Poison Dragon. You’re worthy of being called Poison Dragon.”

The bamboo hat wearer looked at Jin Ja-gang and asked.

“Hey, Poison Dragon. Do you know the name of the snake you have in your mouth right now?”

Munch, munch.

Jin Ja-gang chewed the snake while looking at the bamboo hat wearer. He wasn’t in a state where he could answer. His killing intent was boiling up and he was forcibly trying to calm it down.

The bamboo hat wearer spoke with laughter in their voice as if they knew Jin Ja-gang’s situation.

“Clear Blood Gland Snake. It’s one of the precious poison creatures our Tang family treasures. Even skilled masters die with their blood boiling if bitten by a Clear Blood Gland Snake. However, for those who have mastered poison techniques, it becomes an incomparable elixir under heaven. Of course, you need poison techniques at a level where you can handle the Clear Blood Gland Snake’s poison. Seeing that you’re fine, you seem to be at that level?”

“Is that so?”

Jin Ja-gang grabbed the snake and tore it apart, eating it raw.

Rip!

Munch, munch.

Tang Li-sim opened his eyes wide and shouted.

“Even after hearing how precious the Clear Blood Gland Snake is, how dare you!”

Jin Ja-gang showed the finger where the Clear Blood Gland Snake had bitten him.

“The owner failed to properly guard their creature and I was bitten.”

“You, you…” Tang Li-sim couldn’t finish his words.

But the bamboo hat wearer was calm.

“It wasn’t that we failed to guard it, but deliberately released it. To torment the Qingcheng Sect Taoist.”

“But I nearly died.”

“Died? You’re fine, aren’t you? Surely the world’s Poison Dragon isn’t going to say he nearly died from being bitten by a snake?”

“That’s not something someone who carelessly releases poisonous snakes should say. If I had died from the snake bite, would it be my fault?”

“Of course. If you die, you should blame your own weakness, who else would you blame?”

Jin Ja-gang chewed the snake’s entire head while baring his teeth at the bamboo hat wearer.

“If I kill you, can I say it’s because you’re weak?”

At that moment, the bamboo hat wearer waved their sleeve.

Pop!

The snake hanging from Jin Ja-gang’s mouth burst into pieces.

The bamboo hat wearer sneered.

“Don’t act arrogant when you can’t even handle a trivial sonic technique. How presumptuous.”

Those words made not only Jin Ja-gang but also Woon-jeong angry.

Woon-jeong stepped forward.

“Look here! If you’re from the Tang family, have you forgotten that you shouldn’t interfere with our Qingcheng’s affairs!”

The bamboo hat wearer said coldly.

“You’re noisy. Shut up.”

“What?”

Woon-jeong thought he had misheard because the words were too harsh.

The bamboo hat wearer ignored Woon-jeong and said to Jin Ja-gang.

“Let’s just look at the facts. You were just suppressed by the Taoist and nearly captured. And I released the snake. You could have died from the bite, but anyway, you escaped from the sonic technique. Isn’t that right?”

“That’s right.”

“Then whose merit is it?”

Under the bamboo hat, the bamboo hat wearer’s mouth seemed to have a slight smile.

“Do you want to hear me say thank you?”

“It’s not just a matter of gratitude – you owe me a great debt. The Clear Blood Gland Snake and your life. Those two things.”

Jin Ja-gang stared intently at the bamboo hat wearer. However, he couldn’t read the expression of the bamboo hat wearer hidden under the hat.

“What do you want?”

The bamboo hat wearer answered concisely.

“Nothing.”

Woon-jeong interrupted.

“Look here!”

The bamboo hat wearer said to Jin Ja-gang.

“I just came to see what kind of person this Poison Dragon fellow is. I was disappointed in some ways, but impressed in others.”

“…”

Jin Ja-gang replied.

“I never wanted your evaluation.”

“Someone involved with poison who comes to Sichuan should consider it an honor to receive our family’s evaluation.”

“I said look here!”

When Woon-jeong kept interrupting, the bamboo hat wearer turned their head with an annoyed expression.

“Why do you keep bothering me?”

“I was carrying out my master’s orders! But since you interfered, I politely request that you withdraw now. If you continue to interfere, I will formally protest to the Tang family. Reveal your honorable name and withdraw!”

The bamboo hat wearer removed their bamboo hat.

“I am Tang Ha-ran.”

Tang Ha-ran had tied her hair in a topknot and wore a hero’s headband to dress as a man, but her appearance clearly revealed she was a woman. Her sharp gaze gave off a cold atmosphere, but her pretty beauty couldn’t be hidden.

Woon-jeong opened his mouth blankly and blinked. Then, receiving Tang Ha-ran’s gaze, he quickly bowed.

“Ah… so it was Young Lady Tang Ha-ran. Primordial Heavenly Venerable.”

Woon-jeong’s tone and voice had completely changed from before.

Tang Ha-ran snorted.

“I heard that Master Bok-cheon had taken in a very talented disciple, and that’s you, Taoist?”

Woon-jeong’s expression brightened.

“Yes, that’s right. I am Woon-jeong.”

When Tang Ha-ran looked at Woon-jeong, he couldn’t meet her eyes directly and smiled awkwardly.

Jin Ja-gang watched them from the side, then quietly turned around.

Woon-jeong was startled and tried to stop Jin Ja-gang.

“Wait, sir! You cannot leave!”

Tang Ha-ran said.

“Let him go.”

“What? But as Young Lady knows, I received orders, so this isn’t something I can decide on my own. And if I let Poison Dragon go like this, big trouble will happen.”

Tang Ha-ran’s gaze went past Woon-jeong to Jin Ja-gang. Jin Ja-gang had turned around to leave but stopped and turned his head.

With beast-like eyes burning fiercely, he looked directly at Tang Ha-ran.

“Do you want to hear me say thank you? Then leave me alone.”

Tang Ha-ran’s eyebrows trembled slightly. Tang Ha-ran suddenly snorted, then crossed her arms.

“Fine. I’ll let you go. I’ll overlook the Clear Blood Gland Snake incident from earlier. But with this matter, you definitely owe me one thing.”

Woon-jeong looked back and forth between Tang Ha-ran and Jin Ja-gang in surprise.

“Look here, sirs!”

Tang Ha-ran said briefly.

“Go on. I’ll hold onto the Taoist.”

Jin Ja-gang had no choice. Jin Ja-gang nodded slightly toward Tang Ha-ran and turned around.

Woon-jeong’s despairing expression could only follow Jin Ja-gang’s retreating figure with resentment.