Chapter 17

Crunch, crunch.

As time passed and the ground hardened completely, even careful footsteps made a sound as they crushed the sulfur fragments. Already hindered by his limp, the noise made Jin Ja-gang even more nervous.

He walked more slowly, more carefully.

After traveling upstream for nearly a day, he finally saw the sloped cliff from which he had fallen.

Instead of climbing straight up, he surveyed the area. Though it had been well over a month since his escape, someone might still be watching the Mixed Spring Ground.

Jin Ja-gang walked along the cliff until he found the gentlest slope at its lowest point. After confirming a path up the incline, he hid in the shade of a suitable rock to wait until nightfall.

During that time, he occasionally heard the rattling of cart wheels rolling along the path above the cliff. They were probably coming to dump waste.

Jin Ja-gang waited quietly, sating his hunger with mushrooms and jerky he had brought, and even managed to sleep.

When night fell, he climbed the cliff using the route he had scouted earlier. His improved memory perfectly recalled the path he had observed during daylight. His increased strength also made the climb much easier.

Atop the cliff, the fresh forest scent greeted him. Jin Ja-gang took several deep breaths.

Unlike the sulfur-filled cave, the mountain air was indescribably refreshing.

But he didn’t linger in the open for long. Jin Ja-gang quickly retreated into the underbrush.

He ate dew-covered leaves he plucked. Knowing he wouldn’t die from eating anything, he had no qualms about what he consumed.

After briefly quenching his thirst and resting, he decided to carefully descend the mountain path.

Dawn broke quickly.

But before he had gone very far, he saw the path split into several branches.

He took out the letter-map that Yang Il had carried like his life depended on it. The map showed all these forks in the road.

The narrow mountain path had many branches and was surprisingly complex. Without the map, Jin Ja-gang could never have found his way alone.

After ascending and descending various mountain paths, there was a route that branched toward the adjacent peak. Following the path along the forest’s edge, he saw several brick houses clustered around the edge of the peak. They had been built by carving into the edge of the peak, creating an interior space, with bricks stacked at the entrance.

‘That’s it!’

Jin Ja-gang quickly hid behind a nearby tree.

All the brick houses appeared to be tightly locked, with about two guard warriors occasionally patrolling the area.

‘Our Hundred Flower Valley people are in there…’

Jin Ja-gang felt a surge of emotion that nearly overwhelmed him.

Now the question was how to rescue them.

He observed the guard warriors for some time. Their patrol was so lax that infiltration itself didn’t seem difficult. One was completely slacking off, and the other merely walked back and forth before going into the guardhouse to sleep.

At night, they didn’t even appear to come out.

Jin Ja-gang gripped the broken cow bone tucked at his waist.

‘Now’s my chance. If I coat it with poison and just manage to graze them…’

Taking out the guard sleeping in the guardhouse didn’t seem too difficult.

But just as he was about to step out from behind the tree, he stopped.

Somehow, it felt too easy. Could he be missing something?

‘Wait.’

He remembered what he had overlooked.

Even if he rescued them, how would they escape?

The place where the Hundred Flower Valley survivors were imprisoned was located in the upper region of the Extreme Poison Sect’s main mountain. To escape, they would have to pass through the Extreme Poison Sect’s main compound and down the mountain.

Would that be possible?

‘But among the survivors, there must be someone who knows the geography well…’

That must be why the map was so detailed, he thought.

Jin Ja-gang reconsidered and looked at the map again.

Suddenly, his heart froze.

‘No!’

The map didn’t show any escape route.

It only showed the path from the Mixed Spring Ground to this prison location.

There was no way out.

Jin Ja-gang felt his hair stand on end.

This was like a map designed specifically to guide Jin Ja-gang safely from the Mixed Spring Ground to this place.

‘A trap?’

His hands trembled uncontrollably.

So focused on rescuing people, he had failed to notice the map’s fatal flaw.

If he had gone in as planned…

Jin Ja-gang held his breath.

He gathered leaves from around him and covered his body.

Instinct warned him that the current situation was extremely dangerous.

Jin Ja-gang spent the entire night with only his eyes exposed, his body covered in leaves.

In the morning, he saw someone climbing toward the guardhouse. They appeared to be bringing food. Though too distant to see clearly, he could make out three fist-sized lumps being taken from a bucket-like container and handed over.

If Hundred Flower Valley people were imprisoned there, shouldn’t they have brought enough food for however many people were captive?

Jin Ja-gang realized how dangerous it would have been if he had rushed in.

‘Our Hundred Flower Valley people aren’t there!’

Then why post guards?

‘I need to get away first.’

Jin Ja-gang thought he should escape while the guards were eating.

But he stopped himself when he noticed that the two guardhouse guards took and ate two of the food lumps, but left the third one.

That meant there was a third person.

‘Wait?’

He hadn’t seen a third person until now. They hadn’t been visible since yesterday.

Jin Ja-gang abandoned his escape plan and remained hidden, barely breathing.

Time passed painfully slowly.

The sun climbed to its zenith.

He had waited another half day.

Enduring hunger was familiar to him. He only worried that his stomach might growl and give him away.

Yet he still only saw two guards. They continued their perfunctory patrol, but Jin Ja-gang remained vigilant.

He stayed like that for quite some time longer, only starting to move when the sun had set and dusk had fallen.

Slowly, he brushed the leaves off his body.

Rustle.

Though he made only the softest sound, something felt wrong. It was as if a wind had blown in from somewhere.

Jin Ja-gang paused for a long while, and when he heard nothing, continued brushing off the remaining leaves.

Rustle.

Suddenly, he felt a chill run down his spine.

He jerked his head up to look above.

He spotted something in the tree. Between the thick branches, he could see something gleaming.

They were none other than eyes.

A pair of human eyes with a whitish gleam were rolling about, staring down at Jin Ja-gang.

“So here you are?”… The eyes’ gaze was so eerie that Jin Ja-gang’s skin crawled.

“Huk!”

Even in this moment, Jin Ja-gang covered his mouth to suppress his scream. But it was useless.

“Hehehe, I sensed your presence since yesterday, but only now have I found you. Impudent brat, how dare you make this elder starve for a whole day?”

It was indeed a trap.

The eyes disappeared, and suddenly a hand appeared. Jin Ja-gang rolled to the side, but faster than he could move, the hand grabbed his head in one swift motion and lifted him up.

It happened in an instant.

“Urrrgh!”

Jin Ja-gang groaned from the pain, feeling as if his head would split open.

Opening his eyes, he saw it wasn’t Mang-ryo but an old man he didn’t recognize.

The owner of the third food lump had appeared.

It was Miao Weng, known as “Bloody Hand,” one of the top ten masters of the Extreme Poison Sect.

Miao Weng shook Jin Ja-gang’s head in the air as if venting his frustration.

“You brat, you brat, you brat.”

Jin Ja-gang dangled like a scarecrow.

“Krrrrgh.”

“This one’s no ordinary child. How did such a young brat think to stay completely still for a whole day?”

Miao Weng asked.

“Are you indeed Jin Ja-gang?”

Jin Ja-gang gritted his teeth and refused to answer.

“Your silence confirms it. How on earth did you escape from the Mixed Spring Ground?”

The only people Jin Ja-gang had seen at the Extreme Poison Sect were Mang-ryo and Gwak-o. Conversely, this meant others hadn’t seen Jin Ja-gang either.

Naturally, Miao Weng didn’t know Jin Ja-gang’s face.

Moreover, Jin Ja-gang’s current appearance was quite hideous. His body was partially covered with scabs he had begun to peel, giving him a dirty look, and his hair was just starting to grow back, making him nearly bald.

At a glance, he was simply repulsive.

“Tsk, tsk. You survived looking like that? From your perspective, death might have been better.”

As Miao Weng examined Jin Ja-gang from various angles, he tilted his head curiously.

“Oh, what’s this?”

There were so many scabs that it looked disgusting, but the skin where the scabs had peeled off was smooth and shiny, giving a strange appearance.

“Is this a side effect of poison… or was Elder Mang doing something strange? Hmm.”

Miao Weng held Jin Ja-gang up by the head with one hand while using a finger of his other hand to press Jin Ja-gang’s acupoints.

Bang! Bang!

Each time Miao Weng’s finger struck Jin Ja-gang’s body, there was a sound like air bursting, and the acupoints were deeply depressed.

But since Jin Ja-gang’s energy channels were already hardened, the acupressure had no effect. Just as one cannot block a stream where no water flows, it was useless.

Miao Weng failed to notice this and slung Jin Ja-gang over his shoulder.

“Let’s go back. To hell. Kuhuhuhu.”

He was about to leap up using his lightness skill when—

Jin Ja-gang didn’t understand what Miao Weng had done to his body. It seemed like some kind of acupressure, but he felt nothing.

However, there was no time to deeply consider what had happened. It was also obvious that in the current situation, there was no need for deep thought.

If he was taken back, it would be over!

Jin Ja-gang gathered poisonous energy at his fingertip. After so much practice, the poisonous energy gathered in the blink of an eye.

A small amount of poisonous energy swelled at the tip of his little finger.

He bit down hard on the tip of his little finger. Blood flowed, and poisonous fluid formed. He pulled the broken cow bone from his waist and coated its broken end with the poisonous fluid. Immediately, he gripped the bone with both hands and stabbed it into Miao Weng’s neck.

“Die!”

Crack!

The cow bone shattered into pieces.

Miao Weng had blocked it with the back of his other hand.

“Oh?”

True to his nickname “Bloody Hand,” Miao Weng’s hand was reddish and as hard as stone.

“You little piece of flesh.”

Miao Weng threw Jin Ja-gang to the ground.

“Kugh!”

Jin Ja-gang felt an impact as if his spine had shattered.

Miao Weng rubbed his hand.

“What is this brat? Why didn’t the acupressure work?”

Various emotions flickered in Miao Weng’s eyes. At first, he showed no agitation, just disbelief, but immediately afterward, confusion set in.

Suddenly, Miao Weng fell to his knees.

Thud.

“What, what is this!”

Miao Weng couldn’t believe it. His hand hurt so much that when he looked at it, he saw it was severely swollen.

Though the skin had only been slightly scratched.

“Po-poison?”

There was no other explanation.

Miao Weng hurriedly tried to summon his internal energy to slow the spread of the poison, but his reaction was too late.

His arm burned as if on fire, and his head felt dizzy, making it difficult to stand properly. Meanwhile, one arm had swollen so much that he couldn’t even bend it.

‘Extreme poison!’

Never in his life had he encountered such a deadly poison. And that from just a tiny amount grazing him.

With poison this potent, he should have defended with his internal energy the moment he was struck. He had been a bit too slow. Now, even acupressure would be useless.

This was naturally the case with the essence of Stone Milk of Mount Kunlun accumulated over thousands or tens of thousands of years, but Miao Weng had no way of knowing that.

‘I let my guard down!’

Who would have thought such a child would possess such poison? Had he known, he would have immediately prepared for poisoning.

In any case, as a martial artist from a sect that specialized in poisons, he couldn’t die like this.

Miao Weng thought quickly.

‘How many breaths have I taken?’