Chapter 23

The warrior was none other than the one who had earlier harassed Gwak-o and Jin Ja-gang.

“What is it!”

“Well… last night when I saw that garbage cleaner named Gwak-o, something seemed strange.”

“What do you mean?”

“One of his eyes was bloodshot and red, similar to what we’re seeing now on Master Bloody Hand’s corpse.”

Mang-ryo’s eyebrows twitched.

“Tell me more.”

“He kept complaining that he couldn’t see well and that his stomach hurt. Oh, and there was a small boy pushing the cart behind him.”

Mang-ryo’s eyes widened.

“The boy’s tongue was so swollen he couldn’t speak, and his appearance was so hideous that…”

“Why are you only telling me this now!”

At Mang-ryo’s rebuke, the warrior quickly knelt down.

“I didn’t know this was related! When I thought it might be important, I decided I should report it immediately…”

Before the warrior could finish, Mang-ryo’s cane flew through the air.

Thwack!

The warrior’s face contorted as his teeth were knocked out. He rolled on the ground.

“Aaargh!”

“That’s exactly why you should have reported it immediately, you idiot!”

Mang-ryo used his cane in place of his foot to beat the warrior.

Thump, thump. Thump, thump.

“Aaargh! Please spare me! I didn’t know it was related!”

At the plea for mercy, Mang-ryo’s eyes flashed with a cold blue light.

“Do you deserve to ask for mercy!”

Thwack!

The cane, brought down with terrifying force, struck the warrior’s head. The warrior went limp.

He wasn’t dead, but he would need many days to recover.

Even so, Mang-ryo’s anger was not satisfied, and he continued to fume.

The masters of the Extreme Poison Sect looked at Mang-ryo with uncomfortable expressions.

“Please calm yourself, Elder! This is not the time for this!”

“What did you say?”

“Wherever he’s gone, he’s like a rat in a trap. As long as he’s human, he can’t escape our surveillance network. If we release the hunting dogs and search every inch of the mountain…”

“A rat in a trap? He’s already escaped from my hands twice! This is the one who survived and returned from that accursed Mixed Spring Ground! If he hides there again, we won’t catch him!”

Mang-ryo shouted with his white eye wide open, frantically tousling his already disheveled hair, then suddenly stopped moving.

“Wait, that was him?”

The moment he realized that the poisoned person wasn’t Gwak-o but Jin Ja-gang, many questions were answered.

“He lured me here!”

In a way, Mang-ryo had fallen for his own trick. But as soon as he realized that Jin Ja-gang had tricked him into coming here, he immediately knew where Jin Ja-gang’s next destination would be.

“The Medicine King Sect!”

Today was the day to send the disciples of the Medicine King Sect—who had been interrogated, or more accurately, who had all valuable information extracted from them and were now useless—to the underground tunnels of death.

And that was the only scheduled departure from the Extreme Poison Sect today.

Mang-ryo turned to the fastest master and shouted:

“Run immediately and order the carts carrying the Medicine King Sect people to Nanhua to turn back!”

* * *

Jin Ja-gang and the people of the Medicine King Sect passed through the Extreme Poison Sect’s grounds without issue while being transported in the carts.

Finally, they even passed through the main gate with its numerous guard warriors.

Jin Ja-gang’s heart swelled with emotion. Even though he hadn’t yet found a way to escape from the cart, he felt as if he had accomplished everything.

‘Finally…’

Tears welled up in his eyes.

All the hardships and sorrows he had endured in the Extreme Poison Sect came rushing back. He felt proud just to have overcome all those adversities and made it this far.

Jin Ja-gang looked at the receding gate of the Extreme Poison Sect behind the cart and firmly resolved:

‘Just wait. I’ll build my strength and definitely return.’

But unlike Jin Ja-gang, the people of the Medicine King Sect wore lifeless expressions.

Though they had finally seen the sun after enduring endless torture at the Extreme Poison Sect, their destination was an underground mine from which no one ever returned.

For them, this was essentially their last chance to breathe the outside air.

That’s why, to them, Jin Ja-gang’s resolute appearance seemed all the more strange.

* * *

By now, they had traveled far from the gate, and the pavilions of the Extreme Poison Sect appeared very small in the distance.

The winding mountain road with steep cliffs on one side continued for a long time. This was due to Yunnan’s terrain, where nine-tenths of the land consisted of mountains.

Jin Ja-gang prepared to escape while observing his surroundings.

‘Four sword-wielding warriors in front and behind, and two who appear to be martial arts masters.’

Remembering the terrifying appearance of Bloody Hand, he knew he couldn’t act rashly.

Even dealing with the warriors was too much for Jin Ja-gang. Though he might be able to take down one or two using poison, once the others became alert, Jin Ja-gang would have no solution.

‘What should I do?’

Considering the situation, poisoning their food seemed the most straightforward approach. But whether he could get close enough when they were eating was uncertain.

As Jin Ja-gang was considering various methods, Yong-myeong moved closer and sat beside him.

“What are you thinking about?”

Knowing it wasn’t a question that required an answer, Jin Ja-gang simply nodded.

“Just this and that.”

“I see.”

After a brief pause, Yong-myeong asked:

“How did you escape?”

Jin Ja-gang answered simply:

“They thought I was dead and threw me into the Mixed Spring Ground.”

Yong-myeong’s expression became peculiar.

This was a story he had heard multiple times while being imprisoned and tortured.

Mang-ryo had devoted considerable time to testing poisons on Jin Ja-gang’s body, but he spent the rest of his time researching secret manuals or torturing disciples of Hundred Flower Valley and the Medicine King Sect to extract information.

Then one day, Mang-ryo had returned with one eye blinded, raving about the Mixed Spring Ground and flying into a rage.

“So that was you?”

The young man and the old man beside him looked at Jin Ja-gang with disbelief.

“That’s a lie. You’re saying this child is the one who blinded Mang-ryo?”

“Hard to believe. The Mixed Spring Ground is where they dispose of friends who die during torture. I heard it’s a place where even the living can barely withstand the sulfur fumes for a moment.”

Jin Ja-gang didn’t know much about the first comment. He hadn’t seen Mang-ryo since his escape. Though he’d heard Mang-ryo was blinded, he didn’t know if it was true.

Regarding the second comment, he had something to say. However, he wasn’t sure how much to trust them or how much to reveal.

He never knew when they might betray him and report him.

“The ground flowed like water, and when I woke up, there was a cave. I survived by eating mushrooms and holding out there.”

Yong-myeong and the others stared into Jin Ja-gang’s eyes. But since Jin Ja-gang wasn’t lying at all, his pupils didn’t waver.

“Hmm.”

As Yong-myeong observed Jin Ja-gang, he noticed something strange. Jin Ja-gang’s eyes were remarkably clear and pure.

So he examined Jin Ja-gang more carefully. Though his skin was covered in dirt and repulsive scabs, the exposed parts appeared incredibly smooth.

“Let me see your hand for a moment.”

Jin Ja-gang reluctantly extended his hand.

Yong-myeong rubbed around Jin Ja-gang’s wrist. As the scabs peeled away, white, translucent skin was revealed. It was a skin quality that couldn’t be explained as mere makeup or disguise.

Yong-myeong let out a low exclamation of astonishment.

“If what you say is true, you’ve experienced a miraculous transformation there. Your skin has been renewed, almost like a complete rebirth.”

The clarity of his eyes, the scabs covering half his body, and the fact that his hair had fallen out and was growing anew—all these confirmed that he had undergone a miraculous transformation.

Hearing this, the Medicine King Sect people in the cart showed expressions of shock before quickly hiding them. If Jin Ja-gang had truly experienced such a transformation, there might be hope that he could escape from here.

But trusting others and working together was very difficult for Jin Ja-gang. Having already been betrayed by someone closest to him, the wound in his heart was too deep.

Yong-myeong lowered his voice even more and asked with a serious expression:

“Do you have a way to escape?”

Jin Ja-gang remained silent, but he could no longer hide it.

“Yes.”

“How?”

“I can use poison.”

“Poison?”

Though the eyes showed disbelief, Jin Ja-gang didn’t want to demonstrate just to make them believe.

“How strong is the poison?”

“It killed an old man named Bloody Hand.”

Yong-myeong’s eyes trembled slightly. Bloody Hand was one of the top masters of the Extreme Poison Sect. A poison that could kill Bloody Hand meant escape wasn’t just a dream.

Yong-myeong pointed at the two Extreme Poison Sect masters in turn and whispered:

“The tall one on the left with a large saber at his waist is a master called Great Desert Saber, recruited from outside by the Extreme Poison Sect, and the one on the right with long arms is Relentless Dagger, who uses poisoned daggers skillfully. Even if all of us attacked together, we couldn’t defeat those two.”

After a brief pause, Yong-myeong asked:

“Do you think it’s possible? If you have a good plan, we can help you.”

Could he really trust them?

But there was no other way. Jin Ja-gang nodded.

“I’m thinking about it.”

“Don’t act rashly until a definite opportunity arises.”

“I understand.”

Yong-myeong moved away slightly to speak with the other Medicine King Sect people.

Small voices reached Jin Ja-gang’s ears.

“No, we’ll all die that way.”

“We’re all going to die anyway if we’re taken like this.”

They seemed to be exchanging opinions about escape.

After some time, the Medicine King Sect people all fell silent. They were staring at something behind them.

Someone on horseback was racing toward them from the direction of the Extreme Poison Sect’s mountain gate.

The Medicine King Sect people and Jin Ja-gang watched tensely as the rider approached.

“Stop!”

The voice, infused with internal energy, rang out loudly.

“Whoa, whoa.”

Great Desert Saber, who was escorting the prisoners, stopped the carts.

The messenger from the Extreme Poison Sect arrived.

“By Elder Mang-ryo’s command, you must stop the carts immediately and return to the Extreme Poison Sect.”

“What?”

Great Desert Saber and Relentless Dagger looked at each other.

“What’s going on?”

The messenger said:

“It seems a prisoner has escaped. There’s a possibility he might be hiding among this group to escape…”

Hearing this, Jin Ja-gang felt a chill. The Medicine King Sect people also showed clear signs of shock.

‘I’ve been discovered!’

The messenger continued:

“Please turn the carts around immediately.”

Relentless Dagger, being originally from the Extreme Poison Sect, seemed to be considering the situation carefully, but Great Desert Saber, an outsider, was less cautious.

“You want us to return to the sect for something like that? Has that old man gone mad?”

The messenger frowned.

“Excuse me? That’s going too far.”

Great Desert Saber expressed annoyance.

“What’s going too far? Everyone knows Elder Mang hasn’t been in his right mind lately. Do you think we’re on some kind of pleasure trip? Don’t you know we have to arrive at each checkpoint on schedule to please those Martial Arts Alliance people? And now what? Turn the carts around? Who’s going to deal with the consequences?”

Relentless Dagger smiled bitterly but took Great Desert Saber’s side.

“It would be difficult to turn the carts around on this narrow road.”

Great Desert Saber spoke angrily:

“We’d be perfect for rolling off and dying!”

The messenger raised his voice:

“Are you defying the Elder’s orders?”

Great Desert Saber exploded with anger.

“Hey! Use your eyes! How many people do you see here? How could someone hide among us? If you’re suspicious, just check here yourself and go back!”

“That’s…”

The messenger didn’t know the face of the escaped prisoner.

Relentless Dagger asked one of the warriors standing behind the cart:

“Was there any change in the number of people during the night?”

“No, there wasn’t.”

“Then the number should be the same as yesterday.”

“Yes, there were eleven people at night.”

Great Desert Saber insisted:

“Count the heads, and if there’s nothing wrong, we continue. Any objections? These people are going somewhere they’ll never return from anyway. Just leave it!”

Since Great Desert Saber’s words weren’t wrong, the messenger couldn’t argue further.

The impatient Great Desert Saber had already started counting before the messenger could respond.

“One, two…”

The reason they hadn’t been counting the numbers all along was simply because the numbers were meaningless.

These prisoners had already served their purpose and were destined to labor until death. No one cared whether they lived or died.

They could die from the aftereffects of torture while traveling, or they could be beaten to death for resistance. Their lives were truly as insignificant as flies—worth even less than the number of water canteens attached to a saddle.

So there was no need to count their heads every time.

But if, by chance, they did count and the number differed from what was expected, that would be a problem.

Just like now.

“Eleven, twelve! That’s twelve heads in total.”

Great Desert Saber’s expression changed after finishing the count.

“What? There’s one extra head?”