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Chapter 244
by Heavenly CatJin Ja-gang bounced up once more and assembled the Soul Seizing Thread he had reeled in completely, putting it in his sleeve.
Then he picked up swords the warriors had dropped and began killing the warriors who were crying out around him one by one. Just because their ankles had been severed didn’t mean the White Tiger Earth Emperor Pavilion warriors would die easily. They swung swords and used fist techniques to resist somehow.
However, the Soul Seizing Thread was already coated with bracken poison. Warriors whose bodies had been caught by the Soul Seizing Thread anywhere had their pupils clouded and senses dulled, unable to move properly.
Not much time passed before resistance decreased and movements became sluggish. Jin Ja-gang steadily reduced their numbers by stabbing each one’s heart and cutting their necks.
This scene couldn’t help but be chilling even for the White Tiger Earth Emperor Pavilion warriors.
It was perplexing.
This was more of a struggle to survive than a contest of martial arts. A fight for survival rather than martial prowess.
Since it wasn’t a typical pattern and used unusual weapons like poison and the Soul Seizing Thread, the combined formation had little meaning.
However, twelve out of twenty were already dead. Twenty White Tiger Earth Emperor Pavilion warriors would be more than enough to handle any decent master.
A three-person combined formation was designed to face one first-class master.
Yet in a brief fight, more than half had died.
This was definitely strange.
“Something… is wrong?”
The remaining eight White Tiger Earth Emperor Pavilion warriors gritted their teeth. They were puzzled. Even Ye Jin-gyeong probably hadn’t expected the warriors to be defeated like this.
After killing all the nearby warriors, Jin Ja-gang looked at the survivors and said.
“You followed behind me the entire time coming up from the mountain gate to the stairs, didn’t you?”
Jin Ja-gang ostentatiously raised his finger and rubbed the tip. The faint poison liquid that flowed from his fingertip dried and spread into the air.
The eight surviving White Tiger Earth Emperor Pavilion warriors suddenly realized. Jin Ja-gang had been releasing poison bit by bit throughout their ascent. They had unknowingly inhaled the poison through their breathing.
And not only that, hadn’t he said earlier? That he had planted bracken on the ground.
He had already scattered poison all over the ground, so they would have continuously inhaled poison unknowingly while fighting.
“Bracken poison dulls the senses without one’s awareness.”
For first-class warriors, not third-rate ones, sharp senses are like lifelines. In situations where life and death are decided by a gap of one inch when thrusting swords, dulled senses are fatal.
No wonder they thought they had dodged poison needles but got hit, and thought they had thrust swords properly but missed. They had been continuously defeated by subtle differences.
If Jin Ja-gang had tried to kill the White Tiger Earth Emperor Pavilion warriors with poison, it would have been discovered faster than expected. If lethal doses of poison were used, those who were poisoned later would inevitably notice.
However, Jin Ja-gang had used extremely small amounts of poison over a considerable time to make everyone become slightly poisoned.
That alone was enough to make the situation sufficiently advantageous for him.
“Cowardly!”
Jin Ja-gang showed slight amusement at what one warrior shouted.
“That’s fortunate. Now you seem human, showing emotions.”
“What’s fortunate!”
“I wasn’t in a good mood because it didn’t feel like I was killing people.”
Shouldn’t killing people feel even worse? Weren’t the words backwards?
The warriors ground their teeth.
“This bastard is mocking us…”
“It’s not mockery. Why do you think I’m mocking you?”
“What’s there to say to a murderer who says killing people feels better! Shut up and fight!”
“I didn’t say killing people feels good. I just dislike killing people who move like wooden puppets without emotion. Then would you prefer if I killed you without any emotion? I think that would make me a murderer.”
“This bastard’s sophistry!”
The warriors’ faces flushed red with anger. However, now the poison had spread enough that they could recognize their poisoned state themselves. Their vision shook and their limbs’ muscles trembled occasionally as if stiff. Fighting Jin Ja-gang in this condition had no chance of victory.
Poison Dragon was much stronger than expected, and they had become weak. They were like moths that had jumped into a spider web after the spider had laid it and waited.
“Do you think we’ll beg for our lives?”
“No need to beg.”
Jin Ja-gang cut him off.
“The one deciding life and death here and now is not you but me.”
“Arrogant! We won’t let things go your way!”
The White Tiger Earth Emperor Pavilion warriors prepared for death and raised their internal energy to charge at Jin Ja-gang.
Due to being unknowingly poisoned, their internal energy flow wasn’t smooth either, so some forced themselves to raise internal energy until their faces turned red and blue.
Jin Ja-gang’s gaze turned cold.
“It’s meaningless.”
However, someone interrupted Jin Ja-gang’s words and appeared.
“It’s not meaningless. Orthodox sects originally tend to think their beliefs are absolutely right and stake their lives on them.”
It was Human Demon Gam Chung.
“But those beliefs are often not their own thoughts but ideologies injected from above.”
Gam Chung stopped talking mid-sentence, looked at the situation in the area, and clicked his tongue.
Twenty warriors of the White Tiger Earth Emperor Pavilion, the Martial Alliance’s pride, had died without showing much strength. And with their bodies cut to pieces, hearts stabbed, and necks severed.
“Whew, what’s this? You said you could handle it alone and you really meant it? There was absolutely no need to come help. Taking apart twenty White Tiger Earth Emperor Pavilion warriors by yourself. Among us, probably only the Eight Flying Demon Heroes could do something like that alone.”
It wasn’t empty words.
Destroying the White Tiger Earth Emperor Pavilion in such a short time was beyond common sense even for Gam Chung. The only damage Jin Ja-gang had suffered was some cuts.
Even Gam Chung had a record of killing several warrior monks from Shaolin Temple. He had that level of skill. Even he couldn’t be confident of doing this much alone.
“No, thinking about it again, even the Eight Flying Demon Heroes couldn’t have subdued them this quickly. Is it the poison after all? Poison really is frightening.”
Gam Chung, while talking, asked as if remembering.
“But with this level of skill, what are you worried about? You could just comfortably kill them all. These guys have to die anyway. If they go down intact and join up, our friends below will be in danger.”
A simple decision. His judgment standard was his comrades’ safety.
Jin Ja-gang couldn’t help but smile bitterly. What was his own standard?
But suddenly one phrase Gam Chung threw out pierced his mind.
‘Belief!’
Jin Ja-gang remembered the question thrown by Divine Nun In-eun of Mount Emei.
Is the target of the benefactor’s revenge an individual, a group, or a system?
Why In-eun had added the word ‘system’ rather than just people or groups, Jin Ja-gang could now understand a little.
Because systems create beliefs and beliefs move people!
Jin Ja-gang became lost in thought.
‘Ah…!’
As long as they controlled the mainstream system, whether right or wrong, those moved by belief would continue to emerge.
No matter how many Jin Ja-gang killed and killed again, numbers greater than those he killed would continue to increase.
That is, while Jin Ja-gang was facing people, what he ultimately had to face was the system. Even if he destroyed the Tang family and the Martial Alliance, Jin Ja-gang’s fight wouldn’t end.
If the Tang family collapsed, who would check the Western Tibet Demon Cult, Northern Heaven Evil Sect, and Martial Alliance?
That was what Divine Nun wanted to say.
Break the system!
If he didn’t break the system, Jin Ja-gang would have to continue fighting within the current system.
Would it end just because Jin Ja-gang killed some and completed his revenge?
Retaliation would be repeated by others maintaining the system. As the Tang family said, they wouldn’t stop until Jin Ja-gang was on the verge of death.
When Jin Ja-gang was alone, he couldn’t think about life after revenge. Since he didn’t know when he might die, he had no leisure for such thoughts.
But now it was different.
He had obtained clues for survival, and above all, he had gained a lover named Tang Ha-ran.
Because Tang Ha-ran existed, he had reached a situation where he had to think about life afterward. No, he wanted to protect that future life.
Then the method Divine Nun proposed could be the most realistic plan.
The key was only whether Jin Ja-gang had that much capability.
In a small place like Yunnan’s Poison Sect, some resolution was possible by killing all those who had sinned. However, as the front expanded to the entire martial world, Jin Ja-gang’s revenge also needed to reorient the direction of its blade tip.
Either find a way to break the system, or find Jin Ja-gang’s own method.
Jin Ja-gang nodded.
“I see. I sincerely thank you. For reminding me of something I hadn’t thought of.”
“Huh?”
Gam Chung shrugged, not knowing why Jin Ja-gang was thanking him.
“I don’t know what it is, but since you’re grateful, I’ll put it down as a debt. We’re good at remembering such things.”
A White Tiger Earth Emperor Pavilion warrior spat.
“Ptui. Despicable Evil Sect bastards. Using poison secretly and then congratulating each other, how ridiculous.”
“Your words are rude. You’re about to die. The caught one is stupid, so what’s wrong with using poison?”
Whoosh!
Human Demon Gam Chung’s clothes swelled and his hands turned bright red. As Gam Chung grinned and was about to step into the area, suddenly Jin Ja-gang raised his hand toward Gam Chung.
Gam Chung flinched and stopped walking.
“Why… are you doing that?”
“You’ll be poisoned if you come in.”
“It’s fine. As long as it’s not fatal. Let me first shut up that rude bastard.”
Gam Chung made a murderous smile and stretched out his hand to send palm force.
Gam Chung’s palm exploded on the chest of the White Tiger Earth Emperor Pavilion warrior who had spat while mocking Gam Chung.
Bang!
The warrior tried to raise his arms to block, but his arms broke and his ribs caved in and were crushed. The warrior fell backward with a thud. His body was stiff so he couldn’t even dodge.
“Seven left. Now I’m a bit relieved. Seeing a soft friend like you makes me frustrated. So…”
At that moment, while Gam Chung was lecturing Jin Ja-gang, three exchanged glances and began flying backward to escape. Though their movements were sluggish due to their stiff bodies, they were using all their desperate strength to flee.
Instantly, Jin Ja-gang released a Soul Seizing Thread ring and threw one side. The ring flew out, wrapped around all three simultaneously, and returned. Jin Ja-gang grabbed the returning ring without hesitation and pulled hard.
The three warriors were divided into several pieces, becoming chunks of meat that fell to the ground.
Jin Ja-gang looked at Gam Chung and said.
“Down below, I also have someone I must protect.”
“Oh my… you’re just realizing that now?”
Gam Chung laughed.
“The world seems very complex when viewed as a whole, but sometimes simplicity is the answer that leads to the most correct path. Don’t think too complexly.”
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