Chapter 247

Due to Divine Nun’s unexpected actions, Jin Ja-gang and Tang Ha-ran were able to safely pass through the encirclement.

The two walked in silence for a while.

However, the atmosphere was awkward, different from the warm and friendly mood earlier.

While resting briefly by a small stream where water flowed gently, it was Tang Ha-ran who spoke first.

“I…”

She started speaking but seemed to find it difficult to continue.

With difficulty, Tang Ha-ran continued.

“Are you angry?”

Jin Ja-gang, who had been waiting for Tang Ha-ran’s words, showed a slightly surprised expression.

“Why would you think I’d be angry?”

“Well… because I didn’t speak up and hid it… uh, um.”

“No. It’s not like that.”

“Then you already knew?”

Suddenly Jin Ja-gang’s face turned red.

Tang Ha-ran watched Jin Ja-gang’s reaction and burst into laughter at the sight.

“The great Poison Dragon is getting flustered?”

Jin Ja-gang also laughed awkwardly.

“It’s because this is something I never thought about.”

Tang Ha-ran, who had been laughing, pouted her lips.

“What? Then you thought nothing would happen?”

“It’s not that. It’s just…”

Jin Ja-gang looked at the starry sky and said.

“I can’t believe such a day has come to me.”

“But we don’t know yet.”

Tang Ha-ran took Jin Ja-gang’s hand and placed it on her stomach.

It wasn’t yet time for any signs to show. However, Jin Ja-gang felt as if a small heartbeat was resonating in his hand.

“Will this child be able to safely come out into the world? Will it be able to safely endure the treacherous thorny path we must travel ahead?”

Jin Ja-gang couldn’t answer that question either.

The martial world teeming with powerful masters and forces incomparable to the Poison Sect they had faced in Yunnan.

A stern world where one wrong judgment would immediately lead down an irreversible path.

The small spark of life that had suddenly emerged in that world couldn’t help but perplex Jin Ja-gang. Seeing Jin Ja-gang’s complex expression, Tang Ha-ran said.

“I know how heavy and difficult the burden you carry is. That’s why I’m trying not to force you.”

“This is something I should naturally take responsibility for.”

“No, I didn’t say that to hear such words. Do I look like the kind of woman who forces responsibility on men?”

“No.”

Tang Ha-ran put strength in her hand. She pressed Jin Ja-gang’s hand and her own hand more firmly against her stomach.

“I actually wanted to stay by your side. I wanted to become a companion you could comfortably lean your back against and rely on. But now that’s become difficult. Let me say something selfish.”

“Please speak.”

“You go your way. I’ll do my best to protect our child. I will…”

Jin Ja-gang could understand what Tang Ha-ran couldn’t finish saying.

Even if you can’t complete your revenge and can’t return, I’ll protect our child. I’ll protect your child.

“Miss Tang…”

Jin Ja-gang showed a surprised expression.

That was no different from a farewell notice. It meant it was time to part.

Tang Ha-ran suddenly made a strange smile and pretended to be angry.

“Still calling me Miss? Have you ever seen a Miss with a protruding belly from having a child?”

“What?”

“Call me properly. I’m no longer your Miss.”

“Uh, well…”

Jin Ja-gang answered while flustered but trying his best.

“W-wife?”

Tang Ha-ran burst into silent laughter.

“Good. Though it was said without courage, anyway I now have the courage to handle anything.”

“What do you mean?”

“Did you forget? Children are precious in the Tang family. If the worst case happens, I’ll return home.”

Tang Ha-ran smiled and said to Jin Ja-gang.

“So when that time comes, you’ll have to come get me again. Of course, I’ll do my best to prevent that from happening.”

Jin Ja-gang and Tang Ha-ran held each other’s hands tightly.

In this harsh world where they couldn’t even guarantee how much longer they could live, a short relationship that began with a brief meeting and burned brightly, and after this night they didn’t know if they could see each other again…

Jin Ja-gang gritted his teeth and made a resolution.

“I’ll become strong. I won’t die. And I’ll do my best to return.”

Tang Ha-ran smiled and asked back.

“To whom?”

“Of course to…”

Jin Ja-gang looked at Tang Ha-ran and smiled.

* * *

Tang Ha-ran left the next day.

Jin Ja-gang worried about Tang Ha-ran, but that was actually unnecessary concern.

Even though Jin Ja-gang had become stronger, Tang Ha-ran was still strong as well. She was a martial artist who could protect herself. Moreover, Sichuan was where she was born and raised.

Alone, she could move around much more freely than Jin Ja-gang.

Jin Ja-gang immersed himself in meditation under a waterfall, receiving the cold stream of water.

Due to last night’s events, his heart was still pounding and he couldn’t concentrate. Worries and concerns about the future, anxieties, and also joy and happiness. Indescribable complex emotions and thoughts kept distracting Jin Ja-gang.

However, in this state, he might die before even reaching the Martial Alliance’s Guizhou branch, let alone dealing with it. Only by safely completing the business in Guizhou could Jin Ja-gang save himself and take another step closer to his revenge.

Jin Ja-gang tried his best to calm his mood and shake off his thoughts.

Only after a full half day had passed and his entire body had become cold as ice did Jin Ja-gang feel his head clearing.

Both Bian Bu and Soso who remained on Qingcheng Mountain, and Tang Ha-ran as well, had chosen and decided their own paths.

Now it was the same for Jin Ja-gang.

It was time to return to his own path.

To survive, he must become an Asura!

* * *

The Martial Alliance’s Guizhou branch.

Two and three-story rectangular mansions were densely built along the river with their backs against cliffs.

Due to being geographically closer to Guangxi, they took the form of elevated wooden buildings on stilts.

This was a method of making pillars from timber and placing floors on top of the pillars to build houses above them. Due to the many mountains, humidity, and abundance of venomous snakes and insects, residential areas were built elevated from the ground.

Multiple railings and stairs were placed outside the mansions, connecting them so one could travel between different mansions in the air. From the outside, it appeared somewhat complex.

Jin Ja-gang circled near the branch with its drooping fence and observed.

‘About twenty servants. Checking the number of dishes coming from the kitchen, there are roughly eighty warriors in the branch.’

It was much fewer than the numbers he had faced so far. Of course, even though the Sword Hero Squad had been deployed, they would have incomparable power to Yunnan’s Poison Sect.

‘But with my current strength, I have a chance of winning even in a direct confrontation.’

Jin Ja-gang closed his eyes briefly.

Soso’s face came to mind.

Guizhou’s Medicine Sect had also been attacked like Yunnan’s Medicine Sect.

How cruel and terrible the acts committed then must have been.

To commit the atrocity of cutting off the tongue of Soso, who was just a young child!

He couldn’t forgive the Martial Alliance’s Guizhou branch for watching this and, on the other hand, cooperating with the Poison Sect to help massacre Guizhou’s Medicine Sect.

Bian Bu had told him why Soso had ended up in the Evil Sect.

“Guizhou’s Medicine Sect had many skilled masters, so despite the Poison Sect’s large-scale attack, they couldn’t easily conquer it. The Medicine Sect’s heroes evacuated the elderly and weak to the Martial Alliance’s Guizhou branch and engaged in desperate resistance. But… the Martial Alliance used the elderly and weak who had been sent trusting them as hostages… to disarm Guizhou’s Medicine Sect. Well, what happened next is obvious.”

Of course, Bian Bu had also said something different from what Jin Ja-gang knew.

That the Medicine Sect had attacked the Poison Sect first.

That this was what resulted from that.

However, regardless of which side spoke the truth, betraying those who had entrusted themselves to them and cutting off the tongue of a young girl not even eight years old was an absolutely unforgivable despicable act.

And what had the most influence on that decision was none other than Guizhou’s branch leader, Golden Fortune Merchant Hae Mak.

From the information Jin Ja-gang had gathered around Guizhou after entering, there were rumors that Golden Fortune Merchant Hae Mak had originally been a merchant leading a large trading company in Guizhou, and after joining the Martial Alliance, he had obtained the branch leader position through enormous financial power.

Of course, there were also widespread rumors that after becoming branch leader, he had gained even more profit than the money he had brought in using the Martial Alliance’s name. However, in Guizhou where there were no major sects, his influence was already so great that no one could oppose him.

He was so thorough in calculating gains and losses and never did anything that would cause him loss that even his nickname retained “merchant.”

When orders came from above, his following them meant he ultimately acted based on his own calculations of gains and losses.

If he had dirtied his hands based on his own judgment, he had to pay the price.

Jin Ja-gang slowly opened his eyes.

“When my work is done, I’ll go see what kind of ugly face that person has.”

Hiss, hiss.

The snake in Jin Ja-gang’s hand made threatening sounds. His hand was swollen, apparently from the snake bite.

Jin Ja-gang released the snake and watched the branch’s mansions for a long while before leaving.

* * *

A notice suddenly arrived at the Martial Alliance’s Guizhou branch.

The notice wasn’t on paper but was a corpse thrown inside the Sect. On the chest of a patrolling warrior’s corpse, words were written in blood.

Massacre

Massacre meant killing without leaving a single person alive.

The corpse was so poisoned that its limbs were swollen and its entire face had turned dark, making it impossible to recognize who it was – a disgusting sight.

“What crazy bastard?”

Guizhou branch leader Golden Fortune Merchant Hae Mak was a master in his fifties who, unlike typical martial artists, wore expensive silk clothes. He had a sturdy build and carried a large iron abacus at his side with his hands behind his back.

Hae Mak put on gloves and examined the corpse from various angles.

“It’s definitely someone who was killed by someone who handles poison. Is it someone rebelling against the Martial Alliance?”

Hae Mak looked at the corpse and fell into thought. He was considering in various ways who could do such a thing.

Perhaps it was some Evil Sect members who couldn’t go to Qingcheng Mountain causing a disturbance to draw attention.

After thinking for a moment, Hae Mak ordered the corpse to be removed.

“Either way, it won’t hurt to be careful. From today, increase the number of external guards and carefully check whether there’s poison in water and food.”

“Yes!”

However, it wasn’t just once. That day at lunch and dinner, warriors who had been patrolling were found dead from poison.

The same word “massacre” was written on their chests. Particularly on the fifth corpse, even the time was specified: “Four days remaining.”

“This bastard?”

Hae Mak’s eyes twisted.

It seemed difficult to view this as a simple threat anymore.