Chapter 3

Mang-ryo was both shocked and angered, so he directed a palm strike at Jin Ja-gang’s head. Mang-ryo was wearing deerskin gloves with spikes embedded in the palms.

A Poison Palm. When infused with internal energy, poison would flow from it.

Son Wi-hak, alarmed, held Jin Ja-gang and rolled away.

Mang-ryo’s palm struck the ground. While they had managed to dodge once, there was no escape from the next attack.

Thud!

Mang-ryo’s second Poison Palm hit Son Wi-hak’s back. Son Wi-hak’s body trembled from the shock of the palm force penetrating his body. The tightly packed needles struck his shoulder blade, and the poison penetrated with a tingling sensation.

This technique first caused internal damage with palm force, then inflicted additional harm with the poison infused in the Poison Palm.

If Mang-ryo had continued his attack, Son Wi-hak would have died instantly.

However, Mang-ryo himself was not in a position to continue. Although he was a member of a Poison Sect, he wasn’t immune to all poisons. Especially not when the poison of the five-colored centipede, considered the most venomous of all, had penetrated his body.

Instead of continuing his attack, Mang-ryo removed his silk shoe. His foot had already turned bluish up to the ankle, with fluid oozing from the top of his foot.

Hurriedly, Mang-ryo pressed the acupoint at his knee to stop the poison from spreading and took out an antidote, hastily stuffing it into his mouth. The five-colored centipede’s poison was too potent and had spread so quickly that he had no time to expel it with his internal energy.

During this pause, Son Wi-hak struggled to his feet while holding Jin Ja-gang.

Then, with all his strength, he delivered a powerful kick to Mang-ryo’s chest. Distracted by the poison, Mang-ryo was defenseless and flew through the air from the impact.

“Argh!”

“Elder!”

The disciples of the Extreme Poison Sect, bewildered by the unexpected turn of events, rushed to catch Mang-ryo, creating a gap in their encirclement. Son Wi-hak ran in the opposite direction without looking back.

“Gahh!”

Mang-ryo writhed on the ground in agony as the pain spread from his foot. The disciples of the Extreme Poison Sect sprinkled white powder with detoxifying properties on Mang-ryo’s foot, but it had no effect.

When they tore his pants, they saw that the poison had already risen to his knee.

With bloodshot eyes, Mang-ryo screamed:

“Knife! KNIFE!”

One of the disciples of the Extreme Poison Sect stepped forward holding a large cleaver. He hesitated momentarily.

“You fool! Hurry up!”

Finally, the disciple gripped the cleaver with both hands and swung it down with force. Lacking sufficient martial prowess, the knife didn’t cut through the leg cleanly but got stuck.

Mang-ryo’s eyes bulged as if they would pop out.

Still, it was better than dying.

Mang-ryo gritted his teeth and endured.

The disciple brought the cleaver down several more times until he finally severed Mang-ryo’s leg just above the knee.

“Gaahh!”

Mang-ryo’s eyes were bloodshot, with burst capillaries, from enduring the excruciating pain.

He glared at the disciple who had cut off his leg.

Then, he snatched the knife from the disciple and sliced off one of his wrists.

“You couldn’t even do this properly!”

“AAAAHH!”

The disciple, whose hand had been severed in an instant, clutched his severed wrist and rolled on the ground.

Mang-ryo screamed at the other disciples in a tearing voice:

“What are you standing around for? Catch them! Kill them!”

But by the time the disciples finally moved, Son Wi-hak had already disappeared into the blooming flowers of Hundred Flower Valley, leaving no trace.

* * *

Read only at nineheavens.org

Translated by Nine Heavens!

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* * *

Son Wi-hak, who knew the geography of Hundred Flower Valley well, hid in various places to evade the pursuit of the Extreme Poison Sect.

The treacherous valley was filled with all kinds of vegetation, creating numerous hiding places known only to the people of Hundred Flower Valley.

Son Wi-hak settled in one of these spots.

Jin Ja-gang’s condition was very poor. The five-colored centipede’s poison was extremely potent, and without proper treatment, Jin Ja-gang’s energy meridians throughout his body were gradually hardening.

The energy meridians were the channels through which vital energy flowed, and as they hardened and became blocked, the energy could no longer circulate properly.

Now Jin Ja-gang was struggling to breathe and was in a critical condition.

Unable to watch Jin Ja-gang die, Son Wi-hak gathered medicinal herbs, chewed them to feed to Jin Ja-gang, applied them to his body, and periodically used his internal energy to stimulate acupuncture points.

During this time, Jin Ja-gang suddenly coughed up hard fragments.

These fragments, about one and a half finger segments in size, were part of the five-colored centipede’s head shell, which still contained a lustrous glow.

Only then did Son Wi-hak realize that Jin Ja-gang had chewed and eaten the five-colored centipede’s head.

‘They say that if one eats the poison sac or essence core of a venomous creature, one can overcome that creature’s poison…’

Remarkably, after this, Jin Ja-gang’s condition stopped deteriorating.

Although the already hardened meridians did not recover, Son Wi-hak decided not to be greedy. It was already a blessing from heaven that Jin Ja-gang had survived.

However, the real problem was Son Wi-hak himself.

While caring for Jin Ja-gang, he had neglected his own wounds. The injury on his back continued to worsen, his breathing became difficult, and he occasionally felt dizzy.

Son Wi-hak barely managed to regain his senses, gathered red cabbage leaves from outside, crushed them, placed them on torn cloth, and tied it up.

He applied this to his back where he had been hit by the Poison Palm. The burning sensation on his back subsided slightly.

When he removed the cloth a moment later, there was pus and blood, but the purple color of the red cabbage had not changed.

Red cabbage leaves have the property of turning red when they neutralize acid. The fact that the color hadn’t changed meant that the wound wasn’t caused by acid.

‘I thought it was acid causing the flesh to fester after being hit by the Poison Palm, but it’s snake venom!’

By the time Son Wi-hak realized something was wrong, the poison had already spread throughout his body.

‘What a vicious man.’

Son Wi-hak gritted his teeth and crushed together five-leaved mugwort, a handful of reddish thistle, and a handful of yellow clay, then applied it to his back.

“Urgh.”

The symptoms eased temporarily, but it was only temporary.

The snake venom had already seeped into his heart, making it virtually impossible to reverse the condition.

He was barely holding on with his meager internal energy, but even that wasn’t enough.

The poison Mang-ryo had used was a deadly toxin intended for killing from the start, and Son Wi-hak’s internal energy was barely at the second-rate level. Without proper treatment, it was impossible to overcome it with internal energy alone.

To begin with, the martial arts of Hundred Flower Valley were far inferior compared to other martial sects.

As a result, while Jin Ja-gang gradually improved, Son Wi-hak grew more emaciated day by day.

‘I worry about what will happen after I die.’

Son Wi-hak stroked the sleeping Jin Ja-gang’s head with a warm hand.

He instinctively sensed that he didn’t have much time left.

What would happen to Jin Ja-gang after he died?

But surprisingly, he thought that Jin Ja-gang might do better than he expected.

After all, he was a child who had survived a life-and-death struggle with a five-colored centipede.

* * *

One day, when Jin Ja-gang woke up, the cave was very quiet.

Jin Ja-gang’s skin was still covered in black patches, and fluid oozed from his lips. But he had passed the critical stage and was no longer in immediate danger.

He got up with difficulty, moving his stiff limbs. The cold cave felt even colder.

Jin Ja-gang looked around for Son Wi-hak.

Unlike usual, when he would always massage Jin Ja-gang’s stiff limbs upon waking, Son Wi-hak was sitting in meditation in a corner of the cave with his head drooping.

Realizing that he could only hear his own breathing and not Son Wi-hak’s, Jin Ja-gang understood that his grandfather had passed away.

Tears flowed from his swollen eyes.

Jin Ja-gang crawled to Son Wi-hak. The usually warm grandfather was cold and stiff.

“G-Grandfather.”

Jin Ja-gang lay on Son Wi-hak’s lap and cried loudly.

“Waaah! Waaah, Grandfather—!”

He had suspected it.

For several days, Son Wi-hak had already been emanating the scent of death.

The fact that he had been talking to Jin Ja-gang all day without rest was evidence of this.

Tales about medicine, about herbs, about Hundred Flower Valley…

Son Wi-hak had been trying to tell Jin Ja-gang as much as possible while he was still alive.

Jin Ja-gang recalled the stories Son Wi-hak had told him and wept endlessly.

After crying for a while, his senses gradually returned.

Jin Ja-gang was now an orphan.

His father had died when Jin Ja-gang was young, and now his mother and maternal grandfather had also died. Most of the people of Hundred Flower Valley, who were all the connections Jin Ja-gang knew, were also dead.

From now on, he would have to fend for himself.

Son Wi-hak had told Jin Ja-gang to hide and live in the deep mountains. Revenge should be taken when one has the power, so he should bide his time.

But Jin Ja-gang knew that with his body, that time might never come.

He also clearly remembered what Son Wi-hak had said to Mang-ryo:

“If life is just about eating and surviving, how is that different from the life of a beast?”

That one sentence from Son Wi-hak had been deeply etched in Jin Ja-gang’s mind, even through his pain-induced haze.

Despite his physical condition, it wouldn’t be too difficult for Jin Ja-gang to take care of himself alone. Surely in this vast martial world, there would be at least one place to hide.

However, he couldn’t simply overlook the atrocities of the Extreme Poison Sect.

For the sake of the unjustly killed members of Hundred Flower Valley.

For his mother and grandfather.

Jin Ja-gang clenched his swollen fist tightly.

‘I can’t forgive them. I won’t forgive them!’

Jin Ja-gang decided to place his hope in the Martial Arts Alliance.

According to Son Wi-hak, the Martial Arts Alliance was an organization of righteous martial artists who fairly mediated the rights and wrongs of the martial world.

‘I must tell the Martial Arts Alliance about the injustice suffered by our Hundred Flower Valley.’

That was the only option available to Jin Ja-gang now.

* * *

Jin Ja-gang continued to stay in the cave for a while longer, eating the raw meat of a deer that Son Wi-hak had caught earlier and fruit that had been gathered beforehand. Luckily, he had a small knife to cut open the deer’s belly and eat its blood and organs to survive.

Son Wi-hak’s body had begun to decompose, emitting a terrible smell.

Jin Ja-gang endured that too. He could only cover it with leaves, unable to give it a proper burial.

He had to hold on until he could walk.

After a week, when he could finally walk, albeit with a limp, Jin Ja-gang began preparations to leave in earnest.

His destination was the Martial Arts Alliance branch in the provincial capital of Yunnan.

It would be unreasonable for a ten-year-old child with an injured body to travel all the way to the main headquarters of the Martial Arts Alliance in Jiangxi Province.

From Hundred Flower Valley to the provincial capital of Yunnan would take at most a month, which is why he chose that destination.

Jin Ja-gang gathered the few remaining fruits and made a promise to Son Wi-hak’s body.

“Grandfather, I will definitely seek revenge.”

It would be a lie to say he wasn’t afraid, but his desire for vengeance was stronger.

Jin Ja-gang bowed to Son Wi-hak’s body.

Then he left the cave.

As he pushed aside the branches and grass covering the cave entrance, moonlight poured down.

Jin Ja-gang waited for the moon to be covered by clouds, then carefully descended the valley under the cover of darkness.

He thought there would be no one guarding after nearly two weeks in hiding, but he was wrong.

Disciples of the Extreme Poison Sect were still guarding various points along the path.

It seemed impossible to break through their encirclement with his injured body.

Jin Ja-gang moved to find another potential hiding place nearby.

It was a small cave hidden by large rocks and thorny bushes, a place where Jin Ja-gang had often played as a child.

But to his surprise, the thorny bushes that had concealed the cave were all cut down, and there were signs that someone had thoroughly searched the cave!

Judging by the sap on the cut surfaces of the bushes, it hadn’t been even a day.

It seemed they weren’t just guarding the paths but were actively searching as well.

Growing anxious, Jin Ja-gang headed to another potential hiding spot—a pit concealed by tall reeds near a stream.

But that place was in the same condition.

The reeds were all broken or cut, and the pit had been dug up.

Jin Ja-gang realized he was in a more dangerous situation than he had thought.

Someone knew every nook and cranny of Hundred Flower Valley’s terrain.

‘What should I do?’

Jin Ja-gang was confused. No one had taught him what to do in such a situation.

Eventually, after much internal conflict, he returned to his original hiding place, the cave. The search hadn’t reached there yet.

However, the smell of the decomposing body was overwhelmingly strong. Even though he had roughly blocked the entrance with branches and grass, the smell still permeated the air.

If the searchers passed nearby, they would immediately detect it because of the smell.

Jin Ja-gang thought for a long time. Then, biting his lips firmly, he crawled back into the cave.