Chapter 33

What direction would the remaining pursuit team enter from if they heard the whistle?

They would likely come through the narrow entrance of the gourd-shaped area and into the center where Yong-myeong and Longlao’s corpses lay.

People usually prefer to take paths that are somewhat cleared rather than pushing through untouched undergrowth.

Jin Ja-gang emptied Longlao’s book chest completely, taking out everything inside. He then extracted all the poisons he could find and scattered them around. He didn’t care about the different types – he simply spread everything liberally.

He had created a wide circle of poison around the corpses of Yong-myeong and Longlao. The circle was large enough to contain fourteen people.

He also opened boxes containing scorpions and scattered them around. The chestnut-like throwing weapons were coated with poison and tossed outside the circle in various directions.

The area surrounding Yong-myeong and Longlao’s corpses was completely encircled with poison. Though it appeared to be just ordinary undergrowth, in reality, it had become a barrier of poison.

If he could block the entrance, those inside would clearly find it difficult to escape.

After spreading all these various poisons, he took out the whistle.

He turned the whistle over in his hands, trying to calm his pounding heart.

Finally, after taking a deep breath, Jin Ja-gang put the whistle to his lips and blew with all his might.

Shriiiiiek—

* * *

Shriek! Shriiiiiek!

The sharp sound of the whistle echoed throughout the mountain.

Sa Heung-sam and Relentless Dagger, who were part of the Extreme Poison Sect’s pursuit team searching for traces of Jin Ja-gang, also heard the sound.

“It seems to be Longlao’s signal!”

“So he was on the other side?”

They had been wondering why Jin Ja-gang’s traces had suddenly disappeared.

Relentless Dagger remarked suspiciously:

“The whistle sounds urgent.”

“Let’s go quickly.”

Sa Heung-sam led Relentless Dagger and the warriors back, retracing their steps.

At the fork in the path where they had originally gone in the opposite direction, they now saw drops of blood. The blood led from the path into the forest.

Just to be sure, they sent some warriors to investigate. The warriors entered but immediately rushed back out. Their faces had turned pale with fear.

“There are corpses here!”

Finding corpses wasn’t particularly strange. They had already encountered the bodies of warriors who had died from poison along the way.

However, when the warrior continued speaking, Sa Heung-sam and Relentless Dagger understood why he was so shocked.

“It’s… it’s Elder Long’s corpse!”

“What?”

Sa Heung-sam entered the forest with the warriors.

True to the warrior’s words, Longlao’s body lay sprawled in the middle of the forest.

He had been brutally killed, with multiple sword wounds around his neck. His head was half-severed and dangling.

It was a sight that could only come from deep hatred. Even Sa Heung-sam involuntarily winced at the cruelty of the death.

“Hmm!”

Beside Longlao lay Yong-myeong, the Vice Sect Leader of the Medicine King Sect, with his leg horribly mutilated and covered in blood.

Sa Heung-sam approached the bodies of Yong-myeong and Longlao to examine them. He tilted his head in confusion.

“The bodies are cold. It seems they died quite some time before we arrived.”

Relentless Dagger frowned.

“Then who blew the whistle…?”

Shreek!… As if in response to those words, the whistle sounded again.

Sa Heung-sam, Relentless Dagger, and the warriors turned their heads.

At the entrance to the path they had just come through stood Jin Ja-gang, holding the whistle.

Relentless Dagger was dumbfounded.

“What’s this? Did he just willingly reveal himself? Is he insane?”

No one in their right mind would appear and essentially say “please catch me!”

Sa Heung-sam asked Jin Ja-gang:

“Did you kill Elder Long?”

Jin Ja-gang didn’t answer. He merely wiped the blood from his hands onto his clothes and took out an oiled paper from inside his garment.

“What are you doing?”

“…”

“Why did you blow the whistle to lure us here?”

Jin Ja-gang unfolded the oiled paper and shook its contents onto the ground. With an expressionless face, he stared directly at Sa Heung-sam and answered:

“Why? I blew it to kill all of you.”

There was a moment of silence.

No one had expected such words to come from Jin Ja-gang’s mouth.

After a long pause, Relentless Dagger finally spoke with an incredulous expression:

“What?”

He couldn’t help but sneer.

“This crazy little…”

As Relentless Dagger reached for his dagger, Sa Heung-sam stopped him.

“Wait.”

“Why? One throw of my dagger would take his head.”

Sa Heung-sam shook his head while nodding toward Jin Ja-gang.

“I think he has some scheme.”

“What could a mere child’s scheme amount to…”

But Relentless Dagger couldn’t finish his sentence.

It was difficult to dismiss a child’s scheme when so many had already died because of him.

Jin Ja-gang had not been far away all along. He had been hiding tightly pressed against a tree at the entrance. If the pursuit team hadn’t been distracted by the blood on the ground, they would have easily found him.

After Sa Heung-sam and the warriors passed by, Jin Ja-gang calmly counted his enemies.

Fourteen.

After confirming their number, he revealed himself and blocked the entrance by spreading poison.

Sa Heung-sam and the others, unaware of these circumstances, found Jin Ja-gang’s blatant appearance not only baffling but also increasingly unsettling.

Jin Ja-gang spread the poison and stepped back. Then, from a distance, he took out another oiled paper. This time, instead of shaking it onto the ground, he shook it into the air.

Whoosh.

Relentless Dagger laughed incredulously.

“Are you trying to keep us away by spreading all your poison? If that’s the case, why did you…”

However, he quickly realized his assumption was wrong.

“Sniff. What’s that smell?”

A warrior who was close to Jin Ja-gang sniffed the air. His face immediately turned yellow, and he covered his mouth.

“Ugh!”

The wind was blowing.

From Jin Ja-gang toward the Extreme Poison Sect’s pursuit team.

The fine powder Jin Ja-gang had sprinkled was drifting toward the pursuit team like pine pollen.

The terrified pursuit team backed away.

“Poison!”

They hastily held their breath and took out cloths to cover their noses and mouths as they retreated, but two more warriors collapsed in the process.

“Urrgh!”

The poisoned warriors had blue veins bulging on their faces and frantically scratched their bodies as if they were itching terribly. They continued to claw at themselves even as their skin tore and bled.

“Aaaah!”

Yellowish pus formed and oozed from their torn skin.

Sa Heung-sam quickly identified the poison.

“Hell’s Itching Powder!”

Sa Heung-sam shouted:

“Everyone, retreat! Contact with the skin will cause poisoning!”

While Jin Ja-gang was indiscriminately spreading all the poisons he could find, Hell’s Itching Powder was known as one of the most lethal poisons in Longlao’s arsenal.

The warriors retreated as far as possible from Jin Ja-gang. However, this entire area had already been surrounded with poison by Jin Ja-gang. Warriors who tried to push through the forest to go around behind Jin Ja-gang screamed in pain.

“Arrrgh!”

They clutched their feet and rolled on the ground. Their soles were pierced with throwing weapons shaped like chestnuts and needles. These were also coated with poison, and as they rolled on the ground, they inhaled additional poison that Jin Ja-gang had previously scattered. Even those fortunate enough to avoid stepping on the throwing weapons were poisoned by the powder sprinkled on the grass.

“Bleeeurgh!”

Some had inhaled the Nausea Powder that Jin Ja-gang had eaten earlier and were now vomiting.

Whether the poisons were lethal or not, so many people were simultaneously suffering from various poisoning symptoms that chaos erupted instantly.

Sa Heung-sam realized what was happening.

“That brat has gotten his hands on Longlao’s poisons!”

Less than half of the warriors remained unaffected by poison.

Relentless Dagger gritted his teeth and drew his dagger. Jin Ja-gang had already seen Relentless Dagger’s throwing technique before.

Jin Ja-gang immediately hid behind a tree. Relentless Dagger threw his dagger with internal energy.

Thunk!

The dagger embedded itself into the thick tree trunk all the way to the handle. Even Jin Ja-gang, who was hiding, was startled by its force.

Gritting his teeth, Relentless Dagger shouted:

“Come out, you brat!”

It was a nonsensical demand. Jin Ja-gang didn’t even bother to respond.

Instead, he took out a flint. He had found it among the miscellaneous items in Longlao’s book chest. He had already gathered dry underbrush into bundles.

Click, click.

Jin Ja-gang set fire to the dry underbrush with the flint.

The fire caught instantly. Jin Ja-gang threw the burning underbrush in all directions.

The bone-dry autumn grass ignited immediately.

“That, that brat has started a fire!”

Sa Heung-sam, Relentless Dagger, and the Extreme Poison Sect warriors turned pale.

The wind was blowing from Jin Ja-gang toward them.

Fire in front, poison behind.

If they stayed still, they would burn to death; if they fled, they would die from poison.

Smoke rose thickly and drifted toward the pursuit team with the wind. As the fire spread, the poison powder burned, making the smoke even more toxic.

“Cough, cough!”

The warriors coughed continuously.

“Cough! We can’t let him escape!”

Sa Heung-sam’s shout could be heard. But Jin Ja-gang had no intention of escaping. He had never planned to run away. Rather, his only thought was to kill them all.

Deciding to kill fourteen people, even if it was unavoidable, was not something that brought pleasure.

But Jin Ja-gang knew well that letting his guard down meant death. He had seen with his own eyes how quickly and cruelly Great Desert Saber and Relentless Dagger had killed. There was no room for carelessness in this situation.

Once started, he couldn’t leave any loose ends.

Jin Ja-gang was about to set fire to more underbrush to throw… when suddenly, a dark hand shot out through the smoke!

A bony, long-fingered, powerful hand grabbed Jin Ja-gang’s face from behind the tree. The grip was so strong that Jin Ja-gang’s nose was crushed, causing it to bleed.

“Aaargh!”

The hand lifted Jin Ja-gang high into the air.

“You little rat!”

It was Relentless Dagger, his body blackened and burned in several places. Black blood flowed from his mouth, suggesting he had been poisoned. He had endured using his internal energy and pushed through the fire.

“Urrrgh!”

Jin Ja-gang struggled and kicked at Relentless Dagger, but he didn’t budge at all.

Jin Ja-gang quickly tried to draw poisonous energy.

But Relentless Dagger was faster.

“You dare try to kill me?”

As Relentless Dagger tightened his grip, Jin Ja-gang’s nose and skull made cracking sounds.

“Aaargh!”

Jin Ja-gang was in so much pain that he could hardly think. He had been in the process of drawing poisonous energy, and the poison was now dripping from the torn Xiaochi acupoint in his little finger.

Below was burning underbrush.

Though completely unintentional, when the poison droplets touched the fire, the flames suddenly flared up intensely.

Whoosh!

A sulfurous smell filled the air as highly toxic smoke rose. It was even more poisonous than the sulfur fumes that constantly rose from the Mixed Spring Ground.

“I’ll crush your skull and kill—ugh!”

Relentless Dagger stopped mid-sentence.

His nose tingled, and he tasted something burning in his mouth.

By speaking, he had unwittingly inhaled the toxic sulfurous smoke. The poison in the smoke immediately penetrated the mucous membranes of his nose and mouth, rapidly absorbing into Relentless Dagger’s body.