Chapter 338

Jin Ja-gang suddenly felt a strange sensation.

“Can you know about floods in advance?”

“Yes. If it snows a lot in Qinghai, there will be great floods that year. When the accumulated snow melts in spring, the Yellow River and Yangtze River will overflow greatly during the rainy season. I heard it snowed much more than usual this year. It seems like almost twice as much.”

“That affects even Shandong.”

“The Yellow River goes through northern Sichuan to Shandong. Shaanxi and Henan, which are on that path, also suffer a lot of damage.”

“What about the Yangtze River?”

“The Yangtze River will be similar. The Yangtze River goes through southern Sichuan to Zhejiang. I heard the damage is severe in Huguang, Fujian, Liaoning, and Hangzhou in Zhejiang too.”

Woon-jeong said, recalling past events.

“When floods occur, many disaster victims are created, so our Qingcheng always goes out on relief missions. That’s why we always pay attention to Qinghai’s winter weather.”

Floods were closely related to plagues.

Jin Ja-gang wondered if Iron Umbrella Sect’s purchase of plague medicines might be related to floods. But Iron Umbrella Sect had disappeared three years ago. The idea that they had predicted this year’s floods and stockpiled medicines was too far-fetched no matter how he thought about it.

As Jin Ja-gang became lost in thought, Woon-jeong continued talking as if to himself.

“Ah, come to think of it, I wonder how they’ll handle the relief mission this year. Since this is the fourth year, the masters would have known floods would come. But since we left Qingcheng Mountain, it’s awkward to gather in Sichuan again…”

The moment Jin Ja-gang heard Woon-jeong’s words, he snapped to attention.

“What did you just say?”

“I said I’m curious how they’ll handle the relief mission.”

“I’m talking about what you said about the masters already knowing.”

Woon-jeong looked at him as if wondering why that was curious.

“Ah, originally great floods occur periodically every four years. So the masters would have known that a great flood would come this year.”

Every four years?

Jin Ja-gang took out the medicinal material import/export records from his chest and checked them again.

“Seasonal epidemic!”

Some were medicines used for four-season epidemics, but most were medicines used for seasonal epidemics!

Four-season epidemics were diseases that spread throughout the year, while seasonal epidemics were diseases that occurred according to seasons.

Seasonal epidemics mainly arose from flood damage.

This meant Iron Umbrella Sect knew about the floods every four years and prepared in advance.

But…

As he had considered before, Iron Umbrella Sect’s capabilities had limits in monopolizing medicinal materials. And if floods occurred but epidemics didn’t spread severely, how would they recover their investment?

Then.

Jin Ja-gang felt as if he had been struck on the back of the head.

Summer [暑].

Water [水].

The two-character message Tang Ha-ran had sent from within Tang family.

Jin Ja-gang felt goosebumps rise along his spine.

Summer and water.

Flood!

Why hadn’t he thought of that!

Tang Ha-ran had warned Jin Ja-gang about this summer’s floods. It was a warning that something would happen taking advantage of the floods.

And there would undoubtedly be plagues accompanying it.

Iron Umbrella Sect might be one of the five great poison sects in Yunnan, but from Central Plains’ perspective, it was just a small frontier sect. It was impossible that Iron Umbrella Sect knew everything the Tang family was plotting.

However, the Tang family, or the poison sects as a whole, were plotting something, and they could have received hints that great plagues would spread at that time.

Seeing that Northern Heaven Unorthodox Sects had stepped forward to clean up after Yunnan poison sects, it was possible to speculate that not only Iron Umbrella Sect but other five great poison sects also shared similar information.

This might apply not just to Yunnan but to all poison sects in Central Plains.

With the destruction of the medicine sects that had dealt with herbs and medicinal materials, their business was absorbed by poison sects. Other martial world sects had no way of knowing how the flow of herbs and medicinal materials worked.

Only poison sects knew.

‘Was that why they attacked all medicine sects ten years ago?’

If Jin Ja-gang’s thoughts were correct… other poison sects in Central Plains would have taken the same actions as Yunnan poison sects.

If other poison sects had also stockpiled medicinal materials in preparation for epidemics…

The conclusion became clear.

Now what Jin Ja-gang had to do was investigate other poison sects to confirm.

Jin Ja-gang took out a paper-wrapped bundle from his sleeve.

“Taoist Woon-jeong, thank you. Thanks to you, I learned something important.”

“I don’t know what it is, but I’m bewildered that I helped.”

Jin Ja-gang handed the bundle to Woon-jeong.

“Please eat this too.”

“Ah! I was just wanting to eat more, so thank you.”

Woon-jeong immediately put the candied fruit in his mouth and chewed, then looked at Jin Ja-gang as if thinking of something.

“But why did you buy two?”

* * *

The third day.

It was the promised day for Soul Seizing Thread’s repair.

Jin Ja-gang went to find Beon-woo. Beon-woo looked somewhat gaunt but his eyes were clear.

“You look well.”

Beon-woo grinned.

“I slept 12-hours and worked 12-hours each day. I worked in the best physical condition. I guarantee you’ll be satisfied.”

Beon-woo handed over Soul Seizing Thread wrapped in clean cloth. The thickness of the rings had been reduced to half of what they were before. Instead, it was made into two pieces.

“The left one is White Thread. The right one is Black Thread.”

Jin Ja-gang put the White Thread and Black Thread rings on his left and right hands respectively.

Then he separated the left White Thread ring.

Click.

The ring split in half and fell downward, then dangled in the air.

A thin thread connecting it was faintly visible, just like before.

This was White Thread.

After pulling up White Thread and reassembling it, he separated Black Thread.

Jin Ja-gang’s eyes showed interest. Surprisingly, Black Thread’s thread was almost invisible. The separated ring seemed to float in the air.

Beon-woo threw a thick iron nail into the air. Jin Ja-gang wrapped the iron nail with Black Thread’s ring.

Since Black Thread’s thread wasn’t visible, the iron nail seemed to float in the air again. Jin Ja-gang injected internal energy and flicked his wrist.

Slice!

The iron nail was cut and fell in pieces.

“Amazing. The cutting feel is much better than before.”

“If White Thread and Black Thread get tangled, White Thread will break and Black Thread will remain.”

“Did you make it that way on purpose?”

“Others will think both will break if they get tangled. You need at least one secret for survival, don’t you?”

“Thank you.”

“It’s too early for thanks.”

Beon-woo confidently handed over two short staffs about one and a half spans long.

“These are…”

“Hold the very bottom and strike the two together. Be careful not to let your fingers touch the middle.”

Jin Ja-gang held the very bottom and struck the upper parts of the two short staffs together.

Click!

At that moment, with a clang! sound, blades that had been folded in the short staffs sprang out. Instantly the short staffs transformed into sickles. The sickle blades were blackish and curved in overall gentle curves, with the inner sides forged to a blue sharpness that was indescribably sharp.

“Folding Sickle Blades. As the name suggests, you can fold them to use as short staffs or extend the blades to use as sickles when urgent. And there are small holes carved in the bottom where you can hook Soul Seizing Thread rings to throw them.”

Jin Ja-gang tried fitting Soul Seizing Thread rings under the Folding Sickle Blade handles. They fit perfectly.

“I could use them like chain sickles.”

“Wouldn’t it be more frightening since the chains aren’t visible?”

Beon-u’s eyes shone with confidence. It was as if he was proudly saying, “You can’t help but like these weapons, can you?”

Mechanical weapons made by a craftsman’s hands.

Above all, the handles fit perfectly in his hands. In common terms, they stuck to his hands. Even if blood got on them and he sweated, they didn’t seem likely to slip.

Jin Ja-gang couldn’t help but admire them.

“They’re the best.”

Beon-woo chuckled.

“I knew it! But they’re not free, so you don’t need to be too grateful. The Soul Seizing White-Black Thread and Folding Sickle Blades are well made, but even with those, it won’t be easy to face the Soul Seizing Hall Master.”

Once again, Jin Ja-gang had to pay for items by killing someone.

Perhaps that was Jin Ja-gang’s unavoidable path as an Asura that he had to take.

Jin Ja-gang drank the tea Beon-u offered and chatted for a while.

Beon-woo told Jin Ja-gang a few more things about poison sects.

“Don’t be complacent just because you defeated two of the Six Poison Cliques. The Six Poison Cliques make requests of each other, and if a request fails, other organizations take over the request and collect payment. They will definitely target you again. Leper Mound and Funeral Parlor had great military power, but the other three are more powerful if anything, not less.”

Tang family was difficult for Jin Ja-gang to act against immediately. Tang family wasn’t just one estate but Tang family’s clan village and town. The structure itself was close to a fortress.

Outside the village, even the families of vassal houses resided there, numbering in the thousands.

Jin Ja-gang alone had no way to handle it.

“What remain are Pleasure Heaven, Coal Mine Workers, and Physician Bell Healers.”

Beon-woo continued.

“Among them, there’s one that might interest you. That’s Physician Bell Healers.”

“There are physicians among the Six Poison Cliques?”

“It’s an organization made up of wandering martial world physicians.”

Wandering martial world physicians referred to doctors who roamed the martial world. They had their own secret remedies and possessed certain martial arts. They were known to wander without special purpose, practicing medicine and selling drugs to make a living.

But unlike neighborhood doctors, since they lived traveling through the harsh martial world, they didn’t always use their medical skills for people’s benefit. Sometimes they used poison instead of medicine, and didn’t hesitate to do things against human ethics to improve their medical skills, sometimes being chased by orthodox sect heroes.

But what was more surprising was that these wandering martial world physicians had originally been much closer to medicine sects as orthodox colleagues. Naturally, this was because they needed medicinal materials to use medicines.

“But Physician Bell Healers were the first to betray medicine sects and join poison sects when the fight between poison sects and medicine sects broke out. And they instantly rose to the Six Poison Cliques.”

Physician Bell Healers, traitors to medicine sects.

Beon-woo said.

“If you want to find out about past events, it would be good to look for Physician Bell Healers.”

“I heard that wandering martial world physicians are everywhere in the martial world, and also nowhere.”

This meant they were hard to find because they wandered around so much.

“Originally they were a cell organization, but they established an estate when they joined poison sects.”

“Where is that place?”

“From here in Wuhan, going north on the road to Henan Province.”

Henan!

According to Woon-jeong, it was a place that suffered severe flood damage when the Yellow River overflowed.

If there was an estate there, Physician Bell Healers would inevitably leave traces related to it in some way.

However, Shaolin Temple was in Henan Province.

It was a burden Jin Ja-gang couldn’t avoid.

But Woon-jeong had to go to Shaolin Temple anyway, and compared to Pleasure Heaven and Coal Mine Workers whose hideouts were unknown, Physician Bell Healers were much closer. Moreover, Wuhan was an area expected to suffer flood damage, so he could grasp the situation clearly.

Above all, always being ambushed didn’t suit Jin Ja-gang’s personality. It was time to strike first at the Six Poison Cliques and give them a warning.

“I have to go.”

“Be careful.”

Jin Ja-gang once again promised revenge to Beon-woo and left.

Now the path he had to walk seemed to stretch out clearly before his eyes.