Chapter 57

Jin Ja-gang picked up the sword dropped by the fallen warriors. Gripping the hilt tightly, he approached the staggering fighters of the Stone Forest Gang.

Without the slightest hesitation or falter, he slashed at the necks of the disoriented warriors.

Though it was practically his first time wielding a sword, the years spent hammering rocks in the mine shaft had forged a grip strength surpassing that of most grown men.

“Argh!”

“Urk!”

The warriors collapsed, clutching their necks as blood streamed out.

However, this act had an unintended negative effect on Jin Ja-gang.

Jo Yang, the leader of the Stone Forest Gang, observed Jin Ja-gang’s swordplay and quickly discerned his level of skill.

‘He’s a beginner! He doesn’t know how to wield a sword properly. His martial arts are weak.’

There was no form or technique to his strikes; they were wild and erratic. The trajectory of his sword was inconsistent, and the wounds he inflicted varied in depth and width. He couldn’t even kill with a single blow.

A true expert would never wield a sword like that!

At that moment, Jo Yang’s eyes met those of one of the hall masters, who seemed to share his realization.

Jo Yang signaled to him with a glance.

This hall master, named Mo Gae, was among the top three in skill within the Stone Forest Gang. He wielded a long skewer over a foot in length as his weapon, naturally coated with cinnabar poison.

Whenever the skewer clashed with an opponent’s weapon, the cinnabar poison would disperse into the air, unknowingly poisoning the enemy. Due to the poison, the opponent’s movements would gradually slow, ultimately leading to their death at Mo Gae’s hands.

Though he rarely needed it anymore, Mo Gae still kept a detoxifying pill made from Smilax glabra in his mouth as a precaution before charging at Jin Ja-gang.

Jin Ja-gang, who had been cutting down warriors one by one, suddenly felt a chilling killing intent prickling his skin and looked up.

Mo Gae was rushing toward him at high speed. Jin Ja-gang hurriedly stepped back and began fanning the smoke. Mo Gae turned his head to avoid getting smoke in his eyes and held his breath.

If he could hold his breath just once, he would gain enough time to pierce Jin Ja-gang’s head with his skewer.

Mo Gae leapt into the air, spinning his body to disperse the smoke in all directions, and in an instant, soared above Jin Ja-gang’s head.

“Die!”

From mid-air, Mo Gae aimed directly at Jin Ja-gang’s head. His trembling hand missed the exact center of the crown, but surely any part of the head would do. As long as the iron skewer struck anywhere on the head, unless it was made of steel, it would be fatal.

However, Jin Ja-gang had seen all of Mo Gae’s attack coming.

Jin Ja-gang had undoubtedly grown stronger-both mentally and physically.

During the eight tedious years of breaking rocks in the mine shaft, the martial arts techniques from the medicinal sects that he had repeatedly memorized and visualized in his mind came flooding back.

Jin Ja-gang executed a footwork technique, swaying his body. It was a basic footwork of the medicinal sects, but due to his limp, his movement shifted in a direction Mo Gae hadn’t anticipated at all.

“Huh?”

Mo Gae’s eyes widened in surprise.

Slash!

The skewer grazed past Jin Ja-gang’s head, tearing a piece of flesh from his shoulder.

Yet, Jin Ja-gang didn’t panic. He took a deep breath, drawing external energy through his Baihui acupoint into his body.

A small amount of internal energy flowed through his limited meridians.

In this situation, the technique he could use was the sword art of the Bosam Gate.

‘Great Exhalation Roar!’

Though the internal energy was minimal, by unleashing it with the method of Great Exhalation Roar, he could produce a powerful burst of energy in a single moment, akin to the Shaolin Temple’s “One Breath Completion” technique.

Having practiced this method hundreds, even thousands of times while chiseling in the mine shaft, Jin Ja-gang could execute it swiftly.

A considerable force surged into Jin Ja-gang’s grip and shoulder as he tightly held the sword.

Jin Ja-gang swung the sword downward from above with full force.

Mo Gae, caught off guard by the unexpected speed of Jin Ja-gang’s seemingly clumsy swordplay, could only flinch in panic.

Though Mo Gae tried to twist his body mid-air, he was too slow. Living a life of debauchery with daily drinking and currently suffering from advanced cinnabar poisoning, his movements were far more sluggish than he realized.

Slash!

Jin Ja-gang’s sword, imbued with internal energy, sliced through Mo Gae’s right ear and cleaved into his shoulder.

“Argh!”

Mo Gae failed to land properly and tumbled to the ground. His right shoulder, still attached to his arm, was severed diagonally and twitched grotesquely.

For Jin Ja-gang, witnessing the power of a martial technique fueled by internal energy for the first time, it was a shocking sight even to himself.

Even with his immature sword qi, he had severed a man’s arm from the shoulder, bone and all.

The overwhelming power and brutal scene caused his hand to tremble involuntarily.

‘Have I… become this strong?’

Mo Gae didn’t miss the sight of Jin Ja-gang’s trembling hand. Trembling hands were a common mistake among beginners who had never cut down a person before.

“Urgh! It hurts! S-save me!”

Mo Gae screamed like a common thug, rolling on the ground. Meanwhile, with his left hand, he gripped the skewer and hid it under his body, planning to attack when Jin Ja-gang let his guard down.

As expected, Jin Ja-gang didn’t move. For Mo Gae, piercing the unmoving Jin Ja-gang’s abdomen would be child’s play.

‘This brat!’

Mo Gae’s eyes glinted as he reversed his grip on the skewer, preparing to thrust upward.

But at that moment, his eyes met Jin Ja-gang’s.

Jin Ja-gang was staring straight down at him.

“Huh?”

Mo Gae flinched, feeling as if his intentions had been exposed.

Mo Gae knew too little about Jin Ja-gang. Despite his delicate appearance, Jin Ja-gang was a battle-hardened veteran who had faced countless life-and-death crises.

Without a shred of hesitation, Jin Ja-gang brought the sword down.

Thwack!

The sword embedded itself in Mo Gae’s head. Mo Gae’s eyes gradually lost their light, turning ashen.

With even the skilled Mo Gae defeated, the remaining warriors of the Stone Forest Gang lost their will to fight in an instant.

Jin Ja-gang calmly resumed fanning the smoke. The toxic haze continued to drift toward the Stone Forest Gang members.

“Cough, cough!”

“That, that b*st*rd!”

Of the eighty members, half were on the verge of death, and the other half could barely stand due to the effects of the poison. Only about ten, including Leader Jo Yang and the hall masters, were still capable of moving.

Fear and pain were evident on their faces.

Jo Yang gritted his teeth.

“Who… who the hell are you?”

Jin Ja-gang, not concealing his killing intent, replied:

“Didn’t you say it yourself earlier? A descendant of the medicinal sects.”

“W-what? Don’t make me laugh! That’s nonsense!”

“Is it? Whether you believe it or not doesn’t matter to me. I’m only here to make you pay for your sins.”

“What did we do wrong?! Cough, cough!”

“Hundred Flower Valley.”

“…?”

“Medicine King Sect. Bosam Gate. Sanghwang Valley. Silkworm Cultivation Sect…”

Jin Ja-gang listed the names of the sects one by one.

“Cheondo Sect, Guseon Sect, Il-i Valley, Sajang Sect…”

The faces of Jo Yang and the Stone Forest Gang hall masters turned pale as they listened.

Jin Ja-gang was reciting the names of the medicinal sects that had been trapped in the mine shaft eight years ago.

After naming over twenty sects, Jin Ja-gang paused for a moment.

“There must be more. Besides these. In the mine shaft where I was, these were all who were there.”

Jin Ja-gang gazed at the sky briefly before slowly shifting his eyes to Jo Yang. Jo Yang bit his lip under the weight of Jin Ja-gang’s furious stare. Jin Ja-gang’s eyes held an emotion that someone of his apparent age should not possess.

Jin Ja-gang asked again:

“Why did the poison sects attack the medicinal sects?”

Jo Yang hid his trembling hands. Whether it was due to cinnabar poisoning or fear of Jin Ja-gang, he couldn’t tell. But he instinctively knew that surviving today against this young man would be difficult.

So, there was no need to answer obediently.

Since he was likely to die anyway, he decided to put on a brave front.

“Ke ke ke. Curious, are you? Too bad. You might kill me, but you’ll never hear what you want from my mouth.”

One of the hall masters jumped forward.

“I’ll tell you, just spare me…”

Jo Yang grabbed the hall master by the hair. Then, pulling him back, he twisted his neck.

Crack.

The hall master’s body went limp as his neck snapped.

After killing the traitor, Jo Yang glared at Jin Ja-gang with a smirk.

Smirk.

However, Jo Yang’s smirk quickly froze.

Jin Ja-gang was looking back at him with the exact same smirk.

“I don’t care if you don’t answer. Everyone involved will die.”

A chill ran down Jo Yang’s spine.

“This crazy, insane b*st*rd… You, alone, plan to attack the poison sects… the entire poison faction?”

Jin Ja-gang didn’t respond, only stared. Yet, that silence somehow conveyed an unshakable certainty that he would indeed hunt down everyone involved.

“You’ve touched the Stone Forest Gang, a faction affiliated with not just the Yunnan poison sects but also the Martial Arts Alliance. The Yunnan poison sects and the Martial Arts Alliance won’t let you live. Do you think you can survive unscathed?”

“How would I know? I don’t even know if I’ll live until then.”

“What?”

“But before that.”

Jin Ja-gang erased the smirk from his face and fixed a piercing gaze on Jo Yang and the few remaining hall masters and warriors.

“The Stone Forest Gang disappears today.”

“This ridiculous brat…”

Even as he spoke, more people collapsed, coughing. Only six or seven remained standing. At this rate, total annihilation was just a matter of time.

One of the hall masters, trembling, asked:

“If we sincerely apologize… will you spare us?”

Jin Ja-gang muttered to himself as if speaking to no one.

“Torturing, killing, and burying people alive-if an apology is enough to be forgiven… that’s how it works, right?”

Looking at the hall masters, Jin Ja-gang countered:

“I’ll kill you and apologize afterward. Will you forgive me then?”

The hall masters’ faces twisted in dismay.

If they died, what would Jin Ja-gang’s apology mean? What use was an apology after death?

“If your apology is sincere, shouldn’t it at least be worth that much?”

His tone was resolute, leaving no room for compromise. Jo Yang and the hall masters felt their vision darken.

But at that moment.

Suddenly, Jin Ja-gang staggered.

‘Huh?’

Jo Yang’s eyes widened.

He noticed a wound on Jin Ja-gang’s shoulder. It was the injury inflicted by Mo Gae’s skewer. As everyone knew, the skewer was coated with poison.

‘A chance!’

This might be their last opportunity.

Jo Yang shouted loudly:

“He’s been poisoned by Mo Gae’s toxin!”

At Jo Yang’s words, the remaining members rallied their strength.

Jo Yang charged first.

“Poisoned and still acting cocky, you brat! Everyone, attack!”

The remaining Stone Forest Gang members followed behind Jo Yang.

However, even as they charged recklessly after Jo Yang, they felt something was off.

Mo Gae’s skewer was coated with cinnabar poison.

Yet, Jin Ja-gang was poisoned by cinnabar?

Right now, the jars were still emitting cinnabar poison smoke, and behind him was a gourd filled with antidote, completely unaffected?

Someone shouted.

“S-stop!”

But it was too late.

Jin Ja-gang drew out a lethal dose of Kunlun Sulfur Jade Poison to his little finger and dropped it into the jar.

Then, with vigorous fanning, he directed the smoke toward Jo Yang and the charging Stone Forest Gang members.

Whoosh!

The moment the smoke touched Jo Yang, his eyes blurred, his vision faded, and his breath caught in his throat.

“Tr-tricked…!”

But it was all or nothing now. Jo Yang pressed on with his attack. He pulled out a poison pouch from his chest, spread it open, and thrust both palms forward.

Bang!

He unleashed the yellow powder from the pouch with a double palm strike, sending it toward Jin Ja-gang.

But that, too, was cinnabar poison. Cinnabar poison had no effect on Jin Ja-gang. Moreover, Jo Yang, already deeply poisoned by cinnabar, had completely lost his sense of distance.

Jo Yang’s double palm strike missed Jin Ja-gang entirely, striking only empty air.

In that moment, Jin Ja-gang circled behind Jo Yang and delivered a powerful slash to his back.

“Urgh!”

Jo Yang arched his back like a bow and collapsed.

Jin Ja-gang drew another breath of energy through his Baihui acupoint and executed a footwork technique. Though internal energy only flowed into one healthy leg, it was enough to propel him off the ground.

A dagger thrown by one of the Stone Forest Gang hall masters grazed past Jin Ja-gang’s body and embedded itself in the ground.

Jin Ja-gang cut down the remaining hall masters and warriors one by one, who were staggering from both cinnabar and Kunlun Sulfur Jade Poison.

The ground was littered with the poisoned and the dead.

Jin Ja-gang, noticing his sword’s edge had dulled and chipped, picked up Mo Gae’s skewer and began walking around, stabbing each survivor to death.