Chapter 59

The old man stepped into the office. Inside, a robust middle-aged warrior with sharp, piercing eyes stood waiting.

Despite the sword-like aura emanating from the middle-aged warrior, the old man maintained his smiling expression, leaning on his crutches tucked under his arms as he offered a fist-and-palm salute.

“It’s been a while. Ah, I heard you were recently promoted from the White Tiger Vanguard Corps to the head of the Azure Dragon Great Sword Pavilion? Though it’s late, congratulations. Your rise is remarkably swift.”

However, the middle-aged warrior looked at the old man as if he were a mere insect, frowning and turning his head to gaze out the window.

“I told you not to keep coming here.”

“Heh heh heh.”

The old man’s smiling face flashed with a glint in his single eye.

“Baek Li, or rather, Pavilion Head Baek Li. At last, that guy has shown himself.”

Yet Baek Li-jung showed no particular reaction. He merely furrowed his brow deeper.

“I’ll take a seat. As you can see, my legs aren’t what they used to be.”

Without waiting for permission, the old man sat at the table and poured himself some tea.

“You must have thought my words were lies, but it’s been proven that I wasn’t wrong.”

The old man held up a small note to Baek Li-jung. When Baek Li-jung extended his hand with an annoyed air, the note seemed to be sucked into his grasp as if by magic.

Baek Li-jung read the note handed to him by the old man.

The content was brief.

Tomorrow, Stone Forest Gang annihilated.

However, those few words carried immense weight.

Firstly, it meant there was someone bold enough to wipe out a faction affiliated with the Martial Arts Alliance in today’s world. Secondly, it confirmed that what the old man had been insisting on all along was true.

The old man muttered to himself with a satisfied air.

“He took the bait hook, line, and sinker. I was truly worried he wouldn’t bite.”

Baek Li-jung spoke gruffly.

“That was eight years ago, wasn’t it?”

“Exactly. It’s been eight years since he was trapped in that mine shaft. And yet, he survived and ultimately devoured the Stone Forest Gang.”

Baek Li-jung showed little reaction, but the old man was completely elated, continuing to speak with a laughing face.

“Of course, the Stone Forest Gang was already reduced to mere dregs. I was the one who instigated the most greedy and incompetent fool, Jo Yang, to take the leader’s seat, and I also eliminated anyone who showed even a hint of competence beforehand.”

Baek Li-jung smirked mockingly.

“And right after, you took all their elixirs, didn’t you?”

“Ahh, that Jo Yang fellow said he only needed money, so I merely took what wasn’t worth money.”

The old man grinned.

“Anyway, thanks to how easily the Stone Forest Gang was dealt with… he must be feeling an intense thirst now.”

Baek Li-jung looked annoyed but showed interest in that statement.

“Thirst?”

“I know him. I know him well. Compared to the years he waited, this revenge must have felt too easy. For someone of his skill, it was probably like eating cold porridge. He’ll think the sacrifice was insufficient. His body must be burning with desire. He won’t be able to bear it unless he takes his next revenge soon.”

The old man let out a hearty laugh.

“Indeed, those who crawl out of hell’s abyss can’t believe they’ve escaped hell unless they face utter despair even in reality.”

Baek Li-jung cut him off.

“Enough nonsense. Get to the point.”

“I’ll be heading to Jianshui. I need a proper position, not just a nominal title like non-executive advisor to the Poison Control Bureau.”

Baek Li-jung waved his hand dismissively. Among the various plaques hanging on the wall, one flew toward the old man. However, just as the old man reached out to catch it, the plaque fell to the floor.

The old man’s expression stiffened slightly, but he bent down to pick up the plaque without complaint. The plaque was coated in silver foil and even had a silver thread attached.

“It’s a silver plaque, granting the same authority as an investigator from the Jiangxi Province main headquarters.”

“I’ll accept it with gratitude.”

“Don’t mess this up.”

Despite the threatening tone, the old man didn’t respond immediately.

Instead, he leaned on his crutches and slowly stood up.

As he left the room, he remarked casually over his shoulder.

“Pavilion Head, you may not understand me now. But when the day comes that I present you with a great gift, you’ll want to share the world with me.”

The old man paused at the door, reaching out to open it, but stopped.

Crack!

Without any warning or detectable energy, the door handle bore the imprint of a hand and shattered.

The old man’s face hardened. If he had grasped the handle, it might not have been the handle but his hand that shattered.

It was an utterly ruthless hidden force.

The old man stopped and turned his head.

Baek Li-jung was glaring at him with wide, tiger-like eyes.

“Watch that mouth of yours, wherever you are.”

Even though Baek Li-jung, who was at least twenty or thirty years younger, spoke informally to him, the old man, Mang Ryo, didn’t seem to mind and smiled broadly.

“I’ll keep Pavilion Head’s words in mind. No matter what anyone says, aren’t we comrades on the same boat?”

***

Read only at nineheavens.org

Translated by Nine Heavens!

https://discord.gg/XC9DTsTQ9Z

***

Clop, clop.

Mang Ryo left the Martial Arts Alliance branch in Huguang Province and headed toward Jianshui in Yunnan.

The distance to Jianshui was roughly 1,200 li.

Riding a horse, it would take two or three days to arrive.

‘Heh heh heh.’

Laughter escaped him.

Thinking of Jin Ja-gang, or rather, imagining Jin Ja-gang suffering and moving within his grasp, filled him with joy. Just the thought made his heart race. It was enough to make him forget the humiliation he’d received from Baek Li-jung before departing.

He had waited eight years.

Jin Ja-gang could never imagine how arduously Mang Ryo had waited during those eight years.

How much he had struggled to restrain himself from digging into the mine shaft with his bare hands just to meet him!

How torturous it had been to play the role of a sanctimonious gentleman in the Martial Arts Alliance!

But enduring all of that had been for a day like today.

Moreover, he hadn’t merely been waiting idly. Mang Ryo had tirelessly trained himself.

In front of others, he acted like a feeble old man relegated to the back room, but in reality, he had cut down on sleep to practice relentlessly.

Thanks to that, he was now far stronger than when he was the chief elder of the Extreme Poison Sect. Though still lacking compared to the elite masters of the prestigious orthodox factions in the Martial Arts Alliance’s central headquarters, he had reached a level where he could take pride in his skills.

Lying on firewood and tasting gall.

Gnashing teeth and rotting heart.

No words could fully describe Mang Ryo’s past eight years.

Which is precisely why he couldn’t kill Jin Ja-gang easily. He absolutely wouldn’t grant him an ordinary, peaceful death.

Cutting off his limbs, blinding his eyes, and deafening his ears wouldn’t be enough to satisfy him.

That guy must die writhing in pain and despair worse than hell itself.

It had to be that way.

Only then would the eight years of waiting feel worthwhile!

Mang Ryo bared his teeth in a vicious smile.

“While you lived comfortably in that mine shaft, I survived in this filthy, ugly martial world with the resolve to carve my own bones. You must not disappoint me!”

Of course, at the very least, he wouldn’t be completely disappointed. Jin Ja-gang had proven his resilience by annihilating the Stone Forest Gang as soon as he emerged from the mine shaft.

That’s why Mang Ryo was looking forward to Jin Ja-gang’s exploits.

“Hyah!”

Mang Ryo spurred his horse onward.

* * *

A few days later, Mang Ryo arrived at the village where the Stone Forest Gang’s manor was located.

In front of the Stone Forest Gang’s manor, warriors from three of Yunnan’s poison sects were already standing guard.

“You’ve worked hard.”

Mang Ryo displayed the silver plaque symbolizing his status as an investigator of the Martial Arts Alliance.

Even the poison sects, now affiliated with the Martial Arts Alliance, had to adhere to its rules.

The warriors glanced at each other before stepping aside.

Mang Ryo took his first steps, passing by a charred pillar.

Already, traces of Jin Ja-gang, who had reappeared after eight years, were evident everywhere.

At the entrance of the manor, now reduced to ashes, countless blackened remains were scattered about. Anyone could tell they were human corpses. Dozens of human bodies had been burned to death, clustered near the entrance.

Just looking at them stirred excitement within him.

How exactly had Jin Ja-gang killed them?

Mang Ryo wandered around, savoring Jin Ja-gang’s prowess.

Unless one looked closely, it was hard to notice, but most of the corpses bore a single hole each.

There were marks of being pierced by something like a skewer between the neck bone and the ribs. Of the roughly eighty corpses, at least forty or more showed such traces.

Mang Ryo quickly found the weapon nearby.

It was a long iron skewer.

Comparing the thickness to the holes in the bones, it matched perfectly. It was the weapon once used by a man named Mo Gae.

Mang Ryo smiled.

‘He’s grown enough to stab people to death. He’s actively using everything at his disposal.’

In the past, being a child, Jin Ja-gang’s physical strength was weak. Thus, he relied primarily on poison rather than direct confrontation. But now, having grown a bit, he was utilizing physical strength as well.

However, Mang Ryo realized there was another reason Jin Ja-gang resorted to physical force.

‘The main poison he used wasn’t as lethal as expected?’

The poison Jin Ja-gang used to wield was an extremely deadly arsenic-based toxin. Its potency was strong enough to wipe out the entire Extreme Poison Sect. If he still possessed such a poison, there would have been no need to go through the trouble of stabbing people to death with a skewer.

‘Since the effect of his main poison was weak, he finished them off with his own hands. Still a meticulous guy.’

So, what poison did he use?

Mang Ryo scanned the surroundings. He noticed silvery clumps scattered here and there.

Bending down, he touched one of the clumps with his hand. Rubbing it on his finger, the silver droplet fell off like water.

It was mercury.

‘Traces from burning cinnabar.’

It wasn’t strange to find traces of burned cinnabar in a faction that dealt with cinnabar. However, the sheer quantity and the fact that it was scattered all over the battlefield was unusual.

“Did the Stone Forest Gang use cinnabar poison on him?”

Mang Ryo pondered for a moment before taking out a small gourd. He then began sprinkling the liquid inside it around the area.

Sizzle.

Near the face of one corpse, the liquid suddenly bubbled and emitted a vapor.

The liquid Mang Ryo had sprinkled was lye, which reacts to arsenic poison.

The reaction was particularly strong near the bodies lying in a fan-shaped pattern in front of two jars placed at the main entrance.

“Oh?”

Mang Ryo, with an intrigued expression, poured the lye into the inside of the jars.

Sizzle!

An even stronger vapor reaction occurred. Mang Ryo held his breath, rolled the inhaled toxic vapor in his mouth, and spat it out as saliva.

“Ptoo.”

Even in that brief moment, his mouth felt numb and tingly.

Unfazed, Mang Ryo examined the two jars one by one and laughed. One of the jars was filled with silvery droplets.

“Ha ha ha! One with cinnabar, the other with arsenic. So this was the main cause of the Stone Forest Gang’s annihilation.”

When arsenic is used, it intensifies the reaction of cinnabar poison. Even if the Stone Forest Gang had antidotes for cinnabar poison, it would have been difficult to prevent the poisoning.

That meant these jars must have been brought by Jin Ja-gang. The way the corpses surrounded the jars made that clear.

“Truly audacious, this guy. Destroying a faction that produces cinnabar poison with cinnabar poison itself?”

It was absurd, but that’s precisely why it was so like Jin Ja-gang.

No, perhaps only Jin Ja-gang could have conceived such an idea?

Mang Ryo examined the area around the jars further and caught the scent of mugwort. He also found remnants of burned tea leaves.

“Cinnabar and arsenic, mugwort and tea leaves…”

Mang Ryo closed his eyes and pictured Jin Ja-gang’s actions in his mind.

Jin Ja-gang confronts the Stone Forest Gang head-on, spreading poison.

The Stone Forest Gang warriors are poisoned and become incapacitated. They try to charge, but the smoke from burning mugwort stings their eyes, preventing them from approaching recklessly.

The Stone Forest Gang warriors hurriedly take antidotes, but the smoke is mixed with arsenic, and even tea leaves, the base for green tea, are blended in, making detoxification difficult.

Jin Ja-gang hunts down the incapacitated Stone Forest Gang warriors one by one, stabbing them with a skewer. Among them, one warrior lunges at him, but Jin Ja-gang severs his shoulder entirely.

Mang Ryo opened his eyes.

He could vividly see how Jin Ja-gang had dealt with the Stone Forest Gang.

“Impressive. Beyond my expectations.”

A sigh of admiration escaped Mang Ryo’s lips.