Chapter 62

By now, the swelling on his face had subsided, revealing Jin Ja-gang’s original appearance.

Do Nam-gi recognized Jin Ja-gang. Fiddling with his nose, Do Nam-gi asked.

“You’re the guy who was dressed as a Shadow Bureau warrior and handed me a nameplate earlier, aren’t you?”

Jin Ja-gang nodded.

Do Nam-gi’s brow furrowed. Earlier, he had been dressed as a Shadow Bureau warrior, but now he was wearing Iron Umbrella Sect attire. That meant the original owners of these clothes were no longer of this world.

“And the six who haven’t returned yet, that’s your doing too?”

Jin Ja-gang nodded again.

Do Nam-gi asked once more.

“I’ve never seen you before. Which faction do you belong to?”

Jin Ja-gang tugged at the Iron Umbrella Sect attire he was wearing to show it.

“Iron Umbrella Sect.”

A murderous smile crept onto Do Nam-gi’s lips.

“This guy, you’re quite the joker, aren’t you? Do you even know what’s stuck in your shoulder? That’s a Joint-Breaking Needle.”

Jin Ja-gang pulled the needle from his shoulder. It was a long needle, about half a span in length, with a bluish tip.

“So this is a Joint-Breaking Needle…”

A strange emotion flickered in Jin Ja-gang’s eyes as he looked at the needle.

Drip.

Soon, hot blood streamed from Jin Ja-gang’s nose.

“When you’re hit by a Joint-Breaking Needle, every joint in your body melts away, and you die with your limbs flopping helplessly.”

Jin Ja-gang’s eyes lost focus, becoming hazy.

As Jin Ja-gang’s legs gave out and his body swayed, Do Nam-gi frowned.

“No, wait a minute. Why is the poison taking effect so quickly with this guy? Sniff. It’d be troublesome if he dies already.”

He needed to extract information about who was behind this, so he couldn’t just let him die. But crossing the floor covered in poison powder also felt risky.

“Tch.”

Do Nam-gi held his breath, summoned his internal energy, and thrust the tip of his iron umbrella into the ground before leaping. He intended to jump over the poison-covered floor.

But at that moment, Do Nam-gi’s eyes wavered. He suddenly realized something was wrong with his vision.

‘Visual Distortion!’

Objects appeared blurry, with flower-like specks flickering in his sight. His vision was impaired, making it impossible to see Jin Ja-gang clearly.

‘What? When did I get poisoned?’

Even in his urgency, Do Nam-gi hesitated for a moment.

Not being able to see properly was extremely dangerous. If he was attacked while landing, he’d be nearly defenseless.

But swinging his iron umbrella recklessly wasn’t an option either. If Jin Ja-gang’s head got smashed by a random strike, he wouldn’t be able to uncover who was behind this.

‘Tch!’

But what kind of counterattack could Jin Ja-gang, who had been hit by a Joint-Breaking Needle, possibly muster?

Rather than smashing his head, it would be far more useful to keep him alive by administering an antidote and use him to catch the traitors within the Martial Arts Alliance.

With that thought, Do Nam-gi decided to take a slight risk and forgo an attack. Instead, he spun his body twice in mid-air, unfurling his iron umbrella to protect himself as he landed.

Do Nam-gi tightly shut his eyes and quickly channeled his internal energy to his eyes, trying to restore his vision.

And when he opened them.

Jin Ja-gang, who should have been in front of him, was nowhere to be seen.

‘Huh?’

At that moment, a burning pain shot through his back. Do Nam-gi turned his body and thrust his iron umbrella behind him.

BOOM!

The ground struck by the iron umbrella shattered, leaving a deep crater.

Fortunately, Jin Ja-gang had already rolled across the floor to dodge.

Due to the poison powder swirling in the air, Do Nam-gi couldn’t pursue Jin Ja-gang any further.

‘Tch!’

Do Nam-gi reached behind his back and pulled out the needle. It was none other than the Joint-Breaking Needle he had shot at Jin Ja-gang.

Forcing open his tear-filled, barely visible eyes, Do Nam-gi looked at Jin Ja-gang.

Just moments ago, when hit by the Joint-Breaking Needle, he had been bleeding profusely from his nose, but now he seemed completely fine. Even after rolling through the poison powder he had scattered himself and inhaling a large amount of it, he appeared unaffected.

‘What is this guy?’

In contrast, Do Nam-gi was holding his breath due to the poison powder, making it increasingly difficult to breathe. On top of that, having been struck by the Joint-Breaking Needle, he urgently needed to take an antidote.

‘Why is this guy unaffected?’

No matter how unimaginable a master he might be, there’s no way he could be fine after being directly hit by a Joint-Breaking Needle.

‘Is the needle defective?’

But it didn’t seem like a fake reaction when he bled from his nose and his limbs went limp earlier.

‘Ugh!’

A throbbing pain began to spread through Do Nam-gi’s back. Every joint in his body started to ache.

‘It’s not defective!’

Growing desperate, Do Nam-gi opened a small cap on the handle of his iron umbrella and tried to take the pill that popped out. But at that moment, Jin Ja-gang sprinkled more poison powder.

If he took the pill, he’d end up ingesting the poison powder along with it.

In a fit of rage, Do Nam-gi swung his iron umbrella to create a gust of wind and push the poison powder away, but his breathing grew increasingly labored.

Holding his breath could only last so long; using internal energy without breathing made it harder to endure.

‘Damn it!’

This young thug, who seemed to be the culprit, didn’t appear to possess any remarkable martial skills. And yet, he was causing so much trouble!

Do Nam-gi quickly scanned his surroundings.

The warriors standing back were coughing while watching the situation unfold. Since he had told them to stay back, they were merely observing. He wanted to shout for them to attack, but with the poison powder swirling everywhere, that was impossible!

Because Jin Ja-gang kept sprinkling poison powder, the warriors were actually moving further away from Do Nam-gi.

‘Those idiots!’

Do Nam-gi squeezed out the last of his breath and unfurled his iron umbrella. He pressed a mechanism on the handle to detach the head of the umbrella and threw it at Jin Ja-gang. The tip of the umbrella’s shaft was sharply honed and coated with poison.

Whirrr!

The round head of the iron umbrella spun like a top as it flew toward Jin Ja-gang. Jin Ja-gang hurriedly rolled across the ground.

CRASH!

The flying iron umbrella sliced halfway through a pillar behind him before embedding itself.

In that moment, Do Nam-gi swallowed the antidote for the Joint-Breaking Needle and took a short breath. Though he inhaled some poison powder, he judged it better than succumbing to the effects of the needle.

‘Phew! Done!’

As his breathing somewhat returned, the circulation of his internal energy became much smoother. Now he felt ready to fight properly, and just as Do Nam-gi took a step toward Jin Ja-gang…

THUD!

Suddenly, his legs tangled, and he crashed headfirst into the ground.

His head struck the floor and split open, blood flowing hotly.

“Uh… uh…”

He tried to stand, but his body wouldn’t obey.

“Uh… uh… uh…”

His body was paralyzed by the poison!

Unable to turn his head or move his body, Do Nam-gi could only breathe.

Out of habit, he sniffed through his nose, and each time he did, the poison powder on the ground was sucked into his nose and mouth.

Breathing became increasingly painful, and his mind grew hazy.

Jin Ja-gang spoke to the fallen Do Nam-gi.

“Since yesterday, I’ve noticed you have a habit of fiddling with your nose.”

‘Huh?’

“I applied a small amount of Dansa’s venom to it. In small doses, it causes visual distortion and hallucinations.”

Do Nam-gi, trying to process what Jin Ja-gang was saying, suddenly realized.

‘Damn it. The nameplate!’

It seemed the nameplate handed to him earlier had been coated with poison.

‘Visual distortion and hallucinations, you say? Then why is my body paralyzed?’

The visual distortion could be explained by unknowingly touching his nose with the poisoned hand from the nameplate, but there was no reason for his body to be paralyzed. He had even taken the antidote for the Joint-Breaking Needle.

“Curious about what you’ve been poisoned with?”

Do Nam-gi glared at Jin Ja-gang with blurry vision.

At this point, Do Nam-gi was on the brink of death. Naturally, if he was going to die, he wanted to at least know why.

But Jin Ja-gang looked down at Do Nam-gi and said the exact opposite of what he was thinking.

“Well, you might not be curious.”

‘Huh? No, I’m curious! I’m curious, damn it!’

Without waiting for Do Nam-gi’s response, Jin Ja-gang dumped the remaining poison powder onto his face.

Do Nam-gi, who had been about to speak, had his mouth filled with poison powder, choking him. A burning pain seared through his throat. Yet, more than the pain, Jin Ja-gang’s words were so absurd that they drove him even madder.

“Urk, urk! This, this b*st*rd… mocking people…!”

Do Nam-gi, unable to even flail due to his paralyzed body, spat blood foam from his mouth and died.

Jin Ja-gang confirmed Do Nam-gi’s death and let out a low sigh.

He kept relying on the emergency poison of Kunlun Sulfur Jade at critical moments. With so little of the poison left in his dantian, he needed to be more cautious, but facing opponents who also used poison made it far from easy.

Looking at the iron umbrella that had sliced halfway through a thick pillar of the house, it was clear that Do Nam-gi’s martial skills were by no means low.

Yet, Do Nam-gi hadn’t even been able to properly use his martial arts before being taken down. This was because Jin Ja-gang had scattered poison powder everywhere.

That’s what made poison so terrifying.

It could kill opponents far stronger than oneself.

‘But I still have a long way to go.’

Facing such danger every time, no matter how many lives he had, it wouldn’t be enough.

“Ugh.”

Jin Ja-gang let out a groan. Due to the effects of the Joint-Breaking Needle, every joint in his limbs ached.

But he endured the pain and turned his attention to the remaining warriors. Since Do Nam-gi had shouted with internal energy earlier, there was a high chance that nearby poison sect warriors had heard it.

He needed to kill the remaining warriors as quickly as possible and leave the area.

“Argh!”

Suddenly, an Iron Umbrella Sect warrior screamed and raised his iron umbrella.

Pssht!

A long needle fired from the iron umbrella struck Jin Ja-gang in the abdomen.

Jin Ja-gang staggered and grimaced.

But he didn’t collapse.

The Iron Umbrella Sect warrior who had fired the Joint-Breaking Needle shouted in desperation.

“Die! Just die already!”

Jin Ja-gang stood upright and glared at the Iron Umbrella Sect warrior. Then, he pulled the Joint-Breaking Needle from his abdomen.

Seeing Jin Ja-gang, who had been hit by the Joint-Breaking Needle yet showed no signs of poisoning and remained fine, the Iron Umbrella Sect warriors felt their strength drain away.

Thud.

Their legs gave out, and they collapsed to the ground, coughing and vomiting blood.

The Iron Umbrella Sect warriors had been terrified since witnessing Jin Ja-gang kill Do Nam-gi, a skilled expert.

An opponent unaffected even by the Joint-Breaking Needle!

Wasn’t this like the legendary immunity to all poisons from tales?

Jin Ja-gang picked up the iron umbrella that the deceased Do Nam-gi had been holding. Since the head of the umbrella had been detached, only the sharp, pointed shaft remained.

Holding it, he walked toward the Iron Umbrella Sect warriors.

The Iron Umbrella Sect warriors, coughing violently, could only look at Jin Ja-gang with fearful eyes.

“P-please…”

Jin Ja-gang cut off the words coming from the Iron Umbrella Sect warrior’s mouth without listening further.

“I hope there’s no one here who still thinks they can survive.”

The Iron Umbrella Sect warriors froze at Jin Ja-gang’s murderous response.

At that moment, the sound of hurried footsteps approached from a distance, growing closer.

Jin Ja-gang’s brow furrowed.

But he didn’t stop his actions.

As Jin Ja-gang raised the umbrella shaft, the eyes of the Iron Umbrella Sect warriors filled with terror.