Chapter 75

The experts of the Shadow Bureau were dumbfounded, unable to find words.

It wasn’t that they were trying to fight, nor had they said anything or hurled insults. Jin Ja-gang had simply closed the door and walked out as if it were the most natural thing to do.

For a brief moment, their ability to process reality faltered, and they had to mentally retrace what had just happened.

“What… what was that?”

“What is that guy doing…?”

A few of the experts started to follow Jin Ja-gang outside but awkwardly stopped in their tracks.

The door.

The closed door.

Strangely, they couldn’t open the closed door. It was just a door that should open with a simple push, yet they couldn’t bring themselves to reach out for it.

It felt odd. An unsettling feeling washed over them, as if something terrible would happen the moment they approached the door to open it.

They couldn’t understand it. This was a simple door they had opened and closed dozens of times without a second thought.

All Jin Ja-gang had done was walk out and close the door behind him. Yet, they couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something more to it, something lurking there.

The experts of the Shadow Bureau felt intense psychological pressure. If Jin Ja-gang were an ordinary person, there would be no reason for them to feel such oppression.

This was the man who had infiltrated the heart of the Shadow Bureau’s stronghold with complete nonchalance, spread poison in unimaginable ways, and even allowed himself to be captured on purpose, deceiving and mocking every single member of the Shadow Bureau.

If someone like that had closed the door and left, wasn’t it only natural to assume there was something sinister about that closed door?

Moreover, their bodies were in no condition to function at even half their usual capacity due to the poison.

Because of this, the Shadow Bureau experts couldn’t rashly approach the door.

It was truly an absurd situation.

At that moment, the outside suddenly grew bright.

A burning smell filled the air, and smoke began to rise visibly.

Even without seeing what Jin Ja-gang was doing outside, it became clear.

“He’s setting a fire?”

The experts of the Shadow Bureau were outraged.

“Cruel and ruthless b*st*rd!”

“Does he intend to burn us alive?!”

One of them stepped forward with righteous indignation.

“I’ll clear the way!”

Though dressed as an ordinary farmer, the one who stepped up was among the top ten experts in the Shadow Bureau.

He charged toward the door as if he would smash it to pieces. However, he didn’t even manage to touch the door or its handle before collapsing.

Crash!

He tumbled to the ground in front of the door, as if struck by something.

“Urgh, ugh.”

Foaming at the mouth, he convulsed in agony.

The experts of the Shadow Bureau were horrified.

“As expected!”

There was indeed a trap at the door!

Seeing this, they became even more reluctant to approach the door.

If it weren’t for the smoke obscuring their vision, they might have noticed several needles embedded in the floor just in front of the door. Unfortunately, the smoke had already thickened, making it impossible to see.

Those were hidden weapons Jin Ja-gang had taken from the Shadow Bureau warriors he had killed one by one.

The flames grew fiercer, and the smoke became so thick that breathing became difficult. Guai Song could no longer sit idly and focus on recovering his internal energy.

Guai Song unfolded from his cross-legged position, stood up, and shouted.

“Break through the walls and get out!”

The experts of the Shadow Bureau summoned their internal energy.

“Don’t all go through one spot; scatter in different directions!”

The remaining experts split up and began breaking through the walls in various places.

Bang! Boom!

With continuous strikes of palm force and fists, the walls made of mud and wooden planks shattered, sending fragments flying amidst the flames.

The experts of the Shadow Bureau, enveloped in smoke, burst out of the building.

“Cough, cough!”

The smoke was so dense that visibility was nearly zero. Guai Song could only rely on sound to confirm whether the others had safely escaped.

Grit.

He ground his teeth.

From the sounds he heard, it seemed only about four had managed to escape unharmed.

The remaining forty or more were either succumbing to the poison, unable to move, suffocating in the smoke, or on the verge of being consumed by the flames.

Guai Song, in a fit of rage, slammed his fist down on the table in front of him.

Crash!

The table collapsed under the immense force of his internal energy-infused punch.

“Urghhh, you… I will never let you live peacefully!”

There were no sounds of fighting or commotion outside, indicating where the culprit had disappeared to.

Now it was his turn to get out. No matter how skilled a martial artist he was, he couldn’t survive without breathing.

But just as he took a few steps forward.

Sting.

A burning sensation flared at the back of his ankle, right above his heel, at the tendon.

Guai Song stopped walking and looked down.

There was Jin Ja-gang, lying prone at his feet, gripping a dagger.

Guai Song let out a hollow laugh.

“Hah… hahaha.”

But the laughter quickly ceased.

His expression morphed into that of a malevolent demon as he raised his foot.

“Youuuu!”

Boom!

His foot, charged with internal energy, smashed into the ground, sending fragments of stone and dirt flying as it embedded itself.

Jin Ja-gang rolled backward. Guai Song pursued, stomping the ground repeatedly with his foot. However, the tendon in his ankle, which had been barely holding on, completely snapped under the impact.

Guai Song’s ankle twisted along with it.

Crack.

Guai Song staggered and fell to his knees.

For whatever reason, kneeling like this was something that had almost never happened in his entire life.

Not only was his pride wounded, but he still couldn’t believe the situation he found himself in.

His kneeling felt as if it symbolized the downfall of the Shadow Bureau itself!

Guai Song roared.

“A nobody! A mere insect I could crush with a single finger dares to…!”

Jin Ja-gang’s shadowy figure faintly appeared before him.

“Do I seem laughable to you?”

Guai Song strained his eyes, barely able to see through the smoke and poison, and made out the outline of a person. It wasn’t just standing there; it seemed to be sitting on a chair, looking down at him.

“You wretch! A insignificant thing like you dares to mock me!”

“A insignificant thing like me is the one killing you. You should realize that.”

“You wretch! Youuuu!”

Guai Song could feel that he was dying.

A vicious poison was spreading from his ankle throughout his entire body. Poison, after all, could have a significant effect even with a mere graze, and this was a deep cut that had severed his tendon!

He tried to suppress it with his internal energy, but the poison was too potent, and he knew he wouldn’t be able to hold out for long.

Guai Song clenched his teeth and raised his head to look forward. Jin Ja-gang was silently watching him.

“Are you hoping I’ll apologize and repent for attacking the medicinal sects?”

Jin Ja-gang didn’t respond.

“Ke ke ke. You’d better not dream of such foolish thoughts. No matter how much you rampage, even if you torture me and cut me into hundreds of pieces, you’ll never hear such words from my mouth.”

Jin Ja-gang replied impassively.

“I never had such thoughts to begin with.”

“What?”

Guai Song frowned and asked.

“Then why are you standing there like that! Hoping I’ll apologize, are you…?”

“I’m waiting for you to die.”

Guai Song was rendered speechless.

“You… you…!”

As if pouring oil on a fire, Jin Ja-gang added.

“Even those who escaped outside will soon follow you. As of today, the Shadow Bureau is finished.”

“You wretch!”

Guai Song mustered every last ounce of his strength and slammed both hands into the ground.

Bang!

Using the recoil from that force as momentum, Guai Song launched himself forward, aiming a palm strike at the shadowy outline he had been seeing.

This attack from Guai Song, pouring out all his remaining strength while disregarding his life, was incredibly fast and fierce.

“Let’s die together!”

A desperate strike meant for mutual destruction!

Even if Jin Ja-gang had anticipated and prepared for it, this blow would have been nearly impossible to dodge.

Crash!

It struck precisely at the solar plexus, crushing through to the heart. Guai Song could clearly feel it through the sensation in his palm.

The figure that took Guai Song’s palm strike flew backward along with the chair, like a kite with a broken string.

“Cough, cough! How does it feel, you wretch! This is the price for acting arrogantly before me…”

“Is that so?”

Jin Ja-gang’s voice came from right beside the spot Guai Song had just attacked.

Guai Song was stunned.

“You…”

It wasn’t him he had attacked!

“Then who is that…?”

Jin Ja-gang answered coldly.

“How should I know?”

Against a master like Guai Song, Jin Ja-gang wouldn’t carelessly expose himself. Having already been struck by Guai Song once, Jin Ja-gang had used a fallen Shadow Bureau warrior as bait, positioning them in front as a decoy.

Having unleashed all his internal energy at once, Guai Song could no longer suppress the poison, and it spread rapidly, causing acute poisoning in an instant.

“Urgh.”

His mind grew hazy from the acute poisoning.

“Urghhh.”

Even so, Guai Song reached out toward Jin Ja-gang, trying to crawl forward.

Jin Ja-gang stabbed a dagger into the back of Guai Song’s hand.

Guai Song’s body twitched.

But there was no further reaction. Jin Ja-gang pulled out the dagger and slit Guai Song’s throat, ending his life.

Jin Ja-gang looked down at Guai Song’s corpse.

A shiver ran through his entire body.

To think that a master like Guai Song had fallen and died before him!

Eight years ago, when he swore to take revenge on Yunnan’s poison sects, he never imagined he could achieve something like this.

Yet, Jin Ja-gang had done it. He continued to do it.

Even with subpar martial skills and a crippled body, he had single-handedly erased three factions that once dominated Yunnan.

The Extreme Poison Sect, the Stone Forest Gang, and the Shadow Bureau.

Of course, he still needed to deal with the few survivors who had escaped the village hall to completely finish off the Shadow Bureau.

Jin Ja-gang steadied his breathing. The acrid smell of smoke and burning filled the village hall.

Even so, Jin Ja-gang didn’t feel particularly troubled by breathing. The heat of the flames touching his skin was also bearable, more or less.

All of this was thanks to the miraculous encounter at Sulfur Pool.

Jin Ja-gang exited the village hall, gripping his dagger tightly.

It was time to hunt down the surviving remnants of the Shadow Bureau.

* * *

Crackle, crackle.

The village hall, where most of the Shadow Bureau’s members had gathered, was engulfed in flames, spewing black smoke.

In Fumin, there was no longer any sign of human presence. Even the sentries who had been standing guard had mostly died or were dying after eating the shared Shaobing.

Jin Ja-gang scoured the village thoroughly, ensuring not a single person was left alive.

The remaining civilian houses and dwellings now stood empty, having lost their owners.

All of this had happened in just a single day.

Jin Ja-gang gazed at the center of the village.

The flames still burning in the village hall seemed almost like the screaming spirits of the Shadow Bureau’s fallen.

Looking at the scene, Jin Ja-gang muttered.

“Farewell. To hell with you.”

Now, only the Iron Umbrella Sect and Poison Valley remained.

But they, too, would soon meet the same fate as the Shadow Bureau.

They could not escape responsibility for attacking the medicinal sects and annihilating Hundred Flower Valley.

No matter what hardships lay ahead, Jin Ja-gang would become an Asura if necessary, dragging them all to hell.