Chapter 86

Whether it was because he had sprained his ankle earlier or because he lacked energy, the young man was limping even as he used a carrying pole for support.

Kang Gyu disliked the young man for that reason alone, but he was more concerned about the inn, which was now messy and filled with foul odors.

“Aish.”

Kang Gyu frowned and clicked his tongue in displeasure.

The warriors began to clean up the chaotic inn.

Chicken droppings and urine were splattered everywhere.

It was an unexpected midnight cleaning session.

They could have brought in workers to help, but Kang Gyu forbade it.

They had rented the entire inn for safety reasons, and they couldn’t allow outsiders in for something like this.

So the warriors had no choice but to clean without complaint.

It was where they would be sleeping anyway, as there weren’t enough rooms at the inn.

But beyond the cleaning, an unexpected problem arose…

“In all my years, I’ve never experienced such a wretched thing. Aish, did I eat bad luck for breakfast? Where did they find such troublemakers? Ptui, ptui.”

The person cursing in the middle of the night was none other than the innkeeper.

Because of the chaos the chickens had caused, all the dishes were broken and the tables were stained.

All the chopsticks had to be thrown away too. The chopstick container on the table had been knocked over, scattering chopsticks across the floor. They were all trampled, broken, and soiled with chicken droppings and urine, rendering them completely unusable.

Hundreds of perfectly good chopsticks had become useless in an instant.

Setting aside the loss of dishes and chopsticks, the immediate problem was that they had nothing to use for breakfast the next morning.

Moreover, where could he find new tableware in the middle of the night?

With no choice, he was making his way to the market to look for pottery shops, but they were all closed.

“Ahhhh.”

What would happen if he couldn’t serve breakfast because of the lack of dishes and chopsticks?

He trembled at the thought of what Iron Umbrella Sect might do to him. He even considered running away. But he couldn’t do that, thinking of the cook and the servants still at the inn.

“This is driving me crazy, truly.”

Just then, he saw someone approaching with an A-frame carrier.

Limp, limp.

The innkeeper immediately recognized him.

“Oh, it’s you?”

It was the young man who had caused the chicken incident.

The young man put down his carrier and bowed his head to the innkeeper.

“I’m truly sorry about earlier.”

“Haa, apologizing now won’t fix anything. All the items…”

“I thought you might need these…”

The young man took a sack from his carrier and placed it in front of the innkeeper.

“Hmm? What’s this?”

When the innkeeper opened the sack, he found dishes, chopsticks, tablecloths, and other tableware inside.

The young man said bashfully,

“Since it was my fault, I thought it only right that I compensate you.”

“But how could you afford…?”

However, the innkeeper was in no position to refuse.

“Thank you. It was your fault, but you’ve saved me from a great deal of trouble. Come by when you have time. I’ll treat you to a drink.”

“No need. Ah… and this too.”

The young man also handed over some rice cakes wrapped in paper.

“These are made with my family’s secret recipe. They contain good medicinal ingredients. I feel sorry for everyone at the inn… They’ll be resting tomorrow, so please share these with them when they leave.”

“You didn’t have to do this. Thank you.”

The young man bowed and quickly disappeared. The innkeeper muttered as he watched the young man’s retreating figure.

“What a polite young man, rare these days. I haven’t seen his face before, so he must be from out of town. I hope he does well for himself.”

Having overcome the crisis thanks to the young man, the innkeeper breathed a sigh of relief.

When the innkeeper returned to the inn, he woke up the cook and the servants, shared the rice cakes the young man had given them, and they all slept soundly.

* * *

The warriors of Iron Umbrella Sect spent the night amid unpleasant odors.

Because there weren’t enough rooms at the inn, many warriors had to sleep on the first floor where chicken droppings were scattered. However, apart from a few complaining of headaches from the smell, nothing unusual happened.

The cook began preparing breakfast early in the morning. He kneaded dough and boiled noodles.

Kang Gyu was on edge because of the previous night’s incident.

Even when the noodles were served, he didn’t eat right away but waited a moment.

Then he dipped his silver hairpin into the steaming bowl.

He confirmed that there was nothing unusual about the silver hairpin.

The Iron Umbrella Sect warriors and the two experts from Poison Valley, who had been watching Kang Gyu, breathed sighs of relief.

When Kang Gyu nodded, the warriors finally took new chopsticks from the container and began to eat.

After finishing their breakfast of noodles, the Iron Umbrella Sect warriors promptly departed from Hehe Inn.

With all thirty of them leaving at once, the inn suddenly became empty.

Once the Iron Umbrella Sect warriors were out of sight, the innkeeper finally spat toward the door.

“Aish, ptui! Don’t ever come back.”

They had driven away his other guests, occupied the inn for days, and only paid half the fee.

He couldn’t afford to tangle with martial artists, especially Iron Umbrella Sect, which controlled the surrounding area, so he couldn’t even ask for the full payment.

Moreover, because they were a sect that used poison, it was unsettling that they had stayed at his inn. If rumors spread that a poison sect had stayed there, customers would avoid the place.

The innkeeper spat once more in the direction the Iron Umbrella Sect had gone, then went back inside and closed the door.

With rumors of the poison sect’s visit and the strong smell of chicken droppings, he doubted any customers would come anyway. He would have to close for a while to clean and reorganize.

Another thorough cleaning was needed.

* * *

Jin Ja-gang confirmed that the Iron Umbrella Sect warriors were noisily eating breakfast before he left the area.

Since his pace was slow, he needed to go ahead and wait at a suitable location for the poison to take effect.

The poisoning had been successful.

Ironically, Kang Gyu’s suspicious nature had actually helped with the poisoning.

Because Kang Gyu checked everything so meticulously, the Iron Umbrella Sect warriors never suspected Jin Ja-gang’s poison.

They would have no idea how they were poisoned or when it happened.

It was something so trivial, so ordinary, that anyone would overlook it.

‘If you don’t realize you’ve been poisoned by noon, none of you will survive today.’

Jin Ja-gang quickened his pace.

***

Lunchtime arrived.

The thirty regular warriors of Iron Umbrella Sect sat by the roadside, each eating a ball of rice they had ordered from the inn.

Kang Gyu and the two experts from Poison Valley, being faster, had gone ahead to have lunch in a nearby village.

However, some of the warriors eating rice didn’t look well.

“Ugh, why does my stomach feel so queasy?”

“I’ve even lost my appetite.”

“I should have learned lightness skill to follow the sect leader.”

The warriors’ leader, Division Head Yeom Jo, urged the others:

“Just eat it even if you’re not hungry. We need to get moving quickly. You know you’ll be in trouble if the sect leader returns and finds us here.”

The warriors grumbled as they chewed the lightly salted rice balls.

Then one of them stood up, rubbing his stomach.

“My stomach feels strange.”

“Where are you going?”

“Urgh, I need to… you know.”

As one warrior clutched his stomach and headed for the bushes by the road, several others stood up as if on cue.

“What’s wrong with all of you?”

“Well… my stomach…”

Soon, loud noises came from the bushes, and the warriors emerged with grimacing faces.

“Damn, did we eat something bad?”

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m passing bloody stools.”

“Did you dream about getting beaten by your wife in your sleep?”

Some laughed heartily.

But the laughter didn’t last long.

Other warriors began feeling unwell too.

“Damn it, I’m hurting too.”

“Why does it feel like my intestines are being torn apart?”

“Was the rice we just ate spoiled? It smelled fine though.”

More and more warriors complained of pain.

At first, Yeom Jo thought they were just making excuses. But then he too began feeling stomach pains!

“This won’t do. Let’s rest a bit.”

Eventually, they all had to squat by the roadside to rest.

But their condition didn’t improve at all. When they tried to walk, their stomachs hurt so much they couldn’t move.

They tried internal injury medicine and other remedies, but nothing helped.

The warriors were sweating profusely.

“Ugh, this is unbearable.”

All they could do was curl up, clutching their stomachs.

“D-Division Head. This… doesn’t seem normal.”

A warrior with a contorted face spoke to Yeom Jo, who was also gritting his teeth in pain and sweating heavily.

“Can anyone move? We need to call a doctor!”

Yeom Jo forced himself to shout, but everyone shook their heads. There was a village with a doctor about half an hour’s walk back in the direction they had come from. But getting there was the problem.

“I was fine earlier, why is this happening now?”

“Urgh… urgh.”

Groans of pain came from all around.

They couldn’t move, but they couldn’t just wait like this for the sect leader to return.

More and more warriors were crawling to the bushes to relieve themselves of bloody stools. Many couldn’t even stand and had to crawl on all fours.

“Argh!”

“I’m… I’m dying.”

“Why does it hurt so much!”

The Iron Umbrella Sect warriors had no idea why they were in such pain.

As they were stuck in this predicament, they spotted a traveler passing by on the road ahead.

A warrior who noticed the traveler shouted:

“You there! Please come here!”

The traveler heard the call and turned toward them.

The warriors’ faces brightened when the traveler approached.

“We’re saved… huh?”

The warriors’ eyes widened when they saw the traveler’s face.

The traveler was none other than the young man they had seen at Hehe Inn-the one who had caused the chicken commotion and earned a scolding from the sect leader.

Why was this young man here?

“Y-you, why are you here?”

But perhaps it was fortunate to see a familiar face.

“This is perfect timing. Go and call a doctor for us!”

The young man seemed not to understand the situation and approached the warriors without saying anything.

Then he began examining them one by one. He looked at their faces, checked their eyes, and felt their pulses.

The warriors, irritated, hurled insults at the young man.

“Are you a doctor? Can you tell just by looking?”

“Hurry up and bring a proper doctor!”

But the young man just blinked and continued looking around at the warriors.

The angry warriors shouted:

“This b*st*rd was clueless at the inn, and he’s clueless here too!”

“If you don’t want to die, go get a doctor while we’re still asking nicely!”

The young man asked:

“You want me to bring a doctor?”

“Yes! Can’t you see? Bring a doctor, a doctor!”

The young man asked again with an expressionless face:

“Why should I?”

“Does this b*st*rd really want to die!”

The warriors were furious, but the young man was their only hope, so all they could do was yell at him.

Suddenly, one warrior vomited blood.

Splash!

The young man asked:

“You want me to call a doctor?”

“Yes! Can’t you see? Go get a doctor, a doctor!”

The young man asked again with an expressionless face:

“Why should I?”

“Does this b*st*rd really want to die!”

The warriors were furious, but the young man was their only hope, so all they could do was yell at him.

Suddenly, one warrior vomited blood.

Splash!