Chapter 90

When the chickens were running wild, Kang Gyu had definitely checked if there was poison on them.

There had been no problem.

If he hadn’t put poison powder on the chickens, then why had he deliberately made them run wild?

If not then, when had he poisoned them? The suspicious Kang Gyu had checked for poison at every moment, so there shouldn’t have been any opportunity.

“How on earth…?”

As Yang Tae looked at Jin Ja-gang, who was chewing on a quince, with suspicious eyes, Jin Ja-gang picked out the seeds, stuck the chopstick in the campfire to burn it, and asked:

“Did you enjoy your breakfast?”

“The noodles?”

Yang Tae recalled the noodles they had eaten for breakfast.

But even then, as soon as Kang Gyu received the bowl, he checked if there was poison in the broth.

There had been no problem.

After that, they had simply pulled chopsticks from the container on the table and eaten the noodles…

But now Yang Tae saw Jin Ja-gang roasting a quince on a long chopstick over the campfire.

This overlapped with the scenes of chickens flapping their wings and flying around, and the tables being messed up with white chicken droppings.

And how Yang Tae had climbed onto the table, picked up the container of chopsticks, and thrown them to kill the chickens.

“Surely at that time…”

Yang Tae tried to recall. He remembered that the chopsticks he had thrown had bamboo chopsticks with two lines of patterns on the head.

But when they ate noodles in the morning…

They were plain bamboo chopsticks.

Just like the ones Jin Ja-gang was using to roast the quince…

Yang Tae stared at the chopsticks in Jin Ja-gang’s hand.

Feeling Yang Tae’s gaze, Jin Ja-gang picked up the chopsticks and waved them.

“…!”

Yang Tae’s face contorted.

Jin Ja-gang had confirmed what he was thinking.

‘It was the chopsticks!’

Not something else, but chopsticks! Just chopsticks!

Of course, with the chickens defecating everywhere the night before, the chopsticks on the table couldn’t have remained clean.

The innkeeper had replaced the chopsticks afterward, and those replacement chopsticks had poison on them.

So when Kang Gyu checked if there was poison in the broth, there was naturally no problem! The poison was on the chopsticks they used after the check.

“This… this…!”

Yang Tae was dumbfounded.

Meanwhile, Jin Ja-gang had finished eating the quince and stuck the chopstick in the campfire. The chopstick burned along with the branches.

Grind.

Yang Tae ground his teeth so hard they might break.

The poisoning was getting worse, feeling like a hole had been punched in his stomach.

He could feel something hot flowing from his behind. If blood was coming from his anus, the situation was extremely serious.

Beads of sweat formed on Yang Tae’s forehead.

He couldn’t hold on any longer.

“Sect… Leader.”

Yang Tae called to Kang Gyu, keeping his voice as low as possible. Of course, he hoped Jin Ja-gang wouldn’t hear, but no such luck.

Jin Ja-gang was staring directly at Yang Tae. His expression said, “Do as you please.”

“Sect Leader… I think you need to finish your energy circulation and get up now.”

Kang Gyu gave no response.

Yang Tae’s stomach began to hurt even more. The pain was much more intense than before. It felt like his intestines were not just twisting but being torn apart.

Sweat dripped from his face.

“Sect Leader…!”

Yang Tae glanced sideways and raised his voice, but Kang Gyu showed no reaction. Or rather, there was a reaction.

Pop!

Blood burst from Kang Gyu’s nose.

“Sect Leader!”

He could accept his own condition, but why was the Sect Leader, who had been circulating energy, affected!

If he had suffered internal injuries during energy circulation, it could be fatal. He was almost at the point of entering a state of qi deviation!

Flash!

Kang Gyu opened his eyes.

Blood had pooled in his eyes, and when he opened them, bloody water flowed out.

With blood flowing from his nose, eyes, and mouth, he was clearly in an abnormal state.

Kang Gyu, with blood vessels bulging in his neck, shouted:

“Stop him-!”

What? What was he supposed to stop?

Yang Tae instinctively threw the poison needles he had between his fingers at Jin Ja-gang. But his movements were slow, and his hands lacked strength. The needles went far wide of their mark.

For a master of hidden weapons like Yang Tae, this was truly lamentable.

Jin Ja-gang kicked the campfire.

Poof!

Ashes and embers flew into Yang Tae’s face. He hurriedly brushed off his body as it caught fire.

But more than the flames, something else was the problem. White foam immediately bubbled up from Yang Tae’s mouth after inhaling the ashes.

“Kkuk!”

Yang Tae trembled while standing.

Splash…! Blood gushed from his anus as if bursting, instantly soaking his pants.

Yang Tae fell forward, hitting his head on the ground.

Yang Tae died convulsing, never knowing why Kang Gyu had told him to stop Jin Ja-gang. It was a futile death where he couldn’t even properly use his specialty, hidden weapons.

No, perhaps it was natural to die like this after being poisoned by a toxin made by Shadow Bureau, which specialized in assassination. Shadow Bureau’s poisons were that powerful.

Jin Ja-gang looked down at Yang Tae for a moment, then picked up a handful of ashes from the campfire and turned his gaze to Kang Gyu.

Limp, limp… He walked toward Kang Gyu, who was sitting cross-legged.

Jin Ja-gang stopped a couple of steps in front of Kang Gyu.

But Kang Gyu could not move and could only glare at Jin Ja-gang with bloodshot eyes.

“You cunning b*st*rd…”

Kang Gyu spat out the curse as if chewing his words.

It was a thousand regrets that he couldn’t warn Yang Tae because he was in the middle of energy circulation.

Jin Ja-gang had been up to something from the moment he started roasting the quince while talking about morality.

Kang Gyu, whose senses were heightened during energy circulation, quickly noticed Jin Ja-gang’s scheme. But Yang Tae, whose body was in terrible condition, hadn’t noticed.

The scent of the quince was too strong and interfered with concentration. That scent affected Kang Gyu during his energy circulation. It was maddening to have his mind scattered by the quince’s aroma when he needed to focus intensely to push out the deadly poison.

Moreover, the quince seeds contain poison. Not to mention, the chopsticks Jin Ja-gang burned were also coated with poison.

The poisonous smoke was carried by the wind.

In the end, Kang Gyu failed in his energy circulation and suffered internal injuries.

The poisoning worsened.

It felt like his stomach was filled with boiling hot water.

His intestines had completely dissolved.

So he couldn’t even stand up. The moment he stood, his intestines would pour out in chunks, causing instant death.

Like Yang Tae…

Kang Gyu looked up at Jin Ja-gang with wide eyes. Then suddenly, he saw the anger in Jin Ja-gang’s eyes.

The emotion of anger usually stems from grudges. It’s not an expression that someone acting on orders would show.

‘Does this guy have a reason to hold a grudge against us?’

With a sudden thought, Kang Gyu asked:

“Revenge… is it?”

Jin Ja-gang looked at Kang Gyu with surprise in his eyes.

“You people completed the Joint-Breaking Needle with the blood of the Medicine Sect. Now it’s time to pay the price for that blood.”

Kang Gyu, having received several warnings about the limping man, had already thought about this.

“I wondered who it was, but you’re connected to what happened with the Extreme Poison Sect eight years ago.”

“That’s right.”

Kang Gyu suddenly cursed.

“Son of a b*tch…”

But that wasn’t directed at Jin Ja-gang.

It was because Mang Ryo came to mind.

Mang Ryo definitely knew.

Yet he only sent word to Iron Umbrella Sect to be careful because someone was targeting them.

If he had given a proper warning from the beginning, they wouldn’t have been caught like this!

No…

Actually, thinking about it, it’s not entirely Mang Ryo’s fault.

Mang Ryo had said eight years ago.

That a ‘limping kid’ had annihilated the Extreme Poison Sect.

It was they who didn’t believe him. After all, Mang Ryo eventually retracted his statement.

“Kuk kuk.”

Suddenly, laughter came out.

It was absurd.

The limping man in front of him now would have been an even younger child back then.

Who would believe that a child could annihilate the Extreme Poison Sect? And as the price for not believing that story, three of Yunnan’s Five Great Poison Sects… no, including his Iron Umbrella Sect, four were about to disappear.

“Keke… kekeke!”

This was truly something he wouldn’t believe even if he were reborn and heard the same story again.

“How amusing.”

At those words, Jin Ja-gang’s eyes turned fierce.

“Did you say amusing?”

Kang Gyu coughed up a mouthful of blood, and without wiping it away, said:

“The world doesn’t go as planned, so it’s amusing. I…”

At that moment, Jin Ja-gang threw the ashes he had been holding into Kang Gyu’s face.

Splash!

Since he was speaking, Kang Gyu’s mouth was open, and he ended up swallowing a lot of ashes.

“Kuk!”

Kang Gyu’s eyes widened. He looked at Jin Ja-gang with an expression of disbelief.

“Kuk kuk! What, what is this…!”

“Did you say it was amusing?”

Jin Ja-gang was so angry that his hair seemed to be rising.

Jin Ja-gang spoke as if grinding his teeth:

“Does this look amusing to you? Do I look like I’m amused?”

“Kuk, kuk. Kuk.”

Foam was already flowing from Kang Gyu’s mouth, which was covered in ashes. His vitality was gradually fading.

“Guruk, then… aren’t you having fun? Guruk…”

Jin Ja-gang pulled out a chopstick and stabbed Kang Gyu’s nape.

Thwack!

The bamboo chopstick, without proper internal energy behind it, couldn’t pierce Kang Gyu’s nape and broke against the bone.

Kang Gyu flinched slightly but didn’t seem to care much. Making a phlegmy sound, he instead mocked Jin Ja-gang.

“Guruk… lacking in internal energy… and martial arts are mediocre… To think that Yunnan’s Four Great Poison Sects would be destroyed by such a person. Guruk, guruk…”

The gurgling sound was almost like laughter. It really sounded like he was laughing because it was amusing.

Jin Ja-gang raised the chopstick to stab Kang Gyu again but stopped.

Kang Gyu was going to die anyway. This was just venting anger. Hadn’t he told himself many times not to be consumed by emotion?

“Huwup.”

Jin Ja-gang took a deep breath and lowered his arm.

Kang Gyu laughed again.

“Yes… guruk, at least you know how to control your emotions.”

Jin Ja-gang looked down at Kang Gyu and asked:

“If you have any last words, I’ll listen.”

“Gururuk, since I’m going to die anyway…”

Blood foam continued to flow from his mouth, making it difficult for Kang Gyu even to breathe. But Kang Gyu asked Jin Ja-gang:

“Aren’t you… kuk, kruk… curious why we attacked the Medicine Sect?”

Jin Ja-gang answered flatly:

“I’m not curious. I will kill everyone involved.”

“Then you should be even more curious. Kruruk.”

Whether Jin Ja-gang listened or not, Kang Gyu continued:

“Because… uwak!”

Kang Gyu vomited blood severely. Chunks of dissolved intestines mixed with blood and foam came out.

Kang Gyu’s eyes grew dim.

With melting, drooping eyeballs, Kang Gyu looked at Jin Ja-gang and spoke in a fading voice, as if venting or lamenting:

“We also… had no choice…”

“No choice?”

Jin Ja-gang ground his teeth.

“Don’t talk nonsense. You had no choice but to torture innocent people and mock their deaths?”

But Kang Gyu smiled bitterly.

“Innocent… you say…”

Kang Gyu slowly lowered his head and died sitting upright. Blood continued to flow from Kang Gyu’s mouth.