Chapter 29

Dozens of minutes after landing on Miguel Island, Captain Pires secretly sent several sailors to get a small boat.

As requested, just big enough for two people.

Turan boarded the small boat with Armani, whose merman features were hidden by cloth wrapped around his entire body.

"The moon! How long has it been since I've seen this!"

Armani muttered looking at the full moon in the sky after boarding.

Even he didn't know how long he had been trapped in the pirate ship's hold.

No sunlight or moonlight entered the ship's hold.

He could only guess it had been a month or two based on the amount of food eaten and time spent sleeping.

"Huh? Looks like Sir Knight is going somewhere…"

"He said he has some business to attend to. He'll be back soon, so don't worry about it!"

Though several sailors were surprised to see Turan boarding the small boat with Armani, when Captain Pires cut them off, everyone soon lost interest.

They thought he surely wouldn't leave alone in such a tiny boat, unlike boarding another large sailing ship.

"More importantly, are preparations for landing complete?"

"Of course!"

"Good. Tonight, enjoy yourselves at taverns or wherever you like! Anyone not gathering tomorrow should be prepared for whipping!"

"Wow!"

Leaving behind the sailors' cheers following Captain Pires's orders, Turan connected the merman's arms and legs to the boat with chains he had prepared.

Armani complied quietly while asking as if confirming:

"You'll really release me if there's treasure there, right?"

"Yes."

"It's not my fault even if it turns out to be a useless item."

"I understand, so just guide us well."

Shortly after, the small boat carrying the two began advancing through the dark sea.

At first Turan used magic as if just moving the boat with force, but changed his approach partway through.

The key was designating the seawater around the boat rather than the boat itself as the target of force.

By pushing aside water in front while simultaneously pushing the boat with water behind and beside it, it took much less effort and the boat moved smoothly.

Actually trying it, moving such a small boat with magic wasn't bad.

Though it wouldn't be suitable for long-distance travel given various problems.

"But how do you plan to return without me? You won't be able to find the way."

"Are you worried about me?"

"No, I'm worried you won't release me because of that."

"Don't worry, I have something in mind."

Turan took out a small compass from his chest.

According to this item received from Captain Pires in advance, they were moving slightly south of west.

To return, they would need to head slightly north of east similarly.

Though there would be some error, he could look around within a radius of over ten kilometers with detection spells.

Well, if they still got lost… heading southwest continuously would eventually reach land.

Probably.

"I want to jump in…"

"Endure it."

Turan lightly scolded Armani who was looking down at the sea complainingly while focusing on the boat's movement.

After driving the small boat for what felt like an hour to an hour and a half.

Something gradually began appearing ahead.

An island that seemed uninhabited, incomparably smaller than Miguel Island where they had been earlier.

"Is that it?"

"Yes."

"Good, then wait a moment."

Before landing, Turan stopped the boat and used a detection spell while scooping up a handful of seawater.

Using smell as the sense, merfolk as the detection target.

Even after scooping water three or four times and smelling it with eyes closed, he sensed nothing.

Meaning at least he hadn't been tricked and led to a merfolk stronghold.

Watching Turan do this, Armani tilted his head.

"What are you doing?"

"Checking."

What had surprised Turan when first using detection spells underwater was the lack of usable senses.

Smell was meaningless since water would just make his nose run, and vision and hearing had much shorter range than on land due to water interference.

In contrast, this method of scooping water to smell made it hard to determine exact location but easy to confirm presence of targets.

Even now, changing detection targets to whales or sharks immediately produced strange smells.

Anyway, having confirmed safety there was no need to hesitate.

They stopped the boat at a suitable shore and went inland on the uninhabited island.

The merboy looked around as if searching here and there while speaking.

"I think it was somewhere around here…"

According to conversations over the past few days, this island was like Armani's secret villa.

Sometimes when life in the mer community – or mer kingdom in their words – felt too stifling, he would come up for walks?

During that, he happened to discover it in an undersea cave inside the island.

It was quite tragicomic that he got caught on pirates' fishing hooks not far into swimming back to report to his father the king.

"Found it! Here!"

Just then, Armani shouted pointing at a small pond.

"There?"

"Yes. We need to go inside… can you breathe underwater?"

"No."

Though Karmaine bloodline nobles might be able to breathe underwater, that ability wasn't granted to Turan.

"It's not too deep, right?"

"About a hundred meters."

"Alright, that should be doable. Wait here."

Turan tightly bound Armani to a nearby tree with chains from the boat.

The merboy who had been quietly waiting suddenly shouted.

"W-wait!"

"What?"

"What if you suffocate and die in there? Won't I starve to death here?"

"Let's hope that doesn't happen. For both our sakes."

After confirming perfect restraint, Turan stripped off all clothes except the guardian bracelet and underwear, then fastened the dagger to his belt.

Taking a deep breath until his slim stomach swelled, he dove into the pond.

First creating a thin membrane to keep water from touching his eyes to secure vision, then pulling his body through the water using the same technique as when driving the boat.

By feel, he could maintain this state easily for twenty to thirty minutes.

'Now then…'

Scanning the pond bottom, he soon saw a hole leading down.

That must be the cave connecting to the sea.

Though his ears ached slightly as he descended relying on water's help, it was quite bearable otherwise.

'Swimming isn't bad.'

He thought he should properly learn how to move in water when he had time.

Just mastering such techniques would greatly reduce magic power consumption for underwater movement.

Though he wasn't sure if he would need to enter water again.

After reaching the bottom and looking around, something came into view.

'Found it.'

Though pitch black without a point of light in the already dark night sea depths, darkness was no obstacle to Turan with Zahar bloodline.

A huge life form visible in the distance…

Though knowing it wasn't alive, the monster's form was enough to make knees tremble involuntarily.

'Is this the Great Sea Serpent?'

A snake several meters thick and nearly a hundred meters long lay dead coiled about.

So much time had passed that layers of green moss had accumulated, making it look like terrain features unless examined closely.

Moving slowly along its body, the head finally appeared.

With four horns protruding above and densely packed teeth in its wide-open mouth, its form was closer to a lizard.

And one being with a hand deeply embedded in the middle of its skull.

"Ah…"

Turan let out a gasp forgetting he was underwater, releasing bubbles.

Though appearing outwardly like an ordinary human male, he was covered in moss like the Great Sea Serpent.

But amazingly, except for his chest pierced by a broken fang, his body looked perfectly intact without any sign of decay or damage.

Though most of the armor he would have worn seemed to have rotted away unable to withstand time's passage.

He appeared about thirty years old outwardly and had blue hair as Armani said.

His wide-open eyes looked like they might move any moment except for lacking focus.

And… as Armani said, he looked remarkably like an ordinary human otherwise.

'Is this being truly of the Frea divine tribe?'

He considered trying an attack with magic power but soon abandoned the thought as too irreverent.

If truly a god that went without saying, and even if just a powerful magician, wasn't he someone who died fighting the Great Sea Serpent that was humanity's enemy?

As a descendant, he didn't want to abandon even minimal respect for ancestors.

'Come to think of it, why didn't this person, or being, become a death spirit?'

It was common sense that those with magic power become death spirits when they die.

Yet it was strange that neither of the two who killed each other underwater had become death spirits.

If someone had come first to absorb their magic power, surely they would have retrieved that strange item too.

Was it because they were truly divine beings? Or was there some other reason?

He tried absorption just in case but nothing came back.

If he had gained the power of such beings, he would have become several to dozens of times stronger instantly.

Putting questions aside, Turan firmly committed the man's face and appearance to memory.

Hair and eye color, facial features, color and shape of the almost completely crumbled armor fragments…

Later he could look for clues by searching if any gods in myths passed down in other regions were recorded with similar appearances.

After spending several minutes perfectly memorizing that appearance, he finally turned attention to his purpose here.

'Excuse me, but I'll borrow this, ancestor.'

Though this man's chances of being Turan's direct ancestor weren't high whether god or magician, Turan showed such respect before checking his waist.

The unidentified round metal barely hung from a half-rotted belt, gleaming as if it alone had avoided time's passage.

The question was whether he could take that item out.

Hadn't Armani said some unknown force pushed his body away when he tried to touch it?

But contrary to his words, the round metal simply allowed Turan's touch.

'Hm?'

Then, an alien sensation transmitted through his fingers.

It felt like something extending from the metal was searching for something inside Turan's body.

After several seconds, suddenly something clicked into place in his mind.

He could instantly sense that through that process just now, this item had become his possession.

'Does the item examine qualification to be its owner?'

Though half-doubting until just now, he was starting to think this might really be a holy relic.

There were quite a few traditions of great treasures choosing their owners.

After obtaining the item, Turan felt his breath running out and moved back toward where they came.

After swimming hard for about a minute until moonlight became visible, he felt something strange.

'This is…?'

Though only faint moonlight was visible above the surface, he could sense something was there near the pond's edge.

A strange sensation difficult to define with any of the five senses…

"Puha…"

"Did you find it? Did you?"

"For now."

While answering and catching his breath, Turan realized the identity of the sensation he had felt earlier was that merboy looking at him.

Not only that, but he could see something unidentified inside Armani's body that he saw directly.

A very faint, pale green light that seemed about to go out.

It was faintly spread through Armani's fin-like ears, gills at his neck, and what appeared to be his heart.

'What is that?'

The reason for this sudden phenomenon wasn't hard to guess.

This round metal still tightly gripped in his left hand…

It was clearly a phenomenon caused by something, whether holy relic or magical device.

"What?"

"No, nothing."

After coming onto land, Turan dispelled all moisture from his body and got dressed.

Then immediately put down the round metal.

'As expected, it was because of this.'

The moment he separated from the item, the light visible in Armani's body instantly disappeared and the sense of recognizing his presence could no longer be felt.

For now this item seemed to have two functions.

First was detecting the presence of nearby life forms, and second was detecting something inside life forms' bodies.

What that something was would need more learning to understand.

"Th-then now…?"

"Yes. I'll let you go. Leave."

With just a light gesture, the chains binding Armani came undone with a clank.

Despite being freed, the mer prince showed hesitation instead of immediately jumping into the water.

"Why?"

"N-no… I didn't expect to be released so easily."

"Thought I'd catch you again to sell after getting this?"

"To be honest, yes."

"I promised."

Though man-eating non-humans deserved death, he didn't particularly want to kill one claiming to have never eaten humans himself.

Moreover, if the other side had properly guided to the item without deception, responding accordingly was the moral view Turan learned from his mother.

Treat others as you wish to be treated.

"Th-thank you, kind demon. If we end up fighting humans later, I'll ask Father to leave you alone."

"Stop the nonsense."

Armani looked back several times before throwing himself into the pond where Turan had dived earlier.

With a splash of water, a small shark could be seen diving deep into the water.

It seems his claim of being mer royalty wasn't a lie.

Looking back now, he had been honest from start to finish.

'Well then… time to head back.'

Turan handled the round metal in his hand while walking toward where they had moored the boat.

Finding out what this item was would probably be quite interesting.

Chapter 29: Neither Kindness Nor Grudges Are Forgotten (1)

The next day, Dam Ho set out from the inn before dawn.

Neighhh!

Dark Demon, who had been alone in the stable, greeted him with a cheerful whinny. Dam Ho saddled the horse and led it outside.

Turfan was still shrouded in darkness.

Dam Ho took his bearings for a moment, then mounted.

Dark Demon ran as though seeking to release the frustration of its long confinement in the stable.

'You were cooped up too, weren't you? Just like me.'

Dam Ho understood the horse's heart.

It was a creature that had once roamed the vast plains at will, now trapped in a narrow stable. How stifled it must have felt!

Dark Demon became a black wind. Dam Ho merged with it as one.

The landscape rushed closer, then receded. Barren wastelands appeared, and the mountains that had seemed distant drew near at tremendous speed.

Dam Ho let Dark Demon run until it was spent. When the horse was weary, it would stop of its own accord.

Dam Ho surrendered himself to the horse and felt the wind.

It was the first time in twelve years he had felt warm light and wind. He wished to savor this moment.

Dam Ho forgot the passage of time.

After riding for an unknown duration, Dam Ho suddenly felt the horse's pace slow. Dark Demon had finally grown tired.

"Very well. Let us rest a while."

Dam Ho scanned his surroundings for a place to stop.

In the distance, a large boulder stood. Beneath it, shade was cast.

Dam Ho steered Dark Demon toward it.

The moment he drew near the boulder, Dam Ho frowned slightly. A faint, acrid scent of blood reached his nostrils.

As he drew closer, the scent intensified. Beneath the boulder's shadow, dozens of corpses lay scattered. Judging by their state of decay, some time had passed—the bodies already emitted a foul odor.

Dam Ho dismounted and approached the dead. The sight that unfolded before him was enough to turn one's stomach.

The corpses had been mutilated beyond recognition. Wounds gaped open here and there like the gills of fish.

Dam Ho examined one corpse's wounds carefully.

"They were played with."

Not a single wound was deep enough to kill.

Those who had killed them had slashed their bodies like a cat tormenting a mouse, then watched them die in agony.

The innkeeper's words suddenly came to mind.

'Bandits?'

Dam Ho moved to rise.

That these people had been killed by bandits was unfortunate, but it had nothing to do with him.

It was then.

"Nnngh!"

A faint moan rose from among the corpses.

Dam Ho shifted several bodies aside and pulled out the one who was moaning. The moment he saw the man's face, Dam Ho's expression darkened.

The man, whose torso was split open from chest to abdomen and who moaned even now, was someone Dam Ho knew well.

Bang Woo-gwang—Bang Jin-bo's father.

Though grievous wounds exposed his innards, Bang Woo-gwang clung stubbornly to life. But Dam Ho knew he had little time left. That he had endured this long was a miracle of fortune.

Dam Ho injected internal energy into Bang Woo-gwang. Color returned briefly to the man's face.

Bang Woo-gwang opened his eyes with great difficulty.

Whether he recognized Dam Ho or not, he forced his lips apart.

"Who… are you?"

"Any last words?"

"What…"

"You know already. That you will not live long."

"Kugh!"

Tears streamed down Bang Woo-gwang's cheeks. Dam Ho watched him in silence.

After a moment, having gathered some small measure of composure, Bang Woo-gwang looked Dam Ho directly in the eye. In his gaze was desperation—the desperate longing to protect what mattered most, even if it cost him everything.

"Jin-bo has been taken by the bandits. Please, I beg you… save Jin-bo. Save my son."

"…"

"My lord, I implore you… that child…"

Bang Woo-gwang seized Dam Ho's hand with his blood-soaked fingers. The grip of a dying man was surprisingly strong.

His desperation traveled through his hand into Dam Ho.

His lips moved like a fish gasping for air.

"My lord, please…"

Dam Ho recalled that he had once seen a similar gaze.

A very long time ago, when his village had been attacked, his father had worn the same look as Bang Woo-gwang.

The one difference was that after his father had died, the Taoists of the Mount Hua Sect had come. Bang Woo-gwang had met Dam Ho before his life's breath had ended.

A rough, hoarse voice escaped Dam Ho's lips.

"If they still live."

"Th-thank you… please…"

Bang Woo-gwang's voice faded. His body, too, grew cold.

The light of life vanished from the eyes that stared at Dam Ho. But the desperation remained.

Dam Ho reached out and closed Bang Woo-gwang's eyes, then rose and surveyed his surroundings. Not far away, he discovered a mass of intertwined corpses.

Among them, Dam Ho found yet another familiar face.

'Oh Gi-o.'

The chief guard of the Silver Lotus Trading Company—the man who had included Dam Ho in the caravan. Beside him lay Cho Su-gwang, the company's master, his tongue protruding.

So great was their anguish that even in death they could not close their eyes. Dam Ho studied their lifeless gazes for a long while.

They could speak no more, but their extinguished eyes told a story beyond words.

Dam Ho looked upon their vacant eyes in silence, as though engaging in conversation.

After a considerable time had passed, Dam Ho closed their eyes and rose to his feet.

He mounted Dark Demon.

Perhaps because of the brief rest, Dark Demon whinnied with renewed vigor. There was no trace of weariness in its bearing.

"Let us go."

Dark Demon surged forward, as though it had been waiting for that very word.

***

Bang Jin-bo's eyes were red-rimmed with tears.

He could not comprehend what had happened to him. He did not understand why he was in such a place.

Bang Jin-bo was confined within a small wooden frame, like a cage for livestock.

He was not the only one imprisoned. The younger merchants of the Silver Lotus Trading Company shared his fate. There were more than fifty of them.

The rest were all dead. Cho Su-gwang, the company's master, and Bang Jin-bo's father among them.

Cho Su-gwang, fearing bandit attacks, had set out with another trading company. Two companies combined—more than one hundred and fifty people. He had believed that even bandit gangs would not dare to approach.

But his judgment was wrong.

The bandit gangs had not been intimidated by the combined force. They had attacked without hesitation.

Oh Gi-o and his guards fought bravely, but they were outnumbered by more than a hundred bandits.

In the end, the guards were annihilated, and countless merchants perished. Bang Jin-bo had been forced to witness every moment of it with his own eyes.

The bandits had built a great bonfire in the center of the clearing and were celebrating their spoils. On one side, goods plundered from the trading companies lay strewn.

A large man sat before the bonfire. He held a child's fist-sized night-luminescent pearl up to the firelight.

"Heh heh! Fortune smiles upon me today. A cat's eye stone of this quality."

The combined value of everything they had plundered from the trading companies did not amount to a tenth of this stone.

Today was the finest day since he had begun raiding in this region.

His name was Dong Ja-chwi. He was the chief of the Blood Wolf Gang, a band that preyed upon merchants traveling between the Western Regions and the Central Plains.

The Blood Wolf Gang was composed of Han, Hui, and various other ethnicities. Their common traits were formidable martial arts and an inability to settle in one place.

They roamed the Turfan region, raiding and plundering. They killed, seized goods, and sold them. With the money, they drank and indulged in women.

Dong Ja-chwi toyed with the cat's eye stone for a time, then asked his subordinate beside him.

"What of the others?"

"We sent a signal. They should depart soon. They will arrive within two or three watches."

"Is that so? What shall we do until then?"

Dong Ja-chwi's eyes gleamed dangerously in the firelight.

His gaze turned to the people in the cages.

"Bring those two to me."

"Why, Chief?"

The vice-chief, Cho Bok, whose face resembled an owl, looked puzzled. Dong Ja-chwi grinned.

"Are we not bored?"

"Ah!"

Cho Bok understood, and a leering smile spread across his face.

He ran to the cage and surveyed the captives. Those whose eyes met his shrank back.

"Why are you doing this to us?"

"You have taken our goods. Release us."

Several people pleaded, but Cho Bok dismissed their words with a wave.

"This one and this one. Bring them out."

"Yes, Vice Chief!"

The subordinates dragged the two chosen men from the cage. They were a merchant in his early thirties and a youth in his early twenties.

Cho Bok and his men threw them before Dong Ja-chwi.

The two men, not knowing what was happening, collapsed at Dong Ja-chwi's feet. He looked down at them and smiled.

"Do you know your fate?"

"What?"

The merchant jerked his head up. He was a merchant from one of the trading companies allied with the Silver Lotus Trading Company.

The frail youth could not even raise his head and simply trembled. Into his ear came Dong Ja-chwi's voice.

"In a short while, certain people will arrive. I intend to sell you to them as slaves."

"How can you do this!"

Their faces drained of color. Dong Ja-chwi savored their expressions.

"If you are sold as slaves, you will never see the sun again. None who were taken by them have survived. That is why I will give you a chance."

The moment Dong Ja-chwi finished speaking, Cho Bok threw a sword to each of them.

The two men, bewildered, blinked.

"Fight. The winner will be freed. Heh heh!"

"Heh heh heh!"

Cruel laughter erupted from all around.

The eyes of the Blood Wolf Gang's bandits gleamed with killing intent.

This was their entertainment.

Watching men fight to the death for the sake of freedom was one of their greatest pleasures.

The battle between two ordinary men who had never held a sword was fierce, offering a spectacle quite different from a clash between martial artists.

The merchant jerked his head up and looked at Dong Ja-chwi.

"Is that true?"

"Of course. If you win, I will set you free. If you lose, I will set him free. Well? Is that not sufficient reason to fight?"

Conflict blazed in the merchant's eyes.

'For freedom? I do not wish to spend my life as a slave.'

He had a wife and children waiting at home.

No matter what, he had to return to them.

The merchant grasped his sword. In his eyes, a vicious light rose. The youth, on the other hand, trembled.

"I… I cannot do it."

"Heh heh! Then you die now."

"Please…"

Tears streamed down the youth's cheeks.

Clang!

Cho Bok drew his sword and pressed it against the youth's throat.

"Pick up the sword, you coward."

Longlao stopped walking.

The traps and snares he had seen so far were too crude. They were traps that could hardly be considered set by an adult.

And even the traces were small in scope. The footprints left in the trampled grass belonged not to an adult but to a child.

‘They said both were poisoned, but only the boy is moving…’

Longlao pieced together fragments of thought. Then suddenly, he shouted loudly to the warriors:

“Catch him!”

Abruptly, the sound of someone running away could be heard clearly. It was unmistakably the sound of someone limping as they fled. The swaying of bushes in the distance was visible too.

The warriors all drew their swords at once and began running toward that spot.

But during this commotion, Longlao moved in the opposite direction from where the sound had first come.

He wore two layers of deerskin gloves and wrapped his face with cloth several times. Using a small knife, he cut away every tiny branch as he moved.

As expected, the smell of sulfur wafted from various places. It seemed poison had been liberally spread.

Vines blocked his path ahead.

Looking at the ground, there were traces suggesting someone had crawled inside the vines. Longlao cut away all the vines with his knife.

Beneath a large tree.

A bulging shape covered with fallen leaves and grass.

The corners of Longlao’s mouth turned up involuntarily.

“Found you.”

***

Read only at nineheavens.org

Translated by Nine Heavens!

https://discord.gg/XC9DTsTQ9Z

***

Jin Ja-gang ran breathlessly. Four warriors were chasing him from behind.

“Huff, huff.”

He kept looking back as he ran desperately.

The distance between an adult’s stride and a limping ten-year-old boy’s pace quickly narrowed.

The fastest warrior approached Jin Ja-gang from behind.

The warrior was somewhat surprised by Jin Ja-gang’s appearance. He was smaller and more frail than expected.

The warrior tightened his grip on his sword. If he struck down with the sword, Jin Ja-gang would die instantly. Judging by his limping and labored breathing, it didn’t seem like he could dodge anyway.

But the warrior couldn’t do it.

“Capture the child alive! If the child dies, you die too!”

Those were Longlao’s words.

‘Damn it!’

The warrior cursed under his breath while his sword hand trembled.

Capturing the boy wouldn’t be easy. Even the once-powerful Elder Mang had been troubled by this child, and both Bloody Hand and Great Desert Saber, renowned masters, had died at his hands.

And what about those who had died while pursuing this child so far?

‘And I’m supposed to capture someone like this?’

He couldn’t help but curse.

But looking at the situation now, it didn’t seem impossible either.

Jin Ja-gang, who was only running away, didn’t appear particularly formidable.

The warrior decided to try capturing Jin Ja-gang with his hands rather than his sword.

After carefully watching for an opportunity, the warrior lunged and grabbed Jin Ja-gang by the nape of his neck. He would have preferred to grab him by the hair, but Jin Ja-gang was bald, leaving nothing to grip.

“Kuk!”

Jin Ja-gang let out a choked groan as his neck was squeezed. Just when it seemed he had been captured too easily, Jin Ja-gang turned his body and swung something.

It was a broken branch. The sharp end of the branch scraped the warrior’s forearm. It didn’t stab deeply or cause a serious wound. Just enough to draw a trickle of blood.

But in that moment, the warrior felt a chill run down his spine.

Being scratched by something.

He understood what that meant.

“Ugh… ugh!”

The warrior screamed in terror even before the poison had taken effect. Naturally, he released Jin Ja-gang. Blue veins began to bulge along his scratched forearm.

“Aaaaargh!”

Jin Ja-gang started running again. Another warrior rushed forward and swung his sword at Jin Ja-gang’s legs.

“You brat!”

Jin Ja-gang rolled on the ground. He had practically offered his body directly to the sword.

“Urgh!”

The warrior couldn’t follow through with his sword strike. He needed to wound Jin Ja-gang just enough without accidentally killing him by cutting the wrong place, which would result in his own punishment.

As Jin Ja-gang rolled on the ground, he threw dirt at the warrior’s face. While the warrior’s vision was obscured, Jin Ja-gang scratched the warrior’s leg with a branch.

“Urrgh!”

Even though the warrior’s skin wasn’t scratched—only his clothes were brushed—and he wasn’t poisoned, he panicked out of fear.

Seeing the warrior who had just been scratched on the forearm dying with foam at his mouth made it impossible not to be afraid.

“Save me. Save me! I, I have children at home. My mother can’t even move…”

Jin Ja-gang, who had been about to flee, turned back. The warrior was trembling and begging Jin Ja-gang:

“Please have mercy and give me the antidote, please!”

The other two warriors who had been running toward them stopped and merely watched, not daring to come closer.

Jin Ja-gang was overcome with a strange emotion.

It wasn’t pity but rather a reflection on the reversed roles.

‘Asking me to save you?’

Until now, it had mostly been Jin Ja-gang who begged for his life.

Jin Ja-gang had always been the one hiding and running away. His life had been entirely in the hands of others.

But now…

At some point, Jin Ja-gang’s position had changed.

It was now Jin Ja-gang himself who held the power to determine others’ life or death.

‘Power… I now have the power over life and death.’

Even Miao Weng, known as Bloody Hand, hadn’t begged Jin Ja-gang to spare his life in his dying moments!

Jin Ja-gang was no longer someone who would die just because others wanted him dead. Even while being pursued with a dagger in his stomach.

“Give me the antidote! Please! If I make it back alive, I promise never to chase you again!”

Jin Ja-gang realized he might be able to use this relative position to his advantage.

After quickly surveying his surroundings, he asked:

“How many people came after me?”

“What?”

Jin Ja-gang put his hand in his sleeve. As if the antidote was inside, but also implying he wouldn’t give it unless he got an answer.

The desperate warrior shouted:

“T-twenty-three! Five have died so far! And now I’m dying too! Hurry and give me the antidote!”

Jin Ja-gang felt a chill down his spine at the larger-than-expected number.

‘So the ones I can see aren’t all of them.’

He needed to deal with these warriors quickly and return to Yong-myeong. Jin Ja-gang started to run away without hesitation.

“The, the antidote!”

Jin Ja-gang didn’t even bother to respond.

The warrior’s expression changed dramatically as he realized he was poisoned and wouldn’t be given the antidote.

If he was going to die anyway without the antidote, he had nothing left to lose.

“Arrrgh! You evil b*st*rd!”

The warrior charged at Jin Ja-gang with crazed eyes.

Jin Ja-gang wasn’t caught off guard. As the warrior rushed at him bodily, the other warriors also joined the attack. They seemed to be planning to use one as a shield while attacking.

“Die!”

Having surveyed the terrain just moments ago, Jin Ja-gang remained calm. He quickly drew poison from his dantian up to his fingertip.

He had extracted so much poison that his right little finger was covered in blood. As the poison condensed, a transparent fluid formed at the tip, emitting a faint sulfur smell.

Jin Ja-gang grabbed a long vine hanging nearby and threw himself forward. The vine bent like a bow. He rubbed his little finger against the taut end of the vine, coating it with poison.

Then he released the vine toward the warrior who was charging right behind him. The bent vine straightened, lashing the warrior’s face like a whip.

Crack!

“Aargh!”

The warrior clutched his eyes after they were grazed by the vine leaves.

“Aaaaargh!”

The membrane of the eye is weak, so even a slight graze allows poison to seep in. The warrior frantically rubbed his eyes, but the poison had already entered. Soon he collapsed and began convulsing.

The other two warriors had nowhere to retreat now. Both charged at Jin Ja-gang simultaneously.

Jin Ja-gang knew he couldn’t outrun the two warriors, so he charged directly at them instead.

Even if they were treated as disposable by the Extreme Poison Sect, they were still adult men who lived by the sword. They weren’t easy opponents for a young Jin Ja-gang.

However, Jin Ja-gang wasn’t intimidated. Compared to the movements of the martial arts masters he had seen before, the warriors’ movements seemed too slow and ordinary.

Jin Ja-gang bit his little finger where he had drawn poison, then rolled forward to avoid their swords. Then he grabbed the first leg he saw and bit any exposed flesh.

“Aaaaargh!”

The warrior whose calf was bitten screamed in agony. Jin Ja-gang had bitten down so hard that his teeth sank in and tore flesh. The warrior behind was so startled by the sight that he thrust his sword at Jin Ja-gang.

As Jin Ja-gang rolled away on the ground, the warrior’s sword deeply pierced his companion’s thigh instead.

“I-I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to—”

Jin Ja-gang sucked the poison fluid accumulated at the tip of his little finger into his mouth, then spat it on the last warrior’s face. The torn flesh from the calf, blood, and poison fluid splattered on the warrior’s face and lips.

“Urgh! Urgh!”

The warrior frantically wiped his face and kept spitting.

“Ptoo! Ptoo ptoo!”

During this distraction, Jin Ja-gang picked up a sword from a fallen warrior. It was a thin blade that wobbled, but it was still heavy. Just heavy enough for a ten-year-old to barely swing.

Jin Ja-gang coated its tip with poison fluid and slashed at the side of the warrior who was busy spitting.

“Urrrgh!”

Though the cut was very shallow, it was enough.

Jin Ja-gang stared at the warrior, breathing heavily. The warrior trembled and backed away.

“I don’t want to die. I don’t want to…”

The terrified warrior soon collapsed.

“Kuk. Kek.”

The warrior struggled to breathe and soon began to convulse.

Watching others die was not a pleasant experience.

Though they couldn’t make sounds because their throats were swollen and filling with bloody foam, Jin Ja-gang knew they were dying in severe pain, experiencing all sorts of convulsions.

Jin Ja-gang felt a heaviness in his heart.

Clang.

His grip weakened, and he dropped the sword.

“Huff, huff.”

Looking at his fingers, his little finger was in tatters. Blood dripped steadily.

He was exhausted. It felt like he could collapse at any moment.

He had just killed four men. Yet fifteen still remained. Among them, there would surely be masters mixed in, not just ordinary warriors.

Jin Ja-gang touched his dantian to check the remaining poison.

It definitely felt depleted. The mass that had settled in his dantian had shrunk to less than half its original size.

‘Even so, I should have enough poison left.’

But how to use that poison to kill opponents was another matter entirely.

Even if he had managed to catch opponents off guard so far, once they became vigilant, his current methods would likely no longer work.

‘I need to get back to the mister first.’

Jin Ja-gang took a deep breath and looked around.

Four corpses now lay strewn about. Casting an indifferent gaze at them, Jin Ja-gang returned to Yong-myeong.

* * *

The place where Yong-myeong had been lying was completely torn apart. The vines he had covered with poison were all cut down, and the fallen leaves and grass that had covered Yong-myeong were scattered.

Jin Ja-gang froze in place.

‘I’ve been tricked!’

Yong-myeong had been captured.

Jin Ja-gang quickly hid in nearby bushes.

His heart raced wildly.

There was a high possibility that enemies were nearby.

Jin Ja-gang thought he had no options left. No matter how much he considered it, he couldn’t think of any good way to rescue Yong-myeong from fifteen adults.

‘I’m sorry, mister.’

If he lingered, he would only be captured too. At this point, Jin Ja-gang had done all he could.

Once he made his decision, Jin Ja-gang moved immediately.

Just as he was about to crawl away slowly, Jin Ja-gang saw someone’s leg.

The distance was about five zhang.

The leg was sticking out from the bushes—and it was none other than Yong-myeong’s leg.

Could he have regained mobility and hidden himself? Or had he been killed and discarded?

‘Mister!’

Either way, Jin Ja-gang couldn’t know without checking.

He remained still, waiting silently for a while. When he sensed no presence, he crawled toward Yong-myeong. He moved slowly, taking great care not to make any sound.

When he got close enough to confirm, it was indeed Yong-myeong. He was still breathing, and he opened his eyes when he saw Jin Ja-gang approach.

It seemed the monkshood had worked properly, as his paralysis had eased somewhat.

Jin Ja-gang, cautious, didn’t approach too closely but asked from a slight distance by mouthing the words:

‘Mister, are you alright?’

Yong-myeong could only tremble his lips, still unable to make a sound. He tried to lift his fingers. His hand trembled as it moved slightly.

Jin Ja-gang, not noticing Yong-myeong’s hand gesture, only felt relief that Yong-myeong seemed better than before.