Chapter 132: Blood is Thicker Than Water (1)

"Mmn!"

Muk Il-gwang let out a groan and opened his eyes.

His vision was blurred, and he could not focus. He blinked several times.

In that interval, his senses returned.

"Young Mistress!"

Muk Il-gwang shouted and sat bolt upright. His hands were already searching for his axes.

In that moment, a warm voice sounded from right beside him.

"I am fine, Il-gwang."

"Young Mistress!"

He turned his head to see Hwang Hye-ryeong crouching and gazing at him.

"Are you well, Young Mistress?"

"I am fine. But how are you, Il-gwang?"

"I…"

Muk Il-gwang's expression twisted as he was about to reply that he was well. He could feel that the energy channels throughout his body were tangled and blocked.

Though his body was sturdy enough that no bones were broken, his internal injuries were far from minor. At least someone had administered proper emergency treatment, so the condition would not worsen further.

"How… how did this happen?"

Muk Il-gwang looked bewildered, unable to comprehend what had transpired.

Hwang Hye-ryeong offered him a faint smile.

"Big Brother helped us."

"Big Brother? Then…"

"Yes!"

Hwang Hye-ryeong nodded and gazed outward.

Bright light was pouring through the entrance of a cave. They were inside.

At that moment, someone entered the cave.

"Oh, you're awake."

The one with the portly build and the kindly smile was none other than Bang Jin-bo. In his hands he held an enormous pot.

Inside the pot was a porridge of indeterminate ingredients.

"You looked quite badly hurt, so I made some restorative porridge."

"Thank you."

"Oh, it was no trouble at all!"

Bang Jin-bo set down the pot with an amiable smile.

"Where is Big Brother?"

"About that…"

Bang Jin-bo trailed off and looked toward the cave entrance.

"Nnngh!"

A groan leaked from between Gong So-chu's lips.

As though he had been dipped in a pool of blood, his entire body was stained red.

Gong So-chu was weeping. Yet he could not so much as move a single finger of his own volition. His entire body had been pulverized, as though struck hundreds or thousands of times by a massive hammer.

That he was still breathing at all in such a state felt nothing short of miraculous.

The previous night had been nothing short of a nightmare for Gong So-chu. And the one who had inflicted that nightmare was none other than Dam Ho.

'He is a demon.'

Shudder!

The mere thought of him caused him to wet himself.

His trousers were damp, but he felt no shame. Far worse than that was the fear.

The two characters of the name Dam Ho had been seared into his mind as pure terror.

Dam Ho had tortured him throughout the night.

First, he had crushed his fingers. Then his toes, and the number of shattered bones multiplied with alarming speed.

Pain aside, what truly drove him to the brink of madness was that despite such grievous injuries, he still clung to life. He wished he could simply die, but Dam Ho had taken some measure to ensure that he could not.

The hours of agony stretched on as if they would never end.

At first, he did not understand. Why Dam Ho was torturing him.

But after some time, he learned the truth.

He was the sole survivor of the village they had plundered. It had been Dam Ho who had bitten through a comrade's neck to kill him even then. That ghastly child had now returned as a monster.

He could not recall exactly what he had said. He had babbled endlessly, hoping that if he did so, Dam Ho might show him mercy.

After talking at length, he had briefly lost consciousness. And when he awakened, he found himself abandoned alone in this utterly foreign place.

'He just let me go?'

That was the only way to interpret his situation. And he earnestly wished it were true.

The problem was that he could not move under his own power. Far from crawling, he could not even move a single finger as he wished.

In this state, he was certain to become fodder for beasts.

'Kuh! My brother has been reduced to this, and what is that man doing about it?'

He cursed Gwak Geo-cheol, the Fan Master.

He had followed the man for twenty years. He had feigned death at his command. Risking his life to infiltrate the Martial Alliance warriors and incite them—all of it had been at Gwak Geo-cheol's order.

While he was cursing Gwak Geo-cheol thus,

"So-chu!"

A familiar voice suddenly rang out.

In that instant, tears welled in his eyes. It was the voice he had dreamed of.

"F-Fan Master?"

Gwak Geo-cheol stood before him as though in a dream.

Gwak Geo-cheol and his subordinates had hurried over.

"So-chu, is that you?"

"Y-yes!"

Gong So-chu answered with tears streaming down his face and a nod.

"What happened?"

Gwak Geo-cheol asked, but Gong So-chu could not reply. His jaw had been shattered.

After Gong So-chu was abducted by Dam Ho, Gwak Geo-cheol had carefully tracked him with his subordinates. Unlike Gong So-chu, Gwak Geo-cheol had kept his distance from the battlefield.

He feared his distinctive appearance would give him away.

He had sent only Gong So-chu, but he had not been worried. Gong So-chu was quick-witted and had good judgment, so he expected there would be little danger.

The dim-witted warriors of the Martial Alliance had fallen easily to mere incitement. Gwak Geo-cheol had sneered at them, calling them fools.

But then Dam Ho appeared, and everything changed.

Dam Ho was unlike any figure Gwak Geo-cheol had ever known.

In all his years, Gwak Geo-cheol had never seen a martial artist as terrifying and overwhelming as Dam Ho.

He too was a being who lived in the Murim.

He had seen countless powerful martial artists.

Among them were supreme masters who shook the very foundations of the Murim. In terms of pure martial prowess, they might have surpassed Dam Ho.

Yet in Dam Ho there existed a primal fear that was absent in all of them.

Ferocity and cold-blooded madness.

Those were the qualities that set Dam Ho apart from other martial artists. And Dam Ho knew how to employ both to perfection.

'Who would have thought such an anomaly existed among the righteous sects, where saving face is all they know?'

Dam Ho was a monster beyond the comprehension of Gwak Geo-cheol's common sense. And that monster had abducted Gong So-chu.

Though he had used Gong So-chu to incite the Martial Alliance warriors, Gong So-chu was not important enough to warrant such effort in abduction.

'Where on earth did he take So-chu?'

If it had been someone other than Dam Ho who took Gong So-chu, he would not have cared so much. But when a figure with the power to influence the entire Murim was involved, the story changed.

If handled carelessly, it could even have repercussions for the Greenwood Alliance.

For that reason, Gwak Geo-cheol had been carefully tracking Dam Ho's movements, taking every precaution to avoid detection.

And then, unexpectedly, Gong So-chu had appeared before him—reduced to a wreck unable to speak or move a single finger of his own volition.

Why?

While that question turned in his mind,

"So you did come after all."

A strange voice suddenly echoed in his ear.

The instant he heard that toneless, emotionless voice, every hair on Gwak Geo-cheol's body stood on end.

"Who goes there?"

He spun around quickly. There, atop a large boulder not far away, sat a solitary figure.

The man was clad entirely in black. Through his disheveled hair, dark eyes flickered with an unsettling light that sent chills down his spine.

"Gah!"

Gwak Geo-cheol recognized the man at once.

How could he not? This was the man who had caused a bloodbath in Akyang.

It was Dam Ho.

Dam Ho rose from the boulder.

"You are Gwak Geo-cheol, the Fan Master of the Black Water Banner, correct?"

"How did you—"

Gwak Geo-cheol blurted out the response without thinking, then glared at Gong So-chu. He assumed Gong So-chu had revealed the information.

Gong So-chu could offer no defense. The mere sight of Dam Ho had paralyzed his reason.

He suddenly recalled the events of the previous night.

The terror he had forgotten surged back to life, and his heart hammered wildly.

Tremble! Tremble!

His entire body shook as though struck by a gale.

"G-guh!"

Froth bubbling at his lips, Gong So-chu's movements ceased abruptly. His heart, unable to withstand the fear, had stopped.

Gong So-chu died with his eyes still open. His unseeing gaze, the whites of his eyes exposed to the void, was enough to send a chill through the Greenwood warriors who had tracked them here.

"Kuh! So-chu was the bait?"

Gwak Geo-cheol's face twisted with shock. Possessed of a keen mind, he quickly deduced the truth. And his deduction was correct.

Gong So-chu was Dam Ho's bait, lured to draw out Gwak Geo-cheol and his subordinates.

Though he could not remember it, Gong So-chu had revealed more than one might expect. The relationship between Jo Yun-san and Gwak Geo-cheol, and the reason they had come to Akyang.

Dam Ho descended from the boulder. Gwak Geo-cheol and his men instinctively recoiled.

As they retreated, Dam Ho advanced.

He was still limping. Yet not a single person present could laugh at the sight. No—they could not laugh.

A maddening terror gripped them, as though they were cattle being led to the slaughter. A sensation unlike anything they had ever experienced before made their bodies tremble like aspen leaves.

Only Gwak Geo-cheol gritted his teeth and prepared to resist.

Dam Ho spoke.

"Why?"

"Wh-what do you mean?"

"Why do you pursue that child so relentlessly?"

Dam Ho's eyes glinted coldly.

In that instant, Gwak Geo-cheol felt as though a sharp blade had been driven into his chest. His heart seemed to plummet.

"Kuh!"

Gwak Geo-cheol retreated hastily, glancing around.

His subordinates, who were usually so dependable, were now frozen with fear, trembling like strays.

Gwak Geo-cheol shouted.

"What are you doing? Stop him at once!"

"But…"

"Stop him now! If you don't stop him, we're all dead anyway!"

"D-damn it!"

Only then did his subordinates grasp the reality of the situation. They seized their weapons and charged at Dam Ho.

"Yaaah!"

"Get him!"

As his men shouted and lunged at Dam Ho, Gwak Geo-cheol quickly turned and fled.

'Damn it! The plan to use the Martial Alliance to eliminate that wretched girl has failed. With that monster guarding her, how could we possibly kill her?'

Gwak Geo-cheol cursed the fact that he had only two legs and could not run any faster.

Boom! Boom!

Thunderous impacts roared from behind him.

He did not even hear screams. Yet he knew instinctively—the subordinates he had used as shields were all dead.

Whoosh!

A powerful gust of wind pressed against his back.

"Aaargh!"

Gwak Geo-cheol screamed and spun around, swinging his weapon in a frenzy.

Whoosh!

The Langya Blade cleaved through the air horizontally. Yet he felt no resistance in his hand.

"Damn it!"

In the instant Gwak Geo-cheol cursed, his neck was seized.

A crushing grip constricted around his throat so tightly that he could not breathe, and his mouth gaped open of its own accord.

Crack!

In that moment, Dam Ho's fist drove into Gwak Geo-cheol's side. Gwak Geo-cheol vomited a mouthful of blood.

His ribs shattered like crackers.

The excruciating agony—the worst he had ever known—forced him to collapse.

"Nngh!"

He had plundered countless lives and inflicted untold suffering on others, yet Gwak Geo-cheol had never once faced a direct threat to his own life.

"Nnngh! N-no!"

As Gwak Geo-cheol wept and crawled along the ground, Dam Ho's right foot descended upon his leg.

Crack!

"Yaaah!"

Gwak Geo-cheol's agonized scream rang out. His leg hung limp, broken.

He raised his head to find Dam Ho looking down at him.

"Why?"

The village where Jin Ja-gang was currently located was a clan village where the Lan family (藍氏) lived.

[TL Note – Lan means blue.]

In areas where old clans lived, there were communal graveyards for the village, which were customarily called by adding the character “forest” (林) to the family name.

In other words, Blue Forest was the graveyard of the Lan Family.

Jin Ja-gang thought about Blue Forest and left the restaurant.

Blue Forest was located in the direction leaving Lan Family Village, not far from the restaurant.

To go toward Sichuan, one had to pass through Blue Forest, but if one wanted to avoid it, one would have to turn back the way they came.

What should he do?

Should he ignore the waiter’s warning and move forward, or should he accept the warning, though it was difficult to trust, and avoid it?

After pondering briefly, Jin Ja-gang decided on his direction.

Toward Blue Forest.

He couldn’t avoid something without knowing what he should be avoiding.

Moreover, in a situation where there was no trust in the information, the consequences of his judgment would be entirely his own responsibility.

Not acting recklessly.

Not easily trusting and relying on others.

Keeping his own life under his own responsibility alone.

That was the safest path Jin Ja-gang could take at present.

And also, the reason Jin Ja-gang had been deliberately revealing himself while moving was partly because of the Jang family.

The more Jin Ja-gang remained visible, the safer the fled Jang family could be.

So even more, Jin Ja-gang couldn’t flee while avoiding the watchers’ eyes.

He had to go to Blue Forest.

Limp, limp.

Every time Jin Ja-gang walked with his limping gait, the gazes following him felt piercingly sharp. The gazes continued to follow Jin Ja-gang as if pushing him away.

Perhaps choosing to check directly rather than avoiding had been a good choice. If Jin Ja-gang had fled in the opposite direction, there was no telling how these currently polite gazes might have changed.

At some point, the pursuit of gazes suddenly stopped.

Whether it was because they could no longer secretly follow while he was walking through the fields, or for some other reason, was unknown. That rather created an ominous atmosphere like the calm before a storm.

Jin Ja-gang stopped for a moment.

He saw wild anemone growing in long stalks by the roadside, drooping their heads.

Wild anemone is pasque flower. The roots are processed and used as medicine, separately called white-headed old man.

This wild anemone tended to grow mainly near graveyards. Seeing many wild anemones was also evidence that Blue Forest was approaching.

Jin Ja-gang pulled up several stalks of wild anemone that had already finished flowering and only had stems remaining, and removed the roots. He brushed off the removed roots and put them in his sleeve, then put some in his mouth and chewed them.

Crunch.

The roots contained toxicity, so if you extract the juice and sprinkle it in latrines, insects won’t swarm. This toxicity could have quite stimulating effects on people depending on how it was used.

Jin Ja-gang chewed the roots while heading toward Blue Forest.

One by one, graves and tombstones began to appear. The tombstones erected on the low hills beside the road increased.

And…

Before long, Jin Ja-gang could see a scholarly middle-aged man standing in front of a grave.

The jade-green long robe was very familiar.

The scholarly middle-aged man was holding a feather fan and looking at the grave with a gentle expression.

Crunch, crunch.

Jin Ja-gang stopped walking while chewing the roots.

The middle-aged man spoke as if talking to himself while looking at the tombstone.

“Memorial tablet of the deceased young scholar… A young son of the Lan Family whose name is unknown from long ago sleeps here.”

The middle-aged man continued speaking without even turning around.

“Many people must have grieved. What could be more heartbreaking than a child dying tragically without even blooming once? The parents of that child must have had their hearts torn into a thousand, ten thousand pieces.”

But suddenly the middle-aged man struck the tombstone forcefully with the feather fan in his hand.

Thwack!

The upper part of the tombstone was cut by the fan like cutting tofu with a knife. The middle-aged man, as if that wasn’t enough, even kicked the half-broken tombstone.

Bang!

The tombstone was uprooted and flew away, crashing into another tombstone and shattering.

The middle-aged man looked at Jin Ja-gang. The gentle expression from before was nowhere to be found on the middle-aged man’s face. His bloodshot face was so red with anger that it looked like a heated jujube.

“But there’s something that can’t be exchanged even for a hundred lives of these worthless people. Do you know what that is?”

Since it wasn’t a question expecting an answer from the beginning, Jin Ja-gang didn’t respond.

The middle-aged man spoke as if grinding his teeth.

“It’s the blood of the Zhuge family. The noble blood of the Zhuge family cannot be replaced even by giving several of these worthless people. Especially that child Yan was the flower of our Zhuge family. Did you know? That you plucked that flower? She was a child incomparable to someone worthless like you.”

Jin Ja-gang just looked at the middle-aged man impassively.

The middle-aged man, Zhuge Ming, seemed even more displeased with Jin Ja-gang’s expression and contorted his face.

“I’ll make you a proposal.”

Zhuge Ming regulated his breathing and fanned himself with his fan.

“Tell me in detail who is behind you, for what purpose you touched our Zhuge family, and everything you know. If you do that, I’ll kill you very cleanly and painlessly right here on this spot.”

Jin Ja-gang looked alternately at the fan Zhuge Ming was holding and the upper part of the cut tombstone. The cross-section of the tombstone, which couldn’t be cut even with a sword, was revealed smoothly.

Saying he would kill cleanly seemed to mean he would cut his neck like that tombstone just now.

But Jin Ja-gang found it absurd.

Snicker.

Zhuge Ming’s eyebrows twitched.

“You’re laughing?”

Killing intent began emanating from Zhuge Ming’s body strand by strand. Jin Ja-gang, who was facing him directly, felt goosebumps rise on his spine. His whole body tingled and he felt his heart shrinking.

Thump! Thump!

The pressure became so severe that he could hear his heartbeat right in his ears. The pupils of Zhuge Ming, who was glaring while half-covering his face with his fan, began to grow larger and larger.

The world turned pitch black as Zhuge Ming’s pupils grew larger and larger. They became larger than Zhuge Ming’s face. They devoured his face and body, growing larger and larger until finally they came rushing toward Jin Ja-gang.

Jin Ja-gang’s body also gradually stiffened and began to become rigid.

An ordinary person would have been unable to move from fear and would have wet themselves while standing.

But Jin Ja-gang had overcome countless deaths and created countless deaths himself. He had long since transcended the fear of death.

Crunch!

When Jin Ja-gang forcefully chewed the root in his mouth, juice flowed out. When he swallowed the juice along with saliva, his rigid body was released at that moment.

Jin Ja-gang stared directly into Zhuge Ming’s pupils. Zhuge Ming’s pupils, which had grown as large as a house, stopped and could no longer approach.

They just glared as if they would devour the impassive Jin Ja-gang, but couldn’t harm him.

Gradually, Zhuge Ming’s pupils shrank. Accordingly, the world also returned to normal.

Nothing had changed from the beginning until now.

Only Zhuge Ming’s expression had become more murderous than before.

Zhuge Ming spoke with a frowning face.

“Seeing you receive the Annihilation Eye as if it’s nothing, it seems you young fellow have lived with tremendous blood on your hands. Do you think you have the qualifications to laugh?”

Only then did Jin Ja-gang answer.

“I didn’t laugh because I was qualified. I just laughed because it was absurd.”

“What?”

“I have no connection whatsoever with the Zhuge family. If you hadn’t come looking for me, I would have lived my entire life without knowing the Zhuge family.”

“Ridiculous words. What do you think you are? What are you that we shouldn’t touch you?”

Jin Ja-gang felt anger surge at those words.

“Even if I am nothing, there is absolutely no reason why you should touch me.”

“Do you really think so?”

A mocking smile appeared on Zhuge Ming’s face.

“The fact that someone like you interfered with our family’s business is sufficient reason for a thousand cuts and slaughter.”

“That business…”

Jin Ja-gang asked with a miserable expression.

“Was it to capture me and drag me to the Martial Arts Alliance?”

“You know well.”

“What wrong have I done for that to happen?”

“Isn’t that why we called you to find out? Yet you dared to harm Yan? A vermin of the evil faction who doesn’t know his place.”

Zhuge Ming spat out his words with intense hostility that made his teeth chatter.

“I cannot say I have no responsibility for the young lady’s death, but I was not the direct cause.”

“How disgusting. Do you think you can avoid our family’s wrath by making excuses now? Do you think our family is so laughable that a few words can calm the Zhuge family’s anger?”

A murderous smile gradually began to appear on Jin Ja-gang’s face as well.

“What is the Zhuge family to speak of wrath? If you want revenge, you can take revenge right here. Did you wait for me just to make such threats?”

“What does this impudent fellow believe in…”

“This is the second time.”

Jin Ja-gang raised his finger to show.

“That I’ve seen behavior from Zhuge family people that doesn’t match the name Chivalrous Family Zhuge. How should I treat you when I meet you again?”

“I thought you were a thunder-struck beggar, but you’re a madman. It seems you can’t die peacefully.”

Zhuge Ming spoke while glaring at Jin Ja-gang as if chewing him.

“I desperately want to kill you right here and now to appease my niece’s spirit, but that would be too simple a punishment compared to your crimes.”

“I don’t mind even now.”

Zhuge Ming laughed loudly.

“There are very few in the world who speak about our Zhuge family like you do. Do you know what that means? There must be a reason why you’ve been moving your mouth to try to break my composure.”

Zhuge Ming stopped laughing abruptly and glared at Jin Ja-gang.

“I won’t be fooled by your worthless provocation tactics. Do you have a hidden move?”

Of course, he couldn’t say no. Jin Ja-gang was prepared to extract the poison energy of white-headed old man at any time.

It was just somewhat surprising that his opponent had guessed it from the beginning.

“You’re probably thinking you can exchange your life for one of my limbs. It would be better not to waste time.”

Jin Ja-gang let Zhuge Ming think that way. However he thought about it, Jin Ja-gang had nothing to lose.

“I’ll give you a chance.”

Zhuge Ming pointed to the mountain visible ahead beyond Blue Forest.

“Chae Ridge Mountain.”

A majestic mountain that rose as if looking down on Lan Family Village was there.

“If you pass that Chae Ridge Mountain, you’ll reach Huaxian. It’s the only path to Huaxian.”

Jin Ja-gang looked at Zhuge Ming as if asking what he meant.

“If you can reach Huaxian, our Zhuge family will no longer pursue you.”

“Simple.”

“Simple?”

Zhuge Ming mocked Jin Ja-gang.

“While passing through Chae Ridge Mountain, you will face the worst fear you can experience while alive. You’ll die screaming miserably in terrible terror, unable to beg to be saved or to be killed. And only then will you feel the terror of our family to your bones and regret it.”

Jin Ja-gang looked at Chae Ridge Mountain.

Mist was rising, and among the nearby mountains, it had the most magnificent and treacherous peaks. The trees and undergrowth were so densely overgrown that it looked dark even in broad daylight.

“If you need time, I’ll wait for you. Come after making the best preparations you can. That way your despair will be even greater. But don’t think about running away or asking for help. We’ll always be watching.”

Zhuge Ming waved his sleeve.

Flap!

A piece of paper as red as if stained with blood flew and fell in front of Jin Ja-gang.

A Death-Urging Talisman!

A talisman that hastens death. In the center of that talisman, the characters “Snake Scorpion Poison King” were written without fail.

“Since you’ve received our Zhuge family’s invitation, there’s nowhere for you to hide until you die.”

Jin Ja-gang picked up the Death-Urging Talisman, then glared at Zhuge Ming while slowly putting it in his mouth.

Crunch, crunch.

After chewing the Death-Urging Talisman.

He swallowed it whole.

Gulp.

Zhuge Ming unconsciously frowned. Jin Ja-gang’s audacity could only be called that of a madman.

Jin Ja-gang licked his lips while glaring at Zhuge Ming and answered.

“Invitation. I’ve certainly received it. I’ll accept it.”