Chapter 144: Laying the Mat and Waiting (1)

Lee Ga-heun's lips trembled.

"How dare you!"

Her eyes blazed with fury.

Lee Ga-heun was a woman who had risen to the seat of Chieftain of the Blue River Stronghold—one of the Eighteen Forest Strongholds—despite being a woman. Her path to that position could not have been ordinary.

At first, she had been too weak to resist and had suffered greatly.

Her beauty had drawn the attention of many who coveted her body, and she had endured countless assaults. She had desperately wished for rescue, but no one had extended a hand.

When both body and spirit lay in ruins, she came to a realization.

'In this wretched world, the only one I can trust is myself.'

Once her thinking changed, her actions changed.

She no longer cowered. Instead, she took the initiative.

Her weapons were her beauty and her seductive body.

Her first target was Geum Han-tae, the second-in-command of the Blue River Stronghold. Geum Han-tae was a trusted confidant of the former Chieftain Gwak Han-sul, possessing a brilliant mind that served as strategist.

Wrapping Geum Han-tae around her finger had not been difficult. Lee Ga-heun had granted him heavenly pleasures.

In return, she obtained a portion of his martial arts.

It was not the complete secret techniques but merely a fraction, so Geum Han-tae had not been particularly guarded.

The problem was that Lee Ga-heun had not obtained martial arts from Geum Han-tae alone. She had extracted techniques from every capable martial artist in the Blue River Stronghold, then sowed discord among them.

By the time the Chieftain Gwak Han-sul learned of this, the internal strife had already spiraled beyond control. In the end, Gwak Han-sul attempted to kill Lee Ga-heun to prevent future trouble.

But Lee Ga-heun had instead incited Geum Han-tae to launch a rebellion. Caught off guard, Gwak Han-sul crumbled.

Lee Ga-heun had stolen the martial arts manual from the dead Gwak Han-sul, used it as a foundation to train, and eventually grew strong enough to kill even Geum Han-tae.

That was how Lee Ga-heun had, by her own vicious strength, become Chieftain of the Blue River Stronghold. For such a woman, Dam Ho's insult was an unbearable humiliation.

"I will tear you to shreds!"

As Lee Ga-heun snarled with venom—

Crack!

Her head snapped to the side with a heavy impact. Dam Ho's massive palm had struck her across the cheek.

Lee Ga-heun's pupils trembled.

For a moment, she could not comprehend what had happened. But she quickly grasped the situation, and fury rose within her.

"How dare you! You—"

Crack!

Dam Ho's palm struck her cheek again.

Lee Ga-heun's head snapped sideways once more, and the side of her face struck by Dam Ho swelled instantly.

"Chieftain!"

"You bastard!"

The Blue River Stronghold warriors, enraged at seeing their Chieftain humiliated, charged forward.

In that instant, Dam Ho's body and fist arched backward like a bow.

"Brother!"

"Brother!"

Bang Jin-bo and Hwang Hye-ryeong cried out simultaneously.

The next moment, Dam Ho's fist hammered into the ground.

Ka-boom!

Kwa-kwa-kak!

The stone floor shattered with a deafening roar, sending fragments flying in every direction.

"Kuh!"

"Gah!"

The Blue River Stronghold warriors rushing to Lee Ga-heun's aid were struck down by flying stone shards.

Some had their heads split open and bled freely; others had their arms broken and groaned in pain; still others were struck in the abdomen and could barely breathe.

There were dozens of them.

Lee Ga-heun too had been struck by a flying shard, and blood trickled from her forehead. Having suffered a wound to her face, she collapsed to the ground.

Dam Ho seized the collar of the fallen Lee Ga-heun and hauled her upright.

"You! Die!"

In that instant, Lee Ga-heun struck like lightning. From her hair she had drawn the jade hairpin—a weapon known as the Blood Dragon Dagger. Once it pierced flesh, it could never be removed, and it induced such profuse bleeding that the victim was brought to the brink of death in moments.

Clack!

But the Blood Dragon Dagger did not even reach Dam Ho before it stopped. In the blink of an eye, his hand had seized her slender wrist.

"You?"

The next moment, Dam Ho applied pressure.

Crack!

"Aaaaah!"

Lee Ga-heun's slender wrist shattered like a straw.

With her wrist broken in an instant, she let out a piercing scream. The sight of her was ghastly enough to make one's blood run cold.

Crunch!

Dam Ho's fist crashed into Lee Ga-heun's face. Without even the chance to resist, she lost consciousness.

"……"

An oppressive silence descended upon the hall.

This was the Tyrant's Stronghold.

In the very heart of the Eighteen Forest Strongholds, one of their own Chieftains had been ruthlessly crushed by an outsider.

Dam Ho ground his foot into Lee Ga-heun's supple body as she writhed on the ground like a worm.

"No matter how in heat you are, you should at least choose your target."

His voice, devoid of any emotion, sent a chill through Lee Ga-heun's body. Though she had lost consciousness, her body still reacted.

The Chieftains of the Eighteen Forest Strongholds rose in alarm.

"The—the—"

"How dare you cause a disturbance in the forest!"

But no one moved rashly.

Dam Ho was a guest of Grand Chieftain Hwang Gyeong-mun. Though he had committed an offense, without Hwang Gyeong-mun's permission, they could do nothing.

Gwak Sam, Chieftain of the White Deer Stronghold, stepped forward.

"Grand Chieftain."

"Speak."

"An outsider has caused a disturbance within the Tyrant's Stronghold. Is it wise to leave him be?"

"A disturbance, you say…"

"This Chieftain has been humiliated. Such a debt must be repaid in blood."

"Is that so?"

"It is. The way of the forest is to return what is received. You must punish this man at once to uphold the law."

"I see."

"Anyone outside the forest who dares to touch one of its own must be brought to justice."

"Hmm."

Hwang Gyeong-mun nodded.

He turned to look, and Jo Yun-san and Oh Jong-sam were watching him with cold, appraising eyes—waiting to see what decision he would make.

Hwang Gyeong-mun's eyes narrowed.

Gwak Sam was not wrong.

He did not know what Dam Ho intended by humiliating Lee Ga-heun, but this was a place governed by the law of the forest.

If Dam Ho were left unpunished, the entire order of the forest would crumble.

"Tch!"

Hwang Gyeong-mun clicked his tongue and rose. A mountainous aura surged forth, dominating the surroundings.

"Hmm!"

Jo Yun-san and the others let out low murmurs.

'The old man still has this much power?'

'As expected of the one who has ruled the forest for decades.'

But they never let their true feelings show.

Hwang Gyeong-mun passed the fallen Lee Ga-heun and approached Dam Ho.

"Father!"

Hwang Hye-ryeong called out, but Hwang Gyeong-mun did not so much as answer.

His gaze was fixed solely on Dam Ho.

Dam Ho was still grinding his foot into Lee Ga-heun's body. The supple figure that had likely driven countless men wild was now nothing more than a filthy piece of meat under his boot.

Hwang Gyeong-mun finally spoke.

"Do you intend to continue?"

At that, Dam Ho kicked Lee Ga-heun in the waist.

"Ah!"

Even unconscious, Lee Ga-heun screamed as she was sent tumbling.

Hwang Gyeong-mun watched her ragged body roll across the ground like a discarded rag.

His gaze was deep and inscrutable; one could not tell what he was thinking.

"This is the forest."

"I know."

"She is a Chieftain of one of the Eighteen Forest Strongholds."

"I know."

"I am the Grand Chieftain of the Eighteen Forest Strongholds."

"I know."

"What you have done is tantamount to smearing mud on my face."

"I know."

"So you know everything. And yet you still did this to Lee Ga-heun. How interesting."

Hwang Gyeong-mun let out a faint laugh.

In the next instant, an overwhelming aura rose like a tidal wave, crashing toward Dam Ho. But Dam Ho did not so much as blink and continued speaking.

"I have no fondness for a bitch in heat who throws herself at anyone."

"Even if she is a bitch, she is a member of this stronghold."

"And?"

"If you commit a crime, you must pay the due price. Behind this hall is a place called the Penitence Cave. Stay there for three days, then come out."

"Very well."

Dam Ho nodded readily.

"Grand Chieftain!"

"We cannot allow this!"

The chieftains behind Hwang Gyeong-mun protested.

Hwang Gyeong-mun turned to look at them.

"Then you deal with him yourselves."

"Grand Chieftain!"

"You know his epithet, I trust? The Fist Demon."

"……"

"He is said to be the finest fighter in all the martial world. But I am old now—my bones rust with every movement. Are you asking me to fight him personally? You jest."

Hwang Gyeong-mun smiled faintly. The oppressive aura that had dominated the hall vanished as if it had never been.

Jo Yun-san glared at Hwang Gyeong-mun, grinding his teeth.

'The old fox is trying to avoid getting his own hands dirty.'

But opposing Hwang Gyeong-mun's decision now was not easy either. A reckless move could drain their strength in a battle with Dam Ho before the true operation even began.

At that moment, Yun Chung stepped forward.

"If you insist on confining him in the Penitence Cave, then at least put the Demon Binding Chains on him."

"The Demon Binding Chains?"

At Yun Chung's unexpected suggestion, Hwang Gyeong-mun's brow furrowed.

The Demon Binding Chains were one of the treasures passed down through the forest for generations. Forged from Dark Iron—the hardest and heaviest metal in the world—they weighed a thousand jin.

Once locked onto the limbs, their crushing weight made it impossible to free oneself by one's own strength. They were known as the most terrible restraint in existence.

Yun Chung approached Hwang Gyeong-mun and whispered.

"That much is necessary to quell the other chieftains' discontent. Brother."

"Hmm!"

As if waiting for this, the remaining chieftains raised their voices.

"Put the Demon Binding Chains on him!"

"It must be done!"

"Hmm!"

In the end, Hwang Gyeong-mun let out a low murmur.

At that moment, Dam Ho stepped forward and extended both arms.

"Put them on."

"Is that truly acceptable?"

At Hwang Gyeong-mun's question, Dam Ho nodded silently.

"Brother."

Hwang Hye-ryeong gazed at him with anguished eyes.

She could not understand.

Even if Lee Ga-heun had provoked him, there had been no need to react so savagely.

The aftermath of his excessive response was consuming the entire Tyrant's Stronghold. Hwang Hye-ryeong was deeply unsettled by this.

At that moment—

"It will be all right."

Bang Jin-bo comforted her.

"What do you mean?"

"Brother would never do such a thing without good reason."

"But…"

"Trust Brother."

While everyone else looked on with doubt, there was not a trace of suspicion in Bang Jin-bo's eyes.

He trusted Dam Ho.

'When Brother does something like this, there must be a worthy reason.'

His faith bordered on devotion.

The Demon Binding Chains were locked onto Dam Ho's arms and legs.

The weight of a thousand jin bore down upon his limbs. An ordinary person would not merely be unable to move—they would be unable to breathe.

Jo Yun-san approached Dam Ho and whispered.

"You will never leave the Penitence Cave alive."

"Still haven't remembered, have you?"

"What?"

"You'd better start searching your memory. Because if you don't, I'll make you remember."

Dam Ho's voice left an eerily chilling aftertaste.

When Jo Yun-san looked up again, Dam Ho was being led away by the forest warriors, heading toward the Penitence Cave.

The alley was very narrow because several houses were built closely together, making the entrance path extremely confined.

There was concern about what might be waiting behind it. If the narrow alley continued like a maze, they might not be able to escape and could suffer great damage.

However, Jeok Yul’s adjutant Yi Rim thought they couldn’t just leave Snake Scorpion Poison King alone like this.

Originally, they had blocked the village entrance because the family had judged that the current number of personnel was sufficient. In fact, considering Snake Scorpion Poison King’s known martial prowess, it was more than enough.

However, after directly confronting Snake Scorpion Poison King, Yi Rim realized that Snake Scorpion Poison King couldn’t be judged by martial arts alone.

The boldness to set fire to an entire village.

The quick thinking to use terrain and features to defeat special task force leader Jeok Yul.

It wasn’t that he had never seen those who used poison techniques before, but Snake Scorpion Poison King was somehow different in nature. Rather than the concept of competing in martial arts, he seemed like someone who fought based solely on life and death.

When fighting Jeok Yul, he had even used his own life as part of his strategy. That’s why Jeok Yul was so easily defeated.

Such a schemer had openly fled and hidden in a burning alley.

Was this a trap, or was it an empty fort strategy to prevent their pursuit through bluffing?

Considering the cunning Snake Scorpion Poison King had shown so far, there was no reason he wouldn’t use the Zhuge family’s empty fort strategy against people of the Zhuge family. Perhaps he was setting this up to escape through a pre-prepared route.

Therefore, Yi Rim had to pursue him, whether to verify or to not lose track of Snake Scorpion Poison King’s movements.

Even in the worst case, his role was to buy time until the main force arrived.

Yi Rim simultaneously waved red, yellow, and white flags.

“Advance!”

The warriors broke through the walls and houses blocking their way and entered the alley.

However, the inside was a completely unexpected place.

The houses suddenly disappeared and a flat area appeared where trees were densely planted like an orchard.

The trees had grown much taller than human height, with branches growing from shoulder height and spreading abundantly to the sides. They looked like apple trees, spreading their branches and leaves widely.

Yi Rim recognized those trees at a glance.

“Ancient tree white tea…?”

Ancient tree white tea is a special tea tree from Yunnan. Unlike tea trees from other regions, ancient tree white tea grows large like fruit trees.

But why did Snake Scorpion Poison King choose a tea tree field instead of an alley?

Yi Rim soon guessed Snake Scorpion Poison King’s intention and nodded.

For Snake Scorpion Poison King, who lacked martial arts, a narrow alley would actually be a space of death. If blocked front and back, there would be nowhere left to flee.

That’s why he had deliberately fled to flat ground where burning tea trees grew thickly. The tea trees were on fire and smoke was rising severely, extremely obscuring visibility.

He probably thought he could hide himself in the smoke and fire like when facing Jeok Yul.

Yi Rim smiled slightly.

“First time facing a formation?”

Densely lined tea trees or smoke obscuring vision posed no obstacle in formations. If he knew about formations, he wouldn’t have fled to such an open place.

Yi Rim could be certain this was definitely Snake Scorpion Poison King’s misjudgment.

Among the Heaven’s Net and Earth’s Trap formations, the one for drawing out and catching “invisible enemies” is called “Drawing Out Hidden Rabbits” (拔出隱藏 打兔子).

Literally meaning to draw out hidden rabbits for a hunting drive, this saying originally had a different origin.

Long ago, a male prostitute secretly hid in a wealthy family’s lady’s room. When the master found out, he ordered the servants to catch the male prostitute.

However, no matter how much it was the master’s order, the servants couldn’t carelessly enter the lady’s room. So the servants used cunning, striking the door with clubs from outside the room and making noise.

The startled male prostitute escaped through the window and ran around. It was a dark night and the estate was so vast that the male prostitute thought he wouldn’t be caught if he hid.

However, the servants continued shouting and moving around, preventing the male prostitute from hiding and making him run about. Eventually, the male prostitute was chased around until he was cornered in a dead end, beaten up, and driven out naked.

Gossips called this “beating rabbits” (打兔子), because the character for rabbit (兔子) was actually also used as slang for male prostitute.

Thus, no matter how much Snake Scorpion Poison King tried to hide using smoke, it was useless within the Nine Palace Eight Trigram Formation. After all, it was a formation designed to catch such hiding ones, rabbits.

Now it was Yi Rim’s turn to prove this.

The only variable was the severely burning flames.

Yi Rim raised his head.

A blue flag rose far to the left and then was obscured by smoke.

Tweet! Tweet!

Instead, two short whistle sounds rang out, and to the right, a black flag could be seen rising and fluttering at the end of the tea tree field. Two whistle sounds were heard from there as well.

Tweet tweet!

This was a sign that the warriors of the Wood and Water elements had successfully surrounded the tea tree field left and right without missing Snake Scorpion Poison King.

Snake Scorpion Poison King was now trapped in the tea tree field.

What remained was only the hunt.

“Now, it’s time to go rabbit hunting.”

Yi Rim spread red and white flags left and right. The Fire and Metal element warriors split into two groups and advanced while surrounding the sides.

When he waved the yellow flag and blew a long whistle, the Earth element warriors lined up in a row across the front of the tea tree field.

Yi Rim held five flags, then raised all five simultaneously and shouted.

“Open formation!”

All the warriors shouted together.

“Open formation!”

* * *

Whoosh whoosh.

Fires were burning here and there among the tea trees.

The warriors began searching between the tea trees while keeping their bodies as low as possible, worried that fire from burning tea tree branches might catch their hair.

But peculiarly, instead of moving in pairs, they moved separately, one by one.

Jin Ja-gang hid his body among the tea trees and moved around while observing the situation. He could see them gradually tightening the encirclement while surrounding the tea tree field.

Because of the smoke, Jin Ja-gang’s vision was also obscured, so he couldn’t see clearly, but it wasn’t simply closing in – the search within seemed to be conducted systematically as well. It was like several wheels rolling in coordination.

Jin Ja-gang was hiding with his back against a tea tree when he checked left and right. One warrior was approaching, and no other warriors were visible in any of the eight directions. Jin Ja-gang went around the tea tree and attacked the warrior from behind. He covered the mouth of the warrior who was bending over and hooked his neck with a sickle, pulling.

The warrior spurted blood from his neck and collapsed. It was a clean kill without any sound or noise. No one saw Jin Ja-gang’s killing.

Jin Ja-gang pushed the corpse into a ditch in the ground and hid among the tea trees again to move.

However, not long after, someone suddenly shouted.

“Got hit!”

That wasn’t a sound from the direction of the ditch where Jin Ja-gang had hidden the corpse. It was from a completely unexpected direction. Jin Ja-gang tensed up and lowered his body.

The corpse hadn’t been discovered. But the missing personnel had been discovered.

At that moment, whistle sounds came from all directions.

Tweet! Tweeeet! Tweet tweet!

The warriors’ movements changed.

Jin Ja-gang felt as if he were trapped. Even though not a single warrior was visible in his sight.

Suddenly.

A warrior burst out from the smoke. It was Jin Ja-gang’s front. The warrior discovered Jin Ja-gang and widened his eyes greatly.

“Here…!”

Jin Ja-gang dove down and scraped the legs with his sickle. The warrior hastily lowered his sword to block the sickle. There was fire on the tea tree branches above his head, so the warrior was in an awkward posture with his waist bent. Jin Ja-gang lay flat on the ground and crouched like crawling, then swung the sickle again.

The warrior also swung his sword downward to defend his ankles.

Clang! Clack!

Every time the sickle and sword collided, a grating friction sound occurred.

The warrior hooked the sickle with his sword and lowered his body while kicking Jin Ja-gang. Jin Ja-gang took the kick with his body while pushing the sickle against the blade and sliding it upward.

Thud!

Slash!

Jin Ja-gang was hit by the awkward kick but wasn’t greatly damaged, while the warrior’s thumb joint holding the handle flew off.

Just as the warrior was about to scream from pain, Jin Ja-gang dropped the sickle and rushed in, headbutting the warrior. Jin Ja-gang’s head hit the warrior’s jaw. The warrior’s head lifted.

Stagger!

Jin Ja-gang hugged the warrior’s waist and stood up immediately.

The warrior was lifted up by Jin Ja-gang. The tea tree branches above were burning fiercely.

“Aaaaah!”

Sizzle sizzle sizzle! The sound of burning flesh was severe. The fragrant scent of burning tea leaves mixed with acrid smoke, and the smell of burning flesh was added to it.

However, Jin Ja-gang held the struggling warrior tightly and didn’t let go.

At that moment, someone shouted from the left.

“Here!”

A warrior about twenty steps to the left had discovered Jin Ja-gang and shouted.

Sounds of people rushing in from all directions could be heard. Jin Ja-gang threw down the warrior whose upper body was on fire and ran to the side.

Tweet! Tweeeet!

The familiar whistle sound rang out. Then the warriors no longer chased Jin Ja-gang. They turned at right angles from their direction and curved to the right.

At the same time, someone burst out from Jin Ja-gang’s left and attacked him. Jin Ja-gang pressed his body to the ground.

The warrior’s spear passed over Jin Ja-gang’s head. Jin Ja-gang immediately sprang up like bouncing.

While keeping his back against the spear shaft, he charged at the warrior. The warrior pressed Jin Ja-gang down with the spear shaft while lifting his knee. Jin Ja-gang turned his head but the knee struck his cheekbone next to his nose.

Jin Ja-gang felt dizzy and knelt down, placing both hands on the ground. The warrior mounted Jin Ja-gang’s back and hooked Jin Ja-gang’s neck with the spear shaft, pulling from behind.

Jin Ja-gang’s waist bent like a bow.

“Kugh!”

Crack, crack.

Jin Ja-gang grabbed the spear shaft with his hands and endured, but his neck was being strangled and he couldn’t breathe. His neck bones might break. His throat was pressed, bruised, and ached with pain.

“He’s here! The b*st*rd is here!”

While the warrior was shouting, his strength weakened slightly, and Jin Ja-gang turned his neck to the side to open his airway. He wedged his arm into the gap between his shoulder and the spear created then, and simultaneously put his right hand into his left sleeve and pulled out a long needle.

He stuck the long needle directly into the back of the warrior’s hand.

“Urgh!”

The warrior endured with the long needle stuck in him, but soon the poison spread and his body swayed.

The poison Jin Ja-gang had prepared for nearly a month was cocklebur seeds.

These are the fruits of cocklebur used for diseases like sinusitis or scabies, called cocklebur seeds because they look like earrings.

When poisoned, they cause headaches, abdominal pain, and vomiting, and in acute poisoning, convulsions occur and heart-lung function weakens.

Tremble tremble tremble.

The warrior’s pupils lost strength and dilated as his body began trembling while stiff.

Jin Ja-gang turned his body and pushed the warrior away. The warrior lay on the ground trembling like someone with epilepsy.

“Grgh, gh.”

The warrior couldn’t breathe properly and foam formed at his mouth, while Jin Ja-gang also touched his neck and gasped for breath.

Not long after the fighting began, whistle sounds rang out again.

The whistle sounds were becoming nauseating. Jin Ja-gang had to get up and flee again.

He had only taken about five or six steps when he suddenly felt a presence behind him. Jin Ja-gang twisted his body and threw two needles.

“Kugh!”

The warrior who had been trying to attack Jin Ja-gang from behind was hit in the face by poison needles. Jin Ja-gang got goosebumps.

He had just moved from that location – when had someone followed behind him and appeared?

The warrior who was hit by poison needles in his cheek and jaw pulled out the needles and took out a pill from his chest to put in his mouth.

No matter how urgent it was, Jin Ja-gang couldn’t just let that sight pass. Jin Ja-gang rushed at the warrior and rolled on the ground. He took out a short knife and pressed it against the warrior’s neck while stabbing his abdomen.

“Kheuk!”