Chapter 193: Cannot See the Tree Before One's Eyes (3)

"Guh!"

The entire quarantined group of villagers was showing symptoms of poisoning. Most lay rolling on the ground, their faces the color of earth. Their breathing was ragged, and thick veins bulged grotesquely across their bodies. Their bloodshot eyes looked as though they might burst at any moment.

"How is this possible?"

Jong Ri-yeon's pupils trembled.

Despite their strict precautions and all efforts to contain the poison, the entire village had been poisoned. Among the afflicted were the Im Yi-cheong family, who had so graciously given them shelter.

Jong Ri-yeon was tormented by the feeling that it was all her fault. The Im Yi-cheong family's poisoning, in particular, dealt her a devastating blow.

"Can they be saved?"

"They must be saved."

"But…"

Yu Jin-mun trailed off.

If even martial artists with internal energy had not lasted long, it was impossible to imagine that ordinary people without such training could survive.

Yu Jin-mun gazed at the fallen villagers. The shadow of death already hung over them. No one could wrest them from the Reaper's grasp.

'They are beyond saving. I must give them up.'

He was the Captain of the Golden Guard.

He had to preserve those who still remained unharmed and return to the Martial Alliance.

Jong Ri-yeon was desperately searching for the correct formula for the antidote. But if she could not even save the Golden Guard martial artists who had been poisoned first, saving the vast number of villagers was even more impossible.

Yu Jin-mun quietly stepped outside and gathered the martial artists who had not yet been poisoned.

"You all understand the gravity of the situation?"

The martial artists nodded silently.

"We must make a decision. Whether to remain in this village any longer…"

"Or to withdraw?"

"Precisely."

Yu Jin-mun nodded at his subordinate's question.

He was the one who bore the responsibility.

For the greater good, he was willing to sacrifice the few. If it was necessary, then so be it.

More had died in the interim. Barely a dozen remained. Three were receiving treatment from Jong Ri-yeon, but they did not appear likely to survive.

"I sent Il-mong, but there is no guarantee he reached the Martial Alliance alive. If the one who poisoned this entire area without our knowledge is capable of that, they would certainly have detected Il-mong's movements."

"Are you saying Il-mong may be dead?"

"Yes! Now we must make our decision."

"……"

Everyone fell silent.

They understood what Yu Jin-mun was about to say.

"We abandon this place and fight our way out on our own."

Again, no one answered. It was a tacit agreement.

Then, someone asked cautiously.

"What about the Fist Demon…?"

"The Fist Demon?"

"Will he allow us to leave?"

"He will."

"On what basis?"

"He is a man who lives alone in this world. Do you think he would care whether we leave or not? Besides, we will be gone before he even notices."

"Still, fleeing in the dead of night…"

"Call it a strategic withdrawal. As long as we survive, the Martial Alliance can formulate countermeasures. Our justification is more than sufficient."

Yu Jin-mun's words carried persuasiveness. The Golden Guard martial artists, already gripped by fear, were swayed.

Yu Jin-mun asked a nearby subordinate.

"Where is the Fist Demon now?"

"In his quarters."

"Then there will be no obstacle to our escape."

"That is correct."

"Good. We leave the village now."

"Immediately?"

"Yes. Right now."

Yu Jin-mun moved without hesitation. The Golden Guard martial artists followed behind him.

They cut through the darkness and made their way beyond the village.

"This is all that is left."

Jong Ri-yeon's gaze was fixed upon the herbs laid out upon the table. They bore a faint crimson hue unlike any ordinary medicinal plant.

Madness Blood Grass.

It was a rare herb seldom seen in the wild.

At first glance it resembled the ancient grass of similar name, but its properties were entirely different. Even a small dose of Madness Blood Grass could drive a person to insanity. For this reason, it was primarily used in the preparation of poisons.

"Fighting poison with poison."

Jong Ri-yeon bit her lip.

For the past three days, she had fought tirelessly against the poison that held the village in its grip.

'The master of this poison is a madman. He does not want people to die quickly. He wants them to suffer as much pain as possible before dying. He has combined numerous toxins to make the antidote impossible to derive. But there is a single component that binds all of them together. I must destroy it. Once I do, every individual toxin can be countered one by one.'

Jong Ri-yeon saw the possibility in the Madness Blood Grass.

The problem was whom to administer it to first.

Jong Ri-yeon's gaze fell upon the surviving Golden Guard martial artists. All their comrades had perished; only two remained.

They lay unconscious, unaware that their companions had abandoned them.

If she was to test the Madness Blood Grass, they were the ideal candidates.

Jong Ri-yeon was about to seek out Yu Jin-mun and ask permission to use the Madness Blood Grass when—

"Do as you please."

Dam Ho appeared from somewhere and spoke those words.

"But how can I…"

"Do as I say."

Jong Ri-yeon looked at Dam Ho for a moment. But reading his thoughts from his expression was an impossible task.

"Very well. If you say so…"

"Begin."

"What about you?"

Dam Ho's gaze turned to the Im Yi-cheong family, lying on the ground.

The family who had given him shelter for the night was on the verge of death. If they could not be saved, they too would perish like all the others.

"I need to find the ones who did this."

"But how? We have not seen a shadow of them. You yourself barely left the house because of the Golden Guard."

"Just because I was inside the house does not mean I was idle."

"Then…?"

Jong Ri-yeon stared at Dam Ho intently.

Even her questioning gaze could not draw a response from him.

Rather than engage in lengthy explanation, he chose to act.

***

A pleasantly cool wind was blowing.

Atop a tall tree, a smile appeared on So Gwang's face.

For those who wielded poison, the wind was the ultimate tool. There were some clumsy ones who approached directly and inflicted poison through contact, but that was something only the unskilled would do.

So Gwang looked toward a tree across from him. There, one of his companions stood. Beyond that one, several more were stationed.

All of them had been taught the Poison Channeling Technique by Sa Woo-yeon. Though they had mastered this technique to a proficient level, they were not true poison humans in the complete sense.

Sa Woo-yeon had elevated poison cultivation to the realm of art. He himself was an unparalleled genius who had mastered everything, but So Gwang and the others did not possess that level of talent. They had therefore received instruction only in the Poison Channeling Technique, a mere fraction of the whole.

The only complete poison human was Sa Woo-yeon himself. And so they could not become his disciples, serving instead as loyal retainers.

Each individual's poison technique was not particularly impressive. But when they deployed the Poison Channeling Technique together, the situation changed entirely.

Sa Woo-yeon had taught each of them a different poison. Each was a fearsome toxin in its own right, but what was truly terrifying was the effect when two or more were combined.

Different poisons merged and were reborn as an entirely new toxin. Deciphering an antidote for such a combination was virtually impossible.

Over the past several days, So Gwang and his companions had used the wind to scatter their poisons. Some days, two of them released entirely different toxins; other days, three.

Today, all five had gathered to release their poisons simultaneously. If five different toxins were released at once, no living being in the village would survive.

—Let us begin.

At So Gwang's signal transmission, his companions drew out the pouches containing their poisons.

Their eyes gleamed with madness.

The poison in So Gwang's pouch was Blood-Transforming Toxin, extracted from a rare and venomous toad deep in the southern jungles.

He was about to release it into the wind when—

BOOM!

Without warning, the tree he stood upon shuddered violently, as though struck by a cannonball, and began to topple backward.

"Wh-What?!"

So Gwang leaped in terror, launching himself toward another tree.

CRASH!

The instant he landed, a thunderous crash rang out again, and the second tree fell.

So Gwang had no choice but to leap to yet another tree. But the moment he touched down, that tree too collapsed.

Every tree he set foot on crumbled with a deafening sound. In the end, So Gwang was forced to descend to the ground.

This could not happen of its own accord. Someone had deliberately felled every tree he stood upon.

"Who goes there?!"

So Gwang roared and flung Blood-Transforming Toxin in every direction. It was an instinctive act of self-preservation in the face of danger.

The Blood-Transforming Toxin scattered in all directions.

To anyone other than a poison human of Sa Woo-yeon's caliber, the toxin posed a threat. Even So Gwang himself was not immune. Holding his breath, he retreated.

Thud!

"Urgh!"

In that instant, a powerful hand seized his throat.

So Gwang felt his airway cut off and gasped.

Then, a massive fist struck his mouth.

CRUNCH!

The fist shattered every tooth in his mouth and drove deep into his oral cavity. So Gwang could not even scream; his body simply convulsed.

In the next instant, his body was hoisted into the air and driven into the ground.

BOOM!

The earth shook.

So Gwang's spine was crushed, and his limbs twisted grotesquely. Blood spurted from his mouth.

His vision blurred. Someone was gripping his throat and beating him savagely, yet he could not even make out their face.

'Who are you? Why?'

He screamed in his mind, but no sound escaped. His voice remained trapped inside his skull.

His assailant answered not with words but with relentless brutality.

CRACK!

His collarbone shattered, both knees pulverized. The agony was excruciating, and the fact that he could not even scream drove So Gwang to the brink of madness.

The assailant remained silent throughout.

So Gwang, who had used poison to plunge the Golden Guard and the villagers into a crucible of terror, now understood their anguish in the depths of his bones.

'Who are you?! Why?!'

Even his silent screams went unanswered. Instead, the pouch containing Blood-Transforming Toxin was emptied entirely into his mouth.

'No—don't!'

The alien sensation flooding his mouth made So Gwang shake his head desperately, but it was futile.

The unknown figure emptied the Blood-Transforming Toxin into his mouth, then took a single step back. Only then could So Gwang make out his features.

A man in black, disheveled black hair framing wild, beast-like eyes.

It was Dam Ho.

Dam Ho had used the Destroying Wind Strike to shatter every tree So Gwang stood upon. Then he had waited for the poison user to land and subjected him to merciless violence.

Bubble! Bubble!

Blood-Transforming Toxin was boiling up from So Gwang's mouth.

Blood foam bubbled forth, and So Gwang convulsed violently. He had been forced to swallow enough toxin to kill a hundred people at once. Even with his natural resistance to poison, it was only natural that he could not endure it.

"AAARGH!"

So Gwang let out one final, agonized scream, and his breath ceased. The horrifying potency of the Blood-Transforming Toxin caused his eyes and throat to dissolve first. His body melted away in an instant, leaving only bone behind—a sight so terrible it would haunt nightmares. But Dam Ho watched the entire spectacle without so much as a single blink.

While Yu Jin-mun and the Golden Guard patrolled to guard against the unseen enemy, Dam Ho had been studying their method of poisoning.

It was virtually impossible to poison people without being detected by Dam Ho's perceptive senses. And yet, the poisoned continued to appear.

Dam Ho's conclusion was that they were scattering poison without approaching directly. The only ways to do so were to poison the village well or to use the wind.

The well had been checked. That left only the wind.

Dam Ho had traced the wind's direction and followed it upstream. There, he found So Gwang.

In the darkness, Dam Ho's eyes glinted savagely.

Having recognized So Gwang's death, his companions were fleeing in every direction.

A hunting dog that has been turned upon by its prey returns to its master.

Dam Ho quietly followed in their wake.

The wind had not yet ceased.

Jin Ja-gang was in the middle of his afternoon training when he received word from a Qingcheng Sect disciple that Tang Ha-ran wanted to meet him at the southern mountain gate.

“In my personal opinion, she seemed very angry.”

“Angry?”

Jin Ja-gang had no idea why Tang Ha-ran would be angry. He didn’t know whether it was directed at him or someone else.

Woon-jeong found it strange.

“She must be a young lady with a lot of anger. Last time too, after sending Poison Dragon benefactor away, she stayed quiet for a while then suddenly got angry and left.”

The Qingcheng Sect disciple asked.

“Will you go? If you don’t want to, I’ll decline for you.”

Jin Ja-gang immediately thought of Dan Ryeong-gyeong spitting blood every morning at dawn. He couldn’t not go. Wiping the sweat flowing on his body and the blood seeping from burst capillaries, he answered.

“I’ll go.”

Woon-jeong tried to dissuade Jin Ja-gang.

“Will it be alright? She’s very angry…”

If a Qingcheng Sect disciple was concerned enough to try to stop him, it must not be ordinary anger.

“The fairy maiden says she’s getting better, but it looks like she’ll need at least another half year of recuperation. Even now, her internal organs are continuously damaged, so she probably has pain every day like her insides are being clawed by fingernails.”

“Ah, this is troublesome. Whether it’s medicine or food, she needs to eat well to recover, but here there’s hardly anything to eat but grass…”

Qingcheng Mountain principally doesn’t eat meat. Most Taoist sects, like Buddhist sects, are vegetarian.

At Woon-jeong’s words, the Qingcheng Sect disciple who had come to deliver the message glared at Woon-jeong. This was because he was speaking badly of Qingcheng Sect in front of an outsider. Woon-jeong had a relatively high rank because even though he was young, he was a disciple of Taoist Bok-cheon, who was like a senior brother to the sect leader. Still, realizing he had spoken wrongly, he noticed the look and closed his mouth.

“It should be fine. And I have a debt to Young Lady Tang, so I have no choice but to go because of that.”

The debt Jin Ja-gang owed to Tang Ha-ran was incurred because of Woon-jeong. The debt from eating the Clear Blood Gland Snake was considered settled, but he owed a debt for her agreeing to hold back Woon-jeong who was pursuing him.

Woon-jeong smiled awkwardly.

“Primordial Heavenly Venerable. The connection from that time has now become the opposite… truly, connections are mysterious things that cannot be predicted or rashly judged.”

* * *

Tang Ha-ran…

Wanted to become an empress.

In the Tang family where descendants were precious, even women could become family heads and take on great enterprises if they had ability. The current Tang family head was also Tang Ha-ran’s great-aunt, and though she was now overshadowed by Tang Qing’s presence, she was still nominally the family head representing the Tang family to the outside world.

Therefore, Tang Ha-ran had also dreamed since childhood of making the Tang family into the greatest family in the martial world with her own hands.

When she grew up and realized her abilities were insufficient for that, Tang Ha-ran was briefly in despair. However, if she couldn’t do it herself, she could achieve her dream through her husband.

If she assisted her husband and spread the Tang family’s name throughout the world, wouldn’t that also be fulfilling her dream!

Establish the Great Tang Sect of Sichuan!

The lofty goal that anyone with Tang family blood would dream of.

Tang Ha-ran wanted to definitely achieve that dream with her own hands.

But…

Grandfather Tang Qing, who knew this better than anyone, had entrusted Tang Ha-ran to Mang Ryo.

Tang Ha-ran’s teeth chattered when she thought of the humiliation she had suffered from Mang Ryo. She couldn’t bear the unbearable anger of having her position reversed with someone she had looked down on and despised.

Occasionally, Tang family daughters had to make unwanted marriages for political reasons or to continue the family line… but no matter what, this wasn’t right. How could he entrust all authority over her marriage to someone like Mang Ryo, who was no different from a street thug?

Mang Ryo had even treated Tang Ha-ran like a consumable and threatened to marry her off to a leper if she didn’t obey.

In the Tang family, the King of Hell Plaque meant Tang Qing’s will, and Tang Qing’s will was the Tang family’s will.

It was something Tang Ha-ran absolutely could not go against.

But she had to find a way.

She couldn’t just fall for Mang Ryo’s schemes and marry Poison Dragon, who was as rootless as Mang Ryo… Tang Ha-ran waited for Jin Ja-gang while forcibly suppressing her killing intent.

Soon a Qingcheng Sect disciple and Jin Ja-gang appeared together. Jin Ja-gang was walking with a slight limp.

Even that displeased her.

Jin Ja-gang had clean enough looks to be mistaken for a woman, but that was all – he had a pathetically peaceful expression and eyes.

Moreover, he didn’t possess the background and powerful martial arts that Tang Ha-ran wanted.

He was fundamentally unqualified to contain Tang Ha-ran’s ambitions.

Grind, grind.

Tang Ha-ran ground her teeth while glaring at Jin Ja-gang. Jin Ja-gang noticed Tang Ha-ran’s killing intent but didn’t show it and greeted her.

“Thank you for before.”

Tang Ha-ran glared at Jin Ja-gang without answering. Her killing intent gradually intensified.

“Ah, Young Lady Tang Ha-ran. If you do this here…”

Tang Ha-ran suddenly raised one corner of her mouth in a smile.

“I want to have a martial contest with Poison Dragon… That much should be acceptable, right?”

It was a sudden suggestion.

The Qingcheng Sect disciple tried to stop her.

“Having a martial contest with such killing intent on Qingcheng Mountain is difficult to permit.”

“Didn’t you only take issue with killing intent inside the mountain gates? Are you going to interfere even outside?”

The Qingcheng Sect disciple said firmly.

“Saying you’ll harm a guest our sect has agreed to protect right at our doorstep – are you speaking seriously?”

“You accepted a major figure of the evil faction as a guest? Ah, so that’s what Qingcheng Sect’s hospitality means.”

The Qingcheng Sect disciple’s face reddened. The evil faction is the enemy of the Martial Arts Alliance. Moreover, if you connect Qingcheng Sect, which hasn’t even joined the Martial Arts Alliance, with the evil faction, it becomes very troublesome for Qingcheng Sect.

“Primordial Heavenly Venerable! This disciple doesn’t mean that…”

Then Taoist Bok-cheon appeared.

“I’ll handle this.”

Taoist Bok-cheon was holding an ordinary iron sword behind his back as he walked leisurely down the mountain path. It seemed like a relaxed gait, but in the blink of an eye he was already in front of them.

“Strictly speaking, they’re not guests but people temporarily taking shelter. Since they came with serious injuries, it’s human nature to care for them briefly out of old sentiment.”

“Aren’t those taking shelter guests?”

“Qingcheng doesn’t have the generosity to treat unwelcome travelers as guests. In that sense, you’re not a guest either.”

Taoist Bok-cheon smiled slightly as he spoke.

“Did you come to urge me to keep my promise?”

“That’s right…”

Tang Ha-ran started to speak then closed her mouth. What she was thinking of was her promise with Jin Ja-gang, but the promise Taoist Bok-cheon had made was to oversee a wedding ceremony.

The promise Taoist Bok-cheon mentioned was the latter.

Tang Ha-ran frowned.

“Isn’t joking going too far in the current situation?”

“Joking? I clearly confirmed it last time.”

“I have no interest in the Taoist’s disciple!”

“I already heard that then.”

Tang Ha-ran’s face flushed red.

Taoist Bok-cheon looked at the carriage and asked Tang Ha-ran.

Whether the Tang family was interested in his disciple. Naturally Tang Ha-ran had answered that she wasn’t interested.

Then only Bian Bu and Jin Ja-gang remained in the carriage.

Naturally it wouldn’t be the older Bian Bu, so who would be left?

Tang Ha-ran looked at Taoist Bok-cheon in confusion.

What on earth was Taoist Bok-cheon talking about!

But Taoist Bok-cheon looked at Tang Ha-ran with a calm face and said.

“Having lived uselessly long in this world, I end up seeing things I shouldn’t see, knowing things I shouldn’t know, and learning things I don’t want to know. Let me say just one thing.”

She didn’t want to hear it. But Tang Ha-ran couldn’t help but listen, curious about what he would say.

Taoist Bok-cheon spoke to Tang Ha-ran in a low, admonishing tone.

“Don’t do things you’ll regret. If you must do them, then don’t regret them either.”

Tang Ha-ran found Taoist Bok-cheon’s words extremely irritating for some reason.

“That will absolutely never happen. Qingcheng interferes too much even in places outside your own territory. Do you intervene even in simple martial contests between disciples?”

Taoist Bok-cheon slowly shook his head.

“Call it an old man’s worry. But I cannot agree to killing in any form. Whether it’s our territory or not, I can’t just watch and ignore someone trying to harm people before my eyes. And…”

Taoist Bok-cheon looked back at Jin Ja-gang.

“Did you agree to the martial contest?”

Jin Ja-gang looked at Tang Ha-ran, who was still emanating hostility and killing intent toward him, and said.

“I never agreed. But I do have one debt to Young Lady Tang. If she asks me to repay that debt, I would have to enter the contest.”

Taoist Bok-cheon’s face frowned slightly.

“Debt is a very bad word in the martial world. That was rash.”

“I couldn’t defeat Taoist Woon-jeong, so I received Young Lady Tang’s help.”

“…”

Even the great Taoist Bok-cheon was momentarily flustered when Woon-jeong’s story came up.

Taoist Bok-cheon let out a very long sigh.

Woon-jeong had been given the easy task of monitoring Jin Ja-gang’s departure from Dayi. It was something sent to let him gain outside experience.

But not only did he help Jin Ja-gang attack an Emei Sect master, he brought the evil faction’s matriarch Dan Ryeong-gyeong to Qingcheng Sect… In that short time, he had caused every possible incident.

“This too is karma, and a connection that the Heavenly Venerable watches over.”

Taoist Bok-cheon seemed to have nothing more to say.

“If both sides agree to the martial contest, I’ll serve as witness.”

Tang Ha-ran pointed at Jin Ja-gang.

“Hurry up and agree.”

Jin Ja-gang had both goodwill and puzzlement toward Tang Ha-ran. However, having incurred a debt, he thought he should repay it.

“Will this repay the debt?”

“No.”

Tang Ha-ran showed a small medicine bottle.

“You can only get this antidote if you defeat me.”

Jin Ja-gang looked at Tang Ha-ran for a moment, then asked Taoist Bok-cheon.

“How should the martial contest be conducted?”

“There are no special rules. Whether rules or conditions for the contest, it just needs agreement between both parties.”

“What happens if someone gets hurt?”

“Naturally you might get hurt or even die. But the essence of martial contests is competing in each other’s martial arts. It’s proper etiquette to stop at an appropriate point rather than taking lives.”

Tang Ha-ran shouted.

“No limits! Wouldn’t that be more convenient for you too?”

Taoist Bok-cheon’s brow furrowed. He was about to say something when suddenly a chilling energy emanated from beside him.

Jin Ja-gang was gradually revealing the emotions he had been suppressing as he focused on Tang Ha-ran.

“That would be better. I don’t really know what an ‘appropriate point’ means either.”

Tang Ha-ran let out a scoffing laugh as if incredulous.

“Ha, do you think you’ll be a match for me?”

“No. You’re an opponent I can’t win against by holding back.”

Tang Ha-ran was struck speechless as if caught off guard.

“And yet you’ll attack me? Without even asking for any reason?”

“Didn’t Young Lady just say so? To receive the antidote.”

Tang Ha-ran felt a surge of emotion and anger rose again. Even though she was emotionally causing a disturbance, Jin Ja-gang wasn’t asking for any reason at all. That annoyed her even more.

If he asked for a reason, she could have said something. If he asked why she was doing this, she might have been able to express her frustrated feelings at least once.

But he wasn’t asking anything. Even when she said she’d kill him, he was being defiant and telling her to go ahead.

He had seen her being defeated even by Woon-jeong, so his own abilities were obvious!

Was he only interested in the antidote?

Only the antidote!

Not her, but only the antidote!

Tang Ha-ran’s frustration to the point of madness was expressed through drawing up her internal energy.

Whoosh!

Her eyebrows shot up and her collar trembled. Then it instantly calmed down. This was the characteristic reaction of Tang family internal energy cultivation methods. The internal energy’s influence didn’t show much externally but sank inward.

Tang Ha-ran ground her teeth as she spoke.

“Let’s see how long you can act so arrogantly.”

Crack!

Tang Ha-ran drew a whip from her waist and struck the ground.

Her shattered dream.

Because of Jin Ja-gang, the loyalty she had devoted to her family until now had become worthless in an instant.

Anger surged.

She hated Jin Ja-gang!