Chapter 48: There Is No Justice More Expensive Than a Human Life (2)

"Master."

The urgent voice breaking the night's silence made Eun Ha-seong furrow his brow slightly. But he quickly composed his expression and spoke with authority.

"Enter."

The door opened hastily, and a flushed warrior burst inside.

"Master."

"What is it?"

"We have found it."

"Found it? What…"

Eun Ha-seong began to ask, then fell silent. His subordinate's voice, confirming his expectations, followed immediately.

"We have found the Blood Demon's legacy."

"At last!"

A look of intense emotion surfaced on Eun Ha-seong's face. The veins on his clenched fist bulged like worms.

"Where is it?"

"It has been brought to a villa near the Blood Demon's Tomb. The men will bring it at first light."

"No, I will go myself."

He rose hurriedly and dashed toward the cliff. Employing his movement arts, it took less than an hour to ascend to the midway point where the Blood Demon's Tomb lay.

The villa at the cliff's midpoint was a place Eun Ha-seong used on occasion—outsiders did not even know of its existence.

Inside the villa, guards maintaining watch over the Blood Demon's Tomb stood in tight formation. In their midst was a massive chest.

Its surface, crafted from an unknown metal, bore the vividly engraved pattern of a soaring dragon.

"Master!"

The subordinates who had brought the chest knelt on one knee in unison upon seeing Eun Ha-seong. But he walked past them without a glance, approaching the chest on the cart.

"At last… it is in my hands. The Blood Demon's legacy."

His voice trembled of its own accord.

For years, he had labored solely to obtain the Blood Demon's legacy. He had kidnapped countless people and forced them into labor, committing acts no human being should.

And now, he had obtained the desired result. It was nothing less than the triumph of obsession.

He ran his hand across the chest. His fingertips felt the bumpy texture of the pattern. And the mysterious energy that radiated through his entire body.

Eun Ha-seong was certain that the Blood Demon's legacy lay within this chest.

"Where did you find it?"

"In the western section."

"As expected. You have worked hard."

"Not at all."

"The laborers?"

"For now, they are resting at the Blood Demon's Tomb."

At his subordinate's answer, the corners of Eun Ha-seong's mouth curled upward. His face radiated an unmistakably ominous aura.

"Good."

"Then?"

"There is no benefit in leaving unnecessary evidence behind. Once dawn breaks, eliminate them all."

"Yes, sir!"

The subordinate answered without a moment's hesitation.

It had been inevitable from the moment they began excavating the Blood Demon's Tomb where the Blood Demon's legacy was buried. If this fact became known, Seocheon Mountain Villa would not become the overlord of Xinjiang—instead, it would become the enemy of the entire Murim.

"Has that woman not been captured yet?"

"The chief steward has gone personally. Good news should come soon."

"Hmm!"

A furrow deepened between Eun Ha-seong's brows.

Chief steward Jo Hyeol-san was his most trusted confidant. Yet he felt inexplicably anxious.

"That woman must be captured. If the Blood Forest Assassination Bureau intervenes at this stage, everything will be thrown into disarray. As a precaution, have *them* on standby."

"Them?"

"You know."

"Ah, yes sir."

The subordinate's voice trembled slightly as he answered. That was how much tension the word carried.

Eun Ha-seong lifted the chest. It was as heavy as a large boulder, but he carried it as though it weighed nothing and headed toward his quarters within the villa.

He could feel the subordinates' gazes behind him, but he paid them no mind. What appeared on Eun Ha-seong's face was unmistakably a smile.

Upon returning to his quarters, Eun Ha-seong set the chest down.

*Hummm!*

Others could not sense it, but Eun Ha-seong could—the powerful resonance emanating from within the chest.

The resonance was calling to him.

"This is destiny. The Blood Demon's legacy was destined to come to me from the very beginning."

His smile deepened.

Eun Ha-seong attempted to open the chest's lid. But the chest was seamless, without a single joint.

It was impossible to open by conventional means. But Eun Ha-seong was not worried.

From the moment he had received intelligence that the Blood Demon had met his end here, he had investigated everything about the Blood Demon.

He was the foremost authority on the Blood Demon in the world. The Blood Demon's personality, tastes, even his habits.

"He was obsessed with blood to the point of earning the epithet 'Blood Demon.' So he would never hand over his legacy to someone who had not shed a single drop of blood."

*Schlick!*

Eun Ha-seong drew a dagger and sliced his own palm. The blade cut deep, and blood flowed freely.

He brought his bleeding hand to the chest.

*Gush!*

The blood traced the chest's pattern, then was suddenly absorbed—as though the chest were a ravenous beast, desperate for blood.

"Heh heh! Yes, drink your fill."

Eun Ha-seong let out a sinister chuckle.

Saturated with blood, the chest flushed red, then suddenly cracked. The fractures spread rapidly across its surface before it crumbled apart entirely. And the contents within were revealed.

A book, so worn it seemed on the verge of disintegrating, and a single, extraordinarily crimson bead.

"What is this?"

Eun Ha-seong grasped the book and the bead in each hand.

Blood Demon True Scripture.

Those characters were clearly inscribed on the worn book's cover.

"At last, the Blood Demon's ultimate technique is in my hands."

His eyes blazed with ecstasy.

Eun Ha-seong hurriedly examined the book. It was unmistakably the Blood Demon's ultimate technique. His gaze then shifted to the bead in his hand.

"Then this must naturally be the spirit pill."

He thought better of the Blood Demon than he had expected. To have prepared a spirit pill to enhance the internal energy of his successor…

Without hesitation, Eun Ha-seong placed the spirit pill in his mouth. The moment it touched his saliva, it dissolved and slid down his throat into his stomach.

"Mmm!"

As a feeling of fullness welled up from within and he was about to smile, a searing pain suddenly surged from his gut.

It felt as though a red-hot blade were being twisted through his abdomen. Eun Ha-seong's mouth gaped open.

"Ughkk!"

A moan, like the cry of a beast, echoed through the room.

Scorching flames coursed through Eun Ha-seong's meridians, engulfing his entire body. The overwhelming force he felt within was so tremendous that he rolled across the floor, eyes bulging.

He did not even dare attempt to circulate his energy. His head was flooded with blood. Veins bulged grotesquely, and his eyes turned deep crimson.

It felt as though his skull would burst at any moment.

"Blood Demon, you son of a bitch!"

Unable to endure the agony, Eun Ha-seong cursed the Blood Demon at the top of his lungs.

He cursed the Blood Demon and his ancestors alike. But the pain did not subside.

"Aaaagh!"

His scream of agony reverberated through the villa.

***

The main gate of Seocheon Mountain Villa was under tighter guard than ever before. The atmosphere was such that the warriors guarding the gate did not so much as glance sideways, their eyes fixed firmly ahead.

Then they witnessed something strange.

A horse was approaching Seocheon Mountain Villa. Atop the horse sat a portly young boy.

"What is this?"

The warriors' faces registered bewilderment.

It was still before dawn—an hour too early for visitors.

Moreover, following the incident several days ago, strict orders had been issued to refuse all visitors.

The guards focused their internal energy into their eyes. Then they perceived the strange sight more clearly.

Behind the portly boy on the horse, an unusually dark shadow flickered.

It did not take long to realize that the "shadow" was actually a black horse and a man clad in a black robe.

"Who-who goes there?"

The warriors sensed that something was amiss and revealed their readiness. Though they leveled their weapons, the visitors did not stop.

"Halt!"

The warriors shouted, channeling their internal energy into their voices. But by then, the strangers had already approached close to Seocheon Mountain Villa's main gate.

"This is not a place for outsiders to approach casually. Identify yourselves."

Yeop Gyeong, the captain of the gate guard, stepped forward.

Though stationed at the gate, Yeop Gyeong's martial arts were among the finest in Seocheon Mountain Villa. His cautious temperament meant that very little could shake him mentally.

Yet in this moment, Yeop Gyeong's heart was pounding wildly, and chills were racing up his spine.

From the instant the man on the black horse had revealed himself, his body was reacting of its own accord. A pressure he had never felt even from the master, Eun Ha-seong, was crushing his entire being.

To shake off the pressure, he shouted:

"I asked who you are!"

"Is this Seocheon Mountain Villa?"

The man in black on the black horse finally spoke.

A voice devoid of all emotion. Yet strangely terrifying. That numbness, those eyes flickering in the darkness.

The man on the black horse was Dam Ho.

Dam Ho dismounted from Heuk-gwi.

The instant his foot touched the ground, Yeop Gyeong's eyes sharpened.

*A cripple?*

Though very slight, the man was clearly limping. Upon confirming this, a strange sense of relief washed over him.

Yeop Gyeong's voice rose.

"This is indeed Seocheon Mountain Villa. It is not a place for outsiders to approach without cause. If you have business, return after dawn."

"Is the master inside?"

"Why do you seek the master? The master does not meet with individuals of unclear identity like yourself."

"Is that so?"

Dam Ho's voice sank low.

In that instant, the warriors at the gate flinched.

*Something is about to happen.*

Dozens of warriors had the same thought at nearly the same moment.

Their gazes were fixed on Dam Ho, and their entire bodies were tensed.

They wanted to look away from Dam Ho. But they could not.

An inexplicable aura emanating from his body held their gazes captive and refused to let go.

Dam Ho gazed at Seocheon Mountain Villa for a moment.

Despite the night, lights blazed everywhere, evoking the image of a city that never slept. Given its enormous scale, the presence of countless people could be felt.

The master of Seocheon Mountain Villa was surely among them.

A cold voice escaped Dam Ho's lips.

"If you will not come out, I will make you come out."

"What…"

*BOOM!*

In that instant, a thunderous sound erupted, and Yeop Gyeong's body was hurled backward. As consciousness faded, Yeop Gyeong thought it strange.

What had happened?

Why am I flying?

And this pain…

*CRASH!*

In that instant, Yeop Gyeong's body struck the gate. The gate shattered, and Yeop Gyeong ceased to feel pain.

His body, now a broken mass of flesh, tumbled across the ground.

"The c-captain…"

"The bastard killed the captain! Attack!"

The warriors, belatedly recovering their wits, charged toward Dam Ho in unison.

Dozens of men rushing toward a single target. Yet Bang Jin-bo did not worry for that one man.

*Hyung!*

In that instant, Dam Ho moved.

*CRASH! CRASH!*

Thunderous sounds erupted in rapid succession, and the dozens of warriors who had been charging toward their single target were reduced to bloody chunks, scattering in all directions.

A vision of hell was opening at Seocheon Mountain Villa.

Crumble, crumble.

“Aaaaargh!”

“What’s happening!”

Rumble, rumble—

People rushed toward the sudden screams and the sound of collapsing rocks, startled by the commotion.

Then they despaired.

Due to their weakened state, they hadn’t properly erected the support pillars, causing the ceiling to collapse.

The tunnel they had painstakingly dug had completely caved in.

Two people were buried.

But no one had the strength to save them.

“Ha, haha.”

Thud, thud.

People fell to their knees.

Despair descended upon the entire mine shaft.

Food and water had already run out. Digging the tunnel again had become virtually impossible.

Even the torches they had carefully rationed were down to just two or three.

“…”

Everyone gathered in one place in silence.

Their faces were grim.

Some were even bleeding from their noses.

This was because the poisonous fumes from the minerals being mined couldn’t escape through the blocked entrance and had filled the shaft. It was natural that those with less strength would succumb to the toxicity first.

After maintaining silence for a while, Yun-ik spoke with a cracked voice:

“We… have no strength left.”

“Ahhh…”

From the beginning, they had very little time to break through the collapsed entrance. They had started the task knowing they might die before completing it.

But even that effort had come to nothing.

It felt like receiving a death sentence. Now, without any choice, they could only wait to die.

People looked at Jin Ja-gang.

Half envy, half wonder.

Their gazes were mixed with complex emotions.

Jin Ja-gang was the most intact among them, but he was still just a child. He lacked the strength to dig the tunnel and erect supports.

Jin Ja-gang couldn’t help but lower his head.

“I’m… sorry.”

An elderly man approached Jin Ja-gang and took his hand. The old man spoke with a dry, gravelly voice:

“What are you saying? It’s not your fault.”

The old man looked around at the others.

“Among us, this child will probably live the longest.”

People looked at the old man. The old man swallowed his dry saliva and continued:

“I am Hwang Mo of the Sanghuang Valley faction. Shamefully, I was the valley master, but all my sect members are dead, and I alone survived—a wretched old man.”

His voice was mixed with tears, but they were too dry to flow.

“If Hundred Flower Valley permits, I would like to pass on the humble secret techniques of our Sanghuang Valley to this child.”

It was a very surprising, yet unsurprising request. In the worst situations, any sect would want to preserve its legacy.

After quietly listening, a middle-aged man from another medicinal sect added:

“I am Gwang Mo of the Silkworm Cultivation Sect. Hearing the elder’s words makes me greedy too. Our sect doesn’t have special martial arts, but we do have a secret method for raising silkworms that can be both medicine and poison. I don’t want that to be forgotten.”

Soon, one after another, they all wanted to pass their secret techniques to Jin Ja-gang.

Yun-ik understood their feelings and couldn’t refuse. No one would want their sect’s legacy to be lost, even if the sect itself couldn’t continue.

Another elder stepped forward to persuade:

“Our deaths are inevitable, but please let us choose how we die.”

Yun-ik opened his heavy mouth:

“I understand your feelings, but that… is not for me to decide.”

All eyes turned to Jin Ja-gang.

Jin Ja-gang was filled with complex emotions.

Why, why had things turned out this way!

He had only come to save the people of Hundred Flower Valley, but instead, he had to watch everyone die.

Jin Ja-gang was also tired.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to end his life at this point.

But he couldn’t ignore their desperate pleas as they faced their final moments.

Jin Ja-gang slowly nodded.

Yun-ik asked Jin Ja-gang.

“Do you understand what accepting their wishes means?”

He had heard the same words before from Yong-myeong of the Medicine King Sect.

Jin Ja-gang nodded again.

“I know that even if I want to die, I won’t be able to.”

He would have to carry the lives of others and the legacies of their sects. Even if everyone else died and he remained alone, he would have to continue—until circumstances finally drove him to death.

Unlike the others who could pass on their sect’s techniques and die with lighter hearts, Jin Ja-gang would die carrying the heavy burden of what they had entrusted to him.

Yun-ik worried about this. Could the young Jin Ja-gang bear such a mental burden?

But Jin Ja-gang wasn’t as weak as Yun-ik thought.

Once he made his decision, he had already cast aside his hesitation.

Jin Ja-gang spoke to the eyes that were watching him.

“I won’t die here. I will survive. And I will make those outside pay for their crimes.”

The survivors didn’t believe Jin Ja-gang’s words. But they desperately hoped that he would, that he could succeed.

Jin Ja-gang gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.

“I will show them hell. I swear it!”

* * *

The people didn’t have much time left.

Most had been starving for quite a while.

Therefore, they couldn’t pass on as many secret techniques to Jin Ja-gang as they wanted.

They had to select only what was absolutely necessary.

Facing death, there was no reason to hide or conceal anything.

People revealed the most important techniques of their sects, one or two at a time, in front of everyone.

From these, they selected only what was truly necessary and passed them on to Jin Ja-gang in sequence.

The content of the transmission was diverse, including internal energy cultivation methods, sword techniques, hidden weapon techniques, and footwork. Since most were from medicinal sects, there were also many unique elixir formulations and combination methods.

Fortunately, Jin Ja-gang’s learning ability was remarkably impressive. He could remember almost everything after hearing it once, and after reciting it a few times, he had memorized all the content.

Of course, this wasn’t Jin Ja-gang’s innate ability.

It was the Intelligence Decoction that Mang-ryo had fed him continuously for months.

It was an acquired ability gained as a consequence of the Intelligence Decoction, which had multiplied his pain during experiments hundredfold.

Regardless, it was proving helpful in the current situation.

Jin Ja-gang tried not to miss any of the transmitted content.

He received explanations about the Hundred Flower Secret Scripture from Yun-ik and Gong Ga-bok of Hundred Flower Valley, and advice about the Herbal Cultivation Method from the Medicine King Sect. He was finally understanding what he had been blindly memorizing all this time.

Jin Ja-gang reduced his sleep and food intake. Even combining all the remaining time of the people here would be far less than the time Jin Ja-gang would live…

* * *

Mang-ryo had been unable to leave the collapsed mine for nearly half a month.

To an outside observer, it might have seemed as if a loved one had been buried in the collapsed mine.

Even the Stone Forest Gang leader Jia Hei had come to visit, but Mang-ryo ignored him.

He just kept muttering while staring at the collapsed mine entrance:

“You’re not dead. You can’t die. You’re not someone who can die before I kill you. Right?”

Jia Hei felt a chill.

“What an obsession. Did you hide a treasure in there?”

Jia Hei ordered the warriors guarding the mine:

“Keep an eye on him. Don’t let him do anything strange. It would be troublesome for us if he hired workers to dig it up. Especially after we’ve already received compensation.”

“I don’t think that will happen.”

“Oh? Why?”

“He never leaves his spot. We bring him food, and he even relieves himself right there.”

Jia Hei grumbled with a displeased expression:

“How long is he going to cling to another sect and waste our manpower, tsk.”

* * *

The first death was one of the children from Tuanshan Village.

The children had exhausted themselves more quickly than the elderly by constantly crying for their mothers. The child called for his mother with parched lips without stopping.

“Mo… mother… mo… ther…”

The child had been suffering for so long that Jin Ja-gang finally made a decision.

He decided to give the child a peaceful death.

He drew out some of the poisonous energy from his dantian and fed it to the child. He used more than usual to ensure the child wouldn’t suffer.

The child, thinking it was water, licked it with his tongue and died after a brief convulsion.

The child’s emaciated body couldn’t withstand Jin Ja-gang’s deadly poison for even a moment.

Jin Ja-gang etched the dying child’s death in his heart. The image of the child’s mother sending off her child remained vivid in his mind.

The second child from Tuanshan Village was in such pain from hunger that he tried to bite his own arm. When Jin Ja-gang held him, the child’s eyes were already glazed over.

When Jin Ja-gang fed him poison, the child died with dry tears.

In this way, Jin Ja-gang buried the two children from Tuanshan Village in his heart.

From that point on, the number of deaths gradually increased.

People would lose strength little by little, suffer in pain, and then enter a comatose state where they barely breathed, dying at some indeterminate moment. It was often difficult to determine the exact moment of death, as they died so quietly in their final moments.

Since they died of starvation, the corpses were very light. Jin Ja-gang could move an adult’s corpse by himself. Even that was heartbreaking.

Since these people had already been weakened by torture, once death began to visit, it became unstoppable, and the number of casualties increased rapidly.

Death by starvation was accompanied by continuous, extreme pain. People suffered greatly until they lost consciousness.

Therefore, those who had completed their transmission to Jin Ja-gang asked him for death.

Jin Ja-gang decided not to refuse their requests. If he could use his poisonous energy to help people die more peacefully, that was what he could do.

Jin Ja-gang guided the suffering people to die comfortably.

And every day, he slept among corpses and woke up among corpses.

Death had enveloped daily life.

In such a situation, the death Jin Ja-gang offered wasn’t so extraordinary. Rather, it was like a blessing to the people.

Those transmitting their secret techniques tried their best to pass on as much as possible to Jin Ja-gang, conserving every breath. When they finished their transmission and died by Jin Ja-gang’s poison, they died with surprisingly satisfied expressions.

This was partly because the pain from the poison was shorter than the agony of starvation, and partly because they felt relieved that they could at least pass on their sect’s legacy before dying.

But as a result, more and more debt accumulated in Jin Ja-gang’s heart.

Yun-ik was one of the few who chose death for himself.

Not long after the last torch went out, the aura of death visited him too.

“Ja-gang…”

“Shall I give you poison?”

“No. I don’t want to… burden you.”

Yun-ik caressed Jin Ja-gang’s cheek with his rough hand.

“You said you would survive, but… if it becomes too difficult alone… then…”

He probably wanted to say that it would be okay if Jin Ja-gang chose suicide.

But those were Yun-ik’s last words. Without finishing what he wanted to say, Yun-ik fell into a coma and became a cold, incredibly light corpse after two days.

With all the torches extinguished, the mine shaft was filled with pitch-black darkness.

Jin Ja-gang had no idea how much time had passed. He only repeated the cycle of receiving secret techniques from the survivors and giving them death in return.

The last person to transmit secret techniques to Jin Ja-gang was the hairy man from the Bosam Gate who had killed the guard with a rock.