Chapter 142

Zhuge Ming’s expression hardened.

“It seems we were too greedy.”

He regretted the time spent without any results and without drawing out the evil faction.

“I never thought they would abandon Snake Scorpion Poison King.”

Zhuge Ming recalled a secret word that Baek Li-jung had casually mentioned.

—”Just before Young Phoenix met Snake Scorpion Poison King, Enchanting Flower had contact with Snake Scorpion Poison King…”

Young Phoenix was a nickname for Zhuge Yan among the Three Dragons and Four Phoenix, and Enchanting Flower referred to Shandong Enchanting Flower – that is, Wishful Fairy Maiden.

Wishful Fairy Maiden.

Unlike the orthodox faction that had become one giant mass due to the Martial Arts Alliance, among the various forces of the evil faction scattered here and there, she was the heroine who possessed the largest independent force in the Shandong region.

Right after hearing those words from Baek Li-jung, Zhuge Ming had examined Zhuge Yan’s corpse once more.

A faint round mark under her right armpit. Flesh that seemed bruised as if poison had spread from that mark as the center.

It was a trace of being struck by poison finger.

Zhuge Yan’s Flying Wing Sword technique required fixing the shoulder in an extended position and flicking the elbow and wrist to the maximum to gain the soft sword’s propulsion. The Jiquan acupoint, its only weakness, had been precisely hit by finger wind.

Unless the young man called Snake Scorpion Poison King was a martial arts genius or master, he couldn’t have recognized the weakness of Flying Wing Sword at a glance.

This matched Shin Yung’s testimony.

Shin Yung had said Snake Scorpion Poison King’s martial arts weren’t particularly high. He was excellent in poison techniques but definitely not at a level that could harm Zhuge Yan.

That’s why he had been able to escape with Zhuge Yan, but ultimately Zhuge Yan died because of poison.

With such low martial arts, Zhuge Yan was hit at Flying Wing Sword’s weakness?

This could only be seen as Wishful Fairy Maiden’s intervention in some way. It could also be understood to mean that Wishful Fairy Maiden cherished Snake Scorpion Poison King greatly.

So…

If they could catch the big fish called Wishful Fairy Maiden, restoring the Zhuge family’s damaged reputation would be nothing.

But the big fish they wanted wasn’t caught, and ultimately the situation had flowed in an unfavorable direction.

Even Zhuge Ming couldn’t have predicted that Yunnan’s winter weather would move like this.

Zhuge Ming had to make a decision.

Should he break through those flames and enter Lan Family Village, or would he have no choice but to let Snake Scorpion Poison King do as he pleased?

But suddenly Zhuge Ming realized that darkness was falling around them.

Zhuge Ming quietly watched the movement of the smoke.

“We wait.”

Zhuge Son-gi asked with wide eyes.

“Pardon?”

Zhuge Ming’s hardened face relaxed slightly.

“Night will come soon. Then the wind direction will change from the mountain toward the fields, and mountain wind will blow.”

“But we have no way to contact the squad on the opposite side at the village entrance to tell them we’re waiting.”

They couldn’t send people because of the fire, and the black smoke made it impossible to send colored smoke signals.

“Since it’s winter, it will get cold quickly, and changing the wind won’t take as long as expected.”

Zhuge Ming estimated the time.

“Since the sun is already setting, at most one hour. Prepare to make contact and enter immediately when the fire’s direction changes.”

“Yes!”

Zhuge Ming muttered with a smile full of mockery.

“Accept the invitation? You evil faction vermin who only talks smoothly. If you thought I kept you alive all this time because I was afraid of you, you’re mistaken. I hope you enjoyed yourself well. Now you have less than a handful of life remaining.”

* * *

“Oh my…”

“Ahhh…”

The people of Lan Family Village were devastated.

They tried to put out the fire by drawing water from the stream and wells, but the wind was too strong to control the flames.

As the fire became too fierce and it became dangerous to remain, people had no choice but to evacuate in the opposite direction from where the fire was spreading.

The villagers began evacuating toward the village entrance, the opposite side from Chae Ridge Mountain, while hiding their regret.

However, they had to stop during the evacuation.

Many people had already stopped at the village entrance and were murmuring.

It was because warriors with weapons had gathered and were guarding the village entrance.

Jeok Yul, a warrior from the Zhuge family’s vassal family, was leading fifty warriors and blocking the entrance.

Jeok Yul was a man in his fifties who was a master having learned the Zhuge family’s advanced sword techniques.

The people of Lan Family Village were frightened and stopped when the warriors wouldn’t open the way. However, they couldn’t just stay still since they would all burn to death if they remained.

“As you can see, even bandits have nothing to take right now! If you don’t move aside, we’ll all burn to death!”

“Please move aside!”

“Why are you blocking the road!”

The people cried out.

However, Jeok Yul just glared at the people without responding.

When the villagers’ protests continued, he even shook his sword handle to make a clanking sound. At the same time, the warriors stepped forward and took positions to draw their weapons.

The villagers were frightened and shut their mouths.

Jeok Yul was extremely on edge.

The sudden large fire in the village was suspicious, and they couldn’t contact the main force at Chae Ridge Mountain. Moreover, the red smoke signal that had risen just before the fire was also inexplicable, so it was bound to be irritating.

Snake Scorpion Poison King might be hiding somewhere among them and launch a surprise attack.

Several spies who had been mixed among the villagers came forward. They walked toward Jeok Yul.

“What on earth is happening?”

“We confirmed that Snake Scorpion Poison King has moved.”

“We saw that too.”

“It was the hideout where Wang Hu’s group was.”

Jeok Yul looked around at the spies and villagers. However, none of Wang Hu’s spy group was visible.

“They’re dead.”

As the fire intensified, the villagers became desperate. The villagers began slowly approaching the Zhuge family warriors. It seemed they thought it was the same whether they died by unknown people’s swords or burned to death, so they’d rather die trying to escape.

“What should we do?”

At his subordinate’s question, Jeok Yul frowned. If Snake Scorpion Poison King had aimed for this situation, they naturally couldn’t take risks.

“All of them…”

But then.

“Look over there!”

Several warriors pointed ahead with their fingers.

Not far away, on the second floor of the burning inn.

A young man was standing precariously on the burning railing. No, he wasn’t just standing but looking down at the warriors from there.

“Snake Scorpion… Poison King?”

Even with fifty warriors right nearby, he showed no signs of tension or fear. Rather, he appeared extremely arrogant.

As if looking down on them with an attitude of “I’m here, so where are you looking?”

“Such an insolent b*st*rd…”

Jeok Yul gestured to the warriors. It was a sign to open a path for the villagers to escape.

“If unnecessary things get involved, it becomes complicated. Just let them go.”

“But the division master’s orders were…”

“He comes first. Let them go.”

“Understood.”

The warriors opened one path to let the villagers pass through.

“Hurry up and go!”

“Get lost quickly!”

The villagers hurriedly escaped outside the village.

People who had been hiding nearby also began coming out one by one.

Among them was Bian Bu, who was leaning on a staff. Bian Bu had painted his face black and mixed in with the people.

Since he had thought the Zhuge family wouldn’t let people go, he had intended to hide until the fighting ended, but since they were letting them go obediently, he seized the opportunity to escape.

Bian Bu mixed in with the people and looked back.

Jin Ja-gang was still standing on the inn’s railing, watching the villagers escape.

A light of admiration appeared in Bian Bu’s eyes.

When he set the fire, he had just thought Jin Ja-gang was crazy, but ultimately it had created an opportunity to evacuate the villagers.

Some would be injured by the fire, and their property and the place they had lived would disappear, but at least they could save their lives.

Of course, this couldn’t be called the orthodox faction’s way of handling affairs.

It was a solution extremely biased toward survival alone. No, could such a reckless thing even be called a solution in the first place?

Bian Bu suddenly got goosebumps.

What kind of life had Jin Ja-gang lived to be able to attempt such a great thing without the slightest hesitation!

He had thought he had glimpsed a fragment of the life Jin Ja-gang had lived from the previous incident, but he felt that even that was a mistake.

‘That fellow…’

After watching Jin Ja-gang for a moment, Bian Bu felt a strange emotion and turned his head again, mixing with the people to urge their escape.

* * *

When most of the villagers had left the perimeter, Jeok Yul finally drew his sword.

“Let’s go.”

Jeok Yul took the lead and his subordinate led the fifty warriors as they began approaching the inn.

Jin Ja-gang watched them from the inn’s outer railing and took a light deep breath.

They wanted to kill Jin Ja-gang for revenge, and Jin Ja-gang had to kill them to survive.

To continue his own path of revenge.

There might be no superiority or inferiority in revenge, but the revenge entangled between them had very strange aspects.

Just as they couldn’t give up, Jin Ja-gang couldn’t give up either.

For Jin Ja-gang to finish his revenge with his own hands, ultimately their revenge had to fail.

Jin Ja-gang looked down at the Zhuge family warriors approaching the inn and said.

“I have no personal grudge. Since I haven’t harmed the residents, how about you stop here?”

The Zhuge family warriors looked up and stopped.

“Stop?”

Jeok Yul looked at Jin Ja-gang with an incredulous expression.

“You hid like a rat for a whole month, yet you’re quite boastful. Stop at this point? Did you think we’d be scared if you blocked the main force with fire?”

“I never thought you’d be scared. I just don’t want to inflict meaningless damage.”

“Are you thinking of breaking through me and escaping before the main force arrives? That would be very impossible.”

“I’m not going to escape…”

Jin Ja-gang twisted the corners of his lips.

“I’m thinking of going to find that main force you mentioned.”

“What?”

“I’m sorry, but I’ve accepted their invitation rather than yours.”

“Hahaha!”

Jeok Yul laughed loudly.

“No, instead of such nonsense, how about this? I’ll catch you and take your head to the main force. That would be good too.”

Jin Ja-gang replied impassively.

“Since I’m thinking of going alive, just taking my head won’t work.”

“Stop the wicked jokes.”

Jeok Yul slowly drew his sword. The warriors also simultaneously raised their swords, spears, and hooks.

“I’ll tell you in advance – I’m well aware of your martial arts level. And I have enough skill to slice you into a thousand pieces.”

Jeok Yul walked toward the burning inn with his sword. Then he stood under the second-floor railing where Jin Ja-gang stood and raised his sword.

“Isn’t it hot standing in a burning house?”

Jin Ja-gang replied impassively.

“I can endure it.”

“A young man shouldn’t look down on adults.”

Suddenly, a transparent energy seemed to emanate from the sword, and Jeok Yul struck the pillar supporting the railing below with his sword.

Crack!

Jeok Yul’s sword passed through the pillar as if cutting water.

Once more, Jeok Yul swung his sword toward the adjacent pillar. This time too, Jeok Yul’s sword passed through the pillar.

Jeok Yul exhaled briefly, lowered his sword, and looked up.

“Now come down.”