Chapter 299

“When you’re running an inn all by yourself, that can happen. But we ate well.”

So-min took out money.

But So-min was startled while handing money to the middle-aged owner.

“Huh? Your, your fingers…!”

The middle-aged owner’s fingers receiving the money were crushed without fingertips.

Pyo Sang-guk and Yeong-woon also looked at his hands and were shocked.

“Le, leprosy!”

The middle-aged owner was still smiling, but his eyes had changed.

“Where is Poison Dragon?”

The three people got goosebumps.

“Leper Mound!”

The three tried to jump up. But suddenly their heads spun and they staggered and fell.

“Wha, what?”

Their limbs lost strength and their bodies became heavy.

The middle-aged owner held up a wickedly sharp blade and laughed.

“Young ones. If you ate carelessly in the martial world, you must pay the price.”

Yeong-woon belatedly tried to raise his internal energy to expel the poison, but his internal energy wouldn’t obey well.

“To prevent using internal energy, there’s not only mountain attack poison but also soul confusing powder. It makes your head hazy, making it several times harder to operate internal energy.”

“Kugh!”

“Your body can’t move but you can still talk, right? I’ll cut off your fingers joint by joint to wake you up, so whenever you feel like talking, say…”

The middle-aged owner stopped talking mid-sentence. He quickly dodged his head to the side.

Thunk!

He avoided his head but a square kitchen knife embedded in his shoulder. The middle-aged owner was startled and leaped to the ceiling. He stuck upside down to the end of the railing leading to the second floor and looked toward where the knife had come from.

“What bastard!”

From inside the inn’s kitchen, the man in dirty clothes who had passed by earlier was coming out.

The middle-aged owner’s eyes narrowed.

“Why is the guy who left earlier in there…?”

“I looked around briefly. Seeing that the original owner is absent, this inn was originally a black shop.”

Just as secret markets are called black markets, shops that operate for plunder or trade in human flesh are called black shops.

“Po, Poison Dragon?”

The man walked toward the middle-aged owner and answered.

“If you were looking for me, you should have said so earlier.”

The middle-aged owner’s expression contorted. He was limping as he walked toward him. He didn’t seem to be limping earlier.

“Why were you looking for me?”

“What a stupid question! Obviously to kill you…!”

Suddenly the middle-aged owner’s pupils shook and he fell from the railing.

Crash!

The middle-aged owner couldn’t land properly and rolled on the floor.

“The kitchen knife was poisoned!”

“Isn’t that obvious?”

Jin Ja-gang approached the middle-aged owner while flicking his finger.

Ping!

The middle-aged owner hastily ducked. A needle passed over the middle-aged owner’s ear. Jin Ja-gang continued walking while spreading his fingers. Needles popped up from between his fingers. He spun the risen needles between his fingers, immediately caught them and threw them.

Ping! Whiing!

The middle-aged owner frantically rolled his body to avoid the poison needles.

Thud thud thud.

Jin Ja-gang’s thrown needles kept embedding in the back wall and floor.

As the distance closed, the middle-aged owner had to dodge more busily. The intention to not give him time to expel poison with internal energy was obvious.

Blood poured from the middle-aged owner’s nose. The middle-aged owner shouted urgently.

“What are you doing! Come out quickly!”

Yeong-woon, Pyo Sang-guk, and So-min tensed, wondering if there were more others.

But there was no response.

Jin Ja-gang said.

“I told you I already looked around.”

The middle-aged owner gritted his teeth and rushed at Jin Ja-gang with the kitchen knife still embedded in his shoulder. Sharp energy emanated from the blade in his hand.

* * *

“…”

“…”

The inside of the inn had become a complete mess. Everything was collapsed and marked with sword cuts.

He wasn’t just a mediocre assassin but someone with considerable martial arts skills.

But now he was dead in Jin Ja-gang’s hands.

“There was one in the kitchen and two hiding in the back yard.”

Jin Ja-gang took out an antidote from the dead middle-aged owner’s bosom, checked it, then threw it to the three people.

Then he walked around the inn collecting the poison needles he had thrown while saying.

“Soul confusing powder doesn’t change color even when pricked with silver needles, so you can only be careful. Since it has a bitter taste, they also strengthen seasoning to hide the flavor. When eating food, always take only a small amount with your first spoonful.”

Yeong-woon, who had regained some consciousness after taking the antidote, sighed and asked.

“We received help again this time. I’m ashamed.”

“It’s fine.”

So-min said.

“I didn’t know individual Leper Mound assassins had such high skills. With poison on top of that, for us… Anyway, thank you.”

“The soul confusing powder this guy used is very powerful but doesn’t last long. You should be able to get up after resting a bit.”

Pyo Sang-guk glared at Jin Ja-gang and said.

“What do you plan to gain by making us keep owing you debts? I’ll tell you in advance, it’s useless to try to buy our favor with things like this.”

Jin Ja-gang answered.

“I’m already gaining enough, so you don’t need to worry. Then.”

When Jin Ja-gang, who had collected all the needles from the inn, tried to leave, So-min tried to stop him.

“Young Master Jin!”

Pyo Sang-guk stopped So-min.

“Sister Min! Don’t hold onto Poison Dragon. We are proud disciples of orthodox sects. We must overcome this with our own strength!”

Jin Ja-gang was about to leave but suddenly came back. Pyo Sang-guk was startled and raised his internal energy.

“Wha, what?”

Jin Ja-gang approached Pyo Sang-guk closely and extended his hand.

“Did you happen to keep any of my needles?”

So-min took out the needles she had kept and gave them to Jin Ja-gang.

“Here they are.”

“Ah, thank you. It seems there are still people coming, so I should save them.”

“What…?”

Jin Ja-gang bid farewell to the three and left.

The three people remaining in the inn were dumbfounded.

So-min said.

“Uh, um… brothers. I’m having some strange thoughts right now…”

* * *

Clang! Clang clang!

Metal sounds rang as Yeong-woon gritted his teeth and threw palms. Yeong-woon was hunched over because the hole in his abdomen hadn’t healed.

So-min also had her instep pierced, making difficult movements that required putting weight on her foot hard. She fought desperately against assassins while limping or hopping on one foot.

Pyo Sang-guk was in the best condition among them, but because he had to step forward in place of the two injured ones, he had the most minor wounds.

Pyo Sang-guk shouted in frustration.

“Why do you keep clinging to us when you’re supposed to be targeting Poison Dragon!”

This was already the fourth attack since the inn.

The opponents kept increasing in number.

The three people’s appearance was a mess unlike at first. They were torn and cut everywhere. Dried bloodstains were stuck all over.

The three had become more cautious so they weren’t severely poisoned, but each time assassins appeared they encountered new poisons, so sores even developed on their bodies.

The reason they were still holding out was due to their very solid foundations and pure internal energy.

And…

It was also thanks to Poison Dragon who appeared whenever they were about to forget.

The assassins attacking the three received surprise attacks from Poison Dragon from behind.

Poison Dragon’s projectile techniques became faster, more precise, and more secretive day by day. The more he used them in actual combat, the stronger he became. The three could feel it to that extent.

Over ten assassins had become corpses rolling on the ground. The three had also been able to handle about two or three in the meantime.

Jin Ja-gang cleaned up the scene while collecting the poisons used by assassins and recovering needles.

“Huff huff!”

“Huff huff huff!”

The three sat down exhausted as soon as the fight ended.

Yeong-woon and Pyo Sang-guk entered energy circulation while So-min stood guard.

Jin Ja-gang handed So-min a handful of medicinal herbs.

“If you crush and apply this to poisoned wounds, it should help. Then.”

Jin Ja-gang just gave the herbs and tried to leave again.

So-min shouted with her face blackened by dust and dirt.

“Hey! You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Hovering around us.”

“It’s true I was nearby.”

Since he answered so readily, So-min was at a loss for words.

“No, Young Master Jin, I, I, I didn’t see you as that kind of person. Are you admitting you used us as bait?”

“I don’t think they wouldn’t attack you three just because I wasn’t there.”

“Well, that’s true but…”

They were already involved in the incident once. Even if they tried to withdraw now, Leper Mound wouldn’t leave them alone. They would continue to be attacked until reaching Chongqing.

“But Young Master Jin’s schedule keeps getting delayed because of us. What benefit does Young Master Jin get from continuously fighting Leper Mound?”

“I considered going directly to find Leper Mound’s hideout, but no matter how I interrogated them, they wouldn’t answer. To prevent Leper Mound from interfering with my business when I reach Chongqing, I have no choice but to keep drawing them out.”

While Leper Mound assassins couldn’t rampage trying to kill Jin Ja-gang in Chongqing where orthodox sects held sway, they could interfere with his work. They would try to somehow draw Jin Ja-gang outside Chongqing.

Yeong-woon finished energy circulation and opened his eyes. Even Yeong-woon, who had the best complexion at first, now had sunken eyes.

“Thanks to Brother Jin, I’m learning a lot about the martial world.”

It was sincere words mixed with a bit of joking.

But Jin Ja-gang didn’t smile.

“If it helped, that’s fortunate, but this is as far as it goes.”

So-min made a tearful face and shouted.

“What? Why again!”

“The level of assassins deployed in the last two attacks was low.”

“Whaaaat?”

So-min was so incredulous she couldn’t speak.

“I didn’t think so at all.”

While Jin Ja-gang’s clothes and face remained intact as when they met, theirs didn’t. They felt like dying from exhaustion.

“Wow, now you’re really becoming annoying.”

So-min flopped down and lay flat.

Pyo Sang-guk also opened his eyes following Yeong-woon. Even after finishing energy circulation, fatigue was thick in his eyes.

“Right. They were weaker than last time. So?”

“It seems they were buying time.”

Yeong-woon said.

“Probably… the personnel they can deploy has nearly reached its limit.”

“Correct. Among today’s deployed assassins, there were ordinary people without leprosy.”

“That means…”

“It seems a master will come soon.”

“Worst case scenario.”

Jin Ja-gang said.

“It won’t be the worst. From here on, I’ll take the lead. Hide yourselves for a few days. Then there won’t be any harm to you three.”

Jin Ja-gang made what wasn’t quite an entreaty and quickly left.

The remaining three felt deflated.

Yeong-woon scratched his head and said.

“He wasn’t using us as bait… he was watching over us in case we got taken hostage. Brother Jin was never discovered first by Leper Mound assassins. Only we kept getting caught. That means…”

Pyo Sang-guk hit his palm with his fist, wounded in his pride.

“Damn it. Our tracks were that easily spotted by assassins?”

“It can’t be helped. We haven’t lived like Brother Jin.”

Pyo Sang-guk also shook his head.

“This is my first time with such a muddy martial world journey. It’s the worst in other meanings too.”

After speaking, Pyo Sang-guk looked in the direction Jin Ja-gang had disappeared with a bitter expression.

“Being bait would be better than being treated like bothersome baggage. This is really something.”

Yeong-woon also smiled bitterly.

But one thing was becoming increasingly certain.

Jin Ja-gang wasn’t someone who would carelessly kill unless a blade was pointed at him first.

But why had such a Jin Ja-gang become almost the entire martial world’s public enemy?