Chapter 378

Ro-gwan answered.

“This is a transaction. In transactions, the greater the risk, the higher the compensation. I believe you can handle that much.”

Jin Ja-gang stared quietly at Ro-gwan. His expression was one that said ‘what kind of nonsense is that?’

Ro-gwan lifted one corner of his mouth in a slight smile.

“Your thoughts will change when you hear our conditions.”

Jin Ja-gang called out to Ro-gwan.

“Thousand Face Blade Master.”

“Speak.”

“How much were you involved in the blood feud between the Poison Sect and Medicine Sect?”

“Considerably. You can say we did most of the activities in the shadows that weren’t revealed. We’ve dispatched several assassins to Yunnan as well.”

Strength entered Jin Ja-gang’s eyes.

“I don’t join hands with enemies.”

“That’s all the more reason you should listen to what I have to say.”

Ro-gwan extended his hand to the side.

“Yeong-gwi. Hand over the dagger.”

Ro-gwan received the dagger from Yeong-gwi and placed it in front of himself. Then he put the handle toward Jin Ja-gang and said.

“After hearing what I have to say, kill me.”

“Leader!”

Despite Yeong-gwi’s outcry, Ro-gwan paid no attention and stared intently at Jin Ja-gang.

“I am Poison Dragon’s enemy. And this is the proper procedure for revenge. Even if I die, Leper Mound will not seek vengeance. Do you understand, Yeong-gwi?”

His pupils didn’t waver in the slightest.

Jin Ja-gang had no choice but to accept. He pulled the dagger placed before him within easy reach and answered.

“Fine. Let me hear what kind of good conditions these are.”

Ro-gwan spoke first.

“The condition I will propose is only one. In exchange for gaining Leper Mound’s power, you will inherit Leper Mound’s business.”

Ro-gwan gestured toward Yeong-gwi with his eyes.

“The one inheriting Leper Mound is Yeong-gwi. What you need to take over is Leper Mound’s business.”

Jin Ja-gang thought for a moment. However, he couldn’t tell how great a condition this was.

“Do you think I would accept such a condition?”

“I believe you will.”

“More word games?”

“It’s not word games.”

Ro-gwan was serious.

“Leper Mound gathers and cares for those afflicted with leprosy who are shunned by people.”

“I know that. And that you also raise them as assassins.”

“It’s true that we select children with outstanding qualities from among them and raise them as assassins. But do you also know that the rest of the family members live off of them?”

“Why should I need to know that?”

“You should know. If the thousand family members on the island have a foundation to become self-sufficient without financial support, there would be no need to recruit assassins anymore.”

Killing intent slowly gathered at the corners of Jin Ja-gang’s mouth as his hand moved toward the dagger’s handle.

“If you thought past evil deeds could be forgiven by stirring my sympathy, you’re mistaken.”

“I didn’t ask for forgiveness. The Poison Sect struck the Medicine Sect to survive, and our Leper Mound also killed people to survive. That’s all.”

“Yet you’re asking me to take care of Leper Mound’s people?”

Ro-gwan spoke with an attitude that wasn’t servile in the least.

“I’m saying that I’m looking for a place for Leper Mound as an assassin organization to die, not for those who were driven out due to illness. Leper Mound as your enemy will pour all remaining strength into the fight with the Tang family and disappear.”

Since there would be almost no survivors from the fight with the Tang family.

Of course, this had the premise of ‘if Jin Ja-gang takes charge of the island’s family members.’

“Then there will be no second or third Leper Mound. Your revenge will end as cleanly as it could possibly be.”

Jin Ja-gang picked up the dagger.

“What part is a transaction and what part is clean? Placing a burden on someone else’s shoulders before leaving. If you’re going to do that, then politely ask instead.”

Ro-gwan thought for a moment then nodded.

“I see. A request would be more appropriate than a transaction.”

Ro-gwan slowly bent his waist while sitting.

At the same time, Jin Ja-gang moved like lightning and stabbed at Ro-gwan’s nape.

Pop!

Blood spurted. But it was blood that spurted from Yeong-gwi’s palm. The dagger Jin Ja-gang stabbed had penetrated Yeong-gwi’s palm and stopped.

Ro-gwan didn’t move at all.

With his waist bent, he said.

“I request.”

Jin Ja-gang released his hand from the dagger.

He realized Ro-gwan’s heart was sincere.

It wasn’t that there was no conflict.

No matter how sincere Ro-gwan might be, Jin Ja-gang would have to shoulder that much weight again.

But this was revenge that left no grudges…

It was ideal revenge that didn’t require killing everyone down to nursing infants to leave no future troubles. It was also the kind of revenge Jin Ja-gang should ultimately pursue.

Hungry Ghost King.

The name Mu-gak had given using Jin Ja-gang’s words.

The Hungry Ghost King fed hungry ghost corpses to starving people to create more hungry ghosts, and those hungry ghosts ate people to create more hungry ghosts.

Ro-gwan’s request was an opportunity to break one link in that terrible cycle. If Jin Ja-gang accepted, he could prevent the birth of more hungry ghosts.

Therefore, even Jin Ja-gang found it difficult to refuse this time.

Then Yeong-gwi shouted.

“Leader! I cannot accept this. How can you entrust the island’s family members to someone like this!”

Jin Ja-gang had almost made his decision.

So he opened his mouth.

“One thing. If this is a request rather than a transaction, you’ll need to settle the grudge that hasn’t been resolved yet.”

Ro-gwan straightened his waist and raised his head.

“What is it?”

Jin Ja-gang looked at Yeong-gwi.

Ro-gwan also understood Jin Ja-gang’s intention.

“Yeong-gwi. What would you like to do?”

Yeong-gwi brought over her hand with the dagger embedded and gritted her teeth.

“Give me three chances to kill that person!”

“Poison Dragon?”

“I accept.”

Yeong-gwi put her hand to her face. When she lowered her hand, Yeong-gwi had become the face of an ordinary young lady from a common household with a plump nose.

“Three times! I will ambush you three times, anytime, anywhere. If you survive that, I will acknowledge and serve you.”

Jin Ja-gang agreed.

“I’ll wait.”

Ro-gwan sent Yeong-gwi away.

“Go.”

Yeong-gwi turned and was leaving the cave when she turned her head to look at Jin Ja-gang. By then she had somehow changed from a young lady of a common household to the face of an ordinary young man.

Yeong-gwi, having changed faces, threw killing intent at Jin Ja-gang as if telling him to be prepared before leaving.

But Ro-gwan didn’t get up. Ro-gwan briefly bent his waist then raised it, and had changed to the face of a young man rather than a middle-aged person.

“Now we wait.”

Ro-gwan leisurely leaned against the cave wall and even closed his eyes.

At that moment Jin Ja-gang realized.

There were still people left to come.

Jin Ja-gang looked back at Yuk Ha-seon.

“How far did you drag people into this?”

Yuk Ha-seon smiled quietly.

“Did you notice?”

“It seems more guests are coming.”

“Correct.”

“Did you draw in Leper Mound, Heaven Lord?”

“Leper Mound was on the verge of being disbanded by the King of Hell anyway, and in this state they were in crisis of being used like tools and discarded. It was a desperate situation. I drew in Leper Mound.”

“And also.”

“Coal Miners.”

“As expected.”

“Not only Coal Miner, but there were some discussions with Physician Bell Healers as well. Originally Physician Bell Healers was supposed to join first, but perhaps feeling burdened about betraying again, they were somewhat hesitant.”

After thinking briefly, Jin Ja-gang asked Ro-gwan.

“Why hasn’t Leper Mound been able to become independent until now?”

Ro-gwan said with his eyes closed.

“The Poison Sect’s Six Cliques had almost equal voice with the Tang Family Main House as the head family. But what actually moved the Poison Sect’s Six Cliques was the money that had to be paid as the price for that voice. The amount was considerably burdensome, so if the assigned task failed, the compensation amount would make the sect stagger.”

Jin Ja-gang felt an unpleasant sensation.

Money. In the end, it was again money related to profit.

“In terms of wealth, even combining all the other five Poison Sect Cliques couldn’t match the Tang family. Yet the amount they had to bear was the same at one-sixth. The other five Poison Sect Cliques had to pay compensation for success or failure according to the amount set by the Tang family as the head family. Do you understand what this means?”

“It means the King of Hell controlled the five Poison Sect Cliques by appropriately adjusting the compensation amounts.”

“Exactly.”

Money was a new form of control based on profit.

To a chilling degree… it resembled their behavior that corrupted the martial world.

Just where was the source of the Hungry Ghost King?

But in fact, Jin Ja-gang had been suspicious of something for some time.

Taoist Haewol said he had searched for the Hungry Ghost King his entire life but couldn’t discover the identity.

Then where could their base be? He had considered this based on the Nine Provinces and Six Heavens that had influence according to spheres of power.

Taoist Haewol had controlled the Yangtze River region through Yangtze River Sword Sect. If he still couldn’t find them despite that, first exclude the Yangtze River region.

Next was Shandong. Shandong had Wishful Fairy Maiden Dan Ryeong-gyeong. If there had been movements of suspicious organizations, Dan Ryeong-gyeong would have noticed. So exclude Shandong as well.

The northern Ice Palace had lost influence in the martial world, making it difficult to even enter the Central Plains, so exclude that.

Western Tibet’s Evil Cult was suppressed by the Martial Alliance’s power and Sichuan martial arts and couldn’t covet the martial world, so exclude that.

What remained were only Sichuan martial arts and the Martial Alliance.

Sichuan martial arts were uniquely independent among the martial world. Taoist Haewol’s power hadn’t quite reached there. There would have been limits to investigation.

Suspicious.

Especially the Tang family’s King of Hell.

The King of Hell was too exposed to think he was the Hungry Ghost King. At least the possibility that he had colluded with the Hungry Ghost King was great.

Also, the Martial Alliance.

Taoist Haewol was the master of the Martial Alliance but confessed he hadn’t been able to completely control the Martial Alliance in practice. He said he could barely control it through the Hungry Ghost King’s methods, profit and interests.

The area under the lamp is dark. The possibility that the Hungry Ghost King was in the Martial Alliance could never be excluded.

However, it was difficult for Jin Ja-gang to make moves against the Martial Alliance for now.

It meant that right now he could only confirm by striking one of the two suspects, Tang Qing.

But Jin Ja-gang hadn’t accepted Yuk Ha-seon’s proposal yet. Striking the Tang family, Tang Qing, wasn’t an easy matter. He needed to be more cautious.

About one hour passed with Jin Ja-gang, Yuk Ha-seon, and Ro-gwan lost in thought without words.

And not long after, the head of Coal Miners came looking for Jin Ja-gang.

The head of Coal Miners was an old man with a peculiar appearance, short in stature with shoulders spread one and a half times wider than others. But stranger than his build were the old man’s ears. He was blind with large ears gathered forward.

“I am Tap Tak-yeon, the mine chief of Coal Miners.”

The name Tap Tak-yeon itself meant having ears larger and more outstanding than others.

Tap Tak-yeon kept his eyes open but his pupils were just white as if degenerated. However, his ears perked up and found the direction where Jin Ja-gang was located quite well.

“I hear you accepted Leper Mound? But I’m different from Thousand Face Blade Master. I barely got involved in the Medicine Sect incident. So I don’t like master-servant relationships and I don’t like risking my life unnecessarily.”

Yuk Ha-seon pointed out.

“Shouldn’t you have considered your life forfeit from the moment you rebelled against the King of Hell?”

“Shut up, Red Flower Immortal. I can’t recklessly drive my groupinto a deathtrap.”

Tap Tak-yeon wrinkled his cheek and said without smiling.

“If it’s a foolish idea to strike the Tang family with a hastily gathered rabble, I’ll withdraw from this place right now.”

“Then why did you come all this way?”

“I said it. I won’t do it recklessly. We’ll block Funeral Parlour. And we’ll express support for Poison Dragon. That alone will be pressure on the King of Hell.”

Yuk Ha-seon made a quite disappointed expression. Of course Tap Tak-yeon couldn’t see Yuk Ha-seon’s expression.

“You came just to say that? That’s neither what I want nor what Poison Dragon seems to want. I doubt the King of Hell would feel pressured by that much.”