Chapter 351

Woon-jeong’s eyes went blank hearing Jin Ja-gang’s words.

Woon-jeong shook his head greatly left and right, then snatched Tang Qing’s personal letter from Jin Ja-gang’s hands.

“Our Tang family puts down all… and surrenders with white flags to prevent meaningless sacrifice in advance. Hereafter we will completely follow Shaolin Temple’s disposition…”

Even after reading it himself and confirming Tang Qing’s official seal, Woon-jeong couldn’t believe the letter’s contents.

“What’s this? Don’t tell me Sichuan Tang family is surrendering because they’re afraid of Shaolin Temple? Isn’t this too sudden?”

Jin Ja-gang also fell into thought.

A completely unexpected response.

White flag surrender was something even Jin Ja-gang hadn’t thought of.

Woon-jeong held his head and groaned.

“If we go with this, at least we won’t be harmed by Shaolin monks. But what’s the reason for specifically having Poison Dragon deliver this?”

Like a cow backing up and catching a mouse, Woon-jeong’s muttering hit the core. With such contents, there was no need to entrust it specifically to Jin Ja-gang. Tang family’s envoy could have just gone to Shaolin Temple.

But Tang Qing was using Tang Ha-ran and Jin Ja-gang’s child as hostages, hoping Jin Ja-gang would take the personal letter to Shaolin Temple.

“Ah! I got it!”

Woon-jeong suddenly slapped his knee.

“Tang family hopes Poison Dragon will fail at delivery!”

“Me?”

“Yes! Poison Dragon has so many enemies everywhere. Then you’d be attacked on the way to Shaolin Temple and it would be stolen, so the letter’s contents would be revealed to the world again this time too.”

“Would that benefit Tang family?”

“Of course it would. For example, no matter how much Sichuan Tang family is Shaolin Temple’s enemy, according to martial world principles, they couldn’t recklessly attack Sichuan Tang family that was trying to surrender with white flags. If Shaolin Temple attacks, wouldn’t martial world sentiment leave Shaolin Temple saying it was too much?”

Woon-jeong shrugged his shoulders as if he thought he did very well.

Jin Ja-gang asked.

“But the personal letter revealed recently was content about opposing Shaolin Temple and joining forces to fight Shaolin Temple.”

Gasp.

“Uh… th-that’s right. Did Tang family maybe really surrender after trying to fight secretly and getting caught? No, if Tang family surrenders, what happens to other sects that were told to unite and fight?”

Woon-jeong also found it strange upon thinking.

“Then even if Poison Dragon safely takes this personal letter to Shaolin Temple, wouldn’t the result be the same?”

“It would be the same.”

“Then that means it fails.”

“It would.”

Woon-jeong tilted his head as if he couldn’t understand, then carefully asked.

“Excuse me, Poison Dragon. Though it’s awkward to say this, if it fails, what happens to Miss Ha-ran, your wife at Tang family? Though there’s no mention of what they’ll do, this is practically a threat…”

“It’s Tang family’s threat and simultaneously not Tang family’s threat.”

“What’s that?”

“Since Tang family became Shaolin Temple’s target, if we can’t stop Shaolin Temple, Ha-ran and my child at Tang family will be in danger.”

“Ugh! That’s right. If Tang family is attacked by Shaolin Temple, your wife will be in danger!”

Jin Ja-gang folded the letter and put it away, saying.

“Master Beom-mong said everything is useless before righteous law, but if they slaughter even enemies showing submission, martial world sentiment will greatly turn against them. Though I don’t know how much Shaolin Temple will care about that problem.”

“Poison Dragon should care. It’s your problem.”

Jin Ja-gang smiled slightly at Woon-jeong’s tone.

“What does Poison Dragon think?”

“I think this personal letter doesn’t contain Tang family’s true intentions.”

“But it’s surrender? You’re saying the surrender is fake?”

“Not just surrender, but proposing alliances to other sects is the same. What poison sects are plotting this summer seems unimaginably big. To the extent they don’t consider Shaolin Temple or other sects worth worrying about.”

“No, but still. Who fakes surrender? What if Shaolin Temple accepts the surrender? Then Tang family can’t later say they don’t want to surrender!”

“If they accept surrender, they buy time until summer.”

“What if they don’t accept surrender?”

“There are reasons Shaolin Temple can’t unconditionally refuse surrender. If it becomes known that surrendering to Shaolin Temple is useless, other sects will no longer watch Shaolin Temple’s mood. They might move toward supporting Tang family rather than sitting and dying.”

“Wooooow…”

Woon-jeong was amazed. Though it was just one letter, it was serving as a snare that completely bound the tiger called Shaolin Temple.

“Then why did they say they’d fight at first?”

“Whether fighting or surrendering, the purpose is to confuse Shaolin Temple.”

“Well, we can think this way because we know poison sects will move in summer, but from Shaolin Temple’s perspective, they can’t believe someone who said let’s fight then suddenly says let’s surrender… but it’s also awkward to accept or not accept surrender.”

Woon-jeong now clearly understood the letter’s meaning.

“I thought completely opposite. Then entrusting this personal letter to Poison Dragon had stronger meaning to definitely deliver it. That would complete killing two birds with one stone.”

“I think so.”

Woon-jeong became even more curious about Jin Ja-gang’s decision.

“Then what will Poison Dragon do with this letter?”

One month remained until the summer Tang Ha-ran mentioned.

Tang family was pulling such bold tricks to buy that time.

Jin Ja-gang silently brewed tea several times and fell into deep thought.

Woon-jeong looked at Jin Ja-gang anxiously but soon didn’t disturb him and quietly waited while reciting Taoist scriptures.

The source of everything happening so far was Tang family.

If they could resolve it by directly attacking Tang family, that would be fastest.

But Tang family was a huge village and simultaneously a fortress. It was a different dimension problem from Yunnan’s poison sects.

Jin Ja-gang alone had no chance of victory no matter what. Going from outside to inside would have tremendous burden, though going from inside to outside might be possible.

Moreover, Jin Ja-gang was now in a position dreaming of the future beyond simple revenge.

Just because you cut tangled knots at once doesn’t automatically guarantee the future. Even if complex and difficult, you had to untangle them one by one to properly reach the end.

Paradoxically, without doing so, true peace wouldn’t come – this was one factor making Jin Ja-gang’s choice difficult.

What choice would find the best result…

When nearly one meal period had passed, Jin Ja-gang finally made his decision.

Seeing Jin Ja-gang’s expression awakening from contemplation, Woon-jeong brightened.

“You’ve decided!”

Jin Ja-gang nodded.

“Don’t tell me… you’re thinking of going to Shaolin Temple…”

“I won’t go. For now. I’m thinking of holding out here for a while.”

“What?”

Woon-jeong was flustered wondering what this was about.

What benefit would Jin Ja-gang gain by not moving?

“Poison Dragon. There’s not much time left until summer you mentioned. But you’ll hold out here?”

“I’m not the only one in a hurry. Tang family also wants to drag out time with this matter, and conversely Shaolin Temple wants to resolve things quickly. I don’t need to move.”

Woon-jeong completely surrendered to Jin Ja-gang’s audacity.

At first glance, Tang family needing to hold out at least one month could seem advantageous. But if Jin Ja-gang didn’t go, Shaolin Temple’s Breaking Sect would continue righteous law practice as they’re doing now. That also wasn’t what Tang family wanted.

Eventually the urgent one would move first!

It was like walking toward a cliff with eyes covered.

If you stop first from fear of falling off the cliff, you lose.

In this case, whichever side moved first would suffer losses somehow. Moving first meant being that anxious, so the opponent could reverse-utilize that.

Jin Ja-gang said.

“If I don’t move from here, all sorts of people wanting to interfere in this matter will appear. So from now it’s extremely dangerous. Taoist Woon-jeong should return now.”

“But…”

“There’s something Taoist Woon-jeong needs to convey to Master Bok-cheon after returning.”

“Yes. I think I know. To spread rumors that Poison Dragon is here, right?”

“Correct. You got it in one try this time.”

“Poison Dragon always throws himself into danger. I thought so.”

Woon-jeong smiled bitterly.

“Tang family must be regretting it. Making Poison Dragon an envoy and entrusting letter delivery.”

Jin Ja-gang also smiled.

“Be careful, Poison Dragon.”

“Understood. You worked hard all this time. Return safely.”

“This summer…”

Woon-jeong started speaking then trailed off.

“I hope nothing happens.”

Jin Ja-gang also nodded.

“I only hope my prediction is wrong.”

* * *

Woon-jeong returned to Master Bok-cheon.

And not long after, rumors about Jin Ja-gang spread through the martial world.

Rumors that Jin Ja-gang was going to Shaolin Temple with Tang Qing’s personal letter.

However, Jin Ja-gang had entered Runan, Henan Province but wasn’t particularly acting.

To Shaolin Temple was six hundred li by shortest route.

Though it was a distance reachable in several days, Jin Ja-gang rarely left Runan’s inn.

Since letter contents had already been revealed once before, martial world attention focused on Jin Ja-gang. They couldn’t help wondering what contents Jin Ja-gang’s letter held and how Shaolin Temple would react.

Among the people, theories that Tang family declared war on Shaolin Temple circulated most prevalently. The reason was that Poison Dragon was reluctant to go to Shaolin Temple. Without that, it was hard to explain why Poison Dragon wasn’t going to Shaolin Temple.

Of course, such unexpected behavior by Jin Ja-gang not moving at all was bound to be very uncomfortable and unpleasant for both Tang family and Shaolin Temple.

With just one letter and one Jin Ja-gang, all the martial world’s attention was focused.

* * *

Tang Qing was pleased this time too.

“I knew he wouldn’t go along easily.”

Tang Qing put down his hands while buried in countless bamboo slips doing work and thought briefly.

Though he didn’t know how long Jin Ja-gang would sit tight, he had actually expected he might stick around and endure.

But that was the worst choice among Tang Qing’s expectations. It was like someone with a bounty on their head offering their life saying “I’m here.”

Thanks to this, Runan in Henan Province became the most dangerous death ground in the martial world for Jin Ja-gang. Soon events Jin Ja-gang couldn’t handle would occur.

Someone was needed to enter this death ground and help Jin Ja-gang.

“Hmm.”

There weren’t many cards available to use now.

Pleasure Heaven and Plum Light Palace, and Leper Mound which had lost considerable strength but still had its leader intact.

Among these, if he wanted to accomplish things without problems, there was only one card he could use.

Though regrettable, even considering he could abandon them in worst case, there was no choice.

“Pleasure Heaven.”

Tang Qing immediately scrawled orders with his brush on bamboo slips, then threw them to the scholar waiting in front. Then he immediately returned to work.

Tang Qing was too busy.

He had already received word from Baek Li-jung that he would join hands.

Except for Physician Bell Healers’ stronghold completely disappearing, his plan was proceeding smoothly.