Chapter 24

Afterward, despite continued questioning and torture, Obil only rambled incoherently without revealing meaningful information.

To questions about which god told him, he only repeated "It was a god," and to questions about who else was like him, just "I've seen several."

He was either not of sound mind, or clearly pretending while looking for a chance to escape.

Turan suspected it was the latter.

If he truly wasn't in his right mind, he would have instinctively tried to use magic power to break the vines and died by Turan's hand.

Since there was no reason to keep him alive either way, and maintaining the restraints was consuming a lot of magic power, Turan briefly exchanged gestures with Bisen before slitting Obil's throat with the dagger.

Watching this, Gil, the youngest of Bisen's group, frowned.

"Ugh…"

"What's wrong?"

"No, just…"

As he muttered that killing someone who couldn't resist while tied up felt unsettling like butchering, Bisen sighed and reprimanded him.

"Don't say such foolish things. We could all have died here if things went wrong, and you feel sympathy? Besides, thinking of how many people he killed, even making him suffer more before death wouldn't be enough!"

"Though dealing with a noble of this skill level would be difficult anyway."

Kebek the healer added.

As he said, there weren't many ways to subdue a magician, especially a noble, who was determined to die fighting.

Even with eyes and hands restrained, they could still create fire anywhere and shoot it in all directions.

To prevent this, you'd need either magical devices that suppress magic power – which were extremely rare – or direct suppression by a noble several levels more powerful.

Or continuously stunning them with lightning spells or physical blows could work too.

That's why Turan had deliberately used a troublesome method of restraint instead of immediately crippling Obil.

He figured if he mutilated the body right away, Obil would struggle desperately thinking he couldn't survive anyway instead of answering questions.

While Bisen's group chatted, Turan wiped the blood from his dagger and opened a notebook he had picked up beside the bedding.

Inside were detailed maps of the surrounding area, attack plans, and numbers of people killed.

He probably wanted to gauge how many he had killed and what his target number was, and this could serve as evidence that Obil was the Burner.

If this wasn't enough, they could also call the girl rescued from the village as a witness.

Also, in the back of this notebook were several unknown formulas written down.

Given the names of plants and minerals written, they seemed to be recipes for the liquids placed in the corner of the open space.

When asked about these, Obil had likewise only answered "The gods told me."

Thinking it might be a clue to the identity of these "gods," Turan committed the notebook's contents to memory.

As he put away the finished notebook, Bisen approached him.

"Then, now…"

"Let's absorb."

Turan, Bisen, Gil, and Asha – four people gathered around the dead Burner's corpse.

While healer Kebek stepped back with a regretful expression and sighed, the four extended their hands and pale green light began flowing from Obil's body.

Shortly after, they felt power flowing through their bodies transforming their flesh.

Stronger bodies, sharper senses, more powerful magic…

After absorption was complete, they gathered evidence like the Burner's severed head and robe before leaving the cave.

Since the Burner had mainly operated around the outskirts of a city called Marob, Turan and Bisen's group went to Marob City Hall the next morning to claim the bounty.

The officials were flustered at the nobles rushing in together, and shortly after the lord came out personally to greet them.

"Congratulations, Lady Bisen. A new star has risen in the Karmaine family."

"You flatter me."

Amusingly, upon arrival they found evidence to prove Obil's identity wasn't really needed.

This was because Marob's lord didn't want to get into disputes with a magician from a not-too-distant great family.

He might have calculated that if the captured Burner was fake and incidents continued, he could use that to incur debt instead.

After being hosted as guests in Marob city for a day, the total bounty received was 1,500 gold coins.

Since they had agreed to split the bounty fairly in exchange for magic power, Turan's share was originally 300 coins, but after final adjustments he received half the total at 750 coins.

Though in combat Turan had done almost everything, they considered Asha's contribution in tracking and Bisen's name value in receiving the bounty.

'This is way too much…'

The problem was the volume and mass of these 750 gold coins.

He had long since disposed of the old sheepskin bag he used when first coming down from the hill, and now used one made of monster cow leather bought from a shop in Zabilin city.

But even a good bag can't hold more than its size allows.

At this rate he would need to either dispose of the gold coins somewhere or find someone to carry luggage.

Surely getting to the Enril Desert wouldn't cost this much.

"Well, we're thinking of hunting some monsters while traveling around more, what about you, Lord Turan?"

"I plan to go straight to Abacha."

"Ah…"

At Turan's refusal, Bisen's group showed somewhat contradictory attitudes of both disappointment and relief.

While hunting would be much safer and easier with him joining, someone among the four would have to give up magic power.

Before parting, Bisen approached and spoke in a small voice.

"As I said yesterday, about that one's story…"

"Yes, I won't spread it around elsewhere."

On the way to the city, Turan and Bisen's group had agreed to keep secret what the Burner had claimed.

Whether true or false, they judged it would cause too much social chaos.

Turan didn't explain everything he suspected to her.

They weren't close enough for that, and he also found it difficult to explain that strange gaze.

It was hard to express beyond "unusually clear gaze," and how many people in the world had clear gazes?

Anyway, it would be difficult to investigate this right away.

He was already pressed just going to learn about his own birth.

After watching the runaway noble group heading west one last time, Turan turned his steps east toward his destination.

After watching the runaway noble group heading west one last time, Turan turned his steps east toward his destination.

* * *

Carrying his heavier bag, as he headed east he began to feel moisture in the headwind blowing against his face.

And also a fishy, salty smell he had never encountered before.

'Fire magic will be tricky to handle here.'

As expected, when he created a flame in his palm, he confirmed everything from firepower to magic power consumption had worsened.

Instead, creating and freezing water from the air became surprisingly easy.

Additionally, having heard the North Sea area had many clouds, he increased practice of lightning spells that strike from the sky, though this inadvertently caused several approaching groups from the opposite direction to scatter in panic.

Turan's steps stopped when a world of blue water finally spread out before him.

The North Sea, called the ceiling of this world, had revealed itself.

"Oh…"

Though he had seen illustrations in books, seeing the sea directly made him realize those illustrations hadn't captured even half the reality.

Such a spectacle of the sun's radiance high in the sky distorting over the seawater.

After blankly watching the sea for a while, Turan soon came to his senses and walked along the coast.

Before long, he saw a huge peninsula jutting out to the east, and a harbor lined with dozens of sailing ships.

He had arrived at Abacha, the Karmaine family's stronghold and largest port city on the North Sea.

"Get down quickly!"

"Yes, coming right now!"

"You stupid b*st*rd! I said get down quickly, not carelessly! If you drop and break that, I'll kill you!"

Abacha's harbor was truly a place that perfectly matched the description "full of heat."

Despite the weather approaching early winter, sailors worked shirtless and dripping with sweat carrying cargo, and for whatever urgent reason, curses and shouts echoed everywhere.

Looking around more, he saw an enormously huge fish hanging from one side of a sailing ship.

It had several poles stuck in its body as if harpooned, and seemed to be a monster that had mutated from a fish.

Books said sea monsters were much larger than animals that mutated on land, and that was certainly true.

Leaving the harbor where sailors worked busily, he saw a relatively quiet fruit stall.

Being a place that traded with other regions, it had various fruits he had never seen before.

"Welcome, what can I get you?"

"Give me a handful of those."

Recalling memories from Murei city, he chose small brown fruits and the fruit seller measured them out while asking for a whole silver coin.

"That's too expensive."

"These are dates. They only grow in the Enril Desert. Of course they're expensive when they come by ship."

Seeming to recognize him as an outsider at a glance, the fruit seller wrapped the goods with a glib manner.

Since he wasn't in a position to haggle over one or two silver coins anyway, Turan paid one silver coin he had received for hunting monsters in Murei – plus two copper coins since it was smaller than the local currency – bought the dates, then asked.

"Speaking of Enril, I'd like to go there – where should I look to take a ship?"

"A ship to Enril? Usually only merchant ships go there… you'd have to ask the merchant ship captains directly. But it'll be difficult unless you're prepared."

Whether he was a good person or just happy from selling dates, the fruit seller explained quite thoroughly.

He said merchant ships typically load cargo to capacity so have no room for passengers, and if they take someone, they charge high prices since that means less space for trade goods.

"Where can I meet the merchant ship captains?"

"Well? I'm not really sure, but they'll probably all be busy during the day so try looking through sailors at places like taverns in the evening."

"Thank you for the advice."

Leaving the stall, Turan toured various parts of Abacha city for sightseeing.

Finding a decent theater along the way and watching a play, the day grew dark.

'Time to go.'

When the sun set and other shops closed, the harbor taverns lit their lamps and announced their presence with boisterous noise as they received sailors as customers.

Turan found and entered one tavern that looked relatively proper and clean.

With fairly luxurious facilities though not as much as noble mansions he had visited, and both staff and customers well-dressed, it was clearly a tavern catering to high-class sailors.

"Welcome, guest."

Turan sat in an empty seat, ordered a glass of wine and simple appetizers, then quietly listened to the surrounding voices.

The server who had been watching with a questioning expression, wondering if he suited this establishment, accepted him as a customer with a deep bow when he paid.

After about thirty minutes of savoring what must be fairly high-end cheese and wine by local standards, he heard the topic he wanted.

"You're sailing tomorrow?"

"Yeah. Have to go to that damn desert again… merfolk appearing along the route, and those cursed pirates are so aggressive…"

"That bad?"

"Last time we came back the ship got a hole, you know? Our shipowner is crazy. No matter what, we need at least one knight…"

Two men who appeared to be in their thirties were having a drunken conversation, with one lamenting that their shipowner was such a miser he wouldn't hire even one knight for the ship, causing several crew deaths on the journey.

Listening quietly, Turan got up and moved to their table.

"Excuse me for a moment."

"Hm?"

"Not buying anything. Damn, now even peddlers are coming here-"

Turan lightly reached out to stop the man trying to call a server.

"Not a peddler. A passenger, perhaps."

"Passenger?"

"I'm looking for a ship going to the Enril Desert, and I heard the gentleman next to you say you're heading there."

At Turan's words, the two men's eyes went round.

"Our ship is going tomorrow as mentioned, but we don't take regular passengers. Have to unload that much cargo to take one person. We're even short on crew."

The story matched amazingly well with what he had heard from the fruit seller.

Turan nodded and placed his hand on their wine glasses.

"I heard you needed a magician on the ship."

The two sailors gaped as they watched the dark red liquid freeze with a soft sound.

Chapter 24: Finding a Path in the Darkness (2)

Dam Ho opened his eyes. Before him lay a sealed chamber—a subterranean space that was the most confined among the underground caverns. This cramped quarters was his only refuge.

The underground space bore traces of someone having used it long ago, and it had become Dam Ho's sole place of rest.

At one end of the chamber stood a stone bed carved from rock. From it rose a bone-chilling cold, and upon this frigid surface Dam Ho slept.

The relentless chill tormented him, and to endure the cold, Dam Ho was forced to circulate his energy at all times.

Dam Ho turned his head and looked at the wall beside him. Characters carved as though by a very sharp instrument came into view.

"Kwon Yul-cheon—here I bury my friends."

These were words left by the one who had preceded Dam Ho as master of this place.

Since the writing was visible the moment he turned his head, Dam Ho saw it every time he opened his eyes. Similar inscriptions were carved throughout the walls.

They were all words left by the former occupants of this place. Some had carved despair; others, hope.

What had become of them, Dam Ho did not know. Nor did he care.

Dam Ho's concern was the present. Surviving the present by any means. And then, escaping.

Dam Ho left the chamber and made his way to the main cavern.

At last, he stopped before an enormous boulder.

Among the mass of rocks and earth that had flooded into the cavern, this was the largest and most solid.

It blocked the entrance to the cavern like a gatekeeper. But its massive body bore scars and gashes here and there. Not long ago, its surface had been smooth as a mirror.

The reason became clear soon enough.

Thud!

Dam Ho's leg struck the boulder. The point of impact shattered, and fragments flew in all directions.

It was not his uninjured leg but his left. Yet the surface of the boulder cracked.

Dam Ho struck again.

Thud! Thud!

The heavy impacts echoed through the dark underground space. The reverberations lingered for a long time afterward.

***

Crack!

A fissure appeared in the massive boulder. Starting from the bottom, the crack raced upward, spreading across the entire surface in an instant.

Crumble!

The great boulder screamed as it collapsed.

Dam Ho gazed at the shattered stone with impassive eyes.

The boulder could not have broken of its own accord. Dam Ho's fist had destroyed it. And though the boulder was shattered, Dam Ho's fist bore not a single wound.

Calluses as hard as stone protruded from his knuckles, giving his fist the appearance of a war hammer.

Dam Ho slowly curled and uncurled his fingers. The sensation was not unpleasant.

Though the great boulder was destroyed, the mass of earth and rubble that blocked his path remained unchanged. He had barely entered the threshold.

How many more times would he have to swing his fist to obtain what he desired? But Dam Ho did not worry.

In this dreary place, all that remained for him was time. He was more than willing to keep swinging.

Dam Ho's fist struck the boulder once more. Each time, the rock groaned with a heavy cry.

Thud! Thud!

A single obsession—to destroy.

The will to break free from everything that bound him drove him forward.

Dam Ho stepped back for a moment.

Snap!

In an instant, Dam Ho's body closed a distance of more than ten rooms and shot forward.

Charging Step—a footwork like a battering ram breaching a city gate—and then, the Fortress Breaking Fist.

Crash!

The great boulder shattered, and stone fragments scattered in every direction.

Dam Ho's eyes gleamed with a chilling light in the darkness.

These were the Charging Step and the Fortress Breaking Fist that he and Sage Hyeon-so had created together. When they had first conceived these martial arts, they had been imbued with the profound principles of the Mount Hua Sect.

But the Charging Step and Fortress Breaking Fist he now deployed contained no trace of mercy, nor any vestige of the Dao.

At some point, the Demonic Cult's martial arts had seeped into Dam Ho's techniques.

The subtle principles of the Three Strikes Cannon Shadow Fist had fused with the Fortress Breaking Fist. The essence of the Demon-Splitting Kick had merged with the Charging Step. The Broad Compression Palm was reborn as an entirely new martial art. The Heavy Heaven Heart Method had evolved further, blending with the Demonic Cult's heart techniques to become something altogether new.

The martial arts of the Mount Hua Sect and those of the Demonic Cult—two traditions that should never have been compatible—had merged within his body.

Dam Ho was a devourer.

For the sake of growing stronger, he would gladly embrace demonic arts.

The martial arts he had created with Sage Hyeon-so had transformed beyond recognition. Even Sage Hyeon-so himself would not have been able to identify them.

The damp, isolated environment had made Dam Ho's character more withdrawn and more lethal.

Dam Ho's daily routine turned like a hamster's wheel.

After a brief sleep, he would circulate his energy. Then he would move to the Myriad Demon Archive and immerse himself in martial arts texts. After that, he would go to the pool and catch monstrous fish to eat.

Then he would face the boulders that blocked the cavern and unleash his martial arts upon them.

The boulders were his enemy, and the massive walls of earth were his obstacles.

He broke them, and broke them again.

When exhaustion overcame him, he would rest, circulate his energy, and sleep.

There was nothing else to do in this place.

Darkness drives men mad. Especially spending years alone in isolation—such a fate was conducive to losing one's sanity.

To avoid madness, one had to give one's best to even the smallest task.

'Perhaps I am already mad.'

Madness need not always manifest as outward frenzy.

One could be coldly, lucidly mad.

To maintain a reason as cold as ice, yet to be capable of unleashing madness whenever the need arose—

Dam Ho believed he had reached such a state.

This was a place where one could not endure without going mad.

Crack!

A single blow from his Fortress Breaking Fist shattered a large boulder.

Dam Ho was about to launch another Fortress Breaking Fist from habit—

Whirrr!

Suddenly, from between the earth and rubble, tiny insects swarmed forth in a black cloud, flying directly at Dam Ho.

'Ants?'

The insects, smaller than grains of rice, were undoubtedly ants. But unlike ordinary ants, they possessed wings.

In a normal ant colony, winged ants constituted only a tiny fraction. But every single ant now flying toward Dam Ho had wings.

This was no ordinary colony. To prove it, the ants attacked Dam Ho in unison, attempting to bite.

Dam Ho retreated hastily and deployed the Fortress Breaking Fist.

Whoom!

The Fortress Breaking Fist could obliterate even a great boulder in a single blow. Yet it proved futile against the ants—they were entirely unaffected.

The ants, momentarily blown back by the wind, regrouped and several of them secretly latched onto Dam Ho and bit him.

In that instant, a deep furrow carved itself between Dam Ho' brows. From the bite marks came pain and itching beyond imagination.

'Poisonous ants?'

Dam Ho retreated swiftly. In the interim, he was bitten several more times.

The bitten areas swelled up instantly.

"Kugh!"

A muffled groan escaped through Dam Ho's clenched lips.

Dam Ho's wide-open eyes became bloodshot. The pain and itching that began at the bite marks spread throughout his entire body in an instant.

Bzzzz!

The ants were flying toward Dam Ho again.

Through sheer superhuman endurance, Dam Ho suppressed the pain and retreated more than ten rooms in an instant. Only then did the ants return to the crevice from which they had emerged, circling the area.

Only then did Dam Ho hastily assume a cross-legged position and begin circulating his energy. He would use his internal energy to drive out the venom.

Whirr!

His internal energy surged through his body, attempting to expel the venom. But the venom was so extraordinarily potent that it would not yield.

Pop!

Thick veins bulged visibly across Dam Ho's entire body.

"Nnngh!"

A pained moan leaked from between his tightly pressed lips.

Dam Ho's bulging eyes were red. The pain and itching that began at the bite sites had spread throughout his body in an instant.

Bzzzz!

The ants flew toward Dam Ho.

With superhuman patience, Dam Ho endured the agony and retreated more than ten rooms in an instant. Only then did the ants return to their crevice and circle the area.

Only then did Dam Ho hastily assume a cross-legged posture and begin circulating his energy. He would use his internal energy to expel the venom.

Whirr!

His internal energy coursed through his body, driving the venom outward. But the venom was so extraordinarily potent that it refused to budge.

Pop!

Thick veins bulged visibly across Dam Ho's entire body.

"Nnngh!"

A pained groan escaped from between his tightly pressed lips.

The pain he could endure. But the itching was beyond even Dam Ho's superhuman tolerance.

He wanted nothing more than to cease circulating his energy, to claw at his skin with his fingernails until it peeled away—that would surely end the itching. But if he did so, the deadly venom would assault his heart.

To circulate his energy was unbearable agony; to stop was to court death.

In the end, Dam Ho endured the itching and devoted himself to circulating his energy.

Red patches bloomed across his face.

"Haaah!"

Dam Ho let out a ragged breath and lifted his head from the water. The red patches on his face had largely subsided.

Over the past several days, he had desperately circulated his energy to expel the venom that had invaded his body. Ten days—perhaps even a fortnight—might have elapsed.

During that time, Dam Ho had brushed with death on several occasions.

It was as though he had been trapped in a hell of fire, his skin scraped away by a blade. Such was the venom's ferocity.

Dam Ho gave the ants a name: Hell Blood Ants. They seemed to have crawled up from hell itself.

Dam Ho ate a monstrous fish and thought.

'To escape this place, I must pass through that place.'

The earth surrounding the Thousand Gold Demonic Prison was of a hardness beyond imagination. That was why the Demonic Cult had used it as a prison.

The weakest point was where the earth had collapsed. But now, that very location was the nest of the Hell Blood Ants.

If he disturbed them, the ants would naturally attack.

The problem was that Dam Ho currently had no means of defending against the Hell Blood Ants' assault. No matter how formidable his martial arts, it was impossible to kill such an enormous number of ants in a single blow.

If he attacked rashly, he would be counterattacked, and he could not guarantee that he would survive that encounter. Nor could he simply retreat.

Fortunately, the monstrous fish still remained, but eventually they would all disappear into Dam Ho's stomach.

When that time came, it would truly be the end.

He could not retreat, nor could he delay.

His only option was to press forward.

Dam Ho bit his lip.

'The shield… I must complete the shield.'

***

Dam Ho challenged the Hell Blood Ants dozens more times after that. But the result was always the same.

He was bitten by the Hell Blood Ants, and he experienced hell.

There were moments when he wished he could simply bite off his tongue and die. The pain and itching, which exceeded the limits of human endurance, drove him to smash his head against the rock dozens of times.

His forehead split open, and blood soaked his entire body.

He barely came to his senses, circulated his energy, and challenged the Hell Blood Ants once more.

Fighting the Hell Blood Ants, Dam Ho lost weight at an alarming rate. Eventually, he became so gaunt that he appeared to have nothing but skin draped over his bones.

He did not know how much time had passed.

Bzzzz!

The Hell Blood Ants flew toward Dam Ho.

Dam Ho retreated and unleashed the Fortress Breaking Fist. Many ants were swept up and crushed. But a substantial number were merely blown back by the wind, only to regroup and descend upon Dam Ho once more like a storm.

In that instant, the shape of Dam Ho's hand changed.

The hand that had until now known only the fist, swinging like a war hammer, spread open.

Dam Ho extended his palm in a gentle push. A soft breeze arose and swept the Hell Blood Ants away.

The ants tried desperately to close the distance, but it was useless. Dam Ho observed the flow of his internal energy for a moment, and his eyes lit up.

'To fight them, I do not need overwhelming force. I need the delicate control of internal energy, like the Wudang Sect's Cotton Palm.'

It was a truth he had learned through dozens of battles with the Hell Blood Ants.

There were opponents against whom brute strength was ineffective. The Hell Blood Ants before him were such.

In the time that had passed, the ants had multiplied enormously. If left unchecked, they would overrun the entire underground cavern.

This was not a fight merely for the advancement of martial arts.

It was a fight for survival.

Dam Ho curled his outstretched palm inward.

The nature of his internal energy shifted.

Absorb!

As the flow of his energy changed, the air between his palm and the Hell Blood Ants vanished instantaneously. They were in a vacuum.

Whoooosh!

In an instant, the surrounding air rushed toward his palm like a tide. The Hell Blood Ants, caught in the current, were swept along.

Hundreds of thousands, millions of Hell Blood Ants were compressed into a mass the size of a child's head.

Dam Ho's internal energy shifted once more. His fingers curled and rotated to the right.

Explode!

Boom!

The ant ball, compressed into a sphere, detonated.

The shockwave sent tremors through the air of the underground cavern.

Whirr!

Five-Finger Dark Break Light.

This was the martial art that Dam Ho had created to fight the Hell Blood Ants. It was a savage technique that created a vacuum and then detonated it.

But the ants killed by the Five-Finger Dark Break Light constituted only a minuscule fraction. Hundreds of times more remained than Dam Ho had killed.

The Hell Blood Ants flew toward Dam Ho once more.

The ants swarmed over Dam Ho, covering him in black. In that instant, the enraged ants moved to bite—

Flutter!

Suddenly, Dam Ho's entire body began to vibrate at a speed imperceptible to the human eye.

Dam Ho's body appeared to double, then triple, as afterimages overlapped.

Pop! Pop! Pop!

In that instant, the ants that had been about to bite Dam Ho exploded.

Protective energy art utilizing ultrasonic vibrations.

A martial art born from Dam Ho's inspiration, drawn from the wingbeats of the beetle.

"Shield."

From Dam Ho's lips, a hoarse voice escaped.

Jin Ja-gang’s heart was pounding so hard it felt like it might burst.

‘It’s over!’

He couldn’t beg them to pretend they hadn’t seen him. Of course, they wouldn’t agree to such a request.

But he didn’t want to be captured either. Being caught by Mang-ryo and experiencing that terrible torture again would be worse than death.

He had no regrets—he had done everything he could—but it felt unfair to die here after coming so far.

‘Think. Think.’

Though his heart was still pounding, Jin Ja-gang became surprisingly calm.

He turned and secretly handed over the Medicine King Sect’s secret manual, the Herbal Cultivation Method, to Yong-myeong.

Yong-myeong gave him a look warning him not to act rashly, but Jin Ja-gang had no choice.

Jin Ja-gang gritted his teeth. He tightly gripped his only weapon, the broken dish fragment. He drew poison to the tip of his little finger.

If not now, he might never get a proper chance to strike.

He would probably die with just one slash of their swords the moment he rushed at them.

‘Whew!’

Jin Ja-gang took a deep breath.

He planned to rush toward the two warriors at the back of the cart and the messenger, then escape into the nearby forest.

Great Desert Saber, who had just finished counting heads, spoke with disbelief:

“Why is there an extra head? Which one is it? Won’t you come out quickly?”

Now!

Just as Jin Ja-gang was about to leap out—

Suddenly, Yong-myeong grabbed Jin Ja-gang’s wrist. With a grave expression, Yong-myeong said to him:

“Treasure your life.”

“…!”

“Seeing that they’ve come all this way to find you, I can’t help but believe in you.”

Yong-myeong took the broken dish fragment from Jin Ja-gang’s hand. Then he used its sharp edge to cut the rope of the young man next to him.

The freed young man exchanged a solemn look with Yong-myeong. Then he implored Jin Ja-gang:

“Please take care of our Medicine King Sect.”

Before Jin Ja-gang could say anything, the young man abruptly stood up.

“Ah!”

Everyone’s attention turned to the young man.

He jumped onto the cart and leaped forward. The warriors rushed toward him, but it seemed they wouldn’t be able to stop him from jumping off the cliff.

“You b*st*rds! Just try to catch me!”

The young man shouted as he launched himself into the air.

At that moment, a chilling line appeared in the air, stretching from right in front of Jin Ja-gang all the way to the young man’s body.

It was a transparent, bluish, wide line that was so eerie to look at that he never wanted to see it again.

Whoosh.

Somehow, a large shadow had appeared in front of Jin Ja-gang, showing its back to him.

It was Great Desert Saber.

A powerful wind arose.

Jin Ja-gang’s breath caught in his throat.

‘When?’

He hadn’t even seen Great Desert Saber move.

This was on an entirely different level than Bloody Hand.

Arsenic normally causes numbness and inability to stand properly. At that time, Bloody Hand had even stopped his heart, making his body extremely sluggish. That’s why Jin Ja-gang hadn’t known how fast a true martial arts master could move.

But that wasn’t the important thing now.

The large shadow, Great Desert Saber, had already drawn his sword. His arm was fully extended to the right, and frost-like particles were forming on the blade.

The transparent line drawn in the air was the trace left by the frost-like substance on the sword.

The trace gradually disappeared, melting like snow.

Jin Ja-gang had never seen anything like this before.

“Sword energy!”

Someone from the Medicine King Sect whispered, revealing what it was.

Beautiful but terrifyingly powerful…

And what happened beyond it was unbelievable.

The head of the young man who had jumped toward the cliff was spinning in midair.

Spraying blood.

While his body was already falling down the cliff, flailing.

Shwik!

Following a sharp whistling sound, a throwing dagger with a string attached flew and embedded itself in the spinning head of the young man.

When Relentless Dagger pulled the string, the young man’s head was drawn into his hand as if being sucked in.

It all happened in an instant.

Almost in the blink of an eye.

Everyone was frozen by that cruel and overwhelming display of power.

Even Jin Ja-gang couldn’t think of moving. Or more precisely, he had been about to move but stopped in shock.

Relentless Dagger held the young man’s head in his hand, examining it from various angles.

The messenger stammered:

“But, if you kill him like that…”

Great Desert Saber licked the bloodstained blade with his tongue and replied:

“Then what am I supposed to do?”

Relentless Dagger frowned at the sight. Great Desert Saber had come to the Central Plains a few years ago after being a thief in the Great Desert. He still hadn’t shed his habits from his days as a bandit.

After licking both sides of his blade, Great Desert Saber grinned at Relentless Dagger, who was holding the young man’s head.

“Why did you bring that back?”

“Just to make sure it’s the right person.”

Relentless Dagger drew his dagger and tossed the head to the messenger.

“Check it.”

The messenger who caught the head was struck dumb. He didn’t know what to do.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t know the face well either.”

Great Desert Saber snickered.

“Why bother checking? Of course it’s not him.”

Originally, the prisoners from the Medicine King Sect had looked indignant but were forcibly restraining themselves. The young man had died to save Jin Ja-gang, though it was more for the sake of the other Medicine King Sect members than for Jin Ja-gang himself.

But at Great Desert Saber’s last remark, everyone couldn’t hide their astonishment.

“Kee hee hee. Look at their faces! They’re wondering how I knew, aren’t they?”

Great Desert Saber jumped onto the cart and addressed the prisoners:

“You fools, do you think I’m stupid? Who in the world jumps off a cliff to escape? Huh? You deliberately jumped off the cliff to save the escapee. To buy time so we wouldn’t find the body later. Isn’t that right?”

Great Desert Saber tapped his own head with his finger in an almost mocking way.

“Use your head, use your head. I could just catch him and hand him over, but why are you trying to die a dog’s death by protecting him? If you’re going to die anyway after entering the tunnels, what’s the difference, right?”

The phrase “dog’s death” made the center of Jin Ja-gang’s chest feel as if it were being seared with charcoal.

“Escapee, come out. If you don’t, I’ll kill one person at a time until you do. This is no bluff.”

Great Desert Saber threatened, swinging his sword.

Until then, Jin Ja-gang hadn’t fully appreciated the young man’s sacrifice. He hadn’t particularly thought about saving the Medicine King Sect people, nor did he completely trust them.

But as the image of the young man overlapped with that of Gwak-o in his mind, his emotions suddenly surged.

Gwak-o had sold out Hundred Flower Valley for his own advancement, but this young man had purely sacrificed his life for the sake of the other Medicine King Sect members… Yet his noble sacrifice had just been dismissed as a “dog’s death” by Great Desert Saber.

Uncontrollable anger rose within him.

Crunch.

Jin Ja-gang bit his little finger.

If it was going to be difficult to escape alive anyway, he would take at least one person with him for the others!

But someone acted even faster than Jin Ja-gang.

“You murderers!”

An old man shouted at Great Desert Saber.

“Kill me too, you monster!”

He seemed to have some relationship with the dead young man, as he was shedding tears of blood.

“Oh? That’s convenient. I was just thinking of killing someone since the escapee hasn’t come out yet.”

Great Desert Saber smirked, then walked along the edge of the cart, grabbed the old man’s head, and lifted him up.

Then he mercilessly swung his sword right there. It was pure violence and slaughter directed at a helpless, weak person.

Slash!

“Aaaah!”

Blood splattered inside the narrow cart. The old man’s head and body rolled separately on the floor.

Because the Medicine King Sect people were tied in a row with ropes, they couldn’t avoid getting soaked with blood that poured from the old man.

Great Desert Saber stabbed his sword into the fallen body of the old man.

Thwack.

The sword pierced through the body and into the cart floor. Great Desert Saber then folded his arms as if to show off.

“Heh heh heh.”

The Medicine King Sect people were terrified, but some were angry.

“You evil b*st*rd!”

A few of the Medicine King Sect people tried to rush toward Great Desert Saber. But because of the binding ropes, they just tumbled around with those too scared to move. The inside of the cart became chaotic.

“Kee hee.”

Great Desert Saber pulled out his sword and leaped to the front of the cart, landing on the horse pulling it.

And he licked the blood caked on his blade even more slowly than before. Suddenly there was a faint sulfurous smell, but Great Desert Saber didn’t pay much attention to it.

“Escapee. Still not planning to come out?”

As he spoke, he kept flicking his tongue, which was unusually long for a normal person, making the sight all the more eerie and disgusting.

At that moment, Jin Ja-gang began to count.

“One.”

Then he looked at Yong-myeong and said:

“I’m going to kill him. I can’t do anything about the others.”

“What?”

“Two. If you’re going to escape, this is your last chance.”

Yong-myeong felt that Jin Ja-gang’s words were not false. He quickly relayed the message to the people beside him and secretly cut the ropes with the broken fragment.

“Three.”

Jin Ja-gang kept counting.

Great Desert Saber was looking around the carts front and back while speaking:

“Not coming out? Are you okay with all these people dying because of just one person?”

When no one responded, Great Desert Saber continued:

“Medicine King Sect fools! You’re all going to let your sect be wiped out because of someone who has nothing to do with you, and yet you all keep your mouths shut?”

“…Four.”

“You’ve brought this upon yourselves, so don’t blame this elder.”

“Five.”

“For the next one, I won’t kill cleanly—I’ll cut off limbs one by one.”

“…Six.”

“…”

Great Desert Saber stopped talking.

Someone was counting in a small voice.

“Seven.”

It was a voice without inflection, as if unconsciously reciting numbers.

“Who is it?”

“Eight.”

Great Desert Saber, feeling irritated, listened carefully. The sound was coming from the cart behind.

Because he had just beheaded the old man, everyone was soaked in blood. It was a bit difficult to distinguish individuals.

Among them, a boy was crouching with his head down, mumbling.

“Hey you, what do you think you’re doing?”

“Nine.”

Jin Ja-gang’s behavior was irritating Great Desert Saber.

In truth, he could have just leaped back and killed Jin Ja-gang right then and there. To all appearances, Jin Ja-gang was just a weak, small boy.

But there was a reason why Great Desert Saber had been asking the escapee, Jin Ja-gang, to reveal himself.

Though Great Desert Saber didn’t know Jin Ja-gang’s name, he was aware that this Jin Ja-gang had reduced Mang-ryo to a one-legged man, blinded his eye, and escaped to the Mixed Spring Ground.

Even Mang-ryo couldn’t be called a weakling. He was quite a skilled fighter in the Extreme Poison Sect.

Yet this boy had outmaneuvered him multiple times and even survived for a month in the Mixed Spring Ground. That would be impossible without some hidden ability.

Despite his seemingly uneducated appearance, Great Desert Saber was a shrewd man. He didn’t want to create a situation that might go wrong.

That’s why he kept trying to create a situation where the escapee would reveal himself.

But Jin Ja-gang provoked him even more.

“Ten.”