Chapter 23: Poison Forest-5
Chapter 23: Poison Forest-5
Bi Sa-yeong could not kill the old man in the end.
No, he had not killed him.
He had merely snapped angrily at the old man who kept telling him to kill himself.
"If I kill you now! Am I supposed to make more bastards like Na?! Or should I just kill Dakam and those kids along with you?!"
Bi Sa-yeong spat the words at the old man, who could not bring himself to answer.
"Don't say things you can't take responsibility for. Just repay as much as you can while you're alive."
"While I'm alive... repay?"
Then Bi Sa-yeong looked at me and said to him.
"I'm stupid so I don't know much, but my smart friend here seems to need your knowledge. He says we need information to raid the Blood Cult later. So spill everything you know. Everything about the Blood Cult, about herbs, about poisonous plants!"
The old man looked at him with deep eyes and asked.
"...Will that really be enough?"
"Shit! Will it be enough?! Just do that at least! Don't keep pissing me off! Tch! I can't even swear in front of the kids."
He had already cursed quite a bit, but I decided not to point it out.
We patted his shoulder warmly.
Across both my past and present lives, apart from the time he stayed behind and died, today's Bi Sa-yeong seemed the coolest.
Old man Seok Gyeong-dal thought for a moment, then said to Dakam.
"Go and fetch some of what I made last time."
What Dakam brought back was, unbelievably, a pill emitting a deep fragrance.
The old man said.
"I'm not sure about the Greater Revival Pill, but it should at least be at the level of a Lesser Revival Pill. Calling it an apology would be absurd, so just think of it as something you picked up from the road."
A flustered Bi Sa-yeong shouted.
"Wha, wha, what?! You think giving me something like this will soften my heart?! I-I'm not that kind of person!!"
But seeing him blankly accept it, his heart already seemed to have softened a bit.
We smiled and congratulated him.
"You were always complaining you'd never taken a spiritual pill, well done. Wish fulfilled, huh?"
"Right. Being on par with a Lesser Revival Pill, truly congratulations."
"Now Sa-yeong can grow by leaps and bounds too. Brace yourself, because I'll work you even harder."
But Bi Sa-yeong, who had been staring at it blankly, held it out to us and said.
"This... let's share it."
At those unexpected words, our eyes went round and he hastily made an excuse.
"Well, I don't mean anything by it. Didn't they say that if external energy exceeds five parts, you fall into qi deviation? I don't want that. And Jin-i needs internal energy right now anyway, and Squad Leader and Miss Cheong have to get stronger to keep me safer! That's what I meant. So..."
He rattled off excuses, but there was no way we didn't know his heart.
That bastard had apparently decided to be cool today.
Squad Leader Seol Pung smiled warmly and said.
"Yes, for the sake of your sincerity, I will do my utmost to become stronger. However, I don't need a spiritual pill right now. I'm stuck at the limit of eighty years of internal energy, so without enlightenment, I can't accumulate more anyway."
Miss Cheong also smiled and answered.
"Same for me. Even if I took a spiritual pill now, I can't accumulate internal energy anyway, so I'll just accept the sentiment."
The limit of internal energy an ordinary person could accumulate was one jiazi, sixty years. No matter how many spiritual pills they ate like rice, their vessel would be full beyond that and no more internal energy could be accumulated.
But once enlightenment was obtained there, that is, once the peak-level wall was broken through, the vessel of internal energy grew large enough to accumulate up to seventy years again.
One needed another enlightenment for eighty years, and so gradually attaining enlightenments, until finally those who broke through the wall of one hundred years of internal energy were called transcendent peak.
If there had been no such limit on the vessel, the wealthy who could sweep up spiritual pills would all have become the martial world's greatest masters, so in its own way it was a fair law of nature.
Squad Leader Seol Pung and Miss Cheong were saying that they were currently stuck at that limit and could no longer accumulate internal energy.
Squad Leader Seol Pung was probably blocked by the wall of eighty years of internal energy, and Miss Cheong was blocked by the one jiazi, peak-level wall.
Old man Seok Gyeong-dal, who had been listening to our conversation with a dumbfounded expression, said.
"In all my life, I've seen many fights over a spiritual pill, but this is the first time I've seen people try to yield it to each other. What the hell are you guys?"
At his words, we exchanged glances.
He was right.
Even if you offered a thousand gold, a Lesser Revival Pill was something you couldn't obtain without fate. Where in the martial world was there anyone who would offer to share it with others, or who would refuse a spiritual pill even if they couldn't take it right now?
Except for the people right before my eyes right now.
This warm feeling we got from each other was so heartwarming.
The old man waved his hand in annoyance and spoke again.
"All my life is starting to feel empty. Stop tormenting an old man and just eat it already. And there's no need to worry about qi deviation or anything."
"...Huh? No need to worry about qi deviation?"
The first to grasp the meaning of his words were Miss Cheong and me.
Startled, we looked at each other.
Hadn't we been curious about it before?
Why Blood Cultists who built internal energy through essence absorption did not suffer qi deviation...
I gulped down my saliva and asked.
"Is there some secret method?"
Then he smiled meaningfully and answered.
"You are now going to learn one of the Blood Cult's greatest secrets."
What he held out after saying that was a pouch containing black pills.
"This is a Poison Pill."
"A Poison Pill?"
"Yes, a Poison Pill containing a very faint dose of poison."
His subsequent explanation was as follows.
Blood Cultists who had spent a long time building internal energy by absorbing others' essence had discovered that if they regularly ingested a faint dose of poison, qi deviation did not occur.
"To make an analogy, qi deviation is when the impure internal energy inside clashes with pure internal energy. But when an external enemy appears, they stop clashing with each other, so to speak?"
It was nothing short of a jaw-dropping revelation.
"B-but how has that not been known at all until now?"
Then he answered with a laugh.
"Didn't I tell you? It's one of the Blood Cult's greatest secrets. Moreover, even if someone carrying a Poison Pill were killed and it was taken, it's still just a Poison Pill, isn't it? Who would think it's special for a Blood Cultist to be carrying a Poison Pill?"
"Haa."
Throughout history, the reason the Blood Cult had not been annihilated despite countless Blood Demons being killed and Blood Cultists persecuted was the temptation that one could easily build internal energy by becoming a Blood Cultist.
They could easily accumulate one jiazi of internal energy and quickly become upper first-rate, so they could rapidly increase the number of peak-level masters.
Of course, precisely because they built internal energy so easily, attaining further enlightenment and advancement was more difficult, but even that much was enough to rank among the strong in the martial world.
Yet today, we had learned that secret.
Suddenly Miss Cheong said.
"While we're on the subject, how about you both take the spiritual pill now? Anyway, Seonwoo Gongja has a duel waiting as soon as we return, right?"
The squad leader also agreed.
"I agree as well. Now that we've found a method, there's no need to hesitate."
I thought that was right too.
So Bi Sa-yeong and I immediately ingested the spiritual pill and entered energy cultivation.
Old man Seok Gyeong-dal, the squad leader, and Miss Cheong all watched us with pleased eyes.
Just then, Dakam, who had been watching from the side, suddenly asked his younger siblings.
"Whe-re did Rakun go?"
"Rakun hyung went out at dawn to look for you because you hadn't come back, though."
"Really? He didn't go fa-r, right?"
***
At the same time, near the Poison Forest.
Boom!
"Kyaaang!"
With a sound like a leather sack bursting, the massive Black Panther was sent flying with a pitiful cry.
It was the same Black Panther that had fought Seol Pung earlier.
The black panther, like the feline it was, righted itself mid-air and landed on the ground, but it couldn't prevent the massive man from pouncing on top of it.
Crack!
"Kyaaaang!"
When the man's palm struck the back of the black panther's head, the beast collapsed in a heap with a single cry.
And then it never rose again.
At this, the men who had been watching the fight with bated breath grew animated, their faces lighting up as they clamored.
"Ooooh! As expected of the Bloodthirsty Demon Lord! To take care of such an extraordinary monster in one blow!"
"It was only to be expected! Could a mere creature like that even be a match for the Demon Commander who served at the Blood Demon's side and distinguished himself in the last holy war?!"
Letting the admiration of his subordinates flow in one ear and out the other, Tamhyeolmugun Ji Gwang-ok issued his orders.
"I didn't kill it, so secure that beast as well. A venomous black panther... what a curious creature. The Blood Demon might take an interest in it."
"Yes! Understood!"
While several subordinates were tightly binding the black panther for capture, one particularly oily-faced underling spoke to Ji Gwang-ok in a voice dripping with flattery.
"This humble subordinate cannot understand why the Demon Commander would personally go out of his way for something like collecting poison creatures. There's a limit to using a butcher's blade to kill a chicken—it seems the Blood Demon was being a little too harsh with you this time."
Ji Gwang-ok's ferocious gaze immediately fixed on him.
"You dare question the Blood Demon's judgment?"
Under that predatory stare, the oily-faced subordinate's complexion instantly went pale.
"N-no, not at all! How could this humble subordinate ever—I was merely concerned that the Demon Commander might find it inconvenient to travel all this way personally...!"
Crunch!
The subordinate never got to finish his sentence.
Ji Gwang-ok's thick hand, swung with casual simplicity, crushed his skull like a watermelon.
Watching the subordinate's corpse slump powerlessly to the ground, its head destroyed, Ji Gwang-ok spoke with an expressionless face.
"A cultist who does not obey the Blood Demon has no place in the cult."
Witnessing their comrade's all-too-simple death, the subordinates gulped and hurried to finish securing the panther.
Tamhyeolmugun Ji Gwang-ok, who had been active as the hunting dog of the Blood Demon of Four Seas, Jeon Mu-gwang, ever since the last Great Blood War, was exactly as the rumors said.
Both in his martial prowess and in his brutality.
They had come to the Poison Forest under orders from the Blood Demon to collect highly toxic poison creatures.
The original party had consisted of one entry-level peak master and seven upper first-rate experts, and this time Tamhyeolmugun Ji Gwang-ok had accompanied them as their overseer.
His addition—infamous even among the Blood Cultists for being unbearably rigid and ferocious—left the cultists unable to relax.
And on top of that, had three of them not already died just after arriving at the Poison Forest?
Of course, two had been killed by the black panther, but while those two were being taken down by the beast, Ji Gwang-ok had merely watched with eyes full of interest. One could say he had essentially stood by and let his subordinates die.
And to make matters worse, the only peak master among them had just been killed by Ji Gwang-ok's own hand.
It was a bone-deep lesson in exactly what kind of existence he considered them to be.
By now, every single Blood Cultist had only one desire: to collect the poison creatures as quickly as possible and get away from him.
It was then that a subordinate who had gone out scouting returned, dragging something he had captured. It was a dark-skinned boy of the Miao tribe.
"Demon Commander! I've captured a Miao child nearby! Since he's still a child, it seems there must be a Miao hideout around here! What's more, this brat was carrying a scent pouch that repels living corpses!"
Ji Gwang-ok's predatory eyes shifted to the child.
Unable to move due to having his acupoints sealed, the child was screaming through his tears.
"No! I live here all alone! There's no hideout or anything! You monsters!"
Ji Gwang-ok murmured with apparent interest.
"A hideout near the Poison Forest... Considering that the living corpses are sensitive to poison incense, that could be possible. And they even possess scent pouches that drive away the living corpses."
Ji Gwang-ok grabbed the Miao child by the neck and lifted him up to eye level.
The child was now completely paralyzed with terror.
Meeting the child's eyes, Ji Gwang-ok spoke in a sinister voice.
"Listen to me."
As he spoke, his eyes emitted a strange green glow.
The child's eyes began to grow increasingly hazy.
Though he had not mastered the Blood Puppet Art that could turn an opponent into a complete puppet, for Tamhyeolmugun Ji Gwang-ok, performing soul-possession on a single child who hadn't even learned martial arts was hardly a difficult task.
***
Seol Pung and Hae Cheong-yeon were drinking the tea Dakam had served, waiting for Seonwoo Jin and Bi Sa-yeong's energy circulation to finish.
Though it was a considerably long time, they lost track of it while conversing with old man Seok Gyeong-dal.
His extensive knowledge—as both a martial scholar and one who had studied medicinal arts—was like a whole new world to the two of them.
Seol Pung asked again with a shocked expression.
"Then you're saying the spirit medicine those two just consumed was made from poison creatures?"
"That's..."
"But I didn't sense any venomous energy at all?"
"Think carefully. Doesn't the word 'poison' originally refer to things where the energy leans too far to one side, disrupting balance? Yet they also say that even spirit medicine becomes poison if its energy leans too far to one side. So if you harmonize the energies of poisons and balance them—what would that become?"
"...You're saying that is spirit medicine?"
"That's right. Spirit medicine is fundamentally a deep accumulation of harmonious energy. If you can harmonize the deeply accumulated energy of poisons, it is no different from spirit medicine. And this isn't even my own theory. It is said that the Strange Doctor Nangbin, revered in the past, once used a combination of poison energies to grant a complete rebirth of body and spirit to a man who was half-paralyzed."
Old man Seok Gyeong-dal, it seemed, had been inwardly excited to meet someone with whom he could share such high-level discourse after so long.
Their conversation eventually turned to the subject of the demons.
"So, the demons... you're saying that all these living corpses appearing now are test subjects? To create living corpses of a higher level?"
At Seol Pung's question, the old man answered with a grave expression.
"Yes. It was the greatest reason I left Mu Gwang's side. What Mu Gwang wants to create is, in fact..."
It was at that moment.
One of Dakam's younger siblings, who had been looking out the window, shouted urgently.
"Grandfather! It's Rakun! Rakun is bringing strange people with him!"
"What?!"
The old man, supported by Seol Pung, looked out the window—and his face drained of all color.
"That bastard... Everyone, run! Hurry, escape through the back door!"
"What's going on? Who in the world is he, Elder?"
"The Bloodthirsty Demon Lord—it's Tamhyeolmugun Ji Gwang-ok! He used soul-possession on Rakun and tracked him here! We must flee at once!"
At those desperate words, Seol Pung and Hae Cheong-yeon exchanged looks.
Tamhyeolmugun Ji Gwang-ok.
For those fighting against the Blood Cult, there was absolutely no way they wouldn't know that name.
He was a demon head who had taken the lives of countless orthodox faction members since the last Great Blood War—and a monster of the transcendent peak whose internal energy surpassed a hundred years.
Dakam shouted at him.
"B-but Tokno! What about Rakun?!"
"Regrettably, Rakun has already been soul-possessed by him! If you try to save Rakun, we'll all die!"
The old man was right.
If that man truly was Tamhyeolmugun Ji Gwang-ok, they had to flee at once.
But Seol Pung looked back at Seonwoo Jin and Bi Sa-yeong, who were still in the midst of circulating their energy.
Those in energy circulation couldn't move.
And so, it was only natural that Seol Pung himself couldn't abandon them and run.
Seol Pung spoke to the old man.
"Flee with the children. I will buy us as much time as I can."
"Such recklessness!"
Hae Cheong-yeon cut in.
"You said it wrong, Squad Leader. You should have said 'we,' not 'I.'"
On Hae Cheong-yeon's face as she said those words, there wasn't a trace of hesitation.