Chapter 190
Chapter 190
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 190
Chapter Title: Chapter 5. Resentment Builds Unknowingly (3)
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Damho brushed himself off and stood up from his seat.
His face was extremely pallid, but his complexion had actually improved.
He asked Jong Ri-yeon,
“How much time has passed?”
“It's been over three shichen since you started circulating your qi.”
“Really?”
“The sun has already set.”
At Jong Ri-yeon's answer, Damho looked around.
As she said, thick darkness had settled over the surroundings.
“Have you figured out what the poison is?”
“No. It's a poison I've never seen in my life. It seems like a kind of corrosive poison, but it's so vicious that finding an antidote will be tough.”
“Does that mean it can't be neutralized?”
“I mean it's difficult. For starters, we need to identify the poison's components, but the corpses are already rotting, so we can't extract a proper sample. We'd need a full, fresh dose of the poison just to attempt making an antidote.”
“So it's difficult.”
“Creating a poison this extreme is never easy. It's got to be the result of someone versed in toxins trying countless combinations. It might even be a Poison Person.”
“Poison Person?”
“Yes! A martial artist who trains in poison arts. They build their internal energy through long-term use of special breathing techniques and custom-mixed poisons. Their blood, organs, and even their qi end up laced with deadly toxin. They literally become a living Poison Person.”
Damho's gaze grew even colder at Jong Ri-yeon's explanation.
‘A Poison Person, is it?’
He couldn't tell if it was just someone using poison in a straightforward way or if a true poison arts cultivator had appeared. Either way, it was sure to become a great calamity for the world.
“I'll research whether I can make an antidote, but I'll need fresh poison for that without fail.”
Jong Ri-yeon bit her lip firmly.
Martial artists clashing with swords and blades was one thing. At worst, it was just them killing each other. But poison was different.
Poison didn't just kill those in direct combat—it took countless others down too. Used wrong, it could wipe out hundreds of innocents. That was what made it so terrifying.
Of course, Jong Ri-yeon despised poison. Both as a physician and as an ordinary person.
If they left things as is, even passersby in the area could get poisoned. Damho gathered branches and set the corpses ablaze.
Leaving the burning bodies behind, the two set off down the road.
Night had fallen late already, so they made camp in a suitable spot.
The two didn't exchange a word the entire time they camped.
Jong Ri-yeon was lost in her own thoughts about the poison, while Damho checked his body's condition.
Damho could feel his meridians had widened and grown more resilient. If they'd once been like a brook, now they flowed like a river.
There were no blockages anywhere, no twists or turns. His qi moved exactly as he directed it. And above all, he'd gained resistance to poison.
If this counted as a fateful boon, then it was.
Damho closed his eyes.
The next day, as soon as the sun rose, Damho and Jong Ri-yeon hit the road.
Jong Ri-yeon worried there might be more corpses ahead, but fortunately, none appeared along the way.
She counted herself lucky.
Truth be told, she hadn't slept a wink all night, her mind consumed by thoughts of the poison. Her eyes were badly bloodshot as a result.
Even at this moment, her head was filled with nothing but the poison—what kinds could produce those symptoms, how to neutralize it—her head throbbed from the effort.
By the time Jong Ri-yeon snapped out of her poison fixation, evening was nearly upon them. The one piece of luck was the small village right ahead, meaning no need to camp.
“We'll stay here tonight.”
Damho's words sounded as sweet as rain falling on parched fields. But the moment they entered the village, Jong Ri-yeon couldn't help but feel disappointed. It was so tiny there wasn't a proper inn to be found.
In the end, the two had no choice but to knock on the door of what passed for the largest house in the village.
“Who is it?”
The door cracked open slightly, and an old man in his late seventies peeked out through the gap. He eyed the strangers with heavy suspicion.
A thick herbal scent drifted out from inside. Recognizing the familiar smell, Jong Ri-yeon broke into a wide smile and said,
“We're travelers who got caught by sundown with nowhere to stay, so we knocked in hopes of imposing on you for the night.”
“Well...”
The old man trailed off.
He said nothing, but his reluctance to let them in was plain. In particular, the look he gave Damho brimmed with wariness.
“Elder, we're not bad people. We'll pay plenty, and we won't cause any trouble.”
“Grandpa, who's there?”
Just then, a young boy's voice came from inside. A boy poked his head out through the door gap.
Jong Ri-yeon's eyes met the boy's in midair. In that instant, the boy beamed.
“Ah! Doctor!”
“You...”
Jong Ri-yeon widened her eyes. The boy peeking out was the son of the man whose pulse she'd checked back at the Unma Dogang Station.
Seeing his grandson's reaction, the old man asked,
“Do you know them?”
“Of course! It's the doctor who checked Dad's pulse and prescribed medicine.”
“Ah!”
The old man let out an involuntary exclamation. The wariness on his face vanished in an instant. He flung the door wide open.
“So you're my son's benefactor. Please, come in. We've heard so much about you from my son and grandson.”
The old man grabbed Damho and Jong Ri-yeon's hands and pulled them inside.
“Give me the horses. I'll put them in our stable. Hehe!”
The boy took the reins from Damho and Jong Ri-yeon.
Following the old man into the house, they ran into the father, who had come out after overhearing. He greeted the two with a broad smile.
“Please come in, doctor. I never dreamed I'd see you again so soon.”
“Uncle!”
Jong Ri-yeon lit up at the unexpected connection.
The father's name was Im I-cheong.
This was the hometown village where Im I-cheong had lived for many long years—as the local pillar of the community, no less.
Im I-cheong's house was the biggest in the village and had plenty of spare rooms. Especially since it followed the northern siheyuan layout, outsiders could never peer inside.
Im I-cheong treated Damho and Jong Ri-yeon with utmost hospitality.
He brought out food and wine. And he even made arrangements for Jong Ri-yeon to bathe.
Even as she repeatedly declined that it was too much, he told her,
“Thanks to you, doctor, my stomach pains have improved a lot. Last night, I slept soundly for the first time in years. This much hospitality is the least I can do.”
“That's great to hear. I'm glad you've gotten better.”
“But how did you end up coming here at this hour? You must've left around the same time we did.”
“Circumstances led us here.”
“Sounds like you've got your reasons. In any case, rest easy while you're here, and if possible, set out early tomorrow.”
“Is there some reason for that?”
Jong Ri-yeon gave him a puzzled look. Im I-cheong's voice dropped low.
“There are martial artists in the village right now.”
“Martial artists?”
“Yes! They arrived last night and are staying at the village head's house. The whole village is on edge because of it. So please, doctor, don't go wandering around at night.”
Im I-cheong warned them repeatedly.
From his tone, it seemed the villagers had suffered quite a bit at the hands of these martial artists.
“Got it. We'll stay quiet and out of the way, so don't worry.”
“Thank you, doctor.”
After that, Im I-cheong carried on chatting with Jong Ri-yeon for quite a while. His son joined in after stabling the horses.
While they talked, Damho drank in silence.
Yu Jin-mun was the vice squad leader of the Golden Martial Squad, one of the Murim Alliance's Five Elements Troops.
The Five Elements Troops formed the Alliance's core fighting force, divided into five groups as their name implied: Fire, Water, Wood, Metal, Earth.
Fire Dragon Squad, Water King Squad, Wood Spirit Squad, Golden Martial Squad, Earth Duty Squad.
The Five Elements Troops were assigned missions suited to their specialties, and the Golden Martial Squad functioned somewhat like scouts.
The Golden Martial Squad consisted of over a dozen subunits scattered across the Central Plains, tasked with gathering intelligence and intercepting enemy scouts.
As vice squad leader of one such unit, Yu Jin-mun had been active monitoring Demonic Cult movements along the Shanxi-Henan border.
“Damn it!”
Yu Jin-mun rubbed his left shoulder. The wound there was still raw and vivid. He'd taken it yesterday afternoon.
The Golden Martial Squad subunit he led had been ambushed by unidentified foes yesterday. Caught in the sudden attack, he'd lost twenty out of his forty-plus men and barely managed to retreat.
“If it hadn't been for the poison...”
The poison those bastards scattered was the problem.
So vicious that his men dropped dead the instant they were poisoned. In the end, Yu Jin-mun had no choice but to order a retreat.
He'd somehow escaped the battlefield and fled, but too many of his men were wounded. That's why they'd holed up in this village.
He'd gone straight to the village head's house and demanded lodging. A mere rural village head had no way of standing up to the killing aura of armed martial artists.
Terrified, the head had no choice but to hand over his own home to the Golden Martial Squad. The warriors promptly evicted the owner and treated the place like their own.
“We've got to inform the Alliance that the enemy is using poison.”
He wanted to rush to the nearest Alliance branch right away, but the wounded were holding him back.
Seven of the twenty-odd survivors had sword wounds. With their messenger pigeon lost, he couldn't just leave them here and go.
It was then, as Yu Jin-mun ground his teeth in frustration at the bind.
“Squad leader!”
One of his subordinates burst through the door.
“What is it?”
Yu Jin-mun's voice rose sharply. His already frayed nerves were on edge.
It was enough to make anyone shrink back, but the subordinate's expression didn't change as he replied.
“Strangers just entered the village.”
“Strangers?”
“Yes! Shouldn't we check their identities? They could be Demonic Cult pursuers.”
“Hmm.”
Yu Jin-mun's face hardened at his subordinate's words.
He was already smarting from his crushing defeat at the hands of Demonic Cult warriors and forced flight. The very thought of the Demonic Cult made his teeth chatter.
“Everyone who's not moaning from sword wounds—get the able-bodied ones out here.”
“They're already waiting outside.”
“Let's go.”
Yu Jin-mun led his men toward Im I-cheong's house.
A murderous aura poured off them.
Bang! Bang!
They pounded on the front gate of Im I-cheong's house.
“What's going on?”
Im I-cheong cracked the door open and stuck his head out. Yu Jin-mun raised his voice.
“We heard outsiders came here. We need to see their faces ourselves.”
“Pardon?”
Im I-cheong tilted his head as if he'd misheard. Yu Jin-mun's face twisted slightly.
“Why are you dragging your feet?”
“It's just... I don't quite understand. These are guests in my home—why do the warriors want to see them?”
Im I-cheong asked carefully. Fury crept onto Yu Jin-mun's face.
“We're the Murim Alliance's Golden Martial Squad. Our job is rooting out anyone who might be connected to the Demonic Cult.”
“My guests have no ties to the Demonic Cult.”
“We'll be the judge of that. If they're really not Demonic Cult, what's to fear? They can just come out, show themselves openly, and prove it. You don't seriously think we'd brand just anyone a cultist, do you?”
“No, of course not. How could I...”
Im I-cheong hurriedly waved his hands in denial.
From his position, he simply didn't want to bother his valued guests—not that he had the guts to offend the Murim Alliance.
“No more chit-chat. Tell your houseguests to come out.”
“Well...”
“Are you daring to defy the Murim Alliance?”
Even as he hesitated, killing intent laced Yu Jin-mun's voice.
It was then.
“Uncle, I'll go out.”
Jong Ri-yeon's voice came from behind Im I-cheong.
“Do—doctor?”
“It's fine. No need for you to get in trouble on our account.”
“But...”
Jong Ri-yeon pushed past Im I-cheong and stepped outside.
Yu Jin-mun and the Golden Martial Squad warriors all wore looks of surprise. The one who'd emerged against their expectations was a young woman—and strikingly beautiful at that.
Jong Ri-yeon scanned the Golden Martial Squad warriors and spoke up.
“You wanted to see me?”