Chapter 193
Chapter 193
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 193
Chapter Title: Chapter 6. Failing to See the Tree in Front of One's Eyes (3)
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“Urk!”
The entire group of villagers, isolated separately, was showing signs of poisoning. Most of them were rolling on the ground with dirt-colored faces. Their breathing was ragged, thick veins bulging prominently across their bodies. Their bloodshot eyes looked ready to spill blood at any moment.
“How...?”
Jong Ri-yeon’s pupils trembled.
They had taken such strict precautions and worked so hard to prevent the poison from spreading, yet the entire village had been poisoned. Among the poisoned villagers were Im I-cheong’s family, who had so graciously taken them in.
Jong Ri-yeon felt tormented, as if it were all her responsibility. The fact that even Im I-cheong’s family had been poisoned struck her especially hard.
“Can we save them?”
“We have to.”
“But...”
Yu Jin-mun trailed off.
Even the martial artists who had cultivated inner energy hadn’t lasted long before dying. There was no way ordinary villagers without such training could survive.
Yu Jin-mun looked at the villagers lying collapsed on the ground. The shadow of death had already fallen over them. No one could drive away the reaper from them.
‘They’re beyond saving. We have to give up.’
He was the squad leader of the Nameless Squad.
They needed to save those who were still fine and return to the Murim Alliance.
Jong Ri-yeon was desperately searching for an antidote formula. But they hadn’t even been able to save the Nameless Squad members poisoned first, so saving the numerous villagers was even more impossible.
Yu Jin-mun quietly stepped outside and gathered the warriors who hadn’t been poisoned yet.
“You all know how serious the situation is, right?”
The warriors nodded silently.
“We have to make a decision. Whether to stay in this village any longer...”
“Or leave?”
“That’s right.”
Yu Jin-mun nodded at his subordinate’s question.
He was in the position to make that decision.
For the greater good, he could sacrifice the few as many times as needed. If that was what it took.
In the meantime, a few more had died. Only about a dozen survivors remained. Three were receiving treatment from Jong Ri-yeon, but they didn’t seem likely to pull through.
“We sent Il-mong, but there’s no guarantee he made it to the Murim Alliance alive. If the one who poisoned the entire area without us knowing did so, they’d know about Il-mong’s movements too.”
“You mean Il-mong might be dead?”
“That’s right! Now we have to decide.”
“......”
Everyone fell silent.
They knew what Yu Jin-mun was about to say.
“We abandon this place and escape on our own.”
No one replied again. It was tacit agreement in their hearts.
At that moment, someone asked cautiously.
“What about the Fist Demon?”
“The Fist Demon?”
“Will he just stand by and watch us leave?”
“He will.”
“What? On what basis?”
“He’s a guy who lives alone in his own world. You think he cares if we leave? Besides, we’ll go without him knowing anyway, so it doesn’t matter.”
“Still, sneaking away in the night...”
“We’ll call it a tactical retreat. We have to survive for the Murim Alliance to come up with countermeasures, so we have justification.”
Yu Jin-mun’s words were persuasive enough to sway the already frightened Nameless Squad warriors.
Yu Jin-mun asked a warrior beside him.
“Where’s the Fist Demon right now?”
“At his lodgings.”
“Then we can escape without issue.”
“Yes.”
“Good! We leave the village now.”
“Right now?”
“Yes! Immediately.”
Yu Jin-mun moved at once, with the Nameless Squad warriors following behind.
They slipped out of the village into the darkness.
“This is all that’s left now.”
Jong Ri-yeon’s gaze fixed on the herb placed on the table. It had a faint red hue unlike ordinary herbs.
Mad Blood Grass.
A rare herb that was hard to come by.
At a glance, it resembled Nine Leaves Herb, but its effects were entirely different. Even a small dose of Mad Blood Grass could drive a person mad. That was why it was commonly used in making poisons.
“Fighting poison with poison.”
Jong Ri-yeon bit her lower lip hard.
For the past three days, she had tirelessly battled the poison dominating the village.
‘The mastermind behind this poison is a madman. He doesn’t want people to die easily. He wants them to suffer as much as possible before dying. He mixed countless poisons to make it impossible to easily detoxify. There’s an ingredient that binds all those poisons together. If we destroy that, we can detoxify them one by one.’
Jong Ri-yeon saw that possibility in the Mad Blood Grass.
The problem was who to administer the Mad Blood Grass to first.
Jong Ri-yeon’s gaze turned to the still-living Nameless Squad warriors. With all their comrades dead, only two remained.
They lay there, unaware that their comrades had abandoned them.
They were perfect test subjects for the Mad Blood Grass.
That was when Jong Ri-yeon was about to go find Yu Jin-mun and ask if she could use it on them.
“Do as you like.”
Dam Ho appeared from somewhere and said that.
“Huh? But still...”
“Do as I say.”
Jong Ri-yeon looked at Dam Ho for a moment. But reading his thoughts from his expression was impossible.
“Alright. If you say so...”
“Start!”
“What about you?”
Dam Ho’s gaze turned to Im I-cheong’s family lying on the floor.
The family that had let him stay the night looked on the verge of death. If they didn’t overcome this crisis, they would lose their lives like the others.
“I have to catch the ones who did this.”
“But how? We haven’t even seen their shadows. You’ve been stuck inside because of the Nameless Squad too.”
“Being inside doesn’t mean I was idle.”
“Then?”
Jong Ri-yeon stared at Dam Ho intently.
Even to her eyes pleading for an answer, Dam Ho gave none.
Instead of explaining at length, he chose to act.
***
A fairly cool breeze was blowing.
A smile crept across So Gwang’s face as he stood atop a tall tree.
Wind was the best tool for those who wielded poison. Some fools would approach directly and poison through contact, but that was the way of the unskilled.
So Gwang looked at the tree across from him. His comrade was there. And a few more beyond that.
They were all disciples who had learned Dragon Poison Technique from Sa U-yeon. They had mastered it to a proficient level but hadn’t become true poison masters.
Sa U-yeon had elevated poison arts to the realm of art. As an unparalleled genius, he had mastered it all himself, but So Gwang and the others weren’t of such caliber. So they had only been taught a fraction: the Dragon Poison Technique.
The only complete poison master was Sa U-yeon. Thus, they remained his loyal limbs rather than full disciples.
Individually, their poison skills weren’t that impressive. But when they unleashed Dragon Poison Technique together, it was a different story.
Sa U-yeon had taught each a different poison. Each was a fearsome deadly toxin on its own, but far more terrifying was when two or more were combined.
Different poisons merged to birth an entirely new one. Detoxifying such a creation was nearly impossible.
Over the past few days, So Gwang and his comrades had sent poison on the wind. Some days two sent entirely different poisons, others three.
And today was the day all five gathered to release their poisons. If five types flooded out at once, no one in the village could survive.
—Begin.
At So Gwang’s transmission, his comrades pulled out pouches containing poison.
Madness gleamed in their eyes.
The poison in So Gwang’s pouch was Blood Transforming Poison, extracted from a special venomous toad deep in the southern barbarian forests.
As he prepared to send the Blood Transforming Poison on the wind—
Boom!
Suddenly, the tree he stood on shook violently with a roar like it had been hit by a cannonball, then slowly toppled backward.
“W-what?!”
So Gwang leaped in panic to another tree.
Crash!
The moment he landed, another roar erupted, and that tree fell too.
So Gwang had no choice but to leap to yet another tree. But as he tried to land, it collapsed again.
Every tree he set foot on toppled with a thunderous crash. In the end, So Gwang had to drop to the ground.
It was unnatural. Someone had deliberately felled the trees he stood on.
“Who’s there?!”
So Gwang bellowed, scattering Blood Transforming Poison in all directions. Instinctively protecting himself from the sensed danger.
The Blood Transforming Poison scattered everywhere.
Unless one was a poison master like Sa U-yeon, it was a threat even to So Gwang. He held his breath and retreated.
Thud!
“Gah!”
In that instant, a strong hand seized his throat.
So Gwang felt his breath cut off and gaped wide.
Then a massive fist slammed into his mouth.
Crunch!
The fist shattered his teeth and jammed inside. So Gwang trembled violently, unable to even scream.
His body was then lifted into the air and smashed into the ground.
Boom!
The earth quaked.
So Gwang’s spine shattered, his limbs twisting grotesquely. He vomited blood.
His vision blurred. Someone had gripped his throat and unleashed violence, yet he couldn’t even make out the face.
‘Who are you?’
He screamed inwardly. But his voice stayed trapped in his mouth, unable to escape.
The foe responded not with words but merciless violence.
Crack!
His collarbone crumbled, both knees shattered. The agony was excruciating, but being unable to scream drove him madder still.
Even then, the attacker said nothing.
So Gwang, who had plunged the Nameless Squad and villagers into a hell of terror with poison, now felt their anguish to his bones.
‘Who the hell are you?’
His silent screams went unanswered. Instead, the attacker emptied the pouch of Blood Transforming Poison straight into his mouth.
‘No, don’t!’
So Gwang thrashed desperately at the alien sensation in his mouth, but to no avail.
The unknown assailant poured every bit of Blood Transforming Poison down his throat, then stepped back. Only then could So Gwang see him.
A man in black garb, with wild black hair and beast-like eyes glinting through.
It was Dam Ho.
Dam Ho had used Exploding Fist Strike to demolish every tree So Gwang stood on. Then he waited for each landing to unleash his brutal assault.
Bubble! Bubble!
Blood Transforming Poison boiled in So Gwang’s mouth.
Foam bubbled up as he convulsed. Having dumped in enough poison to kill a hundred at once, even his poison immunity couldn’t withstand it.
“Kuaaah!”
So Gwang let out one final scream before his breath stopped. The Blood Transforming Poison’s horrific toxicity melted his eyes and throat first. His body dissolved to bones in moments—a sight too gruesome for nightmares. Yet Dam Ho watched it all without blinking.
While Yu Jin-mun and the Nameless Squad patrolled against invisible foes, Dam Ho had studied their poisoning methods.
It was virtually impossible to administer poison without triggering his senses. Yet victims kept appearing.
Dam Ho concluded they scattered poison without approaching. The only ways without contact were poisoning the village well—their water source—or using the wind.
He had checked the well, leaving wind as the culprit.
Dam Ho traced upwind and found So Gwang.
In the darkness, Dam Ho’s eyes gleamed ferociously.
So Gwang’s comrades, sensing his death, fled in all directions.
Hunted hounds always return to their master.
Dam Ho quietly followed their trail.
The wind had yet to die down.