Chapter 217
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 217
Chapter Title: Dark Annihilation (2)
2
The thing that felled the man was, ridiculously enough, the poisoned commander's boots.
An item from a dead man had brought down one who was still alive.
Even assassins from the Heavenly Annihilation Division were trained in poisons. Naturally, they possessed the ability to disperse them as well.
They could sprinkle poison powder—not with the finesse of the Tang Clan, but competently enough.
How could they have failed to guard against those commander's boots, even after witnessing with their own eyes how they had undone Jaja? Because the man was a comrade? Because the boots had belonged to a comrade?
The boots had already passed into Jaja's hands.
As she released her grip on her abdomen and let her arm hang limp, the poison powder spread through the air.
The man had only been wary of Jaja's counterattack. He hadn't given a thought to her poison arts.
These people were assassins, yet not true assassins. A real killer to the bone wouldn't make such a mistake. They were also martial artists, yet not true ones. They didn't even consider themselves as such.
They couldn't stand against genuine martial experts. They couldn't win.
They couldn't face real assassins either. If they received assassination orders simultaneously against strangers, the odds of falling to a true killer were overwhelmingly high.
They were half-measures, through and through.
Yet these half-measures protected the Shadow Triad's tentacles. Strictly speaking, it wasn't protection. If a tentacle died, they swiftly uncovered and eliminated the cause.
That was their sole purpose.
Which meant... the Shadow Triad's true blades would now reveal themselves.
The ones who appeared after dealing with these would be the Shadow Triad's real swords.
"Hoo!"
Jaja let out a deep sigh.
Even these had been a grueling fight once poisoned by the commander's boots. If more showed up...
Poke! Poke, poke! Poke!
Jaja pressed hard on her acupoints with her fingertip.
She sealed her meridians to halt the poison's flow. If possible, she'd drive it out of her body.
The commander's boots poison couldn't be expelled through acupoint strikes.
The best she could do was gradually narrow the seal, herding the toxin into one part of her body.
Of course, that spot would suffer severe damage. With the poison concentrated, the destruction would accelerate. She might even have to amputate the limb.
But that was a problem for later... First, she had to survive.
"Urgh! Uuugh!"
The man poisoned by the commander's boots began groaning madly.
They could wield the poison, but hadn't experienced its true terror firsthand. They skipped that trial.
As assassins, the Heavenly Annihilation Division outclassed them.
Tap! Tap, tap! Tap!
Jaja continued striking her acupoints.
The potato harvest had begun.
Killing one brought another. Then more in a chain. Follow them to the end, and you'd dig up the whole field.
One death had summoned two.
And those two hadn't come alone. They'd brought another band with them.
'At least ten.'
The minimum was ten.
There could be more, but not fewer.
"Hoo!"
Jaja exhaled deeply.
The poison prevented her from using even half her internal energy. Her self-inflicted wound made movement agonizingly awkward.
No way to fend them off.
'Are the others in this state too? Probably. No reason it'd just be me. Everyone...'
Jaja gave a bitter smile.
An assassin had to accept their plight calmly.
Comparing herself to the others... meant her resolve was already weakening.
"Uuugh! Urgh!"
The poisoned man clutched his belly and writhed on the ground.
Jaja rose and approached him. Without a hint of hesitation, she plunged her dagger into his chest.
"Guuuh!"
The man let out a guttural groan and breathed his last.
He'd had questions for her. But she had none for him.
Potato harvesting.
That was what Four Thousand Four wanted.
No telling how far it would go, but anyone approaching had to be cut down.
No need to wonder why or what it would summon.
When would she meet Vanguard? Hanbi? Four Thousand Four?
Come to think of it, they hadn't set a rendezvous. She'd rushed here after receiving the orders. Figured a path would open naturally once the mission was done.
That much was right.
While harvesting potatoes... the others would be doing the same... and eventually, they'd converge somewhere. Perfectly natural.
No other way to link up.
'Ten... Can't fight them on the ground.'
Jaja dragged her heavy feet forward. Staying put meant death.
She headed for the river.
Lure them into the water. Crush them in aquatic combat. No chance on land.
But... she halted before reaching it.
Not because they'd appeared. A small pebble lay in her path.
A pebble...? No, not a pebble. A pill wrapped in black paper.
She scanned her surroundings.
No presence. Nothing but those ten presumed enemies. So what was this? Who dropped the pill?
She picked up the black paper and unfolded it.
Out came the expected Crimson Feather Pill. The scent hit her the moment she lifted the paper—no surprise. It was what she'd anticipated.
Jaja popped the Crimson Feather Pill into her mouth without doubt.
Who alone could provide the sole antidote to commander's boots poison? Someone from the Tang Clan... but a Sichuan Tang Clan member giving Bi-Samga the poison while slipping her the antidote?
Didn't matter who gave it or why. If it let her detoxify now, that was enough. Even if it was another poison instead—her body was already tainted anyway.
Whoosh!
The moment she swallowed the Crimson Feather Pill, cool relief flooded her chest.
No doubt—it was the antidote. The sensation from her Heavenly Annihilation Division days came rushing back vividly.
Someone had helped her.
Four Thousand Four or Vanguard lacked the spare capacity. They were likely overcoming their own near-death struggles. Then who? How did they know she'd been poisoned? How'd they obtain the one antidote, the Crimson Feather Pill?
Jaja shifted her course from the river to the base of a great tree.
Whoever it was... if they'd passed her the Crimson Feather Pill, they knew she needed to circulate her energy next. Without it, the pill's effect couldn't push out the poison. She had to drive it right now, straight to where the commander's boots toxin lingered.
Jaja ignored the ten presences and began her circulation.
Tzzt!
True energy stirred. It coursed through her body.
One man lay there.
Just sprawled in the grass. Paddy fields before him, mountains behind. Arms pillowed under his head, perfectly at ease.
He wore a bamboo hat.
Now it served to shade his face.
His toes wiggled idly... A lazybones lounging carefree. The grasshopper shirking work.
Occasionally, he toyed with his bamboo staff.
A thought would strike; he'd fiddle with it, then let go.
One hourglass, two... half a shichen... time passed.
"Yawn!"
Growing bored of lying there, he stretched long and rose.
A man. His yawn revealed a masculine voice as he stretched.
Couldn't see his face.
As he stood, he tugged down the broad bamboo hat draping to his shoulders.
He brushed the grass from his clothes, took up his staff, and strolled off leisurely.
Jaja opened her eyes and peered into the woods.
Mid-circulation, but she'd sensed powerful sword intent. And that intent had shielded her from the ten killers' bloodlust.
They hadn't dared approach due to the sword intent.
The moment she finished circulating, it vanished.
The ten had no intent to challenge it, and she, mid-cultivation, couldn't pursue the departing figure.
'Who was that!'
She glared in the direction the intent had faded.
Thanks to thorough circulation, her body felt light as air. The poison wound had eased, and even her abdominal gash no longer hindered movement.
Someone had held them off for her.
Which meant... someone in the world knew of people who'd vanished completely? If they knew she was alive... only Jegal Soso... Ah! Jegal Soso!
Four Thousand Four was aiding Jegal Soso's endeavors.
This very mission—eliminating the Shadow Triad's tentacles—was the Jegal Clan's business.
So the sword intent's owner was someone Jegal Soso knew. A Jegal clansman, or one she'd call for help.
'Whoever it was, an incredible master.'
Gratitude aside, Jaja cocked her head. Gratitude was gratitude... but questions arose.
If Jegal Soso had access to such a master, why use these inept assassins? That expert could crush the Shadow Triad in one stroke.
Shing!
She drew her sword.
The world granted no time for thought. It demanded only action.
Feeling the approaching bloodlust with her entire body, she focused on her blade.
"That was close."
"Couldn't be helped."
"Don't intervene again. Ever."
"Got it."
Jegal Soso replied with a furrowed brow.
Four Thousand Four didn't grasp the Shadow Triad's scale or danger. That's why they'd charged straight at the tentacles. Had they known, they never would've attacked like that. Or would Four Thousand Four have anyway?
The Jegal Clan couldn't meddle in Four Thousand Four's affairs.
If the Shadow Triad learned of Jegal involvement, the Eight Houses would turn on them entirely.
Any aid had to conceal the Jegal Clan completely.
But that was no easy task.
Even now—if they'd ignored the sword intent and attacked recklessly... Jegal Myeong would've been exposed. He'd have no choice but to counter. And that would've revealed his martial prowess.
Thank heavens they'd fixated on the intent.
Yet now they knew someone guarded Jaja.
Perfectly timed antidote for commander's boots poison. Martial arts to suppress ten at once... Even those clues narrowed the suspects considerably.
"But will attacking like this even work?"
"Just say it's a brute-force approach. We're all we've got."
"To me, it looks like a hopeless fight."
"To me, it looks promising."
"...?"
Jegal Myeong eyed his sister.
"They're ghosts. Untraceable identities. So if they fight like this and vanish now, no finding them. Just hide well."
"But we already know they're Heavenly Annihilation Division assassins?"
"How many assassins does the Heavenly Annihilation Division have? One or two?"
Jegal Soso beamed.
Jegal Myeong read another layer in his little sister's smile.
She'd already prepared countermeasures for that angle too. Typical of her, or South Little...
"Those bastards use Huangfu Clan techniques... The Huangfu must've shared quite a lot."
"Or maybe Huangfu clansmen themselves."
"What?"
Jegal Myeong stared at his sister in shock.
Huangfu clansmen? Then Huangfu blood in the Shadow Triad...? The Shadow Triad tied to the Huangfu Clan?
Whatever it was, it felt deeply ominous. Things were about to get very complicated.