Chapter 20
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: Wait, That's Possible?! (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
It was only after facing Jin Je-yong's sword that Dang Jin-seong realized the shortcomings of the Life-Reaping Poison Arts he had learned.
He could feel firsthand what Jeok-sam had meant by 'baptism' during their swordsmanship training.
'I should lie low for a while.'
Thanks to Jin Je-yong, he had gained an epiphany, allowing his Life-Reaping Poison Arts, which had been stuck at the fourth level, to reach the fifth. But at the same time, he had tasted a bone-chilling fear.
'Leaving the Tang Clan wasn't a bad thing in itself.'
If Dang Jin-seong had remained, the conflict with the Tang Clan branch would only have grown worse, so leaving was the right call. The rift between the main and branch families had not yet healed.
Moreover, Jeok-sam had offered to look after Dang Ju-seong in his stead, which was a perfect opportunity for Dang Jin-seong, who had been eager to escape the clan anyway.
'The problem is that I'm stuck next to *this* guy.'
Dang Jin-seong grumbled inwardly as he made his way to an inn in Haengbong County.
As soon as they entered, a young waiter scurried over.
"Welcome! A party of three? We have private rooms on the second floor and tables on the first..."
"The second floor."
Dang Jin-seong glanced at Jin Je-yong before requesting the second floor, as usual.
Jin Je-yong nodded, and they followed the waiter upstairs.
Dang Jin-seong took the lead and ordered some simple drinks and food. A short while later, Shaoxing wine arrived with some light appetizers.
"It's noisy outside."
Jin Je-yong muttered, sipping his wine while they waited for their meal.
Dang Jin-seong and Yi Geum-yeong pricked up their ears.
But they couldn't hear anything loud enough to be called noisy.
'Is he hearing things?'
'Ah! There is a commotion outside. I can barely hear it even when I focus all my senses... Just how good is his hearing?'
While Dang Jin-seong and Yi Geum-yeong were marveling at Jin Je-yong's senses, a man in a jade-colored martial arts uniform came crashing into the inn with a loud shatter.
Thinking it was just another common martial world scuffle, Dang Jin-seong and Yi Geum-yeong looked away and poured more wine into their cups.
But Jin Je-yong quietly set down his cup. Then he vanished from their sight.
"Huh? Where did he go?"
"Why does Young Master Jin always have to stick his nose into this kind of trouble?"
Dang Jin-seong exclaimed in surprise, while Yi Geum-yeong grumbled.
Jin Je-yong was already on the first floor, checking the condition of the bloodied, fallen martial artist.
"The wounds aren't as deep as they look. I'll apply some ointment, so try not to move."
"Ugh! Y-Young hero, who...?"
"I am Jin Je-yong, a disciple of Master Jin Sang-ho, the Divine Sword."
"What...?"
Before the man could even register his surprise at Jin Je-yong's introduction, he fainted.
After staunching the man's bleeding and applying the ointment, Jin Je-yong turned his gaze outside the inn.
Beyond the shattered door, martial artists in jade uniforms were clashing swords with others in purple uniforms.
Just then, the martial artists in purple uniforms stormed into the inn.
"Who are you?! Are you with the Yichimun?"
They shouted upon seeing Jin Je-yong's group.
***
'This smells like the stuff my senior brother was distributing.'
The fallen martial artist in the jade uniform exuded a scent similar to the medicinal ingredients I had seen when the Gwang martial artist met with the one from the Jeungbyeokmun.
It was an unforgettable smell—sweet yet sour, with a floral fragrance I had never encountered before.
'Does this mean my senior brother's influence has reached this far? Or is this the work of the Yangcheongmun?'
Even if I were to confront the Yangcheongmun directly, they wouldn't admit their guilt or hand over the culprit.
"How fortunate."
I stood before the man and cupped my fist.
"I am Jin Je-yong, a disciple of Master Jin Sang-ho, the Divine Sword."
"The Divine Sword? Jin Sang-ho?"
"Anyone ever heard of a title like 'Divine Sword'? Or a Jin Sang-ho?"
The Aropa martial artists asked each other if they knew the name.
Watching this, Dang Jin-seong tensed up.
'Please, watch what you say.'
The reason the monster named Jin Je-yong had come to the Tang Clan was because Dang Jin-wi had run his mouth.
He didn't care if Jin Je-yong tore the Aropa or the Yichimun to pieces, but he was worried about getting caught in the crossfire.
"It's understandable if you haven't. I'm from a small school in Sinnae Village."
"Ha! Sinnae Village? Someone from a backwater dump like that dares to call himself the disciple of a 'Divine Sword'! How arrogant!"
"Just because a master is great doesn't mean all his disciples are, does it?"
Jin Je-yong offered a gentle smile.
'If you're not considered great, then what in the world is your master like?'
Dang Jin-seong grew more curious about the master Jin Je-yong occasionally mentioned.
According to Jin Je-yong, this Jin Sang-ho was the man who had raised two monsters: Jin Je-yong and Je Yung-geon.
Dang Jin-seong figured that since there were many hidden masters in the world, the Divine Sword Jin Sang-ho must be one of them.
"Now, let's all calm down. I don't know what issues there are between your two factions, but isn't it against etiquette to disturb the meals of the other guests here?"
On the surface, it sounded reasonable, but it wasn't something one should say to a group of armed Aropa martial artists.
There were twelve of them, and Jin Je-yong stood alone before them.
***
'Who is this guy?'
The Aropa martial artists were at a loss, facing Jin Je-yong.
Their comrade had been thrown out unconscious, and the blood-soaked man on the side was clearly a Yichimun warrior.
Based on this alone, Jin Je-yong was clearly an enemy.
But they couldn't gauge his martial prowess.
'How can someone from a countryside school be so confident?'
What they couldn't understand was the strange aura emanating from Jin Je-yong, who didn't look strong in the slightest.
Third-rate factions have their own ways of survival. They are more sensitive than anyone at recognizing masters and keeping their heads down.
They didn't look for things like bulging temples or the movements of hands and feet, but rather the atmosphere a person projected.
"And if we don't calm down?"
"I won't kill you, but... what should I do? It would be too harsh to resort to violence just for causing a disturbance, wouldn't it?"
Jin Je-yong spoke as if the twelve Aropa martial artists gathered there were of no concern to him at all.
The man who seemed to be their leader raised a hand.
"We will leave. I apologize for disturbing your rest."
The man sensed the dangerous aura coming from Jin Je-yong.
It was an instinct born from long experience roaming the martial world.
'In the martial world, you have to be most wary of those who look ordinary.'
The elderly, children, and women are usually considered weak, but underestimating them could often get your head lopped off if you were unlucky.
It was a slim chance, but it was their lives they had to bet on that small possibility.
"Leader! This guy..."
"Shut up. There's no harm in being cautious. Besides, we're at war with the Yichimun! We have no reason to get distracted by something else!"
The martial artists, empowered by the Hwanhon-dan, were agitated and quick to draw their swords.
They rampaged as if to make up for their past weakness, and the result was a war where blood was washed away with more blood.
As a result, they seemed to have forgotten that they needed to hold their breath in front of a true master.
"So, you said you were the disciple of... the Divine Sword?"
"Yes, that's right."
The man barely suppressed a laugh as he said this.
Not only had he never heard of such an arrogant title as 'Divine Sword,' but Jin Je-yong's shabby attire was also hard to ignore.
But in this martial world, one couldn't even treat a beggar lightly. After all, the 'One Union' of the Nine Great Sects, One Union was the Beggars' Sect.
"...Let's go."
The man had also taken a Hwanhon-dan and become twice as strong as before. It felt like being drunk. He drew his sword more easily than usual, and the result was a bloody conflict.
But the moment he faced Jin Je-yong, it was as if cold water had been dumped on his head, and his senses snapped back.
"Leader!"
"That country bum—"
"Enough! That's far enough. Let's fall back for now."
The leader quickly cut off his subordinate.
He had felt a sudden chill on the back of his neck and realized Jin Je-yong's sword was now hovering just above his subordinate's head.
The subordinate who had spoken, however, seemed completely unaware of what was above his own head.
"I failed to recognize a great master and acted rudely. We will leave at once, so please forgive us."
"The one who spoke hasn't apologized."
Jin Je-yong's voice was ice-cold.
The Aropa martial artist, finally noticing the sword above his head, yelped and fell over.
"It is my fault for his poor training. I beg your forgiveness."
"Training. See that it's done well."
"Yes. And I will never forget that the disciple of the Divine Sword has spared the lives of all twelve of us today."
Only then did a smile touch Jin Je-yong's lips.
The sword was already back in its sheath.
"Very well."
The leader led his men out of the inn as if fleeing.
The inn had fallen deathly silent after the great commotion.
Jin Je-yong checked the pulse of the fallen Yichimun warrior. Then he called over Dang Jin-seong.
"It smells like Hwanhon-dan. Take a look."
"Hwanhon-dan, you say?"
Dang Jin-seong checked the warrior's pulse and nodded.
The energy spreading through the warrior's body was similar to the medicinal energy found in Hwanhon-dan.
'But it's slightly different. What is this?'
Dang Jin-seong tilted his head as he examined the warrior. Besides the Hwanhon-dan's energy, he could feel a new dantian near the warrior's heart.
Normally, the dantian where ki is gathered is located below the navel, but this warrior had a second one.
"Wait, this is..."
The dantian reacted sensitively to the ki Dang Jin-seong circulated to check his pulse.
At the same time, the warrior's body convulsed violently, and he coughed up blood. Simultaneously, Dang Jin-seong felt a toxic energy erupt from the new dantian.
"This is... a Gu-poison."
Dang Jin-seong quickly took out an antidote and poured it into the warrior's mouth. It was to suppress the toxic energy emitted by the Gu-poison.
However, all Dang Jin-seong could do was slow the Gu-poison's activity. With so many different methods of creating Gu-poison, detoxification was a difficult task.
"Gu-poison... you mean those child and mother parasites that spew venom inside a person's body?"
"Yes. That's right, Instructor Jin."
"Then I'll just have to cut it out.”
"Yes, of course, if the Gu-poison is wounded inside, it will release its venom... Wait, what? Cut it out? Cut what?"
Dang Jin-seong stopped mid-sentence and stared at Jin Je-yong in shock.
He was already standing next to Dang Jin-seong, his sword drawn.
"The Gu-poison. Can't I just cut it out?"
"You can't, Young Master Jin! If you use your sword recklessly, the Gu-poison will release its venom, and the warrior will die—"
Before Yi Geum-yeong, who was standing nearby, could finish his sentence, Jin Je-yong's sword moved.
A streak of light, like a flash, swept across the Yichimun warrior's body.
Splat!
The Gu-poison, forced out by Jin Je-yong's sword, stuck to the inn's wall and spewed a black, venomous liquid.
"Huh?"
"Huh?!"
Dang Jin-seong's eyes widened as he stared at the Gu-poison stuck to the wall.
Yi Geum-yeong also wore a dumbfounded expression, trying to comprehend the situation.
The warrior who had been cut, however, was completely unharmed.
"Young Master Jin... what in the world just happened?"
Unable to understand what he had just witnessed with his own eyes, Yi Geum-yeong sought an explanation from Jin Je-yong.
Jin Je-yong spoke as if it were nothing special.
"Isn't a sword strike so fast that the target doesn't even realize it's been cut called a 'swift sword'? And shouldn't anyone who trains with a sword be able to distinguish between what they should cut and what they shouldn't?"
The phrase 'distinguishing between what to cut and what not to cut' usually refers to protecting the blade from damage or differentiating between friend and foe.
But Jin Je-yong had literally cut out only what he wanted to cut.
"I don't think that's what that phrase means."
"Wait, that's possible?!"
It was a level of skill that neither Yi Geum-yeong, who had become an Embroidered Guard at a young age by showcasing his talent, nor Dang Jin-seong, the young master of the Sichuan Tang Clan, had ever seen or heard of.
The two of them exclaimed in unison.
"Wait, why wouldn't it be possible?"
Jin Je-yong, in turn, asked back as if he didn't understand what they were talking about.