Chapter 166
Chapter 166
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 166
Chapter Title: First Journey into the Martial World
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Black Cicada was less a martial artist and more an assassin.
Unlike ordinary martial artists who would rather die than swallow their pride, he knew how to set aside even his pride when necessary.
But for assassins to swallow their pride, one prerequisite was required.
There had to be sufficient gain following the act of setting it aside.
And in Black Cicada's judgment, this was not the moment to do so.
Even with an intact body, shaking off Three-Eyed Blaze would not have been easy.
Yet now, there was a hole in Black Cicada's thigh, and some unknown poison was spreading through his body. On top of that, Chengdu was a demon's den crawling with peak martial artists.
In other words, there was no way to survive anyway.
'Better to die cleanly.'
Black Cicada ran his tongue over the inside of his mouth. The tip of his tongue did not touch the poison pill that should have been embedded in his lower right molar.
'They pulled it out while I was unconscious.'
Even without the poison pill, there were ways to take his own life. Black Cicada clenched his right fist tightly and slammed it down hard on his own crown.
However, Dang Mujin had no intention of letting Black Cicada die so easily.
Dang Mujin thrust out his sword.
The blade burrowed into Black Cicada's forearm, shredding his flesh. Pain so intense it turned his mind white shook his head.
Yet Black Cicada did not scream out in agony. That scream was exactly what Dang Mujin wanted most.
Breathing raggedly, Black Cicada glared at Dang Mujin. Dang Mujin squatted down in front of him.
"When you were chasing me, I diligently ran away for you. Now it's your turn to run. Can't you even manage that much?"
"I could, but I won't. You think I'll play along with your game?"
Black Cicada spat toward Dang Mujin's face. Dang Mujin swiftly tilted his head back to dodge the spit, then stood up as he spoke.
"Fine. Then I'll leave you one chance."
"A chance?"
"Neither Three-Eyed Blaze elder nor the other martial artists will join this game of tag. I'm the only one who'll come looking for you. This isn't the end. I'll let you run and hide freely until tonight, wherever you want."
"You bastard. After putting a hole in my leg, you say that..."
"You're exaggerating. You can still crawl, can't you?"
Black Cicada slightly moved his legs to check his condition.
Both thighs had been deeply stabbed, but the bleeding wasn't as severe as he'd feared. He'd luckily avoided a fatal wound.
The muscle damage also seemed less than expected. When he flexed his thighs, it hurt, but they moved roughly as he willed.
Black Cicada also examined the poisonous energy spreading from his legs throughout his body.
'A mixed poison.'
Multiple toxins were clumped together in a sticky, dense mass. It wasn't some easy poison he could neutralize or expel right away.
However, the poison's properties weren't lethal. It didn't burrow into his gut to rot his organs, nor into his lungs to choke his breath. His blood didn't seem to be clotting either.
Black Cicada made his judgment.
'This is doable.'
Back in his days as a third-rate bottom-feeder assassin, Black Cicada had once suffered a grave wound where his abdomen was torn open a foot and a half.
He had clutched his gut to keep his entrails from spilling out and ran day and night for two days to return to the branch, barely saving his life. Compared to that, his current situation might even be better.
Black Cicada glared fiercely at Dang Mujin for show, then dragged his two legs as he crawled out of Three-Eyed Blaze's courtyard.
Black Cicada's movements were sluggish, and Dang Mujin truly let him escape.
Judging by his legs' condition, if he endured the pain well, he could not only walk but even perform basic lightness skills.
Yet Black Cicada did not stand. He stubbornly kept crawling.
For the sake of creating one opportunity, he could endure this much discomfort.
Chengdu's residents gathered to gawk at Black Cicada. His crawling form, blood streaming from both thighs, must have been amusing.
Black Cicada felt as exposed as if stripped naked before the crowd. He couldn't remember the last time he'd gone without a mask, revealing his face in public. Let alone in such a humiliating state. Still, Black Cicada crawled on steadfastly.
Finally, when night deepened, Black Cicada escaped Chengdu.
The moment he left Chengdu, Black Cicada scanned his surroundings. Dang Mujin's presence was still undetectable.
Black Cicada pressed the acupoints on his thighs to minimize the pain.
As the pain dulled, the bulging veins on his forehead subsided, and his breathing eased somewhat.
'Hoo.'
Finally, he slightly rose from his position and pushed off the ground hard with his heels.
His thigh muscles tensed sharply, sending intense pain surging up. But this was bearable enough.
Black Cicada flopped back down and resumed crawling sluggishly.
*
Around noon, Black Cicada sensed a faint presence trailing him. It was so faint he might have missed it without an assassin's keen senses.
'It's that guy.'
Black Cicada pretended not to notice Dang Mujin and crawled diligently.
The early summer sun scorched his back, and the sun-baked ground air was stifling like a steamer. Endless dust rose to cover his body, and his limb joints ached as if about to dislocate.
Yet to avoid arousing Dang Mujin's suspicion, Black Cicada moved with all his effort.
When Black Cicada stopped, Dang Mujin stopped; when Black Cicada moved, so did Dang Mujin.
The day passed, and night deepened.
Black Cicada grabbed passing insects, small animals, tree bark, and grass roots, shoving them indiscriminately into his mouth.
Finally, Black Cicada leaned against a large tree, closed his eyes, and sat.
He had crawled for two days. His exhausted body yearned for sleep. But Black Cicada desperately maintained consciousness and waited. He didn't forget to keep the slow, regular breathing of a sleeping person.
An hour passed, then two. When he sensed dawn approaching, Black Cicada felt a presence quietly drawing near. It was Dang Mujin.
'A bit more, just a bit more.'
Three steps. Two steps. One step.
'Now.'
Black Cicada snapped his eyes open and hurled the dagger at his waist and a sharply broken tree branch at Dang Mujin. One dagger embedded in Dang Mujin's shoulder.
"Urk!"
Dang Mujin groaned. A clear hit, but not enough to end the fight.
Breathing heavily, Black Cicada wore an expression filled with frustration and emptiness.
Dang Mujin pulled the dagger from his shoulder, tossed it to the ground, and spoke.
"I thought you were asleep. A ruse, huh? Pathetic bastard."
"Huh, damn it."
Black Cicada made a defeated face as he fiddled with the hidden dagger below his right thigh.
"You won't kill me easily."
Dang Mujin drew his sword and approached. Black Cicada breathed raggedly, then closed his eyes as if resigned to death.
And just as Dang Mujin swung his sword, Black Cicada kicked off the ground and rose. Pain stabbed from his thigh into his brain, but it felt good instead. His fatigue-soaked mind sharpened like lightning.
Clearer than ever, Black Cicada swung his right arm in a fluid motion like flowing water.
His body wasn't in good shape, but it was the cleanest, most precise technique he'd ever executed with a dagger in his life.
The dagger sliced horizontally following his hand, grazing Dang Mujin's neck. And the firm yet soft sensation at the dagger's tip.
'It landed.'
Black Cicada rolled his upper body naturally, stood again, and turned around.
Dang Mujin clutched his neck with both hands in disbelief. Not just his windpipe, but the thick blood vessels on both sides of his neck were clearly severed.
With wounds like that, no physician—not even a divine immortal—could save him.
Dang Mujin tried to say something to Black Cicada while clutching his neck. But no voice came from Dang Mujin's mouth.
Black Cicada knew what it was without hearing. He grinned.
"You didn't expect me to crawl for two days when I could have used my legs, huh?"
Gurgle. Blood bubbled. Black Cicada grew even more satisfied.
"I've been an assassin since before you were born. A punk like you can't catch me."
Black Cicada picked up Dang Mujin's sword from the ground. It was far too fine a blade for a mere physician apprentice.
Black Cicada lightly ran his finger along the blade, then swung the sword vigorously. Dang Mujin's head flew through the air.
Black Cicada slumped to the ground.
It was over. The foolish physician was dead, and the seasoned assassin survived.
'No. No time to slack off here.'
Black Cicada walked another full day to reach a nearby branch of the assassination network.
The low-ranking assassins, unaware their main branch had collapsed, greeted Black Cicada courteously.
They checked his wounds and lit up as if seeing an opportunity. They believed treating him well would open a path to promotion. And they were right.
The assassins fetched expensive golden sore medicine and applied it generously, brought all sorts of antidotes to help him expel the poison.
Nearly half a month passed like that. The moment he finally purged the last traces of poison, Black Cicada sighed in relief.
He had survived again.
'Hide-and-seek? Cocky little shit.'
Black Cicada sneered.
*
Three-Eyed Blaze and Dang Mujin looked down at Black Cicada.
Black Cicada exchanged a few words with Dang Mujin, then crawled sluggishly out of the house before suddenly going limp. His breathing was as calm as if asleep.
"...What is this?"
"Watch a bit longer. This is my first time using it myself."
Black Cicada put on quite the sleep-talking show. Not with words, but with body movements.
He writhed and squirmed all over for a while, even moved his legs as if trying to kick off the ground and stand.
Finally, Black Cicada went fully limp and wore a greatly satisfied smile.
Three-Eyed Blaze laughed at the absurdity.
"This guy's smiling?"
"Probably having a good dream."
"How'd you do it?"
"They say if you mix Mirrored Surface Injection's toxicity with Bukwoohwa's medicinal energy and Hyangin's poison and administer generously, this happens."
Three-Eyed Blaze asked back.
"Mirrored Surface Injection?"
"One of the mineral poisons that goes into Oseok Mountain brew."
"Damn. The Strange Physician taught you that too?"
"It's the Demon Physician's teachings."
Three-Eyed Blaze looked at Dang Mujin as if hearing something bizarre.
"Demon Physician? You've met the Demon Physician?"
"I haven't met the Demon Physician, but I have his manuscript in my hands."
Three-Eyed Blaze laughed hollowly.
"I can't follow what's going on. Anyway, the guy's mind is as hazy as if drunk on Oseok Mountain brew?"
"Something like that."
"The effect is impressively potent."
"There are two ways to use Mirrored Surface Injection. Mix it in liquor and let it spread slowly from the stomach, or inject it directly into the blood. The latter is extremely fast and strong, but nine times out of ten, they die."
A normal Black Cicada would have easily expelled this level of poison.
But Black Cicada's current state wasn't normal. He'd hung from the eaves for quite a while.
Three-Eyed Blaze wasn't the type to provide food and water, so his body wasn't in good shape, and he'd been unconscious the whole time, so his mind wasn't intact either.
In that state, doused with a large dose of poison through his blood, he couldn't withstand it.
"Time to wake him."
Dang Mujin kicked Black Cicada's side. Black Cicada rose with a bewildered expression and looked at Dang Mujin.
"Why'd you suddenly collapse?"
Black Cicada didn't seem to fully grasp the situation. But soon, his will to live ignited.
Black Cicada propped himself on his elbows and crawled again.
But not long after, his eyes glazed over and he collapsed.
This time too, sprawled on the ground, he twisted his body and kicked his legs busily like a sleep-talking dog.
Three-Eyed Blaze crossed his arms.
"Still, it ends more mildly than expected. With his fierce momentum, I thought there'd be rivers of blood."
"My wedding is near. I didn't want more blood than necessary."
"Good thinking. Better to handle things discreetly if possible."
"Discreetly... He might not see it that way."
In his dreams, Black Cicada was probably seeing the scenario he desired.
But when Dang Mujin kicked his side, Black Cicada plummeted into cold reality. That gap would be hard for any human mind to endure.
After about an incense stick's time, Black Cicada went limp again and sighed in relief. Dang Mujin kicked his side once more, and Black Cicada began crawling sluggishly.
After repeating this several times, Black Cicada's movements slowed.
Finally, he couldn't even crawl anymore. Instead, Black Cicada clenched his fist and brought it to his crown.
Thwack. A faint smile spread across Black Cicada's face. He'd suicided in the hallucination.
But naturally, Black Cicada couldn't depart for the underworld.
This time too, Black Cicada opened his eyes in Three-Eyed Blaze's courtyard.
Dang Mujin, squatting, stroked Black Cicada's head.
"Struck by a heavenly thunderbolt, huh?"
"Uh... yeah..."
Dang Mujin smiled brightly.
Black Cicada's expression twisted grotesquely. Filled only with endless frustration and fear.
Black Cicada's whole body trembled like an aspen leaf.
Dang Mujin whispered in his ear.
"You'll get to enjoy it for a long time."
Black Cicada glared wide-eyed as if refusing to fall into the dream, but soon went limp. Dang Mujin placed a small wooden block and sat quietly, watching Black Cicada.
As Black Cicada drifted into illusion, Dang Mujin sank into old memories.
The face of a middle-aged man with graying temples appeared.
Every time he ventured out and returned to Chengdu, Dang Mujin had felt his martial world journey concluded for now.
How many such journeys had he undertaken and returned from?
But now Dang Mujin realized.
The moment he encountered Strange Physician Yi Chung while decocting medicine in the backyard marked the start of his first martial world journey—and this moment marked its end.
Dang Mujin's eyes reddened.
Dang Mujin watched Black Cicada through the night, and only as dawn neared did he pierce his heart.
The young physician had become a martial artist.