Chapter 75
Chapter 75
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 75
Chapter Title: Grudge
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Dang Mujin climbed onto the roof of the lumberyard building behind the Jo Wol Ru.
Hiding prone on the rooftop and scanning the surroundings, he suddenly thought of Baek Chuseo, who had been on the verge of death.
The image of Baek Chuseo desperately enduring the agony, desperate to die even a moment sooner.
Bloodshot eyes and a jaw trembling in pain. It was exactly as Dang Mujin had wanted.
Over the past few days, on the road from Hoi Ju to Je Won, revenge had filled his mind completely.
How could he make them die in even more pain? How could he ensure complete revenge? Nothing else occupied his thoughts.
Though he carried three medical texts from the Three Great Physicians in his bosom, he hadn't even opened the two besides the Poison Master's manual.
And so he had killed Baek Chuseo.
It felt exhilarating, yet somehow unsettling at the same time. Paradoxically, he had no regrets whatsoever. If he stood before Baek Chuseo again, he could kill him ten times over without hesitation.
As those thoughts reached that point, Dang Mujin suddenly snapped back to reality.
"What the hell happened to me?"
Grudges and revenge. He couldn't have imagined such things at this time last year.
In just a little over a year, Dang Mujin had become a completely different person.
When had it started?
When he decided to follow the Strange Physician?
When he blocked the Strange Physician from entering the herb warehouse?
When he made acupuncture needles at Master Seok's forge?
Or perhaps when he went to Jonggwak and ate the mushroom?
'No, this isn't the time for such thoughts.'
Hoo. Dang Mujin exhaled deeply and lowered his posture further.
It was a bit late even for entering the tavern, so few people passed by.
Most of those few had gone into the Jo Wol Ru, with only a handful entering the warehouse behind it.
The rumor that Salmak's branch was in the warehouse wasn't baseless—none of those coming and going looked like ordinary laborers.
However, Dang Mujin didn't immediately stand and head for the warehouse.
Taking revenge on Baek Chuseo and taking revenge on Salmak were similar yet entirely different matters.
Baek Chuseo had no backing, and Dang Mujin roughly knew his level of skill.
But Salmak was a massive organization that didn't need separate backing. Even back when Dang Mujin knew little of the martial world, he had heard of the assassin group called Salmak, so its reputation was easy to gauge.
Moreover, Dang Mujin didn't know the branch chief's skill level or how many assassins were in the Je Won branch.
Rationally speaking, targeting Salmak for revenge was foolish.
Yet his fingertips kept tensing. He wanted to charge in right now and demand they pay for their crimes. After all, weren't they the ones who had a hand in the Strange Physician's death?
A surge kept rising from within. It felt like he was being rebuked: "The old man died because of your foolish actions, so shouldn't you at least seek revenge?"
On top of that, lingering here too long might mean losing the chance for revenge altogether. Once day broke and Baek Chuseo's death became known, Salmak would react in some way.
'I can deal with Salmak's head later. But that branch chief bastard dies today.'
Dang Mujin calmed his mind once more, then hid in the darkness again and watched the warehouse.
Over an hour passed like that. In total, four people had entered or exited the warehouse.
One who looked like a client, two who seemed second-rate, and one who was ambiguously first- or second-rate.
'Hmm.'
In any group, the underlings' skills follow their superiors'.
In other words, knowing the underlings' levels allows a rough estimate of the superiors'.
After much deliberation, Dang Mujin concluded that the branch chief wasn't at the peak realm.
A peak expert wouldn't serve as branch chief in a middling city like Je Won, nor would they use such sloppy underlings.
Dang Mujin descended from the lumberyard building and pressed his ear to the warehouse wall, focusing his senses. He faintly felt presences inside, but no conversations reached him.
Dang Mujin cautiously entered the warehouse.
A tiny creak sounded, and the stuffy smell unique to a sealed space wafted out.
The warehouse door had an inner bolt. No ordinary warehouse would have such a thing.
Dang Mujin walked carefully, scanning his surroundings.
The warehouse was larger than it appeared and sloped slightly downward, like a half-buried storage cellar or dugout.
As Dang Mujin turned a small corner inside, his eyes met those of a man in black clothes. He wasn't wearing a mask, perhaps due to the stuffiness.
Dang Mujin nearly drew and swung his sword on instinct but realized the man harbored no hostility.
The black-clad man asked,
"Are you here to place a commission?"
Of course, it would be hard to imagine Dang Mujin had come alone to raid Salmak's Je Won branch. Grasping the situation, Dang Mujin nodded.
"Yes. I heard you meet Salmak assassins by going behind the Jo Wol Ru."
"Who referred you?"
He had no other choice. Among those Dang Mujin knew, only one had ties to Salmak.
"Baek Family Head. From the Je Won Baek Family..."
The man snickered.
"That gentleman acted all high and mighty on his first visit. Now he's even referring customers. You must be close with Baek Family Head?"
"Yes. I'm much obliged to him. Anyway, he told me to meet the branch chief. Are you perhaps the branch chief, sir?"
"No. The branch chief is further inside."
Pleased at being mistaken for the branch chief, the man stood with a satisfied expression and opened the door beside him. Beyond was a small room.
Inside the room, two men were playing Go.
Dang Mujin gauged their skills from their movements and the aura they subtly exuded.
One was clearly first-rate, the other ambiguously first- or second-rate. Likely the stronger one was the branch chief.
Dang Mujin entered the room with a deliberately tense expression, and the man who guided him spoke.
"Branch Chief. He says Baek Family Head referred him."
"Is that so?"
The branch chief had an empty socket in one eye, making him a cyclops.
He fumbled for the eyepatch on the table and put it on—his own form of courtesy, apparently.
The black-clad guide who brought Dang Mujin left the room again. Only three remained inside.
Dang Mujin glanced around.
'Too cramped to swing a sword.'
With his right hand behind his back, Dang Mujin slowly released poison qi. The formless poison qi began rising from the floor.
The branch chief spoke first.
"So, what commission do you want to place?"
"Uh... there's someone I want taught a lesson."
At Dang Mujin's words, the branch chief burst into incredulous laughter.
"Taught a lesson? You want us to go spank their ass or something?"
"Not just that much. At least with a club..."
To end the fight quickly, he needed time for the poison qi to fill the room. Dang Mujin stalled with vague talk.
"You're talking like a child playing games. This is Salmak. Assassinations are the baseline for commissions."
Dang Mujin feigned fear.
"Do you have to kill them?"
"It's not impossible otherwise, but that's the cleanest way. Leaving them half-alive is a hassle for us and for you. You don't think just beating them up without killing would make the fee cheaper, do you?"
"...Wouldn't it?"
As he replied, Dang Mujin subtly shifted his legs. The poison qi on the floor spread slightly outward. Of course, the branch chief and his subordinate didn't notice Dang Mujin's intent.
"Think about it. Sneak close, slice the throat, and slip away. Or bother with kidnapping, beat them just short of death, then release them. Which seems more troublesome?"
"Uh... killing would take less effort."
"Exactly, so the price differs. Killing starts at one tael of silver. Beating starts at one and a half. Which will it be?"
Dang Mujin hemmed and hawed before answering.
"Then... the killing option..."
The branch chief roared with laughter.
"To save half a tael, the guy getting beaten will end up dead. Excellent. Who do you want killed so badly that you came here?"
"You, of course, you bastard."
The dazed expression on Dang Mujin's face vanished in an instant, and four daggers shot out simultaneously from both sleeves.
The branch chief reflexively twisted his body to dodge the daggers, but the man who had been playing Go with him took one in the left shoulder.
The man with the dagger in his shoulder hurriedly dove under the table.
It was to avoid any follow-up daggers and to gain time to pull out the embedded one.
But it proved a poor choice, as events quickly revealed.
He realized thin paralyzing poison qi covered the area below knee height, but it was too late.
His body stiffened completely, and he collapsed to the floor.
Crash—Dang Mujin kicked the table aside in one motion and smashed his fist down on the head of the man hiding beneath. Instant death.
The branch chief gripped the two daggers Dang Mujin had thrown in reverse grip and glared at him.
"Poison. Quite the rare guest."
"You sent assassins who use poison after someone tangled with the Strange Physician, so it's only natural a poison-using guest returns."
"They say tangling with the Strange Physician never ends well. Seems it's true."
Dang Mujin said no more. The longer it dragged, the higher the chance of other assassins appearing—he needed to finish quickly and escape.
Likewise, the branch chief had no time to spare. He didn't know when this cramped space would fill with poison. To survive, he had to kill Dang Mujin and get out.
Their thoughts aligned perfectly, and the fight began at once.
The branch chief charged at Dang Mujin, swinging the pair of daggers ferociously. Against an ordinary fool, it would easily punch several holes through them with that savage momentum.
But Dang Mujin stepped one foot back, casually dodging the daggers. He then lowered his stance, burrowed into the opponent's guard, and thrust a fist forward.
In an incongruous place, from the fingertips of an incongruous person, Shaolin's martial art—the White Lotus Divine Fist—unfolded.
The branch chief didn't know it was the White Lotus Divine Fist, but he instinctively sensed it was no ordinary fist technique. He desperately twisted his body to evade Dang Mujin's punch.
'Damn it!'
Fist techniques are more flexible than sword arts and easier to extend or chain. Simply changing the fist shape or finger form turns them into superb variations.
Despite such great advantages, martial artists prioritize sword arts over fists for two main reasons.
Fist techniques occupy less space than swords, and unlike swords, single strikes don't lead to instant kills.
Unless it's a lethal technique, one can take a couple minor hits on the body while swinging the sword to sever the opponent's neck.
But Dang Mujin's fist technique was different.
The technique itself seemed formidable, but the faint poison qi emanating from his palms and fists was the bigger issue. Even a graze tearing the skin would let the poison seep in and cause havoc.
Dang Mujin charged at the branch chief again, swinging a fist toward his head.
A bizarre sight: Shaolin's fist technique infused with the qi of Breaking Evil, mingled with sinister poison qi.
As the branch chief reflexively thrust his dagger to block, Dang Mujin hammered his side with a left fist.
Not a White Lotus Divine Fist technique, but a plain, crude punch.
Yet it was undeniably effective. He felt ribs crack under his knuckles, and the branch chief gasped for breath. Victory was essentially decided there.
In that gap, Dang Mujin's right hand clamped over the branch chief's face. The moment he inhaled Dang Mujin's poison qi, strength drained from his entire body.
Dang Mujin slammed him to the floor, forcing him to inhale paralyzing poison qi as well, then struck the Amun vital point on the back of his head. Instant death.
In that instant, a thought flashed through Dang Mujin's mind.
'Where did the black-clad guy outside go?'
He had expected him to rush in at trouble inside, but unexpectedly, he hadn't joined the fight and had vanished somewhere.
'I need to find and kill him.'
Dang Mujin hastily donned his mask and exited the warehouse, climbing up the Jo Wol Ru's outer wall.
From the high vantage, he spotted a black-clad figure fleeing desperately in the distance.
Dang Mujin pursued with all his might.
Fortunately, it was late; few people on the streets meant the black-clad man couldn't blend into crowds.
But even without people, there were places to hide.
The black-clad man was heading toward Je Won's center, a dense cluster of buildings.
A maze of large and small structures offering dozens, hundreds of hiding spots. Once hidden there, no way to find him.
Unlike the Strange Physician, Dang Mujin couldn't sense people with qi perception alone.
If that black-clad man hid in some alley, then slipped out of Je Won and reported Dang Mujin's description to his superiors?
Simple: Salmak's pursuers would be on Dang Mujin.
Salmak assassins whom even the Strange Physician couldn't shake. Once they latched on, Dang Mujin had no way to endure.
Dang Mujin newly realized how dangerously reckless raiding Salmak's Je Won branch had been.
'Catching that guy means I live; failing means I die.'
Dang Mujin ran until his mouth tasted bloody.
His lightness skill outclassed the black-clad man's, so the distance closed rapidly. The problem was it wasn't closing fast enough.
They were still ten zhang apart, and one or two more alley turns would let the black-clad man hide.
Dang Mujin reached into his bosom. No daggers. The four he had prepared were all thrown in the warehouse fight.
'Sshould I have grabbed more daggers? No, then I would've missed even seeing his back.'
A few breaths more, and he'd lose the black-clad man.
Each breath felt like an hour. Was there no way to catch him?
Then, something caught on Dang Mujin's fingertips. A round, long cylinder. The Heavenly King Needle Case Dan Seol-yeong had given him.
No need for deep thought. It was all he had to rely on anyway.
Dang Mujin drew the Heavenly King Needle Case and pulled the leather strap. It stretched taut and locked.
He then aimed at the black-clad man's back and pressed the protruding part.
With the sensation of the leather strap snapping inside the case, dozens of needles scattered forth.