Chapter 184
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 184
Chapter Title: It's Tough
Dark night.
After issuing orders to the Beggar Clan disciples at the shrine, the Thunderclap Beggar revealed himself near the Dan Mok Clan estate.
Ha Mu-baek had already returned.
"Guess this'll be my home for a while."
He spread out a mat in front of a random house's fence and lay down right there.
Covering himself with his ragged clothes and using a bundled-up pile of straw as a pillow, he settled in.
Stars poured down from the sky onto his face.
The Thunderclap Beggar, staring darkly at the stars, soon fell asleep.
With his sharply honed senses spread out around the Dan Mok Clan estate.
The next morning.
The area buzzed with life.
"Yawn."
Rubbing his eyes open, he spotted a few coins in front of his mat.
He hadn't even properly begged; he'd just slept there, and already this.
Not long ago, such a thing would have been unimaginable.
Looking around, he saw crowds of people passing by. Thanks to them, the street brimmed with energy.
"This isn't how it used to be..."
The Thunderclap Beggar tilted his head in puzzlement.
As he scanned the surroundings while begging for food with his broken bowl...
Vendors began setting up stalls one by one.
Peddlers with loads on their backs hurried about here and there.
A small market had formed on the streets around the Dan Mok Clan estate.
This wasn't the place for it.
It had been a quiet street.
A market that had sprung up in the blink of an eye.
[Check where these street vendors came from.]
The Thunderclap Beggar's eyes sharpened instantly as he sent a telepathic message to his begging subordinates nearby.
This street wasn't suited for stalls. Foot traffic had been sparse.
Yet stalls had appeared, and people were starting to gather one by one.
The order was backward.
Normally, vendors set up where people already gathered.
'Gwang Hoe-cheon. Your doing, isn't it?'
Gwang Hoe-cheon.
Once he learned the man was hiding in the Dan-an Merchant Group, this scene felt even stranger.
It looked like Gwang Hoe-cheon was up to something using the Dan-an Merchant Group.
Mobilizing merchants to surveil the Dan Mok Clan.
Even that housewife buying from a stall might be one of Gwang Hoe-cheon's spies watching the Dan Mok Clan.
Once suspicion took root, everything around the Dan Mok Clan seemed suspect.
He probably wouldn't be leaving this place anytime soon.
As the sun rose, sunlight began shining down on the Thunderclap Beggar's spot.
In the hot summer, he'd seek shade, but now, with the cold winter wind whistling by...
It felt just right—nice and warm.
"Heh heh. Good spot I picked."
Grinning like that, he looked down at his begging bowl.
Cold rice mixed with all sorts of food.
With more vendors around, food sellers had gathered too, filling his bowl to abundance.
Baring his yellowed teeth in a grin, the Thunderclap Beggar slowly scooped it up with his hands to eat.
Even as he did, his senses keenly probed every vendor around.
Hyeong Ui-cheon sat at an inn window, gazing far off at the scene.
No trace of last night's events remained anywhere.
The Dan Mok Clan estate looked like a mere dot in the distance.
But that didn't matter.
In Hyeong Ui-cheon's hand was a small device.
An item from the Western Regions.
A tool that magnified distant objects, making them appear close—the far-seeing glass.
Thanks to it, even with his internal energy sealed, Hyeong Ui-cheon could roughly survey the Dan Mok Clan situation.
Though not as good as enhancing his vision with internal energy.
Using middle dantian energy instead of the sealed lower dantian wasn't easy either.
His heart still throbbed from last night's aftermath.
"They're on high alert, as expected."
Beggars had taken positions around the Dan Mok Clan house, begging here and there.
Among them, one unforgettable face.
The Thunderclap Beggar.
The man who appeared at the last moment and routed him.
The one who forced him to live as Hyeong Ui-cheon.
Last night, a chance had come...
But he failed.
Because of Ha Mu-baek.
Setting down the far-seeing glass, Hyeong Ui-cheon looked down at his body.
Bending his head, his massive belly blocked the view below.
A truly dull, pathetic sight.
A form he once despised. Yet now he had to live like this.
"Maybe I should lift the seal..."
No, a desire to break the seal began creeping up.
But first.
Perhaps try the Bewitching Soul Poison.
Since he'd gathered meaningful data from the Moon Dragon Inn and Tower.
Today, he needed to examine the Bewitching Soul Poison more closely.
Dang Ji-yeon's smooth forehead furrowed.
She'd used every method she knew to analyze it, but couldn't identify the poison.
It was definitely a poison.
But its purpose eluded her.
A toxin that induced compulsive eating.
What caused the addiction, what triggered the compulsion...
Still a complete mystery.
"It's tough. Feels like something crucial is missing."
She'd identified a few ingredients. But they were all ordinary.
Minor poisons.
The key element escaped her.
"Anyway, time for breakfast."
Dang Ji-yeon prepared and left the inn.
To obtain this mysterious poison, she had to eat at the Moon Dragon Inn.
She'd booked a premium room at a fine inn, yet had to eat elsewhere.
Dang Ji-yeon headed to the Fierce Dragon Corps training ground at the Dragon Training Pavilion.
To meet Ha Mu-baek and Han Seol-bing there before going to the Moon Dragon Inn.
Arriving at the training ground, her younger brother was diligently practicing.
Who knew the brat could become human-like.
Even she hadn't anticipated this.
When her father said he'd send him to the Fierce Dragon Corps, she'd opposed it.
He wouldn't change, and two years later, he'd die a dog's death in the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest like that.
Of course, her father wouldn't let that happen.
But it'd require wasting the Tang Clan's resources.
'I was wrong.'
Dang Ji-yeon chuckled softly.
The reason she was wrong.
Her brother's instructor, Ha Mu-baek, was walking over from that side.
"Any progress?"
At Ha Mu-baek's question, Dang Ji-yeon shook her head.
He nodded, as if expecting that answer.
[Do you know about the Blood Cult's poisons, by any chance?]
At the same moment, his telepathic message reached her ears.
Dang Ji-yeon's body stiffened.
Blood Cult poisons?
Suddenly.
Why?
She stared at Ha Mu-baek, eyes full of questions.
Then Han Seol-bing arrived.
Since gathering to head to the Moon Dragon Inn had become their routine, the disciples just glanced over without much reaction.
"Seems connected to the Blood Cult."
Heading to the Moon Dragon Inn, Ha Mu-baek said quietly.
"The Blood Cult?"
"Last night, twenty Blood Cult thugs snuck into Wu Chang. We caught them all, but they all took their own lives."
Ha Mu-baek spoke with regret.
"Impressive. Even you couldn't stop them from suiciding, Instructor."
Han Seol-bing said, sounding surprised.
"I didn't expect that either."
Irritation laced Ha Mu-baek's voice.
He'd thought capturing even one might yield more info.
"Does that prove the poison's linked to the Blood Cult?"
Dang Ji-yeon asked.
"The Beggar Clan said a Blood Cult collaborator is hiding in the Dan-an Merchant Group."
Dang Ji-yeon didn't question further at Ha Mu-baek's reply.
"The Blood Cult..."
She searched her memory.
She'd speculated combinations of certain poisons and poison arts, but couldn't pinpoint them.
The Blood Cult's blood arts weren't among the candidates.
She'd dismissed them as unlikely.
Rummaging through her memories, Dang Ji-yeon...
Suddenly stopped in her tracks.
Her expression turned strange.
"No way... that thing..."
She seemed to have recalled something.
Ha Mu-baek and Han Seol-bing's gazes turned to her.
In the bustling marketplace, the three stood frozen.
Passersby glanced their way.
"Let's move somewhere else first."
Saying that, Dang Ji-yeon entered the first tea house that caught her eye nearby.
The three sat in a secluded corner.
"I've put up a barrier, so no one will overhear us."
At Ha Mu-baek's words, Dang Ji-yeon nodded lightly.
"What's going on?"
Han Seol-bing asked.
Dang Ji-yeon's demeanor was off.
"Just a guess for now. I only heard about it from Grandpa..."
The former Sichuan Tang Clan head.
Poison Emperor Dang Ja-cheong.
A man said to know everything about poisons, from righteous sects to all else.
"Gold Spirit Greedy Devour Blood Poison Art."
Dang Ji-yeon murmured softly.
The name alone sent chills.
Greedy Devour.
"Grandpa said it's less a martial or poison art and more like a sorcery... Something that shouldn't exist in the world."
Dang Ji-yeon's face darkened.
"First time hearing of this blood art."
Ha Mu-baek's aura grew heavy.
"No surprise. Grandpa said even the Blood Cult discontinued it."
At that, doubt filled Ha Mu-baek and Han Seol-bing's eyes.
How would Dang Ja-cheong know a discontinued Blood Cult poison art?
And how did he know the Blood Cult discontinued it?
Reading their doubts, Dang Ji-yeon shrugged.
"He collected every book and record on poisons in the world... Said it was in some elder's memoir. Even Grandpa was half-skeptical."
Ha Mu-baek and Han Seol-bing focused on her words.
"I heard it like an old tale from Grandpa. I once asked him what he thought was the most horrific poison."
If it was from that story, the Gold Spirit Greedy Devour Blood Poison Art was likely tied to that horrific poison.
Maybe even the one they'd eaten at the Moon Dragon Inn.
The word "devour" sparked the thought.
The behavior of those who ate the Moon Dragon Inn's food? Pure gluttony, in two words.
"You know about Blood Cult jiangshi?"
Ha Mu-baek and Han Seol-bing nodded. How could they not, after endless encounters.
"You know there's a blood art for making jiangshi too."
They looked at her in surprise. How did she know that?
"The jiangshi poison in death jiangshi fangs turns healthy people into jiangshi."
Dang Ji-yeon was well-versed in Blood Cult jiangshi.
"Don't know its name. But the poison made with Gold Spirit Greedy Devour Blood Poison Art turns healthy people into jiangshi that endlessly devour everything. Food Jiangshi."
"Those Blood Cult bastards..."
A curse slipped from Ha Mu-baek's lips.
Were they jiangshi-obsessed maniacs?
Sneaking into Wu Chang to test jiangshi-making poison?
And mixed in was the traitor who nearly wiped out the Dan Mok Clan.
Killing intent began rising from Ha Mu-baek.
Han Seol-bing swallowed dryly.
Dang Ji-yeon tensed at his sudden shift too.
She hurriedly continued.
"But that blood art vanished."
His killing intent cut off abruptly.
He shot her another doubtful look.