That evening.
I trained in martial arts deep in the mountains, away from our quarters. Even after leaving the cult, I devoted myself to training whenever I had the chance.
At first, watching me, the Poison King looked doubtful, as if suspecting it was merely a performance. But soon, seeing that I did not waste even the smallest scraps of time, he shook his head and called me tenacious. But how could the training I did be ordinary training?
Martial arts change only when the person changes.
This was one of the ultimate principles of martial learning as I understood it, but there was one condition. Even while striving to change oneself, one had to train in martial arts as if one were dying. If the will ran ahead but the training did not follow, then even if the person changed, the martial art would not.
First I trained in the Thunderbolt Asura Fist, then practiced the Wind God Four Steps, and I did not neglect the Flying Heaven Sword Art either.
At the end, I trained by mixing all three martial arts together. If I were to face a truly powerful enemy, the key to victory or defeat would be how efficiently I could bring these three martial arts to bear.
As my inner force increased through the Myriad Poisons Ultimate Divine Pill, its quality also changed. It felt deeper and purer. As a result, even when I used the same amount of inner force to execute a technique, its power had grown stronger.
Finally, standing atop a high boulder and gazing at the setting sun, I brought my training to an end.
* * *
After finishing a bout of training, Geom Mugeuk stopped by the marketplace.
The place he entered was the home of an old woman said to have the finest hands in the town.
“Is it finished?”
“Here it is. What do you think?”
Geom Mugeuk checked what the old woman held out and smiled.
“It is excellent.”
After paying the promised price, Geom Mugeuk left the place.
When he returned to their quarters, the place he headed for was the Poison King’s room.
The Poison King was pacing alone in his room, lost in thought. Then, as if something had occurred to him, he rushed to the desk and picked up a brush.
He wrote diligently whatever had come to mind, then seemed to hit another block and rose from his seat to pace the room. Then he sank into deep thought again. Then he suddenly sprang forward and wrote something down.
“You still haven’t gone to sleep?”
When Geom Mugeuk entered, the Poison King closed the booklet he had been writing in.
“It’s late. What brings you here?”
“I came because I have something for you.”
Geom Mugeuk held out the item he had had made in the marketplace.
It was a pair of gloves.
“What is this?”
At a glance, the gloves gave off an unusual air.
“They are gloves made from Poison-Repelling Heavenly Silkworm Silk.”
The Poison King was startled.
“Poison-Repelling Heavenly Silkworm Silk?”
Poison-Repelling Heavenly Silkworm Silk was a fabric incomparably more effective than ordinary green-hide gloves that warded off poison. If Supreme Heavenly Silkworm Silk was resistant to external impact, this Poison-Repelling Heavenly Silkworm Silk was an item resistant to poison.
“Where did you find something this precious?”
“I found it in Jisaeng’s secret storehouse. I entrusted it to the most skillful old woman in the market and had it made into gloves. Try them on. I had them made the same size as the gloves you wore in the Thousand Poison Forest, so they should fit well.”
The green cloth that had wrapped the fake supreme-grade luminous pearl had been Poison-Repelling Heavenly Silkworm Silk. It had been used to wrap the pearl in order to protect the aura of the Myriad Poisons Ultimate Divine Pill within it. The deceased person who had hidden the Myriad Poisons Ultimate Divine Pill inside the luminous pearl had undoubtedly been someone who had founded an entire lineage through poison.
“Why are you giving me something this precious?”
“Because it is precious. If anything, it’s stranger that you, Poison King, have never had something like this until now.”
“Have you ever seen a master calligrapher fuss over his brush?”
“A brush doesn’t kill people. From now on, when you handle deadly poisons, please be sure to use these.”
And he also gave him the remaining cloth.
“I brought the rest separately, thinking you might have some use for it.”
After handing over the remaining Poison-Repelling Heavenly Silkworm Silk without hesitation, Geom Mugeuk turned away.
“Then please get some sleep. We will leave early tomorrow.”
Geom Mugeuk bid him farewell and left the room.
It had happened so suddenly that the Poison King had not even been able to thank him properly.
He stared blankly down at the gloves and cloth. Then something caught his eye. Words had been embroidered onto the gloves.
On the back of one glove:
Above Heaven and Below Heaven.
On the other glove:
I Alone Am the Poison Sovereign.
It was the phrase “I Alone Am Supreme,” but the original character for “alone” had been changed to the character for “poison.”
Emotion crossed the Poison King’s face.
Becoming the Poison Sovereign was his dream. And he had never once revealed that dream to anyone. He had never even told Sangseon, who served him with utmost devotion.
In the end, the Poison King shook his head and said,
“So this is why everyone knew and still fell for it. Truly, it is a poison with no antidote.”
But he could not hide the pleasant emotion that brushed the corners of his eyes.
* * *
The snake tattoo etched on the man’s chest continued all the way to his neck, its long tail coiling once around his throat.
A man with a snake wrapped around his neck.
He was Aecha, one of Yaryulhan’s four retainers. There was a reason he had chosen a snake out of all animals. He had the eyes of a snake. If one looked only at his eyes, it would not be wrong to call him a snake. On top of that, his cold and vicious bearing made him feel even more serpentine.
Reading the letter, Aecha said,
“They say Jisaeng is dead.”
The person startled before him was Jindok Geosa.
“How?”
Jindok Geosa was dressed neatly like a scholar, but his skin was dark and wrinkled, so the scholarly appearance he desired did not come through. His voice, too, was an unpleasant, cracked one.
“As you know, that man kept a fake in front of him for a long time. But they say that fake killed Jisaeng and ran off with his wealth.”
He was delivering the news calmly, but there was no mourning in it. He conveyed only fact, not emotion.
“That man was so cautious that he was not someone who would die easily.”
Jisaeng’s death was truly unexpected. Even if everyone else died, he was not one who seemed likely to die so easily.
But the Alliance’s investigation had concluded with certainty that it was the fake’s doing. Since the one who had died was Jisaeng, they must have investigated thoroughly.
Jindok Geosa, who had been listening quietly, brought up something unexpected.
“Perhaps it was only natural.”
He spoke the words Aecha had wanted to say.
“That man pretended to be a coachman and acted as though he were some great mysterious figure, but from what I saw, he was nothing more than a coward. A coward’s end cannot be good.”
Sure enough, a strange smile formed at the corner of Aecha’s mouth.
“Now that he is dead, all the delayed assessments are coming out.”
It was a mocking rebuke, asking why he was saying such things only now.
In that instant, irritation surged in Jindok Geosa.
‘If I said what you wanted to say in your stead, then even if you do not agree, you should at least not spit on it.’
It was always like this. In situations like this, Aecha always said something offensive.
Jindok Geosa considered it a twisted desire to dominate.
A man who tried to bind others with negative words and stand above them in the relationship. This was how he handled his subordinates.
Hiding his discomfort, Jindok Geosa smiled and said,
“That is why the dead are the only ones to be pitied, is it not?”
Aecha was so cruel by nature that Jindok Geosa had seen many times how those who once fell out of his favor eventually died. But that did not mean he had any intention of being cowed.
Whoosh. Aecha burned the letter he held in the lamplight. Until the very end, there was not a single word of mourning.
When the letter turned to ash and disappeared, Aecha asked abruptly,
“You still haven’t fixed the side effects?”
For an instant, the corner of Jindok Geosa’s eye twitched. It was not easy to keep making a person feel this bad so consistently. This bastard surely lived as though he had three lives.
“I am working on it.”
“You must fix it quickly. Recently, an incident occurred on the Demonic Cult side. If a family member of an important figure from the Demonic Cult or the Murim Alliance is affected, things will become troublesome.”
In truth, what Aecha feared was not the Demonic Cult or the Murim Alliance. It was Yaryulhan’s reprimand in the aftermath. The only person he feared in this world was Yaryulhan.
“I will resolve it as quickly as possible.”
“How long will it take?”
“Give me six months.”
“I will give you one month.”
Jindok Geosa’s expression hardened.
He had expected the period to be shortened and had asked for six months. He had thought Aecha would tell him to finish it within three months, but one month? This was an open act of contempt.
A taut tension flowed between the two men.
Jindok Geosa felt the urge to release poison all over that face. For some reason, Aecha did not fear his poison. Then again, it was precisely because he was such a person that Yaryulhan had assigned him to keep Jindok Geosa under control.
“I will resolve it as quickly as possible.”
“Let us do that.”
For now, Jindok Geosa backed down. But Aecha needed to know this: he was backing down not because he feared him, but because of Yaryulhan.
“Then I will take my leave.”
“I am counting on you, Geosa.”
Aecha glared with snake eyes as Jindok Geosa went outside.
‘All that useless pride.’
If they could not fix Frenzy’s side effects, they would have to abandon Frenzy. But since most of their income came from Frenzy, they absolutely could not give it up.
‘Old man, shouldn’t you first admit you made a mistake?’
Jindok Geosa had not once admitted that he had made it incorrectly.
Aecha, for his part, had things piled up inside him as well.
After coming outside, Jindok Geosa asked the subordinate waiting there,
“How many subjects for the experiments remain?”
“Seven remain.”
“And the next test subjects?”
“They are on their way.”
The Sado Alliance sent warriors to be used in experiments for Jindok Geosa. They were all people who had been imprisoned in the Sado Alliance’s dungeon. They had crossed the line far beyond measure, people even the Sado Alliance had locked away in its dungeon—true scum of the world.
“When are they expected to arrive?”
“It will take about twenty days.”
“Too late! You go and bring them as fast as possible. No matter what it takes, arrive within ten days!”
“Understood.”
The subordinate ran outside.
The subordinate who received the order faithfully carried out the task entrusted to him. Except for one thing: he failed to notice that someone was watching him.
* * *
Ten days later.
“Aaaaargh!”
A man was rampaging in madness. Blood flowed from his eyes and nose.
Watching him, Jindok Geosa let out another sigh.
Of the seven remaining test subjects, even the last one had failed. No matter how he changed the combination of medicinal herbs, he could not prevent the side effects.
The problem was resistance.
At first, one pill had been enough to achieve sufficient effect, but the more one took it, the more resistance built up, requiring larger doses. As the dosage increased, side effects began to appear as well. At present, among hundreds who overdosed, this happened to roughly one person, but if the number of people developing resistance gradually increased, it could become one out of dozens. If that happened, the murim would turn into a battlefield of carnage.
Then a subordinate came and reported,
“The new subjects for the experiments have arrived.”
“How many?”
“Twenty.”
Jindok Geosa went outside with the subordinate.
Two large carriages stood in the yard, and prisoners were getting down from them. The carriages had no windows. They had been transported like cargo. On top of that, they even had black sacks over their heads. Since even their inner force had been suppressed, the stifling discomfort they had suffered must have been beyond description.
Warriors went over and removed the sacks from their heads. The prisoners looked around. The aura of the warriors surrounding them was no ordinary thing, but not one of them showed fear.
And as always, when about twenty lives at rock bottom gathered in one place, there was naturally someone who came forward without fear.
“You bastards! I am Blood Serpent Yang Goeng!”
He was a villain who had once gained infamy in the unorthodox murim.
“No matter how far the code of the martial world has fallen, is this any way to treat a senior?”
He was furious at having been transported like luggage. Moreover, they had covered a distance that should originally have taken twenty days in ten, so the hardship they had endured was beyond words.
Since they were short on people for the experiments, complaints of this degree could have been overlooked.
But he was unlucky. In fact, several pieces of bad luck overlapped.
First, Jindok Geosa was already in a bad mood from having failed in another experiment, and by chance Aecha was watching this scene from the opposite side.
And the final piece of bad luck was that his epithet contained a snake.
Jindok Geosa walked toward him.
“So you are the famous Blood Serpent, senior.”
“Yes, that’s me. And who are you?”
“I am this sort of person.”
Jindok Geosa casually waved his hand.
Just as everyone was watching, wondering what he was doing,
“Aaaaaaargh!”
Blood Serpent suddenly screamed.
Unable to endure the pain, he rolled across the ground. It was not pain a human being could withstand.
Most of those present had committed all manner of evil deeds, yet even they had never seen someone suffer to this extent. They could not even imagine what was happening inside his body.
“Kill me… please!”
The plea to be killed came from Blood Serpent’s mouth.
Jindok Geosa looked down at him coldly.
Blood Serpent begged.
“…Please kill me!”
Jindok Geosa lightly waved his hand again.
Then Blood Serpent’s body began to melt. With a single casual gesture, a person disappeared into bloody liquid. This was the skill of the foremost poison arts master of the unorthodox factions.
No one there dared even breathe loudly.
Jindok Geosa looked toward Aecha in the distance and bowed his head slightly in greeting. His attitude was courteous, but the meaning contained within was clear. Act up, and this will happen to you too.
At that, Aecha gave a deliberate snort of laughter and turned back toward his own quarters.
Watching his back, Jindok Geosa smiled in satisfaction and said,
“Is there anyone else who wishes to say who he is?”
No one dared step forward.
But Jindok Geosa would never know. At that very moment, there was one person who wanted to reveal who he was.
The warriors led the prisoners into the building.
Among those being dragged away in fear were Geom Mugeuk and the Poison King.