Chapter 214: Approaching the Secret (2)

Yong Hwarin grinned slyly and began his assault with the Soaring Dragon Emperor Sword.

In an instant, the tide of battle turned.

As if he had never been driven into a corner, Yong Hwarin stormed forward like a dragon, forcing Jin Pyeong into a flustered retreat.

Then Jin Pyeong raised his sword, spun it, and thrust it forward.

Piping!

Two Large Needles fired from Jin Pyeong’s rotating sword.

The moment was so sudden, and the exchange so chaotic, that no one noticed the Large Needles launching from the sword.

But to Yong Hwarin, those two Large Needles looked enormous, like brushes.

After achieving the Inner-Outer Realm, Yong Hwarin had a peculiar experience.

The energies of objects became vividly perceptible to his senses. This ability arose from the interaction of True Qi and Nature’s Energy upon reaching the Inner-Outer Realm.

Naturally, the energy of the Large Needles registered in Yong Hwarin’s sensation.

“You really did all kinds of ridiculous things to your sword.”

Muttering to himself, Yong Hwarin raised his left hand and blocked the Large Needles.

He stood there momentarily, feigning as if he had been poisoned.

The Large Needles sparkled as they pierced into Yong Hwarin’s left wrist.

Seeing this, Jin Pyeong smirked.

‘No matter how fast or skilled you are, you can't block the Cow Hair Needles.’

In that brief moment, Jin Pyeong rushed forward and slashed his sword at Yong Hwarin.

The tip of the blade aimed for Yong Hwarin’s shoulder. It was a clean attempt to sever it in a straight line.

At that instant, Yong Hwarin slid half a step like a ghost, using the Bamboo Forest Soaring Dragon Step.

Swiik!

As Jin Pyeong’s blade sliced through empty air, Yong Hwarin swung his sword with the Dragon Scale Finger Technique.

Jjaang!

Jin Pyeong blocked Yong Hwarin’s sword and was pushed back three steps in succession.

Then, without any signal or consent, Yong Hwarin suddenly lowered his sword.

“What’s the meaning of this? You're sheathing your sword in the middle of a duel?!”

When Jin Pyeong shouted, Yong Hwarin smiled.

“I withdrew my sword because you, Senior, can no longer continue this duel.”

“What nonsense is that! Give me just another moment and you’ll be begging for your life!”

“Is it because of this?”

Yong Hwarin lifted his left arm and gave it a flick.

The Cow Hair Needle fell off and dropped to the ground.

“No way…!”

Jin Pyeong hadn’t realized that the Black Silk Celestial Silkworm was wrapped around Yong Hwarin’s left wrist.

Nor did he know that the Black Silk Celestial Silkworm could withstand not only Cow Hair Needles but even treasured swords.

Suddenly, Jin Pyeong felt a tight thread-like sensation coiling around the hand gripping his sword. He looked down, and to his disbelief, the sword slipped from his hand and fell to the ground.

“How can this be!”

Groans and gasps erupted from all directions.

Jin Pyeong stared blankly at his hand.

He hadn’t even noticed his sword falling because all five of his fingers had been severed.

Shuaaah!

As the blood finally burst out with a gusting sound, Jin Pyeong realized his five fingers were gone.

“Uwaaaaagh!”

Jin Pyeong screamed, and no one dared to approach him.

Even the martial artists of the Sword Poison Sect, his own sect brothers, didn’t think to rush in and stop the bleeding.

It was then that Hoi Soyu stepped forward, grabbed Jin Pyeong’s arm, and performed hemostasis.

Only then did the martial artists of the Sword Poison Sect scramble in a panic.

“Is this your will, Young Master Yong?”

Hoi Soyu glared at Yong Hwarin as if she meant to kill him.

“That’s right. This is my will. Jin Daehyeop, hand over the antidote. My escorts are barely clinging to life, poisoned by the Sword Poison Sect’s toxins!”

“Wahahaha! You make me look like this and then demand an antidote? You shameless bastard! Even if you knelt and begged, I might not give it to you—and now you ask after cutting off all my fingers? You’re a truly laughable fool!”

“So you admit you have it. Where is it? I’ll retrieve it. Are you carrying it?”

“I knew this might happen, so I don’t carry it on me! I have no antidote for you!”

Yong Hwarin drew his sword and stepped closer.

“You speak too recklessly! Do you think I’m being polite because my tongue is long?”

When Yong Hwarin spoke with killing intent, Jin Pyeong flinched.

“I suppose I’ll have to enter your quarters and search for the antidote myself.”

“Where do you think you’re going so brazenly?!”

Hoi Soyu sprang up and shouted, but Yong Hwarin raised his voice to address the crowd.

“My escorts have been poisoned by the Sword Poison Sect! Chairman of the Sky Ocean Merchant Union, Mr. Hoi Jongbaek, has also been poisoned, as has Vice Chairman Hoi Unkyung Sojeo! Even my personal escort has been poisoned! I now suspect that the Sword Poison Sect may be behind all these poisonings! And how could I not? My escort has been poisoned by the Sword Poison Sect! Do you still think I’m merely making demands of Jin Daehyeop? You—yes, you—are the person suspected to be behind every poisoning incident involving the Sky Ocean Merchant Union!”

Murmurs spread among the gathered crowd at Yong Hwarin’s words.

“What's the meaning of this? You say I’m behind it?”

“Then how did my escort end up poisoned by the Sword Poison Sect’s toxins? Moreover, as soon as Sojeo Hoi invited you for pulse diagnosis, she regained her senses! Something no physician had managed to do—yet you did it with a single pulse check! Isn’t that suspicious enough?”

As Yong Hwarin pressed Jin Pyeong, Hoi Soyu shouted.

“Young Master Yong, you’re being unreasonable!”

“How is this unreasonable? Anyone with a working brain would find it strange! That’s why I said I’ll prove it. All I need is the antidote the Sword Poison Sect so proudly flaunts!”

As Yong Hwarin began walking toward the annex building, a disciple of the Sword Poison Sect, having received a signal from Jin Pyeong, stealthily slipped away and headed in the same direction.

Yong Hwarin pretended not to notice and instead nodded toward a person standing behind a distant tree. The assassin silently followed the Sword Poison Sect disciple.

Yong Hwarin never expected to get the antidote from Jin Pyeong through a duel. He had no thought that Jin Pyeong would hand it over willingly.

He likely wouldn’t give it even if he died.

So Yong Hwarin had devised this provocation strategy to pressure Jin Pyeong and obtain the antidote.

A short while later, the assassin reappeared with something in hand.

When he gave the hand signal indicating success, Yong Hwarin gathered his qi and stepped back.

“If the Sword Poison Sect is truly behind all of this, then as Sojeo Hoi’s escort, I won’t let this go! This won’t end here!”

Yong Hwarin’s words, laced with killing intent, made even those watching from ten jang away shiver as if a cold wind had swept through.

Now that he had gained everything he needed, Yong Hwarin had no reason to remain here.

‘This outcome is excellent. I’ve warned the Sword Poison Sect not to act rashly, Do Gye-gong has extracted the secret, and the assassin obtained the antidote. That’s three birds with one stone.’

Moreover, now that he had stated that the Sword Poison Sect might be behind all the poisonings, Hoi Soyu wouldn’t act recklessly either.

“Jin Daehyeop, if you still wish for a duel, come anytime! I’ll always welcome it! That Five Poison Blood Shadow Sword your Sword Poison Sect brags about—it doesn’t spare lives even in a duel, does it? I’d very much like to see it!”

As Yong Hwarin hurled one final taunt and turned away, Jin Pyeong trembled like a leaf.

He had never suffered such humiliation in his entire life.

‘I’ll kill you, no matter what!’

Jin Pyeong repeated that vow to himself dozens of times.

Hoi Soyu watched him with a worried gaze.

“You’re alright, aren’t you? You’re really alright?”

Even after Gam Heum and Go Ram took the antidote the assassin had retrieved, nearly half an hour passed without any response, and Seok Unjeong’s expression turned despondent.

Originally, Seok Unjeong had lost her reasoning due to Eum Sajeok’s Soul Reaping Art—specifically, the Dark Soul Dream Grand Art.

Fortunately, when the Demonic Master brought back Deungae and placed Eum Sajeok within the Sky Ocean Merchant Union, the Demonic Master’s soul briefly seized Eum Sajeok’s consciousness and explained how to undo the Soul Reaping Art on Seok Unjeong.

At that time, the Demonic Master greatly admired the formidable power of the Soul Reaping Art placed by Yong Hwarin.

The middle-aged Demonic Master still didn’t realize that it had been the soul of the Demonic Master himself who had possessed Eum Sajeok.

Had things gone wrong, she might have lived as an imbecile for the rest of her life.

Because of that, his daughter had become even more precious to him.

“Unjeong, Young Master Yong and I checked the pulse, and both Go Ram and Gam Heum will recover soon. Detoxification takes time. Just wait a little longer.”

“Yes.”

She replied in a subdued voice, lowering her head, and the Demonic Master gently stroked her hair.

He couldn’t remember the last time he had done that.

He also hadn’t realized just how deeply his daughter cared for and followed the Ten Prodigies of the Heavenly Central Sect. Sometimes, it seemed she followed them even more than her own father—enough to make him feel jealous.

The Demonic Master was deeply grateful to the Ten Prodigies of the Heavenly Central Sect and Yong Hwarin.

Yong Hwarin once again channeled his qi into the bodies of the two and examined their condition.

Fortunately, the poison had been neutralized, and their bodies were gradually returning to normal.

‘What on earth was in that elixir So-gun gave me that it was able to suppress the Sword Poison Sect’s toxin? That guy really handed me something precious. Thanks to that medicine, the Ten Prodigies of the Heavenly Central Sect transcended a realm. So did I.’

Looking back, achieving the Inner-Outer Realm owed much to the elixir given by Bukri Sogun.

As he thought of Bukri Sogun, the image of Bukri Sehee, whom he had met a while ago, lingered in his mind.

It was because she gave off a strangely familiar feeling.

‘Maybe it’s because I heard too much about her from Bukri Sogun?’

Yong Hwarin gave a soft chuckle.

‘Just like So-gun said, she was truly a beautiful noona. Seeing her makes me miss So-gun even more.’

Yong Hwarin, who had briefly fallen into meditation, stood up.

“I don’t think I’m needed here any longer. I’ll go check on Sojeo Hoi.”

Yong Hwarin intended to first detoxify the urgent cases of Gam Heum and Go Ram, then visit Hoi Unkyung.

He entered Hoi Unkyung’s room and retrieved the antidote.

“Squad Leader Mu, from now on, don’t let anyone enter this room.”

“Understood.”

All ten members of the Ten Prodigies of the Heavenly Central Sect took up guard around Hoi Unkyung’s room. What they were about to do required utmost importance and caution.

Since it was better to administer the antidote when the patient was conscious, Yong Hwarin waited for Hoi Unkyung to regain awareness.

Her body was completely dried out and emaciated.

Her cheeks were sunken, and her hollow eyes looked like those of someone on the brink of death.

It was a form that could barely be called a woman’s.

Yet to Yong Hwarin, Hoi Unkyung in this state looked more human than the beautiful image of her in his previous life.

In his past life, Hoi Unkyung had always wrapped herself in coldness and cruelty to defend herself, and she had been both an object of love and hatred to him.

But realizing that it was all a defense mechanism to protect herself came as a great shock to him.

‘When Hoi Soyu tried to eliminate Hoi Unkyung’s close aides, she must have pretended to treat me as expendable to protect me.’

In his past life, he had lived hating Hoi Unkyung, so even if all of it had been a misunderstanding, he had never once felt affectionate toward her.

Long-standing emotions didn’t change in an instant.

But seeing her in this miserable state now stirred pity. Perhaps in the past life, she had lived an even more unfortunate life than he had. With that thought, the resentment he held toward Hoi Unkyung melted away like snow.

Of course, it had only become possible because when she left the Sky Ocean Merchant Union to seek the antidote for Jiangshi Poison, the tears she shed cracked the shell of his hatred and affection for the first time.

‘We were both miserable people. But in this life, please—don’t be unhappy.’

Yong Hwarin looked at Hoi Unkyung with eyes full of remorse.

“Ugh…”

Just then, Hoi Unkyung stirred and opened her eyes.

Seeing Yong Hwarin before her brought a sense of relief.

“Y-You’re here. I heard that Young Master Yong returned about one si-jin ago.”

Yong Hwarin gave a nod.

“I brought the antidote.”

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