"The dagger and the internal energy are both yours."
‘!?’
At Mok Gyeong-un's words, Guard Gam's eyes trembled. The dagger lodged in the center of his chest. The internal energy imbued in the dagger was his own?
Does that mean this bastard used the internal energy he forcibly took from me?
‘…This makes no sense.’
Internal energy has its own unique properties. Due to the alterations in qi caused by various martial sects and factions, taking another's internal energy would practically be nothing but poison.
Even if one inherited internal energy from a senior or junior brother of the same martial sect, there was no way to use it immediately without first refining it into one's own through an energy circulation technique. And yet, he used it?
‘Just what is this bastard's identity?’
He was definitely not an ordinary civilian. Guard Gam had thought he could control him because, even though he was a death row inmate, he wasn't a martial artist. But that was a miscalculation.
This bastard possessed strange abilities he knew nothing about. He even handles anomalies.
‘It was a mistake.’
Bringing this guy here was a bad idea. To think I could control him just because he hadn't learned martial arts.
How foolish.
He was a man with an extraordinary mind, enough to use an anomaly to draw my attention, then throw a dagger imbued with the internal energy he absorbed to inflict a fatal wound. Perhaps that was the truly frightening thing about him.
"Huuu… huuu…"
Guard Gam barely managed to steady his breathing. It was so difficult to breathe with the dagger lodged in his chest. His body temperature was dropping, starting from his chest.
The location was too fatal. The moment he pulled it out, the bleeding would be so severe that recovery might become impossible.
Swish!
Guard Gam raised his head and glared at Mok Gyeong-un. In any case, he and this bastard were fated to never walk the same path. He had to see this through to the end, one way or another.
In any case, just as it was for him, it must be equally difficult for the bastard to move with a dagger lodged between his ribs and another in his thigh…
‘!?’
Guard Gam furrowed his brow. The dagger that bastard threw was the one that had been lodged in his own thigh. But why was there so little bleeding?
Given the location, not just the area around his thigh, but the lower part of his pants should have been soaked in blood by now. But except for that spot, it seemed no blood was flowing.
‘There’s no way he stopped the bleeding or controlled his vital points.’
I never saw him do anything like that. Then what is it? Guard Gam, who had been staring dumbfoundedly at Mok Gyeong-un as if looking at a monster, bit his lip hard.
He couldn't fathom how he had ended up at odds with such a bizarre fellow. But he still had a trump card. Hadn't he made him take it for a time like this?
"…You bastard… have you forgotten… the poison pill?"
It was the poison pill. He had made him take the poison pill beforehand to prevent him from escaping his control, acting on his own, or running away. At Guard Gam's words, Mok Gyeong-un parted his lips.
"Ah? The poison pill?"
"Yes."
"I'd forgotten about it."
"Ha."
At those words from Mok Gyeong-un, Guard Gam was flabbergasted. Does it make any sense to forget that your own life is being held hostage? It didn't matter what he was thinking.
There was no way that cunning bastard would have forgotten about it.
"Haa… haa… Let's make a deal."
"A deal?"
"If you stop fighting right now and just hand over the secret manual, I'll let you go."
"Let me go?"
"Isn't that what you wanted? In any case, staying here is just a false life, and you'll have to bear the risk of being discovered at any moment."
At these words, Mok Gyeong-un nodded.
"Well. That's true."
"... So I'll give you the recipe for the antidote and some travel money. Any physician with a decent amount of skill should be able to make it, and you can start fresh with the travel money. Cough, cough."
As he spoke at length, Guard Gam's voice grew hoarse. If he didn't hurry up and get first aid and perform energy circulation and breath control, it would become dangerous. There was a limit to how long he could endure with his internal energy.
"Choose. If we keep fighting like this, it's a loss for both of us anyway."
"That certainly makes sense."
Mok Gyeong-un showed a positive response. Seeing Mok Gyeong-un like this, Guard Gam was about to let out a sigh of relief. It wouldn't be too late to eliminate the bastard later, after putting out this urgent fire.
For now, he had to put the bastard at ease.
"First, I'll give you a stabilizer. Let's each treat our... cough..."
Just then, a cough escaped Guard Gam's mouth. It was a cough mixed with blood. It could have been because of his injury, but Guard Gam felt a sense of wrongness.
‘The blood…’
He could smell a nauseating scent from the blood. Momentarily panicked, Guard Gam tried to rip open the front of his tunic. But his hand was trembling so violently that it wouldn't move.
‘Why is my hand…’
Thud!
That wasn't the end of it. Soon, the strength left Guard Gam's legs, and he collapsed onto one knee.
Then, "Gack!"
Guard Gam vomited a mouthful of black blood. He hadn't realized it while protecting his chest and organs with his internal energy, but something was rapidly spreading through his five viscera and six bowels, causing damage.
‘Could it be?’
Guard Gam's eyes widened. These symptoms were unmistakably poison. Something was strange.
This bastard hadn't used poison, so how could he have been poisoned? As he was wondering, Mok Gyeong-un staggered slowly towards the pained man.
"Huuu. It really hurts with this dagger stuck in here."
"You bastard… just what… did you do?"
"There's something I forgot to tell you earlier."
"What?"
"Besides the dagger and the internal energy, I also gave you my blood."
"Blood?"
"Yes. It was too urgent to wipe the blood off the dagger that was stuck in my thigh before giving it to you. Well, to be honest, it was intentional."
"What on earth are you talking about…"
To the uncomprehending Guard Gam, Mok Gyeong-un said with a smirk.
"Of course you wouldn't understand. I only told Guard Go Chan."
"Go Chan?"
"Yes. It's nothing much. Maybe because I ate a lot of poisonous herbs and things when I was young, my blood has poisonous properties."
‘!?’
At these words, Guard Gam was dumbfounded.
Poisonous blood?
What kind of talk is this? Then does that mean he's like a Poison Man from the Sichuan Tang family?
‘This bastard is really… ha!’
It was absurd. Just how many things had he been hiding? But that wasn't the important thing.
He had to somehow use his internal energy to stop the poison from spreading, not just protect his chest. I don't know what kind of poison it is, but it burns terribly.
"Cough, cough…"
"It's painful, isn't it?"
"You… you think… you'll be safe… ugh…"
"Scammony, Angelica Root, Adonis Vernalis, Pinellia…"
‘!?’
At the names of the medicinal herbs coming from Mok Gyeong-un's mouth, Guard Gam's eyes shook like mad. Those were all the herbs used in the poison pill.
"Pokeweed, Toadstool, Fennel Herb."
"You… you… how?"
"Well. For simple herbs like these, can't you get a pretty good idea just by touching them with your tongue?"
He knows by taste? Just what is this bastard's identity? Mok Gyeong-un walked right up to the bewildered Guard Gam, bent his knees to meet his eyes, and spoke.
"Actually, I don't need anything like an antidote."
"You bastard… were you… cough, cough… just playing with me?"
At that question, Mok Gyeong-un tilted his head slightly and stared intently at Guard Gam's face. His face was pale, and his eyes were filled with fear and terror. Seeing him like this, Mok Gyeong-un smiled gently and said.
"Whether you're a martial artist or a first-rate master, when faced with pain and death, you're no different from anyone else."
Chills!
The moment he heard those words, a shiver ran down Guard Gam's spine. How could someone wearing human skin say such things, and have eyes like a dead man? It didn't feel like he was facing a human at all.
This bastard is a demon.
Shudder!
Guard Gam couldn't stop trembling. His breathing grew rough, and it became difficult to breathe because of the fear. The human heart is truly treacherous.
Just a moment ago, he had looked down on his opponent, believing he still had the upper hand, and felt no tension. But now, it was completely different.
"You're trembling."
"S-spare me."
Guard Gam threw away his pride and begged for his life. He couldn't die like this. He had left the ruthless world of assassins, where one could meet a violent end at any moment, dreaming of a stable life.
But to lose his life like this was too unfair. Mok Gyeong-un stroked his own chin.
"Spare you, you say."
"Loyalty… I'll pledge my loyalty. No. I pledge my loyalty. Please… please spare me."
Looking at the pleading man, Mok Gyeong-un smiled and said.
"Now your attitude is finally to my liking."
"Oh, I will live only for you, Young Master."
"Then I would be grateful."
At Mok Gyeong-un's words, Guard Gam's expression began to brighten. But then, -Thrust!
"Keoheok!"
Just as he thought he was being spared, Mok Gyeong-un pressed down hard on the dagger in his chest, driving it in up to the hilt. Mok Gyeong-un whispered into the tormented Guard Gam's ear.
"A man who so easily switches sides whenever necessary… what loyalty is there to speak of?"
"Keeeeuk…"
"I think it would be more helpful if you just died."
Shh!
"Ughp!"
With those words, he covered the gasping man's mouth and nose with his hand. With bloodshot eyes, Guard Gam flailed his hands and feet in agony, but Mok Gyeong-un just watched him with a blank expression. It didn't last long.
The twitching of his entire body soon stopped. His veins bulging, Guard Gam breathed his last with eyes filled with terror. Mok Gyeong-un watched as if he had lost interest, then removed the palm that had been covering the man's nose and mouth.
‘Dealt with him faster than I thought. Was I lucky?’
From the beginning, he had intended to kill Guard Gam one way or another. It was because it would only become a nuisance to keep alive someone who knew he was a fake. Mok Gyeong-un pondered.
‘Should I kill Guard Go Chan too?’
If he dealt with Guard Go Chan as well, there would be no one left who knew the truth. But Mok Gyeong-un soon shook his head.
‘I’ll let him live.’
Go Chan was still useful. He was good for making him clean up this and that, too. And, ‘He seems to be quite tight-lipped.’
He liked that he had kept his mouth shut until the end, even while being tortured. It didn't matter if it was out of fear of him or because of the poison. As long as he didn't betray him, he was willing to use him as much as he wanted.
Throb!
Mok Gyeong-un looked down at the dagger lodged between his ribs. No matter how bizarrely strong his body's regenerative power was, it couldn't be helped that it hurt to have this stuck in him. But he couldn't pull it out now.
He had to maintain a plausible appearance, after all.
‘I wish someone would get here soon.’
It’s cumbersome.
"Ah!"
I almost forgot. Mok Gyeong-un placed his palm over the dead Guard Gam's dantian. And he unfolded the Binding technique.
It was to confirm one thing. The internal energy of the dantian, which was scattering upon death, was sucked into Mok Gyeong-un's body through the Binding technique. It was an amount incomparable to Jo Il-sang's. ‘A rice cake in a picture.’
But this was internal energy that would have scattered and disappeared anyway. What he was more curious about was something else. Before long, the flow of internal energy stopped.
The reaction he had expected didn't happen. Just as he was thinking, ‘Was I wrong?’ At that moment, a cold and yin-like aura of death flowed in from Guard Gam's abdomen.
It was definitely similar to the energy he had absorbed from Jo Il-sang. No, the amount was even greater.
‘Aaaah!’
It was there after all. The aura of death that had been in the dead Guard Gam's body gathered below his navel. And it slowly began to take form.
Mok Gyeong-un didn't know exactly what this was, but he was growing to like this cold energy.
Hooo.
There was a pair of red eyes watching Mok Gyeong-un with interest. It was the Blue Spirit, holding a long pipe in its mouth amidst the thick smoke. The Blue Spirit whispered quietly to the Demonic Monk beside it. -Bald monk.
I think I understand why you are swayed by that mortal. That one was not an ordinary human. She too could tell this instinctively.