Chapter 185: Who Wants to Go First?
A large ship had docked at the shore.
The martial artists of the Baek Li Clan disembarked one by one, followed by the children, and finally, Jin Seong-un and his party stepped off cautiously, scanning their surroundings.
“Let’s go. I’ll explain everything.”
With those words, Baek Li-joong pointed toward a nearby manor. It was a manor used by the Baek Li Clan as a type of villa, large enough to accommodate around fifty to sixty people.
“It’s smaller than I expected.”
Jin Seong-un originally had no particular bias.
Seo Yu-gyeom asked in disbelief,
“……Do you really think this is the Baek Li Clan?”
“I haven’t been to other people’s houses often.”
Now that he thought about it, he hadn’t even visited the Seomun Clan once. Since it was nearby, he considered that after this matter was settled, it wouldn’t be bad to drop by before heading to the Wudang Sect.
While Jin Seong-un was busy planning his next steps, Seomun Ak and Hwamyeong stopped in place with wary expressions.
“Baek Li Sohyeop, what are you trying to pull? Didn’t you say you were taking us to the Baek Li Clan?”
“Right. How are we supposed to know what’s inside there?”
At that, Baek Li-joong sighed.
“In any case, I need to show you the children before I can explain. They’re all inside that manor. And after swallowing this dreadful poison myself, do you think I’d still lie?”
Baek Li-joong glanced at Seo Yu-gyeom.
Seo Yu-gyeom nodded with an expression that seemed to say, ‘Exactly, exactly.’
With his expression hardened, Baek Li-joong turned toward the manor. The martial artists of the Baek Li Clan naturally followed behind him.
Jin Seong-un and his companions exchanged glances.
Their eyes seemed to be asking: What do we do now?
Fortunately, the four of them seemed to be of one mind. Since they had come this far, they had to find out the real reason why the Baek Li Clan had taken the children.
As the four of them walked, Hwamyeong spoke in a very low voice.
“In case of emergency, every man for himself.”
As a Captain of the Murim Alliance, Hwamyeong had experienced many missions.
In truly dangerous situations, it was all too common for people to die while trying to protect their comrades.
“Planning to run away alone?”
Seomun Ak joked lightly, and Hwamyeong snickered.
“Not me, I was talking about Guest Dragon Sohyeop. He’s stronger than I am. Of course, it may not sound like the best strategy to Seomun Sohyeop.”
“You should’ve been fighting me instead of Jin Seong-un.”
The two exchanged jokes for no reason.
But their expressions betrayed deep tension. Deep down, they hoped the Baek Li Clan had a truly undeniable reason.
The four of them stopped as they entered the manor.
A middle-aged man with graying hair warmly greeted Baek Li-joong and the children, then turned his eyes toward them.
Just by meeting his gaze, the aura he gave off was extraordinary.
Jin Seong-un and Seo Yu-gyeom didn’t think much of it. It was their first time meeting the man, and this wasn’t exactly a pleasant visit.
But Seomun Ak and Hwamyeong had no choice but to consider. After all, wasn’t he an elder of the Orthodox Faction until proven otherwise?
“Clan Head, it’s been a long time.”
“It’s been a long time indee—…”
Hwamyeong gave a respectful greeting, while Seomun Ak trailed off awkwardly. To be honest, he hadn’t liked the man even before this incident.
If he disliked Baek Li-joong the most within the Baek Li Clan, then the second was the clan head, Baek Li-cheon.
Every time he met Seomun Jeok, Baek Li-cheon would act like he was worried, saying how hard it must be to have such a troublemaker of a son, always scratching at old wounds.
Now, staring fixedly at the four of them, Baek Li-cheon’s deep, heavy voice emerged, belying his build.
“So, it’s been a long time for you two as well. But what business brings you here in the middle of the night?”
Seomun Ak and Hwamyeong paused. To ask such a thing with the children standing right there struck them as shameless, even slightly oppressive.
So it was Seo Yu-gyeom who opened his mouth.
“We heard the Baek Li Clan was buying children with money. Baek Li-joong said he’d explain once we came here.”
“You seem to be about the same age as my son, yet your manner of speaking is extremely short. Your parents and teacher couldn’t have taught you that, so you must be like Seomun Ak there—someone who finds adults laughable.”
Seomun Ak frowned faintly.
That way of speaking, already unpleasant before, felt especially distasteful today.
Seo Yu-gyeom spoke again.
“I had no parents, and my teacher only taught me swordplay, not manners. But tell me, under which parents and teacher did you grow up that you’d have your son wear a mask and kidnap children?”
“……”
A heavy silence fell over the hall.
The martial artists of the Baek Li Clan, Jin Seong-un, Seomun Ak, and even Hwamyeong glanced at Seo Yu-gyeom.
Realizing he might have gone too far, Seo Yu-gyeom quickly added,
“We gave Baek Li-joong a truly dreadful poison. If this misunderstanding isn’t resolved, your son won’t last four days.”
The silence grew even heavier.
As Seo Yu-gyeom and Baek Li-cheon glared at each other as if ready to kill, Jin Seong-un tried to ease the tension.
“At least we still have four days.”
The silence instantly shifted into killing intent.
Realizing his words only worsened things, Jin Seong-un resolved to keep quiet.
Baek Li-cheon’s chilling voice followed.
“Son, is this true?”
“Yes. But it’s fine. We are truly blameless, are we not? If we explain the situation properly to these sohyeops, the matter will be resolved.”
At that, Hwamyeong, Seomun Ak, and even Seo Yu-gyeom began to wonder if perhaps the Baek Li Clan had some hidden meaning.
But Jin Seong-un saw clearly, even in the shadows. As Baek Li-cheon’s lips moved ever so slightly, Baek Li-joong’s head gave the faintest nod.
They are conversing through voice transmission.
The moment he revealed this, Seo Yu-gyeom, Seomun Ak, and Hwamyeong all widened their eyes and glared at the two men.
Feigning innocence, Baek Li-cheon said,
“Very well, I will explain. Follow me.”
Turning his body, Baek Li-cheon walked off somewhere. As they watched the clan head and the Baek Li Clan’s martial artists disappear into the distance, Jin Seong-un spoke softly.
“One of us should go back.”
Someone needed to remain outside to report this situation.
Seo Yu-gyeom said,
“Either Seomun Ak or Hwamyeong should go. The Seomun Clan or the Murim Alliance needs to be alerted.”
Conveniently, the Seomun Clan was not far from here. When Hwamyeong looked at Seomun Ak, the latter shook his head.
“The weakest one should go. If something happens, the strongest three need to remain for the best chance of survival.”
“Then Seomun Sohyeop should go.”
Hwamyeong grinned as he said this.
Seomun Ak nodded toward him and pointed at the door.
Each one looking down on the other.
“……Just let anyone go.”
When Jin Seong-un said that, Seomun Ak and Hwamyeong looked at him as if they were disappointed. Their eyes seemed to say, You’re strong, so you don’t understand how we feel. Realizing this, Jin Seong-un gave up on continuing the conversation.
Thus, after a brief silent standoff, the four of them walked together deeper into the manor.
The cold stone floor.
Jin Seong-un and the other three were locked side by side in the dungeon, each lost in thought.
Baek Li-cheon, who had promised to show them the children, had only spewed long, nonsensical excuses.
In response, Jin Seong-un and Seo Yu-gyeom had drawn their swords, while Seomun Ak and Hwamyeong had shouted about the principles of the Orthodox Faction and berated the martial artists of the Baek Li Clan.
Before long, the Baek Li Clan’s martial artists swarmed in. And there were quite a few of them—around thirty to forty.
From the clan head to the elders and captains—essentially, the Baek Li Clan had brought out its strongest thirty to forty fighters all at once.
It was practically the entirety of the Baek Li Clan’s strength.
“Guest Dragon Sohyeop, you should’ve escaped. That’s what we agreed on, wasn’t it?”
Hwamyeong spoke to Jin Seong-un.
Jin Seong-un gave a small nod.
“I regret it now.”
Hwamyeong and Seomun Ak looked disappointed.
Jin Seong-un continued.
“Is everyone’s body alright?”
And so, the four of them ended up locked in the dungeon after being forced to swallow the poison the Baek Li Clan handed them.
It was a pill infused with Qi-Dispersing Poison, preventing their inner energy from moving.
Seomun Ak shook his head.
“The only fortunate thing is, judging by how they locked us up like this, they don’t seem to have decided to kill us right away. Also, since they gave Baek Li-joong poison as well, there’s room for negotiation.”
Indeed, the Baek Li Clan had responded to poison with poison. Because of that, Seo Yu-gyeom felt utterly wronged.
Springing to his feet, Seo Yu-gyeom glanced around to check if anyone was nearby. Since they had already been fed Qi-Dispersing Poison and their acupoints sealed to completely suppress their inner energy, there was no need for guards.
Seo Yu-gyeom then said,
“The truth is, what Baek Li-joong ate was a Fasting Pill. Jin Seong-un made it—it’s just a tasteless Fasting Pill.”
“……”
Jin Seong-un was briefly stunned.
Seo Yu-gyeom continued.
“Those bastards. Their eldest son swallows poison, and yet they treat us like this? Did Baek Li-joong bring this on himself?”
A sigh echoed through the dungeon.
The silence was broken by Hwamyeong.
“Let’s keep that as our secret. In any case, unless we expel the Qi-Dispersing Poison, we can’t do anything.”
The poison was so virulent that no matter how hard they tried, their inner energy wouldn’t budge.
Not just Hwamyeong—Seomun Ak and Seo Yu-gyeom were also struggling to move their inner qi.
That was when it happened.
Seo Yu-gyeom, Seomun Ak, and Hwamyeong all turned their heads at once toward Jin Seong-un.
Chi-iiiik—!
From the crown of Jin Seong-un’s head, black smoke began to rise faintly.
It spread with a faint foul stench, proof that it was indeed poison.
“H-how did you do that?”
But Jin Seong-un himself only blinked in confusion, looking baffled.
After the smoke dispersed, he carefully stirred his inner energy.
Instead of the usual Women’s Moon Qi, the Blood Demon Qi surged violently from his dantian, racing through all of his meridians.
‘Was it thanks to the Blood Demon Qi?’
Perhaps the Qi-Dispersing Poison that had seeped into his dantian was extremely unpleasant to the Blood Demon Qi.
According to his masters, the Blood Demon Qi was one of the fiercest and most dangerous energies in the world.
Alongside the Heavenly Demon Qi of the Western Heavenly Demon and the Dark Heaven Qi used by the most vicious demonic lords in history, it was counted among the three deadliest energies.
Though he didn’t know the exact reason, Jin Seong-un assumed the Blood Demon Qi had expelled the poison.
“My inner energy just did it on its own.”
He had no better way to explain it.
The faces of the other three darkened with both disappointment and a look that seemed to say they were staring at a monster.
Regardless, Jin Seong-un fell into thought. Smuggling three companions out without inner energy was almost impossible.
But neither could he fight the entire Baek Li Clan alone.
“At the very least, I need to drive out the poison from your bodies. Otherwise, we can’t even try.”
As he said this, Jin Seong-un raised his palm and summoned a small amount of Blood Demon Qi.
Though his masters had told him to refrain from showing it openly, since he was about to inject it into others’ bodies, he figured he had to reveal it.
The three stared at Jin Seong-un’s Blood Demon Qi.
Whether it was because they were seeing it in the dim dungeon or because the energy itself was inherently sinister, they felt a sense of unease.
Seo Yu-gyeom even shuddered. He had once witnessed what this qi had done to the former master Jin Baek-cheon of the Ice Palace.
“Hmm……”
All three averted their gazes.
The thought of having that energy enter their bodies made them hesitate.
Seo Yu-gyeom finally asked,
“Have you ever driven poison out of someone else’s body by injecting your qi?”
“No.”
“Well, that’s understandable. Do you even know the method?”
“No.”
Jin Seong-un shrugged.
Seo Yu-gyeom flinched but pressed on, hoping for something positive.
“But you’re confident, right?”
“About eighty percent.”
Seo Yu-gyeom nodded seriously.
“So that’s a twenty percent chance of death. Alright then, who wants to go first?”
With that, Seo Yu-gyeom stared intently at Seomun Ak. Startled, Seomun Ak leapt up.
“Why are you looking at me, you lunatic?”
“Can’t I even look at you?”
Despite his words, Seo Yu-gyeom smacked his lips regretfully.
As an awkward silence dragged on, it was once again Hwamyeong who broke it.
And this time, his tone was especially resolute.
“Alright. I’ll go first.”
“Oh?”
Seo Yu-gyeom and Seomun Ak widened their eyes. Admiration and awe colored their faces.
Yes, a martial artist of the Orthodox Faction should indeed possess such noble spirit.
As if making up his mind, Hwamyeong sat cross-legged and showed his back to Jin Seong-un.
Seo Yu-gyeom and Seomun Ak showered him with exaggerated praise—“The reason Zhongnan cannot surpass Mount Hua! A man too good to remain only a Captain of the Murim Alliance!”
Hwamyeong slowly exhaled.
To pour one’s inner energy into another person to achieve something was an act that demanded immense concentration and willpower.
And Guest Dragon himself had estimated his success rate at eighty percent.
‘But will that eighty percent still apply to the second or third attempt, when he’s already exhausted?’
The truth was, the most favorable chance was for the very first person, when Guest Dragon was in peak condition.
Thinking that, Hwamyeong only smiled and nodded at his two companions who kept giving him thumbs-ups.
And Seo Yu-gyeom and Seomun Ak only grew more dramatic in their admiration.
Neither of them mentioned that Jin Seong-un rarely spoke of probability—when he did, it was usually certainty.
Thus, everyone was satisfied.
After all, what was good for one was good for all.