Chapter 37

“Cough!”

Pyo Wol stopped his mad laughter and coughed up blood.

The blood stained his chest and stomach red.

Extreme pain washed over him, but Pyo Wol didn’t care.

He was in a very good mood right now.

Because he had thrown the embers of discord between the Qingcheng Sect and the Emei Sect.

It didn’t matter whether the two sects fought a bloody war or came to an awkward reconciliation.

Because no matter the outcome, it would be impossible for them to return to their former relationship.

This was his revenge against the Emei Sect, which had toyed with his fate as they pleased.

He didn’t feel the slightest bit sorry for the Qingcheng Sect either.

Among those who lived in the Jianghu, no one was innocent.

They all committed sins in one way or another, living by reigning over others.

The Qingcheng Sect was no exception to that rule.

So he had no regrets. He felt no remorse.

“Heh heh!”

Seeing Pyo Wol chuckle in his wretched, broken state, Mujeong Jin-in’s eyebrows shot up to the heavens.

‘I must kill him to eliminate this future threat.’

He felt fear towards Pyo Wol.

In terms of sheer martial arts prowess, there was no reason to feel fear towards an assassin like Pyo Wol. But Pyo Wol possessed a Poison Qi that transcended martial arts and stimulated a person’s fear.

Mujeong Jin-in had never in his life seen someone with such Poison Qi.

It was then.

“Master, are you all right?”

“Senior Martial Uncle!”

Cheongmyeong and the other disciples of the Qingcheng Sect rushed to Mujeong Jin-in.

They were covered in wounds from breaking through the traps Pyo Wol had set. A look of rage appeared on Mujeong Jin-in’s face as he examined them. It was because several disciples were missing.

“There are some children missing. Don’t tell me?”

“I’m sorry. They were caught in his traps and lost their lives.”

At Cheongmyeong’s answer, Mujeong Jin-in squeezed his eyes shut.

When he opened them again a moment later, they seemed to shimmer with Ghost Fire. The sight was so terrifying that Jeong Hwa and the disciples of the Emei Sect all took a step back.

After staring at Pyo Wol for a moment, Mujeong Jin-in grabbed him by the ankle. Then he began dragging him somewhere.

“A peaceful death is a luxury you don’t deserve. Only by dying in agony worse than hell can you atone, even if just a little, to those you have killed.”

His cold voice pierced Pyo Wol’s ears.

‘Atone? Don’t make me laugh. Then who will compensate me for my seven years, for my violated life?’

Pyo Wol snorted.

His back and the back of his head were scraped, broken, and torn from being dragged on the ground. The reason he couldn’t feel the pain was because he was already severely injured.

Mujeong Jin-in dragged Pyo Wol toward the jailers’ quarters. To be precise, it was Im Sayeol’s quarters.

The disciples of the Qingcheng Sect hurriedly followed Mujeong Jin-in.

Yong Seol Lan said to Jeong Hwa.

“Shouldn’t we follow them?”

“Are you mad? What kind of trouble do you think we’ll get into if we follow them? We’re getting out of here.”

“The situation won’t be resolved just by running away like this. It might be better to confess honestly and ask to talk.”

“What nonsense are you spouting? What did we do? We just have to deny it to the end. There’s no evidence other than the letter, is there?”

“But…”

“This is for Master to decide. Don’t argue about it anymore.”

“…”

“Let’s go!”

Jeong Hwa led the disciples and climbed the rope.

Yong Seol Lan remained until the very end, gazing in the direction Pyo Wol had disappeared.

“Hah!”

But she too let out a faint sigh and climbed the rope.

Just like that, the disciples of the Emei Sect completely exited the underground cavern like an ebbing tide.

Mujeong Jin-in said to Cheongmyeong.

“You too, take the disciples and go outside.”

“What? But…”

“If those girls cut the rope leading to the outside, we’ll be trapped here. So hurry and go out to prevent that from happening.”

“I understand.”

Cheongmyeong replied with a grim expression.

He immediately took a few disciples and went up to the surface.

The place Mujeong Jin-in dragged Pyo Wol to was a newly discovered space beyond the collapsed wall of Im Sayeol’s quarters.

Tssss!

As they crossed the wall, the hissing of snakes echoed loudly.

“Hah!”

“Ugh!”

The faces of the Qingcheng Sect disciples turned pale as they illuminated the snake pit with their torches.

The sight of countless snakes writhing together in a tangled mass was so horrifying it was something to be feared even in a dream.

Only then did the disciples of the Qingcheng Sect realize why Mujeong Jin-in had dragged Pyo Wol here.

Mujeong Jin-in intended to throw Pyo Wol into that snake pit.

He was literally going to throw him in as snake food.

Mujeong Jin-in asked.

“Do you still have no intention of atoning?”

The corners of Pyo Wol’s mouth twisted upward.

He no longer had the strength to open his mouth. But the meaning behind his smile was clear.

It was a sneer.

Mujeong Jin-in shook his head.

“You’re a creature I can’t even deign to associate with. You don’t deserve to breathe in the same world as us. Atone here and meet a painful death.”

Whoosh!

Mujeong Jin-in threw Pyo Wol’s body into the snake pit.

“Amitabha!”

“Hmph!”

The martial artists of the Qingcheng Sect, unable to watch the gruesome scene, turned their heads away.

Pyo Wol’s form vanished in an instant after falling into the snake pit.

It was because countless snakes had coiled around his body and were writhing.

“Let’s go!”

Mujeong Jin-in said to his disciples without a single glance back.

“Yes!”

The martial artists of the Qingcheng Sect hurriedly followed him.

They did not want to see a man who was still breathing being eaten by snakes.

Shhhhk!

The sound of snakes enjoying a feast from behind them sent a further chill down their spines.

Mujeong Jin-in said to them.

“As soon as we get out, seal this horrific place. So that no one can ever use it.”

“Yes!”

At the martial artists’ reply, Mujeong Jin-in’s eyes glinted frighteningly.

‘Emei Sect! I will never forgive you.’

Although the only evidence was Pyo Wol’s answer and the letter in his possession, Mujeong Jin-in had no doubt that the Emei Sect was behind this whole incident.

Pyo Wol, who had become food for snakes, was no longer his concern.

His target was the Emei Sect.

“Emei! You will learn that the sword of Qingcheng has not rusted.”

Pyo Wol felt his body sinking into a bottomless abyss.

In reality, his body was slowly sinking to the bottom of the snake pit. The snakes coiled around or crawled over his body.

At the horrifying sensation, Pyo Wol shuddered despite his hazy consciousness.

The snakes had awakened from a long hibernation and were extremely hungry. If Pyo Wol had been smaller, they would have swallowed him whole right away. But Pyo Wol was too big to be swallowed in one bite.

Unable to swallow Pyo Wol, a few impatient ones bit down hard.

As the venom was injected, Pyo Wol felt a terrible pain.

His dying body trembled in reaction to the poison.

There were as many types of venom as there were snakes.

Different kinds of venom reacted inside Pyo Wol’s body.

At the pain that surpassed imagination, Pyo Wol’s eyes flew open. The pain was so excruciating that he wished he could just die.

An ordinary person would have died the moment they were bitten by a snake. But Pyo Wol had a Poison Resistance. He would feel pain, but he would not die easily.

Even in a near-death state, his body resisted the Poison Qi.

Rather, as the poison entered his body, his dying body awakened. The poison, by attacking Pyo Wol’s body, had stimulated his Innate Vitality.

“Keuk!”

Pyo Wol let out a rough breath, his mouth slightly agape. At that, the snakes coiled around his body stirred in surprise.

Some of them immediately sank their fangs into Pyo Wol’s body without a second thought.

With the new injection of venom, Pyo Wol felt a pain as if his body were melting.

Pyo Wol’s body trembled violently.

His body was reacting regardless of his will. The startled snakes reacted to this by sinking their fangs in again, continuing the vicious cycle.

Poison Qi gradually accumulated in Pyo Wol’s body. Countless venoms were attacking his insides.

His mind grew clearer and clearer, and the pain felt more and more vivid.

Pyo Wol was in a state of being neither dead nor alive, suffering from the snake venom. His face and body swelled up from the venom’s attack.

He wanted to scream his lungs out. But the fear that a snake might crawl into his throat the moment he opened his mouth wide made him clench his jaw.

Pyo Wol thought desperately.

‘I’ll die if this goes on.’

No matter how much Poison Resistance his body had, as a human, there was a limit.

He couldn’t endure the indiscriminate injection of venom forever.

His body had already reached its limit.

If he were bitten by any more snakes, his body’s balance would break, and he would surely die.

He had to find a way before that.

At that moment, what came to Pyo Wol’s mind was the snake that had first bitten him. He had no idea where it had crawled out from, but it seemed to have escaped from this place.

The snake had perfectly adapted to living in the darkness.

‘I have to adapt like it did.’

Just as the small snake had adapted to the darkness to survive, Pyo Wol too had to adapt to the snake pit to survive.

‘I have to think like a snake, breathe like a snake, and move like a snake. That’s the only way to survive.’

Chomp!

He felt pain in his ankle again. Some snake had bitten his ankle.

His body was covered in snake bites, with not a single spot left unscathed. The bitten areas invariably swelled up.

The areas where he felt pain were actually fine. The most unbearable part was the itching. Some venoms caused an unbearable itch.

It would have been better if he could just scratch it vigorously with his hands, but it was clear that moving his body even slightly would provoke the snakes, so he had no choice but to grit his teeth and endure.

Pyo Wol held his breath.

Simply weakening his breathing was not enough.

He had to breathe like a snake.

Pyo Wol closed his eyes and tried to feel the snakes’ breathing.

Normally, this would be absolutely impossible. But now, it seemed possible. It was because Pyo Wol’s mind was clearer than ever before.

His severely injured body, afflicted with various snake venoms, was as immobile as a stone statue, but his senses were sharper than usual.

Slither! Slither!

An eerie sound echoed as countless snakes coiled around his body.

Some tightened around Pyo Wol’s neck, while smaller ones tried to enter his body through his nostrils and ears. Fortunately, such a disaster did not happen, but for Pyo Wol, it was a hair-raising experience.

“Tssss!”

A snake-like sound came from Pyo Wol’s mouth.

It was a similar sound that came out as he forced himself to breathe like a snake.

Instantly, the snakes covering Pyo Wol’s body reacted to his sound. They raised their heads high, as if they were thinking about something.

The sight of not one or two, but thousands, tens of thousands of snakes raising their heads high was terrifying. But Pyo Wol couldn’t even think about that.

His eyes were closed, and he was concentrating all his mental energy on breathing exactly like a snake.

Even in the midst of that, he was bitten by venomous snakes a few more times.

His body seemed to have reached its limit, as his breathing gradually became ragged. Still, Pyo Wol desperately tried to imitate the snakes’ breathing.

He didn’t know how much time had passed.

At some point, Pyo Wol’s breathing became noticeably stable.

Tssss!

The sound of a snake’s breath was flowing from his mouth.

It wasn’t perfect, but he had managed to imitate the snake’s breathing to some extent.

The snake’s way of breathing was different from a human’s.

Whereas humans exhale all the air from their lungs before inhaling again to fill them, snakes always leave about half the air in their lungs.

By leaving extra air in their lungs, they could hold their breath for much longer.

Pyo Wol also learned this fact while imitating the snake’s breathing.

The more he delved into it, the more fascinating a creature the snake was.

There were no useless body parts on a snake.

It was specialized for survival, with nothing superfluous.

He felt that it was just like him.

Its strong patience and endurance, as well as its tenacity and Poison Qi, were a spitting image. That was why Pyo Wol was no longer afraid of snakes.

He didn’t feel any discomfort even when buried under countless snakes.

Buried among countless snakes, Pyo Wol fell into a comfortable sleep for the first time.