Chapter 16 — Who Are You?
The middle-aged man in black felt a chill run down his spine.
Even within our cult, there is no one capable of controlling beasts to this extent.
And yet, that country bumpkin-looking fellow was calmly controlling wolves and poisonous creatures as though it were nothing.
The middle-aged man in black realized that his only path to survival was to kill Jaha.
He immediately moved.
However, Jaha had already noticed his intentions.
There was no way he would simply stand there and let him attack.
Jaha directed the poisonous creatures toward Shinbi.
"Aaaagh! Save me!"
Jaha smiled at the middle-aged man in black who had just started approaching him.
"Shouldn't saving your master be more urgent than killing me?"
He was right.
Jaha could always be killed later, but if the Young Master died, the middle-aged man would have no face to show his lord.
"Grgh... you cunning bastard!"
Grinding his teeth, the middle-aged man in black twisted around and rushed toward Shinbi.
Poisonous creatures attacked him from every direction, but he burned them away with his protective qi.
It was a display worthy of a top-class master.
The middle-aged man in black grabbed Shinbi with his right arm and tucked him beneath his side.
His first priority was to escape the forest.
"You think I'll just let you leave?"
Jaha muttered something under his breath.
At once, countless poisonous creatures poured down from the trees.
It was enough to call it a literal rain of venomous creatures.
The middle-aged man in black instantly released his protective qi to shield himself.
But before it could fully form, a poisonous spider landed on his right forearm.
Its scissor-like jaws sank into his flesh.
"Urgh!"
The middle-aged man bit back a short groan before shooting high into the air.
He drew upon all of his internal energy and escaped from the Poison Beast Forest.
At that moment, Wang Gyeong spoke.
"We should leave quickly too."
Jaha answered the hurried Wang Gyeong.
"Go to the carriage and prepare to leave. I'll join you shortly."
Once Wang Gyeong ran toward the carriage, Jaha took a leather pouch from inside his clothes.
He began rummaging through the poisonous creatures that had been killed by the middle-aged man's protective qi and placed some of them inside the pouch.
He put several scorpions, a small blue snake, and a poisonous spider inside.
Jo Unryong watched him and asked,
"Senior Brother, what are you going to do with those?"
"If something unexpected happens, these might protect us."
Seeing him handle poisonous creatures without the slightest hesitation, Jo Unryong looked at his senior brother with fresh eyes.
Wang Gyeong sat in the driver's seat and picked up the whip.
He could no longer even feel the pain in his side.
Perhaps what he had just witnessed had shocked him so badly that even his nerves had gone numb.
The carriage quickly left the Poison Beast Forest.
For a while, the wolves followed behind them, causing Wang Gyeong's legs to tremble.
It looked as though the wolves might attack at any moment.
But the instant they completely left the Poison Beast Forest, Wang Gyeong realized something.
The wolves had not been chasing them in order to attack.
They had been escorting them.
"Awooooo!"
The wolves howled together as though seeing them off.
Jaha smiled slightly at the sight.
Byeokho's white spirit had fully displayed its power, and the wolves seemed reluctant to see it leave.
Inside the carriage, Han Seol and Jo Unryong remained silent.
They looked up at Jaha with awe in their eyes.
Shinbi tore a poisonous creature from his ankle and shouted,
"The antidote! Give me the antidote!"
They had brought an antidote obtained from the Poison Sect in case something like this happened.
Unfortunately, there was only one dose.
The middle-aged man in black could feel his right forearm swelling and beginning to rot.
He was about to drink the antidote himself when he heard Shinbi's demand.
His eyes moved toward Shinbi's ankle.
It had already swollen so badly that it was thicker than his calf.
If things continued like this, his foot might have to be amputated.
But if the middle-aged man gave away the antidote, he himself might spend the rest of his life without the use of one arm.
He tightly shut his eyes.
Then he handed the antidote to Shinbi.
Shinbi gulped it down and immediately cursed.
"I will definitely repay this humiliation!"
He released killing intent in the direction of the Poison Beast Forest.
However, he no longer had the courage to enter that place again.
He had even lost the desire to continue pursuing Jaha.
Still, the humiliation was so unbearable that he felt he had to say something.
"Huh? Guardian Woo? What happened to your arm? Even a master like you was poisoned by those creatures..."
Shinbi watched as the middle-aged man's right arm continued to swell.
"Quickly circulate your qi and suppress the poison. I'll send my true qi into you through the air."
The middle-aged man gave a bitter smile at Shinbi's words, which sounded as though he were doing him a great favor.
The horses had rested well, so the carriage continued forward without stopping.
Unlike the lively pace of the carriage, the atmosphere inside was extremely heavy.
Never during their entire journey had the silence lasted this long.
Normally, Han Seol and Jo Unryong would constantly chatter, asking Jaha questions whenever something came to mind.
But even those two talkative people could not bring themselves to speak now.
Jaha kept his eyes closed, lost in thought.
His mind was too complicated to even properly plan what to do next.
He had provoked Shinbi badly.
That man would definitely try to take revenge somehow.
That was what worried him.
It would have been convenient if Shinbi had died to the poisonous creatures in the forest.
But considering the skills of the middle-aged man in black, there was little chance that Shinbi had died there.
Jo Unryong kept glancing at Jaha.
When Jaha finally opened his eyes, Jo Unryong carefully asked,
"Senior Brother Byeok, there's something I want to ask. Is that okay?"
Jaha smiled.
"Since when did our youngest ask permission before asking questions?"
Jo Unryong himself felt strange about it.
After witnessing his Second Senior Brother's abilities, he somehow felt more intimidated around him than before.
That's right. I'm the one making things awkward for no reason.
When Jaha treated him just like before, Jo Unryong finally relaxed a little.
"How did you learn the method you used to summon the wolves and poisonous creatures back in the forest?"
Han Seol had also been dying to ask the same question but had restrained herself.
Finding an excuse was not difficult.
The fact that Byeokho had worked as an escort in Taiyuan for three years was extremely useful now.
Without that background, Jaha would have had far fewer excuses available to him.
"Remember when I told you that I once happened to meet an extraordinary master? I formed a connection with him and learned several techniques. I learned formations and methods for controlling wolves and poisonous creatures from him."
Whenever someone needed an explanation, blaming it on a mysterious recluse was usually enough.
"Oh, is that the person you mentioned before?"
"Yes. That's him."
Jaha had previously mentioned a mysterious master while thinking about the Divine Physician of Yama.
Jo Unryong's eyes lit up.
"Could I learn Senior Brother's technique too?"
He could not forget the thrilling sight of the wolves and poisonous creatures attacking their enemies.
It had been one shocking scene after another.
"That would be difficult. This particular technique is unusual, so it would be hard for you to learn. But I'll teach you some of the other martial arts that master taught me."
Honestly, Jo Unryong had wanted to learn the animal-controlling technique because of how strange and impressive it was.
But after hearing Jaha's answer, his desire disappeared.
He knew his senior brother was not the type to lie simply because he did not want to teach him.
"All right. I was just curious because it was such an incredible technique."
Seeing Jo Unryong give up so easily out of trust for his senior brother, Jaha affectionately patted his head.
Every time Wang Gyeong swung the whip, it felt as though the wound in his side was being torn open.
He had sealed his acupoints to stop the bleeding and treated the wound with emergency medicine he had brought with him, but the injury was deep, and the pain continued.
Even so, they had to escape this area and reach their destination as quickly as possible.
So he did not hold back with the whip.
Even if he collapsed, he had firmly decided that he would collapse only after reaching Xinjiang.
But something kept bumping into his backside.
Confused, Wang Gyeong slightly lifted himself from his seat.
The girl who had been lying beneath the driver's seat like someone asleep now had her eyes wide open.
Apparently, she had repeatedly tried to raise her upper body, causing her head to bump against Wang Gyeong's backside.
Strange. They said there was absolutely no way she could wake up.
With no other choice, Wang Gyeong stopped the carriage.
Jaha immediately became tense.
The carriage stopping was never a good sign.
Without saying anything, he stepped outside and looked along the main road.
Unlike before, there was no broken carriage blocking their path.
Jaha looked up at Wang Gyeong.
"What happened?"
Wang Gyeong looked extremely uncomfortable.
"Does your wound hurt badly?"
Jaha assumed Wang Gyeong had stopped because of his injury.
"I think we need to move the girl inside the carriage."
"What do you mean?"
At Jaha's question, Wang Gyeong stood up.
The girl who had been lying beneath the driver's seat suddenly sat upright.
"Huh?"
Jaha's eyes widened.
"She's awake?"
"It looks that way."
Wang Gyeong and Jaha stared at each other, temporarily speechless.
An unexpected variable had appeared.
"Why did the girl who had been sleeping like the dead suddenly wake up?"
"I don't know either. I was told that no one except the Strange Physician could wake her..."
"Then if she woke up anyway, something must have triggered it."
The girl blinked above her face veil and stared silently at Jaha.
Her eyes still aren't properly focused. Her consciousness hasn't completely returned. Someone must have put her into this state using powerful hypnotism and a drug. But how did she wake up from something like that?
