Emperor Namgung Mu of the Thousand Years - Chapter 46

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#046

 

“Huk…!”

 

The archer’s loss of consciousness was only momentary.

 

He seemed shocked that he had lost consciousness without realizing it in the midst of fierce battle.

 

When he looked around, everything was already over.

 

“Good God, they’re all wiped out in that short time…?”

 

Not a single member of Wol Ak O Seong was left alive.

 

And in the middle of it all, our eyes met as I was searching through the bodies of the dead Wol Ak O Seong members, taking out hemostatic medicine to apply.

 

“…”

 

“Are you awake?”

 

I approached without hesitation.

 

“I was waiting. We have a lot to talk about, don’t we?”

 

“This… this damn…!”

 

The archer struggled to get up.

 

And belatedly discovered that hemostatic medicine had even been applied to his abdomen.

 

The archer shouted with bloodshot eyes.

 

“I don’t know what this bastard is thinking, but things won’t go your way-!”

 

“I don’t think they will, of course.”

 

I looked around.

 

In the hideout, there were many piles of stones collected from different veins here and there.

 

Some piles contained silver ore.

 

Here and there, several piles had too much quantity to ignore, and there were also copper ore and iron ore as if they had been separately classified.

 

Among them, I picked up an egg-sized stone from the copper ore pile.

 

-Crack!

 

I shoved it into the archer’s open mouth.

 

“Kueok!”

 

The archer’s mouth was fixed in an open state. My fingers went in like crushing into that mouth.

 

I nodded.

 

“That’s what I thought.”

 

I grabbed the poison capsule inside the archer’s molars along with the molars. I twisted and pulled it out with the force of just two fingers.

 

“Ugh… uaak!”

 

“And the fact that this exists means-.”

 

My hand moved like lightning.

 

I broke and pulled out the suicide blade under his armpit. I dismantled his belt and retrieved five fingernail-sized poison bottles that were inside, throwing them far away. Finally, I pulled out even the small ring on his thumb that concealed a poison needle.

 

I showed him the ring in front of his eyes.

 

When I twisted it slightly, with a ‘pft’ sound, green liquid that could be used for suicide came gushing out and fell to the floor.

 

After removing all means of self-harm, I finally pulled the stone from his mouth.

 

“Remember that even if you die, you can only die when I want you to.”

 

-Crack!

 

In front of the archer’s eyes, the ring crumpled in my fist and rolled to the floor.

 

“How… how did you know all this…?”

 

“Oh, and.”

 

I crouched down in front of him. With a cold gaze, I grabbed the archer’s chin.

 

“I trust that someone with the experience of Wol Ak O Seong level, who knows what he should know, won’t believe nonsense like dying from biting your tongue like those bottom-feeder Black Dao bastards and do useless things. Same goes for the talk about dying from slitting your wrists.”

 

“…”

 

“You know, right? Humans don’t die easily from such things. You’re not some noble family’s young master, and anyone in this business who’s slit more than ten throats knows this fact. Don’t bother doing annoying things when we both know the truth.”

 

“…Stop pretending to know everything. You haven’t even tried it.”

 

“No. I have tried it. I’m certain. You don’t die.”

 

“…What… did you say?”

 

I threw the broken spear shaft and sat on the waste ore.

 

“If such acts could kill people, then among those fallen corpses, at least two or more would definitely have their tongues torn out or their wrists cut off. There’s a reason I didn’t do it.”

 

“…!”

 

“The reason I’m telling you all this is so you won’t do pointless things in front of me. I know it all anyway. If your head works, act properly. That way, even if you die anyway, you can at least die comfortably.”

 

“…I was uncertain, but this vulgarity… it was as I thought.”

 

The archer gritted his teeth.

 

He twisted his whole body and struggled desperately, writhing with his movements sealed, and shouted.

 

“A bastard who’s not even a martial artist… in the end, a lowly assassin bastard shamelessly pretending to be a martial artist, what the hell are you doing here!!”

 

“Right, in that sense, let’s have a talk.”

 

The silver-gleaming underground water rippled and swayed.

 

Above it, my face was reflected along with the archer’s terror-stricken face.

 

The vast hideout.

 

The man reflected in the water now had distinct red gleams flowing through his black pupils.

 

“What were you, a martial artist who’s not even an assassin, doing here?”

 

“Eeek!”

 

The man flipped his body over.

 

He tried somehow to get up and get away from me.

 

“…”

 

I lifted one foot.

 

With two lightning-fast side kicks, the man’s ankles on both sides twisted and he collapsed.

 

“Uaak… my ankles… my ankles!”

 

The man who had been crawling forward writhed like a dying caterpillar.

 

“I told you, right? You can’t escape. You can’t die either.”

 

The man struggled and tried somehow to back away.

 

“Shut up… shut up! I absolutely can’t tell you. I can’t tell!”

 

“Even if you don’t talk, it’s meaningless. That huge iron door right in front of you guys. There must be something beyond there. At least ledgers or documents…”

 

“…!”

 

“Whether it’s Darknight, Whitenight, or Eclipsenight, in this business you always receive requests from clients but simultaneously assume situations where clients might stab you in the back, right? That’s why desperately collecting evidence related to requests is obvious in our business.”

 

“…Eeeeek!”

 

The man struggled desperately to escape from me.

 

At the end was a gravel pile where mined ore was stacked.

 

Following the man’s actions, ore flowed down.

 

The corpse of a dead Wol Ak O Seong member nearby was pushed and buried by the flowing ore pile.

 

Struggling on top of it, he looked like an ant fallen into an ant lion’s trap in pouring sand.

 

The man cried out desperately.

 

“You… you! Whose request did you receive! What organization do you belong to!”

 

“You don’t understand what I’m saying.”

 

I approached without hesitation. Clenching my fist, I spoke briefly.

 

“Believe it or not, I’m from the Namgung Family. So stop the useless talk and-.”

 

“Namgung Family?”

 

The man’s actions stopped.

 

Looking at me, he spoke in a puzzled voice.

 

“Why would the Namgung Family interfere with me?”

 

My approaching body stopped.

 

“…What?”

 

“You Namgung Family have nothing to do with this matter, right? There’s already another side here. Wasn’t it all discussed with the higher-ups that you guys would focus on other opportunities? Why are you targeting us…?”

 

“…”

 

With my fist raised, I freeze.

 

What should I react with.

 

What should I respond with.

 

The man’s eyes become bloodshot.

 

He shouts frantically.

 

“I see. Now I understand everything! In the end, you’re cutting me off last and discarding me after use, is that it? These bastards…! These damn bastards! This is why you can never trust those Jeongpa bastards…! Fine, we were just using each other anyway!”

 

All my thoughts come to a halt.

 

…This bastard. What the hell is he saying right now…?

 

“May the demon’s revenge fall upon you, upon your group…!”

 

“…Wait, what are you saying right now-.”

 

The man shouted in fury.

 

“I shall curse you… My brothers will surely have their revenge on you!”

 

Then the man reaches out his hand.

 

He snatches something from the corpse of Yuelaowu.

 

What came out was not a hidden weapon.

 

It was not a weapon.

 

It was not poison either.

 

It was a small silver bell.

 

“Long live…! Long live!”

 

The man shouts madly with crazed eyes. Like a cicada trembling just before death, he shook the bell with all his might and shouted.

 

“Heavenly Demon’s Return, Ten Thousand Demons Bow Down, Divine Demon Invincible, Demonic Way Rules the World, long live… long live!…!!!”

 

-Shiver.

 

Those were certainly incomprehensible, unfamiliar words. At the same time, they were also shouts mixed with words I had briefly heard during the time of Hwang Pyo, the Green Shadow Assassin.

 

“Cheonmasineugyo, long live, long live, ten thousand times long live!!!!”

 

That’s when it happened.

 

-Kuwoong!

 

An old vibrating sound.

 

It was certainly the sound that had been echoing faintly and rhythmically in the hideout.

 

That sound resonates with the madly ringing bell sound. Along with it came the sound of something bursting forth from far away, accompanied by the sound of pillars breaking.

 

And then-.

 

“Keuk…!!!”

 

The shouts that had been bursting forth endlessly from the man’s mouth suddenly stopped.

 

“…Ueok… ueueok!”

 

“…!”

 

What was before my eyes.

 

“Keu…keuok…!”

 

It was the archer dying with a purple face.

 

Blood spurted even from wounds that had been perfectly sealed.

 

Purple and black spots intermittently appeared on his body, turning mottled.

 

‘This is definitely Jacheonamsa…?!’

 

-Pukaak!!

 

The man died vomiting blackened dead blood.

 

The fountain of blood the man vomited scattered like water mist, overlaying the silent gas that spread low but steadily from far away.

 

I can see it.

 

Something is spreading as if crawling up.

 

I trace that path in reverse.

 

At the end of the hideout, there was certainly a small bamboo tube.

 

‘That looks like a reed hole…!’

 

At the same time-.

 

-Chiik…!

 

I felt something burning.

 

What came out when I searched my clothes was the silver coin pouch.

 

Even though I hadn’t directly touched the silver coins, the pouch was rotting away black. From the clothes that touched it, extremely faint purple smoke was spreading faintly to the surroundings.

 

“Keuk!”

 

I quickly kicked the silver coin pouch away with all my strength.

 

-Kwang!

 

The silver coin pouch smashed and destroyed where the bamboo tube had been.

 

The place where the mist had been flowing out stopped.

 

-Pabat! Pat!

 

With two aerial somersaults, I instantly created distance behind me.

 

‘I don’t know if this will work, but…!’

 

I quickly tore my sleeve and folded it into several layers.

 

After soaking it in the underground water on the floor, I coated it thickly with charcoal powder.

 

I completely covered my mouth and nose and tied the end of the cloth tightly at the back of my head.

 

‘Minimize breathing and protect my blood circulation with internal energy!’

 

At the same time, I circulated internal energy to make the energy in my body flow.

 

Tearing off and throwing away the hem of clothes that had made contact, I first jumped onto the pile of copper ore at the highest position near me.

 

-Chiiiiik…!

 

I can see purple smoke spreading from the floor in the distance, approaching me.

 

On the floor of the hideout were small but numerous insects and small mice.

 

All of them died the moment they were touched, vomiting all their bodily fluids.

 

Like oil catching fire and burning away until it dried up and disappeared, the colorless and odorless gas spread in the air emitted a purple color and then vanished.

 

There was one common point in the places where that violent reaction occurred.

 

‘Silver veins…?’

 

It was the silver veins that had been winding along the floor, filling the hideout with their sparkling shine under the torches.

 

“No way…!”

 

I looked at the pile of ore where the man who had died vomiting blood had been.

 

Below that too was a pile of silver ores embedded with silver.

 

Besides that, it was clear.

 

Where the corpses of Yuelaowu were, the corpses touching the thick silver veins as thick as two finger joints were clearly turning purple and dying.

 

Decisively, the few silver coins scattered by the silver coin pouch I had thrown.

 

Among them, several silver coins had landed on the corpses, and precisely from those parts, like mold spreading, they reacted violently as catalysts, killing the surroundings.

 

‘Damn it…! This place will be hit too!’

 

The surging, not yet fully oxidized gases approach.

 

Just as I was about to get up and climb the wall to move to another place-.

 

-Chijik…

 

I see it rapidly neutralizing and disappearing as it touches the copper vein I’m standing on.

 

“…This is.”

 

Some thought flashing through my mind.

 

Before I could be cornered any further, all the mist that had spread in the hideout was oxidized, neutralized, and disappeared.

 

Only after I was certain that all the poisonous mist had disappeared did I compose my guarded body.

 

“…This poison… could it be.”

 

I look around and search through my mind.

 

They were fragments of clues that seemed like they might connect.

 

Around silver, it shows a substitution reaction turning purple and violently shows a poison reaction.

 

Those who come into contact with the mist die showing purple symptoms spreading like mold.

 

When it touches copper, it becomes neutralized.

 

The mist advances as if settling in enclosed spaces.

 

At the same time, Steward Gam’s words come to mind.

 

-In preparation for poison that might be spread in the air near the mine entrance or near the dead, we collected samples and applied all the antidotes we possess, but there was no reaction whatsoever…

 

-If it were Jacheonamsa, it would be understandable if something happened immediately, but the Young Master has been suffering from a prolonged, gradual illness as if cursed by the previous generation….

 

‘…So this is it.’

 

Now I could understand.

 

The reason why the Sichuan Tang Family, despite being experts in poison, couldn’t properly identify the poison.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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