Survival Guide for the Reincarnated - Chapter 158

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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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Chapter 158

Kang Cheon-u let out a sigh.

If he acted according to Mo Yong Nam-cheon’s words, some answer would emerge.

The picture was being drawn, but the finishing touch wasn’t complete.

From experience and instinct, he could tell. That it wasn’t the right judgment.

He pondered deeply.

“Seol Woon-hwi… That fellow’s eyes weren’t those of a boy. He’s clearly harboring deep thoughts… yet he caused such an incident?”

He crossed his arms.

Kang Cheon-u wasn’t stupid. He was certainly extraordinary, but the given clues were far too insufficient.

Still, if he were to somehow speculate.

“It means he has information about the inside of the Origin Blood Sect or possesses evidence.”

“What do you mean by…?”

“A justification for the Martial Alliance to step forward with full force, not just formally. A justification that would require the Sichuan Sect to step forward as well, and of course the Eternal Snow Palace, and the entire Murim to rise up – without such justification, he wouldn’t have made such a dangerous gamble.”

It made sense.

Just as Mo Yong Nam-cheon was about to speak.

“But if that’s not the case… it could be walking the path of a warrior.”

“…The path of a warrior, you say?”

Kang Cheon-u waved his hand.

“Never mind. Pretend you didn’t hear that.”

Saying so, he walked back to the window and gazed at the distant sky.

“I gave the True Heavenly Command Sword to that fellow because I saw the potential he possessed.”

Why is Kang Cheon-u’s alias the Sichuan Hegemon Emperor?

The title of Hegemon Emperor isn’t given to just anyone.

He walks the path of hegemony.

What is the path of hegemony?

It’s casting aside all the world’s formalities and conventions to walk the path one believes is right.

“Most martial artists fight to preserve the existing order. However, occasionally there are warriors who question that very order. Sometimes they even bring it down.”

Kang Cheon-u looked at Mo Yong Nam-cheon and continued.

“The history of Murim is an endless struggle between those who try to maintain the existing order and those who seek to change it. And true progress has always been achieved by those who shake up the established ways.”

“That’s correct.”

“I saw the path of hegemony in Seol Woon-hwi. If he saw something we couldn’t see, and that made him take on such a dangerous challenge.”

“…”

“Shouldn’t we respect that?”

Mo Yong Nam-cheon gulped.

“…Then… Alliance Leader’s words are…”

“It’s not yet time to intervene, but prepare so we can move at any time.”

Looking at Kang Cheon-u’s gentle smile, Mo Yong Nam-cheon took the Embracing Fist stance without a moment’s hesitation.

“I obey your command!”

* * *

Eumbaek Mountain was the name of a mountain located in a place called Hangyeongjin, situated between Jeok An and Bong Rae.

Tae Hwa-cheon, located on the mountainside, was a small spring around which a small village had formed long ago.

But at some point, the spring water began to dry up, and the villagers started leaving. Now only the name Tae Hwa-cheon remains in this place.

Woon-hwi crouched down near the completely dried spring and grabbed a handful of dirt with his hand.

He slowly felt it, then grabbed a handful of new dirt.

Human movements reveal many things, but not as much as the passage of time reveals.

No matter how much one tries to hide it.

No matter how much one tries to erase all traces.

If high-level poison that affects the nature of the natural world is used continuously, not just once or twice, one must handle the aftermath as thoroughly as the usage itself.

Diligence is basic, but since it’s ultimately human work, there can’t be no mistakes.

There’s a faint smell of poison.

“Manager Seong.”

“Yes, Young Master.”

“When did the spring water here start drying up?”

“About 15 years ago.”

15 years.

It’s definitely not a short time.

But right now, Woon-hwi felt the aura of poison from these piles of dirt.

It has nothing to do with why the spring dried up. This is, after all, an aura remaining in the ‘earth veins.’

“It seems they experimented for about 2 years at the shortest, 3 years at the longest.”

“…Didn’t they start 15 years ago?”

“No.”

Woon-hwi stood up.

“The experiment lasted at most 3 years, but they established the site 15 years ago. In such Central Plains outskirts… truly diligent.”

“…”

“Ju So-ah.”

“Yes?”

“When we return to the branch office, go to Jang Seok and have him find out about places like this Tae Hwa-cheon – former springs that have now completely dried up and are no longer visited by people.”

“What’s the range?”

“Near Yang Ling-ju, and at most up to Geonkon Castle.”

“Understood.”

Woon-hwi silently headed toward the thickly wooded area.

Below that place, there weren’t ordinary dirt or such things, but traces of a mechanism formation.

Should I say they had arranged stone blocks in a crossed pattern?

As Saeng-dong had told him, Woon-hwi knocked on the left part of the stone blocks five times based on their position, then knocked on the right part three times.

Rumble.

With a roar, a ‘door’ began to open from below the thicket.

It was the secret laboratory of Poison Snake Valley.

“Let’s go in.”

Woon-hwi took the lead first.

* * *

The first Poisoner was just a few steps away from the entrance. He looked at Woon-hwi with wide eyes, showing no sign of surprise.

He was different from ordinary people. Pale skin, bluish-tinged blood vessels, and eyes with vertically split pupils.

“Ah, a guest has arrived. But who…? There was no word from the valley that someone was coming…”

Before his words could finish, Woon-hwi’s True Heavenly Command Sword pierced through his neck.

Thunk.

The excessively long sword penetrated his neck and pierced through to the wall on the other side.

“Kuk… Kuhuk…?”

Black blood flowing from his neck dripped down the sword blade.

He slowly withdrew the sword. Woon-hwi looked down at the collapsing Poisoner for a moment, then silently moved forward.

After passing through a narrow corridor, a wide space opened up.

Blue lights hung from the ceiling, and strange patterns were drawn on the walls – a bizarre space.

Anyone could see it was a laboratory.

The smell of poison rising from everywhere. An unpleasant aura that touched the skin as well as the sense of smell and sensation.

Walking like this, Woon-hwi’s group was able to discover.

Dozens of small cells built inside the basement and about five Poisoners wandering around the vicinity.

Those poisoners only glanced once at the outsiders who had arrived and continued with their own tasks.

Anyone could see they were completely insane, not in their right minds.

Those encountering this bizarre situation for the first time couldn’t help but blink and panic, but Woon-hwi was different.

He had seen it countless times before.

Those obsessed with a particular field tend to drift far from normalcy, but these people went beyond that—they were individuals poisoned by countless toxins.

They shouldn’t be considered the same as ordinary people.

Woon-hwi spoke quietly.

“Kill them all.”

And.

“Be careful not to touch their blood.”

Those who nodded began rushing forward.

In an instant, three poisoners had their heads severed, and two poisoners began to respond, but when Manager Seong forcefully threw a sword and a hidden dagger.

Kwaang-!

With a thunderous sound, they were pinned directly to the wall.

The poisoner pierced by the sword couldn’t break free, but the one pierced by the hidden dagger was different. Despite the dagger embedded in his solar plexus, he kicked off from his position and began charging toward Woon-hwi.

Before he could even reach Woon-hwi, a sword swept across his head.

It was Ju So-ah.

Swoosh-!

Black blood spurted like a fountain along with the poisoner’s head. Ju So-ah frowned and kicked the poisoner’s chest with her back foot, sending him flying back in the direction where the dagger was embedded.

Ju So-ah’s expression was not good.

“…Was the Origin Blood Sect this bad? This is worse than the old Thousand Year Demon Cult, isn’t it?”

Woon-hwi shook his head.

“It’s not the Origin Blood Sect, it’s Poison Snake Valley.”

“…Can those two really be separated?”

“They can. The Origin Blood Sect and Poison Snake Valley, and the Origin Blood Sect and Cheon Do-ja—on the surface they may look like one entity that can’t be separated, but if you want to separate them, you can.”

Ju So-ah tilted her head.

What was he talking about.

Woon-hwi had no intention of explaining at length.

In any case, the experiments they had conducted were to create Dok-hon-che.

It wasn’t simply injecting poison into a pregnant mother’s fetus, but injecting poison, recording the process, checking what effects occurred through qi, and confirming through dissection as well.

All of this was recorded in detail, and Woon-hwi could say with certainty.

This alone would be more than enough to be treated as a public enemy in Murim.

No, it wasn’t just at the level of public enemy—war could break out.

Woon-hwi placed the documents on the floor and looked around. The walls were filled with shelves, packed tightly with scrolls and manuals.

On one side, glass bottles were lined up in rows, containing unknown liquids along with organs of bizarre shapes.

“There should be a two-year-old child. Find them.”

The Branch Members scattered and began searching the experiment lab, and Woon-hwi also began walking in that direction.

The number of rooms was about a hundred.

At a glance, one could tell that considerable effort had been put into creating this space.

He silently examined the solitary cells. A horrific scene unfolded.

Each room had beds lined up in rows, and there were countless corpses there. From their protruding bellies, they were clearly pregnant mothers, but their stomachs were split open, black blood covered the entire room, and the smell was terrible.

No more poisoners appeared, and among the pregnant mothers in the rooms, none were alive either.

“My lord, I found them.”

At Won Yang’s voice from the most secluded cell, Woon-hwi approached that direction.

As Woon-hwi approached, Won Yang said.

“…But something seems… wrong…”

It made sense for him to say this.

First of all, inside that room blocked by iron bars, there were a total of ‘two corpses.’

One was a child who appeared to be about two years old with black skin, and the other was a poisoner.

The poisoner’s chest was completely torn apart, and the child’s mouth was full of blood.

It was simple.

Even poisoners weren’t ordinary humans, so what about Dok-hon-che?

Even if it was a child, becoming Dok-hon-che meant having tremendous aggression.

Woon-hwi could almost see the situation that had unfolded here.

The Dok-hon-che attacked a poisoner who came to extract something from them, the poison contained in the Dok-hon-che overwhelmed the poisoner, and the Dok-hon-che died from the technique the poisoner instinctively unleashed before dying.

There was no other answer.

“…Young Master, what will you do?”

Woon-hwi hadn’t predicted this situation either.

He had planned to secure the Dok-hon-che first, and if possible, treat them as well.

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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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