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Chapter 85
Chapter 85: At the end of where the Monster’s Tail lies(1)
Translator: hwarang
Editor: Kidyeon
People with several different levels of ki were surrounding the building. Some seemed weak, while others seemed strong.
Some of them even seemed to have an extremely large amount of ki—much more than I’d expected anyone to have when I first arrived. However, I could sense that this was all artificial, and that they would do anything when the order was given.
This was the first time in a while that I’d felt this tense.
It wasn’t because they outnumbered me, nor was it because they were strong. It wouldn’t be that hard to wipe them out either. It was because of the Devil’s Spirit Pill of No Regret.
An item that I’d thought to be eradicated was now right before my eyes. And here they were, using it to build an army. Seeing that such an evil item has appeared, the situation is much worse than I expected.
Up to this point I’d been able to play with my opponents and test out my strength. However, now I needed to get serious.
From what I could tell, this was just the tail of this monster.
There was no way that Chu Do Chi had been able to get enough Devil’s Spirit Pill of No Regrets to raise this force with.
Was this just the tail? No, what if it wasn’t the tail, but was just a single whisker?
“He must be scared.”
I affirmed something when he spoke.
At first, I’d decided to get rid of them the moment I saw the Devil’s Spirit Pill of No Regrets, since it truly was a dangerous item. I could get rid of them with the White Crane Art of King Shura.
However, I decided not to.
I needed to learn who their backers were.
Yes, I need to act scared so that they’d lower their guard. And when they lowered their guard, I’d be able to see their weakness.
“Hmph! Do I really look scared?” Although I said it in a loud voice, my voice trembled slightly.
I could approach them first, but if that didn’t work I could always just kill them.
With a grim expression, I asked, “Can I eat this Great Firmament Pill?”
Because I had a Poison Immune Physique, the Devil’s Spirit Pill of No Regret would be useless against me, as it was created using poisons. Unfortunately, it also meant that I wouldn’t receive the energy within the pill.
Seeing that he had the upper hand, Chu Do Chi said, “You should’ve eaten it before you killed my subordinates.”
“I can do their share of work as well.”
“What?”
“Wouldn’t it help you if you were able to recruit an expert like me?”
“You’re a prideful one I see. Do you think that you’re skilled enough to make us beg you to work for us? Do you honestly think that we’re that weak?”
“If you weren’t that weak you wouldn’t be doing this, right? Alright, let’s speak truthfully. I can guarantee that to kill me, more than half of your subordinates will die. I can also guarantee that you’ll die.”
I didn’t get any response from him, as he knew how skilled I was from when I’d killed his subordinates.
“Let’s say that you kill me. What will you say to your superiors? That some crazy bastard had wiped out more than half of your men? Would your superior really like that?”
Since I was telling the truth, Chu Do Chi was silent.
“I honestly don’t want to die in a place like this.” I showed a sign of weakness.
Chu Do Chi made his decision after a moment. “Take off your hat.”
I took off my straw hat.
When I’d killed Yeom Hwa, I’d had a face alteration mask on. I’d decided from the start that I would use an ultimate tier face alteration mask whenever I took on the mantle “Nameless Warrior” so that no one would be able to figure out that I was wearing a face alteration mask.
Chu Do Chi looked down towards the Devil’s Spirit Pill of No Regret I was holding.
“Eat the Great Firmament Pill.”
“Alright.”
I ate the Devil’s Spirit Pill of No Regret, then began to circulate my cultivation technique.
Wooo...
It looked like I was absorbing the energy from it, but no one was able to tell whether or not I was actually absorbing its energy.
When the Devil’s Spirit Pill of No Regret had dissolved in my stomach, I smiled and said, “Oh! It really is the Great Firmament Pill. I really did gain thirty years of energy from it.”
Chu Do Chi tossed the remaining two Devil’s Spirit Pills towards me and said, “You should take these two as well.”
“Are you serious? There’s no reason for you to treat me so nicely.” I made sure to sound suspicious when I spoke.
“Since things have become this way, make sure to serve me loyally.”
After pretending to look at him suspiciously, I ate the other two.
I didn’t know whether or not he’d taken these himself, but there was one thing I knew for sure: He knew that this was the Devil’s Spirit Pill.
He was taking revenge on me for killing his subordinates by making me eat three. He only wanted me to live a single year, as I wouldn’t be of use to him if I lived too long.
And it was also a good excuse he could tell his superior. He could tell them that I’d eaten all three due to my greed, thus I could only be used for one year.
After pretending to absorb all three, he checked my ki level. After doing so, he believed that I’d gained ninety years of energy from the pills, as I had more than a hundred years worth of energy already.
Chu Do Chi said, “Don’t try anything funny, those pills had some poison in them.”
“Understood.”
“You’re not surprised?”
“I somewhat expected this. There was no way that you’d give me such a thing for free.”
“Not bad. Follow me.”
I followed him outside as the crowd made way for us.
I didn’t lower my guard as I followed Chu Do Chi.
***
The speeding carriage came to a stop.
“Did you know that the people in the Kang Ho call you ‘Lord Nameless Warrior’?”
“I guess it somehow came to be. However, I don’t like being called ‘Lord’.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because I might not be able to live up to their expectations. I’m someone who doesn’t do anything that might be disadvantageous to me.”
“I’ve heard that you also threatened the Heavenly Dao Gate?”
“That was because I was in the moment and people were staring at me. I simply had a score to settle with the Decimator.”
“Hoho. So you’re a fake then.”
“Being called a fake is pretty harsh.”
Chu Do Chi grinned.
I continued, “Isn’t the difference between being known as a ‘righteous lord’ and being called one a minute difference? If I say such things I might be a righteous lord, but if I do said things then I’m not.”
I was saying things like this so that I’d lower his suspicion of me. I’d spoken as if I didn’t respect righteous people, but I do. Although I’m not a righteous person, I try my best to live like one.
A righteous lord is someone who never does things for his own benefit. He’ll go so far as to sacrifice himself, just so that he can help another. That was why it was much harder to become a righteous lord than an expert.
***
The place that we arrived at was somewhere north of Bang Sung, in a place called Jung Ju.
When we entered Jung Ju, Chu Do Chi placed a piece of wool over my eyes.
When he did, I used all of my senses to memorize where the carriage was going: How fast we were moving, when we made a turn, even the feeling of the road. I even memorized the sounds around us as we moved.
I heard a door open, followed by the carriage coming to a halt. We’d entered some sort of building.
“Get off.”
With my eyes still covered, I followed Chu Do Chi.
At some point, we stopped in an area, which then began moving downwards. It seems that it’s some sort of pulley.
Wooong!
I could tell that it had been created by a master craftsman, as there was hardly any movement as we descended.
We came to a stop after descending for quite a while.
This time, we walked through a long corridor, but I could feel the presence of something. It wasn’t a person’s presence, but the movements of more pulley systems.
There were... one, two, three, four. A total of four pulley systems were installed here.
The only reason I could tell was because there had been several pulleys in the Mengju’s pavilion.
After a while, we entered another corridor that didn’t seem to have any pulleys. However, this time I sensed the presence of people.
Experts!
There were experts on both sides of the corridor. I didn’t know what their skills were, but I could tell that they were just as strong as Sim Hwang. There were eighteen of them present.
But that wasn’t it. I could also sense a large amount of ki coming from a corridor to the left. If it was coming from a person, then that person was a supreme expert.
I also felt a weird presence from a room close to that one. Although it wasn’t as strong as the first, it was exceptionally cold.
What are these people doing?
Who would’ve thought that these things would await me when I followed Chu Do Chi.
After that, we entered a room and he took off my blindfold. Since the room was pretty dark, I was able to regain my sight pretty quickly.
There was someone sitting in a chair in front of me.
Looking closely, I was able to see that it was a naked man.
This was the first time that I’d seen this man, but I knew that he wasn’t the person I was here to see.
His eyes were full of fear.
After a moment, he began panting and lost control of his breath.
When I looked towards Chu Do Chi, I saw that he was just watching the scene.
The man started turning red, then began to shake and scream.
He looked extremely miserable. I could tell that he was participating in some sort of experiment, but I wasn’t in a situation where I could help him.
Who was tormenting him like this?
After a minute or so, he stopped moving as blood started to pour out of all seven of his orifices.
When he died, the room lit up. I could tell that the creator of this place had a significant amount of funding.
A man in his thirties entered through a door that was different than the one I’d entered. He had a skinny physique and an ordinary look. Something seemed suspicious, as there was no way a person that looked as ordinary as him would be in a place like this.
The man didn’t even look at us as he went and examined the corpse. He didn’t seem to mind getting blood on his hands and clothing.
“Failure again.” He mumbled.
The waved his hand for me to come forward, and Chu Do Chi gave me the go ahead look.
I approached him slowly, releasing an appropriate amount of ki in an attempt to read his ki.
I was able to observe his cultivation level, as his martial art wasn’t strong. However, he had a different sensation than most others.
“How is it?”
“What do you mean?”
“How does this corpse make you feel.”
Very brutal.
“I don’t feel anything from it.”
“Interesting. Then how about me?” He paused.
I was certain that the person in front of me was the man who’d given Chu Do Chi his orders, but who was he?
“I want to beat you up.”
As soon as I said this, Chu Do Chi yelled from behind, “Watch what you say!”
However, the man didn’t seem angry. Rather, he seemed to have taken a deeper interest in me.
“Definitely a crazy person.”
“I’m not crazy.”
“I heard that you ate three Devil’s Spirit Pill of No Regret all by yourself. You’re definitely crazy.”
“Devil’s Spirit Pill of No Regret?” I asked, as if I didn’t know what it was. I was pretty surprised that he’d personally said the name.
“Now you only have one year of life left.”
I widened my eye like I was surprised. Half of it was an act, while the other half was for real. Why would he tell me such a secret?
“You can only live for seven years after eating one Devil’s Spirit Pill of No Regret, with two you can only live three, and with three you’ll only have a single year left.”
I stared at Chu Do Chi, “Is this true?”
He nodded.
I continued, “Before I die, I’ll definitely kill you.”
My killing intent was so strong that it made Chu Do Chi retreat a couple of steps.
Then the man said, “But I have an antidote for it.”
I turned my head back towards the man and said, “Are you for real?”
“How about it? Do you want to live?”
“Of course I want to live.”
I knew that this man was a master of manipulation. He’d told me everything truthfully—except for one thing. There was no antidote for the Devil’s Spirit Pill.
If there was one, Kang Ho would’ve been in the hand of the Demon Sect already.
If it had been someone else, they would’ve believed his words, as this was a place that did all sort of experiments. Especially someone who’d just been told that they had only a few more years to live.
You can fool everyone else, but you can never fool me.
Alright, if you want to do it this way, then I’ll dance to the tone of your music.
I’ll find out how you make the Devil’s Spirit Pill, and who your backer is.
“What must I do to live?”
“Simply do as I say.”
“Then let me say this: I don’t kill unless they are a person of evil.”
“There are many evil people that I must kill.”
“Who are you?”
He smiled and revealed his name, “I am called Ma Ryung In.”
Who would’ve thought that I would meet one of the Heavenly Dao Gate’s successors here?
Why is he here?
He was much different than the person I’d heard of in the rumors. He seems much more cynical than what I’ve heard of.
With this I, sensed that I’d finally caught the tail of the monster.
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