Chapter 340: To Offer (1)

“From now on, let me handle this.”

The one pressing down on the back of the head of the squirming Tang Clan Leader Tang In-hae, whose face was buried in the ground, was none other than Mok Gyeong-un.

At his words, Moo-jin nodded and stepped back.

Anyway, since his trust in the Tang Clan Leader Tang In-hae had fallen, he had no desire to continue the conversation.

Moreover…

‘I need to stabilize myself.’

Although Mok Gyeong-un had controlled the demonic energy, the strange evil nature remaining in his heart continued to hinder his recovery, and the wound in his heart hadn’t healed yet, causing a stinging sensation with each breath.

It seemed he needed to urgently expel the evil nature from his body.

As Moo-jin stepped back, Mok Gyeong-un, who had been pressing down on Tang In-hae’s head, signaled to someone with his eyes.

It was Seop Chun.

With quick wit, Seop Chun understood Mok Gyeong-un’s intention with just a glance.

-Creak!

Approaching the carriage Tang In-hae had been riding, Seop Chun’s eyes glinted as he opened the door.

Inside the carriage, along with several boxes containing weapons, hidden weapons, and poison materials, a woman with elegant features and short hair was sleeping.

-Swish!

‘She’s not asleep?’

Seop Chun, who checked her pulse, could tell that her acupuncture points had been suppressed.

He was about to release them immediately, but for now, he carried her out.

“My lord. There were weapons, poison materials, and this woman inside.”

“I see.”

“I don’t know who she is. Judging from the fact that she was put into a coma by suppressing her acupuncture points, it seems they didn’t have a very friendly relationship.”

“Acupuncture points…”

-Thud!

Soon, Mok Gyeong-un removed his hand from the head he had been pressing down on.

Wriggling and struggling, Tang Clan Leader Tang In-hae raised his head.

His face, covered in countless sand fragments and blood, gnashed his teeth and tried to twist his body.

However…

-Thud!

“Ugh!”

Mok Gyeong-un kicked his shoulder and pressed down on him, causing him to fail.

To the immobilized Tang In-hae, Mok Gyeong-un spoke.

“From what I heard earlier, it seems you roughly know who I am, so we can skip the introductions.”

“…”

At the calm voice, Tang Clan Leader Tang In-hae’s mind became complicated.

Where did things go wrong?

He had contemplated for a long time, so there were no flaws in his plan.

There were no disruptive factors, so why was this bastard still alive?

It was utterly incomprehensible.

At that moment, Mok Gyeong-un asked him,

“Who is she?”

“…”

“That woman you were trying to take with you, even suppressing her acupuncture points.”

“…”

“Keeping your mouth shut doesn’t seem like a good choice. There’s no one left to protect you anymore.”

‘Protect?’

-Gnash!

At Mok Gyeong-un’s words, Tang Clan Leader Tang In-hae gnashed his teeth.

How did he end up being told about protection?

As one of the Eight Stars considered the top masters of the martial arts world and the leader of a martial clan, it was too humiliating to suffer such insults.

He wanted to tear this bastard’s limbs apart and kill him for trampling on his pride.

However, he gritted his teeth even harder and suppressed his urge to vent his anger.

Getting angry here wouldn’t solve the problem.

He had to maintain his composure as much as possible to create an opportunity.

Moreover…

‘I still have that.’

The Formless Poison, the symbol of the Sichuan Tang Clan and considered the most perfect poison.

Not much of it remained, but there was still enough to use the secret technique.

Furthermore, this bastard had been exposed to the Formless Poison when he collided with Tang In-hae’s palm.

Despite his profound internal energy, he hadn’t directly detoxified it and seemed to be enduring it for now, but he would soon realize the true terror of the Formless Poison.

‘Even Jang Mun-no, who raised you, died in agony.’

Do you think you’ll be any different?

Soon, you’ll be crawling on the ground, begging for your life.

Of course, there was no way to save him.

The Formless Poison was a lethal poison with no antidote, so once poisoned, it was the end.

At that moment, Mok Gyeong-un spoke.

“That’s right. It would have been quite disappointing if you had surrendered too easily.”

“…”

“I feel like I need to make my grandfather proud by making all sorts of sounds come out of that mouth of yours.”

-Swish!

Mok Gyeong-un turned his head and signaled with his eyes to the heretic monk Ja Geum-jeong, who was sitting on the driver’s seat of the carriage they had ridden.

“Heheh.”

Ja Geum-jeong took a sip from his gourd and opened the carriage door.

Then, someone stepped out from inside.

It was an elderly woman, none other than the Holy Fire Priestess.

‘!?’

At the Holy Fire Priestess’s appearance, the eyes of Tang In-hae, who had been keeping his mouth shut, wavered.

How was that woman here?

As far as he knew, the Holy Fire Priestess was supposed to be imprisoned in the Palace’s Gold Jade Prison.

But why was she with them?

At that moment…

“Song, my Song-ah!”

the Holy Fire Priestess, upon spotting Ye Song-ah in Seop Chun’s arms, shouted with teary eyes.

On the way here, she had only been thinking about her granddaughter.

But seeing her granddaughter unconscious, she was about to rush over with a worried heart.

However…

“Old nun, stay put.”

The heretic monk Ja Geum-jeong blocked her from going.

This was because Mok Gyeong-un had shaken his head.

the Holy Fire Priestess raised her voice and shouted.

“Young Master Mok! My granddaughter, why is my granddaughter like that? Could it be…”

“Her acupuncture points have been suppressed, so calm down.”

“Acupuncture points?”

“You can think of it as her being unconscious.”

Seop Chun informed her that her granddaughter was safe.

At those words, the Holy Fire Priestess turned her head with an incomprehensible expression and spoke to the Tang Clan Leader Tang In-hae.

“Clan Leader Tang. What in the world is going on?”

At her question, Tang Clan Leader Tang In-hae gritted his teeth without answering.

He had heard that as a key figure of the Fire Faith Order, she would never be released from the Palace’s Gold Jade Prison until her death, but this bastard had even taken her out, so he seemed to have made up his mind.

Mok Gyeong-un said to him,

“I had a hunch, but she really was the Holy Fire Priestess’s granddaughter.”

“…”

“What a peculiar person you are. The one who abandoned his clan members and tried to flee as soon as I appeared thought of taking the Holy Fire Priestess’s granddaughter with him.”

“…”

“There must be a special reason for trying to take the granddaughter with you. What could that reason be?”

“…”

“Well, of course, you won’t say. And…”

As he looked at the Holy Fire Priestess, she also avoided eye contact with Mok Gyeong-un, her eyes trembling.

Seeing their attitudes, the corners of Mok Gyeong-un’s mouth twitched.

It was a simple gesture, but through this, Mok Gyeong-un could infer one fact.

“I already had a feeling that the Holy Fire Priestess was hiding something more from me. I was pondering what it could be, but I found the answer.”

At Mok Gyeong-un’s words, the Holy Fire Priestess couldn’t help but feel restless.

She became anxious, wondering if he had noticed that.

Then, Mok Gyeong-un spoke.

“I don’t know if it’s because of bloodline or some other reason, but the foresight ability you lost… It seems your granddaughter inherited it.”

‘!!!!!’

At those words, the Holy Fire Priestess was so surprised that she couldn’t hide her bewilderment.

She had desperately kept this hidden above all else.

In fact, among the members of the Fire Faith Order, no one knew that she had lost her ability and that it had been transferred to her granddaughter.

She had kept it hidden until the end, knowing that if it became known that the ability had been transferred, her granddaughter would become a target.

But this man was truly terrifying.

His insight to infer the truth from just a few circumstances was too outstanding.

“Young Master Mok. That’s…”

“Shh. Stay quiet.”

-Grip!

“Ugh!”

Mok Gyeong-un pressed down harder on Tang Clan Leader Tang In-hae’s back and spoke.

“You abandoned your clan members, but you cherished the one with foresight ability enough to try to take her with you at any cost, right?”

“…”

“Impressive.”

‘What?’

“I’ve met quite a few people while coming down from the mountain to find the real culprit, but you’re the first one whose greed is so outstanding.”

“…”

“Originally, I was thinking of peeling off the skin of the Tang Clan’s family members one by one in front of you or the Holy Fire Priestess, neatly spreading their flesh, and then extracting their bones piece by piece and grinding them up…”

-Shudder!

“Y-You bastard, what nonsense are you spewing!”

Unable to keep his mouth shut any longer, Tang In-hae spoke out in disbelief.

How could such chilling words come out of a human’s mouth?

No matter how much of an enemy he was for killing the grandfather who raised him, it was hard to endure.

“Ah… I thought it might be a waste of time since you seem quite selfishly greedy, but I guess that’s not the case. I can give you enough suffering.”

“Are you truly insane? How can a human mouth utter such words that even beasts wouldn’t…”

-Crack!

“Aaargh!”

Before he could finish speaking, a scream burst out of Tang In-hae’s mouth along with the sound of bones breaking.

It seemed that the right rib Mok Gyeong-un was stepping on had broken.

As he was suffering, Mok Gyeong-un removed his foot from Tang In-hae’s back.

This caught Tang In-hae’s attention.

‘What?’

Why did he take his foot off his back?

It was one of the main acupuncture points, and although he was being pressed down by overwhelming martial power, he had been enduring it intentionally, waiting for the Formless Poison to spread.

-Thud!

“Ugh!”

At that moment, Mok Gyeong-un kicked him, and his body was involuntarily raised.

Holding the area around his broken rib, Tang In-hae straightened his posture and looked at Mok Gyeong-un.

‘Huh?’

Mok Gyeong-un was standing with his hands behind his back, looking very arrogant.

It was as if he was looking at a lowly being, no, a crawling insect.

Feeling extremely unpleasant, Mok Gyeong-un opened his mouth.

“Try it.”

“What?”

“I wasn’t pressing down that hard, but since you’ve been forcibly enduring it and constantly looking for an opportunity, consider this my last act of mercy.”

“Mercy?”

-Gnash!

At the mention of showing mercy, Tang In-hae’s face twisted terribly.

He was so infuriated.

Even though Mok Gyeong-un possessed martial arts comparable to the Six Heavens, to humiliate him like this…

Moreover, in front of the Eight Poison Snake Staff Guyang Sa-oh, who could be considered his arch-rival.

-Clap! -Rumble!

Unable to endure any longer, Tang In-hae assumed a stance and drew upon the poisonous energy of the Formless Poison Technique.

The bastard would die from the Formless Poison soon, but he had changed his mind.

He would make that moment come even faster.

At that moment, Guyang Sa-oh, wearing the Human Skin Mask, shouted at Mok Gyeong-un,

“Young Master Mok! You must never collide with him! The Formless Poison has no antidote, so create some distance…”

“Too late!”

-Whoosh!

Tang Clan Leader Tang In-hae leaped forward.

The Formless Poison Technique wasn’t simply about creating distance, as there were secret techniques to deal with distant enemies as well.

One of them was the Circular Luxuriant Poison Formation^[10]…

-Swish!

‘!?’

At that moment.

Tang In-hae’s body suddenly fell forward.

Even though he wanted to regain his posture, he couldn’t…

-Slice!

His thighs were split open, and his two legs were severed from his body.

With his legs cut off, Tang In-hae fell forward, and in his agony, he looked at Mok Gyeong-un with disbelief.

Just moments ago, he had talked about giving him a final chance to fight, even touching his pride, so what the .... was this?

But then, Tang In-hae’s expression froze.

Through his eyes, he could see Mok Gyeong-un laughing with a chilling face.

“Y-You bastard?”

“Ah. Sorry about that. Seeing your dumbfounded expression made me laugh.”

“You clearly said you’d give me a chance…”

“A chance?”

“Yes. But why in this way…”

“You’re asking why I suddenly cut off your legs? Don’t tell me you’re asking because you don’t know.”

“What?”

Mok Gyeong-un stopped laughing and spoke in a cold voice.

“I’m toying with you right now.”