Chapter 37: Chapter 37
Manhwa: Chapter 26
"Keuk!"
Pyo-wol stopped his laughter and vomited blood.
The blood reddened his chest and stomach. The excruciating pain continued on, but Pyo-wol didn't care.
He was in a very good mood now.
It was because he threw the spark of strife between the Qingcheng and the Emei sect. It didn't matter whether the two sects would fight a blood-splattering war or suturing awkwardly.
No matter what the outcome would be, it will be impossible to go back to their amiable relationship.
This was his revenge for the Emei sect, who mocked his fate.
He didn't feel sorry for the Qingcheng sect.
There are no innocent people among those living in Jianghu. Everyone would commit a sin in one way or another as they live by dominating over others.
The Qingcheng sect also could not get out of that category.
So he didn't regret it. He didn't even feel guilty.
"Kukuku!"
At the sight of Pyo-wol, who was grinning even in his horribly ruined state, Mu Jeong-jin's eyebrows rose to the sky.
'We must immediately get rid of him.'
He felt afraid of Pyo-Wol.
Simply speaking, assassins such as Pyo-wol did not possess any fear. More than his martial arts, Pyo-wol had a quality that stimulated people's fear.
It was his first time he had ever seen a person with such features.
That was then.
"Master, are you okay?"
"Sabaek!"
The disciples of the Qingcheng sect, including Qing Ming, ran towards Mu Jeong-jin.
They were full of wounds as they broke through the trap triggered by Pyo-wol. Anger appeared on the face of Mu Jeong-jinin as he looked at them. Because some of the disciples were not present.
"Why are there missing children?"
"I apologize. We fell into his trap and some lost their lives."
Mu Jeong-jin closed his eyes tightly at Qing Ming's answer.
After a while, when he opened his eyes again, pressure seemed to overflow. It felt so frightening that Jeonghwa and the rest of the Emei disciples retreated back at once.
Mu Jeong-jin, who looked at Pyo-wol for a moment, grabbed his ankle. And began to drag him somewhere.
"A comfortable death for you is a luxury. You must suffer and die in pain worse than hell to atone for those who have been killed by you."
His cold voice pierced Pyo-wol's ears.
'Atonement? Are you kidding me? Then who will compensate me for the seven years that ruined my life?'
Pyo-wol snorted.
He had his back collapsed, broken and torn on the floor. Still, the reason why he didn't feel any pain was because he had already suffered a greater wound.
Mu Jeong-jin dragged Pyo-wol and headed to the residence of the instructors. To be precise, it was the abode of Lim Sayeol.
The disciples of the Qingcheng sect hurriedly followed Mu Jeong-jin.
Yong Seol-ran said to Jeonghwa.
"Aren't we supposed to follow him too?"
"Are you crazy? Do you know what kind of anger we're going to receive if we follow them? We need to get out of here."
"The situation will not be resolved if we run away like this. It might be better to be honest and ask for a conversation."
"What nonsense are you talking about? Do you know what we have done? All we can do is fight to the end. Do you have any evidence other than the letter?"
"But—"
"Master will be the one to decide. Don't talk anymore. Let's go!" Read latest chapters at nov(e)lbin.com Only
Jeonghwa led the disciples and climbed the rope.
Yong Seol-ran was the last to go. She looked in the direction where Pyo-wol disappeared.
"Huu..."
She soon climbed up the rope leaving only a small sigh.
Mu Jeong-jin said to Qing Ming.
"You too, take your disciples and go out."
"Pardon? But..."
"If those bastards cut the rope that leads to the outside, we're going to end up isolated here. So hurry up and stop that situation from happening."
"Understood!"
Qing Ming answered with a firm expression on his face.
He went straight up to the ground with some of his disciples.
The place where Mu Jeong-jin took Pyo-wol was the newly discovered space beyond the collapsed wall of Lim Sayeol's residence.
His spirit grew clearer as the pain felt more vivid.
Pyo-wol became unable to both live or die. He just suffered from the countless snake bites.
His face and body became swollen from snake venom.
He wanted to scream as much as he could. But the moment he opened his mouth wide, the fear that a snake might crawl into his throat made his teeth clench.
Pyo-wol thought desperately.
'If I go on like this, I will die.'
Even though his body was resistant to poison, he was still human.
He couldn't stand the poison being injected indiscriminately.
His body had already reached its limit.
If a snake bites anymore than this, it is clear that his body will be out of balance and he would end up dying.
So before that happens, he had to figure out a way.
At that moment, the first thing that popped into his head was the first snake that bit him in the underground room. Back then he couldn't even guess where the snake came from, but it seemed like it probably escaped from this pit.
The snake was perfectly adapted to the darkness.
'I have to adapt like that snake.'
Similarly with how the small snake adapted to the darkness in order to live, Pyo-wol had to adapt to the snake den in order survive.
'I have to think like a snake, breathe like a snake, and move like a snake. That's the only way to survive.'
Quak!
Again, he felt pain in his ankle. Another snake has bitten his ankle.
There was no area where his body was not full of snake-bite marks. Wherever the snake bites the area becomes undoubtedly swollen.
Having a painful area was actually fine. The most unbearable part for him was the itchy area. Some poisons caused an unbearable itching layer.
It would have been better if he could scratch it with his hand, but it was clear that moving his body even a little bit would irritate the snakes, so he had no choice but to grit his teeth and put up with it.
Pyo-wol held his breath.
Simply weakening his breathing was not enough.
He had to breathe like a snake.
Pyo-wol tried to feel the snake's breath with his eyes closed.
It would have been normally impossible.
But now it soon became possible.
Because Pyo-wol's spirit was clearer than ever.
His body, which was seriously injured and suffered from various snake venoms, was unable to move like a stone statue, so his senses were more sensitive than usual.
Sreuk! Srreuk!
Countless snakes wrapped around him, and a terrifying sound echoed.
Some of them choked Pyo-wol's neck, while the smaller ones tried to enter the body through Pyo-wol's nostrils and ears.
Fortunately, such an incident did not happen, but for Pyo-wol, it was a horrifying xperience.
"Ssss–!"
A voice resembling a snake came out of Pyo-wol's mouth.
As he forcibly tried to breathe like a snake, a similar sound came out.
In an instant, the snakes covering Pyo-wol's body responded to his voice.
He looked like he was thinking of something.
Not just one or two, but tens of thousands of snakes having its head raised up close would be terrifying.
But Pyo-wol didn't even think of that.
It was because he had his eyes closed and his whole mind was focused on breathing like a snake.
In the meantime, he had his body bitten several more times.
Now that his body has reached its limit, his breathing became even more ragged. Still, Pyo-wol desperately tried to imitate the snake's breath.
He didn't know how much time had passed.
At some point, Pyo-wol's breathing stabilized.
Ssss!
The sound of a snake's breath was coming out of his mouth. It wasn't perfect, but it was able to somehow imitate a snake's breath.
Snakes breathe differently from humans.
Whereas humans breathe by inhaling and exhaling all of the air in their lungs, snakes always leave about half of the air in the lungs.
By leaving extra air in the lungs, they were able to hold their breath for much longer.
Pyo-wol also found out about that fact while imitating the breath of a snake.
The more he knew about the snake, the more amazing he found the creature was. There were no body parts that were useless to snakes. The reptile was specialized in survival.
He thought it was exactly the same as him.
Strong patience and stamina, as well as tenacity and venom were the snake's characteristics that were similar to him.
His fear of snakes disappeared. Even as he was buried in an insurmountable number of snakes, he did not feel any discomfort.
Pyo-wol soon fell asleep comfortably for the first time buried in a number of snakes.