Chapter 644: If He Dies, War is Inevitable

TL: FoodieMonster007

So Cheongrak was making his rounds in the medical ward again today, flanked by physicians. He moved between patients, examining their conditions, prescribing medicine, and setting their bones.

"Thank you, physician!"

The patients' eyes were filled with respect as they looked at him. They genuinely treated So Cheongrak like a god.

Just then, a voice came from behind them.

"Do you happen to remember me?"

When So Cheongrak and the physicians turned around, they saw Geom Mugeuk standing there.

"You treated my brother, didn't you?" Geom Mugeuk asked.

"I remember," So Cheongrak replied.

"I was worried you might not remember, since you have so many patients."

"It's hard to forget someone like you."

Geom Mugeuk laughed.

"Right? It would be hard to forget such a handsome patient's guardian."

The physicians standing beside So Cheongrak looked dumbfounded, while the patients and their guardians laughed.

"How is your brother?" So Cheongrak asked.

"He's already walking around like he's fully healed. He'll probably get poisoned again at this rate."

Geom Mugeuk could tell from the way So Cheongrak's eyes quickly scanned him.

He was checking to see if Geom Mugeuk had been detoxified.

Both the Poison King and So Cheongrak were masters capable of discerning one's condition with just a look.

"What brings you here?" So Cheongrak inquired.

"You treated my brother, how could I just leave? So I've prepared a gift."

Geom Mugeuk took a small pouch from his robes and held it out.

"Please accept this as a token of my sincerity."

So Cheongrak glanced at the pouch Geom Mugeuk offered.

"That's alright."

"It's just a cheap thing I bought at the market, but it's a gift filled with my sincerity."

"It's my principle not to accept anything from patients."

"This makes my hand feel very awkward," Geom Mugeuk said.

A physician standing nearby addressed Geom Mugeuk.

"The physician is busy, so it would be best if you came back later."

"Then at least take a look at what the gift is."

Before anyone could stop him, Geom Mugeuk opened the pouch.

In that instant.

PUFF.

White smoke burst out of the pouch, spreading in all directions in an instant.

The next moment, something astonishing happened.

Not only the physicians, but all the patients and their guardians slumped over and collapsed.

It all happened in the blink of an eye. The only ones left standing were Geom Mugeuk and So Cheongrak.

"What is the meaning of this?"

So Cheongrak examined a physician who had collapsed beside him. They were all in a deep sleep.

Geom Mugeuk waved his hand through the smoke and exclaimed in admiration.

"The effect is amazing. I guess this is the appeal of learning poison arts."

Geom Mugeuk looked at So Cheongrak.

"You, the Heaven's Edge Hermit… you all love to use innocent people as shields. I had no choice."

"Shields?"

"Aren't you tired of living a lie your whole life? At least when it's just the two of us, you should go back to your true self."

However, So Cheongrak still maintained the appearance of a physician shocked by the situation. He even went so far as to check on a sleeping patient.

"Really, every time I meet you, I feel like such a villain."

Geom Mugeuk picked up a piece of paper that one of the attending physicians had dropped on the floor.

"A patient's chart."

Geom Mugeuk held it up to the light by the window, checking to see if any other letters were visible.

"If I hold it up like this, there should be poison formulas written on it, or secret messages from your organization."

Of course, there was nothing of the sort written on it.

"How do you endure such a boring daytime life?"

This was not just a wild guess.

Geom Mugeuk had felt it while he was with the Poison King in the Thousand Poisons Forest. Learning poison arts was a completely different matter from learning ordinary martial arts.

Unless one was completely immersed in that world, one could never survive.

The poison would have killed him otherwise.

Only one who thinks of nothing but poison can become a master of the poison arts.

This So Cheongrak must have been the same. It was impossible for him to have come this far with poison arts learned in his youth. It was impossible to neutralize a poison concocted by the Poison King without having honed his skills through bloody training.

He must have practiced his poison arts in secret, saving lives by day and taking them by night.

So Cheongrak turned toward the door.

"I don't know why you're doing this, but I'm going to call for people. If you want to harm me, then do it."

He intended to escape this unexpected situation first.

When an unexpected situation arises, escape from it first.

Even if you think you can control the situation, escape first. The feeling that you can handle it is a trap, an illusion created by the unexpected situation itself.

So Cheongrak was a man who had lived his life by this principle.

And now, a single phrase from behind made him break that principle.

"The Three Days Poison."

For a moment, So Cheongrak flinched and froze.

"Our Poison King recognized it at a glance."

So Cheongrak turned back toward Geom Mugeuk.

Seeing how he could tolerate everything else but not the mention of the Poison King, it was clear he was a man filled with the desire to defeat the Poison King.

"I may not have a talent for recognizing poisons, but I have a talent for recognizing something else."

Geom Mugeuk stared intently at So Cheongrak and added.

"A talent for recognizing villains."

The good-natured expression on So Cheongrak's face hardened slightly.

"Haven't you been acting for decades? It's time to stop."

After a brief pause, So Cheongrak answered.

"I have never acted. Saving people's lives is my life."

Geom Mugeuk did not deny his words.

"That's right. You've lived as a good physician for a long time."

Because So Cheongrak truly had lived that life.

"However, that doesn't mean I can respect that life."

Geom Mugeuk sat on the edge of the bed where a patient was sleeping.

"If the Jang Hu war breaks out because of you people, hundreds of times more lives will be lost than you've saved in your entire life."

Geom Mugeuk could see it. There was no trace of guilt on So Cheongrak's face.

Geom Mugeuk looked at the patient on the bed and asked, "Are you perhaps atoning in advance by saving these people?"

So Cheongrak slowly walked over and sat on the edge of the bed of the patient opposite him.

He looked at the patient on the bed where he sat and said abruptly.

"Bullshit."

A deep sneer formed on So Cheongrak's lips.

"To hear the word 'atonement' from the mouth of the Young Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult. Do you people even know what atonement is?"

Geom Mugeuk grinned widely.

"Isn't this much better? Let's take off the masks and talk openly."

The look in So Cheongrak's sunken eyes was different. He looked so completely different with just that change in his eyes that it was hard to believe he was the same good-natured person from before.

"You, how long have you waited for this moment?"

So Cheongrak looked up at the ceiling and let out a sharp breath.

A sticky energy flowed from his body, instantly dominating the space. It was an energy that made one's body feel heavy, as if trapped in a swamp.

And Geom Mugeuk saw it. About twenty vine-like strands of energy extended from So Cheongrak's body and connected to the bodies of those sleeping there.

"If I die, they die with me."

One might have thought So Cheongrak was in an advantageous position, but his personality was thorough and meticulous.

Geom Mugeuk sighed and said, "A shield is still a shield, even when it's asleep."

This was a continuation of what he had said earlier to So Cheongrak about using these people as shields.

"I've heard that the Young Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult likes to imitate a righteous hero."

So Cheongrak seemed confident that as long as there were hostages, nothing could be done to him.

However, the emotion in his eyes as he looked at Geom Mugeuk was intense distrust.

"But blood doesn't lie."

He was convinced it was a dirty trick to dominate the murim. He believed people of the demonic path were inherently like that.

"Be honest. You don't care if these people die, do you?"

Geom Mugeuk readily admitted it. There was no need to show a firm will to save them in this situation.

"I knew it! You recognize me. Didn't I say a villain recognizes a villain?"

Geom Mugeuk looked down at his own hands and said, "That's right. Right now, the blood is boiling in my veins. A desire to just cut all this crap and slice you to pieces is endlessly tempting me. To just kill this insidious bastard. Let the orthodox sects misunderstand if they want! Think about the consequences later!"

Geom Mugeuk looked up at So Cheongrak. So Cheongrak did not hide his feelings. The displeasure from hearing the profanity was clearly visible in his cold eyes.

As if to add fuel to that anger, Geom Mugeuk smiled provokingly and said, "I live my life pretending to be good to hide the fact that I'm this kind of person. Come to think of it, we have a lot in common."

So Cheongrak nodded.

"I have to admit it. I'm also barely restraining the urge to kill you."

"Why are you holding back?"

So Cheongrak did not answer, but Geom Mugeuk already knew the answer.

"Because your conspiracy needs me alive to be completed?"

The corner of So Cheongrak's eye twitched slightly.

"What exactly is my role? The moment you poisoned me, you revealed your own identity."

It also meant the time had come. It was a choice made in anticipation of Geom Mugeuk showing up like this.

"Curious about your role? It's a very important one."

Seeing his confident appearance, Geom Mugeuk said calmly.

"You think you've lived a perfect life as a physician, don't you? Treating the poor for free, saving countless martial artists. Earning everyone's respect. So you think we can't do anything to you?"

Geom Mugeuk got up from the bed and slowly approached him.

"Are you really without any flaws?"

So Cheongrak just listened quietly to what Geom Mugeuk was saying.

"You might have been perfect at first. But over all those years, could you have made no mistakes? Was there never a moment you let your guard down? After living a life of secrecy for so long."

So Cheongrak's eyes trembled minutely.

"I'm sure you have a secret workshop somewhere in the basement of this clinic. You must have researched and tested poisons there. No matter how well you've hidden the entrance, if I call in an expert, they'll be able to find it."

The corner of So Cheongrak's mouth lifted slightly.

"If you have proof that it's my space, then you could pin the crime on me."

At that, Geom Mugeuk's eyes widened.

"Huh? You really have a secret place in the basement? I was just guessing."

As Geom Mugeuk put on a provoking expression, So Cheongrak bit his lip slightly.

Geom Mugeuk poked at another point.

"Who did you experiment on? I couldn't understand why you treated patients so diligently. If you weren't such a good-natured person, you couldn't live so sacrificially. But a truly good-natured person wouldn't practice these kinds of poison arts, would they? Then a thought occurred to me. What if it was to find people with the specific constitution you needed?"

Geom Mugeuk's gaze sharpened.

"I bet some of your patients with special constitutions have gone missing."

So Cheongrak neither confirmed nor denied it, but his pupils were trembling.

"A secret room in the basement for testing poisons, and it turns out patients have gone missing. Isn't that enough reason to suspect you? Isn't that enough reason to kill you?"

However, So Cheongrak was confident.

"Do you know how many people I've saved until now?"

"That doesn't matter. Because there are far more people you haven't saved."

"!"

"They will be the ones to create the rumors and reputation about you."

Geom Mugeuk stared coldly at So Cheongrak.

"The conclusion is that nothing much will happen even if I kill you."

Faced with the strong threat, Geom Mugeuk was curious to see how So Cheongrak would react. Killing him would be easy. To poison users, Geom Mugeuk was the pinnacle of their natural enemy.

Unaware of this fact, So Cheongrak was relaxed.

"I already poisoned you the moment I first saw you. The moment you use your inner arts, your qi and blood will expand and burst."

Of course, Geom Mugeuk knew. He had burned the poison away the moment it entered his body.

Geom Mugeuk feigned a look of shock and bewilderment.

While his opponent thought he had the upper hand, Geom Mugeuk asked casually.

"Alright, since it has come to this, let me ask you one thing. Who are you trying to kill using the old demons of the Demonic Seal Mandate?"

Geom Mugeuk asked, testing the waters.

"Miss Jin?"

As he spoke, he carefully observed every one of So Cheongrak's expressions.

"Commander Jin?"

So Cheongrak merely maintained a strange expression.

Geom Mugeuk asked about one last person.

"It must be the Heaven's Edge Hermit."

So Cheongrak finally opened his mouth. It was the moment Geom Mugeuk would finally get new information from him.

"The target changed because of you."

"Because of me?"

Indeed, many things must have changed since he and the Demon Supremes came to this place, Wuhan. He was curious who the new target was.

"We considered various possibilities. We analyzed and re-analyzed all the data we've gathered."

So Cheongrak said with a strange smile.

"And an astonishing result came out. It showed that if this new person were to die, the probability of war breaking out would be higher than for anyone else."

It was right then that Geom Mugeuk felt an unidentifiable, ominous feeling.

"……"

The door opened and a person stepped inside.

He was an old master with white hair, his entire body blazing with blood-red demonic qi. His presence was enough to freeze one's entire body at a single glance.

An absolute master who had reached the age of one hundred. Shockingly, he was the Demonic Fire Lord, who had broken the Demonic Seal Mandate and come to Wuhan.

A master also appeared from the opposite door.

He was an old man whose body was so withered he looked like a skeleton. It seemed as if his whole body would crumble at the slightest touch.

But his eyes were deep, so deep. An abyss containing one hundred and fifty years of time was held within them, like death itself.

He was none other than the White Bone Spirit Demon.

Surprisingly, the two had appeared in the same place.

Just by looking at them, Geom Mugeuk could tell who the two were.

So Cheongrak finished what he was saying.

"We even came to the conclusion that it doesn't matter who kills him. If he dies, war is inevitable."

Geom Mugeuk's gaze sank. He now knew for certain who this new person was. "…It was me."

So Cheongrak slowly nodded. "Yes, we concluded that the Demonic Cult Leader will never tolerate your death."