Chapter 649: Sparing You Isn't Easy

TL: FoodieMonster007

"You want to talk?"

An offer to talk was certainly better than being asked how he should be killed. Yet So Cheongrak felt no happiness at all.

He could converse with anyone in the world, but he had no desire to speak with the Geom Mugeuk currently beside him. Every word exchanged with the man only made him feel more cornered and disadvantaged.

"Is there anything left for us to talk about?"

His demeanor toward Geom Mugeuk had turned polite. In truth, he had no choice. Who would dare to act on their temper after witnessing the fight from a moment ago?

"When the situation changes, so does the conversation."

So Cheongrak then spoke, testing the waters.

"If you're gonna kill me anyway, just do it."

Of course, he didn't mean a word of it. So Cheongrak was determined to find a way out of this situation, no matter what it took.

However, Geom Mugeuk's reaction was not what he had hoped for.

"You're a man of honor, so I'll grant you that much."

While still seated, Geom Mugeuk drew the Black Demon Sword. He moved to stab So Cheongrak in the neck without any hesitation.

"Wait!"

At So Cheongrak's urgent cry, Geom Mugeuk's sword stopped just before his neck.

Geom Mugeuk turned the blade sideways and tapped him on the head with its flat. His expression clearly said, Don't mess with me.

Who was he trying to fool? If So Cheongrak truly didn't fear death, he would have attacked with all his remaining poison when the two old demons died earlier.

For someone who claimed not to fear death, he was pressed far too tightly against the wall.

So Cheongrak glared at Geom Mugeuk with resentful eyes.

"You're toying with me, even in a situation like this."

Geom Mugeuk then called his name in a low voice.

"So Cheongrak."

He had only spoken his name, yet So Cheongrak felt his spirit get crushed as his body flinched.

"Do you want to experience what it's really like to be toyed with?"

So Cheongrak didn't dare say another word.

He had to survive, even if it meant soothing, coaxing, inciting, and threatening. If poison didn't work, he had to use everything else.

So Cheongrak glanced at Geom Mugeuk. Would any of that work on this man?

Had he ever felt so helpless in his entire life?

Just then, Geom Mugeuk's calm voice came from beside him.

"I don't care what kind of story you have or what kind of life you've lived. You tried to kill me, and you tried to kill my friend. That alone is reason enough for you to die."

So Cheongrak blurted out an excuse.

"But they didn't die, did they?"

Geom Mugeuk laughed at the pathetic justification.

"True, they didn't die."

So Cheongrak pinned all his hopes on this reaction from Geom Mugeuk.

He believed Geom Mugeuk had a weakness. The man couldn't be ruthless. He had to exploit that soft heart. With that, he would definitely walk out of this secret room alive.

There was something he absolutely had to do once he got out.

"What about killing people while conducting poison experiments here? What about trying to start the MaJang Hu War and cause countless deaths?"

He had an excuse for those sins as well.

"I've saved countless patients throughout my life."

"That was to hide your true identity."

"In any case, didn't the patients live? You all didn't die, the patients lived, and the war hasn't started yet. Can't that atone for my sins?"

Before Geom Mugeuk could mention those who died from the poison experiments, So Cheongrak quickly continued.

"I thought I'd be calm and cool in my final moments. But I never thought I'd end up saying things like this."

So Cheongrak sighed and added another plea.

"I don't want to die."

Geom Mugeuk answered honestly.

"I'm sorry, but it's not easy to let you live."

So Cheongrak saw a glimmer of hope even in this response. A truly ruthless man wouldn't have said that much. He would have cut off his arms and gouged out his eyes to get the answers he wanted.

"Thank you for being honest. It's better than being told you'll spare me only to kill me at the last minute."

So Cheongrak silently stared into the empty space. The bed, the desk, the cabinet, the poisonous herbs, and the two masters meant to protect him were all gone.

His gaze was as pathetic as his current situation, but his mind was still filled with thoughts of how to escape this place.

"Young Cult Leader, are you really a Myriad Poison Immunity?"

"Are you that curious?"

In truth, the moment Geom Mugeuk chewed on the Heavenly Yin Myriad Poisons Grass, there was no need to ask. Still, he wanted to hear it directly from Geom Mugeuk's mouth. It was that unbelievable.

"Want me to eat something else?"

So Cheongrak sighed and spoke.

"The heavens are truly indifferent."

To think that a Myriad Poison Immunity, a being so rare you might see only one in a lifetime, would get entangled with him, a user of poison arts.

"To you, I must be less of a threat than a gatekeeper martial artist of the Murim Alliance."

He wasn't just a simple Myriad Poison Immunity either. He was a cataclysmic-level Myriad Poison Immunity with the skill to kill the Demonic Fire Lord and the White Bone Spirit Demon in a single blow.

"If you kill me, it will cause a big problem. Many people saw you visit the physician today. If I die, it will eventually be revealed that you killed me. Then the martial artists of the orthodox sects of Wuhan won't just stand by."

Physician So Cheongrak.

He had thought this identity was his greatest hope for survival.

Geom Mugeuk's cold reply came back.

"I think nothing will happen even if you die."

It was a remark that truly wounded a person's pride.

For a moment, strength entered So Cheongrak's eyes.

"Didn't you say that there are far more people I haven't saved than those I have? But you say that without knowing how great a life debt is to martial artists. There will be many people who will step up for me."

Geom Mugeuk nodded as if acknowledging that point. The reason was elsewhere.

"It's not because I'm looking down on you. It's because of the Heaven's Edge Hermit."

Because of the Heaven's Edge Hermit? So Cheongrak looked at Geom Mugeuk with an expression that asked what he meant.

Geom Mugeuk then threw an unexpected question.

"How many people have you killed for the Heaven's Edge Hermit so far?"

This Young Cult Leader was truly a master at catching people off guard. So Cheongrak never expected him to suddenly ask something like this.

If he hadn't killed a single person, he could have answered easily. But he had killed many. The years he had spent protecting the man were not just one or two.

Momentarily flustered, So Cheongrak couldn't answer.

He should have immediately denied that anything of the sort had happened.

Was it because he was overwhelmed by Geom Mugeuk's presence? His mind wasn't working quickly.

"You must have killed many."

As So Cheongrak was about to make a belated excuse for Geom Mugeuk's words, a thought flashed through his mind.

No, this might be better.

He reasoned that Geom Mugeuk would think he needed him to uncover the Heaven's Edge Hermit's true identity.

"Tell me the reason! Why can you kill me because of the Heaven's Edge Hermit?"

Geom Mugeuk revealed an unexpected reason.

"Because your death will be buried by the affair of the Heaven's Edge Hermit."

So Cheongrak was stunned.

"Soon, the matter concerning the Heaven's Edge Hermit will also reach its conclusion. When his identity as a two-faced villain is exposed, the Murim will be flooded with his story. Once that side of him is properly revealed, you'll just be an extra. People will say, 'Ah, Physician So was the one who helped the Heaven's Edge Hermit?' No one will be angry about what you did. They'll think it's not strange at all that you helped him, since the Heaven's Edge Hermit committed such an astonishing act."

Rage erupted in So Cheongrak's heart. His entire life was being negated.

However, he knew well that getting angry now would not help the situation in the slightest.

"Perhaps that's true."

Feeling frustrated, So Cheongrak shot up from his seat and paced around the secret room. Then, leaning against a distant wall, he asked a question.

"But can you really uncover the other side of the Heaven's Edge Hermit? He's a different kind of person from me."

He meant it sincerely. Was it because he had learned poison arts? Or was it just his nature? No matter how much he lived the life of a kind physician, he couldn't hide the temper that flared up unexpectedly.

It made him wonder if that was perhaps the reason why this Geom Mugeuk had seen through everything.

However, the Heaven's Edge Hermit was different from him. Sometimes, So Cheongrak even had a certain thought.

Is this person really on my side?

That was how thoroughly the man had lived the life of the Heaven's Edge Hermit.

Geom Mugeuk replied as if he wasn't worried at all.

"Everyone has their own dark hole in their heart. If he's hidden it that well, the Heaven's Edge Hermit's hole is probably even bigger than yours."

If he couldn't survive as Physician So Cheongrak, then what?

Now, this question was the only thing that could save him.

"What is it that you want to ask me?"

For the first time, a question he had anticipated came up.

"Where is the person who was going to perform the great technique with you?"

Yes, he had expected Geom Mugeuk to be curious about that. After all, even after coming here, Geom Mugeuk had tried to get him to summon that person.

For now, that person was his lifeline.

Geom Mugeuk already knew a fact that hadn't been mentioned.

"The one who persuaded the Demonic Fire Lord and the White Bone Spirit Demon was him, wasn't it?"

So Cheongrak's eyes widened in surprise.

"You really are…!"

He had wondered why Geom Mugeuk hadn't asked about the person who persuaded the two demons before killing them. It seemed Geom Mugeuk already knew it was the same person who was going to perform the great technique with him.

"How did you know?"

"Because I don't believe those two suspicious individuals could be persuaded by words alone."

Even after arriving here, the Demonic Fire Lord and the White Bone Spirit Demon didn't fully trust So Cheongrak. That was why they had been swayed by Geom Mugeuk's words. They were not people who trusted others by nature. What if someone had made such people break the Demonic Seal Mandate?

"Their inner arts are so profound that it would have been impossible to control them completely with soul-manipulation techniques. But he could have used just enough to make them participate in this matter."

He must be a master of soul-manipulation. The ones who committed suicide with the fake hidden weapons earlier must have also been under his control.

So Cheongrak stared at Geom Mugeuk without a word. The admiration in his expression was an answer in itself.

"You'll never be able to find him."

"What do you mean?"

So Cheongrak said something incomprehensible.

"Because every time you meet him, it's for the first time."

Geom Mugeuk looked at So Cheongrak, his expression asking for an explanation.

"Every time I met him, he was a different person."

"You mean he's good at disguises?"

Shaking his head, So Cheongrak let out a surprising statement.

"He's the same person, but every time I recall him, the memory is different. Sometimes he was a fat man, other times he was bone-thin. There were even days I wondered, was he a woman?"

Geom Mugeuk could tell what was happening. The man was distorting his opponent's memories with soul-manipulation. This was no ordinary enemy.

This was precisely why So Cheongrak had revealed the information so readily.

"He can only be contacted through me."

He was certain Geom Mugeuk would try to catch this person, so he wouldn't kill him.

"I was going to release the restrictions on the two old demons with him. Though you didn't believe us."

Geom Mugeuk stared at him intently and spoke.

"Would he really have stopped at just releasing the restrictions?"

So Cheongrak flinched in surprise.

"While releasing the restrictions, he would have also implanted a Gu poison to make them obey."

There was no way that person would spend a vast amount of money to release their restrictions just to use them this little. He would have worked them as his subordinates until they died.

So Cheongrak shook his head. How could this Young Cult Leader possibly know everything? To think he had made an enemy of such a person.

Geom Mugeuk slung the leather pouch of poisonous herbs from the floor onto his back.

So Cheongrak tensed up. This was the moment of life or death.

"You have to keep me alive to meet him. Am I not a being who poses no threat to you?"

After a moment of thought, Geom Mugeuk made him an offer.

"If you let me meet him, I'll let you live."

"I'll let you meet him."

Geom Mugeuk added one more condition.

"Can you live the rest of your life as a physician?"

"I will."

"You must not use poison arts at all."

So Cheongrak nodded.

"The life of a physician wasn't bad."

Geom Mugeuk's gaze softened.

"Physician, your patients must be waiting. Let's go."

So Cheongrak was truly delighted. It wasn't just because his life was spared.

Now, the second plan will proceed.

He had prepared a second plan in case things went wrong with the Demonic Fire Lord and the White Bone Spirit Demon.

It was a plan centered around himself.

A genocidal poison will be spread in Wuhan, and thousands will die. The blame for that crime will be pinned on the Poison King, who is here.

You damn bastards of the Demonic Cult! You'll pay the price for looking down on me!

At that time, he would smile and willingly die.

So Cheongrak smiled brightly, and Geom Mugeuk smiled back at him.

As they walked side-by-side toward the passage, Geom Mugeuk took something out from his robes as if he had just remembered.

"Oh, this."

Geom Mugeuk took a small pouch from his robes.

PHWOOSH!

As he opened the pouch, a cloud of smoke billowed toward the two of them.

"A gift from the Poison King."

The moment he heard those words, So Cheongrak was startled.

He had no time to say anything. The poison was already seeping rapidly into his bloodstream.

So Cheongrak urgently took out an antidote and consumed it. When one wasn't enough, he took out another powder and scattered it in the air, then took out another vial and drank it.

KEUK.

Blood spewed from his mouth.

The antidote didn't work. He took out another antidote and ate it, and then another.

Amidst the mix of poison and antidotes, Geom Mugeuk swirled the powder with his hand and spoke.

"The Poison King once said the flower of the poison arts is detoxification."

However, So Cheongrak could not detoxify the Poison King's poison.

THUD.

He collapsed on the spot, bleeding from his mouth, nose, eyes, and ears, from every orifice of his body.

So Cheongrak looked at Geom Mugeuk with a gaze full of resentment.

The cold, indifferent eyes looking down at him resembled the eyes of the demon he had seen earlier. Not being ruthless was his weakness? He had misjudged Geom Mugeuk until the very end.

"This time, it's the Poison King's turn, isn't it?"

Earlier, So Cheongrak had poisoned Geom Mugeuk, not knowing he was a Myriad Poison Immunity. His challenge, detoxify it if you can, was clearly aimed at the Poison King.

And now, Geom Mugeuk was seeing the clear difference in skill between the two.

Even if it hadn't been the Poison King's poison, Geom Mugeuk had intended to kill him. Just as the Poison King was a terrifying existence, So Cheongrak too was a threatening one. Geom Mugeuk was not the type to release such a dangerous man into the world just because he posed no harm to him personally.

So Cheongrak had never dreamed he would die like this.

"…You can only find him through me."

As the life faded from his eyes, the last thing So Cheongrak saw was Geom Mugeuk's leather pouch as he strode toward the passage. A protruding poisonous herb swayed as if bidding farewell.

"I'll handle it myself."