Chapter 69
While Jinmu was looking around for the centipede, Hyangya, perhaps thinking that the centipede might bite her, began to put on her clothes.
Then, after thoroughly searching the floor for where it was, she even prepared to slowly leave the room.
"What are you doing?"
When Jinmu asked as if he were dumbfounded, Hyangya made a face as if she couldn't help it.
"A centipede appeared in this room, and it hasn't been caught yet. So how can I continue to roll around in this room? It might even come out of the bed. It was much bigger than my palm at a glance. If I get bitten by such a centipede, I'll die without even being able to make a sound, and I don't want to die yet."
When he had heard the tavern man's words, it had seemed that Hyangya was head over heels for Jinmu's handsome face, but seeing her do that, Ya Socheong laughed inwardly.
He had said that although his face had changed, his hands were the same.
If his hands were the same, his thing would also be the same, and it seemed that Jinmu's thing was not very good.
If his thing had been as useful as his face, she probably wouldn't have tried to back out just because a centipede had appeared, and Ya Socheong was quite pleased that things had gone as he had wished.
Hyangya quietly slipped out, and only Jinmu was left alone, but it was unknown how long that state would last.
Hyangya could have brought the people of the brothel.
Since a centipede had appeared in the room, they would have to catch it.
Ya Socheong, thinking that he didn't have much time, took out a box from his bosom.
At that, a poisonous snake with a poisonous aura shot out frighteningly.
The thing that had been tamed by Ya Socheong, as soon as it saw Jinmu, crawled to his leg and bit his thigh.
Jinmu, not even knowing that it was approaching, was about to scream in fright.
But his voice did not come out.
It was because Ya Socheong had sent out a condensed ki and had hit his mute acupoint, preventing him from making a sound.
He could not even scream and only let out a hollow breath.
The leg that had been bitten by the poisonous snake quickly turned black.
Ya Socheong stood there for a moment and watched.
If a moment passed like this, the leg would be permanently unusable.
If he were lucky enough to be found by someone after that, he might be able to save his life, but even then, he would not be able to save his leg.
The poisonous snake had bitten his right leg.
From now on, no matter how perfectly he disguised himself, he would have no choice but to drag his right leg, so he would no longer be able to instigate discord between other people with another's face.
He wanted to reveal himself in front of him and mock and ridicule him to his heart's content, but there was no need for that.
Ya Socheong waited for a moment to pass and then moved away.
Hyangya was a courtesan with a considerable sense of loyalty, and although she did not go back to that room herself, she sent a few of the strong men who worked at the brothel to that room.
The men who had gone in to catch the centipede after hearing that a centipede had appeared were surprised to find Jinmu, whose face had turned black, without even being able to scream.
But in the next moment, they looked at each other with a strange thought.
Who is this man?
Why is a man they have never seen before in this room?
Such thoughts must have been in their heads.
The disguise that had been maintained for a while even after being bitten by the poisonous snake had slowly come undone as the poison spread through Jinmu's body and his mind became hazy.
No one could recognize Jinmu's face after the disguise had come undone.
"Who are you?"
Jinmu, hearing those words in a state where his mind was hazy, was furious.
But he was so in pain and hazy that he had no energy to get angry.
The people were surprised to see the customer's face turn black in the room where a centipede had appeared, but thinking that the customer was not a customer they had received at the brothel, they were relieved, saying that it was a good thing.
They would have been happy to think that they had avoided a situation where they would have had to pay a large compensation at the brothel.
They could have been punished for not managing the room properly, so how happy they must have been to have avoided that.
He hurriedly picked up Jinmu and threw him outside the brothel.
Whether Jinmu's body was boiling with the poison that had spread or not, it seemed more urgent to throw out the problem now.
Because of that, Jinmu suffered much more than he would have originally had to.
If he hadn't received help from a passerby, he probably would have died.
But even if he had received help, both of his legs were crushed, and he would never be able to walk again.
Ya Socheong, without knowing that things had gone that far, leisurely returned to the Baek family.
* * *
After sending Jinmu off, the Heavenly Demon Dan Mok-san could not take care of that matter again.
Since hundreds of new things that the Sect Leader of the Heavenly Demon Sect had to deal with seemed to arise every day, it would not be strange at all if he had forgotten the secret order he had given.
Only after he had dealt with all the urgent problems did he remember that.
Even if Jinmu had not come back right away and reported, it would not have been very strange.
Jinmu was good at his job, but the problem was that he liked alcohol and women too much.
He had scolded him harshly for that a few times before, but he thought that that was something that would never be fixed.
Then, becoming curious about that, he called a person and asked where Jinmu was.
And he heard a story he had not expected at all.
He said that Jinmu had been bitten by something, and the poison had spread through his body, and he would not be able to walk in the future.
Jinmu had come to his senses a few times in the meantime, but he had not been able to say that he had come to carry out the Heavenly Demon's order.
No matter how out of his mind he was, wasn't it impossible to say such a thing?
So there had been no one to tell the Heavenly Demon what had happened to Jinmu until then.
If the Heavenly Demon had not separately ordered to find out Jinmu's whereabouts, that news would not have been transmitted for a long time after that.
Only when his personal guard went after receiving the Heavenly Demon's order did Jinmu, in a state where his mind was coming and going, tell what had happened to him.
He had been playing with a courtesan named Hyangya at a brothel, and a centipede had suddenly appeared, and after that, he had been bitten by something and had collapsed without even being able to make a sound.
Leaving other things aside, the part about not being able to make a sound was what caught his attention.
"What do you mean by that? Did someone hit your mute acupoint?"
When the Heavenly Demon asked, his personal guard was also thinking the same thing.
"I also thought so. Other than that, I couldn't understand how he could have been subjected to such a thing and not been able to make a sound."
"The appearance of the centipede must not have been a coincidence either. What did they say happened at the Baek family?"
The personal guard, wondering how to say that, eventually told the whole truth.
The story that Baek Yuhwa had held a wedding ceremony with Ya Socheong.
The Heavenly Demon Dan Mok-san, hearing those words, momentarily struck the desk with his palm, which was imbued with internal energy.
At that, the sturdy desk split in one go.
It was maintained for a moment, but it soon collapsed with a cracking sound, and the things on it were scattered in a mess.
That was a challenge to him.
It was not a problem of just Baek Yuhwa.
Wasn't it that the Baek family had also chosen Ya Socheong, not him?
Dan Mok-san could not contain his anger, wondering what they took him for to be able to do such a thing.
The personal guard was worried beyond measure.
No matter how strong Dan Mok-san's martial prowess was, he alone could not face everyone in the Heavenly Demon Sect.
Moreover, the opponent was the Baek family.
Now that the Cho family had almost lost its power, it had to be seen that there were practically three great families in the Heavenly Demon Sect.
It had to be seen that power was even more concentrated in the remaining great families, and if a fight were to break out against that family, even if he were the Heavenly Demon, the political risk would be considerable.
Dan Mok-san was experienced, and it wasn't that he didn't know what the personal guard was worried about.
He regained his composure with a frightening speed.
Then he turned to his personal guard and asked.
"Find out everything you can about that brat named Ya Socheong. It doesn't matter if it's trivial."
"As you command!"
The personal guard quickly disappeared from that place.
And when he returned a little later, all sorts of trivial stories about Ya Socheong were poured out in front of Dan Mok-san.
Most of the stories that the personal guard had found out were stories that Pae Maseong had told the people around him while he was in the Heavenly Demon's martial force.
Pae Maseong had endlessly praised Ya Socheong, and the people who had recognized Pae Maseong's martial prowess and had acknowledged him had always been curious about Ya Socheong, whom that Pae Maseong praised so much.
Whenever he talked about Ya Socheong, Pae Maseong had spoken in a way that made it seem that someone like him was no comparison, so it was inevitable.
Pae Maseong had not even mentioned that Ya Socheong trained poisonous creatures and had a knack for poison arts.
He had not said that he had learned assassin arts or that he could handle various weapons.
So although it was to the extent that Ya Socheong's martial prowess was frighteningly strong, there was not much information that was practically helpful in grasping him.
The Heavenly Demon Dan Mok-san thought that he might have to change his plan.
He had intended to have the junior lords trample and eliminate Ya Socheong through the junior sect leader competition, but it seemed that he couldn't wait until then.
Even so, it hurt his pride to step up himself.
He dismissed everyone and was lost in thought for a long time.
He also knew that the second son, Dan Mok-heukya, had tried to take action first and had only lost face.
It would be good if someone stepped up properly at a time like this, but his worries deepened as to who would be good.
'He killed Danli Cheon and also got close to the fifth prince.'
Ya Socheong was definitely not a person to be left alone.
Even if it weren't for Baek Yuhwa, it was a problem that had to be faced once.
* * *
The family head of the Baek family and the family head of the Danli family secretly created a meeting.
No one was with them in that place, and only the two of them were there.
The one who had asked to meet first was the family head of the Danli family, but the family head of the Baek family had readily agreed.
He had also been about to propose that meeting once.
"Welcome, family head."
"It's good to see you again like this."
The two exchanged greetings.
Since they were both people who had Ya Socheong as their son-in-law, it was after they had met at the wedding ceremony a while ago.
The family head of the Baek family spoke first.
"I believe that you are not unaware of the current situation, family head. I hear that the Sect Leader is inciting the junior lords to eliminate our son-in-law."
"I have also heard. The main family will use all its power to protect our son-in-law."
When one side said 'our son-in-law,' the family head of the Danli family also, as if he couldn't lose, called Ya Socheong 'our son-in-law.'
"I am thinking of giving the precious elixir that has been passed down in the main family to our son-in-law."
"The main family has already given it."
"Haha, thank you."
"I don't know why I have to hear a word of thanks when it was given to our son-in-law."
The conversation between the two continued subtly.
(End of Chapter)