Eat Well (1)

The Yin Monster’s fist slammed into Ma Gwang-yun’s abdomen.

A powerful wave of qi rippled outward, blowing up dust.

Bent over like a shrimp, he gasped, as if suffocating.

“…Kgh…”

Foam dribbled from his mouth, his eyes rolled back.

Against the Yin Monster’s fist, the Undying Black Qi Cultivation was of no use.

Even though it was the same Hundred Step Divine Fist, its power was on a different level than when the Yang Monster used it.

His legs buckled and he collapsed, helplessly.

The escort guards and the Evil factions’ guards watching were seized with tremors.

Who was Ma Gwang-yun? A notorious murim-world criminal for decades, a cruel leader of bandits.

And yet he had been felled by a single strike.

It was a result no one could have imagined.

“Huh, did he take down a Black Night Clan member in one blow?”

“By, by the heavens…”

Yu Seol brushed her hands off and glanced at the nearby fighters, as if asking, ‘Did I do well?’

But perhaps because of the terrifying scene moments ago, no one could meet her eyes; they looked away.

Except for one.

Yu Jinsan, who had quietly approached, patted his granddaughter’s back.

“Good work. What did you do to the red-haired hag?”

Red Snake Geum Do-do, one of the Twin Snake Demon and another of their leaders.

She was the one his granddaughter had been assigned from the start.

“She’s sleeping over there.”

She lay on the ground about twenty feet from there.

Someone lay sprawled in a grisly state.

Her red hair was disheveled and her face swollen.

She had been beaten so badly that, except for around the mouth, nothing looked intact.

Naturally, she was unconscious.

“Didn’t I say to be moderate since we had questions to ask them?”

“Grandpa told me to hit everywhere except the mouth.”

There was no rebuttal; she had just followed orders to the letter.

At that moment someone approached with light footsteps.

A dignified woman with her face covered by a bamboo hat and a veil.

She was Eun Hwa-rin of the Black Night Clan, whom the Twin Snake Demon had targeted.

“Thank you for your effort, sir. You’ve finally captured them.”

“What effort was there in catching such punks?”

“Are you injured anywhere?”

Just as Yu Jinsan nodded to show he was fine.

Suddenly Yu Seol leaned in close and murmured.

“…Are you really okay?”

At that moment, he felt something trickle from his nose.

How ridiculous—nosebleed at a time like this.

Yu Jinsan casually wiped his philtrum with his left hand and widened his eyes.

Seeing blood slickly smeared there, an inexplicable anger surged up.

Even if he had let a few hits land intentionally, a nosebleed in front of everyone was a humiliation.

“You damned brat!”

Yu Jinsan kicked the groaning Ma Gwang-yun as he lay fallen.

“…Ugh!”

As he suppressed his anger, Eun Hwa-rin asked cautiously.

“Are you internally injured? We should treat you first.”

“I am fine, no need to worry. But why would the Evil factions have a grudge against these guys?”

That was the most curious part.

The Twin Snake Demons had been killing indiscriminately until now.

Why had they been assassinating only figures from the Evil factions? There had to be a reason.

“We don’t know the reasons. Those people had no ties to us.”

“It’s incomprehensible. Were they hired by someone?”

“I think so too. But who would target us…”

“Hm. Probably those who would benefit from the Evil factions’ downfall.”

The Twin Snake Demons targeted the entire heterodox factions of Henan, not a specific school.

The only force that would profit from that would be the Murim Alliance.

But no matter how they thought about it, it made no sense.

Could the Justice Faction hire assassins to kill an Evil Faction’s member? It was unimaginable.

Moreover, these leaders were not the sort to obediently follow orders—they were uncontrollable from the start.

Then Eun Hwa-rin glanced at the Twin Snake Demons and asked.

“Will you take them to that place you mentioned?”

“That’s the plan. It’s not far from here, so we’ll interrogate them there.”

“Is there anything we can help with?”

“Just confirm the thing I asked about earlier.”

It was the investigation into the Blue Dragon Troops member who disguised himself as number thirty-six at the spear tournament.

That man was currently detained at the magistrate’s office.

They were to use connections to find out how he would be freed and who was involved—that was the price for capturing the assassins.

Eun Hwa-rin gave a slight nod as if she understood.

“I’ll send people to the place you’re going to and inform you once the details are confirmed.”

“Do that. We should be on our way then. You must be busy too.”

They had even exposed that this place was a secret branch of the Black Night Gang to lure the assassins.

They themselves could not stay here indefinitely.

They needed to gather their valuables and withdraw before dawn.

“Until we meet again.”

A secluded village entrance about 3 kilometers from the Golden Flower Escort Agency.

Three rickshaws stood in a row there.

Even though it was still early dawn, they chatted instead of going home.

“A rickshaw puller in our place? How long must we wait?”

“He said he’d definitely come, so wait quietly. It’s directly from our leader.”

“It’s been over 4 hours and we haven’t seen a single rat. How can you be so certain?”

They were disciples of the White Snake clan disguised as rickshaw pullers.

The one questioned glanced around and whispered softly.

“Actually, I heard something separately from leader. Can you keep a secret?”

“Of course, tell us.”

“You know our loyalty. What did you hear?”

Hesitating briefly, he lowered his voice further and answered.

“The ones who will capture the assassins tonight are… the Yin Yang Twin Monster.”

“Y- Yin Yang Twin Monster!?”

“What? Is that true?”

As the commotion grew, the disciple who gave the information furrowed his brow.

“You idiots, lower your voices.”

Everyone hastily clamped their mouths shut.

Then he whispered again with a satisfied look.

“You’ve all heard the rumors, right? They say if you stare directly at the Yin Monster your eyes will be gouged out. So when you meet them, don’t offend them and behave.”

Someone muttered in disbelief.

“Bah, who are you kidding. A hero of the Evil factions wouldn’t do that, would they?”

“‘Bah’ you say? Who do you think crippled our leader’s leg yesterday?”

“…No way?”

“Yeah, right. The leader said not to ask useless questions and just do as told…”

He couldn’t finish—suddenly a child’s voice sounded from somewhere.

“Who the hell spread such nonsense?”

Though it was a small child’s voice, it carried weighty internal energy.

The disciples’ spines chilled; they clasped their hands and stood up, heads bowed deeply.

Then something was flung right before them.

Thud! Thud!

The disciples, peering cautiously at the ground, widened their eyes in shock.

“Tw- Twin Snake Demons?”

“Wh- why are these guys here…?”

Yu Jinsan answered their question.

“They’re the ones who killed your clan leader.”

A murderous gleam flared briefly in the disciples’ eyes, then faded.

How dare they show emotion in such a place.

Heads bowed, they stared only at the small feet of the approaching Yin Monster.

As tension peaked, the Yin Monster finally opened its mouth.

“Misters, can we ride here?”

“O- of course! We’ll take you comfortably to your destination!”

Smiling broadly, Yu Seol grabbed her grandfather’s hand and moved toward a rickshaw.

“Heehee. They’ll give us a ride. This will be fun.”

Awkward in the rickshaw, Yu Jinsan cleared his throat solemnly and followed.

“Ahem! Then we won’t refuse.”

Though the rickshaw was for one, a small child could easily share it.

Once the grandfather and granddaughter boarded, the disciples shoved the Twin Serpent Demon Kings into the remaining two rickshaws.

“Now then, we’ll depart!”

An underground prison somewhere, brimming with yin qi.

The only light came sparsely from torches fixed to the walls.

Yu Jinsan sat at a table near the entrance, fingers interlaced, deep in thought, while Yu Seol picked at snacks beside him.

Then the White Snake Clan’s leader approached from the opposite corridor with a dark expression.

Judging by his walk, his leg injury seemed much healed.

“He absolutely refuses to speak. I’m sorry, great warrior, after the trouble you went through to capture him.”

Days had passed since the interrogation began with no results.

Yu Jinsan asked with a frustrated look.

“You mean even the face-revealing techniques don’t work?”

“Yes. Perhaps due to the demonic qi, it was useless.”

“I had hoped for the White Snake clan techniques, but it does not seem easy.”

“I have no excuse. And… another problem has arisen.”

“A problem?”

The leader hesitated, then spoke cautiously.

“A short while ago, Ma Gwang-yun died.”

“I told you not to torture him. I heard screams earlier—what on earth did you do?”

“O- it’s a misunderstanding. He began convulsing on his own and just died.”

From his expression, it didn’t seem like a lie.

Could he have hidden a poison pill in his mouth and bitten it? But that too was suspicious.

Having mastered the Undying Black Qi Cultivation, Ma Gwang-yun would have reached a state immune to most poisons.

“This is utterly incomprehensible.”

“Yes. Moreover, the old woman began convulsing a short while ago as well.”

After a moment’s thought, Yu Jinsan sprang to his feet.

“Show me. I’ll inspect them personally.”

“Yes, great warrior.”

They followed the master to the deepest cell down the corridor.

A red-haired old woman writhed on the floor, foaming at the mouth in pain.

“Open the door at once.”

Clack!

Red Snake Geum Do-do.

Yu Jinsan crouched before her and spoke softly.

“Old woman. You should die peacefully in your old age, not like this. Tell me who hired you and I’ll help you go in peace.”

Though wracked with pain, she glared at Yu Jinsan as if she wanted to kill him.

“Grr… you damned brat.”

By her reaction, she had no intention of speaking.

As Yu Jinsan sighed.

“Grandpa, a worm is coming out of this old man’s mouth!”

Turning around, Yu Seol was pulling something out of Ma Gwang-yun’s open mouth.

It looked like a strange thing about the size of a finger joint.

Seeing teeth, it was clearly no ordinary worm.

The White Snake Clan’s leader murmured, stunned.

“It seems to be a Gu poison.”

There are many types of Gu worms, but generally it’s known as a parasitic horror that lives in a person’s entrails and eats them alive.

Unless one periodically takes antidotes to suppress the Gu, one suffers excruciating pain and eventually dies.

But who planted Gu into the bodies of the Twin Snake Demons?

The only one who could answer that was the old woman before them.

Yu Jinsan urgently spoke to his granddaughter.

“There’s likely the same thing in this old woman’s belly. Can you pull it out?”

“I’ll try.”

Yu Seol placed her right hand on Geum Do-do’s abdomen, probably to breathe heavy internal qi into her.

At that moment, a beautiful, radiant golden light manifested, illuminating the dark cell.

Perhaps due to the Buddha Lion Roar Divine technique’s qi, her agonized expression gradually eased.

A moment later, Geum Do-do’s mouth suddenly opened wide like a snake’s.

“Gaaah.”

The leader of White Snake Clan and Yu Jinsan clapped their hands together in delight.

“It’s coming out!”

“Yes, that’s it! Just a bit more!”

A short while later, Yu Jinsan put his hand into her mouth and succeeded in pulling out the Gu worm.

Having completed the task, Yu Seol removed her palm and grinned.

“Is it done now?”

“Yes, good work. Hold onto these for a moment.”

No one could just hold these dangerous parasites carelessly.

Entrusting the two Gu worms to his granddaughter, he looked back at Geum Do-do.

She sat slumped, utterly exhausted.

“We took the Gu worms out of you, so at least out of gratitude, tell us what you know.”

“…”

Geum Do-do stared vacantly at Ma Gwang-yun’s corpse.

Her lifelong comrade had died; she couldn’t help but be devastated.

But Yu Jinsan couldn’t just wait forever.

“Who fed you this? We’ll avenge you—tell us quickly.”

“…Get lost.”

A curt reply with no hint of hesitation—so she had no intention of speaking.

Yu Jinsan folded his arms and pondered for a moment.

But there seemed no proper way to proceed.

“Then there’s no choice.”

Resolute, he grabbed Geum Do-do’s chin and nostrils, forced her mouth open, and looked to his granddaughter.

“Seol, feed it back to her.”

Perhaps recalling the recent painful memory, she struggled, but bound as she was, she couldn’t resist Yu Jinsan.

“…No, I won’t!”

Yu Seol’s hand slowly approached the wide-open mouth.

“Eat two of them.”