Chapter 36: One Thousand Kills (2)

The Third Stage is called Impenetrable.

As it nullifies everything that brings harm to the body, the utility of Impenetrable could be said to be infinite.

However, what one must know is that Impenetrable is not the same as being numb.

Just because one has achieved Impenetrable does not mean they become a half-wit who is unaware that poison has invaded their body.

One knows that poison has entered their body, but they can nullify its effects or expel it at will.

That is what Impenetrable is.

Having recently entered the Fourth Stage and set foot in the realm of the State of Harmony, observing my own body without sitting cross-legged was as easy as flipping my hand.

I felt the energy mixed in the tea circulate through my body as if performing a grand circulation, then settle in various parts of my blood vessels.

It was with a stealth that I would have never noticed had I not achieved Impenetrable or reached the State of Harmony.

Gurgle. Gurgle.

An auditory hallucination I shouldn't have heard rang in my ears.

The damn thing had already begun to take effect.

‘Is it Acupoint-Boiling Poison?’

Although I had no expertise in poisons, I could guess what it was from its mechanism of action.

Acupoint-Boiling Poison was a type of Qi-dispersing poison and was not the kind of poison that threatened one's life.

However, it was a very rare poison that made the blood vessels boil if one circulated internal energy abruptly or excessively, preventing them from exerting their full capabilities.

It would not interfere with daily life, but it would be enough to decide the outcome at a crucial moment in the succession competition.

I operated the Healing Sage’s Mind Cultivation Art.

Simultaneously, black smoke rose from the top of my Baihui acupoint.

Just as when I expelled the Blood-Melting Poisonous Snake's venom, I had extracted the Acupoint-Boiling Poison that had settled in my body.

Even a Qi-dispersing poison could not overcome Impenetrable.

For reference, I deliberately revealed that visual effect to pressure the Third Elder.

“Hoo-”

As I exhaled a deep breath, I felt the lingering scent of the poison through my mouth and frowned.

It was because the stuff was stronger than I thought.

“Third Elder, you just used poison.”

“What?”

When I stated the fact in a calm voice, the Third Elder's face hardened.

“Using poison on a direct descendant within the Dancheon Clan…….”

This was a very serious matter…….

“I shall have to punish you.”

It would be acceptable for me to use somewhat excessive force.

“Do you have any complaints?”

A look of dismay appeared on the Third Elder's face and disappeared in an instant.

“You brat!”

The Third Elder bellowed.

“What? Punish? You will punish me? Ha! How absurd.”

The ancient sages said that the one who farted gets angry, and this could be seen as a scene that proved it.

“You dare speak so rudely to a great elder of the… clan, you brat!”

In the midst of it all, I commend him for not calling himself a master, perhaps because a shred of conscience remained.

“So, do you have any proof that I used poison?”

Was it because he had bought time by throwing a tantrum?

The Third Elder said something logical for the first time.

But wasn't that level of logic too obvious?

Even in the laws of the imperial court, proof was not required from a criminal caught in the act, so how much more so in the Jianghu Murim, where swords and blood were rampant?

“Third Elder, do I look like an idiot to you?”

Perhaps I did.

During the time I received training from him, I was a weak child who was careful in everything, lest I fall out of his favor.

I narrowed my eyes and observed the Third Elder.

He was scrawny and had fierce eyes, giving him a harsh impression.

As he got angry, his shabby impression was further emphasized.

Since the study of physiognomy had long been established, perhaps this was also a process of proving it.

The young Dancheon Myeong might have been cautious because he was scared of him, but that was not the case for me now.

“Stop your babbling and come at me. Or be arrested meekly. I am already treating you as a suspect for attempting to harm a direct descendant of the clan.”

“What?”

I beckoned with my hand as a sign to attack.

“Come on, old man.”

“You insolent!”

Did the title ‘old man’ snatch away his last bit of patience?

The Third Elder launched himself with a fierce expression.

Perhaps he had not won the position of Elder through gambling, as a rather plausible Eogichungso technique unfolded.

“I shall teach you a lesson as a great elder of the clan!”

It might have been the best lightness art he could muster, but compared to Uncle Yeo Baek's ethereal Stepping on Clouds Gait, I would say it was crude, clumsy, and slow.

It meant its intent and direction were all read by my eyes.

There were three masters of the State of Harmony in the Dancheon Clan.

Ah, I correct myself.

Including me, there were four.

Anyway, the officially known masters of the State of Harmony were the Clan Head Dancheon Gang, the Head of the Guard Bang Yeo-baek, and the First Elder Cheon Il-san.

In other words, the Third Elder, who was not on the list, was a martial artist who was at best only at the Transcendent Peak.

I was not disrespecting the realm of the Transcendent Peak, but it was bound to be inferior when compared to the State of Harmony.

“You brat!”

This was not even mentioning Sword Flux.

Crack.

“Keck.”

There was no need to use any profound techniques.

My swift Golden Grasping Hand seized the Third Elder's throat, and with his entire body subdued, he couldn't even struggle.

Rather, the Third Elder was subdued so helplessly that I was the one who was taken aback.

“Old man, you have been neglecting your training.”

He had been subdued so easily because he was a person who had stepped back from the front lines and neglected his martial arts training and actual combat.

Underestimating me as a fledgling in his early twenties must have also played a part.

“Geureuk.”

The Third Elder tried to shout something, but because his throat was held, it could not form words and died away.

“What should I do.”

If I put a little more strength into my fingers, he would die.

For an old Jianghu veteran who had survived for a long time and entered the Council of Elders of the Dancheon Clan, it would be a fleeting end.

However, if I were to kill him outright, it would be like eliminating a card myself, so I decided not to do it immediately.

At that moment.

“Young Master, that is enough.”

A presence that had occupied the space behind me without a sign spoke.

I was not surprised.

It was because I had already been aware of his presence.

With a calm expression, I turned my gaze.

“Oh! Isn't it the First Elder? A pleasure to see you.”

The true mastermind had revealed himself; it was a big catch.

* * *

“Young Master, what is this behavior?”

The First Elder asked me, who was still gripping the Third Elder's throat.

“Ah. I was in the middle of punishing a traitor to the clan.”

“Tsk.”

The First Elder's expression crumpled.

“A prestigious clan has its laws, rules, and procedures. I will uncover the truth with utmost clarity, so please release him for now.”

As if he would.

Ignoring the First Elder's words, I roughly pushed my internal energy into the Third Elder through the throat I was gripping.

“Kehek.”

The Third Elder's body trembled and he fainted.

Thud.

Only then did I throw the Third Elder at the First Elder.

The Third Elder's appearance, trembling even while unconscious, was pathetic.

“I have released him.”

This action had three reasons.

The first was to cloud the judgment of the enraged First Elder by tormenting his subordinate.

The second was to indirectly show him my divine might of subduing a Transcendent Peak martial artist with my internal energy.

The third was to prevent the Third Elder from joining the First Elder to attack me in case of an emergency.

“Ho? Young Master, what is your realm?”

It seemed that the second reason had caught the First Elder's attention the most.

“The Peak.”

I answered with a shrug of my shoulders.

There was no reason for me to tell him the truth.

“So, what are you going to do now?”

Although I was a direct descendant of the clan, I had not even become the Young Clan Head.

My attitude towards the head of the Council of Elders was quite impolite.

But I knew there would be no problem.

It was because I was certain that he was a spy of the Demonic Cult.

Now that I had reached the State of Harmony, the time had finally come to expel that malady from the clan.

As I've said many times, it is not easy to root out a spy of the Demonic Cult.

Moreover, if he was a master of the Extreme Demonic Realm who had hidden his identity for decades, it would be close to impossible.

But it was only close to impossible, not impossible.

Which meant I had prepared a way.

The First Elder stroked his white beard while contemplating for a moment.

“Hmm. I cannot leave the Young Master who harmed the Third Elder as he is. I must subdue him first.”

The First Elder said so with a calm expression, but I could feel the sharp killing intent seeping through it.

Since my Spirit had also blossomed, I could not not know.

“Your killing intent is quite unusual, isn't it?”

“Hah, what are you talking about? No matter what, would I harbor killing intent towards a direct descendant of the clan?”

“As expected, the covert killing intent of One Thousand Kills lives up to its reputation.”

“Heh heh. What nonsense.”

The First Elder's expression, who had been laughing off my words, became strange.

“……What did you just say?”

His expression, which had not moved an inch even when the Third Elder fainted, had hardened frighteningly.

“Heavenly Demon Divine Cult Second-Rank Spy, One Thousand Kills. How is it, is the mission proceeding well?”

“……!”

Now, it was time to watch how he would react.

This was the method I had prepared.

* * *

Hollow show of strength.

It was a word that brought to mind the loud voices of professional gamblers or third-rate wanderers who got into fights in the marketplace.

But I know.

The ones who use this Hollow show of strength the best are the information brokers.

Originally, a Hollow show of strength or a soulful lie becomes more effective when a little truth is added, so it could be said that information brokers were truly the supreme masters of Hollow show of strength.

That's right.

Right now, I was using the experience of the information broker Myeong-gae to perform a Hollow show of strength on the First Elder.

In reality, it meant that I had no information about the First Elder.

All I knew now was a firm suspicion that Cheon Il-san was the same person as the master of the Extreme Demonic Realm in Shandong who would later be called One Thousand Kills.

Of course, there was no proof.

But if an information broker got their hands on this little bit of truth, the story would change.

By combining this extremely fragmented information with the information I already had and making an inference, I could complete the framework of a Hollow show of strength.

The name of a Demonic Cult spy is given to them before they are dispatched to the Central Plains.

I know the information that they never abandon the name given to them by their faith, the Heavenly Demon.

If Cheon Il-san was truly the One Thousand Kills who would appear later, it meant he was One Thousand Kills even now.

I also know the information that the rank of spies who infiltrate prestigious martial clans is usually ‘Second Rank’.

For reference, those like the Heuksu Mun who blend in with the common people are Fourth Rank spies, and the spies who hide in the key positions of the Murim Alliance are usually First Rank spies.

In other words, with just the one suspicion that ‘Cheon Il-san is the future One Thousand Kills,’ I had completed the sentence ‘Heavenly Demon Divine Cult Second-Rank Spy, One Thousand Kills.’

If this attempt of mine was not a Hollow show of strength, what else could it be?

But at the same time, one must know.

The fact that the Hollow show of strength of information brokers is different from the bluffs of gamblers.

It would be because a conclusion drawn by adding imagination and inference to a fragmented truth sometimes comes infinitely close to the truth.

“……You, what do you know?”

Cheon Il-san asked.

“Well, I only know that the First Elder of the Dancheon Clan turned out to be a puppet of the Demonic Cult.”

And a brief silence that followed.

Grind.

“How did you know?”

Even without hearing his words, I could tell.

The eyes of Cheon Il-san, glittering with killing intent, would prove that fact.

“It's a secret.”

Satisfied that the plan had succeeded, I gave him a faint smile.