“Those two look alike?”

There was no way Duke Dok would jump up in surprise over any resemblance — they didn’t look alike at all.

It was a line thrown out to momentarily draw True Poison Master’s attention away from Duke Dok and onto me.

The tactic worked. True Poison Master’s focus shifted from Duke Dok to me. Fine, now deal with me.

“Don’t you feel annoyed when you see someone who looks like yourself?”

At those words, Duke Dok’s eyes said,

“That ugly guy and me?”

True Poison Master seemed to wonder the same.

“Where exactly do you see the resemblance?”

Even he probably didn’t see any.

“To me, you look quite alike. Even your gaze and aura are the same. Somehow rebellious, yet deep.”

True Poison Master frowned, as if saying: Are you really saying this now? Rebellious? Deep? Here in this underground brain prison where people are dying?

“Weren’t you handsome when you were young?”

What’s wrong with saying someone looks like a handsome man?

The problem was he didn’t believe me at all.

“Cut the nonsense. Tell me why you’re here trying to save this guy.”

True Poison Master openly showed his killing intent. If I said nonsense, I’d get poisoned as an example.

“I received help inside the brain prison.”

“How much help to risk your life?”

My gaze shifted to Duke Dok.

“When I was fighting like a dog, that man fought alongside me like a dog too.”

Because I didn’t expect to give that reason, surprise and passion flashed across Duke Dok’s face.

More than other lengthy explanations, thankfully those words convinced True Poison Master.

“You prisoners talking about loyalty? If you get cocky again, know you’ll turn into a handful of blood.”

“Yes! I will be careful.”

True Poison Master glared at me and Duke Dok in turn but didn’t escalate things. Each was an important subject for the experiment.

After locking Duke Dok back in the prison, True Poison Master left.

I sent Duke Dok a telepathic message.

—You endured well.

—Why intervene? I could have handled it.

—I know.

—You feared I’d cause trouble?

—No.

—Not really!

After a pause, I said,

—Actually, I was worried you’d hold back.

—!

Duke Dok looked at me with surprise.

—I thought you’d hold back. Take slaps and humiliation but endure. You probably endured it for our plan.

His clear, large eyes widened.

—What if that bastard tried to kill you because my flattery didn’t work?

—Then we flip the table. He’ll kill everyone here with frenzy side effects and pretend he died.

—Then Aecha? The one holed up in his lair who rarely appears?

—If we think about it, there’ll be a way.

—You risked so much just because you didn’t want to see me suffer?

—It’s no small matter. It’s serious enough to overturn everything and leave.

Seeing the skeptical look, I revealed my true feelings.

“The sincerity increasingly outweighs the flattery.”

Duke Dok, staring at me, withdrew from the small window.

Prisoners died daily.

Each time, True Poison Master came to the prison to confirm their deaths and glared at Duke Dok. Duke Dok’s presence remained a thorn in his side.

He should have trusted his instincts more — why that clear gaze irritated him so much.

But he was tired from continual research failures and failed to notice the escalating danger signals.

Instead, he was being steadily poisoned by frenzy. Duke Dok’s exquisite skill in poisoning subtly intoxicated him, and since Duke Dok rarely used his internal energy intensely, True Poison Master was unaware.

When he left, Duke Dok asked me.

—If our plan succeeds, will Aecha show up here?

—He will. According to Officer Go’s investigation, Aecha and True Poison Master do not get along. If the experiment succeeds, Aecha will come to check personally.

—Judging from the current trend, a conclusion will come within ten days.

The end was in sight.

For ten days, I immersed myself solely in Cheonma Ho Shin Gong.

When surroundings are chaotic, we unexpectedly find focus. That was me. In this cramped, harsh brain prison where prisoners died daily, I concentrated more than ever.

Finally, I made progress in Cheonma Ho Shin Gong.

It was the result of recent internal energy growth and training here combined. Slowly but surely, Cheonma Ho Shin Gong advanced toward mastery.

At the next level, it was clearly different — quicker, more sensitive to danger, more connected to me.

Meanwhile, prisoners kept dying.

Listening to guards’ conversations in the prison corridor, if this fails again, they plan to kidnap ordinary soldiers for experiments.

They cared nothing for human lives for their goals. No, they never cared about others’ lives in the first place.

They were absolute evil. With secret experiments by masters like True Poison Master and Aecha here, who could stop them?

—Stopping such evil is my martial way.

After saying this, for the first time I was asked about the next generation.

Duke Dok asked me,

—After you die, will the next Cheonma protect this martial way? Will someone like you appear again?

—Why worry about that after I’m gone? The remaining ones will manage.

—You worked so hard to build a new martial way, but it’d be a shame if the next generation ruins it.

Sure, they might. But I believe it’s not my concern. No, I think it’s right not to interfere.

—Can you just command the next generation to obey? Would they listen if you begged? They’ll watch us live, follow if it looks cool, change it if it doesn’t.

Just as I did.

On the tenth day Duke Dok predicted, all prisoners here were dead.

Only Geom Mugeuk and Duke Dok remained.

For several more days food was given, and of course, neither of us died.

A few days after that, the moment they’d awaited arrived.

Aecha came with True Poison Master to the underground brain prison. Aecha, who’d holed up in his lair, appeared for the first time.

“Did you really succeed?”

“Yes! Look yourself. Two successful formulas. With more research, we’ll make a more stable mix.”

“Let me see!”

Aecha peered through the prison iron door window where Geom Mugeuk and Duke Dok were.

His joyful eyes became snake eyes.

“They’re both too young. Does it only work on young people?”

True Poison Master nearly swore. It was always like this, but he didn’t expect this much trouble today.

“Don’t you underestimate me too much?”

A chill passed between them.

“Just saying. No need to get so defensive.”

Aecha said with a sneer and looked back and forth between Geom Mugeuk and Duke Dok.

“They look too young no matter how I see it.”

Aecha’s heart started pounding. His sense of danger flared fiercely. What was this unease?

Like a God of Gamblers switching cards in front of a God of Gambling, the extreme skill of Duke Dok’s martial arts was displayed from behind a small window. One small hole was enough.

‘!’

Aecha’s expression hardened. He forced a smile and approached True Poison Master.

“Thank you for your hard work!”

At that moment—

Swish!

Aecha drew his sword lightning fast and stabbed True Poison Master’s arm.

True Poison Master was caught off guard.

As he reflexively tried to spray poison, Aecha subdued his martial blood first.

“Are you crazy?”

True Poison Master shouted as Aecha grabbed his neck.

“What are you? Have you taken frenzy?”

True Poison Master thought Aecha was mad from frenzy. Otherwise, why try to kill him suddenly?

He couldn’t kill him after success. The only one who knew how to make frenzy was himself, never wrote it down anywhere. So no reason to kill himself.

“Give me the antidote! The antidote!”

Aecha coughed up blood.

His face had turned pitch black. Only then did True Poison Master realize Aecha was poisoned. He mistakenly attacked thinking Aecha was poisoning him.

“You bastard! I knew you’d betray me someday!”

“It’s not me! It’s not!”

If they had been friends, they might have calmed down. But since they were enemies, they only thought the other tried to kill them.

At that moment, Aecha and True Poison Master’s subordinates waiting outside rushed in.

“What’s going on?”

“True Poison Master betrayed us! Kill them all!”

Aecha’s men drew swords and stabbed True Poison Master’s men. It happened ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) so fast and with the shock of betrayal, True Poison Master’s men couldn’t retaliate with poison.

After they all died, Aecha’s men rushed toward Aecha but collapsed one by one.

Aecha thought True Poison Master’s men used poison, but it was Geom Mugeuk who sent a wind technique to suppress their martial blood and put them to sleep. They were the best witnesses to the situation.

Both the previous poisoning and now the suppression of martial blood were done quietly through the small prison window.

Seeing his men collapse, Aecha’s eyes rolled.

“You traitor bastard! Give me the antidote before I kill you!”

Aecha gripped True Poison Master’s neck even harder, close to breaking it. True Poison Master gasped for breath and said,

“If I really wanted to kill you, you’d already be dead.”

That was true, so Aecha was briefly confused. Right, if he wanted to kill, he’d have used a stronger poison to kill instantly and not allowed a counterattack.

At that moment—

Swish.

The key on a fallen subordinate’s side floated into the air.

True Poison Master’s eyes widened first.

The key flew through the air and unlocked Duke Dok’s iron door.

Click!

Startled by the sound, Aecha looked toward it.

The key flew again and unlocked Geom Mugeuk’s iron door.

Click!

Aecha and True Poison Master’s hearts dropped.

The doors opened, and Geom Mugeuk and Duke Dok walked out of the prison.

Aecha was stunned for a moment. Was the poison making him hallucinate?

Geom Mugeuk and Duke Dok walked side by side toward the two.

True Poison Master understood first.

“Kill them! This is what the prisoners did!”

Aecha snapped out of it and slashed his sword at Geom Mugeuk.

Even a prepared surprise attack was useless now. Aecha’s sword struck only empty air. Geom Mugeuk pierced Aecha’s martial blood with Flame King’s Protection.

Aecha looked at Geom Mugeuk with a shocked face. Now he realized the situation was badly wrong — he shouldn’t have subdued True Poison Master and stabbed his arm.

Duke Dok strode forward and opened the poison pouch at True Poison Master’s waist. True Poison Master secretly rejoiced.

“Touch my poison pouch carelessly? Good, die quickly!”

He would obviously die. If it could be touched so easily, it wouldn’t be True Poison Master’s poison pouch.

But the other was more skilled.

Riding a gust of wind, True Poison Master’s poison flew toward Aecha’s face.

“No!”

Aecha’s desperate cry turned into a horrible scream.

Since it was a poison only he used, True Poison Master would be the one to kill Aecha.

Then who would kill True Poison Master?

Aecha’s sword hand moved by invisible force.

Thud!

The sword pierced True Poison Master’s chest.

“Ughhh!”

“Ughhh!”

Both let out gruesome screams simultaneously.

Geom Mugeuk poked beneath True Poison Master’s eyes with a finger and flicked his nose.

Blood began to flow from his nose and eyes. Since he already had enough frenzy poison Duke Dok gave him, the frenzy side effects would be blamed, and the two would be deemed to have killed each other.

“...Why?”

True Poison Master’s weary question received a short answer from Duke Dok.

“Because you made the medicine like a dog.”

I said nothing more. Saying that his medicine caused knife fights and innocent deaths, and that a child who lost family was left alone — none of it would affect him. It wouldn’t even scratch his conscience.

But for the prideful man, Duke Dok’s words were a serious wound.

This time, Aecha, whose face was half melted by poison, weakly asked Geom Mugeuk.

“...Who are you?”

Geom Mugeuk quietly stared at him and said softly,

“He is Frenzy, and I am Black Rain.”

He named the two representative poisons they sold.

Aecha wanted to say more but his life was over. Until just half a moment ago, he probably never imagined his life would end so futilely.

Watching Aecha’s head fall, True Poison Master spoke to Duke Dok.

“...I have something to say.”

Duke Dok came closer.

True Poison Master bit the inside of his cheek and spat blood mixed with extreme poison.

Shhhhh!

Duke Dok spread his Mugan Fan to block it.

Blood dripped down the fan. Besides True Poison Master’s blood, many battle marks remained on it. Duke Dok seemed to leave the marks intact rather than erase or replace them.

“Third-rate poison user’s poison doesn’t work.”

Beaten and utterly mocked, True Poison Master trembled with pain and shame before lowering his head.

Geom Mugeuk silently looked down on the two dead men. It wasn’t just that one of Yalyulhan’s four subordinates had died.

It was the moment to save countless lives that would die to frenzy, the moment to fulfill the revenge of the boy who lost his mother and younger sibling. He could now go to Seodaeryong and say, Tell the boy his revenge is complete. No evil can harm him in front of our sect. So live happily now. Their deaths held that meaning.

Geom Mugeuk bowed respectfully to Duke Dok.

“You’ve endured a lot.”

It was truly hard in this narrow, suffocating place. While I spent most of the remaining time training, Duke Dok, who was used to the natural Poison Forest, must have been really stifled.

“Dealing with poison users is always so tough and disgusting.”

“I liked it. Being with you, Duke Dok.”

“Stop using poison. It’s enough.”

“Huh?”

Without explaining, Duke Dok strode out first.

Just before leaving, Geom Mugeuk sent a wind technique to release Aecha’s subordinates, who had been put to sleep earlier.

Soon after, as True Poison Master ranted about madness and betrayal and ordered to report to superiors, the two silently disappeared from there.