The Sea Sand Gang Leader released a heavy sigh before continuing his tale.
“There was a man ranked third in the Sea Sand Gang. Not second, but third. One day, he began delaying the tribute payments, and eventually, he raised a banner of rebellion against me.”
His eyes trembled, the pupils dilating as if the memory were physically assaulting him.
“He used a bizarre Demonic Art I had never witnessed before.”
“Oho?”
“Honestly, finding someone who has learned Demonic Arts among pirates isn’t entirely strange. Of course, it wasn’t a proper art derived from the Demonic Cult. It is usually an unfortunate instance where a fool consumes something wrong hoping for quick power, fails to raise their realm, and ruins their fate instead. But this… was uniquely aberrant.”
“Aberrant?”
“Yes. Aberrant. I lack the words to describe it otherwise, but it did not feel as though a human was wielding it. I suffered internal injuries at his hands. Believing it was the end, I considered dragging him down to hell with me. Flight was impossible, so there was no other answer, was there?”
“Right.”
“But then, Three Perfections Tracking Tiger, your Tiger Hunting Squad launched a surprise attack. I used the ensuing chaos to escape.”
“Hmm.”
“I told you it was bizarre. First, that bastard Sa Do-bu.”
“Sa Do-bu. Was that the name of the third-ranked man?”
“Yes. Even before that Sa Do-bu bastard became strong, he had a habit of cutting out the entrails of commoners and hanging them from the mast. It instantly reminded me of the Blood Immortal Cult.”
“Was Sa Do-bu the only one whose strength grew abnormal?”
“No. After performing a strange ritual, his subordinates became stronger as well. It was as if they had lost the capacity to feel pain. Ah, there was someone chanting spells in the rear—clearly an outsider. I couldn’t see the face due to a mask, but I know it was a woman.”
“…”
The Three Perfections Tracking Tiger rubbed her temples as a headache began to throb behind her eyes. Jin Cheon-hee naturally took her wrist, his fingers settling over her pulse.
After a moment of diagnosis, Jin Cheon-hee spoke. “It is fine. It has not developed into an Inner Demon yet.”
“How did I end up in this state, worrying my clever Little Brother?” She sighed, shaking off the fatigue, and pressed on with the interrogation. “So, where is your base? If the Blood Immortal Cult has commandeered the Sea Sand Gang, we cannot leave it be.”
“That is…”
“The Blood Immortal Cult is a public enemy of the Murim. This is the consensus of both the Orthodox and Unorthodox paths. You were lucky to be ousted. If you assist us, you will not be hunted down and slaughtered as a common enemy.”
His hesitation was brief. There was no honor among the Unorthodox left to uphold. The Sea Sand Gang Leader opened his mouth.
“Our base? It is…”
At that moment, a thunderous roar tore through the air.
Clang, clang—clang!
It was an ambush.
Gongs and shouts erupted from all directions. The Three Perfections Tracking Tiger leaped to her feet as if escaping a burning building. In stark contrast, Jin Cheon-hee remained seated, relaxed.
“The Sea Sand Gang rabble… The Blood Immortal Cult must be guiding them.”
“Have you changed your profession from strategist to fortune teller lately?”
At her sharp retort, he sent a telepathic message, a faint smile playing on his lips.
[ I deduced it, given we are on the coast of Hangzhou. ]
[ Do not say such things in front of the Alliance Leader. You will learn firmly how the Zhuge Clan was treated in the past. ]
That much was expected.
[ I trust you, Elder Sister. ]
[ Little Brother, I honestly don’t know if you are just good-natured or shamelessly bold. ]
The Three Perfections Tracking Tiger grumbled, then turned her sharp gaze to the captive.
“Sea Sand Gang Leader. Since it has come to this, the Martial Righteous Alliance guards will protect you, but you must look after your own life. Though it feels awkward saying that to a man who has lost both arms.”
To the Three Perfections Tracking Tiger, who spoke with such casual cruelty, the Sea Sand Gang Leader shouted urgently.
“Wait.”
“Hmm?”
“The base of the Sea Sand Gang is Muo Island.”
At those words, the Three Perfections Tracking Tiger smirked.
“Thanks.”
She drew a small dagger from her waist and bound it to his severed wrist with bandages.
“Well, better than nothing, right?”
“Kuek, damn it.”
Despite the immense pain, he forced himself upright.
Will he survive, let alone keep the stitches from tearing? This man.
Jin Cheon-hee hesitated, then gripped the man’s pressure points, infusing internal energy.
“Emergency treatment.”
“It still hurts.”
“Yes. That will not change. If you are alive after this concludes, come back to me. I need to release the sealed points.”
He then placed a potent painkiller in the man’s mouth.
“Survive.”
Although he had heard the philosophy from the Three Perfections Tracking Tiger, Jin Cheon-hee did not wish to dwell on the bleak end awaiting those of the Unorthodox Path. He knew this man had slaughtered countless innocents. But one must live to atone. Fleeing into death to escape pain was a waste.
Jin Cheon-hee, the Three Perfections Tracking Tiger, and the armless Sea Sand Gang Leader stepped outside. It seemed the Gang Leader had decided that sticking close to the young physician offered a better chance of survival than trusting the Alliance guards.
[ His Unorthodox instincts must have told him. That staying by your side is the way to live the longest. ]
[ Since the Blood Immortal Cult is attacking, they will surely come for me, ranting about the Seed of the Half-Immortal or whatever. A foolish choice. ]
[ Hmm? Do you truly think so? ]
The Three Perfections Tracking Tiger looked up at the sky.
Clang, clang, clang, clang—
It was not the gong of allies. It was a sound Jin Cheon-hee had heard before.
The bell of the Blood Immortal Cult.
The rhythmic tolling that had once hypnotized children, making them sway in a trance.
Just then.
Shriek!
Killing intent spiked from behind.
Jin Cheon-hee urgently twisted his body, wrapping his sleeve around the incoming steel.
Clang!
Strangely, the blade—imbued with sword qi—was caught in the flowing silk sleeve, unable to advance.
“Little Brother. What… kind of technique is this…?”
The Three Perfections Tracking Tiger’s shock at the unseen technique was brief; the attacker was none other than the armless Sea Sand Gang Leader. He had attempted to impale Jin Cheon-hee with the very knife the Three Perfections Tracking Tiger had strapped to his stump.
“Has this bastard gone mad?!”
“Di… die… Dieeee!”
With dilated pupils, the Sea Sand Gang Leader made guttural, animalistic noises and tried to lash out with his other arm.
Phew, what is this?
He had already surrendered the location of his main base; there was no logical reason to betray them now.
Jin Cheon-hee reached out and hurriedly pressed the pressure points on the back of the man’s neck.
Tak, tak!
Yet, he continued to swing the knife wildly.
The pressure points aren’t working at all?
Briefly flustered by the anomaly, Jin Cheon-hee quickly regained his composure. His blue eyes analyzed the situation, finding a solution instantly. Wrapping his sleeve tighter around the trapped knife, he exerted force and snapped it.
Snap!
The sight of silk cloth shattering a blade charged with sword qi was nothing short of miraculous. In that fluid motion, Jin Cheon-hee struck the man’s temple with the heel of his palm.
Thud!
The leader’s jaw rippled from the impact, and he collapsed, unconscious.
He might suffer a concussion if I’m not careful… but it can’t be helped.
There was no other way.
“Why did he suddenly go berserk, and why didn’t the pressure points work?!”
Leaving the flustered Three Perfections Tracking Tiger behind, Jin Cheon-hee peeled back the man’s eyelids to examine his bloodshot eyes, then checked his pulse to confirm the chaotic qi flow.
Finally, he spoke.
“It is brainwashing.”
Clang, clang, clang, clang—
The sound of their bells enveloped the surroundings. The Three Perfections Tracking Tiger ground her teeth. She had been there too, in that underground cave where the children were kidnapped.
“Was he already brainwashed when we caught him?”
“It likely wasn’t a specific command like ‘kill this person in this way.’ It was probably a dormant suggestion, set to trigger a berserk murderous rage upon hearing a specific sound frequency.”
“Can that alone make one immune to pressure points?”
“It would require a combination of drugs and sorcery. The Sea Sand Gang Leader probably ingested the drug before he even realized it.”
“Drugs?”
“Traces were present before I treated him. Since those in the Unorthodox Path rarely visit legitimate medical clinics, they often suck on opium poppies like water. They swallow herbs mixed with all sorts of dubious folk remedies. I suspect the agent was contained in one of those.”
“You seem strangely calm, Little Brother.”
“…Do I look that way?”
Although the man was Unorthodox scum, he was a patient Jin Cheon-hee had ground his own body down to treat. To have to beat that patient into submission again felt absolutely wretched.
But there was no need to show that outwardly. He simply spoke in a lower, more deliberate tone than usual.
In the chronicles of the Supreme Heavenly Demon, there was an incident where an Orthodox sect was manipulated into self-destruction using this very method.
It was the Blood Immortal Cult’s specialty. And the one who mastered this art was…
Heavenly Lord Geum.
Sorcery, brainwashing, drugs. And madness.
Among the Ten Heavenly Lords, Heavenly Lord Geum had excelled in these dark arts for generations.
It was ironic now. After all, the current Heavenly Lord Geum, whose specialty this was, had become a completely different person through those very three things: sorcery, brainwashing, and drugs. And now, in that wretched state, she was inflicting the same fate upon others.
Watching the Three Perfections Tracking Tiger amidst this mire where victim became perpetrator, Jin Cheon-hee asked, “Elder Sister, will you truly never give up on your sister?”
“No. I will never give up. Do you think I am foolish?”
At her words, a corner of Jin Cheon-hee’s heart sank.
“I am merely a physician, not someone to judge your words. If you have chosen that path, then so be it.”
If Heavenly Lord Geum was here.
If the one ringing this bell and conducting the brainwashing was Heavenly Lord Geum.
If she herself had forgotten her true identity, doing this, offering humans as sacrifices, and living by consuming human flesh…
Supreme Heavenly Demon never detailed exactly how Heavenly Lord Geum was brainwashed. By the time the protagonist Yeo Ha-ryoon killed Heavenly Lord Geum, it was already the next generation, not the current one.
“Elder Sister. Stay sharp.”
“Is that advice as a physician?”
“Yes. If you get swept into Qi Deviation, you won’t be able to do anything in the end.” Jin Cheon-hee took a medicine bottle from his bosom. “Swallow this when you feel like you’re going mad.”
“It looks like it has side effects.”
“Yes. It is a heart disease medicine I prescribe even to the Wudang Sect Leader. If you take it, it will stabilize your qi and blood, but you will only be able to utilize one-third of your internal energy.”
“I’ll be killed by a blind sword before my qi and blood explode.”
“If you get stabbed, I’ll fix you somehow, so just preserve your sanity.”
Grumbling, she took the pill and tucked it into her robes. “You really save a lot of people, Little Brother.”
“They tell me that’s why I’m the Seed of the Half-Immortal.”
“Huh-huh-huh.”
The Three Perfections Tracking Tiger unwrapped the bandage from the fallen Sea Sand Gang Leader’s arm and retrieved her dagger. Then she said:
“I will absolutely not die from Qi Deviation. Of course, I might go mad. Searching the entire Central Plains and the vast seas to find a sibling of mine isn’t something a sane person does. But, yes. Until I see her, I won’t die of heart disease.”
“That’s a good attitude.”
“Right.”
After securing the unconscious Sea Sand Gang Leader inside, the two stepped out again.
Kwa-gwang!
“The formation is shattered.”
She immediately dashed forward. Jin Cheon-hee followed closely, sticking to her like a shadow.
Internally admiring his seamless movement technique, the Three Perfections Tracking Tiger soon lost her words at the sight unfolding before her eyes.
“…”