Chapter 323 - Black Forest (3)

Spiritual elixirs.

Beneficial things born in places where the energy of the earth and sky gathers.

Medicinal ingredients that extend the lives of ordinary people, and grant martial artists power beyond common sense.

Life is the most precious thing to everyone, and power is something anyone desires, so spiritual elixirs have value beyond mere treasure.

In particular, martial artists who will stop at nothing to grow stronger sometimes try to obtain these spiritual elixirs by risking the thing most precious of all: their lives.

To Yang Japyeong, it was an utterly foolish idea.

'The problem is that they never imagine they might actually have to trade their lives for it.'

There was no special reason the Black Forest had become a forbidden zone designated by the Murim Alliance.

Too many martial artists set foot in it carelessly.

Too many martial artists died easily.

Most of the animals, plants, and insects inhabiting the Black Forest carried virulent poisons, and because they had grown in such an indulgent environment, even if they were chosen by a spirit vein, they were likely to grow into demonic beasts.

The arrogance of martial artists who believed that even if they lost their way, becoming an expert through a spiritual elixir would let them overcome that much with ease was utterly shattered from the moment they first set foot in the forest.

Poisonous insects filled every direction.

Natural formations confused one's sense of direction.

And venomous creatures attacked day and night.

Before they could even find a spiritual elixir, martial artists were reduced to prey for the Black Forest.

That was also why Yang Japyeong's South Fist Sect received tens of thousands of taels in annual support from the Murim Alliance as the ones who managed the Black Forest.

Had that not just happened?

Just as a Three-Hooked Snake, which should never appear near the entrance of the Black Forest, had suddenly sprung out and chilled Yang Japyeong to the bone.

"... There are no records of a spiritual pill coming from a Three-Hooked Snake."

He had no idea how the man had spotted the Three-Hooked Snake, but seeing the academy representative holding one and talking about spiritual elixirs made it seem as though he still did not understand how terrifying this forest was.

"... Then what about a poison core? At this size, it looks like it has lived quite a long time."

"The standards for size among the beings of the Black Forest are different from those of the Central Plains to begin with. These creatures do not hibernate at all, and they grow all year round."

The academy representative with the crestfallen face...

What was his name again? It seemed to be Jin something.

"Then what about its poison? It does not have a poison core?"

He had clearly heard that the man was a disciple of a Daoist sect. Why was he interested in poison when he did not even use it?

No way...

"You do not think a poison core is a spiritual elixir, do you?"

He had no idea why such absurd stories had spread.

That ridiculous tale that if one ate a poison core and overcame it, one could gain more internal energy.

Whenever he inspected the Black Forest, eight out of ten of those he found had melted to death from poison cores.

'If they had enough internal energy to dissolve a poison core in the first place, they would never have needed to come here.'

Even if one digested a poison core, all one could obtain was a meager amount of internal energy and poison resistance.

And compared to what one gained, the danger was far too great.

"Never even think of doing that. Even if you dissolve a poison core, you are more likely to die than gain internal energy. To begin with, the Three-Hooked Snake's poison only causes temporary paralysis. They swallow their prey immediately, after all."

At Yang Japyeong's words, Jin Sowoon, who had been wearing a crestfallen expression until now, hung a smile on his lips.

Why was it?

Why did he feel so uneasy when the man was simply smiling?

"Only paralysis, you say..."

When he loosened the thread that had been suppressing its mouth, the Three-Hooked Snake, brimming with venom, opened its jaws wide.

"W-Wait, what are you doing?!"

What was that bastard's name again?

Since Yang Japyeong was never good at remembering men's names, he could not recall it at all.

... He should have remembered a lunatic like this no matter how male he was.

That lunatic called Jin something was trying to press the Three-Hooked Snake's mouth against his own arm.

"Y-Young Master Jin! What are you doing?!"

Seong Moran shouted in alarm.

Saryeon cried out with a grave face.

"Jin Sowoon! Put that down! Right now!"

Right! That lunatic's name was Jin Sowoon.

"Jin Sowoon...!"

Yang Japyeong, who was about to call the lunatic's name and stop him, saw it.

"I don't want to."

Jin Sowoon, wearing an utterly innocent smile, letting the Three-Hooked Snake bite his arm.

CHOMP!

#

Paralytic poison.

People often recognized paralytic poison as one of the relatively safer kinds of poison.

After all, paralytic poison was often used to relieve pain during medical treatment.

But when a venomous creature possessed paralytic poison, one had to take that to mean it had found it easy to survive in nature even without poison that was especially strong.

Just like now.

SLITHER.

The Three-Hooked Snake's paralytic poison was not particularly strong, but that was by the standards of the Black Forest.

Compared to severe poisons that melted the body as soon as they spread, a poison that rendered one unable to move for half a day could seem like nothing.

After injecting its prey with paralytic poison, the Three-Hooked Snake began wrapping its prey from the legs up.

CRACK, CRACK, CRACK.

As soon as the Three-Hooked Snake, capable of lightly breaking the bones of most people, coiled around Jin Sowoon's body, it opened its jaws wide.

Venom dripped from the Three-Hooked Snake's mouth, which had opened as wide as a human head.

"Damn it!"

"Stop it!"

Jin Sowoon's companions all tried to rush at the Three-Hooked Snake at once, but they were far too slow to catch up to the speed of the Three-Hooked Snake moving on instinct.

GULP!

At the sight of the Three-Hooked Snake swallowing his head in one bite, Seong Moran fainted.

Yang Japyeong hurriedly shouted to those around him.

"D-Don't move!"

Informal speech had slipped out without his realizing it.

But now was not the time to worry about courtesy.

"... Do not move. If you provoke it now, it will try to tear off that mad... no, Representative Jin's head in an instant."

This was the terror of the Black Forest.

Snakes of the Central Plains often ended up dying helplessly if they were attacked while swallowing their prey.

But that cunning Three-Hooked Snake, the moment it was attacked, would rip apart the prey inside its mouth with terrifying jaw strength and continue on to its next hunt.

"Th-Then what should we do?"

"..."

What should they do?

For Yang Japyeong, who had never once been in a situation where he had to save someone from a Three-Hooked Snake, it was far too heavy a question.

"First, we need... a powerful iron rod that can fix its mouth in place."

An ordinary tree branch would not do. It would simply shatter it far too easily.

But even if they had an iron rod, the next problem remained.

Who would pry open the Three-Hooked Snake's jaws?

'... All we can do is watch him die.'

In the end, the choices before them were nothing but a cruel dilemma: watch him die slowly or watch him die quickly.

But he could not tell them that despairing truth, so he had merely spoken of an iron rod.

How were they supposed to find an iron rod in the middle of the Black Forest—

"Would this do?"

An iron rod was quietly extended right in front of his nose.

At a glance, it looked unbelievably sturdy.

Why was this coming out here?

"Ah, my bow is an iron bow, so if I unstring it, it looks like this."

"..."

No, this was not supposed to come out here...

"What should we do next?"

Then someone holding an iron shield stepped forward.

Yang Japyeong opened his mouth, stammering.

"... First, if you pry open its jaws and fix the iron rod in place..."

But the words would not come out properly.

Saving a human being eaten by a Three-Hooked Snake was something that required the rescuer to risk their life too.

A Three-Hooked Snake whose hunt had been interrupted became more ferocious than ever.

"If you fix it... if you fix it..."

Had he sensed Yang Japyeong's feelings?

The one who had introduced himself as the second of the three brothers stepped forward with a sigh.

"... We have to clean up the shit Eldest Senior Brother caused."

He was going to step in himself?

Just as Yang Japyeong was about to stop him, thinking it was reckless courage possible only because he did not know how terrifying the Three-Hooked Snake was—

"Hyung and Senior Sister, please hold one side of its mouth each. Then Dongryong and I will fix it in place with the iron rod. And if something unexpected happens, the rest of you, please step in."

He gave commands as if he were used to this and began approaching the Three-Hooked Snake.

"Wait! A Three-Hooked Snake is far more—"

"Yes. I understand what you're saying. I can tell enough just from how you reacted, Great Warrior Yang."

"..."

"But we can't just leave him there."

He looked at Jin Sowoon, whose body was visible only from below the neck, with irreverent eyes and shook his head.

"... Even if he's a damned bastard, he is our Eldest Senior Brother."

Being paralyzed did not make one's ears go deaf...

Just as the four of them let out deep sighs and were about to rush at the Three-Hooked Snake—

CRACK, CRACK, CRACK.

The sound of leather straps snapping began to ring out.

At first, he thought the Three-Hooked Snake was tightening around Jin Sowoon even more and breaking his bones.

But instead, the body of the Three-Hooked Snake that had been constricting Jin Sowoon was slowly loosening.

'The paralytic poison has already worn off???'

The Taiyi Sect disciples who had been approaching the Three-Hooked Snake also froze in place.

And they stood there blankly, staring at the Three-Hooked Snake.

CRACK, CRACK, CRACK.

Through the gaps opening in the Three-Hooked Snake's body—

SLIDE.

... Two hands reached out and tightly seized both sides of the snake's jaws that had swallowed his head.

"... How dare you... call your heaven-like Eldest Senior Brother... a damned bastard?!!!"

CRUNCH, CRUNCH.

Then he began prying the gaping jaws of the Three-Hooked Snake open even wider.

At first, the Three-Hooked Snake tightened with even greater strength and clutched Jin Sowoon firmly, but its body loosened, and now it thrashed, trying somehow to escape Jin Sowoon's hands.

But the more it did, the more Jin Sowoon, far from releasing the Three-Hooked Snake's jaws, began tearing them open even wider.

CRUNCH, CRUNCH.

FLAIL, FLAIL.

Along with the sound of bones breaking, the massive body of the Three-Hooked Snake lashed in every direction like a whip.

Yang Japyeong and the rest of the vanguard group had to twist their bodies wildly to avoid being struck by the Three-Hooked Snake's tail.

And a short while later.

THUD.

The Three-Hooked Snake, its jaws torn to shreds, collapsed limply onto the ground.

And Jin Sowoon, who had gone in and come out of the Three-Hooked Snake's mouth of his own accord, glared sharply at the one who had given the commands.

"Lee Eunho! That was clearly your voice!"

Then Lee Eunho changed his voice as if nothing had happened.

"I cannot imagine what you mean. I said nothing."

"Get over here, you bastard!"

The Taiyi Sect disciples returned to normal life as if nothing had happened.

The people around them let out long sighs too, but none of their faces showed any aftereffects of having experienced death.

'... What the hell are these people?'

Though Yang Japyeong and his people had lived roughly enough to appear like barbarians in the eyes of Central Plains people, even to him, the Taiyi Sect disciples looked like people who were not in their right minds.

#

"What... did you say?"

I've been seeing that expression a lot lately.

I quietly turned my head away from Saryeon and said,

"This is something I can't do in the Central Plains..."

"What did you say?"

"So what I mean is, in the Central Plains, this is..."

"What. Did. You. Say?"

She definitely had not failed to hear me.

Seeing her ask again and again meant she had no intention of letting it slide.

In that case, I would change my strategy too.

"When do you think martial artists die the most after falling into danger?"

"Why are you... suddenly changing the subject?"

"Poison and hidden weapons. You know that well too, don't you?"

"... Even so."

I quickly cut Saryeon off.

"I have to survive longer than anyone. The revival and protection of the Taiyi Sect is more important to me than anything else. To do that, I absolutely cannot die easily."

"..."

"Hidden weapons can be blocked somehow, but poison cannot be blocked so easily. And what is more, with our circumstances, it is not as though we can take the Hundred Poisons Pill sold by the Tang Clan!"

The Hundred Poisons Pill was a poison-resistance pill sold by the Tang Clan.

It was a special poison pill that built resistance to the hundred poisons that most often killed martial artists, and because it built poison resistance relatively safely, its price was unbelievably high.

Saryeon also knew those circumstances well, so that must be why she could not say anything.

I deliberately shouted as though crying out in desperation.

"I am more desperate than anyone. Even if I cannot become invulnerable to ten thousand poisons, I need to become at least invulnerable to a thousand poisons in order to protect my junior brothers and the people of the Taiyi Sect!"

"..."

Saryeon's gaze, which had been glaring at me fiercely, turned sorrowful.

Seeing her bite down on her firmly closed lips, it seemed she had nothing else to say.

As expected, "understanding" was easier than "persuasion."

"Haa... Just buy the Hundred Poisons Pill instead. This is... too dangerous."

This girl, this girl, what on earth was she saying?

"Do you know how much the Hundred Poisons Pill costs!!! It's free here!"

Saryeon, who had been listening, ruffled her hair wildly as if annoyed.

"Aaagh! I don't know!! Do whatever you want! Soak yourself in poison and die for all I care!!"

In truth, I did need to change the method a little.

I had deliberately let it bite me because I thought poison from living creatures would be fresher, but an unexpected situation like what had happened just now could happen again.

Besides, the experience of being inside the Three-Hooked Snake's mouth was... not exactly pleasant.

Just then.

"R-Representative Jin... did you really let it bite you on purpose to build poison resistance?"

Yang Japyeong asked, his shoulders strangely drooping.

What was wrong with this man?

He seemed quite proud of his large body, too.

I lightly shrugged.

"Well, there is that too. And before my junior brothers train, I needed to test how dangerous it was."

"Your junior brothers too???"

For some reason, the face of the huge Yang Japyeong turned pale.

I pulled out one of the Three-Hooked Snake's fangs.

CRUNCH.

A long poison sac came out with the tooth.

I looked at the Geum-eun-dong Brothers.

Given the mood, Saryeon seemed impossible right now.

Of course, Geumpyo and Eunho were shaking their heads violently as if they hated the idea.

I looked at them and curved my eyes in a bright smile.

"Should I come to you? Or will you come to me?"

At that moment, Dongryong, who had been watching blankly from the side, bravely approached.

"E-Eldest Senior Brother, I'll go first."

As expected, Dongryong was the cleverest of the three.

If you had to do it anyway, it was better to do it before getting hit, wasn't it?

Just as I was about to stab the Three-Hooked Snake's fang into Dongryong's outstretched forearm,

Dongryong flinched in shock.

"E-Eldest Senior Brother!"

"I haven't stabbed you yet."

"That's not it. Behind you, behind you..."

"Hm?"

When I turned my head, Saryeon was glaring at me with the face of a demon.

"It wasn't enough to do it alone... now you're dragging your junior brothers into it too?!"

I tried to hurriedly dodge, but—

"Where do you think you're going!"

It was already too late to avoid Saryeon's hand, as her martial arts level had recently matured.

SMACK.

A pain like being seared with a red-hot iron spread across my back.

#

The main body arrived one day after the vanguard group arrived.

Then our vanguard group left the main body behind and went back into the forest.

Our destination was the encampment located at the center of the Black Forest.

Since it was only a matter of tidying up an encampment that previous classes had already used, there was nothing difficult for the vanguard group to do.

According to Yang Japyeong, who for some reason stopped going shirtless after the first day and began wearing clothes again, ever since the Black Forest was first opened to academy students, they had always trained in the same place.

"After all, moving carelessly in the Black Forest is... dangerous."

"I see."

"By the way, do you intend to keep doing that?"

Yang Japyeong swallowed hard and asked while looking at the purple poisonous mushroom in my hand.

"I haven't even started properly yet."

The number of poisons I had eaten so far was barely around ten.

Because we had to secure the encampment, I had not been able to properly search for poison.

And after eating the Three-Hooked Snake's paralytic poison, I had yet to even see a poison more dangerous than that.

I shook the poisonous mushroom and smiled.

"Still, this is fortunate. It doesn't seem as dangerous as I expected."

"Is... that so?"

"Even so, you won't allow me to move around freely, will you?"

This was the most disappointing part.

Unlike the Flame Desert or the Ice Sea, in the Black Forest, we had to move only within fixed areas.

"I... suppose not."

Yang Japyeong's reaction was strangely lukewarm.

For some reason, ever since that incident, it felt like I had fewer and fewer chances to talk with this man.

Well, it was probably just my imagination.

The encampment we reached after a week was formed in a place far wider than the one we had seen at the entrance.

Perhaps because some effort had been put into making this place, gravel had been spread across the ground, so large trees did not grow there.

With nothing in particular to do, we waited for the main body, and exactly one day later, the main body arrived at the encampment.

While the academy students set up their tents in their designated areas and prepared to spend the remaining three weeks there,

the group leaders of each group gathered in the instructors' tent.

Once he confirmed that all the group leaders had gathered, Noh Jinha began bringing up an interesting story.

"There is no denying that the Great Journey until now has been conducted as a mere formality. Well, that was a complaint that always came up even in our day."

After laying the groundwork like this,

"In the previous class, Yong So-ah even subjugated the Takan tribe."

He stirred up competitive spirit and drew out their emotions.

Then came his subtle voice.

"So, what I mean is... you people, who do not fall short even compared to the previous class, should not simply sit still, should you?"

Finally, he brought out his main point.

"Why not take this opportunity to make a map of the Black Forest? Exploring and hunting demonic beasts while you are at it."

Apart from the group leaders' faces hardening one by one,

'He came up with such a praiseworthy idea?'

Wow, this basta... no, this instructor, I thought he only ever said things that deserved a beating, but sometimes he says things that are right too, doesn't he?

I felt as though I had just been told we were going to play treasure hunt.