Cheon Mubaeck took Neung-heo with him and headed straight for the place where the Seopjin-mun had been.

A warrior from the Flying Sword Sect was attached as a guide.

The Seopjin-mun was a sect of a relatively large scale.

But now there was nothing.

Looking at the empty space, it could be guessed that it had boasted quite a prosperity before the accident occurred. There was also a separate outer courtyard. There was also a wall site that separated it from the inner courtyard.

But the sight of everything being scattered as ashes was truly pitiful.

“Well, it’s hard to breathe.”

“Eum.”

The air quality was so bad that Neung-heo complained. Although a long time had passed since the incident, the ashes were still floating in the air.

Because it meant that one sect had been completely burned down.

“This is as far as we go. Our Flying Sword Sect has investigated in various ways, but there were no particular results.”

“I understand. Thank you, I’ll take care of the rest.”

Cheon Mubaeck, who had lightly given the order to leave, carefully examined the Seopjin-mun, which had become a pile of ashes.

“Wow, they burned everything. How did they burn everything like this?”

“Because there were traces left.”

“Wouldn’t it be enough to just remove the corpses? Looking at the wounds left on the corpses, masters can tell roughly what kind of martial arts were used.”

“Removing the corpses is a natural thing, and these guys have erased all the traces left on the walls and buildings.”

If there was a battle of life and death, traces would naturally be left on the buildings and walls.

Bloodstains splattered on the walls, or marks of being hit, cut, and collapsed.

Although one might ask what could be found out from that, it could not escape Cheon Mubaeck’s eyes.

For example, depending on whether the bloodstains were splattered like a spray or if there were marks of them flowing down, it could be roughly inferred what kind of fight it had been. Whether he was cut by a sword or stabbed. Then he could draw an outline of what the enemies’ martial arts were roughly like.

Who was superior, and who was inferior.

Through the depth or the stride of the footprints left on the floor, whether they used a sword, a spear, or mainly used footwork.

Neung-heo’s mouth fell open at such a story.

Even an investigator from the government office would not know in such detail.

Cheon Mubaeck carefully examined them one by one. He put his hand into the pile of ashes and turned it over a few times.

Neung-heo also acted with a sense of tact, following the likes of Cheon Mubaeck. He opened his eyes wide and searched thoroughly with the thought of finding something.

How much time had passed?

When the sun was beginning to set in the sky, Cheon Mubaeck barely found something.

Surprisingly, Neung-heo’s sullen muttering became a clue.

“Sniff, sniff, phew. My throat is scratchy because of this damn ash. My head is also dizzy.”

“…Ash?”

Cheon Mubaeck suddenly smelled the ash on his hand. His eyes sparkled.

He poked the finger that had been smelling and lightly touched it with his tongue.

The unique strong scent and texture of the ashes.

But something special that was felt in between. A faint smile appeared on Cheon Mubaeck’s lips.

“Ugh, what are you doing?”

“Heo. These guys are using their heads a little.”

At Cheon Mubaeck’s admiration, Neung-heo asked with a puzzled face.

“What do you mean?”

“They didn’t erase the traces in the first place, they hid them.”

“They didn’t erase them?”

“Because it’s so clear and intense that it can’t be erased.”

“Intense?”

“And also secret.”

Neung-heo narrowed his eyes. A single assumption that flashed in his mind.

“Is it poison?”

“Right.”

What appeared on Cheon Mubaeck’s face was conviction.

“It’s been almost a month. The ashes can be turbid as they float in the atmosphere. But. A guy with as much internal energy as you is dizzy? Just because you were exposed to some ashes for a few hours?”

Neung-heo’s eyes widened.

Well, that’s right. It was just that Neung-heo looked relatively weak because he was next to Cheon Mubaeck.

The current Neung-heo was a skilled person who could compete with any peak master.

How many elixirs had he eaten at Shaolin? Among them, there were also high-grade ones that he had gotten by pestering the Medicine Immortal. So even if his skills were second, Neung-heo’s internal energy was great.

“The poison is still left in the ashes. A deadly poison that even a fire could not destroy.

Cheon Mubaeck suddenly walked with big strides and walked far out of the outer courtyard.

After leaving the pile of ashes, he looked down at the floor after a long time.

“Look at these.”

At Cheon Mubaeck’s words, Neung-heo quickly examined the floor.

The floor was as if it were dry, with only sparse weeds here and there. But they were all drooping, whether they were withered or dead.

Cheon Mubaeck walked further without hesitation. The traces of people disappeared, and a dense forest of trees and a forest gradually unfolded.

It was a forest made of trees that seemed to have dried up.

“The poisonous qi has spread this far.”

It was not usually far from the manor of the original Seopjin-mun, to the point where a person’s hand could not reach.

If the Seopjin-mun had used poison, this was not a place where it would have a direct effect.

But even so, the trees and the bushes were as dry as if they were in a drought.

“They are all dead grass and trees. Heo, how can this be?”

“Right. Even though it was burned by a fire, the remaining poisonous qi spread into the atmosphere to this extent.”

“It’s a terrible poison.”

Neung-heo clicked his tongue. Poison is a law that is effective in a confined space. If it’s an open place, doesn’t the air pass through and it scatters quickly?

Poison is something that is scattered and purified in the wind.

But even so, the fact that the poison had spread through the air and had an effect this far meant that it was a really deadly poison.

Neung-heo said in a slightly raised voice.

“Those who use poison as their main weapon are not that many in the entire martial world, so if we mobilize the Beggars’ Sect and the Hao Faction, we can track them down quickly.”

A poisoner who handles such a deadly poison is not that many in the entire martial world.

Even in Cheon Mubaeck’s mind, there were not many people who came to mind.

If he went through the Beggars’ Sect or the Hao Faction, which had clear information on the current people of the martial world, he might be able to catch their tail quickly.

Unlike Neung-heo’s hopeful remark, Cheon Mubaeck’s face was a little stiff.

‘It’s a poison I don’t know.’

That was the reason why he had not noticed it right away.

What was the reason why he had noticed the poison of the Blood Demon Sect before?

Because it was a kind he already knew. Because it was a poison he had already experienced once.

But not now. It was a poison that was not in the vast knowledge accumulated in his head for hundreds of years.

It was a bewildering fact. If it was a deadly poison of this level, there should have been at least a line of record in the notes in his head.

If he didn’t know it at all.

‘It must be a poison that was developed within 40 years. A poison that was almost created for the first time, not based on any poison.’

Of course, that could be.

The gap of 40 years was a time when one generation was entering its end and a new generation was entering its prime.

It was not surprising that a poison of this level would come out in the meantime.

What was really surprising was the fact that a poisoner who could develop such a poison had appeared.

And from the enemy at that.

“Poison is a really troublesome thing.”

Cheon Mubaeck smiled bitterly.

How much had the hundred white-way martial arts suffered from poison during the righteous-demonic war?

Until the Tang Clan had officially joined and supported them, the ratio of casualties from poison had been considerable.

“Neung-heo, find out about those who are well-versed in poison in the vicinity.”

“Are you going to investigate yourself?”

“If we only rely on the Beggars’ Sect and the Hao Faction, problems will arise. What if they pass on manipulated information for their own benefit? Information should not be relied on from only one side.”

There was nothing as scary as information being monopolized.

And what if the monopolizing side manipulated it for their own benefit?

That was the reason why he had made two doors for information to come in, the Hao Faction and the Beggars’ Sect, and that was also the reason why he had built his own information network in Henan.

Although he received the help of the Beggars’ Sect and the Hao Faction, it was better to move and to investigate himself.

Especially in a part like this, he felt the need to check it himself.

“I understand. I’ll look for the best expert in the vicinity. Perhaps there are people among the physicians who know poison well.”

* * *

Cheon Mubaeck, through Gwak Cheon-hu, informed that poison had been used in the annihilation of the Seopjin-mun.

The non-experts were startled at the word poison and reinvestigated the vicinity.

Then they discovered the fact that five people had recently died of an unknown disease in a village far from the Seopjin-mun.

It was fortunate that the Seopjin-mun was a sect in a remote place, focusing on cultivation.

If it had been in the middle of a city like the Sacred Fire Sect, a terrible tragedy would have occurred.

“No. That’s why they targeted the Seopjin-mun. So that it wouldn’t be obvious.”

On the contrary, the reason why they had used poison on the Seopjin-mun was probably for that reason.

If a sect was annihilated, the government office would judge it as a dispute of the martial world and would not intervene.

But what if the commoners died in large numbers from poison?

The government office would have no choice but to intervene.

“The fact that they are also wary of the government office is also a gain.”

Cheon Mubaeck muttered so and waited for a person at the inn.

Because Neung-heo had said he would bring the person who was the most well-versed in poison and medicine in the vicinity.

Not long after, Cheon Mubaeck raised his head.

He felt Neung-heo’s presence from outside.

But…

“What is it? You couldn’t find him?”

Neung-heo entered the inn with a laugh that was unbecoming of him, like an old man.

Next to him were Chae Ga-ryeong and Yeon So-un.

It seemed they had met on their way in.

At Cheon Mubaeck’s rebuke, Neung-heo blinked his eyes as if to say what he was talking about.

“What do you mean? I’ve brought him now.”

“…?”

Cheon Mubaeck tilted his head and then, seeing Chae Ga-ryeong’s somewhat nervous face, let out a ‘heo’ admiration.

“Don’t tell me it’s you?”

“Yes. I heard that she is famous for being the most well-versed in medicine in the vicinity. Miss, where was it? Where did you learn medicine?”

Chae Ga-ryeong said proudly.

“I studied at The Odorless Medical Hall in Hubei.”

“Wow. My lord, you know too, don’t you? I’ve also heard rumors about The Odorless Medical Hall.”

“I know. The Odorless Medical Hall. Isn’t it the place where the Medicine Immortal once taught?”

Of course, it was in the past. The Medicine Immortal had taught about pharmacy there.

That’s how much its reputation in medicine was soaring to the sky.

Cheon Mubaeck looked at Chae Ga-ryeong.

“You learned medicine at The Odorless Medical Hall?”

“Yes.”

“What about the family’s true teachings?”

“My father was a more stubborn person than I thought. He didn’t have a problem with a woman holding a sword, but he believed that the family’s true teachings should be inherited by a man.”

The corners of Chae Ga-ryeong’s eyes, which were already drooping, seemed to droop even more.

Seeing her like a puppy soaked in the rain, Cheon Mubaeck sighed.

‘That guy was not just stubborn, but also old-fashioned.’

Since Chae Ga-ryeong’s great-grandfather was also like that, it must have been passed down as a family tradition.

Come to think of it, since Chae Ga-ryeong had a younger brother, he must have been thinking of having that child inherit the family.

“So you learned medicine?”

“Yes. Every time my father got angry at home, the warrior uncles were taken to the physician. So I thought I could be of some help to the family, so I learned medicine.”

Chae Ga-ryeong said boldly. The initial nervous look was nowhere to be seen. When he glanced, the escort warrior, Yeon So-un, was looking at such a Chae Ga-ryeong with warm eyes.

‘It’s not a lie.’

Although Chae Ga-ryeong lacked experience, she would be better than Cheon Mubaeck in the latest medicine and poison.

Because Cheon Mubaeck had a gap of 40 years.

“Then I need your help.”

Chae Ga-ryeong’s eyes sparkled.

She clenched her small fists and said.

“Yes! Anything! Just give me the order!”

(End of Chapter)

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep