Chapter 31 — The One Who Deserves to Die, Must Die
The banquet, which had begun in the early evening, finally came to an end only after midnight.
The crowd that had filled the Guest Reception Hall gradually dispersed.
The White-Clothed Noble Gentleman—no, the Blood Physician Butcher Baek Cheong-woo—also quietly slipped away and headed to his quarters.
His lodging was located far from both the Kunlun Sect members’ residences and the separate annex where the Orthodox Alliance delegation was staying.
The reason his quarters were placed in such a remote area was because Baek Cheong-woo had personally requested it.
“I have a habit of compounding medicine every dawn and dusk, and preparing medicinal baths to regulate my meridians. I’m concerned that the herbal scent and smoke produced during the process might disturb others’ qi flow. It would be best if I stayed alone in a quiet place.”
Since he was renowned for his medical skills and mastery of herbs, no one doubted his words.
On the contrary, the Sect Leader and elders readily approved, praising it as the careful consideration befitting the White-Clothed Noble Gentleman.
Upon reaching his quarters, Baek Cheong-woo immediately locked the door and lit a lantern.
The dim light revealed the room’s interior.
On the table were rows of bottles of various sizes.
Liquids glowing red, blue, and black shimmered faintly inside transparent jade bottles.
Nearby were neatly arranged roots and leaves of poisonous herbs, along with dried medicinal ingredients. A thick book filled with dense calligraphy lay open.
‘Soul-Scattering Pill. 191st experiment results.
All test subjects died with their internal organs melted and meridians severed.
No chance of survival when Yangming Grass is administered.’
He picked up his brush and added the final line to the book.
‘192nd experiment in progress.’
Setting the brush down, Baek Cheong-woo let out a satisfied sigh.
The room was filled with the scent of poisonous herbs, thick enough to clog the nose.
Anyone else would have felt nauseous the moment they caught the smell of death piercing their nostrils.
But to Baek Cheong-woo, the aroma of poisonous herbs was intoxicatingly delightful.
He scanned the books hanging on the wall.
All of them were ones he had brought himself.
Their contents covered human physiology, toxic reactions, the properties of poisonous herbs, and records of his own “research.”
Some books contained anatomical diagrams of human internal organs, while others detailed the conditions of test subjects dying from poisons.
All of it was drawn and written by his own hand.
This was also why he had insisted on staying in an isolated space away from others.
If someone accidentally entered his room, his true hidden nature might be exposed.
Baek Cheong-woo savored the records in the books page by page, as if admiring fine works of art.
“Beautiful…”
A cruel smile rose to his lips.
In this moment, he had shed the false mask of the “White-Clothed Noble Gentleman” and revealed the bare face of the Blood Physician Butcher—a mad murderer.
But his smile suddenly faded.
“…Strange.”
Baek Cheong-woo’s eyes darkened.
A question suddenly surfaced in his mind.
It had already been three hours since the Sect Leader drank the Yangming Wine at the banquet.
When the fiery energy of Yangming Grass mixed with the energy of the Soul-Scattering Pill, there was no immediate reaction.
However, after three hours, the person who consumed it should have suffered a sudden qi deviation and died instantly.
“By now, the Sect Leader should have been found dead from his heart meridian going berserk…”
Why was everything still so quiet?
According to his calculations, the Kunlun Sect should have already been thrown into chaos.
He muttered to himself.
‘Was the amount of wine too small? Or did I make a mistake in my calculations?’
Baek Cheong-woo took out a small box from under the table.
Inside were compounding materials mixed with Soul-Scattering Pills, Yangming Grass powder, and various other herbs and poisons.
He took out a Soul-Scattering Pill and some Yangming Grass powder and dropped them into a water bottle on the table.
Dark reddish smoke immediately rose from the mouth of the bottle.
“Strange. My calculations were definitely correct. The ratio of Yangming Grass to Soul-Scattering Pill is perfect.”
Baek Cheong-woo muttered as if to reassure himself.
Anyone who consumed Yangming Grass and the Soul-Scattering Pill together would inevitably die.
There were no exceptions—unless, like him, they had taken the antidote, [Clear Lin Powder], in advance.
“…Hmm, perhaps the reaction time varies from person to person… Yes, at latest, he should be a corpse by tomorrow morning.”
With those words, he picked up the brush again and wrote in the book.
‘192nd experiment results.
Confirmed variation in time of onset depending on the individual.’
Then he let out a dark, satisfied smile.
“Now even the peak of Kunlun will disappear. What a wondrous night this is.”
He had once again perfectly carried out the ‘Sect Master’s’ orders.
When he returned to the Shadow Corps, he would surely receive a fitting reward.
‘I should request more test subjects. Young and fresh ones. Hehehe.’
He laughed alone for a long time.
It was not the smile he had shown at the banquet, but—
It was the laughter of a murderer, filled with deranged madness.
At that very moment—
“Grinning like an idiot while imagining killing more innocent people? You perverted murderer.”
A unfamiliar voice echoed through the room.
Baek Cheong-woo’s head snapped toward the direction of the sound.
Beneath the dim lantern light, a figure stood in the shadows.
It was a young man wearing gray robes.
From Baek Cheong-woo’s gaping mouth, a name slipped out.
“…Han Mujin.”
***
Baek Cheong-woo looked visibly shaken by my sudden visit—something quite unlike his usual composure.
‘Of course he’s surprised.’
The room was filled with evidence of all the murders this insane pervert had committed.
Records of the poison experiments he had personally conducted on countless victims, along with related research materials, were scattered everywhere.
Right now, that murderer’s mind was probably spinning frantically, trying to figure out how to handle this situation.
After a moment, Baek Cheong-woo spoke to me.
“To come unannounced at this late hour and call me a murderer… No matter how much of a Great Assembly of Elders winner you are, that is extremely rude.”
I responded to his calm, composed voice with a mocking laugh.
“Rude? Calling a murderer a murderer is rude? Then what should I call you? Oh, should I call you Blood Physician Butcher? You perverted murderer bastard.”
For a brief moment, Baek Cheong-woo’s eyes shook violently.
His face clearly showed panic at having his true identity—known only to those inside the Shadow Corps—exposed.
Yet he stubbornly refused to drop his false mask.
“…Blood Physician Butcher… What are you even—”
“Stop pretending you don’t know, you murderer. Why, should I spell it out? You tried to poison and kill Sect Leader Cheon Gwang-cheon. You son of a bitch.”
“……”
“The great humanitarian who saves countless lives, the White-Clothed Noble Gentleman? Just counting the people you’ve killed with your own hands inside the Shadow Corps would already be in the thousands. Who the hell are you calling a humanitarian? Isn’t that right, Blood Physician Butcher?”
The moment the words “Shadow Corps” left my mouth, Baek Cheong-woo’s lips twisted strangely.
“Kuk. This is interesting. I never thought I’d hear the name Shadow Corps here in Kunlun.”
Baek Cheong-woo chuckled for a moment before fixing me with a chilling gaze.
“Han Mujin, just who the hell are you? How do you know about the Shadow Corps?”
Finally, the murderer had shed the false mask of the White-Clothed Noble Gentleman and revealed his true face as the Blood Physician Butcher.
I looked him in the eye with a cold expression.
“You want to know who I am? I am the messenger sent by the Primordial Heavenly Venerable to deliver divine punishment to murderers like you, on behalf of all those sacrificed to the Shadow Corps.”
“Messenger of the Primordial Heavenly Venerable… Kuk. How amusing. Truly amusing.”
Baek Cheong-woo let out a perverse laugh as if he genuinely found my words entertaining.
Then he looked at me again with a sinister smile.
“I suppose I’ll have to find out your true identity myself. Cutting out half your tongue should make you spit out the truth. Ah, but then you won’t be able to speak, will you? Keke.”
His eyes gleamed with horrific madness as he spoke.
I immediately understood what he was thinking.
‘He plans to kill me and silence me for good.’
Baek Cheong-woo was known not only for his reputation as one of the Ten Great Physicians of the Central Plains but also as a young expert with profound martial prowess.
He was strong enough to be counted among the Five Dragons and Two Phoenixes—the seven rising stars of the current Murim.
There was no doubt this murderer was already calculating the perfect way to dispose of me.
At that moment, I saw the veins on the back of his hand wriggle and swell dark red.
He was trying to circulate his internal energy to subdue me.
However—
“…What… what is this? Why… my energy…?”
Baek Cheong-woo’s face hardened.
He urgently tried to regulate his breathing and attempt something, but his expression showed it wasn’t working as intended.
I curled my lips into a smile and spoke to the murderer.
“What’s wrong? Can’t move your internal energy properly?”
“…You… What did you do to me…!”
“Why so surprised, you murderer bastard?”
Watching the flustered Baek Cheong-woo, I took something out from my pocket.
When he saw the small leaves in my hand, his eyes bulged as if they would pop out.
“Th-that… Don’t tell me that’s Ice Snow Herb?”
“That’s right. It’s the Ice Snow Herb that grows alongside the Frigid Ice Snow Lotus. The very one that neutralizes the poisonous reaction between the Soul-Scattering Pill and Yangming Grass.”
“……”
Baek Cheong-woo, who had been staring in stunned disbelief, spoke in a trembling voice.
“Don’t tell me… the water you gave me at the banquet…!?”
“Correct. It was water diluted with Ice Snow Herb. How was it? Felt refreshingly cool all the way down your throat, didn’t it?”
“…You… You… You bastard…”
“What’s the matter? You drank the Yangming Wine at the banquet too. I even gave you Ice Snow Herb to prevent the poisonous reaction between the Soul-Scattering Pill and Yangming Grass. Aren’t you going to thank me and bow? Or did you already take the antidote, Clear Lin Powder, in advance?”
“You… You…”
I continued speaking mockingly to the trembling murderer.
“Oh dear. What a shame. There are side effects when you take Clear Lin Powder and Ice Snow Herb together.”
“……”
“You know all about those side effects better than anyone, don’t you, Blood Physician Butcher? When taken at the same time, internal energy circulation is blocked for at least a week starting three hours later. You confirmed it yourself with your test subjects.”
“Ugh… ugh…”
Baek Cheong-woo’s face turned deathly pale.
Only now did he realize how dire the situation was.
“Someone… heuk.”
He tried to shout for help, but it was as if his throat was blocked— no sound came out at all.
Then he suddenly collapsed to the floor.
I looked down at him with cold eyes.
“It seems our composed Blood Physician Butcher was too flustered to remember. When paralyzed from Ice Snow Herb and Clear Lin Powder poisoning, forcibly circulating internal energy causes full-body paralysis. It was clearly written in your damned ‘research’ records. You murderer bastard.”
“…Just… who… the hell… are you…?”
I spoke to the Blood Physician Butcher, who was struggling to move his stiffening tongue.
“I told you. I’m the messenger sent from the heavens to punish trash like you. Not just any messenger—I’m the reaper who will drag you straight to hell.”
“Ugh… ugh…”
Baek Cheong-woo’s eyes trembled violently.
The emotion filling his gaze was unmistakable—pure terror directed at me.
But the real terror was only just beginning.
I glanced at the numerous bottles scattered around the room.
Crimson bottles, ash-gray bottles, pitch-black bottles. And what they contained.
They were all the same poisons that had been forced into me in the underground prison in my previous life.
I picked up the nearest bottle.
“Let’s see… This is Shadowless Powder. One of your favorites for test subjects. It burns the vocal cords the moment it’s ingested.”
Baek Cheong-woo’s eyes shook madly.
I grabbed his jaw with two fingers and forced it open.
Then I poured every last drop of the Shadowless Powder down his throat.
The poison flowed over his tongue.
When he tried to vomit, I pressed down on his jaw to stop him.
“Don’t spit it out. ‘Test subjects must swallow the full dose.’ That’s what you always used to say.”
“…Kk… ugh…!”
A grotesque scraping sound came from deep in his throat.
He wouldn’t even be able to scream.
His vocal cords were already melting away.
I picked up the next bottle.
“Eight Poison Powder. It twists the meridians. You loved this one because the test subjects screamed the longest…”
Baek Cheong-woo’s pupils shook violently.
All that remained in his eyes was the agony of his internal organs burning and utter despair for the future awaiting him.
Yet I felt nothing as I watched his reaction.
‘I have no sympathy to spare for a murderer like you.’
I poured the powder from the bottle down his throat.
And then—
“…!!!”
Dark red veins bulged on Baek Cheong-woo’s face as if they would burst.
His eyes protruded as if they would pop out of their sockets.
His spine arched like a bow, and his entire body convulsed.
Even the paralysis caused by the side effects of Ice Snow Herb and Clear Lin Powder couldn’t suppress it.
I could tell he was writhing in indescribable, overwhelming pain.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t hear his screams.
His vocal cords had already been completely destroyed by the Shadowless Powder.
Only cracked, rasping breaths leaked from his mouth with a sickening sound.
I watched silently and spoke in a low voice.
“…Yes. That sound. The same sound I and the other dead test subjects made countless times in the underground prison. You said it yourself, Blood Physician Butcher—that listening to the dying breaths of test subjects was utterly intoxicating… How does it feel? Now that you’re the one making that sound? Still find it intoxicating?”
I leaned close to his ear.
“Make that sound you loved so much. Keep doing it until you die.”
I looked around the room.
There were still countless bottles and poisons left.
I looked at Baek Cheong-woo and smiled.
Then I returned the exact words he had once said to me.
“Let’s find out just how long you can endure, Blood Physician Butcher.”