The Divine And Demonic Doctor [EN]: Chapter 367

Danakson stared at Ak Ho-gun in silence for a long moment.

The connection between the Green Forest and the Demonic Sect.

He had come to determine if such a connection existed, but that now felt secondary. The situation unfolding before him was deeply troubling.

The poppy powder, extracted from poppy seeds, commanded a significantly higher price than ordinary crops.

Moreover, unlike other crops, it required relatively little labor.

The potential for tremendous income, relative to the effort invested, was undeniable.

It wouldn’t have been easy for the fire field farmers, who risked their lives to clear land and cultivate crops, to resist such a temptation.

And with a poppy field of this size, the harvest would undoubtedly be substantial.

Far exceeding any reasonable amount for medicinal purposes.

The moment his eyes met Danakson’s, Ak Ho-gun felt a sudden chill run down his spine.

As if trying to shake it off, Ak Ho-gun shouted with forced bravado.

“Now that we have confirmed that we have no connection to the Demonic Sect, I trust you will honor your promise not to reveal any other secrets.”

Danakson sighed and nodded.

“I have no choice. A promise is a promise. But…”

“…?”

“I must say this.”

Danakson’s eyes turned cold.

“If poppy is used improperly, it can kill far more people than the Demonic Sect ever could.”

Repeated use of poppy powder inevitably leads to addiction.

Like any intense craving, once deeply addicted, escape was exceedingly difficult.

But poppy powder was particularly insidious, its addictive properties making it almost impossible to convey the severity of its harm.

Eventually, it eroded a person’s character and devoured their very personality.

Indeed, that was the tragic fate of Jincheon Kwon, Yeom Suk.

A master of Kwonjang [a martial art style], once hailed as one of the Four Great Kwon Masters of the Central Plains.

He was rumored to have disappeared after being defeated by the Buddhist monk Beobryo of Shaolin, but the truth was far different.

And Danakson had been an eyewitness to that slow, agonizing decline.

Despite attempts at treatment, he remained enslaved to the drug, ultimately taking his own life by striking his own Cheonnyeonggae [a vital point on the body].

If such a master could fall victim, what hope was there for ordinary people?

Moreover, the damage wasn’t limited to the individual.

Addiction often dragged everyone around them into the abyss, leaving families and communities devastated.

However, what angered Danakson most was something else entirely.

There was no way someone like Chongpyopaja [Ak Ho-gun’s title, meaning “Chief of the Green Forest”] could be ignorant of the dangers of poppy.

Danakson felt a sense of betrayal that Ak Ho-gun would make such a choice.

“That’s none of your business.”

Of course.

Danakson couldn’t help but unleash the words he had been holding back at Ak Ho-gun’s brazen response.

“No. I promised not to inform the Beggars’ Sect about *this*, but I can’t simply let it go unaddressed.”

Ak Ho-gun’s eyebrows twitched in anger.

“If you don’t let it go? Do you mean to wage an all-out war against us?”

The answer came from an unexpected source.

“That wouldn’t be so bad, either.”

It was Beomgyewi.

“Now that I think about it, wiping out the Green Forest’s headquarters wouldn’t be a terrible outcome. These guys haven’t been particularly useful anyway, have they?”

“…!”

Ak Ho-gun’s face paled instantly.

He knew better than anyone that those words weren’t empty threats.

The problem was that Cho Ak-ryang and Han Seol-hwa didn’t seem inclined to restrain him.

‘Damn it!’

Ak Ho-gun cursed inwardly.

If they were determined to attack, they could easily turn this headquarters into a bloodbath.

Even if he managed to escape, this place would be left in ruins.

The authority of the Chongpyopaja, who abandoned his own headquarters and fled, would plummet.

Ak Ho-gun watched Danakson’s mouth with anxious eyes.

Ultimately, everything hinged on Danakson’s decision.

He forced himself to remain patient, suppressing his rising anxiety.

Finally, Danakson spoke.

“First, we need to find a solution that is satisfactory to all parties involved.”

Ak Ho-gun, momentarily relieved, was startled by Danakson’s next words.

“But if we can’t find common ground… I’ll gladly endure the worst-case scenario as well.”

Ak Ho-gun was momentarily stunned by the resolute glint in Danakson’s eyes.

He glared at Danakson and growled under his breath.

“No one, least of all *you*, is qualified to say that.”

“What do you mean?”

“Who do you think put us in this situation in the first place?”

“Yes?”

Ak Ho-gun cast a resentful look at the puzzled Danakson.

“Recently, our very foundation has been shaken by the Shinma Merchant Group.”

Danakson paused, listening to Ak Ho-gun’s explanation.

“The two main sources of income that sustain our mountain villages are tolls and tributes from the escort agencies. However, recently, these escort agencies have been traveling under the protection of the Shinma Merchant Group, receiving toll exemptions and even reduced tribute rates. Countless escort agencies have fallen under the sway of the Shinma Merchant Group.”

As a result, the Green Forest’s funds were dwindling, and the organization itself was on the verge of collapse.

The Green Forest was, at its core, a union of mountain villages driven by profit.

Unlike the orthodox sects that adhered to principles, it was an organization that prioritized practical benefits above all else.

“We are barely managing to stay afloat with the funds generated by the poppy trade. Giving up poppy, our only remaining source of income, is tantamount to disbanding the Green Forest.”

“You mean you have no intention of giving it up.”

“Whether we starve to death or die by the sword, the end result is the same. In that case, we’d rather wield the sword to our heart’s content before we fall.”

Ak Ho-gun responded defiantly, as if issuing a declaration.

Of course, it would be a lie to say he wasn’t afraid of the Shinma Three Venerables backing Danakson.

However, he refused to back down.

As the Chongpyopaja who ruled the Green Forest, this was an issue he couldn’t concede.

“From the beginning, collecting tolls was never a legitimate business.”

Ak Ho-gun snorted derisively at Danakson’s words.

“Humph! Just as a carp cannot understand a hawk soaring in the sky, a hawk cannot comprehend a carp swimming in the water. So don’t presume to judge the lives of others with your narrow-minded values.”

Danakson sighed softly.

“First, I have confirmed that the Green Forest is not connected to the Demonic Sect. I will relay that information to the Beggars’ Sect.”

“I trust you will also keep your promise not to reveal what you saw here.”

Danakson nodded silently and slowly turned to leave.

Ak Ho-gun didn’t bother to see Danakson and the Shinma Three Venerables off.

Danakson, descending from Georyeongchae [the Green Forest headquarters], approached the Beggars’ Sect group that was camped outside the mountain village.

He told Hongjeokmun [leader of the Beggars’ Sect] the truth.

Of course, as he had promised Ak Ho-gun, he omitted any mention of the poppy fields.

“Oh dear… the situation has become rather awkward.”

Hongjeokmun, scratching his cheek as if troubled, wrote a letter and handed it to the Green Forest soldiers guarding the border.

It was a letter of apology, acknowledging his discourtesy.

The Green Forest soldier who received the letter disappeared into the mountain village, but no reply came, even after a long wait.

“Tsk. They must be quite sulky.”

Hongjeokmun had no choice but to lead the Beggars’ Sect in retreat.

As they descended Mt. Geomdan together, Hongjeokmun posed a question to Danakson.

“If they aren’t connected to the Demonic Sect, why were they so resistant to the investigation?”

Danakson smiled awkwardly, as if embarrassed.

“You heard the promise between me and Chongpyopaja, didn’t you, Chief? I trust you’ll understand.”

“Well, I suppose I have no choice.”

Hongjeokmun had been hoping for a hint, even a subtle one, given their long-standing relationship.

Noticing this, Danakson changed the subject, asking a question of his own.

“By the way, is it certain that the disappearance of the fire field farmers is linked to the Demonic Sect?”

Given the nature of the Beggars’ Sect, they wouldn’t have pressured the Green Forest so aggressively based on mere suspicion.

They must have secured concrete evidence.

“It’s highly likely. And there’s a strong possibility that Subo [a high-ranking member of the Demonic Sect, responsible for intelligence], whom we’ve been tracking, is behind it.”

“What’s your basis for that?”

“The testimony of the sole survivor from the disappeared fire field farmers’ village.”

“There’s a survivor?”

Hongjeokmun nodded.

“Blood-stained Cultivator, Jo Ok-gi. He was once a public enemy of the Murim world [martial arts world], notorious throughout Gwangdong.”

Danakson tilted his head, and Cho Ak-ryang, who was walking beside him, offered an explanation.

“He dresses like a Confucian scholar, but in reality, he’s a pervert obsessed with blood. A madman who indiscriminately slaughters Murim practitioners and ordinary people alike. I hadn’t heard any rumors about him for a while, so I assumed he was dead somewhere…”

Hongjeokmun continued.

“As I mentioned earlier, the disappeared fire field farmers’ villages shared a common thread. A stranger would stay for a while and then vanish. And when he disappeared, the entire village would disappear with him.”

“So, a man named Jo Ok-gi was hiding in the disappeared village.”

“When the Murim Alliance’s subjugation campaign began, he fled deep into the mountains. He blended in with the fire field farmers and concealed his identity.”

But the Beggars’ Sect eventually found him.

“He said that not long after a mysterious man visited the village, a considerable number of Murim people arrived. They killed the old people and buried them, then took the remaining fire field farmers somewhere else. He barely escaped and lived in hiding until we confirmed his identity.”

“Of course, the men who came to the village used demonic arts. As a master himself, Blood-stained Cultivator couldn’t have failed to recognize it.”

Only then did Danakson understand why the Beggars’ Sect had been trying to contact him for the past three months.

Hongjeokmun’s expression turned serious.

“Thousands of people have disappeared over the years. The fact that we didn’t notice this sooner has significant implications.”

Danakson immediately grasped what Hongjeokmun was implying.

He had heard a similar warning during his visit to the Imperial Palace.

Sure enough.

“The Subo of the Demonic Sect is highly skilled at manipulating information. It’s also highly likely that he commands an intelligence network as effective as our own. Otherwise, it would be impossible to systematically distort and conceal information on this scale.”

Danakson agreed.

“It would have been impossible to locate the fire field farmers’ villages, scattered throughout the Central Plains, with ordinary manpower.”

“In fact, our Beggars’ Sect also faced considerable difficulties during the investigation. More than half of the fire field farmers’ villages we identified were places we had never even heard of before. We only succeeded because we were pursuing it with a specific purpose.”

“The same must be true for the Demonic Sect.”

Then, suddenly, Danakson realized what Hongjeokmun was thinking.

“In that case, it can’t be an unnamed intelligence organization.”

Hongjeokmun seemed relieved that Danakson, quick to understand, had addressed his unspoken concern.

“That’s definitely the case. An organization with that much reach and influence couldn’t have been operating without a known identity for so long.”

Danakson immediately began to consider various information organizations and powerful groups.

Black Dot, Hao Gate, and even Dongchang [a powerful secret police agency in the Imperial Court]…

As if anticipating Danakson’s thoughts, Hongjeokmun spoke first.

“The Beggars’ Sect has already initiated its own internal audit. Fortunately, we haven’t uncovered any suspicious activity yet.”

“It doesn’t seem like the Chief is Subo, no matter how I look at it.”

“I’m conducting the investigation with the possibility that *I* might be Subo in mind.”

Danakson could see how deeply committed Hongjeokmun was to resolving this matter.