Chapter 405 – The Meeting of Myth and Legend (2)

Silence fell.

People held their breath and closed their mouths at the shocking scene unfolding before their eyes. No one dared breathe loudly.

The scene unfolding before their eyes brought them enormous terror that exceeded shock.

With the beauty's single word, dozens of people had died, and their corpses were strewn before their eyes. It was such a shocking sight that it rather felt unreal.

The inn owner who had been about to bring a wine bottle couldn't even think of moving and just trembled. But no one blamed him.

Seeing this, the beauty quietly muttered.

"Tsk! I've finished all the wine."

If she could calmly drink wine after creating such a tragedy, that itself would mean lacking something as a human. Though she had acted excessively, the beauty had not yet lost her self-awareness as a human.

At that moment, the beauty's eyes saw Dam Ho.

While everyone was looking at her with terrified eyes, only he alone was looking at her with profound eyes.

"Indeed!"

Instantly a smile appeared on the beauty's lips. From such appearance of the beauty, Dam Ho felt that she had come looking for him knowingly.

Dam Ho finally opened his mouth.

"Did you come looking for me?"

"Yes, child! I certainly came to meet you."

The beauty answered without a moment's hesitation. At this, Dam Ho stood up and walked toward her.

The beauty sat in place and silently watched Dam Ho approaching her. For a moment, a regretful light flashed through her eyes.

Her gaze was directed precisely at Dam Ho's left leg. The slightly limping left leg particularly caught her eye.

'What a pity.'

She clicked her tongue.

Though it had been a very long time since she came out to the martial world, she knew well about Dam Ho. She had no choice but to. Because Dam Ho was one of the most famous people in the current martial world.

A cold-blooded man without blood or tears.

An incarnation of slaughter.

Besides these, countless other expressions referred to Dam Ho. None of them were positive. They were all negative, and among them was even the expression that Dam Ho was the greatest villain since martial world history began.

Given such circumstances, the beauty couldn't help but be interested in Dam Ho. No, she had inevitable reasons to be interested.

Dam Ho looked as strong as the rumors said.

The solid atmosphere felt from him, his gaze, and the fierce energy that naturally flowed out to dominate the area naturally made one realize what a tremendous martial artist Dam Ho was.

Dam Ho was certainly a martial artist completed to a rare degree. Even she hadn't seen such a completed martial artist in recent times. But nevertheless, his slightly limping left leg bothered her.

The beauty concealed such inner thoughts and looked up at Dam Ho standing before her.

Even though he had witnessed her killing numerous people with just a few words, there was no intimidated light in Dam Ho's eyes. Rather, fierce fighting spirit seemed to be boiling within.

Dam Ho asked.

"Who are you?"

"That's not very important. The fact that you're Fist Demon Dam Ho is more important."

The beauty's words had strange persuasive power.

Dam Ho frowned slightly while looking at the beauty. As the beauty said, he felt her name wasn't particularly important.

Suddenly he felt intense discord.

Dam Ho knew himself well. He was never someone who would think such thoughts. He considered everything important. Because he well knew what impact even one trivial thing carelessly overlooked could have on the overall situation.

For such a person to not consider the opponent's name important? It was nonsensical.

It was as if someone had forcibly injected such thoughts. And Dam Ho was seeing the one who had injected such thoughts right before his eyes.

Ripples spread through Dam Ho's deep pupils.

The wave that started from a single point instantly became a violent tsunami and swept the area.

Snap!

At that moment, something broke.

It was the invisible line that had been precariously connecting Dam Ho and the beauty. And the beauty's complexion changed slightly.

'Oh no!'

Swoosh!

Intense gravitational force generated from Dam Ho's body pulled the beauty toward him. Instantly, the beauty's body was rapidly drawn toward Dam Ho.

"Wait!"

The beauty urgently shouted toward Dam Ho. But it didn't reach Dam Ho's ears.

Words have power.

It was the so-called Word Command. But even saying the same words, the power contained differs from person to person.

Most people's words don't contain much power, but the words of those with strong energy or powerful martial arts contain great force. That power could influence others' minds or make them flow in different directions.

For masters who had reached the realm of Heart Word Kill like the beauty, it went without saying. The beauty had used Word Command on Dam Ho.

Regardless of intention, the mere fact that she had tried to manipulate Dam Ho's will according to her wishes was tantamount to making the first attack.

Dam Ho was not someone who would look for reasons to retaliate or endure after being attacked.

Boom!

Shattering Star Punch exploded.

The beauty's body flew backward gracefully. But there wasn't a single wound on her body. Because at the moment of crisis, she extended her hand to completely offset Dam Ho's attack. But cold sweat was flowing down her spine.

Because she instinctively knew that if her reaction had been even slightly delayed, she couldn't have remained unharmed like this. Dam Ho's single strike was that intense.

Her palm was throbbing. Others would be shocked at the fact that she had barely offset the impact to this degree, but the beauty herself was surprised at the very fact that she had felt even this much impact.

She had long since surpassed human limits. It had been truly long since she felt such impact. That's why it felt both fresh and shocking.

Whoosh!

At that moment, Dam Ho's follow-up attack came rushing in.

His black hair scattered by the wind pressure fluttered like a lion's mane. Between them, emotionless black pupils were visible, and a tightly clenched fist.

Tremendous force like an exploding volcano could be felt. The erupted giant force struck the beauty directly.

Crash!

Instantly, a tremendous shockwave swept over the inn. The entire inn shook as if it would collapse at any moment, and the wooden platforms laid out in front flipped over and flew in all directions. People who had been sitting on the platforms also flew several zhang and hit the inn walls, losing consciousness.

Among them, the only people still maintaining complete consciousness were Bang Jin-bo and the Namgung brothers. The Namgung brothers were only fine because Bang Jin-bo had protected them; otherwise, they would have fainted in an unseemly manner like the others.

"Ugh!"

Their teeth chattered involuntarily, and groaning sounds flowed out. Their wide-open eyes were already full of burst blood vessels.

"This is impossible!"

Namgung Seon-hwi shook his head.

This didn't make sense.

It was a fight that made no sense.

At least by his common sense.

Whoosh!

Tremendous energy was swirling, making it hard to even open one's eyes. But he couldn't close his eyes.

Namgung Seon-hwi's intuition was whispering.

That he absolutely must not miss this fight.

Then Bang Jin-bo's quiet voice was heard.

"You must watch carefully! This could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for you."

"What?"

"The fight of absolute masters – just watching it raises your standards. Standards for martial arts, standards for fighting, standards for evaluating yourself, and the perspective for viewing martial arts are dramatically elevated. It's an opportunity that's hard to encounter."

At Bang Jin-bo's explanation, Namgung Seon-hwi nodded vigorously. Strength naturally entered his small fists.

Bang! Boom!

Every time Dam Ho and the beauty clashed, the air continuously burst.

Dam Ho was like a charging beast that only knew how to advance. The beauty was being pushed back helplessly by his charge. If an ignorant person saw this, they would think Dam Ho had an absolute advantage and the beauty was at a disadvantage. But it didn't look that way to Bang Jin-bo's eyes.

The mysterious beauty was certainly being pushed back. But nowhere in her complexion could traces of internal injuries or flustered light be found.

She was like water.

Water that flows softly while washing everything away.

She was washing away Dam Ho's strong attacks and swirling them around, minimizing the impact delivered to her main body.

Just as when skill reaches its ultimate level, all daily body movements become art, her body movements also drew graceful lines and became art in themselves.

Bang Jin-bo had never heard of such a master existing in the martial world. Before the beauty's skill, it seemed no master's attacks would work.

The same was true for Dam Ho's attacks.

Shattering Star Punch, which had given him absolute superiority against any master, didn't work on the beauty.

The beauty didn't resist the gravitational force generated when Shattering Star Punch was deployed. Rather, she used the gravitational force to softly rotate her body form and neutralized Dam Ho's attacks.

Like dandelion seeds floating along the grain of the air, no sense of weight could be felt from the beauty.

Dam Ho thought this fight would have no end if it continued like this. No matter how much internal energy close to infinite he possessed, the same was true for the beauty before his eyes.

Unlike him, who consumed tremendous internal energy with each strike, the beauty showed almost no consumption of internal energy. If it became a long battle, Dam Ho would inevitably be at a disadvantage.

Suddenly Dam Ho's eyes changed.

His pupils that had shown no emotion at all changed to become rough and fierce like a beast.

Whoosh!

The air changed.

Air that rippled roughly as if a storm was blowing scraped fiercely at their skin. Finally, Dam Ho was about to fight seriously.

That's when it happened.

"Let's stop now."

The beauty suddenly stopped and put her hands behind her back. It was a gesture showing she had no hostility.

But even at the beauty's conciliatory gesture, Dam Ho's fierce energy didn't decrease at all. Even at such an ominous sight, the beauty didn't shrink back and rather smiled gently while saying.

"I'm sorry for provoking you first. I sincerely apologize."

"……"

"I wanted to know you as a person. Originally, rumors of the martial world tend to be exaggerated. But the rumors about you are rather lacking in many aspects."

Still, Dam Ho didn't release the power condensed in his fists. No, he couldn't. Because Dark Soul Cultivation Method was fluctuating frantically.

It was Dark Soul Cultivation Method created by combining Mount Hua's heaviest Cultivation Method with the Demon Cult's dominating Cultivation Method and numerous other heart Method s.

Therefore, Dark Soul Cultivation Method was dominating yet heavy, never easily shaken. The fact that such Dark Soul Cultivation Method was fluctuating meant that the invisible energy flowing from the beauty was both stimulating and enormous.

The beauty showed no hostility at all. Yet her energy continued to stimulate Dam Ho.

Most of all, Dam Ho had no intention of stopping the fight like this. Because regardless of the reason, it was a fight the opponent had started first.

Seeing Dam Ho whose fighting spirit didn't subside at all, the beauty shook her head. In her memories of going through all kinds of trials over long years, there existed no one bundled with fighting spirit like Dam Ho. His fighting spirit was enough to make even the beauty weary.

"Let's stop. It doesn't matter if we continue, but if we do, those children will get caught up in the fight. Is that okay with you?"

Her gaze went toward Bang Jin-bo and the Namgung brothers standing to one side. If she used her full power, they would inevitably be swept up too. Then their life and death couldn't be guaranteed.

Only then did Dam Ho release his power.

"You… who are you?"

"Before that…"

The beauty looked around.

Precisely, she looked at Bang Jin-bo and the Namgung Seon-hwi brothers who were still standing.

"This isn't a story that would be good for you to hear. It would be better for you to just sleep."

The moment the beauty finished speaking, Bang Jin-bo and the Namgung brothers lost consciousness and collapsed. They had been swallowed by the sleep demon that rushed in like a tsunami in an instant.

When the three people lost consciousness, the beauty smiled brightly while looking at Dam Ho.

"My name is Yong Hwa-seol."

"Queen Mother of the West?"

"I was once called by such an epithet."

Dam Ho's eyes twitched slightly.

Queen Mother of the West, Yong Hwa-seol.

A member of the Four Divine Emperors and the only woman among them – an absolute martial artist. A legend and myth of the previous generation had appeared before his eyes.

Only then did her strength become understandable.

She was a martial artist who had already entered the absolute ranks decades ago. If she had continued training since then, there was no telling what unprecedented realm she might have stepped into.

Nevertheless, Dam Ho didn't shrink before Yong Hwa-seol. And Yong Hwa-seol also understood such Dam Ho precisely.

Unprecedented giant force was still writhing inside Dam Ho's body. Energy containing tremendous destructive power like an erupting volcano.

"Phew! They say the rear waves of the Yangtze River push away the front waves. But this isn't just a rear wave – it's a torrent that swallows everything."

Yong Hwa-seol shook her head slightly.

It wasn't a fight she had won. She had merely evaded. If they had actually clashed, no one knows who would have won.

Fights between martial artists couldn't be measured just by the height of internal energy or proficiency in techniques.

When fighting with full heart and power, not knowing what would happen was the nature of fights between those who had reached the absolute realm. And Dam Ho was already stepping into the absolute realm.

"You're fully qualified to converse with me. I want to have a conversation with you."

The legend of the previous generation requested conversation from the newly rising myth.

The leaders of the three Poison Sect Cliques, Ro-gwan, Tap Tak-yeon, and Yuk Ha-seon, all shook their heads.

“Word came that there’s nothing wrong with the medicinal materials on our side.”

“Same with us.”

Taoist Master Bok-cheon said with a heavy expression.

“It seems it’s not the medicinal materials.”

Since there were no traces of Five Path Fatal Pills even among the medicinal materials piled up in Tang family warehouses, Taoist Master Bok-cheon’s words were probably correct.

Those present racked their brains but couldn’t figure out how Tang Qing had intended to spread the Five Path Fatal Pills.

Tap Tak-yeon pulled his drooping earlobes and said irritably.

“It’s difficult to find the forces that tried to join hands with King of Hell, and it’s also difficult to find the poison King of Hell hid. This is truly being surrounded on all sides.”

Bian Bu said while holding his long pipe.

“There’s a saying among wandering medicine peddlers: To know medicine, first know poison; to know poison, first know medicine.”

Jin Ja-gang pondered and nodded. Bian Bu’s words made sense.

“I’ll check the Five Path Fatal Pills again from the beginning.”

* * *

“It’s this way.”

The person in charge of the Five Path Fatal Pills manufacturing room guided Jin Ja-gang.

Production of Five Path Fatal Pills had been stopped long ago.

However, due to incidents like Shaolin Temple’s Stone Vajras or Jin Ja-gang’s intrusion, it hadn’t been completely cleaned up.

Jin Ja-gang visited the Five Path Fatal Pills manufacturing room to inspect the raw materials and processes.

As Tang Gwi-ok had said, ordinary materials went into the general pills of Five Path Fatal Pills.

From the five poisons extracted from minerals to poisonous herbs like wild aconite and prepared aconite. From toads called toad venom to snake and scorpion poisons. They had simply precisely combined easily obtainable materials.

Jin Ja-gang carefully examined the materials that had been processed in the manufacturing room.

But the more he checked, the more discouraging it became.

Poison is poison, and that’s all. There are only degrees of strong or weak toxicity, but what could be strange about poison? It was difficult to find anything particularly unusual.

‘No. There must definitely be something.’

Jin Ja-gang didn’t give up. He had to find even one small clue.

Watching Jin Ja-gang taste and eat all the poisonous materials, the manufacturing room supervisor was amazed.

Even most Tang family members wouldn’t think of tasting so many poisons without rest.

While wandering around for a while, Jin Ja-gang stopped when he saw large wooden containers full of sweet potato-like lumps.

“These are prepared aconite.”

Prepared aconite is a tuberous stem with deadly poison. However, after proper processing, small amounts are also used as medicine. The medicine warehouse also had processed prepared aconite.

Jin Ja-gang picked up a lump and took a bite. Seeing him chew even deadly prepared aconite that could kill a large ox without any problem, the supervisor was astounded.

Jin Ja-gang’s brow furrowed.

“It’s salty.”

As if afraid Jin Ja-gang might ask him to try it once, the supervisor quickly explained.

“It’s salt-cured prepared aconite. To preserve the toxicity as is, it was pickled in brine and dried immediately after harvesting.”

As the supervisor said, white salt crystals were even soaked into the surface of the prepared aconite.

Jin Ja-gang recalled the taste of the prepared aconite he had tasted in the medicine warehouse.

“I remember the prepared aconite in the medicine warehouse being extremely bland.”

“Probably because the poison was removed and processed using the bland aconite slice method. It’s a method of soaking in clear water until all the salt is completely gone, changing the water two or three times a day. Then licorice and ginger are added to remove toxicity and…”

Jin Ja-gang wandered around the manufacturing room for a while longer, then couldn’t stand the thirst and came outside to drink well water.

“Huh…”

Most of the poisonous herbs in the manufacturing room were salt-cured, so they were bitter and salty.

It was like eating lumps of salt for half a day straight.

Come to think of it, he had drunk an enormous amount of water even after leaving the medicine warehouse. The processed medicinal materials in the medicine warehouse were very bland, unlike the salt-cured poisonous materials.

“Whether eating a lot of bland things or a lot of salty things, the thirst is severe. I was quite parched inside too.”

Jin Ja-gang spent a day checking all the poisonous materials in the manufacturing room, but only drank enough water to drain the well without finding any clues.

* * *

More than two weeks had passed since the rainy season ended.

Plague was rampant and the people’s hardship and sorrow had reached their peak.

Countless people died of starvation and plague disease each day.

Now even martial sects had reached a point where they could no longer just watch.

At that time, the Righteous Alliance was the first to step forward.

Baek Li-jung appealed from the front.

All martial sects of the martial world! At this time when the nation doesn’t step forward, may we at least stop current disputes and, with compassionate hearts, join forces to look after the pitiful lives of good people! I, Baek Li-jung, earnestly request this on behalf of the Martial Alliance!

He appealed for martial sects to stop disputes and engage in public relief.

The situation was very bad.

Inevitably, even Shaolin Temple declared a suspension of righteous campaigns. Even without considering political situations, they couldn’t cause disturbances during times of disaster. Shaolin Temple decided to temporarily stop righteous campaigns and pour all their strength into public relief.

Other sects began stepping forward one by one. In Sichuan, Emei Sect was already engaged in relief activities.

The Tang family also faced strong pressure.

Tang Gwi-ok called Jin Ja-gang and said.

“It’s difficult to wait any longer. Not only Sichuan but all sects in the martial world are participating in relief activities. Martial sects, being regionally based, cannot survive by ignoring local residents.”

The Tang Family Main House was Sichuan’s hegemon. They operated numerous businesses too.

But unable to confirm hidden Five Path Fatal Pills, they were preventing any food or medicinal materials from being taken out. Therefore, people’s resentment had greatly surged.

The three Poison Sect Cliques were also said to be under great pressure in their regions of influence.

“If we can’t find the source no matter how much we check and recheck, we can’t wait any longer. Especially since Sichuan is isolated, support from the center is hard to expect. Our Tang family must step forward.”

Jin Ja-gang had no choice either. They couldn’t keep blocking things indefinitely because of one suspicion.

“I understand.”

That day, the Tang Family Main House warehouses opened and food and medicinal materials were distributed to disaster victims.

* * *

The leaders of the three Poison Sect Cliques could no longer waste time at the Tang Family Main House.

Yuk Ha-seon said while preparing to leave.

“Perhaps, contrary to our thoughts, all of King of Hell’s plans have already turned to bubbles.”

Were Tang Qing’s final words merely simple stubbornness?

Jin Ja-gang answered.

“We can’t guarantee that either, or that it’s not the case.”

Tap Tak-yeon also had to leave.

“The sea route has opened and the Tang family has many ways to contact our side, so please contact us anytime.”

Ro-gwan was somewhat troubled. However, Ro-gwan also decided to leave.

“I had entrusted Leper Mound to you and decided to perish together with King of Hell. But shamefully, I’m still alive, so rather than taking my own life, I’ll try to help those who suffered damage and pay for my sins a little.”

Ro-gwan looked at a servant sweeping in a slightly distant place.

Swish, swish.

The servant was sweeping when they made eye contact with Ro-gwan and Jin Ja-gang with an expressionless face.

“Since Yeong-gwi has decided to serve you, she’ll always be connected to us.”

Yeong-gwi, disguised as a servant, slightly bowed her head to Ro-gwan.

The leaders of the three Poison Sect Cliques left the Tang Family Main House.

Jin Ja-gang couldn’t just stay still either.

Jin Ja-gang decided to go outside to personally examine the current situation.

Jin Ja-gang followed Tang family carts distributing relief supplies together with Yeong-gwi.

Even in just the Sichuan region, the disaster victims’ situation was miserable. Though the floodwaters that had overflowed receded and they returned to their original homes, almost nothing remained in the houses.

People of all ages and genders were mostly so thin their bones nearly showed through their skin, and their clothes were merely tattered rags.

Tang family warriors boiled medicine on one side while the carts began distributing food. Village people came crowding over weakly.

“Form a line! A line!”

“The quantity is insufficient, so only once per person!”

“If anyone in your family is sick, go separately over there to receive medicine!”

Tang family warriors barely controlled the hungry people by raising their voices. Jin Ja-gang also stood on one side participating in the distribution.

A child who might have been ten years old, with protruding cheekbones from hunger, cracked lips, and sunken eyes, hesitated in front of Jin Ja-gang.

Though Jin Ja-gang gave him one pancake made from steamed rice and wheat, the child stood there without leaving.

Yeong-gwi, disguised as a warrior, asked in Jin Ja-gang’s place.

“Why are you doing that?”

“At h-home… m-mother is sick… if you could give j-just one more…”

Jin Ja-gang was reminded of his old self and couldn’t just pass by. He gave one more pancake and took a bowl of boiled medicine.

“Let’s go see.”

Then the village people who were receiving distributions told Jin Ja-gang.

“It would be better not to follow him.”

Jin Ja-gang answered.

“The child says his mother is sick.”

The people nearby smiled bitterly with pale faces.

“How many people in this village aren’t sick?”

“Not only the child’s father but all the families in the front and back houses died of plague. It would be better if you don’t go that way either, sir.”

The child looked at Jin Ja-gang fearfully.

“Sir… please save our mother…”

Jin Ja-gang nodded.

“Let’s go.”

The child’s face brightened slightly.

When Yeong-gwi tried to follow, Jin Ja-gang stopped her.

“I’ll go alone.”

“Do I seem afraid?”

“We’ll have to burn all the clothes worn when returning to the Tang Family Main House. We’ll have to be conscious of others’ gazes.”

Yeong-gwi thought of something and her ears turned completely red. Though her face color was fine with the human skin mask, she apparently couldn’t hide her ears.

“I’ll escort from a distance.”

Yeong-gwi stubbornly followed Jin Ja-gang while keeping her distance.

The child’s house was in a place slightly removed from the village. The houses nearby were quiet. The aura of death could be clearly felt.

Inside the child’s house was naturally a mess. Though the child seemed to have cleaned up somehow, traces of vomiting and diarrhea still remained, giving off a foul odor.

The child handed a pancake to his mother.

“Mom, mom, there’s food.”

The child’s mother, in worse condition than the child, hurriedly chewed the pancake. Her chest seemed blocked as she patted it.

“Water… water…”

Jin Ja-gang gave boiled medicine instead of water. The child’s mother gulped down the medicine.

But she immediately vomited up the medicine.

The child’s mother began vomiting medicine into a chamber pot in the corner, retching.

The child cried while patting his mother’s back.

“Mom, don’t. Hold on. You have to eat. That’s medicine. Sob sob.”

Though the child’s mother forcibly swallowed the medicine and endured, it was useless.

“Water… water…”

The child brought a full bowl of water and gulped it down himself.

Fortunately, this village wasn’t short of water. When Jin Ja-gang tasted the water, there was no particular problem.

Yet not only the child but the child’s mother had parched lips.