Chapter 328

Woon-jeong poked his head upside down through the broken hole in the ceiling deck.

“Poison Dragon! Are you alright… Ahhhhh! What is that!”

The moment Woon-jeong screamed, Bulgi’s face hardened.

He couldn’t hear it. But he knew something was happening behind him.

Bulgi tensed his jaw and slowly turned around.

An open coffin lid. Inside the coffin, a withered old man was looking down at Bulgi with chilling eyes.

“What’s this now?”

Bulgi muttered with his lips while gripping Taiyi Earth Sword with force. Light from sword force shone from the tip of Taiyi Earth Sword. The light emitted by sword force also reflected and flickered on the old man’s face.

But the old man didn’t budge. He just stared down at Bulgi with bulging eyes. The old man had both hands placed on his chest, and both hands were wrapped tightly with bandages, making him look somewhat eerie.

“Just some Funeral Parlor gang member acting all important…”

Just as Bulgi was about to act.

Whoooosh.

Smoke began rising from Taiyi Earth Sword.

His internal energy was beginning to run out. Internal energy was being rapidly depleted.

The old man, Yeong Hyeon-sa’s eyes narrowed. They seemed to smile.

Bulgi shouted.

“You and everyone else! How dare you look down on me!”

Like lightning, Bulgi thrust his sword into Yeong Hyeon-sa’s chest inside the coffin.

Hiss, the smoke from the sword grew thicker. Yeong Hyeon-sa instantly sprang out, caught Taiyi Earth Sword between his bandaged forearms, and twisted.

Clang!

Taiyi Earth Sword snapped in half.

Bulgi’s face flushed completely red.

To break the sword blade at the exact moment sword force disappeared! This wasn’t ordinary internal energy.

Gulp.

As the sword connected to his internal energy was damaged, his energy and blood were shaken and blood leaked from Bulgi’s mouth.

Yeong Hyeon-sa kicked Bulgi’s left wrist to send the half-broken Taiyi Earth Sword into the air, then grabbed Bulgi’s hair with his bandaged hand and shoved him into the coffin.

“You bastard!”

Bang!

Along with Bulgi’s shout, Yeong Hyeon-sa slammed the coffin lid shut. The grip on his hair was so strong that a handful of hair remained stuck to the bandage.

Thump thump thump! Bulgi pounded the coffin from inside trying to escape.

Yeong Hyeon-sa pressed the coffin lid with one hand and raised the other. The broken Taiyi Earth Sword fell from midair into Yeong Hyeon-sa’s hand.

Without hesitation, Yeong Hyeon-sa stabbed the broken sword into the closed coffin lid.

Thud, thud, thud!

The sound of Bulgi’s resistance instantly disappeared.

Yeong Hyeon-sa threw away the blood-stained Taiyi Earth Sword.

Creak.

The coffin lid opened and Bulgi, his chest covered in blood, toppled forward like a rotten tree.

Thud…

Bulgi still seemed alive as his body twitched. It appeared the broken Taiyi Earth Sword hadn’t stabbed deeply enough.

Yeong Hyeon-sa looked down at Bulgi writhing like a bug and said.

“Life is yesterday and today. Death is today and soon tomorrow. Life and death are not separate, but life is what has already been experienced, while death is the unknown that has not been experienced.”

Yeong Hyeon-sa spoke in a lifeless voice like a corpse, then turned his head to look at Beom-mong and Jin Ja-gang.

“Now you must prepare for the reception of death that you have not yet welcomed. The process of death is long, painful, and terrible. Revere and fear it. Also grieve and despair. Death awaits you.”

Beom-mong looked at Yeong Hyeon-sa incredulously and said.

“Yeong Hyeon-sa. Aren’t you of Funeral Parlor the ones closer to death than life?”

Yeong Hyeon-sa answered.

“We of Funeral Parlor continue our lives through others’ deaths. To us, death is the path to sustaining life, so death is only for you.”

“Keke keke! Your words are wrong!”

Beom-mong pointed at Yeong Hyeon-sa and said.

“People are merely the five aggregates temporarily gathered together, so the dependent origination of the world through arising and cessation has no independent self-nature. Therefore, everything we see is only emptiness! Death too is emptiness! Life is emptiness, and thus death is also emptiness. Even your living with death by your side is all delusion!”

Yeong Hyeon-sa replied with a stoic expression.

“Originally, the five aggregates are the lives of sentient beings who live troubled by desires and committing all sorts of karmic sins, so I have nothing to fear from anyone’s criticism. Killing and dying and commemorating death – to me, that’s no different from eating, sleeping, and excreting.”

“Hmm. Namo Amitabha, Namo Amitabha. These are the words of a demon. The cunning tongue of evil forces.”

Yeong Hyeon-sa pointed at Beom-mong with his bandaged hand and scolded loudly.

“But setting myself aside, how is it that a monk who should know emptiness and live with almost no mind meddles in worldly affairs with constant chatter? Isn’t that the very nature of demons who follow the five aggregates and commit karmic sins!”

At Yeong Hyeon-sa’s rebuke telling him not to meddle in worldly affairs, Beom-mong didn’t immediately respond. However, a strange expression crossed his face.

Yeong Hyeon-sa shouted.

“Since when has the Breaking Sect had such a long tongue! Do not resist. Do not hesitate. Eternal suffering will guide you to death.”

Yeong Hyeon-sa raised his hand and unwrapped the bandages.

Swish.

Horribly, all ten fingers were rotted away. Entire joints of flesh had rotted and disappeared, with finger bones protruding where fingernails should have been.

Ominous poison emanated from his fingertips.

Beom-mong sighed hollowly.

“This is the notorious Ten Earth Corrupting Poisons! How many corpses did you defile to soak in poison!”

Ten Earth Corrupting Poisons!

A poison so filthy and impure it could violate the earth’s power between heaven and earth. Each finger had different corpse poison, like ten people using poison, hence called Ten Earth Corrupting Poisons.

It went without saying how vicious it was.

Tension also appeared on Beom-mong’s face. Yeong Hyeon-sa’s eyes slowly began to harbor killing intent.

“I gathered nineteen thousand corpses of those who died away from home with no one to care for them. I comforted with faith the souls of those who wailed between this world and the next. The Ten Earth Corrupting Poisons are their footsteps toward the underworld and their last bloody vomit left in this world.”

Night had already approached closely.

The cargo hold without light was dark and gloomy. The only light was moonlight seeping through the broken ceiling deck.

But there, another light appeared.

The tips of Yeong Hyeon-sa’s ten fingers.

The ghostly fire that could be seen in graveyards was shining from Yeong Hyeon-sa’s fingers.

Woon-jeong, who had been watching from the hole in the deck, shouted in surprise.

“Wi, will-o’-the-wisps!”

As Yeong Hyeon-sa raised his internal energy, phosphorus flowing from the bone tips of his fingers combined with corpse poison to emit a mysterious bluish-pale green light.

“Now…”

The same colored light flickered bluishly in Yeong Hyeon-sa’s eyes.

“It’s time for you to wail too.”

Two ghostly eyes and ten will-o’-the-wisps approached Beom-mong and Jin Ja-gang.

Jin Ja-gang, who had been quietly standing without saying anything, asked Woon-jeong.

“What happened to the merchants?”

Woon-jeong quickly turned around and immediately answered.

“Yes! They’re leaving on a lifeboat. I subdued the remaining Funeral Parlor members. But the sailors haven’t been seen since earlier.”

“Then that’s fine. Taoist Woon-jeong, you should follow them too.”

“What about Poison Dragon!”

“I have work to do.”

Jin Ja-gang moved his neck left and right, making cracking sounds.

“What I start, I must finish.”

Yeong Hyeon-sa’s lips parted slightly.

“Admirable. You don’t avoid death.”

Jin Ja-gang said to Yeong Hyeon-sa.

“I won’t avoid death, so you don’t avoid answering. How long do the poison sects plan to follow me?”

“Until your existence is erased from this world. Until the Six Poison Cliques forgive you.”

“Where is Funeral Parlor’s headquarters?”

Yeong Hyeon-sa’s eyebrow twitched slightly.

“What do you mean?”

“After killing you, I’ll visit Funeral Parlor and kill everyone. Then Funeral Parlor won’t be able to chase me anymore.”

Yeong Hyeon-sa’s killing intent intensified.

“…”

“If you tried to kill someone, shouldn’t you be prepared to die yourself? Did you come to kill me without that level of resolve?”

Grind.

Though he didn’t speak, Yeong Hyeon-sa expressed his anger by grinding his teeth.

Jin Ja-gang raised all of his Six Light Arts internal energy with Jade Void Nine Lights Five Thunder Toad Art.

Whooooom!

His entire body’s clothing inflated, and blood droplets rose upward from his torn temple and bruised wounds.

Jin Ja-gang bared his fangs and smiled with his eyes turned up.

“Six cliques – since Leper Mound has already given up among them, if Funeral Parlor disappears, it’ll become four.”

Having already defeated Leper Mound among the six cliques, his declaration to fight all six cliques couldn’t be seen as empty words.

But Beom-mong looked at Jin Ja-gang incredulously.

“Do you think the Six Poison Cliques are your neighbors?”

“Stop it.”

“What?”

Jin Ja-gang looked straight at Beom-mong and said.

“To me, Shaolin Temple is no different from Funeral Parlor. Anyone who harbors killing intent toward me is my enemy.”

“Hah! How arrogant!”

Beom-mong was angry but this wasn’t the time to fight Jin Ja-gang. Beom-mong was an experienced veteran of the martial world. His situation was very poor with his Iron Silk broken and even hit by Asura poison.

Suddenly the ship tilted greatly. The three people with excellent martial arts barely swayed, but the cargo in the hold tilted and the binding ropes were pulled taut.

Rumble rumble rumble.

The ship shook severely.

It was sinking.

Beom-mong frowned.

“Merchant ship sailors are often connected to bandits. Fearing we’d kill them when our fight ended, they punched holes in the ship and fled.”

Yeong Hyeon-sa and Beom-mong’s gazes crossed.

They had to settle the match before the ship sank. And with minimal damage.

This was the middle of a river over eight li wide. Whether swimming or leaping, to cross the river, they absolutely couldn’t suffer serious damage.

But then.

Bang!

Bang!

Jin Ja-gang stamped his feet with internal energy.

Crash!

The floor broke and water seeped in.

“What are you doing!”

Beom-mong shouted in surprise. But Jin Ja-gang ignored him and continued stamping his feet.

Bang! Crack, crack!

“What are you doing! Are you planning to sink the ship like this!”

Jin Ja-gang answered.

“Did you say death was the five aggregates? That death hadn’t been experienced? I was trapped for eight years in a place full of death with nowhere to run or hide. Every day when I opened my eyes and breathed, death was always beside me.”

Jin Ja-gang bared his teeth with a fierce expression.

“Now, are you still curious about what death is like? Is the death you speak of different from this?”

Splash.

Water had already risen to their feet.

Jin Ja-gang stamped his foot once more to break the floor.

Bang!