Chapter 342

Woon-jeong finally untied the strings with great difficulty and held the life-lock forward.

The three monks opened their eyes wide and continued staring down at Woon-jeong. It was even more terrifying because they remained silent.

“This is Master Beom-mong’s life-lock.”

However, the monks didn’t take the life-lock. Their eyes only became more intense.

Woon-jeong swallowed dry saliva and delivered the message Beom-mong had entrusted.

“The alliance leader dies, and poison sects are destroyed. This is Master Beom-mong’s message.”

Only then did one of the gray-robed monks behind step forward to receive the life-lock. Holding the life-lock between his palms, he performed Buddhist courtesy to Woon-jeong for the first time with a half-bow.

The atmosphere seemed to improve slightly from before.

So Woon-jeong added more words.

“And he gave one more message. To put Poison Dragon and his wife’s names on the life-lock.”

The monk who received the life-lock showed the back of the life-lock to the foremost golden orchid robed monk.

The foremost golden orchid robed monk looked at it and nodded slightly. His gaze toward Woon-jeong softened somewhat.

“Qingcheng Sect, Poison Dragon, and his wife will be able to avoid the tribulation fire in the shadow of Mount Song’s thirty-six peaks.”

Tribulation fire refers to the great fire that occurs at the world’s end. It meant they could survive by coming to hide in the peaks on Mount Shaoshi where Shaolin Temple was located.

“Poison Dragon!”

The golden orchid robed monk looked at Jin Ja-gang and said.

“Do not act recklessly in Henan. The life-lock’s protective virtue is only effective under our temple’s shadow.”

Jin Ja-gang did not answer.

The golden orchid robed monk and the two gray-robed monks soon turned around. No, they tried to turn around.

Then Jin Ja-gang threw a remark at their backs.

“Don’t act pretentious.”

Woon-jeong, who had barely been catching his breath, was horrified at Jin Ja-gang’s words.

‘Oh no!’

The three monks also hesitated.

The monks turned their heads to stare at Jin Ja-gang with frightening eyes.

Jin Ja-gang continued while watching them.

“Don’t act righteous now after turning a blind eye to evil acts and sometimes just watching. It’s annoying.”

Woon-jeong was aghast.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t understand Jin Ja-gang’s feelings.

Shaolin Temple had known about and ignored what was happening in the martial world.

Jin Ja-gang had lost his sect due to the blood feud between poison sects and medicine sects. If Shaolin Temple, the justice of the martial world, had stepped forward earlier, such things wouldn’t have happened.

No matter how much they claimed to uphold justice now, Jin Ja-gang couldn’t possibly view Shaolin Temple favorably.

But there was a time and place for such words.

When Shaolin Temple was sharpening its blade and preparing to wield swords, Jin Ja-gang provoking Shaolin monks was like carrying firewood into a fire.

Woon-jeong waved his hands frantically while making excuses for Jin Ja-gang.

“Noooo! That’s not it! That’s not what Poison Dragon means, so please don’t be too angry!”

But Woon-jeong witnessed something unbelievable.

The golden orchid robed monk bared his teeth.

And he was smiling slightly!

His bulging temple points twitched from laughter!

The golden orchid robed monk was smiling while showing teeth that were all worn flat at the tips, even his canines, from enduring terrible external martial arts training.

Fortunately, the golden orchid robed monk soon closed his mouth. Then he immediately used light movement techniques and leaped away from the official road.

Woon-jeong’s legs gave out and he sat down.

“Whew.”

After sitting down and thinking about it, it was truly infuriating. Woon-jeong shouted at Jin Ja-gang.

“Are you crazy? Why did you have to say that now! You should have kept such thoughts to yourself.”

Jin Ja-gang narrowed his eyes while looking in the direction the Shaolin monks had disappeared.

“Something feels strange.”

“What!”

“Why did they appear specifically to warn me not to interfere?”

“It’s because Poison Dragon always causes trouble!”

“If they thought we came to deliver the life-lock, they would have just told us to go back quietly.”

“Well…”

Only then did Woon-jeong realize something was strange too. After thinking and finding he had no idea, Woon-jeong asked Jin Ja-gang back.

“Why did they do that?”

“They know we came to Henan on business.”

“Exactly. Even I thought it sounded that way. But they couldn’t have known we were going to find Physician Bell Healers.”

Jin Ja-gang silently gazed at the far end of the official road for a moment.

Gradually, the sounds of people talking, cart wheels rolling, and donkeys and horses snorting could be heard.

Like a lie, people began filling the official road again.

“Perhaps…”

Jin Ja-gang muttered while Woon-jeong was too busy being happy to see people.

“The tribulation fire may have already begun.”

* * *

Jin Ja-gang and Woon-jeong walked for another day before briefly leaving the official road.

To find the exact location of Physician Bell Healers’ estate in Zhuma Station, they were told to stop at a temple called Bukcheon Temple along the way. The abbot of Bukcheon Temple and the leader of Physician Bell Healers were said to be acquainted.

But when they stopped at a small village where slash-and-burn farmers lived on the way to Bukcheon Temple, they felt some commotion. The village entrance was completely devastated and there was a smell of blood.

Woon-jeong felt it too.

“Poison Dragon!”

“Be careful.”

When Jin Ja-gang and Woon-jeong entered the village, they saw slash-and-burn farmers groaning while injured, and in the middle of the village were two enormous wild boars lying dead. They had caused such chaos that they seemed to have rammed into the well in the village center, which was now broken.

“This is…”

Then they saw a man and woman in different clothing from the farmers busily moving among them. The man appeared to be in his late twenties, the woman in her early twenties, and her beauty was extraordinary. Even with blood splattered on her face and disheveled hair, her beauty stood out.

The beautiful woman, with her sleeves rolled up and holding blood-stained cloth, spotted Jin Ja-gang and Woon-jeong.

“Hey, you there! What are you doing standing around?”

Woon-jeong asked back.

“What? We’re just passing travelers…”

“Travelers my ass, can’t you see the situation here? People got gored by wild boars and are badly hurt. Don’t you think you should help when you see this?”

Woon-jeong reflexively answered “Yes!”

“What should we do?”

“You look strong, so do something about the well first. We need water but can’t draw any because the damn boars broke it.”

“Ah, yes.”

Woon-jeong hurried toward the well.

When Jin Ja-gang remained still, the woman frowned and got angry.

“What’s with you? What kind of nerve makes you stand there like that? Don’t you have hands and feet? Don’t you want to help people?”

But Jin Ja-gang ignored the woman and went toward the injured people to examine their conditions.

“Hey! Can’t you hear me?”

As the woman shouted at Jin Ja-gang, the man who was just passing by looked at Jin Ja-gang and tilted his head.

“Wait, miss. That dark blue martial robe and the limp…”

Woon-jeong, removing collapsed stones from the well, looked at Jin Ja-gang and shouted.

“Poison Dragon! Don’t fight again, let’s help these people first!”

The man’s face turned pale.

“Po-Poison Dragon!”

“What, Poison Dragon? That rude bastard is Poison Dragon?”

Jin Ja-gang slowly turned his head to look at the woman and man. The man was completely intimidated by Jin Ja-gang’s indifferent gaze.

Jin Ja-gang asked calmly.

“From what I see, most have contusions and lacerations from being gored by horns. Do you have sufficient medicinal materials?”

The man couldn’t even open his mouth, so the woman answered.

“Not enough.”

“I’ll go get some. Taoist Woon-jeong, I’m going to gather some medicinal herbs.”

Jin Ja-gang informed Woon-jeong as well and quickly left the village.

The woman watching Jin Ja-gang’s retreating figure raised her eyebrows.

“Well?”

* * *

Woon-jeong had deep internal energy, so he was stronger than grown men. With Woon-jeong taking charge, the well was quickly restored.

The medicinal herbs Jin Ja-gang brought were also very helpful. Jin Ja-gang ground herbs to apply to wounds and separately collected and boiled herbs to be taken orally.

The man in the village supported injured farmers and gathered them in one place, setting broken arms and legs. He also administered acupuncture.

The woman washed wounds and applied herbs to lacerations.

But the woman did one particularly notable thing. She would take liquor from a gourd at her waist into her mouth and spray it on wounds.

Sensing Jin Ja-gang’s gaze, the woman snorted and said.

“Wild boar horns have poison, so if you get gored, it can fester badly. So I neutralize the poison with liquor.”

“I see.”

After barely managing to treat the injured people and catching their breath, it was already evening. Being a mountain night, the sun set quickly and it became dark.

Jin Ja-gang and Woon-jeong had planned to stay elsewhere, so they started to get up.

But the woman stopped them both.

“Where are you two going now?”

“Primordial Heavenly Venerate. Since there’s nothing more we can help with, we’ll be…”

“It’s late at night. Sleep here and go. It looks like you’re unfamiliar with this area, but this place is crawling with those wild boars.”

Woon-jeong asked curiously.

“Do you live here, miss?”

“No. We also just arrived. A little before you came.”

Woon-jeong looked at the woman incredulously. Her actions and speech were completely like a local resident.

The uninjured farmers were already cutting up the dead boars and roasting them over fires or cooking. The savory smell of roasting meat wafted over.

The farmers wanted to thank Jin Ja-gang and Woon-jeong who had helped them and hoped to treat them to food.

Jin Ja-gang and Woon-jeong decided to join them for now.

Among the thirty or so farmers, half had been badly injured by the wild boars. The rest roasted the boars and brought out homemade liquor for the outsiders, holding a feast.

“Wow! The liquor here is fantastic.”

Surprisingly, the heavy drinker was the beautiful woman.

“Taoist, have a drink too.”

She offered a drink, but the cup was a bowl bigger than most water bowls.

“…”

As Woon-jeong pondered while holding the bowl almost full enough to slosh even with both hands, the woman teased him.

“To become an adult, you need to know how to drink.”

“I am an adult.”

Woon-jeong took a deep breath, then held the liquor bowl with both hands and gulped it down.

“Ahaha! I like this Taoist! Hey. You take some too.”

The woman also offered liquor to Jin Ja-gang.

“You’re not planning to kill everyone here anyway, right? If not, you worked hard so you can refreshingly accept at least one drink.”

Jin Ja-gang slowly accepted the bowl.

The woman smiled slightly, raising the corner of her mouth while looking at Jin Ja-gang.

“You’re prettier than I expected. Your personality seems different from the rumors too.”

Jin Ja-gang stared at the woman. But the woman wasn’t intimidated at all.

“Curious who I am? I’m Burning Phoenix among the Four Dragons Four Phoenixes. Brave Phoenix, Silent Dragon, and Swift Dragon that you killed were all my friends.”

Woon-jeong coughed and spat out the liquor he was drinking through his nose and mouth.

“Puwup!”

Burning Phoenix An Ryeong.

She was from the An family known as the foremost medical family in the martial world and was a disciple of the Medical Immortal, the An family’s greatest master.

Since Jin Ja-gang had killed three of the Four Dragons Four Peaks, he and Burning Phoenix An Ryeong should be sworn enemies!

But An Ryeong just smiled brightly while looking at Jin Ja-gang.

“You must have had reasons. I have no thoughts of revenge. But I am curious why the famous Poison Dragon came all the way to Henan?”

Jin Ja-gang looked at An Ryeong then turned his head toward the man.

An-ryeong smiled wryly.

“Ah, even with a pretty beauty right in front of you, you’re more interested in him? That friend is Bang Muk. He’s a wandering martial physician belonging to Physician Bell Healers.”

The man, Bang Muk’s face turned even whiter.