Chapter 112: An Uninvited Guest Crashes the Banquet (3)

He could tolerate many things, but disparaging the White Crane Sect was unforgivable.

He turned his head and relaxed the tension in his shoulders. A stinging pain shot through the arm that had taken a direct hit moments ago, but he paid it no mind.

Cho Yeon-woon circulated his internal energy throughout his body. His aura shifted. Where moments ago he had appeared somewhat lacking, now there was a solidity that seemed not a single bit incomplete.

"Hmph!"

As Cho Yeon-woon's aura transformed, a glint of tension appeared in the Second Infernal Judge's eyes as well.

In the next instant, Cho Yeon-woon kicked off the earth.

White energy enveloped his fist.

It was the phenomenon that occurred when deploying the third technique of the Eight Emperor Divine Fist—Annihilating Strike.

Crackle! Crack!

The white energy discharged arcs of lightning.

The Second Infernal Judge's palm spread wide. His power concentrated into the open hand, as though it were a shield.

Cho Yeon-woon's fist hammered down upon the Second Infernal Judge's palm.

Bam!

"Gah!"

A choked groan escaped from between the Second Infernal Judge's lips.

His entire body trembled and his organs churned. The tremendous force contained in Cho Yeon-woon's fist had shaken him to his core.

The Second Infernal Judge hastily retreated. But Cho Yeon-woon would not allow him to withdraw so freely.

Whoosh!

As though wings had sprouted from his body, Cho Yeon-woon's form lifted slightly off the earth and closed the distance to the Second Infernal Judge.

It was the White Crane Sect's unique footwork—the Flying Crane Step.

Like a crane spreading its wings wide to glide across the sky, Cho Yeon-woon extended both arms and closed in on the Second Infernal Judge.

Cho Yeon-woon's eyes burned with ferocity.

"How dare you retreat against the Eight Emperor Divine Fist!"

The Eight Emperor Divine Fist was a style of overwhelming force.

To unleash its true power required tremendous strength and internal energy. Adding speed to that was the ideal.

The Second Infernal Judge was retreating, and Cho Yeon-woon was charging forward. Speed had been added to the equation.

The fifth technique of the Eight Emperor Divine Fist—Thunder Spirit Radiance—was deployed.

Crackle! Crack!

White lightning enveloped not only Cho Yeon-woon's fist but his entire arm.

The Second Infernal Judge's retinas were filled with the flickering white lightning.

Kaboom!

"Urgh!"

With a thunderous explosion, the Second Infernal Judge was sent flying backward. The chest of his garment was scorched black.

"My lord!"

The Blood Chain Demons nearby rushed to the Second Infernal Judge's aid. The attackers, clad entirely in black from head to toe, surrounded Cho Yeon-woon and attacked in unison.

"Damn it!"

A curse burst from between Cho Yeon-woon's lips.

The Eight Emperor Divine Fist consisted of seven techniques in total.

Each technique possessed tremendous power, but it consumed an equally enormous amount of internal energy. The final three techniques, in particular, were so devastating that they could only be described as insane—they devoured internal energy at a terrifying rate. Deploying even one would leave one completely exhausted.

In truth, Cho Yeon-woon's internal energy had already hit bottom.

To have deployed those techniques and still failed to kill the Second Infernal Judge—this had been a losing deal.

"Tch!"

Cho Yeon-woon bit his lip and surveyed his surroundings.

The situation was not favorable.

He did not know where they had been gathered from, but the Blood Chain Demons' numbers far surpassed those of the orthodox martial artists gathered at the Azure Sun Sword Sect.

At first they had been holding their own, but as time passed, the balance of power was crumbling. If this continued much longer, most of the people here would lose their lives.

Cho Yeon-woon's gaze turned to Eun So-cheong.

The martial artists of the Eun Family Guard, led by Jong Ri-su, were barely holding on. But even that seemed to be reaching its limit, as they were being pushed back from the outskirts.

"Damn it!"

He did not care about the others, but he had to protect Eun So-cheong no matter what. If anything happened to her, he would not be able to face Bang Jin-bo.

Though they bickered every day, Cho Yeon-woon was the one who looked after Bang Jin-bo the most.

But to reach Eun So-cheong, he first had to cut down the enemies blocking his path.

'Just hold on a little longer. Please!'

Cho Yeon-woon prayed desperately, but contrary to his wishes, Eun So-cheong's eyes were trembling violently.

A storm of blood was erupting before her eyes. Blood from a bisected body had splattered across her face.

"Ah!"

A scream filled her mouth. But Eun So-cheong swallowed it down through sheer superhuman willpower.

"So-cheong."

Eun Il-myeong hid Eun So-cheong behind his back.

Half of the Eun Family Guard warriors, who normally protected Eun Il-myeong so faithfully, had already perished to the Blood Chain Demons' chain sickles.

They were considered strong by worldly standards, but they could not compare to the disciples of the Nine Great Sects or Five Great Families.

Even the martial artists of the Nine Great Sects and Five Great Families were being pushed back helplessly by the Blood Chain Demons. A significant number had been killed or wounded, and they were still fighting desperately.

What chance did the Eun Family Guard warriors, who were far less skilled, have of holding out? If not for the fact that Jong Ri-su, Eun So-cheong's bodyguard, had stepped to the forefront, they would have been annihilated long ago.

But even he had now reached his limit.

"Gah!"

Another Eun Family Guard warrior fell.

Jong Ri-su's eyes, gripping his sword, wavered.

'Gwak-a.'

The warrior's name was Jang Gwak. They had been on friendly terms.

Even at the death of a close companion, there was nothing Jong Ri-su could do.

Though Jong Ri-su was a master of such caliber that he was called the Silver Sword Ghost Hand, now he could barely keep up with protecting Eun Il-myeong and his daughter.

The situation was spiraling toward the worst.

More and more were falling. And most of them were martial artists of the Nine Great Sects and Five Great Families.

'This is hell.'

If she could, she would close her eyes and block her ears. But she could not.

The unspeakable carnage, the screams of people—they gripped her eyes and ears.

"Ah!"

Tears streamed down her lovely cheeks.

She tried to hold them back but could not stop. As though her tear ducts had burst, the tears continued to flow.

Shing!

"Argh!"

With a chilling sound of air being torn, another Eun Family Guard warrior fell.

"This is impossible…"

Eun Il-myeong, Eun So-cheong's father, trembled with rage.

An expression of disbelief was written across his face.

He had known that the Eun Family Guard warriors were a tier below the disciples of the Nine Great Sects, but he had never imagined they would fall so senselessly.

Until they had entered this place, he had harbored dreams. Dreams of the Eun Family Guard becoming the foremost sect in Hunan, backed by the Martial Alliance.

But only now did he grasp the truth.

The reason the Martial Alliance was formed was precisely to stand against the Demonic Cult.

Decades ago, the entire martial world had to unite its strength just to fight a single Demonic Cult. And even then, they had to endure tremendous losses.

Countless sects had been destroyed, and far more martial artists had lost their lives. The righteous-demonic great war had shaken the entire martial world to its core.

All of it had been caused by a single force—the Demonic Cult.

In other words, the power the Demonic Cult possessed was that immense. Enough that the entire martial world had to pool its strength just to oppose them.

To join the Martial Alliance meant standing on the front lines against such a formidable power.

"Gah!"

If he was not careful, rather than reaping sweet rewards, the Eun Family Guard could be destroyed.

Eun Il-myeong now truly understood this.

A chilling sense of crisis washed over him.

The Demonic Cult's reappearance was now an established fact. Was there not proof of this right before his eyes?

Clang!

Just then, an unusually clear sword cry rang across the battlefield. A powerful wave of energy swept through the surroundings.

"Umph!"

"Ah!"

Eun Il-myeong and his daughter staggered as they were caught in the shockwave. Both of their faces had gone pale.

The wave of energy generated by the clash between Sage Cheong-heo and the Golden Demon Lion swept through the entire Azure Sun Sword Sect like a storm.

The Golden Demon Lion waved his hand. A torrent of water surged forth, engulfing Sage Cheong-heo.

Sage Cheong-heo's white beard trembled.

He knew better than anyone that ordinary techniques could not stand against ki energy.

Sage Cheong-heo poured all his power into his beloved sword. Heat haze rose from the blade, and a faint sword-shaped image took form.

"Sword—Sword ki?"

The Golden Demon Lion's brow furrowed slightly behind his golden mask. He had not expected Sage Cheong-heo to have reached a realm where he could manifest sword ki.

Clang!

The Golden Demon Lion's torrent of water collided with Sage Cheong-heo's sword ki.

Rumble!

Their clash brought the great hall crashing down.

Roof tiles turned to dust and scattered. Pillars so large that two or three men standing with arms outstretched could not reach around them were shattered and sent flying in all directions.

The power was truly beyond imagination.

But Sage Cheong-heo's expression, who had wielded the sword ki, was not good. His face had turned ashen, and dark blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.

A single clash had inflicted serious internal injuries.

Both the torrent of water and sword ki were forms of ki energy. But their power varied enormously depending on the depth of enlightenment, the years of cultivation, and the depth of one's power.

Sage Cheong-heo had only recently achieved the realm of sword ki. And even that was barely realized—it was incomplete.

The form was that of sword ki, but in terms of power, it was greatly lacking.

"Ugh!"

In the end, Sage Cheong-heo could not hold back and spat out dark blood.

The Golden Demon Lion looked down at him and spoke.

"You had a hidden trump card, horse. To have reached the realm of Manifesting Ki into Energy while keeping it perfectly hidden. Had I been careless, it could have turned into a troublesome situation."

The common wisdom held that though Sage Cheong-heo was called the Number One Sword of Hubei, he had not yet reached a realm where he could manifest sword ki.

But Sage Cheong-heo had transcended the world's preconceptions, reaching the realm of Manifesting Ki into Energy. Though his enlightenment was incomplete and his power greatly diminished.

"Amitabha! It is not over yet."

Though clearly at a disadvantage, Sage Cheong-heo charged at the Golden Demon Lion once more. His figure was like a moth flying toward the flame, knowing it meant death.

But Sage Cheong-heo had no choice. If he gave up here, everyone present would be massacred.

Gritting his teeth, Sage Cheong-heo deployed his sword ki.

Han So-yu watched him through gritted teeth.

Everyone was fighting desperately.

The disciples of the Mount Hua Sect had also suffered heavy losses.

Several Second Generation Disciples had already been killed or wounded. It was only because Myeong-gyeong was at the forefront battling the masked men that they had held on this long—otherwise, they might have been annihilated already.

Martial Uncle Hyeon-mu Sage was fighting fiercely, but his limits were clear.

Han So-yu herself had been running back and forth to protect the Mount Hua Sect's disciples, but she, too, had reached her limit.

"Huff! Huff!"

A sweet-scented breath escaped between her lips.

"Girl, not bad."

Just then, one of the enemies approached her.

A martial artist who radiated a particularly powerful aura—one of the three judges, the Third Infernal Judge. He leveled his sword at Han So-yu.

While her internal energy was nearly depleted, he had not broken a sweat. A battle of this scale was nothing more than a warm-up for him.

"Die!"

He swung his sword.

Clang! Clang!

Han So-yu desperately deployed the Thirty-Six Plum Blossom Sword to fight back. But with her internal energy spent, her form quickly crumbled.

Shing!

"Hmph!"

In the end, she allowed a single strike to her shoulder and lost her grip on her sword.

"Martial Sister!"

"So-yu!"

From a distance, Myeong-gyeong and Hyeon-mu Sage both cried out and tried to rush to her aid. But they were each engaged with their own enemies and could not break free.

Myeong-gyeong, in particular, was pinned down by the First Infernal Judge and had no way to pull away.

The Third Infernal Judge's sword descended toward Han So-yu's neck.

"No!"

At the very moment Myeong-gyeong screamed himself hoarse—

Boom!

A heavy vibration suddenly resonated throughout the entire Azure Sun Sword Sect.

The sound, which made their hearts inexplicably uneasy, made everyone shudder. Even the Golden Demon Lion, who had been overwhelming Sage Cheong-heo, was no exception.

Boom! Thud! Boom! Thud!

The ominous sound grew louder and louder.

“You… survived… didn’t you…”

Jin Ja-gang woke up with a start.

Suddenly he realized he had been unconscious.

Had there ever been a time since leaving the mine shaft when he had completely lost consciousness like this?

He couldn’t even tell when he had lost consciousness.

He hurriedly checked his body first.

Everything was pitch black in front of him.

He struggled to open his eyes with effort.

Thud, thud-thud.

His eyelids made noisy sounds as they fell.

Something was weighing down his eyelids.

He tried to raise his hand to brush it off. However, as he lifted his hand, his body trembled as if struck by lightning.

‘Kugh!’

Pain struck him like an awl piercing his shoulder.

He remembered his shoulder blade being completely pierced through.

Not just his shoulder, but his entire body ached as if his bones had been crushed with a hammer. There wasn’t a single spot that didn’t throb with pain.

Even with each breath, it felt like bone fragments were rolling around inside his lungs.

“Huff, huff.”

Jin Ja-gang gasped for breath while twisting his body to the side.

Enduring the pain, he propped himself up on his arm and forcibly tried to sit up.

Crash!

His arms and waist had no strength, so he collapsed while trying to sit up. His ribs felt like they were breaking and hurt terribly. Jin Ja-gang had to grit his teeth to avoid screaming.

Since both arms wouldn’t move as he wanted, Jin Ja-gang pressed the area around his eyes against the floor and rubbed vigorously. He forcibly knocked off what was stuck to his eyes. It seemed to be some kind of ointment.

His surroundings came into view hazily.

Inside a room.

On a bed in a small room.

What was going on?

While Jin Ja-gang was bewildered, he sensed someone’s presence outside the door.

Jin Ja-gang hurriedly looked around.

A weapon! He needed something to use as a weapon!

In one corner there was a side table and he could see a water bottle. He could break it and use the fragments as weapons.

But Jin Ja-gang couldn’t even crawl, let alone walk.

He had used up all his strength in the previous battle. His whole body had been beaten, scratched and cut by blades. His shoulder and hip bones had holes in them, and he had been doused with massive amounts of poison. It would be stranger if he could move normally.

His limbs were shaking. His body wouldn’t obey him as if he were completely exhausted.

Jin Ja-gang used all his strength to roll his body.

Thud.

He fell from the bed and continued rolling.

Roll roll roll.

He rolled across the floor and bumped into the side table. The water bottle on the side table fell and broke.

Crash!

At the sound of the water bottle breaking, the person outside the door hurriedly tried to enter.

Jin Ja-gang bit a sharp pottery shard with his mouth. He used all his strength to draw out poison. Due to using too much poison at Poison Valley, there was almost no poison left in his dantian.

All the ginkgo poison had been used up, and only two skeins of Four Emperor Divine Water remained. But even that was bound tightly like it was tied up and wouldn’t come out. He barely managed to draw out one gwangcheung and gathered it at his fingertips, stabbing the pottery shard to coat it with poison.

Then he rolled to the door with the pottery shard in his mouth.

The door opened.

Bang!

Jin Ja-gang tried to stab the foot of whoever entered with the pottery shard in his mouth.

Foreman Jang shouted.

“Hey!”

Jin Ja-gang was also surprised. He never imagined Foreman Jang would enter.

Jin Ja-gang was barely able to turn his head at the last moment and spit the pottery shard to the side.

Jang thought Jin Ja-gang was struggling in surprise and tried to calm him down.

“You fool! It’s me, me, the foreman. It’s okay, so calm down. This is our house.”

Jang put down the tray he was carrying and tried to help Jin Ja-gang up. Jin Ja-gang unconsciously flinched.

Because he had been in the middle of fierce battle where blood splattered, flesh melted, and bones shattered just moments before, Jin Ja-gang hadn’t adjusted yet.

“Why… are you… here…”

He wanted to ask why Jang was here, but the words wouldn’t come out properly. Because he had held acid in his mouth, his mouth and lips were a mess and he couldn’t pronounce properly.

“Oh my, you fool. Why did you come all the way out here instead of lying still?”

Jang soaked a white cloth in the water bowl on the tray and wiped away the blood while comforting him.

Only then did Jin Ja-gang realize that his body was naked but mostly wrapped in bandages.

“Poison… Valley is…”

A trace of fear appeared in Jang’s eyes. Jang swallowed dry saliva and spoke in a low voice.

“When I went there, there wasn’t a single living person. I found you collapsed in the main hall and quickly brought you back.”

When Jin Ja-gang was very late returning despite the time having passed, Jang became worried and came looking for him all the way to Poison Valley. That’s when he discovered Jin Ja-gang.

“That place… was really terrible… But it’s okay now.”

But Jang also seemed quite shocked, as his voice trembled.

“Just forget everything. Forget what you saw and heard. I don’t know what happened or why you were there, but just forget it. You have to answer that way even if anyone asks. That’s the only way you can survive.”

“Mr… Jang…”

“Rest for now. Don’t keep moving around. *Cough cough*.”

Jang had a dry cough, then lifted Jin Ja-gang and put him on the bed.

“I’ll clean up the room later, so get some good sleep. When you wake up, I’ll bring you some porridge.”

Even after Jang left, Jin Ja-gang needed considerable time to regain his sense of reality.

What had happened at Poison Valley?

Where did the remaining people go?

What about Hundred Fragrances Wei Zong?

Had Poison Valley and the righteous faction people perhaps mutually destroyed each other?

If he could move his body even a little, Jin Ja-gang wanted to go and check for himself. But now he had no choice but to wait.

He couldn’t send Jang to investigate Poison Valley’s situation. Right now he had to focus on recovering his strength as much as possible.

‘Let me rest when I can rest.’

Jin Ja-gang closed his eyes while taking long deep breaths to avoid stimulating his lungs that hurt with stabbing pain every time he breathed.

He closed his eyes and regulated his mind and body with Hundred Flower Valley’s breathing technique.

But.

“You… survived… didn’t you…”

The phantom-like sound remaining in his ears came to mind again.

He couldn’t tell when he had heard that sound. It might really be a hallucination, but it was too vivid and kept circling in his ears.

Each time it gave him chills.

A memory that seemed familiar somewhere, remaining in his mind.

But the ‘memory’ Jin Ja-gang was thinking of couldn’t be right.

If it were, Jin Ja-gang wouldn’t still be alive.

An unpleasant feeling he never wanted to recall crept up, making Jin Ja-gang frown.

* * *

“Cough, cough.”

Jin Ja-gang, who had briefly fallen asleep, woke up to the sound of coughing.

“Cough cough!”

The coughing continued from outside the room.

Though his whole body felt like it would break, Jin Ja-gang tried to get up. After resting a bit, he could at least move somewhat.

Jin Ja-gang held onto the wall and walked to the door with shaky steps. When he opened the door, he could see Jang in the yard trying to chop firewood.

At the sound of the door opening, Jang stopped coughing and turned around.

“You’re awake? Wait just a moment. To cook rice I need to make a fire… cough cough!”

Somehow the coughing didn’t sound normal.

“Ah, did I catch a cold? I keep coughing. When I was young, I lived without even knowing what a cold was, but *ahem*! What…”

He also had severe phlegm. Jang cleared his throat and spat out phlegm, then picked up the axe again.

Jin Ja-gang held onto the door frame and observed Jang carefully.

Somehow his face looked haggard and the area around his eyes was bluish. His pupils also had a yellowish tinge without any luster.

Jin Ja-gang’s heart sank.

It was the typical complexion of someone poisoned.

Jin Ja-gang had been unconscious after being doused with Hundred Fragrances Wei Zong’s poison all over his body.

Who had brought such a person back?

Who had brought him back, washed him, applied medicine, and wrapped him in bandages?

It was Jang.

Jin Ja-gang had been in a state where tremendous poison was applied all over his body to the extent that even he couldn’t regain consciousness…

Moreover, when the poison sect people fought with the righteous faction, they would have used considerable poison. Poison Valley must have been filled with poisonous energy.

Even if it had been washed away somewhat by the rain, Jang was an ordinary person with no martial arts at all. On top of that, he was in a considerably weakened state due to diarrhea.

Being exposed to poisonous energy in a weakened state, he could have suffered severe damage.

“Hmm… I feel strangely weak today. Is it because I had so much diarrhea… cough.”

Blood showed in Jang’s mouth as he coughed again.

“Really… I feel dizzy…”

Jang smiled awkwardly while looking at Jin Ja-gang, then collapsed just like that.

Thud.

Jin Ja-gang was momentarily seized by very brief terror.

He thought of Yong Myeong, the deputy sect leader of Medicine King Sect.

Yong Myeong had also been poisoned while caring for Jin Ja-gang just like Jang now, and eventually died in front of Jin Ja-gang.

Though it had been eight years, Jin Ja-gang vividly remembered that scene.

Was he going to experience the same thing again? This fear consumed Jin Ja-gang.

Jin Ja-gang’s chest ached.

His heart hurt. No, it seemed like he was preparing in advance for his heart to hurt.

Jin Ja-gang shook his head vigorously.

Back then he was young and had less ability than now.

Now…

Now it was different.

No, it had to be different.

* * *

Looking around the house, Jang was alone in the house.

Jang had been doing carpentry work while handling martial world affairs for a long time.

The moment he saw the scene of the disaster that occurred at Poison Valley, he realized that a tremendous incident had occurred.

What place was Poison Valley?

Wasn’t it a sect that dominated Yunnan’s martial world!

Moreover, it was when people from Yunnan’s poison sects had participated in large numbers in the assembly hosted by Poison Valley. But even they had become cold corpses.

On top of that, martial artists from other forces besides poison sect people had died miserably…

It was no ordinary incident.

A truly major incident.

He could tell that before long, a tremendous typhoon would sweep through this place.

Whether this was a conflict between forces or a scene of murder and extermination didn’t matter. There was no need to know. If even a spark flew, the lives of common people would die like mayflies.

So as soon as Jang returned home carrying Jin Ja-gang on his back, he hurriedly sent Rangrang and his wife to take refuge at relatives’ houses.

Because Jin Ja-gang was in such a critical condition that he couldn’t bear to abandon him. Someone had to stay and care for Jin Ja-gang.

Then he collapsed while caring for Jin Ja-gang.

As the price for bringing back Jin Ja-gang, who had been severely poisoned at Poison Valley’s massacre scene filled with poisonous energy.

“Mr. Jang really…”

If he hadn’t bothered to come looking for him, if he hadn’t brought him back even after finding him, if he had fled with his family instead… he would be living well and healthy…

That’s why Jin Ja-gang had to save Jang even more.

Jin Ja-gang brought Jang into the room with great difficulty.

“Huff huff…”

Not even a full day had passed, so his body couldn’t have recovered. He was already on the verge of exhaustion.

Still, Jin Ja-gang had to move. It hurt every time he moved, but pain wouldn’t kill him.