Chapter 301 – Drawing Pictures with Blood on White Snow (1)

The season was passing spring and racing toward summer, but Ga Ui-cheon felt goosebumps rising all over his body as if he were standing naked in the middle of a winter snowfield.

'Damn it!'

His entire skin turned red hot as if he were taking a blade-like wind with his bare body.

A damp smell was emanating from Dam Ho's entire body. An incomparably murky… chaotic smell that shook the very foundation of human souls.

Zing!

Tinnitus rang in his head.

A very long time ago, when he had no power at all…

The damp smell he had smelled when he had to sit down helplessly and wait for death was exactly like this. That's why he knew.

What the true nature of this damp and murky smell was.

A harbinger of approaching death.

Ga Ui-cheon shouted with veins bulging as if he would vomit blood.

"I cannot accept it. Are you telling me you've become death itself? I am no longer a powerless child. I will kill you. By killing you, I will overcome death."

The focus disappeared from Ga Ui-cheon's eyes. Instead, explosive madness took its place.

Yeom Su-gang bit down hard on his teeth. He bit so hard that red blood flowed from between his gums.

Madness makes fear disappear and inspires fighting spirit. But conversely, it means he felt such fear that he cast away his own reason.

'A beast that brings death… victory.'

Only then did he seem to understand Dam Ho's true nature.

The hell they had experienced was not true hell.

This moment of fighting Dam Ho was true hell. And their hell was just beginning.

Crack!

Even as he clenched his fist tightly, Dam Ho was slowly walking toward them.

One step, then another step.

With the limping walk they had mocked so much.

They had laughed at it then, but they couldn't now. His jaw muscles were twitching uncontrollably, and the corners of his eyes were trembling.

"Fist… Demon."

The two characters of his nickname, which he had dismissed carelessly, were now piercing his heart.

Ga Ui-cheon muttered while engulfed in madness.

"You crippled bastard…"

He could not accept Dam Ho.

He could not accept the reality of being pushed back by such a limping cripple he had despised so much. To do so would be like negating his entire life.

His voice grew louder and louder.

"Where does a crippled bastard… I absolutely cannot accept it. I cannot accept it."

"I don't need your acceptance."

"What?"

Dam Ho's gaze became even colder.

What was wrong with limping?

Living life, one sometimes encounters unavoidable situations beyond one's control. Dam Ho injuring his leg was the same. At that time, it was simply a major accident that was beyond his power to prevent.

The problem was how one acted after experiencing such an accident.

Even though he limped, Dam Ho never once gave up on or became pessimistic about his life. He silently weathered the waves of life and stood at this place now.

Just because he limped a little didn't diminish the value of his life.

Just because someone like Ga Ui-cheon couldn't understand or mocked him didn't devalue Dam Ho's life.

Thump!

A deep footprint was carved into the ground.

It was the footprint of the life Dam Ho had walked.

Heavy and deep. That's why it contained deep resonance.

His eyes and steps were directed toward Ga Ui-cheon and Yeom Su-gang. The two people couldn't dare handle the deep resonance contained in Dam Ho's eyes and gait.

Only then did Yeom Su-gang acknowledge that the man they had looked down upon was different from any being they had ever encountered.

'Scary.'

Immediately after, a chill rushed in like a receding tide. It felt like he had caught a fever. And Dam Ho approached like a tidal wave.

"Kuk!"

Ga Ui-cheon tried to avoid Dam Ho's attack by deploying his characteristic lightness technique. But at that moment, his broken left leg held him back.

Dam Ho's palm adhered to his chest. Then spiral-shaped energy was released.

The Five Finger Rock Breaking Energy was deployed.

Splash!

"Kek!"

With a single scream, Ga Ui-cheon flew backward. A spiral-shaped bruise formed on his chest, and his internal organs were scrambled.

Ga Ui-cheon's consciousness momentarily flew away from the tremendous pain.

"Ui-cheon!"

Yeom Su-gang threw his body to save Ga Ui-cheon.

With his intact hand, he deployed the Dazzling Dark Demon Jade Hand, and with his broken-fingered arm, he tried to grab Ga Ui-cheon's body. But Dam Ho's attack was not something that could be blocked with one hand.

Bang!

The Explosive Star Strike and the Dazzling Dark Demon Jade Hand collided, and both men's bodies shook from the impact.

Yeom Su-gang retreated while holding Ga Ui-cheon's body, and Dam Ho charged forward. That difference decided the fate of the two men.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

A violent torrent swirled around Dam Ho's body. He had deployed the Violent Demon Energy.

At that moment, Yeom Su-gang saw a massive storm.

The currents of the violent torrent expanding to fill his retina.

Crash!

With a tremendous roar that shook heaven and earth, a lump of bloody flesh was flung out. It was Yeom Su-gang.

His face was crushed, and every bone in his body was broken and misaligned. The owner of the corpse, mangled beyond recognition of its original form, was Yeom Su-gang.

"Su-gang!"

Ga Ui-cheon, who belatedly regained consciousness, shouted. But Yeom Su-gang, whose breath had already been cut off, could not answer.

Ga Ui-cheon's gaze sought Dam Ho.

"You bastard! You… Kek!"

Crack!

At that moment, Dam Ho's fist embedded in Ga Ui-cheon's abdomen.

Ga Ui-cheon's pupils shook greatly as if an earthquake had occurred. Instantly, focus disappeared from his pupils.

The thread of consciousness he had barely grasped flew away again. And Dam Ho's knee exploded into his abdomen.

It was the left foot that Ga Ui-cheon had mocked so much. While he couldn't put strength into it when walking and had to limp, there was no problem whatsoever in delivering knee attacks.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Dam Ho's knee struck Ga Ui-cheon's abdomen consecutively.

Ga Ui-cheon's lower body swayed like a leather bag. Too much pain numbs even the sense of pain. That was Ga Ui-cheon's current state.

Once, twice, three times… He didn't know exactly how many knee attacks he had delivered. Only when his heart was about to burst did Dam Ho stop his attack. And he released Ga Ui-cheon's collar that he had been gripping tightly.

Slide!

Ga Ui-cheon's body slipped down. His abdomen and lower body were so miserably crushed that one could believe they were rags. His abdomen had burst, with pieces of internal organs and blood flowing out, and his two legs were dangling limply with bone fragments finely shattered.

Dam Ho looked down indifferently at Ga Ui-cheon's corpse.

"Try mocking me once more."

The moment they entered the snowy mountains, the season shifted from spring to winter. The air rapidly became cold, and the wind swept fiercely like sharp blades.

***

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. It's not to the degree where you need to worry yet."

At Geom Yul-cheon's worried words, Dan Gong-wol showed a smile. But his complexion was not very good.

His physical condition was deteriorating as time passed. Normally, he could laugh while taking off his clothes in this degree of cold, but now it was piercing to his bones. Still, he deliberately maintained a composed expression.

Dan Gong-wol looked up at Death Cliff, which had now come much closer. His destination was not far.

"That place…"

Piiiing!

At that moment, a faint whistling sound echoed.

It was such a faint sound mixed with the blade-like wind that it was difficult to distinguish even with concentrated effort. But Dan Gong-wol's superhuman senses caught that faint whistling sound and reacted.

Clatter!

Silver chains flowed from his body and covered the front. Following this, with a 'clang' sound, a meteor awl was deflected.

Seeing this, Geom Yul-cheon's eyes lit up.

The moment he saw the meteor awl, a certain woman came to mind.

"Su-hyeon?"

"I'm here too."

Following this, along with a resonant voice, tremendous energy rushed like a tidal wave.

Instantly, Geom Yul-cheon deployed the first move of the Thunder Strike Technique, Thunderbolt Layers.

"Chaat!"

A wall of lightning formed in front of him.

Immediately after, two forces collided.

Crash!

Geom Yul-cheon's body was pushed backward.

Deep furrows formed in the earth where he had planted his feet.

"Cheon-ak!"

Geom Yul-cheon straightened his waist and opened his mouth.

"Yul-cheon!"

Instantly, with a heavy voice from the air, a giant fell down. It was Jeong Cheon-ak.

Following this, the woman who had thrown the meteor awl, Ji Su-hyeon, appeared.

Geom Yul-cheon's gaze, which hadn't wavered even when seeing Jeong Cheon-ak, shook at Ji Su-hyeon's appearance.

"Cheon-ak, Su-hyeon."

"You're still the same, Yul-cheon."

Jeong Cheon-ak's gaze fixed on Geom Yul-cheon's face.

Geom Yul-cheon's expression was frozen as hard as could be.

Among the Ten Soldiers, the two people he least wanted to meet had appeared before his eyes.

Jeong Cheon-ak's gaze was fierce, and Ji Su-hyeon's eyes were sorrowful.

Geom Yul-cheon briefly closed his eyes.

Momentarily, numerous thoughts flashed through his mind.

One was a friend he had once trusted and relied upon, and the other was someone who had once made his heart waver.

"To think you've chased me all the way here."

"No one can escape the hands of the Ten Soldiers. Not even you, Yul-cheon."

"Cheon-ak!"

"Don't call my name, you filthy traitor. To dare target our sect from the shadows. I knew you would do this from long ago. That's why I hated you so much."

Jeong Cheon-ak spat out angry words. Flames seemed about to burst from his eyes as he glared at Geom Yul-cheon.

Ji Su-hyeon looked at the two men alternately. Momentarily, a light of conflict flashed across her face.

She opened her mouth.

"Is this all you chose after abandoning us like that? Yul-cheon."

"Su-hyeon."

"It's not too late even now. Come to this side."

Ji Su-hyeon extended her hand.

They were pure white and slender fingers that people commonly called jade hands, like ice fish. They were the kind of hands with irresistible charm for any man. But Geom Yul-cheon firmly rejected that hand.

"It's too late."

"Yul-cheon!"

"That place is not where I belong. Where I belong is here."

Geom Yul-cheon stood beside Dan Gong-wol.

Instantly, anger appeared on Ji Su-hyeon's face.

"To reject me once again."

Shameful memories from the past surfaced again. That's why she became even angrier.

Jeong Cheon-ak stepped forward and said:

"I didn't think you would change your mind anyway. If you were that kind of person, you would have already taken my hand twenty years ago."

"You know well."

"It would have been better if you had hidden and built up more strength. Then you might have had a glimmer of chance. The old man you saved ultimately hastened your death."

Jeong Cheon-ak's gaze turned to Dan Gong-wol, who was standing blankly.

Dan Gong-wol burst into hearty laughter.

"Hehe! No matter how wounded I am, I didn't expect to be treated like this."

"Don't put on airs, old man."

"Airs? That might be so. But you two are not enough."

Explosive momentum flowed from Dan Gong-wol's entire body.

Though wounded and exhausted, he was the Wind Moon Emperor.

He was a member of the Four Divine Emperors and an absolute master who stood at the highest peak of the martial world. His presence was still there. But Jeong Cheon-ak mocked such a Dan Gong-wol.

"Is this the pride of a wounded old tiger? Good! Then I'll give you treatment befitting that."

Snap!

The moment he snapped his fingers, countless human shadows appeared behind him in numbers too great to count.

Geom Yul-cheon's pupils shook. It wasn't simply because there were many who appeared behind Jeong Cheon-ak. It was because he saw many familiar faces among them.

"Dok-oh, On-woo, Ha-gyeong, Jeong-ok…"

The Ten Soldiers, the rest of them…

Past connections had twisted into evil connections and come to find him.

Yeong-woon, Pyo Sang-guk, and So-min were bewildered.

Jin Ja-gang seemed both tense and fearful. Either way, it was an expression they hadn’t seen before.

So-min called Jin Ja-gang once more.

“Young Master Jin?”

Jin Ja-gang suddenly spoke with a sharp expression.

“Ignore this matter. There will be another opportunity.”

“Brother Jin!”

“You… are not someone who can handle this.”

Jin Ja-gang’s voice trembled. Beads of sweat even formed on his forehead.

Hearing Jin Ja-gang’s words, Pyo Sang-guk became angry and shouted.

“If you don’t want to, say you don’t want to! If you’re scared, say you’re scared! I thought Brother Jin was a good person, but I was mistaken! Ptui!”

Pyo Sang-guk spat and rushed out without giving anyone time to stop him.

“Are you really not going?”

Jin Ja-gang didn’t even answer So-min’s question.

“Young Master Jin, we are disciples of orthodox sects. We cannot retreat when seeing evil.”

So-min looked at Jin Ja-gang with a disappointed expression and followed Pyo Sang-guk. Yeong-woon did the same.

Immediately after the three left, Jin Ja-gang vomited black clots of blood from his mouth.

Black blood vessels protruded on his neck and face. His body trembled.

The food sent by Piercing Ghost contained tremendous deadly poison. It was the most excruciating pain among all the poisons he had experienced. His limbs and fingers and toes felt as if they were falling off joint by joint.

Murderous intent beyond madness poured from Jin Ja-gang’s eyes. Killing intent more intense than ever before covered all directions.

The poison was so vicious that the demon in Jin Ja-gang’s brain, which he had barely managed to subdue, was stimulated and awakened.

The food in the basket entered Jin Ja-gang’s eyes, gleaming with killing intent. Jin Ja-gang grabbed handfuls of food and stuffed them into his mouth.

Crunch crunch!

Black blood vessels protruded on his neck and shoulders, but Jin Ja-gang didn’t stop eating. No, he couldn’t stop. The more he ate the poisoned food, the denser the killing intent Jin Ja-gang emitted became.

And proportionally, his hunger became extreme.

A side effect of the Jade Void Nine Lights Five Thunder Toad Art.

Jin Ja-gang, who had been frantically eating the poisoned food for a while, suddenly vomited what he was eating and fell prone on the ground, wailing.

“Ahhhhhhh!”

He clawed at the ground frantically with his nails. His nails turned blue with bruises, his fingertips split and bled.

“Ugh, kugh!”

Jin Ja-gang struck the ground with his bare fists and gritted his teeth while tensing his entire body.

His whole body was soaked in sweat.

How long had he endured with such strength?

Jin Ja-gang’s rigid body gradually softened at some point.

Jin Ja-gang slowly regained stability while sweat dripped from his face.

“Huff. Huffffff.”

Finally, the demon fell asleep.

This was because Jin Ja-gang’s body adapted to the poison and the stimulus of pain disappeared.

Jin Ja-gang straightened his back, tilted his head back, and breathed deeply into his lungs.

His limbs still tingled. A deadly poison that had almost no lethality but inflicted terrible pain enough to awaken the demon in his brain.

Had Piercing Ghost used such poison on the villagers?

“Piercing Ghost…”

Crack.

Jin Ja-gang bit his teeth audibly and clenched his fist with all his might.

* * *

A cold wind blew as early evening approached.

Yeong-woon, Pyo Sang-guk, and So-min ran through the dark forest path using light body techniques. It was the direction the leper assassin had mentioned.

“I smell blood!”

“Then this direction is right!”

They smelled it with their noses first, but soon they could see the lights of houses with their eyes.

The three gritted their teeth.

If the smell of blood reached this far, what terrible things must have happened in the village!

“I can’t believe it. How could Young Master Jin be like that?”

At So-min’s words, Yeong-woon shouted.

“Don’t think about other things now! Focus on the enemy before us!”

The three raised their internal energy to the maximum and entered the village with full preparation.

An ordinary village with fires lit everywhere.

However, along with the nauseating smell of blood that seemed to paralyze the nose, terrible screams could be heard from the moment they entered the village.

“Ahhhhh!”

“Save me! Save me, uwahhh!”

“So, someone please!”

“Ahhh! Ahhhhhh!”

The three people’s hair stood on end at the screams.

As if proving that what the leper assassin had called hell was not a lie, terrible screams were heard from all directions.

“Wha, what is this…!”

Bang!

Someone burst through the door of a house. It was a middle-aged village resident whose upper clothes were soaked in blood. He was in such pain that tendons stood out on his neck and blue blood vessels protruded from his forehead.

“Ahhhhh, kugh! Please save me, please save me!”

The middle-aged man writhed his entire body, struggled, and rolled around on the ground.

“Hey! Are you alright?”

So-min ran over and grabbed the middle-aged man.

“Kughhhh…”

The middle-aged man clutched So-min’s arm. It was a desperate look asking for help. So-min examined the man’s body. There was a hole big enough for a thumb below his neck in the collarbone area. She quickly applied pressure points around the collarbone to stop the bleeding, but the man’s agonized screams didn’t stop.

“It’s not because of the wound. Young Master Jin was right. It seems to be because of poison!”

Pyo Sang-guk looked around angrily.

From houses and yards, people were crawling out onto the road while writhing their bodies everywhere.

“Me, me too please!”

“Help me too!”

“Krahh!”

“Kahhhh!”

People screamed and cried out in anguish. All of them had their upper bodies stained with blood due to blood seeping from holes in their collarbones.

They had screamed for so long that their voices were hoarse and their faces were red.

The victims were of all ages and genders. Among them was even a mother holding her child who had already fainted from pain.

The three people could only stand there helplessly, not knowing what to do.

There was no way to reduce the pain.

They could only watch people screaming in agony.

So-min’s heart ached so much she couldn’t even look at the people asking for help.

Then the three felt a piercing, sharp energy.

Creak.

A tall old man was coming out, opening the door of the house next to them. Only his eyes were visible with his nose and mouth covered, and both hands were hidden in sleeves clasped in front of his chest.

He didn’t look pained at all and wasn’t screaming. Rather, he seemed to have a joyful expression.

And from inside the house he came from, screams began. The old man hummed along with the screams.

Yeong-woon shouted.

“I am Yeong-woon of Wudang! Who are you, sir!”

“Let me see…”

The old man looked around and said.

“The friend I actually called isn’t here, but where did a few grains of rice roll in from?”

“Grains of rice?”

The three gritted their teeth. It was probably the first time in their lives they had been compared to grains of rice.

Pyo Sang-guk kicked off the ground and rushed at the old man. The old man leaped onto the roof on tiptoe. Pyo Sang-guk followed, stomping his feet to climb onto the roof.

“Let me taste these grains of rice…”

The old man’s figure vanished with a whoosh.

“Behind!”

Yeong-woon shouted. Pyo Sang-guk was startled and turned his body while throwing a punch. But nothing was visible.

“Wh, where!”

“Hehehe.”

The old man’s laughter was heard right next to his ear. Pyo Sang-guk was terrified and spun around throwing a punch. Fist shadows were drawn in the air and wind sounds rang heavily.

Thud thud thud!

It was empty space.

“I said behind you!”

Hearing the frustrated cries of Yeong-woon and So-min, he looked back, but Pyo Sang-guk still couldn’t see the old man.

“Why don’t you listen to your friends? I’m behind you.”

The old man’s voice was heard next to his ear again. He could even feel hot breath.

Goosebumps ran down Pyo Sang-guk’s spine.

“Where are you looking?”

A voice tickling his nape.

Pyo Sang-guk quickly moved his body using Zhongnan Sect’s movement technique, Cloud Dragon Step.

A faint afterimage remained on the roof as Pyo Sang-guk’s body swayed left and right. The old man’s body swayed exactly following Pyo Sang-guk.

Pyo Sang-guk concentrated his internal energy to the maximum trying to shake off the old man following behind him. But the voice came from right behind him as if nothing happened.

“Hehehe. Cloud Dragon Step? It’s slower than the Cloud Dragon Step I’ve seen before?”

“You disgusting old monster! Won’t you get away from me!”

“Should I?”

The old man’s voice stopped. Pyo Sang-guk drew out his internal energy to the maximum and tried to twist his waist and unleash a barrage of punches.

Zhongnan Invincible…!

But the moment he turned his head, the old man was stuck right in front of him so close that he couldn’t extend his fist. The old man was attached to Pyo Sang-guk so closely their bodies almost touched.

The old man grinned.

“Brother Pyo!”

Yeong-woon and So-min leaped onto the roof and attacked the old man. Pyo Sang-guk also jumped back while deploying Zhongnan Invincible Fist. Then the old man separated the sleeves clasped in front of his chest and stretched out his right hand.

Pyo Sang-guk’s Zhongnan Invincible Fist was pushed back by one of the old man’s fingers.

Poof.

As the fist wind of Zhongnan Invincible Fist crumbled, the old man’s finger penetrated between Pyo Sang-guk’s collarbones without resistance like piercing tofu. Pyo Sang-guk’s eyes opened wide. The old man kicked Pyo Sang-guk and sent him flying.

Yeong-woon attacked the old man’s lower back with Wudang Cotton Palm. So-min slashed at the old man’s ankle with her sword.

Whoosh!

In an instant, the old man’s front and back switched. The back of his head became his face. He had reversed his body at tremendous speed.

The old man took the Wudang Cotton Palm full in the chest while extending his right hand. Yeong-woon, prepared for damage, didn’t give up the Wudang Cotton Palm and continued pushing. The old man’s finger stabbed between Yeong-woon’s collarbones.

“Kugh!”

Meanwhile, So-min attacked the old man’s ankle. The old man kicked So-min’s sword with his front foot. So-min twisted her sword. So-min’s blade embedded in the toe of his leather shoe.

But the sword stopped completely and wouldn’t move. So-min pulled the sword with all her might, but it didn’t budge.

Thud thud thud.

Thanks to So-min shaking the sword left and right, the old man’s leather shoe was torn off, revealing his bare foot. Blunt lumps that couldn’t even be called toe shapes. Only the thumb and middle toe remained.

And So-min’s sword was caught between them.

The old man twisted his ankle. Though So-min desperately held onto her sword, she couldn’t match the old man’s toe strength, and her arms, shoulders, and upper body turned.

The old man pulled his finger from Yeong-woon’s collarbone.

The old man’s fingers were the same as his toes. No, his fingers were worse. All other fingers had fallen off leaving only the middle finger. Even that was only about two joints.

The old man’s blood-stained finger slowly approached So-min. So-min’s eyes were filled with terror.

“Ah!”

So-min pushed internal energy into her sword and pulled with all her might. The old man’s toes interfered with the sword energy. So-min threw away her shame and kicked the old man’s groin. Only then did the old man spread his toes and let go. So-min was finally able to pull out her sword.

The old man praised.

“Very good posture. Even disciples of prestigious orthodox sects must act like unorthodox sects if they don’t want to die.”

“No!”

So-min screamed, but the old man ignored her and pushed his finger forward. So-min raised her sword to block, but the old man’s finger ignored it and pushed in.

Clang!

The sword struck by the old man’s finger vibrated madly and rang. So-min’s grip tore and she dropped her sword. The old man’s finger faced no more interference and stabbed So-min’s collarbone.

Almost simultaneously, Yeong-woon and So-min rolled down from the roof.

After falling into the yard, the three convulsed.

“Kugh!”

“Ahh, ahhhhhh!”

Screams began flowing from the three people’s mouths as well.