Chapter 305 – Truth Always Comes Heavy (2)

"Kereuk!"

Seok Mu-gang vomited blood violently.

Red blood damply stained his chin and chest. His pupils, as red as the blood that stained his chest, were shaking.

As if he had collided with a house-sized boulder that had rolled down from a mountain, his entire body was creaking and his internal organs were scrambled, making even breathing difficult.

"How dare you! How dare you!"

Seok Mu-gang wiped the blood from his mouth with his sleeve while burning with anger.

He was the master of Rock Cliff Stream, one of the Thirteen Branches. He could not accept the fact that he was being driven into a corner by a mere limping martial artist.

But he wasn't given the opportunity to leisurely sit and burn with anger. Even at that moment, Dam Ho was surging like a storm.

WHOOSH!

Storms suck in everything.

Dam Ho was the same. The strange attractive force generated from his body grabbed Seok Mu-gang's feet. And Dam Ho's fist came flying.

The opponent was someone whom even repelling energy didn't work against. There was only one way to respond to such a person. To attack in the same way.

Seok Mu-gang threw his fist in return.

CRASH!

Fist met fist.

Though they were human bodies, they were fists trained to be harder than steel. With a metallic sound, both men's bodies staggered momentarily.

Seok Mu-gang's expression contorted. It was because his fist hurt as if it would shatter. So he stepped back slightly.

Dam Ho was different. He too was human. He felt the same pain. But he ignored the pain and charged forward.

Black pupils flashing between disheveled hair.

His eyes contained no wasteful emotions like madness or anger. Those emotionless eyes that contained no feelings at all made Seok Mu-gang feel eerie instead.

"You bastard!"

Even though it wasn't midwinter, he felt cold wind down his spine. Every hair on his body stood on end.

CRASH!

At that moment, Dam Ho's second strike poured down.

Seok Mu-gang somehow managed to block the second strike. But as the price, his feet got tangled. To such a him, Dam Ho's third strike poured down.

CRASH!

"Kreuk!"

Seok Mu-gang's body swayed greatly.

He tried to somehow grasp an opportunity to counterattack. But Dam Ho's attacks continued without giving him a moment to breathe.

CRASH! CRASH!

The fourth and fifth strikes followed.

Seok Mu-gang's face gradually contorted. With each repetition, the pain grew exponentially.

WHIRRRR!

A strange sound echoed.

At first, he thought it was simply tinnitus. But it wasn't tinnitus.

Every time Dam Ho's waist rotated, every time his fist cut through the air, a sound like gears turning echoed.

CRASH!

Dam Ho's fist struck Seok Mu-gang's forearm once more.

CRUNCH!

For a moment, Seok Mu-gang heard the sound of his forearm breaking like a corn stalk.

That was the beginning.

CRASH CRASH CRASH CRASH!

Dam Ho's fists became a storm and surged.

Each time his fist struck hard, Seok Mu-gang's body shrank a little.

Tremendous shock penetrating his entire body. He deployed Golden Fortress Iron Wall, Rock Cliff Stream's protective technique, but it was useless.

Only then did Seok Mu-gang realize that the storm-like continuous strikes that followed without pause were not simple improvisation but were actually a thoroughly calculated single technique.

Six Harmonies Blood Mountain River.

The final chapter of the Solitary Path that delivers twenty-four consecutive strikes in a single breath.

Dam Ho was deploying Six Harmonies Blood Mountain River for the first time in actual combat.

Fifteen, sixteen, and… seventeen.

CRACK!

"Kreek!"

The seventeenth fist punched a large hole in Seok Mu-gang's chest.

Seok Mu-gang knelt on the ground and looked alternately at his chest and Dam Ho's face with an unbelieving expression.

"This can't… be!"

His cheeks trembled, and blood flowed from his eyes, nose, ears, and mouth.

Seok Mu-gang absolutely could not believe the reality.

He was the master of Rock Cliff Stream.

He was chosen, and therefore should walk a noble path to stand at the peak of the martial world. He could not believe that he had to meet such a miserable end.

So he gathered his remaining strength and shouted.

"What are you? What on earth are you?"

A voice melted with resentment and anger resonated thunderously through the underground cave. But his voice no longer contained any strength.

"What on earth are you? What on earth…"

Those were the last words of Seok Mu-gang, master of Rock Cliff Stream.

His head dropped with a thud and moved no more.

"Uuu!"

A groan-like moan flowed from Dan Woon-hyang's mouth.

The expression on her face was disbelief itself.

Who was Seok Mu-gang?

He was someone who could be called the strongest among the Demon Cult's young martial artists. He was an absolute master who belonged to the upper tier even among the leaders of the Thirteen Branches. Such a strong person had been miserably shattered by Dam Ho without being able to respond properly.

It was such a lie-like scene that she would never have believed if she hadn't seen it with her own eyes.

The actual difference in martial power between Dam Ho and Seok Mu-gang was not as great as one might think. If there was a difference between them, it was that Dam Ho was a martial artist perfected through countless real battles while Seok Mu-gang was a martial artist perfected in the training hall.

Dam Ho knew how to use everything about himself. Like breathing naturally, he knew how to deploy all the martial arts he had learned in the right place at the right time.

On the other hand, Seok Mu-gang's martial arts were rigid. Since each technique was powerful, there was no need for irregular combinations.

That difference separated the life and death of the two. But for Dan Woon-hyang, whose martial arts were inferior to theirs, she could not know such differences.

"De… demon."

She unconsciously muttered like that.

Then Dam Ho turned his head and looked at her. The moment their eyes met, Dan Woon-hyang fled without looking back.

He was a monster who had instantly killed even Seok Mu-gang. There was no way she could handle him alone. Now was the time to escape.

She disappeared into the darkness in an instant.

Dam Ho tried to pursue such Dan Woon-hyang. But the next moment, Dan Gong-wol's voice that was heard caught his ankle.

"Fist Demon."

When Dam Ho turned his head to look, Dan Gong-wol gestured with difficulty.

"Come… here."

Dam Ho saw the earnest wish in his eyes. So he approached him.

Anyone could see it was a hopeless sight. Even though it wouldn't be strange if his breath had already been cut off, he was desperately holding onto the thread of life in such a miserable state.

Dam Ho knelt on one knee and met his gaze. With eyes that had now lost focus, he was looking at Dam Ho.

"Huff! Huff! Whether heaven has not yet abandoned the martial world… I get to meet you like this. Do you know who I am?"

"…"

Dam Ho silently nodded. Then a faint smile appeared at the corner of Dan Gong-wol's mouth.

"Right! I am an old man with the false name of Wind Moon Emperor. From now on, listen carefully to what I say. It's a very… important matter."

"Speak!"

"This place was the last sect of the Heavenly Death Cult. We found and exterminated what was barely maintaining its lineage."

It was from very long ago… a secret story not recorded in martial world history.

Before being called the Four Divine Emperors, they were friends and had spent quite a lot of time together.

They accidentally discovered that the lineage of a cult that had disappeared long ago was continuing. Until then, they were burning with a sense of mission that they must uphold the justice of the martial world. So they thought they had to uproot the cult.

"So we came here. And we killed those who lived here. We killed so many. Like blood-hungry evil spirits…"

Dan Gong-wol's voice was full of regret.

"They… most of those we thought were beings we could never be forgiven for were ordinary people. Though they were descendants of the Heavenly Death Cult, they were no different from village folk who had forgotten their ancestors' memories and lived ordinary lives. Even as they died by our hands, they asked why. Why must they die? Why are we doing such things? We answered. Because you are descendants of the Heavenly Death Cult."

Thus they paid for the sins their ancestors had committed.

Dan Gong-wol could not forget the eyes of those who died then. Their eyes tormented him for decades and he never forgot them for a single moment.

"I didn't know then. That it would be such a great sin."

"…"

"We… the Four Divine Emperors are paying the price for that sin. One of us opened the forbidden book of the Heavenly Death Cult that was stored here."

"Forbidden book?"

"A book containing the secret traditions of the Heavenly Death Cult. We discovered it here and sealed it away."

That was the reason Dan Gong-wol had returned here. They had discovered a forbidden book that could be called a relic of the Heavenly Death Cult here.

The forbidden book contained various sorceries and great methods, and they had decided by agreement to seal it here.

Dan Gong-wol's gaze looked toward a stone coffin in one corner of the underground cavity. It was the place where the forbidden book had been sealed. But the stone coffin was wide open and empty inside.

Someone had broken the seal and taken the forbidden book.

"And eventually he broke the seal."

"Who?"

"Lee Gwan."

"Lee Gwan?"

"Iron Blood… War God Lee Gwan… Be careful… of him."

"He opened the seal?"

"He is…"

Dan Gong-wol trailed off.

His throat was parched and his breathing was labored, making it difficult to continue speaking.

Long ago, just before completely destroying the Demon Cult's main base, Lee Gwan stabbed a dagger in the back of the Four Divine Emperors.

It was a betrayal no one had expected. Because of this, the Four Divine Emperors were split and completely annihilating the Demon Cult came to nothing.

Dan Gong-wol was curious. Why he had betrayed them, why he had attacked. He had luckily avoided fatal wounds, but Ho Cheon-san and Yong Hwa-seol had suffered severe injuries and disappeared.

Dan Gong-wol wanted to tell Dam Ho all those stories. But all those stories only circled in his mouth and didn't flow out.

"Gurgle! Gurgle!"

Blood foam came up from his esophagus and filled his mouth.

GRIP!

Dan Gong-wol gripped Dam Ho's hand tightly.

It was such intense strength that one couldn't think it came from an old man on the verge of death.

"The one who… attacked you… is his… he is… Hwa…"

Slide!

Dan Gong-wol's hand that had been gripping Dam Ho's hand slid down powerlessly. His breath had been cut off.

Even in death, Dan Gong-wol was looking at Dam Ho with his eyes wide open. Though his breath had already been cut off, his eyes were telling many stories.

Dam Ho sat in place like a stone statue and looked into his eyes and face for a long time.

It was a shabby death that didn't match the reputation of the Four Divine Emperors.

Death came equally to everyone like that. For those living in the harsh martial world, death was never someone else's business.

Dam Ho closed Dan Gong-wol's wide-open eyes and stood up from his seat.

Dan Gong-wol had tried his utmost to convey the truth, but his pronunciation was garbled and most of it was incomprehensible. But he understood the important facts.

"You mean Lee Gwan?"

Iron Blood War God Lee Gwan.

Among the Four Divine Emperors, he was known to have the strongest martial arts.

Almost nothing was known about his school or martial arts. What was certain was that his martial arts were the strongest among the Four Divine Emperors.

His head began to ache.

Though he learned that Lee Gwan was related to the Heavenly Death Cult, everything felt even more complicated instead.

He couldn't understand why someone who enjoyed glory lacking nothing as one of the Four Divine Emperors would covet the forbidden book of the Heavenly Death Cult and revive the Heavenly Death Cult in the present era.

Dam Ho shook his head and moved his steps outside the cave.

When he came outside, sunlight poured down dazzlingly. But Dam Ho had no leisure to savor the sunlight.

He placed his palm on the cave entrance and operated the Five Finger Rock Breaking Energy.

CRUMBLE!

As spiral energy occurred, the cave entrance collapsed like a sand castle.

This place was the final resting place of Dan Gong-wol, who had wandered the world all his life. Here he would rest eternally.

Dam Ho moved his steps with the completely collapsing cave behind him.

His gaze was directed elsewhere.

During his stay in the village, Jin Ja-gang fasted and didn’t drink even a sip of water.

As his internal energy increased from absorbing the Infinite Ghost Poison, unbearable hunger sometimes came.

Jin Ja-gang endured the hunger by reciting the incantations of the Jade Void Nine Lights Five Thunder Toad Art.

The Jade Void Nine Lights Five Thunder Toad Art had the effect of stabilizing mind and body as it concentrated Taoist studies. Even after the Fifth Light, difficult incantations from Taoist scriptures frequently appeared. Nevertheless, it wasn’t easy to overcome the hunger that kept coming.

This hunger wasn’t real hunger but thirst for becoming stronger, desire… spiritual hunger.

Jin Ja-gang gritted his teeth.

Finally, the Fierce Slaughter Demon God flickered before his eyes and gradually disappeared.

* * *

The three people, Yeong-woon, Pyo Sang-guk, and So-min, whispered while looking at Jin Ja-gang.

“Brother Jin seems to have been starving for five days now.”

“But why does he look like a different person this morning?”

Unable to endure it any longer, Pyo Sang-guk asked.

“Brother Jin, until yesterday you looked haggard and barely alive, but why do you look so healthy today?”

His face, which had been somewhat rough from not eating, became smooth overnight, and the brilliance in his eyes deepened.

The Infinite Ghost Poison had served as a miraculous medicine containing more than forty years of internal energy for Jin Ja-gang. After absorbing all the poison power, Jin Ja-gang finally entered the beginning of the Sixth Light.

Dikes were built in a total of six places: the middle dantian, the perineum, left and right palms, the right sole’s Bubbling Spring Point, and the Gate of Life Point.

An increase in dikes in the Jade Void Nine Lights Five Thunder Toad Art meant he could contain more internal energy.

Now Jin Ja-gang had surpassed the realm of mastery in pure internal energy alone.

He had sufficient conditions to become one of the top masters in any region.

Pyo Sang-guk and So-min looked at Yeong-woon. Though Yeong-woon had been freed from poisoning for about three days and was eating heartily, his face was still haggard. His eyes were sunken, cheeks hollow, and even dry patches had appeared. Compared to Jin Ja-gang’s pale face with transparent luster, the contrast was too stark.

Jin Ja-gang finished his first meal in days with just one bowl of watery rice.

But he showed no sign of hunger.

Jin Ja-gang said to the three who were looking at him as if amazed.

“Now that I’m stable, we can depart.”

* * *

As Piercing Ghost had promised, there were no more attacks from Leper Mound on the way to Chongqing.

Jin Ja-gang treated the three exactly as before. There wasn’t much difference between before and after knowing he was Poison Dragon.

Yeong-woon, Pyo Sang-guk, and So-min found Jin Ja-gang increasingly puzzling.

The three worried and had long discussions. After pushing and pulling for several days, So-min finally stepped forward. They decided to ask, trusting that Jin Ja-gang’s straightforward personality meant he wasn’t one to lie.

“Young Master Jin!”

Jin Ja-gang paused while gathering firewood and looked at So-min.

“Go ahead and ask.”

“What? How did you know I was going to ask something?”

“You’ve been whispering while looking at me for days.”

“Ah, then this will make questioning easier. We want to know what you did and didn’t do.”

“I’ve told you before.”

“I know. But…”

So-min glanced back. Yeong-woon and Pyo Sang-guk were cheering her on from behind. Depending on Jin Ja-gang’s answer, they might fight or part ways at this moment.

“Villagers near Stone Forest Gang’s manor were massacred. Did you do it?”

“No.”

“Is it true that you poisoned Chu Sa-jin, heir of Yunnan’s Five Ancestor Sect?”

“No.”

“Please tell me in more detail. Young Master Chu died instantly from deadly poison. Is it really not true?”

“No one dies from eating pokeweed. Pokeweed is poison that causes stomach pain.”

“Why did you use such poison? Did you spare him because he was from an orthodox sect?”

“I felt someone had instigated Five Ancestor Sect.”

“You deliberately didn’t use excessive poison because killing Young Master Chu might involve you in bad affairs. But since Young Master Chu died from poison… your prediction was correct.”

After thinking briefly, So-min asked again.

“Then the massacre of Yunnan orthodox sects at Poison Valley…”

“That wasn’t my doing either.”

Pyo Sang-guk interrupted.

“There was an incident where a village of common people burned. What about that?”

“If it’s common people… that was my doing.”

The three’s faces instantly stiffened.

“Then!”

Jin Ja-gang waited briefly before answering.

“It was a den of Shadow Bureau.”

Shadow Bureau was a group that worked as assassins among Yunnan’s poison sects, like Leper Mound. If disguised as an ordinary village, it might not have been properly known.

Pyo Sang-guk interrupted Yeong-woon’s words.

“Wait! If Brother Jin is that confident, wouldn’t the right way be to go directly to the Martial Alliance and explain?”

To Pyo Sang-guk’s words, Jin Ja-gang replied.

“Hundred Flower Valley was ambushed by Extreme Poison Sect and destroyed. I went through tremendous hardships to reach the Martial Alliance’s Yunnan branch for help. I was ten years old then. What do you think happened?”

“Not only Hundred Flower Valley but countless medicine sects were defeated by poison sects and destroyed. The Martial Alliance maintained neutrality without intervening in that process.”

“Did they maintain neutrality? Or do you want to believe that?”

“The Martial Alliance is always righteous…!”

Pyo Sang-guk was speaking when he suddenly made an awkward expression and scratched his cheek.

“…or so I’ve heard, but actually we also know there were times when that wasn’t true. Sorry for saying something unnecessary.”

Jin Ja-gang almost chuckled at Pyo Sang-guk’s humor.

Yeong-woon said.

“Brother Jin, you don’t need to antagonize the Martial Alliance.”

“I hope you won’t misunderstand just because I was from an orthodox sect and rarely attacked orthodox sects. If you point a blade at me, you’ll inevitably become my enemy.”

“No, no. Brother Jin is the one misunderstanding my words.”

Yeong-woon shook his head and said.

“Anywhere people live is the same. There are countless factions within the Martial Alliance too. Good people and evil people, and those who are enemies to Brother Jin and those who aren’t coexist. So even if you hate the Martial Alliance, don’t make the entire organization your enemy.”

Jin Ja-gang understood Yeong-woon’s words. He meant to distinguish between those to make enemies of and those not to within the Martial Alliance.

“It would be extremely difficult to actually do that. But if you make everyone your enemy, everyone becomes your enemy, and if you leave room, that much will become Brother Jin’s allies.”

After thinking briefly, Jin Ja-gang answered.

“Thank you for the advice. I’ll think and consider it thoroughly.”

* * *

Chongqing is a basin surrounded by mountains and located in highlands. Due to rivers touching three sides below, it’s also a place where you can see fog for a hundred days every year.

Geographically, it’s a place with frequent movement of goods, so the sight of donkeys carrying loads and traveling well through rough terrain was often seen.

Among these, Jin Ja-gang headed toward a village called Porcelain District at the mouth of Jialing River. It was a place Oh Tae had hinted about. Being by the river, it was prosperous with numerous shops lined up.

Originally, Yeong-woon and the others had somewhere else to go, not Porcelain District.

But they couldn’t leave Jin Ja-gang.

Jin Ja-gang looked back at the three and asked.

“How long will you follow me?”

So-min answered.

“We need to know what Young Master Jin plans to do in Chongqing before we can report. We’ll get in trouble if we just leave.”

“Then those clothes won’t do.”

The Taoist robes of Mount Hua and Wudang, and Zhongnan’s martial attire certainly stood out.

“And don’t carry weapons either.”

Since So-min was the only one carrying a weapon, she objected.

“Telling a swordsman to go around without a sword! That’s too much.”

“Then don’t follow.”

“Ugh!”

So-min puffed her cheeks and made a sulky expression before finally agreeing to follow Jin Ja-gang’s words.

Pyo Sang-guk asked.

“Where are you going that you want to move immediately without even resting a day?”

Jin Ja-gang smiled slightly and said.

“To see the Eight Great Families.”

When Jin Ja-gang suddenly said he came to study the writings of eight famous literary figures, Yeong-woon, Pyo Sang-guk, and So-min couldn’t understand and were bewildered.

Jin Ja-gang had dinner with the three, secured lodging, rested for a while, then went out for a night stroll. The three, having changed clothes, followed Jin Ja-gang around.

After seeming to look around the darkened village once, Jin Ja-gang headed to the entertainment district in the back alleys.

Even though it was close to midnight, many people were already drunk and wandering the entertainment district alleys.

Brothels with red lanterns lit everywhere were operating in various places.

So-min’s face turned red as a beet. No matter how much of a martial artist she was, walking through such places nonchalantly as a woman wasn’t something she was used to. Yeong-woon tried to dissuade So-min.

“This isn’t a suitable place for Sister Min. How about going back alone?”

So-min tensed her stomach and persisted.

“Hmph! If you put it that way, brother is also a Taoist so you shouldn’t come to places like this either. What will you two do after sending only me away?”

“We have to follow Brother Jin.”

“Brother Pyo doesn’t seem like that though.”

Pyo Sang-guk had been grinning and busy looking around since earlier. On the second floors of brothels with red lanterns, courtesans in thin silk garments that showed through sat with their chins propped, smoking pipes and laughing.

Pyo Sang-guk grinned foolishly and said.

“Right. Sister Min, go quickly. Leave this to me and brother. By the way, Brother Jin seems more versed in pleasure than he looks…”

So-min kicked Pyo Sang-guk’s butt.

“Geez! You scoundrel brother!”

Passing travelers giggled at the sight. Among them were drunk customers who harassed So-min.

“How about instead of those naive little brats, you play with us gentlemen? That’s cute.”

There were even those who blatantly looked So-min up and down.

So-min’s face turned bright red. Angry, So-min shouted.

“This young lady is a disciple of Mount Hua! How dare you harass a Mount Hua disciple!”

“Oh my, oh my. I’m so scared. What Mount Hua female disciple in a red-light district?”

“Is that kind of solicitation trendy these days?”

When the drunkards mocked her, Pyo Sang-guk clenched his fists and threatened them.

“These beggar-like bastards, if you’re going to drink, drink nicely. How dare you joke around with Sister Min? Want to get beaten?”

“What, punk? Who are you to make a fuss?”

“You want a taste too?”

As the two made a commotion, people gathered.

Yeong-woon smiled awkwardly at Jin Ja-gang.

“I’m sorry about this.”

“It’s fine. I expected it. Things seem to be going as planned.”

“Haha…”

Several thugs appeared from somewhere, restraining people and surrounding Jin Ja-gang and Yeong-woon’s group. They had rough faces with at least one knife scar each as a basic feature.

“Hey. Mount Hua disciple or whatever, if you come to someone else’s neighborhood, you should follow proper conduct. What are you supposed to do if you cause trouble in a business establishment? Are you really a Mount Hua disciple?”

“Want to see if that’s true or not by getting scolded by this young lady?”

So-min angrily tried to grab her sword hilt, then realized she had left her sword behind and awkwardly raised her empty hands. Of course, not having a sword didn’t mean she would lose to third-rate thugs, but her face reddened more from embarrassment.

“Oh really?”

As the thugs swaggered and tried to surround So-min and Pyo Sang-guk, Jin Ja-gang casually said from the side.

“I came with Old Master Oh’s introduction.”

The thugs looked at Jin Ja-gang and tilted their heads.

“Old Master Oh?”

But one of their faces suddenly turned pale.

“Did you perhaps come from Gubuk Village?”

“That’s right.”

The thug immediately bowed.

“I’m sorry! I failed to recognize you!”

While the other thugs just blinked, not understanding, the thug who had greeted asked Jin Ja-gang carefully.

“The reason you came here is perhaps…”

“I came to see the Eight Great Families.”

The thug bowed at a right angle again.

“I’ll escort you!”