Chapter 507

Rumble!

The carriage’s heavy wheels stopped.

Whinny, the horses whinnied. The coachman wearing a gat looked down at the Arhat monk from the driver’s seat. The coachman’s eyes were indifferent. It was very strange that there was no curiosity or wonder in his eyes when the surroundings had become a mess. Even being able to look directly at Shaolin Temple’s Arhat monks wasn’t ordinary.

The coachman dismounted and opened the carriage door. The door opened without a sound.

The Arhat monks felt something unusual and looked at the door.

An old man walked out wearing the finest quality black silk made into garments from the inner robe to the outer robe flowing with luster. He descended from the high-stepped carriage with steps light as a feather. There was no noise at all, and his shoulders didn’t shake. He came down to the ground as if dropping and headed toward Yellow Crane Tower with sharp steps.

Two Arhat monks blocked the old man.

The old man raised his chin and gazed as if looking down at the Arhat monks. He didn’t say anything like step aside or back off at all. Yet the Arhat monks’ feet dragged. The old man’s sleeves fluttered. Without knowing when, he was spewing hidden force to push the Arhat monks aside.

The Arhat monks raised their internal energy and took stance with Thousand Pound Weight.

“Stand back!”

The old man’s eyes were extremely cold. It wasn’t the eyes of a person looking at a person but as if looking at filthy refuse. That made the Arhat monks even more chilled.

“I said stand back…!”

The moment the Arhat monk spoke, his head turned.

Crack!

The old man’s hand that was inside the robe had come out into the air. The Arhat monk beside was startled and stabbed at the old man with his staff. The old man waved his hand in the opposite direction. The staff caught by the old man’s hand and the Arhat monk’s head turned together.

Crack.

The coachman came out shouldering a large chest loaded on the back of the carriage.

The old man received the heavy chest and unhesitatingly moved his steps to Yellow Crane Tower’s main entrance.

The old man frowned briefly in front of Yellow Crane Tower.

The energy sense was very dirty because of miscellaneous things. Moreover, the poison energy floating in the air was acrid and made him feel bad. The old man carefully selected his breathing to prevent poison energy from entering and entered through the main entrance.

The coachman tied up the horses and stood guard protecting the outside with both hands politely clasped as if this was a usual occurrence.

* * *

Beom-bon opened his eyes to an alien feeling.

Splash, drip. All kinds of fragrant oils were being sprinkled on his body.

He tried to put strength in his eyes but could barely see ahead. Energy sense was also a mess because of the Blood-Sucking Leeches so he couldn’t discern by presence either. Only the outline separating light and darkness was faint.

He saw the outline of a familiar old man.

“Ahhh…”

Beom-bon’s expression brightened.

Beom-bon’s throat was also damaged, so he barely called him with a hoarse voice.

“Master.”

Who Beom-bon was calling wasn’t Shaolin Temple’s master. He was the truest master in his life.

“For master to come all this way because of me… this disciple showed you a pathetic appearance.”

Beom-bon was dying, but was moved at meeting his master at the final moment.

“He said I lived wrong. Please tell me. I did not live wrong. I followed master’s words in practice… more faithfully than anyone.”

However, the old man continued sprinkling fragrant liquid on Beom-bon’s body without caring.

“Master… master. Master.”

Beom-bon continued calling his master.

“Please just say one word. That master’s words were not wrong… that this disciple… did his utmost to save the world so can now go to the Pure Land… please tell me.”

Beom-bon continued speaking desperately in a voice rough from phlegm boiling as if about to break.

However, the old man said the exact opposite of what Beom-bon expected.

“Shut up.”

At that moment, Beom-bon felt like he was struck by lightning.

The voice resembled his master’s. The build, the outline of the face were his master. However, he was not his master.

Beom-bon shouted as if vomiting blood with a pained face.

“Nameless Slave!”

A nameless slave.

It was a title close to an insult, but the old man didn’t care. Beom-bon tried to raise his body. The moment he tried to stand with his battered body, the Nameless Slave pressed Beom-bon with his finger making him unable to move. His arms and legs stiffened rigidly.

“Since you know who I am, you must know what it means to meet me.”

“Then why are you treating me!”

“Treatment? During the past time, I obtained the Asura Blood and devised all kinds of methods. However, there’s no way to escape from Asura Blood. No antidote works. Asura Blood is the most vicious poison in the current world.”

The fact that the Nameless Slave gave up on a solution meant it was truly vicious.

“Those with extreme internal energy can overcome a small amount of Asura Blood, but if poison spreads throughout the entire body, no one in the world can survive. Yong-yi, it’s the same for you too.”

Yong-yi was Beom-bon’s name from childhood.

“That can’t be…!”

“If you had overcome Poison Dragon with Vajra Indestructible Body, you wouldn’t need to meet me now. Even if I came, I would have returned from Wuhan.”

The Nameless Slave took out a gourd from the chest and sprinkled its contents on Beom-bon.

Splash.

Dozens of gourds rolled around empty. A large amount of medicine was sprinkled, making the floor all drenched. They were all expensive medicines. Already medicine in the amount equivalent to dozens of geun of gold had been sprinkled on Beom-bon’s body.

The Nameless Slave said while sprinkling medicine.

“Elder brother also recognized this time as a very serious matter. Not directly intervening in the jianghu’s affairs was elder brother’s unwritten rule kept throughout his life. However, elder brother decided to break that taboo because of Poison Dragon. Poison Dragon is the greatest and worst enemy to us. He has become one we absolutely cannot leave alive. Of course, if you had done well Yong-yi, elder brother wouldn’t have needed to break the taboo himself.”

“Nameless Slave! Let me meet… cough cough! Master. Let me apologize for my wrongdoing, let me seek forgiveness!”

“It’s too late. Your usefulness is over. Elder brother has already decided to make another as Poison Dragon’s opponent.”

“Impossible! There can be no one who can defeat Poison Dragon…!”

Suddenly Beom-bon stopped speaking as if realizing something. The numerous medicines being poured on his body.

It wasn’t to save him dying from poisoning.

“Don’t tell me…”

Neutralizing?

Using tremendous medicines to wash away internal and external wounds.

Neutralizing Asura Blood to weaken the toxicity.

For what reason!

A person came to Beom-bon’s mind.

The Nameless Slave said.

“If he’s lucky, that one might overcome the weakened Asura Blood and become impervious to all poisons. If he becomes impervious to all poisons, Poison Dragon also won’t be able to interfere with us anymore.”

Beom-bon had now reached a state where his throat was locked making it difficult to speak. However, he squeezed out strength to the end and spoke.

“If he… if even he cannot become an opponent…!”

“Then we go into hiding again. As we have until now, we go down beneath the surface and wait. Even if it takes decades, hundreds of years.”

The Nameless Slave stopped speaking midway.

A piercing, unpleasant demonic energy approached.

“You took a while.”

Crack!

The door broke and a black shadow bursting with disheveled hair and bright red blood energy jumped in.

The black shadow raised its claws and howled.

Kyaaaah!

At the entrance, the coachman was looking inside. The Nameless Slave stepped aside.

Growl.

Like a starving wolf, Baek Li-jung approached.

Baek Li-jung bared his teeth and pounced on Beom-bon.

Baek Li-jung bit Beom-bon’s shoulder then pulled his head back in surprise.

The Nameless Slave grabbed the back of Baek Li-jung’s neck and pressed down hard. He pressed so hard that Baek Li-jung’s teeth embedded in Beom-bon’s hard skull.

Crunch! Baek Li-jung struggled but the Nameless Slave’s hand only choked and pressed Baek Li-jung’s neck more fiercely. Baek Li-jung became unable to pull out his teeth. Close his mouth, or have his teeth break!

The Nameless Slave said to Beom-bon.

“Farewell, Yong-yi.”

The Nameless Slave pressed down Baek Li-jung’s head with force.

With a terrible bone sound, Beom-bon’s ruined pupils flashed for a moment then gradually went out.

“Master… why… why did you abandon me…”

The bloody pus from Beom-bon’s head decreased, and before long fresh blood began to flow and soak the floor.

* * *

Baek Li-jung was reborn.

All white hair fell out and black hair grew, and teeth also grew anew.

His eyes were deep, and amid the depth, gleamed brightly.

Crack, snap.

Moving his arm, his joints made sounds.

He raised his body. Crack, slightly different from his previous skeletal structure, he staggered unable to maintain his center.

A warrior from the Baek Li family guarding beside tried to catch Baek Li-jung. Baek Li-jung raised his hand to indicate he was fine.

“It’s been three days.”

The Baek Li family warrior said while handing over new clothing.

Baek Li-jung looked around the room silently.

It was an ordinary inn somewhere.

Baek Li-jung asked.

“Why not Yellow Crane Tower?”

“You were unconscious at Yellow Crane Tower, but the poison energy inside was too severe so we brought you here.”

“I see.”

Baek Li-jung clenched and opened his hand, then clenched his fist hard.

Rip!

In an instant, all the dirty clothes like sackcloth that Baek Li-jung was wearing tore away. The Baek Li family warrior stepped back in surprise.

“Didn’t you reproach me for swallowing the pure and the corrupt when even removing evil and choosing virtue would not be enough? Haewol, you were wrong. In the end, I achieved virtue through demonic means. It’s regrettable I can’t show you my current appearance.”

Baek Li-jung looked at his transformed body and smiled.

“No, was that one thing correct?”

Baek Li-jung muttered after thinking briefly.

“That the Hungry Ghost King exists.”

* * *

The fight at Yellow Crane Tower ended three days ago, but due to poison energy, ordinary people couldn’t even approach nearby. Moreover, with damaged pillars, the pavilion swayed even when the wind blew.

Unable to even remove corpses that gradually rotted, people increasingly avoided Yellow Crane Tower.

Then that night.

On a night when even the moon was covered by dark clouds with not a single light, Son-bi snuck into Yellow Crane Tower.

Son-bi looked around and raised his energy sense but couldn’t feel energy sense as if being interfered with.

But at some moment, suddenly small Blood-Sucking Leeches came out from everywhere and moved in swarms.

Then energy sense became clean like the weather clearing brightly. Son-bi ran to where debris was piled from partial collapse.

She cleared the debris and dug the floor.

Jin Ja-gang came out from the debris. Having been stiff without moving a single hair for three whole days, Jin Ja-gang couldn’t properly control his body.

Son-bi supported Jin Ja-gang and carried him out of Yellow Crane Tower.

She settled in a deep cave she had scouted in advance and laid Jin Ja-gang down. Looking outwardly, Jin Ja-gang’s external wounds already had scabs forming and were healing, but inside, bones were shattered and internal organs injured, making it serious.

It will hurt.

She wrote with her finger on Jin Ja-gang’s chest.

Jin Ja-gang nodded. Son-bi re-broke the wrongly set bones and aligned them properly.

Jin Ja-gang only occasionally made groaning sounds and barely grimaced.

Don’t move now.

Son-bi removed Jin Ja-gang’s clothes and washed him with clean cloth soaked in water. Then she applied splints to broken areas and external medicine on wounds.

—Sleep a bit.

The last characters she wrote on Jin Ja-gang’s cheek.

—Thank you.