Chapter 165

Chapter 165: Evil Bonds Are Tenacious (3)

"You must endure the pain."

"Don't worry, sister. I can't even feel the pain anymore."

At Gwak Yeon's words, Jong Ri-yeon felt tears prick at the corners of her eyes.

When she peeled back the blanket, Gwak Yeon's limbs were revealed—so thin they resembled dried firewood.

Gwak Yeon had endured all this time with a body so fragile it seemed it might break at a mere touch. Jong Ri-yeon found her both admirable and heartbreaking.

"First, I will give you a medicine to drink. Then I will perform acupuncture. This process will be repeated three times."

"Three times?"

"Yes. The illness that has taken root in your body is vicious, and there is no other way. I will do my absolute best, but I cannot guarantee that I will cure you completely."

"Thank you, sister, for finding a way for me. No matter what the outcome, I will not hold it against you."

Having battled illness for so long, Gwak Yeon was mature beyond her years. That adult composure only made Jong Ri-yeon's heart ache more.

Jong Ri-yeon gently stroked Gwak Yeon's hair and spoke.

"Let us begin."

"Yes!"

Jong Ri-yeon had Gwak Yeon drink the decoction she had prepared in advance.

On the surface it looked like an ordinary herbal remedy, but within it were more than ten ingredients that Jong Ri-yeon had labored greatly to procure.

Gwak Yeon gulped the medicine down.

A short while later, a heat surged from her lower abdomen and her mind grew hazy. Jong Ri-yeon carefully laid Gwak Yeon down and drew silver needles from her pouch.

Before beginning the acupuncture, she handed two bundles of herbs to Gwak San.

"Father, please decoct these medicines."

"Understood."

"You must prepare them at the prescribed time and hand them to me when I say so. That is how we can save Yeon."

"Do not worry, Sage. This concerns my daughter's life—how could I possibly be negligent?"

Gwak San carefully accepted the herb bundles and replied.

Jong Ri-yeon nodded and was about to begin the acupuncture when—

"Young mistress!"

Hwa-no's voice called from outside.

"What is it?"

"You must hurry."

"What?"

Jong Ri-yeon looked out the window. There, black figures were surrounding the thatched hut.

They were members of the Sword King Unit.

"I will hold them off. In the meantime, please finish the treatment as quickly as possible."

"I understand."

Jong Ri-yeon bit her lip.

She had already administered the medicine to Gwak Yeon. If she did not control the medicine's effects with acupuncture, it would damage Gwak Yeon's vital meridians instead.

There was no turning back, no room to rest.

It was now or never.

Jong Ri-yeon quickly began inserting silver needles into Gwak Yeon's body.

Life-and-Death Soul-Hanging Needle.

It was a needle technique that Jong Ri-yeon had created to save Gwak Yeon.

Whether the Life-and-Death Soul-Hanging Needle would work, she could not say. Had she more time, she could have tested it in various ways, but unfortunately, Jong Ri-yeon had no luxury of time.

'I will save her.'

Jong Ri-yeon steeled her resolve as she performed the Life-and-Death Soul-Hanging Needle.

Clang!

At that moment, the sound of weapons clashing came from outside.

The Sword King Unit and Hwa-no had engaged in battle.

Now it was a war against time.

Jong Ri-yeon's hands moved faster.

***

Snap!

A broken rib pierced through the skin and jutted outward.

For the first time in his life, Namgung So-myeong could see exactly what his own bones looked like. And it was the last thing he would ever see in this life.

Thud!

Namgung So-myeong's massive body toppled to the ground.

"So-myeong!"

A martial artist nearby called his name, but he was already dead.

"You bastard!"

Fury blazed in the martial artist's eyes.

Namgung So-myeong was his cousin. Thirty years ago, they had been selected for the Sword King Unit together, and he could not describe how elated he had been.

Namgung So-myeong, who had survived even the fierce battle against the Demonic Cult, had lost his life to a single blow from Dam Ho. It was a truly hollow end.

He was not the only one who had died. More than a dozen members of the Sword King Unit already lay dead on the ground.

Once Dam Ho had deployed his shield, the crossbow and hidden weapon attacks had lost their effectiveness.

Dam Ho had charged into the center of the Sword King Unit, turning the battle into a melee. He had reduced it to what was commonly known as a street fight—a chaotic brawl where friend and foe could not be distinguished.

With Dam Ho rampaging through their midst, the Sword King Unit had no choice but to abandon all other weapons and fight with swords alone. It was precisely the situation Dam Ho desired.

Shing!

A sword wreathed in sword energy flew toward him.

Remarkably, every member of the Sword King Unit was a master capable of emitting sword energy. Above all, they were all veterans who had weathered every storm.

Though Dam Ho had seized the initiative and inflicted heavy casualties, they quickly regrouped and counterattacked.

Rip!

The hem of Dam Ho's garment was sliced open by a blade. Through the torn fabric, a wound exposing flesh was visible.

A terrible pain shot up his spine and spread throughout his entire body, but Dam Ho did not let out a single cry. Instead, he killed the one who had wounded him without hesitation.

Splat!

A man's head burst open like a watermelon, spraying a mist of blood and shattered bone fragments in all directions.

"Urgh!"

The Sword King Unit members, suddenly splattered with their comrade's flesh, groaned in revulsion.

At that instant, Dam Ho's body spun and his arms lashed out like whips. A strike of the Single Whip.

Crash!

The faces of those struck on the nose by his fist caved inward and collapsed.

"Urgh!"

Watching their comrades die before their eyes, the martial artists bit their lips until they bled.

Their comrades' deaths drove them to greater fury.

They too feared death. But what they feared even more was the honor of the Namgung Family being trampled into the dust.

If the Sword King Unit was deployed and still could not handle a single man, the world would mock the Namgung Family. Such a thing must never be allowed to happen.

"Die!"

The Sword King Unit's martial artists attacked Dam Ho with relentless ferocity.

They had long since abandoned their lives.

It mattered not if they sacrificed their own lives. As long as their comrades could kill Dam Ho.

Dam Ho was raging like a mad fiend.

The Sword King Unit's martial artists were falling before fists such as they had never seen. In exchange, they too carved wounds into Dam Ho's body with savage tenacity, but he remained standing.

They now understood with certainty. Capturing Dam Ho had been an impossible mission from the very start.

'That man's madness can only be ended by killing him.'

'The Fist Demon is not someone who can be subdued by another.'

'I will sacrifice this life if I must, but I will not let him escape.'

Madness ruled the battlefield.

Even Su-cheon felt the battlefield's madness and shuddered.

The full hundred members of the Sword King Unit had been deployed. Twenty had been dispatched to capture Jong Ri-yeon, yet even with eighty remaining, it should have been enough to handle any supreme master.

Yet that force could not subdue a single man. Rather, Dam Ho's madness was dominating the field.

'What a fiend!'

Su-cheon's teeth chattered.

When he had deployed the Sword King Unit, he had not expected a battle like this. Dam Ho's madness made even the battle-hardened Su-cheon tremble.

He had already crossed a point of no return with Dam Ho.

"If we do not kill him, the Namgung Family has no future."

Su-cheon grasped the situation with perfect clarity.

A man of Dam Ho's temperament would never reconcile. Once he had an enemy, he would cling to them like a leech until the very end, no matter the consequences.

"This must end here. No matter what the sacrifice."

Shing!

Su-cheon drew his sword.

He could not stand by any longer. Now was the time for him to join the battle himself. Only then could he minimize the Sword King Unit's casualties.

"You fiend! This place shall be your grave!"

Su-cheon unleashed the Namgung Family's secret sword art—Heaven Wind Thirteen Extremes.

Shing-kuh!

The sharp sword energy that erupted from his blade targeted the back of Dam Ho's head.

Clang!

But Dam Ho did not even turn around. He swept his arm back and deflected the sword.

Whoosh!

Dam Ho's body spun in place and his right arm lashed out like a whip.

A strike of the Single Whip crashed into Su-cheon's sword.

A jarring shock that sent tremors through his very organs. But Dam Ho's attack was not yet finished.

Shing!

Fortress Breaking Fist arrived.

Su-cheon quickly spread his left palm to block Dam Ho's fist.

It was the Namgung Family's palm technique—Heavenly Thunder Palm.

Crash!

"Guhk!"

A muffled groan escaped Su-cheon's lips as his body heaved. Even blocking with the Heavenly Thunder Palm, the violent shock had penetrated through to his organs.

Su-cheon staggered backward.

Dam Ho seized the opening and charged forward. His black robes billowing as he rushed in, he resembled a demon incarnate.

"Stop him!"

"We must protect the leader!"

In the face of Su-cheon's crisis, the Sword King Unit's martial artists threw themselves forward.

Boom boom!

"Ugh!"

"Agh!"

Thunderous sounds erupted and screams filled the air.

On the ground lay the mangled corpses of Sword King Unit members, crushed like fish paste.

Thanks to his subordinates' sacrifice, Su-cheon barely survived. A cold wind blew through his heart. Had his men intervened only a moment later, he would have been the one rolling on the ground.

"Urgh!"

Su-cheon's face twisted like a demon.

He had realized it.

There was no conventional way to deal with Dam Ho.

Dam Ho was stronger and more vicious than the Demonic Cult masters who had invaded the Namgung Family thirty years ago.

He possessed the might of one whom ten thousand men could not withstand.

It seemed he was witnessing the absolute limit to which a single individual could grow.

Against such a person, conventional methods would never suffice. Extreme measures were required.

Su-cheon shouted.

"He is a Heaven-tier martial artist! Deploy the Blood Scatter Flower!"

Within the Namgung Family, martial artists of the Murim were classified by their level of achievement and the degree of danger they posed.

Those generally known as masters were classified as Human-tier.

Masters acknowledged throughout the Murim, the sect leaders and elders of the Nine Great Sects—these were Earth-tier.

Heaven-tier was not granted merely for possessing great martial power. It was awarded only when the danger one posed to the Murim exceeded that of a great sect.

The Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult and the Four Reapers belonged to this category.

In other words, Su-cheon had determined that Dam Ho, regardless of his actual martial level, posed a danger equivalent to them.

The eyes of the Sword King Unit changed.

The resolute gaze they had held moments before now took on an otherworldly detachment.

One member of the Sword King Unit hurled himself toward Dam Ho.

He did not even swing the sword he held. He simply launched himself in an undefended rush.

"We go to hell together, Fist Demon!"

Crash!

In that instant, the Sword King Unit member's body exploded in close proximity to Dam Ho.

Blood Scatter Flower.

A final technique in which one self-destructed, taking the enemy along in mutual destruction.

Shattered bone fragments and flesh became projectiles that tore toward Dam Ho.

Caught off guard, Dam Ho hastily deployed his shield to protect his entire body. But having been deployed in haste, the defense was imperfect.

Red-stained bone fragments lodged in his side and shoulder.

"Ha ha ha! It is not over yet, Fist Demon!"

Crash!

Another Sword King Unit member detonated himself with the Blood Scatter Flower.

A storm of blood engulfed Dam Ho.

"If my sacrifice can raise the justice of the Murim, what have I to fear? My sacrifice will be remembered by the Murim and the Namgung Family!"

With a mad cry, yet another member self-destructed with the Blood Scatter Flower.

The surviving Sword King Unit members attacked Dam Ho, using their comrades' sacrifices as shields.

"We will not let your sacrifices be in vain!"

"Return to the bottom of hell, Fist Demon!"

Shing!

A storm of sword energy swept toward Dam Ho.