Chapter 189

Chapter 189: Grudges Accumulate Unknowingly (2)

Dam Ho gazed at the flowing river.

He was sitting on the deck of the Cloud Steed Crossing the River ferry. His heart had already reached Shouzhou, but reality would not allow it.

To reach Shouzhou, he had to cross countless mountains and vast rivers. The journey would not be smooth.

Since rushing would accomplish nothing, Dam Ho had adopted a more leisurely pace.

'All I need is an unwavering will…'

Then heaven itself would open a path.

If such a thing as heaven truly existed.

After gazing at the sky for a time, Dam Ho shifted his gaze to one side of the deck. Jong Ri-yeon was there.

She was treating an elderly man whose poor complexion was evident at a glance. The sick and infirm gathered around her.

Among them were some so filthy that they reeked, but Jong Ri-yeon took their pulse without so much as a frown.

"Take this prescription to an apothecary, and they will prepare the medicine for you. Take it twice a day without fail. Do you understand?"

"I understand, physician. Thank you so much."

The old man clasped Jong Ri-yeon's hand in gratitude. After giving him a few more instructions, Jong Ri-yeon took the pulse of the others as well.

Most were people in difficult circumstances. They could not afford expensive medicine. Jong Ri-yeon wrote prescriptions using commonly available herbs as the main ingredients.

Only after she had written the prescription for the last patient did Jong Ri-yeon return to Dam Ho's side.

"Hah!"

The moment she sat down beside him, she wiped the sweat from her brow with her sleeve. Sitting for a while, her stomach began to rumble.

"Ah! I am hungry."

They had been on the boat for half a day. Having gone hungry the entire time, it was no wonder she was famished.

Jong Ri-yeon looked at Dam Ho.

"Are you hiding anything?"

"……"

"Food. Do you have any?"

"No."

"Tch!"

Jong Ri-yeon clutched her empty stomach with a deeply disappointed expression. Watching her, Dam Ho thought it would have been nice to have Bang Jin-bo here.

If Bang Jin-bo were present, he would have whipped up a bowl of food in no time. But Dam Ho put the thought of Bang Jin-bo out of his mind.

Bang Jin-bo remained in Hwangsan, where he would carve out his own path.

As Dam Ho sat lost in thought…

"Physician!"

A youthful voice broke his reverie.

He looked up to see a boy of about ten or so standing before him, holding a small bundle.

The boy extended the bundle to Jong Ri-yeon.

"My father asked me to give this to you, physician."

"Your father?"

The boy's father was the last patient Jong Ri-yeon had treated. He had suffered from stomach trouble for a long time, and his condition had worsened considerably for lack of proper medical care.

When Jong Ri-yeon looked up, the boy's father gestured for her to eat.

When the bundle was unwrapped, boiled potatoes were revealed.

"Wow! Can I really eat this? What about you?"

"We have more. Please enjoy, physician!"

The boy bowed to Jong Ri-yeon and dashed back to his father.

Jong Ri-yeon picked up a potato and offered it to Dam Ho.

"Eat."

"……"

"It is a gesture of goodwill from a father. Please eat."

She then took a large bite of a potato herself. A happy smile blossomed on her face.

Jong Ri-yeon was happy with a single potato. Possessing medical skills that could gather all the wealth in the world, she was content with so little.

It was a worldview that no ordinary person could understand. But Dam Ho did not find her strange.

If there were a hundred people, there would be a hundred different sets of values. Jong Ri-yeon held her own convictions and walked the path she believed to be right.

That alone was enough to earn her respect.

Dam Ho followed Jong Ri-yeon's lead and took a large bite of the potato. The well-cooked potato mashed in his mouth.

"It is good, is it not? Right?"

Beside him, Jong Ri-yeon chattered away.

Even without a response from Dam Ho, she babbled on without pause. Sometimes she even asked and answered her own questions.

Dam Ho ate his potato in silence while Jong Ri-yeon talked. The sight was oddly harmonious.

By the time they finished the potatoes, the ferry had reached the opposite bank. Before it even touched shore, the passengers, eager to disembark, hurried off.

"Physician, we will be going now."

The father who had sent the potatoes through his son smiled and bowed before stepping off the boat.

"Travel safely."

The boy who had given them the potatoes waved.

Jong Ri-yeon saw them off with a smile.

"Take care. Be sure to take the medicine exactly as I prescribed."

"Do not worry. The moment we reach the village, we will have it prepared."

Jong Ri-yeon reminded the others as well to follow the prescription. Those she had treated agreed and disembarked.

Only after seeing everyone off did Jong Ri-yeon turn to Dam Ho.

"Shall we get off now too?"

"Mm!"

Dam Ho nodded and rose. Eating the potato had made his body feel considerably lighter.

As Dam Ho prepared to leave the boat with Heuk-gui…

"Look at that."

"Th-they are corpses."

Suddenly the sailors began clamoring.

A dozen or so corpses were floating down the river. Each bore deep sword wounds.

"Are they martial artists?"

"There must have been a fight upstream. Ugh! How terrifying."

Dark shadows fell over the sailors' faces.

No one was unaware that a war between the Murim Alliance and the Demonic Cult was raging across the Central Plains.

It was not a simple dispute between martial sects—it was a war upon which the fate of the world hung. Its effects were already spreading everywhere.

"We will have to suspend boat operations for a while. I do not wish to be caught up in this."

At the captain's words, the sailors added their own comments.

"Indeed. Hah! When will this war ever end? It is hopeless."

"We common folk are the only ones who suffer because of fights between martial artists."

"Shh! Watch your mouth. What if they hear you?"

In the end, the captain could bear it no longer and silenced the sailors. Only then did they remember that Dam Ho had not yet disembarked and glanced around nervously. But fortunately, Dam Ho led Heuk-gui off the boat without a word. The sailors breathed sighs of relief.

"Hah!"

"You lot, always watch your mouths. If they take offense, they will slaughter us without a second thought."

"Understood."

Leaving the captain and sailors' conversation behind, Dam Ho walked on.

Jong Ri-yeon approached his side.

"It seems a battle between the Murim Alliance and the Demonic Cult has taken place nearby. How many more people will die in this place?"

Her expression was deeply troubled. As a physician whose livelihood was saving lives, such a sight weighed heavily on her heart.

"Let us go. Before we are caught up in it ourselves."

Jong Ri-yeon mounted her horse first and set off. Dam Ho followed on Heuk-gui.

After they had traveled for some time…

Dam Ho suddenly reined in Heuk-gui. Jong Ri-yeon, following behind, also halted her horse and asked.

"What is the matter?"

"There."

Dam Ho nodded toward the distance.

In the direction he indicated, a large flock of birds circled in the sky. Jong Ri-yeon knew well what that meant.

"Ah!"

"It seems their battle has reached this far."

As Dam Ho said, where the birds circled, countless corpses lay strewn about. The battle had been fierce—the state of the bodies was truly ghastly.

Dam Ho surveyed the scene with a composed expression, but Jong Ri-yeon's face turned ashen in an instant.

"What is this…?"

No matter how many times one saw it, the death of others never became familiar. Her pupils trembled as though an earthquake had struck.

Dam Ho dismounted from Heuk-gui and examined the corpses closely.

The bodies still radiated warmth, and the blood pooled on the ground had not fully congealed. They had not been dead for long.

Dam Ho turned one of the corpses over for a closer look. The back was swollen and bluish-purple. A foul stench emanated from the body.

"Step back!"

Suddenly, Jong Ri-yeon shouted loudly. Dam Ho moved away from the corpse and looked at her.

"It is poison."

"Poison?"

At Jong Ri-yeon's words, Dam Ho held his breath and retreated.

Dizziness struck him suddenly.

The unfamiliar, dizzying sensation made Dam Ho stagger.

"You are already poisoned. Take this and circulate your energy to drive out the toxin."

Dam Ho took the pill Jong Ri-yeon offered and immediately began circulating his energy. What she had given him was a Detoxification Pill. It was a treasure she had painstakingly crafted—one that could neutralize most common poisons simply by being ingested.

But the poison that had invaded Dam Ho's body was so vicious that even the Detoxification Pill showed no sign of taking effect.

Dam Ho used the Dark Soul Heart Method to try to expel the toxin. In an instant, his body was drenched in sweat.

"It is truly vile."

Even someone as powerful as Dam Ho was showing symptoms of poisoning instantly—such was the potency of this supreme toxin.

Jong Ri-yeon drew a pair of deerskin gloves from her bosom, put them on, and took a Detoxification Pill. Not content with that, she covered her mouth and nose tightly with cloth before approaching the corpses.

She examined the very corpse Dam Ho had just turned over. The back was already beginning to melt away with a horrific stench, as though the traces of poison were being erased.

Jong Ri-yeon stared wide-eyed at the dissolving corpse.

All her senses—sight, smell, hearing—were sharpened to their fullest. She strained to extract every last piece of information about the poison.

The scent of the poison, the pattern of the corpse's dissolution, the color of the blood—she observed it all meticulously.

The longer she observed, the more her head ached. These were the early symptoms of poisoning. It was dangerous to remain any closer.

"Hah!"

Jong Ri-yeon retreated hastily from the corpses and tore off the deerskin gloves. The tips of the gloves that had briefly touched the corpses had already turned green.

The poison was so vicious that had she delayed any longer, even the deerskin gloves would have dissolved.

"Damn it!"

Jong Ri-yeon hurriedly looked at Dam Ho.

Dam Ho's circulation had reached its peak—his body trembled violently. Within him, a war raged between the toxin and his internal energy.

Though Dam Ho had fought countless battles in his life, the most fearsome of all was this struggle against the poison now occurring within his body.

Through repeated refinement, he had believed the Dark Soul Heart Method to be nearly perfect. Dam Ho realized for the first time that it was vulnerable to poison.

With the aid of the Detoxification Pill, Dam Ho fought the toxin that had invaded his body, identifying its strengths and weaknesses. And he reflected on his own arrogance.

The Dark Shadow Fist and the Solitary Path Style were not yet perfect martial arts.

They were still incomplete, with much room for improvement.

In that instant, a passage from his martial comprehension surfaced in his mind.

'The martial way is the way of nothingness.'

He did not know why such a thought had come to him.

It was a fleeting image that had risen unbidden, but suddenly his internal energy surged. Like water in a fishbowl, the energy surged violently, then twisted into a knot before surging toward the toxin like a tsunami.

Crash!

In that instant, Dam Ho's body lurched.

Blood flowed from his nose and mouth.

"Ah!"

Jong Ri-yeon's eyes went wide.

At first, she thought Dam Ho's internal injuries had worsened. But when she realized the blood flowing from his nose and mouth was corrupted blood, her expression shifted to relief.

Something had happened within Dam Ho's body—undoubtedly, he had expelled the absorbed toxin externally.

Even after expelling the corrupted blood laden with toxin, Dam Ho's circulation was not finished.

Whoosh!

The air surrounding Dam Ho's entire body churned violently.

Jong Ri-yeon knew very well what this meant.

'This man is advancing again.'