Chapter 43: Chapter 43
Jin Won-sang was tearing apart the Sword Dragon Sect pursuit party.
His face was stained with blood, and two claws were raised high, tearing through human flesh and bone as if they were wet paper. That sight was so gruesome that it was hard to believe he was a monk who had cultivated compassion at Shaolin Temple for over ten years.
Bodies with gouged eyes and torn-off noses, limbs twisted at bizarre angles, those were the handiwork of his claw technique.
“Jin Jo, you…!”
Seeing that, Jin Gyeon faltered in fluster for a moment, then soon ran even faster with a hardened face. He sprinted, drawing a straight line toward Jin Won-sang. The martial artists who were being killed by Jin Won-sang tried to quickly fall back when he turned his gaze to the running monk.
However, Jin Won-sang did not let them flee.
“Uaaah! Don’t come near!”
“S-Save me!”
Jin Won-sang’s fist struck the head of the fleeing Sword Dragon Sect martial artist. It was a fist as straight, fast, and simultaneously powerful as Jin Gyeon’s sprint. The martial artist’s head crushed as it was, scattering blood, shattered bone, and torn flesh.
As if trying to kill even one more Sword Dragon Sect martial artist before Jin Gyeon arrived, Jin Won-sang moved rapidly. The moment the number of headless corpses increased by two, Jin Gyeon kicked off the salt ground and leaped up into the air.
“You fellow,!”
Jin Gyeon shouted in a harsh voice and drove his fist downward. However, even in the moment that attack came in, Jin Won-sang managed to kill one more Sword Dragon Sect martial artist and threw out a counter-punch right away. The rock-like fists of the two Shaolin monks collided.
Internal energy and internal energy collided, emitting a thudding noise like striking a large drum. At the same time, the ground Jin Won-sang was stepping on trembled violently, raising white salt and sand like dust. Holding their fists matched together, Jin Gyeon distorted his face and shouted as if vomiting.
“You fellow, Jin Jo! How can a disciple cultivating the teachings of Buddha commit such an atrocious deed!”
Jin Won-sang did not answer with words. He merely roared like a beast and put force into his matched fist. Without resisting that force, Jin Gyeon was pushed back as he was, turned a cartwheel in midair, and landed on the ground.
“Jin Jo! Can you not even recognize your senior brother!”
Landing down, Jin Gyeon wore an expression that was hard to tell whether it was anger or regret. But Jin Won-sang bared his teeth and answered with a distorted face intact.
“Of course I recognize you, Senior Brother Jin Gyeon. You found me faster than I thought. Ah, or is it obvious? The only one I talked to about sharing letters with Soso was Senior Brother Jin Gyeon.”
The tranquil manner of speaking belonged to the Shaolin monk Jang Geon had met previously. However, the voice uttering those words was coarse and rough like a beast with phlegm stuck in its throat. Jin Gyeon wore a shocked expression at his calm words.
“How…”
“Why, Senior Brother Jin Gyeon? Is it strange that I can speak fine even after falling into demonic energy?”
Jin Gyeon’s expression changed from shock to an emotion of being unable to understand.
“…Do you recognize yourself that you have fallen into demonic energy?”
Jin Won-sang broke his expression and gave a faint laugh. Even so, with both hands, clothes, and face covered in blood, he did not look sane.
“Yes, of course. While internal energy flows backwards and meridians twist, internal power stronger than my original martial arts surges forth, so how could I not know? Besides, the taste of human blood feels sweet, and anger and hatred constantly surge inside my head. If this isn’t qi deviation, what is?”
“You, you…! You fellow, Jin Jo…! How can you know your state so well and still…!”
“What does it matter if I’ve fallen into demonic energy? Thanks to it, I was able to hold these pathetic scoundrels responsible for Soso.”
Saying that, Jin Won-sang kicked the corpse of a Sword Dragon Sect martial artist lying on the ground as if it were trash. Seeing that, Jin Gyeon shouted out loud.
“Jin Jo! Show respect to the deceased! And how can you say they bear responsibility for Yang Soso’s death! She poisoned her husband and paid the price for that crime! Although that punishment might have been cold and harsh, that is no reason to assassinate the sect leader of the Sword Dragon Sect and slaughter its disciples! How can you, after practicing the will of Buddha for over ten years, ”
“What more reason is needed,!”
At the suddenly echoing, tearing shout, Jin Gyeon flinched in surprise and stopped talking. Jin Won-sang was glaring straight at Jin Gyeon.
“Soso died, Senior Brother! After being abused by a bastard for ten years, when that fellow even tried to lay a hand on her daughter, she simply couldn’t endure it any longer! Just because that harmed the interests of these scoundrels, they hung her by the neck! Where in that is the mercy and justice I learned and cultivated for ten years? Where is Buddha’s mercy, and where is justice,!”
While he shouted, blood tears began to flow in streams from his bloodshot eyes.
“…Senior Brother Jin Gyeon. I am truly grateful that you treated me like family all this time. I know well that you regarded Shaolin as your home and your martial brothers and Master as true family. That is why you opened the path of cultivation even for a fellow like me and helped me. But to confess now, to tell the truth, I have never forgotten my worldly afflictions even once in the past ten years. I have never forgotten Soso even once.”
Having let out an outburst, Jin Won-sang seemed to have calmed down a bit, speaking in a tranquil tone again.
“Although I became a monk at a mountain temple and she got married, still, having a letter that came occasionally from her made it okay. Even if I tossed and turned at night from my cowardly past and past regrets, still, because of Soso’s letters, because she was living happily, I was able not to throw myself off a cliff again.”
Listening to his story, Jin Gyeon closed both eyes tightly and softly chanted a prayer.
“But what is this? Who should I have held responsible? The fellow who abused her for a long time was already dead. If so, shouldn’t I hold those who stood by and watched for all that time responsible? These scoundrels and their leader merely paid the price.”
“…Namo Amitabha Buddha…”
Unable to bring himself to answer, Jin Gyeon raised his head toward the sky with his eyes closed.
And stepping back a step, Jang Geon, who listened to their conversation, took in that scene. The apostate monk stained with blood and the Shaolin monk facing him. Dead corpses and the Sword Dragon Sect martial artists trembling with injured bodies, reading the room. And the stark white land on which they stood. Yet in the end, the two monks facing each other were ultimately just a man lost in sorrow and a brother worrying about family.
Just then, the gaze of Jin Won-sang, who was shedding tears of blood, turned to him.
“Jang Geon. The reason Senior Brother Jin Gyeon found his way in this wilderness was thanks to you. How is your body?”
“…I am completely fine. Is that the only thing you are curious about?”
Jin Won-sang chuckled.
“Then what else is there?”
Jang Geon looked at Jin Won-sang with a deep, calmly settled gaze and spoke again.
“Aren’t you curious about the child?”
“…The child? Ah, the child. Right. What happened? Was her illness cured?”
Jang Geon nodded and answered.
“The medicinal effect was good. If she learns martial arts later, she will become a master when she grows up.”
“I see. Then step aside now. I have business with the fellows behind.”
Behind Jang Geon were the Sword Dragon Sect martial artists who had stepped back while Jin Gyeon and Jin Won-sang collided. Most were injured, torn as if by hooks or with broken limbs. Glancing back at them, Jang Geon asked again.
“Is that all? Don’t you have anything more you’re curious about regarding that child?”
“What more should I be curious about? Saving her life with the Great Return Pill is enough.”
At those words, Jin Gyeon opened his eyes wide.
“That child is the daughter of Yang Soso, whom you loved so much! Yet how…”
“And she is the daughter of that bastard. Saving her life with the Great Return Pill seems to have fulfilled my duty to Soso.”
As Jin Won-sang spoke like that, black energy flowed in streams along with blood tears from his eyes. He spoke calmly, but the momentum in his eyes and the voice scraping his vocal cords showed that he was no longer Monk Jin Jo, that he was no longer in his right mind. At the same time, the scab on his chest split slightly with a pop, and black blood flowed out in streams.
“…Though you seem to speak logically, right now you have ultimately fallen into qi deviation and are killing people indiscriminately. So stop now. Return to Shaolin with me. Master and your martial brothers are waiting for you. Stealing the Great Return Pill was ultimately to save a person, so it can be taken into consideration. So let us return together, treat that wound and qi deviation…”
“No, Senior Brother Jin Gyeon. I will not return to Shaolin. I will return to Salt Lake City. And I will kill every single scoundrel bearing the name of the Sword Dragon Sect. And I will hang all those corpses on the buildings of Salt Lake City. Then the people living there will gain even a little of what can be called a lesson.”
Having spoken like that, Jin Won-sang dusted off both arms and continued.
“Now let us stop talking, Senior Brother Jin Gyeon, Jang Geon. Step aside to the side. Or will you die together with those scoundrels?”
The survivors of the Sword Dragon Sect, who were already trembling violently, looked at Jang Geon and Jin Gyeon with anxious eyes at those words. Nearly twenty of them were already rolling around the salt plain as corpses, and the rest were mostly injured.
“P-Please…”
“We don’t even know who that Yang Soso is… Please… please show mercy…”
They couldn’t even speak in a loud voice. They merely raised their trembling hands awkwardly and looked at Jang Geon and Jin Gyeon piteously.
Jang Geon quietly looked at their appearance. The Sword Dragon Sect had paid a heavy price. Their sect leader was assassinated and about half of the main force of the sect died at the hands of Jin Won-sang, so even the name of the Sword Dragon Sect would probably not last long. Should the remaining half all die as well? Were they all wrong to the point that they had to die? No, that wouldn’t be it.
If so, there was no need for those who no longer had the will to fight to be slaughtered. They were still people who maintained order in this area, and without them, Salt Lake City would not have been a city, but a den of unrighteous factions committing all kinds of evil, or rather a city wouldn’t have been formed in the first place.
Turning his eyes back to Jin Won-sang, Jang Geon took a step forward while gripping his scabbard with his left hand. He had no intention of stepping aside, nor did he intend to die together. If so, what remained was simply to do his best and fight.
At that moment, Jin Gyeon raised his hand to block in front of him. When Jang Geon looked at him with questioning eyes, he looked at Jin Won-sang with deeply sunken eyes and spoke softly.
“…Shaolin’s sin belongs to Shaolin. Could you please wait so that I may resolve this?”
Looking at Jin Gyeon, who seemed ten years older in that brief moment, and hearing his voice, Jang Geon was silent for a moment. After a moment, he released the scabbard he was holding with his left hand, crossed his arms, and stepped back.
“…Thank you, Warrior Jang.”
Offering a brief word of thanks, Jin Gyeon stepped forward with steady strides. His tightly shut lips and deeply creased brow seemed to show his heavy heart. However, upon seeing Jin Gyeon’s appearance, Jin Won-sang on the contrary giggled and laughed.
“You will fight me for them, Senior Brother Jin Gyeon? Are the scoundrels less than you more important than a junior brother who cultivated together for ten years? What great mercy and compassion.”
“…Great mercy and compassion are not such things, Junior Brother Jin Jo. I…”
However, Jin Gyeon could not finish his sentence. He tightly closed his eyes once and opened them again, saying.
“No, the situation will no longer change with words. Raise your fists, Junior Brother Jin Jo. It seems we must decide everything by the law of this New Continent.”
Saying so, he slowly took his stance. Turning his body sideways to face Jin Won-sang from the side, spreading his feet wide, and bending his knees to form a horse stance, he extended his left arm straight to point his fist at the opponent. He held his right arm high and bent it to cover the upper guard, also pointing the tip of his fist at Jin Won-sang.
It was an unfamiliar stance not easily seen in the martial arts of the New Continent, which developed simply to kill opponents quickly, and at the same time, from his legs firmly treading the ground and his straight waist, the grand aura of Shaolin passed down for hundreds of years gushed forth. Jang Geon couldn’t take his eyes off it without realizing it.
Seeing that stance, Jin Won-sang giggled again. Then, making claw shapes like those of a beast with both hands, he crossed them in front of his chest, extended them straight, bent his knees, and lowered his stance.
After that, silence reigned all around. A wind full of salt blew gently, but without a single blade of grass or tree to shake, there was no sound of leaves commonly heard. The sky was clear, and the sun that had fully risen scorched that clear sky and salt plain white.
Next moment, as if something became a signal, Jin Gyeon and Jin Won-sang charged at each other at the same time.