Chapter 40: A Fragment of an Ancient Myth (2)

This power had to be used briefly. At the very least, I had to escape while my consciousness remained.

Urgency met the demonic nature raising its voice inside me.

Kill them.

‘I get it already.’

The power of the Heavenly Demon Boundless Hand burst forth along with the demonic nature.

All the surrounding space came into my hands. At the same time, all the violence that existed within me was liberated all at once and ran wild.

A willpower possessing force took shape in the world.

The one who stood at the forefront and vigorously brandished his crescent-moon saber was the first to take the aftermath head-on.

Crack!

He crumpled.

It was a word inappropriate to use on a human.

“Ka-gack…?”

However, he was actually crumpled.

Behind the man who crumpled like a piece of worthless paper along with the horse he was riding, a sight running to the extreme of unreality followed.

They were torn apart.

They were crushed.

They were shattered.

As if human bodies were nothing more than lumps of mud, they were mashed.

In a space that did not permit even a single line of scream, a power that escaped human cognition ran wild while looking down on the world.

“……Huuu-uuup!”

However, I did not even have the luxury to watch the results of the power I projected.

A pressure to the point where I could not even breathe properly tightened around my entire body.

My heart was rolled up and squeezed.

It was a sensation of entering water so deep that it felt dizzyingly distant.

It felt like being drowned alive.

It was the feeling of having thrown myself into an uncontrollable domain.

As death climbed up my shoulders, a clear and resonant sound was heard amidst my fading consciousness.

Clang!

The sound that started from my wrist awakened my fading consciousness.

“Cough! Kehk! Kwek!!”

When the pressure that crushed my five viscera and six entrails whole disappeared in an instant, a shock that battered my entire body mercilessly beat the inside of my body.

A bowlful of vomited blood sprayed in all directions.

“Huu! Huu! ……Huu!!”

Breathing heavily with difficulty, I looked at the traces of the power I had unleashed.

It was a sea of blood all around. The blood I threw up was at a level where it was hard to even find its traces.

In the midst of it, glittering fragments were visible.

“It broke.”

The dharma treasure that Master Bodhidharma was said to have used. The dharma treasure, which protected my body until the end and broke, was divided into five pieces and scattered on the floor.

As I picked up the pieces, I could tell that a faintly clear energy remained.

However, there seemed to be no more of that kind of power to protect my body like this time.

“Haa……”

Although it was something Divine Monk Gong-ryo handed to me, it had felt to me like a gift given by Master Bodhidharma in heaven.

It broke.

To rescue Baek Mu-ho, when I first unleashed the Heavenly Demon Boundless Hand, it had held out with just a hairline crack, so I thought it would be possible this time as well, but it was an illusion. It had already been at its limit back then.

“I shouldn’t even think about the Heavenly Demon Boundless Hand until I build up my skills properly.”

Even though I borrowed the power of an extraordinary dharma treasure, it was to this extent.

Last time, my mind flew away while unleashing it, so I couldn’t properly realize it, but this time, I knew for sure.

At my current level, it was not an area that could be managed by the Clear Brightness Mind Method alone. Fundamentally, it was a place that could only be reached when one’s basic capability backed it up.

Next time I enter that domain, I will really die.

“Should I say it’s fortunate that I realized this quickly?”

Recently, since I was learning martial arts well and everything I did went well, I had been reckless. I learned that fooling around so recklessly could really kill me.

Yes, let’s be satisfied with obtaining this kind of realization.

Anyway.

“What kind of lie should I tell to deceive and get past him?”

From a distance, I could feel Baek Mu-ho’s gaze staring intently at this place.

Just by his eyes alone, I could tell what he was saying.

He was a guy with good intuition, so he wouldn’t be fooled by ordinary words.

And yet, I couldn’t tell him the truth either.

“Ah, that would be good.”

Fortunately, there was one story that Baek Mu-ho would accept.

I organized my thoughts as I toyed with Master Bodhidharma’s dharma treasure in my hand.

***

“That was a sacred object containing Great Master Bodhidharma’s power?”

With his eyes wide open to the point where I was surprised, Baek Mu-ho shouted as he looked at the fragmented bracelet in my hand.

Yes, let’s sell Master Bodhidharma’s name a bit.

They were people who were so busy with their main jobs(?) that they left their disciple stranded for days, so what was wrong with selling their names a bit?

Tsk!

“You must have seen it too. This bracelet breaking when I used my power.”

“Uh! Right. That was indeed the case, but…… was it for that reason?”

Perhaps because it was too mythological a story, Baek Mu-ho seemed to find it somewhat difficult to accept.

I drove a wedge into it.

“Otherwise, how would I have unleashed such martial arts?”

“Uh…… Hm…… That’s true, but.”

With a single gesture of his hand, he mashed fifty horse archers along with the horses they were riding.

It was something impossible even for the absolute masters who made their names famous in Martial World.

It made more sense that it was a one-time power contained in a great treasure.

“Hmm! Well, since you also obtained the Heavy Earth Divine Art. Thinking back to how you cherished that bracelet after receiving it, it seemed like you knew what it was.”

Baek Mu-ho also seemed to agree for now.

There was no other way to explain it anyway.

Actually, from my perspective, it wasn’t completely false either.

I had used Master Heavenly Demon’s power, but it would have been impossible without Master Bodhidharma’s dharma treasure. And the dharma treasure was indeed Master Bodhidharma’s.

“Then let’s clean up the aftermath first.”

“Cleaning up?”

“The corpses. Soon, someone will come from the main sect of the Mount Hua Sect to release the acupuncture points of the villagers, and if there are traces hard to understand, they might question us. Wouldn’t it make sense if we say we lured them into a trap and burned them all at once with fire? If we burn everything, they won’t even be able to recognize the traces left on the corpses.”

He was a sharp fellow in strange aspects.

Certainly, from the Mount Hua Sect’s perspective, they could ask how we caught fifty horse archers.

Even if it was just a passing question, if we didn’t answer properly, they might end up prying into it for no reason.

When a person who is tense due to annoying matters gets an opportunity to vent their mood, reasons become unnecessary.

Thinking about it that way, that man, Jeong Man-jok, was indeed a gentleman.

“I’ll go grab some oil to set the fire.”

Baek Mu-ho hummed softly as he turned his steps.

He seemed to be in a good mood for some reason.

For a moment, I scanned Baek Mu-ho as if exploring him. Then, Baek Mu-ho, who had been humming, met my eyes and smirked.

“Great Master Bodhidharma, you say?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“No wonder. I had a feeling it was something like that. You know, the trace we saw in the cave that the ape took us to. That was left by Great Master Bodhidharma, right? Wow! I thought the energy of the sword marks left on the wall and the energy you showed when using power resembled each other somehow.”

“Ah…….”

I knew why this guy was suddenly in a good mood. He seemed to think he had learned the martial arts of Master Bodhidharma.

“Then could this be, by any chance, the legendary Bodhidharma Three Swords?”

No, it’s not!

If we had to name that, we should call it the Heavenly Demon Three Swords!!

By the way, won’t it be a big deal if someone recognizes this?

Since he only captured the disposition remaining in the sword marks and went through his own interpretation, it wouldn’t be identical to the original, but considering Baek Mu-ho’s insane talent, there was a possibility it would become extremely similar to the original.

“Watch your mouth. If this gets known somewhere, I will be dragged to Shaolin and have my head shaved. At that time, I will absolutely not shave my head alone, okay? Keep your mouth tightly shut.”

“Huh? Uh…… Right. Yeah, let’s keep our mouths shut until the grave.”

Now, even I didn’t know anymore.

Whatever happens, let it be.

Let’s just recite the Heart Sutra.

Yes, everything will go well.

Huuuuuuuu! Haaaaaaa!!

***

Perhaps because that man Jeong Man-jok had a lot of trouble, the time when the expert of the Mount Hua Sect visited Hwaseong Village was faster than expected.

I thought he would arrive around the time the sun slowly tilted, but it felt like he arrived an hour faster.

Wondering how that was possible, it turned out they met the experts coming down to check because suspicious smoke kept rising from Hwaseong Village.

It was a blind spot.

There was no need for Jeong Man-jok to run hard; we just had to light a lot of fires around. There was no way Jeong Man-jok was the only one patrolling the vicinity of the Mount Hua Sect.

Of course, since we had to leave it to luck whether the person who saw the smoke would be an expert capable of releasing the acupuncture points, Jeong Man-jok’s efforts were not entirely meaningless.

“Was it very hard?”

“Anyway, I shouldn’t get involved with that bastard or associate with humans.”

To my words, which were meant to soothe him, Jeong Man-jok shot back with plenty of annoyance.

I was also a human who fell into that category, but it was sad that I couldn’t deny it for some reason.

“By the way, looking at your state, it seems like a question I should be asking instead?”

“Ah, this.”

Jeong Man-jok, who was dissing Baek Mu-ho without hesitation, also seemed to find his own words awkward upon seeing my appearance, as he smacked his lips.

Certainly, my visible state was not good.

The wounds caused by the arrows were larger than expected. Since I purposefully let them graze me, the wound area was wide.

Under such a state, as the pressure of the Heavenly Demon Boundless Hand was applied, the split wounds burst open.

Thanks to that, my entire body was covered in blood.

On top of that, since I had properly coughed up blood.

I wiped it roughly with my sleeve, but my facial skin felt a bit stiff, so it seemed it hadn’t been wiped properly.

It was definitely an unpleasant sight to behold.

“It’s nothing. It just looks like this.”

“……Yeah, I get it, so go rest.”

Jeong Man-jok, who gently patted my shoulder as if worried the wounds might open again, moved his steps elsewhere.

“It’s true, though.”

It wasn’t a lie. I thought I knew how that fellow Baek Mu-ho was fine even after being beaten up like that during our spars.

The energy the ape had left behind definitely had a power to protect the body. Since there were many eyes around, I hadn’t checked precisely, but it felt like the wounds that had already opened had healed quite a bit.

On top of that, since the power of the Heavy Earth Divine Art was moving actively in tandem with the energy left by the ape, my physical condition was rapidly improving.

Rather, it seemed like mental fatigue would be more of a problem.

Still, since the people around me seemed excessively worried, should I go wash up?

“A-Are you hurt?”

However, just as I was about to put my mind into action, there was a voice that caught me.

A young child, whose eye level was only about my waist, was looking up at me with tearful eyes.

It reminded me of my younger brother, Cheong-u. When I said I would join the escort agency, he had exactly that kind of look in his eyes.

I bent my knees to match the child’s eye level as I replied.

“No, it doesn’t hurt at all.”

“Really?”

“Of course. Look at this.”

With the intention of showing it was no big deal, I slightly lifted my right arm, but the clothes must have dried and stuck to the blood, as they ripped with a tearing sound, exposing the wounds that hadn’t healed yet.

“Heeng…….”

Naturally, seeing that up close, the child’s face became even more tearful. The glistening eyes looked like they would burst into tears at any moment.

If that burst, it would be a major disaster. Once a child with that kind of face started crying, they wouldn’t stop for at least an hour.

Cheong-u was exactly like that.

“Sob……!”

What would be good to comfort him? As I pondered, one phrase came to my mind.

“It’s okay.”

The words I had already said once.

“Everything has worked out well now.”

It was then. Behind the child, the villagers who were liberated from the acupuncture points of the Red Wolf began to gather one by one.

“Thank you.”

Behind the child, a mother bowed her head. Drip, drip, tears moistened the parched ground.

“Thank… you.”

Behind her, the villagers also bowed their heads.

Though the words were inaccurate due to their sobbing, the heart contained in those words was delivered as it was without being hidden.

Perhaps because of that, the skin of my face felt even itchier.

“Hoho. Did you fight until your body became like this? Amazing. A great hero has emerged in the orthodox path.”

The main sect disciples of the Mount Hua Sect who gathered to help the villagers. Among them, the oldest-looking elderly Taoist said with a face full of laughter.

In this kind of situation, I really didn’t know how to react. If my masters were here, would I have been able to get some advice?

[Did you go out of your way to be meddlesome? What kind of marketplace is this?]

[Excellent, excellent.]

It was then. Hearing the voices that were more than welcome.

It was my masters!

[But why are you in this state?]

“Haha…….”

Even my masters…….