Chapter 143: Chapter 143
Cheon Woo-jin and Dok-ra-su stood side by side, looking at a single flower.
With the heat emitted by the Sun-Rivaling Flower, the surroundings quickly grew hot.
Looking at the bottom of the boulder pushed aside, it was charred black as if it had been heated for a long time.
“It seems those boulders were blocking the heat.”
Thanks to that, the heat that failed to be discharged was absorbed intact into the ground, seemingly creating the hot spring water.
Dok-ra-su nodded with a half-dazed expression. The Sun-Rivaling Flower was a top-tier spiritual herb standing shoulder to shoulder with the Ten-Thousand-Year Fire Carp, Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Crystal, Hollow Green Stone Milk, Inner Core of the Human-Faced Spider, and Thousand-Year Fleeceflower Root.
‘Something that summons a storm of blood in Jianghu through its mere existence…’
Thinking so, Dok-ra-su looked at Cheon Woo-jin. In truth, he had been a little nervous, but seeing that completely indifferent expression of his, his tension deflated entirely.
“Nephew.”
“Yes.”
“What kind of martial artist are you to maintain such an impassive face with this peerless spiritual herb right before your eyes? Do you not feel any greed?”
“Yes, not particularly.”
“With your realm, you could kill me and that physician over there right on the spot, take the Sun-Rivaling Flower for yourself, and run away. No, there wouldn’t even be a need to run away. There is no way the Martial Alliance would ostracize a martial artist of the Realm Beyond the Heavens for such a reason.”
The two had been conversing with their eyes fixed on the Sun-Rivaling Flower. At Dok-ra-su’s words, Cheon Woo-jin suddenly looked at him.
Dok-ra-su flinched somewhat. Although they were words he had spoken himself, merely imagining it for a moment was terrifying.
Soon, Cheon Woo-jin’s gaze turned toward the physician behind them.
The physician had even fallen flat on his back.
“I-I didn’t see anything, sir.”
“…”
Cheon Woo-jin wore an incredulous expression.
In the first place, he had long surpassed the realm of benefiting from spiritual creatures, spiritual herbs, or spiritual elixirs.
“Take it.”
“…Will I be able to do it?”
Dok-ra-su revealed an uncharacteristically unconfident appearance. Because now that he actually faced the Sun-Rivaling Flower, its energy was far hotter and more massive than he had imagined.
“Did you not say you would treat Senior Poison King’s dementia? You must take the Sun-Rivaling Flower and create the extreme yang poison, must you not?”
Dok-ra-su was one of the few martial artists of the era who had reached the realm of a Poison Master. A Poison Master had no need to carry separate poison. The energy flowing through their body and the breath leaking from their mouth was poison itself, so to obtain the desired poison, he had to directly assimilate the Sun-Rivaling Flower into his body.
When Cheon Woo-jin mentioned the Poison King, Dok-ra-su’s expression shifted instantly.
‘This pathetic younger brother. Because of you who became an idiot, I have to eat something like this.’
Wearing exactly that kind of expression, Dok-ra-su lifted his disguise. To assimilate a spiritual herb of this caliber into his body, he had to dedicate his full concentration.
Returning to his original face, Dok-ra-su sat cross-legged in front of the Sun-Rivaling Flower. Cheon Woo-jin stood casually beside him as if uninterested, but that position coincidentally resembled standing guard as a protector, making Dok-ra-su feel secretly reassured inside.
“To think a master of the Realm Beyond the Heavens is standing guard for me…”
Muttering thus, he carefully brought his hand toward the Sun-Rivaling Flower.
Sizzle!
Even though he protected his skin with Body-Protecting Astral Qi, a burning smell accompanied smoke.
Soon, he carefully plucked the flower. The remaining stem lost its vitality in an instant, withering away before burning to ashes without a trace in a sudden burst of flame.
Swallowing the Sun-Rivaling Flower, Dok-ra-su channeled his internal energy to the limit. Pain as if his tongue, palate, uvula, and throat were entirely scorched surged in.
No, in reality, his skin would peel and melt away. Even so, as long as he could assimilate the energy of the Sun-Rivaling Flower, it did not matter.
Dissolving inside Dok-ra-su’s body, the Sun-Rivaling Flower discharged a tremendous amount of heat. This immediately began to run wild through Dok-ra-su’s acupuncture points.
Dok-ra-su’s face flushed hot, and blackish smoke drifted from his nose, ears, and mouth.
“Urgh!”
Along with a groan, hot tears of blood streamed down.
Dok-ra-su intuitively knew. If he digested it, he would enter a new realm. But if he failed, he would die or become crippled.
“Endure it.”
Cheon Woo-jin’s calm voice struck Dok-ra-su’s ears.
Dok-ra-su’s eyes were scorched bright red as if burned by fire. His mental strength was gradually glimpsing its limit.
He wanted to discharge all of this extreme yang energy raging inside his body into empty air right this moment.
“I-I cannot. There is simply no way…”
“Endure it. If you discharge the energy, who knows when you will see a Sun-Rivaling Flower again.”
Even so, Dok-ra-su shook his head.
Already, he could even hear a sound resembling King Yama calling for him.
‘Uh, is that the River of Three Crossings?’
Around the time such thoughts crossed his mind.
“Endure it, you pathetic bastard. Have you ever properly endured anything in your life? Do you intend to live like that your whole life and drop dead as a cripple?”
Dok-ra-su’s eyes widened in an instant, staring at Cheon Woo-jin.
Did that not sound completely identical to Black Elder’s manner of speech?
However, Cheon Woo-jin met his eyes with a look of ‘what are you staring at,’ then placed his hand on Dok-ra-su’s back, saying he would help a bit.
Through Cheon Woo-jin’s palm, a strand of energy flowed into Dok-ra-su’s dantian.
Dok-ra-su was shocked.
‘W-What kind of internal energy is this…’
He had never seen internal energy so pure and profound in his entire life.
No, he had never even imagined such internal energy could exist.
The energy Cheon Woo-jin channeled suddenly moved according to Dok-ra-su’s will. That internal energy of immense purity and density began bit by bit to subdue the energy of the Sun-Rivaling Flower.
How much time had passed like that?
His face, which had flushed red, gradually regained its original color, and atop the distinctive dark green glow in his eyes, a flash like the sun momentarily passed.
Dok-ra-su closed and opened his eyes.
“…”
The world had changed.
More precisely, Dok-ra-su’s eyes looking at the world had changed.
“It worked. I have truly assimilated the Sun-Rivaling Flower completely!”
The extreme yang energy possessed by the Sun-Rivaling Flower was felt intact. However, unlike before, it did not run wild of its own accord and was completely under Dok-ra-su’s control.
Staring at a massive boulder, Dok-ra-su unleashed palm force.
Crack!
The discharged extreme yang poison qi easily melted away a portion of the boulder. It was a realm unimaginable before.
“Lord of Poison. I have surpassed a Poison Master and ascended to that realm for the first time in this era. I am the Lord of Poison! Haha! Hahahaha!”
Unable to contain his joy, Dok-ra-su laughed wildly.
Then, suddenly recalling the words he had heard earlier, he spoke to Cheon Woo-jin.
“Still, calling your martial uncle a pathetic bastard is a bit…”
“When did I ever do that?”
Cheon Woo-jin tilted his head. No matter how much he did not treat Dok-ra-su as an elder, would he really spew profanity at his master’s close friend?
At that, Dok-ra-su’s expression turned serious. He had clearly heard a voice resembling Black Elder’s tone of speech…
“Was it truly an auditory hallucination? I have never heard such a vivid hallucination in my life.”
Suddenly, the Crescent Moon Staff strapped to Cheon Woo-jin’s back came into view.
Could it be?
Approaching Cheon Woo-jin, Dok-ra-su tapped the Crescent Moon Staff with the back of his hand and glared at it.
After having a staring contest with the ink-colored iron staff with an expression more serious than ever, Dok-ra-su soon shook his head.
“Ah, whatever. I am now the Lord of Poison! Foolish younger brother who dares claim to be the Poison King! Wash your neck and wait. Here I come! Bwahahaha!”
Shouting thus, Dok-ra-su took brisk, cheerful strides.
Watching his retreating figure, Cheon Woo-jin shook his head.
“Are those the words of someone intending to provide medical treatment?”
At any rate, it was certain that those associated with Master Black Elder were generally not in their right minds.
* * *
Dok-ra-su and Cheon Woo-jin returned to the Kunlun Sect.
Because the contemporary Kunlun Sect was maintained as a clandestine cell network, a few modest pavilions were all that existed, to the point where the fame of being one of the Nine Great Sects felt embarrassing.
The death of the Heavenly Demon Cult Leader, and the young masters’ battle for the throne.
The Demonic Cult at present was in a state that truly could not be predicted.
For that reason, Chief Strategist Sima Hwi and White Sword Hall Master descended Mount Kunlun, stating they would establish a temporary Military Strategy Department at the Martial Alliance Qinghai Branch.
The Dragon Head Sect Leader left Mount Kunlun to rally tens of thousands of Beggars’ Sect members, the Disciplinary Hall Master left saying he must look after the order of the Martial Alliance, and the Sword Maiden left to make preparations as the practical head of the Namgung Clan.
In the end, those who remained at the Kunlun Sect were the Hidden Dragon Squad including Cheon Woo-jin, the unrecovered Courier Hall Master, the Divine Physician who was treating him, and the martial artists of the Kunlun Sect.
Along with Dok-ra-su, who was brimming with excitement.
Around the time Cheon Woo-jin was resting in the quarters provided by the Kunlun Sect.
A man visited his quarters.
“Alliance Member Cheon, let us talk for a moment.”
It was Hye-won, the Sect Leader of the Kunlun Sect.
.
.
.
Cheon Woo-jin walked side by side with the Sect Leader.
Before they knew it, the surroundings had grown dark, and the mountain path was quite rugged, but to their level of cultivation, it posed no problem at all.
Having walked up for quite a while, the Sect Leader suddenly stopped at a certain spot.
“I like this place very much.”
Saying so, he pointed somewhere.
It was a spot where one could look down broadly upon the village beneath Mount Kunlun between the rocks jutting out here and there.
“When I look down at the village like this, the anger that always burns in my heart seems to soften a little.”
“Do you have much anger inside?”
Cheon Woo-jin asked nonchalantly.
The Sect Leader did not bother to answer.
Even so, one could tell that an indescribable anger was packed inside him.
The two watched the night view in silence for a while.
Though the Sect Leader had tried to act solemn, he clicked his tongue at Cheon Woo-jin’s taciturn nature and spoke first.
“Thank you. I heard you saved Cheong-hyeon.”
“Cheong-hyeon?”
“The Kunlun disciple who was on the verge of dying in the Inescapable Heavenly Net.”
“Ah.”
Cheon Woo-jin nodded. But he felt it was not something worthy of receiving thanks.
“I merely did what had to be done.”
“That is truly difficult. Because there are far too many in the world who do not do what must be done. Isn’t the recent incident with the Qingcheng Sect just like that? It was not an act befitting Daoists.”
“Yes.”
“I heard you are Senior White Flower Sword Immortal’s disciple? Alliance Leader Bukli Cheon, no, everyone in the Righteous Path who lived through that era must have been the same, but I also deeply respected that senior. He was a truly admirable person.”
The Sect Leader’s gaze stared at a point beyond the village. As if reminiscing about a past that could no longer be reached.
“Yes, that’s right. I have much anger inside. Every martial artist of the Kunlun Sect is like that. Because we are people who live carrying a history marked by pain and ruin.”
In martial history, instances of the Heavenly Demon Cult stirring were not very frequent. But whenever they moved, the Kunlun Sect vanished from the world without fail.
Not only did they share a border, but to the Cult Leader and demonic martial artists who had just stepped out of the Hundred Thousand Mountains, the Kunlun Sect was merely a means to express their rage and resolve.
“Dying, and dying again, burning, and burning again…”
For a moment, Cheon Woo-jin felt as though flames were passing through the Sect Leader’s eyes. Furthermore, he sensed that his anger was not directed entirely toward the Demonic Cult.
“Do you resent the orthodox martial world?”
“I did resent them. At their shameless attitude of always regarding us as a shield despite being fellow orthodox factions.”
Cheon Woo-jin nodded calmly. It was a story he knew to some extent from having heard it from Master White Elder.
The Martial Alliance did not invest martial artists, supplies, or money into Qinghai like that. Strategically, Qinghai merely served the role of a signal flare alerting to the movements of the Demonic Cult or a shallow breakwater. No matter how much they invested, whenever the Demonic Cult stirred, everything was burned and smashed to pieces, so there was no reason to do so.
“If the sect situated here had not been Kunlun, but a clan that brought immense profits to the Martial Alliance like the Namgung Clan or the Tang Clan, the situation would have been different.”
The atmosphere grew somewhat heavy.
Sensing this, the Sect Leader clapped his hands lightly to refresh the mood.
“I am sorry. It is all past sentiment. Do you know of the time Senior White Flower Sword Immortal charged into the Demonic Cult alone? That was actually because of my master. My master, that is, the previous Sect Leader, once lamented just as I did to you now.”
“…”
“Senior White Flower Sword Immortal said, ‘Those damned Demonic Cult bastards deserving death, please wait a moment. I will bring the Cult Leader’s head, so let us comfort the past history over that as a side dish.’ Leaving behind such words, he charged into the Demonic Cult wielding a single fan.”
Thinking that it was truly like Master White Elder, Cheon Woo-jin stroked the Crane Feather Fan inside his robes for no reason.
“At any rate, since then, I have no longer resented the Righteous Path. When such a wonderful chivalrous hero understands our Kunlun’s pain, what is there to feel so wronged about?”
The Sect Leader grinned. It was a pure smile that belied his gray hair and wrinkles.
“Alliance Member Cheon. You cannot imagine how fortunate it is that someone like you remains in the Martial Alliance. As merely a fading martial artist of the Righteous Path, I wanted to say this. Thank you very much.”
As always, Cheon Woo-jin nodded calmly.
In that manner, the two looked at the night view in silence for a long time.
Sometimes silence allowed for more communication than words, and now was precisely such a time.
Cheon Woo-jin felt the gratitude and hope harbored by the Sect Leader intact, and the Sect Leader felt the wordless comfort offered by Cheon Woo-jin.
“The weather is cold. Let us head back. Since we do not know when something might happen, we must always maintain our peak physical condition…”
In an instant, the Sect Leader’s words cut off abruptly.
He glared fiercely at a certain spot in the village.
In that place, red and yellow flames were rising.
It was not a fire lit simply to burn trash or for a feast in the village.
It was a clear, raging blaze.
“That place is…”
If the Sect Leader’s prediction was correct, the place where the blaze erupted was none other than the Martial Alliance Qinghai Branch. Those who dared set fire to the Martial Alliance were only one in all the world.
The Heavenly Demon Cult.
They had set out to take revenge for the Inescapable Heavenly Net incident.
The moment the Sect Leader reached that conclusion.
Before he could even say a word, Cheon Woo-jin leaped down the cliff.
“H-Hey! Do you have any idea how high this cliff is…”
The Sect Leader trailed off.
Even for a transcendent master, it was a cliff high enough that falling meant death. But that young martial artist was a lunatic who had broken through the Inescapable Heavenly Net by flying.
“…Just who was I worrying about?”