Chapter 152
Chapter 152. The Black Flame Dragon amid Chaos (2)
The matter of the Yueyang Branch Chief was something Dang Hyeok-je himself had asked me about.
If he were to submit his resignation and leave at once, his seat would need to be filled, so he had asked whether I knew anyone.
It was only an impression I had gained from a brief meeting, but Dang Hyeok-je had a tendency to find most things in daily life bothersome.
That was obvious just from how he had applied to the Murim Alliance to meet me and then ended up stuck as the Yueyang Branch Chief.
‘Are all geniuses this strange?’
Seeing as Jegal Cheon-gi, whom I considered the greatest genius, was very normal, it did not seem that all of them were like that, but it was certain that every one of them had some slightly peculiar corner.
‘As expected, there’s no one like my younger brother Jegal Cheon-gi.’
In any case, I had received that request from Dang Hyeok-je, but I had no one I could recommend right away.
It was not as if there was anyone among the Taeul Sect’s people who lived in the Murim Alliance, and as for the connections I knew, most of them were either hostile to me or people who could not rise to the position of a Branch Chief due to their standing in the murim.
That was when Hao Gate came to mind.
Of course, even Hao Gate would not have personnel planted inside the Murim Alliance.
It was, after all, a faction for those living at the very bottom.
However, there were a few people who had close relations with Hao Gate.
People whose weaknesses had been seized by Hao Gate, or people who shared interests with Hao Gate.
Hae-ryeong said she would sort through such people and find someone whose ear they could whisper into, and I agreed.
In any case, if someone who could look after Hao Gate from behind the scenes took the seat of Yueyang Branch Chief, it was only natural that Hao Gate’s position within Yueyang would grow even larger.
After ending the conversation there, I was about to leave when Hae-ryeong held me back again.
“How about we do this? We will give you five percent of the profits from the wine houses and inns Hao Gate newly opens in Yueyang.”
At Hae-ryeong’s sudden suggestion, I tilted my head.
“All of a sudden?”
“Both the position of Yueyang Branch Chief and the interests in Yueyang came about thanks to you in one way or another, Young Master. We do not owe debts to a ‘Guest Retainer.’”
Before I could say anything, Hae-ryeong declared that she would do so and left the cabin.
“Thanks to that, I won’t have to worry about money for a while.”
Even if it was only five percent, considering that it was a share of the profits from stores Hao Gate operated in Yueyang, it would probably be beyond anything I imagined.
“Next is you two.”
I looked at the Nine-Spirit Divine Herb and the Blood Jade Hand placed on the table, then picked up the Blood Jade Hand first.
“So I’m seeing you here again.”
The Blood Jade Hand.
One of the Ten Forbidden Arts designated by the Murim Alliance.
It had been given its name because both hands glowed red like crimson pearls.
Unlike its beautiful appearance, the martial art itself emitted terrifying destructive power.
The Blood Jade Hand converted the user’s inner arts into a peculiar inner art called the Blood Jade Art.
And once the qi center was transformed by the Blood Jade Art, inner arts accumulated naturally even without training.
Once this bizarre inner art entered Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown, the period when the three qi centers were integrated, it robbed the user of reason and turned him into a Demonic Practitioner who craved nothing but blood.
Two hundred years ago, the Blood Jade Demon Emperor had killed ten thousand people single-handedly in Shaanxi Province, and one hundred fifty years ago, after the Blood-Handed One killed fifteen thousand in Jiangxi Province, it was designated as one of the Murim Alliance’s Forbidden Arts and sealed in Shaolin Temple.
“And then it showed up in a completely unexpected place.”
The Great Righteous-Demonic War.
At the moment when the Demonic Cult’s Blood Demon Ghost Sword Unit gathered to turn Shaolin into ashes, a single warrior monk from Shaolin stood in their way.
The Blood Demon Ghost Sword Unit, which had already turned hundreds of monks into corpses, looked down on that warrior monk as laughable and charged.
That day, half of the Blood Demon Ghost Sword Unit, which had made its ill fame known far and wide, became Lonely Ghosts in the warrior monk’s grasp.
The warrior monk’s identity was Il-gak, Il-myeong’s junior brother and the one who had competed with me for the top seat.
And the martial art Il-gak used at the time was none other than the sealed Blood Jade Hand.
At the time, despite the dire circumstances facing the Jianghu, there had been fierce protests over Il-gak using the Blood Jade Hand.
But even in the face of public condemnation, Shaolin remained unshaken.
“By the Buddha’s grace, the Blood Jade Hand shall be purified and become a shield that protects justice.”
At those shameless words, many people vowed to strike Shaolin the moment Il-gak lost his reason, but Il-gak did not lose his reason even after reaching the Transcendent Peak realm.
On the contrary, the Blood Jade Hand Il-gak had learned possessed outstanding Demon Suppression effects, making it effective against Demonic Practitioners.
Many people wondered how he could learn a Demonic Art without losing his reason, but Shaolin never revealed the secret and safely reached Bukhae.
“Hae-ryeong must have given this to me to use as a weapon.”
The Blood Jade Hand secret manual was practically a treasured heirloom blade that could be used to frame an opponent for practicing a Demonic Art.
However, it was never a weapon that worked against those with the immense prestige of the Nine Sects and One Gang or the One Hundred Eight Peaks.
“And I also won’t lose my reason even if I use the Blood Jade Hand, just like Il-gak.”
Without hesitation, I quickly read through the Blood Jade Hand.
Then I began moving my inner arts according to the oral formula of the Blood Jade Art.
At that, my hands began to glow red, setting fire to the Blood Jade Hand secret manual in my grasp.
WHOOSH.
Rather than the crimson flame of the Blood Jade Hand, it produced yellow flames closer to gold.
Its appearance was exactly that of the Holy Flame Demon-Extinguishing Hand that Shaolin had later newly named in the past.
“It really is strange that the Blood Jade Hand, a Demonic Art, can gain the effect of Demon Suppression.”
The secret lay in higher-level forces such as Diamond Power.
Like Wudang’s Taiji Spirit and the Three Pure Ones Power of the Three Pure Ones Peerless Sword, Diamond Power allowed one to use the Blood Jade Hand without side effects.
When I swept my hand once, the light inside the room, which had been bright as broad daylight, vanished in an instant.
Even when I touched the hand that had boasted enough fiery power to burn paper into ash, I felt no heat from it.
“There was certainly a reason Shaolin risked misunderstanding to protect the secret.”
I did not know what would happen from now on, but as things stood, I was effectively the only person who could use the Blood Jade Hand without drawing suspicion.
“But the consumption of inner arts is definitely heavy.”
I had to convert the internal qi in my qi center into Jade Purity Heavenly Image Power, then use that again as the Blood Jade Hand.
It was a method no one without considerable inner arts could even dream of using.
I then turned my gaze to the Nine-Spirit Divine Herb.
Here, too, was a chance to make up for my lack of inner arts.
“But calling it good is a bit ambiguous.”
The Nine-Spirit Divine Herb was a spiritual medicine containing extraordinary spiritual energy.
In Daoist circles, they also called it the Nine Immortals Herb, naming each of its nine stems after a god.
What made this Nine-Spirit Divine Herb unusual was that it had to be absorbed whole.
If the stems were consumed separately, the spiritual veins would break and the effect would disappear.
It was such a difficult spiritual herb that even most physicians would not dare think of using it carelessly.
In other words, it absolutely had to be consumed all at once, yet if one could not suppress its energy, it was also a poisonous herb that would kill the user.
This was precisely why the Yuwol Sect Leader, who was a martial artist, had intended to offer it to Diancang as a bribe rather than consume it himself.
“The records say not to eat it.”
The Murim Compendium of Spiritual Medicines stated that the Sun Sword Emperor, who had once raced across the Jianghu, turned into a single handful of blood after eating the Nine-Spirit Divine Herb.
Considering that the Sun Sword Emperor’s inner arts were known to have been at four cycles at the time, the Nine-Spirit Divine Herb might, in effect, have been closer to poison than spiritual medicine.
I searched the Divine Physician of Life and Death’s Secret Record of Ten Thousand Herbs as well while holding onto another hope, and what the Divine Physician of Life and Death had written about the Nine-Spirit Divine Herb was this.
If you discover the Nine-Spirit Divine Herb, place it into a furnace and use it as firewood.
Then you will be able to make a flame that will not go out for half a year.
He had written it in quite the elegant way, but in short, he was saying not to shove just anything into my damn mouth.
I stared at the Nine-Spirit Divine Herb with a bitter expression.
How many people had I saved thanks to the Divine Physician of Life and Death, and how many times had I received his help?
“If it is Master Divine Physician of Life and Death’s words, I should listen.”
My current inner arts were a little over three cycles.
Considering that Yong So-ah had reached three cycles at my age, I was a little ahead.
If I absorbed the Nine-Spirit Divine Herb on top of that, it meant I could surpass not the past Yong So-ah, but the current Yong So-ah’s inner arts.
I did need to listen to that master’s words, but…….
After pondering for a while, I made a decision.
“……Master, I am sorry. I must have lost a few screws after facing so many Demonic Practitioners in the past.”
With a heart full of apology toward the Divine Physician of Life and Death, I picked up the Nine-Spirit Divine Herb.
I had thought of some countermeasures.
If eating it was not possible, then I simply had to absorb it, and had I not learned the Great Star-Absorbing Art, which was classified among the Four Great Demonic Arts within the Ten Forbidden Arts designated by the Murim Alliance?
“If it is the Azure Dragon Bracelet, it should be able to cut things off midway. I’m counting only on you, Sacred Relic of the Demonic Cult.”
I reached out my hand and activated the Azure Dragon Bracelet.
A blue-green light shone around my wrist, and the dragon pattern rose.
Then the energy of the Azure Dragon Bracelet detected the energy of the Nine-Spirit Divine Herb and slowly began pulling in its spiritual power.
Since I needed to be ready to throw away the Nine-Spirit Divine Herb at any moment, I controlled the speed slowly.
However.
“Huh?”
Contrary to my will, the Azure Dragon Bracelet began pulling in the spiritual power madly, as if it had found delicious prey.
At the same time, the dried-up Nine-Spirit Divine Herb began regaining vitality.
It was an endlessly wondrous sight, as if a dead tree were coming back to life, but I had no time to be amazed before the true qi filling my qi center left me unable to come to my senses.
‘I’m fucked.’
No matter how much I circulated the Small Heavenly Circuit, and no matter how much I circulated the Great Heavenly Circuit, the amount of true qi showed no sign of abating.
It was not at a level I could handle at all, as if someone were ramming the waters of Dongting Lake into a leather waterskin of fixed size.
‘I need to take it off.’
For some reason, however, my whole body had stiffened solid.
With desperate will, I spread my fingers.
CREAK, CRACKLE.
When I forcibly straightened my fingers, which had hardened like sturdy branches, I was once again shocked.
‘Fuck, what is this?!’
The Nine-Spirit Divine Herb began floating into the air on its own.
And while doing so, it continued supplying spiritual power.
It was enough to drive me insane.
‘Damn it!’
My qi center was filled with true qi as if it would burst at any moment, and my blood channels began swelling from the excessive true qi.
My hands and feet grew grotesquely thick, and my blood vessels bulged hideously.
‘I’m going to die…….’
The spiritual power that passed through the Azure Dragon Bracelet had been purified by one layer, but the quantity itself was simply too great.
I had tried to absorb the Nine-Spirit Divine Herb through the Azure Dragon Bracelet precisely to prevent this kind of situation, yet that damned spiritual medicine was not even allowing that.
‘If only there were someone who could at least execute Dual-Origin True Qi, they could prevent the worst-case scenario.’
But my body and muscles, hardened by the spiritual power of the Nine-Spirit Divine Herb, would not allow me to let out even the smallest voice.
CLACK.
“Senior Brother!”
At that moment, Geum-pyo, like a ray of light, burst in with his face flushed red.
Glad to see you. As expected of my jun…….
“Hic. We are holding a banquet, so what are you doing alone?”
‘Is this bastard drunk……?’
Holding a liquor bottle in one hand, Geum-pyo swept his half-lidded eyes around the room, then discovered me and opened his eyes wide.
‘Yes! Hurry and go call the others!’
I spoke with desperate eyes as I looked at Geum-pyo, and Geum-pyo seemed to read my gaze, for he nodded.
“You were devoting yourself to training even at this hour. I apologize for disturbing you, Senior Brother.”
T-that’s not it!
“This is truly a profound sight. As your junior brother, I cannot help but feel more respect for you with each passing day, Senior Brother. I will firmly tell the others not to approach under any circumstances.”
That’s not it!!!
I shouted with all my might.
‘Call someone, you bastard!!’
But Geum-pyo misunderstood my desperate voice, showed me a firm thumbs-up, then closed the door and left.
It was over.
At this rate, it would not end with Qi Deviation.
Just as the Sun Sword Emperor had, I would surely turn into a handful of blood.
‘What kind of damn humiliation is dying while eating a spiritual medicine?’
I desperately racked my brain, unwilling to be remembered forever as “the bastard who died eating a spiritual medicine he was told not to eat.”
What I needed now was to expel the true qi filling my body.
But I could not move my body.
Then I had to expel the true qi while not moving my body.
And fortunately, before consuming the Nine-Spirit Divine Herb, I had learned the Blood Jade Hand first.
WHUM.
I converted the true qi into Jade Purity Heavenly Image Power, then desperately unfolded the Holy Flame Demon-Extinguishing Hand.
Golden flames rose from my right hand and began burning away the true qi absorbed by the Azure Dragon Bracelet.
‘Phew.’
When I unfolded the Holy Flame Demon-Extinguishing Hand at full power, I felt the true qi filling my body begin to drain away little by little.
I had thought its efficiency was so poor that I would not be able to use it often, unlike the Radiant Heaven Divine Palm.
But right now, this Holy Flame Demon-Extinguishing Hand was saving my life.
However, my relief lasted only a moment.
‘What the fuck?’
Now the Nine-Spirit Divine Herb had begun absorbing the heat-energy of the Holy Flame Demon-Extinguishing Hand.
The Azure Dragon Bracelet then absorbed the energy of the Nine-Spirit Divine Herb that had absorbed the energy of the Holy Flame Demon-Extinguishing Hand.
At this nonsensical and absurd situation, a hollow laugh escaped me.
‘What in the world…….’
Moreover, by whatever strange harmony was at work, the true qi entering through the Azure Dragon Bracelet was sweltering hot, as if it had fully retained the energy of the Holy Flame Demon-Extinguishing Hand.
While my body already felt as if it would explode from the accumulated true qi, an unbearable heat began to pour in on top of it.
‘Ah, so this is how the Sun Sword Emperor died.’
I learned the truth behind the Sun Sword Emperor’s death, which had not been known to the world, but I was not happy in the slightest.
Because now it was my turn to die that way.
Just as I was hoping that at least the shape of my face would remain so they could hold a funeral for me, a change began occurring inside my body.
‘Huh?’
The unbearable heat, as if it would melt my whole body, traveled through my blood channels and began devouring the blocked true qi.
The heat that had grown its body in that way began devouring, one by one, the dregs remaining in my blood channels, hidden meridians, and Fine Meridians.
Once the blocked true qi and Turbid Qi began to be removed, the true qi that followed flowed smoothly.
The true qi exceeded the limit of capacity and began seeping into my wounded skin and muscles.
CRACK, CRACK, CRACK.
The sounds of bones grinding and muscles tearing rang out again and again, but I could not even let out a groan.
No, I had no time to pay attention to that.
If the heat moving through my body strayed even an inch, I would either become an idiot or burn all my organs to ash.
‘Maybe I can live!’
Whether my body broke apart or not, I began focusing all my concentration on the heat.
This was a moment that required true qi control so fine that it could not even be compared to when I controlled the Flying Dragon Claw.
Even after the dregs in the Ren and Du Meridians were all burned away, the heat did not die down, and in the end, I sent the heat through my meridians and even into my Fine Meridians.
Pain in places so minute I normally could not even feel them assaulted me.
The pain continued as if all eighty-four thousand pores were being stabbed one by one with needles, and my nerves were being seared with fire.
“Ugh…….”
The pain was so severe that even a groan, which had not come out when I had screamed desperately, slipped from my mouth.
POP.
The sound of something bursting inside my body rang in my head.
Before I could even identify the source of the sound, the bursting continued.
POPPOPPOPPOPPOPPOPPOPPOPPOPPOPPOPPOP!
Then, along with the sound of air bursting, the pain that had assaulted each pore and every strand of nerves disappeared, and a refreshing sensation began to spread.
“Haa…….”
White smoke poured from my mouth along with a long sigh.
At the same time, steam began rising from my entire body through my pores.
HISSSSSSS.
A sound like a cauldron boiling water rang out, and my body floated gently upward.
Even while experiencing this bizarre phenomenon, I was simply immersed entirely in this comfortable state.
The pressure that had squeezed my whole body, the heat that had burned my nerves, and the pain that had pierced my pores had all vanished.
The internal qi that had violently rushed through my blood channels began settling into my qi center, and the Turbid Qi left behind after washing through my body was expelled in every direction through my opened pores.
WHOOSH.
The internal qi that spread like a small wind wrapped around me, embracing me like a flower bud, then vanished into fragments.
“Ah…… Is this the stage of Jade Stamen Golden Flower?”
It had not been long since I achieved the stage of Five Dragons Offering the Sage, yet I had skipped over the stage of Sun and Moon Joining as One and achieved the stage of Jade Stamen Golden Flower.
“…….”
I clenched and unclenched my fists.
I rotated my arms and lightly raised and lowered my legs repeatedly.
My body felt light, as though I had cast off a massive weight.
I picked up my sword and tried using Sword Force.
The Sword Force I had learned only a few days ago curled around my hand as if it were an old habit.
Moreover, my qi center was filled with the absurd amount of inner arts known as four cycles.
I was still not better than Bang Du-chil, but I had surpassed Yong So-ah.
The amount of inner arts was not an absolute measure of martial force, but even so, was it not something to have beaten that monstrous Yong So-ah in inner arts alone?
“This is a Fortuitous Encounter…….”
A joyful feeling surged up from deep within my chest.
“Divine Physician of Life and Death, it seems I was right this time. Hahaha.”
For some reason, I felt that if the Divine Physician of Life and Death saw me now, he would grimace and give me the finger, but in any case, the result was good, was it not?
From this point on, I intended to enjoy the stupidly extravagant boat outing on Dongting Lake as well.
Of course, before that, there was one bastard(?) I had to deal with.
“How dare you drink while your Senior Brother is devoting himself to training?”
I was not saying this because I had suffered a crisis of death and he had passed by without knowing it.
At Geum-pyo’s realm, it was only natural that he would not know whether my state was a dangerous moment or a state of training.
But was it not wrong to show up drunk beside one’s Senior Brother when that Senior Brother was devoting himself to training as if his life depended on it?
This was absolutely not lingering resentment.
It was merely the anxious heart of the Eldest Senior Brother of the Taeul Sect, with its proud tradition, wishing for his junior brothers to walk the right path.
“You’re dead!”