Chapter 267

Fwoom!

I merely blinked at the black light that exploded like a flash.

That was all…

Where the fuck did that bastard go?

The shock was enough to make me forget the pain. I stared blankly, my mouth hanging open.

He was gone. As though he had been erased with an eraser.

The blood spattered around us and the Blood Lord’s wrist, still gripping Cheongpung’s neck, were the only proof that he had ever existed.

Ding.

System

• Quest Life-or-Death Crisis has been successfully completed!
• You have gained an enormous amount of EXP!
• Level Up!
• Level Up!

With the System notifications, my body began to recover at a staggering rate.

My broken bones knitted back together, and my cut and mangled flesh healed. My empty dantian filled to the brim, and vitality surged through my muscles.

But one thing remained unchanged: my utter bewilderment.

“What the actual fuck was that?”

The Blood Lord. No matter what it took, I should have killed that bastard.

I was muttering dejectedly while staring at the ground when a familiar voice spoke, and a hand suddenly appeared in front of me.

“Are you all right?”

I was mentally exhausted, but my body was fine. I took Jongni Chu’s hand and rose to my feet.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I owe you my life.”

“That’s a relief. Then help me tend to the injured first… Wait. What did you just say?”

Jongni Chu blinked.

His face clearly said, What did I just hear?

“Why?”

“H-Hm?”

“Is there a problem?”

Jongni Chu stared blankly at me for a moment, then waved it off.

“No, no. What problem could there be? But didn’t you hear… that thing earlier?”

“That thing? What are you talking about? I did pass out for a moment.”

There was a limit to how much punishment I could take. I had been hit, gotten back up, been knocked down again, and gotten back up dozens of times over.

Then, at some point, I took a direct blow to the jaw and briefly lost consciousness.

“When I opened my eyes, it was almost over. I saw that bastard’s ankle, so I grabbed it right away.”

“…I see.”

Jongni Chu’s lips moved as though he wanted to say something, but he ultimately kept his mouth shut.

I wanted to ask how everything had unfolded and who Jongni Chu really was, but I held back too.

What matters is that he’s on our side.

That was enough for now. More urgent matters surrounded us.

“Old Master!”

I was worried about Cheongpung, but Jeok Cheongang was old, and his injuries concerned me even more.

I rushed over and examined him. His pulse was faint and his breathing shallow, but both were still there.

“Would you step aside for a moment?”

After carefully lowering Cheongpung, whose emergency treatment he had finished, Jongni Chu placed a hand over Jeok Cheongang’s Mingmen acupoint.¹

As internal energy flowed into him, the strain visibly eased from Jeok Cheongang’s face.

“How is he?”

“His injuries aren’t that serious. He expended too much energy all at once, so he probably won’t regain consciousness for a while.”

“What about Cheongpung?”

“The same. He has internal injuries, but he’s young. He should recover soon.”

“Phew…”

“A blessing amid all this misfortune.”

Jongni Chu smiled faintly at my relieved sigh.

That was when—

Shshshshk!

Countless presences rapidly approached from below. Their aura was vicious beyond description.

Don’t tell me there’s another one?

My expression hardened as I tightened my grip around the spear shaft, but Jongni Chu waved a hand.

“Put it down. They’re allies.”

He was right. Hundreds of martial artists soon appeared, with several familiar faces leading them.

Someone from the Nine Sects and One Gang. Someone from the Five Great Families.

They were the people who had occupied the seats of honor during the Star-Array Grand Banquet.

For some reason, however, several key figures—including the Thunderbolt Saber King—were nowhere to be seen.

“Stop.”

The footsteps of the hundreds of martial artists, which had seemed as though they would never stop, came to an abrupt halt in front of us.

The man who had given the order limped toward Jongni Chu and me. Sunlight filtering through the leaves glinted off his steel prosthetic leg.

The Thousand-Faced Fox, Song Ho.

As his piercing gaze swept over Jongni Chu and me, I suddenly remembered something I had forgotten.

They didn’t know Jongni Chu was an ally. To them, he was a public enemy of the Murim who had assassinated Dharma King Hong Dao and brought a bloodbath down upon Shaolin Temple.

Step. Step.

As the Thousand-Faced Fox advanced on his prosthetic leg, hundreds of martial artists moved with him.

This looked like it was about to turn into a bloody clash over a stupid misunderstanding.

“W-Wait a second. I think there’s been a serious misunderstanding…”

I was about to step forward amid the ominous tension when Jongni Chu suddenly spoke.

“Thousand-Faced Fox Song Ho.”

“Gasp.”

Was this bastard insane?

At a time when explaining the situation and clearing up the misunderstanding should have been the bare minimum, he had started by speaking informally.

“Hey, hey!”

I hurriedly jabbed him in the side, but it was already too late. A bombshell burst from Jongni Chu’s mouth.

“How’s your leg?”

“…!”

Was he actually out of his mind?

I gaped at Jongni Chu.

This time, he had crossed the line completely. First the casual speech, and now he was mocking a disabled person.

I hurriedly stepped forward before the Thousand-Faced Fox could yank off his prosthetic leg and charge at Jongni Chu.

“I’m sorry. He’s not usually like this. Let me explain. So, what happened was—”

“Hm? I can explain it myself.”

“Explain, my ass. What the fuck are you going to explain in this situation? Apologize first, you bastard.”

To hell with him being my lifesaver.

Before things could get any worse, I grabbed Jongni Chu by the back of the neck and forced his head down.

When I raised my own head, I saw the Thousand-Faced Fox’s face, stiff and frozen as though he had seen a ghost.

He’s really pissed.

Of course he was. Anyone who didn’t get angry in this situation wasn’t human. They’d have to be Jesus or Buddha.

But the thoughts racing frantically through my mind as I tried to defuse the situation ground to a halt at the Thousand-Faced Fox’s reply.

“It has been a long time.”

Jongni Chu nodded with a genial chuckle like an old man.

“It’s good to see you doing well. I thought you would be the first to recognize me.”

“It took me quite some time. Until two shichen² ago, I thought the Blood Ghost Sword Demon—that damned bastard—had Returned to Youth.”

“My, my. You’ve grown old too.”

“I owe the fact that I lived long enough to grow this old to you, Great Hero. If you hadn’t saved me back then, I wouldn’t be standing here now.”

The Thousand-Faced Fox laughed as he lightly tapped his prosthetic leg, then continued.

“I discovered Shadow Killer two shichen² ago. You were playing a mischievous prank.”

“Ah, that fellow. Come to think of it, he should be waking up around now.”

“Someone who should have died was alive. That was when I realized I had been barking up the wrong tree.”

“I didn’t want anyone to find out. I wanted to keep it hidden until the Star-Array Grand Banquet ended, at least.”

Jongni Chu added with a bitter expression,

“I never imagined something like this would happen, though.”

“I feel the same. Despite all our precautions, a bloodbath occurred at Shaolin of all places…”

“You wouldn’t be here unless the situation at Shaolin had been settled. Did the Thunderbolt Saber King go?”

“Yes. As soon as we grasped the situation, we divided our forces and took two separate routes. Great Hero Peng should be handling matters at Shaolin by now.”

“The losses are too great. Something that should never have happened has happened.”

“I have much to tell you about that.”

“As do I.”

A heavy silence settled over us.

I had been listening to their conversation in a half-dazed state, but somehow managed to speak.

“Hey, no. Excuse me.”

Jongni Chu—or rather, he—blinked.

“Are you talking to me?”

“Yes. Um, there’s something I’d like to ask you…”

“Ask me anything.”

Hundreds of pairs of eyes turned toward me. Everyone wore the same expression.

That lunatic has finally come to his senses.

“May I ask your name?”

The answer came without hesitation.

“Mae Jonghak.”

“…Ah. Mae Jonghak.”

Every hair on my body stood on end.

From our first meeting to this moment, every conversation I’d had with him and everything I’d done flashed rapidly before my eyes.

“I think it’s a coincidence, but your name is the same as someone I know.”

“Is that so?”

I drew a deep breath. My heartbeat thundered in my ears.

It’s cold.³

A dagger had flown straight into my chest. But don’t worry. There were more people with the same name than you might think.

Maybe he was Fake Jonghak.

Clinging to that final hope, I opened my mouth.

“Do you happen to have an epithet…?”

“The Sword Saint.”

“Ah. Yes.”

Fuck. He’s the real thing.

As darkness swallowed my vision, an amused voice slipped into my ear.

“Let’s remain good friends from now on. Friend.”

“…”

I want to die.

An enormous cavern of unknown depth in an unknown location.

At its center, where complex patterns and characters no one could decipher had been carved into the stone, black radiance erupted.

Whoosh!

The deep darkness stretched, dimming even the fiercely burning torches.

When the pitch-black darkness vanished a moment later, unrest spread among the dozens of black-clad figures surrounding the cavern’s center.

“The Blood Lord!”

“What is going on…?”

Their gazes converged on a staggering, bleeding figure.

A young man drenched in blood and breathing heavily.

Sword wounds covered the Blood Lord’s entire body, and blood gushed nonstop from the severed stumps of both arms.

“Call the sorcerers! Bring them here!”

“The Blood Lord is gravely wounded!”

As the desperate shouts echoed through the cavern, the Blood Lord slowly opened his mouth.

The severed arm he had held on to until the very end dropped to the floor with a thud. Its hand still clutched a short staff.

The staff gave off a faint green light even in the darkness, drawing a quiet gasp from someone nearby.

“The Green Jade Buddha Staff…!”

It was none other than the sacred treasure of thousand-year-old Shaolin.

No one had been able to guarantee the mission’s success. Yet despite the wretched state he had returned in, their superior had completed it splendidly.

Just as expected of the Disciple cherished by that person.

“Congratulations!”

“Congratulations?”

A red glow filled the Blood Lord’s eyes as he stared at the subordinate bowing deeply with a fist-and-palm salute.

Whoosh—crack!

The subordinate’s chest shattered, and he slammed into the wall amid a fountain of blood.

His body trembled with a wheezing sound, then went still. There was no need to check. He was dead.

“Throw that bastard to the beasts.”

The moment the Blood Lord’s frigid voice left his lips, one of his subordinates hoisted the corpse over his shoulder and disappeared.

This was hardly the first or second time such a thing had happened. They were merely reminded once more of how terrifying their superior was. Not one of them mourned or showed any agitation over the death of the ignorant newcomer who had stepped forward.

“Blood Lord, you must receive treatment first…”

“I’m dizzy. Begin.”

The Blood Lord surrendered himself to the sorcerers who had just arrived.

He wanted to slaughter everything in sight, but barely managed to suppress his murderous impulse.

He needed to conserve his strength for now. He had to recover as quickly as possible so he could tear those bastards apart and kill them.

The Sword Saint. The Fire King. Cheongpung. And…

The Sleeping Dragon of Shanxi, Jin Taekyung.

The memory of that bastard grinning through blood-soaked teeth made his blood boil.

Unable to contain his rage, he smashed a fist into a sorcerer’s head.

Boom. Thud.

The headless body collapsed like a rotten old tree. Feeling the frightened gazes of the remaining sorcerers, the Blood Lord spat through clenched teeth,

“I can’t afford to kill any more valuable sorcerers. Continue.”

The treatment resumed after its brief interruption. It was a bizarre sight that defied explanation. Broken bones knitted together, and flesh grew back.

The Blood Lord clenched his teeth against the pain that accompanied the recovery. As his vision began to turn white, one man’s face appeared before him.

You… I’ll kill you with my own hands. I swear.