Chapter 267

Fwoom!

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

That was all I did…

Where the fuck did that bastard go?

The shock was enough to make me forget my pain. I stood there with 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!

Along with the System notifications, my body rapidly recovered.

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. I should have killed that bastard by any means necessary.

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 grabbed Jongni Chu’s hand and stood up.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I owe you my life.”

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

Jongni Chu blinked.

His face clearly said, What did I just hear?

“Why?”

“W-Well?”

“Is there a problem?”

Jongni Chu stared at me blankly for a moment before waving his hand.

“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 moved his lips as though he wanted to say something, then firmly closed them.

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

The important thing is that he’s on our side.

That was enough for now. There were more urgent matters everywhere I looked.

“Old Master!”

Cheongpung was important, but I was more worried about the elderly Jeok Cheongang’s injuries.

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

“Would you step aside for a moment?”

After carefully lowering Cheongpung, whom he had finished treating, Jongni Chu placed a hand on Jeok Cheongang’s Mingmen acupoint.

As internal energy flowed into him, I could see the strain ease from his 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…”

“It’s a blessing in disguise.”

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?

As I gripped my spear shaft with a hardened expression, Jongni Chu waved his hand.

“Put it down. They’re allies.”

He was telling the truth. Soon, several familiar faces appeared among the hundreds of martial artists at the front of the group.

This person from the Nine Sects and One Gang, that person 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 person who had given the order limped toward Jongni Chu and me. Sunlight filtering through the leaves flashed brightly against his steel prosthetic leg.

The Thousand-Faced Fox, Song Ho.

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

They didn’t know that Jongni Chu was an ally. To them, Jongni Chu was a public enemy of the Murim who had assassinated Dharma King Hong Dao and brought a bloody storm to Shaolin Temple.

Step. Step.

As the Thousand-Faced Fox planted 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 you’ve got a serious misunderstanding here…”

I was about to step forward in the ominous atmosphere 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 crazy?

I couldn’t help staring at Jongni Chu with my mouth hanging open.

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 rip 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 could explain it myself.”

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

To hell with him being my lifesaver.

Before things got any bigger, 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. If he wasn’t angry in this situation, he wouldn’t be human. He’d have to be Jesus or Buddha.

But the thoughts spinning frantically in my head as I tried to defuse the situation came to a complete stop when I heard the Thousand-Faced Fox’s answer.

“It’s been a long time.”

Jongni Chu nodded with a genial, old-man-like chuckle.

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

“It took me quite some time. Until two shichen¹ ago, I thought the Blood Ghost Sword Demon—that damn bastard—had Returned to Youth.”

“Oh dear. You’ve grown old, too.”

“Being able to grow old like this is thanks to you, Great Hero. If you hadn’t saved me back then, I wouldn’t be here.”

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

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

“Ah, that fellow. Come to think of it, it should be about time he woke up.”

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

“I didn’t want to be found 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 way. Despite taking such thorough precautions, a bloodbath broke out at Shaolin of all places…”

“You wouldn’t be here if the matter at Shaolin hadn’t been settled. Did the Thunderbolt Saber King go?”

“Yes. As soon as he grasped the situation, he divided the forces and moved along two separate routes. Great Hero Peng should be dealing with Shaolin by now.”

“The casualties are too severe. Something that should never have happened has happened.”

“I have much to tell you about that.”

“So do I.”

A heavy silence settled over the area.

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 poured toward my face. Every one of them looked as though they were thinking, That lunatic finally came to his senses.

“May I ask your name?”

The answer came without hesitation.

“Mae Jonghak.”

“…Oh. 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 took a deep breath. The sound of my heartbeat rang in my ears like thunder.

It’s cold.

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. I clung to that final hope and 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, a voice filled with laughter slipped into my ear.

“Let’s stay close from now on. Friend.”

“…”

I want to die.

An enormous cavern whose depth and location were impossible to guess.

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, agitation spread among the dozens of black-clad men surrounding the cavern’s center.

“The Blood Lord!”

“What is going on…?”

Their gazes turned toward a man who was staggering as he bled.

A young man covered in blood, breathing heavily.

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

“Call the sorcerer! Bring the sorcerer here!”

“The Blood Lord has suffered severe injuries!”

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

The severed arm he had held in his mouth until the very end thudded to the floor. Its hand still clutched a short staff.

Even in the darkness, it emitted a faint green light. Someone let out a small gasp.

“The Green Jade Buddha Staff…!”

It was none other than Shaolin’s sacred treasure, preserved for a thousand years.

No one had been able to guarantee the success of their mission. Yet although their superior had ended up in a miserable state, he had completed it splendidly.

Just as expected of the Disciple cherished by that person.

“Congratulations!”

“Congratulations?”

The Blood Lord’s eyes glowed red as he stared at the subordinate who had cupped one fist in the other hand and bowed deeply.

Whoosh—crack!

The subordinate’s chest was crushed, and he slammed into the wall in a spray 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 it had happened. They merely felt their superior’s terror once again. Not one of them mourned or became agitated over the death of the ignorant newcomer who had stepped forward.

“Blood Lord, you need 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 sight of that bastard grinning with his blood-soaked teeth made the Blood Lord’s blood rush to his head.

Unable to contain his fury, he slammed his fist into a sorcerer’s head.

Boom. Thud.

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

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

The treatment, which had briefly stopped, resumed. It was a bizarre sight that defied explanation. Broken bones knitted together, and flesh filled in.

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.