Chapter 363

KABOOOOOM!

A tremendous roar and shockwave slammed into my entire body.

For a moment, my vision went distant. The ceiling and floor turned upside down, and my hair fluttered in the air. My body flew helplessly through the room and crashed into a corner of the treatment room.

Crack!

A sharp current raced up my spine, and something hot surged up from deep within my lungs.

“Ghk!”

Dark red blood spilled across the floor. It was obvious proof that I had suffered a serious Internal Injury.

And it was true.

Damn it. How long has it even been since I recovered?

The only consolation was that my injuries were not as severe as before, and that I had successfully protected the treatment room from the Western Heaven Demon Lord’s Sword Force.

“Are you all right?”

At my question, the Divine Physician lifted his head from where he had curled up in a corner of the treatment room.

His body was covered in pale dust, and Jeok Cheongang was held in his arms. After letting out a small groan, he answered,

“Thanks to Young Master Jin blocking it, I am unharmed.”

But despite his answer, the Divine Physician’s condition was clearly far from normal.

His beard, white as an immortal’s, was stained with blood. His wrist was bent at a strange angle, and through the tears in his clothes, I could see his lower abdomen covered in dark bruises.

That’s…

There was no doubt about it. The Divine Physician’s dantian was ruined. Having lost all the martial arts he possessed, he was now nothing more than an ordinary old man.

No, with his qi-sea acupoint destroyed and his arm broken, his situation was anything but good.

Even in the middle of all that, he still protected Old Master…

Not a single scratch marred Jeok Cheongang’s body. That was because the old physician had ignored his own condition to protect his patient.

“Old Man Dong.”

“This old man is fine, so do not worry.”

The Divine Physician gave me a faint smile, then looked at me with concern.

“More importantly, I am worried about Young Master Jin’s condition. This old man will go to you, so just wait a moment—”

Instead of answering, I reached out a hand.

Formless internal energy flowed from my fingertips and gently pushed away the Divine Physician, who had been trying to approach me.

“Y-Young Master Jin?”

Before the Divine Physician could finish speaking, a streak of Finger Qi shot through the air from somewhere beyond us and pierced the wall.

It had passed through the exact spot where the Divine Physician’s head had been only moments ago.

Shhk! Pfft!

Had I been even one second later—no, even a quarter of a second—the Divine Physician would already have been dead.

I gestured for the physician, who had frozen like a rock, to get out of the way. Then I turned my head and stared straight ahead.

“That’s pretty low, going after a helpless old man.”

Beyond the clouds of dust splitting apart like the Red Sea, the Western Heaven Demon Lord finally appeared.

His chilling voice slipped between his lips.

“Low? You were the one who threw away the opportunity I gave you.”

The relaxed attitude and refined tone he had always maintained had disappeared long ago. I could feel the concentrated killing intent in his eyes as he stared at me.

“You touched something you should not have touched.”

“Fuck, anyone listening to you would think the Myriad-Poison Ring was an erogenous zone. You’re so old you can’t even get it up anymore, asshole.”

“……!”

I used White Flame as a cane and pushed myself to my feet.

Every bone in my body throbbed as if it were about to break. Judging by the pain, some of them probably had cracked. On top of that, I had suffered a severe Internal Injury.

Damn it. He was already a monster to begin with.

For a moment, I regretted provoking him.

I had never imagined that a Supreme Peak master like the Western Heaven Demon Lord would resort without hesitation to tactics fit for some Third Rate dark-path thug.

But…

“This must be that important to you. Right?”

I shook the Myriad-Poison Ring I had just taken out of my Inventory.

The Western Heaven Demon Lord’s footsteps, which had seemed impossible to stop, came to an abrupt halt.

“Hand it over at once—”

“You want me to give it back? That won’t be difficult.”

“You intend to negotiate?”

“You catch on fast.”

The Myriad-Poison Ring was nothing more than a strange ring to me—no more and no less.

But it was different for the Western Heaven Demon Lord.

He considered this tiny ring more important than the destruction of the Sichuan Tang Clan, Qingcheng, and Emei.

Just like the Blood Lord, who had desperately taken the Green Jade Buddha Staff with him even while losing an arm.

“Take your lackeys outside and withdraw at once. Otherwise, you will never see the Myriad-Poison Ring again.”

“Never see it again…”

The Western Heaven Demon Lord brushed back his hair, stiff with blood.

After a brief silence, a low voice slipped from his lips.

“Ridiculous.”

“What?”

“How could it not be ridiculous? I could simply kill everyone and take it.”

“……”

“Nothing will change. Not you, not your Master, not the Divine Physician. No one can escape death.”

Even if I explained it, the Western Heaven Demon Lord could not properly understand the concepts of subspace or the Inventory.

Perhaps, just as he said, killing me really would cause everything inside my Inventory to spill out.

But the Western Heaven Demon Lord had overlooked one thing.

“Well, that sounds plausible enough. But you should have considered the possibility that I might destroy the Myriad-Poison Ring first.”

I possessed enough grip strength to crumple steel like paper. Even without circulating internal energy, turning this little ring into powder would be easy.

“So don’t get any bright ideas. Back off. If you take even one more step—”

Step.

I could not finish my sentence.

The Western Heaven Demon Lord took a step forward without hesitation and smiled.

“What? Are you flustered?”

He did not wait for my answer. With a face that looked unable to contain its delight, he continued,

“It is truly amusing. You call it a sacred treasure, yet you do not actually believe it is one.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“My mistake. I thought you would understand after hearing that much.”

The smile vanished from the Western Heaven Demon Lord’s lips. His eyes bored into me, filled with scorn and contempt.

“Did you really think a mere human made of flesh and blood could do anything to a sacred treasure imbued with such great power?”

“……!”

I looked down at the Myriad-Poison Ring resting in my palm.

A sacred treasure passed down through the generations of the Sichuan Tang Clan. One of the old legends of the Murim. A strange ring said to detoxify and absorb any poison under heaven.

And…

The Myriad-Poison Ring cannot even be appraised by the System.

Sacred treasure.

The single word flashed through my mind, and my heart seemed to drop into my stomach. Something ran down my back—whether it was blood or cold sweat, I could not tell.

Drip. Drip.

My fist clenched reflexively, and drops of blood fell from it.

Even beneath my terrifying grip, the Myriad-Poison Ring did not bend. Instead, it dug into my palm like a thorn.

“Damn it.”

I muttered under my breath.

There could be no further compromise or retreat.

The Western Heaven Demon Lord took another light step toward me.

“I regret what this means for the Blood Lord, but…”

Tss-tss-tss-tss!

“I will have to kill you.”

The black mist pouring from his entire body swallowed the treatment room.

Pa-pa-pat!

The Western Heaven Demon Lord’s figure vanished.

He erased the distance of several zhang in a single step, then swung his ink-black Sword Force. Solid rock split apart like tofu.

I bent at the waist and avoided the attack, then thrust my spear forward like a fired arrow.

Bang!

The spearhead stabbed into empty air, and compressed air exploded.

The Western Heaven Demon Lord caught the shaft with a hand wreathed in Force and clicked his tongue.

“You still cannot let go.”

At the same time, the tip of his foot struck my wrist.

It was an attack aimed not at the bone, but at an acupoint. Pain like a massive needle stabbing into my veins shot through me, and the spear fell from my grip.

But I did not give up.

I had been prepared for mutual destruction from the beginning.

I could not fall from something like this.

Either he died, or I died.

And if even that was impossible, then we would die together, even if I had to throw away my own life to make it happen.

Without the help of the others, it would not have been strange if I had already died several times.

Now it was time to pay back the debt—with interest.

“Hngh!”

With a shout that was almost a groan, I grabbed the Western Heaven Demon Lord’s ankle.

He let out a roar and struck forward with one palm.

Boom!

A small explosion went off inside my body.

Unpleasant internal energy penetrated deep through bone and flesh, tearing my heart meridian to shreds.

My vision blurred, and the strength drained from my legs.

But the hand wrapped around the Western Heaven Demon Lord’s ankle like a shackle continued moving according to the will and instinct carved into my mind.

Krrrk!

I saw the Western Heaven Demon Lord’s eyes widen from the pain.

His Body-Protecting Qi could block my Spear Energy, but it could not prevent his ankle from breaking under pure physical strength.

Damn it, my hand…

Of course, I had to pay the price for my own reckless act.

The hand that had seized his Body-Protecting Qi barehanded was blackened as though it had been shocked by high-voltage electricity. On top of that, I had suffered another Internal Injury that worsened my already terrible condition.

At the moment my grip loosened against my will and my body staggered—

“GRAH!”

A belated scream burst from the Western Heaven Demon Lord’s mouth.

His ankle had been wrung like a piece of laundry beneath my tremendous grip. White bone showed through, and the torn flesh was drenched in blood.

No matter how far someone had advanced into the Supreme Peak realm, everyone had limits.

The Western Heaven Demon Lord had displayed unbelievable martial prowess up until now, but he did not possess infinite internal energy or stamina.

And unlike me, he could not recover through Level Ups.

This is my only chance.

I charged at the staggering Western Heaven Demon Lord.

I endured the pain that made it feel as though my limbs were being torn apart and drew up internal energy. It flowed toward both my fists, then flared into flames.

Whoooooosh!

“Jin Taekyung!”

Heat filled the space.

The Western Heaven Demon Lord stood right in front of me, calling my name with bloodshot eyes.

His hand was empty, having dropped his sword from the pain, and it was too late for him to block my attack.

If I reached out—if I merely extended my hand—I could inflict a devastating blow on the Western Heaven Demon Lord.

But then. Then why…

Why did I feel this way?

I was seized by a strange sensation.

The world had slowed down.

Everything moving within it was so slow that it made me want to yawn.

It was the same sensation I had felt when facing Hwangbo Eom, the Taeeul Merciless Sword.

But this time, the sensation was incomparably sharper. An alarm rang in my mind, and at the same time, I sensed something chilling digging into the back of my neck from behind.

Ah.

So this was it.

A single realization struck my mind.

I withdrew the hand reaching toward the Western Heaven Demon Lord and twisted my head to the side.

At that moment, time—which had briefly seemed to have its pause button pressed—began moving again.

Swoooooosh!

It was as though a dam had burst. Several things happened at once.

The Western Heaven Demon Lord’s sword, wrapped in ink-black Sword Force, grazed the back of my neck.

When I thrust both palms forward again, the Western Heaven Demon Lord’s fist smashed into my side.

KRAK!

My ribs broke, and blood surged up my throat.

I was sent flying at bullet-like speed, then raised my head with difficulty.

Through my distant, hazy vision, I saw the Western Heaven Demon Lord standing upright.

Perhaps it was because of that strange sensation.

Or perhaps it was because of the pain.

The face I saw was filled not with joy or satisfaction, but with shock and fury.

“You dodged my qi-controlled sword?”

Yes, the art of controlling a sword with qi.

I had forgotten that he could do that, too.

I laughed weakly as I spat out blood.

The Western Heaven Demon Lord’s eyes trembled as he watched me.

“Enlightenment, even in a moment like this… You are someone who must never be allowed to live.”

Enlightenment.

So that was what this was.

I flexed my fingers.

The flow of qi and the sensations running through me were clearer than ever.

Even the pain that already ruled my entire body.

But it’s too late.

Step. Step.

The Western Heaven Demon Lord’s approaching footsteps rang like thunder.

I faced his steadily approaching figure with hazy eyes.

Amid the darkness filled with falling stone dust and clouds of dust, the Western Heaven Demon Lord seemed to ripple as a darkness even deeper than the surrounding shadows.

“Supernatural powers. You truly were such a being.”

I bared my bloodstained teeth and laughed.

A wavering voice, like that of a drunk, slipped past my lips.

“Fuck off, you… fucking moron.”

“Farewell.”

The Western Heaven Demon Lord’s eyes flashed red in the darkness.

His hand, wrapped in deep darkness, rose high before slowly descending toward the crown of my head.

Whoooooosh.

And then—

“Do not touch even a hair on him.”

Fwoosh!

Flames bloomed in the darkness, accompanied by a hoarse voice, as though its owner had not spoken in a very long time.

Over the Western Heaven Demon Lord’s rigid shoulder, someone was rising to his feet.

“Take your hands off what belongs to this old man.”

A small frame.

But a presence as immense as a giant.

I laughed, and the Western Heaven Demon Lord groaned.

“The Fire King…!”