Chapter 367

The signs had already been there.

There was more than enough reason.

Rumble, rumble, rumble!

The ground split apart, and the ceiling shook. The underground prison that had symbolized the darkness of the Sichuan Tang Clan for hundreds of years could not withstand the aftermath of the successive battles and was collapsing.

Along with the countless vengeful spirits of prisoners who had died in the prison—and the three people who were still alive and well.

“……What the fucking hell is this?”

Jeok Cheongang looked around with an incredulous expression.

Before he had closed his eyes, he had definitely been in a forest. When he opened them, he was in a cave that might or might not have been a prison.

And that wasn’t all. He had dragged his still-ailing old body into a fight to the death against some unknown son of a bitch.

Fine. He could understand things up to that point. Jin Taekyung passing out the moment the battle ended? That, too, was entirely possible.

But…

“No, isn’t this taking things too far? Fuck.”

This was the kind of situation that made profanity slip out on its own.

Where was this place? Who was I? Why was the ground splitting apart, and why were boulders the size of people raining down from overhead?

For a moment, Jeok Cheongang was overcome by deep regret and nearly ascended to immortality.

“Goddamn it.”

He had no idea what was happening, but first he had to get himself to safety.

Once his thoughts straightened out, his movements followed with the speed of lightning.

First, I need to take care of Taekyung… But who the hell is this old man?

Ah, hell. Whatever.

With unconscious Jin Taekyung and the Divine Physician slung over his shoulders, Jeok Cheongang hurriedly shot forward.

Sssshhhk! Boom!

A massive rock that fell from the ceiling grazed Jeok Cheongang by a hair and smashed into the ground. But that was only the beginning.

Boom! Boom! Rumble!

With every step he took, bizarre rocks came pouring down like a rain shower. The spectacle made Jeok Cheongang’s flesh crawl.

If I make one mistake, I might end up buried here.

It clearly wasn’t a small cave.

If a cliff weighing tens of millions of geun¹ came down on their heads, then even Jeok Cheongang could not guarantee that he would survive.

Especially not with the aftereffects of his injuries still lingering.

“Cough.”

His figure, shooting forward over the cracked ground, staggered. Jeok Cheongang swallowed down the blood rising into his throat and smiled bitterly.

What a sorry state I’m in.

His limbs were stiff as stone from having been unable to move for so long. He felt extreme hunger and exhaustion.

After clashing hands with some monstrous bastard who had crawled out of who-knew-where in this condition, it was only natural for his body to have deteriorated even further. If he had not possessed any internal energy, he would have collapsed long ago.

Rumble!

At that moment, the vibrations grew larger and more violent. Jeok Cheongang gritted his teeth.

All right, I get it, so stop rushing me. I’ll get out somehow.

There was someone he had to save. His one and only Disciple, who had become light and warmth when Jeok Cheongang wandered through cold, dark memories.

Yes, my one and only Disciple. My Disciple, no doubt about it.

His grip tightened on the two men. It felt as if some unknown energy had surged from deep within his body.

Flamefire Path.

Jeok Cheongang’s figure, which had paused for a moment, shot forward as a single streak of flame.

Whooosh!

The clash between Jin Taekyung and the Western Heaven Demon Lord had caused the underground prison to collapse, but it had actually helped Jeok Cheongang.

The inside had been reduced to a wasteland by the clash. The walls that had blocked the underground prison like a maze had all collapsed, leaving it as one enormous cavern.

There!

As Jeok Cheongang ran forward, using his movement technique, his eyes flashed.

Every place had an entrance or exit.

At the place where he felt a faint breeze blowing from somewhere, Jeok Cheongang saw the entrance to the underground prison—barely wide enough for one person to pass through.

Hurry, hurry…!

Jeok Cheongang flung himself forward with every ounce of strength he had.

He stepped across the ground as it turned over beneath him and dodged the rocks falling from overhead.

He passed the corpse of the Heavenly Power Demon, the old man lying dead as though asleep with a peaceful smile on his face, and shot farther and faster.

Within a short span of time that felt like an eternity, Jeok Cheongang was finally about to take the last step toward the prison entrance.

“Made it…!”

Rumble! Rumble!

A vibration and roar as loud as—or even louder than—the sum of every tremendous sound that had come before struck all at once.

The ceiling collapsed.

Massive rocks accumulated over hundreds, even thousands, of years crushed down upon the entrance to the underground prison.

And then—

“Get the hell out of my way!”

With an azure dragon’s roar that shook the underground prison, Jeok Cheongang drove his fist, filled with blue-white flames, into the center of the rocks.

Kwaaang!

The superheated energy contained in the Flame-Extinguishing Divine Fist smashed and melted the rocks.

After a roar that sounded as if the sky itself had split apart, a blast of hot air suddenly swept through the underground prison.

“What is this?”

A middle-aged black-clad man who had hurried over after hearing the roar swallowed a groan at the sight before him.

Whoooosh!

The collapse of nature itself. The cliff hundreds of zhang high behind the Sichuan Tang Clan was slowly sinking down.

It was an utterly shocking sight even from more than a hundred zhang away, but there was an even greater problem.

“D-Deputy Captain. That place is where the Demon Lord is…”

The underground prison!

The middle-aged black-clad man, the deputy captain of Dark Heaven, felt a chill run down his spine at his subordinate’s words.

The Western Heaven Demon Lord. If something had happened to him…

We’re all finished.

Cold sweat rolled down his forehead. Even when the Sichuan Tang Clan had used Heaven-Shaking Thunder, he had never felt this tense.

He gave an urgent order.

“Gather every brother scattered throughout the area immediately!”

“E-Everyone? But there are still Tang Clan members—”

“Those bastards aren’t the problem. Hurry!”

“Y-Yes, sir!”

The subordinate, frozen stiff, pulled a firework from inside his clothes and lit it. With a pop, a red streak of light burst in the air.

At the emergency signal, the black-clad men scattered throughout the Sichuan Tang Clan began gathering one after another.

A group numbering well over a hundred assembled only a brief instant later.

“Deputy Captain. Please give us your orders.”

The deputy captain wanted to smash the skull of the man who had just spoken. The First Captain, First Fiend, was likewise nowhere to be seen, despite the emergency signal.

Damn it.

The deputy captain’s throat bobbed heavily as he stared at the cliff, which was still collapsing.

The order he was about to give was tantamount to suicide. He was telling them to walk beneath the collapsing cliff and find the Western Heaven Demon Lord.

But there was no other choice. He had to give the order.

“The Demon Lord is in there. I, the deputy captain, will lead from the front, so not one person is to—”

Just as the deputy captain struggled to continue his command—

KABOOM!

With an unknown roar, the rocks forming a small hill exploded outward.

At the same time, everyone, including the deputy captain, saw it.

A large figure bursting up through the rocks.

“Demon Lord! The Demon Lord has come ou—!”

Someone’s shout scattered unfinished.

Splat! Crack-crack-crack!

The figure bounced a considerable distance from the cliff like a cannonball before rolling across muddy water and sludge and finally coming to a stop.

An old man had two people larger than his own build clutched tightly beneath his arms. Jeok Cheongang looked up at the sky filled with dark clouds and drew in the breath he had been holding.

“Phaaah!”

Fresh air and rainwater seeped in through his nose and mouth.

The refreshing sensation felt as if it were washing even his soul clean. His internal energy was already exhausted, and his body felt as though it had been smashed to pieces, but Jeok Cheongang smiled with relief at having rescued Jin Taekyung.

Then, in the next instant, he staggeringly raised his upper body—and froze.

“……!”

A group stood tall just over twenty zhang away, staring at him.

There were well over a hundred black-clad men, all holding bloodstained weapons.

Jeok Cheongang muttered like a groan.

“……Goddamn it. No matter how I look at them, they don’t seem like good people.”

A reply came that turned his guess into certainty.

“They are called Dark Heaven.”

Jeok Cheongang was not surprised even when the voice suddenly came from behind him.

He had endured every kind of hardship, and he had only just escaped the threat of being crushed to death. He had known from the changed breathing that the unknown old man he had saved had awakened.

“I see. Dark Heaven. I knew it was those sons of bitches.”

After muttering a curse, Jeok Cheongang continued without turning around.

“Do you know where we are?”

“This is the Sichuan Tang Clan. Unfortunately, it appears the battle has already been decided.”

“……This is driving me crazy.”

Jeok Cheongang ended his assessment with that short sentence.

He did not have much time to wonder how this had happened.

“What’s your name?”

“Dong Feng. My name is Dong Feng.”

“Do you have a sobriquet?”

“I am not a martial artist, so it would be strange for me to have one.”

“Your dantian was damaged. You’re not a martial artist?”

“It was only a little training I picked up because my Master pestered me into it. Medicine was where my heart lay.”

Jeok Cheongang’s eyebrow twitched.

Even though he had suffered a serious injury, the old man’s calm manner and speech carried an air of wisdom. Why did Jeok Cheongang suddenly think of a physician whose medical arts were said to have reached divine heights?

“The Divine Physician?”

“I am merely an old medical apprentice of no consequence.”

Jeok Cheongang let out a hollow laugh at the Divine Physician’s answer. He finally felt as though he understood what had happened.

“Thank you. For waking this old man who was nearly dead.”

“You rose on your own. That was how strong your will was, Sir Jeok.”

“I had no choice. I woke up because of some reckless fool.”

“That very reckless fool crossed the Central Plains to find me and asked me to help. He said he would do anything if I could save you, Sir Jeok.”

Jeok Cheongang turned his head to the side. Jin Taekyung’s form, collapsed and covered in blood and mud, entered his eyes.

“……What a foolish boy.”

If only he could wake that child right now, he wanted to wake him.

Perhaps they could have one final conversation.

But Jin Taekyung had exhausted every bit of his strength. He would not be able to rise. Even without the Divine Physician telling him, Jeok Cheongang knew that much.

Yes. Perhaps… perhaps this is for the best.

Jeok Cheongang slowly rose to his feet. Ignoring the pain stabbing through his entire body, he spoke toward the Divine Physician behind him.

“Got any strength in you?”

“I could in my younger days. Before I met my Master, I worked as a carpenter.”

“That’s an unusual past for the Divine Physician. What about now?”

“I am seventy years old.”

“Your dantian is damaged, so it won’t be easy, but squeeze out every last bit of strength you have. Run as far away as possible.”

“With Young Master Jin?”

“I’m glad you understand.”

After a brief silence, the Divine Physician spoke.

“Sir Jeok… You intend to throw your life away.”

“Throw it away?”

A faint smile appeared at the corner of Jeok Cheongang’s mouth. His gaze slowly turned toward the approaching black-clad men.

“Do you know why a flame dies out?”

Jeok Cheongang did not wait for the Divine Physician’s answer.

With each step he took, muddy water splashed. The rain that had seemed as though it would fall forever had stopped at some point.

His voice continued, refreshed and unburdened.

“Because there is nothing left to burn. That is why it slowly dies out atop the ashes.”

Jeok Cheongang had finished preparing to kindle his final flame.

He felt no fear or anger toward the death approaching him.

He only felt regret. He would no longer be able to remain at his Disciple’s side.

“I’m leaving Taekyung in your care.”

It was at that moment, as Jeok Cheongang stepped forward with his heartfelt request, that the Divine Physician spoke.

“After watching countless births, aging, sickness, and deaths, I found myself wondering. Does a place called the underworld exist? If it does, who is that fellow called Yama? And if I go there, will I be able to meet the patients I failed to save?”

“……?”

“Whenever I asked myself that, my Master would tell me this: ‘The underworld must be full because of all the people you sent ahead. You should ascend to the celestial realm and spend your days with the immortals.’”

The Divine Physician looked at Jeok Cheongang as he spoke in a quiet voice.

“Sir Jeok. The underworld is full. Please wait a little longer.”

“……!”

At that moment, Jeok Cheongang felt as if every hair on his body had stood on end, and he raised his head.

High in the sky, a boy stood bathed in sunlight streaming through a break in the retreating dark clouds.

No. That isn’t right. That man is…!

Those eyes were clear and bright like a boy’s, yet the gaze itself was ancient and seasoned, betraying no emotion whatsoever.

Eyes Jeok Cheongang had encountered only once, a very long time ago. That was why the sensation was all the more impossible to forget.

Remembering someone from the boy’s appearance, Jeok Cheongang cried out in shock.

“The Slaughter Saint…!”