Chapter 179 - The Black Flame Dragon That Swallows the Sea of Blood (9)

Ilgak broke away from Moyong Jaehwa and trembled as he watched Jin Sowoon walk toward him.

'Truly... you truly broke through that deadly path (死路). Truly...'

Ilgak did not know why he was feeling such an emotion, but it was similar to what he had felt when he attained enlightenment before the Buddha in the past.

"You really came..."

At Ilgak's words, Jin Sowoon tilted his head.

"What do you mean?"

"... I truly did not expect you to come all the way here."

"I said I would come, so of course I came."

Ilgak's lips trembled.

"... Is that so?"

Jin Sowoon answered apathetically, as if it wasn't a big deal.

"Yes. Is there anything special about that?"

Did this person not know how difficult it was to do what he just blurted out, or how incredible the actions he took for granted truly were?

'Is his vessel itself just on a different level?'

Jin Sowoon pointed at the blood-robed figures with that same Black Dragon Sword and spoke.

"Academy student Ilgak, can you continue?"

"..."

"If you can't, it's fine to fall back. They look like they're going to slowly retreat anyway."

"If you are doing it, Benefactor Jin, then I must naturally do it as well."

"Hah... That damn Benefactor this, Benefactor that."

Shaking his head, Jin Sowoon stepped forward as if it were only natural.

Following behind him, Ilgak momentarily saw his back emitting a radiant light.

'Shakyamuni...?'

When he rubbed his eyes and looked forward again, Jin Sowoon was looking back at him with a sullen face.

"Aren't you going?"

"I-I'm going."

For some reason, Ilgak felt as if his confused mind had been refreshingly cleared.

* * *

The academy students, having regained their senses, could not wrap their minds around the sight before them.

Moyong Jaehwa, who had been looked down upon for following around a mere disciple of the Taiyi Sect despite being the eldest son of the Moyong Noble Clan, one of the Five Great Noble Clans.

He stood alone with his bow, blocking the blood-robed figures.

Every time an arrow was fired, those brutal blood-robed figures would shrink back in fear, and the array masters casting wicked sorcery hid their noisy bells deep inside their robes for fear of becoming targets.

Just when they thought they might be able to survive with his help.

'It' appeared.

A 'demonic beast' that should not exist in this world.

A 'jiangshi', said to stop crying children with its mere folklore.

Despair was greater than wonder or curiosity.

Watching Ilgak, the current strongest of the Orthodox Council, helplessly pushed back by the jiangshi, they thought their lives were over.

This time, 'he' appeared.

'Jin Sowoon?'

The culprit who had shattered the traditional status of the Murim Academy's Orthodox Council as the elite of the elites.

He, who should have been carrying out his academic schedule at the Murim Academy, had appeared here.

No one felt any hope upon seeing him.

Because they didn't think Jin Sowoon could do anything about the current situation, which even the elders, let alone themselves, couldn't handle.

Jin Sowoon's appearance should have been nothing more than a device to make them feel the terror of death even more acutely.

'That should have been the case...'

It battered and broke.

That bizarre, terrifying Iron Jiangshi was being swung around like a toy.

The jiangshi, which had been unleashing lethal moves emotionlessly, bared its teeth and moved desperately.

It was a shocking sight.

Enough to make even the blood-robed figures, who had trusted in the jiangshi, panic and move.

Enough to keep the academy students, suffering from the sorcery's side effects of shaking insides and ringing heads, unable to look away.

And finally, the jiangshi's body was severed.

"My word..."

"How in the world..."

"Amitabha."

Gasps of surprise and exclamation erupted from all around.

Jin Sowoon, who they thought would ultimately remain beneath them no matter how good his grades and skills were.

He alone had accomplished what none of them could do.

"Hah..."

More than the joy of surviving a life-threatening crisis.

People couldn't wipe the blank expressions off their faces due to the shock of having the stereotypes deeply ingrained in their minds overturned.

"Hey, you idiot!"

Jin Sowoon screamed at the top of his lungs while looking at Nam Hwaseong.

"You need to infuse energy in moderation! I mean, why? Why don't you just shoot a palm blast into their Middle Dantian while you're at it!"

"F-Fuck... I have internal injuries right now... COUGH, COUGH!"

"Did you think I wouldn't know that the efficacy of the Samwon Sect's internal qi arts is completely focused on recovery!"

"... T-That's our sect's secret, how did you..."

"Do it right! And the Demon-Subduing Talisman you tore up will be deducted from your share, so keep that in mind."

"You son of a bitch! Why are you deducting that from my share?!"

Jin Sowoon, who had severed the Iron Jiangshi and forced the blood-robed squad to retreat, was now helping the Orthodox Council academy students as if it were only natural.

As if it were his own job to begin with.

He went to each of the people who had cursed him in the past, infused them with qi, and gave them medicine.

Not the slightest bit of awkwardness was evident in his actions.

Rather, the ones feeling awkward were those receiving his help.

Among them were those who had desperately interfered with Jin Sowoon during the past standard exam.

And what about during the Soul-Extinguishing Array incident?

Jin Sowoon had willingly walked into that absolute array of death to fix the mess they had caused.

Such a person was now nonchalantly taking care of the academy students.

"... Monk Ilgak."

An academy student belonging to a lay sect of the Shaolin Sect asked Ilgak.

"Do you know the reason why he is acting like that?"

"Reason... What do you mean?"

"He and we are practically enemies. So why is he helping us like this? Could it be that he intends to use this as an excuse to put the Orthodox Council in his debt?"

"..."

Ilgak's brow furrowed.

His two eyes filled with disappointment.

"Is that truly all you see?"

"... Pardon?"

An expression of someone who didn't even know what he did wrong.

Ilgak let out a long sigh.

"I no longer know what I was trying to do in the name of justice all this time."

"... Monk, what do you mean by that?"

"Do you know the Buddha's teachings?"

"O-Of course. I belong to a lay sect of the Shaolin Sect..."

As soon as the word 'Shaolin' came out, Ilgak's heavy voice cut him off.

"Then why do you not live according to the Buddha's teachings!"

"Y-Yes?"

Ilgak, who was called the Compassionate Buddha (慈佛) because he never lost his relaxed smile, now had a face as stiffly hardened as a piece of iron.

"Even if you read the scriptures ten thousand times and achieve enlightenment a thousand times, what use is all that studying if you do not put it into practice!"

"M-Monk."

"Benefactor Jin is a disciple of a Daoist sect, yet he practices the life of the Buddha. How is it that you, claiming to have received the Shaolin Sect's teachings, only harbor thoughts like a demon!"

At Ilgak's scolding, the lay sect academy student hurriedly bowed his head.

"I-I apologize. Monk. I-I was short-sighted."

"It is said that a pig only sees pigs, and a Buddha only sees Buddhas."

Ilgak's eyes flashed sharply as he looked at the academy student.

"Please reconsider what kind of eyes you are using to view Benefactor Jin."

"..."

Ilgak, glaring at the speechless academy student, shifted his gaze to Jin Sowoon.

And a clear light settled in his eyes.

"Benefactor Jin... is a noble person (貴人)."

* * *

Having roughly sorted out the academy students, I had climbed up a nearby peak.

"Pant... pant... pant... W-Why did we come up here?"

And that was with a straggler in tow who couldn't even live up to his large build.

"If you're going to struggle that much, why did you follow me?"

Nam Hwaseong yelled, making an aggrieved expression like a puppy deceived by its owner.

"Fuck... Then what was I supposed to awkwardly do among the Orthodox Council members!"

He followed me just for that reason?

"You could have stayed with Moyong Jaehwa."

"Do you think it'd be comfortable with Moyong Jaehwa?"

"Anyway... this is why you should have behaved properly."

"..."

I shook my head and looked ahead.

In the distance, I could see the Corpse Mountain Blood Cult's squad that had retreated backwards.

Having lost the Iron Jiangshi, those guys probably didn't know what to do right now.

Since they had lost one of the only three jiangshis in the Blood Cult, their future plans must have been greatly derailed.

"Don't tell me, are you planning to counterattack?"

"Counterattack, my ass."

That was nonsense.

Even without the Iron Jiangshi, the Blood Cult was still the Blood Cult.

Unless the Murim Alliance's main force arrived, they were an enemy that couldn't be faced with just the academy students who were poisoned by sorcery.

Right now, the best option was to take the academy students and flee back as quickly as possible.

"Then why did you come all the way here?"

"It'd be a shame to just let them go."

"What?"

"Since we came all this way, we have to deal a blow to the bastards who threw Jianghu into chaos."

"..."

Nam Hwaseong looked at me with strange eyes.

"What?"

"Did you happen to get poisoned by corpse poison (屍毒) while fighting the jiangshi?"

What on earth was he planning to use that head of his for?

"This is why they say it's impossible to communicate with an oversized crow-tit."

"... Don't tell me you're talking about me?"

Of course, I didn't expect such an opportunity to come from the very beginning either.

To think they would send one of the only three Iron Jiangshis along with the vanguard.

'That must mean the Blood Sea Jade (血海玉) is here.'

The reason the Blood Demon Sect, one of the nine branches of the Demonic Cult, broke away from the Demonic Cult fifty years ago was precisely because the Blood Sea Jade had been completed.

The true qi of the Blood Sea that past Blood Demons passed down to the next Blood Demon before dying.

The Blood Sea Jade was the single essence formed by that true qi of the Blood Sea being passed down over five hundred years.

'It's also the reason the Blood Cult, which hasn't mastered the Corpse Demon Necromancy, was able to control the Iron Jiangshi.'

The presence of the Iron Jiangshi meant that the Blood Sea Jade was here.

And I had no intention of missing such a good opportunity.

In the midst of this serious situation, a laugh slipped out without me realizing.

'... I didn't expect to encounter the material for the Red Light Sword, one of the Fifteen (十五) Divine Artifacts, here!'

Originally, the Blood Sea Jade had been nothing more than one of the spoils of war for the Murim Alliance after ending the Sichuan Blood Massacre.

The members of the annihilated Corpse Mountain Blood Cult possessed all sorts of bizarre things, from wicked items for various sorceries and illusion arrays to objects created while attempting to manufacture jiangshis.

The Blood Sea Jade had been treated as just one of those things.

Ignorant of its true value, the Murim Alliance had tossed the Blood Sea Jade into a storehouse and neglected it.

Later, after Jang Dowon entered the Alliance, he recognized the true value of the Blood Sea Jade and created the divine artifact (神器), the Red Light Sword, using that wicked item.

It was an item so hard to give up that I had even thought, 'Should I work in the Mantong Bureau for a while later just to secure the Blood Sea Jade?'

'Qi amplification... Qi amplification...'

My mind began to spin rapidly.

Anyway, someone among them must have the Blood Sea Jade right now.

And I had to quickly siphon off the Blood Sea Jade before the Murim Alliance completely conquered the Blood Cult.

"Let's go down."

"... Huh?"

"Why? Do you want to stay up here?"

"Fuck... If I knew we were going down this fast..."

Why does that bastard always step up to do things he wasn't asked to do, only to complain about it?

Descending from the peak, I approached the academy students.

I had to quickly reorganize them and send them back to the academy.

First, they needed to leave quickly so I could handle the aftermath with peace of mind.

I would send them off first, and then secure the Blood Sea Jade.

And then I would send the Blood Sea Jade to Jang Dowon to craft the divine artifact, the Red Light Sword...

Just as I was envisioning such a brilliant future, Nam Hwaseong nudged me with his elbow.

"Jin Sowoon... Isn't something strange?"

Only then did I lift my head to look at the academy students.

"You bastard! Jin Sowoon!"

Someone shouting angrily appeared from one side.

A middle-aged man slowly approaching with trembling steps while being supported by an academy student.

'Daoist Myeonghyeon.'

He began pointing his finger with a face full of wrath.

"You dare play tricks against the Mount Cangshan Sect? What are you all doing! Subdue that bastard at once and drag him before me!"

For a man who had belatedly broken free from the sorcery and didn't even have his wits about him, the first thing he said upon waking up was...

"Haha, unbelievable."

I slowly brought my hand to the Black Dragon Sword.

There was someone else I needed to beat down besides the Iron Jiangshi.