Chapter 49 - The First-Rate Warrior Peering Into the Darkness (2)

If I were to point out the reasons for our defeat in the Orthodox-Demonic Great War, I could list countless ones, but the most fatal of them all was 'demonic qi.'

The countless demonic arts originating from the Heavenly Demon Scripture, the very foundation of the Heavenly Demon Cult.

The unique demonic qi emitted by those demonic arts was far more fatal to the people attacked by it than to those who practiced them.

The only things capable of resisting demonic qi were high Daoist power or innate qi.

However, amidst the many changes over five hundred years, Murim history had come to view deep mental cultivation as something akin to the trickery of heterodox sects, so they focused solely on cultivating Martial Moves over Daoist power, and internal energy over innate qi.

And the result of that was the destruction of the Orthodox faction's Murim.

Faint demonic qi could easily be driven out with vast internal energy, but the instant that balance collapsed, the demonic qi would devour the body in a flash.

Demonic qi is more fatal than poison.

Because there was no specific antidote, there was no choice but to force it out using the physical capabilities of the poisoned individual.

"At this rate, he will die."

Setting aside the wounds all over his body, he didn't have a single ounce of energy left to drive out the demonic qi right now.

If I had to think of the best solution right now, it would be to go to Wolhyang's grave and wash his body with innate qi, but...

If he moved even a little, there was a high chance he would die from the internal shock.

I had the Fire Monkey's core on hand, but if I fed it to him now while his energy was so depleted, his internal organs would melt entirely.

"Is there no way?"

I wanted to save him no matter what.

I wanted to offer true comfort to Moyong Seol, who had sought me out to talk during my most difficult nights.

Although it was a future that had not yet come, I hoped it would be a consolation for that time, which was the past to me.

"Hmm?"

In that instant, the Heavenly Demon Supreme Ring I wore on my right side—no, the item that had now become the Red Phoenix Ring—was faintly trembling.

Since I didn't know what effects it had all this time, I had merely scraped off the words 'Heavenly Demon Supreme Ring' engraved on the inside and kept it with me.

And miraculously, as the Red Phoenix Ring faintly trembled, it was slowly drawing in Moyong Sangwon's demonic qi.

Only then did I realize what the effect of the Red Phoenix Ring was.

The Red Phoenix Ring, which hadn't stirred no matter how much internal energy I infused into it, only reacted to demonic qi.

I slowly pushed my internal energy into the Red Phoenix Ring.

Then, the vibration of the trembling Red Phoenix Ring gradually grew stronger, and it actually began to slowly draw in the demonic qi encroaching on Moyong Sangwon's body.

I worried that the drawn-in demonic qi might end up poisoning my own body, but fortunately, it only pulled in and swallowed the demonic qi without emitting it back out.

"Urgh."

How much time had passed?

Moyong Sangwon vomited out dead blood tainted by demonic qi like a fountain.

"Phew."

Seeing his complexion slowly return, I could finally take a breather.

Fortunately, all the demonic qi that had been encroaching on Moyong Sangwon's entire body was eliminated.

However, due to his still-faint energy, I couldn't carelessly move Moyong Sangwon.

"He'll need to undergo recuperation here for a while... But I don't have a spiritual elixir to boost his energy right now..."

I scoured through the Jianghu Spiritual Elixir Record in my head to find a spiritual elixir capable of treating Moyong Sangwon, but the closest spiritual elixir was a staggering six days' journey away.

"It's still too risky to leave and fetch a physician."

Seeing him intermittently opening and closing his eyes, he was in a state where it wouldn't be strange if he stopped breathing at any moment.

If I left to prepare medicine, I might only return to see a corpse.

Just then, Moyong Sangwon regained a bit of consciousness.

With a slightly clearer voice than before, he tried to convey his will.

"I... I have a favor to ask..."

Seeing him try to lift his head, I spoke in alarm.

"Please stay still for a moment. If you try to move carelessly now, your condition could worsen."

"No... I'm already..."

I covered the mouth of the patient who refused to listen.

Conserving even a little bit of energy was the best option right now.

"I suppose it's fortunate that I at least have this."

I took out a short blade from my robes.

Since it was an item I occasionally used while sleeping rough, the blade was sharpened to a fine edge.

And in one breath, I slashed my palm.

Most of the spiritual elixirs I had consumed thus far had been converted into internal energy through the Taiyi True Scripture.

Even so, because the amount I had eaten was so vast, the energy of the spiritual elixirs still lingered inside my body.

Furthermore, since I had already digested them once and their toxicity had been removed, it was perfectly safe to give to a patient.

"Please live. If you die, that person will have nowhere to lean on when times are hard."

With a desperate heart, I squeezed the blood from my hand.

* * *

Contemplating his end, Moyong Sangwon reminisced about the past.

Although he had talent and enthusiasm for martial arts, his son Moyong Jaehwa, who was always slightly lacking compared to his older sister, was a source of constant worry for him.

He had fed him countless spiritual elixirs, but perhaps due to his innate constitution, his internal energy increased while his constitution itself remained unchanged.

During that time, a renowned physician invited from the Murim Alliance checked Moyong Jaehwa's pulse and clicked his tongue, saying he had consumed spiritual elixirs that did not suit his body.

According to the renowned physician, he lacked Fire energy for a male body, causing a state of physical disharmony, and if he were to consume a spiritual elixir brimming with Fire energy, he would gain an unimaginably fierce and strong physique.

Afterward, he spread rumors far and wide and spent wealth to obtain a Fire-attribute spiritual elixir, but since it was just before the Murim Academy's exams, the supply of spiritual elixirs had dried up.

Then, upon hearing reliable information that a Fire Monkey had been spotted in Mount Huang, Moyong Sangwon personally took action.

He entered Mount Huang, where the Fire Monkey had been sighted, alongside two escort warriors, and after the trouble of camping in the mountains for several weeks, they finally found the Fire Monkey.

Succeeding in cornering the Fire Monkey with his two escort warriors, Moyong Sangwon ultimately managed to obtain the Fire Monkey's core.

The moment he thought all his worries were resolved.

Unidentified individuals ambushed them.

At first, Moyong Sangwon didn't think much of their ambush.

He merely thought they were small fry aiming for the Fire Monkey's core.

'W-What on earth are these martial arts?!'

Their dizzying martial arts, which operated on a completely different trajectory from the martial arts of the Central Plains, and the unidentified energy that ate away at his body as if he had been poisoned.

Seeing the escort warriors who tried to protect him instantly die while vomiting blood, he felt the looming presence of death for the first time in his life.

He fled to a nameless mountain with a desperate resolve, but he was ultimately surrounded by the attackers with a thousand-fathom cliff to his back.

"Who the hell are you bastards?! Do you dare pull this stunt knowing who I am?!"

He tried speaking to extract any information about his opponents, but the attackers merely carried out their assault in silence.

In the end, Moyong Sangwon threw his body down the thousand-fathom cliff, and he had been dying at the bottom of the precipice, afflicted by whatever the attackers had poisoned him with.

How many days and nights had passed like that?

["Father, I am anxious. How about you do not go?"]

The sorrowful face of his daughter, who had worried for his safety as he left the noble clan, came to mind.

He had laughed it off, telling her that she was worrying too much over nothing when she was all grown up and soon to be married.

But now, he felt he would pay any price just to see her one more time.

Through his distantly fading consciousness, some figure was rappelling down the valley on a rope.

And the moment the person who had descended like that rummaged through his clothes and discovered the Fire Monkey's core.

Was it because his daughter's face had come to mind?

Moyong Sangwon ended up doing something he shouldn't have.

He unwittingly revealed his family name.

Moyong Sangwon felt a premonition of the end.

'Haa, how stupid of me. To bring death upon myself like this.'

The Fire Monkey's core was a spiritual elixir so precious it ranked among the top ten spiritual elixirs in Jianghu.

There was no way a warrior capable of descending the valley wouldn't be greedy for the spiritual elixir, and moreover, there was no way he wouldn't eliminate the witness the moment he realized he was a person of the Moyong Noble Clan.

Rather than saving him and returning the Fire Monkey's core to the Moyong Noble Clan...

...eating the Fire Monkey's core to grow stronger himself would bring far greater benefits.

'I brought about my own death through foolishness. I am sorry, Seol-ah... I suppose it will be difficult to see you again.'

The instant he closed his eyes, intuitively sensing the end like that.

The guy began doing something strange.

He started stripping all his clothes off.

'Give me a dignified end! What use are clothes that are already in rags to you?!'

He tried shouting with all his might, but the only sound coming from his mouth was "Ugh- Ugh-".

And just then, as the young man placed his hand on his middle Dantian, he began to feel the stifling energy that had been eating away at his body slowly slipping out.

The toxic aura that had spread throughout his body emerged through his pores, and the toxic aura lingering in his organs surged back up through his mouth.

RETCH!

As he spat out all the toxic aura, his mind snapped back to clarity.

'W-What on earth is this?'

Moyong Sangwon stared at the suspicious guy in front of him... no, the face of the righteous and chivalrous warrior burning with a sense of justice who cared nothing for something like the Fire Monkey's core.

It was a handsome young man who still had traces of youth on his face, yet possessed distinct, manly features that harmonized with a somewhat feminine aspect.

The young man looked at the Fire Monkey's core and then alternately at Moyong Sangwon's face.

Moyong Sangwon realized the young man's intention and turned pale with fright.

Although some of the toxic aura had escaped, the toxic aura had already been absorbed inside his body, and eating a spiritual pill brimming with Fire energy in such a state would be no different from pouring oil onto a raging fire.

Fortunately, the young man set the wooden box back down.

The young man alternately looked up at the top of the cliff, gauging whether he could climb back up.

His hope of survival was fleeting; he didn't think the young man would be able to carry him all the way up this high cliff.

Furthermore, traveling back and forth from here to treat him was an even more remote possibility.

Thinking that way, his mind felt at ease.

'This is the end for me. If only he could pass my final words to my daughter, and to my son...'

With his returned energy, he barely managed to open his mouth and speak.

"I... I have a favor to ask..."

Before Moyong Sangwon could even finish his sentence, the young man shook his head.

"Please stay still for a moment. If you try to move carelessly now, your condition could worsen."

"No, I'm already..."

The young man ultimately covered Moyong Sangwon's mouth with his hand and placed a finger to his own lips, signaling him to be quiet.

'Please deliver my final words!'

Moyong Sangwon felt frustrated, but he didn't have the energy to express it.

The young man pulled out a dagger and inflicted a wound on his own palm.

Then, he brought his palm, streaming with red blood, to Moyong Sangwon's lips.

'Just who... is this person? For a stranger he has never even met...'

Among the folktales passed down among commoners, there was a story where, when an elderly and frail father was on the brink of death, his child cut off their own finger and fed him the blood to buy time until the physician arrived.

Moyong Sangwon was also familiar with that story.

As with all such stories, he had thought it was fabricated to emphasize filial piety, so it was true that it hadn't left much of an impression on him.

But as the blood flowing down his lips spread into his stomach, didn't his entire body grow warm and feel a surge of energy?

'Does this mean the legends were true?'

Just then, the young man's voice reached Moyong Sangwon's ears.

"Please live. If you die, that person will have nowhere to lean on when times are hard."

He couldn't fathom what the young man was talking about, but he could certainly feel that the young man was desperately clinging to saving him.

* * *

Jin Sowoon realized he had made a single mistake while bleeding to give his blood to Moyong Sangwon.

'I should have pressed his numbing acupoint.'

Anyone who practices martial arts is obsessed with spiritual elixirs.

In the past, there were even demonic fiends who captured and boiled alive those who had consumed spiritual elixirs.

If Moyong Sangwon found out that his blood was brimming with the energy of spiritual elixirs...

'Nah, surely not... He's still the Minor Patriarch of the Moyong Noble Clan, after all...'

Jin Sowoon had to try hard to eliminate the useless thoughts that kept creeping into his mind.