Have You Ever Seen Hell? (4)

The Southern Island Sect elders widened their eyes in shock.

In the aftermath of the explosion, black poison swept in like a desert sandstorm, leaving them barely able to keep their balance.

It was already too late to escape.

The Southern Island Sect elders gritted their teeth, drawing up their remaining internal qi and met the oncoming storm with their whole bodies.

Whooooooosh!

With a sound that seemed to split the air, the black wind swallowed the Southern Island Sect elders.

“Block it!!!”

Tang Pae’s desperate shout erupted.

Who would know better how dangerous that poison was than him?

Even if it was too late for the elders in front, they had to prevent that poison from reaching the Southern Island Sect disciples behind them.

The ordinary Southern Island Sect disciples, lacking internal qi, wouldn’t withstand that poison for even a moment.

But the poisonous gale, having already swept through the elders in an instant, now blew fiercely toward the Southern Island Sect disciples standing behind them.

“Uh…”

The Southern Island Sect disciples stood stunned, unable even to muster the will to cope with the advancing poisonous wind.

No matter how hard they strained their body, how could they possibly stop that storm?

Tang Pae’s face contorted with despair.

His mind was frantic, but there was nothing he could do.

Then at that moment, a harsh curse bit into their ears.

“Damn it!”

Bang!

‘Green Forest King?’

Im So-Byeong stamped his posture hard and swung the fan in his hand fiercely.

An enormous wind surged out.

“Hruuuuaaahhh!”

He drew every last drop of internal qi from his dantian.

Thus he demonstrated the fan’s original purpose to perfection.

The terrifying gale emitted from the fan collided with the incoming poisonous wind.

The poisonous wind twisted upward and rose higher and higher.

Whoooooooosh!

The poisonous wind couldn’t penetrate Im So-Byeong’s blast and was driven up to the top of the cliff.

It looked as if a black wall had formed along the cliff.

Crack!

A vein burst and blood trickled from Im So-Byeong’s tightly clenched lips.

He swung the fan in a trance, unaware that his lip had split.

Most of those here were swordsmen.

With their martial arts, they could do nothing against the rushing wind.

There was no one to step up in his place besides Im So-Byeong.

Only he could do it.

But.

‘He, he is being pushed back…’

Bloodshot veins started to show in Im So-Byeong’s eyes as he stared down the onrushing poisonous wind.

He was blowing with all his might, but it was impossible for him alone to counter the aftereffects of the explosion.

The wall of rising poison kept pushing back toward them.

He was using every ounce of his strength, but the situation only worsened.

“Argh! Damn it!”

It was the moment Im So-Byeong shouted.

“Amitabha! Benefactor, fall back!”

A fierce golden radiance spread from behind him.

Even if it had approached silently, everyone would have known who moved just from that light.

Im So-Byeong put all his remaining qi into one last fan swing, then rolled and somersaulted backward to avoid the blast.

Kraaaash!

When Im So-Byeong’s defense broke, the poisonous gale poured over Southern Island Sect with even greater fury.

Watching the black storm approach, Hae Yeon closed his eyes while holding his half staff.

“A-mi-ta-bul!”

A majestic blaze of light spread from his entire body.

The radiant light shot out and collided head-on with the surging black storm.

The peerless great ability Boundless Great Force, one of the Seventy-Two Shaolin Arts.

This legendary technique, one even among Shaolin’s few could master, revealed itself here.

“Ooooooooohhhhh!”

A powerful lion’s roar burst from Hae Yeon’s mouth.

Holding the half staff, he thrust his hand forward.

The auspicious good qi penetrated the poisonous wind, wrapping and neutralizing the toxin.

It looked as if a massive black dragon and a golden dragon were entwining and ascending.

Kuuuuuuuuuuuuum!

Then Hae Yeon stomped with a powerful stance as if to topple the cliff.

The ground where his foot was half-planted cracked with dry snaps, spiderweb fractures spreading in all directions.

“Taahhhh!”

An Arhat Divine Fist strike, carrying the full weight of Shaolin’s single-punch force, instantly drove the entwined dragons up over the cliff.

“Arghhhh!”

Woooooooom!

Ka-blaaam!

The black poisonous gale that had been raging overhead suddenly burst outward like an explosion.

Those who had watched without breath finally saw the blue sky revealed.

“I-it stopped…”

“It stopped…”

A groan of relief escaped from the Southern Island Sect disciples.

The process hadn’t been easy, but in terms of time it was only enough for a few gasps.

In that short moment they had been dragged to the gates of hell and barely returned alive.

But… though they had clearly stopped it, it was hardly a cause for joy.

Thud.

Hae Yeon collapsed where he stood.

“Monk!”

“Cough!”

Hae Yeon braced his hands on the ground and coughed.

Blood streamed from his mouth.

Shaolin martial arts are the most stable ones in the world.

Under normal circumstances, one doesn’t suffer internal injuries from using them.

This meant Hae Yeon had pushed himself so far using such arts that he suffered internal damage.

His pale, ashen face and trembling arms made that clear.

“Monk! Are you all right?”

“M-more than me… the elders…”

At those words, everyone watching Hae Yeon hurriedly looked up.

Where the poisonous gale had swept, the Southern Island Sect elders were staggering to their feet.

“Come on, elders…”

Everyone watched them with tense faces.

This wasn’t just anything; it was the Tang Family’s lethal poison.

A terrible poison that had killed even the Four Sects Alliance warriors who defended them and the Ten Thousand People Clan’s fighters.

Having been fully swept by such poison, even though they were elders…

“Uu, uweeaaack!”

And that ominous premonition ultimately came true.

Several elders coughed up black blood.

Compared to the elders’ total number it was only a few, but that fact did not bring hope.

It meant the rest were poisoned too—they were only holding on with strong pull of their internal qi.

Moreover, the situation would only worsen from here.

If this weren’t a battlefield they could calmly circulate qi to treat the poisoning, but there was no time for that now.

The moment they tried to regulate their qi, those Ten Thousand People Clan brutes, like a pack of jackals, would rush in to rip them apart.

“Can you hold on?”

“…We can hold.”

Geum Yang-Baek’s face showed a devastated expression as he checked the elders once over.

All of them had dark color rising on their faces.

It meant not a single one had escaped poisoning.

Even the sect leader was busy controlling the poison that had seeped through the skin—how much worse for the elders?

“Th-this!”

At that moment Tang Pae rushed over and suddenly thrust out a white antidote pill.

“It’s an antidote pill!”

“An antidote?”

“…That is…”

Tang Pae bit his lip, unable to finish speaking.

It would suppress the poison, but it wasn’t a fundamental cure.

That meant there was no way to deal with the poisoning here.

“We are grateful.”

But Geum Yang-Baek accepted the medicine without protest.

It was better than nothing.

“See? So why bother using poison…!”

“Shut up!”

Geum Yang-Baek glared as if he would kill the elder who was about to vent his anger at Tang Pae and stopped him.

The elder flinched at the force of it and bowed his head.

“You act like you can’t behave your age.”

Geum Yang-Baek ground his teeth.

Tang Pae had done his best—if he hadn’t held the rear, the damage would have been far worse.

You can’t blame someone for an accident that happened while doing their best.

Who doesn’t know that the Tang Family’s poison can be deadly even to allies?

To cheer when someone helps and then curse them when they harm—such behavior wasn’t human.

If there was anyone to be angry at, it was… Geum Yang-Baek’s gaze turned past the gorge.

Thanks to the gorge’s slight slope, they could see exactly the figure standing at the entrance.

“Mind-Probing Inquisitor…”

If someone deserved curses, it should be aimed at him.

He meant that devil who had apparently known Tang Pae would launch the poison and had blown them apart with explosives.

Ho Ga-Myung, who had been watching the situation without changing expression, seemed to feel the gazes on him and slowly spoke.

“Complacent.”

Everyone’s ears turned to his voice.

“A poison dart is just something carried on the wind. With a stronger wind, you could send it flying the other way.”

Ho Ga-Myung’s cold gaze fell on Tang Pae.

Tang Pae clenched his fist until it seemed it might shatter.

His fingernails dug into his palms and blood welled out.

Ho Ga-Myung continued in a calm voice.

“You should have considered this when using poison.”

“Th-this…”

Tang Pae’s body trembled.

He didn’t consider it?

No—he knew. A man who used poison wouldn’t be ignorant of its weaknesses.

That fire and storms can neutralize poison is the most basic of basics.

What he hadn’t known was Ho Ga-Myung’s viciousness.

Tang Pae’s gaze shifted to where the explosives had gone off.

The place that had created this brief lull—there lay the crushed bodies of Ten Thousand People Clan members.

“…Over the heads of my men.”

“They were going to die anyway.”

“And you still call yourself the second-in-command of the Ten Thousand People Clan?!”

As Tang Pae gritted his teeth and yelled, a rare smile flickered at the corner of Ho Ga-Myung’s mouth.

“Not ‘and yet you’re the second-in-command’—it’s precisely because of that that you’re the second-in-command.”

A question loaded with meaning returned an answer equally loaded.

Gwak Hwan-So shouted in place of the speechless Tang Pae.

“Explosives!”

Rage boiled in his bloodshot eyes as he let out a voice full of bitterness.

“To use such filthy tricks! No wonder you are the Evil Sect! You shameless…”

Ho Ga-Myung looked at Gwak Hwan-So with eyes devoid of any emotion.

“Indeed. I wonder how the Tang Family bastards will take those words.”

Gwak Hwan-So couldn’t continue and fell silent.

That one line shattered all his arguments.

“It was a mistake to walk in here of your own free will in the first place.”

Those calm words drove into everyone’s hearts like a dagger.

“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure that recklessness is known far and wide. The whole world will praise your unity. Even those lazy fools in the Northern Lands will need something to boast about.”

“…”

“But in return…”

A clear sneer curled Ho Ga-Myung’s lips.

“You will see hell.”

A bleak light passed through everyone’s eyes.

All of Southern Island Sect’s elders were poisoned.

They would now be unable to exert even half their true power.

Im So-Byeong and Hae Yeon had exhausted all their internal qi.

They were now in a position where they needed protection rather than being of help.

Tang Pae would no longer be able to use poison recklessly.

That effectively meant they could no longer stop those pursuing them.

They would all die.

“You’ll have regret…”

“Hell, huh…”

It was then that someone slowly stepped forward from among the Southern Island Sect disciples.

A man smeared with blood all over his body—yet his gaze was that of an ice-cold swordsman.

“Have you ever seen hell?”

Chung Myung walked past Hae Yeon, Im So-Byeong, and Tang Pae and stepped among the Southern Island Sect elders.

Chung Myung, even drawing Geum Yang-Baek’s gaze behind him, stood before everyone.

“Yes. It will be hell, sure enough.”

Shaa!

Chung Myung shook the blood from his sword and laughed in a startlingly white smile.

“Not for us, but for you, kid.”