That Was Amazingly Splendid. (3)

A white sword qi streaked fiercely and poured into the midst of the Ten Thousand People Clan members.

KWAANG! KWAAAANG! KWAANG!

With deafening blasts that seemed to tear eardrums, the incoming sword qi detonated one after another.

“Aaaaaah!”

“Aaaaah!”

Those swept by the explosions let out agonized screams and were flung in all directions.

“Kuh, cough!”

Of course, not everyone died in the blasts. Some, by luck, survived the shockwaves.

But those groaning on the ground were met by a rain of poisonous needles that blackened the blue sky as they fell.

“Ugh, aaaaah!”

Sshhhh!

With the roar of a torrential downpour, needles thinner than hair pierced fragile skin, carrying deadly concentrations of poison.

Pt-tuk!

The thin needles pierced flesh with a tink sound. Those who felt that sound in their bodies rather than their ears were instantly gripped by unspeakable terror.

“No, don’t!”

The panicked tried desperately to pull the needles from their wounds, but the pierced areas had already blackened.

The poison of the Sichuan Tang Family—the Tang Family that had turned those four characters into a symbol of terror—was spreading through their bodies.

A faint discomfort turned into unbearable itching, which soon became searing pain that spread through them.

“Kuh… grrrr…”

The Ten Thousand People Clan members writhed on the spot. Blood flowed from their seven orifices, and black-tinged froth boiled up in their mouths.

“Get away! It’s the Tang Family! Those damned bastards use poison!”

Watching comrades blacken and die in an instant filled the eyes of the Ten Thousand People Clan members with terror.

It was incomprehensible.

How could those who used such vicious poison be called a Justice faction? Even the Evil Sects wouldn’t, couldn’t, use poison that malevolent.

“Do not panic! They’re just needles! If you block them, you’ll be fine!”

It wasn’t entirely wrong—the force carried by each needle wasn’t that great. The problem was that the people here were not only the Tang Family.

“Hiiyaaaap!”

A ripping scream—more a beast’s roar than a human shout—issued from a group that charged straight into the Ten Thousand People Clan members.

KWAAAANG!

Those hit on the shoulders were sent rolling on the ground, spraying blood.

The vanguard struck with tremendous force at those who tried to block them; others leapt over shoulders like leopards, swinging malformed weapons shaped like animal claws.

“Hey, Beast Palace!”

“These filthy barbarians!”

The members of the Southern Beast Palace, their identities proclaimed by the animal pelts draped around them, charged the Ten Thousand People Clan like enraged wild boars.

“Hahahahahaha! You Evil Sect scum! You’ve been looking down on us all this time!”

“Trample them! Completely!”

Where the Beast Palace burst forth, the Ice Palace swordsmen—emitting chilling killing intent—held the line.

“Do not break formation; stop the attackers completely. What matters is the safety of the palace lord and the survival of Mount Hua’s Sword Saint. Any foolhardy action will be met by my blade!”

“Yes!”

The raging Beast Palace and the Ice Palace swordsmen—two factions with utterly opposite natures—joined forces for a single purpose.

“C-commander!”

“We’re being pushed back! Commander! The encirclement is breaking!”

Ho Ga-Myung clenched his fist in silence.

‘Damn it.’

It was the inevitable result.

Of course, one couldn’t deny how formidable the Ten Thousand People Clan was. Among the four factions of the Four Sects Alliance that dominate the Southern land, the Ten Thousand People Clan was practically a leader-level sect.

Still, the Ten Thousand People Clan was only one sect within the Four Sects Alliance. No matter how strong a single force, it was impossible to fight alone against a coalition of the realm’s foremost sects.

Moreover, those Ho Ga-Myung led were not even the so-called ‘main force’ within the Ten Thousand People Clan.

So there was no choice but to be inexorably pushed back.

“Commander! Give an order!”

Ho Ga-Myung bit his lip.

He was right in front of him. The Plum Blossom Sword Fiend’s neck was at hand. If he had even one breath’s worth of time, he could have cut that throat!

“Why at this exact moment…”

How on earth had they found this place? He had already removed those beggar scum’s eyes long ago.

This was not in Ho Ga-Myung’s calculations. Perhaps it wasn’t even within that alliance lord’s plans.

To Ho Ga-Myung it felt as if heaven had abandoned them.

Ho Ga-Myung, who always prioritized composure, could not find calm in this moment.

“Commander! You must give some order!”

Perhaps moved by his officers’ urgency, an involuntary sigh escaped Ho Ga-Myung’s mouth.

“The troops…”

He bit his lip until blood appeared. A word he never wanted to speak, but there was only one order he could give now.

“Withdraw the troops.”

“Co-Commander!”

“Execute it!”

“…Yes.”

A weak reply came from the officers. Hearing it, Ho Ga-Myung squeezed his eyes shut. After a long moment of steadying himself, he opened his eyes and glared at the Heavenly Friends Alliance with eyes full of hatred.

‘Damn it.’

There was no way out now.

It was impossible for the exhausted Ten Thousand People Clan to stand against them. The longer they dragged it out, the greater the losses. If morale remained it might be different, but from the moment they lost sight of the Plum Blossom Sword Ghost, the clan’s spirit had plummeted without end.

If he could gamble everything—sacrifice everyone here—to kill the Plum Blossom Sword Fiend, he might try, but…

‘Mount Hua.’

Those hateful Mount Hua disciples stood around the Plum Blossom Sword Ghost, not moving an inch.

As if vowing not to surrender the Ghost’s neck even if the sky fell.

Seeing that look, an involuntary groan escaped Ho Ga-Myung.

There was no choice. No more.

“Did you not order the troops to withdraw?!”

“Yes! Commander!”

Blood trickled from Ho Ga-Myung’s lips down his chin to the ground.

Woooooooong!

Sweat running down Tang Gunak’s jaw fell to the ground in succession.

His face looked utterly spent, yet his eyes retained a terrifying focus, fixed on Chung Myung.

Chung Myung’s body was momentarily covered in pure white frost, then flushes of crimson flared and receded repeatedly.

Fierce yin qi and fierce yang qi. Tang Pae, who was straining to control the two forces raging within Chung Myung, let out a scream.

“Family Lord! No, not any more!”

Despite hearing the desperation in that scream, Tang Gunak didn’t look away.

“Family Lord! His qi and blood will rupture completely! It can’t continue!”

Tang Pae’s voice grew unbearably urgent. But Tang Gunak only examined Chung Myung’s condition with a stern face.

‘What on earth is he thinking?’

He couldn’t hold on. No matter how Chung Myung was, this was beyond endurance.

Chung Myung was, of course, an astonishing martial artist beyond imagining, but his greatness lay in his sword and spirit, not his body!

But something else was truly astonishing.

Tang Gunak, sweating like rain as he watched Chung Myung, suddenly thrust his hand into his bosom and drew out a white mother-of-pearl vial, popping its cap open.

‘Poison?’

The briny tang that brushed his nose told him instantly it was the deadliest of poisons.

“F-family Lord! Aah! What are you doing!”

Tang Pae screamed as Tang Gunak poured the opened poison vial straight into his own mouth.

Tang Gunak’s skin turned purple in an instant. Yet he didn’t flinch; he reached out and placed his hand against the center of Chung Myung’s chest.

Woooooooong!

His internal qi swelled crazily, and a purple aura rose from his fingertips. Those qis began to surge into Chung Myung’s chest.

Tang Pae’s eyes opened wide as if they’d split.

‘Poison… into the patient?’

What kind of insane act was this?

“Family Lord! The Taoist will die! What are you thinking!”

Tang Gunak glanced up. But his gaze did not fall on the screaming Tang Pae; it fell on Hyun Jong, who watched the whole scene in stony silence.

“It will be fine.”

“There’s no way this is fine!”

“Clashing qi alone doesn’t kill anyone. Death is when the body can no longer contain its internal qi!”

Tang Pae looked at Tang Gunak with trembling eyes. Tang Gunak’s gaze was full of conviction.

“Putting it differently, if you can somehow retain the qi within that body by any means, he will not die.”

At that moment, a change occurred in Chung Myung’s body.

A distinct boundary formed where his heating and freezing had alternated: the top shrouded in a faint purple, the lower-left in red yang qi, the lower-right in white yin energy.

“Ah…”

“If poison, yang qi, and yin qi can counterbalance each other, he can live until that balance collapses.”

Tang Pae’s eyes wavered.

“Then what after that? If the balance collapses?”

“…”

Tang Gunak remained silent, but Tang Pae fully grasped the meaning of that silence.

“Th-this is…”

He had never heard of such extreme treatment. It was less a cure than forced life support—an extreme method that could kill even those who might otherwise live.

“Remove your hand!”

At Tang Gunak’s shout, Meng So, Seol So-Baek, and Han Yi-Myung—who had been frantically pouring internal qi into Chung Myung—collapsed from exhaustion.

Having pushed the poisonous qi fully in, Tang Gunak also removed his hand and stepped back from Chung Myung.

Woooooong.

The remaining qis inside Chung Myung raged. Yet Tang Gunak could see them checking one another and finding a precarious balance.

It was an explosive equilibrium that could collapse at any moment, but with careful attention…

“Damn it!”

Tang Gunak cried out. The poisonous qi he had injected, along with the Ice Palace’s yin qi, was pushing back Meng So’s yang qi.

Compared to his poison and the Ice Palace’s yin qi, Meng So’s yang qi lacked sufficient refinement.

Tang Gunak suddenly raised his head and shouted.

“Any spiritual pills! Does anyone have a pill containing yang qi?”

At those words, everyone glanced at each other with tense eyes, but no one stepped forward.

“We have Heavenly Violet Pill!”

“The Heavenly Violet Pill won’t do! It’s not a yang-dominant spiritual pill!”

“Th-then…”

“Oh no.”

Despair crept across Tang Gunak’s face. If things stayed like this, the balance would collapse and Chung Myung’s body would rupture.

“I can still squeeze out yang qi!”

Meng So yelled desperately, but Tang Gunak could say nothing. This wasn’t a matter of quantity of yang qi. It required a purer yang-dominant spiritual pill.

Tang Gunak’s face was stained with helpless despair.

“Lord of the Tang Family!”

At the very instant Meng So and Hyun Jong cried out in desperation…

Whoosh!

Tang Gunak raised his hand and caught something flying toward him. The yang qi he felt at once widened his eyes.

“It’s Southern Island Sect’s Tidal Sun Pill. When it comes to yang qi, Southern Island Sect is second to none. That should save Mount Hua’s Sword Saint.”

“Sect leader Geum?”

Geum Yang-Baek, the Southern Island’s sect leader who had joined them, nodded with a grave expression.

“Sect leader! Why won’t you take it yourself!”

The Southern Island elders who had raced after him gasped out those words.

Tang Gunak’s eyes fell on the long wound that cut across Geum Yang-Baek’s chest, running down past the sternum to the lower abdomen.

“Sect leader…”

A bitter smile touched Geum Yang-Baek’s lips.

“My wound cannot be mended by any spiritual pill.”

“…”

“What are you doing! Tang Family Lord! Our benefactor is in dire straits!”

At that stern rebuke, Tang Gunak nodded and slid the pill bolt in his hand straight into Chung Myung’s mouth.

As the pill dissolved and its qi flowed into the body, Tang Gunak channeled his essence with all his might.

Woooooooong!

Chung Myung’s body was engulfed in scorching heat.

‘Good!’

This amount of yang qi would do! It could restore the broken balance.

And then.

Woooooong.

“It’s done!”

The qis inside Chung Myung finally reached equilibrium. The qis watched one another warily and coiled in place, unable to strike rashly.

“Family Lord! Chung Myung is?”

Tang Gunak scooped Chung Myung up and shouted.

“He’s breathing for now! But for proper treatment we must get him to the Northern lands as soon as possible.”

Seeing Chung Myung in Tang Gunak’s arms, Hyun Jong called out with power in his voice.

“Mount Hua disciples, hear me!”

“Yes! Former Sect Leader!”

“Cut open a path. Spare nothing that stands before you! Show them how merciless Mount Hua’s sword can be!”

“We obey!”

Mount Hua’s murderous swords rose again.

As Mount Hua swordsmen surged forward, Hyun Jong reached out and supported Baek Cheon.

“Lean on me.”

“F-former Sect Leader. I can walk on my own…”

“Baek Cheon.”

“…”

A soft voice from Hyun Jong reached Baek Cheon’s startled ear.

“You’ve suffered so much. Now let’s go home.”

Baek Cheon turned his dazed face. He saw Hyun Jong’s gentle smile. Choking back emotion, Baek Cheon bit his lip and silently nodded.

“…Yes, Sect leader.”

Those carrying the wounded ran toward the path Mount Hua’s blades had cut open.

Covered in coagulated blood, but now heading down a road that was no longer hopeless.