The Ink-Horned Flood Dragon
Kiiiik……?
The first to notice Ouyang Qiangang's transformation was Geum Wang.
The little monkey, who had been playing in Heo Cho-ryeong's arms, had at some point climbed up onto her shoulder and was now staring at Ouyang Qiangang, his ruby-red eyes brimming with pure curiosity.
Meanwhile, when Ouyang Qiangang rose from his seat, Heo Cho-ryeong—who had been watching with bated breath—swallowed without realizing it.
Unbelievably, the man before her was no longer the boy she had known just a single day ago. His height, once nearly equal to hers, had shot up by almost four inches, and his frail, brittle-looking frame had hardened into something solid and strong.
But the greatest change showed in his face.
The peerless beauty that had always been his remained, yet the feeling was entirely different. In place of the fragile, delicate lines that sickness had carved into him, a sharp jaw and a proud, unyielding nose now blended together, lending him a masculine allure—his features still fine, but unmistakably defined. His skin, clear now that the pallor had faded, and his unreadable gaze combined to cast an aura of mystery that made him almost impossible to compare to the boy he had been.
Is this really… the Gang-je I knew?
Heo Cho-ryeong's mouth had gone dry and her mind blank; she didn't know what to say. Only days ago, he had been a boy who made her want to protect him. But the man standing before her now radiated a presence so deep and powerful that she hardly dared look at him directly.
Whether he knew what was in her heart or not, Ouyang Qiangang approached and spoke in a gentle voice.
"You've waited a long time, noona."
Even his voice had deepened, steadier than before.
"N-no, I… well……"
She stammered, then forced herself to change the subject to hide her fluster.
"Light kept pouring out of your body, over and over. I lost all track of time watching it."
Ouyang Qiangang blinked in mild surprise.
"So that's what was happening. I had no idea."
"You were completely absorbed in your circulation training, after all. I don't know what kind of training you did, but it was… truly remarkable."
Heo Cho-ryeong said it with genuine admiration. Ouyang Qiangang smiled and turned his gaze to Geum Wang, who was staring at him with wide round eyes from her shoulder.
"Geum Wang, it's time to begin the second round. Are you ready?"
His voice carried not just playfulness, but an absolute confidence in his own strength.
The moment the words left his mouth, Geum Wang's small body launched forward like a cannonball!
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh—!
Golden afterimages stitched through the air like living lightning, closing in on Ouyang Qiangang from dead ahead. The world seemed to fill with golden flashes—but this time, he didn't panic.
I can see it……!
His eyes, tempered by the Transcendent Voidless Divine Art and reinforced by a full cycle of internal energy, could track Geum Wang's movements clearly even without activating maximum combat mode.
Reflexively, he unfolded the Tansan Step. His form blurred—and the next instant, he had slipped impossibly free of the storm of Geum Wang's attacks. With his elevated internal energy, the Tansan Step was no longer mere footwork; it moved as though folding space itself.
Kiiiik?
Startled that his strike had cut only empty air, Geum Wang twisted mid-flight and charged again.
Shwaaaaaek—
But Ouyang Qiangang had already read his every movement perfectly. He stopped dodging. Instead, he ghosted into the spot where Geum Wang would arrive next and unleashed the Coiling Dragon Golden Jade Hand.
Shushushuk—
A single point, a perfect strike aimed straight at the opponent's core. As his hand cut through the air, the surrounding air grew heavy, and an invisible vortex of force bloomed into being.
Geum Wang sensed the danger instinctively and tried to change course mid-air—but it was too late. As though predicting his movement, Ouyang Qiangang's hand was already blocking the exact path where the monkey gathered his strength for the next strike.
Thuk—!
With a sound both dull and sharp, Ouyang Qiangang's hand closed around Geum Wang's tiny wrist—gently, yet with a grip that could not be shaken off.
Kiiiik—!
The explosive momentum flowing through Geum Wang's body seemed to be swallowed whole into that grasp in an instant.
Ouyang Qiangang didn't slam him to the ground. He simply set the little monkey down softly. That was the end of the match.
Geum Wang stood on the floor, staring down at the hand that held his wrist for a long moment, then looked up at him with disbelief in his eyes. In less than two days, Ouyang Qiangang had become a mysterious being capable of subduing him in the blink of an eye.
When Ouyang Qiangang released his wrist, Geum Wang—observing the courtesy of a master acknowledging a superior—rose onto both feet and solemnly mimed a cupped-fist salute. Watching the scene with bated breath, Heo Cho-ryeong let out a low gasp.
"…Good heavens."
Ouyang Qiangang smiled gently at Geum Wang.
"Geum Wang, will you guide the way now?"
Geum Wang nodded vigorously.
Wrapping his outer robe into a bundle and packing as much of the Jiguk Hyeoltae and Yongnae Okgun as he could carry, Ouyang Qiangang and Heo Cho-ryeong followed behind Geum Wang. The narrow crevice in the cliff that the monkey led them to was so tight a grown man could barely squeeze inside.
Once within, the cave stretched on into deep darkness, without a single ray of light. A damp, fishy wind blew against them from ahead, hinting at the cave's depth.
"…This is really the way?"
Heo Cho-ryeong asked, swallowing nervously. Ouyang Qiangang nodded silently and stepped into the crevice behind Geum Wang. The passage was too narrow to walk through head-on, forcing them to move at an angle.
The two of them, relying on the faint sound of each other's breathing, began inching forward carefully, a handspan at a time. The damp, moss-slicked rock was treacherous enough to make them fear slipping at any moment, and the drip of water from the stalactites echoed mournfully through the dark.
After walking a passage a hundred paces long, a faint, ominous red glow appeared ahead. With one final step out of the passage, the party found themselves in a massive stone chamber—similar to the plaza before, but far more dank and desolate.
There was no moss, no mushrooms, not even a single weed to be seen. The floor was covered in blackish soil, and the air reeked of something foul. At the center lay a pond of black, murky water, slowly swirling.
The moment Ouyang Qiangang frowned at the invisible sense of danger it gave off, Geum Wang, perched on Heo Cho-ryeong's shoulder, shrieked a sharp warning.
Kkyak!
The pond's water churned violently—then erupted upward to the ceiling like a desert whirlwind.
Chwachwachwachwachwa—!
As the spray settled and the monster revealed itself, Heo Cho-ryeong clapped a hand over her mouth. A colossal serpent, its body alone stretching well over fifteen feet above the water. From its head sprouted horns of ink-black, over a foot and a half long and razor-sharp. It was a monster that resembled the imugi of legend, radiating an aura of pure malice.
> Doctor, that creature is not an imugi. It is the demonic beast Mokgak Gyoryong—the Ink-Horned Flood Dragon—recorded in the Annals of Life and Death. Be careful. Its scales are impervious to blades, and the venom it spits is a highly corrosive acid that can melt even iron.
How long can I sustain maximum combat mode?
Breaking through a full cycle of internal energy has extended it to ten minutes, Doctor.
That's all?
On Earth, that would be hero-grade superhuman capability. Ten minutes is short?
Well… and after that time runs out?
My operation will cease, and the cold energy of the Nine Yin Severed Meridians will freeze every one of your meridians solid.
In other words, this body dies.
…Yes, that is correct.
Then I'll finish this within ten minutes.
Just then, Geum Wang chirped and gestured to signal that there was an exit beneath the pond leading out of the chamber. As expected, there was no way out of this place without bringing the beast down.
Kkyek!
Geum Wang moved first, darting like lightning toward the flood dragon's massive head. His target was its eyes.
"Noona, disrupt it from the flank as much as you can. Never take it head-on."
"Got it."
Her eyes gleaming, Heo Cho-ryeong unleashed the Flying Swallow Sword Art and struck at the beast's flank.
Chachachachang—
Her blade was turned by its thick scales, unable to wound it. But like an irritating gnat, she grated on the flood dragon's nerves, and that alone proved no small help to Geum Wang and Ouyang Qiangang.
Kuwoooooo—!
As the two-pronged assault came without pause, the enraged Mokgak Gyoryong hauled its massive body out of the pond. Its four thick legs shook the earth, its mouth spewed deadly venom, and its steel-like tail lashed at everything around it.
Kwakwakwakwakwang—
A tail that could crush mountains, venom that could melt bone at a mere graze. But thanks to the dynamic vision Akasha had pushed to its absolute limit, and the Tansan Step, Ouyang Qiangang evaded every attack by a paper's breadth.
Shwaaaaaek—
Kwang!
Having barely dodged the beast's terrifying tail, sweat poured down Ouyang Qiangang's back like rain.
Doctor, maximum combat mode: 7 minutes elapsed! 3 minutes remaining!
He gritted his teeth. Dodging alone will get us nowhere. I need one decisive blow to stop that thing's movements.
Then a single martial art surfaced in his mind—one of the Five Ultimate Arts hidden within the Nine Dragons Myriad Mountain Path.
Can this body fully manifest that technique? No—I have to make it.
Ouyang Qiangang finally steeled his resolve. His evasive movements stopped in an instant, and he stood rooted to the spot, tall and immovable. The aura flowing from his entire body grew fearsomely intense.
Drawing up every last drop of his full cycle of internal energy, he concentrated the Transcendent Voidless Divine Art into both hands. A cold, blue energy rose like heat haze around his palms. And from his hands unfolded the secret art of the Ouyang Clan that had vanished since the Great Battle of Jeongma.
A formation-art that staked everything on speed and linked strikes—a raging storm given form.
His two hands became a blur of countless afterimages, pouring ceaselessly toward the flood dragon's massive body.
Peopeopeopeopeong!
This was no single strike. Dozens of palm strikes per breath, each chasing the last like a meteor shower—a veritable storm of palms. The force was fierce enough to crush an iron plate three inches thick like paper. Each time the Gale Linked Rings Formation struck the beast's hide, the cave filled with the ringing clamor of a smithy.
Peopeopeopeopeopeong—
Kuwoooooooo!
Staggering under the considerable impact, the Mokgak Gyoryong shrieked—but still showed no sign of falling. Ouyang Qiangang's eyes grew cold.
This won't do. I have to find its weakness.
While Geum Wang and Heo Cho-ryeong desperately drew the beast's attention, he moved without pause, observing its entire body. And then his eyes caught it—beneath the constantly moving jaw, a single scale the size of a fist, glowing starkly white unlike all the others.
> Doctor, the scale density at that point is 74% lower than the surrounding area. Its bio-energy flow is unstable there too. That is definitely the weak point.
Good!
Ouyang Qiangang kicked off the ground with the Tansan Step and shot like lightning to the beast's very nose.
Hwiiiik—
Dazzled by Geum Wang, the Mokgak Gyoryong lost track of his movement for an instant. Ouyang Qiangang unleashed the Gale Linked Rings Formation in rapid succession.
Peopeopeopeopeong!
Palm strikes too fast for the eye battered the beast's massive body mercilessly.
Kuwooooooo!
The Mokgak Gyoryong shrieked with pain and fury. And in that moment, its huge head lifted briefly, exposing the white scale beneath its jaw, utterly defenseless.
Ouyang Qiangang did not miss it. He gathered every last drop of his remaining internal energy. Every meridian in his body screamed, and he felt the agony of his dantian emptying—but he did not stop. And with the full power of the Twelve Stars, he unleashed yet another art realized from the Nine Dragons Myriad Mountain Path: the Thunderbolt Flame King Piercer.
From the core of his right palm, the blue pure-yin energy of the Transcendent Voidless Divine Art and all his remaining internal power condensed, pouring out as a wave of force shaped like a colossal drill.
Suwaaang—
The surrounding air seemed to scream, crushed beneath that overwhelming aura. Unlike the dazzling flourish of the Gale Linked Rings Formation, this was an attack of sheer, ponderous destruction.
The Thunderbolt Flame King Piercer struck the beast's white weak point with perfect precision.
Kwang!
With a tremendous roar, the Mokgak Gyoryong's massive body went rigid, as though electrocuted.
Kuwoooooooo—!
What followed was a scream of unbearable, agonizing pain unlike anything before, shaking the entire cave. The white scale shattered, and black-red blood gushed out like a fountain. Writhing in torment, the beast rolled across the floor.
Kukukukukukung—!
Each time its colossal body slammed into the cave walls, dust billowed up like clouds and stalactites rained down from the ceiling.
Doctor, maximum combat mode: 1 minute remaining.
Given enough time, Ouyang Qiangang was confident he could kill the Mokgak Gyoryong. But he was not confident he could do it in one minute.
He shouted.
"Noona! Geum Wang! Now! Into the pond!"
He caught the exhausted, swaying Heo Cho-ryeong around the waist and pulled her into his arms. Then, confirming that Geum Wang had already perched on his shoulder, he threw himself without hesitation into the pond of swirling black water.