The Buddha's Palm Descends
Who tolls the hammer, and for whom? The moment they emerged, the Nammenpa warriors collapsed one after another, throwing the entire place into chaos. Those with even a shred of loyalty screamed for their brothers and sisters, masters and disciples, desperately trying to hold onto their fallen comrades. But the only people allowed to touch those poisoned by such a lethal toxin were the physicians who had already prepared themselves. Among the Nammenpa ruffians, even the ones with a bit of honor ended up collapsing alongside their kin while trying to look after them, their bodies trembling.
In the midst of it all, Cheong cut down three enemies charging toward the main gate. When she was done, the courtyard was left empty save for the convulsing poisoned men. They had endured the humiliation of abandoning their sect's safety for the sake of survival. It was much like the old tale of Hanshin crawling between another man's legs—proof, perhaps, that they possessed the talent of true chivalrous heroes.
Who would have thought they would simply flee inside? Cheong could only marvel at the Nammenpa warriors' cunning.
"Should we set it on fire? There hasn't been much spring rain lately, so it'll burn nicely."
"An arson would work well. We already scattered poison pellets—fire shouldn't be a problem. But, Miss, if the flames grow too large, what will happen to Elder Ban's grandson?"
"Aigoo, why'd they have to kidnap the kid? Burning everything would be so much simpler."
"Hmm. Miss, could you perhaps maintain just a little decorum as a righteous heroine of the orthodox sects?"
"Hmph. I was going to use this opportunity to wipe out these filthy unorthodox scum with a great blaze! Yet I cannot bring myself to do it, lest an innocent child be caught in the flames. How truly regrettable."
"You could do it if you wanted to."
Jegal Ihyeon nodded in satisfaction.
"Keeping up appearances is going to crack my lips. Why drag out something that can be said in two words?"
"It is precisely because it is difficult to maintain that it holds value."
It was a persuasive argument worthy of the most intelligent man among the muscleheads. The eloquence of clever people was infuriating, yet impossible to refute.
"Alright. Let's go find that grandson brat. His mind's completely gone, so we'll just beat him until someone talks."
Just then—
"You fools! Do you think a colorless, odorless poison will stay in one place for a thousand years? Where did you learn to run away and leave an enemy behind? You there, you, you. Tell them the poison has already dispersed and to regroup!"
"Y-yes! Understood!"
It was an old man with a fierce, wrinkled face. The internal energy in his voice was extraordinary, so Cheong carefully assessed her opponent. Surely another Harmonious Realm master wouldn't appear, would it?
Meanwhile, the old man stood boldly among the corpses and near-corpses and declared,
"This old man is Yu Cha-seung, Vice Enforcer of the Sadoryeon. You must have heard of my reputation."
"The Blood Lotus Saber Demon!" Jegal Ihyeon shouted.
Cheong frowned. She truly couldn't understand why allies and enemies alike always had to shout out titles the moment they heard a name. Was this some kind of jianghu custom or law?
"A famous old man? No, he must be famous if you're shouting. Is he strong?"
"He is a great demon at the late stage of the Transcendent Realm."
Jegal Ihyeon could not hide his tension. However, upon hearing those words, Cheong's expression brightened.
"Ah. Then this is doable."
"Miss, did I perhaps say late-stage Peak? It seems my words came out wrong. He is not late-stage Peak, but a great demon of the late Transcendent Realm."
"You said it right. Late Transcendent, right? I'm Seomun Cheong, who has transcended the Peak. Even a Harmonious Realm master gets smashed to pieces if they mess with me. Right, Nan-a?"
"Yeah. Yeah."
"You defeated a Harmonious Realm master? No, Miss, why didn't you tell this foolish brother such an interesting story earlier? I'm hurt."
Yu Cha-seung's expression hardened as he watched them. In the jianghu, revealing one's name was meant to display one's realm or backing and seize the initiative. With the Sadoryeon and late Transcendent Realm behind him, any ordinary young jianghu brats should have been trembling and fleeing. Yet they were casually chatting?
Yu Cha-seung's mind raced. Come to think of it, a colorless, odorless lethal poison was not something one could simply buy with money anywhere. Strong poisons had vivid colors and smells, while those difficult to detect were weak. A poison satisfying both conditions was not easy to obtain even for a thousand gold. Add to that a girl's beauty so striking it stirred lust even in an old man, and the conclusion was obvious.
"That child over there—is she not the Understanding Poison Flower of the Tang Clan?"
"Huh? You know me?"
"Hmm." Yu Cha-seung swallowed a groan. So it was as he suspected. Why did it have to involve the Tang Clan of all things? And now that he looked again, the massive boy was clearly the Jegal Clan's heir, the one called Maengsin-hyeonnoe among the rising stars gathered for the Murim Tournament. This was not good timing. The Murim Tournament was an orthodox gathering, a time when they absolutely could not afford to give the enemy any pretext. After all, the best way to unite people was to create a common enemy.
"Ahem. This old man came here as Vice Enforcer of the Sadoryeon to verify the rumor that the Nammenpa sect leader was brewing an evil elixir. You are here for the same reason, I presume?"
Jegal Ihyeon responded,
"We were merely trying to rescue a kidnapped child. As for the elixir, surely you don't mean—"
The Nammenpa sect leader was a leper. And the evil elixir brewed by a leper was something too horrific to even speak of.
"Hmm. How unfortunate. It seems the rumor is true, so by the authority of the Sadoryeon Vice Enforcer, I shall expel the Nammenpa from our alliance. Therefore, this old man has nothing to do with the Nammenpa anymore."
Yu Cha-seung's conclusion was to cut ties.
"This old man must take his leave now. I have urgent duties and cannot afford to linger in a place that has nothing to do with me."
Just as Cheong was about to speak, Jegal Ihyeon grabbed her shoulder and shook his head.
"Why?"
"The Nammenpa sect leader is also a Transcendent Realm martial artist. Are you confident even against two Transcendent masters?"
"Hmm. That might be a bit much. You're right."
Cheong clicked her tongue and shouted,
"Old man, you got lucky. Watch your step at night. Next time we meet, you're dead."
It was not a voice an old man should hear from a girl whose face he couldn't even see. Yu Cha-seung forcibly suppressed the anger surging within him.
"The child with her face covered speaks quite crudely. Such words should be said after revealing one's name, shouldn't they?"
"My name is Seomun Cheong, and my master is the greatest woman in the Central Plains. Satisfied? Next time we meet, old man, you're dead."
"Ahem. She even inherited the temper……"
Yu Cha-seung wiped his chest. It was good that he had held back. He had nearly provoked the disciple of Yeogwang-gyeon. If she had even inherited the surname, she could not be an ordinary favored disciple. She was a walking human trap.
"Ahem. This old man will be on his way. Would you mind stepping aside?"
"Do you really have to pass this way? You could just jump over the wall. Bad guys usually like jumping walls, don't they? Thieves, bandits, assassins, arsonists, kidnappers, and perverts with voyeurism fetishes—all the bad bastards jump walls."
Cheong muttered loud enough for everyone to hear. When Jegal Ihyeon shot her a reproachful look asking why she had to provoke him, Cheong pretended not to notice and looked away. Since she had said it loud enough for him to hear, Yu Cha-seung could no longer jump the wall. Doing so now would make him a thief, bandit, assassin, arsonist, kidnapper, or a pervert with a voyeurism fetish.
Yu Cha-seung forcibly suppressed his boiling blood pressure. She's the disciple of Yeogwang-gyeon, so she's just some dog bitch, he told himself, trying to ignore it as he walked briskly toward the gate.
"Ah. Right. Hey, old man."
"……What is it?"
"Earlier you said something about the girl with the covered face. I'm not hiding it because I'm ugly, you know?"
"Only a girl with a covered face would say that."
"Hah. Everyone gets shocked when they see it."
"What, do you have pockmarks? If you're so confident, just show it."
At that, Cheong lifted her veil. Yu Cha-seung's eyes widened like saucers. In that moment, Cheong's right hand quietly reached out and gently grasped Yu Cha-seung's wrist.
"What are you doing?"
Cheong grinned mischievously. At the late Transcendent Realm, most people wouldn't allow their bodies to be grabbed so easily, so she had given him a little surprise—and it worked perfectly.
"Do you know of the Yeorae Shinjang?"
"Wha—"
In an instant, an enormous amount of internal energy surged from Cheong's dantian all at once. It was an intense flow incomparable to the time with the Man-Eating Demon Lord. Not only had her internal energy increased several times over since then, but her meridians had also expanded through Body Reconstruction and the Muscle Tendon Change Classic, making the flow of her qi pathways completely different from before.
As the Buddhist divine art took the lead with the Great Purity Immortal Qi and Muscle Tendon Change Classic, letting out an excited cry, the Zhouyang True Qi and Daoist family followed behind. The demonic qi, looking envious, glanced over, and the Yue Maiden True Qi, guardian of the Middle Way, nodded once.
The qi, excited by a proper summons after so long, each frolicked noisily as they burst out of the dantian.
Deeng—!
A massive yet not noisy Buddhist temple bell sound. Suddenly, a thick cloud of dust rose up. Within it, the flesh around Yu Cha-seung's captured wrist swelled and bulged, the lumps traveling up his elbow, over his shoulder. His clothes tore as his entire body swelled, his head doubling in size, before returning to normal as if it had been a lie, and he collapsed with a thud.
When the dust settled, the wall behind the fallen Yu Cha-seung had vanished, leaving only rubble. It was the internal energy technique of the Yeorae Shinjang that she had unleashed at full power after a long time—the form of Yeouiryun Gwaneum.
Cheong let out a languid sigh.
"Hwaaa. My qi is completely drained. Really."
"Miss? What is this……"
"Ah, this is called the Yeorae Shinjang."
"Why would Miss know the Yeorae Shinjang—ah! Was this the reason you provoked him by mentioning the wall? No martial artist who heard that would jump over the wall!"
"Yeah. Once I grab them, Transcendent Realm is nothing. Even if they were determined to clash internal energy techniques, I could handle it, but if they're caught off guard, there's no answer."
"As expected! Inducing the enemy's carelessness to strike at their weak point! What a splendid, despicable tactic! Miss never fails to amaze this foolish brother!"
Wait, what? Was that a compliment? It felt like he had been twisting it around like this for a while now.
The internal energy technique was an advanced mystery, but its essence was simply a crude contest of internal energy. That was why she had provoked and rolled around to deplete the Man-Eating Demon Lord's internal energy back then. However, even her master had confirmed that her internal energy was on par with the Harmonious Realm, so the late Transcendent Realm was nothing now.
Just then, the Nammenpa warriors came rushing back. At their head was a man whose face and hands—every bit of exposed skin—were tightly wrapped in bandages. The bandaged man shouted with an urgent expression.
"Vice Enforcer! I apologize for getting you involved in this unsavory matter…… Vice Enforcer?"
"Your Vice Enforcer? You mean this?"
Cheong casually lifted up the wrist of the man who had been the Vice Enforcer. Suddenly, Dang Nan-a looked puzzled at the sight.
Huh? Wasn't this guy unable to use his right arm?