Is the Little Taoist Really a Daoist? (2)
The steward was subdued before long…
No, actually, it took longer than expected.
Yi Song-baek, who had rushed in with such confidence, and the steward seemed to be evenly matched, and the two of them ended up locked in a desperate struggle for more than an entire hour.
It might have been a nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat duel for everyone else, but to Chung Myung, it was so dull it nearly made him yawn.
I should’ve just beaten him up myself.
But seeing Yi Song-baek drenched in sweat and looking half-dead, Chung Myung couldn’t quite bring himself to say it. Even now, the man was wearing a proud, triumphant smile as if he were pleased just to have subdued the culprit.
At least wipe the sweat off your face…
“Huff, the villain… Cough, the villain… I subdued the villain.”
Hwang Jong-ui gave a faint nod as he looked at Yi Song-baek, who had staggered over to him and was speaking as though he might drop dead any second.
How should he put it?
He wanted to snap something at him, but looking at those trembling legs just made him feel sorry for the man.
“You’ve done well. The Eunha Merchant Guild won’t forget the help Southern Edge has given us.”
“T-thank… thank you…”
“Go and rest.”
The moment the words left his mouth, Yi Song-baek collapsed where he stood without even managing another reply.
If it had been any other time, Hwang Jong-ui might have felt a little gratitude toward Yi Song-baek for doing his utmost to subdue the culprit. But right now, Yi Song-baek’s condition barely registered in his mind at all.
Instead, Hwang Jong-ui kept glancing at Chung Myung.
How on earth am I supposed to describe this situation?
Had Chung Myung only appeared here two days ago?
In just two days, Chung Myung had cleanly resolved a problem that had plagued Hwang Jong-ui for nearly a year.
Could it really have been this simple?
Of course not.
Hwang Jong-ui knew better.
Everything in this world looked trivial only after it was over. If this matter had truly been that simple from the beginning, why had no one noticed the culprit until now?
It’s almost as if a weathered old master is hiding inside that little boy.
Though, of course, that was impossible.
“I suppose this is more or less settled now?”
“Why on earth was the steward targeting my father?”
“How would I know?”
“Didn’t you figure it out, and that’s why you stirred all this up?”
“Nope.”
“……”
Hwang Jong-ui went a little blank.
As if he could guess what was going through Hwang Jong-ui’s mind, Chung Myung said evenly, “Figuring out the reason is the magistrate’s job. My job was solving the problem and getting paid. Which reminds me— I trust you’ve prepared enough for my reward?”
Normally, even after accomplishing a great deed, no one would dare demand a reward this boldly. People were, after all, creatures obsessed with face.
But Chung Myung had no face left to preserve. He’d gone from the Plum Blossom Sword Saint to a third-generation disciple sweeping fallen plum petals off the ground—what dignity was there left for him to protect?
It would have been shocking enough, but Hwang Jong-ui proved he was no ordinary man either; not a flicker changed on his face as he calmly nodded.
“Of course. But you’re forgetting one thing as well. The matter is not yet resolved at all. I never asked you to catch the culprit. What I want is for my father to get back on his feet. Can you do that?”
Chung Myung puffed out his chest slightly.
“Now that’s the easy part.”
His voice was overflowing with confidence.
“Then.”
Hwang Jong-ui answered in a firm voice.
“I promise that the Eunha Merchant Guild will support Mount Hua, even if it means throwing all my guild’s strength behind you.”
Chung Myung gripped Hwang Jong-ui’s hand tightly, as though deeply moved.
Hwang Jong-ui smiled faintly, as if he understood Chung Myung’s feelings.
“There’s no need to be so moved. It’s only natural…”
“You’re joking, right?”
“……Pardon?”
Chung Myung’s expression twisted.
“The reward should go to me, not Mount Hua! Don’t tell me you’re one of those idiots who lets the bear do the work while the man takes the money?”
“……”
Hwang Jong-ui was left speechless.
Apparently, this lunatic was even crazier than he had imagined.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Standing before Hwang Mun-yak, who lay on the bed, Chung Myung clicked his tongue.
If he could only succeed in treating Hwang Mun-yak, everything in this place would be settled. After that, he could go back to his sect whistling a carefree tune.
Everything had been handled perfectly.
Nothing had been all that difficult either. And the fact that he’d managed to give those Southern Edge bastards a hard time along the way made him feel even better. More than better—he loved it.
But there was one problem in the middle of all that…
Honestly, I’m not sure I can do this.
Everything up to this point had been manageable. But curing Hwang Mun-yak was, to put it bluntly, something he couldn’t tell whether was possible or not.
If this were the Chung Myung of his past life—the Plum Blossom Sword Saint—there would be no reason to worry. No one knew more about Mahwa than he did, and no one possessed enough pure qi to simply overflow with it the way he did.
No matter how vicious Mahwa was, it ultimately stemmed from demonic qi. With the depth of qi Chung Myung once had, like the sea itself, he could simply wash away the demonic qi entirely.
But this Chung Myung was not the Plum Blossom Sword Saint.
What he had now was not even a fraction of his former power—just a tiny amount of qi, purer than before but now no bigger than a chestnut.
There was no guarantee he could remove all the Mahwa spread through Hwang Mun-yak’s body with this. Worse, if he carelessly provoked the demonic qi into a frenzy, the weakened Hwang Mun-yak could die instantly without even being able to scream.
“Will this work?”
He wouldn’t know until he tried.
Chung Myung clicked his tongue again and stepped closer.
If he didn’t know the result, there was only one thing to do.
If he left things as they were, Hwang Mun-yak would die. No matter how reckless Chung Myung’s life had become, the root of it all was still that of a Daoist, wasn’t it? He couldn’t simply stand by and watch someone die just because he lacked the ability.
“Don’t blame me if this goes wrong.”
If it worked, they’d both be happy.
Taking a deep breath, Chung Myung slowly placed his hand over Hwang Mun-yak’s dantian and carefully began pushing his inner power into the old man’s body.
The qi that had been sleeping inside Chung Myung’s dantian slowly flowed outward.
In the past, Chung Myung’s qi had been like a river flowing serenely along. At times it could turn into raging rapids, and at others it became an ocean vast enough to hold the world.
But the power now rising through his body was clearly different.
It was clear.
So pure it was almost transparent. It was like the crystal water of a deep mountain stream—clean, untainted, free of even the slightest impurity.
That flawlessly pure energy surged into Hwang Mun-yak’s body, which was already soaked in demonic qi.
Woooooong.
Hwang Mun-yak’s body gave a slight convulsion.
The sinister demonic qi didn’t dare to challenge Chung Myung’s inner power. Wherever the qi touched, it recoiled in alarm and fled.
Oh?
Chung Myung let out a silent gasp.
That’s interesting.
He had plenty of experience using inner power to suppress demonic qi. But this was the first time he had seen anything quite like this.
Why was demonic qi called demonic qi?
Because it ran counter to the natural flow. Demonic qi that invaded another person’s body destroyed flesh like poison, hostile to every form of energy it encountered, pushing it away.
But the demonic qi filling Hwang Mun-yak’s body wasn’t attacking Chung Myung’s qi—it was fleeing it like a beast that had seen fire.
If this goes well…
It might be possible.
No, wait!
I busted my ass collecting this stuff! Of course it should do something!
If he hadn’t obsessed so much over purity and just cultivated normally, he’d already have accumulated more than a decade’s worth of power by now. He had even gone through the experience of gathering something close to a full stockpile in his past life.
But the amount of inner power now filling Chung Myung’s dantian didn’t even reach a single year’s worth. Even that was only possible because he had eaten the Seolmaedan.
And yet that mere year’s worth of power was now holding back an army of demonic qi like Zhao Yun at Changban, single-handed and unyielding.
I didn’t see this coming either.
At first, all he had wanted was to build the most refined, perfect foundation possible so he could reach a higher realm than in his previous life. But as time went on, his fixation on purity had only grown stronger, and his progress had slowed to a crawl.
He had been wondering if it was time to abandon that obsession…
Come to think of it, this is only natural.
Immortal qi was fundamentally the enemy of demonic qi. Qi carrying the power to break evil possessed the ability to purify all that was corrupt in the world. Chung Myung’s qi was, by nature, immortal qi. Among immortal qi, it was the purest kind.
So of course something like demonic qi couldn’t dare approach it.
The vicious demonic qi began to neutralize almost instantly.
Even Chung Myung found it absurdly easy, as the demonic qi lost its strength and returned to nothingness.
As Chung Myung’s inner power neutralized Hwang Mun-yak’s demonic qi, it also began to cleanse the meridians. Not content with merely eliminating the demonic qi, it ruthlessly purified the body, as though refusing to tolerate even the smallest impurity.
It was almost like scraping away the marrow and washing the flesh anew.
What the hell is this now?
Marrow-cleansing and flesh-washing was a feat that usually required legendary elixirs and several unrivaled masters just to attempt. How difficult was it to return a body already clogged with impurities to a state as pure as that of a newborn child?
Even in Shaolin, where there were so many experts that an ordinary master of the Transcendent Realm would end up sweeping floors and so many elixirs that if one rolled off while being transported and a dog carried it away, no one would even bother chasing it, they still rarely attempted such a thing.
And yet Chung Myung was now performing marrow-cleansing and flesh-washing on an elderly man weakened by demonic qi, all by himself.
The problem was that this wasn’t really the result he had intended.
Wooooooong.
Hwang Mun-yak’s body began to tremble faintly. At the same time, his flesh started to be stained in two colors at once—pure white and pitch-black. The area swallowed by Chung Myung’s qi turned white, while the areas still occupied by demonic qi darkened as though ink were seeping out of them.
The demonic qi was fighting desperately against the invader that had entered its territory.
Hold on!
Hwang Mun-yak’s body, which had instantly turned into a battlefield, seemed to scream. Even though he was clearly unconscious, his whole body shook violently and blood rose back up from the corners of his mouth.
Seeing dark red blood soak Hwang Mun-yak’s collar, Chung Myung clenched his teeth.
This wasn’t a battle between Chung Myung and the demonic qi.
It was a battle over whether Hwang Mun-yak could endure until the demonic qi was completely removed.
Finish this in one go!
If he hesitated out of concern for Hwang Mun-yak’s condition, all he would do was add to the strain. It would be better to leave everything to heaven and gamble.
Having made up his mind, Chung Myung drew up his energy.
He poured every last shred of his inner power into Hwang Mun-yak’s body.
Even from Chung Myung’s forehead, thick beads of sweat began to pour down like rain.
Within Hwang Mun-yak’s body, Chung Myung’s power launched a ferocious assault on the demonic qi. It swallowed whatever it touched, neutralized it, and melted away every impurity in its path. At the same time, it forcefully widened the constricted meridians inside Hwang Mun-yak’s body, opening them up like broad roads.
The demonic qi, which had been resisting fiercely, gradually lost its momentum and began to retreat into one corner. When Chung Myung saw the direction it was taking, he nearly jumped in alarm.
Ah, no!
The head.
The demonic qi, having nowhere else to go, was being driven toward the opposite side of the dantian where Chung Myung was pushing his power. In an instant, Hwang Mun-yak’s head began to swell and turn completely black.
As though it might burst at any second!