Chapter 90
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 90
Chapter Title: Twenty-Four Forms (1)
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"Hah... just one more time."
Puk!
"O-One more time..."
Puk!
"Just once more, please."
Puk!
"Th-This really is the last time. Please, just once more."
Puk!
Ha Hu-yeong could no longer stand.
He lay on the ground as if his soul had fled his body, staring blankly up at the sky.
"Get up. We've got more to do. Come on."
At my urging, Ha Hu-yeong leaned on his spear shaft and staggered to his feet.
He charged straight at me.
I sidestepped lightly, and he tumbled headlong past where I'd been standing.
Kuhng.
He flipped onto his back, lifted his trembling spear with shaking hands, and gripped it upside down.
The spear tip pointed toward Ha Hu-yeong's own throat.
"What are you doing?"
The junior disciples rushed over in alarm.
At the same moment, I snapped my fingers.
Ping! Tang!
A white burst of energy the size of a fingernail flew out, struck the spear tip, and sent the weapon flying from his grasp.
"Shaolin's Projectile Finger Force?"
The junior disciples who'd been rushing toward him halted in shock.
"Projectile Finger Force, my ass."
I had no idea if what I'd just done qualified as Projectile Finger Force.
I'd simply thought it might work and tried it.
And it had.
"How... how did you do that?"
"Beats me. Just take that guy inside and put him to bed."
He'd tried to take his own life after losing to me in combat.
Maybe it wasn't because he'd lost to me, but because he was disappointed in himself.
After finishing dinner, the junior disciples came out to the courtyard to enjoy the cool evening breeze.
"With a breeze this refreshing, spring must already be on its way out. How's your body feeling now, High Monk?"
Myeong-gak was clearly up to something as he eyed me cautiously and struck up a conversation.
But I pretended not to notice.
"Fine."
Moving my body vigorously was still too much of a strain.
Thanks to the bout with Ha Hu-yeong earlier that day, my whole body still ached and throbbed.
Myeong-gak pulled a silk pouch from his bosom and showed me the black pill inside.
"What's that?"
"Master instructed me to give this to you later. He said it was the drug that Senior Brother Cho Eun-seon had on him. It's called the Soul-Entrancing Pill, something that ravages a person's mind."
I took the black pill and examined it on my palm.
This must be the drug the Nine Fingers Flame Demon had mentioned.
'Gwang-u's been living under the influence of this stuff.'
I broke off a fingernail-sized piece of the pill and put it in my mouth.
"Ah, Amitabha!"
"High Monk!"
"What are you doing?!"
The junior disciples panicked at the sudden turn of events.
I raised a hand to them.
"I'm fine."
Despite my words, I was anything but.
My body suddenly felt like it was floating off the ground, and a rush of euphoria washed over me.
I felt like I could kick off the earth and soar into the sky right then and there.
Power overflowed through my body, which had been throbbing with pain just moments ago.
Haha...
Laughter bubbled up from my lips unbidden.
How could I even describe this?
All my worries and anxieties vanished in an instant.
"High Monk... are you alright?"
Cheong-pung asked cautiously.
When I looked around at the junior disciples, they startled and backed away.
"What's wrong?"
"Your eyes... they look strange."
"Do they? I feel like I've become an immortal..."
If I really had become one, this is probably what it would feel like.
Myeong-gak, who had been watching me, reached subtly for the pill on my palm.
I clenched my fist tight.
I absolutely could not let him take it.
A killing intent surged up, and my murderous aura poured toward Myeong-gak.
Eek!
Not just Myeong-gak—the junior disciples scattered in all directions.
"I see."
And in that moment, I understood why it was called the Soul-Entrancing Pill.
I truly wanted to kill Myeong-gak for trying to take it from me.
"You all... never take this drug. Ever."
Fuss...
The pill in my palm crumbled into acrid smoke and scattered as ash.
The junior disciples, who had scattered every which way, hesitantly gathered back around me.
"Myeong-gak. If you have business returning to Shaolin, please convey my thanks to the Divine Monk on my behalf."
"Namu Amitabha, Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva."
Myeong-gak seemed to understand my intent and pressed his palms together in prayer.
Even in this floating euphoria, I thought of Gwang-u.
"Pathetic bastard."
The Nine Fingers Flame Demon had been right.
If Gwang-u was addicted to this drug, he'd never break free.
As I turned my head in the midst of the high, I spotted someone peeking at us through a slightly open door.
I beckoned, and the eyes peering through the crack vanished.
But soon the door opened, and Ha Hu-yeong shuffled out awkwardly.
He approached me, unsure of himself, then bowed his head slightly and averted his gaze.
"Th-Thank you."
After thanking me, he gave a slight bow to the junior disciples as well.
"Thank you."
He picked up his spear, which he'd leaned against the outer wall.
"Monk Myeong-gak... let's spar again sometime."
Ha Hu-yeong grabbed his spear and left through the gate without a backward glance.
"Hey, Ha Hu-yeong."
He turned at the gate, looking at Myeong-gak with puzzled eyes.
"It's too late at night. Why not stay here tonight and leave in the morning?"
Myeong-gak relayed the message and glanced at me for permission.
I nodded, and Myeong-gak suddenly flashed a cheeky grin.
Puhehehehe...
The junior disciples, watching me and Myeong-gak, smiled as well.
Despite his prickly personality, he bore no grudges.
Ha Hu-yeong hesitated at the gate, unsure.
"Do as your heart leads you."
After agonizing over it, he made up his mind and turned back.
"Then I'll leave in the morning."
"You mad bastard. You know what the Soul-Entrancing Pill is and you still ate it?"
The Great Heavenly Demon, appearing after days away, glared at me with a deeply displeased expression.
His previously pale and sickly complexion was gone.
"I wanted to experience firsthand how Gwang-u must be living."
"Fool. Do you have any idea how agonizing and grueling it is to break free from addiction to that drug?"
"Can you break free?"
"If you abandon your life, sure."
Could Gwang-u ever give up his own life?
Probably not.
That guy cherished himself more than anyone and was weak to temptation.
"Have you tried it yourself?"
Kkekkeuk...
"That drug was originally made by the Demonic Cult for those wounded in battle. It was created to ease the agony of severed limbs or spilling entrails, but Great Radiant Demon Lord and Shadowless Demon Emperor used it for their pleasure. Fools. Anyway, looks like an interesting fellow's shown up."
I never imagined the Demonic Cult had created the Soul-Entrancing Pill.
Regardless, its effects were truly extraordinary.
"Do you know of the Ha Hu Family?"
Kkekkeuk...
"You think there's anything in this world I don't know?"
"Show-off..."
The Great Heavenly Demon brushed off my curt reply.
Just as my attitude toward him was gradually changing, so too was his toward me.
"The Ha Hu Family was a clan of hot-blooded warriors. When I was conquering the martial world, Ha Hu-gong, the family head, and about twenty of his retainers blocked my path."
"And what happened?"
"What do you think?"
Kkekkeuk...
As I scowled, he laughed merrily.
"Not a single one feared death. Out of admiration, I spared the entire family intact."
"Impressive."
Suddenly, the Great Heavenly Demon drew his sword.
But what he drew wasn't a sword—it was a long spear.
At some point, it had changed from sword to spear.
Whiiing...
The long spear swirled around him, slicing through the air.
Pipik, pik...!
Thrusting front and back, sweeping left and right, it shortened and lengthened in an instant repeatedly.
"See that?"
After demonstrating, he halted the spear and asked.
"You know spear arts too?"
"Is there any martial art I don't know?"
Truly impressive.
Watching him, he didn't seem like the King of Martial Arts, but the God of Martial Arts.
"Your injuries seem mostly healed, so face my spear today."
"Let's do it."
I hadn't been able to move freely for a while anyway.
As I rose and headed outside, the Great Heavenly Demon followed.
I had to leave this house tomorrow morning.
This place was truly peculiar.
The guests were disciples and retainers from the Nine Great Sects and Five Great Families.
Yet these disciples, who dominated the martial world, couldn't lay a finger on the house's master.
I'd learned late that his martial prowess was extraordinary, but the place was still odd.
Why would disciples and retainers from those powerful sects and families stay here?
And they even handled the household chores.
Creak.
The sound of a door opening snapped me from my midnight musings.
Then another.
Creak, creak, creak.
It felt like every door in the house was opening.
Ha Hu-yeong sensed the strangeness too and stepped out.
"My god..."
He couldn't close his gaping mouth.
The moonlit courtyard brimmed with countless silhouettes, sword lights flashing to the heavens.
All those forms came from one person moving, the sword gleams surging from his blade.
The four pairs of eyes watching shone brightly, and Ha Hu-yeong's gaze grew ever clearer.
This was it.
This spectacle was what kept the junior disciples here.
The house's master, whom he'd called a cripple, was a supreme expert beyond imagination.
Was this what the Seven Star Lords looked like? Or the Five Heavenly Kings?
Probably closer to the Five Heavenly Kings.
Myeong-gak had shouted about Projectile Finger Force earlier that day—it must have been real.
'How... how can he do that?'
The sword dance had already gone past an hour.
The junior disciples watched without blinking.
Ha Hu-yeong was absorbing the house master's sword dance with his eyes.
He'd thought it was just sword dance at first, but no—this was no performance.
He was fiercely exchanging blows with someone in the empty space ahead.
And as if to prove it, the master occasionally let out pained groans or tumbled to the ground.
'How... how can I stay in this house longer?'
Anger welled up as he watched.
How long had these sly disciples from the Nine Sects and Five Families been freeloading here?
'If Elder Yeong-gae had told me sooner...'
Then he could have joined them and witnessed this incredible martial display every day.
'More. Please... more...'
But against Ha Hu-yeong's desperate wish, the master toppled backward and didn't rise again.
The sight that had filled the world with swords was shockingly magnificent.
"What a shame."
"Still, it's been ages since we saw it. Be satisfied with that."
Ha Hu-yeong snapped to his senses at the junior disciples' whispers.