#179. Black Flame Dragon that Swallows the Blood Sea (9)
Ilgak pulled away from Moyong Jaehwa and stared at Jin Sowoon approaching from nearby, his body trembling.
'Truly... you broke through that dead end. Truly...'
He couldn't understand why he felt this way, but it was a sensation akin to the enlightenment he'd gained before the Buddha statue in the past.
"You really came..."
Jin Sowoon tilted his head at Ilgak's words.
"What do you mean?"
"...I never thought you'd truly make it here."
"I said I was coming, so here I am."
Ilgak's lips quivered.
"...Is that how it works?"
Jin Sowoon replied indifferently, as if it were no big deal.
"Yeah. What's so special about it?"
Did this man not realize how impossibly difficult the words he tossed out so casually were? Or how extraordinary the actions he took for granted?
'Is his very vessel on another level?'
Jin Sowoon pointed at the blood humans with his signature Black Dragon Sword.
"Ilgak, can you keep fighting as an academy student?"
"..."
"If not, you can fall back. They're starting to retreat anyway."
"If Donor Jin is doing it, then of course I must as well."
"Haa... that damn 'Donor' this, 'Donor' that."
Jin Sowoon shook his head and strode forward as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Ilgak followed, and for a moment, he caught a glimpse of a radiant glow emanating from his back.
'Sakyamuni...?'
He rubbed his eyes and looked again, only to see Jin Sowoon glancing back with a sullen expression.
"You coming or not?"
"Y-yes, I'm coming."
For some reason, Ilgak felt the confusion in his mind clear away like a refreshing breeze.
The academy students who had regained their senses couldn't process the scene unfolding before them.
Moyong Jaehwa—the eldest son of the Moyong family, one of the Five Great Families—who had been mocked for chasing after a mere Tae-eul Gate disciple. He stood alone, bow in hand, blocking the blood humans.
Every arrow he loosed sent those savage blood humans reeling back in terror, and the sorcerers who had been chanting their foul spells hurriedly stuffed their noisy bells deep into their robes, fearing they might become his next target.
Just when they thought his aid might mean survival...
'That' appeared.
A 'demon' that shouldn't exist in this world. The 'jiangshi' from legends that could silence crying children with tales alone.
Despair outweighed any curiosity or wonder.
When even Ilgak—the strongest in their expedition— was helplessly pushed back by the jiangshi, they assumed their lives ended there.
Then he appeared.
'Jin Sowoon?'
The culprit who had shattered the Murim Academy expedition's traditional prestige as the elite of elites.
He should have been carrying out his student duties at the academy, yet here he was.
No one dared hope at the sight of him. They didn't believe he could handle a situation even the elders couldn't.
His arrival should have merely amplified their fear of death.
'It should have...'
But it crashed and shattered.
The bizarre, terrifying iron corpse was flung about like a toy. The jiangshi, which had unleashed killing blows emotionlessly, now bared its teeth and thrashed desperately.
It was a shocking sight—one that left even the blood humans who trusted in the jiangshi flustered and disorganized.
The academy students, enduring the disorienting side effects of sorcery that shook their insides and rang in their heads, couldn't tear their eyes away.
And finally, the jiangshi's body was cleaved apart.
"Heavens..."
"How in the world..."
"Amitabha."
Gasps and exclamations erupted here and there.
No matter how high his grades or skills, Jin Sowoon had always been seen as inferior to them. Yet he alone accomplished what none of them could.
"Hah..."
The joy of surviving mortal peril was overshadowed by the shock of their deep-seated prejudices being overturned. The students stared blankly, unable to snap out of it.
"Hey, you idiot!"
Jin Sowoon bellowed at Nam Hwaseong.
"You have to channel your energy moderately! No—why not just blast palm winds at its midsection instead?!"
"Sh-shit... I'm nursing internal injuries right now... Keok, cough!"
"You think I don't know the Samwonmun's Inner Breathing Technique is all-in on recovery power?!"
"...Th-that's our sect's secret... how do you...?"
"Do it right! And I'll cover the demon-exorcism talismans you tore through from my share, so keep that in mind."
"You son of a bitch! Why the hell from my share?!"
Having sliced the iron corpse and forced the blood humans' unit to retreat, Jin Sowoon was now—as if it were the most natural thing—helping the academy students.
As if it were his duty all along.
He went to each one who had once cursed him, infusing them with qi and handing out medicine. There wasn't a hint of awkwardness in his actions.
If anything, the ones receiving help felt the awkwardness.
Some had desperately sabotaged him during the regular admissions. During the Muryangbulgolmokhonjin incident, he had volunteered to enter that deadly formation to clean up their mess.
And now, he was casually tending to these very academy students.
"...Ilgak."
An academy student from a Shaolin lay sect approached Ilgak.
"Do you know why he's acting like that?"
"Why...? What do you mean?"
"He's no different from an enemy to us. So why help us like this? Is he trying to saddle the righteous faction with a debt?"
"..."
Ilgak's brow furrowed, his eyes filling with disappointment.
"Is that truly all you see?"
"...Pardon?"
The student's face showed he had no idea what he'd done wrong.
Ilgak let out a long sigh.
"I suppose I don't even know what I've been trying to do in the name of justice all this time."
"...Monk, what do you mean?"
"Do you know the Buddha's teachings?"
"O-of course. I'm from a lay sect of Shaolin Temple..."
At the mention of 'Shaolin,' Ilgak's voice grew heavy, cutting him off.
"Then why don't you live by them?!"
"Y-yes?"
Ilgak, always wearing a serene smile that earned him the title Ja-bul—Merciful Buddha—now had a face hard as iron.
"Read the sutras ten thousand times, attain enlightenment a thousand times—if you don't practice them, what's the point of all that study?!"
"M-Monk."
"Donor Jin is a Daoist sect disciple, yet he lives the Buddha's way. How can you, who received Shaolin's teachings, harbor thoughts like a demon?!"
The lay sect student bowed his head in haste at Ilgak's roar.
"I-I'm sorry, Monk. I-I was short-sighted."
"A pig's eyes see only pigs; Buddha's eyes see only Buddhas."
Ilgak's gaze sharpened as he stared at the student.
"Think again about what kind of eyes you're using to see Donor Jin."
"..."
Ilgak glared at the speechless student before shifting his gaze to Jin Sowoon. Clarity shone in his eyes.
"Donor Jin... is a noble soul."
Having roughly patched up the academy students, I climbed a nearby peak.
"Huff... huff... huff... Wh-why'd we come up here?"
Dragging along a useless lump whose size didn't match his worth.
"If it's that tough, why'd you follow?"
Nam Hwaseong wore a wronged expression like a dog betrayed by its master and yelled.
"Shit... what was I supposed to do, stand around awkwardly with the righteous faction guys?!"
He'd followed for that reason?
"Stay with Moyong Jaehwa then."
"You think Moyong Jaehwa's any less awkward?"
"Jeez... shoulda just behaved yourself from the start."
"..."
I shook my head and looked ahead.
In the distance, the Blood Cult's unit that had retreated was visible.
Without their iron corpse, they were probably at a loss. Losing one of the three jiangshi in the cult would have thrown their plans into disarray.
"You planning a counterattack or something?"
"Counterattack? Don't be ridiculous."
Even without the jiangshi, the Blood Cult was still the Blood Cult. Unless the Murim Alliance's main force arrived, these sorcery-addled academy students couldn't handle them.
The best move now was to evacuate the students as fast as possible.
"Then why come all the way here?"
"Letting them go like this would be a waste."
"What?"
"We're already here—gotta land one solid hit on the bastards stirring up the martial world."
"..."
Nam Hwaseong eyed me strangely.
"What?"
"You get poisoned by corpse toxin fighting that jiangshi or something?"
What did he even keep that head of his for?
"That's why they say you can't talk sense to a big dumb bird."
"...You talking about me?"
Of course, I hadn't predicted this opportunity from the start.
Who'd have thought they'd send one of their precious three iron corpses with the vanguard?
'That means the Blood Sea Jade is here too.'
The reason the Blood Demon Lord—one of the Demonic Cult's Nine Lords—had fled the cult fifty years ago was the completion of the Blood Sea Jade.
The Blood Demon True Qi, passed down from dying Blood Demons to their successors, had coalesced over five hundred years into that single essence: the Blood Sea Jade.
'It's why the Blood Cult, unable to master corpse command sorcery, could control iron corpses.'
The presence of an iron corpse meant the Blood Sea Jade was here.
And I had no intention of letting such a golden opportunity slip.
In this dire situation, a laugh escaped me unbidden.
'...Who knew I'd encounter an ingredient for one of the Fifteen Divine Artifacts here!'
Originally, the Blood Sea Jade had been one of the Murim Alliance's spoils after crushing the Blood Cult in Sichuan.
The remnants of the fallen Blood Cult carried all sorts of bizarre items: tools for sorcery and illusion arrays, half-finished corpse experiments, and more.
The Blood Sea Jade was treated as just another oddity and tossed into storage.
Only after Jang Dowon joined the Alliance did he recognize its value and forge the divine weapon Cheokgwanggeom from it.
'I might even have to work a stint in the Mantongbu later just to secure it...'
It was that tempting.
'Qi amplification... qi amplification...'
My mind raced.
Anyway, one of them down there had the Blood Sea Jade.
I had to snag it before the Alliance fully conquered the cult.
"Let's head down."
"...Huh?"
"What? Wanna stay up here?"
"Shit... if I'd known we'd head back so soon..."
Did this guy always grumble after volunteering for unasked favors?
Descending the peak, I approached the academy students.
I needed to regroup them quickly and send them back to the academy.
Only then could I handle the aftermath in peace.
Send them off first, secure the Blood Sea Jade, deliver it to Jang Dowon, and get the divine Cheokgwanggeom...
I was basking in visions of a brilliant future when Nam Hwaseong nudged me with his elbow.
"Jin Sowoon... something feels off, doesn't it?"
I finally looked up at the students.
"You bastard! Jin Sowoon!"
A voice bellowed from one side.
A middle-aged man shuffled toward me slowly, leaning on an academy student's support, his steps unsteady.
'Myeonghyeon.'
His face twisted in rage, he began pointing accusingly.
"You dare play tricks against Jeomcheong? What are you lot doing? Subdue that punk and drag him before me at once!"
The first words from someone barely freed from sorcery, his mind still frayed...
"Haha, really."
I slowly reached for the Black Dragon Sword.
Looks like there was another bastard to beat down besides the iron corpse.