Chapter 105
Chapter 105
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 105
Chapter Title: Dragon's Blood (1)
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The Omniscient One, who had collapsed in exhaustion, struggled to his feet.
Not only was the light emanating from the Dragon's Lair, where the Black Dragon had resided, extraordinary, but Ouyang Jue's condition was also dire.
The Omniscient One gasped in shock.
“…Heavens.”
It wasn't just that the muscles throughout his body were grotesquely tangled; his bones were so shattered they could no longer support him.
Worse, the splintered fragments were no longer in their proper places.
The resulting internal bleeding was sure to destroy all his organs.
The Omniscient One looked down at Ouyang Jue with sorrowful eyes.
“Why… why for someone like me?”
The Omniscient One recalled Ouyang Jue’s behavior before the fight with the Black Dragon.
He had tacitly agreed when asked if he'd been given a talisman, and he'd declared he would kill the dragon for a friend.
But the Omniscient One had no such memory.
He had only seen Ouyang Jue's face for the first time three or four days ago. Before that, there was nothing.
To the Omniscient One, Ouyang Jue was merely the successor who had inherited the Severing Manifestation.
There should have been no bond of loyalty between them that would compel him to fight until he was a bloody mess… like this.
Thus, the Omniscient One was utterly bewildered.
To him, Ouyang Jue's actions were completely incomprehensible.
‘But…’
The Omniscient One gazed down at Ouyang Jue.
Could there truly be someone who would risk their life like this for a relationship that was practically nonexistent?
‘If his words are true, he is a saint the likes of which appears once a century. If not, I must learn the real reason.’
The Omniscient One carefully lifted Ouyang Jue.
Fearing the broken bones might pierce deeper into his body, he broke off nearby branches to fashion a makeshift splint.
*Thud, thud.*
He tried his best to walk without the slightest tremor.
But the sudden movement caused Ouyang Jue to let out a pained groan.
“Urk.”
“Just hold on a little longer. No matter how sleepy you feel, you must not close your eyes!”
Despite the Omniscient One's urgent cry, Ouyang Jue seemed to find even blinking to be an immense effort.
A more serious problem was that the Omniscient One, who needed to support Ouyang Jue, was also severely drained of energy.
Just then, the great bear that had been watching from a distance approached.
“Groooan…!”
“You'll carry him on your back?”
“Hmph!”
“Very well. I'm entrusting him to you.”
While the Omniscient One picked up a suitable branch to use as a walking stick, the great bear lowered its back, allowing Ouyang Jue to be placed upon it.
The bear then turned its head as if to ask where they were going.
“Let’s go up there.”
The Omniscient One pointed a finger toward the summit of Mount Mao.
He had used up all his talismans fighting the Black Dragon, so he had no choice but to reuse the ones he had placed to suppress its power.
Moreover, up there were dozens of pieces of lightning-struck jujube wood. Used properly, they could replenish Ouyang Jue's vital energy.
“…Let’s go.”
The Omniscient One's figure swayed once.
***
Having barely reached the summit, the Omniscient One ignored his own condition and first checked on Ouyang Jue.
“This is bad!”
The Omniscient One's expression turned grave.
The gashes on Ouyang Jue's body were unusually deep.
He had lost so much blood that his complexion was pale, and the blood pooled on his chest was beginning to harden.
One wrong move, and his blood vessels could become blocked, causing his insides to rot.
The Omniscient One hastily peeled a talisman from a jujube tree and smeared his own blood over the ink-drawn symbol.
“Groooan!”
Knowing how dangerous that act was, the great bear cried out to the Omniscient One.
But the Omniscient One just smiled wanly.
“It's all right. My role here is finished. If I can save this hero with what's left of my life, would that not be a more worthy endeavor?”
“Groooan…”
“As you've said since you were a cub, the time has come for us to part.”
With a solemn expression, the Omniscient One sharpened a piece of the sacred wood into a fine point. Then, with the stake he had made, he pierced his own forearm.
*Drip, drip-drip.*
Crimson blood flowed down the stake made of sacred wood.
He imbued the blood with his remaining lifespan and vital energy.
All he had to do was let this flow into Ouyang Jue's mouth to bring him back from the brink of death. After that, he could support him with a protective talisman.
But Ouyang Jue wouldn't have it.
*Thump.*
Ouyang Jue stared at the Omniscient One with venomous eyes.
“Don’t.”
“But, you are…”
“Still. Don’t.”
As if even speaking those short words left him breathless, Ouyang Jue gagged once before looking straight at the Omniscient One.
His vision swam, his energy completely depleted. It felt as if everything around him was moving erratically.
But his will, forged like steel, did not break.
Ouyang Jue grabbed the Omniscient One's shoulder.
“If you do that, I'll never forgive you!”
“Forgive me or not, what does that matter now?”
The Omniscient One smiled bitterly.
“If only I had met you a little sooner. If I had…”
“Shut up.”
Ouyang Jue’s eyes flew open.
“Stop talking like you're leaving your last words!”
Now that he had somehow succeeded in killing the Black Dragon, he could not allow the Omniscient One to die as he had in the past.
He wouldn't let him follow the same path as Ha Jin-ak.
“Ugh…!”
With superhuman endurance, Ouyang Jue slid off the great bear’s back.
The pain, like his entire body was being shattered, made his teeth chatter. The temptation to simply give up and die right then and there wormed its way into his mind.
A sense of despair washed over him at the thought that seven more enemies of this magnitude still remained.
‘I was only able to beat the Black Dragon with the help of the Omniscient One, who knew Mount Mao so well.’
It was all something he wanted to run from. He felt the urge to whine, to complain before the Omniscient One—his friend and benefactor—that he didn't want to go through this anymore.
But as if to deny that impulse, Ouyang Jue forced himself to shake his head.
‘No.’
Then, as if possessed, he began to walk toward the cave.
It was the only place that shone in his vision, which was otherwise filled with nothing but pain and darkness.
“You mustn't go in there recklessly!”
As the Omniscient One urgently tried to stop him, the great bear immediately blocked his path.
Ouyang Jue, his body swaying uncontrollably, let out a faint smirk.
“It’s dark. Move.”
“Groooar!”
“If you stop me, the Omniscient One will die. Will you still do it?”
“…Groan.”
At those words, the great bear faltered and stepped aside.
Seeing this, the Omniscient One roared in fury.
“Bear, you beast!”
“Thank you.”
*For not letting me make another mistake.*
Ouyang Jue mumbled, his voice too quiet for anyone to hear.
One step, then another.
He walked while organizing the principles of the Heavenly Escape Sword Arts that still swirled in his mind.
‘Come to think of it… I’ve been lucky.’
He had helped the destitute Jo Hun eat his fill and changed Bai Duanxian, who had lacked an understanding of the strong preying on the weak.
He felt a little sorry for Liu Zhangming. After making him worry so much, Ouyang Jue was always out and about, so they hardly ever saw each other.
‘I might not see him again.’
Ouyang Jue smiled bitterly.
Even if he couldn't go back, he had brought the Divine Demon Fist, the Beggars' Sect, and the Martial Alliance to his side. Wouldn't that be enough?
The thought occurred to him suddenly.
Normally, he would have dismissed such a weak thought in an instant, but this time, he couldn't.
*Thud.*
His breathing became extremely labored as he walked, and he reached out a hand to steady himself against a tree trunk.
The Omniscient One's shouts seemed to mix with the blood that filled his ears.
*Don't go, don't go... it's dangerous...* The voice was so full of pleading that it sounded like a scream.
‘My, my. At first, he treated me like some weird lunatic.’
Perhaps the bloody battle had forged some new sentiment between them.
Ouyang Jue turned his head slightly and smiled.
Though it might have looked ghastly to the Omniscient One, Ouyang Jue was, in his own way, satisfied.
“Th…ank you.”
“What are you saying! Come back here at once!”
“Thanks to you… I had fun.”
Ouyang Jue gasped for breath. Finally, he staggered slowly into the cave.
*Squelch.*
He must have bled too much while walking, because something under his shoes felt obstructive. The sticky sensation was unpleasant.
“Tch.”
Ouyang Jue, as if annoyed, kicked off his shoes. He then moved toward the place where the light was strongest.
*Thump.*
He bumped into something and stopped in his tracks.
“…What is this?”
A colossal torso came into his blood-red vision.
An involuntary, hollow laugh escaped Ouyang Jue's lips.
“So this was the Black Dragon's true form.”
Its torso alone was as large as a great hall in the Imperial Palace, and its jet-black scales looked as if they couldn't be scratched by even the most renowned sword.
Furthermore, to call the claws on its fingers massive axes would be an understatement.
“So there are seven more of these things, and they're connected to the old Demonic Cult…”
Feeling as if he were facing an insurmountable wall, Ouyang Jue laughed up at the heavens.
There was no way creatures like this were only connected to the old Demonic Cult.
Before meeting it, he had dismissed it as a mere snake, but not anymore.
Each one of them was capable of dyeing the entire continent in blood.
Perhaps they were even connected to the Plum Blossom Cave, which held its own secrets, and to his own journey into the past.
*Thump.*
Ouyang Jue punched the Black Dragon's left chest.
“You bastard, Black Dragon, if you're dead, you should at least leave something behind… What is this?”
Naturally, there was no reply.
Ouyang Jue hadn't expected one anyway. He figured its soul had returned to the heavens the moment its mask shattered and turned to ash.
Just then, the Black Dragon's body quivered slightly.
-I did not take you for one, but it seems you desire material things like any other mortal.
Ouyang Jue's eyes widened in surprise, but he dismissed it as a hallucination brought on by his impending death and chuckled.
“You fool, how can a man be born without desire? Be it for martial arts or for money… it is not something that vanishes with status. I'm sure even Lü Dongbin, the one who supposedly faced you, was the same.”
-A curious mortal. A Daoist, yet you tarnish the honor of your founder, Lü Dongbin.
“This dream is particularly annoying today. A dead bastard is chiding me. I suppose my time has come.”
-It is a gift.
“…?”
At those words, Ouyang Jue looked up, and his expression immediately hardened.
A pair of bright yellow pupils, slit vertically, were staring down at him.
The Black Dragon opened its mouth slightly.
-I shall permit you to share my Dragon's Blood with that fellow from Mount Mao.
“…What.”
-You need not be so wary. In any case, this one is soon to ascend and can no longer meddle with the lives of the mortal realm. This body, too, will soon turn to ash.
Then, the Black Dragon's eyes glinted with a strange light.
-But how strange. Why are you so twisted?
Ouyang Jue reacted sharply to those words.
“Twisted? What do you mean by that!”
-It would be best for you to find that out yourself. I have no wish to add to the sins I must answer for.
One side of the Black Dragon's mouth twitched.
Ouyang Jue had no way of knowing what expression it was making, but for some reason, it felt like one of pride or approval.
-So that you may endure the long winter to come… I shall cede to you the contents of this Dragon's Lair.
“Tell me before you go!”
-My goodwill ends here.
With those final words, the Black Dragon's presence vanished completely.
Simultaneously, Ouyang Jue felt something forced into his mouth.
A foul, fishy taste that bordered on nauseating. But within it, an immense energy was condensed.
‘It wasn't a lie, then.’
The moment Ouyang Jue clenched his teeth, an inky black energy swirled around his entire body.
Dragon's Blood.
A fantastical panacea whose traces could no longer be found in the current martial world.