Maybe If I Eat Everything That's Supposedly Good for Me, I'll Actually Get Better (3)
“So your boss was ordered to stay here and eliminate anyone who comes, hm?”
“He doesn't want every stray dog and ox wandering onto the land and stirring up trouble.”
“And who exactly is this boss of yours?”
“That's not for you to know.”
“So he just wants me dead, then?”
“Correct.”
The man smirked coldly and gave a slight nod toward the subordinate standing beside him.
Crack!
At once, the two men flanking him shot toward Jin Yigang. The instant they closed to within a singlejang of him, Jin Yigang launched himself forward.
Driving straight between the two men in a heartbeat, his fist tore through the air.
WHAM! WHAM!
“Gwark!”
“Guhk!”
The two bodies soared into the empty air.
“Huk!”
The one who had given the attack order let out a groan. He had been watching the whole time, and yet he hadn't seen Jin Yigang's fist move at all.
“Everyone, attack at once!”
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Every man nearby hurled himself at Jin Yigang simultaneously.
And Jin Yigang charged straight back at them.
Then, in a single instant, his form simply vanished. It was Ghost Shadow Dance. And with every passing day, the technique grew more terrifying. Before, he could at least sense some trace of movement — now there was nothing to sense at all.
“Huk!”
The man's eyes went wide.
WHAM!
“Kraaagh!”
“He vanished—”
WHAM!
Every time Jin Yigang reappeared, a scream was sure to follow. And it wasn't only the Ghost Shadow Dance that had grown stronger. His fists now carried devastating force as well. In a single blow, it was all over.
“How can anyone possess such martial arts…?”
The one who had ordered the attack muttered in stunned disbelief. He and his men were all ninth-rank elites. Yet not one of them had landed even a second's worth of offense before being laid low.
Jin Yigang's movements were practically animalistic.
Like a cat that lands on its feet no matter how it falls, his fists came out of every position imaginable.
It was impossible to tell whether he was throwing punches while collapsing, or collapsing in order to throw punches.
And now he was running straight toward them.
“But I am not like those rabble!”
The man raised his sword high.
Swish!
“Huk!”
Jin Yigang's figure abruptly vanished, and the man groaned aloud.
WHAM!
“Kuaaagh!”
It was over in an instant. The man felt his body lift off the ground — and that was the end. He never managed another thought.
Thud!
The man, his face a mangled ruin, slammed into the ground.
“Aigoo, when am I supposed to clean all this up?”
Jin Yigang scanned his surroundings, spotted a suitably deep hollow, and started tossing the corpses into it. Once they were all cleared away, he covered the pit with tree branches to hide it.
“Good thing I wasn't wearing clothes.”
His entire body was plastered head to toe in enemy blood.
He went down to the lake and plunged in. After washing himself clean, he climbed back out — and at that moment, a group of people came walking toward him.
“Just when I want to be done with fighting….”
Jin Yigang scowled.
“Well, thank goodness.”
Then he broke into a broad smile. The ones approaching were none other than Je Unseong, patriarch of the Jecheon Medical Immortal Family, his daughter Je Chun-yeong — Pavilion Head of the Fourth Pavilion — and the Eternal Autumn Five Fists and Heaven-Piercing Four Swords.
“Huh?”
Je Unseong's eyes went wide the moment he spotted Jin Yigang.
“What are you doing here? And what in the world are you wearing?”
he asked, astonishment written across his face.
“Ah! Long story short, I ended up joining the Hidden Dragon Inspector's party and traveled here with them.”
Jin Yigang gave a brief account of everything that had happened.
“I see.”
“You said everyone has already gone inside?”
Je Chun-yeong asked.
“Yes.”
“Where's the entrance?”
“I'll get dressed and show you.”
Jin Yigang sprinted back to the cave. The campfire had burned out. He stacked on fresh wood, coaxed the embers back to life with a puff of breath, dressed, and returned to where Je Unseong's party was waiting.
“Follow me.”
He led the group to a spot with a clear view of the entrance.
“The way in should be up above that raft over there.”
“And you… you're not going in?”
Je Unseong asked.
“If I cross over and come back with some fateful opportunity, I might find myself clinging to life all over again. And then….”
Tears slid silently down Jin Yigang's cheeks.
“…I… I see. Let me say it again — thank you, truly.”
Je Unseong spoke, his face full of sympathy and pity.
“Don't worry. I'll do my part without fail. You just have to keep your end of the promise, Family Head.”
“Of course. Even if I die, Chun-yeong will see that promise fulfilled.”
Je Unseong looked at his daughter.
“I understand.”
Je Chun-yeong stepped up to Jin Yigang and took his hands. Then she said it once more.
“I will look after your father. I swear it.”
“Thank you.”
Jin Yigang bowed his head.
“We should go, Family Head,”
said Du Un-wook of the Heaven-Earth Fist.
“Indeed.”
“Cha-ha!”
“Ta-ha!”
“Haa!”
The entire party let out a unified battle cry and kicked off the ground. Moments later, Je Unseong's group had crossed the lake.
“I squeezed out real tears and put on that whole tragic face. If they break a promise made under those conditions, they're barely human. Now that Father's retirement is settled for certain… time to fish. Although….”
He tilted his head, studying Je Unseong's departing party. Je Ha-yeong had told him that her father's group was supposed to meet imperial representatives here — in other words, they had an appointment with Sindo Jongri.
Yet the man had only just arrived, and the only people he'd brought with him were the Eternal Autumn Five Fists and the Heaven-Piercing Four Swords.
Maybe more had come and only these remained — or maybe it had been these few from the start. Either way, one thing was clear: something about this wasn't right.
“I'm sure nothing will come of it.”
Shaking his head, Jin Yigang gathered his fishing gear and headed to the lakeshore. He snapped off a branch, tied a fishing line to one end and set it aside, then began flipping over stones along the bank — hunting for earthworms. After a few rocks, one wriggled out. But it was unlike any worm he'd ever seen.
Its whole body glowed red, like heated iron.
“Bait confirmed. Now all I need is a box.”
He found a suitable stone and carved it with the knife Yu Bongji had given him. Perhaps thanks to the Ten Thousand Years Limitless Essence Fungus, carving stone had become remarkably easy. Once he'd finished a box — lid included — he filled it with the worms.
“Now, time to find the perfect fishing spot.”
He scoured the shoreline back and forth.
Fish live where the water weeds grow. That was where he needed to focus his efforts.
“But there's something very strange about this water — no matter how I think about it.”
Jin Yigang dipped his hand into the lake.
The water was warm enough to pass for a hot spring. Normally, warm water meeting cold air produces a fog — but this lake showed no such phenomenon. Which meant it released no heat to the outside at all.
“There's only one kind of water like that: a Sun Heavenly Pool….”
In the beginning, Chaos erupted in a great explosion, and the world was born. All energy scattered and spread across creation, but some fell to earth as fragments.
The Fragment of Extreme Yang was one of them. Wherever such a fragment landed, the surrounding soil transformed into Extreme Yang earth. When rain fell upon it and pooled, a lake formed — and such a lake was called a Sun Heavenly Pool. The single most important distinction between a Sun Heavenly Pool and an ordinary hot spring was that a Sun Heavenly Pool never released its heat to the outside world.
“Around a Sun Heavenly Pool live the Red Earth Dragons, and within its waters dwells the Ten Thousand Years Fire Carp… wasn't that how it went?”
According to the books, a Sun Heavenly Pool was always home to the Ten Thousand Years Fire Carp, the very essence of yang energy.
The Fire Carp was a crimson fish said to grow a single inch every thousand years. Its value was limitless. A martial artist who ate it would gain infinite power and vigor, while a commoner would live long, free of illness.
“For me, the important thing isn't longevity — it's 'free of illness.' I'm catching it, no matter what. Eat the thing and maybe the tumor goes away… and besides, the full moon's already up.”
Jin Yigang settled on his plan for the days ahead: gorge himself on every elixir and spiritual treasure this place had to offer.
“When you're fighting to live, there's nothing you won't do.”
He looked up at the sky.
The full moon hung at the very center of the heavens.
The Ten Thousand Years Fire Carp was said to surface when the full moon rose, to replenish its yin energy.
“I'm catching it.”
Jin Yigang diced the Red Earth Dragon into tiny pieces, scattered them around the water weeds, and cast his line. Fishing was a war against time. He propped the rod in place and sank into thought. The first thing that surfaced in his mind was the Red King Heavenly Emperor Dance of Fist King Dam Dae-gyeong.
In his mind's eye, hundreds of crimson fists filled the air. Those fists moved without pause. They blazed about for the better part of half a shi before vanishing all at once — and new fists appeared in their place.
The fists of the Mad Demon Yama King Battle Dance. Fists steeped in madness churned the air in every direction, flying without rest for half a shi. And then, through the midst of them, yet another fist emerged.
The fist of the Three Calamities Fist.
The Three Calamities fists devoured the Mad Demon's fists one by one.
Twitch-twitch-twitch!
The tip of the fishing rod shuddered violently, but Jin Yigang never noticed. He was still lost deep in the Mad Demon Yama King Battle Dance and the Three Calamities Fist.
Twitch!
The rod he'd wedged into a crevice in the rocks finally slipped into the water and was dragged away. That was when Jin Yigang's eyes snapped open. He'd heard the sound of the rod falling in.
“Aw, no!”
He stripped off his clothes in a rush and dove in.
“Told you I'm a good swimmer!”
True to his boast, Jin Yigang was fast even underwater. Swinging his arms in alternating strokes and slicing through the current, he chased down the rod.
The rod, dragged across the surface, soon plunged beneath the water. Just as its tip was about to vanish, Jin Yigang shot out his hand and grabbed hold.
Big one! Don't pull.
He knew if he yanked on it, the line would snap.
No choice but to swim after it.
Kicking hard, he followed the line. Before long, he caught sight of the fish dragging it.
A monster of over three feet.
I'm taking it.
Jin Yigang kicked even faster.
His movements accelerated. Soon he was right in front of the fish.
If I grab the tail and it slips away, it'll thrash even harder — and if it escapes outright, all of this is for nothing….
Jin Yigang clenched his fist.
His fist cut through the water. But the fish dodged it instantly.
Oh, come on!
The corners of Jin Yigang's eyes lifted.
He clamped the fishing line between his teeth and swung both arms. The resistance of the water slowed his hands, and his blows lost their true speed. Raw strength didn't make the hands faster. In some situations he was lightning quick; in others, hopelessly slow.
Hunting practice again, is it?
Jin Yigang kept hammering punches toward the fish's head. But the fish dodged every single one, as if deliberately making a fool of him.
The reason it can evade my fists is that it senses the pressure my strikes place on the water.
He remembered the Lightning Step Art that Jang Cheon-ik, master of the Hidden Secret Gate, had unleashed not long ago. Back then, Jang Cheon-ik had sensed the pressure riding his fist and evaded it too.
To beat the Lightning Step, I have to get even faster. The question is how.
Jin Yigang swung his fists, thinking hard.
Ghost Shadow Dance!
Suddenly, one art came to mind. The technique of closing in like a ghost — and it wasn't confined to the body alone. Applied to the legs, it became the Ghost Shadow Dance; applied to the fists, it became the Ghost Shadow Fist.
And if I ride the current on top of that… yes.
Now that he'd found the method, all that remained was to master it.
I have to flow with the water while unfolding the Ghost Shadow Dance.
He kept chasing the fish, fists flying. What he focused on was finding the zone where the water's resistance to his punches dropped away almost entirely.
Found it.
A smile spread across Jin Yigang's face. The path of least resistance was, of all things, the water the fish had just passed through. When a fish shot forward, water rushed for an instant into the space it had just vacated — and throwing a punch along that current made it even faster.
WHUMP!
A dull thud rang out, and the fish's movements stopped dead.