Chapter 40

Chapter 40, He Was a Monster Genius All Along

After the white poisonous smoke disappeared, the sight of Saeng Goryang collapsed with a sword buried in his abdomen shocked everyone.

Go Deung had been watching from afar. When he saw Western Monster Saeng Goryang die, he shouted.

"You bastard!"

Go Deung, one half of the famous Blue and Red Twin Swords, remembered his close friend Bang Baekji dying from Jaha's poison.

That memory overlapped with Saeng Goryang's death.

Go Deung charged toward Jaha.

However, the Paeng Family's New Five Tiger Sabers happened to be fighting directly in his path.

They had been encouraged after injuring Hwancheonma, so when Go Deung came charging, they did not even consider avoiding him.

Since they had driven back Hwancheonma, they believed someone like Go Deung would be nothing.

"Dodge!"

Paeng Umyeong shouted when the New Five Tiger Sabers raised their weapons toward Go Deung instead of retreating.

The New Five Tiger Sabers were confident.

That confidence was immediately proven to be a mistake.

BOOM!

One of the New Five Tiger Sabers clashed with Go Deung once and was sent flying through the air.

It was a scene created by Go Deung's overwhelming internal power.

Go Deung immediately swept his sword through the air.

Like a bolt of silk being ripped apart, the New Five Tiger Saber warrior was split into two pieces in midair.

He screamed once and died.

Go Deung continued straight forward.

Slash!

With only two moves, he cut off the arm of another New Five Tiger Saber warrior who had raised his saber to block him.

Then he released sword qi extending almost two jang toward another warrior rushing at him.

Wooooong!

Blue sword qi surged forward with the cry of the sword.

The New Five Tiger Saber warrior grabbed his chest and fell to his knees.

Only after his forward momentum caused him to collapse onto the ground did his body finally stop trembling.

Three of the New Five Tiger Sabers had died in the time it took to blink three times.

Only then did the remaining two instinctively step back and clear a path for Go Deung.

Their bodies had reacted before their minds.

They finally understood that they could not even withstand one strike from him.

However, Jaha did not move away.

To be exact, it was not that he refused to move.

He could not move.

After fighting Western Monster Saeng Goryang, Namgung Cheol's borrowed qi had disappeared, leaving Jaha's entire body paralyzed.

The absorbed qi naturally vanished within a quarter of an hour, but the temporary paralysis was a side effect caused by Byeok Ho's weak natural internal energy.

If Byeok Ho already possessed sixty years of internal energy, such paralysis would never have appeared.

But because he did not, an unexpected side effect occurred.

Goeui noticed it.

Seeing Jaha's hands trembling, Goeui assumed that he had completely exhausted his true qi and could no longer move.

Goeui stood up, leaped through the air, and landed in front of Jaha.

"I'll deal with you."

Originally, Goeui had no intention of becoming involved in the Western Gorge Sect's battle.

Long ago, he had received a favor from Ma Gi, so he had tried to avoid opposing the Western Gorge Sect.

However, if it was necessary to protect Jaha, he could ignore that old connection.

No matter what, Jaha was now the successor to his ultimate techniques.

Goeui spoke to Jaha behind him.

"This will be a good lesson. Watch carefully. I'll show you how this old man fights, and why Jagang used to struggle so much against me."

Despite the paralysis, Jaha smiled faintly.

He could feel Goeui's pride.

Go Deung shouted.

"Move! Until now, I've held back because of Leader Ma, but don't think I'll spare you just because you're a physician."

Goeui sneered.

"Come at me. This old man will teach you just how vast the world is."

Go Deung immediately charged.

In addition to his martial arts, Go Deung had gained a fortunate encounter when he was young, giving him decades more internal energy than ordinary martial artists.

He intended to crush Goeui through raw power, just as he had done to the New Five Tiger Sabers.

However, after clashing with Goeui's unimpressive staff, Go Deung immediately realized that Goeui's internal power was definitely not below his own.

He's still just a physician.

Go Deung had heard rumors that Goeui had once been a formidable master.

But he had never truly believed Goeui was still that strong.

Even if he had been powerful, he belonged to the previous generation.

Many masters of the previous generation were now nothing more than empty reputations, so Go Deung underestimated him.

He attacked Goeui with dazzling sword techniques.

He intended to decide the battle immediately if he found an opening.

Go Deung was impressed when Goeui blocked every one of his techniques.

Even a rotten fish is still a fish.

Go Deung increased his power and attacked harder.

Jaha realized that Goeui was intentionally exchanging moves with Go Deung to show him how to use the Flowing Joint Art and Revolving Joint Formula.

Suddenly, Goeui's body seemed to shrink by half.

He tilted his body at an impossible angle and attacked.

Go Deung was startled and focused entirely on defense.

Then Goeui's shoulder joints slowly separated, allowing his staff to attack from bizarre angles.

As the staff entered from directions that were impossible to predict, Go Deung finally stopped looking down on Goeui.

Goeui's movements were even stranger than Go Deung's secret sword art, the Hidden Cloud Sword.

Go Deung was gradually forced onto the defensive.

Jaha repeatedly nodded while watching Goeui.

He was learning how to use the shoulders, knees, and joints simply by observing Goeui's movements.

When Goeui's arm twisted around Go Deung's sword like a snake, Jaha even felt a chill.

"Keuk!"

Eventually, Goeui's staff slipped forward like a snake climbing a tree and smashed into Go Deung's shoulder.

Go Deung's shoulder went numb.

He could no longer put strength into his hand.

An acupoint had been struck.

Goeui immediately raised his staff and brought it down toward Go Deung's head.

He was about to finish him.

But just as the staff reached Go Deung's hair, it stopped completely.

A voice transmission from Ma Gi had stopped Goeui.

Senior, please spare Go Deung.

Ma Gi was watching from a distance.

If you do, every debt between us will be settled.

Ma Gi nodded.

Goeui lowered his staff.

"Get lost! Consider yourself lucky today, brat."

Go Deung looked confused when Goeui suddenly withdrew his killing move.

Normally, Go Deung was not someone who would simply retreat.

His stubbornness was no weaker than Bang Baekji's.

However, he could not move forward.

He had also heard Ma Gi's voice transmission and frowned.

Venerated Retainer Go, return.

Go Deung could not disobey Ma Gi's order.

He reluctantly glared at Jaha once before retreating toward Ma Gi.

Un Daeryong judged that if they continued trying to capture the Western Gorge Sect experts, the Vermilion Bird Unit might be completely destroyed.

He gave an order.

"Vermilion Bird Unit, do not pursue fleeing enemies!"

The Vermilion Bird Unit began helping the injured and withdrawing.

Three Western Gorge Sect warriors who had also been retreating saw their backs and charged.

They thought this was a perfect opportunity to kill Vermilion Bird Unit warriors whose backs were turned.

Jaha happened to be nearby.

The Vermilion Bird Unit warriors were each supporting an injured comrade, so their reactions were slow.

By then, Jaha's paralysis had finally faded and he could move again.

However, when he saw the scene, he had no intention of interfering.

The Vermilion Bird Unit had once been his enemy.

There was no reason for him to save them.

Although his soul had entered Byeok Ho's body, he still had not completely abandoned the instincts of the former Demon Cult Leader.

Jaha was about to turn away when his body suddenly stiffened.

When he realized what was happening, his expression twisted.

Damn it!

When the three Vermilion Bird Unit warriors were about to die, Jaha suddenly rushed forward and threw the hidden weapons in his hand.

It was entirely Byeok Ho's will.

Why am I doing this?

Ping! Ping! Ping!

The Western Gorge Sect warriors blocked Jaha's hidden weapons as they were about to stab the Vermilion Bird Unit warriors from behind.

Then, as Jaha approached, they naturally formed a triangular shape and attacked him together.

That alone showed that they were elites.

Jaha gritted his teeth.

His body tilted sideways as though he were falling toward the warrior on his right.

The warrior stabbed at the falling Jaha.

Jaha met the sword, then twisted his body like a snake and slipped forward.

Slice!

The sound of his blade cutting through the man's chest bone was strangely smooth.

The warrior in the center immediately stabbed toward Jaha with killing intent.

Jaha wrapped his arm around the corpse of the warrior he had just killed, rotated once, and threw it.

Whirrrrr!

Shockingly, the thrown corpse spun like a top while flying directly toward the sword-wielding warrior.

Jaha ran behind it.

Using the Flowing Joint Art, he wrapped around the corpse, then used the Revolving Joint Formula to add rotational force.

The corpse spun like a top.

When his comrade's corpse suddenly flew directly at him, the warrior instinctively reached out to catch it.

Crack!

However, the rotational force inside the corpse was far beyond what ordinary arm strength could stop.

The Revolving Joint Formula was still acting through it.

The warrior's wrist dislocated.

His body flinched.

At that moment, he saw a piece of metal suddenly rise beneath his jaw.

When the blade passed across his throat, he felt a strange coolness followed by burning heat.

His vision blurred.

The warrior who had been attacking from the left tried to use his dead companion as a shield to block Jaha's vision.

He intended to stab through the corpse and hit Jaha behind it.

Shwaaaaaak!

Suddenly, blood exploded like a fountain from his companion's throat and covered his vision.

Jaha stabbed forward the instant the man's sight was blocked by the blood mist.

The warrior instinctively blocked Jaha's sword.

However, Jaha's left hand had already moved into the man's blind spot.

A dagger was in that hand.

Puk!

The dagger pierced through his temple.

Each time the warrior blinked, his eyes burned.

"Ugh!"

Then he groaned once and collapsed.

The entire exchange had taken less than ten breaths.

Those who had been withdrawing happened to witness Jaha's fight.

Most stood with their mouths open.

Those who did not open their mouths simply blinked repeatedly.

Jaha's offense and defense had been too bizarre to understand.

They looked like techniques used by someone who had survived a hundred battles.

Using rotation to throw a corpse, stabbing the enemy's throat to create a mist of blood and block another opponent's vision, these were methods impossible for someone without real combat experience.

Dang Jong and Paeng Umyeong had believed that Jaha only killed Saeng Goryang because of Tang Clan poison or simple luck.

After watching him fight the Western Gorge Sect warriors, they had no choice but to admit that Saeng Goryang's death had not been luck.

One of the Vermilion Bird Unit warriors Jaha had saved spoke.

"Thank you, Young Hero. You saved my life."

Instead of answering, Jaha patted the warrior's shoulder.

It was a habit from his days as Demon Cult Leader, when he used to praise his subordinates.

However, no one here knew enough to question it.

More than anyone else, Goeui watched Jaha with deep emotion.

He copied the techniques I showed him after seeing them only once. On top of that, even I never thought about using the Revolving Joint Formula to throw a corpse like that. I thought he was simply a monster, but it turns out he's both a monster and a genius.

Goeui felt as if he had received an unexpected fortune late in life.

Where else could he ever find someone like this?

How depressed had he been, believing that his ultimate techniques would disappear without a successor?

Several times, he had found people with promising bodies and tried performing procedures to create flexible joints for them, only to be reported to the authorities.

They had complained that no martial art in the world should require torture.

Eventually, Goeui had almost given up.

Yet this unexpected youngster was not only inheriting his ultimate techniques but improving them.

How could he not be grateful?

Even Un Daeryong, a man famous throughout the Martial Alliance for his pride, cupped his fists respectfully toward Jaha.

Watching that, Goeui naturally began laughing.

"Hahahahaha."

Zhuge Yuyeon asked him,

"Senior, why are you so happy?"

"That brat over there, he's my successor. The one who inherited my ultimate techniques."

Long ago, when the Demon Physician had praised his disciple so proudly that spit flew from his mouth, Goeui had mocked him for acting shamelessly.

Now he finally understood.

He wanted to grab random people and proudly announce that Jaha was the successor to his ultimate techniques.

Just like Goeui, Deung Hwahong could not take her eyes off Jaha.

She looked at him meaningfully and slowly rubbed her chin.