Chapter 10: Seeking the Spiritual Medicine (4)

“Gaaaahk!”

The Flying Demon Blood Lion, drained of all strength, collapsed to the ground, his limbs trembling.

He had been so brutally mutilated that his body was no longer recognizable. However, not even half of the Four Serpent Dragon Swordsmens and the Twelve Serpent Dragon Sabermens who had attacked him remained unscathed.

Their intestines were scattered all over the place in a gruesome scene of death.

Mo Biyoung covered her mouth with her hand as nausea surged.

“Urgh!”

Even though Mo Biyoung was a skilled martial artist, she was still a woman.

It wasn’t her first time killing, but she had never witnessed such a horrifying massacre before. Even the battle-hardened Two Wook Sword Demons couldn’t help but glance away from the scene.

As they continued to look upon the carnage, the three of them simultaneously felt that something was off.

Though the four of them were seeing the same scene, a strange, inexplicable sense of dissonance coiled around the three.

It didn’t take long for them to realize what it was.

If it were someone new to the martial world, witnessing such a massacre would naturally induce nausea and fear. It might’ve even been their first time seeing someone die.

Yet Yong Hwarin, who initially made a slight grimace of disgust, soon regained his composure.

He even began carefully observing the state of the corpses.

Even those like them, who had experience in the martial world and had taken lives, found it hard to look at the strewn entrails and severed limbs. They couldn’t understand how someone like Yong Hwarin—who looked every bit the sheltered noble—was able to endure it.

This kind of scene was not something a greenhorn in the martial world could possibly bear.

“Search the Flying Demon Blood Lion’s entire body!”

At Gocheok’s command, the warriors began searching the corpse, now little more than a tattered rag.

“There’s nothing!”

“Search again! I confirmed with my own eyes that he had the elixir! And we were chasing him so closely he had no time to hide it elsewhere. It has to be somewhere around here. Find it!”

Gocheok’s voice sharpened.

But shortly after, the reply he received made his face twist with frustration.

“No matter how much we search, there’s nothing.”

At the feeble response, Gocheok shouted again.

“It’s definitely here! Search every blade of grass!”

At those words, Yong Hwarin turned to look at the three of them with a smile.

“So the Flying Demon Blood Lion doesn’t have the elixir on him. But I have a good idea where it might be.”

Even in a situation like this, his confident smile and the gleam in his eyes surprised the three of them.

‘In this situation, any greenhorn would be too paralyzed with fear to even speak, let alone smile like that.’

“Follow me.”

Yong Hwarin turned and headed down along the stream.

The three followed, glancing at one another.

It was Mo Biyoung who spoke first.

“Young Master, where are we going? Do you really know where the Flying Demon Blood Lion hid the elixir?”

Running ahead, Yong Hwarin replied,

“I believe the Flying Demon Blood Lion floated the elixir down this stream, just in case.”

“How can you be so sure? Couldn’t he have hidden it somewhere else?”

“You heard them say he didn’t have time to hide it anywhere else. If it’s not on him, then it must be nearby. And since even Gocheok doesn’t know, he must’ve hidden it during the fight.”

“That alone isn’t enough to conclude the elixir is in the stream, is it?”

Namwook asked, clearly unconvinced.

“Think back to the fight earlier. Why did the Flying Demon Blood Lion bother creating a water veil to hide himself? If you think about it, it’s not a very good technique. It might block projectiles, but it also makes it hard to see the enemy. Would someone like him—a top-tier expert—use such a flawed technique without a reason? He must’ve been trying to hide something.”

Yong Hwarin continued, his face full of confidence.

“When he spread that veil with his true energy earlier, I’m sure he secretly let the elixir float down the stream. That way, he could retrieve it later by following the water.”

Now that they listened carefully, his reasoning started to make sense.

‘In my experience, guys like the Flying Demon Blood Lion always have something up their sleeve. A rookie couldn’t pull this off, but a seasoned fighter like him would’ve planned his escape route and how to hide the elixir even as he fought. The only reason he failed was because he didn’t expect Gocheok to have archers in the forest.’

It was a fairly convincing deduction, but the three exchanged skeptical glances.

However, Yong Hwarin saw it differently. Based on everything so far, there was no reason for the Flying Demon Blood Lion to hide himself with a water veil.

That’s what Yong Hwarin focused on.

“There’s another reason I’m so sure. They say he was a master of light body technique, right? Then why would he need to create a veil instead of just avoiding the Piercing Thunderbolt Net? Once it’s launched, it’s hard to dodge, but he should’ve already been dozens of steps away the moment they moved to activate it.”

Creating the veil despite that could only mean he had another motive. Yong Hwarin could make such a deduction because of his vast experience in the Upper World.

“Let’s move faster.”

The stream was flowing rapidly, so the elixir could have traveled quite a distance.

Watching Yong Hwarin use his light body technique, Mo Biyoung tilted her head.

She had never taught him such techniques. They barely had time to go over swordplay.

It was strange how naturally he moved—too natural for someone who had only recently begun training.

‘How odd. Or maybe… mysterious? Could it be he practiced in secret without us knowing? He certainly grasps things quickly when taught.’

In his past life in the Upper World, Yong Hwarin had trained his movement and light body techniques to a refined level.

In the Upper World, where constant schemes and assassinations abounded, such self-defense skills were essential.

Fortunately, the Bamboo Grove Dragon Step and the Cloud-Stepping Dragon Skill of the Heavenly Central Sect were exceptional enough to rival the techniques of the Nine Great Sects.

Even the Two Wook Sword Demons seemed surprised watching Yong Hwarin’s steady pace along the stream.

‘We’ve underestimated the Young Master. He must have been hiding his skills.’

They couldn’t help but think so.

“If Gocheok isn’t a fool, he’ll eventually realize that the Flying Demon Blood Lion floated the elixir down the stream. We need to find it first.”

After about three hundred *jang* downstream, they spotted a small wooden case drifting in the water.

“There it is.”

Yong Hwarin picked up the box and opened it. Inside was a flower with a blotchy color.

“It’s the Demonic Poison Stoneflower.”

He had seen it in illustrations before. Yong Hwarin pulled out a silk cloth, carefully wrapped the petals, and placed them into a leather pouch.

Mo Biyoung and the Two Wook Sword Demons had no idea when he had even acquired such a pouch.

It was completely empty, as if he had brought it just for this moment.

No one carries an empty pouch around for no reason.

They had many questions but didn’t ask. It felt like they’d only embarrass themselves by questioning something so trivial.

As they watched, Yong Hwarin picked a wildflower nearby and placed it into the wooden case.

“Why’re you putting a flower in there?”

Namwook asked, confused.

But Yong Hwarin didn’t reply. Instead, he pulled out a small jade bottle.

“Hold this.”

He handed the case to Jungwook and uncorked the bottle.

Pop!

A strange stench wafted out the moment it was opened.

“Is that poison?”

The stench alone was enough to tell them it was definitely poison. Yong Hwarin, without a word, poured the poison over the wildflower.

The group’s expressions stiffened.

They hadn’t expected him to be carrying poison.

For righteous martial artists, carrying poison was frowned upon.

“This way, Gocheok won’t pursue us. He’ll think the poisoned wildflower is the Demonic Poison Stoneflower and return to the Serpent Dragon Sect. That’ll make it easier for us to escape. But if we just leave the real box behind, he’ll realize we have the elixir and chase us to the ends of the earth.”

Even if it sounded like wild conjecture, Yong Hwarin had seen countless such incidents in his past life.

He’d seen many people ruined over the smallest overlooked detail.

That’s why he paid close attention to even the most trivial matters. And carrying poison wasn’t something he saw as wrong.

He had started carrying it after taking over the merchant union. For someone without martial arts, poison was a secret weapon.

He’d even survived a few life-threatening situations thanks to it, so he never questioned the habit.

The three listened and couldn’t deny the logic behind his words, so they stayed silent.

And now, they found themselves wanting to understand more about Yong Hwarin’s true nature. He seemed to reveal something new every day, and that was oddly fascinating.

After floating the fake box back into the stream, Yong Hwarin said,

“We’re done here. Let’s head to Mount Wudang.”

With those words, he surged ahead.

None of them had expected to acquire the elixir so easily.

Others had been prepared to risk their lives for it in a deadly scramble.

And yet Yong Hwarin, simply by following behind, had claimed the elixir in the end. It almost made one think that acquiring such treasures was supposed to be this easy.

Mo Biyoung and the Two Wook Sword Demons were itching to ask why they were heading to Mount Wudang instead of Yongjung Mountain. But they held back. They had already agreed to follow Yong Hwarin quietly.

After all, they hadn’t encountered any setbacks so far.

If Yong Hwarin ever made a mistake, they would take the reins then. But for now, they trusted that someone with such an encyclopedic knowledge of everything wouldn’t go to Mount Wudang without a plan.

It wasn’t until they reached Gunyun County, near Mount Wudang, that Mo Biyoung finally asked her question.

“Young Master, why are we heading to Mount Wudang?”

After asking, she realized she had been the one asking all the questions so far.

A testament to how unpredictable Yong Hwarin’s actions had been.

Since they had followed him all the way without a word, Yong Hwarin decided to explain.

“For someone who walks the martial world, never visiting Mount Wudang is like going to Sichuan and not eating hotpot. While I’m already out in the world, I thought I’d take the chance to visit Mount Wudang since it’s not far from the Jaegal Clan.”

But none of them were fooled by such a mundane explanation anymore.

‘There’s definitely something going on.’

Even if they didn’t know what, they were certain he had a purpose for being here.

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