Chapter 499

Chapter 499

Jin Ja-gang was pushed back almost a full zhang. While flying helplessly, he stabbed the Ladle River Divine Sword into the floor. The Ladle River Divine Sword carved a long line in the floor.

Three Beom-bons came running from the front, alternating between leading and following each other. Looking with the eyes, one couldn’t tell if this was one person or really three.

Beom-bon instantly caught up to the speed Jin Ja-gang was pushed back and attacked.

The massive Beom-bon turned his body in midair and kicked at Jin Ja-gang.

Crane fist, Shaolin Secret Kick.

Jin Ja-gang released the Ladle River Divine Sword and tried to catch and scrape Beom-bon’s foot with Capturing Dragon Claw.

But before his fingers could even touch Beom-bon’s foot, weren’t they bounced away!

A spiral energy field born from the perfect crane fist motion surrounded Beom-bon’s foot. Jin Ja-gang hastily pulled his arms back and blocked the front.

Crack! With a shock that twisted all the joints in his body, Jin Ja-gang spun like a top and was blown backward. Beom-bon, who had turned back faster than the bouncing speed, kicked up at Jin Ja-gang’s lower back. Jin Ja-gang barely twisted his body and received Beom-bon’s leg with his thigh.

Bang! His pants burst apart. Jin Ja-gang’s body shot straight up and embedded in the ceiling.

The third Beom-bon kicked off the floor, leaped up, and extended a palm. It wasn’t an ordinary palm but had the fingertip joints bent, shaped like a dragon spreading its claws wide.

Beom-bon pushed straight through with Five-Clawed Dragon at Jin Ja-gang embedded in the ceiling.

Jin Ja-gang curled his body as much as possible.

Crash!

The wooden planks of the ceiling instantly caved in and Jin Ja-gang flew through the ceiling.

Clatter clatter.

Jin Ja-gang rose up close to the second floor ceiling then fell and rolled on the second floor.

It was painful as if all the bones in his body had completely shattered. It was as shocking as running at full speed and crashing into a cliff with his body.

Jin Ja-gang knelt and placed his hands on the floor, barely raising his body a little. Looking at his burst lower garments, from his thigh to his upper leg was bruised pitch black.

This was the first time even Jin Ja-gang had experienced such a case.

Attacks didn’t work at all. Due to the physical characteristics of the massive Beom-bon, Willow Catching Hands or other fist and leg techniques had no effect, hidden weapons were useless, and even blades didn’t work.

Even Jin Ja-gang’s specialty, Bone Severing and Joint Breaking, was completely impossible. It was Jin Ja-gang’s method of accepting injury and allowing attacks in exchange for inflicting greater wounds. It was a method he could use because injuries healed quickly, but fundamentally it was impossible against Beom-bon. Tremendous energy field was included in the attacks, so Jin Ja-gang’s counterattacks bounced off without even touching.

Terrible.

A terribly terrible opponent.

Crash!

Beom-bon burst through the floor with his head and came up from the first to the second floor.

Beom-bon who came up to the second floor had not a single wound. He brushed off the dust and wood fragments on his head and looked outside through the open window.

“Thank you. Thanks to you, I get to see every floor of the famous Yellow Crane Tower.”

The first floor was a tea house and the second floor was a place selling alcohol and food. Because there were those who fled while eating, the table settings remained as they were.

Jin Ja-gang stood up trembling in his limbs.

“Hoo…”

He picked up chopsticks from the table beside him, picked up a piece of meat, and bit into it.

Chew chew.

Then he pointed upward.

“There’s still the third floor.”

Beom-bon smiled.

“How long do you plan to put on airs? The traps you set up on the first floor, they’re unusable now.”

“Since we’re on the subject, there are some on this floor too.”

At the same time, Jin Ja-gang spun the chopsticks round and round in his hand and threw them at Beom-bon.

The chopsticks split into several pieces and flew toward Beom-bon’s Adam’s apple. A place the kasaya imbued with Iron Robe didn’t reach!

“Useless…”

In an instant, Jin Ja-gang put a tube in his mouth.

Shreee!

A sharp whistle sound aimed at Beom-bon’s eardrums. The focus in Beom-bon’s pupils wavered for a brief moment. That was enough.

Right on cue, part of the hidden weapon resembling chopsticks heading for the Adam’s apple shot up with Flying Thread Twelve Branches toward Beom-bon’s nostrils. The hidden weapon would penetrate through Beom-bon’s nose to the brain!

Beom-bon staggered slightly and raised his thick palm to cover his neck and face. His hand was so large it covered both neck and face at once.

The poison needles Jin Ja-gang threw all embedded in Beom-bon’s palm.

Beom-bon made a fist with the hand that had poison needles stuck in it.

Jin Ja-gang quietly looked at Beom-bon. Beom-bon extended his tightly clenched fist forward.

Then he opened his hand.

Thud thud. The completely bent poison needles fell off.

Jin Ja-gang’s expression hardened.

“Iron Sand Palm…?”

Beom-bon had once bent an emei piercer inside his palm. He had wondered, but seeing the poison needles didn’t embed at all, there was a high possibility he had learned Iron Sand Palm.

Iron Sand Palm, along with Iron Head Technique, was one of Shaolin Temple’s most widely known martial arts.

Palms trained with Iron Sand Palm develop extremely thick and hard calluses, becoming armor and a weapon in themselves.

Beom-bon now blatantly looked at Jin Ja-gang as if asking what he would do.

Jin Ja-gang took several deep breaths and checked his body’s condition.

The Ladle River Divine Sword was embedded in the floor below, but fortunately most of the injuries were from receiving shocks to external energy or being swept up in the power, so the internal energy and blood state wasn’t bad.

“Benefactor Poison Dragon.”

Beom-bon smiled with a benevolent expression and extended his thick palm in a gesture of invitation.

“Stop resisting and come with me. Spend your lifetime in repentance and wash away the evil karma you’ve committed.”

Jin Ja-gang stared blankly at the hand Beom-bon extended, then took out a dagger from his bosom. Then he raised the dagger and struck at Beom-bon’s palm.

Thud!

The tip of the dagger bent.

Jin Ja-gang asked.

“Who is the Hungry Ghost King?”

“Let go of your obsession. If you don’t let go, you cannot attain Buddhahood.”

Jin Ja-gang struck down at Beom-bon’s palm again.

Thud thud! The tip of the bending dagger completely shattered.

Unlike his actions, Jin Ja-gang spoke very politely.

“Then the great master should also let go of his obsession with me and return.”

“This is punishment, not obsession.”

“Don’t be too obsessed with punishment.”

Beom-bon’s eyebrows twitched.

“Just because benefactor projects your obsession onto me doesn’t make what isn’t obsession into obsession.”

“I’ve told you several times not to be obsessed with me, so why do you keep obsessing over me to not be obsessed?”

Jin Ja-gang struck down harder at Beom-bon’s palm with the broken dagger.

Thwack!

The corner of Beom-bon’s lips trembled slightly. Jin Ja-gang stared blankly at Beom-bon’s face and continued striking the palm with the dagger.

“Why, so why are you obsessed with obsession?”

Smack! Thwack!

The trembling on Beom-bon’s face gradually increased.

There is a time for all things. He should have withdrawn the hand he extended earlier. To withdraw the extended hand now felt like losing to Jin Ja-gang’s spirit, and to keep it there felt unpleasant.

Beom-bon concentrated internal energy in his palm.

Crack! The dagger Jin Ja-gang struck down was crushed all the way to the handle.

Only then did Beom-bon slowly withdraw his hand.

“Now… stop. This is the final warning.”

Jin Ja-gang discarded the broken dagger and pulled over a chair from nearby. He hooked one foot on the chair and raised one foot onto the table beside it. Even so, Jin Ja-gang still had to look up at Beom-bon.

Still, when their eye levels roughly matched, Jin Ja-gang took out another dagger. The dagger’s body looked extraordinary, being darkish and ink-colored.

Beom-bon’s eyes held a suspicion of “surely not?”

Jin Ja-gang raised the dagger and struck at Beom-bon’s head.

Thwack!

He struck and scraped straight.

Screech!

A metallic sound rang out.

Not a single wound remained on Beom-bon’s head where the chisel struck. Just a slightly red line remained on the part scraped by the dagger.

Jin Ja-gang said.

“If you tell me to stop one more time, the great master will develop an obsession with stopping. Isn’t that right?”

Jin Ja-gang struck Beom-bon’s head again and pulled hard.

Screeech!

Sparks flew. This time too, a red mark was drawn on Beom-bon’s forehead. However, the dagger’s blade also broke and chipped.

Beom-bon’s expression was no longer smiling. His facial muscles twitched as if having a spasm.

Jin Ja-gang asked again.

“Isn’t that right?”

Jin Ja-gang struck again with the chipped dagger.

Clang!

The dagger instantly broke in half and became useless.

“Isn’t that right?”

Jin Ja-gang raised the corner of his lips and smiled.

Tremble. Now Beom-bon’s lips began trembling completely. Tendons bulged on his forehead and head too. Killing intent was revealed in the pupils of his thinly opened eyes.

In an instant, Jin Ja-gang brought his hand behind his waist. Then he explosively raised his internal energy and struck at Beom-bon’s head. Jin Ja-gang’s arm muscles tensed and veins bulged grotesquely. It was truly a strike with all his might.

What Jin Ja-gang held was a spike hammer with a pointed end.

A treasure brought from the Zhuge Family.

Thunder Force Divine Nail that could split rocks, drill holes in iron, and even shatter the strongest protective energy and shields.

Eight years in the mine shaft.

A nail he had swung tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of times.

That nail, the Thunder Force Divine Nail, struck like lightning into Beom-bon’s crown.

Crack!

***

At the words that Great Buddha becomes three, the atmosphere sank even more.

Tang Ha-ran shook her head and lifted a wine cup to drink.

“Waah! Waah!”

Poison Heaven  cried. Tang Ha-ran put down the wine cup and picked up the tea cup.

Tang Ha-ran asked Mu-gak.

“Whether three or four, my husband will overcome it.”

Mu-gak nodded very slightly.

“I hope so too.”

Yuk Ha-seon reprimanded Mu-gak.

“Even if Great Buddha is that strong, he’s also human. Are you saying Great Buddha has no weaknesses? Tell us something a bit hopeful.”

“Hope?”

Im Yi-eon and Namgung Rak also looked at Mu-gak expectantly.

“There should be something hopeful. Are you telling me to fabricate something that doesn’t exist?”

Im Yi-eon waved his hand.

“That can’t be.”

“What can’t be?”

“Take Iron Head Technique for example. Iron Head Technique trains the head, which is both the hardest part of a person’s body and simultaneously a weakness, as a weapon.”

“So?”

“Eyes, nose, ears, and mouth cannot be trained.”

“Of course.”

Mu-gak asked what significance that had.

“Iron Head Technique hardens the head, it doesn’t harden the eyeballs or ear holes, does it?”

“Just as the facial features cannot be trained, Iron Head Technique is the same. The head is an essential weakness for all people.”

“You’re stupid, but you have a point. So?”

Im Yi-eon, who was called stupid again, suppressed his anger and said.

“Even if the outer skin becomes stronger with Iron Head Technique, the weakness hasn’t disappeared. If you give a shock strong enough to break the external energy of Iron Head Technique, Iron Head Technique will break. And proportionally, the crown that was originally a weakness will receive a greater shock.”

Im Yi-eon looked at Namgung Rak, Yuk Ha-seon, and Tang Ha-ran in turn, seeking agreement.

Everyone nodded.

Such things as Im Yi-eon described had already happened many times.

Protective energy becomes a powerful shield in itself, but if the opponent has the power to break it, it instead becomes merely exposing the weakness without guarding it.

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Jin Ja-gang was pushed back almost a full zhang. While flying helplessly, he stabbed the Ladle River Divine Sword into the floor. The Ladle River Divine Sword carved a long line in the floor.

Three Beom-bons came running from the front, alternating between leading and following each other. Looking with the eyes, one couldn’t tell if this was one person or really three.

Beom-bon instantly caught up to the speed Jin Ja-gang was pushed back and attacked.

The massive Beom-bon turned his body in midair and kicked at Jin Ja-gang.

Crane fist, Shaolin Secret Kick.

Jin Ja-gang released the Ladle River Divine Sword and tried to catch and scrape Beom-bon’s foot with Capturing Dragon Claw.

But before his fingers could even touch Beom-bon’s foot, weren’t they bounced away!

A spiral energy field born from the perfect crane fist motion surrounded Beom-bon’s foot. Jin Ja-gang hastily pulled his arms back and blocked the front.

Crack! With a shock that twisted all the joints in his body, Jin Ja-gang spun like a top and was blown backward. Beom-bon, who had turned back faster than the bouncing speed, kicked up at Jin Ja-gang’s lower back. Jin Ja-gang barely twisted his body and received Beom-bon’s leg with his thigh.

Bang! His pants burst apart. Jin Ja-gang’s body shot straight up and embedded in the ceiling.

The third Beom-bon kicked off the floor, leaped up, and extended a palm. It wasn’t an ordinary palm but had the fingertip joints bent, shaped like a dragon spreading its claws wide.

Beom-bon pushed straight through with Five-Clawed Dragon at Jin Ja-gang embedded in the ceiling.

Jin Ja-gang curled his body as much as possible.

Crash!

The wooden planks of the ceiling instantly caved in and Jin Ja-gang flew through the ceiling.

Clatter clatter.

Jin Ja-gang rose up close to the second floor ceiling then fell and rolled on the second floor.

It was painful as if all the bones in his body had completely shattered. It was as shocking as running at full speed and crashing into a cliff with his body.

Jin Ja-gang knelt and placed his hands on the floor, barely raising his body a little. Looking at his burst lower garments, from his thigh to his upper leg was bruised pitch black.

This was the first time even Jin Ja-gang had experienced such a case.

Attacks didn’t work at all. Due to the physical characteristics of the massive Beom-bon, Willow Catching Hands or other fist and leg techniques had no effect, hidden weapons were useless, and even blades didn’t work.

Even Jin Ja-gang’s specialty, Bone Severing and Joint Breaking, was completely impossible. It was Jin Ja-gang’s method of accepting injury and allowing attacks in exchange for inflicting greater wounds. It was a method he could use because injuries healed quickly, but fundamentally it was impossible against Beom-bon. Tremendous energy field was included in the attacks, so Jin Ja-gang’s counterattacks bounced off without even touching.

Terrible.

A terribly terrible opponent.

Crash!

Beom-bon burst through the floor with his head and came up from the first to the second floor.

Beom-bon who came up to the second floor had not a single wound. He brushed off the dust and wood fragments on his head and looked outside through the open window.

“Thank you. Thanks to you, I get to see every floor of the famous Yellow Crane Tower.”

The first floor was a tea house and the second floor was a place selling alcohol and food. Because there were those who fled while eating, the table settings remained as they were.

Jin Ja-gang stood up trembling in his limbs.

“Hoo…”

He picked up chopsticks from the table beside him, picked up a piece of meat, and bit into it.

Chew chew.

Then he pointed upward.

“There’s still the third floor.”

Beom-bon smiled.

“How long do you plan to put on airs? The traps you set up on the first floor, they’re unusable now.”

“Since we’re on the subject, there are some on this floor too.”

At the same time, Jin Ja-gang spun the chopsticks round and round in his hand and threw them at Beom-bon.

The chopsticks split into several pieces and flew toward Beom-bon’s Adam’s apple. A place the kasaya imbued with Iron Robe didn’t reach!

“Useless…”

In an instant, Jin Ja-gang put a tube in his mouth.

Shreee!

A sharp whistle sound aimed at Beom-bon’s eardrums. The focus in Beom-bon’s pupils wavered for a brief moment. That was enough.

Right on cue, part of the hidden weapon resembling chopsticks heading for the Adam’s apple shot up with Flying Thread Twelve Branches toward Beom-bon’s nostrils. The hidden weapon would penetrate through Beom-bon’s nose to the brain!

Beom-bon staggered slightly and raised his thick palm to cover his neck and face. His hand was so large it covered both neck and face at once.

The poison needles Jin Ja-gang threw all embedded in Beom-bon’s palm.

Beom-bon made a fist with the hand that had poison needles stuck in it.

Jin Ja-gang quietly looked at Beom-bon. Beom-bon extended his tightly clenched fist forward.

Then he opened his hand.

Thud thud. The completely bent poison needles fell off.

Jin Ja-gang’s expression hardened.

“Iron Sand Palm…?”

Beom-bon had once bent an emei piercer inside his palm. He had wondered, but seeing the poison needles didn’t embed at all, there was a high possibility he had learned Iron Sand Palm.

Iron Sand Palm, along with Iron Head Technique, was one of Shaolin Temple’s most widely known martial arts.

Palms trained with Iron Sand Palm develop extremely thick and hard calluses, becoming armor and a weapon in themselves.

Beom-bon now blatantly looked at Jin Ja-gang as if asking what he would do.

Jin Ja-gang took several deep breaths and checked his body’s condition.

The Ladle River Divine Sword was embedded in the floor below, but fortunately most of the injuries were from receiving shocks to external energy or being swept up in the power, so the internal energy and blood state wasn’t bad.

“Benefactor Poison Dragon.”

Beom-bon smiled with a benevolent expression and extended his thick palm in a gesture of invitation.

“Stop resisting and come with me. Spend your lifetime in repentance and wash away the evil karma you’ve committed.”

Jin Ja-gang stared blankly at the hand Beom-bon extended, then took out a dagger from his bosom. Then he raised the dagger and struck at Beom-bon’s palm.

Thud!

The tip of the dagger bent.

Jin Ja-gang asked.

“Who is the Hungry Ghost King?”

“Let go of your obsession. If you don’t let go, you cannot attain Buddhahood.”

Jin Ja-gang struck down at Beom-bon’s palm again.

Thud thud! The tip of the bending dagger completely shattered.

Unlike his actions, Jin Ja-gang spoke very politely.

“Then the great master should also let go of his obsession with me and return.”

“This is punishment, not obsession.”

“Don’t be too obsessed with punishment.”

Beom-bon’s eyebrows twitched.

“Just because benefactor projects your obsession onto me doesn’t make what isn’t obsession into obsession.”

“I’ve told you several times not to be obsessed with me, so why do you keep obsessing over me to not be obsessed?”

Jin Ja-gang struck down harder at Beom-bon’s palm with the broken dagger.

Thwack!

The corner of Beom-bon’s lips trembled slightly. Jin Ja-gang stared blankly at Beom-bon’s face and continued striking the palm with the dagger.

“Why, so why are you obsessed with obsession?”

Smack! Thwack!

The trembling on Beom-bon’s face gradually increased.

There is a time for all things. He should have withdrawn the hand he extended earlier. To withdraw the extended hand now felt like losing to Jin Ja-gang’s spirit, and to keep it there felt unpleasant.

Beom-bon concentrated internal energy in his palm.

Crack! The dagger Jin Ja-gang struck down was crushed all the way to the handle.

Only then did Beom-bon slowly withdraw his hand.

“Now… stop. This is the final warning.”

Jin Ja-gang discarded the broken dagger and pulled over a chair from nearby. He hooked one foot on the chair and raised one foot onto the table beside it. Even so, Jin Ja-gang still had to look up at Beom-bon.

Still, when their eye levels roughly matched, Jin Ja-gang took out another dagger. The dagger’s body looked extraordinary, being darkish and ink-colored.

Beom-bon’s eyes held a suspicion of “surely not?”

Jin Ja-gang raised the dagger and struck at Beom-bon’s head.

Thwack!

He struck and scraped straight.

Screech!

A metallic sound rang out.

Not a single wound remained on Beom-bon’s head where the chisel struck. Just a slightly red line remained on the part scraped by the dagger.

Jin Ja-gang said.

“If you tell me to stop one more time, the great master will develop an obsession with stopping. Isn’t that right?”

Jin Ja-gang struck Beom-bon’s head again and pulled hard.

Screeech!

Sparks flew. This time too, a red mark was drawn on Beom-bon’s forehead. However, the dagger’s blade also broke and chipped.

Beom-bon’s expression was no longer smiling. His facial muscles twitched as if having a spasm.

Jin Ja-gang asked again.

“Isn’t that right?”

Jin Ja-gang struck again with the chipped dagger.

Clang!

The dagger instantly broke in half and became useless.

“Isn’t that right?”

Jin Ja-gang raised the corner of his lips and smiled.

Tremble. Now Beom-bon’s lips began trembling completely. Tendons bulged on his forehead and head too. Killing intent was revealed in the pupils of his thinly opened eyes.

In an instant, Jin Ja-gang brought his hand behind his waist. Then he explosively raised his internal energy and struck at Beom-bon’s head. Jin Ja-gang’s arm muscles tensed and veins bulged grotesquely. It was truly a strike with all his might.

What Jin Ja-gang held was a spike hammer with a pointed end.

A treasure brought from the Zhuge Family.

Thunder Force Divine Nail that could split rocks, drill holes in iron, and even shatter the strongest protective energy and shields.

Eight years in the mine shaft.

A nail he had swung tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of times.

That nail, the Thunder Force Divine Nail, struck like lightning into Beom-bon’s crown.

Crack!

***

At the words that Great Buddha becomes three, the atmosphere sank even more.

Tang Ha-ran shook her head and lifted a wine cup to drink.

“Waah! Waah!”

Poison Heaven  cried. Tang Ha-ran put down the wine cup and picked up the tea cup.

Tang Ha-ran asked Mu-gak.

“Whether three or four, my husband will overcome it.”

Mu-gak nodded very slightly.

“I hope so too.”

Yuk Ha-seon reprimanded Mu-gak.

“Even if Great Buddha is that strong, he’s also human. Are you saying Great Buddha has no weaknesses? Tell us something a bit hopeful.”

“Hope?”

Im Yi-eon and Namgung Rak also looked at Mu-gak expectantly.

“There should be something hopeful. Are you telling me to fabricate something that doesn’t exist?”

Im Yi-eon waved his hand.

“That can’t be.”

“What can’t be?”

“Take Iron Head Technique for example. Iron Head Technique trains the head, which is both the hardest part of a person’s body and simultaneously a weakness, as a weapon.”

“So?”

“Eyes, nose, ears, and mouth cannot be trained.”

“Of course.”

Mu-gak asked what significance that had.

“Iron Head Technique hardens the head, it doesn’t harden the eyeballs or ear holes, does it?”

“Just as the facial features cannot be trained, Iron Head Technique is the same. The head is an essential weakness for all people.”

“You’re stupid, but you have a point. So?”

Im Yi-eon, who was called stupid again, suppressed his anger and said.

“Even if the outer skin becomes stronger with Iron Head Technique, the weakness hasn’t disappeared. If you give a shock strong enough to break the external energy of Iron Head Technique, Iron Head Technique will break. And proportionally, the crown that was originally a weakness will receive a greater shock.”

Im Yi-eon looked at Namgung Rak, Yuk Ha-seon, and Tang Ha-ran in turn, seeking agreement.

Everyone nodded.

Such things as Im Yi-eon described had already happened many times.

Protective energy becomes a powerful shield in itself, but if the opponent has the power to break it, it instead becomes merely exposing the weakness without guarding it.

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