Chapter 564

Chapter 564

Yeong-gwi came to pick up Jin Ja-gang by pulling a carriage in front of the Murim Alliance.

Jang was sitting alone in front of the Murim Alliance's main gate and asked when he saw Yeong-gwi.

"Did you come to escort Ja-gang?"

Yeong-gwi nodded.

Where Jang sat, there was a bottle of alcohol, two cups, and boiled duck. As if prepared long ago, the duck had long since gone cold and dust had settled in the cups too.

"He told us to leave first but he himself isn't coming out. I wanted to wait, but..."

Jang trailed off. Then he let out a deep sigh.

Yeong-gwi asked.

"Do you have something you want to say?"

Jang was dazed, then suddenly spoke as if lamenting his circumstances.

"I knew from the beginning he wasn't ordinary. He suddenly shed tears looking at a modest dinner table that wasn't even impressive. Anyone who sees that can tell that friend has a story."

Jang paused briefly, then continued.

"I just wanted to be a bit greedy. I wanted to create a peaceful and harmonious family for him, one that also fights occasionally. And above all, he works well and is as handsome as me. My daughter really liked him."

Jang chuckled somewhat weakly.

"But even though I now know it can't work out, I keep having lingering attachments because his crying face from back then comes to mind. So I was worrying about what to do. But seeing that I still don't know, probably... even if I stayed longer, I wouldn't know."

It was regrettable, but the connection with Jin Ja-gang had to end here. He liked Jin Ja-gang's character, not his martial power, but they shouldn't be entangled anymore.

Jang dusted off his bottom and stood up.

"Then... I'll leave the rest to you."

Jang firmly grasped Yeong-gwi's hand with both hands as if entrusting Jin Ja-gang to her, shook it, then left after looking back several times.

Yeong-gwi watched Jang's retreating figure for a moment, then pushed wide open the Murim Alliance's massive main gate and entered.

Creeeak.

It was so clean it was hard to believe fifteen thousand had been killed. However, tremendous death energy was flowing from one side. Yeong-gwi walked in the direction the death energy flowed from.

Great Training Grounds.

Poison energy surged so Yeong-gwi couldn't even enter inside.

Jin Ja-gang sat upright with eyes closed in the very center. Poison energy rising from muddy dark red puddles was being sucked into Jin Ja-gang like a whirlpool. He seemed to be absorbing all the surrounding poison energy.

Yeong-gwi couldn't take her eyes off Jin Ja-gang and gazed for a long time.

That was... the appearance of a man who wasn't broken or bent and ultimately achieved his will.

Countless people must have told Jin Ja-gang.

To give up. That it was like hitting a rock with an egg.

But Jin Ja-gang did it. Not fearing to collide with the rock, he ultimately sank a rock mountain even larger than the rock.

A wondrous man who changed the world.

She once had feelings of admiration, and that heart was the same now too.

Naturally she knew she couldn't covet the position of legal wife and would become a concubine, but she still wanted to be by his side because it was good.

At some moment, as respect grew even more than admiration, Yeong-gwi realized.

That being able to watch and accompany Jin Ja-gang right beside him now was much more joyful than becoming a wife or concubine and waiting for Jin Ja-gang inside the house. That even without forming a marital bond, each person has their own preferred way.

Just as Ice Phoenix Son-bi had done.

So Yeong-gwi could be satisfied even with just the time spent looking at Jin Ja-gang without doing anything. Right here and now was her place.

Yeong-gwi stood guard forgetting to eat or sleep, watching Jin Ja-gang for a long time.

When Jin Ja-gang woke, she conveyed Jang's words and poured him alcohol. Jin Ja-gang listened attentively to Yeong-gwi's story and was grateful. Yeong-gwi slowly drove the prepared carriage. Jin Ja-gang fell into deep thought without saying much. Yeong-gwi considered him as much as possible so he could be immersed in contemplation. She didn't speak to him at all. None of his recent actions had been light. Having finished everything, how deep must his regret be?

Yeong-gwi quietly breathed in. Fresh air filled her lungs.

The person she likes, the person she respects most in the world, is breathing together right nearby and sitting together...

Yeong-gwi was the happiest she'd been since being born into the world.

Clatter clatter.

The slow carriage carrying Jin Ja-gang left Nanchang.

Jin Ja-gang finished his contemplation.

"I should go to Wudang Sect."

At those words, Yeong-gwi seemed to understand what Jin Ja-gang had been contemplating.

"Understood."

Yeong-gwi immediately turned the horse's head toward Wudang Mountain.

***

Wudang Sect had its doors firmly locked shut.

Baek Li-jung had viciously torn through Wudang Sect, so Wudang suffered great damage and closed its doors.

Meaning they wouldn't conduct external activities, they completely locked the tall main gate and nailed several layers of thick boards across it. However, supplies like ingredients still needed to come and go, so they left open a small side door next to the main gate for passage.

Jin Ja-gang got off the carriage and stood before the main gate. One gloomy-faced Taoist sweeping the ground saw Jin Ja-gang and shook his head.

"My apologies. Due to our sect's circumstances, we cannot receive guests for the time being. Please return."

Jin Ja-gang said.

"I came to offer incense."

The Taoist looked Jin Ja-gang up and down and sighed.

"Didn't I just say? That's not possible. Right now, no outsiders can enter or leave our sect. Even items used in our sect are received here and we carry them up ourselves."

"Perhaps I'm not completely an outsider."

Not an outsider to Wudang Sect?

Only then feeling strange, the Taoist asked.

"Who might you be..."

"Jin Ja-gang."

Instantly the Taoist's mouth opened wide. The Taoist entered through the side door and struck the bell with all his might.

Deng deng deng!

Why would there be a reason for emergency bells to ring in a sect with closed doors?

"Poison Dragon! Poison Dragon has come!"

All the Taoists residing in the main temple, those who survived Baek Li-jung's hands, all burst out. They left the temple and ran down the steep slope.

Many Taoists climbed onto the upper roof and walls of the main gate and looked down at Jin Ja-gang.

They murmured with clearly disbelieving expressions.

"Poison Dragon... we know he went to the Murim Alliance in Nanchang..."

"No way..."

Jin Ja-gang looked at the Taoists and said.

"I already stopped by there."

The Taoists were so shocked they couldn't close their mouths.

"What, you came from the Murim Alliance..."

It wasn't even a leisurely visit but a place where a hostile gathering was held. He was speaking as if he'd gone on an outing there, so it couldn't help but seem strange.

Seeing splints on one shoulder, there seemed to have been a fight... but for fighting over ten thousand martial artists, he seemed to have no particular injuries.

The Taoists whispered among themselves.

"What happened?"

"News hasn't come in yet. We don't know what happened."

"What business does Poison Dragon have with our sect? Is that really Poison Dragon? Isn't he an imposter?"

"Does anyone know Poison Dragon's face?"

There was someone who knew.

Young disciple Benevolent Tiger Yeong-un.

He had once briefly traveled with Jin Ja-gang along with Zhongnan Sect's Pyo Sang-guk and Mount Hua Sect's So Min.

Yeong-un stuttered in surprise and said.

"That's... correct. That's Poison Dragon."

Jin Ja-gang also recognized Yeong-un. He lightly clasped his hands in greeting to Yeong-un. However, Yeong-un couldn't treat Jin Ja-gang comfortably. Pyo Sang-guk and So Min, who had been as close as brothers, had both been killed by Jin Ja-gang.

Yeong-un gritted his teeth and tried not to show emotion.

Jin Ja-gang understood him.

Once the Wudang Taoists confirmed Jin Ja-gang was indeed Poison Dragon, they became tense.

An elderly Taoist wearing a robe with blood drops visible on the inner shoulder as if his arm had recently been cut off asked Jin Ja-gang.

"What business does Poison Dragon have with our Wudang?"

Jin Ja-gang clasped his hands respectfully and answered.

"I wish to place Taoist Haewol's memorial tablet and offer incense."

At that moment.

The Wudang Taoists' minds cleared instantly.

"Ah...!"

Offering incense to Taoist Haewol's memorial tablet meant he'd accomplished what Haewol couldn't achieve in life, what he'd desperately hoped for.

Jin Ja-gang, Poison Dragon! It meant he'd killed Baek Li-jung and fulfilled Taoist Haewol's will!

He'd finally completed what Taoist Haewol had worked on throughout his life.

Without saying what happened at the Murim Alliance, they could understand.

Choked up.

Tears welled in the Taoists' eyes.

They shed tears regardless of age. Because they knew how much Taoist Haewol had worked for the martial world. Something he tried to accomplish while bearing all kinds of infamy.

That... Poison Dragon had accomplished...

One Taoist shouted tearfully.

"Come in! Quickly escort Poison Dragon inside. How can we still have such an honored guest standing outside!"

The Taoist outside hurriedly opened the side door.

Then the elderly Taoist shouted.

"Stop!"

All the Taoists looked at the elderly Taoist in surprise.

"That person is not someone to enter through the side door."

The elderly Taoist pointed to the main gate with tears glistening.

Instantly the Wudang Taoists understood the elderly Taoist's meaning.

Several Taoists immediately jumped down and tore off the boards fastened across the main gate.

Bang! Bang!

Then they opened the main gate wide.

Not a complete opening. However, until then, only one person, only Jin Ja-gang, would be able to freely come and go through this gate.

Jin Ja-gang didn't refuse. With confident steps, he entered Wudang Sect through the main gate.

The Wudang Taoists lined up in front, drew their swords containing the highest reverence they could offer, and welcomed Jin Ja-gang with the sword-clasping courtesy.

Jin Ja-gang also clasped his hands to each of them in response.

Afterward, the Taoists guided Jin Ja-gang to the shrine where Taoist Haewol's memorial tablet was enshrined.

Jin Ja-gang knelt before Taoist Haewol and lit incense.

He offered a cup of alcohol.

"Fortunately... I came sooner than expected."

Jin Ja-gang smiled slightly while recalling Taoist Haewol's appearance.

"And as the Taoist worried, I don't think I'll need to throw everything away and go live in the mountains. Since I've cleared away all the rotten branches, healthy sprouts will grow before long. Though I don't know what kind of sprouts will grow."

Jin Ja-gang thought briefly, then offered another cup of alcohol and said.

"Numerous justices will run wild from each sprout, and disputes will break out to find a justification that everyone commonly pursues. And those will combine and combine again until the final grand cause is completed."

Jin Ja-gang smiled.

"But you know, you had really bad intentions. You asked me to kill you, but didn't tell me what would happen to me after that. Thanks to that, I searched for quite a while for where exactly my place is."

At Jin Ja-gang's words, the Wudang Taoists standing behind were puzzled.

They wondered uncertainly. What Jin Ja-gang was saying now, surely...

The Taoists were greatly shocked.

Great.

Too great a person.

Especially Yeong-un just stared blankly at Jin Ja-gang's back, doubting whether the person he'd met was truly this person now. He dared not judge Jin Ja-gang with his own capacity.

The Taoists bowed deeply behind Jin Ja-gang with long salutes.

Taoist Haewol had taken a proper successor. Though it's regrettable it wasn't Wudang Sect, if he's a vessel of this caliber, even Wudang Sect would be too small. How could Wudang Sect, which couldn't even properly protect Taoist Haewol, assist Jin Ja-gang who has an even greater vessel than Taoist Haewol?

In the solemn atmosphere, Jin Ja-gang kept his place until the incense half-burned, then stood up.

"I'll return."

The Taoists simultaneously straightened and clasped their hands.

"Our hospitality was insufficient due to circumstances."

"Not at all. Thank you for the warm welcome."

Jin Ja-gang's eyes met Yeong-un's gaze.

Yeong-un looked at Jin Ja-gang briefly, then shook his head.

It wasn't that he didn't want to avenge Pyo Sang-guk and So Min.

But it was meaningless.

Jin Ja-gang had already surpassed being a vessel one could speak of small revenge for. Even if Yeong-un charged at him for revenge, it wouldn't even create ripples from throwing a small pebble into the vast ocean.

"Not because I'm afraid of Brother Jin. I understood that those guys and Brother Jin too... inevitably met within the martial world's great flow."

Jin Ja-gang nodded.

Then he left Wudang Sect.

Riding the carriage Yeong-gwi drove.