nucmednet Chapter 364 : Chapter 364
Chapter 364 : Chapter 364
Part 2, Chapter 4. Just Heal Himmmmmm! (2)
What is the Black Way?
In the world of Murim, there are martial artists of various inclinations: the Orthodox Faction, the Unorthodox Alliance, the Demonic Path, the Hegemon's Path, and so on. If you break it down further, there are many more, but broadly, this is the usual division. The Black Way is generally considered part of the Unorthodox Alliance. However, even within the Unorthodox Alliance, it is common for Black Way members not to be recognized as fellow martial artists.
Why, you ask? Because they are pathetic, insignificant small fry who look utterly worthless. The kind of guys that make you feel embarrassed just to acknowledge them as part of the same group. Their activities mainly consist of extorting protection money from merchants, robbing passersby of their valuables, loan sharking, running gambling dens, and the like. In a word, they are the trash of the trash who undertake all the dirty and evil deeds in the world.
That is the Black Way. And… the Twin Dragon Sect, which had once produced an outstanding talent named the Radiant Dragon Great Master, Jin Cheon, had become just that.
What would happen if the Radiant Dragon Great Master himself witnessed this scene? It would turn out just like this.
“Oh, Master… Our Twin Dragon Sect is ruined. Completely ruined.”
Patrick collapsed onto the street and sobbed. Of course, Patrick's buttocks were quite familiar with the ground. To get his way, he could lie on the ground anytime, anywhere, and throw a tantrum, whining. But this time, he was more sincere than ever. He was truly in despair.
“Our Twin Dragon Sect, which was called the conscience of Murim and the model of the Orthodox Faction, is now the Black Way? The Black Waaaaay?”
“Master, please calm down for a moment.”
“Did I come back to see this… Huh? I… I… Keuuuk…”
“You’re going to pass out again.”
Persona tried to lift him up, but it was no use. It seemed the mental shock was quite significant. As Patrick was despairing and complaining, a group of Black Way martial artists naturally came out from within the Twin Dragon Sect—no, the Twin Dragon Gang.
“Who is it? What bastard is it?”
“How dare you? Do you know where this is?”
“You wanna die? Huh?”
Watching the muscular thugs appear, wielding clubs menacingly, Persona let out a sigh.
In the end, it comes to this.
Yes, she knew it would be like this. It always turned out this way. When there's a fire, there are always moths that fly into it.
Poor bastards…
Persona looked at them with a pitying gaze. And the ones who received Persona's gaze…
“Hoh, what’s this?”
“Wow. There was such a beauty here?”
“Look at her fair skin.”
Hmm, suddenly they didn't seem so pitiful anymore. Feeling a physiological revulsion as if a snake were crawling on her skin, Persona began to contemplate where and how to beat these guys up. Just then, one of them spoke to her.
“Ahem, who might the young lady be? And for what purpose have you visited our Twin Dragon Gang?”
The one who spoke, trying to sound dignified, seemed to be the highest-ranking among them. Persona sighed and spoke.
“Me? I'm your Senior Sister.”
“…Senior Sister?”
“And I'll give you one warning in advance…”
“Grrrr…”
Something began to awaken behind her. As if it had crawled up from the bottomless pit of hell, something terrifying, evil, and ferocious was slowly rising, converting despair and humiliation into rage.
Persona added, “You'd better run.”
“What?”
“Scram right now. Don't look back, just run. Run to the ends of the earth.”
“What does that mean… Kuwek!”
WHACK!
The one who had spoken to her was sent flying backward with a fist embedded in his face.
CRASH!
The sight of a human flying parallel to the ground and crashing into a wall is quite a rare spectacle. Everyone's gaze was fixed on the monster that had created this rare sight. And he… no, it spoke.
“Run…”
The members of the Twin Dragon Gang unknowingly faltered and stepped back. They sensed that something was terribly wrong.
And it shouted.
“Where do you think you're running, you baaastaaaards!”
The Radiant Dragon Great Master, Jin Cheon, had returned to the Twin Dragon Sect.
***
Great Bear Twin Axes, Kang Man. That was the name of the current leader of the Twin Dragon Gang.
He was the leader of a massive Black Way faction that held Tianshui County in its grip. Even if he did nothing, his subordinates made money for him, and the income from the gambling dens and brothels operating under the Twin Dragon Gang was substantial. Thanks to that, he could live like a king within Tianshui County. Even the county magistrate could not treat him lightly.
But…
“Leader. We have intruders.”
“What? Who dares to attack our Twin Dragon Gang? Is it those bastards from the Blood Saber Sect?”
“Well… We don't know who it is. But the guys below can't handle them.”
“Who dares to…”
CRASH!
There was no need to wonder who it was. That question would be answered immediately.
“You…”
He appeared, shattering the wall. The eyes of a madman, as if he had risen from hell. White smoke spewing from his mouth. No matter how you looked at it, he did not appear human.
“Who… who… are you?”
In the Unorthodox Alliance, especially for the weaker Black Way, one needed to be quick-witted to survive. The moment Kang Man sensed that the opponent was no ordinary person, he tried to initiate a conversation rather than fight back. But the problem was…
“Are you the leader?”
“Th-that's right, but?”
“Then let's start with a beating.”
The opponent had little intention of talking. And in the very next moment, what was greatly magnified right in front of Kang Man's face was the sole of a shoe.
THWACK!
“Keo-heok!”
Kang Man, who took a direct hit, was sent flying backward. After tumbling and rolling a few times on the ground, Kang Man lifted his head and shouted.
“Kuk, you're not one to be reasoned with!”
“Oh? For a leader, you took a hit but you're still defiant, huh?”
Patrick looked at him as if he were somewhat commendable. Kang Man made a face full of humiliation toward Patrick. That was the look of an absolute powerhouse assessing a weakling. And the opponent was probably a man who deserved to do so. Otherwise, he wouldn't have invaded the middle of a Black Way faction's headquarters alone and caused such a ruckus.
No, is he not alone?
CRASH!
Kang Man's eyes saw a peerless beauty on the other side, dealing with his subordinates—no, just unilaterally sending her weapon flying to smash them. Every time her black hair swayed and her huge weapon was swung, his subordinates fell like leaves in the autumn wind.
Mo… monsters have come.
For a moment, Kang Man despaired. But he soon gritted his teeth. Yes. Among those who made a living by wielding blades in Murim, how many actually died of old age? Even if he died today, it couldn't be helped.
“This Great Bear Twin Axes, Kang Man, will not go down easily!”
He shouted bravely and took out his signature weapons, two hand axes.
“Axes… and twin axes at that…”
“What… what is it? You bastard.”
“You're basically announcing to the whole world, ‘I'm a bad guy from the Black Way.’ Aww… I'm pissed.”
The opponent looked at him with an expression of utter emptiness. Then he suddenly yelled.
“Where did you sell off the Twin Dragons Eight Sword Forms to be swinging axes so crudely, you damn bastard!”
“Tw-Twin Dragons Eight Sword Forms?”
What's that? Seeing the look on Kang Man's face, Patrick spoke.
“You slackers. Have you forgotten the name of our sect's signature martial art?”
“I… I don't know any such martial art.”
“You don't know? Does your life end if you don't know? No. Yes. Let's end it. Today is the end of your life.”
“Wa-wait…”
“Don't give me that ‘wait’ crap!”
Patrick shot forward again. Kang Man fought back, fiercely swinging the axes in both his hands.
WHOOSH!
For a Black Way member, his axe-wielding was quite fierce. In fact, compared to most who were called by nicknames like Twin Blades, Viper, or Mad Dog without any proper title, Kang Man had the title of Great Bear Twin Axes and was classified as a relatively strong person in Tianshui County. It meant he had learned some martial arts.
SMACK!
Well, what meaning would that have in front of Patrick?
“Swinging an axe, huh? Just so recklessly, huh? Huh?”
“Ack… Aaargh.”
THWACK! CRACK! BANG!
Patrick didn't even use his sword and just started to pulverize Kang Man with his bare fists. Shouldn't he show this unfilial descendant, who had forgotten the solemnity of the sect, the sharp taste of his Grandmaster's fists? Dodging the cute little axe swings, he planted his fists in between, tenderizing the man's entire body.
“You baaastard! How dare you turn the great Twin Dragon Sect into Black Way dregs? You damn son of a biiiitch!”
POWPOWPOWPOWPOWPOWPOW!
Infinite Hell Chain Fist (Modified Form)
This was the true education from his ancestor. Patrick's fists meticulously rained down from Kang Man's head to his toes, thoroughly crushing every bone in his body.
[Well done. Teach him a good lesson.]
And very rarely, this time, even his Master seemed to agree with Patrick's violence.
***
“Hooooo…”
Patrick let out a deep sigh. For now, the subjugation of the Twin Dragon Sect—no, the Twin Dragon Gang—was complete. The guy named Kang Man or Kang Pan had been ground down by his fists and couldn't move a single finger, and the other guys were also kneeling before Patrick, their bodies swollen all over. They didn't even dare to raise their heads to meet Patrick's gaze, so he had perfectly nipped any bud of defiance.
But…
“Hooooooooooooooooo…”
Patrick's sighs only grew deeper. Every time he sighed like that, the members of the Twin Dragon Gang in front of him trembled in fear. Unable to watch any longer, Persona spoke.
“Say something, Master. What are you going to do now?”
Patrick let out another deep sigh and said, “If I had my way, I'd take these guys from head to toe, huh? Just… Ugh… Awww… Just thinking about it pisses me off again.”
“If you're so displeased, why don't you just slice them all up?”
Instantly, the kneeling men flinched in unison. About eighty percent of them had been beaten up not by Patrick, but by Persona. So they knew. That beautiful but merciless witch was more than capable of doing it. And Patrick, too, felt like doing just that. Descendants be damned, there was no mercy to be shown to Black Way members who lived by sucking the blood of ordinary citizens. During his days as the Radiant Dragon Great Master, Jin Cheon, hadn't he killed a great many Black Way groups?
But Patrick stared blankly at what was in front of him. To others, it might seem like he was spacing out with an unfocused gaze, but…
[Directive]
Rebuild the… pfft. Twin Dragon Sect, which has fallen into a group of bad guys, back into its original Orthodox Faction sect.
Success: Gain 500 Causal Law.
Failure: Lose 500 Causal Law.
“Hooooooooooooooooooooooooo…”
Truly, nothing but sighs came out. He looked up at the sky and sought his Master. Master, what would you do in a time like this?
[Severing tendons and cutting meridians. How dare the descendants of the great Twin Dragon Sect cause harm to the world…]
“That's enough. Enough. You're being unusually aggressive today.”
Then again, if his Master were alive, he might have really done that. His Master was a good person, to the point his title was Good Man Sword, but precisely because of that, he was a man who was strict with himself. If a disciple of his own sect had exploited the common people, he would have immediately apologized a hundred times to the victims and severed the disciple's tendons and meridians.
But… If I kill all these bastards here, I can't fulfill the directive.
The loss of Causal Law upon failure was a whopping 500. He had steadily accumulated Causal Law by dealing with bandits and Black Way gangs on his way here, but his current Causal Law was 1,600. If he ran out of Causal Law, he would have to return to the Continent of Pangemonia, so suddenly losing 500 here would be troublesome.
“Tsk, I'd rather build it from scratch, but the directive specifically says to rebuild…”
He had to rehabilitate these inhuman creatures and turn them into true members of the Orthodox Faction. Just like himself.
You think that's easy?
It was an impossible task, indeed. In a dual sense.
In the first place, a righteous great master who is just, fair, smart, and even handsome like me is not something that can be taught. You're just born like me.
“Right, Master?”
[…I have nothing to say.]
His Master wore an expression of utter emptiness. And just then…
“Kk… keuuuk…”
Writhing in terrible pain, the fallen Kang Man regained consciousness.
“Oh, you're awake?”
The moment he opened his eyes and saw Patrick, Kang Man shuddered. “Hiek, a demon…”
WHACK!
“How dare this bastard call his great Grandmaster a demon? Hmph! Bah!”
“Wh-who are you? In the world…”
“I'm your Grandmaster, you bastard. Let's start with a beating—no, you've already been beaten… no. Let's just beat you some more.”
As Patrick raised his fist like that, Kang Man hurriedly said, “Please forgive me. Whoever you are, you've mistaken me for someone else. I don't have a Grandmaster.”
“You do. I'm your Grandmaster.”
“Sob. Sob… I really don't. When I was young, I started as a sword servant, lived as a ronin, and even learned martial arts on my own. Where would I have a Grandmaster?”
“Even so, you should be beaten… Huh?”
For a moment, Patrick stopped talking. What did he just say? Started as a sword servant and lived as a ronin?
Wait, then…
“Hey.”
“Yes, please speak.”
“How long have you been established here?”
“About… twenty years.”
“Then, when you were trying to settle here, were there no people living in this manor?”
“…Ah, there were.”
Patrick's eyes widened. And Kang Man, to survive, spoke desperately.
“There was definitely a sword sect that used twin swords. Their martial arts were terrible, but they wouldn't give up their place, so I… keuaak!”
THWACK!
“Huk. Hey, no. Don't die yet. You have to tell me where they are before you die.”
“Huh? Master. His eyes have rolled back. You should have hit him a little softer.”
“Kuk, what can I do? Seeing our people getting beaten up by others is the second thing I hate the most. And…”
“Yes. Yes. I know. I know. Single digits are serious.”
“You know well. More importantly, fix him a little.”
“Haaaah… You shouldn't have hit him in the first place.”
“Just heal himmmmmm!”