CLS-Chapter 488

Chapter 488:

His life was hanging by a thread, yet he was letting go?

Anyone could see this was a foolish act. And it was something that would earn him curses. But this was also unavoidable.

The inner core.

The inner core sitting boldly in Wei Yan-ho’s stomach was not something he could dare control.

It was none other than Baek Mu-han’s inner core.

Even Baek Mu-han’s hair or fingernail dirt would overflow with such majesty that they would emit light on their own, let alone an inner core. His inner core, formed by the gathering of his internal energy and will, was not something that someone like Wei Yan-ho could dare approach.

Now the will had disappeared and only the internal force remained, but was that internal force ordinary?

Although Wei Yan-ho had built up internal energy that wouldn’t lose to anyone in the martial world with the help of the inner core, the internal force gathered in the inner core was powerful enough to make Wei Yan-ho’s internal energy like a single raindrop that had fallen into the Yangtze River.

To be honest, this inner core was scarier than the Demonic Cult. With the Demonic Cult, he could at least swing a sword somehow and have something to fight against… but the moment this inner core went berserk, Wei Yan-ho could only pray to die peacefully.

Moreover, wasn’t it inside his body?

There was no answer.

Well, you had to be a match for it to try pressing it down or stopping it.

A cart had started rolling, so how could a praying mantis stop it?

In the end, Wei Yan-ho had no choice but to just let go and watch what the inner core would do.

‘Go ahead and play with it. Play with it as you like, then just put it back where it belongs.‘

What on earth was Master thinking when he put this inner core in his belly?

In his own way, Master probably hoped that someday Wei Yan-ho would absorb the energies of that inner core and become stronger.

But no matter how big a snake grows, it cannot swallow an ox.

Absorption?

He’d be lucky if he wasn’t devoured instead.

Then the ox in his belly began to stir.

Uuuuuuuung!

The vibrating sound was like a roar.

The inner core, realizing that an intruder had entered its peaceful dwelling, spewed out its anger.

Then the demonic energy and poison energy settled in his dantian began to tremble pitifully.

Though energies couldn’t have emotions, they certainly appeared to.

Why wouldn’t they? It was like a chick that had thoughtlessly entered a cave meeting a tiger.

Kwaaaaaaaaa!

At the same time, storm-like energy began flowing out from the inner core. It was like floodwater explosively gushing from a burst dam. Not only the quantity, but the purity of the energy was beyond imagination.

‘What a truly monster-like fellow.‘

Even swallowing a dragon’s orb wouldn’t be like this. What was he supposed to do with this much power contained in an inner core?

If he had even a little conscience, he wouldn’t have shoved something like this into a person’s body!

The energies that emerged from the inner core chased after the demonic energy and poured into his dantian. Feeling this scene made tears well up.

‘Kids, that’s a precious place.‘

The dantian was the most important place for a martial artist. If the dantian collapsed, it didn’t just end with being unable to live as a martial artist. Since even non-martial artists had dantians, having the energy pathways themselves blocked meant he couldn’t even live as an ordinary person.

A full-scale war was now taking place in that important location.

No, calling that a war was ambiguous. It should be called one-sided violence or massacre.

The inner core’s energy that discovered the demonic energy rolled its eyes back and charged in. And then…

Thud!

Jolt.

Thud!

Jolt.

It began beating it up quite tastily.

The energy was pressing down on the demonic energy and completely breaking it down. In human terms, it was like climbing on top of someone’s belly and cheerfully pummeling them with both fists without any interference.

The demonic energy seemed to have almost given up resistance.

Though it writhed weakly, that was more like groaning than resistance.

Well, of course.

Resistance was something you could only do while considering your opponent. How dare it resist when facing such an opponent?

That was Baek Mu-han’s energy.

Even a demon lord of the Mad Soul Demon Emperor level would become a gentle sheep… no, a puppy and roll over showing its belly before Baek Mu-han’s energy, so how could some lowly demonic energy generated from something like the Blood Explosion Pill dare attempt resistance?

The result was all too obvious.

The intruder who had disturbed the master’s mood was beaten up cleanly and collapsed. But the master wasn’t satisfied. As if determined to reform the intruder with this opportunity, he was beating it like beating a dog.

The tattered demonic energy was finally completely neutralized and scattered.

‘Up to here was as expected…‘

Once the inner core stepped in, there was no way some mere demonic energy could have a place to stand. Anyone could have predicted this much. The problem was from now on.

That energy that flowed out from the inner core, no, would that esteemed energy that flowed out from the inner core kindly return to its place?

Everything for Wei Yan-ho depended on that.

‘Now, now, you’ve finished what you needed to do…‘

Kuuuuung!

Cough!

A fountain of blood spurted from Wei Yan-ho’s mouth. Far from returning to the inner core, the energy began causing a disturbance.

‘I’m screwed!‘

He didn’t know why it was angry, but it seemed thoroughly upset.

‘Please, calm down a bit…‘

That was the moment. Contrary to Wei Yan-ho’s desperate wish, the energies began circulating through his entire body. With violent momentum.

Well, of course.

When had Master ever listened to him even once?

Wei Yan-ho was someone who wouldn’t lose to anyone when it came to being contrary, but before that Baek Mu-han, he was at a level where he couldn’t even show his face.

‘Aaaaaaaah! Masterrrrrr!‘

To be precise, it wasn’t Master but Master’s energy, but… well, wasn’t it the same thing? Though he had thought it would be better than Master since it lacked will, seeing how the energies were moving now, that wasn’t the case either.

The way it was running wild was exactly like when Master was angry.

Wei Yan-ho began pondering whether the energy a person gathered truly came to possess the same temperament as that person. If he could organize this, Wei Yan-ho would go down in history as a martial scholar who presented a new theory to the martial world.

If he could survive this, that is.

The inner core’s energy was impossible to control. At the same time, it moved in and out of Wei Yan-ho’s body like it was its own home. Poking around here once, pressing there once… it was like carefully examining a house before major repairs.

But didn’t a frog die from a child’s carelessly thrown stone?

Each time the energy tapped him, Wei Yan-ho’s body jumped up in terror. He seemed to hear his body’s screams in his ears.

‘Why are you doing this!‘

If you’re going to kill, then kill, if you’re going to save, then save! What is this… huh?

At that moment, the energies spread throughout his entire body and began washing each of Wei Yan-ho’s meridians.

‘Huh?‘

If Wei Yan-ho could have moved his body, he would have tilted his head.

What kind of phenomenon was this?

‘Eh? This?‘

It was a phenomenon he’d seen many times before.

Come to think of it, didn’t this phenomenon occur every time he put energy into other people’s bodies? It would burn up all the impurities spread throughout the meridians, then steal every last bit of remaining energy without exception.

Like a swarm of locusts rushing over ripe rice.

That was happening here too?

There was no time to wonder. The inner core’s energy that had penetrated even the meridians and gathered all the energies scattered throughout his body rushed back to his dantian, threw the gathered energies into Wei Yan-ho’s dantian, then was sucked back into the inner core.

It was just like Master scolding him, saying ‘Can’t you even do something like this properly!‘

‘Still nagging even with only energy left. Really.‘

When all the energy was recovered, Wei Yan-ho slowly opened his eyes.

Then, he couldn’t help but be startled by the scene before his eyes.

All the people were standing a little distance away from him, staring at him blankly. Not a single gaze had turned away. It had been quite a while since he’d received this much attention.

“Why is everyone like that?”

“…Are you okay?”

“Yes. I’m fine though?”

But the response he got back was far from satisfactory.

“You don’t seem okay…”

“You should not be okay…”

“You shouldn’t be okay…”

Doubt appeared in Wei Yan-ho’s eyes.

“…What are you talking about?”

“Ahem.“

Jang-il, feeling the need to explain the situation, cleared his throat and stepped forward.

“Well, to explain one thing first… quite a lot happened while you had your eyes closed.”

“What happened?”

“Actually, it’s nothing to worry about. You just did about thirty-six somersaults in the air, swelled up like you were about to burst then shrank back down repeatedly. In the meantime, you spat blood about four times, and rolling on the ground isn’t particularly important.”

“…Really trivial indeed, really.”

Thinking of this vast martial world, what a trivial matter… not!

“How is that trivial!”

“It’s trivial, really trivial. Compared to what you’re experiencing now, it’s really trivial.”

“Huh?”

“Look, look at your body.”

“Huh?”

Wei Yan-ho tilted his head and looked down. Then he could see it. His entire body dyed dark red.

“Huhhh…“

Wei Yan-ho raised his hand and blinked his eyes.

“Th-this, why is it like this?”

“In my opinion, that looks just like typical poisoning symptoms from Blood Tranquil Red.”

“Then you should have treated it!”

“If I had the ability to catch and treat someone doing somersaults in midair, would I be living like this?”

“…Well, you are a beggar.”

“Even in the middle of all this, you bastard!”

“No, never mind.”

Wei Yan-ho examined his body.

Since he was poisoned by Blood Tranquil Red, naturally problems should have occurred…

“I feel completely fine though?”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I really feel completely fine. But… why is this like this? Why is it red?”

Wei Yan-ho frowned and looked at his body. It seemed right that his body had swelled and shrunk while he was managing his energy. His clothes were torn in various places. And through those tears, his body that had turned dark red was all too visible.

“You really have no problems?”

“Wait a moment.”

Wei Yan-ho sat cross-legged and observed his interior again, then opened his eyes.

“I really don’t seem to have any particular problems… No, rather, how should I put this?”

His internal energy had increased.

Quite a lot, in fact.

“What about the demonic energy?”

“You won’t believe me if I tell you, but it seems to have been absorbed appropriately.”

“…”

“You don’t believe it?”

“No, well…”

Jang-il was just going along with it.

What couldn’t that bastard do?

“Is the patient okay?”

“The Medicine Hall Master is taking care of him. We’ll have to watch a bit longer, but he said it seems like recovery has begun.”

“I see. So…”

Wei Yan-ho nodded quietly.

“So I absorbed the poison energy and demonic energy, got cured, and on top of that my internal energy increased…”

Wei Yan-ho quietly stood up from his spot. Then people all stepped back in a rush.

“Why?”

“Oh, no, just…”

“I’m seeing all kinds of strange people. So… where are they?”

“What?”

“My elixirs… no, I mean the patients.”

“P-patients? You’re going to continue treating them?”

“Of course. This is just the beginning.”

Wei Yan-ho said with a sly smile.

“I have to devour every last one without leaving any behind.”

Jang-il was starting to feel anxious again.