The general wouldn't last much longer…
No, actually, he was lasting a lot longer than expected.
Lee Song-Baek, who had confidently jumped into the fight, had been fighting desperately for more than an hour to take him down.
He didn't know whether it was a tense battle that made the others sweat, but it sure made Chung Myung yawn.
'I thought he'd take him down right away. Should I have just done it myself?'
However, watching Lee Song-Baek sweating so profusely, Chung Myung couldn't bring himself to say it out loud.
In the meantime, the tired hero was smiling triumphantly as if he was proud of himself despite taking an hour to defeat the general.
'Wipe off your sweat at least….'
"Huh, the man.. kuak… the man… took him down."
Hwang Jongi nodded, looking at Lee Song-Baek, who was trembling in exhaustion and spoke.
Seeing his trembling legs and ragged breathing, Hwang Jongi felt pity and couldn't stay angry at him.
"You've worked hard. The Eunha Merchant guild will never forget this help."
"Tha-thank you… thank you."
"Get some rest."
Worried that Lee Song-Bael would collapse, Hwang Jongi excused him, and he dropped down and sat without even answering.
Normally, Hwang Jongi wouldn't have felt much gratitude for Lee Song-Baek after all that occurred. But seeing his feeble appearance, which gave everything to subdue the enemy, he let himself forget the bad deed he did in the morning.
Hwang Jongi glanced at Chung Myung.
'I don't know what to say about this situation.'
Has it really only been two days since Chung Myung appeared here?
Yet, he solved the problem, which persisted for over a year in just these two days.
'Was this a problem which could be solved so easily?'
No way.
Hwang Jongi knew it.
Everything in life seems simple in hindsight. If this was such a simple scenario from the beginning, why hadn't a single one of the world's experts been able to solve the issue?
'It's as if an old expert resides within that little child.'
But that was impossible.
"I think it's almost resolved now."
"Why did the general head target my father?"
"I don't know."
"Didn't you do this because you had some guess at the reason why?"
"No, I didn't."
"…."
Hwang Jongi was dazed.
Chung Myung calmly spoke as if he guessed what Hwang Jongi was thinking.
"It's the government's job to make him reveal the reason. My job is just to solve the problem and receive the reward. Speaking of which, you do have the reward prepared, right?"
Normally, no matter how hard one worked, they wouldn't so brazenly ask for compensation. Humans value their pride.
However, Chung Myung didn't have any pride to take care of.
At one point, he was the famous Plum Blossom Sword Saint, the best of the Mount Hua Sect. Now though, he was just the youngest of Mount Hua's third-class disciples; he didn't have to care about saving his face.
Although it was a bit absurd, Hwang Jongi quietly nodded his head.
"Of course. But you forget one thing. The problem hasn't been solved yet. I never asked you to find the assassin but to help my father recover and get out of his bed. Right?"
Chung Myung took a deep breath.
"That comes next."
A more confident voice than before.
Hwang Jongi replied in a firm voice.
"I promise my support to Mount Hua, even if it means turning the guild upside down and going against the world."
As if moved by the heartfelt words, Chung Myung grabbed Hwang Jongi's hand tightly.
Hwang Jongi smiled brightly as if he guessed that Chung Myung's heart was moved.
"You don't need to be so moved. This is least—"
"Are you kidding me!?"
"… huh?"
Chung Myung's face contorted.
"The reward should be given to me, not Mount Hua! Are you saying that I do all the hard work, and they reap the rewards!?"
"…"
Hwang Jongi was speechless.
It seemed like this child was more insane than he thought.
In front of Hwang Mun-Yak lying on the bed, Chung Myung stood there with a dry mouth.
Now, so long as the treatment succeeds, everything will be solved. After that, he would be able to return with his reward.
Everything was handled perfectly.
Nothing so far was difficult. He liked that he even got to bully the Southern Edge Sect in the process. That was his favorite part.
But there was one problem…
'Honestly, I'm not entirely confident.'
Till now, everything was something he could do. But to be honest, it was impossible to know whether or not it was possible to fix the old man.
If it was Chung Myung, the Plum Blossom Sword Saint, he wouldn't have to worry about it.
No matter how ferocious the demon flower was, in the end, it was caused by demonic qi. It would be enough to simply erase all the demonic qi in the body to get back to normal.
But the current Chung Myung was still lacking strength.
He was very small, had little qi, and was a lot more disadvantaged.
With that, there was no guarantee that he could stop the spread of the demonic qi inside Elder Hwang's body. On the contrary, if he carelessly touched the demonic qi, then the weakened body of elder Hwang would die instantly.
"Will this work?"
He wouldn't know without trying.
Chung Myung's stomach twisted as he approached the man.
If he wasn't sure of the results, there was only one thing to do.
Elder Hwang would surely die if left alone. No matter how severe the sickness, wasn't it the basics of the path of Dao? One must never leave a man to die just because you lack ability.
"If something goes wrong, don't resent me."
If it goes well for the elder, then it goes well for everyone.
Chung Myung took a deep breath and placed his hand on Elder Hwang's dantian. Slowly, he pushed qi into elder Hwang's body.
The qi sleeping deep within Chung Myung slowly began to flow.
Chung Myung's qi was like a leisurely flowing river. Sometimes a violently raging river, and sometimes a gentle sea embracing the world.
However, one thing about the current Chung Myung's qi was different from his past.
Crystal clear.
Clear and spotless. It was clear without impurities, like pure water flowing through deep mountain valleys.
The clear and bright qi rushed into the body of Elder Hwang, which was filled with demonic qi.
Woong.
Elder Hwang's body slightly convulsed.
The dark skin, corrupted with demonic qi, began to lighten as the vile energy retreated as Chung Myung's energy flowed in.
'Oh?'
Chung Myung found that shocking.
'This is interesting.'
He had quite a bit of experience handling demonic qi, but this was his first time seeing this phenomenon.
What made this qi demonic?
It was called demonic qi because it reverses the flow. Demonic qi penetrates into other people, corrodes their bodies like a virulent poison, and aggressively pushes away any other qi.
But now, the demonic qi in Elder Hwang's body was running away like a beast on fire rather than rushing at Chung Myung's qi.
'Then maybe…'
It would be possible!
No-no!
'How much trouble did I have to go through to collect this! This should definitely work!'
If it hadn't been for Chung Myung obsessing over the purity of his qi, he would have gathered more than ten years' worth of qi already.
However, the amount of internal qi filling Chung Myung's dantian was less than a year's supply. Even this was only possible thanks to that miraculous pill.
Yet somehow, this tiny amount of qi he'd gathered was overpowering the demonic qi gathered in the elder's body.
'This is something I hadn't expected.'
At first, he was simply trying to lay a pure and perfect foundation so that he could rise to a higher level than in the past. However, as time advanced, his obsession with pure qi grew stronger, and his progress slowed.
Just when he was thinking about whether he should release that obsession…
'When I think about it, this is only natural.'
Pure qi is basically the opposite of demonic qi. The pure qi contains the power to purify all unclean things in the world. This energy was basically divine when compared to demonic qi. It was the purest and more perfect form of energy.
So, the demonic qi would naturally be unable to approach it.
The vicious demonic qi began to be neutralized in an instant.
Chung Myung felt it a bit ridiculous seeing the demonic qi turn to nothingness.
As he neutralized the demonic qi in Elder Hwang's body, he began to clear his meridians and radically purified the body.
'What is going on here?'
Cleansing the body and purifying meridians is something that would normally only be attempted with powerful medicines and only by strong warriors. How difficult would it be to purify an old man's body which had several decades of impurities and decay?
But now, the young Chung Myung wasn't using any pills but was merely washing away the demonic qi in the old man's body with his own qi.
The problem was that Chung Myung did not intend this result.
Wooooooong.
Hwang Mun-Yak's body began to tremble slightly. At the same time, his body began to turn both white and black at the same time. The area which had been purified from the demonic qi was white, while the areas which still remained tainted were dyed black.
The demonic qi was desperately trying to resist, little by little.
'Just a little more!'
Elder Hwang's body had turned into a battlefield. Even though he was unconscious, his entire body was trembling, and blood dripped from his lips.
Chung Myung clenched his teeth when he saw the dark red blood come out.
This was not a battle between Chung Myung and the demonic qi.
This was a battle of whether or not Hwang Mun-Yak could survive until the demonic qi was eradicated.
'I need to end this quickly!'
Considering Elder Hwang's condition, any hesitation could get him killed. It was better to leave everything to the heavens and make a quick gamble.
Chung Myung, who had made up his mind, raised his qi.
He pushed the last handful of qi into Hwang Mun-Yak's body. Thick drops of sweat started to flow down Chung Myung's forehead like rain.
In elder Hwang's body, Chung Myung's qi began to heat up the demonic qi. It absorbed the qi, neutralized it, and dissolved the impurities.
At the same time, Hwang Mun-yak's narrow and cramped meridians began to expand and widen.
The demonic qi, which had been fiercely resisting, lost its force and began to rush to one location. Chung Myung, who saw the direction it flowed, was startled.
'A-No, no!'
The head.
The demonic qi, which had no place to go, flowed in the opposite direction of the dantian, where Chung Myung was injecting qi.
Elder Hwang's head was dyed black and started to swell.
Like it was about to explode!