Cheongseong Mountain.

There lived those who had no age.

If there was one thing in common, it was that they had received help, big or small, from Baek Yoonjun.

They wanted to repay the kindness of having their lives saved, but what Baek Yoonjun wanted was only the occasional small, fair trade.

And so, their gratitude, which had no way of being repaid, turned into worship.

-To have an ability unparalleled under the heavens and yet be so incorruptible, he is truly an immortal on earth.

They wanted to be like the only immortal on earth.

To them, Baek Yoonjun was the wind.

A wind that was freer than anyone else and blew everywhere.

A wind that existed with the greenness of Cheongseong Mountain.

A clear wind.

They wanted to be like the clear wind.

And that clear wind, though faint, was blowing from the hands of the blacksmith named Gu Wol-ju.

Although he had inherited most of the vision of his distant ancestor, Ou Yezi, he could not become like him. His life changed after being saved by Baek Yoonjun.

In the past, he had tried to make a famous sword like his ancestor.

But he could not, and only after meeting Baek Yoonjun later was he able to create one.

-Although I have created a sword that can be called a divine weapon, why is my heart so empty?

But Gu Wol-ju's heart was not filled.

And now he realized.

'I did not want to make a famous sword, but I wanted to know the path that sword takes.'

The sword imbued with the clear wind by Gu Wol-ju's hand touched the opponent's sword.

Although their swords should have clashed, for some reason, Gu Wol-ju's sword passed straight through the opponent's sword.

Like a wind that exists while not existing.

And so, the sword that passed through the opponent's sword touched Son Gogo's body.

"Wh-what is this?!"

Son Gogo, who was cut by that sword, was shocked.

Slice.

A sword style like a gentle breeze, with no fancy techniques or anything, cut straight through Son Gogo's chest.

Since Son Gogo possessed the martial prowess of a transcendent master, he stepped back and avoided a fatal wound, but it was a blow sufficient to cause a serious injury.

"What is that sword? What kind of sorcery did you use?!"

Chasing after the shocked Son Gogo, Gu Wol-ju swung his sword again.

"The sword of the clear wind is the wind."

Son Gogo tried to block Gu Wol-ju's sword again, but like before, Gu Wol-ju's sword passed straight through Son Gogo's sword.

"It seems your sword is not enough to cut the wind."

"Keuk!"

The outcome of their life-and-death battle was, to anyone's eyes, in Gu Wol-ju's favor.

Gu Wol-ju's sword was easily reaching Son Gogo, and Son Gogo's sword was being easily deflected by Gu Wol-ju's wind-like sword.

Although the difference in their martial prowess was similar, so the outcome would not be decided immediately, the future outcome of the battle was a situation that anyone could see.

"If you don't want to die, kneel!"

Gu Wol-ju also knew this fact and, thinking there was no reason to see more blood, recommended surrender.

But Son Gogo, as if he had no intention of surrendering, continued to clash swords.

"Black Heaven! How long will you just watch?!"

He suddenly looked up and roared.

"Black Heaven?"

Since it seemed Gu Wol-ju was at an advantage, Baek Yoonjun, who was watching from a distance, frowned at a word he had heard somewhere.

'I think I've heard it somewhere.'

Although he couldn't remember exactly, Baek Yoonjun, who frowned at the words he seemed to have heard, watched the situation more seriously.

And so, at the scene of the life-and-death battle that Baek Yoonjun was watching, a few martial artists appeared.

Of course, Baek Yoonjun had noticed their presence long ago, but since their martial prowess was not much different from the two who were fighting now, he didn't pay much attention.

'Hmm, for third-rate or lower to come rushing out in a situation like this. Could it be that the existence of a transcendent martial artist was a lie?'

Baek Yoonjun felt a surge of anger.

'These bastards lied about this? Do you know how scared I was?!'

Although no one had told a lie, Baek Yoonjun glared at the martial artists who had appeared with eyes full of anger.

Of course, the only one who showed such a reaction was Baek Yoonjun. The martial artists where Gu Wol-ju was were on the verge of death.

'What is this? Where did martial artists of such martial prowess suddenly spring from?!'

Especially Gu Wol-ju, who was in the middle of a life-and-death battle, couldn't help but raise his tension to the fullest.

Although he couldn't gauge their exact martial prowess, at least the ones who had just appeared were by no means below him.

'At this rate, isn't it disadvantageous even if the immortal is watching from behind?'

Gu Wol-ju racked his brain to grasp the current situation.

No matter how he looked at it, it was an absolutely disadvantageous situation.

But he couldn't carelessly order a retreat.

Son Gogo, who was in a life-and-death battle with him, had long since retreated and had taken refuge with the martial artists who had suddenly appeared.

It was a situation where his back could be taken at any time.

Gu Wol-ju continued to be wary of the martial artists and assessed the situation.

At that moment, a martial artist approached Son Gogo.

The tall man, whose height easily surpassed two meters and had coppery skin, was not wearing a top, and his whole body was covered in strange patterns.

The coppery-skinned man asked Son Gogo.

"Did you get your hands on the poison art book of the Tang family?"

"Th-that heretical faction group suddenly rushed in, so..."

"So you mean you couldn't get your hands on it."

The coppery-skinned man placed his hand on Son Gogo's head.

At the same time, a red mist spewed out from the coppery-skinned man's hand.

"K-kyaaaaaaak!!"

Son Gogo, engulfed in the red mist, melted away and became a pool of blood, soaking the floor.

"What is this...?"

The Cheongseong Sect martial artists, at that bizarre sight, didn't know what to do and just frowned.

The coppery-skinned man glanced at the Cheongseong Sect martial artists.

"They're just worthless trash. Die."

He waved his hand at the Cheongseong Sect martial artists.

Although he had just waved his hand, at the same time, a red current spread from the man and rushed towards the Cheongseong Sect martial artists.

"Dodge!"

Seeing that red current, Gu Wol-ju urged the Cheongseong Sect martial artists, who couldn't come to their senses, and retreated from that spot.

But since the movement of the current was faster, the red current began to rush in before they could even leave the place.

At that moment, Baek Yoonjun, who was watching the situation from a distance, moved.

'That seems to be poison, but is there anything I can do if I go?'

He had tried to move.

Just before moving, he stopped at a negative thought that came to him and, quickly thinking, looked over the situation, and his eyes met with Tang Yuhwa, who had just finished treating a martial artist who had injured his leg.

'If it's poison, wouldn't Yuhwa be better than me?'

Having finished his thought, Baek Yoonjun quickly approached Tang Yuhwa and snatched the scruff of her neck.

"Ugh."

Since the situation was urgent to get the opponent's consent, he had snatched her without consent, and because of that, Tang Yuhwa let out a very dry groan and was surprised.

"Master, what is this?"

"Look at that!"

Baek Yoonjun immediately moved to a high place, cut off Tang Yuhwa's question, and pointed to the place where the red current was spreading.

"Can you solve that?"

"I can."

At Baek Yoonjun's question, Tang Yuhwa answered without a moment's hesitation.

Having received that answer, Baek Yoonjun was about to move to the red current.

"Throw me."

But he stopped at Tang Yuhwa's words.

"What?"

"There's no time. Isn't it faster to throw me?"

"W-will you be okay?"

"I'm fine."

Although Baek Yoonjun was dumbfounded by Tang Yuhwa's words to throw her, since he agreed that there was no time, he hesitated slightly and threw Tang Yuhwa towards the red current.

'Isn't there much of a difference between throwing and moving with lightness skill?'

Although a stray thought came to him, the situation was the situation, and Tang Yuhwa had already been swallowed by the red mist, becoming a single dagger.

And at that time, the Cheongseong Sect martial artists, who had begun to be engulfed in the red mist, were being damaged by the unheard-of and unseen hideous current.

"K-keuk!"

"Damn it! Dodge the current! Just touching it melts the skin!!"

The red current chased after the Cheongseong Sect martial artists as if it were a living creature.

A situation where even escape was difficult.

It was then.

Something small flew towards the place where the red current was spreading.

"Ugh."

That figure hit the ground, let out a trivial groan, rolled on the ground a few times, and then jumped up from its seat.

It was a very trivial sight, like watching the skill of a small wildcat.

The person who had created that trivial sight, Tang Yuhwa, sniffed at the red current and then stuck out her tongue and tasted it.

"Hmm, vicious."

Then she muttered indifferently and stretched out her finger as if aiming at the red current.

Plop.

A drop of a deep green liquid fell from Tang Yuhwa's finger.

A single drop of liquid.

But that single drop of liquid.

Sizzzzle.

It began to melt the surrounding red current as if gnawing at it.

Not only the surrounding red current, but it also sucked in the red current like crazy as if inhaling it.

The deep green liquid, which had fallen to the ground, sucking in all the red current as if eating it all up.

Sizzzzle.

It melted the ground and fell straight down.

Although it was unknown how far the deep green liquid had penetrated, the only thing that could be known was that that single drop of deep green liquid had eaten up all the red current that had existed here.

"Huh? Huh?"

A silence flowed around.

The Cheongseong Sect martial artists who had survived death, the Sichuan Son family martial artists who had been thrown into confusion by their family head turning into a pool of blood, and the unknown martial artists were all at a loss for words.

In that silence.

"Kuhahahahahahat!!"

The coppery-skinned man burst into a mad laugh and rushed at Tang Yuhwa.

The tall man, who easily surpassed two meters, stood in front of Tang Yuhwa, his eyes glistening greedily at her, and licked his lips.

"Are you the one who has inherited the poison art that the Tang family has hidden?!"

"There is no such thing as a poison art in my family."

"Your father also said so! He insisted that there was no such thing as a poison art!!"

Tang Yuhwa frowned at the man's words.

The cause of her parents' death was not certain.

It was just known that they had met with a misfortune on their way back from taking care of the sick in a village across the way.

Tang Yuhwa also had a heart that was not without anger at those words.

However.

-Yuhwa. We are doctors. A doctor must save people and must never get blood on their hands.

At the teaching of her father, a natural-born doctor, Tang Yuhwa thought of the patients who had been saved by her parents' care before her parents' death.

Tang Yuhwa also wanted to follow in her father's footsteps and become a doctor like him.

But now, that heart was a little shaken.

"He was a funny guy! Even as his body was melting from the extreme poison, even as he was screaming, he insisted that there was no such thing as a poison art!! What is this?!"

The coppery-skinned man took out a book from his pants pocket.

"That is."

It was a book that was very familiar to Tang Yuhwa.

"A book with research on poison that even our Five Poisons Palace would admire! How can you deny that there is a poison art when you have something like this that can be called a secret manual!!"

What the man had taken out was a book in which Tang Yuhwa's father had written down his research on poison.

However, it was not for a poison art.

Since the climate in Sichuan was high, all sorts of plants grew in the mountains.

Among them, there was a mountain full of poisonous things.

The Thousand Poisons Mountain.

One day, a wild ginseng digger had climbed that mountain without knowing and had been poisoned.

The Thousand Poisons Mountain was a place where all sorts of poisonous things grew, from those that caused a light cough to those that caused all sorts of strange diseases and led to death.

The poison that the wild ginseng digger was poisoned with was a strange and virulent symptom that made all the doctors in Sichuan shake their heads.

When all the doctors gave up, Tang Yuhwa's father climbed the Thousand Poisons Mountain to treat the wild ginseng digger.

Perhaps as a result of such efforts, Tang Yuhwa's father had succeeded in treating the wild ginseng digger, but he had been poisoned by another poison.

Tang Yuhwa had tried to save her father.

But there was no answer.

So what she had chosen was to ingest the poison herself, create a resistance, and find a treatment method according to the symptoms.

And so, after ingesting the poisonous things, Tang Yuhwa had found a way to treat her father's poisoning and had succeeded in the treatment.

Tang Yuhwa was happy to see her father rising from his sickbed.

But her father was not.

-Yuhwa... because of this lacking father... I will definitely treat your body no matter what, so don't worry.

The remnants of the poison left in his only daughter's body.

Seeing that, he had a face that could not hold back the overflowing sorrow.

"It's not a secret manual."

So the book held in the man's hand was.

"It's something my father wrote for me."

It was just a medical book filled with a father's heart for his daughter.

Tang Yuhwa's father had died not as a doctor, but because of a ridiculous misunderstanding.

That fact was hard for Tang Yuhwa to bear.

"Give it back."

Tang Yuhwa stretched out her arm towards the book, but she could not reach the book held in the hand of the tall man who surpassed two meters.

"That's not a poison art."

"Nonsense! Such a peerless poison art should be owned by the Five Poisons Sect! And you, the product of that poison art, are also the property of the Five Poisons Sect!"

The coppery-skinned man's hand stretched out to grab Tang Yuhwa.

The hand that stretched out at a peerless speed that Tang Yuhwa could not react to.

Slice.

It never touched Tang Yuhwa.

The coppery-skinned man, not knowing what had happened, just blinked his eyes.

And then, seeing the cross-section of his severed hand.

"Kyaaaak!!"

He let out a scream.

"Get your dirty hand away."

Baek Yoonjun, who had already swung his sword at the opponent who had no hand to remove, sheathed his sword with a frown.

Leaving behind the opponent who was screaming, holding his severed wrist, Baek Yoonjun relaxed his expression as if he had never made such a face and looked back at Tang Yuhwa.

Resentment, sadness, anger, and at the same time, the will not to break his conviction as a doctor.

Baek Yoonjun's heart, seeing Tang Yuhwa who was feeling such complicated emotions, was indescribably complicated.

'This brat will never use martial arts, no matter how much of an enemy they are.'

He realized that even if he stealthily taught Tang Yuhwa martial arts, she would never use it on a person.

'Then is there no choice?'

Therefore, Baek Yoonjun decided to become a bad master for now.

"Yuhwa."

Towards Tang Yuhwa, who did not answer, Baek Yoonjun continued to speak.

"You said you would repay my kindness, didn't you?"

"...I did."

"Then about that kindness."

As he was speaking, Baek Yoonjun swallowed his words for a moment.

Although he looked like an immortal on earth on the outside, his inner self was a homebody introvert.

Due to his nature, he could not bring himself to say harsh words that would earn someone's hatred.

'Let's do it. This is for Yuhwa.'

But this time, he had to.

"About that kindness. I'm so worried about you, so..."

Words that an ordinary person would say easily, but for Baek Yoonjun, words that he had to continuously squeeze out his courage to say.

"So... wouldn't you not forget your grudge and repay it? I mean, I'm not telling you to kill an innocent person, but I'd like you to at least sort out the people you have a grudge against... I think that might be the way for you to repay your kindness to this master."

If it were someone else, it would be a different story, but since Tang Yuhwa, at least, knew her master's nature, she could tell how much courage her master had squeezed out to say these words.

"So, although kindness and grudge seem completely different, in a way, they are in a close relationship... so repaying kindness and also repaying a grudge..."

"Okay."

Tang Yuhwa smiled at her master.

Although she was smiling, tears were flowing from her eyes.

"I will not forget either kindness or grudge."

In Tang Yuhwa's hand was a long needle.

The tool for absolutely saving people.

Sizzzzle.

It was being dyed with Tang Yuhwa's poison, turning a deep green color.

(End of Chapter)