The wind that had brushed past Gu Wolju flowed towards the jiangshi.

Slice.

As a fine line appeared on the bodies of the jiangshi, Baek Yoonjun's figure, slowly sheathing his sword, appeared.

"Immortal!"

Gu Wolju cheered at his appearance.

He, like Zhang Sanfeng, had been feeling that something was wrong with Baek Yoonjun's condition and had been worried.

'It was a needless worry.'

Fortunately, the current Baek Yoonjun seemed to have completely recovered, unlike before.

Baek Yoonjun, who had swept through the surrounding jiangshi, looked at Gu Wolju with concern and asked.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, except for being a little tired."

"That's a relief. Now, leave this place to me and retreat."

"I understand. I wish you good fortune in battle."

At Baek Yoonjun's suggestion, Gu Wolju retreated without a second word.

It was the result of judging that in his current state, he would only be a hindrance if he stayed by Baek Yoonjun's side.

Having confirmed that Gu Wolju had retreated safely, Baek Yoonjun began to sweep through the battlefield again.

Although it was a group of jiangshi whose swords did not even pierce well, their flesh was cut and their bones were broken by Baek Yoonjun's single strike.

As if he were a wolf that had jumped into a flock of sheep, Baek Yoonjun jumped into the midst of the jiangshi.

His sword swept through the jiangshi like a storm.

And there was a gaze quietly watching him as he swept through the jiangshi.

The owner of that gaze admired Baek Yoonjun's martial prowess and cheered.

'That being is a being worthy of being a Buddha!!'

That gaze did not leave Baek Yoonjun and continued to watch.

The owner of such a gaze was not affected at all by the chaotic battlefield.

No one was paying any attention to him.

'How wonderful! I want to enshrine him in the Hall of the True Body right away, but his martial prowess is difficult to approach.'

He repeated his admiration and lamentation for Baek Yoonjun's martial prowess and turned his gaze.

'That young lady... the Divine Doctor of Sichuan?'

At the end of that gaze was Tang Yuhwa.

He quietly recalled Tang Yuhwa.

'That White Robed Sword Immortal tried to protect that young lady. Then she should be useful.'

And so, Tang Yuhwa, who did not know that such a gaze was directed at her.

'I shouldn't hold Master back...'

Although she had pretended to be fine when she sent Baek Yoonjun off, her insides were in an indescribable turmoil.

'Father...'

The story of her father that Tang Yuhwa did not know.

The image of her father that she remembered was that of a born doctor.

He was a person who was sincere in taking care of the sick, speaking of a preposterous dream that seemed absolutely impossible.

He was definitely such a person, but.

-He released poison in the middle of the night and annihilated thousands of barbarians! It was truly a one-man army achieved with poison!!

Seo Heoyun's words continued to echo in Tang Yuhwa's mind.

No matter how much Tang Yuhwa tried to compose herself, the words continued to dig into her heart as if they were a dagger.

And so, Tang Yuhwa, whose condition was already not good.

'I couldn't do anything...'

The defeat from before hit her hard.

She had stood in this place with the thought of not letting anyone die, but she had been powerlessly defeated.

And.

'People... are dying...'

The numerous people dying in front of her eyes.

'I have to save them...'

Her heart was the same as always, but her body did not move as she willed.

She couldn't take a step, as if her ankles were shackled.

The usual Tang Yuhwa, whose body was light enough to get herself out of a mess, could not do so now.

"Kuaaaa!"

The jiangshi, having recognized such a Tang Yuhwa, began to slowly approach.

---

'Is it time to leave Zhongnan?'

Cheon Suhye, who was staying at an inn in Zhongnan for some business, was lost in thought as she walked the streets after training in the open space of the inn as usual.

'There are few people today.'

Walking the streets, Cheon Suhye felt a sense of incongruity on the streets.

'So everyone has flocked over there.'

She realized why there were no people.

Seeing the crowd gathered in one place, Cheon Suhye frowned.

'Let's retreat.'

Cheon Suhye, who did not particularly like crowded places, was about to leave that place, but.

She could not leave due to the sudden change in her surroundings.

"H-hey, what's wrong with you?!"

"Ugh!"

Cheon Suhye witnessed people suddenly changing and beginning to attack their surroundings.

'That's!'

Beings that Cheon Suhye could not forget.

The martial artists she had become close to before had become such beings and had attacked her, and she herself had almost become a being like them.

'If it weren't for Brother Baek.'

Cheon Suhye's eyes glinted murderously as she drew her sword.

She did not have the talent to turn jiangshi back into people like Baek Yoonjun.

Moreover, even that Baek Yoonjun had seemed quite tired after turning Cheon Suhye back into a person.

Therefore.

'I will cut them down and save people.'

Cheon Suhye's sword flew towards a jiangshi that was about to attack a person.

The sword, dyed purple as if to drive out evil things while exuding the scent of plum blossoms, cut down the jiangshi more easily than other martial artists.

The saved person immediately bowed his head towards Cheon Suhye.

"Thank you!!"

"Retreat!"

"Y-yes!!"

Having confirmed that the person she had saved had retreated, Cheon Suhye jumped into the battlefield.

Cheon Suhye saved numerous people and cut down jiangshi.

In this place, the Cheon Suhye who had clumsily swung her sword under Baek Yoonjun before was nowhere to be seen, and a peerless swordswoman, clad in a purple aura, was cutting down numerous jiangshi.

However, this time, there were too many enemies.

The jiangshi swarmed endlessly, and Cheon Suhye gradually lost her strength.

'Have all these people changed? What on earth is the cause?'

Feeling a question, Cheon Suhye, who was struggling to cut down the jiangshi, saw a girl in her eyes.

The girl in the green robe was sitting on the ground as if she had lost her strength, and the jiangshi were rushing towards her.

'The energy in my body is at its bottom. It seems I should retreat soon...'

A situation where Cheon Suhye had no leeway.

It was time to retreat at this point and reorganize her stance.

However.

'Brother Baek...'

The image of Baek Yoonjun came to her mind.

Him, who had given his own body to save her and had eventually fallen down a deep, deep cliff...

'The life that Brother Baek gave me.'

Cheon Suhye moved forward.

'I will!'

She forcibly raised her hand, which would not go up because she had already faced numerous jiangshi, and swung her sword.

'Use it on the right path!'

Slice.

And so, she cut down one jiangshi, but.

"Kuaaaa!"

She could not dodge the other jiangshi. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

In order to buy time for the girl to escape, Cheon Suhye did not retreat and offered her body to the jiangshi.

Crack.

A bursting sound was made in various parts of Cheon Suhye's body, and a pain as if her bones were breaking ravaged her whole body.

And so, Cheon Suhye's figure collapsed on the spot.

As she was collapsing, Cheon Suhye's eyes met the girl she had protected.

That girl, for some reason, had a face dyed in astonishment, looking at Cheon Suhye.

---

Tang Yuhwa confirmed the rushing jiangshi and tried to dodge, but she could not move her body properly due to the words that had been deeply planted in her heart and were confusing her.

'I have to move...'

When she couldn't move as she willed, the jiangshi reached Tang Yuhwa's vicinity.

At that moment.

Slice.

A woman rushed in and cut down the jiangshi.

'Who?'

Although it was an unfamiliar back, for some reason, Tang Yuhwa felt that she was familiar.

The woman who had appeared in front of Tang Yuhwa had cut down the jiangshi, but her appearance, as if she had fought a series of battles, looked precarious.

The woman, in a state where she could not properly swing her sword, pushed her body forward as if to push back the jiangshi.

Crack.

Various parts of her body, which had been struck by the jiangshi, caved in, and she collapsed as she was.

As the woman collapsed, she looked back, and her eyes met Tang Yuhwa's.

Tang Yuhwa, whose eyes had met, felt as if her breath would stop.

The woman's appearance was certainly unfamiliar.

But Tang Yuhwa knew who she was.

Her childhood.

Before the last day of seeing her father.

A patient her father had treated.

And the family of a patient he could not treat.

Tang Yuhwa could not forget the hopeful gaze of a girl of the same age as her, at the words that she could treat her family.

But as Tang Yuhwa's father died in an unexpected incident, the patient could not be treated.

A long time later, when Tang Yuhwa had grown up to some extent, she went to find that patient, but there was no one in that house anymore, and only three graves were in place.

Although it was a patient she could not save due to her father's death, which was close to a natural disaster, that guilt was firmly seated in Tang Yuhwa's chest.

After going there, Tang Yuhwa continued to have nightmares of that girl resenting her.

And now, that girl.

That girl, who had become a full-fledged woman, was in front of her.

For some reason, she had saved her and had collapsed on the spot.

Tang Yuhwa's mind went white.

Unlike Tang Yuhwa's mind, which had gone white, her guilt fanned her from within and made her move.

'I have to save her.'

The instinct as a doctor and the guilt filled Tang Yuhwa's white mind.

'But how?'

The woman was in a state of having received the full blow of the jiangshi.

She was still breathing, and in the process of being attacked, she had protected her body with internal energy, so if she was treated right away, there would be no problem with her body.

But the problem was the jiangshi swarming around.

'The only thing that works on these is a fatal poison.'

Most poisons did not work, and what worked, if anything, was a fatal poison that acted on the body itself.

But Tang Yuhwa did not have the ability to create enough poison to wipe them all out.

'No, there is one thing, but...'

Even the one thing that existed, the current Tang Yuhwa could only handle a small amount.

Although Tang Yuhwa's mind was in a state of constant questions and answers, her body had already reached the vicinity of the woman.

"Kuaaaa!"

The surrounding jiangshi, seeing Tang Yuhwa as a fresher prey than the collapsed woman, were rushing towards her.

A situation where she had to do something.

It was not a time to be picky.

'I've never even used it properly when I was training with Master, so the probability of failure is high, but that's all there is.'

Since the choices she could make now were few anyway, Tang Yuhwa immediately put the method that came to mind into practice.

'Master praised my dexterity.'

Contemplating her inner self, Tang Yuhwa recalled the teachings she had received from Baek Yoonjun in the Sigongjin.

-Yuhwa, you have no talent for martial arts, but you have a talent for dexterity and for handling internal energy delicately.

The method of handling internal energy that Baek Yoonjun had taught her.

-This doesn't require a lot of internal energy. But it requires extremely delicate control.

-What is control?

-Ahem. It is a word from the Western Regions that means to control and regulate.

Numerous teachings and words of Baek Yoonjun came to Tang Yuhwa's mind.

-Master.

-What is it?

-My dantian is strange, isn't it? I can't just call it a dantian, can I?

-Can't you just call it a poison dan or a poison jeon?

-I'm thinking seriously.

At those words, Baek Yoonjun pondered quite a bit.

-Since it contains internal energy fused with more than ten thousand kinds of poison, how about the Ten Thousand Poison Field?

As Tang Yuhwa moved the Ten Thousand Poison Field.

-Then what about the internal energy mixed with poison?

-Since it is a true essence made of poison, how about a poison essence?

She drew up the poison essence of the Ten Thousand Poison Field.

From Tang Yuhwa's Ten Thousand Poison Field, poison essences with the characteristics of numerous poisons were mixed in.

The size of the poison essence that had begun to mix gradually decreased.

A single drop of fatal poison formed on Tang Yuhwa's finger.

'Heavenly Tear.'

The strongest fatal poison that she could make, which she had named herself and had shown before.

That poison, which even Baek Yoonjun had evaluated as dangerous, had a clear and transparent color, not the deep green of before.

-This poison. It's dangerous.

-I know.

-Right. A time might come when you have to use it. So, if I were to give you advice, this poison. It seems to be affected by your emotions.

When she had used it before, she had used it to dispose of an enemy.

And when she used it after that, she had used it in the midst of conflict, thinking of them as non-human beings.

Therefore, it had a deep, dark green color, as if declaring that it was a fatal poison.

But after training with Baek Yoonjun in the Sigongjin, the nature of the Heavenly Tear had changed.

Her feelings for Baek Yoonjun, her regret for her father, and her regret for the people she could not save until now were fully contained, and it had become a clear, transparent form like a tear.

The fact that it was a fatal poison was still the same, but the process of its action had changed.

If the previous Heavenly Tear gave terrible pain, as befitting a fatal poison.

'May the being who will receive this poison not suffer and may everything end in an instant...'

The current Heavenly Tear was her own final mercy, which erased from the world in an instant, without even pain.

As if, a tear that Tang Yuhwa shed after making a final, final choice.

Tang Yuhwa brought out the Heavenly Tear, the strongest fatal poison she could make now.

However, that alone was not enough.

Although the Heavenly Tear was a single drop, the number of jiangshi was endless.

'Smaller and thinner.'

By Tang Yuhwa's ability to delicately control her internal energy, the poison essence stretched out thinly and longly along the unraveled thread of the glove.

The string melted as the poison was imbued, but the Heavenly Tear, which had stretched out thinly like a string, maintained its form.

Heavenly Tear Suspended Silk.

Although the power of the poison itself was lower than directly administering the existing Heavenly Tear, it was a unique martial art that she had come up with after receiving the glove from Gu Wolju, which could wipe out numerous enemies.

But the current Tang Yuhwa had no intention of using this for attack.

Since she had to give first aid to the woman in front of her before her condition worsened.

'I'll wrap this around.'

The Heavenly Tear Suspended Silk wrapped around the woman and Tang Yuhwa.

And so, the Heavenly Tear Suspended Silk, which had wrapped around Tang Yuhwa and the woman, was like a cocoon.

Heavenly Tear Solitary Cocoon.

The Heavenly Tear, which had become a cocoon, did not allow anyone to invade inside.

Sizzle.

The numerous jiangshi that had been rushing at Tang Yuhwa and the woman melted as they touched the Heavenly Tear Solitary Cocoon.

The Heavenly Tear Solitary Cocoon, which seemed to have achieved an absolute defense at a glance. But what was forming it was just a single drop of the Heavenly Tear.

'Let's hurry.'

As it blocked the jiangshi, the Heavenly Tear was continuously being consumed.

'From what I observed earlier, it should be fine if I treat her now.'

Tang Yuhwa quickly began to treat the woman.

'Done.'

She was able to finish the treatment before all the Heavenly Tear that formed the Heavenly Tear Solitary Cocoon was consumed.

And there was a gaze that had been watching such a Tang Yuhwa all along.

"You've built a rather sturdy house."

It was the head of the monk that Zhang Sanfeng had cut down before.

The pupils of the head, which had been severed from the neck, were staring intently at Tang Yuhwa.

"But..."

Suddenly, the body that had lost its head stood up from its spot, then grabbed the head and began to peel off its skin.

Before long, what had been the monk's head became a pure white skull, and the skull stared blankly at Tang Yuhwa.

The empty eye sockets turned towards Tang Yuhwa, and the bone joints near the jaw, which had no flesh, rattled.

"You couldn't close the door of your heart."

The monk's body tapped the skull as if tapping a wooden fish with its fingers.

Tap... tap... tap...

That sound passed by Tang Yuhwa's ears and dug into her heart.

"It is a secret art called the Avici Bell, which uses the head of a dead person to break the heart of a living person. Namu Shinmitabul."

At the same time as the skull's indifferent sound, the sound of the Avici hell echoed inside Tang Yuhwa and began to ravage it.

(End of Chapter)