Chapter 23
Yeon Cheongha pointed to a place and said.
"I spread my ki sense and there is a person inside. It seems to be the manor lord's residence, but it's strangely unguarded."
It seemed he was asking me to go with him, so I followed him.
I thought it would be better to take Pae Maseong if something like that happened, but it seemed he was more comfortable with me since we had been working together for a longer time.
Since I didn't know who would come out from the front, I moved forward without letting my guard down.
Yeon Cheongha seemed to know where to go to some extent by spreading his ki sense.
When we went inside, we saw an old man who looked as if he had one foot in the grave.
He turned his head with difficulty and looked at us.
"Are you the manor lord?"
At Yeon Cheongha's words, he nodded.
"The Blood Flesh Herb must disappear from the world. The Blood Flesh Herb..."
Just as he was about to speak, we heard the sound of a door bursting open from outside.
At that, Yeon Cheongha flew towards it.
Since Yeon Cheongha had gone, I didn't think I needed to go as well, so I stayed there.
It wasn't that I thought I had something to hear from him, but since Yeon Cheongha had already stepped up, I thought there was no need for me to help.
Then I listened to the sound of the manor lord muttering something.
"The Blood Flesh Herb does not die easily. It moves on its own to live and takes root. The Blood Flesh Herb attacks those who try to destroy it and survives on its own. I have tried to destroy it several times, but in the end, I lost the people I cherished to the Blood Flesh Herb. To completely destroy the Blood Flesh Herb, you must inject a strong internal force at once and make it explode."
That was a strange thing to say.
The manor lord had also tried to destroy the Blood Flesh Herb, but his people had died instead.
Because of the Blood Flesh Herb that had survived that way, Mohwa Mountain Manor had been maintained and prospered until now, but it seemed that the manor lord himself had not wanted that.
"I left it in the bag, so won't it be safe?"
At that, he shook his head and laughed.
I thought he had something to say, but that was the end of it.
It was strange how he had managed to hold on and live until then.
Had he thought that he had to tell someone that story, and then, after speaking and feeling relieved, had he let go of the thread of life?
Seeing that the manor lord was dead, I ran out frantically.
If the Blood Flesh Herb revealed itself in front of people, I didn't know how the people who saw it would change.
When I went outside, Yeon Cheongha was shaking his sword.
Thick blood dripped down the blade.
I ran to him and told him the story I had heard from the manor lord.
"The Blood Flesh Herb moves on its own, master. I hid it, but other people might have found it."
Yeon Cheongha also realized that the situation was serious and used his lightness technique first.
I also followed him, but by the time we got there, something had already happened.
It was an unbelievable thing.
The people of Mohwa Mountain Manor were there.
Judging by their splendid and luxurious clothes, they seemed to be the leaders of Mohwa Mountain Manor, but they were unexpectedly struggling, half-buried in the ground in front of the building.
In front of them was the bag where I had put the Blood Flesh Herb, but there was nothing inside.
And the Blood Flesh Herb that seemed to have been there had already taken root in the ground.
The people struggled to get out of the ground somehow, and when they saw us, they shouted for us to save them.
When Yeon Cheongha ran and grabbed one of their hands to pull him out, the Blood Flesh Herb stretched out and tried to dig into Yeon Cheongha's back.
"Master!"
As I shouted at him and ran, I swung my sword, and the branch of the Blood Flesh Herb was cut.
But it didn't seem to have much of an effect.
The Blood Flesh Herb became more and more lively and healthy as time went on.
I couldn't believe that a plant could change in that way.
"You have to inject internal force at once!"
When I shouted, Yeon Cheongha injected internal force into the Blood Flesh Herb.
At that, one of the Blood Flesh Herbs exploded with a loud noise.
I shouted again to the other people around.
Pae Maseong, who was far away, also heard what I was saying, ran over, and successively injected internal force to make the Blood Flesh Herbs explode.
There were over a hundred Blood Flesh Herbs, and I wondered if there had been that many when I put them in the bag.
I wondered if they had multiplied in the meantime, but I didn't want to believe it.
While Yeon Cheongha and Pae Maseong were destroying the Blood Flesh Herbs by injecting internal force into them, Danli Yeonmuk also joined in.
However, his team members did not come and seemed to be hesitating.
Even when Danli Yeonmuk told them to come quickly and destroy the Blood Flesh Herbs, they did not move.
I saw the greed overflowing in their eyes.
Seeing the Blood Flesh Herb in front of them, the thought of wanting to have it seemed to be dominating them.
In the meantime, the attack of the Blood Flesh Herb became serious.
When the Blood Flesh Herb tried to pierce their backs or hearts with its stems, Yeon Cheongha was almost hit several times, and each time, Pae Maseong or I helped him.
I was not at a level where I could directly inject internal force, so as time went on, our roles were divided.
Even though they were the same age, Pae Maseong showed a concentration and skill that was not inferior to Yeon Cheongha or Danli Yeonmuk, and I was amazed every time.
But I couldn't just be amazed; I came to my senses with the thought that I had to definitely watch their backs now.
Even if Yeon Cheongha or Danli Yeonmuk were attacked by the Blood Flesh Herb, if I didn't let Pae Maseong focus on his work without worrying about it, it seemed that the work would not end.
It was by no means an easy task, but I started with the thought that if I didn't do it, no one would.
Pae Maseong also seemed to think later that he could entrust that to me.
The same went for Danli Yeonmuk and Yeon Cheongha.
I was greatly encouraged by the fact that I could do that much.
It might have been nothing compared to what the three of them were doing, but they were not people I could have considered as rivals from the beginning.
Even while I was protecting them, Danli Yeonmuk's team members did not come.
If they had come and shared my work, we could have destroyed the Blood Flesh Herbs much more easily, but they seemed to have lingering attachments until the last moment.
It was to the point where I even thought that they might be hoping that we would fail and die.
'Aren't they going to attack us like this?'
Later, I even had that worry.
Yeon Cheongha and Danli Yeonmuk also seemed to have that thought and glanced at them.
At least the Blood Flesh Herbs were steadily decreasing, so it seemed that if we continued like this, we would see the end.
The problem was that each person's internal energy was not infinite, and the first signal came from Yeon Cheongha.
At first, when he injected internal force, the Blood Flesh Herb would explode, but at some point, it ended with only a small part of the Blood Flesh Herb's branch being cut off.
Yeon Cheongha was also flustered and injected internal force again several times, but the effect had definitely decreased.
Danli Yeonmuk and Pae Maseong also seemed to have noticed that Yeon Cheongha's internal energy had reached its limit.
They still seemed to have some leeway, but the fact that one of the people fighting with them had almost run out of internal energy would have made them anxious.
Now it was a situation where Danli Yeonmuk's team members had to step up, and Danli Yeonmuk, as if he had the same thought, shouted loudly.
"From now on, I will personally behead all those who do not help us!"
I thought that was the end of it.
If the team leader stepped up and said that, wouldn't it be natural for everyone to be surprised and give up on the Blood Flesh Herb now?
But Danli Yeonmuk's team members just looked at each other and did not step forward readily.
If other people moved, they would also participate, but it seemed they had no intention of being the first to take the initiative.
Seeing that, I was genuinely surprised.
'They became greedy while looking at the Blood Flesh Herb in the meantime.'
It was understandable.
I don't know how many human weapons can be made with one Blood Flesh Herb.
Hadn't they already experienced several times how strong the person who ate the Blood Flesh Herb was?
It didn't require any special ability to control them.
If you just told them the general outline of the mission, they would not stop until they completed it.
If even one or two of them had overcome the temptation and listened to Danli Yeonmuk, the work would have been a little easier, but it was a little disappointing that everyone had knelt to greed.
As Yeon Cheongha could no longer inject internal energy, he started to help me, but he couldn't do that as well as before.
Whenever he tried to cut the branches of the Blood Flesh Herb that were attacking Danli Yeonmuk and Pae Maseong, he often failed to succeed in the attack and swung in vain.
"I'll do it, master. Don't use any more internal energy."
I thought it might be humiliating for Yeon Cheongha to hear such words from me, but now was not the time to worry about such things.
If he continued to use his internal energy like this, he might have to use even his innate true ki.
Then he could lose his life, so this time I had to speak strongly.
However, even after that, Yeon Cheongha could not completely give up.
If only his own life were at stake, he would have listened to me, but everyone's life was in danger.
As a result, my anger towards Danli Yeonmuk's team members grew.
Their connivance was driving us to our deaths with each passing moment.
"Anyone who does not destroy the Blood Flesh Herb right now will be killed by Pae Maseong. The same goes for those who could not destroy the Blood Flesh Herb because they lacked the ability. The same goes for those who could not destroy it because others had already destroyed it!"
When I suddenly shouted, Pae Maseong seemed to flinch more than anyone else.
But since I had said that, Pae Maseong would behead them.
Danli Yeonmuk's team members looked at each other but still did not move.
Pae Maseong looked at me with a face that said, 'What should I do?'
Even at that moment, he was destroying one Blood Flesh Herb.
"Pae Maseong, kill the two people closest to you."
I had only said that, but Pae Maseong flew like the wind, grabbed the heads of the two people, and smashed them together, killing them by making them explode in the air.
Then, as if nothing had happened, he returned to his original position and made another Blood Flesh Herb explode.
"If you need more of an example, keep holding out."
They, who had been standing there stupidly as if they hadn't thought they would be killed, all competitively approached the Blood Flesh Herbs and began to make them explode.
When several people rushed in at once, they gathered their internal energy, nervous that their share would not be left.
That sight was so abominable, but at least a clue to the solution of the work that had seemed endless was visible.