By Zephyria 
“…….”
Unlike the anxious Baek Ryeo-il, Owl remained calm, as if he had already anticipated such a situation, and examined Seong Mu-yeon’s condition. He touched the cold cheek with his fingertips and then moved down to the neck to check the pulse. Then, he moved toward the chest.
“…….”
Owl searched through the front of his robes and pulled out the pouch of medicinal herbs he had given him. However, the herbs, unable to withstand the fierce battle, had been crushed and burst open into a mess.
As Owl helplessly let his hand drop, the contents spilled out through his fingers.
“What’s wrong!”
As if sensing the end, Owl muttered in a flat, toneless voice.
“……This was the last of the medicine.”
“What?”
“There is no more.”
Baek Ryeo-il did not grasp the meaning immediately. Gang Woong let out a low groan.
The others were still in the midst of battle. While the sounds of clashing weapons and screams echoed from all directions, a heavy silence lingered where they stood.
“So the illness wasn’t fully cured……”
Baek Ryeo-il muttered. His trembling eyes wandered helplessly over Seong Mu-yeon’s limp face.
“He took the Spirit Pill…… wasn’t he supposed to be healthy……”
Owl slowly shook his head. He searched his sleeve and pulled out a small box.
It was a Spirit Pill.
“He did not take it. He must not take it. If a sick person takes a Spirit Pill, their qi and blood will twist, and they will die.”
Yak Seon had disappeared, leaving the Spirit Pill on the desk. Owl, unable to leave such a precious spirit pill unattended, had taken it. However, he had not expected to keep it for this long.
“What is happening!”
Sensing the anomaly, Ma Jin-cheon hurried over, leaving the Demonic humans to his disciples. However, upon seeing his disciple’s expression, he stopped dead in his tracks, unable to approach further.
Even Seomun Yuha, who had rolled down the cliff late, grasped the situation instantly and fell into silence.
“If we make the medicine again……”
Baek Ryeo-il’s trembling lips quivered. Owl shook his head.
“I do not know the formula. There are notes in the laboratory, but I did not bring them……”
“Then go and get them!”
“The youngest’s condition is poor. He will not last until then……”
“Then what are we supposed to do? Just let him die like this?”
At the time of departure, Owl had not felt the need to take the formula. Since the medicine couldn’t be made without Yak Seon anyway.
Yak Seon, Seomun Yuha, Namgung Cheon-chu, Jegal Un. It would be the same if even one of those four were missing. That was why they had set out to find Yak Seon, prepared for death.
Owl let out a long sigh.
“……There is no way.”
The medicine Yak Seon had specially formulated for Seong Mu-yeon required dozens of ingredients in precise measurements to achieve a meticulous balance. If even a small thing went wrong, Seong Mu-yeon’s blood vessels would burst, and he would die.
“…….”
Baek Ryeo-il’s face was clouded with despair.
The battle was reaching its end. One by one, people began to withdraw their weapons and watch them. Though they didn’t know the details, they could feel instinctively that something terrible had happened.
It was then, while the area was as silent as if cold water had been poured over it.
“Yak Seon is not necessary.”
Jegal Un stepped out from somewhere. Always neat, his clothes were now torn in places and stained with blood, showing that he had fought a fierce battle, yet his expression remained as cold and composed as ever.
“I will manufacture the medicine.”
The Black Forest, where darkness had fallen deeply.
“Ugh……”
After collapsing several times, Peng Yuan-jin barely managed to push up his battered body. Several bones were broken, and he was covered in wounds; there wasn’t a single spot on him that was intact.
Intense pain surged every time he took a step, but Peng Yuan-jin grit his teeth and pushed forward.
It seemed no one was around for now, but they would swarm this place soon.
He had to escape before then. The only way to survive was through the secret passage inside the Demon Subjugation Valley. If he were inside the complex mine tunnels, he wouldn’t be easily tracked.
Fortunately, there was a shortcut he had hidden nearby just in case. It was a place that neither the Sixth Young Master nor the Poison Freak knew about.
He dragged his feet forward. Before long, someone approached limping from beyond the brush.
Peng Yuan-jin’s expression darkened. In his current state, he would lose even to a third-rate warrior—no, even a back-alley thug.
However, as the opponent’s face was revealed under the moonlight, Peng Yuan-jin felt relieved and let out a long, held breath.
“……Do-hwan.”
It was Peng Do-hwan, his face distorted with sorrow. One eye shone clearly, as if completely liberated from the enchantment. However, the other eye, where the bandage covering the wound had disappeared, was dull and devoid of vitality.
“Did you…… deceive me?”
“Do-hwan……”
“For the past three years…… I searched for the enemy who killed my brother. Why? Why did you do that!”
Peng Do-hwan shouted in an enraged voice. Bloodshot veins appeared in his eyes.
“Why did I do it? Do you not already know?”
“Couldn’t we have just forgotten it and lived! As if nothing had happened…… if we had, we could have lived well……”
The knuckles of his clenched fists turned white.
“…….”
Peng Yuan-jin read the sorrow and grief embedded deep within him.
Of course, that was possible. He could have continued to live as the kind and gentle First Young Master, wearing a fake smile as if nothing had happened, just as he had until now. He could have naturally become the Family Head and lived harmoniously with his younger brother.
“But you couldn’t forget it either, could you?”
“…….”
“I will never give up. I must see them fall. Now, what will you do? Can you kill me?”
Peng Do-hwan closed his eyes tight. His bitten lips turned pale.
“Can you bring yourself to end the only remaining blood relative in the world with your own hands…… and live on alone?”
Peng Do-hwan did not answer. Peng Yuan-jin smiled. He knew well that his brother did not have such a cruel nature.
“We will have another chance to discuss this matter later. Until then, stay quiet and don’t cause any trouble. Don’t run wild in a fit of excitement like this time.”
At the voice that sounded like a reprimand yet was filled with affection, Peng Do-hwan’s body trembled.
Peng Yuan-jin slowly brushed past him. As expected, Peng Do-hwan was unable to take any action.
A single tear streamed down his cheek from his tightly closed eyes.
After standing frozen in that spot for a long time, Peng Do-hwan suddenly jerked his head up.
I can’t let him go like this.
But when he hurriedly looked back, Peng Yuan-jin had already disappeared.
“Left Horse General! You are safe!”
As Peng Yuan-jin appeared, his subordinates quickly rushed over to support him. He eyeballed the number of subordinates. Only a very small number had survived and were waiting for him deep within the Demon Subjugation Valley.
“Where is the Right Horse General?”
“……It seems he fled as soon as the Hwasan Sect appeared. He is nowhere to be seen.”
Peng Yuan-jin let out a sneer. The subordinates immediately approached him to treat the prominent wounds.
“It’s only natural to be afraid of the Hwasan Sect. They must be eager to pay back the debt from before.”
Peng Yuan-jin lifted his bleeding arm so the subordinate could wrap a bandage.
“……What shall we do now?”
“We go to Qinghai. I will join the Lord there.”
After answering heavily, he let out a deep sigh after a short silence and continued.
“The Lord will be greatly disappointed when he learns of this. I intended for this to be useful when marching toward the Central Plains in the future…… I should not have underestimated the Seventh Prince; I made a great mistake. However, I have learned a lesson.”
If the Seventh Prince, Seong Mu-yeon, is left alive, he will surely become a stumbling block in the future.
“After reorganizing in Qinghai, the first thing I must do is eliminate the Seventh Prince. A priority task has arisen before the great undertaking.”
Once he reached a state where he could move without immediate hindrance, Peng Yuan-jin dismissed his subordinates and stood up.
“Before they arrive, let us quickly leave this—”
Peng Yuan-jin stopped mid-sentence, his eyes suddenly flashing sharply as he turned his head. There, the Sixth Young Master, Seong Mu-jae, was lying face down in a pool of blood.
The body of Seong Mu-jae, who was thought to be dead, twitched slightly.
“Cough……”
As Seong Mu-jae struggled to lift his upper body, everyone froze in shock. To still be alive after sustaining wounds that left the ground soaked in blood?
However, the complexion of Seong Mu-jae, who raised his head, was beyond pale; there was no sign of life. He was nothing more than a living corpse with no possibility of recovery.
“I…… couldn’t……”
He muttered. But his voice was too small to be heard clearly. Though he would die soon if left alone, Peng Yuan-jin, feeling irritated, frowned.
“What are you saying?”
At Peng Yuan-jin’s gesture to go check, one subordinate hesitantly approached Seong Mu-jae.
“I…… couldn’t do anything…… as great as you……”
Seong Mu-jae muttered in a horribly cracked voice, then stopped moving as if his strength had vanished. His breathing was faint, as if his life were about to end.
“Far from a Spirit Pill…… I couldn’t even give a small amount of help……”
Is this the glow of the returning light?
Some people temporarily regain their energy just before death. But it is only for a moment.
“Enough. Stop it.”
Peng Yuan-jin turned away indifferently. This was no time to worry about the words of a dying man.
At that moment, the eyes of Seong Mu-jae, which had been blurred and out of focus, suddenly sparked with light.
“……But at the very least, I can take you all with me as companions on the road to the afterlife.”
Only then did Peng Yuan-jin’s pupils contract as he noticed the anomaly. Scattered around where he had collapsed were explosives.
“No! Stop the Sixth Young Master!”
But it was already too late.
A small flame ignited at the tip of Seong Mu-jae’s finger. It was the Samadhi True Fire, conjured by pouring in the last of his life force.
KABOOM—!
And the explosion engulfed everything.