Jin Cheonhee’s expression remained unchanged. In a twisted world, it felt strangely amusing that a twisted demon, drawing up its fighting spirit, was thinking of killing him. In fact, maybe this was all a dream, and in a little while, he would wake up on a cot in the hospital. And then a call would ring, and he would have to run somewhere again. He’d drink a strong caffeinated beverage. Forcibly wake himself up. And spend another day just like any other.

‘I had a really strange dream,’ he would say. Then his senior colleague would probably tell him to buy a lottery ticket. And if he won even the lowest prize, he would insist he had a stake in it and would definitely get some chicken out of him.

Only then did Jin Cheonhee remember one fact.

‘Right. My senior isn’t in the medical department anymore.’

His own body would have turned to dust by now.

Kruk— Tssssssssss—

The Vice Sect Leader shrouded his entire body in poison qi. He looked like a grotesque creature wrapped in a black mist. He charged towards Jin Cheonhee. For a moment, his breath caught at the fearsome presence he exuded.

It’s okay. That’s a natural reaction for a living being. The mind-numbing pressure and fear were also okay. Because he knew that his emotions weren’t actually that important in changing reality.

Realm of Martial Mind – Human Righteousness Transcendence Arts–!

The split second was split once more. The world, as seen through the accelerated Profound Origin Heaven and Earth Divine Technique, was even slower and quieter. The blue eyes disassembled and comprehended his opponent as if they were branches of lightning.

The Vice Sect Leader closed the distance in two steps and extended his right hand. The blades of his Tiger Claw had completely corroded, unable to withstand the poison qi, but functionally, it didn’t matter. Just a graze would be enough to make anything rot. In any case, it could be said to be a weapon that fit the goal of killing the enemy.

He would swing that hand like a whip, as if he had no joints. That was the first future Jin Cheonhee observed.

Second, the protective poison qi enveloping his entire body. If he could emit that much protective poison qi, then an attack using Sword Aura would naturally follow. He would use the poison arts of the Five Poisons Sect as a foundation and erect a pillar of demonic arts to create a powerful Sword Aura. There would be no option to either graze or block it. This was the second future Jin Cheonhee observed.

Normally, he would have been able to foresee a seventh, an eighth future, but since his opponent was a half-baked Profound Realm master, that was difficult.

‘It would be impossible to end this without a single scratch, right? And this is an opponent where even trading flesh for bone is a greedy proposition.’

End the battle with few aftereffects. Even if few aftereffects were impossible, end it without any permanent disability. Jin Cheonhee drew his Ice Clarity Sword.

Among the Five-Elemental Divine Technique, the Metal Ice Art. That is, he drew out the Cold Ice Qi of extreme yin and contained it within. Sword Aura? No, let’s go with Sword Qi. This was a situation where he had to attack a surface, not a point.

‘I have a lot of internal energy, too.’

He dodged the incoming Tiger Claw.

Tsugagak—

Just by dodging, his clothes corroded from the poison qi. But the undergarments and gloves made of Heavenly Silkworm Thread shone in this situation, protecting their master. He had protected his vitals and his hands, so that was enough.

‘This is why everyone makes such a fuss to get some good gear, starts massacres, or even if they don’t start them, they tag along for a piece of the action and then stick a knife in the back of the senior brother who cherished them.’

Humming a grim story, he made the Cold Ice Qi spread out like a wave. The white mist was like the air of a winter dawn.

Then, bloom.

The mist became crystals of snow, and that, like a snowfield, entangled itself in the poison qi that enveloped the Vice Sect Leader. There was no need to purify it. He just had to make the poison settle. The snowflakes were dyed purple and, in an instant, began to cover the ground.

That was enough.

Jin Cheonhee’s cold, quiet, and slow world immediately confirmed that his abdomen was open. But the Vice Sect Leader, due to his surging ferocity, disregarded defense and moved forward to attack again.

‘It’s a strange thing. Why do humans intoxicated by demonic arts try to kill people?’

Couldn’t they just shout into the void until their internal energy ran out, or dig at the ground like mad, or maybe just vent that madness by punching a cliff?

‘Why does it have to be slaughter?’

Thinking that, Jin Cheonhee thrust his sword into the opening.

Tseugak!

It accurately pierced his left lung. The hand that had pierced to save a life hundreds of times was now holding the Ice Clarity Sword instead of a scalpel. Pushing aside the screaming version of himself, he poured his Five Elements True Qi in as if operating on a patient.

It was a karmic fire that burns all things. Generative Fire Qi.

“Kuaaaaaaaargh!”

No matter how much it was a rampaging body on borrowed time, a body steeped in madness, there was no way it couldn’t feel the pain of its internal organs burning. Jin Cheonhee thus took three steps back. His hands were dyed purple. It was because the poison of a near-Profound Realm master had seeped in deep.

In the instant he was debating whether to cut it off or tie it off, he realized he already had no sensation in his limbs. A state of deep poisoning.

‘Dammit… to think it would be enough to break through the resistance I have. Hahaha, this is really nasty.’

Was it all he could do to just stand? Jin Cheonhee continued to watch as the Vice Sect Leader’s internal organs burned. Even amidst the madness, he screamed and screamed at the extreme pain, but he could no longer emit poison qi. It was because the Ice Clarity Sword Jin Cheonhee had thrust in had pierced his lung and accurately blocked the blood points that passed through his middle dantian.

‘Ah… I might not be able to use the Ice Clarity Sword.’

He was worried if he could even pick it up again after it had been so thoroughly soaked in poison. He didn’t know to what extent the pure qi of the scabbard could purify it.

Finally, he confirmed that the Vice Sect Leader’s giant body was collapsing, as if all his internal energy had been depleted.

Kugung—

He wasn’t dead yet. Since he was thrashing his limbs around in that state. The Generative Fire Qi that was burning his internal organs had also stopped.

‘Still, half a sijin… no, he’ll be dead in less than half of half a sijin.’

The Vice Sect Leader had consumed too much internal energy. Right now, he was rolling on the ground like a cicada at the end of summer, but the poison qi was gone anyway.

As the battle was completely decided, Sama Hyeon walked out. “Are you satisfied now, brother?”

“Yeah.”

“Then will you at least let me take his life with my own hands? If he just dies like this, I feel like I’ll have bad dreams.”

“Hey, the pois—”

And then, without even listening to his brother’s answer, he tore off the Vice Sect Leader’s skull.

Udeudeuk—

The golden, metallic qi was discolored purple, but most of the poison qi had already been depleted, and what little was left had been blocked by the Ice Clarity Sword. Sama Hyeon thus ended the Vice Sect Leader’s final moments with his own hands.

“I’m taking this shitty face~ Don’t say anything, okay?”

And when Sama Hyeon had collected the facial skin and turned around, his brother was gone. No, looking down, his brother was lying unconscious in the snowfield mixed with poison liquid, growing cold.

Amidst the tangled sounds of Sama Hyeon’s panicked voice and the voices of the White Dragon Medical Pavilion’s martial artists and physicians, Jin Cheonhee thought, ‘Still, I won.’

That was enough.

***

He felt something moving him. Amidst his fading consciousness, shouts and anger, and…

‘It’s hard to think deeply.’

As if under anesthesia, his consciousness repeatedly rose and fell. In the dark mud pit of his mind, not knowing if it was a dream or reality, he repeatedly sank and rose.

‘Let’s just sink.’

The more he tried to bring his consciousness to the surface, the more he felt the pain. He didn’t like being in pain. He didn’t like thinking deeply, either. And he couldn’t be bothered to have insight. Jin Cheonhee curled his body and simply submerged himself into his unconsciousness.

Many things had happened since he came to the martial world. What had happened? Many things flashed by like in a dream. It wasn’t clear, but he felt like he knew the feeling.

Then, he felt someone’s gaze.

—Are you satisfied?

Regardless of his desire to just sleep and forget, Jin Cheonhee’s five senses remembered the owner of the voice.

‘Lord Condor Dragon. Is this also the influence of the jewel?’

—A fool smart enough to figure that out, so why do you treat your body so recklessly?

He could not answer that. Because the more he thought, the more a pain deeply pierced his body.

‘Why do you ask that?’

—I am a great being. From here, I can look down upon the entire world, but I do not read the hearts of men. That is why I asked. Are you satisfied?

‘Yes. I am satisfied.’

—Your four limbs are soaked in poison liquid and there is not a sound spot on your whole body, yet you are satisfied. You are certainly a strange human. In the grand scheme of things, everything is futile. Life is originally a journey to death. It is just that it has become a little longer.

A human who can’t even live a hundred years. To a being like the Condor Dragon who lives for eternity, it was understandable that it would look that way. Even if he himself were to save the Snake Clan like this, how many more years could they live in a world where the average human lifespan was thirty?

But the physician pushed forward, without a single point of bewilderment.

‘No. It is not futile.’

—Why do you think so?

Suddenly, Jin Cheonhee recalled his past life. There had been a monk among the inpatients. She was a woman, and although the title for a female monk is Bhikkhunī,¹ the people in the hospital room just called her ‘Monk’ or ‘Grandma’. The people in the 6-person hospital room had various religions, including Christianity, Buddhism, and Catholicism, but far from fighting, they would joke around and cheer each other on, saying their surgeries would go well.

Even so, right before surgery, they must have been anxious, as they would cling to the oldest among them, the monk, and cry. The grandmother would say, “Why is a young punk crying? Hurry up and go.” Since they were all people who believed in just the good parts of things, the atmosphere wasn’t bad.

And now, it was that grandmother’s surgery time. The grandmother was busily preparing this and that by herself and then stared at Jin Cheonhee. Then, she asked, “Want me to tell your fortune?” Before he could answer, she suddenly asked, “How many more winters do you wish to see?”

Jin Cheonhee had said, “The more, the better.”

The grandmother had said, “You have suffered much without parents or children. You were born in winter and will go in winter. But still, your good karma is great, so perhaps a new connection will come.”

At that time, Jin Cheonhee had vaguely accepted her words. Was it because he had thought since he was young that he would live alone and might die alone? Was it because he had thought, ‘I will end my life alone like this, without children…’?

That was the same in this life as well. Although he had many connections, this body was still an orphan, and in the midst of such a bloodbath, it was difficult to imagine taking a partner and seeing his descendants. In the end, only the place changes; the way people live is the same. But still, he would sometimes recall the grandmother’s question.