Hundred Herb Forest.
At the report that Hua Sochen had come, the master of Hundred Herb Forest was startled and hurriedly sent a person to the Iron Wall Sect, yet he was still anxious.
"So where is she now?"
"I have guided her to the guest room."
"Who did she bring?"
"She came with just a young hero."
"A young hero? Don't tell me that brat has appeared?"
"If you mean that brat?
"You... wouldn't know."
At the maid's answer from outside, the master of Hundred Herb Forest frowned.
He could not forget the face of the Fighting Demon and remembered it clearly, but he could not remember the face of that disciple.
Because he had only seen him briefly when he had been caught because of the herbs.
"Are you worried about the disciple of the Fighting Demon?"
A person who was sitting quietly in front of the master of Hundred Herb Forest's door asked.
He was a martial artist in black in his forties, wearing a long sword.
The master of Hundred Herb Forest, after the incident three years ago, had hired about ten martial artists as bodyguards for fear of retaliation.
Because of that, the monthly salary he paid was considerable, but only after they had settled in could he sleep with his two legs stretched out.
The martial artist in black, Black Killing Saber, was the leader of the bodyguards.
"Because that young brat went wild, the rice that was all cooked was ruined!"
"The Fighting Demon began to make a name for himself when he was over fifty. It must be because of the limitations of the external martial arts he learned. Even if that disciple has learned internal energy, if it is not the divine art of a prestigious sect, he could advance by ten to a dozen years, but more than that is impossible."
"Then is it okay now?"
"If he is not a disciple of a prestigious sect, there is no way he will be defeated by a brat who is about fourteen or fifteen. Besides, the master of the Iron Wall Sect will also come, so you don't have to worry about anything."
Black Killing Saber showed his confidence.
The master of Hundred Herb Forest was a little relieved at that sight and shouted towards the outside.
"Ran, you go to the guest room and say that I'm getting my leg treated, so I'll be a little late."
The master of Hundred Herb Forest made that excuse to buy time for the master of the Iron Wall Sect to come running.
"Damn it! Why did she come so suddenly!"
***
Hua Sochen, who was sitting in the guest room of Hundred Herb Forest, became more and more anxious as time passed.
When you have to have an important negotiation, you deliberately make the opponent wait to make them anxious, and it seemed she knew the reason why.
When she had crossed the main gate of Hundred Herb Forest, she had been determined to ask and argue strongly, but now she was worried about how the opponent would come out, and her composure was shaken.
When Hua Sochen turned her head, Cho Myung was just sitting there, as if he were thinking about something.
"Before you came, you talked as if you were going to go wild, but aren't you being too quiet?"
"It's before the fight."
Cho Myung looked back.
Seeing Hua Sochen's slightly anxious face, he smiled lightly.
"You said that a doctor should be cool and calm when facing a patient. I came to face the evil spirit of illness that harmed my master. So I have to be cool and calm."
Hearing Cho Myung's words, Hua Sochen thought she was a fool.
She hadn't even met him yet, but what was she doing like this already?
There was a contract. The justification was on this side, so it was as if she were holding the handle of the negotiation sword.
Then what was she anxious about?
Force?
No matter how vicious the master of Hundred Herb Forest was, he would not be able to see blood carelessly without justification.
Because there was the Qingcheng Sect and the Tang family.
Although they seemed to be crouching in Qingcheng Mountain and Chengdu, their eyes and ears reached every corner of Sichuan Province.
To protect themselves from the demonic factions, and to show off and protect their vested interests in Sichuan Province, they had often been involved in matters that were accompanied by force and were considered dangerous.
The reason they had not intervened in the incident three years ago was because of the fame of the Fighting Demon, but it was certain that their eyes and ears had been watching.
"Yes, that's right. Until you face the evil spirit of illness, you have to be as cool as possible."
Hua Sochen nodded and calmed her mind.
At that sight, Cho Myung smiled without a sound.
At this time, a maid came in.
"He says to come."
Hua Sochen got up from her seat without a word.
She was so cool that she was overflowing with coldness.
"Ah, you've come? My leg is not well, so I called you here, please understand. Ah, by the way. The master of the Iron Wall Sect happened to come, so since we know each other, I invited him to join us."
It was the place where they had met when Cho Myung and Seokcheong had been dragged away because of the herb problem three years ago.
The master of Hundred Herb Forest was sitting comfortably in the pavilion as he had then and was speaking nonchalantly.
The master of the Iron Wall Sect was also sitting with his back to them, just as he had then.
And at the entrance of the pavilion, the bodyguards of the master of Hundred Herb Forest were lined up like an iron wall.
There were twelve of them.
The appearance of Black Killing Saber standing with a great saber in his arms was intense.
Hua Sochen felt a sharp and intense energy rushing at her, pressing on her breath.
"I was really scared."
The unexpected words were uttered by Cho Myung.
The master of Hundred Herb Forest, who had been watching Cho Myung from the beginning, asked, trying to hide his tense heart.
"Who are you?"
Cho Myung did not answer the master of Hundred Herb Forest's question.
"What you're feeling now, sister, is probably the qi of the martial artists. In the past, I was so pressed by that qi that I couldn't even breathe. I was so scared that my knees were weak and I was like that."
Cho Myung was speaking in a passing tone as if it were nothing.
But to those who knew what Cho Myung had been through, it was not so simple as to be heard and passed over.
Because it was an extreme fear, a terror beyond that.
"So you're not scared now?"
A calm voice.
A coldness that made Hua Sochen's liver and gallbladder cold was felt.
The master of the Iron Wall Sect.
He got up from his seat.
And he came out of the pavilion.
He saw Hua Sochen and stared at Cho Myung.
Although Cho Myung, who had looked to be thirteen or fourteen, had grown up and appeared after three years, he could recognize him at a glance.
"The disciple of the Fighting Demon, it's you after all."
Cho Myung knew that the master of the Iron Wall Sect was ignoring him, but he did not answer. He just watched with a calm appearance.
The master of the Iron Wall Sect twitched his eyebrows as he looked at Cho Myung.
In fact, he was angry.
At himself, who had been pressed by the fame of the Fighting Demon in the past and had not been able to do anything.
Watching the fight between the Fighting Demon and the Battle Ghost, Zuo Gu'e, from a distance in the street, he had tasted a self-loathing close to despair.
Why couldn't he fight like that?
A martial artist who cannot fight is finished. He can no longer be a martial artist.
He could not accept it.
He was a martial artist, and he had to be a martial artist.
He was not dead yet.
So he had gone to the demonic factions himself, swept them away, and united them under his feet.
Only then did he feel a little relieved, but a feeling of unease that was uncomfortable like a thorn in his throat and that he could not speak of, as if he had left a latrine without wiping his behind, remained.
'A little, I can shake off a little more.'
The master of the Iron Wall Sect, who was twisting his lips and smiling, thinking that if it was the disciple of the Fighting Demon, he could relieve a little of the self-loathing he had felt three years ago.
He lightly moved his two shoulders and showed his intention not to let him go meekly.
Cho Myung looked at such a master of the Iron Wall Sect and answered with a calm appearance.
"I'm not scared. Not at all. I'm not scared at all. I thought I would be a little nervous and like that if a situation like this happened, but strangely, I'm not at all."
At Cho Myung's words, the master of the Iron Wall Sect's eyebrows twitched fiercely.
"It will be different. In a moment, you will see a completely different you."
A murderous light appeared in the master of the Iron Wall Sect's two eyes.
It was a momentum as if he would chew up and eat the opponent.
"It seems you and I are thinking the same thing, uncle. What I thought last night, no, for three years, is that I should just go my own way."
The master of the Iron Wall Sect, who was just frowning, not knowing what Cho Myung's words meant.
Cho Myung looked at him and explained it very easily.
"Ah, I'm just saying let's each do what we want."
"Hmph!"
While the master of the Iron Wall Sect was snorting and emitting a murderous light, the master of Hundred Herb Forest grinned and interjected.
"This, this, it seems the two of you are first. Head of the family, we'll have to postpone our conversation for a moment."
He was thinking that if the master of the Iron Wall Sect trampled on Cho Myung, he would use that momentum to press them and nullify the contract he had written three years ago.
'Maybe I can even return the contents of that contract to you as they are!'
It meant that since they had bought at half price until now, they should now buy at double the price.
It was when the master of Hundred Herb Forest was calculating like that and smiling with satisfaction.
"Master of the Iron Wall Sect."
Black Killing Saber called out suggestively.
He, who had a sneer on his twisted lips, looked at Hua Sochen and said.
"Don't kill him. Let me cut off at least one arm and step on the fame of the Fighting Demon."
"Let's do that."
Thus, the two had decided to at least get rid of one of Cho Myung's arms.
But they did not know.
That mentioning the fame of the Fighting Demon was a big mistake. That they had seriously messed with Cho Myung.
Cho Myung's face hardened.
The master of the Iron Wall Sect and Black Killing Saber mistook it for fear.
"I..."
Cho Myung, who was engulfed in anger, barely opened his mouth.
"It's too late! It's no use begging now!"
The master of the Iron Wall Sect roared and walked with a swagger.
His two hands were full of internal energy.
It was an internal energy full of the pride of a self-proclaimed martial artist.
A fist and palm technique that strikes the opponent, hits the vital points, and breaks the joints.
The martial arts that the master of the Iron Wall Sect had learned also had to be close, like the boxing art of the Fighting Demon.
The moment he began to move in a straight line towards Cho Myung, Cho Myung's foot pushed the ground and shot forward.
At that sight, the moment the master of the Iron Wall Sect twisted his lips and smiled, and was about to raise his hand, was close.
Cho Myung swung his fist.
Right in front of the master of the Iron Wall Sect's nose.
"......!"
The very moment the master of the Iron Wall Sect's pupils, who had just realized what was happening, had expanded as much as they could.
Thwack!
Cho Myung's fist hit the master of the Iron Wall Sect's chest directly.
The master of the Iron Wall Sect, whose bones had collapsed with a thud and whose strong build had floated into the air, was sent flying back.
Thud!
It was the moment the two eyes of Black Killing Saber and the master of Hundred Herb Forest, who had been sneering with a cruel face, were wide open in astonishment.
"I'm not a good boy anymore."
Cho Myung said.
And he turned his gaze to the astonished Black Killing Saber.
"From now on, I'm going to quit being a good boy, so you'd better be prepared."
Cho Myung walked.
Black Killing Saber, whose heart had sunk, hurriedly gripped his great saber and took a stance.
'He was, he was careless. That's right. The master of the Iron Wall Sect was careless, so if I just keep a certain distance and chop him up with my sword, it'll be fine!'
Black Killing Saber's weapon was a long-bladed great saber.
So it was not close combat.
His thought was to chop him up while keeping a sufficient distance.
But when he was raising his fighting spirit with shining eyes.
Cho Myung kicked the ground.
In Black Killing Saber's eyes, it just looked like that.
But the moment he recognized it, Cho Myung had moved in front of his eyes.
Thwack!
To chop him up with a great saber was just a wishful thought.
Black Killing Saber could not even swing his great saber properly and was sent flying back.
Thud!
Black Killing Saber's body, which had been sent flying like a kicked stone, hit the pillar of the pavilion.
The roof of the pavilion shook, and dust fell.
Just with that commotion, the master of Hundred Herb Forest fell back.
The master of Hundred Herb Forest, who remembered the day he had been defeated by Old Man Ban, began to tremble all over.
Cho Myung walked with a swagger to the front of the pavilion's railing.
The subordinates of Black Killing Saber, far from blocking him, could not even breathe loudly and quietly stepped back, opening a path.
Cho Myung stopped walking in front of the railing and stared at the master of Hundred Herb Forest.
The master of Hundred Herb Forest did not even dare to look at him and avoided his gaze.
"I won't touch your grandfather."
The moment the master of Hundred Herb Forest was relieved at Cho Myung's words.
"I'm going to save that strength and smash that uncle who made my master die."
Yang Gatae.
The son of the master of Hundred Herb Forest.
Cho Myung did not know his name.
It didn't matter. Because he knew his face clearly.
The moment he met him, even in a dream, he would make him a pulp.
That was Cho Myung's resolve.
He had really decided to stop being a good boy.
At Cho Myung's words, the master of Hundred Herb Forest trembled like a leaf in the wind.
Cho Myung left him and turned around.
When he turned his head, the subordinates of Black Killing Saber could not even meet his eyes.
"When those two uncles come to their senses, tell them. That it would be better for them to leave the land of An from today."
Cho Myung gave that warning and then stood behind Hua Sochen.
Now it was Hua Sochen's turn.
"He-head of the family! I'll write you a new contract!"
The master of Hundred Herb Forest shouted urgently and came crawling.
"That's enough."
Hua Sochen coldly refused.
She glared at the greatly flustered master of Hundred Herb Forest and said as if declaring with an even colder face.
"I'm cutting off our business from today."
"C-cutting off our business! Head of the family, what are you talking about? I was wrong, so please take it back."
"Even if you were greedy, you shouldn't have crossed the line."
At the words that were like a bolt from the blue, the master of Hundred Herb Forest begged with a pale face.
But Hua Sochen, who seemed to have made up her mind, did not take back the words she had uttered.
Although the transportation costs would increase, it was not that the clinic had nowhere to trade.
If you just go to Chengdu, there are brokers bigger than Hundred Herb Forest.
Now that the clinic's finances had improved quite a bit, it was okay to spend a little more on purchasing medicinal ingredients.
On the other hand, if the Hua Family Clinic cut off its business, Hundred Herb Forest's income would decrease so much that it would be said that it had gone bankrupt.
"Never, never again will this happen. So please!"
"A broken piece can't be put back together. Myung, let's go."
"Okay."
Hua Sochen and Cho Myung turned around.
The two disappeared, creating a cold wind as if they would never see each other again.
The ashen-faced master of Hundred Herb Forest.
He trembled all over and was out of his mind.
"Really?"
"What?"
"Did you really decide not to be a good boy?"
"Taoist Yoryo and his master also said so. To live in compliance. Like flowing water. But if you live like that, you just get beaten up. My master also passed away like that... I don't like that. So I'm not going to live as a good boy."
"Yes, I see. I think that's right."
"Then that's good. But why did you do that, sister?"
"What?"
"He said he would write you a new contract, but you cut off the business altogether."
"Ah, I don't want to get a contract by using you anymore. And I don't want to buy the medicinal ingredients that will be used for the patients from a person like that. I won't do that anymore."
"Yes."
Cho Myung nodded as if he understood.
Hua Sochen thought it was a good thing.
But not long after, Cho Myung suddenly stopped.
"Sister."
"Yeah?"
"I can't."
"What?"
"I thought this was a good enough way to end it. But my chest, my chest is tight. My anger hasn't subsided yet."
"......!"
"Please wait a moment."
Cho Myung quickly moved his feet and went back to Hundred Herb Forest.
And a moment later.
The buildings of Hundred Herb Forest all collapsed with a loud noise.
Although Hua Sochen could not see it, the master of the Iron Wall Sect and Black Killing Saber, who had barely come to their senses, were also shattered again. The two had their arms and legs shattered so that they could never harass anyone again, and even their lower dantian was destroyed.
And the master of Hundred Herb Forest had his two legs broken.
A moment later, Cho Myung returned.
"Let's go now."
"Y-yes."
The two headed to the Hua Family Clinic.
Hua Sochen glanced at Cho Myung several times until they reached the clinic.
(End of Chapter)