Chapter 243: Chapter 243

“This is Baekho! And this one is called Baekmyo!”

So-mi, who had settled down by the water, introduced Baekho and Baekmyo to the two children.

However, Hong Jin-rang and Ju Ji-yak stared at So-mi with fed-up expressions and shook their heads.

“How on earth did you tame something like this?”

“Tame? I’ve never done that……”

“That makes it even more amazing……”

Looking at Baekho, who began to doze off nearby, blinking his eyes, and Baekmyo riding on his back, Hong Jin-rang wore an absurd expression.

If it were a beast raised since childhood, it would follow a person well enough, but beasts grown in the wild could never coexist with humans.

In that sense, the current situation was something that could not be understood even by calling it amazing.

“They are super cute, right?”

“Y… Yes, they are cute……”

Ju Ji-yak glanced at Baekmyo. She wanted to reach out and touch it, but she couldn’t bring herself to approach because of Baekho.

Every time that huge Baekho yawned, she felt as if her entire body was screaming.

If he swung that huge front paw just once, the surroundings would become a bloodbath.

Because of that fear, she shrunk back without realizing it.

“Anyway, did those misters leave for real?”

At that moment, Hong Jin-rang asked, looking around several times. Indeed, even if they returned, it seemed they wouldn’t be able to do any harm as long as Baekho was here.

With that thought, he took out the Scroll of the Martial God that he had been keeping preciously in his bosom.

“This really is a tremendous discovery!”

Hong Jin-rang’s eyes gleamed.

However, the reactions of Ju Ji-yak and So-mi were weaker than he had expected. They had no great interest in martial arts, whether it belonged to the Martial God or anyone else, and they wondered what the big deal was about a single old book.

“If we sell this, we can get a fortune!”

“Really!? Then give it to me!”

“…”

Hong Jin-rang looked at Ju Ji-yak with an expression that said it was out of the question. The child who didn’t even know the value of this book rushed in like crazy the moment money was mentioned.

He barely managed to pull her away as she tried to snatch it, scowling.

“We found it together!”

“Wa… Wait, let go! It’s g-getting torn! It’s going to tear!”

“You should present such a precious thing to me, you dummy!”

“No, wait! It really is going to tear!”

Ju Ji-yak strained to reach out and grab the book.

Hong Jin-rang exerted force to avoid having it taken away, and as they pulled against each other, the old book looked as if it would tear at any moment.

At that moment, So-mi scowled and approached.

She squeezed between the two and suddenly snatched the book away. Caught off guard, not only Hong Jin-rang but also Ju Ji-yak lost the book absurdly to her sudden move.

Soon, So-mi flipped through it page by page.

She let out a snort with a huff.

“What’s so great about something like this.”

She then threw it toward the water.

Drawing an arc as it flew, the Scroll of the Martial God fell into the flowing stream with a splash.

“Aaaakh!”

“Eek!?”

It was the moment a fortune flew away in an instant.

Hong Jin-rang hurriedly ran and pulled the book out, but the contents were already washed away, and it had become a state that could not be restored in any way.

“Th-This makes no sense…… My miraculous encounter……”

“We don’t need things that create fights! So-mi thinks so!”

“Hey! Even if that’s true, how could you do that to this precious object!”

“Fights are bad, and making bad things is also bad. Right?”

“…….”

As So-mi asked confidently with a bright smile, Hong Jin-rang shut his mouth tight. Seeing that smiling face, he couldn’t even speak.

In the end, he sat down with a tearful face.

At that moment, a thudding sound was heard.

Turning their heads with puzzled expressions, they saw So-mi suddenly collapsing.

“So-mi!?”

Startled, Ju Ji-yak approached.

At that moment, the two children’s eyes widened at the extremely high fever rising from her.

“What is this? Why is her fever so high?”

Confronted with the sudden situation, the two children could not hide their panic. The boiling fever showed no signs of subsiding, and So-mi, who was letting out painful groans, seemed to have already lost consciousness.

Had she really endured up until now in this state?

At that moment, Baekho quietly approached and lay down. As if telling them to put So-mi on his back, Ju Ji-yak and Hong Jin-rang hurriedly loaded So-mi onto Baekho’s back.

* * *

“Did you not find her?”

Namgung So-hye, who had returned from Yueyang, was scowling. The day was gradually growing dark, and since So-mi had not returned yet, her worry grew even deeper.

They had thoroughly searched the vicinity of Yueyang, and thinking she might have returned to the clan, she had come back to check, but since there was still no news, only then did people, one by one, realize that something was strange.

“First, I think I must go to the government office to search with the constables.”

“I will go as well.”

Gwon Mu-jin raised his hand as if following Zhuge Un’s words.

Since this happened while Dan Woo-hyun was away, he wore a frustrated expression, thinking it was his own blunder.

‘I should have stayed by her side…….’

He had failed as a guard.

“It seems certain that she was in Yueyang for now. There are eyewitnesses…… But her traces suddenly vanished after that……”

“Since she goes to the mountains often, we should search all around there first.”

Zhuge Un let out a sigh and sketched the rough situation in his mind. It was those children, of all people.

Since they had nothing to fear, they might have gotten swept up in something dangerous.

Since there was a possibility of bandits, thieves, or horse bandits, it was a situation where they needed to borrow as many hands as possible.

“Ma Jang-gang, I would like you to go to the south of Yueyang.”

“I shall do so.”

Ma Jang-gang nodded.

The situation looked so serious that he couldn’t even argue. Especially since Namgung Cheon’s mood did not look good either, saying the wrong thing would result in being beaten half to death.

At that moment, something large leaped over the wall with a whoosh.

Startled, they turned their heads.

Only after seeing what it was did they let out sighs of relief. Baekho had returned with So-mi. Even Hong Jin-rang and Ju Ji-yak were riding on his back.

“Please help! So-mi is……!”

Ju Ji-yak, who hurriedly dismounted from Baekho’s back, shouted loudly.

The one who ran over in surprise was none other than Namgung So-hye. Discovering So-mi, who was limp and not even moving, she gasped and lifted her up.

“Grandfather! A physician! Please call a physician!”

Namgung So-hye, whose face had turned pale, shouted.

Since the boiling heat was fully transmitted to her, she even thought that So-mi might really die if left like this.

Namgung So-hye looked at Namgung Cheon with tearful eyes.

Unlike her panicked expression, Namgung Cheon approached with a calm face.

“Wait a moment.”

“So-mi’s fever is too high! If we don’t call a physician right now, she might die!”

“Ahem! I told you to wait.”

“Grandfather!”

“You child! Calm down. I am telling you it is not a simple cold!”

Namgung Cheon scolded and pressed Namgung So-hye.

A simple cold would not cause the fever to rise this much. When he placed his hand on her briefly, it felt as if something was flowing violently inside the child.

“First, take her to the room and lay her down.”

“But…… if something goes wrong because of that……”

“Hurry!”

At Namgung Cheon’s firm shout, Namgung So-hye wiped her tears and ran flat out toward So-mi’s room.

Watching her retreating figure, Namgung Cheon cast his gaze toward Hong Jin-rang and Ju Ji-yak.

“What happened? Tell me everything in detail without leaving anything out.”

“Ye…… Yes……”

Unlike his gentle tone, his expression was very stiff.

Ju Ji-yak nodded with a nervous face.

At the part where So-mi drank the droplet falling from the ceiling of the cave, Namgung Cheon nodded as if he understood something.

“Give these children a room to rest. And Zhuge Un, go with Ma Jang-gang and Gwon Mu-jin to investigate that place.”

“Understood.”

Zhuge Un nodded readily.

Leading Gwon Mu-jin and Ma Jang-gang, Zhuge Un hurriedly ran toward the abandoned house.

“So-mi…… So-mi is going to be okay, right?”

At that moment, Ju Ji-yak asked while grabbing the hem of Namgung Cheon’s clothes.

Seeing her tearful face, Namgung Cheon lightly patted her head to reassure the children.

“Do not worry, and rest well for now. This grandfather will cure So-mi no matter what it takes.”

“I understand…… If you need anything, please tell me.”

“Hahaha, that is indeed reassuring.”

Namgung Cheon turned around and headed to So-mi’s room.

Namgung Cheon, who had been wearing a kind expression until just now, fell into deep thought with a serious face.

‘Just a single drop…….’

Although it was a truly absurd thing, it was also something that could be understood to some extent if it was due to that child’s luck.

But it was hard to believe easily.

Creak-

As he opened the door and went inside, Namgung So-hye hastily turned her head. It was visible that her eyes were swollen, as if she had been crying for a long time.

Really, if anyone saw this, they might mistake her for her own child being sick.

“Grandfather! What about the physician?”

“No need.”

“What?! This is no time to joke……!”

“It seems she drank stalactite fluid.”

“Eh?”

A dumbfounded voice leaked from Namgung So-hye’s mouth.

At first, she tilted her head, wondering if she had misheard, but the term was clear.

“Stalactite fluid?”

“Yes.”

“……That elixir that drops once in ten years or once in a hundred years?”

“Yes. It also seems she drank a very dense one. For a single drop to have this much energy.”

“……The one that costs a fortune for just a single drop, right?”

“Yes.”

Namgung So-hye wiped her tears and looked down at So-mi with an absurd expression.

Stalactite fluid was something that countless martial artists could not find even if their eyes turned bloodshot in search of it.

Because with just a single drop, one could easily obtain internal energy equivalent to sixty years of cultivation.

She drank such a thing?

If so, then So-mi’s current situation was……?

“Internal energy is circulating inside her body, but because there is no place for it to settle, it is running wild.”

“Ha…… Haa……”

Only then did Namgung So-hye let out a sigh of relief and sit down.

It was hard to believe, but fortunately, Namgung Cheon was here, and for a master of Namgung Cheon’s level, creating a dantian for a child was no difficult task.

An ordinary young child accidentally drank an elixir like stalactite fluid, and the one who could properly resolve it was right next to her.

Was this also So-mi’s heavenly luck?

At that moment, Namgung Cheon reached out and checked her pulse.

He could feel the power of the stalactite fluid running wild inside her body.

However, there seemed to be another power as well.

‘Is it Manor Leader Dan?’

A gentle but somehow strong feeling.

Even without creating a dantian, it seemed to remain in her body to protect So-mi.

He guessed that this high fever was probably a reaction caused as the energy Dan Woo-hyun had implanted tried to swallow the power of the stalactite fluid.

“Thorough indeed…….”

It seemed Dan Woo-hyun had prepared in anticipation that something like this might happen.

Namgung Cheon smiled without realizing it and slowly began to guide the true qi.

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