Chapter 103: Chapter 103
Cheon Woo-jin ran with Cheol Ji-ak hoisted on his back. Even though he merely took light steps, the surrounding scenery changed rapidly with every stride.
Operating his energy, he protected Cheol Ji-ak from the wind pressure.
Cheon Woo-jin had a headache the entire time he ran. It was not because he was executing lightness arts quickly. It was because two voices were filling his head.
– Woo-jin, why on earth take such a frail fellow all the way to the Black Overlord Castle yourself instead of just letting him die? Do you really need to owe a debt to that Ha Yul-cheon bastard?
Ha Yul-cheon was the name of the Lord of the Black Overlord Castle.
There was only one person who could call the Lord of the Black Overlord Castle, who had unified the entire Unorthodox Path for the first time in Central Plains history to occupy the position of the Three Pillars Under Heaven, like that.
– Black Elder, he is a chivalrous hero whose life became endangered while trying to protect his subordinate. Furthermore, he is the superior Woo-jin serves, so how could he feign ignorance?
– Who pushed that bear-like fellow onto the battlefield? If he didn’t want to die, he should have been stronger.
– You crazy bastard. Use your brain a little.
His masters had been fighting inside his head from the moment he left the Sichuan Tang Clan until now. Lately, such occurrences were frequent.
Of course, they were auditory hallucinations he had created himself. Was it because he missed his masters, who were virtually his only family? Or perhaps it was because the boundary between good and evil had become blurred after experiencing the affair with Tang Bi-cheon.
Cheon Woo-jin tightly closed his eyes at the headache. Even though he was running with his eyes closed, his feet were stepping only on precise spots.
How long had he run like that?
Before long, he landed before the Sichuan Branch of the Black Overlord Castle.
The two gatekeepers guarding the main entrance looked at the young man fallen from the sky with bewildered faces. Carrying a bear-like man on his back as well, it was indeed an unusual sight.
As Cheon Woo-jin stepped closer, the gatekeepers asked.
“Where did you come from?”
“I came from the Martial Alliance.”
At that truly candid response, the gatekeepers’ expressions stiffened in an instant. Cheon Woo-jin was confident. It was because previously, Ha In-seong, the Young Castle Lord of the Black Overlord Castle, had told him to drop by anytime.
Whether they knew Cheon Woo-jin’s thoughts or not, the gatekeepers secretly raised their energy and asked once more.
“Why did you come?”
Their tone had changed. Since the Black Overlord Castle and the Martial Alliance were officially in an adversarial relationship, it was a natural thing.
Cheon Woo-jin replied calmly.
“I have come to see the elder Divine Physician.”
“You know where this place is, right?”
The gatekeeper was merely vigilant, his hostility not severe. The bear carried on the back appeared to be in a situation where every second counted. One would not come to fight while carrying such a person.
“It is the Sichuan Branch of the Black Overlord Castle, is it not? I have received an invitation from the young castle lord previously.”
When Cheon Woo-jin said that, the gatekeepers were startled and exchanged glances. The young castle lord they knew was someone who would do that and more. Because he was a person who paid no heed to common sense and conventional norms.
“We will check first. Even so, we cannot let a Martial Alliance member inside the Black Overlord Castle without procedure.”
It was the maximum goodwill the gatekeeper could show. Even if they were enemies, he could not coldly issue an expulsion order to someone who had rushed over carrying a dying person.
Above all, they had to determine the authenticity of the claim that he had received the young castle lord’s invitation.
Cheon Woo-jin slightly narrowed his brows. The young castle lord would be at the headquarters. If so, verifying would take considerable time…
“Can I not enter first?”
In an instant, the gatekeepers flinched.
Cheon Woo-jin spoke in a gentle tone, but the gatekeepers had also read a certain conviction contained within it.
It was a momentum that seemed ready to invade immediately if refused.
The gatekeepers raised their energy in turn.
“Impossible. Even if you are the young castle lord’s close friend, that is merely your claim. Verification comes first.”
“We are not close friends, though.”
“…Then even more so.”
It was the correct procedure.
Soon one gatekeeper went inside the Black Overlord Castle.
The remaining one looked at Cheon Woo-jin with a nervous expression. Cheon Woo-jin’s gaze was directed toward the interior of the Black Overlord Castle through the opened doors. The gatekeeper shifted his footing slightly and blocked that gaze.
“Do not think foolish thoughts. I warned you clearly. Our Black Overlord Castle does not fear the Martial Alliance.”
Cheon Woo-jin let out a sigh. His two masters, who had clearly been arguing until coming to the Black Overlord Castle, showed mutually conflicting attitudes this time.
– Not even the Castle Lord bastard, how dare a mere gatekeeper block our path? Let us smash his skull right now and charge inside!
– If you do not observe procedure, Woo-jin, you are no different from Black Elder. There is still leeway in the time mentioned by the physician, so let us wait just a little.
At that moment, Cheon Woo-jin realized. These voices were not simple auditory hallucinations. They were the convictions and values of his two masters engraved within Cheon Woo-jin.
Cheon Woo-jin was a man who embraced both black and white.
The persona influenced by Black Elder told him to invade immediately regardless of the Black Overlord Castle or whatever, smash everything, and threaten the Divine Physician, while the persona influenced by White Elder told him to respect even an enemy.
Cheon Woo-jin quietly looked at the gatekeeper. Whether he also sensed something, the gatekeeper took a step back without realizing it.
It was right at that moment. A man with a physique as enormous as Cheol Ji-ak ran out frantically from inside.
“Alliance Member Cheon!”
He was none other than Ma Yong-seok. He was the direct escort of the young castle lord, and a man whose daughter’s life had been saved by Cheon Woo-jin while living as a fugitive for a time.
While living as a fugitive, he worked as a butcher, so currently he was also called Butcher Ma in common parlance.
“Butcher Ma…!”
The gatekeeper tried to call that moniker without thinking, then gasped and swallowed his breath. It was merely a moniker used among themselves; he did not dare utter it in front of him.
Even though he was merely an escort, in any case Ma Yong-seok’s status rivaled even the top leadership of the Black Overlord Castle. Since he received the boundless trust of Ha In-seong, who would become the master of the Black Overlord Castle in the future, it was a natural thing.
“Ah, Butcher Ma.”
Cheon Woo-jin called him that openly.
The gatekeeper cursed with his eyes asking if he was crazy, but the parties involved, Cheon Woo-jin and Ma Yong-seok, did not seem to care in the slightest.
Ma Yong-seok’s gaze turned toward Cheol Ji-ak carried on Cheon Woo-jin’s back.
“Is he the Black Tortoise Squad Leader?”
“Yes, I came because it was said the Divine Physician is inside the Black Overlord Castle.”
With that fearsome face, Ma Yong-seok put on an unbefitting bright smile. He had wanted so badly to repay the favor of saving his daughter’s life, and such an opportunity had arrived.
In the first place, the one who called the Divine Physician to the Sichuan Branch of the Black Overlord Castle using personal connections was precisely Ma Yong-seok.
* * *
A grey-haired old man was closely examining Cheol Ji-ak, who was laid on a couch.
Cheon Woo-jin was startled upon seeing the Divine Physician for the first time. Having only heard of his reputation, he thought he would exude an aura similar to Master White Elder, but it was the opposite. Did he not rather resemble Master Black Elder?
Well, since he was the Divine Physician who treated any patient regardless of Righteous, Unorthodox, or Demonic factions…
Similarly, Master Black Elder had smashed heads without caring about ideology.
Suddenly, the Divine Physician, who was examining Cheol Ji-ak, clicked his tongue.
“They said the Tang Clan Leader became senile, and the Tang Clan is finished as well. Why couldn’t they take proper measures while the patient became like this? It is already too late.”
Cheon Woo-jin let out a small sigh, and the expression of Ma Yong-seok beside him also darkened. In truth, whether a squad leader of the Martial Alliance lived or died was none of his concern, but because it was someone Cheon Woo-jin brought, he wanted to offer help.
Ma Yong-seok asked cautiously.
“Elder, is the situation that serious?”
“There is no danger to his life at all. Because he reached me before it was too late. However, as a martial artist, he is finished.”
“…!”
Ma Yong-seok was startled. Even while the Divine Physician was taking the pulse, he had been examining Cheol Ji-ak with his eyes in his own way. Knuckles thick with calluses and muscles on the forearms, a thick neck and jar-like calves.
Although the organizations and ideologies they belonged to differed, as a martial artist, respect welled up. What kind of effort and how much of it was needed to obtain such fists, Ma Yong-seok knew better than anyone else under heaven.
It was because the two were truly similar not only in body shape and aura, but also in the martial arts they used.
“Is there truly no way?”
“His qi channels are already severed strand by strand. Of course there is a way. But would you all be able to do it?”
“Please tell us first.”
Ma Yong-seok requested politely.
The Divine Physician looked steadily at Ma Yong-seok and Cheon Woo-jin beside him, then tossed out his words nonchalantly.
“There are five methods.”
Cheon Woo-jin looked at him as if surprised. After speaking as though it were impossible, weren’t there surprisingly many methods? However, only after the Divine Physician’s words continued could he understand that meaning.
“Shaolin’s Great Return Pill, Mount Hua’s Purple Empyrean Pill, Wudang’s Supreme Clarity Pill, the Demonic Cult’s Divine Demon Pill, all the way to the Green Forest’s Spirit Green Pill. These are all the spirit medicines under heaven capable of reconnecting qi channels that have already been severed. Now, which one will you go obtain?”
“…”
Ma Yong-seok kept his mouth shut. There was not a single one that could be obtained easily. No, it was practically impossible.
“Alliance Member Cheon, it seems…”
Ma Yong-seok swallowed his remaining words. Even without him bothering to speak, Cheon Woo-jin’s expression was already serious.
However, Ma Yong-seok did not know. That Cheon Woo-jin’s expression was originally like this.
“Prolonging his life is already something. Seeing his physical condition, it would not have been strange had he died multiple times ordinarily. It means it is already a miracle.”
Soon, Cheon Woo-jin, who had been contemplating, suddenly spoke.
“It seems Shaolin, Wudang, and Mount Hua are too far. At least the Demonic Cult and Guizhou’s Green Forest appear to be at similar distances.”
“…What did you say?”
The Divine Physician asked back as if dumbfounded. The five places he had mentioned just a moment ago were each factions that wielded immense influence in the martial world.
Yet as if not giving a damn about such things, he was listing them in order merely considering distance.
“Who did you say your master is? Earlier I was distracted and couldn’t hear properly.”
“He is the White Flower Sword Immortal.”
“…Good grief.”
The Divine Physician’s brows knitted finely. He had a slight acquaintance with the White Flower Sword Immortal. Having heard that there was a madman in the whole world shouting about chivalry while charging single-handedly into the Heavenly Demon Cult, he went to watch and became close friends.
The saying ‘like master, like disciple’ fit perfectly. Seeing how deeply that fellow was contemplating, if one said the Heavenly Demon Cult was closest from here, he seemed ready to charge right into it.
“Quit it. Your master was the White Flower Sword Immortal, but that does not mean you are the White Flower Sword Immortal, does it?”
Having spoken thus, the Divine Physician looked closely at Cheon Woo-jin.
Whether the persuasion had worked, this young and reckless fellow was nodding his head. However, his subsequent words were the exact opposite of the Divine Physician’s expectation.
“As expected, Guizhou’s Green Forest would be the closest.”
“Right, even you think the Demonic Cult is a bit much, don’t you? Still, those Green Forest bastards are no ordinary bunch either. Do you know that the moniker of the current Green Forest Supreme Chief is the Green King?”
Openly attaching the character ‘King’ to his moniker meant he was also a master of the Realm Beyond the Heavens. Otherwise, masters like the Sword King, the Poison King, or the Killing King would never have let him live.
“Yes, I recall hearing of it from Master previously.”
“The White Flower Sword Immortal did? What did he say?”
“He said that generally, those called Green King are a sort that can be communicated with well for evil deviants.”
“…”
The Divine Physician let out sigh after sigh. Naturally he could be communicated with well. The White Flower Sword Immortal was one counted on one hand even among the masters of the Realm Beyond the Heavens of his era. Had he been active until now, he would have been called the Foremost Immortal Under Heaven rather than the Three Pillars Under Heaven.
He must have charged right into the Green Forest holding that fan which was no different from a blade. There probably wasn’t a particular reason. Just that an oblivious mountain bandit must have thrust an axe toward the White Flower Sword Immortal, who looked like a frail scholar.
Having charged in, the White Flower Sword Immortal must have first smashed everything, then sat the Green King in front of him amidst the wreckage and lectured on chivalry. And the Green King must have listened earnestly to that teaching while practically possessed by a Hanlin Academy scholar. In order to survive.
Faint worry was revealed amidst the Divine Physician’s sigh. In any case, White Elder was a chivalrous hero whom the Divine Physician also respected. How could he remain unconcerned when his disciple was about to walk such a reckless path?
Noticing that emotion, Cheon Woo-jin spoke as if telling him not to worry.
“It will be fine. I will persuade him well through conversation.”
“Whom? The Green King?”
“Yes.”
The Divine Physician was simply dumbfounded. How could he talk as if going to haggle over wine prices at a neighborhood tavern when he was going to obtain the Spirit Green Pill, the treasure of the Green Forest, from the Green King?
Regardless of that or not, Cheon Woo-jin turned around.
The ink-colored iron staff attached behind his back was visible.
The Divine Physician’s eyes widened glaringly.
“T-That…!”
In an instant, an old memory surfaced. There was a time when the bastards of the Black Sand Society, who were said to be the hegemon of Hunan’s Unorthodox Path back then, took away a patient whose condition hung by a thread.
At the time, the Divine Physician asked Hao Sect, with whom he was acquainted, to retrieve the precious patient, and Hao Sect sent a man to the Black Sand Society saying he was the person most skilled in conversation and persuasion among those they knew.
Surprisingly, that man brought the patient back safely in half a day. The Divine Physician, who was pure at the time, thought he was truly a genius of conversation and persuasion, but the next day he heard news that the Black Sand Society had been annihilated overnight.
‘I was truly shocked when I learned that bastard was Black Elder.’
Why did a back view resembling that guy show through the disciple of the White Flower Sword Immortal? As for the Divine Physician, he could not understand the reason at all.