Third-Rate Warrior Who Saves a Girl (6)
“Where on earth are you, Soso?”
Wangbu, the Wang family’s village where the people of the Wang Family Estate lived together.
For three days already, the lights in this place had not gone out.
In the twenty branches spread throughout the country, all work had been halted, and only the gathering of information on girls around Wang Soso’s age was being carried out. The countless shops under them had also all closed their doors to find Wang Soso, threatening people’s everyday lives.
“What does that mean?”
Wang Geumsan was greatly shocked by the words of the full-time physician who had just been checking Wang Soso’s health.
“Did you not say she could endure for a week even if she left the Ice Pavilion?”
The full-time physician looked at the people of the medical pavilion behind him.
They only lowered their heads in silence and glanced at the full-time physician.
If he did not speak now, he might receive an even greater beating later.
“That is… normally the case, but…”
“…”
“With the solar physique, there are periodic times when the energy surges to extreme yang. And right now happens to be exactly…”
The full-time physician could not bring himself to continue.
He had seen countless patients die with his own eyes, and he had spoken to their guardians as well, but he had never once received a good response. Moreover, the other party was Wang Geumsan, the master of the Wang Family Estate.
“Then… how long can she endure?”
“…”
At the guardian’s request to tell him the time limit before her breath ran out, the full-time physician merely moved his lips.
“I asked how long she can endure!”
“…It is already too late…”
“Uuugh!”
“E-Estate lord! Estate lord! Hurry, bring the needles!”
Wang Geumsan collapsed.
#
Wang Soso, who had awakened, soon fainted again.
The cause clearly seemed to be the heat burning through her entire body, but I had also never heard of a simple cold having symptoms like this.
“Where was the medical text written by that man, Gong Yakchun, the Divine Physician?”
Gong Yakchun, the Divine Physician, who was called the reincarnation of Hua Tuo.
The lifelong medical text he had compiled by gathering the essence of his life, the Cure-All Text, was classified as a confidential document in the Intelligence Department.
The reason? I did not know either.
It was certainly a book that could save far more people if released to the world, but the Intelligence Department had never considered that even once.
I thoroughly searched through the Cure-All Text, and within it, I found something regarding Wang Soso’s symptoms.
Only after passing far beyond the section on illness and reaching the section on constitutions did I learn the cause of the symptoms.
“A solar physique in a woman’s body. Of all times, in a situation like this.”
Even the Cure-All Text only contained a diagnosis of the symptoms and a method to stabilize the energy.
“First, I need to stabilize her. If she stays like this, she’ll die…”
When I pressed around twenty blood points according to Gong Yakchun’s medical text, Wang Soso’s heat slowly began to subside, and soon after, Wang Soso woke up.
“Umm… W-Who are you?”
“I am Jin Sowoon of the Taeul Sect. Who might you be, young lady?”
If I acted as if I knew her here, I would not be able to avoid suspicion.
She was no one else but Wang Geumsan’s only daughter.
Even I would first be suspicious if the person who came to rescue me said he had known I would be kidnapped.
“I-I am Wang Soso.”
“Hmm… if you are Wang… Soso…”
“…Yes. I am the daughter of the Wang Family Estate.”
“How did you end up in such a situation…”
“I don’t know either. Where is this?”
“We are in the mountains near Yeogang. You were with some suspicious people.”
“Th-Those people… what happened to them?”
“I handled them properly.”
“…”
Contrary to my expectation that she would panic, she quickly regained her composure.
Was it because her father was Wang Geumsan, and she had been educated that such things might happen?
“For now, it would be best to move. It seems there were more of their group.”
“N-No!”
“Pardon?”
“I-I cannot move.”
I tilted my head.
“W-What day is it today?”
“Today should be the gyemyo day of the sinsa month.”
“Th-Then it is the day my solar energy rises. Normally, I should be in the Ice Pavilion holding an Ice Pill.”
Now that she mentioned it, Gong Yakchun’s medical text had included such things.
The solar physique periodically had its solar energy surge upward, allowing one to obtain a tremendous amount of internal energy, right? Wasn’t this completely broken?
But from Wang Soso’s position right now, it was a situation where she was anxious because she did not know when the poison would spread through her whole body.
In many ways, it was becoming troublesome.
“I am asking just in case, but do you have the solar physique?”
Wang Soso hesitated for a moment over whether to answer or not, then spoke.
“Yes. That is correct.”
“Can you not move even for a moment?”
“A little is fine, but if I move violently, the solar energy will burn the blood points throughout my body.”
It was one mountain after another.
From what I had heard earlier, it would not be long before the rest of their group arrived.
‘What should I do…’
Then I recalled the All-Grass Records that had been classified together with the Cure-All Text.
A rare treasure said to have outstanding medicinal effects using common herbs and poisonous plants rolling around in the fields, and to have no illness it could not treat.
“Young lady, this may sound a little strange in this situation, but if you could change your constitution, would you do it?”
“Pardon?”
If there was Gong Yakchun, the Divine Physician, in acupuncture, then in medicinal arts, there was the Divine Doctor of Life and Death.
His name was Dang Wonho.
Around two hundred years ago, he was born from the Tang Clan, but unlike most people from the Tang Clan, who spent their lives researching within the clan, he had left for the murim world early and lived his entire life wandering as an eccentric hero.
It was said there was no disease he could not cure with medicine and no one he could not kill with poison, so the decision of life and death lay in his hands. Thus, he was given the title Divine Doctor of Life and Death.
I did not know why the All-Grass Records was in the Murim Alliance and not the Tang Clan, or why the Tang Clan did not even know of its existence.
But that was not important right now.
Fortunately, the All-Grass Records contained someone who had suffered from the same concern as Wang Soso.
The Peerless Jade Maiden, an absolute expert who had dominated the same era as the Divine Doctor of Life and Death.
Born with the lunar physique, she reached the absolute realm of ice arts thanks to her constitution, but because of that, she could not become pregnant.
Thus, the Peerless Jade Maiden went to the Divine Doctor of Life and Death and made the absurd request to change her constitution, and the Divine Doctor of Life and Death gladly accepted.
And so, he found a way to change a constitution of extreme yang or extreme yin, but the drawback was…
“I’ll do it! I want to do it!”
Wang Soso nodded brightly before I had even finished explaining.
Since she was Wang Geumsan’s child, I thought she would at least be wary because of education about swindlers.
But there was none of that at all.
“You are clearly different from the people who kidnapped me. I can tell apart someone who cares for me and someone who means to harm me.”
Was that not it? Had she already finished calculating everything in her head?
If Wang Soso survived, I looked forward to seeing how the merchant world of the murim world would change in the future.
“Please listen to the rest. Once this procedure is performed, you must eat a specially manufactured pill every day for the rest of your life, and you can never return to your original constitution.”
The Peerless Jade Maiden eventually bore descendants, but she could no longer use ice arts.
“Moreover, because the medicine is harsh, you must perform breathing cultivation every day, and because purity is more important than anything else, once you learn it, you cannot learn another internal energy cultivation method.”
The main ingredient of the pill that changed one’s constitution was poison.
When poisoned, the poison that chilled the body would begin to eat away at the solar energy.
And the remnants of poison left inside the body had to be neutralized with internal energy.
Because purity was more important than anything else, one could not learn another internal energy cultivation method.
If it was an internal energy cultivation method that was pure and also gathered a lot of internal energy, there would be the higher martial arts of the Wudang Sect or Shaolin Temple, but the only thing I could obtain right now was the Taeul Sect’s Taeul Heart Method.
“I’ll do it!”
“…So, if you learn the Taeul Heart Method now, other higher martial arts will…”
“I do not want to become a martial artist. What I want is to see flowers bloom in spring, fan myself in the summer heat, and go boating with my family in autumn. I want to hug my beloved family whenever I wish, hold hands with a man I admire, and talk with him. I want to have children, and I want to see myself slowly grow old. That is all I wish for.”
The desperate feelings of Wang Soso, who possessed everything in the world yet could not have what everyone else enjoyed, pierced me one by one.
“Understood.”
“Will you really do it for me? I will be sure to tell Father…”
“Let us talk about that after we return home. The pursuers should be arriving soon.”
I carefully carried Wang Soso on my back as gently as possible and slowly ran to put even a little distance between us and the hideout.
#
“What do you mean?”
“That is, the last carrier pigeon said Wang Soso’s condition was strange…”
As he listened to the report, the brow of Bang Inam, captain of the Secret Palace Unit, furrowed deeply.
“I told them repeatedly. Did they dare disobey my words and touch that child?”
It was obvious even without looking.
Fellows more faithful to instinct than reason.
They were probably doing this kind of work as people from the Namgung Family because of that impulsive behavior, but even so, it had been Namgung Sangwon’s order.
Whose order did they think it was, to disobey it and do such a thing?
“No! I spoke thoroughly on that part. It simply seems that she had some chronic illness from the start. They also said the temperature of the room when they went to kidnap her was strangely low.”
“The temperature was low?”
Thinking about it, it was strange.
She was a girl, yes, but what was the Wang Family Estate so afraid of that they kept her shut tightly inside the house?
Perhaps what they said was right, and anxiety stirred that the matter might go even more awry because of it.
“So they are waiting at the hideout now?”
“Yes. They asked you to come with a physician.”
“Fools! If a physician goes with us, a witness remains.”
This matter had to be known by no one except insiders.
Within the Changgung Merchant Guild, only those who had sworn loyalty to Namgung Sangwon.
No one besides them could know of this.
If this were exposed, it would not merely be a matter of Namgung Sangwon and their own lives being lost.
“Th-Then what should we do?”
“We go for now. He said that if there is truly no other way, we are to kill them and silence them.”
Keeping her alive and using her as a hostage would be best, but if that was not possible, they had to kill her cleanly.
At the very least, considering how precious Wang Geumsan considered Wang Soso, that alone would be enough to shake their opponent.
But Bang Inam’s optimism did not last long.
“W-What happened here!”
“Search the area! Survivors! Look for survivors!”
“There are none. All of them have stopped breathing.”
“There is no sign of Wang Soso either.”
“…”
Bang Inam’s mind began to tangle in confusion.
The matter had gone wrong.
It was not simply that the kidnapping had failed.
The grand plan of his superior, Namgung Sangwon, and the entire branch family of the Namgung Family had all gone awry.
“Th-There are traces here. There is only one set of footprints, but judging by the depth, it seems he carried Wang Soso away.”
Bang Inam’s mind, which had been burning in confusion, cooled coldly.
“You two, dispose of the corpses. The rest of you, follow me. Unless you are absolutely certain you can kill them, you must never use Namgung’s sword.”
The anger of the warriors who had lost their comrades was no less than Namgung Sangwon’s.
They were clearly pouring their resentment toward someone who had interfered with their work and killed their comrades.
The warriors of the Secret Palace Unit entered the forest, following the guide.
The mountain forest was filled with darkness where even moonlight did not shine, and since they too had to carry out a secret matter, they could not carry torches.
Then.
“Keuk.”
Along with the sound of blood foam bubbling out, the first casualty appeared.
“It’s him!”
“Where is he?”
“How many are there!”
“Krrgh.”
Though they had learned excellent martial arts from the Namgung Family, it was not easy for those who had not been trained in stealth and assassination to respond inside a dark forest at night.
Soon, another scream rang out, and urgent alarm bells rang inside Bang Inam’s head.
This would not do.
Losing Wang Soso was a problem, but them dying here was an even bigger problem!
“Flints! Use the flints!”
At Bang Inam’s shout, the warriors quickly took flints from their robes and struck them, creating sparks of light.
And at that moment.
Swaeek!
Along with the sound of a blade cutting through the wind, another warrior fell.
“Captain! At this rate, we’ll be wiped out.”
“Light the fire! And unfold the Blue Sky.”
“Keuk!”
While they lit the fire, another warrior lost his life, and when only five people finally remained, light appeared across the forest.
“Come out! Show yourself! If you do not show yourself, I will go kill Wang Soso immediately.”
Namgung Sangwon was skeptical as to whether the fellow would really come out at that shout, but.
“Even before, I thought you people weren’t exactly good men. But I didn’t know you were this bad.”
His face was covered with a mask, his clothes were an old martial uniform, and his sword was a blue steel sword one could buy from any blacksmith, making it impossible to identify his faction.
“Reveal your identity.”
“My identity? Isn’t it more convenient for both of us to keep wearing masks like this? And I already know who you are.”
“…If you do not reveal it, I will force you to reveal it.”
“How do you know how many of us there are?”
“No matter how many there are, we will not lose.”
“Why? Because you are the great Namgung Family?”
“!!!!”
“Ah! To be precise, you belong to the Changgung Merchant Guild of the Namgung Family, right? Namgung Sangwon’s secret lackeys.”
“!!!!”
“!!!!”
The warriors of the Secret Palace Unit were so shocked that they all turned their heads to look at him without even noticing.
At that sight, Bang Inam’s expression completely crumpled.
Was that not no different from outright admitting it was true?
“There is no need for more words. Strike him down!”
No sooner had Namgung Sangwon’s shout fallen than the warriors unleashed the Boundless Blue Sky Sword Art.
Since their identity had already been exposed, eliminating the enemy as quickly as possible with their best sword art was the way to settle the matter swiftly.
However.
“Krrgh.”
“Kheok.”
Two warriors were struck down unexpectedly, and the swords of the remaining two did not feel that sharp either.
‘This cannot be! The sword art of the great Namgung Family!’
The swords of the Secret Palace Unit warriors could not even reach the intruder, let alone touch him, and they collapsed one after another. They even seemed to find it extremely difficult just to hold their swords.
As if they were people with no strength at all.
They looked nothing like elites of the Changgung Merchant Guild.
“Kheok!”
“Keok!”
The men, who had been in danger, eventually died, and the intruder slowly approached Bang Inam.
“Y-You bastard! What is your identity?”
“My identity?”
“Y-You must be! Wudang, or, yes! Mount Hua! You’re a bastard from the Mount Hua Sect!”
“Mount Hua… I do have a bit of a connection with them.”
“Even if you are from Mount Hua, do you think you will be safe after interfering in the Namgung Family’s affairs?”
“I did not say I was from Mount Hua.”
Swaeek.
Along with a dizzying sensation, a chill passed across his neck.
Bang Inam desperately turned his head.
“Oh…”
“Y-You damned bastard.”
“What a shame. It would have been better if I had met Namgung Sangwon today. No, since the branch family’s rebellion has not yet begun, would it be a little awkward if I met him now?”
“Just what are you…”
Blood flowed from the nape of his neck.
In the midst of his dizzy mind, Bang Inam corrected his stance and began unfolding the Boundless Blue Sky Sword Art at the level of twelve-star mastery.
“!!!!”
However, his technique could not even continue for three moves.
An unknown, unprecedented power cut off his techniques one by one and made his internal energy tangle wildly.
“Did you fail to learn even after watching your subordinates die just now?”
“…H-How could the invincible Boundless Blue Sky Sword Art…”
“The Boundless Blue Sky Sword Art is not invincible.”
Bang Inam collapsed weakly.
As he died, he could not see the expression of the black-masked man, but for some reason, he thought that the intruder might be smiling in a chilling way.
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