Chapter 201

...It’s a wonder he hasn’t gone mad.

It was as though someone had gathered together the handful of things capable of shaking that perpetually indifferent old man and molded them into a single disaster.

Clicking her tongue, Seoryak took Sohae’s wrist and carefully sent a thread of inner force into her.

As she calmly examined Sohae’s condition, a deep furrow formed between her brows.

The inner force within the girl was holding her cracked vessel together, but that was all. For some strange reason, her body was repairing itself at an agonizingly slow pace.

The spark of life within her was so faint it seemed ready to gutter out at any moment.

If this was her condition even after someone of Tang Jung’s caliber had remained constantly at her side, she must have been little more than a corpse when he first found her.

“Did the girl even draw on her innate inner force?”

“Yes.”

“You incompetent bastard. What were you doing as her master while she ended up like this? You have no right to call yourself her master.”

“You’re right. I don’t.”

Tang Jung answered her vicious rebuke in a hollow voice and scrubbed both hands over his face.

“What have you done to deserve that expression? Instead of standing there looking pathetic, go and—”

Seoryak broke off and tilted her head.

Now that she looked again, the inner force inside the girl felt foreign.

It should have carried the same dark blue cast as her master’s. Instead, it was as clear and blue as an open sky.

Namgung? Is this the Vast Sky Great Expansion Divine Art?

Poisonous energy had seeped into it, but its nature was unmistakable. It was the sort of energy only someone of the Namgung direct line should possess, and it wrapped around the girl as though protecting her.

Someone had clearly forced her shattered vessel to hold together.

Seoryak turned to Tang Jung with a look that plainly demanded an explanation.

“What lunatic left this behind? If this much of his power is still inside the girl, whoever transferred it can’t be in good shape himself.”

“There’s one nuisance I can’t quite get rid of.”

“That nuisance is more useful than her master. He’s the reason the girl is still alive.”

Tang Jung could only let out a pained groan.

Seoryak snorted.

“Stop making that pathetic face and prepare the medicinal bath. I need nothing but pure ingredients, so keep your foul-smelling poisons out of it.”

Only then did relief finally enter Tang Jung’s eyes.

“...Thank you, Seoryak.”

“I don’t need your thanks. I have my own reasons for being concerned about this.”

With that, Seoryak pulled back the blanket covering Sohae and removed her outer garment so she could examine her left arm closely.

She had wondered why the flow of energy there was especially sluggish.

The energy channels connecting the shoulder to the arm had been half severed and were barely holding together.

Tang Jung spoke grimly.

“A sword went straight through her. I managed to purge the demonic corruption, but I don’t know whether she’ll ever be able to move it as she did before.”

Seoryak lightly pressed along Sohae’s left arm.

There were clear signs of severe damage, but fortunately the limb itself remained intact. If its inner force could be replenished, recovery did not appear impossible.

“Will it heal?”

“You’re distracting me. Shut up and wait outside.”

“All right.”

After irritably driving Tang Jung from the room, Seoryak took a case of needles from inside her clothes.

She slowly closed her eyes, then opened them again.

Her pitch-black irises had turned golden, reflecting the pale girl’s face.

A moment later, pure golden energy enveloped Seoryak’s body.

Infusing the golden needles with inner force, she carefully began inserting them into Sohae’s body.

******

Seoryak emerged from the room an hour later.

Tang Jung, who had been anxiously chewing on the mouthpiece of his long pipe, sprang to his feet the instant she appeared and searched her face.

Seoryak asked coldly,

“The medicinal bath?”

“It’s ready.”

“Be grateful to that nuisance of yours. Without his pure inner force, we would have had to amputate the arm.”

“Then...”

“Don’t worry. There won’t be any major problem.”

At the assurance that Sohae would be able to use her arm, Tang Jung’s face broke into a radiant smile.

“Thank you. Thank you, Seoryak.”

“I told you I don’t need your thanks. Just don’t come charging at me someday saying you’re going to kill me.”

“When have I ever done that? You’re always the one trying to kill me.”

“Hmph.”

Seoryak turned her head away with a snort, secretly relieved.

The old man still seemed to know nothing.

In that case, all she had to do was make sure he never learned.

Having reached that decision, she casually changed the subject.

“The arm isn’t the real problem. Her inner demons are. I don’t know whether the girl can overcome them. You’ll have to look after her properly.”

“Yes. I will.”

Tang Jung’s cheek twitched faintly, and Seoryak spoke in something approaching consolation.

“She’s a strong-willed girl. She won’t break easily. Anyone bold enough to use me as a delivery service can hardly be ordinary.”

“...My little pup had you running errands for her?”

“She had the nerve to make me deliver precious medicine all the way to Sichuan. I could hardly believe it.”

Seoryak gave a faint laugh, then took a small pouch from inside her clothes and handed it over.

“Two pills every twelve hours. And don’t forget to guide her circulation after you administer them.”

“I won’t.”

Tang Jung opened the pouch, then scratched his cheek.

“Seoryak, I think you gave me the wrong thing. What is this? You can’t stand anything scented, so why are you carrying around a perfume sachet...?”

Seoryak’s face flushed.

She snatched the sachet out of his hand and hastily stuffed it back inside her clothes.

“That was a mistake. Take this one.”

Tang Jung accepted the new pouch, narrowed his eyes, and asked,

“That needlework looks familiar. Isn’t that Tang Un’s embroidery?”

“...It is.”

“Why are you carrying it around? You must have gotten rather close to Tang Un.”

Seoryak pressed her lips together and pretended not to hear.

Tang Jung studied her curiously, but soon dismissed the matter.

Tang Un has always been good at charming old people. Looks like he managed to melt even this cantankerous old monster by making himself indispensable again.

Satisfied with that conclusion, he clasped his hands behind his back and looked up at Seoryak.

“That boy’s rather good with a needle. When he gets lonely, he sometimes embroiders things for his sisters. His hands are better than most young ladies’.”

He was clearly more interested in casually boasting about Tang Un’s skill than in wondering why Seoryak possessed the sachet.

Seoryak did her best to answer calmly.

“He has Tang blood. Of course he has good hands.”

“Exactly. He would have been excellent with concealed weapons if we’d put them in his hands...”

Tang Jung smacked his lips regretfully.

“In any case, you’ve taken a great weight off my mind. I’ll compensate you generously. How is Tang Un?”

“If he’s managed properly, his energy channels shouldn’t become blocked.”

“Truly?”

Hope lit Tang Jung’s eyes, and Seoryak scowled.

“What? There’s a limit to greed. He’s closer to thirty than twenty. It’s too late for him to achieve great mastery in martial arts now.”

“One doesn’t need to be a supreme martial artist to lead a clan. Broad vision and sound judgment matter more than martial prowess. Tang Un...”

“You’re planning to pile another burden onto a man who has only just begun breathing freely again? Leave him alone.”

Seoryak cut him off firmly, but Tang Jung did not yield.

“He is the Tang Clan’s legitimate eldest son. He was born to that position, so he has obligations to fulfill.”

“Come to your senses, you mad old fool. Your obsession with the clan already left your disciple in that state, and you’re still talking about the clan? Have you gone senile? Is that head of yours merely decorative?”

“...”

Tang Jung’s expression darkened under her savage rebuke.

Seoryak glared at him and continued mercilessly.

“I said proper care would keep his energy channels from becoming blocked. I never said he was cured. Stop thinking about putting a leash on a sick man and concentrate on your disciple.”

“...All right.”

“If you understand, go put the girl in the medicinal bath. I’m sick of looking at that corpse-gray face of yours.”

Still fuming, Seoryak pointed toward the room.

Tang Jung swallowed a bitter smile and opened the door.

Perhaps she was right.

Perhaps clinging to the clan even after matters had come this far was nothing more than his own lingering attachment.

But he had lived that way his entire life.

How was he supposed to discover a different way to live now?

There were already problems everywhere. Regretting the past would accomplish nothing.

For now, caring for the girl came first.

*****

After Seoryak’s arrival, Sohae’s blood and energy rapidly began to stabilize.

The ragged breathing that had sounded as though it might stop at any moment grew calm, and color gradually returned to Tang Jung’s haggard face as well.

“Seoryak. Is there anything else you need? Name it. I’ll have it prepared immediately.”

“Go away.”

“Do you need poison? I have one that’s been aging for ten years. It’s become quite magnificent...”

“I told you to stop bothering me and get lost. Why do you insist on waving your foul-smelling poisons in my face?”

“Then what about medicinal herbs? Didn’t you covet the herbs from the Thousand-Poison Forest before? Want some? I can open the forest for you.”

“Do you think I’d miss a few weeds like those? Go do whatever you need to do. It’s about time the girl woke up.”

Seoryak glared irritably at the old man trailing after her like some neighborhood mutt.

Normally, Tang Jung would have raised his voice right back at her, unwilling to lose even a petty argument.

Today, he showed no irritation at all.

“Has it gotten that late already? I’ll be back.”

Instead, he even said goodbye with a pleased expression.

Seoryak grimaced.

She had hated seeing that damned old monster suffer, but now that his face was smooth and lively again, as though he had never looked ready to die, she found that equally irritating.

...Still, this is better than trying to calm a madman who’s completely lost his reason.

Rubbing her furrowed brow, Seoryak decided to look on the bright side.

If something happened again that drove the Poison King out of his mind, no one would be capable of stopping him next time.

Just then, someone knocked on the safe house’s front gate.

Seoryak glanced toward it with bored eyes.

There was no need to answer. The uninvited guest would open the gate on his own.

One.

Two.

“This humble junior of the martial world, Namgung Hwi, pays his respects to the Divine Physician.”

Three.

The man opened the gate on exactly the third count and offered a clasped-hands salute.

Seoryak muttered,

“The nuisance is here.”