CHAPTER: Chapter 31
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Chapter 31
The Life-and-Death Exalted One, who had broken the wooden oath plaque, launched himself forward without hesitation.
Papapapak—!
In an instant, he used ghostly methods to place Life-and-Death Needles in dozens of spots, and Elder Muk Wigyu, whose complexion had been turning black as he died, vomited black blood.
“Uweeeeeek!”
Then Sado Myeong also began breathing again, and color returned to his face.
“W-Why am I?!”
Muk Wigyu, who had been forcibly dragged back from the threshold of death, screamed with a devastated expression.
“How can one of your stature, Life-and-Death Exalted One, break an oath you made yourself so easily?!”
“Shut your mouth! My oath was for my granddaughter’s sake, not for some worthless bastard like you. This Exalted One will decide whether you live or die!”
The Life-and-Death Exalted One flicked one of the needles lodged in his body with his finger, twisting it by a hair’s breadth.
All at once, a beastlike scream burst from Muk Wigyu’s mouth.
“Ggaaaaaaagh!”
It was pain as if every nerve in his body were being pulled out backward!
“Suicide? Did you dare think that was something you could decide? Until this Exalted One wills it, you will live in the utmost agony, unable even to die.”
“U-uaaaaaaagh…!”
The pain Elder Muk Wigyu felt was tremendous.
Even Muk Wigyu, who had remained calm while chewing poison and dying by his own hand, could not endure it and reached the point of groaning and convulsing.
“Just kill me instead! No, spare me! Uheooooogh!”
As unbearable pain tore through his entire body, Elder Muk Wigyu even forgot that he had tried to kill himself and began to go mad.
“Senior Life-and-Death Exalted One, I need to interrogate that man. Please make sure he does not lose his mind.”
“…Hmm. Very well. I shall do so.”
When Uncheon made his request, the Life-and-Death Exalted One did not argue and inserted several needles.
Only then did Muk Wigyu slowly regain stability.
“Haaah… Haaah…”
Beyond his blurring vision, Uncheon’s eyes shone coldly as he looked down at Muk Wigyu.
Muk Wigyu lost consciousness amid belated regret.
‘Damn it, to think a brat like this could move the Life-and-Death Exalted One… I should never have touched him…’
Sado Myeong regained consciousness one step later than Muk Wigyu.
After grasping the situation by reading the atmosphere, he immediately prostrated himself before the Life-and-Death Exalted One and expressed his gratitude.
“Haaah… T-Thank you. Senior Life-and-Death Exalted One. I don’t know how I can repay this grace.”
“Hmph. If you mean to repay a grace, repay it not to me, but to that child named Uncheon. Everything I did with my medical arts was because of that boy.”
“……! T-Thank you! I will state everything in detail!”
After that, Sado Myeong revealed everything.
It had begun with the bribe Elder Muk Wigyu had handed him.
His first request had been simple.
‘No matter how, find a pretext against Uncheon and just have him transferred to the Inspectorate.’
For Sado Myeong, it had merely been a simple task with no difficulty to it.
Once he somehow framed him with a charge and dragged him into the Inspectorate, the rest would be easy.
If he had talent, they could seize his weakness and raise him as useful manpower, and if he was nothing special, they could quietly deal with him.
He already had plenty of experience handling things that way.
“I am sorry. I thought it would be a simple matter of seizing one student and manipulating him….”
However, he had never dreamed that the matter would grow so large that even an Exalted One of the cult would be moved.
After hearing Sado Myeong’s confession, everyone present boiled with rage toward the Sagal Muk Family and the Inspectorate.
“Ha… Then was Chief Instructor Gal Muheun’s first guess correct after all?”
“To deceive this many observers! The Sagal Muk Family has crossed the line this time!”
“This must be formally raised as an issue with the Inspectorate Chief!”
At the furious cries of the observers, Gal Muheun drove in the final nail.
“Elder Muk Wigyu, and Sado Myeong, observer of the Inspectorate. I will protest this matter directly to the Inspectorate Chief, and I will also formally submit it as an agenda item to the main mountain.”
“I-I have committed a crime worthy of death!”
Sado Myeong’s face turned ashen, but it was still better than actually dying.
He would receive some degree of punishment for accepting a bribe, but could anything be more important than his life?
“With this, all charges that Uncheon was a spy of the Orthodox Faction have been washed clean. Therefore, this gathering will be dismissed here, and this Hall Master will take responsibility for concluding the punishment of Muk Wigyu and Sado Myeong.”
Once Gal Muheun concluded the matter, the observers flowed out like the ebbing tide.
Only then did Gal Muheun pat Uncheon’s shoulder with a satisfied smile and speak in a low voice.
“Heh heh, I will tie up those bastards cleanly, so there is no need for you to worry about it. Therefore, for the time being, devote all your strength to healing your body.”
“Thank you, Hall Master. Thank you for bringing Senior Life-and-Death Exalted One in time.”
“That was something I had promised Yuha anyway. The fact that the timing of your meeting with the senior was set for now was entirely your own achievement.”
Gal Muheun smiled as he looked at Uncheon with satisfaction.
“Rather, since you even helped preserve my dignity and gave me a pretext to pressure the Inspectorate and those arrogant bastards of the Sagal Muk Family, I should be the one thanking you.”
“It was thanks to your consideration, Hall Master.”
“Heh heh, don’t miss this opportunity. The Life-and-Death Exalted One is far more difficult to deal with than you think.”
When Gal Muheun tactfully left the room, Uncheon and the Life-and-Death Exalted One were finally left alone together.
“I kept those two bastards alive as you wished. This time, it is your turn to listen to me, is it not? Come, first I must examine your body in detail.”
***
The Life-and-Death Exalted One’s residence, the Demon Physician Hall.
In this place, which was thoroughly isolated from the outside world, there was no scent of medicinal herbs, only a chilly coldness and taut tension hanging in the air.
“……Huh.”
After taking Uncheon’s wrist and completing a precise diagnosis, a hollow sigh slipped from the Life-and-Death Exalted One’s mouth.
As if he could not believe it, he swept his gaze over all of Uncheon’s acupoints.
He had roughly guessed it at the training grounds, but the boy’s body, now that he had examined it with intent, was both an utter mess and a miracle.
“Your qi center is shattered, and your qi meridians are not merely tangled but hideously distorted. And yet….”
The Life-and-Death Exalted One’s eyes flashed sharply.
“How can you still be alive with a body like this?”
It was a situation where yin qi and yang qi were trying to devour each other.
On that perilous tightrope, the boy was tenaciously preserving his life.
‘This boy’s body… somehow resembles Yeong-ah’s condition. No, it is even more vicious. If Yeong-ah is collapsing because she is tilted toward yin, this boy is in a state where yin and yang are twisted around each other.’
At that moment, one possibility flashed through the Life-and-Death Exalted One’s mind.
“Could it be… that Yin-Yang Great Spirit Severed Meridian Affliction truly exists?”
He had an intuition that the clue to treating his granddaughter might perhaps lie in this bizarre boy’s method of survival.
“Yin-Yang Great Spirit Severed Meridian Affliction?”
“…If I saw correctly, your body possesses a constitution difficult to find even once in a thousand years. Ordinarily, you would have died young before reaching your current age.”
Uncheon nodded.
When he first opened his eyes in this body, its condition truly had been such that it would not have been strange for it to die at any moment.
“But… what exactly is this energy inside your body? It feels as though it is encouraging your True Origin Qi….”
He seemed to be referring to the Life-Prolonging Breathing Method Uncheon had created in order to survive.
“That is a breathing method I created. It was a desperate struggle to survive.”
“…You created a breathing method yourself?”
It was not even martial arts, but a breathing method that encouraged True Origin Qi.
If he had created that himself, then it was truly the talent of a grandmaster.
For a moment, greed appeared in the Life-and-Death Exalted One’s eyes.
‘If Yeong-ah learned the breathing method this fellow created?’
A breathing method powerful enough to keep someone breathing even with a Severed Meridian Affliction more severe than his granddaughter’s.
That might be a treasure comparable to the peerless spiritual medicine called Kongqing Stone Marrow.
“…Can you teach me that breathing method?”
The Life-and-Death Exalted One asked quietly, but desperation was buried in his voice.
Uncheon inwardly shouted in triumph, but did not reveal it outwardly.
Instead, he more boldly stabbed at the Life-and-Death Exalted One’s sore spot.
“Before that, there is something I want to confirm first. Can you ‘fully cure’ me, Life-and-Death Exalted One?”
It was a provocative question thrown at the greatest physician of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
Deep wrinkles immediately formed between the Life-and-Death Exalted One’s brows.
“You insolent brat… Are you doubting my medical arts?”
“It is not doubt, but confirmation. I heard that you could not cure your granddaughter’s Severed Meridian Affliction even with the Demonic Bone Rebirth Art, and that you even swore an oath yourself.”
Uncheon’s words hit the mark.
The Life-and-Death Exalted One bit his lip.
He wanted to refute him, but there was nothing wrong in the boy’s words.
If his medical arts had been perfect, his granddaughter would have already recovered, and he would never have sworn an oath of ‘No Healing.’
“…Hmph. What an impudent brat.”
The Life-and-Death Exalted One bitterly admitted it while suppressing his boiling anger.
“Fine, you are right. To be honest, as I am now, I am not confident that I can fully cure your body.”
“That is what I expected.”
“So what will you do? Are you going to back out of the deal? That will not be possible. This Exalted One has already withdrawn his oath and kept that Muk Family bastard alive!”
A faint killing intent colored the Life-and-Death Exalted One’s voice, but Uncheon shook his head.
“No. I mean that if you cannot guarantee a full cure, then you must pay the price in another way.”
“Another way?”
“I propose joint research.”
The Life-and-Death Exalted One’s eyes widened.
Research, not treatment.
“I will teach you the breathing method I created. In exchange, you must share with me your insight into the Demonic Bone Rebirth Art and medical arts.”
The Life-and-Death Exalted One stared blankly at Uncheon.
He thought the boy was insolent.
But at the same time, something hot stirred in one corner of his chest.
The burden he had carried alone for decades—this young boy was saying he would share it with him.
‘…This fellow is no ordinary person. While searching for his own path to survival, he is also scratching exactly where I itch.’
A faint laugh escaped the Life-and-Death Exalted One’s lips.
“Ha! Insolent indeed… Good.”
“However!”
Just as the Life-and-Death Exalted One was about to grant permission, Uncheon added a new condition.
“Lady Seolyeong must also participate in the joint research.”
“…Yeong-ah herself? What is the reason?”
“Lady Seolyeong has been researching a Western secret art close to the demonic art known as Union of Two Extremes in the Inner Archive.”
“What! How could she do something so reckless!”
The Life-and-Death Exalted One rose as if he would run off at once.
However, Uncheon calmed him.
“This is not something to be angry about. More than anyone, she is the one who wants to live.”
“……!”
For a moment, the Demon Physician felt as though he had been struck in the head.
“While you, senior, even let go of your medical arts and wandered in search of spiritual medicine, she did not give up. She continued researching in the Inner Archive to find a way to survive.”
The Life-and-Death Exalted One’s shoulders visibly sagged.
He was called the Demon Physician under heaven, yet a sense of shame surged over him because he had failed to diagnose his own granddaughter’s heart.
“…I was arrogant. As a physician, I lost sight of my original resolve. The one who wishes to recover more than anyone should be the patient. And yet I turned away even from Yeong-ah’s desperation….”
The wavering in the Life-and-Death Exalted One’s eyes stopped, and he looked at Uncheon.
In those eyes, there was no longer any contempt toward a brat or suspicion toward a bargaining partner.
Instead, a strange expectation had settled there.
“Good. You are right. Yeong-ah ought to be here as well.”
The Life-and-Death Exalted One immediately shouted loudly enough to make the Demon Physician Hall ring.
“Bring Yeong-ah here!”
A moment later, the heavy door inside the Demon Physician Hall opened, and a woman supported by attendants walked out with difficulty.
“Grandfather… did you call for me?”
Though it was not the dead of winter, she was wrapped in layer after layer of thick fur clothing.
She was a woman with skin that looked beyond pale, almost transparent, and blue eyes that carried a chilly coldness.
“This is my granddaughter… Seolyeong. The two of you have already met, have you not?”
At those words, she lifted her head with effort and looked ahead.
And the moment she found Uncheon standing at the end of her gaze, her eyes widened.
“…Ah?”
She remembered him.
The boy who had picked up the scroll of Union of Two Extremes she had dropped in a corner of the Inner Archive and spoken meaningful words to her.
[Because I don’t want to die, I am struggling desperately. Just like you.]
Those words from that time flashed through her mind.
“You are… the person I met in the Inner Archive then.”
“At that time, they said this fellow stopped the rampage of your Yin Severed Meridian Affliction with a strange energy that was not inner arts, correct?”
“Yes, that is right….”
“That is likely a method of utilizing True Origin Qi. It is a breathing method even this old man has never seen before. I called you because that breathing method seems as if it will help me as well.”
Uncheon nodded and said,
“Lady Seolyeong, I will pass on to you the breathing method I created. This is not a tyrannical method that pierces through blocked qi and blood. Rather, it is a method of connecting dying breaths and forcing open blocked gaps to sprout life.”
Uncheon turned back to the Life-and-Death Exalted One and said,
“I call it the Life-Prolonging Breathing Method.”
“…A breathing method you created yourself?! You would give that to me….”
Seolyeong’s eyes widened roundly in shock.
‘To a martial artist, a breathing method is something that can almost be compared to life itself….’
The fact that he had created a breathing method was astonishing, but she could not help being even more surprised that he would pass it on without hesitation.
“This fellow is a man who survived by staking his own body as collateral. He might be better than an old man like me, who lost sight of his original resolve as a physician.”
“Grandfather! What are you saying?!”
“…I mean that, thanks to that fellow, I have regained my original resolve as a physician. I am sorry, Yeong-ah. All this time, I failed to understand your heart.”
“…Ah.”
It was the Life-and-Death Exalted One’s sincere apology.
“How hard must it have been for you all this time? From now on, will you not search for a way together with this old man and this fellow?”
As Seolyeong watched him, moisture gathered around her eyes and fell in drops.
Drip—.
“…Yes. Grandfather….”
After wiping away her tears, Seolyeong soon turned her head and looked straight into Uncheon’s eyes.
What those eyes contained was neither pity nor curiosity.
It was the deep understanding and solidarity only those who shared the same pain could possess.
Seolyeong spoke tearfully.
“…Thank you, Young Master Uncheon.”
“I will hear your thanks later. Both you and I possess terminal bodies where every moment counts. We must learn the breathing method as quickly as possible and stabilize our qi and blood.”
Seolyeong hurriedly wiped away her tears and straightened her appearance.
Uncheon sat cross-legged on the floor without hesitation.
“Sit cross-legged in front of me.”
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