Chapter 19 – Fruitful After the Rain(2)
The sight of a person floating down the river like a log was far more bizarre than I had imagined. Setting aside whether I frequently imagine such strange sights.
Fortunately, their face was facing the sky. If it had been the other way around, they would have undoubtedly looked like a corpse. Sua and I quickly pulled the girl to shore.
She appeared to be around the same age as Sua. Her skin was pale like a corpse, and her hair was as white as her skin, but rather than being pure white, it was closer to a worn-out and faded color.
I could easily tell that something was seriously wrong with the girl. Her fingertips were full of wounds, as if she had been scratching at something hard for a long time.
“As if she had been scratching at something like a rock or wall for a long time…”
“Do you have an idea about something, Master?”
“No, I cannot be certain. However, her wounds are concerning, so let’s first move her to our house.”
“Understood.”
Fortunately, apart from some bruises and fractures from falling from a height, there were no particularly notable external injuries. I could provide emergency treatment like splinting, but…
In any case, proper treatment would require showing her wounds to the village doctor. But that would only be possible when the girl regained consciousness and could move on her own.
Forcibly carrying her while she was unconscious could make her injuries worse. So the only option left was to bring the doctor here.
“Shall I go and bring him?”
“No, moving alone right now is very dangerous.”
“What? What do you mean…?”
“I don’t know what her story is, but it appears she was being chased by someone and jumped from a high place. Fortunately, she survived, but… the villains who were following her might still be nearby.”
Although Sua is a martial artist and faster than ordinary people, those chasing this girl were likely martial artists as well. She might run into those villains by accident.
So the only option was for me, who had reached the pinnacle of martial arts, to run to the village. In my current state, I could make the round trip to the village in just half a quarter of an hour. Sua finally understood what I meant.
“Then I will move this girl to the house.”
“Yes, I’ll bring the doctor from the village as quickly as possible. If villains show up at the house, don’t push yourself too hard and try to stall for time somehow.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
At the foot of Geumhyeon Mountain in a place called Seochae, there was a doctor named Lee Cheong-woo . He was a bit, no, very money-oriented, but his skills were definitely the most reliable in the area.
“Are you asking me to climb the mountain on the back of an old man at my age?”
“I’ve prepared a roll of silk as payment.”
“If you wish, I’ll crawl up the mountain, great master.”
So the silk I had brought just in case ended up being very helpful. Even Lee Cheong-woo , who initially showed reluctance, suddenly developed manners he didn’t have before after seeing the silk.
I thought his behavior was quite amusing to watch, but treatment was the priority now, so I had no choice but to carry the doctor on my back and return to the thatched house as quickly as possible.
Fortunately, it seemed that no one had come looking for her in the short time of less than half a quarter of an hour that I had been gone to the village. Sua was alone in the thatched house, taking care of the girl without any problems.
“You’ve returned.”
“Yes. How is the child’s condition?”
“I’ve done all the necessary treatment, but… she has a very high fever.”
“Good job, leave the rest to me from here.”
It seems the doctor’s reputation for excellent skills was not just empty talk. As soon as Lee Cheong-woo began to care for the patient, the girl’s expression noticeably changed to one of comfort.
“I’ve done everything I can. Fortunately, her wounds are not deep, so there should be no problems as long as she takes her medicine properly.”
“Thank you.”
“I should be the one thanking you. If you ever need anything, please call me anytime. For a great master like you, I would gladly come running at once.”
The only problem was that the person was too consistent. Once Lee Cheong-woo finished the treatment and returned to the village, leaving the two of us alone, Sua finally looked at me with a serious expression and spoke.
“Do you have any idea what might be going on?”
“Why do you think that?”
“Master, you know things that we don’t, don’t you?”
That’s too much of an overestimation.
I’m just a reader who frequently reads martial arts novels. In fact, anyone who reads martial arts novels frequently would inevitably know about the existence of the demonic cult and the dangers of demonic arts.
“I do have some ideas, but it’s not good to arbitrarily speculate about others’ circumstances. For now, it would be best to wait quietly until this child wakes up.”
“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude…”
“It’s alright. Now that you know, just don’t do it again next time.”
Actually, it’s a lie. At best, it might be the demonic cult or an evil sect… but even that’s not certain. And depending on the novel, sometimes the Orthodox Sect are depicted as evil as the demonic cult.
Thinking that I had scolded her, Sua hung her head with a dejected expression. In the end, I had no choice but to reach out and pat her head gently. Good girl, good girl.
The one thing I could predict correctly in the current situation was that the girl had been imprisoned somewhere. Did she luckily escape in the middle? Or did someone free her?
“…”
“…”
It was right at that moment when I was patting Sua’s head. Suddenly, I felt a presence and unconsciously turned my head, soon making eye contact with a pair of red eyes from the person lying on the floor.
Good grief.
When did she wake up?
The girl with worn-out white hair and red eyes still kept her gaze fixed on me as she raised her upper body, and suddenly thrust her head towards me.
“Pat me too.”
“…”
Is this child perhaps mentally unwell…?
◇
The differences between the orthodox and evil sects were too numerous to explain fully even with ten mouths. But if one were to pick the most fundamental difference, it would be the difference in history and legitimacy.
The origins of the Orthodox Sect were rooted in martial arts from Buddhist and Taoist traditions, naturally imbued with the enlightenment and scholarship left by sages—in a word, the martial arts of learned people.
However, the evil sects were closer to fundamental violence rather than martial arts. Violence, then as now, is a necessary evil that can never be eradicated in places where people live together.
All kinds of thieves, swindlers, murderers, and criminals, along with self-proclaimed orthodox monks and Taoist priests, joined forces, leading them to band together as well.
This could be said to be the origin of the evil sects that fiercely opposed the Orthodox Sect. But it doesn’t mean that everyone in the evil sects is a criminal who doesn’t care about means and methods.
While it might have been different in the past when war was constant, now that the country has been unified and stabilized, even the orthodox and evil sects, who are traditionally enemies, no longer opposed each other as fiercely as in the past.
Rather, depending on the need, they often cooperated covertly, which some people viewed favorably, while others considered it a thorn in their side.
Those dressed in black robes with deeply pressed bamboo hats were no exception. They searched the mountains with burning eyes but had not achieved any notable results by the time the day was ending.
“Find it without fail. It’s a poison that is essential for our cause.”
“Understood, Lord Commander.”
“What should we do with those who lost the poison?”
At those words, the one called Lord Commander turned his head. Two martial artists could be seen tied to a tree with all their clothes removed. As soon as they saw the Lord commander, they wailed as if pleading.
“We, we made a mistake! Lord Commander!”
“Please show mercy just this once!!!”
“…That child was the ultimate poison that our Black Plague Sect had finally perfected after ten years of support from the Vice Sect Leader. You all know that, right?”
The Black Plague Sect was once a faction that had influence beyond the evil sects, extending even to the Central Plains martial arts world. If only they hadn’t been defeated by the Sichuan Tang family and fallen into ruin, things might not be so different even now.
The current Alliance had become so pathetic that it was unbearable to watch. Seeking cooperation with the orthodox sects? Is that something that someone from the evil sects should be saying?
Just a little more and it would have been done. All they needed to do was to cooperate with ‘them’ to oust the miserable Alliance Leader and send the poison, which had been perfected over ten years, to the Martial Arts Alliance.
There should be a limit to throwing ashes on a meal that’s already cooked, shouldn’t there? Unfortunately, the mistake was too great for the Lord Commander to show mercy. The Lord Commander made a gesture of slitting his throat.
“Kill them all without exception and throw their bodies to the wild beasts.”
“Just once! Please forgive us just this once!!”
“Aaargh!!”
The death cries of the failures briefly echoed. But the Lord Commander didn’t even twitch an eyebrow and continued to receive reports from his other subordinates. It flowed down to Geumhyeon Mountain, you say…?
“Then we should search the place called Seochae first.”
“I’ll send warriors right away.”
“No, I’ll go with them this time.”
Red light eerily burned through the cracks of the worn bamboo hat. For the revival of the Evil Path Alliance, which had essentially become a dog of the Orthodox Sect, they must recover the poison at all costs.
Even if it meant burning down an entire village.
