Chapter 27 – Fruitful After the Rain(10)
A girl with white hair neatly tied back, dressed in a black martial arts uniform. Seolhwa sat cross-legged, concentrating her mind. Soon, a blue energy began to flow from her body.
It was a sight like blue flames burning Seolhwa, yet her expression was extremely peaceful. Mu-myung, who was watching from not far away, felt relieved inside.
Fortunately, it seems she can fully concentrate on her dantian circulation exercise without issues. According to Doctor Lee Cheong-woo, Seolhwa was a miracle to be alive with the toxic energy in her body.
If the toxic energy wasn’t removed, she would live at most a year. However, the real problem was that the toxic energy firmly settled in her dantian couldn’t be touched even by a skilled doctor.
‘In all my years treating numerous patients… I’ve never seen so much toxic energy settled in someone’s dantian. That’s why I couldn’t detect it during the initial examination.’
Normally, with that much toxic energy, one would complain of pain or show symptoms. Seolhwa appeared so normal that the doctor couldn’t even imagine it until Mu-myung told him.
“The saying ‘blessing in disguise’ fits perfectly.”
“Indeed. Without Master’s mind technique, Seolhwa couldn’t have survived.”
“It was just good fortune.”
But even such deadly toxic energy was now merely excellent nourishment for Seolhwa. By using the toxic energy settled in her dantian as fuel to build her inner strength through dantian circulation exercises.
The speed was comparable to what even Shaolin Temple or Wudang Sect would boast about their internal training. However, Seolhwa’s toxic energy wasn’t infinite. It was just accumulating very quickly.
The human body inevitably accumulates toxic energy. But Seolhwa had been accumulating toxic energy dozens of times faster than normal people due to what she had been consuming.
But even that will eventually be completely burned away. When that happens, Seolhwa will be able to live like a normal human. Though whether her hair and eyes will return to normal is uncertain.
“Is it all over now?”
Sua, who had taken a seat right next to Mu-myung, looked up at him. Her brown bob haircut shifted to one side. Mu-myung nodded and answered.
“For now, we’ve overcome a crisis.”
“Is it because of that Evil sect?”
“Yes, since we’ve been entangled with them. They probably won’t just let this go.”
“…Then we’ll have to become stronger than we are now.”
Remembering the bloody battle from last night, Sua unconsciously shuddered. Although they were utterly annihilated by the Master’s single strike, that was just because the opponent was outmatched.
The formations and martial arts they displayed were no less impressive than those of the Murong family’s warriors. As evidence, Sua couldn’t even draw her sword, let alone use any techniques during yesterday’s fight.
She had spent nearly a month diligently training under the Master and had become infinitely close to first-class status. But she still hadn’t reached that level yet.
However, Sua—evaluated as a talent the Murong family would never see again and a monstrous prodigy—immediately understood the power of the battle formation the Black Death Squad had deployed last night.
‘I have to admit it. Yesterday, I couldn’t be of any help to Master.’
If Sua had forcibly joined that bloody battle, she wouldn’t have escaped with just losing an arm. Because they were murderous fiends who had no hesitation in killing people.
‘If I continue with Master, I’ll end up fighting those evil people from the Evil sect.’
Moreover, those they fought yesterday couldn’t even be considered the full force of the Evil sect. If she continued with Master, it was obvious they would clash with much stronger enemies.
‘I must become stronger than I am now.’
“Master…!!”
“It seems your dantian circulation exercise is finished.”
But her admirable determination that she had just steeled melted away instantly, like frost in midsummer, the moment Seolhwa finished her exercise and, with a tearful face, threw herself into Master’s arms.
“This is much harder than before! And there’s a strange smell too!”
“It’s the residue being expelled from your body during the burning process.”
“I want to wash! I want to wash!”
“…Hey, Junior Sister Seolhwa. Aren’t you being too childish?”
It was good that she had come to trust Master after last night’s incident. But as a side effect, her junior sister’s childishness had become too excessive. Although Sua found this extremely irritating.
Since she wasn’t completely unaware of Seolhwa’s circumstances, and also understood her desire to act childish. Sua forcibly suppressed her anger and ended with just scolding Seolhwa.
No, she had intended to end it that way. Until Seolhwa ignored Sua’s words and pressed her lips against Master’s cheek. At that moment, something finally snapped inside her head.
“Junior Sister, come to think of it… haven’t we been neglecting our sparring sessions lately?”
“Sparring? Senior Sister, will you spar with me?”
“Of course.”
Perhaps because her mind was still childlike. Seolhwa, thinking of sparring as just playing together, jumped out of Mu-myung’s arms with sparkling eyes. Mu-myung hesitated very briefly.
Even a complete fool would immediately notice how murderous Sua’s eyes looked, as if she might kill someone. Yet Seolhwa was oblivious to it all.
But the same incident as last time wouldn’t happen. He couldn’t be sure about other things, but he could be certain about that one thing. So Mu-myung chose to trust her.
No matter what anyone said.
After all, Sua was Mu-myung’s very first disciple.
◇
“We’re not done yet, pick up your weapon!”
“S-Senior Sister. Your expression is too scary…”
“I’ll teach you what respect means!”
“Master!!!”
And Mu-myung’s trust was completely shattered in less than half a quarter-hour. Of course, it wasn’t as serious as last time, but it was still too strict.
Even Seolhwa, who would normally laugh off fairly intense sparring sessions, was looking at Mu-myung with a tearful face. Unable to ignore this, Mu-myung had no choice but to stop the sparring.
Fortunately, there was a reasonable excuse. Helping to rebuild the damage the village had suffered, and incidentally showing Seolhwa’s condition to Doctor Lee Cheong-woo again.
“Understood, Master.”
Surprisingly, Sua chose to back down obediently. Before Sua could change her mind again, Mu-myung took his disciples down to the village. In truth, there wasn’t much to do in the village.
Cleaning up the mess wasn’t as difficult as one might think. Almost no houses had completely burned down, and miraculously, there were no casualties.
This was because the Black Death Squad had tried to extract information through torture. In the end, the most important thing in torture is to keep the victim alive as long as possible in proportion to the pain.
Therefore, the fire damage was concentrated on stables or haystacks in the yard, not on houses where people lived. Thanks to this, miraculously, there were no deaths.
Only Doctor Lee Cheong-woo was not unscathed, as he was the first person they sought out and tortured. As a result, both his hands were torn to shreds.
He even lost two fingers on his left hand. Of course, considering the opponent, it could be said that just surviving was a stroke of divine luck, but that wouldn’t be much consolation.
“Still, Doctor Lee Cheong-woo kept his loyalty to the end. He’s an excellent person with belief and determination.”
“So that’s why you visit him personally every day, Master.”
“Shouldn’t I repay the loyalty he protected even at the cost of losing two fingers?”
“I want to eat something in the village, Master!”
“Alright, alright. Let’s have our meal in the village as well.”
There was nothing special. Visit Doctor Lee Cheong-woo for some casual conversation, then walk around the village and have a meal. It was a plan that seemed more like an outing.
Until they saw the considerable number of horses tied at the village entrance. Even now, but especially in the old days, good horses were very expensive assets, costing as much as their name suggested.
And seeing what were clearly military horses, more than ten of them, positioned at the entrance naturally drew their attention. To this, Sua spoke up.
“Could it be the Evil sect?”
“I don’t think so.”
Although he couldn’t be sure without meeting them, eight or nine times out of ten, the Evil sect doesn’t care about appearances. To begin with, if they cared about appearances, they wouldn’t dabble in demonic arts.
Compared to that, not only were there more than ten horses, they were also carrying flags with the character “Lian” (聯) written on them. He judged that they were likely not from the demonic cult, and indeed they weren’t. [TL/N ‘聯’ simply means to unite.]
However, just as Mu-myung had spotted the group, the group had also spotted Mu-myung, and soon a woman with seductive black hair stepped forward from among them and approached Mu-myung.
“…Pleased to meet you, great warrior. May I ask your name?”
“I am called Mu-myung.”
“How coincidental… it’s the same as my father’s name.”
At those words that fell from the woman’s lips like a thunderbolt, Sua and Seolhwa’s gazes fixed on Mu-myung. Mu-myung smiled at their gazes, which were like the eyes of corpses without any emotion.
To think that a bolt from the blue really existed. He had no idea until he was struck by it himself.
