Chapter 18 - A Third-Rate Warrior Saving a Girl (5)

Having finished his daily work, Wang Geumsan walked past a long corridor, heading toward the massive mansion at the center of the Wang Estate (the Wang family's village).

Tall watchtowers were erected in all eight directions around the mansion, and inside them, in all four directions, were the quarters where the escort guards resided, ready to mobilize at any moment.

Though invisible to the eye, the vigilant gazes between the gardens and buildings spread around the pavilions were strict and heavy.

Passing all of that, Wang Geumsan entered Wang Soso's room.

"Father! You're here!"

The room was as chilly as if the North Sea had been brought inside.

Even so, the heat radiating from the child's body was unusual.

Just as heat pours out of a blazing fire fueled by a massive amount of firewood, an enormous amount of heat poured out from Wang Soso's body.

'Poor thing.'

If one were in direct contact with Wang Soso, the heat rising through their entire body would be unbearable.

Wang Soso seemed to know her own condition, for as she stepped away from Wang Geumsan, the cold air quickly cooled his body down.

"Did you have fun today?"

"Yes. I started a new embroidery pattern today."

Wang Soso smiled, showing him the embroidery she had been working on.

Seeing her, Wang Geumsan felt as if all the fatigue from the day vanished in an instant.

She was a child who gave him so much strength. Yet, Wang Geumsan's eyes were full of sorrow as he looked at her.

The child's fever, which began around the age of ten, would constantly linger once it rose, leaving her bedridden for days on end.

No matter how many renowned physicians or precious herbs they used, the heat did not subside; instead, it grew stronger, and the child began to wither away day by day.

The money he scattered across the world just to find out the name of the illness amounted to tens of thousands of taels.

Only after paying that astronomical sum did he finally learn the true nature of the illness.

"How fascinating. To think that solar qi would appear in a girl's body."

"Can you cure it?"

"Since there's nothing wrong, how could I cure it?"

"What did you say?"

"... The heat emanating from the young lady's body is innate. Had she been born in a boy's body, she would have made a name for herself throughout all of Murim."

"Explain in detail."

"Have you heard of the Solar Constitution?"

Wang Geumsan also knew about bodily constitutions naturally endowed with talent.

"Those with a Solar Constitution radiate boiling fire qi from their entire bodies since birth. This is a natural and expected phenomenon."

"Then why does she suffer so much in her everyday life?"

"That is because a girl's body cannot accept solar qi."

"... Are you saying the energy is attacking her body instead?"

"Generally, the Lunar Constitution manifests in a female's body, and the Solar Constitution in a male's body; that is the natural order. Because that natural order is reversed, she suffers so greatly in her daily life."

"What is the treatment? How can she get better?"

The physician spoke even more cautiously.

"That is..."

"How frustrating! Tell me quickly!"

"It is not a defect, so there is no treatment."

"What!"

"If someone is born with a body capable of living a long life, would you consider that an illness?"

"..."

"You cannot call someone a sick person just because they live a life brimming with vitality and energy every single day. That is a blessing from the heavens. If one were to learn martial arts capable of harnessing the energy suited for her body, she could easily reach the Peak Realm; no one would ever think a body like that needs to be cured."

"..."

Wang Geumsan's face contorted beyond description.

The physician quickly gauged his reaction and spoke.

"Gather plenty of cold-emitting artifacts to make her room as chilly as the dead of winter, and have her live exclusively inside it. If you do that, it will greatly reduce the pain and suffering she experiences from the rising heat."

"... If I just do that, will she have no trouble living?"

"..."

"..."

When the physician hesitated, Wang Geumsan ground his teeth with a *GRIND! * sound.

"I hope there won't be a day in the future when I have to bring up your name because of something I wasn't made aware of."

"... The power of the Solar Constitution grows even stronger once one passes the age of twenty. And as the vitality of life begins to fade, the body will find it harder to endure the power of the Solar Constitution..."

"..."

"If you take the utmost care of her, I believe she can live until the age of... twenty-five."

Even after that, he sought out every renowned physician and herbalist he could find, but they all said the exact same thing.

Among them were those who guaranteed they could cure her, but their botched procedures ended up pushing Wang Soso into critical condition at times.

After such incidents repeated, Wang Geumsan gave up on any further treatment.

He decided to simply be satisfied with spending every precious day he could with his daughter.

"What a magnificent bamboo. Growing so straight, its spirit feels truly grand."

"I want to make clothes for you with this, Father."

"It will be a wonderful piece of clothing."

"Yes. Please look forward to it."

Wang Geumsan's heart broke once again at Wang Soso's flawlessly pure smile.

To relieve these feelings, he always asked his daughter.

"Is there anything you want?"

"I already have beautiful hairpins, norigae pendants, ornaments, mirrors, clothes, and silk."

"Still. If you are bored, shall I call for a troupe of entertainers? How about a Peking opera?"

"Hmm..."

"Tell me whatever it is. Isn't your birthday approaching soon?"

"I want to see the marketplace."

"What?"

"I want to paint it, but since I've never been to a crowded marketplace, I don't really know what it looks like."

"Ah..."

"If it worries you, you don't have to force it."

They say a good child reads their parents' expressions.

Having quickly read Wang Geumsan's expression, Wang Soso glossed over her words with a smile.

Only then did Wang Geumsan change his expression and speak.

"I wasn't going to tell you until it was fully prepared, but..."

"What is it?"

"The truth is, I am preparing a carriage for you."

"Pardon?"

"Yes... I'm having a carriage built that won't be difficult for you to ride and where you can stay for long periods. Once that is completed, you'll be able to go outside as much as you'd like."

"Really! Thank you so much, Father!"

Wang Soso threw her arms around him in a tight hug.

The scorching heat could be felt once again.

Leaving Wang Soso's quarters, Wang Geumsan was walking down the corridor once again.

Just then, a man wearing black stealth clothes dropped down from the ceiling with a *TAP* and walked alongside Wang Geumsan.

"Lord, how about refraining from going out for a while?"

"Why do you say that?"

"I'm bothered by that threatening letter that arrived recently."

"You worry about the most useless things."

A threatening letter left by someone.

It contained arrogant and absurd claims that they would dare target Wang Soso right here in the Wang Estate.

By now, the Wang Estate didn't quite match the Nine Sects and One Gang or the Five Great Noble Clans, but it possessed strength comparable to the leading sects among the 108 Peaks.

On top of that, their connections with the government, built through financial power, granted the Wang Estate an even more absolute power.

Who could possibly break into such a Wang Estate? Aside from the Nine Sects and One Gang or the Five Great Noble Clans, there was definitely no one.

"Then may I increase the escorts?"

"... Do as you see fit."

He had forced himself to erase his anxiety, calling it a useless worry, and went to sleep, but the first report he received in the morning was devastating.

"It seems the Young Lady... has been kidnapped!"

"The-the Murim Alliance! Contact the Murim Alliance!"

"The Branch Head is rushing over immediately."

The warriors who came running with the Branch Head scoured Soso's room, but they could not find a single trace.

"By any chance, was there a message from the culprit?"

At that moment, the threatening letter suddenly came to mind.

"... How bold. To blatantly send a letter saying they would kidnap her. We will begin by searching the vicinity first."

"You must save her quickly."

"I know it's not the best time to say this given the situation, but please do not worry about the Young Lady's life. In most kidnappings like this, their goal is wealth, so they usually reach out soon."

"No! No! That's not the issue! Soso has an illness!"

A bolt from the blue struck the Murim Alliance's Hefei Branch, and the news immediately spread throughout all of Hefei.

* * *

Among the members of the Minor Orthodox Unit, there was a guy called the Soulless Reaper.

It wasn't as if we had known from the beginning that the guy was the legendary Soulless Reaper; it was only in the middle of the Orthodox-Demonic Great War, when we were in a situation with absolutely no way to escape, that he finally revealed his identity.

Since a guy who usually had subpar internal energy and martial moves was saying such things, he was cursed at and took a smack to the jaw for spouting nonsense during an emergency, but the single move he showed left us dumbfounded.

Even though the guy was clearly visible right in front of us, absolutely no presence could be felt from him.

Even when he moved and swung his sword, we couldn't feel the sensation of a person moving at all.

Of course, at the time, we were even more dumbfounded by the fact that the 'Soulless Reaper'—essentially a giant of the Underworld Murim—was working as a low-ranking warrior for the Murim Alliance.

Anyway, the 'Ghost-Breath Footwork' was the unique footwork that had earned him the legendary moniker of the Soulless Reaper.

The Ghost-Breath Footwork made it feel as if he was using the Ghost-Breath Art while still in motion.

As long as he wasn't in their line of sight, even someone with excellent senses wouldn't be able to feel his presence, and we were able to use this 'Ghost-Breath Footwork' to catch the Guardian Dharma King.

And right now, while pursuing Wang Soso and the Cangqiong Merchant Group, I was putting it to excellent use.

Just as I expected, those bastards, who had moved from the Wang Estate to Hefei, and from Hefei to Chao Lake, shook off the Murim Alliance's hastily assembled pursuit team and fled all the way to the Yeo River.

When they arrived at the abandoned house in the mountains by the Yeo River, where the decapitated corpse had been found, they looked somewhat flustered, contrary to my expectations.

"This woman's condition is strange."

"What are you talking about? She was perfectly fine when we brought her out of the house."

"Look at this. Her body is boiling like fire."

The man who touched the bundle pulled his hand back in surprise.

"She has no value as a hostage like this. Release her paralysis acupoints."

"P-Please spare me. Please spare me!"

"Hey. Do you have some kind of illness?"

"Please spare me! I want to go back home."

The man struck Wang Soso's paralysis acupoints and shoved her back into the bundle.

"We have to stay here for another day. What are we supposed to do if her condition is like that?"

"So what? You want to bring a physician here? Just leave her be; she'll probably survive for a day."

The bastards gathered in groups of three and five, lighting a fire and roasting a caught rabbit, continuing their lax behavior that was unimaginable for kidnappers.

'All the better for me.'

Using the Ghost-Breath Footwork, I slowly approached their vicinity.

"*Hic. * Ugh, eating greasy food without alcohol is... Urk, what are you..."

I killed the guy trying to take a shit first.

"Hey! If you're going to take a shit, go far away to do it! If you shit around here..."

I killed the guy who came to scold the shitting guy second.

When the presence of two men disappeared at once, the warriors with sharp instincts began to grab their swords.

"Someone is here."

"Draw your swords!"

"Who's there! Come out right now!"

I released the internal energy and presence I had been hiding with the Ghost-Breath Footwork all at once and kicked one of the bastards, throwing him onto the fire.

AAAGH!

The bastard scattered the campfire everywhere as he rolled around trying to put out the fire on his body, only to be struck by my sword and lose his life, and the surroundings slowly sank into darkness as the campfire went out.

"Reveal your identity!"

"Great Swallow Sword Formation! Deploy the sword formation!"

"You crazy son of a bitch! Shut up! If our identities are exposed here..."

I dug into the midst of the panicking bastards once again and severed the lifelines of two more, causing the bastards who had been chattering without any tension to shut their mouths.

"W-Who are you!"

"Who are you to casually slaughter people like this!"

"We are people of the Namgung Clan. It seems there is some misunderstanding. Let's resolve this with words."

Desperately searching for me in the dark, the bastards unleashed the Cangqiong Boundless Sword Technique with full force at the sound of a pebble I threw, and all they managed to slice up were fallen leaves and a few trees.

And standing behind those bastards, I spoke.

"I know very well who you bastards are. You're the guys from the Namgung Clan's Cangqiong Merchant Group."

"Y-You're doing this despite knowing who we are?! Do you not even fear the great Namgung Noble Cla... *Urk*."

One of the three remaining bastards collapsed.

"If I were afraid of the Namgung Clan, I wouldn't have even started this."

The two remaining bastards unleashed the Cangqiong Boundless Sword Technique with all their might, but I suppressed their swordsmanship with the Sword-Breaking Formula.

"W-What is this."

"This makes no sense!"

And the end of it all was their heads falling and bouncing on the ground.

"I never in my life thought I'd be receiving help from you, Soulless Moron."

Honoring his contribution using the nickname we used to call him, I approached Wang Soso.

"Our rich young lady from a wealthy family. It's time to return home."

Emerging from the bundle, Wang Soso's complexion had turned deathly pale.

She was on the verge of taking her last breath.

"P-Please spare me."

Wang Soso said that, looking as though she were about to die.