Chapter 19 - A Third-Rate Warrior Saving a Girl (6)

"Where in the world are you, Soso."

The Wang Estate (Wangga Village), where the people of Wangga Manor resided.

The lights here had not gone out for three days already.

All operations across the twenty branches spread throughout the nation were suspended, focusing solely on gathering information about young girls around Wang Soso's age, and the countless shops beneath them also shut their doors entirely to search for Wang Soso, threatening the daily lives of the people.

"What are you talking about!"

Wang Geumsan was utterly shocked by the words of the dedicated physician who managed Wang Soso's health just a moment ago.

"Did you not say she could endure for a week even if she left the Ice Pavilion!"

The dedicated physician looked back at the people from the Medical Pavilion.

They simply bowed their heads in silence, only giving the dedicated physician meaningful looks.

Because if they didn't speak up now, they might suffer an even greater punishment later.

"That is... normally, that would be the case, but..."

"..."

"With the Solar Constitution, there is a period when the energy periodically surges to extreme yang. And right now happens to be exactly..."

The dedicated physician could not bring himself to finish the sentence.

He had seen countless patients die before his very eyes and had spoken to their guardians, but a good response had never once returned. Moreover, the person in front of him was Wang Geumsan, the master of Wangga Manor.

"Then... how long can she endure?"

"..."

At the guardian's request to tell him the time limit until her last breath, the dedicated physician only parted his lips slightly.

"I am asking how long she can endure!!"

"... It is already too late..."

"Aaagh!"

"L-Lord! Lord! Quickly, bring the acupuncture needles!"

Wang Geumsan collapsed.

* * *

Wang Soso, who had woken up, quickly fainted again.

The cause seemed clearly to be the heat burning up her entire body, but I had never heard of a simple cold having such symptoms.

"Where was that medical text written by that Medical Immortal Gong Yakchun."

Medical Immortal Gong Yakchun, called the second coming of Hua Tuo.

The lifework medical text he had compiled over his entire life, the 'Compendium of Ten Thousand Bottles,' was classified as a confidential document in the Mantong Bureau.

The reason? I didn't know either.

It was clearly a book that could save far more people if released to the world, but the Mantong Bureau had never once considered it.

I thoroughly leafed through the Compendium of Ten Thousand Bottles, and within it, I found information regarding Wang Soso's symptoms.

I had to go far past the section on diseases and reach the section on bodily constitutions before I could discover the cause of her symptoms.

"A Solar Constitution in a woman's body. Of all situations, to happen now."

Even the Compendium of Ten Thousand Bottles only contained a diagnosis of the symptoms and a method to stabilize the energy.

"Let's stabilize her for now. She will die at this rate..."

When I struck over twenty acupoints according to Gong Yakchun's medical text, Wang Soso's fever slowly began to subside, and soon after, Wang Soso woke up.

"Mmh... W-Who are you!"

"I am Jin Sowoon of the Taiyi Sect. Who might you be, My Lady?"

If I pretended to know her here, I wouldn't be able to avoid suspicion. She wasn't just anyone, but Wang Geumsan's only daughter. Even I would be suspicious if the person who came to save me said they knew I would be kidnapped.

"I-I am called Wang Soso."

"Hmm... If you say Wang... Soso, could you be..."

"... That is correct. I am the daughter of Wangga Manor."

"How did you end up in such a situation..."

"I do not know either. Where is this?"

"We are in the mountains near Lujiang. You were with some suspicious individuals."

"T-Those people... what happened to those people."

"I took care of them properly."

"..."

Contrary to my expectation that she would panic, she quickly regained her composure. Since her father was Wang Geumsan, had she received education that such things might happen?

"It would be best to move for now. It seemed there were more of that gang."

"N-No!"

"Excuse me?"

"I-I cannot move."

I tilted my head.

"W-What day is it today?"

"Today should be the Gui-Mao day of the Xin-Si month."

"T-Then it is the day the solar energy rises. I am originally supposed to be embracing an ice pill in the Ice Pavilion."

Come to think of it, such things were written in Gong Yakchun's medical text. The Solar Constitution periodically caused solar energy to surge, granting immense internal energy, wasn't it? Isn't this a complete cheat.

But from Wang Soso's current perspective, it was an anxious situation where poison could spread through her entire body at any moment. It gave me a headache in many ways.

"I am asking just in case, but is it the Solar Constitution?"

Wang Soso hesitated for a moment on whether to answer or not, then spoke.

"Yes. That is correct."

"Can you not move even for a moment?"

"A little bit would not matter, but if I move vigorously, the solar energy will burn up the acupoints in my entire body."

It was one problem after another.

From what I heard earlier, it wasn't long until the rest of the gang arrived.

'What do I do...'

Then, I remembered the 'Precious Record of Ten Thousand Herbs' that had been classified alongside the Compendium of Ten Thousand Bottles.

A rare treasure of the era that claimed there was no disease it could not cure, producing outstanding medicinal effects using the common herbs and poisonous plants rolling around in the fields.

"My Lady, it might sound a bit strange to say this in this situation, but if you could change your constitution, would you?"

"Excuse me?"

If there was Medical Immortal Gong Yakchun in acupuncture, there was the Divine Physician of Life and Death in medicine.

His name was Tang Wonho. Hailing from the Tang family about two hundred years ago, unlike most Tang family members who spent their remaining years doing nothing but research within the clan, he was an eccentric warrior who stepped out into Jianghu early on and lived his entire life roaming the world.

There was no disease he could not cure with medicine, and no person he could not kill with poison, so his life and death decisions rested in his hands, earning him the title of the Divine Physician of Life and Death.

I could not know why the Precious Record of Ten Thousand Herbs was in the Murim Alliance instead of the Tang family, and why the Tang family did not even know of its existence.

That was not what was important right now.

Fortunately, there was someone in the Precious Record of Ten Thousand Herbs who had the same worries as Wang Soso.

The absolute expert, Bare-handed Jade Maiden, who ruled the same era as the Divine Physician of Life and Death.

Born with the Lunar Constitution, she reached the absolute peak of ice martial arts thanks to her constitution, but she could not conceive a child because of it.

Thus, the Bare-handed Jade Maiden sought out the Divine Physician of Life and Death and made the absurd request to change her constitution, and the Divine Physician of Life and Death gladly accepted.

That was how a method to change Extreme Yang and Extreme Yin constitutions was found, but if there was a flaw...

"I will do it! I will do it!"

Wang Soso rejoiced and nodded before my explanation was even finished.

Being Wang Geumsan's child, I thought she would at least be wary due to education about con artists. But there was absolutely none of that.

"You are clearly different from the people who kidnapped me. I can tell the difference between someone who cares for me and someone who wants to harm me."

Was it not that, but rather that she had already finished calculating everything in her head?

I looked forward to seeing how the merchant world of Jianghu would change in the future if Wang Soso made it out alive.

"Please listen to the rest. Once this procedure is performed, you must eat a specially crafted pill every day for the rest of your life, and you can never return to your original constitution."

The Bare-handed Jade Maiden eventually bore descendants as well, but she could no longer use her ice martial arts.

"Furthermore, because the medicine is toxic, you must perform energy cultivation every day, and because purity is more important than anything, once you learn it, you cannot learn another mental cultivation method."

The main ingredient of the pill that changes the constitution is poison.

Once poisoned, the toxin that cools the body down begins to eat away at the solar energy.

And the remnants of the poison left inside the body must be neutralized with internal energy.

Because purity was more important than anything else, another mental cultivation method could not be learned.

If it was a mental cultivation method that was pure and also gathered a lot of internal energy, there would be the supreme martial arts of the Wudang Sect or the Shaolin Sect, but the only one I could obtain right now was the Taiyi Sect's Taiyi mental cultivation method.

"I will do it!"

"... What I am saying is, if you learn the Taiyi mental cultivation method now, other supreme martial arts..."

"I do not wish to become a martial artist. All I want is to see the flowers bloom in spring, fan myself in the heat of summer, and go boating with my family in autumn. I want to hug my beloved family when I want to, and I want to hold the hand of the man I love and converse with him. I want to have children too, and I want to see myself slowly grow old. That is exactly where my wishes end."

The desperate feelings of Wang Soso, who possessed everything in the world but could not have what everyone else enjoyed, struck me deeply.

"Understood."

"Are you really going to do it for me! I will make sure to tell my father..."

"Let's talk about that after we return home. It's almost time for the pursuers to arrive."

I carefully carried Wang Soso on my back as much as possible and ran slowly, widening the distance from the hideout even a little bit.

* * *

"What are you saying?"

"The last carrier pigeon said that Wang Soso's condition was strange..."

The brow of the Secret Palace Squad Captain, Bang Inam, furrowed deeply as he listened to the report.

"I told them time and time again. They dared to disobey my words and lay a hand on that child?"

It was obvious without even looking.

Those bastards who were more faithful to their instincts than their reason.

It was probably because of those impulsive behaviors that they were doing this kind of work despite being from the Namgung Clan, but even so, it was Namgung Sangwon's order. Whose order was it that they dared to disobey it and commit such an act?

"No! I spoke thoroughly about that part. They said it just seemed like she had some underlying illness from the start. They reported that the temperature of the room when they went to kidnap her was also bizarrely low."

"The temperature was low?"

Come to think of it, it was strange.

Even if she was just a young girl, what was Wangga Manor so afraid of that they kept her tightly hidden inside the house?

Anxious feelings crept in that perhaps their words were correct, and that the plan might go even more awry because of it.

"So, you're saying they are waiting at the hideout right now?"

"Yes. Their request was for us to come with a physician."

"Idiots! If a physician goes with us, it will leave a witness behind."

No one besides the insiders could know about this matter.

Those within the Cangqiong Merchant Group who had sworn loyalty to Namgung Sangwon.

No one but them was allowed to know.

Because the day this was discovered, Namgung Sangwon and their own lives flying away wouldn't be the only problem.

"T-Then what should we do?"

"We just go for now. He commanded us to silence her by death if it truly cannot be helped."

Keeping her alive and using her as a hostage would be best, but if that didn't work, they had to kill her cleanly.

At the very least, considering Wang Geumsan, who treasured Wang Soso, that alone would be enough to shake the opponent.

However, that optimism of Bang Inam did not last long.

"W-What in the world is this!"

"Look around! Survivors! Search for survivors!"

"There are none. Everyone has breathed their last."

"There is no sight of Wang Soso either."

"..."

Bang Inam's mind began to tangle in complexity.

The plan had gone awry.

It wasn't simply that the kidnapping incident went wrong.

The grand plan of his superior, Namgung Sangwon, and the entire branch line of the Namgung Clan had all been ruined.

"H-Here is a trace. There is only one set of footprints, but judging by the depth, it seems they carried Wang Soso away."

Bang Inam's fiercely burning, complex mind cooled sharply.

"You two, dispose of the corpses. The rest of you, follow me. Unless you are absolutely going to kill them, you must never use the Namgung sword."

The anger of the warriors who lost their comrades was no less than Namgung Sangwon's.

They were clearly pouring their resentment out on the person who had interfered with their work and killed their comrades.

The warriors of the Secret Palace Squad entered the forest following the guide.

The mountain forest was filled with a darkness where even moonlight did not shine, and because they too had to carry out their secret task, they could not hold anything like a torch.

Just then.

"Keuk."

The first casualty appeared along with the sound of someone spurting bloody froth.

"It's him!"

"Where is he?"

"How many of them are there!"

"Keuheuk."

Even though they had learned outstanding martial arts from the Namgung Clan, it was not an easy task for those who had not received training in stealth and assassination to respond in a darkened forest.

Soon, the scream of yet another person was heard, and urgent alarm bells rang in Bang Inam's head.

This wouldn't do. Losing Wang Soso was a problem, but them dying right here was an even bigger problem!

"Flints! Use your flints!"

At Bang Inam's shout, the warriors quickly pulled flints from their robes and created sparks of light with clicking sounds.

And at that moment.

SLASH!

Along with the sound of a blade cleaving the wind, another warrior collapsed.

"Captain! We'll be wiped out at this rate."

"Light the fires! And unleash Cangqiong."

"Keuheuk!"

While they lit the fires, another warrior lost his life, and just as only five men were left, a light traversing the forest appeared.

"Come out! Reveal yourself! If you do not reveal yourself, I will go kill Wang Soso right now."

Namgung Sangwon was skeptical about whether the guy would actually come out to this shout, but.

"I thought you guys weren't exactly good people back then either. But I didn't know you were this evil."

He wore a mask over his face, and his clothes were worn-out martial robes. His sword was a blue-steel sword that could be bought at any blacksmith, making it impossible to specify his faction.

"Reveal your identity."

"Identity? Isn't it more comfortable for both of us to be wearing masks like this? Besides, I already know yours."

"... If you do not reveal it, I will uncover it by force."

"And how many of us do you think there are?"

"No matter how many, we will not lose."

"Why? Because you're the great Namgung Clan?"

"!!!!"

"Ah! To be exact, you belong to the Namgung Clan's Cangqiong Merchant Group, right? Namgung Sangwon's secret lackeys."

"!!!!"

"!!!!"

Startled beyond belief, the warrior bastards of the Secret Palace Squad mindlessly turned their heads and were all staring at him.

At that sight, Bang Inam's expression completely crumpled. Wasn't this practically the same as openly admitting it was true?

"There's no need for further words, strike!"

As soon as Namgung Sangwon's shout fell, the warriors unleashed the Cangqiong Boundless Sword Technique.

Now that their identity was exposed, eliminating the enemy as quickly as possible with their ultimate swordsmanship was the way to swiftly tie up loose ends.

However.

"Keuheuk."

"Keuheok."

Before they even realized it, two warriors were taken down, and the swords of the remaining two people didn't feel all that sharp either.

'This can't be!! The great Namgung Clan's swordsmanship!'

Far from reaching the uninvited guest, the swords of the Secret Palace Squad warriors couldn't even get close before they helplessly collapsed, and the guys were struggling immensely just to hold their swords.

Like people with absolutely no strength. It was a sight that could never be seen as the elites of the Cangqiong Merchant Group.

"Keuheok!"

"Keok!"

Those who had been so precarious eventually died, and the uninvited guest slowly approached Bang Inam.

"Y-You bastard! What is your identity!"

"My identity?"

"Y-You must be! You're either from Wudang, or, right! Mount Hua! You're a bastard from the Mount Hua Sect!"

"Mount Hua, huh... I do have a little connection with them."

"No matter how great Mount Hua is, did you think you would be safe after interfering with the affairs of the Namgung Clan?"

"I never said I was from Mount Hua."

SLASH.

A chilling sensation passing his neck along with a dizzying feeling.

Bang Inam desperately turned his head.

"Oh..."

"Y-You damn bastard."

"It's quite a shame. It would have been better if I had met Namgung Sangwon today. No, wait, since the branch line's treason hasn't started yet, would it be a bit awkward to meet him now?"

"Who the hell are you..."

Blood flowed from the nape of his neck.

With his mind spinning, Bang Inam corrected his stance and began to unleash the Cangqiong Boundless Sword Technique at twelve-star proficiency.

"!!!!"

However, he could not even string together three forms.

An unknown, unprecedented force was abruptly cutting off his forms, wildly tangling his internal energy.

"Did you not learn anything even after seeing your subordinates die just now?"

"... H-How could the invincible Cangqiong Boundless Sword Technique..."

"The Cangqiong Boundless Sword Technique is not invincible."

Bang Inam collapsed powerlessly.

Dying, he could not see the expression of the black-masked man, but for some reason, he thought that the uninvited guest might be smiling chillingly.