Chapter 338

That night, my mind was so full of worries that I never made it to bed. All I could do was watch the sun come up.

My body isn’t tired, but my mind is.

Looking back, I had been through every kind of upheaval imaginable over the past few months.

If I hadn’t kept my body and mind clear by circulating my qi, I might have developed stress-induced hair loss.

I had considered crossing over to reality for a while to rest, but a crazy skeleton mage was running wild over there.

Come to think of it, that place is in Sichuan too.

Was some kind of curse following me?

No wonder Shu was the first kingdom to fall in Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

Feeling vaguely uneasy, I left the pavilion with the pack frame on my back. The Bermuda Triangle was already outside waiting for me.

“Oh? The booger’s gone. Did you really eat it as a late-night snack?”

“Stop! I said stop!”

“Benefactor! Benefactor! Gung Gibang ate that booger last night!”

“I did not!”

“……”

Ugh. I wanted to beat every last one of them to death.

If this were a novel and I were the author, I would find some way to kill those bastards.

But when did anything in this world ever go the way I wanted? I was shaking my head when—

“Huff, huff. I’m sorry I’m late!”

Right. There was that guy too.

Mungyeong came running up, panting heavily.

“Huff… I-I stayed up late reading medicinal prescriptions, and…”

I didn’t even have to look. I could see the whole thing in virtual reality: he had clearly pushed himself too hard in his burning enthusiasm for learning, then overslept.

I waved off Mungyeong as he anxiously watched my expression.

“It’s fine. I just came out too. By the way, you’ve picked up quite a bit of luggage overnight.”

“Oh, this?”

Mungyeong smiled brightly and patted his bulging travel bag.

“They gave me copies of some precious medicinal prescriptions and plenty of medicinal herbs, and—and… Anyway, they gave me all sorts of things!”

“Good. Congratulations.”

“Hehe.”

That kid was absolutely thrilled.

Then again, to a novice medical apprentice like Mungyeong, all of this was practically a fortuitous encounter.

The Sichuan Tang Clan wasn’t the kind of place that opened its doors to anyone who knocked, much less freely handed over medicinal prescriptions.

It was a great Murim family as well as a renowned medical family. Everything Mungyeong had gained here would be a tremendous asset to him in the future.

“Good. You should be able to take something away from this, at least.”

“Huh?”

“Never mind.”

“Did things not go well for you?”

“Yeah. There’s someone who absolutely has to be treated, but… circumstances are making it difficult.”

We were still talking when the middle-aged man we had met the day before approached with several subordinates.

“Everyone’s here. Follow me.”

We followed him. The atmosphere and behavior of the people we passed seemed even more tense than yesterday, but there were far fewer martial artists around.

It’s begun.

Large numbers of martial artists must have left to hunt down the culprit.

No, the hunt had probably begun before we even arrived. Tang Sadok had lost his father. There was no way he would have spent several days sitting around in a daze.

After walking while lost in thought, we soon reached the iron gate.

As the gate slowly opened, the middle-aged man abruptly spoke.

“Uncle—no, the Family Head asked me to deliver a message.”

“What did he say?”

“Once his revenge is complete, our family will help you with all its strength.”

Mungyeong looked confused, but everyone else, myself included, offered a clasped-fist salute.

“May you achieve what you seek.”

“And you as well.”

A faint smile crossed the middle-aged man’s cold face.

We hadn’t received any practical assistance, but this was a decent enough farewell.

Now it was time to say goodbye to one more person.

“It’s been fun.”

Mungyeong nodded as though he understood.

“You’re leaving again.”

“Yeah. We have a lot of places to stop by.”

“If I may ask, where are you going…?”

“Qingcheng. Then Emei.”

Mungyeong’s eyes widened.

“Oh! Mount Qingcheng and Mount Emei, two of the most famous mountains under heaven! You don’t mean the sacred sites of Daoism and Buddhism, where all manner of exotic flowers and mystical herbs are said to be hidden?”

“……Uh, I think those are the ones.”

“I can’t believe it! You’re going somewhere that wonderful!”

What was this? Déjà vu?

I felt as if I had been seeing this same scene a lot lately. Just as a strange sense of foreboding sent a chill down my spine, Mungyeong let out a soft sigh.

“It’s a shame, but I can’t go with you this time. I have to return to my master.”

“Nice one, Master!”

“……?”

“I mean, that’s too bad.”

“Riiight.”

“I mean it, you punk.”

Mungyeong gave me a suspicious look, then bowed deeply.

“Thank you for everything. Thanks to all you Young Masters, I survived and had so many wonderful experiences.”

“There’s no need to thank me. Stay healthy, study hard, and focus on becoming a great physician.”

Mungyeong’s eyes sparkled.

“Like the Divine Physician?”

“Exactly. Like the Divine Physician.”

“Yes, Young Master! I’ll engrave your words on my heart and never forget them!”

A quiet laugh escaped me at his spirited answer.

“Take care, then.”

“Goodbye! We have to meet again someday!”

If fate brought us together again, we would meet one way or another.

I waved to Mungyeong, then turned resolutely toward the west.

“Come on. Let’s go to Qingcheng.”

I was just about to take my first determined step when—

“Young Hero Jin Taekyung?”

“Hm?”

I looked back and saw the Bermuda Triangle standing there blankly beside two unfamiliar men.

They were the guides the Sichuan Tang Clan had assigned to us.

“What is it?”

“Um, well…”

“……?”

“That’s not the right direction. The road is blocked if you go that way.”

“……!”

The guides Tang Sadok had assigned us proved to be a stroke of genius.

Unusually for members of the Tang Clan, they specialized in gathering and cultivating medicinal and poisonous herbs rather than martial arts. Perhaps because of that, they knew the land of Sichuan like the backs of their hands.

“We go this way from here, right?”

“No. That way is faster.”

“But according to the map, this seems to be the right way.”

“What’s written on a map isn’t always the answer. That’s especially true of old maps.”

“The Sichuan Tang Clan gave me this one.”

“I drew that map twenty years ago.”

“……”

“Let’s go.”

Well, if the mapmaker said it was the wrong way, then it was the wrong way.

After that, I simply went wherever they told me and stopped whenever they told me. Of course, I wasn’t just following them around doing nothing.

“Wait. Can’t we just jump across here?”

“Huh? This is a cliff.”

“If we jump straight to the cliff on the other side, we’ll get there in no time.”

“You’ll die in no time too. The gap is nearly twenty zhang¹ wide. How could you possibly—”

“Come on, let’s give it a try.”

Boom! Whoooosh! Tap-tap!

“See? It works.”

“……It actually works.”

“All right, cross one at a time!”

“……Are you talking to us?”

“Oh.”

“Could you jump back over and carry us across?”

“Can do. Easily.”

I was willing to do anything if it would save time.

Combine Made-in-Sichuan navigation with monstrous physical abilities that far exceeded human limits, and wherever I went became a road.

“My goodness… This is impossible. It only took half a day to get from Chengdu to Mount Qingcheng. The journey normally takes three days.”

“Impossible is nothing.”²

I tossed out a famous line I had picked up from television as we entered Mount Qingcheng.

After revealing our identities to the disciples of the Qingcheng Sect, we were escorted to Shangqing Palace, where the sect decided all matters great and small. There, we met another Supreme Peak master: the Sect Leader of the Qingcheng Sect, Cheongpung the Ancient Sword.

“I’m Jin Taekyung of the Jin Family of Taiyuan.”

“Wow, hello! I’m Cheongpung! I’ve never met anyone with a name so similar to mine before. It’s so nice to meet you!”

“Please shut up… And Cheongpung the Ancient Sword isn’t his name. It’s his alias.”

The Elders of the Qingcheng Sect stared at us as if they had never seen such lunatics in their lives, but their Sect Leader, Cheongpung the Ancient Sword, proved far more straightforward than I had expected.

After reading the letter I handed him, he chuckled like a friendly old man from the neighborhood.

“We should help one another. Besides, Great Hero Mae Jonghak personally asked this favor of us.”

That evening, the residents at the foot of Mount Qingcheng were thrown into an uproar.

Daoists from the Qingcheng Sect, whom they were lucky to see even a few times a year, came streaming down the mountain in a long procession.

There were hundreds of them. Among their number were the Qingcheng Seventy-Two Swordsmen, all First Rate masters, as well as two Elders.

“Our Sect Leader Senior Brother ordered us to do our utmost to help Young Hero Jin find the Divine Physician.”

“Junior Brother and I have been nothing but old men gathering dust for years, but we’ll gladly step forward for something like this. Ho ho.”

Thank you. Overwhelming thanks…

Honestly, I couldn’t help getting a little choked up.

We might all belong to the orthodox faction, but an entire sect had rolled up its sleeves to save Jeok Cheongang.

“I will repay the Qingcheng Sect for this help.”

“I’ll hear that again after we find the Divine Physician.”

“And this isn’t all. We’ve also sent messenger pigeons to our lay disciples, so we should receive good news soon.”

Although the Qingcheng Sect did not possess the same standing as Huashan or Shaolin, it was still a massive, prestigious sect—large enough to be called one of the Nine Sects and One Gang.

The vast web of connections it had formed through its lay disciples would be an enormous help.

“Thank you. Truly, thank you.”

“A man shouldn’t bend his back so readily. We’re merely doing what we ought to do, so pay it no mind.”

“That’s right. Too much gratitude is unsightly. Enough with the formalities. Tell us where we should begin looking.”

I rubbed at the corners of my reddened eyes and answered.

“Everywhere.”

“Huh?”

“What?”

“All of Sichuan…”

“……!”

“……!”

After a brief silence, quiet mutters slipped from the lips of the two old Daoists who looked like immortals.

“Goddamn it…”

“How are we supposed to find him…?”

Leaving behind the two Daoists, who had begun succumbing to the woes of the secular world less than fifteen minutes after descending the mountain, I set off toward our next destination.

“Benefactor! Are we going to Mount Emei now?”

“No. Gung and Mujin will handle the Emei Sect.”

We had two guides, and there were already plenty of people in our group. There was no need for everyone to travel in one huge crowd.

There was no telling where Cheongpung might run off to, so I would keep him with me. By now, Gung Gibang and Hyuk Mujin were probably running as fast as they could toward the Emei Sect.

Just then, one of the guides asked curiously,

“Then where are you going?”

“To the authorities.”

“The authorities? You mean you’re going to a government office?”

“Yes.”

“Young Hero Jin, I don’t know what connections you have with the authorities, but this isn’t something you can accomplish by mobilizing a few constables.”

“Right.”

“Then why…?”

I spoke to the guide, who shook his head as though he could not understand me at all.

“But wouldn’t it be a different story with hundreds or thousands of people?”

“H-Hundreds or thousands? Are you perhaps acquainted with the Sichuan City Lord?”

“No.”

I grinned and continued.

“I’m friends with a king.”

“Pardon?”

Prince Shangshan, Zhu Bao.

He was the one and only younger brother of the emperor of the Great Nation that ruled the world, a noble imperial Prince—and a huge fan of mine.