Sichuan's Mad Dragon (Novel) - Chapter 181 - Those Who Meet Must Part

Chapter 181 – Those Who Meet Must Part

===================

Translated by Heavenly Cat
Edited by Celestial Knight

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

===================

Ju-seong stood at the entrance to Jiulong Mountain. He was returning from visiting Cheong-rang in the village.

‘It’s been a while since I first met that fellow.’

Cheong-rang was the branch chief he had encountered when raiding the Ten Thousand Ears Gang’s southwestern Sichuan district.

Ju-seong had intimidated him to extract information, and through that intelligence, had attacked the Ten Thousand Ears Gang’s Sichuan headquarters.

That attack had collapsed the Gang’s foundation, and the explosives used then had caused the government office to thoroughly raid Sichuan’s martial world.

As a result, the heated conflict between Qingcheng and Emei had fallen into a lull.

No matter how prominent a sect might be, they couldn’t keep brawling when the imperial court was glaring at them.

‘I preserved peace in Sichuan’s martial world, is what I’m saying.’

Meanwhile, the Ten Thousand Ears Gang, the cause of all that trouble, had quickly wrapped up all their Sichuan operations and fled…

‘That Cheong-rang bastard has quite some nerve.’

When the Ten Thousand Ears Gang withdrew from Sichuan, Cheong-rang alone had secretly slipped away without joining the evacuation.

Thus he had become someone who must not be discovered by the Gang, and was living in hiding in the village at the foot of Jiulong Mountain.

Why hadn’t he followed the Gang in their withdrawal?

It was because he suffered from a severe heavenly affliction… a disease commonly called Solar Spirit Meridian.

In reality, it was nonsense to say yang energy blocked the meridians, making it different from standard blocked meridian syndrome.

Rather, it was a disease caused by all his meridians being packed full of yang energy, making the flow of qi excessively vigorous.

Even a river flowing gently and tamely carries mud and sediment to enrich the land, but a river with excessively strong currents damages the earth’s vitality.

This was called Solar Spirit Meridian, and as the name suggested, if one could overcome it, one could gain considerable enlightenment and talent.

Ju-seong had handed over the very thing that could help him overcome that condition.

“…What is this?”

“Ever heard of the Yin-Yang Serpent? This is its inner core. What was left after I ate my portion.”

Ju-seong too had eaten a portion of the Yin-Yang Serpent’s yin core to digest the fire-natured poison core.

Thus what he handed to Cheong-rang was in a slightly misshapen, lumpy state.

Cheong-rang looked at what he held and murmured with distaste.

“Just looking at it, it doesn’t seem particularly miraculous.”

“Fine! Give it back then.”

When Ju-seong raised his hand threateningly, the man smiled obsequiously and pulled his hand back.

“Ah, I’m joking. And Young Hero, I heard you won the Ascending Dragon Assembly. As expected, I knew Young Hero would beat everyone. Young Hero is truly a needle in a pocket, a crane among chickens.”

Cheong-rang was as cunning now as he had been before.

Yet rather than seeming like a true villain, he just had the look of a sly, cunning bastard, which was why Ju-seong had spared him.

‘Then again, back then I was still avoiding killing as much as possible.’

Ju-seong felt much had changed in the past few years.

After obtaining Li Bai’s Sword Energy embedded in his upper dantian to control his killing intent, he had become relatively free from outbursts of killing rage.

“Eat this and your condition will be cured. Don’t just swallow it directly… I’ll write you a prescription, so take it according to this. It’s simple enough that you won’t need help….”

The prescription was simply to divide it into portions and take with substantial meals.

Ju-seong scrawled a few characters about dosage timing and appropriate amounts, then set down the brush and said.

“Anyway, once you’ve recovered after eating this, you’ll need to do a job with me.”

“Pardon?”

“A close friend of mine is thinking of establishing an intelligence organization, and you’ll need to assist him.”

“Ah….”

“An advisor role, so to speak.”

“What kind of organization?”

“The Beggars’ Sect. He’s going to establish a sect with those beggars. The problem is the fellow who wants to be the leader is so stupid that he needs a good strategist.”

Ju-seong had planned this use for Cheong-rang long ago. There was a reason he was giving away this precious inner core.

In Ju-seong’s judgment, this man wasn’t evil, but he wasn’t particularly virtuous either. Beyond having a quick mind and a special constitution, his character was just that of an ordinary commoner.

A commoner’s character with precious talents… this was someone destined to serve an outstanding lord.

Though Cheong-rang only sighed upon hearing the story.

“Of all things, the Beggars’ Sect…. I’ve heard about it too. Young Hero’s friend, that Red Beggar person, right?”

After all, who would want to work with beggars? But Ju-seong’s thinking was firm.

“You need a superior who will guide you not to do bad things. And that fellow happens to need a quick-witted subordinate.”

Ju-seong instructed him to leave for Henan, where Red Beggar was, as soon as his condition improved, then departed.

Now it was truly time to go see the face he dearly missed.

* * *

A humming sound trailed along the mountain path like the robes of an idle wanderer.

“Hmm, hmm. How does such heartfelt love exist in this world, that it makes one swear oaths upon life and death.”

In one hand Ju-seong carried a bundle containing a gift for his master, and in the other he had bought tasty wine and five geun of pork as he climbed Jiulong Mountain.

“Let’s roast some pork with Master after so long.”

He swayed this way and that to the mountain breeze.

In the distance, the courtyard house came into view. Ju-seong stopped and drew a deep breath. To fully inhale the scents of the scenery he had missed.

“…Blood.”

Ju-seong’s face hardened as if by magic. He hurriedly moved his feet, threw open the courtyard house’s gate and entered.

-CRASH.

At the sight spread before him, the man’s steps came to an abrupt halt.

The pork, wine, and armor bundled in his hands dropped to the ground, raising a cloud of dust.

“…Master?”

Ju-seong murmured quietly.

“Master!”

His master’s body slumped against the wall, head bowed. Ju-seong knelt before him.

The Divine Physician’s front was soaked in blood.

As if his life force had been forcibly drained, his master’s once-robust frame was pitifully wasted.

Only when Ju-seong lifted his master’s head did he discover the large hole in the Divine Physician’s chest.

“Damn it, damn it!”

His hands trembled violently and his stomach churned.

Just then.

-CRACK-CRACK.

A grotesque sound like bones shifting came from the Divine Physician’s body, and the Divine Physician raised his head.

“You’ve come.”

“Master…!”

Ju-seong’s face lit with hope when he saw a thin thread of life still dwelling in the Divine Physician’s eyes, but…

“I set aside the barest sliver of life force and hid it. Less than a quarter-hour remains.”

The Divine Physician diagnosed himself coldly.

Having mastered the human body, he could use the technique of diverting and hiding his life force while slowing his entire body’s circulation to the absolute limit.

Bluntly speaking, it was playing dead.

This could postpone death, but not avoid it.

If a principled martial artist like the Divine Physician hadn’t poured everything into one final move but instead conserved his strength to play dead so pitifully, there must be a reason.

Because he had words to convey to someone.

‘A technique that drains inner energy… how vicious. I barely managed to hide a thread of life force.’

The single thread of life force he’d set aside busily circulated through his body, holding on to his fading life.

There was no time to properly close out the bond between master and disciple. No leisure to exchange greetings after a long-awaited reunion.

The Divine Physician calmly asked what needed to be asked.

“Have you gathered all four poisons?”

The disciple was not as calm as his master.

“Master, who did this?”

“So you have. Wol-hyang has been kidnapped. It was the White Lotus Cult’s doing. Follow the trail and scent to rescue her.”

“Was it the Cradle of the Demonic Path? Did they find you, Master?”

“Ah, I buried the Three Talents Five Elements Pill at the spot where you used to cultivate at dawn.”

Ju-seong, seeing his master talking about other matters, ground his teeth and spoke.

“If you don’t want to answer, then forget it. I need to chase after them.”

A foreign scent of blood that wasn’t his master’s filled the courtyard. The blood of a twisted, filthy person.

It seemed the attacker had been injured in the fight with his master. If he gave chase now, he could catch them.

Red lightning flickered and sparked in Ju-seong’s pupils.

The Divine Physician let out a low sigh and spoke.

“Don’t run off bucking like a colt with its tail on fire. Sit down, you damned fool.”

When he was scolded in his master’s usual tone, Ju-seong closed his eyes briefly, then knelt before his master.

“Master.”

“Yes, my disciple.”

“Was it the Cradle of the Demonic Path?”

The Divine Physician silently nodded.

“I can track them now.”

“Did I not say Lady Wol-hyang has been kidnapped?”

Ju-seong’s nails dug into his palms.

“…Catching and tearing apart the one who did this to you comes first.”

The Divine Physician let out a long sigh.

“I took in a killing ghost to raise into a human, yet the moment I look away, he can’t resist his nature and tries to harm people.”

“…”

Ju-seong’s jaw tightened.

The Divine Physician sat cross-legged with one hand resting on his knee.

“One is to kill.”

His other hand rose to his knee.

“One is to live.”

The Divine Physician’s expression became stern.

“I taught you, filled as you were with killing intent, to save lives. Will you disappoint your master at the very end?”

To rush out with a heart full of killing intent seeking revenge was the path of a killing ghost.

To suppress revenge in his gut and go rescue the woman in danger was the path of saving lives.

Hadn’t Ju-seong resolved long ago…

That even if he was born as poison, he would become a man like medicine?

Then which path should he choose?

“…”

It was as clear as seeing fire. The answer was obvious.

Ju-seong trembled with his head bowed.

“Ju-seong, my boy.”

The Divine Physician extended both hands and lifted Ju-seong’s face.

Sharp slanted eyes and fiercely jutting brows. Lips well-suited to mockery.

Overall, a ruffian’s face with a nasty temper.

The sort of face that would provoke people everywhere and get beaten to death far from home. Or get stabbed for making the wrong woman cry.

But no matter what anyone said, in his master’s eyes…

“You’ve grown into a fine, heroic figure, my disciple.”

“…”

The fists resting on Ju-seong’s knees trembled lightly. Clear water drops fell onto them.

He barely managed to open his mouth and speak.

“…I met the Martial Alliance Leader. He said the character ‘Ju’ (朱) is the same as the imperial surname, which could cause unnecessary misunderstanding, so I should adopt a family name.”

“Quite right. There’s surely more than just the imperial Ju clan under heaven, but why invite trouble with the overlap?”

“Then how about taking the Weiji surname?”

The Divine Physician, Weiji Baek, smiled quietly and shook his head.

“If you wish to honor me, do not continue the Weiji name, but instead take the surname of my old beloved.”

Weiji Baek had been a live-in son-in-law of the Five Medicines Tang Clan in Yunnan.

“The name of a certain medicine clan that took in a wild thunder-brute like me and even made me their son-in-law.”

“…Then, Tang Ju-seong?”

Weiji Baek’s smile deepened.

“What a fine name.”

* * *

The disciple departed. Weiji Baek… he himself had urged him to leave.

He didn’t want to show his disciple the sight of his death, and he wanted to slowly look back on his life as he departed.

A gentle breeze tickled his forehead.

For Sichuan, it was a clear day with unusually hot sunlight.

It felt as if the warm sunlight of Yunnan was settling on the crown of his head. The voice of a certain woman he had known in Yunnan whispered in his ears.

A headstrong girl. The eldest daughter of the house that had taken him in, so no matter how she teased him, there was nothing he could do about it.

[Baek-ah! Are you studying again today?]

[Baek-ah, I got scolded by Grandfather…. He said I couldn’t memorize the herbs. He told me to be even half as good as you. I always get scolded because of you. I hate you.]

[Hey, Weiji Baek! Did you really complete this pill? Even the elders of our sect find this difficult….]

The rosy-cheeked boy and girl became young adults of sixteen.

[Why are you always so good to me?]

All the way to a moonlit night’s secret conversation.

[Baek-ah, what would you do if I told you I’ve kept you in my heart?]

And then….

Regret settled on Weiji Baek’s aged face. By the time he found her, it was already too late.

Belatedly, Weiji Baek found the dark path sect that had kidnapped her and slaughtered them without leaving even a dog behind.

But that couldn’t bring back her life, which hung by a thread after suffering terrible ordeals.

Seeing the raging demonic fire in Weiji Baek’s eyes, she had smiled weakly.

[My dear Baek-lang…. I wish you would continue living as a healer.]

I hope you won’t kill people.

That was her final word, and Weiji Baek had no choice but to uphold it.

Weiji Baek overlaid that look in his eyes from back then with the look in his disciple’s eyes now.

Why do those who depart always burden those left behind with impossible promises?

Weiji Baek sighed as if realizing something.

“The will carries on.”

That radiant woman’s request had passed to him, and now had climbed onto his disciple.

And not just Ju-seong… he had taught that will to both disciples, including Seo-baek.

The heart of saving lives had been passed down through generations.

Weiji Baek found that harmony, that arrangement, so wondrous that he gazed up at the sky with fresh eyes.

“If I go now, will she be waiting?”

Somehow, that woman with her iron-wire stubbornness seemed like she would be waiting at the Yellow Springs without crossing, waiting for her husband.

“Good thing I never remarried.”

Weiji Baek chuckled with a click of his tongue, then quietly, quietly closed his eyes.

On the wind blowing toward paradise, the soul of a benevolent man was carried away.