Sichuan's Mad Dragon (Novel) - Chapter 66 - The Man Who Couldn't Sleep at Night

Chapter 66 – The Man Who Couldn’t Sleep at Night

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Cheong-rang sighed and raised both arms.

“Checkmate indeed. I never expected you to come bumbling in like this. That friend upstairs is in the upper tier even among first-rate fighters. From what I was told, you were definitely not at a level to beat him, yet here you are. Strange.”

-SMACK!

When Ju-seong threw a short punch, blood immediately spurted from both nostrils of Cheong-rang’s nose.

“You talk like an utter brat.”

Having said that, Ju-seong sprang up from his chair, grabbed Cheong-rang by the hair, and was about to slap him a couple more times, but stopped himself.

He smacked his lips, then lightly took the man’s wrist and checked his pulse before letting go.

‘My, he really is just a commoner. He has internal energy in his dantian, but his body hasn’t trained in martial arts.’

Inwardly, Ju-seong had thought this person had learned martial arts that focused extremely on internal cultivation, or perhaps assassin’s martial arts that left no traces.

But upon making contact, it was not the case.

He had accumulated some internal energy in his dantian, as if for health cultivation, but there was no trace of circulating it through his meridians.

‘But something… Hmm, that’s not my concern.’

Ju-seong let out a sigh and sat back down in his chair. He looked Cheong-rang up and down as he spoke.

“Are you fearless, or do you have something you’re relying on?”

“I’m partly relying on the influence of the Ten Thousand Ears Gang… And aren’t you that yellow tiger of the Yellow-White Twin Tigers who made a big splash in Yunnan? Then you’re something of a hero, and surely you wouldn’t kill a commoner like me.”

“You’re so confident, you lunatic. Honestly, if I think a bastard is too rotten, I’ll kill him whether he’s a commoner or a martial artist.”

“I’m not quite that much of a scumbag, you see.”

“Anyway… You know I’m that person who went around punching in Yunnan from my face and name, but you didn’t know that the old man you were looking for is my master?”

Cheong-rang nodded.

“How can those vagrant dark path types give proper reports? When our informants went to ask them later, they just said, ‘I don’t know his description, but he was damn strong. He fought almost evenly with our boss and beat him’… That’s all they said, it’s maddening. Still, now I know your face. You’re quite handsome.”

Ju-seong stared at the blathering man and thought.

‘This guy really likes talking.’

For someone who liked talking, was the profession of information broker a perfect match, or a field he should never have entered?

Seeing how he chattered away yet still distinguished well between what to say and what not to say, it seemed like a perfect match for him.

“So, who commissioned you to find our master?”

“I don’t know either. It came down from above. But from my investigation, it seems the one who crippled the Blood Sword Sect’s Young Master a few years ago was your master, Young Master.”

“Blood Sword Sect’s Young Master?”

Ju-seong sank into old memories for a moment.

The troupe members had been murdered by Black Dragon Gang bastards.

The surviving women were being sold to the Blood Sword Sect. And the one who ordered it was the Blood Sword Sect’s Young Master.

‘Before we left the All-Living Clinic…’

Before leaving the All-Living Clinic and moving to the residence below Jiulong Mountain, his master had disappeared for several days before returning.

-There are too many bastards in this world.

His master’s melancholic, pained face rose in his mind, and Ju-seong narrowed his brow slightly.

At that time, his master must have gone to the Blood Sword Sect and dealt with that man. Sorting out his thoughts, Ju-seong spoke.

“Then his son was crippled, so the Sect Master must have gone crazy with rage?”

“So your master was indeed the one who did it?”

“Ah.”

Ju-seong narrowed his eyes slightly.

‘So that wasn’t confirmed information yet.’

The identity of the person who punished the Blood Sword Sect’s Young Master and his master being the same person was apparently only speculation within the Ten Thousand Ears Gang, not confirmed information.

Ju-seong had just confirmed it for them.

He shook his head and rose.

“Hah… I feel like I’ve been bewitched by a ghost. I should perform an exorcism.”

Since ancient times, a beating was the remedy for driving out evil spirits.

“Please, Young Master.”

-CRACK!

A spray of blood scattered into the air, and Cheong-rang tumbled backward from his chair.

“Aaaugh!”

He clutched his bleeding nose and shouted.

“It’s broken! My nose!”

“How unfortunate. It was a handsome nose.”

After roughing him up a few times and yanking him by the collar to sit him back in the chair, Cheong-rang seemed somewhat more polite. But his characteristic insolent look in his eyes wouldn’t die.

“So, the Blood Sword Sect Master commissioned a hit on my master for revenge, is that it?”

“I told you, I don’t know. It came from above, didn’t it? I don’t know, but you keep harassing me.”

Ju-seong slowly nodded, then spoke.

“Fine. Sorry for beating you so much. By the way, you seem to have a terrible disease… let me take your pulse.”

“…Pardon?”

“I said let me take your pulse. Don’t make me say it twice or three times. Why do you think the Grim Reaper drags people away when he calls their name three times? It’s because they didn’t answer twice and he got angry.”

“…Yes, let me give you my wrist.”

Cheong-rang held out his wrist with a sour expression, and Ju-seong took it and carefully examined his pulse.

This scholarly, composed man couldn’t make sense of what was happening at all.

He fundamentally despised martial world folk who had nothing but fighting in their heads.

He believed he could handle most martial artists with his slippery tongue.

Having risen to an important position in a great faction like the Ten Thousand Ears Gang, he had also developed the guts to banter without backing down even before masters.

But against this man before him, nothing was working.

Whenever he tried to dig something out, Ju-seong defended like an iron wall. When he actually scored a point, Ju-seong would have a fit and resort to violence.

He had brains, yet he was the type who could immediately pull out the fist card when losing a battle of wits.

Then out of nowhere he pretended to be a physician and requested to take his pulse… he had no way to refuse.

He had no means of protecting himself right now.

He never imagined the squad leader guarding the branch would be beaten down like that.

“Mmm…”

Ju-seong closed his eyes while taking his pulse, then opened them drowsily and looked at Cheong-rang.

Earlier he had been uncertain, but now that he properly took the pulse, it was clear.

‘Well now… I might be able to plant a spy with this.’

Cheong-rang asked with a bored expression.

“Are you done? I’m curious what dreadful disease I have too. I eat three meals a day until I’m full and sleep well in a warm place.”

“You say you sleep well? You probably don’t. When you lie down at night, your chest feels heavy and you can’t breathe well, and your head hurts too.”

“…”

“Your skin is rough and your hair is splitting. How many times a day do you urinate? Often, right? I see you even made a latrine underground. It’s obvious. You must wake up several times at night to go to the toilet? Tsk, the smell of urine.”

“I wipe carefully. There’s no way I smell like urine.”

“Right. That was a joke. Anyway, keep wiping carefully. In any case… Just from your appearance, your eyelids are sunken, your features are as sharp as a Westerner’s, and the backs of your hands are covered in thick hair. You’re all skin and bone without a scrap of muscle or fat, and your fingers are long with large knuckles. Your member must be substantial too?”

“Excuse me?!”

Ju-seong grinned as he lewdly raised his forearm.

“Your yang rod, I mean. If you go to a pleasure house, the women would serve you for free…”

“My, what are you saying…”

An expression of genuine bewilderment appeared on Cheong-rang’s face. Ju-seong wiggled his finger with sunken eyes.

“I won’t tell you the details. When did we meet that I’d tell you everything? But know this one thing. If you leave it alone, you’ll die young around the age of thirty.”

Ju-seong knew this man’s condition well. Being the disciple of the Divine Physician.

Even if he wasn’t completely versed in medicine, there were few diseases that had ever afflicted black-haired creatures throughout history that he didn’t know.

Solar Spirit Meridian.

In the world it was also called “nine-yang severed meridian,” but that wasn’t the accurate name.

It was called nine-yang severed meridian due to being the antipode of the famous nine-yin severed meridian in the martial world, but the Solar Spirit Meridian was a disease different in nature from the severed meridian syndrome where meridians are blocked.

Rather, it occurred because the circulation of those meridians was excessively vigorous.

Yang energy was essence and vigor… in other words, the vitality of body and mind… so normally, more was better. Especially for men.

But if that yang energy filled the meridians to bursting and boiling, ruining the body’s circulation, it became a problem. Anything in excess was as bad as a deficiency.

A river flowing majestically enriched the land, but rapids raging violently or a flooding deluge damaged the earth’s energy.

“Mmm…”

Ju-seong gave additional information to Cheong-rang, who was furrowing his brow at being told he would die young.

“And crucially, though your talent and five senses for martial arts are excellent, you cannot actually wield internal energy. A pitiful constitution for martial world folk.”

“…!”

Cheong-rang’s eyes widened.

“Since your meridians are always boiling full of yang energy, you can’t circulate energy according to your own will. Whether nourishment or internal energy, it doesn’t accumulate but is constantly expelled as sweat and urine, so you must have difficulty with cultivation too.”

Ju-seong said this while observing Cheong-rang’s dantian.

‘Considering that, to have gathered that much energy, he must really want to learn martial arts.’

At first he had just thought it was simple health cultivation.

But knowing now, it was the trace of a desperate struggle to learn martial arts.

“If you get treatment, you’ll not only be able to learn martial arts, but with your excellent five senses, you’ll become a master in a short time… My, it’s a shame you’ll die without ever blooming.”

Cheong-rang, whose breathing had briefly quickened, recovered his composure and slowly spoke.

“…How do I know what you say is true? It could just be words to scare me.”

“I took one glance and rattled off your symptoms, yet you think I was lying?”

Ju-seong held out his hand.

“I guarantee you, in the martial world, there won’t be ten people on your fingers who can cure that disease. And even fewer within your means.”

The most representative method for treating Solar Spirit Meridian was the consumption of an elixir.

One had to consume an elixir with strong yin energy, and of course, such things were not common.

Cheong-rang couldn’t know such detailed circumstances, but he could vaguely guess.

Throughout his life, no physician had ever said he was sick. Rather, they diagnosed him as healthy.

“…Are you saying you can cure it?”

Cheong-rang narrowed his eyes as he studied the man before him.

His nose was broken and his face blood-spattered, but his expression was as calm as if molded in wax.

But inside, his heart was churning wildly.

-Can’t acquire even a mustard seed of internal energy, and the physique is hopeless! No matter how much I feed you, you won’t put on muscle or fat!

-Our family may not be a great house, but still, we’re nominally a martial force. For the second young master to be unable to display a single martial art…

-Maybe it’s a blessing you were born with such a body. If you had talent for martial arts too, how much would we brothers have fought over this tiny household? When I become the family head, I’ll give you at least the steward position, so let’s not fight…

The words he had heard echoed in his ears.

He was born the second son of a middling martial family, yet he was a half-wit who couldn’t even learn their mediocre martial arts.

Ju-seong smiled slightly and asked.

“Don’t you want to learn martial arts?”

Cheong-rang glared at Ju-seong’s smiling face and tapped the table. There was somehow an anxious quality to his hand.

The man before him was the disciple of someone that someone at a dizzying height of command might be targeting.

If he cooperated with this man while withholding information related to the master-disciple pair…

‘I’d be quietly eliminated without anyone knowing.’

It was an unmanageable risk, yet he couldn’t help but wonder.

His age was already nearing thirty, and as Ju-seong said, his skin was getting rougher and his urination frequency was growing shorter.

He often woke up at night with headaches, fever, or chest tightness.

‘If what this man says is true, I’ll die soon anyway. And martial arts… martial arts, is it?’

Martial arts was his love and hate.

Something he longed for endlessly and hated endlessly… After all, he only hated it because he couldn’t have it, so it was a pathetic emotion.

But if he could have it…

Cheong-rang sighed deeply and asked.

“What do you want?”

Ju-seong smiled slightly and answered.

“As a disciple, what else would I want but my master’s peace? It’s enough if you help ensure the Ten Thousand Ears Gang doesn’t bother us. Give me some free information when I come by occasionally, and dispatch a few assassins when I need someone killed.”

“Dispatching assassins is difficult.”

“It was a joke.”

Ju-seong grinned and rose from his seat, pointing his index finger directly at Cheong-rang as he declared.

“I don’t know if I’m orthodox or evil, a physician or a martial artist. But there’s one thing my master taught me, which is never to turn away from a pitiful soul suffering from illness. I will cure you, you bed-wetter.”

“Bed-wetter, you say…” Cheong-rang muttered.

“Now, now, since you still don’t fully believe me, let’s have a sample treatment.”

When Ju-seong reached out like a snake oil salesman, Cheong-rang flinched and tried to back away but couldn’t escape a martial artist.

He was pushed facedown onto the table with his crown grabbed.

“No, what are you…”

-Poke! Poke! Poke!

Before he could protest, something cold and prickling penetrated his lower back.

“These are pressure points that help expel yang energy from the body and absorb yin energy. I use them on people who ate something like ginseng wrong and fell ill, and they work quite well.”

“Ugh…”

Cheong-rang sprawled out, panting, unable to even speak properly at this strange yet refreshing sensation.

“See how well you sleep tonight. And whether your bedwetting gets better too.”

Snickering as he turned away, Ju-seong suddenly stopped as if remembering something.

“That guy sprawled upstairs. Should I just kill him? If he sees I kept you alive, he’ll suspect you.”

“It’s fine. He owes me his life. He’s loyal to me, not the Ten Thousand Ears Gang.”

That was the blind spot of point-organizations like the Ten Thousand Ears Gang. Only a handful were loyal to the organization; most members acted according to their own interests.

No matter how fearsome a purge squad the upper echelons ran, if lower-level members colluded and defected, they lacked the capacity to root them out in the first place.

“Is that so? Fine.”

Ju-seong answered and shouted toward the stairs.

“You heard, right? I’ll let you live. Stop hiding with a knife and just come out.”

“Damn.”

The assassin emerged, throwing down a hand axe and dagger.

He had apparently recovered and been hiding there.

Ju-seong patted his shoulder as he passed by and emerged, lifting the curtain onto the main road.

“Wow, what nice weather today.”

Stepping out of the dim evil faction lair that was only ‘Three Yang’ in name, and finally bathing in warm sunlight, made him feel refreshed in body and mind.

“Now I need to head back to Master’s place…”

What would he say when he found out Ju-seong had swallowed both deadly poison sacs?

His expression hardened for a moment, and fear appeared on Ju-seong’s face.

He had the nerve to mouth off before masters, but his master’s wrath was terrifying even to the shameless performer.

That night, Ju-seong was beaten in the name of pursuing meridian points, having every vital point on his body pummeled by his master’s interrogation.

And a certain man who couldn’t sleep at night due to his heavy chest finally found deep sleep for the first time in a long while.