Chapter 18. A Third-Rate Warrior Who Saves a Girl (5)
After finishing the day’s work, Wang Geum-san was passing through a long corridor and heading toward the enormous mansion at the center of Wangbu, the Wang family’s village.
High watchtowers had been built in all eight directions around the mansion, and inside them, in every direction, there were lodgings where guards who could be dispatched at any time resided.
Though they could not be seen, amid the gardens and buildings spread around the halls, watchful eyes were strict and vigilant.
Wang Geum-san passed through all of that and entered Wang So-so’s room.
“Father! You’re here!”
The room was cool, as if Bukhae had been brought inside.
Even so, the heat coming from the child’s body was far from ordinary.
As if heat were shooting out from a roaring fire into which great piles of firewood had been thrown, an immense amount of heat poured from Wang So-so’s body.
‘Poor child.’
When he was in contact with Wang So-so, heat rose through his entire body, making it difficult to endure.
As if Wang So-so knew her own condition as well, she moved away from Wang Geum-san, and the cold air soon cooled his body.
“Did you spend today pleasantly?”
“Yes. I embroidered a new pattern today.”
Wang So-so smiled as she showed him the embroidery she had been working on.
At that sight, Wang Geum-san felt as though the fatigue of the day melted away in an instant.
She was a child who gave him such strength, and yet Wang Geum-san’s eyes as he looked at her were filled with sorrow.
The child’s heat, which had begun around the age of ten, continued without end once it rose, making her languish for days on end.
No matter how many skilled physicians and precious medicinal ingredients he used, this heat did not subside. Rather, it grew even stronger, and the child began wasting away day by day.
The money he had scattered throughout the world just to learn the name of the illness amounted to tens of thousands of taels.
Only after paying that tremendous sum did he barely learn the identity of the illness.
“How wondrous. Solar qi appearing in a girl’s body.”
“Can it be cured?”
“How can one cure something that is not wrong?”
“What?”
“……The heat emerging from the young lady’s body is innate. Had she originally been born in a male body, she would have made her name known throughout the entire murim.”
“Explain in detail.”
Wang Geum-san also knew about bodies born with innate talent.
“Have you heard of the Solar Body?”
“One who possesses the Solar Body emits blazing fire energy from their entire body from the beginning of time. This is a natural and proper phenomenon.”
“Then why does she suffer so much in daily life?”
“That is because a girl’s body cannot receive the energy of the sun.”
“……Are you saying the energy is instead attacking her body?”
“In general, it is the natural order for the Great Yin Body to manifest in a woman’s body and the Solar Body to manifest in a man’s body. Because that order has been reversed, she suffers so much in daily life.”
“The treatment method? How can she recover?”
The physician spoke even more cautiously.
“That is……”
“How frustrating! Speak quickly!”
“Because nothing is wrong, there is no treatment method.”
“What!”
“If one is born with a body that can live a long life, could that be considered an illness?”
“…….”
“One cannot call a person who lives each day full of vitality and energy a sick person. That is a blessing bestowed by heaven. No one would think a body that could easily reach the absolute realm if it learned a martial art capable of storing energy suited to the body was something that had to be cured.”
“…….”
Wang Geum-san’s face twisted in a way words could not describe.
The physician quickly read his expression and opened his mouth.
“Gather many precious treasures that emit cold energy, make her room as cold as midwinter, and have her live only inside it. If you do that, much of the suffering and difficulty caused by the rising heat should be relieved.”
“……If I do only that, will there be no difficulty in her living?”
“…….”
When the physician hesitated, Wang Geum-san made the sound of grinding his teeth.
“I hope that, even in the future, there will be no matter I was unaware of that makes me mention your name.”
“……The power of the Solar Body grows even stronger after one passes twenty. And once the force of life begins to fade, the body will become unable to receive the power of the Solar Body……”
“…….”
“If you take the utmost care of her, I believe she may live…… until twenty-five.”
After that, he sought out every physician and herb gatherer said to be skilled, but they all said the same thing.
Among them, there were even those who declared they could treat her, and because of their incorrect procedures, Wang So-so had been driven into a critical condition.
After such things repeated, Wang Geum-san also gave up on any further treatment.
He decided to be satisfied simply with spending each precious day together with his daughter.
“What very splendid bamboo. The way it has grown so upright makes its spirit feel grand.”
“I want to make clothes for you with this, Father.”
“They will become very splendid clothes.”
“Yes. Please look forward to them.”
At Wang So-so’s flawlessly clear smile, Wang Geum-san’s heart tore again.
To ease such emotions, he always asked his daughter.
“Is there anything you wish to have?”
“I already have beautiful hairpins, norigae, ornaments, mirrors, clothes, and silk.”
“Still. If you are bored, should I call a troupe for you? How about Peking opera?”
“Mm……”
“Say anything you wish. Your birthday is coming soon, is it not?”
“I want to see the market scenery.”
“What?”
“I want to draw it, but I have never been to a crowded market, so I do not really know it.”
“Ah……”
“If you are worried, you do not have to overdo it.”
Was it said that a kind child watched their parent’s expression?
Wang So-so, who quickly read Wang Geum-san’s expression, glossed over her words with a smile.
Only then did Wang Geum-san change his expression and speak.
“I was not going to tell you yet before the preparations were complete……”
“What is it?”
“In truth, I am preparing a carriage for you.”
“Pardon?”
“Yes……. I am having a carriage made, one that will not be difficult for you to ride, and in which you can stay for a long time. Once that is complete, you will be able to go outside as much as you wish.”
“Really! Thank you so much, Father!”
Wang So-so burrowed into his arms.
Once again, he felt a scorching heat.
After leaving Wang So-so’s residence, Wang Geum-san was walking through the corridor again.
At that moment, a man in black stealth clothes dropped from the ceiling with a THUD and walked beside Wang Geum-san.
“Master, how would it be if you refrained from going out for a while?”
“Why do you say that?”
“That threatening letter we received this time bothers me.”
“You worry about all kinds of things.”
The threatening letter someone had left behind.
It contained an arrogant and absurd claim that they would dare target Wang So-so in this very Wangbu.
By now, Wangbu was not on the level of the Nine Sects and One Gang or the Five Great Clans, but it had come to possess strength comparable to sects occupying the chief seats of the One Hundred Eight Peaks.
In addition to that, the connections with officials built by financial power granted Wangbu an even more absolute strength.
Who, then, could possibly break into such a Wangbu?
It was clear that no one could, aside from the Nine Sects and One Gang or the Five Great Clans.
“Then may I increase the guards further?”
“……Do that.”
He forcibly erased his anxiety, telling himself it was a needless worry, and fell asleep. But the first report he received in the morning was despair itself.
“The young lady seems…… to have been kidnapped!”
“Th-the Murim Alliance! Contact the Murim Alliance!”
“The Branch Chief is already running here at once.”
The warriors who rushed in with the Branch Chief searched So-so’s room thoroughly, but they could not find any trace.
“Was there perhaps any contact from the culprit?”
At that moment, the threatening letter suddenly came to mind.
“……A bold bastard. To send a letter so openly saying he would kidnap her. First, we will begin by searching the surroundings.”
“You must rescue her quickly.”
“It is a bit improper to say this in a situation like this, but please do not worry about the young lady’s life. In most kidnappings of this sort, the target is money, so contact usually comes quickly.”
“No! No! That is not the problem! So-so has an illness!”
A bolt from the blue fell upon the Murim Alliance’s Hefei Branch, and the news immediately spread throughout all of Hefei.
Among the members of Sojeong Squad, there was a fellow called the Traceless Death God.
From the beginning, it was not that we knew he was the legendary Traceless Death God. Only when the Great Righteous-Demonic War was already well underway and we reached a situation where there was absolutely no path of escape did the fellow reveal his identity.
Since a bastard whose inner arts and techniques had originally been nothing special said such a thing, he was cursed at and struck in the jaw for spouting useless nonsense in the middle of a crisis. But at the move he showed us, we nearly fainted.
From the fellow clearly visible before our eyes, not the slightest presence could be felt.
Even when the fellow moved and swung his sword, we did not receive any sense that a person was moving at all.
Of course, at the time, we were even more stunned by the fact that the “Traceless Death God,” who was no different from a great figure of the Black Path murim, was working as a low-ranking warrior of the Murim Alliance.
In any case, “Ghost-Breathing Step” was a peculiar footwork technique that had given him the legendary alias of Traceless Death God.
Ghost-Breathing Step made it feel as if one were using the Ghost-Breathing Great Art while moving.
As long as one was not within sight, no matter how sharp someone’s senses were, they could not feel that a person was there. Using this “Ghost-Breathing Step,” we were able to catch the Guardian Dharma King.
And now, as I followed Wang So-so and the Azure Sky Merchant Guild, I was making good use of it.
As I had expected, the bastards who moved from Wangbu to Hefei, and from Hefei to Chao Lake, shook off the pursuit squad hastily formed by the Murim Alliance and fled all the way to Lujiang.
When those bastards arrived at the abandoned house deep in the mountains of Lujiang, where the headless corpse had been found, contrary to my expectations, they looked somewhat flustered.
“This woman’s condition is strange.”
“What are you talking about? She was fine when we brought her out of the house.”
“Look at this. Her body is boiling like fire.”
The man who touched the bundle was startled and pulled his hand away.
“If this is how she is, she has no value as a hostage. Release her Numbing Acupoint.”
“P-please spare me. Please spare me!”
“Hey. Do you have some kind of illness?”
“Please spare me! I want to go home.”
The man struck Wang So-so’s Numbing Acupoint 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? Are you going to call a physician? Leave her be. She will last a day or so.”
The bastards gathered in groups of three and five, lit fires, caught rabbits, roasted them, and continued behaving so carelessly that one could hardly imagine they were kidnappers.
‘That is better for me.’
Using Ghost-Breathing Step, I slowly approached the area around them.
“Hic. Ugh, eating greasy food without liquor is…… Huh, what are you……”
I killed the bastard who was about to take a shit first.
“Hey! If you are going to shit, go farther away! If you do it around here……”
I killed the bastard who had come to stop the shitting man second.
When the presence of two people vanished at once, the warriors with good instincts each began grabbing their swords.
“Someone is here.”
“Draw your swords!”
“Who are you! Come out at once!”
I released the inner qi and presence I had been hiding with Ghost-Breathing Step all at once, then kicked one of the bastards and threw him onto the fire.
Aaaaagh.
The bastard scattered the campfire in every direction and rolled around trying to put out the flames on his body, then lost his life to my sword. Around us, as the campfire went out, darkness slowly descended.
“Reveal your identity!”
“Great Swallow Sword Formation! Spread the sword formation!”
“You crazy bastard! Will you not shut up! If our identity is exposed here……”
I slipped into the midst of the bastards, who were running about in confusion, and cut off two more lives. Then the bastards who had been chattering without tension closed their mouths.
“Wh-who are you!”
“Who are you to commit slaughter here so recklessly!”
“We are people of the Namgung Clan. It seems there has been some misunderstanding. Let us resolve this with words.”
The bastards who were desperately searching for me in the darkness unleashed the Boundless Firmament Sword Art with all their strength at the sound of a stone I had thrown, and all they cut apart were fallen leaves and a few trees.
And standing behind those bastards, I spoke.
“I know well who you bastards are. You are the Azure Sky Merchant Guild bastards of the Namgung Clan.”
“Y-you know us and still do this! You dare not fear the great Namgung Clan…… Khh.”
One of the three remaining bastards collapsed.
“If I feared the Namgung Clan, I would not have started.”
The remaining two bastards unleashed the Boundless Firmament Sword Art with all their strength, but I suppressed their sword art with the Sword-Breaking Form.
“Wh-what is this?”
“Impossible!”
And the end of it was their heads falling and rolling across the ground.
“Traceless Idiot, I never imagined in my life that I would receive your help.”
Honoring his achievement with the nickname we had used to call him, I approached Wang So-so.
“Our rich young lady from a wealthy family. It is time to go home.”
Wang So-so’s complexion, revealed outside the bundle, had turned pale.
She was in a state where her breathing might stop at any moment.
“P-please save me.”
Wang So-so spoke like that, as if she would soon die.
