CLS-Chapter 458

Chapter 458:

“Huk!”

Wei Yan-ho bolted upright.

“Huuuuuu.”

A deep breath flowed out. The sword his master had wielded remained vivid in his eyes.

‘Really, this is just too much.’

Was he supposed to imitate that? That tremendously overwhelming sword technique?

Wei Yan-ho shook his head.

No matter how much one spoke of his master’s greatness, it would never be enough. Though Wei Yan-ho had grown accustomed to viewing everything with skepticism, he could not deny his master’s greatness.

It wasn’t that his master’s martial arts were great—it was that the person called Baek Mu-han was great.

‘That’s probably the complete form of the Light Sword Style.’

His master’s martial arts were called the Twelve Styles of Light Sword. With just those Twelve Styles of Light Sword, he had no rivals under heaven, and eventually became known as the greatest master of all time. But in his later years, he organized his insights and created the Light Sword Style.

However, the Baek Mu-han who met Wei Yan-ho abandoned even that Light Sword Style. Then he created and transmitted entirely new martial arts tailored to Wei Yan-ho.

Discarding his own martial arts again and again. Even though it was martial learning already acclaimed as the greatest of all time. Who in the world could do such a thing?

Continuously refining heaven-sent talent with endless desire for improvement, polishing it again and again.

“I can’t do that much, Master.”

Wei Yan-ho sighed repeatedly.

His master wanted him to surpass himself.

‘That’s impossible.’

How should he put it…

It was the epitome of ‘our child is smart, but just doesn’t study.’ Even if Wei Yan-ho reduced his sleep, no—even if he never slept and trained his entire life, it would be difficult to even grasp Baek Mu-han’s heel.

Baek Mu-han was the greatest example of why geniuses make poor teachers.

“What do you mean you can’t do this! You stupid fool!”

Just thinking about it made his body tremble.

This was Baek Mu-han, who would curse you as being stupider than a neighborhood dog if you couldn’t imitate something after seeing it once. It was fortunate that Wei Yan-ho had a gentle personality and could endure it—if someone sensitive had become Baek Mu-han’s disciple, they would have broken their sword.

Looking back at Baek Mu-han’s words, it seemed there were several people within the Ten Thousand Swords Hundred Families who had given up martial arts after receiving Baek Mu-han’s teachings.

That was understandable.

Receiving teachings from Baek Mu-han meant they were also geniuses. Baek Mu-han wouldn’t transmit his insights to just anyone. Even to pick up crumbs that fell from his insights, one had to be at least called a genius among geniuses in the martial world—that was Baek Mu-han’s philosophy.

People who considered themselves geniuses couldn’t endure Baek Mu-han’s harsh criticism and disparagement.

Moreover, when those who thought themselves outstanding realized that their comprehension didn’t even amount to the dirt under Baek Mu-han’s fingernails, what must their feelings have been?

From that perspective, Wei Yan-ho was truly the perfect disciple for Baek Mu-han.

His comprehension wasn’t as outstanding as Baek Mu-han’s level, but he wasn’t so stupid that Baek Mu-han would give up teaching him. He also possessed the patience to endure any amount of beating and abuse as long as he was allowed to sleep.

Since he didn’t think highly of himself, he didn’t become timid no matter how great Baek Mu-han was.

While Baek Mu-han was an irreplaceable master to Wei Yan-ho, Wei Yan-ho was also a disciple Baek Mu-han could never meet again. So it was natural for Baek Mu-han to have expectations of Wei Yan-ho.

But Baek Mu-han’s expectations were too great, and it was difficult for Wei Yan-ho to bear those expectations.

“Kkeung.”

Wei Yan-ho struggled to get up from his seat.

“Excuse me.”

“Yes, Young Master.”

The door opened slightly and a maid’s voice was heard. Wei Yan-ho spoke as if he had made up his mind.

“Please prepare bath water.”

“What? Ah… I understand.”

There was puzzlement in the maid’s voice. Though Wei Yan-ho had stayed here for quite some time, he had never once asked for bath water to be prepared.

But wasn’t her job to serve Wei Yan-ho? A quick response came back.

As the maid closed the door, Wei Yan-ho got up from the bed and drank some water.

The eyes of Wei Yan-ho, who had refreshingly gulped down the water, settled.

‘Master is right.’

In the end, it was something that had to be done. And if he sat there worrying just because he couldn’t see the answer, the answer would never come. What he needed to do now was take a step forward.

Wei Yan-ho, having steeled his resolve, shouted decisively.

“Make it cold water! So I’ll be wide awake!”

The lazy one began to move his heavy bottom.

***

“Where are you going?”

As soon as Wei Yan-ho left the guest hall, he saw Jang-il scurrying toward him and made a displeased face.

“Are you watching me?”

“Huk? How did you know… No, that’s not it?”

Wei Yan-ho’s eyes narrowed.

“Who told you to?”

“It’s voluntary.”

Jang-il puffed out his chest proudly.

“I see…”

Wei Yan-ho just shook his head. He had no desire to get into a scuffle with Jang-il here.

“So where are you going?”

“The Medicine Hall.”

“Huh? The Medicine Hall?”

“Yeah.”

“Why the Medicine Hall? Are you sick somewhere?”

“No. I want to take another look at those people.”

“You mean those who were struck by the strange disease this time?”

“Yeah.”

Jang-il looked at Wei Yan-ho with strange eyes.

“Why?”

“I’m surprised you’d feel like doing that.”

“If someone heard you, they’d think I don’t do anything.”

Jang-il’s mouth fell wide open. Where else in the world could you find someone so shameless?

But unlike usual, Wei Yan-ho ignored Jang-il’s reaction and headed toward the Medicine Hall.

“Let’s go together!”

Jang-il quickly attached himself to Wei Yan-ho.

“I won’t cause trouble.”

“I’m just saying let’s go together.”

“Keung.”

Though Wei Yan-ho’s face showed he didn’t like it at all, he didn’t particularly push Jang-il away. Such scuffling would just be a waste of time right now.

Watching Wei Yan-ho walking ahead without a word, Jang-il made a strange expression.

‘What wind has blown through this guy?’

He was the type who wouldn’t step forward even if the martial world collapsed tomorrow, as long as his bed wasn’t touched. Considering that everyone from Kwon Geuk to the Divine Strategist Four, Wei Jeong-han, and Jang-il were all working together to set up situations to make use of him, Wei Yan-ho stepping forward on his own to do something was remarkable.

‘I hope nothing goes wrong.’

But since Wei Yan-ho was someone who caused storms on level ground with everything he did, worry came first.

Wei Yan-ho entered the Medicine Hall and asked someone nearby.

“Where are the people who collapsed this time?”

The Medicine Hall member who glanced at Wei Yan-ho frowned.

“Why do you want to see the patients?”

“I have something to investigate.”

“Visits to patients are prohibited. If you really want to see the patients, get permission from the Family Head.”

“So I just need to go to the Family Head and come back? Should I get some kind of proof?”

“…”

The Medicine Hall member looked at Wei Yan-ho in confusion.

Usually, saying to get permission from the Family Head was the same as saying absolutely not. It was just a roundabout way of speaking to avoid conflict with the other party. But when Wei Yan-ho responded this way, he began to run out of things to say.

“That’s not what I meant…”

“Then what?”

Just as the Medicine Hall member was flustered, a low voice rescued him.

“What’s the matter?”

“F-Family Head.”

The member who saw the Medicine Hall Master approaching him hurriedly bowed his head.

“I asked what the matter was.”

“This person wants to see the patients.”

“Patients?”

“About this incident…”

The one called Medicine Hall Master nodded as if he understood the situation. The Medicine Hall Master, who had shown a slightly harsh expression to the member, smiled as he looked at Wei Yan-ho.

“Young Master Wei has come.”

“You know me?”

“There’s no one in the Tang Family who doesn’t know Young Master.”

“Right. Even three-year-olds go around cursing you. They curse so eloquently, I wanted to recruit them as beggars.”

“Just shut up.”

At Jang-il’s interjection, Wei Yan-ho raised his hand, and Jang-il quickly stepped back.

“That guy… if he weren’t my brother’s friend, I’d just…”

“Don’t forget. I’m Wei San-ho’s best friend.”

“Keung.”

If only he wouldn’t talk, he wouldn’t be so annoying.

The Medicine Hall Master, who had been watching their conversation, spoke up.

“You said you wanted to see the patients?”

“Yes.”

“Why do you want to see them?”

“I’m wondering if I missed something.”

“We’re doing our best to care for the patients. Would something change just because you look at them?”

“No. I can’t be certain. But…”

Wei Yan-ho looked directly at the Medicine Hall Master and said.

“This isn’t something that can be cured with medicine, is it?”

“…”

“If it could be treated, you would have done so already. But there’s been no improvement at all. Right?”

“Hmm…”

The Medicine Hall Master looked at Wei Yan-ho squarely, then turned around.

“Follow me. I’ll guide you.”

Wei Yan-ho followed behind the Medicine Hall Master without a word.

‘This guy’s way of talking is a bit strange?’

Jang-il tilted his head.

The usual Wei Yan-ho wouldn’t have used such a piercing way of speaking.

‘Has something really changed?’

Whether the change before his eyes was positive or negative would have to be seen, but what was certain was that Wei Yan-ho becoming proactive was a good thing.

“Here.”

Even before arriving, Wei Yan-ho’s face was already hardened.

A stench that pierced his nose.

A stench that couldn’t normally be smelled was tormenting him. Were these really living people emitting this stench, not corpses?

As he entered the room, he saw people lying on the floor. Dark blue pus was flowing from their black and blue skin.

“…These are the people who had seizures this time?”

Even Jang-il spoke as if he couldn’t believe it.

Weren’t they worse than the ones seen before? Since the seizure timing was different, he had thought they’d be in better condition than the previous ones, but somehow the situation felt more serious.

“The speed of decay is fast.”

The Medicine Hall Master was also sighing as if there was no answer.

“We’re trying every possible treatment, but we haven’t been able to stop the decay with any method. It’s only because they have high martial prowess that they’re still alive—ordinary people would have died long ago.”

“Mm…”

Wei Yan-ho approached the patients with a hardened face.

Crouching beside the person lying at the front, Wei Yan-ho reached out and felt the patient’s pulse.

Though pus was flowing out making the wrist feel damp, he didn’t mind and closed his eyes.

Wei Yan-ho, who had kept his eyes closed for a long time while feeling the patient’s pulse, slowly lowered his hand and stood up.

“How is it?”

“It’s blocked.”

“Blocked?”

“All the qi and blood channels have burst, so qi isn’t circulating. What do you call a person whose qi doesn’t circulate?”

“…A corpse.”

“Right.”

Wei Yan-ho looked at the patients with deeply sunken eyes.

“Bodies that seem dead though they haven’t died. So naturally they rot. Like blood rots when it pools.”

“Can’t we forcibly circulate the qi? That seems like it would solve it.”

“Easier said than done.”

Theoretically, it was possible. But when all the qi and blood channels had burst and the pathways were gone, how could one circulate qi?

“Even if that were possible, it wouldn’t be a solution. It’s not just one or two people.”

“Then what do you plan to do?”

“Mm…”

After pondering for a long time, Wei Yan-ho raised his head to look at the Medicine Hall Master. The Medicine Hall Master also received his gaze with slightly tense eyes.

“By any chance…”