CLS-Chapter 51

Chapter 51 

“Are you referring to the Sacred Hand Hall?”

The Historian tilted his head in confusion. There was only one Sacred Hand Hall he knew of in all the world.

“By any chance, are you speaking of the Sacred Hand Hall, the First Hall of Sacred Hands, the Gate of Medicine Above All Others in the world?”

Guangqushen scratched his belly and blew away the grime stuck under his fingernails with a huff.

“Is there any other Sacred Hand Hall besides that one?”

The Historian frowned as if he couldn’t understand at all.

“Are you saying that the Sacred Hand Hall, the world’s greatest medical sect, was in such a shabby state just a hundred years ago?”

Guangqushen looked at the Historian as if he were pathetic.

“What have you heard?”

“Pardon? What do you mean?”

“The Sacred Hand Hall is a place that boasts hundreds of years of tradition.”

“That’s correct.”

“The problem is that when that bastard arrived at the Sacred Hand Hall, those hundreds of years of tradition were right on the verge of being cut off. They had sold off the buildings, the physicians had fled… it was complete chaos.”

The Historian nodded.

From what he heard, the situation didn’t look good at all.

“Still, seeing how the Sacred Hand Hall is now renowned as the world’s greatest medical sect, Great Hero Wei Yan-ho must have been of great help to the Sacred Hand Hall, right?”

Guangqushen clutched his belly and rolled around laughing.

“Hahahaha! What did you just say? Great help?”

The Historian’s eyes widened at Guangqushen’s inexplicable reaction.

“What’s wrong?”

Guangqushen wiped away the tears that had leaked out, then shuddered as if the very thought gave him chills.

“Don’t you ever go to the Sacred Hand Hall and say something like that. Not unless you want to die gracefully with a golden needle stuck in your death point.”

“What do you mean?”

Guangqushen clicked his tongue.

“Do you know what Wei Yan-ho’s most terrifying aspect is?”

“I wouldn’t really know…”

Guangqushen took out a long pipe from his chest and lit it with Three-Mai True Fire conjured from his fingertips.

Then he exhaled smoke in a long stream.

“He has no malice.”

“Pardon?”

“Wei Yan-ho, that bastard has no malice. I’ve never seen him curse anyone, hate anyone, or deliberately torment anyone.”

“How is that a terrifying aspect?”

“It’s terrifying, terrifying indeed! Of course it’s terrifying. Think about it. If someone with absolutely no malice toward you brings unimaginable misfortune upon you just by being near you, what would you do?”

The Historian flinched.

“Well…”

“There’s no answer, right?”

“Yes.”

Guangqushen closed his eyes and nodded.

“That’s right, there’s no answer. That’s the biggest problem. But humans are bound to try to find an answer somehow. And when they do…”

Guangqushen paused slightly and grinned, showing his yellow teeth.

“They sink into an even deeper quagmire.”

***

That bastard brings misfortune wherever he goes.

No, that’s not right. To be precise, that bastard brings misfortune wherever he goes, but he also has a ghostly talent for finding places where misfortune already exists.

What do I mean?

Wherever that bastard goes, problems always arise, but from another perspective, wherever that bastard goes, some tremendous problem already exists even before he arrives.

It’s a ghostly talent.

After I realized this fact later on, whenever that bastard came looking for me, I would set everything aside and inspect the surroundings. Sure enough, there would always be a bomb somewhere on the verge of exploding.

What?

So I could resolve things nicely?

What the hell have you been listening to?

That bastard both seeks out misfortune and brings misfortune with him!

The moment that bastard arrives at a place where there’s already a bomb, everything is over. The moment you discover the bomb and try to pour water on it, the bomb explodes and the foundation gets blown away.

What?

Surely it can’t be that bad?

Let’s see if you can still say that after hearing about what happened at the Sacred Hand Hall.

Listen carefully.

***

“Well, of course! What good treatment could someone with my fate expect! I’d be lucky if I don’t get struck by lightning while walking down the street! Uwaaah! Why does that damned master make me do things like this! I want to go home!”

Wei Yan-ho’s resentful voice echoed loudly across the Hubei sky.

The boy who had identified himself as the young hall master seemed flustered by Wei Yan-ho’s reaction and could only blink his eyes.

“What’s the matter?”

Then a clear voice came from inside the gate. Upon hearing the voice, the boy answered respectfully.

“Sister, a guest has arrived.”

“Is it someone who is ill?”

“No, it’s someone who has come to see Father.”

Creak.

The gate opened.

Wei Yan-ho sat slumped on the ground in a state of despair, looking at the opened gate.

“Huh?”

Wei Yan-ho’s eyes widened.

The person who emerged from inside the gate was a woman who appeared to be around Wei Yan-ho’s age.

But Wei Yan-ho wasn’t surprised because a woman had appeared. Wei Yan-ho was surprised because the woman who had opened the gate was a beauty unlike any he had ever seen.

She was a woman to whom clichéd descriptors like skin like white jade or hair like ebony suited all too well.

A straight nose and red lips, along with large eyes.

Wei Yan-ho’s mouth fell open.

The woman saw Wei Yan-ho’s gaze fixed on her and tilted her head.

“What’s the matter?”

Wei Yan-ho answered honestly. Being unable to lie in most situations was both Wei Yan-ho’s strength and weakness.

“Oh, it’s just that you’re so beautiful.”

In an instant, the woman’s face turned red.

“You’re quite the tease.”

“I was just stating the facts as they are…”

Wei Yan-ho felt wronged.

As expected, being honest was a losing proposition in this world.

‘No one who speaks the truth succeeds, and no one who speaks the truth lives long.’

Wei Yan-ho reflected on this universal truth.

“Did you say you came to see Father?”

Wei Yan-ho nodded half-heartedly.

“That’s right.”

“My younger brother Soa is currently the hall master. But since you’ve come to see Father, it would be proper for me, the eldest daughter, to handle this matter.”

Wei Yan-ho took out a letter of introduction from his chest and handed it to the woman.

It was now a useless letter of introduction. What did it matter who saw it?

The woman who took Wei Yan-ho’s letter of introduction began reading the letter with a serious expression.

‘What a picture.’

Even though she was just reading a letter, she looked like a painting.

‘This is why women should be pretty first and men should be handsome first.’

He began to resent his parents anew.

‘My brother is so handsome!’

Why couldn’t Wei Yan-ho be even half as good-looking as his brother?

Of course, from his parents’ perspective, having a son who wasn’t even half as good as his brother probably wasn’t pleasant either.

After finishing the letter, the woman carefully folded it again and hardened her expression.

“Soa.”

“Yes, Sister.”

“Clean the back room and receive our guest.”

“But Sister, that room is for patients.”

“Is there a patient there now?”

“It’s currently empty.”

The woman spoke to her brother.

“Then that’s fine. Clean the room and make sure there’s not a single mistake in receiving our guest. This is someone who has come to see Father. You understand what I mean, don’t you?”

“Yes, Sister.”

The boy called Soa bowed his head deeply. The woman’s voice was clear, but there was a subtle strength within it.

As the boy headed inside to clean the room, the woman looked at Wei Yan-ho again.

“My name is Jin Yeran. And my younger brother whom you just saw is Jin Soa.”

“I’m Wei Yan-ho.”

“I understand that you’ve come to see Father. But unfortunately, Father passed away last year.”

“I see.”

“From the letter, it seems you’ve come to learn medicine. Am I correct?”

“Well, yes.”

Jin Yeran sighed softly. It wasn’t a sigh of burden from Wei Yan-ho, but rather because she knew that the Sacred Hand Hall’s current circumstances made it difficult to teach medicine.

“As you can see, our Sacred Hand Hall currently doesn’t have the proper form of a medical institution. However, if we were to send away someone who came with an introduction from Uncle Moon, our late father would scold us. Though we are lacking and insufficient, I hope you will stay with us.”

Wei Yan-ho waved his hands.

“No! I’m fine. There are many places to learn medicine besides here, so I can go somewhere else. So if it’s a burden, I’ll just leave.”

At that moment, Jin Yeran’s face became resolute.

“That cannot be.”

Wei Yan-ho flinched.

“If we send away a guest who came to see Father like this, people will point fingers at us. We don’t want the Sacred Hand Hall to become a place that doesn’t know propriety, and we don’t want Father’s honor to fall to the ground.”

“If circumstances don’t allow it, that can happen…”

“That absolutely cannot happen!”

Wei Yan-ho made a tearful expression.

Having just escaped from the Confucian academy, this felt even more stuffy and rigid.

If he had known it would be like this, he wouldn’t have come to a place Moon Yu-hwan had introduced, but that damn man’s troublesome nature was complicating matters.

‘Come to think of it, I should have realized when he said he was acquainted with that stone-like Scholar Moon.’

It was too late for regrets now.

He should have anticipated this long ago!

“Um, but I still feel like I’m being a burden…”

Jin Yeran shook her head.

“The Sacred Hand Hall is not a place so lacking in courtesy that we would consider visiting guests a burden. Don’t worry.”

“No, I’m the burden…”

“You don’t need to worry about such things.”

Just then, Jin Soa approached.

“It’s ready, Sister.”

“Guide our guest.”

“Yes!”

Wei Yan-ho’s face was on the verge of tears.

‘I’m doomed.’

He had a strong feeling that things were going wrong from the very beginning.

In any case, this was how Wei Yan-ho was able to safely(?) enter the Sacred Hand Hall.

***

What is the strongest organization in the world?

If that question had been asked two hundred years ago, people’s opinions would have been divided.

Shaolin, called the Northern Star of Mount Tai.

Wudang, called the Ancestor of the Way.

The Ming Cult, called the Origin of Ten Thousand Deaths.

The Ten Thousand Swords, called the Terminus of Swords.

Besides these, countless other sects would have been mentioned by people.

But if the same question were asked now, there would be only one answer.

The Heavenly Orthodox Martial Alliance.

The strongest organization in martial world history, created by the gathering of sects that had commanded the world and families that had criticized society.

As long as they existed as mediator, ruler, and sovereign, no other place could dare put forward their name before them. Only the Heavenly Justice League could lift its head before them.

And in the deepest heart of that Heavenly Orthodox Martial Alliance.

The military hall, said to be even harder to enter than the alliance leader’s hall.

Peng Daoji stood dumbfounded in that military hall.

‘Why am I here…?’

Cold sweat began to bead on Peng Daoji’s forehead.

Personally, he had experienced a tremendous life-threatening event. But that was from Peng Daoji’s personal standpoint, and he thought that from the perspective of the Heavenly Orthodox Martial Alliance, which governed the world, it was just a tiny matter like a speck of dust.

But as soon as he reported the matter, he was brought here almost as if dragged.

‘What did I do wrong?’

Peng Daoji wiped away the sweat with his sleeve.

No matter how much he was the son of a prestigious family, there were plenty of sons of prestigious families in the martial world, enough to trip over. He had never imagined that he would be able to have a private audience with a military officer of the Heavenly Orthodox Martial Alliance.

It wasn’t just burdensome—he felt as if his entire body had turned into a wooden block.

Creak.

Just then, the door opened and a man with an immortal appearance walked in.