CLS-Chapter 619

Chapter 619:

“Gulp.“

The sound of swallowing saliva could be heard clearly.

The people gathered here could be said to have experienced all kinds of hardships. More precisely, while there were countless people in the martial world, there weren’t many who had suffered as much as these individuals.

Among them, Wei Jeong-han in particular could be called the ultimate king of hardship.

He had spent his youth in war against the Demonic Cult. No, he was one of those who experienced that war most intensely. How else could his reputation from those deeds alone still be talked about throughout the realm, even though he hadn’t particularly roamed the martial world since then?

And as an adult, he was caught up in every incident under heaven together with his son.

Ordinary incidents couldn’t even draw a snort from these people. Yet even such a Wei Jeong-han was extremely tense right now.

If a sharp blade were at his throat, deciding between life and death, he wouldn’t feel like this. After all, he’d been living with his life on the line for quite some time now.

But what was at stake now wasn’t their lives.

‘Thousands of people.’

What if the treatment fails?

Everyone dies.

Everyone afflicted with the plague dies. Thinking of such a scenario made even the great Wei Jeong-han’s knees weak.

The fate of the martial world now rested on their shoulders. More precisely, Wei Yan-ho was carrying the fate of the martial world on his back, while the others were merely lending a helping hand, but even the weight of that helping hand was unimaginably heavy.

But this was a different feeling from that.

While he fully understood that failing to stop the Demonic Cult and Hundred Sword Castle would turn the martial world into a sea of blood, there was a different dimension of reality between abstract death and the death right before their eyes.

This single moment would determine the life and death of thousands. Such pressure made even the great Wei Jeong-han tremble.

And…

Wei Jeong-han’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Wei Yan-ho’s steps approaching the closest collapsed warrior were extraordinarily cautious. He wondered if Wei Yan-ho had ever been so careful even once before.

‘Of course he would be.’

Wei Yan-ho was still young.

Though he sometimes forgot, Wei Yan-ho was merely a youth who had just passed his coming of age. It only didn’t feel that way because he handled such important matters.

For such a child to decide the lives of thousands. Naturally his legs would shake and he’d be nervous…

“Hey, why are you hesitating so much?”

‘How did that bastard not starve to death?’

He couldn’t help but wonder. Beggars were supposed to live by reading the room. A beggar without awareness was just asking to get his bowl smashed, hadn’t he been saying that repeatedly?

Yet how had someone so oblivious managed not to starve to death and even rise to the position of Small Beggar in the Beggar’s Sect?

“Hey, beggar.”

“What?”

Just as Wei Jeong-han was about to scold him, Wei Yan-ho spoke with a face full of anxiety.

“It won’t bite, right?”

“……”

“……”

Everyone lost their words and stared at Wei Yan-ho.

Though the atmosphere was growing cold, Wei Yan-ho seemed completely uninterested in others’ moods and trembled.

“Hey, you crazy bastard! It’s not a dog, why would it bite!”

“It looks worse than a dog though?”

“He’s collapsed!”

“What if he suddenly jumps up and bites?”

“Argh!”

Jang-il twisted his body in frustration, unable to figure out what to do. Though he didn’t express it, the others’ feelings weren’t much different from Jang-il’s.

“Hey, you fool! Is this the time to worry about such things? And you need to make sense when you talk! These are people you knocked down yourself! So what are you afraid of?”

“Aren’t you scared of rabid dogs?”

Jang-il stammered in reply.

“…I am scared.”

“Beating a dog with a club is nothing. But when a dog comes running with foam at its mouth, it’s scary.”

“That’s true!”

Wei Jeong-han, whose patience had snapped, shouted.

“Why are you agreeing with him!”

“B-but facts are facts…”

Orthodox sect member.

He could tell for certain. That beggar had the qualifications to be the Small Beggar of the Beggar’s Sect. Such an honest character who couldn’t lie.

‘Damn it.’

Wei Yan-ho hesitantly poked the warrior with his toe.

“He won’t have a seizure, right?”

“Hey, you brat! What kind of behavior is that toward a patient!”

“The kid’s about to become a patient himself right now!”

“Why would you become a patient!”

“What if I get infected from being bitten?”

“Grrrr.”

Wei Jeong-han forcibly curled up the corners of his mouth.

He really had a wonderful son. Whenever he suffered from guilt and remorse about his son, this brat would automatically eliminate such feelings. Thanks to that, Wei Jeong-han could maintain a very clean and refreshed state of mind.

“Check him right now!”

“Tch!”

Wei Yan-ho stuck out his lips. If he could, he’d like to grab that snout and throw it away. But perhaps intimidated by Wei Jeong-han’s threats, Wei Yan-ho slowly approached the collapsed person.

Watching his hesitant manner was infuriating, but what could be done?

Wei Yan-ho glanced at Wei Jeong-han, then crouched down next to the collapsed person.

“Ugh.“

Then, with a truly disgusted expression, he took the man’s pulse. He sent energy inside to check the condition.

“How is it?”

“Rushing me won’t make it happen faster. Rice has to be cooked before it becomes a meal.”

“You are actually checking right now, aren’t you?”

“Geez! Really!”

Feeling he’d gone too far, Wei Jeong-han stepped back. From Wei Yan-ho’s perspective it might be unfair, but no matter how much he tried to trust him, he just couldn’t feel confident. It was his own doing.

Wei Yan-ho grumbled as he channeled more internal energy into the hand taking the pulse.

“Hmm?”

Wei Yan-ho’s brow furrowed.

After examining for a while, Wei Yan-ho suddenly stood up and took the pulse of another person lying nearby.

After repeating the same action a couple times, Wei Yan-ho stood up and turned around.

“It seems similar?”

“To the Dang Family members?”

“Yes. You could say it’s almost identical. If there’s a difference, it’s that back then the poison energy was strong, but this time there’s no poison energy. Instead, the demonic energy is more viscous.”

“The demonic energy is viscous…”

Wei Jeong-han tilted his head.

“So is it the same as back then, or different?”

“Both the same and different. Back then the demonic energy was weaker than this. Poison energy was filling that gap. I think…”

Wei Yan-ho looked toward the Zhuge Family member.

“What Inkwell said seems right. This is the same plague. And back then, they had seizures before it was fully ripe.”

“The reason?”

“I wouldn’t know. But maybe it’s related to the poison energy?”

The Zhuge Family member answered for Wei Yan-ho.

“Seeing that those who had seizures back then were all people researching poison, it seems a specific poison from the Dang Family stimulated the demonic energy. That’s why they had seizures before it was time.”

“Hmm…”

Wei Jeong-han nodded.

This plague was created when those who learned specific demonic arts released demonic energy to cause seizures. If the poison being researched at the Dang Family had similar properties to that demonic energy, seizures could have started regardless of the intentions of those who spread the Sword Emperor’s Treasure.

“Of course, it’s also possible that Hundred Sword Castle infiltrated to test and cause seizures. Given Sichuan’s characteristics, it wouldn’t spread to the Central Plains, and since they’re people who research poison, they wouldn’t look for external factors even if strange symptoms occurred, making it optimal for experimentation.”

“That makes sense too.”

“Either way, it’s not important. What matters now isn’t the cause but the treatment.”

Wei Jeong-han nodded. The Zhuge Family member was right.

Determining how this happened was also important. But right now, that couldn’t be the priority. For incidents that had already occurred, handling the situation was more important than identifying the cause.

“Can you treat it?”

“Uh…”

Wei Yan-ho scratched his head vigorously.

“There’s a bit of a problem with this.”

“What problem?”

“Um…”

Wei Yan-ho hesitated slightly. His expression was strange. He seemed very worried, yet there was some indefinable odd feeling mixed in.

Looking at that face made anxiety creep up.

“What problem? Speak clearly.”

“Uh, to conclude…”

“Yes.”

“Treatment is possible. Well, it won’t be too difficult. I can treat them the same way as last time.”

The same way?

How did Wei Yan-ho treat them last time? So that means…

“You’re going to absorb it?”

“Yes.”

Wei Yan-ho shrugged.

Previously, Wei Yan-ho had treated the Dang Family members by absorbing all the poison energy and demonic energy spread through their bodies. The demonic energy suppressed their energy, and the poison energy destroyed their bodies.

“Compared to then, this is actually a better situation.”

“How so?”

“Don’t you remember? How it was back then?”

Wei Jeong-han had no choice but to nod. At that time, the Dang Family members were unconscious while their bodies rotted away. Recalling that scene, these people seemed to be in much better condition.

“The ones who had proper seizures are these people, so why is their condition better?”

“I think it’s because of the poison energy.”

“Poison energy!”

Wei Jeong-han could finally understand the situation. The Dang Family members dealt with poison. But humans originally cannot contain poison. The reason Dang Family members could harbor poison in their bodies was because they protected themselves with internal energy.

However, the demonic energy seized and suppressed all that internal energy. So no matter how much resistance the Dang Family members had, they couldn’t handle it. As a result, their bodies melted and rotted from the poison energy they possessed.

But these people had no poison energy. So they wouldn’t reach such a state.

While the Dang Family members needed enormous time to recover even after treatment, these people wouldn’t need to go through such a process. If it was good news, it was good news.

“Then what’s the problem?”

“The problem is… the demonic energy is stronger.”

“Huh?”

Wei Yan-ho shrugged.

“Back then, the degree of seizure wasn’t severe, so I could finish by only losing part of their internal energy. But this time is different. Instead of poison energy, the demonic energy is strong. And that demonic energy came from their own original internal energy.”

“…Which means?”

“Yes, that’s right. If I treat them the same way, most of their internal cultivation will be lost.”

Wei Jeong-han’s face hardened.

He realized how serious this situation was.

“…Is there no other way?”

“There probably is. But I can’t find it.”

“Mmm.”

Losing internal energy?

Internal energy was the element that distinguished martial artists from ordinary people. Even the greatest masters under heaven weren’t much different from ordinary people who were good at street fighting without internal energy.

But most of their internal energy had to be lost for treatment to be possible?

This was absolutely not something to consider lightly. If handled poorly, those who received treatment might end up resenting them.

‘What should we do about this?’

Wei Jeong-han’s brow furrowed.

“What should we do?”

At Wei Yan-ho’s question, Wei Jeong-han spoke heavily.