CLS-Chapter 625

Chapter 625:

“So then…”

The Head of the Medicine Hall cleared his throat loudly.

“Uh, hmm…”

As he stalled for time, Divine Healer clenched his brow.

“What are you doing?”

“Ah, no…”

“Speak clearly and straightforwardly. Is he alright or not?”

Even as Divine Healer spoke, he refused to turn his head toward Wei Yan-ho as if he couldn’t bear to look at him. It seemed he could live more comfortably as long as Wei Yan-ho wasn’t in his line of sight.

“No, well…”

Despite Divine Healer’s urging, the Head of the Medicine Hall couldn’t give a proper answer. He too was at a loss for how to explain this situation.

Realizing there was no way to explain Wei Yan-ho’s condition in one go, the Head of the Medicine Hall began to lay out his diagnosis piece by piece.

“First of all, his life may or may not be in danger.”

“…What are you saying?”

Divine Healer’s face contorted. What kind of nonsensical diagnosis was this?

“Then will he recover?”

“Well… he might, or he might not…”

“Are you trying to play games with me right now?”

“No, it’s not that…”

The Head of the Medicine Hall felt very wronged.

“This is the first time in my life I’ve seen such symptoms, so it’s difficult to say anything definitive. Even if you brought any physician in the world, they wouldn’t be able to accurately diagnose this condition.”

“Grrrrrgh.”

Divine Healer let out a groan.

He knew that too. Couldn’t anyone tell just by looking?

Who in the world would have seen such a state? Throughout all of history, no one would have witnessed such a condition. So it was also true that a diagnosis couldn’t be made.

“Why did he end up like this?”

“Well, how should I put this…”

The Head of the Medicine Hall scratched his head vigorously. His reality of having to explain this absurd situation was pitiful.

“This is… No, didn’t Wei Yan-ho absorb all the Demonic Energy to treat those afflicted with the strange disease?”

“He did. What went wrong with that? Qi Deviation or something?”

“No. It’s not that. Absorbing Demonic Energy itself isn’t particularly problematic. The problem is… along with that Demonic Energy, Internal Energy was also absorbed.”

“Internal Energy?”

Divine Healer’s face hardened slightly.

“Don’t tell me it’s something like the Star-Absorbing Technique?”

The Star-Absorbing Technique would be a very sensitive issue. Methods of stealing others’ Internal Energy were always classified as one of the most vicious arts.

If Wei Yan-ho had learned the Star-Absorbing Technique, that alone could be problematic.

“It’s not that. From the beginning, the Internal Energy was completely fused with the Demonic Energy, making it impossible to absorb them separately. But he couldn’t just leave the Demonic Energy alone to preserve the Internal Energy, could he?”

“Absorbing others’ Internal Energy isn’t something you can just do because you want to, is it?”

“AWith the proper techniques, anyone trained can absorb Internal Energy. It’s a matter of degree and efficiency. This alone isn’t grounds to criticize Wei Yan-ho, in my opinion.”

As soon as those words ended, Wei Yan-ho spun his head around to look at Divine Healer and said:

“What fault are you trying to find now!”

But Divine Healer completely ignored Wei Yan-ho’s words as if he couldn’t hear them at all.

“I see. Continue.”

The Head of the Medicine Hall cleared his throat and continued:

“Well, that’s how it is. He absorbed Internal Energy and Demonic Energy together. But this was absorbed far too excessively.”

“Huh? Excessively?”

“Yes. So, he absorbed Internal Energy beyond what his physical body could handle. Normally, in such cases, he shouldn’t be able to absorb any more, but for some reason, he kept absorbing.”

“…”

Divine Healer stared blankly at the Head of the Medicine Hall, then turned his head slightly. Wei Yan-ho’s puffed-up, swollen belly came into view.

‘Then that’s…?’

“W-wait a minute. Is that even possible?”

“Of course, it should be impossible normally, but…”

“Energy isn’t rice or something – does it make sense that absorbing a lot would make you swell up? If that were the case, wouldn’t everyone with strong Internal Energy have bloated bellies!”

“This is really… I don’t know how to explain this either…”

The Head of the Medicine Hall continued with a tone that showed he couldn’t hide his own bewilderment.

“So, as I mentioned earlier, normally when Internal Energy beyond what the Core can absorb enters, it should flow out as usual. Should I say it gets drained away? Anyway, that’s normal, but…”

The Head of the Medicine Hall swallowed dryly and continued his explanation.

“The opposite case also exists. When it’s not external energy but somewhat refined Internal Energy, it can accumulate directly inside the body rather than in the Core.”

“Huh? Does that happen?”

“You probably know this well. When taking elixirs and not properly absorbing them, doesn’t the energy scatter throughout the body?”

“That’s right. That happens.”

“This is that kind of case.”

“Huh?”

The Head of the Medicine Hall reached out and pressed firmly on Wei Yan-ho’s belly that looked ready to burst.

“C-careful there! He might burst.”

“It looks like it might burst, but surprisingly, it won’t. Look. Isn’t it incredibly firm? It looks soft, but it’s actually very hard. And the reason for that…”

“…The reason?”

“It’s because what’s filling this belly right now is similar to Sword Energy.”

“Eek?”

Divine Healer’s eyes went wide.

Sword Energy?

Did the Head of the Medicine Hall just say Sword Energy? He couldn’t have misheard, so did that mean everything making that belly bulge was Sword Energy?

“…But how is he still alive?”

“It’s something like Sword Energy, but it’s not Sword Energy. Since this seems difficult to understand, let me explain: how do you create Hard Energy like Sword Energy or Fist Energy in the first place?”

“You compress energy to make it tangible.”

“Then what about Sword Energy?”

“You compress that energy even more…”

Divine Healer stopped speaking. He understood what the Head of the Medicine Hall was saying.

“Ah, so… right now inside Wei Yan-ho’s body, the unabsorbed energies have compressed and compressed again until they’ve hardened like Sword Energy?”

“Exactly.”

“Then what happens?”

“…How would I know?”

The Head of the Medicine Hall shrugged.

“Isn’t this what the phrase ‘unprecedented’ is for? It might have research value, but that’s just research value. No physician can cure a disease they know nothing about and that has no similarity to existing diseases. This is exactly that kind of case.”

“…”

“Still, as a physician, if I were to make a prediction, if the patient could absorb all this energy, he would become invincible throughout history.”

“Oh?”

“But such a thing will never happen.”

“Really? But this guy has always accomplished things that others said were absolutely impossible.”

“Ask him yourself.”

I don’t want to ask.

Divine Healer grimaced and turned to Wei Yan-ho.

“Can’t you do it?”

“Come on, you need to say something that makes sense.”

Wei Yan-ho shrugged his shoulders. Well, he seemed to try to shrug, but since he was buried in fat, only a slight twitch around his shoulders was visible.

“Even for me, this is too much. It’s not something a human can do.”

“R-really?”

“If I could absorb all this energy, there’d be nothing I couldn’t do. I could probably blow away Mount Tai with one finger.”

“That much?”

Divine Healer’s eyes went round. In terms of understanding martial arts, Divine Healer couldn’t keep up with Wei Yan-ho. In the current martial world, there were few stronger than Wei Yan-ho, and probably not many more knowledgeable about martial arts than him.

If such a Wei Yan-ho said this, it must be true.

But it didn’t make sense logically.

“No matter how strong Internal Energy gets, is that possible?”

“It’s not about strong Internal Energy. Being able to absorb this much energy means the Core is already wider than the sea, and having a Core wider than the sea means the level of martial arts is higher than immortals.”

“I-I suppose so.”

“Then they’re someone who could easily Ascend to Immortality if they wanted to, but deliberately stays on earth – at that point, you couldn’t call them human anymore.”

“I don’t understand this well, so…”

Even as Divine Healer spoke, he let out a hollow laugh.

He doesn’t understand well?

How many times in Divine Healer Jo Hyeon’s life had he ever said such words? But what Wei Yan-ho was saying now was truly smashing basic martial arts common sense.

“Is such a realm possible? That level?”

“That’s why I’m saying it doesn’t make sense. You know, those people Shaolin call Living Buddhas.”

“Yes, there are such people.”

“Buddhism calls them Living Buddhas, and what does Taoism call them? Since they’re living immortals, would it be Living Immortals?”

“Hey, you irreverent fool! What do you mean Living Fish!”

“Then what do you call them?”

“Ahem, let’s move on for now.”

“Yes, whatever.”

Wei Yan-ho twitched his shoulders again and continued:

“Anyway, such people exist, but they’re not really living Buddhas or immortals. They’re people who are strong and long-lived, but haven’t yet reached Ascension or Nirvana.”

“That’s right.”

“But there really are those who, while alive, have entered the realm of immortals or Buddhas. People who have transcended physical limitations. If it were such people, absorbing or utilizing this much power wouldn’t be impossible.”

“I understand what you’re saying, but…”

Divine Healer frowned.

“Who has reached such a realm?”

“Our Master.”

“…You mean the Sword Emperor?”

“Yes. He’d digest this like eating cold porridge.”

“…”

Divine Healer ended up sighing.

‘That person isn’t some universal key or anything.’

Any impossible situation seemed to be resolved once the Sword Emperor’s name was mentioned. Sword Emperor Baek Mu-han was like a name that existed to destroy common sense.

“Now you understand why this won’t work. To digest this, I’d have to be as strong as Master.”

Divine Healer nodded quietly.

He understood.

“How do you compare to your master now?”

Wei Yan-ho narrowed his brow slightly with his swollen, puffy eyes.

“Hmm, that’s a difficult question.”

‘Ho?’

Previously, when asked about his master, Wei Yan-ho would immediately say he was no match at all. But the fact that he was actually pondering meant he could now compete somewhat, didn’t it?

“It seems you can at least compete now.”

“I can compete, yes.”

“As expected!”

Wei Yan-ho had grown stronger.

How shocked he had been seeing him swat down the Demonic Cult’s Bishops like flies. With that level of ability, couldn’t he win at least once in a thousand battles?

But Wei Yan-ho’s answer was completely different from Divine Healer’s thoughts.

“I think I could last about three seconds now, but I’m not sure if I could last five seconds.”

“…”

Three seconds?

Five seconds?

Not three hundred seconds, but three seconds?

“Of course, if Master got really angry and hit me properly, I’d have trouble lasting even one second… Hmm, no, I think I could take one hit? Since my head has gotten thicker.”

Divine Healer raised his head to look out the window.

‘What kind of person was that Sword Emperor anyway?’

Divine Healer understood why the entire martial world couldn’t withstand his oppression and tried to gang up on him to kill him.