Chapter 282. No Plans Yet.
I was seen off by the Black Cat Gang. I stood there for a moment with the maidservants and looked over the Black Cat Gang subordinates who had gathered at the front gate.
Strangely enough, their expressions were much like those of the people who had looked at me from Zixia Inn. If anything, they looked more worried about me than I was about the Black Cat Gang. From my perspective, these people were far weaker than me, yet they were worrying about me, and that felt oddly refreshing.
For some reason, lately, whenever I part from someone, I often find myself thinking each moment might be the last. I do not know why. Perhaps it is because I have been having so many dark thoughts.
Taking in my subordinates with my eyes, I said,
“Gang Leader Xiao, Chief Steward Bi, Madam Sun, Master Huyan.”
“Yes.”
“Lead them well. The rest of you, follow them well too.”
“Understood, Sect Leader.”
I emphasized it once more to Gold, Silver, and the Seven Insects.
“Make sure you assist Chief Steward Bi well.”
“Yes.”
The source of my unease probably stemmed from the thought of the masters I could not defeat right now.
Xiao Junping gave me his farewell like this.
“……Sect Leader, please run away well.”
“I will.”
“If you call, I will rush to you anytime.”
“Well, I should make sure that never happens.”
I met Xiao Junping’s eyes, and we nodded at the same time.
“I’m going.”
I set off for the Murong Medical House with the maidservants.
***
When I appeared at the Murong Medical House with the Black Cat Gang’s maidservants, Murong Bai, who had been drying medicinal herbs in the yard, looked at me with a startled expression.
“…….”
He looked as if he had seen a ghost, so I was bewildered too.
“Doctor Murong, it’s me.”
“I know.”
“Why are you so surprised?”
Murong Bai looked at the maidservants beside me and said,
“You always come suddenly with new people, so of course I’m startled. Come in.”
“I did come with new people.”
When we entered, the medical women greeted me as a group. I nodded and looked around at them, then found Yelü Yan.
“Are you adjusting well?”
Yelü Yan answered with a smile.
“Yes, Sect Leader.”
“Black and White Soso aren’t bullying you?”
“Not at all.”
Bai Xiao’e and Hei Xiaoling also looked at me in surprise.
“Murong Bai isn’t working you to the bone, is he?”
“Of course not.”
I introduced the young women from the Black Cat Gang whom I had brought with me.
“Yelü Yan, I have courteously escorted your juniors here. Take good care of them.”
“Waaah…….”
The medical women applauded as a group and welcomed the maidservants I had brought. Since I kept bringing companions here, even the medical women seemed used to welcoming them now. Looking at it this way, Murong Bai possessed plenty of talent, fine young women, and aspiring physicians—enough that it would not be strange if he formed a sect made up of women.
Murong Bai muttered,
“……No, I haven’t even accepted them yet.”
I ignored Murong Bai’s words and said to the Black Cat Gang maidservants,
“Stay with your senior medical sisters for a while.”
“Yes, Sect Leader.”
I tapped Murong Bai on the shoulder and said,
“I went to Wanzhang Cliff.”
“You already went and came back?”
“Let’s go inside.”
I sat first in the chair in Murong Bai’s office and looked at Murong Bai as he entered like a patient, then unpacked my bundle on the table.
Murong Bai said,
“Sect Leader, that is my seat.”
“What do you mean, your seat or my seat? If I sit there, it’s my seat. Sit over there.”
“Yes.”
Murong Bai sat in the patient’s seat.
Come to think of it, most of the boxes in my bundle contained things for Murong Bai. However, I could not give him all the hundred-year fleeceflower roots as well, so I took out the largest one and asked,
“Doctor Murong, is there anywhere that hurts?”
“No.”
“What about pent-up anger? Your complexion doesn’t look good. You should make sure to eat your meals properly.”
Murong Bai stroked his chest and answered,
“I think I’m just about to develop it now.”
“Pent-up anger has to be dealt with early. Are you sleeping well?”
“Yes.”
“Drink lukewarm water often, and start by quitting alcohol this year.”
“Understood. I didn’t drink in the first place.”
“What about your martial arts?”
“I have now perfectly grasped the theory of the Divine Art of Transferring Flowers and Grafting Wood. I am climbing the stages step by step, and I have now entered the third stage.”
“If you get stuck, don’t groan over it alone. Come to Zixia Inn. There are plenty of people there who can guide you.”
“Understood.”
“If you worry over it alone, it’s all too easy to fall into qi deviation. Now then, this is hundred-year fleeceflower root dug up below Wanzhang Cliff, this is trumpet creeper, these are poisonous herbs whose names I don’t know… What is this?”
Murong Bai looked at the blades of grass inside the box.
“It is golden thread grass. It is poisonous, yes.”
“This one? This looks like an herb too, but I don’t know its name.”
“That is also a poisonous herb called Yuhan grass.”
“Wow, I picked only poisonous herbs as if guided by a ghost. My eye for things is impressive too. To think I dug up only things like poison. Good thing I didn’t eat any on the way because I was hungry.”
Murong Bai, whose eyes had suddenly grown enormous, said,
“Sect Leader, but is this truly hundred-year fleeceflower root?”
“It is.”
“Why does the fleeceflower root look like wild ginseng? And this is not merely at the level of a hundred years.”
“Is it a hybrid? Xiao Junping ate one a little smaller than that, and he looked radiant afterward. You take it. The rest have owners.”
Murong Bai looked at me.
“What about you, Sect Leader?”
“I ate one below Wanzhang Cliff.”
“Thank you, Sect Leader. I will make good use of the poisonous herbs too.”
I tied my bundle back up and said,
“Ah, those two young women are the most outstanding talents in the Black Cat Gang, and I personally escorted them here.”
“Sect Leader.”
“What?”
“It’s not that I dislike it, but one of them is far too beautiful.”
“Ah, is that why you were startled?”
“Yes. If she tended patients with looks like that, even I would have a hard time. Treating people of the jianghu is especially difficult. They’ll keep coming even when nothing’s wrong with them. Especially if someone like Young Master Meng shows up, my skills won’t be enough to handle it. Wouldn’t you agree?”
He was right.
“Mm. Then raise her as someone who manages medicinal and poisonous herbs. Make her study a lot, too. There’s no need to keep her around as a physician’s assistant. And the female attendants can just wear veils. You know, those slightly translucent veils that somehow make a person look mysterious when worn. You know what I mean, right?”
“I do. By the way, isn’t the inn short on hands?”
“She can’t go there because the Lecherous Demon is there. I can’t prescribe a poison called beauty to a critically ill patient. If that pervert acts up for no reason, Senior Sword Demon might beat him to death. And it’d be fortunate if he simply got beaten to death there. He’s definitely the sort who’d run away while being beaten.”
“Where to?”
“Who knows? Anywhere. Not yet. Let’s watch that side a bit longer. We can’t provoke those patient bastards.”
“Understood.”
Murong Bai suddenly looked at my hand, then spoke toward the outside.
“Xiaoling.”
“Yes, Doctor.”
When Hei Xiaoling entered, Murong Bai said,
“The Sect Leader has injured his hand. Disinfect it briefly and apply Pingyuan Ointment.”
“Understood.”
As Hei Xiaoling came in and applied Pingyuan Ointment to my hand, I said,
“Martial arts are slow to progress by nature, so don’t grow impatient. Prepare a variety of poisons to use if you get into trouble with someone from the jianghu.”
“For example?”
“If it’s someone you can reason with, just use something like Paralysis Powder. For someone like the Lecherous Demon, use deadly poison. Coat your fan with poison too. Ask Yan Zicheng or the Yongdu Iron Workshop to make you a hidden weapon that can fire poison. You know, something like that.”
“Like what?”
“Should I call it a crossbow? Or a small mechanism that can shoot steel needles?”
“If I fire steel needles coated in deadly poison, the opponent will die.”
“That’s what you use it for, to make them drop dead. It’s not an acupuncture needle for health, so what does it matter? If you make it a mechanism powerful enough that even Young Master Meng can’t block it, it’ll work on most people of the jianghu. Isn’t that right, Xiaoling?”
Hei Xiaoling nodded.
“That’s right. The wound has healed quite a bit.”
I looked at Hei Xiaoling as she kept kneading my hand.
“Stop kneading it already.”
“Yes.”
“In any case, after taking the fleeceflower root, rest for a few days. If you’re anxious, you can come to the inn and take it there.”
Murong Bai nodded.
“Yes. I’ll think about it.”
I picked up the much lighter bundle and said,
“Take care of the two talents for me. Xiaoling, be good to the new juniors as well.”
“Yes, Sect Leader.”
As I was about to leave at once, Murong Bai asked,
“How is your hwabyeong?”
“It wavers a bit, but it’s wavering in a relatively positive direction. And……”
“Yes.”
“When the hwabyeong touches on something psychological, a martial art I still can’t control is manifesting. For now, I’ve named it the Zaha Divine Art, and because of this, I don’t think the hwabyeong should be treated for the time being.”
“Can hwabyeong be treated?”
“Was it an incurable disease?”
“It’s a psychological illness, so unless the environment around you changes, Sect Leader, it is indeed incurable.”
“The environment around me?”
“I also mean the jianghu.”
I met Murong Bai’s eyes and replied,
“Even better. If I unify the jianghu through sheer strength, will my incurable disease be cured?”
Murong Bai shook his head and answered,
“How about you simply get married before that?”
“Not a chance.”
I stopped in front of the door and looked at Murong Bai. Murong Bai examined me from head to toe, then said,
“Still, your complexion seems a bit better than before.”
I nodded.
“Since I’ve gotten stronger than before, everything is getting a little better. In any case, being strong is the best. Doctor, you know what I mean, right? With the hundred-year fleeceflower root, you should be able to conquer up to the middle stage of the Yihua Jiemu Divine Art. But that won’t be enough. Until you achieve full mastery, always be careful with your conduct, and don’t neglect your research on poison either.”
“Understood.”
Murong Bai followed me out to see me off.
“Sect Leader, by the way, you must have suffered traveling such a long way.”
The physician bastard patted my back and sighed. Whether it was the Black Cat Gang or the Murong Medical House, from my perspective, they were all people belonging to the Hao Clan, yet for some reason both sides were looking at me like a child left by the water’s edge.
It wasn’t incomprehensible, since I went around causing so much trouble.
I set off for Zaha Inn again.
I had no idea the life of an herb gatherer would be this busy and exhausting. But the effect was certain. If I raised Xiao Junping and Murong Bai into experts, they would be useful to the Hao Clan one way or another.
Of course, it was good for their own lives as well.
I had confirmed that myself.
Once you became strong, everything became easier.
I thought that if I wanted to be comfortable later, I had no choice but to run around and suffer now.
***
When I suddenly appeared at Zaha Inn wearing a black long robe, the Sword Demon and Ghost Demon, who had been sparring, sheathed their swords, and the Lecherous Demon, who had been watching the match from the wooden platform, looked at me.
“You’re back?”
Suddenly, the Lecherous Demon’s nostrils twitched, and he asked me,
“I smell medicinal herbs?”
“There was nothing but fleeceflower root.”
“How many?”
“It’s not about how many. I’ll have to give it to Brother Deuksu and have him make it into a dish. Have you ever heard of seasoned hundred-year fleeceflower root?”
“No.”
“There’s quite a lot, so we can eat it with rice later.”
It would be difficult for young Yoran to chew this enormous hundred-year fleeceflower root. Above all, it wasn’t ordinary fleeceflower root, so she might not be able to endure the power of the spiritual medicine. Since ancient times, there had often been cases where people’s hair turned white after wrongly consuming a spiritual medicine or taking medicine that didn’t suit their body and temperament. I couldn’t make Yoran’s hair turn white already.
I set the bundle down on the wooden platform, then sat and enjoyed a rare proper rest.
“Phew, being an herb gatherer is no easy task.”
The Sword Demon and Ghost Demon approached and each said a word.
“You worked hard.”
When I suddenly looked at the Ghost Demon, his clothes were torn all over. I grabbed the Ghost Demon’s torn clothing with my hand, examined it, and said,
“Impressive.”
The Ghost Demon asked me,
“I nearly got beaten to death by Eldest Brother. What’s impressive about that?”
“I mean the two of you are impressive together. An aggressive swordsman and a defensive swordsman spend all day clashing without doing much else besides eating, so of course it’ll help your swordsmanship.”
The Ghost Demon tilted his head.
“I can’t tell if that’s praise or mockery. Either way, the Sect Leader really has returned.”
Only then did the three of the Four Great Villains laugh at the same time.
I looked at Zaha Inn, then called out to Jang Deuksu.
“Brother Deuksu, feed me!”
A small window on the second floor flew open with a bang, and Jang Deuksu stuck his face out.
“You’re here?”
“Yeah.”
“You’ve had it rough.”
With a bang, the window shut again, and then the sound of footsteps rang out noisily from somewhere. Soon after, Jang Yoran burst out of Zaha Inn with a bright face, arrived in front of me, and bowed her head.
“Third Master, you’re here?”
“I am.”
I looked Yoran over from head to toe after not seeing her for a while. It had not actually been that long, but it felt as if she had grown a little taller.
“Have you been doing well with your masters?”
“Of course.”
“What about Chief Cha?”
“These days, he only eats breakfast, then trains all the way until evening. Sometimes he comes here and gets beaten terribly by Youngest Master. That’s called a spar, right?”
“Yes. It’s not fighting, it’s sparring.”
“It was a spar, but somehow he kept getting hit and rolling around on the ground.”
“That is because Youngest Master is deliberately helping him. Actual fighting is even harsher.”
“Anyway, the Chief is doing well and staying spirited.”
For a moment, goosebumps rose on my forearms. For some reason, Yoran spoke far too well compared to when she first came here. She seemed like a naturally bright child, so how she had ended up suffering such a disaster was beyond me.
I handed the bundle to Yoran, then gave her an errand.
“Tell Cook Jang. Say it’s an ingredient called hundred-year-old heshouwu. Tell him it would be good to share it as a seasoned dish or a steamed dish. And tell him to set aside the especially small pieces separately, because you’re going to eat them. He’ll know what I mean.”
“Understood.”
Yoran took the bundle and darted off like an arrow. Even with that tiny thing running, a faint cloud of dust rose in front of Zaha Inn.
I waved the dust away with my hand and said,
“Honestly…”
The Lust Demon asked from beside me.
“What? What’s ‘honestly’? Say it. Don’t start talking like an old man and then cut yourself off. It’s not like you’re pinching off a turd. That’s a bad habit.”
“Stop talking about turds. That’s a bad habit too.”
For the first time in a while, I sat side by side with the Four Great Villains on the wooden platform and looked up at the ordinary sky. As I gazed at the dull and peaceful scenery, I said,
“I suppose this is why fathers in this world become fools for their daughters.”
“……”
I glanced at the Four Great Villains.
“I thought the four of us would never feel this sort of emotion since we had no intention of marrying.”
The Lust Demon whipped his head around and stared at me.
“Are you insane? I’m getting married. Why are you suddenly deciding my life for me? You crazy bastard. At the very least, my spouse has to be on the level of Ilbong Iseon.”
“What a grand dream.”
The Ghost Demon looked at me.
“If I meet someone good, I should get married.”
I pointed at myself with a finger.
“Me?”
The Ghost Demon shook his head.
“No, me.”
“You’re dreaming a futile dream. What about you, Eldest Brother?”
When the three of us looked at the Sword Demon, he answered in a solemn tone with his arms crossed.
“I have no thoughts of it yet.”
The Lust Demon asked,
“What about later?”
The Sword Demon gave a dry cough, then answered.
“I’ll know when I get there.”
I turned my head and glared straight ahead.
‘Wow… damn, am I the only one who finds this funny?’
No one laughed, so I could not laugh either. Since they were all lunatics, I doubted any of them would end up doing something like getting married. They say you never know what will happen in life, but for now, that was how it seemed.