Chapter 413. A Meal on the Battlefield with the Masters.
When night fell, the maids went around lighting the lamps of the manor. Some among us were circulating qi and regulating their breath, so we did not make a racket. We knew what it felt like to regulate one’s breathing while suffering internal injuries.
It was quite still as the sun set.
The Plum Blossom Manor Lord had taken quite some time even when bringing out tea, and preparing the meal took quite a while as well.
In other words, the man seemed to take everything seriously.
Since two of the Three Calamities would be dining with us, the pressure on him must have mounted the entire time he prepared it.
The Ghost Demon finished his qi circulation first.
The Blood Cult Leader seemed to have merely calmed his breathing and meditated without circulating qi to begin with, for he opened his eyes soon after.
We looked at the two men facing each other as if they were still about to fight.
One had won the sparring match, yet apologized for the past.
The other had lost the sparring match, yet received that apology on behalf of the dead.
Of course, not all of this could be wrapped up cleanly.
While each of us was lost in thought,
Moyong Baek stood and approached the Ghost Demon.
“……”
Moyong Baek plopped down beside the Ghost Demon and held out his hand.
“Senior Yukhap, your pulse.”
When the Ghost Demon nodded, Moyong Baek took hold of his wrist. Without even spending time examining anything, he quickly let go and spoke.
“Senior, do you know why martial artists are difficult to treat?”
“Why is that?”
“For the most part, it is because they do not listen, just like the Sect Leader.”
“Like Third?”
“Yes.”
Since I happened to meet Second’s eyes, I nodded and said,
“Physician Moyong, listen well.”
The Ghost Demon said to Moyong Baek,
“I shall listen carefully.”
Moyong Baek replied,
“Good. You may think you coughed blood because of the internal injuries you suffered while fighting the Blood Cult Leader, but if we trace the cause back, it was not solely because of the sparring match. I believe the reason martial artists often suffer qi deviation is mostly similar.”
“What is it?”
“It is because they do not let their bodies rest. You trained with Senior Cheonak, did you not?”
“I did.”
“I doubt that training was ordinary.”
“Of course not.”
“The terrible fatigue inflicted on you from that time had been accumulating in your body, and it exploded while you were crossing hands with the Blood Cult Leader. In a sense, your body screamed. Yukhap, let us take it in moderation. I truly feel as though I will die at this rate.”
“……”
“Does it make sense to come here and fight like this as soon as you finished that brutal training? Still, because the person involved would not listen, blood poured out so that you would not die. Why? Because if you had fought any more, you truly would have died. If the body dies, Teacher Yukhap’s mind and will become meaningless as well.”
“Mm.”
“You pushed yourself to the absolute limit and barely stopped. If the Blood Cult Leader had not apologized, then in the middle of the fight……”
“What should I do?”
“Will you do as I say?”
“I must.”
“In truth, there is no such thing as medicine that properly treats qi deviation or internal injuries. If there were, martial artists would carry it around and take it whenever qi deviation came upon them. Such medicine is prescribed by quacks. It will have no effect. I know you would like to remain, eat with us, and watch the other sparring matches, but as a physician, I tell you this. Go inside now and try to sleep.”
“Mm.”
“Sleep will help with the most fundamental and basic recovery, including processes we do not know one by one. Qi circulation comes after that. Sleep. Do not concern yourself with what happens here. Even if thunder and lightning crash all night, you must sleep as though you have forgotten everything. Because for now, Senior Yukhap has done, with all his strength, what he was able to do. How is that? You promised you would follow my words……”
The Ghost Demon looked at Moyong Baek, then fixed his gaze on us.
Naturally, he must have hated the idea of going inside to sleep.
But since Moyong Baek had first obtained his agreement before speaking, Yukhap was in a position where it was difficult to refuse.
I deliberately backed up Moyong Baek’s words as well.
“Do that. If you say you don’t want to, Moyong Baek will probably fall into qi deviation.”
Only then did the Ghost Demon let out a faint laugh.
“I shall do so.”
When Moyong Baek tried to support him, the Ghost Demon held out a hand as if to say he was fine, then stood on his own.
He looked in our direction, then went inside just like that. Perhaps he was walking steps that were physically and mentally more difficult than when he had fought the Blood Cult Leader.
Unexpectedly, Moyong Baek sat in the place where the Ghost Demon had been and stared blankly at the Blood Cult Leader.
The Blood Cult Leader asked,
“Why are you staring at me like that?”
Moyong Baek replied,
“It is my job to look at patients, so I am looking. Are you all right?”
It was quite a provocative answer, so we all looked at Moyong Baek at once. I wanted to lift my backside from the chair. Who was the Blood Cult Leader? He was a madman, and if Moyong Baek’s words displeased him, he might charge at him on the spot.
The Blood Cult Leader replied with an absurd expression.
“Are you saying I look like a patient too?”
Moyong Baek asked back,
“Do you not?”
The Blood Cult Leader tilted his head crookedly and glared at Moyong Baek.
“Treat me, then.”
“So coercively.”
“Coercive or not, come here, take my pulse, and treat me the same way.”
When I stood, the Blood Cult Leader pointed at me and warned,
“Sect Leader, stay still. I am closer and faster. I have no intention of killing him, so sit.”
Moyong Baek sprang to his feet and approached the Blood Cult Leader. When Moyong Baek came toward him without a trace of fear, the Blood Cult Leader chuckled.
After seeing Moyong Baek hold out his hand, I had no choice but to sit. The two of them were even closer than before, a distance that would be hard for even the Cult Leader or Cheonak to stop if they stepped in.
After taking the Blood Cult Leader’s pulse, Moyong Baek let go.
The Blood Cult Leader asked,
“How is it? Is my madness severe? Am I in a state of qi deviation too, physician?”
Facing the Blood Cult Leader, Moyong Baek tapped his own temple with a finger.
“Yes. You are in a state of mental abnormality.”
“……”
The Blood Cult Leader moved his head this way and that, studying Moyong Baek’s expression, then laughed.
“You are a physician who says what needs to be said. Then what should I do? Can I be treated if I sleep a great deal like Teacher Yukhap?”
“Cult Leader.”
“Yes.”
“My name is Moyong Baek. I am a physician from a small village. I do not know much about the affairs of the martial world. That is why I ask, but how many experts stronger than the Blood Cult Leader remain in the martial world?”
The Blood Cult Leader looked toward us and answered.
“Than me? Let’s see. The Samjae would still be difficult. And that Chief Strategist over there is a cut above me as well.”
“Then there are only four?”
“No. If we’re counting those who could be my equals, there are more.”
“Who?”
“There’s the Haomun Sect Leader. The Sword Demon and Im Sobaek, too. The White-Clad Scholar is also a strong one.”
“That makes only eight. Are there no more?”
“None. The emperors and retired old men are no match for me.”
“No matter how generously you count, it won’t exceed ten, then?”
“That’s about right.”
Moyong Baek looked straight at the Blood Cult Leader and said,
“Then please add one more name to that list of the ten great masters.”
“Who? You, perhaps? Or Mongrang?”
Moyong Baek uttered something terrifying.
“You should add the Blood Cult Leader himself.”
“What do you mean?”
“If a moment comes when you cannot withstand yourself and commit a massacre, does that not mean you have lost to yourself? If, from now on, you do something like what happened at Tongcheon Bang, then the apology you gave Master Yukhap will also become a lie. You will have deceived yourself. In my view, the inner demon from that time has not yet been completely cured.”
The Blood Cult Leader replied,
“I see. But do you realize your life is hanging by a thread right now? I say this because, as you said, it seems my inner demon still remains.”
“I know.”
“And you still intend to keep talking?”
“Cult Leader, I am not trying to treat the Cult Leader who is conversing with me now. I want to treat the Cult Leader who massacred the people of Tongcheon Bang. If the two were the same person, you would not have apologized to Senior Yukhap.”
The Blood Cult Leader tilted his head askew and glared at Moyong Baek.
“……Is that so?”
“Cult Leader, the reason you apologized to Master Yukhap is because, originally, you too knew that such a massacre was wrong. But at the time, a kind of rage must have dominated your entire mind. That mental state, which both you and I know, is the inner demon. At times, like today, you are a senior of the martial world who could search all under heaven and find fewer than ten rivals, but when anger takes you, you become like an ordinary brute……”
“Enough. I understand.”
“Yes.”
Moyong Baek lowered his head slightly.
“In truth, how could I possibly treat you? Everything depends on your own heart, Senior. If you do not intend to beat me to death, I will take my leave now.”
The Blood Cult Leader waved his hand.
“You spoke bravely and well. Go.”
Moyong Baek stood and walked toward us. Watching him like this, he looked as though the Poison Demon were walking over.
Moyong Baek asked me,
“Sect Leader.”
“Hm?”
“Is there any fruit tea left?”
“No. Are you burning up inside?”
“Yes.”
“Come here.”
I took Moyong Baek’s wrist as he came closer and checked his pulse. There was generally little I could discern, but I spoke in a grave tone.
“Your anger sickness has worsened. You were like a man talking at the edge of a cliff.”
“Yes.”
“Sleep?”
“I couldn’t sleep well on the way here.”
“You were telling Yukhap and the Blood Cult Leader what to do, yet you yourself couldn’t sleep.”
“That is correct.”
“No matter how I look at it, you’re on the verge of qi deviation.”
When I let go, Moyong Baek looked at me and said,
“Me? Now that I think about it, I don’t believe I had any symptoms of anger sickness before I met you, Sect Leader.”
“Is that so? Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“So after meeting me, you often found yourself in situations where it seemed your life was on the line. That burden gave you anger sickness from time to time, but it didn’t seem like something you could completely turn away from either. That’s how you feel, is it?”
“You summarized it well.”
I nodded.
“Everyone has that much anger sickness. Stop whining and train your martial arts more diligently.”
“Yes.”
“And I know your heart toward patients is pure, but don’t stick your neck out more than necessary. The Blood Cult Leader held back a lot just now. That was close.”
“I know.”
As soon as my conversation with Moyong Baek ended, the Plum Blossom Manor Lord walked out and said,
“Seniors…… the meal is ready. But you need not get up.”
We looked at the Plum Blossom Manor Lord.
Servant girls were appearing one after another, holding meal trays.
The Plum Blossom Manor Lord said,
“……In truth, I considered inviting you inside and setting a grand table, but considering that today is a sparring gathering, I specially prepared the side dishes and rice in the style soldiers would eat on a battlefield. We will serve the meal where you are.”
When the Plum Blossom Manor Lord gestured, the servant girls scattered and handed out the trays. It was a single meal with rice and side dishes neatly arranged. As the Plum Blossom Manor Lord had said, it also looked like a meal soldiers might receive in a military camp on a battlefield.
How on earth had he come up with such an idea?
In truth, there would have been many problems if we had eaten inside.
Cheonak and the Cult Leader might have fought over the seat of honor, and I could not quite imagine everyone sitting around together to eat.
Some of us were seated at tables, and some had simply been sitting on the ground since earlier, and there we received the trays the servant girls handed us.
Like the lunch boxes delivered by the Muk Clan, the side dishes, prepared with considerable care, were neatly arranged.
Even this kind of preparation was, once again, fitting of Mount Hua’s Number One Sword.
Looking around, I saw one servant girl unable to approach the Blood Cult Leader, who was sitting at the sparring ground. Even to my eyes, the Blood Cult Leader was shrouded in darkness, so it seemed only natural that ordinary people could not approach him.
The quick-witted Plum Blossom Manor Lord took the tray from the servant girl’s hands, walked over himself, and said to the Blood Cult Leader,
“Cult Leader, this junior has prepared your meal on a tray. I tried to make it feel like camping in the field, so please accept this.”
The Plum Blossom Manor Lord simply held out the tray.
The Blood Cult Leader, who accepted the tray almost without thinking, set it down on the ground and looked at the Plum Blossom Manor Lord. The Plum Blossom Manor Lord said in a low tone,
“We will prepare water and wine at once as well. For now, please fill your stomach first.”
The Blood Cult Leader merely nodded without a word.
The Plum Blossom Manor Lord looked around at us and said,
“Seniors, please eat at ease. I will go in and bring out some wine.”
Only after the Plum Blossom Manor Lord went inside did I look back down at my tray and pick up my chopsticks.
“…….”
Strangely, no one was the first to eat. Holding my chopsticks, I looked around and said,
“It seems the eldest should eat first before everyone else will.”
What on earth was this?
Why was it so suffocating?
Are these bastards incapable of even eating a meal in peace?
We looked at Cheonak and the Cult Leader.
The Cult Leader and Cheonak met each other’s eyes, then spoke to us at the same time.
“Eat.”
“Let’s eat.”
I cursed the two of them inwardly.
‘You goddamn bastards. Thank you for the meal.’
I ate the rice on the tray. I had said it felt like a tray of rations handed out on a battlefield, but in truth, it had more charm than that. Who knew eating a meal could be this difficult? I deliberately did not look at the Cult Leader.
A thought suddenly occurred to me.
How long had it been since the Cult Leader had eaten with other people?
In truth, there probably weren’t many who could sit down to eat with the Cult Leader and get the grains of rice smoothly down their throats.
The atmosphere was so heavy that, in the end, I started talking while I ate.
“Senior, how is it eating something like this after eating nothing but chicken every day?”
Cheonak seemed to have gone a little mad, because he laughed while eating.
“Sect Leader, you must miss the training at the mountain villa.”
Since I did not miss it, I quietly ate my rice. The Cult Leader asked Cheonak.
“You taught him too?”
Cheonak nodded.
“Not for long. He picked out only the essence and learned it efficiently.”
As I thought about it while eating, I realized I had quite a lot of masters in the jianghu. Eldest Brother, the Beggar Senior, Cheonak, and Im Sobaek had all taught me. Before, even Yukhap had taught me the theory of the Sword Veil. If going by my past life, the White-Clad Scholar was connected as well. After all, he was the one who had passed on the Geumgu Soyogong.
Though some of them were absent.
I quietly ate with the masters gathered in one place.
I could not tell whether the food tasted good or bad; I simply ate with the feeling of stuffing it into my mouth as best I could.