Chapter 37 : The Generous Mount Emei (1)

Chapter 37: The Generous Mount Emei (1)

Unlike usual, the Sichuan Tang Clan’s Medical Hall was unusually quiet.

The bustling patients and physicians had all disappeared without a trace.

There was only one reason.

The Sichuan Tang Clan had declared a temporary closed-off state, refusing both patients and guests.

Clang!

In the meantime, the Tang Clan’s gate guards stood with wide, vigilant eyes, thoroughly guarding one specific treatment room.

It was where Sewoon lay bedridden.

“Phew.”

Ha Yeong wiped away the sweat running down her forehead.

Today, she was dressed not as a martial artist, but in the attire of a physician’s assistant, tending to the patient.

Though her mouth and nose were covered with white cloth, her pallor, visible through it, was strikingly gaunt.

It was no surprise.

She had gone two whole nights without sleep, tirelessly nursing the patient before her.

But she did not even consider herself worthy of feeling exhausted.

Her gaze fell upon the sickbed.

There lay the patient. No—Sewoon. Her eyes, staring at him, carried deep worry and regret.

“I should have stayed behind….”

Her voice trembled, full of guilt.

Three days had passed since Sewoon had miraculously returned alive from the battle with the Poison Demon.

Yet, Sewoon had not regained consciousness.

Thus, every time she watched him groaning in pain, she felt as if it were entirely her fault, a debt weighing heavily upon her heart.

Though Tang Muyeol and Tang Serin had comforted her, saying it had been unavoidable in order to save the hostages, and that it was never her fault…

She could only lower her head before them.

Swish.

Ha Yeong dipped a clean cloth into a bowl beside her.

The bowl was filled with ice-cold water.

After wringing it tightly, she approached Sewoon.

His upper garment had been stripped off.

With motions she had already repeated countless times, she carefully and thoroughly wiped down Sewoon’s upper body with the cloth.

It was not simply because he could not wash himself.

Shockingly, the cloth, damp with cold water, instantly dried upon touching his skin.

Sewoon’s body was literally burning like fire, parched as though it were a desert, devoid of even a trace of moisture.

‘…His fever still hasn’t gone down.’

Sewoon’s face and upper body were covered with blotchy, crimson-black spots.

The aftermath of being poisoned by the Poison Demon’s Half-Sphere Blood Palm.

Among the Eight Extreme Poisons of the martial world, the Half-Sphere Blood Palm was infamous even among poisons.

Unlike others, its killing power was relatively weak.

But it had been designed solely for torture, to inflict pain.

It brought unbearable fever, coupled with a searing agony—Burning Pain—that tormented its victim until death.

It was said that even a Peak Master could not endure it without losing sanity.

Thus, it was no easy task for Ha Yeong to endure the dreadful poisonous qi emanating from Sewoon’s body while tending to him.

Yet, she still volunteered for this task daily, without fail.

‘Because this is all I can do.’

She regretted not having studied detoxification and antidotes earlier under her master.

What Silver Phoenix?

She now bitterly realized her vanity and inadequacy, lost in hollow fame as though she were something.

Just as Ha Yeong was once again sinking into deep reflection—

Creak.

The tightly closed treatment room door swung open.

“Ah, Master. Clan Head, you are here as well?”

Entering were Geum Hwa Sa-tae and Tang Muyeol.

When she hastily rose to greet them, Tang Muyeol shook his head.

“Remain at ease.”

“How could I….”

“You are sweating while devoting yourself to treating my child. Must I burden you further with formalities?”

“…I am only grateful for your words.”

“If there is anything you need, speak freely.”

Tang Muyeol’s words carried sincerity.

After enduring the Poison Demon calamity together, the three of Mount Emei had grown very close with everyone of the Sichuan Tang Clan.

“How is the child’s condition?”

Geum Hwa Sa-tae’s complexion looked even paler than Ha Yeong’s as she asked.

Though she too had stayed up many nights tending to Sewoon, her reason was different.

“…No sign of improvement yet.”

Ha Yeong shook her head as she answered.

Geum Hwa Sa-tae’s gaze fell upon Sewoon, her eyes filled with unbearable sorrow.

‘It is my failing. To let a child not yet even of age stand alone against the Poison Demon… I was tainted by an era of peace and forgot the true duty of a martial artist.’

Following Ha Yeong, Geum Hwa Sa-tae also clasped her hands together and softly repeated Amitabha while gazing at Sewoon.

But only for a moment.

“Phew, well done. I shall take over the treatment again now.”

“Yes, then I will assist by your side.”

At her master’s words, Ha Yeong rose from her seat.

And then…

As her touch finally left him—

‘Haa. Now I can finally breathe.’

Amazingly, none other than Sewoon himself, lying on the sickbed, let out a sigh of relief inwardly.

Unbelievably, not only Ha Yeong but even the Sect Leader of the Emei Sect had been deceived.

Sewoon was not poisoned at all.

‘No… more precisely, it should be said that he was poisoned, yet it was no different from not being poisoned.’

It sounded contradictory, but that was the truth.

Though he appeared to be dying from the Half-Sphere Blood Palm, Sewoon was in fact feeling no pain whatsoever.

Nor was it that the Half-Sphere Blood Palm spread by the Poison Demon was some failed or defective creation.

It was simply that Sewoon had ‘mutated’ the poison, altering its nature so that it manifested only as harmless high fever and the characteristic black spots.

Manipulating a poison that had already entered the body at will?

According to the common sense of the martial world, it was impossible.

‘Unless one had reached the realm of the legendary Poison Human.’

After Sewoon succeeded in absorbing all the roots of Angshin Tears with his own power…

And even went as far as to create a new energy—Divine Poison Qi.

He realized, naturally, that he had reached the very threshold of the realm that the Poison Demon had so desperately yearned for—the Poison Human.

‘Since there is no name for it, perhaps I should call it Poison-Body Unification.’

Though it was regrettable that he had not become a Poison Human who could dissolve all things in the world into poison…

Still, since he had attained a state akin to Sword Unification, where man and sword became one, this too was by no means a small achievement.

Especially because the realm of Poison-Body Unification granted him the ability of Sovereignty over Myriad Poisons.

‘As the name says, it is the power to command any poison residing in my body at will.’

Before gaining Sovereignty over Myriad Poisons, he could not expel the absorbed Half-Sphere Blood Palm without it retaining its original properties.

That was only natural.

He could amplify or weaken its effects by adjusting the dosage, yes—

But to alter the very nature of a completed poison was no different from creating an entirely new poison.

However.

After escaping the formation cast by the Poison Demon, when the reinforcements arrived, Sewoon had awakened to Sovereignty over Myriad Poisons.

The strength of poison.

The nature of poison.

The form of poison.

All the deadly toxins he had successfully absorbed could now be manipulated freely according to his will.

He could even mix two completely different poisons to create a new one unknown to anyone else.

And yet, despite having obtained such a powerful ability—

“Ughhh!”

The reason Sewoon was blatantly feigning illness was a simple one.

Though it was unbearably embarrassing and uncomfortable to have the future Sword Empress personally wiping down his bare body—he endured it firmly.

“Phew, Young Clan Head. Please endure just a little longer.”

Yes. If the price was to receive the full-force application of the Emei Sect Leader’s Pushing Palaces and Passing Acupoints, then surely it was worth the act.

Flash!

Clap!

Geum Hwa Sa-tae pressed her twin palms, filled with the inner qi of her Golden Summit Divine Art, against Sewoon’s body.

Ssshh!

At the same time, the overwhelming profound qi characteristic of orthodox martial arts spread throughout the room.

The reason Geum Hwa Sa-tae’s complexion had grown so haggard was because she had been performing this Pushing Palaces and Passing Acupoints technique for three days straight.

The truly fearsome aspect of the Half-Sphere Blood Palm was that creating an antidote for it was nearly impossible.

The antidote required the Snow Blossom Herb, which was monopolized in production by the North Sea Ice Palace.

Yet the North Sea Ice Palace was an extremely closed-off sect of the Outer Regions, refusing all exchanges with the Central Plains.

Unless one carried the bloodline of the Ice Palace, there was no way to obtain the Snow Blossom Herb.

Thus, there remained only a single method.

To elevate the patient’s self-healing ability to its absolute limits, so that he could resist the Half-Sphere Blood Palm with his own strength.

At the very least, a master who had reached the Transformation Realm and cultivated orthodox martial arts had to spend days without rest, guiding qi and nurturing the patient’s meridians, strengthening their self-healing power.

Only then could the patient, once partially restored, resist the poison on their own.

That was the only possible method.

‘In truth, even this was close to impossible.’

For a Transformation Realm master who had cultivated orthodox martial arts, only the leaders of the Nine Sects One Gang or the Seven Great Clans could possibly do such a thing.

And for such a master to spend days performing qi guidance was no different from the marrow-cleansing ritual each great sect reserved solely for their own successors.

“Haa, haa…”

Geum Hwa Sa-tae continued the Pushing Palaces and Passing Acupoints, her breathing ragged.

It was no wonder she was exhausted.

Originally, even the Hair-Cutting and Marrow-Washing ritual required at least three people taking turns to channel their qi.

Seeing her so visibly worn out, Sewoon felt a quiet wave of guilt rise within him.

Ssshh!

At the same time, however, his body—driven to the brink after overusing the Invisible Dagger and pushing himself in the battle against the Poison Demon—rapidly recovered, even his damaged meridians fully restored. He shut his eyes tightly.

‘I am sorry. But in return, I will strike down the Blood Cult bastards even harder and rescue Mount Emei.’

It was then.

Tadatak!

Suddenly, the sound of hurried footsteps echoed from outside the treatment room.

‘What is this?’

Could some new calamity have arisen again?

Just as Sewoon turned his attention—

Creak, the door opened.

“Huff, huff. Master! Your disciple, Cheong Yeon, has finally arrived!”

Cheong Yeon appeared.

As though she had run without rest, her whole body was drenched in sweat.

For some reason, a flush of relief spread across Geum Hwa Sa-tae’s face as she looked at her.

“Have you brought it?”

“Yes!”

“Amitabha.”

When Cheong Yeon nodded with a bright smile, Geum Hwa Sa-tae suddenly chanted the Buddha’s name again.

Rustle.

At that moment, Cheong Yeon drew out a wooden case from her bosom.

Ssshh.

Everyone except the three from Mount Emei gasped in shock.

The lid had not even been opened, and yet in an instant, a wondrous fragrance filled the room.

‘Wait… could it be?!’

Sewoon’s chest thumped wildly as he guessed the identity of the object inside the case.