Chapter 182
Chapter 182
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 182
Chapter Title: How Did It Come to This?
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How did it end up like this?
No, was it really necessary to go this far?
Wi Seong-cheon sank into thought, standing motionless. Right now, he wore nothing but the underwear covering his lower body and stood there in an awkward pose.
“Come on, don’t be so tense.”
“Can’t I at least wear something? This gentle breeze tickling my skin feels awful.”
“Kid, you’re supposed to take off your underwear too.”
“I don’t get it—why do I have to be naked?”
“So we can fully understand how your body reacts. That thing hanging below is extremely sensitive and straightforward about its responses. You know that, right? When it’s cold, it shrivels up, or...”
“Shut your mouth.”
Yeomyeong’s excited rambling cut off short. He shuddered faintly at the skin-prickling killing intent and turned his head.
“Jeez, Silver Veil. I told you not to be like that. What if I get nervous and mess up?”
“Don’t pollute my ears with filthy words.”
“Ahem, fine. Kid, you can even keep your underwear on thanks to Silver Veil.”
With that, Yeomyeong rolled up his sleeves.
“You’re still carrying that thing around?”
“Silver Veil, wouldn’t it be better to just say it outright? If you admit you want it, who knows—I might give it to you. After some thought, I could even gift you this Full Gourd.”
“As if.”
The White Flame Witch snorted with sarcasm. Yeomyeong chuckled deeply and took the gourd hanging from his waist into his hand.
“Don’t be too hurt. This Full Gourd is a genuine treasure without equal in the world.”
Yeomyeong gripped the gourd’s lid tightly and shook it slowly. Wi Seong-cheon, who had been subtly covering his groin with both hands out of needless embarrassment, eyed Yeomyeong curiously as he suddenly shook the gourd vigorously.
“Don’t move. Stay still.”
With those words, Yeomyeong thrust the gourd forward. The White Flame Witch had already stepped back several paces.
The gourd’s lid opened. Pffft! Its finger-width spout vomited something out. Yeomyeong shook the gourd with both hands. Wi Seong-cheon gaped and looked down at what had emerged from the gourd.
It was a bed made of transparent glass. Wi Seong-cheon glanced back and forth between the glass bed and the gourd.
“I-is this magic?”
“Lie down on it.”
The response ignored his question. Wi Seong-cheon swallowed his surprise and lay down on the bed. The glass bed felt slightly cool, and lying naked on it made it cling to his body.
But that wasn’t the end. Yeomyeong shook the gourd a few more times and poured out something else. Dozens of candleholders with pristine candles arranged themselves around the glass bed. After them came snow-white flowers and blood-red ones, spilling out. Flowers as large as cupped palms—dozens of them—filled the spaces between the candleholders and the glass bed.
“What the hell is all this?”
“Why keep asking when you wouldn’t understand even if I explained?”
“It’s just so different from any medicine I know...”
“Kid, why state the obvious? If I used the same techniques as those other quacks, why would anyone call me the best in the world?”
Yeomyeong made a genuinely pitying face and clicked his tongue. Stung by the attitude, Wi Seong-cheon gave up asking further and sullenly pursed his lips.
In the meantime, preparations finished. The inside of the glass bed filled with some sticky, milky-white liquid. As the liquid rose, the bed’s coolness turned into a languid warmth.
Clank.
Wi Seong-cheon jolted again. Shackles had sprung from the glass bed, clamping his wrists and ankles tight.
“Stay still. You break it, you’re in trouble.”
Yeomyeong warned in a chilling voice.
“It’s all for your body, you know. Can’t you think of me as your lifesaver instead of doubting me still?”
“You haven’t even explained properly...”
“When have I not explained properly? I made it simple enough for an idiot to get.”
“Besides that—you haven’t said how exactly you’ll fix my body.”
“Simply put, I’ll mix what doesn’t mix well.”
Yeomyeong snorted.
“All those energies inside you in disharmony. The danger comes from too many not blending—they could explode anytime. So I’ll tune them stably to prevent that.”
“What if you fail?”
“I won’t let you die.”
Before answering, Yeomyeong first checked the White Flame Witch’s expression.
“That’s not enough.”
The sudden voice wasn’t hers. Wi Seong-cheon looked up in shock; Yeomyeong’s hair stood on end.
“You’ve even brought out the Netherworld Coffin, so you must be serious. If you’re not confident, don’t touch him—just stop.”
“Black Demon King...”
“To barge into the palace without even asking my permission. Looks like you’ve started taking me lightly too.”
The White Flame Witch’s eyes cooled icily. The Black Demon King smiled thinly and turned to her.
“This seat has always respected you. I never questioned why you brought Jamryong—that kid—into the Blood Palace or taught him the Spectral White Robe. I have no intention of asking now either. Because I respect you.”
“What I do is my business.”
“I don’t pry because I know and respect you. But now... separate from that respect, I have to step in. If something happens to Jamryong, my position gets awkward. Students of the Uicheon Academy never die in the Black Forest. That’s the promise between the Martial Alliance Leader and the Uicheon Academy Lord.”
“I said he won’t die...!”
“Surviving worthless is worse than death. Yeomyeong, you don’t know, but this seat rather likes Jamryong.”
The Black Demon King’s eyes shifted. He stared at Wi Seong-cheon and grinned.
“If Jamryong becomes a cripple fighting the Black Forest’s Holy Child, that’s unavoidable. Even if he pleased me, some things can’t be helped. He just fell short of expectations. But now’s different.”
“This kid’s body is a bomb. It could blow anytime.”
“You’re the only one who can see that properly, Jinchung. This seat and the White Flame Witch can see Jamryong’s qi, but not if it’s dangerous. Get it? If you really want to touch his body, promise you won’t kill him or cripple him. Promise you absolutely won’t fail.”
“There’s no such thing as absolute in this world...”
“Then don’t do it. No one’s forcing you. Not this seat, not the White Flame Witch, not Jamryong himself. You’re the one who jumped in claiming it’s dangerous.”
Yeomyeong’s eyes trembled violently. He’d agreed to operate on Wi Seong-cheon not out of goodwill. Yeomyeong himself was fascinated by the boy’s body. He wanted to dissect those unknown meridians. Learn more about the constitution that reshaped qi at will. Uncover the secrets of Wi Seong-cheon’s absurd innate qi volume and the bone transformation achieved without opening the upper dantian.
And why the pure qi of the Dawn Heaven Divine Pill hadn’t been expelled long ago but lingered in that body.
“Why no answer? Not confident?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
The Black Demon King knew Yeomyeong took great pride in his alias and medical skills. From the Black Demon King or other doctors’ views, Yeomyeong’s “techniques” barely qualified as medicine, but if healing defined it, then yes.
Peerless medicine called the best under heaven. His skills earned a spot among the Ten Heroes, but Yeomyeong’s true pride was his medicine, not martial arts.
“Not confident? As if! I’m confident—damn right I am! A vow? Why wouldn’t I swear to that?”
A third eye flashed open in the center of Yeomyeong’s forehead.
“I am Yeomyeong Jinchung!”
“That’s right—you’re Yeomyeong Jinchung. This seat is the Black Demon King, Baeki Mu-won.”
The Black Demon King laughed heartily and sat down right there.
“Swear it, and we’re good. No need to feel burdened. You’re Yeomyeong, after all—you won’t fail.”
“What are you getting at?”
“If you kill Jamryong, you die by this seat’s hand.”
Yeomyeong’s eyes bulged at the words.
“If you cripple Jamryong, you’ll be crippled by this seat’s hand.”
Yeomyeong wasn’t the only shocked one. Wi Seong-cheon never imagined the Black Demon King saying such a thing either and stared at him wide-eyed.
“Why go that far?”
Even the White Flame Witch couldn’t comprehend. She cared for Wi Seong-cheon’s safety because he was a pawn placed in the Blood Cult’s sequence, an apostle of doctrine. Though she’d long abandoned the cult’s teachings, as a Blood Gate survivor from the Blood Cult, she couldn’t ignore him.
But the Black Demon King had no such reason.
“Because he’s not the type to die for something like this.”
The Black Demon King stared straight at Wi Seong-cheon as he spoke.
“Though Jamryong’s from the righteous sects, not unorthodox, this seat has high hopes for him. If he falls short, unavoidable. But he can’t die or get crippled over this. That’s all.”
“...Ugh...”
Despite the protection, Wi Seong-cheon couldn’t feel moved. If the Black Demon King went that far, he surely wanted something.
“Black Snake Alliance Lord.”
“No need for thanks.”
“That’s not it. Might be the last chance, so I want to ask.”
“Shouldn’t you thank me first for going this far?”
“You said no need for thanks.”
“Impudent brat.”
The Black Demon King smirked.
“What you want to ask is obvious. Black Heaven Young Lord—why did your sworn brother become this seat’s disciple? Since when? Why join Heavenly Flower Gate? What curse binds him?”
“You know already...”
“But knowing doesn’t mean this seat has to tell you. Oh, don’t misunderstand. This seat isn’t bound by any weird curse like a disciple. And I don’t know everything, but enough. Still, I won’t say because I don’t feel like it.”
“What’s that mean?”
“Bad manners too. But I’ll forgive you. Might be your last time, as you say.”
Stung by the mocking tone, Wi Seong-cheon bristled to retort. But before he could speak, the Black Demon King’s transmission voice pierced his ear.
[Don’t want needless misunderstandings, so I’ll tell you this. This seat took him as disciple four years ago. After he left Heavenly Flower Gate. He came to me already bound by a restriction and begged to be my disciple. But this seat was deep in final cultivation stages then, no interest in playing master. So I assigned him guards for protection and surveillance, sent him to the Demon Realm.]
Was this a lie?
No—truth. Wi Seong-cheon knew the Black Demon King wasn’t one to lie about such things.
[Why he joined Heavenly Flower Gate. What binds him. None of this seat’s business. His problem, not mine. So I won’t answer your questions. This seat respects such private matters.]
[You talked freely about my father...!]
“Jinchung. Ready to start?”
Wi Seong-cheon tried to protest in disbelief, but the Black Demon King ignored him and turned to urge Yeomyeong. Seemed even he couldn’t justify that one. Wi Seong-cheon let out a hollow laugh and watched Yeomyeong’s hand descend over his vision.
“Damn old bastard.”
That was the last thing Wi Seong-cheon uttered. The moment Yeomyeong’s hand covered his eyes, his consciousness winked out completely. As Wi Seong-cheon’s body went limp, the glass bed—the “Netherworld Coffin”—began to move. His straight-lying form opened wide to match the coffin’s shape.
“Hm-hm. Hey, Black Demon King. If you want, I could tweak his brain a bit and instill some manners.”
“Don’t do anything unnecessary. Focus on the tuning.”
Yeomyeong’s shoulders slumped at the icy reply. But that gloom shifted to pounding thrill and curiosity as he gazed at Wi Seong-cheon’s serene face. Grinning cheek to cheek, Yeomyeong stood before him and raised both arms.
In his hands gleamed qi-formed needles and a small sword. Savoring the familiar grip, he flicked his other hand lightly. The spirit medicines from Wi Seong-cheon’s bundle floated out via void grasp.
“Hm, perfect. It’s been ages since I’ve seen ultimate blood tonic with this much yang energy.”
“You plan to use that too?”
“No need for his body tuning, but if I cram in ultimate blood tonic and millennium frost ginseng like Silver Veil first wanted, we’ll create new problems where none exist. Waste to turn gold to shit, so I’ll use it while I’m at it.”
Yeomyeong boasted. Blending top-grade spirit medicines of opposing natures into one—that was no “while I’m at it” task, but child’s play for him.
“Don’t get cocky and screw up.”
“Who do you think I am?”
Yeomyeong snorted and drew the small sword from Wi Seong-cheon’s collarbone midpoint down to his navel. The qi blade didn’t split skin or expose organs. Yet Yeomyeong’s third eye clearly saw the body halved.
“Sleep tight. It’ll be done in less than half a day.”
Yeomyeong declared confidently.
But the surgery didn’t end in half a day.
It ended four days later.