Chapter 80
Chapter 80
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 80
Chapter Title: Chastity
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Seon Woo Hyun gazed at the back of the small girl who had followed him out of the Dengwang Pavilion at his invitation.
Was this girl really the fleeting one-day companion he had met in Gansu?
Walking away from Gansu, she had somehow been accompanied by Hwang Bo Yun, the young master of the Hwang Bo family.
For childhood friends who had grown up together, the girl's appearance back then had been far too ragged.
'She must have quite the backstory.'
He wasn't the type to take much interest in others' affairs.
Yet Seon Woo Hyun couldn't easily quell his questions and curiosity about this girl named Wi Sowol.
'How did I know?'
That night they had merely brushed past each other.
The two youths hadn't even exchanged names.
In fact, huddled against the winter cold wrapped in clothes and fabric, he hadn't even gotten a proper look at her face.
Amusingly, neither of them had truly needed such protection from the chill.
Wi Sowol, with her Nine Yin Absolute Meridian, wouldn't freeze to death from mere cold winds.
And Seon Woo Hyun, having tempered his Solar Yang Art to its limits, had achieved a state impervious to the cold.
Yet Wi Sowol had recognized him.
From her words, it even seemed she knew why he was seeking a physician.
The latter was understandable enough.
Rumors about him were quite famous in Northern Hebei.
Anyone outside the region who made even a little effort or had wide ears could easily come across the information.
But the former still baffled him.
How?
'Did she cultivate some special eye technique?'
He had heard that among the unorthodox eye arts, there was the Spirit Eye that could see souls.
If it was that technique, hovering between martial arts and sorcery, it might pierce disguises or transformation arts to glimpse a person's true essence.
Wi Sowol's aura was remarkably serene.
A firm, unshakable will thoroughly controlled it.
It didn't seem like she was using any concealment technique akin to his Black Shadow Point.
That meant her control over her qi had reached a state of heavenly seamlessness.
'A physician, though?'
With such profound qi manipulation, to be a physician...
It felt subtly fitting yet somewhat absurd.
If all physicians were like that, the Wu Medical Academy would be the supreme sect under heaven.
As Seon Woo Hyun wandered lost in this labyrinth of unanswered questions,
Hwang Bo Yun was casually resolving his own curiosities by asking the small, mysterious stray cat that always gave answers when pressed.
[But isn't the Seonwoo Clan in Northern Hebei? Why come all the way here from so far?]
[Distance means nothing to a patient seeking a physician.]
[What's wrong with you? You look perfectly fine to me.]
Hwang Bo Yun's penetrating gaze pierced Seon Woo Hyun's Black Shadow Point, partially observing his true form.
Vast inner power slumbered within.
In terms of sheer quantity, it might surpass even his own—or Wi Sowol's.
Such grandeur and vastness—Hwang Bo Yun had only ever seen it in his father, Shin Kwon.
The mere fact that Shin Kwon was the benchmark was already extraordinary.
Shin Kwon Hwang Bo Geuk, the foremost expert of Gansu, vied for the top spot among the eight great clans' leaders.
Though his remote base lowered his reputation compared to the Namgung or Seonwoo Clans, among martial artists, Hwang Bo Geuk was a living legend.
For a youth barely twenty to be compared to such a man?
Anyone hearing it would dismiss it as nonsense.
It was mere conjecture based on inner power alone.
In an actual fight with Hwang Bo Geuk, the elder would obviously win—but even that was astonishing enough.
[Similar to you. Innate constitution.]
[Solar God Meridian?]
[Exactly.]
Just as the Hwang Bo Clan possessed the Heavenly King Physique,
the Seonwoo Clan had expanded from a bloodline bearing the Solar God Meridian.
[It really exists?]
[The Seonwoo Clan has never had its Solar God Meridian severed.]
[Huh? Really?]
[Only degrees of strength differ.]
Passed down generation after generation without break—hence, divine meridian.
The Solar God Meridian referred not just to a constitution but to the Seonwoo Clan's direct bloodline itself.
Specialized for cultivating the Solar Yang Art, it featured extraordinarily tough and resilient blood vessels and channels, with bodily heat resistance on another level entirely.
True to the name "divine bloodline," the Seonwoo Clan even had founding myths.
Though they claimed descent from the Ji-surnamed Xianyu Clan of the Central Plains.
According to the myths, the Seonwoo originated from descendants of the Fire Virtue Star Lord, goddess of fire.
Later, one descendant met the daughter of the Buddhist sun god Yan Tian and begat the current progenitor.
A myth blending Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism quite aptly.
Similar to how even the Nine Sects mixed Daoism and Buddhism.
[You know the difference between physique and meridian, right?]
Lumped together as constitutions, physique and meridian were distinct.
Like Hwang Bo Yun's Heavenly King Physique, a "physique" encompassed the entire body being exceptional.
Meridians, like the Seonwoo Clan's Solar God Meridian or Wi Sowol's own Nine Yin Absolute Meridian, focused more on the qi channels and vessels where qi and blood flowed.
[They play a major role in governing the body, so they affect the whole, but...]
Compared to physiques, meridians had subtler influence.
If you stripped Seon Woo Hyun and Hwang Bo Yun of inner power and made them fight with pure physical ability, Hwang Bo Yun would win nine out of ten times.
[But it's a divine meridian, right? Not an absolute meridian—so why see a physician?]
[Good question.]
Indeed, divine meridians weren't called that for nothing.
Unlike absolute meridians, they weren't harmful.
Absolute meridians blocked qi flow, causing stagnation.
With yin qi that should exit lingering inside, the body desperately opened all qi and blood channels to restore circulation, greedily drawing in more qi.
That gathered qi just accumulated further, and the body craved even more.
The source of Wi Sowol's genius intellect and inspiration.
Her Baihui acupoint wide open—nay, her Heavenly Gate, linking to the heavens since childhood, remained unsealed.
Divine meridians had none of that.
The body was simply extraordinarily robust, with absurd efficiency in converting natural qi into inner power.
Thus, unlike absolute meridians, qi and blood weren't forcibly opened.
In other words, divine meridians didn't come with the same genius.
Hence, the Seonwoo Clan always yearned for those with aptitude matching their divine meridian.
The Heavenly King Physique granted genius across body and mind...
'But looking at Bo Yun, maybe not quite.'
That was a matter for further study later.
[But excess is as bad as deficiency, in all things.]
Efficiency was good?
One might wonder the problem, but excess was always trouble.
A body with such extreme efficiency in the Solar God Meridian.
No matter the heat resistance, the physical body couldn't endure the scorching Solar Yang Qi flowing through its channels.
[Every use of inner power brings excruciating burning pain.]
[Ugh...]
In short, Seon Woo Hyun needed a way to either reduce the divine meridian's efficiency or strengthen his body to withstand the Solar Yang Qi.
[Fascinating. A constitution others crave, yet he must weaken it to survive.]
The very kind of trait martial artists coveted.
"A moment."
Seon Woo Hyun's voice, having missed Wi Sowol's entertaining and informative lesson on martial constitutions, pushed aside the telepathic exchange.
"By my reckoning, this path leads to the Namgung Clan. Might the jade maiden be a retainer or guest there?"
If so, he pondered whether to reveal his identity.
"No?"
Wi Sowol replied as if it were nonsense.
"We're just heading there for our own business. I never said we were going straight to the Azure Sound Jade Maiden."
"...I see. Then I'll wait outside. I'll be at the nearby teahouse—call me when you're done."
"If that's easier for you."
Near the Namgung Clan's main estate, Seon Woo Hyun temporarily parted from the group.
No one had discussed how to call him, but none worried much about it.
It wouldn't be difficult for them.
In any case, Wi Sowol and Hwang Bo Yun thus knocked on the gate of the Namgung Clan's main compound.
Namgung Ji moved the instant he heard Wi Sowol and Hwang Bo Yun had arrived.
Unleashing his clan's lightness skill, Thousand Li Courtyard, he reached the main gate in a flash.
Cross-verified through his personal intelligence network and the clan head's direct intel unit, Heavenly Observation Pavilion, Namgung Ji's steps were light with delight at the desired results.
"You've arrived. Everything's prepared. This way."
Before showing the Moon Flower Army, he planned to display the preparations for the core Mid-Autumn Festival event, the Bright Moon Rite.
He had arranged the path to the guest hall to naturally pass through the prep site.
A calculated move to impress the grandeur of the event and the significance of starring in it.
But Wi Sowol's purpose at the Namgung Clan was entirely different.
"Before that... mind if we handle the request first...?"
The awkwardly appended polite speech trailed off.
Far from displeasing, Namgung Ji found it utterly endearing and chuckled softly.
"Before that—I've invited you to my home, so shouldn't we exchange greetings first?"
"Ah, um. Right."
No helping it.
Having come this far, she had to see it through.
Wi Sowol, figuring she owed him this much for her own request, readily removed her mask.
Namgung Ji, upon seeing her face, barely swallowed the gasp rising to his tongue.
'Confirmed! Confirmed! Super confirmed!'
This was the jackpot.
The Bright Moon Rite would undoubtedly go down with the moniker of greatest in history.
His expression softening magnanimously, Namgung Ji nodded briskly.
"Of course. Let's head there first."
The place Namgung Ji guided them to was the outskirts of the Namgung Clan's fortress-like compound.
As a faint presence became detectable, Wi Sowol halted.
"I'll go alone from here."
"Mm... Curious, but prying wouldn't be elegant."
As Namgung Ji withdrew, Hwang Bo Yun hesitantly followed suit.
Feeling a twinge of guilt toward Hwang Bo Yun, Wi Sowol pressed on alone.
Behind the building.
Too grand for a rear garden, too vast for a mere path.
There, a man awaited her.
A youth just shedding boyhood, transitioning to manhood.
In a few more years, would he become the face from her memories?
She had found the right one.
A youthful visage, like the traces of time lightly scrubbed from the same person's features.
But.
'He's different.'
Very different from his past life's appearance.
Facing Namgung Shin, Wi Sowol found no remnants of her memories in his face.
Despite the striking resemblance.
It felt like looking at a stranger.
What remained of Namgung Shin from her past life was malice.
Not evil, but the venom left at the end of a wretched life.
A young swordsman who, after losing, being trampled, fighting, and fleeing, harbored only indiscriminate rage at the world.
The man called Ghost Sword Follower, who stood beside the Sword Ghost Wi Soil, was absent here.
Standing here was a youth who hadn't yet abandoned hope—but had begun harboring resentment toward the world.
"Do you know me?"
"I thought I did, but apparently not."
"...You must have mistaken me for someone else. I've never seen you before."
Perhaps dragged out abruptly.
Namgung Shin seemed displeased.
Who would enjoy being summoned back and forth on a mistaken identity?
Yet even accounting for that, Namgung Shin's reaction felt sharp.
He knew he had to restrain himself for Namgung Ji, a clan superior—yet his true feelings leaked out uncontrollably.
"Then I'll take my leave."
"I don't know you, but the you that you don't know—I do."
"...Are you a monk? I don't care for Zen riddles."
"Namgung Shin. How is your younger sister?"
At Wi Sowol's question, shock flooded Namgung Shin's face.
"You know my sister? Are you a friend of my little sister's? Did she send for me...? No, Lady Great Princess clearly summoned... "
Namgung Shin's trembling eyes floundered in shock and regret.
If this was a friend come to see his sister, what rudeness had he committed?
The prior words rang mostly true.
If only hearing about Namgung Shin by word, the real person might differ from expectations.
Namgung Shin knew it well.
His current disheveled state wasn't impressive.
If this person truly knew his sister, then the Namgung Shin she knew was through her eyes—and thus, a self unknown to him, which made sense.
"S-sorry, but my sister can't see visitors right now..."
"I'm a physician. I haven't told anyone, so don't worry."
"...How, exactly."
"Are you going to stand there? I won't be here long."
"No, ah, understood. This way!"
Namgung Shin's quarters weren't far.
This outer rear garden was the area for collateral branch members like him.
Wi Sowol sensed two trailing presences as she entered Namgung Shin's home.
Clear attempts to hide it, but a faint, familiar stench lingered.
From the smell alone, Wi Sowol diagnosed Namgung Shin's sister's illness.
'Syphilis...'
Had it spread this far?
Wi Sowol wondered if this syphilis would become a massive epidemic like in Guangdong.
For it to reach the Namgung Clan.
It was safe to assume it had spread even to scholarly households in Nanchang County.
"...Oppa?"
A faint voice from within came from a girl not much older than Wi Sowol.
Thinking on it, it made sense.
Namgung Shin was around Seon Woo Hyun's age.
His younger sister wouldn't differ much from Wi Sowol.
There, Wi Sowol felt a question arise.
'A bit more.'
She needed to confirm.
"Step out."
Wi Sowol, removing her beak mask—donned again thinking of reuniting with Namgung Shin—to reveal her own feminine form.
The instant Namgung Shin saw Wi Sowol's face, his body froze momentarily.
But only briefly.
He quickly regained composure and soothed his sister.
"Hee-ah. It's a physician."
"Physician... No, I can't..."
"They came for you. Someone you know..."
As Namgung Hee refused examination in a trembling voice, Namgung Shin grew confused.
Not acquaintances?
"I'll examine you. You, out."
For some reason, Namgung Shin felt compelled to obey Wi Sowol's words.
What was it?
Like a command hammered straight into his soul...?
"A-ah... yes."
Namgung Hee, seeing even her brother retreat helplessly, fell into confusion as well.
In the Namgung Clan, Namgung Shin was quietly famous.
With his rebellious streak and prodigious martial talent.
From a collateral of collaterals, orphaned young—his self-defensive instincts were strong.
Yet at a single word from a girl who looked smaller than him...
Namgung Shin awkwardly exited.
Alone with her now, Wi Sowol moved at once.
"Hand."
Namgung Hee, like her brother, extended her hand instantly, well-trained as a puppy.
Despite her feverish delirium.
The siblings truly resembled each other.
Wi Sowol probed with faint inner power.
'Definite.'
Syphilis.
Yet something odd caught in Wi Sowol's qi sense.
'This is?'
Wi Sowol could near-perfectly discern yin qi.
Her qi sense honed to extremes by the Nine Yin Absolute Meridian.
The Great White Light True Qi heart method that embraced yin qi like moonlight.
And her vast clinical experience treating women as the rare female physician.
Combining all that.
"Are you... a virgin?"
Namgung Hee's body was intact.
At the blunt question, Namgung Hee shyly nodded with effort.
"Huh...?"
How could a virgin have syphilis?