Chapter 35
Chapter 35
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 35
Chapter Title: Joke
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Moyong Bi's aura was like a sword. The frost-like energy cloaking his entire body was so sharp it seemed it would slice flesh at the slightest touch.
Facing him, Paeng Daesan slyly stepped aside. The man who had stood firm even before the unorthodox faction's leader, the Blood Meridian Guest, had no choice but to yield before an elder of the Five Great Righteous Clans, bearer of the title Sword Venerable.
That was the hierarchy of the martial world.
Moyong Bi gazed down at me without a word. Yet his voice rang directly in my mind.
-You said you're from the Healer Immortal Sect.
Telepathy. A form of mental communication usable only by true experts whose internal energy had reached a certain realm. I had no internal energy whatsoever, so replying was out of the question. I could potentially transmit my will directly into his mind via hypnosis, but breaching the mental barriers of a peak expert on such high alert was next to impossible.
Speaking aloud would have been foolish besides. Every martial artist in the cave would be straining to listen.
I simply nodded silently.
My affiliation with the Healer Immortal Sect was already public knowledge. There was no need to hide it.
-Was it your doing, boosting everyone's energy just now?
His second transmission carried not doubt, but certainty. My senses, honed by hypnosis training, were adept at reading people's emotions. Amid waves of awe, jealousy, sympathy, and even affection, Moyong Bi's shone as unyielding conviction.
Lies wouldn't work. It would only make them suspect me of sorcery.
I nodded quietly once more.
Moyong Bi's brows furrowed ever so slightly. He gently stroked his chin beard and continued.
-As far as I know, the Healer Immortal Sect has no such technique. Which sect's strange art is that?
It had come at last. Not a multiple-choice question, but a short answer. Now I had to speak. Fortunately, I already had a prepared response.
I offered a silent apology to my master in my heart.
"It's a type of sonic art I learned from Master."
"Sonic art?"
"Yes. It creates vibrations through the sound of clapping, temporarily invigorating the listener's energy."
No one here would know sonic arts in any depth. Their very rarity was my best shield.
-The one they call the next Healer Immortal, then.
Moyong Bi transmitted again. His eyes grew even sharper.
I nodded once more.
-Yet I sense no internal energy from you. Aren't sonic arts martial techniques that consume vast amounts of it?
A keen observation.
"My internal energy is so meager it's undetectable. Fortunately, this sonic art doesn't consume much."
A lie, of course. I had no idea how much it actually consumed. But with no one the wiser, my words could become truth.
Moyong Bi fell silent for a moment. He seemed lost in thought. At last, he gave a small nod and pursued the matter no further. His expression suggested moderate acceptance, and I let out an inward sigh of relief.
Crisis averted.
But his next words shattered every expectation.
-I have a daughter. Still young, but so pretty I'd treasure her like the apple of my eye.
Daughter talk out of nowhere. Baffled by the sudden shift, I stared in confusion. Was this some other way of probing me?
Moyong Bi continued with utmost gravity.
-Become my son-in-law.
"......"
My mind went blank.
What in the world was this?
Since it was all telepathic, no one else heard a thing. To them, it just looked like the lofty Righteous Heaven Sword Venerable was having a brief chat with a lowly physician.
But one person was different. Soso, still holding me close.
She would have felt it all: my heart pounding like mad, my muscles tensing in an instant.
"Senior Brother...?"
Her anxious whisper tickled my ear, but my focus was entirely on the man before me. Son-in-law. To Righteous Heaven Sword Venerable Moyong Bi.
His mind was an unshakable steel fortress. Combined with the anxiety flooding from Soso, it muddled the emotional waves I could read, leaving me unable to pierce his thoughts.
For now, murim marriage customs being what they were—unlike the modern world—the first step was confirming a key fact.
"If I may ask... how old is your daughter?"
Moyong Bi slowly raised his left hand. Without a word, he extended four fingers.
Four.
Four years old.
...Was this old man joking?
But I was the type to meet jokes with jokes. Getting flustered or angry here would just mean playing into the wily veteran's hands.
I forced a calm expression and bowed politely.
"I am overwhelmed by the gracious proposal and don't know where to put myself. Please get in touch when your daughter comes of age."
A polite but firm refusal: I'd consider it when she turned twenty. He had to get the message.
Yet Moyong Bi's response defied expectation once again. He nodded faintly, as if satisfied, then planted his voice directly in my mind.
-Keep your promise.
With that, he turned away without a backward glance.
"W-wait! Hold on! Elder! Stop! Hold up! Wait!"
I called after him desperately, but Moyong Bi acted like he hadn't heard, sauntering back to the righteous faction's gathering spot. In his wake, gazes mixing awe and suspicion rained down on me.
Damn it.
If that wasn't a joke, it meant getting hitched to some stranger sixteen years from now, practically his daughter's age.
'...It's a joke. Has to be. Yeah, this is the standard template. Heh, what a sly old fox.'
That was what I decided to believe.
...Actually, on second thought, a grown daughter wasn't going to up and marry me on her father's say-so alone, right? Case closed. Ninety percent chance it was just banter.
"......"
I could see the refined-faced old man giggling from afar, watching us.
...I'd been had.
Wasted time on a bored geezer's prank.
I leaned back into Soso's embrace.
Byeok Cheonwi's booming voice echoed through the cave.
"All hands, move out again! No time to waste!"
His shout shattered the tense atmosphere. People gripped their weapons tighter and rose to their feet. With Soso's help, I did the same. I was somewhat recovered, but my body was still utterly spent.
We pressed on toward the deepest recesses of the Secret Cave.
By now, the lines between righteous and unrighteous factions had blurred. Amid the relentless demon assaults, they'd covered each other's backs time and again, and a faint but unmistakable bond had formed between them. Jokes flew now and then, along with concern for each other's wounds.
But no one approached me.
I just trudged along in the middle of the column in silence. Having Soso and Paeng Daesan guarding my flanks was small comfort at least. Outcast no matter where I went—what was I, some loser?
At the vanguard, the Blood Meridian Guest's twin blades whipped up a bloody storm once more. He rescued those in peril regardless of faction, carving through the demons. Black blood sprayed in fountains with every flourish of his blades.
Yet his movements had slowed noticeably. His breaths came ragged, and the angles of his swings lacked their former sharpness. The reinforcement I'd placed on him was finally wearing off.
Paeng Daesan's had ended even sooner, returning him to rear-guard duty.
To make matters worse, the deeper we went into the Secret Cave, the fiercer the demons grew—incomparably so. These were thick with demonic energy, leagues beyond the ones at the entrance.
At last, exploiting the Blood Meridian Guest's waning strength, the formation began to waver once more.
"Graaaargh!"
"Y-you bastard...! Get a hold of yourself!"
The worst had come to pass. Some began succumbing fully to the demonic energy, losing their reason and turning on their comrades. Their eyes turned pitch black, and inhuman roars erupted from their mouths.
"......!"
No choice remained. We had to turn our blades on the very comrades we'd just fought back-to-back with. Screams and cries mingled in an instant hellscape.
Only after cutting down several could we restore order, but the expedition's numbers had visibly thinned. Despair and exhaustion etched the survivors' faces. Byeok Cheonwi, who had shouldered the vanguard alone, looked ashen.
Then, far ahead in the darkness, a narrow passage marking the cave's end came into view.
"All stop! Final rest!"
Byeok Cheonwi called out in a weary voice. Just through there, and this endless Secret Cave delve would finally end.
I caught my breath and pondered briefly. Then, steeling my resolve, I dragged my fatigued body over to him.
"Squad Leader."
"Physician Mu, is it? What is it?"
His voice was hoarse. Deep fatigue was etched into his sweat-soaked face.
"Could I... borrow your forehead for a moment?"
Byeok Cheonwi's eyes flashed. He'd witnessed every change in the Blood Meridian Guest. He understood instantly. Without another word, he bent his massive frame and offered his forehead.
I placed my hand on it, pretending to take his pulse, and whispered softly.
"Please, lower your guard."
I felt his hulking body tremble ever so faintly—the moment he unlocked his mind. I tried to infiltrate the suggestion at once.
'Feel the overflowing power. Forget your weary flesh, harden your will like steel...'
But my mental force bounced off a solid wall before it could even reach his mind.
'...No good.'
The alliance's top expert. Azure Dragon Squad Leader. His mental strength was in a whole different league from the Blood Meridian Guest's. It felt like hurling a pebble at a mountain. Even relaxed, his instinctive defenses repelled everything.
I quietly withdrew my hand.
"Your internal injuries are deeper than I thought. Pushing yourself is dangerous."
I made an excuse, and Byeok Cheonwi nodded slightly, unable to hide his disappointment.
'Two.'
Reinforcing the Blood Meridian Guest had nearly doubled my total mental capacity. That meant I could handle two peak experts at once. But who? Looking around, I saw righteous and unrighteous masters maintaining sharp eyes amid their exhaustion.
Rashly approaching any, though, would just expose my secret.
I spoke to Byeok Cheonwi again.
"Squad Leader. Could you send two reliable peak experts my way? Ones who can keep a secret, please."
He seemed to ponder for a moment, then turned toward the gathered warriors. His lips moved faintly. Telepathy.
Soon, two figures approached us.
One was Righteous Heaven Sword Venerable Moyong Bi, who'd just hit me with that utterly unfunny joke.
The other was a middle-aged warrior shadowing him like a ghost—someone I'd never seen before. Probably his bodyguard.
Damn. No helping it. I sighed inwardly. At least that Sword Venerable didn't look the loose-lipped type. Fingers crossed.
As the two stood before me, I spoke in as businesslike a tone as possible.
"I'll borrow your foreheads briefly. Please, lower your guards."