Chapter 70: Divine Thief and the Mad Physician (5)
Chapter 70: Divine Thief and the Mad Physician (5)
I returned with Chi-chi and rejoined Seol Yu-ran. After torturing the second-rate assassin she had subdued and extracting information from him, we learned where Divine Thief was hiding.
Was the bastard audacious, or had he completely lost his fear? Whichever it was, he owned a house beneath Mount Song.
He had stolen the Muscle-Tendon Transformation Classic, yet he'd set up a temporary hideout beneath Mount Song.
If the Shaolin monks had found out, they would have hunted him down even if they had to lay a net across the entire area.
The reason he'd managed to avoid suspicion was that his temporary hideout was a medical house. And the funniest part was that its owner was a wanted criminal known as the Mad Physician.
Chi-chi, who had once again become a bunny girl, spoke as if she couldn't believe it.
"A wanted criminal openly running around like that? I knew the hypocrites of the Orthodox Faction were ignoramuses, but I never thought they were blind as well."
"It can't be helped. Every time the Mad Physician moves to a new hideout, he uses his medical skills to reconstruct his face and change his appearance."
"His own face? What a lunatic."
Maybe that was why his epithet included the character for "mad."
Anyway, this one would later be called the Demon Physician and walk the inhuman path of conducting all kinds of human experiments and the like. In his own mind, he wanted to uncover the mysteries of the human body and reach the truth.
In a way, it made perfect sense that he was traveling around with Divine Thief.
"I didn't expect those two to be together already."
"Will the two of them be together later, too?"
On the way back, I had also told Chi-chi that I could read the movements of fate. If I told only Seol Yu-ran and not her, she would feel left out.
I knew rationally that she wouldn't, but people's hearts weren't always so reasonable.
I nodded in answer to Chi-chi's question, then explained.
"The Mad Physician is the one who helps Divine Thief repair his deformed bones and become strong enough to break through the wall. Their goals are similar to a certain extent, so it can happen."
Divine Thief wanted to repair his crooked bones, become a master, and take revenge. And the Mad Physician was a lunatic who wanted to advance humanity to the next stage through human experimentation.
When those two met, they hit it off and threw themselves into their work, producing an outcome worthy of the name.
Though, to the Orthodox martial world, that outcome—the Strange Demon—was an unlooked-for disaster.
'No, should I call it retribution rather than a disaster?'
If they hadn't piled up grudges in the first place and had treated him properly, he wouldn't have become the Strange Demon.
"Anyway, Divine Thief and the Mad Physician are both at that medical house, so let's capture them together. The Murim Alliance has even put bounties on them."
Divine Thief, who was always commissioning assassination sects to have martial artists killed.
And the Mad Physician, who conducted human experiments on the corpses of those martial artists and on commoners he had abducted.
Both of them had enormous bounties on their heads. It'd been a while since I'd made some decent pocket money. The money I'd earned through Fortuitous Encounters was nice, but these were perfect targets for building my reputation, too.
"Still, stealing Shaolin's Muscle-Tendon Transformation Classic... I can't tell whether he's skilled or stupid."
"Rather than stupid, he's blinded by obsession. If you combine a scripture that improves the bones and muscles with the Mad Physician's medical knowledge, the two should have a tremendous synergistic effect."
"...Did you see that in the future?"
Perhaps it was because I'd spoken with such confidence. Seol Yu-ran asked, unable to hide her doubts, and I answered calmly.
"Yes. Later, the Righteous-Demonic War breaks out, and Divine Thief goes to take revenge on the families of those who looked down on him, bearing the epithet Strange Demon."
"Strange Demon? Does that happen during the Righteous-Demonic War that breaks out when I become the Heavenly Demon?"
"That's right. It'll happen five years from now."
"Then the me of that time is truly pathetic. To accept such a petty thief as one of the Ten Demons."
To Chi-chi, who walked the path of domination, Dokgo Ja-hwi, called Divine Thief, seemed to be nothing more than a petty thief. It seemed she could hardly understand why the awe-inspiring Heavenly Demon, who strode along her own path with overwhelming confidence, would accept such a petty thief into the Ten Demons.
But there was no helping it.
The Demonic Cult's current leader—called the Heavenly Demon, though the cultists more often addressed him as Cult Leader—had a fairly solid power base.
Then Chi-chi suddenly appeared, performed the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, and claimed to have inherited the First Heavenly Demon's legacy. Wouldn't that leave a struggle for power as the only option? In the process, six of the Ten Demons were eliminated, and four of the families known as the Six Great Families of Xinjiang were wiped out.
As a result, they were so battered by manpower shortages that they had to take on outside help just to get started. It wasn't until five years after the original story began that they had finally recovered enough forces to fight the Great War Between the Righteous and the Demonic.
"That's because the Chi-chi of today has become the Cocksleeve Heavenly Demon, and her whole way of thinking has been shattered. Before she met me, she was much more rigid."
"So I lost the Great War Between the Righteous and the Demonic?"
"...How'd you figure that out?"
I didn't think I'd let on.
Chi-chi gave me a sidelong look, as if to say, You don't even know that?
...That's kind of annoying.
"If the Divine Cult had won the Great War Between the Righteous and the Demonic, you'd have declared your Post-Nut Clarity Sect part of the demonic path, not the orthodox one. You're strong, Master, but you hate dealing with bothersome things, so you would simply have joined the side that was winning: the Demonic Path. Is my guess wrong?"
"Tch. That's so dead on, I've got nothing to say."
If Chi-chi had won the Great War Between the Righteous and the Demonic, I would have gone straight to the Demonic Cult without looking back, sworn myself to her, and seduced her with my dick.
I would have pushed things all the way to death by snu-snu, somehow getting her to agree to let me take other women, too.
But I'd read that Chi-chi ultimately lost to the protagonists, so I knew she wasn't invincible—and that was why I'd sworn myself to the righteous side.
"Heh heh heh. What a shame. If I had defied the heavens and conquered the Central Plains, Master would have joined the Demonic Path. It's such a shame."
"Hmph. Even then, the disciple would have been unable to forget his master's breasts, and would have returned to the righteous sects."
At that, Chi-chi flinched and stared intently at Seol Yu-ran's Big Mommy Boobs. As befit a woman with ample breasts, she was confident in her own, but Seol Yu-ran's Big Mommy Boobs were in a league of their own.
Pride in their breasts and pride in the Demonic Cult engaged in a fierce battle of wills. No, could something this vulgar even be called a battle of wills?
It was truly a philosophical question.
Clap!
I channeled internal energy into my hands as I clapped, changing the mood and drawing everyone's attention.
"All right, all right. Let's go catch the Divine Thief and the Mad Physician."
This time, we didn't even need a plan.
"Let's build up our reputations."
The strong were going.
***
A medical house beneath Mount Song.
It was known as a clinic that cared for commoners, but in truth, its master was a wanted criminal of the martial world known as the Mad Physician. His infamy for not only harming martial artists but also using commoners as subjects for human experimentation was so great that even the Imperial Court had placed a bounty on him. That was all there was to say about it.
How else could one explain the fact that he was said to possess a greater knowledge of human anatomy than even the Jinju Eon Clan, the very byword for jiangshi production?
The Mad Physician himself had no martial skill, but he had assembled an escort force of jiangshi, making him no easy man to capture.
And that very Mad Physician—
Kwa-gwa-gwa-gwa-gwa!
—was on the verge of being utterly wiped out.
"One Vajra Corpse and five Silver Jiangshi. He really did spend every last bit of his money."
The Vajra Corpse had the strength of a Peak Realm master, while the Silver Jiangshi were as strong as First-rate martial artists. Even if a great sect came after him, that was enough strength to make him difficult for a single group of pursuers to catch.
"Jiangshi. How contemptible. You thought this kind of recycled trash could stop me?"
"Don't say that. We're the ones who are strong."
My Lightning Qi mingled with Chi-chi's Demonic Qi. The techniques we unleashed swept through the Silver Jiangshi without difficulty, leaving only the one Vajra Corpse.
I had left the Vajra Corpse standing, and turned to Seol Yu-ran.
"It would be best if you were the one to take down the Vajra Corpse, Master."
"Because of the reputation?"
"Yes. Since we're beneath Mount Song, Shaolin will get involved, but Henan is also within the Murim Alliance's territory. And since we've caught the Mad Physician, who murdered commoners, the Imperial Troops will send an investigation team of their own as well. In a place where our names are bound to spread, if we leave behind evidence that you were the one who took down the Vajra Corpse, you'll get a sobriquet in no time."
This wasn't just some ordinary jiangshi. It was a Vajra Corpse, of all things.
In a small or medium-sized sect, there were hardly any Peak Realm masters aside from the sect leader, and...
Even among the Five Great Clans and the Nine Sects and One Gang, a Vajra Corpse was said to be comparable to a realm that fewer than thirty people had reached!
If Seol Yu-ran left behind the mark of having defeated such a Vajra Corpse all by herself, her fame and epithet would soar in an instant.
'She's a swordswoman who has reached the Peak Realm, after all.'
Since the previous Sword Queen had vanished without a trace, no woman of the sword had appeared who could match the Peak Realm. At long last, one had emerged. She would surely receive the epithet of Sword Queen.
What other disciple was there who would devote himself, as I did, to helping his master gain the honorable epithet of Sword Queen? I hoped Seol Yu-ran would recognize my filial devotion.
She nodded, then stepped forward to face the Vajra Corpse.
"Kyaaaak!"
With a shrill battle cry, the Vajra Corpse charged. Its iron-hard fists, contrary to their crude appearance, produced unpredictable attacks through delicate control of its qi. Even Seol Yu-ran could be seriously injured if she let her guard down against a fighter of this caliber.
Of course, that was only if Seol Yu-ran let her guard down.
Fwoosh.
A chill spread outward.
If I wielded the Ice White Divine Art by perfecting myself, Seol Yu-ran wielded it by perfecting the environment to her advantage.
As the Vajra Corpse stepped into her domain, where frost had settled over everything, it slowed under the cold.
The cold put a brake on its body: the Vajra Corpse's muscles, which should have been still in death, were forced to move by the circulation of its internal energy. Seol Yu-ran read the opening, and her beloved sword flashed.
True to its name, Snow Tears, the sword gleamed pure white, as though snowflakes were shedding tears, and traced out a blizzard. Its sword path depicted plum blossoms, yet focused more on the blizzard. It seemed to be the Plum Blossom Sword Technique, and yet somehow not.
Could she be worried that all the fame she built would end up going to the Mount Hua Sect?
'I've already made arrangements for that, anyway.'
I'd gone and made her worry for nothing. I'd apologize later.
"Kishaaat!!"
True to its name as a Vajra Corpse, it seemed its external arts had been thoroughly honed in life. Even when it was struck by a dazzling flurry of plum blossoms like a blizzard, it suffered no fatal wounds. But the tendons in its arms and legs had been severed, robbing them of their function, and its speed had plainly slowed.
Meanwhile, Seol Yu-ran used the cold to control friction and increase her speed. She alone wielded her sword with graceful poise.
As befitted a swordswoman of the Plum Blossom Sword Technique, her sword path was powerful, swift, and dreamlike. Using the Vajra Corpse as her canvas, she embroidered it with flowers. She joined point to point to draw a line, then wove line to line, bringing plum blossoms into bloom.
Plum blossoms flowered above the Vajra Corpse, whose varied fist techniques stood in stark contrast to its crude footwork, which consisted of nothing but charging straight ahead.
"It's a shame. He seems to have been a much more formidable fist fighter in life."
Though her tone was truly regretful, her sword strikes drove the Vajra Corpse back all the more mercilessly.
"So the milk girl acknowledges what the Vajra Corpse was like in life."
"Yeah. Well, that's probably because she can handle even that without much trouble."
The Plum Blossom Sword Technique was a killing sword art that bewitched the opponent with beauty, then exploited the opening it created. Yet Seol Yu-ran met the Vajra Corpse's fists head-on, deflecting them with her sword strikes and pressing forward with faster, more numerous attacks. She did so because she acknowledged her opponent.
She was going to end it in a head-on contest, accommodating the Vajra Corpse, which could not properly use footwork.
"But, Master, can you really afford to take it easy like this? The Mad Physician may be a pushover, sure, but I hear that Divine Thief is fast on his feet."
"We have time to watch. I've already set up a Formation."
"Hmm? So that strange flow of qi was your Lightning Qi, Master."
"That's right. So let's relax and enjoy the show."
Watching Seol Yu-ran prepare to deliver the final blow to the Vajra Corpse, I said,
"It looks like this will be over soon."
It was at that very moment.
The blizzard died away, and white night unfolded. The span of time in which she could exhale once to breathe had been divided into dozens, even hundreds of moments, but I could see it.
The Yin Cold Qi that had spread through that white night resonated with Snow Tears and became one with it.
Then the white night, which had once more been released outside and controlled through Snow Tears, resonated with Seol Yu-ran.
Step. Step.
There, Seol Yu-ran walked slowly.
Walking through the snowy field, she was beautiful enough to close the moon and shame the flowers, like a figure in a painting.
As she continued with light, graceful steps, she stopped in front of the Vajra Corpse, which she had halted through sheer will.
Click.
She sheathed Snow Tears.
Thud.
The Vajra Corpse's head fell.