Chapter 35
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 35
Chapter Title: Terminally Ill Don't Die—That's the Cliché
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“What's the connection between having a terminal illness and entering a restricted area?”
The girl, who blinked her doll-like eyes as if utterly baffled by my question, let out a small burst of laughter.
“Exactly, it's consideration. Consideration for letting a kid who doesn't have much time left see as much of the world as possible in that short span.”
“Did you get permission from the Mount Hua elders?”
“Nope, but they'd obviously allow it, right? I've never been anywhere I wanted to go and couldn't. I've even been inside the secret manual archives of other clans—surely they won't bar me from a single pond?”
I scratched my head wordlessly.
Beneath the blatant arrogance in her words lay a foundation of resignation.
Looks like they've been spoiling her rotten because she's terminal.
It couldn't be that they're calling it terminal just because of her albinism...
“What's the illness?”
“It's pretty famous, isn't it? The disease the youngest of the Hebei Peng Clan was born with.”
“How would I know that? Hebei and Shaanxi are worlds apart.”
Better to curb any overattachment and reclaim a healthy life.
Speaking of which, she's from the Hebei Peng Clan.
The Hebei Peng Clan folks I glimpsed yesterday all had bulging muscles, bodies that could wrestle bears barehanded.
And here she was, the only one among them with a porcelain doll physique. The mysteries of genetics are truly profound.
The girl burst into laughter again at my curt reply, breathing a little raggedly as she asked teasingly.
Even a little laugh leaves her short of breath—what kind of body is this?
“Do you know about the Nine Yin Severed Meridians?”
Nine Yin Severed Meridians.
A condition in the wuxia world where excessive innate yin energy eats away at one's lifespan.
It could be cured by consuming the inner core of a yang-abundant spirit beast, but those cores were harder to obtain than stars in the sky.
In most wuxia novels, men afflicted with it (especially protagonists) were talent bombs, and women were heroines.
Probably because the trope gave them short lifespans offset by exceptional beauty and talent.
And sure enough, even the 'terminal' ones didn't die.
They'd somehow snag a fateful encounter, fully cure their severed meridians, and live on as stunningly talented prodigies.
'This one's not dying either.'
I'd read a few wuxia novels, and I could barely recall anyone who actually died from Nine Yin Severed Meridians.
Protagonists and heroines obviously survived, and even side characters got inner cores or elixirs shoved at them by the protagonist or had experts unclog their channels.
Any faint pity I'd felt vanished the moment I heard the diagnosis.
Come to think of it, her unique color scheme screamed heroine too.
If this weren't the no-romance world of [Sword God Returns], you'd definitely cure your condition and live long. No way the protagonist would let a heroine die.
Though genre-wise, there'd be more than one heroine.
I nodded, and the girl smirked.
“Good. Saves me from explaining my own illness.”
I clicked my tongue at the weary emotion laced in those words. Yeah, it'd be a hassle for her to spell it out every time.
“Thanks to it, I've lived under my family's overprotection. They freak out like I'm about to collapse just from walking a single li on my own feet.”
Visually, yeah, I could see that happening.
“I snuck out even now. They're probably all out searching for me as we speak.”
Terminal illness, delicate beauty, frail body from birth, prestigious clan, overprotective family.
It was straight out of a romance novel child-rearing story.
I almost asked if she'd possessed into a novel too, but swallowed the words.
It was the kind of life I'd once yearned for, raised more Spartan than coddled, but looking back now...
“Must be suffocating.”
That smothering overprotection didn't suit my temperament of wandering everywhere. And the face of the one saying it didn't look happy either.
I lowered my gaze to meet the eyes prodding at me insistently.
Through the slightly parted collar of his robe, a face gazing blankly up at me came into view.
“What?”
“No, everyone always just says how lucky I am to have such kind senior brothers and a father. That I'm blessed.”
...Senior brothers?
“You're a guy?”
“You're really dense in the weirdest places.”
Now that I thought about it, his voice did sound a bit low for a girl's...
I gawked, dumbfounded, at the boy—no, wait, the one who sighed exasperatedly.
Whoa, that drops the odds of a heroine buff curing his meridians big time.
One path left, buddy. Befriend the protagonist ASAP. Once you're friends, he'll snag an inner core from somewhere and feed it to you.
Assuming this really is a wuxia world, of course.
If it's just a normal murim with no protagonist... well, you're screwed.
“Yeah, sometimes it chokes me. That overprotection constantly reminds me how little time I have left.”
The boy sneered, adjusting the long dangling fabric of his collar.
As the sunlight intensified, I led him under the shade of a tree. Lying back comfortably on the grass, he plopped down beside me after removing his collar cloth.
Examining his fully exposed face up close, it did lean more boyish than girlish.
“If you get the chance, come back to Mount Hua during plum blossom season.”
At my out-of-left-field remark, the boy blinked his white eyelashes.
I grinned and snatched a gently falling leaf.
“The Jade Maiden Pond scenery then is incomparably more beautiful than now.”
“Intriguing. It's already this stunning—how much more breathtaking could it be?”
The boy murmured with a bitter smile, exhaling a long breath.
“Will I even get to come back here within ten years?”
“Not within ten, but twenty or thirty years from now—as long as the plum trees by Jade Maiden Pond don't wither, you can see it anytime.”
At my response, the boy suddenly burst into a bright laugh. After laughing heartily, he said with flushed cheeks.
“I really like you.”
“Suddenly? What part exactly?”
As I scratched my cheek and asked, he fiddled with the collar cloth on his knee and replied.
“You're the only one who doesn't treat me like a flower about to wilt. Even that cocky Namgung Family heir gets all cautious around me, which annoys me.”
What? Namgung Seheon has a considerate side?
Then why'd he treat me like crap? Discriminating based on who you see? What the hell?
Irritation surged, and I unnecessarily sighed deeply, looking up at the sky.
Judging by the sun's position, it was time to head down.
No way the boy next to me could dash down the stairs.
“Let's head down.”
I stood, placed the collar cloth squarely on his head, and extended my hand. Grasping it, I pulled him to his feet.
Matching his pace slowed our descent to a crawl.
As expected, by the time we reached the bottom, the sunset was beginning, and I breathed a sigh of relief.
“Youngest!”
The moment we entered the sect gate, I flinched at the muscular bulk charging like an enraged wild boar.
“How could you wander off alone in an unfamiliar place with such a frail body!”
The giant scooped up his sibling effortlessly, like lifting a doll.
Embarrassed to be carried by his brother in front of a peer, the boy struggled briefly before going limp, panting.
Spotting me belatedly, the already fierce-faced giant scowled even darker and barked.
“You the one who lured my innocent, fragile little brother out?”
“Bro! I left on my own two feet! We just ran into him outside by chance! Don't pick fights with innocent people!”
Overprotection aside, that attitude was pure romance novel doting older brother material.
Watching the boy block his brother bodily, I grew bored and turned to head to the hall when a clear voice rang out.
“Peng Ha-ran.”
Turning at the three syllables of his name, I saw the boy smiling radiantly, like a flower blooming.
“That's my name.”
The moment I moved to give mine, a small cough—cough—escaped Peng Ha-ran's lips, and his brother bolted off carrying him.
“Bro, wait...! Just a sec!”
I clicked my tongue watching the two brothers vanish at top speed.
Looks like you wandered into the wrong genre, Peng Ha-ran.
No matter how I think about it, you're not cut out for murim life.
* * *
Bang—the door to the hall flew open, and all eyes turned to me.
“You look fine. Never thought you'd be digging a hole in the ground crying your eyes out anyway.”
Biryong spoke flatly as I crawled into the blankets.
“See? Told you that guy's not the type to cry over a single loss. Hand over three nyang.”
“Damn... Can't you cut it to two, senior sister?”
Spotting the junior sisters exchanging money on the sly, I narrowed my eyes. Betting on me behind my back?
“Not fine. Just holding back from smashing everything. Because I'd get scolded.”
I mumbled, pulling the blanket over my head.
Yesterday, I'd been too worried about Uihyeon finding out about the fight to fully feel the loss, but now that it was out, I was tasting my first defeat in life down to the marrow.
A slow hand patted me over the blanket.
“Defeat isn't a bad thing for you right now, junior brother.”
I perked up at Biryong's rare gentle tone.
“You've only known victory until now, junior brother. You didn't realize that was the real poison.”
“What's poisonous about it?”
“You never learned anything from defeat.”
“What's there to learn from defeat...”
Grumbling, I felt the steady patting hand smack hard once.
“You think the losers in all those spars you won got nothing out of it?”
Peeking only my eyes out from under the blanket, I watched Biryong chuckle and brush back my bangs.
“You always sought answers only in victory, so this time, find some in defeat too.”
Her elder-sister demeanor felt unfamiliar after so long.
Moments like this really drove home that I was the youngest by age.
Even remembering my past life—cooped up in a corner counting days to independence—meant nothing to me.
So rather than cling to my past life, I wanted to fully live this one on Mount Hua, age-appropriately.
What answers could defeat possibly hold? As I pondered, a finger flicked lightly against my forehead.
“If you really can't figure it out, just ask.”
I nodded at her playful addendum. As expected...
“I have no idea!”
“At least pretend to think about it before asking.”