This is a Son-in-Law (4)
Ding. The black-haired woman playing the pipa swept her gaze across the banquet hall, pretending to stare downward. The Nine Great Sects, the Five Great Families, the Murim Alliance—even representatives from beyond the central plains, mockingly called the outer barbarians. It was a gathering of one or two key figures from virtually every renowned faction in the martial world. If the people here unleashed a massacre on the city housing the Moyong Family estate, a hundred thousand souls would be wiped out in less than an hour—such was the concentration of elite martial artists.
Ding. Yeocheong, the musician, plucked the pipa's strings as discreetly as possible, ensuring no one uncovered her true identity.
"Ooh, what beautiful music. That woman..."
"Seems like a palace musician. If fate allows, I'll invite her to my banquet sometime."
Fortunately, no one had caught on. The men from the major clans treating her as just another banquet performer was proof enough.
-No trouble will arise. Not tomorrow. Not with me here. As long as we exclude the family head, Sword Saint Moyong Cheon.
-[Imperial First Sword] Yeocheong. If I ever lose control, you must kill me then. Musician Yeocheong.
Yeocheong, the musician, was one of the imperial inspectors. In the martial world, she was known by the moniker Muform Sword, a Hyeongyeong realm master. Only Moyong Cheon knew her true identity. That was why, with his begrudging permission, she had infiltrated the banquet hall under imperial orders.
Her mission consisted of three objectives.
"Murim Alliance Leader, this time..."
"Ah, it's been ages. Sacheon has..."
First: Gauge the dynamics of the martial world. Even though it was a funeral, it was a rare chance for distant powers to convene in one place. With the Imperial Guard and the Eastern Depot only recently reestablished, they couldn't afford to overlook a gathering of the martial world's most watched figures.
"So even the Moyong Family couldn't find a way?"
"Unless they'd unearthed the legendary Solar Fire Carp, and even that they failed to obtain."
"Ah, that carp brimming with yang energy like the sun itself? Yeah, right. If it existed, someone would've cured Blocked Meridian Syndrome by now."
Second: Gather intelligence on Blocked Meridian Syndrome, the incurable disease.
"I hear the palace is working tirelessly on a cure too."
"Shh. Quiet down. The palace has no Blocked Meridian Syndrome patients."
"But the current empress..."
"It might be true, or it might not. Tsk tsk. That's why they shouldn't have dragged in that Peng Family girl for the coffin..."
The imperial palace was pursuing its own solutions to Blocked Meridian Syndrome. The current and only empress, who had even given birth, hailed from the martial world. Invioable as the court might be, in a world where men and women shared the same sky, where was the true line between court and murim? Especially among old comrades who had shared life and death.
"Blocked Meridian Syndrome is ultimately a matter of luck. It strikes maybe one in a hundred thousand. ...It's just that if it hits, you die."
Yeocheong recalled the numbers. Officially, across the Nine Great Sects, Five Great Families, and even minor sects, the count of martial world daughters afflicted with Blocked Meridian Syndrome tallied a staggering 108. Unofficially, including those hidden away or already deceased, the figure would balloon even further.
"Right? As if the empress would bear a child with Blocked Meridian Syndrome? And... she can just have another kid."
Ding. Her fingers faltered on the pipa string for a split second, but Yeocheong smoothly masked the error amid the flowing melody.
"If Moyong Family's golden child dies... what happens to that Divine Physician Dragon?"
"Who knows. No one does."
Third: Secure the man who had just become the hot topic—the Divine Physician Dragon.
"He hasn't cracked Blocked Meridian Syndrome, but he's cured everything else with medicine and skill."
"Famous since winning the National Medical Tournament three years ago and treating the empress's illness. But that fame ends today."
Divine Physician Dragon Seok Mu Wol. He despised the title, but the world had already branded him with it. In murim, having a moniker precede one's name was a tremendous honor. All the more so if it spread across the vast lands, supplanting even one's given name.
"Should we try recruiting him to our family?"
"Calm down. You wanna bring it up today and risk some mishap? Look at him, drowning in 'defeat' and gloom."
Yeocheong shifted her gaze to the corner. There stood a black-haired youth in pristine white physician's robes. Objectively handsome—not a universal heartthrob like the Sword Saint, nor rugged and thick-browed like many warriors here, but pleasantly approachable. Taller than average, though slimmer than the muscled martial artists; still, his body showed disciplined training. Among a hundred men, he'd rank somewhere between thirtieth and fortieth.
"...Tch."
No. With some polish, he could easily climb to twentieth. A little effort, and he'd outshine most in versatility. That assessment stemmed not from his above-average looks, but from the youth's overwhelming 'talent.' He had failed to cure Blocked Meridian Syndrome. But for every other ailment? Zero failures. Even if sourcing ingredients proved tricky, given the materials, he could alleviate or outright cure anything. In murim, such medicine might be scorned, but in the imperial court's domain? A different story entirely.
Imperial Physician. Healer to the royals. Yeocheong had received orders from the palace: "Bring him if the opportunity arises." Not mandatory, but if it did.
"If the Moyong young lady dies, will that physician stick around the Moyong Family?"
"That's why we probe. At least after the banquet, or once the funeral ends."
As Yeocheong and others began testing the waters...
"Pardon the interruption."
Ding. A woman in Jeomcheong Sect mourning garb approached the youth. Yeocheong hadn't expected anyone to make a move before the banquet even started, but she perked her ears to eavesdrop—
"...!!"
—only to snap a string without realizing it.
Crisp, crisp. Footsteps like treading on thin ice. Yet so light and stealthy that only fellow masters—or sect leaders—would notice.
And then—
Clang!
"!!"
With a single finger, he shoved back the sword Soyeonjeok, Jeomcheong's top disciple, was drawing. Preventing her from even unsheathing it fully, pinning her down with sheer inner force.
"Hah."
Yeocheong sighed in admiration. The daughter of the world's greatest martial artist, indeed—even without special training, her skill was formidable.
"What exactly are you saying right now?"
Had she trained from childhood, without Blocked Meridian Syndrome, at twenty she'd rival even Yeocheong herself, the Imperial First Sword.
"Where do you think you're taking my physician?"
"......!"
Yeocheong nearly unleashed her sword aura on instinct. That killing intent. A razor-sharp burst toward Soyeonjeok, fleeting but ferocious—impossible for a Blocked Meridian Syndrome patient.
"?"
Blocked Meridian Syndrome... patient?
"???"
Yeocheong doubted her own eyes. And it seemed every other transcendent master did too.
"Why..."
"Is there... vital energy?"
A Blocked Meridian Syndrome patient was alive. Brimming with vitality, channeling it into hostility and jealousy. No trace of the disease's signature disrupted qi flow. A woman who should radiate corpse-like chill instead emanated human warmth—rosy cheeks, pulsing with life fiercer than anyone's. No symptoms anywhere.
"!!"
As if... fully cured of Blocked Meridian Syndrome.
Half a shichen earlier—right after Sword Saint Moyong Cheon returned carrying the wooden box.
-Listen seriously, both of you. Whether your Blocked Meridian Syndrome is temporary or permanent, the fact that it's even briefly 'cured' will spread inevitably.
Moyong Cheon had declared it.
-Blocked Meridian Syndrome is a grave illness tied to meridians and inner power. The banquet hall is packed with masters boasting at least one jiazi—a full sixty years of cultivation. They'll sense it without fail.
-Can't I just pretend to be sick?
-Impossible. You might fool a couple, but any Peak realm expert will see right through you. You're too... healthy now.
Despite Moyong Cheon's assertion, Moyong Seol wanted to hide her recovery.
-Or fake your death. Skip appearing publicly, hold a sham funeral.
-No way. Then other women would hit on the physician.
-True enough.
-Absolutely not. No... sigh, no choice then. Nowhere to hide it.
-They'll all try to steal the physician for sure?
-Yes. No reason for him to stay with the Moyong Family anymore.
-...At least thanks to him, I've endured the last three years with less pain. Others with Blocked Meridian Syndrome daughters came hoping for the same—for their girls to suffer less, smile a bit longer before the end. ...We can't let him go.
Hiding it would lead to chaos none of us—Moyong Seol, Moyong Cheon, or I—wanted.
-Sigh... After that night with the physician, I don't want anyone knowing my Blocked Meridian Syndrome is cured... don't want them knowing.
A stray thought crossed my mind there, but the Sword Saint missed Moyong Seol's true intent.
-...May I ask why? If it's embarrassment...
-No, it's so other bitches—cough, other women don't get weird ideas.
Correction: She didn't want to hide spending the night with me.
-What if they fantasize that sleeping with the physician cures their Blocked Meridian Syndrome?
Moyong Seol wanted to block any chance of me spending a night with another woman.
-...Physician Seok. Is that it?
-Pardon?
-I'm asking if spending a night with you truly cures Blocked Meridian Syndrome.
-How would I know?
I didn't. But in that moment, I knew the right answer.
One: A healer's resolve.
-If I'd known that was the cure, I'd have cured the young lady a year sooner, even if it meant taking the family head's sword.
-Physician...
Two: Loyalty to Moyong Seol.
-And testing it by bedding other Blocked Meridian Syndrome patients? Absurd. It's disrespectful to them—and doubly so to the young lady.
-Physician...!
-Understood. I see your resolve. From now on, act with pride, no matter what comes.
Pleased with my response, the Sword Saint spoke as Moyong Family head.
-Moyong never yields to hardship, never turns tail and flees. That's the Moyong spirit.
That left us pondering: If the masters saw Moyong Seol cured, what chaos would engulf the world?
"Step back, Jeomcheong."
The clash with Jeomcheong Sect was underway, at least.
"The physician is my lover."
"Y-your... lover?! And 'was'...?!"
Cracks formed on Soyeonjeok's icy facade. Her gaze locked onto the hairpin atop Moyong Seol's head—my arm buried in her cleavage.
"No way...!"
"Exactly. Now he's my fiancé."
Squeeze. Moyong Seol pressed my arm deeper into her bosom. I tried pulling away, but her thigh pinned my hand, bodies flush.
"!!"
My hand brushed an embarrassing spot, yet she straightened proudly, clinging even tighter.
"Right, physician? Or should I call you 'son-in-law'?"
"I..."
Soyeonjeok and the crowd gawked, exchanging bewildered glances. Some at Moyong Seol's declaration. Others at her condition.
"......."
In that instant, I felt the young men's stares shift toward Moyong Seol. Eyes that once dismissed the 'dying girl' now burned with intent as her vitality shone.
"I prefer 'physician.'"
So I turned to her, bowing my head slightly.
"And since we haven't wed yet, bear with it until then?"
"Well said."
Thud, thud. Sword Saint Moyong Cheon strode to the banquet hall's center.
"With everyone gathered, as host, I have words."
He positioned himself before Moyong Seol and me, facing the assembly.
"Today's banquet announces the engagement of my daughter Moyong Seol and my s... s..."
Whoooosh—
"......my daughter's betrothal."
"Engagement?!"
The long-bearded Taoist, Murim Alliance Leader, lunged forward.
"Sword Saint! What is this...? No word of such a thing!"
"Thirteen years ago, when my daughter first fell to Blocked Meridian Syndrome. I declared to murim—to the world."
The Sword Saint extended his hand.
"To whoever cured her, I would give my daughter and all I possess."
"!!"
Vivid blue sword aura cascaded like starlight from his palm, forming a blade.
"I honor that vow. I declare the betrothal of physician Seok Mu Wol and my daught—"
"Impossible!!"
Soyeonjeok shouted.
"Ho. What's so impossible?"
"Physician Seok Mu Wol is the Divine Physician Dragon with a bright future! Pairing him with a dying woman?!"
"H-hey! Little lady!"
"It's fine, Alliance Leader. Joyous day today. But rudeness won't be forgiven."
The others glanced at Soyeonjeok, but I clearly sensed the Sword Saint's faint gratitude for her interruption. Otherwise, Jeomcheong or not, that sword aura would've targeted her throat.
"Sword Saint."
Now the aged monk, Sinseung, stepped forward.
"I know you hate interruptions most, but this old monk's common sense is crumbling—can't help asking. Forgive me."
"Speak freely, senior."
Still fumbling words, he pivoted the topic. Easier to address the situation head-on than call me son-in-law.
"Gongcheongseokyu, Inhyeongseolsam, medicinal tonics, even Shaolin's Great Return Pill failed against Blocked Meridian Syndrome. How did you cure it?"
"That is—"
"We slept together."
Moyong Seol was no ordinary woman.
"One night with the physician, and my Blocked Meridian Syndrome was cured."
Some gasped in shock, others in hope.
Slurp. Ugh...
And some nursed an urge to gouge out eyes.
"Right, physician?"
And me too.
"Indeed."
Against lechers eyeing Moyong Seol with lust, I wouldn't yield or equivocate. Moyong folk don't retreat or flee.
"A miracle born of our love, I assure you."
I cupped her chin, lifting it. She closed her eyes softly, rising on tiptoe toward me.
Smack—crash!
Our kiss echoed alongside a porcelain cup shattering on the floor.
That day, those gathered for someone's death witnessed a miracle.
The Sword Saint, not swinging his sword to behead the fungus daring to kiss his daughter—that was a miracle too, if you could call it one.
They beheld it.
Mwah, smooch, haa...
A woman cured of Blocked Meridian Syndrome, cheeks flushed with rosy health, passionately kissing her lover.