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"How did she end up like this?"
"Well, while fighting, she just..."
"I never imagined the Demonic Cult's Little Princess would have such a cruel hand."
I plastered medicinal herbs over Namgung Yurin's body—destroyed almost beyond recognition—then wrapped her entire body in bandages. The female warrior who had first brought Namgung Yurin to the clinic told me what had happened.
The second match.
Having easily won her first bout, Namgung Yurin was boiling with a desire for revenge against the Demonic Cult. As it happened, she was matched against the Demonic Cult's Little Princess for her second fight. The Little Princess had advanced through the first round on a bye—her opponent forfeited, apparently—making this her first match, and she provoked Namgung Yurin by declaring she would fight with only one arm.
Confident of victory, Namgung Yurin unleashed her 'Your Future Is Bald' technique against the Little Princess. The Little Princess did not stop her barrage on Namgung Yurin until the adjudicator intervened. That was the full account of this catastrophe.
"She ended up like this in a mere three seconds?"
"Yes..."
Three seconds. The adjudicator warned the Demonic Cult's Little Princess that her opponent was already unconscious and that any further blows would be deemed a killing stroke, resulting in a loss by disqualification. Only then did the Little Princess withdraw her fist.
'Did she use the Heavenly Demon Consecutive Heavy Strike Fist?'
It was a technique from the Heavenly Demon Divine Fist that struck the opponent's entire body endlessly with moderate destructive power. Namgung Yurin was brutally defeated by the powerful assault, each punch laden with killing intent, hammering her whole body.
The flower was mercilessly trampled until it looked less than a weed.
"Doctor, her face... will it recover?"
"The body's wounds can be healed as much as needed."
"Could it be..."
"By using this."
I produced a rather plausible-looking medicinal pill. The female warrior bowed deeply, her face overwhelmed with emotion.
"Thank you, thank you! To use the Heavenly Rejuvenation Pill for our young lady!"
"The right medicine for the patient who needs it. It is the teaching of the Divine Doctor that an unused medicine is nothing but trash."
"Sob...!"
The warrior went outside with a moved expression. The Namgung Clan warriors waiting outside the clinic shouted in booming voices, "The Namgung Clan will not forget this grace—!!"
"That racket could deafen someone."
I spread sleep incense inside the ward. Namgung Yurin was already asleep, but I scattered the incense to make her sleep deeper, then crushed the spirit pill I had shown the warrior between my fingers.
"It's not the Heavenly Rejuvenation Pill."
I had left all the Heavenly Rejuvenation Pills back in Anhui. The pellet I had made was simply a small lump created by mashing medicinal herbs into a paste.
The Heavenly Rejuvenation Pill wasn't necessary. What was needed to reduce the swelling and set the twisted bones were only the most extreme martial arts and a massive quantity of Yang Energy.
'Why did I bother lying about the Heavenly Rejuvenation Pill?'
While fetching a Heavenly Rejuvenation Pill was possible, it was extremely troublesome. Not only could I not leave Hubei right now, but covering such a great distance in just a few shichen was no easy task.
'I'd rather spend that time having nightly work with Sagong Hee.'
I checked the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering tournament bracket once more. The bracket, progressing through 96, 48, and 24 contestants, was split left and right, and at the end, only the list of those who would become the six phoenixes remained.
'Given the Murim Alliance Leader's personality, he'll definitely suggest ranking them.'
He'd pretend to be above it all, hands at his waist feigning disinterest, while planting his operatives and instigators in the audience to try and distinguish ranks one through six.
'And knowing her personality, the Little Princess certainly won't take it lightly either.'
So, in the end, a one-on-one showdown between the Little Princess and the strongest of the Orthodox Faction would definitely unfold. With high probability, Sagong Hee would be the one to face the Little Princess, and as things stood, Sagong Hee's chances of defeat were slightly high.
'Is it a matter of protecting my body servant's pride, or repaying the grace of having my virginity taken in a former life?'
"Ugh..."
Namgung Yurin's groan roused me from my thoughts. I collected myself and placed my hand on Namgung Yurin's dantian.
'Well, thinking about this kind of thing is useless anyway.'
My current body servant is Sagong Hee. Therefore, I should concentrate all my efforts on Sagong Hee. If the Little Princess and I were in a relationship as man and woman, that would be one thing, but I cannot ruin my current life over ties from a past life.
'Instead, if you get hurt, I will certainly treat you, Little Princess.'
The grace of taking my virginity could be repaid in countless other ways, and since a martial match is sacred, I could not intervene. I resolved to practice medicine from a neutral standpoint.
'I'll just sit still here and eat the flower bread that comes my way.'
How could hot pepper stir-fry be omitted from the flower menu? I slapped my hand against the dantian of Namgung Yurin, who was wrapped in bandages.
"Ugh, it's too troublesome to set every bone and make a Heavenly Rejuvenation Pill. Just be reborn."
The Simplified Rebirth Transformation.
Ultimately, wouldn't it be fine if she just returned to her original body?
'I'll perform the Rebirth Transformation, then I'll have to eat her one more time.'
Crunch, crack!
Blood and pus began to seep through the white bandages, and after waiting a short while, I incinerated all the bandages with Samadhi True Fire.
"Ahh."
Flawless, smooth skin, a beauty even more radiant than before she was ruined, and even a vibrant, soft pink flower petal brimming with vitality. Namgung Yurin was reborn through my Extreme Yang Energy.
'I should collect the fee for the Rebirth Transformation.'
Squelch.
'Sweet yin energy.'
Absorption of Yin to Nourish Yang.
There are no exceptions for the women lying in the clinic ward.
* * *
The Dragon-Phoenix Gathering had quite a long duration.
As a martial arts tournament that comes once every four years, the participants overflowed, and the time they spent fighting became extended.
"I feel like I'm dying."
Because of this, I was forced to spend exhausting days with the ever-increasing number of patients. The Dragon-Phoenix Gathering had already passed two weeks, but two more weeks remained before the finals would conclude.
"I'm tired of dealing with sleeping, in-heat flowers too. Gyeon-hui, let's do that."
"My lord, I'll do it for you twice as much after it's over. Tomorrow is the day of my match."
"No! Your opponent is ugly! Is she prettier than you? Is her figure better than yours? Is she better in nightly work than you? Why! Must! I! Do it! With such! An ugly woman!?"
"Hmph, then why don't you do it with the woman the Little Princess smashed? You even gave her a Rebirth Transformation."
At Sagong Hee's words, I felt a pointless pang of guilt.
"Are you sulking?"
"When they lie down in the ward, they're mincemeat, but the moment they walk out, they're all reborn as heavenly beauties. If you have Yang Energy to spare, you should put it into me."
"Wait a moment. There seems to be a misunderstanding. I took back the Yang Energy I used for the Rebirth Transformation. Through the Absorption of Yin to Nourish Yang."
I use Yang Energy to rebirth the body, then reclaim the expended Yang Energy by extracting it through the Absorption of Yin to Nourish Yang. The bodies of the women smashed by the Little Princess, including Namgung Yurin, were brimming with internal qi, and I forcibly drew out their yin energy to recover exactly the amount I had used.
"So, I basically just provided treatment, you see?"
"If you did that without sleeping with them, I won't say another word."
"I'll listen to whatever you say for one gak."
However, during the Rebirth Transformation process, blood flowing was unavoidable. There was no need to specify what kind of blood it was.
"My lord, then please spar with me. The next opponent is Mount Hua Sect's Plum Blossom Swordwoman..."
During the one gak allotted to her, Sagong Hee explained a simulated battle against her opponent through words. I became the Plum Blossom Swordwoman of Mount Hua Sect in her simulated martial match, using the Speech Sword to cut down Sagong Hee's sword. Sagong Hee closed her eyes while I, with my intent, bloomed plum blossoms and pressured her.
"The opponent is a martial artist who uses the Gentlewoman Sword..."
"In that case, the Five Elements Sword Formation...?"
"Are you thinking of bringing out the Taiji Wisdom Sword?"
"No. Hiding my cards with the Taiji Sword as much as possible is..."
Having thus conducted a simulated match to prepare for tomorrow's battle, we checked the time. Evening had arrived before we knew it, the sun already setting in the west.
"Everything's ready on this side, so they should just fight faster. Tsk."
"I'm fine with it, but other people aren't."
"A true martial artist should fight one day and fight again the next. Since when does an opponent grant you three days' mercy before coming back? Ugh, I really hate it."
"But that's how it becomes a fair fight, isn't it?"
"Fighting fairly a few times has stained you with the ideology of the orthodox murim, Gyeon-hui. Did fighting fairly put food on your table?"
"I did earn an epithet, though. They call me Taiji Flower."
Currently, Sagong Hee (Gyeon-hui) was in the round of 24. Winning just two more matches would allow her to proudly inscribe her name among the Six Phoenixes, and if she reached the finals, a one-on-one match against the Little Princess would determine the World's Greatest Phoenix.
- A rising star of Wudang appears!
In the process of reaching the round of 24, the people had temporarily given Sagong Hee the clichéd epithet of "Taiji Flower" (太極花). Receiving an epithet in a contest to select phoenixes, not flowers, spoke to the level of public interest in Sagong Hee.
"How nice for you. The next Sect Leader has officially acknowledged you too."
"Is it really okay for a Taoist to be so concerned with results? That person."
"In any case, once it's made public, the credit returns to them, so there's no problem. Can't it also save face? The guy who went out as Wudang Sect's male representative got eliminated in the first match."
One of the two who had gone out as Wudang's representatives had smeared the name of Wudang.
Of course, his opponent was Namgung Pae, the top candidate for the Nine Dragons, and in the proxy battle between Wudang Sect and Namgung Clan, the guy had fought well but lost. With Taoist Hyeongi's direct disciple suffering defeat at the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering, the factional struggle within Wudang Sect was effectively finished.
"Gyeon-hui, if it weren't for you, what in the world would Wudang have done?"
"It's all thanks to you, my lord."
If not for Sagong Hee, whom Taoist Hyeonta had brought and introduced to Taoist Hyeoncheol, Wudang would have effectively been in a situation where they might have had to withdraw from the Nine Sects and One Gang for four years.
"To think you'd come to represent Wudang, it really fills me with deep emotion. It feels like just yesterday I was being chased out by Wudang Sect."
"Please don't speak as if you're about to head off somewhere. It makes me anxious for nothing."
"Am I not even allowed to speak my feelings? Hmph, you're not even my wife."
"......."
When I grumbled complaints, Sagong Hee said nothing. Seeing her face turn red and her head turn away, I was dumbfounded.
"No, the Taiji Flower gets embarrassed by words like this?"
"A w-wife, you say... such words are..."
"If a Wudang Sect Leader were good even at cooking rice, I'd plant a pole in the ground. But your fire cooking is a total mess."
"...Just you watch. Hmph."
Sagong Hee used the Sword Control Art of the Taiji Wisdom Sword to peel fruit and set it before me. Her cooking skills had improved so much with vegetables and fruits that she could carve animal shapes, but when it came to using fire, the results were either undercooked or burned to a crisp.
'For a Taiji, she sure runs to extremes.'
If I had to trace the cause, it was partly my fault. Blowing too much Yang Energy inside her has had some influence in diminishing her sense of control over fire energy.
'But even without that, it was a total mess to begin with.'
Sagong Hee's cooking skills weren't poor because of my Yang Energy; they were poor from the start. Therefore, it is not my fault.
"So, Hee, born to be the flower of Wudang, how do you think the match against the Little Princess will go?"
"...Right now, it's three to seven."
Sagong Hee couldn't easily foresee victory. Though she had been honing her practical combat sense against numerous rising female masters, calculating against the unconventional martial art of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art remained difficult.
'It's not like I can spar using the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.'
I also possess the Heavenly Demon Divine Art. But it's a martial art I stole from a single demon who had reached the state of Transcending Demon.
In other words, the moment I show the Heavenly Demon Divine Art to Sagong Hee, I become the Heavenly Demon. The Murim Alliance Leader would rush over in panic and unleash his killing sword against me, and the Heavenly Demon, who had been sleeping in Xinjiang, would snap awake and appear to inquire about the origin of my martial art.
Therefore, Sagong Hee's only way to simulate the match against the Little Princess was solely by observing the Little Princess's matches.
"Can the Taiji Flower possibly defeat the Three-Second Invincible Flower!?"
"Don't do that, pfft. Three-Second Invincible Flower, really... she's a woman, you know..."
"I didn't make up that epithet. It's what the people of the world gave her."
They'd bestowed a nice epithet like Taiji Flower on an orthodox martial artist, yet they slapped a bizarre title like Three-Second Invincible Flower onto a member of the Demonic Cult. It was an instance that revealed just how petty the people of the White Path Murim could be.
"But Hee. You must be somewhat confident of victory for tomorrow's match, even just a little...?"
"Oh my, my lord. If I end up losing, will you take responsibility?"
"There's no way a body servant I trained would lose. If worst comes to worst, I'll use a transparent sword and the Sword Control Art from the audience to help you out."
"Really... fine. But don't go overboard, okay? I can't walk out limping tomorrow."
"Don't worry. If things go south, I'll use the ultimate physical recovery technique—"
"Excuse me—"
A woman's voice, clear as a jade bead, came from outside.
"...Huh?"
The Demonic Cult's Little Princess had come to find me.
Without even the escort of the Flying Heaven Three Demons.