Chapter 29
Chapter 29
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: The Merciless Killing Physician (5)
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The Heavenly Demon grinned as he spoke.
There was a reason he had gone to such lengths beyond simply wanting to save Yang Hui-gun.
'How dare they tack on crude, unnecessary elements to the great martial arts of our cult, twisting them into such vile demonic arts.'
It was his pride in the Demonic Cult's martial arts.
The world dismissed them as demonic, but the Demonic Cult's history—starting from the Ming Cult—boasted a full millennium.
It was in no way inferior to the Shaolin Temple, which the Central Plains proudly called the Millennium Shaolin.
Of course, as the lord of the Demonic Cult and the cult itself, it was only natural for him to correct and rectify such mangling of their great arts with bizarre additions.
Smooth!
Yu Cheon-baek, the Merciless Killing Physician, had been listening reverently and quietly to the Heavenly Demon as all treatment concluded.
Suddenly, he prostrated himself before the Heavenly Demon as if begging forgiveness on a straw mat, bowing deeply.
"Y-Yu Physician... What is this...?"
Sogang, an outsider to martial arts who had no idea how immense a favor the Heavenly Demon had bestowed upon Yu Cheon-baek, panicked at the sight.
From Sogang's perspective, it had merely looked like the Heavenly Demon patting and stroking his back a few times.
Yet Yu Cheon-baek was behaving with the utmost deference, as if the Heavenly Demon had saved his parents. How could he not be shocked?
"I am deeply sorry for failing to recognize a noble benefactor and acting so insolently."
The Heavenly Demon nodded calmly at Yu Cheon-baek's extremely deferential attitude.
"Well, I did it as a side favor. You haven't forgotten the promise, have you?"
The Heavenly Demon asked.
The promise was, naturally, to treat Yang Hui-gun.
"Of course. I will absolutely keep my word, and moreover..."
Yu Cheon-baek made his decision.
'I've lived a sinful life. My hands are stained with far too much blood.'
Honestly, he had vowed that if the side effects of the demonic art truly vanished and he could return to a normal life, he would take his own life right then.
But seeing the Heavenly Demon before him now, he wanted to entrust even his own life to him.
"Please allow me to remain by my benefactor's side for life and repay even a fraction of this grace."
Yu Cheon-baek's resolution was to serve the one who had turned him, a monster, back into a human—the Heavenly Demon—for the rest of his days as a lowly servant doing menial tasks.
"...?!!"
Sogang was greatly startled by Yu Cheon-baek's sudden declaration.
And well he might be. Who was the Merciless Killing Physician, Yu Cheon-baek?
Among physicians, he was hailed as a divine healer, one of the top three in the world by medical skill alone—a god among gods.
'His martial prowess is exceptional too, to the point that even minor sect leaders can't look down on him.'
Above all, Yu Cheon-baek was known for his strong pride and iron will; he famously refused summons from emperors or high officials with a single word.
For such a stubborn man to vow lifelong service to the Heavenly Demon—it was no wonder Sogang was shocked.
"You'll follow me?"
From the Heavenly Demon's perspective, it wasn't a bad deal.
He sorely needed an exceptional physician for Ghost Sword Manor, and especially for the Demonic Cult he planned to revive—an elite healer who had reached the pinnacle of the art.
Now that he had learned Demonic Cult martial arts as well, inducting him into the cult was only a matter of time.
"Even knowing my identity, can you say that?"
Grin!
The Heavenly Demon smiled with his signature roguish yet profound grin.
"Gunryong... You don't mean..."
The quick-witted Sogang, realizing the Heavenly Demon's intent, was horrified.
The original plan—for the Heavenly Demon, Ghost Sword Manor, and Sogang—was to hide his identity as the First Heavenly Demon until he fully regained his power and revived the missing Demonic Cult.
Yet now he seemed ready to reveal it to Yu Cheon-baek, leaving Sogang shocked and appalled.
Still, the Heavenly Demon paid it no mind.
He had sensed Yu Cheon-baek's sincerity, and he needed his medical skills and strength.
If he refused or hesitated, they could always save Yang Hui-gun first and decide later.
"It matters not who my benefactor is. Be it the current Martial Alliance Leader or the vanished Demonic Cult Leader—I care not. Even if!"
Yu Cheon-baek's resolve was firm.
He was confident he would deal with even a malevolent ghost if it freed him from his cursed life.
Thus, it didn't matter who this Gunryong was.
"Even if it's the First Heavenly Demon, said to be utterly wicked."
Yu Cheon-baek poured out his words while maintaining his deferential posture.
It was to emphasize his sincerity.
He secretly hoped Gunryong would be moved and accept.
But who would have thought?
"Huh? Wha-what?"
Sogang's pupils shook in panic, and alongside him,
"Puhahahahaha!"
Gunryong burst into laughter, clutching his belly as if it were the funniest thing ever.
"Why are yo...u laughing?"
Only Yu Cheon-baek was bewildered, not understanding, as the Heavenly Demon stopped laughing and said,
"I am that wicked First Heavenly Demon."
"...!!!"
It took quite some time for Yu Cheon-baek, the Merciless Killing Physician, to truly believe that the young man called Gunryong was indeed the First Heavenly Demon.
In his haste to treat Yang Hui-gun, he followed the Heavenly Demon toward Liaoning Province, still half-doubting—but that doubt didn't last.
-Heaven-Defying Soaring Art!
Kwaaaaaang!
Watching the Heavenly Demon soar through the skies with impossible lightness skill and footwork melted away his disbelief, gradually turning it to trust.
'This one truly might be the First Heavenly Demon!'
Looking back, it was simple.
Who else could demonstrate such transcendent aerial arts at such a young age?
Moreover, Yu Cheon-baek wasn't a fool; he had already suspected the Origin Undying Heart Method he now practiced originated from the Demonic Cult.
He knew well that the Omnipotent Eternal Life Heart Method he had learned derived from Demonic Cult arts.
'Someone who can correct the Omnipotent Eternal Life Heart Method in one go and grant a new internal art in its place.'
Only the Demonic Cult Leader—the Heavenly Demon—could do that, he believed.
That was why he had said even the current Demonic Cult Leader was fine—but to think it was not the contemporary Heavenly Demon of unknown fate, but the First Heavenly Demon.
"What? You still don't believe me? You said you'd follow me for life, yet you can't even trust my identity."
"N-No, I do! I believe you!"
Yu Cheon-baek straightened up rigidly at the Heavenly Demon's words.
Though at this point, his mind accepted it while his heart still lagged behind.
In any case, Yu Cheon-baek ended up joining under the First Heavenly Demon and took the position of the leader's personal physician.
"Hmmm."
The Heavenly Demon eyed Yu Cheon-baek with a skeptical gaze, wondering if he truly believed, then,
"By the way."
A question popped into his mind, and without stopping their flight toward Liaoning Province, he asked,
"You're rooted in medicine, not as a warrior. Why did you dabble in an incomplete demonic art?"
The Heavenly Demon was curious about that.
Most demonic arts circulating in the world were flawed or had severe side effects; few learned them voluntarily unless their lives were utterly ruined.
He wondered about the background of a divine healer like Yu Cheon-baek practicing the Omnipotent Eternal Life Heart Method.
"..."
Yu Cheon-baek, the Merciless Killing Physician, fell silent at the Heavenly Demon's question.
His silence carried weight.
After a moment, he finally spoke.
"Do you know of the plague outbreak from over a dozen years ago?"
"Of course. The massive epidemic that started in the West and slowly swept east, ravaging everything—isn't that the great incident?"
Sogang recalled the plague that had raged during his childhood and replied.
The Heavenly Demon had been trapped in Eternal Ice at the time and couldn't know, but Sogang knew the details well.
'How could I forget that day?'
For Sogang too, it was the horrific event where he lost most of his family and friends—he could never forget.
"You know it well. That day of the great disaster, as if the Plague God himself descended. It spared no one—ordinary folk, high officials, even martial artists of some skill—all dropped dead without distinction."
Yu Cheon-baek closed his eyes briefly.
Even now, shutting his eyes brought back the screams of that day during the plague, the acrid smell of burning infected corpses assaulting his nostrils.
"It was a catastrophe that claimed at least one-fifth of the Central Plains' population."
Sogang, who had lived in Heavenly Demon Village—the Heavenly Demon's hometown—replied bitterly.
The greatest victims were, after all, the powerless common folk with nowhere to turn.
"In that event, I lost my wife, my only son, and my disciple."
They say time heals all wounds, but some scars never improve no matter how much time passes.
A massive wound remained in Yu Cheon-baek's heart.
The pain of sending away everyone he loved due to the plague.
"Was your son's name... Myung-ah, by any chance?"
Sogang remembered the name Yu Cheon-baek had murmured deliriously.
"How did you...?"
"You said it while suffering the demonic art's side effects."
"...I see. Yu Ji-myung. The name of my son, who died without seeing more of the world's light."
Hearing the story, even the Heavenly Demon's heart ached.
The pain of burying a child first was something even he could scarcely fathom.
"At the time, I was hailed as a divine healer, strutting with swollen pride—but in the end, I was just an incompetent fool who couldn't save my wife or my child. After that, I grew disillusioned with medicine."
Surviving the plague while everyone died was no blessing; it was a curse-like torment.
Especially for Yu Cheon-baek, who pursued the path of healing.
"Wandering in despair, I one day came upon a manual by chance. The art in that manual was..."
"The Omnipotent Eternal Life Heart Method, right?"
The Heavenly Demon said.
"Yes, that's right. If I'd seen it then, I'd have called it nonsense and burned it—but at the time, I'd lost my family and was emotionally shattered."
Regret filled Yu Cheon-baek's voice.
The infinite regeneration and immortality—no matter the wounds, never dying—seduced the weakened Yu Cheon-baek instantly after his family's deaths.
"I succumbed to the temptation, learned the vile demonic art, and afterward... Instead of saving lives for no reward as a physician, I killed people to save myself. I knew full well there's no free healing—how could I!"
He could only beat the ground in remorse and lament.
"You didn't kill because you wanted to... What's spilled is spilled; you can't gather it back. The living must live—look ahead and move forward."
The Heavenly Demon understood Yu Cheon-baek's heart; though circumstances differed, his own hands were heavy with bloody karma.
As they opened up about Yu Cheon-baek's inner thoughts and past, they arrived at Ghost Sword Manor before they knew it.
The moment the Heavenly Demon and his group reached Ghost Sword Manor,
"Gunryong has brought the Merciless Killing Physician, Yu Cheon-baek!"
Sogang shouted proudly at the top of his lungs.
All that remained was for Yu Cheon-baek to fully revive Yang Hui-gun, the Ghost Shadow Sword, who still lay unconscious like a corpse.
"No matter who, no matter the state—I care not. As long as there's breath, I will save them!"
Yu Cheon-baek was prepared to pour all his efforts to repay even a sliver of the Heavenly Demon's grace.