Chapter 40
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 40
Chapter Title: The Sword Master's Tomb!
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Chapter 40
The Sword Master's Tomb!
Nanyang, and indeed the entire martial world nearby, was in an uproar.
The Sword Master? Isn't he one of the top absolute masters among the Eight Martial Masters?
Aside from kneeling to the Life Master, he boasted an undefeated legend.
The Eight Martial Masters was a title for the absolute masters renowned throughout the world during the Sword Master's era.
The Life Master, the originator of the Life-Giving Heart Method that Wi Ji-cheon practiced, was also one of the Eight Martial Masters.
Coincidentally, the Sword Master and the Life Master had a deep connection.
A fateful, antagonistic one.
But why did the Sword Master create a tomb like this? He must have had some purpose for it, right?
There was a rumor that the shock of his defeat to the Life Master drove him mad, consumed by an inner demon. Could it be related to that?
There was no way to know.
The inner thoughts of the Sword Master, long dead, were not important anyway.
The martial artists had only one thing on their minds.
What treasures might lie dormant in the Sword Master's tomb!
The treasure map had this written on it.
-Come, you who walk the path between life and death. Conquer my tomb, and you shall have all that I have left behind.
Everything the Sword Master possessed.
It was more than enough to make the martial artists' eyes spin with greed.
But 'you who walk the path between life and death'? What does that mean?
It must be talking about us martial artists, obviously.
Let's go to the Sword Master's tomb!
Let's go!!
Let's gooo!!
The martial artists weren't the only ones excited.
The medical houses of Nanyang were also restless.
Wi Ji-cheon hurried to find Wi Ji-seon.
Father! The Sword Master's tomb...?
Wi Ji-cheon, who was about to say, 'We must quickly dispatch disciples to the Sword Master's tomb!', snapped his mouth shut.
Wi Ji-seon was already packing a travel bag.
Instead, Wi Ji-seon barked at Wi Ji-cheon.
What are you doing?! Aren't you going to pack your things quickly?!
Fa...ther?
This is our big chance! Our Medical Immortal Medical House will stake its fortune on the Sword Master's tomb! Let's show the entire martial world the greatness of our Medical Immortal Medical House!!
The Sword Master's tomb was a 'trap-filled ruin'.
Inside, all sorts of traps and obstacles awaited.
Countless people would be injured.
Who would save them?
The physicians, of course.
Damn those rich bastards! What? What did they say about our Medical Immortal Medical House? Think you can do anything just because you have money?! We'll definitely become a big-shot Earth-grade medical house, and when they come to us as patients, I'll lord it over them, saying, 'Well, well, I thought you said you wouldn't come, but here you are!'
...It seemed he had suffered a lot of grief while trying to attract business.
Let's go claim the best spot!!
The prickly and haughty Wi Ji-gang also shouted.
Let's gooo!!
They rushed toward the Sword Master's tomb like lightning, but others had already arrived.
It was the Blossom Center Medical House and the Iron Horse Medical House.
Well, well, who do we have here? If it isn't the glorious winner of the Nanyang Medical Examination Ceremony, the Medical Immortal Medical House? Though, I hear you're just swatting flies these days with no patients. Haha!
Dan So-cheon, the head of the Blossom Center Medical House, sneered, declaring war.
In this incident, the one who saves the most patients will be our Blossom Center Medical House.
...Our Iron Horse Medical House won't lose either.
Crackle.
Everyone knew.
The selection of the Earth-grade medical house would be decided by how they performed this time.
Even the Iron Horse Medical House, which was lagging the most, could stage a comeback if they earned the favor of the Nine Sects One Union and received a letter of recommendation.
Ugh. We should have claimed the prime spot closest to the tomb entrance. To think we're at the very back.
Physicians don't enter the tomb with them. They'd lose their lives in an instant if they did.
Instead, they set up camp at the tomb's entrance and quickly treat the injured as they emerge.
Therefore, the closer one's camp was to the entrance, the more patients they would get.
Of course, I have no intention of just waiting outside.
How could he make a significant contribution that way?
He planned to slip inside the tomb when the time was right.
But what does the phrase on the treasure map mean?
-Come, you who walk the path between life and death.
The one who walks the path between life and death.
Numerous interpretations were possible.
The common assumption was that it referred to martial artists.
...Could it be referring to the Life Master's Life-Giving Heart Method?
The Life-Giving Heart Method was a technique for understanding the principles of life and death by saving people.
Considering the past antagonistic relationship between the Sword Master and the Life Master, it wasn't an entirely baseless guess.
But from what I heard in my past life, there was nothing in the Sword Master's tomb related to the Life-Giving Heart Method.
It was said that the tomb's traps weren't very dangerous, making the intense caution of those who entered seem pointless.
However, a great disaster did occur due to an unexpected trap, but even that could have been overcome with proper preparation.
The Sword Master's relics were also said to be surprisingly unimpressive. Only a single famous sword was found, right? And it was broken in half and rusted with age. No wonder people called this place the Sword Master's Bluff, the Sword Master's Fishing Hole, after the incident ended.
Wi Ji-cheon stopped thinking and shook his head.
In any case, Wi Ji-cheon's goal wasn't to conquer the tomb, but to become the benefactor of the martial artists here by preventing the great disaster as a physician.
So, his plan was to prevent the disaster and then persuade everyone to leave the tomb.
Just then, Dan Yeo approached Wi Ji-cheon.
Senior Brother, prepare yourself.
Prepare myself?
I, Dan Yeo, will be the one to treat the most injured people this time. I absolutely will not lose to you, Senior Brother!
To think a slave was so voluntarily burning with determination.
He couldn't help but be pleased.
There will be many injured. The roles of the other junior disciples are also important.
Wi Ji-cheon decided to encourage Dan Yeo.
Yes, Junior Sister Dan Yeo. I'll be looking forward to it. But you don't have to push yourself too hard.
Hmph, pushing myself is not in my vocabulary!
I'm just worried about you, Junior Sister. You were studying until the Hour of the Ox yesterday before you fell asleep.
W-Worried? D-Don't say such useless things!
I've said it many times, but you know that I trust and rely on you the most, Junior Sister Dan Yeo, right?
T-Trust and rely!
Wi Ji-cheon relentlessly showered her with praise, her weakness, and Dan Yeo sputtered like a malfunctioning machine.
Then.
Everyone, assemble before me!!
A-Assemble?
Repeat after me! I will not miss a single injured person!
I-I will not miss a single injured person?
Louder! If we fail to treat an injured person, the junior disciples will die, and I, your Senior Sister, will die with you. Understood?
Understood!!
He had clearly told her not to push herself, so he couldn't understand why she was acting even more intense, but everyone just figured it was Dan Yeo being Dan Yeo and let it be.
The Medical Immortal Medical House wasn't the only one firming its resolve.
We must avenge our humiliation from the Medical Examination Ceremony!
The Blossom Center Medical House is the new Earth-grade medical house of Nanyang!
Let's show them what our Iron Horse Medical House is made of.
The Iron Horse rides!
Iron Horse! Iron Horse!
Even the martial artists who had gathered...
Just as the atmosphere was heating up to a boiling point, the mood suddenly turned cold.
A group had appeared.
The Nine Sects One Union!
It's Mount Hua, Zhongnan, and the Beggars' Sect!!
Everyone gulped.
Their numbers weren't large.
Three or four from Mount Hua, Zhongnan, and the Beggars' Sect each?
But the aura they exuded was incomparable to the others.
It's the Little Dragon of Mount Hua!
A Plum Blossom Swordsman is here too!
One of the Eighteen Hands of Zhongnan came as well!
It's Elder Hong Gai, the disciple of the Beggars' Sect Chief!!
Wi Ji-cheon examined the faces of the Nine Sects One Union disciples one by one.
It seems each sect has sent one second-generation peak master, supported by two or three third-generation first-rate masters.
For reference, it differs by sect and region, but generally, the generation of the sect leader and elders is called the first generation.
The core forces of the sect below them are the second generation.
The rising generation of promising talents are the third generation.
And the fresh, young sprouts are called the fourth generation.
One elite from the second-generation disciples eacha Plum Blossom Swordsman and one of the Eighteen Hands of Zhongnan. This means Mount Hua and Zhongnan have put quite a bit of thought into this.
Prestigious major sects like the Nine Sects One Union rarely made a fuss over the appearance of a treasure map.
They had the pride of believing their own martial arts were sufficient.
But the reason they sent such forces was because the Sword Master's prestige among the sword sects was just that high.
Well, it doesn't matter who comes from Mount Hua, Zhongnan, or the Beggars' Sect. The ending is already set, no matter who it is.
It might be a different story if a master of the Transformation Realm had come.
The disaster that would occur inside the tomb was not something a martial artist could stop.
There were others Wi Ji-cheon needed to pay attention to.
They were the ones quietly positioned next to the warriors of Mount Hua and Zhongnan.
Martial Physicians.
Physicians from medical houses are usually divided into two types.
Internal Physicians, who focus on treating patients within the medical house.
External Physicians, who travel outside the medical house and handle duties other than treatment.
Besides these two types, there was another unique category.
Martial Physicians, who followed the battlefields.
They're like a stream of life-giving water on the battlefield.
As you could tell from the medical houses setting up camp outside the Sword Master's tomb, it was impossible for a physician to directly follow onto a battlefield. They would lose their lives the moment they were caught in a fight.
But what if physicians could follow them onto the battlefield?
And could treat the injured immediately?
The survival rate would increase dramatically.
That was how Martial Physicians came to be.
You have to learn both medical arts and martial arts to become a Martial Physician. And both to a considerable level.
Martial Physicians treat the severely wounded, those whose lives are in danger.
Therefore, mediocre skills would only get in the way.
Martial Physicians must simultaneously learn medical arts sufficient for treating severe injuries and high-level martial arts to survive safely on the battlefield.
It was no easy task.
For an ordinary medical house, training a Martial Physician was unimaginable.
Those Martial Physicians didn't belong to an ordinary medical house either.
The Shaanxi Medical House. Disciples of the best one-star medical house in Shaanxi.
The physicians of Nanyang gulped as they stared at the character for 'Star' embroidered on the Martial Physicians' robes.
It was a symbol permitted only on the robes of physicians from Star-grade medical houses.