Chapter 22
Chapter 22
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 22
Chapter Title: I Had Mastered the Medical Scripture of the Central Heaven!
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Sang Gang-jo answered seriously.
“The pursuers are swarming the area. I must stay at the Dong-ro Branch for the time being.”
“Do so.”
Sang Gang-jo explained his actions.
“The pursuers didn't know I was at the Dong-ro Branch. A moment ago, I sensed them approaching from hundreds of feet away and lured them elsewhere.”
“I know.”
Sang Gang-jo looked at me as he walked.
“Sir, what do you think I should do?”
When I didn't respond, Sang Gang-jo spoke.
“Do you know why the Demonic Emperor's Grand Union is trying to capture me?”
“I do not.”
“I will tell you.”
After walking for a moment, I muttered.
“I'm not curious.”
I spoke again.
“And I don't like being called 'Sir'.”
“Then, what should I call you…?”
“I am Team Leader Three.”
“How can I…”
“It would be better for your complete concealment as well.”
“…I understand.”
Sang Gang-jo seemed to have many questions about me, but he didn't dare to ask.
Instead, he spoke of something else.
“The woman from before is the Red Flying Swallow Sword, a disciple of the Sword Demon Union Lord of the Demonic Emperor's Grand Union's Zhejiang Demon Union.”
As I just walked on in silence, Sang Gang-jo continued.
“Under the Sword Demon Union, there are eight Demon Combat Squads. The Red Flying Swallow Sword is the Grand Squad Leader, responsible for over eighty factions and sects in the Zhejiang region that are under the Demonic Emperor's Grand Union.”
I already knew that the Demonic Emperor's Grand Union was led by an absolute ruler, the Grand Union Lord, and below him were his nine closest aides, the Nine Demon Union Lords.
If the Grand Union Lord is the emperor, then the Union Lords are kings. The Sword Demon Union Lord is one of the Nine Demon Union Lords.
I didn't know that insolent wench from before was the disciple of the Sword Demon Union Lord and the Grand Squad Leader of the Sword Demon Union.
But her status didn't interest me much. Whether my opponent was the Demonic Emperor's Grand Union, the Ten Heavens of the Unorthodox Path, or even the Martial Alliance, I was determined to face and crush anyone who dared to cross me.
However, I was curious whether the men who had been pursuing Sang Gang-jo were experts from the Sword Demon Union or from the Zhejiang factions and sects under the Demonic Emperor's Grand Union.
I needed to know the identities of the bastards I'd beaten to death to gauge my current strength.
“Who were those men from before?”
“They were experts from the Zhejiang factions and sects under the Demonic Emperor's Grand Union.”
“Is that so?”
A little disappointing.
“The demon experts of the Sword Demon Union are more than twice as strong as them.”
Sang Gang-jo explained what I was curious about.
“Since the Red Flying Swallow Sword is the Grand Squad Leader of the Sword Demon Union, she would have brought elite Sword Demon experts with her to Zhejiang.”
“Where are they?”
“They have likely split up, leading the experts from the Zhejiang factions and sects under the Demonic Emperor's Grand Union to search for me.”
That meant Sang Gang-jo was on a very important mission, but I wasn't particularly curious about that. Something else interested me more.
“Is that wench from a moment ago stronger than you?”
Rather than the trivial details about the Demonic Emperor's Grand Union, I was more curious about who was stronger between Sang Gang-jo and her.
“I'm not sure.”
“Shouldn't you be stronger?”
“Why is that?”
“Isn't your position higher than that wench's?”
“What is my position?”
“Aren't you the Head Hall Master of the Martial Alliance's main headquarters?”
“…How did you know that?”
“Does it matter?”
“No, it doesn't.”
Sang Gang-jo would probably guess that an expert of my caliber could have easily overheard his conversation with Branch Master An Do-pil.
Sang Gang-jo is the Head Hall Master of the Martial Alliance's main headquarters, while the Red Flying Swallow Sword is the Grand Squad Leader of the Sword Demon Union, one of the Nine Demon Unions of the Demonic Emperor's Grand Union. Therefore, Sang Gang-jo's status is much higher.
So, my logic was that Sang Gang-jo should be the stronger one.
“I have never fought the Red Flying Swallow Sword one-on-one.”
“Then shall we find out?”
“Wh… What do you mean?”
Sang Gang-jo looked aghast.
I stopped walking and looked around.
“Can't we just call her over?”
“N-No! Please don't!”
Flustered, Sang Gang-jo quickly grabbed my arm.
*Crack!*
“Heuk!”
My body reacted instantly. My fist slammed squarely into the center of Sang Gang-jo's chest as he reached for my arm.
“Aargh!”
As Sang Gang-jo flew through the air with a pitiful scream, I looked at my fist and tilted my head.
‘What martial art was that just now?’
It was clearly a fist technique, but from a single punch, I couldn't tell which one.
***
I found Sang Gang-jo tangled in the branches of a tree in the forest beside the main road.
He was a good seventy feet away from where he'd been punched on the road.
To be sent flying seventy feet from a single punch is incredible.
Seeing Sang Gang-jo hanging limply from the branches gave me a bad feeling.
‘Is he dead?’
Sang Gang-jo, caught in branches higher than my head, was unconscious, with blood trickling from his nose and mouth.
I tried to jump up and pull him down by putting a little strength into my toes, but I only managed to leap about a foot into the air. My body felt heavy.
I had expected to easily leap twenty feet off the ground, so I felt deflated.
I tried again, but the result was the same. Since it wasn't a combat situation, my internal energy didn't circulate.
I found a long branch nearby and poked Sang Gang-jo's body several times until he fell to the ground.
*Thud!*
I'd gotten him down, but looking at his crumpled form, my mind went blank and I had no idea what to do.
This spot, deep in the forest and far from the road, was quiet.
I decided to lay Sang Gang-jo on his back first.
“Ugh!”
I, who had just drawn upon eighty years of internal energy and killed the pursuers in an instant, groaned from the effort of simply turning over Sang Gang-jo's body.
It was less wondrous than it was dumbfounding, and a dry laugh escaped me.
With his face covered in blood, I couldn't tell if Sang Gang-jo was dead or alive.
But I couldn't just leave him here. It wasn't because I was a merciful person. It was because the two of us were bound as a team leader and a team member. That was all.
Besides, hitting Sang Gang-jo in the chest just now was a mistake. So, I wanted to save him if possible.
I try to avoid forming connections with people as much as possible. Useless bonds are just tiring.
I lowered my head and pressed my ear to Sang Gang-jo's chest, but I couldn't hear a heartbeat.
‘Is he dead?’
If he was, then I had killed him. He had only tried to grab my arm, but my body perceived it as an attack and delivered a vicious blow to his chest.
It's good that my body reacts, but it seems it can't properly distinguish friend from foe. This is something I'll have to be careful about in the future.
When I was stopping Sang Gang-jo's bleeding earlier, I vaguely remembered mastering a medical text, but now my mind was a blank slate.
In situations like this, checking the pulse points on the wrist to assess an injured person's condition was something I had done in countless battles in the past.
I placed my fingers on Sang Gang-jo's pulse points, but I felt nothing.
‘Did I even find the right spot?’
I looked closely at one of the three pulse points on his wrist and placed my fingers on it again, properly this time.
I closed my eyes and focused, trying to detect a pulse.
The pulse points on the wrist are crucial. A skilled physician can gauge up to ninety percent of a patient's overall condition just from their pulse.
But there was no pulse.
Still, I didn't give up and focused even harder, trying to detect even the faintest flutter.
*Thump... thump... thump...*
Then, like the sound of horse hooves from a great distance, I faintly detected something. A pulse.
‘He's a lucky one.’
I wondered if I had detected the pulse on my own, or if my internal energy had activated at some point.
So, I decided to find out how badly Sang Gang-jo was injured.
‘Is this possible, too?’
This was a situation with a clear purpose.
*Swoosh!*
Internal energy flowed from my fingers into Sang Gang-jo. The energy being infused wasn't the combat energy used for fighting, but an exploratory energy for diagnosis.
Suddenly, my mind brightened, and the contents of the medical text I had mastered came flooding back to me.
‘That's right! It was the Medical Scripture of the Central Heaven!’
Previously, I had stolen the book from the Martial Alliance headquarters' armory, guessing from its title, Medical Scripture of the Central Heaven, that it was a medical text.
I had thought that after mastering martial arts and becoming active in the martial world, I would often get injured, poisoned, or fall ill, so learning medicine was essential.
The exploratory energy swept through Sang Gang-jo's body, completing a full circuit and relaying information to me.
In addition to the stab and slash wounds on his shoulder, chest, and side, the punch from a moment ago had completely crushed his chest, severely damaging his ribs and internal organs.
I converted the exploratory energy into healing energy and gently infused it back into Sang Gang-jo's body.
Guided by the brilliant medical arts of the Medical Scripture of the Central Heaven, the healing energy began to soothe and mend his wounds, repairing the severed and damaged blood vessels, viscera, organs, and bones.
The secret technique for converting internal energy into exploratory and healing energy was detailed in the foundational section of the Medical Scripture of the Central Heaven.
Originally, terms like 'exploratory energy' or 'healing energy' didn't exist. They were coined by the Medical Scripture of the Central Heaven.
***
Having done all I could, I waited for Sang Gang-jo to wake up.
I was confident that I had perfectly mastered the Medical Scripture of the Central Heaven, but since I had never used it before, I didn't know how effective it would be.
“Umm…”
After about ten breaths, Sang Gang-jo groaned and opened his eyes.
“Ah!”
He was startled to see me sitting beside him, looking down, and quickly sat up.
“Ugh…!”
Then he clutched his chest and let out a pained groan.
“Umm! What happened?”
I stood up.
“Don't you remember?”
“Well… Ah!”
He remembered trying to grab me and taking a direct hit to the chest.
Sang Gang-jo rubbed his chest.
“I remember my chest being crushed…”
He asked in confusion.
“Why did you hit me?”
“Weren't you trying to grab my arm?”
“Was that the reason?”
“I don't like being touched.”
An expression of disbelief appeared on Sang Gang-jo's face, as if to say, 'You tried to kill me over something so trivial?'
“Circulate your energy.”
I clasped my hands behind my back and waited. I couldn't tell him that my body reacts instinctively whenever someone attacks or touches me.
Sang Gang-jo finished circulating his energy, then stood up with a look of astonishment.
“Sir, did you treat me?”
“I believe I told you not to call me that.”
“My apologies. Team Leader, did you treat me?”
“Drop the honorific.”
Sang Gang-jo hesitated. Within the Martial Alliance's main headquarters, he was a high-ranking official with considerable influence, but before me, he was anxious. This was because of what he had experienced and witnessed firsthand.
“Team Leader, did you treat…”
“I treated you.”
“You know medicine?”
Finding his incessant questions troublesome, I spoke politely.
“I wouldn't have treated you if I didn't, would I?”
I, too, was curious about the extent of his recovery, but I remained silent.
Sang Gang-jo suppressed his excitement and said.
“I originally had three sword wounds, and the one on my side was very deep.”
I just listened.
“And when you—I mean, Team Leader—hit my chest earlier, I felt my ribs and organs shatter all at once before I lost consciousness.”
As the Head Hall Master of the Martial Alliance's main headquarters, he would be a top-tier expert even among the first-rate masters. At his level, he could accurately diagnose the extent of his own injuries.