Chapter 63
Chapter 63
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 63
Chapter Title: Converting the Dong-ro Branch into the Grand Alliance Headquarters!
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Clang!
“Hngh!”
On my third Light-Splitting Leaping Dragon attack, Sang Gang-jo lost his grip on his sword and stumbled back before collapsing.
The third deployment of Light-Splitting Leaping Dragon was purely offensive. I didn't waste half of its variations on cutting off his escape routes.
Unless Sang Gang-jo was a fool, he must have realized the mistake he'd made.
Once this duel was over, my desire to teach him would vanish. And even if I wanted to, I couldn't, as I would forget the mnemonic verses of the Eighteen Stances of Light-Splitting Swordplay. That's why I was correcting his mistake in a real fight.
I sheathed the Fire Dragon Sword over my shoulder and walked toward Sang Gang-jo.
“Are you all right?”
Despite the lengthy explanations, our duel hadn't even lasted half a quarter-hour.
Sang Gang-jo sat sprawled on the sand, looking at me with a very complicated expression.
I took his arm and helped him up.
Still in shock, Sang Gang-jo trembled and staggered, so I supported him.
“Thank you.”
He started toward his sword, which was stuck in the white sand about twenty feet away, but collapsed again.
I retrieved the sword for him and, with an arm around his shoulders, headed for the Third Team Hall.
“…What was my level?”
I looked Sang Gang-jo straight in the eye.
“On par with the Fifteen Greats of the Martial World.”
“Could you be more specific?”
“You were nearly equal to, or perhaps even slightly better than, the ones I've faced.”
“Is that so?”
Sang Gang-jo smiled faintly.
“I'm surprised that you're this powerful, Advisor.”
“You flatter me.”
When we reached a room in the Third Team Hall, I asked Sang Gang-jo.
“How are you feeling?”
Sang Gang-jo grimaced.
“My body feels like it's falling apart. Please, go easy on me.”
“I did go easy on you.”
“This is you going easy?”
I helped Sang Gang-jo sit on the bed.
“Do you not realize what I went easy on?”
Sang Gang-jo cupped his fists respectfully.
“You gave me a thorough reinterpretation of Light-Splitting Leaping Dragon. It was a great help. I will further hone what you've taught me. Thank you.”
“Rest.”
I helped him lie down on the bed and left.
* * *
At the Dong-ro Branch, the examinations for martial artists to join the Alliance were still underway.
Around noon.
Four hundred lunch boxes, prepared at the various taverns in Dong-ro Prefecture run by the Peerless Sect, were delivered to the Dong-ro Branch, and everyone had lunch.
Do Hyeon-tak, who was overseeing the entrance examinations, had been waiting for me to emerge from the annex and rushed over.
“I have a report.”
Do Hyeon-tak was holding a stack of documents.
“As of noon today, a total of two hundred thirty-four people have passed the examination. We expect the number to exceed three hundred by the end of the day.”
He held out the documents.
“The successful candidates have been categorized into high, medium, and low.”
This wasn't my job.
“Bring me the Grand Commander.”
“Who is the Grand Commander?”
“The General, I mean.”
“Ah!”
For a mere Regional Master like Do Hyeon-tak, the position of Grand Commander was so high that it hurt his neck to look up to it.
Do Hyeon-tak didn't know I had become the Alliance Lord's prospective husband, but he knew that So Yang-gun and Sang Gang-jo treated me with immense deference, so he was extremely polite to me.
“Tell him to come to the annex.”
“Understood!”
Do Hyeon-tak darted off toward the Third Team Hall like an arrow.
I needed to give So Yang-gun permission to convert the Dong-ro Branch into the Martial Alliance's grand headquarters for things to proceed smoothly.
As I was walking to the annex, Deung-bo and Yeon-cheong, who were rushing toward the First Team Hall, spotted me and ran over.
“Grand Branch Master!”
“What is it?”
“Seok Won-sang is in critical condition!”
Seok Won-sang was a member of the Second Team. He had been seriously injured in an ambush by subordinates of the Demonic Emperor's Grand Union's Dong-ro branch on his way home from work some time ago.
If I hadn't known, it couldn't be helped, but now that I knew Seok Won-sang was in critical condition, I couldn't pretend I didn't.
“Have you called a physician?”
“We did, but the physician said he wouldn't last another hour, so we came to get the Branch Master.”
“Let's go.”
“The Branch Master is…”
Branch Master An Do-pil, sitting at the document review desk, was so busy he didn't have a moment to spare.
So Yang-gun was coming out of the Third Team Hall, spotted me, and followed.
“What's going on?”
Deung-bo answered for me.
“Seok Won-sang, a member of the Dong-ro Branch's Second Team, is in critical condition!”
* * *
In a shabby house at the end of an alley in Dong-ro Prefecture, Seok Won-sang lay on a bed, on the verge of death.
His wife and children were crying beside the bed, while a physician stood watching from a distance.
“Make way! It's the Grand Branch Master!”
“Quiet.”
I sat on the edge of the bed and took Seok Won-sang's pulse. In that moment, the most relevant passages from the vast knowledge of the Medical Scripture of the Central Heaven flooded my mind.
Since the day of the attack, Seok Won-sang had been in a vegetative state for a couple of months, unable to move, lying in bed, needing help with his bodily functions, clinging tenaciously to life.
The physician had just declared that his end had come, a fact I was unaware of.
As I checked his pulse, it suddenly occurred to me that he could have been me, thirteen years ago, a low-ranking warrior of the Martial Alliance.
Back then, I had hovered between life and death many times, but not once had someone meticulously treated me and saved my life.
It was always through sheer luck or a robust constitution that I overcame those brushes with death and miraculously survived.
In that respect, Seok Won-sang was lucky. After all, I had arrived just before his final moments.
When Seok Won-sang was first injured, his external wounds and internal injuries were so severe that nothing could be done. If I had paid attention back then, I would have treated him.
He was already leaving this world for the next.
Letting go of Seok Won-sang's wrist, I instructed Deung-bo.
“Strip this man of his clothes.”
While Deung-bo removed the clothes Seok Won-sang was wearing, Yeon-cheong ushered the family out.
Seok Won-sang's naked body, as thin as a corpse, was revealed.
I stood up, looked down at Seok Won-sang, and slowly began to press his acupoints.
All the acupoints and blood vessels in Seok Won-sang's body had shriveled and were almost completely blocked, so I had to open them first.
The human body's meridians are divided into the twelve standard meridians and the eight extraordinary meridians.
The twelve standard meridians consist of the three yang and three yin meridians of the arms and legs. The eight extraordinary meridians are the Conception, Governor, Penetrating, Yin-Linking, Yang-Linking, Yin-Heel, Yang-Heel, and Girdle vessels. In short, the Eight Extraordinary Meridians.
In Seok Won-sang's case, I needed to open his acupoints and vessels by infusing his standard meridians with thirty percent of my true qi and his extraordinary meridians with seventy percent.
This would reactivate his fading breath and qi for about an hour, and that's when the divine medical arts of the Medical Scripture of the Central Heaven would truly shine.
With my ten fingers held straight, I rapidly pressed Seok Won-sang's acupoints and vessels, infusing them with the appropriate amount of true qi.
Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap!
Slowly at first, but the speed at which I pressed his acupoints and vessels and infused my true qi gradually increased.
Eventually, my ten fingers moved so fast they became a blur, leaving everyone gaping in astonishment.
“Turn him over.”
Deung-bo, who had been watching without even blinking, quickly turned Seok Won-sang's body over.
“Gah!”
Seok Won-sang, who had been lying flat, suddenly shot up a handspan from the bed, his eyes flying open.
I looked straight down at him, pressed my palm flat against the center of his chest, and infused my true qi.
Swoooosh!
Seok Won-sang's eyes widened as he looked at me, and he cried out as if it were his last breath.
“You! Ak Bi-ryong!”
He had been attacked right after I became the Third Team Leader of the Dong-ro Branch, so his memories had stopped around that time.
That's why he didn't know what I had become since then, and why he shouted 'Ak Bi-ryong' the moment he saw me.
Even as I infused true qi into his chest, Seok Won-sang continued to scream.
“Ak Bi-ryong! What are you doing?”
I sealed Seok Won-sang's muting point and gave him a faint smile.
“Seok Won-sang, welcome back.”
* * *
On the way back to the Dong-ro Branch, So Yang-gun asked with a curious expression.
“That man was practically a corpse. How did you revive him?”
“As you saw, I used an acupressure technique and infused a bit of true qi.”
Go Un-hyo followed silently behind.
“The acupressure technique you used on that man was something I've never seen before in my life, my lord.”
“You know medicine?”
“Enough to make a living from it.”
“Impressive.”
“I'm no match for you, my lord.”
So Yang-gun asked seriously.
“Where did you learn medicine?”
“I'm self-taught.”
“It seems you're self-taught in everything, my lord.”
“That's right.”
So Yang-gun was a man of vast knowledge, so I didn't want to reveal too much about myself to him.
* * *
Jang Ung and Sang Gang-jo were sitting in the annex's lounge.
The two, who were not close, had merely exchanged greetings and were waiting for me in silence.
I told So Yang-gun the decision I had relayed to Sang Gang-jo earlier.
“You may establish the grand headquarters in Dong-ro Prefecture.”
“Ah!”
So Yang-gun was so surprised he shot to his feet, then looked at Sang Gang-jo as if for confirmation.
When Sang Gang-jo smiled and nodded, he turned back to me and asked.
“Is it true?”
“It is. Hear my conditions from the Advisor.”
“Hearing it from Chief Advisor Sang holds no authority. I must hear it directly from you, my lord, and agree to it myself.”
So Yang-gun spoke politely to Go Un-hyo and Jang Ung.
“Would you two please step out for a moment?”
“It's fine for them to hear.”
Go Un-hyo and Jang Ung bowed their heads respectfully to me and remained in their seats.
“Please state your conditions.”
“My relationship with the Alliance Lord is to be considered a separate matter, and I will retain my position as Grand Branch Master of the Dong-ro Branch.”
“Hmm!”
So Yang-gun crossed his arms, his expression grave.
“Are you saying you will remain a mere Branch Master even after the Dong-ro Branch is converted into the grand headquarters?”
“Hey! Not a mere Branch Master, but a Grand Branch Master.”
“But…”
In So Yang-gun's mind, the position of Grand Branch Master didn't officially exist, but even if it did, it was only one step above a Branch Master.
“The Alliance Lord has already conveyed her intentions to you, my lord.”
“Does it make sense for the Alliance Lord to marry me without even seeing me?”
Jang Ung was startled, and Go Un-hyo flinched.
I was starting to get annoyed.
“You saw the handwritten letter from the Alliance Lord yourself, my lord. She has declared her intention to marry you. Not only that, she gave Chief Advisor Sang and me a strict order to protect you with our lives.”
“In any case.”
I was firm.
“If you two wish to keep your lives, how about you let the Alliance Lord and I resolve the matter of marriage ourselves?”
“That is…”
“Isn't it presumptuous for a Grand Commander to meddle in the marriage of a man and a woman?”
My tone became slightly admonishing.
“I am not meddling.”
“Ask the Alliance Lord about this matter yourself.”
At this point, I decided to be decisive.
“It's best for you while I'm still being lenient.”
“Hmph!”
“Should I just do things my way?”
So Yang-gun flinched and answered politely.
“As you say, I will ask the Alliance Lord.”
So Yang-gun hurried out.
Sang Gang-jo stood up.
“Shall we take a short walk?”
He intended to finish the conversation we started earlier.
* * *
Sang Gang-jo and I walked to the riverbank.
“I originally planned to recruit two hundred twenty-six masters into the Martial Alliance. I have the list.”
This was unexpected.
“Didn't you say you'd personally met over one hundred fifty of them and recruited fifty-three?”
“The list I received contained two hundred twenty-six names. However, in over three years, I was only able to meet about one hundred fifty of them. Had there been more time, I would have met and persuaded more masters.”
“Are all two hundred twenty-six of them masters comparable to the Fifteen Greats of the Martial World?”
“That is the Martial Alliance's assessment.”