Chapter 114
Chapter 114
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 114
Chapter Title: Shatter-Soul Elder
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Having barely escaped Dang Mujin's pursuit by the skin of his teeth, the assassin headed straight for the headquarters of the Killing Net.
It wasn't long before he came face-to-face with Black Cat, the second-in-command of the Killing Net.
This matter involved the Strange Physician, so it was only right for the leader, Black Spider, to hear the report. However, Black Spider had been away from his post for some time now.
The assassin lowered his posture as he spoke.
"It seems highly likely that it was truly the Strange Physician."
Black Cat's eyes narrowed. No matter how high the probability, the word itself implied the possibility of the opposite.
"Highly likely?"
"Yes. As a scout, I didn't get a direct look at the Strange Physician's face. But judging from the circumstances that arose during the mission, the target appears to be him without a doubt."
"Tell me the details."
At Black Cat's prompting, the assassin gathered his thoughts for a moment before continuing his report.
"Three of us carried out the mission, and the two besides me are dead. The deceased were the one who approached to confirm the Strange Physician's face and the other scout."
"Did you witness the Strange Physician's martial arts during the process of those two deaths?"
"No, I didn't."
"Then?"
"The Strange Physician didn't engage in combat himself, but two of his companions responded immediately. One estimated to be at least at the pinnacle level, and another at first-rate or above. And both used unusual martial arts."
"How unusual?"
Half out of necessity and half out of curiosity, Black Cat asked back.
There were plenty of eccentrics and bizarre martial arts in the martial world, but few assassins trained techniques as unique and distinctive as this one's. If even he called it unusual, it was no ordinary matter.
"First, the one estimated to be a pinnacle expert had extraordinarily stealthy movements, yet his attacks were overpowering. I suspect he might be a black path master."
It was a letdown from what he'd hoped. Having failed to complete the mission perfectly, it seemed like he was padding the story to cover himself. Moreover, there was no solid basis to definitively label the target as the Strange Physician.
"Don't jump to conclusions. Plenty of righteous faction warriors train stealthy lightness skills."
"It was beyond that. It went past mere stealth—he was one at home in the darkness. When he unleashed his footwork, it looked like he melted into the shadows. On top of that, he didn't even draw his own weapon; he naturally snatched the opponent's and attacked with it."
"Hmm."
There were footwork techniques that made one appear to melt into the darkness.
But they all shared a common trait: they weren't something you could pull off simply through superior skill.
Moreover, righteous faction warriors rarely snatched and used someone else's weapon. They treated the single sword at their waist as their pride.
"What makes you so sure the opponent was the Strange Physician?"
"The martial art displayed by the second companion is the proof. He seemed barely in his twenties, yet he wielded poison arts with proficiency."
"Poison arts?"
"Yes. He hurled poison-coated needles at me. If one of the haphazard antidotes I'd taken hadn't worked, I'd have been caught and killed too."
The assassin presented Black Cat with a slender needle. It was sturdy yet intricately made, with a bluish poison coating the middle section.
Poison users were rare across the entire Central Plains. Righteous faction warriors shunned poison outright, and even black path practitioners found the precision required for poisons burdensome, so few trained in them.
Acquiring poisons that were easy to handle yet potent was no small feat either.
Thus, those who came to mind when thinking of poison arts fell into three categories: certain Demonic Cult warriors, assassins, and Yi Chung, the Strange Physician.
Occasionally, small clans or sects researched poisons, but their skills and achievements were invariably mediocre, not worth attention.
In other words, a young man proficient in usable poison arts was nine times out of ten a disciple of the Strange Physician. No one knew exactly when he'd started taking disciples, though.
'At this point, it seems certain that the Strange Physician is with that group. After the previous raid, he went into hiding, but now he's formed a force and come back into the open?'
Moreover, in Black Cat's view, the current situation wasn't favorable. For the Strange Physician, who usually wandered alone, to gather a group and emerge publicly meant he was preparing for a potential clash with the Killing Net.
And with the Killing Net's current strength, the odds of defeating the Strange Physician—possibly now at the transcendent pinnacle—weren't high. Even if they won through a drawn-out, relentless exploitation of weaknesses, the casualties would be immense.
Black Cat's temples throbbed. He already had headaches over how to report this to Black Spider later.
He waved his pale, slender hand at the assassin who'd come to report.
"Go back and steadily track the Strange Physician's movements, but don't recklessly provoke trouble."
"Understood."
As the assassin retreated backward, Black Cat sat and pondered deeply. No clear solution came to mind.
However, it wasn't long before an unexpected visitor arrived.
An old man whose head was bald and shiny, not a single white hair left, with age spots dotting his face. His frame was small and gaunt, unremarkable.
Yet he was no one Black Cat could treat lightly, whether by martial prowess or status. The old man was the Demonic Cult's External Affairs Overseer, the Shatter-Soul Elder.
The Demonic Cult had no ties with the righteous factions. To be precise, the righteous factions rejected any exchange with the Demonic Cult. The most exclusionary group in the martial world wasn't the black path or the Demonic Cult—it was the righteous factions.
The black path, on the other hand, had decent relations with the Demonic Cult. But properly organized groups with a strong center were rare among them.
Given this, whenever the Demonic Cult wanted to extend its reach into the Central Plains or needed information, the first organization they contacted was the Killing Net.
And whenever they came to collaborate with the Killing Net, it was always the External Affairs Overseer, Shatter-Soul Elder, who appeared.
The Shatter-Soul Elder asked.
"What's this? Where's Black Spider?"
Black Cat lowered his posture as he replied.
"He's away on personal business. May I ask what brings you here?"
"I came with a commission, but Black Spider's not here. Wasted trip, then."
"No, please tell me. You can entrust it to me."
"Is that so? Ambitious, aren't you? Well, being second-in-command must get tiresome."
The Shatter-Soul Elder chuckled as he spoke, a joke hinting at usurpation.
Unswayed, Black Cat replied calmly.
"It's not like that. I'm simply entrusted with the role."
"That's how it always starts... Anyway, it's not a complicated commission. Just procure a capable physician for me."
"May I ask the reason?"
"The Demon Physician went out and got himself killed."
"Pardon?"
Caught off guard by the unfamiliar news, Black Cat blurted out blankly.
Evidently displeased at repeating the unwelcome tale twice, the Shatter-Soul Elder spoke in a low voice again.
"Seems it hasn't spread in the Central Plains yet? The Demon Physician died last winter. We have mountains of work, but his disciples don't measure up. We tried to bring in a Healing Immortal as a last resort, but he died before the Demon Physician."
"That's right. Rumors circulated around last autumn."
Black Cat sorted his thoughts. So now, of the World's Three Great Physicians, only the Strange Physician remained.
That put a great deal at stake on the Strange Physician's life—and his death would cause a significant regression in Central Plains medicine.
But no one in the entire Killing Net cared about such things.
Black Cat's own sentiment was simple: if he could get more commission fees, he would.
The Shatter-Soul Elder interrupted Black Cat's musings.
"Anyway, bring me a capable physician. Skilled in medicine, of course, but expertise in poison would be ideal."
"You're after the Strange Physician?"
"No. Not him. That bastard won't listen to orders, so even if we dragged him back, he wouldn't be useful."
No one matched the Strange Physician when it came to proficiency in both medicine and poison.
But his temperament was stubborn as a mule. There was no forcing cooperation or assigning tasks. Unlike most obstinates, he had no family or sect to hold hostage.
"Understood. I'll look for a suitable candidate."
"The pay will be generous, more than usual. I'll bring the money once it's done, so put some effort into it."
At that moment, a thought flashed through Black Cat's mind. He was already worried the Strange Physician might raid the Killing Net.
If they borrowed the Demonic Cult's power to kill the Strange Physician and hand over his disciple to them, it would look perfect.
They'd collect the assassination fee, gain extra income, avert crisis with borrowed strength—one stone, three birds.
Black Cat spoke.
"If you lower the fee, could we borrow the Demonic Cult's forces when needed?"
"Trade force for payment? Fine by us. How much do you need?"
"For now, think a few pinnacle experts."
"Good. That's not difficult."
The Demonic Cult had plenty of skilled warriors. It was just that opportunities to meddle and profit weren't common.
The Shatter-Soul Elder's and Black Cat's interests aligned, and the two concluded their discussion satisfactorily.
*
Meanwhile, as Dang Mujin's group traveled eastward, a sudden question arose in his mind.
'If the problem is that the Killing Net thinks Chusuam is the Strange Physician, couldn't we just prove to them that he's not?'
When Dang Mujin shared this idea with the group, the three reacted differently.
Chusuam tensed up, Dan Seoryeong had no particular thoughts, and Namgung Myeong showed a somewhat negative attitude.
"Think carefully. Those guys tried to kill him even knowing he's not Elder Strange Physician."
"Huh? They tried to kill him because they thought he was the elder, right?"
"No way. If they truly believed it was Elder Strange Physician, they wouldn't have sent some milk-scented first-rate assassins. They'd have brought at least pinnacle experts. The fact that mere first-rate assassin trash attempted it is the surest proof they were certain Chusuam wasn't him."
He grasped the point, but the phrasing grated oddly. It was surely intentional.
Dang Mujin snorted derisively and exacted simple revenge. He took slightly larger strides, striding vigorously eastward.
As his steps lengthened, Namgung Myeong's expression visibly grew uneasy.
Like an earthworm writhing in agony upon salt before going limp and dying, Namgung Myeong was visibly weakening the closer they got to the Namgung family.
"...By the way, Mujin. How far are you planning to go?"
"Anhui Province seems best, right? Lots of people, prosperous. Right next to the Namgung family, so assassins won't run wild."
Chusuam and Dan Seoryeong liked the suggestion, but Namgung Myeong's face turned gravely serious.
"Let's not go as far as Anhui. How about Jiangxi Province?"
"Hmm. We'll think about it slowly. I like Anhui. Especially the Huangshan area."
Dang Mujin's group had two main choices.
Enter a crowded city or stay in the sparsely populated wilderness.
And Dang Mujin chose the city.
Of course, more people meant the risk of assassins blending in and attacking.
But crowds restricted the assassins' actions too.
By avoiding crowds, holing up in an inn, and having Dang Mujin and Namgung Myeong stand guard, the situation grew even safer. There might be assassins somewhere surpassing their skills, but few could fool their senses perfectly.
If they entered a martial sect as guests instead of a regular inn, it would be even better.
With Dang Mujin and Namgung Myeong's prowess, plus Dan Seoryeong's handiwork, plenty of sects would welcome them as guests. Naturally, the safest spot was inside the Namgung family.
In the end, Namgung Myeong blocked Dang Mujin's path.
"Anhui is really out."
Even without entering the Namgung family walls, someone of Namgung Myeong's caliber was fairly famous around Huangshan in Anhui. Meaning others might recognize his face first. His free life would end then.
"Hmm... How about Jiujiang, then?"
Dang Mujin proposed a reasonable compromise. Jiujiang bordered Anhui but didn't enter it.
"Jiujiang? Sounds good. Never been, but always wanted to go."
Relieved at that much, a small sense of ease settled on Namgung Myeong's face.
But Namgung Myeong hadn't accurately grasped Dang Mujin's inner thoughts.
If something unmanageable arose, regardless of Namgung Myeong's protests, they could cross into Anhui and head for the Namgung family.