The Genius Youngest Disciple of the Wudang Sect

Chapter 136

'It's my defeat.'

He said this tremendous statement as if it were nothing.

Everyone who was watching us here was so surprised that they couldn't say anything and just stood there.

Even Nangong Sang-hyeon, and even me, the person involved.

"However, to go back like this would be too great a wound to my pride. So if you promise me three things, I will go back quietly."

"Th-Three things?"

"Yes. Two of them, not you, kid, but Nangong Sang-hyeon. You have to promise me."

When his name was called, Nangong Sang-hyeon came to his senses and stood next to me, and then answered, "Tell me."

"First. Although I caused a disturbance today, I have done nothing but fight with that child. So don't chase me."

"I was going to do that even if you didn't say so. I only punish villains. Haven't you already paid for the sins you committed before?"

"Tsk. You're the one who did it, and you're saying you've paid the price? You're not a judge..."

The two of them exchanged idle talk.

Until just a moment ago, I felt a tension as if I were walking on a knife's edge, but suddenly, it feels like a warm spring breeze is blowing.

"Second. In three years, I will come back here. Make your body normal by then. I will also concentrate on my recovery."

"Good. But I think you've forgotten that I'm already ninety. Regardless of my body condition, I don't know if I'll die next year or the year after. But you want to meet in three years?"

"In my opinion, you can live to be a hundred. But if you're dead and gone by then..."

Cheok!

Ho Baek-gwi pointed at me and continued, "You come out, kid. And let's fight again in this spot. And I won't go easy on you then."

For a moment, I felt a chill, but I still answered as if it were nothing.

"I'm in my growth period. In three years, I won't go easy on you."

"You arrogant thing. In fact, I don't like you."

His face was smiling, contrary to the words he had just uttered.

In fact, this fight was resolved by teaching each other that there was nothing to be gained from it.

It was something that could have been resolved if I had told him from the beginning that the Sovereign Sword Emperor was going to reverse his Gold Basin Hand-Washing ceremony.

But would it really have been like that? If I had said that from the beginning, would he have listened to me?

I can say with certainty that he would not have.

His heart was so full of anger and revenge that he would not have heard anything.

Because I fought with my life on the line and was acknowledged as a martial artist by him, my words were finally able to reach his ears.

It is a miracle that I ended up not dying and not getting too seriously injured by him.

He was that strong a martial artist. He was the strongest opponent I had fought since I opened my eyes again as Unhwi of the Wudang Sect.

"I understand the two, and what is the remaining one?"

Although Nangong Sang-hyeon asked lightly, Ho Baek-gwi answered with a serious expression, "Do not forget me, the Changjiang Water Fortress. They were guys who deserved to die. And although they were villains... they are lives that you took. Do not forget that and do not say things like you are selfishly having a Gold Basin Hand-Washing ceremony or retiring again. It would be a different story if you were to live in seclusion quietly."

"Yes, I promise. I will never leave the martial world before I die."

Ho Baek-gwi nodded his head greatly and then turned around without any lingering attachment.

"Yeom-jong! Let's go. What are you doing?"

"Yes. My lord. I'm coming."

Yeom-jong, who had been stunned by the rapidly changing situation, came to his senses at Ho Baek-gwi's call and began to follow him.

When he passed in front of me, he stopped in front of me for a moment.

"Young hero, thank you."

He was sincerely grateful.

Indeed, he would be.

Because in a way, it was as if I had saved Ho Baek-gwi's life.

And because of the promise to fight Nangong Sang-hyeon again in three years, he will surely concentrate on his recovery more than now.

In the long run, I don't even know how many years I have extended Ho Baek-gwi's lifespan.

"If you have time someday, come to Donghu. If you grab anyone in Donghu and say you've come to see Yeom-jong, they will show you the way."

"Why? Are you going to give me something good?"

"That's right. I will definitely repay you."

He left only those words and followed Ho Baek-gwi with short steps.

And after a while, the two of them disappeared from sight.

"Hoo... it's over."

Is it because I think everything is over? For a moment, the tension is released and my legs lose their strength.

But, it's not just my legs that are losing their strength, but my head is also starting to spin.

"Unhwi-ya, you've been through a lot."

Although the Sovereign Sword Emperor was speaking next to me, I could only hear a buzzing sound and it didn't register in my ears.

At that moment, I felt a wave of nausea.

"Uwe-e-ek!"

I vomited a lot, but damn... it's blood.

It seems the internal injury I got earlier was more serious than I thought. Suddenly, the ground is rushing towards my eyes.

"Unhwi-ya!!"

"Taoist master!"

Although the people around me were calling me anxiously, I couldn't answer at all and was sucked into the darkness.

I'm so sleepy. I need to sleep.

***

Although I was unconscious, I was worried about what would happen if I ruined the banquet, but fortunately, that didn't happen.

Because, unlike someone who had vomited blood and collapsed, I opened my eyes in half a day.

"Umm... where is this..."

This place is full of the smell of incense. I don't know where this is, but judging by the decorations and patterns, it seems to be somewhere in the Nangong family.

When I looked out the window, it was already dark outside. At first, I couldn't tell if I had slept for a day or two, but when I came to my senses, I could vaguely realize that it was the night of the day I had fought with Ho Baek-gwi.

"Grand Master. Are you awake?"

At that time, as if she had heard the sound of me getting up, a woman's voice spoke to me from the darkness.

Perhaps she had been nursing me while I was unconscious.

There is only one person who would call me Grand Master.

"Miss Yu-hwa. Were you nursing me?"

"Ah, yes. That's right."

She answered and revealed herself.

Her face, illuminated by the moonlight, looks even whiter today.

"Where is this?"

"This is the family's medical hall. My grandfather carried you, who had collapsed, all the way here."

"Thank you. I'm just causing trouble by collapsing."

I said with a smile.

Although I wanted to reassure her, it was also because my body condition was really good, perhaps because I had slept and rested well for a long time.

It's to the point where I doubt if I had an internal injury earlier in the day.

If I had vomited blood and collapsed to that extent, it means the internal injury was quite deep, but how can it be so cleanly healed in just a few shichen?

"No. What you have done for our family today is something that cannot be repaid with anything. If my grandfather had been seriously injured because of today's incident... the family would have probably fallen into great chaos."

"Well, but in conclusion, I protected the Sovereign Sword Emperor, and I wasn't hurt as much as I thought, so it ended well."

"I-I, that is..."

Nangong Yu-hwa hesitated as if she had something to say.

Then she said to me, "Actually, there was a slightly dangerous situation earlier."

"What else happened?"

"No. Your internal injury was more serious than we thought, and you were in a critical condition."

"Me?"

I couldn't have imagined it. I thought it was a pretty big internal injury, but to think I was about to die...

But why is my body so normal right now?

"To save you, my father and older brothers have been continuously performing blood transfusion and acupressure on you until now."

"Ah...!"

"At first, my grandfather was going to do it, but my father strongly dissuaded him. He said that the reason you became like this was all to prevent my grandfather from using martial arts, and if he were to perform blood transfusion and acupressure with internal energy here, your efforts would be in vain."

"That's right...! Then where are the three of them now?"

Nangong Yu-hwa said with a faint smile, "First, my older brothers infused their energy until all their internal energy was depleted, and then they fainted after exhausting all their energy."

"No, you're saying they were told to save me until they fainted?"

"Yes. And my father watched over you until your body was fully recovered, and then he went to rest after judging that you had almost recovered."

To be honest, I'm touched.

Putting aside Nangong Cheon-jin, it was also unexpected that Nangong Mu-jin and Nangong Ryu-jin had taken care of my internal injuries until they fainted for me.

Although I had treated the two of them quite harshly, it seems they think of me as a real Grand Master.

"If they exhaust their energy until they faint like that, it will be difficult for them to even move their bodies for the next few days..."

"That's why my older brothers did it first, not my father. My older brothers said that the banquet would not be affected even if they were not there, but if my father was not there, the banquet could not be held."

"Ah... tomorrow is the retirement banquet."

The words 'retirement banquet and Gold Basin Hand-Washing ceremony' no longer follow the word 'retirement banquet'.

Just by that, I can feel that I have done it properly.

Now, as originally planned, Nangong Sang-hyeon will perform the sword dance tomorrow, and the various rising stars who will gain enlightenment from that sword dance will return to their respective sects and develop their own martial arts and further, the martial arts of their sects, based on that enlightenment.

And the developed sects will not be defeated as helplessly as in the past in the war with the Demonic Cult.

Knock, knock—

As I was thinking about this, someone knocked on the door.

I wondered who had come at this late hour, but the door slid open and a person came in without even being told to come in.

"Uh...?"

"Uh?"

She was Zhuge Ling. She was holding something like a bowl in both hands, and she looked very flustered when her eyes met mine, as if she hadn't expected me to be awake.

A brief silence flowed between us, and I quickly opened my mouth to ventilate the awkward atmosphere.

"Miss. What are you doing at this late hour?"

"Ah! Young master. When did you finish? I thought you hadn't woken up yet..."

"It's okay. Come in quickly."

She came to the side of my desk and put down the bowl.

Seeing the smell of medicine wafting from it, it seemed she had prepared something like a decoction.

But Nangong Yu-hwa, who was looking at her, said in a cold tone that was quite different from what she had been saying to me until a little while ago, "I told you that you didn't have to come until I was here."

"But how can I not care when he is 'my companion'? You wouldn't say that you don't know that our Zhuge family is as famous for its medical skills as it is for its martial arts and formations, would you?"

"I know that well. But, this is the Nangong family, and there is also a real doctor. It's the first time I've heard that Miss Zhuge has even learned medical skills."

"I am not a doctor, but I can at least decoct a decoction that is good for internal injuries, which a doctor has made."

The two of them exchanged sharp words as if they would not lose a single word.

"But what can you do? My father and older brothers have already controlled all of the Grand Master's internal injuries by pouring their own internal energy into him."

"Internal energy recovery is literally a temporary measure. Internal injuries must be recovered with one's own healing power, and this decoction is a decoction that increases that healing power."

What is this? Until yesterday... no, until just a little while ago, the relationship between the two of them didn't seem this bad, but now it looks like they are eager to eat each other.

"Excuse me, you two. I'm a patient. I don't know what happened between you two, but could you both go out and fight so that I can rest?"

"Young master, just stay still for a moment!"

"Grand Master, please wait a moment!"

"Ah... yes..."

I was overwhelmed by the momentum of the two people and shut my mouth.

That momentum is more than what I felt from Ho Baek-gwi earlier.

In the end, the two of them continued to exchange words for a long time, and in the end, I drank a bowl of the decoction, and then I pretended to be in pain and fell asleep, and only then did they stop and go to their respective lodgings.

Only then could I find peace.

And the next day.

Nangong Sang-hyeon's retirement banquet finally began.