I Prayed for a Murim Reincarnation, But I Was Born as the Youngest Imperial Prince - Chapter 103

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 103
As they continued traveling further south, the weather grew noticeably warmer.
Fujian Province was particularly prone to mild winters and heavy summer rains, and the shift in the climate became tangible with every step they took along the road.
Not that the changing weather caused the trio any real discomfort.
They possessed Immunity to Cold and Heat.
Whether it was sweltering or humid, they remained perfectly comfortable.
By deploying just a thin Protective Qi Barrier, they could block the downpour entirely, far more effectively than any raincoat.
Seonwu thoroughly enjoyed the journey, taking his time to admire the scenery as they strolled along.
“We need moments like this to just wind down and rest.”
It was in Seonwu’s nature to appreciate the landscape while climbing a mountain rather than rushing to reach the summit.
Now that he was in his beloved Wulin, he wanted to imprint every single path and sight into his memory.
Of course, because they walked with the stride of martial artists, they weren’t moving at a literal snail’s pace, but they refrained from pushing their Lightness Technique to its limits.
They looked at the trees and watched the flowing water.
They listened to the birds chirping.
Whenever they encountered a particularly beautiful vista, they would pause for a moment, and Seonwu would even attempt to compose a rather mediocre poem of his own.
“The birds sing sweet and clear,
The wind blows cool and free,
The river runs so bright,
A wondrous sight to see.”
Lee Jun shook his head at the poem Seonwu chanted so haphazardly.
“Whatever you do, never write your poetry on famous paintings and stamp your seal on them.”
Dan Suyeong flared up at Lee Jun’s warning not to mimic the habits of the Qianlong Emperor from Earth.
“What is wrong with my senior brother’s poetry!” Dan Suyeong barked.
“I mean, the rhythm and the couplets don’t even match.”
“Silence! The beauty of poetry is felt with the heart, and to a loyal ear, there is no poem by my senior brother that is not magnificent!”
Sensing that another word would trigger an actual brawl, Lee Jun wisely shut his mouth.
‘Phew, it’s definitely not because I’m afraid of that Absolute Shadow or Soul-Slaying form.’
He merely reminded himself that a wise man never stands near a collapsing wall.
“Um, Dan Suyeong. It’s true that I just threw that together, so calm down,” Seonwu interjected hastily.
‘Writing terrible poems on masterpieces and defacing them with personal seals… The Qianlong Emperor really took a lot of flak from later generations for that.’
Yet, during his reign, not a single courtier dared to speak the truth and tell him his poetry was awful.
Could it be that the emperor genuinely believed he was a master poet?
In that regard, Seonwu considered himself fortunate to have a friend who wouldn’t hesitate to shatter his delusions.
Putting an end to his awkward poetry readings, Seonwu asked about the sect they would soon encounter.
“Is the Medical Pavilion the only famous power in Fujian Province?”
“That’s right.”
“Is there anything specific I should know about them? I know it’s a gathering of physicians, and their leader, Chief Gal U-ryang, is the man they call Yaxian.”
Lee Jun answered Seonwu’s inquiry.
“You should brace yourself for the fact that becoming friendly with the Medical Pavilion means risking bad blood with every other medical faction.”
“Hmm? From what I heard, Yaxian boasts extraordinary medical expertise and achieved the Transcendence Realm through his secret spiritual medicines and health cultivation methods. I was told he’s a good man who is immensely respected by the common folk.”
He had heard that despite his status as the chief of the Medical Pavilion and his peerless skills, the man was praised for being gentle and benevolent, not the type to invite hatred.
“The commoners certainly respect him. But that’s exactly why his fellow physicians loathe him. Actually, ‘loathe’ is an understatement; a good number of them absolutely despise him.”
“Ah, so he’s an outcast among his own peers.”
Listening quietly, Dan Suyeong tilted his head.
The modern concept of an outcast was unfamiliar to him.
However, he couldn’t bring himself to interrupt his master so casually.
How could he dare intrude upon his lord’s conversation without permission?
Even if the other participant, Zhuge Jun, was nothing more than an ignorant, reckless fool.
‘Judging by the context, though, it must refer to someone who is cold-shouldered and excluded from a group.’
Seonwu grew curious.
Usually, when someone became a public enemy, there was a valid reason behind it.
“Why is that?”
“His skills are unmatched, yet his consultation fees and medicine prices are incredibly cheap. On top of that, he trains so many disciples that he’s established branches all over Fujian Province. That’s why so many physicians hate Yaxian.”
Seonwu blinked.
“Uh, based on what you’re saying, he sounds like an exemplary physician who ought to receive more respect and gratitude than anyone else.”
“The patients are grateful, sure. But their gratitude is just ordinary.”
They appreciated it, but it was a measured, passive kind of thankfulness.
“On the flip side, his envious competitors hate him so intensely that they wish Yaxian would just drop dead tomorrow.”
The grateful crowd lacked fervor.
Conversely, the hateful faction felt their profits and very survival were at stake, making their animosity incredibly fierce.
In terms of sheer numbers, the grateful patients wins, but in terms of proactive malice and intensity, the haters were far more powerful.
“Ah, I see. I understand now. It makes perfect sense.”
Yaxian possessed superior skills yet charged rock-bottom prices.
This forced his competitors to lower their own fees beneath his standard just to survive.
It might have been fine if he were a solitary eccentric wandering the Jianghu, occasionally bestowing his medical arts upon a select few chosen by fate.
‘In most wuxia novels, characters like Yaxian are usually impossible to even catch a glimpse of.’
Even if he took disciples, it wouldn’t disrupt the balance if he strictly adhered to the rule of selective transmission and taught only one or two chosen successors.
Instead, he took on countless disciples and sent them out to establish branches everywhere.
From the perspective of the other physicians, he was an unscrupulous corporate giant practicing predatory pricing, destroying the local ecosystem, and aiming for a monopoly.
A tycoon crushing the neighborhood businesses?
“He must have a massive number of disciples.”
“Exactly. Why else do you think the Medical Pavilion is the largest sect in Fujian Province? They do hire martial guards, but it’s the sheer volume of disciples that makes them the top power in Fujian. As a result, if you find a physician in Fujian Province today, you can safely assume they belong to the Medical Pavilion, except in the tiniest of villages.”
Granted, Fujian lacked a grand sect on the level of the Nine Great Sects or the Five Great Clans.
Even so, for an organization centered on medicine rather than pure martial arts to become the largest regional power proved just how vast their ranks were.
“The Medical Pavilion isn’t entirely devoid of martial arts either.”
Seonwu recalled the archive’s inventory of techniques.
“Their Vitality Restoring Poison Medical Art was considered quite a specialty.”
The Emperor had categorized the Medical Pavilion’s internal energy under the fifth tier of the Earth Pavilion.
That meant it was a divine art capable of leading a practitioner to the Realm of Creation.
While the fifth tier was considered lower within the elite Earth Pavilion itself, the pavilion was not a place where just any random martial art could find a spot.
Furthermore, there had been a specific annotation.
‘He noted that while it amounts to a mere fifth tier by a martial artist’s standards, it deserves to be ranked as first-class by a physician’s standards.’
In short, while it wasn’t a technique optimized for combat, it stood supreme among divine arts when utilized for its intended purpose of healing people.
Even when evaluated purely by combat standards, the internal cultivation method was still formidable enough to earn a fifth-tier spot in the Earth Pavilion.
“That’s right, the Vitality Restoring Poison Medical Art is exceptional. It’s particularly outstanding for suppressing poisons or diseases and treating injuries, but it also builds up internal power remarkably well. Plus, their finger techniques and needle-throwing concealed weapon arts are quite practical.”
Lee Jun’s assessment aligned perfectly with the Emperor’s notes, prompting Seonwu to nod in agreement.
To sum it up, they were the dominant force in Fujian.
Yet, as their name implied, they were composed of physicians, making their identity as a pure Wulin sect somewhat ambiguous.
Combat wasn’t their specialty, but they weren’t entirely defenseless either.
“Still, no matter how the other physicians feel, the surrounding mainstream Wulin sects shouldn’t have any reason to dislike the Medical Pavilion, right?”
Who would despise a brilliant physician who charged low fees, especially when no one knew when they might need to beg for their medical help?
“True, their relations with the other martial sects are perfectly fine. However, as the disciples trained by the current Yaxian multiplied, the independent physicians across Fujian Province packed their bags and migrated to other provinces.”
“Ah, and those displaced physicians went to those other provinces to compete there?”
“Yeah. So the physicians in the neighboring provinces suffered losses too. Right now, those disciples have only seized control within Fujian, but what happens if their numbers keep growing?”
Eventually, the entire Great Long Empire might be swallowed up by physicians originating from the Medical Pavilion.
Physicians in the provinces bordering Fujian kept a particularly watchful eye on the organization.
To them, Yaxian was an object of greater terror and hatred than the Eight Hidden Demons.
“Hmm, I see… He really is a benefactor to the common people.”
Seonwu contemplated whether he should use the power of the Imperial Court to secretly protect and support the Medical Pavilion.
‘Let’s keep that option on the table.’
At any rate, while there wasn’t much to see in terms of pure combat martial arts, figures like miraculous physicians or Yaxian were the true spice of a wuxia world.
He wanted to drop by to pay his respects and offer imperial backing if they were facing any difficulties.
“They’ll grant us an audience if we visit, right? They won’t turn us away just because we aren’t patients?”
“Haha, the old man isn’t that stubborn. He probably won’t be able to spare us a lot of time, though.”
“Great. Let’s go see him then.”
The decision was made.
* * *
[This is your final warning.]
Staring at the letter delivering the grim ultimatum, Yaxian Gal U-ryang sank deep into thought.
‘Hah, another one.’
This wasn’t the first threatening letter he had received, but this one felt inexplicably more chilling.
[If you wish to avoid the tragedy of family extermination, abandon your greed immediately and halt your malicious expansion.]
“Mmm.”
The handwriting gave no clues whatsoever regarding the author’s identity.
There was no way to trace how it had even been delivered.
Yet, the sheer malice behind it was palpable.
‘What pathetic souls.’
Who exactly was being greedy here?
Gal U-ryang knew exactly what the other physicians muttered about him and the Medical Pavilion.
Some had even cursed him to his face whenever their paths crossed.
But did he truly charge too little?
‘It’s not as if we dispense medicine at a loss.’
They retained enough profit margins to maintain their stature as a Wulin sect in a treacherous Jianghu.
Where else would the funds to employ martial guards come from, and how else could they afford the spiritual medicines required to practice the Vitality Restoring Poison Medical Art?
He had never offered his services entirely for free like the legendary Saints of Medicine.
He accepted fair compensation, maintaining a balance between his duty as a physician and his necessities as a martial artist.
The problem was simply that the other physicians charged far too much.
‘This all stems from the Great Era of Chaos at the end of the previous dynasty, when so many doctors perished.’
When the Great Long Empire was first established, the overall number of physicians was severely lacking.
Consequently, the fees demanded by the surviving doctors skyrocketed exponentially.
Countless people suffered or perished simply because they lacked the coin for a proper diagnosis.
It broke his heart to see people die from ailments that could have been easily cured if caught early, all because they couldn’t afford the exorbitant fees or lived too far from a physician.
‘My own mother passed away in that very manner…’
If he had known even a tenth of the medical expertise he possessed now, he could have saved her back then.
‘It’s not as though I’ve set some grand, saintly goal to provide free charity work for the utterly destitute.’
He merely charged a rate that allowed his practitioners to live comfortably and ensured his sect could endure within the Wulin.
He could state with absolute confidence that his prices were fair, and it was the others who were driven by avarice.
That was precisely why he trained so many disciples.
Since they refused to lower their fees on their own accord, he had no choice but to spread his disciples across the land.
‘Right now, we have only restored normalcy to Fujian Province, but once the disciples of my disciples, and eventually the fourth and fifth generations, spread throughout the empire…’
When that day came, the medical system of the entire empire would finally be corrected.
He wasn’t deliberately trying to bankrupt other physicians.
Their grievances ultimately arose from their inability to rake in the exorbitant profits they had enjoyed for years; if they simply charged prices similar to his disciples in the future, they would remain fully competitive.
There was no need to worry that an overabundance of physicians would ruin the profession.
Compared to the intellect required and the hardships of learning the craft, if the financial rewards dropped too low, the number of applicants would naturally dwindle.
If his rules forbade them from charging as much as the other doctors, why did aspiring students continue to flock to him?
It was proof that one could still lead a perfectly fine life while adhering to the regulations of the Medical Pavilion.
Yet, everyone continued to view him with such disdain.
They could easily resolve their frustrations by purging their own greed.
Furthermore, the shortage of medical professionals persisted, meaning residents of small villages still aggravated their illnesses because they couldn’t see a doctor in time.
Fujian Province had been spared from such tragedies thanks to his tireless efforts over the years, but what about neighboring Jiangxi Province or Guangdong Province?
‘As I train more disciples, I must dispatch them to those regions as well, ensuring no one dies a vain death for lack of a physician.’
He chose to ignore the letter.
He had a vow to keep, made before his mother’s grave.
‘Tsk, this letter is undoubtedly just the work of another petty coward.’
For some reason, a peculiar shiver had run down his spine the moment he opened this specific letter, but he dismissed it as mere paranoia.
He threw the warning into the flames, watching it burn away to ash.
* * *
Deep within the shadows.
The gathered individuals waited for the command, trembling under an immense, suffocating pressure.
“Have you reached your decision?”
The voice felt as though it were constricting their very souls, leaving them gasping for air.
Were they truly doing the right thing?
There was a heavy, ominous weight to the atmosphere that made their instincts scream at them to flee.
And yet…
They had arrived with full knowledge of what this entailed.
This wasn’t their first time standing in this place.
“Yes.”
“What is your desire?”
“Since that man refuses to halt his greed despite repeated warnings, he must be punished.”
“Then will you swear the oath?”
“We will.”
Despite their trembling voices, they resolved to bind themselves to the vow.
The absolute entity before them could not be swayed by mere gold.
All he demanded was an oath.
Though the conditions felt somewhat unsettling, obtaining the hit entirely in exchange for a verbal vow seemed like an incredible bargain.
“We reverently submit to the Master of Ten Thousand Poisons, the ruler of the Trigram of Selection who governs the Demon Realm, the Sovereign Mandok Jewang…”
Mandok Mazon.
One of the seats of the Eight Hidden Demons.
A peerless master of poison whose Heaven-Opposing Ten Thousand Poison Demonic Art had attained the Realm of Creation, a figure who viewed even the Sichuan Tang Clan with absolute contempt.
Since the price he exacted was merely a vow of devotion to a legendary demon king, it felt entirely worth it.
‘It’s not as though we are leaving a blood signature as evidence, nor are we swallowing some parasitic poison. It’s just words, so there won’t be any backlash later.’
If things took an ugly turn, they could simply deny everything.
‘How foolishly they trifle with an oath dedicated to Mandok Jewang.’
Mandok Mazon naturally read their innermost thoughts with ease.
However, it mattered little to him.
An oath sworn within the Abyssal Demonic Soul Formation would genuinely reach the King residing in the Demon Realm.
Their failure to realize that their vow bound their very souls was merely a consequence of their own profound ignorance.
Once the foolish mortals departed, Mandok Mazon stood up from his seat.
‘Now that the vow is struck, it must be fulfilled.’
The Yaxian of the Medical Pavilion had been a nuisance for far too long anyway.
“With this, the tedious restrictive seal of Tianlong Dadi is temporarily unraveled.”
Under the banner of the demonic path, the world would once again tremble in absolute terror.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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