The Battle for the Heavenly Sword - Chapter 77

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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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77
Woogeom Jaengpa
Except for martial arts, what Woo Geom-san had put his utmost effort into studying was none other than the Nine Heavens Soul Returning Acupuncture.
This study, which adapted the Nine Heavens Soul Returning Method into acupuncture, possessed the power to achieve Kisahwisaeng, bringing back even those on the very brink of death.
In fact, Woo Geom-san had also been able to save his own life thanks to the Nine Heavens Soul Returning Method deployed for him by Baek Ho-yang.
Woo Geom-san had felt a deep fascination toward the fact that one could grab a dying person by the collar and drag them back to the living world. Therefore, except for the time spent training in martial arts, he had invested the most time into the Nine Heavens Soul Returning Acupuncture.
Thanks to that, his Nine Heavens Soul Returning Acupuncture was in a state of being completed to a certain extent.
Of course, deploying the Nine Heavens Soul Returning Acupuncture did not mean he could save every single person. In cases of disease, old age, or when vital organs were damaged beyond recovery, even the Nine Heavens Soul Returning Acupuncture could not save them.
Fortunately, the woman did not fall into any of these three situations.
Although one side of her lungs was severely injured, thanks to the Nine Heavens Soul Returning Acupuncture, she rapidly regained stability.
“Whew!”
Woo Geom-san, having inserted all the needles, let out a sigh.
Niu Jinshu, who had been watching the scene of Woo Geom-san performing acupuncture from the very beginning, asked cautiously.
“Did that woman survive?”
“For now, it seems I’ve saved her. However, the acupuncture I deployed is nothing more than emergency first aid, so she must be shown to a proper doctor for treatment.”
“Could you not continue treating her, Master Woo?”
Niu Jinshu’s attitude in addressing Woo Geom-san was exceedingly polite.
It was because he thought the youth might be a doctor belonging to Saengsagok.
The status that Saengsagok held in the current Jianghu was just that formidable.
A long time ago, there was a sect in the Jianghu called the Yixian Sect.
It was their belief to practice chivalry through medicine.
However, the Yixian Sect, which was highly renowned for its chivalrous deeds, suffered Mielmunzihua and was utterly destroyed.
In Sichuan, there was a family with a history even longer than the Yixian Sect.
It was none other than the Sichuan Tang Clan.
A family that ruled as the hegemon of Sichuan with poison and hidden weapons.
Everyone feared the Sichuan Tang Clan, and they flourished to the point where even the Nine Great Sects were reluctant to oppose them.
However, no flower blooms forever.
The Tang Clan collapsed due to Zazhongzhilan.
Saengsagok was a sect created exactly by the survivors of the Yixian Sect and the Tang Clan coming together in solidarity.
Saengsagok, created by the combined efforts of the descendants of the two sects, possessed an extremely reclusive and closed disposition.
No matter how critically ill a patient arrived, they would not help if they did not feel like it, and those who inflicted even the slightest harm upon them were pursued to the ends of Hell and surely killed.
Furthermore, they acted boundlessly harsh even toward those who offered help to anyone they had designated as an enemy.
Therefore, many people feared crossing paths with Saengsagok.
That was also the reason why Niu Jinshu had changed to a polite tone of speech.
Because if Woo Geom-san really was a doctor from Saengsagok, he must not get on his bad side.
Woo Geom-san shook his head and said.
“I am not a proper doctor.”
“Possessing such miraculous acupuncture, yet you say you are not a doctor?”
“I merely learned the secret heritage of my sect by luck; I do not know any other medicine besides that.”
“Then, you are not from Saengsagok?”
“I have absolutely no relation to it.”
“Ah!”
At Woo Geom-san’s explanation, Niu Jinshu let out a sigh of relief.
Without realizing it, his tension had loosened.
He changed his tone of speech back and asked.
“Then, is it alright to move her like this?”
“It should be fine if she’s loaded onto a carriage or a cart so that she won’t be shaken.”
“How about the boy?”
“He merely fainted from the shock. He’ll open his eyes on his own once time passes.”
“Understood! Then I must tell them to prepare a spot on the cart.”
“Are you planning to take them with you?”
“I don’t know what circumstances they are in, but since we’ve already saved their lives, we can’t just leave them behind and wash our hands of it, can we?”
Woo Geom-san thought that Niu Jinshu was a person who knew benevolence and righteousness.
Although there existed martial artists as numerous as grains of sand in the Jianghu, those who truly knew benevolence and righteousness and practiced chivalry were not so many.
While many martial artists shouted about chivalry with their mouths, the reality was that they moved for their own benefit.
In that regard, Niu Jinshu was clearly distinguished from the others.
‘This person is a true chivalrous hero.’
Woo Geom-san thought that Niu Jinshu was magnificent.
A person who did not just shout about chivalry with words, but practiced chivalry with his body.
Such a person could truly be called a genuine xiake.
Niu Jinshu immediately commanded the martial artists to clear a space on a cart that was fully loaded with cargo.
They laid the beautiful lady and the boy down in the space secured by moving the luggage little by little to other carts.
Niu Jinshu said to Woo Geom-san.
“You should get on the cart as well, Great Hero Woo.”
“I am fine.”
“They haven’t fully recovered yet, so I would like you to stay by their side and continue to look after them, Great Hero Woo.”
“Hmm!”
“Though it may be troublesome and bothersome, I request this of you.”
“Understood.”
Woo Geom-san could not refuse Niu Jinshu’s heartfelt request.
Ultimately, as Woo Geom-san climbed into the small space next to the woman, the Feiyun Merchant Group set off once again.
‘I didn’t expect to travel riding a cart like this…’
The cart pulled by two horses was more comfortable than he had thought.
Thanks to that, Woo Geom-san could travel sitting at ease.
While watching the woman and the boy, Woo Geom-san suddenly recalled the books contained inside his bundle.
‘Was it called Bojebang?’
Originally, it was a medical manual he had obtained at the market in Guangu County to give to Baek Ho-yang. However, before he could even hand it over, Baek Ho-yang had passed away, and it ended up shoved inside the bundle.
Inside the medical manual, it was clearly written, ‘By the command of the Emperor, Bojebang is authored to widely rescue the people.’
The medical manual was divided into upper and lower volumes; the upper volume was tightly packed with medicine passed down from ancient times, and the lower volume dealt with herbs and poisons.
Since he had nothing else to do while riding the cart anyway, Woo Geom-san decided to read Bojebang.
What he opened first was the upper volume where medicine was written.
On the first page, the method to find out a patient’s condition through their pulse was written. And from the next page onward, the patient’s ailments, symptoms, and treatment methods were drawn in illustrations.
“To read and memorize all of this, I’ll need to concentrate as well.”
It wasn’t anything else, but a medical book that saved people.
Even if one misunderstood a single phrase, a person could go wrong.
Because of that, he had to read and understand it much more cautiously than reading any other books.
Fortunately, Woo Geom-san was on the side of having extremely excellent concentration.
Even on top of the swaying cart, he never lost his focus.
While focusing on Bojebang, he did not neglect to check the condition of the beautiful lady and the boy.
Fortunately, the conditions of the beautiful lady and the boy improved little by little, and thanks to that, Woo Geom-san could focus on Bojebang even further.
Watching him read the book on top of the cart, Niu Jinhong admired him without realizing it.
‘His concentration is amazing.’
Niu Jinhong knew very well how difficult it was to read a book like that on top of a swaying cart.
It was something impossible with ordinary willpower and concentration.
‘If he’s not from Saengsagok either, which sect does he belong to? There is no place other than Saengsagok where one can learn both martial arts and medicine…’
The more he looked, the more the thought arose that he was not an ordinary person.
Though he thought about it for a long while, he could not find out which sect’s disciple Woo Geom-san was.
***
“Ugh!”
The boy, who had been lying on the cart without a single movement, let out a groan.
Noticing that the boy was about to wake up, Woo Geom-san put Bojebang into his bundle and said.
“Are you regaining consciousness?”
“Gasp!”
Startled by the voice that suddenly drifted in, the boy snapped his eyes open.
The boy, who turned deathly pale, looked around before discovering the beautiful lady lying next to him and hugging her tightly.
“Mother!”
“As expected, you were mother and son.”
Woo Geom-san nodded his head as if he had known it would be so.
In a critical situation where the carriage was rolling down, the only one who would throw their own body to protect him was a biological blood relative.
If not for the mother’s great maternal love, the fragile-looking boy would not have been able to wake up safely like this.
The boy examined his mother’s condition with an urgent expression.
“Is my mother okay?”
“She has passed the crisis for now, but she must be treated properly by a doctor.”
“Then, can she live?”
“Yes!”
“Whew!”
Only after hearing Woo Geom-san’s answer did the boy let out a sigh of relief. However, he soon looked at Woo Geom-san with a wary gaze.
“Did you save us?”
“It is true that I helped, but the ones who rescued you and your mother when you were collapsed unconscious are the people of the Feiyun Merchant Group. So if you want to offer your thanks, do it to them.”
“The Feiyun… Merchant Group?”
“Yes! They discovered you and your mother and rescued you.”
“Ah! Thank you for the grace of saving our lives.”
Only then did the boy first offer his thanks to Woo Geom-san.
An air of elegance was contained in the boy’s way of speaking, revealing implicitly that he had received a proper education.
Woo Geom-san asked the boy.
“How did the carriage end up rolling down the mountainside?”
“The horses suddenly went wild and it overturned. By any chance, did you not see the driver?”
“I’m sorry. No driver was seen nearby.”
“Ah!”
The boy closed his eyes along with a lamentation.
Woo Geom-san looked at such a boy without a word.
After a moment, the brothers Niu Jinshu and Niu Jinhong, who heard the news that the boy had woken up, came running over.
“Oh! You’ve regained consciousness.”
“I offer my words of gratitude for the grace of saving our lives.”
“Saving someone in danger is the duty of a Jianghu person, so there is no need to be so thankful.”
“By any chance, could you take me and my mother to a nearby village?”
“Even if you hadn’t asked, we were planning to do so. If we travel for just one more day, a reasonably large village will appear, so we will take you there.”
“Thank you, Master!”
The boy made a cupped hand salute toward Niu Jinshu and lowered his head.
Niu Jinhong, who was beside Niu Jinshu, asked the boy.
“By the way, what is your name?”
“My name is Ning Yunxiao.”
“Ning Yunxiao? The surname Ning is not a common one. What is your mother’s name?”
“My mother uses the name Jiayan with the surname Liu.”
“I see! You met with disaster while traveling with your mother.”
“Yes! When the carriage overturned, my mother hugged me to protect me.”
Biting his lip, teardrops were welling up thickly in Ning Yunxiao’s eyes.
Because he had received a great shock at the sight of his mother, who was injured while protecting him.
‘The child’s filial piety is deep, and the mother’s maternal love is strong.’
The thought arose that it was a relief to have saved such people.
“We will look after your mother until we arrive at the village, so rest assured.”
“Thank you. I will surely repay this kindness.”
“It’s nothing much to call a kindness, so don’t mind it too much.”
“I learned from my mother that kindness must surely be repaid. I will definitely repay it someday.”
“You are stubborn. I understand, so rest now.”
“Yes! Thank you.”
Ning Yunxiao lowered his head once again to express his gratitude.
Niu Jinshu said to Woo Geom-san.
“Please look after this mother and son just until we arrive at the village tomorrow, Great Hero Woo.”
“I will do so.”
“Thank you!”
The Niu brothers left the mother and son to Woo Geom-san and quietly withdrew.
As the two individuals disappeared, Woo Geom-san said to Ning Yunxiao.
“Let’s check your pulse for a moment.”
“As you can see, I am fine.”
“Still, wouldn’t it be better to make sure and move on?”
“Understood.”
In the end, unable to continue refusing, the boy extended his hand.
Woo Geom-san gently took the boy’s pulse.
“Hmm!”
Closing his eyes and checking the boy’s pulse, Woo Geom-san’s expression changed strangely.
‘What is this? This child…’
As if harboring an active volcano inside his body, a massive amount of Qi was running wild inside the boy’s system.

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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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