The World’s Greatest Martial Arts Instructor - Chapter 99

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 99. Is There a Way?

 

 

“Father-in-law. Is there truly a way for me to survive in this place?”

Gung Mu-hyeok looked at Muchang with a serious expression as he asked.

Gongsun Mu-oe nodded his head.

“If the results of my pulse reading are correct, going to that place is the only way for you to survive.”

Gung Mu-hyeok frowned.

He had simply thought that his recently weak constitution had become even more frail.

But to have only one year left to live.

It was a shocking diagnosis.

No physician had ever said such a thing. Even his own wife had only said she couldn’t determine the cause at all.

But suddenly his father-in-law had appeared, taken his pulse, and pronounced that he had only one year left to live.

How must Gung Mu-hyeok have felt?

At first, he didn’t believe it.

However, who was his father-in-law?

He was none other than the valley lord of Seonyu Valley.

Wasn’t he praised as the greatest divine physician in the Central Plains?

These were the words of such a father-in-law. They couldn’t be lies.

The emotion that came after accepting reality was despair.

He had thought he simply had a weaker constitution than others, but that wasn’t the case.

That’s when Gongsun Mu-oe had spoken with a serious expression. There was a way to live, so wouldn’t he come along?

He had asked for a detailed explanation, but that was all.

Since those were the only words, after much deliberation, Gung Mu-hyeok had no choice but to depart for Muchang together.

“Can’t you tell me the reason now?”

Gung Mu-hyeok asked with a serious expression.

“Let’s talk after we meet Hwa-gyeong and So-yu first.”

It was frustrating, but there was no other way.

“…I understand.”

Gung Mu-hyeok had no choice but to answer thus.

Even while the two were conversing, the carriage slowly moved and passed through Muchang’s city gate.

Around them, guard warriors from Manmulryeon were moving together.

It was natural since it was the Lord’s journey.

However, Gongsun Mu-oe was looking at them with cold eyes.

He kept his mouth tightly shut.

Since he had given directions beforehand, the coachman easily found the way and stopped the carriage in front of the inn.

Gongsun Mu-oe entered the separate building with Gung Mu-hyeok, and over ten guard warriors surrounded the area.

People’s gazes turned toward them, but Gongsun Mu-oe didn’t pay much attention.

At the entrance of the separate building.

Gongsun Mu-oe stopped abruptly and looked back at the guard warriors as he spoke.

“Inside here are only our family members. You all wait outside the separate building.”

“That cannot be…”

The guard captain immediately objected, but Gung Mu-hyeok raised his hand to stop him.

“Inside the separate building are only my wife, daughter, and niece. I also want to be quiet.”

At Gung Mu-hyeok’s words, the guard warriors had no choice but to surround the separate building.

Due to the commotion outside, Gongsun Hwa-gyeong and Gongsun Bi-yeon came out of the separate building.

“Father…”

At the sight of Gongsun Mu-oe appearing with her husband, Gongsun Hwa-gyeong wore an expression of confusion.

“Let’s go inside first.”

Gung So-yu was fast asleep.

At a glance, her complexion looked good. Gung Mu-hyeok immediately noticed the change.

“She’s become much healthier. Thank you, Father-in-law.”

Gung Mu-hyeok bowed deeply with his weakened body.

“It wasn’t something I did.”

“Pardon?”

“If I could have done it, I would have treated her in the valley. Why else would I have rushed this long distance? And with sick So-yu at that.”

“Then…”

Gung Mu-hyeok asked with eyes filled with questions.

“For today, rest well. You need to recover from the journey’s fatigue. This trip must have been quite a burden on that body of yours.”

“I understand.”

Gung Mu-hyeok obediently followed those words.

He was already feeling fatigue enveloping his entire body from the relief of having arrived.

Gongsun Hwa-gyeong took Gung Mu-hyeok to the room where she was staying.

“What’s going on, Grandfather?”

Gongsun Bi-yeon asked cautiously, but Gongsun Mu-oe only kept his mouth firmly shut.

 

***

 

Ha Mu-baek and Wi Ji-gun stood in front of the inn, gazing intently at the entrance.

“Quite impressive.”

Wi Ji-gun said.

“They’ve been moving quite well since they arrived yesterday.”

Ha Mu-baek replied to his master’s words.

The two had already sensed the ki when Gongsun Mu-oe entered Muchang the day before.

“Where did these people come from?”

“Manmulryeon. It seems Valley Lord Gongsun went to Manmulryeon and came with people from there.”

Ha Mu-baek had encountered Manmulryeon’s warriors during the last war.

Because of that, he could easily tell from their ki sense that they came from Manmulryeon.

“There’s one person with particularly weak ki… it’s probably because of that.”

Wi Ji-gun accurately sensed Gung Mu-hyeok’s ki. He also knew that he wasn’t currently in a normal state.

“He seems to be the Manmulryeon Lord. That’s why Valley Lord Gongsun went to Manmulryeon… but it appears he couldn’t find a way to treat him.”

“What on earth could it be… Let’s go.”

Wi Ji-gun took the lead and began walking. There was no problem when they entered through the inn’s main gate and headed toward the passage leading to the back garden.

However.

When they tried to go down the path where the separate building housing the Seonyu Valley people was located.

“Stop. You cannot go this way.”

Manmulryeon’s guard unit blocked Ha Mu-baek and Wi Ji-gun’s path.

At their restraint, Ha Mu-baek and Wi Ji-gun stopped for the moment.

They didn’t want to cause unnecessary commotion.

“Stop that. Both of them are my guests.”

Just then, the door of the separate building opened and Gongsun Mu-oe appeared to stop them.

“However, the Lord is also staying there. As long as the Lord is present, we will simply fulfill our duty.”

The captain said with an expressionless face.

“Stop it. Didn’t he say they’re Father-in-law’s guests?”

Then even Gung Mu-hyeok came outside and tried to stop the guard captain.

However, he remained unmoved.

“Our duty is to protect Ryeon-ju’s safety. We know nothing about other matters.”

Ha Mu-baek smiled slightly at the Dan-ju’s answer.

It reminded him of his former self. Ha Mu-baek had been just like that when he was the Dan-ju of Hocheon Corps.

Gongsun Mu-oe frowned.

He had intended to ask Ha Mu-baek and Wi Ji-gun to treat Gung Mu-hyeok. And without the guard unit knowing.

Honestly, Gongsun Mu-oe currently felt he couldn’t trust anyone in Manmulryeon.

“Our Ryeon-ju has hardly learned any martial arts. That’s why we must be even more cautious.”

The Guard Captain spoke with his still expressionless face.

Gung Mu-hyeok, who had been looking back and forth between the Guard Captain and his father-in-law, let out a small sigh.

“I’ll give an order as Ryeon-ju. For this period (about 30 minutes), no one is to enter inside.”

“Th-that is…”

The Guard Captain tried to say something with an expression that showed he couldn’t accept this, but Gung Mu-hyeok shook his head with a resolute expression.

It was an expression of firm will that he would accept no further objections.

Thus Ha Mu-baek and Wi Ji-gun were able to enter the separate building.

The time given was only this period.

Of course, it held no meaning for Ha Mu-baek and Wi Ji-gun.

If they wanted to, they could subdue all those guards.

“I apologize for receiving you in this manner.”

Gongsun Mu-oe bowed his head.

“As you heard outside, this is the Manmulryeon Lord. He’s also my son-in-law.”

“I am called Gung Mu-hyeok.”

A man with a gaunt frame and sickly face performed a cupped fist salute and bowed at the waist.

Ha Mu-baek and Wi Ji-gun returned the cupped fist salute.

“So then…”

Gongsun Mu-oe, who was about to tell his story, hesitated while checking the situation outside.

“Don’t worry. The conversation here won’t be heard outside.”

Ha Mu-baek said this after blocking sound with his energy barrier.

Since his trust in Ha Mu-baek was absolute, Gongsun Mu-oe showed a relieved expression and began his story.

Gung Mu-hyeok did have a constitutionally weak body. However, he was also learning Manmulryeon’s exclusive martial arts and doing his own cultivation, so there were no problems with daily life.

That’s how he was able to improve Manmulryeon’s hidden weapons and create new hidden weapons.

But Gung Mu-hyeok’s current condition was different.

“It’s poison.”

“What?!?”

The most shocked person was Gung Mu-hyeok.

Poison.

He, the Ryeon-ju of Manmulryeon, had been poisoned within Manmulryeon.

His eyes showed he couldn’t believe it at all.

“My pulse reading result was poison. But I couldn’t figure out what kind of poison it was… And the symptoms…”

Gongsun Mu-oe paused for a moment.

“Were the same as Severed Meridian Syndrome.”

“?!?”

Gung Mu-hyeok looked at Gongsun Mu-oe with an expression as if he didn’t even have the energy to be more shocked.

“A poison that causes Severed Meridian Syndrome…”

Ha Mu-baek muttered with a serious expression.

“I’ve never seen or heard of such a thing either. But there are definitely traces of poisoning, and currently the symptoms are Severed Meridian Syndrome. Since these are traces of poisoning found using our valley’s Great Harmony Heart Medical Formula, there’s no doubt poison was used.”

Great Harmony Heart Medical Formula.

Seonyu Valley’s exclusive heart method, its effectiveness was thoroughly focused on medical arts, so it might be more accurate to call it medical arts rather than martial arts.

It was a heart method specialized in flowing internal energy into a patient’s body to find the cause of illness and treat it.

Though it had no effect on Severed Meridian Syndrome, it was a heart method that had saved countless patients.

Ha Mu-baek’s subordinates had also received its help during his Hocheon Corps days.

If the pulse reading result using Great Harmony Heart Medical Formula was poison, then it must be poison.

But the symptoms were peculiar.

Severed Meridian Syndrome.

“Recently there have been no signs of poison being used. Since Severed Meridian Syndrome has already been induced, perhaps there was no need to administer more poison. Anyway, in such a situation, I couldn’t trust anyone in Manmulryeon. The Ryeon-ju was poisoned right in the middle of Manmulryeon.”

“Such a thing…”

Gung Mu-hyeok still had an expression of disbelief. Yet at the same time, his father-in-law’s behavior up until now made sense.

In such a situation, that’s how he would have acted.

“So I brought him here hoping you two would take a look.”

With those words of request, Gongsun Mu-oe’s story came to an end.

Perhaps because his heart was urgent, he had spoken quickly, and only about one period had passed.

“Let me take a look.”

Wi Ji-gun stepped forward first and grasped Gung Mu-hyeok’s wrist. After a moment.

“It’s definitely symptoms similar to Severed Meridian Syndrome. But it’s not Severed Meridian Syndrome. What poison could create that cursed natural affliction… However, it’s certain that the current condition is extremely bad.”

Wi Ji-gun gestured for Ha Mu-baek to also check the pulse.

Ha Mu-baek grasped Gung Mu-hyeok’s wrist.

And carefully pushed his internal energy in.

It definitely looked like Severed Meridian Syndrome but was different.

The condition of the blood meridians was far more terrible. It must be because of the poison energy that had subtly permeated.

Ha Mu-baek felt poison energy, however slightly, in Gung Mu-hyeok’s blood meridians.

This is why Gongsun Mu-oe was certain it was poison.

Wi Ji-gun must have felt this poison energy too.

As turbid energy accumulated in the blood meridians weakened by poison energy, the blood meridians were gradually narrowing.

Looking at that form alone, it was undoubtedly Severed Meridian Syndrome.

However, Severed Meridian Syndrome is an illness where blood meridians weaken and become blocked due to excessive yin or yang energy.

Strictly speaking, the cause itself was different.

“Is there a method?”

Gongsun Mu-oe carefully asked the two men.

Gung Mu-hyeok also looked at the two with tense eyes.

“This… we’ll need to think about it.”

Wi Ji-gun spoke with a complicated expression.

“However, it seems the valley lord did well not to act rashly. Poison energy has permeated throughout the blood meridians, so it’s not in a state where we can carelessly intervene.”

Gongsun Mu-oe’s face brightened slightly at Wi Ji-gun’s answer.

“As expected. I thought if it were you Great Persons, you would sense the traces of poison.”

It was poison that could barely be detected using Seonyu Valley’s exclusive heart method.

These master and disciple had easily discovered it with just pulse reading. From that fact, Gongsun Mu-oe saw a small hope.

“The time is up.”

Just then, the Guard Captain’s voice was heard from outside.

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