Return of the Mount Hua Sect [EN]: Chapter 449

Cheong-myeong leaned forward, his eyes wide with excitement. “The Honwon Pill?” he asked, making sure he had heard correctly.

Im So-byeong nodded slowly, his usual calm face now a little more serious. “Yes,” he replied.

Baek Cheon stepped forward, his voice filled with awe. “…Are you talking about *the* Honwon Pill? The one from the Medicine Saint? The greatest healer who ever lived?”

“That’s right,” Im So-byeong confirmed, his eyes now sharp and focused. “Are you saying…” He paused, something rare for him. Im So-byeong, who usually spoke so smoothly, now hesitated, searching for the right words. “Um… so, Mount Hua actually *has* it? The Medicine Saint’s Honwon Pill? The one everyone says is impossible to find?”

After a moment of silence, Cheong-myeong abruptly turned to Baek Cheon. “Huh? Was I not supposed to talk about this?”

Baek Cheon could only stare, speechless. Cheong-myeong looked back at Im So-byeong and gave a nervous smile. “Ah. Please keep this a secret. It’s not something we want everyone to know yet.”

Im So-byeong looked back and forth between the Mount Hua disciples, utterly dumbfounded.

‘Is it actually true? Is it not a lie?’ He gripped the armrests of his chair tightly.

‘Then, back at the Sword Tomb…’ He remembered how astonished he had been to hear about the discovery of the Medicine Saint’s tomb.

He would have rushed there himself if he could. But he had been in a mountain fortress far away, and by the time he heard the news, the Sword Tomb matter was over.

He had barely managed to accept his disappointment after hearing that everyone who went there found nothing.

“You have deceived the world.”

“Hehe. Well, not saying anything isn’t the same as deceiving, is it?”

Im So-byeong tilted his head slightly and leaned back in his chair. “So, what do you want to say?”

“Well, it’s simple. We would like to settle the debt with the Honwon Pill.”

Im So-byeong chuckled. “Do you even know what my illness is?”

“Yes, I know.”

“…You know?”

“Yes.”

Im So-byeong stared intently at Cheong-myeong, puzzled. Cheong-myeong hadn’t even touched him! How could he know his illness just by looking?

Lost in thought, his eyes suddenly widened. “D-Did you perhaps take my pulse when I shook your hand…!”

“No. I just took a rough look and figured it out?”

Im So-byeong sank back into his chair, looking annoyed. “How can you say such things?”

“I’m not making things up, I really know! That pale complexion, the Yin energy on your forehead, the coughing like a weak person, plus a brilliant mind and shining martial talent!” Cheong-myeong declared.

“There’s only one illness with these symptoms! The Nine Yin Severed Meridians!”

Im So-byeong’s eyes widened again in surprise. Cheong-myeong smiled triumphantly. “Am I right?”

“…No?”

“Huh?”

“I said no.”

The two men stared at each other.

“No?”

“Yes.”

“…That can’t be.”

Cheong-myeong frowned and tilted his head. ‘That’s strange. The symptoms are too accurate to be wrong.’

“Cough! Cough!” Im So-byeong coughed violently, his body shaking. He lowered the handkerchief from his mouth and smiled bitterly. “If it were the Nine Yin Severed Meridians, would I even be alive right now?”

“Ah, that’s true.” Cheong-myeong nodded. The Nine Yin Severed Meridians is a very rare and serious illness. It means nine important energy paths in your body are blocked from birth. People with this are very smart and talented fighters, but they die young.

“So it’s really not that?”

“No.”

“Ah, I thought I had it right.”

Cheong-myeong clicked his tongue and turned back to Baek Cheon. “Martial Uncle.”

“Huh?”

“…Things have gotten tangled up. What should we do?”

Baek Cheon’s eyes and mouth twitched. ‘I really wish he would die. Really.’ Oh, Primordial Celestial Lord. Why did you send such a wretch to Mount Hua to torment me! Why!

When Baek Cheon didn’t respond, Cheong-myeong scratched the back of his head with a nervous smile. Im So-byeong sighed and began to speak. “Well…”

“Ah! Wait, wait! Don’t say anything! I’ll guess it!” Cheong-myeong’s eyes gleamed with competitive spirit. “The symptoms are similar to the Nine Yin Severed Meridians, but you’re still alive! Then… maybe around Seven Yin Severed Meridians?”

Or maybe Three Yin Severed Meridians?

Baek Cheon’s face began to turn bright red.

“If not that, then Two Yin!”

Unable to listen any longer, Baek Cheon roared. “You little rascal! Is this something you can guess! Why are you starting things without any certainty…”

But Im So-byeong jumped up from his seat, looking surprised. “Oh? You guessed it!”

Baek Cheon stared at Im So-byeong.

“…You guessed it?”

“Yes.”

He guessed it? All motivation vanished from Baek Cheon’s eyes.

Regardless, Im So-byeong nodded, impressed. “As expected of the Divine Dragon of Mount Hua.”

“Hehe, it’s nothing. Just average.” Cheong-myeong said.

Baek Cheon’s shoulders slumped, and Yoon Jong patted him consolingly, shaking his head silently. “Calm yourself, Martial Uncle. Isn’t this something we experience more than once or twice?”

“It’s because it’s not just once or twice that I’m like this.”

“That is also true.”

While Baek Cheon was seriously contemplating life, Im So-byeong scratched his head with his fan and spoke. “To be precise, it’s about Two and a Half Yin Severed Meridians.”

“Is that something you can just measure with a scale from the market? Can you even *have* half a meridian blocked? This sounds like you’re making it up!”

Im So-byeong kindly answered. “The name changes depending on how blocked the meridians are. If nine are blocked, it’s the Nine Yin Severed Meridians, if three are blocked, it’s the Three Yin Severed Meridians, and if two and a half are blocked…”

“That’s enough.” Listening any further would likely drive him mad.

Im So-byeong smiled bitterly at Baek Cheon’s reaction. “So, the most severe form of the Yin-Cold Severed Meridians is the Nine Yin Severed Meridians, and the weakest is the Three Yin Severed Meridians, but I’m a bit better off than the Three Yin Severed Meridians. Two major meridians are completely blocked, and one is about half-blocked.”

“That’s a very strange illness.”

“That’s what I’m saying.” Im So-byeong looked frustrated.

“If I ignore it, the side effects are too severe, but there’s no cure. It’s so frustrating!”

Cheong-myeong listened quietly and chimed in. “Either way, your lifespan is shortened again.”

“That’s also true.”

Im So-byeong nodded slowly. Cheong-myeong’s eyes lit up.

“Perfect! Even better than I thought. I’m not sure a Hongwon Pill could fix a Nine Yin Severed Meridian, but a Two Yin… or maybe a Two and a Half Yin Meridian…”

“Just say Two Yin Severed Meridian,” Im So-byeong said, a little impatiently.

“Right, Two Yin Severed Meridian. That, a Hongwon Pill should definitely cure.” Cheong-myeong nodded, looking pleased.

Im So-byeong leaned back in his chair, thinking hard. *A Hongwon Pill, huh?*

He knew normal medicines couldn’t heal broken meridians. Most medicines were for making fighters stronger, not for fixing serious injuries.

But the Hongwon Pill was different.

It wasn’t made by the No-Name Sect. It was made by the Medicine Immortal, who people said was Hua Tuo reborn. The name ‘Hongwon’ itself meant ‘returning to the origin,’ and the pill was famous for being the best medicine to heal a body that was completely broken.

*If it really is a Hongwon Pill…*

If Cheong-myeong was telling the truth, this was something very important.

However.

“Well… it’s not like I desperately need a Hongwon Pill right now. It’s a bit inconvenient, but still…”

Im So-byeong narrowed his eyes and pretended not to care. Cheong-myeong, in turn, looked at him with a strange look.

“Let’s stop playing games, shall we?”

“…”

“It’s a bit odd, isn’t it? You tell me that the Green Forest will surely follow if I show them my skills, yet you hide your identity and put Beon Chung forward… I wouldn’t bother with such troublesome things if I were you.”

“Guess I just like things complicated.”

“You don’t seem like the type to willingly embrace trouble just because you like it, do you?”

Im So-byeong quietly stared at Cheong-myeong.

But Cheong-myeong, even under that intense look, grinned.

“The reason is simple if you think about it. It’s not that you’re not revealing yourself, but that you can’t. Those bandits wouldn’t accept a Green Forest King who’s coughing up a lung, would they? Even if a rebellion doesn’t break out, their unity will certainly weaken, won’t it? Or am I wrong?”

“Hmm.”

Im So-byeong crossed his legs and began to fan himself slowly and lazily.

“An interesting idea. There’s some truth to it.”

Cheong-myeong shrugged and continued.

“Right now, they’re busy fighting the Myriad Man Clan, so they wouldn’t turn their discontent towards the Green Forest King, but things will change once the situation calms down, won’t they? Hmm… Wait a minute, did the Green Forest start the war with the Myriad Man Clan? To pull attention away from something else?”

Whack.

Im So-byeong closed his fan and tapped his head with its end.

“I thought we were just going to chat and leave, but you’re trying to figure me out completely.”

“Well, it’s all too obvious.”

“Others didn’t see the obvious.”

Im So-byeong sighed deeply.

“So, what do you want? Now that you’ve come this far, if you try to back out, we’ll be too uneasy to simply let you go.”

A chill flickered in his eyes for a moment.

But Cheong-myeong, faced with that slightly threatening feeling, merely laughed.

“You’re asking the wrong question. It’s not us who wants something, it’s you.”

“What?”

“Hey! Bring a chair!”

At Cheong-myeong’s words, Jo-geol flinched and was about to rush for a chair, but Beon Chung, several times faster, dashed out and presented a chair.

“…”

Im So-byeong stared at Beon Chung with a dumbfounded expression.

“What’s wrong with him now?”

“…It’s a long story.”

Baek Cheon replied weakly.

Cheong-myeong sat on the chair Beon Chung brought and crossed his legs in the same manner.

“I don’t think you understand what’s happening here.”

“…”

“I’m being nice, but you’re slow to understand. Don’t you get it? I have the Hongwon Pill! The Hongwon Pill!”

“…”

“That, uh? The one the Medicine Immortal, uh? Ground his soul to make! The Hongwon Pill that’s barely left in this world! I have it! The one that can solve all your troublesome problems at once!”

“…”

Im So-byeong’s face began to twist.

“And, what? What do you want, what? Aigoo, I can’t do business with this man. Do you think I have nowhere else to sell this? There’s a line of people waiting to buy it right now! A line!”

Cheong-myeong waved his arms wildly and rubbed his forehead with exaggerated gestures.

“Ah, talking about lines makes me want a drink. Is there any alcohol here…?”

Clink.

As if he had been prepared in advance, Beon Chung quickly approached and offered a bottle of alcohol. This time, even Cheong-myeong was slightly taken aback.

“…Thanks.”

“You’re welcome, Brother!”

*This kid… he’s much nicer than I thought?*

Cheong-myeong uncorked the bottle and gulped down the alcohol as if he were pouring it in. Then, he slammed the bottle down violently.

“Kaaah!”

He wiped his mouth with his sleeve, and a smile spread across his face.

“Now, listen carefully.”

Im So-byeong stared at Cheong-myeong with a half-dazed expression.

“You need to cure your illness as soon as possible and properly take control of the Green Forest, right? There’s a limit to pretending to be the Green Forest King while not really being the Green Forest King. Why? Because the Myriad Man Clan will desperately try to eliminate the Green Forest first.”

“…”

“You can’t help but step forward when the war gets worse. But… when the war gets worse and you have no choice but to step forward, huh? The Green Forest King turns out to be that sickly person with a lung disease?”

Im So-byeong sighed deeply.

“And if rumors spread that you’re still sick, the Green Forest will collapse in an instant. You can’t possibly be unaware of that, can you? Yet you’re maintaining this situation because you have no choice?”

Im So-byeong scratched his head roughly, his long hair swaying haphazardly.

“Ugh. I can’t possibly win against the Taoist.”

“But!”

Cheong-myeong waved his hands around as if he were having the time of his life.

“All these problems will be solved with just one Hongwon Pill! Just one! Everything will be smooth sailing! Huh? Just one pill!”

Baek Cheon, watching this, smiled contentedly.

*He’s really selling it.*

*He’s clearly tricking him, isn’t he?*

As if possessed by a professional peddler, Cheong-myeong played with Im So-byeong.

“So!”

Bang!

Cheong-myeong slammed his hand on the chair. The impact broke the chair’s armrest, and it fell to the floor with a thud.

Having instantly captured everyone’s attention, he grinned and said,

“You shouldn’t be asking what I want.”

“…”

As if he hadn’t been passionately ranting just moments ago, Cheong-myeong leaned back in his chair very slowly and crossed his legs.

“How much are you willing to pay?”

“…”

“Alright, let’s start the bidding. What’s your first offer?”

Im So-byeong’s pale lips trembled. Then, they slowly opened.

“O-One million…”

“Huh? I can’t hear you?”

“One million nyang, plus all my conditions!”

“Aigoo. I could get more than five million if I sold it elsewhere.”

“T-Then two million!”

“Sirs, let’s pack our bags!”

“Th-Three million! Three million is my limit! Three million! Taoist! Please consider my situation!”

“Bandits must not be earning much these days. Three million, you say. I’d rather eat it and die.”

“F-Four million is impossible…”

The happily arguing about the price continued fiercely. Baek Cheon and his companions couldn’t help but fall into a fundamental question.

‘S-Senior Uncle.’

‘Hm?’

‘But does Mount Hua even have any Hongwon Pills left?’

‘…Didn’t we use them all up during the last battle with the Myriad Man Clan?’

‘Then what is he selling right now?’

‘Can’t you tell?’

‘Huh?’

‘He’s tricking him.’

‘…’

Jo-geol, watching Cheong-myeong joyfully bargaining with Im So-byeong, who was desperately trying to persuade him, was newly impressed.

And he cast his gaze out the window.

‘A Taoist is tricking a bandit.’

‘I wonder if lightning will strike him?’

‘Sigh.’