The Divine And Demonic Doctor [EN]: Chapter 115

Gadu-dal flinched at Yi-ryip’s intense glare.

Fortunately, Dan-ak-seon came to his defense.

“Don’t be so harsh. He still teaches me a lot.”

“Like how to steal, I bet!”

Gadu-dal was taken aback, struck by the accuracy.

A moment later.

‘Wait a minute?’

Gadu-dal suddenly felt uneasy.

If Yi-ryip’s words came true and martial arts were banned, countless heretics would flock to the area. Among them would likely be masters more renowned and skilled than himself.

‘If this keeps up, won’t I lose my place?’

It was already happening.

The newly joined, foul-smelling beggars were masters he could hardly handle.

‘But I can’t give up!’

Gadu-dal glanced at Dan-ak-seon and licked his lips.

Just then.

“We should decide on our next destination soon,” Cho-ak-ryang said, considering their remaining destinations.

“Only four left, right?”

Dan-ak-seon nodded.

“Yes. Of the Nine Great Sects, only Emei, Kunlun, Diancang, and Kongtong remain.”

Beom Gye-wi tilted his head.

“So, should we head to Yunnan now? Or Sichuan, where the Emei Sect is located?”

“Hmm? Emei Sect…”

Cho-ak-ryang trailed off, a strange glint in his eyes as he seemed to recall something.

His gaze landed on Yi-ryip, who stood looking perplexed.

Dan-ak-seon was alarmed and rushed to Yi-ryip’s side.

The usually composed Yi-ryip had suddenly turned pale, breaking out in a cold sweat.

His eyes were also shaking with unease.

“Are you alright? Do you feel unwell anywhere…?”

Yi-ryip quickly waved his hand.

“No, it happens sometimes. Don’t worry. It’s just a chronic illness I’ve had for a long time.”

“Then you should find the cause and treat it quickly.”

Hong-jeok-mun sighed at the sight.

“Even the best medicine can’t cure the Chief’s illness.”

“What? Why not?”

“Because it’s an illness of the heart.”

“An illness of the heart?”

“It’s that… Keuk!”

Hong-jeok-mun, about to say something, clutched his side with a choking sound and collapsed.

“Haha, this friend is at it again,” Yi-ryip chuckled, patting Hong-jeok-mun’s shoulder as he writhed in pain.

“This friend also has a chronic illness.”

“This is because the Chief…”

“Has a chronic illness of a loose tongue.”

Hong-jeok-mun, about to retort, fell silent at those words. Beom Gye-wi watched with a dumbfounded expression.

“What’s wrong with them?”

Cho-ak-ryang asked back, seemingly puzzled.

“Haven’t you heard the rumors?”

“What rumors are you talking about?”

“The one that comes to mind when you think of the Beggars’ Sect and Emei.”

“…?”

Cho-ak-ryang glanced at Yi-ryip, seemingly troubled by Beom Gye-wi’s continued cluelessness.

He was reluctant to bring up the rumors directly in front of the person involved. However, he couldn’t keep the impatient Beom Gye-wi waiting forever.

It was then that a gleam appeared in Beom Gye-wi’s eyes.

Neither Cho-ak-ryang nor Beom Gye-wi said anything, but as time passed, Beom Gye-wi’s gaze towards Yi-ryip changed.

“So, you were a remarkable person?”

Cho-ak-ryang gestured with his eyes at Beom Gye-wi, who nodded in admiration.

Yi-ryip smiled wryly, realizing they were exchanging telepathic messages.

Amidst all this, Yi-ryip, meeting Dan-ak-seon’s still worried gaze, quickly changed the subject.

“If you haven’t decided on a future schedule yet, how about visiting the Hengshan Sect next?”

“Hengshan Sect?”

Dan-ak-seon asked back with a puzzled expression.

The Hengshan Sect was not originally on their list of visits.

As if anticipating this, Yi-ryip explained the reason.

“If the Qingcheng Sect is pushed out of the Nine Great Sects, the Hengshan Sect will likely fill their spot.”

“Pushed out of the Nine Great Sects?”

“It’s the fate of a sect that has weakened. It’s not like similar things haven’t happened in the past.”

Yi-ryip continued to explain to help them understand.

“The Hengshan Sect was also one of the Nine Sects once. They lost their position to the Diancang Sect when their strength weakened due to a certain incident.”

“Ah, I see.”

“Now that Qingcheng’s power has weakened, it’s a perfect opportunity for them to regain their place among the Nine Great Sects. So, now is a good time to get their approval. If they hear why we’re visiting, they’ll probably welcome us with open arms.”

The Hengshan Sect would have no reason to refuse, as having their name on the proclamation instead of the Qingcheng Sect’s would indirectly imply their recognition as one of the Nine Great Sects.

However, Dan-ak-seon’s expression was not bright.

“I don’t know if it will work.”

“They’ll probably accept it. I’ll help.”

“The truth is…”

Dan-ak-seon trailed off, then sighed.

“The Hengshan Sect is a place with some bad blood.”

“Bad blood?”

Yi-ryip found it hard to understand.

He already knew that Dan-ak-seon had spent his entire childhood in a place called the Divine Devil Valley.

He had only traveled far from home twice.

Once to treat the daughter of the Martial Alliance Leader, and this time to complete the proclamation.

When could he have possibly had bad blood with the Hengshan Sect?

Realizing this, Dan-ak-seon smiled bitterly.

“Not me, but my mother.”

“Ah!”

Yi-ryip exclaimed softly, remembering that Dan-ak-seon’s mother was Saengsa-ma’ui [Life-Death Witch].

Dan-ak-seon had already revealed this fact in Shaolin, and Yi-ryip, who was close to Shaolin, had already heard stories related to it.

“Hmm…”

Yi-ryip pondered, faced with an unexpected predicament.

In fact, Saengsa-ma’ui was practically a public enemy of not only the Nine Great Sects but the entire orthodox martial world. Just like Shin-ui [Divine Doctor] had done for the heretics, she had saved countless members of the unorthodox factions.

“How about hiding that story?”

“What? Are you telling me to lie?”

Yi-ryip shook his head, realizing that Dan-ak-seon was misunderstanding.

“No, I’m not telling you to lie.”

“Then?”

“I mean, if they don’t know, there’s no need to bring it up first.”

After a moment of thought, Dan-ak-seon shook his head.

“I don’t want to.”

“Why not? Why take the difficult path when there’s an easy one available?”

“Because I feel sorry for my mom.”

“…!”

“Both my dad and mom did their best to save patients. But it doesn’t feel right to proudly talk about one and hide the other.”

Yi-ryip sighed at Dan-ak-seon’s stubborn gaze.

It was a rigid answer, but it was also the right thing to say, so he couldn’t really argue.

“Umm. What to do…?”

The Hengshan Sect was perfect in terms of distance and difficulty.

Kunlun and Emei were too far, and going to Kongtong right away was also difficult.

It would take a considerable amount of time to go around the route.

As Yi-ryip’s 고민이 깊어지고 있을 때였다 [worries deepened], Gadu-dal, who had been silently watching the situation, suddenly spoke up.

“I have a good idea.”

Yi-ryip glared at Gadu-dal with suspicious eyes.

On the other hand, Dan-ak-seon showed curiosity.

“A good idea?”

Gadu-dal nodded and opened his mouth, looking around at everyone.

“What if we find something important that the Hengshan Sect lost?”

Everyone in the room wore puzzled expressions.

Gadu-dal grinned and shouted confidently.

“The Ape Lord’s Sword!”

“The Ape Lord’s Sword?”

Cho-ak-ryang tilted his head.

“Are you talking about the sword that was once the sacred artifact of the Hengshan Sect?”

Like the Shaolin’s Green Jade Buddha Staff, the Wudang’s Pine Pattern Ancient Sword, and the Beggars’ Sect’s Dog Beating Stick, the Hengshan Sect also had a sacred artifact that symbolized the authority of the sect leader.

It was a single sword.

The Hengshan Sect had a legend as old as its history, and it was about the Golden-Haired Sacred Ape.

It was literally a legend about a monkey with golden fur.

It was said to be taller than a person and so intelligent that no other animal could match it. It was also a longtime friend of Ha Won-il, the founder of the Hengshan Sect, who first established the sect in Hengshan.

It was said that Ha Won-il learned martial arts from the Golden-Haired Sacred Ape, which is why many of the Hengshan Sect’s martial arts, such as the Ape Lord Fist, contained the character for ape.

According to legend, one day, the Golden-Haired Sacred Ape came to see Ha Won-il in a dying state.

It had been seriously injured in a fight with a poisonous dragon that lived in a deep valley in Hengshan.

Ha Won-il went to the valley to avenge it, but he was no match for the poisonous dragon.

The dragon’s skin and scales were so hard that no sword could penetrate them.

Before dying, the Golden-Haired Sacred Ape took Ha Won-il to a cliff.

And there, Ha Won-il saw a metal that he had never seen before.

He later learned that it was meteorite iron that had fallen from the sky. Ha Won-il traveled the world in search of artisans to refine it.

Finally, in his later years, he met a craftsman with the surname Gu.

He was a descendant of Gu Yaja, who had created the legendary swords Ganjiang and Moye in the past.

Ha Won-il, knowing that he was the only one in the world who could melt meteorite iron, begged him for seven days and nights, and eventually, he made a meteorite iron sword.

Ha Won-il was able to kill the poisonous dragon with that sword and rise to fame as the greatest swordsman in the world.

It sounded absurd, but the Hengshan Sect disciples still believed the legend to this day.

“But wasn’t that lost?”

Jin Jo-un was a famous hero of the Hengshan Sect.

He was famous for single-handedly suppressing the Green Forest Bandits [mountain bandits] who had been committing evil deeds in the Hengshan area in the past.

He began to destroy the mountain fortresses one by one with his amazing martial arts, and the Green Forest Bandits, feeling threatened, mobilized a large number of masters, including the other two leaders.

However, they could not withstand Jin Jo-un’s overwhelming martial arts, and the Green Forest Bandits suffered heavy losses, so in the end, the chief leader, Ak Ho-gun, stepped forward.

As a result of fighting for a whole day and night.

An unexpected result occurred.

Jin Jo-un and Ak Ho-gun, who were exactly evenly matched, suffered mutual destruction.

The two men, who had inflicted severe internal injuries on each other, began to circulate their energy at the same time.

The two men’s martial arts were equal.

Both were unable to move due to severe internal injuries.

Strangely, the disciples and subordinates of the two groups arrived at the same time to save them, and they chose to retreat to save the two masters instead of fighting.

The fight ended like that, but Jin Jo-un went to the Green Forest Bandits again.

The sword he had was nowhere to be found.

He thought his disciples had recovered it, but no one had the sword.

This time, all the Hengshan Sect masters went to the Green Forest Bandits, ready to fight.

But they couldn’t find the sword.

The Green Forest Bandits allowed a search, fearing mutual destruction, and cleared themselves of suspicion.

In the end, the sword never appeared in the martial world again.

That lost sword was the Ape Lord’s Sword, the sacred artifact passed down through the Hengshan Sect.

“I know where that sword is.”

Yi-ryip nodded at Gadu-dal’s words.

“If we can retrieve the lost sacred artifact, the Hengshan Sect will gladly give us anything, not just the proclamation.”

Then Gadu-dal said to Cho-ak-ryang.

“But there’s a condition.”

“A condition?”

“Doctor Dan must bring back the sword.”

Cho-ak-ryang frowned.

“Are you telling Doctor Dan to steal?”

“This is too much…”

Beom Gye-wi growled, glaring at Gadu-dal.

Han Seol-hwa was the same.

She didn’t say anything, but her cold eyes made it feel like her whole body would freeze.

Gadu-dal hurriedly replied.

“To be exact, it’s not stealing. It’s retrieving what that guy stole.”

Gadu-dal quickly turned to Dan-ak-seon.

It was most effective to persuade the person involved in such cases.

“Think about it. If those people step in instead of you, someone will definitely get hurt or die. But if you and I move, no one will get hurt, and the item will be returned to its owner. Is there anything bad about this?”

Dan-ak-seon thought for a moment and nodded.

He couldn’t really say it was wrong.

“That is true thievery (偸道) [stealing with a purpose].”

“Not thievery (偸盜) [common stealing]?”

Gadu-dal puffed out his chest for once.

“My thievery contains philosophy. So, I use the character for ‘way’ (道) [Dao, the Way].”