The Divine And Demonic Doctor [EN]: Chapter 198

It was late the next night when Cho Ak-ryang arrived in Anhui, the province where the Namgung Clan was located.

He used the fastest movement technique he could muster, only pausing briefly to regulate his breathing.

The matter was so urgent that he couldn’t afford to delay even for a moment.

Standing before the Namgung Clan’s main gate, Cho Ak-ryang knocked on the firmly closed doors.

After a moment, a guard appeared from within the outer perimeter.

“Tell them I wish to see the Clan Lord.”

The guard frowned at Cho Ak-ryang’s abrupt words.

Coming in the middle of the night and demanding to see the Clan Lord.

It was his job to turn away such rude guests.

But then, his eyes widened.

Standing in the moonlight, his face wasn’t immediately visible.

However, the look in his eyes and his imposing aura were unmistakable.

Wary, he rubbed his eyes and looked again, confirming that one of the Five Supreme Masters was indeed standing there.

“J-just a moment, please.”

The guard hurriedly disappeared inside the main gate.

Soon after, the Namgung Clan’s gate swung open, and a figure emerged.

Namgung Baek himself had come out to greet Cho Ak-ryang.

“Welcome.”

“It’s been a while, Clan Lord. I trust you’ve been well?”

Namgung Baek looked surprised at Cho Ak-ryang’s respectful greeting.

But he soon smiled and nodded.

In the past, things might have been different, but now they were on friendly terms.

He was inwardly grateful for Cho Ak-ryang’s gesture of treating him as the head of a clan.

“Thanks to your concern, I have been well. Are Physician Dan and the other two seniors also at peace?”

Cho Ak-ryang sighed softly.

“Sadly, no.”

“What?”

“Would you ask the others to step aside? I would prefer to speak with the Clan Lord alone, if possible…”

“This way, please.”

Despite the sudden request, Namgung Baek readily agreed to a private meeting.

Namgung Baek personally led Cho Ak-ryang to a secluded garden in the inner compound.

“I believe we can speak comfortably here.”

“I am grateful for the Clan Lord’s consideration.”

“Now that we’re alone, please speak freely. While I appreciate your consideration, Senior, I find excessive formality rather burdensome.”

At those words, Cho Ak-ryang smiled faintly and nodded.

“Very well.”

“But what brings you to my humble abode at this late hour?”

“I have something I wish to ask you, so I have taken the liberty of intruding.”

Namgung Baek’s expression turned serious at Cho Ak-ryang’s grave demeanor.

‘As expected.’

Namgung Baek was shocked by Cho Ak-ryang’s next words.

“Demonic Cult martial arts have resurfaced.”

“You say Demonic Cult martial arts have appeared? In Muwei, where Physician Dan is stationed?”

“To be precise, someone who has mastered them has appeared. He was practicing the Blood Jade Hand.”

Cho Ak-ryang continued his explanation, facing Namgung Baek, who was staring at him with a stern face.

“He is a former member of the Green Forest [a type of bandit group], and the Evil Tiger Unit is pursuing him. But the circumstances of how he obtained the Blood Jade Hand are suspicious. I thought you might know something, so I came to you.”

Cho Ak-ryang explained the situation in as much detail as possible.

Then, he waited for Namgung Baek’s reply.

After a moment, Namgung Baek opened his mouth with a complicated look in his eyes.

“After the Righteous-Demonic War, the Murim Alliance [a coalition of martial arts clans] managed to seize several Demonic Cult martial arts manuals.”

“Several?”

Cho Ak-ryang, who had been questioning, was shocked by Namgung Baek’s next words.

“There were five martial arts manuals in total.”

“……!”

Namgung Baek continued calmly.

“Including the Blood Jade Hand you mentioned, there were also the Blood Demon罡 Energy [a powerful internal energy], the Celestial Demon Wall, the Underworld Demon’s Howl, and finally, the Extreme Destruction Flame Wheel.”

Cho Ak-ryang sighed deeply.

Each of the martial arts Namgung Baek listed had invariably caused great disasters whenever they appeared in the martial world, as they were the Demonic Cult’s prized secret arts.

“How are those manuals being managed?”

Namgung Baek, having left the Murim Alliance, couldn’t have taken them with him, so they must still be somewhere within the Murim Alliance.

But unexpectedly, Namgung Baek shook his head.

“All of them have been destroyed, so there are no remaining manuals. At least, not to my knowledge.”

“You destroyed those secret arts?”

Namgung Baek smiled bitterly at Cho Ak-ryang, who was taken aback by the unexpected answer.

“The harm caused by the existence of the manuals was too great, so we had no choice but to make that decision.”

“Harm?”

“Initially, we tried to study the contents of the manuals to find ways to counter the demonic arts. We also worked to create anti-demonic arts that were the opposite of the demonic arts. This was to prevent their resurgence in the future.”

A look of regret that could not be erased appeared on Namgung Baek’s face.

“It didn’t take long for us to realize how foolish that idea was.”

Demonic arts possessed an intense allure in and of themselves.

For martial artists who revered power, this was a temptation that was difficult to resist.

Especially since each of them was a martial art that had allowed former Demonic Lords to dominate the martial world.

“Among those who were studying them, some began to practice the demonic arts and fell into demonic possession.”

Cho Ak-ryang asked no further questions.

Namgung Baek simply described it as demonic possession, but from his heavy expression and regretful eyes, he could sense that the situation at the time was by no means trivial.

“Above all, demonic arts inherently possess a coerciveness that makes it impossible to resist those with higher-level martial arts. That is why they were able to throw away their lives without hesitation at the orders of their superiors.”

Although they had learned it for research purposes, it was no different from creating spies within the Murim Alliance itself.

“We concluded that it was impossible to break free from the constraints of demonic arts with willpower alone, unless one achieved at least the level of the Six Demonic Venerables.”

“It was that serious…”

Once called the Ten Guardians of the Sect, they were the closest aides to the Demonic Sect Leader.

Four of them had died during the Righteous-Demonic War, and the remaining six were referred to as the Six Demonic Venerables.

The martial arts obtained by the Murim Alliance were originally possessed by the deceased Ten Guardians of the Sect.

“Then what about the story that you tried to win over the Seven Fiend Generals with the Demonic Cult’s secret manuals?”

Namgung Baek smiled slyly at Cho Ak-ryang’s question.

“From the beginning, we only showed him half of the manuals. It is impossible to master the Blood Demon罡 Energy with just that.”

“So, the Blood Jade Hand was not leaked from you or the Murim Alliance either.”

“That is likely the case.”

Cho Ak-ryang nodded silently, then suddenly paused.

A strange thought had suddenly occurred to him.

“Would the Demonic Cult really not know that their secret arts had been leaked?”

Namgung Baek pondered the meaning of those words, and soon came to a conclusion.

“That is indeed strange. They are too quiet.”

No matter how much damage they had suffered, the Demonic Cult was still the Demonic Cult.

Their arrogance and self-righteousness, which did not recognize any other martial arts forces, was well known.

The fact that they were just standing by and watching the loss of their symbolic secret arts was bothering him.

But there were too few clues to infer the situation behind it.

“Thank you for telling me the truth.”

“It is only natural. It is not someone else’s matter, and how could my clan turn a blind eye to something related to Physician Dan?”

“Hmm?”

Cho Ak-ryang sensed something strange in Namgung Baek’s last words.

But Namgung Baek still had a gentle smile on his face, making it difficult to guess his true intentions.

“Do you perhaps have any information about the Seven Fiend Generals?”

“Of course. I will have it brought to you immediately.”

Namgung Baek sent a telepathic message somewhere.

Soon, the old chief steward appeared, carrying a stack of documents.

“Are you planning to find him yourself?”

Cho Ak-ryang smiled quietly at Namgung Baek’s question.

“I have a debt to collect from him.”

Although his eyes were smiling, Namgung Baek suddenly felt a chill down his spine as he faced the terrifying killing intent swirling within them.

‘He has fully recovered his martial arts!’

Now that he thought about it, he couldn’t sense Cho Ak-ryang’s energy at all.

A state of perfect return to simplicity that was difficult even for him to detect.

Judging by his appearance alone, one could never have guessed that he was an absolute master who shook the martial world.

After reviewing all the documents brought by Dan Ri-ungpung, the chief steward of the Namgung Clan, on the spot, Cho Ak-ryang paid his respects to Namgung Baek.

“I am truly grateful for the Clan Lord’s help.”

“What are you saying? I am glad to be of assistance to the Venerable One, even if it is only a small contribution.”

“Then, let us meet again.”

With those words, Cho Ak-ryang’s figure disappeared from the spot like a phantom.

“Huh!”

Having witnessed it with his own eyes, Namgung Baek could only exclaim at the incredible movement technique.

The only emotion he felt at that moment was that the wall of the Five Supreme Masters was truly high.

Leaving the Namgung Clan, Cho Ak-ryang immediately thought of one place.

‘I don’t like it, but there’s no other way right now.’

He couldn’t afford to be picky at the moment.

He had to find him in order to settle old scores.

Recalling the circumstances of how he first met Dan Ak-seon two years ago, when he had been beaten to near death by the combined attacks of the Murim Alliance’s experts, he gritted his teeth without realizing it.

Aside from everything else, that bastard knew him well.

As such, he had been deceived by his scheme and had almost boarded the ship to the afterlife [a metaphor for dying].

“I have no choice but to go on a temporary journey.”

He was disappointed that he couldn’t return to Muwei right away, but he didn’t care much.

As long as Beom Gye-wi and Han Seol-hwa were there, there was no need to worry about Dan Ak-seon’s safety.

Unless the Heavenly Demon himself came, there was no expert in the entire martial world who could defeat the two of them.

Cho Ak-ryang soared into the sky and immediately headed northwest.

Now that he had decided on his destination, there was no reason to hesitate.

Like a shooting star streaking across the night sky, Cho Ak-ryang’s figure had already become a whirlwind.