NOVEL NEXT chapter 166
The place the Vice Chief guided him to was the inner court of the Sword Pavilion.
Unlike the outer court, the inner court was beautiful.
Brilliantly colored flowers adorned the surroundings in dazzling patterns.
Following the flower path deep inside, a massive hall eventually appeared.
Everyone entered the hall carefully so as not to be seen by others.
Even for the Vice Chief—Baek Nan Hyang—this was a risk.
A risk she was taking in the hope that Yeon Woo Jin was truly a physician capable of treating her master.
While Baek Nan Hyang distracted the gaze of the stern guards, Yeon Woo Jin moved.
Without being noticed, he walked a long hallway, and from beyond the wall, a rough breathing sound began to reach his ears.
“This is as far as you can go. You’ll have to diagnose from here—can you do that?”
It seemed she intended to use thread pulse reading.
Yeon Woo Jin said,
“Her breath is ragged, her pulse erratic, and her energy is surging like an active volcano… it’s deviation into madness.”
Baek Nan Hyang turned to him, startled.
“That’s correct! How did you—?”
“Hm.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Could I… possibly have a single drop of the Pavilion Chief’s blood?”
“What for?”
“I suspect poisoning.”
“Poisoning?”
“Yes. Most of the medicinal ingredients delivered by the Changcheon Trading Group were for treating deviation into madness.”
Baek Nan Hyang's expression dimmed slightly at Yeon Woo Jin’s words.
She believed he had guessed the Pavilion Chief’s condition just by looking at the medicines.
“Then why suspect poisoning? Are you saying your delivered goods contained toxic herbs?”
Yeon Woo Jin shook his head.
“There’s nothing wrong with the ingredients. However, there exists a medicinal herb that reacts with them and becomes toxic. I assume the Pavilion Chief frequently took that herb as a tonic. Alone, it would have posed no harm, but when combined with the medicine delivered by the Changcheon Trading Group, it became poison.”
“Bullshit! What kind of herb does that?”
“Depending on how it’s used, a medicinal herb can become either a cure or a poison. Even deadly poisons, if blended properly, can become elixirs that save lives. Of course there are herbs that, when blended poorly, turn into deadly poisons.”
“…Fine. I’ll bring you a drop of my master’s blood.”
Baek Nan Hyang cast a sidelong glance at Yeon Woo Jin and stepped into the room.
In a gentle voice, she said to the Pavilion Chief,
“Master, it’s me.”
Upon hearing Baek Nan Hyang’s voice, the Pavilion Chief—the Sword Queen Yeo Hwa Rin—opened her eyes with difficulty.
“Huhh… huhh… My… disciple… Nan Hyang has come.”
“Yes, Master…”
“Huhh… huhh… Don’t worry… huhh… I’m fine…”
Hearing Yeo Hwa Rin speak with such a strained breath that was anything but fine, Baek Nan Hyang’s eyes welled up with tears.
Grasping her master’s hand tightly, she said,
“Master… There’s a physician here with the Changcheon Trading Group. I intend to let him examine you.”
“Huhh… huhh… A physician… huhh… But… doesn’t the Sword Pavilion have its own physicians?”
“They say this physician healed the matron of the Namgoong Clan.”
“Huhh… The… matron… who was said to suffer from an incurable illness?”
“Yes.”
“Huhh… I see…”
“He’s asking for a single drop of your blood.”
“Huhh… huhh…”
Yeo Hwa Rin quietly extended a finger.
She was granting permission.
Baek Nan Hyang quickly pricked her finger, drew exactly one drop of blood, and swiftly stemmed the bleeding.
“Huhh… huhh… Nan Hyang… I’ll rest for a bit…”
“Yes… Master… please rest.”
As her master lost consciousness again, Baek Nan Hyang shed tears once more.
After carefully covering Yeo Hwa Rin with the blanket, she rushed the blood drop to Yeon Woo Jin before it dried.
Yeon Woo Jin brought the blood straight to his lips and tasted it.
To determine poisoning that way?
What if he got poisoned himself?
Other physicians needed weeks just to identify symptoms, yet Yeon Woo Jin was diagnosing it by taste alone.
Baek Nan Hyang stared at him with a suspicious look.
To her, Yeon Woo Jin said,
“As I thought… it’s poisoning.”
“What?”
“She forced her energy up while in a poisoned state. And there are two types of poison.”
“What are you saying?”
“Then are you saying someone plotted against my master? From within the Sword Pavilion?”
“It’s highly likely.”
“And you expect me to believe you?”
Yeon Woo Jin looked Baek Nan Hyang in the eyes and said,
“I only speak the truth.”
She stared into his unwavering gaze, feeling increasingly conflicted.
If he was right, then someone within the Sword Pavilion was trying to harm her master.
“If you’re so confident, why did your people attack us the moment they saw us?”
“It was the result of a misunderstanding.”
“A misunderstanding? What kind of misunderstanding? Your group attacked us the moment they saw us in Sword Pavilion uniform!”
“Before that, we were ambushed by women also dressed in Sword Pavilion attire. Naturally, we assumed it was another attack and responded accordingly.”
“What are you talking about? You're saying other Sword Pavilion members attacked you first?”
“Yes. No matter how many times we asked why, they said nothing and simply attacked.”
“That’s absurd! No Sword Pavilion member would act without my orders! And I never gave such an order!”
“I know. That’s why I followed you here without resistance.”
“You know?”
“The first group used Sword Pavilion techniques, yes, but it looked unnatural—like someone wearing clothes that didn’t fit. But the martial artists who came with you moved naturally, like in clothes tailored to their bodies. That’s when I realized—someone is trying to drive a wedge between the Namgoong Clan and the Sword Pavilion.”
“You expect me to believe that? How am I supposed to trust you?”
“Does the Namgoong Clan have any reason to attack the Sword Pavilion?”
“Who knows? Men of the Jianghu are not to be trusted.”
“The Namgoong Clan is not like that.”
“You’re not even from the Namgoong Clan, so why are you so eager to defend them?”
“If the Namgoong Clan had been that kind of place, I wouldn’t have treated their matron.”
“Who knows? Maybe they forced you to treat her.”
At that, Yeon Woo Jin let out a faint laugh.
“The Namgoong Clan? Force me? That’s impossible.”
“Why is that impossible?”
“Because the Namgoong Clan can’t control me.”
“Because you’re the only one who could save their matron?”
“No. Because I’m stronger than the Namgoong Clan.”
“…What?”
What nonsense was that?
How could a mere physician be stronger than the Namgoong Clan?
There was only one person in the Central Plains who could single-handedly surpass the Namgoong Clan.
That was the Martial God—Yeon Cheon Baek.
“You’re joking. Enough—just tell me if you can treat her.”
“To know the exact condition, I’ll have to check her pulse directly.”
“Fine. I’ll connect the thread to her.”
“No. I need to take her pulse directly at the wrist.”
“That’s…”
“I forgot to mention—her condition is extremely dangerous. If I don’t diagnose her quickly and treat her accordingly… you may regret it.”
“Are you threatening me?”
“It’s not a threat—it’s the truth.”
Baek Nan Hyang glared at him with a piercing gaze.
But even under that pressure, Yeon Woo Jin didn’t flinch in the slightest. With a long sigh, she relented.
“Fine. But remember—if you pull anything suspicious… my blade will be at your neck.”
Yeon Woo Jin nodded.
Once inside, black streaks had begun to spread across Yeo Hwa Rin’s face.
Seeing that, Yeon Woo Jin rushed straight to her side.
Baek Nan Hyang tried to block him quickly, but Yeon Woo Jin moved even faster.
Seeing Yeon Woo Jin standing in front of Yeo Hwa Rin in an instant made her skin crawl.
A master!
Yeon Woo Jin wasn’t just an ordinary physician.
Baek Nan Hyang immediately reached for her sword.
Chastising herself for being too complacent, she rushed to stop Yeon Woo Jin.
But at that moment—
She saw Yeon Woo Jin place his hand on Yeo Hwa Rin’s body.
“Stop!”
Chwang—!
Baek Nan Hyang drew her sword and slashed toward Yeon Woo Jin’s hand.
Jjeo-eong—!
“Khhk!”
In that instant, her sword rebounded, blocked by something invisible.
At the same time, her body reeled, her balance thrown off. While she staggered, Yeon Woo Jin placed his hand on Yeo Hwa Rin’s body.
It didn’t look like he was harming Yeo Hwa Rin, so she exhaled in relief.
As the black energy was drawn out, Yeo Hwa Rin’s pained breathing gradually steadied.
The bloodless pallor on her face began to fade, color returning to her cheeks.
Yeon Woo Jin’s hand had turned black.
It seemed he had absorbed all the poison into his own hand.
****
A short while later.
Even the black-stained hand of Yeon Woo Jin returned to normal.
Was he immune to poison?
“A little later, and it would’ve been dangerous.”
Then, looking at Baek Nan Hyang who stood there in a daze, he slowly pressed her sword aside with one finger.
“The crisis has passed. Would you kindly put away that hideous thing?”
“Y-you know martial arts?”
“I never said I didn’t.”
He was right.
She had merely assumed, since he was a physician, that his martial arts would be weak.
Still—this went beyond common sense.
Yeo Hwa Rin came into Baek Nan Hyang’s line of sight.
Seeing how much more comfortable she looked, Baek Nan Hyang lowered her sword.
But she still kept her guard up against Yeon Woo Jin.
She believed he had deliberately concealed his martial prowess.
“…You’re a physician, but your martial arts are quite formidable.”
“Is a physician not allowed to have strong martial arts? That’s a strange thing to say. It’s not as though there’s a law against it.”
A man who didn’t yield even a single word.
It was annoying, somehow.
But she held herself back.
If he hadn’t performed emergency treatment, who knew what would’ve happened to Yeo Hwa Rin?
She tried to convince herself that he merely had fast movement technique—but the invisible energy barrier that had repelled her sword—
That had been real.
He deflected my sword.
She hadn’t struck with full power, but the fact remained: he had blocked it with an intangible wall of internal energy.
A master capable of deploying a qi barrier.
He was faster than she could follow, stronger, and even seemingly immune to poison.
And yet this man claimed to be a physician?
“Since I’ve already placed my hand on her, I’ll take her pulse as well.”
Before she could even respond, the man had already taken hold of Yeo Hwa Rin’s wrist.
“Hm…”
A grave expression.
Baek Nan Hyang swallowed dryly without realizing it.
“Her condition is much worse than I expected.”
“How bad is it?”
“A body that’s virtually already dead… and even if she survives by some miracle, she may never be able to use martial arts again.”
That was serious.
For a martial artist, to lose the ability to use martial arts was no different from a death sentence.
“That’s what would be the case—if it were any other physician.”
“…What?”
“It’ll be a bit painful for the patient, but a complete recovery is possible.”
Full recovery?
Then… was the cause really poisoning?
Then who…?
“To calculate the properties of medicinal ingredients this precisely to induce poisoning—only a physician could do it.”
Baek Nan Hyang looked at Yeon Woo Jin with trembling pupils.
There was only one physician in the Sword Pavilion.
“T-that can’t be. Physician Gong would never—”
“Who placed the order for the ingredients?”
“Physician Gong…”
“And I assume he’s also the one who ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) pointed to us as the culprits.”
“…Yes.”
“Normally, in matters this critical, the physician inspects the ingredients himself—but he didn’t, did he?”
That was true as well.
Baek Nan Hyang was confused.
What is the truth?
Was the man in front of her telling the truth?
Or was it the long-serving Physician Gong who was truthful?
She had to choose.
Physician Gong—or the man in front of her.
As Baek Nan Hyang hesitated, Yeon Woo Jin let out a sigh and said,
“As I said earlier, someone attacked the Changcheon Trading Group while impersonating Sword Pavilion martial artists. Right before your arrival. And the moment you arrived, they retreated. Naturally, the Changcheon group mistook you for a second wave of attackers and defended themselves. You misunderstood that, thinking they had attacked you unprovoked. Do you think that was a coincidence?”