In an instant, the bed was stained red with the blood pouring from Gongsun Cheongi’s body.
When the escort warriors, startled, tried to rush forward, the captain of the escort martial artists stretched out an arm to stop them.
“Don’t go! It looks like this is the most critical moment.”
At those words, the escort martial artists clenched their fists and ground their teeth.
Their fingernails dug into their palms so hard that blood ran down from them.
RATTLE—.
CRACKLE—.
A tremendous sound burst from Gongsun Cheongi’s violently trembling body, and then his eyes flew open.
“GHHK!”
He let out all the breath he had been holding in at once, then stared up at the ceiling with a face full of joy.
The bluish tint spreading across Gongsun Cheongi’s body vanished in an instant, color returning to his complexion, and a blazing heat that had never been there before radiated from him.
At that sight, the escort martial artists understood.
The illness of the Gongsun Cheongi they served had been cured.
“HAAAH!”
I also sucked in the breath I had been holding all at once and finally took my hands off Gongsun Cheongi’s body.
“It’s over. You can get up now.”
At my words, Gongsun Cheongi slowly rose from where he lay.
An indescribable mixture of emotions was surging across his face.
Once on his feet, Gongsun Cheongi began touching his body here and there with trembling hands.
“It, it’s not cold... It’s warm... no, hot.”
As if overwhelmed, he wrapped his arms around himself, then collapsed to the floor and began to cry.
“I-It’s not cold! M-my body is hot! I’m overflowing with strength!”
The tears streaming from Gongsun Cheongi’s eyes grew thicker and thicker.
“Khk, khk! I-It doesn’t even hurt... I’m not short of breath either...”
How long had he waited for this moment?
He had probably resigned himself to dying without ever once feeling this.
He had let everything go and was only waiting for the day he died.
And then a miracle happened.
Gongsun Cheongi threw himself down on the floor and wept.
“WAAAAAH!”
All the resentment that had piled up inside him.
All the suffering.
All the fear.
As [N O V E L I G H T] if he were trying to wash every bit of it away.
The escort martial artists also turned their heads and wiped away the tears flowing from their eyes.
After crying like that for a long time, Gongsun Cheongi finally rose with a refreshed expression and looked at me.
“Thank you! You are the savior of my life! From now on, for your sake, I’ll do anything.”
“I gave you a new life, and now you’re saying you’ll live for me?”
“It’s the life you gave me.”
“Forget it. You have something else you want to do, don’t you?”
“Huh?”
“Your ability. Your talent. You wanted to unfold it before the world, didn’t you? Am I wrong?”
“How do you...?”
“Sorry. The truth is, I already knew about you. It’s true that I approached you on purpose. I heard that you often came to that pavilion, so I deliberately took a seat there and waited.”
Gongsun Cheongi nodded.
“I thought that might be the case.”
“You noticed?”
“Yeah.”
“And you still trusted me?”
“Yeah. Because your eyes weren’t the eyes of someone who came to kill me. They were the eyes of someone who came to save me.”
At Gongsun Cheongi’s words, I let out a faint chuckle.
“No matter what you say, the fact that you’re the savior of my life won’t change. No, if anything, I’m even more grateful. You went through all that troublesome acting on purpose just to save me, didn’t you?”
“Then grant me one favor.”
“Fine. Say it. If it’s something I can do, I’ll do all of it.”
“Young Master!”
The escort martial artists hurriedly tried to stop Gongsun Cheongi.
“Why?”
“It is true that he is the benefactor who saved your life, Young Master, but isn’t saying you’ll do anything a bit excessive?”
“He saved my life. If not for Gang Wi, I would have died anyway.”
“But...”
Ignoring the guards, Gongsun Cheongi looked at me.
“Tell me. What is it that you want?”
“Become the strategist of Heavenly Martial Castle.”
“Huh?”
It was a request so far outside anything he had expected that Gongsun Cheongi stared at me in blank confusion.
“What are you talking about? My father is the strategist of Heavenly Martial Castle right now.”
I shook my head.
“The strategist of Heavenly Martial Castle—your father is dead.”
“What?”
Gongsun Cheongi stared at me with his eyes wide, as if he couldn’t believe what he had just heard.
The other guards also looked at me in shock.
“W-what are you talking about? My father is d-dead? I’ve never heard any such news.”
“It’s true. Heavenly Martial Castle is in chaos right now because of the strategist’s absence.”
“What happened?”
I told Gongsun Cheongi everything that had happened.
“Hundred Demon Heaven... those bastards humiliated my father... and disguised themselves as him and acted in his place?”
“That’s right.”
“My father’s body?”
“We couldn’t find it. There wasn’t time to question him.”
“You killed him.”
“I did.”
“Thank you...”
“I only did what had to be done.”
Gongsun Cheongi clenched his fists hard.
“Hundred Demon Heaven... I want revenge on those bastards...”
“I’ll give you the chance for revenge. Become the strategist of Heavenly Martial Castle.”
Gongsun Cheongi looked at me and asked,
“Who are you? Gang Wi must be a false name too, right?”
“That... I’ll tell you later.”
“You... are connected to the Lord of the Castle, aren’t you?”
I smiled faintly.
I didn’t deny it.
“There is no one like you among the people I know. Then that means you’re a third party not currently in Heavenly Martial Castle, and at the same time someone connected to the Lord of the Castle.”
I listened to Gongsun Cheongi’s words in silence.
“If you aren’t in Heavenly Martial Castle and yet are connected to the Lord of the Castle, then there’s one possibility. The current Sect Master of True Martial Sect and the youngest son of the Lord of Heavenly Martial Castle. I heard that he has two sons, and judging by your age, you must be the eldest son of the True Martial Sect Master and the grandson of the Lord of Heavenly Martial Castle. Am I right?”
I grinned.
“Your abilities are... outstanding enough that even the Lord of the Castle would covet them. He might even want to seat you as the next Lord of the Castle.”
He really had seen straight through it.
Even while suffering from Nine-Yin Severed Meridians, there had been a reason he had earned the trust of the people around him.
If it were him as he was now, he would reorganize the chaos-ridden Heavenly Martial Castle in a short time, and day by day transform it into something even more solid.
That meant I no longer had to worry about Heavenly Martial Castle and could focus on other matters.
Seeing my expression, Gongsun Cheongi realized that all his guesses had been right.
But he judged that I had reasons for wanting to keep it hidden, so he shook his head and said,
“It’s only my guess. Haa...”
“I’ll tell you the truth later.”
“Fine.”
“Let’s go home first.”
“I’ll tell my family myself.”
I nodded.
*****
Gongsun Cheonbaek, the Head of the Gongsun Family, was staring in shock at Gongsun Cheongi, who had come to his study.
“Y-you... how, how did this happen?”
“Family Head. I’m completely cured.”
“You little fool. I told you that when it’s just the two of us, you’re supposed to call me brother.”
“Yes. Brother.”
Gongsun Cheonbaek walked over to Gongsun Cheongi.
Ever since they were young, their father had always been busy with affairs at Heavenly Martial Castle, so Gongsun Cheonbaek had taken Gongsun Cheongi under his care and raised him almost like a son.
So more than a younger brother, he felt closer to a son.
In a trembling voice, Gongsun Cheonbaek asked,
“What was that thing you just said?”
“Exactly what I told you.”
“So what, what does that mean? Completely cured? C-cured of what?”
“You know what my illness was too, Brother.”
“I-I do. That’s why I’m asking. Even the Divine Physician shook his head and left over that illness... and yet you say it’s completely cured...”
“That’s right. My Nine-Yin Severed Meridians have been completely healed.”
Gongsun Cheonbaek stared at Gongsun Cheongi with an expression of utter disbelief.
Then he hurriedly began touching his body all over.
From Gongsun Cheongi’s body, which had always carried a chill and been cold to the touch, warm heat could now be felt.
“T-this can’t be... I-it’s really true! Y-your illness really has been healed!”
Tears welled up in Gongsun Cheonbaek’s eyes.
“T-then... how was it treated?”
“My friend treated me.”
“Friend?”
Gongsun Cheongi had no friends.
“I made a friend this time. That friend cured my illness. I wanted to introduce him to you, Brother, so I brought him with me.”
“I-is that so? B-bring him in at once!”
The door opened, and as I stepped inside, Gongsun Cheonbaek slowly looked me over from head to toe.
“Brother.”
“Ah! My apologies! I heard you were the one who healed my brother, so before I knew it, I was looking a little too closely. If I offended you, I apologize.”
When Gongsun Cheonbaek cupped his fist and palm together in apology, I answered with the same salute and a grin.
“Not at all. I understand completely.”
“Thank you truly for healing my brother! From now on, the Gongsun Family will treat you as the benefactor of our house.”
“That isn’t necessary. I only treated a friend who was sick. I wasn’t hoping for compensation.”
“Ho...”
There wasn’t the slightest falsehood in my expression.
A deep smile spread across Gongsun Cheonbaek’s lips.
He had spent his whole life worrying that his brother might die lonely, never having made a single friend, yet now he had gone and made a friend like this.
A question arose in his mind.
“Did you study medicine? I’m curious how exactly you treated my brother.”
“It wasn’t medicine. I healed him with sorcery.”
“Sorcery?”
I explained Gongsun Cheongi’s treatment process to him in detail.
After hearing the entire process, Gongsun Cheonbaek marveled.
“Ho! What an extraordinary sorcery! From what I know, it isn’t easy to perform more than two sorceries at the same time... but from what you just described, didn’t you perform more than four at once?”
“It was a gamble for me too.”
Gongsun Cheonbaek was shocked.
He had some knowledge of sorcery, so he knew that deploying four sorceries simultaneously should have been impossible.
And yet there was no falsehood in my words, and the disappearance of his brother’s Nine-Yin Severed Meridians also proved them true.
Still, the strange part was that it felt somehow different from the ordinary sorcery he knew.
But he didn’t know every sorcery in the world, so he let it pass.
Whatever it was, thanks to it, his younger brother had recovered.
As it was, his heart had already been breaking day by day while he watched his brother slowly wither away.
Now his body would grow healthy.
And he would get married too.
“HAHAHAHAHA!”
Once he got married, there would be nieces and nephews too.
Just thinking about seeing them made laughter spill out on its own.
“Brother?”
“I started laughing because I realized I might get to see your children after all. I need to hurry and find you a marriage match.”
“Brother!”
“HAHAHAHAHA! What is it? Are you embarrassed?”
Seeing Gongsun Cheonbaek laugh so freely, Gongsun Cheongi also let out a small chuckle.
Because it was the first time he had ever seen his brother laugh like that.
He would soon have to deliver bad news too, but for the moment, he let him enjoy this happiness.
*****
Gongsun Cheongi carefully asked Gongsun Cheonbaek,
“Have you heard any news about Father?”
“I have. It seems he’s so busy these days that he can’t even spare a moment. The world has stabilized, so I don’t know what could be keeping him so occupied. Lately, he hasn’t even replied to the letters I sent.”
At the mention of no replies, Gongsun Cheongi’s face hardened.
Seeing that, Gongsun Cheonbaek spoke in a gentle voice.
“Why? Are you worried something happened to Father? Don’t worry about it. You know perfectly well where Father is, don’t you? It’s Heavenly Martial Castle. And not just there—he’s the strategist of Heavenly Martial Castle. There’s no one who would dare lay a hand on him, so there’s nothing for you to worry about.”
Gongsun Cheonbaek tried to soothe him.
And because he had to deliver terrible news to a brother like that, the words would not come easily from Gongsun Cheongi’s mouth.
“Brother... Father is no longer at Heavenly Martial Castle.”
At Gongsun Cheongi’s words, Gongsun Cheonbaek tilted his head in confusion.
“What are you talking about? Where could he have gone? More importantly, how do you know that?”