The Terminally Ill Young Master of the Baek Clan

Before the possession.

‘I might die doing this,’ Yi-gang said to Zhang Sanfeng.

Possession consumed an enormous amount of power.

Even though Yi-gang’s current physical condition was better than before, it was still taxing.

‘There’s nothing this time.’

「Hmm.」

When he first met Zhang Sanfeng, he had possessed Yi-gang’s body.

Zhang Sanfeng demonstrated a divine authority that had never been seen before.

Perhaps if it hadn’t been for the spiritual energy of the Seven Stars Altar, Yi-gang might have died from the aftermath.

「Hmm…」

‘Why do you want to possess me in the first place?’

Zhang Sanfeng answered Yi-gang’s question, 「…I wish to show him the right path.」

‘The right path?’

「I want to help him shake off his misguided obsession with the Heaven Ascension Dance and walk the right path again.」

‘Isn’t he already in ruin, both body and mind? Is it even possible…?’

Aging was irreversible. While you can stop aging, an old person could not become young again. If a legendary metamorphosis were possible, it would not be so simple as to be mere talk.

The Golden Needle Phantom quietly suggested that the solution might indeed be what Dam Hyun proposed as the ‘head-opening’ technique.

Dam Hyun was overjoyed and jumping around, but opening the head of the Sword Emperor never happened.

Because the body of the Sword Emperor couldn’t withstand it.

‘His life force has already been depleted. That’s what I heard.’

It was aging that had come naturally. And the essence of his body was depleted by repeatedly performing the Heaven Ascension Dance.

The time for treatment had long passed.

The Sword Emperor was like a dying old tree, much like the Sword Releasing Tree in the Sword Releasing Ground…

How could such a Sword Emperor be made to walk the ‘right path’ again?

Zhang Sanfeng stared intently at Yi-gang before replying, 「There isn’t a lack of ways… but the choice is his to make.」

“…”

Yi-gang couldn’t help but think of the Sword Releasing Tree that had burned its remaining life to sprout new shoots.

It may have gone against the natural order, but the old tree, unable to bloom, finally blossomed for the last time.

「However, I promise you this: the young priest will not perish.」

Yi-gang decided to trust Zhang Sanfeng.

He surrendered his body to the half-immortal.

“What kind of trick is this?”

The Sword Emperor looked directly at Yi-gang, or more precisely, at Zhang Sanfeng, and spoke.

He appeared frail, but his spirit had not receded.

There was an air about him that he would not stand idle against nonsensical talk.

“Taoist, do not doubt me.”

“…”

“Do you not realize that I, standing before you, am not the young man you know?”

The Sword Emperor fell silent.

He felt the anomaly with his heart.

Yet the reason solidified over the years held him back, telling him it was impossible, mere nonsense.

“I am Yuan Yuanzi. You may call me Zhang Junbao.”

The face of the Sword Emperor contorted at Zhang Sanfeng’s words.

“That is…”

“My title is Sanfeng. I am also the Supreme Protector of Wudang, the one who built the Heaven Ascension Cave and left behind the Heaven Ascension Dance.”

“…That’s absurd.”

It would take too much time to explain in detail how Zhang Sanfeng came to borrow Yi-gang’s body.

So, Zhang Sanfeng made an excuse only a celestial could make.

“From the heavens, I have been observing you. And to convey my will, I have borrowed this young priest’s body.”

In truth, he was staying somewhere in the Kunlun Mountains and had come to this place after meeting Yi-gang.

But saying he had been watching from the heavens was more persuasive than detailing such a story.

“You claim to be Zhang Sanfeng…”

The Sword Emperor stared at him with deep eyes.

He was still holding a sword.

“…How do you prove it?”

How difficult would it be to fully convey one’s intentions to another.

No matter how well Zhang Sanfeng spoke, or the extraordinary aura he exuded, this unreal situation couldn’t be believed straightforwardly.

The Sword Emperor demanded proof.

“See for yourself.”

Zhang Sanfeng answered thus.

The gazes of the Sword Emperor and Zhang Sanfeng collided in mid-air.

If asked to verify directly, there was only one method for a swordsman.

The moment Zhang Sanfeng nodded slightly—

“Hup.”

The Sword Emperor unleashed all his latent power explosively.

Another instance of the supreme ultimate technique.

He must have felt Zhang Sanfeng’s formidable presence to perform the supreme ultimate technique despite the strain on his body.

In the paused time, he took a step forward.

Thud.

It wasn’t fast, but for the one on the receiving end, it would seem almost ghostly.

Zhang Sanfeng, too, stood frozen.

Thud.

With two steps, Zhang Sanfeng entered within the range of the sword.

The Sword Emperor swung his sword. It was angled to at least sever an arm.

Even as he swung the sword, the Sword Emperor kept his eyes fixed on Zhang Sanfeng.

And then, the pupils of the Sword Emperor dilated significantly.

Zhang Sanfeng’s eyes flickered. Their gazes met again.

And then, Zhang Sanfeng intervened in the reality controlled by the Sword Emperor’s mental focus.

He moved at the same speed as the Sword Emperor.

Fearlessly, he reached out with his bare hands towards the flying sword.

Instead of his hand being severed, he grabbed and pulled along with the movement of the blade.

It was a martial arts technique that a Wudang martial artist could unmistakably recognize.

‘Taiji Fist…!’

The very foundation of Wudang martial arts.

However, it was said that Zhang Sanfeng defeated even the greatest masters with just the Taiji Fist.

It was likened to grafting a flowering branch onto another tree, hence called “Transference of Flowers and Grafting of Woods.”

This ingenious technique snatched the Sword Emperor’s sword and pressed it against the ground.

Thump—

With that sound, time resumed its usual flow.

Zhang Sanfeng swiftly removed his hand from the Sword Emperor’s sword.

The Sword Emperor slowly raised his head to look up at Zhang Sanfeng.

“It was a fine sword.”

“…”

Among the reasons the Sword Emperor was formidable, there’s also the distinctiveness of his supreme ultimate technique.

If a martial artist with a lower realm were in the slowed time, their throat would inevitably be slit.

Masters below the level of Supreme Peak could not dare to face the Sword Emperor.

Only an Absolute master, like the Sword Emperor currently was, who could counteract the opponent’s supreme ultimate technique with their own mental focus, could stand against him.

However, Zhang Sanfeng countered the Sword Emperor’s supreme ultimate technique using only his mental focus and the Taiji Fist, without utilizing any internal energy.

The Sword Emperor’s voice trembled.

“…Founder.”

“Haha.”

“Truly, is it you, Founder?”

He seemed to lose strength, eventually kneeling on one knee.

Zhang Sanfeng supported the faltering Sword Emperor.

It has been decades since there was no one above the Sword Emperor.

As much as he was a symbol of Wudang and the orthodox Murim, the Sword Emperor needed to be perfect. He did not show dependence even to his close friend, Divine Monk Mu Myung.

“It feels like a dream…”

But now, he had encountered the profound spirit of the Founder.

The Sword Emperor clutched at Zhang Sanfeng’s sleeve.

To an outsider, it might look like the old Sword Emperor clinging to the young Yi-gang.

For those who knew the full story, it was not a matter of shame.

“You have walked a misguided path. The improperly learned Heaven Ascension Dance has obstructed your way forward, and it’s all my fault…”

“What should be done, then?”

“It must be discarded. Start anew from the beginning.”

“I am already old and ill, Founder. How can I do that?”

The Sword Emperor looked extremely frail.

Like an old man whose breath could stop at any moment, his thin forearm felt dry to the touch.

Zhang Sanfeng looked at the Sword Emperor with pity.

Such was the frailty of humans.

No longer human himself, Zhang Sanfeng found such humans pitiable and endearing.

“I will give you a choice.”

Zhang Sanfeng whispered in the Sword Emperor’s ear, “…You have only five years left.”

The Sword Emperor’s eyes widened slightly. He was not surprised by the shortness of his remaining life, but rather–

“What an annoyingly tenacious life…”

Indeed, it was a dreadfully long time to endure with a sick mind.

“So choose. Spend those five years as per the natural order, or defy it and spend a complete half year.”

“What… do you mean?”

“If you wish, I can let you spend a short but complete time by burning the rest of your life force.”

The Sword Emperor’s pupils shook violently.

He understood Zhang Sanfeng’s offer.

“I will teach you Heaven Ascension Dance, so observe and then forget it. I hope you create your new sword.”

“I will do so.”

The Sword Emperor did not hesitate. It was the obvious choice.

Even if his lifespan were drastically shortened, he wanted to live normally for even a brief moment.

Zhang Sanfeng gave a faint smile and helped the Sword Emperor to his feet.

“A good decision. However, the issue with your mind seems not only related to aging.”

“How so… Can you fix it?”

In the Sword Emperor’s voice, mixed with hope, Zhang Sanfeng nodded emphatically.

“I may look like this, but I am an immortal! Don’t worry.”

“Ah…!”

The Sword Emperor, moved, let out an exclamation.

If Zhang Sanfeng truly were in a celestial state, it might not have been a difficult task.

For an immortal, dispelling murky energy was a simple task.

However, he was currently borrowing Yi-gang’s body. Since he promised not to overly burden Yi-gang’s body, Zhang Sanfeng asked the Sword Emperor, “How long has it been since you discovered the Heaven Ascension Cave?”

“Not very long.”

Zhang Sanfeng scanned around the place he had created long ago.

It was a pavilion built in the distant past, but he couldn’t see anything he distinctly remembered.

“Oh…”

“Are you looking for something?”

The most important thing hidden in the Heaven Ascension Cave wasn’t actually the Heaven Ascension Dance.

There was something more precious and more dangerous than the Heaven Ascension Dance.

“I had sealed it… Wasn’t there a bronze jar embedded in the floor?”

“Ah, th-that thing?”

The Sword Emperor’s face flushed with embarrassment.

When he first discovered the Heaven Ascension Cave, the floor of the inner space had a flamboyant circular pattern engraved on it.

At the center of the spreading circular pattern, a bronze jar was embedded in the floor.

Finding the pavilion of the deceased from the past, what could one typically do?

Having found a peerless martial arts technique, he believed he had also discovered a peerless elixir.

“Thinking it was an elixir left by the Founder… I consumed it,” the Sword Emperor said with embarrassment.

“…”

Because he couldn’t unravel the mystery of the Heaven Ascension Dance, he had once taken out what was inside, feeling frustrated.

Inside was a red fist-sized gem.

It simply smelled so deliciously edible that he had bitten into it without thinking, and it melted smoothly down his throat.

“I didn’t intend to eat it from the start, I was just examining what kind of object it was… Founder?”

“…That can’t be.”

Zhang Sanfeng neither got angry nor demanded reasons; he just wore a look of incomprehension.

“It was an item I had thoroughly sealed.”

“Sealed… you mean.”

“Wasn’t there a talisman attached? Not an ordinary one but a talisman drawn with chicken blood on black paper…”

“There was nothing like that.”

“How can that be!”

Zhang Sanfeng stomped his foot.

Someone must have entered the Heaven Ascension Cave and removed the seal.

“The heart of the evil dragon must be sealed at all times. Only then can the impurities be purified!”

“The heart of the evil dragon?”

Zhang Sanfeng grabbed the astonished face of the Sword Emperor.

As if examining a watermelon, he tapped on his head and then sighed.

“Ah, no wonder I felt a strange energy. Your madness was caused by the yokai energy that resided in the heart of the evil dragon.”

Can there really be such a tragic fate?

Zhang Sanfeng cursed the deities who determined fate in his heart.

“This is serious.”

“Was that what you needed?”

“Indeed, it was necessary.”

The burden on Yi-gang’s body would grow over time.

Yi-gang, waiting beyond consciousness, grew impatient.

「Do something about it!」

‘J-just, let me think a bit, wait.’

The Sword Emperor watched Zhang Sanfeng, who was sweating profusely, thinking he was in deep contemplation.

And at that moment, while Zhang Sanfeng and the Sword Emperor were conversing, Mang-hon of the Evil Cult was somewhere in Hubei Province.

Leaning against soft silk bedding, Mang-hon opened his eyes wide.

“What do you mean ‘the poison was released in Wudang’?”

It was a face that seemed to hear an unexpected question.

“Yes.”

“What, after all, is poison?”

“Isn’t poison something that kills if eaten?”

In Mang-hon’s arms was someone being held.

She was a unique woman, dressed in garments as flamboyant as those of a courtesan, but notably, they were gloomy black.

Neither a performer nor a Westerner, she wore silver hoop ornaments in her ears and nose.

She closely resembled Mang-hon.

“Yes, eating poison will kill you. The previous Mang-hon spread poison in Wudang, a kind that certainly kills upon ingestion.”

Mang-hon bit into an apple with a crunch.

As the juice of the apple ran down his chin, the woman in his arms wiped it off with her sleeve.

Mang-hon smiled faintly and caressed the woman’s lips.

Then, he flicked his finger to the side.

Thud.

Red curtains unfolded all around.

The forthcoming conversation was not something that could be casually discussed with subordinates.

With the sound blocked out, Mang-hon responded to his lover.

“All the major orthodox sects are similar. They prioritize righteousness and distribution. What do you think is the reason for that?”

“Um, how would I know the minds of those above?”

“You’re fine in all other respects, but pretending to be dumb is the problem.”

“Is that so?”

“Haha, to answer that. It’s because that is their order. They force everyone to adhere to the order they’ve created.”

“I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

“Let’s move on. What I was trying to say is…”

The flow of the conversation jumped.

“The Sword Emperor is the heart of Wudang. I used the arrangements prepared by the previous Mang-hon to plant a poisoned dagger in the heart of Wudang.”

“Oh my.”

“It drove the Sword Emperor mad. That’s why Wudang sealed its gates.”

“And then…”

“Is that the end? No.”

Mang-hon laughed mischievously.

“Just watch what happens. Something interesting is going to happen soon.”

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