Hong Yungae waited until his master left the area.

As soon as Baek Yoonjun left, Hong Yungae immediately approached Zhang Sanfeng.

"N-nice to meet you! Great Hero Taiji Sword God!"

Zhang Sanfeng looked at the boy who was politely performing a fist-and-palm salute in front of him.

Although his physique looked quite sturdy, his face had a youthful look, so it seemed he had not yet reached the age of maturity.

And his attire was very shabby.

'It seems like a rude thought, but no matter how I look at him, he looks like a beggar.'

But since he couldn't say 'Are you a beggar?' to a person's face, he calmly returned the fist-and-palm salute on the outside.

"Nice to meet you, young hero. It seems you are with Brother Baek's party, so may I ask what your relationship is?"

Hearing those words, Hong Yungae scratched his head.

Poverty itself was felt all over his body.

"I am... well, for now, I am a disciple."

But at Hong Yungae's subsequent words, Zhang Sanfeng was mistaken into thinking that even his impoverished appearance looked radiant.

"To be Brother Baek's disciple, you must be an amazing person."

"No, I am not such an amazing person. So it would be nice if you could lower your speech and speak comfortably."

Zhang Sanfeng smiled faintly at Hong Yungae's words and nodded his head.

"I understand."

Although the period Zhang Sanfeng had met Baek Yoonjun was not that long, they had eliminated an assassin group together, saved lives, and now he had even received the kindness of having his life saved.

Since he was such a Baek Yoonjun's disciple, he looked as friendly as his own disciple, so he had no hesitation in lowering his speech right away.

But there was something that bothered him a little.

"Why is your attire so shabby? Did Brother Baek emphasize frugality or something?"

"No. That's because I'm a beggar."

"A beggar, you say. Did Brother Baek perhaps call you a beggar?"

"No, that's not it. I'm really a beggar. These days, the Beggars' Sect, well, would you know if I said the Beggars' Path?"

"Ah. I see. My apologies."

Only then did Zhang Sanfeng realize that Hong Yungae's beggar-like appearance was because he was really a beggar.

"To become Brother Baek's disciple even in an unfortunate environment, your talent must be outstanding and have caught his eye."

"No? He taught me martial arts because he was afraid I would die."

To be precise, it was because he was afraid he would die entering the secret cave, but there was no way for Zhang Sanfeng to know the omitted words.

The embarrassed Zhang Sanfeng decided to change the subject.

"I'm envious that you can learn the sword from Brother Baek."

"No? I learned the staff technique and the palm technique."

At Hong Yungae's words, Zhang Sanfeng's mind went dizzy.

The identity of Baek Yoonjun that Zhang Sanfeng clearly remembered was the descendant of the White-Robed Sword Immortal.

Although he had never said it himself, Zhang Sanfeng was convinced.

"You're the disciple of the descendant of the White-Robed Sword Immortal, but you didn't learn the sword?"

"What? The White-Robed Sword Immortal? Why is his name suddenly...?"

"You're saying you didn't know that your master is the descendant of the White-Robed Sword Immortal? Well, considering Brother Baek's personality, he might not have said it."

This time, Hong Yungae fell into confusion.

Although he knew that his master was an extraordinary being, the name 'White-Robed Sword Immortal' was too old and lacked a sense of reality.

"Great Hero Taiji Sword God, how do you know that?"

"Don't you know just by looking at Brother Baek's attire?"

"Are there only one or two martial artists in the Central Plains with that kind of attire?"

"That may be so, but isn't the aura felt from Brother Baek different?"

"W-well, that's true, isn't it?"

Hong Yungae flinched as he recalled the aura that Baek Yoonjun had emitted towards the former bandits.

'I knew he was an extraordinary person, but our master is the descendant of the White-Robed Sword Immortal? Really?'

Hong Yungae had also heard rumors about the White-Robed Sword Immortal, although not in detail.

'He's certainly amazing, but he's amazing...'

But to Hong Yungae, the White-Robed Sword Immortal was a person from too long ago, and perhaps because he had been an ordinary person until recently, he did not have as dramatic a reaction as the martial artists.

It was because the fame of the White-Robed Sword Immortal was better known to the martial artists than to the ordinary people.

'It seems the brat has no sense of reality.'

Seeing such a Hong Yungae and grasping the situation, Zhang Sanfeng chuckled and changed the subject.

"By the way, what business do you have with me?"

"Uh... well, rather than having business, I wanted to strike up a conversation with the famous Great Hero Taiji Sword God in the Central Plains."

"I see. Thanks to you, I have been able to meet Brother Baek's disciple like this, so thank you for striking up a conversation."

"I-I'm sorry!"

"By the way, that title of Taiji Sword God is too grand for me, so wouldn't you call me senior or brother comfortably?"

"I understand! Senior Zhang!"

Hong Yungae trembled with emotion.

'The Taiji Sword God told me to speak comfortably!'

He was surprised about his master, who was the descendant of an old martial artist, and was moved by being called familiarly by the most rumored martial artist in front of him.

'I want to meet more.'

At the successive meetings, a small desire welled up in Hong Yungae.

He had met a descendant of a martial artist from long ago, one of the most famous martial artists at present, and he had also met a person who used the rare Zhuge surname in recent times.

Of course, since the Zhuge surname was not a martial artist, he did not have that much desire, but it was important that he had met them in succession like this.

'At this rate, I might even meet the Sichuan Divine Doctor in Sichuan.'

Hong Yungae thought about the Sichuan Divine Doctor.

He had heard that she was a being with a wondrous medical skill that could even raise the dead, and that she had learned a strange martial art.

Poison and hidden weapons.

A being who had learned a martial art that seemed like an assassin would use, but was sincere in the work of a doctor who saved people.

'Really interesting.'

In no time, Hong Yungae's purpose of finding out about Zhuge Hyun's whereabouts had receded to the background, and the purpose of meeting a famous martial artist had risen to the top.

* * *

Tang Family Clinic.

That place was currently the most famous place in Sichuan.

How much more famous could it be than the Cheongseong Sect, a sect that had completely established itself in Sichuan?

That fame originated from a woman who could be called the current owner of the Tang Family Clinic.

A beautiful woman with a slender body that seemed like it would be blown away by the wind, a small physique that was hard to believe she had passed the age of maturity, and skin as white as snow.

The Sichuan Divine Doctor, Tang Yuhwa.

The most famous doctor in Sichuan, with a wondrous medical skill and a heart befitting a doctor, who would go anywhere if there was a patient.

Thanks to her, the Tang Family Clinic building, which had been no different from a ruined house when Tang Yuhwa had stayed at Baek Yoonjun's residence, was now bustling with the footsteps of those who had an interest in medicine.

"Has the Divine Doctor left her seat again?"

"That person is someone who would not hesitate to move her feet even to the bottom of a thousand-zhang cliff if there is a patient."

In fact, since Tang Yuhwa often left her seat to see patients, it was hard to see her face at the Tang Family Clinic.

"My, although she is an adopted child, I wonder if a person with a child is overdoing it too much."

But thanks to the doctors who had received Tang Yuhwa's teachings and followed her, the Tang Family Clinic was running well even in her absence.

Tang Yuhwa was currently on her way back to Sichuan after just having treated a patient in a city in Gansu.

'I'm tired.'

When she had heard the news that there was a patient, since it was an urgent patient, she had overdone it and had quickly come up to Gansu by performing her lightness skill.

And so, after finishing the patient's treatment, Tang Yuhwa, who was tired in both body and mind, was on her way back to Sichuan by carriage.

"My, what are we to do if you, doctor, come alone? Of course, the patient is important, but you must think that you are not a single body!"

"I will."

Tang Yuhwa answered the medical student, who was driving the horse from the driver's seat and nagging her, roughly and closed her eyes.

A lot had happened in the meantime.

After losing her parents and continuing her life as a doctor, she had been kidnapped by an assassin group and had met her master.

From that master, she had learned medicine and, although she was reluctant, also martial arts.

'Martial arts. Although I'm reluctant, it was useful this time.'

Even the patient she had just treated, although it was not a serious illness, was a type that would develop into a serious illness if the time for treatment was missed.

Thanks to having learned the lightness skill, she had arrived at the place where the patient was faster than by riding a horse.

'It would have been a big problem if I had been a little late.'

Although her body was quite tired, she had been able to take care of the patient without missing the time for treatment.

'Phew, it's hard.'

Tang Yuhwa took out a small bottle from her bosom.

As she opened the bottle cap, a foul smell slowly rose from inside the bottle.

A deadly poison that any doctor would be startled by just by smelling it.

Tang Yuhwa poured the contents into her mouth like a grain wine, then took a seat and sat cross-legged.

That deadly poison seeped into Tang Yuhwa's unique poison-imbued dantian, and Tang Yuhwa's unique internal energy, mixed with the poison, circulated along the blood vessels in her body.

'Martial arts might not be bad.'

The fatigue that seemed to weigh down her body subsided a little, and vitality returned to her body.

It was the effect of the internal energy cultivation method she had learned from Baek Yoonjun.

Thanks to Tang Yuhwa's acquired peculiar constitution, poison continued to accumulate in her body, and Baek Yoonjun had created an internal energy cultivation method that suited that constitution and had made Tang Yuhwa learn it.

This was also effective against external poisons, so when her internal energy was insufficient, it was possible to resolve it to some extent just by drinking poison.

Thanks to that, although it was hard to use it recklessly because a deadly poison would flow out together if she used her internal energy, she was able to use the lightness skill, which was used by circulating it in her body, or the internal energy cultivation method, which recovered the body by circulating internal energy in the body, without any particular problem.

She hadn't particularly decided on a name for the cultivation method.

In this aspect, her nature was quite similar to her master's.

'Master also didn't particularly attach names to his own martial arts.'

Tang Yuhwa, who had slightly alleviated her fatigue by performing breathing exercises, quietly stroked her own stomach.

'I miss Master.'

And so, on the way back to Sichuan, quietly resting.

After she had left, the medical students who had followed her late and were now driving the carriage and escorting her had also learned martial arts related to medicine to some extent, so there was no problem of a bandit attack or anything.

And so, during the quiet journey.

-Who is it?!

-A-an attack...!

A problem arose.

A small commotion outside the carriage.

The commotion was not long.

As the surroundings became quiet in an instant, Tang Yuhwa fiddled with the needle in her bosom.

"Rest assured. They have all just fainted for a moment."

At that moment, the carriage door opened with a woman's voice from outside.

Tang Yuhwa quickly threw a needle at the opened door.

It was a poison-imbued needle mixed with her unique internal energy.

"I heard the Sichuan Divine Doctor's hidden weapon technique is quite wondrous, so the rumor was true."

But Tang Yuhwa's needle could not inflict any damage on the opponent and was held in the hand of a strange woman.

Although it was a poison-mixed needle that only caused paralysis, not a deadly poison, and its destructive power was weak because she had controlled her internal energy, it was subdued too easily.

"Who?"

Although Tang Yuhwa prepared to throw a needle again, the woman's hand was much faster.

Like a snake pouncing on its prey, the woman's hand quickly subdued Tang Yuhwa's hand.

Since the difference in strength was also considerable, Tang Yuhwa became a state where she could not move at all.

"As I said, I have no intention of harming you. So be still."

At the woman's words, Tang Yuhwa relaxed her strength.

'The words that she has no intention of harming me are true.'

Anyway, even if she had used her strength, if the woman had been determined, Tang Yuhwa would have died long ago.

The woman who saw Tang Yuhwa, who had instantly released her hostility at her own words, looked at her with a slightly dumbfounded face.

"You're young, but you're quite calm."

"I'm older than I look."

"You're also cheeky."

"Do you expect to be treated with respect by the person you're kidnapping?"

"That's also true."

The woman chuckled at Tang Yuhwa's words and sat down across from her.

Tang Yuhwa carefully scanned the woman.

Although she didn't look that old, unlike herself, who was poor and small, she was voluptuous and tall for a woman.

Although Tang Yuhwa herself was not lacking in a cold impression, the woman's impression went beyond coldness and even felt a hegemonic aura.

A woman who seemed to have no flaw even if she were described as an emperor.

It seemed even the surroundings were being crushed by her own existence.

But Tang Yuhwa was looking at her with an indifferent look.

In the first place, since her nature was indifferent, and she had already met a more amazing person, it was a possible indifference.

Looking at such a Tang Yuhwa, the woman was quite impressed.

"You're not an ordinary person."

"You too."

"Your mouth too."

"You're not lacking either."

And so, after the war of nerves between Tang Yuhwa and the woman had passed for a moment.

Knock, knock.

A sound of knocking on the carriage was heard.

"Heavenly Demon, the suppression of the area has been completed."

And a man's voice was heard from outside the carriage.

As soon as she heard the voice, Tang Yuhwa spread her senses.

In the first place, since she hadn't trained in martial arts that actively, her senses themselves were not good, but she could tell that there were people outside, and that they were martial artists.

'She was called the Heavenly Demon, right?'

And so, grasping the situation outside, she looked at the woman in front of her.

The demon (魔) of the sky (天).

Tang Yuhwa had a thought that that title suited the woman in front of her quite well.

(End of Chapter)