The Terminally-Ill Side-Character Inside of a Martial Arts Novel

I stared blankly at the man who introduced himself as Monk Jeongun’s disciple.

The disciple of that stubborn man? No, what did he say before that?

“…The successor of Shaolin’s pharmaceutical arts?”

“Yes. It’s a fact not known publicly, but about 100 years ago, Shaolin’s pharmaceutical arts lineage was cut off in the fight against Black Demon. Especially the Body Refining Pills called Shaolin’s spirit medicine and the Jade Spirit Powder, the best healing medicine. The methods to produce these two were lost.”

This was the first time I heard this story. Shaolin produces Body Refining Pills and Great Rejuvenation Pills every year and uses those medicines to cultivate disciples.

The production method was a secret technique and an absolute secret that had never been leaked even if you searched through thousands of years of Shaolin history.

It was surprising that the lineage was cut off, and it was also surprising that Monk Jeongun had inherited it. I knew he was an extraordinary old man, but I never thought he would be connected to Shaolin.

“Come to think of it, I didn’t think much about the title ‘Monk Jeongun’, but thinking about it again, it is strange. If he were simply a doctor, he wouldn’t have the title of monk.”

I nodded at Hyuk Dojin’s words. I too hadn’t thought much when he called himself a monk. So this was what it meant.

Ji Seok continued speaking.

“Monk Jeongun is Shaolin’s benefactor. He perfectly decoded the secret techniques that were impossible to decipher and left them in books, and also passed down those secret techniques. He saved Shaolin’s precious pharmaceutical arts of thousands of years that were about to disappear completely.”

“Then you being Monk Jeongun’s disciple means…?”

“When I was young, I regained my health with Monk Jeongun’s help and became his disciple from then on. Although I’m insufficient, I received that skill for decades, but I’m still far from enough. However, ten years ago, Monk Jeongun suddenly left the mountain and disappeared.”

He stretched out his finger and pointed at the medicine in my hand.

“But at the martial arts competition, I happened to see the Young Madam taking that medicine and could tell it was Monk Jeongun’s medicine. So I kept it a secret from Shaolin and secretly snuck in to you two.”

“Wait a moment.”

I think I just heard something. I looked at Ji Seok who had closed his mouth. He tilted his head as if asking why I was reacting like that.

I stared intently into his eyes and asked quietly.

“I think you just said you snuck in secretly… Is that true?”

“It’s true. Shaolin only wanted me to participate in the martial arts competition. Since that didn’t work out, I should have returned to Shaolin, but I made the excuse that I needed to train for a while and headed towards you two to ask about Monk Jeongun’s whereabouts.”

He looked around and made a bitter expression.

“I didn’t expect to experience something like this though.”

“…”

I looked at him quietly, then sent a voice transmission to Hyuk Dojin.

[He doesn’t seem to be lying, but what do you think, Dojin?]

[I think so too. It’s hard to think a monk would lie, and if his words are true, we could replenish the lacking medicine, so it’s not bad for us.]

I glanced at Hyuk Dojin, then nodded my head. Facing Ji Seok who was looking at me and Hyuk Dojin blankly as if asking what we would do, I opened my mouth.

“Is what you said earlier about being able to make medicine true?”

“I can’t refine medicine as delicately as Monk Jeongun, but I can follow at a slightly lower level. However, I need medicinal ingredients. Even if not to the level of the thousand-year-old fleeceflower root that went into this, I need medicinal ingredients full of yang energy.”

While thinking about where to get such precious medicinal ingredients, something suddenly came to mind and I rummaged through another bag and took out Body Refining Pills.

Ji Seok’s eyes lit up when he saw the Body Refining Pills I took out.

“Body Refining Pills. There are records that the Demon Cult stole a large amount of Shaolin’s Body Refining Pills, so it seems it’s true.”

“Are you displeased?”

“No. Such things aren’t important now. For now, since Body Refining Pills are also medicinal ingredients containing yang energy, it should be fine if we use these. Ingredients like white lotus can be obtained without much difficulty, so when we go to a village, I’ll get them separately and try to produce it. But this is not enough. With this many Body Refining Pills, at most we can make five pills.”

Just 5 days? We still needed about 20 more pills. While wondering what else I had, I also held out the wild ginseng I had received before.

I took out other small things, but there was nothing really usable. Then we needed new medicinal ingredients.

Precious medicinal ingredients wouldn’t be lying around on the streets. And even if someone wanted to buy them, precious medicinal ingredients were more valuable than any gold or silver treasures.

Even among the Righteous Sect, trading wasn’t appropriate, so would they understand if we asked them to give up precious ingredients to save the Demon Cult’s Young Madam? They would probably tell us to die, seeing it as an opportunity.

Ji Seok closed his mouth tightly without saying anything, as if knowing my thoughts. Silence flowed quietly. While I was thinking if there was any good plan, a small exclamation burst from Ji Seok’s mouth.

When I raised my head, Ji Seok slightly furrowed his brows as if something had occurred to him and slowly opened his mouth.

“Come to think of it… We might be able to obtain medicinal ingredients.”

“Where?”

At my question, he frowned and hesitated, then spoke slowly.

“In Boyang, located in Anhui, the Huai River flows.”

“Huai River?”

“It’s a long river that crosses Henan and Hubei. There are rumors that there’s a spirit herb there.”

He spoke carefully with a very cautious face while frowning.

“It’s a legendary spirit herb that has a total of 5 leaves attached, and just chewing one leaf leads to immunity against all poisons, and if you eat all the leaves, you reach immunity against all fires. Although it hasn’t been discovered yet, different regions call it different names, but Shaolin calls it the Five Leaf Fire Grass.”

As I listened quietly to his continuing explanation, something suddenly came to mind and my head tilted.

The name Five Leaf Fire Grass was unfamiliar, but what he was explaining somehow felt familiar.

Five leaves, immunity against all poisons, immunity against all fires.

While I was recalling my memories, Hyuk Dojin’s words were heard.

“If rumors are rampant but no one has discovered it, couldn’t it be false? Moreover, Anhui that we have to go around to reach. There’s Hefei there, and if you go down a bit from Hefei, there’s Huangshan. Do you know who has made their nest in Huangshan?”

“I know.”

I raised my head while listening to the voice. Hyuk Dojin’s face came into view.

“I don’t know about other places, but Anhui is completely under the Namgoong clan’s sphere of influence. To crawl into a place where the unrivaled Namgoong, called the First Clan, could attack anytime if they change their mind… It’s suicide.”

Namgoong clan’s sphere of influence… Boyang, Huai River.

“Moreover, to move our footsteps there to obtain a medicine we don’t even know where it is, no, whose existence is even questionable. It would be faster to stop by Mount Fulong and ask for help from the Jegal clan.”

“Haha… Is that so? Well, even I think it’s too reckless a gamble. I understand.”

As Ji Seok nodded his head as if giving up, I quickly spoke while looking at him again.

“May I ask one thing?”

Ji Seok tilted his head and nodded.

“Do you know what that medicine called Five Leaf Fire Grass looks like?”

“Nothing is known exactly. I’ve seen what’s contained in the spirit herb book passed down in Shaolin. It has five leaves, and at a glance, it resembles plantain so people often pass by without knowing. Therefore, to distinguish it…”

“You have to check the red flower growing under the five leaves…”

“…How did you know?”

Ji Seok opened his eyes wide as if surprised at my continued explanation. While taking in his reaction with my eyes, I turned my head to look at Hyuk Dojin. He seemed surprised too.

“Wife?”

“…I think I know.”

If my memory isn’t wrong, I might not remember other minor names, but its properties remained faintly in my memory.

The spirit herb that leads to immunity against all fires if you eat all five leaves. It was the spirit herb Moyong Do had eaten to cross the Demon Cult’s fire wall.

“I know where that herb is.”

* * *

Namgoong Baek’s gaze, who was leisurely drinking alcohol sitting in a pavilion hanging precariously as if about to fall, slowly turned.

His gaze, which had been looking up at the carved cliff, turned sideways, and Namgoong Seolbyeok appeared along the narrow path.

The gentle gaze looking at his disciple curved beautifully.

Namgoong Seolbyeok bowed his head to his master who was smiling at him.

“You’ve come.”

At Namgoong Baek’s voice, Namgoong Seolbyeok nodded his head.

Namgoong Baek quietly looked at his disciple with a gentle face. Although he had taught countless times and tried to understand, Namgoong Baek still couldn’t read his disciple’s true heart.

The disciple’s thoughts that used to be easily grasped as if in his hand now felt complex. It was all after meeting Moyong Sowol.

“Elder Cheol Mugi has returned.”

“He’s late. To be delayed by four days. It’s not like him.”

“His injuries are severe, so he’s receiving treatment now.”

“Hmm.”

Namgoong Baek closed his eyes tightly while tilting his wine cup.

Namgoong Seolbyeok silently stared blankly at his master like that. Just as Namgoong Baek couldn’t understand his disciple, Namgoong Seolbyeok also couldn’t understand his master. The master seen through Namgoong Seolbyeok’s eyes was an absolute being who lacked nothing to envy.

He was a man born with the bloodline of the Namgoong clan, called the first among the Five Great Clans, who became the Murim Alliance Leader and received the title of Sword Saint to become the best of the Three Emperors. He was the strongest in the martial arts world.

Why would such a man be obsessed with the Young Cult Leader? Is crossing the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult’s wall so coveted?

The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult trying to leap out of the treacherous Hundred Thousand Mountains and conquer the Righteous Sect was partly due to the intention of unifying the demonic path, but the core reason was that the seasons in the Hundred Thousand Mountains were too harsh for people to live. So they tried to occupy the Central Plains with its mild climate in order to survive.

But the Righteous Sect had no need to subjugate the Demon Cult. They had no reason to attack the Demon Cult when they could just stay still and have the Central Plains where grain and food overflowed and all wealth gathered.

The great cause of crossing the Hundred Thousand Mountains to establish righteousness, justice, and chivalry had long since disappeared. Yet Namgoong Baek was still obsessed with the Demon Cult.

“What do you think?”

Namgoong Seolbyeok raised his head at the question that came to him. Namgoong Baek was looking at him with indifferent eyes.

“Aren’t you one of the people who desperately want the Young Cult Leader to die? Because then you can have Moyong Sowol.”

“…”

Strength entered Namgoong Seolbyeok’s hands. A smile hung on the master’s lips as he faced his disciple’s shaking eyes.

“A beautiful woman who can overthrow a country puts a hero who can command the world to sleep. When thinking of such things, Moyong Sowol is a suitable woman. Not just her beauty, but with that mysterious atmosphere, she’s no different from having a charm that no man in the world can refuse.”

“…”

The master’s eyes curved beautifully as he looked at his silent disciple.

“Byeok-ah.”

It was a voice affectionately calling his disciple. But the end was sharp. Namgoong Seolbyeok loosened his stiffened body at the voice calling him and opened his closed mouth.

“…They headed towards Anhui.”

“Hmm.”

“It’s different from what we expected, that they would head towards Hubei, but there’s no big problem. I’ve already conveyed the situation to Clan Leader Namgoong Danghwi.”

It was a face that looked very troubled even while speaking. Namgoong Baek had entrusted this task to be a guide for his disciple who had not yet found his direction.

Even though he couldn’t persuade him that it wasn’t something to be done as a Righteous Sect, the stubborn Namgoong Seolbyeok simply followed Namgoong Baek’s words.

“Anhui… Hefei, no, Huai River…”

His mouth closed as he muttered quietly. His eyes held the sky. When his eyes, which had been looking into the distance, turned straight again, his mouth that had been closed in a straight line opened.

“It’s Boyang.”

“I’ll tell Elder Cheol Mugi to depart.”

“No, there’s no need for that. Someone else has already departed, so they’ll proceed on their own.”

Namgoong Baek tilted his wine cup with a gentle smile like a noble immortal.

“I’m curious to see the Young Cult Leader’s face.”