Chapter 209
Chapter 209
Deep into the night, Dang Jung narrowed his eyes at the sound of a child pacing the courtyard.
The dragging of feet echoed particularly loudly through the still night air.
'She's not one to walk so noisily. Is something wrong...?'
Dang Jung quietly watched the restless movements before gently opening the door.
Having been caught in the rain with a weakened body, she might be feverish and unable to sleep.
Stepping into the courtyard, he saw Dang So-hye standing silently beneath the crescent moon, gazing up at the sky.
"My dear, can't you sleep? It's late, why are you outside..."
Dang Jung's face hardened as he whispered affectionately.
The child's eyes, gazing at the sky, were unfocused. Her expression was dreamy, as if she were asleep.
"...My dear?"
With a sinking feeling, he called out again, but Dang So-hye didn't respond.
She simply breathed softly, like someone soundly asleep.
Dang Jung slowly lowered his gaze.
The child's small feet were covered in mud and soaked with blood.
Dang Jung bit his lip and groaned, as if he were being strangled.
His greed had ruined the child. No matter what, he shouldn't have left her alone.
What was so important about reaching the heavens?
What was so important about enlightenment...?
"It's all this old man's fault. It's all this old man's fault..."
Dang Jung's lips trembled as he slowly reached out his hand.
Using Telekinesis, he carefully levitated Dang So-hye's body, gently pulling her towards him so as not to startle her.
Then, he lightly took Dang So-hye's wrist and checked her Blood Vessels.
Catching her limp body, Dang So-hye blinked blankly before falling asleep with a relieved expression.
She seemed to have found peace in the warmth of the familiar embrace.
Bitterness clouded Dang Jung's face as he wiped the blood from her feet with trembling hands.
What good would it do to fix her body? Her tattered heart showed no signs of mending.
'Im Ga. What do you know...?'
It was clear that she had been through a great ordeal, but he couldn't bring himself to pry open the wound that was dripping blood.
He held his disciple, who felt so light, tightly in his arms.
The cold moonlight, sharp enough to cut skin, was merciless.
Regardless of human affairs, time flowed relentlessly.
The fallen leaves rolling on the ground seemed to signal the end of autumn, and then white snow covered the world.
Just as everyone was adapting to the frozen ground and the encroaching cold wave, the winter frost retreated and a warm breeze began to blow.
Dang Jung, sitting on a tree and looking at the sprouting green shoots in the forest, tapped his long pipe.
After rummaging through hundreds of medical books and searching far and wide, the only conclusion he reached was that there was no proper cure for somnambulism.
Pressing down on his throbbing temples, he took out a letter from his pocket and read it again.
I'm anxious. Create an environment where my dear can rest comfortably.
Dang Jung reluctantly turned the page, and a testy sentence appeared.
I told you to ask directly, so why do you keep bothering me? If you can't even act as a fence for your master, just die.
Staring at the roughly scribbled words, he couldn't contain his irritation and burned the letter.
Over the winter, Dang So-hye's body had become so healthy that it was hard to believe she had been on the verge of death.
But her mental illness showed no signs of improving.
The longer the time Dang So-hye spent wandering in her dreams, the more Dang Jung's heart burned.
He needed to know what had happened to soothe her torn heart, but he had no way of finding out.
The old monster, who was always willful, kept his mouth shut even though he knew the reason, and his usually quick-witted confidant seemed to know nothing.
Dang Jung chewed on the mouthpiece of his long pipe and called Dang Geunmyeong softly, looking down at the tree.
"Geun-myeong."
"Yes, Elder."
"You really have no idea?"
Dang Geunmyeong, sensing Dang Jung's displeasure, hesitated before opening his mouth.
"...Well, actually."
"What is it?"
"While you were away, the child met her full sibling and spent time with them. Seeing her so disheartened, I suspect something happened to her sibling."
"Why are you telling me this now!"
Dang Geunmyeong quickly bowed his head at the thunderous roar.
"I apologize, Elder. The child seemed to be trying not to show how difficult it was for her... My thinking was short-sighted."
Dang Jung glared at Dang Geunmyeong with a furious face, then suppressed his anger and questioned him.
"Are you sure it's really her full sibling? So-hye's mother was no ordinary courtesan. If she had a child, there would have been rumors, but this is the first I've heard of it."
"I saw his face myself. It's the same bloodline."
"So? Is he dead?"
"I don't know if he's alive or dead. He was always elusive."
"Elusive?"
"Yes. On the day the child introduced him as her sibling, I immediately asked the Beggars' Sect to investigate, but there was no information."
"Even a third-rate Martial Artist can be traced back to their hometown through the Beggars' Sect. Was he not a Martial Artist?"
"He was a Martial Artist, but he was a third-rate Swordmaster with almost no Inner Energy. I believe he was reported to the Alliance as a third-rate Martial Artist."
Dang Jung pondered Dang Geunmyeong's explanation.
If they were together all the time, he would have been there at the moment of the incident, so why hadn't she said anything until now?
Something felt off.
"Strange. You showed the sibling to Geun-myeong, but hid him from this old man?"
She was a tender child who suffered as much as her maid from her injuries.
Considering her nature, she would have asked about her sibling's well-being as soon as she regained consciousness...
'Could it be that the nonsense about having to go back was...'
Dang Jung distorted his face and asked again, with a glimmer of hope.
"That child who was So-hye's sibling, was there anything strange about him?"
"There was nothing particularly strange. His aura was unusual for a third-rate Martial Artist, so I tested him once, but I was knocked out by a single Poison Palm. He had no Poison resistance, so I had to give him an Antidote Pill immediately."
"Anything else?"
"...However, now that I think about it, he might have been injured internally. The child took all kinds of medicinal herbs and even the Hundred Herb Decoction essence to nourish her sibling's body."
"Tell me more."
"He seemed like a good person. It was obvious that the child relied on him a lot."
As the explanation continued, Dang Jung's expression froze coldly.
"...A third-rate Martial Artist weaker than me would never be a source of support in the Jianghu? Did that child carry a rusty iron sword?"
"I didn't see what kind of sword it was, but the scabbard was rusty and in poor condition."
"What?"
At Dang Geunmyeong's answer, Dang Jung jumped down from the tree and clenched his fist so hard that his hand turned white.
At the same time as the long pipe in his hand crumbled, a roar like that of a beast erupted.
"That...! Im Ga, that damn old man...! He knew everything but didn't say anything?"
Dang Geunmyeong, turning pale at the Poison that instantly melted the surrounding vegetation, prostrated himself.
"Elder, please calm down. The child is listening."
"How can I calm down when the child was hanging out with a Demonic Sect Spy and ended up like this!"
"...Excuse me?"
Dang Geunmyeong also turned pale as he finally realized Yeon-ryang's identity.
He was even more bewildered because there wasn't even a small circumstance that would make him suspect him of being a Demon.
The man he met was far from having the turbid eyes typical of a Demon, and he didn't emit an unpleasant aura.
Above all, it was obvious that he sincerely cared for Dang So-hye.
If he had been trying to use the child, he wouldn't have been so angry about the marriage issue, nor would he have periodically reported the child's news.
'Elder. Could you provide a way for me to report the child's news directly to you?'
'What do you mean? Are you saying you'll contact me directly?'
'The Rivers and Lakes / Jianghu is a Mountain of Blades and Forest of Swords, isn't it? I want to prepare for the worst so that I can take the child away immediately if something happens to me.'
'......Alright.'
'Please keep it a secret from the child.'
Recalling the man with a bitter smile, Dang Geunmyeong swallowed hard as he looked at his master, who was raging.
With the Poison melting even the rocks, he didn't dare to express his opinion that the child's sibling seemed like a good person.
Dang Jung, who was grinding his teeth as if he would kill the Demon in front of him right away, covered his face powerlessly.
"So... So that's why the child couldn't say anything."
"......"
"Thinking of this old man, she couldn't even bring it up and has been suffering alone all this time... How much must that young one have been agonizing..."
"Elder..."
"It's all this old man's fault... This old man's sin is great..."
Dang Jung, tormented by self-reproach, took a deep breath with a distorted face.
"Pretend you don't know in front of the child. Anything we do now will only be like rubbing salt into the wound."
"Yes."
"It won't get better easily... I wonder if I should take So-hye to the Bamboo Sea. What should I do with that poor thing?"
Dang Geunmyeong, watching his master's troubled face, cautiously opened his mouth.
"Elder. How about returning to the main family altogether?"
"It's too early. Who knows what kind of trouble will happen if we return to the main family."
"It might be because she's been living alone for too long. Wouldn't it be better if she mingled with her siblings?"
Dang Jung's eyes narrowed at Dang Geunmyeong's repeated suggestion.
"There's no reason for you to object, Geun-myeong? Why. Is someone else up to something?"
Dang Geunmyeong, bowing his head at the sharp question, answered cautiously.
"It's not that, but because we've received so many medicinal herbs from the Medicine Hall... There are rumors that the child has become a cripple."
