Chapter 384 : Sacred Healer White Sword Yu Maelim
Chapter 384: Sacred Healer White Sword Yu Maelim
‘If I do well, I should be able to form three Gaps of cultivation.’
Eum Sajeok had the cultivation of about two Gaps, so with the Yama True Qi this time, he felt he could accumulate more than one Gap of inner strength.
He had just raised Eum Sajeok’s inner strength to the realm of Transcendence in one stroke.
The Demonic Master needed circulation of qi in order to purify the absorbed Yama True Qi.
He entered a shabby hut where an entire family had died from plague, leaving only silence, and immediately began his cultivation.
Because of the plague, no one would come, so he could circulate qi even without guards.
It took quite a long time to settle the Yama True Qi inside Eum Sajeok’s dantian.
When he opened his eyes, dusk had already fallen, and the world was shrouded in darkness.
“They’ll start to suspect since I’ve been gone. If I disappear for too long, even Yang Gwak will think it strange.”
As the Demonic Master was about to leave the village, he heard the sound of mourning from a house.
It was the wailing of someone grieving for kin lost to the plague.
But then he noticed a woman in white treating the sick there.
Her hands moved skillfully as she checked the patients, clearly a physician.
What was strange, however, was the ancient sword hanging at her side.
The Demonic Master, who had never seen a physician carrying a sword, thought to himself.
‘With the plague, the village must be in chaos. She must carry it for self-defense.’
Thinking it trivial, he hurried on—only for a group of armed men to rush in where the woman in white stood.
There were five of them, and upon seeing her, they shouted.
“Sacred Healer White Sword! Your grave will be here today! Attack!”
The Demonic Master stopped walking.
“Sacred Healer White Sword?”
He turned back in surprise. Sacred Healer White Sword was the physician who, in later years, would be revered as a saintess of the Murim for treating the poor.
Her medical skills were said to rival Hua Tuo’s, and she had even been summoned to the imperial palace. Moreover, she was the descendant of White Sword Sect, a sect of the Murim, and a female master who held her place proudly among the martial elite.
At present she was known only by the alias Sacred Healer White Sword, but in the future she would rise to become one of the Nine Star Healers of the Murim, gaining the grand title of Healer’s Star Seat and becoming famous throughout the martial world.
‘Ho… to think I’d encounter Yu Maelim, the Healer’s Star Seat, in a place like this.’
The Demonic Master thought Yu Maelim would surely be able to handle the ambush and watched the fight.
But contrary to his expectation, Yu Maelim was pushed further into a corner, in grave danger.
‘Ah, her qi has already been exhausted from treating patients.’
Her techniques lacked the infusion of qi; it seemed her strength was spent and she needed to cultivate.
The Demonic Master recalled how in his past life, when he was gravely wounded, he had survived thanks to treatment by the Healer’s Star Seat.
Yu Maelim had treated both orthodox and demonic practitioners without discrimination, which was why she had healed him.
Because of that, even the Demonic Path did not dare treat her lightly.
But as he tried to pass by, memories of the future arose, and his steps faltered.
‘If Yu Maelim dies here, then in the future, I may not survive the poison…’
With that thought, his feet unconsciously carried him toward the fight.
Then he heard a man speak.
“You wench! Even knowing we were chasing you, you dared to play doctor here. I’ll admit you’re bold. Hah, but because of that, you’ll die here today. Don’t resent it. I’ll at least make sure you don’t become a virgin ghost.”
Another man nearby muttered with a leer.
“I wonder what your bare flesh looks like.”
Hearing their lecherous words, Yu Maelim sneered.
“Hmph, before you see my flesh, you’ll first see your own split-open chests!”
With her last remaining qi, Yu Maelim slashed at the warrior on the far right.
That side led toward open ground, making escape possible.
“Where do you think you’re going!”
When two of them blocked the path, Yu Maelim swiftly reversed her body, lowering herself as if collapsing, and swept her sword to the left.
Shwik!
One man, careless in thinking they had already cornered her, had his leg cut and collapsed.
“Gaaahhh!”
Just as she stepped on the fallen man to leap away, another rushed to block the escape route and stabbed.
Yu Maelim spun quickly to avoid it, but the maneuver cost her momentum, and she was surrounded again.
“Consider it an honor to die at the hands of our Poison Valley’s Five Venom Demonic Swords!”
As the four closed in, their attacks disoriented her. Soon her hands failed her grip, and her sword fell.
“You bitch! You dare resist? I was willing to spare you from becoming a virgin ghost, but no more. Know this is all your doing!”
Swiish!
As a sword swung toward her neck, a shadow dropped from the air and deflected the blade.
Chaaang!
Pook!
At the same moment, the shadow’s sword pierced the chest of the man who had aimed for Yu Maelim’s throat.
The shadow was none other than the Demonic Master, who had been watching.
“Khuek!”
With one of their comrades fallen, the Five Venom Demonic Swords simultaneously attacked the Demonic Master descending from the sky.
But he skillfully diverted their blades and in a flash slit the necks of the remaining four.
Swiish!
Grrrk!
Wind hissed from their throats as the Five Venom Demonic Swords collapsed.
Someone had suddenly appeared and dealt with the Five Venom Demonic Swords in an instant, and Yu Maelim stared blankly at the Demonic Master’s face.
“Who… are you?”
“Let us leave this place first. There will surely be others nearby aiding them.”
When she tried to ask further, the Demonic Master cut her off and turned his body.
Yu Maelim instead took out medicine pills from her bosom and said to the patients.
“Take these. With luck, you may survive. And keep drinking water that has been boiled and sterilized.”
She pressed her hand to the Mingmen Acupoint of a weakened patient and infused them with qi.
For ordinary people who had no dantian, receiving a martial artist’s qi gave them temporary strength.
Since they needed at least one person able to move in order to boil water for the others, Yu Maelim used even the last of her qi to help them.
‘As expected of the Sacred Healer White Sword. Even in such a situation, she thinks of the patients first.’
After tending to the sick, Yu Maelim clasped her hands and bowed to the Demonic Master.
“Thank you for your help. I am Yu Maelim. May I ask your name, Master?”
The Demonic Master also clasped his hands and replied.
“I am Eum Sajeok. Passing by, I saw villains pressing you, so I stepped in.”
Though his eyes glimmered with wickedness, strangely, there was a warmth in them, and Yu Maelim murmured inwardly.
‘From his aura, he seems close to the Demonic Path, yet his words and deeds are those of the orthodox.’
Yu Maelim said.
“Forgive me, but could you accompany me until I leave this village?”
“Of course. I was about to leave as well. Which direction do you go?”
When Yu Maelim pointed west, the Demonic Master nodded.
The direction she pointed was the same way as the inn where the Great Young Master was staying.
Together, they left the village and arrived at a secluded place.
It was where the road split—one leading to the inn, the other to Yu Maelim’s path.
On the way, Yu Maelim had carefully observed the Demonic Master who silently followed her, but found nothing suspicious.
‘His aura is truly steeped in the Demonic Path…’
Her doubts, however, were soon interrupted by the Demonic Master’s words.
“We can part here. But, it seems the men of Poison Valley are pursuing you—will you be alright?”
“You know of Poison Valley?”
Yu Maelim asked.
“Of course I know. Is it not one of the Three Hidden Sects of the Murim?”
The Three Hidden Sects was the name given to sects whose locations were unknown to the Murim.
“Then why is Poison Valley pursuing you?”
Yu Maelim gave a bitter smile.
“Because I saved someone they tried to kill with poison.”
“Ah! That person—is it perhaps the Greatest Sword Under Heaven?”
The Demonic Master carelessly let slip a memory from his past life.
Only after speaking did he realize his mistake, but he did not show it.
“Huh? How do you know that? Very few people know.”
“I… overheard those Five Venom Demonic Sword men mention it earlier.”
“I see. I’m on my way to meet him now. His poison hasn’t been fully neutralized, so I’m fetching herbs. But Poison Valley is obstructing me.”
“Is that so? Why do they seek to kill the Greatest Sword Under Heaven?”
Yu Maelim hesitated, wary, then said.
“That, I do not know. I only know that because my master has close ties to him, I am treating his poisoning.”
The Demonic Master thought to himself.
‘Yu Maelim became known in the Murim because she treated Jo Wonmuk, the Greatest Sword Under Heaven. But what if Jo Wonmuk dies here?’
He shook his head.
In the Great Martial Battle of Moon and Orthodoxy, Jo Wonmuk’s killing of Heavenly Demon Sect’s First Master had reversed the tide of battle.
If Jo Wonmuk were to die here, that battle would never have ended so easily.
If he were truly Eum Sajeok, he would kill Yu Maelim or block her so that Jo Wonmuk could not be saved. But as he now stood on Yong Hwarin’s side, he had to save him.
“May I escort you to your destination?”
Yu Maelim asked.
“May I ask which sect you belong to, Master?”
The Demonic Master hesitated briefly, concealing his identity.
“I belong to the Heavenly Central Sect.”
“Ah, then do you know Yong Hwarin, the Heavenly Sword Hero?”
“Of course. We are quite close.”
“You said you are a disciple—were you raised in Heavenly Central Sect?”
“No. I am a guest disciple.”
“Ah, I heard recently that Heavenly Central Sect has taken in many guest disciples. So you are one of them. But… what brings you here? Shouldn’t you be at Heavenly Central Sect now?”
From Yu Maelim’s gaze, the Demonic Master realized she suspected his identity, but he calmly replied.
“In truth, I am lodging with Young Master Yong at an inn in Yeo-nam.”
Hearing that, Yu Maelim smiled brightly.
“Ah, then you are indeed part of Yong’s company. I even heard the Greatest Sword Under Heaven mention that Young Master Yong was in Yeo-nam.”
Since only Yong’s companions would know he was in Yeo-nam, Yu Maelim trusted the Demonic Master.
“I was actually on my way to seek Young Master Yong’s aid in treating the Greatest Sword Under Heaven’s poisoning. But why are you here alone? This village is dangerous with plague.”
“On the way, I saw a dying man. He lingered in my mind, so I stayed.”
Seeing how kindhearted he was, despite the demonic aura he radiated, Yu Maelim thought to herself.
‘Truly, one must not judge a person by appearances.’
Moreover, she had heard that among Yong Hwarin’s group there were not a few who practiced Demonic Arts. She thus mistook the Demonic Master as one of them.
The Demonic Master intended only to guard Yu Maelim until she reached the place where the Greatest Sword Under Heaven was hidden.
If the Five Venom Demonic Swords had already found Yu Maelim, then Poison Valley’s other warriors must also be pursuing her.