“Have you been busy?”

“There’s been a lot of running around to do.”

After wrapping things up with the Sword-Breaking Society, I came to visit Moyong Medical House.

According to Chief Steward Byeok, Moyong Baek had been visiting Black Cat Pavilion multiple times lately, looking increasingly worn out with each visit.

Now that I was sitting across from him, staring at his face, I couldn’t help but sigh.

“Sir, what happened to your face?”

Moyong Baek forced a smile as he replied,

“Seems I’ve been studying too hard lately.”

I studied his expression and responded,

“I’ve never been close with books myself, but I know that face isn’t from studying too much. Looks like you’ve exhausted your spiritual strength—something must’ve happened.”

I glanced around Moyong Baek’s study.

Normally, books placed on high shelves are rarely touched, but quite a few volumes had clearly been pulled down—finger marks in the dust gave it away.

‘What did this guy suddenly start researching?’

Regardless, Moyong Baek looked awful, so I scolded him first.

“For a physician, you’re in terrible shape. In that condition, who are you going to treat? Looks like you’re the one who should be in bed.”

Moyong Baek just kept smiling sheepishly.

“I am a little tired, yes.”

“Sir.”

“Yes?”

“Come on, spill everything.”

Moyong Baek nodded and then changed the subject.

“By the way, why have you been so busy? I stopped by Black Cat Pavilion several times.”

I gave him a brief explanation of recent events.

“Someone kept sending assassins, so I had to track them down. I completely destroyed the force that had hired them, and now my subordinates are still working to clean up the mess.”

“Must’ve been a sizable group?”

“They were called the Sword-Breaking Society.”

“I’ve heard of them.”

Seeing how pale Moyong Baek looked, I stopped talking about myself. Today seemed like the day I should be listening to him instead. He didn’t seem like he’d open up easily, so I kept a stern tone as I said,

“Moyong-sensei.”

“Yes.”

“Tell me everything—down to the last detail. I need to know what drained your energy like this.”

“Of course, I should.”

He pulled out a book and set it on the desk.

“I obtained Ice Art.”

I folded my arms and nodded.

“I see. And?”

Moyong Baek seemed slightly flustered.

“Aren’t you surprised?”

“Ice Art is Ice Art. Why should I be surprised? Keep talking. You got Ice Art—then what?”

“I thought I should give it to you. So I read through it carefully. What’s fascinating about martial arts manuals is that their structure is often similar to medical texts.”

“Makes sense.”

“I checked to make sure it didn’t contain anything that could harm you.”

“And did it?”

Moyong Baek pointed to the book with his finger.

“To advance in Ice Art, it recommends a form of Chae-eum—the absorption of yin essence. It’s the same method as Chae-eum Bo-yang, that heretical path technique. Chae means to extract, which naturally results in death for the one it’s taken from. In other words, it’s a method of becoming stronger by killing people. The creator of this martial art completed it using this method. So this book isn’t a secret manual—it’s essentially a diary. I tried to edit out the unnecessary parts…”

“Sensei. Sensei. Moyong-sensei…”

“Yes?”

“Drink some water. Slowly now…”

Moyong Baek poured himself a glass and took a sip before looking back at me.

“I wanted to revise it for you, but it wasn’t easy. The content is intertwined with personal accounts.”

“And?”

Though I felt sorry for him, I focused on listening to the rest.

“In the end, since you weren’t around when I came to discuss it several times, I was left studying it on my own.”

I nodded.

“So that’s what happened. I take it the Chae-eum method was too brutal?”

“Yes. Not only brutal—it was written by someone who showed no sympathy or remorse. The number of people he killed isn’t written, but I can’t even begin to guess. Reading it made me feel deeply depressed.”

Now I understood the situation.

“Demonic martial art, then.”

“Yes.”

“Was it the guy with the folding fan who gave it to you?”

“How did you know? He did ask me to keep it secret for now.”

“If he really thought I wouldn’t notice, he’s seriously underestimating me.”

So Magunja had paid a visit.

Being from the demonic sect, it wouldn't have been hard for him to get an old Ice Art manual. But if he stole a classified manual from their archives, getting kicked out wouldn’t be surprising.

But Magunja’s always been that kind of guy.

He probably moved over to the Martial Alliance after causing some incident in the demonic sect.

Same in my past life.

Still, right now Moyong Baek’s condition was more important, so I pushed thoughts of Magunja aside.

I leaned back in my chair, resting my chin on one hand, and gave Moyong Baek another round of grief.

“How old are you to be reading stuff like this and getting possessed by a heart demon? You're something else, really.”

“Yes. It made me angry. I’m a physician—a man who saves lives—but I was sitting there reading the diary of someone who killed without a shred of remorse, and slowly…”

“Slowly what?”

“I got angry. I couldn’t sleep. I started wondering what the point was of struggling to learn medicine at all.”

“And?”

Only then did Moyong Baek speak his true feelings.

“To be honest… if that man is still alive somewhere, I want to find him and kill him.”

I nodded.

To that, I could only respond internally.

‘Yeah. That must be the Poison Demon.’

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

Between divine loyalty and the poison path, there’s only a paper-thin difference.

This man, too, could change completely—at any time.

The ‘paper’ I’m thinking of gets thinner the purer the person.

Today, I was dead set on scolding Moyong Baek properly.

Of course, because I considered him a valuable connection, I needed to do it strategically.

While I was formulating my plan, the weakened Moyong Baek asked me,

“Lord, that person… he must already be dead, right?”

“He’s dead.”

“When do you think he died?”

“Shall I take a look?”

“Yes.”

I picked up the troublesome manual Magunja had left and flipped through it roughly, mumbling as I went.

“Why is there so much talking? Grumble grumble, it really is a diary. ‘Ice Art is a branch of Yin Art. Yin Art divides into Cold Art and Ice Art. Cold Art focuses on penetrating the body, while Ice Art spreads cold energy outward. Training in Cold Art almost always leads to internal deviation. But Ice Art, since it releases cold externally, is somewhat freer from internal deviation. What I record here is Moonshadow Heartless Art. Moonshadow Heartless…’ Say, Sensei, this Ice Art…”

“Yes?”

“It was made by a woman.”

Moyong Baek jolted in surprise.

“Pardon? There’s no mention of that anywhere.”

“Nope. Definitely made by a woman. Moonshadow Heartless? The moon’s shadow is heartless? That sounds like a woman who went through heartbreak. Guys like us, when we get dumped, we turn to booze. She probably had a drink under the moonlight and reached enlightenment in Ice Art. That, I could understand. But the moon’s shadow is heartless? That’s not the sentiment of a pathetic man. It’s obviously a woman. Can’t you tell just by looking?”

Moyong Baek replied,

“I suppose so.”

“Seems like she trained this martial art to get revenge on some garbage from the orthodox sects.”

Again, Moyong Baek looked shocked.

“Pardon? There’s no mention of that either…”

“No, listen closely. Who would she have learned Ice Art for, with this kind of bitterness? To become number one under the heavens? No. I think she trained it for revenge—on a hypocrite. Someone with immense power and terrifying martial skill. Probably the strongest in the world. Someone she couldn’t beat through regular means. Highly praised, difficult to approach. Might’ve been a great hero, maybe even a leader of a sect. And this woman… she must’ve been truly beautiful.”

“All of a sudden?”

Moyong Baek seemed to give up halfway and just nodded as he listened to my story.

“Of course she was beautiful. Probably strong in martial arts, too. That hypocrite got close to her, they fell in love, and she probably thought they’d be together forever. She must’ve been happy. But when the hypocrite left her for another woman… how could she live to forget those memories? To erase the happiest moments of her life from her mind. That man must’ve thought too little of her. This cool, composed handwriting… she must’ve written it under the heartless moonlight.”

Moyong Baek looked at the handwriting again.

“Now that you mention it, the calligraphy really is neat and refined.”

“Looks like the handwriting of Wiryungha, the Grandmaster of the Demonic Path.”

“Isn’t that a bit of a stretch?”

“You know Wiryungha?”

“Of course. A renowned female expert who challenged the founder of the Kunlun Sect. That founder used to be a sect leader too. I believe Wiryungha’s group was annihilated by Kunlun. Only after the extermination did they start calling them a demonic sect.”

“There’s no shortage of factions that got labeled as demonic after being wiped out. Someone else might’ve inherited her martial arts or bloodline somewhere.”

Moyong Baek spoke, dazed.

“Now that you mention it… the man who brought this book had terrible posture—looked like he’d read too many books. His eyes were extremely strained, too.”

“Moyong-sensei.”

“Yes?”

I stared at him.

“I’m not some Grandmaster of the Demonic Path. I don’t need any of those Chae-eum techniques. There’s no reason for you to let an ancient book’s cruelty weigh on your heart. There’s more than one way to become stronger. If you keep losing your mind like this…”

I picked up the book and gave it a little shake.

“It’d be better to burn it.”

Moyong Baek was startled and reached out.

“Ah, please don’t. Understood. Don’t burn it. I wasn’t planning on reading it again anyway.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

I set the book down and spoke in a flat tone.

“There’s a lot of evil in this world we’ll never understand. That’s why I’m so damn busy right now, killing people left and right. I drag them all into the fire—those who practice Chae-eum, those who treat people as medicine, those who don’t see people as human. I’ll pull every one of them into hell myself.”

“Yes.”

“You just keep treating your patients like always. I’ll be the one doing the killing. Got it?”

I looked into Moyong Baek’s eyes. He looked straight back and replied.

“I understand, Lord. But… do you understand the intentions of the man who gave me the book?”

“I do.”

“What were they?”

“He wanted to compete in light footwork. He’s insane about it.”

“Did you compete?”

“No. I think he’s faster than me for now, so I strategically backed off. He probably meant, ‘Let’s train properly and compete again later.’ He’s not just crazy—he’s deeply insane.”

“What do you think will happen if you beat him someday? He seemed quite advanced in martial arts.”

I grinned.

“Well…”

“Yes?”

“He’ll be thrilled.”

“Thrilled to lose?”

“No. Thrilled because it’ll give him motivation to train more. It’s a long game. One day, he’ll show up again with a smile, asking for another match. Who’ll win then? I’m not someone who loses to some bookworm, desk-bound scholar, running addict, turtle-shell-backed freak. That’s me.”

Moyong Baek nodded.

“That’s admirable.”

I waved the book lazily.

“If we can’t find a proper way to master Ice Art, I’ll burn this thing without hesitation. It’s nothing. Just one martial art among many.”

“Yes.”

Truthfully, I don’t need to absorb essence or seek rare elixirs. I can just draw out the extreme yin energy from the Heavenly Pearl. But that’s not something I could tell Moyong Baek.

I pointed at him and spoke in a commanding tone.

“Close the clinic for the day and go get some sleep.”

“I will.”

“No—go inside right now and lie down. I’ll be doing energy cultivation here tonight, so tell the nurses to close up.”

Tonight, I would stand guard here.

Moyong Baek, unlike in his past life, hadn’t deeply trained in martial arts yet, so he instinctively feared Magunja. And he must’ve been angry at himself for that fear.

The reason for that anger was simple.

He was confident that he could become much stronger if he ever gave up medicine and devoted himself fully to martial arts.

Human psychology is truly strange—its progression doesn’t follow logic.

But just by staying here tonight and quietly cultivating my internal energy…

At the very least, Moyong Baek should be able to sleep peacefully.

I stood up and sat cross-legged on a patient bed for the first time in a while.

Maybe it was because I was the patient now—but the bed was comfortable.

There were still nurses bustling about, so I closed my eyes and spoke.

“It’s too loud. I’m cultivating. Keep it down.”

“……”

“Who am I talking to, huh?”

“Yes, Lord.”

A man cultivating internal energy while standing guard at the same time… that was—

…

…

…

I heard Moyong Baek’s voice through a sleepy haze.

“……he must’ve been really tired. You all go get some rest too.”

“He’s snoring while sitting up.”

“Shh.”

“……”