Chapter 47
Part 22: Grandfather and Grandson
“All of you, leave the room.”
At Jeong-ah’s instruction, the triplets hurriedly left.
Even after they were gone, silence lingered in the room for a long while.
“…Sang-hyeon.”
When the old man called his name once more, Yeon Sang-hyeon let out a deep sigh.
“You have sharp eyes for an old man. I hid it as thoroughly as I could, yet you still noticed?”
To be honest, this situation had not been what Yeon Sang-hyeon intended either.
Unintentionally, it had once again proven that the title of Medicine King was no empty name.
“…Just what happened to your body? How thoroughly did you hide it, for me to be unable to feel even the breathing of the upper dantian that begins from the Baihui point?”
In the end, the fact that he had thoroughly concealed everything in order to hide the demonic energy of The Ruler Of Darkness was, instead, what had exposed him.
“To think an old man’s intuition would be so sharp. This is why the world says people should die when they grow old.”
From his words, Jeong-ah sensed Yeon Sang-hyeon’s desperate desire not to wound his master’s heart until the very end.
“…Sang-hyeon. Give me your wrist.”
Unable to meet the old man’s eyes, he closed his own instead.
Jeong-ah silently placed a gentle hand on her master’s shoulder.
Then Yeon Sang-hyeon let out a deep sigh and extended his hand.
“…Do not faint on me. There is no one here to clean up the dignified form of an old man lying collapsed.”
It was a warning, telling him to prepare himself.
But the old man paid it no heed and immediately began taking his pulse.
Who would dare stop a grandfather worried for a child who was no different from his own grandson?
“…This is.”
A fine tremor ran across the Medicine King’s face.
“Your Conception Vessel and Governing Vessel are twisted. No, it is not merely that. All of your Eight Extraordinary Meridians have been reversed…!”
Cold sweat poured endlessly from his brow.
Jeong-ah quietly wiped away the old man’s cold sweat.
“Impossible. This is impossible. This is not the energy of a living person…!”
The old man’s eyes snapped open.
“This is demonic energy…! But it is far too different from that of the Demon Cult.”
The old man’s eyes rolled back, and his entire body convulsed violently.
“I… I…! Such horrific demonic energy…! I have never heard of or seen anything like this in my entire life…!”
Yeon Sang-hyeon forcefully pulled his wrist away.
Any more than that might not simply wound the old man’s heart, but destroy his mind and body.
No, to be honest, merely grasping what it was had nearly shattered his own mind to pieces.
Even though Yeon Sang-hyeon had sealed that unidentified demonic energy tightly using some strange method no one could understand.
A long time passed.
During that time, the old man seemed to have aged several times over as he looked at Yeon Sang-hyeon.
“…You are no longer human.”
Yeon Sang-hyeon could do nothing but silently nod.
***
The old man covered his face with both trembling hands.
He was feeling a terrible despair.
There was nothing he could do.
A heavy silence ruled the room.
The old man bit down on his short pipe and quietly recalled the past.
[I have given birth to a child. A healthy baby boy.]
When Yak So Yu sent a letter through one of her acquaintances to inform him of the birth, the old man had been in Tianzhu for several years, continuing important research.
But his most cherished disciple, a disciple who was no different from his own daughter, had given birth to a child. What importance could research possibly have?
He arrived in Luoyang in a single month.
[This child’s name is Sang-hyeon.]
Yak So Yu smiled warmly, as she always did, at her master, who was filthy beyond words after neither washing nor sleeping properly.
She held out the new life making tiny breathing sounds inside the swaddling cloth.
But he could not bring himself to receive the child.
How could he touch a child, who had never been sullied by anything in the world, with hands so dirty they had not been washed in months?
Unable to move far away and unable to come close, he simply gazed at the child with yearning eyes.
With a smile that reminded him of spring sunlight, Yak So Yu whispered to the child.
[This person is your maternal grandfather.]
What do you mean, I am…
He had spent his whole life with medicine and earned the name Medicine King, but he had never gained descendants.
The warm-hearted words of introduction from his disciple, who called him the child’s maternal grandfather, were enough to bring moisture to the old man’s eyes.
Trying not to let those tears be seen, he lowered his head and gazed endlessly at the child.
The baby, wriggling and looking at him with black eyes, was kinder and nobler than any child he had ever seen.
[Our Sang-hyeon is so adorable, is he not?]
His disciple had never lived an easy life.
Her fame seemed to pierce the heavens, and everyone knew of her, but almost no one knew what hardships she had endured.
Before the sight of his disciple, who was far too dazzling, the old man could not say a single word.
He could only gaze at the mother and son, beautiful as if painted in a picture.
It was only far too late that he realized his disciple had protected her child at the cost of her own lifespan.
[Master, please stop by Luoyang from time to time and look after our Sang-hyeon.]
The letter from Yak So Yu trembled in his hand.
It was her will.
The letter was filled with countless lines expressing her gratitude to him.
But that one line was the only thing she asked of him.
At far too beautiful an age, she returned to nature’s embrace.
For months, he wailed every night in the direction where her body slept and prayed for her peaceful rebirth in paradise.
It was also he who sent something close to a threatening personal letter to the imperial family of the Central Plains, making them build shrines throughout the nation in her honor.
[Have you arrived?]
His first visit was in the second year after Yak So Yu had left.
Sang-hyeon received him with a composed attitude that did not suit his age at all.
He was such a brilliant and outstanding child that the old man wanted to take Sang-hyeon as his disciple.
But looking at Sang-hyeon’s face was too painful for him.
Every time he saw traces of Yak So Yu in Sang-hyeon’s face, expressions, and actions, the emotions that had piled up and piled up became too much to bear.
Was this what it felt like for a father to send off his daughter before him?
He came to understand why a child leaving before the parent was called an incomparable unfilial act.
He left behind books containing all of his secret teachings.
How Sang-hyeon had known the old man’s intention to quietly disappear, no one could say, but on a moonlit night, he saw him off.
[I will see you again, Maternal Grandfather.]
After that, the old man occasionally stopped by the Sword Clan and spent time with Sang-hyeon.
At some point, they began to get along like friends.
They joked freely with each other and belittled each other’s skills.
Then, one day,
his grandson came to be called the Swordless, and became the shame of the clan.
Like everyone else, the old man tried to persuade him countless times, but Sang-hyeon merely smiled softly, with a smile exactly like his mother’s.
[My only wish is to live in humble contentment. The rumors of the world will surely fade one day.]
He said it would be all right even if the rumors did not fade.
He said it was better to live quietly, without desire, and depart that way.
He said that keeping one’s feet out of the turbid world of mankind was also a way to live.
The old man beat his chest and lamented.
He was far too gentle a child.
Far too soft a child.
A child who resembled his mother far too much.
The child resembled a small, beautiful flower that was far too unsuited to this cruel world.
That exceptionally clever child had been disappointed in the world too early.
He had aged before his time.
The old man had no way of knowing what had happened.
And so, his grandson stopped involving himself in the affairs of the world.
***
That child of his, that grandson of his, had now lost his existence as a human being.
There was not a trace of vitality to be found in his body.
He carried within him a terrible demonic energy that the old man could not even dare imagine.
[…I merely want to take responsibility as well.]
What responsibility did he mean to bear?
What had this enormous clan done so wrong, how twisted had the world become, for this child to abandon his humanity in order to take responsibility?
His grandson was a child so kind and gentle-hearted that he had never even raised his voice at the servants who ignored him.
He was only a child who wished to live quietly for one lifetime and then leave.
Even after being poisoned, he had quietly treated himself because he did not want to stir up trouble within the clan.
He had been poisoned by so many different poisons that he had reached a higher realm in detoxification than even his grandfather, who was called the Medicine King.
How much pain must he have suffered?
How much resentment must he have felt?
If it had been the old man himself, he would not have been able to endure it for even a moment.
“This lunatic clan…!”
The bowl the old man threw struck the wall and shattered into pieces.
“A clan full of trash like this…!”
His furious roar rang out.
It echoed with grief.
“These accursed bastards! These damnable wretches who know nothing but power, nothing but money!”
He collapsed to the floor and wept.
He wept bitterly.
He wailed.
Tears and snot streamed down his face, making the already shabby old man’s face look even uglier.
But no one could laugh at it.
He had sent off his daughter before him.
And now, it was as though he had sent off his grandson before him as well.
***
“So you intend to stir everything up now?”
“Do you think I will merely stir it up?”
There were only the two of them in the room.
Jeong-ah had already left the room out of consideration for the old man’s dignity.
Yeon Sang-hyeon bared his teeth and smiled.
“If necessary, I intend to empty it all out and fill it anew.”
It was a chilling thing to say.
The old man rejoiced and clapped his hands.
“Good! If you are going to do it, then of course you must do it properly!”
He burst into hearty laughter.
“Those bastards will learn exactly who they dared to touch!”
The grandfather and grandson clinked their cups together in celebration.
“Is there anything more I can do for you?”
“Could you stay in Luoyang for a while?”
The old man nodded.
“I came here anyway because of a prescription that might work on your father.”
He ground his teeth.
“While I am at it, I shall drain this clan that has nothing but money of its wealth.”
Yeon Sang-hyeon chuckled.
Looking at Sang-hyeon, the old man carefully brought up another matter.
“Before visiting you, I met with that Bi brat first. I needed poison from the secret arts of the Sichuan Tang Clan, you see. I did receive the poison, but…”
Bi was the name of the Fourth Young Master.
“Did that fellow pester you about something again?”
At Yeon Sang-hyeon’s words, the old man scratched his head.
“It is the same as always. That boy likes you so much, does he not? But you keep shutting yourself away and refuse to meet him, so…”
Yeon Sang-hyeon readily nodded.
“Very well. I was already planning to go see him this time anyway.”
The old man’s face brightened.
“That is good. Then…”
At that moment, Jeong-ah’s voice came from outside.
It was filled with unmistakable difficulty.
“Master. A guest has come looking for you.”
A guest at this hour?
“Who is it?”
The answer came not from Jeong-ah, but from the person who was supposedly the guest.
“Eldest Young Master. This butler has come under Elder Yeom’s orders to escort the honorable Medicine King.”
The Medicine King’s eyebrow twitched.
“These mad bastards…”
He tried to spring up from his seat, but Yeon Sang-hyeon had already kicked the door open.