MTLNOVEL 3 - She Lives (2)
Morning.
At the top floor of a 9-story pavilion, a short distance from the Mo Yong family compound.
“……Finally, that day has come.”
The old Taoist with a long, flowing white beard like an immortal, the Martial Arts Alliance Chief and Kunlun Sect Leader [Supreme Elder], sighed deeply while looking at the morning sun.
“The day Mo Yong young lady becomes an adult. Exactly twenty years since she was born into this world.”
He looks down from the pavilion.
“…The day when death finally begins to visit those afflicted with the Nine Yin Terminal Meridian.”
The area in front of the Mo Yong family compound was bustling with people from early morning.
“Everyone is wearing masks on their faces.”
“Master. How can you call them masks?”
Behind the Supreme Elder, an elegant black-haired woman stood beside her master and asked.
“Zhen Xuan. My disciple.”
“Yes, Master.”
“On the day of your death, could you ask everyone to smile and celebrate that death?”
“…….”
The woman, Zhen Xuan, silently shook her head.
“Indeed. It’s not easy. The same would apply to Miss Mo Yong. Perhaps even the heavens know this—the sky is clear without even clouds, let alone dark clouds.”
“Are you saddened?”
“I am. Death is always a sad affair. How about you?”
“Is that a sigh as the Kunlun Sect Leader, or as the Martial Arts Alliance Chief?”
“…….”
At his disciple Zhen Xuan’s question, the Supreme Elder quietly closed his eyes.
“It’s truly difficult. The political skills I learned while mediating conflicts between government officials and senior Taoists have now led me to oversee the entire martial arts world.”
“A direct descendant of the Mo Yong family is dying. Many from the branch families will aim for the position of family head.”
“Indeed. That’s why they can smile, even if it’s fake. The person herself asked everyone to smile rather than cry, at the very least.”
The Martial Arts Alliance Chief, Supreme Elder, placed a hand on his chest.
“I too must wear such a mask in front of them. Hide my sorrow and celebrate death with a smile. That is politics, the position of Alliance Chief.”
“…….”
“So, my disciple. Just for this moment, not as the Kunlun Sect Leader or the Martial Arts Alliance Chief, but as a person mourning the death of a life, and simultaneously as a father who has already lost a daughter, I wish to express my condolences to the Sword Star and his daughter.”
The Supreme Elder brought his hands together as if in prayer.
“May she forget all suffering in the afterlife.”
Tears streamed down the Supreme Elder’s face.
“And may she live out her full lifespan in the next life… Ah. A great star of the martial world sets without ever blooming.”
Because today is the day Mo Yong Seol dies.
“…The daughter of the world’s greatest master who defeated the Demon King without shedding a drop of blood.”
“From a martial world perspective, isn’t it fortunate that she dies?”
“That’s true.”
The Martial Arts Alliance Chief, Supreme Elder, slowly opened his eyes.
“If she lived, men would kill each other in bloody battles to win that flower.”
There is the fastest way to be killed in the world.
It’s suicide, but if you’re afraid to kill yourself, there’s a way to be killed faster than anyone else.
Saying strange things about his daughter in front of the Sword Star.
-Oh dear, what a pity she can’t live long because of the Nine Yin Terminal Meridian?
That’s acceptable.
Regardless of the true intention, Sword Star Mo Yong Cheon is a person of character and the epitome of a righteous martial artist.
-Please give your daughter to me.
That’s dangerous.
-Before she dies, I want to give Miss Mo Yong an unforgettable night….
Slash.
A rising talent from the Point Spear Sect was beheaded for saying that.
Because of this, there were concerns about all-out war between the Point Spear Sect and the Mo Yong family, but fortunately, it was resolved as the individual misconduct of a Point Spear Sect disciple.
Since she’ll die anyway, let’s XX through Mo Yong Seol.
It’s common knowledge in the martial world that saying such things in front of Mo Yong Cheon will get you killed on the spot.
I committed that crime.
Since she would die anyway, I spent the night with Mo Yong Seol.
Even though it wasn’t what I wanted but what Mo Yong Seol herself desired, I responded to her proposal.
I was prepared to die.
After Mo Yong Seol’s birthday passed and she died, I was a dead man anyway.
-You let Mo Yong Seol die just like that. With the Nine Yin Terminal Meridian as the cause of death. Unforgivable.
By the mad Demon King.
For me to survive, I should have defiled and assassinated Mo Yong Seol, then given Mo Yong Cheon a psychological shock by saying “an Evil Sect assassin killed Mo Yong Seol.”
But I didn’t do that.
If I would die whether I succeeded or failed, I thought I might as well “stir up trouble” for the Evil Sect that kidnapped me and injected me with poison.
-Keep taking this medicine, disciple. It will suppress the poison’s activity and your blind loyalty to the Evil Sect.
I had my master’s help.
My master, the Evil Physician, settled in the Mo Yong family compound and developed a medicine to suppress my brainwashing.
She is now deceased.
Those bastards from the Evil Sect came all the way to the Mo Yong family compound and killed my master.
There’s nowhere to run.
I would die even if I fled to the Eastern Sea.
So I might as well die by the Sword Star’s hand.
They say the Sword Star’s sword is so fast and precise that the slain don’t even realize they’ve been cut.
So I was prepared to die by the Sword Star’s hand.
And as a man, with the thought of embracing the woman in my heart at least once before I go, I decided to join Mo Yong Seol in her deviation on the last day of her life.
I would die if it became known.
I would die when we woke up.
I would be dragged away to where Mo Yong Seol couldn’t see and killed.
Or I would be killed right after Mo Yong Seol died.
I anticipated such a terrible morning.
But the horror I imagined was nothing compared to reality.
“Physician Seok Mu Wol.”
“Yes, Family Head.”
Physician Seok Mu Wol (汐霧越).
That’s my name, and “physician” is my title.
And the one I addressed as Family Head is naturally the head of the Mo Yong family—Sword Star Mo Yong Cheon.
“How is my daughter’s condition?”
He’s speaking from behind me.
I’m sitting in a chair, and he’s standing quietly behind me, asking.
From a position where he could kill me at any moment.
But he doesn’t, because where I’m sitting is “right next to Mo Yong Seol’s bed” and.
“Fa… ahem, Father.”
The woman whose wrist I’m holding to check her pulse is his daughter, Mo Yong Seol.
“I survived thanks to the physician, so why are you pressuring him like that?”
“Pressuring? Seol. It’s not like that.”
The world’s Sword Star is flustered by his daughter’s words.
Having stayed here for three years, I can clearly tell that the Sword Star is extremely confused right now.
Since he hasn’t killed me yet.
“Family Head. As you already know, her body temperature has now exceeded normal levels.”
“Continue your report.”
“Her heartbeat is gradually quickening, color has returned to her face, and warmth can be felt in her hands.”
“Isn’t that… because I’m holding hands with the physician?”
Mo Yong Seol smiles broadly.
That smile made even my heart flutter, but that heart soon stopped briefly before barely starting to beat again due to the aura I felt from behind.
This is no joke.
The Sword Star is subtly emitting killing intent, perceivable only to me.
“In my opinion, it seems the Nine Yin Terminal Meridian has… been unblocked. Theoretically, meridian blockage occurs when excessive yin energy compresses the blood vessels.”
“So, to put it simply.”
Thud.
“Thanks to you taking my daughter’s virginity, her blood vessels have normalized?”
The Sword Star’s right hand came down on my shoulder.
“That’s the result, yes.”
“…Evil Physician White Face, it’s a pity your master isn’t here now.”
Crunch.
“If she were alive, I could have asked her for an examination.”
It hurts.
Really.
“So. You slept with my daughter.”
From the outside, it just looks like he’s resting his hand on me, but it feels like needles of internal energy are sprouting from his fingertips and digging into my shoulder.
“From midnight until dawn, no less.”
It’s probably not deliberate—
“Just the two of you, completely naked.”
If it were deliberate, my shoulder would have been crushed already.
“Ah, no, Father.”
Mo Yong Seol pushed the Sword Star’s hand away.
“S-Seol?”
“Don’t do that.”
“Ahem, yes. I was uncharacteristically—”
“That’s where I scratched him yesterday, causing a wound.”
“…….”
Could this woman be determined to get me killed?
Now that she’s cured, is she trying to get her father to kill me because I’m no longer useful?
“The physician’s ‘treatment’ hurt at first… but after that, as my body started heating up…. Hehehe.”
Judging by the way she’s blushing and firmly holding both my hands, at least that’s not her intention.
“Thanks to him, I haven’t coughed up blood after waking up this morning.”
“…….”
“So Father. Physician Seok… is my life’s benefactor.”
Mo Yong Seol pulls my hand.
“So please stop being angry. I know why you’re angry, but I asked him to do it.”
“Seol.”
“If you’re going to report this to the authorities, report me.”
Mo Yong Seol brought her hands together and presented them to the Sword Star as if asking to be tied with ropes.
“I violated Physician Seok.”
“Seol!”
“Should I be more direct? I forcibly pushed down Physician Seok, who said ‘no,’ onto the bed, and then I rap—”
“Miss Mo Yong.”
I grabbed Mo Yong Seol’s hand.
“Why are you trying to become a criminal?”
“Physician. But.”
“A man and woman were mutually attracted and shared intimacy—this wasn’t an act forced by anyone.”
That was the truth.
If I had resisted to the end, Mo Yong Seol would have quietly returned to her room.
“If I’m at fault, it’s that I didn’t speak up first.”
“Physician….”
Honestly, I hadn’t planned to go this far, but my shoulder hurt like hell.
“I believe this isn’t just a momentary improvement. As a physician, and as a man, I wish for the young lady to continue living.”
“In that case, continued examinations will be necessary.”
Crunch.
“You’ll continue to examine me, right?”
Mo Yong Seol firmly grips my hand.
“You’ll continue to ‘treat’ me, right?”
In a way I absolutely cannot escape.
“Of course, Miss. Until this life ends, I will stay by your side.”
I don’t know what expression he’s making behind me.
I don’t want to know either.
“…Physician.”
The Sword Star stood beside me, speaking in a voice that seemed to be suppressing something.
“Thank you. Sincerely.”
“?!”
The Sword Star bowed his waist to me in gratitude.
“I thought it was my daughter’s last day, but you’ve allowed me to see her face glow with color for the first time in her life.”
“That….”
His wording is subtle.
As if she’s not actually cured right now.
“Of course. As you said, we must observe.”
“Father.”
“Seol. I don’t want to think that way either. But… it’s the Nine Yin Terminal Meridian.”
I understand what the Sword Star is thinking.
“It’s an incurable disease. Even if you seem fine for a moment, you might still cough up blood and collapse.”
As a father, he naturally wants to believe that the disease has been cured right away, but the martial arts knowledge—the common sense of a martial artist at the “transcendent master” level—is causing anxiety right now.
The last radiance.
Could this vitality be the final positive energy of her life?
Could it be that the Nine Yin Terminal Meridian has conceded one final day for Mo Yong Seol?
Since I share such concerns, I couldn’t speak carelessly either.
“Let’s observe. For now… the banquet must proceed as planned. The celebration for your birthday.”
The Sword Star turned his eyes toward the window.
“The coming-of-age ceremony in the daytime, filled with positive energy—”
Creak.
“…Since you’ve already completed your coming-of-age ceremony on your own, though not officially, privately it will be a day to celebrate your birth.”
The Sword Star is smiling while grinding his teeth.
“Daughter. Is there anything you wish for? I’ll have someone get it immediately, no, I’ll go outside myself and get it for you.”
“Then.”
Mo Yong Seol, without any malice, gathered her hair while wearing a radiant smile.
“For my coming-of-age ceremony and birthday gift… I’d like you to buy me a hairpin.”
“…….”
A hairpin.
In the past, when a woman wore a hairpin in her hair, it was equivalent to expressing her status through an ornament.
Married.
A symbol that she is someone’s woman.
“…….”
Drip.
Did he bite his tongue, or did he clench his lips too hard?
“Under…stood.”
As the Sword Star turned away, a drop of blood trickled from his mouth.