****
“I smell something burning. What the hell did you do?”
Sima Geon shot an irritated look at Cheol U, who was approaching while dusting off his hands.
“There was too much blood-soaked bamboo to deal with.”
“So you burned it? You didn’t torch the entire bamboo grove, did you?”
Sima Geon asked again, utterly dumbfounded.
“Nah, just cut down the ones splattered with blood, gathered them up, and burned those. Turns out there weren’t as many as I thought once I got chopping.”
“What about those guys?”
“Buried them deep. That’s why it took so long. Damn, if I’d brought some Bone Dissolving Powder, it would’ve been over in no time.”
“Get real. Even if Bone Dissolving Powder works wonders, how much would you need to dissolve that many bodies?”
“This much?”
Cheol U spread his hands about a foot apart, then let out an awkward chuckle, realizing how ridiculous it sounded.
“Heh heh heh! Yeah, that doesn’t add up.”
Chuckling to himself for a good while over whatever amused him, Cheol U finally turned to the infirmary and wiped the grin from his face.
“It’s still going on?”
“Yeah.”
“Taking too long. I figured it’d be done by now. Has it been about an hour?”
“Not quite that long.”
Sima Geon couldn’t hide his tension at the drawn-out treatment time either.
“The condition’s name alone was ominous, and it’s proving no joke. Even a top physician from the Living Immortal Physician Family went in there with the Azure Clarity Jade Oil.”
“It’ll be fine.”
Sima Geon murmured with fervent hope, his eyes fixed on the infirmary.
“Of course it will. That kid’s got grit to spare. He’ll pull through, so don’t worry too much, boss.”
“He’d better.”
Sima Geon nodded heavily.
“What’s up with that guy? Still sleeping?”
Cheol U’s gaze shifted to Sima Ho, who was dozing peacefully in the pavilion.
“I let him sleep on purpose. No point waking him—he’d just fret.”
“Even so, after all this time, shouldn’t he have woken up on his own?”
“Must’ve been exhausted.”
“Exhausted my ass!”
Snorting derisively, Cheol U strode up to the pavilion and gave Sima Ho’s curled-up rear a couple light kicks.
“Hey, how long you gonna snooze? Get up already.”
“Let him sleep a bit more.”
Sima Geon tried to intervene, but Cheol U ignored him.
“With our little sister’s fate on the line, family should worry together. Sleeping through it alone? No way.”
As the kicks to his backside grew firmer, Sima Ho—dead to the world until then—scrunched up his face and cracked his eyes open.
“Ugh, what’s your problem?”
“What’s my problem? You sleepy right now?”
“Out of nowhere with that? I’m half-dead with exhaustion, and you’re kicking someone who’s—”
Sensing something off mid-tirade, Sima Ho glanced around cautiously.
In an instant, his forcibly pried-open eyes widened like saucers.
He bolted upright and shouted.
“Th-the Pure Heart Clinic! Little sister—how’s the treatment?”
“Shh! Still going, so pipe down and sit.”
Sima Geon shot Cheol U a glare before speaking calmly.
Sima Ho clamped his mouth shut and sidled up to Cheol U, whispering.
“How long was I out?”
“Roughly an hour, give or take.”
“An hour? That much time passed?”
Sima Ho gaped, then suddenly frowned.
“Weird. I wasn’t even that sleepy.”
As Sima Ho puzzled over it, Sima Geon and Cheol U both turned toward the infirmary in unison.
The door opened, and Hwang Jeong emerged, exhaustion plain on his face.
“How’d it go?”
Sima Geon rushed over and grabbed Hwang Jeong’s arm.
“The golden needle technique we performed today went smoothly. Her condition has definitely improved.”
“Ah!”
Sima Geon let out a sigh of relief.
“Thank you. Truly, thank you.”
As Sima Geon bowed deeply in gratitude, Sima Ho and Cheol U, who had hurried over, bowed awkwardly as well.
“Come inside first. You can hear the details there.”
Hwang Jeong turned and reentered the infirmary. Yet his expression wasn’t as bright as they’d hoped.
Sima Geon, still bowed low, hadn’t noticed, but Cheol U had.
‘Something feels off.’
Cheol U sensed an ill omen in Hwang Jeong’s face but kept it to himself, silently following Sima Geon’s flushed, eager steps into the infirmary.
The first thing to hit the three men upon entering was the stench.
Gok Ja Yu and Yu Sa Ha had opened both windows for ventilation, but the odor lingered stubbornly.
“What’s this smell? Rotten as hell.”
Sima Ho pinched his nose and grimaced. But Sima Geon and Cheol U didn’t bat an eye. Having undergone marrow cleansing rebirth themselves in the past, they even cracked faint smiles.
“A bit pungent, isn’t it? It’s from the impurities leaving her body.”
Hwang Yeong said with a thin smile.
Her pale face drenched in sweat like she’d been caught in a downpour, she looked far more drained than Hwang Jeong.
“You need to circulate your qi first, miss.”
Gok Ja Yu said worriedly.
“It’s not that bad.”
Hwang Yeong waved him off lightly and continued to Sima Geon.
“We did our utmost with the Azure Clarity Jade Oil and our family’s golden needle technique, but sadly, we couldn’t achieve a full cure.”
“Ah!”
Sima Geon, who’d been on tenterhooks, couldn’t stifle his despairing sigh.
Biting his lip hard, he turned to Hwang Jeong.
“You just said it had improved...”
“It has. Healthier than ever before—no comparison. That much is certain.”
Sima Geon’s face twisted in confusion at Hwang Yeong’s words.
“But not fully cured. We gave it everything, but couldn’t eradicate the root of the illness. I’m sorry.”
Hwang Yeong bowed apologetically, but Sima Geon shook his head vehemently.
“Nonsense. We know full well how hard you worked. We heard it’s a needle technique that could harm the physician too. I can only express my gratitude.”
“Not at all. It’s our duty as healers—and an opportunity not to be missed. Treating such a rare disease, especially with Azure Clarity Jade Oil... I hate to say it, and I feel ashamed toward you all, but from a physician’s standpoint, it was a stroke of fortune.”
Sima Geon showed no reaction to Hwang Yeong’s candid words, but Cheol U—who’d been sour since hearing they’d used the oil yet failed to cure her—bristled at “fortune.”
“Been feeling ominous ever since you said it was a failure.”
“Enough.”
Sima Geon cut in swiftly, but couldn’t stop Cheol U’s mouth.
“All fancy talk in the end. Fortune? Lucky you.”
“How dare you say that!”
“Insulting the miss and her family?”
Yu Sa Ha and Gok Ja Yu bellowed, faces red with rage. Had it not been the infirmary, they’d have drawn weapons on the spot.
Cheol U wasn’t one to scare.
“Did I say something wrong?”
He jutted his chin defiantly, provoking them further. Sima Geon sighed softly and called out.
“Hey.”
Cheol U, locked in a staring contest with Yu Sa Ha and Gok Ja Yu, flinched.
Glancing back, he met Sima Geon’s coldly sunken eyes and swallowed hard.
“Apologize. Now.”
The words were flat, devoid of inflection or emotion, yet Cheol U dared not resist.
“My apologies. I spoke out of frustration and made a grave mistake.”
His massive frame folded in half.
His tone was impeccably polite.
Yu Sa Ha, Gok Ja Yu—even Hwang Yeong—gaped at the sudden shift.
“Forgive my brother’s blunder. I apologize as well.”
Sima Geon bowed again.
“No, please don’t.”
Hwang Yeong waved her hands awkwardly, looking troubled.
After an awkward pause, Sima Geon gazed pityingly at Sima Jin, lying motionless as if dead, and spoke.
“How much better is she now?”
“She’ll have no trouble with daily life. However...”
“Since it’s not fully cured, there’s always a risk of relapse.”
Hwang Yeong nodded hesitantly.
“We expect no major issues and hope for the best, but we can’t rule out recurrence entirely. I’m sorry.”
Hwang Jeong frowned at her apology and defended her.
“Nonsense. Anyone could see it was flawless golden needle work. Couldn’t have done better.”
He turned to Sima Geon.
“The tragedy is, this illness was far more vicious than Nine Yin Severed Meridian—worse than we imagined. And there was a miscalculation.”
“Miscalculation?”
“We overestimated the Azure Clarity Jade Oil’s efficacy.”
Sima Geon and Cheol U stared at him, baffled.
“No denying it’s an unparalleled elixir. Our family has used it to treat Nine Yin Severed Meridian before. So we thought it could handle the Heavenly Yin Divine Meridian’s yin energy. But it fell short.”
Sima Geon and Cheol U were speechless at the idea that even Azure Clarity Jade Oil wasn’t enough.
Sima Geon had obtained it from the Ghost Gate Family and taken it himself; both had firsthand experience of its legendary effects.
Sima Geon emerged from Black Dragon Valley with a flawless body and vast inner power beyond compare to his pre-elixir self. Cheol U attained the金刚不坏 realm.
True, they’d consumed far more than used here, but having truly felt its power, Hwang Jeong’s explanation didn’t compute.
“Damn, if Azure Clarity Jade Oil isn’t enough, what kind of elixir could handle that Heavenly Yin whatever’s yin energy?”
Cheol U demanded, frustrated.
“Less ‘not enough’ and more ‘wrong tool for the job.’”
Hwang Yeong glanced at the still-deeply-sleeping Sima Jin and continued.
“To my knowledge, few elixirs surpass it. Maybe the mythical Ten-Thousand-Year Ginseng King. But unlike its near-perfect yin-yang balance, elixirs specialized in extreme yang or yin can outperform it in those areas—like a Snow Mountain Fox’s inner core or Ice Crystals from millennia-old snow.”
Sima Geon grasped her point immediately.
“So Jin needs a Snow Mountain Fox inner core, not Azure Clarity Jade Oil.”
“In hindsight, yes.”
Hwang Yeong nodded weakly.
“A Snow Mountain Fox inner core—how do we get one? Does it even exist?”
Sima Geon’s eyes blazed. He’d scour the world for it if needed.