The Medical Immortal is the Sect Master of the Mount Hua Sect.

At those words, my head went blank for a moment.

“Wh—what...?”

What kind of insane bullshit is that?

The Medical Immortal...

‘The Medical Immortal is the Sect Master of the Mount Hua Sect...?’

No matter how I tried to understand it, it wasn’t easy. What could possibly be more insane than this?

‘If we’re talking about the Sect Master of the Mount Hua Sect...’

That would be the famous Plum Blossom Single Sword.

One of the Heaven-Beyond-Heaven, one of the candidates for the Greatest Under Heaven alongside Divine Spear—and someone who’d even been put forward as a contender for the Alliance Leader’s seat.

If you looked at reputation, recognition, and the weight of people’s support, Plum Blossom Single Sword should’ve been the one to become Alliance Leader, not Divine Spear.

‘But he turned it down.’

They said he refused, claiming Mount Hua was enough for him, and that taking even the Martial Alliance into his arms was beyond the capacity of his vessel.

A master famous for being gentle and virtuous, with no great greed.

And that man...

‘...is the Medical Immortal?’

The legendary Therapist said to save even the dead.

The fact that they were the same person left me pretty damn shaken.

“You’re joking, right?”

It was absurd. I asked again, like that would make it less impossible.

[What’s absurd about it?]

Yoo Cheongil answered flatly.

“No... how is the Medical Immortal Plum Blossom Single Sword?”

[Why wouldn’t he be?]

“It doesn’t make any sense.”

Even just learning martial arts was enough to keep someone busy to death. How was it supposed to make sense that, on top of that, he became a legendary Therapist?

I kept spitting out disbelief at this world that refused to be trusted.

[Ha.]

Yoo Cheongil let out a laugh like I’d said something ridiculous, then—

[You can believe you see ghosts, though?]

“...”

I lost my words for a moment.

Confusion hit, but my mouth still worked.

“That and this are different.”

[They’re not different.]

Yoo Cheongil was firm.

[There are plenty of strange bastards in this world. He was just a little strange too.]

Strange. Calling it that didn’t make it any less unbelievable.

But—

[He liked saving people more than swinging a sword. Just...]

Yoo Cheongil’s expression hardened as he said the last part.

[He loved plum blossoms even more than that.]

“...”

Was that his way of promising he wouldn’t say that with a smile?

I couldn’t tell what kind of feeling he’d put into it.

“Like how you like the moon, sir?”

If I had to compare, wasn’t that what it meant? I said it with that thought, but—

[Huh? What are you talking about?]

Yoo Cheongil tilted his head.

[Why would I like the moon?]

“Excuse me?”

What was this now?

“You were always saying I had to become the moon, that I had to pursue the moon. Weren’t you?”

When you’d been going on and on about the moon every other sentence, and now you’re acting like that’s a weird question?

[Hahaha.]

Yoo Cheongil laughed at my confusion. The way he laughed—like he’d gone a little crazy—made me flinch.

[You’re wrong. I don’t like the moon. I pursue it, and that’s different from affection. If we’re being precise...]

SSSS—!

“......!”

I rubbed my arms. The air had turned sharply cold all of a sudden.

[I hate the moon.]

“......”

Hate.

The moment he said it, my skin crawled.

[If you insist, you could call it love and hate. But whatever. This isn’t important.]

It looks very important.

This didn’t feel like something you just “move on” from, but it was awkward to ask more, so I shut my mouth.

Yoo Cheongil hates the moon.

I just stored that fact in my head.

Strangely enough...

More than the shocking fact that Plum Blossom Single Sword was the Medical Immortal, for some reason, that was what kept echoing in my mind.

Really strangely.

*****

I went back to my quarters. Honestly, I wanted to train more, but it wasn’t realistic to spend more time than that.

‘After hearing something like that, how the hell could I?’

Yoo Cheongil saying I had a bomb strapped inside my body.

He’d said the power that had suddenly exploded inside me wasn’t properly contained, and that I was in a dangerous state.

‘...I can’t use too much strength, and I can’t increase it.’

If I absorbed any more power, it would overload my meridians and my body would go BANG!—and burst.

Bursting. What kind of terrifying word is that?

‘Especially the hair, too.’

It was the influence of Moon Heaven, sure—but Yoo Cheongil had judged the surging Blue Moon Heart Art itself was affecting my physical body.

He’d said it would take three years for that power to stabilize and calm down, right?

‘...Three years isn’t bad.’

Honestly, that’s what I thought.

Three years with my realm and strength frozen? So what?

‘I already got an unbelievable stroke of fortune.’

A body that started at third-rate—less than a year later, pinnacle. And not just pinnacle—supreme pinnacle was right in front of me.

If three more years passed like this, what would the problem be?

‘But it doesn’t look that way to the old man.’

Yoo Cheongil said I didn’t have that kind of time.

Even if he said three years, he didn’t know what could happen in the meantime.

So...

‘Finding the Medical Immortal right now is a huge advantage.’

He said it was actually good for me.

‘Hmph...’

The Medical Immortal thing, too.

‘Plum Blossom Single Sword is the Medical Immortal...’

What are the odds that a great Therapist is also a Heaven-Beyond-Heaven-level swordmaster?

Is that really true?

It probably is.

‘Yoo Cheongil has no reason to lie to me about that too.’

Which means Plum Blossom Single Sword really is the Medical Immortal.

I had no idea how it was possible, but it was probably the truth.

‘Mount Hua...’

A place I’d never been.

Given the situation, I could go if I had to, but—

‘Going all the way to Shaanxi in this situation...’

I didn’t know if that was really okay.

As I worked myself into a headache thinking about it—

[What are you agonizing over?]

Yoo Cheongil floated there, speaking.

[You have to go anyway. What do you get from worrying?]

“...” 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

[And besides. Whether it’s your body or that Divine Spear bastard’s situation... there’s more to gain too.]

“...More to gain?”

What else was there? I asked, puzzled.

[That thing. The thing that Mount Hua girl brought.]

“...What... ah.”

For a second I didn’t get it, then I remembered. The robe with white fur.

That was what he meant.

[Since you’re already holding it, just go and trade it back, just like that.]

“...Hmmm.”

The black robe I had.

Swapping it with the Sword Saint’s robe that the Mount Hua Sect had.

Hearing that made me sigh.

So much had piled up. Meaning: I had a ridiculous number of reasons I had to go.

‘...There’s no way I can just take the robe, huh.’

If it was an exchange, I’d have to go in person no matter what.

‘Hmph.’

When you looked at it this way, the fact that Yuyeon brought that robe in the first place was honestly weird.

‘Why did she bring it?’

Why bring a robe at all? And—

‘...She, too...’

The problem with Yuyeon I’d realized during the last incident.

Thinking about it, I shook my head.

‘Later.’

Not something to think about right now.

I wiped all the thoughts away.

For now, sleep.

After I sleep—

‘I’ll handle what’s left.’

I closed my eyes.

A night full of thoughts passed like that.

*****

The moment it became the next day, I stepped outside my quarters.

The first place I headed was the medical station.

There was someone I needed to see.

“Oh! Little Azure Sword Saint! AHAHAHA!”

The bastard who laughed at full volume the moment he saw me.

I narrowed my eyes. Damn. Should I not have come?

“No—! Now I gotta call ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) you Moon Knight!”

Sitting on the bed and waving those huge biceps around—

Black-Grand Saber greeted me.

“...Are you feeling any better?”

“Of course I’m lively. Hey, since you’re here, say something for me.”

“...About what.”

“They keep blocking me when I try to leave even though I’m told I can go.”

“Then doesn’t that mean you can’t go?”

“All that’s left is stuff that’ll heal if you spit on it.”

“......”

Bullshit. As always, he was talking nonsense, so I ignored it lightly.

“You’re not gonna help?”

“Just lie down quietly.”

“...Tch. My father too—everyone’s dying to keep me sitting down.”

“......”

Father. The word he used for Blade Absolute made one of my eyebrows twitch.

“Oh. Right—so you met my father, yeah?”

“...We brushed past each other.”

“Hahaha. Looking at your face, my father must’ve run his mouth again. Right?”

“...It wasn’t like that.”

“Enough. My father’s behavior isn’t a one-time thing. Don’t bother caring. My father’s just a narrow-minded man with nothing but greed in his vessel.”

“......”

That’s a brutal way to judge your own father.

And he looked dead serious about it.

“...It seems you and Peng Clan Head aren’t on good terms?”

“Huh? No, we’re close.”

“But you’re saying that.”

“Being close and what I said are separate. As a father, I love him. As a clan head, I don’t respect him.”

“......”

A strangely rational, clean-cut judgment.

“Anyway, they’re calling you Moon Knight. How’s it feel to be a hero?”

“It’s whatever.”

“HAHAHAHA—!! Looking at your face, just like I thought. I knew you’d be like this.”

“What am I supposed to be?”

“Something like, ‘A nickname like that doesn’t matter. Only what you’ve done matters.’ Right?”

No, not really.

But Black-Grand Saber looked like he’d already decided that was who I was, so I didn’t bother denying it.

Think whatever you want.

“What a shame... If my body was intact, I’d want to match blades with you one more time.”

His eyes looked genuinely regretful.

“No—actually, that wouldn’t even be possible. Thinking back to when you fought Sword Demon... I can tell how much you held back against me in the tournament.”

“......”

The story of Yoo Cheongil fighting Sword Demon.

I’d heard that he used my body to take Sword Demon’s head.

And Black-Grand Saber had said he got hurt in that process and was receiving treatment.

“How can you be that strong?”

Black-Grand Saber pressed me like he was honestly curious.

“...No idea.”

I want to know too.

It would’ve been the same body and the same power.

So how did he kill a monster like Sword Demon with my body?

It still felt bizarre to me, but—

“If you keep at it, doesn’t it turn out that way?”

I gave up on understanding it.

If you keep at it. Yeah—if you keep at it.

Yoo Cheongil said it. He said he’d make me the Greatest Under Heaven.

So if I just do what he tells me to do, won’t I become like that someday?

That’s what I meant, but—

“...If you keep at it... is that so.”

Black-Grand Saber nodded, then—

“So it means you just shut up and work yourself to death, and if you keep doing that, you’ll get something in the end.”

“......”

“Yeah. You really are different.”

When did I ever say “work yourself to death”?

No matter how I thought about it, I didn’t.

I shook my head at Black-Grand Saber, who was misunderstanding things in his own cool way again.

Then—

“Next time will be different. Look forward to it. I’ll... really do it properly, too.”

Black-Grand Saber spoke to me with a strangely serious gaze.

“......”

Next time will be different? He was saying he was going to work even harder than this.

How much more ridiculous was he trying to become?

I wanted to tell him not to. That I wasn’t that kind of person. That it was fine to just try a reasonable amount.

I wanted to say it, but—

“Yes. Go on, then. Let’s see you do it.”

I spat out an arrogant line that didn’t suit me at all.

I don’t even know why I said that.

“AHAHAHAHA—!!”

Black-Grand Saber threw his head back laughing. He must’ve liked that answer.

“Y-young master Peng... please. There are other patients too... the noise...”

A Therapist hurriedly tried to rein him in, and Black-Grand Saber covered his mouth with his big hand.

Every time I see him, I think it—he looks a little slow, but he doesn’t seem like a bad bastard.

In other words: he’s a weird bastard.

Watching him, I couldn’t help letting out a small smile.

Then I tried to bring up the reason I’d come in the first place.

“And, Black-Grand Saber.”

“Hm?”

“About Miss Murong—”

But right as I was about to say it—

“Moon Knight. So you’re here.”

“...Hm?”

Someone called me from behind.

I stopped and turned my head.

“Huh?”

An unexpected figure was standing there.

Not short, but a skinny-looking man.

He wore a gray martial uniform and had a blank, detached expression that reminded me of someone.

His name was...

“Pleased to meet you. I am... Jegal Hyeongyeon, the young clan head of the Jegal Clan. May I speak with you for a moment?”

Jegal Hyeongyeon.

The current young clan head of the Jegal Clan, and—

‘...My mother’s older brother.’

If you got technical, he was my maternal uncle.