Once again, the Zhongnan sect leader, Zhong Yeob, spoke.
"Eternal Divine Physician, it's time to decide. Will you stand on the side of Zhongnan, or will you side with that cunning Murong Clan?"
Eternal Divine Physician answered in a cold voice.
"If it's an answer you want, I already gave you one last time. I have no intention of getting involved in the infighting of the orthodox factions."
"Eternal Divine Physician, do you not know that Murong Clan once colluded with the Demonic Cult? They are no different from the unorthodox faction."
"......."
"Moreover, during the Seven-Star Cloud Blade incident, the Murong Clan murdered the main sect's great disciples, revealing their true nature. Are you really saying you won't side with Zhongnan even after that?"
"If that's so, then why did the Zhongnan sect use force to intimidate the smaller orthodox sects? From what I've heard, your senior disciple and his junior killed disciples from the smaller orthodox sects."
Zhong Yeob's face hardened.
"Eternal Divine Physician. Mind your words."
"I do give my condolences to the sect leader's beloved disciples who passed from this world. But the leaders of the small and medium orthodox sects also lost their cherished disciples. Don't forget that."
The gazes of the two supreme experts clashed midair.
Goooo—
As the tension filled the air, Zhong Yeob turned his gaze to Jaseong and his group.
"Who are those people?"
"They are my attendants."
"Attendants... yet their aura is not ordinary. Are you, Eternal Divine Physician, finally forming a faction of your own?"
"A faction? That's an exaggeration. They are merely youngsters assisting me in my medical practice."
Zhong Yeob's gaze lingered on Jaseong for a particularly long time.
Jaseong forced himself to stay calm as he met Zhong Yeob's eyes.
'Not now... now is not the time for revenge...'
After a moment, Zhong Yeob spoke.
"The longer you delay your decision, Eternal Divine Physician, the more the divisions within the orthodox factions will accelerate."
"......."
"I hope you will make a wise decision."
With those icy words, Zhong Yeob turned away.
Then, as if turning into a ghost, he floated up into the air and disappeared.
For a while, only a faint blue afterglow lingered where he had vanished.
* * *
The sudden appearance of Zhongnan's sect leader Zhong Yeob left Jaseong and his group unsettled.
And that night,
Eternal Divine Physician suddenly called Jaseong outside.
"Come with me."
"?"
"Let's take a stroll together under the night sky."
Eternal Divine Physician led Jaseong to halfway up the mountain behind the thatched cottage.
Bathed in moonlight, the energy of Zhongnan Mountain was at its purest there.
Sitting atop a rock, Eternal Divine Physician took out a bottle of bamboo leaf liquor from his robe.
"Drink a cup."
"... I'm still in recovery. Is it all right to drink?"
"Wine given by a physician is a medicinal liquor."
... Is that really true?
Jaseong accepted the cup, half in doubt.
"I have something I'm curious about."
"?"
"Earlier, when you faced the Zhongnan sect leader, you had an emotion in your eyes I couldn't place."
"......."
"Do you perhaps have some kind of connection with the Zhongnan sect leader?"
Even if it is a bitter connection, a connection is a connection.
After all, he was one of those responsible for the death of Jaseong's eldest brother and sister-in-law.
But Jaseong did not mention that fact.
Though he had bowed to Eternal Divine Physician and become his disciple, he was only being taught the art of healing.
Since the physician had not taught him any unique martial arts, it was still hard for Jaseong to trust him completely.
"I saw the Zhongnan sect leader for the first time today."
"......."
"However, I did witness the Zhongnan sect Taoists fighting the Five Ghosts of Chongqing in Xi'an's streets, causing harm to the civilians. That's all that gave me a bad impression of the Zhongnan sect."
At Jaseong's reply, Eternal Divine Physician took a bitter gulp of liquor.
"The War of Orthodox and Unorthodox, and the Great Heavenly Demon War... The martial world has known nothing but blood for a long time."
"......."
"During those brutal times, the righteous and loyal orthodox warriors all ended up buried in the ground—most of them having led the charges in the War of Orthodox and Unorthodox and the Great Heavenly Demon War."
Jaseong quietly gazed at the physician's face under the moonlight.
Until now, he had always believed that every orthodox warrior was a hypocrite.
After all, nearly everyone he'd met in the orthodox faction had proved it so.
But when he looked at Eternal Divine Physician now, he could feel the righteousness and principle that the orthodox aimed for.
What if, on that day, it had been Eternal Divine Physician who came to the Red Light District to drive out the Demonic Cult's experts?
Perhaps his eldest brother and sister-in-law would still be alive and he himself would be happily working as an escort warrior.
All of it was a vain fantasy.
Jaseong took a silent sip and changed the subject.
"Master."
"Yes?"
"I have something I wish to ask."
"Go on."
"I have heard rumors that you killed the Evil Path Association Leader. Is that the truth?"
As Jaseong put down his cup, he looked straight into Eternal Divine Physician's eyes.
Immediately, a coldness settled over the area.
It was as if even the pure energy of Zhongnan Mountain froze.
Eternal Divine Physician sipped the bamboo leaf liquor.
Then, he gave an unexpected answer.
"Regrettably, I have never even seen the face of the Evil Path Association Leader."
"... Pardon? You've never seen the Evil Path Association Leader's face?"
"That's right."
"Then why did the Murim Alliance spread the story that you killed the Evil Path Association Leader?"
Eternal Divine Physician replied with a wistful smile.
"Because that makes things progress most quietly."
"?"
To Jaseong, the words didn't make sense.
"Thanks to the rumor that you killed the Evil Path Association Leader, the unorthodox experts have all gathered on Zhongnan Mountain."
"......."
"If you didn't do it, shouldn't you announce the truth and clear things up?"
"With the Murim Alliance already pulling the strings behind the scenes, how could that be possible? Besides, for some people, falsehood is closer than the truth, especially those blinded by greed."
Staring into the distant darkness of the forest, Eternal Divine Physician answered bleakly.
And then, looking at Jaseong again, he continued.
"By the way, there's one thing you must bear in mind."
"?"
"As soon as you have received all my treatments, take the medical books I have written over the years and leave this place."
"... Are you telling me to do this because I could be in danger?"
"And one more thing. Don't tell people you are my disciple. I have tried to go through life without making enemies, but the martial world is truly a harsh place. Huhu...."
Jaseong understood why Eternal Divine Physician was saying such things.
Now that the world believed he killed the Evil Path Association Leader, all the unorthodox factions would target him.
If, under such circumstances, Jaseong claimed to be his disciple?
Jaseong, too, would undoubtedly be marked by the unorthodox factions.
That was why Eternal Divine Physician told him not to reveal the relationship.
* * *
After that, Jaseong continued his treatments in the physician's cave.
Thanks to two months of care, his body had almost completely healed.
Now, he could circulate his internal energy and recover on his own, without the help of Eternal Divine Physician.
Because of that, Eternal Divine Physician could devote himself to curing other patients once again.
Then, one day, a strange patient came seeking him.
"Doctor! My younger brother fell from a cliff and is at death's door! Please, I beg you, come just once!"
A middle-aged man came running desperately to Eternal Divine Physician.
The physician quickly packed his medicine chest and followed behind the man.
But when Eternal Divine Physician followed him—
"......?"
There was no patient who had fallen from a cliff—only a group of unexpected figures standing amid the forest.
"Well done."
An old woman holding a Blood Blade tossed a coin pouch to the middle-aged man as she spoke.
Opening the pouch, his eyes widened in astonishment.
Without a backward glance, he hurried down the mountain.
Only then did Eternal Divine Physician realize it was a trap.
'... Such baseness, betraying kindness for a handful of money.... Is this the true nature of man?'
At that moment, rather than the danger of being surrounded by unorthodox experts, the taste in his mouth turned bitter at the sight of a commoner repaying his grace with betrayal.
The old woman with the Blood Blade spoke.
"Nice to meet you, Eternal Divine Physician. I am Gwang Mu-yeon, known by the nickname Mad Blood Blade."
One of the top-ranked supreme experts among the Hundred Evils of the unorthodox factions—the Mad Blood Blade(狂血刀).
Her eyes, peering out from beneath crimson robes, looked like those of a beast hungry for blood.
And she was not the only enemy present.
A giant holding an iron mace that looked to weigh over a hundred pounds—Mountain-Breaking Iron Mace.
A masked man known as Black Wind Demonic Human, an expert in Meteor Hammer—Chusalma, plus the five elders of Biweol Gate, the Five Ghosts of Chongqing, and more.
In total, there were twelve unorthodox experts, each possessing might at or above supreme level.
What's more, they weren't underestimating him just because of their numbers.
"The master of Killing Valley went forward cockily and ended up dead. So instead of competing, let's all join forces to kill the Eternal Divine Physician. We must attack together, without leaving any opening."
Mad Blood Blade, gwang Mu-yeon, spoke on their behalf.
At her words, the unorthodox experts nodded and formed a tight circle around Eternal Divine Physician.
Eternal Divine Physician swept his gaze slowly over them.
'Each one of them is an expert famous across the land. That there are twelve such figures...'
It just so happened that at this moment, Lee Rin, Gu Janghu, and the North Seas protectors were away gathering herbs at Eternal Divine Physician's request.
Jaseong was still in the mountain cave, convalescing.
In other words, Eternal Divine Physician had to face twelve supreme experts alone.
Yet, even though this was the territory of Zhongnan, no one came to help.
No matter how vast Zhongnan Mountain was, surely the likes of Zhong Yeob, that peerless expert, couldn't be unaware of this unorthodox invasion.
But not a single Zhongnan Taoist appeared.
"Just as I expected."
Eternal Divine Physician gave a bitter laugh and muttered to himself.
This, indeed, was why he had left the Murim Alliance recently.
So-called righteousness and justice were hollow words, drowned by hypocrisy and greed.
And at the center of it all was the Murim Alliance Leader, Namgung Cheon-rui.
He spread the rumor that Eternal Divine Physician killed the Evil Path Association Leader, making him the common enemy of the unorthodox world.
Why did he do such a thing?
Because during the recent Seven-Star Cloud Blade incident, the Eternal Divine Physician had sided with the weaker orthodox factions and harshly criticized the Five Great Clans of the Nine Major Sects.
'Namgung Cheon-rui, Murim Alliance Leader... He's despised me for a long time. Even though I belonged to the orthodox factions, I offered my healing art to the unorthodox as well....'
Eternal Divine Physician shook his head.
Now, all such thoughts were ultimately pointless.
"So, you've come to kill me? Let's see what you've got."
Eternal Divine Physician spoke in a low voice.
At his words, Mad Blood Blade tensed and sent telepathy to her unorthodox peers.
[I'll go first. The rest of you follow immediately.]
With that, Mad Blood Blade swung her crimson blade and charged Eternal Divine Physician.
"Blood Flowers Fill the Sky!"
True to her reputation as one of the upper-ranked among the Hundred Evils, her blade glowed bright blue with sword energy.
But just as her sword energy was about to engulf Eternal Divine Physician, dozens of needles suddenly shot from the physician's hand.
Shu-shu-shu-shu-shu-shu-shu-shu-shu-shu-shu-shu!!
Eternal Divine Physician unleashed his secret martial technique, the Heavenly Physician's Needle Technique.
Each and every needle was infused with the internal energy of a supreme-expert.
Ka-ka-ka-ka-kang!!!
Instantly, Mad Blood Blade's sword energy was shattered to pieces.
At the same time, every unorthodox expert's eyes widened in shock.
'Wh-what is this...?!'
'What kind of martial art is that?!'