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Chapter 653: Back to the Central Plains

Just after noon.

I stepped out from the palace into a surprisingly quiet space.

It was a place where a few sentinels were stationed, maintaining a serene atmosphere.

This was also a gathering point for a handful of physicians in the North Sea.

Passing through there, I arrived at another location, opened the door, and entered.

Creeeak.

As I turned the old doorknob, a familiar face appeared inside.

Perhaps they were in the middle of eating, as Nangong Bi-ah was shoving something into her mouth.

She looked at me and spoke.

“…An…nyoung….”

“Finish eating first, then talk.”

Her clumsy pronunciation was somewhat amusing.

Just as I said this, Nangong Bi-ah was chewing her food with a mouthful.

“Right, you should swallow what’s in your mouth before you speak. That’s one of the basic etiquettes taught in the clan, isn’t it?”

A middle-aged man casually chimed in from the side.

I frowned and replied to him, “What’s with burping in the middle of a conversation?”

There’s absolutely no justification for discussing etiquette here.

“Haha. My apologies. Perhaps my digestion isn’t quite right?”

I sighed at the middle-aged man’s attempt to laugh it off. His proud face was still too distant given his improper attitude.

The white-haired, bright-eyed nobleman, resembling Nangong Bi-ah, was wearing the distinctive attire that represented their clan.

Master of Wudang, Nangong Hyeong.

The one-armed man was smiling there.

I asked him, “How’s your body doing?”

“As you can see, I’m doing fine.”

“By looks, you’re not fine at all.”

Gwaeseon had lost an arm and was at death’s door from a piercing wound.

He had survived solely due to his high realm; otherwise, it wouldn’t have been unusual for a common person to die from such injuries.

‘It’s a miracle he’s even conscious.’

According to the physicians at the Ice Palace, they had expected him to be bedridden for at least another month.

Gwaeseon had just awakened two days ago, eyes wide open.

His recovery was astonishing.

I glanced at his arm.

With one arm gone from being a Sword Master, it was certain that he was having issues with his martial arts.

“Today’s food is quite tasty. Would you like to try some, Your Highness?”

“No, I’m fine.”

“Then I’ll just have it….”

“…Nom.”

“…Nephew, what are you doing?”

“I said… I’m not… eating.”

Gwaeseon seemed indifferent to such matters, acting just as strangely as always.

‘Is he really okay, or is he just pretending?’

Not something I needed to worry about, so I quickly shifted my attention back to Nangong Bi-ah.

“How’s your health?”

“I’m fine.”

“…”

Her casual response prompted me to poke her belly with my finger.

“Ugh…!!”

Nangong Bi-ah’s face scrunched up as she let out an unusual sound.

Seeing that made me let out a deep sigh.

“What’s fine about being fine? Do you want to keep lying?”

“…”

I could see her looking at me resentfully, probably from the pain of my poke.

But I certainly wasn’t one to let that slide.

“Why aren’t you opening your eyes nicely? What are you so proud of that you’re keeping them shut like that?”

As I frowned while saying this, Nangong Bi-ah averted her gaze, sulking.

She was already pretty enough, making it hard to nag when I looked at her, but now I had gotten used to it and could do it in a way.

“What’s the good in coming here and getting hurt when you were told not to go?”

“…”

“What’s so great about being here that you would get hurt? If you had stayed quietly in the Central Plains, this wouldn’t have happened. Does being cold help you learn swordsmanship? It doesn’t, does it?”

“That’s….”

“Don’t talk back.”

“…Okay….”

This time, Nangong Bi-ah seemed to recognize her mistake and remained quiet.

I had piles of things to say.

“And since we’re at it—”

“Ah, Your Highness!”

Just as I was about to continue, someone interrupted me.

Tang Soyeol appeared with Baek Cheon-gyeom behind her.

“Did you arrive?”

“Yep.”

Tang Soyeol approached with her usual bright smile.

Without any awkwardness, she sat next to me.

“Have you eaten?”

“I grabbed a bit.”

That was a lie. I hadn’t touched food for almost two days.

I had spent too much time trying to understand my newly acquired abilities and heightened realm.

“Hmm.”

Hearing my answer, Tang Soyeol stared at me silently.

Her gaze was quite burdensome, and I tried to subtly look away.

“You didn’t eat, did you?”

“…”

Busted immediately.

Her intuition was incredibly sharp.

“…I just haven’t had much appetite.”

“Hmm….”

She looked at me with a face as if she wasn’t entirely convinced. After staring at me for a while, Tang Soyeol tilted her head.

“Your Highness.”

“Yeah?”

“Is something wrong?”

She posed an unexpectedly serious question.

I blinked and looked at her, then let out a slight laugh of resignation.

‘Busted.’

How did she notice?

I had just dealt with Woo Hyeok and felt rather unpleasant, but it seemed she sensed it right away.

Moreover, it wasn’t just Tang Soyeol.

‘…Click.’

I could also tell that Nangong Bi-ah’s gaze was fixated on me.

She seemed to have realized it long ago.

“It’s nothing…”

I tried to brush it off like always, but I noticed two people’s expressions shift slightly.

Seeing that, I hesitated for a moment before changing my words.

“…There was a bit of a situation, but it’s fine. I resolved it.”

“…”

“…”

Telling them it wasn’t anything seemed better than saying it was just fine, and finally, Nangong Bi-ah and Tang Soyeol’s eyes relaxed a little.

Seeing that, I let out a sigh of relief inwardly.

“Really, don’t worry. It’s nothing serious.”

After I said that, Tang Soyeol nodded.

“You still need to eat, though.”

“…I’ll make sure to eat something.”

With that vague response, I suddenly—

Grab!

“…?”

I seized Nangong Bi-ah’s wrist.

She looked at me as if to say, “What are you doing?”

Ignoring her, I circulated my energy.

Swishhh—!

“Eep?”

As my energy surged, Nangong Bi-ah flinched.

Knowing this was happening, I kept channeling my energy.

The heat penetrated through Nangong Bi-ah’s body, spinning around once.

By the time I took it back, it returned, carrying quite a bit of Impurity Qi.

I released the impurities from the energy returning to my body.

Then—

Whoosh—!!

I ignited my fingertips, burning away the impurities.

A faint foul smell lingered, but thankfully, it seemed I had separated it well.

After shaking my hands to rid them of the residues, I turned to Nangong Bi-ah and said, “It seems there’s no significant issue with the energy. I got rid of the remaining impurities, and you should be fine moving by tomorrow, right?… Why?”

Just when I was trying to explain, everyone in the room was staring at me.

What’s this? What’s with those looks?

An unexplainable silence passed in an instant.

“What did you just… do?”

Baek Cheon-gyeom asked me, wide-eyed in surprise.

“What do you mean, what did I do?”

“Exactly what you just did. What did you do?”

“Huh? I just pulled out the impurities and burned them.”

Seeing that someone looked uncomfortable, I thought it might be worth checking. Sure enough, some impurities were left in Nangong Bi-ah’s body.

It seemed like a problem caused by the energy aiding in regeneration, so I just extracted and burned it away.

This wasn’t done using the Demonic Absorption Technique or any other Taoist Qi.

‘I just separated and burned it with heat. Why do they react like that?’

It didn’t seem like such a difficult task. Their reactions were quite strange.

“…You separated the impurities? And burned them?”

“Yep.”

“How?”

“Huh?”

I frowned at Baek Cheon-gyeom’s follow-up question.

“How do you mean, how? You just separate them, don’t you?”

“Impurities are mixed within the energy, you know.”

“That’s right.”

The Blood Qi flows through the energy, and tiny impurities are lurking within it.

Left alone, they’d naturally disappear over time, but simply leaving them was quite uncomfortable, so extracting and removing them was useful.

But the reactions of Baek Cheon-gyeom and Nangong Hyeong toward such actions felt unusual.

What’s going on? Did I do something strange?

“You didn’t extract the impurities yourself, but sent energy into someone else’s body to extract just the impurities?”

“Yep.”

“How on earth can you do something like that?”

“Um, what’s with those ‘how’ questions…?”

Is it really that weird to just send energy into the flow and pull out the impurities?

Certainly, maintaining a flow like water isn’t easy, but extracting impurities wasn’t impossible either.

“That doesn’t seem so difficult.”

“…What? Not difficult?”

“Huh?”

Upon my response, Baek Cheon-gyeom’s eyes widened in shock.

Seeing his expression, I really didn’t understand.

“Are you saying that’s difficult?”

“…”

“Why would it be difficult? Isn’t it not really that hard?”

I had no clue why he was acting like such a big deal.

“Huh… ah.”

Upon hearing my answer, Baek Cheon-gyeom seemed to be malfunctioning somewhere.

Behind him, Nangong Hyeong was staring at me with a totally dazed look on his once-proud face.

What’s got them in such a tizzy?

Starting to feel a bit cramped, I stood up abruptly.

Tang Soyeol shot me a disappointed glance, but she had to tend to Nangong Bi-ah, so she wouldn’t move along with me.

“First, I’ll be taking my leave. Please rest well, and I’ll be heading back to the Central Plains by tomorrow as I mentioned.”

As I spoke, I glanced at Baek Cheon-gyeom and Nangong Hyeong.

“Will you be joining me?”

I didn’t bother to ask for their agreement.

I just needed to take Nangong Bi-ah, Tang Soyeol, and that rookie Sword Demon, along with the crazy Pejon.

Since Baek Cheon-gyeom and Gwaeseon seemed to have separate matters to attend to here, I made it clear that it didn’t matter if they weren’t coming.

“Let’s go together. It feels pointless to stay here any longer in this state…”

Gwaeseon looked subtly at Baek Cheon-gyeom and continued.

“Isn’t that the same for you, sister?”

“…”

Baek Cheon-gyeom made a somewhat bitter expression at Gwaeseon’s words.

It seemed there was some kind of circumstances, but that had nothing to do with me, and I had no interest in it either.

“If that’s the case, then. If you plan to head back, I suppose you can come by before noon tomorrow.”

“Noon…? That’s a bit tight, so wouldn’t it be better to leave from early morning?”

“Early morning? Oh.”

I wondered what they meant, but upon thinking about it, it seemed Baek Cheon-gyeom and Nangong Hyeong didn’t know what I had arrived on.

“It’s fine. I’ll be flying anyway.”

“Oh. Flying…? Huh?”

“I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

Without further explanation, I turned my back and started walking.

After all, I’d explain everything when we met tomorrow, and I felt explaining it all would be a bother.

‘It’s a bit of a concern about the number of people, but it should be fine.’

In the past, I would have found five to be the limit, making it risky, but looking at Tolly’s size and my energy now, it seemed rather trivial.

Creeeak. Boom—!

I closed the door and moved forward.

I took a moment to look up at the sky.

The cold had disappeared, but the chill remained, and a clear sky was visible.

Watching the flowing clouds, I nodded.

‘Can I head back soon?’

There was so much piled up waiting for me to do over there.

To get that done, it was indeed time to return to the Central Plains quickly.

 

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