At the weight of the word 'imperial palace', Baek Yoonjun's mind became complicated.

'The imperial palace all of a sudden? What is this...?'

Shinseung urged such a Baek Yoonjun.

"This is not the time. It is urgent, so let's move for now."

With his mind gone white, Baek Yoonjun was dragged along by Shinseung and moved to where the patient from the imperial palace was.

"The patient is here."

At the place they arrived, a single patient was lying down.

Perhaps in consideration of Baek Yoonjun, who avoided people, there were fortunately no other people.

A patient who looked serious at a glance.

But Baek Yoonjun was not in a position to care about that.

Although there were no people in the room.

-Heh heh, he'll be gone soon.

Literally, there were just no people.

'No, why are those things here again?!'

Baek Yoonjun was astonished inside and glanced at them.

The black and white grim reapers he had seen before in Zhongnan.

They were looking down at the patient and clicking their tongues.

"Benefactor Baek?"

Seeing Baek Yoonjun, who was flustered by the sudden visit of the grim reapers, Shinseung looked at him with concern.

Only then did Baek Yoonjun come to his senses.

"I will examine the patient."

Trying his best not to be conscious of the grim reapers, Baek Yoonjun checked the patient's pulse.

-Hah, I see this human again.

-What a strange fate.

-Come to think of it, after seeing that human, several fates in Zhongnan changed, right?

-How could such a sudden change be brought about by one person. It is a coincidence.

-No, it's strange no matter how I look at it.

The grim reapers chattering by his side.

Baek Yoonjun, who was treating the patient, clicked his tongue inside.

'Were they really the grim reapers I saw then? Why did they appear where I am again?!'

While cursing the two inside, he tried his best not to be conscious of them, for fear that they would notice, and continued to examine the patient.

'This is...'

The appearance of the patient, as if he were an old man.

However, the patient was not an old man.

'The prenatal energy has been exhausted. As far as I know, this can't be fixed no matter what I do...'

A state similar to the appearance of Namgung Jehyun, whom Baek Yoonjun had faced before.

It was an appearance of having his life force exhausted and having aged rapidly as a result of using his prenatal energy.

Baek Yoonjun quietly raised his head.

Seeing that, Shinseung asked carefully.

"How is it?"

Baek Yoonjun slowly shook his head.

His condition was more serious than Namgung Jehyun's before.

The patient's life, which did not even have any remaining ashes, did not have a single moment left.

In that situation, there was nothing Baek Yoonjun could do.

'No... perhaps, if it's the Heart Sword that cuts concepts, there might be a possibility?'

The only possibility found in a situation where there was no possibility.

Just as he had cut the concept before and had turned Cheon Suhye back from a jiangshi to a human.

'If I cut death itself, I might be able to save him...'

Baek Yoonjun pondered.

After much thought, he could not come to an answer and quietly asked Shinseung.

"Is he an important person?"

"It seemed he knew important information related to this country. Perhaps the fate of the country might be at stake."

At those words, Baek Yoonjun had no choice but to choose.

'I don't feel like it, but since it's related to the country, it's a bit much to just leave it...'

Having finished his thoughts, Baek Yoonjun quietly contemplated his inner self.

The Heart Sword, which had become even more unstable because his physical condition was not good.

Baek Yoonjun gripped the Heart Sword in his mind-image.

Then he looked at the patient and repeated to himself.

'Death... I will cut it itself.'

At the same time as Baek Yoonjun made up his mind, the Heart Sword moved and stabbed into the man's chest.

And.

"Keoheok..."

He sent him off.

The patient, whose life was already hanging by a thread, had bid farewell to this world due to Baek Yoonjun's Heart Sword.

'It doesn't work...'

Baek Yoonjun felt an insane amount of embarrassment and apology rising.

Although it was a patient who would have died soon even if he had been left alone, to have ended it with his own hands was a different matter.

Baek Yoonjun, who was pondering at the gaze of Shinseung pouring down from the side.

"It is unfortunate, but his life has ended."

He went out shamelessly.

Since the Heart Sword was an intangible sword, there was a very small, impure calculation that Shinseung, whose realm was low, would not notice, and at Shinseung's serious appearance, it seemed it would be hard to utter that he had finished off the patient, even if he died.

"Hah... I see. Namu Amitabha, may you attain nirvana."

Baek Yoonjun, who had turned his head, scared by the eyes of Shinseung, who was seriously chanting a Buddhist prayer.

'Hic...!'

He met the grim reaper's eyes exactly.

-Huh? I think this human is looking at me.

The black grim reaper noticed his gaze and expressed a question, and Baek Yoonjun turned his eyes away very naturally.

-It's a misunderstanding. How can a living person see a dead person?

-No, our eyes met exactly.

-It's a misunderstanding.

Fortunately, the white grim reaper ignored the words of such a black reaper.

Baek Yoonjun let out a sigh of relief inside.

'Just go. Don't those grim reaper bastards have anything to do? Why are they loitering here?'

While doing so, he did not forget to curse the grim reapers inside.

And so, a moment later.

-Let's go now.

Baek Yoonjun could see why the grim reapers were loitering here.

The black grim reaper took out a chain and stretched it towards the body of the patient who had become a dead person.

The chain was imbued in the body of the dead person and pulled out a translucent form that looked exactly like the dead person.

'A soul?! Is it a soul?!'

Baek Yoonjun was startled inside at the sight and observed it with a sidelong glance.

The dead person, who had been pulled out by the chain with an appearance as if he were sleeping, opened his eyes a moment later.

-If you've come to your senses, let's go.

His eyes met the grim reapers'.

The dead person, whose eyes had met, at first showed a surprised look with his eyes wide open, but soon came to his senses.

-The imperial palace!! I must inform them of the situation of the imperial palace!!

He screamed and begged the grim reapers.

However, the grim reapers did not even budge, as if they were used to such a complaint from a dead person.

-I must inform them that there is no emperor in the imperial palace, and a single enchantress is running rampant!!

The dead person's scream spread futilely in all directions.

The black grim reaper expressionlessly pulled the chain connected to the dead person.

-Since you have already become a dead person, you cannot interfere in the world of the living. Let's go now.

-P-please!!

The dead person was led by the chain and disappeared with the reapers.

Only then could Baek Yoonjun let out the breath he had been holding.

"Are you alright, Benefactor Baek?"

Shinseung, for whatever reason he had taken Baek Yoonjun's appearance, asked carefully with a very worried face.

Although Baek Yoonjun pondered how to answer this.

"I'm fine."

In the end, he uttered a basic answer.

"It is not Benefactor Baek's fault that the patient's heavenly mandate has ended. Please do not blame yourself."

Shinseung, as if he thought Baek Yoonjun was blaming himself for the patient's death, seriously uttered words of comfort.

Although Baek Yoonjun pondered for a very short moment whether to correct such a misunderstanding.

'How do I explain this?'

Since there was no way to explain what he had seen, he just shut his mouth and nodded his head.

And so, time passed again.

The funeral of the dead person was held on a small scale under the lead of Shinseung.

'Even if I hadn't stabbed him, it would have been a matter of a few minutes. Please don't remember a human like me and attain nirvana.'

From a distance, Baek Yoonjun wished for the soul of the patient he had finished off.

The corpse of the dead person, engulfed in flames and burning.

Seeing that, for some reason, a memory of his past life came to Baek Yoonjun's mind.

'I don't know if that brat's funeral was held properly...'

The memory of the friend who was the only one who had visited him when he was cooped up in a corner of his room.

As Baek Yoonjun recalled that memory, he felt a stinging sensation in his chest and stopped thinking.

'Let's go back...'

After wishing for the soul of the dead person for a moment, Baek Yoonjun, who had returned to the secret residence, covered the memory of his friend and escaped to other thoughts.

'This is really... it's so frustrating that I don't know until I try it.'

Baek Yoonjun thought of the Heart Sword he had used on the patient before he had become a dead person.

Due to his timid nature, he could not complain to others and just grumbled to himself, cooped up in a corner of his room.

'This must all be because I self-taught martial arts and didn't learn properly.'

The thoughts of Baek Yoonjun, who had an endlessly negative way of thinking, reached even the martial arts he had learned.

'Since it's a martial art I self-taught with a mere third-rate miscellaneous book, I don't know what to do at times like this.'

As if he were not tired of the digging in his mind-image, which would continue for days if left alone, Baek Yoonjun continued to dig.

'Is it okay for a person like me to teach kids?'

The endless digging reached the topic of disciple and master.

'If I had had a proper master and had learned properly, would I have escaped the second-rate long ago?'

He thought of the existence of a master, whose existence in the world was questionable.

'Ah, I wish I had a master too.'

Thinking of the non-existent existence of a master, Baek Yoonjun endlessly dug a hole in his mind-image.

'It's frustrating.'

Perhaps because he had thought of the existence of a master, which he usually did not even think of, Baek Yoonjun's heart became indescribably frustrated.

'Should I move a little...'

In the end, Baek Yoonjun left the secret residence, went down the mountain, and continued to walk.

As Baek Yoonjun, who was continuously walking and digging a hole in his mind-image, the word 'imperial palace' came to his mind.

'The imperial palace that the soul of the dead person mentioned... no, let's not think about this.'

He soon buried it.

Just by thinking of the word 'imperial palace', Baek Yoonjun was plunged into an indescribable anxiety.

'Anyway, even if I know, there's no way to explain it to others, and there's nothing I can do...'

And so, Baek Yoonjun, who was walking endlessly.

'Hmm?' 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

He came to his senses and looked around.

A quiet village he did not know where.

It was a village with a gloomy atmosphere, where vitality could not be found even if one looked for it with their eyes wide open.

'When did I get to the village?!'

Baek Yoonjun was startled and hid his body.

Having taken refuge in a building that looked like an abandoned house, Baek Yoonjun could finally catch his breath.

'Of all the wide Central Plains, to walk blankly and enter a village, what is this...'

Baek Yoonjun held his head.

Now, to even unconsciously enter a village.

'Was I really bored?'

It was an impossible thing for Baek Yoonjun, who unconsciously avoided people.

At that moment.

'A presence!'

Baek Yoonjun had been careless.

He had been unconsciously thinking that there would be no people in an abandoned house like this.

Therefore, his reaction to avoid was a little late.

The person who was entering the building, which was no different from an abandoned house, witnessed Baek Yoonjun leaving his spot.

"Ouch!!"

Surprised, he fell on the spot.

The elderly old man, whose hair and beard were white, was groaning, having fallen on the floor.

"Ouch! My back!!"

Seeing the old man who could not get up properly, Baek Yoonjun felt a small sense of guilt.

In the end, he returned to his spot and supported the old man.

"Are you alright?"

"Alright! Why did a young brat come into someone else's house and startle a person!"

Even while being supported, the old man frowned repeatedly as if his back hurt and got angry.

"I-I'm sorry..."

"That brat, you looks so frail, but movements are quite nimble."

The old man seemed to have softened a lot at Baek Yoonjun's sincere apology.

Baek Yoonjun carefully moved the old man and laid him on a nearby wooden porch.

While laying him down, he also quickly checked the old man's condition.

"It seems you've slightly sprained your back. I'll give you acupuncture, so please don't overdo it for a while."

"Hey, I thought you looked pale and frail, but you were a doctor?"

Although Baek Yoonjun was slightly offended by the word 'frail', due to the nature of a homebody introvert, he could not spit out his complaint.

He just quietly gave him acupuncture.

After Baek Yoonjun had placed the needles and collected them, a short time passed.

The old man moved his body here and there and then was impressed.

"Huh? I didn't have much faith because you looked so delicate, but you were a skilled doctor."

"It is just a petty talent."

The old man, who had seen Baek Yoonjun's humble appearance, looked at him and pondered for a moment.

"Hey, wait a moment."

He went into the old building of the abandoned house, then came out with a bundle of shabby clothes and held it out to Baek Yoonjun.

"This is?"

"Although you're frail, your movements are nimble, and since you seem to be a doctor who wanders here and there, I'll teach you a martial art."

"Martial art... you say?"

Baek Yoonjun observed the old man.

No matter how he looked, he was just an old man, without even internal energy.

'Wait!'

At that moment, a word he had heard from a friend in his past life passed through Baek Yoonjun's mind.

'Could it be...? Is this a fortuitous encounter?'

According to Baek Yoonjun's memory, it was a fortuitous encounter that was said to be almost essential in the genre of martial arts.

'I remember it as something like getting a fortuitous encounter, gaining enlightenment, and becoming strong...'

Baek Yoonjun thought back on his life here until now.

There was nothing that could be called a fortuitous encounter.

'They said it was essential...'

Baek Yoonjun became slightly depressed.

However.

'Still, even if it's late, a fortuitous encounter for me too?'

Baek Yoonjun was slightly excited.

'Even if he looks like an ordinary old man, he might be a master who has changed his internal energy into something else, just like me!'

Although the fact that he had fallen and hurt his back earlier was a concern to think so.

"Since you've fixed my back, I'll teach you for free."

Since it was for free, he decided to learn it once.

'I was just worrying about self-teaching anyway, so...'

(End of Chapter)