How much time had passed?

Around the time the moonlight had tilted a little more, Tang Yuhwa pulled out the last needle.

"It's over."

With Tang Yuhwa's dry voice as the end.

Gok Piyeong felt the pain that had been wrapping his body disappear as if it were a lie.

Not only the physical wound, but also the essence of the torn shadow was forcibly, but surely, sutured.

'It's amazing.'

Gok Piyeong looked down at his chest.

It was not a simple medical art.

It forcibly connected the nerves using poison, and forcibly held together the qi and blood that were about to scatter.

It even felt like a creepy will, as if it would hold on to this world even by using poison, even if the King of Hell were to grab him by the collar and drag him away.

Gok Piyeong, getting up from his spot, gracefully tidied his clothes as if greeting an audience on a stage.

"It's an amazing skill. To revive a dying life... the word 'famous doctor' is not enough."

"It wasn't to the point of dying. You're overreacting."

"No. It was a skill so outstanding that it could revive even a truly dead life."

Despite Tang Yuhwa's blunt response, his voice was consistently polite.

But that politeness, on the contrary, made the listener's spine chill.

Tang Yuhwa, without being swayed at all, took out a medicine pouch from her bosom and handed it to Gok Piyeong.

"You praise me too much. I still have much to learn."

As the treatment was over, Tang Yuhwa's tone returned to the polite tone she used when dealing with ordinary people, as if nothing had happened.

"And take this three times a day. If you don't, the wound will open again."

A tone of voice that felt shameless.

'Lately, when I get particularly excited, my tone of voice keeps changing...'

Although Tang Yuhwa's outward appearance was unchanged, she was very embarrassed inside.

For some reason, it seemed she was becoming like her master, Baek Yoonjun, whose timid nature was impossible to grasp from his outward appearance alone.

Gok Piyeong smiled as he received the medicine pouch.

"I will keep that in mind."

He curled the corners of his mouth and stared at Tang Yuhwa.

"By the way, how should I repay this grace... If you would tell me your name, I would like to invite you as a guest of honor to my play."

But the answer came not from Tang Yuhwa, but from the side.

"Ah, customer? If the treatment is over, you have to pay and go, right?"

A smooth voice.

Zhuge Hwaryeong naturally stood in front of Tang Yuhwa, blocking her.

Although she was smiling brightly, her eyes were not smiling at all.

Her 'dealing with difficult customers', which had been honed through her long life as a waiter, looked like the martial arts of a master.

"Looking at your appearance, it seems you've been through a rough time somewhere, but shouldn't you be grateful that we're not reporting you to the authorities?"

"Haha, reporting, you say."

"Just by looking, you don't seem like an ordinary person."

Zhuge Hwaryeong waved her hand as if fanning herself and scanned Gok Piyeong from top to bottom.

"My senior sister has a soft heart, so she picks up anyone, but I feel very uneasy. So, pay for the medicine, and let's part quietly without making each other's faces red, shall we? Yes?"

The tone was polite.

But the inner meaning was 'you're dirty, so pay up quickly and get lost'.

Gok Piyeong chuckled, as if he found that blatant exclusion rather amusing.

"Oh my, I have become an uninvited guest."

"If you know, then hurry up and go."

Zhuge Hwaryeong stealthily fumbled with a paper with a talisman drawn on it in her bosom.

A posture ready to fly it away at any moment.

It was then.

"Father!"

The voice of a child was heard from the other side of the alley.

Zhuge Hwaryeong's eyes widened.

What was running from the end of the alley was a boy who looked to be about ten years old.

Although he looked a little pale, he was undoubtedly a child.

"Father, I've finished organizing the things!"

The child smiled brightly, grabbing Gok Piyeong's clothes.

Gok Piyeong patted the child's head and said affectionately.

"Oh, you did well. Good boy."

Zhuge Hwaryeong stared blankly at that sight.

'...He had a child?'

The suspicious man, who had been emitting an ominous energy until just before, looked like an ordinary father in front of his child.

The child looked at Zhuge Hwaryeong and Tang Yuhwa alternately, then bowed his head.

"Thank you for treating my father."

A young voice and an innocent-looking gaze.

He just looked like an ordinary child that could be found in any village.

Zhuge Hwaryeong took her hand off the talisman without realizing it.

'...What. Was he just a wandering father and son?'

She felt sorry for having been too on edge for no reason.

Perhaps this person was also just an ordinary person struggling to make a living with his child in a rough world.

"Ah, yes... well, my senior sister is just very serious about her medical skills."

Zhuge Hwaryeong waved her hand awkwardly.

Tang Yuhwa was staring blankly at that 'son'.

'...It's strange.'

The child's pulse, which could be seen with the eyes, was normal.

His body temperature was also normal.

Although it was not certain because she had only checked with her qi sense and sight, there was nothing wrong.

But the same sense of incongruity that she had felt from the father before was also faintly felt from this child.

As if the father and son were sharing the same 'smell'.

'Is it just my feeling?'

Although Tang Yuhwa tilted her head, she did not say it out loud.

Around the time Tang Yuhwa was plunged into a question, Gok Piyeong held his son's hand and bowed his head to them again.

"I apologize for the trouble. We will be on our way now."

He took out a lump of silver from his bosom and placed it on Zhuge Hwaryeong's palm.

"It's for the medicine. And..."

Gok Piyeong took a step back.

His shadow flickered as if it were alive and followed him a beat later than his main body.

A bizarre off-beat.

But since his appearance, holding his son's hand, was so natural, Zhuge Hwaryeong and Tang Yuhwa did not witness that strange sight.

"If we meet again next time, I will formally greet you on the stage I have prepared then."

"Ah, yes... well, see you then."

Unlike before, there was no rejection in Zhuge Hwaryeong's answer.

Gok Piyeong, as if he were enjoying even that reaction, disappeared into the darkness, holding his son's hand.

As if he had been a shadow from the beginning.

Zhuge Hwaryeong stared at the place where they had disappeared for a long time, then asked Tang Yuhwa.

"Senior Sister, are you alright? Did I get on edge for no reason? His first impression was very suspicious..."

"It's fine. It's natural to be wary of strangers."

"Senior Sister, you're not wary if it's a patient!"

"A patient is a being to be treated, not a suspicious person."

"Phew..."

Tang Yuhwa, without paying attention to Zhuge Hwaryeong, who was sighing, looked down at her own fingertips.

'The father and son were both strange.'

But she could not be sure.

"...They were strange."

"Really? They were certainly suspicious, right? I wasn't the only one who felt that way, right? But well... seeing him with his child, he doesn't seem like such a bad person."

Zhuge Hwaryeong tilted her head.

Tang Yuhwa, lost in thought, muttered.

"I don't know the reason... but the father and the son had the same smell."

"Smell? Body odor?"

"No. It's not like that..."

"If I stick to Senior Sister, will we have the same smell?"

At Zhuge Hwaryeong's somewhat sticky words, Tang Yuhwa glared at her to her heart's content.

"Ah, it was a joke! But honestly, it's because I'm cross-dressing. Women can hold hands, hug each other, sleep together, and even bathe together, right!"

"You're overdoing it lately. It's creepy."

"What?!"

Zhuge Hwaryeong collapsed on the spot as if she had been struck by lightning.

Clang.

The silver coin that had been in her hand rolled on the floor pitifully.

Regardless, Tang Yuhwa carefully recalled the feeling she had just felt.

In fact, it was just an intuition.

A trivial thing if you say so.

"Phew... let's just move on from that. To that person... did I get on edge for no reason. I feel a little sorry too."

Zhuge Hwaryeong, stealthily glancing at Tang Yuhwa's face, stealthily changed the subject and then held Tang Yuhwa's hand and brushed it off.

"Don't satisfy your selfish desires."

"Tsk."

Zhuge Hwaryeong, with a face as if she had been caught, clicked her tongue, then picked up the silver coin, dusted it off, and handed it to Tang Yuhwa.

"Still, we made money. Senior Sister, you're poor because you don't charge much for your medical fees." 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

"Treatment is more important than money."

"Forget it! This old man is suspicious, but he's generous! Since we made money, let's have a late-night snack!"

"If you eat at night, you'll gain weight."

At Tang Yuhwa's point, Zhuge Hwaryeong flinched and then, on the contrary, raised her voice.

"If you eat deliciously, it digests well, so you don't gain weight!"

"That's absolutely not true from a medical point of view."

"Ah, forget it! If you exercise, you don't gain weight!"

"If you eat and then exercise, it's actually bad for your body."

"Forget it! How can a person live only healthily! Let's eat today!"

Zhuge Hwaryeong grabbed Tang Yuhwa's hand and moved her feet.

A faint smile formed on the face of Tang Yuhwa, who was being dragged along.

---

At the same time.

In front of an inn in a certain city in the Central Plains.

Tap, tap.

The sound of a pangu echoed, and a light was lit behind a white cloth.

"Come on, come on! It's not something that comes every day! A performance that can only be seen for one day! Today only, begins!"

At the man's shout, people gathered one by one.

Behind the white cloth, standing in front of a small light, was a man.

It was Gok Piyeong.

No, it was someone with the face of Gok Piyeong.

In his hand was a doll made by carving a thin leather.

Piyeong.

Thin sticks were connected to each joint of the leather doll, and when it received the light, a black and clear shadow was cast on the white cloth.

"A long time ago, one day, the imperial palace tried to monopolize martial arts."

The man's fingers bent and moved bizarrely.

At that, the shadow dolls projected on the cloth began to dance.

Tap, tap, tap.

The shadow that moved with the sound of the joints bending was excessively elegant.

A creepy vitality, as if the leather doll had gained life.

But the children watching were just amazed and cheered enthusiastically, clapping their hands.

"Wow! It's moving!"

"It looks like it's alive!"

At the same time.

In Hangzhou, hundreds of li away.

In the market there, the same cloth, the same light, and the same shadow play were unfolding.

"The three thousand went around the folk and collected martial arts!"

Another Gok Piyeong was conducting a shadow puppet show with the same voice.

At the same time, in Kaifeng.

"They were relentless even with the martial arts that had been passed down in the family. They were relentless even with the martial arts like the miscellaneous books in the market."

At the same time, in Luoyang.

"Although the martial artists of that time had tried to resist, they were just powerlessly trampled by the absolute masters of the imperial palace, the three thousand."

All over the Central Plains.

A shadow puppet show unfolding simultaneously in dozens of markets.

For some reason, a play with the same content.

For some reason, people who looked the same were performing.

They all opened their mouths at once and sang the final act.

"Then the White Robed Sword Immortal appeared."

The shadow of the leather doll's head being cut off flickered in time with the flickering flame and spread in all directions.

Although the adults were startled, the children, not knowing the reason, giggled.

Gok Piyeong's eyes curved like a half-moon.

"The White Robed Sword Immortal found the smiles of the martial artists. However..."

To the ears of the people, it just sounded like a story.

In the sight that just looked like a performance.

"Because of those martial artists, the folk shed tears of blood."

No one noticed the madness hidden in the shadow.

---

The next morning.

The footsteps of Tang Yuhwa, who was leaving the inn for a medical examination, stopped.

"Huh?"

One side of the street was noisy.

The suspicious father and son she had treated last night were packing their things and leaving.

They were about to set out on the road, carrying very simple performance tools.

The father was carrying the luggage, and the son was walking side by side next to him.

The village children were following them, as if they were sad.

"Mister! Are you coming back later?"

"Of course. I will come back with a more interesting story."

The side profile of the man carrying the luggage was just that of a middle-aged man with an ordinary impression.

But as soon as Tang Yuhwa saw him, she frowned.

The suspicious patient she had treated last night.

And the pale son next to him.

Both of their appearances were ordinary.

But.

'The smell is the same. Both of them.'

It was not a smell that could be smelled with the nose.

For some reason, at the same time as her sharpened intuition, Tang Yuhwa's dantian, the Myriad Poison Field, wriggled.

The same sense of incongruity that she had felt from that man last night was also felt from the son.

Although she could not know at all what the identity of that sense of incongruity was, it was hard to ignore.

"Senior Sister, what's wrong?"

Although Zhuge Hwaryeong asked as if she were curious, Tang Yuhwa did not react and stared blankly at the departing father and son.

Although the sun was shining brightly, only the shadows of that father and son looked particularly thick and black.

"...No. It must be my feeling."

Tang Yuhwa shook her head.

Although she had no conviction or anything, she could not help but be concerned.

However, Tang Yuhwa had no choice but to turn her attention away from the father and son.

"I'll pay today too! Let's eat and drink until we're full!"

Zhuge Hwaryeong began to drag Tang Yuhwa as if she were snatching her.

Since Tang Yuhwa was relatively small and her martial arts itself was weak except for poison, she had no choice but to be dragged powerlessly.

"Aren't you tired of eating and drinking so much yesterday? And that's the money the patient gave you."

"Since Senior Sister's concept of money is weak, I have to manage it!"

"Isn't that the same as a parent taking the money they said they would give when you get married later and not giving it?"

"Oh, do you feel like I'm your mother? Senior Sister's mother... that's good too?"

"..."

At Zhuge Hwaryeong's words, which seemed like a joke but seemed to contain sincerity, Tang Yuhwa's facial muscles worked for the first time in a long time.

Naturally, it was in a bad way.

Behind her, the departing father and son simultaneously glanced back and smiled.

As if they were watching an interesting performance.

The smiles of the father and son were eerily similar.

(End of Chapter)