Chapter 39

“This way.”

Ga Moojin, the head of the guard for the goldenwall clan had a sense of déjà vu as he escorted the honored guest, the single acupuncturist.

Now that he thought about it he had escorted the great doctor like this before.

And a very similar occurrence unfolded.

The single acupuncturist’s gaze was fixated on Danyeong who was standing near Taesan’s pavilion.

“Who is that child?”

Ga Moojin answered the single acupuncturist indifferently.

“He is our prince’s servant.”

“A servant? That boy?”

Ga Moojin quickly replied after seeing the look in the single acupuncturist’s eyes.

“He doesn’t want to leave his side and won’t go anywhere. Even if you ask him to be your apprentice.”

The single acupuncturist made a face of disbelief. It didn’t make sense that anyone would reject his offer to be his apprentice.

But having read between the lines the single acupuncturist’s face hardened.

“Well, I guess the great doctor came first…”

“Yes. He went through the same process. Also, that child is not the only servant serving our prince.”

“What do you mean?”

“Come inside. You will naturally find out.”

Ga Mooji felt proud as he stepped inside the pavilion.

When would someone like him have the chance to talk to someone famous like the single acupuncturist?

Once the single acupuncturist stepped inside the pavilion he would be surprised. Just as the great doctor did before.

As expected, the single acupuncturist stopped walking and came to a standstill as he stepped inside the pavilion.

He looked around at the servants cleaning the interior of the pavilion.

“There seems to be…a lot of servants.”

There were a total of seven servants. If you included Danyeong who was outside it was a total of eight.

And including Soso, a total of nine servants were serving Taesan.

Everyone excluding Soso was from a brothel and had voluntarily come looking for Taesan to serve him.

They all put in their all to serve Taesan. No matter how hard the task they did not complain and did it happily.

Not only that, they were beautiful. So much so that anyone who caught a glance of them would not be able to take their eye off of them.

He felt proud again.

Ga moojin looked at the single acupuncturist as if to show off that all these people were here to serve the prince.

“All these kids came here voluntarily to serve the prince.”

“They came…voluntarily.”

Ga moojin looked at the single acupuncturist and asked.

“Were you interested in them because of their appearance and quality?”

The single acupuncturist nodded.

“That’s right. It’s a waste to leave them here to waste their talents. I must make them my apprentice.”

“That is their choice. Also, you need the prince’s approval.”

The single acupuncturist was about to shake his head but stopped himself.

It would eventually work out. Because he wanted it.

A mere goldenwall clan could not stop his walk of life.

But before that, he wanted to resolve what he had planned and execute it after.

After seeing the great doctor, and the rookie that tied him down to this place.

And he was even willing to give him a consultation and if it was interesting give him an acupuncture session as well.

“Let’s go in.”

Ga Moojin smiled brightly at the single acupuncturist’s reply and escorted him in.

“This way.”

***

Taesan looked at the single acupuncturist seated opposite him.

The great doctor was seated next to Taesan.

The great doctor seemed very dissatisfied with the whole situation and glared at Ga Moojin who was seated next to the single acupuncturist.

Ga Moojin could empathize with how the great doctor must be feeling and made an apologetic look.

“I have no excuses for you doctor, I hope you try to understand the thoughts of our head of the clan.”

The great doctor was about to reply when Taesan lifted his hand. He was telling him to keep quiet.

“I understand, head of the guard you can leave now. I will finish things up.”

Ga Moojin looked at the single acupuncturist uncomfortably at Taejin’s words.

“Wouldn’t it be more comfortable if I were around?”

Taesan firmly shook his head.

“It’s more comfortable if it’s just us.”

Ga Moojin bowed politely to both Taesan and the single acupuncturist respectively.

“I…I leave him in your good hands.”

His statement was directed at both of them. To Taesan it was asking him not to offend the single acupuncturist. To the single acupuncturist, it was asking him to treat and cure Taesan.

As Ga Moojin left, the single acupuncturist opened his mouth and spoke eagerly.

“I saw on my way here you have quite a collection of servants.”

The great doctor smiled as his first topic was on the servants first. It reminded him of the past and you could look into the kind of character the single acupuncturist was.

Instead of replying, Tesan tried to assess the single acupuncturist.

He was able to tell a fair bit based on first impressions, but to know more in detail he needed a little bit of focus.

Taesan’s eyes glowed as he finished assessing the single acupuncturist.

He was impressive. His state was much stronger than when he first saw him.

He knew how to properly channel his energy, and he definitely had good control of it.

It was a very difficult thing to control one’s own energy flow.

“So you’re interested in my servants?”

The single acupuncturist’s brow frowned a little at Taesan’s words. He did not like the tone of his voice. How dare he treat him as someone beneath him.

But he seemed to do it naturally so he didn’t confront him.

“Yes. Your servants, they are wasting their talent, I’ll take them and nurture them. Teach them medical and martial skills.”

“I’m already teaching them martial skills though?”

The already single acupuncturist smirked.

“Don’t try to compare your shallow martial skills to my worshipped skills.|

The single acupuncturist had the right to make such a statement.

But that was if his opponent was the golden wall clan. Unfortunately, he was facing Taesan, the former Cheonma.

“You don’t even know what a worshipped skill is so it’s funny you think you can do better.”

The single acupuncturist chuckled.

“I don’t need to know. I am going to teach them Huwawolgong.”

“Huwawolgong?”

Taesan frowned.

“Isn’t that the skill a sex maniac uses?”

He was right. Huwawolgong was the skill a sex maniac evil spirit named the flower and moon spirIt used. But the single acupuncturist was brazen. So what. As long as it was a skill it didn’t matter who had used it, what mattered was that you were good at it.

“It’s a good skill I acquired coincidentally.”

When the flower and moon spirit was famous in his days, it survived combat with one of the Namgoong clan’s warriors.

It wasn’t able to win, but it was a big deal it even survived.

The single acupuncturist looked proudly at Taesan.

“So you had an ulterior motive. Huwawolgong is not a martial art they can learn simply by training. Is it?”

“So what if they did pay a price for learning a great skill! They will naturally end up doing it when they start serving me but it’s just being quickened a little.”

Taesan couldn’t believe his ear so he quickly replied. He needed to suppress his ego.

“The skill I’ve taught them is called Biryoungshingong. I wonder if you’ve heard of it before.”

“Biryoungshingong?”

The single acupuncturist’s eyes enlarged.

“It’s not the Biryoungshingong that I’m thinking of, is it? You better not be faking it with a skill that shares the same name.”

“I don’t know what Biryoungshingong you know of, but the Biryoungshingong I’m referring to is the one used by Biryoung’s new army in the past.”

“Don’t lie to me! That Biryoungshingong was practiced over a hundred years ago!”

Biryoungshingong was a form of martial arts that was lost over time once Biryoung’s new army disappeared.

But what Taesan was teaching was the real Biryoungshingong. Because the reason behind the disappearance of Biryoung’s new army was the Cheonma clan.

“It’s up to you to believe it or not. But why don’t you make a choice? Which would you choose between Biryoungshingong and Huwawolgong?”

The single acupuncturist shut his mouth as Taesan questioned. Anyone who knew about the two martial arts would definitely choose Biryoungshingong.

So the single acupuncturist changed his tactic.

“I’m a doctor. So what I teach is a medical skill. Great martial arts? True, it’s good to know. But for a doctor, the first thing is about their medical skill. So you can do good in the world. Don’t you agree?”

“It seems like you’ve never done any reflection in your life.”

Then Taesan suddenly reached out his hand.

The single acupuncturist tensed up.

‘What is this? Did I lose my breath? Me? To that rookie?’

It was an exquisite feeling when Taesan reached out his hand.

Even it was by chance or a coincidence the likelihood of it was very low. For someone as pro as him to lose his breath, they had to attack his opening that was near impossible.

Even if it was a coincidence it wasn’t something anyone could do.

He suddenly felt extremely defensive.

“What is the meaning of this?”

“What do you mean. Aren’t you going to do your medical consultation?”

“Oh…yes. I will. I will.”

The single acupuncturist started to feel frustrated as he sensed that he was losing control of the situation.

He lightly grabbed a hold of Taesan’s wrist. He first needed to test it out. If what he felt was a result of coincidence or true skills.

The single acupuncturist’s presence was absorbed into Taesan’s body.

The single acupuncturist’s consultation relied purely on identifying the body’s internal force by the person’s pulse. That was the reason why his consultations were accurate and his acupuncture was so skilled.

‘Well, he doesn’t have any internal force.’

It must have been a coincidence. For someone who was able to master Biryoungshingong and yet possessed no internal force, it meant he was someone not even trained in martial arts.

But as he continued to reach deeper, the single acupuncturist his initial thoughts were wrong.

This man was unable to master martial arts at all.

“Your body is like a rag.”

That was the first thing the single acupuncturist said after he finished taking his pulse.

Taesan smirked and asked.

“Really? Is it that bad?”

“Your larger pulses are barely there, but most of your smaller pulses have been cut off and there is no flow.”

“So can it be cured?”

“Of course it can be cured. But it will take a long time. You will need several needles acupuncture.”

“So it’s not a single acupuncture.”

The single acupuncturist laughed.

“My single acupuncture is only used to kill.”

Taesan asked indifferently.

“When you say it can be cured, you’re referring to the larger pulse?”

“Of course. How much acupuncture do you think you would need if I targeted the small pulses? And if you continuously address the small pulses, the one you cured initially will break off again. This whole cycle repeats, so why would I do that?”

Taesan looked to the great doctor.

“That’s what he says?”

The corners of the great doctor’s mouth lifted. Taesan continued after witnessing it.

“Your skills are better.”

The single acupuncturist looked appalled by Taesan’s declaration.

“What…did you just say?”

“I said that he is a better doctor. Because he said it can be fully cured in a few years.”

“Don’t make me laugh! How can he do something I cannot?”

Taesan smiled and only continued to talk about what he wanted.

“So, your martial arts are falling behind, your medical skills are falling behind. What are you going to show me now?”

The single acupuncturist’s face looked almost distorted.

He only had one thing left to show.

“I will show you my power.”

Taesan scoffed.

“Your brain isn’t working so you’re gonna use your strength to take it?”

The single acupuncturist replied confidently.

“What’s the issue? If you hold onto treasures you need to have the power to guard it.”

Taesan nodded.

“That’s true. So how’s this?”

The single acupuncturist looked suspiciously at Taesan. He was on his toes in case he was swayed by his words.

“Let’s make a bet.”

“A bet?”

The single acupuncturist’s eye sparkled.

The reason why Taesan mentioned the bet was only because he found out from Haomoon’s information.

Based on Haomoon, the single acupuncturist liked to make bets. And he was widely known to keep his end of the deal from the bet.

Even though the single acupuncturist won the bet most of the time.

“You like bets. Right?”

“It’s not that I like bets. I like to win things fair and square.”

“So, let’s do that.”

“Fine. But I won’t do it unless I like the category.”

“You’ll like it for sure. If you don’t, speak up. I’ll change it.”

“You’re thinking of only betting your servants, but I have a different deal. Bet the one sitting next to you as well.”

“Oh. That’s a big gamble?”

Taesan looked to the great doctor.

“What do you think?”

“It’s our loss. He only has himself to offer, but my medical skills are more advanced.”

The single acupuncturist’s face turned red.

Taesan shook his head.

“Let’s take it easy. All you have to do is just win. Right?”

He emphasized his last word while looking at the single acupuncturist.

“Yes. As long as I win.”

“So you should bet something else. All you have to do is win.”

“I only have myself to bet.”

“Only yourself? After all those years of leading a medical life?”

“Then what else do I have? I only need myself.”

Taesan shook his head while tapping his head with a finger.

“The real deal is inside your head not your body. Bet your soul. If you lose both your body and soul is mine. How’s that?”

The single acupuncturist laughed out loud, finding it absurd.

“What, are you expecting fully loyalty to you?”

Taesan nodded.

“I mean exactly what I say. You just need to bet your body and soul.”

“Fine. I’ll bet.”

Taesan smiled widely and revealed the category.

“How does a fight with me sound. One on one?”

The single acupuncturist stared at Taesan blankly.

“You…must have no intention of winning?”

Taesan looked at the single acupuncturist with a meaningful look.

I got you.