How long had they been walking?

Suddenly, lights appeared beyond the mountain.

Not lantern lights. These were orange, yellow, and red hues undulating…

The same lights that Cheon Woo and Jin Cheonhee had once seen on Mount Wudang.

Freeze-

As Jin Cheonhee’s retinas were instantly dyed blue from seeing the distant fire, he immediately launched Noe-jin.

Screech-

Could it sense its master’s emotions?

Noe-jin soared urgently.

“Cheon Woo. We need to leave the horses from here.”

Shing-

Jin Cheonhee immediately took the Ice Clarity Sword from the saddle and lightly shouldered his composite bow.

But his expression…

Had hardened like someone who had lost all emotion.

Facing such a brother, there was only one thing to say.

“Brother. I’ll follow you.”

“…Okay.”

Bang-!

Jin Cheonhee’s afterimage disappeared, sliding into the darkness.

An ordinary Three-Elements Stride.

Yet its subtlety was as profound as any exceptional divine skill.

Cheon Woo followed his brother, moving with the Taiji Strides.

‘Damn, he’s too fast!’

The Zhuge Clan had always been counted among the best when it came to footwork.

When footwork reached its peak, it became so swift and secretive that even Cheon Woo, running alongside, couldn’t sense its presence.

The jade robe billowed for a moment, then with each blink, Jin Cheonhee grew further away.

Cheon Woo gritted his molars and desperately chased after his brother.

Having a large body provided advantages not just for wielding a sword, but also for running like this.

Taking the same step meant covering a significantly greater distance than an average person.

The same applied when using footwork techniques.

The Taiji Strides was a smooth footwork technique that glided as if treading on clouds.

It achieved harmony between yin and yang, advancing by occupying advantageous positions.

‘To think that even the Taiji Strides can’t keep up with the Three-Elements Stride, a common marketplace technique…!’

In the past, his brother had said:

What creates exceptional divine skills is “efficiency.”

When possessing the same level of insight, exceptional divine skills are those that approach the extreme limits of martial arts.

Then what would happen if someone achieved that level of insight with marketplace martial arts?

In terms of ‘efficiency,’ simpler martial arts techniques are easier to master and gain insight from.

Of course, even when mastered, they wouldn’t reach the same “mastery” as the refined martial arts of Wudang Sect or Namgoong Clan.

However.

-But aren’t these more adaptable? You don’t always need to use finishing moves, right?

Cheon Woo didn’t immediately understand what his brother meant by “finishing moves.”

It sounded vaguely similar to “true divine techniques.”

-Combat is made up of countless normal attacks and useful skills. Even in games, you really only use about four skills regularly.

This wasn’t meant for Cheon Woo to hear. It was closer to self-mumbling.

-So in gaming terms, you need at least one basic skill with a short cooldown and low internal energy consumption to maintain balanced combat.

By this point, Cheon Woo had given up understanding what his brother was talking about.

Basically, between a martial artist who only learned profound divine skills and one with slightly lower achievement in those skills but also mastered a basic technique with low energy consumption and easy mastery.

If the two dueled, his brother claimed the latter would be stronger.

But why would someone who mastered divine skills learn marketplace techniques?

Wouldn’t that be a waste, beneath their dignity?

Bang!

Yet such a madman existed right here.

Someone who, despite possessing the Zhuge Clan’s divine skills, had mastered all sorts of basic techniques simply because they “seemed useful.”

‘It seems like something else is mixed into the Three-Elements Stride?’

Cheon Woo’s knowledge wasn’t enough to identify what basic technique was mixed in.

Only someone who thought at Jin Cheonhee’s level could recognize it.

‘But… I… haven’t been idle either…!’

Bang!

Cheon Woo’s form stretched long.

His brother’s back came closer again.

And finally… both arrived at their destination in an instant.

“Aaaargh! My lord! My loooord!”

“Please spare us! Please!”

Hell unfolded before their eyes.

The village was burning. Unorthodox practitioners were indiscriminately killing people and looting.

They kidnapped children and cut down mothers who resisted while embracing their children.

“Kuhahaha! These fools didn’t pay their protection money. Show no mercy!”

“We’ll make you witness the consequences of reporting us to the magistrate’s office!”

In that moment, Cheon Woo felt a chill.

Killing intent radiating from his brother’s body permeated the air.

Bang!

He didn’t even sense when his brother drew and fired the bow.

What Jin Cheonhee shot wasn’t an arrow, but merely air.

‘Mind Bow? No. This is…’

It was simply a modified version of the Flicking Heaven-Penetrating Finger skill shot through a bow.

Yet its power resembled the Mind Bow.

In an instant, a bandit’s arm was severed and flew through the air.

“Gaaaah!”

“W-who goes there?!”

“…”

Jin Cheonhee did not answer. He simply left his spirit weapon aside and continued to shoot with an ordinary composite bow.

Bang-bang-bang-bang!

He didn’t kill them. He only shattered their limbs.

Perhaps he calculated there wasn’t enough time to run up and break each one individually.

This wasn’t a martial artist’s battle.

It was somehow different from what people typically imagined a martial hero’s deeds to be.

“Brother.”

“Cheon Woo… gather the injured people.”

Jin Cheonhee said only that much and spoke no more.

“A martial artist! An archer! Take cover!”

At what appeared to be the leader’s voice, the unorthodox group each hid behind walls and pillars.

A simple yet effective response against an archer.

The bow was an efficient weapon but also a limited one.

No matter how excellent the archer, they couldn’t shoot without a firing angle.

Plus, Jin Cheonhee’s figure was invisible in this darkness.

Had they known he was the White-Robed Divine Dragon, they would have fled long ago, but of course they couldn’t have imagined that. They probably judged him to be an ordinary hero.

But that didn’t matter to Jin Cheonhee.

He kicked up a small stone with his instep.

Then, instead of an arrow, he nocked it to the bowstring and shot.

Bang!

The stone didn’t penetrate.

Rather, he had aimed at a completely unexpected target.

Tat-tat-tat-tang!

The stone hit the ground, bounced up, struck a wall, deflected off a rafter, then penetrated an unorthodox practitioner’s shoulder.

“Gaaaah!”

Jumping Projectile[1].

‘Does such a technique exist in archery?’

Cheon Woo was so shocked his eyes nearly popped out.

Jin Cheonhee spoke with an expressionless face.

“Cheon Woo? You’ll listen to your brother, right?”

Each projectile Jin Cheonhee fired tore apart limbs so brutally that death might have been preferable.

Cheon Woo rescued civilians while avoiding his brother’s attacks.

“Thank you. Thank you so much, great hero!”

Behind the civilian’s desperate gratitude, a stone fired by his brother tore through an unorthodox practitioner’s thigh.

Tat-tat-tat-tang!

While moving astonished civilians to safety, Cheon Woo smiled bitterly.

‘It might be easier on my mind if I were the one who’s doing the killing and brother doing the rescuing.’

But in that brief time, his brother had clearly compared both options and calculated.

And he’d concluded what method would end this with the least time and casualties.

It was quite a harsh thing to do to himself.

“Retreat… retreat! Everyone retreat!”

Crack!

The shoulder blade of the man who shouted those words flew into the air.

Though it was a wound that could easily have been fatal, he didn’t die.

But it was enough to instill fear in the unorthodox group.

The frightened bandits began fleeing one after another.

Jin Cheonhee didn’t bother to chase them.

Treatment of the injured took priority.

“Hwanggu. Alert me in order of the strongest blood scent.”

Woof!

Nothing could be more foolish than letting patients die by missing the treatment window while chasing the culprits.

Saving people must be the top priority.

Yet for some reason, Cheon Woo became strangely frightened by his brother’s completely expressionless face.

***

They hurriedly performed hemostasis and sutures.

After manually resetting broken bones and splinting them, they continued doing whatever they could.

Meanwhile, Noe-jin flew to deliver a letter to the nearest White Dragon Medical Pavilion branch.

It also carried a letter requesting soldiers from the nearest magistrate’s office.

Something they learned during treatment:

Escort agency couriers had been staying in the village.

The fact that their cargo remained safe was due to the blood price paid by these couriers.

Their blood protected the cargo, but half the couriers died.

And the remaining half were in critical condition.

If martial artist couriers ended up like this, ordinary civilians couldn’t have been safe.

Over three thousand villagers had been annihilated by the unorthodox group.

The dead were already uncountable, and Jin Cheonhee alone couldn’t handle caring for all the injured.

“Brother.”

“Don’t tell me to stop because I might collapse. I won’t collapse, and if I stop here, people will die.”

Cheon Woo helped Jin Cheonhee by moving patients and assisting with acupressure, but there was no end in sight.

Fortunately, one physician had survived and was helping Jin Cheonhee save patients, but being quite injured himself, it was a heavy burden on his body.

Ultimately, that too became Jin Cheonhee’s responsibility.

“Keck, keugh…”

But despite their efforts, another patient died with the sound of boiling blood.

No matter how desperately they struggled to save them, people died.

Because a physician wasn’t a god.

No matter how skilled in martial arts or possessing knowledge called divine healing, he was alone.

It was impossible for one person to treat everyone at once.

“Kugh… physician… sir…”

“Hold on until your family arrives. Just a little longer…”

Even sending internal energy while desperately pleading… the father’s eyes grew cold.

“Th… ank…”

Unable to complete even one word, the person died so easily.

“…”

Jin Cheonhee withdrew his energy.

Instead, he could only close the father’s cold eyes.

“Current time… ah… no need to pronounce death here. This is the martial world, after all.”

After muttering quietly, he staggered to his feet. Then he simply moved on to the next patient.

Prioritizing patients who could be saved.

If they couldn’t be saved, he had no choice but to let them go.

But even if that was the basic principle during wartime, dividing lives was an incredibly difficult task.

Cheon Woo grabbed Jin Cheonhee’s shoulder.

“Brother, breathe.”

“Ah…”

It seemed he had been unconsciously holding his breath.

Jin Cheonhee took a deep breath and forced a smile.

“I’m fine.”

He couldn’t collapse. At least, he couldn’t collapse here.