Namgung Woon rubbed his temples, his voice heavy with exhaustion.

“I told her to ask for anything she needs. The help the Three Perfections Tracking Tiger has given the Martial Righteous Alliance over the years is priceless.”

“We’ll need to find another talent to track the Blood Immortal Cult in the future,” Jin Cheon-hee replied.

“That’s the problem; there is no one like her. Do you know anyone?”

“A tracker surpassing the Demonic Cult… Honestly, other than the Three Perfections Tracking Tiger, I don’t know of one either.”

“We might be a step behind the Demonic Cult from now on.”

“Since they will track and defeat the Blood Immortal Cult themselves.”

Namgung Woon sighed. “But you know that lagging behind in intelligence means lagging behind in Gangho supremacy later.”

“Yes. And the Demonic Cult won’t give information helpful to the Martial Righteous Alliance. Ultimately, the Alliance will have to deal with spies within its ranks or incidents in its jurisdiction on its own.”

“Groan… what a headache. Well, I trust the current Alliance Leader will handle it wisely. Still, I should look for what the Namgung Clan can do.”

He was worrying about the Martial Righteous Alliance already. That was exactly why he became the Alliance Leader.

Namgung Woon looked up, asking with shining eyes, “By the way. I even risked my life for you. How about it now? Will you call me Big Brother?”

At those words, a smirk escaped Jin Cheon-hee.

“You pressed my mute acupoint.”

“I stopped you because you were about to risk your life again. You didn’t have any strength left anyway. Why? Were you planning to grind up even your Innate True Qi?”

“That’s… not it, but.”

“Then you can call me Big Brother, right?”

“Have you quit drinking?”

Cheon-hee felt Namgung Woon flinch.

Right. You’d have better luck trying to trick a ghost. How can you trick a physician?

“Still a long way to go. Hero. Nam. Gung.”

“Gah. That’s harsh.”

“Enough, give me your wrist. Since we’re talking, I’ll check your pulse.”

“Thanks.”

***

After parting ways with Namgung Woon, Jin Cheon-hee left Hangzhou.

Fortunately, since Namgung Woon and his warriors agreed to support the Second Branch of the White Qilin Medical Pavilion, Cheon-hee selected fifty members of the White Qilin Unit and returned to the main headquarters with them.

The return journey was uneventful.

Upon arriving at the White Qilin Medical Pavilion headquarters, Cheon-hee saw his Master looking down from the top of the stairs.

Hmm. I don’t know how much he’s heard, but I smell trouble right from the start.

“M… Master. Did your work at the Imperial Palace go well?”

“Yes. There’s remaining work, so I’m handling it daily. But Hee-ya. You really made quite a mess, didn’t you?”

“Ha, hahaha… I! I brought specialties from Hangzhou for you, Master!”

Woof!

Hwanggu wagged his tail furiously at Zhuge Rin, balancing the monkey, Noe-jin, on his forehead as he performed a somersault.

“Wow! Our Hwanggu prepared a special talent just to show you, Master!”

“Starting with cheap tricks, Hee-ya? Well, fine. Come in for now.”

What a relief. He didn’t seem as angry as Cheon-hee had feared.

Zhuge Rin guided his disciple straight to the office and poured tea prepared by Yoo Ho. Cheon-hee refused to be outdone. He unpacked and showed off the special refreshments and bonsai pots prepared in Hangzhou—especially a very precious pot inlaid with mother-of-pearl, the kind used for bribing high officials.

“Master…”

“Forget that. Give me your wrist.”

As soon as he saw his disciple, Zhuge Rin checked his pulse for a long time.

How much time passed?

Examining here and there, the Master spoke with a slightly surprised look.

“Your left arm has improved.”

“Yes! The pain has decreased, and I can now handle the Poison of Profoundness that works on the Blood Immortal Cult.”

A secret weapon. The troublesome left arm had now become a filial son.

“…And in the process, you risked your left arm exploding and becoming disabled.”

“Ah… well. If I hadn’t, I would have died.”

“…….”

Zhuge Rin reached out his large hand and clamped down on Cheon-hee’s cheek.

“Uwaaaah! Maswter, it hurrrts!”

“I’m stretching the cheek of a disciple who says naughty things. Maybe some nice words will come out if it stretches.”

After a round of scolding, Zhuge Rin sighed.

“The Blood Immortal Cult always possessed regenerative powers beyond human limits. Especially the Ten Heavenly Lords; they were absurd bastards who reattached arms no matter how many times they were cut. To have a poison that counters that… and capturing Heavenly Lord Geum to boot.”

Zhuge Rin himself must have found this gain unbelievable.

“M… Maswter.”

“Hahaha, I’m not done being angry yet, Hee-ya.”

Ah, ouch! It hurts!

Since the Master’s innate bones and muscles were vicious weapons themselves, just pinching without internal energy felt like the skin was tearing. Only when tears welled up in Cheon-hee’s eyes did the old man’s heart soften, and he released his grip.

“Haa… Hee-ya. Listen. I’m raising a puppy, and this time too, unable to control his temper, he went and rammed into two of the Ten Heavenly Lords and two Heavenly Design Compliance. He’s happy his arm is fixed, so how should I react?”

“…That… puppy really has a temper.”

Cheon-hee wanted to say the two Heavenly Design Compliance were dealt with by Yeo Ha-ryoon so they shouldn’t count, but that excuse wouldn’t work on his Master.

Let’s endure before I get pinched more.

Zhuge Rin continued.

“Right. He looks gentle on the outside, but his actions suggest he won’t be satisfied until he overturns the entire Gangho.”

“Uh, but I came back right after that. With… uh… the White Qilin Unit too.”

“Right. That makes me happy.”

Why?

He looked genuinely happy, not sarcastic or cynical.

Still, even if Cheon-hee had to go because the Blood Immortal Cult outbreak near Hangzhou endangered Hye-ah, he had prioritized resolving it well and returning to meet his Master. He must be glad his disciple had that much reason. Ahem.

Squeeze.

“Uwaaaah! M… Maswter!”

“Hahaha, looking at your face, you’ve become arrogant again, Hee-ya.”

Urk. How did he know?

***

They conversed at length.

They discussed what the Master gained from the Imperial Palace, what the disciple gained from Hangzhou, and how the two strategists of the Zhuge Clan had put their heads together to calculate profits and losses.

Actually, there was nothing to calculate. They hadn’t lost anything. Not just money, but reputation and connections too. It was surprising that Hye-ah was managing reasonably well with just the handover from the nearby Branch Leader, without formal training from headquarters yet.

And then, the martial arts achievements. There was even awe regarding the mastery of the Poison of Profoundness.

“Fighting poison with poison. Making the poison of the Five Poisons Sect go berserk with Demonic Arts, then refining it with the Zhuge Clan’s Five-Elemental Divine Art to inflict fatal wounds on the Blood Immortal Cult… Truly… even hearing it, I still can’t believe it.”

“Yes. I also… uh… thought the theory would work. After all, the Blood Immortal Cult was always weak against the Demonic Cult.”

“Pure martial arts of Buddhist or Taoist lineage actually deal great damage to Demonic Arts.”

“In a way, it’s a rock-paper-scissors relationship. Though it can’t be viewed that simply.”

Zhuge Rin raised his blue eyes and asked, “Hee-ya, what do you intend to become?”

Cheon-hee was startled because it was the same question he had asked himself after handling the Poison of Profoundness.

“I don’t know either, Master. Maybe… Asc… Ascension?”

“Isn’t that a phenomenon that occurs when every martial artist finally sees the end of martial arts?”

“Yes. That… is true.”

But nothing else came to mind.

“Anyway, I didn’t expect that bug from the Demonic Cult to be this helpful. This is all because my disciple is excellent.”

Cheon-hee wondered why he was praising Yeo Ha-ryoon, but he threw a curveball to praise his disciple instead.

Still, is this getting off easy?

“In that sense, I will punish you, Hee-ya.”

“Yes?”

“Since we received a fiefdom of two thousand households, it needs managing. Devise a management method.”

“Y-Yes?”

“Why that blank expression?”

Uh… I didn’t expect this. No, actually, it made sense.

What Zhuge Rin gained from this war was the honorary title of Earl of Medical State, First-Class of Rank 3.

Like Honorary Professor, Honorary Chairman, or Honorary Whatever, this was also a power-less “whatever.” But since the Emperor stamped this power-less title, First-Class of Rank 3 officials would be careful treating the Master.

Honorary titles are always like that. ‘He’s an outsider, but we can’t exactly exclude him from the game.’ So officials feel a sense of confusion.

Therefore, the fiefdom of two thousand households received this time was the Earl’s land, but since it had ‘Honorary’ attached, the situation became ambiguous.

First, it was certain Zhuge Rin went from a mere physician to a local magnate.

Usually, the owner of a fiefdom can do two major things: exercise taxation rights and corvée labor rights.

It is possible to collect taxes and keep them as profit. Of course, paying only a fraction of that profit to the Empire makes it a tremendous privilege. In old stories, local magnates live idly, eating and playing; these are those guys. Isn’t it truly a god-given job, like combining several modern landlords?

Next is corvée labor rights.

You can force those living in the two thousand households to work for at least three months a year. Similarly, in old wuxia tales, don’t poor commoners get beaten by passing martial artists while moving huge bricks to build pavilions for high-ranking people to play in? That is the magic of this corvée right.

Monkey King’s magic has nothing on this.

Now, if Master gives these people plows and tells them to turn a mountain into a field, it becomes pioneered. If he tells them to turn a field into a mountain, it happens. For some reason, it feels like a general’s magic wand.

Cheon-hee remembered soldiers from his past life lying down, hoping their discharge would be delayed as much as possible to avoid real work. Was humanity the same everywhere?

As a result, administrative power is also held, but judicial power is ostensibly retained by the Constabulary. There needs to be a Constabulary so that if a local magnate makes commoners hold weapons instead of plows, hoes, and sickles, they can be sent on a tour to the afterlife.

But it’s ambiguous; the law says judicial power cannot be touched, but… as orchids, pine trees, and rare chrysanthemums go back and forth in the background as bribes, it becomes nominal.

If that continues for three generations, it becomes collusion.

Even if the Emperor changes and the dynastic name changes, officials are dispatched and local magnates keep doing what they do, so this happens. Important things like this always run haphazardly.

So, criminals are caught by the constables and chiefs of the Constabulary, but the judgment is passed by the County Magistrate? This becomes a headache-inducing structure.

So, here’s the problem.

Zhuge Rin of the White Qilin Medical Pavilion is an Honorary Earl; should he be recognized as the County Magistrate or not?

The answer is: ‘If the Emperor didn’t appoint a separate Magistrate, the Honorary official is the Magistrate.’

Hearing this, office workers might feel similar to when their company becomes a mess due to restructuring, but that interpretation is correct. That’s how it works.

So Zhuge Rin, the outsider, is the Honorary Magistrate.

Because the original Magistrate was appointed elsewhere and left, the local officials from magnate families under him sent an official document implying, ‘Uh, you became Honorary Magistrate, so you’re the Magistrate, right?’

Master sent an appeal asking, ‘No new Magistrate coming?’ and the reply was, ‘Yep. Try ruling well.’

Politics is a field that runs haphazardly.

In the midst of this, his disciple rammed into two of the Ten Heavenly Lords and two Heavenly Design Compliance and said, ‘Master, I upgraded without blowing up my arm.’

So Master inputted the command: ‘Deputy Magistrate’s Duty is assigned to you.’

It looked like Cheon-hee couldn’t run away until he finished all this.