(1) “A curse?
A cuuurse?
Hey, you bastard! Is that something you say to a child?
What curse?"
“Young master, please calm down.”
“Calm down? Calm down my foot. I'm going to teach that bastard that real, existing violence is much scarier than some curse that may or may not exist.”
“Grab him. Just grab him.”
“Hold him tight. If you let the young master go, that doctor is a dead man.”
Sanson and the other soldiers held Patrick tightly, but Patrick was dragging them along as he slowly approached the doctor. From the victim's perspective, he looked like a mad dog breaking its iron chains and lunging toward him.
'A devil.
A devil lives in this fief.' He even started to wonder if the curse on that child had been cast by that devil. Just then, Lawrence spoke to Patrick.
“Young master. Please, calm down for now.”
“Grrrrr....”
“As the doctor said, it's true that the child's condition is very strange.”
“Arrrrr....”
He showed no sign of calming down. Lawrence spoke to Patrick, who was gradually turning into a Mad Dragon... no, a mad dog.
“Her body is very cold, and she is extremely weak. I don't think it's a curse, but she is definitely not in a normal state.”
“Kyarrr.... Huh?"
Patrick's reason, which had fled his brain, finally returned. Patrick then said to Lawrence.
“Is the kid's body very cold?”
“Yes.”
“Doesn't her whole body have a faint blue tint to the skin?”
“... Uh. Yes.”
“And if you check the whites of her eyes, haven't the capillaries turned black?”
“Th... That's right. Young master, have you studied medicine?”
The one who answered Patrick last was not Lawrence, but the doctor who had been hit in the side and sent flying.
“Medicine, my ass.”
How would I know anything like that? I was busy enough to die just from swinging my sword, making money, and researching martial arts. However, a martial artist is, in the end, someone who trains by studying the human body in depth.
Muscles, skeleton, meridians, the correlation between the dantian and the mind, and so on. As a result, they often have extensive knowledge of the unique constitutions found among martial artists. In Patrick's case, he had a strong suspicion.
“Where is that child?”
“She is lying over there.”
“I need to take a look. Let go for now. I'm fine now.”
When Patrick said that, the soldiers let him go.
And then...
“Uwaaack!”
“You quack bastard.”
As soon as the soldiers let go, Patrick pounced on the doctor and began to stomp on him.
“What? Abandon the kid? What curse? Do you want to die?”
“Aigo, aack! Aaaack!”
“I paid for you to save a life, and what, you say to abandon her? Die. You quack bastard!”
“Aack! Some... Uwaack!”
It was truly a gruesome scene of violence.
“Aigo, young master!”
“Stop him! I said, stop him!”
“You said you were fine now.”
The soldiers hurriedly jumped in to pull him off. Caught by Sanson with his legs dangling in the air, Patrick flailed his legs and shouted.
“Being fine is one thing, but once I decide to beat someone up, I have to follow through!”
Ah, I see. So even when his mind is clear, there's no retracting a decision for violence. What a firm conviction you have.
After punching the quack a few more times, Patrick examined the child's condition. He already had a suspicion. But he had to check just in case.
He grabbed her wrist and pushed his energy into her to check her body. The result was...
“As I thought....”
Patrick's face filled with astonishment. He had suspected it, but he never thought it would actually be like this.
“True Nine Yin Severed Meridians.”
This child had Nine Yin Severed Meridians. And it was a true case of Nine Yin Severed Meridians, far more severe than his mother Ava's. 'No, is this common in this world? What, I've only lived for ten years and I've already seen two cases of Nine Yin Severed Meridians.'
In the Central Plains, Nine Yin Severed Meridians was a constitution so rare that it was difficult to find even one person in an entire era. Especially after a cure was discovered, this severed meridians condition became a blessing rather than a heavenly punishment.
It was a constitution so rare that all the martial artists of the Central Plains could search with fire in their eyes for a child with blocked meridians and still rarely find one. Yet Patrick, after being reborn, had already discovered his second case of severed meridians.
It was absurd, but he collected himself, calmly assessed the situation in his head, and came to a realization.
“Jackpot!”
This was a true jackpot.
The girl was born into a wealthy family. But that didn't mean she was happy. Her father was a nobleman and her mother a commoner, but her mother's outstanding beauty had made her the nobleman's beloved concubine.
In cases like this, it might have been better to be born an ordinary commoner. This was because the jealousy and scrutiny of the official wife greatly tormented the girl and her mother. It's rare for an official wife and a concubine to laugh together, calling each other "sister" and living affectionately.
At best, maybe one in ten cases would involve them being distant with each other, like a cow looking at a chicken, but even that was not common. Most official wives keep the concubines in check, are jealous of them, and constantly try to push them away.
If they were to acknowledge the concubine and her child, the inheritance for their own children would decrease, and in the worst-case scenario, it could become a threat to the line of succession. So how could they possibly get along?
In the first place, the fault lies with the man who thoughtlessly made a lover outside and even had a child with her. The girl's childhood was mostly like that.
Her mother always had to live as if hiding in a small corner of the mansion, and if she carelessly went outside and was spotted by the official wife or her half-brothers, she would be scolded immediately.
[How dare a lowly thing like you roam inside the mansion?]
On days when the official wife and her children were angry, she would be locked in a dark warehouse and starved, unable to eat anything. Her father did not take her and her mother's side.
His affection for her mother had already cooled significantly, and besides, if he recklessly took their side and the official wife's family intervened, his own position would be in jeopardy. The only one who cared for her was her mother, but she did not have the power to protect the girl.
[April, I'm so sorry. Mommy... I'm sorry.]
Whenever she came back after being scolded and whipped, her mother would always embrace her and apologize. In a harsh and painful world, only that small embrace was the one place the girl could find solace. But even that small embrace did not last long.
And it was because of the girl herself.
[A curse. This is a curse.]
[What? What do you mean? A curse in this day and age?]
[It's true. There is no way to cure this, and if left as it is, it will sicken everyone around her.]
[Is that really true?]
[I swear on God's name. You must banish this child at once.]
At the words of the priest who had examined her sickness, her father banished her without a second thought. A little girl who was only seven years old. And when the decision was made to banish the girl, her mother followed her out of the mansion as well.
The official wife was greatly pleased by the mother's decision and, as if doing a great favor, tossed them a few coins.
[Please, go somewhere far away so that you never appear before my eyes again. Never set foot here again.]
Just as the official wife, who chased them out with a smile, had wished, the girl's mother took the girl and headed for a faraway place. After that, things were difficult. The small amount of money they received when leaving the main house was quickly spent on the daughter's medical bills.
Not that she was cured, of course.
[Mom. I'm okay now. Stop...]
[No. April. You will get better. There are no such things as curses in this world. So your sickness will one day be cured.]
April wished her mother would just give up on her, but she did not give up on her daughter. Even after all the money ran out, she worked her hardest to earn money for her child's treatment. But that eventually led to overwork, and finally, the girl's mother also collapsed.
[Mom. Mom……]
[April. I'm sorry. Mommy... Mommy is so sorry.]
Watching her mother grow thinner day by day as she lay collapsed, the girl couldn't even shed tears. She had learned at too young an age that the person who would be hurt the most by her tears was her mother. Unable to endure the cold winter, the girl's mother grew cold and passed away.
After she died, the girl's sickness grew even more severe, and it became difficult for her to even move her body on her own. It was then that strange men took the girl away.
[What's this? Is this thing even alive?]
[Anyway, let's just take her. We have to meet our quota.]
[That's true. As long as we fill the headcount.]
The ones who took the girl, who was dying next to her mother's body in a rundown house in the slums, were thieves who were Billy's subordinates at the time. They had been ordered to kidnap children from the slums for their illegal slave business, and they took the girl to fill their quota. The girl did not resist.
No, she didn't even have the energy to resist. Instead, she thought to herself. If she really was cursed, and if that curse truly existed, she hoped it would bring misfortune to the men who were taking her now.
Unexpectedly, her wish came true. Patrick had destroyed Billy's faction in a single night, and after that, Billy was caught by Red and received a punishment so cruel it was terrifying. After that, the girl's memories were faint, connecting only here and there.
A memory of someone discovering them and being surprised. And a memory of being moved somewhere with the other children nearby. And when she came to her senses again, a man who looked like a doctor was pointing at her and shouting that she was a cursed child.
The girl wanted to say something. That it wasn't true. They could abandon her, they could kill her.
But she wanted to say that she was not a cursed child. 'Mom said so. She said I'm not a cursed child.
So... please...'
If she really was a cursed child, then her mother's entire life would become meaningless. That alone was something she could not bear. And just then...
[Are you the one? The quack bastard who was spouting nonsense about a curse?]
That was the last scene the girl remembered. A boy who appeared by kicking the doctor who was saying she should be banished. At that moment, the girl thought.
At the final moment of her life, what should she call that boy who appeared to grant her most desperate wish? Usually, such a being……
'An angel?'
Let's be understanding. Her condition is very poor. In any case, that was the girl's last memory.
Patrick brought the girl to his room and forbade anyone from entering. After giving a firm order to Lawrence, he carefully sat the girl on his bed.
“I have to be careful, right?”
Patrick was serious. In the ten years he had lived since being reborn in this world, he had never been as serious as he was now.
‘A mistake means death.’
But if he succeeded, the reward would be huge. Patrick had the girl with Nine Yin Severed Meridians sit in a cross-legged position, placed his hand on her back, and pushed his energy into her. And through that energy, he began to stimulate the meridians inside the girl's body, as if gently tapping them.
Guiding and Inducing Energy. It was a technique of moving the energy in another's body to guide it along the correct path, and for a master of Patrick's level, it wasn't a particularly difficult task. That is, as long as the other person didn't have a case of Nine Yin Severed Meridians that had reached its extreme state.
‘This is different from my mother's case. This... this is Yin energy on a completely different level.’
Even though Ava had Nine Yin Severed Meridians, only four of her meridians were blocked. And that was after her condition had worsened greatly due to childbirth; before that, it was probably only three or two. But this child, true to the name of Nine Yin Severed Meridians, had all nine of her major meridians blocked.
Honestly, the fact that she was still alive was a miracle in itself. How could she maintain her life force when no energy was circulating in her body at all? 'Is it because the density of energy in this world is much richer than in the Central Plains?'
In any case, this girl was alive. Even while holding an immense amount of condensed Yin energy in her nine meridians. Patrick had to guide her energy, unblock her meridians one by one, and gather the Yin energy circulating throughout her body to make it his own.
After that, he also had to create a vessel in the child's dantian to hold energy. If he made even the slightest mistake in this process, not only the girl but Patrick himself would be in danger. But if this succeeded..
‘There is so much to gain.’
First, if he could improve her Nine Yin Severed Meridians constitution, he would gain a talent born with the greatest martial aptitude. Also, if he could absorb the Yin energy in the girl's body and make it his own, his internal energy would increase greatly. He might see an effect even greater than taking one of Shaolin's Great Rejuvenation Pills.
“I just have to not make a mistake. Just... no mistakes.”
He had already infused his energy and figured out where and how they were blocked. Well, it wasn't like there was much to confirm since they were all blocked.
“Alright. Let's goooo!”