Surviving as a Genius on Borrowed Time

Suddenly, the open space of Mok Family Manor trembled.

The divine physician, who had been taking a pulse reading on the wooden bench, abruptly pushed off and stood up as if struck by a seizure.

Wooong!

A faint, hazy energy flowed out from his body. White and semi-transparent, it took the form of a refreshing mist infused with the essence of wood.

“Have you truly lost your mind?!”

Who was he speaking to?

Even the heads of the Nine Sects could not immediately comprehend.

The manifestation of the Lord of Ipwang Fortress.

It was an event so shocking that even the word "shock" fell short. The divine physician, who had lived for untold years, might have spoken condescendingly to the abbot of Shaolin, but no one had ever imagined that his eccentricity would extend even to the Lord of Ipwang Fortress.

Yet.

“Celestial Guardian!”

With an expression of rage, the Evergreen Divine Physician uttered a name of absolute authority that no one in this gathering had ever heard before. His gaze was fixed firmly upon the air.

Or rather, upon the Lord of Ipwang Fortress, who stood there, her waist sash adorned with two pure white divine swords that seemed almost perfectly suited to her.

“Do you even understand where you have come…?!”

His rough, grated voice scraped through the air. The divine physician cried out with near desperation.

“Answer me! Why?! Why did you not hold your place?! No, if you had descended, you should have gone to the north! Why did you leave Gunreung unattended?! Why, for what reason?!”

The emperor had been mentioned.

Gunreung. Emperor Gunreung.

A name that should not have existed on this land. A being who belonged solely above the clouds.

“A-A great physician though he may be…”

“We have never heard such things before!”

At that moment, the villagers who were either knowledgeable about worldly matters or simply quick-witted began to flee.

All around, hurried footsteps stomped against the ground, and the sound of people scrambling in confusion filled the air. Some had stood there dumbfounded but were soon swept up in the atmosphere and left in a daze.

Meanwhile, the Lord of Ipwang Fortress spoke slowly without even glancing at the divine physician.

“There was something more urgent.”

All the while, small leaves, carried by the wind, gently settled over the unconscious Jeong Yeon-shin.