Trash of the Count's Family - TCF Part 2 - Chapter 98: Blood! (3)

Terms used in this chapter:
Divine Immortal – Aka Transcendent Being. A human who has ascended to immortality through cultivation practices. Cultivation is the practice of mystical or martial arts to become stronger and extend one’s life, so becoming a divine immortal is the end goal of cultivation.
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The Dominating Aura disappeared once the Sword Saint sat down. The Sword Saint questioned Young Master Kim if he was a human. Cale laughed and insisted that he was a human. What else would he be if he was not? Sword Saint muttered the word ‘divine immortal’ and both Wi and Elder Ho’s eyes shook at that moment.
Cale denied that he was a divine immortal and asserted that he disliked gods. With an expression as if he had eaten a very bitter persimmon, Cale sincerely spoke that his wish was not to be involved with those beings if possible. Sword Saint no longer asked anything. However, he was sure that he could not win against Young Master Kim.
He deduced that the young master was in the Nature Realm, and now understood the surprised reaction of Murder Demon from the Killing School. The Nature Realm was the stuff of legends, and there was a rumor that the owner of CJS’s martial arts book was one. He went on with the thought that Young Master Kim must be really old, probably older than the Empress Dowager.
He thought that the young master was some ancestor of the imperial family given his golden plaque. The Sword Saint then considered the consequences of going against Young Master Kim’s will. It was possible that the Five Great Clans and the Murim Alliance would abandon the Namgung Clan. He knew that there would be a lot of people who would welcome their clan’s ruin.
As for following Young Master Kim’s will, he was certain that the Namgung Clan’s reputation would suffer, regardless if Tae Wi was a Living Jiangshi or not. The Sword Saint closed his eyes and recalled Tae Wi’s past. He remembered the faces of Tae Wi’s parents, and Tae Wi’s grandfather who was the younger brother of the Sword Saint himself.
The chances of Tae Wi not being a Living Jiangshi was low. Young Master Kim seemed to be certain of it, so the Sword Saint’s anger subsided as he contemplated. He considered that it might become a rumor that the Blood Cult and the Namgung Clan held hands. There was also the fact that the Living Jiangshi was a leader of the Changcheon Guards, the strongest force of the Namgung Clan.
People would think that it was impossible for the Sword Saint to not know about the Living Jiangshi in their clan. They would only believe that they had secretly worked with the Blood Cult in order to devour the Good Faction. The Sword Saint decided that such a rumor and possibility must be stopped. He was aware of his clan’s greed.
Because he himself thought that what was important in martial arts was greed. Raising one’s sword meant two things. One was to get what you wanted. Fighting to get what you want while staying on the good path. The other one was to protect. The Sword Saint realized that he had to raise his sword this time in order to protect the clan.
He thought that if Tae Wi had indeed become a Living Jiangshi, he himself must end Tae Wi. The Sword Saint thought that the older he got, the harder it was to make such decisions because of his memories. He tried to erase the faces of his family members and faced Young Master Kim. He realized that the young master was quite humble despite the power he possessed.
The Sword Saint made a decision. He asked the young master when they would check. Cale asked if he was willing to listen now, and the Sword Saint said yes, though his shoulders had slumped. The Sword Saint asked for the young master’s schedule, and said that he would bring Tae Wi here himself. His eyes revealed his determination as he declared that it should be him who would end Tae Wi and not anyone else.
Cale frowned and tried to say something, but the Sword Saint ignored it, explaining the process of dealing with Living Jiangshi. Cale wanted to interrupt, but the Sword Saint continued how he was worried that Tae Wi might end up losing control and hurting the people around him. His grip strengthened as he reassured Young Master Kim that he would handle the Living Jiangshi matter well.
He felt his heart constrict and wondered if this was an ordeal in his life. He maintained his composure as he recalled the method of dealing with Jiangshi. It was to separate the limbs of the Jiangshi. The method for Living Jiangshi was similar. After severing the limbs, the corpse should be cremated and its ashes thrown to the river. In short, it had to be completely destroyed.
The Sword Saint said that he would properly destroy the Living Jiangshi. But at that moment, Cale slammed the table with his palm. Sensing the young master’s annoyance, the Sword Saint wondered if the young master did not want that. Cale muttered what the other meant by destroying, thus confusing the Sword Saint.
Cale sighed in annoyance, grumbling that the other said they would listen to him, yet was mumbling to themselves. Cale did not know the method of destroying Jiangshi, so he just thought that the Sword Saint was mumbling nonsense. The Sword Saint grew nervous, and at that time, Elder Ho held the Sword Saint’s hand. Elder Ho told the Sword Saint to listen to Young Master Kim as the young master would show him the way.
Cale ignored the Sword Saint’s reaction, thinking that he would run out of time from just persuading these elderly people. So he decided to just inform instead of persuading. Cale said that he would purify Tae Wi once it was confirmed that he was a Living Jiangshi. The Sword Saint was puzzled with the word ‘purification,’ but Cale continued to ignore his reaction.
Cale explained that there were two possible outcomes of purification. One was that it would become a purified corpse like what happened to the Jiangshi in Xiaolen. The other was the Living Jiangshi would return to its original state of being alive. A person became a Jiangshi only when they were dead. But a person might had become a Living Jiangshi when they were still alive.
Cale continued that there might be a third possible outcome that he was not aware of. And even if the Living Jiangshi returned to being a living person, their situation might not be the same as before. They might be in a comatose state, or their bodies would be unable to function properly. Cale noticed that the gaze of the Sword Saint was strange.
He was a bit embarrassed by the gaze, but went on with his explanation that the worst situation might happen if they did not purify it and acted too late. Cale could not purify a Jiangshi once it had already exploded, so the purification must be done before that. Cale tapped the table as he stared at the Sword Saint.
But he felt uneasy at how strange the Sword Saint was looking at him. So he sped up his words, summarizing that they check Tae Wi and deal with it immediately. He got straight to the point and persuaded the Sword Saint. Cale said that he was doing the Namgung Clan a favor, so they should listen to him.
Raon said that he liked how his human spoke. Eventually, the Sword Saint answered that he and the Namgung Clan were indebted to the young master. Cale got the answer he wanted, but for some reason, the back of his neck felt cold. The Sword Saint’s eyes also seemed to be ablaze with something.
The Sword Saint declared Young Master Kim as the savior/benefactor of the Namgung Clan, and that it had been hundreds of years since their clan had a benefactor. Cale gulped as he recalled that benefactors were abundant in the martial arts novels he had read. Like how the protagonist became the benefactor of almost every clan or school.
There was also the trope that big clans like the Namgung Clan let their benefactors stay as guests in their house. So Cale was wondering why the Namgung Clan only had a benefactor after a few hundred years. And Cale also wondered if it was okay if he became a benefactor. 2