Chapter 123
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 123
Chapter Title: Severed Meridians
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Yeah, there might be some room for leniency.
The physician might have lacked the skill to find proper medicine for the boy's sister, so he only thought to ease her pain.
However, even accounting for that, the medicine So-hyang had checked was far too low-quality.
So-hyang now properly understood the state of society in the Central Plains. Excluding cases of abnormally advanced development in specific fields or regions, the average level of technology wasn't that high.
It was a drug so close to poison that it was questionable to even call it a narcotic painkiller.
"...What do you mean by that?"
At So-hyang's calm explanation, the boy's face crumpled mercilessly.
He had instinctively asked back, but he already had a hunch.
No matter how much the empire ruled by the dragon's descendants enjoyed an era of great peace, there were always those who suffered and were marginalized, even if they were a small proportion.
Mok Chong and his sister Mok Dang-hwa were prime examples of society's outcasts.
They were born lowly, lost their parents, and the sister's illness was an incurable disease whose origins no one could identify.
The boy had no choice but to take a crooked path to scrape together the money he desperately needed, making it even harder to emerge into the light of day.
To launder stolen goods and dirty money from theft, he naturally had to go through intermediaries like the underworld sects of the Lower Five Gates.
But in a small city like Donghwa Village, there wasn't a major branch of the Lower Five Gates, and they wouldn't deal with a green kid like him anyway.
In other words, the people the boy dealt with were from the Black Snake Sect, one of the shadier groups in the underworld.
True to their ominous name of Black Snake, they made their living from usury and human trafficking, and had no reason to give fair value to someone without backing like the boy.
The physician who diagnosed his sister and prescribed the medicine was also under the Black Snake Sect.
He wasn't trustworthy, of course, but the boy had no other options.
The reason he lived in the woods outside the city rather than squatting in an empty house inside was to escape the Black Snake Sect's reach.
He had no other buyers to trade with, but he couldn't reveal the place where he protected his sister and stored his stolen goods.
Even so, he figured they wouldn't cross the line in their dealings, as long as they got their cut.
The boy knew his own value.
He was the best pickpocket in Donghwa Village.
It might sound ridiculous, but he was a master thief who never failed.
If they had any sense, they wouldn't kill the golden goose that brought them steady, juicy profits.
"At least your sister's illness causes severe pain, so the pain relief works well enough, but long-term, it's extremely harmful to the body... It has strong addictive properties too."
"Th-those fucking bastards...!"
-----
"H-how... How could this...?"
The boy trembled, swept up in a whirlwind of betrayal, rage, sorrow, despair, regret, and injustice.
Clap.
"Gyaack!?"
At the crisp sound of a slap echoing in his ears, he looked up at So-hyang with dazed eyes, forgetting even that.
"But the situation isn't so far gone that it can't be reversed."
So-hyang was confident.
She didn't try to save and serve every weak person, but she wasn't the type to abandon children who crossed her path and formed a bond like this.
Unlike her previous life, where she was rejected and hunted by nearly every faction, she now had the means to protect these siblings in every way—living conditions, status, wealth, diet.
"I'll help you both. I'll treat your sister's illness and pave the way for your future."
Words alone might not convince them, so So-hyang pulled out a hefty pile of silver from her pouch to flaunt her wealth.
"R-really...?"
The boy couldn't hide his bewilderment, stumbling over his words. It was luck that came too suddenly, kindness he'd never known in his life.
"But we can't repay that kindness..."
"Hey now! Do you think I'm helping you because I expect some reward?"
Sometimes such fortune comes knocking, and these siblings were the lucky ones this time.
"Just accept it gratefully. Got it?"
"..."
The boy was speechless at So-hyang's playful gesture, pressing her finger firmly to his nose.
He'd never felt such a touch even from parents who left them young, and surviving the back alleys had been like living among beasts, not people.
He'd never experienced it before, but he knew what to say in a moment like this.
"Th-thank you..."
A dazed murmur.
"Good boy."
So-hyang nodded in satisfaction.
First off, improving the siblings' lives wasn't hard at all.
Just flashing the Golden Dragon Token at a Gold Clothing Merchant Group branch would handle most conveniences.
The problem was the sister's condition.
"May I take a look at your sister?"
"O-of course."
She checked the girl's complexion and overall state with her eyes, listened to her heartbeat and lung airflow with her ears, smelled her bodily fluids and hormones, felt her skin texture by stroking, and gauged her joints and muscles by tapping.
With So-hyang's senses and medical knowledge, that alone gave her a rough understanding.
For any lacking details, she used her divine sense to probe inside the body.
And so, she reached a conclusion.
"Hmmm..."
A groan escaped So-hyang's serious expression.
Intermittent excruciating pain bursting throughout the body, overall decline in stamina, weakened muscles and bones, unrelenting fatigue.
The sister's illness—a jumble of every symptom imaginable, which the Black Snake Sect's physician had dismissed as an incurable disease of unknown origin...
Was indeed an incurable disease even So-hyang couldn't identify.
Based on her previous life's standards, that is.
It wasn't genetic, congenital structural, bacterial, or viral.
It was something close to a mutation caused by the mysteries of this world.
A disease from the energies of nature, humans, and the world itself, called qi illness.
Or severed meridians syndrome.
-----
To hear the patient's honest feelings, So-hyang sent the guardian boy outside for a moment.
Physical condition mattered, but if the mind was on the verge of breaking, even that was meaningless.
"...It's pretty bad, isn't it?"
The girl, not yet ten, who had spent nearly half her life battling illness, asked calmly.
She might play jokes, bicker playfully, and act nonchalant.
But Mok Dang-hwa, the boy's sister, had long since given up living, seeing herself as a walking corpse.
The only reason clinging to life was for her brother, who had ruined his own life in the muck for her sake.
"My brother has the talent for moving his body, but he's dumb as a rock and can't judge right from wrong."
A fool forcing a life that should have ended a hundred deaths ago to linger, more terrified of her death than his own.
She endured the pain to delay, even a little, the moment after death when he would grieve and wail—for his sake, not hers.
"What are you saying?"
Hearing the gravely muttered words, So-hyang let out a small chuckle of disbelief and flicked the girl's forehead.
"...Eh?"
No matter how the girl saw it, her condition wasn't immediately life-threatening.
The principle of severed meridians was that the body's qi channels were abnormally formed in how they absorbed natural energies.
Normally, without cultivating a heart method, humans maintain a balanced flow of absorbing and expelling natural energies.
But those with severed meridians innately take in or expel excessive energies without specific training.
For example, absorbing too much yin qi without expelling it smoothly, while yang qi leaks out steadily.
Or the opposite.
Or excessively absorbing thunder qi or demonic qi, warping the constitution itself.
In short, severed meridians meant talent for qi absorption that was excessive or twisted.
The body creaks under the accumulating energy, exploding past the limit.
Or essential life energies drain away completely, leading to withering death.
Either way, it took time for qi buildup or depletion to reach death.
With clean, comfortable housing, proper nutrition, and rest, Mok Dang-hwa could live another ten years healthily in her current state.
Her inherently frail constitution had worsened from the hellish back-alley environment.
Excluding the intermittent pains, it hardly qualified as fatal.
"In some cases, with proper tonics and medicine, people with severed meridians have lived to their forties."
"-S-so..."
Mok Dang-hwa, the boy's sister, was illiterate and not great with words.
It was natural. The siblings had learned most common sense from the streets, without proper education or parental guidance.
Even So-hyang's simplified explanation took her a moment to grasp.
But one thing was clear—
"...So, I can live?"
"You can live."
So-hyang affirmed.
Having vowed to take responsibility for the children, she planned not just prolongation, but a complete fix of the constitution.
Spiritual medicines if needed—she'd obtain them.
Knowledge if lacking—she'd learn it.
If fate doomed her to die young, she'd sever that fate and gift her life.
Only after So-hyang said this, locking eyes reassuringly, did the girl's mouth open.
"Hic, sob, waaaaah...!"
A cry so loud it seemed impossible from her thin, frail body.
No matter the resignation, no one truly wanted to die.
She'd only forsaken life because living hurt more than dying, but even she clung to it.
"-Wh-what?! Why are you crying all of a sudden!?"
Hearing from outside, the boy burst through the door and hugged his sister tightly.
"-I-I can live, brother...!"
"...!"
Stroking her head buried in his chest, the boy murmured as if it couldn't be real.
"...Really? For real?"
His wildly shaking eyes met So-hyang's milky white ones.
Seeing her small smile and nod, he finally accepted it.
"For... real..."
Like the misfortunes and hardships that had swallowed them unbidden, unbelievable luck and miracles had arrived.
-----
Improving the children's environment.
Treating the sister's illness.
The former could be handled anytime, the latter soon enough, definitively.
But one problem remained.
"Right, the Black Snake Sect..."
She had to deal with the scum trying to drag the children's lives to ruin and collar them.
Not difficult at all.
No transcendent experts, just a peak-level sect leader as head.
A threat to the boy, but scraps that So-hyang could wipe out swinging her sword.
Still, she wanted to give the boy a chance.
"Mok Chong, don't you want revenge?"
"...Pardon? What do you—"
She asked.
If an outsider suddenly appeared and slaughtered his enemies, doing the revenge for him.
Would that untie the knot in his heart?
She wouldn't force it.
If he wished, she'd handle it herself without him lifting a finger.
But if.
"If you want to end your own story yourself, I'll help."
"...How?"
So-hyang gripped the air, summoning her spirit sword, and lightly swung it outward.
A pure white sword beam flashed through the woods.
The trees densely blocking the boy's view were all sliced clean.
"...Wh-wh-what?"
A power denying common sense, shattering cognition.
A force even a martial artist's eyes couldn't comprehend.
With the once-lush woods now stumps in a clear vista behind her, So-hyang slowly spoke.
"Would you like to learn martial arts from me?"
In other words, become her disciple.
"...Please, teach me."
Though ignorant of proper etiquette, the boy naturally knelt and bowed his head.
A bright smile lit So-hyang's face.
-----
Donghwa Village buzzed with paulownia blossoms in full bloom and festival revelry.
As the bright side bustled with ordinary folk and travelers enjoying themselves...
The dark side, crawling with back-alley thugs and lowly scum, was equally raucous.
Stimulating spectacles beyond the law's bounds were their wares.
Underworld sects like the Black Snake banded together yearly to provide secret entertainment for those craving it.
The sun had set, moonlight blocked by the low ceiling, only crimson flames lighting...
An underground arena strewn with blood, screams, snapped bones, and torn flesh.
"Red Platoon! With a record of smashing over twenty human heads bare-fisted! Power like a bear's paw earned him the moniker! Bear Fist!!"
"Groooaaargh!!!"
The burly giant, bear-like in build matching his lame title, pounded his chest and bellowed.
"Puhahaha! What bear? That's a wild boar!!!"
"Bear or pig, who cares! As long as we win money!!"
"Fuck!!! Give me my money!!!"
Cheers from money-mad moths drunk on booze, women, violence, and gold followed.
"Blue Platoon!! The little shit who darts like a weasel, picking pockets and robbing us blind!! The best thief under heaven!! Cat Hand!!!"
And on the opposite side.
"...?"
Mok Chong stood, staring piercingly at So-hyang as if questioning if this was real.
In response, only a thumbs-up of encouragement and a kind smile.
"Real combat is the best way to hone skills. So do your best, my disciple?"
"...Fucking hell?"
True to his back-alley roots, curses flowed naturally from the boy's mouth.
Though anyone in this situation would curse, origins aside.