The Saintly Hand Hua Tuo
His resolve firm, Ouyang Qiangang scanned the surroundings.
The trail of blood leading to where the old man had fallen was vivid in the moonlight.
Akasha, we need to erase these traces. The pursuers are certain to follow them here.
[Understood, Doctor. I recommend creating false traces as well. Leaving a convincing blood trail in another direction will throw the pursuers into confusion.]
Ouyang Qiangang carefully daubed the old man's spilled blood onto leaves, then swept away the droplets he had found, covering them with soil and fallen foliage as he went.
Working without pause, he bounded across rooftops and walls for well over a hundred jang, slyly seeding Akasha's calculated escape route with fresh bloodstains. It was a flawless disguise — as if a gravely wounded master had fled at full tilt, strength failing him, scattering blood with every leap.
By the time he had wiped away his own tracks and returned to the annex, the old man had slipped into unconsciousness.
Just then, thin, shrill whistle calls rang out in succession from outside.
Pwee— pweee! Pwipwip!
The moment Ouyang Qiangang sensed the pursuers had arrived, he hurriedly hoisted the old man onto his back and carried him to his own room.
The whistles that had sounded all around continued for about half a stick of incense before they quickly faded away, evidently chasing the false trail.
Exhaling a sigh of relief, Ouyang Qiangang examined the unconscious man's wound.
Near his heart was a black palm print the size of a small child's hand. No other external injuries were visible, so the yin-cold energy gnawing at the old man's heart meridian had to be the work of that palm force.
Akasha, I'm going to treat this man.
[Understood, Doctor. I'll assist.]
Ouyang Qiangang gently placed his hand on the old man's chest and circulated the Chaoyeon Museang Shingong.
Moments later, a strange suction force welled up from his palm and began to draw out the yin-cold energy that was devouring the old man's heart meridian. It was uncannily like iron filings drawn to a magnet.
Before he realized it, Ouyang Qiangang was frowning. The energy flowing into his meridians was no ordinary yin-cold qi. Like a living viper, it coiled with a sinister, deeply unsettling demonic energy.
He gritted his teeth. Within his dantian, the clear, translucent pure-yin true qi of the Chaoyeon Museang Shingong whirled and swiftly purified the cold energy as it was absorbed. In the process, the impure demonic force was filtered out completely, and only the purely refined qi was laid away, layer by layer, in his dantian.
[Doctor, I have successfully isolated and neutralized the harmful demonic components from the absorbed yin-cold energy. Converting the purified qi into internal power, you have gained the equivalent of roughly six months of pure cultivation. Furthermore, the energy is of exceptionally high quality — it has also refined your existing internal power by one full stage.]
At that moment—
"Mmm……"
The old man let out a faint groan and opened his eyes.
Rising, he was unable to hide his astonishment at finding the chill of the Yin Wind Palm that had been crushing his heart meridian vanished as if by magic. But this was no time for questions. Grasping the situation at once, the old man swallowed a secret internal-injury pill and spoke.
"Young master, would you stand guard while I circulate my breathing meditation?"
"Of course."
Only after half a shijin of breathing meditation could the old man finally recover the last of his internal power.
Opening his eyes, he looked at the boy who had saved him with an expression of sheer disbelief.
"The yin-cold energy in my body… it was you who drove it out?"
"Yes."
"Hah… The Remnant White Yin Wind Palm of the Yin Wind Ghost Demon is a vicious internal-injury art beyond measure. However did you expel the cold energy?"
"The martial art I have learned has the effect of governing yin-cold energy."
The Saintly Hand Hua Tuo stared at him as if he had misheard.
"Did you just say… you learned a martial art?"
"That is correct."
"Hmm… no, I couldn't have been mistaken……"
Muttering with his brow furrowed deep, the old man asked, "Might I take your pulse?"
"Of course."
Ouyang Qiangang offered his wrist without hesitation.
In the murim, baring one's wrist to another was something possible only between those bound by absolute trust. But Ouyang Qiangang knew nothing of that custom — and even had he known, he would have consented all the same. So disarming was the old man's presence; it drew trust out of a person effortlessly.
With a grave expression, the old man took Ouyang Qiangang's wrist and felt his pulse. A moment later, his pupils shifted so visibly that the tremor could not be missed.
"So I wasn't seeing things. You do indeed suffer from the Nine Yin Severed Meridians. The very fact that you are alive is nothing short of a miracle — how in the world did you come to master martial arts on top of it? This is a matter that defies all the established wisdom of medicine, and yet……"
This time it was Ouyang Qiangang who was startled.
"How did you know that?"
"There is no one under heaven who knows this affliction better than I."
Sighing at the strangeness of fate, the old man revealed his identity.
"Look at me, losing my head — I haven't even introduced myself. This old man is called Zhong Gawi. The people of the murim call me the Saintly Hand Hua Tuo."
Ouyang Qiangang went numb.
The wounded old man before him was the peerless divine physician of the age, the Saintly Hand Hua Tuo, Zhong Gawi himself. It was a connection he had never once imagined.
He bowed his head and spoke.
"I am called Ouyang Qiangang. This place is the Bamboo Forest Manor of Master Heo Il-bi, the Bamboo Sword Sage and my medicine tutor. I am staying here for a time due to certain circumstances."
"Ouyang… the Bamboo Forest Manor? The friendship between the Heo clan and the Ouyang Clan is well known indeed. Then you must be a descendant of the Ouyang Clan."
"I am. My father is the current head of the Ouyang Clan, and my generation's name begins with Qian."
"Just as I thought."
Zhong Gawi found himself momentarily at a loss for words — the one who had saved his life was a boy born bearing a cursed, heaven-punished constitution.
He asked, "Your Nine Yin Severed Meridians haven't worsened — they've stabilized. Could you tell me how that came to be?"
Ouyang Qiangang answered with an awkward expression.
"I created a rather special internal cultivation method in order to manage the condition. With it, I keep the cold energy of the Nine Yin Severed Meridians under control, and thanks to that, the progression of the illness has stopped."
At those words, Zhong Gawi was utterly thunderstruck.
"You say you… devised a cultivation method yourself to master the Nine Yin Severed Meridians?"
"I do, but……"
Zhong Gawi burst into hollow, unhinged laughter.
"Hahaha… hahahaha! I've seen it with my own eyes, so I've no choice but to believe it… The Nine Yin Severed Meridians, an ailment even a lifetime of my learning could not promise to cure — and now a boy not yet even twenty has gone and found a way to master it… Today I have met the most singular mad(?) genius the world has ever seen……"
Witnessing the old man's madman mode at close range, Ouyang Qiangang flinched inwardly.
Akasha, was creating the Chaoyeon Museang Shingong really the kind of thing that gets you called a mad genius?
[I couldn't say, Doctor. Judging that would require knowledge of the murim's common sense, traditions, and rules — none of which are yet stored in my database.]
Hmm… judging by this old man's reaction, I'd better not tell anyone else that I invented a martial art myself.
[I believe that would be wise, Doctor.]
Ouyang Qiangang spoke with eyes bright with hope.
"Elder, I truly wished to meet you after hearing that you once cured a patient suffering from the Nine Yin Severed Meridians."
Zhong Gawi answered with a bitter smile.
"That was a false rumor."
Ouyang Qiangang's eyes went wide.
"What?"
"The Nine Yin Severed Meridians are not merely a disease — they are closer to a curse. I have conducted countless studies and experiments, and the only conclusion I ever reached was that curing it through medicine is all but impossible. The rumor you heard is that process distorted beyond recognition in the telling."
"Ah……"
"But with you beside me, I find myself thinking that curing the Nine Yin Severed Meridians might not be impossible after all."
Zhong Gawi looked at Ouyang Qiangang with burning eyes and continued.
"What a pity… what a waste……"
"What do you mean?"
"That I have no leisure to stay here and research alongside you. It grieves me greatly."
"Must you leave at once?"
"I have comrades waiting on what I've discovered. I have no choice."
Ouyang Qiangang's eyes gleamed as he asked, "May I ask who it was that was pursuing you, Elder?"
Zhong Gawi's gaze deepened.
"Hmm… the bond between us is no ordinary one, but I cannot tell you that."
Ouyang Qiangang bowed his head, disappointed.
"Ah… it's a secret, then. I apologize."
"It's not that I cannot speak of it because it is a secret."
"Then…?"
"I cannot speak of it because you could not bear it. In the murim, there are matters where mere knowledge of them invites not merely the destruction of one's own body, but the extermination of one's entire clan."
"Hmm……"
Zhong Gawi studied Ouyang Qiangang for a moment, then went on with a sigh.
"Whew… it's difficult to be specific, but there is a sect that several old-timers of the murim, myself included, have been investigating. They wear the mask of a righteous orthodox faction, yet their deeds are covert and merciless beyond compare. It is only because they remain unknown that the murim at large does not know."
"Ah!"
Zhong Gawi's expression softened.
"If one day you can cure the Nine Yin Severed Meridians — will you not help us?"
"Me?"
"If you aid us, you would be a great strength."
"If there is something I can do to help, I will do it gladly, as much as it takes."
"Good, good! Hahahaha!"
Breaking into hearty laughter, Zhong Gawi went on.
"If we meet again after your Nine Yin Severed Meridians are cured, I will tell you every secret I know, hiding nothing."
"Understood."
Zhong Gawi seemed to ponder something briefly, then drew two parchment-bound volumes from his robes and handed them to Ouyang Qiangang.
"I owe you my life, but I have nothing fitting to repay it with at present. So accept these, for now."
Ouyang Qiangang took the volumes without thinking — and the moment he read the titles on their covers, his face changed.
The Medical Classic of Life and Death.
Secret Transmissions of the Saintly Hand.
The titles alone told him exactly what these were, and he spoke in flustered alarm.
"This is… far too much, Elder."
"Not at all."
Zhong Gawi shook his head and continued.
"To a genius capable of inventing a martial art that masters the Nine Yin Severed Meridians on his own, the learning of my entire lifetime is hardly enough to fill the palm of your hand."
"You overrate me far too highly, Elder."
"I trust my own eye."
Zhong Gawi smiled and went on.
"I've a temperament that dislikes being beholden to anyone, which is why I've never taken a disciple until now. But as the threshold of the underworld draws near, I've grown afraid that my life's learning will go to waste. So you may call the giving of these two volumes an expression of my own selfishness. You need feel no burden in accepting them."
Realizing there was no refusing any further, Ouyang Qiangang bowed his head.
"Thank you. I will learn from them well and pass them on to one who proves worthy, so that your lineage is never broken."
Zhong Gawi replied with a gentle smile.
"You've forgotten already, have you — I told you not to feel burdened. In any case, from this moment they are yours, to do with as you please."
"Yes, Elder. I will do as I please with them."
"Hahahaha."
Bursting into laughter, Zhong Gawi continued.
"The Medical Classic of Life and Death is the distillation of my entire art of medicine, while the Secret Transmissions of the Saintly Hand is a compendium of my clan's martial arts and all the things I picked up along the way in my wanderings through the murim. I hope it proves even a small help to you."
"A small help, you say? To me, this is an opportunity that will never come again, Elder."
"Hahaha, in the Secret Transmissions you will find everything I have researched on the Nine Yin Severed Meridians to this day — including acupuncture techniques and elixir recipes that can raise the odds of curing it. With that, and your genius, I believe we can surely complete a true cure. That I lack the time to work alongside you grieves me deeply."
With those words, their conversation drew to a close.
Zhong Gawi tended his internal injuries through breathing meditation until dawn, and then, before the sky brightened, he left the Bamboo Forest Manor.
Ouyang Qiangang quietly saw him off, promising the day they would meet again.