The Life-and-Death Divine Doctor

At dusk, Hwang Nodae and Du Jin-seong carried mountainous piles of medicinal herbs, purchased from the market, into the practice chamber.

Ouyang Qiangang laid his hands on the Heavenly Mechanism Alchemy Furnace without a moment's delay. Production of the Yang Dragon Pills and Yin Dragon Pills had already been suspended, and the instant he raised his hand, the furnace's inner structure began to shift in minute ways.

Akasha, convert every production line to mass production of the Evil-Repelling Divine Pill.

The Evil-Repelling Divine Pill required none of the intricate, exacting processes that other spirit pills demanded. The herbs needed only to serve as vessels—containers that would carry the nanobots and dissolve harmlessly inside the human body.

Ouyang Qiangang tended the facility with his own hands, running the Heavenly Mechanism Alchemy Furnace nonstop for a full day and night, and the daily output came pouring out at over twenty thousand pills—more than ten times the previous yield.

Clack-clack-clack-clack-clack—

Cross-legged before the ceaseless cascade of pills, Ouyang Qiangang pushed the Transcendent Formless Divine Art to its very limit. His internal energy was the power source for Akasha and the nanobots; his true qi flowed into her, and the hundred thousand nanobots under her command set about two tasks at once.

Half of them converted the cellular tissue of his body into bio-nanobots. The other half etched energy-storage circuits into the heart of each pill. Then the newly converted bio-nanobots seeped into the pills, thirty units apiece. This was no mere refinement—it was an act of creation fusing cutting-edge technology with the martial arts, a process no one alive in this era could have imagined.

The first nine thousand completed pills were dispatched through the escort convoys of the Nanchang Escort Agency—three thousand each to Bamboo Forest Manor, the Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion, and the Poyang Du Clan Manor. Hwang Nodae and Du Jin-seong took charge of the deliveries and threw themselves into the frantic work. And Ouyang Qiangang remained seated before the Heavenly Mechanism Alchemy Furnace, beginning a long and grueling war of attrition.

While he manufactured the pills in the practice chamber, Nanchang and the villages around it were swallowed whole by uncontrollable terror and chaos. At first it had been nothing more than ominous rumor. But as survivors came fleeing in from the northern villages, their faces hollow with horror, the rumor hardened into terrible reality.

"They're dead! Everyone... they're all dead!"

A man slumped on the pavement of a Nanchang street wailed, looking half-dead himself.

"The people of my village... in a single night... black boils erupted all over their bodies, and they vomited up blood and died!"

His anguished cry became the spark that lit the powder keg of fear. Merchants hurried to shutter their shops, and the people scrambled over one another to abandon Nanchang. The entire city was being devoured by an invisible shadow of death.

The Lord of Nanchang remained as passive as ever. He feared that word of a plague running rampant during his tenure would reach the imperial court and bring censure down upon his head. It was at least fortunate that an investigation had finally begun—but the hour was already far too late. The sick were appearing in droves even in the villages lying just outside Nanchang's walls.

While Nanchang drowned in fear, Hwang Nodae and Du Jin-seong wove through every corner of the city, spreading a new rumor. They worked the inns and marketplaces where the crowds gathered thickest.

"Have you heard? They say a divine physician staying at the Ouyang Clan Manor has created a miraculous pill that can drive back this dreadful pestilence!"

"They're calling it the Evil-Repelling Divine Pill. A miracle elixir, they say—one that can pull back even those already dying of the plague!"

The rumor spread like wildfire, beyond anyone's power to contain. Right on cue, the Ouyang Clan Manor stacked Evil-Repelling Divine Pills in front of its main gates and began selling them, while Bamboo Forest Manor released the pills through its distribution network.

At first, people were skeptical.

"How could a precious elixir like that cost a mere ten mun? It has to be a swindle."

But then someone in the depths of despair bought the pill, grasping at straws—and a miracle occurred. The black boils vanished, and a patient on death's doorstep came back to life. The moment that news spread, everything turned on its head overnight. Countless people came flooding to the Ouyang Clan Manor and Bamboo Forest Manor, where the pills were sold.

Following his son's wishes, Gu-yang Baek sold the pills to the desperate crowds for a mere ten mun—little more than the cost of the raw ingredients. Ouyang Qiangang had told him:

"Father, I cannot bear to watch someone die for lack of the money to buy medicine."

The Ouyang Clan Manor kept the identity of the divine physician who had created the pills a strict secret. Even so, the people reverently called him the Life-and-Death Divine Doctor. And so the name of the Ouyang Clan Manor, together with that title, spread at a terrifying speed among the despairing people of Jiangxi Province.

Chang'an, Shaanxi Province—the inner hall of Gold Pagoda Mountain Manor.

The air within the inner hall hung heavy and still. Dong Hyeon-do, contrary to his usual habit, was not drinking tea. Before him stood Cai Wencheng, head of the intelligence organization Spider Blood, his expression frozen solid.

"How far has the pestilence's spread been mapped?"

Dong Hyeon-do's voice ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was calm, but beneath it lay a sharp tension uncharacteristic of the man.

"Until recently, it was spreading at a terrifying pace through the lands south of the Yangtze, centered on Poyang Lake."

"Has something changed?"

"Yes, Manor Lord. Over the past few days, the rate of transmission has dropped off at an almost unbelievable pace."

"The Evil-Repelling Divine Pill, I take it."

"It appears so, Manor Lord. That divine pill from the Ouyang Clan Manor seems to be even more effective than the rumors suggest."

At Cai Wencheng's answer, a faint crease formed between Dong Hyeon-do's brows.

"Hmm... And the state of this manor?"

Cai Wencheng swallowed drily before he spoke.

"The major waterways of the Yangtze are all but closed. The boatmen refuse to sail for fear of the plague, and the local authorities have sealed the routes besides."

"The same officials who strained ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠so hard to hide the plague are now blocking the roads, are they?"

"They spent far more than a day or two turning a fire a hoe could have smothered into a blaze no shovel can put out."

"Vermin, the lot of them. Continue."

"The merchant guilds under this manor's command have likewise halted all overland movement toward Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, and Anhui—wherever routes remain passable. Our trade is all but paralyzed."

"The losses must be considerable."

"Only about a fortnight has passed since word of the pestilence first spread, so the damage remains within bearable limits. But if this situation persists beyond a month, the losses from the severed trade routes will snowball beyond reckoning."

"Projected losses?"

"More than thirty percent of this manor's yearly revenue."

Thirty percent.

At the sheer scale of the projected loss, Dong Hyeon-do's frosty gaze wavered, if only for an instant. He fell silent for a moment, then asked quietly:

"...So in the end, those Evil-Repelling Divine Pills are the only answer?"

Cai Wencheng bowed his head deep.

"It is, Manor Lord. Now that its efficacy has been proven before all the world, I believe our best course is to begin aggressively stockpiling the pills as soon as possible and loosen the noose around our guilds' throats."

Instead of answering, Dong Hyeon-do pressed his lips into a hard line. A merchant empire built over generations across hundreds of years—and now it had been brought to a standstill by a single little pill crafted by a grandson he had always dismissed as beneath notice. He simply could not bring himself to believe it.

Outsiders did not know, but he was well aware that the creator of the Evil-Repelling Divine Pill was Ouyang Qiangang.

Dong Hyeon-do asked Cai Wencheng, "Could you not obtain the secret formula for the pill?"

Cai Wencheng lowered his head.

"I beg your forgiveness, Manor Lord. I sent capable men to comb the Clan Head's and the Eldest Young Master's quarters in utter secrecy, but we found nothing. It seems the Eldest Young Master carries the formula in his head."

"A child who recited the Four Books and Three Classics backward at the age of three... I suppose that is possible."

Clicking his tongue, Dong Hyeon-do pressed on.

"And have you discovered why the boy refuses to reveal that he is the Life-and-Death Divine Doctor?"

"I am sorry. That, too, remains beyond our grasp. The Eldest Young Master's behavior is so extraordinary that his intentions elude all prediction."

"Hmm..."

After a moment lost in thought, Dong Hyeon-do issued his orders.

"Buy up as many of the Evil-Repelling Divine Pills as you can. Then distribute them to our guilds in the regions at risk of outbreak, as quickly as possible. Minimizing this manor's losses comes first for now."

"I will see to it at once."

Cai Wencheng pressed further.

"And what of Ouyang Qiangang, Manor Lord? What are we to do about the Eldest Young Master?"

"To move against that boy now would be a fool's errand."

Dong Hyeon-do's eyes gleamed cold as he went on.

"The Ouyang ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Clan Manor currently carries the hearts of the world upon its back. Even if the boy has not been revealed as the Life-and-Death Divine Doctor, were he to die now, production of the pill would cease and the whole realm would be thrown into upheaval—and this manor's losses would be immense besides. So the time is not yet ripe."

Then he gave Cai Wencheng his command.

"First, clamp down hard on our own people's tongues, so that the truth—that the Life-and-Death Divine Doctor is that boy—never leaks beyond these walls. The Ouyang Clan's standing is already climbing; if it should come out on top of that that the boy is the divine physician, moving against him later will only become more difficult."

"Understood."

"As for the boy's disposal—we will discuss it once the pestilence has fully subsided."

Dong Hyeon-do's low, sunken voice was that of an old tiger exercising patience with prey standing before its very eyes.

"I shall carry out your orders."

Cai Wencheng bowed with proper form and quietly withdrew. Left alone, Dong Hyeon-do gazed down at his Go board.

"To think a boy whose day of death has already been decreed possesses genius of that caliber... How endlessly regrettable that not a drop of my blood runs in him..."

His low murmur drifted through the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠cold inner hall, chilling the air around it.

For a month, Ouyang Qiangang had barely slept. His face was pale, and deep shadows pooled beneath his eyes.

This was no act. The Transcendent Formless Divine Art was holding him together, but his body and mind were unmistakably approaching their limits.

Akasha's warnings echoed through his mind without pause.

Not yet.

Feeling his vision blur at the edges, Ouyang Qiangang gritted his teeth.

Even one more life. I have to save even one more person.

Day and night he sat before the Heavenly Mechanism Alchemy Furnace, pouring his internal energy and mental focus into each freshly produced Evil-Repelling Divine Pill to inject the bio-nanobots. His fingertips trembled faintly and cold sweat slicked his brow, yet his eyes alone burned only fiercer as the hours passed.

Geum Wang never left his side for a single moment. Hwang Nodae and Du Jin-seong, too, stopped by the practice chamber constantly to check on him. Their worry weighed as heavy as Mount Tai, but talking him out of it proved impossible.

The Evil-Repelling Divine Pill worked like a miracle. In patients who took the pill, the raging fever broke swiftly, and the black boils that had sheathed their bodies vanished as though they had never been. The authorities stockpiled the divine pills, while Bamboo Forest Manor joined hands with Nanchang's merchant guilds to sell them through the villages of Jiangxi Province and the neighboring provinces. Local magnates and Murim sects emptied their private coffers to purchase the pills in bulk, and some even distributed them free of charge across their own territories.

The Black Death spread at a horrifying pace, but the death toll fell faster still. And at last, one month on, the Black Death that had plunged north-central Jiangxi around Poyang Lake and the adjacent provinces into terror vanished without a trace, as though it had never existed at all.

And the fame of the Ouyang Clan Manor—and of the mysterious physician said to reside there, creator of the Evil-Repelling Divine Pill—rose to heights no one could have imagined. People extolled and revered him as the Life-and-Death Divine Doctor, the physician who held dominion over death and life alike. His renown spread beyond Jiangxi Province and across the entire continent.

But Ouyang Qiangang himself, who had not once set foot outside the practice chamber, did not even know that such a title had been bestowed upon him.

The practice chamber. Seated before the Heavenly Mechanism Alchemy Furnace, Ouyang Qiangang was worn to the bone by exhaustion—yet his eyes alone gleamed cold as ice. Strangely enough, they were not the eyes of a man who had just conquered a plague.

Akasha, you said you found traces of artificial manipulation in the Black Death bacterium?