Chapter 42
Chapter 42
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Dantian
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Before, the Yang Physician had said something like that.
He often exchanged letters with the Divine Physician, and mentioned writing about Yuseong in them.
This time, he said he would write about Divine Arts as well.
Was that the reason?
The Divine Physician had come in person.
With his blindfolded granddaughter.
“Nice to meet you. I’ve always wanted to meet the renowned Divine Physician, but I never imagined you’d grace us with a visit.”
“What invitation? I came to the White-Clothed Physician’s place. Geheon didn’t tell you beforehand, did he? I asked him to keep it quiet to avoid drawing attention, so forgive us.”
Glancing at the Yang Physician, he wore an apologetic expression.
He hadn’t said a word about what was going on the whole way here—it must have been his master’s order.
“It’s fine. Anyway, please feel free to speak comfortably. I’m much younger than you.”
“Then I’ll do so. Yeonhwa. You should greet him too. This is the world-famous Baek Yuseong, the White-Clothed Physician.”
The Divine Physician’s granddaughter, wearing an eyepatch, spoke up.
A mosquito-like voice slipped from her small lips.
“M-my name is Im Yeonhwa. Please understand that I wear an eyepatch due to my circumstances.”
“Nice to meet you.”
With that, Im Yeonhwa clamped her mouth shut and bowed her head deeply.
“Heh heh, Yeonhwa rarely meets people, so she’s shy.”
At a glance, Im Yeonhwa’s cheeks were flushed red.
And that was after just a single exchange of greetings.
“Ah, it’s fine.”
“Then, once we’re done, you must be hungry—let’s talk over a meal.”
Soon, the inn’s servants brought food to the annex.
It didn’t take long for all sorts of delicacies from land and sea to fill the large table.
It seemed excessive for four people, but in the position of receiving it for free, there was no need to nitpick.
“Let’s eat.”
The meal began.
Yuseong pondered why the Divine Physician had come to see him as he ate.
‘Im Yeonhwa. Did she injure her eyes like Nangong Yurin’s brother? If so, maybe he hopes I’ll treat her eyes. The reason he secluded himself might be because his granddaughter was hurt.’
The Yang Physician had taken great interest upon hearing Yuseong’s words about treating with mysterious Divine Arts.
It made sense that the Divine Physician had come all the way to Luoyang, where his disciple resided, to meet Yuseong.
However.
‘She can’t see, so how is she acting like she can?’
Im Yeonhwa picked up her chopsticks and ate as naturally as if she could see.
Without the slightest error, she grabbed her target in one go and brought it to her mouth.
Munch, munch.
Munch, munch.
She ate so heartily that her cheeks puffed out.
Fascinated by the sight, Yuseong kept glancing at her.
“Yeonhwa has an innately exceptional sense of qi. Others have been amazed by it too.”
The Divine Physician partly resolved Yuseong’s curiosity.
“I see.”
Still, it was fascinating.
For a martial artist to sense the shape of food with qi sense while blindfolded required at least Peak Realm mastery.
The odds of a girl who looked barely twenty having reached that level were extremely low.
And outwardly, Im Yeonhwa showed no signs of having trained in martial arts.
She appeared like an ordinary civilian.
Yuseong couldn’t even imagine how sensitive her innate qi sense had to be for this to be possible.
Slip—
“Ah...”
Im Yeonhwa’s chopsticks missed.
“Heh heh, she still gets embarrassed when people watch, as always.”
The Divine Physician said as much to Yuseong as well.
“Forgive her, White-Clothed Physician. She always gets like this when she knows others are looking.”
It seemed she’d realized Yuseong was watching her upon hearing the Divine Physician, and that’s when she erred.
“What’s there to understand? It’s nice to see you eating so well.”
“Yeonhwa and I lived alone in the mountains for a long time. She’s rarely had delicious food like this.”
That explained why he’d ordered so much food—excessive even for four people. It was for his granddaughter.
Munch, munch.
Munch.
....
Perhaps self-conscious, Yeonhwa’s chewing slowed noticeably.
Yuseong felt a twinge of guilt.
They say don’t bother people while they’re eating.
“By the way, medical arts using Divine Arts—seventy years in this world, and it’s the first I’ve heard of it. You discovered it on your own, White-Clothed Physician? Truly impressive.”
The Divine Physician timely shifted attention away from his granddaughter.
Yuseong focused on conversing with him so Im Yeonhwa could enjoy her meal.
“It requires innate talent, but I was just lucky. Isn’t the Divine Physician the one who commands the respect of the entire jianghu with his medical arts alone?”
He shook his head.
“If my master hadn’t taken me in and passed down the arts handed down through generations in the Divine Physician School, I wouldn’t have this undeserved fame. I was the lucky one. You’ve pioneered an entirely new field—worthy of being called a grandmaster, wouldn’t you say?”
As they lavished praise on each other, the Yang Physician quietly focused on his meal, perhaps not wanting to interrupt his master.
Munch, munch.
Munch, munch.
With eyes no longer on her, Im Yeonhwa picked up her pace again and enjoyed her food.
At last, the meal ended.
Yuseong waited quietly for what the Divine Physician would say.
Whether about his granddaughter or not, he had surely come for a reason.
“White-Clothed Physician, as you might guess, I came with a request. But first, if you don’t mind, may I examine you? Geheon mentioned you injured your dantian.”
He had decided to offer a favor first.
“Ah, that’s what I wanted to ask you. Would you?”
Upon entering the Luoyang Medical Hall, Yuseong had asked the Yang Physician about treating his dantian.
The Yang Physician had said no one could heal it. But he couldn’t refuse if the Divine Physician offered.
He was diligently gathering Divine Power, but treating his dantian would still take much time.
If there was a way to heal it immediately, that would be ideal.
He even had a Great Returning Pill, a top-grade wondrous elixir.
After the servants cleared the food, they prepared a few light snacks in the inner chamber.
A consideration for Im Yeonhwa.
Seated in the inner chamber, the Divine Physician took Yuseong’s pulse.
Soon, his expression turned grave.
He released Yuseong’s wrist and hesitated.
“I’m fine, so please tell me honestly. I’ve prepared myself to some extent.”
“Hmm... It’s as Geheon said. There’s nothing I can do. I’m sorry.”
“It’s alright. I already knew. Thank you for examining me.”
Disappointing, but even the Divine Physician said treating the dantian was impossible.
Now, the only option was to accumulate Divine Power.
Without Divine Power, it would have been despairing, but it wasn’t that bad now.
He just hoped he could heal it in time.
“You’re going to work at the Murim Alliance’s Medical Pavilion?”
The Divine Physician suddenly asked.
“Yes. I’ve left the Luoyang Medical Hall, so I’ll start at the Murim Alliance in a few days.”
“...”
Why ask that?
To the puzzled Yuseong, the Divine Physician said,
“I’m not certain, but looking at your dantian, there’s something suspicious. I hesitate to tell you for fear of giving false information, yet I fear you’ll miss important knowledge if I don’t.”
Hearing this, the Yang Physician nodded quietly from the corner.
Only then did Yuseong realize the Yang Physician had long known something about his dantian and kept it secret.
‘The Yang Physician must have thought the same and kept it to himself.’
Yuseong decided to hear him out.
Better to hear it and judge if it was wrong information, even if troublesome, than to suffer in ignorance.
“Then tell me. I can handle it.”
As talk turned to his dantian, Yuseong recalled his days at the Baek Family Manor.
Yuseong had grasped the key to reaching Peak Realm and entered closed-door training, easily surpassing the wall to Peak Realm.
Some never even touch the wall in their lifetime, others spend it blocked and despairing.
A few leap over to face the Transcendent Realm wall.
But for innate geniuses like Yuseong, the Peak Realm wall wasn’t much of an obstacle.
Of course, not a huge one, but reaching Peak Realm in just two years of serious martial training was remarkable.
As Yuseong, elated, tested various feats of Peak Realm experts, the incident occurred.
Without warning, his dantian shattered.
‘And I wasn’t even overworking my internal energy.’
The experience of his painstakingly gathered internal energy—though not vast—scattering entirely was horrific.
An accident amid smooth growth thanks to his cheat trait.
He couldn’t pinpoint the cause then, nor now.
In the end.
Though he’d boasted he’d emerge a Peak Realm expert.
What awaited Yuseong, who pitifully ended his seclusion having lost his martial arts, were his father and mother, brimming with expectation.
The illegitimate son, who had no way to earn their interest and love without martial arts, left the family of his own accord amid their 180-degree attitude shift and his brother’s cruel gaze.
‘They weren’t my real parents anyway, so I never grew that attached, but I thought I’d live my life as the Baek Family Manor’s son since they treated me well.’
To such a Yuseong, the Divine Physician mentioned something suspicious.
Sighing, the Divine Physician spoke.
“Since you’ll be with the Murim Alliance, you’ll have some safety at least. Then I’ll tell you.
About ten years ago, I heard a rumor that a certain family had found a way to shatter someone’s dantian without their knowledge. Just like yours.”
“...”
Yuseong’s eyes blazed intensely.
That meant someone might have tampered with him, intentionally shattering his dantian?
If so, he had no intention of letting them off.
The Divine Physician continued.
“The Sichuan Tang Clan’s Dantian-Shattering Poison. Victims’ dantians shatter into pieces, beyond recovery.”
Yuseong understood why the Divine Physician and Yang Physician had hesitated to tell him.
It involved the Sichuan Tang Clan, the most vicious of the Five Great Families, who never forgot favors or grudges.
‘But I have Immunity to All Poisons...?’