Chapter 85
Chapter 85
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: 85. One Eye
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The dantian is truly a mysterious organ.
Those who have not cultivated martial arts do not have a dantian.
But once they learn an internal energy cultivation method and form a dantian, it takes on a physical form from that point.
Even after the dantian shatters, that physical form remains—
It does not completely vanish as if it had never existed in the first place, but lingers as a broken organ called the dantian.
Since remnants remain, it cannot form anew.
This is why the common knowledge of this era is that once the dantian shatters, one's life as a martial artist is effectively over.
“It’s... it’s there! My dantian is truly intact again!”
While Yuseong was treating a patient with a fractured leg,
A warrior who had been meditating in one corner leaped to his feet, unable to hide his joy, and shouted.
“How is the rate of internal energy accumulation?”
“It seems... I’ll be able to recover my internal energy! I only checked briefly, but it’s much faster than before! It’s as if the lost energy scattered throughout my body is returning to its proper place...”
After exchanging a few words, Yuseong reached a conclusion.
‘Even after the dantian shatters, the accumulated internal energy must linger in the body. When the dantian reforms, it seems to gather back to its original spot.’
Then, did he still have internal energy left in his own body?
If internal energy had a tendency to return to its place, then what had gathered in his original dantian might be possible.
However, it had only been a few days since that warrior’s dantian shattered, whereas his own had been destroyed for over three years, so he couldn’t be certain.
Internal energy was qi drawn from nature and stored in the dantian, after all—it might have simply dispersed back into nature.
‘Still, it would be nice if even a little remained when I relearn Complete Recovery and restore my dantian.’
Even with the reliable Great Returning Pill, it would be a shame if all the internal energy he had built up before was gone.
Lost in his own thoughts with no particular reaction, Yuseong stood apart from the others, who were in an uproar.
“Is that true? You can heal a shattered dantian?”
“Can I check? Let me take your pulse!”
“You fools... Have you only ever been deceived? The Medical Pavilion Leader fixed it himself, didn’t he? Oh, wait a moment.”
The warrior whose dantian had been healed prostrated himself before Yuseong almost as if bowing in worship.
“I’m sorry for doubting you, Medical Pavilion Leader! I apologize for shouting earlier too—it was my mistake! You are my benefactor!”
“No, it’s fine. Just make sure to listen to people until the end from now on—”
“Aigoo! Of course! You’re right! I’ll listen all the way through! Thank you!”
“...”
Interrupted again.
“Good for you! Now put everything down and head back to your hometown to farm—”
“Farm? No way! I love the Murim Alliance! The Medical Pavilion Leader is the best!”
So that’s the kind of person he was.
“Then, Yuseong, does that mean you can heal dantians now too?”
Nangong Yurin asked Yuseong, her face flushed with excitement.
“Unfortunately, my dantian is in far worse shape, so it’s still impossible.”
“...”
The warrior whose dantian had been healed froze.
And Sachan, who had been embracing him, grabbed the warrior by the collar.
“You bastard, what did you do to the Medical Pavilion Leader...!”
***
What they called a treatment room was simply an empty chamber with a patient brought in for easy access.
The commotion inside had those waiting outside buzzing as well.
“That guy’s dantian wasn’t just damaged—it was completely shattered, right? You’re saying he really healed that?”
“That’s why he’s so overjoyed, isn’t it?”
“Even Divine Physicians can’t heal something like that.”
“What era are you living in? The Medical Pavilion Leader is called a Divine Physician himself. Don’t you know the Divine Physician’s disciple is under him now?”
“...Then maybe he can heal Han Bugyeom too?”
The warriors’ gazes turned to a man in his thirties sitting off to the side.
He clutched a long spear, his face wrapped diagonally in bandages.
His left eye was hidden beneath them.
“That... probably won’t be possible.”
“True. If he could heal wounds like that, the Sword King would have begged the Medical Pavilion Leader for help ages ago.”
“Exactly.”
The man the queuing patients mentioned—Han Bugyeom.
In the recent battle with the Sword Demon, his left cheek had been slightly grazed.
Fortunately, it wasn’t deep enough to be fatal, but some injuries could cause major problems even if minor.
Namely, the eyes.
His left eye, slashed by the Sword Demon, still burned like it had been scorched by fire.
Losing sight in it was inevitable.
‘What should I do now?’
The martial art Han Bugyeom had mastered was spear arts.
Spears were uncommon in today’s martial world, dominated by swords, but he had perfected his family’s spear techniques to reach the Peak Realm.
Staring blankly into space with his intact right eye,
A flower seed drifted by on the wind before him.
He reached out a hand.
“...”
He missed.
He had judged it close enough to grab, but it fell just short.
That was it.
His depth perception had been severely impaired.
Spear arts, like other martial arts, relied on maintaining distance as a matter of life and death.
Master that, and one could unilaterally harass foes from afar; fail, and sword or fist users closing in could overwhelm without resistance.
When the Sword Demon’s sword qi extended and grazed his face, his first thought was singular.
‘I’m done for!’
Even after the moment passed, it was the same.
He was utterly ruined.
Experiencing it firsthand only drove home how much harder life was with one eye.
Even as his comrade, whose shattered dantian had been restored, celebrated wildly, he couldn’t muster hope.
Because a junior from the Nangong Family, whose eyes had been injured, remained blind.
It was only natural that even a famed Medical Pavilion Leader couldn’t heal everything.
“Ha... what now...”
Han Bugyeom sat blankly alone, even as he watched his queuing comrades eager for treatment from the Medical Pavilion Leader.
***
Treatment for the queued patients was complete.
As expected, the Recovery skill was far more effective than Healing.
He couldn’t reattach a severed pinky finger... but fortunately, it didn’t hinder sword gripping much, so the patient accepted it nonchalantly.
“You’ve worked hard, Sachan. Yurin did too. That won’t be needed now, so put it away. Hand it over.”
“It’s fine. You’ve been tending patients—rest. This is heavy.”
“No... I can do it...”
“Got it. I believe you. But I’ll handle it, so rest, Yuseong.”
They bickered again over the holy water when Sachan cautiously spoke up.
“Um... Medical Pavilion Leader, could you possibly see one more person?”
“Was there another patient left?”
They had even brought over the unconscious ones—surely no one else would be unable to reach here.
Following Sachan’s gaze outside the treatment room,
One man sat blankly on the veranda of a distant hall.
“Why isn’t that one...”
Coming for treatment?
“He... seems to have injured his eye, so he didn’t come.”
Nangong Yurin came to mind; glancing over, her eyes trembled faintly.
‘She must be thinking of Nangong Yuhyeon.’
He had been planning to suggest visiting the Nangong Family soon after returning to the Murim Alliance and handling postponed matters.
“How is his eye condition?”
“The sword tip just grazed it... but his vision is gone.”
“If it’s just a graze... I’ll take a look.”
Sachan approached Han Bugyeom, spoke to him, and visibly dragged him by the arm.
“Yuseong. You’re just going to check him out?”
Yuseong shook his head at Nangong Yurin’s question.
“Then...”
“I’ll have to visit the Nangong Family soon after returning to the Murim Alliance.”
“...!”
Nangong Yurin had never known Yuseong to speak idly.
‘He put on a cute show of bravado earlier, but all men do that to some extent...’
Remembering him grunting while hefting the heavy urn beside her brought a smile to her lips unbidden.
In any case.
Yuseong was the type to say possible if it was, and impossible if not—clear and direct.
He had said her brother Nangong Yuhyeon’s case was currently beyond him, but treatable.
She had vowed to protect him, believing those words.
And now, it felt like that day was near.
‘I thought he’d advanced after seeing him handle those severe patients so easily, and it turns out I was right.’
Yuseong’s face, always heartwarming just to see, seemed to shine even brighter today.
A moment later.
Sachan brought in the one-eyed warrior.
His intact right eye held no hope whatsoever, as if he expected nothing.
Sachan had only suggested it out of pity.
But Nangong Yurin watched Yuseong unwrap the bandages without missing a detail.
The sword wound revealed beneath was ghastly.
The pupil’s trace remained, but it was hazily clouded.
The grazed area was red and bruised.
‘It looks worse than Brother’s.’
This one had been cut by sword qi, and recently, so it naturally appeared graver.
Sachan wore a pained expression, but Nangong Yurin observed Yuseong intently, determined not to miss a thing.
“Close your right eye... Does the left see nothing at all?”
“...Yes.”
The low, sunken tone tugged at Nangong Yurin’s heart in sympathy.
Especially since he wielded a spear—problems loomed large for his future as a martial artist.
Then.
Yuseong covered the warrior’s left eye with his palm.
The golden light—once wondrous, now familiar—emanated from Yuseong’s palm.
Whoosh—
The warrior’s uncovered right eye snapped wide open.
“Wha... wha... ah...?”
Unable to form words.
When Yuseong removed his palm, the warrior’s eye had returned to normal.
The sword wound gone, the black pupil clear.
The bruising vanished without trace.
“I... I can see!”
The warrior grabbed Sachan’s ear in front of him.
“Ow!”
“Got it! I grabbed it right! Hahaha!!”
Nangong Yurin’s heart pounded fiercely.
‘Now he can heal Brother’s eyes and Sister Juyeon’s face too!’