Chapter 89
Chapter 89
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 89
Chapter Title: The Divine Physician's Visit
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"Of course I know."
Cheonhwi nodded.
The Sacred Divine Physician was the world's foremost physician of the present age, said to be the incarnation of Hua Tuo himself.
"So that Sacred Divine Physician is looking for me?"
"That's right."
"Why?"
"I don't know."
The Sect Leader gave a wry smile.
He too had asked the Divine Physician several times why he wished to meet Cheonhwi, but received no answer.
The only reply was a single phrase.
That he simply wanted to meet him.
"He just said he wanted to meet you."
"Hmm. Is that so?"
Cheonhwi scratched his head as he spoke.
"But was there any need to make such a fuss about the Divine Physician looking for me?"
He recalled the letter he had received.
The letter stamped with the Sect Leader's seal, as if some grave incident had befallen the Mount Hua Sect.
"Can't you just tell him to come back later?"
"He insists he won't leave until he sees you."
"Then just make him keep waiting."
"How could we tell the great Sacred Divine Physician to simply keep waiting?"
The Sect Leader let out another wry smile.
The Sacred Divine Physician's renown extended beyond the martial world, blanketing the entire realm.
Not only in the jianghu but even among the imperial family.
The people he had treated were no ordinary figures, so even as the Sect Leader of Mount Hua, he had no choice but to mind the Divine Physician's mood.
"He's at the Medical Hall. Go see him."
"Got it."
Cheonhwi answered readily.
'Having a physician in the Mount Hua Sect would be convenient.'
Physicians were precious existences.
Especially those versed in the jianghu; they were exceedingly hard to find. For one to come on his own two feet was a blessing.
'And it's the Divine Physician, no less?'
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "It's just a common cold. Rest well today, boil these leaves, and drink the decoction. You'll be fine."
The first thing Cheonhwi heard upon entering the Medical Hall was an unfamiliar voice.
"What kind of medicine is this?"
Then came a familiar voice.
The Medical Hall Leader's voice. So the previous one was...?
His steps quickened slightly.
Soon, he arrived at the main hall of the Medical Hall.
The place, usually as empty as could be, was bustling with people for some reason.
The Taoists who had tasted the Divine Physician's miraculous arts had spread the word, drawing crowds nonstop.
At that moment, conversation resumed.
"How is it?"
"Just a lack of qi. Some breath meditation and rest should suffice."
Cheonhwi's gaze shifted.
And at the center of the commotion were old Taoists and two figures.
'Is that him?'
Cheonhwi's eyes turned to the Medical Hall Leader, holding a tray with needles delicately prepared, and the elderly man beside him examining the patients.
That old man was the Divine Physician?
He scanned the elder inserting acupuncture needles.
The old man, with a long beard tinged slightly gray rather than pure white, furrowed his brow as he took the patients' pulses.
"Forget martial arts training for now. Lie down and rest thoroughly for a few days."
"Not even breath meditation?"
"Didn't I say rest?"
"Understood."
The Taoist scratched his head sheepishly before dusting off his hands and rising.
"Amitabha. My thanks."
"Enough with the greetings."
The Divine Physician rose, thumping his lower back.
'This takes a lot of hands.'
He had only stayed at Mount Hua and provided minor treatments.
But perhaps because he was too skilled.
People poured in without respite.
'I've shot myself in the foot.'
The Divine Physician shook his head.
It was too late to go back now.
He had boasted his arts to the Sect Leader and asked to be summoned posthaste.
"Next..."
"Eh?"
At that moment, the Medical Hall Leader, who had been shadowing the Divine Physician, spotted Cheonhwi.
"Junior Brother Cheonhwi!"
The Divine Physician's thick eyebrows twitched.
"Cheonhwi?"
He turned his gaze, spotted Cheonhwi in the distance, and his eyes widened.
"You're Cheonhwi!"
He sprang up with a shout and waved his hand.
"Treatments are over for today!"
The Taoists gasped in confusion at the abrupt announcement.
"Y-Yes?"
"Suddenly?"
As complaints arose.
"What are you lot doing? Out with you!"
The Divine Physician scowled and began shooing the flustered Taoists away.
"Out!"
Moments later, Cheonhwi, the Divine Physician, and the Medical Hall Leader sat in a room of the Medical Hall.
"You were looking for me?"
The Divine Physician's gaze fixed on Cheonhwi.
His eyes wavered.
'This kid, so young, accomplished that?'
He was far too young.
'I thought he'd at least be past thirty...'
As stray thoughts multiplied, the Divine Physician shook his head vigorously.
"Do you know Dan Mokrin?"
The Divine Physician's expression was grave as he asked.
The reason he had dropped everything and come was because he had taken Dan Mokrin's pulse and heard her circumstances.
Cheonhwi chuckled.
'So that's why he came.'
All the puzzle pieces fell into place.
'She said she'd go see the Divine Physician after we parted.'
He nodded.
"I do."
The Divine Physician leaned in close.
"I heard you told her about her constitution. Is that true?"
"Constitution? You mean the Taiyin Low Qi Body?"
The Divine Physician jolted.
"Yes. That."
Unable to hide his excitement, the Divine Physician huffed and asked.
"What is this Taiyin Low Qi Body?"
The Divine Physician's gaze was intense.
'That's the look he gets when appraising martial arts.'
As if confirming the thought, the Divine Physician unleashed a barrage of words.
"In all my life, I've never heard of a Taiyin Low Qi Body."
Cheonhwi nodded.
'Of course not.'
The Taiyin Low Qi Body was a physique mentioned only in the World's Greatest Medical Text, penned by the long-forgotten figure, the Life-and-Death Marvel.
Thus, in the current world, he alone knew of it.
The Divine Physician's eyes hardened.
"Where did you learn of it?"
"From a book called the World's Greatest Medical Text."
"World's Greatest Medical Text?"
The Divine Physician's brow furrowed.
It was a wildly grandiose title for a medical text he'd never heard of.
"Can I see it?"
"No."
Cheonhwi was firm.
'How could I show something from the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult?'
But he couldn't say that outright.
The Divine Physician didn't yield, asking cautiously.
"...Is it something only Mount Hua Sect Taoists can read?"
His determination to read it somehow was evident, but Cheonhwi shook his head.
"It burned up."
"B-Burned?"
The Divine Physician's eyes rounded.
"Such a precious medical text..."
Seeing him accept it, Cheonhwi let a faint smile flicker across his face before erasing it.
Then the Divine Physician asked softly.
"Then the treatment for the Taiyin Low Qi Body must have been in there too."
Not quite.
He knew of the Taiyin Low Qi Body, but no treatment was specified.
'No need to mention that.'
He saw no point in nitpicking.
Better to let the misunderstanding stand; it was simpler.
Meanwhile, the Divine Physician's expression grew serious.
He had come to learn where he heard of the Taiyin Low Qi Body.
But now.
'World's Greatest Medical Text...'
Curiosity stirred.
But it had burned.
"Can you tell me what kind of medical text it was?"
"Just a medical text."
Simple.
No need for more words.
Yet the Divine Physician eyed him suspiciously, unwilling to believe.
"...I see."
Muttering dubiously, he released Cheonhwi's shoulder and spoke.
"Then, can you tell me how you treated the Taiyin Low Qi Body?"
"That's easy."
Cheonhwi nodded.
"Taiji."
"Taiji?"
The Divine Physician tilted his head.
Then realization dawned, horror creeping onto his face.
"D-Don't tell me you balanced yin and yang?"
Seeing the Divine Physician grasp it instantly, Cheonhwi nodded emphatically.
'They call him Divine Physician for a reason; he picks it up right away. His medical knowledge must run deep.'
"Exactly."
"How did you handle the postnatal qi...?"
"I guided it directly."
"Impossible."
The Divine Physician swallowed hard.
When he had taken Dan Mokrin's pulse, the shock had lingered for days.
'He guided that energy?'
Dan Mokrin's condition was abnormal.
A vicious energy poured from her entire body, dizzying the mind.
For such a frail woman to carry it and walk around was unbelievable.
But the surprise didn't end there.
The energy coexisted in balance within her body.
Perfectly naturally.
As if innate, harmonizing with her mind and body.
Even protecting her.
"No body can withstand that level of energy."
Cheonhwi nodded.
As he said, the accumulated yin qi was intensely threatening.
Enough to endanger life with the slightest misstep.
"So I let it flow naturally, without shocking the body."
"Naturally?"
The Divine Physician's brow furrowed.
"Moving postnatal qi naturally? But to do that, one must know the body's meridians... and precise internal energy control, plus the eye to see it."
The Divine Physician pondered deeply, murmuring, while Cheonhwi waited silently.
Meanwhile, the Medical Hall Leader, listening to their exchange, shook his head, utterly lost.
'Taiji? Natural flow? Postnatal qi?'
Their seemingly casual talk delved into depths far beyond his grasp.
'What are they even saying?'
As his gaze grew unfocused.
"Hup!"
The Divine Physician gasped and shot to his feet.
"D-Don't tell me you discerned her primordial true qi and melted it in?"
Cheonhwi's eyes widened slightly.
'He figured it out that fast. Impressive.'
The method to fix Dan Mokrin's Taiyin Low Qi Body required not just medical knowledge but profound martial arts insight.
"Yes."
"Instead of expelling the accumulated energy, you infused more to circulate through her body, fully integrating it."
The Divine Physician let out a groan.
'To think of such a method.'
It was astonishing.
Unless innate, foreign qi couldn't harmonize with primordial true qi.
Primordial true qi and postnatal qi were divided since the beginning.
'Yet he bridged the boundary between primordial true qi and postnatal qi.'
A single mistake could drive one mad, but if Taiji balance was achieved as described, it was possible.
And now, Cheonhwi had dismissed such laws.
Not just in words—he had succeeded.
Through Dan Mokrin's body.
'An unprecedented method.'
However.
"Hard to believe without proof."
"Then don't."
Cheonhwi tossed out bluntly.
The Divine Physician faltered at his attitude.
Had he ever been grumbled at or dismissed like this?
"Not that. No way you did it without medical arts. I just want to know if you've mastered such medicine."
"What a hassle."
As Cheonhwi showed clear annoyance.
"Junior Brother."
The dazed Medical Hall Leader hurried over and whispered in his ear.
"I don't get what you're saying, but listen to the Divine Physician."
"Why?"
"He's been a great help to our sect."
Cheonhwi stared at the Medical Hall Leader.
'Help?'
He recalled those in the Medical Hall.
Muscle aches relieved after a few needles, leaving them refreshed.
"Fine."
He met the Divine Physician's eyes squarely.
"What shall I show you?"
"Show me what you're confident in."
"What I'm confident in."
Cheonhwi snatched the Divine Physician's hand.
Startled by the swift move but hiding it, the Divine Physician asked.
"Taking my pulse?"
"Similar, but different."
With that, he extended his qi sense.
"Hm?"
The Divine Physician's eyes widened at the warm energy emanating from his hand.
"...Probing the meridians?"
"Checking the unaffected parts."
Cheonhwi withdrew the qi and tapped an acupoint with his index finger.
"A bit of cold here."
Tap-tap-tap!
In an instant, he struck eight acupoints.
"Heavens!"
The Divine Physician exclaimed.
No needles, yet he felt pressure on the points.
"Acupuncture to raise body temperature."
"You know it well."
"Of course I do."
"No need to explain then. Good."
Cheonhwi dusted off his hands lightly.
The Divine Physician felt the pressure lift, warmth spreading.
"Excellent."
"That enough?"
As Cheonhwi pulled away.
Grip!
The Divine Physician clamped down on his wrist, eyes gleaming.
"More to say?"
"Yes."
Emphasizing his words, the Divine Physician continued.
"Would you become my disciple?"
Disciple? What nonsense?
"No."
Cheonhwi replied incredulously.
The Divine Physician, never imagining refusal, panicked.
"Wh-Why not?"
"I'm a Mount Hua Sect disciple."
The Divine Physician was speechless.
Blinded by Cheonhwi's talent, he had momentarily forgotten.
That he was a Mount Hua disciple.
"If you learn the arts of my school as you've seen, even Hua Tuo would bow. Why refuse instruction...?"
"Don't need it."
Cheonhwi refused.
'Medicine? Please.'
He had no interest in medicine now, only martial arts.
He had only read medical texts back then due to lack of other martial manuals.
'With so many unseen arts in the jianghu now.'
Having witnessed the Jongnam Sword Saint's arts recently, his martial passion peaked; learning medicine was pure indulgence.
Unaware, the Divine Physician assumed sect loyalty and pressed urgently.
"Th-Then I'll just teach you. My school's arts are divine and peerless; master them and even immortals..."
A bold offer.
But.
"No."
Not to Cheonhwi.
"Th-Then I'll just tell you."
As the persistent Divine Physician continued, Cheonhwi stood.
"I said I'm not learning."
"It'll definitely benefit you."
"No thanks."
As the two bickered.
Hiiing—
A luxurious carriage, unmistakably high-class, arrived at Mount Hua Sect's gate.
'Who is it?'
Jeokgeom, guarding the gate, watched as the door opened and three figures emerged one after another.
A beauty with a cold demeanor.
A young man who could pass for a noble heir.
A girl whose sight brought an involuntary smile.
They were the very group ambushed by assassins days prior.
"Amitabha."
Jeokgeom intoned and spoke.
"What brings you here?"
"We seek the Sect Leader."
"Whom shall I announce?"
Jeokgeom asked politely.
Their bold demand for the Sect Leader marked them as no ordinary visitors.
And that assumption was spot on.
"Tell the Sect Leader that Lord Sohui of Smiling Revelry has come."