Chapter 8
Chapter 8
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 8
Chapter Title: The Two-Day Miracle Cure
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Choi Cheol-bo looked at me with a shocked expression.
"Physician, have you perhaps learned martial arts?"
"No."
Dang Seol-yeong, standing beside him, chimed in with equal surprise.
"But how do you know the intricacies of Thousand Catties Drop?"
Of course, it was because I'd read tons of wuxia novels.
But I couldn't exactly say that, so I gave them a vague answer.
"When you're a physician in the Medical District where martial artists come and go, you have to know at least that much. I've seen and heard plenty while under my master."
In truth, with no customers at the clinic, I hadn't seen or heard much of anything.
Dang Seol-yeong and Choi Cheol-bo both nodded.
"Ah, that makes sense."
"Impressive for someone so young."
Anyway, the important thing was treating the patient.
"First, let's take a close look at your leg."
I had Choi Cheol-bo sit on the treatment bed and brought over a stool to elevate his left leg.
Traces of needle marks were visible in several spots.
"Where did you receive treatment?"
"At the Famous Physician Tower."
I wasn't surprised. It was one of the top clinics in Deokyang Medical District.
But I didn't know who the head physician there was.
"Ah? Isn't that the place with Song Heon-ro, the physician famous for acupuncture?"
"That's right."
Thanks to Dang Seol-yeong, I now had some information.
Song Heon-ro, renowned for acupuncture.
I pulled a Fire Needle from my needle pouch and showed it to Choi Cheol-bo.
"Was it something like this?"
"Looks just like it."
Song Heon-ro, famous for acupuncture, had treated him with Fire Needles, yet there was barely any improvement.
That meant the initial diagnosis had been wrong.
"Then let's start with pulse diagnosis."
I took hold of Choi Cheol-bo's wrist and checked his pulse.
Pulse Eye activated.
The flow of qi and blood coursing through Choi Cheol-bo's body became vividly clear to me.
And that flow soon reached his left leg, allowing me to diagnose the exact condition.
It's not just a simple sprain or swelling.
Deep within the meridians of his left leg, internal energy was severely blocked. The qi and blood couldn't flow properly, leading to inflammation, pain, and swelling.
"It's certain that your left leg was strained when you executed that Thousand Catties Drop technique."
"That's true."
Up to here, Choi Cheol-bo had probably heard it endlessly from Song Heon-ro.
"The reason for the strain was a sudden reverse flow of internal energy into your left leg. That blocked the deep meridians, causing all this trouble."
Dang Seol-yeong, listening beside us, gaped in astonishment.
"Physician, you sound just like someone who's properly trained in martial arts."
"It's just the result of the pulse diagnosis."
It was also thanks to Pulse Eye's ability. With ordinary pulse taking, it would have been impossible to detect such deep stagnant blood.
That's why Song Heon-ro missed this stagnant blood and treated it simply with Fire Needles.
The conclusion was clear: even I couldn't treat this deep muscle stagnation with Fire Needles.
I need to use Long Needles.
However, in the real world, I'd only learned Long Needles in training—I'd never used them professionally.
And right now, the Nine Needles mastery ability showed:
Long Needle was at the basic level.
At this level, I can't treat that condition.
Gathering two Insights would allow me to upgrade Fire Needle beyond its current level.
But I didn't hesitate.
More important than upgrading Fire Needle was the patient right in front of me.
I'll use Insight on Long Needle.
Perfect.
Now it was time to properly treat Choi Cheol-bo's leg.
"Please lie comfortably on the treatment bed."
Choi Cheol-bo limped up with a tense expression and lay down on the bed.
As I examined his left leg, I said,
"Stagnant blood has already deeply settled in the deep muscle meridians and channels. It's too much to treat in one go."
Despair suddenly flashed across Choi Cheol-bo's face. He started to sit up and get off the bed.
"Then it's no different from the Famous Physician Tower. Since I'm committing to a month of treatment anyway, I'll go back there."
I widened my eyes in surprise.
"A month? No, it won't take that long."
Dang Seol-yeong whispered worriedly from the side.
"Are you sure it'll be okay? The swelling suggests at least a month of treatment."
I nodded to reassure Dang Seol-yeong.
Choi Cheol-bo seemed to calm down and lay back properly.
"That's a relief. Then about half a month?"
"Hm. It won't even take that."
Choi Cheol-bo asked with a dazed look.
"Then exactly how long... Ten days? Or five?"
As the timeline shortened, Dang Seol-yeong swallowed hard, looking tense.
"No. Two days."
"Two days?"
"Two days?"
Both of them were stunned, as if it were impossible.
"Yes. So please lie comfortably on the bed first. You heard what that Chu guy said, right?"
Recalling Chu Man-seok's words, Choi Cheol-bo lay down with half expectation and half doubt.
I opened my needle pouch and took out a Long Needle from the Nine Needles.
Dang Seol-yeong jumped in surprise.
Even in the modern world, few Korean medicine doctors used Long Needles compared to Fire Needles, and it seemed the same here.
"Physician, you can handle Long Needles too?"
"Of course."
To be honest, I couldn't yet, but I couldn't say that in front of a patient and make them anxious.
With the Nine Needles mastery ability, it wasn't really a lie anyway.
Seeing the Long Needle, much longer than my palm, Choi Cheol-bo grew noticeably tense. Even a martial artist used to handling swords feared Long Needles, just like modern people.
"Even if the needle goes in deep, don't tense up too much. It's essential for stimulating the deep muscle meridians and channels."
"Got it."
I slowly inserted a Long Needle into the Zusanli point on his left calf. Unlike Fire Needles, it kept sinking in no matter how many times I pushed.
Thanks to the Nine Needles mastery, my needle sensation was heightened to the max, and I instinctively felt the tip reaching the blocked meridian.
Gulp.
That wasn't me swallowing. It was Dang Seol-yeong, watching from the side. She seemed even more nervous.
Next was the Yinlingquan point beside it.
And finally, the Xuehai point on the inner thigh.
True to its name meaning "sea of blood," this was the key point for flushing out the stagnant blood in the left leg with fresh blood. It was the most important spot for this condition.
I deeply inserted Long Needles into all three points. After waiting a moment for the effect to circulate, I removed them and said,
"Try moving it once."
Choi Cheol-bo got off the bed and stepped down. He looked at me in shock.
"Th-the pain has lessened a lot. And the swelling too..."
The swelling in his left leg had visibly reduced. But it wasn't fully cured yet. No mission completion message had appeared.
"I'll prescribe a decoction for you to drink, and stay here tonight."
I turned to Dang Seol-yeong, who was staring at me with her mouth agape, and said,
"Prepare Promote Blood Flow Decoction and serve it to the patient."
"Y-yes? Yes."
She finally snapped out of it and bustled about.
Promote Blood Flow Decoction disperses stagnant blood and promotes circulation. Without me explaining the prescription, she deftly selected herbs like ligusticum, safflower, and pseudoginseng.
"We'll check your progress tomorrow."
But the next day, before I could even enter the treatment room, Dang Seol-yeong's voice rang out loudly.
"Physician! Come quick!"
Was something big wrong?
Hearing her urgent tone, I hurried to the bed where Choi Cheol-bo was.
"The color of his left leg has changed like this."
The leg, which had been a deep purple like a bruise yesterday, now had patches of angry red.
Choi Cheol-bo looked worried at this new sight.
I reassured him calmly.
"No need to worry. Fresh blood is flowing through, washing away the stagnant blood."
Only then did Dang Seol-yeong nod in understanding.
"Ah, it's a blood flow reaction. I panicked because I've never seen it change this much in one day."
"Yes. The swelling has mostly gone down, so now we just need finishing treatment."
I opened my needle pouch and took out a Fire Needle.
"Yesterday we treated the deep muscle meridians and channels, so today we'll stimulate the acupoints to eliminate the remaining pain and swelling."
After explaining to the patient, I inserted Fire Needles into Yanglingquan and Sanyinjiao on the left leg. Finally, for smooth blood circulation, I needled Taichong on the top of the foot.
The Fire Needles soon produced a remarkable effect.
The skin color on the left leg slowly returned to normal, and the swelling diminished even further.
A moment later, I removed the three Fire Needles.
For now, I'd hold off on using this Insight.
With a gentle smile, I said to Choi Cheol-bo,
"You're fully cured."
Choi Cheol-bo looked incredulous. But soon he got off the bed, went outside, and tested moving and jumping around.
Then he turned back to me with emotion swelling in his chest.
"After suffering a month, to be healed in just two days... It's a shame I never knew about a master physician like you until now."
"Their treatment wasn't wrong. It was just a diagnostic error."
Choi Cheol-bo gazed at me steadily before nodding.
"I'm impressed by your character once again. I, Choi Cheol-bo, will never forget this great favor and repay it someday."
"I was just doing my duty as a physician."
Choi Cheol-bo tried to hand over a large sum from his money pouch. But one silver piece was enough.
After refusing insistently and settling for one piece, I said to him as he prepared to leave,
"You seem to favor your right foot usually, so now train the joints and muscles of your left leg as well. Thousand Catties Drop relies heavily on harmony between external and internal arts."
Choi Cheol-bo stared blankly before his eyes lit up and he nodded vigorously.
"Thank you. I've gained so much knowledge today."
As Choi Cheol-bo left, Dang Seol-yeong said from the side,
"If you'd learned martial arts, Physician, you'd be a famous master by now."
"Being a renowned physician is enough for me."
The Famous Physician Tower always had a steady stream of customers.
Today, after treating many patients, Song Heon-ro realized one regular hadn't shown up.
It wasn't uncommon for patients to stop coming. There were various reasons, one of which was death.
"Why hasn't patient Choi Cheol-bo come?"
A servant replied from outside.
"I'll check."
The news from the servant the next day was shocking.
"Patient Choi Cheol-bo's left leg is completely cured."
Song Heon-ro paused while quietly organizing the treatment room after finishing his consultations.
"What did you just say?"
"Patient Choi Cheol-bo's left leg is completely cured."
"And to your eyes, it looked fine?"
"Yes. I know that patient too—his hugely swollen left leg was perfectly normal."
"How? Did it heal suddenly?"
"No. He went to Clear Seclusion Clinic and was cured in two days."
"Clear Seclusion Clinic? Where's that clinic?"
"It's here in Deokyang Medical District. It's an old place."
Only then did Clear Seclusion Clinic come to Song Heon-ro's mind. A small, rundown clinic in the corner of Deokyang Medical District.
There had been an Old Physician there, and he vaguely recalled one apprentice under him.
"They say after the Old Physician died, the remaining apprentice became the physician and is running it now."
Song Heon-ro couldn't make sense of the situation at all. A patient he'd given a one-month prognosis to, cured in two days? And not at White Herb Hall or Immortal Spirit Pharmacy?
Confused, Song Heon-ro called his youngest disciple, Bae Seon-u. He was in his late twenties, still deep in apprenticeship.
The round-faced Bae Seon-u approached and bowed.
"D-did you call for me, Master?"
Startled by the sudden summons, Bae Seon-u was flustered.
"Go check out a place called Clear Seclusion Clinic."
"Clear Seclusion Clinic, sir?"
"Yes. Take a look around and tell me what you think. Seon-u, I want your personal impression."
"S-suddenly me doing that..."
"Don't overthink it. Just go take a look."
"Y-yes. Understood."
Bae Seon-u withdrew.
He was a timid, faint-hearted disciple. But his medical skills were outstanding for his age.
The Clear Seclusion Clinic physician was said to be young. Bae Seon-u should be able to gauge his skills adequately.
I'm worried whether that young physician really cured Choi Cheol-bo's leg properly.
Song Heon-ro had devoted his life to saving lives as a physician. He couldn't help worrying about Choi Cheol-bo.
Bae Seon-u left the Famous Physician Tower right away and headed to Clear Seclusion Clinic.
It's an incredibly small and rundown clinic.
Peeking through the main gate into the courtyard, he saw a pretty girl squatting in front of a vegetable patch.
Oh no, datura, aconitum, pinellia... All poison herbs.
They could be medicinal in proper doses, but there were too many.
The girl, who had been smiling in front of the poison herbs, spotted Bae Seon-u and jumped up.
"Ah, welcome! This is Clear Seclusion Clinic! Physician! We have a guest!"
He nearly bolted in fright, but the spirited girl dragged him inside.
As Bae Seon-u filled out a treatment record form in confusion, glancing around,
Unbelievable. It looks even cleaner and better maintained than our Famous Physician Tower.
A moment later, the young physician sitting across from him said abruptly,
"It seems you're here for qi deficiency symptoms. Let's start with pulse diagnosis."
Bae Seon-u was startled. He'd nailed his condition at first glance.
His observation diagnosis is incredible. To diagnose so precisely right away. He looks just a bit older than me.
Unknowingly entranced, Bae Seon-u extended his wrist.