Chapter 11
Chapter 11
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 11
Chapter Title: Discipleship
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Wi Sowol and the Weird Physician, Ma Yu Seung, weren't the types to fuss over formal ceremonies like the apprenticeship rite when establishing a master-disciple bond.
Ma Yu Seung believed that mutual understanding and agreement were enough.
The Wu Medical Academy held entry ceremonies and made students bow three times to their masters, but Ma Yu Seung was taking Wi Sowol under his wing as an individual, not on behalf of the academy.
With that in mind, he swiftly moved on to the next step.
Lessons from day one.
As a teacher, it was arguably the worst possible quality.
"First, let me gauge your current knowledge. Have you read any medical texts?"
Books were surprisingly common in this era.
Not just anyone could buy them freely, of course, but even those with modest means could afford a few volumes.
Medical texts were especially in demand.
Many scholars and literati chose the path of medicine over Confucian studies.
With high demand came steady supply, keeping prices stable.
And during their journey here, Wi Sowol had used the money plundered from the Silver Sword Sect to buy and read a few medical books.
"I've read the Treatise on Cold Damage and the Comprehensive Record of Sagely Relief, sir. And only parts of Shennong's Materia Medica."
The Weird Physician made a sour face.
"All outdated relics."
Ancient tomes from bygone ages.
Shennong's Materia Medica was the foundational text of herbology from the Han Dynasty, and the Treatise on Cold Damage was written by the renowned physician Zhang Zhongjing of the Later Han—books over a thousand years old.
The Comprehensive Record of Sagely Relief, penned in the Song Dynasty, was relatively recent, but even that was over five hundred years old.
"Surgery is the supreme art of medicine, a self-evident truth. But to make a flower bloom, you need roots and stems first. Before surgery comes the foundational knowledge of medicine. Acupuncture and pharmacology are its handmaidens, tending to its needs before and after."
Pure 'surgery supremacist' rhetoric, yet the Weird Physician saw even this as a mark of his immense tolerance.
Wasn't he graciously acknowledging that acupuncture and pharmacology had their uses, rather than insisting surgery could do it all?
"Even if you know surgical techniques and try to apply them without understanding which part has gone wrong, why the surgery is needed, or how to manage post-op care, it's all for naught."
For surgery to reach perfection, every other medical art must be mobilized in support.
That was why surgery was the flower of medicine.
"From now on, you'll build your medical foundation through your assigned texts. No need for others. I've devoured medical works from beyond the Central Plains, even from Haedong and the Western Regions. And my conclusion is this."
Surgery is the pinnacle of medical technique.
And most Central Plains medical texts? Good only for kindling.
"Of course, some are excellent. I won't deny that. About one in ten offers teachings worth noting. But master these four, and your foundation is complete."
"What are those four texts, sir?"
"The Illustrated 81 Difficulties Classic. The Compendium of Materia Medica. Introduction to Medicine. And the Great Compendium of Acupuncture."
All written in the Ming Dynasty, which now ruled the realm.
Even the oldest among them, the Illustrated 81 Difficulties Classic, had been complete for just about a century—mere infants compared to the texts Wi Sowol had read.
The cutting edge of medicine.
The Weird Physician always pursued the forefront of the healing arts.
And he confidently believed himself to be leading that charge.
Stale, outdated medicine could never surpass the advanced knowledge he'd painstakingly researched and accumulated.
How long would they cling to originals like the Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon or the Treatise on Cold Damage?
Only fools blind to the era's currents would clutch those texts till death.
"Conveniently, I have the Illustrated 81 Difficulties Classic and the Great Compendium of Acupuncture stocked here. I'll be out every day, so read those two in the meantime. Once you've finished all four, I'll teach you the real medicine."
The proper sequence would be to build general foundations with Introduction to Medicine, deepen acupuncture with the Great Compendium, herbology with the Compendium of Materia Medica, and finally hone practical skills with the puzzle-like 81 Difficulties.
But the Weird Physician trusted Wi Sowol's intellect.
With the Treatise and Comprehensive Record under her belt, she'd grasp the Difficulties well enough.
Any gaps, he could fill later.
"What about the other texts?"
Having accepted the need for formal address in their master-disciple relationship, Wi Sowol spoke naturally with respect.
It felt a bit odd at first, but she'd decided to treat him as her master.
"I'll procure them. I'll prioritize Introduction to Medicine—fewer volumes. The Compendium has many."
81 Difficulties: 8 volumes.
Introduction to Medicine: 19 volumes.
Great Compendium: 10 volumes.
The Compendium of Materia Medica, by contrast, spanned a whopping 52.
Even with books more widespread and medical texts abundant, securing the full Compendium wasn't easy.
"If the Compendium takes time, read it later when you can. It's an outstanding work, no doubt, but herbology has its limits. The basics in Introduction to Medicine cover most needs."
Even the Weird Physician hadn't used all 1,892 herbs listed.
No imperial physician had, either.
It included many herbs too lowly for palace use.
Perhaps only the author, Li Shizhen, and the Drug King among the Six Great Physicians.
Wi Sowol considered asking if surgery had limits too but held back.
Assigning these four texts meant he recognized those limits himself.
Even if he dressed it up by calling the rest 'handmaiden work.'
"Anyway, I'm off. There's food in the east wing kitchen—help yourself. The west wing is empty; clean it up and use it."
He added that they'd need more furniture and to speak up about anything required.
"Heading out tomorrow already, sir?"
"Yes. I still have much to do in these lands."
With the teaching process settled, the Weird Physician moved on.
To martial arts.
"I've mastered four arts in total."
Counting on his fingers, he began explaining.
"First is the Firm Chastity Heart Method, taught at the Wu Medical Academy. Its pure internal energy invigorates patients and enables qi diagnosis even in those who've absorbed hostile arts."
Physicians who practiced martial arts called it qi diagnosis: infusing their energy to check a patient's state.
Similar to a true qi probe, but unlike that, qi diagnosis scanned the body for anomalies, often clashing with the subject's own energy.
If the patient consciously suppressed their energy, it helped, but clashing attributes had limits.
Imagine pure orthodox energy meeting demonic arts—what chaos?
The Firm Chastity was designed to harmonize with any energy, averting such mishaps.
"Thus, it's low in capacity and destructive power, unfit for combat."
A warrior's heart method and a physician's inevitably differed.
"The Great White Light True Qi centers on the lower dantian anyway, so you couldn't learn it regardless. And as an academy art, I can't transmit it freely."
Wi Sowol nodded.
It made sense.
Besides, she didn't need the Firm Chastity. By her qi sense, the Great White Light's pure yin energy matched its purity.
For medicine, each had pros and cons; to her, Firm Chastity was a lesser version of the Great White Light.
"Second is the Nine Palaces Rescue Step—same story."
Another academy art.
That was all he'd learned there.
They were a medical sect, not martial, needing no more: swift movement, emergency evasion, and one internal method. Sufficient.
"Now for my unique arts: the Unforgetting Heart Method and Dazed Haze Hand."
The Unforgetting focused on the upper dantian, enhancing memory. No combat utility, like the Firm Chastity.
The Dazed Haze was a hand technique, excelling at pressure points to induce coma. Beyond acupoint strikes, its true value lay in surgical precision.
"Dazed Haze grants steadier hands. Tremors in surgery are fatal. Master this quickly, at least."
With that, he recited the oral formulas for both.
They were quite long.
And unexpectedly profound.
A man hailed among the Six Great Physicians was no ordinary talent.
He might deem himself mundane against high standards, but by worldly measures, he was undoubtedly a genius.
"Got it all?"
He asked skeptically.
The Dazed Haze aside, the Unforgetting was highly advanced.
Touching the upper dantian raised the difficulty.
Plus, with her Nine Yin Absolute Meridian opening the crown point wide, it'd be twice as hard for Wi Sowol.
'Even a genius who overcame the Nine Yin curse with an original art couldn't fully grasp my Unforgetting in one hearing.'
The Unforgetting was his pride, separate from medicine.
Gazing at the silent Wi Sowol's crown, he smirked faintly.
"I'll explain once more. The essence of Unforgetting is 'seeing is the diagram itself.' The key formula is…"
Meanwhile, Wi Sowol wasn't listening at all.
The moment she first heard the formula,
She had fully comprehended the Unforgetting Heart Method.
She could even refine it now if she wished.
Its imagery profound, but formalized as a single method, it had shortcomings she could see.
She held back not out of soft consideration for him.
'Who could it be?'
One thing she couldn't pinpoint.
The origin of the Unforgetting.
She was preoccupied thinking of that person.
'Family.'
Unforgetting.
Not wanting to forget.
The Weird Physician had created this art thinking of the family he'd sent away.
And realizing that,
Wi Sowol confronted an emotion for the first time.
Envy.
Envy toward someone with memories of a family she never knew.
Through the Unforgetting, she felt longing for the family she'd never truly grasped.
As night deepened,
Master and disciple were bound by mutual envy for what the other possessed.
The next day.
Seeing Wi Sowol waiting at the gate, the Weird Physician felt a swell of emotion.
'Is this why people take disciples?'
He'd long abandoned hopes of children.
Never planned on disciples either.
Chasing medical advances across the world and forging his own path left no room.
Yet seeing her see him off, he instantly understood the obsession with legacy.
To have someone to carry on after you—was it this moving?
Especially if that someone rivaled the world's best in talent.
'Now I see: beauty and brilliance enough to transcend eras.'
Her looks, once viewed warily, now struck him anew.
Such a brilliant, beautiful disciple.
Were his good deeds in medicine finally returning?
"I'm off."
As he pondered stroking her head fondly, Wi Sowol said something unexpected.
"I'll go with you."
"Hm?"
"The 81 Difficulties and Great Compendium. All memorized."
Nothing left to do here.
She'd finished his assignment.
"Unforgetting and Dazed Haze too."
The Nine Yin blocked accumulating Unforgetting energy for now, but she'd dissected the formula completely, even the core imagery he'd embedded.
The Dazed Haze goes without saying.
As Wi Sowol casually moved her hand, he recognized her technique rivaled his own.
In just one day, despite it being martial arts.
She'd surpassed his attainment.
"Hah…"
I underestimated her.
He intuited:
This arrogant disciple and he wouldn't need even a year together.