Chapter 20
Chapter 20
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: The Apron
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Traveling down the Great Official Road that stretched all the way from Taiyuan, the Weird Physician stayed for several days in every county they passed through.
Even if they spotted a small village nestled between counties, he would seek out patients there as well.
That didn't mean he treated every single patient, though.
He wasn't called the Weird Physician for nothing.
He only saw the patients he wanted to see.
He had no interest in ordinary ones.
Chronic cases, the disabled, incurables, terminal illnesses—if that's you, come to me. Period.
That was how he recruited patients whenever they entered a village.
If they didn't meet his criteria, no matter how tearfully they poured out their sob stories, he would simply tell them to go to the local clinic or find a doctor in the next village over.
Wi Sowol stayed by the Weird Physician's side, observing and learning from his treatments.
Most of his treatments involved surgery, but there were occasional exceptions.
Sometimes—though rarely—he would use acupuncture or moxibustion.
They were excellent for managing pain, he'd say.
Only after treating his fill of patients would they move on to the next county. At that point, he'd claim he'd exhausted all his internal energy on the treatments, so they traveled on foot or by cart.
As a result, it took a full day just to reach the next county.
They made a point of avoiding sleeping outdoors whenever possible, always finding some village to crash in, but meals were almost always eaten on the road.
The same held true now.
Even with rations supplied by the villages, Jang Rok insisted on going out to hunt fresh meat every time, and whenever he did, Wi Sowol tagged along.
He had just caught a rabbit.
"Impressive. You can really spot all that?"
Tracking by rabbit footprints and droppings, of all things.
The extent of Wi Sowol's tracking skills was simply following the qi that martial artists unconsciously let slip as they moved.
Jang Rok responded humbly to her admiring question.
"It's nothing worth mentioning. Far too crude a skill for a young lady like you to bother learning."
"It looks impressive to me."
Wi Sowol had never formally studied tracking.
She had never even felt the need for it.
She'd never had occasion to seek someone out or give chase.
"Guiding, hunting, cooking... Is there anything you can't do?"
"That's how I was raised. An assassin has to be able to handle everything alone. Bringing in outside help just risks getting exposed."
"Hm... You can brew medicine too?"
"That one's from the physician."
In villages too small to have a doctor or pharmacist, the Weird Physician would prescribe, but Jang Rok handled the decoctions.
The prescriptions came straight from the Weird Physician himself, but anyone could boil the medicine with no real difference, he'd say.
And Jang Rok was quite skilled at it.
An assassin's hands had to be deft by nature, so there was some overlap there.
"Do they teach cooking at the assassins' sect too?"
That one might actually be funny.
Culinary classes in the heart of a deadly assassins' gate?
No way, right?
"Yes, they do."
"...For real?"
"Poisoning's one of the simplest methods. Infiltrating as a cook and slipping toxin into the food is a pretty common tactic."
Back when she had the Nine Yang Absolute Meridian, her overwhelming hot yang energy had incinerated any poison she ingested, granting her near immunity to all toxins.
She might have even freely eaten the assassins' gate poisons without a care.
A queasy feeling came over Wi Sowol, and she let out a soft groan.
"Uuum..."
"Interested in cooking?"
Cooking.
In her previous life, Wi Sowol had simply eaten whatever was put in front of her.
From beggars' scraps to imperial-level delicacies.
Even without actively pursuing fine cuisine, she'd sampled a vast array of foods.
And yet, she'd never particularly wanted to learn to cook...
'Maybe I should.'
Wi Sowol knew better than anyone.
She couldn't forever travel with the Weird Physician, freeloading off Jang Rok's meals.
Just like how she'd left her nameless home village.
Just like how she'd left Zenith Temple and Abbot Deung Hwa behind.
The day would come when she parted ways with the Weird Physician too.
'It has to be different from my last life. I can't keep mooching forever.'
And if.
If her family was still alive, wouldn't it be nice to treat them to a home-cooked meal at least once?
"Teach me, please."
And so, one more role was added to Wi Sowol's duties: cooking assistant.
Thanks to that, on top of the beak mask she'd received from the Weird Physician, she now wore a gift from Jang Rok as well.
It was a Western-style apron imported from the Western Regions—a wi-gun that covered only the front of the body.
With the black beak mask over her face and the white apron draped in front, her getup was so bizarre that anyone could tell at a glance she was the Weird Physician's disciple.
Thus began Wi Sowol's days of diligent study by day and practice by night.
When in a village, she followed the Weird Physician and learned medicine.
On the road, she traveled with Jang Rok, hunting and cooking.
They were fulfilling days of learning.
The Master said of learning: "Much hearing makes knowledge, and much seeing comes after," encompassing both as experience.
He placed knowledge gained through hearing—that is, instruction from a teacher—above direct practice, and Wi Sowol's studies followed exactly that path.
"You've finished the nine volumes of the Inner Collection in Introduction to Medicine as of yesterday, so starting today, I'll teach you volume ten of the Outer Collection."
The four medical texts the Weird Physician had first told her to read.
She'd already covered the Illustrated 81 Difficulties Classic and Great Compendium of Acupuncture back at the inn. The remaining two were the Compendium of Materia Medica and Introduction to Medicine, which he now began teaching her orally.
Telling her to fetch the books and self-study had only been because he had to go out.
Now that they traveled together, it was fine for him to explain verbally—he had everything memorized anyway.
He skipped detailed explanation of the Compendium of Materia Medica.
It was simply too voluminous.
"When you get to Mount Hua Sect, read the Compendium there."
The sect possessed a complete set.
For a sect that brewed spirit elixirs, how precious must a compendium cataloging all 1,892 medicinal herbs in the world be?
"And once you've gone through the Compendium, we'll begin proper surgery lessons."
"Aren't I already learning surgery by watching you do it?"
"There's a world of difference between knowing the theory inside out and not. It affects how well you improvise."
Having received instruction through hearing, it was now time for hands-on enlightenment through practice.
"We caught a duck today, so we'll eat half as roast duck right away, and use the other half to make something called iced duck."
Jang Rok's cooking lesson.
Today's ingredient was duck.
He left the butchering step to Wi Sowol from the start.
She was proficient enough with a knife that she dismantled the duck in one go and prepared it for roasting.
Wi Sowol simply rinsed the blood from her hands before wiping them on her apron.
True Western robes used extremely precious fabrics that even high officials rarely wore, but the one she'd been given was made from common cotton specifically to protect against food splatters while cooking.
Thanks to that, the nearly white apron quickly became splattered and stained—which reminded her of the Weird Physician covered in blood after surgery—and Wi Sowol secretly rather liked it.
'It looks weird, but it's comfy. Honestly, it's got its own style.'
She'd been reluctant when she first got it, but now Wi Sowol quite liked the apron.
It made her feel like a surgeon presiding over operations just like the Weird Physician.
And it was only called a skirt in name—it just draped over the front, not a real skirt at all.
"Jang Rok, this thing's really comfy and practical. Why don't you get one too?"
"Ah... I'm good. Once your skills improve, nothing splatters even without an apron."
"I see. Hm, okay."
The day she took off the apron would be her graduation as a cook, huh.
That felt a little regrettable.
They moved slowly, stopping for all sorts of things along the way, but the group steadily made their way south.
Pingyao County, Yeongseok County, Hongjo County, Imbun County, Singang County, Unseong County, Yeongje County...
Passing through many counties, they crossed the Yellow River.
And at last, they stood before Mount Hua.
"This is Mount Hua."
Wi Sowol gazed up at the mountain from Huayin County, which lay right at the foot of Mount Hua Sect and could practically be considered part of it.
Sure enough.
The moment they spotted Wi Sowol's group, a band of warriors rushed over, their robes embroidered with the plum blossom emblem symbolizing Mount Hua.
"Greetings to Elder Pure Void Daoist."
"Word has already spread through Shaanxi lands that the elder humbled the Nether Blade Divine Demon. The sect leader left word that you should ascend as quickly as possible upon your arrival."
"The sect leader did?"
Pure Void Daoist looked genuinely surprised, but his follow-up words contradicted that expression entirely.
"Hey, Weird Physician. Secure an inn first. You must be tired—rest up a day before going anywhere."
"Eh, Elder?"
"Is that alright?"
"The Primeval Lord of Heaven is watching over us—what's the rush? No need for all that scurrying about. You lot come along too. We'll climb the mountain tomorrow."
Wi Sowol followed him silently, thinking this guy was off his rocker too.
"Master."
"It's fine. Doesn't look like he's dying anytime soon."
The ascent to Mount Hua was postponed until the next day.
And the next day.
After a hearty breakfast, the group finally left the inn and climbed up to Mount Hua Sect.
Thanks to arrangements by the sect leader, they met the patient before even greeting him.
"I'm Yu Jin."
He was a young Daoist priest with a clear, refined look about him.
Considering the generational sequence of Cheong-Yul-Jong-Yu, he ranked as a grand-disciple.
But according to Pure Void Daoist, he was a great-grand-disciple—which meant that despite entering as a grand-disciple, an elder of the sect leader's generation had recognized his talent and taken him on as a direct disciple.
'What a tangled lineage.'
The disciple hierarchy had gotten all twisted up.
It was an inevitable occurrence in martial sects where talent mattered more than strict lineage.
In any case, the young Daoist named Yu Jin humbly cupped his hands in greeting.
He wore no powder or makeup, yet his complexion glowed with healthy vigor, and his well-trained physique shone through even his Daoist robes.
He didn't look like a patient in the slightest.
The Weird Physician eyed him and spoke.
"This guy's out of his mind."
Wi Sowol wholeheartedly agreed.
"You, your arm's broken, isn't it?"