Chapter 27
Chapter 27
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 27
Chapter Title: Bone Fulfillment
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The first step was, as always, anesthesia via the Dazed Haze Hand.
Every time Wi Sowol watched, she couldn't help thinking that this technique truly captured the essence of the Weird Physician's medical arts.
To begin, he used the profound principles of the Dazed Haze Hand to strike the blood points and plunge the patient into sleep.
For masters of internal energy like those who practiced the Firm Chastity Heart Method, it required injecting internal energy as well, taking more time. But for ordinary mortals, they collapsed into slumber the moment the Weird Physician laid a hand on them.
This was step one.
The Weird Physician positioned both hands—one below the nose of Daoist Yujin for breath, the other over the radial artery on the wrist for pulse.
"He's asleep."
Confirming the patient had entered slumber, the Weird Physician moved his hands again.
Next came the pressure points for paralysis.
Muscles moved even unconsciously.
Especially for warriors trained in martial arts, their muscles triggered instant reflexive responses to external threats. Starting surgery with just the blood points struck could wake the sleeping patient—or worse, end up like a servant killed in a sleep-talking frenzy.
Sleep and paralysis via blood points and pressure points.
Only now were the minimal preparations for surgery complete.
"Medicine King, the effect is reliable, right?"
"Of course. He won't feel a thing for at least two shichen."
"...Share that painkiller recipe with my disciple too."
The final step was ensuring the patient felt no pain.
The Weird Physician partially solved this with pain-blocking via the Dazed Haze Hand, but it was complex and drained a lot of internal energy. So he had long sought more efficient methods by borrowing the power of medicine.
The Medicine King's painkiller would surely reduce the internal energy drain even further.
"I'll do that. Consider it tuition for observing your surgery."
"Appreciated."
The painkiller had been administered beforehand to ensure it fully took effect.
Yet the Weird Physician still performed pain-blocking as a precaution.
With that, the three stages of anesthesia were complete.
Now for the final fourth stage.
By striking meridians to contract the blood vessels and muscles at the incision site, bleeding could be controlled. This completed the preparatory phase for surgery via the Dazed Haze Hand.
'A good start.'
Wi Sowol could tell the Weird Physician was more relaxed than usual.
Probably thanks to saving internal energy on pain-blocking.
There were still things to learn from the Medicine King in that regard.
'Medicine and acupuncture are worth mastering as supports.'
As Wi Sowol solidified her view that medicine suited her best as a supplement, the Weird Physician's scalpel—cloaked in a thin layer of pale blue sword energy—sliced into Daoist Yujin's arm.
Blood that should have gushed out barely flowed, exposing the non-union site where bone was absent.
"Sowol."
"Yes."
At the Weird Physician's call, Wi Sowol incised the pre-marked site on Daoist Yujin's body, as instructed.
'Be careful.'
Wi Sowol's role was assisting at start and finish.
She handled all the minor tasks so the Weird Physician could focus solely on the core.
While he scraped away the dead bone end of the radius at the transplant site to expose living bone, Wi Sowol exposed the bone at the donor site.
Then, once he sized and severed the transplant bone, she protected it from external pathogens with Great White Light True Qi.
When he finished treating the extraction site, she handed him the autologous bone and closed the incision.
That was her workload.
'The harvest site for the transplant bone is the iliac crest.'
The Weird Physician had said so.
The bone there was large enough, and removing a portion wouldn't greatly impair function.
Indeed, the ilium—hip bone—was the ninth largest in the body, broad and flat, easy to shape.
But how did the Weird Physician know such precise details?
'No stray thoughts.'
Sensing her focus waver for an instant, the Weird Physician warned her like a ghost.
"Pay attention to the nerves. Unlike other areas, mistakes there can't be undone."
"Understood."
"Don't forget the Dazed Haze Hand's key. If your hand shakes, pull the scalpel away, calm it with the technique, then proceed."
"...Yes."
No shaking.
Wi Sowol's consciousness, converged to a single point, drew the scalpel steadily over Daoist Yujin's iliac crest.
"...Switch."
Having removed the hardened outer bone to expose actively regenerating living bone, the Weird Physician checked Wi Sowol's incision.
Behind the iliac crest.
The extraction site exposed perfectly.
"Excellent."
Sword energy gathered on the Weird Physician's scalpel.
They said a peak master's sword energy could slice steel.
So cutting bone was certainly feasible.
Bone might be hard, but not harder than steel.
Yet sweat poured from the Weird Physician's body.
His work wasn't the wild swings warriors used to kill, but precise cuts to minute areas without damaging surroundings.
The concentration drain was on another level.
"Harvest complete. Sowol, take it."
The severed iliac fragment from Daoist Yujin settled onto Wi Sowol's hand, pre-wrapped in the yin chill of Great White Light True Qi.
As she encased the bone in qi for storage, the Weird Physician handled post-harvest treatment.
She had studied what aftercare was needed, but watching it now, Wi Sowol felt his skill resembled sorcery.
"Transplanting."
He fitted the cut iliac bone to the radius.
Securing it: gold needles and plates.
If implanting something in the body, it had to be gold.
That was the Weird Physician's teaching to Wi Sowol.
The Compendium of Materia Medica said gold soothed skin and drained boils.
He didn't fully believe it.
His experiments proved otherwise.
But one trait from the text he trusted: non-toxicity.
Thus, he preferred gold over silver coins for fees.
Gold wasn't for ornaments—it was a medical resource, in his view.
Expensive?
Not a big deal to him.
He used even pricier high-purity alcohol anyway.
And deficits? Patients covered them.
Free service was for poor folk who couldn't afford it. With Mount Hua Sect as backing, and super-peak and peak masters as guardians, a bit of gold was instantly replenished.
Heck, a super-peak master raiding a few bandit dens covered it.
Trivial matter.
"...Sowol. Suturing done?"
Having connected the harvested iliac bone to the non-union radius, the Weird Physician sounded utterly drained, voice limp.
Wi Sowol, having sutured all incisions at the iliac site, stopped observing and scurried over, taking the spot as he stepped aside.
"I'll finish up."
"Suture well. Focus on the fascia especially."
"Got it."
Fascia was more delicate than skin.
Skin could be redone if sloppy, but fascia? Tougher.
"Check joint motion too. Carefully. Call if issues."
"Will do."
Wi Sowol neatly finished suturing with her small hands.
Then she gripped and moved Daoist Yujin's arm every which way, testing ligaments and joints for smooth function.
'Finally, circulate qi.'
Great White Light True Qi flowed from Daoist Yujin's arm through his whole body.
Last time, she noticed a slight wind pathogen in his head—check that too.
Wi Sowol even performed extra exams, ever so kindly.
And she concluded.
"Done, Master."
The surgery was a success.
The Weird Physician had finally triumphed after three failures.
'Even after failures, endless challenge leads to success someday...'
Then Wi Sowol must do the same.
A disciple mirrors and walks with their master, after all.
Until then, the Medicine King—who had breathed shallowly and slowly to avoid any disturbance—let out a long sigh and spoke his held-back words.
"Take living bone to revive dead bone. The dead and living both reside within me—so all solutions lie within oneself. The principle of self-illumination and self-reliance holds true."
Wi Sowol's mind tingled at the Medicine King's words.
Success or failure depends on me, so steadfast progress reaches success eventually.
All answers dwell within, so make oneself the lamp and take refuge in oneself.
'With disciplined mind in cultivation, it's like a full moon wandering the sky.'
Another incantation filled the light of Great White Light True Qi.
Her internal energy converged into a perfect circle.
Resembling a full moon.
'My issues resolve within me.'
The stagnant yin qi of her Nine Yin Absolute Meridian began flowing, attuned to the moon's orbit in her heart.
Like an apple falling from a tree, or tides surging and ebbing with the moon.
As universal principles govern heaven and earth, her mind as a moon tuned the subtle tides of the Nine Yin Absolute Meridian sea.
Completion of the microcosm.
Wi Sowol took her first step toward transcendence once more—a path she had trod before.
Different stride, different footprint.
But beyond the joy of grasping the key to super-peak, Wi Sowol smiled at another thought.
'Now I can learn the Unforgetting Heart Method.'
Her master's art, to never forget the cherished ones.
"Huh, how much?"
"One guan of gold."
Pure gold, no base metals mixed.
Hey, gotta give my disciple traveling money for her past-life errand, right?