Chapter 33
Chapter 33
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: Umbrella
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The exam was over.
It was the triennial provincial medical exam, so those who couldn't make it this time would have to endure another three years before the next chance.
They say you know your own fate best.
The results would be announced through official notices in about a month, but everyone had some inkling of their own destiny already.
The aspiring scholars who had entered the hall with hearts swollen with dreams of glory were now slinking out, shoulders slumped and spirits damp.
All except one.
'Easy.'
Wi Sowol was confident.
She had passed.
Regardless of the Weird Physician's highly critical views on traditional medicine, he was a graduate who had aced the imperial medical exams, even participating in the capital trials.
It was an old story from quite some time ago, but medicine hadn't advanced at a breakneck pace in the interim—at least, not without him.
So he knew exactly what books would be tested and in what format.
For Wi Sowol, who had received his pinpoint private tutoring, this provincial exam was nothing more than reciting memorized material—a simple affair.
'Comprehensive Record of Sagely Relief trending toward Introduction to Medicine, as expected. Treatise on Cold Damage and Illustrated 81 Difficulties Classic still holding strong. Shennong's Materia Medica updated to Compendium of Materia Medica.'
There was some movement toward modern medicine, at least.
'But surgery is still sorely lacking.'
Failing to include Intestinal Abscess as reference material was deeply disappointing.
Yet they had adopted the author Jinsilgong's Five Precepts and Ten Essentials for Physicians, requiring passers to swear to them at the academy.
'What a joke.'
It was proof of how they belittled surgery.
If you're going to use Jinsilgong's medicine, you might as well embrace his surgical research too—instead of just cherry-picking the ethics.
That was the reality of surgery.
With medicine's authority shifting from Buddhism and Daoism to Confucianism, Confucian physicians inevitably dominated the field.
Wi Sowol clicked her tongue at the era's rejection of surgeons as she lifted her head to the water vapor blanketing the world.
"Rain...?"
The moment she murmured, rain began pattering down—plip-plop.
What was this?
Gansu Province was famous for its scant rainfall.
The little it got was mostly concentrated in summer, so spring rain right after winter's end was unheard of.
Was heaven weeping for the examinees' misfortune?
It poured as if in place of the men who couldn't bring themselves to cry.
Wi Sowol wrapped herself in a thin membrane of qi.
Raindrop after raindrop touched the pristine white inner energy of Great White Light True Qi, freezing solid and scattering into a mystical icy glow around her.
With her appearance alone, she looked the part—but that figure, that aura, evoked a winter fairy who had missed her ascent to the heavens and lingered on earth.
Predictably, the men forgot their sorrow and approached her, entranced.
"Excuse me, miss. I'm Wi Mak-gyeon from Heungak County..."
The moment Wi Sowol heard the man speak to her, she launched herself with Star Lodge Divine Traces.
She had no patience for annoyances.
Especially now that rumors of the Weird Physician's disciple's beauty would spread because of this.
Wi Sowol flitted silently with exquisite footwork, stepping lightly over rooftops and walls until she reached her destination.
It was the inn attached to the back of a brothel run by the Hao Gate.
Stepping onto the veranda of her assigned room at Nan Hwa Inn, Wi Sowol withdrew her qi membrane. The ice crystals atop it scattered like swirling snowflakes.
"More beautiful than any courtesan's dance."
"Yo Hye."
"Oh dear. Was my phrasing too crude? My apologies. It's all I've learned."
Yo Hye, branch leader of the Hao Gate, bantered playfully yet maintained impeccable decorum.
She wanted to befriend this beautiful, icy girl.
But she was also terrified.
Yo Hye already suspected Wi Sowol of massacring the Silver Sword Sect.
No hard evidence, but the circumstantial case was ironclad.
A mere 14-year-old girl, untrained in martial arts, had wiped out a sect with first-rate masters.
Then she joined the Weird Physician and passed through the Nether Luo Sect and Mount Hua Sect, famed orthodox powers.
No telling how far her skills had advanced now.
But one thing was certain.
If she set her mind to it, dismantling a single Hao Gate branch would be child's play.
"I'll do my utmost to contain the rumors about your appearance, but don't hold high hopes. A beauty like the moon can't be fully hidden by mere palms."
"Understood."
Wi Sowol replied curtly and entered the room to pack, without looking back.
Yo Hye asked from behind.
"Are you heading to the Bang Old Man?"
"...Don't cross the line."
Wi Sowol had known their connection was exposed the moment she met Bang Old Man.
But bringing him up so openly felt like a veiled threat, and it didn't sit well.
She knew she was overreacting a bit.
Even so, she couldn't help the edge in her voice.
The memory of Bang Old Man's brutal murder still lingered vividly.
"My apologies. But using martial arts so openly on your way out seemed unwise, so I spoke up. Nanju is House Hwangbo's territory—please don't forget."
This time, Wi Sowol had no retort.
True. She had been hasty.
When men approached with such obvious intent, her instinctive revulsion spiked.
At Zenith Temple or Mount Hua Sect, the monks and Taoists kept it subdued enough to ignore stares, but this was blatant.
"I'll remember."
"With the spring exam, word of the Weird Physician's disciple in Nanju will spread. House Hwangbo will likely send an invitation soon."
Skilled physicians were hard to come by.
Sure, as one of the Eight Great Families, House Hwangbo had retainers including doctors, but they paled before the Six Great Physicians.
And considering the tense atmosphere with Rampaging Demon Heaven, from their perspective, Wi Sowol must look like a ripe melon rolling right into their lap.
'The families are orthodox, but somewhere between righteous and unorthodox.'
Wi Sowol fully agreed with the Weird Physician's assessment.
Murim clans, even orthodox ones, often prioritized family gain over grand principles.
Unlike the Nine Great Sects and Eight Schools, which pursued justice and propriety as core values.
"Please, go ahead."
Wi Sowol exited through Nan Hwa Inn's main gate with poise, accepting Yo Hye's courteous bow—hands clasped, waist bent.
A bundle on her back, a face veil over her features, and an umbrella in hand.
It was the kind commonly called an oil-paper umbrella, coated in oil.
True to the brothel's nature, it prioritized ornate craftsmanship over mere utility.
"'Don't draw attention,' she said."
What were they thinking, giving her this?
Still, better than blocking rain with qi or walking soaked—it would attract less notice.
Wi Sowol obediently opened the Hao Gate umbrella and stepped into the downpour.
The rain drumming on it sounded heavy.
Plop-plop—the drops colliding relentlessly.
'What kind of day is this?'
Spring rain like this in Gansu was exceedingly rare.
Unless you went much farther south.
Nanju was mid-province, with notably dry climate.
But who can fathom heaven's whims?
Some days were just like this—nothing for it but to accept.
Wi Sowol headed to Bang Old Man's house with that resignation.
Their talk was brief.
It was essentially a final farewell anyway.
She had already informed him of her plans long ago.
"Travel safely."
"You too. If House Hwangbo's invitation comes for me, please accept it on my behalf."
That would better ensure Bang Old Man's safety.
It would saddle Wi Sowol with a debt to House Hwangbo, but cheap compared to his life.
With her time in Nanju thus concluded, Wi Sowol set off to leave the city.
The rain kept pouring.
Misty veils of water, echoing patter, rain-scent filling her nostrils, moisture kissing her skin...
Amid the deluge overwhelming her senses, her sixth sense caught an anomaly.
'Lightness skill?'
Three waves of it, parting the rain curtain.
Impressive skill, too.
'Peak experts? In Nanju?'
House Hwangbo's head was a transcendent master.
His clan ruled Nanju undisputed.
Any martial artist stirring trouble here was either a reckless pup, an ignorant villager blind to the world, or a deliberate evil sect high-rank challenging them.
'But none of those this time.'
Wi Sowol soon dismissed the thought.
House Hwangbo would handle it.
She strolled through the misty silver haze shrouding Nanju toward the city gate.
That was when it happened.
A fierce lightness wave tore through the rain in a straight shot at Wi Sowol.
Simultaneously, a black shadow slithered from an alley, slipping under her umbrella in an instant.
A puddle erupted violently; descending drops shot upward.
By then, Wi Sowol had already circulated Great White Light True Qi.
If it was an attack, she was fully primed to draw her sword and unleash Counterstroke.
But perhaps no need.
The explosive approach's owner disrupted their own lightness skill just before contact.
Even to Wi Sowol's eye, it was refined work—dismantling the wave without touching her skin, slowing to a halt.
Ragged breaths overpowered the rain's rhythm.
The tall frame, a head taller than Wi Sowol, deepened the already overcast gloom.
"Shh."
A near-whisper.
The figure's exhaled breath grazed her cheek beneath the fluttering veil, stirred by his pushing wind.
It was hot.
Probably trained mainly in yang-hot arts.
One hand enveloped her small shoulder; another overlaid hers on the umbrella to steady it.
Pressing close, the figure cautiously lifted the umbrella, confirming his pursuers passed without suspicion, then grinned mischievously.
Wi Sowol regarded the figure impassively.
From the hand on her shoulder, she traced her gaze slowly upward.
The arm encircling it was toned and firm; the upright posture stood rock-steady.
Beneath bound-up hair, sharp eyes and a straight nose lent cheerfulness; smiling lips, a pleasing crimson, brimmed with vitality.
An unfamiliar yet strikingly pleasant face.
A rare beauty.
The only drawback: despite bold demeanor, her features were surprisingly delicate.
Yet unfiltered joy, thrill, confidence lit her face like sunlight piercing rain.
A rare handsome man...
'No. A woman.'
Correction.
A beauty overflowing with masculine charm.