Chapter 50
Chapter 50
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 50
Chapter Title: Performing Surgery
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Finding the Hao Sect's Yangyang branch hall was incredibly straightforward.
In fact, calling it "finding" was a bit of a stretch.
They had come to her first.
She'd thought it was a little odd, but now she knew why.
"Suddenly?"
Wi Sowol immediately picked up on Hwang Bo Yun's bewildered question, voiced amid her stunned daze.
"It's a patient."
"Right! You're a physician!"
Did she seriously forget that?
Wi Sowol addressed the Hao Sect members, leaving Hwang Bo Yun behind her.
"Take me there."
With her permission granted, the Hao Sect members bowed deeply.
"Thank you! Master Jeong Pilhwa!"
"Great hero!"
"We are eternally grateful!"
The man who had stepped forward as their representative volunteered to lead the way.
He must hold some rank, being the first to step up where all the branch members had gathered.
Wi Sowol's senses detected qi emanating from the man's body.
He had trained in martial arts.
"Are you the branch leader?"
"No... I am the Left Strategist, aiding the branch leader."
"Left Strategist? Is there such a position?"
"Ah, each Hao Sect branch has its own unique structure."
The Hao Sect operated more like a network of cells.
Its members often didn't even know each other.
The main headquarters' location was a complete secret, unknown even to branch leaders.
Instead, branch leaders communicated with headquarters through secret channels.
Headquarters compiled incoming information via these channels and redistributed it as needed to each region.
Including responses to specific requests.
Branches then carried out headquarters' directives and provided operational funds.
In emergencies threatening a branch's survival, headquarters dispatched aid.
It wasn't a rigid top-down hierarchy but more like a mutual aid feudal system.
Thus, each branch leader held ultimate decision-making authority on operations.
Without directives from headquarters, they decided everything from one to ten.
That naturally included position titles and organizational structure.
What Wi Sowol had learned from Nanju's branch leader, Yo Hye, didn't apply to other branches.
"So, what does a Left Strategist do?"
"Think of me as the right-hand man. I handle finances."
If the number two was coming out personally, and all the branch members were bowing in gratitude...
"The patient is the branch leader."
"...Yes. We called in physicians from the Yonghwa Guild in Yangyang for pulse diagnosis, but it was no use. A visit from one of the Six Great Physicians is a miracle, and we're not sure the branch leader's body could withstand traveling to one."
They had been on the verge of despair.
Then Wi Sowol appeared.
The disciple of one of the Six Great Physicians, the Weird Physician.
To the Hao Sect members, she was their last resort, their one remaining lifeline.
Whether that lifeline led anywhere solid, unrotted, and well-woven... well, they'd only know once they grabbed it.
"The branch leader must be well-loved."
"Indeed. The Hao Sect disciples in Yangyang call him 'Second Father' and follow him devotedly."
The building serving as the Hao Sect branch was a brokerage called Yangban Ya Hang.
Ya Hang brokerages handled everything from odd jobs to outright human trafficking.
Of course, with the Wudang Sect right next door, Yangyang's rejected the more heinous acts, sticking to errands and labor brokerage.
It was a place that frequently dealt with other businesses, frequented by all sorts, without raising eyebrows.
At the same time, it belonged to the "Ya" groups that formed the Hao Sect's original core.
No better spot for a branch hall.
Larger brokerages often owned waiting lounges, rental lodging, and the like.
Yangban Ya Hang was no different.
It even had a private annex for the brokerage owner, who doubled as the Yangyang branch leader.
"Ugh."
The moment they entered, Hwang Bo Yun groaned involuntarily at the overpowering stench.
With her exceptional physique came senses far sharper than an ordinary person's.
She was especially sensitive to the foul odor from the patient's body.
"...Who are you."
The patient, conscious, moved his parched lips to speak.
"Physician."
With that single word wrapping up the explanation, Wi Sowol immediately began her observation diagnosis.
Her eyes, attuned to the Observation Method's basics, read the patient's condition.
'This isn't good.'
Her observation skills hadn't yet reached the Weird Physician's level.
Even Hwang Bo Yun could tell it was serious just from a glance, though pulse and qi diagnosis would confirm.
"That mask... You're the Weird Physician's disciple. Jeong Pilhwa, Wi Sowol. They somehow managed to bring you."
"Jeong Pilhwa? Is that my moniker?"
Wi Sowol casually asked back while naturally grasping the patient's wrist.
She performed pulse diagnosis while infusing her internal energy for qi diagnosis.
The motions flowed seamlessly, like water; the patient seemed unaware his wrist was even held.
Or perhaps his body was too ruined to feel it.
"You don't know? In Chunsi, they say there's a flower that shattered the dreams of many physicians-in-training. The rumors have spread far in Gansu already, and whispers are circulating in Shaanxi too."
"Not really interested. More importantly, have you taken any medicine?"
"The previous physician said it was Kidney Yang Deficiency and gave me Eight-Ingredient Rehmannia Pill."
"An internist, huh."
Wi Sowol's subtle disdain for internists, now shifted to the Weird Physician, slipped out.
And it clearly hadn't helped the patient much.
"But you don't ask who I am? Haven't you heard?"
"No. Should I be curious? The only thing I'm curious about is your condition."
A physician's mission was to heal patients.
They should care more about symptoms than names or monikers.
The patient, Yangyang's Hao Sect branch leader, seemed reassured, his lips twitching upward as he spoke.
"I want to tell you. Conversation starts with knowing who you're talking to, doesn't it?"
"...If you insist."
"They call me Ji Hosan. Moniker: Iron Heavy Wrist."
That was it?
Then back to asking about symptoms...
"I'm Jin Jeonghyeop Hwang Ryul! Have you heard of me?"
A bright, clear voice cut in just as Wi Sowol was about to question him.
It was Hwang Bo Yun.
After bragging so much about monikers, she couldn't hold back even here?
Truly like a puppy that hadn't learned fear.
But her spirited words seemed to please the patient, Ji Hosan.
"I know well. I heard you crossed blades once with Pa Gun Do."
His weak, halting voice steadied, though still shaky.
His energy was returning.
He was someone who enjoyed conversation.
Someone who found forging bonds with new people the most fun.
That was the man Ji Hosan.
'...The heart moves qi to nourish the body.'
Who knew she'd feel that line from the White Healing Scripture so viscerally.
With things as they were, Wi Sowol sent a transmission letting Hwang Bo Yun chatter freely with Ji Hosan.
Hwang Bo Yun lit up and launched into enthusiastic talk.
Wi Sowol tuned it out with one ear while focusing on the pulse.
'That internist wasn't entirely wrong.'
Indeed, Ji Hosan's pulse showed kidney deficiency.
Her observation matched.
Short of breath, dizzy-looking.
Wi Sowol's hand moved from his wrist to lightly touch his chest and flanks.
Taut.
And finally, his feet.
Cold.
"Your lower jiao's qi and blood aren't circulating smoothly."
"I feel it. No sensation down there."
"Trying qi circulation was a good call. That's probably why you're still conscious. But it's not just kidney deficiency—there's blood deficiency too. Any blood in urine or vomit?"
"No, nothing like that."
"Injury?"
"That was long ago."
His chat with Hwang Bo Yun had livened him up; Ji Hosan grinned slyly.
"Hey, we're not here for games. Better spill honestly. Or you'll die."
Her face hidden by the mask, but her tone had turned icy.
Ji Hosan snapped to awareness that he'd gotten too carried away with Hwang Bo Yun.
The Hao Sect members only worried and teared up even at jokes, so he couldn't chat like this.
Acknowledging his slip, Ji Hosan answered directly.
"I had surgery."
"Surgery?"
An utterly unexpected answer.
Surgery, here of all places.
Concerned about interfering with his ongoing qi circulation, Wi Sowol halted her qi diagnosis midway.
The previous physicians—excluding the Weird Physician—had all been internists, so she'd subconsciously viewed surgical procedures as her and her master's domain, contributing to her oversight.
Reason or not, it stung her pride.
'I missed the surgical aftermath.'
Arrogance had crept in.
Studying under the world's greatest Weird Physician, passing Haewon in Chunsi.
With Nine Yin Absolute Meridian granting insights and enlightenment, had she thought she knew everything?
She deserved reflection.
But more than reflection, now was time to focus on the patient.
"Quickly explain. Pulse is submerged, thin, and rapid—heavy kidney and blood deficiency. The submerged pulse is partly from qi circulation, but qi and blood show stagnation despite that. The cause is abdominal fullness—increased intra-abdominal pressure."
"Bad?"
"Leave it, and you'll die. Don't you feel it?"
From her examination, Wi Sowol was impressed he'd held on this long.
If he were an ordinary commoner instead of a martial artist, he'd have suffocated before she arrived.
"...What do I do? Can I live? No—can you save me?"
The smile faded from Ji Hosan's face.
Desperation filled it instead.
Yearning for life, terror of death.
His true heart, masked by humor, laid bare.
"Well..."
Wi Sowol pondered briefly.
Did Ji Hosan deserve another shot at life?
And she judged.
Given his reputation, one more chance seemed fair.
She took Hwang Bo Yun's outraged cry to heart: she'd never hesitate to kill when needed.
But if not, and as a physician she could save—then she would.
Even villains deserved one chance to reform.
Like herself.
Of course, if they repeated their evil after, then surgery would become wielding the sword instead.
"Don't worry. You'll live."
Wi Sowol was confident.
"What you need is basic surgery."
If high abdominal pressure was crushing organs...
Just open the belly and release it, right?
"We'll start surgery now. Left Strategist, prepare what I say. As fast as possible."
He'd mentioned having surgery once before.
Sure enough, preparations went quickly.
'Forgot to ask who performed it.'
Shedding self-reproach for her arrogance, she'd missed the moment.
After that, everyone was busy with prep.
'I'll ask after.'
Minor issue.
Compared to the surgery.
"Sowol, is it okay if I watch?"
"Yes. I'd be in trouble without you."
"Hm?"
Hwang Bo Yun's eyes sparkled at the unexpected reply.
Was this stray cat finally melting into his arms?
Hwang Bo Yun gazed at Wi Sowol with eager anticipation, but her mind was fully on the surgery, oblivious.
'Someone who handles lightning can restart a stopped heart, right?'
Even if blood deficiency caused cardiac arrest, shooting lightning into the heart would restart it, per the White Healing Scripture.
No precise technique established; gauge intensity carefully by situation.
'Does it really work?'
Restarting a stopped heart.
So this was the Great Immortal Physician.
Wi Sowol hoped it wouldn't come to that, yet felt a slight urge to try.
After a short wait.
Ji Hosan entered, wearing only undergarments below the waist.
"This is embarrassing."
Ji Hosan flushed, but Wi Sowol, who had been a man in her past life, calmly anesthetized him with Dazed Haze Hand.
She wouldn't have batted an eye at full nudity.
Saw it daily back then.
'Hwang Bo Yun must be shocked.'
Pretending composure in male disguise, but her body tensed slightly.
Once Ji Hosan was out, Wi Sowol nodded in satisfaction.
Finally, some quiet.
Surgery demanded reverence.
In the hush, Wi Sowol began in earnest.
First: incision.
Undoing the prior sutures to reopen the abdomen, she spotted something odd, her eyes gleaming.
"This knot..."
The Weird Physician's method.
No guarantee he was the only one using it, but Wi Sowol instinctively sensed his shadow in the knot.
He had only one formal disciple: her.
No fellow disciples for her.
But he'd taught a few techniques to others.
So this surgeon was likely one of them.
Not acknowledged as siblings, but "fellow students" fit.
A good start, somewhere.
With faint apology to the unknown fellow, Wi Sowol cut the knot and reopened Ji Hosan's abdomen.
A faint, clear hiss of escaping air.
Intra-abdominal pressure dropping.
'Peritoneal sutures are clean too.'
No doubt.
Ji Hosan's first surgeon had been trained by the Weird Physician.
'I'll cover for my fellow student's mistake.'
Pride in performing the surgery lightened her hands.
But her mind stayed taut, calmly analyzing.
From abdominal incision sutures to peritoneum.
Excellent.
Frankly, the suturing alone seemed superior to hers.
But that superb skill had backfired this time.
'Too tight.'
Internal issues might exist, but excessive suturing seemed prime suspect.
Great at sutures, so showed off fully.
Forgot excess is as bad as deficiency.
Her own arrogance recognized, others' came easily too.
She could guess the surgeon's mindset from the sutures.
Up to here, good.
Trained by Weird Physician, suturing near heavenly.
Hard not to get arrogant.
She understood.
If only that.
Wi Sowol would've happily sought the surgeon later to discuss medicine, exchange knowledge and skills.
Then she saw it.
An unbearable revulsion surged.
"...The gall."
Wi Sowol's face twisted.
She always knew she couldn't be a pure physician.
Medicine was a tool to her, not from selfless altruism alone.
However.
That didn't justify this.
Even as a tool, medicine shouldn't take this form.
Wi Sowol's eyes locked unmoving.
On Ji Hosan's liver.
From the characters carved there.
[Nie Yunmok]
The surgeon who operated on Ji Hosan had carved his own name into the patient's liver.