Chapter 68
Chapter 68
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 68
Chapter Title: Departure
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Back at the inn, Hwangbo Yun was nowhere to be seen.
Wondering what in the world was going on, Wi Sowol went to great lengths, scouring the streets on foot until she found Hwangbo Yun.
"...Are you seriously insane?"
"What? Why?"
A clueless pup that couldn't tell heaven from earth...
Wi Sowol stared at the shameless Hwangbo Yun and let out a hollow laugh in disbelief.
"Hah, fine. So the young heir of the Hwangbo family thinks it's perfectly okay to hold friendly sparring matches with Paeguk Sect disciples? You really mean that?"
That was exactly it.
While Wi Sowol had been away, Hwangbo Yun had somehow rounded up Paeguk Sect disciples and was busy sparring with them one after another.
He'd even set up a rotation, turning it into a full-on wheel battle.
He'd been so rushed sorting things out and dragging them back that he hadn't even had time to brag about the spoils of war.
Wi Sowol couldn't help but be furious.
But Hwangbo Yun had his own grievances.
His eyes darted away guiltily, yet his mouth kept rattling off excuses without missing a beat.
"Look, we're heading to Namchang anyway, and I'll get called a traitor who cozied up to the Paeguk Sect at least once. Gotta make it worth my while, right?"
"His Young Grace of the Merchant Guilds has arrived."
"This is actually better! If a scion of a righteous clan shows his prowess against an unorthodox sect like Paeguk, it'll look great."
"Yeah, right."
She'd accept that reasoning.
"By the way, the Dark Rock Hall folks really took a liking to me. From what I saw, there's bad blood between the Poison Control Division and Dark Rock Hall, with Crimson Black Pavilion mediating."
With that, Hwangbo Yun launched into a bubbly recounting of the Dark Rock Hall warriors he'd sparred with and exactly how he'd beaten them.
Wi Sowol kept a sullen expression but listened to every last bit without interrupting.
Fine.
A martial artist speaks with their martial arts—what else is there?
If trouble brewed in Namchang, she could always bring up Hwangbo Yun's sparring escapades.
"Done?"
"Yeah."
"Then get ready to head out."
"Can't I just go like this?"
Hwangbo Yun spread his arms wide to show off his travel clothes.
"No."
But that wasn't what Wi Sowol meant.
"I mean, get ready to leave Wuchang."
In front of the slums, everything Wi Sowol had ordered was prepared.
Ten physicians from the Paeguk Sect's medical corps.
A mountain of medicinal herbs supplied by Hyemin Pharmacy.
A makeshift decoction station had even been set up on one side, allowing for fresh herbal remedies straight from the source.
Wi Sowol lightly touched the herbs procured from Hyemin Pharmacy.
The quality was quite good.
Just as Damseon had said.
With Yang's Clinic as its foundation, even the herbs were mid-grade.
Considering that Hyemin Pharmacies rarely operated smoothly and were established to serve the poor, resulting in subpar herb quality, Wuchang's Hyemin Pharmacy was a shining success story.
Good.
Everything was good.
[Their faces all look so sour.]
The medical corps physicians were clearly in foul moods.
[Wouldn't you be?]
After sending a brief transmission to Hwangbo Yun, Wi Sowol sized up the group.
They were all well-advanced in years.
It seemed the Disciplinary Corps leader had handpicked the most experienced ones on orders.
But that was the problem.
These proud, stubborn elders were being forced to follow the commands of someone far younger—their resentment was inevitable.
Moreover, most hailed from the Poison Control Division faction.
Not every medical corps physician was from there, but faction dynamics meant the majority were.
Already looked down upon for their Poison Control origins, now having to take orders from an outsider? It was no wonder their tempers were frayed.
And sure enough.
One of them eyed Wi Sowol and immediately started grumbling.
"Ahem. You're the Weird Physician's disciple?"
"And?"
"The Weird Physician is just a lowly surgeon. This is poisoning from toxin qi and its complications—leave it to us internists. Surgeons meddling in internal medicine just hurt innocent people."
"My master, Ma Yu-seung, is a surgeon, but he topped the imperial medical exams. And I passed the provincial ones. I don't think I know any less than you do."
"...Toxins are different! Handling toxin qi is—"
"Didn't you hear who created the poison plot within your own sect?"
Imperial medical exams. Poison plot.
Wi Sowol's rebuttals were relentless.
And backed by solid evidence.
To counter her, they'd need an even greater authority, which the Poison Control physicians couldn't muster.
Wi Sowol's provincial pass was one thing, but the Weird Physician had even been offered an imperial physician post.
In moments, Wi Sowol dismantled their arguments.
Finally, they resorted to their last card.
"...We found records of experiments the main sect conducted in the slums. Interpreting them to make the antidote is our specialty."
"How can I trust that?"
Wi Sowol cleaved through even that final ploy with distrust as her double-edged sword.
Her blunt retort sent the Poison Control physicians' faces through a rainbow of emotions.
Shock, anger, disbelief, despair, self-loathing—all tangled in a complex mess.
"I don't trust the records' authenticity. Nor do I trust you'll faithfully treat these people. So you'll follow my instructions to the letter. I'll allow questions if you have doubts. If you point out possibilities I missed, I'll even thank you. But change a single prescription on your own, and I'll hand you over to the Disciplinary Corps."
If Wi Sowol were staying with Paeguk Sect, they might have wheedled, cajoled, or compromised.
But she was an outsider, just like they saw her.
So she'd act like one: do what she came to do, ensure what needed doing was done.
If they didn't like it, they shouldn't have let things reach this point.
Got a problem?
Wanna throw down?
Or should I call the Disciplinary Corps?
Faced with Wi Sowol's unbacked tirade, the Poison Control physicians bowed their heads in defeat.
But some caught a glimmer of hope in her final words.
"Hold on. Looking at the prescription, it includes both dispersal agents and major tonics. Is that right?"
"What's wrong with that?"
"What's wrong? It's a febrile disease like cold damage—using tonics? Don't you know cold damage has no tonics?"
Admiring murmurs rose from the surroundings.
But Wi Sowol didn't waver.
"'Cold damage has no tonics' is baseless nonsense. Nothing like that in the classics."
She cut him off coldly.
Another Poison Control physician, resentment flaring, grumbled curtly.
"It's from Daojeolam's [Comprehensive Collection on Cold Damage]."
"That's for real pathogen cases. These started as deficiency syndromes, so tonics to address the deficiency first."
Wi Sowol's claim was grounded in the inner canon of the White Shadow Medical Manual from the Weird Physician.
Unlike the outer canon, centered on his unique research, the mixed and inner canons drew from other scholars' theories.
The passage she'd cited was from Jang Gyeong-ak's [Classified Canon].
The Weird Physician wasn't particularly fond of acupuncture or herbology.
But his love for the latest medical advances outweighed that.
He'd study anything new that came out.
Daojeolam's theories were over 200 years old, while Jang Gyeong-ak's were barely over 30—a no-brainer which the Weird Physician favored.
Above all, Jang Gyeong-ak had proven his theories during actual epidemics and even refined them through wartime cases in distant Haedong.
"Slum dwellers are malnourished and qi-deficient. Follow 'tonify deficiency, disperse excess'."
"...There's merit to that."
The physician who'd objected slunk back, muttering softly.
After a few more rounds of debate.
The Poison Control physicians had to admit it.
Wi Sowol's skills in internal medicine matched their own.
Sure, she was the Weird Physician's disciple—a know-it-all novice at best.
They'd studied for over a decade in the renowned Three Great Poison Sects' Poison Control Division.
Passed the imperial exams as a relief physician?
Just quota-passing from some backwater like Gansu—big deal.
The real elites gathered in Jiangnan.
Bound by such pride, the Poison Control physicians watched their egos crumble as Wi Sowol prescribed optimal treatments for each patient.
"...It's already gangrenous. Needs cutting out."
Above all, her surgical precision and decisiveness were beyond them.
After six minor surgeries and eleven prescriptions.
The slums fell silent—no more patients' cries of pain.
"No more questions on the prescriptions, so I'll report this to the Disciplinary Corps as is. You poisoned them; you see it through—decoct and administer the meds."
By then, the Poison Control physicians had surrendered completely to her skill.
Of course, they could have prescribed the same.
Given more time.
But Wi Sowol diagnosed and prescribed optimally almost instantly.
Her prodigious talent was absurd.
And her grasp of human anatomy was unparalleled, skipping most inference on symptoms' causes.
So now they objected the opposite way.
"Wait, why hand it all to us already?"
"You have to stay too. Just feeding meds enough? Monitor progress and adjust dosages."
"We don't do surgery. Can't check incisions. Stay a few days. You sutured well earlier? Heh, a kid's knife work same as a master's sword?"
The Paeguk Sect spirit was gathered here.
Shamelessly craving knowledge—true to their undying pursuit.
But unfortunately, they had no hold on Wi Sowol.
Her vision still impaired, inner energy intact but unsteady, she had a sturdy steed instead.
"Sowol, you really need to eat more. Skipped breakfast again today."
"You're heavy."
"Want me to toss you?"
Hwangbo Yun dashed off where she pointed.
The dock was far, but riding him made it quick.
"You even got a boat?"
"Gun Wan-geuk arranged it."
"...Not like the rumors."
Thud.
Departure time passed, but the waiting boat cast off the moment Wi Sowol and Hwangbo Yun boarded.
"Whoa~ We're really leaving. Won't come back to Wuchang, huh?"
"Who knows. Life is—"
"Talking like you've lived it all."
Spot on, Hwangbo Yun.
Living her second life, Wi Sowol shut her mouth and looked away.
Then.
"Physician!"
A vigorous voice called to Wi Sowol.
It was Damseon.
Horse somehow procured, galloping after the boat.
One hand on reins, the other waving high.
"Here! Take this!"
Shouting, Damseon hurled what he held.
Trained in hidden weapons at Paeguk Sect, his throw was impressive.
And the result solid.
Infused with qi, it cut through wind toward the boat.
Wi Sowol stirred her inner energy for attraction force but, realizing her condition, snatched it barehanded.
"I pray we meet again!!"
From his stopped horse, out of road.
Damseon waved both arms, shouting his last with all his might.
The boat departed.
Gliding along the leisurely river.
Wi Sowol silently bid fading Damseon farewell from the rail.
Shoving aside curious Hwangbo Yun, she revealed Damseon's gift.
A letter.
Starting with thanks and apologies to Wi Sowol, it shifted to Damseon's heartfelt words.
And at the end, he revealed his name.
[My father named me, he says. 'Advance through the clouds'—Damseon. He sometimes calls it a poor choice. So he never explained its meaning. But I like it. Even if the path ahead is clouded, it means press on. Paeguk Sect faces internal strife ahead. I can't avoid it, nor should I.]
Damseon.
If names symbolize fate, he was ready to embrace his.
[I'll change. I will. So please, return someday. Whenever, I'll wait.]
"About Wuchang."
"Huh? What?"
"I'll come back once more."