Chapter 90
Chapter 90
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 90
Chapter Title: Conclusion
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Wi Sowol didn't just sit idly by while the Namgung Clan gathered the patients.
The Namgung Clan collected syphilis victims in two ways.
First, they accepted anyone who claimed to have syphilis.
Even those whose claims were uncertain were sent through if there was any suspicion.
The other method was to forcibly bring in those who denied having it.
They enlisted physicians from the clan's clinics or those working in Namchang County to scour the entire area.
This process served not only to find syphilis patients but also to root out Mi Jinhyang's lackeys.
Mi Jinhyang was infamous for ensnaring the lower classes with tobacco, the upper classes with opium, and martial artists or artists seeking transcendence with oeseksan, turning them into their puppets.
Shockingly, such traitors emerged even from within the Namgung Clan.
The culprits who had deliberately infected Namgung Hee with syphilis out of malice.
It was Namgung Su and his daughter Namgung Yo-wan.
The father and daughter had acted as guides during the Reverse Heaven Alliance and Mi Jinhyang's assault.
They had revealed the formations and trap mechanisms in the clan's outer estate and provided positions of each unit, leading to even greater casualties.
They must have withheld passing on the family's martial arts, hoarding it as their final lifeline.
Besides, having learned the Namgung Clan's techniques themselves, it could become their own weakness.
In any case, the Namgung Clan combed through Namchang County, unleashing waves of murderous auras to uncover such cases.
Thus, they successfully gathered all the syphilis patients in Namchang County—and those suspected of having it.
Wi Sowol's role in the process was to classify them.
Primary stage with chancres, the worsening secondary stage with rashes, and the severe tertiary stage.
She sorted them by the three stages of syphilis according to severity and assigned separate areas accordingly.
This was to ensure faster and smoother treatment, as prescriptions varied by stage.
The eyes of the patients gathered under the three massive tents spread out in the open space where the clan head's residence stood turned toward Wi Sowol.
She sensed in those eyes something akin to what she had seen the day before during the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Eyes filled with desperation and earnest plea.
Hearts viewing her as a goddess and begging for salvation.
For some reason, Wi Sowol's chest tightened.
She did not fear her own death.
Thus, she felt no fear of them dying due to her mistakes.
When she first took the scalpel from the Weird Physician.
Wi Sowol had felt the weight of life.
But in the end, she could not empathize with the patient's fear of death.
Therefore, the responsibility of potentially killing a patient did not crush her.
But now, it was a little different.
Their frantic clinging to even faint hope shook Wi Sowol's heart as well.
It was because of the Insight Mirror.
It vividly projected the emotions she had never properly seen before.
Reflecting them clearly onto her mind.
Wi Sowol felt an indescribable refraction of emotions.
That emotion moved her lips.
"...I am here to cure you all."
Her calm words, carrying a deep resonance, elicited a chorus of voices from the patients, echoing like murmurs.
"Ah, Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva..."
"Fairy lady... please..."
"Physician, please, I beg you..."
Prayers offered according to each one's faith.
But at the end of them all was Wi Sowol.
The Insight Mirror projected to her the images in which they saw her.
To some, Wi Sowol was the manifestation of the compassionate Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva.
To others, she was a fairy sent by the Queen Mother of the West, pitying those facing gruesome deaths.
To yet others, she was a brilliant and skilled physician who would heal them.
Wi Sowol granted her power to those praying for salvation.
And it was not merely for accumulating good karma.
Right now, Wi Sowol stood there simply because she wanted to heal them herself.
"I'll skip the unnecessary explanations."
She didn't even introduce herself.
What she needed was not fame or honor.
The trust in her heart would be built by their restored, healthy bodies, far more than any name.
"We will start treating those on the left first."
Those on the left were in the tertiary stage, the severe cases.
They naturally had far less time than the others.
"We will proceed in sequence. I can't treat all of you in one day. But we gathered you all here to show you. That you can be cured. That your bodies won't be ruined by the potent medicinal energy."
The voices of prayer grew louder.
Even those who had bitten their lips, fearing greater disappointment if hope turned to despair, now whispered the name of their god softly.
Wi Sowol looked at the first one she had promised to treat.
The original owner of the jar inn, cared for by Ryu Yeonseo.
Her name was Dan Hyeran.
"Come forward."
Dan Hyeran, her hideous face veiled with gauze, stepped tremblingly before Wi Sowol.
Then, she cautiously lay down in the prepared spot.
Wi Sowol sat at her head, and Seon Woo Hyun took position to her left.
"It will be very hot. But endure it. You won't die. I will protect you. So trust me and hold on."
Dan Hyeran nodded resolutely.
"Then, pardon the offense, Lady Wi."
Seon Woo Hyun's hand rested above Dan Hyeran's navel, on the Conception Vessel acupoint.
The Sea of Qi below the navel would be easier for channeling true qi, but this was no delicate procedure.
Moreover, Seon Woo Hyun's blazing yang qi was too intense; simply infusing it through acupoints would overwhelm ordinary people.
Besides, the Conception Vessel was the acupoint of resurrection from death.
It was the most fitting spot for pulling these people on the brink of scheduled death from the Yellow Springs.
As the residence of primal qi and primal spirit, it was ideal for enduring powerful external energy.
"Be careful. Just spread the heat. Think of enveloping the entire body. The heat must evenly reach even the limbs."
"Understood."
After her final instruction to Seon Woo Hyun, Wi Sowol prepared her own task.
Her two hands gently cradled Dan Hyeran's head.
'Ah...'
Dan Hyeran felt that cool touch so incredibly comforting.
Her eyes, squeezed shut in fear, opened on their own.
Thus, she could see it.
Wi Sowol's face looking down at her.
The goddess descended to save those fallen into hell.
She had wondered why she wasn't wearing a mask today after always seeing her veiled...
'Even seen like this, she's so beautiful... unfair...'
But precisely because of that.
Dan Hyeran believed without doubt that she would be cured.
Right now, she was cradled in the arms of a goddess.
Wi Sowol's syphilis treatment was a grand spectacle even for the Namgung Clan.
No matter how commerce had boomed in recent times, bringing prosperity to theater, performances, and books—entertainment was still limited.
This had spurred the growth of tourism to famous mountains and scenic spots.
Thus, gathering syphilis patients for public treatment was an extraordinarily rare sight.
The guards posted in case of another attack.
The severely wounded in the clan's infirmary, Cheonpum Hall.
And the essential on-duty staff for minimal operations.
Aside from those, nearly the entire Namgung Clan had come to watch.
Only some could enter the clan head's residence grounds, but they were all martial artists trained in internal energy and observation techniques.
They could spectate perfectly well from distant halls.
The best spots on the walls surrounding the clan head's residence became premium seats.
And those occupying them were naturally the clan's key figures.
For example, the young master candidate Namgung Hwan, sitting atop one now.
"What a sight."
Namgung Hwan could have watched from within the clan head's residence grounds.
He had both the status and justification.
But he chose not to.
Because the protagonists of that stage were not the Namgung Clan.
The Sword King aside as the owner of that space and clan head, others should stay out unless lending a hand—that was Namgung Hwan's view.
"Indeed. Treating syphilis like that is unheard of. I did hear she created a new drug called Saengsaengyu or something."
Namgung Geumseong spoke as if he knew well what he'd heard just yesterday.
Knowing this, Namgung Hwan still played along with his brother's pretense.
"You know well. As expected of a scholar."
"Ahem. Nothing much. To assist the young master, one needs at least this basic knowledge."
"Young master, huh..."
Namgung Hwan mulled over his brother's words.
Young master.
Was he truly fit to take that seat?
Lately, unprecedented doubt had gripped him strongly.
Probably because even amid this catastrophe, he hadn't done much.
By the time he arrived late at the outer estate, Namgung Do and Seon Woo Hoon had already plunged into battle.
All Namgung Hwan managed was tracking down and capturing a few who had begun retreating, and slightly stabilizing the situation.
Even that, he couldn't see through to the end, citing the need to check on the Sword King's condition.
"I don't know, Geumseong."
"Pardon?"
"The young master position. Whether I should sit there..."
It was then.
"Of course. Who else would do it?"
A sudden voice cut through Namgung Hwan's deliberation.
Seeing the speaker, he exclaimed in surprise.
"Jiya?"
"Mind if I sit next to you?"
With that, Namgung Ji climbed onto the wall.
Her Heavenly Wind Divine Technique was impressively clean.
"You don't want to be young master?"
"...I'm not sure right now."
"Why? You seem like you'd do well. Why not go for it?"
Namgung Hwan tried to decipher the true intent behind that question with his already complicated mind.
But there was no need.
"I'm serious. Young master—you'd do better than me."
Namgung Ji gestured toward one side.
The woman, Ryu Yeonseo, sitting on a chair near Seon Woo Hyun and Wi Sowol, who were treating patients.
While Seon Woo Hyun killed the syphilis with blazing yang qi, and Wi Sowol protected the patient's body from it with yin cold qi.
Ryu Yeonseo's yin arts mediated between the clashing energies while simultaneously invigorating the vitality of both patient and physician.
Namgung Ji liked that melody.
That music doing what she herself could not.
"I've decided to become her disciple."
"What?"
"The Jade Maiden of Pure Sound. Heard of her?"
"...No."
"Apparently, it's whispered among common folk. Even the Seonwoo Clan folks came seeking her by name. Funny, right? I didn't know."
"Me neither."
"She only treated women, they say. Female physicians are always scarce. Seen in brothel back alleys, so men wouldn't know. But... I'm a woman too, and I didn't know."
Just as Namgung Hwan despaired over his own powerlessness, so did Namgung Ji.
She felt her helplessness acutely.
Without the Namgung name, she was nothing.
Compared to her peers, she was even pitiable.
She lacked Wi Sowol's medical skill or Hwangbo Yun's martial prowess.
"I was in charge of the Mid-Autumn Festival night. But it turned into the worst. I should step down and take responsibility."
"...Anyone would have been the same. Reverse Heaven Alliance and Mi Jinhyang—already notorious as the Ten Freaks."
"Still, someone has to take responsibility. And that someone is me."
The incident happened at night.
Mi Jinhyang's scheme unfolded during the Moonlit Night Festival.
If Wi Sowol's group hadn't been there.
If the two from the Seonwoo Clan hadn't come.
Even if the Namgung Clan overcame the crisis, they would have suffered damage close to closing their gates.
They would have had to beg the Supreme Clan Head, who had secluded himself to guard the ancestral graves after ceding control, to please return to the world.
Sacrificing all his honor and face, pleading for the clan's sake.
"Once Lady Wi finishes treating all the syphilis patients, I'll formally enter her tutelage. I'll give up the young master seat then too. Open the Disciplinary Court's judgment and take proper responsibility."
"You don't have to. No one can point fingers at you."
"I want to."
As if that concluded her piece, Namgung Ji patted her behind and stood.
"Gotta go. I won't force you to be young master. But don't you think it's better for direct lineage to succeed the clan head?"
Namgung Hwan stared blankly at Namgung Ji as she left, then turned to watch Wi Sowol intently treating the syphilis patients.
'Can I do like you?'
Like you, finding a way even to cure syphilis.
Can I play a role in reviving this Namgung Clan too?
Namgung Hwan had already given up.
His bond with Wi Sowol would never form.
But at least.
When he met Wi Sowol again someday.
He wanted to stand tall with pride.
A certain rumor that started in Namchang County spread throughout Gangseo Province.
Soon, it flowed beyond Gangseo into all of Jiangnan.
The rumor overshadowed tales of the catastrophe at the Namgung Clan and Namgung Hwan rising as young master to manage the aftermath, spreading endlessly.
The rumor was simple.
—A cure for syphilis has appeared.
Jeong Pilhwa Wi Sowol.
No, now called the Moon Flower Divine Maiden, she who had opened the gates of hell in Jiangnan with that horrific disease had conquered it.