Chapter 95
Chapter 95
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 95
Chapter Title: Friend
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The date of the surgery had yet to be set.
Though Wi Sowol was confident in its effectiveness and method, she couldn't just dive in without any preparations.
Returning to the preparation room in the medical quarters, Wi Sowol conducted a few experiments on a practice pig carcass procured through the Namgung family.
It was a test to gauge how much time and focus the process—from slicing open flesh, extracting bones, soaking them in yin energy and poison qi, and reinserting them—would require.
And Wi Sowol's conclusion was this.
'It might be tough to do alone.'
Simply extracting the bones and restoring them afterward? Wi Sowol could manage that on her own.
But she also needed to marinate those bones in yin energy and poison qi to seal their growth—a task no one else could handle. It had to be her.
'If only I could delegate the extraction and restoration to someone else.'
Someone reliable right now...? Not a one.
Hwang Bo Yun? Obviously not.
Seon Woo Hyun? Him too.
Seon Woo Hoon? He had the best shot. Sword in hand and all.
The Namgung family retainers? If they didn't hack away in outrage at the blasphemy, it'd be a miracle.
'Can't even trust the healers from Namchang.'
Back when she'd turned Namchang upside down to treat syphilis.
The local healers had stepped up, offering to help.
But when Wi Sowol explained her plan—having Seon Woo Hyun and Seon Woo Hoon superheat the patients' bodies to burn out the syphilis—they'd all turned tail.
Sheer madness, they called it.
Killing the patients outright.
And they weren't wrong.
Ordinary folk couldn't endure that heat.
Why else call a mere fever "febrile disease"?
Even the healers of the day, though unable to explain the precise mechanism, knew from experience that fever ravaged body and mind alike.
What good was curing syphilis if it left them idiots?
Their backlash was justified, but they'd overlooked Wi Sowol herself.
Did they think the disciple of the Weird Physician wouldn't grasp the basics?
She had countermeasures aplenty.
Her Great White Light True Qi to shield vital organs like brain and heart from the heat, modulated by Ryu Yeonseo's Flowing Star Subtle Rhythm.
It was the Taiji principle manifested in the human form.
An pinnacle of internal medicine, one might say.
Wi Sowol's method was a groundbreaking syphilis treatment that nailed both theory and results.
She never boasted about it, though—after all, it wasn't solo work, and purely internal medicine.
In any case, from that moment, Namchang's healers became somewhat untrustworthy in Wi Sowol's eyes.
Now that the syphilis patients had recovered unscathed, they were scrambling to replicate her method—how could mere mortals like them mimic such an outlier?—but still.
If Wi Sowol called them in now and proposed slicing open the Sword King, extracting his bones, removing the tumor, and stitching him back up... would they follow through?
Doubtful.
'Should I summon my master after all?'
The utmost authority in this field was, without question, the Weird Physician, Ma Yu Seung.
With him there, she could've performed the surgery right where she'd devised it.
Leave incision, extraction, and suturing to Ma Yu Seung; she'd focus solely on treating the bones.
'Haven't heard from him since he headed to Sichuan. Troubling.'
Even routing a message through Haomen or the Beggars' Sect required knowing his whereabouts first.
No easy task.
If she broadcast a call across the land, he'd come—but when? No telling.
Stuck without options, should she hunt for someone decent at surgical procedures?
'Do it solo?'
Possible.
Treat the bones with both hands while using Formless Energy to handle the rest.
She'd attained enlightenment, after all.
Lifting light objects like needles and thread with Formless Energy was no challenge.
Precision control was the hurdle.
When inspiration strikes, act.
Following the unity of thought and action taught in the Great White Light True Qi mantra, Wi Sowol's intent stirred.
Her gaze fixed on the neatly arranged surgical needles.
Her intent coalesced into energy, lifting a needle.
Wooong—
In the resonant hum of intent and energy entwining, a suture thread threaded the needle.
That was when Wi Sowol felt blood trickling from her nose.
Clink. The needle dropped.
'Too soon still.'
Her body wasn't fully recovered; she'd rushed ahead.
Plan for solo surgery with Formless Energy: scrapped.
Wi Sowol settled on the next best thing—bringing in an assistant healer.
"A capable healer. A capable healer..."
She wiped the nosebleed roughly on her apron, mentally reviewing renowned physicians one by one.
The problem? Wi Sowol's standards were sky-high.
The only healers she'd seriously collaborated with were the Weird Physician and the Medicine King.
Both among the Six Great Physicians, no less.
Average skill simply wouldn't cut it for her.
Best option by far: the Divine Physician.
Even as an internal medicine specialist, rumors said he mastered acupuncture and moxibustion too—handy enough for incisions and sutures, surely.
But the Divine Physician never left Soju.
Unlike the Medicine King, who made rare house calls, the Divine Physician had never once departed Soju.
A man of extreme hometown loyalty.
Wi Sowol had no qualms about his fame overshadowing her in surgery.
That would turn the medical path into a merchant's hustle.
Had the Divine Physician made house calls, she'd have summoned him for the Sword King on the spot.
'Why didn't Ryu the Elder pursue surgery after witnessing my master's arts?'
Sound-based healing was miraculous and superb, no doubt.
Why else would Wi Sowol seek to learn it?
Yet fundamentally, sound healing had limits.
'Would the Royal Physician come if asked?'
The Royal Physician, the One-Fold Gentleman Seo Wu-gyeong.
No personal acquaintance, yet their rapport was oddly ambiguous.
Different schools.
Contemporary medicine divided into three major schools.
Wu Zhong Medical School, centered in Soju and spreading to Zhili—boasting the longest history.
The Wu Medical Academy epitomized it.
By strict faction, Wi Sowol belonged here too.
Next, the Xin'an Medical School rose with the Hui merchants, lagging Wu Zhong by about 150 years.
Unlike Wu Zhong’s family’s private-academy expansion, Xin’an sought aggressive external expansion from the start.
Not just Huizhou, but nationwide via Hui commerce, encompassing Central Plains medicine broadly.
Thus, Xin'an swiftly rivaled Wu Zhong.
Differing growth bred differing focuses.
Wu Zhong, rooted in populous Jiangnan, fixated on epidemics.
Xin'an, roaming nationwide with merchants, emphasized acute illnesses.
Hence, Wu Zhong leaned pure internal medicine; Xin'an acupuncture, moxibustion, and prescriptions.
Last, the Qiandang Medical School emerged latest, fueled by Hangzhou's immense wealth.
Leveraging funds for open lectures, debates, analyses—expanding via scholarship and joint research, exploding in influence.
Challenging Wu Zhong's capital stronghold and Xin'an's national reach, a potent newcomer.
Long story short: the current Royal Physician led Xin'an.
Wi Sowol of Wu Zhong might hesitate in joint treatment.
But with the patient being the Sword King? From Seo Wu-gyeong's position, he might assist.
Namgung ties to the imperial house helped.
Plus, Xin'an was slightly more surgery-friendly than Wu Zhong.
'If not the Royal Physician, the Merciless Needle Ghost wouldn't be bad.'
Among Jiangnan's Six Great Physicians, the Merciless Needle Ghost hailed from Qiandang.
He treated anyone for the right price—even outlaws branded public enemies, rumor had it.
Only issue: his fees dwarfed even the Weird Physician's extortionate rates.
'But I'm not footing the bill anyway.'
Per the Five Precepts and Ten Essentials of the healer—proclaimed by Jin Sil-gong, author of Orthopedic Mastery, and oath of top medical academy graduates—healers must consider patients' finances.
For the impoverished, treatment alone wasn't enough; economic aid was proper.
But who pitied whom?
Namgung wealth could withstand the Merciless Needle Ghost ten times over.
Conversely, ten calls would bankrupt even them.
A true bloodsucking miser.
Not even the Weird Physician charged like that.
"Still, it'd take someone on the Merciless Needle Ghost's level to keep up with this surgery."
Hidden masters existed aplenty.
Ryu Yeonseo alone had been a famed healer lurking from the spotlight.
Not even him— the healer who first-treated Mount Hua's Yu Jin Daozhang's open fracture was elite too.
But such talents were rare.
Those who hadn't surfaced yet had locked themselves away tighter than moneybags; unlikely to emerge now.
'Decision. Call the Merciless Needle Ghost. Would they balk at his fee for treating the family head?'
As Wi Sowol wrapped her deliberations and rose,
the door burst open from outside.
Then Hwang Bo Yun's face popped in.
"Sowol, visitor."
"Who? If it's a syphilis case, send 'em to Ryu the Elder."
"Nah, not that. Uh... he says he's a friend of the Weird Physician."
"What?"
A friend of my master?
Lies.
Master has no friends.
Even from Wu Medical Academy tales, rivals aplenty but not one friend.
Not even the Divine Physician—deepest tie—counted as friend, just a rival to surpass.
Those he taught a few techniques? Problem children like the Dismantling Sword Physician or Ryu Yeonseo, bound by love-hate.
"Got it. Coming."
Wi Sowol strolled out to the front of the Namgung estate.
The Namgung folk said the guest could enter since Wi Sowol was quartered there, but he'd refused.
He'd come for Wi Sowol, not the Namgung family.
Thus, after crossing half the vast estate, Wi Sowol met her master's supposed friend.
And upon seeing him,
she reaffirmed her conviction.
He looked quite young.
Thirty at most?
Mild features, fair skin—like a scholar from a noble house.
Only the bundle on his back loosened the vibe, evoking a provincial come to the capital for exams.
Spotting Wi Sowol, he smiled warmly.
"Yu Seung has a disciple."
"...You know my master's name."
"Indeed. As his friend. Though it might be one-sided on my part."
Ah, that kind.
Wi Sowol returned the man's cupped-fist salute with her own.
"Wi Sowol."
"Shin Heol from Shandong."
At that name, Hwang Bo Yun gasped beside her.
Shin Heol.
Because of the two characters prefixed to it.
The world called him the Medical Saint.
Wi Sowol, who'd just decided on the Merciless Needle Ghost, erased the thought instantly.
"Join me for a surgery."
Her abrupt offer didn't faze Shin Heol.
Instead, the smile deepened on his lips.
"Like master, like disciple... Same words as Yu Seung."
Having greeted with cupped fists—not a martial artist—Shin Heol relaxed his hands.
His gaze turned to the estate gates.
Looks like he had reason to enter now.
"Let's."