Chapter 48
Chapter 48
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 48
Chapter Title: Various Expressions
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Without hesitation, I approached Master.
In the midst of this living hell filled with blood, pus, screams, and groans, she stood alone like a solitary crane, noble and aloof. Only around her did order and efficiency exist, as if it were a different world altogether.
If I could make direct contact with her body and plant a suggestion, I could assimilate her skills even faster and more effectively. But that was impossible.
For one thing, she would never allow it, and for a disciple to casually touch his master's body was a grave sin equivalent to betraying the master and extinguishing the ancestors. I'd need ten heads to atone for that.
I stopped a few steps behind her back.
Then I closed my eyes and planted a deep suggestion into myself.
'My eyes pierce through everything, and my mind perfectly analyzes and records what it sees.'
In that instant, the noise of the world faded away.
The surrounding chaos slowed to a crawl as if by magic, and only Master's figure came into sharp focus.
I began to observe her.
Her commands, her movements, her behavioral patterns.
From the slightest tremor at her fingertips, to the angle of her gaze as she looked down at patients, the order in which she picked up herbs, the speed of her hands as she sutured wounds. Every detail flowed into my mind as information.
I started meticulously recording that data in the memory archive I'd created through suggestion—the Akashic Records.
Her every action was etched into me, page by page, like turning the leaves of a book.
There was not a single inch of error in her touch. It was fluid like flowing water, yet firm as steel.
Her judgments were swift and precise as lightning. Amid countless patients, she unerringly identified the most critical cases and issued optimal treatments.
As the information piled up bit by bit, a sense of awe welled within me.
So this was the realm of the one called the next Healer Immortal.
This was the first time I'd had the chance to admire Master's jade form so deeply and for so long.
Each time she bent over, the taut line of her waist. Each time she turned to check a patient, the elegant sway of her black robes. The slender ankles revealed beneath.
In between, irreverent thoughts crept in unbidden.
'I wonder what kind of body is hidden beneath those black robes...'
A lascivious desire, utterly at odds with her cool, noble fragrance, began to slither up.
Slap! Slap!
I slapped my own cheeks. The stinging pain snapped me back to reality.
'You lunatic. That's your Master. Get a grip.'
Scolding myself, I refocused on her movements.
That was when it happened.
Master, who had been directing the physicians, suddenly turned her head and shot me a glare. Her brows furrowed slightly.
"What are you doing over there? Stop slacking off and come help if you have idle hands."
Her voice was cold, but laced with fatigue.
I replied in as calm a tone as I could manage.
"Please wait just a moment. I have something more urgent to handle first. I'll help soon."
Master's lips trembled faintly.
"......Ugh."
She let out a short groan as if holding something back, then turned away and murmured softly.
"......Do as you must."
It was permission. Probably.
She had noticed I was attempting something out of the ordinary. And she was allowing it.
Yet, a faint flush unlike her usual pallor colored Master's white cheeks.
Was she in pain?
The thought flashed through my mind.
Having to handle so many severe casualties at once must be taxing, even for Master. But out of pride as the next Healer Immortal and a sense of duty, she wasn't showing it.
If that was the case, I needed to hurry even more.
I had to lighten her burden.
To avoid burdening her further, and to grasp her condition more accurately, I began observing her with even greater care than before.
Perhaps sensing my sincerity from my steadfast demeanor, Master glanced back at me several times afterward. Each time, her cheeks grew redder, and her breathing grew slightly disordered. Her condition was definitely off.
Finally, the last page of the Akashic Records was filled.
All of her behavioral patterns, command structure, and emergency treatment techniques were perfectly recorded within me.
I quietly turned and headed to the second-floor railing of the infirmary hall.
From there, the chaotic interior of the infirmary hall was visible at a glance. Hundreds of wounded, and over a hundred physicians scurrying between them.
Nearly everyone was in my field of vision.
From them, I singled out only the 'physicians.'
Unlike the White Tiger Squad members, who numbered many and possessed at least third-rate internal energy, most physicians were ordinary people without any internal energy, or at best had only learned the basics of martial arts. Their numbers were far fewer than the patients. This was well within my mental capacity.
I closed my eyes and concentrated my mind.
My mind unfurled like a vast, transparent spiderweb, enveloping the entire infirmary hall. Then that web gently settled only over the hundred-odd physicians.
I began whispering to them all.
A very faint, subtle suggestion.
'You already know the answer.'
Master's treatment patterns, recorded in my mind.
The most efficient paths of movement. The most precise methods. The swiftest judgments.
I shattered that perfect data into pieces and began implanting it into their minds.
Starting very weakly.
So they wouldn't feel resistance and would accept it naturally, mistaking it for their own thoughts.
Then, step by step, confirming they were growing accustomed to the suggestions, I gradually increased the intensity.
And then, changes began.
The tremor in a young physician's hands, who had been shaking at the sight of blood, stopped.
A middle-aged physician who had been wasting movements in panic headed straight to the most critical patient without hesitation.
A physician who had been rummaging blindly through his herb basket snatched up exactly the needed herb.
The flustered physicians' movements became orderly like seasoned artisans, flowing organically according to their roles. Wherever their hands touched, the patients' pained groans gradually subsided.
Thanks to that, Im Hyehyang and Baek Muhyeon's hands were freed.
The two no longer needed to shout commands; they took up scalpels and needles and headed to the most severe cases. With the two top physicians fully focused on treatment, the pace accelerated exponentially.
At this rate, we could treat everyone soon.
And this wasn't a one-time help.
This experience, this suggestion I'd implanted, would be fully ingrained in their bodies. Even without me next time a massive wave of casualties occurred, they could move with this same proficiency.
There were no more problems for them.
But now, I had a problem.
When I'd cast wide-area suggestions on hundreds of Righteous Alliance warriors in the secret cave, I'd thought my mental strength had grown considerably. So I figured this would be manageable.
I was wrong.
Simply planting suggestions was one thing; operating the Akashic Records to fully replicate one person's essence and transplant it into over a hundred people demanded an entirely different level of expenditure.
My stomach churned.
A hollow ringing filled my head, and my vision spun. The scene before me blurred hazily.
I felt like vomiting.
Right now.
Right now, I wanted to return to the Azure Dragon Squad's quarters.
Go back, bury my face in Soso's soft body, fondle her breasts, and recover this depleted mental strength.
Dragging my staggering body, I moved to leave the infirmary hall. Unable even to stand straight, I clung to the wall, gripping the cold surface as I dragged my heavy legs step by step.
That was when it happened. A soft voice rang in my ear.
-Thank you for the help.
It was Baek Muhyeon.
I turned toward the source of the voice. He was calmly sending me a transmission while setting a patient's broken arm bone.
As expected, the old folks' perceptiveness was beyond imagination.
Damn. Casually using transmissions while treating patients.
His martial prowess must be at a level where most experts couldn't even show their faces. I'd assumed Master's sect's top expert was Master herself, but maybe not.
As I turned toward the exit again, Baek Muhyeon's transmission continued. I couldn't just cut him off and leave since he was Master's grandfather.
-Thanks to you today, this old man got to see a variety of expressions on my granddaughter's face. It was quite enjoyable.
I looked toward Master.
She was in the middle of slicing open a patient's abdomen and suturing ruptured intestines. Her face was utterly serious, expressionless. No emotional shift was discernible.
Various expressions?
I couldn't tell. To me, it just looked like the same blank face.
-My granddaughter may seem like that, but she's actually quite shy. Don't take it to heart—try holding her hand first.
What the hell was this old coot saying?
Hold Master's hand? Unless I had a death wish, it was unthinkable. That was the epitome of betraying master and ancestors.
At that moment, Master's lips parted as she focused on treatment.
"Grandfather. Stop fooling around."
Baek Muhyeon had clearly whispered only to me via transmission. But Master's sharp eyes hadn't missed even the slight disturbance in her grandfather's energy flow.
Master briefly glanced my way.
Her eyes narrowed, then she jerked her chin toward the doorway.
A gesture telling me to get going.
I offered silent thanks inwardly and dragged my heavy body onward.
Just a few more steps, and I could escape this nauseating stench of blood. I could go to Soso.
But when I reached the exit...
A middle-aged man stood there like a shadow.
He wasn't wearing the White Tiger Squad's uniform. Plain gray attire.
Why was this guy blocking the middle of the path?
In my gut-wrenching state, I didn't want to bump into him and start trouble. Ignoring him, I quietly sidestepped and brushed past.