Chapter 23: The Lecherous Physician Geum Tae-yang (3)
Chapter 23: The Lecherous Physician Geum Tae-yang (3)
Wi Ji-ja's imposing aura as he earnestly asked whether treatment was possible carried such weight that it was hard to believe he lacked internal energy.
In the heavy atmosphere that made one's shoulders sag instinctively, I casually shrugged mine.
"At this point, even I don't know. Even if I were a fake physician using energy healing as a pretense, the treatment itself would be real. I'd need to examine her with the Yin-Yang Sexual Art to determine whether a cure is possible."
"Ahem. I see. My apologies."
When I rebutted him with sound logic, Wi Ji-ja, as if embarrassed, let out an awkward cough and backed down.
Beside him, Seol Yu-ran was glaring daggers—her expression clearly warning him not to spout any more nonsense. Startled by his wife's sharp gaze, Wi Ji-ja flinched. It seemed he was thoroughly henpecked even in daily life.
Well, if the subconscious suggestion I'd planted in the past still held, it wasn't unreasonable to say Seol Yu-ran was the true head of the household.
"Little miss, what's your name?"
"...Wi Ji-bo."
"......"
My mind spun at the sheer audacity of such naming sense. Were this father and daughter's names really like this? If you read them backward, they became "Ji-wi" and "Bo-wi"—basically, "Penis Wi" and "Vagina Wi."
Surely the Hwangbo Clan didn't have someone named "Hwang Bo-ji," did they?
I was genuinely concerned. The murim's naming conventions were something else.
"Alright, our precious Bo girl."
Still, the meaning behind the name itself wasn't bad. I could understand parents of this era wanting to name their daughter something like "treasure."
Hell, in modern times, people would even pay to have a good name chosen for them.
I reached out to Wi Ji-bo, who still hadn't let her guard down. At a glance, it might have looked like I was offering a handshake.
"Would you give me your hand for a moment? You might feel a strange energy, but don't be alarmed—just stay calm."
"Okay."
Her hand was small and delicate. Even for her age, it was unusually tiny. And perhaps because of her severed meridians—
'It's cold.'
Despite it being neither winter nor even chilly—just a pleasantly warm day—Wi Ji-bo's hand was icy.
I thought it might just be naturally low body temperature, but for a child this young to be like this suggested her condition was already physically debilitating.
Slowly, I channeled my inner energy into her. I guided my qi through her meridians, harmonizing it with the Yin-Yang Sexual Art, merging and refining the flow.
A frigid chill permeated her meridians. But this wasn't the Nine Yin Severed Meridians blocking nine major pathways.
Given that only the Baihui and Huiyin acupoints were frozen, it was actually the Great Yin Severed Meridians—so mild compared to the Nine Yin that it was almost embarrassing to even mention them in the same breath.
Unlike the Nine Yin or Nine Yang Severed Meridians, this condition could be treated by a skilled physician with just mid-to-high-grade spirit medicine. Not that it was easy to cure, but the success rate wasn't even remotely comparable to something like plucking stars from the sky.
A condition my Yin-Yang Sexual Art could easily handle.
But I deliberately put on a grave expression, released Wi Ji-bo's hand, and looked at the couple.
"It pains me to say this..."
I mimicked the tone of a doctor delivering a terminal diagnosis.
"Your daughter does indeed have the Nine Yin Severed Meridians."
Thud.
Seol Yu-ran collapsed onto the floor.
***
The Nine Yin Severed Meridians were a common physical defect in martial arts novels, smutty ones included.
A congenital condition where one was born with excessively strong yin energy, blocking the meridians and disrupting the flow of qi—ultimately leading to death before even reaching twenty. The pinnacle of severed meridian syndromes.
Now that the worst-case scenario they had feared had become reality, all of Seol Yu-ran's previous mental preparations crumbled into meaninglessness, pushing her to the brink of panic.
"Madam, calm down!"
"O-our Bo... Our precious Bo, what do we do...?"
"Even if it's the Nine Yin Severed Meridians, we haven't yet asked whether treatment is possible. We need to confirm that first."
"Ah... Right. We must confirm that. We have to."
Wi Ji-ja helped his wife up as she nearly collapsed. As if proving they were truly a couple, just a few words from him steadied her—preventing her from falling into Demonic Obsession.
The two of them stared at me desperately. No problem. Even under the gaze of a former Sword Saint and the future Sword Queen, I was confident I could speak without faltering.
After all, I'd greased my tongue for lying while they weren't looking.
"If we're talking about whether treatment is possible or not... well, it is possible."
"Really?!"
"You mean it?!"
Color returned to the couple's faces.
But didn't they know you should listen to the whole sentence before reacting?
"However, at present, it's impossible. My Yin-Yang Sexual Art harmonizes the energies of men and women through mere contact, making it suitable for energy healing. But as you might expect from our Post-Nut Clarity Sect—a faction originally dedicated to Ascending to Immortality through carnal means—this art's efficiency peaks during intercourse. With mere touch, its effectiveness is only a tenth of its full potential. And with just a tenth of my inner energy, I can't withstand the yin energy of the Nine Yin Severed Meridians."
"Does that mean...?"
"I don't mean that I'm going to deliberately sleep with her. Nor do I have any intention of sleeping with Patient Wi Ji-bo."
Even I had lines I wouldn't cross. There was a clear difference between sleeping with a legal loli who looked underage and sleeping with an actual minor.
I'd slept with legal lolis before, but I'd never touched a minor.
That was the absolute red line I had set for myself as the Lust Demon.
Perhaps they sensed the sincerity in my resolute expression, because the couple seemed a little relieved.
"Besides, if we waited until Patient Wi Ji-bo was an adult to treat her, her severed meridians would worsen, and by then we would be even more helpless. So even if I did sleep with her, it would be pointless. In other words, we need to treat her now—but the problem is my internal energy."
Reminding the couple that the sooner their child received treatment, the better, I continued.
"I've shared a bed with countless women for the sake of the Yin-Yang Sexual Art, and I've grown considerably, but my Yin-Yang energy still isn't strong enough to withstand the Nine Yin Severed Meridians."
"Then are you saying that if we give Physician Geum Spirit Medicine to increase his internal energy, that would do it?"
"No. It's not that simple."
If all it took was eating Spirit Medicine and saying goodbye, I wouldn't have come all the way to this remote backwater to work as a physician.
The couple might have Spirit Medicine on hand, being the former Sword Saint and the future Sword Queen, but I wanted to take something else.
"There are only two ways to expand Yin-Yang energy: through the practice of the Yin-Yang Sexual Art. The first is to sleep with a woman who possesses Yin Cold Qi comparable to mine. If I circulate the Yin-Yang Sexual Art while we're engaged in intercourse, my Yin-Yang energy's capacity will grow, and I'll be able to withstand the Nine Yin Severed Meridians. But since the other party has the Nine Yin Severed Meridians, there'd be no point in trying this with just any woman. I'll consider this option unavailable."
"Then what's the second way?"
Wi Ji-ja asked earnestly.
...But did he really not notice?
Even when I just said I'd have to sleep with a woman who possessed potent Yin Cold Qi, he didn't notice his wife turning pale.
Was this the smut-novel world at work? The moment Seol Yu-ran heard the first method, she seemed to think of a possible solution. But oblivious Wi Ji-ja had failed to realize it.
I pretended not to notice her expression and explained the second method.
"The second way is for me to learn Ice Art powerful enough to qualify as an Ultimate Art."
"Ice Art?"
"Yes. If I circulate qi using powerful Ice Art that can support the immense Yang Energy I possess, I should be able to increase my Yin-Yang energy even without intercourse with a woman. But this method has its own problem: my Yang Energy is so powerful that ordinary Ice Art won't be enough to handle it."
I spoke with an expression of genuine regret.
"I once happened to obtain a cultivation method for accumulating Yin Energy and tried to use it with the Yin-Yang Sexual Art...but my Yang Energy was too powerful. Far from supporting it, the two energies nearly fell out of harmony."
After hearing my explanation, the couple fell silent. They seemed to be thinking hard, and right there in front of me, they openly met each other's eyes.
They say a married couple is of one heart and one mind.
Even without exchanging Voice Transmission, just meeting each other's eyes seemed to be enough for them to communicate to some extent.
Perhaps she had finally made up her mind, because Seol Yu-ran asked me with a resolute look on her face,
"Physician Geum, how powerful would the Ice Art have to be?"
"Well, the Yin-aligned cultivation method I learned back then wasn't an Ultimate Art, but it was quite advanced. And even so, it failed. So if I had to name the most suitable Ice Art...at the very least, it would have to be an Ultimate Art from the North Sea."
Ice Art from the North Sea. And not just any Ice Art, but one at the level of an Ultimate Art.
Once she put all the clues together, resolve filled Seol Yu-ran's face.
"Since you've also crossed the wall, Physician Geum, I imagine you've already guessed my level."
"Yes, Madam Seol. From the moment you said you were a wandering martial artist, I figured there must be some circumstances behind it."
"Thank you for being considerate enough not to ask. But there's something I need to tell you about that secret. You may have guessed from my hair, but I'm actually from the North Sea Ice Palace."
I lifted my eyebrows with exaggerated surprise. I had to do that so the two of them wouldn't suspect me.
I let my surprise show plainly as I said,
"You're not merely from the North Sea—you're a martial artist from the North Sea Ice Palace?"
There was only one reason I pretended to be so excessively astonished at the appearance of a female martial artist from the Ice Palace, something that showed up so often in smut martial arts novels.
"To my knowledge, the North Sea Ice Palace was destroyed, and not a single survivor remained."
In this smut novel, the North Sea Ice Palace had fallen long, long ago.