The Poison Doctor's Diagnosis
"M-mixed... you say?"
"Hmm... where am I even supposed to begin explaining this..."
The Poison Doctor smacked his lips thoughtfully for a moment, then launched into it.
"How much do you know about blood vessels and qi meridians?"
"Even if you put it that way... how many people in the world truly understand what blood vessels and qi meridians even are?"
"Heh. I was already impressed when you spoke of divine martial arts earlier, but your insight really is remarkable. The truth is, blood vessels and qi meridians are entirely different things. Strictly speaking, the term 'qi meridian' shouldn't even exist."
I had spent a great deal of time studying and contemplating what qi actually was. I was a modern man, after all — I had come from a world without it. Understanding the nature of qi had been a necessity.
One of qi's core principles was circulation. Qi was ultimately a form of energy, and energy, by its nature, had to circulate somehow. Internal energy was simply that circulating energy, given a particular quality and held within the body.
"First of all... your body is full of Demonic Qi. And the only reason I can sense it is because I myself have cultivated demonic arts."
I swallowed hard. I had just learned that Tang Cheo-in — the renowned Poison Doctor — practiced demonic arts.
"The reason I cultivated demonic arts... is because I'm bald."
"...Excuse me?"
"For the record, the Wind Shadow Lord is bald as well. We both belong to the Solar Society. I also know that you and your lady nangin are the ones who insulted the bald expert Da-jeoyong's head."
Under the sudden deluge of information, my eyes drifted involuntarily to Tang Cheo-in's head. He wore a physician's headwrap, so I had assumed that, as a distinguished doctor, he simply kept every last hair meticulously in place... He was bald? No — the fact that the Wind Shadow Lord was bald was even more shocking.
"You may wonder why I'm bringing this up all of a sudden, but I... took note of how some practitioners of demonic arts develop symptoms like arms or chests overgrown with hair, or hair that grows abnormally long, and I researched and cultivated the arts based on that. There is no physician in this world who understands demonic arts better than I do. What physician would dare cultivate them firsthand? Even that bastard the Demon Doctor never managed it."
"Do you understand? From this point on, no matter how bizarre what I say may sound, there is no physician under heaven who can interpret your body better than I can."
"Ah... I understand."
The Poison Doctor poured water into a bowl and dumped a handful of unidentifiable berries into it.
"This is the current state of your blood vessels. Right now, clumps just like these berries are floating around in your blood. Tell me — have you ever piled up gravel and stones to make a weir and catch fish? Water can pass through, but the fish cannot."
"And that's the state of my blood right now?"
"Exactly. I don't know who did this to your blood, or how, or for what purpose — but the condition is thoroughly nasty. To put it more precisely..."
He kept pouring berries into the bowl until it was practically packed solid with them.
"Those clumps are circulating through your blood. There are enough gaps for qi to circulate, but not enough for Qi reinforcement — not enough space for qi to gather and condense inside you. So your actual capability has already surpassed the First-rate realm, yet you simply cannot produce the Qi-reinforcement phenomenon."
"So... hah... you're saying my blood vessels are clogged full of impurities?"
"Honestly, this is the first time I've seen a phenomenon like this, so I'm not even sure whether to call the things filling your blood 'impurities.' It's of a different nature from the waste buildup in qi meridians or blood vessels that martial artists usually talk about."
My head was spinning from the sheer volume of information I'd just absorbed. The Poison Doctor brought over a tea set, handed me a cup, and poured me a serving.
"It's just water boiled with some common herbs, but it has a calming effect. I drink a cup myself whenever my research hits a wall and the frustration starts boiling over."
In silence, I sat with the Poison Doctor and blew gently on the steaming tea, sipping it little by little. One tea-session — the time it took to cool and finish a hot cup. I couldn't say how many actual minutes passed while I blew and drank, but as the tea cooled, so did the chaos in my head.
I had expected the Poison Doctor to be the type who would just use some brutal, whatever-works method of treatment... though, to be fair, the moment he drank my blood, "sane" was already a stretch.
"Well. Feeling a bit calmer?"
"Yes, sir."
The body I was using — the existence of Ho Cheon-an — was still a complete mystery. Had another soul occupied this body until the age of fifteen? If so, why had I suddenly possessed it, where had those memories gone, and why had I woken up in a field of grass? Or had this body simply been created the moment I dropped into Murim Cheonha? And if it was created, why go to all this complicated trouble?
Questions I couldn't possibly answer right now crowded my mind, but by the time I finished the cup of tea, I had managed to set my priorities straight.
I had no way of knowing what had happened before my memories began, and no leads to follow. For now, I would focus on the problems I could actually solve.
"So — is my condition treatable?"
"Hmm. Right, let's get back to those particles floating in your blood. First of all, the things inside your body carry a great many different energies. What I can say with certainty is that among those particles, both Immortal Qi and Demonic Qi are present."
"Immortal Qi... and Demonic Qi?"
"The Immortal Qi particles don't seem particularly numerous, but the Demonic Qi ones appear to be present in considerable quantity."
In Murim Cheonha, the attributes of qi were so varied they defied easy classification. Take, for example, relatively common internal energy like the Hot Yang Art that the bald expert Da-jeoyong used — or the poison internal energy possessed by Tang Dok-ryeol.
Immortal Qi and Demonic Qi stood apart from ordinary internal energy of that sort. Immortal Qi referred to a state of extreme purity — qi refined and refined again until only the purest essence remained.
It wasn't the same as the raw energy of nature. Natural energy was more like a mixed aggregate of commonly occurring forces — the way oxygen, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen all mingle in the air.
By analogy, Immortal Qi was air with an extraordinarily high oxygen content. In food terms, something like refined sugar or pure syrup — processed so thoroughly it could convert straight into usable energy.
Demonic Qi, on the other hand, was just... a mess. The polar opposite of Immortal Qi, concerned only with raw quantity. In food terms, cornmeal gruel bulked out with sawdust, or turnip soup stuffed full of tree bark. Easy to obtain, and just as harmful to the body.
Once I'd thought that far, one question was inevitable.
"Is that... even possible?"
Demonic Qi and Immortal Qi circulating together in the same body? Shouldn't they neutralize each other the moment they met?
"I wouldn't have believed it either if I hadn't seen you with my own eyes. Hah. A body — no, blood — where Immortal Qi and Demonic Qi coexist. That's precisely why I drank a whole bowl of yours."
"I-I see."
"There's a strong possibility that your constitution — specifically your blood — has some unique property. For one thing, qi dissolving into the blood itself is far from normal. As I said earlier, qi meridians and blood vessels are fundamentally different things."
"I understand... so... is treatment possible?"
"That, I'll have to research from here on."
My strength drained out of me at the Poison Doctor's words.
"However — there is a method that can produce at least a temporary effect."
"...What is it?"
"The elixir in your robes. Would you show it to me?"
He meant the Jade Wine Purple Spirit Elixir. I drew the wooden case from inside my clothes and handed it to him.
"Hmm. May I pierce it with a needle and taste it?"
"Of course."
He pricked the elixir, tasted it, and nodded.
"With this, we should be able to resolve part of your problem."
My heart hammered. I forced myself to take a deep breath and rein in the excitement. A breakthrough after a full eight years. Of course I was thrilled.
"You obtained this pill from some kind of secret grotto, I take it? Well, that hardly matters. What matters is that this pill contains a small amount of Immortal Qi."
"I've acquired any number of ordinary elixirs. Some of them seemed to contain Immortal Qi as well, I thought."
The Poison Doctor chuckled lightly.
"I don't doubt your word, but I find it hard to believe you obtained elixirs touched by Immortal Qi. More importantly — we will be using a method completely opposite to ordinary internal energy cultivation."
"Completely opposite, how?"
"Why does one normally take an elixir? To harvest its qi and convert it into one's own internal energy, no? That requires time for the elixir's energy to become truly yours. That's why elixirs are designed to dissolve slowly, releasing their qi little by little."
"But I am going to detonate this elixir inside your body all at once. A tidal wave of qi will sweep through your meridians, and the Demonic Qi mixed into your blood will collide violently with the Immortal Qi. The Demonic Qi clumps in your blood seem to have settled into a fairly stable form, but they won't withstand a shock of that magnitude."
I swallowed dryly.
As I'd said, I had already taken several elixirs before. Just as the Poison Doctor described, elixirs were crafted to release their energy as slowly as possible. And even then, the body usually took a heavy toll.
The internal energy gained from a single elixir was an amount that would normally take years — even decades — of qi circulation and breath regulation to accumulate.
Trying to obtain that much overnight put enormous strain on the body, no matter how slowly the qi was released.
And he wanted to dump the entire thing into me at once?
"W-will there be any side effects?"
"Your life won't be in danger, and there will be no permanent damage."
The Poison Doctor laughed easily.
"Who do you think I am? Before I am a physician, I am a master of the Tang family's poison arts. No one under heaven knows better than I do how much resistance the human body and its qi meridians can muster, and at what point they break. There is a high chance of internal injury or strain on the meridians — but I will treat every last bit of it cleanly."
"Hah..."
A treatment that assumed injury as a given. A bitter smile rose to my lips of its own accord, but...
"I'll do it."
I wasn't about to throw away a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.