The One Who Performs Miracles (3)
Virginity. Whether man or woman, it's the term for someone without sexual experience. But if saying "virgin" makes people think of men first, it's undoubtedly due to a certain martial art's influence.
Dongjagong. By maintaining virginity, the practitioner of this internal energy method can condense powerful yang qi in their dantian. Any man knows what happens when it builds up in the body. It accumulates, then gets released naturally—and that's proof of a healthy, virile man.
In the martial world, Dongjagong is seen as a legitimate Taoist martial art, nothing shameful or strange. At its core, it's an internal cultivation method that builds yang qi through abstinence from sexual relations. Even those who've indulged before can rebuild it with long-term abstinence, while true virgins accumulate it even more easily.
However, when abstinence breaks—when the yang qi is released—the formulas of Dongjagong cause all the accumulated yang inside the body to scatter outward. In essence, one act of intercourse, or even a single handjob, can dissipate years or even decades of cultivated internal energy. That's why Dongjagong carries a strong sense of "losing one's yang qi," and losing virginity feels like anything but a "gain."
Sure, there might be that smug satisfaction of "I've done it," but someone like me? Never once. If there had been, it would've become a legend in histories or tales.
A man who, after truly becoming a man, turns everything flowing through his body into "miracles." I get the trigger now. But the trigger isn't what matters—it's the influence it wields.
How far will Moyong Sega embrace this "miracle," and how will they exploit it? Just how far can these miracles go? Could it transmute men into women like the legendary Gyuhwa Bojeon? If I sprinkled Geukyang Jihwan on a corpse, would its heart start beating again, bringing it back to life? If I spat on the bald head of someone whose roots were all yanked out, would lush hair regrow?
Just how far do these miracles extend?
"We'll conceal it."
The Sword Saint made his decision. His word is Moyong Sega's will, the path I must follow.
"The miracle is limited to treating Jeolmok Jeong and rejuvenating women. We'll cap it there."
My body. The miracles from Geukyang Jihwan. He was saying to stop probing just how far they could go.
"Treating Jeolmok Jeong alone has already set the entire Central Plains abuzz. And now with this rejuvenation side effect to boot. Its influence is immense enough to make even Geomhu cause a scandal."
"So, you're saying we announce to the world that there are no effects beyond Jeolmok Jeong and rejuvenation?"
"We don't even need to announce it. We'll make it stick that way."
I understood.
"Understood. I'll comply."
No need for us to go around proclaiming, "It has these effects!"
"Physician Seok. Do you know how many women across the Central Plains are in a state like Yugiyeon's?"
"You mean Jeolmok Jeong patients past twenty, the ones just waiting to die?"
"Exactly."
"...I know of at least forty."
Officially, out of 108 women afflicted, over forty survive past twenty. The rest are all under twenty.
Jeolmok Jeong patients range from as young as seven to as old as thirty-five.
"Those past twenty haven't reached Gu-eum Jeolmok—their meridians are relatively less blocked, so they can live to forty."
"Right. Those women will start coming to Moyong Sega one by one. You'll have to 'convince' them."
"Convince them?"
"Yes. Make them satisfied with what they know. Yugiyeon's case was exceptionally special. Brainwash them that Geukyang Jihwan only works on Jeolmok Jeong."
"Brainwash them, even."
"Suppose."
The Sword Saint mimed slicing off his arm.
"Suppose a one-armed Jeolmok Jeong patient shows up, takes the pill, and a new arm grows. How would you handle it?"
"......."
A one-armed Jeolmok Jeong patient whose arm regenerates along with the cure. That, too, would be a miracle.
"You can't dismiss it as 'impossible nonsense' anymore, can you? Yes, perhaps miracles could happen. Perhaps..."
He pointed at the floor.
"Even the dead might revive. As long as they haven't been gone long, their heart aside, and blood hasn't fully clotted in their brain."
"I understand. No needless experiments."
"Precisely."
He pointed at my head.
"You're a brilliant physician who loves researching and analyzing phenomena."
"......."
"Gathering knowledge is admirable, but sometimes knowing too much becomes poison."
The Sword Saint squeezed his eyes shut and continued.
"...Like me now."
"Then."
"I'll place Ilseonggeom and Iseonggeom at the Uiyakdang and here in Seongnakwon."
Behind him, two swords forged of qi floated serenely.
"Every action you and my daughter take will be transmitted to me through the qi of these Ilseonggeom and Iseonggeom."
Asking how that's possible would just embarrass me. One: The world's greatest—perhaps the greatest in history—sets up a qi barrier to monitor the entire estate. Two: Reviving the dead.
...The latter's unproven and probably impossible, but which sounds more absurd is obvious.
"I won't touch the inner quarters of Seongnakwon or your room at the Uiyakdang."
His voice trembled briefly.
"Remember this well. My eyes reach everywhere except those places, and my ears are open."
"I'll remember. But—"
"You think my daughter, knowing this, would pounce on you in a place where I can plainly see and hear?"
"......."
"Tell her explicitly. Everywhere except Seongnakwon and your private room at Uiyakdang—I'm watching. If there's any indecent behavior..."
His eyes flashed fiercely as he issued the threat.
"...No need for long words."
Back at the Uiyakdang from the annex Seongnakwon.
"Father said that?"
"He did."
I relayed my entire conversation with the Sword Saint to Moyong Seol.
"Hmm."
"What's wrong, my lady?"
"Even if I grope and lick and suck all over you, what can Father do to me?"
"......."
I knew this was coming, so I'd held back in front of the Sword Saint. He probably anticipated it too, knowing his daughter's personality.
"It's a call for restraint. Too much public affection is unseemly, after all."
"Whose daughter do you think I am?"
Moyong Seol puffed her cheeks in protest.
"After winning at the Yongbong Assembly, he kissed Mother right in front of everyone."
Hm. Well. When Moyong Cheon was young, tales of his romantic exploits were legendary—ask anyone from back then, and they'd spill right away. The story she mentioned was the tamest one suitable for public ears.
"He and Mother once floated a ferry on the Yangtze's Dongting Lake at midnight—"
"For the Sword Saint's honor, let's stop there."
What insiders know is precisely what outsiders haven't heard.
"Instead, let's talk about something else. This is my room, where even the Sword Saint can't hear, so we can speak more intimately."
"Ah, one moment."
Moyong Seol turned to the mirror, checking her face a few times.
"Ready, physician."
"...Hm."
Her intentions were obvious, but sadly, now wasn't the time.
"My lady."
"Yes, physician? This time, let me—"
"The Sword Saint judged that my 'miracle' fulfills whatever the absorber desperately desires."
"......."
Moyong Seol, approaching me, froze solid.
"Yugiyeon of Jagunmun was fully cured of Jeolmok Jeong because she wished for it to vanish from her body."
"Physician."
"Geomhu's double rejuvenation happened because she truly yearned to return to her youthful, twenty-year-old body—one that could bear children."
"Physician?"
She approached the chair I was in, straddling me face-to-face.
"What did you truly wish for back then, my lady?"
"Mm."
She stroked my face, then pulled me into her embrace.
"You're exhausted, aren't you, physician?"
"......."
It was a trap. I knew it was a trap, but one I couldn't help falling into.
"You're smart, physician. Actually, I realized it after Geomhu's rejuvenation..."
"My lady."
"Eek?!"
As I placed my hand on her waist, she jolted back in surprise.
"B-blowing your breath there while you speak...!"
"Did you think I'd leave for other women once you were fully cured?"
"Well..."
"You hoped I'd stay and take responsibility for an incompletely healed patient, keeping me tied here?"
"......."
Her hands on my shoulders, she fell silent for a moment.
"My lady."
"...Can't I hope for such a miracle?"
She stroked my head, gripping a bit harder.
"A miracle where you think only of me, harbor no other women in your heart, and love only me."
"My lady."
"Why... can't it happen?"
"It can't."
"......!!"
She stiffened in shock, but then—
"Because it's already happened. No room for another miracle."
She bit her lower lip at my words.
"...Sorry."
"The bad one's me."
Squeeze.
"Ow?!"
"A patient who wished not for 'cure' but 'treatment,' fearing I'd leave."
"......."
The difference between Moyong Seol and Yugiyeon. Treatment and improvement versus full cure. Both Jeolmok Jeong patients, but their desires differed in degree. She'd even wished for her agony to linger faintly rather than end completely.
"Don't do that."
"Physician."
"Promise me, and I'll grant your wish."
"......Really?"
She sighed deeply.
"I'll believe you. Like always."
"Thank you. ...But would my grip really hurt?"
"Hehe..."
I tugged her cheek, and she grinned, draping her arms over my shoulders.
"...I can really believe you?"
"Of course. If you're worried, I'll brainwash myself into it."
Locking eyes, I hooked my pinky with hers as she tried to grab my hand.
"My miracles can only happen after sharing love with you. It's because of you that my body can perform them."
"......I wish it were really true."
"Who knows? It might be. So..."
I grabbed her waist and stood from the chair—
"...Physician?"
Twine. Her legs hooked around the chair's back.
"Heading to the bed?"
"No, I—"
"I'm fine like this..."
"......."
Pinned by a peak expert, what could a mere physician do? I quietly buried my face in her bosom.
Geomhu's gold seal ceremony—no, now Geomhui Geum Serin moved her feet silently, unheard by any.
She had to report it. The ugly antics of a certain father and daughter unfolding beneath the Uiyakdang.
-Kidnapping...
-...Abduction...
The Sword Saint's sword was here anyway, so he'd know. But there was someone to consult first, knowing as much as he did.
But.
"......!!"
Before a room on the Uiyakdang's third floor.
A blue qi sword leaned against the wall, slumped like a rag doll.
"What in the—"
Squelch, a vibrating rumble.
"......Oh, ho ho."
Geomhu—
"Oops."
Geomhui quickly stifled her leaking laugh.
"...No more urgent matters, so I can visit after it's done, right?"
She glanced at the nameplate by Physician Seok's private room and turned away.
Treating.
"Being a Hyeongyeong expert is sometimes truly heartbreaking."
To a Hyeongyeong master, a building's outer wall was nothing. She could only tune it out and pretend not to notice.
"Goodness gracious."
Geomhui Geum Serin blushed at the vibrations through the floor.
"A peak female expert clinging and smacking against someone who hasn't even properly learned martial arts... Goodness, these young folks nowadays..."
Gulp.
"...Ahem, everyone does it like that now. Yes. Ahem. New generation, new women. That's it. Ahem."
Geomhui's knowledge had expanded.