Chapter 18: Surviving a Near-Death Experience (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 18: Surviving a Near-Death Experience (1)
"Huh?"
As I startled and bolted upright, Mok Seon-hwa let out a yelp of surprise and tumbled backward.
Do Yeon, on the other hand, was glaring at me with a murderous look in her eyes.
"Brother!"
Suddenly, Mok Seon-hwa lunged forward and threw her arms around me, making a scene.
"You’re awake! You must have sensed my presence and regained consciousness."
It seemed she was still living inside the pages of a martial arts novel.
I pried her arms off me; she was clinging to me like a tick.
"But is it true? Are my acupoints really all blocked?"
I closed my eyes and tried to circulate my internal energy.
"It will be painful to use your internal energy right now..."
The warning came too late.
Though it was only a meager amount of energy, the moment I nudged it, a searing pain erupted from my Gihae acupoint and surged through my entire body. A groan escaped my lips involuntarily.
"Aaargh!"
"Young Hero!"
The agony was so sharp I nearly blacked out. It hurt so much that tears actually welled up.
As the tears rolled down my cheeks, Mok Seon-hwa began to sob along with me.
"I’m so sorry. It’s all because of me... You lost your internal energy just to protect me... I’m truly sorry. If only I hadn't followed you, if only we hadn't stopped at that tavern back then..."
For a true master, spending a lifetime to accumulate sixty years' worth of internal energy might not be an impossible feat, but for me, sixty years of energy was a realm I wouldn't reach even if I died and was reborn.
The reason was simple.
I lacked the patience for the grueling training required to build such power, and even if I had the patience, I had no reason or goal to endure it.
To truly grow in martial arts, one needed the resolve to become the greatest swordsman of the era or the ambition to be the best under heaven.
Since I lacked such ambition, losing my internal energy didn't feel like a tragedy; it felt more like losing a single bean I’d managed to swallow. It wasn't worth much grief.
Besides, it wasn't even permanently gone—my acupoints were just blocked by Yin energy. I had very little reason to be sad.
I’d heard that masters sometimes took their own lives after losing their internal energy, but to me, that just looked like the self-indulgent bullshit of the privileged.
"I'm fine."
When I said that, Chong Ae-hyeon’s eyes turned red, likely because she was looking at me with such pity.
"I am truly grateful. If it weren't for you, Young Hero, Seon-hwa wouldn't have survived. Ten Thousand Dragons Fortress never forgets a debt of gratitude. The Fortress Lord is currently searching for a rare elixir that can expel the Yin energy."
Ah! Just give me the money you're spending on the elixir instead.
To me, money is the elixir.
"An elixir like that must cost a fortune... It’ll be a waste of money. I’d rather..."
The words "give me the cash" were practically climbing up my throat and sliding over my tongue, about to spill past my lips.
However, Mok Seon-hwa dragged my reason back to reality.
"You’d rather what? Surely not? No! Brother! It’s madness to give up and think of suicide when there’s still a chance to expel the Yin energy!"
This girl really hadn't escaped her fantasy world yet.
It was her inability to distinguish reality from imagination that got me into this mess in the first place.
Why would I kill myself, you crazy girl?
I’ve survived all sorts of hellish ordeals just to keep this one life of mine going. Did she really think a little Yin energy in my system was going to do me in?
But thinking about it that way made me feel strangely pathetic.
Even if it was just the basic Earth Breathing Method that even common old men knew, I had practiced it diligently. I was a respectable martial artist who possessed enough internal energy to feel a faint warmth in my dantian.
My voice grew unintentionally thick with emotion, causing Mok Seon-hwa to sniffle and wail even louder.
Chong Ae-hyeon spoke with a worried expression.
"As long as we find an elixir with strong Yang properties, treating you won't be difficult, Young Hero Eo. So please, do not be too disheartened. For the time being, do not attempt to use martial arts. It will only stimulate your acupoints and cause you pain."
Seeing me lost in thought, Mok Seon-hwa assumed I was contemplating something grave and continued to babble.
"Oh! It doesn't matter if you've lost your internal energy and martial arts. You're still my idol, Brother. I'll stay by your side and take care of you for the rest of my life."
Hearing that, a surge of irritation flared up, and I turned my head away.
"I think it would be better for my recovery if Lady Mok stepped out for a moment."
Do Yeon, who had been sitting silently until then, finally spoke.
"If there is anything you need, tell me at any time. I will help if I can."
The usually haughty Do Yeon spoke with a hint of shyness.
"I appreciate the sentiment. But how could I possibly trouble Fairy Doyeon? I'm sure the Head of the Medical Hall will take good care of me."
The moment I said that, I felt Do Yeon’s gaze turn icy.
Realizing I’d probably rubbed her the wrong way, I quickly feigned pain.
"Ah, my head hurts. I think I need to sleep."
I ignored Do Yeon’s stare and buried my head in the pillow.
*
The next day, I visited the Medical Hall at the scheduled time as instructed by Chong Ae-hyeon.
If I ever missed a dose, Chong Ae-hyeon would bring the medicine to me personally, which was incredibly awkward. How could I let someone like her run back and forth just to serve me?
The moment I stepped into the Medical Hall, the scent of herbs overwhelmed me. Since the medicine was prepared from rare ingredients, even the smell had a peculiar, exotic fragrance.
"You’ve arrived just as the decoction finished. Taking it now will yield the best results."
Chong Ae-hyeon greeted me with her usual smile.
Observing her closely, I realized she didn't just smile at me; she offered that same smile to every patient in the hall.
She’s a born healer. It must be exhausting to smile like that all day.
Yet, Chong Ae-hyeon didn't seem tired at all as she did her absolute best to care for each patient.
The Medical Hall of Ten Thousand Dragons Fortress was massive for a single sect's facility. Usually, a sect-run clinic would have maybe two or three physicians, but Ten Thousand Dragons Fortress had fifteen, as if they intended to run a full-scale hospital.
"Why are there so many physicians?" I asked her once.
Chong Ae-hyeon just smiled, seemingly unwilling to answer. But after my persistent pestering, she finally spoke.
"When the Fortress Lord invited me here, I set a condition. I asked for enough support to provide medical care to those in need. The Fortress Lord accepted because he needed to win over the local people to establish the sect's roots."
According to Mok Seon-hwa, Chong Ae-hyeon hailed from the Sheng Medical Chong Family, the most prestigious medical clan in Sichuan.
The Sheng Medical Chong Family was based in Chengdu and was quite grand, with several branches across the province. They were a medical house that had long been respected for treating people with affordable medicine.
Chong Ae-hyeon was the second daughter of the family, and her knowledge was so profound that she had been famous as a brilliant physician for years.
To recruit her, Mok Yi-gun had provided not only a vast amount of silver but also full authority over the Medical Hall.
The fact that Ten Thousand Dragons Fortress had settled in without major issues was partly due to the Medical Hall’s consistent provision of free medical care to the local commoners.
"Ugh, it's bitter."
The medicine was so potent it made my tongue go numb.
"This feels more like poison than medicine."
Chong Ae-hyeon smiled at my remark.
I watched her reaction and asked in a casual tone, "By the way, that sleeping pill Lady Mok gave me before was incredibly effective. She said it came from you, Head Physician. What exactly is in it?"
"Ah, Lady Mok told me about that later. I gave her a scolding for secretly administering it to you."
"Does it contain some kind of rare elixir?"
Chong Ae-hyeon chuckled at my question.
"What physician puts rare elixirs in a sleeping pill? It’s just that this particular pill is for patients in extreme pain who cannot sleep, so its potency is different from standard ones. It’s a medicine that provides a strong stimulus to the Baekhoe acupoint—the sleep point—to take effect immediately. Usually, you have to wait about fifteen minutes after taking a sleeping pill, but this one works instantly. Of course, the ingredients are a secret of our Chong family."
I didn't even see her smile as she lightly covered her mouth; I was too preoccupied with her words.
The fact that the sleeping pill stimulated the Baekhoe acupoint stuck in my mind.
There must be a clue in the Baekhoe acupoint.
The Baekhoe acupoint was closely related to the Upper Dantian.
Considering how my internal energy wouldn't gather and would vanish instantly, yet suddenly surged whenever I took that sleeping pill, it was definitely connected to the Upper Dantian.
However, my knowledge of internal energy was so shallow that I couldn't figure out the exact reason.
So, I decided to ask Chong Ae-hyeon a vague question while keeping my secret hidden.
"If, among the three dantians, only the Upper Dantian..."
Just as I paused, about to ask the crucial question, a physician came running in breathlessly.
"Hall Master Chong! We have an emergency patient!"
"One moment."
Chong Ae-hyeon spoke to me as she hurried away.
It looked like the consultation would take a while. I changed my mind. Even if I tried to talk around the subject, there was a risk my secret would be exposed to her.
Sigh, I guess this is something I have to figure out on my own.
But study was one thing; I wouldn't be able to solve this strange phenomenon unless I experienced it myself.
Well, all I’ve got is this body that’s tough as an Invincible Golden Vajra. It’s not poison, just a simple sleeping pill, so let’s try taking it and see what happens.
I opened the drawer Mok Seon-hwa had mentioned.
I pulled out a single reddish pill and was about to tuck it into my robe. Since the effect was near-instant, I intended to take it back to my quarters. But suddenly, someone appeared behind me.
"What are you doing?"
The voice from behind startled me like a thief caught red-handed. I pretended to yawn and popped the sleeping pill into my mouth.
"Ahhh-hm. The medicine I just took was so bitter, I was looking for some water."
I hid the pill under my tongue and sipped some water while looking at the person who had spoken.
A rat-like fellow was staring at me.
What kind of rat? There was only one person I’d call a rat.
The one whose fingers were broken by Sim Geol and who had tried to get me killed by snitching to the Red Robed White-Eyed Demon.
The rat-faced bastard, covered in splints, was watching me.
His gaze seemed to be demanding to know what kind of elixir I’d swallowed to suddenly become a master. He must have been spying on me.
Thinking about it made me furious.
"How is your body?" I asked.
The rat-face replied, "My bones were shattered into pieces. Even my finger bones."
Every single one of his fingers was splinted and bandaged. Those were the fingers I had stepped on quite firmly.
"My, that must be very painful."
"It is. Especially these fingers—they hurt even more because of a certain someone."
Seeing two physicians grinding herbs nearby, he seemed to think I wouldn't dare harm him and spoke quite boldly.
"Physician Jeong, Physician Jo! The Hall Master is calling for you!"
At another physician's shout, the two who were grinding herbs dropped what they were doing and ran out.
The rat's face contorted. Realizing it might be dangerous for us to be alone, he became much more polite than before.
"But I've improved a lot thanks to you, Young Hero Eo. Well then, I'll be going."
As he turned to leave, I stepped toward him.
"Even if you're leaving, have a cup of water first."
I held out the cup I’d been drinking from, and he looked flustered. He seemed to hesitate for a moment before taking the cup. He probably figured that since I’d been drinking from it, there couldn't be anything dangerous in it. Plus, he was likely too scared to see how I’d react if he refused.
He drained the remaining half-cup of water and said, "Thank you."
He turned and waddled away.
I watched him closely. After walking just a few steps, he began to stagger.
Is the sleeping pill really that strong? But why isn't it hitting me as fast as it's hitting him? Last time, it worked the moment I took it.
I had dissolved the pill under my tongue, let about half of it mix into the water I gave him, and swallowed the rest myself. I wanted to verify the potency by observing him.
Crash!
He didn't make it much further before he collapsed, sweeping several herb containers off the shelves as if overcome by a sudden, heavy sleep.
"That guy's going to suffer a bit."
All the splints on his body had likely snapped; his bones certainly wouldn't be in good shape after a fall like that.
"Ahhh-hm."
Along with the drowsiness, that mysterious internal energy began to writhe within my body once more.
To avoid the disaster of falling asleep mid-stride like that guy, I hurried toward my quarters.
It was the exact same sensation I’d felt during the duel with the Smiling Face Sword.
As the sleepiness gradually intensified, I quickened my pace, heading toward the training grounds. The shortcut to the pavilion where I stayed ran right across the training grounds used by the newly recruited warriors.