Chapter 100
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 100
Chapter Title: Elder, That's Not the Way. (2)
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Day two of traveling together.
"Elder, that's not the way."
"No, this is definitely right."
The elder definitely had a problem with his sense of direction.
Plus, he was stubbornly set in his ways. We'd be going along fine, only for him to suddenly plunge into some deserted jungle without a soul around. It was a real hassle.
Still, there were two reasons I stuck with him.
Young Master...!
Sorry, been really busy lately.
No worries. Everything okay?[1]
The jiangshi issue's been resolved.[1]
Lately, Me and Little Sis had been swamped, so I didn't want to rush ahead and bother her unnecessarily. That was one reason.
And the other.
Strangely enough, everywhere the elder's feet took us—even in remote backwoods that seemed uninhabited—scattered villages dotted the landscape.
Where there were people, there were bound to be patients.
"Thank you, thank you, doctor...!"
"It's nothing. This is galgeun, and this is taepyeongcho. Just dig these up around here, wash them clean, and take them. That'll do."
The elder was a physician.
A damn good one, too—at least on par with the Life and Death Divine Doctor, ranking just a meter below him among the healers I'd seen.
Me? I'm hanging around 100 meters below the Divine Doctor. So yeah, the elder packed about 100 Geum Sihyeon-level medical prowess.
"Elder, your skills are so outstanding—why not settle down somewhere and open a clinic?"
"I'm no physician. I just peddle quack cures based on scraps I've picked up."
Yet he truly hated being called a doctor.
"W-We really have nothing to give..."
"Enough. What can I expect from a bunch of ragged beggars? Just survive without incident. That's payment enough... for your family, too."
He didn't even charge for treatment, so...
Unlike his first impression, this was one extraordinary elder.
Day three of traveling together.
The elder started crossing lines.
"Hm, let's see. You little punk. Come here."
"Pardon?"
"Needle the Mingmen point here."
"Acupuncture?"
"Your ears clogged?"
"Me?"
"Should this old man do it?"
"Sigh..."
The miraculous three-step rhetoric.
Too tough an opponent for 'Me? Why?'.
Throw a 'Why?' in that situation, and I'd be the trash.
Well.
This body of mine was still a prime specimen from the Life and Death Divine Doctor's lab.
I deftly jabbed the needle into the Mingmen point.
Smack!
"You idiot!"
The elder smacked the back of my head heartily.
"What? Why?"
"You need to go a fen deeper to stimulate the point. Didn't they teach you that?"
"You never taught me."
"Figure it out yourself."
...This had to be unfair treatment.
Tsk.
Still, it was about saving lives, so I did it gladly.
Keep honing acupuncture like this, and someday I might master the 250,000 Subduing Dragon Needles and briefly snuff out the universe.
Day four.
"Abdominal pain, or stomachache, falls into four main types. The food stagnation pain you just treated is caused by food buildup blocking qi flow."
"So the prescription would be shenqu, right?"
"Correct. But you gonna find shenqu around here? Sansha is more practical. And for heat pain..."
Maybe I'd accidentally shown off my heaven-sent, divinely inspired medical talent without humility.
Before I knew it, the elder was grabbing me mid-stride to lecture on medicine.
Truth be told, I quite enjoyed it.
He wandered like a beggar, so his knowledge of wild herbs everywhere was encyclopedic. The info on turning weeds into meds was gold.
If the Divine Doctor was a Big Five med school elite...
The elder felt like a med device salesman who'd stacked career points steadily.
"Oh, right. Charge this up."
"...How the hell did you even get a smartphone, Elder?"
"Picked it up."
Didn't love being his charger, though.
Eh, what could I do.
A young guy with martial arts had to show some consideration.
Day five.
As usual, the elder chowed down on wild boar the wolf pup hunted and I roasted to perfection, like some lord.
"Hey, punk."
"Not punk."
"Martial artists running around with swords instead of doing worldly good? That's punk material. What makes you deny it?"
Couldn't argue there.
"Guess I am a punk."
"Right. What's your name?"
...Come to think of it, we'd never properly introduced ourselves. Just gone with the flow.
"Geum Sihyeon."
"Hm..."
The elder peered at my face.
Then.
"Tch."
He clicked his tongue.
"What? Why?"
"I know a bit of physiognomy. Yours screams precarious fate. Mess up with one woman, and you might end up in a coffin."
What was it with face-readers dumping curses on my looks?
Living too perfect had its downsides.
Had to endure blind hate from jealous haters...
"And your esteemed name, Elder?"
"No need to know."
"What? Why?"
Day seven.
No villages encountered today, so no patients either.
The all-day rain from yesterday had finally stopped.
With Blazing Shadow Heart Formula keeping me dry and crisp, I matched the elder's stride diligently.
Traveling together, you inevitably learn about the other person.
The elder was a chain smoker.
"Kyau!"
Spotting him pull out his pipe, I let the wolf pup loose for a self-walk and plopped down beside him.
"The smell doesn't bother you?"
"Pfft, wangwocho smell like flowers? Just keeping you company so you don't get lonely."
"What a lunatic."
The stench was rough, but secondhand smoke's always like that.
Back in the urban jungle, even non-smokers chatted up smokers for networking and promotions.
Chatting with one old-timer burning solitude away? Piece of cake.
Immunity to All Poisons meant no lung cancer anyway.
We stared blankly at the night sky for a while.
Among countless star clusters, maybe unable to find its home—like us—tracking a pitiful shooting star's trail.
"Why do you live, punk?"
"Outta nowhere?"
"Life starts sudden, without your say, and ends the same someday. Nothing goes your way—that's life."
"Hm..."
Spear to the south.
Why live? Lol.
...Nah.
"Growing old with five fox-like wives and fifty bunny kids. That's my dream."
The elder eyed me like a madman.
"...Even lust demons don't go that far."
"Pardon?"
"Nothing."
Comparing me to a lust demon? Kinda hurtful.
I just wanted the hero's path.
"Two kids max. Daughters better."
"More the merrier, no?"
"Eh, that's your spring, I guess."
Spring outta nowhere.
Poet in his youth, probably.
"Why'd you come to Yunnan, Elder? You don't seem local."
He took a deep drag from his pipe, exhaling even deeper.
His thoughts hazed out like mirage in the night air.
"Things to do. Things to discard."
"I see."
Regret etched so deep on his face.
I didn't pry.
Everyone carries their own burdens.
After two weeks of epic trekking.
We finally reached West Double Banana Grove.
"Elder, west is that way, not this."
"Tch, cheeky young punk nitpicking. Tch."
"Haha."
"Live well. I'm off."
With that, the elder stubbornly headed east.
Short companionship. No grand words.
But time with a righteous man who stuck to his convictions enriched my heart.
I shed a bit of prejudice.
For that elder.
Wandering Physician suited him more than Poison Demon.
Even with a shattered dantian and no qi, harboring such massive poison.
Clinging to life chain-smoking wangwocho? Who knew why.
Checked Namuwiki just in case: Just switched from Demonic Cult to Blood Cult. Rest unknown. No evil deeds listed.
Hoped we wouldn't reunite on bad terms, in a bad place.
After seeing him off.
I asked passersby and found a local herb gatherer.
Thirty years digging herbs nearby, he said.
"Hm, who're you?"
Clink—
"Great hero, what do you need?"
One silver tael upgraded me from 'you' to 'great hero'.
"Where's the Southern Barbaric Beast Palace?"
"Beast Palace...?"
The gatherer looked at me like I was nuts.
"Been wiped out over five years now."