Chapter 19
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: The Ice Crane's Mission
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The gossips of the martial world loved to categorize and rank everything.
In this era of great medical houses, with countless physicians making their mark, it was only natural for these gossips to want to pick the best of the best.
The Ten Immortals.
It was a title given to those who stood at the pinnacle of the medical world.
One person was chosen from each of the five Heaven-grade medical houses, and one from each of the five Star-grade medical houses that held the most influence at the time.
However, there were those who criticized this selection method.
-Are you saying there are no great physicians in the world outside of the Five Heavens and Five Stars?
The Five Heavens referred to the five Heaven-grade medical houses.
The Five Stars were the five most powerful Star-grade medical houses of the era.
Choosing the world's greatest physicians only from among them provoked a backlash from other doctors.
Thus, a new category was created: the Ten Peaks.
These were the top physicians in the world who, despite not belonging to the Five Heavens or Five Stars, were still considered among the ten best.
Sa Ma So, the Ice Crane, was one of those Ten Peaks.
'Why would such a colossal figure come to serve as an examiner for a mere Medical Examination Ceremony?! This isn't the Grand Medical Phoenix Assembly!'
Dan So-cheon wanted to tear his hair out.
This was no ordinary Medical Examination Ceremony. It was one of the evaluation criteria for selecting a new Earth-grade medical house, so Dan So-cheon was pouring all his efforts into it.
He had poached the medical students from the Medical Immortal Medical House and had planned to grease the examiner's palms as much as possible upon their arrival.
'But that stubborn old mule isn't someone who can be swayed by bribes!'
You can only offer a bribe when your status is somewhat comparable.
In the medical world, the gap between the Ice Crane Sa Ma So and Dan So-cheon was as wide as the heavens and the earth.
Haha, it is a tremendous honor for the medical community of Nanyang to have the esteemed Master Sa Ma So visit. I, Dan So-cheon, cannot express how much I have always admired the great Ice Crane. To have my wish fulfilled like this my heart is so full I could die right now with no regrets!
If your chest feels tight, instead of staring at me, you might want to check if there's a problem with your heart.
Sa Ma So merely scoffed coldly at Dan So-cheon's desperate flattery.
'This disrespectful brat. I must be at least two years older than him.'
A vein throbbed on Dan So-cheon's forehead, but he showed no sign of it and continued his flattery.
Haha, just like the great Ice Crane, who is said to think only of his patients. Thank you. I, Dan So-cheon, having met you today.
And so on and so forth.
Sa Ma So frowned at the endless barrage of flattery.
'How tedious. Why did I even come to a place like this?'
There was a reason Sa Ma So had come as an examiner for the Medical Examination Ceremony.
To be precise, he had been given a 'mission'.
-The Earthly Spirit Star has risen over Nanyang. There must be someone among the candidates for this Medical Examination Ceremony who has received the blessing of the Medical Star. Elder Ice Crane, please confirm who it is.
There is something known as the 108 Stars.
These are one hundred and eight stars said to have a profound impact on human affairs whenever they appear. The Heavenly Killing Star, which brings great bloodshed to the martial world each time it appears, is also one of the 108 Stars.
The Earthly Spirit Star, also known as the Medical Star, is the subject of a legend in the medical world.
-The one blessed by the Medical Star shall, as a physician, save all the people of the world!
The Ice Crane Sa Ma So had come to identify this person blessed by the Medical Star.
Children, what are you doing? Greet the great Ice Crane! These are my children. They are scheduled to take the Medical Examination Ceremony this time.
Looking at the faces of Patriarch Dan So-cheon's children, Sa Ma So sighed.
'I think the Sage of Wisdom misread the heavens. Is it really Nanyang where the Medical Star has risen?'
The thought crossed his mind because none of them seemed noteworthy.
'I came here because, among the medical houses taking the examination this time, the Hwajung Medical House was said to be the most outstanding.'
Just then, the name of another medical house surfaced in Sa Ma So's mind.
The Medical Immortal Medical House.
A forgotten past, but a place that was once the World's Greatest Medical House.
'It can't possibly be the Medical Immortal Medical House.'
It wasn't that he looked down on the Medical Immortal Medical House.
He knew they had outstanding children.
Wi Ji-gang, Wi Ji-sang-ah.
Those two were talents who would soon make a name for themselves in the martial world's medical community.
However, both of them were too old.
Both were past the age of twenty, and the eldest, Wi Ji-gang, was nearing thirty, making them too old to receive the star's blessing.
'According to the brightness of the Earthly Spirit Star's light, the newly blessed one should be around the age of fifteen.'
The thought that the youngest of the Medical Immortal Medical House was precisely that age flickered through his mind, but he shook his head.
According to the rumors he'd heard, the youngest, Wi Ji-cheon, was someone he couldn't possibly imagine receiving the Medical Star's blessing.
'How frustrating.'
In the end, Sa Ma So left the drinking party midway through and sighed as he looked up at the night sky.
The heavily clouded night sky was utterly dark.
Just like the corrupt Medical Alliance and the bleak reality of the medical world.
Sa Ma So lamented as he watched the faint glow of the Medical Star in the dim, moonless and starless night sky.
Who will save this medical world that has fallen into such misery?
Meanwhile, at the Medical Immortal Medical House.
The doors to the medical hall opened, and students with hollow, zombie-like expressions stumbled out.
The hellish training was finally over!
Where am I? Who am I?
Im sorry! Im sorry for being a medical student!
Drill Instructor from Hell, Wi Ji-gang, sir, I didn't fall asleep! Please, not the hellish drill techniques!
None of them seemed to be in their right minds.
That was how grueling the training had been.
Still, they all shared a common thought.
'To give away such high-quality lectures so generously, is the Medical Immortal Medical House insane?'
At any other medical house, they wouldn't have been able to attend these lectures even if they had offered a fortune in tuition.
Frankly, Wi Ji-gang's month of hellish training was more substantial than the content of lectures they had attended at other medical houses over several years.
Moreover, the lectures at other houses were of the 'I'll talk, and it's up to you to pick up what you can' variety.
The Medical Immortal Medical House, on the other hand, was different.
Personalized instruction tailored to the students' level!
If anyone fell behind, they would even, albeit a little (?) roughly, grab them by the scruff of the neck and drag them along.
When asked if it was really okay to receive such lectures for free.
-Tuition? When you become physicians of the Medical Immortal Medical House and serve your patients, that will be your tuition.
It was another way of saying, 'We'll work you to the bone treating patients, so be prepared,' but the students, oblivious, were deeply moved.
'As expected of the Medical Immortal Medical House. Master Wi Ji-gang is an angel. No an angel right?'
-Do you intend to treat patients with that kind of attitude?
-Humans can survive on just two hours of sleep a day. The medical texts say deep sleep is important? Forget it. Here, my word is the truth.
-Transcribe this fifty times! Now!
The students shivered, recalling the nightmares of the past month.
In any case, it was finally over!
'Now it's time to learn medical arts.'
Everyone's heart pounded with anticipation.
No medical house taught proper medical arts to their outer disciples.
But the Medical Immortal Medical House taught formal medical arts.
Of course, what the outer disciples learned was a basic medical art called the 'Earthly Immortal Medical Art'.
In martial arts terms, it was on the level of the Six Harmonies Fist or Three Talents Sword, techniques you could find in any marketplace.
In truth, medical arts on the level of the Earthly Immortal Medical Art could be found anywhere if one looked hard enough.
The problem was that, unlike basic martial arts manuals, medical arts absolutely required guidance in channeling ki.
While one could roughly imitate the Six Harmonies Fist or Three Talents Sword with just their limbs or a wooden stick, medical arts required cultivating the flow of ki.
In other words, the presence of a master to lead and guide their ki circulation practice was indispensable.
'At other medical houses, you'd have to sell the very pillars of your home and it still wouldn't be enough to receive proper guidance on ki circulation for medical arts.'
And yet, they were going to be taught such medical arts here!
Their debts were settled, they were put through hellish trainingthe new students' loyalty to the Medical Immortal Medical House was blossoming.
There was just one thing that bothered them.
'Is Senior Brother Wi Ji-cheon really going to be the one to guide our medical arts training?'
They all wore worried expressions.
Of course, it wasn't that the new students looked down on Wi Ji-cheon. Absolutely not.
How could they?
Wi Ji-cheon was practically their savior.
They all knew it was the great hero Jang Sam of the Black Ghost Sect and Wi Ji-cheon who had saved them from the shackles of debt, and they felt nothing but gratitude.
Still, this was about medical arts.
Realistically, they couldn't help but worry.
'He seemed different from the rumors during the hellish training.'
Wi Ji-cheon had also participated in the hellish training.
Everyone was surprised.
He was completely different from the rumors that claimed he had given up on studying.
First of all, he attended every single class without fail.
In fact, everyone had expected Wi Ji-cheon to drop out of the hellish training quickly, but that wasn't the case at all.
On the contrary, he didn't even seem to be struggling much.
He even grasped the medical concepts with incredible speed.
'No, it's not just that he's fast.'
They all gulped.
'Wouldn't you call Senior Brother Wi Ji-cheon a genius?'
It was like this.
-I will now explain about Angelica root. Does anyone know about it?
Everyone raised their hands.
Of course they did.
It was a basic medicinal herb.
There was only one person there who didn't know what Angelica root was.
-Wi Ji-cheon, what about you?
-I've heard of it for the first time today, but don't worry. I'll soon know it better than anyone.
A confident voice.
Rather than arrogant, his gentle and bright expression made him sound only cute.
In fact, the new students all found Wi Ji-cheon adorable.
He was much younger than them, and his expression was gentle and bright.
An adorable Senior Brother, so to speak?
But it didn't take long for that adorableness to turn into astonishment.
-Angelica root is the root of a perennial plant in the Apiaceae family. It has the effects of enriching the blood and promoting circulation, so it is mainly used for women's abnormal uterine bleeding, and also.
After listening to the explanation for a while.
Wi Ji-cheon fell silent in thought (their young Senior Brother often got lost in his own thoughts during class) and then asked a question.
-Wouldn't its effects be enhanced if mixed with Ophiopogon root and Pinellia tuber?
-Why do you think so?
-Isn't it because Angelica root's blood-enriching and circulation-promoting effects are due to its impact on ki stagnation?
-Why do you think it's due to its effect on ki stagnation? I never explained that.
-Plants of the Apiaceae family possess Yang properties and act on the Metal element among the five viscera. This effect on ki.
Everyone's jaw dropped.
While they struggled just to memorize the effects by rote, Wi Ji-cheon was different.
He pierced through to the hidden principles behind them and expanded upon them.
What was even more astonishing was that, although no one had noticed, as Wi Ji-cheon studied medicine, his understanding of martial arts was also deepening.
All rivers flow to the sea.
As mentioned several times before, the enlightenments of medicine and martial arts had much in common.
Therefore, as he learned about medicine, he was constantly gaining new insights into martial arts.
If anyone else had known, they would have been horrified, calling him a 'monster!'
Furthermore, this enlightenment in martial arts also influenced his understanding of medical principles, creating a virtuous cycle.
'Who called Senior Brother Wi Ji-cheon a failure?'
Some even came to this misunderstanding.
'Was he such a genius that he actually looked like a fool?'
Even his nonsensical talk about how the 'leaf token' had started to run seemed like the mark of a genius.
'Even so, medical arts are.'
It was then.
Young Master Wi Ji-cheon! You haven't forgotten your promise to me, have you?!
Dan Yeo approached Wi Ji-cheon with a fierce aura.