Chapter 24
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: The Ice Crane's Diagnosis
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Damn this medical arts training!
Mom, I hate medical arts more than anything in the world.
Senior Brother, save me. Please save me. I was wrong.
The past month with Wi Ji-cheon flashed before their eyes like a revolving lantern.
A time so harsh that even the tenacious Dan Yeo had turned pale.
Their suffering turned into indignation.
After all the hardship we've been through, a mere medical arts exam like this is nothing!
Ice Crane Sama So? Our Senior Brother is crazier!!
If our medical arts exam scores are low, Senior Brother might make us review everything we've learned. We have to pass with high scores, no matter what!
Let's go! Let's knock our Senior Brother down a peg in this medical arts exam!!
Yes, Senior Sister!
Down with Senior Brother!!
For the record, Dan Yeo was second in rank only to Wi Ji-cheon.
They stormed out like grim warriors heading to battle, leaving the medical students from other houses dumbfounded.
What's with them?
I don't know. They must be crazy.
The results of the medical arts exam were astonishing.
What?!
Huh? These aren't just practice dummies, they're True Body Models! How can mere medical students manipulate the energy channels like that?!
The medical arts exam tested treatment methods involving the manipulation of ki and its channels.
A single misstep could be fatal to the patient.
The reason medical houses were reluctant to teach medical arts to their outer disciples wasn't just because they were greedy for money; it was also due to concerns about these dangers.
The Medical Alliance sought a solution to the dangers of medical arts training, which led to the creation of the Practice Model.
They combined the technology of the Sichuan Tang Clan with the sorcery of the Mount Mao Sect to create a model for practicing medical arts.
However, they were expensive and crude.
No matter how skilled the Tang Clan and the Mount Mao Sect were, how could they possibly replicate the mysteries of the human body?
Still, because they allowed for risk-free practice of medical arts without harming a person, they were often used by affluent medical houses or in examinations like this Medical Examination Ceremony.
However, the models brought by Ice Crane Sama So were no mere practice dummies.
Stung by criticism that their work was crude, the Tang Clan had gritted their teeth and created an improved model.
They had brought a masterpiece for the exam, one that replicated nearly eighty percent of the human body's energy channels.
To bring such a treasure to a mere Medical Examination Ceremony.
It was only possible because it was Ice Crane Sama So.
This was not something to be thankful for.
Damn it! I thought we'd be tested on the practice models, so I focused on practicing only the energy channels they could replicate!
How are we supposed to resolve the ki response in the fine channels?!
The high performance of the models meant that much more difficult questions could be asked.
The medical students broke out in a cold sweat.
However, there were other students who showed a different reaction.
Geukcheon, Sohae? We didn't go through that hell just to solve problems this trivial!
No more reviews!!
A one-horse race.
This Medical Examination Ceremony was solely for the Medical Immortal Medical House, by the Medical Immortal Medical House.
The students from the other medical houses were nothing more and nothing less than background characters.
Your disciples are truly outstanding. The Medical Immortal Medical House lives up to its name.
Everyone was surprised by Ice Crane Sama So's praise.
Ice Crane Sama So was a renowned critic. Wasn't he known for never giving compliments?
That must be how exceptional the disciples of the Medical Immortal Medical House were today.
The family head, Wi Ji-seon, barely managed to stop his lips from twitching into a smile.
You're too kind. Isn't this something all physicians should know as a basic? They still have a long way to go.
With a single sentence, Wi Ji-seon had dismissed the students of the other medical houses as unqualified hacks who didn't even know the basics.
Taking the opportunity, Wi Ji-seon began to boast about his son, something he had been wanting to do for a while.
It had been so hard to hold it in!
In truth, I had no hand in their education. It was all the work of my inadequate children. My youngest son, in particular, has done a great deal. Master Ice Crane, have you ever seen a genius?
A genius, you say?
This is... rather embarrassing to say to you, Master Ice Crane, but I believe my youngest, Wi Ji-cheon, is a genius.
I see.
Ice Crane Sama So nodded, bewildered.
Calling his own son a genius?
No matter how proud he was of his son, this doting was a bit much...
However, his expression soon hardened.
Wi Ji-seon had excitedly rattled off his boasts, but the content of his bragging was unbelievable.
So, my youngest, just a few months after he began studying in earnest...
Is that truly what you're saying?
Sama So recalled the contents of the answer Wi Ji-cheon had written in the morning exam.
He had thought it was a discourse written by a scholar from the Medical Alliance.
And yet he had only started studying seriously a few months ago?
We didn't know and just thought he was a good-for-nothing, but in reality, a great roc was just waiting for its time to soar.
Calling his son a great roc.
He was a doting father who seemed to have thrown the virtue of humility to the wind, but Sama So was in no state to reprimand him.
What followed was even more spectacular.
The one who taught them medical arts was also that boy, Wi Ji-cheon? Impossible. Is that even possible?
One thought surfaced in Sama So's mind.
Could it be that this child is the one who received the blessing of the Earthly Spirit Star?
It wasn't certain yet.
However, it seemed the most likely possibility.
I have to confirm it.
Only the final subject remained.
An exam where they would diagnose a real patient.
A patient had been arranged in advance, but Sama So decided to change the problem.
You're telling us... to diagnose you, Master Ice Crane?
Yes. Find the hidden illness within me.
Ice Crane Sama So himself had decided to become the patient for the Medical Examination Ceremony!
How are we supposed to do that?
No. I've never heard that Elder Ice Crane suffers from a serious illness. It must be a common ailment that we can diagnose.
The other problems Sama So had given so far had been of a similar nature.
They were unexpected, but in hindsight, they were reasonable problems.
Problems they could have solved if their fundamentals were solid.
We have to make up for our scores this time.
The medical students, especially those who had been performing poorly, wore determined expressions.
And so, the final exam began.
I will place more importance on your approach to the diagnosis. Each of you will explain how you arrived at your conclusion.
The diagnosis of a disease is conducted through the Four Methods.
Observation with the eyes.
Listening and smelling.
Inquiry into the patient's history.
Palpation with the hands.
The medical students desperately tried to find Sama So's illness.
However.
Wrong. Your approach is also a mess.
The logical progression of your diagnosis wasn't bad. However, your interpretation of the Eight Principles was flawed.
You don't even have the basics down! And you call yourself a medical student?
No one gave the correct answer.
They were only divided into those who received relatively good evaluations for their approach and those who were harshly criticized.
Isn't this taking it too far?
Is this even an illness we can diagnose?
However, the observing family heads showed an unexpected reaction.
Instead of protesting the excessively difficult problem, they clicked their tongues in disapproval.
To think they can't even solve a problem like that.
It is certainly a tricky problem, but this is shameful. It seems we have failed in our education.
This is something any physician must know. Those rascals...
All the family heads blamed their own disciples' shortcomings rather than finding fault with the Ice Crane.
Even the head of the Hwajung Medical House, who had been looking resentfully at the Ice Crane, couldn't say a word and was only ashamed of his disciples.
This meant there was nothing wrong with the problem the Ice Crane had presented.
Finally.
It was Wi Ji-cheon's turn.
Let's see.
Sama So narrowed his eyes.
He already knew from the previous exams that Wi Ji-cheon was a brilliant talent.
He had scored the highest in every subject, after all.
However, he needed confirmation.
But how could he possibly confirm it?
It wasn't as if "Blessed by the Earthly Spirit Star" was written on his forehead.
One of the key signs of the Earthly Spirit Star's blessing is developed intuition. There's no way he can't solve a simple problem like this.
Meanwhile, Wi Ji-cheon was nervous before the diagnosis.
The Fiend Demon, nervous?
Although he had easily studied medical knowledge with the enlightenment he'd gained at the peak of the Transformation Realm, he was still a fledgling physician.
He had never seen a real patient.
A physician's knowledge only truly becomes their own after diagnosing patients; before that, it's just half-baked information.
It's just a diagnosis. I can do this.
If there is an illness, there is always a disturbance in the flow of ki.
There was no way Wi Ji-cheon wouldn't notice it.
I will begin the examination. Please forgive my impoliteness.
He began to take his pulse.
Following the Four Methods of Diagnosis.
How much time passed?
Wi Ji-cheon's eyebrow twitched.
What is this?
The result was completely unexpected.
There's no illness at all?
That was right.
Sama So's condition was perfectly normal!
This must be why no one could get the right answer.
The most important thing for a physician is to distinguish between normal and abnormal.
However, it was surprisingly difficult to confidently declare someone as normal.
This was because to know what is normal, one must know for certain what is abnormal.
What a trickster. No wonder he died young.
Wi Ji-cheon was about to say the answer, "normal," but he hesitated.
Then he remembered something he had overlooked.
Ice Crane Sama So dies a few years from now.
He's so healthy, so why does he die?
It was said that he passed away suddenly in his sleep one day.
But it was strange.
Why did it happen so suddenly?
Poisoning?
Unlikely.
A physician of his caliber would surely have noticed poison entering his body.
Sama So, who was renowned among the people, died so suddenly that the imperial court itself investigated the cause of death, but they found nothing in particular.
Sama So had died for, quite literally, no reason at all.
Could there have been a hidden illness? One that even Ice Crane Sama So couldn't detect.
It was an unrealistic thought.
This was Ice Crane Sama So, after all.
However, Wi Ji-cheon began to take his pulse once more.
It was on the off chance that he might find something.
A moment later.
This is?