Chapter 3
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 3
Chapter Title: The Heavenly Immortal Divine Arts
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Jang Sam let out a sneer.
What a load of pompous nonsense.
The fact that the Medical Immortal Medical House treated patients without accepting payment simply meant they were providing relief to the poor who couldn't afford it.
It was something that should be praised, yet here this man was, denouncing it?
But the man continued his impassioned speech.
If they dont accept proper payment, the people will grow accustomed to getting things for free. This will gradually have a negative impact on other medical houses, leading to the decline of the medical profession itself.
So, what youre saying is that the Medical Immortal Medical House is getting in the way of your business?
N-no, thats not it
What do you mean, thats not it? I understand. Of course, a mans got to protect his livelihood. Whether we swing our blades or you esteemed doctors poke with your needles, were all just trying to make a living.
Nanyang was a hub of transportation.
While there were no major factions, countless smaller ones scrambled for the scraps.
The same was true for the medical houses.
There were over five medical houses in Nanyang alone.
One could say the doctors were in a state of excessive competition.
Still, is there really a need to worry about the Medical Immortal Medical House? Honestly, in terms of influence, they dont even come close to you two, the Two Great Medical Houses of Nanyang, do they?
Its past reputation as the World's Greatest Medical House was now a fleeting memory; the Medical Immortal Medical House was in a state of miserable decline.
The leading medical houses in Nanyang were the two families known as the Great Houses.
Our House Master is bothered by Wi Ji-seon, the head of the Medical Immortal Medical House. There are rumors circulating that Wi Ji-seon is the greatest doctor in Nanyang. Of course, its just nonsense spread by those ignorant of medicine.
Jang Sam nodded.
The Medical Immortal Medical House, how should he put it, lacked business acumen.
They were stubbornly focused solely on treating patients.
They were even located in a remote corner of Nanyang Fortress, where the poor who couldn't afford treatment mostly resided.
The medical profession is a business, after all. To prosper, you need to grease the palms of the powerful. So hopelessly old-fashioned, tsk tsk.
However, the fact that they survived in the fiercely competitive Nanyang without resorting to such tricks was also a testament to the remarkable skill of the Medical Immortal Medical House.
If you, Great Warrior, help us set the medical profession in Nanyang on the right path, our Two Great Medical Houses will never forget this kindness.
At the mention of a great reward, Jang Sam nodded.
As he had noted before, the Medical Immortal Medical House had no backing, so there was no need to worry about repercussions.
Of course, it pricked his conscience a little, but he was a man of the underworld. He couldn't survive by worrying about his conscience.
Alright. What exactly do you need me to do?
We have a plan. First, after you receive treatment from the head, Wi Ji-seon
And so, with that vile voice, dark clouds began to gather over the Medical Immortal Medical House.
Wi Ji-cheon observed his own interior.
The Medical Immortal Divine Arts is only at the first level. Thats to be expected, since Ive never treated a patient.
The Medical Immortal Divine Arts was not a martial art.
It was a medical art meant for healing patients.
It could be considered a type of marvelous art.
Its a technique that aids in taking the pulse, guiding qi, harmonizing yin and yang, and promoting longevity and health.
It wasn't anything special.
Most respectable medical houses had their own medical arts.
He recalled what his father had told him when he first encountered the Medical Immortal Divine Arts as a child.
-This art is a secret technique of our family and must never be revealed to outsiders. This is the will of our ancestors, and you must firmly uphold this vow.
Then, his father had added sheepishly.
-To be honest, Im not sure why our ancestors considered such an unremarkable art so important.
Father doesnt know the true nature of this Medical Immortal Divine Arts. But that was intentionally orchestrated by our ancestors.
In the past, several hundred years ago.
Even before the Medical Immortal Medical House was called the World's Greatest Medical House.
Back when the Medical Immortal Medical House was first established.
There was a genius.
-Existing medical arts are insufficient. I must create a new medical art with far superior effects for treating patients.
That genius, who would have likely become a grandmaster had he walked the path of a martial artist, spent long years creating the incredible medical art, the Medical Immortal Divine Arts.
The Medical Immortal Divine Arts possessed effects on a completely different level from other medical arts, and based on that art, the Medical Immortal Medical House was able to earn its reputation as the World's Greatest Medical House.
It was a later generation that realized the problem with the Medical Immortal Divine Arts.
-The Medical Immortal Divine Arts is no simple medical art. It is a cursed thing that could stain the world with blood.
To put the art's effects in a single phrase, it was the ability to sense, control, and manipulate qi.
Illness is, in the end, a disruption of Essence, Qi, and Spirit.
The art helps in treating patients by correcting the flow of qi.
However, this effect wasn't limited to just treating patients.
It could also be applied to learning and performing martial arts.
Think about it.
What if one used the medical art to help guide true qi when consuming an elixir? One could absorb the elixirs energy with far greater efficiency.
And it wasn't just elixirs.
What about when learning a Heart Method?
What about other martial arts?
All martial arts in the world are ultimately about controlling the flow of qi. The level of a martial art is determined by how efficiently and perfectly one can handle this flow of qi.
Martial arts classified as second-rate or third-rate often have flows of qi that are not entirely smooth.
In a first-rate martial art, the flow of qi is unobstructed. This seamless flow of qi creates the powerful might of the martial art.
And what about a supreme martial art? Especially those called divine arts?
The flow of qi is like a great sea, containing the principles of the universe and all its creations.
But what if one could handle this flow of qi even more efficiently through a medical art?
It becomes possible to advance the level of a martial art by a step.
A second or third-rate martial art could produce might surpassing a first-rate one, and with a first-rate art, one wouldn't even envy those with supreme or divine arts.
What about those who had already mastered a divine art? Even divine arts are not perfect. By correcting their minute flaws, a divine art could be elevated to a new stage.
And at the level of a divine art, such an advancement meant the birth of a peerless, world-shaking technique of a completely different dimension.
Of course, this is all just an impossible fantasy.
In the first place, each martial art has its specific flow of qi because that is the most efficient form for that particular art.
Carelessly tampering with a martial art's inherent flow of qi was more likely to cause problems, leading to qi deviation.
But the Medical Immortal Divine Arts is a divine art that makes the impossible possible.
The difference between the Medical Immortal Divine Arts and other medical arts was its perfect control over qi.
There would be no qi deviation from improper guidance of qi. On the contrary, it would even perfectly supplement the deficient parts of each martial art's unique qi flow.
A terrifying effect.
And that wasn't the only astonishing thing about the Medical Immortal Divine Arts.
What is a human being?
What is illness, and what does it mean to heal that illness?
All things in the universe are composed of Yin-Yang and the Five Elements, and when a person falls ill, it means there is a problem in their relationship within that cosmos.
This is called the correspondence between heaven and humanity, and to study medicine is to study this very relationship between humanity and the heavens.
In other words, the deeper one studies medicine, the deeper one's insight into the relationship between humanity and the heavens becomes.
Of course, this is the theoretical principle; no one studies medicine this way nowadays.
The current approach to medicine is to identify the cause of each individual disease and treat it with the appropriate method.
This isn't because the traditional medical theory was wrong.
It could also be attributed to the limitations of a doctor's abilities.
How many people in the world possess the insight to comprehend the principles of the world and humanity?
In the end, they had no choice but to focus on individual diseases, and that became the prevailing trend.
The Medical Immortal Divine Arts is different.
The principles of this relationship between humanity and the cosmos are woven into the Medical Immortal Divine Arts.
Therefore, as one's level in the Medical Immortal Divine Arts rises, one's understanding of the origin of the world and humanity naturally deepens.
The cruel irony was that these principles didn't just apply to medicine.
They applied equally to martial arts.
Martial arts are, in the end, a process of studying and realizing the relationship between the world and myself.
This realization becomes especially crucial at the supreme realm and the transcendent realm beyond it.
Countless people wasted decades, unable to advance a single step because they couldn't attain that sliver of enlightenment.
This is why the Medical Immortal Divine Arts came to be called the Heavenly Immortal Divine Arts.
A divine art created by a heavenly immortal, containing the secrets of the world.
It would be strange for anyone not to be captivated by such a divine art.
In the end, the ancestors of the Medical Immortal Medical House decided to secretly discard the Heavenly Immortal Divine Arts before its secrets could spread to the world.
A wise choice. They wouldnt have had the power to protect it anyway.
The Medical Immortal Medical House split the Heavenly Immortal Divine Arts into two.
The core part and the supplementary part.
And the family also branched off.
The main family, the Medical Immortal Medical House, inherited the core Medical Immortal Divine Arts.
The branch family, the White Immortal Medical House, inherited the supplementary verses.
Thats right.
That White Immortal Medical House.
The enemy that would later bring about the downfall of the Medical Immortal Medical House.
The two had originally been sibling families.
Thats why that bastard Jo Baek-il approached me so familiarly, telling me to call him uncle. My family and I were foolishly deceived.
Wi Ji-cheon finished his line of thought.
Now, it was time to become strong.
Training my internal energy or my body is difficult to do in the short term.
The fastest and most certain way to become stronger was to recover his past enlightenment.
I will immediately recover my state up to the supreme realm. The disharmony can be resolved gradually.
Anyone knowledgeable in martial arts would dismiss this as a ludicrous notion.
To advance one's realm, the harmony of body, energy, and spirit is essential.
But if only one's enlightenment reached the supreme realm, that harmony would be broken, inevitably leading to disasters like inner demons or qi deviation.
That's why the 'vessel' must always be completed first before the realm can be raised, with enlightenment filling it last.
However, it was fine.
Such trivial problems can be corrected with the Heavenly Immortal Divine Arts.
Wi Ji-cheon decided to first raise his realm as a demonic practitioner. The power of the Heavenly Immortal Divine Arts could perfectly conceal his demonic energy, so there was nothing to worry about.
Of course, he planned to learn the arts of the righteous path in the future. He had no intention of living in hiding as a demonic practitioner.
Using the Heavenly Immortal Divine Arts, it was even possible to prevent the righteous and the demonic from clashing.
A divine art this overpowered no wonder everyone coveted it.
Wi Ji-cheon looked into his inner self.
There were countless paths to reach the supreme realm, but there was one essential enlightenment.
To stand whole within the world and define one's own existence.
I am an Asura.
But the path he intended to walk this time was different.
Not an Asura who harms others, but one who protects those I hold dear!