Chapter 229
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 229
Chapter Title: Falling Sun Plum Blossoms: Baeksa
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Baeksa of the Falling Sun Plum Blossoms.
I had known of her reputation long before we ever met. I had always taken a keen interest in the state of affairs in the martial world, and Baeksa was a name that never failed to come up whenever people discussed the next World's Greatest Expert.
Rumors constantly circulated of her smashing mountain bandit lairs somewhere or rescuing common folk in distress.
Unlike the elders who bore the honor of their sect and thus rarely ventured out, direct disciples were naturally far more active.
The pride of the elders. The idol of the young third-generation disciples, still so impressionable.
As Huashan Sect's most promising direct disciple, it wasn't hard to imagine the immense expectations placed on her by everyone above and below.
"It seems there's a misunderstanding. My body and mind are stronger than ever."
And depression was an utterly foreign concept to martial artists.
Baeksa wiped the blood from her nose and instead tried to reassure me. She said that big and small injuries were commonplace during training for any martial artist, so there was no need to worry.
"I understand that your training is intense. If this had just been an accident from pushing your limits, I wouldn't be saying any of this."
But even to my untrained eyes back then, there were so many odd things about Baeksa's training regimen.
"Does Huashan Sect's cultivation method forbid sleep?"
I had to bring up her sect directly, figuring she wouldn't listen otherwise. Her face immediately hardened into a cold mask.
"There's no way we'd demand something so absurd. Even during closed-door training, we sleep."
I knew that too.
Martial artists were human, after all. They had to eat and sleep.
They avoided deriving pleasure from food, subsisting instead on nutrient pills for the bare minimum.
Some demonic sects added sleep-disrupting herbs to their pills to enforce asceticism, but that was rare.
And using meditation to replace sleep wasn't foolproof either.
"Then at least close your eyes for a bit. I'll wake you if anything comes up."
"I'll do that soon. I just can't sleep yet because I haven't finished today's training, so please retire to your quarters first, Physician."
"You shouldn't have to abuse your body just to fall asleep. Let me examine you properly, even if it's just for a moment."
"I'm healthy."
"There are clearly other issues besides sleep. Medication could..."
"Training right up until I fall asleep is just a long-standing habit. There's no need to worry at all."
I bickered with Baeksa for a while.
I realized her symptoms were so severe that unless she passed out cold, she could barely sleep at all.
But back then, I was still inexperienced and lacked the power to enforce anything.
If my martial prowess had surpassed hers, I could've made her lie down no matter what she said. But my physical strength was worlds apart from hers.
And I didn't have the fame to make her listen with a mere shout.
"If you won't sleep, Baeksa, then I won't either."
So I resorted to pure stubbornness.
"No, what are you..."
"I'll sit right here, so keep training until you're ready."
"Your body won't hold up!"
"Can't be helped."
I finally managed to get her to lie down on the bed.
"Hoo."
Of course, that didn't mean she fell asleep right away.
But it let me take her pulse and talk to her a bit more.
"Does lying still like this bring on a lot of stray thoughts?"
"Something like that. It's been quite a while since I hit a wall and my cultivation has stagnated."
Though she insisted she was fine, she wasn't the type to hide what was really bothering her.
She just saw hitting a wall and the emotional ups and downs that followed as par for the course.
"In the end, cultivation will provide the answer, just like always."
Huashan Sect, where geniuses gathered from across the world.
Even there, Baeksa hadn't stood out as a prodigy in her youth, she said.
There were countless talents, including the top disciples, but she simply repeated the training her master assigned.
And when she swung her sword, swung it again, and reached the pinnacle after swinging it yet again...
Those who had once been favored fell by the wayside on their own, and everyone turned to Baeksa.
"I must refine myself further to live up to the name of the Great Huashan Sect."
That day, I couldn't persuade her any more.
Unable to withstand the crashing waves of fatigue, I fell asleep before she did.
And when I opened my eyes at dawn...
"......"
Baeksa gripped her sword, gazing at the moon as she sobbed silently without tears.
I wanted to heal her. I couldn't bear to leave her like that.
If only I could lighten the sorrow, burden, and sense of responsibility she hid behind her bright, hearty smile.
"I'm completely fine now! I can even use lightness skill without any issues. Thank you, Physician."
A few days later, the injured martial artist recovered physically.
"Perfect timing. Those annoying events should be wrapping up soon. Let's head back!"
But I hadn't even begun treating the martial artist whose heart was in pain.
"Take the decoctions and ointments starting with the white ones. The first clears blood stasis and eases pain; the second boosts recovery."
"Got it. I'll take them properly. Thank you, Physician."
"And this is for you, Baeksa. Think of it as something to loosen the knots in your heart and smooth your qi flow."
"I told you I'm fine!"
"It'll help your training. I promise. Just try it for a month, even if you think you're being tricked."
Baeksa refused vehemently, but I secretly handed the medicine to her accompanying junior.
"It's a modified Clarity Heart Pill. If your inner turmoil surges and qi deviation seems imminent..."
"Qi deviation? For Senior Baeksa?"
"Just in case. For precautions' sake. Any other Huashan martial artist could use it too."
"Ah..."
"If it happens, give her the pill first and call for me right away."
He thanked me profusely and took both the pills and decoctions. Then the two departed my clinic.
I hoped she'd take the medicine and get better.
Or, as she said, find her own path.
Maybe she'd meet her master or some stroke of fortune to break through the wall.
Either way, I sincerely prayed for Baeksa's recovery.
And less than a hundred days later...
I met her again.
"Please, save her! If this child... If Huashan..."
Huashan Sect's Sect Leader had come in person, carrying Baeksa in his arms.
"I heard you foresaw Baeksa's qi deviation, Physician."
The Sect Leader's face twisted in anguish as he gazed at me imploringly.
"What happened? Did something occur in the meantime?"
"......It's all my fault. I wrongly burdened this child with the failures of raising my top disciple improperly, driving her relentlessly without support."
"What do you..."
"I shouldn't have said needless things. If I hadn't pushed her to manifest sword aura before Uncheon of Zhongnan, she never would have entered closed-door training..."
"No, she entered closed-door training?"
Closed-door seclusion.
Locking the door to the world, avoiding all contact, focusing solely on oneself.
For a depression patient, it was the absolute worst choice.
"I never imagined such a strong child could succumb to heart demons."
"Ha..."
What good would blaming him do?
I wanted to shout, Didn't you see her sobbing without tears? But treatment came first.
"Did you give her the emergency pill?"
"Yes. The elders and I rushed in and barely subdued her to administer it. We tried the decoction too, but she spilled more than half."
I laid her down, inserted needles, and listened to the Sect Leader's story.
As it turned out, he was responsible for at least thirty percent of her depression's cause.
He'd favored other disciples at first, but when Baeksa excelled, he praised her as Huashan's future and propped her up excessively.
She always insisted she lacked such ability, but he mistook it for a lack of confidence and pushed her even harder.
"If you gave her the pill right away, she'll be fine. I used a massive dose of musk."
Musk was a potent orifice-opening and qi-regulating drug. It cleared blocked meridians and awakened the mind.
I'd used up all my stock making it and asked the Sect Leader to procure more if possible.
"Of course. Thank you."
Only then did I release the acupoints he'd suppressed.
Bam. Bam. Bam. Bam.
Blood trickled from her forehead.
Her vision blurred by the red liquid, yet she kept slamming her head against the cave wall endlessly.
She couldn't sleep.
She couldn't cultivate.
Even channeling qi had become difficult.
Lying still and looking up, she saw not the cave ceiling but the chaos in her mind.
The more she swung her sword, the more rage welled up.
What if Uncheon breaks through the wall first?
Sealed away from everyone, thoughts crowded before her, beside her, behind her.
It could happen. I can just catch up. I was never the frontrunner anyway.
Bam. Bam. Boom.
No matter how she tried to banish them, the thoughts wouldn't fade.
Her qi grew increasingly turbid.
What if I'm the kind of person who can never manifest sword aura?
Not everyone reached the transcendent realm through effort alone.
It required rare talent, endless time, and serendipity. Maybe she lacked the first prerequisite.
If I fail forever... The Sect Leader will be disappointed. Everyone will mock me. Ah, it would've been better to die to some bandit's sword long ago.
Her chest felt like it would burst.
Something was terribly wrong.
Maybe I should've at least tried that medicine.
Trickle. Liquid flowed from her eyes too.
It had been ten years since she'd last cried.
And with it, her qi exploded.
"The fire from her heart seeped into her inner power, tangling her qi. Of course, a commoner with no qi in their dantian wouldn't have it burst outward. They'd just suffer internally."
"Baeksa's qi was so strong that the damage was worse."
"Yes. But she'll wake soon, and with enough medicine, now..."
"Physician! Ah, Sect Leader!"
As we spoke, Baeksa opened her eyes.
Though she could barely sit up yet, she tried to kneel and apologize to the Sect Leader.
"No, I'm the one who's sorry."
The Sect Leader embraced his disciple tightly.
"It's because I'm too weak."
"No, no. That's not true at all. Don't think of anything else—just focus on recovering. Even without sword aura, even if you're not the World's Greatest Expert, you're my most precious disciple."
Only then did tears finally flow from eyes that had merely streamed blood.
"Thank you, Physician."
Fortunately, everything went smoothly after that.
With the Sect Leader's persuasion, Baeksa submitted to drug treatment.
And I did my utmost to heal her heart within my abilities.
Then one day...
"I did it!"
Baeksa, incredibly...
broke through the wall in the backyard of my clinic.
"Until now, no matter what I tried, nothing worked. Even starving myself, reciting incantations endlessly, swinging my sword until my limbs broke..."
"You only hurt your body..."
"But after taking the Divine Physician's medicine, I simply felt the principles of qi knotting and unknotting in my heart! Enlightenment came to me!"
I couldn't comprehend it at the time.
But it was clearly an astonishing result.
I congratulated her sincerely and felt myself grow as a physician.
"Divine Physician! You truly are one!"
Though calling me that all over town was a bit much.
The Heavenly Demon had dubbed me so first, but she only told a select few.
Unlike the rare demonic cultist who visited in disguise, Baeksa and the Huashan Sect Leader's fuss drew every righteous martial artist to my clinic.
And it nearly landed me in prison... Sigh.
She defended me more vigorously than even my master, but those were tough times regardless.
Well, having been through that, I'm not fazed by tricky patients anymore.
"Director, Mr. Lim Ju-eon is here. Should we consult with his mother together?"
Even Hwang Sanghun and Lee Areum struggled with patients lacking insight or those with comorbid mental illnesses.
But I'd seen it all.
"We'll see them together first, then separately if needed."
A nearly convinced patient and an overly loving guardian were pretty straightforward, all things considered.
"I thought Ju-eon was struggling from high school stress since he's a senior, but depression... It really seems that way. What should we do? Should he stop studying?"
"Ah, Mom. They said it'll be fine with medicine and treatment."
I smiled calmly at mother and son.
"Exactly. As I told Ju-eon, he'll be okay. Right now, rather than dropping school and studies, maintaining daily life and interacting with people is actually better."