Chapter 60
Chapter 60
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 60
Chapter Title: The Jiyuan Baek Clan
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It had been three days since Dang Mujin and Yi Chung began treating patients.
They had examined everyone in the village at least once, so it was about time to move on.
That's when a man who appeared to be in his early forties entered the inn.
His neatly dressed physician's robes were lightly dusted with dirt, and his skin was whiter than that of an ordinary person, suggesting a life free of hard labor. There were few wrinkles on his hands.
As the man scanned the inside of the inn and approached Yi Chung and Dang Mujin, the two immediately recognized what he was.
A distinctive bittersweet yet fragrant scent of angelica root wafted from his clothes, unique to experienced physicians.
The physician clasped his hands in greeting toward Yi Chung.
"I am Seop Yong, a physician from the neighboring village of Jiyuan. Are you the physician who has been tending to the patients here?"
"Indeed. You're the one who stops by this village from time to time?"
"Yes. I only come once or twice a month, so it's hardly enough to call proper care."
"Thanks to that care, you've saved more than one or two lives. You're too modest."
Praise uncharacteristic of Yi Chung. But Dang Mujin didn't think it excessive.
For a physician to leave his clinic was no small feat.
At minimum, one needed to carry nearly fifty types of herbs to treat even basic ailments. It was hard to make a fortune, yet easy to earn resentment.
On top of that came the psychological burden of leaving one's home village, and the forfeiture of rest days.
A physician who volunteered for house calls over long distances was undoubtedly an admirable person.
Seop Yong spoke amiably.
"As soon as I entered the village today, I expected a crowd of patients, but no one came to greet me. I worried I'd done something wrong last time. Then I heard you'd been examining them. My thanks."
"I merely took a look at the patients you'd already treated and boasted about it."
Goosebumps rose on Dang Mujin's arms.
Anyone else might not notice, but seeing Yi Chung set the mood and exchange pleasantries felt utterly awkward.
"You're too modest. Lady So from the plum tree house looked remarkably better. I'd attended her for months with no improvement."
"I don't recall any Lady So."
"The one with the high nose bridge, showing knotty pulse and mirror tongue. She said symptoms started after giving birth to her third child."
"Ah, now I remember. I gave her pills with raw licorice, dried rehmannia, and cinnamon. Since it wasn't a major gynecological issue, tonifying the spleen was enough."
"Ah, such a method exists. What if mirror tongue and crane knee wind occur together?"
"It depends on constitution, but crane knee wind doesn't heal quickly. Prescribe Yigan Powder and observe for at least two years—"
Sensing their chatter would drag on, Dang Mujin quietly slipped out of the inn with Dan Seoryeong.
After wandering the village with her for about half a shichen, they returned.
Seop Yong gazed at Yi Chung with a warm expression, while Yi Chung waited, bags packed.
"Hurry and pack. We're going to the next village with Physician Seop."
"Not our original route, but the neighboring village all of a sudden?"
"Yes. There's a patient whose illness baffles him."
"What are the symptoms?"
"Cold limbs, pale skin, and occasional hemoptysis."
"Nothing special."
Hemoptysis was serious, but not rare.
"The issue is none of the sensible prescriptions have helped at all."
"Did he try Erchen Xiong Gui Decoction or Astragalus Turtle Shell Decoction?"
"Yes."
If so, he'd tried everything worth attempting.
Dang Mujin's curiosity stirred. For a physician, seeing one unusual patient was more valuable than dozens of ordinary ones.
"Let's go then. I'm curious about the symptoms myself."
Dang Mujin's group packed up with Seop Yong and left the village.
*
The next day around noon, they arrived in the neighboring village of Jiyuan.
"Can you examine the patient right away?"
"Of course."
Seop Yong led the group south through the village.
There stood a mansion surrounded by an endlessly long wall. As Yi Chung walked along it, something clicked, and he asked Seop Yong.
"Is this the Wall of Ten Thousand?"
"Yes."
"Then the patient is from the Jiyuan Baek Clan?"
"Correct. The clan's only daughter is ill."
Dang Mujin interjected.
"Know them?"
"Not particularly. It's a famous clan that produced notables."
"Who?"
"The Sword King was the Jiyuan Baek Clan's patriarch."
"The Sword King?"
A powerful title. Nicknames tended to be short and concise for the truly skilled—like Divine Victory or Wandering Immortal.
Conversely, those with place names or lengthy titles were nobodies.
The Ja-yang Twin Killers he'd met in Zhuul Village were prime examples. He'd nearly died to those nobodies, but anyway.
"The Sword King was a transcendent master who died in the last Orthodox-Righteous War. Highly enlightened and of impeccable character, he was widely praised."
"But I've never heard of the Jiyuan Baek Clan."
Dang Mujin knew several renowned martial clans: Nangong, Zhuge, Murong, or Hebei Peng.
Jiyuan Baek Clan was unfamiliar—even the name Jiyuan was new to him today.
"The Jiyuan Baek Clan was originally small. Your hometown had tiny sects or clans too, right? Ones with barely ten martial artists."
"Plenty."
Dang Mujin knew several.
Their ambitions weren't to become great sects or clans. Hearing "mid-tier sect" once was a dream.
But it was unattainable. Simply put, the level of their martial arts was too low.
With patriarchs barely scraping first-rate, they couldn't leap to mid-tier.
Some rude martial artists mocked such groups as "third-rate breeding grounds" or "escort training camps."
"And from such a small clan came a transcendent master? They must've found some amazing manual."
"No. He broke through to transcendent with an ordinary, unremarkable sword style passed down in the Baek family."
"...How?"
"Overwhelming talent."
"That's impossible."
Martial arts level was a hard barrier to overcome.
Knowing this, many mid- and small-sect martial artists from Sichuan humbly joined Qingcheng Sect's lay branches.
Most achieved some success, large or small. Martial arts level mattered more than personal talent.
Even between Qingcheng's branch and a small sect, the gap was vast. How much greater between the main sect and a minor clan?
For a small sect martial artist to pierce the transcendent wall the Qingcheng leader couldn't—it was absurd. A chick pecking a hawk to death was more believable.
"True, it's absurd. But the Sword King was a genius who could pull it off. That's why countless mourned his death. He was the hope of third-rate martial artists and frontier clans."
Yi Chung spoke, hand on the wall.
"This Wall of Ten Thousand of the Jiyuan Baek Clan wasn't built by the Baeks. When so many wanted to be retainers during the Sword King's life that the gate couldn't accommodate them, the retainers pooled money to build this new wall. Hence the name."
"But the Jiyuan Baek Clan isn't famous now."
"A clan can't be sustained by one person's might. To carry such fame, his heirs needed equal genius. But genius doesn't guarantee lineage."
As they shared this realistic, bitter talk, they reached the gate.
Seop Yong knocked repeatedly on the large, weathered knocker. Thud thud, thud thud.
After a long wait, a frail old man appeared to greet them.
"Physician Seop. What brings you?"
"The physician I brought will examine the young lady. Take us to the patriarch."
"Won't you join us, Physician Seop?"
"I've left my clinic for two days; I must return."
"Understood."
Seop Yong departed, and Dang Mujin's group followed the old man into the Jiyuan Baek Clan compound.
The courtyard was larger than several Shaolin training grounds combined, and the buildings were crude but massive.
Most doors were locked, dusted white, and a faint chill permeated the grounds. Few seemed to live inside the walls.
Dang Mujin imagined the Baek Clan in the Sword King's era.
To build such a clan on personal renown alone, how incredible must the Sword King have been?
Then a man with beaded sweat on his forehead approached.
"What brings you here?"
He held a scabbard, as if he'd just finished sword practice.
The guiding elder replied.
"Physician Seop brought them and his group. They're here for the young lady's illness."
"Oh, important guests. I'll guide you from here."
The elder left, and the man wiped his brow with his sleeve, introducing himself.
"I am Baek Chuseo, current patriarch of the Jiyuan Baek Clan. 'Patriarch' is a stretch with fewer than ten people inside these walls."
"Numbers aren't the issue. I am Yi Geun."
Yi Chung gave a false name. Too many knew his real one unfavorably, so he often used aliases with strangers.
"Pleased to meet you, Physician Yi. And the two behind you?"
"The boy's a young physician I picked up along the way, and the girl is a tagalong. No need to mind them."
Yi Chung introduced Dang Mujin and Dan Seoryeong arbitrarily.
It wasn't entirely absurd, so they nodded sullenly. No desire to bicker before strangers.
Baek Chuseo led them into the sole pristine building.
At its deepest room was a spacious chamber.
Baek Chuseo opened the door, revealing a girl of seventeen or eighteen sitting there.
"My only daughter, Baek Hyanga."
Baek Hyanga had a strikingly unnatural appearance.
Her skin was white like someone who'd never seen sunlight—no, not white, but pallid or translucent.
Not emaciated from malnutrition, yet veins stood out sharply on the back of her hand exposed beyond her sleeve.
As Dang Mujin stared at the girl, Dan Seoryeong beside him glanced at his face.
She stepped back, staring at her own sun-tanned hand, her expression turning grave.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing. Never mind."
Yi Chung also studied Baek Hyanga, rummaging through memories, then announced matter-of-factly.
"I'll take her pulse."
Yi Chung closed his eyes, grasping Baek Hyanga's wrist.
After a long while, he beckoned Dang Mujin.
"You try pulsing her too."
Dang Mujin took her wrist. He felt her body temperature first.
Despite being indoors, it was as low as if she'd roamed outside for hours.
Pulse rate was fine, but weak and irregular. That was all pulse alone revealed.
Yi Chung had pulsed longer, likely infusing qi to check symptoms.
Dang Mujin sent a thin thread of internal energy into Baek Hyanga's wrist. He sensed something alien.
His energy couldn't advance past certain points in her meridians.
Several major meridians were blocked. Or severed? Hard to tell.
'Yingu, Qimen, Zhangmen, and what other acupoint is blocked?'
He had no idea what illness it was. Releasing her wrist with a puzzled look, Yi Chung asked Baek Chuseo.
"When did your daughter's temperature drop like this?"
"She was normal before, but around six or seven, she started feeling cold. I thought it'd pass, but it didn't."
"Around then, didn't she get stomachaches from pears, apples, millet, or mung beans?"
"Yes."
"Hemoptysis began at twelve or thirteen?"
"Exactly. Did Physician Seop tell you?"
"No. I've seen similar symptoms before."
"You know the illness? What is it?"
Finally learning his daughter's condition. Hope flickered in Baek Chuseo's eyes.
Yi Chung answered.
"Severed Meridians."