Chapter 70
Chapter 70
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 70
Chapter Title: Walnut Tree
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Dang Mujin recalled the Strange Physician's story.
—My wife and daughter didn't die because there was no doctor who could cure their illness. It wasn't because there were no herbs or money, either. They died simply because the doctor in my hometown didn't know the knowledge that other doctors possessed.
—That's why I became a physician. To gather all the medical arts of the world in one place.
The Strange Physician's goal was to compile all the world's medical knowledge into one source, and his dream was a world free of suffering from disease.
At first glance, it sounded noble, but it was also an utterly bizarre dream.
People's dreams usually center on themselves. I will become the greatest in the world. I will become the richest man in this region—that sort of thing.
But when the dream's subject becomes someone else, it starts to feel a bit off. My dream is for you to become the greatest in the world. Become the richest man in this region.
The Strange Physician's dream went a step further. There was no subject at all. It didn't matter who became the top physician and gained fame, or who amassed a fortune through medicine. He didn't even care who practiced it.
Looking back, the Strange Physician's dream wasn't so much a personal aspiration as a collective goal. Something no single person could achieve alone.
Knowing how burdensome such a dream was, the Strange Physician needed someone to carry it on. And the one he chose was Dang Mujin.
—You owe me a debt.
—Just remember that you owe me, and you'll be fine.
The Strange Physician had emphasized the debt because he wanted Dang Mujin to pursue his dream, whether he wanted to or not. Dang Mujin let out a sigh.
"Old man. Why didn't you just tell me straight?"
Now it was clear whom the Strange Physician had gone to find.
He had devoted his life to gathering Central Plains medicine, becoming one of the Three Great Physicians of the world and compiling his knowledge into medical texts.
Second, after killing the Traveling Physician, he seized the Myriad Illness Manual and passed it to Dang Mujin. Now two of the Three Great Physicians' arts were in Dang Mujin's hands.
That left only the Demon Physician, the third.
But like anyone else, Dang Mujin knew little about the Demon Physician.
They said his skill at saving lives was exceptional, but his talent for killing was even more extraordinary. He was more familiar with poisons than medicines. He rarely emerged from Xinjiang.
"Did the old man head into Xinjiang? Charge alone into Demonic Cult territory to steal the Demon Physician's medical text?"
Dang Mujin shook his head. No, that couldn't be. The Strange Physician wasn't a fool.
His plan wouldn't end with just seizing the text. He intended to return to Huizhou's walnut tree with it, so he must have found a way more reliable than venturing into Xinjiang himself.
So what was that method?
As Dang Mujin pondered, he looked up to see Dan Seolyeong's round eyes staring at him.
Though he hadn't explained anything, she seemed to sense something from his demeanor. Some kind of intuition, perhaps.
"What are you thinking?"
Dang Mujin started to explain the situation but stopped himself.
He planned to search for the Strange Physician. It wouldn't be a problem to travel with her to safe places like Fengshang or Huizhou, but this time, depending on circumstances, he might have to go as far as the Demonic Cult's outskirts in Xinjiang.
Instead of answering Dan Seolyeong's question, Dang Mujin asked one of his own.
"Seolyeong."
"Yeah?"
"If we had to go to Luoyang or Chengdu from here, where would you want to go?"
"Chengdu."
Her immediate reply.
Dan Seolyeong hadn't forgotten the resolve she made when leaving Mount Song. Life in Luoyang was enjoyable, but it was merely a stopover on the way to Chengdu with Dang Mujin.
Dang Mujin untied the money pouch from his waist and placed it in her hand. It jingled heavily with a fair amount of silver coins.
"Use this for travel expenses and head to Chengdu first. Ask the locals where the Dang family clinic is—they'll tell you. Then find my father, explain everything, and he'll give you a clean room."
Instead of replying, Dan Seolyeong studied Dang Mujin's expression.
His face looked the same as always. Anyone else might not notice a difference, but she could sense the subtle tension. Unlike usual, he was stiff.
She took his hand. Instinctively, she realized he had made some dangerous decision.
Pushing the money pouch away, she said,
"I don't know what's going on, but let's go together. I won't blame you if something happens."
"No."
"Why not? I've been practicing the lightness skill you taught me."
Dan Seolyeong clumsily mimicked the lightness skill.
But she had no internal energy to speak of, and she'd only learned it a few days ago. It was worse than just walking normally.
Besides, lightness skills didn't solve every problem. Unless one was a master of the world's best movement techniques.
"No."
"Why? At least tell me where you're going!"
"I'm sorry. But it won't be anything serious. Go ahead and wait for me—I'll head to Chengdu soon."
"If it's nothing serious, why can't I go?"
"..."
He had no good retort. Instead of answering, Dang Mujin silently turned his head.
Dan Seolyeong fell silent for a long while too.
The lengthy quiet ended with her deep sigh. She wasn't foolish enough to push her stubbornness endlessly.
"Fine. But give me three days before you go. No, two days at least."
"Why?"
"There's something I want to give you."
"...Okay."
Dan Seolyeong and Dang Mujin descended the hill and entered the Huizhou leader's inn.
Dan Seolyeong holed up in her room and didn't come out for two days.
*
When Dan Seolyeong finally emerged, she held a wooden cylinder in her hand.
Without much explanation, she held it out to Dang Mujin.
"Take it."
Dang Mujin examined the cylinder. It was just shy of a full handspan in length. At a glance, it resembled an incense burner, but it was too thick for that. The diameter looked to be at least two finger widths.
"What's this?"
"I thought it might come in handy someday, so I designed and made it in my spare time while working. I didn't expect to finish it in such a rush."
Dan Seolyeong pointed to the side of the cylinder. A long leather strap dangled from it like a tail.
"If something urgent comes up, grab this strap and pull hard. As hard as you can without tearing the leather."
Then she ran her thumb over a slightly protruding part on the bottom.
"And press here. The taut strap will snap, shooting the needles inside forward."
Dan Seolyeong gestured with her hands, mimicking something spinning around. Whether the needles spun as they flew or some internal mechanism rotated, he couldn't tell.
Dang Mujin decided not to overthink it. Just as Dan Seolyeong struggled to understand his medicine or metallurgy, he couldn't fully grasp the principles behind her inventions.
"Pull the strap and press the back, and needles shoot out the front?"
"Right."
"Like a one-use slingshot or bow?"
"Exactly. But don't underestimate it because it's small. It'll be far more powerful than most bows or slingshots."
While in Luoyang, Dan Seolyeong had often asked Dang Mujin to make things for her.
She'd requested unusable or broken needles, and asked him to carve small parts multiple times. This must have been for the cylinder.
She continued her explanation.
"Once you pull the strap, use it as quickly as possible before the leather loses tension. At most within one or two ke. And don't store it unused for too long. If the leather degrades, it becomes useless."
"Got it. What's this cylinder called?"
"Hmm. I haven't thought of a name. Heavenly King Needle Tube?"
"Fancy name."
"If I call it something weak like Little Bee Needle Tube, you won't reach for it in a crisis."
So it was meant to inspire confidence even in danger.
Dang Mujin chuckled lightly and pulled Dan Seolyeong into a hug. She was a bit grubby from not washing, but she didn't smell bad. Instead, there was a faint sweet scent of skin.
Startled by his sudden action, Dan Seolyeong stiffened briefly. But soon she spread her arms and wrapped them around his waist. They stayed like that for a long while.
Others might have mocked it as child's play.
But for these two awkward people, it was enough. Sometimes, clumsiness made certain things possible.
Dang Mujin released her, stood, and looked into her eyes.
"I'll be there soon, so wait in Chengdu. Got it?"
"Got it."
Dan Seolyeong stared right back at him.
Dang Mujin smiled as confidently as she did, then left the inn.
Now it was time to follow the Strange Physician's trail.
*
The Demon Physician rarely left Xinjiang unless something special came up.
To be precise, he had no reason to leave. He could obtain almost everything he needed there—materials for experiments, assistants, and subjects.
But conversely, that meant something special could draw him out.
And the appearance of a zhen bird qualified as special even by his standards.
The zhen bird was a large bird with purplish-green feathers. Its size and head crest were unusual, but its fame across the world stemmed not from its appearance, but its poison.
Ordinary birds have no poison. But the zhen bird did. From youth, it fed solely on venomous creatures like vipers, adders, scorpions, and centipedes, accumulating toxins in its body.
The zhen bird's poison was so potent that touching it rotted the hand. It blinded the eyes on contact.
There were even tales that crops withered and died beneath it as it flew over fields.
The poison grew even deadlier if ingested.
No one who tasted even a bit of zhen bird meat had survived, and liquor brewed with its feathers had no special flavor or aroma, making it ideal for assassinations.
To the Demon Physician, who favored poisons over medicines despite being a doctor, the zhen bird's venom was invaluable.
The problem was their extreme rarity. They were scarce to begin with, and even scarcer lately.
Even the Demon Physician, who could procure most things, struggled to obtain a live zhen bird, let alone a single feather.
Worse, it wasn't a bird ordinary hunters could catch. Who would hunt something that rotted hands on touch?
To get a zhen bird, the Demon Physician had to go himself.
He had waited years for news of one, and upon hearing of a sighting in Qinghai Province, he immediately set out in a carriage.
Qinghai was one of the Central Plains' vastest regions.
But with so few inhabitants, encountering people was rare. Villages appeared only after days of travel.
To make matters worse, a furious blizzard howled.
The carriage slowed to a walking pace, but the Demon Physician didn't mind.
Then, abruptly, the slowly advancing carriage halted. Thinking it was dodging a pothole, he waited, but it didn't resume after some time.
Should he ask what happened? As he considered, one door burst open. A man in black clothes appeared.
The Demon Physician's attendants all wore black too, so the attire wasn't odd.
The issue was that instead of reporting the situation, the man casually sat beside him.
"Whew, damn cold. My hands and feet are frozen solid."
The man brushed snow from his clothes carelessly and shut the door.
"Who are you?"
When the Demon Physician asked, the black-clad man replied incredulously.
"Rude punk. Not even 'Who might you be?' but 'Who are you?' Where'd you learn manners like that?"
"Answer me."
"If your elder made you wait months in this frozen Qinghai backwater, shouldn't you start with an apology?"
Grumbling, the man removed his mask. A middle-aged face with graying sideburns emerged. It matched a face in the Demon Physician's memory. Yi Chung, the Strange Physician.
Yi Chung demanded boldly, as if reclaiming entrusted property.
"Demon Physician. You've written a medical text too, right? Hand it over quick."
"Medical text? Nonsense. I don't write such things."
The Demon Physician dismissed it, but Yi Chung spoke as if he knew better.
"As if. Physicians are born obsessed with leaving records. Countless martial artists die without secret manuals, but I've never seen a doctor who didn't leave at least one medical text before dying. Even stubborn old codgers who want to sever a lineage's medical heritage can't destroy every last text."
The Demon Physician chuckled dryly. Yi Chung wasn't wrong.
Novice physicians routinely record symptoms and prescriptions.
Over time, the records accumulate, and with careful organization, they become medical texts. The Demon Physician had followed the same path.
But he had no intention of handing it over willingly. Especially not to someone who had slaughtered his attendants and boarded without invitation.
Dark mist-like poison qi enveloped his palms. In a chilling voice, the Demon Physician said,
"Too bad. You won't have time to write one before you die."
"Me?"
Yi Chung tugged his lip into a smirk.
"Of course I left one behind. You bastard."