Chapter 66: Divine Doctor (3)

I slowly started explaining the situation to Mae Hwa-seon, but I couldn’t possibly tell him everything.

So, I told him the truth, with nothing but truth, but not the whole truth.

“…First, I left the clan and continued to carry the demonic artifact with me.”

I excluded the details about the demonic cultivation, just saying that after finishing my training and falling asleep at night, I woke up with increased energy.

Honestly speaking, I had nothing else to explain.

Because I genuinely just woke up in the morning having absorbed the energy.

I debated whether I should mention Elder Shin, but decided against it for now.

I thought it would be right to bring it up after discussing it with Elder Shin.

Explaining the situation didn’t take too long.

Once the brief explanation was over, Mae Hwa-seon stroked his beard.

Would he really believe me? Honestly, even I found it hard to believe.

As expected, Mae Hwa-seon spoke with a troubled expression.

“It’s a story that’s hard to believe easily…”

Jjoreureuk.

In the brief silence that followed, the sound of Mae Hwa-seon pouring tea seemed particularly loud.

“The story about absorbing the demonic artifact’s energy, and how outsiders shouldn’t possess such energy, and the fact that you actually have it – it’s all unbelievable.”

“Yes, I know.”

The coexistence of different energies.

Moreover, their fundamental natures were different.

Not just the Nine Yang Fire Wheel Technique, but also the domineering energy possessed by other Fire Masters.

And the Taoist energy harbored by Taoists is diametrically opposed.

This means a combination of the natural flow and the radical intent to destroy anything that obstructs it coexists.

It’s amazing enough that I broke through to the 4th star with such an absurd combination.

It was even more miraculous that I was walking around fine without falling into demonic cultivation deviation.

I couldn’t know for sure if this was due to the demonic cultivation (魔功), but…

There was no other explanation.

If it weren’t for this damn ability, shackled like a leash even after regression, there’s no way such a ridiculous situation would have happened to my body.

‘…Hoo.’

Mae Hwa-seon was still looking me in the eye.

“In such a situation, I sense the Plum Blossom energy, which only a few disciples of the main sect possess, within you.”

The energy hidden within my dantian.

It was something I hadn’t sensed myself either, after Elder Shin mentioned hiding the scent.

Mae Hwa-seon seemed to sense it immediately.

Ultimately, whether intentional or not, this had clearly become a troublesome matter.

If someone from the Hua San Sect, from the opposing side, were practicing the main family’s Nine Yang Fire Wheel Technique, especially if their level was quite high.

This was a grave enough matter that the clan head, not just anyone, would have to step in personally to verify it.

“I don’t think you’re lying, but it’s not an easily believable story, and as the Sect Leader, I must verify it.”

“Yes…”

“Fortunately, it seems there were no major issues with the demonic artifact…”

No issues?

When did he check after just throwing that out…?

‘Checking amidst all this?’

If he were to check, what method would he use?

Firstly, it wouldn’t be a method that harms the dantian or the body.

In the first place, I came here to return the ownership of the artifact that was lost in a drinking bet.

The Hua San Sect is strictly a righteous sect among the Nine Great Sects, so I believed they wouldn’t do anything bizarre.

If it were the Hua San Sect, not some other righteous sect, they were at least a trustworthy place.

Mae Hwa-seon, after pondering for a while, clapped his hands with a brightened expression as if an idea struck him.

“Yes, it turned out well this way.”

“Huh?”

Mae Hwa-seon downed the remaining tea in one gulp and abruptly stood up.

“Sect Leader…?”

“You mentioned your youngest sister was also among the reasons for visiting Hua San, is that correct?”

“Yes… That’s correct.”

Why is she suddenly being brought up?

Mae Hwa-seon nodded at my answer.

“Perfect timing. Follow me.”

Mae Hwa-seon, suddenly getting up, led the way and told me to follow.

I asked with a bewildered expression.

“Where are you going?”

Mae Hwa-seon replied with a slight smile to my question.

“Since we’ve come to Hua San, shouldn’t we go see your sister?”

“…Huh?”

I couldn’t help but wear a blank expression at his words.

…Suddenly, in this situation?

******************

Doreureureuk-tak!

The dull sound of a water wheel echoed in the forest.

Birdsong could be heard whenever one felt bored, and sunlight streamed through the gaps between the tree shadows.

A path lay amidst such beautiful scenery, and at its end, a small hut was built.

A place a little distance from Hwa-eum-hyeon.

The hut, built by the 10th Sect Leader of the Hua San Sect after his retirement, was now used like a sanctuary.

“It’s all ruined.”

A white-haired old man said from inside the hut.

His raspy voice, punctuated by phlegm, was unpleasant to hear, but no one in the hut paid it any mind.

Considering the name the old man possessed, it was understandable.

Divine Doctor (神醫).

In the Central Plains, the old man was called that.

A heaven-sent master physician who couldn’t save the dead, but could save anyone as long as they were breathing.

The Divine Doctor, who couldn’t be easily found because he wandered without settling in one place, was now here.

“Not only the acupoints, but the flow of energy is all twisted. How did you endure the pain while your body rots like this?”

“It wasn’t that painful…”

The woman replied, glancing briefly at her disciple.

However, this caused the Divine Doctor’s brow to furrow deeply.

“Even in this state, you say that? Even a child should know better.”

“…Divine Doctor…”

“Don’t call me that.”

At the Divine Doctor’s reprimand, the disciple listening beside them flinched.

Then, she looked at her master with tear-filled eyes.

“Master…”

Tsk-!

The Divine Doctor clicked his tongue sharply.

As he was examining a patient after a long time, beads of sweat formed on his forehead.

Then, a boy sitting quietly next to the Divine Doctor took out a cloth from his pocket and gently wiped the Divine Doctor’s forehead.

The Divine Doctor carefully let go of the woman’s arm he was holding.

The pulse diagnosis was almost complete, but the Divine Doctor’s expression did not improve.

The woman’s body was gradually rotting, starting from her dantian.

Although she looked like an ordinary old woman on the outside, considering her age, even that seemed prematurely aged.

Considering the level of martial prowess she had reached, this was unthinkable.

Plum Blossom Sword Empress (梅華劍后).

The female warrior who had displayed chivalry throughout the Central Plains, starting with Hua San, was collapsing like this.

In the Divine Doctor’s view, the reason she could still move and breathe even slightly was also due to the artifact she possessed.

‘If even that disappears.’

The Taoist energy, which was holding onto her life thread, was being gradually consumed.

And the biggest problem there would be…

“…This is a disease I’ve never seen before in my life.”

At the Divine Doctor’s words, someone was heard taking a sharp breath.

These were words spoken by the Divine Doctor, whose medical skills were unmatched throughout the Central Plains.

“Sword Empress.”

“Yes…”

“How long has it been since it became like this?”

The Sword Empress spoke after glancing briefly at her disciple.

“About four… years.”

“What happened?”

“…That…”

Kku-uk.

Suddenly, the Sword Empress clenched her fist with trembling hands.

Blood trickled down the Sword Empress’s lips as she trembled, unable to speak.

“Master!”

Seeing that, the disciple supported her master.

At the same time, the boy next to the Divine Doctor offered the cloth to the Sword Empress, just like before.

“…Thank you.”

Kkeudeok.

The boy nodded at the Sword Empress’s words.

Watching the Sword Empress slowly wipe the blood, the Divine Doctor stroked his beard.

“…Is it a restriction (禁制)?”

An unknown disease, and a restriction.

Moreover, a restriction that affects even speaking simple words – I had never encountered anything like this in my life.

‘If a restriction was placed, I should have noticed it during the pulse diagnosis.’

A restriction affecting a martial artist’s body must surely leave some trace somewhere on the body.

Especially restrictions imposed on specific actions tend to leave deeper traces.

Yet, the Divine Doctor could not feel any trace.

Only the Sword Empress’s rotting body was felt.

It felt like all the knowledge he had studied for nearly eighty years was crumbling.

‘This is unpleasant…’

The unpleasantness of the unknown.

The anxiety that he might not be able to save someone because of it.

It was precisely this disgusting feeling that made him leave the medical world.

‘Do-hwa, you damn bastard…’

If it weren’t for Cheon-jon’s summons, the Divine Doctor wouldn’t have gone to An-hwi.

And if he hadn’t been in An-hwi, he wouldn’t have received Mae Hwa-seon’s call either.

…In any case, the rough ways of these damn martial artists.

“Divine Doctor-nim…”

“I told you not to call me that.”

“I’m sorry… Tae Eo-reusin.”

“Alright.”

“May I ask how much time I have left?”

In response to the Sword Empress’s question, the Divine Doctor sighed.

The Divine Doctor knew this better than anyone.

And this was the part he least wanted to talk about.

“At best, two months. If you’re lucky, you might last until winter.”

Even so, you won’t make it past this year.

The words he couldn’t bring himself to say, the Divine Doctor swallowed alone.

Because after he spoke, the young girl was crying in her master’s arms.

That’s what he hated.

He hated seeing things like that.

And to think he couldn’t even fix it.

‘Life is still disgusting.’

No matter how much knowledge one seeks and accumulates, there will always be those one cannot save.

This was the reason the Divine Doctor detested being called a Divine Doctor so much.

The boy carefully approached and gently tugged at the Divine Doctor’s collar.

The Divine Doctor hid his gloomy thoughts and stroked the boy’s head.

“It’s Do-hwa’s request, and considering my connection with you, I will do as much as I can.”

But don’t get your hopes too high.

At the Divine Doctor’s words, the Sword Empress quietly nodded.

Seeing that, the Divine Doctor swept his hand across his face and spoke to the children.

“Grandfather has something to discuss with the patient, so go out and play for a while, you too.”

The boy nodded as if understanding.

However, the Sword Empress’s disciple seemed unwilling and burrowed deeper into her master’s embrace.

“I… I want to stay with Master…”

“Ryeong-hwa-ya.”

The Sword Empress’s firm voice.

The disciple flinched at the voice.

She looked at her master with teary eyes, but the Sword Empress was resolute.

“Go on out now.”

“…Yes.”

The boy had already gone outside, and the disciple also stepped out of the hut with a dejected look.

******************

Stepping outside the hut, a chilly wind blew, uncharacteristic for summer.

Gu Ryeong-hwa wiped her teary eyes back and forth with the back of her hand as she closed the hut door.

I shouldn’t have cried.

Losing someone was still difficult.

‘…Master.’

Feeling tears welling up again, I tried to wipe them with my clothes.

Someone next to me offered a cloth.

It was the boy who had been sitting next to the Divine Doctor.

I heard he was his grandson…

Seeing that, Gu Ryeong-hwa got goosebumps.

Even if he was the same age as me, a man was still a man.

Gu Ryeong-hwa disliked men.

That’s why she disliked the boy too.

Especially because he was the same age.

Although I wanted to forcefully push away the approaching hand, he was the grandson of the physician who came to treat my master.

No matter what, I couldn’t treat him carelessly.

I had to suppress my disgust and refuse as politely as possible.

“I don’t need…”

Before Gu Ryeong-hwa could even finish her sentence, the boy seemed to understand and didn’t say anything, going back to sit around the hut.

Only then did Gu Ryeong-hwa take a breath.

‘…Master.’

Whenever this happened, I missed my master’s face lying behind me.

Every time I remembered the words that she wouldn’t make it past this year, tears kept spilling out.

‘What should I do… What can I do.’

They said the Divine Doctor was the best in the Central Plains.

It meant that if he said he couldn’t fix it, then there was nothing that could be done.

With things turning out this way, there was nothing that my young and incompetent self could do.

“Why are you standing there like that?”

Gu Ryeong-hwa, sniffling, startled and looked up at the voice from in front of her.

“Aren’t you Ryeong-hwa? Why are you out here?”

Mae Hwa-seon, the Sect Leader of Hua San where she belonged, stood there.

She quickly wiped her sniffling eyes and straightened herself up.

“S-Sect Leader.”

As Gu Ryeong-hwa paid her respects, she paused upon seeing the boy standing next to Mae Hwa-seon.

Black hair, fierce eyes, the red martial attire worn as proof of his Gu lineage, and deepened red eyes.

Unlike Gu Ryeong-hwa’s half-blooded relatives, he was the only true blood relative.

And the person Gu Ryeong-hwa resented the most.

Gu Ryeong-hwa was immediately overcome with surging emotions.

Why is that bastard here?

Why is the guy who should be causing trouble at the clan supposed to be here…?

Just the fact that he was in her only sanctuary, which she had barely found after escaping her disgusting family, made Gu Ryeong-hwa unable to calm her emotions.

“Why are you…”

“You.”

Gu Yangcheon cut off my words.

And slowly approaches.

As the distance closed, Gu Ryeong-hwa’s breathing grew ragged.

What on earth is he trying to do?

I’ve changed now.

I could subdue my older brother, who used to just live lavishly without any effort, with a single breath.

Although I didn’t bring a wooden sword, I believed it would be enough.

I could handle him no matter how he acted.

Gu Ryeong-hwa thought so and finished preparing herself mentally, but…

Gu Yangcheon simply walked past Gu Ryeong-hwa.

“What…?”

Gu Ryeong-hwa, bewildered, turned around.

Gu Yangcheon was standing in front of the Divine Doctor’s grandson.

“…?”

The boy looked up and met Gu Yangcheon’s gaze.

“Why are you here?”

Gu Ryeong-hwa’s eyes widened.

Killing intent (殺意).

Gu Yangcheon’s voice, speaking to the boy, carried a thick killing intent.