EP.66 Divine Doctor (3)
Divine Doctor (3)
I began to slowly explain the situation to Meihuaxian, but I couldn't possibly tell him everything.
So I told only the truth without any lies, but not the whole truth.
"...First, I left the family and kept the treasured object close to my chest."
I left out any mention of demonic arts, simply saying that after finishing my training, I went to sleep in the middle of the night, and when I woke up, my energy had increased.
To be honest, there was nothing else I could say to explain it.
I literally just woke up in the morning having swallowed the energy.
I debated whether I should also talk about Old Man Shin, but I held off for now.
I thought it would be right to bring it up after talking with Old Man Shin first.
Explaining the situation didn't take very long.
When my brief explanation ended, Meihuaxian stroked his beard.
Would he believe me? Honestly, even I thought it was a hard story to believe.
Sure enough, Meihuaxian spoke with a troubled expression.
"It's a story hard to easily believe..."
*Pour.*
In the momentary silence, the sound of Meihuaxian pouring tea sounded particularly loud.
"The talk of you swallowing the treasured object's energy is one thing, but originally that energy is not something an outsider should possess, and the fact that you actually have it is also an unbelievable story."
"Yes, I know."
The coexistence of different energies.
Let alone the fact that their fundamental characteristics are different.
The domineering energy possessed not only by the Jiu Yan Hua Lun Gong, but by other fire cultivators as well.
The Dao energy harbored by Daoists is situated on the opposite end.
It means the natural order of letting things flow as they are and the radicalness of breaking through anything that blocks coexist.
Breaking through to the 4th star with such an absurd combination was miraculous enough.
But walking around perfectly fine without falling into Qi Deviation was even more miraculous.
I didn't know if this was due to the Demonic Art or not.
There was no other way to explain it.
If it weren't for this damn ability that's clung to me like a leash even after regression, such nonsensical situations wouldn't have happened to my body.
'...Hah.'
Meihuaxian was still meeting my eyes.
"In such a situation, I can feel the energy of the plum blossom within you, which only a few disciples of our sect possess."
The energy hidden within my Dantian.
It was a part I couldn't even feel after Old Man Shin said he had hidden the scent.
It seemed Meihuaxian felt it instantly.
Whether intentional or not, this had clearly become a troublesome matter.
From the opposite standpoint, if someone from the Huashan Sect was learning our family's Jiu Yan Hua Lun Gong, and even at a fairly high realm at that.
This was a serious matter to the extent that the head of the family, rather than anyone else, had to step forward and confirm it personally.
"I don't think you are lying, but it's not a story I can easily believe, and as the Sect Leader, it is something I must verify."
"Yes..."
"Fortunately, there doesn't seem to be a major problem with the treasured object..."
No problem?
When did he check after tossing it away like that...?
'He confirmed it in the middle of all this?'
If he says he's going to confirm it, how does he plan to do it?
First of all, it probably won't be a method that harms my Dantian or body.
Originally, I came here to return the ownership of the treasured object that was taken away after losing a drinking bet.
Huashan Sect is clearly a righteous sect belonging to the Nine Great Sects and One Union, so I believed they wouldn't do anything bizarre.
If it's the Huashan Sect and not some other righteous sect, it was at least a trustworthy place.
Meihuaxian, who had been pondering for a while, clapped his hands with a brightened expression as if he had thought of something.
"Right, this works out well."
"Yes?"
Meihuaxian downed the remaining tea in one gulp and abruptly stood up.
"Sect Leader...?"
"You said one of your purposes for coming to Huashan was your youngest sister, is that correct?"
"Yes... That's correct."
Why is her story suddenly coming up?
At my answer, Meihuaxian nodded.
"That works out perfectly. Follow me."
Meihuaxian, who had suddenly stood up, took the lead and told me to follow.
I asked with a puzzled expression.
"Where are you going?"
At my question, Meihuaxian smiled slightly and answered.
"Since you came to Huashan, shouldn't we go see your sister?"
"...What?"
I couldn't help but make a blank expression at those words.
...Suddenly, in this situation?
******************
*Rumble-thud!*
The sound of a water wheel echoed dully in the forest.
Birdsong was heard whenever it got boring, and sunlight streamed down through the shade of the trees.
A path laid out amidst such beautiful scenery, and at the end of it, a small cabin was built.
A little distance away from Huayin County.
The cabin built by the 10th Sect Leader of the Huashan Sect after his retirement was now being used as a resting place.
"It's all ruined."
A white-haired old man said from inside the cabin.
His rattling, phlegmy voice was uncomfortable to hear, but no one in the cabin paid any mind to it.
Considering the name the old man held, that was to be expected.
Divine Doctor.
The Central Plains called the old man that.
A heaven-sent physician who couldn't raise the dead, but could save anyone as long as they still had a breath left in them.
The Divine Doctor, who was hard to find because he wandered without settling in any one place, was here right now.
"Not only the blood vessels, but the Qi flow is completely distorted. How did you endure the pain while your body rots like this?"
"It wasn't that painful..."
The woman glanced at her disciple and answered.
But because of that, the Divine Doctor's brow deeply furrowed.
"Even in this state, you say that? Even a child must know what they should know."
"...Divine Doctor..."
"Do not call me that."
At the Divine Doctor's scolding, the disciple who was listening from the side flinched.
Then she looked at her master with tearful eyes.
"Master..."
*Tsk-!*
The Divine Doctor clicked his tongue briefly.
Because it had been a long time since he examined a patient, beads of sweat formed on his forehead.
Then, the boy who had been sitting quietly next to the Divine Doctor took a cloth from his chest and wiped the sweat from the Divine Doctor's forehead.
The Divine Doctor carefully laid down the woman's arm he had been holding.
The pulse reading was roughly over, but the Divine Doctor's expression didn't improve.
The woman's body, starting with her Dantian, was gradually rotting away.
She looked like an ordinary old woman on the outside, but considering her age, even that was just her appearing prematurely aged.
Considering the level of martial prowess she had reached, this was an impossibility.
Plum Blossom Sword Empress.
The female knight who had displayed her chivalry throughout the Central Plains, led by Huashan, was collapsing like this.
To the Divine Doctor, the reason she could still move a little and breathe was because of the internal energy she possessed.
'If even that falls away.'
The Daoist energy holding onto her lifeline was gradually being eaten away.
And the biggest problem there...
"...It's a disease I'm seeing for the first time in my life."
At the Divine Doctor's words, the sound of someone gasping for breath was heard.
These were words spit out by the Divine Doctor, whose medical skills had no equal throughout the Central Plains.
"Sword Empress."
"Yes..."
"How long has it been like this?"
The Sword Empress glanced at her disciple and continued speaking.
"About... four years."
"Did something happen?"
"...That is..."
*Grip.*
Suddenly, the Sword Empress clenched her trembling hands into fists.
Blood trickled from the mouth of the Sword Empress, who was shivering, unable to speak.
"Master!"
Seeing that, the disciple supported her master.
At the same time, the boy next to the Divine Doctor offered a cloth to the Sword Empress like before.
"...Thank you."
*Nod.*
At the Sword Empress's words, the boy nodded.
Looking at the Sword Empress slowly wiping the blood, the Divine Doctor stroked his beard.
"...A restriction?"
An unknown disease, and a restriction.
A restriction that even affected merely speaking, he had never seen such a thing in his entire life.
'If a restriction was placed, I should have noticed it when taking her pulse.'
A restriction that affects a martial artist's body must leave a mark somewhere on the body.
Especially a restriction placed on certain actions tends to leave a deep mark.
But the Divine Doctor couldn't feel any trace.
He only felt the Sword Empress's rotting flesh.
It felt like all the knowledge he had studied for nearly eighty years was crumbling away.
'How unpleasant...'
The displeasure of not knowing.
The anxiety of possibly not being able to save a person because of it.
He had left the medical world because he couldn't endure this filthy sensation.
'Daohua, you bastard...'
If it weren't for Tianzun's summons, the Divine Doctor wouldn't have gone to Anhui.
If he hadn't been in Anhui, he wouldn't have received Meihuaxian's summons either.
...Anyway, the rough methods of these damn martial artists.
"Divine Doctor..."
"I told you not to call me that."
"I'm sorry... Lord Tai."
"Right."
"May I ask how much time I have left?"
The Divine Doctor sighed at the Sword Empress's question.
The Divine Doctor knew this better than anyone.
And this was the topic he hated talking about the most.
"If you're fast, two months. If you're lucky, you'll hold on until winter."
Though even then, she wouldn't make it past this year.
The words he couldn't bring himself to say, the Divine Doctor swallowed alone.
Ever since he brought it up, the young girl was already crying in her master's arms.
He hated that.
He didn't want to see things like that.
And to think he couldn't even cure it.
'Life is still disgusting.'
No matter how much knowledge he accumulated, there would always be people he couldn't save.
That was the reason the Divine Doctor hated being called the Divine Doctor so much.
The boy carefully approached and slightly grabbed the hem of the Divine Doctor's clothes.
The Divine Doctor hid his dark feelings and stroked the boy's head.
"It's Daohwa's request, and considering my ties with you, I will do as much as I can."
"But don't hold out too much hope."
The Sword Empress quietly nodded at the Divine Doctor's words.
Seeing that, the Divine Doctor swept a hand over his face and spoke to the children.
"This old man has something to say to the patient, so go outside and play for a bit. You too."
The boy nodded as if he understood.
However, the Sword Empress's disciple didn't want to and buried herself deeper into her master's embrace.
"I, I want to be with Master..."
"Linghua."
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 outside now."
"...Yes."
The boy had already gone outside, and the disciple also moved her feet out of the cabin with a sullen expression.
******************
Coming outside the cabin, a scattered breeze blew, uncharacteristic of summer.
Gu Linghua wiped her teary eyes with the back of her hand and closed the cabin door.
She shouldn't have cried.
Losing someone was still a difficult thing.
'...Master.'
Feeling the tears about to well up again, she tried to wipe them with her clothes.
Someone next to her offered a cloth.
It was the boy who had been sitting next to the Divine Doctor.
She had heard he was his grandson...
Seeing that, goosebumps rose on Gu Linghua's back.
Even if they were the same age, a man was a man.
Gu Linghua hated men.
So the boy was no exception.
Especially because they were the same age.
She wanted to violently push away the hand that approached her, but he was the grandson of the physician who came to treat her master.
No matter what, she couldn't treat him recklessly.
She had to suppress her revulsion and refuse as politely as possible.
"I don't need..."
Before Gu Linghua could even finish her sentence, the boy seemed to understand and sat back down near the cabin without saying a word.
Only then did Gu Linghua exhale a breath.
'...Master.'
At times like this, she missed the face of her master who used to lie behind her.
Whenever she recalled the words that she wouldn't make it past this year, tears kept leaking out.
'What do I do... What should I do.'
They said the Divine Doctor was the best in the Central Plains.
If he said he couldn't cure it, it meant there was nothing that could be done.
With this happening, there was nothing the young and unskilled her could do.
"Why are you like that?"
Gu Linghua, who was sniffling, jerked her head up at the voice in front of her.
"Isn't it Linghua? Why are you out here?"
Meihuaxian, the Sect Leader of the Huashan Sect where she belonged, was standing there.
She quickly wiped her teary eyes and straightened her posture.
"I, I greet the Sect Leader."
While bowing, Gu Linghua paused as she saw the boy standing next to Meihuaxian.
Black hair, fierce eyes, the red martial uniform and deep red eyes proving he was of the Gu family.
Unlike Gu Linghua's half-baked bloodlines, the only true blood relative.
And the person Gu Linghua resented the most.
Gu Linghua was immediately engulfed in boiling emotions.
Why was that bastard here?
He should be playing the villain in the family, so why is he here...?
The very fact that he was in her only safe haven that she had barely escaped her disgusting family to find was enough to make Gu Linghua unable to calm her emotions.
"Why are you..."
"You."
Gu Yangtian cut off her words.
And slowly approached.
As the distance grew closer, Gu Linghua's breathing grew rougher.
What is he trying to do?
She was different now.
Her older brother, who only played around, ate for free, and never made any effort, could be subdued in a single breath.
He didn't bring a wooden sword, but she believed it would be enough.
No matter how he came at her, she could handle it.
Gu Linghua finished preparing herself with that thought.
But Gu Yangtian simply walked past her.
"What...?"
The bewildered Gu Linghua turned around.
Gu Yangtian stood in front of the Divine Doctor's grandson.
"...?"
The boy raised his head and faced Gu Yangtian.
"Why are you here?"
Gu Linghua's eyes widened.
Killing intent.
A thick killing intent could be felt in Gu Yangtian's voice as he spoke to the boy.