"Of course I know."
Cheon-hwi nodded.
Speaking of the Sacred Hand Divine Physician, he was the one currently hailed as the number one physician under heaven, referred to as the incarnation of Hwa-ta.
"So that Sacred Hand Divine Physician is looking for me?"
"He is."
"Why?"
"I do not know."
The Sect Leader forced a bitter smile.
He too had asked the Divine Physician several times why he wanted to meet Cheon-hwi, but could not get an answer.
The only answer he received was a single phrase.
Just that he wanted to meet him.
"He simply said he wanted to see you."
"Hmm. Is that so?"
Cheon-hwi scratched his head as he spoke.
"But was there really a need to make such a fuss just because a Divine Physician is looking for me?"
He recalled the letter he had received.
The letter that bore the Sect Leader's seal, as if some grave crisis had befallen the Huashan Sect.
"You could have just told him to come back later."
"He was stubborn, saying he would not leave until he saw you."
"Then you should have just told him to keep waiting."
"How could I tell the great Sacred Hand Divine Physician to just keep waiting."
The Sect Leader let out a bitter smile.
The Sacred Hand Divine Physician's fame extended beyond the murim, casting its shadow over the entire world.
Not just the murim, but even reaching the imperial clan.
Those he had treated were no ordinary figures, so even as the Sect Leader of the Huashan Sect, he had no choice but to be mindful of the Divine Physician's mood.
"He is at the Medicine Hall, so go see him."
"Alright."
Cheon-hwi readily agreed.
'It's convenient having a physician at the Huashan Sect.'
Physicians were precious.
Especially physicians who had set foot in the murim were hard to find, so having one come on their own two feet like this was a good thing.
'And a Divine Physician at that?'
* * *
"It's a cold. Get plenty of rest today, brew these leaves and drink them, and you'll be fine."
The first thing Cheon-hwi heard upon entering the Medicine Hall was an unfamiliar voice.
"How did you make this medicine?"
Following that, a familiar voice rang out.
If that was the Medicine Hall Master's voice, then whose was the voice from earlier?
His pace quickened slightly.
Before long, he arrived at the main hall of the Medicine Hall.
The Medicine Hall, which was usually completely idle, was somehow crowded with people.
The Daoists who had experienced the Divine Physician's miraculous medical skills had spread the word, and as a result, people kept pouring in.
At that moment, the conversation sounded again.
"How is it?"
"It's just a lack of vitality, so some Qi circulation and rest will be sufficient."
Cheon-hwi's gaze shifted.
And at the center of the commotion were elderly Daoists and two figures.
'Is that the place?'
Cheon-hwi's eyes turned toward the Medicine Hall Master holding a box containing needles with a gentle demeanor, and the old man examining patients beside him.
Is that him the Divine Physician?
He scanned the old man inserting long needles.
The old man, who had grown a long beard with a slightly grayish tinge rather than pure white, was feeling the patients' pulses with furrowed brows.
"Leave martial arts training alone and lie down to rest for a few days."
"Not even Qi circulation?"
"I said to rest."
"Understood."
The Daoist, seemingly embarrassed, scratched his head, brushed off his hands, and stood up.
"Amitabha. Thank you."
"The greeting is done."
The Divine Physician stood up, patting his lower back.
'He's quite high-maintenance.'
He had only stayed at the Huashan Sect and added a little treatment.
But perhaps because he was too outstanding.
People flocked in without pause.
'He's become a magnet for trouble.'
The Divine Physician shook his head.
It was already beyond help.
He had told the Sect Leader to summon him as quickly as possible since he would demonstrate his medical skills.
"Then the next……."
"Huh?"
At that moment, the Medicine Hall Master who had been doggedly following the Divine Physician discovered Cheon-hwi.
"Junior Brother Cheon-hwi!"
The Divine Physician's thick eyebrows twitched.
"Cheon-hwi?"
He soon turned his gaze and, seeing Cheon-hwi in the distance, widened his eyes.
"So you're Cheon-hwi!"
He shouted as he sprang up and waved his hand.
"Treatment is over for today!"
At the sudden announcement, the Daoists panicked and gasped.
"W-what?"
"Suddenly?"
Just as complaints were about to pour out.
"Why aren't you getting out?"
The Divine Physician scowled and began chasing out the flustered Daoists.
"Get out at once!"
A short while later, Cheon-hwi, the Divine Physician, and the Medicine Hall Master sat in the room of the Medicine Hall.
"You said you were looking for me?"
The Divine Physician's gaze turned toward Cheon-hwi.
His eyes were shaking.
'Such a young brat did that?'
He was young, far too young.
'I thought he would at least be over twenty……'
As distracting thoughts continued to multiply, the Divine Physician shook his head vigorously.
"Do you know Danmok-rin?"
The Divine Physician's expression was grave as he asked.
The reason he had abandoned everything and come here was because he had felt Danmok-rin's pulse and heard about the circumstances thus far.
Cheon-hwi smirked.
'I wondered why he came.'
Now all his questions were resolved.
'Didn't she say she'd go meet the Divine Physician after we separated?'
He nodded.
"I know her."
The Divine Physician leaned in closer.
"I heard that you were the one who told her about her constitution. Is that true?"
"Her constitution? You mean the Great Yin Extremely Low Constitution?"
The Divine Physician stirred.
"Yes. That very thing."
Unable to hide his excitement, the Divine Physician snorted heavily and asked.
"What exactly is this Great Yin Extremely Low Constitution?"
The Divine Physician gave off an overbearing look in his eyes.
'That's the same look he had when he was examining martial arts.'
As if that thought wasn't wrong, the Divine Physician began spitting out words like a machine gun.
"In my entire life, I have never heard of anything called the Great Yin Extremely Low Constitution."
Cheon-hwi nodded.
'That makes sense.'
The Great Yin Extremely Low Constitution was a physique only recorded in the Number One Medical Book Under Heaven, written by the Life and Death Monster Physician, a figure no longer even mentioned nowadays.
Therefore, one could say that in the current world, he was the only one who knew about the Great Yin Extremely Low Constitution.
The Divine Physician's eyes hardened.
"Where did you learn of it?"
"From a book called the Number One Medical Book Under Heaven."
"Number One Medical Book Under Heaven?"
The Divine Physician's brow furrowed.
It was a medical text with an audacious title he had never heard before.
"Can I read it too?"
"No."
Cheon-hwi said firmly.
'How am I supposed to read something that's in the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult?'
But he couldn't say that.
The Divine Physician, undeterred by those words, asked in a careful tone.
"……Do you have to become a Daoist of the Huashan Sect to read it?"
Seeing the question that revealed a will to read it no matter what, Cheon-hwi shook his head.
"It burned in a fire and is gone."
"B-burned in a fire?"
The Divine Physician's eyes went round.
"To lose such a precious medical text……"
Watching the Divine Physician accept this, Cheon-hwi formed and immediately erased a faint smile.
At that moment, the Divine Physician asked softly.
"Then the treatment method for the Great Yin Extremely Low Constitution must have been written there as well."
That wasn't the case.
While he knew of the Great Yin Extremely Low Constitution, the treatment method was not recorded.
'There's no need to tell him that.'
He didn't particularly pick at it.
He just thought it would be easier to let him misunderstand that way.
Meanwhile, the Divine Physician's expression turned serious.
He had visited to find out where the Great Yin Extremely Low Constitution was heard of.
However.
'Number One Medical Book Under Heaven……'
His curiosity was piqued.
But it had already burned.
"Can you tell me what kind of medical text it was?"
"It was just a medical text."
It was simple.
What other words were needed?
However, the Divine Physician seemed unable to believe those words, his face full of doubt.
"……I see."
The Divine Physician spoke as if suspicious, then released the hand gripping Cheon-hwi's shoulder and opened his mouth.
"Then could you tell me how you treated the Great Yin Extremely Low Constitution?"
"That's easy."
Cheon-hwi nodded.
"Taiji."
"Taiji?"
The Divine Physician tilted his head.
Then, as if realizing something, horror began to creep into his face.
"D-don't tell me you balanced Yin and Yang?"
Seeing the Divine Physician grasp it immediately, Cheon-hwi involuntarily nodded in admiration.
'He is a Divine Physician after all, understanding at once. His depth in medical arts must be quite profound.'
"That's right."
"How did you handle the acquired Qi……"
"I guided it directly."
"Impossible."
The Divine Physician swallowed dryly and said.
Had he not been unable to escape the shock for several days when he felt Danmok-rin's pulse?
'He guided that Qi?'
Danmok-rin's physical condition was bizarre.
Vicious Qi, enough to make one's mind dizzy, flowed from her entire body.
It was hard to believe that such a delicate woman's body could carry that Qi and move around.
But that wasn't the only surprising thing.
The Qi maintained balance and coexisted within her body.
So naturally.
Harmonizing with her body and mind as if she had been born with it from the start.
It was even protecting her to the point of shielding her.
"Withstanding that level of Qi in that child's body is impossible."
Cheon-hwi nodded.
As he said, the Yin Qi accumulated within was so intense it was threatening.
Enough to take her life at the slightest misstep.
"So I let it flow naturally so the body wouldn't take any shock."
"Naturally?"
The Divine Physician's brow furrowed.
"Moving acquired Qi naturally? But to do that, you'd have to know the blood vessels throughout the entire body…… And precise internal Qi manipulation, plus the eyes to see it."
The Divine Physician, deep in thought, muttered, and Cheon-hwi waited quietly.
Meanwhile, the Medicine Hall Master, who had been listening to their conversation, shook his head with a face that couldn't understand the situation at all.
'Taiji? Natural flow? Acquired Qi?'
It seemed light, but the depth of their conversation was far too deep.
'What in the world are they talking about?'
Around the time he looked at them with unfocused eyes.
"Gasp!"
The Divine Physician, who had sucked in a breath, jumped up.
"D-don't tell me you grasped the primordial true Qi and dissolved it?"
Cheon-hwi's eyes widened slightly.
'He figured it out right away. Impressive.'
The method to cure Danmok-rin's Great Yin Extremely Low Constitution was only possible with proficiency not only in medical arts but also in martial arts.
"That's right."
"Rather than driving out the accumulated Qi, you blew in Qi instead, made it travel throughout the body, and completely dissolved it?"
The Divine Physician groaned.
'To think of such a method.'
It was an appalling method.
Unless it was innate Qi, other Qi could not harmonize with primordial true Qi.
From the very beginning, primordial true Qi and acquired Qi were meant to be separate.
'But to break down the boundary between primordial true Qi and acquired Qi and build them up……'
If done wrong, it was a method that would drive one mad and turn them into a lunatic, but if one balanced the Taiji as he had said, it was possible.
But right now, Cheon-hwi before him had spoken words that ignored such laws.
No, not just words, he had succeeded.
Through Danmok-rin's body.
'An unprecedented method.'
However.
"It's hard to believe with just words."
"Then don't believe me."
Cheon-hwi spat out the words.
The Divine Physician was flustered by that action.
Had he ever experienced someone grumbling like that or ignoring his words?
"That's not what I meant. You couldn't have done such treatment without any medical skill. I want to know if you've cultivated that level of medical art."
"This is bothersome."
Just as Cheon-hwi was about to show his annoyance.
"Junior Brother."
The Medicine Hall Master, who had been watching blankly until now, urgently approached and whispered in his ear.
"I don't know what you're talking about, but please listen to the Divine Physician elder."
"Why?"
"The Divine Physician elder has been a great help to our sect."
Cheon-hwi stared at the Medicine Hall Master.
'Help?'
He recalled the people who had been in the Medicine Hall.
Those suffering from muscle pain leaving feeling light after receiving a few acupuncture needles.
"I guess I have no choice."
He looked straight into the Divine Physician's eyes.
"What would you like me to show you?"
"Show me what you're confident in."
"What I'm confident in."
Cheon-hwi snatched the Divine Physician's hand.
At that elusive technique, the Divine Physician was slightly surprised, but hiding his expression, he asked.
"Are you trying to feel my pulse?"
"It's similar but a bit different."
Along with the words, he immediately spread his Qi sense.
"Hmm?"
The Divine Physician widened his eyes at the warm Qi extending from his hand.
"……Are you checking my blood vessels?"
"I'm looking at the parts without abnormalities."
Cheon-hwi immediately withdrew his Qi and moved his index finger to press the Divine Physician's acupoints.
"There's some cold Qi."
Thwack, thwack, thwack!
In an instant, he pressed eight acupoints.
"Haah!"
The Divine Physician let out a cry of admiration.
Though no needles were inserted, he could feel something pressing the acupoints.
"It's acupuncture that raises body temperature."
"You know well?"
"Of course I know that much."
"No need to explain, so that's good."
Cheon-hwi lightly flicked his hand.
Then the Divine Physician felt whatever was pressing his acupoints disappear and warmth spread.
"Good."
"Are we done now?"
Just as Cheon-hwi was about to pull his hand away.
Crush!
The Divine Physician gripped Cheon-hwi's wrist tightly, not letting go, his eyes sparkling.
"Is there more you want to say?"
"There is."
The Divine Physician said with force in his voice.
"Would you consider becoming my disciple?"
A disciple? What bullshit is this?
"No."
Cheon-hwi said with an incredulous tone.
The Divine Physician, who had never imagined being rejected, panicked.
"W-why?"
"I'm a disciple of the Huashan Sect."
The Divine Physician was at a loss for words.
Blinded by Cheon-hwi's talent, he had temporarily forgotten.
That he was a disciple of the Huashan Sect.
"If you learn the medical arts of the sect I just spoke of, even Hwa-ta would bow. So how can you refuse the teachings……"
"I don't need it."
Cheon-hwi refused.
'Medical arts? Please.'
Right now, he was interested in martial arts, not medical arts at all.
He had only learned medical arts back then because there were no more martial arts manuals to read.
'There are so many martial arts I haven't seen in the murim right now.'
For him, whose interest in martial arts had peaked after witnessing the martial arts displayed by the Zhongnan Sword Saint recently, being told to learn medical arts was nothing short of extravagance.
But not knowing this, the Divine Physician, thinking he was refusing because he was a disciple of the Huashan Sect, urgently added.
"T-then I will only give you teachings. The medical arts of my sect are medical arts that can be called divine supreme arts, so if you learn them, even immortals would……"
It was an unprecedented offer.
However.
"No."
To Cheon-hwi, it wasn't.
"T-then I'll just teach you for free."
Looking at the persistently speaking Divine Physician, Cheon-hwi stood up and said.
"I said I won't learn it."
"If you learn it, it will definitely be good for you."
"I don't want to."
At that time when the two were bickering.
Neigh—
A carriage that looked luxurious at first glance arrived at the mountain gate of the Huashan Sect.
'Who is that?'
As the Red Blade guarding the mountain gate looked at the carriage, the door opened and three men and women stepped out one after another.
A beauty with a cold impression.
A young man who could be called a noble young master.
A girl who made one smile just by looking at her.
They were the very party that had been attacked by assassins a few days ago.
"Amitabha."
The Red Blade called out his Daoist title and spoke.
"What brings you here?"
"We have come to see the Sect Leader."
"Who shall I say is visiting?"
The Red Blade asked in a polite tone.
The fact that they were openly asking for the Sect Leader, not anyone else, indicated they were no ordinary people.
And that thought was exactly right.
"Tell the Sect Leader that Lord Sohee has come to visit."