Chapter 40: Chapter 40
Jin Won-sang did not say a single word after leaving Salt Master Jang’s kiln. That silence continued until they arrived at the small temple set up at the eastern end of the city.
The temple set up on the outskirts of the city was different from the mountain temples commonly encountered in the Central Plains. Unlike the temples of the Central Plains divided into various Buddha halls and hermitages, the temple here was just a single large three-story quadrangle building like an inn, and except for placing a large wooden Buddha statue in the center of the first floor, it had an appearance difficult to consider a temple.
Small oil lamps were placed here and there in that space, whether it was an inn, a shrine, or a temple, illuminating people clustered together here and there. Dark shadows swayed over those covered in old, dirty blankets.
If not for the swastika sign hanging at the building entrance, it was a place that looked more like a refugee shelter where the poor gathered rather than a temple. Even when Jang Geon and Jin Won-sang quietly entered, there was no one stopping them or checking who they were.
Jang Geon wore a troubled expression, wondering how to find a girl he didn’t even know the face of here. Just then, someone walking around among the crumpled people carrying a small lantern discovered Jang Geon and Jin Won-sang. He managed to skillfully avoid the lying people and approached them.
“Welcome, patrons. Have you come needing a place to sleep? If so, I am sorry, but you will have to sleep together among these people here.”
The person who approached was a young man who looked barely past twenty. However, his head was cleanly shaved, and although the clothes he wore were old, they appeared to be monastic robes. He held his palms together with the hand not holding the lantern and continued speaking mechanically:
“We prepare porridge for breakfast every morning, but we do not distribute separate bowls and utensils, so you must prepare them yourself, patron. If a fight occurs with another patron, the first time is a warning, and the second time is immediate expulsion. After breakfast, we will hold morning prayers, and after that, if possible, you can help clean the main hall. Because the circumstances of our temple are not good, there is no lunch, and in the evening···”
“Wait. We didn’t come to stay at the temple.”
The young monk wore a puzzled expression at Jang Geon’s words, then suddenly brightened up.
“Ah, then by any chance have you come to make a donation···”
“We came to find a person.”
Energy quickly drained from the monk’s face.
“Ah, I see··· Whom are you looking for? The other people are sleeping, so I will wake them for you.”
Jang Geon glanced back at Jin Won-sang. He still kept his mouth shut. Having no choice, Jang Geon stepped forward again and asked:
“Yeo Song-yeon, who was executed by hanging last week, isn’t her daughter here?”
A look of vigilance surfaced on the young monk’s face.
“···What is the reason for seeking Patron Jin?”
“We are hometown friends of Yeo Song-yeon. We came to meet her this time and··· learned of the circumstances.”
The monk’s vigilance quickly turned into sorrow.
“Namo Amitabha··· Truly a tragedy. Why is the world harder on those who have it hard···”
However, the monk quickly erased his sorrowful emotion and asked:
“Friends of Patron Yeo Song-yeon. Then what do you intend to do upon meeting Patron Jin? You know that patron has a major illness, right? She is barely accepting the deaths of her mother and father right now, so I don’t know if a meeting with you patrons will be alright.”
Jang Geon was momentarily at a loss for words. He was a wanderer drifting without a home. In this matter, he was in the position of an observer. Under such circumstances, no words came out saying what he would do for Yeo Song-yeon’s daughter.
Just then, Jin Won-sang took off the headcloth he was wearing on his head and stepped forward. In the dark, his head, where dark stubble was bristling, gleamed. Looking at the young monk, he pressed his palms together and spoke:
“We did not come to harm that child. Please allow us to at least check that child’s condition right now.”
Looking at that head, the young monk hastily bowed back and chanted prayers at Jin Won-sang bowing his waist to request. After that, hesitating for a moment while looking at Jin Won-sang’s appearance, he eventually turned around and led the way.
“Please be careful of the sleeping people.”
The monk skillfully avoided the sleeping people again and went up to the second floor. Going up the stairs, he spoke quietly:
“Those who are severely ill like Patron Jin stay separately in groups of two in second-floor rooms. Patron Jin also had someone she stayed with, but··· that person passed away a few days ago, so right now she is alone.”
“Are there no other monks?”
“There is the abbot and two of my senior and junior brothers. Right now they are sleeping.”
Continuing a short conversation with Jang Geon, he came to a halt in front of a room and looked back.
“···I don’t know if Patron Jin will wake up. It might not be possible to converse.”
“It does not matter. Please open the door.”
At Jin Won-sang’s answer, the monk nodded his head and opened the door. From inside the room, a cool chill flowed out as if no person lived there. Entering inside hesitatingly at that coldness, one empty bed and one bed with a bulging blanket were visible. Other than that, it was a desolate scene with no other furniture visible.
The monk approached that bulging bed and carefully pulled back the blanket slightly.
“Patron Jin, Patron Jin. Please wake up, Patron Jin.”
Inside the blanket lay a single girl. Except for looking slightly pale, it was a face that didn’t look particularly ill. However, that child did not wake up, as if unable to hear even the words of the monk calling close by.
The monk looked at the child pityingly, then turned to Jang Geon and Jin Won-sang.
“She doesn’t wake up. What will you do?”
“Just a moment.”
Just then, Jin Won-sang pulled out a small wooden box from his chest and approached the child. Pushing the monk aside gently, he placed the wooden box on the bed and began examining the child with careful hands.
“Wh-What are you do, ”
The monk tried to stop him seeing Jin Won-sang completely remove the blanket and flip open the child’s eyelids. Jang Geon grabbed him. The monk looked back at Jang Geon with puzzled eyes, then seeing his calm gaze and attitude, slowly stepped back.
Meanwhile, Jin Won-sang, having examined the child, straightened his waist and turned to the monk.
“May I ask one favor?”
“···Please speak.”
Jin Won-sang spoke with a firm face:
“We must treat the child immediately. Her condition is far worse than expected. Please make sure no one enters inside this room for the time being.”
“Pardon···? You mean you know what disease it is? Even the physician from Heavenly Empress City couldn’t reveal the disease name···”
“This disease isn’t even something to be called a disease. It should rather be called a congenital defect. Seeing So-so’s letter I wondered, and my ominous expectation was not wrong.”
The young monk looked back and forth between Jang Geon and Jin Won-sang with anxious eyes, then eventually shook his head gently.
“I don’t know what all this is about. But this too must be a connection made by Patron Yeo’s virtues. I will do so. How should I assist you?”
“You just need to create an environment where we can concentrate quietly. If we need anything more, we will request it then.”
The monk nodded his head and left the room. As Jang Geon tried to follow out behind him, Jin Won-sang called him.
“Martial Artist Jang. Martial Artist Jang, please help me.”
“Aren’t you trying to feed her medicine and care for her internal organs with true energy? Then a protector will be needed.”
Surprise surfaced on Jin Won-sang’s face.
“Martial Artist Jang··· doesn’t seem to be connected to the Imperial Army or ancient noble clans··· Yes, I knew from our first meeting that you were no ordinary figure. You are correct. I will feed her spiritual medicine and fix the child’s qi and blood with my true energy. But I am insufficient by myself. Can you perform true energy guidance?”
“Circulating three types of energy in one body is not good. If the spiritual medicine, your true energy, and my true energy mix chaotically and circulate through the child’s body, her qi and blood might not endure it. Furthermore, she is not a healthy child, but one who has been sick for a long time. Right now it’s even doubtful to me whether feeding her spiritual medicine is correct.”
Jin Won-sang’s surprise turned into a slightly blank state.
“Do you know··· medicine?”
Seeing Jin Won-sang’s expression, Jang Geon frowned sharply.
“···I learned a little superficially. Then what do you know to be doing this?”
Jin Won-sang hesitated for a moment. Then looking back and forth between Jang Geon’s expression and the unconscious child, he eventually opened his mouth:
“This child’s disease is a disease where nine main qi and blood passages inside the body harden and get blocked. It is a disease where due to a congenital problem in the shape of qi and blood passages, qi cannot flow properly and pools in the blood vessels, dying slowly. It differs slightly per person with this disease, but they die around ten to twenty years of age.”
He picked up the small wooden box he had placed on the bed.
“There is no proper treatment method. In the first place it is an extremely rare disease, and because there are few records themselves, treatment research hasn’t been conducted.”
“···Then how did you know that?”
Jin Won-sang smiled faintly.
“I saw it in the Library Pavilion of the main temple. While learning scriptures for a long time, it wasn’t interesting so searching through the Library Pavilion I found a Zen Master’s diary, and there was a story about this disease in it.”
“Did they cure the disease there?”
Jin Won-sang carefully opened the wooden box he was holding to show. Then from inside, a faint golden light flowed out while an unknown coolness brushed the tip of the nose. Jin Won-sang showed it to Jang Geon.
“Yes. With this. It is called the Great Return Pill.”
“Oh.”
Jang Geon involuntarily let out a small exclamation and looked at the wooden box. Could this be that famous Shaolin Temple Great Return Pill?
However, what sparkled inside the wooden box was slightly different from Jang Geon’s expectation. Unlike pills commonly formed by clumping medicine into round shapes, it was just like a rough small pebble. Unlike the name Great Return Pill, its size was only the size of a fingernail, and while turning a faint golden light, being opaque it didn’t look like an item made to be eaten.
Just then, an idea flashed through Jang Geon’s head looking at that small pebble. Those were certain beads he had seen in museums in his past life. Things that came out from the body of a monk with high virtues upon dying.
“This, could it be···”
“···Do you recognize what this is? Your insight is formidable. Yes, this is one of Patriarch Bodhidharma’s relics. It is a clump formed by his lifetime virtues and internal power.”
Jang Geon groaned at the slightly shocking fact. Then if one ate that, wasn’t it the same as eating Patriarch Bodhidharma’s remains from hundreds of years ago. At the same time the thought that Shaolin Temple wouldn’t regard that as a simple spiritual medicine also arose. That was not spiritual medicine, but an artifact of ancestors.
“···It doesn’t seem like they would just hand this out there.”
“A living person’s life is more important. There is already a precedent as well.”
Jin Won-sang replied so as if it were nothing, and picking up the Great Return Pill, continued speaking:
“At any rate, in that diary it is said they fed the patient the Great Return Pill and fixed the twisted blood shape through true energy guidance. That patient lived healthily for a long time thereafter. When I received So-so’s letter and learned about the child’s symptoms, the disease that came to my mind was the disease in that diary. I hoped it was a baseless worry, but···”
Jang Geon shook his head softly. He meant he had run over recklessly carrying spiritual medicine believing in just one such brief record. No matter how urgent, that was not good. Setting aside whether feeding just spiritual medicine could cure the disease, if he brought the spiritual medicine secretly without permission, pursuers were bound to follow. Perhaps monks of Shaolin Temple were already searching for them in this city right now.
“Move aside.”
In the end Jang Geon stepped forward, held the child’s wrist, and directly examined her condition. He couldn’t feed a bomb to the child believing only in this naive monk’s words.
“Martial Artist Jang···?”
Jang Geon slowly closed his eyes listening to Jin Won-sang’s calling. From his fingertips, a very fine and detailed thread of internal power carefully seeped into the child’s qi and blood. The blocked and dried-up qi and blood here and there had no resistance other than flinching while Jang Geon’s internal power slowly flowed through.
The thread of internal energy bypassed all kinds of paths looking for fairly intact qi and blood and circled the child’s whole body. After a moment Jang Geon could feel the nine twisted qi and blood passages Jin Won-sang mentioned and the cold, sticky energy pooled inside them.
The overall condition was severe. Already fine blood vessels at the ends of hands and feet were dying, and other important qi and blood passages were rustling like a dry desert. It seemed the situation had worsened rapidly recently, and its cause was not difficult to guess.
Confirming the situation, Jang Geon retracted his internal power and opened his eyes.
“Regardless of what effect that spiritual medicine shows, I don’t think it’s a good idea for the two of us to perform true energy guidance together. Right now doing so seems like whole-body blood vessels will be torn apart.”
Jang Geon spoke with a firm heart in his own way, but Jin Won-sang nodded his head pleasantly.
“I will follow Martial Artist Jang’s intention. I will act as protector.”
“···Will you be alright?”
Jin Won-sang silently nodded his head only and held out the Great Return Pill to Jang Geon. Receiving that, Jang Geon examined Jin Won-sang’s face once again. He had an indifferent face as if he would really follow all of Jang Geon’s intentions.
Jang Geon pondered for a moment looking at that face and the Great Return Pill held in his hand. He was not a person with great medical skill either, and at best was only accustomed to handling internal power. Furthermore, right now Jin Won-sang’s condition was also extraordinary. Because a man who cried as if the world would collapse until a moment ago looked too calm right now.
However, this girl whose name he still didn’t know also had a severe situation. The young monk of this temple didn’t seem to know, but the girl stood at the crossroads of death right now.
In the end Jang Geon spoke to Jin Won-sang:
“Then I will do it. Make sure no one touches my body or the child.”
“I will do so. Do not worry.”
Nodding his head, Jang Geon immediately shoved the Great Return Pill he held into the child’s mouth. At the same time, placing his right hand on the child’s crown and left hand on her dantian, he closed his eyes. The unconscious child wouldn’t have swallowed, but the Great Return Pill naturally passed the child’s esophagus and flowed into her stomach. Simultaneously from Jang Geon’s both hands, countless threads were unraveled and began seeping into the child’s body. Hundreds of threads thus wrapped around the child’s whole-body blood vessels, and subsequently wrapped round and round around even the Great Return Pill that flowed inside the stomach.
Immediately after, centered around that clumped mass, a huge bright explosion of light occurred.
*
Jang Geon slowly exhaled his breath and opened his eyes. Him performing true energy guidance was a good choice. The power of the Great Return Pill was sufficient to correct the child’s nine qi and blood passages and melt away the gloomy energy pooled inside. The problem was that due to the heat remaining thereafter, the child’s fine vessels almost burned rather than recovered.
However, Jang Geon guided that energy with astonishing true energy operation and cleanly cured the injured child’s body. There he could confirm in what way Shaolin’s internal power obtained the power of vanquishing evil, and how twisted qi and blood affected internal power. It seemed if he idled for a couple of days at the inn and organized his thoughts, something useful to use would come out.
At any rate, settling his internal power, Jang Geon turned around to give a word to Jin Won-sang who had intended to feed such spiritual medicine recklessly.
“Ha. To really recklessly feed this···”
What was seen in such Jang Geon’s eyes were three men and women filling the narrow room. A huge man sitting on a chair looking like a monk to anyone, Jin-ha sitting not far from him embracing a sword, and a woman named Seol dozing off in the corner.