Chapter 63: The Legendary Divine Physician

They said the Black Demon Sword was extremely toxic, and it seemed they were not wrong.

This was because even though they were still young and their internal energy was shallow, as disciples of the Nine Great Sects, their foundation in internal cultivation should have been sufficiently established, yet the Qingcheng Sect disciples had collapsed helplessly.

For now, I handed the annoying punk over to Baek Mu-ho, slung the other two over my shoulders, and quickly ran down the mountain.

‘I have to find a village.’

I briefly thought about injecting internal energy to expel the poison, but I immediately dismissed the idea myself.

Injecting different kinds of true qi into another person’s body was a highly dangerous venture; one wrong move, and it would trigger a reaction like pouring boiling oil into cold water.

It meant that one might witness a human body bursting apart.

[You thought well. If you carelessly meddle with the Qingcheng Sect disciples, it could cause serious problems for your steps in Sichuan.]

Master Bodhidharma shared the same opinion.

Even if the nature of the energy was similar, moving internal energy within another person’s body required extremely delicate control; a single mistake would ruin their Qi channels and blood vessels.

Master Bodhidharma explained that injecting internal energy into someone else’s body to expel poison was something that must be avoided unless there was absolutely no other way, or unless it was a situation where they would die either way.

[Since it seems we might be able to find a way, you should first look for an apothecary.]

Master Bodhidharma gave the instruction and then departed.

It seemed he intended to find a way to help from the heavens.

The problem was whether they could hold out in the meantime, but fortunately, their condition did not deteriorate rapidly, so there seemed to be some time to spare.

“This guy, I think he’s about to throw up?”

Meanwhile, Baek Mu-ho, who was running while carrying the annoying punk on his back, expressed his anxiety.

Since there were lingering hard feelings anyway, we had agreed that I would carry two people instead of letting him hand that guy over to me, and it seemed I had chosen well by avoiding him.

“If he throws up what’s inside, he’ll feel a bit better, so isn’t that a good thing?”

“In exchange, my sense of smell and my mind will also be emptied… Dammit, what a pain.”

“Ugh…”

I glanced back, and it was not a groundless complaint.

It felt as if I were looking at a ‘large and beautiful flower bud about to bloom’ at any moment.

To put it nicely, that was what it was.

‘To put it bluntly… that would be a bit dirty.’

When running with an unconscious person piggybacked on one’s back, their face inevitably comes into contact with one’s neck or ear area.

To have something like that looming near one’s face; just imagining it gave me goosebumps.

“…What is it? What? Speak, you rascal!”

“No, I mean you’re doing great.”

“Don’t lie to me! His condition is a total mess right now, isn’t it? Right? It’s going to burst, isn’t it?”

Carrying him on his back, Baek Mu-ho, who could not check the annoying punk’s condition, shouted.

In fact, it was not impossible to check if he strained himself a bit, but it seemed his fear surpassed his curiosity.

Honestly, I would do the same.

It was scary; what if he forced his head to turn to check the expression, and that ‘large and beautiful flower bud’ bloomed wide?

‘I can only hope it doesn’t burst before we reach the village.’

“…This is strange. Why did I suddenly get chills? What did you do?”

Baek Mu-ho, responding anxiously and sensitively like someone suffering from withdrawal symptoms, reacted this way, but.

“I prayed in my heart. That it would end without any major problems, please.”

“Don’t say it! If you say those kinds of things out loud, they always end up bursting in a bad way!”

“…”

The words, ‘You were the one who brought it up,’ crossed my mind for a moment, but I did not bother to speak them aloud.

Right, it was only right for me to hold back here.

***

And.

“Uwaaaaagh!”

“…”

“Urp! Uwaaaaagh!”

I witnessed the moment when Baek Mu-ho’s expression, which had been full of hope because it had not burst until they reached the village, turned into despair.

“You bastard! Who told you to pour a pancake on someone else’s face! Huh! Is that what they teach you in the Qingcheng Sect!”

In the middle of the village, with eyes focused on them from all directions, Baek Mu-ho grabbed the annoying punk by the collar and shook him, shouting as if he refused to die alone.

For some reason, I felt an uneasy premonition that both of them would end up with bad nicknames.

I hoped it was just my imagination.

“Still, it seems the worst was avoided.”

The Qingcheng Sect disciples held out well; even though we rushed as fast as possible, it took quite a bit of time, yet they held onto their lifelines tightly despite being poisoned with a toxin strong enough to make them lose consciousness.

Anyway, I had promised to buy him a lot of delicious food when we came to Sichuan this time, but I wondered if Baek Mu-ho would be able to eat well.

At that moment, a question that was somewhat awkward to answer echoed in my mind.

[Who is that guy, and why did he smear a pancake all over his face?]

It’s not Master Bodhidharma’s voice?

Is it someone new?

[He is called Bu. A friend who knows medicine well.]

“Bu?”

It was a name I had never heard of.

In response to my reaction, Master Bodhidharma continued.

[Though he is better known to the world by the name Hua Tuo.]

“…Huh?”

Hua Tuo? That legendary divine physician?

Should I say this was typical of the heavens?

An unexpected legend had suddenly popped up.

[That bastard who poured a pancake on someone else’s face, or the ones slung over your shoulders who look like spoiled dried fish—their condition doesn’t seem very good. For now, how about heading to an apothecary where we can get some medicinal herbs?]

While I was slightly startled and flustered, the sharp voice snapped me back to my senses.

Just as he said, saving human lives was the priority for now.

Even if they had held out well so far, there was no guarantee they would continue to do so.

Baek Mu-ho and I ran to find the village apothecary.

Thanks to asking around and putting in some legwork, we found the apothecary without much difficulty.

However.

“Excuse me? Disciples of the Qingcheng Sect… Gasp! Wh-Why are they in this state?”

Seeing the half-dead Qingcheng Sect disciples, the physician’s face turned pale.

The influence of most of the Nine Great Sects on their local regions was immense; naturally, no one in Sichuan took the Qingcheng Sect lightly, as doing so was beneficial for one’s longevity.

It seemed that as soon as the physician saw the state of the Qingcheng Sect disciples, he felt a serious threat to his own longevity.

It was not unreasonable, but still…

‘Will he even be able to treat them like this?’

Watching him tremble without even examining them did not inspire any confidence at all.

“Do-Do you… know what kind of poison they were struck by?”

“It was a violet-colored poison mist. It was something used by the bastards known as the Black and White Twin Demons…”

“Gasp! The Black and White Twin Demons!”

The physician gasped in shock and trembled; those half-baked fellows must have built quite an infamous reputation in Sichuan.

“Do you know what poison it is?”

“Th-That is…”

Mentioning the moniker of the Black and White Twin Demons was out of expectation that the poison they used might be as well-known as their reputation.

However, the physician seemed to perceive that his already precarious longevity had now entered an even more critical state.

Annoyed by the physician’s behavior of rolling his eyes and stammering, Baek Mu-ho sneered.

“Why are you so surprised? The Black and White Twin Demons couldn’t even last ten moves before the fellow in front of you cracked their heads open.”

“Pardon…? Yes?”

Perhaps because overwhelming stories kept piling up, the physician’s sanity seemed to have gone on vacation, and he just gaped with his mouth open.

[Good grief! What an idiot, bringing shame to all physicians by himself.]

Although Master Hua Tuo’s words were harsh, they were not wrong.

If possible, it would have been better to find a solution on earth, but seeing the way this physician was acting, leaving them to him would only result in corpses.

“Master, please help me.”

[You said you’re in Sichuan, right? Let’s see. If it’s a poison that can be mixed into a poison mist, the types are limited… A violet-colored poison that can be obtained in Sichuan… and seeing the kids’ condition… Ah, it must be that one.]

That was fast. Already?

According to the stories I had roughly heard, Hua Tuo’s medical skills were famous for cutting open and operating on people rather than for his talent in using medicine…

[Half a jin of Rhododendron Leaf, two roots of Madder Root, and a handful of Amur Cork Tree Bark. And since it’s Sichuan, the medicinal potency of Epimedium should be good, so tell him to add that too. Also, it would be best if they have Eucommia Bark or Heavenly Insect herb, but…]

A string of unfamiliar herb names poured out.

But fearing that I might get scolded as well if I stood there blankly not knowing them, I quickly recited exactly what Master Hua Tuo had said.

When I suddenly mentioned the herb names without preamble, the physician tilted his head in confusion, but soon his face showed shock, and his sanity attempted to escape once again.

It seemed he roughly understood what effects the herbs I (Hua Tuo) mentioned would produce; he did not seem entirely incompetent.

“…That is all. Brew the herbs I just mentioned into a decoction and bring it! Quickly!”

“Yes! Yes, sir!”

Snapping out of his daze at my raised voice and scolding, the physician hurriedly ran out.

Baek Mu-ho looked at me with a peculiar gaze.

“Did you know medicine as well?”

“Well, a little.”

“Really? Well, if you say so, then that’s that. Then we don’t have to worry too much.”

I wondered if this guy even knew the dictionary definition of the word ‘a little’.

“Then I’m going to wash up, so take care of things. Ugh! I feel like throwing up…”

Once the urgent matter was roughly sorted out, Baek Mu-ho went outside to resolve the next most pressing issue.

Whether I should call it a blessing or not, because there was no one left conscious around us, I was able to converse with the heavens more comfortably.

[You were surprised earlier, weren’t you? Why? Did you think I was just a physician who was good at splitting open heads?]

As if he had peeked into my inner thoughts, Master Hua Tuo jabbed at me.

“Yes, well.”

[Hmph! It’s good to be honest. You probably didn’t know, but although I made a name for myself by cutting and slicing, I am also quite knowledgeable about medicine. When you slice people open, if you just cut them blindly, they will most likely die, so I had to be fully versed in handling poisons as well.]

That made some sense; there were stories that he had even handled things like anesthetic powder to induce anesthesia.

[Anyway, hmph! Understand that my tone is a bit rough. It’s because I just came back from treating a patient bastard. That crazy salamander bastard, the One-horned Dragon, got stabbed in the flank again while cheating. Ah!]

It seemed even dragons cheated.

I had acquired a new piece of knowledge, but perhaps because it was something I didn’t particularly want to know, I felt somewhat uncomfortable; I wanted to believe it was because it was some low-class dragon.

“It must have been hard on you.”

[Treating patients is always like that. Basically, they are bastards who are hurting somewhere, so their tempers are terrible. Back when I was active, there was more than one bastard who wielded a sword and threw a fit because being sick put them in a shitty mood. Though things are a bit different here, does the nature engraved in a person’s body disappear so easily? Maybe if I retired from being a physician, but otherwise…]

If it was that kind of environment, it was fully understandable.

But suddenly, a question arose.

“Is Master Hua Tuo also an immortal?”

[Immortal my foot. I am a physician, not someone cultivating the Tao.]

“Huh? But then how are you in the heavens…”

[In my case, it’s like a back door of sorts. If you are as famous as I am, a certain amount of karma accumulates. How should I put it? If an immortal is an official, then I am the assistant supporting that official? My actual registration belongs to the Underworld. Right now, I’m just visiting briefly because Dharma called me.]

“Ah, yes.”

Hearing the analogy, I roughly understood what position he held.

And also that if karma accumulates, one gains a certain degree of influence even after death.

[By the way, you said you’re in Sichuan, right?]

“Yes.”

[I hope we can see each other often while you are there. Sichuan is an easy place to obtain all sorts of poisonous substances, so it’s good for studying poisons. Since coming here, I’ve had plenty of spare time to design various poisons and antidotes, and I’d like to test them out. It’s a win for you too. It’s none other than this Master Hua Tuo’s secret transmission. Just hearing it on the side will be quite useful. So try nagging Dharma. I can’t even come here without his permission… Ah, can’t I even ask for a favor!]

It seemed Master Hua Tuo was not an immortal, so he could not ascend to the heavens on his own.

And it seemed Master Bodhidharma was stopping him, considering it an unnecessary solicitation.

‘Huh? But why don’t I hear Master Bodhidharma urging him or complaining?’

Isn’t he right next to him?

A small, minor question arose, but before that question could settle in my mind, a terrifying story popped up.

[Tsk, damn it. Since it has come to this, even if I have to spend some karma, I should buy the treasure that Heavenly Demon fellow is selling. He said it would let me peer through the Meridian Mirror.]

“…Pardon?”

Excuse me?

Peer through what?

Huh?

“What do you mean by that…”

[Lately, that Heavenly Demon fellow has been selling something strange. He told us to buy them one by one to watch if we’re curious about how the earthly world is running. Since he said the artifact called the Meridian Mirror would let us peer through, it must refer to this. There’s no way there could be two of such ridiculous things.]

Master Heavenly Demooooon!!!!!