Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 992

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 992
When I visited the Magistrate of Uibin Port and showed him the inspection seal of the Censorate’s Investigating Censor, he let out a strange “Hieeeek!” and readily agreed to cooperate.
A temporary treatment tent was erected beside Uibin Port, and naturally, patients began arriving in steady streams.
From there, we commenced the treatment operations.
I had incense burners set up all around the area and lit the incense.
Insect-repelling incense!
Smoke that drives away insects.
Specially made by Baekrin Medical Guild!
‘I was planning to learn more from the Sichuan Tang Family, but for now, I’ll use what we have.’
The Sichuan Tang Family makes the finest insect-repelling incense, but Baekrin Medical Guild is not far behind.
But that’s not all.
The patient treatment area was fitted with triple-layered insect netting.
To prevent insects from entering.
An absolutely essential measure for treating malaria!
To prevent patients from being bitten by mosquitoes again during treatment.
And cleanliness, cleanliness, cleanliness.
I had patients dressed in fresh clothes and changed their bedding.
Bathing would be difficult, so at minimum, I had them wiped down with damp cloths.
The medical assistants’ efforts were considerable.
Then.
“Patriarch! Preparations are complete!”
Sama-hye came running with her report, and I responded immediately upon returning from the administrative office.
“Good work. How many patients?”
“Already over a hundred.”
“This is maddening… Surely the doctors here must have malaria treatments. How could they just leave people like this?”
Unlike Earth medicine, which had regressed significantly during the medieval period.
The martial artists of Gangho naturally understood that malaria was transmitted by mosquitoes.
This was likely thanks to Oh Dok-mun and the Sichuan Tang Family.
As experts in poisons, they were specialists in insect toxins and Gu toxins.
They could hardly be ignorant of how parasitic protozoa enter the body through mosquitoes and cause illness.
I heard that the medicines they developed themselves were effective, but not to the degree of modern Earth medicine.
Still, using something was better than using nothing at all.
And.
The people of the Sichuan Tang Family and Oh Dok-mun’s organization never contracted this disease.
The reason was simple.
Because they cultivated poison techniques.
The toxic qi circulating in their bodies killed the protozoa the moment they entered!
‘Knowing the principle, it’s absurd.’
It was the remarkable world of kiiiiiii.
It sounds insane, but it’s true.
Even if commoners understand the cause, they die because they have no means of treatment, while martial artists survive by cultivating poison resistance techniques.
“They said the cure is in short supply. Apparently, mosquitoes have exploded to an extraordinary degree this year….”
“An abnormal climate, perhaps….”
Drought had struck the southeastern provinces.
And this region where Sichuan Province is located is called the southwestern provinces.
Then it was the east. Now it’s the west.
Problems are occurring throughout the entire empire in rotation.
‘Plague. Famine. War. What’s the last one? Death, perhaps….’
“I’ve already informed the authorities, so let’s mobilize all the doctors in this area and begin producing additional cure. And they say there’s no insect-repelling medicine in this town?”
“It’s been almost completely depleted, they say….”
“This is driving me mad. Someone from the Baekrin Group, come here!”
“Yes, Patriarch!”
One of the warriors belonging to the Baekrin Group came rushing over in a flustered state.
“Request supplies from Hubei and Anhui provinces. As quickly and abundantly as possible!”
I had already brought considerable supplies before departing from the Baekrin Medical Guild.
But seeing the situation on the ground now, it seemed woefully insufficient.
‘I knew it would come to this.’
No matter how many supplies I bring, they’re always lacking.
This is why I envy the space-compression pouches from fantasy novels most.
“Come now. Let’s move quickly. Quickly!”
* * *
Approximately 500,000 people died from malaria at the end of 2017, it is said.
The vast majority of them were the elderly and infirm, as well as children with weak immunity.
The World Health Organization continues to make unrelenting efforts to eradicate malaria, but intertwined with abnormal climate patterns, the territory of malaria continues to expand.
Let us go back to the middle of the 17th century.
There exists something called ‘Jesuit bark’ that cleanses malaria as if washing it away.
During the Age of Discovery, missionaries brought powder from a certain tree living in the Andes, and it was highly effective against malaria.
Thanks to this powder, historically famous figures like Louis XIV and the Kangxi Emperor even had their lives saved.
This miraculous malaria medicine is from the cinchona tree. The medicine is made by grinding the bark of that tree.
Quinine works by preventing the proliferation of malaria parasites.
The tonic water we drink actually contained the extract of this cinchona tree.
Gin and tonic contained quinine in it.
There are historical records that British sailors drank this while sailing through hot regions, preventing malaria.
However, quinine is undoubtedly a medicine, and medicines invariably have side effects.
Pregnant women must not consume it carelessly, and even ordinary people can develop acute pulmonary edema if they overuse it.
‘In a way, it’s ultimately similar to a potent antibiotic.’
Because of this, in modern South Korea, alcohol containing genuine quinine cannot be sold.
Modern America permits sales, but the law strictly limits the quantity.
Separate from that, quinine was so severely misused—added to alcohol, added to water, and even used for weaning babies—that it became widespread.
‘There are few medicines in human history that have been consumed this extensively.’
Instead, it’s extremely bitter and has significant side effects.
‘The medicine is truly potent.’
After that, Chloroquine was developed—a version that reduced side effects while maintaining efficacy.
However, in modern times, malaria has developed resistance to chloroquine.
Yet Quinine, the original progenitor of chloroquine, was used so extensively in the past that it still works reasonably well even in modern times.
Still potent, still devastating in side effects, and still quite effective at suppressing the parasites, they say.
‘The texts I read long ago mentioned this, but I’m not certain if it still works well on Earth these days.’
Since malaria itself varies in parasite resistance patterns by region, the medications used differ locally and become quite complex.
Moreover, just as humanity evolves, malaria continues to evolve as well.
In any case, Quinine itself is such a potent drug that using it directly is virtually unheard of in modern times.
Usually, improved derivatives are used instead.
But still, it’s far better than nothing, and in the current state of Central Plains technology, we must use everything available.
‘I’m grateful I read up on various things before the medical outreach mission.’
In this sense, the Hua continent where potatoes, tomatoes, corn, yellow fever mosquitoes, and tropical malaria mosquitoes all coexist.
Isn’t the presence of the cinchona tree here a glimmer of hope from within Pandora’s box?
‘I cannot artificially synthesize the quinine component from the cinchona tree.’
It’s possible on modern Earth, but I’ve heard it’s extremely difficult.
The chemical formula is complex, and the cost is substantial.
Instead, there are some derivative compounds discovered during the artificial synthesis process of quinine, and these compounds have fewer side effects and similar efficacy.
Chloroquine, which has already developed resistance in most tropical regions as mentioned earlier, and mefloquine, which hasn’t yet developed as much resistance.
But we lack the technology to synthesize these derivatives in this martial world.
‘It’s exactly like the aspirin situation. We can only make it from tree bark.’
In this Central Plains martial world, all we can rely on is nature itself.
Fortunately, in this one aspect, it surpasses Earth by far.
So I developed the malaria medication by extracting the medicinal properties from cinchona bark.
This method is possible with Central Plains technology.
In the past, I extracted salicylic acid as Oh Dok-yu from willow bark, and I used a similar method this time.
1. Pulverize the low-temperature dried cinchona bark.
2. Add Oh Dok-yu as a solvent to the powder and mix.
3. Stir well to create a mixed solution, then filter multiple times through fine cloth.
4. Heat and refine the filtered liquid to obtain quinine alkaloid.
Profit!
Success in extracting the medicinal properties of quinine.
Of course, the complex cinchona bark washing process, the hellish ordeal of low-temperature drying, the Oh Dok-yu mixing ratios, the difficulties in stirring, and countless other tribulations are all omitted here.
‘Let’s not think about that. We won’t.’
By the way, whether it’s better to obtain fresh cinchona wood and extract as quickly as possible, or whether low-temperature dried wood is more efficient—this is still a contentious issue in the Research Party.
‘Since this is a world without automobiles, I cast my vote for the low-temperature dried approach.’
Also, using martial world medical alcohol as a substitute for Oh Dok-yu is possible, but that’s also causing heated debate.
‘I cast my vote for Oh Dok-yu to match the penicillin process.’
I sided with low-temperature drying and Oh Dok-yu, though this could change as we continue to refine the process.
‘A moment of silence for the Research Party Legislators.’
In any case, aspirin requires the awkward synthesis of acetic acid with salicylic acid here.
But quinine, conversely, demanded that I select medicinal herbs from the Central Plains to take alongside it, even slightly mitigating quinine’s unique side effects.
Of course, it’s far from perfect.
Even with such mitigation, it remains difficult to prescribe to pregnant women.
‘For pregnant women, the alternative is artemisinin. This one can be prescribed to them.’
However, given its short duration and risk of resistance, on Earth it’s avoided for monotherapy.
Moreover, even artemisinin carries danger in early stages, so an official from the Ministry of Rites must absolutely perform pulse diagnosis before prescription.
‘Mid-pregnancy is better than early pregnancy, but it’s still risky.’
At best, it’s merely superior to quinine—prescription requires exceptional caution.
‘And artemisinin does have one unique handicap specific to the Central Plains.’
I’ll think about that later.
For now, the Medical Guild unconditionally recommends hospitalization.
‘It was incredibly difficult to produce.’
Thanks to that, on the lands Jin Cheon-hee extracted from each sect, rapeseed flowers, various medicinal herbs, and willows are growing.
And cinchona trees and artemisia are also developing together.
And there exists one more method usable only on the Martial Realm.
A method Earth could never even imagine.
‘I’ll have to employ that as well.’
* * *
Jin Cheon-hee possessed a secret method others could not employ to treat patients.
Just as Jegalling directly conducted civil engineering projects, Jin Cheon-hee alone could use his secret method to treat patients.
“It’s to save the patient’s life, but… there’s no helping it. I must unseal my Black Dragon.”
The Black Dragon sleeping in my left arm.
Originally, it could only be used in very small amounts during emergencies.
However, having glimpsed even the surface taste of Hyeongyeong, I had become able to use this Hyeongyeong poison more freely than before.
I would utilize that.
I would temporarily transform the patient into someone who had cultivated poison resistance.
Kill the parasites with poison!
But this is merely a temporary measure.
Unless Jin Cheon-hee’s body multiplied through the 108 Divided Self technique, I could not treat every patient, much less the flood of people pouring in.
I must obtain more medicine quickly.
This treatment is merely buying time for that.
‘With the medicine I’ve brought, I can treat all patients in the medical ward, but there’s nothing after that.’
I’ve requested medicinal materials from Bunta at the Baekrin Medical Guild branch in other regions, but it will take a month or two.
To treat patients while conserving medicine as much as possible during that time, I must do this.
Jin Cheon-hee approached the first patient.
I operated the Hyeonwon Jeondan Singeong at maximum capacity, examining every corner of the patient’s body through pulse diagnosis.
‘With this level of vitality, I can employ poison resistance.’
Not that it’s anything remarkable.
Typically, when a master guides a novice in circulating their energy, they infuse their own qi to facilitate the circulation—but Jin Cheon-hee accomplishes this through poison cultivation instead.
Traces of toxic energy began flowing subtly along Jin Cheon-hee’s meridians.
How much time had passed?
“Hah….”
The treatment was not yet complete.
Circulating the toxic energy while simultaneously infusing the patient’s body with true qi to restore vitality—this was the process.
If the patient were a martial artist, this alone would temporarily elevate their inner strength and produce health benefits.
But the patient was a commoner.
Push any harder, and the patient’s body would suffer damage.
And….
‘Poison cultivation is far more difficult to execute gently than to execute forcefully.’
I had discovered something new.
I felt this truth inscribe itself upon my mind.
‘Next time, I should be able to do better.’
I returned to my quarters for now.
There was much to contemplate.
I sat in meditation and fell into deep thought.
‘I’m gradually adapting to this martial world as a doctor, it seems.’
Three weapons humanity possesses against malaria.
Quinine, artemisinin, and kiii….
‘Even I sound insane saying it.’
Whether I should be grateful that science still works in a world of yin-yang and five elements, or relieved that I can break through with kiii’s power if necessary.
Yet there was only one thing I needed to do.
‘Save people.’
Nothing took precedence over that.
“I need to research how to make poison cultivation even more ‘gentle.'”
The people of the Sichuan Tang Family would call me mad if they saw this.
Poison is learned to kill people, and poison cultivation is supposed to be stronger, not weaker, isn’t it?
No, perhaps other martial artists would think the same.
To possess such a formidable Hyeongyeong Poison and yet deliberate on how to diminish it—one would question my sanity.
But for me, nothing was more important than this.
‘Gently, even more gently.’
I murmured to myself.
In that moment, my hair stood on end despite the absence of wind.
Yet I remained unaware, continuing my calculations within a state of selflessness.
“Ah, I see now. It’s not simply about killing. It’s about ‘what’ to kill that matters.”
That was the missing piece in my martial understanding.
It was then that Namgung Un came to find me.
“Jin, it’s about time for dinner….”
My hair bristling upward, my eyes glowing with an eerie blue light.
Within the state of no-self, a soft murmuring echoes.
Just then, as an official from the Ministry of Rites tried to enter Jin Cheon-hee’s tent, Namgung Un blocked his path.
“Wait just a moment, please.”
“Pardon?”
….
Namgung Un simply smiled without answering.
My friend’s enlightenment right now wasn’t something as grand as the Samadhi of Emptiness.
It was merely the process of clarifying what he knew and what he didn’t know.
Of course, that too could be called remarkable, but it wouldn’t lead to Hyeongyeong just yet.
Yet, the fact that my friend was achieving martial accomplishment through medicine alone, and that state of no-self—it fascinated me.
So I simply watched over him until it was all complete.
‘What exactly are you comprehending in this place, Jin’s younger brother?’
His mental state was transforming not in the midst of bloodshed, but in the midst of plague.
‘Ah, I should demand payment for secretly serving as his protector—a heaping bowl of rice with toppings.’
Something spicy and sweet.
Pork rice bowl with fat so tender and succulent it practically melts.
Namgung Un licked his lips.
Food was a serious matter.
Kiang!
Just then, Hwang-gu demanded to be let through.
The dog knew nothing of his master’s enlightenment.
He simply wanted to see when he wanted to see.
Namgung Un grabbed Hwang-gu’s cheek and held him back from entering.
“Are you hungry too?”
Whimper—
I was beginning to feel like I was becoming similar to that mutt.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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