The Genius Doctor of the Mount Hua Sect - Chapter 16
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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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Hwasanpa’s Gifted Physician — Episode 16
“Come at me, then…….”
Seol Tae-jin’s brow furrowed quietly.
That Baek Hyun, who looked younger than himself, had just hurled a challenge at him—and it rankled.
Still, rather than curse aloud, he settled into his stance.
“I never imagined my opponent would be some mere boy like you.”
“Then who did you expect to face?”
“Baek Jin, the senior brother among Hwasanpa’s Second Generation Disciples. I thought I’d be matched against him.”
His words weren’t entirely wrong.
By the original plan, Seol Tae-jin’s opponent should have been Baek Jin.
But that would have been poor strategy for Hwasanpa.
Baek Jin lacked the strength to defeat Seol Tae-jin with certainty.
‘Though I suppose real combat is always uncertain…….’
Still, certainty was preferable, wasn’t it?
Baek Hyun smiled faintly and spoke.
“Come on, then.”
“I accept. Hah!”
Seol Tae-jin stepped forward and swung his wooden sword in a wide arc.
A diagonal slash from upper left to lower right.
Baek Hyun retreated smoothly, parrying the blow with a fluidity that drew gasps from the spectators.
“This Baek Hyun boy—his reflexes are quicker than expected, aren’t they?”
“I thought he’d never block the first strike…….”
“His fundamentals are solid. Hwasanpa must have trained him well.”
Murmurs rippled through the watching crowd, faces bright with surprise.
“He—he mustn’t be hurt!”
“Baek Hyun! You’ve got this!”
The Second Generation Disciples of Hwasanpa seated in the waiting area roared themselves hoarse cheering him on. It was the only thing they could do for their youngest.
Meanwhile, Baek Hyun sharpened his focus.
‘If I don’t use the Palguk Gaewon, there’s no way I can beat Seol Tae-jin head-to-head.’
The gap in basic skill was simply too great.
No matter that Baek Hyun carried Hwa Seo-myung’s memories, he was still someone who’d only just risen from a sickbed.
In other words, he couldn’t fully manifest all those abilities in his mind.
By contrast, Seol Tae-jin was older and a formidable master—and what’s more, he’d swallowed an awakening elixir that amplified his combat strength beyond his normal power.
‘In a situation like this, to defeat Seol Tae-jin…….’
He would need to draw on something other than martial prowess.
His abilities as a physician, precisely!
“Hah!”
Seol Tae-jin bellowed and swung his sword again.
Baek Hyun blocked and his eyes hardened with purpose.
It was the expression of resolve—that no matter what came, he would not miss his opponent’s moves.
That intensity gave Seol Tae-jin pause.
‘What kind of stare is that? Like he means to swallow me whole……!’
But he quickly steadied himself. Regardless of the boy’s eyes, he held the advantage in this exchange of blows.
‘End this quickly, then challenge that Baek Jin to a match!’
Just as Baek Hyun had challenged him.
There was no other way to carry out the Sect Leader’s command.
“It ends here!”
Seol Tae-jin’s sword traced a strange arc and targeted the back of Baek Hyun’s hand.
But Baek Hyun stepped back, evading the strike. He observed Seol Tae-jin with calm precision.
‘His right foot lands first, but his knee trembles slightly.’
“Hah!”
‘An injury to the knee? No—the way he’s not aware of it means it’s less an acute injury than cumulative microtrauma from repeated training.’
“Stop dodging!”
‘Normally he’d have felt the anomaly, but now he’s too caught up in the fight to notice. Must be the side effect of that awakening drug.’
Baek Hyun’s mind flooded with countless data points to exploit this situation. Seol Tae-jin’s mind, meanwhile, filled only with confusion.
‘Why can’t I win?’
He couldn’t understand it.
His frame was larger, his raw strength greater, his speed superior—so why was victory eluding him?
“I—!”
Seol Tae-jin swallowed a curse that had nearly escaped and swung his sword.
Yet even the flurry of attacks he unleashed only pressed Baek Hyun back without delivering the decisive blow he needed.
The spectators in the stands murmured among themselves.
“What—what’s happening out there?”
“On the surface, it looks like the Baekgeommun boy is overwhelming him……”
“But if you look at their faces, it’s the opposite. The Hwasanpa boy looks composed, while the Baekgeommun one seems flustered.”
“I can’t make heads or tails of this……”
Their expressions betrayed complete bewilderment.
The Second Generation Disciples of Baekgeommun felt the same way.
“Our youngest is losing, isn’t he?”
“But why does he look so calm?”
“Baek Hyun is remarkable……”
They stared transfixed at the match unfolding before their eyes.
It was then that Baek Hyun truly began to act.
‘Seol Tae-jin isn’t an easy opponent. It won’t be simple to strike at his weak points as I did against Ju Hyung-tae.’
So he would use something else instead.
Take, for instance, the imbalance he hadn’t yet corrected.
Habits accumulated over years cannot be shaken in a short time—especially when medicine is masking the flaw, making it all the more entrenched.
Crack!
Baek Hyun knocked the wooden sword aside and pivoted his body leftward.
“This bastard!”
Seol Tae-jin, consumed with rage, spun on his right knee as a pivot. In that instant, Baek Hyun noticed his upper body leaning to the left.
‘Once.’
Crack!
He batted the sword away again and moved left once more. As Seol Tae-jin rotated, Baek Hyun caught the tremor in his knee.
‘Twice.’
“How long do you plan to keep running!”
At that, Seol Tae-jin surged forward in a fury, his sword raised high. It was the setup for a devastating overhead strike—the kind that couldn’t be endured if it landed squarely.
“Baek Hyun!”
The threat in that attack was so evident that all the Second Generation Disciples in the waiting area flinched.
But Baek Hyun remained unflinched. He simply turned his body left once more as the overhead strike came down.
“Damn you!”
Seol Tae-jin rotated again, but—
‘Three times.’
Screech!
“……!”
He lost his balance mid-turn and staggered.
Baek Hyun’s wooden sword flashed through the opening.
Thud!
“Ugh!”
Struck squarely in the solar plexus, Seol Tae-jin retched and crumpled to the ground.
“……”
Silence descended like a curtain.
Everyone stared at the arena with gaping mouths, each wondering if what they’d just witnessed was real.
“Did—did Seol lose to that kid?”
“That’s impossible!”
The Inner Disciples of Baekgeommun looked toward the arena in disbelief.
Seol Tae-jin, having regained his senses after retching, asked with a stunned expression.
“What…… exactly happened?”
“Your knee was in poor condition, Seol.”
“What?”
Baek Hyun explained Seol Tae-jin’s situation calmly.
“Every time you planted your feet firmly, I noticed a subtle tremor in your knee. I couldn’t diagnose the cause without examining your pulse, but it’s clear that’s where your weakness lies.”
“……!”
“So I deliberately forced you to rely on your right knee. If it was already unstable, I wagered you’d make a mistake eventually. In the end, when you overextended with that large movement, your center of gravity shifted and you lost your footing.”
“You mean…… you anticipated all of this?”
“How else could I have brought you down?”
“……!”
As Seol Tae-jin absorbed every word, shock spread across his face.
The spectators who had heard the same explanation were equally astounded. They opened their mouths in disbelief, then burst into cheers.
“Woooooow!”
“So all that defensive play—it was actually exploiting the opponent’s weaknesses!”
“What incredible perception! To see something like that in a Second Generation Disciple match!”
They were delighted, as if they’d witnessed something truly special. The referee, observing the crowd’s enthusiasm, raised his hand to signal the end of the bout.
“The victor: Baek Hyun of Hwasanpa!”
“Yaaaaaaaaaay!”
Another roar swept through the Martial Arena. Hwasanpa’s Second Generation Disciples rushed up onto the platform and grasped Baek Hyun’s hand.
“Baek Hyun!”
“You did brilliantly. We never thought you’d actually beat Seol Tae-jin…”
“That was amazing! Turning the opponent’s movements against him!”
“The essence of Four Ounces Moving a Thousand Pounds. Or—is it something different?”
“Everyone, please calm down.”
Baek Hyun steadied his senior disciples, who seemed determined never to release him.
“What’s wrong?”
“I need to have a word with Seol Tae-jin.”
So saying, Baek Hyun caught up with Seol Tae-jin, who was dragging himself out of the Martial Arena on unsteady legs.
“How’s your leg? Any better?”
“Baek Hyun?”
Seol Tae-jin’s expression shifted from confusion to a dark scowl. He asked coldly.
“Did you come to mock me?”
“I already won. Why would I do that?”
Baek Hyun stepped forward with exasperation and rolled up Seol Tae-jin’s pant leg.
Before the startled Seol Tae-jin could react, Baek Hyun had already drawn several acupuncture needles from his inner robe and swiftly inserted them.
“Aaaaaaagh!”
Seol Tae-jin cried out from the sudden pain.
Then.
“Huh?”
He looked at Baek Hyun in disbelief.
Baek Hyun smiled slightly and spoke.
“The pain in your knee has lessened compared to before, hasn’t it?”
“How did you—how could you possibly know that?”
“I inserted needles at the Dubi Acupoint and the Naeslgan Acupoint to treat the knee pain.”
“You’re healing me?”
“It’s a matter of responsibility, since it was a knee I nearly damaged. But the area was already deteriorating gradually before that. If you don’t take care going forward, your knee will be ruined.”
……
Seol Tae-jin stared at Baek Hyun with his mouth hanging open.
But only for a moment.
“Thank you… for treating me.”
He spoke in a quieter voice than before. Baek Hyun smiled faintly and nodded.
“And one more thing—it would be better not to consume mysterious medicinal preparations in order to win. Unless they’re proven elixirs with established effects.”
“How could you possibly—”
“It was obvious just by looking. If there had been someone knowledgeable in medicine at the scene, they would have noticed everything.”
!
“Whatever that drug is, taking it frequently could cause side effects. You don’t want an early trip to the grave, do you?”
At Baek Hyun’s words, the Inner Disciples of Baekgeommun who had been listening swallowed hard.
Baek Hyun saw their reaction and smiled faintly.
“I’m sure you didn’t take it willingly. Isn’t that right, Master of Baekgeommun?”
……
His gaze had shifted to Gwak Hyung, the Baekgeommun master, who had stepped forward.
Gwak Hyung glared at Baek Hyun with a hardened face.
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
“Is that so? Still, let me offer one piece of advice.”
Baek Hyun’s voice turned cold.
“Don’t treat human lives like disposable things.”
!
“That’s all I have to say.”
With that, Baek Hyun turned on his heel and walked away.
Gwak Hyung’s eyes twisted as he watched the retreating figure.
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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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