The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 111

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 111

– Hissss!

The snake dodged the thin needles as if mocking them.

Thud thud thud thud!

The dozen or so needles I threw stuck into the ground, and the snake charged toward the chipmunk.

Perhaps because I was still concealing my presence, it seemed to have no interest in me.

‘Ha.’

But just because I had increased my internal energy a bit, did a mere snake think it could escape from my grasp?

The thin needles were just bait from the beginning.

Having guided the snake to the path I wanted, I threw a long needle toward its paralysis point.

While I didn’t memorize animal acupoints by knowledge, I could tell where energy gathered when I concentrated.

Swoosh!

The needle that flew through the air pierced the snake’s neck.

– Kieek!

The snake thrashed about.

No, since it had no legs, saying it thrashed was strange, but it twisted its body this way and that, trying to break free.

Of course, I had no intention of killing it.

Even if I threw it hard enough to pierce through, even if a hole was made, it wouldn’t die. Needles were not originally meant for killing.

But if it had been an ordinary snake, no, even an ordinary human… even a human who had awakened some energy would be unable to move if their paralysis point was struck.

In terms of internal energy alone, I was truly not lacking compared to peak masters.

But handling sword energy or anything similar was out of the question.

Because this wasn’t internal energy gained through normal enlightenment and training.

– Squeak! Squeeeek…!

Just from how it aggressively targeted the chipmunk, it was obvious how it had gained such power.

This was definitely not its first time. It must have learned that it could become stronger by devouring spiritual creatures weaker than itself to grow its inner core.

I snatched up the snake.

‘What should I do?’

Kill it?

That would be easy.

But this isn’t the martial arts world, and hunting snakes is illegal in South Korea.

Let it go and tell it to figure things out on its own?

Then the chipmunk would get eaten.

‘If one of the two has to live, wouldn’t the chipmunk be better?’

…Was that judgment too human-centric?

But it couldn’t be helped.

I was human, the chipmunk had asked me for help, and in my eyes, the little guy was pitiful.

Anyway, if I let the snake devour the chipmunk like this, it would soon threaten humans too.

And eventually, it would be killed by humans.

No matter how much it crawled around in places with excellent earth energy and devoured spiritual creatures, gathering enough energy to overcome guns and blades on its own would be impossible.

– Graaaah!

The snake struggled and tried to bite my hand.

Ick, I couldn’t make such a foolish mistake.

I put more strength into my hand and strangled its neck.

“Hey, you understand what I’m saying, don’t you?”

And I tried talking to the snake.

Of course, it wouldn’t say ‘Yes, I understand,’ but seeing how I could somehow communicate with the chipmunk, wouldn’t this guy understand too?

“If you want to live, spit out your inner core. You’ve already exceeded the energy you can handle.”

I threatened the snake while choking its neck.

“What are you going to do by devouring spiritual creatures? Become the world’s greatest snake? At this rate, it’s one of two things. Either fall into qi deviation and die, or be pierced by human guns and blades. I don’t know where you picked up what to become like this, but… if you have something called intelligence, make a judgment that will let you live.”

I gradually applied grip strength to my hand.

At first it was just strong enough not to let go, but I gradually increased the force until just before crushing it completely.

“Abandon your greed and return to being an ordinary snake.”

I hoped it would understand.

If it resisted to the end, I would really have no choice but to kill it…

– Shrillik!

The snake released its internal energy.

It seemed to be gauging its full strength against the force of my strangling hand.

Since I was still concealing my presence to some degree, it couldn’t get a feel for it.

Whoosh!

I released all my power.

So the snake could make a wise judgment.

“…”

And after a moment.

The snake spat out its inner core and returned to being an ordinary grass snake.

Had my persuasion worked? Or had it simply chosen the option of abandoning intelligence in the face of mortal crisis?

In any case, the ordinary snake naturally slipped out of my grasp, and the inner core remained in my hand.

– Squeak! Squeak squeak!

The chipmunk was extremely delighted.

Pababababat!

The little guy started throwing dirt all over the now powerless and weak snake.

Was this revenge time?

“It’s just an ordinary snake now, so let it escape.”

– Squeak? Squeak!

At least this little guy definitely understood what I was saying.

The chipmunk immediately stopped tormenting the snake and snuggled up to me like before.

When I gently stroked the chipmunk’s fur, it rubbed its head vigorously against my chest.

It was behavior that showed it knew very well how to be cute.

“How did you end up coming all the way here from Gyeongju?”

-Squeak!

“Did you come looking for a place with good energy?”

– Squeeak!

Even when I asked, I had no way of understanding the answers.

After stroking its head a few more times, I let the chipmunk go.

Since I’d dealt with the snake, there shouldn’t be anything threatening this little guy now.

I didn’t know whether it would stay on this mountain or go somewhere else, but I hoped it would live well. Without being spotted by strange spirits or humans.

“Take care. Let’s meet again if we get the chance!”

The chipmunk nodded its head just like a human would.

Then it scurried into the thicket and disappeared from sight.

“Hmm.”

After the chipmunk left, I was left alone.

“Now what do I do with this?”

The snake’s inner core was still in my hand.

I couldn’t give it to the chipmunk.

It was too powerful and its nature was extremely biased.

If it swallowed this, its violent temperament might transfer over.

‘Did it eat a ten-thousand-year fire carp or something? How did such an inner core form?’

Even for me to consume, it was too extreme in yang energy.

I could eat it if I filtered and absorbed it appropriately, but since it didn’t match my martial arts, the efficiency would be…

Hmm, extreme yang energy?

When I put it that way, there was one person who came to mind.

* * *

Late at night, well after clinic hours had ended.

I turned on the lights in the herbal medicine preparation room on the 2nd floor of the clinic building.

If I just said ‘This is a snake’s inner core that treats Guumjeolmaek, so please take it,’ what would Seol Yuhui say?

No matter how much trust we’d built up, there was no way she’d respond with ‘Yes, I understand.’

Processing was necessary.

It needed to look like herbal medicine.

But what if I put it in herbal medicine that’s boiled once and taken for a month?

The concentrated energy would disperse and couldn’t produce the desired effect.

It had to be taken all at once.

Mixed with cooling medicinal ingredients that could minimize side effects as much as possible.

So I secretly prepared snake core pills.

* * *

It happened that three days later was the day for my regular consultation with Seol Yuhui.

She had been consistently receiving acupuncture from me and taking medicine since she first joined our clinic.

That’s how Guumjeolmaek is.

Unless you suppress the yin energy at once with extreme yang energy, any treatment is just a temporary measure.

I could maintain Seol Yuhui’s health at a certain level by helping the meridians that were constantly blocked by yin energy to flow and prescribing medicine packed with all kinds of hot medicinal ingredients.

But until now, there had been no fundamental solution.

“How has your condition been this month? The humidity during the rainy season must have been tough, right?”

“Haha, yes. After the rainy season passed, it got chilly and windy. It’s definitely harder than when it was hot.”

So I’d been conducting monthly consultations like this and prescribing the most suitable medicine.

“Let me check your pulse.”

But now that I had decent treatment medicine, shouldn’t I try it?

“…Ah.”

“What’s wrong? Is it not good?”

I laid the groundwork to smoothly feed her the inner elixir.

“Yes, your pulse is quite unstable.”

“Then what should we do? Uh, would increasing the dosage solve it?”

Sorry for making you anxious.

Please bear with me just a little.

Of course, Seol Yuhui’s pulse wasn’t much different from usual, but this was the best way to naturally get her to take the new medicine.

“Special measures are needed. Today I’ll try a slightly different treatment. Take your medicine, receive chuna therapy, and go home early to rest.”

“What? Ah… if the Clinic Director says so.”

Seol Yuhui’s eyes wavered, having maintained perfect attendance so tenaciously until now.

Since coming to our Oriental Medicine Clinic, she had never left early, been late, or even used vacation days.

Jin Minjeong, Gong Nari, and even Seo Inae occasionally took vacation days, forgoing their vacation pay, but Seol Yuhui had never missed a single day.

It seemed she was very concerned about having frequently missed work before her health improved.

But today there was no choice.

Rest was necessary to fully absorb the energy.

“First, take this.”

Seol Yuhui accepted the pill without suspicion.

About the size of a circle formed when you curve your thumb and index finger together.

It was larger than pills usually taken, but not enough to arouse suspicion.

“Oh my, did you make this specially for me? I’m sorry for causing you trouble…!”

Seol Yuhui spoke while chewing the pill in her mouth.

“Drink water and swallow it all the way down. In a little while, you’ll feel warm energy spreading.”

“Ooh.”

Usually there’s no heat sensation immediately after taking herbal medicine, but perhaps because it was my words, she didn’t find it strange.

She just thought there might be such medicinal ingredients.

“Mm, mmm.”

“Are you okay? Is heat rising to your head?”

“Ugh…!”

“Lie down quickly!”

Less than a minute after Seol Yuhui swallowed the elixir pill, a reaction appeared.

She couldn’t answer, but my inner energy began to twist and the air in the examination room changed.

Even though I had generously added musk to disperse the yang energy rushing to her head, it seemed insufficient.

“I’m fine…”

“Quickly!”

But it was okay.

I had given her the inner elixir in front of me in preparation for this situation.

I practically dragged her to lie face down on the chuna bed.

Then I activated Auto COX (Auto Flexion; a technique that automatically flexes and extends the lumbar spine using the chuna bed’s functions).

Whirr-. Whirr-.

The lower half of the chuna bed began moving up and down.

Of course, this was just for show. I wasn’t trying to treat a disc problem.

I lightly loosened her trapezius muscles with my hands to get started.

“Ah, Clinic Director. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t say anything, close your eyes. And use the breathing method you use when receiving acupuncture to take in and release the energy.”

“…”

“You’re doing well. Don’t answer, just listen. You’re spreading the medicine’s energy throughout your body, so don’t worry and rest comfortably. If you get sleepy, it’s fine to sleep.”

“Still, ah…”

“Shh.”

Even without words, her question of how she could sleep was conveyed.

I silenced her and performed ordinary Rolfing (a technique that applies pressure to fascia to induce body alignment and functional recovery) on her back.

Then I released the sleep incense I had prepared in advance.

Though Master hadn’t taught me anything about poisons, I had learned the sleep incense formula by watching over his shoulder.

Seol Yuhui soon fell asleep.

I stopped the COX and turned her body over.

Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap!

I pressed acupoints along the Ren Meridian and Du Meridian, infusing them with energy.

The first was naturally Baihui.

The toxic yang energy rushing to her head that Seol Yuhui couldn’t handle escaped and dispersed through Baihui, while the purified energy was drawn down in the direction I guided it.

Indang, Tiandu, Danzhong, Zhongwan, and finally… the sea of energy, Qihai.

In her Dantian, it began to mix with the massive yin energy that had been tormenting Seol Yuhui all this time.

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