The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 228

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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 228

Of course, treatment for depression primarily relies on herbal medicine.

The Donguibogam divides the causes of illness into three major categories: external diseases, internal diseases, and neither internal nor external causes.

Among these, external diseases refer to infectious diseases caused by bacteria, viruses, and other external sources; internal diseases include the seven emotions, food, and overwork or idleness; and neither internal nor external causes include trauma, drug side effects, genetic diseases, and other conditions that cannot be classified into the first two categories.

Modern mental illnesses mostly belong to the category of seven emotion diseases.

It’s viewed as the seven emotions of joy, anger, sorrow, thought, grief, fright, and fear becoming excessive and affecting the qi and blood of the organs, thus causing illness.

Of course, there are various subcategories including mania and depression.

In cases of depression like Im Juweon’s, it’s safe to say that most symptoms originate from qi stagnation.

If this persists without improvement, it affects the organs, leading to poor appetite and sleep problems, causing depletion of qi, blood, yin, and yang – which in modern terms is expressed as an imbalance of neurotransmitters.

“Yes. Acupuncture treatment would be good to combine, but herbal medicine will be the main treatment. Initially, we’ll release the stagnant energy caused by stress and restore balance, then focus on tonifying qi to recover the already damaged body.”

Unlike fire illness and mania, which often involve rising heat, depression usually contains a mixture of deficiency and excess.

When elderly patients suffer from depression, even if it takes longer, we base treatment on tonics and attempt to open depression, but for young patients whose stamina can endure it, there’s no problem clearing blockages first.

“Will this stuffiness be relieved? I just thought it was pressure about studying…”

Im Juweon pressed her chest and lowered her eyes.

“How long has it been like this?”

“You mean the stuffiness here? Well, even in my first year of high school, I felt suffocated thinking I’d soon be a senior. Lately, um… whenever I become conscious of it while not studying, always?”

“Does it hurt when you press it?”

She frowned while pressing a spot slightly to the left from the center of her chest.

“Yes. Right here. It feels like something’s knotted up. It doesn’t hurt if I don’t press it, and it’s not like indigestion, but it throbs occasionally. Is this qi stagnation…?”

“That’s right.”

Through my qi sense, I could feel pathogenic qi clumped up where Im Juweon was pointing.

Without special training, one cannot sense the flow of the world, but people are bound to detect changes in themselves, like qi being blocked or energy being drained.

“If it can get better… I want to receive treatment.”

Im Juweon showed determination as she looked into my eyes, then lowered her gaze again.

“But herbal medicine is quite expensive, right? Should I bring my mother?”

“If you want to brew decoctions separately, it tends to be. Would it be possible to bring her? If it’s burdensome to talk about, hmm.”

To prepare herbal medicine tailored to an individual, insurance doesn’t cover it except for a few conditions.

To treat within the coverage range, the best option is to use acupuncture along with the closest available formula.

Even if it’s not the perfect prescription, I could prescribe Soyosan and then control diet and sleep as much as possible.

“I’ll bring her. I think she’ll agree. My mother also had depression in the past… Oh, please keep it secret from my mother that I told you this.”

“Ah, would that be okay? That would be ideal.”

“Yes. Would it be okay if we come together on the weekend?”

I was considering options, and fortunately, it seemed we could use decoctions without difficulty.

Formulas prescribed in broad frameworks aren’t bad, but tailored prescriptions are definitely better.

“Let’s do that. Today, I’ll treat your headache first and also place acupuncture for your digestive system.”

“Ah, yes. But… talking about it seems to have made my headache feel a bit better.”

Since it was a headache caused by oversleeping, thinking about other things seemed to have alleviated it to some extent.

“Let’s still treat it. There are aspects where acupuncture can move energy too. After treatment, you’ll feel hungry, so eat a hearty meal.”

“Yes.”

Im Juweon nodded several times.

“…I should try not to take naps, right?”

“That’s right. If you feel tired before 10 o’clock, do some physical activity even briefly. But don’t drink coffee.”

“I understand…”

As guilt was about to show on her face again, I quickly blocked it.

“You don’t need to regret or feel guilty about sleeping once. Just think of it as having sprained your ankle and being told not to run. Naturally, it’s better not to run, but you might end up running once or twice if you’re late, right?”

“Yes.”

Thinking it was a joke, Im Juweon smiled brightly.

“We can treat it again. You might make mistakes several times along the way and even worsen, but it’s all part of the recovery process.”

“Yes, thank you.”

“I won’t tell you not to feel pressure about studying.”

Telling a high school senior not to feel pressure wouldn’t immediately make it so.

Society puts pressure on both students who study hard and those who don’t to feel burdened and keep thinking about it.

“No one uses their time 100% efficiently. Still, let’s try to minimize regretting and feeling sorry about what we couldn’t do.”

“…Yes.”

“Before going to bed, if there’s anything you did today, record it in a diary and praise yourself for what you accomplished. Today you came to the Traditional Korean Medicine Clinic and decided to receive treatment, so you could write that down.”

“Yes.”

“If there’s really nothing at all, just study for exactly 30 minutes and then sleep. That’s enough.”

Students do what they can as students, and doctors do what they can as doctors.

“I’ll do that. Thank you, Clinic Director.”

“You’ll get better. You understand quickly and have the will to be treated.”

I took Im Juweon to the treatment room and administered acupuncture.

I treated not only her headache but also resolved the stagnant energy in her chest area that I felt through pulse diagnosis and palpation.

Even patients who don’t exactly meet the diagnostic criteria for depression often have blocked energy around the solar plexus area.

Just as the prince was under stress, everyone finds their work difficult for some reason. Chronic diseases can also cause stress by themselves.

“My head feels much lighter and my chest feels more comfortable too… Please tell her thank you.”

After treatment ended, Im Juweon politely greeted even at the front desk.

“Of course! I hope you get better soon!”

Gong Nari smiled brightly as she handed over the Soyosan preparation I had prescribed.

With her polite and receptive attitude toward advice, she seemed likely to show improvement quickly.

For symptoms that had sunk to that level, it would take at most two or three months?

Being a high school senior, the approaching college entrance exam might cause changes again, but she should be able to overcome it even then.

– What, depression? Isn’t that what you call common folk who stay cooped up at home sniffling all day?

…Someone who stubbornly refused to listen came to mind.

I’d been thinking about her since earlier, and she seemed to resemble Im Juweon somewhat in appearance.

– That’s not the case. Many people who appear bright on the outside have deeply wounded hearts. It can actually be more dangerous because those around them don’t notice.

– Are you saying I’m weak?

– That’s not what I meant…!

The one who spread the title Divine Physician throughout the land.

Baeksa of the Falling Sun Plum Blossom.

* * *

So that was probably around 7 or 8 years after I had fallen into the martial arts world?

After passing through the difficult period of language and writing, and after finishing the era of working under other physicians or laying out mats to give acupuncture, I was working in a reasonably good house I had obtained.

‘It was before I met Master… It was when my name was occasionally mentioned among the Makyodo because of Cheonma.’

As my name became known, martial artists would visit quite often, but I myself was far from worthy of being called a martial artist.

Though I had somehow obtained martial arts manuals to study, there was a world of difference between me and those who had properly trained.

There was a time when I both feared and admired martial artists.

“Physician, please save our junior disciple!”

To me at that time, Baeksa looked incredibly cool.

Her first impression was that of an extremely spirited martial artist.

Cheonma, the only absolute master I had known until then… To be honest, fear came first with her.

Though she had only politely asked me to heal her husband, I felt a threat to my life just from her presence, and since she was someone with mysterious aspects, I couldn’t relax my guard whenever we met.

“She won’t die, junior disciple!”

Unlike her, Baeksa was a typical Jeongpa martial artist.

Good, righteous, refreshingly straightforward yet strong.

She was the traditional protagonist type who was followed by disciples and respected by common people.

“Bring her inside immediately. When was she injured?”

She had come to find me leading several injured disciples.

Around that time, there had been conflicts between several Sapa factions and Hwasan’s affiliated families.

The main Hwasan sect had announced they would send Maehwa Swordsmen to sweep them all away.

However, the faction side also seemed to have connections with high-ranking members of Sapacheon, causing unexpected damage.

“Yesterday. It was good that we cut down all those bastards who deserved to be torn apart and killed, but even after applying wound medicine, blood kept flowing, so we brought her here. We were worried something serious might happen on the way to Hwasan.”

All the accompanying Taoists looked at Baeksa with respect.

Though she wasn’t without chilling aspects befitting a martial artist, she was still cool.

“Suturing would be better. Keep her lying down like that, yes. It’s chaotic, so everyone except one person please go outside.”

Having become quite familiar with trauma treatment, I easily removed foreign objects from the patient and completed hemostasis and suturing.

“How long will it take to heal? It won’t be just a day or two, right?”

“If she uses lightness skills, it will definitely tear open. Even considering a martial artist’s recovery ability, she needs to lie down for two weeks.”

“Hmm, by then she should be able to circulate internal energy too.”

“Junior disciple, I’m fine…”

“No!”

For several days after that, Baeksa stayed at my house.

Since I didn’t have personnel to care for inpatients, a caregiver had to be present.

Having just come from battle, she considered the possibility of attacks by those seeking revenge.

Other disciples could have stayed instead, but she said that if she went back now, she’d obviously be dragged into troublesome events.

“Physician, is this firewood?”

“Just leave it!”

“Haha, since I’m here anyway, it’s fine to put me to work!”

“I really have plenty of time for that, so don’t worry about it. If you’re bored, would you like to watch me prepare medicinal ingredients?”

“I’ll help!”

Baeksa not only cared for her disciple’s illness but also showed interest in and helped with my work.

Really… she seemed like such a cheerful, bright, and normal person.

‘Gasp! Is she training?’

I was chillingly shocked when I discovered she was swinging her sword all night without sleeping a wink.

“Baeksa, surely you don’t train like this every night?”

“Ah, it’s routine.”

“Could it be that attacks are really dangerous so you need to stand guard…?”

“No. I was just preparing for the slightest possibility, but there’s no danger at all, so don’t worry. It’s just personal training.”

Who trains like that?

Baeksa overworked her body without using any internal energy.

She must have overexerted her muscles so much that blood vessels were bursting.

“Haven’t you slept at all for seven straight days and nights?”

“When you hit a wall, sometimes that’s what you have to do.”

As it turned out, except for some time helping me or being with her disciple, she was driving herself by swinging her sword all day long.

Of course, martial artists did train far more than one could imagine.

“Hahaha! Only by sweating like this and falling into a state of selflessness can I clear away distracting thoughts.”

But in my eyes, that wasn’t training to become stronger.

It was merely overworking herself to harm her body.

“At least do some healing while you’re at it. Surely someone like Baeksa can heal herself, can’t she?”

For a peak master like Baeksa, getting a little less sleep wasn’t a big deal.

She could have healed the muscles damaged from swinging her sword through internal energy circulation.

“Hmm, but then unnecessary distracting thoughts creep in.”

But she only wrapped cloth around her injured body.

Where exactly had that brightly smiling figure gone wrong? At the time, I felt lost and distant from understanding.

“Baeksa, right now your treatment is more urgent than the master’s.”

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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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