“Knife. Forceps. Prepare moxibustion. The saline solution we brought.”
He cuts the flesh. He forcibly drains the dead blood. And quickly sutures it. To save the frostbitten foot and hand, he drained the dead blood from the necrotic flesh.
At the sa ti, he reached his hand towards the Sect Leader’s danjeon.
‘It’s impossible to regenerate dead nerve cells with my true energy alone. There’s not enough of it. Although the qi and blood are tangled and in a ss, I can forcibly draw out and use the internal energy itself using the Five-Elental Divine Technique. So I have to use this.’
“Long needle.”
A long needle is placed in Jin Cheon-hee’s hand. He inserts it and simultaneously flows in the Five Elents True Qi. The Five Elents True Qi touches the Sect Leader’s magnificent energy.
Normally, this would be a situation where it wouldn’t be strange if a greater fire deviation occurred due to the collision of heterogeneous true energies.
But Jin Cheon-hee gritted his teeth, sweating profusely, concentrating his mind and trying to control the energy.
Like a reed, he flowed in the Five Elents True Qi, swaying, and tried to move the other’s energy with it.
‘Move!’
Thump. Thump. Thuump.
‘I said move!’
Whoosh!
The Sect Leader’s internal energy began to flow like a torrent. At the sa ti, the needles inserted all over the Sect Leader’s body began to tremble.
The true energy that should have flowed chaotically due to fire deviation was controlled by the needles and spread throughout the body.
‘It worked! Now if only that…’
The bleeding stops at once. The wound is sutured. But this was already expected.
From now on is the real deal, so Jin Cheon-hee stared intently at the frostbitten areas.
Rotten blood gushes out from where he had cut with the knife earlier. And soon, clear blood could be seen flowing out.
The countless needles inserted into the blackened foot and hand due to frostbite swayed as they received the energy. Jin Cheon-hee stares at this with wide eyes.
And he saw it.
Twitch. Twitch.
The fingers twitch. The muscles, the nerves are alive!
“How… how is this possible! A frozen, necrotic hand moving!”
“As expected of the Pavilion Master’s top disciple!”
Jin Cheon-hee didn’t hear the surprised exclamations of the surrounding doctors. He had to pour all his ntal strength once again to remove the long needle inserted into the Sect Leader’s danjeon.
The danjeon is where internal energy gathers.
It was difficult to insert a needle there, but removing it was no ordinary task either.
Jin Cheon-hee concentrated his ntal strength until the very last mont. And the doctors watched this scene, their eyes wide open as if trying to engrave it in their mories.
***
The old master had a hazy dream.
It was the story of when he picked up a child, before becoming the Beggar’s Sect Leader.
On a winter mountain, a young child was crying, trapped under a tree.
The night on the mountain is fast, deep, and cold. It was clear that if today passed, this child would either be eaten by wolves or freeze to death.
The old master, younger then than now, went down towards the child.
‘Where are your parents?’
The child shook their head. Eventually, they answered in a strained voice, ‘I’m alone now’.
It was a common occurrence. But it was strange because the clothes the child wore were quite fine for a child.
‘Don’t you have any relatives to rely on?’
The child shook their head.
As soon as the words ended, a grumbling sound ca from the child’s stomach.
‘All I have is beggar’s food, but will you eat it?’
The child nodded. The younger old master carried the child on his back.
‘Let’s find a doctor first. We’ll eat after that. Then I’ll take you to the governnt office, and whoever your relatives are, they’ll co to find you.’
‘Who are you, grandfather?’
Though younger than now, the old master was still old then.
‘I’m a beggar.’
‘I was told that’s a bad job…’
‘Hehehe, you talk well for soone who survived thanks to a beggar.’
The child pressed their cheek against the old master’s back. It was a small, cold cheek.
He hadn’t made even a child, let alone a lover. He thought, what’s the point of a beggar kid making a family?
The old master had lived his entire life wandering the martial world alone, with the sky as his ceiling and the earth as his blanket.
The old master didn’t even ask for the child’s na.
He just left them with a doctor, fed them, and then handed them over to the governnt office.
Fifteen days passed like that.
No one ca looking for the child.
When a hundred days had passed, the old master finally asked the child for their na.
‘It’s Seol Hwa. I don’t know my surna.’
It was strange. Knowing their na but parents not teaching their surna.
But for a young child, it was possible to forget.
‘What will you do?’
‘I want to be a beggar like grandfather.’
‘Hey! You brat! What’s so good about being a beggar…’
‘No! I’ll be a beggar like grandfather! I like beggars! Beggars!’
‘Absolutely not! Not until the day I die!’
‘I will! I will!’
Seol Hwa was incredibly stubborn from that mont on.
***
The old master slowly opened his eyes.
‘If there was one thing I did best in my life, it was saving you then.’
The old master gave up his solitary wandering of the martial world to take in the child. Then he passed on everything he had to that child.
Though not connected by blood, the child was like a granddaughter to him.
The old master tried to move his limbs.
“…”
He couldn’t feel any sensation in his arms and legs.
‘It feels like wooden blocks. I heard two could be saved, but did all four limbs have to be amputated after all?’
It would be a lie to say he wasn’t dejected.
‘But there’s still so much I haven’t passed on to that child. I can’t die until I’ve passed it all on.’
He had only formally beco the Beggar’s Sect Leader, it was just an empty shell. It was ti to pass on the martial world’s secret history, the Beggar’s Sect’s hidden retreats, and the nurous stories only accessible to the Sect Leader.
‘And I don’t need arms and legs for that. Yes…’
He tried to hide the hole in his heart and laughed bravely.
‘I still have internal energy left, so I should be able to pass it on.’
Heaven has helped to enjoy such a precious blessing.
The old master thought so.
At that mont, Jin Cheon-hee ca in.
“You’re awake!”
A bright voice.
“Child, thank you for saving . The Beggar’s Sect will never forget this debt.”
“What debt, let check the affected areas first.”
Saying that, he lifted the leather blanket, and imdiately Seol Gyeon’s voice rang out.
“Old man!”
“What is it, mad dog?”
She ran over and tried to hug the old master. But because he was a patient, she couldn’t do anything and just flailed her arms and legs in the air.
The sight was so comical that the old master burst out laughing.
“You’re still so clingy even in this situation.”
“How can you say that when I was so worried!”
“Hehehe…”
The old master chuckled. Looking at Seol Gyeon with her swollen eyes made his heart ache.
“Being alive is enough. Isn’t that enough?”
“You always say things like that…”
She secretly wiped her face with the back of her hand, perhaps tears welling up in her eyes again.
The old master thought. That he still had things to give. That he absolutely wouldn’t die until then.
Jin Cheon-hee said:
“I’m sorry. I should have done better…”
A sigh covered the cave. But the old master shook his head as if shrugging it off.
“I don’t think even the White Dragon Divine Doctor could have done better than this.”
“But…”
“It’s alright.”
Seol Gyeon said:
“That’s right. The little White Dragon did his best. That’s amazing for his level.”
“No, it’s not.”
His voice sinks deeply.
“In the end, I had to amputate two fingers. And a considerable amount of internal energy was lost.”
“But you said he could use martial arts again if he takes good care of his body?”
“Yes. Martial arts…”
At that mont, a light flashed in the old master’s head.
“W-what, m-martial arts? T-two fingers? Did you say two?”
Jin Cheon-hee said with mixed emotions:
“Yes. I couldn’t save the index and middle fingers of the right hand. They’re important fingers for a martial artist…”
“No, no! That’s! That’s not it!”
The old master was experiencing the greatest shock of his life.
“Are you saying only two fingers are gone and the limbs are alive?”
When the old master shouted, Jin Cheon-hee opened his eyes wide in surprise.
“Y-yes! If you take good care of the rest, they should recover.”
“They’re alive?! I can hold a beggar’s staff again?!”
“Of course, since you’ve lost two fingers, it won’t be like before…”
“…What are you saying! Who would complain about losing just two fingers when I almost lost all four limbs!”
Laughter burst out.
Not the dejected laughter from before.
“You saved them. You saved that. To think you saved them…!”
The old master’s eyes reddened with tears.
“Mad dog. It seems I still have more to give you.”
“Huh? Are you saying you’ll hit the back of my head more?”
“Hahaha. Yes, that’s what I an. You brat!”
Now he could teach directly, not just with words.
At those words, Seol Gyeon said:
“Old man, now that you’re healthy, can’t you give this back?”
It was the knot tied at her waist.
It was the symbol of the Beggar’s Sect Leader. The old master shook his head.
“Stop bothering this old man. Let rest a bit too.”
“Geez… I’m the only one suffering here.”
Her grumbling voice was clearer than usual. That voice from when she had escaped her inner demons.
That stubborn, tough voice that never missed anything important.
“Mad dog.”
“Yes?”
“Even if I went back to that ti, I would still pick you up.”
“…”
Seol Gyeon sat down next to the old master.
“I’d be a beggar again too if I were reborn.”
“Don’t do that.”
“Hehehe.”
Seol Gyeon laughed mischievously. Then the old master laughed along with her.
Jin Cheon-hee quietly slipped out, leaving the two of them alone.
Throughout his life as a doctor, he had achieved today the sight he had always wanted to see, even just once.
***
After the initial treatnt was finished and the condition stabilized, they moved the Beggar’s Sect Leader to the White Dragon dical Pavilion’s branch.
He would need to continue recuperating until he was completely healed, and for that, dicine and treatnt were necessary.
At Jin Cheon-hee’s words that the future was important, both of them nodded.
“The Beggar’s Sect won’t forget this debt.”
At the old master’s words, Seol Gyeon also nodded and added:
“I’ll personally visit the White Dragon dical Pavilion’s main branch as the future Sect Leader.”
Indeed, perhaps thanks to escaping her inner demons, she was showing enough intelligence to be called Seol Gyeon (犬) now instead of Seol the Dog.
Though still a dog, it seed she had returned enough to be given a proper character.
Thwack!
“Ouch!”
A teacup struck the back of Seol Gyeon’s head.
“What Sect Leader! You’ve got a long way to go before you can act as Sect Leader, you brat!”
‘So you can use air grasping technique, Old Master. Well, considering you’ve been the Beggar’s Sect Leader for a long ti, you must have at least first-class internal energy.’
The problem was that he was using that air grasping technique to thwack his disciple’s head.
“You old geezer! Hitting soone who’s properly nursing you!”
“This is because you’re trying to receive Sect Leader treatnt before you’ve even settled into the position, you brat!”
On the surface, they looked like mortal enemies.
‘It’s a problem if they get along too well too. Hehehe.’
While the disciple nursing and the strict master were bickering, Jin Cheon-hee roughly said his goodbyes and left quickly.
He couldn’t stay held up here any longer.
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