In a way, it made sense.

He’d ingested so many poisonous herbs that he exhaled toxic smoke instead of breath, so his body being steeped in poison was hardly surprising. And since medicine and poison were said to share a root, it was believable that the famed physician Cho Yoon could handle it freely and even use it for treatment.

However, there was one huge problem with using it actively while traveling.

Cho Yoon was quite terrified of this setting!

My body is medicine—a human elixir.

I should have known from the moment my body scent smelled like medicinal herbs.

Even in the modern era, people caused trouble more than once or twice by picking up and eating anything if it was good for the body, but to become a walking wild ginseng in this era where human rights awareness was scarce was simply absurd.

If this fact leaked out, it was obvious that people with eyes rolled back would chase him to the ends of the earth holding knives.

Even ‘Cho Yoon,’ who was indifferent to everything, seemed to think this would be annoying, as he had no memory of using it publicly except when saving Sa-hyeon long ago.

So Cho Yoon also tried to forget about it if possible, but inevitable moments truly did come.

One was when he urgently calmed Baek Ho-cheol, who was having a seizure due to a restriction during a competition held at the Sichuan Tang Clan, and another was just a short while ago when he urgently saved the blacksmith Hwang Chu’s son.

Given the nature of traditional medicine where alchemy took time, if there was no leisure to sit down and make medicine, there was also no choice.

Using it once or twice like that, he gradually got used to it, and Sa-hyeon, who digested this medicine well over a long time, made rapid progress… Before he knew it, this ability had become ‘annoying if caught, but good if used well’ within Cho Yoon. It was the influence of 12 years of Murim life.

Since Seol-rin hasn’t learned martial arts, feeding her ordinary elixirs would only extend her lifespan a little. I can’t arrive in Guangdong too late, so I can’t make new medicine either. And Cheon-oh is all grown up now, so it should be fine to tell him. Just in case something urgent happens, he shouldn’t be too surprised…

He had wanted to give a hint to the siblings who became adults earlier, but sending a letter saying ‘Your master’s body is medicine’ felt slightly uneasy.

Plus, since one was next to the Emperor’s son and the other was next to the head of the Hebei Peng Clan, the Decisive Supremacy Saber Peng Chi-jeong, it didn’t seem like they would be in much danger.

When a sufficient amount of blood gathered to cover the bottom of the bowl, Cho Yoon wiped his arm with a cotton cloth and wrapped the bandage again.

Unfortunately, Cho Yoon’s medicinal effect didn’t work on his own body.

As he lowered his sleeve and accepted the medicine bowl, Cheon-oh’s hands were somehow stiffly hardened. Checking his disciple’s face, Cho Yoon was appalled to see his pale complexion.

Before he could even say anything, Cheon-oh opened his mouth first, stammering.

“Is this… did you treat Hwang Hong like this too? Did you damage your honorable body to save him while I was protecting Hwang Chu who entered the smithy?”

To say ‘damage his honorable body’—he merely made a small cut that didn’t even hurt to drain some blood; it seemed like an excessive expression.

Seeing Cheon-oh react as if his master had cut off his own arm, Cho Yoon hurriedly tried to appeal that he was perfectly fine.

“If there is a better method than this, tell me.”

“…There is none.”

‘Cho Yoon’!! Don’t speak coldly to my kid!!!

Seeing Cheon-oh answer quietly and gloomily was maddening.

Above all, thinking about it belatedly, no matter how trivial, inflicting a wound on one’s own body in front of a child seemed like a clear mistake and emotional violence.

Why hadn’t he considered this? No, why had he thought it was okay until now?

An unpleasant sense of déjà vu was felt.

A fear he had forgotten crept up slowly.

But he couldn’t show nervousness himself in front of the pale Cheon-oh. Cho Yoon bit the tip of his tongue lightly inside his mouth to calm himself, then spoke calmly.

“My heart was urgent, so my actions went ahead. I am sorry. I will not do such a thing in front of your face in the future. It may be difficult, but forget it.”

“…What I wish for is not that Master’s wounds remain unseen, but that Master does not get injured. However, since I still have no way to replace Master’s medicine as you pointed out, I will not go against your will.”

Cho Yoon’s selective perceptiveness shone. It was the first time in over ten years of living together that Cheon-oh spoke in this manner. It seemed he was sulking firmly. It was understandable.

It seemed like a bit of a big trouble, but he couldn’t do something else forever with a patient in front of him. Cho Yoon said he would try his best and turned away. The inside of his forearm felt like it was throbbing for no reason.

When he put his hand deep under the unconscious Seol-rin’s neck and lifted it slightly, the child’s head fell back. Cheon-oh, who immediately realized what to do without being told, went to the opposite side and opened Seol-rin’s mouth. Cho Yoon poured his own blood collected in the medicine bowl into it while glancing at Cheon-oh. Naturally, a faint furrow was dug into the neat brow between the straight and thick eyebrows, as if his mood hadn’t improved yet.

Cho Yoon broached the subject awkwardly.

“You probably heard earlier and know how the treatment will be done. All living things possess qi meridians, but they differ extremely depending on the degree of training. This child’s qi meridians are so fragile they cannot even endure the force of piercing the blocked areas, so I am making a path using a somewhat extreme method.”

“Yes, I suppose so.”

“…….”

I’m really sorry! Once this is over, I’ll apologize continuously as much as this body allows!

Cho Yoon sat at the head of Seol-rin’s bed and carefully laid the child’s head on his thigh. Cheon-oh, who had been watching silently, pressed his lips together tight. Speed naturally gathered in Cho Yoon’s hands.

“Excessive medicine is no different from poison, so there is no time to delay from now on. I will go around the heart, both hands, and both feet, and finally go to the danjeon. Meanwhile, you mix licorice, pinellia, bupleurum, ginseng, hogfennel, nutgrass, skullcap, and coptis with snow ginseng to make one dose of Snow Ginseng Minor Bupleurum Decoction. Do not forget to write on the wrapping paper to boil and take it with three pieces of ginger and two jujubes.”

“If it is Yin deficiency, may I use Yin-Nourishing Pills together?”

“Yin-Nourishing Pills contain goji berries and deer antler, so taking them immediately afterward will be a burden. Write down to take them with an interval.”

Cheon-oh, whose pharmaceutical knowledge had increased greatly over the years, easily understood Cho Yoon’s instructions and carried them out perfectly.

Above all, since he had never made a mistake, Cho Yoon could entrust the medicine making to his disciple with peace of mind. Cheon-oh stood up and headed to where the medicine chest was, and Cho Yoon began to clasp Seol-rin’s head in earnest.

The unconscious Seol-rin’s face began to turn increasingly red.

As if to cool it, Cho Yoon’s internal energy, pure and cool like valley water in midsummer, began to flow into Seol-rin’s qi meridians through the Temple, Jaw, and Curved Bin acupoints.

He caught the energy of the elixir spreading willfully around the stomach and led it to the center of the lungs. Knowing the weak heart couldn’t endure all this power, he sent half of it out to the two legs early.

A person who learned martial arts would have operated centering on the danjeon, but Zhuge Seol-rin was an ordinary person.

Since he couldn’t suddenly pierce the Conception and Governing Vessels when even the qi meridians weren’t well, he had to use an unorthodox method.

Including the ones in the soles of both hands and feet, the human body had a total of five hearts, the Five Hearts.

Cho Yoon focused on opening paths aiming for these five hearts. He filled the torn gaps of the qi meridians that couldn’t withstand the strong current, and put back the leaked energy as if diverting a water channel.

Creating a total of four paths simultaneously, clattering away, not even one at a time, was quite arduous work. Sweat formed on the forehead of Cho Yoon, who had lost physiological phenomena long ago.

The work of piercing blocked qi meridians here and there and stitching them together stitch by stitch didn’t end with one round trip. If he touched the ends of the hands and feet, he had to come back, circle the heart once, and go toward the ends of the hands and feet again. Instead, it was clearly felt that the time it took to go and come back was gradually decreasing.

Finally, when he felt the qi meridians flowing gushingly without catching on anything, Cho Yoon gathered the remaining energy and went down along Seol-rin’s spine. After activating the tailbone at the end, the part martial artists called the Immortal Bone, he took his hands off.

At the same time, Zhuge Seol-rin opened her eyes wide, opened her mouth, and inhaled. Staring at the ceiling with unfocused eyes, she remained stiffly rigid, then slumped like a puppet with cut strings in an instant.

Cho Yoon heaved a sigh of relief.

It was fortunate that he had prepared his heart by recalling the memory of treating Sa-hyeon in a similar way long ago; completely changing a person’s constitution in a single night was quite a difficult task even for Cho Yoon, a master of the Profound Realm.

Just as he was about to wipe his face with his sleeve while calming his slightly quickened breath, a cotton cloth came into his hand with good timing.

It was Cheon-oh, who had been waiting motionless by his side since some time ago.

“Thank you.”

“No, Master. You have worked hard. Shall I serve tea?”

“It is fine. The medicine?”

“I have finished the decoction and pills for fifteen days, and even the prescription early.”

“Good work.”

As he turned his head while exchanging stories affectionately, the sunlight of dawn squeezed through the cracks of the closed window. The oil lamp had long since gone out as the oil ran out, and the unique cold and humid air of early morning was felt. It seemed he hadn’t known how time passed because he was so absorbed.

Zhuge Seol-rin was completely fast asleep, breathing evenly with a wheezing sound.

A healthy complexion returned to the face that had been pale from a long chronic illness. The artificial elixir she barely consumed was all used to repair the body, but now that she possessed sturdy qi meridians and an active Immortal Bone, she would be able to build up qi with her own strength.

Other kids skipped the process of stepping slowly while learning cultivation methods in a short time, so there can’t be no side effects… but she will manage well. According to the original storyline, it is an illness that should have been cured long ago.

In that original storyline, Cho Yoon hadn’t realized the fact that Zhuge Seol-rin only remained an ‘ordinary person free from Severed Meridians’ until the end and didn’t possess the conditions to learn martial arts.