Cholera causes acute dehydration.

After an incubation period, it begins with severe diarrhea and vomiting, and in extreme cases, patients can die within hours. The residents of Putuo Temple, being martial artists, could likely endure it better than ordinary people, but it was impossible to know for how long. No matter how powerful a martial artist is, as long as 50-70% of their body is water, they cannot survive without it.

In the modern era, we would start IV fluid therapy immediately.

The priority was to prevent death by dehydration. Patients in critical condition would also need antibiotics to alleviate the symptoms.

Jin Cheon-hee mentally calculated the amount of penicillin he had in his medicine box.

Cholera is resistant to penicillin. It won’t be as effective as other antibiotics.

Penicillin was highly effective for managing various emergency surgical infections from fights with other martial artists, but it was ill-suited for cholera. Typically, antibiotics like tetracycline, which directly interfere with the bacteria’s protein synthesis to halt its growth and reproduction, were far more effective.

It’s possible this specific strain of cholera might respond to penicillin, but…

Even if it did, he had nowhere near enough to treat all these people. And besides, with cholera, hydration was the absolute priority.

Using his Profound Primordial Complete Foundation Divine Art, Jin Cheon-hee rapidly analyzed the steps he needed to take. He then rose to his feet.

“First, we must seal the wells.”

Cholera is a waterborne illness, meaning it’s transmitted through contaminated water. They had to prevent further infections.

Jin Cheon-hee added, “There is a high probability the well is contaminated. The nuns who are still in the incubation period probably feel fine, but the symptoms will appear in a few days.”

At his words, one of the Putuo nuns said, “But we’ve been using that well to cook rice and do our laundry…”

“You must stop immediately. Furthermore, anyone who has ingested that water, directly or indirectly, must be quarantined.”

All the nuns looked at each other.

Jin Cheon-hee said, “Don’t tell me…”

Abbess A-bi spoke. “That well is the Putuo Temple’s main water source. There is likely not a single person here who has not drunk from it.”

This is bad…

The true pandemonium was about to begin.

***

Jin Cheon-hee sent Hwang-gu to find the nearest clean water source in the area. Looking at the map, there had to be a water source that wasn’t connected to the contaminated well. This was the dog who had identified that even the steeped tea was contaminated just by its smell.

Keong! — I will obey, Master! The other dogs have agreed to help!

A human has between 5 and 10 million olfactory cells. A dog has between 100 and 200 million. Their sense of smell was said to be over ten thousand times more developed than a human’s. It wasn’t just for tracking people over long distances; in some cases, they could even identify cancer patients.

As a spiritual beast, Hwang-gu’s sense of smell could likely reach depths Jin Cheon-hee couldn’t even fathom. It was why Hwang-gu had never been lost and had never failed to find a person. And now that the local dogs were helping, finding a water source shouldn’t be too difficult.

Good. Now, it’s my turn.

First, he gathered caregivers from the village who could help him. Given the gravity of the situation, he promised to pay them generously. Before long, the village had selected their most able-bodied and sent them up to Putuo Temple. They must have been conscious of the “no-men-allowed” rule, as they were all women.

They rolled up their sleeves and spoke.

“We don’t need payment. We have received so much kindness from the Putuo Temple over the years; we are just glad to be able to repay it in this way.”

It was a testament to how the Putuo Temple had lived as a prestigious Orthodox Sect.

Abbess A-bi put her hand up in a palm salute. “Amitabha…” she replied, her chanting voice trembling slightly.

The women said, “Please tell us what we need to do. We will do anything we can.”

“What we need immediately is disinfection and hydration. Hwang-gu is finding clean water now, so disinfection must be the priority.”

Disinfection. It was an unfamiliar concept to the people here.

“Did you bring the alcohol I requested?” Jin Cheon-hee asked. “The strongest you could find.”

At his words, the women broke into good-natured giggles.

“We never thought we’d be bringing alcohol into a temple!”

“This is what the sailors drink, so it’s very strong. Will that be okay?”

Jin Cheon-hee replied, “We won’t be drinking it. We’ll be using it to disinfect.”

Just then, the howl of an animal echoed from not far away.

Awoooo—!

Jin Cheon-hee instantly recognized it as Hwang-gu’s howl.

“It seems he’s found drinkable water nearby. That’s a relief.”

“What are you going to do with the water?”

“We will boil it. And we must add salt. A little sugar, too. But depending on the situation, we may have to use other methods.”

He had medicinal honey for sugar.

What Jin Cheon-hee was attempting to make was an “Oral Rehydration Solution.” It was the primary method used to treat cholera in developing countries.

***

Cauldrons were set to a rolling boil. People hauled water from the new source, boiled it, and disinfected. The situation was urgent, so they had to use every available resource.

To prevent the spread of cholera, he had everyone wear cloth masks over their mouths and noses, just as he was, and instructed them to wash their hands without fail whenever entering or leaving the quarantine area. He also gave strict orders not to touch their faces. The cloth masks thankfully helped prevent the unconscious habit.

All tableware, bedding, and utensils were washed and sterilized.

In the midst of it all, Jin Cheon-hee stared intently into a cauldron.

The formula is the key to an Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS).

Fortunately, thanks to the island setting, there was no shortage of salt. Honey contained glucose, so it could substitute for sugar. The problem was that on an island, salt was common, but sugar was a luxury. He made do with whatever he could find— rice syrup, honey, sugar, he requisitioned it all.

If glucose is scarce, I can use rice instead.

He was a Ninth-dan master in “making do with what you’ve got!”

These days, rice-based ORS was also used to reduce osmotic pressure in the gut and increase calories. Rice flour was cheaper than sugar, making it a “Plan B” for people who couldn’t even afford that.

In that case, I lower the sodium concentration.

Plan A or Plan B, he was ready.

The next thing he needed was mental fortitude.

This is going to be a long-haul battle.

With cholera, antibiotics were just a support. This was ultimately a war against time and a test of endurance. The key to this fight would be helping the patients recover, one day at a time.

***

Hwang-gu discovered several more contaminated water sources.

Keong, chomp chomp. — This dried fish is delicious. Loyalty, loyalty!

Jin Cheon-hee immediately had those sources sealed off.

Despite this, cases of the strange disease began to appear in the village as well. He began treating those people immediately. The biggest problem was that there were several children among them. There were children in the Putuo Temple, but it was the same in the village.

Cholera is several times more lethal to children than to adults. Their metabolism is different, and their physical stamina is weaker, leaving them with less strength to fight the disease.

In these cases, Jin Cheon-hee directly infused them with his Five-Elemental True Qi to buy them time.

Diarrhea, while the primary symptom of cholera that causes dehydration, is also a defense mechanism for the body to expel the pathogen. He had to continuously administer the oral solution to help the patients’ bodies fight the cholera until they could completely flush it out. In a way, it was like sending ammunition to a body at war.

Quarantine and treatment.

The process of managing the people wore down his body and mind. But he was the only physician on this island.

In the midst of that hellish time, the first fully recovered patient emerged. The number of new patients, which had been rising daily, finally began to decline.

***

“The dehydration has stopped. Your body is fine now…”

“Ooba, oobaba…”

The small child gurgled and laughed.

Unlike adults, feeding the oral solution to infants and toddlers was incredibly difficult. The child couldn’t understand why they had to drink it, and the solution tasted terrible. It was a no-win situation. When the child refused to drink and vomited, he had to stay up all night, infusing the child with his Five-Elemental True Qi just to maintain their vitality.

“You just need to stay in quarantine for a few more days, and then you can go back to your mom.”

“Gah-oo, gakka-ah!”

Jin Cheon-hee let out a small sigh.

I’ve almost got it contained.

The majority had recovered, and there were almost no patients left. He had no idea what this child in front of him had put in its mouth to get sick, so he had simply had everything in the vicinity sterilized.

How many days has it been…?

He had been so focused on everything else that he had forgotten to count.

Jin Cheon-hee stepped outside. He disinfected his hands. He took off his mask. He stared blankly at the sky. He rubbed his exhausted eyes.

“You should rest, Benefactor. You are overworked.”

The nuns of Putuo Temple had begun to call him “Benefactor.” He was a physician who had saved them, never shying away from the filth or the stench.

The benefactor of their sect.

The nuns of Putuo Temple had never imagined they would incur such a great eun (debt of gratitude) to anyone.

And to think, we would receive it from this young physician.

The young man’s face, which still held traces of boyhood, was etched with a thick, deep fatigue.

“Why don’t you get some rest?” one of the nuns said.

“That’s right. Please rest, Benefactor!”

The young child-nuns of Putuo Temple grabbed Jin Cheon-hee’s sleeves with both hands.

“Aigoo, kids. You’re not supposed to be here.”

“But there’s almost no one sick anymore…”

“Still, go back.”

Even after recovering from cholera, a person can remain contagious for two or three days. Asymptomatic patients could also be contagious, so he had to check everyone’s pulse, and if he found anything even slightly amiss, they were quarantined. In rare cases, a person could intermittently shed the bacteria for months.

But I haven’t told them that part yet.

If he told the villagers this fact right now, anyone who had ever had cholera would become a second-class citizen. Throughout human history, in severe cases, such situations often led to group lynchings and death. There were instances of patients being burned alive in the name of curing the disease. The person’s family and friends would all be branded as second-class citizens with them, tormented for the rest of their lives.

And this was a closed, narrow society.

It wasn’t called a terrible disease for nothing. This was why he was keeping them in quarantine even after recovery, enforcing strict disinfection, and barring the children from entry.

Human rights and the truth. Between them, what choice must be made?

Even the most ordinary person harbored a capacity for evil. This was a barbaric age. The human heart was still weak, and fear was like the night, always waiting to swallow people whole. From this point on, it was no longer a decision for Jin Cheon-hee to make. Even if he was here as a physician helping them, he was, in the end, an outsider who would one day leave. This life, ultimately, belonged to the people of Putuo Temple who lived on Mount Putuo.

I did advise the Abbess that it might be best to seal the temple gates and isolate the infected from the others for a year or two.