The Divine And Demonic Doctor [EN]: Chapter 64

“Wait, hold on!”

Ak Young-gi shouted urgently, but by then, an icy aura had already enveloped the surroundings.

Swoosh.

With an eerie sound, the heads of his subordinates flew into the air.

Transparent ice blades, materialized from Han Seol-hwa’s will in the frozen air, severed the heads of the Jangnakbang members.

Having lost their will to fight, they couldn’t even put up proper resistance.

No Jangnakbang members survived. Only Ak Young-gi, drenched in the pouring blood rain, stood there with a blank expression.

Barely a breath.

That was the time it took for the Jangnakbang, who had prided themselves as the rulers of Shanxi, to be erased from the Jianghu [the martial arts world].

Cho Ak-ryang asked Ak Young-gi, who was standing blankly with unfocused eyes.

“Who told you about the Son of Righteousness?”

“…….”

Ak Young-gi didn’t answer.

No, he couldn’t answer. He was already out of his mind with fear and despair.

Cho Ak-ryang changed the question.

“Are you married?”

Ak Young-gi nodded absentmindedly, but snapped back to his senses at Cho Ak-ryang’s next words.

“If so, you must have a wife and children?”

Cho Ak-ryang’s chilling voice pierced Ak Young-gi’s mind.

“Didn’t you say that the sins of the father are borne by the children as karma passed down through blood?”

“……!”

Ak Young-gi trembled as if struck by lightning.

“Isn’t that the way of the Jianghu you spoke of?”

Ak Young-gi, having his own words thrown back at him, couldn’t offer any rebuttal.

Thud.

Ak Young-gi knelt on the ground and shouted.

“Black Dot! Shanxi Branch!”

Cho Ak-ryang’s eyebrows twitched.

Black Dot (黑店) [Heuk Jeom in Korean].

They are an underground organization that trades anything that can make money, including stolen goods, information, and even people’s lives.

They exist in a point-organization form and operate under a strict top-down system, so most of the organizational structure, including the head, the shop owner, is hardly known.

“P, please, I beg you.”

With those words, Ak Young-gi closed his eyes.

Cho Ak-ryang nodded towards Beom Gye-wi, who had approached unnoticed.

Crack.

Beom Gye-wi’s merciless hand snapped Ak Young-gi’s neck.

It was then that Dan Ak-seon walked out of the main building. Looking around with troubled eyes, Dan Ak-seon bit her lower lip.

The valley, once filled with the scent of fresh flowers and medicinal herbs.

Now, it was replaced by a thick scent of blood and the aura of death.

“Please go inside, Valley Lord.”

Despite Neung So-mil’s plea, Dan Ak-seon shook her head.

“I can’t just leave the bodies like that.”

“I’ll take care of the cleanup.”

“Let’s do it together. This happened because of me.”

Facing the deep shadow cast over Dan Ak-seon’s face, Cho Ak-ryang quietly sighed.

“It’s not your fault.”

“I know. But…….”

Dan Ak-seon said with a sighing voice.

“Where did it all go wrong?”

Cho Ak-ryang looked at Dan Ak-seon with pitiful eyes.

“I didn’t want this situation.”

Everyone couldn’t hide their heavy hearts at Dan Ak-seon’s voice, which even felt regretful. But no one rashly stepped forward to offer comfort.

They just looked at Dan Ak-seon with sympathetic eyes.

“My parents were the same. They were just saving people, but……. In the end, they had to hide here.”

Dan Ak-seon raised her sleeve and wiped her eyes.

“I think I was too greedy.”

“What greed are you talking about?”

At Cho Ak-ryang’s question, Dan Ak-seon smiled sadly.

“I imagined building a medical family. A dream of saving people together with everyone. I thought we might be able to leave this place and live in harmony with the world.”

Only then did everyone realize that this Divine Doctor’s Valley was Dan Ak-seon’s sanctuary and prison at the same time.

Even so, Dan Ak-seon was blaming herself for everything.

That sight shook their hearts more painfully.

It was after a long time that Dan Ak-seon moved again.

Then, she began to collect the bodies scattered everywhere.

Neung So-mil tried to stop her several times, but Dan Ak-seon stubbornly refused. Her face turned pale at the gruesome sight she was encountering for the first time, but she didn’t turn away from the harsh reality until the end.

After a while, a large pit was created below the cliff in the remote valley.

Dan Ak-seon didn’t say a word until she moved the bodies to that place and finished the joint burial. She just silently did her best in the given task.

After cleaning up the scene with everyone, Dan Ak-seon stared at the large tomb with complicated eyes.

“If I learn martial arts, will I end up hurting people someday?”

At those words, worry spread across the faces of everyone, including Cho Ak-ryang.

It’s not that they didn’t understand her current confused feelings. However, they felt an inexplicable anxiety in Dan Ak-seon’s voice.

“There is a saying in the Dhammapada [a collection of sayings of the Buddha].”

Ignoring the two people who were criticizing him with their eyes, wondering what he was talking about all of a sudden, Cho Ak-ryang continued.

“Rust is born from iron, but in the end, that rust gradually eats away at the iron.”

As he met Dan Ak-seon’s eyes, Cho Ak-ryang said firmly.

“Don’t be trapped by suspicion and fear. Even the same water becomes medicine when a deer drinks it, and poison when a snake drinks it. I believe that you are different from those monsters who oppress the weak, intoxicated by their martial arts and desires.”

“That’s right! Our Dan Doctor would never do that!”

Dan Ak-seon nodded at Beom Gye-wi’s confident voice.

“I know. You must be confused and scared.”

After a moment, Cho Ak-ryang opened his mouth again.

“But those who do not choose cannot move forward.”

It was a gentle but firm voice.

With a complex expression that couldn’t be guessed, Dan Ak-seon nodded.

“I’m sorry. I’ll go in first today.”

With those words, Dan Ak-seon disappeared into the main building.

After that, Dan Ak-seon stayed inside the building, refusing to come out.

One day passed, then two days. Beom Gye-wi was restless, and Cho Ak-ryang and Han Seol-hwa were also worried about Dan Ak-seon, taking turns hovering outside the building.

But in the end, the door of the building did not open.

On the third day.

Neung So-mil, who woke up early as usual, was startled as she looked around.

She had discovered a long shadow of a person cast from the direction of the valley entrance as the dawn was breaking.

But soon she realized that the owner of that shadow was Dan Ak-seon.

Normally, she would have smiled and greeted her, but today, she strangely couldn’t bring herself to speak.

It was because of the strange atmosphere surrounding Dan Ak-seon.

While Neung So-mil was hesitating, other people also appeared outside the hut one by one.

“Why are you standing there like that? Like a puppy about to poop.”

At Beom Gye-wi’s words, Neung So-mil pointed to the valley entrance with a troubled expression.

Only then did Beom Gye-wi discover Dan Ak-seon and approached her hesitantly.

And Cho Ak-ryang and Han Seol-hwa followed behind him.

“Dan Doctor, what are you doing? So early in the morning.”

Dan Ak-seon turned her head and looked at the three people who had come closer.

“You’ve come.”

Her hair and shoulders were soaked with dew that had fallen during the long time she had been standing there.

“I was thinking about my parents.”

Dan Ak-seon replied with a gaunt face.

You could tell at once how much mental anguish she had suffered in the past few days.

“I used to think it was so unfair to watch my parents, who had been living in seclusion here, dedicating themselves only to saving people. I felt it was unfair that they had to hide from people.”

Dan Ak-seon, who started like that, slowly continued her words.

“But now that I think about it, I think it was because of me. Because no parents would want their children to be in danger.”

Dan Ak-seon smiled bitterly as she recalled a long time ago.

“But life inside here wasn’t always happy. Because for them, it was the same as giving up their lives as doctors.”

Dan Ak-seon was lost in thought, fiddling with a stone she was holding in her hand.

Beom Gye-wi, who inadvertently cast his gaze on the stone, flinched.

The unusually conspicuous white stone looked familiar. Then, at some point, his heart sank.

It was because he belatedly realized where Dan Ak-seon was standing.

The pile of stones piled up near the entrance.

Dan Ak-seon was standing right next to it.

“Dan Doctor! Don’t tell me?”

Beom Gye-wi recalled the warning Dan Ak-seon had given him sometime ago.

Dan Ak-seon had said that she could activate the formation through that pile of stones.

“Why are you making such a fuss?”

At Cho Ak-ryang’s rebuke, Beom Gye-wi raised his voice.

“Look at Dan Doctor’s hand! That stone is the cornerstone to activate the formation!”

“Formation?”

Cho Ak-ryang, who was making a face as if that formation was not a big deal, froze at Dan Ak-seon’s next words.

“That’s right. It’s one of the legacies my parents left me. It’s a type of mystic formation called the Chaotic Heavenly Maze Formation (混天迷理暗陳) [Hondon Mirijeong Amjin in Korean].”

“……!”

Cho Ak-ryang, surprised, quickly asked back.

“Could it be the Ghost Hand’s (鬼手) [Gwisu in Korean]?”

The Ghost Hand is another name for Tak Yo-shin (卓耀臣) [Tak Yosheon in Korean], a legendary eccentric of the Jianghu who was called Incomprehensible (不可解) [Bulgajae in Korean], and Omnipotent (無不能要) [Mubuneungyo in Korean].

A peerless genius whose talents reached the heavens, including poetry, calligraphy, painting, architecture, and divination. Among them, the Chaotic Heavenly Maze Formation was known as his last masterpiece.

To encounter the last legacy left by a genius of the previous generation who had disappeared a long time ago in this place!

Dan Ak-seon gave a gentle smile to Cho Ak-ryang, who couldn’t hide his embarrassment.

“If I activate this, this place will be completely isolated from the outside world. I don’t have to get involved in complicated things anymore.”

The three people were startled by Dan Ak-seon’s appearance, who was quietly looking at them.

“Are you saying you’ll stay here alone?”

As soon as Cho Ak-ryang finished speaking, Beom Gye-wi collapsed to the floor.

“I’ll stay.”

Then he continued with a determined expression.

“I can’t leave Dan Doctor alone and lonely.”

Beom Gye-wi waved his hand at Cho Ak-ryang and Han Seol-hwa.

“It was fun while it lasted. You too, Witch.”

Cho Ak-ryang glared at Beom Gye-wi in disbelief. Then Han Seol-hwa suddenly opened her mouth.

“I’ll stay too.”

“Huh? Why?”

At Beom Gye-wi’s question, Han Seol-hwa frowned slightly.

“I’m worried about leaving only you by Dan Doctor’s side.”

Cho Ak-ryang smiled bitterly and shook his head.

“I’ll stay too.”

“I, I’ll stay with you too.”

Neung So-mil also slipped in, wondering when she had arrived. As the situation turned out like this, the person who was rather embarrassed was Dan Ak-seon.

“This formation…….”

“I know. Once it’s activated, no one can ever break it, right?”

Dan Ak-seon paused at Cho Ak-ryang’s words, who cut off her explanation.

‘It can be opened and closed…….’

She didn’t bother to say this. Instead, she honestly revealed the feelings she was feeling now.

“Thank you.”

What she had been worrying about for the past time. Seeing the people in front of her now, she became even more convinced of that conclusion.

“I’m going to be greedy.”

Something ordinary to others. Doing what she wants to do freely was greed for Dan Ak-seon.

“Of course, you should!”

Beom Gye-wi looked at Dan Ak-seon and spoke with strength, and Han Seol-hwa had already approached and hugged Dan Ak-seon tightly.

“You’ve thought well.”