The Divine And Demonic Doctor [EN]: Chapter 21

The Divine Doctor of the Demonic Realm (21)

“What?”

“No, why?”

“Why?”

The three asked, their expressions bewildered.

However, they were rendered speechless by Dan Akseon’s answer.

“If I choose one of you, the other two will be disappointed. I don’t want that. I prefer it when we’re all together like this.”

The three couldn’t believe their ears.

If they were to announce in the Jianghu [the martial arts world] that they were seeking disciples, the most talented individuals in the world would flock to them. Their martial arts were so complete that, depending on the training, any disciple could potentially become the best in the world.

But Dan Akseon refused outright.

They couldn’t help but be taken aback.

Han Seolhwa’s eyes sparkled. Dan Akseon looked at her, puzzled.

“Yes? You mean I can learn without becoming a disciple?”

Cho Akryang and Beom Gyewi’s expressions hardened. They realized Han Seolhwa had sent a telepathic message.

“Wait a minute!”

“Me too, wait a minute!”

Beom Gyewi glared at Han Seolhwa.

“What kind of trickery is that?”

Cho Akryang also frowned.

“Are you out of your mind? You’re going to pass on your martial arts to someone who isn’t even a disciple?”

Han Seolhwa retorted coldly.

“What’s the problem? I’ll pass on the martial arts I created as I please.”

Beom Gyewi tilted his head.

“Huh? Now that I think about it……?”

Then he nodded dismissively.

“Come to think of it, you don’t have to make them a disciple, do you?”

Cho Akryang grew serious.

“That’s absurd! Aren’t you ashamed of your master?”

“What’s there to be ashamed of? All my master wanted was one thing: to fully complete the martial arts. Doctor Dan will be able to do it. My master in the afterlife will be happy too, right?”

Cho Akryang, having no counter-argument, was embarrassed.

Han Seolhwa pressed her advantage.

“He’s your benefactor, right? What’s a little martial art compared to that?”

“What do you mean a little martial art! It’s as precious as my life!”

“Who saved that life?”

“……!”

Beom Gyewi chimed in.

“Now that I hear it, that’s right. I didn’t think you were such a stingy person, Brother Cho?”

Cho Akryang, suddenly labeled as stingy, was speechless. Beom Gyewi shouted excitedly.

“Do you want to learn from the Witch or me? You don’t have to be a disciple.”

Cho Akryang gritted his teeth.

“I don’t need a disciple either!”

In the end, Cho Akryang abandoned his stubbornness. Somehow, arguing here made him feel wrong for being so attached to the master-disciple relationship.

For now, the priority was to keep Dan Akseon here.

“Then how about this?”

Dan Akseon, feeling the situation escalating, offered a compromise.

“I’ll make a decision later, carefully. So please give me time to think. It’s about my future.”

It wasn’t a very satisfactory answer, but the three reluctantly nodded. It was better than the initial refusal to learn martial arts at all.

Besides, they were a little embarrassed.

After all, they were well-known masters in the Murim world. [martial arts world]

It was a disgrace to their reputation to be bickering in front of a child.

On the other hand, Dan Akseon was inwardly suppressing a smile. Now, he could make the decision whenever he wanted – ten years later, a hundred years later.

Until then, he thought he could maintain a good relationship like this.

But that was a naive thought.

Dan Akseon overlooked the fact that his opponents were seasoned villains in the harsh Murim world.

In reality, the three were thinking completely differently from Dan Akseon.

Thus, the four of them harbored different intentions.

* * *

That night.

Dan Akseon, asleep, woke up feeling strange.

He felt a strange heat inside his body, and then suddenly his whole body began to burn.

“Huh?”

He then noticed a huge shadow looming over him.

He stared at it for a long time, relying on the faint moonlight filtering through the window.

“Uncle Beom?”

Beom Gyewi grinned and nodded.

“Yes, Doctor Dan. It’s me.”

“What are you doing……?”

“Shh. You mustn’t open your mouth now. Just entrust your body to me and focus on the flow of Qi [life force or energy].”

In an instant, the heat swirling inside his body writhed and began to race through his meridians [energy channels] at a rapid pace.

For a long time, Beom Gyewi carefully guided the energy of the Dobansamyanggong [a specific martial art technique] that he had poured into Dan Akseon. As the guided energy completed its circulation, it settled in Dan Akseon’s dantian [energy center].

Confirming this, Beom Gyewi asked Dan Akseon.

“How is it? Can you remember the order of the flow?”

He thought it would be difficult, but unexpectedly, Dan Akseon nodded.

Beom Gyewi asked, surprised.

“Really? I only did it once?”

Dan Akseon slowly circulated the Dobansamyanggong.

It was a weaker inner force than Beom Gyewi’s, but the flow followed the correct path without any blockage.

“Our Doctor Dan is a real genius! Even I, who was called a genius, took more than five times to memorize it…….”

Beom Gyewi looked at Dan Akseon with a proud expression.

“From tomorrow, I’ll pass on other martial arts to you whenever I have time.”

With those words, Beom Gyewi turned around.

He moved with particular caution, lest someone hear him.

Because of that, Dan Akseon missed the opportunity to mention the two people who had already visited him.

The next morning.

The three began breakfast with the medicinal herbs that Dan Akseon had brought. However, the atmosphere was quite different from the day before. It was hard to believe that the people who had been in a fierce battle for supremacy were now surrounded by a peaceful atmosphere.

In particular, Beom Gyewi seemed to be in a particularly good mood.

“Brother Cho, try this. This one is at least edible, right?”

Suspicious, Cho Akryang smiled and accepted the medicinal herb.

“Thank you, you eat a lot too.”

“Why do you seem to be in such a good mood today? I thought you’d be grumpy and sarcastic.”

“Well, there have to be days like this.”

Cho Akryang replied with a smile.

He felt guilty for having secretly passed on his martial arts to Dan Akseon the previous night without the others knowing.

However, this was also the case for Beom Gyewi.

“By the way, what’s with your complexion? You look like you haven’t slept all night.”

Cho Akryang paused at those words. But Beom Gyewi didn’t pay much attention.

Instead, he offered a smile to Han Seolhwa.

“Witch, do you want one too?”

“Well, if you insist.”

Han Seolhwa also readily accepted the medicinal herb that Beom Gyewi offered. Beom Gyewi tilted his head at the sight.

‘What’s going on? Something’s strange today?’

The other two felt the same way.

They couldn’t put their finger on it, but the way they treated each other was suspiciously different from usual.

The awkward silence hung in the air.

The one who broke it was none other than Dan Akseon.

Dan Akseon, who had been carefully examining Cho Akryang’s complexion, sighed and opened his mouth.

“I told you last night. You shouldn’t have overdone it when you haven’t fully recovered your internal energy yet.”

“……!”

Cho Akryang flinched.

“You’re only at the stage of circulating your Qi on your own, but using remote energy transmission to guide your Qi is…… Ugh!”

Dan Akseon couldn’t finish his sentence.

Cho Akryang had covered Dan Akseon’s mouth with his hand.

“Could it be?”

“Perhaps?”

Beom Gyewi and Han Seolhwa asked, surprised.

Cho Akryang smiled bitterly, watching them. He was very embarrassed about what to say in response to their upcoming questions.

In the end, Cho Akryang sighed.

“I’m sorry to the two of you.”

But what could he do? The deed was already done.

The previous night, Cho Akryang had passed on his Honwonmugeukjingi (Primordial Limitless True Qi) [a specific martial art technique] to Dan Akseon.

He even guided the Qi directly by injecting it.

Moreover, he had confirmed that Dan Akseon had successfully completed the circulation according to the incantation.

Now, all that was left was to hone it.

But suddenly, he felt strange.

The two, who he expected to be angry and criticize him, were sitting there silently.

Moreover, their pupils were shaking as if there had been an earthquake.

Cho Akryang was suddenly overcome with a sense of foreboding.

‘Could it be……?’

Cho Akryang looked at Dan Akseon.

“No, right?”

“Yes?”

Cho Akryang asked again, looking at Dan Akseon, who was asking back, puzzled.

“Did those two visit you last night too?”

Dan Akseon readily nodded.

“Auntie Han came first, then Uncle Cho, and finally Uncle Beom came.”

“……!”

Cho Akryang stammered in embarrassment and shouted.

“Are you crazy! Are you trying to kill the kid? What if he falls into Qi Deviation [a dangerous imbalance of internal energy]?”

At Cho Akryang’s rebuke, murderous intent flared in Han Seolhwa and Beom Gyewi’s eyes.

It was when the three of them stood up simultaneously.

“Don’t fight. I don’t have enough internal energy to fall into Qi Deviation yet.”

Dan Akseon calmly stopped them.

“Now that I know the mental cultivation methods, I feel like I understand your physical conditions more clearly. I think it will help with treatment too.”

“Hoo…….”

Cho Akryang sighed and sat down.

“Don’t ever use the internal energy cultivation methods together. Your meridians will definitely become twisted.”

“Don’t worry. I’m a doctor, after all. Would I do something that would ruin my body? More than that, I’ve come up with a fun idea.”

The remaining two also sat down.

“Let’s do research together.”

“Research? You mean research martial arts?”

“Yes. That’s right.”

Dan Akseon’s eyes sparkled.

“Auntie is extreme Yin, and Uncle Beom is extreme Yang. As a result, the balance of Yin and Yang is broken. Uncle Cho has nothing to do with the two of you. After all, it’s an internal energy cultivation method with a very good center. If we research those three martial arts together, it will not only help with the treatment of the three of you, but it will also definitely be effective in improving your martial arts.”

The three were speechless for a long time.

It was a method they had never considered before.

The reason they hadn’t thought of it was obvious. Which martial artist would reveal their secret techniques to others? If that were the case, there would be no reason for the Murim sects and lineages to be divided like this in the first place.

Dan Akseon’s words were absurd from the start.

“Doctor Dan…….”

Dan Akseon cut off Cho Akryang’s words, which was rare.

“My mom and dad were the same. They acknowledged each other’s skills, but they didn’t try to exchange medical knowledge. The paths they had walked were too different. Then one time, a patient appeared who couldn’t be cured.”

“A patient that even the Divine Doctor and the Demonic Doctor couldn’t cure?”

“He had a deep-seated illness and was poisoned. He tried to force the poison out, but he fell into Qi Deviation.”

“Then it’s difficult.”

“But they saved him. The two of them cured a patient together for the first time.”

“Ah!”

“They fought a lot, but they treated him while discussing and sharing their experiences. That patient came back to life too.”

They also knew what Dan Akseon was trying to say.

Why wouldn’t they know? But in the end, they knew that the reason it always broke down was that the problem grew when someone felt like they were losing out even a little bit.

In the end, it was a matter of recognition and trust…….

‘Neither of them is normal, but their martial arts are quite useful.’

‘They’re both crazy, but what about their martial arts.’

‘They’re both idiots, but…….’

The first to agree was Beom Gyewi.

“If Doctor Dan says to do it, we have to do it!”

Han Seolhwa also hesitated for a moment before agreeing.

“If it helps, I’ll do it.”

Cho Akryang was the most troubled, but he couldn’t reject Dan Akseon’s opinion either.

“Then let’s research martial arts together now!”

At Dan Akseon’s joyful voice, Cho Akryang smiled quietly. Then a question arose.

“Then are you going to research and learn the best mental cultivation method?”