The Divine And Demonic Doctor [EN]: Chapter 270

“You’re saying they didn’t die of illness?”

To Dan Ahk-seon’s question, Poong Jin-sung sighed and then nodded.

“Could it be….”

Dan Ahk-seon hesitated for a moment.

After a short pause,

Tears welled up in Dan Ahk-seon’s eyes as she unfolded the letter with trembling hands.

A familiar handwriting that she knew better than anyone else, having read it so many times.

It was her mother’s writing.

She had read it countless times, so many that she couldn’t even count them anymore….

The handwriting she had encountered countless times whenever she opened a medical book was now vividly etched in her eyes.

—Jin-sung, listen.

The letter, which began like that, was filled not with the usual neat script, but with a cursive script that seemed to have been hastily scribbled.

—By the time this letter arrives, your father and I will already be dead. I ask you for one last favor as your teacher. For at least the next five years, stay away from Ahk-seon and do not even visit the Divine Doctor’s Valley. Even after that, unless you are sure that there are no observers by your side, live your life as someone unrelated to the Divine Doctor’s Valley. And never try to find out about our deaths. Just tell the child that we died in an accident. I am so grateful to have you.

Dan Ahk-seon was speechless for a while at the contents of the letter, which conveyed the urgent feelings of the time.

And above all, the letter was not written with a writing brush and ink.

The cloth used instead of paper was a torn part of a skirt, and the letters were carved on it with charcoal left over from burning.

Even that was not enough at the end, and blackened, dried blood replaced the charcoal at the end.

She had bitten her finger and filled in the rest of the content with the flowing blood.

“……”

Dan Ahk-seon bit her lip tightly.

It took the form of a letter, but the content was clearly a will.

For a moment, she was happy to see traces of her mother like this, but sadness welled up.

Because according to the contents of the letter, she would never be able to see her parents again.

Even as an indescribable sadness washed over her, Dan Ahk-seon tried to remain calm.

‘What on earth were they so afraid of that they left such a letter?’

In case Poong Jin-sung might inquire about their whereabouts, they did not even mention the reason for their deaths.

It clearly showed their concern for those left behind.

Poong Jin-sung, meeting Dan Ahk-seon’s eyes, looked at her with pity.

“My teacher would not have wanted me to deliver this. So I was holding back. But now I thought it was time for the Valley Lord to judge everything.”

If she had lived only inside the Divine Doctor’s Valley as before, it would have been different, but now she was in a situation where she might face any form of danger anytime, anywhere.

So he thought it was time for Dan Ahk-seon to know the truth.

“I’m sorry for telling you so late.”

“No. It’s not your fault, Uncle.”

Just looking at the fact that he had added the letter written on cloth to oiled paper and kept it until now, she could guess how much effort Poong Jin-sung had put in.

Moreover, the letter was full of handprints, as if he had read it repeatedly.

She could feel Poong Jin-sung’s agony, who must have been constantly worried and conflicted each time.

Dan Ahk-seon hugged the letter to her chest, unable to hide her complicated feelings.

Thud.

Poong Jin-sung’s heart ached as he saw Dan Ahk-seon’s tears falling on the letter.

But he couldn’t do anything.

All he could do right now was to look at Dan Ahk-seon with a pitiful heart.

Hugging the letter as if it were a precious memento, Dan Ahk-seon slowly turned around.

Beyond her shaking shoulders,

Poong Jin-sung couldn’t bring himself to hold Dan Ahk-seon back at the sound of her suppressed sobbing.

After that day, Dan Ahk-seon locked herself in her quarters and rarely went outside.

The longer Dan Ahk-seon’s seclusion lasted, the more Poong Jin-sung’s heart burned with worry.

Eventually, on the third day, Poong Jin-sung left the patients to Joo Cho-woon and began guarding the front of Dan Ahk-seon’s quarters.

It wasn’t just him who was restless at the sight of Dan Ahk-seon, who had been confined to her room.

Bum Gye-wi, led by Cho Ahk-ryang, and Han Seol-hwa were also pacing in front of Dan Ahk-seon’s quarters with worried eyes.

“I’m worried she might hurt herself like that.”

At Bum Gye-wi’s voice filled with concern, Cho Ahk-ryang also sighed quietly.

“The body is secondary; the mind is the concern. Because the mind has no medicine if it gets hurt.”

“Shall we sneak in and check on her?”

“Don’t.”

Cho Ahk-ryang frowned and shook his head.

“Now is the time to trust and wait for Doctor Dan.”

He said that, but Cho Ahk-ryang was also shaken by those words.

That’s because he, too, had been staying up for days worrying about Dan Ahk-seon.

Although he didn’t show it, Dan Ahk-seon was hoping for her parents’ return, just in case.

She understood it with her head, but her heart couldn’t accept her parents’ death.

But through the letter left by the Divine Doctor himself, she had to face the harsh reality.

Now that even the last thread of hope had collapsed, he wondered how she must feel.

It was then that Han Seol-hwa, who had been standing silently, suddenly opened her mouth.

“If that child wants revenge, what should we do?”

She had already heard about the contents of the letter from Poong Jin-sung.

Although he didn’t mention the exact culprit, anyone could see that the Divine Doctor was aware that they would be killed by someone.

Bum Gye-wi shouted with a serious face.

“Of course, we have to help!”

Han Seol-hwa, who would normally object every time, nodded silently this time and agreed with Bum Gye-wi’s words.

On the other hand, Cho Ahk-ryang’s eyes grew heavy.

Revenge naturally involves blood.

He was worried about whether Dan Ahk-seon could handle that weight.

More than anything, even the target of revenge was not clear right now.

It was impossible to guess the identity of the culprit based on the contents of the letter alone.

It was then that Dan Ahk-seon walked out as the entrance to her quarters opened with a clatter.

“Doctor Dan, are you okay?”

Dan Ahk-seon forced a smile with a haggard face towards Bum Gye-wi, who was the first to run up and ask.

“I’m sorry for worrying you.”

Poong Jin-sung’s heart broke at the sight of Dan Ahk-seon, who had become noticeably haggard in three days.

When her eyes met Poong Jin-sung’s, Dan Ahk-seon nodded silently.

Then, she approached Poong Jin-sung, quietly reached out her hand, and wrapped it around his.

“Valley Lord…?”

Poong Jin-sung, who was puzzled, turned red at Dan Ahk-seon’s words that followed.

“I was able to see my mother’s letter now because you kept it so precious, Uncle. Thanks to you, I was able to make up my mind, albeit late. I’m so glad you’re here, just like my mother said.”

Dan Ahk-seon, who was comforting Poong Jin-sung with warm eyes, turned her head towards the Divine Doctor’s Three Venerables.

“I’m thinking of leaving Murim [the martial arts world] for a while.”

“Where are you going?”

To Cho Ahk-ryang’s question, Dan Ahk-seon revealed the result of her deliberation.

“I want to know the truth.”

Finding out how her parents died was, in a way, a natural thing to do.

That’s why no one objected. Even they would have done the same.

“Anytime! We’ll help you!”

Cho Ahk-ryang and Han Seol-hwa also nodded, agreeing with Bum Gye-wi.

“Thank you, everyone.”

Towards Dan Ahk-seon, who bowed her head with a grateful heart, Cho Ahk-ryang gave a proud look.

“It must be hard on the inside, but you’re enduring it well.”

Dan Ahk-seon smiled awkwardly.

“Actually, I’m barely holding back from running out right now. But I don’t think it’s time to rush now. More than anything, I need a cool head to find out about my parents’ whereabouts.”

Cho Ahk-ryang nodded and asked.

“You’re saying you’re leaving, so you must have already decided on a destination?”

“Yes.”

“Do you have anything that could be a clue?”

“At first, I kept worrying because I didn’t know where to start. There was no clue at all.”

At this time, Poong Jin-sung, who met Dan Ahk-seon’s eyes, opened his mouth with a gloomy look.

“I was away from the Divine Doctor’s Valley at the time, so I don’t know the whereabouts of my teachers. I tried to find out in every way, but it was in vain.”

“It must have been hard for you too, Uncle.”

Poong Jin-sung choked up at Dan Ahk-seon’s words, who was comforting him even in this situation.

That was true.

He wanted to visit Dan Ahk-seon and ask her several times a day.

If there was anything that happened recently, if her two teachers said they were going anywhere….

But he couldn’t.

He didn’t have the courage to tell the young Dan Ahk-seon the contents of the letter as it was.

More than anything, he had to distance himself from Dan Ahk-seon because of his teacher’s request.

It was then that Dan Ahk-seon opened her mouth.

“First of all, I’m going to leave the Central Plains and go to Tibet in the outer regions.”

“Tibet?”

To Bum Gye-wi’s question, Dan Ahk-seon nodded.

“Yes. Where the Potala Palace is located.”

The group couldn’t hide their surprise because it was a place no one had expected.

Tibetan Buddhism, which supports the region where the theocratic ideology is rooted.

The holy land and headquarters of them was the Potala Palace.

It was also a powerful outer Murim force in itself.

Unlike the five outer sects called Byeonhwangose, they had not been directly involved in Murim for a long time.

Nevertheless, their potential and influence could not be ignored, considering the long history of the Potala Palace.

While everyone was surprised and unable to speak, Dan Ahk-seon continued to explain.

“I’ve been recalling the situation when I parted with my parents several times.”

The reason why Dan Ahk-seon had been confined to her room for several days was not just to calm her emotions.

It was to find clues about her parents’ whereabouts.

As a result, she was barely able to find one clue in her memory.

“Before my parents left the Divine Doctor’s Valley, a Lama monk came to visit.”

“Ah!”

Poong Jin-sung exclaimed without realizing it.

“Are you talking about the person who had a combination of underlying disease and poisoning, and eventually fell into Inner Force Deviation while fighting against the poison?”

“That’s right. At that time, my parents cooperated for the first time and saved him. His symptoms were very similar to Jeolmaek [a rare and deadly meridian disease], and they found a cure for Jeolmaek based on treating him.”

It was right after that that amazing words came out of Dan Ahk-seon’s mouth.

“He gave me Bone Tempering and Marrow Cleansing.”

The eyes of the Divine Doctor’s Three Venerables lit up.

The three of them had heard of it once before.

It was when they first examined Dan Ahk-seon’s body to transfer martial arts.

Dan Ahk-seon’s bones were truly beyond words.

Not to mention the Imdok meridian [Governing Vessel], the Saenghyungwank [Life Gate Point] was already penetrated.

In addition, the Eight Extraordinary Meridians and the Twelve Main Meridians were also well-honed.

At the time, Dan Ahk-seon explained that it was because the Divine Doctor had taken all kinds of elixirs while she was in the womb, and she had received Bone Tempering and Marrow Cleansing immediately after birth.

“If I ask him, I think I can find out why my parents left the Divine Doctor’s Valley. After he left the Divine Doctor’s Valley, my parents were very busy preparing for the trip. It must be related to him.”

Dan Ahk-seon, who had already made up her mind, opened her mouth as if declaring.

“First, I have to go to the Potala Palace and meet him.”