The Divine And Demonic Doctor [EN]: Chapter 273

“The place I was born is a clan village using the Tak surname, where descendants of someone once called the ‘Omnipotent’ in Gangho [the martial arts world] lived together.”

Cho Ak-ryang exclaimed in surprise.

“Could it be the Ghost Hand’s?”

The Dalai Lama smiled and nodded.

“You know of him.”

“…….”

Cho Ak-ryang let out a groan.

How could he not know Tak Yo-shin, the legendary eccentric of Gangho, who was called the Incomprehensible?

From poetry, calligraphy, and painting to architecture and divination.

Tak Yo-shin was an unparalleled genius whose talents were said to have reached the heavens.

Even the mystical maze called the “Chaotic Heavenly Maze” installed in Shinma Valley was his creation.

Cho Ak-ryang finally understood why the other party spoke Han [the primary language of the Central Plains] so fluently.

To think that the Dalai Lama of this era was from the Central Plains.

It was an astonishing story that would be hard to believe if he hadn’t heard it directly from the person himself.

It was then that the Dalai Lama spoke again.

“When the Panchen Lama came to find me, I was critically ill with a disease.”

It was smallpox.

“In fact, the medical skills passed down in the Tak family were second to none. But they couldn’t cure my illness because I was ‘unaffected’ [meaning he hadn’t contracted the disease before].”

Most people from this Seobon region were particularly vulnerable to smallpox.

That’s why most people die when they get smallpox.

The reason why those who have already had smallpox are called ‘affected’ and those who have not yet had it are called ‘unaffected’ is because of that.

“At that time, a divine doctor and a demon doctor who happened to be passing by saved me as I was dying.”

At the time, the Demon Doctor was pregnant and close to her due date.

The two were looking for a safe place for the child in her womb.

They wanted at least their child to be free from the entangled grudges of Gangho.

“At that time, my father, Tak Neung-jin, guided the two to Shinma Valley. It was where my grandfather, who was called the Ghost Hand, had tested the Chaotic Heavenly Maze.”

It was a reward for saving his only blood relative.

And soon after, Dan Ak-seon was born, and the Panchen Lama repaid the favor by bestowing the Barmo Initiation upon Dan Ak-seon.

The Dalai Lama slowly rose from his seat and respectfully put his palms together towards Dan Ak-seon.

“Although late, I would like to express my gratitude to my benefactor.”

Dan Ak-seon waved his hand in embarrassment.

“There’s no reason for you to thank me. It was my parents who saved the Dalai Lama, not me.”

The Dalai Lama smiled and shook his head.

“For me, the Panchen Lama, and my father, Benefactor is an invaluable benefactor.”

“Yes?”

“The two who treated me at the time said that they would soon become parents themselves, and they couldn’t bear to ignore the sight of a father suffering from his child’s pain. That was the decisive reason why they took the risk of revealing their identities to treat me. If it hadn’t been for Benefactor in the womb, I might not be here now.”

“Ah!”

“Also, that connection continued and allowed the monks here to save their lives. I dare not deny that the beginning of all these connections was due to Benefactor.”

Dan Ak-seon, who was looking at the Dalai Lama, nodded silently.

This was a story that Dan Ak-seon was hearing for the first time.

But the lama in front of him didn’t seem to be lying.

The look in his eyes and the voice filled with sincerity conveyed his sincerity.

It was then that Beom Gye-wi opened his mouth in a loud voice.

“Indeed! So that’s what it was!”

Cho Ak-ryang gave Beom Gye-wi a dumbfounded look.

“Did you even understand what he said properly?”

Beom Gye-wi retorted at Cho Ak-ryang’s question.

“Doesn’t it mean that the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama are always together? Like they can’t be separated…….”

“……?”

“Like two balls?”

At those words, Han Seol-hwa gave him a pathetic look, and Cho Ak-ryang frowned.

“Just shut your mouth.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s frustrating to listen to!”

At that moment, laughter echoed throughout the hall.

“Hahahaha.”

The Dalai Lama laughed so heartily that tears welled up in his eyes.

When would he, who always pursued truth with solemnity and enlightened the masses, have heard such words?

However, Cho Ak-ryang and Han Seol-hwa were just embarrassed by the current situation.

Then, suddenly, Dan Ak-seon felt a strange feeling.

“But what does it mean that the connection continued and saved the lives of the lamas here?”

The smile disappeared from the Dalai Lama’s face.

After a long time, he let out a soft sigh and opened his mouth again.

“Nine years ago, an unknown disease suddenly broke out here.”

It happened simultaneously, and the number of patients increased exponentially, so at first, they thought it was an epidemic.

“The situation worsened uncontrollably, and there was no way to deal with it.”

No matter how great the Dalai Lama was, he was only eleven years old at the time.

In the end, the Panchen Lama stepped forward.

“He led his sick body to the Central Plains because he judged that only the divine doctor and the demon doctor could resolve this situation.”

“Ah! So…….”

Dan Ak-seon remembered the state of the lama who had come to Shinma Valley when he was young.

A typical symptom of going into heat, with qi [life force] and blood boiling and true energy flowing backward, causing the meridians [energy channels] to become tangled.

At first, his parents thought that treatment was impossible.

But later, the two collaborated to save the lama and learned how to treat heat and severed meridians in the process.

“The Panchen Lama safely returned here. And three months later, the divine doctor and the demon doctor personally visited this place and began to treat the monks suffering from an unknown disease.”

As Dan Ak-seon had guessed.

His parents had stayed here for a while.

It was then that the Dalai Lama brought up an unexpected story.

“According to their explanation, the disease that broke out here was not a simple epidemic. They said that someone had secretly released poison.”

“Poison? Who on earth…….”

The Dalai Lama smiled bitterly.

“It was the Demonic Sect.”

Dan Ak-seon was startled and asked.

“Why did the Demonic Sect attack this place?”

“Because of deep-rooted hatred.”

Cho Ak-ryang explained instead for Dan Ak-seon, who was making a puzzled expression.

“When the Demonic Sect first emerged, their justification was to overthrow the Yuan Dynasty, which ruled and exploited the Han people, and establish their own new country. And although they were driven north with the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Lamaism was the state religion when Yuan ruled the Central Plains.”

Cho Ak-ryang continued his explanation.

“Lamaism is largely divided into the Yellow Hat Sect and the Red Hat Sect. They are distinguished by wearing yellow hats and red hats according to their respective teachings and beliefs. Among them, the Red Hat Sect, called the Red Sect, was notorious for being more wicked than the relatively righteous Yellow Sect.”

At first, the Yuan imperial family tried to pursue the right values by appointing the Dalai Lama, the leader of the Yellow Sect, as the emperor’s teacher, the Imperial Preceptor.

However, as time went on, the Red Sect began to gain power.

This was because the emperor, who had been 넘어간 [seduced/enticed] by the eunuchs’ coaxing, became fascinated by the Red Sect’s 방술 [magic/occult arts].

“The Red Sect were so wicked that they were called 사도 [heretics] even within Lamaism. So much so that there was even talk that the Manichaeism, which could be said to be the origin of the Demonic Sect, was better than them.”

The Red Sect’s lamas, called 번승 [corrupt monks], gradually became involved in politics.

This was contrary to the original purpose of Lamaism, but they didn’t care at all.

They did not hesitate to commit strictly forbidden misdeeds.

A representative example was the installation of 환희불 [Erotic Buddha statues] throughout the Central Plains according to the teachings of their own scriptures called 달사랍경 [Tantra scriptures].

From 전경루 [palaces] and 연설벽 [walls] to 라마사 [Lama temples].

They carved Buddha statues of men and women having intercourse on the walls of buildings and did not hesitate to commit all sorts of atrocities.

They were consumed by greed and committed all sorts of murders and crimes, and even extended their reach to the martial arts of the Central Plains.

They took advantage of the emperor’s power and arbitrarily plundered the 절학 [secret martial arts techniques] of each faction.

“The faction created by some traitors of the Han people colluding with those guys was the Mosan Sect.”

Dan Ak-seon was familiar with the story related to the Mosan Sect.

Cho Ak-ryang’s master was the 전인 [successor] of their Mosan Sect.

“In the end, the people, unable to endure their atrocities, rose up in various places.”

Among them were the predecessor of the Demonic Sect, called the Ming Sect, and the local magnates of each region.

“Although they have now been driven to the frontier, Lamaism is an irreconcilable enemy for the Demonic Sect, with whom they cannot live under the same sky.”

“Aren’t the Red Sect and the Yellow Sect different?”

The person who answered Dan Ak-seon’s question was the Dalai Lama.

“How can brothers born under the same parents be the same? But just as you cannot deny that the same blood flows in your body, so is the relationship between the Yellow Sect and the Red Sect.”

Although its power had weakened and it was subordinate to the Yellow Sect, it was the Red Sect that could cause problems again at any time.

However, for a Buddhist, compassion is the greatest virtue.

You can’t break the neck of a bird that has flown into your arms.

So, like King Sibi, who gave his own flesh in place of a dove chased by a fierce hawk, he had silently endured the pressure from the Demonic Sect until now.

The Dalai Lama spoke again.

“Someday, the Demonic Sect made a proposal to this palace.”

It was to help them attack the Central Plains.

But the integration of religion and religion was impossible.

Above all, he was a person who deeply loved peace.

“The Demonic Sect used poison because you rejected that proposal.”

At Dan Ak-seon’s words, the Dalai Lama nodded.

“For them, we would have been like a dagger behind their backs. After they were pushed to the frontier, their area of activity overlapped a lot with ours, and they thought that we could change our position at any time and aim at their rear.”

So they decided to neutralize Potala Palace first.

Dan Ak-seon, who was thinking about something, asked the Dalai Lama.

“Then where is the Panchen Lama who gave me the Barmo Initiation now?”

“Unfortunately, he has passed away.”

“Passed away?”

“Ah! The monks of the Central Plains express it as 입적 [passed into Nirvana].”

“Are you saying he’s dead?”

To Dan Ak-seon, who was asking back with a surprised face, the Dalai Lama explained the situation at the time.

“After the divine doctor and the demon doctor treated the monks here, they returned to the Central Plains. The Panchen Lama and several disciples escorted them.”

An unhideable pity arose on the Dalai Lama’s face.

“It wasn’t long after they left that we received a report that an accident had occurred.”

What came into the eyes of the Dalai Lama, who led his disciples directly to the place, were only the bodies of the lamas, including the Panchen Lama.

“It was the work of the Demonic Sect.”

Through the traces of the fierce battle remaining nearby, they could confirm the characteristics of the Demonic Art.

“The Panchen Lama had excellent martial arts skills, but at the time, he had not fully recovered his martial arts.”

Dan Ak-seon could guess the reason.

It was because of the Barmo Initiation.

No matter how great a master he was, it was impossible to regain his original martial arts in seven years after using up even 진원진기 [true essence energy] to perform it.

“We did not find the bodies of the divine doctor and the demon doctor. I later learned that they had been kidnapped.”

“But my parents had no grudges against the Demonic Sect. Why did they…….”

Dan Ak-seon, whose emotions were agitated, could not continue speaking.

The Dalai Lama let out a soft sigh.

“The death of the Panchen Lama was a shocking event for us as well. Furthermore, we could not ignore the disappearance of the two doctors who were benefactors of this palace, so we began an investigation in every way. And in the end, we found out why they kidnapped the two.”

“What’s the reason?”

“It was because of a patient who could not be treated without the two of them.”

An unexpected name popped out of the Dalai Lama’s mouth.

“Jong Yeo-ui.”

“Who?”

Unlike Dan Ak-seon, who was making a puzzled expression, Cho Ak-ryang and Beom Gye-wi could not hide their astonishment.

“Heavenly Demon!”

Only then did Dan Ak-seon recall that he had heard that name somewhere before.

The name of the leader of the Demonic Sect, the 교주 [sect leader].

His name, which is called Heavenly Demon in the Central Plains, was Jong Yeo-ui.