The Weird Physician said as much, then strode past Wi Sowol into the inner chamber without the slightest fear or tremor at the intruder's arrival.
It wasn't that the door was particularly wide; it was simply that Wi Sowol's frame was so small and delicate that he felt no hindrance at all.
Without even checking if anything inside had been disturbed, he casually removed his beak mask and set it down on the table.
The Weird Physician's face, hidden beneath the mask, came into view.
His dark features were striking, dominated by a prominent, high-bridged nose, and his skin tone was noticeably deep.
Not so alien as to feel utterly foreign, but unmistakably different from the people of the Central Plains.
The Weird Physician was of Hui descent.
A first-time viewer might find it a bit curious, but Wi Sowol's reaction remained unchanged.
Indeed, he looked younger than the face she remembered.
With over a decade separating memory from reality, that was only natural.
But it wasn't cause for fresh surprise when she'd known it from the start.
'There are some differences, though.'
Perhaps due to his youth.
His impression differed markedly from the Weird Physician of her past life.
The rugged demeanor was the same, but the man in her memories had seemed more detached than this version.
No—closer to resignation.
In contrast, the young Weird Physician before her retained that cynical air, yet his sharp eyes burned with passion.
Not flaunted openly, but Wi Sowol's gaze didn't miss it.
His heart churned like a volcano harboring molten lava.
'Good.'
Anything was better with some drive.
His claim of being unable to help must have been his way of turning away guests.
To the Weird Physician, who openly treated her like an outsider, Wi Sowol stated her business plainly.
"I want to learn medicine."
His head snapped toward her at the words.
The Weird Physician's sunken eyes held a fierce glint.
"...What?"
But Wi Sowol, who had spoken bluntly even to Seon Woo Hoon without deference, repeated herself without flinching.
"I plan to become a physician. Teach me your arts."
"...You're under a delusion. Let me correct you."
The Weird Physician narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
"You're Severed Meridians, aren't you?"
A secret even Seon Woo Hoon—a supreme master—had failed to detect despite pressing his sword to her, the Weird Physician had discerned at a mere glance.
His Observation Diagnosis, gauging a patient's state through sight alone—one of the four diagnostic methods—had reached perfection.
As expected of one of the Six Great Physicians.
Yet even he had missed one crucial fact.
"Heavy Yin influence. Posture, skin lesions, complexion, body temperature—and you're hale enough to reach me here, even practicing martial arts. But your internal state shows issues in the twelve meridians. Six Yin Severed Meridians."
Without laying a hand on her, he completed his diagnosis via observation alone and continued nonchalantly.
"No need to worry. Go home. With martial arts under your belt, Six Yin won't kill you. Stay out of the jianghu, and you'll live a long life. Learning medicine to fix yourself? That's just courting death. Get tangled in the martial world, and you'll be treated like a human elixir."
Not fatal, but a lifetime of frailty—blessing or curse, who could say.
With that warning—that practicing martial arts and approaching him already meant one foot in the jianghu—he turned away as if he had nothing more to say. Wi Sowol corrected him on one point.
"Wrong."
"What?"
"Not Six Yin. Nine Yin."
She merely stated the fact as she saw it, but it grated on the Weird Physician's nerves.
Was this little girl saying he was wrong?
His judgment?
"Ha!"
He loomed over her, bellowing.
Though he towered two heads above her as he closed in, Wi Sowol stood blankly in place, merely tilting her head up to meet his gaze.
"Do you even know what Nine Yin Severed Meridians means?"
In his eyes, Wi Sowol sensed an emotion hard for her to grasp.
What was that feeling?
Not mere anger at being corrected—more viscous, gloomier.
'Inferiority complex.'
An unfamiliar sentiment to Wi Sowol.
She had always been the victor, never once envying another.
'But there's something even greater beneath it.'
As she pondered the elusive emotion, the Weird Physician pressed on.
"The six Yin meridians of the twelve standard meridians, plus the three Yin extraordinary meridians—Yin Linking, Yin Heel, and Conception—make the Nine Yins. All severed, hence Absolute Meridian. With Nine Yin Severed Meridians, the moment Yin saturates in adolescence, you won't even walk outdoors."
Nine meridians governing Yin—all severed.
The twelve standard meridians, directly tied to the body's functions.
The eight extraordinary meridians linking the acupoints between them.
Among the latter, the Ren and Du meridians uniquely possess independent acupoints, performing roles of both.
About half of these core pathways crippled from the root—that was Nine Yin Severed Meridians.
Yin circulation in the body ground to a complete halt.
Death was inevitable.
No one survives half their body severed, nor half their blood lost.
How could a body with half its meridians ruined endure?
And that death dragged on longer and more agonizing than from physical loss alone—hence its dread as Heavenly Punishment.
"Sounds like some quack diagnosed you. Tsk. What're the physicians doing, not rounding up those frauds? Fine. If you doubt my observation, I'll pulse you. Give me your wrist."
Determined to prove his sight correct, the Weird Physician seized Wi Sowol's proffered wrist.
"I'm infusing my qi now. Feel it. Unlike Six Yin, Nine Yin severs all six Yin standard meridians plus the three Yin extraordinary ones. Sending qi through the Kongzui of the Taiyin Lung Meridian should halt it immediately, unable to reach the next point, Lieque... halt..."
It stopped.
Blocked dead at the next acupoint.
"...It's halted."
Why was this real?
His specialty wasn't meridians per se, but as one of the Six Great Physicians, his skill rivaled court physicians.
His judgment shouldn't err.
"Nine Yin body... and you walked here alone?"
What in the world?
Born with some immortal constitution alongside Nine Yin?
The Weird Physician never claimed his research held all truths.
On the contrary, diverging from mainstream medicine affirmed his path.
Yet this reality strained belief.
Bracing with his physician's conviction and pride, he declared:
"I can't save you."
"I'm not here begging to be saved."
"...Not here for salvation?"
Only then did conversation seem possible; Wi Sowol replied lightly.
"Nine Yin. I'll fix it myself. I told you—I came to learn medicine."
Fix it herself. Through medicine.
The Weird Physician grasped the girl's intent.
Even the Six Great Physicians couldn't cure Nine Yin.
Beyond current medicine's reach.
Into realms of fortune, mystery, heavenly luck.
Her diagnosing physician must have said as much.
Not even the world's top healer could mend it.
So she resolved: Become a physician and heal myself.
The Weird Physician's eyes wavered.
Wildly, violently.
No words exchanged, no fierce battle—yet his breath grew ragged.
A peak martial artist, and still his respiration faltered.
Only when faint bloodlust emanated from his clenched fist did he exhale the held breath. His following words rang hollow, strength drained.
"...Then no reason to take you. I won't accept a terminal case as disciple."
"And if not terminal?"
To his doubt, Wi Sowol answered with action.
She focused her mind on the Great White Light True Qi circulating her body.
In nearly a year since devising it, Wi Sowol had refined the formula, optimized paths—bringing it near perfection.
Her transcendent genius bowed not to her flawed vessel.
As he said, her nine great Yin meridians were severed, barring traversal.
Yet her eleven other great meridians functioned, and beyond that, her Luo collaterals remained.
The Great White Light True Qi drew stagnant Nine Yin from Yin blockages, dispersed excess via Yang paths outward, filtered pure Yin through Luo to her dantian.
Centering on Thoroughfare and Belt vessels, it formed circulation around the extraordinary viscera.
Vertically, the vital Thoroughfare warmed her Yin-frozen frame; horizontally, the Belt bound meridians, preventing Yin chaos.
Overcoming Nine Yin—from start to end—that was its essence.
Revealing the principle openly, Wi Sowol circulated it.
A gentle whirl, and her qi bloomed white.
Purest clarity, pristine energy.
A cool thrill tempered excitement, restoring cool reason.
Even the Weird Physician, who had wandered the world witnessing myriad arts and constitutions, beheld this for the first time.
One with Nine Yin wielding such immaculate Yin chill.
"...What..."
"I call it Great White Light True Qi. Nine Yin—I can cure it myself."
The same words echoed from her lips.
But now, he couldn't dismiss them as nonsense.
How, after seeing that?
To call it delusion now—that would be true madness.
"Say it once more."
The pristine white qi mingled with autumn breeze, scattering like snow.
"I want to learn medicine."
At last, the Weird Physician understood.
This girl...
'Beyond my comprehension.'
Heaven's whim.
With Heavenly Punishment, a genius defying providence.
Powerlessness spread through him.
He ceased judging her with his own eyes.
Some exist in the world.
Living enigmas apart from us mortals.
'True monsters aren't like me.'
Evoking bitter old memories, he asked hollowly:
"With such talent, you could learn alone. Read texts, or enter a medical academy."
Indeed, over master-disciple bonds, mainstream paths lay in academies or hereditary physician houses.
Wi Sowol knew this well.
She'd had options: aid from medical monks devoted to the art.
Yet she crossed vast distances to seek him.
The reason was clear.
"Because you're the best."
Wi Sowol knew.
This man before her.
Destined to shake the world with supreme medicine.