"A physician?"
Wi Sowol's small head tilted at the completely unexpected answer.
It was an unconscious motion, but it suited the little girl's frame so well that a faint smile graced Deung Hwa's lips.
"Medicine is the art of benevolence. Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism alike—all agree there is no skill more beneficial to humanity. It eases suffering, thus compassion. It pities the afflicted, thus sorrow. It restores joy to the living, thus delight. It touches the rich and poor alike without discrimination, thus equanimity. The Four Immeasurables dwell within a single breath of true healing—how could there be greater virtue than that?"
Deung Hwa murmured the nembutsu in quiet praise of its boundless merit before adding,
"Even in Hinayana teachings, though their wisdom is shallow, saving a life equates to a quasi-hundred merits in Daoist merit rankings. What pursuit could be closer to perfect virtue than medicine?"
The only thing greater might be the emperor's sacred duty to govern the realm benevolently, bringing peace not just to individuals but to the world itself.
"If Lady Wi truly wishes to walk the path of virtue, this monk might offer some small aid. Fortunately, among those who walk the Buddha's path with me is a healing monk. If the young lady desires, I shall introduce you."
Like the shepherd boy guiding the moon princess to the Buddha.
Deung Hwa, too, wished to lead Wi Sowol to one who embodied deeper wisdom.
But Wi Sowol refused the easy path.
"No, thank you. I've already received great teaching. From here, I shall choose my own way."
Infusing her words with gratitude and respect, Wi Sowol offered a bow with clasped hands that already showed budding poise, her head dipping deeply.
Deung Hwa had mentioned a healing monk he knew, but Wi Sowol already had a physician in mind.
Though for now, it was a one-sided knowledge on her part alone.
Soon enough, they would know each other.
Wi Sowol would make sure of it.
The world's greatest physician... destined to be.
The Weird Physician.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"Acting like she was going to follow me."
After the winter that brought spring departed.
Deung Hwa teased his grumbling friend, who sat before him.
"Don't even mention it. She shot me down flat."
Seon Woo Hoon could still vividly picture Wi Sowol's sharp rebuke to his sneaky attempt to trail her.
—Keep silent, she'd said.
Seon Woo Hoon was a famous man.
Hiding was no easy task.
Even covering his face, the two divine weapons he carried like extensions of his body gave him away.
And if word spread of such a celebrity traveling with a little girl? Everyone would take notice.
Naturally, the intelligence networks would pounce: "A big fish after so long!"
It was tantamount to spreading rumors himself.
Before her rational and justified argument, Seon Woo Hoon was beached.
That was the tale of how he ended up forlornly alone at Zenith Temple after Wi Sowol left.
"Hmm... I should have grabbed her..."
"Patience, friend. You're not one to block a soul born into the world with purpose. What became of those who tried to stop Shakyamuni's renunciation?"
"Spare me the monk talk. I wasn't going to force it. If I were, I wouldn't still be here. More importantly..."
Seon Woo Hoon tapped his temple, bothered by a nagging sense of wrongness.
"Something feels... overlooked."
"Overlooked? Wasn't it just a childish prank? The night air was so thick with spring warmth, I nearly blew out the lamp thinking dawn had come."
Before Wi Sowol, Deung Hwa had seemed the epitome of sagehood, but with his friend, even he struggled a bit.
Yet his words weren't mere teasing.
No matter how extraordinary the girl Wi Sowol was, her opponent was Seon Woo Hoon.
A transcendent master.
The next great elder of the Seon Woo Clan.
Wi Sowol was a genius, but so was Seon Woo Hoon.
Scour the entire martial world, and transcendent experts numbered barely a hundred—never reaching two.
Seon Woo Hoon was one who claimed such a lofty seat among the world's elite.
Could he be fooled?
Even with swords crossed?
"Pity. I should have kept the night burning brighter to make it easier for you to read."
Then perhaps he could have identified this nagging unease.
In the end, without answers, Seon Woo Hoon rose to leave.
"Guess it's time I head out too."
"Where to?"
"Home clan. She told me to keep quiet, but a little vigilance can't hurt."
For instance, watch for signs of a supreme female expert wielding cold qi.
Silence held only until Wi Sowol revealed herself.
Once she chose to enter the world, no talk of silence would bind him.
"With that talent and insight, she'll emerge by next year."
The ability to invent a new technique on the spot.
Would the world leave her be?
A sharp awl can't stay hidden in a bag forever.
"In the meantime, I should track down my nephew. He's my sister's boy, but what luck he has. His own uncle scours the land to find him a bride. No uncle like this in the world."
Watching his friend's one-man show of self-praise, Deung Hwa chuckled heartily.
"Because of you, even sure things might fall through?"
Truly, Deung Hwa was a high monk well-versed in worldly affairs.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Even reborn, she couldn't fully escape heaven's punishment, it seemed—just like the clinging fiendish luck she couldn't shake. Wi Sowol wryly reflected.
From her mountain village home in Gansu Province, along the Silk Road to Xi'an in Shaanxi Province.
That alone exceeded five hundred li—about four hundred kilometers.
And now Wi Sowol headed northeast once more.
Toward Shanxi Province, bordering Shaanxi.
The journey had already surpassed two thousand li—eight hundred kilometers.
Thank goodness for her inner power.
If she were an ordinary girl her age, she'd have collapsed from exhaustion long ago.
Had it been somewhere distant like the Jiangnan region, even Wi Sowol would have sought a boat.
A meaningless hypothetical in the end.
Wi Sowol had chosen Shanxi without much deliberation, not because she shared some intimate bond with the Weird Physician or tracked his movements like lines on her palm.
Simply logical deduction.
Last year.
A massive plague swept Shanxi.
They called it heaven's curse.
Sick in the morning, dead by evening. Terrified folk fled, emptying cities.
Entire families perished, leaving lone survivors everywhere.
The emperor and officials poured vast wealth into containment; the local martial artists, desperate to protect their homes, opened their coffers and hunted bandits to fund relief.
Northern Shanxi's orthodox forces, led by Heng Mountain Sect; central and southern Shanxi's unorthodox, led by Nether Luo Sect—they competed to eradicate the plague.
What resulted?
Court. Heng Mountain Sect. Nether Luo Sect.
Their immense funds flowed across the realm to save Shanxi.
And what did that money seek beyond Shanxi's borders?
No need to wonder.
'Physicians. We need physicians.'
No ordinary ones.
This was heaven's plague.
Thus, they summoned the famed masters whose names rang throughout the land.
The Six Great Physicians.
The six healers whose names anyone would recognize.
The Weird Physician Wi Sowol sought proudly claimed a seat among them.
So, he would be here.
In this land still scarred by heavenly wrath, the plague's horror not fully faded.
The Weird Physician was in Shanxi.
Certain.
Even without summons, he'd have come of his own accord.
In her past life, Wi Sowol had met the Weird Physician once.
He was different then, surely.
But his credo as a healer remained unchanged.
The question: where in vast Shanxi?
His moniker arose from tangled reasons.
One: his unpredictable wanderings and outrageous conduct.
'How many of the Six Great Physicians aren't like that?'
Over half roamed the world chasing plagues and herbs.
Some chased coin.
Inquiries were one way, but Wi Sowol opted for the direct path over detours.
Go straight to where he'd make his safehouse—and wait.
"Still the same."
Lucky, perhaps.
In her past life, she'd encountered him here in Shanxi.
His Shanxi safehouse was no secret—at least not to her.
That meeting lay in her future now, but she knew the place. No need for legwork or contacting Hawk Gate or Beggars' Sect.
Not when it matched her memory closely.
Wi Sowol slowly surveyed the safehouse interior.
Medical texts crammed everywhere.
Mysterious tools of unknown purpose.
Traces of recent life.
Some things differed from memory, some matched.
Comparing them stirred odd feelings.
A stark realization: her past life was truly known only to her.
"Big."
Wi Sowol cautiously lay on the bed she'd once slept on.
Back then, it felt cramped and uncomfortable. Now, two of her would fit with room to spare.
'I've gotten smaller.'
Or had the world grown larger?
Nearly a year into this new life as a girl, the name Wi Sowol still felt awkward.
Like this familiar yet alien world.
A faint epiphany tickled her mind like a feather.
In that hazy brink of insight.
Wi Sowol snapped open her half-closed eyes.
"You're here."
A presence from afar.
Footsteps approaching beyond her usual sensory range—she saw, heard, felt them clearly.
A phenomenon born from her Absolute Meridian qi intertwining with thoughts sparked by recent reflection.
'Insights come and go like clouds.'
With diligent refinement, she might have forged new cultivation from this thread. But Wi Sowol felt no regret.
She'd always lived flowing like water.
And she knew her own nature best.
If ever she needed to harness this epiphany, that passing insight would return.
Wi Sowol rose from the oversized bed and opened the safehouse door.
There stood the owner, oblivious to her presence, hand reaching unguarded for the door.
"I've been waiting."
A man in a black beak-like mask.
Face unseen, Wi Sowol knew: the Weird Physician.
His bizarre garb alone proved the moniker.
Through the mask's crystal-like translucent lenses.
Their eyes met.
The ageless Weird Physician, no wrinkles at his eyes unlike memory, coolly grumbled at the intruder.
"Go home. I can't cure you."