Chapter 113

It would be good to find a pharmacy or physician, but he couldn’t go down to the village for that reason. It was the same reason why Mr. Jang hadn’t called a physician after bringing Jin Ja-gang back.

Because of what had happened at Poison Valley, he had to be careful for the time being. It was obvious that martial artists would be stirring up trouble everywhere.

Moreover, Jin Ja-gang was still in no condition to take care of himself.

He could only move around when he was at least able to take care of his own body.

Jin Ja-gang struggled to lean Mr. Jang against the door frame.

Generally, when someone is poisoned, the initial treatment time determines life and death. In other words, the faster Jin Ja-gang could move from now on, the more likely he could save Mr. Jang.

Jin Ja-gang first detoxified every corner of the room where he had been lying. He gathered all the poison-contaminated items and threw them away, then made lye water and applied it to necessary places.

He replaced the bedding and furnishings with new, poison-free items, and only then laid Mr. Jang on the bed.

“Huff, huff…!”

Since Jin Ja-gang’s body wasn’t in perfect condition either, it took him half a day just to do that much.

Mr. Jang’s condition was still poor.

Jin Ja-gang slowly examined Mr. Jang.

When he turned back the eyelids, the area under the pupils had turned yellow, and the corners of his eyes were trembling. Nosebleeds had flowed and dried up, and he was coughing and occasionally spitting blood. Various parts of his body were swollen with sores. His skin color was black, red, or purplish.

Even at a glance, these weren’t symptoms from a single poison.

Having passed through a place where all kinds of poisons were used, it was obvious he would be poisoned by multiple toxins.

Among these, what Jin Ja-gang needed to do now was find the main poison that was acting most severely.

For instance, Four Emperor Divine Water was made from snake venom. Among these, a specific snake venom acts as the main poison. If you resolve that first, the rest are less fatal, so you can resolve them slowly.

Jin Ja-gang thought for a moment, then made a small cut on Mr. Jang’s fingertip and tasted the blood.

Jin Ja-gang’s body had the peculiar constitution where all poisons manifested rapidly and then subsided instantly.

The poison in the blood quickly took effect in Jin Ja-gang’s body.

His eyes became itchy and his nose tip stung. His lungs felt twisted and painful, then his breathing was slightly blocked. He felt his throat swelling. Numerous symptoms occurred.

Unfortunately, there were too many. Finding the main poison among these was like finding a needle in a haystack.

‘I can’t find the main poison this way.’

Jin Ja-gang bit his lips tightly.

Mr. Jang’s suffering was evident, but Jin Ja-gang couldn’t do anything about it right now.

Jin Ja-gang recalled what he had heard from Elder Jang of the Medicine Sect in the mine shaft.

“The belief that you can cure a patient with prescriptions is arrogance. Everyone has an inherent power to preserve their own life, so medicine merely helps from the side…”

At that time, Jin Ja-gang had learned a hundred different prescriptions from Elder Jang.

“Moving earth to eliminate mountains. Even a small amount of earth, if continuously moved, will eventually make a mountain disappear. When you encounter a great illness that’s difficult to remove at the roots, helping the patient overcome it by first improving minor symptoms is also one method.”

Jin Ja-gang decided to change his approach.

Since he couldn’t find the main poison first, he would try to resolve the minor poisonings that appeared on the surface first. When the minor symptoms disappeared, it would become easier to find the main poison, and Mr. Jang would also become more comfortable.

“One by one. Step by step.”

Jin Ja-gang examined Mr. Jang’s condition more carefully. And he memorized each one.

“Cough cough! Urgh! Ugh… ugh.”

Mr. Jang coughed and then vomited. He groaned and clutched his chest. Even though he should be unconscious, every time he clutched his chest, he frowned and complained of pain.

‘He has a fever and keeps complaining of pain in his solar plexus. And he’s vomiting with signs of diarrhea. This is typical vomiting and diarrhea disorder.’

Jin Ja-gang recalled the prescription he had heard from Elder Jang.

‘There are dry and wet types of this disorder, and in this case, both symptoms are present, but considering that symptoms from other poisons are manifesting together, this belongs to the wet type.’

Jin Ja-gang immediately got up and went to the kitchen while reciting the prescription.

‘For vomiting and diarrhea disorder, earth from under the stove is effective. Among earth from under the stove, yellow earth is good for diarrhea and various poisonings.’

What he had been memorizing for eight years trapped in the mine shaft were things learned from the Medicine Sect elders. He had memorized them so much that they were stuck in his head and wouldn’t be forgotten.

Earth from under the stove referred to soil that had been pressed under the pot in the furnace for a long time. Since he couldn’t use proper medicinal materials, he was trying to find materials that could be used as substitutes.

‘In this case, it’s good to use yellow earth.’

But unfortunately, there wasn’t enough fine yellow earth suitable for medicine under Mr. Jang’s furnace.

‘Then among earth from under the stove, other materials that can be used for this disorder are east wall earth and hundred grass frost…’

Jin Ja-gang thought for a moment, then turned over the pot hanging in the furnace. Since he had no strength in his body, his hands trembled even while turning over the pot.

Clatter!

Under the pot was old black soot stuck to it.

He scraped it off. It was soot from burning plants and trees, also called stove soot, and when used as medicine, it’s called hundred grass frost.

“Ugh.”

From continuing to move, blood had seeped through various parts of his bandages. The places where bones had been pierced brought heavy pain every time he moved.

“Huff, ha!”

Jin Ja-gang took deep breaths to calm the pain and moved again.

He went to the fence. Considering the direction and time of sunrise, he found the east. The earth under the eastern fence, east wall earth, receives the freshest morning sunlight, so it has strong fire energy and is non-toxic, making it good to use.

He dug a pit in the ground where the east wall earth was, then poured water and stirred it. The east wall earth mixed to become yellow muddy water.

While waiting for the soil to settle, he ground the hundred grass frost finely. And when the muddy water of the east wall earth settled and became clear, he scooped only the clean water from the top and mixed it with the hundred grass frost.

He fed this carefully made earth syrup water to Mr. Jang.

After feeding the earth syrup water several times over time, Mr. Jang vomited once greatly and had diarrhea, then the symptoms of vomiting and diarrhea disorder improved.

‘Fortunately. Since it wasn’t direct exposure but only indirect exposure to poisonous energy, the poisoning is shallower than expected. There’s hope.’

The symptoms of vomiting and diarrhea disorder had stabilized, but other symptoms remained.

Jin Ja-gang came outside the house. Each step was still very difficult. But there was no choice.

He climbed the mountain behind the house, wandering around looking for the materials he wanted. Fortunately, it was autumn, so there were things to find.

Walnuts.

The walnut tree is a precious tree where every part can be used as medicine without waste.

Jin Ja-gang picked up walnuts, gathered leaves, and collected branches. He also peeled off the bark and kept it.

But to see medicinal effects, a small amount wouldn’t do. He gathered about a sack’s worth and dragged it down the mountain. Even while coming down, Jin Ja-gang frequently rested and gasped for breath.

Since his walking and moving speed was so slow, by the time he had gathered some materials, it was almost midnight.

Jin Ja-gang checked Mr. Jang’s condition, then immediately began separating the walnuts by parts.

‘The leaves have some detoxifying effect, so I’ll boil them for a long time and use instead of water, and the stems and bark can be boiled and used to wash the skin to reduce itching.’

He also peeled off the outer skin of the walnut fruit and kept it separately. This could be used for abscesses and sores.

He placed the hard shell after removing the outer skin on a stone and cracked it. The edible walnut kernel inside was split into two pieces with a thin membrane between them.

Jin Ja-gang didn’t throw away this membrane either and gathered it all together. This dividing heart wood was small in quantity but extremely effective for making and supplementing blood and treating bloody urine, so it had to be used.

He naturally kept the edible kernels.

Most plants have toxicity in their fruits or seeds. Walnut kernels also have trace amounts of poison. It’s fine for ordinary people, but it could be fatal for Mr. Jang in his poor condition.

Jin Ja-gang hung a pot in the furnace and steamed the walnut kernels three times. This was a detoxification method he had used when cooking rice at Stone Forest Gang. He planned to extract oil from the steamed walnut kernels.

Meanwhile, he also hung another pot on the other side of the furnace and boiled the stems and bark.

Only then could he finally catch his breath and rest.

Since his whole body was in tatters, every joint ached as if bone fragments were rolling around, but strangely, his heart felt refreshed.

“Whew…”

Jin Ja-gang knew the reason.

It was because he was doing work to save people, not kill them.

That’s why his body hurt but his heart felt light.

“Originally, I would have been doing this kind of work.”

If nothing had happened back then.

‘When will I be able to return again?’

Perhaps, I might never be able to return.

Will I even be able to live until then?

Jin Ja-gang felt a heavy anxiety rising from deep in his chest as he put firewood into the furnace.

Before he knew it, time had passed beyond dawn and morning was approaching.

Jin Ja-gang crushed the steamed walnut kernels and squeezed them tightly with cotton cloth. A small amount of oil flowed out drop by drop. This would help restore Mr. Jang’s kidneys and lungs damaged by toxicity. Good kidneys are needed to easily discharge toxins, and good lungs are needed to breathe properly and expel bad energy.

Jin Ja-gang fed Mr. Jang a small amount of walnut oil and wiped Mr. Jang’s body with water boiled from stems and bark.

Mr. Jang’s skin had unsightly sores, boils, and purplish bruises.

There were also places where Mr. Jang had unconsciously scratched until they bled and became infected. There were wounds filled with pus.

After cleaning his whole body, Jin Ja-gang felt relieved seeing Mr. Jang looking much more comfortable.

However, this was only an emergency prescription and temporary at best. If the main poison wasn’t resolved, Mr. Jang’s condition would gradually worsen.

Still, to identify the main poison, he had to remove the poisoning symptoms that were masking it first, so for now, this was the only method.

Jin Ja-gang, who had stayed up all night tending the fire, ate a few walnuts to satisfy his hunger, then sat in a corner for a moment and closed his eyes.

* * *

Two days passed, and Jin Ja-gang could now walk reasonably well.

The pain like bone fragments stabbing his body every time he moved still continued, but Jin Ja-gang didn’t stop moving.

“Blood deficiency, enlarged spleen… three-sided knife…”

Even now he was wandering around the mountain reciting names of medicinal herbs and symptoms. It was to gather medicinal materials.

Even if it hurt, even if there was pain, he had become indifferent to it.

‘All animals and plants have poison, but conversely, they also have effects as medicinal materials. I need to find medicinal materials that match each effect.’

For someone supposedly from the Medicine Sect, this was the first time properly making and using prescriptions.

Until now, he had only selected things with toxicity rather than medicinal materials, using his knowledge only to kill people.

Was it because he had lived too intensely on edge to survive?

When he looked at plants, their toxicity came to mind before their medicinal properties.

It was truly a laughable situation.

Who would see the current him as a descendant of the Medicine Sect!

Jin Ja-gang smiled bitterly while continuing to gather medicinal herbs.

* * *

The third day.

Mr. Jang’s symptoms had improved greatly.

Jin Ja-gang’s herbal treatment was quite effective.

The fact that Mr. Jang was still alive and not dead proved this.

Mr. Jang had improved enough to occasionally regain consciousness and ask Jin Ja-gang about the situation. The symptoms that had numbered in the dozens had been reduced to less than half.

“You must not be feeling well either, but I’m sorry…”

“It’s alright.”

“I didn’t know you had such miraculous medical skills. Hehe.”

Jin Ja-gang smiled silently at Mr. Jang.

“Your energy is still weak, so refrain from talking and rest more.”

“Yes… thank you.”

Jin Ja-gang was wiping Mr. Jang’s body with water boiled from walnut leaves when he slightly frowned.

Only the rashes and sores weren’t disappearing easily. The boils had also subsided until yesterday, but now they were rising again.

‘Walnut oil and water boiled from walnut leaves and bark are useless?’

Originally, Jin Ja-gang had been suspecting the ginkgo poison he had used. Or perhaps other powder poisons that act on the skin.

In such cases, most should improve just by wiping and washing the skin. Until yesterday, it had been improving. So he thought it would be fine.

‘Did I use the earth syrup water and earth from under the stove wrong when treating the vomiting and diarrhea disorder? Is that why heat rose internally?’

If you induce vomiting and diarrhea incorrectly, and heat can’t escape outside but penetrates internally, blood heat rash can occur.

‘Perhaps I should have used cold well water instead of earth syrup water using warm-natured east wall earth.’

Well water is water drawn from a well in early dawn. Unlike east wall earth, it’s clean water that received cold moonlight, so it has opposite characteristics.

Jin Ja-gang fell deep in thought.