-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: Zhuul Village
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The next day, Yi Chung and Dang Mujin began their day treating the villagers.
As expected, the patients' conditions had worsened slightly since the previous evening.
As he inserted needles into the people, Dang Mujin thought to himself.
'The effects of acupuncture show quickly, but they're only temporary. To truly cure the illness, we have to eliminate its root cause and treat it with medicine.'
There seemed to be medicine that could treat the illness known to the village physician, but since the villagers weren't recovering, it was clear the village physician didn't know the root cause either.
And not knowing the source of a plague was different from not knowing the source of an ordinary illness.
With a regular illness, even if you didn't know the cause, you could get lucky, recover once, and be done with it.
But with a plague, if you didn't eliminate the source, it would spread to those around you again.
Just like carefully washing your face in a mud puddle only for it to get dirty again after a short while.
By the time the sun was high in the sky, Dang Mujin and Yi Chung had checked on more than eighty percent of the villagers again. They didn't need both of them to handle the rest. Dang Mujin went to Yi Chung and spoke.
"Elder."
"What is it?"
"I need to look around the outskirts of the village."
Yi Chung raised an eyebrow and slapped his knee.
"You only just started needling yesterday, not even a full day has passed, and you're already tired of playing physician?"
"Don't talk nonsense... We ultimately have to find the root of the illness, don't we?"
"I know, kid. I was just teasing. I'll take care of the remaining patients, so go on. While you're at it, take the Beggars' Sect folks with you."
Yi Chung waved his hand dismissively, and Hong Geolgae and Ma Jeon-gae fell in beside Dang Mujin.
They weren't dressed in pristine robes with gleaming swords at their waists, but they were still martial artists.
It felt strange. Like he was some big shot.
"Where to, young master?"
"Let's start with the pigsties. Were there houses raising a lot of pigs?"
"The one with the most is over that way."
Hong Geolgae pointed south.
In contrast to cold damage that chills the whole body, heat damage makes the entire body boil feverishly.
At first glance, it might seem like the pathogenic qi causing cold damage forms in cold, shady places, while the qi causing heat damage arises in hot, dry areas.
But in reality, most pathogenic qi that causes heat damage also forms in cool, shady, foul-smelling places.
And in a typical village, the most damp and stench-ridden spot was the pigsty. Perfect conditions for pathogenic qi to gather and sicken people.
However, after inspecting several pigsties, they found nothing unusual. Zhuul Village's pigsties were actually in better shape compared to those in other villages.
The manure was cleared regularly, so the smell wasn't overpowering, and some sties were in sunny spots.
After circling every pigsty in the village like that, Dang Mujin slumped down in the shade of a tree. Ma Jeon-gae and Hong Geolgae sat beside him.
Dang Mujin pondered deeply before speaking.
"We need to find dark, damp places. Any other spots come to mind?"
"If it's dark and damp in the village, there's only the wells and the pigsties..."
"Neither had anything off. The wells were even dried up, so not damp at all. No other places?"
Ma Jeon-gae and Hong Geolgae shook their heads.
A brief silence followed, until Ma Jeon-gae spoke up.
"Young Physician Dang. How about checking Jong Foreman's house?"
"Jong Foreman?"
"The first one who fell ill here. He's dead now."
Dang Mujin realized he had overlooked something important.
There had to be a first person infected with the plague in this village too, and tracing back why that person got sick might lead to the source.
This might actually be the more precise approach.
"Where's Jong Foreman's house?"
"It's on the west side of the village. Not far."
"What did Jong Foreman do?"
"He did a bit of farming on a small plot and raised a couple of chickens."
No particularly illness-prone conditions. Dang Mujin asked the next question.
"When Jong Foreman fell ill, did it spread sequentially to the neighbors?"
Ma Jeon-gae Hong Gyeon thought it over and shook his head.
"Sequentially...? I don't think so. Little Zhu. Come here."
"Yeah."
Ma Jeon-gae Hong Gyeon and Hong Geolgae Hong Jusam wrote on the dirt ground with sticks, talking among themselves.
"Jong Foreman, the Bok Family, and Yu Elder were the first to fall, right?"
"That sounds about right. A bit later, Uncle Jeong collapsed too."
None of the names rang a bell. But the names didn't matter. The two beggars had no intention of explaining every villager's name to Dang Mujin.
The two beggars wrapped up their discussion and approached Dang Mujin.
"We're not sure if it was sequential or not. Half matches, half doesn't."
A slightly odd answer. Dang Mujin's eyes narrowed.
"What do you mean?"
"The people on the west side of the village did get sick first, but it wasn't like the neighbors of patients fell ill early or anything."
"Explain in more detail."
The two beggars drew a large circle in the dirt.
"Think of this circle as Zhuul Village. We'll write the names of the sick and their houses in the order they got ill. It won't be exact, but close enough."
Ma Jeon-gae and Hong Geolgae recalled and wrote down names. If memories didn't match or they didn't know, they'd compare notes.
The first victim, a man named Jong Foreman, lived at the western edge of the village. But the next ones, the Bok Family and Yu Elder, lived closer to the center on the west side.
'Interesting.'
Dang Mujin focused on the story, asking about each patient's characteristics one by one.
The order of infections had two patterns.
People living on the west side of the village got sick before those on the east, and children got sick before adults.
'Something's itching at me. Feels like I've grasped a clue, but...'
Dang Mujin asked Ma Jeon-gae.
"What's the difference between the west and east sides of the village? There must be a reason why westerners fell first."
"Hmm."
Ma Jeon-gae pondered.
But he couldn't come up with a good answer. Hong Geolgae spoke up in his place, voice lacking confidence.
"I heard once that the east, where the sun rises, has more yang energy, and the west, where it sets, has more yin energy. Maybe the yin energy made people fall ill?"
Dang Mujin shook his head.
"If that were the case, the plague would be circulating on the west side. But the elder and I didn't see anyone suffering from the plague coming from the west into Zhuul Village."
"I see."
"Besides, Zhuul Village isn't that big. Even from the western edge to the eastern edge is just a couple tenths of an hour's walk, so any yin-yang imbalance wouldn't be severe."
The yin-yang imbalance theory was dismissed. No other reasons came to mind no matter how hard he thought.
Dang Mujin's thoughts shifted from the east-west difference to the second clue.
"Why did the children get sick first?"
This was an even tougher question.
You might suspect adults got sick from their work, but children's activities were at most errands for their parents.
They even ate the same food and slept in the same places as their parents. No reason for kids to fall ill before them.
"I really have no idea. Kids just run around all day and play together; that's it."
He felt like he was missing something.
West side, children. Dang Mujin wove the two clues together and asked again.
"Is there a place on the west side where kids gather a lot?"
"Yeah. There's a stream on the west side. Kids play in the water when they've got nothing else to do."
Water? Something wrong with the water? Did the plague spread through it?
But that was odd. Eastern villagers drank from the stream too, didn't they?
No. A sudden realization hit him. The bone-dry wells on the east side.
" Elder Ma Jeon-gae. Those wells we saw earlier."
"Yeah."
"Have they always been that dry?"
"No. It's spring now and dry, but normally they're full. Especially in summer, the water's plentiful and cool."
"...By any chance, did the wells dry up after the plague started in the village?"
"Yes. Around that time."
The pieces fit together.
Something happened to the western stream, and the western villagers who used a lot of stream water fell ill.
Then the eastern wells dried up, and easterners started using stream water too, catching the illness.
All that remained was confirmation.
"Let's go to the stream."
"Got a lead?"
"Not certain yet."
The three hurried to the western stream.
Truth be told, even if there was a problem with the stream, they had no way to fix it. In this remote mountain village, there weren't many sources of drinking water.
The only solution might be fetching water from far away, but given the villagers' conditions, even that seemed unlikely.
'Still, I need to find the cause.'
Dang Mujin arrived at the streambank. But nothing seemed off at first glance.
If there had been something obviously wrong, they would have noticed on the way into the village with Hong Geolgae, so it was natural.
Dang Mujin examined the stream water closely. It wasn't murky, no strange smells, no thread-like worms visible.
But the circumstances pointed to a problem with this stream.
'Is there a way to check the stream's condition more precisely?'
Suddenly, one method came to mind.
It might be a bit risky, but this wasn't the time to hesitate. Countless lives were at stake.
Dang Mujin gulped down a large mouthful of stream water, then sat cross-legged and closed his eyes.
Deep inhalation, short exhalation. He steadied his breathing and slowly circulated his internal energy.
He heightened his sensitive qi sense, focusing it on the acupoint beside his stomach as he sank into his inner self.
How much time passed? Dang Mujin detected a faint pathogenic qi emanating from his stomach. The location was Zhangmen acupoint beside the intestines.
A murky color like storm clouds and a slimy sensation. Just like what he'd felt in people's heads while needling.
Dang Mujin finished circulating his qi and opened his eyes. Ma Jeon-gae looked amazed, as if he'd witnessed something wondrous.
"Aren't you a physician?"
"That's right."
"How does a physician have internal energy and circulate qi?"
"Learned it from this elder. Said it'd help in physician work."
"Hoo."
Dang Mujin unfolded his legs and stood.
"I've figured out where the illness comes from."
"Pardon?"
"There's turbidity lingering in the stream. It must be qi flowing down from upstream, so let's head upriver."
Dang Mujin set off upstream, with Ma Jeon-gae and Hong Geolgae following behind.