Cave Refuge-Chapter 155 - 154: No Distinction Between Medicine and Martial Arts_1

As the old saying goes, since ancient times medicine and martial arts were inseparable, capable practitioners of traditional medicine, especially those who didn’t graduate from medical institutions, would more or less possess knowledge of physical vital energy cultivation.

However, these practitioners of traditional medicine find themselves in an awkward position. Either they have renown and hold jobs in the highest-ranked hospitals, or they work in small clinics in rural areas or communities.

Because their educational levels don’t receive general acceptance, even though they are inheriting their skill from their masters and possess secret remedies, most top-notch hospitals or larger central hospitals would choose not to employ them.

Dong Tianyu knew of three renowned doctors in Pengcheng. One, an old physician who specialized in treating skin diseases, worked in a village in Mao. After one week of treatment, significant improvements could be noticed. This result has been tested and proven by the author too.

The second was a retired but re-employed old physician who specialized in treating Bell’s palsy, based in the Worker’s Hospital. No matter how severe the condition, once it is in his hands, handling it becomes straightforward.

Despite the grandeur of the Worker’s Hospital’s name, it is actually a small hospital situated in a not-so-convenient location. Not far from the Worker’s Hospital is the Second City Hospital. Most patients from other regions who come to Pengcheng head straight to the Second City Hospital, resulting in few patients actually visiting the Worker’s Hospital.

Nonetheless, whenever this old doctor holds consultations on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons, securing an appointment is challenging.

The last of these is Doctor Zuo. Originally, he worked in the local Community Hospital. Since there were only two physicians in the traditional Chinese medicine department, and the other one frequently changed. Those doctors seemed to be there merely to rack up their working hours, and would leave once they had done so.

Doctor Zuo is somewhat of a jack of all trades. Similar to the benevolent physicians of ancient times, whether it’s prescribing medicine, setting bones, performing acupuncture, or conducting surgery, he can do it all.

This is exactly why he had been assigned to the large refuge center near Dragon Lake.

This refuge center was responsible for the storage of Dragon Lake water after temperatures rose. The survivors in this refuge center not only had to stock drinking water but also catch aquatic products from the lake when the water level dropped.

After all, once the floodwaters receded, fish began to appear in lakes and rivers.

Doctor Zuo’s wide range of skills were, of course, due to his learning from a young age. Even though the traditions passed down through his family were not prestigious in the traditional Chinese medicine world, they had never strayed from their roots; in fact, they could be traced all the way back to the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Dr. Zuo began learning his family’s techniques for maintaining good health at a young age. At the time when he started learning these techniques, Shaolin Temple, a movie, was all the rage, and he had dreams of becoming a hero. As such, he was quite enthusiastic about learning his family’s techniques.

However, after many years of practice, he discovered that apart from rarely falling sick, his physical fitness was superior to that of others, and his senses were much sharper.

Admittedly, these skills were very useful in diagnosing patients in traditional Chinese medicine, but they didn’t have the magical effects of internal strength depicted in the movies. He couldn’t even transfer internal energy to save others using silver needles.

However, because he fell into a routine, Dr. Zuo continued his daily cultivation.

It’s unknown why, but the daily cultivation which he had become accustomed to showed unusual signs after the natural calamity occurred. By the time Dr. Zuo noticed it, an uncontrolled warm current had emerged within his body at an unspecified time.

After the emergence of this warm current, the familial vital energy-cultivating technique, which Dr. Zuo originally considered to be a simple breathing exercise, unexpectedly caused this warm current to circulate through the body’s meridians during cultivation.

Dr. Zuo didn’t know if it was because he was a perfectionist, but whenever he noticed the presence of this warm current in his body, he would always end each session of cultivation by moving this warm current through his body along the meridians.

At first, due to communication interruption, Dr. Zuo couldn’t contact his fellow disciples to gain information.

However, as communication was restored in Pengcheng, Dr. Zuo came to understand the reason for the changes in his body through other sources.

He learned from his fellow disciples that the cultivation of internal strength had always existed, and that his familial technique for maintaining good health was actually a type of internal strength. However, in the modern world, without a superior guiding and transferring skills, it is difficult to generate internal strength within the body.

Even before the natural calamity occurred, some individuals had generated internal strength. However, the internal strength within their bodies was so weak that it couldn’t demonstrate the force one sees on television shows.

While it’s true that internal strength could be used and shown, it couldn’t be detected or confirmed, and the effects it produced were like basic magic tricks. They seemed miraculous to others but didn’t serve any significant purpose.

Thus, only those within the circle knew the reality of internal strength, while outsiders regarded it as fantasy.

When the natural disaster arrived, for an unknown reason, many individuals who persistently cultivated slowly produced internal strength within their bodies, and at an increasingly fast speed.

As more and more individuals cultivated internal strength, these people, having developed inner strength, came to be known as martial artists.

With the gradual increase in internal strength, the various advantages it brought also slowly emerged.

The simplest advantage was the deliberate adjustment of body temperature using internal strength. Although Dr. Zuo hadn’t yet reached the level of indifference to cold and heat as told in legends, he learned from his contacts with fellow disciples that...

In Kyoto, where intense heat arrived, numerous people had reached this level, and some even achieved the standard seen in martial arts TV shows.

Initially, Dr. Zuo didn’t associate Dong Tianyu with being a martial artist. Although Pengcheng was an ancient capital, many influential clans moved out of Pengcheng for some reason.

While the Zuo family had a long tradition without interruption, it was never influential or prestigious from ancient times until now; otherwise, Dr. Zuo, who had inherited his own family tradition, wouldn’t have gone to become someone else’s disciple.

Upon calming down, Dr. Zuo thought seriously about what Hugo had said and Dong Tianyu’s current condition.

All the signs pointed to one explanation: Dong Tianyu must be a martial artist.

In response to Dr. Zuo’s query, Dong Tianyu originally wanted to explain, but after thinking about it, he simply nodded and said, "I stumbled upon an ancient book when I was a child. Having dreams of becoming a hero, I thought I was the chosen one led by destiny.

I practiced aimlessly as guided by the images in the book but didn’t achieve any results. However, as I grew older, practicing became a habit, and I viewed it as a type of aerobic exercise.

I didn’t hold much hope for it, but I didn’t expect to truly cultivate internal strength."

For Dong Tianyu’s claim, Dr. Zuo didn’t believe it at all. Being from a family with inherited traditions, Dr. Zuo knew very well the severity of the ancient people’s prejudice toward outsiders.

Take, for example, the vital energy cultivation technique, passed down through the Zuo family. The order for cultivation in the book was wrong. If you cultivated according to the page sequence, though not entirely impossible to succeed, it would be far more challenging than cultivating in a specific order.