Overusing Muscles Can Lead to Injury
When muscles are overused, they can get injured, a condition known in technical terms as a rupture.
As these ruptured muscles recover, they can develop into larger and stronger muscles, a phenomenon called super compensation.
Of course, this doesn't happen easily.
Proper rest and sufficient nutrition are necessary.
This is the job of fitness trainers.
They help their clients achieve this super compensation to build muscles.
'Without rest and nutrition, it's just a recipe for disaster.'
It's important to accurately understand one's limits.
It's fortunate if you can do it alone, but most people find it difficult to objectively see their own limits.
It's also hard to consciously consume the necessary nutrients and understand what 'proper' rest means for oneself.
That's why experts are needed.
Checking body composition before starting training is for this reason.
In that sense, this exam was similar.
'It's important to understand the limits I can handle.
I need to repeatedly inject internal energy up to the limit and then rest.
If it were a graph, it would probably look like a wave pattern.'
Medically speaking, it's the perfect graph to induce super compensation.
'Even so, internal energy is far more efficient than muscles.
No wonder everyone focuses on internal energy rather than external techniques.
Ugh—'
Jin Cheon-hee groaned as he wrapped his waist.
He had been at it for so long that his sense of time had become blurry.
'Oh dear, today's training is over.
But since they didn't wake me up, it seems they left me to rest well...'
Jin Cheon-hee scratched his head.
His body felt awkward, but a smile spread across his lips.
'Still, I did it.'
He completed it so perfectly that no one could say anything.
Even he thought it was quite an impressive achievement.
He felt proud.
'It will still take time to fully make it my own.'
Sitting still and merging different energies is different from fighting in the Dosan Sword Forest.
Jin Cheon-hee was still at the stage of controlling energy while being still.
Even that was already a passing grade for a physician.
After all, patients wouldn't be playing tag with a physician.
However, to master martial arts, one must be able to do it even while fighting.
To reach that point...
A deep smile filled Jin Cheon-hee's face as he pondered.
'Heeya, first, you must get used to it.'
His master, Jegal Lin, had said so.
So Jin Cheon-hee first checked his body in the training ground.
He could feel that his physical abilities had changed.
First, he clearly felt that his five senses had become more sensitive than before.
Objects appeared more distinct, and he could instantly recognize what something was by its scent.
Although he hadn't tested it yet, his sense of touch and hearing must have also improved.
'Indeed.
My body doesn't feel like my own.
It's like I've become a superhuman.'
He felt he could finally understand what internal energy did.
It was like becoming a hero from a movie.
And this was just the beginning.
As his internal energy increased and his level rose, he would transcend even more.
Jumping in place.
Jumping with legs spread.
While performing basic actions to measure physical abilities, he felt the clear difference from before.
'Martial arts are truly amazing.
At this level, I'm already beyond an adult, right? It's probably because I've learned the secret martial arts of the Jegal family and taken elixirs...'
Jin Cheon-hee repeatedly marveled.
'At this rate, won't I become stronger than that Heavenly Demon guy?'
Thinking so, he chuckled.
'No way.
Yeoharyun is a Heavenly Killing Saint, and I've taught him a few life-saving tricks, so he'll become stronger.'
If he's ready, he'll probably contact the medical division.
Jin Cheon-hee is needed for him to defeat the other young lords and properly awaken as the Heavenly Demon.
Then, a loud noise erupted from outside.
Boom—!
It was an explosion.
Was it an attack?
Jin Cheon-hee quickly exited the training ground.
In the meantime, a loud voice echoed.
"Is Baek Lin's Divine Doctor there—?! Please, I beg you. Come out just once!"
It was the voice of a middle-aged man.
004. Jin Cheon-hee left the training ground and went to where the sound came from.
The gate was shattered, and around it, the guards of Baek Lin's medical division stood with their swords drawn.
Jin Cheon-hee enhanced his vision by stimulating the water energy in his dantian.
The Five Elements Heart Method is an important martial principle that harmoniously handles five types of true energy, and among them, water energy had a stronger effect on the body compared to other true energies.
In the past, it would have been impossible.
However, it was a skill acquired while healing a tree.
Thanks to the vision activated by water energy, Jin Cheon-hee could see what was happening.
There stood a middle-aged handsome man carrying a child.
He held a bow, but strangely, he didn't have a quiver.
In martial arts novels, even if someone handles a bow, their level varies depending on the arrows they shoot.
Those who shoot basic wooden arrows are extras who die wherever they go.
Those who shoot fire arrows or poison arrows often come from the Green Forest or the Hao Clan.
And these people also die by the protagonist's blind sword.
There are those who shoot iron arrows called Cheolsi, and they are given a bit more credit than the previous ones.
If they shoot this, they get a line or so of their name or nickname mentioned.
And those who carry an empty quiver...
'Are revered as Bow Gods or Bow Ghosts.'
The man carrying the child didn't even have a quiver.
Yet, to hit the eye of the dragon decoration at the edge of the eaves from this distance without an arrow said it all.
That man wasn't a Bow God.
Rather, he played the opposite role.
A man who didn't hesitate to kill for money.
A man who could shoot and hit a martial arts master a hundred miles away.
A person neither of the orthodox nor unorthodox sects.
In modern terms, those in the gray zone, but there were quite a few such people in the martial world.
'So the Bow Ghost came here.'
The Bow Ghost is a significant villain in the novel.
He drives the protagonist, Heavenly Demon Yeoharyun, into crisis and reaches the level of Heart Bow, comparable to Heart Sword.
According to the novel, he lived as a person in the gray zone, deepening his grudges.
As a result, his only daughter was ambushed and killed, turning him into a villain.
'So his daughter dies here...
Wait.
What happens if I save the Bow Ghost's daughter here?'
The Bow Ghost.
One of the main villains.
And he was strong.
Though a villain, he wasn't an evil and cruel person.
He was portrayed as a charismatic and trustworthy figure.
'Let's take a look first.'
He immediately ran towards the people confronting each other at the gate.
The man who had been carrying the child now laid the child on the ground and knelt in front of her, sobbing.
The physicians and guards of the medical division all wore troubled expressions.
"Please, I beg you. Just take a look. Just once, see if my daughter can be saved!"
'Huh.
They said it was a daughter...
Must be disguised as a boy.
Well disguised.'
Jin Cheon-hee calmly looked at the child.
A child who appeared to be around Jin Cheon-hee's age lay there with a pale complexion.
A physician spoke.
"The Divine Doctor is a busy person. We cannot treat someone not on the list. Please seek a nearby clinic..."
In modern terms, it meant to get a diagnosis at a primary hospital and bring a referral.
In modern times, a primary hospital refers to local clinics like internal medicine, pediatrics, or dermatology.
They usually have the name '~clinic' and often specialize in one area.
Here, they first diagnose the patient, and if a disease is found that cannot be diagnosed or treated at a primary hospital, they move up to a secondary hospital, which is medium-sized, or a tertiary hospital, known as a large hospital.
And the martial world in this novel was the same.
The medical division was the headquarters, akin to a tertiary hospital.
The medical division handled patients that couldn't be treated at clinics.
That's what the clinic's referral was for.
After sending the referral via carrier pigeon, the medical division would prepare a spot.
Or if the disease could be resolved at the clinic, the medical division would send down treatment methods or medicines.
'Martial artists carry patients up these high stairs.
Well, they say carrying a full water bucket up is the basics of basics...'
Jin Cheon-hee thought this as he looked at the Bow Ghost.
The Bow Ghost's face turned red.
"The clinic I visited was affiliated with Hwajoo Medical Division. They expressed difficulty in even writing a proper referral. I've already tried treatment for over ten days, and it took five days to get here. I couldn't delay any longer, so I carried her here."
At those words, the expressions of the medical division's physicians crumpled.
Seeing their faces, Jin Cheon-hee also hardened his expression.
'Treated for ten days and traveled here for five days? No, even if they didn't write a referral, traveling for five days...
The novel said she was killed in an ambush, so it must be an external injury.
How is she still alive?'
Jin Cheon-hee was curious about why the Bow Ghost's daughter was still alive.
To Jin Cheon-hee, who had studied modern medicine, it was an inexplicable mystery.
The Bow Ghost continued with a face filled with despair and anger.
"Hwajoo Medicine Sage. That person said they couldn't do more for someone not of the orthodox sect... I will surely..."
His words trailed off and became inaudible.
Hwajoo Medicine Sage.
As the title suggests, he was famous for his exceptional use of medicine.
However, he was known for only treating those of the orthodox sect.
He claimed it was to ensure his medical skills were used for good, but the reality was different.
He was deeply connected with corrupt martial artists and committed many evil deeds behind the scenes.
'Treated for ten days and then let go without a referral...'
Things had gotten worse.
They had wasted the time needed to properly treat the patient.
"I've gathered all my strength to collect money for times like this. I'll give you everything I have. Please, just save my daughter."
"..."
'Sigh...
Seeing it in person makes it even more pitiful...'
Jin Cheon-hee sighed as he recalled the story of the Bow Ghost.
In the past, he was an ordinary archer.
To put it simply, he was close to being a chivalrous hero.
He saved commoners oppressed by the unorthodox sects with just a bow, saying, "No need for thanks, just live well," and disappearing.
It was a life of poverty, but his heart was full.
Until his wife died of illness.