When they arrived at Kyosato's home, they found the village chief and his son there as well. The two had clearly been waiting for a while.
Bai Sui asked Kyo Yasuhiro to heat a basin of water, greeted everyone briefly, then went to Kyosato's side to examine his injuries.
He removed the medicinal paste applied the day before and inspected the wound.
Thankfully, although the wound hadn't visibly healed, it showed no signs of getting worse. That was good news for Bai Sui.
The hot water was ready soon. After cleaning the wound, Bai Sui sprinkled the wintergreen powder from his jar over it.
He didn't bandage it right away. Instead, he tried channeling qi through the Earth element and covering the wound with it.
It didn't seem to have any effect, but Bai Sui knew that the qi had been stored in a unique way in the flesh around the wound.
All that remained was to rest and wait for the stored qi to stimulate the growth of new flesh.
Growth?
A thought suddenly occurred to Bai Sui. If it's growth, could I use Wood-element qi to speed it up?
He decided to try it. He'd be watching closely, so nothing could go wrong.
Bai Sui changed the qi in his hand to the Wood element and focused on the wound.
Before long, he noticed the wound beneath the layer of medicinal powder beginning to grow. The effect was extremely faint, but he still caught it.
He sensed that as the wound began to heal, the Earth-element qi stored around it was rapidly being consumed.
Bai Sui knew his idea had been right, so he withdrew the Wood-element qi. After all, he couldn't make the healing look too unbelievable.
"Your recovery is going very well. Apply this medicine for another two or three days, and the wound should close. After that, a little more rest and you'll be fine." Bai Sui met their expectant gazes and spoke calmly.
Kyo Yasuhiro's younger brother was the happiest of all. He immediately ran over to his brother, Kyosato, and started talking to him.
After washing his hands, Bai Sui chatted with the village chief and his son.
"This old man can see that Doctor Bai's medical skills are truly exceptional. In the past, with an injury like this, all we could do was hope the patient wouldn't develop a fever. Once they did, we'd lose a worker for good. Honestly... sigh..."
"I wonder what kinds of injuries and illnesses Doctor Bai is best at treating. Then I can tell the villagers, so we can avoid another tragedy."
Bai Sui made no attempt to hide anything. "Oh, I haven't really kept track. I know a little about treating internal and external injuries, as well as colds and coughing up blood. I'm not especially skilled, but I can take a look at minor ailments."
The village chief and his son stared at him in astonishment. The village had been established nearly ten years ago. More than thirty families had come and gone, but fewer than twenty remained.
There were all sorts of reasons for that. Still, if they'd had a doctor who could treat a wide range of ailments, they might have saved a few more people.
Take Miki Tatsunori, who had recently joined the hunting party. His father had developed a fever from an infection after being injured, and eventually died.
That was why, when he'd encountered the injured Kyosato in the woods, he'd lost control of his emotions. The sight had reminded him of his father, who had died from an injury.
Bai Sui had actually wanted to spread his medical knowledge as widely as possible. It was always good to save a few people. But after considering certain things, he held back and brought up another matter instead.
"I've noticed over the past couple of days that the children in the village can't read. If you'd like, I could teach them some basic characters and words."
He'd also thought of it as a way to raise his standing in the village and make it easier to get things done there in the future. Of course, he couldn't deny that he enjoyed teaching and helping people, too.
Besides, Bai Sui didn't want to wander from place to place. A small village in such a remote location was a rare place to settle down.
After all, Bai Sui wasn't immortal. He was still human, and humans were social creatures; they couldn't completely separate themselves from others.
Bai Sui liked peace and quiet, but he only wanted a relatively quiet life—not to go decades without seeing another person. He thought that would drive him mad.
The village chief and his son readily agreed. In this Warring States era, anyone who could read was someone of standing, if not a noble. Though they were curious about Bai Sui's background, they didn't pry. Instead, they continued their conversation, exchanging compliments.
By the time they noticed that it was nearly noon, none of them wanted to impose on Kyosato's family for a meal, so they each returned home.
When Bai Sui got back, he tidied the house a little, mainly taking care of the medicinal herbs he'd gathered earlier.
He'd left in a hurry before and hadn't had time to put things away. Now that he had nothing else to do, it was only natural to get the house in order.
Once everything was settled, Bai Sui began studying how to use qi.
After trying a variety of things, Bai Sui realized that the elements didn't interact through generation and restriction the way the Five Phases did. Instead, they were more like the Four Symbols: lesser yang, greater yang, lesser yin, and greater yin.
Wood—lesser yang; Fire—greater yang; Metal—lesser yin; Water—greater yin.
What was more, lesser yang, greater yang, lesser yin, and greater yin could each represent spring, summer, autumn, and winter. But Earth was missing.
In the theories of his previous life, there weren't only four seasons; there was also a fifth, late summer. It fell between each of the other seasons:
Spring | late summer | summer | late summer | autumn | late summer | winter | late summer | spring
Earth corresponded to late summer. Bai Sui's experiments confirmed as much: Earth-element qi acted like a catalyst, providing energy to every other element and enhancing its effects and power.
Earth-element qi had excellent penetration and adhesion. It could bond well with other qi and with physical objects. In other words, if Bai Sui wanted to try anything more advanced, studying the Earth element was essential.
Having found a direction for his research, Bai Sui felt even more excited about the days ahead.
As the days passed, Bai Sui came to understand the village's population and how it was organized.
Apart from Bai Sui, the village had six occupations: the village chief, samurai, craftsmen, hunters, fishermen, and farmers.
There were three people in the village chief's household: the chief himself, his son, and his daughter-in-law.
The only samurai was Kubota Noriyuki, who had come here from the Land of Iron. He lived alone in the village watchtower.
The hunters belonged to the Yajima, Murai, Kyo, and Miki families. They were the village's only armed force besides the samurai, since they were among the few people in the village who owned weapons.