***
“Kee-aek.”
The spider, which resembled a human face at a glance, spat out venom from its mouth.
Sizzle.
The potent acidic liquid, which melted not only the trees but even the soil packing the ground, and the green smoke rising from it.
Although I had blocked my mouth with a bandana, my head felt like it was slowly becoming dizzy.
Spirit herbs usually appeared in places where the energy of the earth and heaven gathered.
Such Yeong-ji [Spirit Lands] often raised not only spirit herbs but also spirit beasts.
However, if the target was a creature that was terrifying just to look at, people sometimes called them Ma-mul [Demonic Beasts].
“You look disgusting.”
Eight legs, a huge torso. An In-myeon-ji-ju [Human-faced Spider], which was a demonic beast itself, possessing a face similar to a human’s and four eyes.
The In-myeon-ji-ju was wary of me, keeping the Man-nyeon-hwasam [Ten-thousand-year Flower Ginseng] behind it, fearing that I would steal its treasure.
“I went all the way to the distant Hap-chi Mountain because of you.”
I circled to its side and severed one of its legs.
Kee-aek.
Green blood sprayed out, vomiting smoke and acidic liquid in all directions.
For someone like me whose internal energy was low, the smoke alone was a terrifying poison that could lead to sudden death, so it was worth it to have gone far away to Hap-chi Mountain and eaten the Gu-yeop-sin-geun [Nine-leaf Divine Root] first.
“Even if you survive here, in three years, you would just be dragged to the Dang family and forced to produce venom until you died of exhaustion.”
Kee-aek.
Despite my persuasion, the In-myeon-ji-ju did not seem to have any intention of listening.
Swoosh.
Spiderwebs were cast in all directions from the In-myeon-ji-ju’s rear.
The webs, spread out like a net in all directions, quickly blocked the passage of the cave.
“Stupid thing.”
I began to set fire to the webs with a torch.
In an instant, the fire that caught on the webs began to advance toward the In-myeon-ji-ju.
The flames rode the In-myeon-ji-ju’s mucus and chased straight to the In-myeon-ji-ju’s rear.
Kee-aek.
The moment the creature panicked and tried to scrape its rear against the floor, I sprinkled the oil I had prepared onto its body and set it on fire.
Kee-eee-eek!
When I stabbed my sword into the terrifying maw of the screaming In-myeon-ji-ju, it began to thrash about.
It spewed green blood from its eyes and mouth with a face that resembled a human’s.
A disgusting sight that would appear in nightmares.
As I stepped back, the creature’s movements gradually subsided.
I was finally able to catch my breath when the fishy smell filled the cave.
“Phew.”
I had eaten the Man-nyeon-ha-su-o [Ten-thousand-year Knotweed] and the In-wang-sam [Man-king Ginseng], but I had only absorbed eight years’ worth of internal energy.
Although the two spirit herbs themselves were precious, they were not very helpful for increasing internal energy, and it was because the amount that could be absorbed through the Tae-eul-sim-beop [Tae-eul Heart Method] was limited.
“At this rate, how long will it take for me to catch up to that guy?”
Tae-cheong Sin-geom—that is, the current Yong So-a’s internal energy—was three gapja [180 years].
Three gapja. Three gapja.
My head spun at such a distant level.
Still, I could not just stand there blankly.
“If I eat all the spirit herbs listed in the Kang-ho Yeong-yak-seo [Kang-ho Spirit Herb Book], will I even be able to catch up?”
Although the Tae-eul-sim-beop was an excellent heart method, it was merely a foundation.
Without an outstanding internal energy heart method, it was even more of a distant prospect to absorb them.
It was not that the energy of the spirit herbs would go anywhere, but how unfair would it be if I died by the sword while holding energy that I couldn't absorb?
“Yeong-dan [Spirit Pills]. I need Yeong-dan.”
Yeong-dan were more efficient than spirit herbs for increasing the amount of internal energy.
And the more they belonged to prestigious great sects, the more internal energy they could increase.
“There is not just one or two things to do.”
While I was thinking about this and that, as I passed the corpse of the In-myeon-ji-ju, I saw the leaves of the Man-nyeon-hwasam bathing in the light reflecting through the crevice of the cave.
“To think that I would eat this in my lifetime.”
My worries about Yeong-dan vanished for a moment when I saw the leaves of the Man-nyeon-hwasam.
The Man-nyeon-ha-su-o and In-wang-sam were precious, but the Man-nyeon-hwasam, along with the Man-nyeon-seol-sam [Ten-thousand-year Snow Ginseng], was a spirit herb with excellent effects in increasing Yang and Yin vital energy and internal energy.
In particular, it had the effect of Tal-tae [shedding the womb]; if someone without talent for martial arts ate it, their body would change into one with excellent talent, and if someone with excellent talent ate it, they would change into a Mu-sin-ji-che [Martial God Physique].
At the very least, if I ate this, a foolish situation where I knew what to do with my head but couldn't block it would not happen.
I did not delay, and starting from a single fine root, I absorbed the essence as much as possible and chewed and swallowed even the leaves.
A clear fragrance filled my mouth, and every time I exhaled, the clear fragrance in my mouth spread in all directions.
“It’s coming.”
Not long after I swallowed the Man-nyeon-hwasam, heat began to rise warmly from my lower abdomen.
I did not miss that moment; I quickly sat cross-legged and began to circulate the Tae-eul-sim-beop.
The hot energy completely overwhelmed the energy of the Tae-eul-sim-beop and began to spin wildly inside my body.
The calm and pure Tae-eul-sim-beop diligently chased after the energy of the Man-nyeon-hwasam and tried to restrain it, but the creature would not listen.
“Urgh.”
It went back and forth through my meridians, forcing its way through blocked paths and burning away impure energy.
Every time it did that, I felt pain as if my whole body was being ripped to shreds, but thanks to that, the energy began to become slightly weaker, very slowly.
The fight of chasing and being chased like that continued endlessly.
<><><>
How much time had passed?
Flash.
When I opened my eyes, the light illuminating the cave was so bright that I frowned.
‘Bright?’
Only a part of the cave where the Man-nyeon-hwasam grew received light.
Even that light was so weak that I had made a separate torch to carry in.
But what did it mean that the light was bright?
‘It has changed.’
My body had changed. Vitality was springing up from my whole body.
Thud.
When I struck the wall with my fist, a part of the solid cave wall collapsed.
Even so, I did not feel any pain at all.
When I looked around my Dan-jeon [Dantian], a lump the size of a finger was settled there.
“About fifteen years’ worth?”
Compared to the geniuses of the Gu-pa-il-bang [Nine Sects and One Clan] and the O-dae-se-ga [Five Great Clans], it would be a level far short, but this was internal energy gathered with the Tae-eul-sim-beop, which had an extreme speed of gathering internal energy.
On top of that, I had also cultivated my body to achieve martial arts, so the speed at which internal energy would accumulate in the future would not be as slow as before.
“I can even be greedy for precious Yeong-dan now.”
As it happened, I knew of the existence of a precious Yeong-dan that was not written in the Kang-ho Yeong-yak-seo.
“To be precise, it is a Yeong-dan that the Gye-ryong Merchant Guild lost.”
Gye Yeon-seok had purchased the Seol-mae-dan [Snow Plum Pill] of Hwa-san for Gye Cheol-yeong.
It was considered the best Yeong-dan, excluding the Ja-so-dan [Purple Prime Pill], which was Hwa-san’s best spirit herb.
To obtain the Seol-mae-dan, which even the true disciples found hard to even catch a glimpse of, he mobilized not only his family fortune but all the connections that the Gye-ryong Merchant Guild possessed.
In the end, Gye Yeon-seok was almost able to prepare a shining future for Gye Cheol-yeong by obtaining the Seol-mae-dan.
Was it because he had accomplished such a great feat?
Gye Yeon-seok’s vanity ruined the work.
“Perhaps, he believed in the masters of Hwa-san.”
A master of Hwa-san actually visited the Gye-ryong Merchant Guild.
Gye Yeon-seok was not a person to miss such a good opportunity, and he held a banquet to promote the fact that the Hwa-san Sect and his merchant guild were maintaining a close relationship.
However, the day before Gye Cheol-yeong was to take the Seol-mae-dan, the Seol-mae-dan, which had been hidden in the deepest safe of the Gye-ryong Merchant Guild, disappeared without a trace.
An unidentified being had evaded the eyes of those Hwa-san Sect masters and snatched the Seol-mae-dan.
Gye Yeon-seok, who ended up like a dog chasing a chicken, clung to the Hwa-san Sect, but the Hwa-san Sect left, leaving behind only the words that they could not take responsibility because it had been snatched after they had already handed over the Seol-mae-dan.
Later, Gye Yeon-seok spent a massive fortune again to obtain the Mae-hwa-dan [Plum Blossom Pill], but this incident remained in Gye Yeon-seok’s heart forever, making even those around him unable to talk about the Seol-mae-dan.
However, someone’s misfortune often becomes a good side dish for drinking at parties.
People talked about this story for a long time.
At that time, there were many stories about who had taken the Seol-mae-dan, but since then, the lost Seol-mae-dan never appeared in the world.
“To think that acting as a moving library would be this helpful.”
I began to search through the data in my head.
The first was the monthly report sent by the Hap-bi branch of the Murim Alliance.
I grasped the incidents that occurred in Hap-bi for about a month before and after the day the Seol-mae-dan was snatched, and the movement routes of major Heuk-do [Dark Path] figures.
The second was the Murim Alliance’s entry and exit list.
If it were a master of the Baek-do [Righteous Path] capable of avoiding the eyes of the Hwa-san Sect masters, most of them belonged to the Murim Alliance.
If I only checked the Murim Alliance’s entry and exit list, it was possible to grasp who moved when.
The third was the mission report.
Among the masters dispatched by the Murim Alliance related to missions, I culled those who had stopped by Hap-bi before and after the day the incident occurred.
And I organized the data collected in this way using the inference method that Jegal Cheon-gi had taught me.
“Four people.”
The identities of those four people came to mind.
Chu-hon-gaek [Soul-Chasing Guest] Ju-jang-mok.
O-seong-gun-ja [Five-Star Gentleman] Song-won-gi.
Jeom-chang-o-geom [Five Swords of Jeom-chang] Gu-il-mu.
Jeom-chang-o-geom [Five Swords of Jeom-chang] Jang-han-gi.
Two of the Jeom-chang-o-geom stopped by Hap-bi three days before the incident, rested for three days, and left to do their mission again.
O-seong-gun-ja Song-won-gi.
He stayed in Hap-bi for a month before the incident occurred, and stayed in Hap-bi for two more months even after the incident occurred.
Although he was a nang-in [wandering warrior], his conduct was upright, so the people of Kang-ho gave him the title of Gun-ja [Gentleman].
In addition, his skill was at the peak level, so he could earn the wealth to buy Seol-mae-hwa [Snow Plum Flowers] as much as he wanted if he wished, but this person was someone who devoted himself only to the sword, just as a gentleman devotes himself to writing.
The last one, Chu-hon-gaek.
Chu-hon-gaek was a person of the Heuk-do.
His throwing techniques were more excellent than his martial arts, and his greed for wealth was great.
He appeared in Hap-bi when rumors about the Seol-mae-dan began to circulate, and on the day the Seol-mae-dan disappeared.
He vanished without a trace.
And since then, no traces of him were seen in any of the Murim Alliance’s reports.
“Chu-hon-gaek....”
As I continued my inference, a part that was blocked appeared.
The branches spread throughout the world were supposed to grasp the trends of major personnel in reports at any time, but there was no content about Chu-hon-gaek anywhere.
The fact that he had not shown traces of the Murim Alliance since the incident occurred meant that there was a high possibility that he had hidden his identity.
Especially since such thieves sometimes had several identities using human-skin masks.
He might have erased Chu-hon-gaek’s identity itself from the world after snatching the Seol-mae-dan.
“But no new one appeared during that period.”
I roamed the library in my head and looked for a bandit who had appeared newly during the period when Chu-hon-gaek disappeared, but there was no one similar.
Then, I flipped through another mission report and a dry laugh burst out.
“Ha!”
So that was the trick he used.
“That’s why there were no traces.”
It seemed that if things went well, I wouldn't have to worry about being chased even after snatching the Seol-mae-dan.
“Things will work out easily.”
Just as I thought that comfortably and was about to cross the In-myeon-ji-ju’s corpse to go out of the cave, an unprecedented force was pulling my left arm.
“?”
The moment I subconsciously looked down at my left hand, I had no choice but to be astonished.
The blue dragon wrapping around my wrist.
The Cheong-nyong-hwan [Blue Dragon Ring] that I had in my past life was emitting light from under my skin.
‘What is the meaning of this?’
It was strange that the Cheong-nyong-hwan I had worn in my past life was inside my skin, but what was even stranger was that the Cheong-nyong-hwan was clearly pulling the In-myeon-ji-ju’s corpse.
“Do you desire the Nae-dan [Internal Core]?”
I had not touched the In-myeon-ji-ju’s Nae-dan because its poison was so strong that even just touching it would lead to severe poisoning.
But for some reason, the Cheong-nyong-hwan was pulling the In-myeon-ji-ju’s Nae-dan.
Rip.
My eyes stung just from the smell that wafted out when I cut open the In-myeon-ji-ju’s stomach.
The Cheong-nyong-hwan was emitting even greater light as if it had found its meal, and was heading toward the Nae-dan.
“......What should I do?”
The Cheong-nyong-hwan was a keepsake of the Heup-hyeol-goe-ma [Blood-Sucking Monster Demon], who was one of the Ho-gyo-beop-wang [Protector Dharma Kings].
Because it was an object commemorating the valuable victory of the So-jeong-dae [Small Unit], I had cherished it, and until the moment my life ended, the Cheong-nyong-hwan was an object to me that symbolized the So-jeong-dae.
“Damn it. I don’t know.”
The moment my approaching hand grabbed the In-myeon-ji-ju’s Nae-dan.
Sizzle.
“Ugh.”
The scorching energy began to melt my palm and seep in.
Just as I was about to let go in my urgency, fearing that it would be the end if the poison was absorbed into my body.
“Oh?”
A cool sense of refreshment began to be absorbed through my palm.
That energy, which had been a small stream like a brook, soon became a large river and began to rush through my whole body.
A thrill ran through my entire body at the refreshing feeling, which was completely different from when I had absorbed the Man-nyeon-hwasam.
The In-myeon-ji-ju’s Nae-dan that was in my hand disappeared without a trace, and I felt a lump in my Dan-jeon that had grown a little more than a moment ago.
“Huh, this.”
I looked at the Cheong-nyong-hwan, whose light was fading, with disbelieving eyes.
“Should I be happy about this, or should I not?”