Five-Elemental Mutual Overcoming Poison.
All things in creation are divided by the five elements and the two aspects of yin and yang. Just as elixirs have elemental properties, so too does poison. The goal was to use the Five-Elemental Cultivation Art to identify the poison’s properties within the body, deconstruct it, and expel it.
He’d heard that at the peak of mastery, one could even absorb the poison. But to do that, the poison would have to be as pure as the Five-Elemental Cultivation Art itself. Most toxins would just be burned away, leaving only a minuscule fraction behind.
‘I’m not aiming for the peak. I just need to be able to resist and expel it.’
Jin Cheon-hee sensed the five poison energies. A Fire Qi that threatened to incinerate his body, a Water Qi that leeched his body heat, a Wood Qi that caused inflammation, and an Earth Qi that hardened and formed tumors. Finally, a Gold Qi that tore at his meridians and caused him to cough up blood.
‘Medicine and poison are one. It is the effect that defines them.’
Jin Cheon-hee sent his own Five-Elemental True Qi—no, his Supreme Ultimate Yin-Yang Five-Elemental True Qi, a form evolved by the Profound Primordial Complete Foundation Divine Art—to meet the poison. Identifying and classifying the toxin within his own body was an excruciatingly difficult task.
‘Poison Art… it’s less about intellect and more about sensation.’
It was interesting, in a way. He had assumed it would be a highly cerebral process, studying chemical reactions and their effects on the body. But as the poison spread, he found that controlling it was a matter of pure, refined instinct.
His qi branched out, moving in opposing directions. Mutual Generation and Mutual Overcoming. If he used Mutual Generation here, the poison would only grow stronger. What he needed was Mutual Overcoming.
Water extinguishes Fire. Wood restrains Earth. Earth blocks Water.
Using the principles of Mutual Overcoming, Jin Cheon-hee began to seize control of the Five-Elemental Mutual Overcoming Poison, one element at a time. It felt like a guerrilla war raging inside his body.
When he had finally gathered it all… sweat poured from his body. It wasn’t the cold sweat of before, but a green-tinged sweat, heavy with toxins. The droplets hit the floor and instantly evaporated with a sizzle.
The third stage. The stage of processing the gathered poison had begun.
“Incredible.” His Master, Zhuge Rin, looked down at Jin Cheon-hee, who was seated in the lotus position in the training hall. His disciple’s rate of achievement was just that astonishing. Yoo Ho just smiled wryly.
Time passed.
Jin Cheon-hee reached a state where he could resist the poison without conscious thought.
Impervious to Hundred Poisons Physique. A body that could resist a hundred poisons.
It wasn’t Impervious to Ten Thousand Poisons Physique, the legendary state of invulnerability, but Impervious to Hundred Poisons Physique was a level of mastery that could block most common poisons. It was a state that all martial artists coveted.
“Master, I win.”
It had been one week. In that time, Jin Cheon-hee had slept a combined total of less than ten hours.
Zhuge Rin sighed. “Hee-ya, it is good to win, but if you continue to live like this, even the Profound Primordial Complete Foundation Divine Art won’t be able to save you from death from overworking.”
It was a valid, fundamental warning.
Yoo Ho added, “Young Master, are you even human? Is there any need to live so… viciously?”
That, too, was a valid, fundamental question.
The one-week bet. Jin Cheon-hee had won it on the sixth day.
“Well then, Master, now that my victory is confirmed, this unworthy disciple will go and rest…”
He didn’t even finish the sentence. He just collapsed.
Thud.
“…”
Zhuge Rin looked at his disciple, sighed, and then gently lifted him into his arms. “Let’s let him sleep for two days.”
However, Jin Cheon-hee woke up exactly 12 hours later and walked outside. His willpower was truly terrifying.
***
Arc 18: Entering the Murim
Jin Cheon-hee had a plan. It was a plan so detailed that if anyone saw it, they would say, “You… you really do have a plan for everything.”
He called it: The Grand Spiritual Beast and Spiritual Herb Preemptive Acquisition Plan!
Two spiritual beasts currently destined to be taken by the Blood Immortal Cult. Four spiritual herbs destined to be taken by Yeo Ha-ryoon’s future enemies.
Securing these items first was a critical mission.
‘The only problem is, they’re scattered to the four corners of the world…’
The spiritual beasts held inner cores. The spiritual herbs could be eaten as-is to increase internal energy and nourish the body. Some of these naturally-formed elixirs possessed an efficacy that laughed in the face of man-made pills. Just consuming them would provide a significant boost.
Jin Cheon-hee clenched and unclenched his fists. ‘Am I ready?’
He wasn’t ready to face the spiritual beasts yet. The Ten Thousands Years Fire Carp had been manageable, but that was only because he’d gone after it based on the novel’s information, judging it to be possible. Even then, if it hadn’t been for his inhuman secluded training and the Zhuge Clan’s secret elixirs, he would have been the one to die.
Besides, the Ten Thousands Years Fire Carp was a carp. A mutated carp, yes, but its combat abilities were low. It was like the ‘weakest of the Four Heavenly Kings’ of spiritual beasts.
‘Although, there are five, not four.’
To be precise, Five Heavenly Kings. The five remaining spiritual beasts mentioned in the novel were all in a league of their own. To beat any of them, he would need to be at least at the Transcendence Realm level.
And what did it take to reach that level? At least a half-Gapja of internal energy. He’d have to surpass the ability of Sword Qi Injuring People and reach the Realm of Silk Thread. In other words, his qi couldn’t just rest on his blade; it had to be projected as a long-range attack.
In game terms, it was the state where you could swing your sword and a crescent-shaped wave of qi would fly out, slicing an enemy dozens of meters away. That was Realm of Silk Thread. It was impossible without a massive amount of internal energy and an exquisite level of qi control.
To face the spiritual beasts, he needed at least that much. Just looking at the lineup of the five, they were all terrifying.
‘A snake, a toad, a centipede, a tiger, and an eagle. All five are carnivores, aren’t they? And the eagle… even now, how the hell did they catch it?’
His first thought was of the snake, the Tri-Horned Blood Serpent. It was a snake with three horns on its head. It was also disgustingly huge. In his past life, the longest snake in the Guinness Book of Records was over 7 meters. This thing was twice that, over 15 meters long.
The novel had described it thus: [The snake was covered in jet-black scales, and from its head grew three horns, each five cheok long. When it stretched its body, it was over five zhang… if this was not an Imoogi preparing for its ascension, what was?]
A snake that long and heavy should have trouble moving, but as a spiritual beast, its body had the elasticity of a leaf spring. It knew how strong it was, too, and used its body to ram things with a force that put a long-ton truck to shame. On top of that, its venom was lethal, and its scales couldn’t be pierced by anything less than Sword Qi.
And he was supposed to catch that thing now? The difference in weight class was just too vast. In the novel, it had not been an easy capture.
‘Well, Yeo Ha-ryoon catches the snake later, so that’s fine. The ones the Blood Immortal Cult catch are the eagle and the centipede, right?’
The eagle: Heavenly Thunder Hawk. A spiritual beast that held lightning qi. With its wings spread, it was one zhang (about 3 meters) wide. It was bigger than the “tent-sized” eagles supposedly spotted near the DMZ. As a spiritual beast, it was strong enough to snatch a man, fly into the sky, and drop him. It was, in every sense, the King of the Skies. The Blood Immortal Cult had captured it by taking its chick hostage.
The centipede: Black-Armored Centipede. As its name suggested, its shell was ridiculously hard. It was a centipede with no poison, but its defining traits were strength and durability. It was so tough that you couldn’t catch it unless you used Hardened Qi to shatter its shell or Internal Style of Heavy Hand Techniques to destroy its insides. A spiritual beast that seemed to have put all its stat points into defense. A group of high-ranking Blood Immortal Cult members had managed to take it down.
‘The correct order would be to catch the Heavenly Thunder Hawk first, then the Black-Armored Centipede.’
Jin Cheon-hee had been preparing for this. He had eaten the spiritual herb and undergone Metamorphosis. After healing his Master, he had returned to his insane training. His body, which had been unable to fully digest the elixirs at first, had continued to experience rapid growth in his internal energy over the past few months.
His current level of internal energy had skyrocketed to a full forty years’ worth. A half-Gapja was thirty years, meaning he had gained an extra ten years of qi. After that, his accumulation had returned to a normal pace. It seemed the “drug effect” had finally worn off.
‘If I eat the Heavenly Thunder Hawk’s inner core in my current state? I should reach at least one full Gapja (60 years) of power. After that, I should be able to catch the Black-Armored Centipede. Then I can go retrieve the spiritual herbs. That sounds about right. And if I consume half of those… my internal energy should rise to two Gapja. Timeframe: approximately two years.’
Two years. It was a long time, but the habitats of the spiritual beasts and herbs were scattered all over the world. Still, it was fast. It would be at least ten years from this point before Yeo Ha-ryoon accumulated two Gapja of power. In terms of pure energy, Jin Cheon-hee was already ahead of the protagonist.
He stood at the main gate of the medical pavilion. Amidst the coming and going, Jin Cheon-hee finished his preparations to leave. He wore a simple, refined martial uniform and, on his back, he carried the medicinal box that physicians in this world used. The symbol of the White Qilin Medical Pavilion was engraved on it. The same symbol was embroidered on his uniform. It was less conspicuous than the Sichuan Tang Clan’s embroidery, but it was enough for people to recognize.
“Master, I didn’t know our pavilion had an ‘away uniform’.”
“Normally, we would embroider the symbol on a scholar’s robe, not a martial uniform. But I figured there might be those like you, who need to travel for… martial reasons. So I had one made.”
In other words, it was custom-made for Jin Cheon-hee.
‘It’s a clear message: “Mess with him, and the White Qilin Medical Pavilion will kill you.” Mm!’
It was his Master’s way of worrying about his disciple getting caught up in the Murim’s grudges and favor.
‘I’ll change as soon as I’m down the mountain.’ Being this conspicuous was a burden.
That wasn’t all. The medicine box on his back was packed with all manner of medicines for internal and external wounds. It also contained scalpels, forceps, and sutures for performing field surgery. All told, the box and its contents were more expensive than a small manor. If he got pickpocketed, Jin Cheon-hee was fully prepared to curl up into a ball and howl like a bear.
At his waist hung the Ice Clarity Sword. But it wasn’t the same Ice Clarity Sword. Worried that the Northern Sea Ice Palace might recognize it, he had painstakingly modified it. The ornate hilt was replaced with a plain one. The jewel-encrusted scabbard was replaced with one made of simple deer hide. As for the cold, white blade of Northern Sea Cold-Iron, he had smudged it with soot to dull its luster. No one would be able to tell unless they inspected it up close. And in this world, if a stranger tried to unsheathe and inspect a martial artist’s sword without permission… that was the same as asking to be killed.
Barring any unforeseen incidents, he wouldn’t be found out.
On top of all that, he wore the Dark Heavens Blood Thread on his wrist and the shortsword Black Pine Cloud Sword , a gift from Gongsun Yeong, on his belt. The total weight was considerable.
‘Hoo. This is why my stamina keeps increasing.’
Outwardly, he looked like a physician in a simple uniform. But in terms of weight, he was heavily armed.
His Master, still not reassured, told him to send word to any White Qilin Medical Pavilion-affiliated clinic if he ever needed anything.