“When you have completely reattached this tree,” Zhuge Rin said, “your first assignment will be complete. Now… what shall the deadline be?” He paused in thought, then continued. “The day after tomorrow should be sufficient.”

***

“Don’t you think that’s a bit too soon?” Yoo Ho asked as Zhuge Rin was returning to the main pavilion.

“It is,” Zhuge Rin replied.

“And it is also too difficult. For a first assignment, it is a task three stages above his level. No one in the pavilion could accomplish such a feat with only a First Stage mastery.”

“Yes. That is also true.”

“Then why in the world…”

Zhuge Rin cut him off. “…You seem to have grown rather fond of our Hee lately. You’ve become quite talkative.” He looked at Yoo Ho, his voice devoid of its usual warmth.

“No, it’s just…” Yoo Ho couldn’t finish his sentence, his words trailing off. He was Zhuge Rin’s confidant, but even a favored confidant was still a subordinate.

Zhuge Rin said nothing more on the matter, and Yoo Ho did not ask again.

When it comes to education, he becomes stricter than anyone, Yoo Ho sighed internally. His affection for the boy was one thing, but his teaching methods were merciless.

Well, it’s not the end of the world if he fails. It was nothing to be ashamed of. It would be impossible for anyone who had just reached the First Stage to complete such a task in three days.

Is the Master trying to teach him a lesson? Yoo Ho wondered. It was possible. Not all good experiences are successes. The experience of failure can be a good teacher as well. Is he trying to teach him the right mindset? If that was the reason for the impossible task, then he could understand.

***

“Healing with Water Qi…”

With a First Stage mastery of the Five-Elemental Cultivation Art, the most I could do was light a dry piece of paper on fire. A match could do that. In fact, a match was much more convenient; you didn’t need to concentrate, just strike it on a wooden surface. A First Stage mastery of Water Qi was no different.

How am I supposed to heal this massive tree…?

I slowly focused my Water Qi on the tree’s surface. A bean-sized pellet of Qi rose from my Danjeon and seeped into the wood.

“…”

That was it.

“It can’t even heal a piece of bark.”

The wound my master had so casually inflicted looked fatal. This tree would never bloom again.

“How did he even slice this thick thing in half with a fan?”

I sat down, leaning my back against the tree trunk.

My master knows this is impossible with my current level of internal energy. He must have known when he gave me the assignment. Did he give it to me knowing I would fail? Just to teach me a sense of frustration?

I felt that wasn’t it. Even if he wanted to teach me that, this didn’t seem like his way. This was a magnificent tree, but it was the first time I’d ever seen it; I had no particular memories attached to it. I wouldn’t be particularly sad even if it withered and died. I wasn’t an environmentalist, and it wasn’t as if this was the only great tree on this vast mountain.

“Looks like you’re just going to have to die. If it were just a cut, maybe, but he roasted it with fire. The phloem and cambium tissues must be completely cooked and destroyed.” Which, in the terms of this world, was expressed as being “eroded by Fire Qi.” Even if it’s eroded by Fire Qi, as long as the roots are alive, there’s a possibility, but returning to its original state is impossible.

No matter how many times I thought it over, there was no way to solve my master’s assignment.

“Hahaha.” I hugged the tree and laughed like a madman.

Just then, a drop of water fell onto my forehead. I looked up at the hazy sky. A flash of light spread across the distant heavens. A few seconds later…

Rumble—

Sound was always slower than light.

“Even the weather isn’t on my side.”

Two drops became four streams, and the four streams became a wall of rain, a downpour that crashed to the earth. I leaned against the tree.

“At least it’s good for staying out of the rain.”

I murmured, staring at the ground that was quickly turning to mud. My gaze drifted from the mud to the roots. Even at this moment, the tree was absorbing water.

“Oh… right. Water makes Wood flourish. And Wood makes Fire flourish. Fire is compatible with Earth, and Earth with Metal… and Metal… makes Water flourish again.”

My master had said it. A compatible relationship makes the Qi flourish. It was a method used on weakened patients.

“Then I can use it on myself, can’t I? What I need is Water Qi. So if I cultivate using its compatible element, Metal, shouldn’t my Water Qi flourish?”

An application of the Five-Elemental Cultivation Art.

Is it… possible?

Five energies were settled in my Danjeon. I frowned. But what if I fail? I knew very well how dangerous it was to cultivate in a way I had not been taught. But my brain whispered that it was fine. That it was possible. No matter how many times I thought it over, it gave me no other answer but that this was the correct one.

I placed my hand on the split in the tree.

“Hooo… If I die because of a tree, I’ll be recorded as the biggest idiot in Murim history.”

With those words, I closed my eyes. Ironically, the first energy I moved was Earth Qi. I judged that because it was the most gentle and stable energy, it would be fine even if something went wrong. Earth Qi met Metal.

Vmmm—

My Danjeon vibrated. At the same time, I felt the Metal Qi combine with the Earth Qi and grow stronger.

*Compound interest?*¹

It wasn’t addition; it was multiplication. I flinched at the exponentially growing energy. It was a good thing. Even with multiplication, a bean was still a bean. Multiplying two beans together doesn’t give you a watermelon. I could handle this much. And so, I added the magnified Metal Qi to my Water Qi.

VMMMM—

Cubed. I felt the Water Qi swell to eight times its original size.

Okay, this is getting difficult.

I poured the Water Qi into the tree. I could feel the energy of life seeping inside it. I opened my eyes and saw that a small piece of the bark had reattached.

Wow, it worked, but I still have a long way to go.

In that case, what if I started with Wood Qi? If I started with Wood and went through Fire, Earth, Metal, and then Water? That would be 2 to the power of 5. Thirty-two times.

So that’s why purity was more important than quantity. If you just increase the amount of impure Qi, it’s nothing but dregs. It becomes harder to control and is the perfect recipe for Qi Deviation. It’s better to have less, as long as it’s pure. The purer it is, the easier it is to handle.

And that’s why he told me to take the Thousand-Year Pine Elixir later. The core of the Five-Elemental Cultivation Art was mutual overcoming and generation. If one energy became excessively strong, it would be the perfect recipe for Qi Deviation.

Everything was fitting together like a puzzle.

“Alright, let’s do this. Even if you fail, it’s not like you’ll have nightmares…”

The understanding was complete. What remained was concentration and courage. I clenched and unclenched my fists. This wasn’t a person; it was a tree. What better material for practice could there be? There was no reason to hesitate. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.

***

The next day. Zhuge Rin woke at dawn and went outside. The rain that had fallen all night had stopped at some point.

“So, he’s sleeping in his quarters?”

“Yes. Shall I wake him?”

“No. He must have been greatly troubled last night. Let him be.”

Was it right to give a child such a great test? Perhaps it would be better to lower the difficulty to the level of the other pavilion members, even now. Zhuge Rin sighed.

If a master’s greed is too great, it can ruin a disciple’s talent.

He walked slowly toward the severed tree. How far had he walked? His steps stopped.

“Is that… the right tree?”

Zhuge Rin’s eyes widened. In that spot stood a tree that should have been cleaved in two, but it was now standing just as it had before.

Looking closely, the grain of the wood is misaligned. That is definitely the scar from the cut.

Only a scar remained. And that wasn’t all. At the base of the tree, green moss had grown in the shape of a human handprint. Zhuge Rin placed his own hand over the mossy print. The hand was far smaller than his.

It’s true. It’s Jin Cheon-hee’s. He did it alone, without anyone’s help.

It was a trace of the remaining Water Qi. The moss had grown over the lingering energy he had used to heal the tree.

“To do this in one day… no, not even a day. In just half a night.”

Beside him, Yoo Ho was so dumbfounded he was speechless.

His first test was three stages above his level… and he completed it this easily?

Mastering the basics was the minimum requirement to even attempt the test. One had to gain a deep understanding and then apply it. And it didn’t end with just having the idea. One had to be able to fuse and amplify internal energies of different natures and still push them in the desired direction. Internal energy is like water. When small, it is calm like a spring or a pond, but as it gathers, it becomes a raging torrent. A human cannot win against nature. To try and block it head-on is madness. One has to guide it, like building a levee. You cannot be too fast, but you also cannot be too slow. That level of control was far beyond the realm of what a child could do.

“He did it. He actually did it! Kehum… Well, he is to be the next heir of the White Qilin Medical Pavilion. Is this not to be expected?”

For someone who was supposed to be taking it in stride, his master’s lips were curving into a smile that threatened to ascend to the heavens.

“Master.”

“Hoho, to possess such a prodigy is not just my great fortune, but the great fortune of all physicians in the Gangho. I must be sure to report this in the next Medical Report.”

We’re doomed.

Yoo Ho thought. He had already heard news that the masters of the various medical halls had started nagging their own disciples, asking why they couldn’t be more like him. The medical halls were all connected like a spiderweb with the pavilion at its center. And in the Medical Report issued to those very halls, the Divine Physician was in the midst of committing an atrocity.

‘Do you know about a thing called an ondol? The direct disciple of the Divine Physician…’ ‘Don’t even compare it to a brazier. The proud, official disciple of the Pavilion Master who developed a thing called a stove…’ and so on. The titles were slightly different, but they all referred to one person.

In Korean terms, Jin Cheon-hee had become the “son of my mom’s friend.”² In the terms of this world, he had taken the position of “the disciple of my master’s acquaintance.”

“Hoho, hohohohoho!”

As his master walked back toward the pavilion, his steps were as light as a cloud. “First, I must inform everyone in the pavilion of this news. I look forward to the morning assembly, Yoo Ho.”

The number one power in the pavilion had stepped forward to commend the labors of the number two power.

***

After pouring out his internal energy all night, every part of his body ached. The strange thing was, the more he used his internal energy, the more his body seemed to adapt to it. And he could feel the pathways through which that energy moved, his meridians, growing wider and stronger after the initial pain.

It’s similar to the overcompensation phenomenon.