Whether they would get in the same boat or refuse was a secondary matter.

‘I have to do what I have to do.’

The medical exchange meeting.

The next day, the physicians of the Five Poisons Sect came to see Jin Cheonhee. They proposed that they would teach him about the properties of the rare poisons they had prepared and their applications, bringing the poisons and their antidotes with them.

“Of course, we shall include some of the Five Poisons Sect’s secret ultimate poisons as well.”

‘Ooooh!’

At the surprisingly generous offer, Jin Cheonhee’s eyes shone like blue stars. However, if one receives something, one must also give something.

“In return, teach us the secret manufacturing method of the White Dragon Divine Pellet.”

‘Hmm?’

This was a bit unexpected. In truth, even if he wanted to teach them the manufacturing method of the White Dragon Divine Pellet (Penicillin), it was difficult to do so. Putting aside the various devices needed for production, the Five-Elemental Divine Technique was required. In the end, to maintain the available oxygen in this Murim-style incubation tank, the abilities of the Five-Elemental Divine Technique were necessary, and beyond that, the cooling and filtration processes also required it.

‘It’s not impossible. But in that case, they would need to master at least eight other martial arts to replace the Five-Elemental Divine Technique.’

The Five-Elemental Divine Technique wasn’t the only art that could use ice or wind qi, so they could just bring in martial artists who had mastered other corresponding arts.

‘However… if they do that, it becomes easy for the core principles of the Five-Elemental Divine Technique to be revealed in the manufacturing process.’

The transmission of martial arts was an extremely sensitive issue in the martial world. So sensitive that people would sever the muscles and meridians of all four limbs and bury someone in an underground prison cave over it.

And one more thing.

‘Realistically, the value doesn’t even match.’

The manufacturing methods for ultimate poisons and their antidotes. Of course, their academic value was great, and their practical value was also great. But that was a story for when the Five Poisons Sect was the only poison sect around. The Tang Clan also had a close exchange with the White Dragon Medical Pavilion, and there were ways to obtain poison manufacturing or antidote methods through various other poison sects.

But the White Dragon Divine Pellet was different. It had cured various previously incurable diseases, and its clinical verification was also complete. Even if one were to consider only its financial value, the value of the White Dragon Divine Pellet could not be compared to the ultimate poisons of the Five Poisons Sect.

‘They’re looking at me like I’m a sucker.’

No matter how much of a madman and a good-natured doctor Jin Cheonhee was, he was no soft touch. He had no intention of accepting such a daylight robber’s proposal. And so, he first revealed that since it was made with the Five-Elemental Divine Technique, its transmission was impossible. He also said that any other academic exchange was more than possible and asked again if there was anything else they wanted. Although he had rejected the offer for the White Dragon Divine Pellet because it was an extremely disadvantageous trade for the Pavilion, he had still been willing to accommodate them as much as possible.

However, this is how they replied. “Keum, as expected of the White Dragon Medical Pavilion. Your pride is certainly high.”

Then, a small grumble was heard from behind. “This is why people from the Central Plains… tsk.”

It was a simple mumble, but it was not a sound that Jin Cheonhee, who had learned martial arts, could not hear. In a word, it had the air of being said deliberately for him to hear. Jin Cheonhee just stated his own words stoically. “I am aware that the Five Poisons Sect has proposed this trade with goodwill, but that alone is impossible for us.”

“To so easily reject our Five Poisons Sect’s deal, are you truly confident you will not regret it?”

‘Now they’re even threatening me.’

Jin Cheonhee thought, ‘As a physician, I have done my best to save people and have tried to live a good life. The Five Poisons Sect must have heard of that reputation.’

There was a difference between being called good and being called a sucker, but there were sometimes those who thought they were the same.

‘Right. Even in Wannong, my reputation in the martial world was sometimes distorted.’

The Five Poisons Sect was the same.

‘No, perhaps they heard the proper rumors but interpreted them this way on their own.’

Weren’t there people everywhere who couldn’t distinguish between a good person and a sucker? It was a bitter thought. At the same time, looking at the physicians gathered here, one thing was clear.

‘There’s no one here… who wants to purely exchange medical knowledge. Then.’

It seemed their only thought was to steal the secret of the White Dragon Divine Pellet.

***

And so, the first day of the exchange meeting fell apart.

When he returned to his quarters, the sun had quickly set, and it was night.

‘The night comes so fast in the forest.’

Feeling the sweltering jungle weather, he took off his long robe as soon as he entered and lay spread-eagled on the bed.

‘Drawing the Five Poisons Sect in seems impossible. Putting aside the fact that it’s not rational, they don’t seem to have much enthusiasm for medical arts to begin with.’

If so, then wasn’t it meaningless? Just as he was thinking that, Sama Hyeon came inside.

Creeak—

“You’re back? You don’t look too happy.”

At Jin Cheonhee’s words, Sama Hyeon sat down in a chair with an annoyed expression. “These guys have no intention of doing business~”

It seemed he had been wandering around, hoping to get something out of it business-wise.

“Really?”

“It’s beyond just being exclusive…” It wasn’t just a matter of having a different culture. Even in Wannong, he had managed to get things done well enough. “Maybe… we just don’t match.”

Sama Hyeon nodded. If this was the case, there was no other way. Jin Cheonhee shot up from the bed. “For now, let’s just wrap up the formalities and get out of here quickly.”

“Oh~?”

“If it’s not working, it’s not working. From the looks of it, they didn’t seem to have any intention of having an exchange in the first place. Honestly, it’s upsetting that they called us all the way out here for this, but what can you do? That’s just how things are sometimes.”

“You get over things quickly, brother.”

Even in modern society, it’s infuriating when someone calls you for business and then screws you over. But in this era without trains or airplanes, to come nearly half a month from the Tang Clan’s estate only to get screwed over like this—even a highly cultivated Daoist master would cuss them out. But Jin Cheonhee composed himself quickly.

“That’s just life. What can you do.”

“Brother, it seems you’d do well even in politics.”

‘Hmm, it’s not that I was bad at… getting by in my past life.’

But in the end, to get by in the world, one has to give up on their expectations of people.

‘You get disappointed and angry because you have expectations. It’s best to quickly forget about relationships that aren’t working out.’

Clinging to them pointlessly only leads to a wounded heart. The adult from Planet Earth decided to quickly sort out his feelings.

As they were talking, Hwanggu shot up to his feet.

Woof? Grrrrrrrrr!

After a brief moment of curious barking, he immediately stiffened the fur on his back and began to be on guard, and Noe-jin was the same.

Crackle—

An electric current began to spark through Noe-jin’s feathers.

“Huh, what’s wrong?”

Only then did he feel a chilling sensation on the back of his neck. When he suddenly looked back, a giant eye was staring at them through the open window. His body froze at the sight of the pupil, large enough to fill the window.

‘A snake… is it? The window is quite large, but an eye as big as that window…?’

The snake’s eye, with its vertically slit pupil, moved and looked down at Hwanggu.

Flinch—

Hwanggu, seemingly scared, took a step back but continued to growl with his fangs bared. Even as his body was frozen, Jin Cheonhee’s mind raced.

‘The Six-Horned Spirit Poison Snake…?’

Turning his eyes, he saw that Sama Hyeon had also taken a counter-attacking stance. But he, too, seemed to be suppressing a primal fear.

‘Why? It doesn’t seem like it’s trying to attack us.’

If it had really intended to attack at this distance, it could have bitten them before Hwanggu even barked. With that massive body, breaking down the wall of this mansion would be no effort at all.

Just as he thought the snake’s eye seemed to be smiling, Woooooong— a reverberation began to be felt in a corner of his chest.

Familiarity, joy, reverence. It was a gut feeling rather than a voice. And this gut feeling was one Jin Cheonhee knew well.

In that moment, the tip of the Six-Horned Spirit Poison Snake’s tail stealthily entered and wrapped around Jin Cheonhee’s waist.

“Hyeon-ah, it’s okay! Everyone, for a moment!” He quickly stopped Sama Hyeon, who was about to go into an attack stance, and shouted to Hwanggu and Noe-jin as well. “It doesn’t seem to have any intention of attacking.”

“…”

Sama Hyeon did not reply. He merely prepared to tear its hide off at any moment if it made a wrong move. The snake, as if it had no intention of attacking, deliberately and slowly pulled Jin Cheonhee out of the mansion. Only then did Jin Cheonhee feel something strange.

‘A body this massive is moving, but I can’t feel any sound at all.’

The rumor that it could eat a master of the Transformation Realm seemed to be true. In fact, even amidst this commotion, the martial artists, including Man Seon, did not feel the presence of the Six-Horned Spirit Poison Snake. Jin Cheonhee himself hadn’t known until it was upon him, and even Hwanggu had only noticed it belatedly.

‘Even now, if I close my eyes, it feels like it’s not there.’

This feeling, he knew it. It was similar to the Heavenly Demon. She, too, had clearly existed before his eyes, but if he so much as turned his gaze away, she was so colorless and odorless that he wondered if she was just a being from his own delusions.

The Six-Horned Spirit Poison Snake held Jin Cheonhee and slithered somewhere. The place they arrived at was in front of a ruined temple.

“Is this your nest?”

Hiss—

The Six-Horned Spirit Poison Snake flicked its tongue and set Jin Cheonhee down. Tree roots had grown through the temple, and he could feel the once-splendid temple slowly decaying as it gave its body to nature. Jin Cheonhee felt that the snake was smiling. On its head, six horns had sprouted like a crown.

‘So it really is the Six-Horned Spirit Poison Snake.’

It wasn’t as if there could be two snakes this massive. Finally, the moment his eyes met the snake’s, the sensation he felt was ‘longing.’ The snake rubbed its giant face against Jin Cheonhee. He struggled not to stagger at the sensation, which was like a wall rubbing against him.

Why did this snake feel longing? He didn’t need to think deeply about it. This very sensation of feeling the snake’s emotions was because of the jewel. The Jewel of the Condor Dragon. When the Condor Dragon had given him the gift back then, swallowing it without a second thought must have had some kind of effect.

‘Do I have a smell on me?’

Suddenly, he saw a transparent bead in the center of the temple. A mysterious energy emanated from the bead, but it was unstable and looked so precarious that it seemed it would go out at any moment.

‘Ah, is it something like a Core[1]?’

He couldn’t tell if it was truly a Profound Realm spirit beast, but it was certain that the Six-Horned Spirit Poison Snake revered the Condor Dragon. And although he didn’t know exactly what that bead was, he could tell that it was the snake’s treasure.

Sama Hyeon, Hwanggu, and Noe-jin came inside. “Brother, what’s going on?”

“Uh… I had a fortuitous encounter a while back, and because of it, I think there’s something about me that makes snake-type spirit beasts feel a sense of familiarity?”

“You think?”

“I’m not sure myself. When I had the fortuitous encounter, there was no mention of this.”

In the first place, the Condor Dragon hadn’t even told him about the jewel’s basic effect of enhancing the five senses.

‘The higher up they are, the more unhelpful they are.’

It seemed to be the same whether it was a person or a divine dragon.

‘Could this snake be something like a subordinate of Lord Condor Dragon?’

In the end, was it just speculation? As long as they weren’t going to fight, either way was fine. When he touched the snake’s nose, it seemed pleased, lifting its tail and shaking it. It was just like a rattlesnake.

Finally, the snake seemed satisfied and left the temple, disappearing somewhere into the forest.