“Kuak!”
It felt like my body was exploding from inside. The pain was difficult to describe as the cold energy collided with the poison.
I tried to suppress it by using my innate qi, but all it did was stimulate the poison.
Clench!
“Ack!”
My back, which was bent, straightened.
-Wonhwi, you need to calm down. Don’t stop the cultivation.
Iron Sword kept telling me this. The pain felt like my five internal organs were being torn apart. I was in too much pain to even concentrate.
-Yah! Did you come back to this time to die here? Get yourself together!
The cry of Short Sword echoed in my head. It felt as if cold water was poured on me at that moment. It was right. I already died and got another chance.
And if I lose without being able to fight this pain, wouldn’t this life be worse?
Thanks to that, I could control my emotions and concentrated on the hot poison and the cold energy, both running wildly inside me.
‘Two different qi are fighting in my body.’
Both qis were in conflict with the other, and they tried to harm each other, which was causing harm to my body. My body was not a battlefield!
‘Focus.’
Do not be swept away by any of the qi. I imagined my innate qi in the middle of the conflict of energies, calm as a lake.
A lake which endured even as lightning strikes. And peace came to my heart.
‘Slowly… carefully…’
Tuk!
A drop of water fell into the calm lake, causing ripples to slowly spread around.
Tud! Tud!
At that moment, I felt a weird pulsation of innate qi within my chest. And as this pulsation grew louder, my body responded. The innate qi gradually increased enough to surround the wild conflict of qi within my body.
Phat!
I could feel the blood vessels working hard. Ignoring that, I only focused on the image of ripples.
‘Ah!’
I could feel it. The innate qi, which was stronger, caused the poison and the cold to subside.
To be precise, it felt more like they mixed. As cold ice qi and the hot poison qi mixed together, my five organs felt normal and relaxed again.
-Iron Sword! Look at that! The wound on his foot is healing.
-Just watch. We cannot be too careless.
It sounded like they were mumbling something. Just what were they saying?
Were they worried for me? I listened to what they were saying but couldn’t hear it clearly.
-…
-…
Whispers came in from all directions. I felt like I was getting dizzy with the sounds coming from around me.
What are these sounds? What was it saying to me? Then came a clear voice.
[Since you listened to the sword, Beta Ursa Major will open.]
‘This voice?’
My mind felt hazy.
When I opened my eyes, I saw a blue flame flare in my right hand.
Ching!
A change happened on one of the dots on the back of my hand, followed by a burning sound.
‘This?’
Among the seven dots in the shape of the Big Dipper, the Beta Ursa Major spot corresponding to the second star was turning blue.
And when it turned blue entirely, the flame subsided. It was like it got sucked into my hand.
-Are you awake?
-Wonhwi. Has the poison gone down?
Both of them asked me with worried voices.
‘Didn’t you see the blue flame just now?’
-Blue flame? What flame?
-What? Didn’t you say something like this before?
Again.
I was the only one who could see it. Did I imagine this strange phenomenon? I had no idea what was happening.
-Wonhwi. Is the body fine?
Iron Sword asked me in confusion. I thought I had to evaluate my body’s condition.
‘Hmm?’
My body felt refreshed. Obviously, after cultivating on the spot, I could feel my five internal organs, which were on fire, begin to cool down, and my body also felt lighter.
“Phew.”
I was going to look inside to see how much innate qi was used. I cleared my breath and once again began to cultivate my qi. First, I moved the innate qi to the… uh?
-What is it? Do we have a problem?
Iron Sword asked in a worried tone. There was a problem. Something extraordinary had happened.
‘It has grown.’
-What has grown?
‘… My innate qi.’
The innate qi, which had been the size of two fingers, had grown in the middle of my chest.
-How much did it grow?
‘I think double?’
Normally I had qi worth about fifteen years of cultivation, but now it has doubled. And if I had to put it in words, it is around 30 years’ worth of cultivated qi now.
-Amazing!
-Oh my!
Short Sword and Iron Sword were startled by it.
Why are they more surprised than me? I couldn’t even dream that something like this could happen.
-How did this happen… My former master said it would be difficult to increase innate qi even with pills and elixir. He said only constant cultivation…
-What is it?
-I think I know.
‘What is that?’
I was curious. Why did it double suddenly?
-Since the innate qi is directly related to life, the more extreme the situation the life is put in, the more stimulated it becomes.
‘Then it is like this because of the poison.’
-The poison and that coldness, too, must have stimulated it.
Is that so?
It seems like the war of the two different qi had stimulated my innate qi. It was so painful that I even thought I would die.
‘If we overcome the pain of death, will I get stronger?’
The more I learned about innate qi, the further its nature deviated from internal qi.
Anyway, for me, this was an amazing catalyst. If I was twice as strong with innate qi, then I could be at a level to overwhelm even first-rate warriors.
-Congratulations, Wonhwi.
-Brat, you are so lucky!
When they spoke like this, even I felt better.
Is this a chance?
However, I noticed that I could see in the dark better than before. It was still dark, but it felt strange to see in it.
It is as if I had eyes that could see in the dark.
-What is it?
‘It is strange. I can see the cave…’
“Kuak!”
I looked around and unconsciously looked at the back of the cave and stumbled back. Behind me was the iron sword inserted into the ground. There was also a giant monster which had been cut down. The body looked like a snake, but it was huge.
‘What is this?’
However, the head wasn’t in the shape of a snake but a human face.
To say that it was a completely human face would also be wrong. It had sharp fangs and four eyes and looked like a frog?
It was so disgusting that I frowned. What was this?
-Well. Maybe it’s a spirit beast?
‘This is a spirit beast?’
-If not, I cannot explain what this is.
Iron Sword’s words made sense, but it looked too creepy to be called a spirit beast.
I didn’t know it, but my eyes were so bright that I could see inside the cave. My vision was so good that I could even look at all the bones around the cave.
Perhaps that monster had killed all of them.
‘Ha!’
This was too horrible for a spirit beast.
And if it was a real spirit beast, it had to spit out something like a core when it died. It died, and the tongue was hanging out, but that was all.
‘Spirit beast? It looks like just a monster.’
I wondered. Did the guy who had found the plant in my past life also encounter the monster? At that time, Iron Sword asked me.
-…Wonhwi, can you hear my voice?
‘I always hear you. What are you talking about?’
Suddenly I shook my head, realising why he said it.
‘Uh?’
I wasn’t even touching Iron Sword right now, but I could still hear his voice.
As I came out of the cave, I hurriedly looked around. I was told I had been cultivating for an hour to deal with the poison.
It felt short, but a lot of time had passed.
-So amazing.
The mumbling voice of Short Sword echoed in my head. As she noted, I was shocked too.
Normally, it was possible to hear their voice only when I touched the sword, but not now. I could listen to them despite not touching them.
-How far away can you hear me?
I didn’t have the time to check it, but even five meters was still good enough to listen.
‘Is this the power of swordsmanship?’
What was certain was that this changed after that unknown voice spoke to me again. I glanced at the back of my hand.
Could it be that this mysterious ability got stronger every time the colour of the dots changed? The doubts grew deeper in me.
If there was a chance to escape from the Six Blood Valley, I think I should look for it.
Tatata!
I heard small footsteps approaching. As I looked over, someone was running toward me.
‘Miss Ha Yeon?’
The person running was Miss Ha Yeon. She was still quite far, but I could tell who it was.
‘Ha…’
This happened because of my innate qi, which grew. Usually, I could only hear at that distance, but now I could even feel my eyesight improved.
-Such a good thing. The more you build your innate qi, the more you notice the presence of an opponent. Of course, I assumed it must be someone weaker than you.
Iron Sword said.
The more I experienced, the stronger I got.
“Huk! Young master!”
Miss Ha Yeon panted as she called for me. She was sweating so much that her face was red, and her hair was stuck to her face. It was apparent she had been through a lot.
‘Did she chase after them all this while?’
If that was true, then she is a good one. She was so big, but she ran after them and returned to me.
“Miss. I am glad you are safe.”
“Haa… Ha…”
She exhaled, trying to pick up her breath and asked.
“Ha… Ha… how is the young master?”
“I am fine.”
“I am sorry. I should have released the sealed points before running after them.”
This woman was nicer than I thought. As soon as we met, I didn’t think she would apologize.
“No. The situation didn’t give us time. They hadn’t sealed them right anyway, so I got out.”
“Haa… I am glad. I was afraid the cold was going to freeze you.”
I wondered if I should tell her the truth.
I wondered if I should tell her that it was my innate qi which helped me, but before I could say anything, she smiled and said,
“I have good news.”
“Good news?”
“We caught those who attacked us. Fortunately, my teacher… ah! Young master, what is with your foot?”
“Ah… this…”
“It is their doing! How can they have done this!”
She coughed out angry words, and thanks to that, I didn’t have to explain about the monster.
“Look. You seem to be hurt.”
“It is fine. It isn’t that huge.”
“The blood stains seem huge, though.”
It was hard to see. The wound had already healed after I cultivated, so only the stains remained, so I changed the topic.
“You said they were caught. Did you get the plant back?”
She nodded.
“Fortunately, the teacher had caught them.”
“The Sixth Blood Star?”
“Yes. I was lucky.”
“Who were the culprits?”
“… leaders in Six Blood Valley.”
This was expected. Who else would have done this?
Still, we were lucky. They stole the not fully grown plants and even got caught. Tch.
However, Miss Ha Yeon had an apologetic expression.
“Young master, I will apologize first.”
“Uh?”
“I didn’t know, and I asked the teacher to take the herbs with her first. Don’t get me wrong, I will give the plaque to you right away.”
You gave it to the Bloody Hand Witch?
It didn’t matter since they weren’t the right herbs, but she will still hand over the plaque to me? But I held back my curiosity.
“I will definitely give the plaque to you.”
“How can I believe that?”
“… I will make a request that the young master’s teacher, the Fourth Venerable Dignitary, gets his request handled.”
Hm…
Then that changed things a little.
A scene in front of the guest house on the right side of the main hall in the Six Blood Valley.
In front of the place where the Great Doctor was staying, the Ghastly Monster, Hae Ack-chun and the Bloody Hand Witch, Han Baekha, stood facing each other.
Hae Ack-chun didn’t have a pleasant expression and was frowning. To him, she said.
“I heard this. You would give them your plaque if they granted your request.”
At her words, Hae Ack-chun’s expression went stiff. What made him go this stiff?
“I said I wouldn’t interfere in the matter.”
“After all, you made your stand.”
“It is a choice I had to make. Do you think the man inside will grant the request and save one disciple’s dantian?”
“You say it so easily.”
“It isn’t too late to give up on him.”
She was silent at Hae Ack-chun’s stubborn words.
‘Is it a false or sincere request?’
Hae Ack-chun was a cold-hearted person and difficult for anyone to convince.
But he didn’t want to miss this chance.
“To support the young lady…”
Drrr!
The door opened before she could speak.
“Sorry to keep you waiting.”
The Great Doctor came out. At this, she looked at Hae Ack-chun with an apologetic face.
“It cannot be helped. And I think it will be tough to hand over the plaque.”
With that, Han Baekha handed a cloth wrapped around… something to the Great Doctor.
“Here it is.”
“You found it quick. I thought it would take a few days.”
The man was satisfied with getting the herbs. Watching that, Hae Ack-chun frowned more.
He wanted to make a mess of things right here.
“Teacher!”
So Wonhwi and Ha Yeon were running to them, and Hae Ack-chun nervously said.
“You are late. Your broken dantian cannot be fixed…”
Before he could finish.
“I am sorry, Sixth Blood Star. That isn’t a fully grown plant.”
“Uh?”
At those words, Han Baekha frowned.
Ha Yeon, too was flustered at the unexpected results. They struggled so much and even fought spies trying to take them down for an immature plant?
“Kuahahaha!”
And Hae Ack-chun welcomed this situation. It was uncomfortable for him to see the hope snatched away from his disciple, so he said.
“Bloody Hand Witch. What do we do? You will have to search for the herb once again.”
“Ha…”
Han Baekha sighed.
Everything was turning into a mess after a moment, So Wonhwi, who watched them, said,
“I am sorry for taking too long, teacher. But we don’t have to do that.”
“What?”
So Wonhwi took something out of his pocket.
It was a purple flower with seven beads which emanated a soft green light.
A fully grown herb.
‘…!!’
The expressions of everyone looking at it were of different colours.
