Chapter 4 - The Third-Rate Warrior Gathering Spiritual Elixirs (2)

SCREECH!

A spider with a form somewhat resembling a human face spewed venom from its mouth.

SIZZLE.

A potent acidic liquid that melted not only the trees but even the packed dirt on the ground, along with the green smoke rising from it.

Although I was covering my mouth with a bandana, it felt like my head was slowly growing dizzy.

Spiritual elixirs usually appeared in places where the energy of the earth and the heavens gathered.

Such spiritual lands naturally nurtured not only spiritual elixirs but also spiritual creatures.

However, if the creature in question was a horrifying entity just to look at, people would sometimes call it a monster.

"You look absolutely repulsive."

Eight legs, a massive body. And the Human-Faced Spider, a monster itself with four eyes on a face resembling a human's.

The Human-Faced Spider kept the Ten-Thousand-Year Fire Ginseng behind it, wary of me as if afraid its treasure would be stolen.

"Because of you, I had to go all the way to Mount Hapchi."

I circled to its side and severed one of its legs.

SCREECH!

Green blood spewed forth as it vomited smoke and acidic liquid in all directions.

For someone with meager internal energy like me, the smoke alone contained a terrifying toxic aura that could lead to sudden death, so taking the long detour to Mount Hapchi to eat the Nine-Leaf Divine Root beforehand was well worth it.

"Even if you manage to survive here anyway, three years from now you'll be dragged off by the Tang clan and forced to produce venom until you wither and die."

SCREECH!

Despite my persuasion, the Human-Faced Spider didn't seem to have any intention of listening.

SWISH!

Spiderwebs shot out in all directions from the Human-Faced Spider's rear.

The spiderwebs, spreading out like a net, quickly blocked the passage of the cave.

"Stupid creature."

I began to set the spiderwebs on fire with my torch.

In an instant, the fire caught on the webs and began racing toward the Human-Faced Spider.

Riding along the Human-Faced Spider's mucus, the flames chased straight to its rear.

SCREECH!

The moment it panicked and tried to scrape its rear against the ground, I splashed the oil I had prepared over its body and ignited it.

SCREEEECH!

When I thrust my sword into the screaming Human-Faced Spider's hideous maw, it began to thrash wildly.

With its human-like face, it spewed green blood from its eyes and mouth.

It was a repulsive sight straight out of a nightmare.

As I stepped back, its movements gradually subsided.

I could finally catch my breath by the time a fishy stench filled the cave.

"Phew."

I had consumed the Ten-Thousand-Year Fleeceflower and the Human King Ginseng, but I was only able to absorb eight years' worth of internal energy.

While both spiritual elixirs were precious in their own right, they weren't particularly helpful for increasing internal energy, and it was also because the amount I could absorb using the Taiyi mental cultivation method was strictly limited.

"How long will it take to catch up to him at this rate?"

The Supreme Clarity Divine Sword, or rather, the current Yong So-ah possessed 180 years' worth of internal energy.

180 years' worth. 180 years' worth.

Just thinking about that unfathomable level made my head spin.

Still, I couldn't just sit back and do nothing.

"Would I even be able to catch up if I ate every spiritual elixir listed in the Jianghu Spiritual Elixir Book?"

The Taiyi mental cultivation method was an excellent mental cultivation method, but it was merely a foundation.

Without an outstanding internal mental cultivation method, absorbing energy would remain a distant dream.

It wasn't as though the energy from the spiritual elixirs would go anywhere, but how unfair would it be to get hacked to death while carrying around energy I couldn't even absorb?

"Spiritual pills. I need spiritual pills."

When it comes to increasing the amount of internal energy, spiritual pills are more efficient than raw spiritual elixirs.

Moreover, the spiritual pills of prestigious great sects can increase internal energy even further.

"There's more than just one or two things to do."

While having these thoughts, I moved past the Human-Faced Spider's corpse and saw the leaves of the Ten-Thousand-Year Fire Ginseng catching the light shining through the cracks of the cave.

"To think I'd get to eat this in my lifetime."

My worries about spiritual pills were momentarily forgotten, completely vanishing the moment I saw the leaves of the Ten-Thousand-Year Fire Ginseng.

The Ten-Thousand-Year Fleeceflower and the Human King Ginseng were precious as well, but the Ten-Thousand-Year Fire Ginseng, along with the Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng, was a spiritual elixir that possessed exceptional effects in boosting yin and yang true qi and increasing internal energy.

In particular, it had the effect of shedding the mortal body; if consumed by someone with no martial talent, their body would transform into one with outstanding talent, and if consumed by someone with outstanding talent, they would transform into a martial god's physique.

In other words, eating this would at least prevent the foolish scenario of knowing how to block an attack in my head but being physically unable to.

Without delay, starting from a single fine root, I chewed and swallowed it down to the leaves, absorbing as much of the essence as possible.

An elegant fragrance filled my mouth, and with every exhale, the clear, refreshing scent spread in all directions.

"Here it comes."

Not long after swallowing the Ten-Thousand-Year Fire Ginseng, a burning heat began to rise from my lower abdomen.

Not wanting to miss the moment, I quickly sat in a lotus position and began circulating my energy using the Taiyi mental cultivation method.

The scorching energy far overwhelmed the energy of the Taiyi mental cultivation method and began wildly zooming around inside my body.

The calm and pure Taiyi mental cultivation method diligently chased after the energy of the Ten-Thousand-Year Fire Ginseng to restrain it, but it refused to listen.

"Urgh."

It surged back and forth through my heart meridians, recklessly breaking through blocked pathways and burning away the impurities.

Every time it did so, I felt the agony of my entire body being torn to shreds, but thanks to that, the energy very slowly began to weaken bit by bit.

And so, that endless battle of chasing and being chased continued.

* * *

How much time had passed?

FLASH.

When I opened my eyes, I furrowed my brow because the light illuminating the cave was too bright.

'Bright?'

Light only entered the part of the cave where the Ten-Thousand-Year Fire Ginseng grew.

Even then, the light was so faint that I had to bring a specially made torch just to come inside.

So why was it bright?

'I've changed.'

My body had changed. Vitality was surging through my entire body.

CRASH.

When I struck the wall with my fist, a portion of the solid cave wall crumbled down.

Despite that, I didn't feel any pain whatsoever.

When I checked my Dantian, a mass the size of a finger had settled there.

"Is it roughly fifteen years' worth?"

Compared to the prodigies of the Nine Sects and One Gang and the Five Great Noble Clans, it would still fall woefully short, but this was internal energy gathered through the Taiyi mental cultivation method, an art known for its abysmally slow accumulation speed.

Furthermore, since my body was now tempered for practicing martial arts, the rate at which my internal energy accumulated going forward wouldn't be as slow as before.

"I suppose I can dare to covet a precious spiritual pill now."

As it happened, I knew of the existence of one such precious spiritual pill that wasn't recorded in the Jianghu Spiritual Elixir Book.

"To be exact, it's the spiritual pill that the Gyeryong Merchant Group lost."

Gye Yeonseok had purchased Mount Hua's Snow Plum Pill for Gye Cheolyeong.

Excluding the Purple Cloud Pill, which was Mount Hua Sect's greatest spiritual elixir, it was considered the best spiritual pill.

To obtain the Snow Plum Pill, which even the sect's direct disciples found difficult to lay eyes on, he had mobilized not only his personal fortune but every connection the Gyeryong Merchant Group possessed.

That way, Gye Yeonseok had nearly succeeded in securing the Snow Plum Pill to pave a bright future for Gye Cheolyeong, but...

Perhaps it was because he had accomplished such an incredible feat?

Gye Yeonseok's vanity ruined everything.

"Maybe he just trusted the Mount Hua experts."

No less than the experts of the Mount Hua Sect were visiting the Gyeryong Merchant Group.

Gye Yeonseok was not the type to miss such a golden opportunity, and he threw a banquet to advertise the close relationship between the Mount Hua Sect and his merchant group.

However, on the day before Gye Cheolyeong was meant to consume it, the Snow Plum Pill hidden within the deepest vault of the Gyeryong Merchant Group vanished without a trace.

An unidentified figure had stolen the Snow Plum Pill, slipping right past the eyes of the Mount Hua Sect's experts.

Left staring at empty air like a dog that lost the chicken it was chasing, Gye Yeonseok tried pleading with the Mount Hua Sect, but they merely left after stating that they could take no responsibility, as the pill was stolen after it had already been handed over.

Later, Gye Yeonseok spent another massive sum to procure a Plum Blossom Pill, but this incident forever lingered in his heart, making it so that even the people around him couldn't mention the Snow Plum Pill.

However, someone else's misfortune always made for good drinking conversation.

People talked about this story time and time again.

At the time, there was much speculation over who took the Snow Plum Pill, but the lost Snow Plum Pill never resurfaced in the world.

"To think acting as a walking archive would be this helpful."

I began scouring through the records in my head.

First was the monthly report sent from the Murim Alliance Hefei Branch.

I mapped out the incidents that occurred in Hefei and the travel routes of major Underworld figures over a month before and after the day the Snow Plum Pill was stolen.

Second was the Murim Alliance's entry and exit logs.

Most Orthodox faction experts capable of evading the eyes of the Mount Hua Sect's experts were affiliated with the Murim Alliance.

By merely checking the Murim Alliance's entry and exit logs, it was possible to track exactly who moved and when.

Third were the mission reports.

Among the experts dispatched on missions by the Murim Alliance, I narrowed down those who had stopped by Hefei around the date of the incident.

Then, using the deduction method Zhuge Cheongi taught me, I organized the compiled data.

"Four people."

Like that, the profiles of four individuals surfaced in my mind.

Soul Chaser Joo Jangmok

Five-Star Gentleman Song Won-gi

Cangshan's Five Swords Gu Il-moo

Cangshan's Five Swords Jang Hangi

Two of Cangshan's Five Swords stopped by Hefei three days before the incident, rested for three days, and left to resume their mission.

Five-Star Gentleman Song Won-gi.

He stayed in Hefei for a month leading up to the incident, and remained there for another two months after the incident occurred.

Although he was a wandering warrior, his conduct was so upright that martial artists gave him the moniker of Gentleman.

Furthermore, with his skill at the Peak Realm, he could have acquired enough wealth to buy as many Snow Plums as he wanted, but this man was someone who dedicated himself solely to the sword, much like a gentleman devoting himself to scholarly writing.

Finally, the Soul Chaser.

The Soul Chaser was an Underworld figure.

His thievery skills were far greater than his martial arts, and he had a deep greed for wealth.

He appeared in Hefei when the rumors about the Snow Plum Pill began circulating, and on the day the Snow Plum Pill vanished.

He vanished without a trace.

And from that point on, no trace of him was ever seen in any of the Murim Alliance's reports.

"The Soul Chaser..."

As I continued my deduction, I hit a roadblock.

Every branch spread throughout the world was required to constantly track the movements of key figures in their reports, yet there was no mention of the Soul Chaser anywhere.

The fact that he left no traces in the Murim Alliance's radar after the incident strongly suggested he had hidden his identity.

Especially since thieves like him often maintained multiple identities using human skin masks.

It was entirely possible that he had erased the very identity of the Soul Chaser from the world after stealing the Snow Plum Pill.

"But no one new appeared around that time."

I frantically scoured the archive in my head, looking for any new thief who emerged around the time the Soul Chaser vanished, but there was no one similar.

But then, while sifting through other mission reports, a scoff escaped my lips.

"Ha!"

So this was the trick he used.

"No wonder there were no traces."

If I played my cards right, it seemed I wouldn't even have to worry about being chased after stealing the Snow Plum Pill.

"Things are going to work out easily."

Just as I was thinking comfortably and about to step over the Human-Faced Spider's corpse to leave the cave, an unprecedented force began pulling at my left arm.

"?"

The moment I unconsciously looked down at my left hand, I couldn't help but turn pale with shock.

A blue dragon wrapped around my wrist.

The Jade Dragon Bracelet I had in my past life was glowing from beneath my skin.

'What in the world is going on?'

It was bizarre enough that the Jade Dragon Bracelet I wore in my past life was embedded inside my skin, but what was even stranger was that the Jade Dragon Bracelet was unmistakably drawing the Human-Faced Spider's corpse toward itself.

"Do you want its core?"

The toxic aura in the Human-Faced Spider's core was so strong that merely touching it could lead to severe poisoning, so I hadn't messed with it.

Yet for some reason, the Jade Dragon Bracelet was pulling at the Human-Faced Spider's inner core.

SQUELCH.

When I sliced open the Human-Faced Spider's belly, the stench alone was enough to make my eyes sting.

The Jade Dragon Bracelet surged toward the core, radiating an even brighter light as if it had found its meal.

"... What should I do?"

The Jade Dragon Bracelet was a relic of the Bloodsucking Demon, one of the Guardian Dharma Kings.

I had kept it because it was an item commemorating the Minor Orthodox Unit's hard-fought victory, and until the moment my life ended, the Jade Dragon Bracelet had been an object that symbolized the Minor Orthodox Unit to me.

"Ah, whatever."

The moment my reaching hand snatched the Human-Faced Spider's core.

SIZZLE.

"Ghk."

A searing energy began to melt into my palm, seeping inside.

The moment I tried to pull my hand away in the frantic realization that absorbing the toxic aura meant my end...

"Huh?"

A cool, refreshing sensation began absorbing through my palm.

That energy, which started as a tiny stream, soon became a massive river surging wildly throughout my entire body.

A shiver ran down my whole body from a sense of refreshment completely different from when I absorbed the Ten-Thousand-Year Fire Ginseng.

The Human-Faced Spider's core in my hand had vanished without a trace, and I felt the mass in my Dantian grow slightly larger than before.

"Hah, well."