Chapter 4

“Skreeech!”

A giant spider with a grotesque human face spat venom from its mouth.

Hiss!

The powerful acid melted through the trees and even the hard-packed ground beneath them, sending green smoke curling into the air.

Although I had covered my mouth with a cloth, I was already beginning to feel dizzy.

Spiritual medicines often grew in places where the qi of heaven and earth gathered.

Such blessed lands nurtured not only spiritual medicines, but also spiritual creatures.

However, when those creatures were especially vicious or hideous, they were called demonic beasts.

“You truly are an ugly creature.”

Eight legs supported its massive body, while a twisted human face with four eyes grew from its back.

It was the demonic beast known as the Human-Faced Spider.

The creature stood protectively in front of the Ten-Thousand-Year Fire Ginseng and watched me with wary eyes.

“Because of you, I had to travel all the way to distant Mount Hapchi.”

I circled around it and cut off one of its legs.

“Skreeech!”

Green blood sprayed from the wound, scattering acidic droplets and poisonous fumes in every direction.

With my limited internal energy, a single breath of that poison would have been enough to kill me.

Fortunately, my detour to Mount Hapchi to consume the Nine-Leaf Divine Root had not been a waste.

“Even if you survive today, the Tang Clan will capture you three years from now. They will drain your venom until you shrivel up and die.”

“Skreeech!”

The Human-Faced Spider showed no interest in my warning.

Fwish!

Webs shot from its abdomen and spread throughout the cave, forming a net that sealed off the passage.

“Stupid creature.”

I pressed my torch against the webbing.

The strands caught fire immediately, and the flames raced toward the spider.

The fire followed the sticky mucus coating the webs and reached its abdomen within moments.

“Skreeech!”

The creature panicked and began scraping its body against the ground.

I seized the opportunity and poured the oil I had prepared over it before setting it on fire.

“Skreeeeeech!”

As the Human-Faced Spider screamed, I drove my sword into its grotesque mouth.

The creature thrashed wildly.

Green blood poured from the eyes and mouth of its human-like face.

It was a gruesome sight, enough to haunt a man’s dreams.

I withdrew and waited from a safe distance.

Before long, its struggles began to weaken.

Only after the cave filled with a foul, fishy stench did I finally let out the breath I had been holding.

“Hoo……”

I had consumed both the Ten-Thousand-Year Heshouwu and the Human King Ginseng, yet I had gained only eight years’ worth of internal energy.

Both were precious spiritual medicines, but neither was especially effective at increasing cultivation. The Taeul Heart Method also limited how much of their energy I could absorb.

“At this rate, how many lifetimes will it take me to catch up to that man?”

The Supreme Purity Divine Sword—no, Yong So-ah at this point in time—already possessed three gapja of internal energy.

Three gapja.

The overwhelming difference made my head spin.

Still, I could not afford to stand there in shock.

“If I consume every spiritual medicine recorded in the Jianghu Compendium of Spiritual Medicines, will I at least be able to catch up?”

The Taeul Heart Method provided an excellent foundation, but that was all it could do.

Without a superior cultivation method, it would remain difficult to absorb the full power of any spiritual medicine.

The energy would not disappear, but what good was that if I died with a sword through my chest before I could fully refine it?

“I need spiritual pills. As many as I can get.”

When it came to increasing internal energy, spiritual pills were far more efficient than raw spiritual medicines.

The finest pills created by the great sects could grant decades of cultivation at once.

“There really is no end to the things I need to do.”

Lost in thought, I stepped over the corpse of the Human-Faced Spider.

Beyond it, the leaves of the Ten-Thousand-Year Fire Ginseng rested beneath a beam of sunlight shining through a crack in the cave ceiling.

“To think I would ever get the chance to consume something like this.”

The moment I saw it, all thoughts of spiritual pills vanished.

The Ten-Thousand-Year Heshouwu and the Human King Ginseng were precious, but the Ten-Thousand-Year Fire Ginseng was on an entirely different level.

Alongside the Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng, it was considered one of the greatest spiritual medicines in all of Jianghu.

It could greatly increase one’s internal energy and strengthen one’s yang true qi.

More importantly, it had the power to transform the body itself.

If someone without martial talent consumed it, their body would be remade into that of a gifted martial artist.

If someone who was already talented consumed it, they could gain a body worthy of a Martial God.

In other words, once I ate it, my body would finally be able to keep up with the techniques stored inside my head.

Without hesitation, I began with the smallest root.

I chewed and swallowed every part of the plant, including the leaves, determined not to waste even the slightest trace of its essence.

A refreshing fragrance filled my mouth. With every breath, its pure scent spread throughout the cave.

“It is starting.”

Not long after I swallowed the Ten-Thousand-Year Fire Ginseng, a fierce heat rose from my lower abdomen.

I immediately sat cross-legged and began circulating the Taeul Heart Method.

The Fire Ginseng’s scorching energy overwhelmed my internal energy and rampaged through my body.

The gentle and pure current of the Taeul Heart Method chased after it, desperately trying to bring it under control.

However, the wild energy refused to obey.

“Urgh……”

It surged through my meridians, forcing open blocked pathways and burning away impurities wherever it passed.

Every time it broke through another blockage, terrible pain tore through my body.

It felt as though I were being ripped apart from the inside.

Even so, with every completed circulation, the Fire Ginseng’s energy weakened a little.

And so the relentless chase continued.

How much time had passed?

Flash.

When I finally opened my eyes, the light entering the cave was so bright that I instinctively frowned.

‘Bright?’

Only a thin beam of sunlight entered the spot where the Ten-Thousand-Year Fire Ginseng had grown.

The cave had previously been so dark that I needed a torch to see anything.

Yet now, I could see everything clearly.

‘I’ve changed.’

Vitality filled every part of my body.

Thud!

I punched the cave wall, and a chunk of solid stone crumbled beneath my fist.

My hand did not hurt at all.

When I examined my dantian, I found a dense mass of internal energy about the size of a finger resting inside it.

“About fifteen years’ worth.”

Compared to the prodigies of the Nine Sects and One Gang and the Five Great Clans, it was still insignificant.

However, this was energy cultivated through the Taeul Heart Method, which accumulated internal energy painfully slowly.

More importantly, the Fire Ginseng had transformed my body into one suited for martial arts.

From now on, my cultivation speed would be far greater than before.

“I suppose I can afford to set my sights on a precious spiritual pill.”

As it happened, I knew of one that was not recorded in the Jianghu Compendium of Spiritual Medicines.

“To be precise, it was a spiritual pill that the Gyeryong Merchant Guild lost.”

For Gye Cheol-yeong’s sake, Gye Yeon-seok had purchased Mount Hua’s Snow Plum Pill.

Aside from the Purple Firmament Pill, Mount Hua’s greatest spiritual pill, the Snow Plum Pill was considered the finest medicine the sect produced.

Even Mount Hua’s true disciples rarely had the chance to receive one.

To obtain it, Gye Yeon-seok had used his entire fortune and every connection available to the Gyeryong Merchant Guild.

In the end, he succeeded and nearly secured a brilliant future for his son.

Unfortunately, his vanity ruined everything.

‘Or perhaps he simply trusted Mount Hua’s masters too much.’

A group of Mount Hua masters was scheduled to visit the Gyeryong Merchant Guild.

Gye Yeon-seok could not let such a valuable opportunity pass. He held a grand banquet to show off the guild’s supposed close relationship with Mount Hua.

However, on the night before Gye Cheol-yeong was supposed to consume the Snow Plum Pill, it vanished from the deepest vault of the guild.

An unknown thief had slipped past even the Mount Hua masters and stolen it without leaving a single trace.

Gye Yeon-seok desperately begged Mount Hua for help, but they refused.

They had already delivered the pill, they said. Anything that happened afterward was no longer their responsibility.

Then they left.

Later, Gye Yeon-seok spent another enormous sum to obtain a lesser Plum Blossom Pill.

Even so, the loss of the Snow Plum Pill haunted him for the rest of his life.

He even forbade those around him from mentioning it.

However, another man’s misfortune always made for an entertaining story.

The tale spread throughout Jianghu and was repeated countless times.

Many theories circulated about the thief’s identity, but the missing Snow Plum Pill was never seen again.

“To think being treated like a living library would finally prove useful.”

I began searching through the records stored inside my mind.

The first source was the monthly report from the Murim Alliance’s Hefei Branch.

Using the date of the Snow Plum Pill’s theft as a reference, I reviewed every incident that had occurred in Hefei during the month before and after it.

I also examined the movements of every prominent figure from the Black Path.

The second source was the Murim Alliance’s entry and departure records.

Any Orthodox Path master capable of slipping past Mount Hua’s experts would most likely have some connection to the Murim Alliance.

By checking those records, I could determine exactly who had traveled through the region and when.

The third source was the Murim Alliance’s mission reports.

I narrowed the suspects down to masters who had passed through Hefei on official missions around the time of the theft.

Then I organized everything using the method of deduction Jegal Cheon-gi had taught me.

“Four people.”

Four possible suspects remained.

Soul-Chasing Guest Ju Jang-mok.

Five-Star Gentleman Song Won-gi.

Gu Il-mu of the Diancang Five Swords.

And Jang Han-gi, also of the Diancang Five Swords.

The two members of the Diancang Five Swords had arrived in Hefei three days before the theft. They rested there for three days before leaving to complete their mission.

Five-Star Gentleman Song Won-gi had arrived a month before the incident and remained in Hefei for another two months afterward.

He was a wandering warrior, but his conduct was so upright that the people of Jianghu had given him the title of Gentleman.

He had also reached the peak realm. With his abilities, he could easily have earned enough money to buy several Snow Plum Pills.

However, he cared only for the sword, much like a scholar cared only for books.

Lastly, there was the Soul-Chasing Guest.

He was a Black Path martial artist known more for his grappling techniques than his overall strength. He was also infamous for his greed.

He had appeared in Hefei shortly after rumors of the Snow Plum Pill began spreading.

Then, on the very day the pill disappeared, he vanished as well.

After that, his name never appeared in another Murim Alliance report.

“The Soul-Chasing Guest……”

My reasoning soon reached a dead end.

Every branch of the Murim Alliance was required to report the movements of prominent figures throughout Jianghu.

Yet after the theft, not a single trace of the Soul-Chasing Guest remained.

That meant he had most likely abandoned his identity.

Thieves like him often carried several human-skin masks and lived under multiple names.

After stealing the Snow Plum Pill, he may have erased the identity of the Soul-Chasing Guest from Jianghu entirely.

“But no new figure appeared during that period.”

I searched through the library inside my mind, looking for any newly emerged bandit or Black Path warrior who resembled him.

There was no one.

Then, while reviewing another mission report, I suddenly let out a hollow laugh.

“Hah!”

So that was how he had done it.

“That was why no trace of him remained.”

If everything went according to plan, I might be able to steal the Snow Plum Pill without worrying about being pursued.

“This may be easier than I expected.”

With that thought, I stepped over the Human-Faced Spider’s corpse and headed toward the cave entrance.

Then an unfamiliar force tugged at my left arm.

“?”

I looked down—and froze.

A blue dragon was coiled around my wrist.

The Blue Dragon Bracelet I had possessed in my previous life was glowing beneath my skin.

‘What in the world is happening?’

It was strange enough that the bracelet from my previous life had somehow become embedded beneath my skin.

Even stranger, it seemed to be pulling me toward the Human-Faced Spider’s corpse.

“Do you want its inner core?”

The Human-Faced Spider’s inner core contained poison so deadly that even touching it could cause severe poisoning.

That was why I had left it behind.

Yet the Blue Dragon Bracelet seemed drawn to it.

Riiip.

I cut open the spider’s abdomen.

The stench alone was enough to make my eyes burn.

As though it had finally found its meal, the Blue Dragon Bracelet glowed even brighter and pulled toward the inner core.

“……What am I supposed to do?”

The Blue Dragon Bracelet had once belonged to the Blood-Drinking Demon, one of the Divine Cult’s Guardian Dharma Kings.

It was a relic from one of the Sojeong Squad’s precious victories.

I had kept it as a symbol of my fallen comrades until the day I died.

“Ah, to hell with it. I have no idea.”

I reached out and grabbed the Human-Faced Spider’s inner core.

Sssss.

“Urgh!”

A burning energy melted into my palm and began flowing into my body.

Panic seized me.

If the poison entered my bloodstream, I was finished.

I immediately tried to let go.

At that moment—

“Hm?”

A cool, refreshing sensation flowed through my palm.

What began as a small stream soon grew into a great river, rushing throughout my entire body.

A shiver ran through me as a clear, invigorating feeling spread through my limbs.

It felt completely different from absorbing the Ten-Thousand-Year Fire Ginseng.

The inner core vanished from my hand without leaving a trace.

At the same time, the mass of internal energy inside my dantian grew slightly larger.

“Hah…… This is……”

I stared at the Blue Dragon Bracelet as its glow slowly faded.

“Should I be happy about this…… or worried?”

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