Book 1 Chapter 18: The owner of the Elixir already exists(4)
Translator: Hwarang
Editor: Jay
Deep within the forest, there were no signs of life.
Kong Jong looked at the Kwak Do Su’s head and swallowed.
“Why are you surprised? Wasn’t this to be expected?”
“Haha, of course sir. But didn’t he resist?”
“I didn’t give him the opportunity to resist.”
“Oh, I understand sir. It is great sir.”
“The money?”
“Here it is sir. Twenty thousand Nyang.”
She handed over the bag that she was carrying. When I opened it, there were twenty thousand Nyang worth of traceless bank notes in it.
“Congratulation on killing the enemy of the clan with your bare hands.”
The normal process was to give out the reward money after a thorough investigation. However, Kong Jong just provided me with the money without investigating. But there was no need for that, since I had provided Kwak Do Su’s head.
“I don’t need to count it right?”
“Of course not, sir. I checked it twice, sir.”
“That’s the Director Kong that I like. Make sure you keep it up. Get ready to head out for the Central Branch.”
“Thank you sir!”
When she was at the peak of her excitement I told her, “But I heard from Kwan Do Su before he died that you colluded with him.”
Kong Jong suddenly became shocked. “No sir, that’s a lie.”
“Something about collaborating with each other to rob the Byuk Clan.”
“No, it’s not true, sir.” Her voice was trembling.
“That’s why I like you.”
“What sir?”
“I like the people who scheme a little bit. People who are too honest disgust me. There are times when you have to work with criminals to get things done.”
“Yes sir.” She was confused since I said something she never expected.
“What did you think of him? Say it truthfully. You are someone who meets my standard right now. This is one of your advantages.”
She looked at Kwak Do Su’s head, then at me and made her decision. She wasn’t going to hide it since things had already come to this point.
“It’s true that we worked with each other. However, he was truly a vulgar person. He needed some disciplining.”
“HAHAH. As expected.”
When she started to relax.
Rip.
I took off my face alteration mask.
“Long time no see.”
Kong Jong’s eyes widened in shock. It was the first time in her life that she was so surprised.
“… Aren’t you? You? What are you…?”
I said with a smile on my face, “To discipline someone, don’t I need a scourge? Why did you take the money?”
She trembled a bit and stared at the bag in my shoulder. “My money, give back my money!”
“Of course, you think about the money first.”
She tried to draw her weapon, but I was one step faster since I knew what she was going to do. Like lightning I thrust my hand towards her.
Swoosh! Stab!
It found its mark square on Kong Jong’s throat.
“Kahh.”
Kong Jong grabbed my hand. She knew that she would die when I took out my hand, so to preserve her life she held onto my hand for dear life.
Then I coldly stared at Kong Jong.
“They chose you to protect the Kang Ho-In, not to do deceitful things like this.”
While this was a matter of personal revenge by Byuk Lee Dan, it was also the divine punishment from me, the Murim Mengju.
Her face was full of confusion as if she couldn’t believe what happened. Since I didn’t want to have any more conversation with someone like Kong Jong, I quickly pulled out my hand.
Blood started rushing out and she silently collapsed.
I applied the face alteration mask that I had to her face. If they found her corpse, they wouldn’t be able to tell that it was Kong Jong. It would be revealed as the person who killed Kwak Do Su. There weren’t many who knew the relationship between the two, so most would believe this was as some sort of incident.
There was no way to trace this back to me, so I left the area quickly as her corpse began to lose heat.
Luckily the ten days hasn’t passed.
“I had a feeling you would be able to gather enough money. So you were able to gather that much?”
If I told him how much I had made, he would be in shock.
“I think your parents are blessed with luck.”
The old man laughed, remembering my response to his question of ‘why I wanted to buy the profound medicine.’
“Haha. It’s a good thing, a very good thing.”
“Here is the money.”
I gave him forty four thousand Nyang.
Even though I had few thousand Nyang left over, forty four thousand Nyang was a huge amount of money. For some it was enough for a family to live happily for the rest of their lives. However for Kang Ho-In, it was only worth enough to raise their cultivation by a few years.
For some, buying the profound medicine which raised cultivation by a few years could cost forty thousand Nyang, but for others it might cost them four hundred thousand Nyang.
The old man took the money. Without giving them the money first, you could never get the product that you wanted. Even if you took him hostage and killed him, it would be useless. You wouldn’t be able to get the thing that you wanted.
After giving them the money, all the traps and ensnaring mechanism were lowered and someone will bring the product to you. This was the reason why Black City Merchant Guild’s trading became secure and reliable.
After fifteen minutes, the old man came back with a small box. When he opened it, there was a Thousand Year Bansho Root. It was a high quality one at that.
The old man said with a smile on his face, “What did I tell you? You were lucky.”
He closed the box and wrapped it in some cloth before he gave it to me.
“Thank you for keeping it and not selling it to others.”
As I was walking out he said, “The owner of the Elixir already exists.”
He was smiling because he was correct.
An hour later, I went into one of the caves in the mountain and sat down. I laid the Thousand Year Bansho Root in front of me. It was said if a regular person used it, they would gain health and longevity, while if a martial artist used it, they would be able to gain ten years’ worth of cultivation.
But if a normal practitioner was able to get ten years’ worth, then I would be able to gain fifteen years’ worth of cultivation. This was one of the benefits of cultivating the Divine Protection Technique. Since this was the first time Byuk Lee Dan used this profound medicine, the effect of this medicine would be the maximum fifteen years. If I ate this medicine again, the effect would go down to ten and next time it would be five. Since the body builds resistance to the medicine, there was limit to how effective a certain profound medicine could be. There were also cases where profound medicine could decrease your cultivation speed, since it increased the size of your dantian.
This was the reason why you couldn’t casually increase your cultivation with money. Because sooner or later, you might have to spend millions of Nyang to raise even a couple of months’ worth of cultivation.
Anyway, the reason why I got this Thousand Year Bansho Root was not to increase my cultivation, but to open my eight extraordinary meridians and the twelve principal meridians.
If I could open both my eight extraordinary meridians and the twelve principal meridians, I would be able to perfectly circulate my internal energy through all of my body, giving me great effects.
Not only would it increase the size of my dantian, it would also help me use the last three stances of the Ashura Soul Chasing Sword Art without much backlash. In other words, I would get a stronger five years’ worth of cultivation, but it would be more powerful than normal. Thousand Year Bansho Root was the perfect profound medicine for me to break through my meridians.
However, the problem lay within Byuk Lee Dan’s body. Would his body be able to withstand the pressure of forcefully increasing the energy and breaking the meridians? It was a good thing that he was naturally gifted with a tough body.
Attempting to do this by myself was only possible because it was me who was performing it. For others who are within major clans, even with other experts by their side, they had a possibility of dying.
“Please hold on for me.”
I carefully chewed the Thousand Year Bansho Root and swallowed it whole.
After swallowing it, the Thousand Year Bansho Root melted in my throat and quickly gave off its energy. I started madly absorbing the energy.
WOOOOOO.
I didn’t waste time in absorbing the energy, since I needed to break through my meridians.
Absorbing the energy was refreshing, like having an intimate relationship with a lover. I absorbed every last bit of energy that the Bansho Root was able to give me.
If I put all of this energy into my dantian, I would have fifteen years’ worth of energy. But I didn’t directly send it to my dantian. I started to direct it towards my meridians. I didn’t want to spend too much time breaking through my meridians.
The first was the eight extraordinary meridians.
Swoosh.
The energy of the Bansho Root started to flow to the meridians.
Break!
I broke though the first Conception Meridian. It was painful, but bearable.
Break! Break!
I broke through the Governing Meridian and the Penetrating Meridian. Thankfully Byuk Lee Dan’s body was able to withstand the pressure. Since I spent seventy years circulating the divine protective cultivation technique throughout my meridians, I was confident that I was more knowledgeable than most doctors in this area.
Break! Break! Break! Break!
I broke through the Penetrating Meridian, Girdle Meridian, Yin Linking Meridian, Yang Linking Meridian, the Yin Heel Meridian and Yang Heel meridian without a hitch.
With this momentum, I went on to break through the twelve principal meridians.
Pain followed every time I broke through the meridian, but this sort of pain was enjoyable to me.
Crack!
After breaking through my last meridian, I was able to hear explosions in my head, signaling my breakthrough. Most people would have screamed at this point due to the pain, but I smiled, enjoying the pain.
I was finally able to break through both the eight extraordinary meridians and the twelve-principal meridians. I was certain that no one in Kang Ho would be able to do it as fast and as effectively as me.
As I slowly got up, I checked the status of my body. After breaking through the meridians I was able to tell what changes had occurred in my body. The circulation of my energy became easier and faster, and my body felt much lighter than ever before. Since I didn’t have a mirror near me, I wasn’t sure, but I was certain that my stare became calmer and more profound.
Then I checked my dantian. With the addition of fifteen years of energy, my dantian had twenty years’ worth of energy.
Now Byuk Lee Dan had the same amount of energy as his age. But how could others compare to this? My energy was created with the pure energy of heaven which I cultivated with Divine Protection Technique. With this much energy I would be able to easily kill others.
“Ahhh. Now I can take it easy for a bit.”
Even though I might not be able to use the fourth stance right now, I would be able to achieve it within five years since I broke through all of my meridians.
“Ha Ha Ha.”
I laughed as I left the cave.
When I got out of the cave, I jumped as high as I could. If it was the old me I could have reached the skies, but now I was only able to reach the top of the tree.
Slash.
The sword light slashed through the air. My first sword stance had become incomparably stronger since the time I killed Hyeol Gun. I slashed the other direction and released my second sword stance. This too became incomparably stronger since the time I killed Yang Gi Chul. If they received my attacks now, they most likely would have been reduced to pieces.
After releasing these two stances, I went on top of a tree. Even though the tree bent, it didn’t break. If I broke through the sixty year point, the tree wouldn’t even bend.
Although I increased my energy only by fifteen years, it still gave me a lot of excitement. When was the last time I got this sort of excitement? I hoped that it would keep on being exciting. I hoped that this life would be different than the last, so that I could achieve what I wanted to achieve before, the Sword-Heart State.
I was able to see the small squirrel at the bottom of the tree. Ever since opening my meridians, my sight, as well as the senses in my body, became more acute. If I concentrated I would be able to see even the ants.
“One day.”
I casually jumped off the tree and landed softly.