Chapter 51
A Tear’s Worth of Internal Energy (2)
Baek So-cheon sat cross-legged, circulating his qi and regulating his breathing.
How long had it been since he had last done this?
His chest swelled with emotion, and tears threatened to spill from his eyes.
Rather than his former cultivation method, he circulated the Immovable Wisdom King Heart Method. As befitted a martial art hailed as the greatest of all time, it was superior to the method he had previously practiced.
A gasp of admiration escaped him.
Reading about it in a secret manual and actually circulating it were entirely different experiences.
The true qi moved through his meridians faster and with greater force than before. The internal energy accumulating in his new dantian was also far purer.
Perhaps because it was his first attempt, or because he was filling an entirely empty dantian, the amount of internal energy accumulating seemed smaller than expected.
There is a way to confirm it.
Once Baek So-cheon had familiarized himself with the Immovable Wisdom King Heart Method, he took a box from his leather pack.
It was the same box containing the Hundred-Year-Old Fleeceflower Root that he had once received from Wang Gon.
When he first received it, he had never imagined that he would someday use it himself.
He had kept the box inside his leather pack all this time. Upon examining it carefully now, he discovered that it was a low-grade specimen among Hundred-Year-Old Fleeceflower Roots.
Even among roots of the same age, a high-grade specimen could cost several times more.
Then again, it had probably been used as a bribe precisely because it was low-grade.
Even so, it was still precious.
He had heard that most of the Central Plains’ elixirs had been consumed during the War Between the Righteous and Unorthodox Factions, making good elixirs difficult to obtain.
Elixirs bearing names such as “Thousand-Year” or “Ten-Thousand-Year” were especially rare, and even when one appeared, it was traded for an astronomical price.
Baek So-cheon carefully chewed and swallowed the fleeceflower root.
Compared with the fruit of the Eternal Venomous Deathweed he had taken earlier, it was as fragrant and sweet as a confection.
After chewing and swallowing every last piece, Baek So-cheon began circulating the Immovable Wisdom King Heart Method.
Generally, when a martial artist consumed a Hundred-Year-Old Fleeceflower Root, they could instantly gain between five and ten years of internal energy.
That was based on a medium-grade specimen.
Since the root he had taken was low-grade, it should grant between four and nine years of internal energy.
A high-grade specimen would grant between six and eleven years.
Most elixirs followed a similar standard, with medium-grade as the baseline and the amount of internal energy gained increasing or decreasing according to quality.
Baek So-cheon’s attainment in martial arts was high enough to extract the maximum possible amount of internal energy from an elixir.
Moreover, he could circulate the Immovable Wisdom King Heart Method, the greatest cultivation method of all time.
Its effects should be maximized.
Sssssss.
Baek So-cheon began circulating his qi.
He dissolved the concentrated medicinal power of the Hundred-Year-Old Fleeceflower Root and sent it through the meridians of his entire body.
Though it contained only enough energy to produce several years of cultivation, it was incomparably greater than the single drop of internal energy he had first sensed.
Because of that, Baek So-cheon trembled throughout the entire circulation.
After flowing once through his entire body, the energy was gathered into his new dantian.
When he completed one full circulation of true qi, Baek So-cheon let out an exclamation.
It was a sound filled with both joy and disappointment.
Only three years’ worth of internal energy had gathered in his dantian.
Ordinarily, it should have been filled with a full nine years’ worth.
The feeling he had experienced during his earlier circulation—that only a small amount of internal energy was accumulating—had been correct.
On the other hand, those two or three years’ worth of internal energy were purer than anything Baek So-cheon had ever felt.
Its purity was so extraordinary that he could not help but marvel at it.
This was not because of the Immovable Wisdom King Heart Method.
If the cultivation method contributed one part to that purity, the remaining nine parts came entirely from his new dantian.
It was truly a dantian far more advanced than his original one.
Baek So-cheon understood.
Compared with his old dantian, this new one made it far more difficult to accumulate internal energy.
However, once accumulated, that internal energy possessed a purity beyond comparison.
When the same amount of internal energy was used, a technique powered by purer energy was vastly stronger.
What if fortune smiled upon him and he managed to fill his new dantian with three cycles’ worth of internal energy?
Before his dantian had been destroyed, Baek So-cheon had possessed three cycles’ worth.
Of course, that had only been possible because of the Murim Alliance’s wholehearted support.
What if he could once again acquire the same three cycles, but with far purer internal energy?
On top of that, he would possess the greatest heart method and fist art of all time.
It meant that he would undoubtedly become stronger than he had been before.
Of course, it would not be easy.
No matter how extraordinary the Immovable Wisdom King Heart Method was, and no matter how much faster it accumulated internal energy compared with other methods, gathering three full cycles through cultivation alone would require more than seventy or eighty years.
In other words, he needed elixirs or fortuitous encounters.
That was why he had to build at least one cycle’s worth of internal energy by any means necessary.
Only then would he have some chance of fighting the Leader of the Cheokcheon Alliance or the Blood Cult Leader.
Even with one full cycle, he would still be more likely to lose if he fought them now.
After all, he had ultimately lost even when he possessed a full three cycles.
The Leader of the Cheokcheon Alliance might have become even stronger while recovering from his injuries.
Furthermore, the newly emerged threat, the Blood Cult Leader, had already achieved great mastery of the Blood Heaven Art.
Baek So-cheon forcefully pushed those difficult realities aside and smiled brightly.
For now, this is enough.
The future could be dealt with later.
For now, he should celebrate the fact that he possessed two or three years’ worth of internal energy.
It was only three years’ worth, yet it gave him the reassuring feeling that he could bring down a mountain.
It was as though he had gained a second life.
In truth, that might not have been an exaggeration.
At a decisive moment, that small handful of internal energy might save his life.
There was another advantage.
Because the new dantian had formed behind his original, ruined dantian, no one would be able to detect it by injecting their own internal energy into his body.
His old dantian was still destroyed and remained in its original position.
Anyone examining him would check only that.
This was extremely important.
If the Leader of the Cheokcheon Alliance learned that Baek So-cheon could accumulate internal energy again, he would immediately try to kill him.
The only reason he had left Baek So-cheon alive until now was his confidence that he could kill him whenever he wished.
Until I have accumulated at least one full cycle, I must never let anyone discover that my dantian has been restored.
In the meantime, he would have to acquire and consume every elixir he could find while accumulating internal energy through the Immovable Wisdom King Heart Method.
Until he could defend himself, he had to quietly increase his strength.
After completing the long circulation and forming his plans for the future, Baek So-cheon opened his eyes.
Ban Yun-saeng was staring at him with an overwhelmed expression.
“This is truly fortunate.”
“It is all thanks to you, Elder.”
“Should this be called a success or a failure?”
“I do not know how you may see it, but for me, it was a success. A tremendous success.”
“Congratulations.”
Ban Yun-saeng gave a hollow laugh.
The Body Reformation he had envisioned had certainly failed.
Yet within that failure, he saw hope.
If only there were several more people like Baek So-cheon...
If he could obtain the fruit of the Eternal Venomous Deathweed every year...
If he performed the Great Art repeatedly, might he not eventually succeed?
It was a futile thought, yet Ban Yun-saeng smiled brightly.
He could not remember the last time he had smiled so happily.
He felt that even this much was enough.
“What will you do now?”
“I must return to the Alliance.”
“When you see that person, give him my regards.”
Ban Yun-saeng held out a bottle of wine he had prepared.
“Take this to him.”
“I will.”
“You said you intended to prevent the war?”
“Yes.”
“If you succeed, then I suppose I will deserve a great share of the credit.”
“Of course. It will be thanks to you that I stop it.”
“Come now. I am not quite shameless enough to claim that much. It is enough to say that I played a small part in such a good deed. And remember what I told you before. The Alliance is important, and so is the martial world, but live for yourself.”
Ban Yun-saeng gazed through the window at the leisurely drifting clouds.
“When I look back on my life, I wonder whether I was truly someone who wanted to succeed in the Great Body Reformation Art. Had I never met my master and begun studying it, what kind of person would I have become?”
Baek So-cheon understood Ban Yun-saeng’s regret.
He was the same.
He had begun something as if possessed and then lived it as though it were his entire life.
He did not regret it, but sometimes he wondered what kind of life he might have lived had he not walked this path.
“I will remember your words. Once I prevent this war, I will try to live a life that is wholly my own.”
“That is a good decision.”
At that moment, Ban Yun-saeng suddenly coughed up blood and collapsed.
“Elder!”
Baek So-cheon caught him.
He tried to inject even his mere three years’ worth of internal energy into Ban Yun-saeng to treat him, but the old man stopped him.
“It is already too late for me.”
While Baek So-cheon had been circulating his qi, Ban Yun-saeng had swallowed a poison pill.
Wanting to offer one last apology and bid farewell, he had taken a poison whose effects spread slowly.
Ban Yun-saeng did not regret swallowing it.
He had not chosen death merely because his Great Art had failed, nor simply because he could never perform it again.
“...Many people died because of my greed. It is time for me to go to them and ask their forgiveness.”
Many people had died because the Great Art failed.
Of course, those who agreed to undergo it had willingly risked their lives in the hope of achieving Body Reformation.
But looking back now, Ban Yun-saeng felt profoundly sorry toward them.
“...It is probably best to leave while there is still someone willing to bury me with a sincere heart. I am sorry to burden you.”
“No, Elder.”
Baek So-cheon grieved at his death.
“Your Body Reformation truly succeeded. Thank you.”
Ban Yun-saeng smiled brightly.
“Thank you... I hope that one day you will achieve true Body Reformation. If you can do that, then I... will have no lingering regrets.”
With those words, Ban Yun-saeng closed his eyes.
Baek So-cheon buried him in a sunny place overlooking the distant Eternal Venomous Deathweed.
He remained there for three more days before departing.
***
Baek So-cheon did not return directly to the main headquarters.
To meet someone, he entered an inn in the marketplace of Lanzhou, Gansu.
“Bring me the finest wine in this establishment and the dish you are most confident in.”
“Understood.”
“And I would like to see the owner.”
“I am the owner.”
“Not you. The true owner.”
The innkeeper’s expression stiffened slightly.
“Deliver this letter to your master. If the secret leaks because you fail to pass it on directly, you will not keep your life.”
This was a Nine Dragons Inn.
There were several Nine Dragons Inns across the Central Plains.
The inn in Zhejiang where Baek So-cheon had once sent Beon Saeng on an errand had also been one of them.
Baek So-cheon had come here to meet Cheon-geuk again.
Every Nine Dragons Inn throughout the Central Plains was connected to the Assassin Alliance.
Very few people knew that fact.
Four days later, Cheon-geuk appeared.
“You truly possess an extraordinary talent for surprising people in every possible way.”
“I missed you.”
“Enough with the jokes.”
“I need your help.”
Cheon-geuk thought the affairs of the world were truly impossible to predict.
She had never dreamed that she would meet Baek So-cheon again so soon.
It was also proof of how rapidly the situation in the martial world was changing.
“Tell me.”
“Before that, I have a request. I want to speak with you alone.”
He was asking her to dismiss the Guardian Killing Stars.
Before she could answer, powerful auras swept through the room.
They belonged to the Guardian Killing Stars.
They released their fiercest pressure, clearly expressing their refusal.
“Do you understand what you are asking? You are telling me to put my life in your hands.”
“Don’t exaggerate. You are far stronger than I am.”
“I mean symbolically.”
“Please.”
It was the second time he had used the word please.
That alone showed how important this was to Baek So-cheon.
At that moment, Dong-seong’s voice reached her through a sound transmission.
—You cannot. I know you trust him, Alliance Leader, but absolutely not.
—I know. Let it pass just this once.
—Alliance Leader.
—The martial world is on the verge of war. No one knows what role that man may play in it. So while we can, let us invest in him.
—Trust me. If you cannot trust me, then trust the fate that allowed me to become the Assassin King despite being a young woman.
After she went that far, Dong-seong no longer insisted.
—Understood.
—Thank you.
The Guardian Killing Stars disappeared.
“They are all gone now, so go ahead and kill me.”
Baek So-cheon responded to her joke with one of his own.
“When a man and a woman are alone with no one watching, aren’t they supposed to do something else?”
Cheon-geuk gave a small laugh.
“It seems you really do want to sleep with me.”
“Let us deal with this matter first.”
Baek So-cheon took something from his leather pack.
Astonishingly, they were promissory notes withdrawn from the Three Great Banks of the Central Plains.
“One million four hundred thousand nyang.”
It was the money he had deposited in three different banks.
He had withdrawn all of it, leaving only one hundred thousand nyang for emergencies.
“It is my entire fortune.”